| His appointment was announced on July 23, 2019, the day before Boris Johnson became Prime Minister, in what some saw as a parting shot by his departing predecessor Theresa May. Qari Asim, imam at the Makkah Masjid mosque in Leeds, was appointed to provide expert advice on a definition of Islamophobia to the Government. But this weekend he was removed from the role after joining the fight to ban a film about the Prophet Mohammed's daughter. The film The Lady of Heaven has been branded "highly offensive and blasphemous" by some Muslim activists and prompted protests in places including Bolton, Sheffield and Bradford. Qari Asim, 44, backed the protestors but was later told his three-year appointment and his role as deputy chair of the government's Anti-Muslim Hatred Working Group had to end.  Imam Qari Asim has been sacked from his government advisor role by Michael Gove's Levelling Up Department.
But as LeedsLive reports, he said last night that he learned about the letter from the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) informing him that he had been removed from his roles through the media. He added he has still not received the correspondence personally, and that since the Government did not contact him about the matters "at any time", there was "no opportunity to clarify any misunderstandings". The DHLUC said in its letter it had "no option" but to withdraw Mr Asim's appointment and end his roles with the Government with "immediate effect" due to his encouragement for a campaign to prevent cinemas from screening the film Lady Of Heaven. "Your recent support for a campaign to limit free expression – a campaign which has itself encouraged communal tensions – means it is no longer appropriate for you to continue your work with Government in roles designed to promote community harmony," the department said. But Mr Asim said the claim that he had acted to undermine democratic values or spread community tension and religious hatred was "inaccurate". In a letter to Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove, he said this was because he did not "personally attend or organise any protests outside any cinemas" regarding the film, adding that his "strong preference is always dialogue". "I did, however, support people's democratic right to protest in the spirit of free speech," he said. His letter to Mr Gove also claimed the "current Government has not engaged with me at all on the definition of Islamophobia". And he added that he had not been given "any resources to undertake the work that my role demanded" due to an "apparent lack of political will at the very top level of Government". 
Diary date: Wakefield by-election hustings We're only a few days away now from the Wakefield by-election on June 23, with both main parties ramping up their efforts to win over floating voters. And tomorrow the candidates will be making their pitch to the electorate as The Northern Agenda teams up with YorkshireLive to host the first hustings of the campaign. The online debate takes place at 7pm and will be streamed on our Twitter account and YorkshireLive's Facebook page. Look out for more details in tomorrow's newsletter. With Labour ahead in the polls, leader Sir Keir Starmer was out in the constituency today, while Tory big beasts Jacob Rees-Mogg and David Davis were backing their candidate over the weekend.
Does having a Northern accent still hold you back?  Presenter Steph McGovern said BBC colleagues assumed she'd had a 'hard life' because of her Northern accent
A century ago, playwright George Bernard Shaw wrote: "It is impossible for an Englishman to open his mouth without making some other Englishman despise him." And this weekend in London, academics from Northumbria University want people to come along to an event organised by the British Academy and talk about their own experience of accent prejudice amid fears the Northern accent still puts speakers at a disadvantage. Dr Robert McKenzie and his team have been studying how English people evaluate Northern and Southern English accents, as Mark Brown of the Guardian reports. They concluded that people do still think speakers in the North "are less intelligent, less ambitious, less educated and so on, solely from the way they speak". In 2020, Middlesbrough-born presenter Steph McGovern revealed BBC colleagues assumed she'd had a 'hard life' because of her Northern accent and saw her as 'dead tough' - but insists it created more opportunities. Dr McKenzie wants to have accents made a protected characteristic under the Equality Act and said: "Just as people shouldn't hold gender biases or biases against fat or thin people, we shouldn't have biases against accents." The event includes considering the tricky question of where the North starts. "That should be interesting," said the academic. "Southern people tend to put the south as beginning just above London whereas my students in Newcastle put the south just below Middlesbrough."
