The Banker's report on top 500 Islamic Institutions

Fascinating report (well, to me anyway) in the Banker - "Islamic finance has continued to grow over the last few years despite a loss of confidence in global financial systems. The 2010 survey of financial institutions practising Islamic finance reveals that assets rose by 8.85% from $822bn in 2009 to $895bn in 2010. Islamic finance has held a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 23.46% from 2006 to 2010. Many sharia-compliant institutions remain unscathed from the direct impact of the financial crisis."

Inspiring day at TUC Women's Conference

I spent the afternoon & evening at the TUC Women’s conference in Eastbourne today, ahead of speaking at the Electoral Reform Society’s reception tonight. I’ve not spent much time at the TUC Women’s Conference before and I came to the conclusion that it is something we should promote more widely and treasure. The debates that were had in the time I was there were quite short debates, but meaningful and rich with delegates showing their real experience of the issues and challenges. Just some of the issues debated were violence against women, abortion rights, free schools, public services, safety on transport. Issues debated by women from the point of view of women. The TUC brings together working women from a far greater range of backgrounds which made this a people’s debate beyond a political debate, in a conference where people were much more free to connect the personal and political. The discussion at the reception this evening also addressed women’s political representation. I have been making the argument in speeches recently that political equality is not just a consequence that follows from social equality, but in fact is something we must now see as a pre-requisite to social equality. If you don’t have the voices of men and women more equally in political decision making we'll continue to be making decisions from the narrow perspective of a minority.