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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Rachel Hall

‘You have to stand out’: six Dagenham teenagers on their future prospects

A composite of three teenagers facing away with a Barking and Dagenham sign in the background
Dagenham is one of the UK’s most-deprived areas, but the teenagers the Guardian spoke to had ambitions of successful, fulfilling lives. Composite: Guardian Design/Getty Images

Zainab Shehzadi has a long list of worries: robots stealing jobs from humans, the damage wreaked on the climate by previous generations, turmoil in other countries, fighting fierce competition to secure a job that pays enough to live a comfortable life.

It’s a lot for a 17-year-old to take on, but she sees it as a reflection of the uncertain world she has grown up in. “We’re living in an age where everything is changing very rapidly,” she says.

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