News

Yesterday a court in Perugia, Italy upheld the first conviction that Amanda Knox and her then boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito murdered British student Meredith Kercher in 2007. The detail of how the Italian judges came to their decision has not yet been made public, but a spoke’s person for the court said that the DNA evidence linking Knoxs , Sollecito, and the already convicted Rudy Guido was irrefutable.

The governing body which represents Black and minority ethnic members in the Labour Party -BAME Labour- is in open revolt against Lambeth Labour Leader Lib Peck and some factions within the party, in regards to how Adeline Aina has been treated.

In what is an unprecedented move, BAME Labour has written a most damning open letter claiming the discriminatory actions of Lambeth council not only breach natural justice but also is damaging the Labour Party.

Sikhs from around London, members of Sikhs Against the EDL and members of the Indian Workers Association (G.B). are to join the counter-protest against the English Defence League (EDL) in Slough this Saturday 1st Feb.

The EDL are set to march in Slough on that day, the first protest of the year by the far-right organisation. A counter protest has been called by Unite Against Fascism (UAF) together with the Slough Trades Union Council. The counter-protest will begin at 11:00am in the Queensmere Shopping Centre, High Street.

Black and minority ethnic groups braved the driving rain to discuss how the Northern Ireland Assembly, held at Stormont can effectively tackle the growing levels of racism. The Conference organised by groups such as NICEM and others brought together the kaleidoscope of minorities from Africa, China, India and Eastern Europe.

Gabrielle Turnquest is the youngest person in the world to pass the UK Bar exams. At the tender age of 18, when most undergraduates are just beginning their degrees, this remarkable young woman is the youngest qualified barrister in Wales and England. The average age of lawyers who take the Bar is 27.

Because of this, she says, people have assumed that she is somehow extraordinary, a prodigy of sorts. She doesn’t see it that way:

I just had opportunities and programmes available to me that I was able to take advantage of.”

If the continued witch hunt of Adeline Aina, driven by a small group within the Lambeth Labour group, wasn’t real it would be laughable: A farcical script of a power hungry clique within the local Labour party hell bent –I used those last words carefully- on crushing a woman, a Black woman both politically and personally because, and here’s the punch line; she had the temerity to democratically beat her powerful opponent, Cllr Robbins.

Chickens coming home to roost!

Few people will have sympathy for the former leader of the English Defence League, Stephen Lennon aka Stephen Robinson who was jailed for 18 months earlier this week for fraud.

He was convicted of two counts of conspiring with others to obtain a mortgage by misrepresentation. The fraud amounted to 160k over a six month period.

For a multitude of reasons, the cultural arts prowess of Britain’s Black communities has always been high. Much of the arts like sports such as boxing, football and running can bypass privilege. If you can sing you can sing, like wise with musicians who don’t need costly lessons, and to a lesser extent acting.

As the film 12 Years a Slave is winning international plaudits, breaking box office records and putting the British-born Black Director, Steve McQueen and lead actor Chiwetel Ejiofo, in the frame for a slew of prestigious film awards, the response from David Cameron’s government to these events goes to the heart of the film’s critique about power that is not underpinned by a vision of social and racial justice.

I cannot think of any other reasonable explanation other than sheer hatred of the other for buying, and sitting on a Black semi-naked mannequin who is upside down.

Looking at the picture your jaw drops, you plead with your rationale that this is a spoof, and then you realise it isn’t. Dasha Zhukova, the girlfriend of one of the richest men in the world and Chelsea football owner Roman Abramovich, was happily pictured for a photo shoot to promote her new lifestyle magazine.