Latest news with #kinship
The Guardian
29-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
The Fathers by John Niven review – class satire with grit
They're an unlikely duo. Jada is a petty criminal who lives hand to mouth in a cramped 60s tower block and can't remember how many children he has. Dan is a TV producer with a Tesla outside his mansion and who – after five years of trying and six rounds of IVF – is about to meet his first child. The pair encounter each other outside the sliding doors of Glasgow's Queen Elizabeth University hospital, where Dan takes sips of cold air while he comes to terms with the wonder and terror of first-time parenthood and Jada sneaks a quick fag. Dan examines Jada's vigilant eyes and seasonally inappropriate sportswear; Jada clocks Dan's Rolex and works out how quickly he could take him in a fight. They bump into each other again in the lift a few days later, laying the seeds for a relationship that will reveal what divides them and what they share, building to a climax of kinship and betrayal. Since leaving his job as an A&R manager in 2002, John Niven has written novels and screenplays that mix industry satire (pop, publishing, film) with sometimes eye-popping hedonism; presumably both will feature in his next project, a 2026 play about Blur and Oasis called The Battle. Yet while there's a fair bit of hard living in The Fathers, Niven's latest also shows his softer side, as the two fortysomething Glaswegian protagonists manage domesticity. Dan obsessively childproofs his house, buying expensive baby accessories and doing his best to be the perfect dad to Tom, while Jada tries to be more present with his girlfriend Nicola and new son Jayden than he has been for his other children – for which read 'not very'. For all Dan's efforts, the mums take on the greatest share of child rearing, giving the dads space to transform their careers. Dan, bored with his wildly popular TV series McCallister (think Taggart meets Hamish MacBeth), aims to kill off the main character and write a novel. Jada, meanwhile, has a contact at Prestwick airport who can siphon off military surplus meant for Ukraine – a gig he thinks could set him up for life. Classic Scottish literary themes of duality, sentiment and booze are rarely far from the surface, most of them viewed through the prism of class. In the hospital, Dan's wife, Grace, has a private room and a smoothie that 'cost more than wine and tasted like cut grass'. On Nicola's bedside are a pack of cigarettes, a giant Toblerone and a bottle of Irn-Bru. In the months that come, Jayden's sippy cup is filled with the fizzy nectar, while Nicola and Jada enjoy the occasional blow-out with beer from 'PriceBeaster', plus ecstasy and heroin. Down the road, the West End's gentrified stretches do a steady trade in 'macchiatos, pastel de natas and designer knitwear'. There's plenty of inequality, hypocrisy and self-destruction on show, but Niven is also here for the laughs in a book that is sometimes very funny, but also happy to lean into cliche. You yearn to hear from someone who's neither an upper-middle-class twit nor a feckless chancer, or to hear a man articulate his feelings without the spurs of alcohol or desperation. Yet Niven never forgets his characters' humanity, and there's some fine detail on the way, whether comic (brushing a baby's teeth is like trying to 'draw a moustache on a live eel with a felt-tip pen') or poetic (in a brighter moment, Nicola marvels at the city, 'aw golden and peach and the river was dead flat and calm and there wiznae a soul around'). As The Fathers gets going, Niven tightens his narrative like a noose. By a third of the way in, the book is veering between unputdownable and put-it-down-quick-before-something-bad-happens. Jada's airport connection unearths a crate of pistols, which he aims to sell to a Northern Irish terrorist group, while Dan suffers a shocking disaster that flings him out of his herringbone-floored home into Jada's world of dodgy deals, sporadic violence and daytime pints. The result is a comic melodrama that's never dull, and a satire that hits most of its targets. After the darkness Niven lets in, the ending feels a touch glib, but the slow comradeship that grows between the two leads is charming nonetheless. The Fathers is a fine choice for anyone who likes a little grit in their holiday read. Sign up to Bookmarks Discover new books and learn more about your favourite authors with our expert reviews, interviews and news stories. Literary delights delivered direct to you after newsletter promotion The Fathers by John Niven is published by Canongate (£18.99). To support the Guardian and Observer, order your copy at Delivery charges may apply.
