CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE IN COMMUNITY COHESION (7)

At Prospect Leicestershire, Colton Square, this afternoon, for a meeting of our sub-group working on the proposed Centre of Excellence in Community Cohesion. Round the table today:

• Nick Carter (Chair, Leicester Multicultural Advisory Group; Chair, Prospect LeicesterShire)
• Dilwar Hussain (Head of the Policy Research Centre, based at the Islamic Foundation)
• Jasbir Mann (Head of Service, Learning Transformation and Development, Leicester City Council)
• Riaz Ravat (Training Development Manager, St Philip's Centre for Study and Engagement in a Multi-Faith Society)
• Resham Singh Sandhu (Chair, Sikh Cultural and Welfare Society)

As we settle down to our business, I spy one of the Barry Naylors through a glass door, being greeted by someone in the next room. We exchange a wave. Our attention is drawn to a document in which Leicester City Council has outlined five outcomes it has set itself for the period 2010-11. Rather than set about reinventing the wheel, we consider how these outcomes fit with our project. They are laid out in the document as follows:

1. Different communities get on well together.
2. New communities bond together.
3. Everyone in Leicester feels they belong.
4. Young people understand and respect different communities, and adults and young people get on well together.
5. There is freedom from tension.

These are not a million miles away from the old National Indicators (indeed, they'd have been set when they were still live). City Council is likely to have an abundance of information that we can draw on in relation mapping these themes, from the Total Place Survey and other such sources. of course, mapping gives us a picture of what's been going on up till now - but we can't rely on those models to carry us into the future.

With withdrawal of funding for our role as Host Organisation from 31 March, this is one of the activities we may not be able to continue after that date. Without presuming to speak on behalf of the other VCS bodies in the city who have functioned up till now as Host Organisations, I don't know what sort of support this project will get from any of them after 31 March - even in terms of doing the mapping exercise. I think I've made that loud and clear.

I have a brief chat with Resham about his appearance on The Big Questions which was broadcast live from Leicester recently. The producer had contacted the Council of Faiths and asked us to put forward someone who could contribute to the discussion on Islam as being a guide for daily living. This was Resham, but he wasn't called on to speak on the show itself. He tells me that he introduced himself to the production team on the day and said that he wasn't prepared to take issue or disagree with the Muslim women who would be speaking, just for the same of making "good television". So they didn't ask him.

More general chat around the table follows about this topic. We all seem in agreement: no one here likes The Big Questions or anything like it. We discuss other recent instances of Leicester having been covered in the media (such as  Hardeep Singh Kohli's Radio 2 documentary series, "The Great British Faith"). We're of one accord in saying that often we don't recognise Leicester as it's presented in these settings and are often baffled by the people who end up interviewed or speaking on them. Riaz mentions having been approached by someone in the media to provide a soundbite response to the comments by former Justice Secretary Jack Straw about Asian gangs grooming white girls. When he refused to say something inflammatory, he was dropped instantly. Nick is making a presentation to the Interfaith Forum for Leicestershire on Monday about faith and the media (jointly with John Florance and myself). What he says today is that the threshold is set too high in the media for stories about religion or belief. They're unwilling to publish anything about the everyday life of faith communities because it's deemed to be unnewsworthy, so for anything to get coverage it has to be something extraordinary - and that often means something negative.

EQUALITY MADNESS! (EXCLAMATION POINT ADDED)

Having bought a copy of The Daily Telegraph just the other day, I break another habit of a lifetime and further sully my hands with today's Mail on Sunday. I couldn't resist that headline, now could I, faithful reader? It reminds me of those alarmist, hysterical, shrieking titles of trashy novelettes and movies of the 40s and 50s, such as "Reefer Madness". And what's that text above the headline? "Government spends £30 million to discover whether preserving fish stocks harm ethnic Chinese, or hovercraft discriminate against gays". Now read on ...

The government has been accused of wasting tens of millions of tasxpayers' money to comply with controversial new equality laws that force organisations to prove they are not discriminating against minority groups.

Whitehall departments have already issued a string of bizarre reports to meet the terms of the Equality Act 2010.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) paid £100,000 to consultants who produced a report investigating how efforts to boost Britain's coastal fish stocks would affect minority communities including the Chines, homosexuals and Welsh speakers.

