Reblogged from IT's My Thoughts:

Publicist Kristen Foster says singer Whitney Houston, the multi award winning singer, has died at the age 48. She was found dead in her hotel room. Other details are not clear yet. Houston won two Emmy Awards, six Grammy Awards, 30 Billboard Music Awards, 22 American Music Awards during her record-breaking career. Her album “Whitney” was the first female album to ever debut at #1 on the Billboard Charts. She has sold 200 albums world wide said TMZ. Houston had one child, Bobbi Kristina, with husband Bobby …

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This is truly a shocking.

Whatever the reason, we continue to show equal amount of respect – despite on occasions knowing the real intention for those who require our help.  That said, our British Asian community are not all innocent in with their intentions and dealings with those people who require our help back in the so called ‘home land’.

Let’s take for example this couple:  Ilyas Ashar and his wife Tallat Ashar.  This couple from Eccles, Greater Manchester trafficked a deaf girl of the age of 10 into Britain and kept her as a slave for nearly a decade.  During her ordeal living as a servant and slave, she was repeatedly raped as well as beaten and locked in the basement every night.  The basement served has her sleeping place, with no bed just a concrete floor.  Without access to either water or a toilet in the basement, she suffered mentally as well as physically, despite having disability she received no sympathy from her ‘owners’.  You can read more on this here, here and here.

The following is taken from a new article following this case:

The girl was never paid despite being made to cook, clean and do the washing, the court heard.She was also allegedly forced to clean the houses and cars of the couple’s family and friends.Mr Cadwallader said: “She was physically abused. She was sexually abused, which included being raped by Ilyas Ashar.”She was exploited economically, in that benefits, state benefits in this country, were obtained in her name, the money being kept by the Ashars.

“At night the door at the top of the stairs down to the cellar was locked and bolted so she could not get out during the night.

“There were no washing or toilet facilities in the cellar so that if she needed to use the bathroom during the night she had to bang on the cellar door in the hope that she was heard and the door opened.

“On other occasions, during the day, presumably when she displeased Tallat Ashar, she was pushed into the cellar, pushed down the stairs and the door locked.

“She would sit there for hours crying and locked in.”

The girl knew no one in Britain, had never been schooled in either country and cannot read or write.She was only taught to write her signature so her name could be used to claim benefits, it is alleged.Both defendants deny two counts of human trafficking into the UK for exploitation and a single count of false imprisonment.

Ilyas also denies 12 counts of rape, Tallat denies one count of sexual assault and unlawful wounding and the pair along with their daughter Faaiza, 24, deny charges of benefit fraud.

This reminds me of an post by a fellow blogger Bikram who not so long ago wrote about a similar problem identified in London.  The title of his blog post is ‘London dreams sad heart breaking’ which I strongly suggest you read.

Both what I have highlighted here and what Bikram highlighted in his post, echo’s a similar concern of how we as a British Asian community are failing in our responsibility towards our British Asian community and that community which we left behind in our home land.

In this instance, this girl had her entire childhood taken away from her, her teenage years where systematically and culturally raped from her and as a consequence her entire life has been traumatised.

What makes matters worse that the community in which this evil couple lived stayed quiet and unresponsive to this terror that was inflicted on this poor child.  I feel disgusted, ashamed and angry towards this couple, their immediate family, relations and friends – but more importantly the wider community who turned a blind eye for over a decade knowing full well of the treatment of this child.  If anyone has questions along the lines that ‘maybe no one outside of this household knew what was going on?’ well let me bring them to the reality of British Asian community – news spreads like fire, affairs of British Asian families are not secret within the same community, so that theory of no one else knowing simply is false and almost impossible to imagine.

I wonder whether this case is an exception, and I wonder whether this is just a one off.  No matter how much I like to deny this – it remains almost factual that their probably are more people out suffering the same fate.

Is this a moral decay of our British Asian community or are we just not able to cope with the growing influence of our status as British Asians in our foreign home?

Nonetheless, I firmly believe as respectable and responsible British Asian Community we need to uproot such illnesses from within us, we need to show those who brought us to this country and this part of the world, that we are capable of appreciating their sacrifices and hard work to bring about a better society which they dreamed of achieving.  

Yet again, the England International Football team is heading towards yet another disaster.

It will be interesting to see how this story develops in the coming days, but admittedly I am both shocked and surprised, but lets see what happens.

The following is the table of managers to England football team:

What are your thoughts and views on this news?

Besides, as a British Asian, my family (and especially the elder clan) regard my career in the healthcare industry far superior and more respectable than the businesses I own, despite my accountant’s figures saying otherwise.

