'It's our duty to make Blackburn more cohesive'
Some parts of the town including Higher Croft and Mill Hill are only lived in by white residents and other areas including Audley and Whalley Range are almost entirely Asian communities.At least 35% of people in Blackburn told the 2021 census they were from an Asian background.
Phil Riley, leader of Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council, said while the town may be "physically segregated" he believes there are plenty of examples of cohesion.He said one example is Ms Afzal's cycling group, which is run by volunteers.The women-lead club regularly meet in Witton Country Park and its leaders have said it has helped introduce hundreds of people from different backgrounds. Ms Afzal wants to create an inclusive environment for Blackburn communities and said everyone is welcome to attend.
"There are women here who normally wouldn't have met someone from a different background to themselves," she said."Their day-to-day lives do not lend themselves to be going out and meeting different people."Cohesion is something we all have to work at, it shouldn't be a project but sometimes these projects can be the catalyst for more inclusion."
Club member Hamida Jogee said the group has helped her and others be more comfortable with each other. She said: "Some of the ladies in our community don't actually go out of their comfort zone, so when they have joined us they have bloomed."Fellow member Ruth Watton said no conversation was out of bounds.She said: "I think in this chaotic world we have to have compassion and sympathy for each other and this is where it starts."
Listen to the best of BBC Radio Lancashire on Sounds and follow BBC Lancashire on Facebook, X and Instagram and watch BBC North West Tonight on BBC iPlayer.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Rhyl Journal
a day ago
- Rhyl Journal
Hong Kong court begins hearing final arguments in Jimmy Lai's security trial
Mr Lai, 77, was arrested in 2020 under a national security law imposed by Beijing following anti-government protests in 2019. He is being tried on charges of colluding with foreign forces to endanger national security and conspiring with others to issue seditious publications. Mr Lai founded Apple Daily, one of the local media outlets that was most critical of Hong Kong's government. His high-profile case that has stretched nearly 150 days, far beyond the original estimate of 80 days, is widely seen as a trial of press freedom and a test for judicial independence in the Asian financial hub. It is unclear when a verdict will be delivered. Prosecutor Anthony Chau on Monday discussed the security law concerning the collusion charges, arguing the request to impose sanctions must also include officials and not only states. He planned to lay out other principle issues in the afternoon and make his closing statement Tuesday. Earlier, prosecutors alleged Mr Lai asked foreign countries, especially the United States, to take actions against Beijing 'under the guise of fighting for freedom and democracy'. On the first day of his testimony, Mr Lai denied he had asked then-vice president Mike Pence and then-secretary of state Mike Pompeo to take action against Hong Kong and China during the 2019 protests. When Mr Lai's lawyer questioned him about an Apple Daily report saying he had asked the US government to sanction Beijing and Hong Kong leaders, he said he must have discussed it with Mr Pompeo, as he had no reason to doubt the accuracy of the report by the now-defunct newspaper he founded. But Mr Lai said he would not have encouraged foreign sanctions after the national security law was enacted on June 30, 2020. Closing arguments have been delayed twice, first due to weather then to concerns over Mr Lai's health. On Friday, his lawyer, Robert Pang, said Mr Lai had experienced heart palpitations while in prison. The judges wanted him to secure a heart monitor and medication first. After Friday's hearing, the Hong Kong government alleged foreign media outlets had attempted to mislead the public about Mr Lai's medical care. It said a medical examination of Mr Lai found no abnormalities and that the medical care he received in custody was adequate. When Mr Lai entered the courtroom, he waved and smiled to those sitting in the public gallery and briefly instructed his legal team in a voice audible to public attendees. He closed his eyes at times when the prosecution laid out its legal arguments. The heart monitor was delivered to Mr Lai and he had no complaints about his health, Mr Chau said. Mr Lai's years-long detention in solidarity confinement has drawn concerns from foreign governments and rights groups. US president Donald Trump, before being elected to his second term in November, said he would talk to Chinese leader Xi Jinping to seek Mr Lai's release: 'I will get him out.' In a Fox News radio interview in August, Mr Trump denied saying he would save Mr Lai, but rather that he would bring the issue up. 'I've already brought it up, and I'm going to do everything I can to save him,' he said. China has accused Mr Lai of stirring a rise in anti-China sentiments in Hong Kong and said it firmly opposes the interference of other countries in its internal affairs. Dozens of people waited in the rain on Monday for a seat in the main courtroom to see Mr Lai. Former Apple Daily reader Susan Li said she worried about Mr Lai's health as he looked visibly thinner and she would continue to pray for him. 'I wanted to let him know we are still here,' she said. When Hong Kong, a former British colony, returned to China in 1997, Beijing promised to retain the city's civil liberties for 50 years. But critics say the promise has become threadbare after the introduction of the security law, which Chinese and Hong Kong authorities insist was necessary for the city's stability.
