News

The election of a far-right mayor in Béziers, France, the twin-town of Stockport, has prompted calls from a local Councillor for Stockport Council to cut ties with the French town.

The election of the new mayor, Robert Ménard, who represents the Front National Party, has caused the local Labour leadership to question the propriety of twinning with the town.

Stockport has been twinned with Béziers since 1972, but Labour Councillor Andy Verdeille, after the FN victory in the French local elections last week said:

Despite recent news that minority pupils are surpassing white British students, black Caribbean students continue to rank at the bottom of the government’s GCSE league tables according to the Department for Education’s 2012/2013 statistics.

The European, and local elections consistently get less than 40% of the electorate voting. Many Black people tell me all the time 'what’s the point in voting.' At a meeting in Parliament discussing Black issues a woman, sarcastically remarked:

‘If voting made a difference they would ban it.'

I hear that flippant remark a lot.

With racism on the rise both overt and subtle, African, Asians, Caribbeans and other minorities don’t have the luxury not to vote.

Despite being a treatable condition, stroke continues to be the third leading cause of death in England and the largest cause of disability. Therefore a stroke awareness campaign has been launched by Public Health England which highlights the importance of acting ‘F.A.S.T’ as soon as stroke symptoms present themselves.

The BBC may be sued by an Indian-born actor for airing an episode of Top Gear in which host Jeremy Clarkson used a racial slur against Asians.

In the recently aired Top Gun Burma special, Clarkson had just finished building a bridge. As an Asian man walked across it, Clarkson said “That is a proud moment, but there’s a slope on it.” Slope is a derogatory name for people of Asian descent. The origins of the slur are unclear, but it was used more commonly between the 1940s and 1960s in reference to Vietnam.

Earlier this week, Prime Minister David Cameron joined an audience of over 800 people at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel to celebrate The Muslim News Awards for Excellence - Britain's longest standing Muslim awards event. Now in its twelfth year, the coveted award ceremony recognises the very best of Muslim contribution to British society.

The Prime Minister presented the Enterprise award to Shabir Randeree, Executive Chairman of DCD Group, and said:

Jallow Momodou, a Swedish activist and National Co-ordinator of the European Network Against Racism, has been the target of racist attacks for standing strong in his fight against the much ignored racism within Swedish society. Recently Momodou was depicted in a poster, along with two other black men, wearing a noose around their heads as if they were about to be hanged.

The poster displayed the phrase, “Hang on Afrofobians,” and not only included a picture of each man, but also showed their full names over their foreheads.

“Study hard, get a good education and life’s opportunities will be open to you.” So the education mantra goes. And in part it is correct, but what do we tell our children about education’s persistent race penalty?

“Oh, and by the way, Son, even if you enter university with the same grades as your white friend, he or she are significantly more likely to end up with a better degree than you.”

A powerful group of individuals including the most senior Black person- Pat Younge- the BBC has ever employed- have written to senior bosses at the BBC urging them not to axe a key journalistic post dedicated to covering African and Caribbean stories. Here’s the letter.

If you you’d like to sign let us know via this page or our Facebook page. Thank you for your support.

Dear Tony Hall and James Harding,

Electoral Commission Chair Jenny Watson, writing in the Guardian makes a compelling case for online voter registration. She argues that it is essential for a modern democracy, and will help ensure organisations such as OBV and Bite the Ballot can get more people on the register