Unpacked – Yassin Mohamud: Bristol's first Somali lord mayor

About this episode

Yassin Mohamud discusses his new role as Bristol's first Somali Lord Mayor and his plans to address community issues.

Welcome back after a short break to Bristol Unpacked, and the start of our new season running through until summer. For the first episode we welcome Yassin Mohamud, a Green councillor for Lawrence Hill, the ward that includes Barton Hill, which as well as sitting within the controversion East Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood scheme was the scene of the disastrous Barton House tower block evacuation in 2023. It's a busy, diverse inner-city area where there is always plenty to keep local politicians on their toes. In the week this episode goes live Yassin will be sworn in as Bristol’s Lord Mayor – the first in our city to come from the Somali community. While it’s mostly a ceremonial role, he’s pledged to use to bring people back together and ensure everyone feels listened to. We’re keen to hear more about how his background in community work and dealing with difficult issues might help him do that. We’ll also get into the importance of his identity, and how his new platform can help challenge anti-immigrant attitudes – which were amplified last year by Reform’s West of England mayoral candidate Arron Banks, who accused Bristol’s Somalis of being at the forefront of crime. Hope you…

People in this episode

Host: The Bristol Cable

Guest: Yassin Mohamud

Topics covered

• local politics
• community work
• immigration
• Bristol mayoralty
• diversity
• social issues

Keywords

• Bristol
• Yassin Mohamud
• Lord Mayor
• Somali community
• immigration
• community work
• Barton House evacuation

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: The Bristol Cable

Places: Bristol, Lawrence Hill, Barton Hill, Somali

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