South Wales Guardian
a day ago
- South Wales Guardian
Hong Kong court begins hearing final arguments in Jimmy Lai's security trial
Mr Lai, 77, was arrested in 2020 under a national security law imposed by Beijing following anti-government protests in 2019. He is being tried on charges of colluding with foreign forces to endanger national security and conspiring with others to issue seditious publications. Mr Lai founded Apple Daily, one of the local media outlets that was most critical of Hong Kong's government. His high-profile case that has stretched nearly 150 days, far beyond the original estimate of 80 days, is widely seen as a trial of press freedom and a test for judicial independence in the Asian financial hub. It is unclear when a verdict will be delivered. Prosecutor Anthony Chau on Monday discussed the security law concerning the collusion charges, arguing the request to impose sanctions must also include officials and not only states. He planned to lay out other principle issues in the afternoon and make his closing statement Tuesday. Earlier, prosecutors alleged Mr Lai asked foreign countries, especially the United States, to take actions against Beijing 'under the guise of fighting for freedom and democracy'. On the first day of his testimony, Mr Lai denied he had asked then-vice president Mike Pence and then-secretary of state Mike Pompeo to take action against Hong Kong and China during the 2019 protests. When Mr Lai's lawyer questioned him about an Apple Daily report saying he had asked the US government to sanction Beijing and Hong Kong leaders, he said he must have discussed it with Mr Pompeo, as he had no reason to doubt the accuracy of the report by the now-defunct newspaper he founded. But Mr Lai said he would not have encouraged foreign sanctions after the national security law was enacted on June 30, 2020. Closing arguments have been delayed twice, first due to weather then to concerns over Mr Lai's health. On Friday, his lawyer, Robert Pang, said Mr Lai had experienced heart palpitations while in prison. The judges wanted him to secure a heart monitor and medication first. After Friday's hearing, the Hong Kong government alleged foreign media outlets had attempted to mislead the public about Mr Lai's medical care. It said a medical examination of Mr Lai found no abnormalities and that the medical care he received in custody was adequate. When Mr Lai entered the courtroom, he waved and smiled to those sitting in the public gallery and briefly instructed his legal team in a voice audible to public attendees. He closed his eyes at times when the prosecution laid out its legal arguments. The heart monitor was delivered to Mr Lai and he had no complaints about his health, Mr Chau said. Mr Lai's years-long detention in solidarity confinement has drawn concerns from foreign governments and rights groups. US president Donald Trump, before being elected to his second term in November, said he would talk to Chinese leader Xi Jinping to seek Mr Lai's release: 'I will get him out.' In a Fox News radio interview in August, Mr Trump denied saying he would save Mr Lai, but rather that he would bring the issue up. 'I've already brought it up, and I'm going to do everything I can to save him,' he said. China has accused Mr Lai of stirring a rise in anti-China sentiments in Hong Kong and said it firmly opposes the interference of other countries in its internal affairs. Dozens of people waited in the rain on Monday for a seat in the main courtroom to see Mr Lai. Former Apple Daily reader Susan Li said she worried about Mr Lai's health as he looked visibly thinner and she would continue to pray for him. 'I wanted to let him know we are still here,' she said. When Hong Kong, a former British colony, returned to China in 1997, Beijing promised to retain the city's civil liberties for 50 years. But critics say the promise has become threadbare after the introduction of the security law, which Chinese and Hong Kong authorities insist was necessary for the city's stability.
