A year after I was surrounded in Birmingham, have community rifts healed?
As riots broke out across the country last summer following the Southport attack, fear spread in a majority Muslim part of Birmingham that far-right protesters were on their way.
Locals came out on to the streets, and as I was reporting live on air, I was surrounded by a small group of masked men, swearing and gesturing to the camera.
Afterwards, as we were trying to drive away from the area, a man with a knife followed us and attempted to slash a tyre on our broadcast van.
The moment Becky Johnson was confronted on camera last summer
A year on, I have returned to the area to discuss what happened with some of those who saw their city descend into chaos.
“The local community had lost faith in the local elected members as well as the local policing units,” says Naeem Yousef, 48, who lives nearby.
“They thought…the only way to protect themselves and the community was by coming out in force.”
‘You can’t control their behaviour’
Tanveer Choudhry, 56, agrees. “In every community we have our sort of, shall we call them… idiots, and you can’t control their behaviour,” he says.
“I think there was a concern that the far-right group that was coming may well be armed… so I think it was just trying to counteract what they thought was coming.”
We are sitting in a cafe, not far from where the unrest broke out last summer.
Masked men surrounded the Sky team during the unrest
‘They were looking for who they thought were the enemy’
The group I’m with were invited by community activist Naveed Sadiq, who was there that day.
As well as Naveed, there are three other local Muslim men, and two white residents, including Gerry Moynihan.
He recalls deciding to stay at home that day.
“They were looking for what they thought were the enemy – white people – and trying to find white people,” he says.
“Which is why I stayed in my house, because the intelligence I had was, don’t get involved, don’t walk around, and you know, it will pass.”
I ask the group if my team and I were targeted because we were white.
Gerry Moynihan says he decided not to leave his home
“It’s not because you’re white, it’s because they’re actually bored,” Naveed says. “They were wanting a bit of excitement.”
I ask if they think it would have happened if we were all British Asian.
“Of course,” Tanveer replies. “It wasn’t the fact that you were white… it was just the heat of the moment”.
Naeem believes it happened simply because the men involved “do not want anyone filming what they’re doing”.
“You could have been Asian… they would still try to get you out of the area,” he insists.
Tanveer believes our team would still have been targeted if we were a different ethnicity
‘Are we going to be accepted?’
I’m keen to understand how these men feel now and whether the sentiment that brought people out on to the streets to “protect” them has been reignited by the recent protests outside hotels housing asylum seekers.
The answer, from Joe Khann, a local Muslim man, would surprise many.
“I would like to go and join them,” he says, referring to the anti-immigration protesters who have gathered several times in Epping.
“We have this problem within our own communities, and people don’t talk about it. We feel exactly the same and we understand how the English feel with the immigration,” he explains.
‘We feel exactly the same’ on immigration, says Joe Khann
“We’re having people who are getting married back home, they get married for six months, get divorced…and the government gives them all their help to get accommodation, their national insurance numbers and all that,” he says.
“We’re getting fed up within our own community because we hear this constantly.”
However, he thinks if he did try to join in protests, people would “think I’m an immigrant”.
He says he is “born here, 58, and they look at me as a foreigner or a migrant”.
Naeem agrees. “The question is for us now, as people who are born and bred in this country, what is our identity? Who are we?” he asks.
“As a white person born in this country, you are automatically accepted. Are we going to be accepted? How many generations will it take for us to be accepted?”
Naeem (left) says even those born in the UK question their identity
‘You have to blame someone’
Naeem is also concerned about immigration.
“We have an influx of people that we do not know about, and they have no loyalty to the area,” he says.
“I believe that the average white guy… isn’t racist, they’re just fed up,” adds Naveed.
However, these men do have grievances, particularly with the media.
“We feel that we have a two-tier journalists system where when the colour is like mine we get different justice and when the colour is a bit paler it’s different,” Naveed says.
‘When the colour is like mine we get different justice,’ says Naveed (left)
‘We have become the bogeyman’
“When there’s criminality, and it’s on the news, a Muslim has to be identified by his religion,” Naeem says.
He believes Muslims have become the “bogeyman” in many people’s minds.
“Where you don’t have housing for example, where the crime has increased, you have to blame someone,” he says.
“Prior it was the Irish community, now it’s the Muslim community.
“It’s a distraction from the actual real issues and how you can resolve them but let’s just put it on to the Muslim community for now, let’s just distract the whole nation and say look it’s the problem with asylum, it’s a problem with Muslims,” he says.
After leaving, I head over to the spot on the roundabout where my team were targeted last year.
As I stand there, my colleague sees a man imitating pulling the trigger of a gun at me from his car.
This is Britain, in broad daylight.
Sir Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron’s migrant deal comes into force today, with detentions set to begin by the end of the week.
The “one in, one out” pilot scheme – which allows the UK to send some people who have crossed the Channel back to France in exchange for asylum seekers with ties to Britain – was signed last week, and has now been approved by the European Commission.
Politics Hub: Follow live updates
It comes as 2025 is on course to be a record year for crossings.
Approximately 25,436 people have already made the journey this year, according to PA news agency analysis of Home Office figures – 49% higher than at the same point in 2024.
The prime minister and the French president hailed the deal as a “good agreement” when it was first announced during the latter’s visit to the UK last month.
The scheme also means that anyone arriving in a small boat can be detained immediately, with space set aside at immigration removal centres in anticipation of their arrival.
Sir Keir said the ratification of the treaty will “send a clear message – if you come here illegally on a small boat you will face being sent back to France”.
Ministers have so far declined to say how many people could be returned under the deal, however, there have been reports that under the scheme only 50 people a week will be returned to France.
