Few, if any, political analysts predicted the Arab Spring. The raw energy of millions of protestors in the streets of Tunis and Cairo came as a surprise to many who believed that Arabs were essentially reconciled to their governments and non-democratic rule.

Munira Mirza

Men Government Who

The political elite prefers to see criminals as victims in need of therapy and TLC.

Munira Mirza

Victims Victim TLC

Culture is the glue that really binds, especially in cities with fast-growing populations.

Munira Mirza

Wit Wing Win

If white people are constantly told how culturally different their Asian neighbors are, and if Asians are told to be vigilant against white racism, both groups might conclude that they have little in common and much to fear from their neighbours.

Munira Mirza

Fear White Vigilant

By importing into the U.K. the divisive politics of anti-racism from America, with its demented campus dramas and neuroses about 'safe spaces', 'micro-aggressions' and 'cultural appropriation,' they make it almost impossible for people of goodwill of all ethnicities to rub along together.

Munira Mirza

Space Politics Men

Most Muslims are well integrated, want to live under British law and prefer to send their children to mixed schools. They do not live in bleak ghettoes cut off from society. Their religion is not a barrier to integration and is very often perfectly reconciled with being - and feeling - British.

Munira Mirza

Society Religion Wit

There's been a kind of inverse snobbery about culture. I get the feeling some people would look at Shakespeare and say, that's a bit too intimidating for working-class people.

Munira Mirza

Work Would Working-Class

The emergence of a strong Muslim identity in Britain is, in part, a result of multicultural policies implemented since the 1980s, which have emphasized difference at the expense of shared national identity.

Munira Mirza

Men Art Which

By appeasing the anti-racism lobby and affirming its culture of grievance, public institutions and business leaders are not making Britain a fairer place. In fact they are harming the very people they aspire to help.

Munira Mirza

Business Very Van

Studying art history is actually one of the few ways of getting a good job in the arts sector. It's hard to be a museum curator without it, work in any senior position in an auction house or gallery, or become a serious art critic.

Munira Mirza

Work History Good

Museums and galleries do recruit art historians, but they are overwhelmingly white and middle class, or else from abroad. They understandably fret about the lack of diversity in their curating departments, but is it any wonder?

Munira Mirza

Men Art Wonder

Few, if any, political analysts predicted the Arab Spring. The raw energy of millions of protestors in the streets of Tunis and Cairo came as a surprise to many who believed that Arabs were essentially reconciled to their governments and non-democratic rule.

Munira Mirza

Men Government Who

Often, when art from the canon is brought in to fine art classes, it is used as a prop to inspire art-making projects but more rarely as something to study in-depth for itself.

Munira Mirza

Art Used Use

In times of stress, it is easy to look to one's weaknesses and fear the worst, but it is worth remembering that London's cultural strengths are not some ephemeral dot-com bubble; they are a real, tangible legacy of decades of investment in talent.

Munira Mirza

Time Strength Men

Being falsely accused of racism is, at best, unpleasant and at worst, can destroy a career.

Munira Mirza

Car Worst Used

We're very proud of our cultural life. Culture is to London what the sun is to Spain. It's a major driver for our tourism.

Munira Mirza

Life Very UN

Certainly, 'creativity' has been a vital plank of New Labour strategy. It not only hands out money with the enthusiasm of a Medici, but also invites the talented arts world into the very heart of government.

Munira Mirza

Money Men Government

The idea that Veronica Wadley has no artistic credibility is just crazy. She has a strong reputation and when she was editor of the 'Evening Standard' she was very highly regarded in the arts sector.

Munira Mirza

Art Very Veronica

Government policies to improve engagement with Muslims make things worse.

Munira Mirza

Men Government Age

We are the most visited city in the world - and they're not coming for the weather. Culture is one of things that's made London hugely successful.

Munira Mirza

Success World Weather

We should get rid of 'tick box' measures that do nothing to address underlying inequality in areas like employment. And we should interrogate the claims of victimization made by some organizations to get their slice of pie.

Munira Mirza

Men Equality Yin

In cities across the world, directors of leading arts institutions, galleries and museums know that when it comes to attracting locals to their major exhibitions and shows, weekdays tend to be 'cultural dead time' for working people, who are simply too busy to enjoy what their city has to offer.

