BBC News: “UK population ‘to rise to 71.6m’”

As being reported on the BBC website, the population of the UK is expected to increase from 61m to 71.6m by 2033, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). As it states, just over two-thirds of this increase is expected to be related directly or indirectly to migration to the UK.

If the projected increase materialises, the population will have grown at its fastest rate in a century: by more than 10m in the 24 years between 2008 and 2029, less than half the time it took to rise from 50m to 60m between 1948 and 2005.

Event: ‘Europe & Islam: Whose Identity Crisis?’

As part of the British Council’s ‘Our Shared Europe’ project, I have been invited to participate in a debate at the European Parliament on the 19th November 2009 entitled, ‘Europe & Islam: whose identity crisis?’.

If anybody would like to attend the debate, then please contact osedebate@britishcouncil.be before the 11th November.

Full details of the event are set out below:

Europe & Islam: Whose Identity Crisis?
Hosted by Sajjad Karim MEP

Thursday 19th November 2009 – 10:30 to 13:00
European Parliament, Brussels

In a continent of diverse cultures how people choose to identify themselves is becoming increasingly important; whether through nationality, religion, language or political outlook. Can these identities mix, are they changing, and which are most important?

And is identity in Europe becoming a more complex issue for its citizens? How are European Muslims reconciling their multiple identities? And what is the basis for a European identity? Does an increase in extremism, euroscepticism, islamaphobia and a move back towards nationalism indicate that people are unhappy with those who identify themselves in different ways?

In a continent progressively challenged by mixed identities, who is it with the identity crisis? Europe, or Islam, or both?

Participants

Pal Schmitt
Vice-President of the European Parliament
Douglas Murray
Director, The Centre for Social Cohesion
Malika Hamidi
Vice-President, European Muslim Network
Dr Chris Allen
Academic, writer and broadcaster on Islamophobia in Europe
Bashy Quraishy
Chair Advisory Council, European Network Against Racism
Daniel Hannan
Member of the European Parliament

Debate moderated by Shada Islam, Senior Policy Executive, European Policy Centre.

Further information can be found at http://www.oursharedeurope.org/activities.

“We don’t do God” but then maybe we do: Speak Out magazine

(The following short post is an introductory piece that will be included in the next edition of Speak Out magazine due for publication in early June. It will introduce a collection of short pieces about minority religions in Birmingham and a more detailed piece of the British Humanist Association’s recent report into the ‘religion or belief’ equalities strand – click here to read)

The former Labour spin-doctor Alistair Campbell was once famously quoted as saying, “We don’t do God”. In many ways, Campbell may have been speaking on behalf of the British per se: or at least how things might have been because there are signs that some things might be changing.

Beyond Statistically Challenged: ‘Changing Populations’ conference at the West Midlands Regional Observatory

Below is a transcript of a paper that I presented at the West Midlands Regional Observatory conference, ‘Changing Populations’ on Tuesday 31st March 2009.

When considering issues of equality and diversity, it is very easy to get sidelined by statistics. This event today is not only about looking at the statistics of today but also about planning for the future: about making sure that we do not become statistically challenged and that our policies and strategies are ‘fit for purpose’. If we fail to achieve this in terms of equalities, then we will fail the challenge of ensuring the West Midlands region becomes a fairer and more equal place to live.

So how might we be statistically challenged?

Well a quick review of the information we have already highlights some real challenges in terms of equality and diversity, terms in themselves that we routinely bandy about but rarely engage with. So what do we know?

Headline figures and trends lay claim to the fact that the West Midlands is becoming increasingly diverse. Take for instance the marker of ‘race’ or ethnicity.

Cockney Reject: Celebrating 19 Years in the West Midlands

This weekend marks the 19th anniversary of my relocation to the West Midlands: first arriving in Stourbridge on the first weekend of January 1990.

How things have changed..!!??

Since 1990 I’ve had three children, got married (and subsequently divorced), had various jobs (from working in a UCI Cinema through stockbroking for Charles Schwab to co-authoring a report for the European Monitoring Centre for Racism and Xenophobia), completed a degree at the University of Wolverhampton followed by the successful completion of my PhD at the University of Birmingham. Between these I’ve had many trials and tribulations that are not the sort of thing that need to be repeated here…!!!

But two things that haven’t changed: the first that I still identify myself as a Londoner (more precisely, as someone from Bermondsey); the second, that I haven’t lost my (strong) Cockney accent.

Why is this…?