Castro’s reign comes to an end

Read more at NY Times: here

Castro is stepping down with a plan in mind. He’s done so knowing that things will be handled as he would want them to be in his absence – he’s no fool. The fact that the trade embargo on Cuba will continue proves that the US believe this too…

Oh and I’m back in NY – I had a great time Down South, it’s given me the travel bug…

Are we targets of the month?

Perhaps it’s a conspiracy, I don’t know, or maybe I’m just letting my suspicions get the better of me, but it’s very coincidental that two Black individuals associated with organisations campaigning for Black equality have been riddled by allegations of fraud on both sides of the Atlantic.

Firstly, in the UK, the London Mayor’s leading race advisor Lee Jasper, the former director of the race equality organisation The 1990 Trust,  was accused of corruption. These claims have now been quashed….Read here: www.blink.org.uk

And now here in NY some of Rev Al Sharpton’s aides are being subpoenaed over allegations of fraud and over supposedly false declarations of money spent during Al Sharpton’s presidential nomination campaign in 2004. Apparently the FBI is investigating these claims. Read more here: www.nydailynews.com

As long as there are organisations campaigning for our right for equality we will always be opened to being targeted by those who wish to tear down these positive movements.

Why are immigrants under attack?

I’m not sure if you’ve notice but for the past two weeks it feels as though immigrants have been under attack and I say that meaning in many different ways. The news has been plagued with issues of overcrowding in Britain, immigrant workers taking “British jobs” (that people don’t want to do) and illegal immigrants. I’m sure the bloody far right British National Party (BNP) is loving all of this hysteria.

To top it off government figures reveal that the numbers of people attacked because of their race or religion is soaring.

Just going slightly off track, I remember earlier in the year I had an engineer come to my home to fix my boiler. It was a coincidence at the time but one of those deplorable day time talk shows was on television discussing immigration. The engineer clipped a bit of what was said and he started going on a rant about how Africans and Eastern Europeans are swindling the country out of social benefits. He actually said “People like you from the Caribbean have paid your dues”. It begs the question what the rest of the population thinks but then again perhaps I’ve already answered my question.

Should I feel lucky that I escaped his rant because my parents come from the Caribbean. And does he even realise that I was born here, it’s a stupid question really because what came out of his mouth is a sure sign that he would be ignorant of that fact.

Personally I believe that if people want to better themselves they should be able to move around freely wherever they want. My mother came to the UK as an immigrant from Barbados and I’m glad she had the choice to do so.

Stop free racist exposure…

Why are we giving individuals Like the undeniably racist scientist James Watson any exposure at all. It just fuels more tensions and gives free promotion to his undeserved book. (I shouldn’t even comment about it on here but it had to be said!!)

Instead we should be giving more exposure to the unveiling of Oliver Tambo’s sculpted bust in London, someone who was one of the leading anti-apartheid activists in South Africa!

It’s a weighty debate

I’m tired of government reports. They have this irritating way of implementing their favourite tagline – “these following recommendations should be taken”, but I always wonder whether anything actually becomes of these recommendations. And I do particularly find these reports a waste of government money especially when every year the same reports come out but just angled slightly differently.

Ok so the weight debate rears its head again and this time “a UK government study” claims that obesity is not the fault of people themselves but in fact the availability of cheap foods, Labour saving devices like the microwave and our inactive lifestyles, all said to be contributing factors. The study says that the government should be doing its utmost to stop Britain “sleepwalking” into a growing crisis.

With the fast paced lifestyles we lead I can see why it can be easy to adopt a lifestyle where we choose to eat meals that are readily available at the dial of a number.

But we are far from stupid, we certainly know whether the food we’re eating is good for us or not. The real issue is whether we care. I would say I eat pretty healthily but I can’t speak for others.

The number of healthy eating programmes made, particularly led by channel 4 with for example Jamie Oliver’s School Dinners were, I guess, supposed to shock kids and adults into eating healthier, but it hasn’t worked. Some parents actually rebelled by selling school children greasy chips and I’m sure many people have resorted back to the chicken nuggets made up of all the chicken leftovers.

So a lot of the blame should lie with parents who do need educating. The government can help but it is not solely their responsible because they can’t force people to do what they want (Although they may try).

The costs of obesity reached about £7bn in 2002 due to health care costs and loss of earnings because of health related problems. I’m not sure what the statistics are today but I’m sure it has increased.

I haven’t read the recommendations but I hear that the government plan to implement some kind of strategy to reduce the majority of those obese by 2050. Obesity is a problem for us all, let’s just hope it doesn’t escalate any further…

Britain’s immigration muddle

An interesting read…Comment is Free

Where are the Black models in fashion?

So the discussion has now moved from weight to race. It’s like at the turn of each season there is a new focus, wasn’t it age previously?

But seriously can you count the number of Black British models that you know of? Due to my little fashion knowledge I only know of Naomi Campbell. In America you’ve probably heard of Black models like Ajuma Nasanyana, Oluchi Onweagba and Selita Ebanks, Alek Wek (She used to live in London), Iman, Chanel Iman, and Liya Kebede – past and present.

Comparing the Black models in the UK to America you can see an actual difference in numbers. Black American models face the same struggles as those in the UK but I think they’ve managed to break through the many barriers still unbreakable in the UK, particularly with regards to modelling agencies – making it more apparent that racial discrimination is certainly rife in the UK fashion industry.

The next time you walk into a newsagent spend a minute scanning the covers of the magazines and you will barely see any Black models on the covers. In a way I believe through media we are manipulated into believing what fashion is, be it through magazines, television etc.

Dee Doocey the Lib Dem culture spokesperson on the London Assembly, who used to run a model agency, plans to hold a summit discussing discrimination in fashion (I’m not too sure what to make of that right now) and there is also going to be the Top Model of Colour Competition – Is positive discrimination the only way?

She’s spoken to agencies and many have openly admitted they consciously do not choose Black models. But I had to question Dee herself because I wonder if she’s ever looked inside her party because they don’t have one single ethnic minority MP.

The issue of the lack of Black models has been an ongoing debate, and at the moment it’s generated quite a bit of press – of course like most news it will eventually die down but I do hope that something comes out of the summit rather than it becoming only a talking point with no conclusion or action…

I’m rooting for the postal strikers!

These past couple of days I’ve missed the sight of seeing and opening the mail that lands on my floor each morning. But then I think it’s actually a good thing because I no longer see the sight of junk mail – the endless saving offers and credit card invites. The only things that haven’t stopped are the fast food flyers and the dodgy flyers asking people to donate their clothes to unknown charities. But in saying that my delight will soon come to an end once the strikes are over.

I’ve realised that I’ve formed an attachment to getting my post, I’m excited if I get a letter and disappointed when I don’t see anything. But since the strikes I’ve actually detached myself from any kind of feeling.

Yes the good news - the postal staff are due to return to work on Wednesday, but the bad news - I’ve heard that the postal workers union intends to have a week-long strike next week, making this one of the worst postal strikes I’ve seen. So my question as to when the strike actually ends is anybody’s guess.

The solution to the problem: give them what they want – they’re the ones who get up early in the morning, sort post and get it to homes the next day. The main cause for the strike – postal staff are working excessive hours and are not getting paid for it. If I started work at 6am in the morning and did a full day’s work I would expect to get paid for all of it.