The mosque is an intrinsic part of the red brick landscape of Manchester. Image, Steve Hanson.
Three things happened this month that made me think long and hard about the cultural and political shifts currently taking place.
The first thing that happened was a visit to a mosque in Manchester. I met the Imam, heard the call to prayer, and then observed the prayers themselves. Here was a strong corrective to the default media image of mosques as closed, female-free worlds.
