News

In response to the national media storm following Maggi Hambling’s rabid racist comments about slavery at the University of Suffolk, she has now reluctantly responded:

As somebody who has been fighting prejudice, in all its forms, all my life, I am very upset that my comments, intended as jokes, were misconstrued as racist. In supporting the Ipswich Art School tirelessly over the years, in all it does, it was never my intention to upset anybody."

The facts:

European Parliamentary elections are taking place on Thursday 22 May – the last time these were held was five years ago. On the same day local elections are taking place across England and Northern Ireland. Samantha Mills, head of campaigns at the Electoral Commission has more information:

Where are the elections taking place?

When a racist fan threw a banana at the mixed heritage Barcelona and Brazilian football player Daniel Alves, unlike the Sky commentary team, Alves did not ignore it -the banana- or the issue. Instead he chose to show utter contempt for the abuser, whilst telling the world that racism is unacceptable:

He picked the banana up, peeled it and ate it.

To add further insult to the bigoted fan, he went on to inspire his team to a thrilling victory, having come from a two goal deficit. Priceless.

Just over a month ago a group of young elected leaders and convened in Brussels for the third Transatlantic Inclusion Leadership Network (TILN). Organised by the German Marshall Fund and supported by OBV and others the aim is that this group of individuals will transform their world and better connect with others across the globe.

Earlier this month, members of the Jewish Council for Racial Equality (JCORE) met to discuss a pressing issue relevant to themselves as well as to the black and minority ethnic community; the upcoming European elections, and the possibility of the far-right gaining more seats than ever before.

After years of being taunted by others about her dark skin Lupita Nyong’o finally realised she was beautiful after seeing supermodel Alek Wek walk the world's fashion catwalks with pride and poise.

Today Lupita not only celebrates her oscar winning film success with ’12 years a slave’, but  just been announced by ‘People Magazine’ as the most beautiful woman in the world. The inner transformation couldn’t be more complete.

On March 24th, the University Campus Suffolk held an art auction to raise funds. One of the artists featured was Maggi Hambling, CBE whose work has featured at the Tate Modern.

She was a very prestigious guest to get and her painting was sold for £650. Unfortunately, she couldn't hold back her racist bile.

One of Britain’s most senior broadcast journalists, Kurt Barling has spoken out in the weekend’s Sunday Times for the first time since the BBC dispensed with his services. He talks frankly about his distinguished career, and the very real challenges the BBC now face in matching their rhetoric of diversity whilst in reality Black senior staff remains at levels similar to 20 years ago.

Mayor Lutfur Rahman is perhaps the most scrutinised politician in Britain today. He is the only directly elected Mayor to be investigated twice by BBC’s Panorama programme. He may be the only Mayor they have investigated in great detail, and of course there are a number of London-based blogs and bloggers who dedicated a substantial part of their time seeking to undermine, find dirt, and at times vilify Europe’s first directly elected BME Mayor.