In Conversation with Nickie Aiken

I visited the Fair Shot Cafe in Covent Garden, an incredible social enterprise cafe which opened its doors in 2021. Not only do they serve speciality coffee, but they help young people with learning disabilities into the hospitality industry. Founder Bianca Tavella joins me in this episode.

I recently brought together employers and fertility charities to Parliament to discuss the progress we are making on workplace rights for people undergoing fertility treatment. 

Millions of people in the UK are struggling with infertility — and they are having to deal with multiple cycles, side effects and complications in silence in the workplace. 

In this episode, I speak to Becky Kearns from Fertility Matters at Work and Laura-Rose Thorogood from LGBT Mummies about our Workplace Pledge (almost 50 companies have now voluntarily signed up);  my Parliamentary Bill which aims to give people the right to take time off work for treatment; and what else we need to do to end this issue being taboo in the workplace.

If you need information or support, visit: https://fertilitymattersatwork.com or https://lgbtmummies.com

My latest episode comes from the streets of Soho, where I joined PC Andy De Santis on part of his patrol route. Andy is a dedicated police officer for Soho, and we spoke about his work in cutting crime and keeping the community here safe. 

Meet my latest Two Cities Hero — Jane Doyle. Jane has lived in Soho for more than 50 years, and she is Chair of the Soho Safer Neighbourhood Ward panel. Soho has gone through some huge changes in Jane’s half century as a local resident — I'm pleased to be joined by her in this episode from St Anne's Church in the heart of Soho.

Superintendent Beth Pirie joined the Met recently from Hampshire Police, and now leads Westminster's Neighbourhood Policing. I caught up with her on a range of pressing issues from licensing and public order in the West End, policing at night, my crime and anti-social behaviour survey, and the culture within the Met.

For Pride Month, I caught up with human rights and LGBTQ+ campaigner Philip Baldwin in Soho. Philip also campaigns and raises awareness of HIV. He was diagnosed with HIV during a routine check-up and he was later diagnosed with Hepatitis C. Thankfully, neither are the life sentences they once were — and with the proper diagnosis and treatment, you can lead a very healthy life. Philip joins me in this episode, and remember, if you’ve been affected, there is lots of information out there. 

Useful information from NHS UK: 

http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/hiv-and-aids 

http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/hepatitis-c 

http://www.nhs.uk/medicines/pre-exposure-prophylaxis-prep

https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/sexual-health/sexual-health-for-gay-and-bisexual-men/?/ 

For the latest in my Two Cities Heroes series, I speak to Jens Jakobsen — a local florist and the most amazing urban gardener. He has the most beautiful garden with over 150 different plants and a huge onion tree right in heart of Victoria just behind City Hall. I myself discovered it just by walking past one day. Everybody is welcome so if you need a quiet spot to think, read a book or just relax and just get away from it all, make sure you pay it a visit. Jens joins me in this episode.

Zurich Insurance were one of the first companies to sign up to my recently launched Fertility Workplace Pledge — the idea behind it is to get employers of all shapes and sizes to sign up to a set of basic principles that improve the workplace rights for people going through treatment. I was delighted to visit the team in their City office — and their Head of People, Steve Collinson, joined me on my community podcast to explain why they signed up and how it is going. 

Meet Hamza Taouzzale — Hamza was born in Westminster, and is now our First Citizen. He has broken the mould by becoming the youngest Lord Mayor and the first from an ethnic minority background. He’s a Two Cities Hero — and he joined me in this episode.

In the next of my Two Cities Heroes series, I went to The Abbey Centre, run by the fantastic Caz Gandy-Brown. It’s an incredible hub serving our Westminster community which hosts activity groups, a social supermarket and so much more. Caz joins me in this episode