Lack of interpreters linked to baby deaths, Labour member told she's wrong ethnicity & other stories from Black, Asian & Arab communities you shouldn't have missed - curated by Melissa Sigodo
The last two weeks have been diabolical
Good morning, evening of afternoon,
Thank you for subscribing to The Source.
In summary:
Without further ado, here’s what you shouldn’t have missed this week.
Thank you for your continued support.
The 20
Politics
A Labour member Fiona Mulaisho claims she was told by a senior member of the local party in Brent, London, that as a Black woman she was the wrong ethnicity to stand for election in her own constituency. Read the full story by Grant Williams at MyLondon News.
A former Dulwich college pupil claims a 17-year-old Nigel Farage who is now leader of Reform UK told him “That’s the way back to Africa”while they attended school. Yinka Bankole who was nine years old at the time said Farage “would wait at the lower-school gate, where I was dropped off for school, so as to repeat the vulgarity”. Read the full story by Daniel Boffey, Mark Blacklock and Henry Dyer at The Guardian.
A nationalist vigilante group is attempting to infiltrate school networks and provide so-called street patrols while falsely claiming to be working with the police. The founder of the group known as Essex Spartons has expressed racist and Islamophobic views. His group also has ties to Reform UK and the far-right. Read the full story by Nichola Lashmar at Byline Times.
A whistleblower has accused UK Foreign Office officials of removing warnings of a “potential genocide” in Sudan from an assessment days after war began. They believe the decision may have been taken to protect the United Arab Emirates who are accused of arming the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. Read the full story by Mark Townsend at The Guardian.
Health
The number of nurses and midwives coming to the UK is “collapsing” with racism and immigration rule changes to blame. International staff are also leaving, and health organisations say these trends mean patients would face even longer wait times for treatment. Read the full story by Denis Campbell at The Guardian.
Tiktok star Bus Aunty has joined an urgent appeal for blood donations as vital stocks from Black heritage donors run “particularly low.” In London there are over 3,000 eligible Ro donors needed to help sickle cell patients who haven’t made an appointment in the past year. Read the full story by Melissa Sigodo for The Source.
Calls for a programme to screen all men for prostate cancer have been rejected and a group of experts say only men with “specific genetic mutations that lead to more aggressive tumours” should get checked. Currently, Black men have double the risk of getting the cancer but a national committee says there should be no screening for them due to “uncertainties” around the impact which is a result of a lack of clinical trials in Black men. Read the full story by James Gallagher at BBC.
A lack of interpreters contributed to the deaths of 48 children in England last year. Policy and advocacy manager for international charity Doctors of the World Valentina D’Orazio said that although NHS guidelines require surgeries and hospitals to provide interpretation services, “many providers are simply not aware of how to efficiently schedule an interpreter.” Read the full story by Weronika Strzyżyńska at Hyphen Online.
A woman suffering a painful sickle cell crisis says she was kicked out of her hospital room after staff questioned the timings of her next round of painkiller medication. Lowlah Dowadu says four security guards were called to her room and told her she had to leave despite there being “no commotion” and “no abuse.” Read the full story by Natalie Morris at The Lead.
A report into maternity care at Leeds Teaching Hospitals has found that Black and Asian mothers received poor care and that babies from Black and ethnic minority communities were more likely to be born prematurely and need admission to neonatal units. Read the full story by Don Mort at Yorkshire Post.
Windrush Scandal
A couple who were victims of the Windrush scandal have been told by the Home Office that the impact it had on their lives was ‘not profound’ to the extent it was ‘likely to be irreversible’ despite losing their home, being forced to leave the country and suffering severe health issues. Read the full story by Melissa Sigodo for The Source.
Crime
Police are investigating after a mosque was vandalised in Leicester. Police also believe a bus and a house which were also vandalised are all linked and were committed by a group of teenagers. Read the full story by Victoria Hicks and Matt Taylor at the BBC.
Policing
Four police officers are facing misconduct proceedings over their handling of abuse allegations reported by a woman who was later found dead in the boot of a car. The police watchdog said they “believe a police disciplinary panel could find the officers didn’t appropriately review the case, set investigative actions, seek supervisory advice, or keep Ms Brella sufficiently updated.” Read the full story by Kris Holland at BBC.
Missing people
The mum of a student who has been missing for over two weeks has made a direct appeal for him to come home. Aryan Sharma, 20, a Loughborough University student was last seen on CCTV at 00:30am on November 22. His mother says she would speak to her son everyday but it was after she didn’t hear from him for three days that she reported him missing. Read the full story by Emily Williamson and Sonia Kataria at BBC.
Education
A school Nativity play telling the story of six refugee children caught up in the Syrian conflict has been cancelled after teachers received racist abuse online with some calling the play “indoctrination.” Read the full story by Michelle Henderson at Press and Journal.
Hospitality
A family-run Guyanese restaurant Umana Yana in Herne Hill, London, is fighting to remain open after a 13-year battle to have five large telecom boxes removed from blocking their small shop which they say has hampered business. A petition was brough to Parliament however, six months on, there has not been an update. Read the full story by Evie Flynn at Southwark News.
World News
At least five people including two children have been killed after the Israeli army launched strikes on al-Mawasi in the southern Gaza Strip. Attacks on the area saw several tents housing displaced Palestinians burned. A ceasefire was agreed in October. Read the full story by Aljazeera. (Scroll down the liveblog on the site.)
An eight-year-old girl whose home was destroyed by Hurricane Melissa and is now destitute with her grandmother in Jamaica cannot come and join her mum in the UK after her visa application was rejected by the Home Office. Read the full story by Diane Taylor for The Guardian.
A Kenyan parliamentary report has accused British troops training in the country of decades of abuse including sexual abuse and killings following years of mounting complaints. Read the full story by Shola Lawal at Aljazeera.
Fighting between the M23 rebel group and government forces has resumed in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo leaving 23 people dead a day after United States President Donald Trump leaders in Washington to sign a peace deal. Both sides have blamed each other for violence. Read the full story by Aljazeera.