The jessamine is odorous; so Maid lilies are, and clematis And where tall meadowsweet flowers grow A rare and subtle perfume is; – What can there be more choice than these? – A rose when it doth bud and blow.” By Christina Rosetti (1830-1894) When I began interviewing people about their memory of smell […]
Two photographs, two family tragedies. The first of these show a three-year-old girl, Ayşe, wiping tears off her grandmother’s face with a tissue, oblivious to the tragedy her family has just suffered. The grandmother, also called Ayşe, is shedding tears for her daughter, little Ayşe’s mum Sonya Kaygan, who has just lost her life to […]
Ten days ago, I highlighted the plight of some 120 British nationals, many of Turkish Cypriot descent, stranded in North Cyprus due to the coronavirus pandemic. Lots of affected individuals, their British MPs, and community groups have all been lobbying the UK Foreign Office to demand their return. Since then, there has been a flurry […]
Over 120 British nationals, many of them of Turkish Cypriot descent, are currently stranded in North Cyprus, unable to get any flights back to the UK. All international flights on both sides of the Cyprus divide were grounded In March to contain the coronavirus pandemic. In the same month, UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab announced […]
One of the most closely contested constituencies of this General Election is one in East London. Labour are after a big scalp: that of Iain Duncan Smith, the former Conservative leader and architect of the widely despised Universal Credit benefits system. Standing against him is Faiza Shaheen, a 36-year-old British economist. The Labour candidate grew […]
Galip Ahmet is one of the first Turkish Cypriots to have come and settled in Britain in the early 1950s. Born in Cyprus on 18 April 1929, Galip Bey recently turned 90. I interviewed him earlier this summer about his experiences before and after his move, as part of my work on ‘Turkish heritage in […]
It is very difficult to write an obituary if the person was very dear to you and held a special place in your life. You try to put the words together, but after a while the blank paper in front of you remains just the same as you had started, completely blank. This happened to […]
In 1939, when London was being relentlessly bombed by Nazi Germany, the British Government put into place one of the largest evacuation plans ever seen, moving over 1.5 million children from London to rural locations around the country considered to be safe from bombing. Strangers opened their doors to these children and welcomed them, away […]
“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world” said Nelson Mandela and indeed the same can be attributed to Kelami Dedezade, who passed away on the 13 July 2018. Dedezade was a huge believer that education is the only tool to make a difference in society. All his […]
This year marks the fifth year in a row I have been lucky enough to visit the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in SW19. And while you may think it gets old, Wimbledon is always full of surprises. 2018 has proved this yet again, with top women’s seeds tumbling and the return of the legend that is […]
