2005 UK General Elections

This is what a local Pakistani man had to say about the importation of Pakistani style democracy into Birmingham, England:

[[He said local bigwigs had come into Asian homes, pressuring voters to cast their postal ballots in front of them - insisting they back Labour. ``This is the politics of Pakistan or Bangladesh and they`ve brought it here,`` he said]]

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/elections2004/story/0,14549,1237077,00.html

Re: # 14

theo what do you feel should be done with pakistanis in britain ?

should they be deported ?

is that the assumption by you and the judge ?

[[Respect`s candidate was Salma Yaqoob a lady which I hate to admire because of her bold stand against War in Iraq although she lost but took 10,000 of Labour`s precious votes from Sparkbrook Area of Birmingham]]

Respect are a party composed of the extreme left wing Socialist Workers Party and the right wing Muslim Association of Britain. Their bond is a hatred for America and Israel. Respect got lots of votes in a constituency made up of about 50% Kashmiris using the rhetoric of Jihad-lite, stuff the Hindus in Kashmir, screw the Jews, etc etc etc. Not a surprise that they got so many votes playing communal politics. I think we will see more of this kind of communalist politics in the future in Britain.

Britain is not new to communal politics, for so long Northern Ireland has been crippled by this kind of ideology. But until now, the mainland has been free of it. Not any more. Muslim communalism will be a political force to be reckoned with in those parts of the country with large Pakistani populations in the future.

More on the electoral fraud commited by Pakistani politicians in Birmingham:

This is what the Judge had to say about the whole thing:

[[He criticised the government`s insistence that the current postal voting system was working, adding: ``Anybody who has sat through the case I have just tried and listened to evidence of electoral fraud that would disgrace a banana republic would find this statement surprising.``]]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_midlands/4406575.stm

labyrinth

[[I would also like to say that in this election specially the Pakistani Community played a very positive role and systematically voted for MPs who opposed war in Iraq and advocated for the solution of Kashmir cause.]]

Pakistanis in Birmingham have been responsible for the biggest electoral voting fraud in British history since Victorian times. That was the description of the judge who over saw the investigation of six Pakistani Kashmiri politicians in Birmingham recently who participated in a massive criminal attempt to fix voting in a council election using postal ballots, involving violence, intimidation and corruption on a massive scale. This is the greatest contribution Pakistani politicians in Birmingham have made to political life in Britain recently. Something to be proud of, indeed.

Incidentally, this has become a phenomena of Pakistani men being convicted of electoral fraud and criminal activity regarding postal ballots. I know at least two Pakistani politicians have been sent to prison in the last few weeks over this and the Kashmiris in Birmingham will be facing criminal charges too. It seems that whilst Pakistani voters have been acting on `principle` and worrying about freedom for Kashmir, other voters in Birmingham have had to worry about the corruption of democracy that has been taking place within certain sections of not so principled Pakistani politicians.

Birmingham hasnt been a safe ground for Labour merely because of the Pakistani community, those seats have always been solid Labour because they are working class constituencies in an industrial city. White, Jamaican, Sikh, Hindu, Irish, have all tended to vote Labour.

Re: # 11

Theo Van Gogh,

You insolently pick on an entire Pakistani community residing in Birmingham based on a few mischievous misfits being convicted of electoral fraud and criminal activity regarding postal ballots. Clearly these misfits deserve sanctions.

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.

Seems you crave the attention, so bask in your misplaced wisdom and cosmetic glory.

The crimson sun will set on its ubiquitous inequity.

ozerkhalid #4

`` Let us refrain from “Eminemishly” tit-for-tatting at one another. Surely Chowk is too mature a forum for school-boy scoundrel antics to be deployed. Too facile a game to play. ``

You must be new !!!

`` Your maladroit history lecture suggests a 19th century Golden Age for Britannia, when, let me enlighten you, British dexterity flaunted its muscle in the 20th century !! Get those facts straight-wired into your cranium. ``

I have full admiration for the British for what they achieved even if they mistreated a few hundred million Third World people.

`` Your naïveté overlooks the verity that for every MG Rover there is an Enron Corp., Tyco International Ltd. and WorldCom Inc, degradingly entangled in accounting scrape despite the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

There exist a plethora of British firms who are fiscally sound, solvent, exhibit profitability, liquidity and a healthy capital structure. ``

For every Enron, Worldcom, Global Crossing there is a Exon Mobil, Verizon etc. Those scandals occured prior to the enactment of the Sarbanes-Oxley act.

Name a top British technology firm - either in computers, semiconductors, capital equipment etc. Vodafone is the only decent name out there. Marconi is on the verge of bankruptcy.
Continental Europe has plenty - Ericsson, Nokia, Alcatel, Siemens, Phillips, BMW, Daimler, Volkswagen etc.

British military hardware - Harriers, Sea Kings, Tridents etc. are based on American military components.

cayenne`s basic point is still valid. If not for American politcal and military support UK would be completely irrelevant. He might not have been diplomatic about it.

Re: # 10

B Babu you raise some constructively healthy issues. You asked me to name you “one” top UK-based technology firm. I will push the envelope much further and mention “entire” British industries, namely biotech and pharma, which have technology as their handmaiden and are fusing cutting-edge science to revolutionize the health of humanity at the threshold of the 21st century.

