What next for Labour? Ideas for the progressive left

Demos, 11 June 2009

Rushanara urges Labour to return to being a ‘political movement built on social action and recognition of people’s potential and capacity to make a difference’.

112 Labour PPCs have now signed the ethics pledge
LabourList.org, 20 May 2009
Rushanara and over one hundred other Labour PPCs signed a pledge of ethics that binds them to integrity, transparency, accountability and honest financial economy throughout their campaigns and during the stays of any Parliament should they be elected.

A different mix altogether - London’s Baishakhi Mela and notions of identity, Ruchir Joshi
The Telegraph – Calcutta, India, 16 May 2009
Rushanara meets local residents at the Baishakhi Mela festival, where London’s East End Bangladeshi community celebrates the start of the New Year.

Muslim Power List, The Equality and Human Rights Commission, The Times, Emel
The Guardian, 24 March 2009
Rushanara is named one of the most influential Muslim women in Britain. The list celebrates the achievements of Muslim women in business, the arts, media, and the voluntary and public sectors.

Waiting in the wings, the new generation hoping to revitalise the Labour Party, Allegra Stratton
The Guardian, 19 March 2009
Allegra Stratton tells the story of a new generation of young and pragmatic Labour hopefuls, each coming from intensely different backgrounds and hoping to represent all corners of Britain in the next Parliament. The candidates are also given the opportunity to present themselves to the public through short video interviews.

Getting Black and Asian women into Parliament, Jane Garvey
BBC4 Radio - Women’s Hour, 23 February 2009
Rushanara and Priti Patel discuss the problems posed by the lack of ethnic minority women in the House of Commons, and share their experiences of becoming Parliamentary candidates.

John Rentoul: The special relationship, John Rentoul
The Independent, 28 December 2008
The chief political commentator for the Independent on Sunday selects Rushanara as one of six political stars ‘most likely to shine’ in 2009.

The Influentials: Who's in and who's out?, Simon Davies
The Evening Standard, 10 December 2008
The weekly list of influential people across London describes Rushanara Ali as a politician with a growing impact on the political arena.

Society : The 1000 London's Most Influential People
The Evening Standard, 8 October 2008
Rushanara is listed as an emerging community leader with a growing impact on London politics in this inventory of the city’s most influential people.

Lessons from America - can hope win? Rushanara Ali, Labour Party Annual Conference Speech                                                                                                 Policy Review, October 2008

Features a video of Rushanara’s speech at a Fabian society event held during the Labour Party Conference in 2008 on the lessons New Labour might learn from the Obama phenomenon.

Swell Ideas, Rushanara Ali                                                                                      The Guardian, 24 September 2008
The Tower Hamlets Summer University, which Rushanara helped to establish in 1995, has been hugely successful in proving young people with innovative educational opportunities and tackling youth crime in the borough, but organizers have encountered difficulties in trying to expand on the programme on a national level. Rushanara shares her unique perspective on this issue.

Laurie Taylor discusses the latest social science research - London Victoria Slum, Laurie Taylor                                                                                                   BBC 4 Radio – Thinking Allowed, 25 June 2008
Rushanara and Sarah Wise, author of 'The Blackest Streets', discuss the history of Bethnal Green and its implications for modern London.

Are more young women happy to vote Conservative, Jenni Murray                    BBC 4 Radio – Woman’s Hour, 14 May 2008
Jenni Murray interviews Rushanara Ali to discuss voting trends amongst young British women. Is it true that this demographic votes conservative? And if so, why?

Let power reflect the people, Rushanara Ali                                                        The Guardian, 20 February 2008
How can politicians mobilise a much needed new generation of community and public leaders, able to represent and accurately reflect the ethnic diversity of modern Britain? Rushanara Ali asks why representative democracy in Britain has not yet succeeded in eliciting a demographically accurate reflection of its population.

Subcontinental Sisters, Rupa Huq                                                                          The Guardian, 28 December 2007
Rupa Huq discusses the relative absence of Asian women in UK politics in contrast to the important roles they have played on the subcontinent, and cites Rushanara’s candidacy as an important step forward for British democracy.