And the Department for Transport issued a study this month looking at harassment and discrimination on ships and hovercraft. The report covered a range of groups, including transsexuals [referred to as "gays" in the strapline, you'll note.]

There's an in-depth report on a double-page spread inside the paper. Read the full article (then go take a shower).

It's almost Burns Night. As I was writing this blog entry, a few lines from Burns's poem, "To a Louse", came to mind:

O wad some Power the giftie gie us
To see oursels as ithers see us!

LEICESTER DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL 2011

At Phoenix Square Film and Digital Media Centre, for the first Leicester Documentary Film Festival. It's been organised by John Coster, Editor of Citizens' Eye Community News Agency (seen speeding through shot above).

I intend to do some live blogging throughout the day, updating on a frequent and regular basis. But I'm unable to keep to that commitment because people keep coming up and talking to me! When I do post my one and only entry from the event itself, there's a sudden spike in readers, with 33 of them being from the USA. John Coster, Simon Parker and I muse on this unpredictable and often baffling aspect of maintaining a virtual presence: you just never know to whom one particular post will appeal, or why. And you're unlikely to find out. "Life is full of mysteries. Consider this one of them."

As well as the films being shown, there's a marketplace, where film-makers of all sorts and organizations who would like to interact with them can show their wares. I've brought one of our exhibition banners and an assortment of freebies. I've also written a brief flyer, seeking to attract support for the making of a documentary film about Leicester Council of Faiths in our 25th anniversary this year. Other exhibitors in the marketplace include:

• From Dusk2Dawn magazine
• Large Scale Film
• Leicester Documentary Club
• Leicester Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Centre
• Lumiere Arts
• Pedestrian Arts
• Recovery
• TouchRainbow Productions
• Wotbox

I record a few short video interviews with some of the people running the displays in the marketplace. You can see these on the Council of Faiths YouTube channel (Leicester Documentary Film Festival playlist).

Our little bit of the marketplace is right beside TouchRainbow's display. It's probably the busiest spot - but maybe we're a bit overwhelmed! Flyers are distributed randomly/evenly around the space being used for the marketplace.

The one film listed in the programme that I really wanted to see isn't being shown after all. This was "The Game of Their Lives" (2002). It's described thus on the Internet Movie Datrabase (IMDb) "A BBC documentary producer is given unprecedented access in North Korea to chronicle the story of the famed 1966 World Cup team from the North that advanced to the quarterfinals. The feature includes interviews with surviving members of the team, English fans and soccer pundits who saw the North Koreans upset Italy, 1-0, and go up 3-0 against Portgual before Eusebio eventually rallied the Portugeuse."

First productive conversation of the day (within a quarter-hour of setting up) is with Janet Hudson, British Cycling Leicester City Council Development Officer. We discuss the possibility of getting women's teams, from within the various faith communities, taking part in SkyRide later this year.

The only film I actually get to watch all day is "A Crude Awakening: The Oil Crash" (2007) a theatrical documentary on the world's dwindling oil reserves ("Theatrical" in this context meaning that the film in question was given a general release in "theatres"). As we leave Screen 2, in which the film was showing, there's someone handing out flyers for the forthcoming Greenlight Festival ("Leicester's Festival of Sustainable Living"), being held in De Montfort University on Saturday 12 February. When I tell her that I've got one of them and that I'm intending to go the their festival, she asks me if I'm me (if you see what I mean). Turns out that it's Linda Faulkner - we're friends on facebook. We have a sit down and discuss ways that Leicester Council of Faiths and Transition Leicester (of which Linda is a member) can collaborate more closely. Linda's involvement with environmental issues in Leicester goes back at least 20 years. In our conversation, she mentions a conference that was held in DMU way back then (so far back, in fact, that it doesn't even seem to have a mention on the web) entitled "Faith in Nature" at which Satesh Kumar snd Martin Palmer spoke. I was there, running a small bookshop on behalf of the Bahá'í Publishing Trust. When I mention the Get Inspired project that I was involved with last year (but which didn't come off in the end), Linda knows all about that (and recognises the guys from TouchRainbow, who were involved in that, and are standing nearby). I think I've persuaded Linda to come along to New College on Wed 16 February, where I've agreed to do five (five!) one-hour workshops for older students on religions and the environment. I'm sure I'll be grateful for her assistance. We agreed, tentatively, that I should run a one-hour workshop (tentatively called something like, "Getting the Ear of the Faith Communities") at the Greenlight Festival.

