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This month we’ve chosen a really easy Simple Act - Sign off your email with a note about refugees. It’s simple, but effective too! Through one click of a mouse you can send a positive message about refugees to hundreds of people! Or just your mum. Here’s a few short, sharp facts you can end your emails with: •Did you know Einstein was a refugee? •In Leicester alone, over 30 000 jobs have been created by Ugandan Asian refugees since the 1970s. •Btw, did you know that the Mini was designed by a refugee? •What have refugees ever done for...

Each month we flag up something which lets you complete a Simple Act and we thought this would be a great Simple Act for December – the weather’s cold, lots of people will be celebrating Christmas or Chanuka, and it’s a great excuse to stay in and swap yarns... The Simple Acts site has loads of great downloadable stories from across the world - from grumpy tigers in India to cheeky dervishes in Iraq – but to get you started we thought we’d tell you some first. So, sit back, and let’s begin at the beginning… Visit Simple Acts for...

The former Python star has shown us the world beyond our shores but after forging a bond with a 26-year-old Somali refugee he hopes to open our eyes to problems much closer to home. Plain has been learning a few words in another language from Musa Ibrahim, a refugee from Somalia: 'They make for an odd couple. One is an epoch-defining comedian, not to mention a popular explorer and best-selling author who is fast approaching heritage-listed status. The other is a near-anonymous Somali refugee who fled his war-ravaged country and arrived in Britain knowing no one and barely able to...

Each newsletter we flag up something which lets you complete a Simple Act – this month we're licking our lips after cooking a few dishes from another country! Qabuli Palow from Afghanistan Offered by: the Hassanzai Family in Newham To feed: 9 – 10 people Suitable for: veggie-friendly Cooking time: 40 minutes The Hassanzai family say: ‘We usually cook this dish with meat as no-one in Afghanistan is vegetarian, but this is an alternative for those who don’t eat meat. We don’t cook this dish everyday. We cook it on special occasions like Now Roz.’ Get the full recipe on...

Each newsletter we flag up something which lets you complete a Simple Act – this month we're talking ‘Books about Exile’ - and a book by none other than this year's Nobel Prize winner! No, not Barack Obama, but Herta Müller who was last week awarded the 2009 Nobel Prize in Literature. We’ve highlighted one of her earliest novels, ‘Traveling on One Leg’, which describes leaving one country called home and arriving in another. Müller confronts her readers with the alien world of the Ceausescu regime, but also with the alienation in her own life. Müller was born in the...

Each month, we flag up something which lets you complete a Simple Act – whether it a book about exile or a few weird and wonderful words in a new language. This month we're talking ‘Films about Exile', and shouting about 'Grow Your Own'! Grow Your Own is a British drama/comedy which centres around a group of gardeners at a Merseyside allotment who react angrily when a group of refugees are given plots at the site. But a bigger danger soon rears up in the shape of a mobile phone company determined to install a mast on the allotment, forcing...

Each month, we flag up something which lets you complete a Simple Act – whether it a book about exile or a few weird and wonderful words in a new language. This month we're sharing a song and raving about 'Far' by the lovely Regina Spektor! Regina Spektor’s music has been described as a heartfelt mix of “Weimar cabaret, Russian polka, whimsical folk and sultry blues”. A Russian Jew, Spektor and her family fled the anti-Semitism of the Soviet Union in the late 1980’s when she was nine years old, passing through Italy and Austria before settling in the Bronx...

Paddington Bear has shared a story especially for Refugee Week. Through a story written by Michael Bond as part of the Simple Acts campaign, Paddington bear tells of his arrival in Britain and how a sticky paw can make the UK more welcoming for other refugees. Read Paddington Bear’s Simple Act.

For Refugee Week, author Hari Kunzru defines 'Freedom', which for Britain's refugees should mean much more than safety. Watch Hari's video

Demonstration marking International Refugee Day on Saturday 20 June Amnesty International groups in London have teamed up with the Refugee Council, Refugee Action, Hackney Refugee & Migrant Support Group, London Detainee Support Group and others to organise a demonstration calling for an end to the destitution of refused asylum seekers. The march takes place on Saturday 20 June as part of Refugee Week. It will start at 12 noon at Embankment and head off past Westminster to Trafalgar Square, where a rally in support of asylum seekers will be held. Speakers Kate Allen Amnesty International, Jeremy Corbyn MP, Marilynn Bonzo...