‘Irish Traveller’ is a state-imposed term. The Traveller community instead refer to themselves as ‘Pavee’ or ‘Mincéir’, which are words from Shelta (otherwise called ‘Cant’ or ‘Gammon’), the Irish Traveller language. Travellers have been in Ireland since pre-Celtic...
Viktor was born in 1996 in Moldova, where being gay is still controversial, taboo, and unacceptable. Moldova is an ex-communist country with traditional views about family, sexuality, and gender. Being gay is something to be ashamed of, and gay people often fear...
Near where I live, there is a long bridge. One Sunday morning I was walking over it and noticed a young man taking off his socks and placing them in his trainers. A woman approached him and as I got closer she told me the young man wanted to kill himself. I placed my...
I was in London recently and passed the old night shelter in Dean Street in Soho where I did voluntary work with young homeless people in the1990s. Here is an article I wrote 10 years ago about my experiences. Centrepoint remains the country’s leading national charity...
Right-wing populist political figures along with some tabloid press often portray refugees and asylum seekers in a negative light. Dishonest information is disseminated, insinuating these people are bogus and have come here for a better life, free housing and to cheat...
The room was dark. I could still hear him breathing. I was sitting in an armchair at the bottom of the bed, trying my best to remain awake, but eventually, I succumbed to exhaustion and fell asleep. For the three previous nights, I had slept on a mattress at the end...
An Interview with Nick Hardwick CBE, Chief Inspector of PrisonsDeclan Henry – Social Worker and Author Nick Hardwick was appointed the Chief Inspector of Prisons in 2010. He has had an impressive career to date. Prior to his current role, he was the Chair of the...
‘Trans Voices – Becoming Who You Are’ by Declan Henry: Q&A – Declan Henry, author of Trans Voices with Fiona Audley Managing Editor at The Irish Post newspaper Bronze Winner for the 2017 Independent Publisher Book Awards in the category of Gay/Lesbian/Bi/Trans...
As a gay man, I became interested in transgender issues for two reasons. The first was that before I started researching the subject I did not know any trans person and the second was that I wanted to discover the real reasons why people are dissatisfied with their...
The number of children who get diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) continues to rise every year. It is reasonable to wonder how this came about since the condition wasn’t even heard of thirty years ago. It is also worth considering how past...
A delayed flight from Aberdeen to London resulted in me missing the last train home to Kent. Getting a taxi resulted in an unexpected conversation about Islam with the driver. Salman, a British-born Bengali, in his thirties, worked during the day in a professional...
What lead you to write this book?Initially, I wanted to understand why some Muslims get radicalised before my idea broadened. My research fired up interest in the religion and the Prophet Muhammad, resulting in the book becoming a more generalised text about Islam and...