Yahoo
15-07-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Mom of 3 Agrees to Kinship Foster Twin Nephews with Special Needs 9 Years After Taking in Their Brother (Exclusive)
Cassey and her husband have three biological children — ages 15, 16 and 18 They are also parents to her 9-year-old nephew, whom they began kinship fostering at 2 weeks old In 2021, the couple got the call that Cassey's sister had welcomed not one, but two baby boys, and took the chance on expanding their family once moreA woman who felt her family was complete opened her heart to kinship adoption for a second time. Cassey Ashby, on TikTok @woundedfam, had already experienced kinship fostering with her sister's son, now 9, since the little boy was two weeks old. In addition to her own three biological children, the family of six felt they'd hit their stride when they got news of two more babies on the way. "We were just getting into the time when he could make his own meals and is able to be more independent. My husband and I model homes for a living. I was focusing on work and the family, and then the twins came along." The couple, together for 20 years, first learned that Cassey's sister would welcome twins just weeks before they were born. At the time, they knew of a pregnancy, but not the fact that there were twins. "We weren't going to take them if the state had called us. But then, I guess... I felt like my heart opened up whenever I was asked, and I knew that's what I was supposed to do." Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. The twins initially went into state custody before Cassey got the call. With three teens and guardianship of her nephew, the family knew what was ahead would be "really hard." "Twins are extremely hard. You have two diaper changes, two bottles. There's always something else that's needed. Sleeping through the night was very hard. We were waking up every two hours, feeding two babies. That was definitely an adjustment from having single kids. It was a huge adjustment going to twins pretty much overnight." Cassey was proud to share that the four kids all reacted positively and were "very welcoming" to the two new additions. "My 15-year-old, she's like... I call her a second mom. She's very loving towards babies. She loves kids. Naturally, she helped out a lot, and she just loves being around them all the time." Cassey notes the family doesn't have a village around them, but always finds ways to step up for each other. "I don't have a lot of extended family just because of substance issues and stuff. We don't have a lot of family around us. [The twins] became part of our family very quickly." The family also had to adapt to caring for medically complex kids. The twin boys, Benjamin and Braxton, each live with medical conditions that would require learning and adjustments for everyone. "Benjamin had a brain injury at birth. I did not know that until later on because I wasn't really involved in any of the hospital procedures," Cassey explains, noting that her sister didn't receive prenatal care during the pregnancy. "Around six months, I noticed that he was having some symptoms that looked similar to cerebral palsy. He would keep his hands clenched, and his twin started to really pass him on milestones. That was a big indicator. His twin had started to roll and crawl and Benjamin was... he couldn't even grab toys, so it was pretty clear," she continued. Benjamin was officially diagnosed with cerebral palsy and microcephaly at 6 months, at which point Cassey and her husband were "thrown into therapies and medical appointments." "That was definitely a huge adjustment. I've never taken care of anybody with special needs. I've never really grew up around anybody who had special needs. I didn't even have to keep a calendar before the twins because I had so few appointments." As they juggled anywhere from six to eight appointments for Benjamin in a week, they realized that Braxton was facing his own struggles. Further investigation would lead to an autism diagnosis. "Our living room went from teenagers' stuff everywhere to medical equipment," Cassey says. She gives credit to her husband for never being overwhelmed by the many changes that came their way. "We both realized that with Benjamin, he's going to need a lifetime of care. I'm grateful my husband has always supported me. He's very loving and he's on the same page [about what we face]." Cassey and her husband have since adopted the twins. The little boys are now toddlers — 2½ year olds who are curious about the world around them. "Seeing Benjamin and how happy he is, I think it just makes it all worth it. He's brought so much happiness into our lives. Braxton is running around everywhere. He's very active, so we're trying to balance what each needs in their toddler years." Searching to add to her village on her own terms, Cassey began sharing the family's story on TikTok in hopes of finding others on their kinship journey. "I've found from my videos that I never realized so many families were taking care of relatives with special needs. And that's my goal online, to help people not feel alone and know there are millions of others out there," she says. "There is an online community filled with supportive people, even if we don't have people around us in real life who are supporting us." "The same thing with the special needs community. When I found out about the twins' diagnosis, especially Benjamin's, the first feeling that most special needs families feel when they get a diagnosis is that they feel alone. I came online, and I started sharing my story and Benjamin's story. We found a huge community of people that were in similar situations," Casey continues. "By documenting, we've been