News

Bigoted columnist Katie Hopkins, who rose to fame on the third series of the Apprentice, has left the Daily Mail’s online counterpart Mail Online by alleged “mutual consent”. This follows an agreement to pay Jackie Teale, a teacher, “substantial damages” due to an article Hopkins had written that falsely accused Teale of escorting her class to an anti-Donald Trump demonstration in Westminster.

Last night, the 2017 MOBO Awards were held at Leeds Arena.

The MOBO Awards – standing for ‘Music of Black Origin’ – have been broadcast since 1996 with the purpose of recognizing and awarding artists of all backgrounds who perform black-originated genres of music. The most prestigious ceremony of its kind in the United Kingdom, the MOBOs can be compared to the American BET Awards in cultural significance.

Intro:

Last week I bumped into Janett Morgan and asked her how she was doing and what she was up to. She informed me about the brilliant work she has been doing since finishing the Lewisham leadership project. I was thrilled and amazed. I asked her to drop me a note about her activism. Here it is. If you want to get involved in this dynamic group contact info@obv.org.uk. Simon Woolley.

OBV and CLG's Parliamentary Shadowing Scheme participant, Claudine Duberry, speaks to Ayan Goran about her award winning work.

Claudine Duberry – author of Guns, Gangs, and the Implication for Social Workers – is taking steps towards positive change through her youth outreach program, Taking Positive Steps.

Any announcement of a big Royal wedding is always met with a media frenzy, but this forthcoming wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle adds particular interest. That’s not just because she’s American, an actress, and a divorcee, but perhaps most importantly because she’s mixed heritage with an African American mother. Think about this for a second; the third in line to the throne, is marrying a descendent of a enslaved African.

A Bristol Labour party member – featured in an article earlier this week – who remarked that she would like to take a “horse whip” to Marvin Rees, Mayor of Bristol, has come forward with an apology for her choice of language.

Mal Sainsbury, the party member in question, had posted in the Bristol Labour Party Members Facebook page, asking others to bring a “metaphorical horse whip to lick our mayor and councillors into shape”.

In the wake of Black History Month, it seems as though the debates on higher education’s snow-capped institutions persist. In an article recently published by the Guardian, the deputy director at the University of Birmingham’s Centre for Research in Race and Education, Professor Khalwant Bhopal suggested that, “black minority-ethnic academics feel the goal posts are often moved when they apply for jobs or promotions”—fundamentally arguing that there are not enough BAME professors, vice-chancellors or provosts in British higher education.

Ofsted inspectors will be questioning primary school girls who wear the hijab as to why they cover their hair. The decision is a result of concerns that the garment could be interpreted as sexualizing young girls and that primary school girls as young as four are being forced by their families to wear the hijab to school.

Labour party member Mal Sainsbury informed a Bristol local party Facebook group that she’d like to take a ‘horse whip’ to Bristol Mayor Marvin Rees for the cuts he is beingforced to make to some local services. She goes on to encourage others to join her: "Please join us and bring your metaphorical whip to lick our Mayor ".

As a matter of urgency Labour party head office must suspend its racist members in Bristol until a investigation is undertaken, and sanction those who have supported such appalling rhetoric.