Page 46 - Imam News Today

At that point, until some of my friends at school, until their parents sadly, you know, started to separate or to divorce. it was often we were the only single parent family and we were just as much a family as anybody else. and thats what really made me angry about it all. my mam couldnt work when i was younger and that was in part because there was no access to childcare, which is, sadly, you know, becoming increasingly a problem and is a real priority for me because if we want to make sure th...

Yeah, one of our neighbours put a note through the door with some money in order to buy me a winter coat. it had come up in conversation. he was a really kind... he was retired by this point, really kind, didnt have very much money himself, but knew that we were struggling, that my mam was struggling to afford to buy me a winter coat and put the money through the door, which was wonderfully kind and really generous and its always stayed with me, but its also stayed with me because i dont think w...

Yeah. my mam brought me up entirely on her own. i never met my dad. he was never involved in my life. thats not a source of any particular sadness. we did well. it was a loving family. but i did... you did always feel a sense ofjudgement about yourfamily. there were fewer single parent families then than there are now. and this was also the time, of course, when there was big tory rhetoric around single parent families. around the idea of being on benefits, wasnt it? yeah. and the suggestion som...

Yeah. not the people with the with the most. there was a lot of crime, i think, in washington in tyne and wear at that time. there was. we lived near a railway line, a mothballed railway line at that point, and there was joyriding, so—called, was a big problem at that point. so you would frequently hear the sirens as the police came and chased the lads who abandoned the car at the railway line and and ran along. we were burgled on a number of occasions. we reported it. my mam stood up to the p...

Politics was clearly part of your life from a very young age. your mum was in the labour party, wasnt she? she was. so i grew up going to labour party meetings when i was from being very little because, you know, she didnt get to go unless i went along with her. i was pretty hard working at school, took things quite seriously. i was always just quite, quite focused on what i wanted to do. how young were you when you decided you wanted to be an mp? 12,13? was it already forming in your head? i ha...

At that point, and there wasjoyriding, so—called, was a big problem at that point. so you would frequently hear the sirens as the police came and chased the lads who abandoned the car at the railway line and and ran along. we were burgled on a number of occasions. we reported it. my mam stood up to the people who were responsible for it, the people that live locally, and we got our windows put in more than once as a result. what, because youd made a stand? because we took a stand against it. b...

Were in that constant state of fear. so in that sense, i dont want to take you into the politics of this so much, but in that sense, you think crime is a, must be, a labour issue. crime is as much a labour issue as education or the national health service. politics was clearly part of your life from a very young age. your mum was in the labour party, wasnt she? she was. so i grew up going to labour party meetings when i was from being very little because, you know, she didnt get to go unless i w...

Tossed with mint, carrots, red onion and peanuts, dressed with nuoc mam, the pungent vietnamese fish sauce. and mee kang, a rice noodle dish from central vietnam made with pork ribs, shrimp and chilies. very mixed up meal here. >> sylvia: yeah! >> anthony: awesome. did you speak english when you arrived here? >> sylvia: oh, not a word. i couldnt even say hi. so i learned it literally within a year. >> anthony: yup. >> sylvia: because i had to. by fifth grade, this one teacher miss spikes just ma...

Number of occasions. we reported it. my mam stood up to the people who were responsible for it, the people that live locally, and we got our windows put in more than once as a result. what, because youd made a stand? because we took a stand against it. because, you know, my mam wasnt prepared to tolerate our community experiencing that kind of terrible behaviour. it affected everyone, you know, there were many people who were just too frightened to do anything about it. my mam, being a pretty to...

And thats what really made me angry about it all. my mam couldnt work when i was younger and that was in part because there was no access to childcare, which is, sadly, you know, becoming increasingly a problem and is a real priority for me because if we want to make sure that people can play their full contribution in society, then i think thats where government has a role to play in making that as easy as possible. now, where you werent getting help on benefits, there were other people who had...