United Kingdom
I am a London-based writer who pens copy about society, workplace issues and many other things besides. I'm also a prolific copywriter. I have written for The i, Express, Good Housekeeping and Red magazine among others. I am also penning my first novel, and undertaking a course with Faber.
I have won several awards for my investigative pieces and news writing over the years and have a post-graduate qualification in journalism from City University, during which I covered media law, shorthand, news and features writing. I'm pretty approachable person, and like to think of myself as friendly and helpful when possible.
For the first time in its 106-year history, Chelsea Flower Show 2021 will be held in September, rather than during May. After a difficult few months, gardeners were resigned to a redesign and replant for their garden's Autumn debut. Many of the new designs will hold a thoughtful nod to the recent difficulties people have faced during the pandemic.
By the time she was in her late thirties, Lauren Chiren was a senior executive of a global financial services firm, overseeing male-dominated teams. Almost overnight, her confidence levels plummeted - unbeknown to her, she was going through the symptoms of early menopause. "I stopped sleeping and was worrying about my performance.
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AS the woman in front of me orgasmed, she screamed. Teaching a class on tantric sex to eight keen students, it isn't unusual for this to happen. After the woman orgasmed - which she had told us had only happened rarely before - we all went over to give her a hug as we were so thrilled!
Riverside walks, cosy pubs and glorious scenery - Dedham Vale has changed little since John Constable captured it in his paintings during the early 19th century. Over 180 years on, this quiet corner of countryside on the border between Essex and Suffolk makes for a peaceful long weekend.
BAME women don't go through the menopause. At least that's the message being told to countless Black and Asian women in the UK. Look at posters in doctors' surgeries, or do a quick image search on Google, and you'll likely be met by images of white women with grey hair, invariably clutching a fan.
Beena Nadeem
There are thousands of cats currently missing in the UK. And, sadly, many of these kitties will never find their way back home. So for the heartbroken owners who are currently clueless about their cats' whereabouts, a tracker could have saved a lot of anguish and suffering.
I was 11 years old when I asked my mum for piano lessons, in 2010. We were in the fallout of the recession and she'd recently been made redundant. She said a polite "no". That didn't deter me. I Googled the dimensions of a keyboard, drew the keys on to a piece of paper and stuck it on my desk.
When it comes to family ski holidays in Europe, there comes a time when the slopes, especially in France, can be crammed with kids on half-term holidays. The lift queues are long, patience is frayed and pistes can soon become like motorways.
Yerevan can be perplexing. Its neoclassical squares conjure Vienna, while its wide boulevards brim with Parisian élan. There's no escaping the sprawl of brutal high-rises that shoulder its Soviet past, yet recent investment has embalmed the city's rougher edges with glinting streets, a cable car and arts' centre, all begging for exploration.
Up until four years ago, if you had asked any UK employer whether they had a menopause policy in place, you would have been met with a blank stare. In stark contrast to maternity policies, menopause has generally hung around offices like an amorphous dark cloud. But things have had to change.
Beena Nadeem and her family undertake a digital 'detox' in the mountains of St Moritz "Come on, Lillia! If you don't hurry up and take your skis off, mummy will be late for her spa treatment."
The first time I realised our daughter could do a complete snowplough turn was in Obertauern, Austria – half a metre before she ran out of piste.
Beena Nadeem and her daughter set off in search of adventure on a tour of inland Turkey "This is the best day of my life," shrills Lillia while tickling the belly of a supine trout. Six years of nurturing and 2,000 air miles and her zenith is the underbelly of a fish.
From the time of the Persian empire to the Soviet era, Armenia's history has been one of conquest and renewal. Today this fascinating tradition combined with an influx of new development is luring travellers to the country's capital, as Beena Nadeem discovers.
France's fourth largest ski domain, Les Sybelles, is set to attract more Brits in future, because it is France's fourth largest and one of its cheapest. Sybelles attracts a beefy 74% of French visitors, though few Brits, as since its creation in 2003, it's evolved into a French family favourite.
Inland Turkey: Families and foodies
Four wheels bad, two wheels good. Beena gets whisked off on a whirlwind trip around Italian towns and restaurants all fuelled by Manabrea beer. Zipping around the cobbled streets, a blur of ochre houses tumbling past, I cling to the waist of our moped-driving host as he steers the clambering roads of this old Italian town.
