Issue 1804 Friday April 11, 2025
THE VOICE OF BRITISH ASIANS
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NEWS • BUSINESS • ENTERTAINMENT • FEATURES • SPORT AND MUCH MORE...
FALL FROM GRACE:
AGE CATCHES UP WITH
SALMAN KHAN
ETHNIC BIAS: MINORITY
KINSHIP CARERS
HURT BY RACISM
LEADERSHIP RACE:
WHO WILL LEAD INDIA
AFTER MODI?
P22
P16-17
P10
UK MOVES TO BLUNT
TRUMP TRADE BLOW
by PRAMOD THOMAS
PRIME MINISTER Sir Keir Starmer has
vowed to “shelter British business
from the storm” of global economic
disruption, while chancellor Rachel
Reeves said the UK was seeking a new
economic partnership with the US to
reduce tariffs imposed by president
Donald Trump.
Starmer on Monday (7) unveiled
plans to give auto manufacturers more
flexibility in transitioning to electric ve-
hicles in a bid to boost the sector as it
battles the higher costs of the US levies.
The world’s auto sector has been hit
hard by Washington’s sweeping new lev-
ies, which impose a 25 per cent tariff on
vehicles imported into the US.
Starmer told staff and journalists at
the Jaguar Land Rover factory in the
West Midlands that the measures were a
“down payment” and not “the extent of
the turbo-charging” to help businesses
deal with tariffs.
“In the coming days and weeks, we’re
going to use industrial policy to shelter
British business from the storm,” he add-
ed. The prime minister called the levies
“a huge challenge” for the future, warn-
ing that the “global economic conse-
quences could be profound”.
JLR, owned by India’s Tata Motors, an-
nounced last weekend it would “pause”
shipments to the US in April as it ad-
dressed “the new trading terms”.
Meanwhile, Reeves on Tuesday (8)
revealed she would meet US Treasury
secretary Scott Bessent “shortly”.
Continued on pages 4-5
Starmer unveils plans to shield auto sector as Reeves opens talks with US
TARIFF TROUBLE: Donald
Trump speaks on reciprocal
tariffs at the White House
last Wednesday (2)
© Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images
BIRMINGHAM can still have a bright
economic future despite the city being
hit by “challenging headlines”, a gov-
ernment minister has said, writes Alex-
ander Brock.
The city council faced financial crisis
and more recently the bins strike have
caused chaos.
Amid this backdrop, Darren Jones MP,
the government’s chief secretary to the
Treasury, spoke about Birmingham’s
prospects during a visit to the HS2 Cur-
zon Street Station last week.
The government has merged two bod-
ies into the National Infrastructure and
Service Transformation Authority (NIS-
TA) to speed up major projects, including
roads, railways, schools and hospitals.
“Birmingham has always been and al-
ways will be a really important city-re-
gion for us in the UK,” Jones said.
“As part of the West Midlands Com-
bined Authority, we want to make sure
that Birmingham is thriving, but also that
the Black Country is also able to take op-
portunities that come from that so we can
deliver great opportunities for people ir-
respective of where they live.”
He added: “We know we’ve got some
inherited challenges here with the city
council in particular, where the govern-
ment is partnering with them to get a grip
of the situation and set them up so they
can be successful in the future.
“But there is no question that Birming-
ham and the West Midlands will be a
crucial part of our national mission for
economic growth.”
Jones was asked whether he was wor-
ried that debacles such as the finan-
cial turmoil at the city council and the
bins strike chaos could harm Birming-
ham’s reputation and therefore discour-
age investors.
“These negative headlines are always
difficult for any place, which is why we
want to work with the city council to deal
with it as quickly as possible,” he said.
“But there is no question that the
strengths and assets that Birmingham,
and the broader West Midlands, has are
really important to us.
“As part of our national mission to try
and get the economy back on track, we
want to make sure that every region,
every place is supported to be able to
deliver that success for the country as a
whole but also for the local people.
“I appreciate the headlines are chal-
lenging right now, but we need to get a
grip of that and move on and then focus
on what we can do together to really drive
success here in Birmingham, the West
Midlands and across the country.”
Andy Street, former Mayor of the West
Midlands, also recently spoke out about
the city’s reputation, telling LBC: “Now
we have the association of the second city
of the UK with rats – there’s where the
reputation has gone.
“What I would say to people is we’ve got
to plan now for rebuilding that reputation
again because it’s taken a hammering.”
“That will take a bit of time, but we are
absolutely committed to it,” he said.
“We’ll have a Labour Mayor [in the West
Midlands] and a Labour government
working together to deliver that and I’m
very confident we’re going to be able to
do that well.”
He added, “We’ve been very clear we
want to get Britain building again and
HS2 has been building for a long time.
“They’ve been doing some great
things, but we also know the project has
lost control in terms of time and cost –
and that’s a real problem for us.
“So there’s going to be lots of lessons
that we can learn from the HS2 pro-
ject to apply to other big projects
across the country as we look to
build more houses, water infra-
structure, energy infrastructure
and more railways.”
Several issues have contributed
to Birmingham City Council’s finan-
cial crisis, including the equal pay
debacle, poor budget setting, de-
mand-led pressures, a failed new sys-
tem and funding cuts.
Meanwhile, plans to scrap the Waste
Recycling and Collection Officer (WRCO)
role have sparked a dispute with
Unite the union, triggering
the bins strike.
Unite
national
lead officer Onay
Kasab previously
accused
the
council of forc-
ing
workers
onto pay lev-
els barely above the minimum wage for a
demanding job in all weathers.
But councillor Majid Mah-
mood, cabinet member
for environment, said
the council had made
a “fair and reasona-
ble offer”, adding:
“Not a single worker
needs to lose a pen-
ny. Every worker
has been offered the
same grade and pay
within
the
street
scene division. We are
trying to transform and
modernise the service.”
(Local Democracy Re
porting Service)
TWO more men have been found guilty
of murdering 23-year-old DPD delivery
driver, Aurman Singh, in Shrewsbury
nearly two years ago.
Mehakdeep Singh, 24, and Sehajpal
Singh, 26, both formerly of Tipton, were
convicted at Stafford crown court last
Monday (31) following a three-week trial.
According to the police, an attack on
Singh occurred in broad daylight on Au-
gust 21, 2023, as he made deliveries in
Berwick Avenue in Coton Hill area. He
was brutally assaulted, with multiple
weapons including an axe, golf club and
piece of wood, suffering fatal injuries.
Gang members tracked Aurman on
his delivery route before launching their
calculated attack, the court heard. After
committing the murder, both men fled
in a white Mercedes Benz, which they
later abandoned on Kynaston Road in
Shrewsbury.
The fleeing suspects then called a taxi
to Shrewsbury Railway Station before
taking a train to Wolverhampton. Days
later, they left the country, evading au-
thorities until their capture nearly nine
months after the murder.
An investigation by West Mercia Po-
lice led them to Austria, where both
men were arrested on May 20, 2024, at
an address in Hohenzell. Following ex-
tradition, they stood trial and now await
sentencing scheduled for Friday (11) at
Stafford Crown Court.
Detective chief inspector Mark Bella-
my, who led investigation, said, “The at-
tack on Aurman almost two years ago
was violent and calculated. Sehjapal
and Mekahdeep, along with six other
men carried out this attack in broad
daylight on a quiet Shropshire street
with only one intention – to kill him.”
He added: “They used inside infor-
mation to get hold of Aurman’s delivery
route, where they lay in wait for him, be-
fore using an arsenal of weapons against
him knowing he was defenceless.”
The investigation involved police
forces across multiple countries.
The latest convictions bring the total
number of people found guilty in con-
nection with murder to seven.
Previous convictions last year saw
four men – Arshdeep Singh, Jagdeep
Singh, Shivdeep Singh and Manjot
Singh – each sentenced to 28 years’ im-
prisonment for murder.
A fifth man, Sukhmandeep Singh, de-
scribed as “inside man” who supplied
the victim’s delivery route information
to attackers, received a 10-year sentence
after being convicted of manslaughter
rather than murder.
Prosecutors said during the trial that
the precise motive behind fatal attack
remains unclear.
News
April 11, 2025 • Twitter.com/easterneye
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Birmingham ‘crucial to
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Two more convicted of delivery driver’s brutal murder
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Aurman
Singh
Mehakdeep
Singh
Sehajpal
Singh
LONDON mayor Sadiq Khan
will get more powers to cut red
tape that is “stifling” pubs,
clubs and restaurants and
holding back the UK capital’s
flagging night-time economy,
the government announced
last Friday (4).
Khan will be granted new
“call in” powers to review deci-
sions of local councils that
block late-drinking licences in
nightlife hotspots. If successful,
other mayors across England
could receive similar powers in
a bid to revive the country’s £62
billion hospitality sector, which
was struggling even before the
coronavirus pandemic hit.
Businesses have complained
that the current licensing sys-
tem creates barriers to growth
and investment, making it diffi-
cult to obtain extended licens-
ing hours for late-night drink-
ing and overcome objections
from other firms.
“I am delighted that the gov-
ernment is looking to grant
London greater powers over li-
censing,” said Khan.
“This significant decision
would allow us to do more to
support the capital’s pubs,
clubs and music venues.”
A pilot will also be launched
to encourage more outdoor
dining, said the government.
Deputy prime minister Ange-
la Rayner said the government
was determined to overcome
the “blockers” as it aims to
boost a nighttime economy that
“has been neglected for long”.
“Our pubs, restaurants and
live music venues are the beat-
ing heart of our cultural life, so
it is vital they are given every
chance to survive and thrive,”
she said.
“Too often, we have seen the
complaints of a vocal minority
of objectors promoted over the
need for our country to grow –
we are determined to change
this,” she added.
The pandemic dealt a se-
vere blow to a hospitality sec-
tor, which employs three mil-
lion people.
Mayor to get new powers to revive London nightlife
POWERING PROGRESS:
Darren Jones; and
(below) Birmingham is
facing a bins strike,
causing rubbish to pile
up on the city’s streets
by PRAMOD THOMAS
A NEW play explores anger through the lens of be-
ing both south Asian and British, its Asian direc-
tor has said.
