Opinion

Here's why I’m pleased the BBC licence fee might be scrapped

As a full-time working, single mum to a toddler, I can’t remember the last time I switched on the television. Over Christmas, I called an engineer to fix our “broken” TV and actually learned it hadn’t been used in the two years we’d lived in the house – the tech guy pointed out that there was, in fact, no aerial installed in the property. I felt a huge surge of annoyance at having wasted £159 over each of the last two years. But my exasperation pales into insignificance when compared with the s

Opinion: Westminster’s toxic culture is a threat to our democracy

As a parliamentary assistant, I met hardworking people who came to Westminster to make a real difference to society. These inspiring humans – from untiring secretaries to diligent researchers – often they dedicated their lives to making our communities a better place to live and work. In return for being at the beating heart of politics, they spent long hours toiling for relatively small salaries, particularly during election times when their whole lives revolved around

Opinion: We need to stop using fighting terms to describe life with cancer

It was truly heartbreaking to hear of the death of Black Panther and biopic star Chadwick Boseman. Not just because he famously played the first black superhero to get his own standalone film, but also because the 43-year old spent four years suffering with colon cancer. As I scrolled through the communal outpouring of tweets and Instagram posts that now come to symbolise a celebrity death, I noticed that well-worn military cliches – such as fight and battle – were most commonly used to describ

My partner is in prison and the pandemic is taking its toll

Imagine spending months locked in a cramped, six-by-twelve-foot space – with only two hours outside per day. It’s enough to destroy anyone’s mental health, but this is the reality of life for my partner Chris, and the 87,900 people inside prisons in the UK during this pandemic. I remember crying inconsolably when he was arrested in November 2019. I was devastated at the thought of his freedom being taken away. Now, he’s awaiting trial on class A drug importation charges after being accused of

Vogue Portugal’s ‘bad taste’ front cover made me feel better about my psychosis and OCD

While waiting eight long weeks to discover whether my malignant melanoma was likely to kill me, I became obsessed with counting everything – from hours of sleep each night to completed chores on my daily “to-do” list. Eventually, my fear of dying became so intense that I was too scared to sleep, in case I didn’t wake up. I was working at a student union at the time – and I remember phoning my boss to tell her I had food poisoning, as I felt too embarrassed to admit that I hadn’t slept for a num