News

The second annual UpRise Anti-Racism festival takes place next week with a host of events designed to reflect the true spirit of London.

This year's "Community is Home" festival will take place in Dalston, Hackney on September 25 in a unified show of 'Peace across the Streets'.

The organisers will be hosting events at fourteen unusual spaces which will play host to the festival trail including a rooftop, vegetable garden, WWII bunker and public square to celebrate the many communities and cultures which make up the city.

Head teacher Philip Lawrence, who was murdered in 1995 whilst protecting a pupil outside his school in London, believed that every child was capable of greatness.

His widow, Frances Lawrence, continues Philip's legacy by championing young people and their achievements and she has done this by establishing the Philip Lawrence Awards.

In 2006, the British Crime Survey found that 80% of all crimes are committed by males. With more than 3,700 people caught with knives in 2008 and an 11.7% rise in robberies in 2011, it is only right that we welcome a group of males and females who desire to pull men away from these crimes.

So, Serena Williams looses it with an umpire, and instead of commenting on the behaviour itself many posts on forums and comments on articles start talking about race.

Kelso Cochrane is an iconic figure in British race relations. Over fifty years ago the young Antiguan was killed by a gang of white youths in Notting Hill, west London. No-one was ever convicted. He was the Stephen Lawrence of his day; a symbol of racial injustice.

Despite concerns over the increasing numbers of forced marriages and calls from the likes of Baroness Sayeeda Warsi to criminalise the practice, the government have ignored calls to create a forced marriage crime.

Back in July, Baroness Warsi suggested that there should be a radical rethink on the issue by ministers and said the government should consider criminalising forced marriages. Many welcomed such a move, claiming that it could save countless lives.

There are calls for the government to rethink their policy on 'stop and search' which many believe violates human rights.

The Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR) once again recommended Home Secretary Theresa May to amend the policy on the controversial practice to reflect the "respect of private life" clause in the European Convention of Human Rights.

I don't know Solomon Elliot, but he sent in this poem he has written. At 18 years of age it is clear that he is a very talented young man blessed with a sense of justice and lyrical dexterity that should afford him a bright future. Thank you Solomon and don't stop writing.

Simon Woolley

England's Riots

That Mark Duggan’s dug’em a hole.

Can’t the police see what it means to lose one of your family?

Simon Woolley, the Executive Director of the London based Operation Black Vote, was one of the first British citizens to fly into the U.S. following the 9/11 attacks when he participated in a tour of America sponsored by the U.S. State Department.

Woolley was originally scheduled to fly into the U.S. on September 12, 2001 but the cancellation of all commercial air flights in and into the U.S. in the wake of the attacks postponed his trip for a couple of days.

A former Labour councillor who was accused of vote-rigging has won a six-figure payout after claiming he was discriminated against because he was Asian.

Raghib Ahsan has been awarded £123,000 by an employment tribunal following a 13-year-long legal battle with the Labour party.

Two-thirds of the compensation payout is based on allowances which Ahsan would have been able to claim from the council had he continued in office.