Audio Stories by The Spill: Recent Episodes
The Spill
Audio Stories by The Spill is primarily catered to our audience with visual impairments, blindness, and reading disabilities, ensuring their access to our content.
The Spill is a UK-based online publication working exclusively with contributors from marginalised communities. Committed to amplifying the stories of people who have been pushed aside for too long, we want to bring interesting content that matters to us and them: stories about life experiences, culture, arts, politics, the environment, and explorations of the self. You can find all our stories online at www.thespillmag.com
Newsletter heaven is where I now reside, and I find myself smiling at my phone a lot more than I used to.
Author: Jennifer Hakim
Category: CULTURE
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Where are the limits of help, and the beginnings of harm? Such is the premise of Multiple Casualty Incident, by Sami Ibrahim, hitting the Yard Theatre, Hackney Wick on 27th April 2024.
Author: The Spill
Category: ARTS
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Did you know that 41% of the names of the babies born in England and Wales were ‘typos’? The shocking revelation was made this week by ‘I am not a typo’ (IANAT), a new campaign calling on tech giants to “correct autocorrect and spell-check spell-check”.
Author: The Spill
Category: CULTURE
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On Wednesday, lawmakers stormed out of parliament with tensions rising to an all-time high among Britain’s three major political parties, after they attempted to outmanoeuvre each other over a vote on a Gaza ceasefire.
Author: Jennifer Hakim
Category: POLITICS
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As a new year begins, the pages of a good book can be a welcome escape from the world’s complexities, or the means of engaging with them. Here are 6 books we're particularly excited to read this year.Author: The SpillCategory: ARTSListen to the full story, or read it online. For more Arts-related stories, head to https://www.thespillmag.com/tag/arts/
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Being hyper aware of everything happening everywhere all at once thanks to social media, is both a blessing and a curse.Author: Jennifer HakimCategory: LIFEListen to the full story, or read it online. For more Life-related stories, head to https://www.thespillmag.com/tag/politics/
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A recent study by People Like Us and Censuswide has revealed that ethnically diverse professionals in the UK are grappling with a dual crisis – the burden of unequal pay coupled with the escalating cost of living.
Author: The SpillCategory: LIFEListen to the full story, or read it online - also available in Easy Read. For more Life-related stories, head to https://www.thespillmag.com/tag/life/
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In case you missed it, from 29th November to 5th December 2023, Publishers for Palestine, a “global collective of publishers and others who work in publishing around the world, who stand for justice, freedom of expression, and the power of the written word”, ran #ReadPalestine week.
Author: The SpillCategory: CULTUREListen to the full story, or read it online - also available in Easy Read. For more Culture-related stories, head to https://www.thespillmag.com/tag/culture/
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Despite what the top 1% wants you to believe, Muslim and Palestinian lives matter.
Author: Mahevash ShaikhCategory: LIFEListen to the full story, or read it online - also available in Easy Read. For more Life-related stories, head to https://www.thespillmag.com/tag/life/
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ONS birth data recently revealed that half of Brits were prioritising sex in the months leading up to October. While the idea of a pleasure-centred season sounds appealing, much needs to be improved when it comes to the sustainability of sex and pleasure. We spoke to Ben Foster, Co-founder and Director of The Natural Love Company about sex, self-love, inclusivity, and the environment.
Author: The SpillCategory: ENVIRONMENTListen to the full story, or read it online - also available in Easy Read. For more Environment-related stories, head to https://www.thespillmag.com/tag/environment/
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“untitled fck mss s**gon play” is at the Young Vic Theatre, London from 18th September to 4th November 2023.
Author: The Spill Category: ARTS Listen to the full story, or read it online - also available in Easy Read. For more Arts-related stories, head to https://www.thespillmag.com/arts
Sponsored by Young Vic
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The last few months have been hard on Pakistanis, and the media bias is real.
Author: Anmol Irfan Category: LIFE Listen to the full story, or read it online - also available in Easy Read. For more Life-related stories, head to https://www.thespillmag.com/life
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Between fetishisation and microaggressions, the dating game is even harder for women of colour.
Author: Amrit Virdi Category: SELF Listen to the full story, or read it online - also available in Easy Read. For more Self-related stories, head to https://www.thespillmag.com/self
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We are here, we are queer and we are proud. And we deserve accessibility.
Author: Hannah Shewan Stevens Category: LIFE Listen to the full story, or read it online - also available in Easy Read. For more Life-related stories, head to https://www.thespillmag.com/life
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The free outdoor festival River Stage has returned to the National Theatre for summer 2023, with the upcoming performance of East London all-round artist Kali Claire.
Author: The Spill Category: ARTS Listen to the full story, or read it online - also available in Easy Read. For more Arts-related stories, head to https://www.thespillmag.com/arts
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A closer look at the thriving fashion rental market.
Author: The Spill Category: ENVIRONMENT Listen to the full story, or read it online - also available in Easy Read. For more Arts-related stories, head to https://www.thespillmag.com/environment
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From highly anticipated plays to dance festivals, there are so many events going on in England this season it could be hard to choose. We have chosen six with options for tickets on the cheaper side for arts lovers on a budget.
Author: The Spill
Category: ARTS
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Six years after #MeToo, has reality truly improved for women?
Author: Shems Rocha
Category: LIFE
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The ‘self care revolution’ is evolving. From merely being intentional about prioritising one’s own mental, emotional and physical health, it has now moved on to defying the unrealistic gender expectations that deeply tie a woman’s identity to a socially sanctioned establishment: marriage.
Author: Patience Tinotenda Mutsetse
Category: LIFE
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After hearing his sister’s name mispronounced at her college graduation, Dr. Praveen Shanbhag felt compelled to develop Namecoach, an AI-powered company on a mission to solve the common problem of name mispronunciation and gender pronoun communication in the workplace and beyond, while finishing his Ph.D. at Stanford.
Author: The Spill [Sponsored by Namecoach]
Category: CULTURE
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As I walk back to my seat with my head hung low, my seatmate says: “I told you not to raise your hand, you know you stutter.” It now occurs to me she had wanted to spare me the embarrassment.Author: Idayat JinaduCategory: SELFListen to the full story, or read it online - also available in Easy Read.For more Self-related stories, head to https://www.thespillmag.com/self
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Being in the job market is a lonely affair, just like searching for the right person.
Author: Chourouk Gorrab
Category: LIFE
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Being an influencer has grown to be one of the most coveted careers in the world, with the influencer economy valued at over USD 100 billion in 2022. Yet, its dark sides, from wage gaps to discrimination patterns, remain underexplored - hidden behind fancy red carpets and PR packages.
Author: Oluwatobi Omotoso
Category: CULTURE
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Welcome to Fiction: Exclusive short fiction stories by emerging authors from the global majority and beyond.
"I stood by the window and watched the ceremony unfold. Soon, I was going to be escorted out of the room by the other women. It was the last time I would ever call the room my own. It was the last time I would be a young girl."
Author: Kehinde Mercy
Category: ARTS
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Ramadan is here, and it's that time of the year when I feel better connected to who I am as a person and a Muslim woman - but also when additional scrutiny is on the Muslim community.
Author: Chourouk Gorrab
Category: SELF
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From live music to theatre plays and dance shows, there is no shortage of opportunities to experience the joy of performance art. On the plus side, these shows have adapted performances for people with disabilities and impairments.
