Latest news with #post-Windrush
Yahoo
20-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Alex Wheatle, ‘the Bard of Brixton', who rose from tough beginnings to become an award-winning novelist
Alex Wheatle, who has died aged 62, rose to become Britain's pre-eminent black novelist after a difficult and inauspicious upbringing; his early story, which involved unhappy years in care and a spell in prison, was told in 'Alex Wheatle' (2020), one of the five films that made up the director Steve McQueen's BBC television series, Small Axe. Wheatle's writing was very much a reflection of the post-Windrush black experience in the UK; despite his life's dark start, his work is riven with a subtle humour. His debut novel Brixton Rock (1999), which received the London Arts Board New Writers Award, told the story of a boy growing up in a children's home and struggling to find his feet. 'Wheatle gives us a fascinating snapshot of black English in the early Eighties,' said the Telegraph. Wheatle's early struggles furnished the plotlines of many of his nearly 20 books, earning him the sobriquet 'Bard of Brixton'; although sometimes disguised, Brixton and its south London environs framed much of his work. Alex Alphonso Wheatle was born to Jamaican parents in Brixton on January 3 1963. Although his mother, Almira Gunter, née Panceta Da Costa, had had five children in Jamaica, her marriage there was volatile, and in 1961 she travelled to London, securing a job at Woolworths in Brixton. She met Wheatle's father Alfred, a carpenter – then, when she was six months pregnant with Alex, her husband arrived from Jamaica looking for her. A solution was arrived at: after she had given birth, she would return to Jamaica and Alfred would bring up the child. But he did so only until the boy was two, then went back to Jamaica. Alex was taken into care and spent most of his childhood at Shirley Oaks children's home in Croydon. Many years later, the home would become infamous for the psychological and physical abuse residents had suffered. Wheatle, who in later years campaigned to uncover the truth about the home, recalled: 'I would be beaten with everything, almost every day. Fire pokers. Bits of wood. Coal being thrown at me. Wooden hairbrushes. Shoes. The abuse I suffered was purely physical. Others were abused sexually, but I never was.' At the home Alex was painfully aware that he had no one. Every Sunday family members would pay visits, but his never did. 'I used to hate Sundays,' he recalled. 'Relatives were coming down and I would put on my best clothes. It really, really broke me. I used to get up really early and watch the first parents walking down to our cottage, wondering if mine would walk down behind them. But that was never the case.' He chronicled his time at Shirley Oaks in his 2023 memoir Sufferah, which tells the story of how reggae became his salvation following a childhood marred by abuse, imprisonment and police brutality. Wheatle was also partly saved by his love of reading. 'When I was about eight I was given a copy of Treasure Island. I loved it. I had an aptitude for reading from very early. When I read in bed it transported my mind to different places. Tom Sawyer transported me to the USA and I could imagine I was on a raft down the Mississippi.' Reggae provided further escape routes: in his mid-teens, under the name of Yardman Irie – who would later become a character in his second novel, East of Acre Lane – he helped to establish the Crucial Rocker sound system. 'I wrote lyrics for performances in community halls, youth clubs, house parties and blues dances.' These first efforts at writing for public consumption coincided with his move from Shirley Oaks to living alone in Brixton. But before his writing could develop, he was arrested during the Brixton riots in 1981 and given a four-month jail sentence. Fortunately for Wheatle, his cellmate at Wormwood Scrubs was an older Rastafarian who encouraged Wheatle to educate himself, introducing him to such authors as Chester Himes, Richard Wright, CLR James and John Steinbeck. But it would be nearly 20 years before Brixton Rock was published. During this time Wheatle married, became a father of three and travelled to Jamaica and tracked down his parents. Two years after Brixton Rock came East of Acre Lane, the story of Biscuit, a young petty criminal who becomes embroiled in ghetto politics and small-time gangsterism. 'Wheatle weaves witty patois dialogue and cool, crisp narrative into a tone of playful irony, wholly free of rant or rancour,' said the Telegraph. A consequence of several meetings with his parents was Wheatle's 2005 book Island Songs, a mature and measured work set largely in Jamaica, epic in scope, tragic yet hilarious, with calm and spacious prose. Ten years later Alex Wheatle was writing excellent and well-received Young Adult novels, though they were enjoyable for all ages. His 2016 YA novel Crongton Knights, set in a disguised Brixton, won that year's Guardian Children's Fiction Prize and was adapted for a BBC television series due to come out later this year. Cane Warriors (2020) was a riveting fictionalised version of a Jamaican slave rebellion in 1760. In 2024 Alex Wheatle was diagnosed with prostate cancer, which had already spread to his bone marrow. Aware of the propensity of black men to suffer from the disease he embarked on an awareness campaign, drawing on his experiences working in prisons, lecturing about literature and teaching self-help through writing. In 2008 Wheatle was appointed MBE for services to literature. Alex Wheatle married, in 1999, Beverley Robinson; they had a daughter and two sons. Alex Wheatle, born January 3 1963, died March 16 2025 Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Yahoo
13-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Home Office to hire Windrush tsar on £130k salary
