A Bit About Me

I will need to postpone publication of PolyMAT’s final statement and my response due to some essential commitments that have arisen at short notice.

In the meantime, I thought it would be a good idea to share a little about my background.

My mother is English and my father is Moroccan. I grew up speaking English and Darija, in a family life shaped by different cultures, languages and traditions.

I am a mathematician with a particular love of calculus and applied mathematics, especially operational research. I am also pursuing a career as a barrister and currently undertake a role as an advocate, supporting vulnerable parents through children's services interventions, including care proceedings. I have conduct of the most complex cases. I have enormous admiration for the parents I meet, many of whom face extraordinary adversity while continuing to fight for their families with remarkable courage.

I love problem-solving, planes and rockets, and I am excited to take my children to the National Space Centre in November. At the moment, I am applying my mathematical skills to a rather more earthly challenge: building a large summer house in our garden, somewhere my children can read, create and socialise.

We are a musical, creative family. We garden, grow vegetables, play piano, look for wildflowers, watch sunsets, listen to music, make things and read. I am learning to sew and love bringing bursts of colour into our home through bold fabrics.

You will often find us in bookshops around the UK. I am currently rereading 1984 by George Orwell, while my children happily wander between fact and fiction.

These are our ordinary days.

And perhaps that is the part of our story I most want people to know: before we became a family with a story to tell, we were — and still are — simply a normal family living a life.

A life full of colour, curiosity, books, art, music, laughter and love.