B A N D O F L A

I guess the events of today, where the British Prime Minister was confirmed by the Metropolitan Police to have broken the (lockdown) law, has to dominate our Episode 47 headline! The British public will not forget - he who makes the law has broken his own laws, while families up and down the country were forbidden from visiting sick and dying relatives in hospitals. We will not forget. Boris Johns...

Episode 46 needs little introduction. Ukraine still rumbles on, great news on Nazanin finally being released, despite the best efforts of the Tory's, the scandal of child Q and we will also continue our focus on the cost of living crisis as we look at how on earth people are going to be able to pay their fuel bills. All this and much more...

The recent news has been dominated by the shocking events unfolding in Ukraine where Russia, under Vladimir Putin's orders has invaded Ukraine. A humanitarian crisis is unfolding before our eyes. Large parts of the world are offering huge support for Ukranian's fleeing the war. Bandofla is keen to highlight the plight of ALL refugees and we condemn the double standards we are seeing in terms of re...

Our key topics for this episode remember Holocaust Memorial Day and we also shine a light on just how bad Misogyny is as we get the latest on the shocking murder of Paulina Dembska in Malta. We ask are attitudes to women getting worse? We also touch on the recent elections in North Cyprus with some excellent commentary by Bandofla friends Dr Erol Kaymak and Baroness Meral Hussein-Ece. Away from po...

United Kingdom Member of Parliament for Brent Central Dawn Butler hit the nail on the head when she called out the Prime Minister Boris Johnson for being a liar. The claim is with strong merit and despite this she was ordered out of the House of Commons by the Speaker of the House. Since this particular episode the Prime Minister has continued to offer a steady line of untruths and political comme...

Growing up it would have been easy to associate being an MP with being a person of utmost decency and integrity. It went with the territory. The first Member of Parliament that I remember was my local MP in Tottenham, North London, the late Bernie Grant who was simply a brilliant representative for his constituents and the many different communities that live here. Fast-forward 40 years and after...

Probably the most powerful interview we have recorded to date.  Islamophobia is real and many Muslims face the guantlet of hate every day simply because of the way they look and because of their faith. In this episode I am joined by a former Guantanamo Bay detainee Moazzam Begg who is now the Outreach Director for CAGE UK. Moazzam provides an excellent insight into some of the deeper issues b...

Listeners will know we don't pull our punches on this podcast when it comes to some of the awful behaviour associated with this Tory Government. Not a day goes by without us shaking our heads thinking how the hell did this Government, not only get into power, but almost 12 years on the cronyismm, corruption and outright lies leaves a stink in their shadow that an 80-seat Parliamentary advantage en...

Bandofla is embracing poetry this week and looking back at World Poetry Day as we speak to one of the Poetry Society's newest members, a young poet from Tottenham, North London, Ela Altinbas. Bandofla gets an exclusive airing of her 'Stop Killing the Mandem' poem which is followed up with some lovely conversation and some awesome freestyle by Ela. We round up on some current affairs both here and...

We know black history is important every day - but for those who wish to control us, 'Black History Month' happens every October and last year I had the privilege of speaking to race equality activist Taranjit Chana. This year I was delighted to invite Tyehimba Nosakhere, another prominent race equality activist, to give a 'truth-speaker' masterclass around black history. We must never underestima...

Bandofla caught up with Ahmet Suleyman - a proud Black Cab Driver of 27 years based in central London.  Our Black Cab Drivers are part of the London fabric; just like a London Bus or a red telephone box, you will see one every day. Ahmet shares some of his favourite memories and gives his thoughts generally on life as a cabbie. He is also an incredibly loyal Arsenal fan who has been going to...

Quite possibly the most random selection of subjects ever discussed on a Bandofla episode, but that is how we roll. Well, BREXIT needs to be discussed because only now people are beginning to see just how f*cked our economy and distribution infrastructure is. We will also highlight some more really didgy interviews by Government Ministers (but nothing new there). A special mention is given to two...