MCB Fringe Meeting at Labour Party Conference, Rushanara Ali
The Muslim Council of Britain,8 October 2007
This report summarises the opinions voiced by Rushanara, as well as other leading Labour figures, at a meeting of the Muslim Council of Britain on the changes that have occurred within the British Muslim community during the last decade.

Homes Alone, Rushanara Ali
Progress Online, 1 October 2007
Rushanara Ali argues in this paper that housing must remain a priority for New Labour at the next General Election.

In search of British Values, Rushanara Ali                                                           Prospect Magazine, Issue 139, October 2007                                                  In his paper “A Governance of Britain,” Gordon Brown proposes a clearer statement of the rights and responsibilities of British citizens. Prospect Magazine asked 50 writers and intellectuals, including Rushanara, to express their thoughts on what this declaration of values should include.

OBV Special: Rushanara Ali – A rising star in the east, Ron Shillingford  Operation Black Vote Blog, 9 July 2007
In this interview Rushanara discusses her experience of growing up in Tower Hamlets and the prospect of representing it now in Parliament.

Politics VS the Arts, Madeleine Bunting                                                                The Guardian Audio Interview, 22 May 2007
A panel comprising Rushanara, sculptor Antony Gormley, film maker Penny Woolcock, and chief executive of the Royal Society of Art Matthew Taylor, discuss the relationship between art and politics. Should artists be involved in political debate? To what extent is it their moral duty to tackle political issues?

Kin Outrage, Madeleine Bunting
The Guardian,25 April 2007
The article celebrates the 50th anniversary of the publication of Michael Young and Peter Willmott’s pivotal research on working class life in the East End. Rushanara comments on working with Young and the ways in which the paper is still relevant to sociological discussions of the East End today.

'Its Social needs on the cheap’, Saba Salman
The Guardian, 22 November 2006
The article collects the impressions of politicians, intellectuals and social researchers, including Rushanara, on David Cameron’s attempt to define a new role for the voluntary sector.

Britain is teaching too few, Saba Salman                                                               The Guardian, 20 October 2006
Rushanara draws attention to the need for the Government to match its aspirations with appropriate funding in this article exploring the plan to teach English to all immigrants.

One year later, Rushanara Ali                                                                               Prospect Magazine, Issue 124, July 2006
One year after the 7/7 London bombings Rushanara Ali and Geoff Mulgan of the Young Foundation discuss what has and hasn’t changed in Britain in the wake of the attacks. Policing and the integration of the Muslim community are among the issues explored in this brief report.

... Our Riots,Rushanara Ali                                                                               Prospect Magazine, Issue 122, May 2006
Five years after the Bradford, Burnley and Oldham riots exposed the deep racial tensions that still simmer beneath the surface of modern Britain, Rushanara Ali discusses what has been and what need to be done to improve social cohesion and racial integration in the UK.

The Angry East End,Rushanara Ali                                                                    Prospect Magazine, Issue 120, March 2006
This work by Rushanara Ali and Kate Gavron explores some of the issues faced by the people of the East End from the 1950s right through to the 90s- the new immigrant working class, poverty, racial integration and social cohesion not least among them. This publication aims to act as a sequel to Michael Young and Peter Willmott’s pivotal study Family and Kinship in East London, which describes the close knit community of the 1940’s and 50’s.

Commission to tackle child poverty in London                                                   Press Release, London Council, 20 February 2006    
This Press Release confirms Rushanara Ali’s place on the London Commission to tackle child poverty.

Laurie Taylor discusses the latest social science research - New East End, Laurie Taylor                                                                                                                    BBC 4 Radio – Thinking Allowed, 15 February 2006
A panel of East End experts including Rushanara Ali, Kate Gavron and Dick Hobbs are brought together to discuss the social history of the culturally diverse boroughs of Tower Hamlets and Hackney, and the ongoing efforts being undertaken to solve the problem of integration.

Call for action on diversity, Cindi John                                                                 BBC News Online, 4 June 2001
Following the 2001 elections Rushanara Ali, then a researcher for IPPR, comments on the role of ethnic minorities in British politics.