This is the second part of the Word to My Mother series. To read the first part, click here.
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“Why aren’t we talking about this?! #FarmersProtest”, tweeted Rihanna on the 2nd of February 2021, more than six months after the movement began. Unlike other protests from 2020, the farmers protest has been given minimal media exposure, leaving many completely unaware of India’s largest protest to date. Though protests began locally, unrest led to farmers hailing from various parts of the country, with most originating from Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana, to unite in Delhi and resist three agricultural laws that passed through government last August.
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In short, parents feel like they’re at breaking point and need a break. When they see a device that hooks a child’s attention, some parents resort to handing these tools to their children. However, children as young as two are skilled in swiping apps and internet pages and become skilled players at ‘Subway Surf’ (my nephew is obsessed with it). Children manage to grasp the fundamental skills of a smartphone before learning to recite the alphabet. Perhaps, that aspect rings with a tone of worry.
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Colin has been a favourite at children’s birthday parties since 1990, and ‘Colin the Caterpillar’ has been trademarked since 2009. Even if you’re firmly Team Aldi, you can see why Marks and Spencer might be more than a little protective of their caterpillar confection.
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I sat down for a virtual chat with Actress, turned CEO, turned Author Julia Goodman to find out: what does success look like at 70? I intended to discover what creates a woman as fierce as Julia, and how younger women like me can pursue success with the same focus.
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This is the third instalment of the Shadow Legends narrative. To read the second, click here
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Influencers have existed for years, so this is nothing new, right? Wrong. Influencers have always perpetuated a hyper-wealthy, vapid, robotic image of life, love, bodies, and regimes - but now they’re actually showing us their regimes. Before, the pictures were easier to ignore because we understood that they were almost all fake. Now they’re saying, ‘Look, you can be me, too. Just eat this. Eat this, and eat it every day of your life.’ This is sinister, and it is not to be underestimated.
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The UK has a serious social mobility issue which has become more apparent in recent years, demonstrated perfectly by the current chumocracy we see in the dishing out of government contracts to the owner of our elected official’s favourite pubs. Social mobility refers to the ability of an individual to move upward in social status, based on common social variables, such as wealth, occupation, or education level
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The taboo of death in our society seems alive-and-well (excuse the pun). Most people avoid even uttering the word, instead substituting in fluffy euphemisms like ‘passing-on’ or ‘no longer with us’ to paint over the grim reality with white clouds and pearly gates.
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If the events of the last year have taught us anything, it is that individual actions will not be enough to change the world. Covid-19 quarantine may have inadvertently slashed our individual carbon footprints, but the levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere still peaked at a record-breaking level in May last. Why? 100 companies have been the source of more than 70% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions since 1998. Most of these are coal and oil companies, including ExxonMobil and Shell.
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I started cooking more inventive meals other than a fat plate of chicken nuggets and even bought a keyboard to learn - so far I’ve learnt happy birthday (which I now play twice whenever somebody is washing their hands) and a few other songs. But my progress isn’t important to me, it’s the fact that this was something I had wanted to do for years and now I had the chance and I took it.
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Music is one of the strongest forms of communication. Do you know that feeling of listening to a song finding yourself completely in tune with the piece? And how many times did you dedicate a song to someone special, just because you could not find better words to communicate your feelings?
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Put simply, I don’t know. When it comes to writing my university essays, I have a framework to follow and, most of the time, I’m writing for people who wrestle with the same questions in their own work. In the same vein, there is something very plainly wrong when Asian reporters are being told they’re “too biased” to cover racially targeted shootings.
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I was addicted to partying and the party lifestyle, and everyone who knew me at the time, knew I loved a party.
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It should be a given that women can be naturally confident and self-assured. Yet, when a woman has self-confidence and lets it show, it is usually questioned, or it often results in some form of backlash.
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Liam, a 14-year-old trans male has known that he was not born in the body that matched his mind since he was 7 years old. He has told me that he always knew that he was different, but it was only through age that he knew why.
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One human right that we take for granted is a legal respect for family life and home (Article 8, Human Rights Act 1998.) The bill has another section of concerning content, part 4. Unauthorised Encampments and Trespass, that threatens that basic right for many. With that wording you’d be forgiven for thinking that it’s only fair for landowners to be able to evict those who trespass without permission, but the current laws already enable this so what’s being changed?
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As soon as I tapped the Facebook icon on my home screen, I was greeted by a barrage of weight loss ads and fatphobic memes. June 21st is coming and it’s time to lose the ‘lockdown weight’.
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Most of my clothes are pretty funereal in fact, except for occasional bursts of bright which render me clownlike. I feel safe in black, sturdy, roomy clothes, a barrier against the world that prickles and probes and demands from me. I like the anonymity and invisibleness of it.
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An invisible disability is a life-altering condition that is not apparent just by looking at someone. Guess what? This covers 1 in 7 of the UK’s population – so we are everywhere, you just don’t know it, because our superpower is being invisible.
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