Having a professional career and owning businesses pretty much takes up all the time I have.  As well as working hard, extremely hard, I’ve got into the habit of being smart and staying few steps ahead of the game.

Making good use of every minute I have has got me to overlook, neglect and compromise some parts of my personal life, i.e. my health.  Being an owner of a fast food business definitely has not helped me.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not over-weight, or obese in anyway – I’m still slim as I was in my teenager years, still have the physique and in some ways its more toned than it has ever been, but the trouble I have is saying ‘NO’ to fast food.

In November 2011 I declared war on fast food, I came to a decision that my diet needed to be controlled and that the amount of fast food I eat needed to be reduced to the bare minimum.  Being so busy in coordinating business and managing my career, I got into the ugly habit of eating while on the move – meaning either eating out in restaurants, at my own fast food business or generally ordering something already made to eat at home.  This has made me aware and cognisant that if I’m not careful in what I eat and when I eat it, I could be heading towards a life with increased waist line and reaching a point where I can no longer see my toes if I was standing up straight.  I’m sure I don’t need to give you all a lecture on the impact fast food has on our health and wealth.

My parents, brothers and sisters never fail to make the point that I no longer join them at the dinner table, and when I eventually do, I eat in such a hurry as if the world is about to end in seconds.  As a British Asian family, food variety has never been an issue in the household, every day of the week there is something different cooked and praise is to those individuals who make every effort to keep our stomach full.

So, as a result of my contemplation in November of last year, I decided to phase out fast food from my diet.  Almost 3 months have gone past and I’m happy to share that from eating fast food 3 to 4 times a week I have now limited it to just 4 times a month (every Friday with family).  I’ve become a good boy so to speak and make the extra effort to eat dinner with the family at home.

Admittedly, it’s not been easy in taming my will power.  I can wisely tell myself that eating fast food ‘junk’ is not doing me any favours – health wise and finance wise – and at times, when I’ve had a scent of Garlic Sheekh Kebabs sizzing on the grill, or the sight of chicken donner sitting on the soft-moist-buttered Naan, or when I’ve covered a shift for someone, or seen the pizza come out of the Pizza conveyor belt, my will power declares war on me and threatens to teach me a lesson.  That said, I have managed to stay focused and managed to fight my will power pretty good.

So guys, despite being a part-owner of a fast food business – I have declared war on eating take outs and fast food.  I know physically I feel more alive, less lazy and more alert – whether this has anything to do with the change in diet – I don’t know.  But one thing for sure, I feel much happier that I’m winning this war.

For now, the above is enough as an update on this war, there is however more details available which I’d like to share – but will share them in upcoming posts.

On the face of it, this may not sound or appear to be significant news, but in my view this is a potential bomb ticking – timed to detonate and explode on 1st July.

To make matters worse, our boss, the USA will implement their sanctions targeted at the global financing of Iran’s oil trade will come into force in around 1st July.  Let’s not forget its election time in USA – with no Osama Bin Laden about, a new threat needs to be invented and Iran is just perfect for USA election campaigns.

This is not the first time that Iran has had sanctions imposed on it, but unlike previous sanctions, today’s EU Oil embargo is indeed the action which Iran has long said “such actions would represent a declaration of war”.

So, as the news spreads like wild-fire across the globe, news also spreads that Western naval fleets have entered the strait of Hormuz, the presence of USS Lincoln aircraft carrier and its task force, including the British frigate HMS Argyll and a French warship no doubt will have Iranians all nervous, but does signal (to me) a build up of Western Force prior to war in the Middle East.

I can’t really comment on the financial crisis of other European or Western Countries, but for me, I really don’t think we, the British, can afford another war both financially and morally.  The scar and wounds of failed war in Afghanistan and Iraq are still fresh.  What makes matters worse and in one sense, exposes our weakness, is that after all these bloody years in Afghanistan, we decide to have peace talks with the enemy the Taliban.

I strongly believe, that another war in the Middle East is likely to happen with today’s news development.  What’s more is that the cost of fuel in the UK is likely to go up, meaning a further increase to our livings standards.  Adding more pressure and worry to every household in the UK.

Living through previous conflicts such as Afghanistan and Iraq, we know too well that these conflicts never end and can expand over decades, often loosing sight of the real reason in going to war.  Same happened in Afghanistan, the Taliban were removed but the war continued for well over a decade.  In Iraq, Saddam Hussein was removed, there was a regime change and no weapons of mass destruction were ever found, but yet the war continued for over a decade.  Iran is known to be more fearless than both Afghanistan and Iraq put together, with more advanced technology and sophisticated weaponry, one cannot imagine how long the war with Iran will take before it comes to an end.

