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The Guardian •

‘They can’t take away your imagination and creativity’: Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe on how sewing helped her in Iran jail

When Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe returned home to London after six years of arbitrary detention in Iran, she brought back with her a small patchwork cushion. Pieced together from scrap material and made with the single sewing machine available in the prison, it was the product of a communal craft circle.“It’s something very, very precious to me,” she said. So precious, in fact, that she has worked on a new collaboration between London’s Imperial War Museum (IWM) and the fabric department of Libert...
The Guardian •

‘Add some whimsy to your life’: Wicked fans bring magic to Leicester Square

Outside one of Leicester Square’s main cinemas, small crowds gathered in shades of green, pink and glitter, a loose palette of fairies and witches.As Wicked: For Good lands in UK cinemas on Friday and this weekend, some fans have decided that simply watching the film isn’t enough. They want to wear it.For Nicola Deane, 33, and her sister Chloe, 27, that instinct comes naturally. The pair travelled from Ireland for what they describe as “a full weekend of dressing up”, part of a long-running trad...
The Guardian •

‘A sign of who I am, right here on my hands’: meet the artists behind the new-school henna boom

The night before Eid, plastic chairs line the pavements of busy British high streets from London to Bradford. Women sit elbow-to-elbow beneath shopfronts, hands outstretched as artists swirl cones of henna into intricate curls. For £5, you can walk away with both palms blooming. Once confined to weddings and living rooms, this centuries-old ritual has spilled out into public spaces – and today, it’s being reimagined entirely.In recent years, henna has travelled from family homes to the red carpe...
The Guardian •

‘There’s no place like this’: shoppers and traders fear for Birmingham indoor market’s future

Every week, 80-year-old Frank catches a train from Walsall to Birmingham. He threads through gleaming shopfronts in Grand Central station and past the Bullring before slipping into the fish-scented bustle on the ground floor of Edgbaston Street car park. At Birmingham indoor market he buys a bag of cockles. “Where else would you find this quality?” he says. “There’s no place like this, it’s the heart of Birmingham.”But Frank’s weekly visits may soon come to an end. Plans to demolish the market a...
The Guardian •

‘It would be a great loss’: London’s oldest Islamic bookshop at risk of closure

London’s oldest independent Islamic bookshop is at risk of closing within a year owing to declining footfall and the rise of online shopping platforms.Founded in 1985 by the Egyptian publisher Samir el-Atar, Dar al-Taqwa has been a cornerstone of British Muslim life for four decades – a place where scholars, students and converts have long gathered to browse, talk and connect.Staff say the shop is the only non-sectarian Islamic bookshop and stocks all kinds of titles from politics and culture, t...
The Guardian •

‘A kind of therapy’: scream club brings Londoners together to ‘let it all out’

On a cold Monday afternoon in Hyde Park, London, a small group of people gather by the Huntress fountain chatting softly among themselves. Nothing about the group would seem unusual to passing dog walkers and runners – until they huddle together and one starts a countdown.On three, a collective scream cuts through the park. The outburst lasts only a few seconds before giving way to laughter. They were only meant to do it once, but end up screaming again – louder, the second time.This is London S...
The Guardian •

‘Artefacts were just sitting in suitcases in people’s homes’: the London museum preserving Somali culture

You could probably walk right past Culture House without noticing it. Tucked away, just off the bustle of London’s Uxbridge Road, the building’s muted colours, simple sign and arched doorway give little away. Step inside, though, and you’ll soon be enticed by what is the UK’s first permanent exhibition and cultural space dedicated to Somali heritage.Officially opened last May, Culture House features a collection of over 150 artefacts, a rotating exhibition, poetry workshops and a digital archive...
The Guardian •

How three young Londoners set out to explore the countries of their parents’ birth – and redefined the travel vlog

‘Kayum was my friend for years,” recalls Abubakar Finiin. “But when I met his grandad in Bangladesh, it just felt like I understood his whole story. I knew so much more about him as a person.”
This moment of connection captures the essence of Kids of the Colony, a grassroots travel series on YouTube created by three childhood friends from Islington: Abubakar, Kayum Miah and Zakariya Hajjaj, all 23. In a series of chatty vlogs that thrive on their offbeat humour and close friendship, the trio p...
The Guardian •

