Samir Jeraj

London

Policy Correspondent at The New Statesman

Commissioning Editor at Hyphenonline

Reporter and author. Writing on policy for @newstatesman. Commissioning editor for @onlinehyphen. Senior Fellow @JSchofieldTrust. Swimmer with locs

Articles

Right to rent: peers to discuss scrapping anti-immigrant policy

1 week ago | hyphenonline.com | Samir Jeraj

Peers are expected to discuss scrapping the “right to rent” duty on landlords as early as next week, in a move to end a decade-long hostile environment policy accused of leaving Black and Asian renters less able to find a home than their white counterparts. The duty, created by the 2014 Immigration Act, requires prospective tenants to prove they have the right to be in the UK — and imposes fines and even prison sentences on landlords who let to anyone without legal migration status.
UK has deported eight offenders to Afghanistan since Taliban takeover

3 weeks ago | hyphenonline.com | Samir Jeraj

At least one person serving a jail sentence of less than six months has been deported by the UK to Afghanistan since August 2021, when the Taliban took control of the country. They were among eight offenders sent by the Home Office to Afghanistan in that time, according to records obtained by Hyphen through a Freedom of Information request.
The story of saffron, from ancient Persia to Essex

3 weeks ago | hyphenonline.com | Samir Jeraj

When I was growing up, my family and I often visited Saeed, an Iranian friend of my dad. Even more than the novelty of watching the recently launched Channel 5 at his south London flat, I remember the delicious food he always prepared for us. The dish that sticks in my memory most is tahdig — a unique scorched rice dish that is of central importance to the Persian table.
Ramadan in the UK is worth up to £1.3bn a year

1 month ago | hyphenonline.com | Samir Jeraj

The UK’s Ramadan economy has as much as quadrupled in the past decade and could now be worth £1.3bn annually, new research suggests. Researchers from the thinktank Equi estimated that Muslim consumers now spend £642m a year on food, travel and clothes, as well as giving £359m in charitable donations, while mosques across the UK also provided an estimated 3.8m free iftar meals at a cost of £15m.
Ginger, a history: from ancient luxury item to spice rack staple

1 month ago | hyphenonline.com | Samir Jeraj

In Muslim communities around the world, certain dishes are inextricably linked to Ramadan and the ending of the daily fast. Haleem, or khitchro as it is known in Gujarati cuisine, is the one I grew up with. Made of beef or lamb, grains and lentils cooked to a porridge-like consistency, this hearty stew fills you up as soon as you look at it. It’s the definition of comfort food, flavoured with earthy cumin, cinnamon, cardamom and cloves.
'We showed strength and resilience’: The first mosques to offer Covid vaccines

1 month ago | hyphenonline.com | Samir Jeraj

On 8 December 2020, a moment of hope emerged at a bleak time. Nearly a year into the Covid-19 pandemic, the first person in the UK to be vaccinated against the virus walked out of a hospital in Coventry. In nearby Birmingham, workers at a local pharmacy were concerned that the roll-out of the vaccine might miss some of the most vulnerable people in their community. They had seen the rapid spread of disinformation about vaccines targeting Pakistani and Bengali communities.
Growing pains

1 month ago | newstatesman.com | Samir Jeraj

Conventional wisdom has it that when the economy is growing, voters will reward incumbent politicians with a new mandate, and that overseeing a recessions is a quick route to the political wilderness. In the US, a growing economy and huge public investment by President Joe Biden seemed to have little impact on both his and Vice-President Kamala Harris’s political survival. Ordinary people didn’t feel better off, and any growth was swallowed up by inflation.
How Beirutis became aid workers overnight

Nov 25, 2024 | newhumanist.org.uk | Samir Jeraj

Five years ago, in the pages of New Humanist, I reported on the Beirut Marathon – an event designed to build peace in a country that had endured decades of civil war. Since then the city has lived through economic and political unrest, the Covid pandemic and the catastrophic explosion in its port in the summer of 2020. Now, with Israel launching strikes on Lebanon’s capital city, the Beirut Marathon Association (BMA) has transformed into a humanitarian organisation.
Samir Jeraj: Selská bouře: Britští Zelení ukazují, jak může levice uspět i na venkově

Oct 29, 2024 | denikreferendum.cz | Samir Jeraj

↗ Slabý protivník, inspirativní kandidát a efektivní infrastruktura pro vedení kampaně jsou základem úspěchu. Teď už jen najít ty správné aktivity, poselství a program, které lidi přimějí změnit své preference a dát svůj hlas Straně zelených. Foto Ben Stansall, AFP Všeobecné volby, které se ve Velké Británii konaly 4. července, znamenaly pro zemi politický převrat.
Keeping the two-child benefit cap is deeply irresponsible borrowing

Oct 26, 2024 | theleaduk.substack.com | Samir Jeraj

We are now days away from Budget, with no signs from Labour that they’ll budge on their inexplicable decision to keep one of George Osborne’s most odious policies: the two-child cap on benefits. True, Keir Starmer has said it will be scrapped at some point in the future when fiscal conditions allow. But even with fiscal rules now rightly set to be redefined by Rachel Reeves, the cap appears to be set in stone.