Salma Yaqoob

Birmingham Post interview and slideshow here.

This week I told party members, friends and supporters of my decision to resign as the Councillor for Sparkbrook. It has not been an easy decision, but it is one that I have had to make in the interests of my health.

For some time now those close to me have been very aware that I have been battling with health issues. Unfortunately over the past 12 months it has taken a turn for the worse. I have found it increasingly difficult to keep up with my very busy schedule, and to satisfactorily fulfil the commitments that my role demands.

As a result of my worsening health I simply cannot continue to represent Sparkbrook in the way that I think its people deserve.

I was elected as a councillor in 2005, and again in 2010, and I have always felt it was a real privilege to work for Sparkbrook. There are so many examples of initiative and commitment, and so many people who come together to achieve better things for the community.

To all those who I have worked with over the years, and to those who have campaigned, supported and voted for me, I offer my sincere and humble gratitude.

I am proud of our work as Respect Party councillors since 2005; proud that we stood up to the parties of war and big business; and proud of the representation we gave to people who had been let down by the big parties who took them for granted.

For the time being, I have to take a step back and give myself the time and space to concentrate on regaining my health. However, I am not retiring from politics just yet! I still have things to say and - health permitting - I hope to continue with occasional media appearances, writing and public speaking.

I may have been forced to resign as a councillor. But I remain as committed as ever to the struggle for a world free of war, racism and poverty.

Writing in the Guardian newspaper Hanan Zoabi, a member of the Knesset, where she represents the Balad Party, asks how Sheikh Raed Salah's "struggle for equality" has become a "form of racism?"...To answer Zoabi's questions and to explain the extraordinary decisions to ban, arrest and deport the Palestinian leader Sheikh Raed Salah from Britain it is necessary to understand the long standing role of influential pro-Israel, neo-conservative lobby groups in Westminster and Washington.

More from Bob Lambert here.

When hundreds of thousands of public sector workers go on strike, the government should take note. These are not the ‘militants’, the ‘extremists’ or the ‘bully boys’ that feature in the fantasies of the Tory media.

These are hard-working, mostly low paid, men and women who keep our vital public services going despite inadequate resources and ever worsening conditions. When these people, who are at the heart of our communities, feel they have no other choice but to walk out, we should all realise that there is a serious grievance that must be addressed.

Protests have been called across the country in response to the arrest of leading Palestinian activist Sheik Raed Salah in London. He had been due to speak at a meeting in the House of Common this evening organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign attended by Labour MP's including, Jeremy Corbyn and Birmingham's Richard Burden.

A vigil is being held at 6.30pm today outside Waterstones in the city centre. Please email the Home Secretary and request a reconsideration of the deportation order to allow a court appeal. Call the Rt Hon Theresa May on 02072195206 or email at: mayt@parliament.uk

This week my Politics & Media show on the Islam Channel examined mental health provision after a warning by Professor Dinesh Bhugra, the outgoing president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, that overcrowded and understaffed psychiatric wards are leaving patients fearful for their safety and unable to make proper recoveries.

I was joined in the studio by Polly Falconer, Head of Mental Health Training at the Afiya Trust and Ayesha Aslam, a psychotherapist who runs Sakoon Muslim Counseling services.

Parts 1 & 2 below. More online later.

Today's advice surgery is at 11.00am at Sultan Bahu Trust, 17-21 Ombersley Road, Birmingham, B12. Map here.

Later today I will be in London to record my Islam Channel show. One of my guests this week is Billy Hayes, General Secretary of the Communication Workers Union (CWU).

Billy will be talking about the government's austerity agenda and union resistance to it, and its attack on multiculturalism.

Billy is outspoken critic of the David Cameron's 'muscular liberalism'. (Read his latest comments here and follow his blog here).

The programme will be broadcast tonight between 7 & 8pm.

Despite the poor weather around 100 women joined Saturday's Slutwalk. The Birmingham Mail have a report here. I went with my family and thoroughly enjoyed taking part.

It is clear from the national and global reaction to the idea that a new generation of young impressive feminist activists are finding their voice.

Well done to the organisers and special thanks to Olivia Sparrow for the photos.

Having blundered in, the west found it had unwittingly taken sides in the complex Afghan civil war that has been running since the 1970s, siding with the north against the south, town against country, secularism against Islam, Tajiks against Pashtuns. We installed a government and trained an army that in many ways discriminated against the Pashtuns. It is the largest ethnic group in the country yet, under Karzai, Pashtuns from the south make up only 3% of the Afghan National Army. Not surprisingly, almost all Pashtuns supported the insurgency.

Some sad news. After a long illness the peace campaigner Brian Haw has died. Brian was the instigator on June 2 2001 of the peace camp opposite parliament. He maintained the camp for 10 years, literally around the clock, in opposition to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Explaining his motivation, Brian said, 'the children of Iraq and other countries were every bit as valuable and worthy of love as my precious wife and children. I want to go back to my own kids and look them in the face again, knowing that I've done all I can to try and save the children of Iraq and other countries who are dying because of my government's unjust, amoral, fear - and money-driven policies'.

For his conscience and dedication, we are all in his debt. May he rest in peace.

The struggle for women's rights in Saudi Arabia put down an important marker on Friday when at least 29 women defied the country's de facto ban on driving.

The campaign has been inspired by Manal al-Sharif, a young mum and computer expert who has received international attention, and a week in jail, for posting a film of herself driving on YouTube.

Although women are not formally banned from driving, to all intensive purposes they are. Women who drive get harassed and arrested by the authorities. In 1990 50 Saudi women were sacked from their jobs and banned from foreign travel for organising a similar protest.