I know she's incapable of ever admitting she's wrong about anything, but even I'm surprised that Kemi Badenoch has chosen this particular hill to die on
Samira Shackle
@samirashackle.bsky.social
Freelance journalist (mostly for the Guardian Long Read) and author of Karachi Vice. I am also on Substack @samirashackle.
This is what happens when anti-racism norms erode, and elites bear a lot of the responsibility for norm erosion, as they have disproportionate power to set and enforce norms
Charles EP Murphy@cepmurphy.bsky.social · yesterdaynews.sky.com/story/nhs-st... stereotypically this has been seen as Old People, but not only would the old people of now have often been born post-Windrush, lot of this will be younger people who've always lived in a diverse Britain. The guy with a pregnant wife likely millennial at oldest
I loved talking to Anissa Helou about Lebanese cuisine, and the importance of documenting an preserving food culture amid conflict and upheaval, for @hyphenonline.com hyphenonline.com/2026/07/31/a...
Anissa Helou's new book celebrates the cuisine of Lebanon - Hyphen
The renowned author and food historian captures the diversity and deep roots of Lebanese dishes against a backdrop of war and displacement
hyphenonline.com
This is such a lovely story by @jennykleeman.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...
‘I thought, I’ve tried everything else, why not give AI a shot?’: the long-lost family reunited by ChatGPT
Avtar spent decades wondering what happened to the mother he never got to know. Thousands of miles away, Nicci was haunted by the story of a half-brother given away before she was born. How did a chat...
theguardian.com
🎧: Britain has been quietly removing citizenship from hundreds of people. Samira Shackle says it has created a two-tier system
Stateless: How the UK government strips citizenship—and why it matters
Britain has been quietly removing citizenship from hundreds of people. In doing so, it has created a two-tier system
prospectmagazine.co.uk
“Stripping citizenship requires no criminal conviction. It is done at the stroke of a home secretary’s pen.” Samira Shackle on the UK’s increasingly draconian rules on removing citizenship
Britain’s citizens of nowhere
Hundreds of UK nationals have been made stateless, and left trapped in squalid refugee camps, without being convicted of any crime
prospectmagazine.co.uk
Had a great chat with Alona and Ellen about my reporting on citizenship stripping in the latest issue of Prospect.
Alona Ferber@aloner.bsky.social · last wk.It's @prospectmagazine.co.uk pod day and this week @samirashackle.bsky.social joins us how in recent years the UK government has increasingly stripped people of their citizenship— effectively leaving many stateless... /1 www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/podcasts/pro...
In today’s Lightbulb, Prospect’s free daily newsletter, Samira Shackle chats to Alona Ferber and Ellen Halliday about the UK government’s power to strip one’s citizenship
Citizenship revoked
Plus: Europe’s summer wildfires
prospectmagazine.substack.com
Polanski very stupid for what he shared, but Reform’s pivot from bringing a woman who called for hotels full of asylum seekers to be burned down as their guest of honour at conference, to saying the Green leader should be jailed - is a difficult circle to square
Is the task like work - something that needs to be done - or the gym, where it’s the process that matters? This seems like a smart distinction in thinking about whether to use AI for something www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Should you use AI for a task? Here’s a simple way to decide | Bruce Schneier
Sometimes, what matters isn’t your output but what you put into the process. Think of it like work v the gym
theguardian.com
Wow I really am not enjoying Making Tax Digital. Loads more admin for no discernible benefit! Exactly what every freelancer needs.
Up to about 13.1m* people in the UK - nearly one in five of us - could be permanently exiled by the Home Secretary if she believes it is "conducive to the public good". @samirashackle.bsky.social's story makes it clear that we don't have any effective right of appeal.
Andrew Purcell@andrewpurcell.bsky.social · 2w agoPosting this excellent article by @samirashackle.bsky.social again. We almost *never* hear from people who have been stripped of citizenship and their families, because the toxic media backlash against 'ISIS brides' makes it hard for them to speak safely. These unjust, secretive powers ruin lives.
Posting this excellent article by @samirashackle.bsky.social again. We almost *never* hear from people who have been stripped of citizenship and their families, because the toxic media backlash against 'ISIS brides' makes it hard for them to speak safely. These unjust, secretive powers ruin lives.
