Dr Aggrey Burke obituary
In 1986 the psychiatrist Dr Aggrey Burke, along with his colleague Joe Collier, had gathered evidence that their employer, St George’s hospital, and other London medical schools, were discriminating against women and people with “foreign sounding names” in their admission processes.Burke and Collier, both then senior lecturers at St George’s, decided to blow the whistle.They published a paper that led to a Commission for Racial Equality inquiry, and wholesale changes to the admission policies at medical schools across the capital.Burke knew the risk the pair were taking, saying it was “as though one had offended against the whole system; we were blamed, unfairly treated and made to feel that we were outcasts”.As the first Black consultant psychiatrist in the UK, Burke, who has died aged 82 of prostate cancer, was at the forefront of challenging mental health systems to treat Black people with fairness, and of supporting those caught up in the criminal justice system.
The most notable case he worked on was that of the Rastafarian Stephen Thompson who, in 1980, was sectioned in Rampton secure hospital in Nottinghamshire because he violently resisted prison officers cutting off his locks, ignoring the religious significance of his hair.Burke was one of the independent psychiatrists who intervened, and he managed to have Thompson released after what he humbly called a process of “negotiation”.Already engaged in community activism, Burke was on the ground in the aftermath of the New Cross house fire in January 1981 that claimed the lives of 14 Black teenagers (13 on the night, and a survivor who later took his own life).Dubbed by many as the New Cross massacre, it was one of the pivotal events in Black British history.The silence of politicians and the press in response to the tragedy sparked a mass protest movement including a Black People’s Day of Action that saw about 20,000 people marching through London and the slogan “thirteen dead, nothing said”.
Burke helped to set up a group for survivors and the community to process the pain and grief.He supported the survivors through both of the inquests (1981 and 2004), and as late as 2022 was still working with young people in the area.Born in St Elizabeth parish, Jamaica, Aggrey was the son of Edmund Burke, a senior civil servant who was sent to Britain in 1958 to ease tensions in the aftermath of the Notting Hill race riots, and Pansy (nee Balfour), a teacher.Along with Pansy and three of his five siblings, Aggrey, then aged 16, joined his father the following year, and they lived as one of the few Black families in Kew, west London.In Jamaica he had attended a number of government-run schools before winning a scholarship to the prestigious boys’ boarding school Jamaica College.
His sister Marilia said that Burke “became aware of another world” at the school, which aimed to develop future leaders,This was in stark contrast to his schooling in the UK, at Shene grammar, where he felt that he was always on the outside and “could never feel part of the thing”,In 1962, Burke enrolled at the University of Birmingham medical school,He found respite from the predominantly white university campus by volunteering for the Harambee Organisation in the Handsworth area of the city, which then had one of the largest Jamaican populations in the country,Burke helped at the organisation’s “supplementary school” that aimed to give Black children the education that mainstream schools were failing to provide.
During his studies Burke visited his parents in Ethiopia, who had moved there while his father was working for the UN, and visited Shashamane, the village set up for Rastafarians by Emperor Haile Selassie.After graduating from Birmingham in 1968, Burke completed his psychiatric training at the University of the West Indies in both Jamaica and Trinidad.By 1971 he was a registrar at the university hospital in Mona, Kingston, as well as teaching at the university.He returned to Birmingham University in 1972 for a research fellowship, before being appointed senior lecturer in psychiatry at St George’s hospital in 1976, progressing to consultant psychiatrist.No further promotion came before his retirement there, a fact that Burke felt was linked to his whistleblowing activities.
Nevertheless, despite not receiving the formal title, he was affectionately referred to by many as the “people’s professor”.In 2024, Birmingham awarded him an honorary doctorate.His commitment to the Black community continued throughout his life.In 1991 he was a co-founder and vice-chair of the George Padmore Institute, an archive above Britain’s oldest Black bookshop, New Beacon Books, in Finsbury Park, north London, and remained an active trustee until his death.He published countless articles on Black mental health and was a source of support and inspiration for those trying to break into and survive in the field.