Author: The Spill
Category: ARTS
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Trigger warning: Murder, sexual assault, rape
Three months into 2023, misogyny and femicides are soaring, and a group of high-profile men is working hard to normalise them.
Author: Michaela Makusha
Category: CULTURE
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I discovered this constant exposure to white-only love impacted my perception of romance and race at an impressionable age.
Author: Faridat Musa
Category: CULTURE
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The fashion industry needs a reminder that it wouldn’t exist without the labour and creations of marginalised communities, without their culture, fabrics and craftsmanship, and without their literal blood, sweat and tears.
Author: Chourouk Gorrab
Category: ENVIRONMENT
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Who said pleasure couldn’t help the planet too?
Author: The Spill
Category: LIFE
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2023 is kicking off with some bangers, including the dark-pop anthem “X”, the latest single from New York-based multidisciplinary artist Alexis Lucena, also known as LEXXE.
Author: The Spill
Category: ARTS
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The NHS will never achieve its socialist goals for our health under the cruel hands of capitalism.
Author: Beauty Dhlamini
Category: POLITICS
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It’s our favourite time of the year. The time for the editorial team to compile the books we’re looking forward to reading during the next twelve months, whether holed up in bed with a nice cuppa, or sipping mojitos on a beach somewhere warm. Here are seven books on our radar in 2023.
Author: The Spill
Category: ARTS
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Welcome to Real Talk, where we discuss all things identity, body, and sex care without shame or filter. No taboos, no clichés, just real-life experiences so you won’t feel alone. We’re all in this together. In this piece, Shems Rocha shares her journey with hormonal imbalance and sexual energy rise one Summer.
Author: Shems Rocha
Category: SELF
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Patronising stereotypes. Sob stories. Homogenous representations of disability. Inspiration porn. Sadly, all these tropes will be familiar to disabled people, who so rarely get authentic, nuanced representation.
Author: Elspeth Wilson
Category: CULTURE
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A personal note from our founders on the year just passed and what's yet to come
Author: Jennifer Hakim and Chourouk Gorrab
Category: CULTURE
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Spending the holidays in London and looking for something great to do? Here are 7 events we highly recommend this Winter.
Author: The Spill
Category: CULTURE
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Are you tired of buying new stuff, and mindlessly gifting for Christmas? We’ve got you. If you're looking for a way to give back this year, and contribute to something good, these charities could really use your help.
Author: The Spill
Category: LIFE
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DEI is a mere buzzword in the average organisation because it excludes people with disabilities
Author: Mahevash Shaikh
Category: LIFE
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These podcasts have something to say, and we’ve been listening to them non-stop.
Author: The Spill
Category: CULTURE
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6 things you can actually do at home that are better for your health, your wallet, and the environment
Author: The Spill
Category: ENVIRONMENT
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American shows and films marked my childhood. A recurring theme in most of them was bullying, so I grew up believing that bullying was a serious problem for children in the West - and only in the West. TW: This article contains mentions of bullying, suicide.
Author: Aisha Kabiru Mohammed
Category: LIFE
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As I pushed the limits of my body I realised self-love is a practice that can pay off in more ways than one.
Author: Shems Rocha
Category: SELF
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This week, my boyfriend and I celebrated our anniversary; we met three muddy years ago at a festival in Oxfordshire. It’s a tale I’m quite smug about: besides the odd fling during my school days, I’d never met someone in person before and had it stick.
Author: Eleanor Noyce
Category: ARTS
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In ‘The Colour of Madness: Exploring BAME Mental Health in the UK’, a ground-breaking collection of memoirs, essays, poetry, short fiction and artwork, Rianna Walcott and Dr Samara Linton share and amplify the voices of people of colour and their experiences with mental health - particularly those who have been touched by medical inequalities in the UK. This interview with Rianna Walcott was recorded on 7th October 2022.
Author: Jennifer Hakim
Category: ARTS
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In Nervous Conditions, the debut groundbreaking novel of Zimbabwean feminist writer Tsitsi Dangarembga, the narrator Tambu opens with a rather shocking statement that guides most of the story.
Author: Angel Nduka-Nwosu
Category: LIFE
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Film screenings, plays, comedy clubs workshops. Time to pause your hibernation plans because London has something for everyone this season.
Author: The Spill
Category: CULTURE
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I’ve inherited my shaking hands from my mother. It accounts for both of our clumsiness. When I lived at home, I was protective of her, ever conscious of her aloneness, burdening myself with worry.
Author: Hannah Turner
Category: SELF
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Objectively, it is sad when anyone dies. And when it comes to Queen Elizabeth II, it is understood that she meant a lot to many, a constant in the national psyche for a lot of people, and with a large family who will probably miss her dearly.
Author: Michaela Makusha
Category: CULTURE
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Mental health is a universal theme, yet not often incorporated into the stories of characters of colour in fiction - but Micah Dawanyi’s second book may help break the stigma.
Author: Jennifer Hakim
Category: ARTS
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Sometimes, the best way to love someone is to let them go. And sometimes, the best way to love yourself is a clean and final friendship breakup.
Author: Jennifer Hakim
Category: LIFE
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Never have we needed trade unions more to protect our sexual and reproductive health rights.
Author: Beauty Dhlamini
Category: POLITICS
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Setting aside the pandemic as a motivator for embracing the rising culture of anti-ambition, a shift in society’s relationship with ambition was already rising.
Author: Hannah Shewan Stevens
Category: LIFE
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Seeing Beyoncé give the middle finger to the assumption Black women can't wear blonde hair was an awakening
Author: Mide Olabanji
Category: SELF
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I’m lying in bed recovering from a migraine when I receive a WhatsApp from my fellow disabled pal Cath. “Want some ableist rage?” she asks. With the message, she’d attached a link to a tweet from one of the candidates to be the next leader of the Conservative Party and Prime Ministerial hopeful Rishi Sunak, revealing that if he won, he would fine people £10 for missing GP and hospital appointments.
Author: Rachel Charlton-Dailey
Category: POLITICS
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As a trans person, my recent experience of being in a play with a trans writer, director and mostly trans and non-binary cast had a profound impact on me - and proved once again why authentic representation in performing arts is so important.
Author: Len Lukowski
Category: SELF
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It’s so easy to live for other people that we sometimes forget to live for ourselves. This was me until a few months ago, living according to the goals and standards set by my family and society at large.
Author: Lynda Ndubuaku
Category: SELF
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When I was 20, I met my first love. Our relationship was by no means perfect – in fact, there were so many red flags, but I could barely see them. I stayed for longer than I should have because there was one thing about us that I couldn’t shake, and which I continued to miss for a long time after we broke up: I felt seen.
Author: Michele Theil
Category: SELF
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After a three-year hiatus, Season 4 of Stranger Things is finally here - with the two last episodes of the season released only a few days ago.
This article contains Stranger Things season 3 and 4 spoilers.
Author: Eleanor Noyce
Category: CULTURE
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The London Indian Film Festival (LIFF) kicked off on 24 June and I’ve had a very hard time figuring out my favourites to watch. While I haven’t been able to attend and watch them all, here are some to catch before it ends.
Author: Chourouk Gorrab
Category: CULTURE
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Mental health sufferers do not need performative celebrity posts on social media. They need a compassionate, well-funded healthcare model and equal access to support.
