Tag Archives: rabina khan

Mark Valladares

30 April 2024 – yesterday’s (other) press releases

By Mark Valladares | Wed 1st May 2024 - 11:00 pm
  • Suspected drug deaths up by 11%
  • Welsh Lib Dems criticise Tata’s “heavy handed” approach to steel workers concerns
  • Cole-Hamilton speaks in abortion safe access zones debate
  • UK Governments Rwanda plans are “cold and callous”- Welsh Lib Dems
  • Blackie: scrap business rates, boost our high streets

Suspected drug deaths up by 11%

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP has today warned that the country’s drugs crisis continues to “end lives and blight communities”, as new quarterly statistics revealed that suspected drug deaths have increased by 11%.

Figures published today show that between December 2023 and February 2024, the total number of suspected drug deaths was 278, which is 11% higher than the previous quarter in which 267 suspected drug deaths were recorded.

Public Health Scotland also confirmed that: “Based on the latest post-mortem toxicology testing, nitazenes were detected in 38 deaths (from the first detection in June 2022 to 31 December 2023).”

Mr Cole-Hamilton said:

Scotland’s drug deaths emergency continues to end lives and blight communities.

We are also seeing increasing evidence of nitazenes, a synthetic opioid 50 times stronger than heroin, contributing significantly to that crisis.

I have joined with campaigners in warning that these substances represent a growing part of the drugs death crisis, highlighting that their presence in Scotland will require an immediate response. That’s why I asked Humza Yousaf about nitazenes during First Minister’s Questions in early January.

Despite these emerging threats, the Scottish Government have delivered a brutal real-terms cut to drug services.

Well-meaning words and promises just won’t cut it. As well as delivering radical and transformational action to help all those suffering, I want ministers to protect and strengthen the drug and alcohol budget so that everyone can access care when they need it.

Welsh Lib Dems criticise Tata’s “heavy handed” approach to steel workers concerns

Today in the Senedd, the Welsh Liberal Democrats have called out Tata Steel for threatening to withdraw redundancy packages from workers at their Port Talbot site if they decide to go on strike over potential job losses.

The company also rejected plans submitted by the unions which would have kept at least one of the blast furnaces running at the site.

Continue reading »
Posted in London, News, Press releases, Scotland and Wales | Also tagged , , , , , , and | 1 Comment
Caron Lindsay

Lib Dems mark Sabina Nessa vigil

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 25th September 2021 - 12:30 pm

Last night a vigil was held in Lewisham for Sabina Nessa, the young teacher murdered as she took a short walk at around 8:30 on Friday 17th September to meet a friend.

Liberal Democrat Councillor Rabina Khan was there and posted the heartbreaking speech from Sabina’s sister, who showed incredible courage in speaking.

Former leader Jo Swinson, who lives in that part of London, said:

Women and Equalities spokesperson Wera Hobhouse:

Earlier in the day, Rabina had been on the Today programme, talking to Nick Robinson about the fact that when women of colour go missing or worse, their stories attract much less attention than when white, middle class women go missing.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , , and | 1 Comment
NewsHound

LibLink: Rabina Khan: Life as a British Muslim changed forever on 9/11

By NewsHound | Sat 11th September 2021 - 5:00 pm

Writing in the Independent, Lib Dem Tower Hamlets Councillor Rabina Khan reflects on how 9/11 changed things for British Muslims.

She described her reaction on the day. Like our editor Caron Lindsay, she was cradling her baby as she watched events unfold on the television:

She described her sadness, and anger at that the perpetrators had done but also fear about what was coming for Muslims as a result of the actions of a few extremists who would be held to represent an entire religion:

At the same time, I felt anxious, knowing that some people would assume that all Muslims harboured the same views as the terrorists. Extremists are not Muslims and have deliberately skewed the texts to fit their homicidal agenda. They are murderers.

America’s response to that fateful day rewrote not just its own democracy but reshaped our world and the way we live. Our world witnessed the invasion of Afghanistan, Iraq, secret surveillance, increased dawn raids on Muslim homes, the way our children and young people were monitored at school. It became an era of fear and mistrust.

And it was that fear which had a profound effect on her daily life:

How can I forget the countless times I saw the look of dread and panic on people’s faces when I reached for my phone from my bag on the tube or the time when my rosary fell out of my bag during Ramadan? I remember a little after the terror attack my elderly gran’s beloved Adhan clock (the call to prayer) went off in her bag and people in the queue in a shop ran for the door.

Oblivious to the lingering, uncomfortable and judgmental stares in the shop from staff, my gran dressed in her crisp cotton white sari and head covered with a shawl, turned off the alarm, picked up the toy a parent had dropped and handed it back to the cashier. Recently, I was travelling on the tube in London when I was called a “f****** Muslim whore” by another passenger, but there were people who stood up for me.

