| Tower Hamlets: faith and democracy Wednesday evening in St Mary and St Michael Roman Catholic Church at the junction of Commercial Road and Lukin Street. It stands just a little north of Cable Street. Buddhists, Muslims and Christians collectively filled most of the pews. I was shown to a seat close by the altar behind a man from the Salvation Army in full uniform, a younger man from the Islamic Forum of Europe and a young woman from St Paul's Anglican church in Shadwell who works for its youth project XLP. They bantered cheerfully.Across the aisle, in the front row, five politicians assembled. Lutfur Rahman was on the right, Alan Duffell was on his left followed by Helal Abbas, Neil King and John Griffiths. I watched the body language. Griffiths and King chatted. Maybe they should have coalesced. Were Rahman and Abbas relieved that Duffell was between them? They are generally held to be the candidates best placed to win the race to become Tower Hamlets's first directly-elected executive mayor. Abbas, who leads the Council at present, is Labour's candidate, imposed in Rahman's place. Rahman is now running as an independent. The pair have a lot of shared history. In a written statement that helped him usurp Rahman, Abbas wrote:Luthfur Rahman is a man in his late 30s or early 40s. He is a solicitor at McCormacks. I knew him as a local young man and as a youth worker. In 2001 I was keen to recruit new young members to the Labour Party. At that stage I encouraged Luthfur Rahman to join and I kept in touch with him in the early years of his membership. In 2001 I encouraged him to stand with me as a Labour candidate in the local Council elections in the same ward as me. We were both elected in that year.Then, on the next page:It was when he became Council leader that I began to suspect Luthfur Rahman's involvement in the Islamic Forum of Europe (IFE). This is a fundamentalist organisation which is gradually infiltrating the Labour Party. I discussed it with him and we differed. We saw less of each other. We had been friendly until he was elected leader.I think the IFE would quarrel with the label "fundamentalist" and the description "infiltrating" but not with being characterised as engaging with politics. I know that Lutfur Rahman has quarrels with his depiction in Abbas's statement and with allegations made against him elsewhere, not least because I later listened to him at the other end of the church protesting his innocence to a man from the BBC. He and Abbas are very much former friends.And so the business of the evening began. The organisers were the East London Communities Organisation (Telco), a branch of London Citizens which is an inter-faith social action movement. Speeches were made detailing recent progress towards Telco's goals, all of which are impeccably progressive. Then the politicians were asked to step up to the lectern in turn and pledge commitment to six objectives tailored to Tower Hamlets's needs. It is a feature of these London Citizens assemblies that saying no is virtually impossible. The man from the Salvation Army and the one from the IFE shared the responsibility of putting the pledges to each candidate. I didn't quite catch the IFE man's name, but he told the audience something about it. "It's Arabic for John the Baptist," he said. "So, 'Hallelujah!'" Everyone laughed.All the candidates complied with the demands of the occasion, albeit each with their individual elaborations and in their different styles. Rahman stood large and was quite strident. Abbas was softer and quieter. It is useful, I think, to have politicians saying in so public a way that they're ready to pressure Tesco to pay its employees the London Living Wage and if elected mayor to provide work experience places for young people. But the speech I'll remember most came not from a politician but from a young woman who'd been sitting just along from me. She said she was 20 years old and that in her house there live ten people. "We are seriously overcrowded," she said. She shares a bedroom with her teenage brother and sister. The Council cannot help and she cannot afford to move out. The accommodation is not suitable but, she explained, "We have no choice. What can I do?" I wonder which of the politicians she will vote for. More from me on Tower Hamlets to come. Until then, have a good weekend.LondonLondon politicsLocal governmentLocal politicsDave Hillguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Wife's 'overdose after shooting' A woman shot her husband in his sleep at their Flintshire home before taking an overdose herself, an inquest hears. bbc.co.uk |
Spending review: David Cameron and Nick Clegg apologise for broken promises PM and deputy PM admitted breaking election pledges as they faced criticism from voters over their spending cuts. telegraph.co.uk |