Author: Hannah La Ronde
Category: CULTURE
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75% of LGBTQ youth have reported that they have experienced discrimination based on their sexual orientation or gender identity at least once in their lifetime, according to The Trevor Project’s 2021 National Survey on LGBTQ Youth Mental Health, a survey of just under 35,000 LGBTQ young people.
Author: BetterMe
Category: LIFE
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You can find more hero stories on the BetterMe: Mental Health app. Download the BetterMe: Mental Health app and listen to the LGBTQ+Me course. BetterMe is a leading Ukraine-based behavioural healthcare company taking care of the physical and mental health of 100M users worldwide.
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If you live in the UK in 2022 - or most parts of the world for that matter - you’re more than likely to be aware of the mass inflation happening, which is worsening day by day. The cost of living has gone up exponentially, and 10 million UK adults are struggling to make ends meet, according to HR News, far more than they were just six months ago.
Author: Phoebe Jenkins
Category: LIFE
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The deep thud of the bass and the repetitive magic of the synth so often employed in textbook Charli XCX songs provide that dopamine kick my brain so crucially needs.
Author: Eleanor Noyce
Category: ARTS
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Music is such an emotive experience. Few forms of art can move us quite so powerfully; it has the ability to inspire, to connect to others, and, arguably, the most important of all, it can influence us emotionally and physically.
Author: Emma Flint
Category: LIFE
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The Johnny Depp vs. Amber Heard trial has been incredibly triggering for many folks - especially those of us with personality disorder (PD) diagnoses. Not only do Heard and Depp both have Personality Disorders, but their mental state has become intrinsic to the spectacle - interestingly, all of it unfolding during Mental Health Awareness Month.
Author: Dayna Latham
Category: CULTURE
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In David Allain’s Revelations, a cinematic short film about family, grief, and acceptance, a young man, Drew, attends the funeral of his estranged mother and remembers a few moments that defined their relationship. Despite years of pain, Drew decides to see if his family’s differences can be reconciled before time runs out.
Author: Jennifer Hakim
Category: CULTURE
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Like so many other disabled people, I found my community on Twitter. And I'm terrified to lose it.
Author: Rachel Charlton-Dailey
Category: LIFE
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The Korean culture wave has been taking the world by storm for a while now, and Pakistan is no exception. With the ever increasing global fanbase for K-pop, Grammy-nominated superstars BTS, the K-beauty phenomenon and Oscar-winning Korean cinema, South Korea has seen a significant increase in touristic interest - with a cultural and economic impact that can’t be denied.
Author: Arsh Khan
Category: CULTURE
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Yes, it’s Earth Day. And while this should be a day of celebration for us earthians, this is also a time to face some hard truths. The 2022 IPCC report is clear: the planet is set to reach the 1.5ºC level within the next two decades, and only the most drastic cuts in carbon emissions will help prevent an environmental disaster.
Author: Jennifer Hakim
Category: ENVIRONMENT
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It’s Ramadan, a month filled with a healing, nurturing, and spiritual experience for millions of Muslims globally. I’ve been fasting for Ramadan as far as I can remember - I think I was around twelve - and my journey has never really been smooth. The month makes me extra aware of my own thoughts and behaviour.
Author: Chourouk Gorrab
Category: SELF
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A few days ago, French president Emmanuel Macron recognised, during an interview on French radio France Inter, that he “failed to restrain” the rise of far-right movements in the country. His admission, expressed without any form of regret, highlights France’s ambivalent position when it comes to the far right.
Author: Cara Doumbe Kingue
Category: POLITICS
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Conditioned to 'add', I now choose to subtract clutter from my life and to-do list, and it has preserved my mental health.
Author: Edikan Umoh
Category: LIFE
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I want to go back to celebrating my father on Father’s Day, so I talked to the folks who found ways to keep this day special even after losing a loved one.
Author: Jennifer Hakim
Category: LIFE
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Facing yet another devastating diagnosis, I am now forced to make long term decisions I wish I didn’t have to make so soon.
Author: Hannah Turner
Category: SELF
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The Western media’s openly racist reporting of the Russian-Ukraine war tells us everything we need to know about why it does so little for refugees who are not “blonde-haired and blue eyed”.
Author: Anmol Irfan
Category: CULTURE
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At the time of writing this piece, I realise that it’s been 2 years since I last travelled for an extended period of time, and most specifically solo. I started travelling on my own only a few years ago after reading on blogs and hearing from friends just how amazing of a personal journey it was.
Author: Chourouk Gorrab
Category: SELF
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Some books for everyone that we have been devouring, and what we look forward to reading
Author: The Spill
Category: CULTURE
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Is the speedy evolution of our vocabulary fully benefiting us, or will it discourage some of us from speaking up?
Author: Chourouk Gorrab
Category: SELF
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Now in my thirties, I have finally realised that the only person I should try to impress is me
Author: Jennifer Hakim
Category: SELF
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Because your sweetheart may enjoy this a lot more than a box of chocolates
Author: Jennifer Hakim
Category: LIFE
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It took me years to break away from heteronormative norms and truly appreciate nature’s gift.
Author: Shems Rocha
Category: SELF
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January is here, and with it comes its lot of resolutions. You may have started one of yours already now that Veganuary is here: switching to a plant-based diet. This one is not an easy path, but one of the quickest ways to reduce your contribution to greenhouse-gas emissions.
Author: Chourouk Gorrab
Category: LIFE
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And just like that, it was 2022. As we reflect on what we’ve achieved in the past year, we think of the idea of perfection and how difficult of a standard it is to maintain. If there is one thing we can say to sum up 2021, it’s that we have tried our best.
Author: Jennifer Hakim & Chourouk Gorrab
Category: CULTURE
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If you’re one of the lucky few still celebrating Christmas with family at this point, you may be looking into the tunes that will play in the background while you munch on all the delicious goodies.
Author: Jennifer Hakim
Category: ARTS
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We’re finally nearing the end of the year, and looking forward to 2022 being full of (good) surprises. And as we wait for it, we’re preparing ourselves for another round of exciting events around the globe, in arts, culture, and more.
Author: Shems Rocha
Category: CULTURE
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It’s that time of the year when you may be looking for charities to donate to, or browsing Christmas gifts that give back to communities. You may be looking for great non-profits to get involved yourself, for the festive season or the new year. Whatever your reason, there are thousands of charities that need support all year long. The selection below directly helps marginalised communities through LGBTQI allyship, safe spaces, refugee integration, food redistribution, and education.
Author: Jennifer Hakim
Category: LIFE
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As a child, I loved swimming – working my way up through the Duckling Awards, earning Kellogg’s patches to sew onto my Little Mermaid towel. I remember the echoes of the weekly school swimming lessons, the comfort in feeling my body thud to the bottom of the stillness as I expelled all the air out of my lungs. Incidentally, I’m terrified of swimming in the ocean, but bring me to any pool or lake and I’ll rush myself through the water in glee.
Author: Catriona Morton
Category: SELF
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TW: Mentions of sexual assault, murder. Powered by Black people and racialised campaign groups throughout the world for decades, the police and prison abolition movements are finally getting mainstream recognition in the UK, and the system transformation they suggest is just what the country needs to keep our people safe.
