What keeps you standing when you arrive all by yourself in a new country?

Thousands of underage asylum seekers have arrived in the UK in recent years. Without family or friends to help them navigate a new life, many find refuge in football. On the pitch, they are simply themselves — not refugees or asylum seekers, just young boys spending time with friends while playing a sport they love.

In this episode, we explore how football helps refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants in the UK build community, confidence, and a sense of belonging.

Osama and Ali live in London, but their hearts are tied to homes they can’t return to. Osama, a Palestinian filmmaker-turned-community-organiser, runs Palestine House on High Holborn, a hectic and joyful space where keys from 1948 hang on the walls as symbols of a promised return. Ali, born during the Israeli occupation of South Lebanon and raised in a German asylum-seeker estate, uses his camera to document a homeland that is constantly under threat.

Through their stories, this episode challenges the “good refugee” narrative, the script that demands gratitude, hard work, and perfect integration in exchange for safety. Instead, Osama and Ali claim London on their own terms, building community, archiving memory, and insisting that exile is more than a passport and a success story.

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Can you reunify a divided people in a London suburb?

For over 70 years, the Korean peninsula has been split into two. North and South Koreans can't cross the border, can't contact each other.

But in New Malden, South West London, something impossible is happening: North Koreans, South Koreans, and Joseonjok Koreans from China are all living on the same streets. It's one of the few places on earth where this kind of coexistence exists.

In this episode, Callum - born and raised in London - and Justina - a South Korean immigrant - take us inside New Malden.

You'll hear about South Koreans encountering North Koreans for the first time, North Korean ladies rescuing recipes that can't be made back home anymore, and more stories of Koreans navigating their differences.

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Elephant and Castle has one of the biggest Latin American populations in London, but the regeneration plans are threatening this community with 50+ years of history.

Listen to this episode and meet Maria and Fernando, two Latinos who have worked in the neighbourhood for more than 10 years. Their stories will tell you what this area means for the community.

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Last year, Keir Starmer said the UK was becoming an island of strangers. We think that's not true.

No Strangers Here shares migration stories through narrative journalism. We uncover the hidden histories of our cities and tell stories of resilience, joy, and belonging. From community stories of Latin Americans affected by gentrification to tales of artists emerging from Southall.

First episode drops on 22 April. Subscribe now so you don't miss it.

Follow us on Instagram & TikTok: @nostrangerspod