"I was 22 when I escaped the fire that engulfed the entertainment complex Summerland. My partner, who I had been engaged to for two years, didn’t survive."

Persephone was a healthy child until the age of two when she first began to be affected by viral induced wheezes. 

"My friend Graham died after being struck by a faulty tail lift on his truck while unloading bread baskets at an Allied Bakery plant in Glasgow in July 2005. He was 40 years old."

"My young son and I often travelled along the Brixton Road to Stockwell Skatepark. I trusted that the authorities were monitoring the air and would let us know if we were in danger."

"My son Theo, who is six, was recently diagnosed with asthma. He coughs a lot less when he is out of the city and at night, because we have put an air purifier in his bedroom."

"In April 2002 my dad John Woods went to work and never came home. I was 18, and my world came crashing down."

"Before that day ended, the cries of excitement that rang within its plastic walls turned to screams of fright and pain."

"My friend Simon Jones was 24 when he was sent to work inside a ship at Shoreham dock. Within two hours on his first day his head had been crushed by a crane.

"I rented a basement flat in Stockwell for £1,700 a month. It is run by an old lady but the owner lives in Dubai. I heard he owns six similar buildings in London."