Writing

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

Metro • 1st October 2022

How a former fascist foiled a far-right terror plot to murder Labour MP

The trailer for ITV’s new drama The Walk-In starring Stephen Graham starts with the title: ‘This is a true story’.

It will tell the real-life events of how the charity Hope Not Hate foiled a neo-Nazi plan to murder Labour MP Rosie Cooper.

Ahead of Monday’s first episode, Matthew Collins – who is played by the award-winning, This Is England actor – told Metro.co.uk it is ‘almost spot on with reality’.

Once a member of the far-right in the 1980s and early 1990s, he is now the head of intelligen

Metro • 20th September 2022

Map shows how Europe could be affected if Ukraine’s nuclear plant explodes

A model map shows the countries in Europe that could be affected by a nuclear incident at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia power plant.

Dr Paul Dorfman, a nuclear safety expert who has advised the British and French governments, says Ukraine, parts of Russia, and central Europe are at risk of radioactive plume coming from the station.

‘So far, we have been lucky. There has been no significant radiological release from Zaporizhzhia. But luck is not a strategy,’ he told Metro.co.uk.

‘If someth

Metro • 8th September 2022

Map shows areas where more than 12,000,000 may plunge into 'fuel poverty'

Millions of homes could be at risk of ‘fuel poverty’ next month without an urgent intervention from the new prime minister.

At her first PMQs yesterday, Liz Truss said an energy bills support package will be unveiled today.

In one of her first moves after moving into Number 10, the Tory leader is expected to freeze household energy bills at £2,500 a year. But campaigners have warned this will not be enough.

According to figures from the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, 12,640,023 people – or 5,328

Metro • 7th August 2022

'I saw people injured in front of me': Dad escaped mosque massacre for new life

When the first gunshots sounded outside the mosque next to his office, Lutf Rehman did not know he would bear witness to what is now referred to as the Lahore Massacre.

Almost 100 people were killed and 120 more injured in two simultaneous attacks against Ahmadiyya Muslims in Model Town, Pakistan, in May 2010.

Miraculously, the 44-year-old survived but his memories from that fatal day still live with him.

He told Metro.co.uk: ‘Five minutes into the Friday prayers, we heard gunshots from the o

Metro • 28th July 2022

Model made face of body positivity campaign ‘without being asked’

A British model has claimed the Spanish government did not even ask before using her image in its new body positivity campaign.

‘Summer is ours too,’ the slogan reads in a highly praised move away from ‘beach ready’ beauty standards.

But Nyome Nicholas-Williams, known as Curvy Nyome on Instagram, said she only found out about the poster – featuring five women of different shapes and races – when her aunt messaged to congratulate her.

‘It is just a reminder that as a black woman my body is sti

Metro • 24th July 2022

Women face stalking, groping and masturbation while travelling in London

Every day, women face disgusting behaviour while just trying to get on with their lives.

Nearly 200 women have shared their experiences while travelling around London with sexual predators targeting them on all forms of public transport.

Inspired by the murder of Sarah Everard, Zan Moon started an online movement ‘tackling rape culture in education’.

She founded Screengrab Them and compiled stories of everyday sexism from victims as young as 11 on Instagram.

One woman told her: ‘Men repeated

Metro • 2nd July 2022

LGBT couple who adopted three children with disabilities urges others to do same

Opening up your home to a child in care can be a beautiful experience, marking the start of a real family for some LGBTQ+ couples.

Phil Ashton and Chris Smith, both 41, initially wanted to adopt a toddler so that they can experience a lot of firsts – like their first words and first steps.

The couple, who live in Merseyside, also put down on their preference list to their local adoption agency that they wanted a child with no significant disabilities.

They did not want to worry about medical

Metro • 24th June 2022

Women sexually assaulted by masseur speak out to get others to come forward

Two young women who were sexually assaulted by the same massage therapist in London have shared their stories – hoping to give the strength to potential victims to contact the Metropolitan Police.

Katy and Mollie, both in their 20s, were described as ‘the bravest women ever’ for coming forward against Mongkon Thopwan, who was sentenced today to 11 years in jail.

He was convicted in March of five counts of assault by penetration and one count of causing a person to engage in sexual activity wit