THIS WEEK'S VISITORS (3,293)

Here are the top ten countries from which the blog has received visits in the past week.

1. United States 943
2. Indonesia 791
3. United Kingdom 433
4. Saudi Arabia 291
5. Poland 204
6. China 179
7. Russia 143
8. France 113
9. Venezuela 112
10. Germany 84

This week's total: 3,293 (last week: 3,016). These are aggregates of figures from the top ten countries only. Blogger's analytics doesn't show the numbers of pageviews below the tenth-ranking country and they don’t show the cumulative total including those additional countries, which is undoubtedly larger than the number shown above.

The world map at the top of this post is the graphic that I see on the stats page. The darker the green, the more pageviews from that country. I can see different versions of that map for "now" (i.e. in the last two hours), "today", "this week", "this month" and "all time". They're updated each time I look at them.

LEICESTERSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL CHAIRMAN'S SUMMER EVENING

A pleasant occasion at Beaumanor Hall, venue for the traditional Summer Evening reception hosted by the Chairman of Leicestershire County Council. It's a nice event, with polite conversation, an abundant finger buffet and live music inside and out. Harpist Soraya Vermeulen offered a lovely performance within the Hall.

Soraya Vermeulen

I've visited Beaumanor Hall several times, either delivering or receiving training here, but never for a social occasion. I take advantage of the opportunity for a nice stroll on my own through the gardens.

I'm here as the guest of Tony Nelson, Treasurer of Leicester Council of Faiths (my Line Manager there) and representative of the Leicester Hebrew Congregation on that body. We agree to stay for dessert, but leave before there's any dancing.

David Hurwich (left) & Tony Nelson, both of Leicester Hebrew Congregation

FIRST PERSON: BREAK DOWN BARRIERS FACING OUR COMMUNITY

Habib Akram (on right in photo below) has written the First Person column in today's Leicester Mercury:

Break down barriers facing our community

Habib Akram says Ahmadi Muslims are committed to peace and the UK but face prejudice from many people

Today is an historic milestone for my community - marking 100 years since our establishment in the UK. We have much to celebrate. We are committed to Britain and its prosperity. Our ethos Love for All, Hatred for None underpins our belief and is manifest in a nationwide peace campaign. In addition:

We have raised hundreds of thousands of pounds for UK charities.

• We support the annual Poppy Appeal and organise drives to join the Armed Forces as well as blood donation drives throughout Britain.

• We have engaged in widespread interfaith events and celebrated the Queen's Diamond Jubilee at each of our mosques across the country.

• We constructed the first purpose-built mosque in London, which opened in 1924, and was used as a bomb shelter during the war.

• We run western Europe's biggest mosque, in Surrey, with capacity for 10,000 worshippers.

• We have translated the Holy Koran into more than 70 languages, including braille. 

Britain has provided a home for thousands of Ahmadi Muslims over the past century. Our duty as Muslims is to be grateful to God and to give thanks to Queen and country for allowing us to practice [sic] our faith freely.

Islam teaches us to be loyal citizens and we believe it is our duty to serve the country, contribute to society and promote peace for all. When we say Islam means peace, we practice [sic] that.

Today will be a day of thanksgiving for us - the day falls during the blessed month of Ramadan.

However, the occasion also serves as a reminder of the acts of terror committed by extremists on my community.

Hundreds of Ahmadi Muslims have been murdered in Pakistan, where we are not allowed to practice [sic] Islam, and we continue to be persecuted in Indonesia and other countries where an extremist clergy is able to wield influence.

Even in Britain, there have been attempts to foment hatred against us through satellite Asian news channels or by firebrand clerics.

The result of this is that my community remains isolated from other Muslim communities, even in Leicester, and despite speeches and opinion pieces in this paper about the need for community cohesion, no attempt is made to reach out to us.

Invitations for other Muslims to join us at our interfaith events are ignored by all but a few.

So the need to build bridges and remove the barriers of prejudice is greater than ever. If the words that appear in this paper about building communities are not to be mere platitudes, real action needs to be taken now to break down the barriers of ignorance and prejudice.

As loyal citizens, we enter our second century here in the UK with much optimism. We hope to build on our achievements and, God willing, be of even greater benefit to this country.