Later in the day, I'm introduced to Rashmi Vyas, freelance TV reporter and presenter, and committee member of Leicestershire Brahma Samaj. She tells me that her uncle has seen our exhibition for Inter Faith Week in Highcross in November, and had been singing its praises to her and encouraging more support from local Hindus.

When I've packed up and ready to leave, I'm approached by Dan Kent, who's attached to The Wave (the young persons' monthly supplement in the Leicester Mercury). He asks if he can interview me and for the first time I'm on the other end of the Flip camera. He has some interesting questions - I hope my responses are also interesting. When I ask him how he intends to use the interview, he says that it might be turned into an article for the print version of The Wave, loaded onto their YouTube channel or used by Dan in a personal project - he's committed to making a short film every day for a year.

PREJUDICE STEMS FROM THE WAY WE DISCUSS FAITH

The Bishop of Leicester's First Person column appears in today's Leicester Mercury:

Prejudice stems from the way we discuss faith

The Bishop of Leicester says society's superficial treatment of religion can be very dangerous

Just before the election Nick Clegg, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, was asked by the Radio 4 presenter Eddie Mair: "In a television debate you volunteered you are not a man of faith. Why don't you believe?"

Nick Clegg's answer began with a few seconds of stunned silence followed by "Em – gosh – that's one of the most difficult questions I think I can imagine… I… why do, why do I not know… whether God exists or not... it's not something, it's not something…"

Many people find it extremely difficult to speak confidently about their faith and why they do or do not believe in God. This week, Baroness Warsi, a member of the House of Lords and co-chair of the Conservative Party, gave a high-profile speech at the University of Leicester which hit the national headlines.

At the heart of her speech was criticism directed at aspects of society, including the media, about the lack of ability when it comes to discussing faith issues.

In her speech Baroness Warsi said that prejudice against Muslims is growing and she blamed "the patronising, superficial way faith is discussed in certain quarters, including the media".

Perhaps this concern with the superficial way in which faith is often discussed explains why Baroness Warsi has agreed to be one of the panel of judges of a new writing prize for young people launched this week by the Archbishop of Canterbury.

The prize is called "Faith in the World" and its purpose is to help younger people develop their ability to speak about faith. It also aims to help young people use this new-found ability to contribute their faith perspective to public debate on issues such as money or the environment.

This year the "Faith in the World" competition is inviting young people aged between 13 and 21 to submit essays about how faith relates to some of the big national topics and competition titles include "Does God care about global warming?" and "The Bible says that the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Can money make you happy?"

Ibrahim Mogra, a leading Leicester imam and chairman of the mosques and community affairs committee at the Muslim Council of Britain, supported the comments made by Baroness Warsi.

He too is concerned about the anti-Muslim messages in the media and regrets the fact that Muslims' positive contributions to British society attract less coverage.

Building communities of people who get on well together and feel that they belong is central to the well being of our society. Society, including the media, has a vital part to play in this by avoiding discussion which risks dismantling the very fundamentals of a civilised world.

INTER FAITH WEEK 2011: AND SO IT BEGINS ...

I'm in Phoenix Square Digital Film and Media Centre this afternoon when I receive an email this afternoon from Mike Smith, Policy Adviser and Chaplain to the Bishop of Leicester. He invites me to the next meeting of the Faith Leaders Forum at Bishop's Lodge, Springfield Road on Wednesday 26 January, to start planning early for Inter Faith Week in November. Noel Singh, Policy Officer (Community Cohesion) at Leicestershire County Council has also been invited. Noel was the driving force behind celebration in the city and county of the first Inter Faith Week in 2009. His reduced involvement in 2010 (not his choice) diminished the impact of the whole thing.

Hardly have I replied to Mike's email, when I'm introduced to James Adams, Marketing Officer at Phoenix Squarrse). I talk with him about having a short season of films that would fit in with Inter Faith Week later this year. James is definitely keen on the idea. I made a short list of such films last year, but left it too late to do anything about it. I won't let that happen this time round.

