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Pastor Lucy Adeniji has the dubious distinction of being the first person to be sentenced to a total of eleven and a half years in prison after being found guilty of trafficking children into Britain for domestic servitude.

Some years ago on BBC London I broadcast the story of Tunde Jaji, raised in domestic servitude in north London and then abandoned to his identity paper-less fate when he rebelled against his condition.

I managed to secure proof he had been in London for more than 14 years and he went on to get his status regularised and a good degree from University. He is now settled.

At around the same time I met a group of seven women in similar circumstances who all agreed to speak to me after consulting with their lawyer. For legal reasons I am only now able to tell their story four years on.

One of their biggest frustrations has been getting the authorities to believe their stories of domestic servitude and to act upon their allegations.

So while the perpetrators of these acts of inhumanity go about their business freely, their victims count the cost in psychological as well as welfare terms.

One of the girls, whom I shall call Jenny, finally got her day in court in February. Pastor Adeniji, was made to face the allegations against her and the jury, having believed Jenny's testimony, convicted her.

In short Adeniji could not account for the fact that Jenny had no legitimate papers despite being in her care from the age of 11 (Jenny left Adeniji's home after eight years in 2006).

Nor could she account for the fact that Jenny had not been at school for three years after coming to London from Nigeria in 1998.

Jenny's evidence of beatings; pepper in the eyes and genitals, stabbings and all round brutality beggar belief. Speaking to neighbours of the family in a quiet cul-de-sac in Beckton there was genuine disbelief and anger that this had been going on right under their noses.

Part of the problem, it would seem, is reluctance by the authorities to intervene and question families when they are seeking to rely on the testimony of a child over an adult.

In the cases of the women I met in 2007, including Jenny, nearly all approached the police to complain, once they had left the homes where they had acted as domestic servants for years, to be met by a wall of disbelief.

Debbie Ariyo runs a lottery-funded charity, Africans Unite Against Child Abuse (AFRUCA). She believes that many of the perpetrators of this type of crime deceive the authorities by claiming that the children are related in some way or even that their way of raising "privately fostered" children is culturally specific.

Practitioners, she points out, need to listen first to the child, then investigate and conclude before dismissing serious allegations as the figment of a child's over fertile imagination.

This was the kind of grave failing that led to the murder of Victoria Climbie by her great aunt back in 1999. Things were supposed to have improved.

The Met Police set up operation Paladin in 2004 precisely to look into the reasons behind the rise in the numbers of unaccompanied minors entering the UK.

Detective Inspector Gordon Valentine was responsible for investigating Jenny's case and believes that unfortunately it represents just the tip of the iceberg. He also says public authorities and the public themselves need to be more aware of the signs that a child is enslaved.

A young person regularly bringing children to school, a child more bedraggled than other children in the same "family". No parent's attending school functions or even GPs being visited by minors without their parents.

In Jenny's case a regular school bus used to pick up Adeniji's wheelchair bound daughter every day. But no one appears to have thought to question why Jenny (a young child) was handing over the wheelchair bound child in the morning and taking in the same child on her return.

The authorities are mostly playing a game of catch up. Unless they can get to these victims quickly the evidence is often historic and the perpetrators elusive. There is also no incentive for the victim to cooperate if they face the prospect of deportation on being found out. This is often the fear instilled in the child by their abuser.

The prospect of being effectively without status for years can push these young victims over the edge. Another of the women I met, I'll call her Sarah, described how desperate things can become, to the point where committing suicide is a release from a fate many of them consider worse than death.

Four years after first meeting these seven women, only Jenny has seen here perpetrator investigated and prosecuted.

Jenny and her children have no permanent status still in the UK. Sarah has been given a visa for five years. Two others have indefinite leave to remain whilst the remaining 3 still are in visa limbo unsure of their future.

Some immigration judges accept that this situation runs counter to Britain's international treaty obligations enshrined in the Human Rights Act. This says if you want people to cooperate to stamp out trafficking you must first ensure their security.

As Pastor Adeniji begins her prison sentence Jenny sees some cause for optimism. She personally feels free from her abuser at last. She also hopes that it will give other children who find themselves in similar circumstances the courage to come forward.

The rest of us will just have to face up to the fact that when we suspect something is not right we may have to raise our concerns more quickly. We will often need to believe the unbelievable.

The residents of Ray Gardens in Beckton certainly wish they had.

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The London Borough of Southwark is the latest council to face an embarrassing electoral conundrum.

For different reasons three serving Labour Councillors have within the space of a few months had their legitimacy questioned because they have either allegedly or actually fallen foul of the law.

All three councillors have been asked to resign; only one has. In theory the other two can remain in post until the next local elections in 2014.

John Friary, a councillor since 1994, was arrested two weeks ago by the Metropolitan Police's paedophile unit. It's alleged that he was involved in the internet grooming of teenage girls and police are continuing their investigations.

Councillor Friary resigned from his position straight away and there will be a by-election sometime in March. Council Leader Peter John moved swiftly to encourage Friary's departure and told me the councillor had done the right thing.

It's just as well because it is very difficult to remove a sitting councillor as Southwark leaders had already found out shortly before this case came to light.

Councillor Keadean Rhoden was convicted of housing benefit fraud in November and was immediately suspended from the Labour Group. Despite being sentenced to 200 hours community service Cllr Rhoden is perfectly within her rights not to stand down from office and has so far elected to stay on.

And as if all that wasn't enough to give the Labour Group a nasty headache, I discovered councillor Stephen Govier have failed to declare a six year conviction for a serious crime he'd committed in California in 1997.

Initially councillor Govier defended his decision not to tell the Labour Party selectors about his conviction because he says he didn't think it was relevant. Then he argued, correctly, that because the conviction was more than 5 years before he put himself forward as a candidate, he was not disqualified from standing.

Finally he acknowledged his crime but suggested that he had shot an intruder who entered his home.

Let's get the facts straight. According to Los Angeles County court records, Councillor Govier was initially charged with attempted murder and conspiracy to supply cocaine.

Stephen Govier shot an acquaintance of five years, who he had previously supplied cocaine to, whilst he himself was under the influence of a cocktail of cocaine and vodka.

