Tag: Featured

    Sadiq Khan has been chosen as Labour's candidate for the London mayoral election slated for May 2016. The former shadow justice secretary beat the veteran Blairite candidate and former Olym-pics minister Dame Tessa Jowell and four other candidates to win the party's nomination on Friday. The former human rights lawyer won 59 percent of the votes to 41.1 percent received by one-time favourite Dame Tessa. After the decisive victory, Khan said, “I am deeply humbled that so many Londoners have put their faith in me today. Together, we can change London.” The son of a Pakistani bus driver will be fighting to replace Conservative mayor Boris Johnson, who will not stand next year. Conservatives will announce their own candidate later this month. Zac Goldsmith and Syed Kamall are ...

    The Met's statistics record a total of 816 Islamophobic hate crimes in the 12 months to July 2015, up from 478 over the same period in 2013-14. Racist and religious hate crimes in London increased overall by 27%, with 13,007 incidents recorded. The Met defines Islamophobic offences as "any offence which is perceived to be Islam-ophobic by the victim or any other person". The London borough of Westminster saw the greatest number of hate crimes against Mus-lims, with 54 incidents, according to the Met's figures. Some of the largest increases, though, were in Merton, where 29 Islamophobic offences were reported in the 2015 figures, up from just eight, and Lambeth where there were 40 Islamophobic offences reported, up from 17. A BBC report quoted a spokesman from Tell MAMA, a g...

    Tower Hamlets Labour and Tory Councillors united in the last week of August and agreed to spend up to £200,000 a year employing an additional senior officer. Just weeks after 237 community organisations learned that John Biggs’s Administration did not have enough money to give them grants to run vital services. Why did Tower Hamlets Council have to appoint a Chief Executive? By law, Councils are required to have a “Head of Paid Service”, who takes on certain statutory functions. These functions are often taken on by an officer called “chief executive” – but they do not have to be. In Tower Hamlets, the head of paid service functions have been taken on by various senior officers since the last Chief Executive left. Lutfur Rahman’s Administration did not fill the post of Chi...

    John Biggs and Tory Leader Peter Golds unite to back candidate Labour and Tory councillors appoint candidate who is under police nvestigation. Independent councillors abstain following last minute release of shock information. On Wednesday evening (26th August), John Biggs stood up in full Council and asked councillors to appoint as Chief Executive of Tower Hamlets a candidate who is under investigation by the Metropolitan Police. Let’s be straight from the start. Being investigated by the Metropolitan Police is not a sign of guilt. Everyone is innocent until proven guilty. There is no reason to suppose that Mr Will Tuckley will emerge from this investigation with anything other than a ringing endorsement that he is innocent. Let their police do their job, and we will all ...