If you needed a boost on a Monday.

I went into this week not knowing what a dojo was and I’m ending it unable to stop singing, “I always thought it was a dojo, a dojo, a dojo…”

As Kemi Badenoch u-turns on deporting people who have lived here for decades, I wrote today’s column on Britain’s new wave of anti-migrant policy: pesky foreigners are milking the bloated benefits system. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Nobody had even heard of Katie Lam outside of Westminster until about two weeks ago. Literally all it takes to be considered "brilliant" and a "rising star" on the right of British politics now is just a willingness to say something slightly more racist than all of your competitors

This from X is a striking example of what I argue in today’s column. Reform and the Tories are out here gleefully saying disabled people on Motability should be forced to drive a 3-wheeler, like a scarlet letter. The stigma is not an accident - it’s the design.

“Attacks on immigration and benefits both rely on similar ugly prejudice: certain members of society “contribute” and others “cost”, and in the extreme, leech off the superior healthy and white population.” My col. on Britain’s new wave of anti-migrant policy. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

There are no words to describe the pain of Claire Throssell - whose two beautiful boys were murdered by their father after he was allowed contact despite her warnings - or her bravery at helping change the law. If only women like her had been believed sooner. www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

Mabel has had a minor operation and is currently being a very, very brave soldier.

I’m so glad to hear Tom has had a job offer from Asda after Waitrose behaved appallingly. But it shouldn’t take a national backlash for disabled people to be treated decently. www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

Does Trump not need permission to bulldoze part of the White House? Is a sitting President just allowed to make permanent changes to a historic building? It’s like a U.K. Prime Minister cutting half of Big Ben off because he’s in a bad mood.

If Twitter still existed, “I’m meant to bloody be on holiday this week, Paul!” would be morphing into the internet’s lexicon as I type. Just fantastic stuff. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

For today’s TV column, I previewed the new series of Nobody Wants This. Hot Rabbi is back and I have braved Netflix’s (very enthusiastic) embargo rules to tell you what he’s doing. www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...

“Rather than giving people “free cars”, the Motability scheme allows disabled people to use their PIP to lease new cars for 3 years.” My colleagues Rowena Mason and @guardianheather.bsky.social report with a disclaimer every media outlet should be using tonight. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

“I have decided, as I always have, to put my duty to my family and country first.” Top tier trolling to the very end, Andy. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

It was lovely to chat to Benedict Cooper for October’s Left Lion about Who Wants Normal? and what it was like to interview 50+ of Britain’s best known disabled women. Online here: leftlion.co.uk/features/202...

LAST CHANCE! Waterstones is running a pre-order offer on select titles - and the Who Wants Normal? paperback is included!  Be quick - it ends today - and you’ll get 25% off and be one of the first to receive the book next year: www.waterstones.com/book/who-wan...

In one crisp para — & the 2 charts he highlights — @chrisgiles.ft.com bursts a huge number of “welfare” myths www.ft.com/content/ee67...

If you like renovations and interior design, I’m documenting a 3 year building project over on my Instagram (frances.ryan85). It’s essentially a low scale Grand Designs if no one gets pregnant in a caravan or a £100k loan from their dad.

NEWS. Waterstones is running a pre-order offer on select titles - and the Who Wants Normal? paperback is included! You’ve got to be quick - it runs today until 17th - but you’ll get 25% off and be one of the first to receive the book next year: www.waterstones.com/book/who-wan...

“Israel forbade people from celebrating the prisoners’ release on Monday, firing teargas at family members and journalists waiting near Ofer prison.” Some Palestinians have been held prisoner with little food for decades but it was this detail that really got me. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...

This article is 6 months old but I found it a really compelling read and as someone who doesn't suffer from any condition not of my own making, I'm always trying to educate myself on how to be a better ally and advocate for people not like me (and people like me!) Highly encourage the read.

For this weekend’s TV column, I previewed Rylan and Prof Alice’s new show investigating the Essex witch trials. Think Blackadder crossed with CSI plus a sprinkle of Philomena Cunk. www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...

For Trump, the cruelty is the point.

I’m on TV column duty in today’s Saturday Guardian mag and previewing the greatest concept since monkey tennis: Rylan and Prof Alice go to Essex to play CSI and investigate women killed as witches in the 16th century. (Actually quite educational, tbf.) www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...

Nigel Farage accuses teachers of "poisoning our kids" on race issues. Here's a reminder of what teachers and fellow pupils at Farage's own school remember of his own views on that subject. www.adambienkov.co.uk/p/nigel-fara...

