16 Captivating Longreads You Need To Check Out

The best longform reporting, feature stories, and personal essays from BuzzFeed UK this February.

Sian Butcher / Laura Gallant / Rebecca Hendin / Gena-mour Barrett / Tim Lane

1. Meet the Man who Stopped Thousands of People Becoming HIV-Positive – Patrick Strudwick

Laura Gallant / Tim Lane / BuzzFeed

In an exclusive interview with BuzzFeed News, Greg Owen reveals the story behind Britain’s largest ever drop in HIV transmissions.

2. Here's What I Learned About Myself After a Year in Therapy – Hayley Campbell

Rebecca Hendin / BuzzFeed

In this personal essay, BuzzFeed contributor Hayley Campbell relates what it's like to be a therapy sceptic in therapy.

3. How High Street Beauty Brands Are Finally Starting to Listen to Dark-Skinned Women – Fiona Rutherford

Matt Tucker / BuzzFeed News

Maybelline is extending the range of foundations for women with darker skin tones on its best-selling lines. Photographer Nadia Gomos was one of the women who played an instrumental role in pushing the brand to consider its black and Asian customers.

4. This Is What It’s Like to Raise a Family in a Room the Size of a Parking Space – Emily Dugan

Simon Jacobs / Sian Butcher / BuzzFeed

A growing number of families are forced to live in a single room, sometimes for years, as councils struggle to house them appropriately. BuzzFeed News investigates a hidden housing scandal.

5. Here's What Ruby Wax Wants You to Know About Mindfulness – Maggy Van Eijk

Laura Gallant / Sian Butcher / BuzzFeed

BuzzFeed spoke to the comedian and mental health campaigner about her new book, Frazzled.

6. Why I Wear Insanely Bold Lipstick and You Should Too – Gena-mour Barrett

Gena-mour Barrett / Tim Lane / BuzzFeed

In this personal essay, BuzzFeed staff writer Gena-mour Barrett charts her journey from lipstick-shy to lipstick queen and how bold colours give her the chance to express herself and put her insecurities in their place.

7. Muslims Are Defying Conventions by Falling in Love on Instagram – Aisha Gani

Rebecca Hendin / Simon Jacobs / BuzzFeed

Young Muslims are increasingly going online to find their soulmate. But can fetishised “Insta-couples” really be the answer to the “marriage crisis”?

8. This Is What It’s Like to Face Your Sexual Abuser in Court After Four Decades – Patrick Strudwick

Rebecca Hendin

BuzzFeed News accompanied a key witness as he gave evidence against the teacher who abused him when he was a pupil at St Paul’s, one of Britain’s top private schools. This is the story of a life-changing courtroom confrontation.

9. Here’s Why People in Their Twenties and Thirties Are Living With Mum and Dad – Laura Gallant and Victoria Sanusi

Laura Gallant / Rebecca Hendin / BuzzFeed

One in four people in the UK in their late twenties or early thirties live at home with their parents, and the number has risen by 900,000 in 13 years. BuzzFeed News spoke to eight young adults living with their parents – including a musician, a couple, and an Oxford graduate – to hear their stories.

10. Here's What It's Like to Go Bankrupt at 30 – Daniel Dylan Wray

Sian Butcher / BuzzFeed

In this personal essay, BuzzFeed contributor Daniel Dylan Wray relates his descent into bankruptcy and the second chance that his financial struggles offered him.

11. These Women Are Proof the Housing Crisis Isn’t Just in London – Patrick Smith

Duncan Elliot / Tim Lane / BuzzFeed

12. How a Controversial Law Led to a Young Man Being Deported for a Murder He Didn’t Even Witness – Maeve McClenaghan

Supplied

Last year a landmark ruling gave hope of appeal to hundreds convicted under the criticised legal doctrine of joint enterprise. But it came too late for Edward Conteh.

13. Here’s How You Fight a By-Election in 2017 – Jim Waterson

Christopher Furlong / Getty Images

In Copeland it’s a case of balancing local newspaper coverage with attack leaflets and targeted Facebook adverts.

14. I'm a 40-Year-Old Professional and I Still Live With my Parents – Leon Walker

Rebecca Hendin / BuzzFeed

In this personal essay for BuzzFeed News' Housing Crisis Week, contributor Leon Walker discusses his experience of electing to stay in his teenage bedroom rather than drown in London rental schemes and impossible mortgages.

15. These Brits Found Creative Ways to Escape the Housing Crisis and They Couldn’t Be Happier – Matthew Tucker

James Clarke / Thomas Maddick / Rebecca Hendin / BuzzFeed

BuzzFeed News spoke to Brits who are making their bed in unorthodox places, sometimes under the radar of planning laws, including a student who lives in a van in Canterbury, sculptors who call a “world” of shipping containers their home, and a woman who guards empty properties from squatters.

16. How Barry Jenkins Made Magic With “Moonlight” – Gena-mour Barrett

Laura Gallant / Tim Lane / BuzzFeed

BuzzFeed spoke to Barry Jenkins, director and writer of Moonlight, in advance of the film's Oscar win for Best Picture. Jenkins discusses his artistic process and the autobiographical elements of the celebrated film.