A Walk Into The Gardens Of My Mind

Alex Cavendish is an ex-prisoner who initially received a four year sentence, but only served two on licence, due to a problem with his conviction. For those of you who are curious, the crime committed was part of a white collar financial conspiracy. He couldn’t go into too much detail, as it’s a matter for The Supreme Court and he is currently waiting for a lifting date. Currently, Cavendish is highly respected and followed for his active involvement in debates around the topics of crime, prison and probation services. I decided to speak to Cavdenish to discuss discrimination and due lack of care within the UK prison system, as a result of a young brother's suicide in HMP Winchester. It didn't come as a surprise when Cavendish disclosed that he, himself, had seen so many cases, which ranged from medical negligence where treatment wasn’t sought to prisoners being dealt with very inappropriately to victims of sexual assault, who’d been raped and subsequently ended up

We meet in London Bridge and I am adamant that I want to take Aman Chandhok to the Moroccan café on the high road. I’m a big fan of Moroccan cuisine and I wanted to show off what fine taste buds I had acquired. Chandhok very charmingly offered to buy me lunch, though I had said I wanted to get him something. I ordered chicken and pitta bread, Chandhok ordered a chicken salad and we started tucking in straightaway. I don’t do shy when it comes to food, so I was going in ham,ducking the pitta bread in chilli sauce and nodding approvingly to Chandhok's eloquent words. Aman Chandhok : Proof That Hard Work Is Worth It The son of Afghan Hindu refugee parents, Chandhok is now a strategic consultant, a motivational speaker and gymaholic who breathes success against the odds. Speaking with a mouthful of chicken and stylistically taking a few sips of Diet Coke, Chandhok started telling me about his family background. His father had come from a very w

Hibo Wardere retells the harrowing story of undergoing FGM (Female Genital Mutilation) at just six years old and how she now inspires change as an anti-FGM campaigner to Lilufa Uddin. Hibo Wardere tells her story of undergoing FGM at just six years old "Before the cutting, I had an amazing life, it was beautiful. " I was the centre of all the horrible songs at school that they would sing about how ugly and uncut I was, because my mum didn’t get me cut. She said it was because she thought I was too skinny. So one day I came back home and cried and said I’m not going back to school, unless you cut me. Because I’m thinking whatever they’re so proud of, and actually bullied me with, must be something amazing. And after that, she put in plans for the cut, which involves a huge party where, before the FGM procedure, pre-dominantly your family members, especially female, and all the aunties come. You know the ones your mum forces you to call them auntie

Donald Trump signed an executive order on Friday, banning immigrants from seven Muslim countries: Syria,Sudan,Libya,Yemen,Somalia,Iraq and Iran. No less than a day later, chaos has emerged as a result of this grave crime against humanity. How have we regressed so much as a society that we now live in a time where someone like Trump can become president of the U.S? And how can such a high flying ex-business man lack the brains to come up with a far better strategy to combat terrorism, than to bully the entire religion of Islam? When I was younger, my dad used to joke and tell us that one day the British would ship us "..back to where we came from". It seemed funny and far-fetched then, not so much now. I keep saying over and over again, what a time to be Muslim. A few hours ago I was ranting, saying if May failed to produce an official statement/speech condemning Trump's Muslim ban, then I would no longer identify as being 'British'. How can I, when my very be

As a young adult who has previously had depression and now and again falls into the same dark hole, I was more than pleased with Theresa May's speech today. She has promised to have mental health training in all secondary schools, along with changes in the workplace and our communities. "..If you suffer from mental health problems, there's not enough help to hand," she said, with a hint of upset, discussing the injustices faced by our society. She carried on to say that we should "make mental illness an everyday concern for all of us." During my time in secondary school, I was always seen as the 'problem child'. Although I wasn't diagnosed with a mental health issue/illness back then, I knew there was something wrong with me. A deeper underlining layer that would explain my random outbursts of anger, extreme sadness and troublesome behaviour. I remember feeling so angry one day at school, that I was repetitively kicking the stage and pulling a

Dame Louise's review into integration of minorities has come across very racist and biased. Muslims as always, are repetitively targeted as being in need of some sort of intervention and help. We are seen as outcasts in society, barbaric even. I am sick of this.  What is actually being done to support Muslims and make them feel welcome in a global complex, fixated on maligning Islam?  In my eyes, all I see is continued effort to isolate us with ill attitudes and prejudices towards us, to then complain we aren't 'integrated' enough? David Cameron had commissioned Dame Louise Casey to carry out this review, in a bid to tackle extremism. Rather than reduce extremism, it is likely to cause an uproar in the Muslim community and most likely to have people feeling isolated (and therefore more vulnerable to becoming radical). Radicalism has nothing to do with one's religion, but rather socio-economic and mental health state factors which affects their ability to cause ha