ANTI-MUSLIM PREJUDICE IS WIDESPREAD

This Op-Ed piece appears in today's Leicester Mercury:

Anti-Muslim prejudice is widespread

If you are in any doubt over whether Baroness Warsi is right in saying that prejudice against Muslims has become socially acceptable, have a look at many of the comments on internet sites which greeted her remarks yesterday.

All the tired old cliches were there – the inferred suggestion that many Muslims are sympathetic to extremism; the notion that the culture of good old England is being changed by these outsiders; the complaints that merely seeing somebody in a burkha is somehow troubling; the usual rubbish along the lines of when in Rome etc; the assertion that Islamic countries would not tolerate diversity in the way we generous Brits do, and so on.

People are entitled to their views, of course, and we are not necessarily suggesting that they are closet racists simply for discussing the sort of things listed above, even though we disagree with every point.

It is the fact that these sort of views are frequently put forward as sweeping generalisations, lacking in factual analysis, unsupported by logical argument and frequently characterised by incredibly hostile language.

Does that amount to prejudice? Is it the sort of discussion which takes place over dinner tables? You bet.

We do not think that Baroness Warsi is opposing freedom of speech (another allegation which surfaced with tedious predictability yesterday). We think that she is merely asking for people to show tolerance and respect to others.

Freedom of speech should be something we prize sufficiently to realise that it comes with the responsibility to conduct ourselves in a restrained and reasonable manner. It should not be used as cover for the vilification of an entire cultural group. That this is happening is not only deeply unfair but dangerous too.

"PREJUDICE AGAINST MUSLIMS IN BRITAIN IS AT AN ALL-TIME HIGH"

This article appears in today's Leicester Mercury:

"Prejudice against Muslims in Britain is at an all-time high"

The chairman of the Conservative Party has said prejudice against Muslims in Britain is at an all-time high and has become socially acceptable.

Speaking to the Mercury, Baroness Warsi defended her controversial comments on Islamophobia, the fear of Islam, which were released yesterday.

The contents of a speech, made at Leicester University last night, had been trailed to the media ahead of the event, sparking a debate on Islam in Britain.

In the first major comments on religion by a member of David Cameron's Government, she said Islamophobia was seen by many as normal, and said describing Muslims as either "moderate" or "extremist" fosters growing prejudice.

In our interview, she revealed how she had been the target of racist e-mails since entering the House of Lords in 2007, including receiving one just minutes earlier which read: "Instead of bleating like some Halal lamb being led to slaughter, how about ending the knee-bending to Islam at every opportunity."

She said: "Anti-Islamic sentiment is the last socially acceptable form of bigotry in Britain, and that e-mail is a typical example of the kind of behaviour I face.

"There's a rising level of anti-Islamic hatred in this country. When I get that kind of e-mail, that's being directed at me as a person whose family has a tradition of half a century in Britain."

Lady Warsi, who is the first Muslim woman to attend Cabinet, said she stood by every word of her speech.

"When you're open and honest about problems people know exist then people will make headlines out of it.

"I don't regret any of it."

She said discrimination against Muslims was more acceptable in Britain than ever before, and urged people to be more careful about what they said about the religion.

"People need to take stock of what they're saying and ask, 'if my next door neighbour could hear what I was saying, would they find it acceptable? Would it be okay for me to say these things about Muslims if they were Jewish or black?'"

She said Muslim communities had to organise themselves in the way Jewish communities had in the past, to tackle anti-semitism.

She said: "You can't draw exact examples between Muslim society in Britain today and the Jewish communities of decades gone by, but people used to say that anti-semitism was not really an issue.

"It was only when the British Jewish community started working with the police, evidence was logged, gathering information. Until that point people didn't acknowledge there was a problem. British Muslims need to do the same.

"We need to get beyond asking whether it is happening or whether it is an issue, because it is.

"This isn't a fight to the bottom for who is the biggest victim.

"The reason you have to be careful about your language is because of the potential consequences. We're on a journey as a country. Words can become unacceptable over time.

"Saying someone is moderate or extreme Muslim, you decide whether someone is good or bad based on their religion.

"If someone goes out and starts shouting 'death to Britain' and comes out with loads of crazy statements and wants to do us harm then they are criminals.

"They've become detached from their religion to such an extent that they should be defined by their criminality rather than their beliefs."

Asked whether she still faces regular discrimination, she said: "On the basis of my race? Less so. On the basis of my religion? More so."

