Our associate fellowship programme will be formally launched in early October 2010 with an inauguration dinner.

Each carefully selected fellow will carry out consultancy work on Runnymede's behalf.

Runnymede will be able to call upon this diverse talent pool and leverage a powerful knowledge bank for forthcoming consultancy projects. Our fellows will form a valuable tool as we work to create a successful multi-ethnic Britain.

Bangladeshi, Caribbean and Chinese people are less likely to engage with formal or mainstream financial institutions than the white population, often because they lack trust in banks and are reluctant to get into debt.

Informal community savings schemes are becoming a popular alternative for some ethnic groups in the UK, according to Runnymede's latest research report Saving Beyond the High Street

These more traditional forms of saving operate by a group of typically no more than 20 people agreeing to save a small amount of money among themselves, usually involving relatives or members of close-knit communities.

The deportation of France’s Roma, Gypsy and Traveller communities, as part of President Sarkozy’s new anti-crime initiative began today.

Two planeloads of 93 people were scheduled to arrive in Bucharest this afternoon as part of a ‘voluntary reform procedure.’ Each adult that 'volunteers' to return is entitled to 300 euros compensation while children will receive 100 euros each.

Distinguished business consultant René Carayol has joined Runnymede's board of trustees.

René specialises in leadership and culture, and has worked closely with prominent world leaders including Bill Clinton and Kofi Annan.

Our trustees, who are the directors or our organistion, come from a variety of backgrounds and have experience across many different industries, in the private and community sectors.

To read more about them, and for René's full biography, visit the trustees' page

Exclusion from school still impacts disproportionately on some ethnic minority groups, despite a drop in the overall numbers of students affected.

Girls from black Caribbean and mixed-race (white and black Caribbean) backgrounds are four times more likely than white girls to be excluded from school. Meanwhile Gypsy, Roma or Traveller girls are five times more likely to be excluded.

We must recognise the flaws in our immigration system and put justice and equality first, argue two members of Runnymede staff on a recent Liberal Conspiracy blog post.

In response to post by the Institute for Public Policy Research (ippr)'s Tim Finch, Runnymede's Jessica Sims and Julie Gibbs point out the dangers of quick removals.

Black boys and girls are still disproportionately excluded from school according to a new collection of essays by Runnymede.

Highlighting that black Caribbean pupils are three times more likely to be permanently excluded from school than their white counterparts, the report also argues scrapping the right of appeal for excluded students could also disproportionately impact on black pupils.

Runnymede has launched a three year programme – funded by the Nationwide Foundation – researching black and minority ethnic (BME) older people and financial inclusion.

France's lower house of parliament voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to ban the wearing of face-covering veils in public spaces.

The bill is expected to encounter no opposition in the Senate, which will vote on it in September.

The Supreme Court yesterday upheld the right of gay asylum seekers to stay in the UK if they could show that they faced persecution in their home countries.

The court decided unanimously in favour of two men: an Iranian, known as HJ, and a Cameroonian, known as HT. They had claimed asylum in Britain but the Secretary of State for the Home Department refused the claim in both cases. The judges in the Court of Appeal had ruled that the men could live “reasonably tolerable” lives in their home countries if they concealed their sexuality.

Chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) Trevor Phillips has been cleared of contempt of parliament, a watchdog has ruled.

Phillips was accused of seeking to influence a committee that was independently looking into personnel issues within the EHRC following a series of resignations.

London’s role as a hub of migration to the UK is highlighted in a new report by the Migrants’ Rights Network.

The presence of a diverse migrant population in London presents major challenges to the government's aim of simplifying and 'toughening up’ immigration management.

Individual supporters and funders have donated £25,000 over six weeks to save the Information Centre about Asylum and Refugees (ICAR) from definite closure.

More than £3,000 came via cheques and online donations given by concerned members of the public and small organisations.

The 2020 Public Services Trust launched Equality, Cohesion and Public Services on 30 June. The report brings together contributions from three respected authors to look at the role of public services in reducing inequality and promoting cohesion.

Westminster’s only All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) dedicated to race equality was formally re-established this morning after being inactive since 2005.

The group – for which Runnymede acts as secretariat – today held its AGM and was attended by thirteen parliamentarians across all three major parties including the group’s chair and Labour leadership candidate Diane Abbott MP.

Guardian economics leader writer Aditya Chakrabortty is to join the Runnymede board of trustees.

While most of his comment and news pieces have focus on economics, Aditya has also written across a range of other topics, including equalities issues.

One of the country's leading playwrights and Runnymede trustee Roy Williams talks about his route to the theatre in a recent Guardian interview.

