The media workforce is 94% white and many publications have no black journalists in high-level positions. There have been efforts to diversify, with schemes, training and pledges, but we need to look at whether this is enough. It seems that more needs to be done collaboratively and with intention and awareness.
Read MoreAs I wrote to my friend Gen, writing letters made me feel like I should be in a Jane Austen novel. Sappy and sentimental, maybe, but would you expect anything less from an English Literature graduate?
Read MoreAt the end of the day, it all comes down to context and/or permission: if Adele dressed like this with no reference to the black community, or did so just to be trendy or different, we’d have a problem. As it stands, I see no problem here.
Read MoreOn Pornhub, the last three months have produced 1670 videos with the tag “coronavirus”, 1396 with “Covid”, and 1050 with “quarantine face mask”. Although this explosion might seem like we’re kinkier than ever and obsessed with pushing sexual taboos (or taboobs to coin the term), this particular face mask epidemic is less to do with breaking taboobs, and more to do with a defining object of our current culture.
Read MoreLike Hercules with a discounted PureGym membership, they appeared as if they had spent lockdown in a home-made prison, furiously pushing and pulling household objects in the garage, and chewing on the cud of Tupperware broccoli chicken and rice. Being in the gym is like being in Vietnam, except with a lot more protein shake.
Read MoreWhat makes someone regard a project as a ‘business’ or a ‘hobby’?
When I was researching, business owners often initially lamented by saying ‘Would I be spending this much time and money if it was just for casual enjoyment?!’
Read MoreFor black businesses, mercy and second chances are denied. This essentially gives them the added pressure of having to work harder to inaugurate a respectable brand for themselves, and to live up to the unrealistic expectation of perfection.
On the 23 March Boris Johnson put the UK into lockdown. Pubs, restaurants, offices, non-essential shops, non-essential everything, closed. This included gyms. For the first time in 5 years I didn’t have a gym membership (well, I did, but couldn’t use it). For the first time in 3 years, my go-to stress relief wasn’t available for use. I struggled through home workouts. Zoom HIIT classes are not my thing.
Read MoreI feel like somehow, the media has lost sight of some of the miraculous events that have continued, and always will continue to exist. So, I am here to make these dreams a reality, and provide a wonderful list of some of the incredible things that may have been missed.
Read MoreA few weeks before the pandemic rooted itself in the UK, I had returned home from Cape Town. I’ve been considering a particularly pressing question: is there a correlation between the aesthetics of wealth and the ability to connect to community in these two Trojan cities?
Read MoreAt the time of the appointment at the fertility clinic, I felt I had no symptoms of the menopause. My periods were regular; I wasn’t having any hot flashes or night sweats. Although I was experiencing a little breast tenderness and my emotions were quick to change, I hadn’t associated this with the menopause at the time.
Read More63% of adults in the UK are “above a healthy weight” and ⅓ of children are leaving primary school “living with obesity” (GOV.UK), but using an outdated body mass index ‘BMI’ scale is bound to produce misleading information. Some may say that the ‘Better Help’ intervention is a necessity, but how effective these initiatives truly will be is yet to be discovered, and I unfortunately do predict that a lot of people are going to struggle with this confrontation along the way.
Read MoreBack in June, JK Rowling caused a media storm when she took to Twitter to comment on a photo entitled “Opinion: Creating a more equal post-COVID-19 world for people who menstruate”. To many, this tweet excluded those whose biological sex means they still have a menstrual cycle but identify as male. This might have been excused as a bad joke or boomer ignorance had this not been yet another example of Rowling making transphobic tweets.
Read MoreI wanted to be part of the fashion industry for a long time, but I think the lockdown period has truly opened my eyes to a lot of things that I have previously ignored - the main one being how fashion is not as digital as it could be.
Read MoreBoseman took on the role of T’challa with an ease, confidence, and regality that was as much of a tailor fit as his Black Panther suit. There was no question whether Boseman was portraying this character well enough. He just was T’Challa.
Read MoreSometimes I catch myself feeling the same way when I see my fellow peers share a hashtag or raise an on-trend issue about something I have never heard them once refer to up until that moment or in IRL. And thus for a brief moment, pre-teen Clara returns and she’s judging you. Hard. Much to my disappointment and despite our ageing and all the wonders of technology, it turns everyone’s still a god damn poser.
Read MoreSome people argue that cancel culture does not exist, that it is “a myth”. Others say that ostracism has always been present in society, that it has just changed trajectory, flipping against elites which are now upset about it. Whether or not you think of cancel culture as new phenomenon, the two words most typed in the latest weeks are actually not as recent as you may think.
Read MoreWhen we think about ‘being offended’ as a concept and as a right, what do we mean? According to the Oxford English Dictionary, to offend means to ‘make someone feel upset, resentful, or annoyed.’ So far, so clear - but what does this definition tell us about the function of being offended? To my mind, to be offended is to examine what you stand for, what you find unjust, and why something makes you feel uncomfortable. Perhaps most crucially, it forces you to evaluate who you stand in solidarity with.
Read MoreIn the last five years, the amount of vegans in the UK has quadrupled, and concern for animal welfare and the environment have proved to be two of the major factors for people considering adopting a vegetarian or vegan diet. That was certainly what was on my mind when I decided to give up meat at the beginning of this year.
Read MoreAllowing ourselves to be obsessed and knocked back by every little thing that is said is not just inane, but exhausting. Language is supposed to facilitate sense. Stop shoehorning meaning into words and phrases so that you can claim to take offence and then gather in safe spaces whingeing about it.
Read More
