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1 week ago | 
easterneye.biz | Amit Roy
LISA NANDY has established herself as one of the most important members of Sir Keir Stamer’s cabinet by signing what appears to be a far-reaching cultural agreement with India during a four-day visit to Mumbai and Delhi.
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1 week ago | 
easterneye.biz | Amit Roy
WHAT does the Free Trade Agreement (FTA), welcomed on Tuesday (6) by the British and Indian prime ministers, Sir Keir Starmer and Narendra Modi, mean for Eastern Eye readers? The FTA certainly opens up many more opportunities for British Indian businessmen (and women). As Eastern Eye’s Asian Rich List demonstrates year on year, there are thousands of successful British Indian business folk. Basically, there is the chance for a lot of people to make a lot of money.
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1 week ago | 
easterneye.biz | Amit Roy
THE Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) thinks it’s never too early to get children interested in gardening and suggests planting sunflower seeds might be the ideal way to get them started. Some top tips have been given by Guy Barter, the RHS’s chief horticulturalist, to mark National Gardening Week (Monday (28) - Sunday (4)). But since it is still early in the season, celebrating the theme of “beginner gardeners” is still timely.
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1 week ago | 
easterneye.biz | Amit Roy
ON A recent Air India flight from Heathrow to Delhi in a brand new Airbus A350, a routine announcement from the flight deck said the aircraft was under the command of Neelam Ingale and Ruhani Dogra. One of the female members of the cabin crew was surprised that Eastern Eye was surprised that both the pilot and co-pilot were women. This was nothing unusual, she indicated.
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1 week ago | 
easterneye.biz | Amit Roy
LISA NANDY has said the UK hopes to forge a “closer cultural partnership” with India after she returns from her first trip to Mumbai and New Delhi as secretary of state for culture, media and sport from Thursday (1) to Sunday (4). She made the promise at a reception hosted jointly last week by her department and the High Commission of India at the St James Court Taj Hotel in central London.
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1 week ago | 
easterneye.biz | Amit Roy
ROYAL MAIL is issuing 10 new stamps to mark the 80th anniversary of VE Day (Victory in Europe Day) next Thursday (8) to “honour men and women who made extraordinary contributions during the Second World War”. Paying tribute to the Indian war effort, Royal Mail has included ace fight pilot Mahinder Singh Pujji (1918-2010), who “was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his outstanding courage and leadership”.
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2 weeks ago | 
easterneye.biz | Amit Roy
WILL Neil Basu’s memoirs, Turmoil: 30 Years of Policing, Politics and Prejudice, make a movie – something along the lines of In the Heat of the Night starring Sidney Poitier as the black detective ‘Mr’ Virgil Tibbs, who is much cleverer than the racist white police chief, Bill Gillespie, played by Rod Steiger? After all, Basu rose to be the most senior non-white officer in the Metropolitan Police, and indeed in the country.
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2 weeks ago | 
easterneye.biz | Amit Roy
AS AIR INDIA turns itself into a “world-class global carrier with an Indian heart” under the leadership of its CEO and managing director, Campbell Wilson, the first group of potential passengers who stand to benefit are Eastern Eye readers. They frequently travel to India for family gatherings, holidays or work. But Wilson is also trying to persuade non-Indians to choose Air India over other rival airlines, especially in business class – where it is offering a “Maharaja” service.
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3 weeks ago | 
easterneye.biz | Amit Roy
NOTEWORTHY among the dazzling new crop of Asian crime writers is Ram Murali, who has come up with Death in the Air, a remarkably clever murder mystery (where it’s difficult to guess the identity of the killer). Among crime writers, Abir Mukherjee and Vaseem Khan are now established names. In fact, the latter was elected chairman of the Crime Writers’ Association in 2023.
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3 weeks ago | 
easterneye.biz | Amit Roy
AHEAD of Lisa Nandy’s forthcoming visit to India, her first overseas trip as secretary of state for culture, media and sport, the British Council has told Eastern Eye this government organisation is intent on projecting a positive and progressive image of Britain in its dealings with Indian partners. “We need to shine a light on how multicultural Britain has become,” Dr Debanjan Chakrabarti, British Council director for east and northeast India, told Eastern Eye at his office in Kolkata.