Abdulkarim Gheewala, president of the Islamic Education Trust in Leicester, said: "Baroness Warsi's comments are timely and most welcome. No one should be allowed to justify the demonisation of Muslims as a whole, in the name of freedom of expression. We congratulate her for her honest comments."

Read the full speech given by Baroness Warsi at the University of Leicester.

Where's Warsi?

I've a ticket to hear Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, Chair of the Conservative Party, speak at Leicester University this evening. She's giving the Annual Sternberg Lecture, under the title, "My Faith". It's had considerable coverage in the media (including front page of today's Telegraph) and attracted a great deal of attention, most of it positive and supportive. I've been looking forward to this, doing a fair bit of advance reading - can't remember the last time I bought a copy of The Daily Telegraph (if, indeed, I ever have).

Her central thesis - that it's become normal, even socially acceptable, to express prejudice against Muslims in polite company in modern Britain - is a hot topic today on Twitter, with links being posted to news and comment websites all over the world.

Baroness Warsi is appearing in the Rattray Lecture Theatre, 1730-1830. Well, that's what it says on the ticket, on the poster and on the promotional material I received by email. But when I get there, the lecture theatre is locked, with not a soul in sight. No notices up to say that the talk's been moved or anything. I go back out on to the campus, try the Percy Gee Building, Ken Edwards too, but no luck. Then I see an outside broadcast truck from ITV1, their team setting up outside the Fielding Johnson Building. I ask them if that's where Baroness Warsi's speaking. They tell me yes, but there's no sign to confirm that, inside or outside the building. I didn't even know there was a room inside Fielding Johnson that would accomodate a lecture - unless it's turned out to be a smaller occasion than was expected. There had been some protests threatened to greet our visitor today, but there's no evidence of them either. Maybe the last-minute moving of the venue and the lack of signage was part of a plan for putting them off the scent. Certainly worked for me. By this time, anyway, it's going on 1745 so I decide to cut my losses and go home - it's been a long day and I've not even had my tea yet.

Although I missed out on hearing the lecture in person, I have been able to read the full text of Baroness Warsi's talk, as well as some commentary by someone who was actually there (though he doesn't say which building it was held in). Here's a little more, from the Political Correspondent of the Leicester Mercury, who interviewed her earlier in the day - and the Leicester Mercury's printed article about the Baroness's talk, including a number of readers' comments.

If you'd like to check out a few more tales of things I failed to do, find, see or show up for, you're welcome to try these, faithful reader:
http://equalitydiversityofficer.blogspot.com/2011/01/of-gods-and-men.html

http://equalitydiversityofficer.blogspot.com/2010/07/workshop-oh-i-thought-you-said.html

REDP (not very far) away day

We're having an "away day" for the Regional Equality and Diversity Partnership (REDP). Not very far away though. It's a sign of these austerity times that we've only gone as far as upstairs in the third floor training room at Leicestershire Centre for Integrated Living (LCIL). this is the second time this week that I've been involved in an "away day" that's gone no further than upstairs (the other one was with the Management Committee at Network for Change on Tuesday).

We're 18 months into our project at REDP, halfway through our period of guaranteed funding. Time to take stock of what we've achieved so far, what's still to be done - and what future we see for the partnership and our places in it beyond the end of funding in June 2012.

The away day is facilitated by Bob Clarke, who drafted the original business plan that helped us win the bid and who conducted an evaluation of the project at the end of its first year. I like Bob. Bob is cool.

We start off with just the four Core Partners of REDP:

• Leicester Council of Faiths - represented by me;
• Leicester Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Centre - represented by their Director, Ian Robson;
• Leicestershire Centre for Integrated Living - represented by their CEO, Dee Martin;
• The Race Equality Centre (TREC) - represented by their CEO, Iris Lightfoote.

We consider the original aim of the project and discuss to what extent this has been achieved:

To establish an effective regional equality and diversity partnership that can provide a voice for voluntary sector organisations on equality issues and ensure that national and regional information relating to equality issues is cascaded through infrastructure organisations to frontline bodies. Our overall aim is to provide a mechanism by which equality is embedded in regional thinking.

