With two powerful female leaders resigning quickly, Nadia Younes examines the factors that led to Jacinda Ardern and Nicola Sturgeon stepping down as she argues that politics isn't built for the genuine.

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Can only the heartless survive in politics?

The heat will only get more unbearable.

As global temperatures rise, life has to continue as normal which means that Muslims around the world will continue to perform Hajj. With pilgrims paying top dollar for comfort, Zainab Mahmood questions whether climate adaptation measures will be accessible to everyone.

Is the climate emergency making Hajj even more exclusive?

Fame can be traumatic in many ways.

From the Disney Channel to Hollywood, Keke Palmer has been on our screens for over two decades. In this interview (which contains spoilers for Jordan Peele's movie Nope), Palmer divulges to Kemi Alemoru about the corrosive nature of fame, her flop eras and her greatest fears. 

Keke Palmer on nope and the violence of viewing

Is there really solidarity in silence?

Speaking to industry experts, Ray Sang explores the nuanced questions around whether not pressing play on the work of alleged abusers can make a difference. Here, she also explores other ways of showing public unity with survivors.

Why muting artists in support of music industry abuse survivors is complicated

We can't tackle this momentous issue without women's rights.

The climate crisis is contributing to the erosion of bodily autonomy worldwide, with women in the Global South holding ‘one of the most vulnerable positions in the face of climate emergency.’ Looking at the subject from an educational angle, Joycelyn Longdon, an environmental PhD student at Cambridge, argues intersectional feminism is needed to tackle the climate emergency.



Worried about the erosion of bodily autonomy? The climate crisis makes it worse

How AI could log the health of ecosystems.

Bioacoustics is shaping the future of conservation, but what is the cross-disciplinary science? Joycelyn Longdon tackles the subject from an education and action-focused perspective and reveals how technology can support conservation in tropical forests.

To fight the climate crisis, we have to listen to nature

The wild multiverse ride is a familiar story of intergenerational migrant angst.

As the 2022 Hollywood blockbuster Everything Everywhere All at Once explains in a dizzying universe-hopping adventure, the multiverse is a metaphor for the infinite ways our paths can split. Through the lens of the immigrant experience, Cici Peng explores how the film speaks to our constant exposure to multiple realities in the digital age.

Everything Everywhere All at Once unpacks immigrant women's anxious what-ifs

We need to think twice before purchasing from those who oppress others.  

Modest fashion is supposed to promote "humility, consideration for others, and kindness" however, it's difficult for many young Muslim women to find clothing that's both fashionable and supports their values. Despite being obsessed with lookbook and haul videos that are so popular on social media, for Ramadan 2022, Zainab Mahmood discusses her concern about the fashion industry's exploitation of garment workers and why she decided to take a stand how you can too.

The paradox of fast fashion

Is this the beginning of the end of the historic exploitation in the chocolate industry?

Chocolate has been coveted for its richness and complexities for thousands of years. However, although there has been an attempt to address the significant ethical problems that have ravaged the industry, inequalities persist, and many companies still cannot guarantee that their chocolate is 100% slave-free. While there's no way around the labour-intensive and time-consuming process behind making it, Kareem Arthur discusses the growing movement that promotes ethical chocolate beyond Fairtrade and addresses the bad practices within cocoa production that still haunts the landscape.

The sweet new possibilities of bean-to-bar chocolate

In the fashion world, all eyes are on Africa. 

Africa - the continent once excluded from the international luxury space - is experiencing a cultural renaissance, with cities like Lagos and Nairobi holding their own among the world's fashion capitals. Sagal Mohammed explores how this wave of books, exhibits and TV shows is putting the continent's style on the map. 

Why African fashion is having its moment

Change is slowly coming. 

As reflected by the peach nude tights, bodysuits and slippers, smooth buns more suited to long straight hair, and societal internalisation of pseudo-scientific messaging that artistic sports were not suitable for BME girls' bodies - it's clear that the world of classical ballet has a representation problem. Tofunmi Odugbemi was one of many young black girls who felt wholly underrepresented and unwelcomed by the ballet community. However, here she discusses how the likes of celebrated dancers like Michaela DePrince, Arthur Mitchel and Misty Copeland exposed her to the black ballet community, cementing her understanding of the erasure of young BME people and reigniting her passion for the art.

How black women in ballet have helped me find my stride

Is it time to put some respect on her name?

Janet Jackson has often been underrated and misunderstood. It’s time for her to receive more credit for her powerful artistry. Michael-Michelle Pratt reflects on how a recent documentary covering Jackson’s career reminded her of how she bonded with her mother over the singer’s resilience, frankness, and artistry.

How Janet Jackson taught me the art of vulnerability

The key to healthier meals could be a stone's throw away.

With food insecurity on the rise and a lack of access to outdoor spaces for marginalised groups, the world of allotments could be the answer. J’Nae Phillips explores how the beloved British vegetable patch is helping to save Britain's neglected communities.

Can allotments save Britain’s neglected communities?

There's no such thing as being unattractive; it's all about the timing. 
 
Beauty standards come and go. The slim white women who ruled the 00s were replaced with a new ideal that led to women of colour claiming the title of "world's most beautiful woman" for the first time. By 2015, procedures like the Brazilian bum lift and lip fillers went mainstream. 

According to aestheticians, thread-lift procedures are at an all-time high, the demand for tummy tucks and nose jobs has increased, and bum lifts will overtake breast augmentations within ten years. This means that many women of colour's natural features have become signifiers of beauty through surgeries like these. It might seem like a good thing. However, Parisa Hashempour questions the lasting impact on women whose features cycle in and out of fashion faster than a pair of flares and discovers the frustrations of those whose characteristics are prized but only if they have white skin.





What does the changing face of cosmetic surgeries tell us about desirability?

How the seductive campaign created white saviourhood for the digital age.

Ten years ago, a viral video aimed at white Americans provided the blueprint for the digital 'awareness' era, even as its core messaging became shrouded by a problematic founder. Sunnie Fraser looks back at how the campaign's questionable tactics have impacted online activism today.

#StopKony: 10 years on, how did a controversial campaign shape online activism?

Biodiversity conservation has a dark colonial history.

We often hear about the climate crisis and how close we're getting to a point of no return if no considerable action is taken. But there is another crisis going hand in hand with it that is considerably less known by the wider public: the biodiversity crisis.

Indigenous communities protect over 80% of the world's biodiversity, yet they have been historically marginalised and in many ways continue to do so today. Why? In this opinion piece, Jocelyn Longdon, an environmental PhD student at Cambridge, further contemplates this issue and why fast action is needed to solve it.