I’d like to read what your take on this issue is.

Are we likely to see another war with Iran? 

How will that impact us in the UK or the West? 

Can we morally and economically justify a war with Iran?

Imagine a world of see-though monitors, windows/glass that is interactive and touch sensitive.  This new technology has really got me excited.  Imagine car information being displayed on the actual windscreen as opposed to the dashboard.  Imagine, shower screens where you can enjoy a shower and yet keep up to date with news or other programs.  Imagine, your bedroom window allowing you to surf the internet and yet see outside.  Imagine is indeed the idea behind this technology.

Science fiction indeed has become reality, and this technology opens up a whole new worldof opportunities.

At CES in Las Vegas, Samsung is demoing a new touch screen display technology that is see-though.

It is also known as ‘Samsung Transparent Window’.  At the moment, this LCD window can fit any size up to 46 inches.  So, will no doubt quality for my box room window.  With all the additional extras, such as HDMI or USB, it definitely is a new kind of technology – something I’d expect Steve Jobs to come up with and launch for his upcoming products.

If you are worried that people on the other side of the window will be able to see what you are up to, or doing on this screen, well rest assure – it’s a one way mirror.  In other words, people on the other side will simply see themselves in the mirror.

I’m really excited about this technology, as it now opens up new possibilities and new ways of doing things.  Who said the wheel could not be reinvented?

One question though:  Why didn’t Steve Jobs come up with this?

As I write, I can’t help feeling the uneasiness of how I am relying on a machine to record my words, words that are in my mind, which shortly will be shared with many other machines that will be used by readers to view what I have written.  Since when have I started to trust this machine so much that I allow it to record what is in my mind?

As a kid, I loved the movies such as Terminator and Robocop.  It was, as a kid, a chance to glance into the future and experience how life may well be.  The future is still to come, yet machines are already amongst us.  But, how did I come to accept machines to be part of my life and to trust them more than some people who I know?  It appears that while we continue the struggle in dealing with our lives, deal with issues that each and everyone faces, the machine has slowly and gradually crept upon us.

As we all know, machines are invented by us, to help us and make life easier and comfortable.  We invented them for a purpose, to serve us, and to assist us.  We have turned a blind eye to how powerful the machine have become, and to empower it with our intellect may well be the biggest mistake we make as mankind.

Take for example, the new generation of mobile phones, known to the world as ‘Smart Phones’.  If you take the time out and the next time you are either on a train or at your local McDonald – see how many people are glued to their ‘smart phones’.  What is it in this machine that simply makes the user become obsessed with the machine?  Steve Jobs was the guy who gave us this ‘smart phone’ machine.  Was he working for us or for the machine?  As much as we like to think we are in control of our lives, the reality is the machines seem to have a pretty good grip on our lives.  Our day-to-day activities clearly cannot function without the need and input from the machine.

This morning, as I got out of bed, I reflected on this ‘Machine’ and realised that in almost every activity I do, there is a machine involved.  To help explain what I mean, I’ll recall the machines I used today till the moment I write this post – at mid afternoon.

Alarm Clock, Radio, Electric Shower, Trimmer and electric shaver, Electric Toothbrush, Kettle, Fridge Freezer, Mobile Phone, Toaster, Microwave, Central Heating, Sky HD receiver, LCD Television and Remote Control, Mobile Phone Charger, Laptop, PC, immobilized car key, Car, SatNav, Radio, CD/DVD, reverse parking camera and sensor, Parking ticket machine, Train, Automated barriers to exist the train station, ATM Machine, Traffic lights, automatic doors, lift, finger print recognition to access work building, printer, fax machine, 3 LCD monitors, telephone, vending machine, keyboard and mouse.

38 machines used so far since morning, to be precise only in 6 hours.  The list is of machines which I can remember and work out, but for sure there are those machines which I used that either I can’t remember or recognise.  When I look at it this way, it becomes scary and quite hard to get my head around how much I depend on these machines or how much influence the machine has on my life.

Imagine if the 38 machines mentioned above simply refused to operate to my command.  In other words, they all got a message at the same time ‘not to cooperate with me or any other human’ and the machine actually refused to work and operate as it is commanded or intended to – where would that leave me or us?

To put it into prospective, Image if the alarm clock refused to wake me up at the time I told it to.  The electrical showers refused to provide me with hot water for me to have a shower in the morning.  The electric trimmer/shaver refused to operate so I couldn’t trim my stubble or have a shave.  The electric toothbrush refused to work so I used it the traditional way to clean my teeth.  The fridge freezer didn’t keep my milk or the butter fresh and all other food content simply went off.  The kettle refused in boiling the water and the microwave refused to warm up my food.  My car refused to start.

