Spring, it seems, is late in London. And it is a violent and horrifying one. Unlike the Arab spring in Egypt, Libya and Syria, it has not united citizens in anger against oppression and corruption but divided Britain and is suggestive of more division, violence and bitterness to come rather than a hoped for flowering [...]
A playhouse in south London is showcasing three plays highlighting the complex relationship between Africans born in the UK and those back home From the beginning of May until the middle of July, Oval House Theatre in Kennington, south London will be celebrating the plays by British playwrights of Nigerian ancestry. The project has been [...]
Hector Reginald Sylvanus Boltman is the last surviving ‘Founding Father’ of Sierra Leone. In 1960 he attended a conference at Lancaster House to determine constitutional changes that would move Sierra Leone away from colonial rule and toward independence. The fateful series of discussions ultimately led to Sierra Leone’s independence exactly one year later. Twenty four [...]
The UK government continued to licence significant amounts of arms for export to Libya till the end of 2010 according to Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT). The figures are contained in the 2010 fourth quarter report listings in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s Strategic Export Control Reports. The figures reveal licences were approved for military [...]
As independence approached in 1961 Ron Fennell was a young British colonial servant working in Sierra Leone. He, and his wife Liz, knew the country well having served in several districts and provincial capitals – Moyamba, Pujehun, Bo, Kenema, Kono, Kailahun and Makeni, and he was fluent in two of Sierra Leone’s main languages – [...]
‘Tough economic times… call for tough choices. But we will not balance our books on the backs of the poor’ says Andrew Mitchell, UK’s Secretary of State for the Department International Development (DfID). This comes as Britain decides to increase development aid to five countries in Africa, including Ethiopia, Nigeria, and the Democratic Republic of [...]
As part of the commitment made by the British and South African governments during President Jacob Zuma’s state visit to the UK last year to double trade between their respective countries, a British trade mission is visiting South Africa this month. The UK is in South Africa’s ‘Premier League’ of trading partners with an annual [...]
