Early in a life of service, LaFayette did the risky groundwork for the voter registration campaign in Selma, Alabama
Bernard LaFayette, the advance man who did the risky groundwork for the voter registration campaign in Selma, Alabama, that culminated in the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, has died.
Bernard LaFayette III said his father died Thursday morning of a heart attack. He was 85.
Continue reading...Nigel Farage’s recent efforts to woo centre-ground voters may cause tension in party’s right flank, says Hope Not Hate
More than half of Reform UK members believe non-white British citizens born abroad should be deported or encouraged to leave, according to the first publicly available poll of those in Nigel Farage’s party.
The findings come as the Reform leader attempts to court centre-ground voters while facing pressure from his right flank, including a hardline new party launched by Rupert Lowe, who left Reform after falling out with Farage.
Continue reading...Lindo speaks out after man with Tourette syndrome shouted slur while actor was on stage with Michael B Jordan
British-American actor Delroy Lindo expressed gratitude for “the support and love” he and Michael B Jordan have received after a man with Tourette syndrome (TS) shouted the N-word as the two men presented a Bafta award.
“We appreciate all the support and love that we have been shown,” Lindo – who, like Jordan, is Black – said on stage at the annual NAACP Image awards in Los Angeles. He called it “a classic case of something that could be very negative becoming very positive”.
Continue reading...Three people are accused of belonging to the Base, an ‘accelerationist’ white power organisation founded in the US
Police in Spain have arrested three people on suspicion of belonging to the Base, a global neo-Nazi terrorist group that incites and trains members in techniques to overthrow governments and bring about a race war.
The group, which has been designated a terrorist organisation by the EU, the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, is part of a worldwide “accelerationist” white power movement that prepares its cells to carry out violent and destabilising attacks.
Continue reading...Rightwing activist claimed Commons deputy speaker Nusrat Ghani should be barred because she was born in Pakistan
GB News is facing calls to cut ties with a regular contributor who has been accused of racism after claiming that the House of Commons deputy speaker, Nusrat Ghani, should not be allowed in the house because she was born in Pakistan.
The comments by Lucy White, a rightwing activist, have drawn criticism from across the political spectrum amid warnings that explicitly racist language is becoming increasingly normalised in British life.
Continue reading...Higher education regulator investigates Catholic institute after comments by academics, including endorsing the White Australia policy
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An influential Catholic college in Sydney is under investigation by the higher education regulator over a series of comments made by two of its prominent academics supporting the White Australia policy and calling for Anglo-Celtic Australians and Europeans to become a “supermajority” in the country.
The federal education minister, Jason Clare, said the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (Teqsa) was “undertaking a compliance process” with Campion College in relation to a number of comments made by Stephen McInerney, a dean of studies, and Associate Prof Stephen Chavura, a senior lecturer.
Continue reading...The Guardian spoke to more than a dozen contemporaries of Farage at Dulwich college, a public school in south London
Healey is now taking questions.
Q: How close are are we to war?
It is Labour that is the party of defence.
Continue reading...Health secretary says he is not comfortable with some elements of policy but that it is the right thing to do for the country
Wes Streeting has admitted he is not comfortable with forcibly deporting families under the home secretary’s migration plans, while maintaining it is still the right thing to do.
The health secretary said he thought the number of forced removals would be low under the proposed model, which is similar to Denmark’s, because there would be an increased financial incentive for people entering the UK illegally to return to their country of origin.
Continue reading...Labour MP calls government’s asylum plans ‘dystopian’ as home secretary announces measures in Commons
Momentum, the leftwing Labour group, has also denounced the government’s asylum plans. In a statement it says:
The home secretary’s new immigration plans are divisive and xenophobic.
Scapegoating migrants will not fix our public services or end austerity.
Draconian, unworkable and potentially illegal anti-asylum policies only feed Reform’s support.
The government has learnt nothing from the period since the general election.
Some of the legal changes being proposed are truly frightening:
Abolishing the right to a family life would ultimately affect many more people than asylum-seekers.
Continue reading...Black and Asian staff left feeling ‘deliberately intimidated’, according to chief executive of one NHS trust
NHS staff who care for patients in their own homes fear some areas have become “no-go zones” for them because of the presence of St George’s flags, health leaders have said.
Black and Asian staff have been left feeling “deliberately intimidated” as a result of the flags that were put up in many parts of England during the summer, according to the chief executive of one NHS trust in England, who asked to remain anonymous.
Continue reading...Footage of online meeting showed Kent county council leader remonstrating with councillors
Earlier I pointed out that, in his Today interview this morning, the Reform MP Danny Kruger was strangely reticent when it came to explaining why the size of the civil service has grown so much in recent years. (See 11.09am.)
In his speech this morning Kruger was a bit more forthcoming. He said:
Let me be very clear. The growth of the civil service will be reversed. After falling in the wake of the global financial crisis, the headcount of the civil service rose again after Brexit – shame on the Tories – and it passed 500,000 in 2023.