Things have got worse in the meantime and she’s not optimistic for the future:

Continue reading »
Posted in LibLink | Also tagged , , , , and | Leave a comment
The Voice

Rabina Khan on BBC Newsnight on tackling vaccine disinformation in Tower Hamlets

By The Voice | Tue 16th February 2021 - 8:04 am

Here’s a clip of Councillor Rabina Khan on BBC’s Newsnight discussing the steps we need to take to tackle vaccine disinformation. You can see Rabina and her husband going into their community, in a socially distanced way, to support local residents – addressing their concerns directly.

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Also tagged and | 2 Comments
The Voice

Listen to Rabina Khan on the Vanessa Feltz Show

By The Voice | Sat 23rd January 2021 - 11:34 am

Yesterday we published a post by Cllr Rabina Khan titled “The danger of anti-vaccine propaganda“.

Last week Rabina was interviewed by radio interview on the Vanessa Feltz Show about the same subject. Well worth listening to.

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Also tagged and | Leave a comment
The Voice

LibLink: Rabina Khan on the treatment of migrants

By The Voice | Thu 13th August 2020 - 11:37 am

Embed from Getty Images

Cllr Rabina Khan is written in The Independent under the headline: ‘The treatment of migrants crossing the Channel is plain wrong and against British values.’ Rabina is a councillor in Tower Hamlets and Special Advisor to Lib Dem peers.

She writes:

Home secretary Priti Patel tells us the UK government is committed to “shutting down” routes used by migrants crossing the Channel to the south coast and disassembling the criminal gangs “making fortunes” enabling the illegal crossings to take place.

And whose fault is it anyway? Well, the French of course – as far as the government is concerned. If the French stopped the migrants putting to sea on their side of the Channel, our brave Border Force officers would not have to be dragging them out of their deflating dinghy on English soil.

…

Does anyone truly believe this will stop desperate people crossing dangerous waters in search of sanctuary and safety? It will not. The government often speaks of its admiration for the Australian points system for refugees. The way we treat these sad souls arriving from war zones, refugee camps and the deserts of North Africa needs no rating – it is plain wrong.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged and | 19 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Ed Davey: We have a duty to fight and extinguish racism

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 31st May 2020 - 10:23 am

Ed Davey has spoken out on the horrific events in the US. He argues that the sort of structural racism we see in the US is prevalent here too.

The Lib Dem Campaign for Race Equality has tweeted this powerful poster which shows that white people have to stand up against racism wherever we find it:

It is worth joining them to learn about how you can support and contribute to their work.

Lib Dem Councillor and race equality adviser Rabina Khan has written an article for the Huffington Post in which she warns that the stress of lockdown  could exacerbate similar tensions here.

In George Floyd’s case, it was evident the behaviour of the police was appalling but as the lockdown gradually eases, the UK’s focus must be on what challenges community policing will inevitably face in a post-lockdown era.

This is a difficult situation as the police also fear for their own lives, particularly when we look to the epidemic of knife crime that continues to plague the UK’s biggest cities. The police are already fearing an explosion of violent crime as rival drug gangs try to re-establish their dominance across London following the lockdown.

There needs to be a meaningful discussion ahead of time about the positive measures that could be taken to reduce the risk of this happening in the future – both in terms of police training and guidelines, and helping and supporting those often black and minority ethnic communities who are most at risk from this type of crime, and being lured into carrying out this type of crime.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , and | 6 Comments
Mark Valladares

18 December 2018 – today’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Tue 18th December 2018 - 11:45 pm

Brexit is coming, the hedge fund’s growing fat, who will put a billion in Phil Hammond’s hat? If you haven’t got a billion, 3,000 troops will do, if you haven’t got 3,000 troops, then God bless you…

But at least we’re giving some opposition to this wastrel administration…

  • Lib Dem peers defeat Government to force Prevent review (this one arrived late last night)
  • Cable: Decision to ramp up no-deal is psychological warfare
  • Dropping migration target an admission Brexit won’t control immigration
  • Lib Dems: Putting troops on standby is simply scaremongering
  • Lib Dems table no confidence motion in Government

We’ve also received a press release from Tower Hamlets …

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , and | 1 Comment
Advert



Recent Comments

  • Steve Trevethan
    Might it help if “our” main stream media were (more) objective, analytical and incisive in the vital function as defenders and promoters of a decent, equita...
  • Alex Hosking
    TBF, I don't think either side is great on free speech these days, so many people don't get it and just resort to ad hominem. It would be good if we as a part b...
  • graham
    Thanks Mark. I too enjoyed the film Conclave which is based on Robert Harris`s novel of the same name which is a page turner. Like the previous film "Two Popes"...
  • Daniel Stylianou
    Morgan - looking to the Australian model doesn’t really help because members of their Senate are directly elected, just as in the US system. It goes back to t...
  • Craig Levene
    Sarah Campion, Dan Carden , Andy Burnham. Have all called for a further enquiry, & rightly so. Reading Dan's statement, it certainly resonates. These horrif...