His victim was shot in the head with a handgun and remained in hospital for 27 days.
Govier spent from June 1997 until June 24th 2002 behind bars on a serious felony charge of assault with a firearm.

This charge was negotiated as part of a plea bargain in turn for pleading guilty. Govier was deported from the US the day he was released from prison.

If Govier's crime had been committed in the UK he would have a permanent criminal record registered here. He would always have to declare his conviction because any offence which carries a custodial term of over 30 months can never be spent.
It raises the question of why someone with a serious conviction overseas would be allowed to stand for election.

The reality is that there is no adequate vetting procedure for candidates and the whole system depends on truthfulness.

When individuals like Stephen Govier return from overseas and are less than truthful, there is little that can be done to flag up overseas convictions. In fact there is no vetting for councillors full stop.

And if, as in Councillor Govier's case, an errant councillor is belatedly found out, there is very little in law that can be done to remove them from elected office.

He's been asked to resign. He has refused. Despite repeated attempts to reach Cllr Govier to ask him about why he thinks he should given the gravity of his crime and the failure to declare it he has not responded.

In a previous statement he told us:

"Over recent years I have committed my life to working in and for the community, and I believe in a fair and equal opportunity and future for all. The better to achieve these ideals it is my desire to continue to work conscientiously and in the interest of my constituents to create a fairer future for all in Southwark."

Southwark Council has now written to the Department for Communities & Local Government (DCLG) asking for the law to be reviewed to make it absolutely clear when someone should declare an overseas conviction and asking for local authority powers to remove someone from office when they are in clear breach of selection rules.

DCLG have told me they will be urgently reviewing the law.

The Local Government Minister Bob Neill added:

"There is a strong argument for this councillor to resign, as he would be disqualified if the crime had been committed in Britain."

Until then only councillors Govier and Rhoden can decide whether to stay or go.

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Over the past week BBC London has been trying to get to grips with just how Londoners feel about the future of the Olympic Stadium and who should inhabit it after the fun and Games are over.

The whole Olympic stadium bidding process is beginning to feel like a rushed job. West Ham United's joint bid with Newham has raised questions about who exactly would be liable if their bid was successful for the £40m loan from the Treasury to a 'Special Delivery Vehicle' if West Ham can't pay their bills.

At the moment no one will answer the question. But presumably it will be some of the poorest taxpayers in London. Whilst it's easy to spin lines about the wonders that a loan could achieve, it's Newham Council's responsibility to know who is going to pay if the dream sours. There's been silence from the club and council.

I've also spent time in and around Tottenham High Street. All around the White Hart Lane ground of Tottenham Hotspur are boarded up properties. The reason they are boarded up, is because THFC have bought up the land as part of the Northumberland Park Development.

Anyone who believes the Spurs board's original intent was not serious is barking up the wrong tree.

But now that chairman Daniel Levy has clarified that in all probability the football club will have to look elsewhere for new premises even if they don't secure the Olympic Stadium potentially creates a whole new problem of blight.

It doesn't take much imagination to see that if Spurs now prevaricate about what they are going to do, it is going to take longer for any other investors to decide if they want to be part of regeneration plans in Tottenham.

In the mean time Tottenham residents will have to live with the bigger eyesore of boarded up premises without the prospect of any serious development on the horizon.

There are those who think that a football club like Spurs or West Ham are entitled to locate wherever they like. It is a commercial decision which should be dictated by what is in the best interests of the club and its fans.

However, in the case of West Ham it's not purely and simply a commercial decision. Newham argue 49 councillors out of 60 voted for the loan. The question remains whether they were clear about the public liability issue.

Over in Tottenham the club cannot argue for years with local businesses to support their case for redevelopment and then suddenly expect those same people to be happy as Larry when they change their minds and make it clear they want to up sticks because years of talk have led to an unviable plan, which by the way was viable two months ago.

The Olympic Park Legacy Company has now said it will delay its decision.

After our survey suggested that an overwhelming majority of Londoners want athletics to be at the heart of what the Olympic Stadium offers perhaps its time for the football community to listen to what non football addicts think.

At least Londoners now have time to broaden the argument again.

It seems that some people think the public are mugs and don't need to be involved in decisions which inevitably have a dramatic impact on their lives.

People in Haringey and Newham should be forgiven for thinking they live in a country where they can make their opinions heard.

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January 18th 1981 was a point of no return; an important historic moment in the life of Black Britain and arguably a defining moment for our modern diverse society.

On that day a fire at a birthday party at 439 New Cross Road, Deptford in south east London ended the lives of 13 black teenagers.

In the 30 years that have passed the controversy over how the fire started has never been laid to rest. Some have said and continue to argue that Yvonne Ruddock's 16th celebrations were cruelly ended by a fire bomb attack by racists.

Others, including members of the bereaved families, continue to believe that it was started by accident as a consequence of a dispute at the party itself.

What is clear is that the initial police investigation failed to find anyone or establish exactly how the fire started.

Despite two unsatisfactory inquests neither who nor what caused the fire has ever been established. Many people continue to believe that the Metropolitan Police failed in their duty to the 13 children and their families.

The police started the theory of the fire bomb.

On the first day of the investigation a police officer reported to Yvonne's mother, Armza Ruddock, that people had seen a man throwing a petrol bomb through a window on the ground floor of the house and then run away.

A few days before, Jill Knight a Conservative MP in Birmingham had announced her displeasure at what were deemed to be noisy black house parties.

A theme picked up enthusiastically by anti-immigrant voices at the time. In that climate the fire soon became the spark for a dramatic political intervention by black people, the like of which had never been seen before in Britain.

Incensed by slow police progress and a perceived lack of sensitivity by the authorities to the children's deaths, mass meetings were organised and a huge march planned for Monday 2 March under the umbrella of a New Cross Massacre Action Group.

It brought together activists from across the spectrum and around the country; black panthers, black parents organisations, community organisers, angry residents, and black youth groups.

Many of the names now associated with Black political participation were either involved in the organisation of the protest or eventually taking part in what was called the Black People's Day of Action.

The overall organisation of the event was delegated to John La Rose, a formidable intellectual and humanist. In the heat of the battle over race politics and the call for equality and justice for Black people La Rose advocated that the protest should not be focussed around the 'politics of resentment'. Not everyone agreed.