Daily Mirror
a day ago
- Daily Mirror
'Nigel Farage is right - there IS two-tier justice. White people can get away with it'
Nigel Farage has called for police to release the ethnicity of suspects. Fleet Street Fox says one look at the statistics shows minorities get the rough end of the justice system If ever you needed proof that Nigel Farage is on a one-man mission to raise the nation's blood pressure over the embolism threshold, then his call to release the ethnicity of criminal suspects must surely fit the bill. If you really believe there's a two-tier justice system in which people get let off, or worse encouraged in criminality, then you'll pop a gasket just by his question appearing to confirm it. And if you suspect it's a finely-tuned dog-whistle more likely to jerk the nation's knee than a kick in the scrotum, you'll spit tacks that police have been advised to do as he asks. And if you've actually worked in the justice system, you may know that Michael Weston King's opinion on the matter got less attention than Nigel's, but was a damned sight more accurate. The grandfather of Bebe King, murdered in Southport at a summer dance school in a triple murder which sparked Far Right riots and misinformation, said: "The ethnicity of any perpetrator, or indeed their immigration status, is completely irrelevant. Mental health issues, and the propensity to commit crime, happens in any ethnicity, nationality or race." He pointed out the failures of education and social care which enabled the murders to take place, and he could have said the same about the vast majority of people who were attracted to those riots like moths to a flame. When angry white people were arrested in their hundreds at the direct instruction of the Prime Minister, they claimed to be victims of 'two-tier Keir'. In fact, the evidence shows they are the beneficiaries of a justice system stacked in their favour. If the justice system were entirely fair, 84% of suspects, arrests and convictions would be white. Instead at every stage the proportion of white suspects is lower, and the number of ethnic minorities is greater. To Nigel, and any passing eugenicist, this is because people of colour are pre-destined to criminality. And perhaps they are, in a way. For a third of teenage murder victims are black, compared to the 13% who are white. Between 2018 and 2022, white defendants served an average sentence of 21 months in jail, compared to 30 months for Asian offenders, and 28 months for black prisoners. If you're black, you will probably serve 68% of your sentence in custody, compared to 64% if you're white. And yes, that includes serious offences like rape and murder. Minorities are disproportionately more likely to be searched, to be prosecuted, to be a child who is prosecuted, and to reoffend. And get this: prison surveys show white prisoners feel more respected, less victimised by staff, and even get better access to showers. And we know this means the justice system is racist because of one more, literally-kills-people fact: the white people who are cautioned or sentenced have the lowest educational attainment of all ethnic groups. Doing badly at school increases everyone's risk of jail, but white people have to do REALLY badly at school. Even then, they are less likely to be jailed, are imprisoned for shorter periods, and enjoy it more. Nigel is not trying to fix a great criminal injustice, because we already know what the data shows. What he's calling for is more evidence that people of colour are more likely to have a lifetime of crap thrown at them, often by privately-educated ex-City traders in yellow trousers whose voices travel a lot further than their brains. But then, fixing it is not actually the point: all Nigel wants to do is normalise a trope, and blame behaviour on skin colour. The real two-tier system in this country is about class, education, and opportunity. About being able to see the shiny palaces of power, but not the route by which you could get there. There are no stepping stones between the social housing estates and the skyscrapers that tower over them, and it's the inability to migrate that is the real root of half this nation's problems. The other half are all down to the refusal to notice. According to the Ministry of Justice, offenders from all ethnic groups are more likely to have been on free school meals than the general population. The people who fill our prisons are not a rainbow coalition of minorities. It's the kids who were excluded, who fell through the cracks of a safety net which after years of Treasury cutbacks is now the kind of rope bridge even Indiana Jones would hesitate to trust. Yet Nigel is getting his way, with a handful of MPs and the combined professionalism of Del Boy Trotter and his pals on a coach trip to Margate. Police have been issued guidelines, welcomed by the Home Secretary, that they should 'consider' releasing the ethnicity of suspects. Presumably they think it will both show up and shut up Nigel, but neither seems likely. To admit that crime is driven by poverty, trauma and poor education means spending money, changing policies, and admitting failures, which is why all previous governments have shrunk from it. They left a void which racists can populate with a bogeyman, and if he happens to be black, well, black people are more likely to go to prison, innit? It would make more sense for police to publish a suspect's school report: the colour of a person's childhood matters more than that of their skin. And if you want proof, look no further than the talentless, persistently-absent, achievement-free, gobby pub-bore grifter Nigel Farage, who wouldn't be invited on Question Time quite so often if he was black, and from Hulme, and actually knew what he was talking about.
