The NHS, and especially its mental health services, have been branded institutionally racist by an inquiry team set up to examine the care and treatment that 38-year-old Rocky Bennett received at the Norvic secure psychiatric clinic in Norwich before he died, in October 1998, after being restrained by up to five nurses. The report, Independent
News Service
Anger grows over Daily Express reporting of Roma
The Labour MP Kevin McNamara has tabled a motion in the House of Commons complaining about recent articles in the Daily Express on Roma coming to Britain. As the Daily Express continues its campaign against potential Roma immigration from the European Union accession states – on Monday the front page headline was ‘Gypsy crisis’ –
Legacy of intolerance: racism and Unionism in South Belfast
What lies behind the recent spate of racist attacks on Africans and Asians in the Village, a Unionist stronghold in south Belfast? On 6 February 2004 the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) announced that it had stood down its commander in the Village area of South Belfast. Such a move is rare among the North’s loyalist
Express newspaper faces criticism from its own journalists for anti-Roma stance
Journalists at the Daily Express say that editors are pressurising them ‘to write anti-Gypsy’ articles. Last week, the newspaper ran a campaign to prevent Roma (Gypsies) from new EU countries coming to Britain – which led to the government announcing new restrictions. Last Tuesday, the Express claimed on its front page that 1.6 million Gypsies
Young of Belfast speak out against anti-Muslim racism
Cathal Hannan, aged 12, and Connor Scullion, 16, two young journalists from the Children’s Express group in Belfast, write about the experiences of their Muslim friends in the city after September 11: The ‘war on terror’ is now well under way, yet those signs that are presented to us in the West as positive, are
The media war against migrants: a new front
Newspapers have been scaremongering over Europe’s Roma communities, some of whom will, from May, have the right to migrate to Britain. Are these the first shots in a press campaign against Blunkett’s ‘new migrants’? The Sun claimed that it would be ‘tens of thousands’. The Sunday Times predicted 100,000. The Express announced that 1.6 million
A different perspective on tourism?
Tourism Concern, an organisation that campaigns to reduce the social and environmental damage that is often done by tourism in poorer countries, has launched a survey of British Black and Minority Ethnic communities to gauge their experiences as tourists. The survey’s aim is to begin a debate on tourism’s impact among people whose ancestry is
‘Anti-terrorism’ policing leads to arbitrary use of stop and search
From today, the police will have a host of new powers to stop, search and detain suspects. Is the post-Macpherson concept of ‘intelligence-led’ policing giving way to abuses in the name of ‘anti-terrorism’? The Home Office claims that new powers coming into effect today, under the Criminal Justice Act 2003, are necessary in the fight
Yarl’s Wood update: officer sacked
A security officer at Yarl’s Wood detention centre has been sacked following revelations of racist bullying, exposed by an undercover reporter in December 2003. Following an investigation by the Daily Mirror last year, which documented racist language, a culture of violence in training sessions and staff boasting of their brutal treatment of detainees, three security
Anti-foreigner politics make for extreme-Right gains across Europe
The IRR has been following the fortunes of extreme-Right and anti-immigration parties in elections across Europe from September 2003-January 2004. In the last five months, the anti-immigration Swiss People’s Party (SPP) has received a massive boost and polls predict significant gains for anti-immigration parties in Denmark and Norway. Far-right political parties in the UK and