The Black Paper

Send us Fan Mail Summary Dr Fatima Eltinay is a Consultant Anaesthetist, Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner for Derbyshire, and Chair of Derbyshire Neighbourhood Watch. Her work spans healthcare, public safety and community leadership, with a focus on women’s safety, public trust and tackling inequalities. In this episode, she brings both clinical expertise and public leadership to the Baroness...

Send us Fan Mail Summary Less than two years after Labour’s landslide, Keir Starmer is out. This week on The Black Paper, we go beyond the Westminster headlines to ask what really brought his government down, whether Labour’s shift on immigration achieved anything, and what lies ahead in the UK’s choppy political waters. And with Andy Burnham now set to take over as Prime Minister, we ask the ques...

Send us Fan Mail Summary In this episode of The Black Paper, we sit down with Bayo Alaba, the first Labour MP to represent Southend East and Rochford, to explore his journey from growing up in East London to serving in Parliament. Bayo reflects on how being raised in one of the UK’s most diverse communities shaped his worldview, political values, and understanding of identity, class and belonging....

Send us Fan Mail Summary In the wake of the sentencing of the killer of Henry Nowak, Nigel Farage took to the podium to do what he does best: dog-whistle politics. Only this time, his call for “pure, cold rage” incited a riot that has laid bare the communal fragility in the UK. This week, we look at two episodes of unrest, Southampton and Belfast, that share a logic: a single violent act, a social...

Send us Fan Mail Summary A landmark employment tribunal has awarded nearly £30,000 to a care worker who relocated to the UK under the post-Brexit visa scheme, only to receive zero days of work for an entire year. His case is not unusual. Thousands of workers - many from Nigeria and Zimbabwe - entered the same pipeline, paid thousands to agents, and were left stranded. We examine how many get caugh...

Send us Fan Mail Summary What happens when a community can speak eloquently about its problems, but not so much about the solutions? We explore this in the latest episode of The Black Paper, with David Weaver, Chair of Operation Black Vote. David has spent his career inside British institutions — social work, local government, Whitehall, and for the past seven years leading the organisation that h...

Send us Fan Mail Summary It’s been one year already! So, where better to start than by a quick reflection on the year so far - which didn’t last long, because Cheta decided to talk yet again about Labour’s woes!  Our discussion explored internal tensions within Labour, the strategic manoeuvring around figures like Andy Burnham, and how short-term political tactics can have long-term consequences....

Send us Fan Mail Write to your MP Click on this link to write to your MP about Cllr Glenn Gibbins’s death threat to Nigerians: https://theblackpaper.co.uk/write-to-mp.html NIGERIAN-HERITAGE MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT 1. Kemi Badenoch (Conservative MP for North West Essex ⁠kemi.badenoch.mp@parliament.uk⁠   2. Dame Chi Onwurah (Labour) MP for New Castle upon Tyne Central and West ⁠chi.onwurah.mp@parliame...

Send us Fan Mail Summary Ahead of the 7 May local elections, we surveyed 123 African heritage voters across the UK. The findings confirmed some things we suspected, complicated a few assumptions, and threw up a few surprises. In this episode, we walk through the data: the scale of Labour's collapse in this community, the Green surge driven not by new voters but by Labour leavers, and what it...

Send us Fan Mail Summary On this episode, we ask why Christopher Harborne, a reclusive Sheffield-born billionaire living in Thailand, has donated more than £22 million to Reform UK, accounting for two-thirds of every pound the party has ever raised. We examine the billionaire's motives, and why Farage thinks anyone believes him when he says the donations come with no strings attached. We also...

Send us Fan Mail Summary Will Peter Mandelson be the end of Keir Starmer's premiership? In this episode, we explore how a need to contain Trump may lead to the overthrow of the current Labour administration. We also touch on Labour’s internal tensions, and the need for our community to be strategic with its votes come the May local elections. Chapters 00:00 Introduction and Current Political...

Send us Fan Mail Summary Reform has unveiled its list of Council candidates for May, and their supporters are having a meltdown! Why? Because there are Black and Brown candidates amongst them. On this episode, we explore the wisdom of migrant communities standing and voting for Reform, the implications of short-term thinking, and identity politics. Cheta mentioned an article, which you can read he...

