There is something rather eerie about seeing a review into Islamophobia in the UK's ruling Conservative party, followed by an example of complicity by the British prime minister. But that is what happened when Boris Johnson hosted Viktor Orban, the Prime Minister of Hungary, in London last month.
It makes a postmortem of the actual report even more ironic to carry out; but Islamophobia, and the toleration of it at the highest levels of the British establishment, remains one of the greatest tests for the soul of the Conservative party. The sad reality may be, however, that the party does not care about failing that test.
On May 25, an inquiry ordered by the Tories criticised the party, led by Mr Johnson, for failing to adequately investigate accusations of bigotry within the establishment, with some two-thirds of those complaints relating to anti-Muslim sentiment.
The inquiry was completed months ago, sparking speculation that it had been held back in order to avoid negative publicity before the local UK elections held in May.
Though ordered by Mr Johnson himself, the inquiry criticised the Prime Minister for his own comments pertaining to Muslims. The inquiry is said to indict the lack of seriousness involved in the Conservative party's approach to dealing with complaints around alleged discrimination – and particularly with regards to Muslims.
Uncomfortably for the party, however, senior Muslim Conservatives, such as Sajjad Karim, a former Conservative member of the European Parliament, and Sayeeda Warsi, a Conservative member of the House of Lords, were less than enthusiastic about lauding the report’s findings.
Mr Karim described the inquiry as “nothing but an attempt to whitewash deep-rooted issues out of sight". It is not surprising that he would see it that way; the inquiry failed to hold the Conservative party to account for systemic problems of discrimination, and instead narrowly defined the issues.
The original call for an inquiry into Islamophobia in the party, as per an election pledge by Mr Johnson, had been swept away and refocused on to all forms of discrimination instead, despite widespread concerns about specifically the issue of Islamophobia in the party.
As a result, the inquiry could distance the Conservatives from the specific accusations on one hand, and sidestep any in-depth examination pertaining to Islamophobia on the other. And as the inquiry’s mandate was set up by the party itself, it was able to define the parameters of its own investigation – which protected it from the most damning conclusions – that the party’s issues on Islamophobia permeate throughout.
Whether it is Mr Johnson's own statements in a newspaper column he wrote in 2018 calling Muslim women who wear the face-veil, "letterboxes", or the Conservative party's mayoral candidate for London, Zac Goldsmith, accusing the current Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, of links to radical extremists, it is clear: the Tories have a specific problem to address when it comes to Islamophobia.
Be that as it may, the cochairwoman, Amanda Milling, said they would "like to apologise to anyone who has been hurt by discriminatory behaviour of others or failed by [the Conservative party’s] system".
Ms Warsi said this constituted "an acknowledgement of racism and systematic failure". But neither the inquiry nor the party accepted that the party’s issues were evidence of institutional discrimination against Muslims, despite the mass amounts of complaints, resulting in calls for the Equality and Human Rights Commission, Great Britain’s national equality body, to conduct an independent inquiry.
Instead of recognising the scale of the problem, the Tories attempted to control criticism of it
Perhaps rubbing salt into the wound, a few days later, Mr Orban, who has been accused of peddling anti-Semitic tropes and Islamophobia, was feted in Downing Street. While Mr Orban's views are perhaps the most blatant example of the anti-Muslim extremism being mainstreamed in Europe, he is by no means the only one.
In France, for example, the constitutional principle of secularism or "laicite" has been "weaponised", in the words of French legal scholar Rim-Sarah Alouane, in a way that is deliberately focused on problematising Muslims for simply being Muslim.
There are now scores of academic studies, including those published by the multinational Grease consortium, funded by the European Commission, raising concerns about how widespread the sentiments of the far-right are in mainstream political life and the problem is worsening.
It is why the Conservative party’s report is so symbolic. It at least tacitly admits that there is a problem at the highest levels. But it was a missed opportunity. Instead of recognising the scale of the problem, it attempted to control criticism of the problem. Such half measures will do nothing to combat bigotry in our societies; they will only serve to allow it to come in with more strength through the backdoor.