Author: Aara Syed
Category: POLITICS
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LOVE is an unrequited love story told through the eyes of Oscar, an autistic man, and will be premiering at the BFI London’s Busting the Bias next month. “Can autistic people fall in love and get married?” is one of the searches that come up when you research autism and love, and Gemma Harvey has had enough of it. Through her first short film, entitled LOVE, writer and actress Harvey tells the unrequited love story from the point of view of Oscar, an autistic man. When he faces uncomfortable social situations, Oscar communicates through the lyrics of the Streets.
Author: Jennifer Hakim
Category: CULTURE
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When it comes to the meaning of a name, there is a lot to unpack, so please bear with me while I sort through my feelings here. My name, Chourouk, means sunrise in Arabic. Some of you might be thinking it’s a beautiful name (and it is). Who wouldn’t want their name to be linked to the sun, right? I love the meaning of my name: it encapsulates something beautiful, vibrant, and warm, which I like to think matches with who I am.
Author: Chourouk Gorrab
Category: CULTURE
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With a whole lot of generational baggage and a complex heritage, I laughed at all the micro-aggressions thrown my way, and I wish I'd understood why earlier.
Author: Jennifer Hakim
Category: LIFE
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In 2017, I was an undergraduate struggling to navigate my sexuality. I was wading through bouts of anxiety and depression so intense I was often rendered unable to do anything other than lie in bed and listen to music. The soundtrack to this difficult year was About U by American alt-pop group MUNA.
Author: Eleanor Noyce
Category: ARTS
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Content warning: Sexual assault - This article contains Sex Education season three spoilers.
For a country that considers anything related to sex as ‘vulgar’ and ‘profane,’ we Pakistanis sure love consuming content about it. While there’s already a national ban on pornographic websites, recent measures by the Pakistani government to “curb vulgar content among the youth” include banning TikTok - for the fourth time and counting - and excluding the chapter on reproduction from school books (because it’s too “dirty”).
Author: Arsh Khan
Category: CULTURE
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What if a breakup, rather than being a world-ending experience, was a vital piece of the grand puzzle of discovering our sense of self? I believe that we should view recovery from heartbreak, however protracted, as a success at learning rather than a failure at love.
Author: Rosie Wilby
Category: LIFE
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Lights suddenly darken. Curtain slowly lifts. Twelve thousand screams crescendo as souls find their voices again. Bass notes echo through speakers, blurring the space between me and the crowd of buzzing bodies beside. A pulsing beat injects my veins with electric adrenaline, overtaking my chest until my arms have nowhere to go but up, bouncing on my feet like the ground beneath is lava.
Author: Megan Wray
Category: SELF
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As someone who has adopted, I have high hopes for the Government's new national adoption strategy, and what it means for LGBTQIA+ families
Author: Damian Kerlin
Category: LIFE
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While there is no one right answer to the climate crisis, through faith based conversations, more people are willing to try and find what works, and that’s a start.
Author: Anmol Irfan
Category: ENVIRONMENT
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This week we speak to Banseka Kayembe, the director and founder of Naked Politics, an organisation that engages and empowers young people in politics, amplifies their voices, and bridges the gap between politicians and young people. In celebration of Black History Month, Naked Politics has launched a new podcast on Spotify, called “Young, British and Black”. The podcast dropped in the first week of October 2021 and will feature a total of 4 episodes, released weekly throughout Black History Month.
Author: Jennifer Hakim
Category: CULTURE
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I’ve had a wild few months. I’ve reached spiritual enlightenment, sure, but what’s even more surprising than me ascending to the fifth dimension is that I’ve mended my relationship with my parents, and am now managing to maintain a healthy dynamic with them whilst living at home.
Author: Sophie Lau
Category: SELF
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In “Consumed. The Need For Collective Change: On Colonialism, Climate Change & Consumerism”, published by Octopus Books and Brazen, Aja Barber tells the story of how she found her way out of the never-ending cycle of overconsumption.
Author: Jennifer Hakim
Category: ENVIRONMENT
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[This article contains spoilers.] In the penultimate episode of The Chair, one of the most watched shows on Netflix last month, Dr. Yaz McKay (Nana Mensah), a Black English professor at the fictional Pembroke University, tells her colleague and departmental chair Dr. Ji-Yoon Kim (Sandra Oh), “you act like you owe them something. Like you’re here because they let you be here, not because you deserve it [...] You should be running this place. Instead, you are running around playing nice.”
Author: Sohel Sarkar
Category: CULTURE
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[TW: sexual assault, rape] "He did what??" I asked my friend, horrified. She was right in the middle of telling me how much her latest date sucked. While she listed the many ways in which the man she had been seeing was a jerk to her, I listened. But when she told me he secretly took off the condom while they were having sex, I had to say something. Because this wasn’t just a bad date: this was sexual assault. I felt dizzy and nauseous, because I could relate. Like me and countless, nameless others, she was a victim of stealthing.
Author: Mahevash Shaikh
Category: SELF
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There is a common misconception that adult social care is ‘just for old people’. This misnomer, mixed with Covid-era ableism, is allowing the government to revive the culture wars. By proposing a regressive National Insurance (NI) tax to finance adult social care, the Tories are looking to exploit generational resentments; pitting the younger, poorer, but more abled Gen Z and millennials against older, sicker, but often wealthier, home-owning boomers.
Author: Chloe Johnson
Category: POLITICS
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TW: death, suicide, violence, drug use, sexual abuse. The Globe, Shakespeare’s world-renowned theatre, has always been a place of wonder to me. If I could spend all my free time in its atmosphere, hearing soliloquies from Hamlet in the historic venue after walking past the light-dappled water of The Thames, I would. From Tudor history to classic literature, there are thousands of other reasons to take notice of The Globe, and to each their own. That’s why, when the playhouse announced its decision to include trigger warnings for Romeo and Juliet, the world reacted instantly.
Author: Chloe Johnson
Category: LIFE
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With Afghan refugees already numbering 2.2 million in the countries surrounding Afghanistan, and another 500,000 estimated to attempt escaping via land borders, Pakistan and Tajikistan have now declared that they simply don’t have the resources to host any more refugees.
Author: Anmol Irfan
Category: LIFE
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As the world watched the Taliban take back control of Afghanistan, after being defeated by Western forces twenty years ago, we’ve also witnessed the last of the Western efforts, including the UK, in evacuating Afghans from their country - ahead of the then-31st August deadline for the Western allied forces to leave the country. The Taliban rule could mean instability and violence for so many Afghans, especially those who have worked alongside Western forces all these years.
Author: Shahed Ezaydi
Category: POLITICS
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Have you ever tried to discuss your mental health with your parents, or even grandparents? Or dared to ask about theirs?Being Nigerian, I knew for a fact that I could not go to my mum or dad when I started getting consecutive depressive episodes. How they handled mental health issues with my brother told me everything I needed to know about how they'd react.
Author: Edikan Umoh
Category: LIFE
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We’re kicking off Heartbeats, our new music section, with an interview of Sleep Deez, Grammy nominated producer for BTS, Black Eyed Peas, Rihanna and Usher, to name a few. The multi-platinum hit maker shared his thoughts on his career and the music business – and his advice for aspiring artists from marginalised backgrounds. This interview was recorded on 13th August 2021.