able to raise funds for Benjamin's next intensive. We have met a lot of good people who have helped us on our journey. By sharing Benjamin's journey, we've been able to help other people." At his first intensive, which is a therapy program aimed at progressing a child's motor skills and functional abilities, Cassey says Benjamin "made the most progress that he's made in the past two years" during the January session. "After doing that intensive, it sparked something in me, and I realized that he was going to be capable of so much if he was just given the opportunities. I went online, and we have been doing weekly goals to meet towards our total goal, but the idea is we are going to blog the experience. We have an intensive set up for September, and we're going to blog the experience so people can see the progress that he's making and all of that," she shares. "I think it helps to see the impact that they're making on his life. It's really nice knowing that there's just strangers out there that are going to help just by contributing donations and stuff, they're going to help his quality of life. It means a lot to us that people are willing to do that." Cassey herself has been inspired by this journey to return to school to become a physical therapist assistant. It's just one example of the "many blessings" that have come from embracing kinship custody and sharing their story. "My biggest hope and my goal is that they are given every opportunity that they can. Braxton, he's not as severe. He has autism, and he does require more needs. But with Benjamin, this is something that we're going to be doing. We're going to be advocating for him pretty much for life," she notes. "My biggest thing is I just want them to be happy. That's the biggest goal, I want them to be happy and to be given every opportunity available to them." Read the original article on People
Asharq Al-Awsat
26-06-2025
- Politics
- Asharq Al-Awsat
History is Repeating Itself in Libya
As an old Arab proverb goes: 'With your people, you won't perish.' Without the protection and support of one's people, ruin becomes inevitable. A small problem arises, however, when we seek to determine who counts among 'your people', especially to those in power. Does the term refer strictly to one's kin (family, clan, or tribe) or does it encompass all citizens? The difference between the two is clear: the former is defined by blood ties alone, while the latter definition is broader. In the summer of 1975, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi settled the power struggle within the Revolutionary Command Council by eliminating his rivals and thwarting the coup they had been plotting against him. He then managed to fully dominate the council, the army, and the country, monopolizing power and becoming the country's only eagle. Reflecting on this bloody episode, one gets the impression that Gaddafi had been following this proverb. He turned to his people for support, placing his cousins in key positions to consolidate power and ensure his survival. Later, he was compelled to widen the circle slightly, bringing in other regions and reviving old kinship networks. That is how Gaddafi chose to fortify the foundations of his rule. This perverse approach plunged Libya into a dark period of regionalism and factionalism: alliances that had been formed under Italian colonial rule (and that had made it easier for the Italians to crush the resistance movement in the west of the country) were revived. Since 2011, history has seemingly been repeating itself. After Libya had come close to becoming a country for all Libyans without exception, it was captured by militias and terrorists who split the spoils of the nation's wealth among themselves. Corruption exploded, chaos broadened, and fuel, medicine, and food were smuggled across the borders. The entire country fell to these gangs that made people's lives miserable. Anyone following developments in Libya can clearly see that the same vile and futile game is now being repeated in both the East and the West. One could even argue that Gaddafi's actions in Libya were also mirrored by Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s, albeit in an iteration of the British context, which is of course different from Libya's. In other words, regional loyalties replaced partisan commitments in similar ways in Britain. I recall that British journalist Hugo Young was the first to point this out in his book One of Us, which caused quite a stir and won several awards. In post-Gaddafi Libya, history seems to be repeating itself in a dramatic fashion, as we noted earlier. The new political elites chose to follow Gaddafi's path. This is evident in both Cyrenaica and Fezzan and even more so in Tripoli. The government in Tripoli cannot overpower its rivals and take full control. That is why its prime minister recently sought to compensate for its weakness by turning to regional loyalties, allying with armed groups from Misrata. During a visit to the city shortly after Eid al-Adha, he and these factions agreed to cooperate on a joint military campaign to eliminate rogue armed factions in Tripoli. The irony is that the head of Tripoli's government plans to expel armed groups by bringing in other armed groups from outside the city. Pulling Misrata in, through this alliance with some of its militias, will engender animosity between the city and Tripoli. Overcoming the grudges could be impossible. The implicit goal of this operation is, first, to ensure the survival of the Government of National Unity. Second, it aims to generate a state of chaos and instability to prevent the UN from forming a new interim government tasked with organizing parliamentary and presidential elections.
