journalist & writer
By Sara Valle (ARCHIVE from April 2023) As Sadiq Khan expands the Ultra-Low Emissions Zone and Islington Council installs Low Traffic Neighbourhoods in the area, residents wonder if their health is being considered too. Reporting in Blackstock Road to find out more. https://youtu.be/I-IkKx4x5o4
By Sara Valle It’s a Friday evening and people crowd in front of Islington Town Hall’s majestic neoclassical building. Clouds gather in the sky and confetti piles on the few steps that lead up to the main entrance. Someone has just gotten hitched – their colourful gowns look brighter than the white blanket that’s the …
By Sara Valle (ARCHIVE: 2022 audio package) Visits to Goodinge community kitchen in Islington have spiked during the last few months. Basic grocery products and energy prices have gone up because of the inflation rate being at 11.1%, the highest in the last forty years. The cuts and tax raises announced in Jeremy Hunt’s Autumn …
Continue reading "Audio package: Islington community kitchen"
by Sara Valle The cool air of late May caresses your bare arms and your calves warm up as you pedal, dodging the cars. When you stop behind a red double-decker bus, a cloud of grey exhaust fumes hits you in the face. Now imagine all this but without the heavy traffic, the honking horns, …
by Sara Valle Net migration in the UK is expected to reach almost 250,000 annually over the next few years, despite Prime Minster Rishi Sunak’s pledge to drive down the number of new arrivals. That’s according to the data released by the Office for Budget Responsibility this month. This increase in immigration last year was primarily driven by …
Continue reading "Are immigration figures really rising? Or does processing immigrants take longer?"
by Sara Valle London is a metropolitan city with over nine million inhabitants roaming its streets, taking red double-decker buses, and pushing and fighting to get a seat in the Central Line at rush hour. If you step outside you realise a few things right away. First, the city is a melting pot – a …
Continue reading "Pollution in London: Will Sadiq’s plans make a difference?"
Written and captured by Sara Valle People gathered on a Monday night in indie venue Lafayette in London to see what the actor-turned-singer Maya Hawke had to offer. South African singer Manu Grace opened for a crowd of expectant fans with a set of groovy beats and unguarded lyrics. Standing on stage in her green velvet dress with her guitar and …
Continue reading "Maya Hawke at Lafayette in London with opener Manu Grace"
by Sara Valle Imagine the following scenario: you spend hundreds – sometimes thousands – of pounds on a tattoo design by your favourite artist. Just a few days later, when you’re finally able to share your beloved body art with the world after the tedious healing process has ended, your employer tells you that you …
Continue reading "Tattoos at work: does body art mean a lack of professionalism?"
By Sara Valle Mayor Sadiq Khan has announced that London’s Ultra Low Emissions Zone (ULEZ) will cover whole of Greater London from 29 August 2023. Drivers will face a daily fee of £12.50 for using London’s roads from next year, as part of the mayor’s attempt to clean up the city’s toxic air and tackle the climate emergency. …
By Gülsüm Bölük, Fatou Coulibaly, Sam Sorabjee, and Sara Valle Nag’s Head business owners in Holloway feel disconnected from the upcoming community Christmas event to be held this weekend. Islington Council announced yesterday that a Festive Lights Event will take place in Nag’s Head Marketon Saturday, November 19, with Islington’s Mayor, Marian Spall, switching on the Christmas lights. …
Continue reading "Festive spirit lacking before Saturday’s Christmas event"
Sara Valle 