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The Guardian •

Ifrah F Ahmed’s debut cookbook is a love letter to Somali cuisine, history and people

On a video call from Brooklyn, between stops on her book tour, Ifrah F Ahmed is drinking ginger-root tea. The smell transports her to her childhood kitchen, where her mother often baked aromatic cardamom cake.“That’s a core childhood memory for me,” she said.For Ahmed, food isn’t just about sustenance. It is memory, inheritance and, perhaps most importantly, a record: “Somali history on a plate,” as she puts it.That idea sits at the heart of Soomaaliya: Food, Memory and Migration, her debut cook...
The Guardian •

‘Muslim kids are really underrepresented’: the animated movie where medieval maths meets eager young minds

‘Some people said it doesn’t exist – that it’s a fantasy.” So says Flordeliza Dayrit of the silk road, the vast network of trade routes that once connected Asia, Africa and Europe – and the starting location for Time Hoppers: The Silk Road, the animated feature she co-created with her husband, Michael Milo.Speaking from their home in Edmonton, Canada, the couple describe a project that started with personal intrigue and grew into something far more ambitious. With its theatrical release in UK ci...
The Guardian •

The brilliant students the UK doesn’t want - podcast

In early March, with little warning, the UK announced a ban on student visas for four countries: Sudan, Afghanistan, Myanmar and Cameroon.It came as devastating news to Afra Elmahdi (pictured), an exceptional student from Sudan. Having survived civil war and been exiled to the United Arab Emirates, she hoped to further her medical career in the UK. But after being offered a place at the University of Oxford – and as she was waiting to find out whether she’d be offered a prestigious scholarship –...
The Guardian •

‘Muslim women are not afraid to be seen’ – the power of the printed hijab

There’s a common sentiment among my hijab-wearing friends: a plain black headscarf is the equivalent of putting your hair in a slickback bun. A slickback bun is classic, timeless and polished – it can go with almost anything.But, it can also look a little tired. I love bold prints, and it isn’t just me. A friend of mine gravitates toward leopard prints and pashmina-style scarves, a nod to her Kashmiri heritage. And it’s not only an aesthetic choice – for many hijab-wearing women, patterned scarv...
The Guardian •

Fast-breaking fashion: Ramadan becomes part of London fashion week

For the first time in its history, Ramadan and the act of fast-breaking have been officially incorporated into a London fashion week show, according to the British Fashion Council.On Monday evening, 29-year-old British-Yemeni designer Kazna Asker deliberately paused her presentation at sunset to share iftar with the models, who were also fasting, as were the interns and many of the staff.The presentation, titled Hour of the Sunset, was built around the rhythm of Ramadan – the ninth month of the...
The Guardian •

‘We don’t take ourselves too seriously’: street style at London fashion week – in pictures

From a Lidl trolley bag to thrifted berets and a vintage Louis Vuitton bag, fans attending this year’s shows proved that fashion in the capital is all about experimentation, eccentricity and a sense humour

From a Lidl trolley bag to thrifted berets and a vintage Louis Vuitton bag, fans attending this year’s shows proved that fashion in the capital is all about experimentation, eccentricity and a sense humour
The Guardian •

Haiti’s Winter Olympics kit redesigned at last minute to fit IOC guidelines

The designer behind the Haitian team’s uniform for the 2026 Winter Olympics has said she had to redesign their ski suits for the opening ceremony after being told they did not comply with the guidelines on athlete expression by the International Olympic Committee.The uniforms, designed by the Haitian-Italian designer Stella Jean, were based on a 2006 painting of the formerly enslaved revolutionary Toussaint Louverture riding a horse by the Haitian artist Edouard Duval-Carrié. Louverture, who led...
The Guardian •

Tuesday briefing: A surreal year in news gives our cartoonists endless material

Good morning. It’s been one of those years where the news cycle felt almost too surreal to caricature. From Jeff Bezos commandeering Venice for his lavish wedding at a time of a growing backlash over inequality, to the spectacle of Donald Trump returning to office for a second term, the material was endless for cartoonists, though often difficult to navigate.The less surreal included violence against Palestinians in Gaza by Israel, the entrenchment of the Russia-Ukraine war, the threat AI posed...
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 •

‘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 •

WeTransfer says user content will not be used to train AI after backlash

The popular filesharing service WeTransfer has said user content will not be used to train artificial intelligence after a change in its service terms had triggered a public backlash.The company, which is regularly used by creative professionals to transfer their work online, had suggested in new terms that uploaded files could be used to “improve machine learning models”.The clause had previously said the service had a right to “reproduce, modify, distribute and publicly display” content, and t...
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...
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