BACK in 2016 at a campaign rally in Iowa, Donald Trump boasted that support for his presidential campaign would not decline even if he shot someone in the middle of a crowded street. “I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and wouldn’t lose any voters, ok? It’s, like, incredible.” Trump was highlighting the loyalty of his supporters, many of whom would tell reporters and pollsters that almost nothing could make them change their mind about voting for Trump in the presidential race. Nobody could accuse Boris Johnson of shooting anyone but over the past weeks accusations have been made against the Prime Minister by a range of people from his own ministers, such as Jonny Mercer who resigned in protest at the Government’s broken promises, through to his former adviser Dominic Cummings blogging about the Prime Minister’s untrustworthiness.
YOU don’t have to look too carefully to still see the signs. Around County Durham you can still see the hand painted posters, the makeshift cards stuck on houses and street signs which read: “Thank you NHS”. Many of these signs now look slightly worse for wear, having endured some of the extreme weather of the past months, but they remain a reminder of the outpouring of thanks recognising the sacrifice of those who daily put themselves on the front line, whose leave was cancelled, who worked long dangerous shifts, often ill equipped with the most basic protection, fulfilling their duty to care.
By Arun Arora
OPINION: ARUN ARORA
BBC Radio 2 DJ Jo Whiley with her younger sister, Frances, who has the rare Cri du Chat genetic syndrome CREDIT where it’s due. Last week the Government changed its policy on vaccinations to ensure that those with learning difficulties were prioritised in the roll-out. The decision followed a campaign from the DJ and broadcaster Jo Whiley who was offered the coronavirus vaccine before her sister Frances who has the rare Cri du Chat genetic syndrome. The Government should be congratulated for doing the right thing in making this change but there is a question as to whether it would have done so without Whiley’s high profile intervention? This week in a BBC documentary called Why Is Covid Killing People of Colour?, the black actor David Harewood said it is “scandalous” that people from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds are three times more likely to die from Covid 19
By Arun Arora
OPINION: ARUN ARORA
This photo taken on May 31, 2019 shows a watchtower on a high-security facility near what is believed to be a re-education camp where mostly Muslim ethnic minorities are detained, on the outskirts of Hotan, in China s northwestern Xinjiang r SINCE 2001, the Government has invited British society to observe January 27 each year as Holocaust Memorial Day as this date is the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz by Soviet troops in 1945. Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD) is intended to provide an opportunity for reflection. The mass murder of millions of people of different ethnic, cultural, religious and political groups in more than one genocide provided the darkest side of 20th Century human history. While the remit of the day is wide-reaching, its focus remains the Holocaust.