When we started what turned out to be an hour and a half long conversation, Sleep Deez, whose real name is Deryk Mitchell, explains he is, in fact, very much awake: “My grandma started calling me Sleepy when I was a kid and it became a family nickname, cause I have sleepy eyes – everybody thinks I’m sleepy all the time, but I’m not.”
Author: Jennifer Hakim
Category: ARTS
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In less than a week, OnlyFans controversially banned, then quickly reinstated sexually explicit content - in a move that reeks of prejudice.
When OnlyFans (sometimes shortened to OF) launched in 2016, it steadily became a startup that was synonymous with providing a safe and secure platform for sex workers to create various content. In a day and age where sex work still maintains the unfair taboo that it has carried for centuries, a website like this one appeared to be a haven sorely needed.
Author: Emma Flint
Category: CULTURE
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‘Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me’- who ever thought of that? It is terrible advice. Words can not only hurt you. They can make you feel small and insignificant and can completely derail you. I am not just talking about any old words, I am talking about ableist slurs that still get tossed around in 2021.
Author: Meg Fozzard
Category: CULTURE
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Following the Taliban takeover of Kabul in August 2021, news agencies, media organisations, and social media were quickly filled with stories regarding the horrors of the Taliban rule, and heartbreaking coverage showing Afghans trying to flee the country while they could. While people across all cultures have been crying for justice, in the midst of a humanitarian crisis that has shaken most of the globe, the Daily Mail’s coverage of the ‘Trendy Taliban’ is rightfully being called out – for possibly being the worst way to cover the issue. But is it actually the worst?
Author: Anmol Irfan
Category: POLITICS
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It was during a trip to South Asia in 2018 that eTHikel founder Amerjit Briah saw the devastating consequences of plastic pollution first-hand. It was an instant awakening. What was portrayed to be paradise in the middle of the Indian Ocean was in fact a catalyst for mountains of pollution, created mainly by luxury holiday dwellers, threatening the beautiful coral reefs and sea life.
Author: Jennifer Hakim
Category: ENVIRONMENT
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Netflix’s hit series Never Have I Ever has received quite the fanfare in pop culture last month with the release of its latest season, which features the return of our favorite Indian-American teenager, Devi Vishwakumar (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan). While most of the reactions comprised shippers who broke out into Team Paxton vs. Team Ben, a fair share of them included viewers’ frustrations with the portrayal of Devi’s character this season.
Author: Sadia Parveen
Category: CULTURE
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The violence in Palestine may not be appearing on mainstream news outlets anymore, but the lives of Palestinians under a colonial apartheid system, in the form of the Israeli state, is still ongoing. On Monday 2nd August, the Israeli Supreme Court heard the delayed appeal from four Palestinian families, which totalled around 70 people, who are fighting against the forced expulsion from their homes in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood.
Author: Shahed Ezaydi
Category: POLITICS
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In July 2021, and to widespread criticism, the Norwegian women's beach handball team was fined by the European Handball Federation (EHF) for wearing “improper clothing”. Read: shorts, similar to their male counterparts, instead of bikini bottoms. In the same week, Germany’s female gymnasts wore full bodysuits instead of leotards at the Tokyo Olympics. The team explained they wanted to feel comfortable and to protest being sexualised.
Author:Yasmin Al-najar
Category: CULTURE
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Simone Biles’ recent withdrawals from many of the gymnastic events she was tipped to win have sparked a global conversation about mental health. Biles was effectively the headline event for the whole competition, and her decision to withdraw sent shockwaves across the world. There was an outpouring of support from the public and many fellow sporting stars, as likely the greatest gymnast of all time spoke candidly about her struggles. However, it wasn’t all a positive reaction.
Author: Nadine Batchelor-Hunt
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Category: CULTURE
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In July 2021, US Paralympic swimmer Becca Meyers pulled out of competing, after her mother and Personal Care Assistant (PCA) was denied access due to Covid regulations. The Olympic Committee is standing firm in their decision, and the ableism - as surprising as it was coming from the Paralympics officials - felt all too familiar.
Author: Dayna Latham
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I’m sitting in the living room of my friend’s house, where she lives with her boyfriend. It’s just me and two couples, including my brother and his girlfriend; we’ve ordered noodles and sushi, and we’re watching the second season of Too Hot To Handle. The conversation has moved to the topic of coming out, of the idea of people presenting as ‘visibly queer’.
Author: Sam Moore
Category: SELF
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Every single day, around 2.5 million tampons, 1.4 million pads, and 700,000 panty liners are flushed down a toilet in the UK - with 200,000 tonnes of menstrual waste landfilled each year in the country (Source: City to Sea). I’ve never been a fan of single-use menstrual products anyways. I don’t feel comfortable wearing tampons. This is just my experience, and I know others may have different feelings about them (especially harmless plastic-free tampons).
Author: Amira Arasteh
Category: ENVIRONMENT
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This year, I decided to watch Love Island for the first time. Being both bisexual and slightly tomboyish, the show represents a slight enigma: I’ve never quite understood the motivations of the demographic it represents, which, let’s be honest, is straight, slim, and largely white. I’ve never wanted a guy who “goes gym”, and I’ve never been bothered about fake tanning.
Author: Eleanor Noyce
Category: CULTURE
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Designing for people living with disabilities is a necessity, not a trend, as the adaptive clothing market is forecast to be worth nearly £280bn by 2026 (Coherent Market Insights).
We talked about all things adaptive clothing with Funmi Lawal, the founder of Clip-Knix, the premier retailer of clip-on underwear in the UK, as well as her personal journey finding adaptive undergarments when her own mobility was reduced. Funmi Lawal, a British mother-of-two, of Nigerian Heritage, had a stroke soon after childbirth at the age of 35 and saw her life change. Unable to dress like she used to, she thought of a solution for herself and others who experienced the same. This is what she had to say about the fashion industry, and how Clip-Knix was born.
This article is sponsored by Clip-Knix, the premier retailer of clip-on underwear in the UK.
Author: The Spill
Category: CULTURE
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From today, all covid restrictions are being pulled back in England. People are no longer required to social distance, nor do they have to wear a mask indoors or on public transport. There are no more limitations to how many people you can meet indoors and outdoors. The day is being touted as "freedom day", but for those of us with disabilities and chronic illnesses, it's anything but.
Author: Rachel Charlton-Dailey
Category: LIFE
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(Trigger Warning: Mentions of violence, deaths, explicit language) On the first sunny day of 2021 in London, Victoria Park is alive and packed. Large families stroll with frolicking dogs. A group of friends huddles over cigarettes by the canal. Cyclists brush past people’s shoulders. No one wears a mask. An air of anticipation. The pandemic, now in its second year, has an end in sight. When all this is over, they seem to think. When all this is over, there will be no more lockdowns. When all this is over, things will be good again. When all this is over, we will be free.
Author: Michelle Fan
Category: SELF
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(Trigger Warning: References of violence, sexual assault, and rape) In December 2020, fashion designer Alexander Wang faced multiple accusations of sexual assault. It began when male model Owen Mooney shared a series of TikTok videos detailing a 2017 incident where Wang allegedly groped him in a New York nightclub. The story went viral after being shared on Instagram by Shit Model Management and fashion watchdog, Diet Prada, prompting others with stories about the designer to come forward. Such stories ranged from having their genitals exposed to being slipped MDMA without their knowledge, and rape.
