Tulip Siddiq

Good evening everyone!

Did anyone watch Tower Block of Commons last night? It made me cringe…

Anyway, I wanted to draw your attention to an article I wrote. It’s been published by Progress here.

And if you’re not in the mood to click on any other links, here’s the article:

I don’t tweet. Deal with it.

Apparently people can’t deal with it. It doesn’t matter that I have five email accounts, write a blog, text faster than you speak, obsessively Facebook (or Stalkbook.)…no. Just not good enough these days. Why this obsession with Twitter? Is it because the next election will be the first one in the UK where new media is likely to play a large part?

It’s been said before but I’ll say it again - e-campaigning is in no way an alternative to the original door-to-door canvassing. You simply can’t replace mailshots with emails and Facebook messages, or speeches with blogs and Youtube videos.

Don’t get me wrong. It’s a good idea to use Facebook but politicians need to ensure that they do it the right way.

Last year when the expenses scandal erupted, reporters utilised Facebook accounts to expose politicians. This article practically bases its argument on Baroness Uddin’s line about ‘east end of London’ on her Facebook profile. Perhaps a technology-savvy politician would have been more aware of how statements can get taken out of context. Similarly an MP’s wife complained about a local restaurant in her husband’s constituency on her Facebook status. It was on the local paper’s website within minutes.

The fact is that these attempts to use technology won’t work unless you invest a little bit of time to explore them. You don’t need a PhD in Twitter but you need to know that if you say anything controversial in your status updates, it will get out to a wider audience very quickly. Merely using new technology won’t help you connect with the youth; you also need to understand it.

Then there’s the issue of “live” website and “static”. I’ve come across countless constituency websites with blogs or ‘the latest news’ on them. Except the ‘latest news’ is actually six months old. The enthusiastic person who took up the initiative obviously got bored (like when I joined my gym… seemed like a good idea at the time) If you don’t have time to update it, have a website with generic information that doesn’t age. Otherwise you look sloppy (or physically unfit in my case)

The moral of the story? If you want to make yourself available, ensure that you carry it through.

I do want to see politicians making better use of this technology. Social networking means better scrutiny of politics and engagement of younger people to a greater effect. It also holds the potential for a genuine mass democracy.

We’ve all seen those annoying Facebook groups ‘If this group gets 1,000,000 members I’ll call my unborn child Spider Pig…’, but these people may be on to something. We have the tools now to mobilise people around causes en masse. This type of mass democracy could provide a refreshing change from our ‘elected dictatorship’ and answer some of the criticisms of over-centralisation of power.

Can I give you a nerdy example? In the US, the Pickens Plan, a blueprint to reduce America’s foreign oil dependence, has recruited 1.5 million online supporters, built a 200,000 person strong social network and produced over 1.1 million emails to Congress and the administration. (push.pickensplan.com if you’re really interested)

Ultimately there is massive potential for politicians to do their job better by using social media. MPs just need to use a range of methods. Youtube and Facebook is successful in engaging the young, but old fashioned techniques are still relevant. My mother prefers writing to Glenda Jackson via snail mail but my teenage sister will email her MP because she’s more comfortable doing so.

Anyway I am off to join Twitter before I lose all my street cred. However, I’m still going door-knocking in my local ward this weekend. Saturday at 2pm in Regent’s Park if anyone wants to help me out…

Has anyone else read Cameron’s outrageous comment about how Muslim peer Sayeeda Warsi would “blow the hijab off” young Muslim girls and women who “have been told that public life wasn’t for them”?

No? Well here is it.

It just shows how utterly clueless Cameron is when it comes to these issues.

His last sentence about how he shouldn’t have said that because he’ll get into trouble is even more insulting.

No David, you shouldn’t be saying that because it’s inappropriate, not because you’ll get into trouble with your voters.

I’m sure you’ve all heard that Boris Johnson has stood down as Chair of the Metropolitan Police Authority despite pledging in his manifesto that he would personally chair the MPA.

Looks like Clive Efford MP isn’t too impressed with the Mayor’s decision. He’s rightly tabled an angry EDM about this.

