Puru Miah 🌹 بابر کی اولاد

Thanks to friends & ex-constituents for all the messages of support. The struggle for dignity and freedom is universal. Below is the #Bengali translation of the #poetry of Mahmoud Darwish, the national poet of #Palestine, published in #Bangladesh and read in the East End.

Herodotus writes in Book 1 of his Histories that Croesus of Lydia consulted oracles before waging preemptive war upon Persia. Such was his hubris that when the oracles replied that should he undertake this venture a mighty empire would be destroyed, it never occurred to him that the empire that would be destroyed (as it turned out) was his own:

See you all there.... IN SEARCH OF THE PEARLY MOON OF EID An online panel discussion exploring when Ramadan and Eid should be celebrated in London, featuring Imad Ahmed from the New Crescent Society and community activist and organiser Puru Miah. The discussion will examine the significance of having a local lunar calendar and reflect on how early Muslims in the UK observed and celebrated Eid. Date of online talk: Wednesday 18th March 2026 Time: 12.30 pm -1.30 pm Zoom link to join the talk: us06web.zoom.us/j/82840006102

THE LONG GOOD FRIDAY – SADIQ KHAN EDITION: Rumours swirling of a fresh London saga involving the Mayor, North London drug gangs, money-laundering whispers and possible election law headaches. Sounds like the plot of a Netflix series… or a job for an aspiring journalist. 🍿 @SadiqKhan @MayorofLondon @metpoliceuk @ElectoralCommUK

“I should like to be able to love my country and still love justice" - Albert Camus

From scholar of Iranian nationalism, Reza Zia-Ebrahimi: In Pursuit of Whiteness: Why Iranian Monarchists Cheer Israel’s Genocide jadaliyya.com/Details/46906

Bombers returning to RAF Fairford after bombing children in Iran.

Jürgen Habermas, whose work on communication, rationality and sociology made him one of the world’s most influential philosophers and a key intellectual figure in his native Germany, has died. He was 96. apnews.com/article/juerge…

We lost him 12 years ago today. One of Britain's finest parliamentarians. And a man of deep principle.

Better healthcare? “We can’t afford it.” Student debt relief? “We can’t afford it.” Free school lunches? “We can’t afford it.” Free higher education? “We can’t afford it.” But somehow there’s always money for war.

Liverpool Street Station is about to be reshaped for decades yet the public is being offered minutes to object. On 10 February 2026, the City of London Corporation’s Planning Applications Sub-Committee considers application 25/00494/FULEIA: a phased redevelopment of Liverpool Street Station and surrounding sites, including partial demolition, major concourse and structural alterations, and an over-station commercial building reaching 97.67m AOD. What matters is not only what is proposed but how the public is permitted to respond. Read the piece here: conserveconnect.news/liverpool-stre… #Planning #Heritage #CityOfLondon #LiverpoolStreet #Urbanism #PublicRealm #Climate #Governance @thevicsoc

Liverpool Street Station redevelopment approved 19–3. But in a 2h22m hearing, objectors spoke for 15 minutes while officers, applicants & supporters occupied the rest. Benefit figures shifted. Late addenda were circulated. Viability was treated as necessity. A decisive vote. A managed process. Full analysis: conserveconnect.news/liverpool-stre… #LiverpoolStreet #Planning #Heritage #PublicAssets

Liverpool Street Station “upgrade” is now approved - 19–3. But here’s the trick: public benefit was treated as decisive while the one thing that would make it measurable was treated as if it should not exist. No station-first minimum baseline. No transparent alternatives. Just “viability” - a word that closes debate. The planning case says the scheme is “self-funded”. Fine. But the financials tell a different story: station “improvement works” costed at £419.58m, still modelled as a deficit even after the commercial envelope is counted — and in the applicant’s own present-day outputs, station retail (£197.5m RLV) dwarfs the office contribution (£44.2m RLV). Yet the City signs off an 88,000 sqm over-station office massing - a skyline monument above a national interchange - while the public gets a constrained uplift used to license the deal. This is not design. It’s political economy: how a public asset becomes a development platform, and how “public benefit” becomes a permission slip for value capture. Read Part I: Who Captures Liverpool Street? conserveconnect.news/who-captures-l… #LiverpoolStreet #NetworkRail #ACME #CityofLondon #Planning #Heritage #ValueCapture #Viability #UrbanPolitics #London

Liverpool Street upgrades are being sold as “self funded” by selling the sky above a national station. That is public value at stake. So where is the station first minimum baseline, costed and published, and where is the EIA comparison of reasonable alternatives? Without that, this is not a proved necessity. It is a procedural shortcut dressed as public benefit. conserveconnect.news/who-captures-l… #LiverpoolStreetStation #CityOfLondonCorporation #PlanningCommittee #PublicBenefit #PublicMoney #Accountability #EIA #ReasonableAlternatives #Heritage #BuiltEnvironment #Transparency

Liverpool Street generates enormous public value. 94.5 million passengers. A freehold estate. A national transport node. So who captures the uplift when the air above it becomes a financial instrument? Part III of our investigation puts the numbers on the table: • £197.5m residual value from station retail • £171.75m potential developer profit on the office • A 50 year income strip packaging future station revenue • A delivery structure that determines who keeps the upside This is not just architecture. It is governance. It is distribution. It is value capture in plain sight. And without a published station first minimum baseline, “public benefit” becomes a story told after the deal is structured. Read Part III: conserveconnect.news/who-captures-l… #LiverpoolStreet #CityOfLondon #NetworkRail #LondonPlanning #ValueCapture #PublicBenefit #EIA #Viability #PoliticalEconomy #PublicInfrastructure

@tanjil_rashid_ Thanks for the correction.

Interesting cultural nugget: the way we pronounce Ramadan maps centuries of Iranian influence across what historians dub the “Bengal to Balkans cultural complex.” Even linguistics tells a story. And in Sylhet? It’s Ramazan, proudly distinct from the rest of Bengal. History, with local flavour. #Iran #History #Ramadan #bangladesh

@Heccles94 👀 A US Senator in the WSJ called the war illegal 👇 x.com/PuruMiah/statu…

BREAKING 🚨 The UK increases its terror threat as it chooses to join the illegal war against Iran. This is on Starmer.

Modern Cockney Festival 1st - 31st March 2026 The Modern Cockney Festival takes place every March, bursting with brilliant talks, fresh insights, cutting-edge research, live events, performance, exhibitions, and the legendary National Pie ’n’ Mash Week. It’s a full-throttle celebration of everything Cockney: traditional roots, modern voices, and the global diaspora. Ticketed events: tickettailor.com/events/modernc… For further information about the Modern Cockney Festival, visit: moderncockneyfestival.org.uk

Israel & Saudi Arabia pushed the U.S. to attack Iran. Netanyahu killed 72,000 people in Gaza, mostly women & children. Saudi Arabia is a brutal dictatorship that allows no opposition. These are the leaders who want to bring “freedom” to Iran? Does anyone really believe that?

Ahem, attention fellow Atlantacist “war enthusiasts”: a sitting US senator has penned a piece in The Wall Street Journal outlining the alleged illegality of a war on Iran. Turns out even Capitol Hill reads the small print. #NoWar #Iran #IranWar