"They're all a bunch of crooks"
There's a good round-up of events so-far in today's Independent:
Why anger over war gives Galloway chance of deposing King
The East End is where cultures collide and the past is always present. Elements of modern, fashionable London, glitzy or grungy bars, and art galleries sit alongside remnants of an earlier era - rag-trade wholesalers, pie and eel shops, pubs offering "exotic dancers", the curry houses of Brick Lane, and the alleys where Jack the Ripper roamed. To say the Bethnal Green and Bow constituency has a rich cultural mix is an understatement.
(well, at least they've described it better than the previous newspapers)
Found by The Independent canvassing outside Wapping Tube station, he is so confident of the Muslim vote that he scraps a planned visit to a mosque and instead tears off to some tenement flats, a stone's throw from the gated enclaves of the City workers. He stops to shake hands with drivers at the office of Elite Cars, who greet him warmly. "I'm voting for him. He's stood up to Tony Blair over Iraq. The whole [war] thing is completely wrong," says a driver, Abdul Khalique, 37. His friend Nisar Ahmed, 36, agrees: "He's got 100 per cent of the vote around here."
Dissent to this line comes when he tries to give a leaflet to a smart Mercedes containing Abdal Ullah and his wife Aysha Qureshi. Mr Ullah, 29, it turns out, is an independent member of the Metropolitan Police Authority for the area, active in the local community, and he represents a different strand of Muslim opinion. He accepts the leaflet politely, but after Mr Galloway has gone he says: "I won't be voting for him, because he has done nothing for our community, whereas Oona King has helped us do things like create a prayer room for the local people." Both accused Mr Galloway of fomenting unrest in the Bangledeshi community. Ms Qureshi, 26, a solicitor, adds: "Of course we did not support an illegal war, but that does not mean we support Mr Galloway, who has taken faith relations to their lowest level around here for years."
...
At the nearby Redchurch café and bar, the owner Will Beckett, 27, a typical "incomer", says the lack of trust engendered by the Iraq conflict will influence his vote: "I'll vote for either the Lib Dems or Galloway. I'm a traditional Labour voter, but I can't bring myself to vote for Blair because of the war. I'd rather vote for someone with genuine left-wing credentials than for King." Behind the bar, Nancy Waters, 23, adds: "I'm not voting Labour. I feel ill at the thought of what has happened in Iraq, particularly the way we went in without United Nations backing."
...
Perhaps the last word should belong to Jimmy Rankin, 62, a former furniture dealer, whose substantial figure bulges across the table. He is clearly a man prepared to hold forth on such matters. Who will he be voting for? A scornful chuckle: "None of 'em. They're all a bunch of crooks, legal crooks, aren't they?"
Sigh.
Why anger over war gives Galloway chance of deposing King
The East End is where cultures collide and the past is always present. Elements of modern, fashionable London, glitzy or grungy bars, and art galleries sit alongside remnants of an earlier era - rag-trade wholesalers, pie and eel shops, pubs offering "exotic dancers", the curry houses of Brick Lane, and the alleys where Jack the Ripper roamed. To say the Bethnal Green and Bow constituency has a rich cultural mix is an understatement.
(well, at least they've described it better than the previous newspapers)
Found by The Independent canvassing outside Wapping Tube station, he is so confident of the Muslim vote that he scraps a planned visit to a mosque and instead tears off to some tenement flats, a stone's throw from the gated enclaves of the City workers. He stops to shake hands with drivers at the office of Elite Cars, who greet him warmly. "I'm voting for him. He's stood up to Tony Blair over Iraq. The whole [war] thing is completely wrong," says a driver, Abdul Khalique, 37. His friend Nisar Ahmed, 36, agrees: "He's got 100 per cent of the vote around here."
Dissent to this line comes when he tries to give a leaflet to a smart Mercedes containing Abdal Ullah and his wife Aysha Qureshi. Mr Ullah, 29, it turns out, is an independent member of the Metropolitan Police Authority for the area, active in the local community, and he represents a different strand of Muslim opinion. He accepts the leaflet politely, but after Mr Galloway has gone he says: "I won't be voting for him, because he has done nothing for our community, whereas Oona King has helped us do things like create a prayer room for the local people." Both accused Mr Galloway of fomenting unrest in the Bangledeshi community. Ms Qureshi, 26, a solicitor, adds: "Of course we did not support an illegal war, but that does not mean we support Mr Galloway, who has taken faith relations to their lowest level around here for years."
...
At the nearby Redchurch café and bar, the owner Will Beckett, 27, a typical "incomer", says the lack of trust engendered by the Iraq conflict will influence his vote: "I'll vote for either the Lib Dems or Galloway. I'm a traditional Labour voter, but I can't bring myself to vote for Blair because of the war. I'd rather vote for someone with genuine left-wing credentials than for King." Behind the bar, Nancy Waters, 23, adds: "I'm not voting Labour. I feel ill at the thought of what has happened in Iraq, particularly the way we went in without United Nations backing."
...
Perhaps the last word should belong to Jimmy Rankin, 62, a former furniture dealer, whose substantial figure bulges across the table. He is clearly a man prepared to hold forth on such matters. Who will he be voting for? A scornful chuckle: "None of 'em. They're all a bunch of crooks, legal crooks, aren't they?"
Sigh.
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