Really enjoying @jonathanliew.bsky.social’s new opinion column, including this excellent piece on the ethics of British comedians playing the Saudi Riyadh comedy festival. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

ME/CFS is a devastating condition that has long been denied, dismissed, psychologised and underdiagnosed. Research is at last starting to catch up with it, with glimmers of hope for those who have been left untreated for so long. There's a huge BUT coming ...🧵 www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

#Gaza #GazaGenocide Thanks to @theguardian.com for this extremely valuable article. Bookmarked. Have only just begun to study it. Incredibly sad yet dignified presentations. One example, in a screenshot. (No words can adequately convey the full sense of grief — and outrage — in such a story.)

This is devastating but hard to think of more important journalism. 18,457 children have been killed in Gaza (many more not accounted for). Here, The Guardian prints their names and beautiful faces and tells us what they were like before Israel stole their lives. www.theguardian.com/world/ng-int...

“The electoral decline of the Tories followed by the rise of Reform feels akin to an exterminator getting rid of the rats from your basement only to say he’s found a termite infestation rotting the walls. Out with one, in with another.” My col. on conference www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

“If last year’s general election marked the death of the Conservative party, this week’s conference in Manchester is the wake. Based on the policies unveiled in recent days, one can only assume there’s an open bar.” My col. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

“Tory conference 2025 has the air of your ex-boyfriend screaming incoherently on the driveway, begging for another chance. Suddenly, it’s very clear why you blocked his number.” My col. (following the mantra ‘if you didn’t laugh you’d cry’.) www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Apparently 5% of Reform voters think they are racist.

It can only be good news Labour will finally ditch the Tory’s two child limit. But doing so with caveats, like paying less for a later birth, misses the point of universal coverage. Every child has the same right to support. No ifs or buts. www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

Only the BMA could want to stop patients from being able to book an appointment online. Every practice needs more resources, of course, but the 8am scramble is hardly something doctors should be defending. God forbid the public has choice and control! www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

“Supporting racist policies does not make you a racist” is a top tier line for the Labour Party going into the week. Should go all the way and just make it the official conference slogan. Get that stuff drilled into Starmer’s lectern.

“We are no longer at the stage of vainly hoping Starmer will be someone else. That there’s a principled leader lurking who - with enough nudges - will make the right choices. We know who he is and the question is: is that enough? And if not, what next?” My col. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

“If it has felt at times to Starmer’s supporters over the past year he is held to account too harshly, to others, he has unforgivably thrown away a precious opportunity. That after 15 years of austerity, Brexit, and Partygate, things could be better.” My col. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Lovely to see this double page spread in Motability Lifestyle for my interview with the fab @carolinebutterwick.bsky.social. We spoke about my book Who Wants Normal? and tips on navigating life as a young disabled adult. (She writes, as an elderly millennial.)

Sorry, refuse to live in a timeline where news outlets fact check whether Royal swans are being eaten by migrants. Put Farage in a cupboard with a mic and let him talk to the walls. Leave the rest of us out of it.

The British media will have to reckon with how it reports Trump (and indeed, Farage) in the coming months. Giving false claims endless airtime will not work. Nor will clickbait “is Tylenol linked to autism?” headlines. There is a way to hold account without publicising him. We’ve not found it yet.

If you're not entitled to a free flu shot, you can get one privately from Asda for 60p(!!) as part of a promotional offer if you book online and can go before September ends. Here's the link: asda.cxmflow.com/OABS/Appoint...

“Your countries are going to hell. I can tell you, I’m really good at this stuff” is a 10/10 United Nations appearance. Just objectively fantastic stuff.

Whether it’s paracetamol or something else, Trump and co are perpetuating the idea autism is wrong and disability is an individual’s responsibility to avoid. It’s anti-science but it’s deeply ableist at its core. The goal is for non-disabled to be afraid and disabled people to be ashamed.

It was a pleasure to write the forward for this year’s Patient Experience Survey for NHS England. @patientlibrary.bsky.social Now more than ever, we need to listen to the people relying on the service (and that includes minorities like disabled people). www.patientlibrary.net/cgi-bin/down...

The av. Brit has a sense of fairness that runs through most polling (even regressive stuff like benefit cuts is often based on a false idea of fairness to workers). Whilst some will delight in this, Farage’s plan feels too far for even most Reform voters. Instinctively unfair and outright unjust.

“By Friday morning, Trump will be off British soil. But the crisis he represents will remain.” My col. on the state visit, the rising far right, and the normalisation of what is not normal. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

“Trump’s state visit to the UK is in essence realpolitik gaslighting, in which we are told a man who is threatening to take over the police force of the US capital should have been gifted the literal red carpet treatment (and the Red Arrows).” My col. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

It was an honour to be asked to write the forward for this year’s Patient Experience report on NHS England. @patientlibrary.bsky.social At a time when the NHS is struggling, more than ever we need to put patients and their feedback first. Read it here: www.patientlibrary.net/cgi-bin/down...

Can't we agree to reserve 'defect' for the act of a sitting MP and refer to cases like Caulfield as 'changes direct debit'?