Nothing works properly. It’s impossible to build anything. The streets are dirty and unsafe. Taxes and prices are far too high. Immigration is changing our country for the worse and far too fast. And we’re becoming poor, sick and unhappy. There is a malaise over Britain.
These problems are complex. But the effective cause of them is simple. Since 1997 we have had governments that, firstly don’t share the attitude of the country they govern, and secondly, they aren’t properly in charge of the state.
This announcement only reinforces climate policy as a dividing line in our politics, rather than being the unifying issue it once was.
And, for the Conservative party, it risks chasing votes from Reform at the expense of the wider electorate.
By undermining the judiciary we further erode public trust in the institutions of our democracy and therefore in democracy itself.
So I say to those seeking to villainise a judiciary that cannot easily answer back, who wilfully discredit our legal system for their own expediency – it’s time to show responsible leadership.
This is not just about short-term decisions to make it easier to deal with public concerns about immigration.
Our support for human rights has its origin in Magna Carta. How we deal with issues of human rights is fundamental to our ability to deal with autocracies and dictatorships.
In the world of power where the club of strong men want to carve the world up in their own interests, populism and polarisation are enablers.
And those politicians in the Western world who use populism and polarisation for their own short-term political ends risk handing a victory to our enemies.
Continue reading...Royal College of Nursing calls on government to stop using anti-migrant rhetoric, which it says emboldens racist behaviour
The number of reports by nurses of racist incidents at work has risen by 55% over three years, according to analysis by the nursing union.
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) expects to receive more than 1,000 calls this year from nurses seeking advice and support after racist incidents in the workplace, compared with almost 700 cases in 2022.
Continue reading...Health secretary hardens Labour line after Sarah Pochin said advertising ‘doesn’t reflect our society’
Wes Streeting has accused the Reform UK MP Sarah Pochin of making racist remarks after she said seeing adverts full of black and Asian people “drives her mad”.
The health secretary said Pochin was “only sorry she’s been caught and called out”, adding she had “said the quiet bit loud”, as he warned of a return to “1970s, 1980s-style racism”.
Continue reading...Notable majority feel the country is headed in the wrong direction, and only 27% approve of his job performance
Donald Trump’s standing with Hispanic adults has dropped notably since he took office at the start of the year, according to a new poll.
Polling by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research suggests growing unease among a voting bloc that was crucial to his 2024 re-election victory. The October survey shows that 25% of Hispanic adults now hold a “somewhat” or “very” favorable view of Trump, down sharply from 44% in an AP-NORC poll conducted just before he began his second term.
Continue reading...Director general says it is inappropriate for a journalist who may be covering that issue ‘to be campaigning in that way’
BBC journalists cannot wear T-shirts in the newsroom supporting the anti-racist movement Black Lives Matter, the corporation’s director general Tim Davie has said.
Davie said the BBC stood against racism but it was “not appropriate for a journalist who may be covering that issue to be campaigning in that way.
Continue reading...State senator Samuel Douglass, 26, and wife, Brianna, both made comments in Young Republicans Telegram group
A Vermont state lawmaker has resigned over racist and antisemitic chat messages that circulated within the Young Republican political group, another substantial consequence in a scandal that on Friday saw the New York state Young Republicans’ charter revoked.
State senator Samuel Douglass, the only elected official known to have taken part in the leaked group chat exposed by Politico, resigned Friday over his participation.
Continue reading...A message of neighbourly solidarity is thriving in Birmingham against a backdrop of racist intimidation
When Mus unfurled the leaflet lying on her driveway, she was left shocked, angry and upset. “White Britons are already a minority in London … it is clear that if these trends continue white people will become a minority in Britain,” it read.
The leaflet, written by a far-right group, was distributed along her street three years ago in Moseley, a leafy suburb of Birmingham. It went on to blame NHS waiting lists, a shortage of social housing and even traffic on “the rising population”.
Continue reading...Shadow chancellor distances himself from words after Robert Jenrick accused of racism in comments he made about Handsworth
Asked about the Jenrick story, Badenoch again suggests Guardian reporting is reliable.
Q: Jenrick was making a distinction between white faces and brown faces.
Continue reading...Commissioner Mark Rowley says prejudice has ‘put down deep roots’ within force after BBC Panorama investigation
Metropolitan police officers have been recorded calling for immigrants to be shot, bragging about excessive force, being dismissive about a rape complaint and making anti-Muslim and anti-women comments.
The BBC Panorama programme followed seven months of undercover filming at Charing Cross police station.
Continue reading...Mayor of Greater Manchester says he would have to be ‘wrenched’ out of city and says he wants UK to rejoin EU. This live blog is closed
In her Today interview Rachel Reeves was asked about a FT report saying she will urge business leaders to highlight the risks of a Reform UK government in her speech later.
The FT say Reeves will tell the Labour conference.
Who is standing up for Britain’s stability. A Labour government that is resolute in cutting interest rates and borrowing or a Reform party that cheered on Liz Truss’ mini-budget?
Who is standing up for Britain’s businesses? A Labour government that is forging a closer relationship with our nearest trading partners or a Reform party that talks Britain down and is hungry to cut us off from the world?
Continue reading...