Business

A father & son from Peckham, London, known for serving homemade Flake Blake Jamaican patties to the local community, will now have their food sold in over 1000 Aldi stores after winning a Channel 4 competition. Full story

The Thread

Policing

A Black man was pepper sprayed & struck ‘while being restrained’ by North Yorkshire Police. The police watchdog says it is now investigating 2 police officers after the man was left needing hospital treatment. Full story

The Thread

Police waited until the next morning to respond to 2 calls made before a 27yo woman, Kamonnan Thiamphanit, known to her friends as Angela was found stabbed to death. They’ve now referred themselves to the police watchdog. Full story

The Thread

The National Black Police Association has accused chief constables of “gaslighting” Black officers, deliberately “dividing” Black, Asian & minority ethnic staff and ignoring the National Race Action Plan. Full story

The Thread

The Met Police has been accused of ‘giving up the search’ for an arson attacker in Walthamstow who killed an Asian woman and her three children in 1981, in what residents believed was a racist hate attack. They now face calls to restart the inquiry. Full story

The Thread

A student who called police after her then-boyfriend threatened to put photos of her online, was allegedly later raped by the officer who had attended. Afterwards he talked about her ex-boyfriend saying ‘you are a brown person, no-one will listen’, a court has heard. Full story

The Thread

Health

Black women in England are up to 6 times more likely than white women to experience some of the most serious birth complications, some which can kill the mother and child. Full story

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A man who waited a year before he was finally diagnosed with prostate cancer has called on health services to better understand Black people’s experiences as patients. Full story

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A woman died when private healthcare provider Spire Healthcare failed to transfer her to NHS intensive care for several hours. Nafisa Khan had been told it would be quicker for the NHS to pay for her to receive her routine gallbladder operation privately. Full story

The Thread

The family of 12-year-old girl who had sickle cell & died from a stroke after Manchester Children's Hospital delayed giving her a scan for 3-days have been told by a coroner that the failings only ‘minimally contributed to her death.’ Full story

The Thread

A 105-year-old woman has credited her long life to having 3 glasses of red wine a week & drinking the water from boiled Jamaican Yam & Sweet Potato. Her family says her ‘strong religious background has helped to keep her mentally alert & full of energy.’ Full story

The Thread

Charity

An 11-year-old girl who has published her 4th book has pledged to give the proceeds to charities helping to end homelessness in Croydon. Sarah Kittoe says her ‘mission is supporting the vulnerable in our society’ through the money raised from her books. Full story

The Thread

Samaria Ayanle, 19, a student at SOAS was found dead in the River Thames after going missing. A GoFundMe has now been launched by her friends to help her family with the ‘unexpected funeral expenses’ & to support them during this time. Full story

The Thread

News

The Thread's first issue

Hi, I'm Melissa. You might know me as a journalist or for my weekly thread or Spaces on X (formerly known as Twitter), where I highlight important stories from Black, Asian and Arab communities in the UK.

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Here's the latest thread.

Melissa Sigodo

Entertainment

Nearly 900 Black actors have signed a letter following the racism aimed at Romeo & Juliet actress Francesca Amewudah-Rivers saying, ‘Reporting [racism] is too often left on the shoulders of the abused, who are also then expected to promote said show.’ Full story

The Thread

Politics

Muslim doctors in the UK say they are being ‘unfairly censored when expressing concerns about the humanitarian situation in Gaza.’ Full story

The Thread

A Labour Party candidate in Scotland, Wilma Brown who liked a social media post that told an Indian man he would “never be an Englishman”, & another calling Scotland’s first minister, Humza Yousaf, the “first minister of Gaza” has been suspended. Full story

The Thread

A community rally is being held calling for MP Diane Abbott to be reinstated to the Labour Party. Diane Abbott had been suspended following a letter she wrote about racism to where she said, "It is true that many types of white people with points of difference, such as redheads, can experience this prejudice. But they are not all their lives subject to racism."

The Thread

Crime

A mum was repeatedly hit in the face & had her hijab grabbed while leaving a shop in Stoke Newington high street with her 3 kids in what police are treating as a hate crime. Police have released an image of a woman they would like to speak to. Full story

The Thread

A computer programmer, Callum Ulysses Parslow, 31, appeared in court charged with attempted murder after an alleged far-right terrorist attack where he allegedly stabbed an Eritrean asylum seeker twice in the chest at a hotel near Worcester. Full story

The Thread

Women

A mum who struggled to afford period pads has helped close to 20,000 women & girls by providing free menstrual products through her charity Flow Happy. She hopes to help end period poverty as 1 in 10 girls in the UK can’t afford these basic necessities. Full story

The Thread

World News

Royal artefacts looted from Ghana's Asante Kingdom are being ‘returned’ back on a 3-year loan to the ruler of the Ashanti people. The British Museum and the Victoria & Albert Museum will not be handing them back permanently. Full story

The Thread