Walking the Isle of Skye with a six-year-old
Workplace rights and issues
Earlier this month, the deadline was reached for tens of thousands of ASDA workers to sign up to new contracts which affect those with caring responsibilities in particular. The new contract - Contract 6 - means they will lose paid breaks and will mean a shortened night shift, an end to overtime pay for bank holidays and the possibility of being called to work at shorter notice.
As more and more over 50s remain in the workforce and as the tech revolution takes over, it's likely that, at some point, they will face having to work for a younger boss. This can be a recipe for resentment and frustration. While we're told to welcome the world of multigenerational working and the benefits ...
You'd probably agree that cooking Instagram-ready meals from scratch, having children who can speak three languages by the age of two and running your own successful business (or two) is a little bit of a tall order when it comes to defining success. But measuring and accepting our achievements is a real issue of concern ...
For 20 years 57-year-old Rae Radford ran an ironing business from her home in leafy Beckenham in Kent, all the while caring for her two sons and two stepsons. By the time she wound the business down in 2014 and the children had all left home, she found herself itching for something else to do.
Brexit, funding cuts and changes to benefits are all fuelling a crisis in after-school clubs, which in some parts of the country are struggling to stay open. The news comes on the back of recent figures released by Coram Family and Childcare, which show that the cost of childcare is once again on the rise.
For most, maternity leave is a lifeline for parents coping with the heady first months of new-born chaos. For those whose babies arrive early life is flung into a series of impossible decisions around work, finances and spending time with their vulnerable baby. For mums taking maternity leave pay begins when their baby is born.
Despite hands-on parenting, shared parental leave and fathers being more involved in family life than ever before, there are still few men in childcare. For men, it's a lonely place, with a shocking 2% working in reception classes and nurseries in England.
On paper, she should have been thrilled. After six IVF attempts, she had finally given birth to daughter Amy. As the chief executive of Virgin Money, Jayne-Anne Gadhia, faced what many women do: expectations that babies should bring nothing but joy. In reality, Gadhia was fighting thoughts of suicide.
Once the chaos of a newborn has subsided and thoughts eventually creep towards returning to work, you may well be shocked to learn how difficult this is in London, says Beena Nadeem For starters, the UK is second only to Switzerland for the world's costliest childcare, and nowhere is this felt more acutely than in ...
What do working dads use the net for? Catching up on industry news, dipping into the sports results, scouring Facebook, perhaps? In fact, our working dads' survey found a significant chunk of dads (75%) would actually value a dad's community - somewhere where dads can hang out, chat and read about fatherhood in all its guises.
This November coincides with 100 years since the passing of the Qualification of Women Act - when women could legally stand for Parliament. Over this century, Britain got its first female prime minister, Marie Curie became the first women to win the Nobel Prize and women joined the army and explored space.
'Parentrepreneurs' will contribute more than £9.5bn to the UK's coffers by 2025 - and the following resourceful mums and dads are set to be among them.
Ofsted wants nurseries to seek staff references – but an employers was recently sued for providing a negative one. How can we weight up the options?
Business leaders might be trying to tackle the gender pay gap, but discrimination of all forms is still rife in the workplace.
Social policy, investigative etc
This normal bacterium rarely has an affect on adults, but it can occasionally cause infection in newborn babies. It's time to get in the know about Group B Strep "On the 2nd of August 2015, I gave birth to my first baby; my beautiful, happy, healthy, perfect baby boy Zach.
At just 18-months-old, my daughter saw me tumbling down the stairs after a particularly violent row with her dad. She stood in her cot, screaming; huge wells of tears smudging her reddening face. Before her second birthday, it became normal for her to witness her dad shouting 'you disgust me' while holding a hand in front of my face to shut me up.
Making Waves: Jamila Afghani 'Every single day, me and my family get death threats. It's been worse in the past five years,' says the softly spoken Jamila Afghani, as a smile spreads a gentle crescent across her face. 'I fear that we might be attacked and I may not see tomorrow to finish my work.'
Ibrahim* knows all about life as a failed asylum seeker. It's better than being tortured or killed, but only just, he feels. Happily for Ibrahim he has now been granted indefinite leave to remain in England and is studying to become an accountant.
The European CEO awards 2016 have now been announced, presenting our pick of the CEOs, companies and campaigns leading their sectors. View the winners here or browse the supplement in your browser or on your iPad or Android device.
The issues raised by a notorious abuse scandal in 2011 still need to be tackled. Beena Nadeem finds out how housing associations are stepping in to help
Flash fiction piece recently published in Soft Cartel.
