Diverse Magazine is honoured to present this tribute to Herbie Higgins MBE, one of the greatest pioneers of social justice and voluntary community work in the UK, who passed away on Wednesday November 9, 2011. He was a dad, granddad, great granddad, friend, mentor, a people’s champion, a true servant of the people who delighted in serving communities and we join his family and friends in mourning his loss. Herbie (as he was affectionately known) immigrated to Liverpool from Jamaica in 1951, having been invited by his uncle Charlie Higgins who himself immigrated to England as a qualified engineer during...

Lady Hale’s correct – diversity is a constitutional issue but a more representative bench would make for better decisions. Lady Hale and Lady Neuberger gave evidence to the Lords constitution committee on the importance of increasing diversity of the judiciary and the potential for it to change the outcome of cases recently, but failed to highlight the universality of the issue. Hale, the only female justice in the history of the supreme court and the law lords, stated before the committee that “the lack of diversity on the bench is a constitutional issue”. Both Hale and Neuberger, the former chair...

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has joined forces with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to produce equality and human rights guidance for care inspectors. The advice is aimed at ensuring people who are most vulnerable to harm have their rights upheld and respected. It enables CQC inspectors to clearly link effective equality and human rights compliance with high-quality, safe services and sets out exactly what they have to look for when monitoring a care provider against standards. Inspectors will also know what to do if they suspect a human rights violation or find a breach in standards. The...