It is poverty not migration that is changing the nature of Britain’s towns and cities. If you want to feel and smell austerity, go to Hatfield – in leafy Hertfordshire, with the rolling hills that EM Forster loved. It provides a microcosm of the changing social geography of Britain today.[1] Hatfield was, until the 1990s,
Below we reproduce a blog by an African-Caribbean mother who recounts the family nightmare of navigating the criminal justice system which was only relieved when she made contact with the campaigning organisation Joint Enterprise – Not Guilty by Association (JENGbA). The day was Thursday 13 December 2012. It was cold and windy. I had just
Dear IRR News subscriber, This week, we have a round-up of racially motivated attacks and convictions since the beginning of the year; a report on a recently closed consultation which will impact on Travellers and Gypsies and a review of a brilliant new play which tells the story of the campaigning Glasgow Girls. And in
An overview of racist attacks and convictions over the last two months. Last week David Cameron said he was ‘disturbed’ to hear that the proposed building of a small mosque in his Witney constituency had been cancelled as a result of racist threats to burn it down. It should not, however, have been that much
A new musical based on the story of the Glasgow Girls, who fought for the rights of asylum seeking children, is a masterpiece. The Glasgow Girls was the name given to a group of young girls who began campaigning after a school friend was arrested for deportation in a dawn raid. A campaign emerged at
The government’s recent planning policy developments are set to ‘make things worse for the poorest Gypsies and Travellers’. A number of Gypsy and Traveller groups have recently announced their concern over the latest planning proposals from the Coalition government. The Irish Traveller Movement in Britain (ITMB), Friends, Families and Travellers (FFT) and JUST West Yorkshire
The IRR publishes a report today on how racial violence is shaping the UK. Racial violence: facing reality warns that attacks on BME individuals are actually spreading to new areas of the country, as under the impact of globalisation and austerity measures, populations swiftly change; and points to the potential dangers in ‘decanting’ those affected
Dear IRR News subscriber, This week, the IRR publishes a report, Racial violence: facing reality, on how racial violence is shaping the UK, read the press release or download the report here (pdf file, 180kb). Jon Burnett assesses a report from British Future which advocates a new patriotism, while Ryan Erfani Ghettani reviews a report by
A report by the British Future think-tank suggests the need for a new British patriotism. Patriotism is back on the agenda. It is a patriotism which draws on the success of the feel-good pride said to have been generated through last year’s Olympics. It is a patriotism which seeks to harness the widespread bunting-brandishing joy
Aisha Maniar, a freelance legal translator and editor, reports on the recent privatisation of court interpretation services by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ). From schools and hospitals to the police force, almost all vital public services are affected by the current cuts and privatisation agenda. Often poorly thought through, many of these government programmes are