Mayor apologises for airshow 'shambles'  Traffic and the Red Arrows at the Teesside Airshow
It was five years in the making and seen as a feather in the cap for Teesside Airport after it was taken into public hands. But the long-awaited return of the Teesside Airshow this weekend instead descended into acrimony as thousands of ticket-holders were stranded in gridlocked traffic. The event, which expected crowds of up to 22,000 visitors, hit the skids when hundreds of people started reporting they were stuck in traffic jams. The situation continued and after several hours of not moving many reported they were forced to turn around and go home, missing all the action. Some abandoned their cars to walk to the airshow and others watched the Red Arrows from the road side. Yesterday Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen, apologised for the delays and said he would be "conducting a full review and debrief as a matter of urgency". Passengers flying to and from the airport were also affected, with some having to walk home because relatives couldn't get through to pick them up and others having to walk miles with their cases in a bid to catch their flight. Chris Petty and Steve Davies, co-organisers of Sky Live Air, issued a joint statement, saying they had employed a professional traffic management company and held numerous meetings with councils and police. They said: "Clearly something went wrong yesterday and we will fully investigate to make sure this doesn't happen again."
It was a weekend full of apologies, perhaps most notably by the Tory Minister who described Blackpool and Birmingham as "godawful" in an eye-popping gaffe during a speech. Heather Wheeler, the MP for South Derbyshire, went off-script at a launch event for the Government's new digital strategy on Thursday, saying: "I was just at a conference in Blackpool or Birmingham or somewhere godawful." Ms Wheeler, who is a parliamentary secretary at the Cabinet Office, later apologised and said she made an "inappropriate remark that does not reflect my actual view". Blackpool council leader Lynn Williams told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that Ms Wheeler's words were "frustrating", and added: "We're used to getting (these) sort of ignorant and ill-advised comments. Elsewhere, the managing director of Merseyrail has issued an apology for the disruption commuters have faced due to faults with their trains. Andy Heath said he was "truly, truly sorry" for the inconvenience caused by changes to the timetables on Merseyrail lines as the operator announced an "unexpected" increase in wear on train wheel bearings.
Queues 'a mile long' to cash in council tax rebate cheques  The queue outside the retail financial services provider Cash Shop in Rotherham (pic SWNS)
It's an alarming sign of the times as the cost-of-living crisis puts intolerable strain on families up and down the land. Desperate people in South Yorkshire have been queuing up at pawnbrokers shops to cash in their £150 council tax rebates because they cannot afford to wait for the money. People have been queuing outside the Cash Shop in Rotherham in recent days, as YorkshireLive reports. The store charges 7.9% commission and a £2.99 handling fee, leaving those cashing in a £150 rebate cheque with around £135. The money is being dished out by local authorities to the most hard-up households to help with the cost of living crisis. For those who do not pay their council tax through direct debit, a cheque is issued instead. Rotherham Council advised using a bank, post office or the local authority to avoid fees. But some of those waiting in line said they couldn't afford to wait days for a cheque to clear through their bank. Carly Stubbs, 32, from Dinnington, queued up outside a Ramsdens pawnbrokers. She said: "I've been down three times now and each time the queue is a mile long. I'm with Monzo so there isn't an in-person bank, you have to send it off and it takes weeks." Rotherham council leader Chris Read said: "Unfortunately there is no perfect solution or template for making payments on this scale to suit everybody's circumstances and everyone is trying to make the best of this difficult situation."
'It would be good for the city': Could Tory conference come to Liverpool?  Police stand guard near to the Manchester Central convention centre, where the Tory party conference was held last year (Image: ABNM Photography)
Liverpool hasn't had a Tory councillor elected since the 1990s. But the city is "being looked at" as a potential host for the Conservative Party Conference, it emerged this weekend. The Tories have not held their annual autumn gathering in the city since the 1920s, but party sources have revealed that the city is being considered as a future destination, writes Westminster Editor Dan O'Donoghue. The Conservatives currently hold their October conference in Manchester or Birmingham, but will be looking to contract new venues for 2027-2032. University of Liverpool politics professor Jon Tonge said such a move would be "good for the city". He said: "It would attract protests for sure but the event is held regularly in Manchester, where the city council is 95% Labour compared to Liverpool's 60%. The conference location is great - I know Labour love the venue - and it will bring thousands of people spending lots of money to the city. "I'd understand if some Conservative delegates were wary about visiting the city and obviously some residents hold visceral anti-Tory views given the history of the last four decades but it would do those delegates and Liverpool good to come and spend time in an extraordinary place."
