http://www.haringeyindependent.co.uk/blogs/spinfreezone/ Haringey Independent /blogs/spinfreezone/ en-gb Fri, 19 Mar 2010 02:25:07 +0000 Fri, 19 Mar 2010 02:25:07 +0000 http://www.haringeyindependent.co.uk/blogs/spinfreezone/rssterms/ M6 nvincent@newsquest.co.uk (Nigel Vincent) webmaster@digitalmedia.newsquest.co.uk (Tim Joy) http://www.haringeyindependent.co.uk/resources/images/1000726/?type=rsslogo http://www.haringeyindependent.co.uk/blogs/spinfreezone/ http://www.haringeyindependent.co.uk/blogs/spinfreezone/3211405.Post_Office_Closures_will_Have_a_Devastating_Effect_on_Local_Communities/?ref=rss Post Office Closures will Have a Devastating Effect on Local Communities The recent announcements that seven local post offices will be closing in the restructuring of Post Offices throughout the Capital will have a devastating impact on local communities. Those that affect Haringey include Highgate High Street, 100 Alexandra Park Road (N10), Ferme Park Road (N4), Salisbury Road (N22), 89 Weston Park (N8), Page Green (N15) and 434 West Green Road (N15). Thu, 28 Feb 2008 14:59:00 +0000 a0e746bf9b420165258f40508cf1db15 http://www.haringeyindependent.co.uk/blogs/spinfreezone/3128532.Post_Office_Closures_will_Have_a_Devastating_Effect_on_Local_Communities/?ref=rss Post Office Closures will Have a Devastating Effect on Local Communities The recent announcements that seven local post offices will be closing in the restructuring of Post Offices throughout the Capital will have a devastating impact on local communities. Those that affect Haringey include Highgate High Street, 100 Alexandra Park Road (N10), Ferme Park Road (N4), Salisbury Road (N22), 89 Weston Park (N8), Page Green (N15) and 434 West Green Road (N15). Thu, 28 Feb 2008 14:59:00 +0000 d70dffef0ef5e7f79f5e5b70d06345a2 http://www.haringeyindependent.co.uk/blogs/spinfreezone/3211404.An_Invasion_of_Gaming_and_Betting_Venues_in_Wood_Green/?ref=rss An Invasion of Gaming and Betting Venues in Wood Green Sun, 24 Feb 2008 03:03:00 +0000 19a202ecbd4ccf43e61e725fb62dde2e http://www.haringeyindependent.co.uk/blogs/spinfreezone/3128531.An_Invasion_of_Gaming_and_Betting_Venues_in_Wood_Green/?ref=rss An Invasion of Gaming and Betting Venues in Wood Green Sun, 24 Feb 2008 03:03:00 +0000 3996be1a81a4f568a340aac974b097f5 http://www.haringeyindependent.co.uk/blogs/spinfreezone/3211403.Hysterical_Responses_to_the_Archbishop_Do_Not_Look_At_the_Facts_on_The_Ground/?ref=rss Hysterical Responses to the Archbishop Do Not Look At the Facts on The Ground Within 48 hours of the Archbishop making comments around religious inclusion and Shariah, there were press calls, comments and rabid responses for his resignation. This strain of fear is disproportionate and based on conjecture, myths and in some instances, xenophobia. But before I lay out these facts, there is something that I must clear up. The vast amount of Shariah Law covers financial elements, marriage and divorce and other codes for living life. It is not primarily around punishment. However, I for one as a Muslim and as a liberal to my very core, see Islam through the prism of emancipation and knowledge sharing. This means having the chance to question, to debate, to discuss and therefore Shariah is a theoretical and practical framework which must be looked through within a modern context. This therefore means ardently protecting women’s rights, respect for diversity in all of its forms (the first convert to Islam was a black man), providing the space for dissent, education for all and emancipation from debt by taking out interest in financial transactions. These are just some examples of what I regard Islam to be about. It should be a driver against poverty, against fear and xenophobia and it should be a driver against ignorance. I have to also add, that I cannot accept two legal systems as a citizen of the UK and the resulting confusion and isolation for Muslims if this were to happen would in the long term, provide a foundation to those who want to portray Muslims as the ‘other’ and therefore somehow different. We should not give them that chance. Sun, 10 Feb 2008 11:45:00 +0000 9f18c2521f822490227faf8aedf43304 http://www.haringeyindependent.co.uk/blogs/spinfreezone/3128530.Hysterical_Responses_to_the_Archbishop_Do_Not_Look_At_the_Facts_on_The_Ground/?ref=rss Hysterical Responses to the Archbishop Do Not Look At the Facts on The Ground Within 48 hours of the Archbishop making comments around religious inclusion and Shariah, there were press calls, comments and rabid responses for his resignation. This strain of fear is disproportionate and based on conjecture, myths and in some instances, xenophobia. But before I lay out these facts, there is something that I must clear up. The vast amount of Shariah Law covers financial elements, marriage and divorce and other codes for living life. It is not primarily around punishment. However, I for one as a Muslim and as a liberal to my very core, see Islam through the prism of emancipation and knowledge sharing. This means having the chance to question, to debate, to discuss and therefore Shariah is a theoretical and practical framework which must be looked through within a modern context. This therefore means ardently protecting women’s rights, respect for diversity in all of its forms (the first convert to Islam was a black man), providing the space for dissent, education for all and emancipation from debt by taking