Publications and Media
Here you can find links to my publications and media articles. I have written articles and appeared as an expert on podcasts to discuss the Labour Party, local politics, and race and gender in British politics. I also write about local government policy, specifically on housing and homelessness.
In the wake of Black Lives Matter, Britain is thinking seriously once again about the obstacles faced by the country's ethnic minorities right across society, including in government and politics. Although representation has obviously increased in recent years, and there are more politicians from minority communities at Westminster and in council chambers than there used to be, it's still not as high as it would need to allow us to say it's proportionate. In political parties in particular, particularly at the grassroots level, it's woeful and that prompts a number of questions.
I chaired this discussion on the controversial report. The conversation places the report in historical context, looks at the use and usefulness of ‘BAME’ and assesses what the findings and narrative of the report mean for future discussions about race and racism in the UK.
In this article for Renewal, I discuss Muslim women's experience of discrimination within the Labour Party.
I argue that if Labour wants to address this problem, it needs a much better understanding of the complex ways in which gender intersects with ethnicity and race. This can only be achieved by using an approach to these issues that is grounded in an intersectional understanding of Muslim women's lives.
An expert panel discusses the new leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition, Sir Keir Starmer. This will include reflections on his successful leadership campaign and thoughts on what sort of leader he will be in the current unprecedented circumstances.
With the election of 104 female MPs last year, the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) is now 51% female, reflecting the wider population. Labour in local government, which in the past has been more diverse than a PLP, is now lagging well behind.
There has rightly been public outrage and anger at the rise in rough sleeping across London in recent years. A much less noticed consequence of the Conservative government’s welfare cuts and the ongoing housing crisis is the rise of families trapped in temporary accommodation.
