London Writing Guy Harjot Sidhu

Did you know 68% of South Asians cannot swim (at least 25m)? Not only that, but 78% of South Asian females identify as not being able to swim, either!



In this episode, I speak to Senior BBC journalist Summaya Mughal about her very own award winning podcast (Brown Gal Can't Swim). After interviewing Team GB swimmer Alice Deering, Summaya realised that someone needed to raise awareness of the challenges the South Asian community were facing when it came to swimming.



I speak to Summaya about how the podcast came together, her path into journalism and much more.

What is a Desi pub? The word "Desi" comes from the Sanskrit word Des, or Desh, meaning homeland. More specifically, a South Asian homeland. In my conversation with it's author, we talk about Britain's racist history that led to these pubs being set up, why they were important then, why they are still important today and the amazing stories behind these establishments.



Follow David on Instagram: www.instagram.com/daviddesipubs

Follow David on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/davidjesudason

Buy the book here: https://camra.org.uk/publications/desi-pubs/#

David's Substack: https://davidjesudason.substack.com/

Mandy Kaur Moore, amongst other things, is the President of The Sikh Games. I spoke to Mandy about her career to-date, how The Sikh Games came to be and why we need them.



Follow The Sikh Games on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/thesikhgames/

Aside from his popular podcast, The Bhandwagon Podcast, Ricky Bhandal has been heavily involved in projects aiming to identify and summarise the physical health, mental health, lifestyle behaviour and wider determinants of health-related issues that affest specific communities both nationally and in Birmingham. In our conversation, Ricky gives us a brief insight of what the state of play is. Starting out as a drug addiction worker, Ricky built a bit of a niche for himself as one of the very few Asians working in the drug & alcohol system. His work eventually led him to creating The National Substance Misuse Conference highlighting barriers for all in the system.



FOLLOW RICKY ONLINE

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/ranjitbhandal

Twitter - https://twitter.com/ranjitbhandal

The Bhandwagon Podcast (Instagram) - https://www.instagram.com/bhandwagon/



FOR SUPPORT ISSUES RELATED TO ALCOHOLISM OR DEPRESSION, SEE LINKS BELOW:

- www.alcoholics-anonymous.org.uk - AA is concerned solely with the personal recovery and continued
sobriety of individual alcoholics who turn to the Fellowship for help.

- https://www.samaritans.org/ - Samaritans offer listening and support to people and communities in
times of need. They give people ways to cope and the skills to be there for others, as well as encourage, promote and celebrate those moments of connection between people that can save lives.

- https://www.mind.org.uk/ - Mind is a mental health charity who provide advice and support to
empower anyone experiencing a mental health problem. They campaign to improve
services, raise awareness and promote understanding.

- https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/ - Drinkaware provides independent alcohol advice, information and tools to help people make better choices about their drinking.

- https://www.taraki.co.uk/ - Taraki work with Punjabi communities to improve access to mental
health awareness, education, social supports, and research through culturally safe activities to better care for themselves and one-another.

- https://sikhyourmind.com/ - Sikh Your Mind aims to increase awareness of mental health
difficulties in the Sikh community.

- https://asranow.ca/ - Asra Now is a Punjabi Alcohol Resource and acts as a starting point
for Punjabi families who struggle with alcohol use and are seeking help for themselves or a loved one.



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WEBSITE: www.londonwritingguy.com

TWITTER: www.twitter.com/harjots

MUSIC: Music from Munah Boparai - www.instagram.com/munny_beats

On the 23rd of April 1973, the National Front decided to hold a meeting in Southall town hall. The local community, made up of a large South Asian and West Indian population, saw this as a provocative act. Protests against the National Front holding this meeting were arranged and the local community came out in force. On the day itself, the local community clashed with the police, who were seen to be protecting the National Front. The police used unnecessarily violent and heavy-handed tactics to manage the event. Blair Peach, a teacher from New Zealand, was unfortunately murdered as a result of a blow to the head from a police officer. A report was carried out into Blair Peach’s murder, which revealed that Blair was almost certainly killed by police at the demonstration. However, the report was covered up and hidden until 2010. This conversation is with Ravi Jain. Ravi, at the time, was the General Secretary for the Association of Asian Youth. I speak to Ravi about the events that led to this day and the day itself.



INSTAGRAM: www.instagram.com/londonwritingguy 

WEBSITE: www.londonwritingguy.com

TWITTER: www.twitter.com/harjots

MUSIC: Music from Munah Boparai - www.instagram.com/munny_beats

Shuranjeet Singh is the founder of Taraki, not-for-profit organisation that works with Punjabi communities to reshape approaches to mental health. Using a non-clinical but community-centred approach, Taraki supports people with their mental health and well-being. It’s a unique and incredibly useful approach, as it can be taken forward by anyone and everyone.

In this conversation, I speak to Shuranjeet about Taraki’s origin story, the work Shuranjeet and the Taraki team are doing, as well as the techniques used to get these conversations happening.
FOLLOW TARAKI ONLINE


WEBSITE: https://www.taraki.co.uk/
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/TarakiHQ
INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/tarakihq/
TIKTOK: https://www.tiktok.com/@tarakihq


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WEBSITE: www.londonwritingguy.com
TWITTER: www.twitter.com/harjots



MUSIC: Music from Munah Boparai - www.instagram.com/munny_beats