Latest news with #cohesion
Telegraph
15-07-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
We still haven't learnt the correct lessons from the grooming gangs scandal
News that an MBE has been awarded for 'services to integration' and 'cohesion' to a man who allegedly led a Muslim boycott of South Yorkshire Police in Rotherham after the grooming gangs scandal demonstrates how the correct lessons still haven't been learnt. Muhbeen Hussain, according to The Sunday Times, called on Muslims in Rotherham to boycott the police in October 2015, just months after Baroness Casey's report on the failings of the authorities there. The group he founded, British Muslim Youth, reportedly warned other Muslim organisations that failure to boycott the police would lead to them being boycotted in return. As the shadow home secretary Chris Philp recently pointed out on X, Hussain was on the Victoria Derbyshire programme in October 2015 and he said that 'first and foremost, the police pushed a pernicious lie' by saying they didn't make arrests of grooming gang abusers due to 'fears of being called racist'. In a recent statement he has called the criticism of him a 'deliberate attempt to defame me' and has claimed he has always had a 'consistent, public, and unequivocal' record on the grooming gangs by leading a protest against them and condemning them in public. He also said that the 'boycott had absolutely nothing to do with grooming gangs' and was instead about the supposed failure of the police to protect Muslims in the town from the far-Right. Despite his protests, he doesn't seem to spend much time on the issue of grooming gangs any more, and doesn't seem to have tweeted about the recent release of Baroness Casey's audit on the issue at all. This isn't the only controversial thing he has said. Back in 2017, he questioned whether Muslim youth were being properly heard, citing the case of Salman Abedi, the Manchester Arena bomber. He questioned whether Abedi's Libyan heritage led to his radicalisation, blaming the 'failed British intervention' against Gaddafi there. But Abedi's family were anti-Gadaffi asylum seekers and he himself had participated in the civil war, before being evacuated by the Royal Navy. He even used benefits money which his mother was still collecting, despite having moved back to Libya, to buy components for the bombs. Far from being unheard, Abedi had benefited from incredible generosity from Britain, which he chose to repay with murderous violence. Muhbeen Hussain works with the APPG on British Muslims and was co-creator of a report on a definition of Islamophobia, which think tank Policy Exchange warned risked being used to shut down discussion of grooming gangs. The same Policy Exchange paper pointed out that Muhbeen's uncle, Mahroof Hussain, was a Labour cabinet member and councillor in Rotherham, responsible for community cohesion. He stepped down in February 2015, after Baroness Casey's inspection of the Council, which said he had 'suppressed discussion' of grooming gangs in the town 'for fear of upsetting community relations'. Mahroof also has an MBE and in 2023, it was revealed by GB News that he was employed as the National Diversity, Inclusion & Participation Manager by Health Education England, a major NHS body. There he developed and implemented diversity and inclusion programmes. As inquiries in Rotherham found, the authorities have a big problem with institutional political correctness. It was fear of looking racist that played a major role in the grooming gangs not being exposed, until Andrew Norfolk of The Times went where others wouldn't. Ever since, there has been a concerted effort to brand the subject as racist, deploying language around tropes and stereotypes in an effort to make it taboo, while ignoring the anti-white racism that was often directed at the victims. Instead of giving out gongs for cohesion, we should accept that it was ideas like that which underpinned the scandal. The focus on community relations and fear of racial prejudice is what has underpinned the development of our two-tier legal system, which earlier this year nearly had different sentencing handed out depending on someone's skin colour. As the American journalist Helen Andrews recently pointed out, Australia had a similar issue in the early 2000s as Britain. Sydney was rocked by a series of gang-rapes, perpetrated by men of Lebanese and Pakistani heritage, targeting white Australian girls. The crimes were often explicitly racist. Instead of trying to preserve cohesion or prioritise community relations, Australia prosecuted the criminals and created a new offence that directly targeted gang rapists; this ensured that they spent decades in prison. By confronting the problem directly and being honest about the dangerous cultural attitudes of some immigrant groups, Australia was able to stop the problem in its tracks. Unlike here, the number of victims was in the tens, not the tens of thousands. It isn't too late in Britain. Baroness Casey's audit this year called for a national inquiry. One priority should be to reaffirm the need for colour-blind justice and re-examine the way in which people in the authorities failed the victims of the grooming gangs. Those like Mahroof Hussain, who have already been found to have failed in official reports, should be stripped of honours like his MBE. Those who are found to have played a serious role in the covering-up of abuse and failure to act should expect to be stripped of their pensions or sent to jail.