When the White House race was hotting up last year this podcast openly declared our support for Joe Biden - after all, after the catastrophic Trump era, much of the world was keen to see the back of the 45th POTUS. Biden has faced a few challenges in his first 9 months none more so than what is going in Afghanistan and his announcement to withdraw his American troops. On the face of it a de-escala...

This episode has contrasting themes. We will be touching on the shame that faces the Royal Family - comparing the media reaction to how Harry and Meghan seem to be constantly vilified and yet the BBC were a full 24 hours later than the rest of the world in bringing the headline on Prince Andrew to the British public. We also speak to another seasoned trade unionist - this time it is Vic Paulino wh...

We are back for a third series after a well deserved break (if we do say so ourselves!). Our third series sees us continue where we left off with us covering a growing dispute involving UNITE workers with Bexley Council and we also cover the embarassing legal defeat for the UK Government on the BSL interpreter case at the High Court.  We have comrades from both Unite and the CWU giving us the...

As a society don't you feel that we don't do enough to acknowledge and say thank you to people who have been selfless in their work and beyond. Contrary to what some people might think it is actually free to be nice to be people or to simply say thank you; This is what this episode is purely about - showing some degree of decency, humanity and respect to someone who many people in the GMB trade un...

Peray Ahmet has very recently been elected as the leader of Labour-run Haringey council. Of Cypriot heritage, Peray is the second Turkish Cypriot woman to be elected as a council leader in North London, following hot on the heels of Nesil Caliskan (Enfield), who listeners will remember from the first series. Peray gives Bandofla listeners her thoughts and views on a number of issues and she presen...

Understanding the sheer scale of how big American Football is can be fairly complex and in this episode we are going to look at one of the important layers of this structure, which is high school football - we will be speaking with an assistant coach who is part of the Mission Viejo set-up, Tarquin Stephenson, all the way in Laguna Beach, California. T, as he is known by his family and friends, to...

A mad 11 day spell saw the deaths of 100s of Palestinians, which included 66 children, all sparked by the storming of the Al Aqsa mosque on the 7 May 2021 in Jerusalem by Israeli police after reports of stones being thrown - the Israeli police threw stun grenades into the third most holiest Muslim site in the world and it did not need a genius to predict what was going to follow; in the meantime.....

So, 100 days into the Biden Presidency and there are favourable reports coming out across America with its people largely supportive of progress developing under the Biden Presidency. We will be speaking to a Democrat Organiser to get his view on the first 100 days. We then go deep in the Eastern Mediterranean and over to Cyprus to speak with Municipality Leader Cemil Saricizmeli who gives a frank...

Mental health is a massive issue. Even before the pandemic took hold so many of us have been having our own battles to keep our mental health the right side of sane. This episode takes a fascinating look at professional footballers and depression. Danis Salman turned down Arsenal to sign for Brentford. By the age of 15 he was starting in their first team and quickly gained a reputation as one of t...

Esra Uyrun was a loving, caring mother, sister, daughter and wife. On the 23rd February 2011, it is reported that she went out early that morning to go to the shops. She hasn't been seen since. Ten years has now passed and the campaign for answers continues. Her family has been searching for answers ever since with her sister Berna Fidan showing incredible strength never giving up, despite it clea...

We know how devastating the Covid19 pandemic has been on so many families right? Just ask the families of 120,000 who have lost a loved one. People working as faith practitioners have been playing an incredibly important role being that shoulder to cry on and offering comfort in what undoubtedly has to be the most difficult time a person can experience. In the Turkish Cypriot community we are luck...

Bandofla recently caught up with the GMB's National President Barbara Plant.  I have to say Barbara is one of the nicest people I have had the privilege of interviewing on Bandofla and she gives an insight into a few areas of interest, including the national dispute involving British Gas and the brave efforts of striking GMB members employed as Gas Engineers. In this episode we are also putti...

The first season has come to an end and at Bandofla we thought we couldn't let the oppoprtunity go by without reviewing some of those topics that have been making the news since we launched in November 2020. Ten episodes later we are at the point of season 2 but before we do this I have the first Honorary Bandoflian's Suzanne Nuri-Nixon & her daughter Janan Nuri sharing their wisdom on a fairl...