‘It was chaotic but beautiful’: Warda Mohamed and Kosar Ali on filming the British-Somali short Muna

When Warda Mohamed posted a message on social media that she had completed her feature film script, she never expected it to change her career. “I genuinely thought it was just going to be a few people saying, ‘Oh my God, well done’,” she says. “I posted it at nine o’clock at night and thought nothing of it.” By morning, a commissioner at BBC Film had reached out, setting the wheels in motion for what would become Muna – an 18-minute short film that screened at more than 60 international film fe...
The Guardian •

The one change that worked: I began a quiet, satisfying rebellion against the digital age

There’s something magical about holding a physical print of a moment you’ve captured. I first experienced this feeling as a teenager, when my aunt gave me a film camera for my 16th birthday. At the time, it felt like an antique. I left it in a drawer, overlooked, while I relied on my phone for photos – quick snaps that were shared but rarely revisited.Like most teenagers growing up in the digital age, I was obsessed with curating the perfect Instagram feed. My profile was a polished collection o...
The Guardian •

A moment that changed me: I was raised to be wary of strangers – then came an unusual request

Growing up in a family of refugees, I was raised to approach strangers with caution. After experiencing displacement, my parents instilled in me the idea that trust had to be earned; they had seen the risks that come with being vulnerable in a new environment. Being wary of the unfamiliar was their way of ensuring we stayed safe in a world that wasn’t always welcoming.As I got older, their anxieties became my own. I would automatically assume, for example, that someone asking for directions migh...
Journo Resources •

So... You're A Journalist Who Wants To Start A Paid Newsletter?

While it’s impossible to say for certain what makes one newsletter succeed while another struggles to break even, there are some common threads. “Consistency is key,” says Isabella, who also runs both Instagram and Twitter accounts alongside the newsletter to engage with her supporters and connect with new ones. “You have to keep promoting yourself. If you don’t tell anyone about your newsletter, how will they know about it?”
It’s also important to remember being paid can mean many different thi...
Journo Resources •

Can Content Creators And Influencers Be Journalists Too?

Back in February 2024, the Dune: Part Two press junket sparked a fiery debate on X (formerly known as Twitter) that has become all too familiar: should content creators and influencers really be the ones interviewing actors and artists about their craft?
This debate resurfaces every time a seemingly silly or unprofessional question is asked during an interview — like when Harry Daniels, a TikToker with 1.4 million followers, asked celebrities like Halle Bailey and America Ferrera if they’d prefe...
These Walls Must Fall •

Vigil at the HQ of Bibby Marine, Liverpool

On International Migrants Day, December 18, 2023, a vigil was held in Liverpool at the headquarters of Bibby Marine, to mark the sad loss of life onboard the Bibby Stockholm immigration detention barge. We gathered in the city centre, followed by a silent march to Bibby HQ and then on to the Home Office Reporting Centre.

Local These Walls Must Fall campaigners joined hands with Merseyside Solidarity Knows No Borders to organise this vigil to commemorate the life of a brother, Leonard Farriku, a...
Amaliah •

In Conversation With Shahed Ezaydi: The Truth About Muslim Women and White Feminism

I spent a large chunk of my teenage years meticulously researching the meaning of feminism. After many attempts at understanding difficult Google searches with inaccessible language for a 15 year old, I came to the conclusion that it wasn’t for me. Barely anything I found resonated with me, a young Black, Muslim woman growing up in the UK. I automatically equated feminism with whiteness. It wasn’t until my second year of university that I began to learn more about intersectional feminism, which
These Walls Must Fall •

Campaigning against reporting in Liverpool

On Tuesday 19th September, These Walls Must Fall campaigners set up a stall outside of the Home Office reporting centre in Liverpool.

Liverpool campaigners aimed to talk to people going inside the centre to report and raise their awareness about our campaign to abolish reporting. On our stall, which is pictured above, we gave out hot drinks and biscuits to people who had just come out of the reporting centre, so they had some friendly human contact after a dehumanising experience inside of the...
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