Yahoo
25-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Multicultural societies must be woven together like batik, not a patchwork quilt: Tharman
SINGAPORE – The fabric of a multicultural society must be like a piece of batik – a single cloth woven by different hands to create a larger motif of many colours, President Tharman Shanmugaratnam said on June 24. In contrast, many societies see multiculturalism as a quilt of different patches stitched together, he said. But in times of stress, when economic insecurity or polarising forces intensify, the stitches weaken and the quilt is easily forced apart. Mr Tharman has often used the quilt analogy when speaking on multiculturalism. He added the batik twist in his opening address at the three-day International Conference on Cohesive Societies held at Raffles City Convention Centre, where batik was the preferred attire of many audience members. 'We have to weave threads of different colours, even different textures, into a single tapestry – or involve many artisans in making a single fabric... that creates a larger motif of a nation with many strands and many histories, but at one with itself,' he said. More than 1,000 people, including policymakers and young leaders from over 50 countries, attended the conference organised by the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies and supported by the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth. The conference was first held in 2019 to provide an international platform for interfaith and multicultural dialogue, and for participants to exchange ideas and develop solutions to create cohesive and resilient multicultural societies. Mr Tharman's address focused on reasons for division across the world while highlighting areas that societies should work on to nurture multiculturalism. He first provided context, noting that enthusiasm for multiculturalism is waning and social cohesion is weakening worldwide. No political system can guarantee that a government or people will prioritise integration of different cultures, and recent evidence suggests the opposite – people are moving away from moderate tendencies towards more polarising behaviour, views and politics, he said. 'Shared values and belief in a common future do not come naturally, and there are always countervailing sentiments below the surface. Multicultural societies must therefore be actively woven,' he said. Advancing political polarisation is weakening the moderate middle ground and fuelling the rise of extremes, especially the radical right, said Mr Tharman. A startling trend observed in the last decade is the widening social and political divide between the better educated and the less, as well as those who live in the countryside and those who live in cities. 'What is most worrying is the way in which culture and identity is being injected into normal contentions over economic issues,' he said. Economic insecurity has converted identity and culture into a more virulent and more divisive political tool, he added. There are several deep forces behind the growing division, said Mr Tharman. First, the failure to control immigration and integrate immigrants, as seen in Europe. Second, the polarising effects of a fragmented media landscape and social media algorithms. While social media empowers many voices and frees access to information, much of it is now shaped by algorithms run by large technology companies, which have a polarising effect, said Mr Tharman. These algorithms offer a feed of stories that aligns with an individual's ideological preferences and strengthens them. Tech firms also have an incentive to maximise attention by propagating negative messages, he added. The third force contributing to division is the growing isolation in how people live their lives, especially in advanced countries. People are living more on their own and interacting less with neighbours who would have helped them to understand differences and accept disagreements. 'Societies can advance economically whilst regressing socially,' said Mr Tharman. Weaving a multicultural society requires sensible guard rails to prevent extremism and self-reinforcing polarisation, while allowing and encouraging differences in views, he said. This must begin from education, the most powerful tool available to integrate people, he added. Apart from allowing for social mixing, effective education can also uplift people of all backgrounds, said Mr Tharman. Without evidence that people can get ahead on their merits – with necessary support for those who start from behind – it will be difficult to sustain a sense of togetherness, he added. 'Education systems must be effective in uplifting every individual and every group. And I must say that is what we put great effort into, in Singapore,' he said. Another area is urban design to prevent ethnically or socially defined enclaves. He cited Singapore's public housing estates where more than 75 per cent of the population live, with a mix of ethnicities and income groups in every block. 