Come on Boris, even you must realise that crime and policing in London is a major issue that deserves serious attention?! Why on earth does your draft budget 2010/11 proposes a cut in police numbers of 455 police officers?

Morning everyone! Good weekend? I was up in Manchester for the Next Generation programme so I missed the snow in London fortunately!

Thank you to all those who came to the ‘Where are young women in politics?’ event in Parliament last week. I thought it was a really interesting discussion and I’ll be posting a copy of my speech soon.

Ok it’s not true that I start my week reading Tory Troll but the BBC London interview linked to this post is actually worth watching.

Does anyone else think Boris Johnson’s administration fares badly when scrutinised? Police numbers seem to be particularly problematic.

Hmmm….. definitely something Londoners should keep an eye on.

I recently went to a dinner in the Tricycle theatre hosted by Glenda Jackson MP where the special guest was our very own Foreign Secretary David Miliband.

Even David pointed out that being in the Tricycle theatre with a double Oscar winning actress turned MP was surreal!

Aside from her acting credentials, Glenda has been the MP for Hampstead and Highgate since 1992 and has voted against the Iraq War, Trident renewal and 48 days detention. She also voted for the extension of entitlement for former Gurkha’s to settle in Britain.

Anyway it looks like the event got some coverage in the Bengali media. You can see my little picture on the second page.

After the recent discussions in the press about what Muslim values actually constitute, this BBC article shows an example of a man who calls himself a ‘devout Muslim’.

In contrast to other so-called Muslim leaders who incite hatred in the name of Islam, there are countless others who interpret Islam positively.

As I stated in my blog below, we just need better coverage of the latter.

Happy New Year! Hope you had a fun break. I’ve just returned from Bangladesh laden with new clothes, New Year’s resolutions and new kilograms to add to my weight.

Any interesting resolutions? Mine are so commonplace that I’m almost embarrassed to admit them – go to the gym more, eat healthier, read more books, spend more time with family……

Well I did warn you!

Oh and I also want to blog more regularly this year. I know I slipped a bit towards the end of last year but 2010 will be different. I intend to make a concerted effort to blog so please do let me know if there are certain issues you would like me to write about.

You can read a piece I wrote for Progress here.

And the original text is below:

The banning of Islam4UK has, once again, thrown up various questions about the nature of the democracy we live in and the bounds of tolerance we are expected to exercise.

Should people be afforded the right to freedom of speech regardless of how abhorrent their words are? What does banning a radical group who want to practise mainstream acts of protestation achieve? Will it compel members to see the error of their ways and moderate their points of view or does it antagonise them further and drive them to practise even more extreme acts to get their message across?

Was Islam4UK banned because they sympathise with terrorist principles or because they planned a highly publicised, albeit hugely distasteful, protest against the government’s foreign policy?

Of course I completely believe that organisations that aim to promote violence, separation and hatred in the name of any religion have no place in modern Britain. If the reason for banning a group lies genuinely in the fear that they are inciting terrorism, it is a legitimate one.

Earlier this week, Gordon Brown condemned Islam4UK’s planned march as ‘disgusting’. For me, it is equally disgusting when misleading representations of Islam and the minority extremist Muslim groups in the UK gain significance because of the attention they receive in the media.

I can only hope that the same column inches that Islam4UK hijacked can, in the future, be used to expose the work of the decent Islamic groups that represent the true values of the vast majority of British Muslims.

Essentially the bulk of Islamic groups in this country, who are nonviolent and peaceful, are more deserving of the attention that Islam4UK is currently enjoying from both the media and our politicians.

I’ve been mercilessly bullied this weekend about not being on twitter. My excuse has always been that I don’t have enough time but apparently that’s not good enough!

According to one of my bullies, twitter provides you with a very quick newsfeed which is proving to be invaluable for his current affairs upkeep.

Another bully pointed out that if Sarah Brown has the time to tweet, so should I. Hmm… fair point I suppose. However I am an active Facebooker and I have a blog. Am I really missing out by not being part of the tweetsphere?! Any thoughts?