Thirty years ago it was an extraordinary spectacle to see up to 25,000 mostly black people marching from New Cross to Hyde Park. It took many Londoners by surprise and genuinely unnerved the establishment.

Only two years before in Southall a similar march in the heart of the Asian community for civil rights had ended in the death of campaigner Blair Peach.

Perhaps more importantly it showed that the children of migrants and migrants themselves were at a turning point.

Now they wanted to publically and collectively express their dissatisfaction with what many believed was a culture of discrimination and rights abuse by institutions of state and the police in particular. A positive step to get positive results in the quest for equal treatment.

Until then there was a sense that beyond the Black communities themselves few people acknowledged the contributions being made by these very communities to redefining what it was to be British.

Until then it was still a widespread notion, for example, that you couldn't be Black and British in Britain. I know because I was asked.

Very soon after the march, the Metropolitan Police launched operation Swamp in south London. It was a trigger for a summer of nationwide rioting that took Margaret Thatcher's government by surprise.

So when people look back and remember a summer of disturbances 30 years ago; before Brixton, before Toxteth, before Handsworth, Moss Side and St Pauls in the caustic summer of 1981 there was New Cross.

The public inquiries that followed under Lord Scarman (1981) and ultimately to the Macpherson inquiry into the death of Stephen Lawrence (1999), which looked at the relationship between young people and the Met Police, all in a sense followed on from where the Action Group had left off in its intense monitoring of the police's conduct over the New Cross fire.

But whilst it can be rightly claimed to be a defining moment in the history of modern Black Britain, for many of the victim's families the New Cross fire at 439 New Cross Road has left unfinished business.

The controversy continues over which football club will move to the Olympic Stadium after the 2012 Games

The football club management has spent much of the past decade trying to pull itself into the elite of global sports clubs.

As well as scoring more goals on the pitch they hoped to convince Haringey, the local authority, to give planning permission for a new 56,000 seat stadium in one of the poorest wards in the country, Northumberland Park.

Into the bargain would come a massive hotel, new homes and business premises and a pump-priming exercise for the depressed locality.

Much of the moving and shaking was about getting planning permission that would enable Spurs to stay in the Tottenham area.

After a lot of hard bargaining, agreement was reached and the redevelopment of White Hart Lane was given planning permission last year by Haringey and the Mayor of London.

It was all reminiscent of the heated discussions between Islington Council and Arsenal when the decision was made to move from Highbury to the Emirates.

All settled then? Not quite. Allegedly encouraged by Boris Johnson, Spurs were invited to throw their hat in the ring to take over the Olympic Stadium.

The ghosts of all those Hotspur greats must have become restless at the talk of Tottenham Hotspur FC, the pride of north London to its fans, moving east?

The local MP David Lammy is seething. He made it clear in Parliament that he believes this proposal is bad for North London. He says that the regeneration of one of the poorest districts in the capital was to be stimulated by the much fought for Northumberland Park Development.

"When I stood in Trafalgar Square on 6 July 2005, never did I imagine that our successful Olympic bid would mean that residents of Tottenham, and those of Enfield, Waltham Forest and the whole of the Upper Lea Valley would have the heart and soul ripped out of their communities. What kind of an Olympic legacy would that be?"

He wants the Government to intervene to ensure the final decision about who is selected as a preferred bidder in March, considers the overall impact of the decision on London.

If you look at the internet chatter amongst die hard Spurs fans you very quickly get the sense that those willing to articulate a view think it's a bad idea. Stratford Hotspur does not have the same ring to it.

Lammy thinks Spurs are fattening up the sacred cow for a more lucrative share price rise with an Olympic Stadium move. In other words they're chasing the money and that's now not in Tottenham.

Sir Keith Mills, a non-executive director at Tottenham, is reported as saying:

"We'll be moving to a part of London that is 100 per cent more accessible; we'll generate more revenue; it's closer to Canary Wharf and to the City; and it'll attract more sponsorship."

There is a strong sense of a clash of cultures. Tottenham Hotspur PLC says they have commercial decisions to make and they want, indeed need, to take fans with them.

Lammy and the local authority who've invested a lot of time in securing the Spurs stay in Tottenham with promises over Northumberland Park feel after a 111 year association, their community is being betrayed.

The first decision on the preferred bidder will be made at the end of January by the Olympic Legacy Company. They will make their recommendations to the Mayor of London, and two Government ministers to make a final decision by the spring.

Finally an Olympic legacy debate seems to have sparked into life.

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What are you looking forward to getting for Christmas? I bet it's not a patch on the present Norman Simpson was given on 27 November.

Norman has had trouble with his eyesight from birth. He says he was always a disappointment to his sporting father because he could never quite keep his eye on the ball. After a vicious assault in his 20s, he was left completely blinded in his right eye.

Over the next two decades a series of increasingly serious eye problems left Norman needing several cornea transplants.

The problem with these natural transplants is that they are often rejected and can deteriorate and become cloudy over time. The operation can only be done a certain number of times.

Eventually in 2006 Nornman began to descend into darkness. In 2008 he was finally registered as completely blind. Both he and his wife Carmel fled from Northern Ireland in the early 1970s.

A Catholic and Protestant union was not acceptable during the Troubles; the resilience they showed in their partnership probably gives clues to their optimistic outlook. At their home in Brentwood, they never entirely lost hope.

Having heard of the work of leading eye surgeon Sheraz Daya on a report on BBC London and coverage in newspapers, Norman asked his own local eye specialist to refer him to the Queen Victoria Hospital in East Grinstead.

In the meantime he continued to get used to the idea of a life of blindness. Getting used to needing to be accompanied everywhere by his wife Carmel, a former Deputy Head at a Brentwood Secondary School, or close friends.

He had, for example, got used to using a white stick and then latterly began preparations to take on a guide dog. It was a daunting prospect. He would lie awake at night dreading the following day, hoping to fall asleep and forget about the challenges that lay ahead.

When his appointment with Sheraz Daya came up 18 months ago at the Eye Centre at the Queen Victoria Norman was rather taken aback when he was told a new technique of implanting an artificial cornea could work with him.

So far Daya, is the only UK surgeon who carries out this pioneering procedure first developed in Boston in the USA. He conducted the surgery on Norman by local anaesthetic at the end of November.

