Community

As the mob of school children bustled towards me down a cramped alleyway near where we live, my wife held me back to observe social distancing. It was good to see the normality of young people, in that classic teenage way, seemingly unaware of any […]

Since the COVID-19 pandemic began almost a year ago, it has brought into sharp focus how inequality shapes our lived experience, with many facing unique hurdles and excessive difficulties throughout the public health crisis. From the disproportionate suffering of BAME (Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic) […]

I have to confess: I love the census. This is partly because, as a historian, it is such a useful source of information. The census gives us a snapshot of the United Kingdom, which is then used to help organise government programmes and assign funding, […]

I was due to film a short video at a studio space adjacent to a local Men’s Shed. Max met me at the door. After a COVID-secure greeting, he enthusiastically showed me into his workshop and through to the room I would be using. We […]

I often have colleagues say to me that, six months ago, everyone was asking why the COVID-19 vaccine was taking so long. Yet here we are, with nearly fifteen million people given their first dose, and now people are asking, “Why it was developed so […]

How often do you hear someone say, “I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it”? As a phrase, it’s used as an ‘off-the-cuff’ analogy to refer to a barrier to overcome, or finding a way around something on a journey to achieving an aim. […]

Over the past few months, I have found myself considering the knotty issues of integration, citizenship and cohesion. The whole of life being in lockdown acts as a pressure cooker for the issues already in society. Tensions have been bubbling up between communities — social […]

When we embarked on the first lockdown, we knew it was going to be really important for people’s well-being to find ways to continue to connect. One expression of this has been adapting our Creative English programme to run online. Little did we know, when […]

There is momentum growing around the role that faith communities can play in British society. As revealed by reports such as the recent Keeping the Faith report from the APPG on Faith and Society, local authorities are eager to work more closely with faith communities […]

Over the past six months, we have held well over 100 public events. It has been great to meet so many of you and to hear about your organisations, places of worship, and areas of work. People of faith are certainly at the forefront of […]