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CONTENTSBest Bites in BrumPages 4 - 10

We look at the variety brum has to offer in different types of food around the city.

What’s On?Pages 11 - 12

A quick look on what Birmigham has to offer regarding multiculturalism.

M u l t i c u l t u r a l EducationPages 13-15

Sam Briggs looks at the benefits of multiple cultures in education.

Muslim andLesbian Pages 16 - 18

Vinnie Cook interviews a woman about the struggles of being a lesbian in the muslim faith and how she is coping.

Kick It Out CampaignPages 19-20

We investigate the success of the Kick it Out campaign in modern day football.

Significance of Football in intergrating CulturesPage - 21

An interesting insight into the impor-tance and significance football can have on intergrating and respecting other cultures.

Happy as Larry Pages 22- 23

A review of Larry David (creator of Seinfield) new show ‘Curb Your Enthusiam’.

Meet the BandsPages 24 - 25

A quick look at a few of the acts looking to grace the stage on May 5th at the Rainbow in Digbeth.

Buckcherry - Jimmy AshhurstPages 26 - 27

Sarah Lee interviews iconic rock band Buckcherry bassist Jimmy Ashhurst.

Essex GirlsPages 28-29

Sophie Carroll takes an interesting insight into the world of Essex and evaluates why the essex lifetsyle is craved by so many people.

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Checkout MagazinePages 30-31

We check out on of the country’s lead-ing magazines ‘Check Out’ on multicu-luralism.

Dance is ArtPages 32-35

An Interview with dancer Leanne May about the wonders of dance and how it can be used to appreciate and understand other cultures.

Fashion Around the WorldPages 36 - 37

Hannah Mae Dixon takes to opportuni-ty to educate us on fashion around the world and the brilliance of different styles can influence our clothes here in Britain.

Gap Yahpage 38 - 40

Many young people are taking advantage of the opportunity pre-sented in travelling and we look at the benefit this has on understanding other cultures.

Top 5 Culture Cross-ing FlmsPages 41 - 42

Sophie Carroll reviews five films that have a strong impact and representa-tion of cross culture in film.

Come Together NowPages 43-46

Festival Season is closing and our reported Sarah Lee takes the opportu-nity to speak to a number of students to find out what makes these festivals so special.

The St Patrick’s Day ParadePage 47

A quick insight to the parade celebrat-ing St Patricks day.

Variety is the JIMMY SPICES of lifePage 48

A brief review on the resturant Jimmy Spices, a resturant renound for cross culture of food.

History of MusicPages 49-50

Jennie Cosh investigates the history of music and how culture has influences music change.

Cymru am bythPages 51 - 52

Hannah mae Dixon takes a proud look on her country Wales’ culture and achievements.

Multiculturalism Gone WrongPages 53- 56

An investigation into what has gone wrong in our multicultural society.

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The St Patrick’s Day Parade hits the streets of Birmingham

Crowds of people line the street, the Guinness is flowing, the sound of Irish music fills the air… It could only mean one thing- St. Patrick’s Day parade has hit Birmingham!The celebration of Irish culture was enjoyed by many on Sunday 13th March at the parade in the vibrant city of Birmingham.Outside The Dubliner pub, over a thousand green balloons were re-leased for a charity balloon race, marking the beginning of the cele-bratory event.The parade kicked off at noon at Camp Hill, proceeding along Digbeth High Street, past the Bullring, and then finished at Alcester Street at 1.30pm.This religious holiday is interna-tionally celebrated on 17th March and has gradually become one of the largest celebrations in Europe. The Birmingham 2011 parade drew in over 80,000 people, many of which were there for the craic. Visitors went all out with green face paint, wigs, hats and flags.These glorious festivities ran from

11th-17th March and the parade drew in a large, lively crowd of peo-ple from different communities. The spectacular display involved doz-ens of colourful floats, antique mo-torbikes and steam engines. Heart FM, Capital FM and BRMB were all broadcasting live. The various walk-ing groups included the Limerick Association, Small Heath Boxing Club and Macmillan Cancer Sup-port, and there were nine pipe and drum bands.Helen O’Connor 63 Fermanagh, goes to the St. Patrick’s Day parade annu-ally: ‘I really enjoy St. Patrick’s Day because of all the celebrations. It in-volves spending lots of time with the family. My granddaughter is carry-ing a flag in the parade.’ The streets were awash with en-thusiastic culturally-diverse crowd members, all enjoying the themed entertainment and soaking up the atmosphere in the spring sunshine. Traditional instruments and music filled the air throughout, really cap-turing the full spirit of the Irish.