Speed, directed by Milli Bhatia opened at Bush
Theatre last Friday (4). It is written by Mohamed-
Zain Dada (Zain), and the cast includes Nikesh Pa-
tel, Arian Nik, Shazia Nicholls and Sabrina Sandhu.
Set in a Birmingham hotel basement, it tells the
story of a nurse, a delivery driver and an entrepre-
neur who attend a speed awareness course.
In an interview with Eastern Eye, Bhatia said, “The
play follows three participants and a facilitator.
“It is a new scheme being trialled by the Driver
and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA), combining
different methods to rehabili-
tate individuals who
drive at excessive
speeds or have
been involved in road altercations. The programme
is specifically tailored as a speed awareness course
for aggressive drivers.
“The play raises intriguing questions about British
stoicism, particularly the idea of keeping calm and
carrying on, and what that means for second- and
third-generation British south Asians today, espe-
cially in the wake of race riots.”
She added, “It explores the themes of racing cul-
ture, car culture, and our community’s relationship
with cars.
“During our research, we have been looking at
Zimmers of Southall, a photography book by Hark
Karan, which celebrates our community and its deep
connection with cars in this country. We also drew
inspiration from [Turner Prize winner] Jasleen
Kaur’s recent exhibition at Tate, which includes an
installation of a car with a giant doily on it. I inter-
preted it as a beautiful symbol of first-generation
migrants acquiring their own cars and the
care they place in them.
“Through this process, we have deep-
ly examined car culture and how it
specifically relates to our commu-
nity — this is very much reflected
in the play.”
Bhatia said Speed poses im-
portant questions about how we
are permitted to express anger,
and the extent to which we
suppress it to avoid being mis-
interpreted or judged. She
added, “Zain, the writer, was inspired by his own
experience of attending a speed awareness course.
He was fascinated by the dramatic potential of stran-
gers coming together in a room, wanting to present
themselves in a certain way while also being exposed
to situations that make them feel vulnerable.
“The play isn’t directly about this, but many of us
have been reflecting on how much permission we
feel to express ourselves, particularly after last sum-
mer’s race riots [after the Southport killings]. There
was horrific footage of south Asian men simply walk-
ing down the street and being attacked for being
there. That was terrifying for us.
“We are all very aware of what previous generations
of Indians in this country endured. We’ve spoken to
our parents and grandparents about the National
Front, the Southall riots, and the incredible resistance
movements they were part of – things that aren’t
widely celebrated or discussed. That’s why Defiance,
the Channel 4 series, felt like such an important mo-
ment in acknowledging our history of protest.
“After the race riots, we gained a new perspective
on what our parents and grandparents had told us.
We experienced real fear, which made us question
anger – where it goes, how much of it we’re allowed
to express. That context made the play feel dramati-
cally compelling.”
Bhatia said she hoped south Asians who come to
watch that play will experience that same sense of
recognition as Speed poses “meaningful questions
for them”.
“At its core, however, Speed focuses on speed-
ing and aggressive driving. Applying this issue
to the south Asian community, and particularly
to our generation, is fascinating. We are often
referred to as the angry generation, and the facilita-
tor in the play frequently references academic dis-
cussions on anger.
“[Roman philosopher] Seneca, for instance,
viewed anger as a useless emotion. However, I
was recently listening to Gabor Maté, Canadian phy-
sician and author, who argues that anger is essen-
tial for survival. This theme feels particularly poign-
ant now, considering that only last summer, south
Asians were attacked simply for their visibility.
Looking at how earlier generations navigated these
issues has been as crucial as examining what it
means for us today.”
Bhatia has been nominated twice for the Olivier
Awards for Seven Methods of Killing Kylie Jenner
and Blue Mist.
A former associate director at the Royal Court
Theatre, she has worked with leading theatres across
the UK and internationally, with productions staged
in the West End, New York, and Sweden.
Describing her journey in the arts, she said, “I al-
ways knew I wanted to be a storyteller, and I was
lucky to grow up in a home where my parents [ac-
tress Meera Syal and her former husband, the jour-
nalist Shekhar Bhatia] and grandparents actively
encouraged that.
“I started directing at university when I was 18,
though it wasn’t something I initially planned to do. I
was studying drama and English, and I knew I wanted
to work in the arts, but I wasn’t sure in what capacity.”
“At one point, I thought I might become an actor,
but I was also volunteering at a women’s refuge at
the time. I had done so in London, and when I
moved to Norwich for university, I continued volun-
teering. They asked me to organise a fundraiser, and
I agreed. Since I was in the drama department and
had access to brilliant actors and resources, I decid-
ed to put on a play. That was the first play I ever di-
rected, at 18.
“Six years later, I was directing at the Royal Court.
It was quite a rapid trajectory. I quickly realised how
much I loved collaboration in theatre. Directing al-
lowed me to focus on two things I really cared about:
political themes (since the play supported the refuge)
and working with an all-female cast for that project.”
Bhatia said she was moved by a play by South Af-
rican playwright Yael Farber called Nirbhaya, which
was based on the Delhi gang rape incident. Even
now, years later, I think about that play. It opened my
eyes to what theatre could be and who it could be
about. It profoundly moved me, she said.
She said she feels creatively fulfilled by making
work that explores big questions about south
Asians, their place in the world, and the challenges
they face.
BBC’s award-winning
comedy Juice, starring
Mawaan Rizwan, has
officially begun film-
ing its second series.
The show will contin-
ue to follow the char-
acter Jamma, who
now finds himself
“jobless, sofa-surfing
and single.”
Rizwan, who both
writes and stars in the
show, will return
alongside the origi-
nal cast including
Russell Tovey as Guy,
Nabhaan Rizwan as
Jamma’s brother
Isaac, and Shahnaz
Rizwan as their moth-
er Farida. New guest
stars for this series in-
clude Mark Gatiss and
Tamara Lawrance,
with more names to
be announced.
The new storyline
sees Jamma in difficult
circumstances after
his “clowning around”
has caused significant
problems in his life.
When a mysterious
character offers to
help him change his
ways to win back Guy,
Jamma must make a
difficult decision.
“We’re back baby!
This series is wilder,
weirder and even a bit
scary. The team are
on fire and the cast
are funnier than ever.
Brace yourself. The
storm is coming,”
said Rizwan.
First aired on BBC
Three in 2023, the
show has received
several awards, in-
cluding an RTS Award
for Comedy Drama
and a BAFTA for Best
Male Performance in
a Comedy for Rizwan.
The six-episode se-
ries is produced by
Various Artists Limit-
ed for BBC Three and
BBC iPlayer.
News
Instagram.com/easterneyenews/ • www.easterneye.biz • April 11, 2025
Play questions how anger is expressed
MAIMUNA MEMON was
crowned as best actress in a
supporting role in a musical
at the Olivier theatre awards
last Sunday (6).
Memon won the honour
for her role as Sonya in
Natasha, Pierre and The
Great Comet of 1812 during
the star-studded event at the
Royal Albert Hall.
Natasha, Pierre & The
Great Comet of 1812 adapts
a 70-page segment from
Leo Tolstoy’s 1869 classic
novel War and Peace. Dave
Malloy created the sung-
through production with Ra-
chel Chavkin serving as orig-
inal director.
Born in Preston, Lanca-
shire to an Irish mother and
a Pakistani father, Memon
spent her early childhood
in Darwen.
Meera Syal and Indira
Varma, who were nominated
for the best actress award,
lost to Lesley Manville who
won in that category for her
performance as Jocasta in
Oedipus, which concluded
last year.
Syal was nominated for A
Tupperware Of Ashes at the
National Theatre and Varma
for Oedipus at the Old Vic.
Giant, starring John Lith-
gow as author Roald Dahl,
and a musical reimagining of
The Curious Case of Benja-
min Button were among the
many winners of Olivier
awards, picking up three
prizes each.
Lithgow won the best actor
prize for his turn as Dahl in
Mark Rosenblatt’s Giant, an
account of the fall-
out from a 1983
book review
written by
the author
that provoked
accusations
of anti-
Semitism.
“I am
literally
trem-
bling all over. I have never
been quite so shaken by a
happy event,” the veteran ac-
tor said.
“It was also extremely
emotional to be embraced
by the English theatre com-
munity like
that. I can’t
even tell
you what
it means.”
Giant
also won
best new
play and
Lithgow’s co-
star Elliot
Levey won best actor in a
supporting role.
Fiddler on the Roof won
three Olivier awards.
The musical of F Scott
Fitzgerald’s short story of
the man who ages in re-
verse, Benjamin Button,
reimagined for the theatre
in a Cornish fishing vil-
lage – won rave reviews
since its West End run started
last year. It received awards
for best new musical, out-
standing music contribution,
and best actor in a musical
for John Dalgleish as Button.
Imelda Staunton racked
up her fifth Olivier, winning
best actress in a musical for
her turn as Dolly Levi in the
hit show Hello, Dolly!.
Memon wins Olivier but Syal and Varma lose out
Juice starts filming
DRIVING DRAMA: Milli Bhatia; and
(inset right, from left) Shazia Nicholls,
Nikesh Patel, Sabrina Sandhu and
Arian Nik in a poster of Speed
HONOUR: Maimuna
Memon; and (from
above left) Meera Syal
and Indira Varma
DIRECTOR SAYS SPEED TACKLES EMOTIONS OF SOUTH ASIANS SHAPED BY HISTORY AND FEAR
© Felix Pilgrim
All images © Kate Green/Getty Images
News
April 11, 2025 • Twitter.com/easterneye
Facebook.com/easterneye
Continued from page 1
Rachel Reeves spoke to her counterparts
in Canada, Australia, Ireland, France,
Spain and the European Union. She also
held talks with India’s finance minister
Nirmala Sitharaman this week as the two
sides discuss a free trade agreement.
Speaking in parliament, the chancellor
said Trump’s tariffs would have huge im-
plications for the world economy, as seen
in global markets this week.