Anyway, I thought I’d share a piece I wrote for the Fawcett Society recently. I was contacted through my blog (Not through twitter….so there!) by Fawcett’s Communications Officer.

She asked me to contribute a very short article to the winter edition of StopGap, their supporter magazine. This issue focus on the double discrimination faced by ethnic minority women, as highlighted by their flagship campaign Seeing Double.

Fawcett asked:

What do you think is the key to making ethnic minority women’s voices heard and overcoming the ‘double discrimination’ experience?

As BAME Officer for Young Labour I said:

To help women from ethnic minority backgrounds, you need to understand the issues associated specifically with their lifestyles. But do all ethnic minority women face the same challenges? Ethnicity is diverse and cannot be put under one umbrella.

There are some obvious barriers to power, money and justice for ethnic minority women such the lack of childcare in the workplace (In Parliament, where I work, we do not have a crèche). This is obviously an issue for all women, regardless of ethnicity, but perhaps the difficulty for ethnic minority women is sometimes enhanced by the lack of support within their own households.

Ethnic women often do not progress because job vacancies or training opportunities fail to reach the right audience. They suffer because of language difficulties and the inability to bring multiple discrimination claims in the justice system.

However ultimately there is no one key policy that will help women from ethnic minorities overcome the double discrimination experience. Essentially there’s a lack of understanding about issues affecting ethnic minority women and if policy makers continue to treat them as a homogenous group, opportunities for them will not increase.

The only way to increase this understanding, and develop public policy accordingly, is if policy workers consult and listen to the concerns of these women directly.

If you’ve been reading my blog and my letters in the Camden New Journal, you will know that I was extremely concerned when the Albany Street branch of the Post Office was closed earlier this year.

Along with the Labour councillors, Frank Dobson MP and the local people, I lobbied Camden Council and government ministers to re-open a branch and it looks like our demands have been met!

The Post Office will undertake a short consultation process and then open a new branch on Albany Street in February.

I’m so pleased to hear that the residents from my Regent’s Park ward will no longer have to travel to Camden Town to use the Post Office. I know from the consultation meeting we had with residents in Dick Collins Hall that it was causing immense inconvenience to some people.

Thanks to everyone who helped us save this important Post Office!

In fact, Mr Mandy……..if you’re reading this, you should be thanking your fellow residents for their hard work too. It’s your local Post Office after all!

Local councillor Theo Blackwell has also blogged about this victorious outcome and very kindly mentioned me. You can read his thoughts here.

It’s been a whirlwind of political activity lately. In addition to campaigning regularly in my own Regent’s Park ward, I recently organised a climate change event with Douglas Alexander in Camden, attended the Eid reception in the Foreign and Commonwealth office and travelled to Liverpool for the Core Cities summit.

I also went to the City Gateway reception which was held at No 11 Downing Street.

As you will see from their website, City Gateway is a charity which aims to provide training for young people especially women in Tower Hamlets.

At the event, which was sponsored by Stephen Timms MP, an inspiring young woman talked about how she’s developed her public speaking skills and, in turn, her confidence through the training she’s received from City Gateway. She said that the help and support the charity provided enabled her to turn her life around.

I was also extremely impressed with Eddie, the charity’s CEO, who spoke about how they have developed a close partnership model with businesses both in the City and at Canary Wharf. This allows regular volunteers to support their project and provides disadvantaged young people with apprenticeship work placements within multinational firms.

I spoke to a RBS employer where we discussed the emphasis on private sector organisations needing to recognise the fact that they have a duty to support the local communities in which they function. It’s an important responsibility and one that is often ignored by big businesses.

I’m honoured to have been invited by City Gateway to visit the women’s project later this month and speak to everyone about the work I do in my community. I’ll be blogging about this so please do tune in again soon!

I’ve just realised that I was rejoicing in Ohio this time last year after campaigning for Obama. Ahhh…. the memories! I wrote a column for my local paper during the election and my article on the historic day can be viewed here.