Almost immediately Norman had clear vision in his left eye and the first thing he recalls seeing was wife Carmel smiling at him. He says it was a simply fabulous sensation not having seen his wife properly for nearly 10 years. Needless to say he was not disappointed.

Daya believes that the operation should become routine on the NHS because of technological advances. The big problem is no other surgeons beyond the Queen Victoria are currently able to offer the procedure to the several thousand people Daya thinks could benefit from it across the country.

BBC London has been told that Moorfields Eye Hospital, near Old Street, is considering the procedure but is not yet ready to undertake it.

Visiting Norman and Carmel at home in the current big freeze they are both full of the joys of Spring. After 45 years of marriage they feel they have a chance to experience discovering the world afresh, after thinking they were destined to a life focussed increasingly around home.

The couple have a passion for French wine and a small share in a vineyard. For the best part of a decade Norman has enjoyed tasting and smelling the full bodied red. In 2011 his visit to Provence will mean for the first time he will be able to crack open a bottle and enjoy the view with Carmel.

Now, tell me you are getting something better than that for Christmas?

kurtbarling@twitter

Malet Street at 12.43pm on Thursday

I used to spend a lot of time in Malet Street, the heart of University life in Central London.

The quasi-Stalinist structure of Senate House dominates the imposing architecture and appears to scrape the sky; a reminder of what idea previous generations had of a University education. It was part of an elitist enterprise, for those that benefitted, the sky was the limit.

Academe is no longer so revered. In an age where celebrity can appear to grease the path to fame and fortune less arduously, the whole idea of a university education for many has become much more utilitarian. A means to an end, financial and job wise, not an end in itself.

I write as no stranger to academe. The proud owner of three degrees and fond-ish memories of an early career as an academic means I was a beneficiary of state and university largesse as a young man.

Now my own children are at the age of post-compulsory education the fees issue is a hot topic at the dinner table. There is a lot of finger-pointing.

It comes at no surprise to me to see the tuition fees debate inflaming passions. What is perhaps surprising is that so many people seem surprised. A lot is at stake for a lot of people.

In my generation around 15% of the age group went to University and therefore arguably had a direct stake in this debate; that number has now more than trebled. Many students, although not all, believe they have a lot to lose.

My parents were pretty agnostic about a university education. At 18 my father tried to persuade me to enter a career in banking directly from school.

In 30 years expectations have dramatically changed. The idea of a fulfilling life without a university education has become almost unthinkable, for some even scary. Many will now need to think again.

Protesters in Malet Street at 13.06pm on Thursday

Amongst the marchers were many who will begin their university careers in a few years time. Presumably they were there because they were all there because they'd not yet been convinced that the changes are in their best interests or the country's.

Politicians take note; the best way of politicising young people is demonstrating they have a stake in politics. The best way of riling them is to then ignore them when they try to become engaged.

The assembled throng was too angry to be described as overwhelmingly good-humoured, but it was good-natured, there was a real sense of purpose and a common thread to what most marchers were protesting against. Many fear the worst, even the commercialisation of non-compulsory education.

So when I arrived at Parliament Square at about 2.35pm I think I was expecting a more sombre and menacing mood.

Instead it was part music festival and part gentle protest. Perhaps the walk from Malet Street to Parliament Square had worn people out, but the majority of marchers had already begun to drift off through St James' Park.

For more than an hour different groups seemed to mill aimlessly around in Parliament Square.

Police on horseback at Whitehall at 14.33pm

Inexplicably to the demonstrators police horses were then without warning used against the crowd gently pushing up against the police line running between the Supreme Court and Westminster Abbey.

A number of those bundled out of the way were sixth-form girls much to their bemusement and the anger of others around them. It was only by sheer luck that none was seriously injured.

The sixth-formers were from a North London Grammar school, one of the best, they were seriously unnerved by that experience. Their mood had been calm, although excitable, and they didn't anticipate a horse charge.

It's a bit of a mystery to me why horses were deployed at all at this point. It was certainly one of the police actions that helped switch the mood.

The fact that police were already in riot gear and there hadn't yet been any serious trouble caused some consternation too.

On the opposite side of the square facing Parliament there was still a polite standoff; only the occasional expletive being exchanged back and forth between police and protestors.

Curiously as you walked around the square it still felt like several different events were going on, including a protest.

One group followed a sound-system pulled on a bicycle trolley with blaring hip hop; dancing and swinging from the traffic lights.

Underneath Churchill's statue a raging bonfire created a Guy Fawkes Night atmosphere. Meanwhile a lone protester placed a note over the head of Abraham Lincoln in front of the Supreme Court.

Around 3.45pm the police were still letting people come into Parliament Square from Whitehall and in and out through a tight cordon on Whitehall Place.

Scenes opposite Parliament at 15.08pm on Thursday

Within five minutes the Whitehall Place cordon had been closed. I found this out when I was told that my exit point was now Whitehall itself. I walked to Whitehall and was told that where I had come from, Whitehall Place, was my exit point.

Twice more I went back and forth to each exit and was told my exit point from the Square was in the opposite direction.

There scores of other people doing the same and getting increasingly frustrated that they were being given confused information.

In fact after 20 minutes of asking a simple question of where my exit was the Sergeant at Whitehall place told me in fact no-one was being allowed out for the moment. At 4.01pm I tweeted that I thought "kettling" had begun.

A couple of the North London school girls who recognised me came over and were clearly panic stricken about not being allowed out. I doubt they could have caused any harm to a blancmange let alone a fully equipped riot officer.

Now anxiety levels rose across the Square and those groups of individual's intent on causing trouble begun to do just that.

Charging police lines outside Westminster Abbey with metal barriers, Westminster Council seemed to have helpfully left lying around, setting fire to memorial benches and a whole host of other downright daft ideas.

From what I could observe there were still a majority of people in the Square who were openly irritated at both the police hemming them in and by the people intent on causing trouble.

Those still in the square at this point were nevertheless a minority of those who had marched down Whitehall and entered Parliament Square earlier in the afternoon.

As the temperature dropped and the night lights came on the tension rose. The police opened a very narrow exit at one end of the Whitehall cordon. Judging by the jostling in that corner there were many people eager to leave. Police were letting half a dozen people through at a time, effectively a trickle.

