Tories' favourite think-tank sued by Muslim group

[Ibtisam]

Policy exchange, the right-wing think-tank with close links to Conservative leader David Cameron's inner circle, is facing legal action for accusing British mosques of distributing extremist literature.

 

The Independent has learnt that the Al-Manaar Muslim Cultural Heritage Centre in west London has hired the law firm Carter Ruck to sue the think-tank for defamation. An initial complaint will be made "very soon", a source close to the case said.

 

Al-Manaar claims that Policy Exchange fabricated several receipts used as evidence of purchase. The North London Central Mosque in Finsbury Park, from which the jailed radical preacher Abu Hamza gave sermons, is also understood to be pursuing libel action against the think-tank through the solicitors' firm Dean and Dean.

 

Last October the BBC's Newsnight had been due to run an exclusive report on the findings of an article written for Policy Exchange by Denis MacEoin entitled The Hijacking of British Islam. Mr MacEoin argued that extremist literature was widely available in British mosques and shops adjoining them, that much of it was funded by the Saudi Arabian government, and that the Finsbury Park mosque was a major perpetrator of such distribution.

 

But when Richard Watson, the reporter covering the story, and Peter Barron, then editor of Newsnight, examined the report in detail, they found that five receipts used as incriminating evidence looked fake.

 

Mr Barron, who did not reject the report's broader conclusions, chose to focus the programme's coverage on doubts about the authenticity of the receipts.

 

His team claimed to have found "suspicious inconsistencies" among them. These included: forensic evidence suggesting one receipt had been forged while another two that purported to be from different places were written by the same hand; and that there were basic mistakes in the addresses printed on three receipts.

 

The alleged discoveries, and the editorial decision to focus on them, led to a furious 10-minute exchange between Jeremy Paxman and Dean Godson, research director of Policy Exchange. Mr Godson accused Mr Barron of "disastrous editorial misjudgement" and "appalling stewardship of Newsnight". Mr Barron responded forcefully the following morning on his BBC blog.

 

Policy Exchange undertook an internal inquiry into the receipts last December, but "adjourned" it because the Muslim researchers they employed went "into hiding for fear of violent reprisals".

 

Since then, the Al-Manaar Centre has carried out its own investigation, as a result of which it has retained Carter Ruck which is understood to be drawing up a complaint against Policy Exchange.

 

The director of the Al-Manaar Centre, Abdulkarim Khalil said last night: "This report is still in circulation and has been very widely read. We are determined to clear our name." Nobody from Policy Exchange was available for comment.

 

The news follows the publication earlier this week of another controversial report by the think-tank which recommended migration from some northern cities to the south of England.

 

David Cameron, on a tour of the North-west at the time, distanced himself from its conclusions, branding the report "insane".

 

Source:

http://www.independent.co.uk

[N.O.R.F]

They're learning :cool:

 

The alleged discoveries, and the editorial decision to focus on them, led to a furious 10-minute exchange between Jeremy Paxman and Dean Godson, research director of Policy Exchange.

I saw that

[NGONGE]

Now THIS is worth my trouble. Any e-mail addresses?

[SayidSomal]

about time - i say!!

[Ibtisam]

Loool @ North. I think everyone saw that.

 

Ngonge; the e-mails were done about 5months ago, when the report came out. I posted the alert on SOL. You must have missed it, although I doubt you would've taken part.

 

We'll just have to wait and see how the legal side works out.

[Ibtisam]

A Tory push to win back seats in the north of England suffers a blow today with the party's favourite thinktank declaring that key cities, such as Liverpool and Sunderland, have "failed" and people should be paid to move south.

 

David Cameron, who will today embark on a tour of nine marginal seats in the north-west, was last night forced to distance himself from the report after Labour accused the Tories of dismissing large swaths of Britain as "worthless".

 

Chris Grayling, the shadow minister for Liverpool, said: "This independent report does not reflect Conservative party policy and we do not agree with its conclusions. We wholeheartedly support the regeneration of northern cities." The Policy Exchange thinktank, which enjoys strong links with the Tory leadership, called on the government to accept the "uncomfortable truth" that many northern towns, which grew up in the industrial revolution, have no hope of being regenerated in the 21st century. Central regeneration budgets should be rolled up and local authorities allowed to spend the money as they like, either on helping people to move south or on council tax cuts.

 

The report, Cities Unlimited, says: "Many of Britain's towns and cities have failed - and been failed by policy makers for too long. It is better to tell uncomfortable truths than to continue to claim that if we carry on as we are then things will turn out well. Just as we can't buck the market, so we can't buck economic geography either. Places that enjoyed the conditions for creating wealth in the coal-powered 19th century often do not do so today.

 

"Coastal cities, whether large like Liverpool and Hull, or small like Scunthorpe and Blackpool, are most vulnerable ... They are almost always at the end of the line. They have lost their raison d'etre [as ports] and it is hard to imagine them prospering at their current sizes.

 

"Sunderland demonstrates just how hard it is to regenerate such a city. It is time to stop pretending there is a bright future for Sunderland and ask ourselves instead what we need to do to offer people in Sunderland better prospects."

 

The report says that all the 3m new homes planned by the government should be built in just three southern cities - London, Oxford and Cambridge. It says: "Cities based on highly skilled workers are the most dynamic. Oxford and Cambridge are unambiguously Britain's leading research universities outside London." People in the north should be told bluntly that their best chance of an affluent future is to move south. "No one is suggesting that residents should be forced to move, but we do argue that they should be told the reality of the position."

 

Tim Leunig, an economist from the London School of Economics who co-wrote the report, admitted that some people will see his ideas as "unworkable, unreasonable and perhaps plain barmy".

 

Louise Ellman, Labour MP for Liverpool Riverside, said: "This report from David Cameron's favourite thinktank has just dismissed a huge area of the country as worthless. Is it any wonder there are no Tory councillors in Liverpool when for all their warm words they have not changed a bit?"

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/aug/13/conservatives.regeneration

[N.O.R.F]

Now we know why Ngonge moved

[N.O.R.F]

This is actually related to be dissertation.

[Ibtisam]

^^^It is related to your dissertation or you want to do one on it??? :confused:

[N.O.R.F]

My bad.

 

Related to,,,,,200X

[Ibtisam]

^^Why :confused:

[N.O.R.F]

Related to my thesis written back in 200X

 

Liverpool is a terrible place!

[Ibtisam]

What did you study? :confused: I think I got the wrong end of the stick.

[N.O.R.F]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/1026542.stm

 

Many a inner city saw redevelopment from 2001 to today. Only problem is the redevelopment centres around 'city living' catering for the young middle classes who have bought apartments.

[N.O.R.F]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2002/jul/21/regeneration.comment