Welcome to Chief Constable

The appointment of the new Manchester Chief Constable, Peter Fahy, has been welcomed by the Jewish community. He has regularly condemned antisemitism, has visited Auschwitz and attends Holocaust Memorial Days. He succeeds the late Michael Todd.

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Viewers enraged by comic’s Shoah sketch

Media watchdog Ofcom is investigating Channel 4's The Kevin Bishop Show after receiving dozens of complaints about a Holocaust-themed sketch.

The two-minute skit, aired last Friday evening, was a spoof musical version of the scene in the film Sophie's Choice in which the heroine is forced to choose which of her two children to keep with her at Auschwitz.

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MPs fly to Poland to learn legacy of hate

A group of nine MPs visited Poland last week to discuss combating antisemitism in the country.

The three-day trip was organised by the Holocaust Educational Trust (HET) and the All-Party Parliamentary Group against Antisemitism (PCAA).

It included a visit to the former Nazi death camp at Majdanek and meetings with government officials and Jewish residents.

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Attempt to expel Israeli architects fails

A long-running dispute sparked by calls for a boycott of Israel has resurfaced following attempts to expel Israelis from the International Union of Architects (UIA).

A motion likening Israeli actions to those of Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe collapsed due to a lack of support at a major conference in Turin last month.

London-based Abe Hayeem, chair of the Architects and Planners for Justice in Palestine (APJP) lobby group, proposed the motion.

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Charedi web centre goes online

A new strictly Orthodox internet business centre has been opened in Stamford Hill, thought to be the first of its kind.

The new establishment, the Heimishe Business Centre is located on the Triangle Estate, Stamford Hill, and only allows people who are married to attend. It houses nine computers in separate sections for men and women, and costs £1.20 an hour.

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Teens: let us smoke on tour

The hot topic among Jewish youth movements this summer has been whether or not to allow participants to smoke on "tour" - the Israel summer schemes for post-GCSE 16-year-olds.

The dilemma arises over a change in UK law which has raised the age at which cigarettes can be bought to 18, the same as in Israel. But legally, 16-year-olds in Britain can smoke.

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Campus hate figures soar

Antisemitic incidents in universities shot up by 88 per cent in the first half of this year, according to figures released this week by the Community Security Trust.

There were 49 incidents in the first six months of this year compared to 26 in the first half of 2007. However, only two involved assaults and both of those were off campus; the rest were incidents of verbal abuse or graffiti.

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Sacks tells Lambeth bishops that all society needs religion

Jews and Christians have done more than any religions to "mend their relationship", Chief Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks said in the first address by a rabbi to the Anglican Lambeth Conference in its 140-year history.

Speaking in Canterbury on Monday to around 650 bishops from across the globe, the Chief Rabbi recalled the progress made towards reconciliation.

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Anguish of parents as Law Lords reject plea for Giles

Five Law Lords this week dashed the hopes of a couple who have spent five years fighting for justice for their murdered son.

They allowed Hertfordshire Constabulary's appeal against a Court of Appeal ruling that it had breached the human rights of Giles Van Colle by failing to protect him from his killer. Mr Van Colle, then 25, was shot three times in the back in November, 2000 by Daniel Brougham, a former employee against whom he was due to give evidence in a theft trial.

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Demolition reprieve for Satmar shul

A strictly Orthodox synagogue has won a temporary reprieve from having part of its complex demolished.

The Satmar Synagogue in Craven Walk, Stamford Hill, North London, won an appeal on a technicality against an enforcement notice issued by Hackney Council.

The council issued the notice last September in an attempt to reverse the construction of two extensions and installation of three air-conditioning units at the building, which had been started before planning permission was granted.

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