Author: Bec Oakes
Category: CULTURE
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The past year has been the era of online interactions. Perhaps like many, I have found a community on Twitter to fill the void of what I wasn’t receiving in real life. And over time, people who were initially strangers have become my friends. Friends I may have never met in real life, but whom I have formed a genuine bond with nonetheless, rooted in our mutual understanding of various topics from photography to films - and niche memes.
Author: Sabrina Fearon Melville
Category: LIFE
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Welcome to the new instalment of My Coming Out, a monthly interview series sharing the unique stories of people all over the world, who came out as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual, or questioning. This month we chat with Eleanor Noyce (she/her), a 23 year-old freelance journalist, who identifies as bisexual. Eleanor’s work can be found on Metro, Refinery 29, Diva, and The Spill.
Author: The Spill
Category: SELF
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Every few weeks, the internet tells me I don’t exist. I’m a bisexual woman in a monosexual world, and that means I am constantly fighting for my identity to be recognised and taken seriously. Bi+ erasure takes many forms. More so than any other orientation, we bi+ folks face demands to “prove” our identity (often by disclosing our sexual histories.) If we refuse these invasive questions, or if our answers aren’t to the asker’s satisfaction, it is taken as proof that we are not really bisexual. Many people still believe that bisexuality is a pitstop on the way to identifying as gay or lesbian, rather than a complete and complex identity in its own right.
Author: Jess Amy Dixon
Category: LIFE
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The ‘Period Positivity’ movement is creating space for more open and honest discussions about periods, but for some, menstruation can be a traumatic experience - which is why Natracare is encouraging a more nuanced conversation. ‘Period Positivity’ is a progressive movement for many, and in the last few years, we’re seeing more conversations than ever about periods. You only have to quickly flick through a social media feed and women’s weeklies to see post upon post dedicated to topics surrounding menstruation, including how it relates to further social and environmental issues. These taboo topics are finally allowing half of the population to confidently ask questions and seek the right answers about their periods.
Author: Sharna Waid
Category: LIFE
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This article is sponsored by Natracare. Natracare is a cruelty-free, vegan, plastic-free, biodegradable, and compostable period and intimate health products company campaigning for better choices for people’s bodies, the environment, and the animals we share our home with. To join Natracare’s open, honest, and shame-free conversation about periods and keep creating space for gender-inclusive conversations about periods, read the Shades of Red zine here.
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As more and more people around the world receive their vaccinations against COVID-19, it feels like an end to the pandemic is finally in sight. Images flash through my mind of a world where masks exist only as dust-covered relics, stuffed haphazardly into a random drawer, entangled in a mess of black and white cables. Life suddenly feels like it’s about to go back to normal, and the sense of freedom that we’re on the cusp of reclaiming is something none of us ever want to give up again. And we won’t have to, until the next pandemic.
Author: Jack McGovan
Category: ENVIRONMENT
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Over the past year, you may have picked up a brush or baked your own bread, or you may have enrolled in a virtual arts and crafts workshop. Craft has played a major role in our lives while we were stuck at home, which is also proven to be good for our mental health - with psychological benefits ranging from stress relief to enhanced confidence. Tabara N’Diaye, founder of La Basketry, hosted many of these workshops throughout the pandemic, connecting customers to the joys of traditional basket weaving.
Author: The Spill
Category: ARTS
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When you hear the word ‘K-Pop’, you may think of talented singers with bright hair and unrivaled dance moves. At some point during the past year, you may have taken a dive into the K-Pop side of ‘stan Twitter’ (where millions of accounts of K-Pop superfans reside), and seen countless fancams of BLACKPINK’s Jisoo or BTS’s Jimin, littered under top trending hashtags. On that day, without realising it, you may have been witnessing an online activism campaign - disguised under vibrant outfits and hypnotic choreographies.
Author: Bashirat Oladele
Category: CULTURE
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Not long ago, I came across an image on Instagram. It featured 5 different elements within the ‘female reproductive organs’ map, with letters attached to them, to match with their actual names: womb, vagina, cervix, ovaries, and vulva. Alongside the picture came a simple question: “Can you name these?” And it got me thinking. Why? Because I wondered, could I confidently say what was what? And if the options were not offered to me, would I even be able to answer what each one was, off the top of my head? I’m ashamed to say this, but I probably wouldn’t. But then, I thought, when was the last time I actually had to figure out what the attributes of my birth sex were, and when did I learn any of this?
Author: Shems Rocha
Category: SELF
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Every June, Canadians celebrate National Indigenous History Month, to honour the heritage, contributions, and cultures of First Nation, Inuit, and Métis communities across the country. The US celebrates Indigenous Peoples' Day every 11th October, while the rest of the world commemorates World Indigenous Day each 9th August, raising awareness of the needs of Indigenous peoples - their traditional knowledge, voices, and wisdom. But that’s definitely not enough.
Author: The Spill
Category: CULTURE
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In Black Transhuman Liberation Theology, published in 2019, author Philip Butler evokes “the construction of a practical approach to liberation for Black folks through the combination of technology and spirituality”. In the book, Butler explains how this theology must engage current and emerging technologies to dismantle systems of oppression. That Black spirituality, Black biotechnology, and technological advancements coming together “may prove to be the perfect tool in the fight for liberation now, and well into the future.”
Author: Tali Ramsey
Category: CULTURE
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Since Seaspiracy came out, millions of people have been considering giving up fish or changing the way they consume it, and the conversation around overfishing has finally opened wide. We talked to Shameek Upadhya, co-founder of Omvits, a British vitamin and supplements brand that creates sustainable and cruelty-free Omega-3 from algae that will protect our planet for future generations.
Author: The Spill
Category: ENVIRONMENT
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Welcome to the fifth instalment of My Coming Out, a monthly interview series sharing the unique stories of people all over the world, who came out as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual, or questioning. This month we chat with Emma Flint (she/they), a 30 year-old freelance writer and journalist, who identifies as genderfluid and abrosexual.
Author: The Spill
Category: SELF
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I used to think I have complete control over my body. Every anxious feeling, every desire, every shrapnel of shame that clogs up my oesophagus and holds me hostage – it all passes through me with consent. Only because I allow myself to feel a certain way, even the terrible stuff, do I have to withstand it?
Author: Ami Venrar
Category: SELF
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The last ten years have seen social media evolve beyond recognition. From the days of MySpace to the reign of Instagram, trends and subcultures have changed at lightning speed, but one thing has remained consistent: our use of social networks to paint an alluring, enticing image of ourselves for potential love interests and followers alike. So much, in fact, that terminology has emerged to label this behaviour. Welcome to the era of thirst traps.
Author: Eleanor Noyce
Category: CULTURE
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Environmental racism isn’t new, but it has never been worse. In the UK specifically, marginalised and ethnically diverse communities are thrice as likely as others to be exposed to pollution daily, and live in areas close to waste incinerators (Source: Guardian).
Author: Aishwarya Jagani
Category: ENVIRONMENT
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An arresting debut collection from a young poet, Monika Radojevic’s Teeth in the Back of My Neck was the inaugural winner of the #Merky Books New Writers’ Prize, launched by Stormzy and Penguin Random House UK in 2018.
