Mubeen Blogs

For the chancellor to yield to his rightwing obsessives would be bad economics and bad politics Few things in British politics are more glumly predictable, whatever the economic and political circumstances, than Conservative MPs and their rightwing media echo chamber demanding budget tax cuts. Reducing the tax burden for the less well-off undoubtedly has a place in an even-handed approach to Britain’s economic challenges. The tax system also needs reform. But renewed backbench calls for cuts in personal taxes in advance of Jeremy Hunt’s pre-election budget reveal a party that has learned nothing. It is only 18 months since Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng brought the UK economy to its knees by pursuing exactly this approach. Sterling crashed to its lowest level against the dollar in half a century after they declared their tax-cutting budget was just the start . Borrowing costs spiralled. The package also inflicted what may prove to be irreparable damage on the Tory party’s electoral...

A person of such profound commitment and depth of feeling could be much more useful to the world alive than dead The horror of it is beyond my capacity to describe. On Sunday afternoon, a US air force airman named Aaron Bushnell doused himself in gasoline outside the Israeli embassy in Washington DC and lit himself on fire. His phone was propped on the ground nearby, livestreaming to Twitch. “I will no longer be complicit in genocide,” Bushnell said. “I am about to engage in an extreme act of protest. But compared to what people have been experiencing in Palestine at the hands of their colonizers, it’s not extreme at all. This is what our ruling class has decided will be normal.” Then he set fire to his body and screamed, “Free Palestine.” Bushnell died at a nearby hospital some nine hours later. He was 25. Bushnell’s political self-killing has opened a rupture in American political discourse, dividing even those with a commitment to the Palestinian cause and a fervent opposition to...

In compelling documentary As We Speak, a controversial legal practice that uses rap lyrics to secure convictions is explored In September 2001, McKinley Phipps Jr, also known as the rapper Mac, was sentenced to 30 years in prison for manslaughter. It had been a year and a half since gunfire erupted outside a club where he was slated to perform in Slidell, Louisiana, resulting in the death of 19-year-old Barron Victor Jr. Phipps, then 22, maintained his innocence , and the case against him was weak – there was no gun linking him to the crime, several witnesses recanted their testimony and another person confessed to pulling the trigger. And yet, prosecutors had their trump card: Mac, a former New Orleans rap prodigy who began releasing music at the age of 13, had rapped about murder. “Murder, murder, kill, kill”, Phipps recites in As We Speak: Rap Music on Trial, a new documentary on the criminalization of rap lyrics. Prosecutors spliced that line with one from a different song – “Pul...

Even Rish! has tied himself in knots trying to work out what Anderson should apologise for. Because Lee’s not racist or Islamophobic, is he? How do you solve a problem like Lee? If you’re Rishi Sunak, then the answer is with the greatest reluctance. And extremely carefully. Lee Anderson is a man to be treated with kid gloves. To be loved back into a state of grace. It would be a push to call Lee a national treasure. But he is certainly the closest the Conservative party has to a local hero. An MP far more popular among fellow Tories than Rishi or any of his cabinet colleagues. Viewers tune into his GB News programme to be drip-fed divine truths. For the unsayable to be made flesh. Lee is their beating heart. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/PnM3NGx

Misbah Sadique and her friend Kulsum were hit by a car they say was accelerating at them but police did not regard incident as a potential hate crime despite rising Islamophobia The driver was said to have slowed down to let Misbah Sadique, 37, and her friend Kulsum, cross the road. They were close to home in Waltham Forest and felt safe in a part of east London that they knew well. But, as they stepped out, the car in front of them suddenly, inexplicably, accelerated, one of the women later alleged. It is said that Kulsum was thrown to the ground by the force of the impact and that Misbah was dragged under the vehicle. She claims she was lucky to escape with breaks to her right ankle and foot, ribs and right arm, on top of extensive bruising and abrasions. Three weeks later, she remains in hospital, traumatised and facing a long road to recovery. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/YIgN8Lk

Langley will make attempt in National League Cup final Manager says her side are ‘empowering women in Saudi Arabia’ Becky Langley is suddenly well placed to beat Eddie Howe in the race to claim Newcastle United’s first trophy since their Saudi Arabian-led takeover. Howe’s men are desperate to end a club silverware drought stretching back to 1969 when the Fairs Cup was lifted but Langley’s fully professional women’s team may yet lead the way after reaching next month’s National League Cup final. After beating Portsmouth 2-1 in front of an exuberant 22,307-strong crowd at St James’s Park courtesy of the excellent Georgia Gibson’s 90th-minute winner, Newcastle will now meet semi-professional, Essex-based, Hashtag United at Luton’s Kenilworth Road. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/Eh6xX7D

Premier League updates from the 8pm GMT kick-off Live scoreboard | Share your thoughts with Scott on email Newcastle’s starting XI seems to have gone down well with their fans, if our sample size of one MBM reader is anything to go by. “That seems a really sensible line-up for Newcastle,” begins John Davis. “It’s quite a convenient bout of illness - Dubravka is a great shot stopper but won’t leave his line. He’s trying to replace someone in Nick Pope who loves sweeping and you can see the pressure he’s under recently - he’s started to come out when he has no chance of making it, or hesitating, and it’s unsettling the defence. Karius did pretty well in his only game in the Carabao Cup final under lots of pressure, and I still reckon he was concussed when he made the errors in the Champions League final. Isak in for Barnes is great - Barnes is just back from a long injury and Isak is different class, and the pace of Tino against Saka gets Dan Burn out of the firing line after some ...