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Real Life

‘NO ONE REALLY UNDERSTANDS THE PRESSURE OF BEING A YOUNG FOOTBALLER’

In 2018, a then 19-year-old Joel Whittingham walks into the Wolverhampton Wanderers offices awaiting the verdict of his contract extension. As he approaches the managerial quarters, he notices his peers looking dishevelled as they exit the area. Upon stepping in, he finds out the team – the family – that he had been a part of […]

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Real Life

‘SEE THE PEOPLE YOU TRUST LOSE TRUST IN EACH OTHER IS SOUL CRUSHING’

Walking back home from school, a then 14-year-old Arun Tagger sees his door fly open. A number of bags and a phone rocket out of it – shortly thereafter, his dad. Arun rushes to his mum, frantically trying to find out what’s happening. His mum points at his dad and says a single word that changes him forever. “Cheater”… 

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Health Real Life

‘Autism has made who I am today, I’d be worse off without it’

It’s A-Level results day, 2019. Callum Redding enters the hall, waiting timidly for his results to be given to him. As he opens the envelope, he begins to panic – thoughts of his dad and his partner ridiculing him of his autism plagued his mind. But all of those negative thoughts disappeared as soon as he saw that he had received the highest possible grades in his course… 

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Real Life

‘when I look into my daughter’s eyes – I see her dead mother’

After tucking his then 1-year-old daughter, Shanice Powell, into bed, Remaeo Powell leaves the room and takes a seat on the sofa. As he sits, he places his elbows on his knees and his hands on his head. Tears begin to flow down his arms. While this a celebration of his daughter’s life – it is one celebrated without her mother due to her passing at her birth…

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Health Real Life

‘People hated me because I blurred the lines of gender’

Sam Cutbush, 21, from Essex, has always faced brutal judgment on his gender identity. Sam  discusses with Claudia Montague the relentless harassment he faced, causing lifelong damage to his mental health. Sam, aged eight, happily walked back from his friend’s fancy dress party with his mum, excitably dancing along the road in his pink and […]

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Real Life

‘I will forgive, but never forget what Dad done’

Teacher, Georgina Banks, 25, often reflects on her upsetting childhood. She discusses with Claudia Montague the chaotic relationship with her father, and her struggle to forgive his ultimate betrayal from over 20 years ago. Georgina stared intensely at the letter in front of her. She re-read every word with careful inspection. The letter was addressed […]

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Real Life

‘I was living out of a backpack… at home’

Beatriz De Valejo E Silva Abreu Ferreira tells Sonia Raju her story of how the pandemic suddenly ended her experience as an international student and how she survived being back home with only backpack of belongings. Beatriz De Valejo E Silva Abreu Ferreira, 22, from Lisbon, Portugal is currently year of university and studies Journalism […]

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Real Life

‘I was finally starting to feel at home… then Amsterdam shut down overnight’

Exchanging the comfortable city of Luton for Amsterdam was a big deal for Jordan Wilson. It was her first time living in a foreign country, and she wanted the inspiration to figure out who she was. Sonia Raju shares how COVID-19 cut her year abroad short. You can imagine the 21-year-old’s disappointment as coronavirus forced […]

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Opinions Real Life

Enough – It’s time to protect women

Sarah Everard. She is not the first, nor will she be the last woman murdered on our streets. Her death has shocked the nation, why? Because as she walked home from her friends’ house at 9pm, talking to her boyfriend on the phone and spotted in various different CCTV footage, she still fell victim to […]

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Health Opinions Real Life

Grief and loss: the everlasting impact of losing a loved one

When you’re in the throes of grief, it’s difficult to believe that you’ll ever be able to move on and learn to live without the loved one that you’ve lost. The last thing on your mind is that life will always go on and that things will always get better. The reality is that it […]