I am pleased that Canadian playwright, Judith Thompson, won the 2009 Amnesty International Freedom of Expression Award for her political play Palace of the End. This post is perhaps premature, as I haven’t read the play yet, but this...

The recent evictions of Romanians from a house in South Belfast should be considered a political matter concerning civil and socio-economic rights, rather than as a purely private dispute between individuals. Commenting on the latest...

Some good news: I’ve just heard that Hicham Yezza has been freed from prison. Hicham, a member of staff in the Faculty of Modern Languages at Nottingham University, was arrested under the Terrorism Act 2000 on 14 May 2008. As reported...

The Immigration Minister’s failure to engage with genuine criticisms of new immigration controls betrays his appeasement of the far right minority and constitutes a failure for freedom of expression, cultural association and freedom of...

The recent racist attacks against migrant workers have turned my stomach. But two things have shocked me more than the attacks themselves. The first shock was the police tactics in dealing with this crisis. The Romanians have...

NEW IMMIGRATION DETENTION EMERGENCY HELPLINE The Refugee Action Group (RAG) is pleased to announce the launch of its out-of-hours Immigration Detention Emergency Helpline which goes live on 15 June 2009. RAG aims to be an independent...

Do you want to support refugees and other immigrants? Can you be on call for one night per week from 5 PM until 9 AM? If so, then you could be a Refugee Action Group (RAG) helpline volunteer. The Refugee Action Group (RAG) is setting...

Radio Ulster responded to messages from the Refugee Action Group and ran a piece about the UK Border Agency's St Patrick's Day enforcement operations on 'Good Morning Ulster' this morning. You can listen to it online here (just scroll...

I wouldn't normally copy-and-paste a press release without commentary as it's a rather lazy form of blogging, but in this case, it's an urgent press release: all in London should turn up at the court to show support. Good on veteran...

Tony Blair famously said that Guantanamo bay is ‘ an anomaly’ . House of Lords Law Lord, Lord Steyn, called Guantanamo Bay a ‘ legal black hole ’. Both these descriptions would help us believe that, if carried out, Obama’s pledges to...

Go to youtube url here . Enjoy! This inspiring video feeds my new year's hopes for an end to immigration control. Reggae superstar, Tiken Jah Fakoly, singing here, was featured in the documentary film, 'An Independent Mind', directed...