It doesn't take long to spot them. Slumped on the cold concrete floor that leads into Heathrow's Terminal 1, their occasional somnolent grunts interrupt the monotonous hum of a travelator. It is 12.40am on a cold mid-week night, and these are just two of Heathrow's homeless who have checked into perhaps the most comfortable and secure place they've stayed for a while.
The massive numbers have brought a multi-million pound cash injection to the local economy: every time a cruise ship visits Southampton, it is estimated to bring a cash boost of £2m. In 2017, the port said it clocked some 500 cruise calls - injecting an estimated £4 billion to the area - well above its usual £1 billion a year.
There are a lot of things to consider before you fly with a baby; how old do they have to be, when is the best time, how to keep them entertained. Find out all you need to know here.
US-based Travel Leaders Group has reached an agreement to acquire the Glasgow-based group. Barrhead, of which a third of its overall business is dedicated to cruise sales, had a turnover of £279million in 2016, of which cruise made up £100 million. Overall turnover was up by 12.7million form the year before.
On the outskirts of the city, within nudging distance to the Uetliberg Forest, is an escape from Zurich's city lights. The Atlantis by Giardino is the latest offering by luxury hotel group, Atlantis, having reopened recently after a major facelift in 2016. It now boasts a stylish modern interior with cool design nods to its...
As we slink past a small and unassuming café, in what was once Brighton's slum area (the North Laines), we're quickly warned to avert our eyes. We all oblige, ten sets of eyes staring at the asphalt below. This man refuses to be part of the tour.
In the UK's crowded vegetarian capital, it takes a lot to pull something original, adventurous and tasty out of the proverbial nose bag. Beena Nadeem discovers just how Brighton's old-timer Food for Friends manages to serve just that, years after it first opened.
In 2013, former Food for Friends and Due South head chef Michael Bremner, created this restaurant. Initially a small pop up restaurant, it quickly evolved into a creative venue for chefs to experiment with daily changing menus.
Flanked by the Arabian Sea on the West and the grand Sahyadri mountains to the East, this small yet perfectly formed state can easily be covered in just a few days. However, to really discover Goa takes much longer. Beena Hammond lets us in on Goa's must-do activities.
Beena takes time out to sample the Dorset Autumn Food Fortnight and try a Dorset Knob. Which is not as shocking as it sounds Rolling green hills fold into on one another, spliced occasionally with string-thin steeply clambering roads to which cars mercifully cling.
Zurich lends itself to the perfect picnic spots. Grab a cervelat (traditional sausage) and buy a picnic egg (these are pre-boiled and come in a range of colours). Then pack a book, blanket, a towel for a dip and a mat for yoga, and you're set up to relax - Zurich style.
It Snowed that First Day By Beena Nadeem London Reader’s Forward: “It Snowed at First Day” was inspired by the experiences of Nadeem’s mother emigrating from Pakistan to the UK. Settling in Yorkshire, she experienced not only a contrast of climates but a contrast of cultures as she tried to bring up four Asian girls in a predominately white area, which was not welcoming to newcomers at the time. Although the image of the racist “messages scribbled outside” that greeted immigrants to the...
I've had two '70s Porn Star' in the past hour and my partner watched me the whole time. Mind you, he did not hold back either. The Coin Laundry is a thriving bar and eatery with retro throwbacks to the seventies from its food and drinks menu as well as well as its refectory-style seating.
As the New Year settles in and thoughts turn to new beginnings, it's worth remembering those who will begin a career having completed some of the strangest degrees around. The below might read like a goofy guide to the UK, Scotland and Ireland's most obscure degree courses, but it's worth giving their savvy graduates some credit.
'I had loads of chins' Single mum Annie didn't recognise herself in the pictures A HORRIFIED mum was spurred into losing weight after seeing a picture of herself on a water slide with her son... and fearing she looked like a WHALE.
Can you imagine cooking ten times a week and then slinging the contents straight into the bin? Every year Britons chuck some seven tonnes of food away. And if that's not concerning enough, just ponder little over our attitudes toward such squandering.
At the age of 16, Northamptonshire school girl, (the aptly named Jessica Tignes Anderson), broke her back. Despite a crash last year, which left her multiple fractures in her spine and a compressed disc, she went on to win the U18 National Junior title at the British Championships in France in the very same week.
