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Lauren Booth tells Colchester conference Britain would benefit from more Muslims

Lauren Booth Lauren Booth

THE sister-in-law of former prime minister Tony Blair told a conference in Colchester that more Muslims in Britain would be "good for the country".

Journalist Lauren Booth - sister of Mr Blair's wife Cherie - converted to Islam last year.

She told a conference at Essex University's Colchester campus that since becoming a Muslim she was a "better worker" and a "better mother" to her two daughters.

In a lecture called My Journey to Islam, she told the annual Islamic Conference that Britons were "seeking not to be afraid" of Muslims and wanted Muslims "to be happy".

She said: "If the number of British Muslims increases you should know it will be only good for the country.

"I am a better community person, I am a better worker, I am a better mother."

She claimed "one-sided news" meant she had been "scared" of Arabs and "probably" of Muslims.

Comments(17)

SteveExPat says...
7:16pm Sat 12 Feb 11

Converting to Islam is easy, you do not get stoned.

D-Lo says...
8:23pm Sat 12 Feb 11

Please correct your headline - it wasn't Cherie who said that Britain would benefit from more Muslims - it was her nitwit, dhimmi sister, Lauren.

Thank you.

Mr Anory. Jack says...
9:00pm Sat 12 Feb 11

SteveExPat wrote:
Converting to Islam is easy, you do not get stoned.
Love the quote!
but are you not quite right?
you get stoned if you sleep with your neighbour!
How civilised eh!

Boris says...
10:46pm Sat 12 Feb 11

Mr Anory. Jack wrote:
SteveExPat wrote: Converting to Islam is easy, you do not get stoned.
Love the quote! but are you not quite right? you get stoned if you sleep with your neighbour! How civilised eh!
Jack, surely that happens in Jaywick too, doesn't it? Perhaps stoned in a different sense, though.

Disley Titchbender says...
10:57pm Sat 12 Feb 11

Do not listen to this woman. She is clearly mad. She has nothing but her new found "religion of peace" and hatred for the ways of this country.
Both her and her uglier "sister" should consider something cosmetic like a burkha.

25414nora says...
11:23am Sun 13 Feb 11

Such a shame that a really interesting
topic for debate is spoilt by some of the above posters. One does'nt have to agree with Lauren Booth, but to display ones total ignorance by insults and mis-information is to be deplored

Taximan01 says...
1:50pm Sun 13 Feb 11

25414nora wrote:
Such a shame that a really interesting
topic for debate is spoilt by some of the above posters. One does'nt have to agree with Lauren Booth, but to display ones total ignorance by insults and mis-information is to be deplored
Maybe if terrorists didn't use religion as an excuse for murder & control of the masses then people wouldn't have these comments to pass. Like many terrorist actions, such as Ireland's troubles, they start out from desperation but then get hijacked by psychos who just get a kick out of shooting people & blowing innocent members of the public to bits.

cavillas says...
2:59pm Sun 13 Feb 11

Any one can be a better parent , a better community person and a better worker and indeed a better person if they weren't so selfish and self obsessed.

As far as Islam is concerned their God is one who encourages killing, hatred and a myriad of other crimes. Their prophet was a criminal, paedophile , rapist and robber. Their religion is one, basically, of dislike for other religions and a hatred for anyone who criticises their religion. All of this is in their own Holy books. Also all this Burka stuff is silly. Their holy book states that women should make sure their breasts and legs are covered, it doesn't mention all that complete covering which is an ancient tribal thing because of where they used to live , in the deserts. and was for protection from the sand and wind.

25414nora says...
3:52pm Sun 13 Feb 11

I am as british as one can be, the difference is, I have travelled the world,
I have experienced other lands, other cultures. As such, I have widened my horizons enough to know that Britannia no longer rules the waves, our British Empire is no more, we can no longer 'exploit other nations'
for their natural resouces. We are, but a tiny Island that depends wholly on
the mutial understanding, and respect of other nations. This includes the Arab, and muslem world. To continue to bury our heads in the sand, and to think we are totally isolated from the realities of life is a great folly. It is time to educate ourselves, to get wise, not to be intollerent of others who may not share the same values, or even the same religon. Lets not die of ignorance.

