2005 UK General Elections

#22 by ozerkhalid on May 8, 2005 10:04pm PT

No..It`s a tinge of interests of Islamic ummah over the most obvious thing i.e. your own welfare...

Do you disagree with the basic point: That Pakis lag behind hindus and sikhs(and chinese) in most fields and yet their number one issue is the war in iraq or the jihad in kashmir....

Don`t you see a cause/effect? Maybe pakis lag behind because they focus too much on the pan-Islamic causes?

Re: # 35

Syke,

Merci beaucoup for the statistical correction on the Lib Dem vote numbers. By the way what is your take on Galloway`s anti-war stance ? Dirty politics, but sometimes means do justify the ends ?

As for Charles Kennedy Junior well the apple never falls far from the tree...who knows maybe in a generation`s time he churns out more effectively an evolution that his dad kindled ?

Re: # 28

Cayenne

Another feather in the cap to Mittal Steel, at the helm of it Britain`s most affluent magnet. With an ``official`` net worth of $2.2 bil surely if this country were in the pits, as you so sorely suggest, then why would Lakshmi and Usha Mittal still be here ? You are a living paradox. Yet again contradicting yourself.

Surely the fact that ``some`` South Asians are towering like minarets in Britain is a salutory emblem of their hard work and enterprise. I think for once we both concur: deservedly so.

My firm helped organise Amit Bhatia and Vanisha Mittal`s wedding in Versailles. Renu and Arun Bhatia were up-to-the minute and exemplary. The wedding extravaganza took six-day long, which saw over 1000 guests, ceremoniously concluding at the Grand Intercontinental in Paris.

MI-6 has manipulated the elections and only those candidates have won that are either evangilists or have evangilist leanings.

Re: # 8

Did any of you bother to read the manisfesto`s before voting??

Liberal Democrat had a very good chance of securing more votes, but i feel they didnt campaign strong enough. If they had any chance of getting more seats in the parliament then it was now, but Charles was too busy attending to his baby...

Respect party didn`t just do well in Birmingham but what about George Galloway...him knocking out Oona King proved....dirty politics is the only way to go.
Conservatives lost out to Lib Dem in Solihull Constituency for the first time since 1945 that`s when Solihull actually became a constituency..now thats Sayin something.Glad to see my vote Did Count!!...it made HISTORY!!

By the way great article....Lib Dem got 62 seats though..not 56.

Re: # 27

Theo Van Gogh

Why are you so hell-bent on singling out one religion, ethnicity, cultural background, namely the Muslim Pakistani community and puking all your racist hatred upon it ? What has furnished in you all this ill-feeling toward Muslims ? Are you in this forum to make a positive contribution or merely polemicize anger and prejudice ? My suspicions lean towards the verity that you are merely a rabble-rouser and like to stir trouble, as others in this forum have suggested.

It is due to biased one-sided prejudices like yours that Asians in Britain are in schism. If you so ardently advocate a multicultural template, as you do in one of your previous interacts, then why demonize it by being a trouble-maker ?

Re: # 31

BNP ..got 14000 votes in Birmingham alone..thats saying alot. Your right Saj, this divide among the British Asian community is not going to let them excel. There is no concept of South Asian identity which is very sad, as they hardly make up even 4% of the population as a whole.

Re: # 22

A tinge? you obviously haven`t been on Chowk too long!

Some interesting trends in this election that I noted: The BNP has made significant inroads into the South surprisingly East London was where they did best..

Respect split the Anti Blair vote In Brummie land and other areas..which saved Labour in at least 6 or 7 seats..

Re 15: One thing further on this point of the degeneration of multi-culturalism and general tolerance....is the sad way that so many divisions have popped up in the British Asian community in the UK. Up to even 15 years ago..British Indians..Pakistanis...few Banglas that were there...were all simply British Asians....then came the breakdown into various national groupings....and the last 5-6 years especially has seen the rise of breaking down on religious lines...British hindus...sikhs...muslims..etc etc...as someone else noted...British Asians still only form a tiny minority of the overall population.(3.4%)....and historically the community has ...still does and will continue to face common problems such as racism in the jobs and housing markets...immigration issues...acceptance of cultures other than the indigenous...this divisive breakdown into more and more small communities does reek of Colonialism`s divide and rule..but also yet again the fundamental idiocy of certain segments of the British Asian populace...to be fair..particularly but NOT exclusively in the Muslim community. On the whole..inspite of various difficulties..the British Asian community has prospered as whole over the last 40 years....and its no coincidence that religious and communal issues being a no-no among the community..helped this objective. As Indians and Pakistanis have proved over and over again..that when they have left behind their communal/religious agendas back home and left to work as expatriates not only have they prospered as respective communities..but they have lived not only in peace but in fraternity. The rise of this poisonous communal and religious politics in Britain is only going to work against ALL British Asians...especially as the mainstream Conservatives have tapped into inner xenophobia of the goray with their anti-immigration stance..and the likes of the BNP grow on hatred of alll coloureds...Indian..Bengali...hindu....sikh...muslim.....
it doesnt matter...as any british asian would know.all are just ``bloody pakis`` to them..
[Reply to interact #29]

Cayenne,

Remove China and India from this list and you might have a point. Remember, the CIA does its GDP calculation on a PPP basis; i.e., it`s not a ``real`` calculation but a notional calculation based on pricing parity.

World Bank calculations, somewhat more accurate and smoothing out exchange rate and price fluctuations, put the UK at (for 2003 Gross National Income) $1.68 trillion, India $0.57 trillion and China at $1.4 trillion. So while China probably will surpass the UK pretty soon, India has a loooooong way to go!

Sorry to burst your bubble but India isn`t going to ``bail out`` the UK any time soon.

