Migration Matters

Independent evaluation of 'Right to Rent' pilot

The government’s plan to make landlords responsible for checking the immigration status of prospective tenants will result in discrimination against anyone who “appears” foreign, says an independent evaluation by The Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI). A trial of the “Right to Rent” scheme in the West Midlands ran from December 2014 to May 2015 and Prime Minister David Cameron said the scheme would not be rolled out nationally until MPs had a chance to discuss it. But in the Queen’s speech in May 2015 it was announced that the…

The government’s plan to make landlords responsible for checking the immigration status of prospective tenants will result in discrimination against anyone who “appears” foreign, says an independent evaluation by The Joint Council…

The moment history turned

The Fifth Pan-African Congress is a quiet, unobtrusive London exhibition that relatively few people will bother to see, but a visit reveals hidden delights. The 1945 meeting in Manchester was historic – a year that US civil rights activist described as “decisive… in determining the freedom of Africa”; coming after the Second World War, which colonial troops helped win, but before independence movements caught fire; and at which some of the 87 participants (such as Ghana’s Kwame Nkrumah and Kenya’s Jomo Kenyatta) went on to become national and global leaders.…

The Fifth Pan-African Congress is a quiet, unobtrusive London exhibition that relatively few people will bother to see, but a visit reveals hidden delights. The 1945 meeting in Manchester was…

New Report: Young Chinese in London

The report 'Young Chinese Migrants in London', which brings new perspectives to our understanding of young Chinese people living in Britain was launched on 10 June in the House of Lords. In a three-year-study, the report's author, Professor Caroline Knowles of Goldsmiths, University of London, took a close look at Chinese migrants in London, in an attempt to draw a more accurate picture of the Chinese community today, to help policy-makers and the wider public better understand this ethnic minority group. The report mainly focuses on young Chinese migrants (aged…

The report 'Young Chinese Migrants in London', which brings new perspectives to our understanding of young Chinese people living in Britain was launched on 10 June in the House of…

Britain's first Huguenot museum

The Huguenot Museum is set to hold a special event in the afternoon of Monday 13th July in celebration of the opening of the UK’s first museum of Huguenot history back in May. The museum, which has undertaken a £1.5million development project, is based in Rochester, Kent. The Huguenots were French Protestants who fled to non-Catholic parts of Europe to escape persecution from the monarchy, who perceived the religious group to be a threat to monarchic authority. The South-East of England became home to one of many settlements founded by…

The Huguenot Museum is set to hold a special event in the afternoon of Monday 13th July in celebration of the opening of the UK’s first museum of Huguenot history…

Take part in the poster campaign

‘I am an immigrant’ is a poster campaign to celebrate immigration as part of the fabric of British society. Posters of immigrants are now on display at 400 London Tube stations and 550 railway stations nationwide. The campaign is designed ‘to challenge the negative rhetoric against immigrants, celebrate them and provide them with a platform to share their story’. Now other immigrants are invited to share their experiences and contributions to the society through a website. If you are an immigrant, you can upload photos and stories to create your…

‘I am an immigrant’ is a poster campaign to celebrate immigration as part of the fabric of British society. Posters of immigrants are now on display at 400 London Tube…

Lampedusa: a punch in the face for a disgraceful migration policy?

“Of all the disgraceful things that European countries are responsible for, this is the most disgraceful, “ says activist playwright Anders Lustgarten of the drowning of hundreds of migrants trying to reach the southernmost Italian island of Lampedusa. “How can you allow thousands of people to drown, and do nothing about that? How can you be aware of it and have no policy?” “It’s extreme laissez faire-ism … if they make it, you send them back. The ones that don’t make it – well, they shouldn’t have taken the risk…

“Of all the disgraceful things that European countries are responsible for, this is the most disgraceful, “ says activist playwright Anders Lustgarten of the drowning of hundreds of migrants trying…

challenge the standard narrative about immigration

A woman stands behind a register amongst shelves of soaps, creams, and other various goods. She wears a black shirt, a fashionable black hat, and gold hoop earrings. Standing straight, hands folded on top of the counter, slightly leaning forward, head angled away but eyes looking right at you, she seems confident but wary. She seems patient, maybe waiting, perhaps for her next customer, perhaps for her shift to end. Behind her, flyers hang on the window, some advertising films, one featuring a phone company that allows calls to Nigeria.…

A woman stands behind a register amongst shelves of soaps, creams, and other various goods. She wears a black shirt, a fashionable black hat, and gold hoop earrings. Standing straight,…

to be a British Asian, African or Arab actor.

With the opening of Dara, the National Theatre has two productions set in Asia – and another has just finished. Set in 17th century Mughal India, Dara is about a battle for succession by two brothers. It’s “an intense domestic drama of global consequence – for India then and for our world now.” The play joins Behind The Beautiful Forevers, another all-Asian story, but this time contemporary: it focuses on a group of rubbish sorters in a Mumbai shantytown. They follow hard on the heels of Here Lies Love, a…

With the opening of Dara, the National Theatre has two productions set in Asia – and another has just finished. Set in 17th century Mughal India, Dara is about a…

Landlord immigration checks

From 1st December 2014, landlords in the ‘pilot' areas, Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Dudley, Sandwell and Walsall will need to check the immigration status of tenants, sub-tenants and lodgers, entering into new tenancies, who are aged over 18 and pay for their accommodation, to assess whether they have the right to rent in the UK. This means that they must have current leave to be in the UK. The ‘pilot' is due to run for six months until May 2015, after which it will be evaluated by an Advisory Panel set up…

From 1st December 2014, landlords in the ‘pilot' areas, Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Dudley, Sandwell and Walsall will need to check the immigration status of tenants, sub-tenants and lodgers, entering into new…

A good Upper Cut but no knock-out

In February, The Tricycle presents Multitudes, in which Kash, a liberal Muslim, prepares his address to politicians about the state of the nation while his girlfriend Natalie, a recent convert to Islam, cooks for anti-war protesters at the town hall. Young British Asian playwright Vinay Patel's True Brits is about being British of Asian descent, and ranges between the paranoid London of 2005 and the euphoric city of the 2012 Olympics. In March at The Albany, Black goes to the heart of racial tensions in the UK in response to the arrival of a Zimbabwean family.…

In February, The Tricycle presents Multitudes, in which Kash, a liberal Muslim, prepares his address to politicians about the state of the nation while his girlfriend Natalie, a recent convert to Islam,…

Migration Matters