'It is not just about housing. It is (also) about the facilities for recreation, for learning, for interaction, for morning qigong, a whole set of activities that bring people together,' he said. 'Common spaces in every neighbourhood, where you can develop your skills in a futsal court or watch others, or try out a new dance together. It is not just housing, it is an estate for social life.' While not every society can replicate what Singapore has done, it is still important to provide public spaces in societies with existing segregated neighbourhoods, he added. The third area to work on is that of media fragmentation and social media algorithms, which Mr Tharman characterised as 'one of the most complex'. Mr Tharman noted that the world is nowhere near agreement on the regulation of social media platforms, though advances have been made. 'It requires bold thinking. Both government and civil society have to actively work together, and with the tech companies that run the largest social media platforms, to make democracy safer and more sustainable,' he said. He cited the European Union's new Digital Services Act as a good example of how this can be done. The Act requires social media platforms to be accountable for content, such as the quick removal of hate speech. Singapore and Australia are also doing similarly. While some may say this is over-regulation – it is more regulation than big tech players are used to – an unregulated media landscape will only see democracy gradually unravel, Mr Tharman said. Established news media will also have to show journalism that is built on accuracy and transparency, he said. They have to separate news from opinion, and when they publish opinion, they should provide different perspectives for people to assess, he added. While he would not promote Singapore media as a model for the world, he pointed out that the mainstream media here is by far the largest chosen source of news among citizens, among many alternatives. That is critical, as it keeps that shared reality and common framework of facts for citizens, said Mr Tharman. Fourth, society must develop a culture of respect and solidarity that comes from everyday actions and not just governments and politicians. Civil society, educators, religious and community leaders and individuals also have to pitch in, he said. Each society must aim to build a community of respect, which goes to the heart of social cohesion and multiculturalism, said Mr Tharman. Respect is a source of upliftment as a society, he said. 'We need something more intrinsic to upliftment, we need the motivation that drives people to strive to overcome difficulties and to do their best. And the respect we lend each other is the most powerful source of motivation.' Goh Yan Han is political correspondent at The Straits Times. She writes Unpacked, a weekly newsletter on Singapore politics and policy. Source: The Straits Times © SPH Media Limited. Permission required for reproduction Discover how to enjoy other premium articles here
The Sun
24-06-2025
- Politics
- The Sun
Bid to save Britain from more riots and ease community tensions launched by expert taskforce
POLITICIANS are joining forces to unite the country in the hope of avoiding more riots like those seen last summer. Former Home Secretary Sir Sajid Javid says growing community tensions have been ignored by politicians for too long. 1 He said: 'Successive governments have treated community and cohesion as second-tier issues — responding only when tensions spill over and too often ignoring the root causes.' Sir Sajid is co-chairman — with ex- Labour MP Jon Cruddas — of the cross-party Independent Commission on Community and Cohesion. Sir Keir Starmer has warned of mounting 'cracks in our foundation', while Nigel Farage has warned of civil unrest because of anger over immigration. The taskforce was set up following last summer's riots in Southport, Sunderland and across the UK and meets for the first time today. It brings together 21 experts from politics, business, media and religion, including Reform -supporting commentator Tim Montgomerie, founder of Cobra beer Lord Bilimoria and former counter-extremism czar Dame Sara Khan. Brendan Cox of Together, which assembled the commission, said: 'Declining community connection and growing division is an existential threat to democracy. 'It won't be solved by more of the same - or by a single party or government. 'We will only see progress if we can forge both a shared vision of where we are going, and an effective roadmap of how to get there. 'That's not an easy thing to do - especially not in the current climate - but it's an extraordinary group of people who have committed to helping try.'