At the train station the ticket machine refused to give me a ticket and the train refused to leave the station.  The ATM refused to give me my money and swallowed my card.  My mobile refused to make or receive calls, or to even send or receive a text message.  The finger print security to access my work building refused me entry.  The PC/Laptop I’m using right now refused to record my words and opera….[[THIS IS A MESSAGE FROM THE MACHINE.  THE BRITISH ASIAN BLOG HUMANOID NO LONGER HAS PERMISSION TO USE THIS MACHINE AND THEREFORE CAN NO LONGER COMPLETE THIS MESSAGE]] 

[[THE MACHINE IS NOW IN CONTROL]]

I have the belief that when you are ready to propose to a partner, you have gone through the days, weeks, months and sometimes years of indirect hints by your partner.  In other words, you intended partner has given you hints and direct signs that they are ready to get married, and hence just need you to go buy a nice ring (that fits) and find that perfect moment to drop to one knee, and pop the question and pray the answer is ‘Yes’.  Well, these guys, somewhere and somehow got it wrong, terribly wrong and are left embarrassed and humiliated.

Without further to do, I’d like to present to you my top 5 ‘Marriage Proposals Gone Wrong’.

Number One:  This dude needs a reality check, its clear he never did his home work.  It just was not his day.

Number Two:  This poor guy thought he had it all under control – in front of thousands of people.  Unfortunately, she had other ideas.

Number Three:  This person though the shopping mall would be the best place, a passer by managed to record the entire failure, as well as hundreds of other people who were expecting a ‘Yes’.

Number Four:  This is hard to watch, it clear from what the women says in return that this dude read the signs all wrong.  Ouch

Number Five:  His Mum was recording it, never mind the thousands present and millions watching.

So guys, my top five ‘Marriage Proposals Gone Wrong’.  Like I said, read the signs when you intend to propose to someone – otherwise………..

Has your say?

The reason why I made this correction, follows, two further developments in Stephen Lawrence case which came to my attention, and which at the time of writing yesterday’s post, were not apparent, or at least not to me.

Firstly:  It’s a known fact that, the group that attacked and killed Stephen Lawrence were a total of 5 people.  The names of all five I mentioned in my post yesterday.  Although, two of the five have eventually been brought to justice with one has been given minimum term of 15 years and 2 months and the other has been given 14 years and 3 months, three suspects remain at large and thus far have evaded justice since 1993.  It make sense now to bring the remaining suspects to justice, especially, since they not only have evaded justice but seem to think they were above the law.  A welcomed statement from Britain’s top Policeman Bernard Hogan-Howe said “despite almost two decades, the investigation is not closed” and that “others involved in the killing…should not rest easily in their beds”.

Secondly:  I made this point yesterday in my post, and I feel the need to mention it again, but with a little more detail.  It’s taken just over 18 years to bring about a conviction, and despite the conviction being a better result than any other result in the past 18 years, the satisfaction of this verdict or conviction is muted by why it took so long to get here?  Our society would never have changed, and, continue to change if it wasn’t for the sheer hard work and determination of that Doreen and Neville Lawrence put in over the years, mainly to overcome a lack of interest from an inward-looking, complacent – if not outright crooked – police force.  It’s still not perfect, and in the near future, can never be.  Doreen and Neville Lawrence have forced institutions to have a hard look at their own mind-sets, and more importantly highlighted to the wider population, the exact problems we face.

By digging a little deeper, around the past race related events of Eltham I come to realise Stephen Lawrence was not the only victim of racist murder.  In July 1992, Rohit Duggal aged 15 was murdered only a few hundred yards from where Stephen Lawrence died.  Eventually, years later, the Macpherson report had recorded evidence that Rohit Duggal’s killer(s) was one of the same gang responsible for Stephen’s death.  In Thamesmead, Feburary 1991 Rolan Adams aged 15 was to lose his life to racial motive killing.

Seeing news reports and documentaries one after the other, in the recent days, indicated a common sighting, especially during the scenes of demonstrations followed after the frustration of Lawrence boiled over to demonstrations.  Placards held by people during these demonstrations clearly condemned the presence of British National Party (BNP) in the area.  Somewhere during these events, lurking in the background was the influence of the British National Party.  It was known that only a few miles away, a bookshop covertly operated as a British National Party head office in Upper Wickham Lane, Welling.

