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The boundary commissions for England, Scotland and Wales have just produced a new map of constituency boundaries – one that would increase the chances of continued Conservative power in the next election, and abolish Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s Islington North seat. Labour and Liberal Democrat MPs have staunchly vowed to oppose these plans for boundary changes – plans that would slash the number of MPs from 650 to 600.

I’ve just returned from an international conference on drugs policy reform in Atlanta, Georgia USA. The keynote speaker addressing the 1500 strong attendees was Michelle Alexander, author of the best-selling book, 'The New Jim Crow'. In it she outlines how the US systematically targets and incarcerates Black America through the prism of ‘drugs policy’.

With more revelations being revealed over the lack of diversity in the positions of UK society, Britain's biggest companies have been given a four-year deadline to appoint one board member from an ethnic minority background. Only 85 of the 1,050 director positions in the FTSE 100 companies were held by people from ethnic minorities.

As the UK celebrates Black History month in October, Google Doodle decided to celebrate what would have been the 272nd birthday of Olaudah Equiano (1746-1767), the African writer whose memoir gave the world for the first time a perspective on the slave trade from a slave’s perspective.

Operation Black Vote director Simon Woolley writes in The Times newspaper:

The findings from the race disparity unit present us with a real opportunity to dramatically confront and deal with persistent race inequality in the UK.

With Black History Month beginning here in the UK, a new film chronicling the early career of one of the most important African-Americans in US history, Marshall, offers viewers to witness the rise of the first African-American Supreme Court Justice, Thurgood Marshall.

Operation Black Vote director Simon Woolley writes in The Times newspaper:

The findings from the race disparity unit present us with a real opportunity to dramatically confront and deal with persistent race inequality in the UK.

OBV were featured in an article in The Times newspaper today. We reproduce this below:

Theresa May brushed aside criticism of her decision to publish data on racial divides in Britain yesterday and said she would consider legislation to stamp out discrimination by employers.

The prime minister said that the findings of the first race disparity audit were not “entirely bleak” and that there had been improvements in some areas.

Design genius and activist Jon Daniel dies

There is an exhibition at Tate Modern that chronicles African American Civil Rights art. Paintings, posters, graffiti and slogans, all capturing the essence of Black struggle in the late 1960’s.