🔴 A judicial review against the govt's rollout of pepper spray (PAVA) in young offender institutions was dismissed today, meaning its use will continue. The judge cited govt assurances that the spray would only be used in 'extremely rare' instances. But Hyphen can reveal...

🔴 NEW from Aisha Rimi on Hyphen: a generation of Yemeni steelworkers who helped build post-war Britain in the 1950s/60s are still owed years' worth of pension payments, leaving some destitute. (Pic: Getty)

For years I've been boring people with my tedious theory that Driving Home For Christmas can be understood as a song about dying just before Christmas ('red lights all around' like in a hospital bed, 'holy ground', 'I sing for you though you can't hear me' etc). Which means...

I know we all deserve some time off, but Thursday 18 December is very much not "the last day before Christmas".

Can the UK really define Islamophobia without using the word Islamophobia? Saman Javed looks back at the disputes and false starts in Britain's journey to an official definition of the problem, including the row over what to call it. hyphenonline.com/2025/12/17/i...

Protests have been held across Italy against the detention of imam Mohamed Shahin. The far-right government of Giorgia Meloni is moving to extradite Shahin — despite prosecutors dismissing criminal charges against him. ✍🏽Dalia Ismail hyphenonline.com/2025/12/11/m...

🔴 NEW: gaps in translation services were linked to the deaths of 48 kids in the UK last year, inc 34 babies. @bellribeiroaddy.bsky.social: “We know language barriers are an impediment to women accessing maternity services.” ✍️ @weronikas.bsky.social hyphenonline.com/2025/12/03/t...

With the government expected to scrap the two-child benefit cap in today's budget, here's a reminder of the disproportionate impact of the policy on Muslim families 👇 hyphenonline.com/2025/06/02/t...

🏳️‍⚧️ We’re back with paid opportunities for Trans+ creatives! Writer? Illustrator? Audio producer? This is for you. With @transhistoryweek.com we’re investing in 20 Trans+ creatives to make content for Trans+ History Week 2026. Deadline 2nd Dec 2025, 11:59PM GMT 🗓️ 🧵 Details 👇

🔴 EXC from @lucascumiskey.bsky.social: babies and toddlers have been referred to the government’s controversial counter-terrorism scheme Prevent hundreds of times since 2016, new data reveals.

🔴 NEW from @anitamureithi.bsky.social: the government's former resettlement minister Lord Khan told an audience at #HyphenFestival2025 that the 'life in the UK' test for new citizens is not fit for purpose & Starmer's 'island of strangers' speech was 'not right'. hyphenonline.com/2025/11/04/w...

I'm honoured to be chairing a panel to discuss Muslim voters' responses to the UK's political omnicrisis at tomorrow's Hyphen Festival with Shav Taj (Welsh TUC), Mothin Ali (Green co-deputy leader) and Hina Bokhari (London Lib Dems). Details of how to tune in below!

New venue concept: loft bar but it's a British loft not a US loft. No lighting, no floor, fibrous yellow decor, squirrels nesting in the corner, entry via a stepladder, no one can stand up straight once they're inside. Is this anything

Beyond proud that my @hyphenonline.com colleagues @lucascumiskey.bsky.social, Saman Javed and @anitamureithi.bsky.social have been shortlisted in the #BritishJournalismAwards2025 – days after our northern corr Aisha Rimi won Journalist Media Personality of the Year at the Black Muslim Awards 2025.

LOVE this story about the heroes in Nottingham teaching medical English to migrant women so they can tell the GP what's wrong. Loads of heartwarming stories like this in our 'Island of Neighbours' series (no prizes for identifying the misguided prime ministerial quote that spawned that one).

Unfortunately The i Paper is making several reporters redundant today, and my role is one of them. I'm very proud of the work I've published over the last three years, and I'm looking forward to continuing my reporting freelance. Want to chat? Drop me an email, text or DM.

Excellent to see a planning story that pulls out – in the subhead no less! – a figure for social rent homes, not the nebulous category of "affordable". (Less excellent is the figure itself.) www.mylondon.news/news/south-l...

I just reverse image searched this to see if I could find the original and of course an AI summary came up before the actual results. But ... does this suggest that AI can understand and translate its own slop back into English??

Surely there is no coming back for the curious Guardian style ruling on capping down political parties (Labour party, Conservative party, etc) when it comes to Your Party. Looks like they did it once then gave up

BREAKING: A crossbench peer who was among five independent experts tasked with producing an Islamophobia definition has issued a warning as the group submits its proposals to the government. Story by @lucascumiskey.bsky.social 👇 hyphenonline.com/2025/10/13/i...

*LOVE* this feature by @leilalatif.bsky.social about the voice actors who dub the Arabic versions of films & cartoons. If you've ever looked at the dubbing credits for a million languages at the end of a Netflix show and wondered who all those people are, read this! hyphenonline.com/2025/10/07/v...

A rare bit of (sort of) actual nice positive news about people not being racist? hyphenonline.com/2025/10/07/s...

Muslims in Peacehaven have been left ‘terrified’ following an arson attack on their mosque, a manager has said. Full story by Saman Javed. hyphenonline.com/2025/10/06/p...

🔴 In his first interview since leaving the role of faith minister, Wajid Khan speaks to @sajeraj.bsky.social about tackling racism, celebrating the contributions of migrants, and why the government shouldn't shelve its anti-Islamophobia work. hyphenonline.com/2025/10/01/w...

