As the second largest polluter in the world, the fast-fashion industry has both an enormous environmental and social cost. As a result of this, the industry has started to be scrutinised by climate activists who are calling out the damaging and unsustainable production methods that clothing manufacturers continue to use. Although, this criticism has yet to lead to significant changes in production methods or statements of environmental consciousness by any of the world’s largest fast fashion pro

Content Note: This article contains mention of abortion When I was fourteen, I was sat in a religious studies lesson that was centred around the Abrahamic religions and their views on abortion. We’d gone through Christianity and Judaism fairly smoothly and with little student contribution – there was an exam the next week and despite it being a thought-provoking topic, there was no real discussion happening. But when the slide moved onto Islam, the teacher called my name and asked: “Inaya, can

The experiences of people of colour are often homogenised by the media. This isn’t to say that it’s always malicious; but the world of print and broadcast media isn’t the most diverse, and so, more often than not, a singular narrative of the ‘BME experience’ is pushed without any acknowledgements made about the nuances of our experiences and how there is no single issue that affects us all in the same way. Colourism, and the difference in experience between light- and dark-skinned people of col

It’s so easy for people to say that the past is the past and that we should move on and live solely in the present. For people of colour like myself, this is easier said than done. So many aspects of our identities have been and continue to be constructed by the past. British history, but more specifically its history as a colonising and imperialist power, continues to shape the interactions we have and witness. When so much of your place in this world has already been decided by events of the p

Growing up in a majority-white area, my identity as a Pakistani always took a back seat. I’ve only visited Pakistan once in my life. I was around six years old, and the culture shock I experienced as I left my large town in England for a small village in rural Kashmir was so overwhelming that I’ve turned down every opportunity my parents have given me to go back since. I found it hard to claim a culture that so visibly marked me as different. It was tiring to always have to help strangers corre

I only started using the word anxiety to describe my condition a couple of years ago. Before then, I didn’t know that everything I was experiencing — the panicking, the overthinking, and the constant worrying — came under the umbrella of anxiety. I remember being a child and googling ‘why do I worry so much?’ into my dad’s iPad. I really did just think I was a worrier, and that it was a phase I would naturally grow out of. It was in sixth form, when conversations surrounding mental health began