Reported By Grace Montgomery

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Variety is the JIMMY SPICES of lifeReported By Hannah Montgomery

What do you do if you fancy Indian food, but your best friend wants a Chinese? Your mother craves Italian cuisine but your broth-er wants to satisfy his Thai taste buds? The answer lies in a restaurant which has revolutionised authentic dining with its unique concept… Jimmy Spices boasts an impressive range of cultural cuisine, offering traditional dishes from Italy, Thailand, India and Chi-na. The all-you-can-eat buffet style restau-rant fully embraces multiculturalism, as you can enjoy classic foods from different nations simultaneously. Authentic food has become a staple part of our lifestyles, and with every takeaway we experience a little taste of culture. Res-taurants like this fully appreciate the na-tional notions of culinary delights.Jimmy Spices doesn’t just provide tradi-tional national dishes. The Indian selec-tion, for instance, offers classics such as Chicken Korma and Lamb Rogan Josh whilst serving specials such as Mutter Pa-neer and Channa Masala.

Shakti Sharan, 36, the head chef, believes the vast choice of multicultural food plays a large part of the restaurants success: “Everybody believes in variety. We have so much variety under one roof because it’s easier to attract people. We aim to ap-peal to everyone.”The restaurant offers a multi-cuisine din-ing experience for all needs, as it features a salad station suitable for vegetarians and desserts for those with a sweet tooth. Cus-tomer Pervinder Kaur, 39, was impressed with the selection:

“As a vegetarian I’m very picky. I look out for the vegetarian options and there is definitely a good variety here.”

The ambience adds enjoyment to the expe-rience. Malgorzata Smolak, 30, a waitress at the Solihull branch, said: “I really like working here; the atmosphere is great.” So, if you ever find yourself in a predica-ment about where to dine due to a clash of cultural tastes, head to Jimmy Spices!

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The History of MusicReported By Jennie Cosh

Music is at the epicentre of many different cultures and throughout our history. The city of Birming-ham has evolved over time to host so many varying styles and genres of music and to take a look back at some past artists has made it clear how many modern bands we see today got their inspiration for their style and sound from.

Many cultures live hand in hand through-out this city and their music tends to be a main focal point and a way of bringing people together who may not generally mix. Due to the restrictions of their cul-tures, some people may not generally socialise, however having this common ground of a passion for a particular style of music, allows people to break out from their boundaries and express themselves in a completely different way.

During the early Victorian era folk music was extremely popular as its rhythm appealed to both lower and upper class-es. The wealthier classes had a more extensive style of folk and a broader use of instruments, however none the less it was still a genre for the nation rather than a specific audience. By the latter part of the 19th century European and Irish music had begun to influence and alter the folk style, thus creating a blend of more upbeat styles such as the creation of the Waltz and Jig tunes.

The 1920s saw the evolution of blues and

jazz due to the invention of the radio. This device enabled many great numbers of people to all unite and listen to the new wave of upbeat, fresh music. Jazz began in the southern states of America and gave a voice to black people who usually faced suppression during these times. There music was a way of telling the world that we are all equal, regardless of race, colour and gender. This music swept the western world and every town had a differing take on the off tempo rhythmic style, thus cre-ating blue, swing and modern day beats for R&B.

The craze of Rock ‘n Roll music began in the 1950s with the likes of Jonny Cash, Elvis Presley and Carl Perkins. These three pioneered a genre, which ultimately took the world by storm and we hear many of their songs still played and covered on the radio today. Many artists base their sound on the early rifts and melodies created during this era and the Rock ‘n Roll genre was seen as the young persons mu-sic, a way of expressing liberal views of the younger generation which their elders may not have expressed. This music is said to have popularised black by mixing it with white artists and many believe to this day that without the sounds of the likes of Elvis, many of these songs and their power-ful messages would have been ignored.

The introduction of main-stream British artists was one which will to this day stick in many peoples minds. The Beatles, The Who, Cliff Richard are all names that are instantly recognised and they began the evolution into the 1960s and expressed political views within their music. 1960s was a turbulent era, but will none the less always be remembered by the phrase “The Swinging Sixties” and “Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll”. The 60s created a culture, which has remained with us today, a culture that has a voice regarding the establishment. Never before had we heard political stanc-es within music and a counter culture of younger people questioning the way of the world. The Civil Rights Movement began in the 1960s and its music had a huge influ-ence on public opinion, Beatles-mania with-

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in the USA was not just because they were a hot new boy band, but because they were singing about issues which many chose to ignore until that point. The world began to relish in having a voice and a culture of youth music started this voice.

