For the last few months, I have been thinking and vaguely discussing with my sister the idea of ‘something more than an oral history of Nigerians in Britain.” We all know Olaudah Equiano (hold tight, Nigerians in pre-1800 UK – braaap!) but how much do we know about the lives of British Nigerians over the [...]
Category Archives: Society
The Nigerian-British History Project
Also posted in Black Fridays, Family, Identity, Nigeria Tagged Best Of British, Black People, History, Nigeria, The African Experience, Writing 4 Comments
“YOU AIN’T BRITISH, YOU’RE BLACK!” – The woman on the tram
I think every black British person on my Twitter timeline had seen the video of the woman who launched into a racist tirade on a tram somewhere in London before noon on Monday morning (watch it here if you fancy topping up your daily dose of rage, avoid if not – it’s pretty vile). A [...]
Are The Players Playing?
I’m currently in a job which gives me Fridays off. I’m so grateful for it – as well as having a designated day of non-work writing, it allows me to have a lie-in on a weekday (woo!), and I get to do the necessary-but-boring stuff like paying bills and returning library books.
Made In Nigeria
Yesterday on Facebook, I came across this post on Anglo-Nigerian publisher Jeremy Weate’s page: “In Aba, they make Italian-style shoes from Kano leather which are labelled “Made in Italy”. No one would buy them if they said “Made in Nigeria”, although everyone knows they are made locally. Nigerians don’t trust products made in Nigeria and [...]
Also posted in Identity, Nigeria Tagged Made in Nigeria, Nigeria, The African Experience Leave a comment
Oh, hell no!*
*I want you all to imagine that in the sharp tones of authoress Ms Maya Wilkes (played by actress Golden Brooks in much-missed sitcom Girlfriends) Tuesday afternoon’s rain brought with it a thick fug of wild rumours of the demise of the relationship between Will Smith and Jada Pinkett. (And of course, the firm assurances [...]
Also posted in America, Humour, Love, Movies Tagged Break Ups, Men and Women, Relationships, WTF 3 Comments
Black Thursdays*: The London riots, me on NPR and ‘whitewashing’ the clean ups
We’ve all been glued to the internet and our TV screens for the last few days, watching as London seemingly imploded. So many voices have piped up with opinions (like areseholes, we’ve all got one) and they range from the ‘WTF?’ (see Max Hastings in Daily Mail – highlights include references to polar bears, wild [...]
Also posted in Black Fridays, Black Thursdays, Identity, London, Politics Tagged Best Of British, London, London Riots, Race Leave a comment
Why I Love… Weddings
My first time as a member of a wedding party happened when I was four years old; I was a ‘little bride’ for my dad’s cousin’s wedding. Few photos of me in my full little bridal glory remain (in our household, that is – I’m sure there are many photos of my smiling visage in [...]
The Day I Got Kicked In The Street
Yeah, that totally happened. Last Wednesday, I was sitting at a bus stop in east London, waiting for my sister to come get me so I could help with her house move (we were due to to clean the flat’s carpets, cos we’re just this side of OCD). So there I was, late afternoon August [...]
Why I Fast
Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. It’s also pretty much the only month most non-Muslims can name, given its synonymity with fasting. For 29 or 30 days every year, Muslims the world over abstain from food and drink from dawn till dusk. On another level, the abstinence pertains to negative emotions too [...]
Meet The Adebanjos (Hopefully Unrelated To The Crouches)
Cast your minds back to 2003 – President Obama was still just a gleam in the American public’s eye, Martha Stewart was indicted, and the BBC gave us a new sitcom about a black family in south London. The buzz of the last item of news was quickly stamped out by the limp reality. The [...]
RIP Elizabeth Taylor: Badass
My first ‘scent’ as a child (my mum indulged us, yes) was Charlie, a cheap red can of sickly sweet perfume. But then, when the time came to leave home and go to boarding school, I received my first proper eau de toilette, and it was Elizabeth Taylor’s White Diamonds. It was quite possibly the [...]
I Used To Be A Pomegranate*, Now I’m A Caravaggio
I find it hard to believe that anyone has ever looked at their body and thought, “Yup, I resemble a pear”. If your body type does not fall into the traditional fruit bowl, (big up the mangoes!) worry no more. Australian bra firm Triumph is campaigning for a total rehaul of the ‘fruit as women’s [...]
Also posted in Beauty, Shopping, Video Tagged 'Lady Things', Art, Food, Old Masters, Um..., Women 5 Comments
PLUG!
Another thing I wrote for The Guardian, about Men’s Health‘s new feminist blogger here, for your ease and my ego. You love it. (Right?)
All’s Fair In Love and Internships
Last night, I caught Who Gets The Best Jobs? on BBC2. The epg on my cheapo Freeview box gave the following synopsis: “Richard Bilton investigates how class continues to restrict access to professions and well-paid careers to a small exclusive pool of the well-connected in modern Britain.” I couldn’t not watch this.
Also posted in Career, Education, London, Magazines, Review, Television, Work Tagged Getting started, Journalism, London, School, Telly, The Opposite of Joy 3 Comments
The More Things Change, The More They Stay The Same
Last week, I clicked a link on The Hairpin, which led me to a 1,000-man survey from the American magazine, Glamour (except they called it the ‘Extra-Hot, Extra-Juicy Guy Survey, obvs). So I went through the 50-page slideshow, stopping and extracting the most interesting answers to me. Below is a small selection of those:
Also posted in America, Magazines Tagged Feminism, Glamour, Men and Women, Relationships, Stereotypes, Survey, WTF 10 Comments