She reiterated her comments that Brit-
ain would keep all options open in terms
of how it responds to tariffs, but said it did
not want to create more trade barriers.
“This morning, I spoke to the governor
of the Bank of England, who has con-
firmed that markets are functioning ef-
fectively and that our banking system is
resilient,” Reeves MPs.
Discussing how the government would
respond, she said: “All of the decisions
that we make as a government will be
underpinned by the stability of our non-
negotiable fiscal rules”.
Experts and industry stakeholders
have pinned hopes on bilateral trade
agreements with the US and its trade
partners to offset negative impacts of tar-
iffs. They said nobody is a winner in a
trade war.
Olivia O’Sullivan, director, UK in the
World Programme, at Chatham House, a
UK-based thinktank, said it appeared that
the UK had swerved the worst treatment
this week via a strategy of “flattery and
offering concessions.”
She told Eastern Eye, “There’s little
predictability in Trump’s approach, no
indication the UK was given any specific
‘discount’, and the wider effect of these
tariffs on the global economy are still
likely to substantially affect the UK.
“There is no clarity about how the
Trump administration arrived at the fig-
ure or why they see their 10 per cent rate
as ‘reciprocal’ as a result.
“Even if the direct hit on the UK is rela-
tively lower, this volatility will affect the
country, because it will likely affect con-
sumer and investor confidence, global
prices, and trade. Countries which are
affected will face higher prices, and these
will likely be passed on to UK consumers
and businesses via global supply chains.
And, if the tariffs hurt economic growth in
key markets, then the wider global eco-
nomic slowdown will affect Britain.
“The UK may have avoided the worst in
direct tariffs, but the wider hit to eco-
nomic certainty and trust is significant.”
On a potential UK-US trade deal,
O’Sullivan, said, “A strategy of seeking a
bespoke deal with the US may yet pay off
and may have broadly put the UK in the
‘least-worst’ category this time around,
but this does not mitigate against the
wider effects on the global economy of
Trump’s approach. The UK has few op-
tions though, and may need to continue
to try to balance its relations with the US,
Europe and China.
“The volatility of the Trump adminis-
tration means it is difficult for the UK to
appeal to the US when it is not clear what
the US’s economic goals currently are. A
strategy of emphasising the UK’s own
relatively balanced trade with the US may
not have a lasting effect – while the Trump
administration suggests they seek to
‘punish’ countries buying less from the
US than they sell.
She added, “The UK is stuck with an
unpredictable negotiating partner, and
while it can try to win exemptions, it still
needs to plan to use other growth levers
to offset the potential effects of tariffs.
This could include seeking a better trade
relationship with the EU, or deepening
ties with other key trade partners.
“The UK may yet secure a trade or sec-
tor-specific deal with the US, but given
the Trump administration’s tendency to
revisit and rewrite deals even Trump se-
cured in his first term, there are limits to
the benefits and certainty the UK might
secure from any given deal.”
India reacted cautiously last Thursday
(3) to Trump’s sweeping tariffs, with the
government saying it was examining both
“implications” and “opportunities” from
the duty hikes.
Trump, speaking while unveiling the
tariffs at the White House the previous
day (2), said India’s prime minister Nar-
endra Modi was a “great friend”, but that
he had not been “treating us right”.
India’s Department of Commerce said
last Thursday it is “carefully examining
the implications of the various measures”.
It also added in a statement that it was
“studying the opportunities that may
arise due to this new development”, a
likely reference to regional competitors
being hit harder.
An initial White House chart revealing
the tariffs listed India at 26 per cent, but
an annexe cited by New Delhi put the du-
ties at 27 per cent.
Indian exporters said they were disap-
pointed and relieved in equal measure.
Ajay Sahai, director general of the Fed-
eration of Indian Export Organisations,
said the tariffs on India were higher than
expected and would hurt export demand.
But Sahai also pointed out that India
was hit with lower levies than manufac-
turing rivals.
“Many countries which we compete
with globally, including China, Indone-
sia, and Vietnam etc, have been hit hard-
er than us,” he said.
“That opens up space for us to gain in
terms of market share. But at the same
time, if more countries retaliate and global
trade gets hurt, this isn’t good for anyone.”
According to the Global Trade Re-
search Initiative (GTRI), the US decision
to impose a 26 per cent reciprocal tariff
on India could lead to a decline of $5.76
billion (£4.42bn), translating into a 6.41
per cent contraction in exports to Wash-
ington in 2025.
The contraction will be led by a drop in
exports of fish, which may fall by a fifth,
followed by iron and steel; dia-
monds, gold; vehicles and parts; electri-
cal, telecommunications, and electron-
ic products.
In 2024, India exported $89.81bn
(£68.88bn) worth of goods to the US.
A White House fact sheet said pharma-
ceutical goods would be exempt from the
reciprocal tariffs, providing relief to an
Indian industry that shipped more than
$8bn (£6.2bn) in exports to the United
States in the 2024 fiscal year.
Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance secre-
tary general Sudarshan Jain said this
showed “the critical role of cost-effec-
tive, life-saving generic medicines in
public health, economic stability and na-
tional security”.
Trump’s tariffs are the single biggest
disruptor in world order since the second
World War, according to Dr VK Vijayaku-
mar, chief investment strategist at Geojit
Financial Services Limited, an India-
based brokerage firm.
“The curious case is that the US has
imposed tariffs on its friends and part-
ners, including Canada, Mexico and the
EU. The tariff calculation itself is flawed.
Trump imposed a 26 per cent tariff on
India, however, a UN report last year said
the average tax on US goods imported to
India is just 17 per cent.”
Vijayakumar added, “One thing the US
president missed is that the US economy
is 68 per cent consumption based. With
the tariffs, the prices of almost every
product would go up, which ultimately
will lead to inflation. When the economy
slows down, the country will experience
stagflation, which is indeed a dangerous
situation for not only the US, but across
the world.”
He said, “India started trade talks with
the US two months ago. It will take another
two-three months to finalise. So, the un-
certainty regarding tariffs will continue.”
Agneshwar Sen, trade policy leader at
EY India, told Eastern Eye, “For India, the
additional tariff places it in the lower half
of targeted countries, creating opportuni-
ties beyond traditional export sectors like
engineering goods, electronics, gems and
jewelry, textiles, and apparel.
“The tariffs could also shift competi-
tiveness in India’s favour in sectors where
other regional exporters are more se-
verely impacted. To maximise this advan-
tage, India must not only negotiate with
the US to maintain market access, but al-
so collaborate with free trade agreement
(FTA) partners in Asia to restructure sup-
ply chains and seize new opportunities.
Alex K Ninan, vice president of the
Seafood Exporters Association of India,
told Eastern Eye, “The industry got badly
affected by the tariff announcement. As
many as 35 per cent of seafood exports
from India goes to the US. We will have to
find alternative markets in Europe, Japan,
and South Korea.”
He added, “A major issue we are facing
now is that Ecuador, which is India’s big-
gest competitor in the sector, faces only a
10 percent tariff. So, India’s right to a level
playing field is now gone with the 26 per
cent tariff imposed on us. This will ad-
versely affect our seafood exports, espe-
cially shrimp exports.”
“I was part of a delegation which met
with the central government about these
tariffs this week,” Ninan added.
“The ministry informed us that talks
are ongoing regarding a bilateral trade
agreement with the US. India hopes that
in two to three months’ time, there will be
clarity on the discussions.” (with inputs
from agencies)
‘UK stuck with an unstable partner’
ANALYSTS SAY TRUMP’S VOLATILITY AND UNCLEAR GOALS POSE CHALLENGE IN TALKS
AGENDA: Sir Keir Starmer (centre) and Rachel Reeves (right)
speak to workers at a Jaguar Land Rover factory on Monday
(7) in Birmingham; (inset below) Starmer (third from left) chairs
a business roundtable at Downing Street last Thursday (3)
A WAVE of anxiety has gripped
India’s diamond polishing hub of
Surat, as hefty US tariffs threaten
to undermine the country’s gem
and jewellery exports, putting at
risk the livelihoods of thousands
of workers.
The US, which takes more
than 30 per cent of the south
Asian nation’s gem and jewellery
exports, set a 26 per cent recip-
rocal tariff on it last Thursday
(3), at a time when demand is
softening in other key markets
such as China, the Middle East,
and Europe.
“Tariffs will hit hard the de-
mand for diamonds in the Unit-
ed States and job losses look in-
evitable, at least in the short
term,” said Dinesh Navadiya,
chairman of the Surat-based In-
dian Diamond Institute.
Surat, the second-largest city
in Gujarat, the western home
state of prime minister Naren-
dra Modi, processes and polishes
more than 80 per cent of the
world’s rough diamonds, and In-
dia accounts for nine in every 10
diamonds processed globally.
Business has ground to a halt
in its teeming diamond market,
where more than 10,000 traders
and brokers gather each day, as
the industry tries to figure out
how matters will evolve in the
coming months.
Conditions are worse than
during the 2008 financial crisis,
when the industry was plagued
by fears of a prolonged recession,
said Mansukh Mangukiya, a dia-
mond trader for five decades.
A slowdown in the industry
will hit all manufacturers, but
smaller players will suffer most,
said Sevanti Shah, chairman of
Venus Jewels, adding, “Many
smaller manufacturers will have
no choice but to shut down.”
The US accounted for nearly
$10bn (£7.67bn), or 30.4 per
cent, of India’s annual gems and
jewellery exports, totalling $32bn
(£24.5bn) in 2023-2024.
Gems and jewellery are India’s
third largest export to the US, af-
ter engineering and electronic
goods, and employ millions of
workers, including artisans.
Poorer business prospects also
raise questions about the future
of the Surat Diamond Bourse, in-
augurated by Modi in 2023 to
create thousands of new jobs
and serve as a trade hub.
Built over 6.6 million square
feet, it was touted as the world’s
largest office building, surpass-
ing the Pentagon.
The industry will seek alterna-
tive markets to compensate for
the loss of US demand, but no
other country will be able to re-
place the US market, diamond
dealers said.