Britain’s citizens of nowhere
Hundreds of UK nationals have been made stateless, and left trapped in squalid refugee camps, without being convicted of any crime
prospectmagazine.co.uk
“Stripping citizenship requires no criminal conviction. It is done at the stroke of a home secretary’s pen.” Samira Shackle on the UK’s increasingly draconian rules on removing citizenship
Britain’s citizens of nowhere
Hundreds of UK nationals have been made stateless, and left trapped in squalid refugee camps, without being convicted of any crime
prospectmagazine.co.uk
I want a moratorium on political correspondents using the word “vibes”. Enough is enough it’s gone too far.
Andy Burnham has pledged to end rough sleeping. He made the same pledge in Manchester in 2017 and - despite significant effort and investment - it didn’t quite work out, as I explored in this piece www.theguardian.com/society/2024...
The man who turned his home into a homeless shelter
The long read: Stuart Potts is an unlikely do-gooder – a former crack addict who has hit rock bottom more than once. But since 2020 he has offered hundreds of homeless people a bed in his small flat –...
theguardian.com
In his first speech as PM, Andy Burnham vowed to end rough sleeping. As Samira Shackle explained in 2024, research shows that cash transfers can be transformative for homeless people
Could one simple act help prevent homelessness?
A growing body of research shows that direct money transfers can be transformative in the lives of homeless people—if only society overcomes its decad...
prospectmagazine.co.uk
Our summer double is out, with unmissable stuff from @pghoskin.bsky.social @sarahelizacollins.bsky.social @youngvulgarian.marieleconte.com @benansell.bsky.social @mrhenrymorris.substack.com @katemaltby.bsky.social @samirashackle.bsky.social @katherinestewart.bsky.social and me....
Prospect Magazine@prospectmagazine.co.uk · 3w agoOur summer double edition has just hit newsstands! Here’s a peek at what’s inside... 🧵 1/8 For our cover story, @youngvulgarian.marieleconte.com explores how people in their 20s have become stuck in a teenage existence: www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/741...
"As far as the government is concerned, they’ve washed their hands of us. Would they do that to a white person?" For a @prospectmagazine.co.uk feature on Britain's citizenship-stripping boom, I spoke to families of people who have had citizenship revoked www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/uk/...
Britain’s citizens of nowhere
Hundreds of UK nationals have been made stateless, and left trapped in squalid refugee camps, without being convicted of any crime
prospectmagazine.co.uk
"Would they do that to a white person? No, they did that because we’re Muslims. They treat us like third-class people.” UK citizenship stripping powers are unfair, unjust and extreme. We worked with @samirashackle.bsky.social on this piece that gives voice to victims of this draconian legislation.
Britain’s citizens of nowhere
Hundreds of UK nationals have been made stateless, and left trapped in squalid refugee camps, without being convicted of any crime
prospectmagazine.co.uk
I think Farage has had a lot of success as a politician because he is audacious, he has a lot of financial backing, he knows how to grab attention, and he gets a relatively easy ride in the press. But that doesn't mean he's got the upper hand at all times - even when he's being forced to resign!
I think this is the right reading. Farage is trying to move the terrain to what he knows best (campaigning, division) from a position of weakness. It's an act of desperation. It may pay off in Clacton, which is incredibly right-wing, but it's bad for his reputation and his party nationally.
Ellie Mae O'Hagan@elliemaeohagan.bsky.social · 4w agoThink there is a funny tendency to see every move a far right leader makes as strategic genius, even when they are acting on the fact that they've obviously been backed into a corner. For the centre/liberals/left I think it is a marker of internalised defeat
Temperature hits 37.3C Before this week Britain had never recorded a June temperature above 36C
This week I've been thinking of a story I reported a couple of years ago, about David Azevedo, a construction worker in France who died from heat exposure in 2022. It was 35C, and he was on his third day of a new job. www.theguardian.com/environment/...
The story of a heat death: David went to work in his new job on a French building site. By the end of the day he was dead
He was keen to impress in his new job just as a heatwave was gripping the country. What can David Azevedo’s story tell us about the threat increasingly extreme weather poses to human health?
theguardian.com