Labour MP sends out Eid cards to people that sound like they may be Muslims
deptfordbaker
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Mail wrote:
Non-Muslims' anger at Eid cards from Labour MP who admitted her staff went through the electoral register picking out people with 'Islamic' names
*Karen Buck sent Eid card to male constituent named Rustom Irani
*Mr Irani complained because he is not a Muslim, and follows Zoroastrianism
*He says the same thing happened in 2010 when he also wrote to complain
A Labour MP has infuriated one of her constituents by twice sending him a card celebrating an Islamic festival even though he is not a Muslim.
Karen Buck, a key aide to party leader Ed Miliband, admitted that her staff went through the electoral register picking out people with ‘Islamic’ names – a practice that could be in breach of the Data Protection Act.
Rustom Irani, 52, who was born into the ancient Iranian faith of Zoroastrianism, first complained when he received an Eid card from her in 2009.
The Westminster North MP apologised and promised him it would not happen again – but then she sent him another greeting to mark the Islamic feast day at the beginning of the week.
Mr Irani, a businessman from Maida Vale, West London, said the Labour politician’s use of his personal information raised data protection concerns.
‘I was born a Zoroastrian,’ he said. ‘I’m not anti-Islamic, it’s just that I’m not Muslim. Clearly they have just looked up my name.’
Miss Buck told Mr Irani in 2009 that the 7,000 cards she sent out that year to mark Eid – which celebrates the end of Ramadan, the Islamic month of fasting – were intended only for Muslims, although she confirmed at least two other recipients had complained.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2713841/Non-Muslims-anger-Eid-cards-Labour-MP-admitted-staff-went-electoral-register-picking-people-Islamic-names.html#ixzz39FgAG7iU
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Honestly, the lengths Labour MP's will go to, to get their ethnic minority voters to vote for them. Mind you all three leaders are always tweeting best wishes tweets to any group who is celebrating just about anything, just in case they may remember it and decide to vote for them at the next election.
Miss Buck, who is Mr Miliband’s Parliamentary Private Secretary, said she believed constituents welcome the Christmas, Eid and Rosh Hashanah [Jewish New Year] cards she sends each year.
But Tory MP Philip Davies said: ‘The idea that you can win elections by this kind of vacuous, politically correct, cynical tactic is wrong.
‘I rather hope that elections are determined by what you believe in and what you do for your local community. I think many Muslims will find this approach to win votes rather patronising.’
Apparently she is the MP for Westminster North.
So are ethnic minorities and religious groups getting more important to politicians, or are politicians just getting more and more desperate for people to vote for them?
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What next - MPs work out who the Christians are and only send them Xmas cards or Hindus only get diwali gifts.
Save the paper, go green and don't bother.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcsCIuHAyOA#t=39
Outrage.>:(
I think the issue was with the misuse of the electoral register - and the assumption that you can somehow work out a person's religion from their name.
Imagine the outrage if an MP went through the electoral register to work out who was white British - and only sent cards to them.
Cos Labour are very keen to dish it out on these sorts of cases as they love faux outrage!
Doesn't matter if David Cameron is doing it too, as long as it winds up ultra tosser Philip Davies they can do it as much as they like
Not really, I would be annoyed. I'm English, living in the capital of England. I don't expect my MP to send me foreign cultural items. I expect her to set an Example of good governance as an English member of parliament, fight for local hospitals, listen to peoples concerns about noise and pollution etc. Peoples personal religious celebrations are none of her business.
You auditioning for a new Monty Python sketch? I can just imagine Cleese saying that!
Handkerchiefs with knots tied at each corner would however be gratefully excepted
You do realise that it's possible for her to do all of those things, in addition to sending Eid cards, over the course of a five-year term?
#firstworldproblems
I got a happy Easter card from a local church one year. Did I react 'how dare they make the assumption I'm a Christian, I'm going to now explode in anger and impotent rage?' Nope, I laughed at the naivety of the quote inside, threw it in the recycling and got on with the rest of the day. Didn't think about it again until this thread.