The sudden decline in US de-
mand would require short-term
production adjustments within
the industry and could lead to
reduced rough diamond imports,
said Shaunak Parikh, vice chair-
man of the Gem and Jewellery
Export Promotion Council.
Exporters are making last-
minute efforts to ship as much as
possible to the US before its new
tariffs take effect, Parikh said,
while orders that cannot be de-
livered earlier may be cancelled
or put on hold.
The tariffs will also drive up
US prices, crimping demand,
said Vipul Shah, managing direc-
tor of Asian Star, a leading dia-
mond exporter.
An uncertain future lies ahead
for Chetan Navadiya, a diamond
manufacturer turned job-work
contractor. “I lost my business
due to the market slowdown,”
Navadiya said. “I took up job
work to survive, but even those
contracts may not come by now,
because of US tariffs.”
Paresh Parekh, partner and re-
tail tax leader, EY India, said “In-
dian gems and jewellery sector
has been already struggling since
last few years due to changing
customer preferences, lab grown
diamond technology, demoneti-
sation, soaring gold prices, and
competition for polishing from
other countries. The US tariff de-
velopments now create addition-
al adverse impact on the sector,
with real risk of job losses and
margin erosions.
“The exposure to US or this
sector is huge. Till now, India’s
tariffs on gold jewellery imports
are around 20 per cent which is
higher than US import tariff (five
per cent plus). The US levied
earlier nil tariff on cut and pol-
ished diamonds while India lev-
ies five per cent. The sector
hopes India covers this sector in
its negotiations for trade deal
with the US.”
© Kirsty Wigglesworth/WPA Pool/Getty Images
© Ben Stansall/WPA Pool/Getty Images
Fears mount over future of India’s diamond hub
FADING
SPARKLE:
The US has
set a 26 per
cent tariff on
Indian gem
and jewellery
exports
© Punit Paranjpee/AFP via Getty Images
News
Instagram.com/easterneyenews/ • www.easterneye.biz • April 11, 2025
INDIA’S finance minister, Nirmala Si
tharaman, highlighted the country’s
robust economic resilience during her
visit to London this week, stressing do
mestic demand as a significant attrac
tion for global investment in the face of
rising international trade tensions.
At an event hosted by the High Com-
mission of India in London on Tuesday
(8), Sitharaman offered a confident as-
sessment of India’s economic position
amid evolving global trade dynamics.
“The world has seen depressed growth
for over several years. Earlier, it was low
interest for long and now it’s going to be
low growth for long, and that’s not happy
news for anybody,” she said.
Her remarks were made during a ses-
sion titled ‘Opportunities and challenges
for India’s quest to become a developed
economy by 2047’.
Sitharaman said, “India has main-
tained its fastest-growing economy tag
continuously now for five years and we
still think that momentum may moderate
a bit, but it will still be India who will keep
that growth.”
The minister noted domestic con-
sumption patterns, and said growth was
“calibrated because of the consumption
which exists domestically. It is backed by
demand for global-standard goods and
that is why globalisation since the 1990s
has given India many opportunities.”
On trade relations with the US, Sithara-
man acknowledged potential challenges
but expressed optimism.
“The US is the leading trade partner for
India. So, at a time when trade is going to
be influenced by tariffs, measures which
the US government are taking, we still will
have to make sure that the strength India
has in domestic demand as a big magnet
– which can attract global supplies – must
be sustained and boosted,” she said.
Strong domestic demand in India
would continue to attract foreign direct
investment (FDI) and international man-
ufacturing interests, to satisfy the domes-
tic market and for India as an export hub,
the minister added.
Sitharaman positioned India as a key
driver of future growth, saying, “We think
India, and a few emerging markets, are
going to be the engines of growth. The
global depressed growth, if it has to pick up,
will have to be because of these engines.”
The Indian minister arrived in London
on Monday (7) evening on a six-day Euro-
pean tour that will also include a visit to
Austria. Her UK itinerary began with the
in-conversation session at the High Com-
mission in partnership with the London
School of Economics (LSE).
This is set to be followed by a 13th min-
isterial round of the India-UK Economic
and Financial Dialogue (EFD) with her
British counterpart, chancellor Rachel
Reeves, on Wednesday (9), after Eastern
Eye went to press on Tuesday.
The EFD represents a platform bet-
ween the two nations, facilitating engage-
ment through working groups and be-
tween respective regulatory bodies in the
financial sector. These include invest-
ment, financial services, financial regula-
tions, UPI interlinkages, taxation and il-
licit financial flows.
The key priorities for the Indian dele-
gation during the EFD include coopera-
tion in the IFSC GIFT City, investment
opportunities, insurance and pension
sectors, fintech and digital economy ini-
tiatives, and mobilising affordable and
sustainable climate finance.
During her visit, Sitharaman delivered
a keynote address at the India-UK Inves-
tor Roundtable. It was attended by CEOs
from global organisations and key figures
from across the UK financial sector, inclu-
ding pension funds, insurance firms,
banks and financial services institutions.
She also co-hosted a roundtable with
UK secretary of state for business and
trade, Jonathan Reynolds.
The event, organised in partnership
with the City of London Corporation,
brought together senior management
representatives from prominent pension
funds and asset managers in the UK.
The ongoing India-UK Free Trade
Agreement (FTA) negotiations featured
prominently during these discussions.
Following her engagements in the UK,
she will travel to Austria, where she is
scheduled to hold meetings with Austrian
finance minister Markus Marterbauer
and the chancellor, Christian Stocker.
Sitharaman and Wolfgang Hattmanns-
dorfer, the Austrian minister for econo-
my, energy and tourism, will co-chair a
session with key Austrian CEOs to apprise
them of existing and upcoming opportu-
nities in India, aimed at fostering deeper
investment collaboration between the
two countries.
‘Momentum may moderate, but
India’s growth rate will continue’
FINANCE MINISTER OPTIMISTIC ABOUT ECONOMY AS SHE BEGINS EUROPEAN TOUR IN LONDON
BANGLADESHI garment ex
porter Shahidullah Azim woke
up last Thursday (3) to the
shock of US president Donald
Trump slapping a 37 per cent
tariff on his country’s exports,
endangering an apparel hub al
ready reeling from domestic
political upheaval.
“We knew something was
coming, but we never expected
it to be this drastic ... This is
terrible for our business and
for thousands of workers,” said
Azim, whose clients include a
number of North American and
European retailers.
Suppliers in Bangladesh’s
garment industry, which counts
Gap and Vans parent VF Corp
as clients, said they began see
king government support hours
after Trump’s lightning bolt.
Some companies in the
country urged government of
ficials to negotiate further on
tariffs with the US in order to
prevent foreign buyers bolting
to save costs.
The readymade garments in
dustry is of existential impor
tance to Bangladesh’s econo
my. It accounts for more than
80 per cent of total export earn
ings, employing four million
people and contributing rough
ly 10 per cent to its annual GDP.
Trump’s global tariff barrage
deals the latest and heaviest
blow to the industry.
Last year, garment production
was disrupted by violent pro
tests that ousted prime minister
Sheikh Hasina in August, casting
doubt on the longterm poten
tial of a market much sought
after by Western fashion brands.
Azim said his company,
which employs 3,200 factory
workers, was bracing for order
cancellations as rising costs for
buyers could spell the end of
Bangladesh’s competitive edge.
A representative of the Ban
gladesh Knitwear Manufactur
ers and Exporters Association,
which supports more than
2,500 factories, said it ap
proached the government last
Thursday seeking support
against the tariff blow. Officials
said the issue was being consid
ered seriously.
Shafiqul Alam, the interim
government’s press secretary,
said in a statement the US was a
“close friend” and Bangladesh’s
largest export destination.
He said Dhaka has been
working with Washington on
trade matters, and expects
those discussions will “help ad
dress the tariff issue”.
Bangladesh’s loss could be
India’s gain, in some ways.
AnwarulAlam Chowdhury
of garment maker Evince fears
India, which had been getting
more queries from US suppli
ers since last year’s political
crisis in Bangladesh, will now
benefit even more as it faces a
lower tariff of 27 per cent.
“Bangladesh will be among
the hardest hit,” he said.
The Evince Group website
said it has Tommy Hilfiger and
Levi Strauss & Co as clients,
and deals in woven shirts, den
im and yarns.
While India contributes only
sixseven per cent of US garment
imports – far behind Bangla
desh and Vietnam – the top 30
US apparel brands indicated a
shift in preference towards In
dia from Bangladesh due to the
latter’s political crisis last year,
a survey by the US Fashion In
dustry Association showed.
Another major south Asian
casualty of Trump’s “reciprocal
tariff” move is Sri Lanka, which
now faces a 44 per cent tariff.
Around 40 per cent of Sri Lan
ka’s apparel exports are to the
US, which helped the island na
tion earn $1.9 billion (£1.48bn)
last year. Apparel is also Sri
Lanka’s secondlargest foreign
exchange earner, with the sec
tor employing 300,000 people.
Sri Lanka’s president Anura
Kumara Dissanayake’s office
said that a panel of government
officials and apparel compa
nies has been formed in order
to study “potential issues” that
could arise from the new tariffs.
“Sri Lanka could very quickly
see its share of US business move
to countries with lower tariffs,”
said Yohan Lawrence, secre
tary general of Sri Lanka’s Joint
Apparel Association Forum.
“This situation is serious,
and it must be addressed as a
matter of national urgency.”
Garment factories in Asia vie for export orders
© Munir Uz Zaman/
AFP via Getty Images
TARIFFS PLEA: Apparel factory
owners have called for talks with
the US to address the issue
TALKING TRADE: Nirmala Sitharaman with businessman
Vindi Banga, chair of UK Government Investments; Baroness
Shriti Vadera (above right); and Patricia Hewitt (below right)
All images © X/India’s
Ministry of Finance
ARTIFICIAL intelligence (AI) could be
used in the battle to reduce dangerous
driving and crashes in Bradford, coun-
cillors were told, writes Chris Young.
Data from more modern vehicles could
help predict driver behaviour and map
out potential accident “hotspots” – mak-
ing road safety policies more proactive
than reactive.
