Cockney Curry

Bindu Mathur, the Canadian-Indian director who made the programme on British Asians’ dating habits last year, is behind a new Channel 4...

Mind Mover
The last column mentioned an enigmatic invitation to a British Asian forum called Move Your Mind. All was revealed when Parveen Batish, the general manager of marketing at Saab cars, hosted a lunch at posh Nobu on Park Lane, to tell a select crowd about his brainchild. Batish, who specialises in branding, said that it started at their meetings about how to attract a younger generation to Saab cars. While trying to convey the brand’s appeal to British Asians, it also occurred to Batish there was scope for interaction that wasn’t car-related. ‘‘I’m one of the only Asian marketing managers of a major British blue-chip company,’’ Parveen tells me, ‘‘but I just thought how great it’d be to bring together Asians in a similar field to do their own networking and brainstorming. So we plan to organise these events for Asians in politics, in business, entrepreneurial activities. And although we’re starting them off in London (with the Mayor’s support in City Hall), hopefully we will roll them out to Manchester, Leicester and Birmingham next year.’’

Sitting Priti
She’s been described as one of the ‘‘secret weapons’’ of the new leader of the British Opposition Party, according to a national newspaper. And her pulchritudinous picture was splashed on the front page of the influential Mail on Sunday recently, which would be enough to turn anyone’s head. So how does Priti Patel, one of the new breed of future Conservative candidates react? ‘‘I was surprised but it was good stuff really,’’ says the reassuringly sensible Ms Patel. ‘‘What was most important about it was that it turned the focus on the drive by David Cameron to recruit more women and ethnic minorities to the Conservative Party. It elevates the level of debate needed on this subject and David Cameron recognises the challenge that lies ahead. Because the Conservative Party needs to change radically if it is to win the next general election.’’

After they’ve lost three elections in a row (in a reversal of Old Labour fortunes), Patel is right to call a spade a spade. The 33-year-old daughter of Gujarati parents who left Uganda during the Asian expulsion and moved to Britain, has been tipped for success within the party as she has worked as an aide to William Hague (a former Tory leader) and stood for an unwinnable seat in the last election. The newly elected Tory leader has called for more women and ethnic minority candidates to join the Tories and has promised them safe seats. These women candidates have been nicknamed ‘‘Dave’s Dolls’’ by the media—a play on ‘‘Blair’s Babes’’, which is how the landslide number of female MPs were dubbed when New Labour came to power.

De-constructionist

Bindu Mathur, the Canadian-Indian director who made the programme on British Asians’ dating habits last year, is behind a new Channel 4 programme looking at the buildings that the British public would like to demolish. As the title Demolition indicates, this 4-part series is clearly going to raise a lot of controversy. Mathur says, ‘‘Channel 4 did a poll of 10,000 people up and down the country asking them which buildings they hated the most and would like to see pulled down. Although architectural debates always involve experts—architects, critics and suchlike—this was a really democratic way to get feedback.’’ She says, however, that ‘‘the public isn’t always right’’, pointing out that the year-old Scottish Parliament building which has attracted a hugely negative response from the public, actually won this year’s Stirling Prize, one of the most prestigious architectural prizes. You can’t please them all…

But Patel firmly puts paid to criticisms of tokenism. ‘‘From childhood, I learnt that tolerance here has meant immigrants have the opportunities to better themselves.I joined the Conservative Party at the age of 18 because I’ve always been socially and politically conscious. I’ve not just been in the party for just five minutes. This is about opening the field to candidates who have the skills and abilities, and to better reflect the Britain of today.’’

Robina Dam is Editor of Shoo Magazine http://www.shoomagazine.com