Roy's new play 'Sucker Punch' is set in 1980s London, where racial tensions - both subtle and unsubtle - set the backdrop for life amid the horribly devisive Sus laws.

Watch a 60-second video of a seminar exploring what it means to be a Muslim citizen in Europe today, held by the UK Race and Europe Network (UKREN).

Watch senior politicians debate race equality in a 12-minute video of our Norfolk United event.

Communities and local government secretary John Denham MP has argued that community cohesion has been at the heart of Labour thinking over the past decade, in a pre-election paper published by Runnymede.

The paper follows essays by the Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties as part of our Runnymede Platform series.

It is not the number of new migrants that causes tension in neighbourhoods, but rather a failure to manage integration properly, new Runnymede research suggests.

The Equality Bill has completed its third reading in the House of Lords and will now return to the House of Commons for further scrutiny.

Higher education minister David Lammy MP spoke about black fatherhood to a packed Committee Room in the House of Commons, as part of the Runnymede Platform series.

Former Home Secretary Charles Clarke took part in a 'Question Time' style debate on race equality in Norwich.

He was joined on the panel by Liberal Democrat MP Norman Lamb, Conservative councillor Antony Little, Green Party councillor Samir Jeraj, community activist Gita Prasad, and panel chair and BBC reporter Clive Lewis.

Up to 60 per cent of black and Asian people have no savings at all, reveals a new research report - Why Do Assets Matter? - from our Financial Inclusion team. The report highlights how tough policy decisions will have to be made to ensure that all people, regardless of ethnicity, have the assets to fulfil their potential.

Practical solutions to the medium-term problems faced by our public services need to be identified, according to the 2020 Public Services Trust (2020 PST), which is placing this task at the centre of its purpose.

Ten recommendations on how to deal with young adults in the criminal justice system have been pulled together in the Young Adult Manifesto, which is published by the Transition to Adulthood (T2A) Alliance and incorporates Runnymede’s suggestions.

Laws preventing racial discrimination could be supported and enshrined by the Equality Bill, currently undergoing its second reading in the House of Lords.

A podcast featuring award-winning Indian novelist Amitav Ghosh delivering this year's Runnymede Jim Rose Lecture is now available to download from the LSE website. 

You can listen to the celebrated author speaking to an audience of more than 300 on the theme of Belonging, Community and Diaspora.

Also speaking at the event, which is jointly hosted by Runnymede and CRONEM, will be Lord Bhikhu Parekh, who chaired the Runnymede Commission on the Future of a Multi-Ethnic Britain. 

Examining the role that religious organisations take in supporting refugees and battling racism is the focus of an upcoming conference, Migration, Racism and Religion, co-organised by Runnymede.

Speaking at the event, which is to be held at the University of East London on Thursday, 4 February, 2010, will be Runnymede director Rob Berkeley, Southall Black Sisters' Pragna Patel and a host of academics and activists.

Young, Muslim, Citizen - Identity, Empowerment and Change is a new web based resource pack by the UK Race and Europe Network (UKREN).

The pack is an online resource for parents, teachers and youth leaders who work professionally with young people of Muslim background. It complements both mosque-based education and citizenship education programmes in mainstream schools.

BME schoolchildren who make up tiny minorities in otherwise white institutions are the focus of one of our latest reports: 'Them and Us: Race Equality Interventions in Predominantly White Schools. While a newly published briefing paper looks at how racial diversity, or lack thereof, in the governance of modern schools affects the UK education system: School Governors and Race Equality in 21st Century Schools.

Today Runnymede published its response to the Green Paper Earning the Right to Stay - A New Points Based Test for Citizenship. In it, we provide concrete evidence that the Government's proposals will have a negative effect on integration and cohesion.  An assessment by colleagues at the Migrant Integration Policy Index (MIPEX) reveals that the proposals would make language and integration conditions for British citizenship one of the most onerous and complicated in Europe.

The final report of the Belonging project is now available to download from the website. Belonging: Message to Policy Makers sets out to offer a policy interpretation of the discussion held by the young people and the key policy messages emerging from their films.

The project has received international recognition and as well as being showcased on the BBC London website, one of the films has been shortlisted at the StrangerFestival in Amsterdam and 2 films were recently shown at a high profile roundtable organised by the UN's Alliance of Civilisations at its headquarters in New York.

Runnymede submitted its response to a consultation on the National DNA Database, where the Government is urged to tailor its response to the ruling by the European Court of Human Rights in spirit of the judgement, rather than attempting to comply with the ruling in the narrowest legalistic way possible.

Read Runnymede's consultation response.