In the shorter term, Boris Johnson will this week set out his pitch to win back the support of his wavering Northern MPs with a crunch speech on his vision for the next stage of levelling up. The Prime Minister will be addressing the first conference of the Northern Research Group of Tory MPs in Doncaster on Friday at an event also open to Tory Party members. It follows a bruising week for Mr Johnson which began with 40% of his own MPs voting that they had no confidence in his leadership, writes Chris Burn of The Yorkshire Post. The event at Doncaster Racecourse, which is called Levelling Up The North, will also include speeches from Tees Valley mayor Ben Houchen and Northern Research Group chair Jake Berry, as well as Don Valley MP Nick Fletcher.
Revealed: The number of children being taught in a large class  One in eight primary age pupils in the North is being taught in a large class. Stock image by PA
More than 136,000 primary school children in the North are being taught in classes of more than 30, as unions warn that large class sizes mean a squeeze on individual attention for pupils. Across the region, 136,021 children in Key Stage 1 and 2 were being taught in classes of more than 30 pupils in January of this year, according to the latest figures from the Department for Education. That was 413 more pupils in large classes than in January 2021 This means one in eight primary age pupils in the North (12.7%) is being taught in a large class, compared to 12.6% a year before, reports Claire Miller of Reach's Data Unit. Nationally, the number of primary school pupils in large classes rose in 2022 compared to the year before after a general downward trend in recent years. Education unions said more Government investment is needed, "so that every family can be certain of a great education, in a great school, with great teachers". Legislation limiting class sizes to 30 pupils or less only applies to Key Stage 1. In the North, 20,038 children at this level were being taught in classes of more than 30, up from 19,352 in 2021. While legislation aims to prevent infant classes from exceeding 30 pupils, schools can get exceptions for some pupils. 
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Northern Stories  The map includes plans for a so-called 'Wearside Loop' (Image: Transport North East)
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Hopes of opening a raft of new railway and Metro lines across the North East have been branded "pie in the sky". A vision to radically upgrade the region's public transport infrastructure by 2035, most notably through eight train line extensions across Tyne and Wear, Northumberland, and County Durham, is due to be adopted by council leaders next week. But turning any of those plans into reality would require major government investment and it is thought that the eight extension proposals would cost in the region of £2.5bn. -
Senior Cabinet Minister Michael Gove will be quizzed by MPs on his levelling up plans this afternoon. The Levelling Up Secretary is due to be questioned in an evidence session with the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Committee at 4pm, led by Sheffield MP Clive Betts. Housing Minister Stuart Andrew will also give evidence on the Government's housing plans. You can watch the action here. -
Visitors could be offered pedal-powered rickshaw trips along the seafront between Morecambe and Heysham, if a retired nurse's bid is supported by councillors. Lorna Manlove is seeking a licence to operate 'pedi-cabs' along a stretch of wide promenade between Morecambe's Midland hotel and Heysham. She also wants permission to operate the rickshaws on some roads in Morecambe, so tourists can be taken to cafes and tea rooms or attractions such as Happy Mount Park. -
More than one million people in the North of England have diabetes, according to NHS Digital figures highlighted at the beginning of Diabetes Week. And the charity Diabetes UK is also concerned that thousands of people are not able to access the vital care for the condition which they need. The charity pointed to figures which show how - across the North of England - just 34% of people with diabetes had all eight of the recommended health checks diabetes should have - and it's understood this is worse in more deprived areas of the country. -
Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram has turned down a pay rise of more than £3,000 despite the plans being recommended. Mr Rotheram, Mayor of Liverpool City Region, could have had his annual salary increased from £81,000 to £84,298 after a proposed increase was signed off by members of the combined authority this afternoon. However the former MP has said he will not accept any further remuneration and will donate the increase to charity. - A free shuttle bus service to Pinderfields Hospital from the centre of Wakefield is being introduced today in response to the ongoing strike by drivers working for Arriva Yorkshire. Announcing the move on Friday, Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire, said the move would help people reach appointments or to visit friends and family. The shuttle service will run the route of service 111 between Wakefield Bus Station and Pinderfields Hospital, and will run every 20 minutes.
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