The website of Nick Timothy shows him wearing the claret-and-blue scarf associated with the Aston Villa football club in Birmingham. We can assume, then, that the UK Conservative party MP knows something about this English city’s political divisions and the strong religious undertow to them.
Something Mr Timothy said last week with reference to not only Birmingham but also to the UK’s future struck me as an admission that religious divides are now shaping politics in the country.
Across the board, there is still a reluctance to abandon the concept of the state as a neutral arbiter between its many parts. But raw politics is changing how some are thinking about those internal relations, and something different is driving how politicians see policies as acceptable on the one hand or untouchable on the other.
For those of us who are familiar with sectarian politics, it is clear that the tipping point is coming closer and that its inevitability is becoming more certain.
In a speech to the Policy Exchange think tank – which on the same day launched a highly critical report of a panel charged with agreeing on an official definition for Islamophobia – Mr Timothy called for everyone to envision a state that polices the boundaries between the country’s various ethnic and religious groups.
The purpose, he said, is to foster a new, more interventionist form of social re-ordering, which he called “ordered pluralism”, and allows individuals to live their lives as they choose but requires a shared identity. In the case of the UK, he pointed out, this would involve a recognition of the country’s history, traditions and laws with roots in “Christian thought”.
Mr Timothy conceded that this could lead to a more intrusive and dictatorial state. Further, this type of politics is bound to be unfair regarding how certain groups are treated.
If there is a Petri dish needed in England for politics that deals in community tensions, you could do no better than Birmingham. As far back as the 1960s, the unsparing Conservative cabinet minister Enoch Powell looked at the influx of mainly Caribbean migrants to the city and saw a “foaming river of blood” coursing through UK politics.
Robert Jenrick, one of Mr Timothy’s colleagues, hit the headlines last month when a speech was leaked in which he called one Birmingham district a slum because it was one of the worst-integrated places in the country. “I did not see a white face,” he said.
With the decision of a municipal committee to ban the Israeli football club Maccabi Tel Aviv from travelling to the city to play a game against Aston Villa – something championed by an Independent Muslim MP for the constituency – the city’s divisions were put on a whole new plain. Troublingly, what has started in Birmingham has not stayed in Birmingham but taken on the flavour of a national political driver.
The governing Labour party insists it will have nothing to do with sectarian politics. It has described Nigel Farage’s hard-right Reform UK party as a force bent on sowing divisions across the isles. It has also sought to gain political mileage from the Conservative party’s drift away from the mainstream, particularly with leaders like Mr Jenrick and Mr Timothy specialising in hardline community politics.
Yet, siren politics are setting the tone on hot-button issues like migration and welfare. And if the Labour party declines as a political force – much like the Conservatives appear to have today – then it is likely that the beneficiaries of such a trend will be those who seek to dive into picking good and bad community behaviour.
The rise of sectarian politics in the UK should be viewed against the backdrop of a government that is spending too much and raising too little from its overburdened tax system. There are currently no good solutions to tackle the country’s economic problems, which becomes a recipe for deepening community divisions that eventually infect the country’s main political arena. Opportunistic politicians are bound to use this opportunity to burnish their own brands.
Fundamentally, a country where the state arbitrates by imposing itself over certain religious identities becomes a nasty place very quickly. In the UK, unfortunately, a foundry for this type of politics is already up and running.
if you go
The flights
Fly to Rome with Etihad (www.etihad.ae) or Emirates (www.emirates.com) from Dh2,480 return including taxes. The flight takes six hours. Fly from Rome to Trapani with Ryanair (www.ryanair.com) from Dh420 return including taxes. The flight takes one hour 10 minutes.
The hotels
The author recommends the following hotels for this itinerary. In Trapani, Ai Lumi (www.ailumi.it); in Marsala, Viacolvento (www.viacolventomarsala.it); and in Marsala Del Vallo, the Meliaresort Dimore Storiche (www.meliaresort.it).
More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
The candidates
Dr Ayham Ammora, scientist and business executive
Ali Azeem, business leader
Tony Booth, professor of education
Lord Browne, former BP chief executive
Dr Mohamed El-Erian, economist
Professor Wyn Evans, astrophysicist
Dr Mark Mann, scientist
Gina MIller, anti-Brexit campaigner
Lord Smith, former Cabinet minister
Sandi Toksvig, broadcaster
Keep it fun and engaging
Stuart Ritchie, director of wealth advice at AES International, says children cannot learn something overnight, so it helps to have a fun routine that keeps them engaged and interested.