out interest in financial transactions. These are just some examples of what I regard Islam to be about. It should be a driver against poverty, against fear and xenophobia and it should be a driver against ignorance. I have to also add, that I cannot accept two legal systems as a citizen of the UK and the resulting confusion and isolation for Muslims if this were to happen would in the long term, provide a foundation to those who want to portray Muslims as the ‘other’ and therefore somehow different. We should not give them that chance. Sun, 10 Feb 2008 11:45:00 +0000 b2674bb740841339f813c419a4f51265 http://www.haringeyindependent.co.uk/blogs/spinfreezone/3211397.An_Explosion_of_Gaming_Venues_in_Wood_Green/?ref=rss Anyone who takes a leisurely stroll on the High Road in Wood Green, will see the explosion of gaming venues that have brought an associated anti-social element to them. The first thing I would like to say is that such gaming venues would never have been allowed in areas like Muswell Hill. There would have been objections and furious local action, yet raft after raft of gaming venues have been approved for licenses and planning permission in Wood Green. Mon, 28 Jan 2008 23:19:00 +0000 cd8854d318907ae4cb4ea68538c84820 http://www.haringeyindependent.co.uk/blogs/spinfreezone/3128524.An_Explosion_of_Gaming_Venues_in_Wood_Green/?ref=rss Anyone who takes a leisurely stroll on the High Road in Wood Green, will see the explosion of gaming venues that have brought an associated anti-social element to them. The first thing I would like to say is that such gaming venues would never have been allowed in areas like Muswell Hill. There would have been objections and furious local action, yet raft after raft of gaming venues have been approved for licenses and planning permission in Wood Green. Mon, 28 Jan 2008 23:19:00 +0000 56605fcb379db6a9c2ff8e04ce3db818 http://www.haringeyindependent.co.uk/blogs/spinfreezone/3211402.Bosnia_All_Over_Again_/?ref=rss Bosnia All Over Again? Kosovan independence is stoking up the same old fears in the Balkans and one of those fears is the threat of military action against the Kosovar Albanian population by Serbia and its proxies within the area. The current situation whilst somewhat different to Bosnia in the 1990’s, has a few key similarities. Then as now a nation wanted to declare independence and there were Serbs residing in Bosnia as they are in Kosovo, though the numbers are smaller. Also, Kosovo holds a religious significance for the Serbs when they defeated the Ottomans around 1390 and the religious significance of Bosnia as being a ‘Christian territory’ was also touted during the bloody campaign against Bosnian forces during 1992-1995. We all know how Bosnia ended, with the siege of Sarajevo, the shelling of civilians and the atrocities in the killing fields of places like Srebrenica. All were conducted in the name of the Serb nation by paramilitaries of Republika Srpska and Serbian regular forces. In the end these killings had nothing to do with religion, but with the power crazed hunger and manipulation of a nation by Slobodan Milosevic. Fri, 14 Dec 2007 11:08:00 +0000 e5087a403f7ce050632bb47462282f02 http://www.haringeyindependent.co.uk/blogs/spinfreezone/3128529.Bosnia_All_Over_Again_/?ref=rss Bosnia All Over Again? Kosovan independence is stoking up the same old fears in the Balkans and one of those fears is the threat of military action against the Kosovar Albanian population by Serbia and its proxies within the area. The current situation whilst somewhat different to Bosnia in the 1990’s, has a few key similarities. Then as now a nation wanted to declare independence and there were Serbs residing in Bosnia as they are in Kosovo, though the numbers are smaller. Also, Kosovo holds a religious significance for the Serbs when they defeated the Ottomans around 1390 and the religious significance of Bosnia as being a ‘Christian territory’ was also touted during the bloody campaign against Bosnian forces during 1992-1995. We all know how Bosnia ended, with the siege of Sarajevo, the shelling of civilians and the atrocities in the killing fields of places like Srebrenica. All were conducted in the name of the Serb nation by paramilitaries of Republika Srpska and Serbian regular forces. In the end these killings had nothing to do with religion, but with the power crazed hunger and manipulation of a nation by Slobodan Milosevic. Fri, 14 Dec 2007 11:08:00 +0000 f0744bb784db9a858df55e53b51a68dd http://www.haringeyindependent.co.uk/blogs/spinfreezone/3211401.Bosnia_all_over_again_/?ref=rss Kosovan independence is stoking up the same old fears in the Balkans and one of those fears is the threat of military action against the Kosovar Albanian population by Serbia and its proxies within the area. The current situation whilst somewhat different to Bosnia in the 1990’s, has a few key similarities. Tue, 11 Dec 2007 10:15:00 +0000 804556fd904e7d477644a9805433ae8d http://www.haringeyindependent.co.uk/blogs/spinfreezone/3128528.Bosnia_all_over_again_/?ref=rss Kosovan independence is stoking up the same old fears in the Balkans and one of those fears is the threat of military action against the Kosovar Albanian population by Serbia and its proxies within the area. The current situation whilst somewhat different to Bosnia in the 1990’s, has a few key similarities. Tue, 11 Dec 2007 10:15:00 +0000 f49109a6a19d971d8cca9690164f28d0