Channel 4 exposé revealed extremism at mosque that advised police

The Dispatches programme found Islamist extremism at the Green Lane Masjid whose chief executive later assessed the new chief constable

One of the Muslim groups consulted, the Green Lane Masjid, was the focus of an investigation by Channel 4’s Dispatches called Undercover Mosque which revealed Islamist extremism. The mosque’s chief executive was part of a panel which assessed Guildford before he was appointed chief constable. West Midlands police and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) issued a press release after the Channel 4 programme in 2007 claiming that the programme had misrepresented the views of Muslim preachers with misleading editing. The police claimed the investigation undermined “community cohesion” and “feelings of public reassurance” and reported Channel 4 to Ofcom, but the regulator cleared the programme of wrongdoing. In a sermon before Christmas, another preacher said that men could physically discipline their wives as a “last resort” and that women should not leave the house without permission from their husband. The National Secular Society has reported the sermon to the Charity Commission, which has opened a regulatory compliance case. The government suspended a £2.2 million grant for the mosque from its Youth Investment Fund in 2023 after videos emerged of a preacher saying that “homosexuality is not permissible”. https://archive.ph/l5Ggp

I didn’t marry my partner — it’s cost me £130,000

Cohabiting couples have few rights when it comes to inheriting property and pensions from each other

Not only did Nikki, who was 48 at the time, have to deal with the trauma of losing her long-term partner, she also had to face the financial consequences. “As a cohabiting partner, you have no automatic rights to your partner’s assets — even with a will in place,” she said. “I wasn’t able to benefit from Colin’s unused inheritance tax allowances. I also lost out on his pension. “Because I wouldn’t benefit from Colin’s inheritance tax allowances, the best option was to leave his share of the house to the children. However, what we hadn’t realised is that by doing this, if and when the house is sold, the children would be liable to pay capital gains tax on the difference between the value of their share of the house when he died [and they inherited it] and its sale value, which is about double. “If Colin and I had been married the house would have been left entirely to me, which would have made this a non-issue.” The rules of Colin’s pension scheme stated that on death the spouse would receive a pension of about £10,000 a year for life — and the children would get £500 a year while in full-time education. But the scheme only recognised a married partner. https://archive.ph/tGoNy

‘I’ll end up owing £200k’ — a graduate generation trapped and betrayed

All students are stuck with crippling debt, but one group is suffering more than others, reveals Mary Downer

More than a quarter of a century ago Tony Blair said that one in two young people should go to university. The political consensus now is that he was wrong. In September Sir Keir Starmer said that target was “not right for our times”, while Rishi Sunak’s verdict in 2023 was that Blair’s dream had led to young people being “ripped off”. Although most recent graduates will never repay their student loans, which have offered a lifeline for accessing higher education, some borrowers are paying far higher rates than others. Many now entering middle age are finding themselves saddled with a growing debt. The Sunday Times found that: • £15.2 billion of interest was added to student loans last year, while only £5 billion was repaid. • Successive governments have ignored the recommendations of a 2010 review that said graduates graduates on low incomes should pay less interest on their loans. • MPs and campaigners said student loans were a “mis-selling scandal waiting to unfold” as they called for their terms to be ripped up and rewritten. https://archive.ph/yKSvx

Trans lessons from Scotland are cautionary tale

SNP’s prison guidelines continue to defy Supreme Court and threaten to lead Labour into a mess

Once upon a time and not so very long ago, Sir Keir Starmer viewed Scotland as a place of cautionary tales. Sure, he had once been an unthinking supporter of allowing anyone to identify as whatever sex they might choose but Nicola Sturgeon’s experience had persuaded him this might be more trouble than it could possibly be worth. This is not just a Scottish problem. Starmer’s government also “respects” Lord Reed’s ruling in public while privately arguing against it in court. Channelling Augustine, both governments say “Lord, allow us to follow the law, but not yet”. Bridget Phillipson, the minister for women and equalities, still refuses to publish new guidance from the Equalities and Human Rights Commission. Bravely, she seems to think no one is paying attention to this. In Scotland a trans-identifying man who murders a woman will be placed in the male prison estate but one who kills another man may be incarcerated in a woman’s jail on the questionable-but-interesting grounds that he is unlikely to pose a threat to the safety of female prisoners. This is no accident. The Scottish Prison Service’s policy guidelines still decree that the service “must support transgender individuals to live in their affirmed gender”. Anyone reading the guidance is likely to gain the sense that the SPS deeply regrets it can no longer put male rapists on the women’s wing. Even those deemed a risk to women on the grounds of their past behaviour may still be granted “opportunities to participate in activities and programmes taking place in the estate of the individual’s affirmed gender”. This is, quite literally, a license for cosplaying. The number of trans-identifying men in women’s prisons may be small but in Scotland it includes several men guilty of murder. In an uncanny series of coincidences, these prisoners have only discovered their female identities after they were convicted. It is deemed unkind to wonder if post-conviction sudden onset gender dysphoria is really all it’s cracked up to be. https://archive.ph/CS5Jk