By the time the 1970s was upon us the rebellion within music had begun to die down. Immigration was on the rise and many Asian people were finding refuge within Britain. With their arrival, many new instruments came into Britain which subsequently altered the sound of the mu-sic people were listening to. Numerous alternative bands were starting to take hold and the world seemed to be losing its voice and settling down into its own segre-gated lifestyle again. Appartide within the western world was becoming more violent than the era before and now gay rights were also under speculation. It appeared the world was not united in there views and not even a blend of music could deter the extreme views being expressed.

This ideal of rebellion and anti-estab-lishment was revitalised in the 1980s, with the likes of The Sex Pistols being influenced by the earlier bands of the 60s. This, along with many governmental chang-es created a new society. In 1981 it had became legal to come out as openly gay and people were becoming more accepting of the varying ethnicities seen around. It appeared that their cultures were combin-ing once more and the music of the 80s was so multi fascitted that they allowed for all different tastes and preferences within just one song. UB40 were a Birmingham band that represented exactly what it was to be multicultural.

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Reported by Hannah Mae Dixon

Oh! What’s occurring! Is literally the most annoying phrase for me to be associated with. This catchphrase has gone national, adorning t-shirts, mugs and even the name of a popular feature on Scott Mills show on BBC radio 1. As I explore welsh culture I have found that we are more than just Gavin and Stacey and the rugby, our nationality and our proud patriotism spreads far and wide and we will continue to take our welsh flag beach towels on holiday- just so everyone knows where we are from. When we look deeper into the term culture and find that regionally and nationally, throughout Britain are a variety of differ-ences. As each country celebrates their individual cultures in weird and wonderful ways from the Irish jig, the Scottish haggis, the great English breakfast we must not forget our lovely Welsh sheep.Coming to university is like a huge melting pot, students from all over Britain, and the world are plonked togeth-er and told to live with each other and have a good time. I found that within the first few days everybody had little nicknames and ways of recognising people and the most common ice breaker was ‘so where are you from?’ I love my heritage and see that a lot of my personality traits have come from my background, environment and how I’ve been brought up. What does it actually mean to be Welsh? What makes us different from other British cultures? And

why will we always hate the English?Apart from having an entirely different language, government and well person-ality what is it that is encompasses my lovely culture? The Welsh language has always been an issue of debate as it’s seen as the language that is subsequently dying out. The welsh assembly and many welsh nationalist are forever trying to cling on to it reinforcing its importance through education and within welsh cities. From all of my years in education I can just about remember ‘tipyn bach’ which means a little bit, a great way of shutting up a fully fledged welsh speaker from attacking you with the ‘llch’ and the ‘chh’. I spoke to Fran Atkinson a Welsh language comprehensive teacher at Croesyceiliog and she feels that “the language to us is extremely important to our cultural identity and it is used widely in and around the northern part pf Wales. I feel happy that by teaching Welsh in Croesyceiliog I am doing my part in main-taining its existence and still getting young adults passionate about the language”. I also spoke to David Davies a Member of Parliament for Monmouth and Chair of the Welsh Affairs Committee he said that “The fact that so few people in Monmouthshire speak Welsh does not change the fact most feel positive about the language and about being Welsh. However, it is important that we do not “force” it in an inappropriate fashion or it will create a backlash against the language”. All I can say is if you can pronounce Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrob-wllllantysiliogogogoch I will salute you!In terms of food there are lovely classics that always remind me of home. The two obvious ones that is probably same for many British cultures are a Sunday cooked dinner and a lovely fry up. However being Welsh we have to change it around a bit and make it our own. You can’t have a Sunday in Wales without some Welsh lamb. A food that we pride ourselves on and is used in all the top restaurants over the country, our lamb, our grass and our lovely rain! Yes we do love the sheep! Obviously there is the Welsh rarebit, a fancy bit of cheese on toast which done correctly can be delicious. As for the fry up, a Welsh fry-up