The claims were made at a meeting of
Bradford council’s corporate scrutiny
committee, where members were given
an update on road safety in the district.
Councillors heard that in the 12 months
leading up to August 2024, there was a
slight decrease in the number of people
injured on Bradford’s roads – down from
1,455 in 2023 to 1,330 in 2024.
But in the same period, there was an
increase in the number of people killed or
seriously injured (including broken
bones). This figure rose from 334 to 346.
There were 10 fatalities in this
12-month period.
A report to members said pedestrians
were “highly represented” in the killed
and seriously injured figures, accounting
for 18.7 per cent of the total number.
In addition, the number of casualties
who were passengers in vehicles has
been steadily rising. In 2017 to 2019, the
average number of passengers killed or
seriously injured each year in Bradford
was 87. Last year, that figure had doubled
to 174.
Members were told that the council
and West Yorkshire Police were involved
in efforts to try and reduce crashes and
casualty rates, but that work on certain
areas was often in response to a crash.
Highways officer Miguel D’Souza said:
“We’re moving into a world where we
could use AI to predict where traffic inci-
dents might happen.
“It could help us be more proactive,
look at where accidents could happen
rather than where they have happened.
“Emerging technology is a bit better at
identifying potential crash hotspots.”
In recent years, advances in AI have
been used globally to create a number of
systems that can predict trends in areas
from finance to disease outbreak.
There has been work internationally to
use date ranging from traffic patterns,
satellite data and crash reports to gener-
ate algorithms that can tell where car
crashes are most likely to take place.
D’Souza told the committee that al-
though some of the work already being
done on Bradford’s roads was helping
prevent accident levels from rising, fig-
ures have remained steady rather than
dropping by any great rate. AI could be a
way to finally bring the figures down.
He said: “We need to look at things
more intelligently, have a deeper dive in-
to who is causing crashes and in what ar-
eas. AI will help us with that data.”
Ilkley councillor Andrew Loy (Cons)
asked for more detail on how AI could
help improve road safety.
D’Souza said: “Information is often
collected by manufacturers and sold on
to other companies. This gives us better
road data than we have had previously.
“You also look at pedestrian accidents
and casualty figures. It gives us a narrative
on how road users are behaving.
“You can look at speeds of different
road users and it gives you a better idea of
what speeds people are doing on differ-
ent roads without having to go out to each
location. But this is all relying on technol-
ogy in cars – so this data won’t capture
older vehicles. But as we move to more
modern vehicles on the road, the data
becomes more useable.”
He said this information, with data from
speed cameras, could be used by software
to predict where accidents could happen,
as well as driver behaviour patterns. (Lo-
cal Democracy Reporting Service)
News
April 11, 2025 • Twitter.com/easterneye
Facebook.com/easterneye
COUNCIL TOLD ALGORITHMS CAN HELP REVEAL DRIVER BEHAVIOUR AND REDUCE ACCIDENTS
Using AI to predict crash hotspots
could make Bradford roads safer
MORE than one in three chil-
dren in Leicester are living in
poverty, statistics from the
Department for Work and
Pensions have revealed, writes
Tess Rushin.
The city was the 11th worst
local authority area in the UK,
with 39.5 per cent of under
16s meeting the criteria in
2023-24. This has increased
from 38.7 per cent in the pre-
vious year.
Across the UK, the local au-
thority ranked worst was Pen-
dle, in Lancashire, which had
a child poverty rate of 44.6 per
cent It was followed by Brad-
ford at 44.2 per cent and Old-
ham at 42.9 per cent.
Relative low income is de-
fined as any family claiming
child benefit and at least one
other household benefit (such
as universal credit, tax credits
or housing benefit) at any
point in the financial year, the
Press Association (PA) reports.
A Leicester City Council
spokesperson said the author-
ity was determined to work
closely with partners to make
sure people’s lives in Leicester
were not blighted by poverty.
They said: “There’s a huge
amount of work going on lo-
cally to help tackle what is sig-
nificant issue, not just in
Leicester, but in all UK cities.
“This includes a range of
support such as the promo-
tion of free school meals, debt
and budgeting advice, and
help to ensure that people are
receiving the benefits they are
entitled to.”
Across the UK, the number
of children living in poverty
reached a record high in the
year to March 2024, with 4.45
million children estimated to
be in households in relative
low income. This latest figure
is the highest since compara-
ble records for the UK began
in 2002-2003, PA said.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves
has insisted the government’s
plans to support people into
work “will result in more peo-
ple having fulfilling careers
paying decent wages and, of
course, that’s the best way to
lift families out of poverty”.
However, the government’s
own impact assessment, publi-
shed last month, estimated wel-
fare reforms could see 250,000
more people, including 50,000
children, fall into poverty by
2029-2030. (Local Democracy
Reporting Service)
COVENTRY libraries
are likely to move to
new buildings where
they will have fewer re-
sources available,
writes Ellie Brown.
Plans to relocate li-
braries in Bell Green,
Coundon and Holb-
rooks are set to be rub-
ber-stamped by coun-
cillors later this month.
The move comes de-
spite a plea by hun-
dreds of people to not
move the services in
petitions earlier this
year. Most surveyed by
the council on the
plans believed it would
have a negative impact,
according to new
council papers.
Officials also found
the changes will overall
have a “potentially
negative” overall im-
pact. Children, the el-
derly and disabled
people could be hit
hardest by libraries
moving further away,
they wrote in an equal-
ity impact assessment.
Officers confirmed
that libraries will have
fewer books and com-
puters available after
the move. But they
claimed that the im-
pact of this will be re-
duced somewhat.
Most of the comput-
ers are not used at the
moment, stock will ro-
tate and the new build-
ings will be within
three miles of the old
ones, they said. Some
people will not have as
far to travel and the li-
braries will still run
events and activities.
Scrutiny councillors
will have the chance to
ask questions on the
move at a meeting
scheduled for Thurs-
day (10), after Eastern
Eye went to print on
Tuesday (8). Cabinet
members will then be
asked to approve the
plans at a meeting next
Tuesday (15).
If they give the bid
their backing, plans for
the libraries will start
their “first phase” in
autumn this year.
As well as the librar-
ies, the council is set to
move adult social care
offices and its support-
ing families team to
other council build-
ings. (Local Democracy
Reporting Service)
Concern over high child poverty rates in Leicester
Coventry libraries set to move
NOTTINGHAMSHIRE county
council has had more foster car-
ers joining the service than leav-
ing for the first time since before
the Covid-19 pandemic, writes
Lauren Monaghan.
In the past six months, fewer
foster carers left the council, with
a rise in applications and appro-
vals. It has resulted in an increase
in foster carers in March 2025 –
the first rise since before the
pandemic, the authority said.
Nottinghamshire county
council, Nottingham city council,
Derbyshire county council and
Derby city council are currently
running a joint campaign to re-
cruit more foster carers for the
local authorities.
Its new name is ‘Foster for
East Midlands Councils’. It was
originally launched in March
2024, with money coming from
the four member councils and
the Department for Education.
An update on the project was
discussed in Nottinghamshire
county council’s corporate par-
enting panel last Tuesday (1).
The meeting was told the
scheme will now be funded for
the next year until March 2026.
Councillor Mike Introna (Con)
said efforts to increase fostering
in the county are “going in the
right direction”.
He said: “[We’ve] got a consid-
erably higher number of people
across hurdles to become foster
parents”, and wondered if more
could be done to support foster
carers and encourage others to
sign up to the service.
“Stuff like free bus travel, pos-
sible assistance with healthcare,
maybe long service payments, or
accrue a payment each year
you’re a foster carer,” he said.
Councillor Anne Callaghan
(Lab) said: “How can we incenti-
vise [fostering]? It might be looking
at increasing pay, looking at fur-
ther training, a pension scheme.”
As of last Thursday (3), there
were 187 foster carers working
for the council’s service com-
pared to 194 this time last year,
but there were also 59 fewer
looked after children in the
council’s care with 900 currently.
On the importance of children
in care being cared for in a home
environment, Callaghan said:
“We do have quite a lot of chil-
dren in care, we don’t want them
out of area either, we want them
close to home.
“For whatever reason family
relationships broke down, these
children have come into care
and they still need to have their
local links. Some of them still
need to attend the school their
friends are, that’s their one con-
stant in their life sometimes and
it’s really important.” (Local De-
mocracy Reporting Service)
East Midlands recruitment drive results in more foster carers joining the service
TRAFFIC TRENDS: Pedestrians make up a large
part of the number of those killed or seriously
injured on Bradford’s roads, figures show
REFORM RISK: There is a
range of support available
to help people, a city
council spokesperson said
© Paul Ellis/AFP via Getty Images
© Daniel Leal/AFP via Getty Images
News
Instagram.com/easterneyenews/ • www.easterneye.biz • April 11, 2025
A 15-YEAR-OLD boy and a
13-year-old girl were found
guilty on Tuesday (8) of the
manslaughter of 80-year-old
Bhim Kohli, who died last year
following an attack while walk-
ing his dog in a Leicester park.
The teenagers, who cannot be
named due to their age, were con-
victed after a six-week trial at
Leicester crown court.
Kohli was assaulted in Frank-
lin Park, Braunstone Town, on
the evening of September 1 last
year. He died in hospital the fol-
lowing day from injuries sus-
tained in the attack.
The boy was found not guilty of
murder. The girl was convicted for
encouraging the incident by point-
ing out the victim, filming the as-
sault on her phone, and laughing.
The pair are due to be sen-
tenced on May 20.
According to evidence present-
ed, Kohli left his home on Bram-
ble Way at 6.18pm on September
1, 2024, to walk his dog, Rocky.
CCTV footage showed the teen-
agers and three other youths en-
tering the park three minutes lat-
er. Within minutes, the 15-year-
old approached Kohli, verbally
abused him, and slapped him
with a slider. The girl recorded
parts of the incident on her phone.
The court heard the boy had
been told Kohli had previously hit
another teenager with a stick,
though this was not confirmed. As
the boy shouted at Kohli, the oth-
er three teenagers left. The boy
put on a balaclava before the
physical assault.