Regards.

Re 15: One thing further on this point of the degeneration of multi-culturalism and general tolerance....is the sad way that so many divisions have popped up in the British Asian community in the UK. Up to even 15 years ago..British Indians..Pakistanis...few Banglas that were there...were all simply British Asians....then came the breakdown into various national groupings....and the last 5-6 years especially has seen the rise of breaking down on religious lines...British hindus...sikhs...muslims..etc etc...as someone else noted...British Asians still only form a tiny minority of the overall population.(3.4%)....and historically the community has ...still does and will continue to face common problems such as racism in the jobs and housing markets...immigration issues...acceptance of cultures other than the indigenous...this divisive breakdown into more and more small communities does reek of Colonialism`s divide and rule..but also yet again the fundamental idiocy of certain segments of the British Asian populace...to be fair..particularly but exclusively in the Muslim community. On the whole..inspite of various difficulties..the British Asian community has prospered as whole over the last 40 years....and its no coincidence that religious and communal issues being a no-no among the community..helped this objective. As Indians and Pakistanis have proved over and over again..that when they have left behind their communal/religious agendas back home and left to work as expatriates not only have they prospered as respective communities..but they have lived not only in peace but in fraternity. The rise of this poisonous communal and religious politics in Britain is only going to work against ALL British Asians...especially as the mainstream Conservatives have tapped into inner xenophobia of the goray with their anti-immigration stance..and the likes of the BNP grow on hatred of alll coloureds...Indian..Bengali...hindu....sikh...muslim.....
it doesnt matter...as any british asian would know.all are just ``bloody pakis`` to them..

Re: # 4

Ozer K, my brother, 3.2% of 59.6 million ain`t still a whole lot of people.Russia celebrates it`s 60 years v-Day celebrations as i type.Fifty world leaders invited, Bush, Hu-Jintao,Chirac, my man Dr.Manmohan who`s having a meeting with both Putin and Bush and other worthies, but no Blair and no Mushaaraf.You see the world doesn`t invite hired hands.Only lawfully elected leaders.Britain is `a second rate power` as an indian politician so delicately put it, when QE II came calling on New Delhi a few years ago.I wish all south asians well, wherever they may choose to live or were born in.My issue is with Britain`s status in the world and at present it is way down the pecking order.It may change and i certainly wish them well.

To give you an idea of where Britain is economically:

1 World $ 55,500,000,000,000 2004 est.
2 United States $ 11,750,000,000,000 2004 est.
3 European Union $ 11,650,000,000,000 2004 est.
4 China $ 7,262,000,000,000 2004 est.
5 Japan $ 3,745,000,000,000 2004 est.
6 India $ 3,319,000,000,000 2004 est.
7 Germany $ 2,362,000,000,000 2004 est.
8 United Kingdom $ 1,782,000,000,000 2004 est

http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/rankorder/2001rank.html

Hey, we indians might even bail out the british in a few years, say what??.Say hello to Lakshmi Mittal for me won`t ya??.Cheers.

ozer

Deal with the substance of my posts, dont pontificate so pompously with phrases like `The crimson sun will set on its ubiquitous inequity.`

Thats hilarious. What does it mean? Please explain. What crimson sun? What ubiquitous inequity? What the hell are you talking about?

[[However don’t simplistically over-egg the pudding by branding the “entire community” in Birmingham as “fraudsters”. Your labels and prejudices are all too transparent and do not hold sway amongst this audience]]

Dont put quotation marks around phrases I dont use implying my assent to those sentiments. That is fraudulent. I stand by my words, that we are witnessing the growth of Muslim communalist and sectarian politics in Britain. The level of electoral fraud carried out by Pakistani politicians across the country has been massive and unprecedented and has led to widescale criminal prosecution and imprisonment. No other community has been involved in this, not Afro-Caribbeans, Jews, Hindus or Sikhs. Why?

Ozer

Great to see you on Chowk babez ! I loved reading ``Dusk``. When are you coming to visit in Houston ? Loaaads to tell ya.....

Congratulations on winning the essay at the Pak High Commission in London ! I neva hear it through the man himself......Which clubs are u promoting these days ? I misss uuuu....

On your article, do you feel Blair will fulfill his pledges ? Apart from Gordon Brown, what are the other obstacles is he likely to face ? Surely the vacuous rhetoric by the Tories will prove no hindrance ?

Ozer

You write very eloquently. Good to finally evidence in-depth socio-political commentary by a multi-cultural fella. I have been privileged to come across some of your moving pieces on poetry and Islamic Banking on the Internet and Google.

You are quite romantic and charismatic at heart. From your interacts I see you adore Khalil Gibran and Rumi.

Question to Ozer or any expert on politics: is there any real difference between labour and the tories ? do they not stand and represent similar values ? and if the liberal democrats have gained ground will british politics not gleefully be gridlocked into italian-style coalitions ? a ceaseless fragmentation of non-ending fox-hunting debates ?

Dear Ozer Khalid

``Dooms-day sooth-sayers or not, gleaming triumphal bravura is not an order du jour. A ``Damoclean`` sword hangs over the don Dionysius of Downing Street. The resulting years to come will reveal to all and sundry if Blair is up for the Herculean feat``

Wow ! You write so cavalierly ! Have you studied classics or Greek mythology ?

Come what may, you are a gifted writer and an acute observer of international relations and finance. And by the looks of your i-log profile quite handsome and easy-on-the-eyes as well !! You poetically answer most questions posed by your captive audience.

I have one question to all/any readers: do you feel Mr Blair will sit his full-tenure or will the throne prematurely be passed onto Gordon Brown ? If so what will be the ramifications in terms of policy shifts ? Especially for the ``Desi`` community living in the UK ?