Babu, a much-discussed symbol of the UK`s entrepreneurial renaissance is the so-called “Cambridge Phenomenon” - a marriage of science and technology based enterprises mushroomed in and around Cambridge University. This cluster aka the ``Cambridge Science Park`` is blessed with razor-edge information technology, both hardware and software, and several of the new firms enjoy close links to leading universities; A case in point is Herman Hauser, championing Acorn Computers, a personal computer manufacturer, who innovatively worked at the Cavendish laboratory, and is recognized amongst friends and foes as a doyen of his trade.

British universities and government research laboratories have a stupendous track-record in the sciences on which biotechnology is based. This is crucial because in biotechnology, to a greater extent than in semiconductors or electronics, commercial success depends on an intimate continuum between corporate-based research, due-dilligence and science.

Second, biotechnology is inextricably linked to pharmaceuticals, and in the latter, the UK is comfortably nestled amongst the creme de la creme.

Well perched on an entrepreneurial apex.

Thanks in part to a favorable regulatory regime which lubricates the wheels for incentives and innovative research, there are strong nationally-owned companies such as AstraZeneca and GlaxoSmithKline as well as an overabundance of foreign outfits which have located research and production facilities in the UK.

Skills have been spruced-up over many years by the pharmaceutical industry - for example, in clinical testing, highly relevant to humanity`s future. The big pharmaceutical companies are vital customers and partners for biotechnology firms, nourishing and feeding off each other.

The success of this and other Cambridge firms engagingly sees “Silicon Fen” not as a rival to Silicon Valley, but a complement, where cross-Atlantic information-sharing has been second to none .

As made clear earlier to Cayenne, I do not for a nano-second deny American leadership in technology/electronics which has its nucleus in the sheer size of the domestic consumer market, extensive White House support emboldened through the Pentagon`s defence programme, a sector you were nippy to pin-point.

US technology is oxygenized by intense internal competition, the anti-monopoly laws on operating systems are instructive, and a set of supportive institutions which include a robust science base, easy interchange of personnel between the IV League and Wall Street, and a gargantuan, albeit hobbled, venture capital industry.

Babu what you do renege to observe is that the UK has witnessed a biotechnology/pharmaceutical renaissance, acknowledged by leading technologists, scientists and analysts, which may not be as deep-seated as in the US , but is profound nonetheless.

Before dismissing the US` Trans-Atlantic rival/partner do acquiesce to these milestones.

for the sake of correction ,
still its the British Oil Company ( s ) who are the biggest land owners in US...

As someone who lives in Birmingham ... lemme give you guys from a Brummie`s point of view ,
Birmingham had always been a Labour safe ground thanks to Pakistani community there who always supported Labour from years but this time was different because of Iraq War ...... we had this Respect Party of George Galloway campaigning in Birmingham who created quite a fuss in England and specially in Birmingham ... Respect`s candidate was Salma Yaqoob a lady which I hate to admire because of her bold stand against War in Iraq although she lost but took 10,000 of Labour`s precious votes from Sparkbrook Area of Birmingham. Labour lost a seat in Yardley area of Birmingham to Liberal Democrats a party which is projecting there party as a mixture of Tories and Labour - Liberal Democrats snatched atleast 7-10% of Labours votes from all over UK.
Here I would like to add that Pakistani Community voted Labour anyway because Labour still advocates immigration and Labour specially Tony Blair eased marriage - visa process when he came into power.
There this thing in UK Politics that Tony Blair will in a couple of years time will hand over No. 10 to someone else ....maybe his chancellor who had always longed for No.10 for years.... As a Pakistani , I see British Politics as a role model because here politics is done on issues - council tax , tax relief , immigration and anti- social elements plus law and order situation were the main issues in this election. I would also like to say that in this election specially the Pakistani Community played a very positive role and systematically voted for MPs who opposed war in Iraq and advocated for the solution of Kashmir cause.

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: # 35

syke

what dirty tactics did galloway actually deploy ?

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: # 8

Labyrinth

Your “Brummien” point of view hits the nail on the head with meticulous precision. Labour, in Birmingham and elsewhere, takes a leaner slant on immigration and Visa processing, therefore remains a vote-winner amongst ethnic minorities. As for Galloway, he took a bold stance and his actions righteously earn him approbation amongst voters throughout the UK and the Commonwealth.

Only one point puzzles me in your reasoning, Salma Yaqoob`s laudable anti-war stance is exemplary, how is she pinching you by becoming a lady which you despicably hate ? Is it because of her bold stand ?

Or the truth resonating in her vocal chords ?

Labyrinth, without seeking to flog a dead-horse, was it truly necessary to unilaterally invade Iraq without appropriate UN sanctions? Surely unilateralism is a malady that plagues our society: a dire infringement for social development?

Weapons of mass destruction, as if by a Houdini-magic wand vanished into thin air? They were never found. Labyrinth a stark reality is that the weapons didn`t exist and were largely (if not totally) destroyed during the 1991 Gulf War.

We need gutsy spokeswomen like Salma Yaqoob to neutralize a male-laden neo-imperialist political landscape fraught with bravado.

#4 by ozerkhalid on May 8, 2005 5:05am PT


Surely Chowk is too mature a forum


you`re new here, aren`t you?

Re: # 6

Arjun

Despite your signalling radar, what you should be detecting is a ``tinge of praise`` for the boys of Bangalore.