Any Questions Panel: Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, Solomon Curtis, Anita Boateng, Alastair Hignell CBE

Any Questions Panel: Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, Solomon Curtis, Anna Boeteng.  Chaired by Alastair Hignell CBE

Our panel of activists in different spheres of public life will bring their expertise and experience to shine a light on topical concerns raised by our audience.  You are invited to bring questions to the event, which will be collected and themed before the start of the discussion.

Yasmin Alibhai-Brown is an award-winning journalist, author and broadcaster.  She is a consultant on diversity and inclusion and a trustee of various arts organisations.

Solomon Curtis is an activist, policy maker and political strategist. He is a Head of Strategy and Partnerships for the Mayor of London.

Anita Boeteng is a government affairs, policy and communications specialist with extensive experience working at the highest levels of government and media.

Alastair Hignell CBE is a former England rugby player and professional cricketer, sports journalist and broadcaster and is now a disability activist.

More about our panellists:

Yasmin was exiled from her birthplace, Uganda, in 1972 is a journalist, broadcaster, and author. She is a weekly columnist for the I newspaper and has won several awards including the Orwell prize for political writing and in 2017, National Press Awards columnist of the year prize. She is a national and international public speaker, a consultant on diversity and inclusion and trustee of various arts organisations. She is co-founder of the charity British Muslims for Secular Democracy. Her recent books include Refusing the Veil, Exotic England about England’s infatuation with the east, In Defence of Political Correctness and Ladies Who Punch. She has twice been voted the 10^th most influential Asian in Britain.

Solomon is an activist, policy maker and political strategist. He currently works at the Mayor of London’s office as Head of Strategy and Partnerships across civil society and sport policy. Solomon joined city hall in 2018 to develop London’s sport strategy. He sits as a director/trustee of Key4Life – a leading prison rehabilitation charity and Player Voice CIC –  a social change organisation in the football academy system. Prior to City Hall, he worked in campaigns and communications in the charity sector. Having grown up in Hastings and lived in Brighton, Solomon stood as a Labour Party candidate for MP in the 2015 and 2017 general elections in Wealden and Brighton respectively.

Anita Boateng is a government affairs, policy and communications specialist with extensive experience working at the highest levels of government and media.

Anita served three Cabinet Ministers as a government special adviser from 2016-2019, including the defacto Deputy Prime Minister in the Cabinet Office, the Lord Chancellor and the Work and Pensions Secretary.  Anita is a former political producer of BBC Question Time and a regular political commentator. She has a degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from the University of Oxford.  She is currently a partner with Portland Communications specialising in delivering ambitious, integrated public affairs and corporate campaigns for clients facing regulatory, reputational and commercial challenges.

Alastair earned 14 caps in the England rugby team between 1975-79 and played professional cricket for Gloucestershire 1974-83. He became a sports journalist and broadcaster from 1985 to 2012.  In 1999 he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and since 2011 he uses a wheelchair.  Alastair continued to be active as an international charity trustee and public speaker.  In 2008 he was awarded the  BBC TV Sports Personality Helen Rollason Award for “ courage and achievement in the face of adversity.”  In 2009 he was awarded CBE for services to charity and sport.

He is now a disability activist and volunteer for a number of local charities.