Features and articles about real life.
Our baby's facial birthmark is alarming, but harmless. Should we treat it, wonders Mark Piggott, or let it be? The last days of Emma's first summer were drawing to a close. Waiting for a bus in Barnet, proud of myself for negotiating another day in charge of our seven-month-old daughter, a woman pointed into the […]
Continue ReadingCarol Davidson’s little girl has just celebrated her 18th birthday, but her parents once thought she wouldn’t make it to her first… The consultant reached out to hold my hand. "I’m afraid there is a complication," he said. "You’re daughter has cardiomyopathy and will need a transplant soon if she is to live." Just five […]
Continue ReadingShunned by peers, Aids sufferers in Mombassa struggle to survive in society after becoming carriers, but here love wins in the face of adversity… They are normally stigmatised in Africa. Condemned, and regarded as hopeless, they are not supposed to live happily again. They are the HIV positive in Africa. But all this changed one […]
Continue ReadingA US soldier holidaying in Ireland speaks candidly about the war in Iraq and says bases his country are building there are permanent… Patrick Lackatt, 20, sits on the bar stool, a glass of whisky in his hand, his foot tapping to the beat of the band. He is not what you would expect of […]
Continue ReadingBlack winemakers have taken to the vine with panache, but have been exclusively male, until now. Raise a toast to South Africa’s trailblazing Ms Biyela… Ntsiki Biyela is talented. In an industry still dominated by whites, this young black woman is an exception. Only 26 years old, she is the first black wine-maker of Zulu […]
Continue ReadingAn act of kindness ends in serious injury when a mum is viciously attacked by a dog she rescued and gave a loving home to… “I was terrified and feared for my life,” said mum Nicki Barker. I was viciously attacked by the dog I had rescued and given a loving home to just hours […]
Continue ReadingSuicide now represents one of the biggest killers of young men across the UK according to a report by the Department of Health… Kevin Heaney, 28, was a happily married, chatty, football-loving bloke. To everyone around him it seemed as though everything was going well for the software engineer form Ealing. But one day Kevin […]
Continue ReadingAbuse, abandonment and poverty lead Fanne Munyu into the degrading and dangerous world of teen prostitution. Here she reveals her story… Like it or hate it, teen prostitution is no longer an underground business in Southern Africa’s tiny nation of Malawi. Both parties involved, the teenage prostitutes and their clients, recognise its short-term benefits – […]
Continue ReadingIt’s never been a good time to be a black gay, policeman, but it’s a position Gamal Turawa, a Metropolitan police officer, has learned to live with… As the Met’s first openly gay black officer, PC Gamal Turawa is painfully aware of how difficult life can be as a member of a minority. Now, as […]
Continue ReadingBritain’s disabled have long been subject to common prejudices, but, as one man explains, public views are best influenced by the disabled themselves. Tom Comerford, 47, doesn’t believe disabled people should be stereotyped as vulnerable, passive victims. As a disabled rights activist he strives to change the public’s perceptions. He has been in a wheelchair […]
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