Families tell of their shattered lives after 7/7's deadliest blast • 26 killed in suicide bomb attack on Piccadilly line• Victims came from across world to live in LondonOne woman said she could not contemplate ever marrying or having children now that her mother had gone, leaving "an emptiness that is beyond contemplation". Another told how she had bought a bottle of champagne with her husband in anticipation of her five-year remission from cancer, but could not bear to drink it after she had lived to see the anniversary, but he had not.The full, devastating human cost of the London bombings of 7 July 2005 was laid bare today, when the inquest into the 52 people who were murdered in the attacks heard emotional tributes to those who had been killed in the bombing of an underground train between King's Cross and Russell Square stations.Twenty-six people died on a southbound Piccadilly line train, the most deadly of the four co-ordinated suicide explosions. They had little in common, hailing from all over the world, but family statements repeatedly spoke of an individual who had been deeply cherished and whose death had left a terrible void.Catherine Johnson said in a statement that she had met her "wonderful husband" Adrian Johnson, 37, when they were both 15. He had taken on the role of raising their two children after she was diagnosed with malignant melanoma."It was so ironic that I would lose Adrian when we had already faced the possibility of him being left to bring up the children alone." His death, she said, had left her "grieving for the life I could have had and rebelling against the one that has been forced upon me".Stacey Beer described the "dark shadow" that has hung over her family since her brother Philip Beer, 22, "barely an adult", was killed. "We suffer every day the pain of losing our little brother in such a horrific way."Saba Mozakka, 29, said her family had been driven apart by the death of her mother Behnaz Mozakka, 47, after they moved out of their family home, unable to bear its memories. Her Iranian-born mother was a biomedical officer at Great Ormond Street children's hospital, in London.She said: "I cannot imagine ever marrying without my mother being there to share or plan my day," she said. "I cannot fathom the idea of having a family without my mother there to support me."The parents of Shelley Mather, a 26-year-old tour guide, who had lived in the UK for three years, appeared by videolink from their native New Zealand. Battling his emotions, John Mather said their "generous, funny, bright and amazing" daughter had loved to travel. "I like to think Shelley, my friend, is circumnavigating the universe."Samantha Badham, 35, died alongside Lee Harris, 30, her partner of 14 years. In a statement, Lynne Harris, Lee's mother, said colleagues had described her son as "a star of the future" at his architecture firm, and that the couple had hoped to marry and have children."Our son and daughter have been taken away and to know how much they suffered is unbearable. But we know what they would say. They would say: 'Keep going. You have to keep going'. So we do. But it's so very hard."The inquest heard that Ojara Ikeagwu, 56, a social worker in Hounslow, had been named an honorary chief of her home village in Nigeria after paying for free education and meals for 500 children, in an initiative which her husband still funds.Also killed in the blast, and remembered with equal emotion by their families yesterday were James Adams, 32, an insurance worker from Peterborough; Rachelle Chung For Yuen, 27, an accountant originally from Mauritius; Elizabeth Daplin, 26, an administrator and keen artist; Arthur Frederick, 60, a former policeman and calypso singer from Monserrat; Ciaran Cassidy, 22, from London, who worked in a stationers' shop; Helen Jones, 28, an accountant from Lockerbie; Susan Levy, 53, a legal secretary and mother of two from Essex; Emily Jenkins, 30, a PA from London; Michael Minh Matsushita, 37, a Vietnamese-born New Yorker; Anna Brandt, 41, a cleaner from Poland; Karolina Gluck, 21, a marketing graduate, also from Poland; Gamze Gunoral, 24, a language student from Istanbul; James Mayes, 28, an analyst at the Healthcare Commission; Atique Sharifi, 24, a pizza delivery worker from Afghanistan; Mihaela Otto, 46, a dental technician from Romania; Ihab Slimane, 24, a French waiter; Christian Small, 28, an advertising sales executive who had adopted the African name Njoya; Monica Suchoka, a 23-year-old Polish accountant; and Mala Trivedi, 51, a Kenyan-born manager at Great Ormond Street hospital.7 July London attacksLondonUK security and terrorismEsther AddleyAlexandra Toppingguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
George Osborne: 'economic recovery on track' Chancellor George Osborne claims the latest forecast from the independent Office for Budget Responsibility shows the Government's plan to tackle the deficit is working. telegraph.co.uk |