On 22 April 1993, eighteen‑year‑old Black student Stephen Lawrence was murdered in a racially motivated attack in Eltham, London, while waiting for a bus. Stephen was assaulted by a group of five white youths who stabbed him. It was an unprovoked attack. The following day, the police received an anonymous letter naming the suspects. They…
It’s fascinating to watch how the war in the Middle East echoes through multicultural London. The city is home to at least 40–60 thousand Iranians. A strong concentration of shops, restaurants, community centres and politically active diaspora can be found mainly on Ballards Lane in North Finchley, nicknamed “Little Tehran”. And as one might expect,…
London is inseparably linked with the oldest and most prestigious tennis tournament in the world, played every year on the grass courts of the All England Lawn Tennis Club. It is the only Grand Slam that still preserves the tradition of grass, a strict dress code, and an atmosphere no other tournament can replicate. Another…
Problematic Youth It was 1987. In the Soviet Union, a political and economic reform programme called “Perestroika” had been underway for two years, aiming to liberalise the rigid socialist system in a desperate attempt to save its bare existence. The Soviets, who had previously controlled everything, suddenly stopped dictating to their satellite states and, to…
