Category: Uncategorized

  • Pakistan’s educated militants

    The second part of my project for the Times, looking into support for ISIS in Pakistan, came out in the paper on 21 June. This piece focused on ISIS cells and…

  • Female jihadis in Pakistan

    My most recent trip to Pakistan (from March-April this year) was with the Times newspaper, under the auspices of the Richard Beeston Bursary. As well as covering general news, I…

  • Talking at the Barbican

    I was delighted to be invited to give a talk at the Barbican Centre’s Curve Gallery on 19th May. The talk was part of the gallery’s programme of talks around…

  • Travels in Pakistan

    Over March and April this year, I spent six weeks in Pakistan on assignment with the Times. While I was there I traveled to all the major provinces of the…

  • Recent scribblings

    I’ve been working on some longer projects recently, but thought I would share links to some other bits and pieces I’ve been publishing. In January I wrote this column for…

  • Cuts to ESOL

    In January, David Cameron announced extra funding for English as a Second Language (ESOL) classes, to be targeted at Muslim women in order to counter extremism. It was quite a…

  • Best of 2015

    As 2016 gets going, I thought I’d share links to some of the pieces I most enjoyed working on last year. In no particular order, here’s my top 5: 1.Karachi…

  • Recent writing

    As the year draws to a close, here are a couple of pieces I’ve written recently. There’s this column for the International Business Times about Donald Trump’s absurd – but…

  • Political periods

    I recently appeared on Sky News’ Morning Stories segment, talking about the tampon tax. Why are sanitary items taxed as luxury items when all sorts of ludicrous things – edible cake…

  • Recent work

    I’ve got a column in the latest issue of the New Humanist (out now) following up on the long piece I wrote about attacks on secularists in Bangladesh. The column…

  • I Call Myself a Feminist

    I recently contributed a chapter to a new book, “I Call Myself a Feminist: the view from 25 women under 30”, published by Virago Press. The book contains a brilliant…

  • Richard Beeston Bursary 2015

    I’m thrilled to have been awarded the 2015 Richard Beeston Bursary. Set up last year, the award is for a young British journalist to spend six weeks abroad, researching and…

  • Karachi Vice

    Earlier this year, I travelled to Karachi (where I lived in 2012) to spend some time with the city’s crime reporters. This is one of the most crime-ridden cities in…

  • Saudi suffragettes

    In Saudi Arabia, women will soon be able to vote for the first time in the country’s history. They can take part in the forthcoming municipal elections both as voters…

  • A deadly battle of ideas

    The full length version of my report on the violence against atheists in Bangladesh, which appeared on the cover of the Autumn New Humanist, is now online. A shorter version…

  • Bangladeshi secularists under attack

    So far this year, four atheist writers in Bangladesh have been brutally murdered, hacked to death on the streets. They are the latest victims in a line of violent attacks…

  • UK politics and the refugee crisis: some recent work

    Time to share some links to recent pieces from various corners of the internet. One of the subjects I’ve recently been most interested in – along with many other journalists…

  • The Song of the Shirt: review

    For a recent issue of the New Statesman magazine, I reviewed Jeremy Seabrook’s latest book, The Song of the Shirt, which looks at the Bangladeshi textiles industry. Here’s an excerpt,…

  • Naz Shah: “The victory is my mother’s, too”

    One of the most exciting campaigns in the general election in May was fought in Bradford West. Political outsider Naz Shah, standing for Labour, ousted George Galloway after a dramatic contest…

  • A few links

    Thought I’d pull together a few links to things I’ve been writing recently. New Statesman What is it like to be a Somali refugee in Kenya? This report drew on…

  • Issues at religious free schools

    One of the coalition’s flagship education policies was to establish free schools, which can be set up by anyone. The idea was to allow leadership and to encourage communities to…

  • Talking and writing

    I haven’t updated this site for a while. I’ve been working on some longer projects. But I thought I would share some of the things I’ve been writing this year,…

  • Recent work

    Here are a few links to some of the things I’ve worked on recently. “People care about their own rights – it’s other people’s that are more challenging” (New Humanist)…

  • Sexual violence in India

    Back in October, I travelled to Delhi. While I was there, I spoke to various women about how safe they feel in the city, and to activists about the long…

  • Recent talking

    On Friday 31st October, I appeared on BBC News Channel’s paper review, discussing the following day’s front pages. Oliver Brown of the Telegraph and I talked about Foreign Office travel…

  • The history of women’s football

    I don’t usually write about (or even watch!) sports, so it was quite a departure for me to write a long feature about the history and current status of women’s…

  • “Deradicalisation” in Britain?

    Much has been made of British citizens fighting in Syria and the problems they might pose on their return. (In November last year I wrote the first interview with a British…

  • Scotland decides

    On 19th September, Scotland voted against independence. It came after a long referendum campaign which prompted debate about the nature of devolution and the division of power in the UK. All…

  • Kenya’s Westgate survivors

    The attack on Kenya’s Westgate mall by Al-Shabab militants in September 2013 left 67 people dead. While I was in Kenya earlier this year, I interviewed two survivors of the…

  • Somalia’s returning diaspora

    Earlier this year, I traveled to east Africa. One of the pieces I researched was for the National (UAE), looking at the return of Somalia’s huge global diaspora and the…