Syria helped orchestrate 2006 Motoon riots

And what about this guy...Dr Ali Gomaa, the Grand Mufti of Egypt said: "The whole body of the Apostle is pure even his human waste."
Urine, sweat, ablution water, sputum, blood...you name it!
http://crossmuslims.blogspot.com/2010/11/glory-of-muhammad.html

20 years ago I held a seriously senior Local Government position in a major northern UK city. I had, inter alia, responsibility for equality policies. At the time the "official" version was that our population included just 2.5% "ethnic minorities". Sure we had some ex Hong Kong Chinese and a few West Indians, some Sikhs and some Hindus but most were Muslims from Pakistan and Bangladesh. There were some Poles, even a Polish Club,but they were those who stayed on after WWII.
Although the "official" stats said 2.5% we actually KNEW it was 4% or more. Poles, Sikhs, Hindus, West Indians were no part of the difference. Muslims were.
Whilst I am sure that Pew conducted their research with all due diligence I have to cast doubt on the voracity. Muslims don't tell the truth.
They seem happy to CHEAT in UK elections for example.
If 20 years ago the official statistics understated by at least 60% the true figures then I think I can fairly safely assume that the TRUE Muslim population is nearer to 5m than 3m.
That would mean that they comprise more than 8% instead of what is claimed. Except of course that UK population is probably also understated as a result.
They lie or withhold information and all stats become meaningless. Once they weren't.
On a blog someone pointed out that the number of Muslims claiming non working benefits, together with those claimed as working didn't anywhere near match the unemployment figures v the Pew figures. Something near the Pew total figures were actually claiming benefit.. Since many of the Muslim population are below working age that cannot be possible. Just saying.

You may be in a position to comment on this, Bewick114, given your background. Judith Miller at City Journal in an article on Afghans in Fremont CA, observes:

"Though many first-wave immigrants held prestigious jobs in Afghanistan — doctors, lawyers, engineers, teachers — their inability to speak English often disqualified them from comparable jobs in America. Several Afghans said that many men in the first wave preferred to keep their families on welfare rather than accept work they deemed degrading or unsuitable to their education and social status."

We may not share their view that accepting welfare is less degrading than working in a lower status job, but what is your impression of similarly-positioned new Muslim immigrants from wherever in northern UK cities?

If you are correct, Eastview, in what I think you are saying between the lines, it will be instructive to compare any intervention there by other African states and the UN, with their actions in Sudan, Somalia and similar Muslim African hotspots.

Eastview

if you go over to New English Review, Hugh Fitzgerald's current place of residence on the web, you will find that Our Hugh has posted a series of pieces - both news reports, with 'aside' remarks, and also mini-essays - on the unfolding situation in the Ivory Coast.

For example:

http://newenglishreview.org/blog_direct_link.cfm/blog_id/31384

Monday, 20 December 2010
A Man At The Market Gives Me His Views On The Ivory Coast

Essentially, Muslims from neighbouring Muslim lands have flooded into the originally-overwhelmingly-non-Muslim (Christian and animist) Ivory Coast; and this time round, they have been able to swing the election. There is some question as to whether the Muslim who has won the election is a proper Ivory Coast citizen...and whether all those who voted, in the north, were actually Ivory Coast citizens, or rather, ring-ins from, for example, Muslim Burkina Faso to the north.

Hegira: migration-as-invasion.

They're doing in Ivory Coast exactly what they're doing in Europe, and in India (Muslims are pouring into eastern/ north-eastern India from Bangladesh) and everywhere else. Pour in people and push for power as fast as they think they can get away with it.

The people at the Barnabas Fund have had a go at estimating the total number of Muslims currently present in Britain.

Using a combination of various official sources plus their own independent research, they came to the following conclusion:

"It would seem fair to estimate the current (2010) number of Muslims in the UK as being certainly 3 million , most likely at least 3.2 million, and possibly as many as 4.8 million".

They track it in a graph showing that the main expansion of the Muslim population in the UK has taken place *since* 2000.

(From their booklet 'The Way Ahead', published in connection with their 'Operation Nehemiah' project for the UK church, aimed at encouraging a western christian cultural revitalisation which necessarily involves intelligent resistance to Islamisation).

Truthiocity wrote:

This is just odd to me. I always thought Syria always acted for their own local interests and didn't use Islam as a tool like as Saudis do.
.......................

There *are* a few factors that blunt the full force of Islam in Syria—small-sect Alawite rulers, a Ba'athist "pan-Arabist" regime that is at least nominally secular, a large Druze minority, etc, etc.

