Eng v Scot v the education system

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.

Govanhill migrant issue

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.

A Palestinian path to Scotland

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

The veil experiment

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’.

F Cup cookies

Women can have strange habits. According to some opinionated men, we are image obsessed, celebrity orientated, chocolate craving beings that like to constantly moan and can even multi task. Some think that even the strongest feminist amongst us has a soft spot for all things pink and fluffy.

It might be slightly generalising an entire gender but the latest craze for certain cookies in pink packaging makes it seem like vanity got the best of us. Cookies that apparently make your breasts grow.

Originally brought to fame by Radio 1 presenter Scott Mills, the F Cup Cookies have become the number one ‘natural’ way of boosting those bosoms.