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www.abplgroup.com
Dee Katwa
Asian Voice - Saturday 26th May 2012
Midland Voice Contact: Dhiren on 07970 911 386 or dhiren.katwa@abplgroup.com
Britain fizzing with Asian female dynamism
Murder: Man charged
Congratulation to Salma Bi, the first and only Muslim woman to play for Worcestershire County Cricket Club, who scooped the inaugural Asian Women of Achievement in Sport 2012 award. Salma, from Birmingham, who is now employed by the England Cricket Board as a cricket coach, was honoured, alongside eight other Asian women – from a shortlist of 52 - at a prestigious ceremony at London’s Hilton Hotel last Wednesday. Other winners included Farida Gibbs, CEO and founder of Europe’s fastest-growing IT staffing and consulting business GibbsS3, who scooped the Entrepreneur Award; BBC news correspondent Sangita Myska,who was involved in the secret filming of Bulgarian child traffickers and a key reporter from last year’s London riots, was named Asian Woman of Achievement in Media. The Arts and Culture Award went to Indhu Rubasingham, artistic director, The Tricycle Theatre, for her “astounding achievements”in theatre. Vicky Shu, lead project engineer, Shell UK, was crowned Business Woman of the Year for her delivery of groundbreaking projects in the
News in Brief A 24-year-old man has been charged with the murder of Shashpal Singh Bahra. Mr Bahra, 46, was attacked on Thorp Street, near the Hippodrome Theatre in Birmingham on May 12. Paramedics were unable to save him. Mr Bahra died in hospital as a result of multiple stab wounds, a post mortem revealed.
Bleak view on business
AWA Winners 2012
Triumphant: Salma Bi
offshore gas industry and her support for young female engineers entering the industry. The Social and Humanitarian Award was presented to Rena Amin, head of medicine management, Greenwich PCT. Rena, who attributed her accolade to her spiritual guru, His Holiness Pramukh Swami Maharaj, got another surprise when she saw her mother Sharmisthaben and sister-in-law Shilpaben, who had flown in from the Kenyan capital Nairobi to be at the awards. Jia-Yan Gu, researcher, BT Group was crowned Young Achiever. She was recognised for her input into global scientific research projects, also for her charity work sup-
porting female victims of sexual abuse. The Professional of the Year trophy went to solicitor and actress Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh. Tasmina provides legal services to ethnic minority women and aspires to be Scotland’s first Asian female MP. Mei Sim Lai, who runs her accountancy practice in London was presented with the Public Service award, while IT giant Cisco took the Community Award for making a difference in the community through their academies and teaching schemes. Two Global Empowerment Awards were presented on the night to Farah Pandith and Princess Azizah of Pahang. The latter is the daughter of the Sultan of Johor and wife of the Crown Prince of Pahang, Malaysia. Farah was appointed by Hilary Clinton in 2009 as special
representative to Muslim communities. The Chairman’s Award, the most prestigious accolade honouring exceptional work and dedication, went to Sung-Joo Kim, CEO of MCM Holdings, a luxury fashion firm. The event, now in its 13th year, was hosted by the ‘I am something’ BBC London news presenter Riz Lateef. Special guests included awards patron Cherie Blair, Home Secretary Theresa May, ‘Olympics Champion’ and ex-Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell and Princess Badiya bint El Hassan of Jordan. Founded and chaired by author and entrepreneur Pinky Lilani, and supported this year by The Royal Bank of Scotland, the AWAs champion the contribution made by Asian women across British business, sports, public, cultural, community and political life.
White favouritism, again?
Newspaper boss resigns
Sir Albert Bore, the new leader at Birmingham City Council, seems not as genuinely committed to diversity as I had thought. There I was singing his praises in this column last week. Whoops! Some readers tell me I slipped up in my usually sharp judgement. Did I? I hadn’t realised but Sir Albert’s new cabinet has only one ethnic minority member – Tahir Ali – of the eight-strong team. Tahir,pictured, who represents Nechells ward, will be responsible for the Development, Jobs and Skills portfolio. In addition, there is only one woman on the top table, Brigid Jones (Selly Oak), who will be in charge of children and families. The line-up appears to contravene the Labour group rules which state that the cabinet should reflect the ethnic shape of Birmingham. Oh dear. This has left Labour open to the same allegations of white favouritism that were leveled against the outgoing Tory-Lib Dem cabinet. But does Sir Albert really care? Well, Asian Voice has requested a meeting with him to discuss. Watch this space.
