Phil Simms
Muslim Sun newspaper columnist Anila Baig writes cross-cultural pieces based upon current news - in addition to the odd 'What not to watch' for the TV pages. This week she seems to be more into her role than usual appearing in her picture by-line without her distinctive hijab headscarf.
Baig is a great writer (winning 2004 regional columnist of the year) and shows a willingness to positively play on her background to break down barriers through humour as opposed to simply complaining about the sometimes negative image of Muslims in the British news media as a result of B ush and Blair's 'war on terror'.
Of course I am aware that the wearing of the hijab is not compulsory among Muslims and if one makes the decision to stop wearing it altogether that equally should be treated as a non-event.
But I am interested to know what was behind Baig's decision to unashamedly wear it in the first place and what made her change her mind? I just hope her decision was not influenced by the current Islamophobic political climate and the media furore surrounding it.
Thomas L. Blair is a sociologist and political blogger on the Chronicleworld 'for creative renewal in Black Britain and Afro-Europe'. His work is honoured in the British Library's archive of "social, historic and culturally significant web-based material from the UK domain". He won top prize in the blogging competition on The-Latest.
Sumantra Maitra is a freelance journalist from Mumbai, India. He is a correspondent for All Sports magazine, and a foreign affairs blogger for the Washington Examiner. He has written articles for news website Merinews.com and other regional publications. Sumantra runs a blog at DailyWorldWatch.wordpress.com. He provided exclusive eyewitness reports for The-Latest on the Mumbai bombings of 2008.
Brian Usher is photography consultant for The-Latest.Com. He is a highly experienced editorial and commercial photographer whose work has been published throughout the world, appearing in many well known magazines and newspapers. Brian has featured in several books and has been a writer for the Royal Photographic Society magazine.
Heidi Kingstone has spent time in Afghanistan reporting for a number of publications. Her work has appeared in the Financial Times, The Spectator, The Sunday Times and other international journals. She has also reported from places like Iraq, Rwanda, Lebanon, Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Kenya. Heidi is The-Latest's Editor at large.
latest comments