News

The headline news that Black and Minority Ethnic ( BME) 'Stop and Search' figures are down by 68% since 2010/11 can only be greeted as good news. But it's not the whole story.

Last night’s Shining a Light 2015 concert held in Los Angeles, CA in the United States started at 8pm at the Shrine Auditorium. The concert focused on promoting unity and social progress within the realm of racial equality. This sold out concert, featured a start studded set list, ranging from Sting to Pharrell Williams, Ed Sheeran to Bruce Springsteen, or Sia to Zac Brown Band.

Even as the French and other European authorities continue to track down all the perpetrators of the Paris atrocities, there is a question few seem to want to confront until now: Are we reaping what we sow?

It's a difficult question not least because conflation between the barbarism that occurred in Paris, to the US, French and Russian bombing in Syria is often characterised as 'wooly liberal politics, or an 'apologist for extremism'.

Perhaps with the exception of Wales and its working class mining roots, rugby union is mostly seen as the preserve of the white middle and upper classes. Every since I can remember fee paying schools predominantly played rugby and all the rest of us played football.

That was until the New Zealander of Togan decent , Jonah Lomu literally burst onto the rugby stage.

Paul Hensby looks at the life of one of the most unrecognised Black film makers, and the founder of the Blaxploitation genre.

One can only admire with astonishment and pride the life of Melvin Van Peebles who I first wanted to write about as the creator of the Blaxploitation movie genre. But this is just one of his huge list of achievements. Read on to find out more about this remarkable man.

Today is Tuesday, 17 November 2015. It is marked in my diary as the day I come back to work for OBV.

Scrolling back I see I’ve marked in colourful blue over the weekend ‘Paris trip’.

My planned adventurous weekend in Paris. I and many of my fellow Americans have this unimaginable dream about visiting Paris, perhaps the most romantic city on earth.

But as events unfolded this wasn’t to be the dream visit I or my fellow American friends had envisaged. Far from it.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-33317368

After the shocking news began to filter through on Friday evening of the Parisian massacre of innocent men and women, perpetrated by the murderous Isis, I purposely began an almost news black-out.

Like many parents I sought to shield my ten year old son from such news that is almost impossible to comprehend as an adult, much less a child. Having seen snippets of it on his own tablet computer, his first reaction was, ‘Dad are they coming here too?

Our thoughts, feelings and reflections are with the people of Paris, and the nation of France.  Now is not the time for knee-jerk responses nor for divisive words.

OBV team