Taj says...
4:12pm Sun 13 Feb 11

25414nora wrote:
I am as british as one can be, the difference is, I have travelled the world, I have experienced other lands, other cultures. As such, I have widened my horizons enough to know that Britannia no longer rules the waves, our British Empire is no more, we can no longer 'exploit other nations' for their natural resouces. We are, but a tiny Island that depends wholly on the mutial understanding, and respect of other nations. This includes the Arab, and muslem world. To continue to bury our heads in the sand, and to think we are totally isolated from the realities of life is a great folly. It is time to educate ourselves, to get wise, not to be intollerent of others who may not share the same values, or even the same religon. Lets not die of ignorance.
Like 25414 Nora, I have also travelled the world and lived and worked in many different cultures and can only agree.
The press feed the general hysteria about Islam ,yes there are extremists.
Everywhere has them ,animal rights ,anarchist groups,anti abortion groups,other religious groups and even governments.
Look at how many times the recent news from Egypt filmed people praying
leading us to believe this was a religious uprising

Mr Anory. Jack says...
10:09pm Sun 13 Feb 11

Boris wrote:
Mr Anory. Jack wrote:
SteveExPat wrote: Converting to Islam is easy, you do not get stoned.
Love the quote! but are you not quite right? you get stoned if you sleep with your neighbour! How civilised eh!
Jack, surely that happens in Jaywick too, doesn't it? Perhaps stoned in a different sense, though.
Oh dear Boris,
"sleep with your neighbour?"
dont know how to reply to your judgements on the whole of Jaywick.
Hmmm....
I guess the many pensioners living here "would" like to believe you, but......
Myself?
I dont smoke,
hate it, hate those that pollute the free air others breathe.
Dont see why I have to bow down to the smokers belief its a God given right.
(do religous views count here?)
And drink, well, I`d love to, but not allowed.
NO, before you ask, I`m not Muslim either....
nor Arabic, nor Egypition, nor... nor...
*
So, as you nicely put a comment the other day,
this time, Boris,
you just being silly again!
Like the retort though, shows your still awake!

snoswad says...
8:24am Mon 14 Feb 11

who the f*** is lauren booth and why the f*** should i care what she does or wants to do and why did the gazette give the silly b***h a platform to voice her stupid thoughts.

6079 Smith W says...
7:31pm Tue 15 Feb 11

Islam has its small-minded, bigoted, vociferous, extremists. But the comments above suggest Colchester has a far bigger problem with this.

totallyfootball says...
7:38pm Tue 15 Feb 11

Having watched Channel 4's programme Dispatches last night has put a whole new perspective on it for me.

zerstoren50 says...
8:54am Wed 16 Feb 11

What a fcuktard! you brits need to fix your shyt!

romantic says...
5:43pm Thu 17 Feb 11

As an atheist, all religions strike me as a bit bonkers in a way, but I respect anybody's right to believe as they wish. Islam seems to be the big bogey-man of the time. Yes, it is true that many of the terrorist acts carried out in recent years have been done under the banner of Islam. That doesn't make all Muslims terrorists! The IRA were acting under the banner of a branch of Christianity, and it did not make all Christians terrorists, or indeed all Irishmen! I know it all sounds a bit wishy-washy, but the key is tolerance and understanding from all sides. Like Taj and nora, I've been around a bit, and have travelled to many Muslim countries. There are extremists everywhere, but 99.99% of the people are just like you and me. You don't get a realistic and balanced view of the world just by relying on tabloid headlines, the world is far less black and white than that. I'm sure the reporters on the Mail, Express etc realise this, but the editors know that this is what their readership wants to hear! If it was done in Iran, we would call it propaganda, but like people in most places around the world, we believe we are more civilised than most and clearly superior to most. Britain is a great place in many ways, but it's not perfect and never has been.

We already know Mr Anory is a frothing racist, and now it seems snoswad is heading that way. You guys need to get out there and see a bit of the world, maybe meet some actual Muslims instead of relying on the tabloids for your views.

Gideon Smythe says...
1:11pm Fri 18 Feb 11

I am an atheist so the whole arguement of which religion is best is, for me, a bit like discussing brands of rice cakes. I'm simply not interested.

However, from my limited travels I have to say that Muslims have always seemed to me to be very peaceful and respectful. There are extremist nutters in every religion (The Pope and George W Bush spring to mind) who have no time for other peoples' beliefs but proper Islam is not a hateful religion.

Unfortunately any attempt to bring different ethnic groups together in this country is shot down by those with pea-sized brains who can't look beyond the colour of someone's skin and suffers from little islander syndrome.

Shame really, there are a lot of lovely people all over the world, I've never worked out why we have to judge others differently simply because their ancestors headed for a different part of the globe to ours some 6 million years ago.

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