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YESTERDAY, AN EXCERPT from a Daily Mail article appearing to try to link Great British Bake Off winner Nadiya Hussain with three of the 7/11 bombers went massively viral.
The excerpt reads:
Today her hometown of Leeds is bursting with pride. It was ten years ago this July — the same year Nadiya and Abdal wed — that four bombers attacked London; three of them were raised in or near Leeds.
Abu Al Baik / Twitter"Hmm, we can't call her a terrorist yet but how do we associate her with it?" - Daily Mail. pic.twitter.com/zagGJtC0pw
— Mohat McGandy (@M_Ullah) October 10, 2015
The screengrab was shared thousands of times on social media yesterday, with many accusing the newspaper of Islamaphobia.
And with the article coming just one week after the newspaper published a review accusing the show of being too PC, people were quick to pounce.
Sam Fenn / TwitterThe daily mail shoehorns in unrelated & unnecessary islamophobia into story about woman who won a baking competition pic.twitter.com/73azqI3hSl
— ! (@smfenn) October 10, 2015
This morning, however, it has emerged that the quote was kind of taken out of context.
Jack Seale / TwitterI hesitate to defend the Mail, but that Nadiya screengrab is taken wildly out of context: http://t.co/EWviyOLlbc pic.twitter.com/o7QygvgCZT
— Jack Seale (@jackseale) October 11, 2015
The article in question was written by Yasmin Alibhai-Brown and actually praised Nadiya for her win.
Nadiya has done more to further the cause of Asian women — and men — than countless government policies, think-tanks, initiatives and councils put together have achieved in the past half-century.
And watching her, I realised that you can fight discrimination and exclusion in many ways. Sometimes by forcibly opposing it; at other times by sweetly disabling it and making people laugh.
We all owe Nadiya a debt of gratitude, not just for entertaining us with her pastries and sponges, but for teaching us what it is to be British in 2015.
Emma Chaplin / Twitter@BeardedGenius @SuperJules84 Actually, & remarkably, that's a lovely article by Yasmin Alibhai-Brown in the DM http://t.co/hLPM0Y9j9j
— Emma Chaplin (@MsEmmaChaplin) October 11, 2015
So, there you have it.
Even The Daily Mail can be nice sometimes.
Written by Amy O’Connor and first published on DailyEdge.ie.
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Have things gotten so bad in Leeds that the population of the entire city “are bursting with pride” over someone winning a baking contest. Don’t get me wrong, I’m partial to a nice swiss roll myself but let’s not get carried away…..
I doubt it was independently measured with either a Pridometer or a Burstograph. So the claim may not be 100% accurate.
Well that blew up in their faces……
Islamaphobia me arse. 95 people laid out dead in Turkey. Tunisia our own people murdered. France charlie Hebdo. Australia multiple times. London Bombings. Islamarealist more like. This girl is living in the U.K but is wearing the trappings of another Nation, what’s wrong with asking why she has not adopted British Society and it’s ways?
You do know that the people who were murdered in Turkey were (most likely) Muslim too yeah? The same as most victims of the Islamic State and the majority of people killed by groups operating in the name of Islam?
That’s not what was asked ,Kenobi, nor was it the assumption. The crime in question was linking an unassuming girl on a cooking show to terror bombings in London. But taken out of context it seems.
What is British society then? Do you really think it is all village living Anglo Saxons who go to hear a sermon from the local vicar?
Similarly, Irish society is no longer full of Catholic-priest-fearing Peigs in headscarves.
And it is not just because both societies have had an influx of non-nationals of various religions (and none).
Our societies have changed also because the indigenous peoples have said “no more” to a fascist 1950′s suffocating conformity.
And I hope a few nutter Islamic extremists will not cause our societies to regress and no longer accept differences in our neighbours
Any individual in the UK is allowed dress as they see fit (within reason). She’s not breaking any laws by dressing as a Bangladeshi woman. As for adopting “British society” she won the GBBO, probably one of the most British events you can get in recent years. I think she has settled into a British way of life very well. The UK is better off for having her.
why is the UK better for having her , seriously ? she’s a woman who loves baking and won the gbbo , some people are making her out to be an inspiration and a hero !
Really Suzie, you need it spelt out for you? Shes a Bangladeshi woman, living in the UK, who entered a national competition that is quintessentially British, and proceeds to win it. To me that is indicative of someone who has fully integrated into the British lifestyle (despite the fact that she is wearing “the trappings of another nation”).
There should be more Nadiyas, if only to reinforce the idea that not everyone who wears a headscarf is a raving lunatic and only a trigger pull away from blowing everyone up.
cathal , has she come out and said that she’s doing this for all Bangladeshi women out there ?
