Bridging the divides

摘要

If there is one issue that everyone is talking about, it's social cohesion. The timing could not have been better when secretary of state, Ruth Kelly, met with council chief executives and directors recently to discuss what could be done about the rise of religious extremism. The meeting itself was the day after local government minister, Phil Woolas, called for a Muslim teaching assistant, suspended for refusing to remove her veil in school, to be sacked.