Hanif Kureishi speaks candidly about life in a wheelchair after breaking neck in fall

Hanif Kureishi has opened up on life in a wheelchair, revealing that his new ambition is to one day be able to walk to his local Gail’s. Appearing on BBC Radio 4 on Saturday (8 November), the author, who broke his neck in a fall three years ago, discussed how he is coming to terms with his disability, saying that the world now “looks down at you”. He confessed that his new goal is to be able to leave his chair and “leg it up to the coffee shop on the end of the street”, where he will “eat a cheesy twizzle stick”. Mr Kureishi said he considers it to be his “great walk to freedom”, and compared himself to Nelson Mandela, “coming out of prison and walking to freedom’.