After the attack, the pair were
seen running out of the park at
6.28pm. Kohli’s grandson found
him lying on the ground. Emer-
gency services arrived soon after.
Kohli told them he had been at-
tacked by a boy who made a racist
comment and hit and kicked him.
He was taken to hospital and
later died from a neck injury and
rib fractures. The injuries were
caused during the attack.
Police arrested five teenagers
initially. The 15-year-old boy,
who was 14 at the time, was
charged a day after being arrest-
ed. The three other friends were
released with no further action.
The girl, who was 12 at the
time, was later charged in Decem-
ber after footage was recovered
from her phone.
Detectives also found Snapchat
messages where the boy admitted
the assault and claimed Kohli had
pulled a knife – something the
court found was not true.
Detective chief inspector Mark
Sinski said: “Bhim Kohli was sim-
ply doing what he did every day,
walking his dog… attacked by a
teenage boy, who was encour-
aged by a teenage girl.”
Due to prior police contact
with Kohli, the case was re-
ferred to the Independent Office
for Police Conduct. The investiga-
tion is being handled locally and
the report has been submitted to
the IOPC.
Teens guilty
of Kohli death
Don’t have ID? Apply for free voter ID now
Find out more at electoralcommission.org.uk/voterID
FOREIGN SECRETARY
David Lammy said last
Saturday (5) it was
“unacceptable” that Is-
rael had detained two
UK MPs and denied
them entry.
Labour’s Yuan Yang
and Abtisam Mohamed
flew from London to Is-
rael, but were blocked
from entering the
country and deported,
media reported.
“It is unacceptable,
counterproductive,
and deeply concerning
that two British MPs on
a parliamentary dele-
gation to Israel have
been detained and re-
fused entry by the Is-
raeli authorities,” Lam-
my said in a statement.
“I have made clear
to my Israeli counter-
parts that this is no way
to treat British parlia-
mentarians, and we
have been in contact
with both MPs tonight
to offer our support.
“The UK govern-
ment’s focus remains
securing a return to the
ceasefire and negotia-
tions to stop the blood-
shed, free the hostages
and end the conflict in
Gaza.” In a joint state-
ment, the two MPs said
they were “astounded
at the unprecedented
step” taken by Israel.
But Israel said their
claim to be part of an
official parliamentary
delegation was false, as
no Israeli body was
aware of such a visit.
“Further questioning
revealed that the pur-
pose of their visit was
to document the ac-
tions of Israeli security
forces and spread hate
speech against Israel,”
added the interior min-
istry statement.
The incident sparked
a row between Lammy
and Conservative lead-
er Kemi Badenoch,
who told Sky News last
Sunday (6) she was
“very concerned”
about Labour MPs’
rhetoric on Israel and
“not surprised” the pair
were detained.
Lammy wrote on X:
“It’s disgraceful you are
cheerleading another
country for detaining
and deporting two Brit-
ish MPs.”
A DRUG dealer who master-
minded the import and sale of
cocaine and heroin worth
more than £4 million has been
jailed for 18 years, after Na-
tional Crime Agency (NCA) in-
vestigators identified him
from secret phone messages.
Heemal Vaid, 49, of Cheam,
used EncroChat – an encrypt-
ed phone service for criminals
– to broker deals, not knowing
that in 2020, an international
law enforcement team would
crack EncroChat’s encryption.
Thousands of unattributed
messages exchanged by Vaid
under the pseudonym “Stark-
cake” were passed to the NCA,
which led Operation Venetic –
the UK response to the take-
down of EncroChat by interna-
tional colleagues.
Investigators pored
through the messages, subse-
quently identifying that Stark-
cake arranged for 96 kg of co-
caine, worth £3.6m, to be im-
ported from Brazil over a
month in 2020, and for further
amounts of up to 15 kg to be
imported from the Nether-
lands every week.
The messages revealed that
Starcake was also arrang-
ing the supply of 20 kg of
heroin and one kg of cocaine
in the UK.
Lead investigating officer
Luke Seldon said: “As investi-
gators painstakingly examined
each of Starkcake’s messages it
became clear that he was a
linchpin in the criminal world.
“Starkcake had the links to
drugs suppliers overseas and
those selling potentially fatal
substances on UK streets. His
messages revealed he was also
a professional money launder-
er, managing and hiding mil-
lions of pounds that he and
others made from crime.”
Investigators arrested Vaid
at his home address during a
raid in April 2024.
The evidence gathered was
so compelling that Vaid plead-
ed guilty to 12 drugs and pro-
ceeds of crime charges, and a
count of conspiracy to black-
mail, relating to threats he
made to a debtor.
Lammy: Israel wrong to detain MPs
Drug dealer gets 18 years in jail
DEFENDANTS TO BE SENTENCED NEXT MONTH
CASE CLOSED:
Bhim Kohli
Comment
April 11, 2025 • Twitter.com/easterneye
Facebook.com/easterneye
ASIAN communities are known for
their strong family links – mostly this
is seen as an advantage, but a recent
report has shown how preconceived
notions can pose difficulties.
A survey last month by the nation-
al charity Kinship and Rees Centre at
the University of Oxford outlined the
experiences of black and Asian kin-
ship carers who said they felt aban-
doned by the system as their requests
for help went unheeded.
A lack of understanding of cultural
nuances by authorities meant such
families were unable to access sup-
port even when it was available.
One mixed-race kinship carer
spoke of his struggles to answer his
white niece’s questions on identity
and skin colour differences.
Another (Asian) participant re-
called how a white social worker
commented on their ‘nice house’.
Children’s Services were blamed
for assuming that large families meant
stable and enduring networks, leaving
carers having to explain that fragile
relationships could break down,
which has an impact on both young
children and the kinship carers.
Campaigners who call for the
adoption and pursuit of diversity
across all sectors understand why
this is important. Having someone
who understands – without the need
for a lengthy explanation about the
whys and hows – can be an invalua-
ble experience for kinship carers.
More should be done to raise
awareness of the gaps in access to
such services so that everyone has
the vital support they need to raise
children in a stable, nurturing and
loving environment.
Kinship carer concerns
Tell us what you think
Want to say something about the stories in Eastern
Eye or simply got a viewpoint you think should be
heard? We want to hear from you so write to us and
we will consider publishing your response, if it is topi-
cal. We reserve the right to edit letters.
Email [email protected]
’
by SUNDER KATWALA
Director, British Future
GEORGE ORWELL’S 1984 was the
most influential novel of the 20th
century.
It was intended as a dystopian war-
ning, though I have an uneasy feeling
that its depiction of a world split into
three great power blocs – Oceania,
Eurasia and Eastasia – may increas-
ingly now be seen in US president
Donald Trump’s White House, Russi-
an president Vladimir Putin’s Krem-
lin or China president Xi Jingping’s
Zhongnanhai compound in Beijing
more as some kind of training manu-
al or world map to aspire to instead.
Orwell was writing in 1948, when
1984 seemed a distantly futuristic
date that he would make legendary.
Yet, four more decades have taken us
now further beyond 1984 than Orwell
was ahead of it.
The tariff trade wars unleashed
from the White House last week make
it more likely that future historians will
now identify the 2024 return of Trump
to the White House as finally calling
the post-war world order to an end.
The great power conflict which Or-
well imagined differs from our emer-
ging world disorder. As the cold war
alliances of his era took shape, Orwell
put America, Russia and China in ri-
val blocs. So Orwell had “Eurasia”
stretching from Russia across all of
Europe, though Stalin’s successors
only went on to control the eastern
half of the continent in the decades to
1989. Orwell’s London was no longer
a national capital. Britain was simply
“Airstrip One” to signal its subservi-
ence within the English-speaking
world that Orwell labels “Oceania”.
Yet the Trump-Putin axis is key to
Washington’s rejection of the
core assumptions of western
security and economic policy.
So what is Trump up to?
Almost every economist has
explained the irrationality of
his tariffs – if they are consid-
ered in economic terms. The
theory of comparative advan-
tage explains why trade can be
of mutual benefit.
But Trump is a zero-sum think-
er for whom there must always
be a winner and a loser. So
these were not so-called
“reciprocal tariffs”, where
the US might emulate the tariffs that it
faces, as a bargaining chip to try to
negotiate them away. Instead, a crude
blanket global formula reflected the
Trump trade doctrine that any coun-
try managing to export more to Amer-
ica than it imports must be “cheating”
at trade – and that the optimum trade
balance with every country, however
rich or poor, is zero. A president who
campaigned on lowering inflation
will hike up prices for Americans – on
the false prospectus that it is foreign
countries who pay for tariffs.
Trump’s tariffs are ultimately about
political power, not economics. His
protectionism is the power play of the
protection racket. The invisible
hand of the market is
replaced by the pre-
sidential power to
grant favoured ac cess
to countries abroad,
or sectors and insti-
tutions at home,
prepared to pledge
loyalty and offer fe-
alty to Trump.
Modi’s India
may be Washington’s top target for
showing that there are still deals to be
done. Smaller developing countries,
like Bangladesh, which faces a 37 per
cent tariff, will be hit hard, as sky-high
tariffs follow deep cuts in develop-
ment aid too.
Britain has often been cast satiri-
cally as America’s 51st state – though
Trump now pushes that label on a
deeply unwilling Canada. His likely
reward there looks set to be the back-
lash of an anti-Trump landslide in
this month’s Canadian election. Seek-
ing a mandate on the campaign trail,
the new prime minister, Mark Carney,
has been the leader to speak most
clearly about how much has changed.
British prime minister Sir Keir
Starmer and opposition Conservative
leader Kemi Badenoch sound much
less sure about how to respond. Both
declare that this is the end of an era –
and it will be important to keep calm
and strike a sensible trade deal with
Trump. Starmer hopes to reset the
UK-EU relationship too.
The genius of Orwell’s fictional de-
piction of a post-truth world was its
insistence on always aligning the past
with the present. When allies and en-
emies change sides, enormous effort
goes into rewriting newspaper archi-
ves. In reality, adapting to founda-
tional shifts is much harder to come
to terms with.
