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Omar Khan

@omaromalleykhan.bsky.social

2.1K followers 4K following 1.5K posts

CEO of @taso.org.uk, Chair of Trust for London, Executive Committee of Political Studies Association. The usual disclaimers.

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Omar Khan @omaromalleykhan.bsky.social · Nov 16

Sadly, humans can be mobilised in the cause of hatred. We should bemoan & condemn it wherever we see it. We must also defend and promote a positive alternative, of how we can and do work together across our differences, indeed of how those interactions produce the best of us

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Omar Khan @omaromalleykhan.bsky.social · 31m

It's outrageous, tho indicative of a wider knowing jokiness/dismissiveness about racism, that he and others like him are both tapping into and amplifying/normalising

Omar Khan @omaromalleykhan.bsky.social · 46m

55% of Black British pupils report experiencing racism in school. Tho I appreciate Farage thinks he knows better than these children about racism in schools, that Johnny and his friends experience false consciousness and only believe they've experienced racism because Marxist teachers tell them so

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Omar Khan @omaromalleykhan.bsky.social · 1h

Would welcome your view on the public discussion, but I feel the framing of autism is not just cavalier, but counterproductive if not damaging/stimgatising

Omar Khan @omaromalleykhan.bsky.social · 1h

Around 70 countries have higher circumcision rates than the US, with eg Afghanistan and Nigeria at 99%, and conversely a large number of countries below 1%, including Ireland, Vietnam, Costa Rica, and Portugal

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know autism rates are 99x higher in the former

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Omar Khan @omaromalleykhan.bsky.social · 1h

Circumcision rates in the US are 80%, whereas they are well under 20% in Europe

Autism rates are not remotely so varied

I appreciate innumeracy and immorality are now baked into decision making, but we should keep explaining and fighting against the harms to thousands if not millions of ppl

Justin Baragona @justinbaragona.bsky.social · 3h

Besides linking Tylenol in pregnant women to autism, RFK Jr. now says circumcision is part of the reason why kids are autistic.

"Children who are circumcised early have double the rate of autism, and it's highly likely because they're given Tylenol. None of this is positive..."

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Prof Christina Pagel @chrischirp.bsky.social · 4h

🧵🚨

The UK’s independent scientific bodies are highly vulnerable to politicisation - over the past 5 months I've been working with @martinmckee.bsky.social to map out their vulnerabilities and it's not good news.

Today our report is published!
www.ucl.ac.uk/policy-lab/n...

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UK’s arm’s length public bodies are highly vulnerable to politicisation

Seven in ten Britons say it is important for top scientific institutions to be independent in exclusive new polling.

www.ucl.ac.uk

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Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 21h

repost this if an editor has ever saved you from yourself

violent alien @blipstress.bsky.social · 21h

An actual hot take: Too many authors are afraid of editors watering down their voice or whatever and not afraid enough of editors letting you put any old slop on the page.

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Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · 8h

This remains the most important piece i’ve written about the goals and ideological principles of the second Trump administration www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...

bsky.app/profile/jame...

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Musa Okwonga @okwonga.bsky.social · 13h

"German authorities registered approximately 3,200 right-wing extremist-motivated crimes committed by people up to the age of 24 in 2020. Last year, the number was more than double, at over 7,100....most of these crimes were committed by male adolescents between the ages of 14 and 17."

Omas gegen Rechts Wetterau @ogrwetterau2017.bsky.social · 13h

www.fr.de/politik/rech...
AfD wirkt. Ihre Dominanz in den sozialen Netzwerken zeigt dieses Ergebnis.

Rechtsextreme Straftaten junger Menschen nehmen stark zu

Die Behörden registrieren mehr als doppelt so viele rechtsextreme Delikte junger Menschen wie noch 2020. Die Bundesregierung sieht neue Gruppierungen und soziale Medien als Treiber.

www.fr.de

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Omar Khan @omaromalleykhan.bsky.social · 23h

Recalling the time I asked an American dude claiming an area with 40% Muslims was a 'no go' area for non Muslims: 'except the 60% of people who live there who aren't Muslims, right? They do 'go' there?'

He seemed to think: no?