Author: The Spill
Category: ARTS
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If you’re anything like us, you may have cultivated a love/hate relationship with fashion over the last few years. Between the industry’s lack of inclusivity and its catastrophic contribution to climate change, there are good reasons to give up on fashion brands altogether. But all is not lost, and there are still incredible labels out there making sure everyone is feeling included and represented, while also not costing the earth. Here are five of our favourite unisex ethical clothing brands.
Author: The Spill
Category: ENVIRONMENT
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I got my first period when I was ten and still in primary school - before all my friends. I felt too young to feel my body changing so rapidly. I have Spastic Triplegic Cerebral Palsy, a neurological disorder caused by brain damage. In my case, the brain damage was caused by a lack of oxygen during labour and after birth, although it can also occur in other ways.
Author: Francesca Hughes
Category: SELF
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In Mixed/Other: Explorations of Multiraciality in Modern Britain (out now), Mancunian writer and Metro columnist Natalie Morris explores the multifaceted experience of mixed-race people in the UK. Examining identity, dating, family life, beauty, culture, and more through a plethora of people across the UK, Mixed/Other shines a light on what it means to be mixed race today.
Author: The Spill
Category: ARTS
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This is the fourth instalment of My Coming Out, a monthly interview series sharing the unique stories of people all over the world, who came out as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual, or questioning. This month we chat with Jo Maenzanise (they/them), a trans non-binary lover of coffee, comedy, and pitbulls' smiles. They are “their ancestors' wildly queer kid”.
Author: The Spill
Category: SELF
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"No tyres screeching, no blaring of sirens and no panicked shoppers scattering across aisles," said News24 South Africa of the Mall of Africa silent heist in 2019 - one that saw its prime suspect vanish into thin air. When I hear of bank robberies and heists, my thoughts immediately shift to armed bandits, masked and ready to shoot any person between them and the money they are after. But a few people are now changing how I am viewing heists - at least, real world heists. And one of them is a woman from my own country, Zambia.
Author: Fiske Nyirongo
Category: CULTURE
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Art galleries and museums around the world may have seen sporadic opening hours and all too many cancellations in the past year, but behind the scenes and away from white gallery interiors, the world of arts has been working hard to adapt. From inherent issues of neoliberal capitalism laid bare by the pandemic, to the movements addressing the Global North’s systemic racism that has permeated popular discourse, art makers are at the forefront of these developments.
Author: Sandy Yu
Category: ARTS
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On many mornings in my new home in upstate New York, my partner and I wrestle over a bowl of semolina pudding, which my family in India would call ravo. We eat the sweet, milky concoction for breakfast, even though it tastes very much like dessert. Back home, it’s more birthday breakfast than a morning meal, but my partner is new to ravo and wants it as often as he wants nankhatai biscuits - the melt-in-the-mouth shortbread flavored with cardamom - which is often. #ParsiZoroastrians
Author: Rhea Dhanbhoora
Category: SELF
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It’s an issue that’s come to the fore in the face of the coronavirus crisis: almost 700,000 more people* in the UK have been driven into poverty over the last year, including 120,000 children. Images of tuna in moneybags, quartered peppers and a thumb’s length of wizened carrot took social media by force just months ago, exposing the government’s failure to adequately provide free school meals for many of those eligible children.
Author: Sumaiya Ahmed
Category: POLITICS
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When we think of commitment issues, a lot of us picture a hot young bachelor who’s busy breaking hearts and having one night stands — not someone like myself, who’s in a committed relationship and looking to buy a house. But it’s time for me to come clean: the idea of spending “forever” with another person often freaks me out, and when I have finally committed to someone enough to enter into a relationship, my brain spends a lot of time and energy worrying whether the risk of commitment is worth the potential reward.
Author: Adrianna Nine
Category: SELF
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Being born and raised in London, I have always been in a multicultural environment. However, being surrounded by people of different ethnicities and backgrounds doesn’t always bring the feeling of familiarity and acceptance we often think it does, when there is a deeply unsettling racism beneath the surface. I have seen first-hand people from different ethnicities, especially immigrants, be pretty racist towards each other, sometimes even towards their own people – something I have noticed amongst my own Pakistani and Bangladeshi peers. But where does this even stem from?
Author: Sumaiya Ahmed
Category: LIFE
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[TW: Drugs, suicide, depression] On March 7, 2018, I walked into a psychiatric clinic a couple miles east of Downtown Los Angeles. I sat in a black cushioned leather chair across a young doctor with dirty blonde hair, beady brown eyes, and a warm smile. I couldn’t tell whether she was a year or two older than me, but I knew she recently completed med school. Her name tag was labelled “residency.” She asked me what I needed help with that day, and I began to explain the plethora of symptoms I’ve had in the last year. The constant tiredness, the inability to enjoy the things I once found pleasure in, the isolation, the constant dread, the crying spells, the suicidal thoughts (that I’d never act upon), and the irritable, irrational, irate self that comes out a week or two before my period.
Author: Da Young Lisa Park
Category: SELF
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In February 2021, right in the middle of our third national lockdown, we sat down for a virtual chat with Saiqa Pandor, family liaison manager at Home-Start Camden & Islington, for an honest chat about the vulnerability of so many families in the UK, and what their reality looks like. Home-Start is a local community charity of trained volunteers and expert support helping families with young children through their challenging times. As of 2020, Home-Start has supported 56,000 children in 27,000 families, in communities across the UK. The charity has been working in Camden since 1995, and expanded into Islington in 2018, providing support to parents of children under the age of five who are struggling. The Camden & Islington branch works with around 170 families in the two boroughs every year.
Author: The Spill
Category: POLITICS
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The most common reaction I tend to get when talking about Islamophobia with people is: ‘it’s not really racism though, is it?’
Even after everything Muslim people have been through in the last couple of decades, from overt discrimination and harmful stereotypes to physical and terrorist attacks, Islamophobia still is a widely misunderstood form of prejudice and racism. And this misunderstood belief that Islamophobia is somehow a lesser force than other forms of racism - or even that it isn’t real - may come from the term itself.
Author: Shahed Ezaydi
Category: LIFE
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For those who have gone through the slightly painful task of filling in their likes and dislikes, choosing photos with the perfect lighting, and getting ready to be scrutinised with one flick of the thumb, creating a dating profile is a memorable process. But one particular aspect that has sparked sustained controversy is the ‘ethnicity filter’, where people can both place their ethnicity on their profile and filter out ethnicities in their matches.
Author: Asyia Iftikhar
Category: LIFE
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The last few months have been a flurry of binge-worthy TV dropping on streaming services, and surprisingly, two of the biggest hits included South Asian shows. While shows like Indian Matchmaking and Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives got all of us talking, a few other comparatively quieter ones have added complexity to the mix. The truth is, people around me within the South Asian community practically jump at any sort of representation because it’s been lacking for so long. If you ask me, we’ve gotten sick of being the punchline, the single story, the brown character that is there both for comedy and pity.
Author: Anmol Irfan
Category: CULTURE
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In case you haven’t noticed, attacks on people of Chinese heritage - or even appearance - have escalated to new heights over the last year. And it’s absolutely no coincidence that the violence against East and South East Asian (ESEA) communities has increased over the course of the pandemic, given the racist rhetoric peddled by world leaders and right-wing groups about the origins of Covid-19. After all, impeached president (and notorious xenophobe) Donald Trump did call the coronavirus the “Chinese virus” and “kung flu” at every chance he got, and words have consequences.
