Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Queen offers messages of support in dealing with virus

By Amit Roy

AS CHILDREN in the heat and dust of India, we learnt about the “Lady with the Lamp”.


So, it woke memories from long ago to hear Prince Charles refer to her last week when open­ing the NHS Nightingale Hospital in London by video link from his home 530 miles away in Birkhall in Scotland.

“I need hardly say that the name of this hospi­tal could not have been more aptly chosen,” he said, in what I thought was perhaps the most moving speech I have heard him make.

“Florence Nightingale, ‘The Lady with the Lamp’, brought hope and healing to thousands in their darkest hour,” he reminded us. “In this dark time, this place will be a shining light.”

His words brought to mind how independent India’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru captured the moment after Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination on January 30, 1948: “The light has gone out, I said, and yet I was wrong. For the light that shone in this country was no ordinary light. The light that has illumined this country for these many years will illumine this country for many more years, and a thousand years later, that light will be seen in this country and the world will see it and it will give solace to innu­merable hearts. For that light represented some­thing more than the immediate past, it repre­sented the living, the eternal truths, reminding us of the right path, drawing us from error, taking this ancient country to freedom.”

The Queen also shone a light when she spoke from Windsor Castle last Sunday (5).

“Across the Commonwealth and around the world, we have seen heart-warming stories of people coming together to help others, be it through delivering food parcels and medicines, checking on neighbours, or converting busi­nesses to help the relief effort,” she said.

“This time we join with all nations across the globe in a common endeavour, using the great advances of science and our instinctive compas­sion to heal. We will succeed – and that success will belong to every one of us.”

Her own memories took her back 80 years when she mentioned her late younger sister, Princess Margaret: “It reminds me of the very first broadcast I made, in 1940, helped by my sister. We, as children, spoke from here at Windsor to children who had been evacu­ated from their homes and sent away for their own safety. Today, once again, many will feel a painful sense of separation from their loved ones.”

At 93 and after 68 years on the throne, the monarch has lived through the dark days of the Second World War when an estimated 80 million people perished across the world, and seen the ebb and flow of fortune.

As Asians we have much to learn from the British, just as they have as much to learn from us.

“The pride in who we are is not a part of our past, it defines our present and our future,” she said.

She ended with a touch of Vera Lynn: “We should take comfort that while we may have more still to endure, better days will return: we will be with our friends again; we will be with our fami­lies again; we will meet again.”

More For You

Baffling cabinet reshuffle

Piyush Goyal with Jonathan Reynolds at Chequers during the signing of the UK–India Free Trade Agreement in July

Baffling cabinet reshuffle

IN SIR KEIR STARMER’S cabinet reshuffle last week, triggered by the resignation of Angela Rayner, the prime minister shifted Jonathan Reynolds from business and trade secretary and president of the board of trade after barely a year in the post to chief whip, making him responsible for the party.

The move doesn’t make much sense. At Chequers, the UK-India Free Trade Agreement was signed by Reynolds, and the Indian commerce and industry minister, Piyush Goyal. They had clearly established a friendly working relationship.

Keep ReadingShow less
​Dilemmas of dating in a digital world

We are living faster than ever before

AMG

​Dilemmas of dating in a digital world

Shiveena Haque

Finding romance today feels like trying to align stars in a night sky that refuses to stay still

When was the last time you stumbled into a conversation that made your heart skip? Or exchanged a sweet beginning to a love story - organically, without the buffer of screens, swipes, or curated profiles? In 2025, those moments feel rarer, swallowed up by the quickening pace of life.

Keep ReadingShow less
Comment: Mahmood’s rise exposes Britain’s diversity paradox

Shabana Mahmood, US homeland security secretary Kristi Noem, Canada’s public safety minister Gary Anandasangaree, Australia’s home affairs minister Tony Burke and New Zealand’s attorney general Judith Collins at the Five Eyes security alliance summit on Monday (8)

Comment: Mahmood’s rise exposes Britain’s diversity paradox

PRIME MINISTER Keir Starmer’s government is not working. That is the public verdict, one year in. So, he used his deputy Angela Rayner’s resignation to hit the reset button.

It signals a shift in his own theory of change. Starmer wanted his mission-led government to avoid frequent shuffles of his pack, so that ministers knew their briefs. Such a dramatic reshuffle shows that the prime minister has had enough of subject expertise for now, gambling instead that fresh eyes may bring bold new energy to intractable challenges on welfare and asylum.

Keep ReadingShow less
indian-soldiers-ww1-getty
Indian infantrymen on the march in France in October 1914 during World War I. (Photo: Getty Images)
Getty Images

Comment: We must not let anti-immigration anger erase south Asian soldiers who helped save Britain

This country should never forget what we all owe to those who won the second world war against fascism. So the 80th anniversary of VE Day and VJ Day this year have had a special poignancy in bringing to life how the historic events that most of us know from grainy black and white photographs or newsreel footage are still living memories for a dwindling few.

People do sometimes wonder if the meaning of these great historic events will fade in an increasingly diverse Britain. If we knew our history better, we would understand why that should not be the case.

For the armies that fought and won both world wars look more like the Britain of 2025 in their ethnic and faith mix than the Britain of 1945 or 1918. The South Asian soldiers were the largest volunteer army in history, yet ensuring that their enormous contribution is fully recognised in our national story remains an important work in progress.

Keep ReadingShow less
Spotting the signs of dementia

Priya Mulji with her father

Spotting the signs of dementia

How noticing the changes in my father taught me the importance of early action, patience, and love

I don’t understand people who don’t talk or see their parents often. Unless they have done something to ruin your lives or you had a traumatic childhood, there is no reason you shouldn’t be checking in with them at least every few days if you don’t live with them.

Keep ReadingShow less