Writing

Metro • 2nd July 2023

'Iran's armed forces murdered my mum, it's time the UK called them terrorists'

A woman whose mother was killed by 167 shotgun pellets has urged Britain to recognise Iran’s most powerful armed forces as a terrorist organisation.

It all started with the death in police custody of Mahsa (Jina) Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian-Kurdish woman accused of wearing her headscarf improperly in September 2022.

Three days later, Minoo Majidi joined protests in Kermanshah, in the west of the Middle Eastern country, when security forces on motorbikes gunned her down at close range.

Her el

Metro • 15th June 2023

Russians attack British man trying to save animals and pets in flood water

A British man has been injured during an attempted animal rescue mission in southern Ukraine, his colleagues have confirmed.

John Carl, a volunteer at Odessa Cat Crew, travelled to the city of Kherson to assist organisations evacuating thousands of animals from the devastating floods after the Nova Kakhovka dam explosion.

Teams from UAnimals have scoured remote areas on motorboats for over a week, extracting pets and wild animals from rooftops and submerged homes.

John was on one of these boa

Metro • 7th June 2023

Rescuers work through the night to save animals after Ukraine dam blast

Volunteers have worked through the night to evacuate thousands of animals from catastrophic flooding after a dam was blown up in Ukraine.

Occupied by Russia since February 2022, Nova Kakhovka, in Kherson Oblast, was awoken by an explosion in the engine room of the hydroelectric power plant early yesterday.

Footage showed water surging through the remains, with levels racing up by metres in a matter of hours.

Ukraine and Russia blamed each other for the destruction of the massive dam, which ha

Metro • 3rd June 2023

Wife of jailed Russian opposition figure 'worried about his life'

Evgenia Kara-Murza forgets the number of interviews she has done since her husband was jailed for 25 years in Russia after being convicted of treason in April.

Before sitting down with Metro.co.uk in Geneva, the wife of the prominent activist Vladimir Kara-Murza opened the 15th Summit for Human Rights and Democracy in the Swiss city.

She stood at the very same stage where the Russian-British author was honoured for his courage years earlier after taking up the fight against the Kremlin.

Vladi

Metro • 16th April 2023

Tears of Ukrainian refugees in Moldova still in limbo as they wait to go home

On February 24, 2022, people in Moldova were woken up by the sound of the first air strikes on the neighbouring port city of Odesa.

Ukrainians – some still in pyjamas and slippers, only clutching personal documents- amassed at the border crossing within hours, where they were met by long lines of cars to drive them to the capital Chisinau.

Sandwiched between Romania and Ukraine, the tiny eastern European country has lived under the constant fear of a Russian attack on its soil since the beginn

Metro • 15th April 2023

How one of Europe's poorest nations is fending off Russia's hybrid war

There is a popular joke in Moldova that its military could hold the capital city for about two hours – the time it would take a Russian tank to drive from the border.

Landlocked between NATO member Romania and war-ravaged Ukraine, the small Eastern European country has for decades been in a precarious geographical and political position.

But its pro-Western ruling party is now facing a more sophisticated threat, which could derail its plans to join the European Union in the next 10 years.

Wit

Metro • 28th March 2023

Albanian PM slams 'unapologetic' Suella Braverman for singling out his people

For the growing Albanian community in Britain, Suella Braverman’s remarks about ‘criminals’ crossing the Channel in small boats still feel like a dagger to the heart.

From professionals who have lived in the country for decades to young students, many wonder how to change the negative perception around their homeland.

But for Albania’s prime minister, who was in Number 10 last week for talks with Rishi Sunak, the answer is ‘nothing’.

Edi Rama called the singling out of asylum seekers from the

Metro • 23rd March 2023

Transgender asylum seeker 'left in limbo' two years after landing in the UK

Volunteering on the filmset of Matar gave Hiba Noor ‘another life’ after two years of waiting for a decision from the Home Office about her asylum claim.

Back in Pakistan, she worked on the set of a popular television morning show, and on music videos and documentaries.

But being part of the transgender community put a visible target on the 26-year-old’s back.

After an attack on her family, in which her brother was killed, she took the difficult decision to flee her homeland, she told Metro.c

Metro • 19th February 2023

High heels and dirty lingerie discarded as donations for Turkey and Syria appeal

Pole heels, dirty lingerie and ripped and stained clothing have been discovered among ‘inappropriate’ donations made to survivors of the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria.