The weight of people trying to get out irritated some officers in the cordon because they were getting pushed. The response from those colliding with them let more people out, more quickly and you won't get pushed.

Tempers were fraying but still no general violence. It was not possible after that for me to judge how many people were left from the original march.

But it was possible to see that the circumstances had become extremely intimidating for many of those trying to leave, it was obvious to most trouble was brewing.

The mood had changed. I tweeted that I passed through the cordon at 4.28pm. I think by this time most people trying to get out had at least for the moment stopped thinking about tuition fees.

I'm clearly not an expert in police tactics but there must surely be questions for the Met about more effective ways of encouraging people to move on and disperse from a largely peaceful march once it has reached its destination.

Ironically most marchers were not expecting to go all the way to Parliament Square and were confused that this had been allowed by Police.

Keeping a large number of vocal and volatile people in one place, stopping them from leaving, police officers giving them confused information but being prepared for the worst in full riot gear feels like a recipe for intimidation if not downright confrontation.

When young people march to have their voice heard and then see that the overwhelming depiction of their freedom of expression is a focus on a minority of morons who want to smash up the joint, it is hardly a good advert for robust political debate.

What's the point of attempting to talk politics with the majority, my children ask me, if everyone in the media appears more interested in focussing on the minority who relish street fighting?

The Gordon Riots of 1780 were an anti-Catholic uprising against the Papists Act of 1778. Getty Images.

The French have a saying "the more things change, the more things stay the same". In reality protesting is to London, what fish is to chips.

You'd be hard pressed to find a decade in the past few hundred years where there haven't been protests of one kind or another in the capital.

How about the 1780s when protestants got the hump with an act which removed some elements of discrimination against Catholics. After several days of argy-bargy word of mouth spread bringing out a crowd estimated at 50,000.

The Gordon Riots ensued; days of rioting caused extensive damage in central London. The use of live ammunition turned this into a rather notorious event with several hundred Londoners left dead.

Since then any number of causes has brought protesters to the heart of where political power lies to make their voices.

Think suffragettes, the Jarrow marchers, those who fought street battles with the Mosleyites, CND marchers, anti-Vietnam protesters, National Front supporters, Civil Rights marches in the 1980s, poll tax haters, anti-war protesters, G20 demos and the list goes on.

Rarely do these events pass off without some disturbance or police intervention. When passions are running high some people can't help themselves when it boils over.

The latest student organised marches to protest against what they argue are decisions which directly contradict the mandate of one of the coalition partners joins a long line of justifiable protest. The law allows the protest therefore it is justified.

There are those who argue that the use of new mobile technologies is helping to change the character of the current crop of marches. Some argue that these protest are more organic, driven from the bottom up.

Social networking sites enable quick communication and in assist the spontaneous organisation of events. It is the speed at which events can be organised which has added to the speculation that London could be in for a season of difficult demonstrations.

But when you talk to veterans of street protests there is a much more sanguine view. They remain less convinced the character of demonstrations is changing.
They emphasise that to be effective, protests still need a strong sense of purpose.

Of course, demonstrations also respond to the way they are policed. We have heard from demonstrators this week that in order to counter the police tactic of "kettling" they broke into many different groups to avoid being "kettled".

This has accounted for some of the assertions that the character of the demonstrations is changing.

It would seem that there is a danger of mistaking spontaneity here for an unwillingness to be kept in one place for hours on end because the police chose to use the particular "kettling" tactic.

The Metropolitan police have faced heavy criticism for the use of this tactic. Clearly if it forces demonstrations to fragment along the way of a marching route it may soon become as much a problem as a solution.

There is another problem with new technology. Speed of organisation may be helpful for many things but can lead to fragmentation on the street because people come with different agandas.

Talking to protesters at this week's fragmented demonstration, it was clear that many people were being given different information.

I kept bumping into people asking where the demonstrators had gone to. It's not difficult to see why it might be difficult to keep control of an event in these circumstances.

Fragmentation may be good for making a nuisance of yourself but it is arguable that to march in London is to get your issue at the heart the news agenda, conveying your message of protest to the widest possible audience.

Without a strong sense of purpose this may be more difficult to achieve because it can comes across as simply anarchic. Of course anarchists on the marches will argue that's a good thing.

Some people feel there's something French in our emerging culture of street protest. It's more likely that mobilisation using technology is speeding things up.

But this doesn't mean the reasons for demonstrating in the first place OR being effective is destined to change. Or for that matter need less thought and planning.

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23-year-old Seni Lewis was in the midst of his Master's Degree studies in IT and Business and letters from his University show he was held in high regard by his peers and professional staff.

Seni began to display uncharacteristic behaviour after a night out in August over the Bank Holiday weekend.

After two days of unpredictable mood swings and feeling that her son was possibly heading towards a breakdown, Bola Lewis convinced her son and the remainder of her family that they needed to seek professional medical help.

They took Seni to A&E at the Mayday Hospital in Croydon. After admitting him under a temporary mental health sectioning order for his own safety, he showed a continued pattern of unpredictable behaviour which gave everyone, including Seni according to his parents, real cause for concern.

Seni was admitted to the Maudsley Psychiatric Hospital on 31 August. The family recall being told there were no beds and that the only options were to release him into his mother's care or to admit him to Bethlem Royal in Bromley.

Despite the fact that Seni had no previous mental health issues, the family accept they did not feel able at that point to give their confused and vulnerable son the care he needed. A voluntary agreement was arrived at to keep Seni at Bethlem as long or short as he wanted.

Bola Lewis says this was her fatal mistake. With hindsight she and husband Conrad wish they had not left their son behind after visiting hours ended at 8pm.

Bola toyed with the idea of sleeping in her car in the hospital car park just so she could be close by. Instead she left her numbers with hospital staff and went home in the knowledge that her son was in the care of professionals.

But whilst she and Conrad were returning home things were beginning to take a turn for the worse at Bethlem. The facts will only be fully known once the Independent Police Complaints Commission has completed its investigation and that has been scrutinised by the Coroner's Court in Croydon.

But it is understood that around 9.30pm police were called to an incident at the hospital involving Seni. He was forcibly restrained, it's believed by up to seven police officers and the rest we know.