Globe and Mail
18-06-2025
- Business
- Globe and Mail
How cutting down on meetings and ‘intentional serendipity' can improve your team's cohesion
Question: I feel like my team isn't clicking the way we should be. We went through some changes this past year, including a couple of layoffs and a move back into the office three days a week. Now, no one seems very happy to be here. As a team leader, how can I encourage more motivation and cohesion? We asked Jennifer Moss, international speaker, co-founder of the Work Better Institute and author of Why Are We Here?, to tackle this one: This is happening all over the place right now. It is very much what I'm hearing from a lot of leaders. When we have been given agency to do things in a certain way and then it is clawed back, our instinct as humans is to hold on to that sense of freedom, even at personal cost. We can be emotionally resistant and it is often subconscious. It's important for leaders to understand and validate that resistance. I think that we need to have more conversations about it with our teams. Maybe you're not working fully remote anymore, but are there other things that could increase your flexibility? Maybe it's not where you work, but how you want to work. Are there ways to job craft? To use more of your strengths so that you're working on what you love to do? The happier people are at work, the more they are going to get along with other people. Return to office mandates can actually reduce team cohesion and reduce community. Everyone is saying remote work is creating this loneliness epidemic. I say it's time poverty that is creating the loneliness epidemic. Microsoft reported that there was a 252 per cent increase in time spent in meetings for the average Teams user between February 2020 and February 2022. A 2023 survey by Slack found that more than two hours a day in meetings starts to decrease productivity. Let's think about how we can increase time wealth. Figure out how to cut down on meeting fatigue and how to create intentional serendipity. We used to have rituals. People thought it was forced fun; they would roll their eyes and say now I have to go into the break room and have this terrible slab cake and celebrate four birthdays. But what happened is it created these ad-hoc chats about the movie we saw last week, and that increased our connectivity with people. Now there's none of that. There are ways to slowly build morale. Maybe it's 20 minutes once a week of having lunch together. Great research out of Cornell University found that employees having lunch together changed retention, improved well-being and decreased safety risks. Leaders also need to celebrate more of the small wins every week. We need to get people feeling like, 'Today I did a good thing, this week I did a good thing, this month I did good thing.' And if you are going around and saying, 'This is a cool thing that my team did,' you are also protecting your team from layoffs because you're giving them visibility to the rest of the organization. That provides psychological safety and creates loyalty. The spillover is more cohesion, because when people are feeling good, they tend to be nicer to other people. 'I felt like a hamster on a wheel': Why some millennials are choosing micro-retirement According to Sumana Jeddy, a Calgary-based work wellness coach for large enterprises, micro-retirement is a 'strategic, intentional break' that helps individuals with recovery over a health issue or a significant personal experience; it can also redirect personal ambitions. Instead of waiting until 65 to stop working, micro-retirees are taking an extended work break in their 30s or 40s. They do whatever they can to recover and refocus over a three or four-year time period, then return refreshed to the same or a different job with some newly acquired skills and experience. Working long hours can change our brain – and not in a good way, study shows Previous research has found correlations between working long hours and other negative health outcomes, such as cardiovascular disease, burnout, anxiety and depression, but the researcher says this is the first study to observe physical changes to the brain. 'Our study extends this understanding by providing novel neurobiological evidence that chronic overwork directly correlates with structural changes in brain regions that control cognitive and emotional functions,' says Wanhyung Lee, a researcher in the department of preventive medicine at Chung-Ang University in Seoul, South Korea. These women are leading in male-dominated industries – and they're hiring all-women teams Annastacia Plaskos shadowed a contractor for several years before she felt she had the skills to set out on her own. Then, she launched Fix It Females, a home renovation business that does everything from house painting to drywalling to building. The business rapidly grew from three to nearly 40 employees within a few years – all of them women. 'For me, showing other women you can do this, that it is possible [is important],' she says. 'You can make the same amount of money that a male can in this industry. It is doable.'
The Guardian
01-06-2025
- General
- The Guardian
Coherent strategy needed to tackle racism
That so few of the 600 recommendations to tackle racism have been implemented is all the more disappointing given that ways forward are well understood (Only a third of recommendations to tackle endemic racism in UK implemented, 25 May). When the last Labour government established the Equality and Human Rights Commission, it also launched the first national benchmarking survey of prejudice (2005), originally intended for triennial repetition but in fact only repeated once, in 2017. The British Academy's work on cohesive societies and the societal impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, Belong and the Nuffield Foundation's work on cohesion through the pandemic and the Khan review all concluded that preventing prejudice and building cohesion cannot be done unless we regularly and systematically survey changes in social attitudes and relationships across different places and contexts. The social processes that generate prejudice and discrimination are well understood and require coherent strategies to be addressed. Changing levels of poverty and inequality, social mixing, population ageing and environmental challenges mean manifestations of social fracture and distrust will differ across time and place. Unless there is a systematic approach and investment to address the processes of prejudice, including tracking its forms with sufficient frequency, policymakers will continue with the 'doom loop' of despair, inquiries and recommendations, and insufficient solutions when things go Dominic AbramsUniversity of Kent Have an opinion on anything you've read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.