Analysis: Deal will need to go much further to work
Sky News political correspondent Rob Powell said while it was a “policy win” for the government, the numbers must eventually “go a lot higher” than 50 per week if it is to work as a deterrent.
“The average crossing rate is about 800 a week, so this will need to go up by a sizeable factor for that message to start seeping through to people trying to make that crossing,” Powell added.
The aim will be to make asylum seekers believe the “risk of going back to France is so big that they shouldn’t bother parting with their cash and paying smugglers” to make the crossing.
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Migrants in Dunkirk, France, preparing to cross the English Channel.
The Conservatives have branded the agreement a “surrender deal” and said it will make “no difference whatsoever”.
Under the terms of the agreement, adults arriving on small boats will face being returned to France if their asylum claim is inadmissible.
In exchange, the same number of people will be able to come to the UK on a new legal route, provided they have not attempted a crossing before and subject to stringent documentation and security checks.
The pilot scheme is set to run until June 2026, pending a longer-term agreement.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper will face questions on the agreement on Sky News Breakfast this morning.
Police are warning of mass arrests if a protest in support of the banned group Palestine Action goes ahead on Saturday.
Hundreds of people are expected to turn out for the demonstration, which is understood to be planned for London.
However, the Metropolitan Police said “anyone showing support for the group can expect to be arrested.”
“We are aware that the organisers of Saturday’s planned protest are encouraging hundreds of people to turn out with the intention of placing a strain on the police and the wider criminal justice system,” said a spokesperson.
The organisers, a pressure group called Defend Our Juries, denied their protest will try to overwhelm the police and justice system.
“If we are allowed to protest peacefully and freely, then that is no bother to anyone,” said the group in a statement.
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What’s happening to Palestine Action?
Palestine Action was banned under terrorism laws after two aircraft were damaged at RAF Brize Norton on 20 June.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the vandalism of the planes was “disgraceful” and accused the group of a “long history of unacceptable criminal damage”.
The ban means membership of, or support for, Palestine Action is a criminal offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison.
More than 200 people supporting the group were arrested at Defend Our Juries protests across the UK last month, many of whom held placards with the message: “I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action.”
Downing Street has urged people not to attend this weekend’s protest.
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It comes after around 40 people gathered outside Labour HQ on Monday to protest the party’s stance on Gaza.
They were watched by a small group of police officers as they chanted phrases including: “Shame on Keir Starmer, shame on the Labour Party, shame on David Lammy.”
Separately, the Board of Deputies of British Jews has also confirmed it will protest this weekend, with community organisations marching through central London to Downing Street on Sunday.
They are calling for the government not to recognise the state of Palestine without all hostages taken by Hamas being released.
Last week, Sir Keir Starmer said he planned to recognise Palestine by the UN General Assembly meeting in September, unless Israel met certain conditions including agreeing a ceasefire and improving the humanitarian situation in Gaza.
Permission for the first vertical space launch from UK soil by a British rocket company has been granted by the air safety regulator.
The licence from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) gives Glasgow-based Skyrora the green light to launch its Skylark L rocket from the SaxaVord Spaceport in the Shetland Islands.
“Skyrora is proud to be leading efforts that enable launch activity from the UK, and we look forward to achieving a reliable commercial launch programme that benefits us all,” said Volodymyr Levykin, CEO of Skyrora.
“It is essential that the UK has sovereign launch capabilities.”
A Skyrora engineer builds a rocket in the company’s factory near Glasgow
While it’s a step towards that goal, the licence doesn’t mean the Shetlands will rival America’s Cape Canaveral any time soon.
Although the CAA licence allows Skyrora up to 16 launches a year, SaxaVord isn’t expected to be able to facilitate a launch until early 2026.
The current licence is also limited to sub-orbital launches of the 11m tall rocket.
Skyrora expects its rocket to reach an altitude of between 120 and 130km – well over the 100km-high “Karman Line”, which is the internationally-agreed boundary of space.
But Skylark L lacks the heft to access low-earth orbit, the ultimate goal for the emerging “micro launch” industry.
A Skyrora engineer works on one of the company’s rockets
‘Important milestone’
Like many of its competitors, Skyrora is using this smaller rocket to test various technologies – and the regulatory environment – before attempting an orbital flight with its larger vehicle, Skyrora-XL.
Launching from northern latitudes like the UK offers easier access to satellites in polar or sun-synchronous orbits.
Smaller rockets potentially mean cheaper and faster launches, offering a “responsive” launch capability to service or support the increasing number of satellites in orbit.
“I am thrilled we’ve reached this important milestone in the UK space sector, and I congratulate Skyrora for being the first UK company to receive a rocket launch licence,” said aviation and space minister Mike Kane.
The UK, however, has been criticised for being slow to develop a domestic space capability since the Space Industry Act made it possible back in 2018.
The first licence for a UK space launch wasn’t granted until 2022, but the attempt by Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic for a horizontal rocket launch from an aircraft failed.
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Another licence was granted earlier this year to German micro-launch company RFA but an explosion during testing of their rocket at SaxaVord delayed its plans for a suborbital launch this year.
Modifications being made to the SaxaVord spaceport mean it may not be ready to accommodate a launch until 2026.
Skyrora told Sky News that if there are significant delays to its plans to launch from SaxaVord, it may look into transferring its CAA licence to Australia’s regulator.
If so, it expects it could launch SkylarkL from Australia’s Woomera test range before the end of 2025.
No doubt that would be a disappointment for the UK government and thousands of space enthusiasts in the UK, but it would see history repeat itself.
The first (and last) British-built rocket to put a satellite into orbit, Black Arrow, launched from Woomera in 1971.
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