In 2019 Burke was honoured as one of the 100 Great Black Britons, a list created to celebrate high-achieving Black individuals over the past 400 years,The following year the Royal College of Psychiatrists presented Burke with its President’s medal, and in 2023 created the Aggrey Burke fellowship for Black medical students,Marilia survives him, as do three nephews and two nieces,Aggrey Washington Burke, psychiatrist and academic, born 13 May 1943; died 21 December 2025
UK supermarkets go all out for ‘Jab-uary’ with food for those on weight-loss drugs
Veganuary and dry January are among the new year health kicks enthusiastically endorsed by supermarkets, but this year the buzz is around “Jab-uary” as pricey diet foods aimed at people on weight-loss drugs hit the shelves.Marks & Spencer, Morrisons, Asda, Ocado and the Co-op are among the big names targeting shoppers who use weight-loss injections, known as GLP-1 agonists, but better known by brand names such as Wegovy and Mounjaro.Ocado’s new virtual “weight management” aisle includes a “curated range of GLP-1-friendly products” that runs the gamut from tiny (100g) portions of steak costing £3.50 to a trendy “powdered greens” supplement, AG1, at £107 a pack.The online supermarket said it was seeing strong demand for protein-rich staples such as steak, chicken, cottage cheese, health drinks and vitamins and supplements
Shelling out? Easter eggs in the UK are smaller but pricier this year
Chocolate eggs are looking smaller than ever this year and it is not just because Easter is still so far away.Many of the Easter eggs already out on supermarket shelves this month not only cost more, but have been reduced in size or weight as the price of cocoa has driven a new wave of shrinkflation.Maltesers is living up to its “the lighter way to enjoy chocolate” slogan with its XL egg rather less large this year at 194g in many shops, down from 231g in 2025, while the price charged by Tesco has risen by £1 to £7.The weight loss is largely down to there being one fewer mini pack of Maltesers inside the box, according to trade journal the Grocer, meaning the price per gram is up 39% to 3.6p
China blocks Nvidia H200 AI chips that US government cleared for export – report
Suppliers of parts for Nvidia’s H200 have paused production after Chinese customs officials blocked shipments of the newly approved artificial intelligence processors from entering China, according to a report.Reuters could not immediately verify the report, which appeared in the Financial Times citing two people with knowledge of the matter. Nvidia did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment made outside regular business hours.Nvidia had expected more than one million orders from Chinese clients, the report said, adding that its suppliers had been operating around the clock to prepare for shipping as early as March.Chinese customs authorities this week told customs agents that Nvidia’s H200 chips were not permitted to enter the country, Reuters reported
ChatGPT to start showing ads in the US
ChatGPT will start including advertisements beside answers for US users as OpenAI seeks a new revenue stream.The ads will be tested first in ChatGPT for US users only, the company announced on Friday, after increasing speculation that the San Francisco firm would turn to a potential cashflow model on top of its current subscriptions.The ads will start in the coming weeks and will be included above or below, rather than within, answers. Mock-ups circulated by the company show the ads in a tinted box. They will be served to adult users “when there’s a relevant sponsored product or service based on your current conversation”, according to OpenAI’s announcement
Easier start for Alex de Minaur as Matteo Berrettini withdraws from Australian Open
Alex de Minaur has received an early boost to his Australian Open chances after the withdrawal of his tough first-round opponent, former world No 6 Matteo Berrettini.Tens of thousands have filled Melbourne Park on a sunny Sunday marking the first day of the main draw, which has already seen Perth product Talia Gibson secure passage to the second round.Even before a ball had been hit, however, there was reason for Australian optimism. Berrettini announced he had suffered a recurrence of the abdomen problems which had plagued his 2025 season, forcing him to miss the French and US opens, and would not take the court against De Minaur.“Unfortunately I’ve felt discomfort in my obliques once again and I won’t be ready to perform at my best level for five sets,” the Italian posted on Instagram
JD Vance to lead US presidential delegation at Milano Cortina Winter Olympics
US vice-president JD Vance will head the American presidential delegation to the opening ceremony of the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy, the White House confirmed Saturday.Vance is scheduled to attend the ceremony on 6 February, when the Milan-Cortina Games officially get underway. He will be accompanied by second lady Usha Vance, secretary of state Marco Rubio and US ambassador to Italy Tilman Fertitta.Also joining the delegation are several former Olympic champions, including twin sisters Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson and Monique Lamoureux-Morando, members of the US women’s ice hockey team that won gold at the 2018 Games. The group will also include figure skater Evan Lysacek, the 2010 Olympic champion, and Apolo Ohno, a two-time gold medalist in short track speed skating
Amazon workers at Coventry warehouse tested for tuberculosis after outbreak
Partly AI-generated folk-pop hit barred from Sweden’s official charts
Prominent PR firm accused of commissioning favourable changes to Wikipedia pages
Sacked TikTok workers in UK launch legal action over ‘union busting’
TikTok to strengthen age-verification technology across EU
X still allowing users to post sexualised images generated by Grok AI tool