The Stirrer

Aha some response at last

I am told that the parties are already out and campainging in Sparkbrook and literature being circulated suggest that the candidates for the big three are

Respect - Shokat Ali
Labour - Mohammed Azeem (who else)
Libs - Nahim Kureshi

Does anybody know any of these individuals. We will only know the final line up after the closing date.

Someone on this Topic made some comments around the timing of the election. It seems that lack of respect for minority religions is not just a BNP / EDL issue.

Clearly the person making the comments has very little knowledge of the demography of Sparkbrook. If the person made the comments with full knowledge, then they need to examine thier prejudices towards minority religions or is just Muslims they have a problem with.

Sorry - I've not stopped laughing at being bracketed as a powerful politician.

No wall of silence, old son. I haven't looked into who called the by-election, but from what I do know, I don't think it was done officially by a couple of Labour electors as I don't think Labour wanted it that close to Ramadan.

Although it only takes two electors, I would be surprised if it wasn't somebody with a political affiliation.

However, the point is moot - the game's afoot now.

ARE YOU TELLING ME RESPECT could not afford to lend their sitting councillor £9K to avoid a bankrupcy
So how come he didn't say to the TAX MAN, i'll pay you slowly out of my future earning.

It's the taxman for god's sake (death & taxes anyone), unless your a billionaire in which case its rebates & cryogenics.

A respect colleague told me that Muslims have a night or Powers on the Thursday before Eid of Feasting and RESPECT called the election on that day.

It was the day MUSLIM Pakistan got its independence from Britian on, which is why the Indians and Sikh's didn't wanted to be independent on the next day. Suddenly that Ghandi movies makes sense when they were saying the Astrologers are not happy with the 14 August Date.

Since it is Ramadan, Muslims will vote for the Muslim Party.

Hat off to Ms Yaqoob, she is a lot smarter than most people give her credit for.
The next RESPECT councillor will be anointed on the Muslim night of power, which has religious significance for Muslims.

Who is favourite for the sparkbrook seat?gona be straight fight between respect n labour..and why does azim keep gettin selected for labour.is there no body else?

Shokat ali respect,is he the same 1 that stood for the community ind party..

Lib Dem notoriety for saying just about anything they think will scrape them a few votes is surpassing itself in Sparkbrook. As if there are not enough conspiracy theories already kicking around in the ward, they have decided to throw in a new one.

They have issued a leaflet claiming that council officers in the education department and Respect councillors 'have been colluding' to ensure Conway School went into special measures. I kid you not. And to ensure there is no ambiguity as to what they mean, they write that the devilishly sinister Respect have a strategy which:

“relies on failing schools so they can pick up the protest vote.” Adding, for good measure, that local councillors don’t care because they don’t send their children to Sparkbrook.

Now, lets leave aside the fact Coun Yaqoob lives in Kings Heath and sends her children to schools nearby, and that Coun Isthiaq does not have any children. Lets leave aside the fact that he went to Conway School as does his nephews, nieces and cousins. Lets leave aside the scurrilous lie that rather than actually working to try improve the area Respect councillors are part of a conspiracy in collusion with council officers to drag it down. And lets also leave aside the fact that men did actually land on the Moon, and it was not all staged from some aircraft hanger in the Arizona desert. Or wherever.

The real questions are these: does this leaflet reflect the official views of the Liberal Democrats? Are these views shared of John Hemming and Cllr Tilsley? Do they think there was conspiracy to bring Conway School into special measures? And if they do think so, what’s their evidence, when were they first aware of this plot and what did they do to expose it?

And what do the Lib Dems ‘progressive partners’ think about claims concerning the actions of officials in Cllr Lawrence’s dept? Or maybe Les is in on it?? Hmmmm…Is there not an issue of libel here in relation to both elected councillors and the (unnamed) council officers these charges are levelled at? And what about the Lib Dem claims that the conspiracy was first hatched in an abandoned Rover showroom owned via front companies by a dodgy local businessman?? (Ok. OK. I made the last point up. It is a complete fabrication. But, y’know, it could be true…)

Of course, maybe, just maybe, there is no conspiracy, and this is all a severe case of Mullaneyitis? A disorder, incidentally, recognised in Ireland as the frequent blathering of any old shite, often activated by panic, elections, weddings and visits to the barbers.

The Lib Dem candidate Nahim Queshri, and fellow member Pervez Hussain, who is featured in the leaflet, were actually school governors of Conway when it was taken into special measures. Perhaps they got spooked this would be used against them and tried to get their retaliation in first by deflecting criticism with this rather over elaborate ruse. In which case, they panicked unnecessarily. We are not in the business of uniformly blaming school governors for schools being taken into special measures, and we certainly had no intention of doing so over Conway. It kinda seems too serious an issue to be playing cheap party politics with.

Anyway, our view is that the Lib Dems have acted in a way to drag the reputations of council officers and elected councillors into the gutter. And we will be raising our concerns about that with the returning officer.

I know when it comes to elections and propriety in Birmingham the bar is already very low, but let’s at least try have some standards, eh?

This is a new low for the LIB DEM's can anyone scan and post a copy of the Education Leaflet.

Can someone look at the possibility of suing the socks off them.

the indians had a party?
In sparbrook?

My children will confirm that you really don't want my socks.

Naeem Rabbani Qureshi

Rabbani?? I dont belive it... no way is Naeem a Naqshbandhi

http://seekersguidance.org/blog/2009/08/the-inner-dimensions-of-fasting-imam-abu-hamid-al-ghazali/#more-233

And who on earth is Sakander Mahmood ??

maybe he called the by election?

Perhpas hes Respects candidate for next year?

I can never work out who you want to win, LL.

I saw two leaflets today and didn't see anything that Ger has been on about.

It that an admission that you have instituted an 'Victorian Style Domestic Chores' policy in your household?

Any pointers I can't get the kids to wash the dishes after they have eaten.


we have RESPECT saying

"They have issued a leaflet claiming that council officers in the education department and Respect councillors 'have been colluding' to ensure Conway School went into special measures. I kid you not. And to ensure there is no ambiguity as to what they mean"

and lib dems saying it didn't happen

Any chance of RESPECT / LIB DEMS reprinting what was actually said, on the education leaflet, since I have not seen it.
can we make up our own minds. One of you has to be telling a porkie.

...erm am i allowed to say that since RESPECT is a muslim party

Respect is such a muslim party that they had a Christian vicar standing for them in Moseley and Kings Heath in 2008

That said, the only thing he seemed to know about was the Middle East. Particularly amusing was when he said in the hustings that he doesn't think that grammar schools should be brought back in Birmingham. That prompted anguished howls from the Lefties in the audience.

From what I can tell its a 2 horse race between RESPECT & LABOUR,
I've been told turnout will be low, which benefits labour, since they have a larger non-muslim core vote that won't be fasting.

So labour has an outside chance.

Not surprised to hear John Hemming try cast doubt that the Lib Dem leaflet actually exists but was surprised that some people appear to have fallen for his smoke blowing. I will make sure to give him a copy if he attends Sunday’s meeting about the EDL/anti-racism in the Council House, although something tells me he has seen one already.

As for what the leaflet says, the most offensive bits are as follows:

“Respect councillors have been colluding with Education Officers to undermine Conway School….Respect strategy relies on failing schools so they can pick up the protest vote. They need our children to fail so they can get votes. If their children went to Conway School they would care!”