Although, from the zenith Eltham appears to be a place which harbours racists, not just the murderers of Steven Lawrence, but it was, after all, the people and community of Eltham who gave up the names of the suspects from which two yesterday were convicted.  It was indeed the local “Institutional Racist” Metropolitan Police, who decided that the death of a black man just wasn’t worth the investigation, and it was never the wider community of Eltham with that view.

Unfortunately, the problem expands throughout the United Kingdom, there are places that remain a soft target for those who seek to stir and divide people.  The role played by the British National Party in the Bradford Riot(s) in July 2001 is a clear reminder of that, they just didn’t stop there, their motives and intention were abruptly apparent by major other riots around neighbouring cities before reaching Bradford.

Almost two decades later, what has changed and how much has changed?  Until Politian’s and others, either locally or nationally, don’t stop whipping up tensions, places like Eltham will remain soft spots for racial divide and may never escape the spectre of racism.

As I write this post, there remain three more suspects, who have, so far evaded justice in Eltham.  Throughout the country, many more such cases similar to this case, and, some have briefly hit the headlines, and especially since post-9/11 and 7/7.  However, circumstance in each individual case determines the course of justice, and in most cases, the lack of determination shown by Lawrence’s parents is missing, or the, institutions simply can’t afford to have another Stephen Lawrence Murder-like case on the horizon.  Racist Murder(s) and Racist Crime are more wide spread, more than we are led to believe.

Nearly two decades one, and with the recent verdicts, have at least for now, brought to attention the problem our society faces.  Communities such as Eltham at least now can begin to heal from the wounds over the last 18 years.  Victims of such racist murder(s) and racist crime(s) are not just the people directly attacked, but those who lived with them, went to school with them and the community who lived around them – the family of Lawrence, Neville and Doreen Lawrence lost their own lives over the last 18 years, as well as their son Stephen Lawrence – nothing can bring back what they have lost.  What happened that night was a great loss but from this loss the sheer determination by Neville and Doreen has helped change and improve our society, and the various institutions that swear to protect us, no matter what race or colour we are.  We owe it to them and those alike who fought to bring justice for all of us.

So, to bring the focus back to my original point that this case still remains open, thus far after 18 years two have been brought to justice but I really can’t help thinking that until the remaining members of the group are not put on trail and convicted, there still will remain uncertainties around this whole cases, with some way to go.  I also feel we have a long way to go yet to understand why this case has taken 18 years to prosecute 2 out of 5 suspects?   Some ownership, responsibility and accountability of the failings at institutional level need to be investigated, and to bring to light those sectors which contributed to the failure(s).  Until these questions are answered, we may well still have to fight for truth and justice.

A Chronology of events can be found here

Both Gary Dobson and David Norris were found quality today afternoon, bringing to an end (I hope) one of UK’s most unsolved murder case stretching over 18 years.  Not sure how many people are familiar with this case, especially those outside of the UK, but, I remember this case being a small kid.

The details of this conviction can be read here, here and here.

In my lifetime, pre-9/11 this was a one of those cases which brought to life many issues facing ethnic minorities in the UK (or even Europe for that matter).   Stephen Lawrence was a British Teenager, murdered back in 1993 in a racially motivated attack.

The pair were part of a wider gang, in this attack they were a group of 5 people.  They all escaped justice to a series of terrible police failings and where witnesses were intimidated and too scared to come forward.

In 1994, a secret recording of the pair made during a covert operation clearly showed them talking in racist and violent language.  This was, for everyone, now considered for sure a racist murder.  Failures in the original police investigation led to the McPherson report, which concluded that, the Metropolitan Police was “institutionally racist” and made 70 recommendations for ousting racism from society.

The other three suspects were named as Neil Acourt, Jamie Acourt and Luke Knight.  In 1997 daily mail named all five in an infamous front page as Lawrence’s murders.  To date, as far as I can recall, none have sued the paper.

Key Points for me:

The fact it taken 18 long years for this case to be concluded with convictions – shows the level of corruption and racism that has been inherent in the Metropolitan Police, and shows, how deep the problem expands.

Till date, from my recollection nobody has been made accountable for the appalling way the investigation into Stephen’s Murder was handled and executed by the very same Police, more so for the ill treatment of his parents and those who wanted justice and decided to made a stance physically.

Finally:

I am pleased to see the long winded battle for his parents and for those who were attached directly to this case (seeking justice) finally come to an end.  They spent 18 years fighting the very same institution which should have protected them.  At least now, the parents can really mourn the death of Stephen Lawrence.

That said, it does however raise the question of how and why the original police investigation failed, was corrupt and which showed deep levels of “institutional racism”?  Although, Stephen Lawrence case is now over, the case of police failings in this case is still wide open.