As vice-chair of the National Union of Journalists’ Equality Council, I add my congratulation to the Trinity Mirror Group (TMG) Chapel for its campaign against boardroom greed which culminated in the resignation of Sly Bailey. Her ten-year tenure as chief executive was marked by relentless cost-cutting that sacrificed hundreds of journalists’ job while she amassed more than £14 million in pay and bonuses – a gross distortion that eventually led to shareholders controlling 100 million company shares deciding this year not to back the directors’ remuneration report. An NUJ spokesperson said: “Huge rewards for failure and the destruction of journalism must not be allowed again.” TMG is one of the UK’s largest newspaper publishers. Its Midland titles include Birmingham Post and Mail and Coventry Telegraph. The only TMG board member, of a total 10, from a non-white background is its media-coy Finance Director, Vijay Vaghela, pictured, a Hindu Gujarati, originally from East Africa.
Jail officer ‘had sex with inmate’ A woman prisoner has been charged with misconduct in public office after allegations that she had sex with an inmate while he was out on day release at Birmingham’s Malmaison Hotel, reports the Sunday Mercury. Jodie Pugh, 30, who worked at HMP Hewell in Redditch, Worcestershire, is also alleged to have smuggled a phone into the prison for use by prisoners. Pugh is currently suspended pending court proceedings.
Drugs pair to repay £234k The son of a former Tory councillor and his ex-business partner have been ordered to pay back a total of £234,000 for their part in a drugs empire. Ali Munir, pictured, whose father is former Walsall councillor Mohammed Munir, and Shazad Ali were both jailed for five-and-ahalf years at Wolverhampton Crown Court in February last year. Both have now been ordered to pay £116,000 each or serve an extra two years behind bars.
Business owners and managers in the West Midlands are among the least confident in the UK about the trading year ahead, according to new research. A total of 27% said they believed the economy would not recover until 2017.
Workers ‘steal’ from work More than two-thirds of British office workers have taken stationary from work, a survey reveals. The most common items pilfered are Post-it notes, sellotape, scissors, loo roll and photocopier paper. But one in 20 owned up to taking valuable items.
Drop in bankruptcy numbers The number of people declared insolvent in the West Midlands has dropped. In Birmingham, there were 1,860 insolvencies last year, the lowest since 2008, with a rate of 23.6 per 10,000 adults. The rate was 20.8 in Coventry, 23.6 in Dudley, 27.3 in Sandwell, 23.4 in Solihull, 36.9 in Walsall and 31.6 in Wolverhampton.
New BOPIO Committee The Midlands branch of BOPIO, which stands for British Organisation of People of Indian Origin, has announced a new Steering Committee. The 12-strong team includes President Dr Rakesh Sachdev, joint Vice Presidents Resham Singh Sandhu and Sanjay Jagatia. In addition, four sub-committees have been formed which include Media Handling and Funding and Government Interaction. To find out more visit www.bopio.org.uk
Temple to open kids playground A new toddler’s play area will be officially opened at the Shri Balaji Temple in Tividale (B69 3DU) as part of the Diamond Jubilee events. The 11am – 8pm programme on June 4 will feature cultural performances, kids’ activities, competitions, a variety of stalls, a flaghoisting ceremony and much more. “Everyone is welcome. The more the merrier,” said Kunwar Raghava, an active and tireless volunteer at the temple.
Thumbs up to drug on NHS Abiraterone, the prostate cancer drug, has been approved for use on the NHS, thanks to a campaign led by Manchester MP John Leech. Some 32,500 men are diagnosed and 10,000 men die from prostate cancer each year in England and Wales. Photo: John Leech MP, left, and Owen Sharp, Chief Executive of Prostate Cancer Charity.
Research into pre-eclampsia A major study into which genes cause pre-eclampsia - the potentially fatal condition which kills up to 40,000 women and almost one million babies every year worldwide - has been launched at Nottingham University. Findings from the EU-funded four-and-ahalf year InterPregGen project, will help to identify women who are at highest risk of developing the condition during their pregnancy. The condition affects around 5% of pregnancies, developing in the second half of pregnancy, often without warning signs, and is detected when the mother is found to have high blood pressure and protein in her urine.