Author: Kate Ng
Category: LIFE
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We all know this: women have long stood and fought for the rights and freedom of others. Perhaps because they didn’t have the choice, too. And this is exactly how many countries have established women’s rights to vote, their rights in healthcare, and their right to work. Women’s political activism is something most of us probably take for granted today, especially in the West. But there are women who are still standing up and fighting for their rights in many parts of the world, and just because we don’t hear about it doesn’t make it any less true. These women are held captives for speaking out publicly on issues around human rights, or against their repressive governments, and a new generation of women activists are also at risk of becoming political enemies and prisoners of their state.
Author: The Spill
Category: POLITICS
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Very much akin to Cressida Cowper, 2021 seems to be on a mission not to be outdone. From bringing in its first week with sedition and white hypocrisy to stripping its narcissist leader all the way back to the good ole days of pen and paper, it seems that anyone who is not a fascist has a front-row seat to the best scandal since… well, Scandal. For those of us who haven’t been glued to the news, a bit of escapism has arrived in the perfectly wrapped package of Bridgerton, Shonda Rhimes’ latest production of intrigue, drama, and of course, romance.
Author: K. Alexandra Mills
Ctegory: CULTURE
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Every year, as I feel the end approaching, a specific kind of panic sets in. The faint remnants of the year gone come to me in a flash - the good, the bad, and the ugly. The things I wanted to do but couldn't, and the things I shouldn't have done but did. And each December, I promise myself: “The next year will be different. I will do better this time around.”
Author: Sakshi Udavant
Category: LIFE
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Fashion may be part of our everyday lives, but not everyone realises the impact it will have on the world we leave behind. With current trends evolving at the pace they are today, the fashion industry will make up for a quarter of the world’s carbon budget by 2050. But despite conversations around sustainability and hard-hitting statistics like these, it still seems almost impossible to infiltrate the bubble that fast fashion has created. No matter where you are in the world, one thing remains common - the idea that fashion trends are ever-changing and that you have to be on top of them in order to feel included.
Author: Anmol Irfan
Category: ENVIRONMENT
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I had my first date with my current partner just weeks before the lockdown started. As is the case with many queer couples in India, we met on a dating app. We had both just moved to the city we are now in, unaware we would be told to stay home soon after. Before we knew it, the pandemic would make this city our default home. Oblivious to what the future had in store for us when we first met, we spent a grand total of a month quickly and surely falling behind the usual — and what now seems extraordinary — rituals of dating.
Author: Sohel Sarkar
Category: LIFE
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If you’ve ever followed what is going on in the environmental news, you may have heard a lot about ‘Net Zero’ last year. Short for ‘Net Zero emissions’, Net Zero supports the idea of reaching a balance between the greenhouse gas emissions we produce and the greenhouse gas emissions that are taken out of the atmosphere. Several institutions are currently fighting to raise awareness about the necessity to reach Net Zero, including the House of Commons in the UK, which approved a draft legislation for a UK Net Zero by 2050, following the CCC (Committee on Climate Change)’s recommendation. The IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) has been clear all through 2020: we have no choice left but to limit global warming to below 1.5°C if we want to avoid the catastrophic repercussions of the climate crisis.
Author: The Spill
Category: ENVIRONMENT
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In 2021, it’s a pretty safe bet that you’ve probably heard the name Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, or the initials ‘AOC’, which is how she is commonly referred to. The Democrat that took US politics by storm in the 2018 midterm election not only was the youngest woman ever to be elected into congress (aged 29) but also, defeated the 10-term incumbent, Joe Crowley. A huge political upset for Crowley, who was once seen as a possible Democratic leader of the House. AOC is the whole package, and the world is watching. Here are 7 reasons why we love her, and why we think she may actually help make America a better place.
Author: Shahed Ezaydi
Category: POLITICS
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Have you ever been in a headspace where the world as you know it doesn’t make sense anymore? Where everything and everyone seems to be a mere cause of heartache and frustration? Where disillusionment becomes your middle name? Of course, you’ve been there. It’s what being a teenager is all about. Most people grow out of that angst as they transition into adulthood, but unfortunately, I’ve never been like most people. The reality is that I have two mood disorders, called anxiety and depression, and they have been plaguing me since the ages of 11 and 13 respectively. I’m 30 now, and as I’ve learned growing older, these demons have no intention of leaving me anytime soon.
Author: Mahevash Shaikh
Category: ARTS
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Internal biases exist within all kinds of communities and generations — biases each one of us is responsible for exploring, challenging, and undoing, regardless of where we come from, how we were raised, or what we believe in. But when someone possesses discriminatory thoughts and beliefs toward people of colour and stigmatised faiths such as Islam, action mode must be activated. In fact, we can feel very comfortable labelling this type of special someone as racist, even if they’re a member of our own family.
Author: Adrianna Nine
Category: LIFE
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I love my little sister Tonia. She is the best person I know. These days she’s not so little, at the grand age of 22, but that still means I am 50% older than her. There are 11 years between us (I’m 33) but we are super close. Do I wish we were closer in years so we had similar friendship groups and current experiences? No, I don’t think I do, because an 11 year age gap has taught me a lot about sisterhood.
Author: Francesca Baker
Category: LIFE
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In the course of the last twelve months, we’ve seen brands go green for climate change, rainbow for Pride, blue for the Sudanese Revolution, and in June 2020, black for Black Lives Matter. Businesses and influencers alike posted a black square on their social media accounts in an effort to raise awareness for the movement, and a sign of support and allyship - whether it was going to be life-long support or completely performative allyship was going to clear only a few weeks later.
Author: Bashirat Oladele
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I'm one of the one billion people worldwide who live with some kind of disability, and the number is growing. Seventy-five percent of these people don't use a wheelchair or obvious aid. We are the invisibly disabled.
Author: LaVonne Roberts
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The first time I came in contact with Benin bronze sculptures and plaques, I was mystified. As a Nigerian, I was astonished to learn that such a large collection was held in a British museum, in an industry dominated by white people, and generally kept in spaces that don't really welcome those whose culture is displayed.
Author: Emi Eleode
Category: ARTS
Listen to the full story read by Gemma Harvey, or read it online - also available in Easy Read.
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The Spill was born in a very interesting year, and it feels like we have seen it all.
A health crisis named Covid-19 spread out globally, the Black Lives Matter movement took a major turn, Australia declared a state of emergency amid large bushfires, terrorist attacks hit France again, the Uighur community in China remains persecuted, major explosions killed and injured thousands in the port of Beirut (Lebanon), US. President Donald Trump carried on with his modern dictatorship, a civil conflict continues in the Tigray region of Ethiopia. The list is long and this is just the tip of the Iceberg. 2020 happened to be mostly disastrous, sometimes reflective, often nerve-wracking, and somehow a very inspired year for our two co-founders Jennifer Hakim and Chourouk Gorrab.
Author: The Spill
Category: ABOUT, CULTURE
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Audio Stories by The Spill is primarily catered to our audience with visual impairments, blindness, and reading disabilities, ensuring their access to our content.
The Spill is a UK-based online publication working exclusively with contributors from marginalised communities. Committed to amplifying the voices of people who have been pushed aside for too long, we want to bring interesting content that matters to us and them: stories about life experiences, culture, arts, politics, the environment, and explorations of the self. You can find all our stories online at www.thespillmag.com
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