Real Life Champions

 Saleh is, quite simply, a champion. For the several years which have passed since his father died he has been the sole support of his family. His mother and his two sisters, who barely spoke any English, were entirely dependent on what he could earn.
This was a far cry from the dream that they came [...]

Testifying as a witness, the Academy Award-winning Australian actress was serving in her role as the Goodwill Ambassador for the UN Development Fund for Women

This week’s piece could be a list, running to more than 90 names, of those who have died this year in Afganistan. Instead I would like, just briefly, to thank all those servicemen and women who have given their lives this year and in years past, to keep others free

Next time I’m thinking of bewailing my very modest roots, and allowing myself to think that it is that which has held me back, and not myself, I’ll remind myself of the following story:

Each year for the past 10 years, the Daily Mirror has organised a Pride of Britain Awards, which celebrates unusual and exceptional acts undertaken by ordinarily ordinary people. Last year the team of people at the Royal Marsden Hospital who risked their lives to keep their patients safe when a fire broke out in the Royal Marsden Hospital were those honoured by the newspaper.

John is an ordinary man. His marriage is ordinary, his job nothing to write home about. But there is something about John that sets him apart. He suffers from epilepsy, and has since he was a kid.

‘It’s just a job’ said Greg, the A Shift leader at the Fire Station. ‘At this station we’re all paid - not like some of the wonderful volunteers you get in the country brigades. They’re really heroes.’

I was lucky enough to be on the beach recently, on a great, sunshiny day. Children were running in and out of the water, sand castles were being built and destroyed, ice creams being eaten. I swam and was drying myself when I noticed a man with a bag.

A six-year old boy who has spent half of his life battling leukaemia is planning to take part in a charity fun run in Milton Keynes, this weekend. He will run in the Junior Bananaman Chase, which is a fun run for children organised by Leukaemia Research.

When Farah Ahmedi was a 7-year-old living in Kabul, in war-torn Afghanistan, she led a relatively normal life, attending school and trying to learn as much as girls were permitted in those times. One morning she woke late and rushed to get herself ready for school. There was no time for breakfast, and, dressed in the traditional female garb, she ran off to get to school.