The two-child benefit cap helps keep poor people poor and disproportionately affects British Muslim families. Scrapping it (as govt is reported to be doing) is vastly better news for Britain than anything that's been announced at Labour conference. hyphenonline.com/2025/06/02/t...

Feels a bit egregious to post about awards two days in a row, but I have just found out I was nominated for – and have won – an independent journalism award for my reporting following the Supreme Court decision in For Women Scotland for @wearequeeraf.com Thank you!

1/ This is a huge victory for those pressuring Microsoft to pull out of its deal with the Israeli military. Perhaps less obviously, it will also be music to the ears of many UK Muslims with pensions and investments tied up in halal funds.

🔴 NEW from @lucascumiskey.bsky.social for @hyphenonline.com: British Muslims with investments and pensions in sharia-compliant funds may be unknowingly profiting from Israel’s war in Gaza and the occupation economy. hyphenonline.com/2025/09/23/s...

What on Earth is this? An "in depth" BBC article about free speech in the UK that only cites examples of right-wing/ 'anti-woke' speech being suppressed. How can you mention Lucy Connolly but completely ignore Palestine Action / Just Stop Oil? Gob-smacking. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

[email protected] is the Greens' new co-deputy leader. He made headlines last year for trying to deescalate riots – and was attacked by the far right for his efforts. Greens now the only mainstream party in Eng & Wales with a Muslim leader or deputy leader hyphenonline.com/2025/09/02/m...

A reminder that the UK has actually been deporting people to Taliban-run Afghanistan since, er, August 2021: hyphenonline.com/2025/04/24/f...

Today's announcement about a statutory definition of "honour" violence is good news for campaigners – but govt hasn't been able to say whether it intends to adopt the definition that groups like @karmanirvana.bsky.social have been working on with survivors and families, or produce its own.

Since journalists are not allowed into Gaza freely - and those there are being killed en masse - to hear what is happening there we must speak directly to those living amid the rubble. I spoke to nurse and mother Alaa Jaber, living in a tent with her hungry and injured family in the middle of Gaza.

This claim by the home secretary - that active court proceedings have prevented the publication of information about PA, which could mean something like a section 4(2) order is in place for a concluded case - ought to be easily verifiable by court reporters. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Wanted to share again these awful testimonies from doctors working in Gaza during Israel's campaign of destruction. MPs heard these testimonies while just a few corridors away their colleagues were voting to criminalise support for Palestine Action. hyphenonline.com/2025/07/03/p...

Lovely piece by @leilalatif.bsky.social on Hyphen today about the restoration of My Beautiful Laundrette – a film I last saw on VHS. As a kid who grew up obsessed with the 1980s and London, I remember it seeming somehow both timeless and very of its time. hyphenonline.com/2025/08/07/m...

X's global politics chief stood in front of a UK parliamentary committee in February and vowed to "look into" a post calling for people to shoot Keir Starmer. Five months later, the post is still live. MPs say existing regulation isn't working for X. So what now? hyphenonline.com/2025/07/30/e...

🔴 An anonymous US-based X account that MPs said played a key role in spreading the lies that fuelled last year's riots is still initiating disinformation campaigns against British Muslims, @hyphenonline.com's investigations chief @lucascumiskey.bsky.social has found. 1/

This week marks a year since racist and anti-Muslim riots began to sweep Britain. @hyphenonline.com returned to Rotherham, the site of some of the worst violence, to find out how Muslims there feel today. Special report by Aisha Rimi with video by Rob Gould. hyphenonline.com/2025/07/28/m...

Normalise referring to temperatures over 25C as bad weather

🔴 One year on from the general election that saw Muslim voters turn away from Labour, has the party made any progress in winning back what was once one of its most reliable support bases? That's the question @sajeraj.bsky.social set out to answer for @hyphenonline.com.

She’s laundering her own unevidenced and bigoted opinions about migrants through ‘many working-class voters’; she (deliberately) neglects the influence of politicians and media on the working class, because we know as they ramp up anti-immigrant propaganda, anti-immigrant views go up;

what kind of monsters would want a heatwave in a country where no-one has air conditioning

1.3m households on waiting lists for a social home and the BBC is asking whether Reeves' £39bn for social and affordable homes will help *first time buyers*. Really underscores the huge gulf between social and affordable. The govt's ongoing failure to put a target on the former is indefensible.

🔴 NEW from @lucascumiskey.bsky.social: the first survey of hundreds of Muslim Labour MPs, councillors and mayors has found that the relationship between the party and British Muslims is at 'breaking point'. Full story 👇 hyphenonline.com/2025/06/05/l...

The Leeds councillor seen bravely trying to break up violence in Harehills last year is running to be the Greens' deputy leader. In the aftermath, he was smeared by the far right as a rioter. He launches his campaign by speaking to Aisha Rimi in @hyphenonline.com. hyphenonline.com/2025/06/04/m...

British feminism needs reshaping’: Kate Nash on her new single about trans rights The British pop musician questions the gender-critical movement in her new song Germ, and argues that cis women need to stand up for the trans community 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 www.theguardian.com/music/2025/j...

🔴 EXCLUSIVE from @lucascumiskey.bsky.social: 150k more Muslim kids are affected by the two-child benefit cap than thought. Muslims are the worst hit faith group, with 744,863 kids living in 3+ child households. Pressure mounting on the government to reconsider. hyphenonline.com/2025/06/02/t...