The first call the parents received was not to ask for their assistance with their vulnerable son, but to tell them that some time before midnight on the 31st, less than four hours after they'd left him, their son had been admitted to the Mayday Hospital in a coma. He died four days later.

Today the Met Police told the Metropolitan Police Authority no officer has been removed from frontline duties.

And so the Lewis' will have to travel the well trodden path that the Sylvester family went down between 1999 and 2003 to discover what happened to their son Roger in Tottenham.

And the four-year journey the family of Frank Ogboru travelled between 2006 and 2010 to discover how he died whilst being restrained by police officers in Woolwich.

But this time the questions may be asked more urgently elsewhere about how effectively police officers use restraint techniques.

In April this year, another Coroner asked similar questions on the use of restraint whilst looking into the death of Frank Ogboru.

In a very firm set of recommendations to the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Coroner Selena Lynch reflected: "Whether this means more training, different training, or training that is delivered in a different way is something that might be usefully considered."

Have these questions been addressed by Sir Paul Stephenson?

In the meantime the Lewis family are left reeling from the shock of having buried a vibrant and healthy son prematurely.

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Many families struggle to talk about it and when the end of life approaches providing care which enables a dignified death can be overwhelming.

Sandra Goodhall's mother was 83 when she died in July. She says her mother enjoyed life to the full, but during the last years she did so with increasingly debilitating dementia, cancer and emphysema.

The strain of managing these illnesses, as her mother became less able to deal with everyday issues, placed an enormous strain on the family carers.

At times the bureaucratic responses of the health and social care agencies exacerbates the helplessness many carers feel.

Housing 21 is a housing and care association which delivers accommodation for older people. It has also joined forces with the London Borough of Westminster to deliver dementia services to older residents.

Some of these services are organised around a day centre to give dementia sufferers greater variety in their lives and often desperately needed respite for their family carers.

With funding from The King's Fund, the health care think tank, Housing 21 has also been running a pilot scheme where a dementia and end of life nursing specialist works with families.

The objective of Nurse Morejoy Saineti has been to offer practical training and advice in the home to families and carers. This has often meant that simple issues have been dealt with early and avoided the need for a referral to hospital.

Secondly, the role has been an attempt to break down the culture which means dementia care falls between the cracks of social services and the NHS.

The key is to try and coordinate all the different services required to deliver what the patient needs in order to stay out of hospital and in the home.

The other key role of Morejoy has been to try and bring greater awareness to carers of what deterioration they can expect in a dementia patient.

And the difficult business of talking through and dealing with the preparations for what can often be a traumatic decline and death.

Sandra Goodhall told me the most effective support from Morejoy came from her ability to shoulder much of the administrative burden. This enabled her to step back and ensure the mother-daughter relationship could be restored; a huge stress reliever.

Of course we live in difficult financial times and one of the objectives of the pilot scheme has been to see if coordinating services could deliver better care whilst at the same time reducing duplication and cost.

Lee Sims, who manages Housing 21's dementia centre in Westminster, says an early evaluation of the 18 month long pilot scheme has shown cost savings coming from avoidance of hospital referrals and the lowering of demands for social care services in the home.

The scheme claims to have made effective savings of around a quarter of a million pounds.

That's one housing provider using just one specialist nurse in this way. With greater health care demands for the elderly, inevitable as we increasingly live longer, blue sky thinking like this could prove crucial to preserving services which are traditionally vulnerable to cuts in public expenditure.

For families like the Goodhalls though the measure of success of the scheme is slightly more practical, dare I say meaningful?

It has meant dozens of carers have been able to maintain a more dignified end for their relative.

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At the age of nearly 40 after his young wife died in 1910, leaving him with three children to raise, he decided to return to his seafaring ways aboard the new luxury liners of the White Star Line.

In 1911, leaving his children with a sibling, he first voyage was on the liner the Olympic. In March 1912 Alexander transferred to RMS Titanic.

He worked as a first class steward waiting on the wealthiest travellers. The style was opulent and this is reflected in the new exhibition at the O2 Centre which opens on the 5th November.

The RMS Titanic was trying to take advantage of the burgeoning immigration traffic to the New World. Second and third class carriage was also accommodated in some comfort. The only substantial complaint in third class that there were only two baths between 700 paying passengers.

On display at Greenwich hundreds of artefacts in breath-taking condition considering they have been retrieved from two and a half miles down on the Atlantic sea-bed.

When the ship struck the iceberg on 15 April 1912 and it became clear that a disaster loomed Alexander was ordered to man his lifeboat station. No 13.

He described in his only known interview on the sinking, how he was one of the fortunate ones whose orders meant his life would be saved. As soon as his lifeboat had taken on a few dozen passengers, mostly women and children but also some men from first class, the boat was lowered and rowed a short distance from the ship.

From their lifeboat the occupants had a full view of the stricken liner and its last moments as it upended, the lights went out and slid beneath the surface.

His grandson Philip Littlejohn has written how his grandfather recalled that "all I could hear was the awful cries from the people. The sounds are ringing in my ears now."

Since 1985 there have been several expeditions to the maritime grave in the north Atlantic. Painstakingly thousands of artefacts have been recovered from what is called the debris field. This is the area of around half a mile between the bow and the stern which split apart as the ship originally sank.

No artefacts are removed from the shipwreck itself, considered by many a gravesite. Whilst the exhibition does not tell us an awful lot that is new, it remains a fascinating insight into life aboard the ship and it is spell-binding to see and even touch bits of the real Titanic.

Philip Littlejohn believes that the legacy is so enduring because it marked the end of an era but, he would like the exhibition to help remind people of the tragic loss of life and that each artefact tells a human story behind it.

Within two years World War One had started and the highly stratified and class ridden societies on both sides of the Atlantic would endure lasting challenges to that kind of divided society.

One example of this was the instant dismissal of all crew the moment the ship sank in the north Atlantic. Alexander Littlejohn's continuous certificate of discharge (like a career log book) records under the description of the voyage "intended New York".

Although he ultimately made it as a survivor he could expect no wages and no compensation.

Lifeboat 13 became significant for another Londoner too. Millvina Dean, her mother and brother left their father behind but were saved. Millvina was just a few weeks old and the last survivor of the sinking. Millvina died last year and the London exhibition is being dedicated particularly to her memory.