Why would she say that? How would that make Britain better off for having her? Seriously point out where in the article has anyone made such a claim????
cathal , not in the article but you said UK was better for having her . why can’t it just be about this girl winning the baking competition and that’s it ?
Ask the DM why it couldnt be just about a girl winning hte competition. They were the ones who tied (or tried to) Nadiya to the London bombers.
cathal , it was a low blow from DM but I don’t get all this other talk , all people are short of saying is that she is a hero to Bangladeshi women , sorry rant over !
Suzie, short of saying it and actually saying are two different things :) I dont think Nadiya went into the competition with the intent of winning it for all her Bangladeshi suisters, she doesnt come across as that type.
Its just that there is a sizeable number of people in the UK (and here in Ireland) that when they see somthing different , a woman in a headscarf in this instance they are automatically distrustful. rightly or wronglly these people will look at Nadiya and wonder whether or not she could be a potential terrorist or at the very least a terrorist sypmpathiser. Its not right, it certainly isnt nice, but it is a fact.
If she can change these peoples perception of what a headscarf wearing woman can be, in this case a rather excellent baker, then yeah she is a hero. And the UK (and Ireland ) could do with a lot more women like her.
sorry I disagree , yes she’s proof that not everyone wearing a headscarf is dangerous , but at the end of the day she’s just a young woman who won a great competition . to call her a hero is an insult to every heroic act that a person does in the world .
If hero refers to a “person who is admired for their outstanding achievements” as the Oxford English dictionary would have us believe, then Nadiya certainly fits the bill, and in no way undermines the meaning of the word.
outstanding achievement ? let’s not get carried away cathal , it’s a baking competition she won on TV , she’s a great baker . it had nothing to do with her beliefs , her religion , or wearing a headscarf .
A national competition that has hundred of applicants if not thousands. to produce bakes under the pressure of a camera crew, time constraints and then have it critiqued by professionals is no small feat.
cathal , I will agree its a wonderful achievement for her and she did deserve to win . I personally don’t think that she is a hero because of it but sure that’s just my opinion .
Suzie I think you missed the point, she’s not a hero simply for winning the comp petition. she’s a hero for coming to a country,that’s recently been gripped in a wave of Islamaphobia as a Muslim woman and proceeds to integrate herself into that society, without losing g her own heritage and proceeds to win a competition that is steeped in traditional english culture. but that’s just my opinion.
cathal , she was born and reared in Luton .
My bad, though the rest of my comment stands.
Nadiya is married with three kids…great support from her family throughout the competition.
Ah The Daily Mail,one of the most despised newspapers in Britain and the most anti Irish of newspapers is the fifth best selling daily and third best selling Sunday in this country,go figure.
Islamaphobia? Get real. 95…ninety five ppl laid out dead in Turkey and this rubbish is posted as news. Islamarealist needs to be a word used everywhere. What’s wrong with asking why is this girl dressed the way she is? If she is living in the uk shouldn’t she be dressed the same as the girls in the uk. Same same when any Irish female teacher works in the UAE they must wear a headscarf. Why is it that everyone else must allow them every single thing they scream about but the same crew wouldn’t give you a thing.
You believe in the principles of Freedom of expression, no? It is what all European countries, including Ireland was founded upon.
And to your particular point, no, women are not forced to wear the hijab in the UAE. I know this because I lived there for a couple of years. Out of the 57 Muslim-countries in the world about 1, the Saudis, have a mandatory Hijab law, but that may not necessarily apply to Westerners,
That is just shocking. Gutter journalism at its best.
Plenty of comments from people who have not read the article or who have read it but are incapable of understanding its content.
Comments from people who didn’t even watch the ‘Bake Off’ programme, Nadiya was a worthy winner.
London Bombings occurred on 7th July 2005.
7th 7th 2+0+0+5 > 777
# The God Number Triplicated.
I had an imaginary friend once. I grew up soon after.
7 is is the devils work. I prefer 6s… 3 of them actually. 3*3+3 is 12. Number of months in the year. 1+2 = 3… Which is a number between 2 and 4. Coincidence? You decide…
The date distance between the British Mandate for Palestine on 29.9.1923 and the London 77 tube & bus bombings of 7th 7th 2005
is …. 777 months 777 weeks 777 days
And they flew in on a Boeing 767.
And ate a box of after 8s
I like 7 – not sure why… In fact, it probably makes no sense at all … But then, who are we kidding… Neither do you. Would it not help if you went out and got laid?
Dail mail can be racist in my view but they do have a weird news section I enjoy…
Is that the section between articles on pedophiles and semi nude pictures of teenage girls??
Jamsey, what on earth have you been reading then… Any more of that and I not replying, who want to have any conversation on that??? Rough…
gurrier ‘journalism’
Such crap.
My god, are you actually defending the Mail?
have your say