Protesters in Beirut forced a branch of coffee chain Starbucks to close today after anger directed towards the ongoing war in Gaza.
An immediate boycott of Israeli products has been urged across the Arab world after day 19 of the conflict has seen 1,010 people killed and over4,000 injured.
Lets face it, there seems to be some that are trying to create a hostility between Scotland and England. A few of us think we are above the English which geographically we are, whilst others think it’s solely the English that put the “U” in the United Kingdom.
The row over student fees in Scotland has only helped to expand the Anglo-Scot divide especially since Gordon Brown became the top man of the Labour Party.
While Scottish students, and EU students studying in Scotland get off ‘Scot free,’ English students still are required to pay the full fees.
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From the second you see the silver hair and broad face of one of the most reputable journalists on the BBC, you know that you will be provided with good quality reporting.
The same will apply to John Simpson’s autobiography, Strange Places, Questionable People.
Simpson reporting on the Iraq war
Govanhill has came under scrutiny after Strathclyde Police say that racism is on the increase against migrant workers and asylum seekers.
The police claim that there is a growing hostility between the Asian population of the Southside and other ethnic groups. (more…)
A young teenager walks into the room followed by her father. They both sit and talk politely. This is no ordinary family. This is the Hussein family who immigrated to Scotland from the Gaza Strip in Palestine back in 2000.
The father, Ghazi Hussein, decided to settle in Glasgow after a gruelling life in one of the most war ridden places in the world: Palestine.
He says: “When we arrived here I had a feeling things were going to get better. Everything in this country is so different to what I’m used to. My family and I were so overwhelmed. The culture and people of this country changed me as a person forever.”
Ghazi Hussein in Edinburgh
Over 3 million people are facing another harsh winter in Pakistan’s northern regions, a year on from the earthquake according to Oxfam Scotland.
An estimated 86,000 people lost their lives in what is the biggest South Asian earthquake to date. And still, the aid and relief isn’t reaching the people in need.
Categories: Articles · Politics · World Affairs
After Flava Flavs disturbing appearance on celebrity Big Brother a few years ago, one would think that the reputation of Public Enemy has went downhill.
But Fear of a Black Planet remains one of the most influential hip-hop albums of all times. Inspiring artists such as Zach de la Rocha and Dr. Dre, it is the revolutionary lyrics of Chuck D in ‘Fight the Power’ and ‘Welcome to the Terrordome’ that makes this politically heated album give a voice to civil rights and put the bitches n’ bling hip-hop we hear now to shame.
Public Enemy still fighting the power
Over the years, Nine Inch Nails have created different sounds ranging from screaming metal guitars in Pretty Hate Machine to the slower pulsation of The Fragile. NIN have not ceased to disappoint until now. The somewhat repetitive clatter of debut album The Slip was released shortly after the instrumental Ghosts I–IV. Even though frontman Trent Reznor decided to be generous by giving the entire album away for free, the dabbling with disco in tracks such as ‘Discipline’ proves to be an unworthy move. Although ‘Head Down’ and ‘Echoplex’ rekindle the early days of Reznor’s poignant creations, The Slip leaves you feeling like NIN have been there done that.
NIN live in Edinburgh
Categories: Articles · Music
Tagged: NIN, NIN album review, The slip review
Cut Copy are yet another clean cut ‘electro-pop’ band springing up from Australia along with the likes of the Presets, the Midnight Juggernauts, and the vanishing rock band Wolfmother.
Dan Whitford giving it
Brought to you by Modular’s love child Punkdafunk, Cut Copy surprisingly have a New Order taste to them mixed in with a spoonful of the Petshop Boys.
So far, 2008 has proved to be an overflowing year of boy bands with synthesizers and multicoloured hoodies. But Cut Copy have taken a different
approach to electro-pop with their debut album In Ghost Colours. This fresh sound will make anyone run to the dance floor. The vocals of Dan Whitford
makes ‘Hearts on Fire’ the prized song of the whole album. Combined with sassy beats and a sexy saxophone, the Melbourne trio pull if off nicely. Along with ‘Lights & Music’ and ‘Far Away’, the 80’s influence of disco and spinning funk makes it difficult to find flaws in this album.
The smooth beats of ‘Feel the Love’ creates originality as a mellowed love song which helps Cut Copy distinguish themselves away from the likes of Calvin Harris style rhetoric. Their beats are kept simple and flowing with excitement. And it works.
Categories: Articles · Music
Tagged: Cut Copy, electro pop
Glasgow is a city with the largest Asian community in Scotland. Multiculturalism exists in many parts of the city, most notably in the south side where the majority of Indian and Pakistani shops, restaurants and cafes stretch under the traditional tenement sandstone flats of Govanhill and Pollocksheilds.
The greater part of these areas have been peaceful even after the killing of teenager Kris Donald five years ago when he was murdered by three Asian gang members all from Pollocksheilds.
Even when the BNP came and went at the time to stir up trouble, the mother of 15 year old Kris defended the peaceful community where people have coincided with each other for a long time.
Although it sounds like a peaceful unity, not all is positive in a city where youth gang crime is on the increase especially within the second generation of Asians in Glasgow.
Drug abuse, robbery, and violent crimes are a few of the difficult problems that are continuing to rise.
The reputation of Glasgow’s new found image of multiculturalism was put to the test after 9/11. In these harsh times with the war in Iraq, sever political displacement in Pakistan, and of course the word ‘terrorism’ creeping into the news headlines everyday, one might say that the Asian youth of Glasgow is feeling alienated.
Many young Muslims believe that Islam is widely misinterpreted and feel victimised over negative images and Islamophobia.
As a Muslim myself and still unaware of this victimisation, I decided to put it to the test by wearing a full burka for the day. I’ve never covered my hair in public before so this was an entirely new experience to me.
The burka which is also known as a nikab is a delicate matter in Islam. The burka is worn in most Muslim countries but is viewed as a form of oppression by many people especially in the UK.
The burka didn’t get a better image in 2006 when the at the time Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said he would ask women to uncover their faces when speaking to him to ‘allow better communication’.
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Al Jazeera