Dr Habib Akram is president of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in Leicester

LEICESTER SOUTH MP JON ASHWORTH TO JOIN RAMADAN FAST

This article appears in today's Leicester Mercury:

Leicester South MP Jon Ashworth to join Ramadan fast

by Dan Martin

Leicester South MP Jon Asworth is to join Muslims marking Ramadan by fasting for a day.

Mr Ashworth will go without food, from sunrise to sunset on Wednesday, with worshippers at the Masjid Umar Mosque in Evington Drive.

The Labour politician is repeating a fast he took part in last yearHe said: “Last year I fasted during Ramadan because I wanted to have a deeper and more spiritual understanding of Islam.

“It was such a rewarding experience, and that’s why I want to fast again this year.”

“Ramadan is such an important time for so many families across Leicester.

“I want to show my support to the local community, but more than that, I want to experience Ramadan for myself again.”

The MP will start the day with an early meal, called sehri, at the home of Gulam Husain, the secretary general of the mosque.

He will not eat until breaking his fast with dates and water at Masjid Al Falah on Keythorpe Street on Wednesday night.

He added: “I’ll be fasting for the whole day, but like many Muslims I’ll go about my day as usual and will be working from my constituency office.”

“Even though I’ll only be fasting for one day, I’m still glad that I can take part in Ramadan in my own small way.

“I know it’ll be tough, and I wrote a blog about it all last year, but I know this year’s fast will reinforce everything that I took away from the experience last year.”

THIS WEEK'S VISITORS (3,016)

Here are the top ten countries from which the blog has received visits in the past week.

1. United States 1544
2. Russia 433
3. United Kingdom 354
4. Germany 183
5. Poland 137
6. France 135
7. India 84
8. Ukraine 70
9. Venezuela 39
10. Sweden 35

This week's total: 3,016 (last week: 2,436). These are aggregates of figures from the top ten countries only. Blogger's analytics doesn't show the numbers of pageviews below the tenth-ranking country and they don’t show the cumulative total including those additional countries, which is undoubtedly larger than the number shown above.

The world map at the top of this post is the graphic that I see on the stats page. The darker the green, the more pageviews from that country. I can see different versions of that map for "now" (i.e. in the last two hours), "today", "this week", "this month" and "all time". They're updated each time I look at them.

THIS WEEK'S VISITORS (2,436)

Here are the top ten countries from which the blog has received visits in the past week.

1. United States 1290
2. United Kingdom 391
3. Russia 222
4. Germany 195
5. France 135
6. Ukraine 70
7. India 48
8. China 38
9. Poland 28
10. Australia 19

This week's total: 2,436 (last week: 1,909). These are aggregates of figures from the top ten countries only. Blogger's analytics doesn't show the numbers of pageviews below the tenth-ranking country and they don’t show the cumulative total including those additional countries, which is undoubtedly larger than the number shown above.

The world map at the top of this post is the graphic that I see on the stats page. The darker the green, the more pageviews from that country. I can see different versions of that map for "now" (i.e. in the last two hours), "today", "this week", "this month" and "all time". They're updated each time I look at them.

OUR CULTURE CITY RIVALS ARE "CRAP"

This article appears in today's Leicester Mercury:

Our culture city rivals are "crap"

by Peter Warzynski

Leicester's three City of Culture rivals have been included in a national list of the UK's "crap towns''.

Hull, Dundee and Swansea all appear on the Crap Towns longlist – a collection of the 100 worst towns and cities in Great Britain.

However, Leicester – the home of Richard III, National Space Centre, Curve theatre and the Attenboroughs – is nowhere to be seen on the roster of rubbish places to live.

City mayor Sir Peter Soulsby welcomed the news, but said the real test would come in November when the 2017 UK City of Culture winner is revealed.

"Well, I already knew Leicester wasn't crap," he said.

"But I rather suspect that this list is a bit tongue in cheek because I know the three other City of Culture contenders have a lot to offer.

"So let's wait until November and we can prove once and for all we are the best city."

The 100 nominees will be whittled down to 50 via an online vote and included in a book of the UK's worst places to live.

