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
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The%20specs
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The specs: 2019 Haval H6
Price, base: Dh69,900
Engine: 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
Power: 197hp @ 5,500rpm
Torque: 315Nm @ 2,000rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 7.0L / 100km
LA LIGA FIXTURES
Thursday (All UAE kick-off times)
Sevilla v Real Betis (midnight)
Friday
Granada v Real Betis (9.30pm)
Valencia v Levante (midnight)
Saturday
Espanyol v Alaves (4pm)
Celta Vigo v Villarreal (7pm)
Leganes v Real Valladolid (9.30pm)
Mallorca v Barcelona (midnight)
Sunday
Atletic Bilbao v Atletico Madrid (4pm)
Real Madrid v Eibar (9.30pm)
Real Sociedad v Osasuna (midnight)
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The%20specs
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if you go
The flights
The closest international airport to the TMB trail is Geneva (just over an hour’s drive from the French ski town of Chamonix where most people start and end the walk). Direct flights from the UAE to Geneva are available with Etihad and Emirates from about Dh2,790 including taxes.
The trek
The Tour du Mont Blanc takes about 10 to 14 days to complete if walked in its entirety, but by using the services of a tour operator such as Raw Travel, a shorter “highlights” version allows you to complete the best of the route in a week, from Dh6,750 per person. The trails are blocked by snow from about late October to early May. Most people walk in July and August, but be warned that trails are often uncomfortably busy at this time and it can be very hot. The prime months are June and September.
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
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Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Sunday's Super Four matches
Dubai, 3.30pm
India v Pakistan
Abu Dhabi, 3.30pm
Bangladesh v Afghanistan
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
Lexus LX700h specs
Engine: 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 plus supplementary electric motor
Power: 464hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 790Nm from 2,000-3,600rpm
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 11.7L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh590,000
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%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDeveloper%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ETribute%20Games%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPublisher%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dotemu%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EConsoles%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ENintendo%20Switch%2C%20PlayStation%204%26amp%3B5%2C%20PC%20and%20Xbox%20One%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%204%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
'Munich: The Edge of War'
Director: Christian Schwochow
Starring: George MacKay, Jannis Niewohner, Jeremy Irons
Rating: 3/5
How the bonus system works
The two riders are among several riders in the UAE to receive the top payment of £10,000 under the Thank You Fund of £16 million (Dh80m), which was announced in conjunction with Deliveroo's £8 billion (Dh40bn) stock market listing earlier this year.
The £10,000 (Dh50,000) payment is made to those riders who have completed the highest number of orders in each market.
There are also riders who will receive payments of £1,000 (Dh5,000) and £500 (Dh2,500).
All riders who have worked with Deliveroo for at least one year and completed 2,000 orders will receive £200 (Dh1,000), the company said when it announced the scheme.
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
THE SPECS
Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V12 petrol engine
Power: 420kW
Torque: 780Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh1,350,000
On sale: Available for preorder now
THE CLOWN OF GAZA
Director: Abdulrahman Sabbah
Starring: Alaa Meqdad
Rating: 4/5
EA Sports FC 25
Developer: EA Vancouver, EA Romania
Publisher: EA Sports
Consoles: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4&5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S
Rating: 3.5/5
CRICKET%20WORLD%20CUP%20LEAGUE%202
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Company%20Profile
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