From that chance meeting, The Colour of Madness was born: a collection of poetry, essays, memoirs and art submitted by creatives of colour who are navigating life with mental health problems. We need a space to share our unique experiences of mental health issues, and a platform from which to campaign for policy change in the UK.

Whatever they thought, the book was pulled. Until this Monday, when it was announced that an independent Scottish publisher, Stirling Publishing, would put it out instead. A group called the Antifascist Research Collective infiltrated Patriotic Alternative Scotland's private Telegram group. Working with The Ferret, the Telegram group of around 60 people was found to include individuals who have been members of, or expressed support for, the Scottish Defence League, the neo-Nazi group Blood and Honour, the British National Party, the New British Union, the British Union of Fascists and the Scottish Nationalist Society. [15] On Wednesday, it emerged that Ms Burchill’s agent had confirmed her client’s book would not be brought out by Stirling Publishing. Patriotic Alternative ( PA) is a British far-right, fascist, neo-Nazi and white nationalist hate group which states that it has active branches nationwide. [1] [6] [7] [3] Its stance has been variously described as Islamophobic, fascist and racist. [8] [3] History [ edit ]I was so appreciative and it shows now things like autism are taken very seriously, nowadays it is clearly being seen as being important to support. Publishing Scotland revealed Stirling had also agreed to resign its membership of the organisation after the board raised concerns. It also said it would consider strengthening the code of practice publishers sign up to when they join.

Townsend, Mark (3 July 2022). "Royal Navy promoted sailor despite joining neo-Nazi group". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 1 April 2023 . Retrieved 1 April 2023. But it has emerged that Tabatha Stirling, the sole director of the publishing company, is a supporter of Patriotic Alternative, a far-right group founded by Mark Collett, who is a former press officer with the British National Party and an antisemitic conspiracy theorist. Suter, Ruth (5 February 2023). "Man reported for 'hate crime' as far right hate group Patriotic Alternative protest outside Scots 'asylum seeker hotel' ". The Daily Record. Archived from the original on 13 February 2023 . Retrieved 13 February 2023. However, after news of the deal broke, a recording was shared online of a woman identifying themselves as owning Stirling Publishing, alleged by the Glasgow Anti-Fascist Alliance to be its sole director Tabatha Stirling, apologising to members of the Scottish far-right group Patriotic Alternative over some of her tweets.

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Again, this shows that just being slightly different from the norm, just being a little darker skinned, a little tanned (as Gary Lineker was) was more than enough for Italians to be othered. Bitter Leaves gives a true insight into the melting pot that the Lion City has always been. Shammi is from Indonesia, Jocelyn is Chinese, and Lucilla is Filipina, and those are just the maids who figure in the story. The horror of "Maid Culture" is unflinchingly portrayed, Madame Eunice one of the employer narrators is a truly frightening creature/creation. However, some of the skill shown in this book is not least visible in the arousal of understanding - if not sympathy for even this character. On 9 August 2022, Patriotic Alternative held its annual White Lives Matter activism day, coinciding with the United Nations designated International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples. [21] After the announcement, a three-minute audio clip uploaded on YouTube in September began to circulate online. Taken from a Scottish-based Patriotic Alternative group on the messaging app Telegram, the clip sees a woman with the username "Miss Brittania" tearfully apologise for several tweets she had written that had caused other supporters to question her identity. Three people who have met and worked with Stirling identified her to the Guardian as the woman speaking in the clip. The controversial author and journalist Julie Burchill has dropped the publisher of her new book after it emerged the company’s director was a supporter of an antisemitic far-right group.

Anyone who has watched the 1993 film, True Romance, may remember the Moorish history drenched phrase: ‘Sicilians were spawned by n*****s’. it was life-changing for me to be able to talk about my problems with a counsellor who looked like me, who understood the nuances of my experience, who I didn’t need to walk through the basics of institutional racism, or censor myself around” Walcott said: “With an established publisher who's interested in taking care of us properly, people won't be trying to get to copies but not finding them. I'm hoping there's room for bigger audience after this.” In the Telegram clip uploaded to YouTube, Miss Brittania says: “I am a bit tearful as my integrity has been questioned, and my loyalty, and those are two things that are very important to me.”Tabatha Stirling of Stirling Publishing [16] wrote a series of articles for Patriotic Alternative as "Miss Britannia" describing her son's school as "a hellhole for sensible, secure White boys" and claimed "there is one member of staff who is openly gay, and I mean RuPaul extra gay". [17] On 14 March 2021, author Julie Burchill announced that, with Stirling, "I've found someone who's JUST LIKE ME", who were now publishing her book after the Little, Brown Book Group had dropped Burchill. This came after Burchill had made defamatory statements about the Muslim journalist Ash Sarkar. [17] However, Burchill parted with Stirling Publishing when she found out that Stirling was associated with Patriotic Alternative. [17] Nagesh, Ashitha (25 March 2023). "Patriotic Alternative: The town fighting the far-right with Welsh cakes". BBC News . Retrieved 3 November 2023. My ability to have these conversations about mental health is hard-won, and relatively new. The stigmatisation of mental health in communities of colour prevented me from getting the help I needed for a long time. While my doctors have advised medication for three years, I only recently accepted this advice – to my vast improvement and incredible relief. Bitter Leaves is a tale of 4 women from one location in the Singaporean suburbs. Two maids (Lucilla and Shammi) and two madams (Eunice and Lesley). This is where my problems with the book began the maids - their voices fade in and out of almost pidgeon English to a sophisticated Western English which jars, initially, with the opening of each of their tales. Why not just give them a more sophisticated voice to express their individual lots in life instead of at first muddying the two together and then moving to the more sophisticated narrative? This, fortunately settles down after a couple of chapters from each maid's perspective and makes for an easier read as you are not jumping from style to style within one narrative. My second issue was that the Madams were treated with little sympathy in the book - particularly in Eunice's case she is described as an unremitting monster until relatively late in the book.