“I explain to my daughter that the money I draw from an ATM or the money on my bank card doesn’t just magically appear – it’s money I have earned from my job. I show her how this works by giving her little chores around the house so she can earn pocket money,” says Mr Ritchie.
His daughter is allowed to spend half of her pocket money, while the other half goes into a bank account. When this money hits a certain milestone, Mr Ritchie rewards his daughter with a small lump sum.
He also recommends books that teach the importance of money management for children, such as The Squirrel Manifesto by Ric Edelman and Jean Edelman.
Dubai Bling season three
Cast: Loujain Adada, Zeina Khoury, Farhana Bodi, Ebraheem Al Samadi, Mona Kattan, and couples Safa & Fahad Siddiqui and DJ Bliss & Danya Mohammed
Rating: 1/5
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Xpanceo
Started: 2018
Founders: Roman Axelrod, Valentyn Volkov
Based: Dubai, UAE
Industry: Smart contact lenses, augmented/virtual reality
Funding: $40 million
Investor: Opportunity Venture (Asia)
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League semi-final, first leg
Bayern Munich v Real Madrid
When: April 25, 10.45pm kick-off (UAE)
Where: Allianz Arena, Munich
Live: BeIN Sports HD
Second leg: May 1, Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid
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Traits of Chinese zodiac animals
Tiger:independent, successful, volatile
Rat:witty, creative, charming
Ox:diligent, perseverent, conservative
Rabbit:gracious, considerate, sensitive
Dragon:prosperous, brave, rash
Snake:calm, thoughtful, stubborn
Horse:faithful, energetic, carefree
Sheep:easy-going, peacemaker, curious
Monkey:family-orientated, clever, playful
Rooster:honest, confident, pompous
Dog:loyal, kind, perfectionist
Boar:loving, tolerant, indulgent
Trump v Khan
2016: Feud begins after Khan criticised Trump’s proposed Muslim travel ban to US
2017: Trump criticises Khan’s ‘no reason to be alarmed’ response to London Bridge terror attacks
2019: Trump calls Khan a “stone cold loser” before first state visit
2019: Trump tweets about “Khan’s Londonistan”, calling him “a national disgrace”
2022: Khan’s office attributes rise in Islamophobic abuse against the major to hostility stoked during Trump’s presidency
July 2025 During a golfing trip to Scotland, Trump calls Khan “a nasty person”
Sept 2025 Trump blames Khan for London’s “stabbings and the dirt and the filth”.
Dec 2025 Trump suggests migrants got Khan elected, calls him a “horrible, vicious, disgusting mayor”
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
Desert Warrior
Starring: Anthony Mackie, Aiysha Hart, Ben Kingsley
Director: Rupert Wyatt
Rating: 3/5
Women’s World T20, Asia Qualifier
UAE results
Beat China by 16 runs
Lost to Thailand by 10 wickets
Beat Nepal by five runs
Beat Hong Kong by eight wickets
Beat Malaysia by 34 runs
Standings (P, W, l, NR, points)
1. Thailand 5 4 0 1 9
2. UAE 5 4 1 0 8
3. Nepal 5 2 1 2 6
4. Hong Kong 5 2 2 1 5
5. Malaysia 5 1 4 0 2
6. China 5 0 5 0 0
Final
Thailand v UAE, Monday, 7am
THE SPECS
Engine: 1.5-litre turbocharged four-cylinder
Transmission: Constant Variable (CVT)
Power: 141bhp
Torque: 250Nm
Price: Dh64,500
On sale: Now
Silent Hill f
Publisher: Konami
Platforms: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC
Rating: 4.5/5
UK’s AI plan
- AI ambassadors such as MIT economist Simon Johnson, Monzo cofounder Tom Blomfield and Google DeepMind’s Raia Hadsell
- £10bn AI growth zone in South Wales to create 5,000 jobs
- £100m of government support for startups building AI hardware products
- £250m to train new AI models
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
RESULTS
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