Dr HA Hellyer, a Carnegie Endowment scholar, is a senior fellow at the Royal United Services Institute and Cambridge University
CRICKET%20WORLD%20CUP%20LEAGUE%202
%3Cp%3EMannofield%2C%20Aberdeen%3Cbr%3E%3Cbr%3EAll%20matches%20start%20at%202pm%20UAE%20time%20and%20will%20be%20broadcast%20on%20icc.tv%3Cbr%3E%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EUAE%20fixtures%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3Cbr%3E%3Cbr%3EWednesday%2C%20Aug%2010%20%E2%80%93%20Scotland%20v%20UAE%3Cbr%3EThursday%2C%20Aug%2011%20-%20UAE%20v%20United%20States%3Cbr%3ESaturday%2C%20Aug%2014%20%E2%80%93%20Scotland%20v%20UAE%3Cbr%3EMonday%2C%20Aug%2015%20%E2%80%93%20UAE%20v%20United%20States%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EUAE%20squad%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3Cbr%3E%3Cbr%3EAhmed%20Raza%20(captain)%2C%20Chirag%20Suri%2C%20Muhammad%20Waseem%2C%20Vriitya%20Aravind%2C%20CP%20Rizwan%2C%20Basil%20Hameed%2C%20Rohan%20Mustafa%2C%20Zawar%20Farid%2C%20Kashif%20Daud%2C%20Karthik%20Meiyappan%2C%20Zahoor%20Khan%2C%20Junaid%20Siddique%2C%20Sabir%20Ali%2C%20Alishan%20Sharafu%3Cbr%3E%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETable%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20(top%20three%20teams%20advance%20directly%20to%20the%202023%20World%20Cup%20Qualifier)%3Cbr%3E%3Cbr%3E1.%20Oman%2036%2021%2013%201%201%2044%3Cbr%3E2.%20Scotland%2024%2016%206%200%202%2034%3Cbr%3E3.%20UAE%2022%2012%208%201%201%2026%3Cbr%3E--%3Cbr%3E4.%20Namibia%2018%209%209%200%200%2018%3Cbr%3E5.%20United%20States%2024%2011%2012%201%200%2023%3Cbr%3E6.%20Nepal%2020%208%2011%201%200%2017%3Cbr%3E7.%20Papua%20New%20Guinea%2020%201%2019%200%200%202%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
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MATCH INFO
Tottenham Hotspur 0 Everton 1 (Calvert-Lewin 55')
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Newcastle United 1 (Carroll 82')
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About Takalam
Date started: early 2020
Founders: Khawla Hammad and Inas Abu Shashieh
Based: Abu Dhabi
Sector: HealthTech and wellness
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If you go
The flights
Etihad flies direct from Abu Dhabi to San Francisco from Dh5,760 return including taxes.
The car
Etihad Guest members get a 10 per cent worldwide discount when booking with Hertz, as well as earning miles on their rentals. A week's car hire costs from Dh1,500 including taxes.
The hotels
Along the route, Motel 6 (www.motel6.com) offers good value and comfort, with rooms from $55 (Dh202) per night including taxes. In Portland, the Jupiter Hotel (https://jupiterhotel.com/) has rooms from $165 (Dh606) per night including taxes. The Society Hotel https://thesocietyhotel.com/ has rooms from $130 (Dh478) per night including taxes.
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To keep up with constant developments in Portland, visit www.travelportland.com. Good guidebooks include the Lonely Planet guides to Northern California and Washington, Oregon & the Pacific Northwest.
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RESULTS
Bantamweight title:
Vinicius de Oliveira (BRA) bt Xavier Alaoui (MAR)
(KO round 2)
Catchweight 68kg:
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(TKO round 1)
Middleweight:
Denis Tiuliulin (RUS) bt Juscelino Ferreira (BRA)
(TKO round 1)
Lightweight:
Anas Siraj Mounir (MAR) bt Joachim Tollefsen (DEN)
(Unanimous decision)
Catchweight 68kg:
Austin Arnett (USA) bt Daniel Vega (MEX)
(TKO round 3)
Lightweight:
Carrington Banks (USA) bt Marcio Andrade (BRA)
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Catchweight 58kg:
Corinne Laframboise (CAN) bt Malin Hermansson (SWE)
(Submission round 2)
Bantamweight:
Jalal Al Daaja (CAN) bt Juares Dea (CMR)
(Split decision)
Middleweight:
Mohamad Osseili (LEB) bt Ivan Slynko (UKR)
(TKO round 1)
Featherweight:
Tarun Grigoryan (ARM) bt Islam Makhamadjanov (UZB)
(Unanimous decision)
Catchweight 54kg:
Mariagiovanna Vai (ITA) bt Daniella Shutov (ISR)
(Submission round 1)
Middleweight:
Joan Arastey (ESP) bt Omran Chaaban (LEB)
(Unanimous decision)
Welterweight:
Bruno Carvalho (POR) bt Souhil Tahiri (ALG)
(TKO)
The specs: 2017 Lotus Evora Sport 410
Price, base / as tested Dh395,000 / Dh420,000
Engine 3.5L V6
Transmission Six-speed manual
Power 410hp @ 7,000rpm
Torque 420Nm @ 3,500rpm
Fuel economy, combined 9.7L / 100km
Indoor cricket in a nutshell
Indoor cricket in a nutshell
Indoor Cricket World Cup - Sept 16-20, Insportz, Dubai
16 Indoor cricket matches are 16 overs per side
8 There are eight players per team
9 There have been nine Indoor Cricket World Cups for men. Australia have won every one.
5 Five runs are deducted from the score when a wickets falls
4 Batsmen bat in pairs, facing four overs per partnership
Scoring In indoor cricket, runs are scored by way of both physical and bonus runs. Physical runs are scored by both batsmen completing a run from one crease to the other. Bonus runs are scored when the ball hits a net in different zones, but only when at least one physical run is score.
Zones
A Front net, behind the striker and wicketkeeper: 0 runs
B Side nets, between the striker and halfway down the pitch: 1 run
C Side nets between halfway and the bowlers end: 2 runs
D Back net: 4 runs on the bounce, 6 runs on the full
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2. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes-GP 188
3. Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes-GP 169
4. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull Racing 117
5. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari 116
6. Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing 67
7. Sergio Perez, Force India 56
8. Esteban Ocon, Force India 45
9. Carlos Sainz Jr, Toro Rosso 35
10. Nico Hulkenberg, Renault 26
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
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