Send us Fan Mail Kemi Badenoch is reported to be Britain's most popular party leader. But as Reform's poll numbers wobble, we ask whether the media has quietly shifted its gaze - and whether Kemi's rise is as much a media story as a political one. On immigration, Shabana Mahmood's plan to double the wait for settled status shows exactly what happens when political pressure driv...

Send us Fan Mail Summary Has Angela Rayner taken the first step in a leadership challenge - and what does it mean for our community? In this episode, we explore the changing nature of class, identity and power in modern Britain. We break down emerging class groups and what they reveal about dignity, opportunity and who gets left behind.  We also discuss Angela Rayner’s intervention on the ILR conv...

Send us Fan Mail Summary In this episode of The Black Paper , we explore Reform’s tactics, the role of voter sentiment in elections, and the hypocrisy shaping politics in both the UK and Nigeria - alongside how international relations continue to influence domestic conversations. In all, we have a candid discussion on strategy, influence and the contradictions at the heart of modern politics. Supp...

Send us Fan Mail In a slight deviation from our usual format, we take a small break from politics to talk about… well… politics. Here's the article Cheta mentioned: https://substack.com/profile/40451488-ayisha/note/c-224360945?utm_source=notes-share-action&r=o30kg Support the show

Send us Fan Mail This episode explores the complex geopolitical landscape, the impact of recent Middle East conflicts, and the implications for global and local politics, including UK domestic issues and AI ethics. Support the show

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, we sit down with Baggy Shanker MP, Member of Parliament for Derby South. Baggy reflects on his journey into politics, the responsibility of representing a diverse constituency, and why meaningful community engagement must sit at the heart of public service. We explore what it means for politicians to be genuinely accessible, and the pressures facing our communitie...

Send us Fan Mail Is Britain “being colonised” - or is that language part of something much bigger? In this episode, we take a deep dive into three major political storylines shaping the national conversation: Jim Ratcliffe’s controversial remarks about immigration, projections that UK net migration could fall toward zero, and Keir Starmer’s push for closer ties with Europe. But instead of reacting...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of The Black Paper , we unpack a series of pressing and interconnected issues: from the realities of gender-based violence and the need for deeper mental health awareness in our communities, to the UK’s tightening visa regime and the resignation of Morgan McSweeney. We also turn our attention outward, examining international politics and the fallout from the releas...

Send us Fan Mail On this episode, we move between Sudan and the United Kingdom, examining how current affairs are nothing but echoes of a not-so-distant past. In Sudan, the ongoing crisis exposes the long shadow of colonial legacies, weak civilian institutions, and an inadequate international response, showing how quickly governance collapses when militarised power goes unchecked. In the UK, polit...

Send us Fan Mail Summary Possibly the most chaotic episode of The Black Paper yet. We get into why UK visa applications have fallen off a cliff (and what that actually means for public services), unpack the West Midlands police chief’s AI-fuelled resignation, and chew over the latest political musical chairs as Conservatives defect to Reform. Facts were presented. Opinions were exchanged. Nobody f...

Send us Fan Mail Summary In this conversation, we focus on two major policy debates shaping everyday life in the UK: the proposed ban on social media for under-16s and the forthcoming Renters’ Rights Act. We unpack what youth protection should look like in the digital age, weighing safeguarding, mental health and responsibility against questions of access and enforcement.  We then turn to housing,...

Send us Fan Mail Summary In our first episode of the year, we cast our minds back to what stood out for us in 2025, and what we look forward to in 2026. We also talk Trump, language in politics, and the importance of lobbying for change. Chapters 00:00 New Year Reflections and Unplugging 03:12 Geopolitical Implications of Language 06:07 Cynicism in Immigration Policies 09:05 The Nature of Politica...

Send us Fan Mail Summary In our last episode of the year, we discuss various themes surrounding health, leadership, and employment, particularly focusing on the cultural attitudes towards health checks in African communities and the challenges faced in the job market in the UK. We highlight the importance of openness regarding health issues, the need for leaders to be transparent about their healt...