The Home Office is seeking a £130,000 Windrush tsar with 'lived experience' of the scandal to help steer immigration policy. Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, has opened an application for an adviser who will ensure that Britain's 'homeland security and public safety' are informed by the Windrush scandal. Labour has pledged to speed up compensation for victims of the scandal in which more than 80 people, mainly of Caribbean origin, were wrongly deported. The Home Office has stated that the department 'ideally' wants the new tsar to have 'lived experience' of the scandal. Lived experience is not necessarily expertise in a particular area, but personal familiarity with it, often related to their identity. The successful applicant will then be tasked with ensuring that the Home Office properly implements the recommendations for handling the Windrush scandal, published in 2020. These included running 'reconciliation events', in the style of South African truth and reconciliation panels post-apartheid, with victims recounting their experience in front of Home Office ministers and staff. This plan was previously rejected by Suella Braverman, the former home secretary. Seema Malhotra, the migration and citizenship minister, said the planned new Windrush commissioner would be a major step in 'delivering the change that the victims of this scandal want and deserve to see'. She added: 'This independent advocate will ensure the voices of victims and communities are heard and acted on throughout government. 'By engaging with communities, driving improvements, and holding government to account, the commissioner will help ensure that lasting change is delivered and the lessons of the past are truly learned.' The commissioner will work a minimum of three days a week, according to job application details, and should have a 'commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion and cultural sensitivity'. They should also be able to 'sustain effective relationships with diverse stakeholders such as communities', the Government, and public bodies. The Home Office has stated in a diversity section on the job application information page that 'boards of public bodies are most effective when they reflect the diversity of views of the society they serve'. The advisory role will have broad scope, and the commission will be expected to 'embed the principles and the lessons from the Windrush Review into every aspect of our work within the Home Office on immigration, homeland security and public safety'. The commissioner will work with the post-Windrush transformation unit, a group shut down by the Tory government which was tasked with overseeing the official response to the scandal. Ms Cooper also released £1.5 million of funding to support advocacy on behalf of potential Windrush victims. The Windrush scandal relates to people who arrived in Britain, largely from the Caribbean, before 1973. Before this date they were given an automatic right to remain and work in the UK, a fact which meant many did not receive any official documentation relating to their immigration status. In 2018, it became clear that some individuals who arrived before 1973 had been deported, others detained, and others denied access to public services because they could not prove their immigration status. The Home Office admitted that it had not kept record of those who had arrived, and Theresa May, the former prime minister and a former home secretary, ultimately admitted responsibility for the scandal. A review led by Wendy Williams, the then inspector of constabulary, listed 30 recommendations to help compensate victims, and to prevent a similar scandal from happening in future. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Telegraph
13-02-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Home Office to hire Windrush tsar on £130k salary
The Home Office is seeking a £130,000 Windrush tsar with 'lived experience' of the scandal to help steer immigration policy. Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, has opened an application for an adviser who will ensure that Britain's 'homeland security and public safety' are informed by the Windrush scandal. Labour has pledged to speed up compensation for victims of the scandal in which more than 80 people, mainly of Caribbean origin, were wrongly deported. The Home Office has stated that the department 'ideally' wants the new tsar to have 'lived experience' of the scandal. Lived experience is not necessarily expertise in a particular area, but personal familiarity with it, often related to their identity. The successful applicant will then be tasked with ensuring that the Home Office properly implements the recommendations for handling the Windrush scandal, published in 2020. These included running 'reconciliation events', in the style of South African truth and reconciliation panels post-apartheid, with victims recounting their experience in front of Home Office ministers and staff. This plan was previously rejected by Suella Braverman, the former home secretary. Seema Malhotra, the migration and citizenship minister, said the planned new Windrush commissioner would be a major step in 'delivering the change that the victims of this scandal want and deserve to see'. She added: 'This independent advocate will ensure the voices of victims and communities are heard and acted on throughout government. 'By engaging with communities, driving improvements, and holding government to account, the commissioner will help ensure that lasting change is delivered and the lessons of the past are truly learned.' The commissioner will work a minimum of three days a week, according to job application details, and should have a 'commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion and cultural sensitivity'. They should also be able to 'sustain effective relationships with diverse stakeholders such as communities', the Government, and public bodies. The Home Office has stated in a diversity section on the job application information page that 'boards of public bodies are most effective when they reflect the diversity of views of the society they serve'. The advisory role will have broad scope, and the commission will be expected to 'embed the principles and the lessons from the Windrush Review into every aspect of our work within the Home Office on immigration, homeland security and public safety'. The commissioner will work with the post-Windrush transformation unit, a group shut down by the Tory government which was tasked with overseeing the official response to the scandal. Ms Cooper also released £1.5 million of funding to support advocacy on behalf of potential Windrush victims. The Windrush scandal relates to people who arrived in Britain, largely from the Caribbean, before 1973. Before this date they were given an automatic right to remain and work in the UK, a fact which meant many did not receive any official documentation relating to their immigration status. In 2018, it became clear that some individuals who arrived before 1973 had been deported, others detained, and others denied access to public services because they could not prove their immigration status. The Home Office admitted that it had not kept record of those who had arrived, and Theresa May, the former prime minister and a former home secretary, ultimately admitted responsibility for the scandal. A review led by Wendy Williams, the then inspector of constabulary, listed 30 recommendations to help compensate victims, and to prevent a similar scandal from happening in future.
