In my early twenties I had a brief relationship with a working class South Yorkshire lass. She was quite exotic to me as I was to her – my life experience of class being more inner city multicultural but culturally unaccustomed to the ethnic and class homogeneity found in the massive and sprawling council estates […]
At a supremely intercultural wedding a few years back, one involving two good friends, I regretted not having the courage to make a small speech. One of the things I wanted to mention was the fact that while culture is relative, personality traits tend to be universal. A black Muslim South African and a white […]
Six or seven years back I was listening to a white non-muslim youth worker being interviewed about Prevent on Radio 4. One thing he said that I remember, if I recall correctly, was that we needed “to persuade young Muslims to move away from radical ideas and become more like the majority of good Muslims […]
Cannabis and me: I was 13 years old when I smoked my first spliff. I’d never even smoked a cigarette previously. I remember the pain in my lungs and throat as I inhaled, sucking air through my teeth in imitation of an older girl we were smoking with. Unlike the cliche in almost every film […]
Having re-engaged my inner thespian in 2014 I’ve been going to the theatre more often and had the pleasure of seeing some fun and thought provoking productions. Most recently I went to see Tangram Theatre’s production of The Dragon at the Southwark Playhouse, a vibrant and creatively updated version of an old Russian Soviet era […]
Despite my Yorkshire pretensions, I was born and bred in Bristol. At the age of seven I was taken to my first football match. Bristol City were playing Lincoln City in the old 4th division. The couple that took me, along with their son, decided to leave at half time thinking, wrongly in my case […]
If we could get the hang of it entirely It would take too long All we know is the splash of words in passing And the falling twigs of song. Louis Macneice Confusion defined my childhood in a world where we are expected to get on and be clear about what we want without stopping […]
As someone who lacks any strong form of patriotism or national identity, I’ve always found it interesting that I can happily go through life without an affinity to my country, beyond its political relevance, without fear of the guilt applied to minority communities for doing so. Perhaps this is in part due to the fact that […]
My nephew, a North Londoner I managed to influence enough to grow up a Bristol Rovers fan – giving something back to the common trend of glory hunting Bristolians supporting Arsenal et al with his own unique misery hunt – declined my invitation to accompany me to watch them play Barnet on a recent stormy […]
I remember, six or seven years back, sitting with a group of excluded pupils in Bradford doing alternative education and attempting, unsuccessfully, to persuade them to undertake some internet research on job vacancies. Instead they were googling images of famous Bollywood actresses in skimpy attire. The group were about 6 young lads of Pakistani Muslim […]
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