London seems to be represented by Labour drones nowadays, who do / believe / vote, however Labour high command tell them too. Usually female, grew up some where else in the country, went to university to study politics etc. never had a proper job, parachuted in to a safe Labour seat, which was made safe by immigration and segregated ethnic minority communities.
This MP seems to have actually worked outside politics in charities and the council, but she got in on an all female short list, when the seat changed, giving her an easy win in 1997. Obviously complete obedience to the right people in Labour helped. These people seem to read from the script on multiculturalism.
Quite.
Sadly, some people need to be outraged by whatever the latest inconsequential thing it is that fits their agenda.
I was just wondering who funded the cards ?
I imagine it comes out of party campaign funding, like Christmas cards.
She's in the wrong.
The only thing that might bother me about being sent a card related to any religious festival (I'm a white British atheist) would be how much it cost the taxpayer to do it.
Why only "English"? are the "English" the only people who matter? there could be any number of people living in that particular area from any number of backgrounds or any number of nationalities, are they not allowed to be "offended" or as they aren't "English" do their feelings not count?
These are all rhetorical questions by the way
As opposed to stagnating you mean? care to remind us of a time when "our communities" didn't change? I mean, is it still 1960 round your way?
"YOUR own country" must be nice to have a country of your own, and not only to have a country of your own, but to be able to speak for everyone else who lives in "your" country, or perhaps you might just be projecting your own feelings, paranoia, and opinions onto others or are just assuming that because you feel like like a "stranger" then everyone else does? because I certainly don't feel like a stranger,
What real "harm" can it do? seriously, if you are going to get angry about a card wishing you well, then you really need to find something to be angry about, every year I/we get lots of Christmas cards wishing myself and the family well, and yet, every member of my family and all of my friends know I have been an atheist for my entire adult life, and you know what? not ONCE have I ever felt angry or offended because someone sends me a card associated with a religion I have nothing at all to do with, even my insurance company and the bank sometimes send me one, and yet I am no more a Christian than I am a Muslim, a Jew, or any other religion, But I have FAR more important things to get angry about, than someone mistaking me for a God botherer of any flavour, especially if they are offering good wishes,
Nope, I think someone who looks for even the slightest excuse to be 'angry' towards a particular religion, may think it's "the last straw" I am guessing that the overwhelming majority of us really have far more important things to be concerned about,
Ah now it's the turn of people who don't share your political views to be the target for insults "Labour drones" heaven forbid that some people DON'T share your "opinion" eh~? be it on the topic of religion or politics, and if it's BOTH, well, I think we are seeing a pattern emerging,
and of course this is ONLY true of "Labour drones" there are NO Tories (or supporters of any other other political party) who only vote the way their parents do or because they are 'stupid' nope, only Labour voters,
Hey up,.... now it's the turn of females, who "grew up somewhere else in the country" would this be YOUR country? so now, being 'foreign' or following a religion you don't approve of isn't enough, but being female, and "not being from round here" are two more reasons to be mistrusted,
So, lets see, just keeping score here,
having an education,
being female,
being Muslim,
being not "English"
or even "not from round here"
and "never having a 'proper' job (whatever a 'proper' job IS, probably only something that meets YOUR criteria)
being "parachuted into a safe Labour seat" (because no Tories are ever parachuted into a safe Tory seat of course)
and back onto the damn foreigners again,......
is there anyone not on your 'list'?
Terrific post, it has a bit of everything for everyone, thinly veiled racism, sexism, not so thinly veiled ignorance and intolerance and bigotry, well done give yourself a pat on the back, obviously you will have to pat yourself on the back, because I doubt you would trust anyone else to do it,
I suppose you would also say that to the man who got the card and was angry about it. Why don't you contact him with your thoughts and see what he replies. He has every right to get upset if he wants.