Videos shared on TikTok show volunteers sifting through boxes of aid, pulling out items including 10-inch latex heels.

Another video showed a silver disco crop top, brown-stained towels and lingerie pulled out.

‘Clothing collection drop-offs are not a place where you can empty your trash,’ a comment read.

‘Those people also

Metro • 2nd February 2023

UK’s first dedicated rape and sexual abuse helpline for LGBTQ+ people launched

A dedicated support line launched today aims to end the trauma for LGBTQ+ rape victims who are unable to access help when needed.

More than half (53%) of people in the community have been subjected to sexual violence in their lives, according to the latest YouGov data for 2022.

Research from LGBTQ+ anti-abuse charity Galop uncovered that most victims had bad experiences with mainstream services.

‘After the judgmental response I never went back and I have not accessed support since then,’ one

Metro • 28th January 2023

Inside secret Facebook group exposing sexual abusers on dating apps

‘He sleeps with women without a condom, but has multiple STIs. He works in the police,’ reads a comment under a screenshotted dating profile of a man.

It is one of the hundreds of alarming warnings on a secret Facebook group, which has more than 17,000 members.

Dating apps are now so rife with sexual violence, harassment and unwanted nudes that women are having to seek ‘references’ for men on social media.

This is at least what Metro.co.uk learnt after joining ‘Are we dating the same guy? Lon

Metro • 28th January 2023

We joined Met Police during nighttime crackdown on predatory men

‘It is a shame, this used to be a really good bar,’ inspector Andy Durrant says as he points to a New Orleans-style chicken shop with a flashing sign.

It is 11pm on Thursday, and his patrol in Shoreditch, east London, has just started, but it is already orchestrated chaos that is expected to continue until about 5am.

Insp Durrant is leading a special operation targeting predatory behaviour towards women, and after working in the area for some time, he knows it like the back of his hand.

Bounc

Metro • 28th December 2022

Name badges made for unknown migrants who drowned hoping for a better life

‘Four people dead after small boat incident Channel’; ‘Man being processed in Manston detention centre in Kent dies’ – these are just some of the recent news headlines illustrating Europe’s refugee crisis.

More than 60% of those who die on migratory routes remain unidentified as their families are left searching for answers, and their deaths remain just a statistic.

Christoph Jones has set out to change this with the art project ‘The Refugee List’, where he eulogises those who did not survive.

Metro • 26th December 2022

Turns out Meghan Markle was right about the UK citizenship test

The Life in the UK test may look like your average pub quiz – but instead of a bottle of wine, you are awarded with a citizenship if you pass it.

‘Who built the Tower of London?’, or ‘What did the Chartists campaign for?’, these are just some of the example questions applicants will need to know the answers of, even though, according to Meghan Markle, even Prince Harry struggled with them.

Almost 200,000 immigrants took the test in 2022 as part of their applications for citizenship or settleme

Metro • 26th December 2022

Men on an incel website reveal what they really think about women

‘Does rape count as losing your virginity?’, this is the title of one of the first threads I stumbled on after secretly joining a popular incel website.

Discussions about sexual assault, paedophilia, suicide and mass shootings grow more and more violent as I dive into some of the darkest corners of the internet.

Incels, named after a shortening of the term ‘involuntary celibates’, are mostly heterosexual men who ‘forge an identity around a perceived inability to form sexual or romantic relatio

Metro • 11th December 2022

London sex workers 'frightened police will abuse increased powers' against them

Police may exploit increased powers against sex workers in east London, a campaign group has claimed.

The English Collective of Prostitutes has dubbed Newham Council’s proposal for a Public Space Protection Order for Romford Road as a ‘crackdown’ on sex workers, adding it would only ‘undermine’ their safety.

Such orders are commonly used to stop anti-social behaviour like public drinking, and a breach is a criminal offence.

It means that anyone caught buying or selling sex would face an on th

Metro • 5th December 2022

How do I test my child for Strep A and what are the symptoms?

Health officials must urgently introduce community testing to combat the increased rates of Strep A this winter, a virologist has warned.

