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In the next general election, 168 marginal seats could be decided by non-white voters. After the Hispanic vote swung the US election for Barack Obama in 2012, the UK's three major parties know how crucial minority votes will be. But are they doing enough to win them?

Simon Woolley recalls his first viewing of the research that could alter the course of the 2015 general election. "I couldn't believe it," he says. "I told them to go away and check it again, and then again. No one expected this."

Has British Parliament just given succour to Assad or have Cameron and Clegg seriously miscalculated? Olivia Boland writes.

The failure of the Coalition Government to win the vote in Parliament for its motion regarding a principal agreement to take military action against Syria signals a new chapter in British history, a chapter that brings in the beginning of the end of the Special Relationship between the British government and the US government in their joint imperial explorations.

Somalis fare much worse than other immigrants; what holds them back?

As we celebrate the 50th anniversary of Dr Martin Luther King’s 1963 world famous ‘I have a dream speech’ and mass march on Washington, there is a temptation to simply remember the dream speech and forget the radical politics of King himself. Since 1963 and more so since Kings assassination in 1968 there has been a concerned Disneyesque attempt to portray King as above politics.

He has overtime become canonised as meaning all things to all people in the kind of historical revisionism that sprays vanilla all over radical black history.

When I read that the ethnic minority vote may hold the key for the 2015 elections, I was delighted. For too long, these votes have been taken as given by all political parties especially Labour.

A study carried out by cross-party organisation Operation Black Vote showed the number of black and minority ethnic (BME) voters had grown by 70% since the last election. Using the 2011 census, it calculated that in England and Wales there are168 seats where the black and ethnic minority population holds greater sway than the majority.

Next week will be the 50th anniversary of Dr Martin Luther King's iconic 'I have a dream' speech. Civil rights legend, Reverend Jesse Jackson, a close ally of King's, shares his reflection on the momentous March on Washington and looks at the racial challenges which still persist.

As we approach the 50th anniversary of the famous March on Washington — Aug. 28 — people across the world will recall Dr. King’s famous “dream”; many can recite entire passages of his historic address.

There are clearly a number of key factors which help explain the disproportionate level of Black men in UK prisons.

Much is talked about the socio-economic factors which negatively impact BME communities, but the collective facts of how the Criminal Justice System works cannot be ignored as an insignificant factor.

Black men for example are 26 times more likely to be stopped and searched by the police. Worse still when illegal drugs are found the way the police deal with black and white suspects, the disparity is alarming.

Like many students across the country last Thursday was a day that couldn’t come quick enough. Mems has spent the last four weeks volunteering with OBV, but every now and then she’d comment about her pending results and how they might change her life.

She needn’t have worried. Mems excelled way beyond her expectation receiving 3 A’s and one star A. In a few months time, her life will dramatically change as a student who’ll go to the prestigious Warwick University to study law and international study.

Who said young people don’t care! For some months now Zena Agha and Alan Ssenpebwa two former volunteers at OBV have been working on a project to give a meaningful voice to young BME individuals. Now it’s here for all to see and, importantly hear. OBV: The power of poetry.

They have assembled some of the countries brightest young poets and invited them to speak truth, not just to power but to you too. Their aim is to inform, empower, inspire and above all to warm your heart.

When my friend Michael Young, Lord Young, first termed the word ‘meritocracy’ back in 1958 he would later become bemused and somewhat saddened that it’s true meaning would be lost and even subverted. For him the term ‘meritocracy’ was pejorative, and used in a satirical way. Above all it was a warning about an emerging governing elite who would talk about merit and fairness, whilst benefiting from the privilege.