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This evening (4 September 2017) was spent at Poetry Society’s Poetry Cafe listening to contemporary Bengali-British poets. Thy were diverse from lyric to reflective to didactic. Those whose poetry seared the heart most were the women – reflecting attempts to negotiate the problematic through tenderness and intimacy only to have it thrown back in their face or torn from their heart…Salam Jones writes: ’So I promised my mother I would take care of her girls The day she died,…

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Prof Chris Imafidon’s home was in the shadow of Grenfell Towers so he experienced the events as they say ‘close to home’. A close friend of his died in  the fire. He believes the total number of fatalities (rumours on the ground suggest about 500) is being suppressed explicitly to prevent rioting. However I would suggest that this wording as used by senior civil servants and confirmed by David Lammy MP is code for something more brutal. Prof Imafidon…

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Steven Reiner and Anne Kruger, professor of Journalism at Stonybrook University School of Journalism, and Anne Kruger, lecturer Journalism and Media Studies Centre, University of Hong Kong have with others produced an online course on News Literacy They have focussed on the importance of news literacy and the critical role of journalists in respect to the importance of verification. However there is no sense of self awareness. There is no understanding of how the established news media has already…

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I went earlier today (25 June 2017) to visit Grenfell Tower site. This is far more chilling in reality than in the photographs. It has the impact of a large concrete grave. Even today that smell and sense of death lingers. I wandered over to the local Methodist Church where the flowers and tokens of remembrance are emotionally powerful. I was in Lagos when it started and felt a sense of horror. I had been in the past chair…

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As we come up to the General election in the UK it is crucially important that we identify some key issues. Theresa May has said that we are fighting for our values and she mentioned democracy and pluralism as key values. But she did not mention freedom of speech. History shows us that we loose our freedoms one at a time if we are not careful and that those who do not care for these values will seek to…

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