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As she boarded the tube at Liverpool Street Station on the morning of 7th she and her fellow passengers had no clue they were about to become the targets of British-born terrorist Shehzhad Tanweer.

Seven people died in what has become known as the Aldgate tube bombing. Fifty-two innocent passengers in total died when the four suicide bombers claimed their own lives at Aldgate, King's Cross, Edgware Road and Tavistock Square. Many hundreds were injured, some very seriously.

Thelma herself needed a part of her leg amputated and lost some of her hearing and she still struggles with the trauma caused by the event. Ever since, London's tube has remained uncharted territory.

Many of the survivors she has remained in contact with have established a private support network to manage the constant reminders that they were part of this tragedy. Their lives have been scarred. For some their psychology tormented, for many there were hopes that the current inquest would provide a light of closure at the end of a very long tunnel.

She describes the last month as hellish; sleepless nights, a lot of traffic and angst on the survivors' social networking site.

Thelma believes she speaks for many when she says that her hopes of getting some closure are being dashed because she is unable to present her evidence in person in court.

This is inevitably a complicated inquest. The inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the murder of so many Londoners on 7 July was always bound to raise strong emotions.

The inquest has to establish the truth of how those killed by the bombings died. Of course that is potentially a very big question and the Coroner has needed to be quite strict in drawing the parameters of the inquest being conducted at the High Court.

This is how they responded to BBC London when we asked why some survivors and eyewitnesses to the events were not being allowed to present their evidence in person.

"The Coroner is very conscious of the important role that survivors have to play in these proceedings. Of the potential 700 plus survivors the inquest is hearing from 240 with a further 240 statements being read out in court.

This is a difficult process for everyone with some witnesses wanting to appear in person and others who do not want to participate at all. The Coroner's legal team has tried to deal sensitively with the wishes expressed by potential witnesses whilst keeping the appropriate focus of evidence and working within the strict timetable that the Coroner has set."

The inquest must use all the available evidence including the hundreds of statements taken by the police to determine the cause of death of those who perished.

Thelma, who is also a seasoned lawyer (she is Director of Legal Services and Corporate Governance at the Equalities and Human Rights Commission), argues that the quest for a just outcome in explaining these deaths must not ignore those who survived and want now to make their contribution to securing the truth of what happened.

In one important respect Thelma believes the Court may not fully appreciate the facts of what happened in her carriage. She believes there are serious discrepancies in her recollections and the evidence that is likely to be seen by the court. Only by witnesses closest to the bombers having their statements tested in court, she argues, can the truth be established.

Not everyone will want to take to the witness stand. It can be a daunting prospect, but Thelma is making a plea that survivors should be given the choice whether or not to tell the Court in their own words what happened to them.

At the very least there is evidence that by not allowing this choice some of the survivors are being brought to the brink of despair. More damagingly Thelma claims many survivors she has spoken to fear that by not being able to give their evidence in person we may not get as close to the truth and justice as many would have hope.

Thelma's written statement is due to be read to the court by a third party next week. The Inquest is expected to last at least five months.

UPDATE 1330:

The Coroner's office has this morning met with Thelma Stober. At midday they announced that on Monday 25 October Thelma will be able to give evidence in person.

Her plea to have her voice and evidence heard heeded by the Coroner.

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His response, a very simple explanation of some of life's most difficult challenges, has stuck in my mind ever since. Ali said that the most precious insights and rewards in life are like mining for valuable minerals.

The deeper you go, the more difficult and dangerous the process, but the more precious the stones you find.

Establishing an archive is like creating a gigantic mine where gems of insight and intellectual genius can be mined by some of the liveliest minds in our communities. For researchers sifting through original documents can be much like the mining process.

The art, as powerful institutions like the British Museum and the Bodleian Collection in Oxford or even the National Archives in Kew have discovered over many decades, is astute and careful collection, sharp organisation and trust.

An archive is of itself nothing but a collection of eclectic papers. When the idea of a Black Cultural Archive was first mooted in the wake of riots across Britain's cities in 1981, it was essentially a response to the call for recognition by black communities.

At that point they felt unheard, unwanted and culturally adrift in a society that appeared reluctant to embrace the contributions made by black people to British society.

Since 1992 the Black Cultural Archives has quietly gathered a mixture of personal family archives, incredible records like that of slave holdings in Jamaica, early post-war research notes from academics on the emerging black community and early magazines and newspapers produced from within those emerging communities reporting their experiences.

A typical example is a magazine in December 1958 which headlined, "No Room at the Inn". A story which many from that period would recognise as new migrants sought to overcome prejudice in finding lodgings.

A model of the Black Cultural Archive in Brixton

By awarding the National Black Cultural Archive a sizeable grant of £5 million, the Heritage Lottery fund along with the Mayor of London (£1 million) and Lambeth council (the equivalent of £900,000), have secured a permanent location for this archive to take shape.

Located on the edge of Windrush Square in Brixton, the crucible of modern African and Afro-Caribbean migration and settlement, the new archive has the potential to stand as a testament to progress, inclusion and mutual respect.

Millions of taxpayers' pounds have already been spent on regenerating this location into a cultural meeting point. Making it a destination for those interested in understanding the emergence of modern diverse Britain is a challenge but also a sign that this story now matters to more than those who followed in the footsteps of the several hundred West Indians who first arrived on the Empire Windrush in 1948.

Of course this is only a beginning. Even a name has yet to be settled upon but any National Archive of black Heritage will be all about preserving, growing and protecting original source material particular to those communities of African and Afro-Caribbean origin.

In order to do that it will need to quickly secure a reputation and trust. There is plenty of competition for archives from established national institutions. People will not bequeath a lifetime's work to an institution that cannot demonstrate the potential for longevity and care.

The archive has the potential to act as the fount on which an inclusive story of Black Britain can be shared with many more people and new independent interpretations can be generated by scholars for future generations.

In this sense the announcement of funding is historic. But there will be little time for self-congratulation with the derelict building due to come on stream in time for the London Olympics.

Britain has a proud reputation of scholarship and that is built on strong traditions of intellectual rigour. Independent archives are at the heart of this. Protecting the open society from its enemies can sometimes seem like a thankless task for archivists.

