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Zehra Zaidi was a Conservative candidate for the European Parliament in South West England at the 2009 elections and has been a development consultant on governance and democratisation for UNICEF and the British Council. She has also acted as an adviser to Andrew Mitchell, the Shadow Secretary of State for International Development.

The sudden death of UK reggae icon Smiley Culture during a police raid by the Metropolitan Police Serious and Organised Crime Squad has sent shockwaves through the UK urban music scene and black communities.

Questions are being raised within Black communities in London over reports that the former singer ‘killed himself’.

There is a growing consensus that the reggae star may have been involved in a struggle with police officers that may have contributed to the stars untimely death.

A shocking new report by the Scottish branch of the UK Equality and Human Rights Commission reveals that over 6000 racially motivated crimes were recorded in Scotland last year. This amounts to an average of one incident  every hour of every day of the year. Perhaps the more alarming data is that  according to the report published today is that almost half of those crimes are committed by those under 21, highlighting a generation of young racists.

It is perhaps the greatest lie in British politics today, one that could ultimately puts our own nation at risk from a terrorist attack: A few months ago during a debate specifically about extremism and terrorism held in Germany, our Prime Minister David Cameron articulated a narrative that goes something like this: State Multiculturalism has encouraged non-violent extremism; Non violent extremism is but a short step from violent extremism and terrorism. Government policy and focus would therefore begin a ‘War on Multiculturalism’, to help defeat terrorism.

The producer of ITV hit show Midsomer Murders has been suspended after making comments in an interview to the Radio Times that ethnic minorities had no place in the drama.

He has been quoted as saying the programme set in a group of villages around a fictional town called Midsomer represented the "last bastion of Englishness and I want to keep it that way" and that ethnic minority characters 'wouldn't work'.

OBV’s Director hit all the right notes at the Lib Dem spring conference yesterday. In a maiden speech on the main platform of a Lib Dem conference Woolley addressed delegates in the issue of the Alternative Vote (AV)

Blogging on the Guardian site Andrew Sparrow noted:

As Correspondent John Linchfield writes in today’s Independent , French television star Nicolas Hulot has jumped into the race for the French Presidency in 2012.

Hulot, who is a popular environmentalist and is well known as an adventurer on French television since the 1980s, is yet another threat to President Sarkozy’s chance of winning a second term. While Linchfield doesn’t believe Hulot can win, he writes that:

Your chance to win a copy Clarence Jones' book

“I have a dream.” When those words were spoken on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on August 28, 1963, the crowd stood, electrified, as Martin Luther King, Jr. brought the plight of African Americans to the public consciousness and firmly established himself as one of the greatest orators of all time.

In a show of unity and calling for peace, the British Pakistani Christian Association (BPCA) and British Sikh Council (BSC) led a multi-faith delegation to the Pakistan High Commission in London last week.

The delegation was a show of solidarity in an effort to overcome multi-faceted problems relating to terrorism and divisions existing between various groups in Pakistan.

You don’t always have to look on the TV or in the newspaper for inspirational individuals. Sometimes they are right there in front of your nose.

This was never more the case than when I met a young man, 19-year-old Mohand Nour, who came into the OBV offices offering his service as a volunteer one day a week. "I’ll do anything" he said, "I just like what you stand for".