1506, 2016

Question time: Cultural cold wars: The risk of anti-‘extremism’ policy for academic freedom of expression – Alison Scott-Baumann and Hugh Tomlinson QC

By Myriam Francois|June 15, 2016|Question Time|1 comments

Cultural cold wars: The risk of anti-‘extremism’ policy for academic freedom of expression – Alison Scott-Baumann and Hugh Tomlinson QC Universities are under increasing pressure from government to prevent students coming into contact with “extreme” ideas. The view is that students exposed to any kind of views designated “extreme” could be drawn into terrorism. But the risk to freedom of speech and academic freedom is obvious. Society needs to avoid a

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0703, 2016

Ideas Hub: British Muslim Comedian Sadia Azmat on not being Malala, Prevent and Radical thinking

By Myriam Francois|March 7, 2016|Ideas Hub|0 comments

British Muslim Comedian Sadia Azmat on not being Malala, Prevent and Radical thinking I discovered stand up comedy at a very early age watching late night comedy specials like Chris Rock Bring The Pain. What I loved was how raw and honest the routines were. Legends like Bill Hicks, Richard Pryor, Dave Chappelle are all a great inspiration. My own style is observational humour and I call it as I

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1101, 2016

Speaker’s Corner: Testing Times – Fear and Fasting in Secondary Schools

By Myriam Francois|January 11, 2016|Speaker's Corner|2 comments

One anonymous British school teacher provides some insight on the responses among his student to proposed changes to Exams timetabled to accommodate Ramadan, in order to assist fasting pupils Testing Times: Fear and Fasting in Secondary Schools. by Sami Piperdi (pseudonym)   As a Secondary school teacher who works in an establishment with approximately 50% Muslim students, I was particularly interested in the news story that appeared on the BBC website

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2112, 2015

Speaker’s Corner: Preventing “PREVENT”, why the NUS opposes the government’s counter-terrorism strategy in education, by Malia Bouattia

By Myriam Francois|December 21, 2015|Speaker's Corner|0 comments

Preventing  “PREVENT”, why the NUS opposes the government’s counter-terrorism strategy in education Malia Bouattia, NUS  UK Black Students’ Officer  The National Union of Students (NUS) has come under fire as of late for opposing the government’s PREVENT counter-terror extremism strategy – the main criticism for this stance coming from, unsurprisingly, the government themselves who have called on the NUS to drop this opposition. Firstly and above all, this position has come about

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0911, 2015

Question Time: Ben Stanford – Prevent on Campus: Stopping Extremism or Stifling Debate?

By Myriam Francois|November 9, 2015|Question Time|1 comments

Prevent on Campus: Stopping Extremism or Stifling Debate? Ben Stanford, Legal Fellow, Rights Watch (UK) At a recent event on the Prevent Strategy in universities, the former Business Secretary Vince Cable suggested that efforts to combat campus extremism may worsen the problem. Opposition to terrorism-related interventions in universities is not new: During the 2010-2015 Coalition Government, the then Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg personally vetoed the plan to block extremist

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