We carry out a similar exercise for the objectives originally agreed for the project:

• To ensure the partnership becomes the hub of influence in the region for infrastructure organisations.
• To develop links into the network of strategic government departments and agencies working on equality and diversity issues.
• To help East Midlands organisations which are working on the recognised equality strands tap into the wider networks promoting and challenging equality and diversity policies and practices across the region.

We're well aware that the environment has changed, quickly and radically, since these aims were agreed upon. Spatial strategy in governance has been virtually eliminated, which removes much of the regional dimension from planning and implementation. many, if not most, of the bodies that seemed fixed parts of the landscape when we got underway have been abolished or are living from day to day. the current Home Secretary has disavowed the whole business of equality "strands". Despite all that, we have no doubts that the principles on which REDP is founded and which it promotes in all its work are sound and solid. We stand firm and together in upholding these.

After the Core Partners have gone through these tasks for almost two hours, we're joined by Laura Horton (REDP Project Manager) to discuss some of the practical aspects of our work.

At lunchtime, we're joined by members of the the wider REDP team, bringing in more people from the four Core Partners. We've grown from four (plus Bob) when we started in the morning to ten (plus Bob) now. I'm pleased that Tony Nelson, Vice Chair of Leicester Council of Faiths (and a member of my management group from day one) is able to be here too.

We spend the next few hours largely going over the same issues and questions that we addressed this morning, but this time with a bigger number of participants and differing input.

Two practical decisions from today: we're going to have another "away day" (facilitated by Bob) within the next couple of weeks, just for the members of the Working Group; we're going to arrange for a presentation about REDP to be given to the boards of the four Core Partners (delivered by their own respective member involved and A.N. Other),
We read three papers in particular from central government in preparation for today. Here are the links, so you can follow them up yourself if you feel so inclined, faithful reader:

Decentralisation and the Localism Bill: an essential guide (published 13 Dec 2010 by HM Governement)
http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/localgovernment/pdf/1793908.pdf

The Equality Strategy: Building a Fairer Britain (published Dec 2010 by HM Government)
http://www.equalities.gov.uk/pdf/GEO%20Equality%20Strategy%20tagged%20version.pdf

Building a Big Society (published Mar 2010 by the Conseervative Party)
http://www.conservatives.com/News/News_stories/2010/03/~/media/Files/Downloadable%20Files/Building-a-Big-Society.ashx

MIDLANDS DIALOGUE FORUM

To Mansion House, Guildhall Lane, for a talk sponsored by the Midlands Dialogue Forum: "Rising as a Civilization: Which Muslim Countries can Accept the Challenge?" by Dr Asaf Hussain of the Universityof Leicester and Chair of the Society for Intercultural Understanding in Leicester.

The talk is well supported, with about 50 or so attendees (among them my son Alastair, Alan Race and John Hall from St Philip's Centre for Study and Engagement in a Multi Faith Society, Allan Hayes from Leicester Secular Society and Rachel Carmichael from Leicester City of Sanctuary).

I've had the pleasure of reading quite a bit of Dr Hussain's writing recently and of collaborating with him on a few occasions. His knowledge, erudition and insight are matched by his affability enthusiasm and humour.

Ten minutes or so into the talk, the room is suddenly filled with the sound of Morecambe and Wise singing "Bring Me Sunshine". I look around (as do several others) wondering whose phone that is and why they're not doing anything about it. Then I realise it's coming from my iPhone, in my pocket. but it's not my ringtone, so I don't know what's going on. I move to the back of the room, get it out and see that it's a YouTube video, which appears to have burst into life of its own accord. Ruddy iPhone!

Mansion House is the new premises of the Midlands Academy of Business and Technology (MABT). They also have a site in the Melbourne Centre, Highfields. I was occasionally involved with them there, when I did some work representing the British Accreditation Council, the agency which authenticates private institutions of further education in this country. I visited MABT a number of times, got to know some of the staff and its owner and CEO, Rokonuddin Ahmed, who is here at this meeting. I'm gald to be able to renew my acquaintance with him this evening.

Making my way back home tonight, at the end of a rather long day, there's an odd sense of experiencing the day in reverse. The frost I saw disappearing as I left the house this morning is forming again on the roofs of cars and I'm listening to another edition of Astronomy Cast (this time, "Where Do Baby Stars Come From?")

Photo of Dr Asaf Hussain courtesy of Sadik Cinar.