America has been a partner for
Britain and Europe for decades in se-
curity, trade and multilateral institu-
tions. But the Trump administration
is not merely retreating into isolation.
Its disdain for NATO, appetite for
trade wars and social media attacks
on erstwhile allies go much further.
Leaders and the public alike lack a
mental map or language for an unfa-
miliar world in which an American
government appears to present a new
threat from the West to our peace,
prosperity and democracy.
Despite the dystopian fears of 1984,
the post-war era in which Orwell
wrote was a time of hope, too. The
constructive creativity of that age
shaped peace and prosperity in its
time. Avoiding the nightmare scenar-
ios today may depend on how far
democratic leaders can somehow re-
vive that spirit.
‘Trump’s new world order
recalls Orwellian dystopia’
LONG before Donald Trump’s
“Liberation Day” announce-
ment, the United States had
toyed with imposing high tariffs
throughout its history, with in-
conclusive – and sometimes cat-
astrophic – results.
“We have a 20th-century pres-
ident in a 21st-century economy
who wants to take us back to the
19th century,” Dartmouth Col-
lege economics professor Doug-
las Irwin posted on X.
The 19th century marked the
golden age of tariffs in the US,
with an average rate regularly
flirting with 50 per cent.
The century extended a doc-
trine adopted since the country’s
founding, which advocated for
the protection of the American
economy as it underwent a peri-
od of industrialisation.
“Careful studies of that period
suggest that the tariffs did help
protect domestic development of
industry to some degree,” said
Keith Maskus, a professor at the
University of Colorado. “But the
two more important factors were
access to international labor, and
capital... which was flowing in the
United States during that period.”
Christopher Meissner, a pro-
fessor at the University of Cali-
fornia, Davis, said in addition to
these factors, “the reason we had
a thriving industrial sector in the
United States was we had great
access to natural resources.”
These resources included
coal, oil, iron ore, copper and
timber – all of which were cru-
cial to industry.
Shortly after taking office in
January, Trump said: “We were
at our richest from 1870 to 1913.”
The 78-year-old Republican
often references former US presi-
dent William McKinley, who was
behind one of the country’s most
restrictive tariff laws passed in
1890. They did not prevent im-
ports from continuing to grow in
the years that followed, although
once customs duties were low-
ered in 1894, the amount of
goods the US purchased abroad
remained below previous peaks.
In 1929, Harvard professor
George Roorbach wrote: “Since
the end of the Civil War (1865),
during which the United States
has been under a protective sys-
tem almost, if not quite, without
interruption, our import trade
has enormously expanded.”
A year later, the nation tight-
ened the screws with tariffs
again, this time under Republi-
can president Herbert Hoover.
The Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act
of 1930 is best remembered “for
triggering a global trade war and
deepening the Great Depressi on”,
according to the Center for Stra-
tegic and International Studies.
“What generated the depres-
sion... was a lot of complicated
factors, but the tariff increase is
one of them,” said Maskus.
The end of the Second World
War marked the start of a new
era in trade, defined by the ratifi-
cation in 1947 by 23 countries –
including the US – of the GATT
free trade agreement. It created
conditions for the development
of international trade by imposing
more moderate customs duties.
The momentum was maintai-
ned by the North American Free
Trade Agreement (NAFTA) be-
tween the US, Mexico and Cana-
da, which took effect in 1994.
Alongside NAFTA, free trade
in the US was further expanded
by the creation of the World
Trade Organization in 1995, and
a 2004 free trade agreement be-
tween the US and several Central
American countries.
During his first term in office,
Trump decided on new tariffs
against China, many of which
were maintained under his suc-
cessor, Joe Biden. But despite
these levies, the US trade deficit
with China continued to grow
until 2022, when Beijing was hit
by a brutal economic slowdown.
For Maskus, the tariffs did not
do much to prevent the growth
of imports from China. (AFP)
TARIFFS MORE ABOUT POLITICAL POWER THAN ECONOMICS, SAYS EXPERT
© Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
© Aaron Tam/AFP
via Getty Images
FRIGHTENING FUTURE? Donald Trump announcing
tariffs during what he called ‘Liberation Day’ at the
White House last Wednesday (2); (right) George
Orwell’s 1984; and (inset below) Sunder Katwala
High US levies ‘deepened the Great Depression and triggered trade wars’
Column
Instagram.com/easterneyenews/ • www.easterneye.biz • April 11, 2025
Amit Roy
Amit Roy
“THE British left all this behind,”
says Gaya Prasad Sitaram, with
an expansive sweep of his hand.
He is indicating the trees in
the Botanic Gardens in Kolkata
where the 76-year-old, who owns
a sari store in nearby Howrah,
takes his morning walk.
The gardens were founded in
1787 by Colonel Robert Kyd, an
East India Company army offic-
er. A major change in policy was
introduced by the botanist Wil-
liam Roxburgh after he became
superintendent of the gardens
in 1793. Roxburgh brought in
plants from all over India and
developed an extensive herbari-
um. There is a plan to restore
the house, which was home to
Roxburgh, revered as the “father
of Indian botany”.
I arrived at 8am with my
niece and brother-in-law to es-
cape the heat of the day. Instead
of going to the holy Ganges, I
find the lotus pond where I toss
in a lipstick and a hairpin in
painful memory of a lost love.
Once known as the Royal Bo-
tanic Gardens and then the Cal-
cutta Botanic Gardens, the
place is now called the Acharya
Jagadish Chandra Bose Indian
Botanic Garden. (Later I ring
Cipla chairman Yusuf Hamied
in Spain and tell him that Bose,
like him, studied science at
Christ’s College, Cambridge).
Bose discovered radio waves
before Marconi, and later showed
that plants respond to light.
Sitaram said there are 14,000
species of trees and plants in
the gardens which cover some
270 acres. The star attraction is
the ‘Great Banyan Tree’, be-
lieved to be 250 years old. It was
recorded to be the largest tree
specimen in the world in the
Guinness Book of World Records
in 1989. It has survived cyclones
in 1864, 1867, and 2020.
The Great Banyan, which is
protected by a circular fence,
appears more like a dense forest
than as an individual tree.
Club legacy of the Raj
THE British departed India when
the country they had ruled more
or less or 200 years became inde-
pendent in 1947.
But what they left behind, espe-
cially in Calcutta (now called Kol-
kata), are their clubs. Then, as
now, they remain a sanctuary for
the city’s elite.
One evening, I am invited to din-
ner at the Bengal Club by a friend,
Devdan Mitra, deputy editor of the
Telegraph, an English-language
newspaper. The club, the oldest in
India, will celebrate its 200th anni-
versary in February 2027.
Devdan’s position as a member
of the food sub-committee is an
exalted one, for the Bengal Club
prides itself on its culinary excel-
lence. It has a reputation for its
lobster thermidor, though I am
happy with the grilled beckti.
The beckti, or barramundi fish,
is known by many names around
the world, including giant perch
and Australian seabass.
“Our beckti is the fresh river va-
riety, not sea beckti, which isn’t as
nice,” says Devdan.
For dessert, I am persuaded to
share a soufflé with him.
Once upon a time, Indians were
not allowed into the club, as Lord
Minto discovered when he invited
Sir Rajendra Nath Mookerjee, a
Ben gali nobleman, to dinner in
1906. “But he’s my guest,” protest-
ed Minto when the doorman
barred the Indian from entering
the premises.
The doorman was not impres-
sed that Minto was viceroy and
governor-general of India (from
November 1905 to November 1910).
“Rules are rules,” he said.
An embarrassed Minto prom-
ised his guest: “I will get you the
land to start your own club where
there will be no discrimination.”
In such a manner was the Cal-
cutta Club born in 1907. Its first
president was the Maharajah of
Cooch Behar, Sir Nripendra Naray-
an. The Prince of Wales, later King
Edward VIII, had lunch at the club
on December 28, 1921.
Today, the club has a ‘Nirad C
Chaudhuri corner’, housing rare
books, paintings and awards that
had once belonged to the eminent
author who spent the last decades
of his life in Oxford.
In fact, I actually rescued his
belongings when they were about
to be stolen and arranged for them
to be shipped to the Calcutta Club
after the author died in Oxford in
1999. But that is another story.
Meanwhile, in the dining room
of the Bengal Club, the turbanned
waiters were moving about like
Jeeves. I asked Devdan about one
of the several portraits of English-
men that still hang in the club. It
was that of Charles Metcalfe, the
son of a major general who was the
club’s second president and held
the post for 11 years until 1838.
The Bengalis have decided not
to take down the portraits of those
who once lorded it over India.
“They are part of our history,”
Devdan points out.
As I leave, I notice a marble
plaque which says the Bengal Club
had once been Lord Macaulay’s
house. He had considered it to be
“the best in Calcutta”.
I believe it’s the same (Thomas
Babington) Macaulay who once
boasted: “A single shelf of a good
European library was worth the
whole native literature of India
and Arabia.”
Part of me wishes the British
had settled in India and, in time,
said the opposite of Rishi Sunak:
“Of course, I am Indian.”
Views in this column do not necessarily reflect those of the newspaper
SANCTUARIES FOR COLONIAL ELITE NOW POPULAR WITH INDIANS
CULTURE secretary Lisa
Nandy, the only person of
Indian origin in prime
minister Sir Keir Starmer’s
cabinet, will reportedly be
visiting Mumbai and Del-
hi at the end of the month.
As a sort of “homecom-
ing”, Lisa ought to swing
by Kolkata.
There was a
time when
I used to
write qu-
ite a bit
about
her father, Dipak K Nandy,
an academic who was ac-
tive in race relations and
was the first director of
the Runnymede Trust.
He was born in Calcutta
in 1936, went to Britain in
1956, and turns 89 on May
21. He first married Marga-
ret Gracie, a fellow student
at Leeds, in 1964. Lisa was
born in 1979, from his se-
cond marriage to (Ann)
Luise Byers, a daughter
of Lord Byers, leader of
the Liberals in the
House of Lords.