Cymru am byth

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is so much better and if you have ever been to Uplands diner in Swansea you will know why! This is the perfect cafe for hung-over students offering the beast break-fast and who ever can eat this enormous breakfast gets their picture up on the cafe wall. The Welsh breakfast can sometimes have the addition of cockles and lava bread but seaweed on my breakfast; I normally give that a miss! Many people get their perspective of welsh culture form the hit BBC show Gavin and Stacey, I would like to heavily correct them about the stereotypes but I’m sorry I can’t. They have captured many inhabitants of the Wales in their show and by having a welsh producer they were able to make it as authentic as possible. I think the slang and figures of speech like ‘where to?’ and ‘I’ll be there now in a minute’ absolute-ly brilliant as I use these in a day to day basis, and have never really questioned the grammatical correctness. On after thought they make no sense what so ever! I love Gavin and Stacey as it displays welsh cul-ture, subtly and I know many people like the characters of Bryn, Doris and Gwen. Barry Island has also become a lot more popular with tourists and the bucket and spade shops have gone mad with the ‘as seen on Gavin and Stacey’ promotion. Barry is a brilliant place to experience

the welsh culture and especially around rugby season. However the ultimate place to be when Wales are playing their na-tional sport is the capital, Cardiff. Welsh culture differs from English culture as rugby is seen as an upper class sport how-ever this game for welsh people is a work-ing class celebration of our culture. The atmosphere in the millennium stadium is overwhelming, beer flowing a sea of red and the crowd singing welsh classics like bread of heaven and the national anthem. Welsh culture is celebrated in so many ways, for example sport music and through festivals such as the Eisteddfod the national artistic event in Wales. The country has differences within it and mul-ticulturalism is extremely important as the capital Cardiff is a vibrant city that is constantly evolving into one of the best places to eat, shop and visit in Britain. David Davies feels that our “Culture is an important way of enabling people living within a country to feel a sense of shared togetherness.”In terms of culture Wales should be celebrated and even though we haven’t had a good run with sport this year I am still extremely proud to be Welsh. Cymru am byth.

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Multiculturalism

Gone Wrong

Who’s to blame when cultures clash?Luton is a large town in the county of Bedfordshire, most famously known for its busy airport. Until recently it was considered by some to be a multicul-tural success, being just as ethnically diverse as its close neighbour London. However, within recent years the town has developed a strong and undeniable divide between the Muslim community and the non-Muslim community.

Being a born and bred “Lutonian”, it comes as no surprise that relations have dipped to such a dangerous level. Through my lifetime in Luton there has always

been tensions creeping in the background of everyday life. It now seems that those tensions have reached boiling point and surfaced, but who is to blame?The current vocal voice against the Muslim community in Luton is the EDL (the English Defence League). The EDL was formed after the March 2009 protest against Royal Anglian Regiment troops returning from the Afghan War, organised by the Islamist group Al-Muhajiroun. Slogans and chants towards the parading soldiers includ-ed “murderers”, “butchers” and “child killers”. Many of the town’s locals became

enraged that the protest had been allowed, condemning it as disturbing the peace and verbal abuse. This quickly became head-line news around the country and escalat-ed into a great level of public anger. Although this incident was a major trig-gering point, the tensions are rooted much deeper than meets the eye. To truly un-derstand the situation, is to truly witness the situation, from a perspective of living in it. If you look at Luton’s history as a multicultural town you will notice its eth-nic composition shows areas of integrated “Whites” and “Blacks”, you will also notice the predominantly ethnic Asian area of “Bury Park”. Many locals from outside the Bury Park area feel that it has lost its original cultural identity, a claim that is argu-ably true. Walking through the area you may see Pakistani flags and nothing that suggests any sign of “Britishness”. It is evident that the Muslim community of Bury Park wants to maintain the area exclusively for Muslims and has built a wall in order to “live by its own rules”. The area has for some time been very much racially segregated, and this is a key point as to why integration has failed in Luton.The level of segregation has been further highlighted by claims that the area is a breeding ground for Islamic terrorists. When I spoke to Muslims on the streets of Bury Park I found myself as a figure of scepticism, and even faced with slight hostility for being in the area. I asked the Muslim members of the community why they think relations are so poor and found myself presented with no clear an-swer. One person said, “I think the EDL is bad and cause the problems”. When I proposed the idea of turning Bury Park into a multi-ethnic area I found a strong dislike to the notion. One person replied, “No, no, I think Bury Park is for Muslims, its good this way”.