It's nail-biting stuff. You may have prepared religiously for this day; envisaging every possible question and formulating carefully thought out responses. But the bit when they ask '" Do you have any questions?' is not the time to sit back and ride on the back of your - so far - successful interview.
The tiny 486 sq. km principality of Andorra straddles France and Spain, licking the tips of the Pyrenees as it does so. Despite its strong and rugged profile, it finds it hard to shake off its somewhat pathetic image of athletic boozing on a budget, which to many relegates its ski resorts at least, like an Andorran Bennidorm on ice.
A schoolgirl is learning to walk again after a birthmark on her brain burst and caused her head to fill with blood. Rachel Cunningham, of Catford, south east London, went to school complaining of a headache on February 10 this year.
Happily fitting into Hampstead's array of eateries is Argentinian specialist Gaucho. From its signature crepuscular restaurant, we headed for its newly revamped summer terrace - which takes the noir theme outdoors and adds splashes of white, crisp linens and clambering wallflowers as a nod to summertime.
I had spent the day in some confusion. At first it was the schoolgirls, then the builders, and in fact nearly everyone I met greeted me - albeit genially, with the word "abruni". Had this not have been followed by near hysterics, and chattering behind cupped hands, I might not have worried.
Who says hiking is only a three-season activity? From frozen waterfalls to spooky burial chambers - these winter walks will put a spring in your step, even under inches of snow! Whether you're looking for accessible or challenging, these well-trodden routes have something for everyone. From: Sabden, Lancashire via Ribble Valley and Forest of Bowland.
No prizes for guessing what's on the menu at Top Dog Diner, says Beena. This revamped American diner snuggles into the beating heart of London's Soho, rubbing shoulders with jazz club Ronnie Scott's. With vibrant, friendly staff, waltzing around and charming customers, the atmosphere is pleasantly relaxed.
Lurpak generally make good butter: creamy, buttercup-hued indulgence. So when the brand released its new range of flavoured butters - I was mildly excited. The ethos behind this range has been to complement 'an assortment of breads' while aiming to 'pack a punch to your wrap'.
Failed asylum seekers are living in fear on the streets. Charities are their only hope of support. Isn't it time the government stepped in, asks Beena Nadeem? Ibrahim* knows all about life as a failed asylum seeker. It's better than being tortured or killed, but only just, he feels.
Asylum seekers with life-threatening illnesses are having their support cut off without fair assessment of their health, charities have warned. They say that councils are changing their attitude towards asylum seekers with serious disabilities or illnesses and reassessing their needs, following a landmark court case last year.
By Beena Nadeem, Third Sector Online, 30 January 2014 Philippa Charles, director of the Garfield Weston Foundation, says applications to it have fallen steeply over the past three years More than 40 per cent of small to medium-sized charities in north-east England feel they do not have enough staff to apply for funding opportunities despite struggling for money, according to new research.
Long ambulance waits lead to more deaths
Variations in detection rates: dementia
Last week governors at North Finchley Mosque said they were battling with extremist' Muslims for control of the mosque. BEENA NADEEM examines the development of radical Islam in the UK Whenever people talk about Muslim extremists exerting influence in British mosques, the spectre of Abu Hamza is always in the background.
Castles created just for the day, weeklong ceremonies spanning two continents, private jets and parties on yachts, five-foot tall cakes and nuptials in a Venetian opera house. And you thought a carriage; a few doves and some fireworks were opulent? We list some of the most eye-wateringly expensive weddings of all time.
How To Brainstorm Content Ideas That Will Generate New Business
Red eyes on your bridesmaids? A green pallor to most of your guests? The groom's eyes firmly closed on every shot while it seems every picture of the bride features her chomping her way through a veritable breakfast feast.
Baying for the blood of an estate agent is a common sport in this country. The stereotype is of a cufflink-wearing, striped-shirt donning person with little integrity may be unfair but for an unregulated industry, which is becoming increasingly outmoded, it is little surprise that the online housing sales and rental is a beautifully burgeoning place.
Newspapers
The lives of eight families were torn apart this week as they received the devastating news that their loved ones were among those either feared or confirmed dead in the London bomb blasts last Thursday. Even for an area which has had more than its fair share of terrorist attacks in the past, the roll of those feared dead made grim reading.
It may sound like the stuff of the Seventies television series The Bionic Man: a simple injection that increases the strength of a man by 40 per cent in just weeks. But as much as it sounds like a superhuman fairy tale, the reality is in fact a real-life medical miracle.