I am also told that
Lisa “wants to en-
gage with the di-
aspora commu-
nity”, so perhaps
she should at-
tend Eastern
Eye’s Arts, Cul-
ture & Theatre
Awards (ACTA)
on May 23.
IN THE 14 years that I
have been away for vari-
ous personal reasons, Kol-
kata, I find, hasn’t changed
that much.
But I have very quickly
got used to the way of life
here. The loud dawn cho-
rus at home includes a
very noisy kokil (koel in
Hindi and the long-tailed
cuckoo in English).
We have more trees here
than almost anywhere else
in the city. And the kites
wheeling high in the sky
remind me of the Kipling
poem that precedes The
Jungle Book: Now Chil the
Kite brings home the night/
That Mang the Bat sets
free/ The herds are shut in
byre and hut,/For loosed
till dawn are we./
This is the hour of pride
and power,/ Talon and
tush and claw./
Oh, hear the call!/ Good
hunting all/That keep the
Jungle Law!”
I have been reading my
niece’s PhD thesis on the
women of the Sunderban
forests that separate West
Bengal from Bangladesh.
This is also tiger country,
where villagers are snat-
ched if they venture into
the forests to collect honey.
My niece received a stan-
ding ovation from her exa-
miners when she formally
presented her thesis at the
Tata Institute of Social Sci-
ences: Gender Dimensions
of Livelihood Diversifica-
tion: A study in the Sunder-
ban region of West Bengal.
What has caused a so-
cial revolution is that most
urban women are educat-
ed and in the workforce.
None of the UK’s “can’t
work or won’t work”.
But my niece will have
to leave West Bengal to
find employment in aca-
demia. Like everyone in
India, she uses her mobile
phone for everything.
Nandy’s ‘homecoming’
Cuckoos in dawn chorus
Wonders of the city’s Great Banyan Tree
in Kolkata
TIMELESS CHARM: The Great Banyan Tree; and
(above left) the lotus pond in the Botanic Gardens
FAMILY TIES:
Lisa Nandy
SENSE OF
HISTORY: Amit Roy
with the Lord
Macaulay plaque;
and (above, from
left) the Calcutta
Club; and the
Bengal Club lawns
ANIMAL PLANET:
The Sunderbans
is tiger country
© Carl Court/
Getty Images
© Calcutta Club Limited
© Deshakalyan Chowdhury/
AFP via Getty Images
by PRAMOD THOMAS
ASIAN and black kinship carers “feel
abandoned” by services meant to
assist them, a new survey has said, as
many feeling “overlooked in favour of
white relatives”.
Kinship carers are family members or
friends who care for a child when their
parents are unable to do so.
Statistics indicate that one in five of the
120,000 children in kinship care in Eng-
land is being cared for by a minority eth-
nic carer.
A lack of cultural competence and sys-
temic racism within services is failing
both kinship carers and the children they
are raising, the report found.
Titled Raised by Relatives; The experi-
ences of Black and Asian kinship carers the
survey revealed some carers felt their eth-
nicity or experiences of racism influenced
the decisions made by professionals.
“Many of these carers are “feeling
abandoned” by the services meant to as-
sist them,” according to the report.
“They reported feeling they had no
choice but to take on the responsibility,
often making quick decisions with limit-
ed information.
“This situation is often exacerbated by
financial strain, emotional challenges,
and the practical difficulties of raising a
child,” the study concluded.
It was based on interviews and assess-
ments with 37 kinship carers from black
and Asian communities and was pub-
lished last month.
Carers revealed that social workers of-
ten made assumptions about their sup-
port networks, assuming that large ex-
tended families automatically equated to
readily available support. However, car-
ers often had additional caring responsi-
bilities and faced a gradual disengage-
ment of support from the wider family
over time, the report said.
An Asian carer said, “My family is large,
and my husband’s family is even bigger.
But the issue was that in my community,
looking after each other is just the norm.
Children’s Services saw my mum and all
my sisters helping out, coming and going,
and we were always doing things togeth-
er. The social workers noticed this and
assumed, ‘Oh, you’ve got a supportive
network, so you’re fine.’ They failed to
recognise that my niece needed support.
Instead, they just saw it as ‘You’ve got a
big family, that typical Asian community.’
One of them even said to me, ‘Many peo-
ple don’t have that.’ I told them, ‘I don’t
care about that. That’s not the point.’”
A British Pakistani aunt said, “They
(Children Services) need to stop stereo-
typing, when they’re doing the assess-
ments of carers with a bigger extended
family who have those networks. The
networks can break down. There are bar-
riers to those networks. Speak to any
Asian family; they’ll tell you there are bar-
riers and stress,”
“The way we’ve been brought up with
these extended family strong networks –
the stress is ridiculous. I mean, you look at
each family; there’s somebody with men-
tal health because of this trauma, depres-
sion and adverse childhood experiences.”
One British Indian carer described an
incident where professionals objected to
her bringing Asian food for her grandsons
during contact visits.
“We used to attend the contact centre
regularly when we were allowed, and we
used to take them our food, our chapati
and curry, because they were used to
that, and they loved it. A few weeks later,
the local authority decided that we
shouldn’t be taking food; we should only
take a packet of crisps or something be-
cause the boys were looking forward to
the food too much, and we were not hav-
ing enough interaction. The boys would
ask why haven’t you brought the chapatis
and the curry,” she said.
The report also stressed the need for
better financial support for kinship car-
ers, recognising the unique role they play.
Additionally, it highlighted the impor-
tance of providing culturally appropriate
services to address the specific needs of
black and Asian kinship carers. The report
also recommended improved support for
children in kinship care within schools,
including measures to prevent bullying.
It also suggested offering support to
the birth children of kinship carers, who
may also be affected by the changes with-
in their family.
Dr Priya Tah and professor Julie Selwyn
from the Rees Centre at the University
of Oxford Department of Education,
who led the research said, “The report
addresses a gap in knowledge, as the
research enabled black and Asian kinship
carers the space to share their experienc-
es of raising a family member’s child.
“Universally, kinship carers need extra
financial support and help to address
children’s needs and feel that they are not
navigating the challenges on their own.
Black and Asian carers’ experiences were
intensified by assumptions made by ser-
vices, the absence of support groups tai-
lored for specific ethnic groups and the
impact of systemic racism on the carers
and children they were raising.”
Lucy Peake, chief executive of Kinship
said, “Our report shows that ethnicity
plays a significant role in shaping the
challenges and access to support experi-
enced by kinship carers from black and
Asian communities.
“It’s vital that we listen to and learn
from Black and Asian kinship carers who
are often being let down by professionals
who fail to understand their specific
needs and use the report to improve poli-
cy and practice across the sector to better
support these families.”
News
10
April 11, 2025 • Twitter.com/easterneye
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ETHNIC FAMILIES URGE SERVICES TO ADDRESS CULTURAL NEGLECT AND FINANCIAL STRAIN
‘Minority carers battle racial
bias in broken kinship system’
A TWO-PHASE public inquiry
began on Monday (7) into the
killing of three girls in Southport
last year, which triggered Brit-
ain’s worst riots in decades.
Bebe King, aged six, Elsie Dot
Stancombe, seven, and nine-
year-old Alice da Silva Aguiar
died in the stabbing spree at a
Taylor Swift-themed dance class.
Axel Rudakubana, now 18, al-
so attempted to kill eight other
children and two adults.
He was jailed in January for a
minimum of 52 years.
Launching the probe, home
secretary Yvette Cooper said the
first phase would “thoroughly
investigate” the circumstances of
the July 29 attack in the north-
western seaside town, including
Rudakubana’s multiple interac-
tions with public authorities.
Rudakubana had repeated
contact with the police, courts
and welfare services as well as
the government’s counter-terror
programme Prevent, but all
failed to spot the risk he posed.
The second phase would ex-
amine the wider issue of young
people being drawn towards ex-
treme violence.
“We owe it to their families,
and all those affected to quickly
understand what went wrong,
answer difficult questions and
do everything in our power to
prevent something like this from
happening again,” Cooper said,
describing the murders as an
“unimaginable tragedy”.
After his arrest, police found
violent content on Rudakubana’s
devices including images of
dead bodies, victims of torture,
beheadings, and cartoons de-
picting violence and rape.
The probe, with legal powers
to compel witnesses to give evi-
dence, will be chaired by retired
senior judge Adrian Fulford.
Southport stabbings probe examines institutional failings
EUROPEAN visitors to Britain
will have to purchase an elec-
tronic permit in advance for
trips, as the UK government fol-
lows other countries in seeking
to strengthen immigration secu-
rity by screening people before
they cross its borders.
The Electronic Travel Author-
isation (ETA) scheme requires all
visitors who do not need a visa to
enter Britain to purchase pre-
travel authorisation online at a
cost of £16 from Wednesday (9).
Irish citizens are excluded.
The regime was initially rolled
out to non-European nationals
last year, including visitors from
the US, Canada and Australia.
“Expanding ETA worldwide
cements our commitment to en-
hance security through technol-
ogy and innovation,” migration
minister Seema Malhotra said
last month.
Applying for an ETA should be
simple through the UK ETA app,
with the vast majority of appli-
cants receiving a decision auto-
matically in minutes, the Home
Office said.
Applicants provide a photo
and biographic details and an-
swer questions on suitability
and criminality. Once an appli-
cant has successfully applied,
their ETA is digitally linked to
their passport.
An ETA allows multiple visits
to the UK of up to six months
over a two-year period.
Airlines, ferry and train com-
panies will be responsible for
verifying the ETA status of travel-
lers before they board.
The UK received 22.5 million
visitors from the European Un-
ion in 2023, up from 19 million in
2022, according to official data.
The EU’s much delayed post-
Brexit border security checks for
UK nationals entering the bloc
are slated to be introduced in Oc-
tober. Britain left the EU in 2020.
European visitors must now pay £16 permit fee before entering Britain
OVERLOOKED: One in five
children in kinship care in
England is cared for by a
minority ethnic carer
SCARS REMAIN: A vigil
held in Southport after the
fatal stabbings last year
© Dan Kitwood/Getty Images