The ‘EDL’

Whilst the EDL was initially born out of the Al-Muhajiroun protests, its original cause of opposing Islamic fundamentalism quickly became associated with racism. Something that was undeniably visible at its early protests, where there was evident racist language and antisocial behaviour. The organisation has more recently been deemed “Islamophobic” as Black and even Asian members have become apparent within the organisation. So what is the EDL trying to achieve?Its self-declared “Mission Statement” most vocally opposes Sharia Law and requests for direct dialogue with the British govern-ment, in regards to debate on issues orien-tating around the Muslim community. With growing support it worries me as a “Luto-nian” of what violence may easily escalate if this group remains ignored by the Brit-ish government. More worrying to me as a journalist was the broadcast media’s very limited coverage of the recent EDL protest in Luton on February 5 earlier this year. I was in Luton at the time of the event and found myself surrounded by a very bizarre atmosphere. A million pound police opera-tion left the streets and roads empty. Luton town was on lockdown; essentially this was a state of emergency.As I flicked through the news channels I was surprised to find that the major broad-casters seemed to be completely ignoring what was undisputedly significant news. The BBC was reporting very little and only chose to discuss the protest later in the evening after a speech from David Cam-eron, which of course meant the situation could no longer be ignored. The only chan-nel that did give a large amount of coverage was Sky News; this however seemed very unbalanced, unprofessional, and slightly antagonising towards particular groups.It became obvious on the day that the media was unsure on how to handle the story and if it should be “picking a side”. Large events seemed to be missed out from broadcasts, and most news highlights fo-cused on picturing the EDL as a group of volatile “chavs”, rather than focusing on what the EDL actually had to say.

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It is increasingly evident that the organ-isation is reimaging itself, firstly with Black and Asian members to counter rac-ism claims, and more recently advocating no violence at its protests. Having wit-nessed the recent protest in Luton, it was surprising to see that the most violent and disruptive group were Unite Against Fas-cism. This reimaging shows that the EDL has become very conscious of its appearance and portrayal by the media. This was fur-ther highlighted when I expected to speak with an EDL member through my own con-tacts, but no such interview came about. To find out why people of the non-Muslim community may support the EDL I set out to look for answers on the streets of Luton.

When speaking to members of the public I found very similar and stark respons-es. Asked about interracial relationships in the town, one respondent said, “I’m not racist, but it disgusts me seeing girls converting for their Muslim boyfriends. My daughter converted because her boyfriend asked her too and now she’s

wearing Islamic headwear. She’s lost her identity. It’s the same case I hear about any girl with a Muslim. Why cant these boys let them be what they are, why cant these boys convert instead”.When I asked people why they felt there was high tensions between the two communities, one person said, “The Muslims are taking all the jobs, look at the new TK Maxx, I got a job there and was one of a handful of those not Asian. All the interviewers were Asian and no surprise that ninety percent hired were Asian. Its racial prioritising and the council is part of it too”. Again I found this was a common re-sponse, not only from white people, but also Black people.Another frequent response was that the “streets are being run by the Muslims”. One person told me “All the drug dealers are Muslim, and anytime I’ve ever had trouble or been mugged it was by a Muslim. I don’t see why the crime rate is so high with them either cause they have all the jobs, they’re the ones making money”. A friend of the person then continued to tell me “All the homophobic

Above: The Al-Muhajiroun protests caused a strong backlash.

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abuse I’ve ever had is off Muslims as well”.

From speaking to people of the non-Mus-lim community in Luton, both White and Black, I could see visible frustration on a personal level, an economic level, and also a cultural level.

Culture clash The EDL is most definitely what one may describe as a “wakeup call” for the Brit-ish government. With growing support, and growing isolation and extremism in the Muslim community, this is not a situa-tion that will fade away. This is one of the complexities and arguments of failed mul-ticulturalism in Britain, and how we solve these problems is a matter of open debate and visible action.

For Luton the obvious step to take is bring-ing down the “walls” of the Bury Park area. An aim of ethnic integration in the

predominantly Muslim area will certainly not solve all of the problems, but it will most definitely help to eliminate the problems that spread within the segregation. If Luton Bor-ough Council wants to bring people of the town together, then it has to do it quite liter-ally.

Taking many points from all “sides” into account, it is evident that the local govern-ment is partially responsible for the failed multiculturalism in Luton. Perhaps if the ethnic composition of the town’s Muslim community had been monitored it may not have became segregated to its current level. It is this segregation that has of course brought the negative effects of a cultural divide. Along with this comes extremism in both communities, as both the EDL and the Islamic fundamentalists present in Bury Park attempt to “recruit” for their “causes”, fuelling each other along the way. At present the future of Luton remains very fragile and uncertain.

Above: Is media coverage more concerned with EDL attire?

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