Once again Tower Hamlets is being targeted by anti-Islam campaigners, this time a revamped and radicalised version of Ukip — the far-right event is now banned by the police, but we’ll be assembling this Saturday to make sure they stay away, says JAYDEE SEAFORTH
The centenary of a remarkable black communist
Billy Strachan was a pilot, a lawyer, a mentor and a supporter of the anti-colonialist struggle. DAVID HORSLEY tells his story
BILLY STRACHAN was born 100 years ago today, on April 16 1921 in Jamaica, then a British colony.
Aged just 18, he paid his own way to Britain in 1940 to join the Royal Air Force to take part in the war effort against Nazi Germany.
He rose through the ranks to become flight lieutenant, a remarkable achievement for a black person at that time.
Similar stories
JOHN GREEN surveys the remarkable career of screenwriter Malcolm Hulke and the essential part played by his membership of the Communist Party
The Morning Star sorts the good eggs from the rotten scoundrels of the year
Two new releases from Burkina Faso and Niger, one from French-based Afro Latin The Bongo Hop, and rare Mexican bootlegs
ROGER McKENZIE recommends an exhibition that explores the colonial plunder hidden in the collection, and the questions it raises



