Babies freeze to death, secret review, Marcus Fakana protest, boy found alive in game park and other stories from Black, Asian and Arab communities you shouldn't have missed curated by Melissa Sigodo

All the news you need to know so far in 2025.

Hi all,

Happy New Year and thank you for subscribing to the Source.

Although, I am sending you all well wishes for 2025, the year has got off to a devastating start which I’ve captured in this week’s newsletter. Please stay safe and look after each other and yourselves.

This week, I wrote about Errol Graham, thanks to figures requested by Democracy for Sale, here on Substack about ‘dark money and hidden influence’ founded by award-winning investigative journalists Peter Geoghegan, Lucas Amin and others. It was difficult to recap Errol’s painful story and if I’m being honest, I fought to hold back tears over it. No one should ever die in such a cruel and painfully tragic way.

Although I say this, the reality is that many people are starving to death across the world but to add to this devastating fact, news broke this week of newborn babies freezing to death in war-torn Gaza.

As usual, I have included all the stories you need to know as well as some you may find uplifting so far this year.

Without further ado, here’s what you shouldn’t have missed this week.

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News

In 2024, a few heroes who stepped in to save lives and stop disorder. Regular people showed the best of humanity in the darkest times last year. Full story.

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The Department for Work and Pensions spent over £50,000 to try and stop the release of a review following the death of Errol Graham, 57, a disabled man who starved to death when his benefits were wrongly stopped. His body was found weighing 4.5 stone when bailiffs came to evict him. Full story.

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Marcus Fakana, 18, ‘spent New Year in isolation unable to call his family’ as he is set to start his one-year prison bid in Dubai. His treatment has been labelled ‘outrageous’ by CEO of Detained in Dubai. A protest has been organised for today demanding the government ‘takes action.’ Full story.

Windrush

A shipwreck hunter given an OBE says he plans to retrieve the anchor of the HMT Windrush which brought people from the Caribbean to help rebuild post-war Britain but later sunk off the coast of Algeria. David Mearns says he plans to use it as a memorial to celebrate the contributions of the Windrush generation and their descendants while former RAF soldier Sidney McFarlane says he hopes it will be a catalyst to hasten payment for Windrush scandal victims. Full story.

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Policing

Police at Manchester Airport were filmed 'kicking and punching' an arrested man they pinned to the ground. Full story.