Also making it on to the longlist is York – whose supporters are locked in a bitter battle with the University of Leicester over where the remains of Richard III should be laid to rest.

Despite Leicester's exclusion from the list, one county town made it into the top 100.

Loughborough can be found nestled comfortably between London and Louth, in Lincolnshire, on the alphabetical census of crapness.

Hearing the news yesterday, Loughborough MP Nicky Morgan said: "How deeply unfair. This has clearly been put together by someone who has never been to Loughborough.

"I know it's all a bit of fun, and tongue in cheek, but nobody wants to hear their home has been nominated as a 'crap town'.

"Oh well... I just hope people get voting and make sure that Loughborough doesn't make it any further than the top 100.

"We have a great town here, with a fantastic community spirit, wonderful tourist attractions and a top-class university."

David Cameron's constituency, Chipping Norton, is also on the longlist.

The quaint Oxfordshire market town – home to Jeremy Clarkson – is a surprise addition, but Crap Towns Returns editor Sam Jordison said it was not all about appearance.

He said: "Crap comes in many forms. Very often, the kind of towns that estate agents would describe as 'desirable' are the most stultifying, the most ugly and the most unpleasant to live in.

"They also tend to be full of the most ridiculous people. Our correspondents don't like Mayfair any more than they like deprivation and squalor.

"In fact, they often finger the affluent places as the cause of all the trouble in the first place. Or at least for failing to do anything about it and for having terrible, terrible pubs."

NEW LIGHTS HELP MARK RAMADAN

This article appears in today's Leicester Mercury (though without a photo - I nipped over to Highfields and took this one myself):

 

New lights help mark Ramadan

New Ramadan lights have been installed in three streets.

The lights were switched on in Nedham Street, Melbourne Road and St Peter's Road, in Highfields, Leicester, last night to mark the start of a month of fasting by Muslims.

New signs declaring "Ramadan Mubarak" (greetings) have also been put up.

They will change to "Eid Mubarak" to celebrate the festival at the end of Ramadan.

Yahya Thada, of Muslim Khatri Association, said: "The improved festive lighting will enhance the celebrations and allow the wider community to be part of them.

"Leicester will have the largest lighting in Europe."

PUPILS' IDEAS TURNED INTO PRAYER TRAIL

This article appears in today's Leicester Mercury:

Bishop of Leicester Tim Stevens with Max Harlow, 10, Maya Topping, 5, Jack Chapman, 5, & Lauren Henry, 11 

Pupils' ideas turned into prayer trail

A sculpture prayer trail inspired by pupils has been created at a primary school.

The art was unveiled at Gilmorton Chandler CofE School in a ceremony attended by Bishop of Leicester, the Rt Rev Tim Stevens, and diocesan director of education, Canon Mary Lawson.

It features seven artworks based on a verse from Galatians interpreting goodness and gentleness, joy, love, patience and faithfulness, kindness and self-control.

There is also a pebble cross where children leaving the school will each place a stone.

Children came up with ideas for the trail, which were realised by Ruth Cutler, Dean Williams, Ian Tuck, Andy Moyes, Liam Hadjipetrou, John Tozer and Kerr Doig.

Head teacher Marie Sandford said: "We encourage all children to become independent, creative learners who also respect and care for others and for the environment."

Team vicar the Rev Emma Davies said: 'This project has been a wonderful way of helping the children think about some core Christian values."

THIS WEEK'S VISITORS (1,909)

Here are the top ten countries from which the blog has received visits in the past week.

1. United States 485
2. United Kingdom 339
3. Russia 275
4. Germany 266
5. Slovenia 120
6. France 80
7. China 105
8. Ukraine 85
9. India 60
10. Netherland 55

This week's total: 1,909 (last week: 1,894). These are aggregates of figures from the top ten countries only. Blogger's analytics doesn't show the numbers of pageviews below the tenth-ranking country and they don’t show the cumulative total including those additional countries, which is undoubtedly larger than the number shown above.

The world map at the top of this post is the graphic that I see on the stats page. The darker the green, the more pageviews from that country. I can see different versions of that map for "now" (i.e. in the last two hours), "today", "this week", "this month" and "all time". They're updated each time I look at them.