Dude is now some kind of influencer apparently

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Omar Khan @omaromalleykhan.bsky.social · 23h

I agree it's shocking. That they think and say racist things hasn't usually meant they are willing to act in such explicitly targeted ways. We shouldn't pretend it's normal, and I am moderately but not totally hopeful that these actions will be clarifying about just what their views for ordinary ppl

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Conrad Hackett @conradhackett.bsky.social · 1d

Has anything great happened in your life because of social media?

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Omar Khan @omaromalleykhan.bsky.social · 1d

Agree very much

As you've said, nearly everyone agrees and has experienced these interactions. In fact perhaps the issue (beyond those who seek to mine grievances) is we're at the point where for many it's such an ordinary day to day that they've forgotten that and how we've got here

Omar Khan @omaromalleykhan.bsky.social · 1d

As with targets to increase higher education participation, so too with those to decrease HE participation: measures shd be monitored & asssessed for their impact on mobility. Those born into poorer households still have less opportunity, a key driver of their lower incomes & a drag on econ growth

Omar Khan @omaromalleykhan.bsky.social · 1d

There is widespread reporting of the '14 Vice Chancellors and University Representatives' joining the Prime Minister on his trip to India. Has anyone seen more detail, on either the people or institutions participating?

Omar Khan @omaromalleykhan.bsky.social · 1d

I suppose it's surprising how openly these beliefs are being deployed in practice but as you know: the Trump administration does not object to targeting on grounds of race, but rather the idea that racial disparaties need addressing, as they believe that race is natural & inequalities justifiable

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Daniel Knowles @dlknowles.bsky.social · 1d

Good reporting on the South Shore raid from South Side weekly here.

Confirms one thing I was told but didn't put in my own piece because I didn't have a second source and it seemed too insane: border agents segregated arrested residents by race

southsideweekly.com/federal-agen...

Federal Agents Storm South Shore Building, Detaining Families and Children

Families were woken by flashbangs and helicopters as hundreds of federal agents raided their homes. Days later, neighbors are still searching for the missing.

southsideweekly.com

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Omar Khan @omaromalleykhan.bsky.social · 1d

I accept that experience. Overall even rural areas have increased in diversity, w/the least diverse local authorities (eg Isles of Scilly) seeing proportionally large rises even if they remain 97% White. More typical than Southall or Scilly are scores of towns wtih 15-20% ethnic minority population

Omar Khan @omaromalleykhan.bsky.social · 1d

Given this truth is obvious, and that everyone has experienced it, the questions are: why doesn't this statistic better inform public debate and policy, and why do some seek to deny it despite knowing about and personally experiencing increased social mixing since their childhood?

Omar Khan @omaromalleykhan.bsky.social · 1d

Sometimes a statistic is counterintuitive. This is not one: every adult in Britain has experienced greater interaction with people of different ethnic backgrounds over their lifetime

As I say in this thread, this statistical fact is obvious in every aspect of our lives, & all of us know/feel it

Omar Khan @omaromalleykhan.bsky.social · 2d

I know statistics are poorly understood and are misused. But facts matter

Between the 1991, 2001, 2011 and 2021 Census *every* ethnic group in the UK has become *less* geographically segregated and *all* groups, majority and minorities, are more likely to interact with people not like them

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Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 2d

The UAE is an authoritarian autocracy, a petro-state with no income tax for citizens, to bribe them for the lack of democratic voice or free speech

It is 85% migrant, a segregated society with a ban on integration in principle and practice, few rights, equal opportunities, nor voice for incomers

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Omar Khan @omaromalleykhan.bsky.social · 1d

I also spelt adult with an f, which seems a more egregious typo

Omar Khan @omaromalleykhan.bsky.social · 1d

It's hard to convince people with stats. Surely he must have experienced and seen more interaction across ethnic groups in 2025 compared to say, 2010, or compared to whenever he was in school?

