Free blood pressure checks, sickle cell breakthrough and Mona Hammond honoured
Plus: How Jesse Jackson stood with Black Britain and saluting Ras Judah
Dear readers,
There’s movement everywhere right now, as always.
From cultural honours and community wins to goodbyes, health updates and hard-hitting investigations, this week’s round-up reflects the breadth of what’s shaping Black Britain and beyond.
Based on your feedback, we’ll be trialling Saturday editions for a while. Many of you told us that a weekend dispatch gives you more time to sit with the stories, scroll properly and engage without the rush of the working week, hustle or bustle. We hear you!
We also spent some time in Derby this week working on a heritage project, which was cute. More on that below.
As always, thank you for reading, sharing and backing independent Black-led journalism.
We’re building a record of Britain out here.
Good news
Online influencer Simply Sayo says her sister Becky is now sickle cell free following a sibling bone marrow transplant in December, after Sayo donated her stem cells for the procedure
Abeola Johnson started her own skincare line, Derma Warrior, after an eczema battle
Sinners actress Wunmi Mosaku won the Spotlight Artist Award at the Newport Beach Film Festival’s UK & Ireland Honours
Sir Lenny Henry supports Jamaica’s recovery after Hurricane Melissa
Ghana’s first female High Commissioner to the UK, H.E. Sabah Zita Benson, celebrated at London event
Author Pamela R Haynes shortlisted as finalist for the 2026 International Women’s Awards by Divas of Colour
Remembering Jesse Jackson: the civil rights giant who stood with Black Britain
Earlier this week, many of us were saddened to hear that US civil rights leader Reverend Jesse Jackson died. He was 84 years old.
Beyond his decades of campaigning in the United States, Jackson was a consistent presence in Black British political life.
From anti-apartheid protests in Trafalgar Square alongside Diane Abbott, Paul Boateng and Bernie Grant in 1985, to supporting Operation Black Vote, backing events that led to the launch of Black History Month in Britain and attending the unveiling of the Nelson Mandela statue in Parliament Square, to name a few examples, he repeatedly travelled to the UK to stand in solidarity with Black communities that faced structural inequalities.
I was honoured to pay tribute to Rev Jackson in the Guardian; his message to “keep hope alive” resonated on both sides of the Atlantic.
Mona Hammond, pioneering Jamaican-British actress, honoured with RADA and Talawa lecture series
The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and Talawa Theatre Company have announced the Mona Hammond Lecture Series, launching in September 2026.
Ms Mona, who died in 2022 aged 91, enjoyed a remarkable 50-year career, with roles ranging from Blossom Jackson in EastEnders to ‘Aunty Susu’ in the beloved sitcom Desmond’s.
A RADA graduate and co-founder of Talawa, she helped shape Black British theatre as we know it.
The three-year lecture series will address key industry issues while marking RADA’s 120th anniversary and Talawa’s 40th, Marcus Ryder, RADA’s chair, wrote online.
Free blood pressure checks launched as Black communities face higher hypertension risk
Free NHS blood pressure checks are now available at more than 350 Tesco pharmacies across the UK, as part of a partnership with the British Heart Foundation.
High blood pressure often has no obvious symptoms, yet up to five million adults in the UK may be living with it undiagnosed.
Given that Black communities face a higher risk of hypertension and related conditions such as stroke and kidney disease, knowing your numbers could be one of the simplest but most important steps you take this year.
Inventors win prize for hair-braiding robot. Imagine!
A US-based startup founded by Harvard Business School alumni Yinka Ogunbiyi and David Afolabi has won the 2025 President’s Innovation Challenge for its patent-pending hair-braiding robot.
The concept, called Halo Braid, is designed to support stylists by finishing braids they start, reducing styling time from hours to minutes and easing physical strain.
While the concept is US-based, this idea is bound to spark conversation far beyond America.
Anyone who has ever spent six to eight hours perched over a salon chair will understand the appeal.
‘Midwife told me to shut up’: Black mums describe ignored pain in UK maternity care
Black women across the UK say their pain was dismissed during childbirth, with some describing being ignored, denied pain relief and left traumatised.
The accounts add to growing concern over racial disparities in maternity care, with campaigners calling the pattern “insidious” rather than overtly racist.
Read this powerful report - and watch the full video (full credit to Sky News) - by Shamaan Freeman-Powell.
What else we’re reading
Police in Australia may be unfairly targeting Black people with warrantless search powers
Woman dies after unwitnessed cardiac arrest in A&E while awaiting mental health bed
TfL Facebook ad banned for ‘negative stereotype about Black men’
British and French groups write to airlines undertaking “cruel, inhumane and racist” deportations to France
MP warns that ending sickle cell emergency pilot ‘could be fatal’
Bukayo Saka becomes Arsenal’s highest-paid player as he signs five-year contract extension
Papa Eric Huntley, iconic Black British publisher, has been laid to rest
Prince Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was arrested - then released
Police issue statement on racist poster in Scotland bearing ‘n’ word (below)
Ras Judah Adunbi: Veteran race equality campaigner who challenged police injustice dies aged 70s
Judah Adunbi, known as Ras Judah, has died. He was in his early 70s.
A lifelong race relations campaigner, he was twice mistaken by Avon and Somerset Police for the same wanted man, including in 2017 when he was tasered in the face while walking his dog.
I interviewed Ras Judah for HuffPost UK in 2018, in the aftermath of those incidents. He was calm, warm and resolute.
“Why should Black people be treated any differently from anyone else in the UK? We should be treated with respect because we’re all human beings,” he told me.
He spoke about the toll it had taken: “Since being tasered, I’ve had difficulty sleeping and wake up in cold sweats. I suffered a stroke last June, my speech has been affected and one of my teeth broke.
“The fact that I might not have been alive to see my children and grandchildren, it has a heavy impact on me emotionally and psychologically”.
As well as being a respected elder in the Bristol community, Ras Judah was a passionate, principled man who never stopped insisting on dignity and equal treatment under the law. May he rest in peace.
Out and about!
We spent time in Derby earlier this week, working on a project exploring Caribbean migration stories.
While there, we visited the Hadari Project, a community centre serving Black elders through welfare, educational, social and recreational activities. The charity behind it has been running since 1982.
Ah, we were privileged to spend the day and evening there, chatting with folks, watching people - including our friend Mr Burchell Davidson - “slap two domino” during lively matches, ordering drinks from the on-site bar and tucking into an authentic Jamaican lunch together.
A reminder that heritage lives in places like this, sustained by people who keep culture, memory and connection alive.
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