Seven children have died in recent weeks after contracting the infection, and there are fears about the ability of the NHS to cope with the outbreak.

Dr Nicole Robb, professor at Oxford and Warwick Universities and co-founder of health-technology firm Pictura Bio, told Metro.co.uk that at the moment the only way to get tested is through a health practitioner

Metro • 18th November 2022

'There's not a woman I know that is going to the World Cup in Qatar'

Women have ‘potentially been pushed out’ of the 2022 FIFA men’s World Cup in Qatar.

A lifelong supporter of Leicester City, Amy Drucquer works hard to fix the lack of gender representation in the media when it comes to her favourite sport.

In 2016, the 34-year-old launched the online platform This Fan Girl – a community for female football fans – and has since worked with a number of major brands as part of the project.

But when a PR firm got in touch two months ago offering to pay for ticket

Metro • 10th November 2022

Cost of living crisis making housing issues worse for 7 in 10 callers to charity

Almost eight in 10 people contacting Shelter daily are already homeless or at risk of homelessness, new figures show.

With six weeks left to Christmas, the charity is warning this winter could be one of the toughest yet as the cost of living crisis is making housing problems worse.

Advisers on its emergency helpline warn that as the cost of renting reaches record highs and energy bills soar, they are gearing up to take calls from huge numbers of people facing homelessness in the coming months.

Metro • 8th November 2022

Albanian migrants in UK experiencing ‘alarming rise' in hostility and suspicion

Albanians living and working in Britain are feeling even more ‘unwelcome’ after Suella Braverman’s declaration of a migrant ‘invasion’.

As it happened with Poles, then Bulgarians and Romanians accused of migrating to ‘steal jobs’, people from the small Balkan country have now become the next ‘scapegoats for the government’s failures’.

Dr Andi Hoxhaj, a lecturer of law at University College London, said Albanians are experiencing ‘an alarming rise in hostility and xenophobia’.

The 34-year-old

Metro • 29th October 2022

Mood among Black youths 'worse than before London riots' after Chris Kaba death

Barely 11 years have passed since riots spread across London, sparked by the tragic death of Mark Duggan.

People are now chanting the name of yet another Black man who died in the hands of the Metropolitan Police.

Killed by a single bullet to the head in Streatham, south London, the death of the rapper has brought up ‘a lot of old wounds’ for the Black British community.

Sayce Holmes-Lewis, CEO of youth charity Mentivity, says the mood is now ‘much worse’ than before the 2011 uprising, and he

Metro • 23rd October 2022

Passengers screamed for rollercoaster to stop in theme park 'emergency incident'

A man was ‘thrown off’ a rollercoaster at an amusement park, eyewitnesses have revealed.

Oakwood Theme Park in Pembrokeshire, south-west Wales, was evacuated after a ‘distressing’ incident on its popular Treetops ride.

Sean Hayes and his wife Caroline were sitting near the front of the ride when they heard ‘horrific screams’ and the cries of a girl.

When Mr Hayes turned back, he saw the back end of the rollercoaster ‘slipping and sliding off the track’.

He said: ‘I saw a girl crying in sever

Metro • 9th October 2022

'Uncertain future' for boy, 6, with rare condition 'doctor had never heard of'

A young boy with an exceedingly rare genetic disorder is facing an uncertain future.

You have perhaps never heard of the Okur Chung Neurodevelopmental Syndrome (OCNDS) – neither had the doctor who diagnosed little Hunter Pilgrim.

The six-year-old, who lives with his parents in Chelmsford, Essex, is one of maybe 200 people worldwide to have the condition.

OCNDS is characterised by delayed language development, intellectual disability, motor delay, decreased muscle tone, and dysmorphic facial f

Metro • 8th October 2022

'Life could have been a lot different': The man changing the future for black teens

Aylesbury Estate was for years the first port of call for film directors looking for backdrops to gritty crime scenes, but for Sayce Holmes-Lewis, it is home.

The CEO of Mentivity was raised in the sprawling south-east London estate by his ‘hero’ mum.

Portrayed in a poor light for decades, the area and its communities served as his motivation to launch the youth mentoring group, which now boasts ex-mentees like Arsenal’s Reiss Nelson and Manchester United’s Jadon Sancho.

Sayce, who is a few w