About me

Yasmin Alibhai-Brown came to the UK in 1972 from Uganda after completing her undergraduate degree at Makerere University where she passed with an exceptional first class degree in English. She was awarded a scholarship to pursue post-graduate studies at Oxford where she obtained an M.Phil degree in literature in1975.

Now a journalist, she has written for The Guardian, Observer, The New York Times, Time Magazine, Newsweek, The Evening Standard, The Mail and other newspapers and was a weekly columnist on The Independent for eighteen years. She was the first regular columnist of colour on a national newspaper in the UK, the first female Muslim too. For someone of this background, politically on the left and a committed anti-racist, to find a voice and space in the mainstream media has been challenging and rewarding. She is also a respected pundit, radio and television broadcaster and appears on key political and cultural programmes. She writes a weekly column for I newspaper and for other newspapers including the Sunday Times and Mail on Sunday.

For over twenty five years she has been consulted by various institutions and businesses on race and gender equality. She has met and advised politicians, peers and ministers, including PM David Cameron, on diversity and inclusion policies in Britain’s complex democracy. She is regular international public speaker in Britain, other European countries, North America and Asian nations. She is recognised as someone with experience, intellectual rigour and policy expertise by the public sector and private sectors. Campaigning organisations like Liberty and Index Against Censorship have invited her to debate sensitive subjects such as freedom of expression and state authoritarianism from the point of view of an insider/outsider, an important perspective. Total commitment to goals can make the most honest campaigners lose sight of diverse viewpoints.

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My articles

January 10, 2020

Meghan Markle Being a Black Woman in the Royal Family Was Never Going to Work | Opinion

In a totally unanticipated public statement Wednesday, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex mutinied against the monarchical institution, confronted vicious media outlets and common disparagers, and […]
May 12, 2019

Men in Forced Marriages

(Names have been changed) Suhail Khan’s arms are nut-brown, hairy and muscular. He turns them over. No hair, but a crisscross of slashes- two bandaged and […]
April 6, 2017

Britain’s Horrible Histories

  The Viceroy’s House, a feature film by Gurinder Chadha, director of the joyous Bend it like Beckham,  is out on general release in March. It […]
April 6, 2017

Misrembering Diana

  Hear ye all.  Kensington Palace has put on an exhibition titled Diana: Her Fashion Story and, ostensibly, tickets are selling out fast. For a mere […]
January 3, 2017

Homeless in ‘Great’ Britain

  From my study I can see the common with its tall trees, sweeping seagulls and dog walkers. It  looks like a Christmas card, frosty, silvery […]
January 3, 2017

Bloody Britishness

  This year Britishness reached its nadir. It turned angry, righteous, hateful, confrontational, inward looking and mean. Brexit was the result and still the rage goes […]

My food blog

August 8, 2013

Missing My family Carrot Halva

It’s Eid, the celebration at the end of Ramadhan and I feel so alone. My mum, beloved aunts and cousins are all either dead or moved […]
May 27, 2013

Beetroot Rosti

Made this for posh guests recently. Its beautiful- a lovely, life affirming red (or a bit like a circle of baked blood said one diner, who […]