But I think it would be a mistake to underestimate the importance of Islam in Syria. The country has had successive Islamist uprisings, in 1964, in 1967, in 1973 and from 1976-85. The Muslim Brotherhood has a growing presence there. As you note, they are major backers of Hizb'allah. They have done a great deal to crush any democratic impulse or remnant of Christian power in neighboring Lebanon, as well. Islamic "honor killing" is rife in Syria, as well, and has no real penalties.

Also, it is important to remember that there is no real division in the Muslim world between "local interests" and Islam. That Syria was involved in something like this doesn't really surprise me.

My impression of the first wave of immigrants here was that they in general worked in factories rather than higher level jobs. Some did later, much later, open corner shops.Those from Hong Kong and the Caribbean, and from African ex colonies already spoke English.At that time they were mainly employed.
Those from the Indian sub continent? In general it was mainly men who came, rather than families. They spoke some English. Fairly quickly they imported wives and families and those didn't speak English in general. When I say families this included extended families.
It was around 1984/5 that my City started to provide translations of documents into Urdu and Punjabi.

I know a Sikh family. My friends were born here and speak English perfectly. Their respective Mothers speak hardly any even though they have been here over 40 years. The spouses of their siblings hardly speak English either because they were more recently imported. I met a cousin and his wife. Both here for more than 30 years. They run a corner shop and do it with only a few words of English.I believe it is worse in Pakistani, Bangladeshi, and Yemeni communities.
Britain accepted many Asians from Uganda when Idi Amin kicked them out late 70s. These pretty well all spoke English and included doctors, lawyers and so on.
The children of the 1st wave immigrants , particularly the Chinese and Indians, tended to become educated and take higher level jobs. We have also imported many professionals in the last 20-25 years.
The unemployment and benefits problem wasn't very obvious 20 years ago but with the massive importation of Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, Somalis etc since then we seem to have created a Muslim benefits programme. The grandchildren of the 1st wave are also a problem in some communities but rarely Sikh Hindu or Chinese communities.
I can only speak from what I read because I no longer work in cities so no longer have 1st hand experience.
We have just a few people in my village who are not "indigenous" Brits. Their English, and education, is better than many locals and all are part of working families - in the higher level job category. The "can work, won't work" brigade here are, sadly, indigenous Brits.
I believe the situation is now much worse in the City where I worked but I no longer have contacts there.
Best I can tell you. Sorry

One extra bit of information. Afghans and Iraqis, Somalians and many others simply didn't feature 20 years ago.
We had a programme to try to match the composition of our workforce to the composition of the population of the City in the interests of equality. We were failing. With the help of our statistician I examined the figures.
What we found was that we had very few Chinese applicants. They tended to prefer to work in the family business.

Most of our jobs were relatively low paying - street sweepers,gardeners, school meals,maintenance people and so on. The ethnic minorities hardly applied for those jobs and if you aren't in it then you can't win it!
That skewed our overall statistics somewhat and appears to support the research you mentioned.
Applications from ethnic minorities for the higher level professional jobs - lawyers, architects, engineers, planners, lawyers,teachers, administrators, accountants were above the proportion in the population. They also had a higher success rate than indigenous Brits. Again seems to support the research. Obviously these people were well educated and spoke good English.
Our attempts to get ethnic minorities to apply for the low level jobs were met with deaf ears. Maybe because of their poor English or maybe welfare. Who knows.
We didn't employ health professionals, apart from an occupational health doctor and nurse. That would be the NHS about which I cannot comment. Think maybe this is more what you were looking for

Also consider that many Muslim immigrants feel entitled to milk the system, labour of others.

Many thanks - I appreciate the time and thought you have put into your replies.

Thank you.
Oops I mentioned lawyers twice and excluded, deliberately, social workers since I don't regard them as professionals. Some are but most are not. I know - I worked with them. Once, when doing my stint as top ranking officer (in charge of all City Services) over Christmas I was totally unable to locate the nominated duty social worker when presented with an emergency. He or she had made themselves unavailable even though being paid loads for acting as duty social worker. (at my level I received nothing extra but just did my stint every few years) Can't remember whether twas he or she but that person experienced my anger a few days later!!
The welfare (jizzya) issue. At the time the only welfare payments administered by Local Authorities in the UK were Housing Benefits ( free rent and Council Tax) and free school meals.
My team of internal management consultants examined both processes. To the best of my recollection there wasn't, 20-25 years ago, any unusual patterns re people with non English names. Guess things may have changed. My team WOULD have pointed to statistical anomalies.
The City in question, which I shall not name, has a population of over 350,000 and styles itself as the "capital of the north east" - justifiably. in my opinion.