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Dominic Raab criticised for comments on BLM protesters taking the knee Foreign secretary said symbolic act ‘seems to be taken from Game of Thrones’Dominic Raab has prompted criticism and scorn after saying he views the symbolic Black Lives Matter action of taking the knee as “a symbol of subjugation and subordination”, and that it originated from the TV show Game of Thrones.In a sometimes eyebrow-raising exchange during a radio interview, the foreign secretary appeared not to know that the stance was popularised by US athletes, notably the American football player Colin Kaepernick, as a protest against racism and police brutality. Continue reading... Go to Source

California: half-brother of black man found hanged killed in police shooting Terron Boone killed in shootout in Rosamond WednesdayBody of Boone’s brother Robert Fuller found in park last week The half-brother of a black man found hanged in a southern California park was killed by Los Angeles county police. Related: Supreme court blocks Trump from cancelling Daca immigration program – follow live Continue reading... Go to Source

Barclays, HSBC and Lloyds among UK banks that had links to slavery Many bank directors received compensation after slavery was made illegal in 1833The slave trade was abolished in the British Empire in 1807 but it was not until 1833 that the Abolition of Slavery Act finally banned the ownership of other human beings. However, some 46,000 slave owners continued to benefit financially as the subsequent Slave Compensation Act provided for £20m in payments – a sum worth billions of pounds in 2020 terms. Despite the name of the act, the former slaves were not compensated.University College London’s Legacies of British slave ownership project shows that 10% to 20% of Britain’s wealthy can be identified as having had significant links to slavery. The amount of money bor...

Campaign doesn't end with Rhodes statue, says Oxford group Rhodes Must Fall in Oxford plan to ‘decolonise’ university – and target second figureThe campaign to bring down a statue of Cecil Rhodes at Oxford University has said the project to “decolonise” the institution should not end with the removal of the memorial to the Victorian imperialist.After the university’s Oriel College voted in favour of removing the controversial statue of Rhodes on Wednesday, the campaign group Rhodes Must Fall in Oxford called for the removal of a statue of the slave owner Christopher Codrington at All Souls College, and for increased representation of BAME students and staff. Continue reading... Go to Source

UK coronavirus live: Hancock says 'we backed both horses' as he defends contact tracing app News updates: UK official death toll rises by 135; Sturgeon announces key measures in lockdown easing; Stormont ditches 2-metre rule for schools from AugustGovernment to abandon contact-tracing app for Google and Apple modelsRaab: taking the knee ‘feels like symbol of subjugation’Crisis risks UK ‘lost generation’ of people about to retireTreasury blocks plan for private hospitals to tackle NHS backlogCoronavirus global updatesAll our coronavirus coverage 6.50pm BSTThat’s it from us on the UK side. If you’d like to continue following the Guardian’s coronavirus coverage, head over to the global live blog for the worldwide picture. Related: Coronavirus live...

Nurse claims Met police wrongfully arrested her because she is black Neomi Bennett’s legal complaint adds to calls for force to examine racism in its ranksWhen police officers stopped Neomi Bennett late at night, they did not know anything about her – including that she had been awarded a British Empire Medal for services to nursing, and invited to Downing Street in recognition of her work. In her opinion, they simply saw a black woman sitting in a car and asked her to get out to be searched.She said she was frightened and refused repeatedly to comply, demanding a female officer before she would leave the vehicle, video footage shows. After heated exchanges, male officers pulled Bennett out, arrested her and kept her in a cell for 18 hours, despite finding nothing incriminat...

Oxford college backs removal of Cecil Rhodes statue Oriel College launches independent commission to examine key issues around imperialist’s statueOxford University’s Oriel College has voted in favour of removing its statue of the Victorian imperialist Cecil Rhodes and will set up an independent inquiry into the key issues around it following a student-led campaign that began four years ago.The governing body of Oriel College meeting follows protests by the Rhodes Must Fall campaign outside the college over the past two weeks. The campaign, which started in 2015 but dwindled after students graduated, was reignited by the recent Black Lives Matter demonstrations across the UK, which included the dramatic toppling of a statue of the slave trader Edward Colston in Bristol. Cont...

Premier League rises to occasion with players taking a knee Teams kneel to support Black Lives Matter as football returnsTechnology failure denies Sheffield United a goal at Aston VillaIt did not take long to notice that something was different. The players of Aston Villa and Sheffield United, contesting the first English football fixture in 100 days, came out on to the pitch at staggered times and then stood in a physically distant line to listen, as the Premier League anthem echoed across empty stands.The teams then passed by each other without the traditional shake of hands and when the referee, Michael Oliver, blew his whistle for kick-off something else uncommon happened too: both teams and their coaching staff dropping to the ground to take a knee. This graceful, powerful action h...

Lloyd's of London and Greene King to make slave trade reparations Firms will provide money to benefit the BAME community and promote diversityTwo major British firms have pledged to make payments to representatives of black people, as well as those of other minority ethnic backgrounds, as they seek to address their founders’ roles in the trans-Atlantic slave trade.The pub chain and brewer Greene King and the insurance market Lloyd’s of London both revealed on Wednesday evening that they would be making the reparations. Continue reading... Go to Source

Government to fund private tutors for English schools Year-long programme aims to help pupils catch up on learning lost during Covid-19 pandemicCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageThe government is set to announce a year-long national tutoring programme aimed at helping pupils in England to catch up on lost learning as a result of school closures due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Guardian has learned.Under the plans, schools will be funded to hire private tutors from approved agencies to deliver one-to-one and small group lessons to pupils who have fallen behind with their studies after months out of school. Many have not accessed any remote learning throughout lockdown. Continue reading... Go to Source