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Tim Morton @timmorton2.bsky.social · 2d

I wrote about dad on the other place

$mmorton2.bsky.social Profile picture (((Tim Morton))) @TimMorton2 Jun 28, 2020 • 23 tweets • TimMorton2/status/1277264438060597257 Our dad was born OTD 28/6 in 1925 - traditionally we had to have strawberries and cream to celebrate. Back in the 1960s this would be early in the season so these would be our first and sometimes only strawberries. He was born in Wales near @kivetonwales eldest son of a #YorkshireMiner who was determined that none of his children would follow him into the pit, and they didn’t. Dad won Miners’ scholarships to @KingsPontefract and from there to @Kings_Cambridge a two year degree in wartime His closest brush with sport was to keep score for the school cricket team - he found God (or perhaps it was the other way round) at Uni and started off a theological career which took him to @SCM_Britain and a conference in India where he met our Aussie mum from @australianscm After the conference they wrote up the report, we think mum actually wrote it up, and headed to their respective homes and were married in Manchester about 18 months later. No email, WhatsApp, FaceTime in the early 50s, just letters and after the wedding they went back to India. My sisters & I were born between 1955 & 1958 while dad traveled India speaking at Universities & being ordained in the #ChurchOfSouthIndiaCSI. We left India in 1959 and headed to Geneva and the @Oikoumene via a short stay in Leeds. I can remember the steam train at @kingscrossN1C Dad worked on anti racism & against apartheid - with his great friend #DrPhilipPotter @Oikoumene I remember Philip visiting us in London, dad was at work about 5 minutes away but Philip talked with mum and left saying “I’ll see Harry at next week's conference in the Philippines”$

We left Switzerland in 1963 having added @BeestonJeremy to our family in 1960, after the bitterly cold winter. We had oilfired central heating & when the tanker had turned up in September and asked how much, dad said fill her up. The price was about 6months salary

In London dad worked for the @MethodistGB at the MMS responsible for missionaries in East and Southern Africa - dad’s best mate, #ColinMorris was helping a peaceful independence in #Zambia with his great friend #KennethKaunda but UDI in Rhodesia led to dad being #banned & in #SA

Dad was President of @MethodistGB and though not teetotal - he liked a glass of sherry and occasionally wine with Sunday lunch - he went dry for his presidential year. He led mountain walks in Cumbria with many Methodists that year #SermonsOnTheMount

His next job @ChurchesEngland when it was the British Council of Churches meant a move to #SloaneSquare and the start of my time in London in the summer of 73. Mum and dad were regulars at @royalcourt popping home in the interval for coffee, they saw the #AtholFugard trilogy

1970s London was interesting - we heard bombs going off in the Kings Road & at Chelsea Barracks, the NF were on the rise & dad took to graﬃti changing NF into DAFT, he was also part of the brokering of the IRA ceasefire at Feakle

Feakle talks led to IRA ceasefire - Clare Echo
Talks held in Feakle attended by leading Protestant clergymen and high ranking IRA members led to a two week ceasefire in December 1974. On December 10th, 1974, in the dark of night and with great ri…
https://www.clareecho.ie/feakle-talks-led-to-ira-ceasefire/

Dad was much in demand as a preacher as he travelled the country. Only when he left the BCC did he have his own church in Barking. Here he came up against the Met over their racism having arrested a member of his church under #SusLaws. Dad moved in high circles & this was a shock
Then one Saturday in 1980 or 81 he had a massive stroke. He’d been in his study preparing a sermon, mum was marking schoolbooks in another room, she didn’t see him for five hours & went to tell him supper was ready. He’d been lying on the floor as he often did to ease a headache.

He was 55, he was saved by the #OurNHSPeople, but he lost his speech and any movement on his left side. He spent a long time in hospitals including a stroke unit @NHSHomerton in the hot summer of 1981. I remember visiting him in my bus conductor’s uniform and talking
about Botham
Ministers live in tied accommodation - if you can’t work the home is needed for someone who can, so Mum & Dad became #SpringboardHA tenants in Bow. Mum became dad’s #Carer & a receptionist at the HA. Dad spent time in @RoyalLondonHosp and attending #speechtherapy in Blackfriars
After a few years mum moved them to a bungalow in Derby, dad stayed in @StJoHospice while she headed north & then I drove him up the M1 and over the Trent. They lived together until 1988 when a few months after the birth of their 1st grandson he died. He was 63, the
same age I am.
Dad was an imposing personality who I never really got to know, even though I cared for him 1 day a week at the flat in Bow when I was unemployed for a few months - the loss of speech & the fight to find the right word which often came out wrong was very hard. A man
of words.
I knew some of his achievements as I lived through them but still found his funeral and memorial service eye opening - it was said he had the body of an Englishman, the mind of an Indian and the heart of an African. He was our dad.

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Omar Khan @omaromalleykhan.bsky.social · 2d

I should have remembered that result, which as you will well know was down to some less than savoury electioneering and positioning

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