The reward in this case could be a powerful sense of worth that black communities will generate in themselves and amongst others as the archive delivers its precious gems in the years beyond 2012.

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Rickets is being newly detected in several hundred children each year. The cause is Vitamin D deficiency.

This is the tip of the iceberg of a Vitamin D deficit which is affecting increasing numbers of patients including both adults and children.

Some clinical studies are suggesting that up to 50% of individuals in some ethnic minority communities have Vitamin D deficiency.

Although not exclusively a problem for ethnic minorities it could be that migration plays a part in the high incidence amongst groups like Somalis.

Although there is no obvious research link as yet, but common sense tells us that as sunlight is the major source of Vitamin D, insufficient exposure to it may be causing problems.

Those who historically lived at lower latitudes where the sun is more intense may find this may be affecting them.

The symptoms are chronic tiredness, aching joints, dizziness, sometimes seizures or fits in young children.

Abdi Weli Osman who is an advocate for Somalis in Kilburn claims that as well as making it difficult for adults to hold down jobs, Vitamin D deficiency is showing itself in poor performance in school and even stress in relationships leading to marital breakdowns.

Some Somalis are presenting Vitamin D levels 10 times lower than the expected norm.

Unlike back in Victorian times, we understand symptoms and cause and we have a ready medicinal remedy.

GPs like Dr Stephen Nickless at the Brondesbury Medical Centre in West London say the problem is once identified they are struggling to treat the condition.

The reason; Vitamin D clinically prescribed supplements have been in shortage for over a year in some places.

Pharmacists like Mike Ritson of ABC Pharmacies say it has been nigh on impossible to get either the high dosage tablets or injections from the single supplier in this country.

Of course that begs the question why there is only one supplier and other European Union manufacturers have not had their product licensed in the UK.

What seems ridiculous is that Vitamin D supplements, the prescription variety, are declared an essential drug by the World Health Organisation.

You'd think that there would therefore be ready stocks of the medicine in a sophisticated country like our own.

Unfortunately the way the pharmaceutical market works is that the risk associated with producing the drug is with the commercial sector.

In other words, who bears the cost if the drug is produced in large quantities and it is not then prescribed? In the circumstances commercial companies only produce according to predicted demand.

As the problem of Vitamin D deficiency has become more widely recognised in the past few years production has lagged seriously behind rocketing demand.

The Department of Health told me they are in discussions with other suppliers to see if they might like to produce the drug. They blame manufacturers for not alerting them to the ongoing shortages.

They have at least publically, acknowledged that there is an ongoing problem.

The Department of Health went on to tell me that the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency should be doing something to rectify the situation. The MHRA told me that a supply problem is for the Department of Health to rectify.

Well, whilst they argue among themselves we can safely assume that the incidence of rickets will continue to rise and those with the chronic symptoms of Vitamin D deficiency will continue to suffer, creating untold costs for the economy.

In a word: bonkers.

Thw owners of the Mangrove restaurant, left to right, Roy Hemmings, Jean Cabussel and Frank Crichlow

Looking back at a Notting Hill community stalwart, Frank Crichlow, who has died at the age of 78.

In the mid-1970s an old West Indian friend of my mother's - "uncle" John - took me to Notting Hill.

He wanted to introduce me, a North London Comprehensive boy, to the heart and soul of London's Black Community.

We ended up briefly at the Mangrove restaurant.

It was a pretty daunting place for a young teenager. People there had plenty of swagger and the venue had an intense but chilled-out ambience.

What really impressed me at the time was it was full of black and white people, who seemed to me to be very old (probably the same age as I am now!) who got on.

It seemed to defy the public conventions of the time that Black and White people didn't mix. It was a pretty intoxicating atmosphere.

"Uncle" John introduced me to the Mangrove as a place that had "fought the power" and won.

In terms of the emerging political consciousness of the black community in London, the Mangrove was a powerful antidote to the powerlessness that many young black Londoners often felt.

Within a few years that sense of frustration had spilled on to the streets of Brixton and later Tottenham in the disturbances in the early 1980s.

At the centre of the hubbub that day was a man with a scraggly beard who looked to me like a formidable figure.

I was briefly introduced, no words were exchanged, but I recall sensing that cool acknowledgement, familiar to some men who know and revel in their status.

By that time Frank Crichlow had become a well known civil rights campaigner whose restaurant had been targeted by Her Majesty's local constabulary on numerous occasions, allegedly as a drug den, only to be personally exonerated by the courts.

Unlike the modern besuited "activists", Crichlow came from a generation of people who became active because they felt the lick of a police truncheon and had become very familiar with the décor inside a police cell, mostly because they didn't appear to play by the convention of deference to police officers.

They demanded common courtesy and respect and when they didn't get it, they took to the streets.

In 1970 this led to the "cause celebre" at the Old Bailey, when the "Mangrove Nine", were tried for riot and affray.

The trial lasted for nearly three months and exposed a deep current of prejudice and dubious practice within the Metropolitan Police, long before Scarman and Macpherson.

When the "Nine" were acquitted many people thought it was a victory for common sense. In Notting Hill it was seen as a significant victory for the Black Community.

Crichlow's interest to the police didn't subside after this trail. Many saw his Mangrove Community Association, set up in the wake of this trial, as a red rag to the police bull.

The Mangrove restaurant

He was back in the courts several more times all centred on allegations about the Mangrove.

In 1988 the Mangrove was raided again and the consequence was its demise as a Community meeting point after nearly 30 years.

Defended by the redoubtable, Gareth Pierce, Michael Mansfield and Courtney Griffiths (both the latter now QCs) he was acquitted and eventually awarded damages of £50,000 by the Metropolitan Police.

The following year I became a journalist for the BBC and one of my first films was for the programme Heart of the Matter about the criminal justice system.

Courtney Griffiths recommended I speak to the man I'd met more than a decade earlier to understand the root causes of black youth disaffection and the reality of the criminal justice system at the time.

He was gracious although sceptical of any besuited BBC journalist, although he softened when I reminded him of our brief encounter all those years before.

Frank Crichlow and his generation had to cope with the disappointment and identify the problem of racism.

We are still working towards the solution of the more tolerant, caring and diverse community that he and others like him aspired to.