Free Christmas meals, a Black woman's statue in Downing Street & RIP Dr Aggrey Burke
Plus: Remembering Sam Sharpe's Christmas rebellion against British tyranny in our final news roundup of 2025
Good afternoon everyone,
As the year winds down and many of us shift into a slower, more reflective pace, we wanted to say thank you for riding with Black Current News.
This final In Focus of 2025 brings together stories of justice, resistance, accountability and joy, alongside moments of Black joy worth pausing for.
We’ll be taking a short break over the Christmas period, so there will be no weekly round-up next week.
We will, however, be back during the week commencing 5 January 2026, life spare, with more of the same: coverage relevant to Black communities.
Wishing you all a restful and enjoyable festive period!
Good news
Reece, a café owner in the Midlands, is preparing to serve more than 100 free dinners to people who are struggling this Christmas
A south London eatery is giving away free Christmas dinner, too. More information here
Ruth Ibegbuna: statue of a Black woman displayed in Downing Street
Michelle Agyemang wins BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year award
Frank Bruno receives Freedom of the City of London
Harlesden to honour reggae pioneers with commemorative paving stones
Black barrister secures unanimous murder acquittal at the Old Bailey
Kenya’s David Munyua has become the first African person to win the Paddy Power World Darts Championship in London
Mental Health Act overhaul becomes law, pledging to tackle higher detention rates faced by Black communities
Landmark reforms to mental health legislation have now come into effect across England, promising stronger patient rights and an end to long-standing racial disparities.
Black people are currently more than three times as likely to be detained, a gap that ministers say the new law is designed to close.
Historic Black cultural hub denied heritage status
A community centre credited with stopping race riots in north-west London in the 1980s is facing demolition after a bid for it to be granted heritage protection was rejected.
Harlesden People’s Community Council (HPCC) launched a public campaign last year for Bridge Park Community Centre in Harlesden to be recognised as a national heritage site.
GB News presenter apologises after falsely claiming Meghan Markle’s Black mum had been imprisoned
GB News, a right-wing TV platform, has issued an on-air apology to Doria Ragland after a commentator wrongly claimed she had spent time in prison.
Ofcom received more than 800 complaints over the comments, which were later admitted to be based on online misinformation.
Dr Aggrey Burke, UK’s first Black consultant psychiatrist, has died
Dr Aggrey Burke, a pioneering psychiatrist who helped to transform understandings of Black mental health in Britain, has died. This sad news hasn’t been widely reported across mainstream media.
Born in Jamaica, Dr Burke spent decades challenging racism in psychiatric care and supporting families affected by state neglect, from the New Cross fire to the Windrush scandal.
Police leaders propose scrapping ‘non-crime hate incidents’ system
You can read the full article here. For those who don’t know: this system details hostile acts driven by prejudice, such as racist abuse or online harassment, that fall short of a criminal offence. They’re logged to track patterns of harm.
Campaigners are warning that any overhaul must not weaken protections for Black communities, who already face under-reporting of hate and disproportionate police scrutiny.
What else we’re reading
Black women face highest risk of being wrongly linked to crime by police facial recognition
Nubian Jak celebrates 30 years as iconic Black British board game relaunches
Nicki Minaj praises Trump as Black communities pay the price
Letters | ‘We abhor racism in Britain, but refuse to recognise where it comes from’
Manchester museum seeks help to uncover hidden histories of African collection
True origin of ‘first Black Briton’ revealed
Ethan McLeod: rising footballer, 21, dies in car crash after match
Sam Sharpe, Jamaica and the Christmas rebellion that shook Britain’s Empire
This Christmas marks nearly two centuries since enslaved African-Jamaican people, led by Baptist preacher Samuel Sharpe, aged 31, organised what became the largest uprising across Britain’s colonies. It’s known as the Baptist War and it took place in Jamaica.
Beginning as a peaceful strike on Christmas Day in 1831 and lasting until January 1832, the rebellion demanded freedom from enslavement.
The repression was brutal - Sir Sam and others were executed by British authorities for their involvement in the uprising - but its impact was seismic.
Within two years, the Abolition Bill was passed by the British parliament and in 1838, slavery was abolished. The powers that be knew it would be long for them to continue subjugating Black people; we weren’t going to keep having it.
During a recent trip to Jamaica, we made our usual pilgrimage to Sir Sam’s monument in Kingston. Standing there was a quiet reminder of what courage looks like, as well as the long arc between resistance and reform.
His is a legacy that continues to shape how we ought to understand Black rights, justice and self-determination today.
This ethos inspires Black Current News.
It’s worth thinking about Sir Sam’s example as 2025 draws to a close.
Got news, a tip, a story idea or thoughts on our coverage? Email admin@blackcurrentnews.co.uk. We read everything and take our community seriously.