Munira Mirza

The growth of race relations management, diversity training and 'promoting good relations' has come at a cost. We are more sensitized to racism, yet far less confident in talking to each other as human beings with similar hopes, problems and aspirations.

Munira Mirza

We give money to the E.U. and they give it back according to the priorities they choose, with an unelected group of people choosing those priorities.

Munira Mirza

A well-run, well-stocked library with access to great books as well as the Internet is essential.

Munira Mirza

A school that believes in the power of knowledge and learning will have reading at its core.

Munira Mirza

Throughout history, cities have been associated with incredible bursts of creative energy - the Renaissance in Florence, or modernism in Paris. London is the cultural metropolis of the early 21st century.

Munira Mirza

We need law enforcement as the ultimate deterrent to stop irresponsible and rash young people from making mistakes that will harm others and themselves. Put bluntly, we need them to be scared of getting caught and of getting punished.

Munira Mirza

London can be a platform to look at what living in contemporary Britain is all about.

Munira Mirza

Black artists are encouraged to explore their identity but are then pigeonholed according to their ethnicity. We may have seen the decline of old racism, but we are witnessing a new kind of racialising.

Munira Mirza

The politically correct illiberal left far too often side with the extremists.

Munira Mirza

Too many developers still treat cultural strategies as a fig leaf to get planning permission, rather than make a thoughtful, genuine commitment to the cultural life of their areas.

Munira Mirza

Islamist groups have gained influence at local and national level by playing the politics of identity and demanding for Muslims the 'right to be different.'

Munira Mirza

Stop and search has a controversial history and has not always been carried out professionally by individual officers. Liberal-minded people are right to be wary about its overuse. However, it is also regarded by most people as a legitimate and necessary tactic.

Munira Mirza

A lot of my work involves criss-crossing London to visit the many hundreds of projects, theaters, galleries, museums and groups that comprise the capital's astonishingly rich cultural life.

Munira Mirza

No doubt many people working in race relations sincerely want to make things better. But by constantly drawing attention to race and policing ordinary behavior, they risk making things worse.

Munira Mirza

For many there is a degree of constancy in our culture; London won't let you down.

Munira Mirza

After Brexit, we need to design a modern and fair immigration system which attracts talent and investment from the E.U. and the rest of the world.

Munira Mirza

But everyone, including ethnic minorities, should be worried about how anti-racism is becoming weaponized across the political spectrum - how a lot of people in politics think it's a good idea to exaggerate the problem of racism.

Munira Mirza

Differences in racial outcomes are not the same thing as institutional racism any more than the fact that far more men than women are locked up is evidence of institutional sexism.

Munira Mirza

The most anyone could reasonably say about institutional racism is that the 'evidence is far from conclusive.

Munira Mirza

Paradoxically, just at the point when racist attitudes were declining in society and many ethnic groups were integrating successfully, our political leaders became obsessed with racism.

Munira Mirza

The creative sector is incredibly important to London's economy in a number of different ways.

Munira Mirza

I've argued for a much less instrumentalist politicized approach, freeing up the arts and enabling them to deliver high-quality projects.

Munira Mirza

There are people working in arts organizations who feel that in recent years there has been a sacrifice of quality and excellence in favor of ticking the right boxes and using the right buzz words because that's what their masters tell them.

Munira Mirza

London centre has a wealth of creative activity but there are parts of London where there isn't a cinema or where library provision is quite weak.

Munira Mirza

If black artists can win major commissions and international acclaim, why do we assume that to be black is always to be marginal, or in need of special support? We have to recognize how diversity initiatives can make black artists feel ghettoized and, as some cultural commentators have argued, bear 'the burden of representation.'

Munira Mirza

Barriers today are largely class-based - income, networks, education. And those affect many white people as well.

Munira Mirza

Oxford is a very special place. You really sensed the value of a good education there.

Munira Mirza

I think that in the past there has been a kind of cultural resistance to Latin because it's associated with elitism.

Munira Mirza

It's important that we challenge the culture of low expectations. You need to believe every child can do well.

Munira Mirza