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'?

Thanks to @sarahchave1.bsky.social for a copy of her new book! One for readers who love anything from nature writing, ecology, to Celtic mythology. Available here: www.waterstones.com/book/hafren/...

So happy for Jack Thorne (and Stephen Graham) winning the best writing Emmy for Adolescence. The script was fantastic but Jack has been putting out hits for years, tackling vital social issues and consistently elevating disabled talent. Well deserved doesn’t cover it.

There’s a real generational divide between Labour MPs leaking to the Guardian and Labour MPs leaking to the Huffington Post

Good to see Elon out there doing his best to calm things down in a moment like this

My greatest wish in life is for the guy doing graphics on iPlayer to understand what a spoiler is. A character coming back as a surprise? Maybe don’t use their picture for the episode thumbnail!

EXCLUSIVE - Today the Guardian is publishing the Boris Files A trove of leaked data from the office of Boris Johnson. It reveals how Johnson is using the relationships forged in the UK’s highest elected office to facilitate his personal enrichment. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Reform’s conference has actually been great for progressives because all you have to do to show these people up is give them a mic. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

I’m clearly exhausted but just find Liz Kendall being demoted from the DWP to “science secretary” very, very funny. Sounds an entirely made up department, like giving someone maths or PE.

Tax aside, this is objectively a very sad end to Rayner’s political career: a teenage single mum from a deprived family who went onto be deputy prime minister. The right wing press detested her for not knowing her place. Their glee at her downfall will be palpable in tomorrow’s front pages.

The photo choice! The Times casually out here behaving like a hard right blogger. Imagine a broadsheet treating a Deputy Prime Minister this way who was a white man who went to Oxford.

They have lost their fucking minds.

I look forward to every media outlet that platformed Nigel Farage and Reform for the entire summer now giving us wall-to-wall coverage of Zack Polanski and The Greens.

A new series of Only Murders in the Building starts on 9th September (Disney+)! Martin Sheen and Steve Martin are here to save us! All my problems will soon be solved!

“Labour’s summer has been defined by indifference and inaction, as a government elected on a landslide only a year ago acts as if it were a tired spectator helpless to the political winds - or whichever way Farage and the media blow them.” My col. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

“This summer, Farage has had the air of a conman seeing how long he can get away with playing at prime minister before anyone notices.”  My col. on MIA Starmer and Farage gleefully filling the void. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

This is such a sad letter. Why are your family walking faster than you can? I hope Annalisa’s right that communication will help but evidence suggests: men are more likely to leave when their wife gets sick (and some people are married to someone they don’t like). www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

For those who read about Mabel’s birthday in this week’s Guardian, here she is at today’s Parkrun modelling her present: a Hay collar. She’s decided to turn down sponsorship deals because she thinks it’s tacky but is keen for any gifted tummy tickles.

It’s been a fun week at G2 and this was special: for the childhood outfits series, I wrote about dressing in my Nan’s knitting. Normal service will resume on Monday. As Parliament returns, I go back to the misery of British politics. www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

For anyone who always wanted to see 4 year old me in a cardigan and sunglasses (weird), today’s your lucky day! For G2’s favourite childhood outfits series, I wrote about my Nan’s knitting. www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

Twenty years ago, I did work experience at the Nottingham Post. This is a pathetic attack on the free press by Reform councillors and no surprise Lee Anderson is supporting it. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

I can’t say how pleased I am to have got Mabel into today’s Guardian.

I’ve got the honour of covering for Adrian Chiles in today’s paper, so I started with the pressing issue of the day: should you celebrate a pet’s birthday? www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

They live in luxury accommodation and hang out idly in our streets. It’s the foreign invasion to Britain that has plagued our shores this summer: US celebrities. In today’s G2, I make jokes for political reasons. Also cos it’s fun. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Big shoes to fill, I’m covering for Adrian Chiles in tomorrow’s G2. Finally, I can speak about the foreign invasion cursing Britain this summer. American celebrities. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

The real problem with Nigel Farage's plan for mass deportations is that he hasn't planned it out properly, suggests Labour

Actively resent the fact we’re expected to listen to a press conference on “mass deportations” as if this is a perfectly normal, mainstream thing and not the unhinged rantings of a racist who is somehow on my television.

“What would it mean to disabled women if they could read about others navigating the same things they were? What would it feel like if those experiences weren’t hidden but celebrated?” For September’s British Vogue, I wrote about my new book, health and body image. www.vogue.co.uk/article/vogu...

The King of the Hill reboot is both comforting nostalgia and a dystopian lesson on a changing America. Dale - once an outlier conspiracy theorist - is now mainstream. (“I ran for mayor on an anti-mask platform. All masks. Even tear gas.”)

Sections of the media and politicians are making an incredible effort this summer to convince the public Britain is overcome with an anti-migrant movement. In reality, it’s the far right and a few angry locals who will go back inside once it gets a bit chilly.

“Serena Williams’s greatness is beyond any credible dispute. But her embrace of [weight loss jabs] is a reminder that even the most untouchable of legends can be co-opted, and that in a society obsessed with shrinking, even our icons are made to disappear.” www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/a...

It’s Mabel’s 4th birthday today and she’s waiting at the door for her gifts somewhat expectantly.

The thing you don’t see about lengthy libel cases like this is the mental impact on witnesses - and on news outlets’ willingness to do similar stories. Respect to all the women who chose to go to court to defend this story - plus Sirin Kale, Lucy Osborne, Paul Lewis and the Guardian team.

I love this illustration by Thomas Pullin in today’s Guardian to accompany my column on the surge in private healthcare amongst the young. Just the right element of menacing.

“Existing as a disabled woman in the world can feel like straddling a constantly moving line: we must prove that we are “normal” while somehow not feeling shame that we are different.”  My piece in the September issue of British Vogue is now online: www.vogue.co.uk/article/vogu...

A ludicrously adorable dog. Should probably be illegal.

“Private healthcare in the U.K. is increasingly framed as a necessity rather than a luxury. The strategy is clear enough: starve the NHS of resources, drive down quality and availability, and patients will get used to looking elsewhere.” Today’s col. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Obviously the smears against this man are incredibly libellous - and it says a lot about access to the law that he wouldn't be able to afford to Lord McAlpine these fuckers - but at what point does the government clock that it needs to get a grip on this raging online fire of fascist hate?

BREAKING NEWS: The Treasury has discovered huge amounts of wealth is tied up in property! And governments can tax that and use it to pay for public services! More on this when we have it. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Half of millennials in the UK are planning to use private healthcare in the next year. For this week’s column, I wrote about why that’s bad news for the NHS’s future (and a sign of the slippery slope certain forces are working very hard to grease). www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Catching up on AJLT and almost had a fit when Carrie said “Kesteven and Grantham Girls’ School” in the scene about Margaret Thatcher. Never thought there’d come a day when Sarah Jessica Parker discussed my secondary school and yet it seems so right.

I’m in the September issue of British Vogue with a personal piece on writing Who Wants Normal? and the (often complex) relationship between disability, health and body image.

Mabel thinks she invented lifting her front paws up and I don’t plan on breaking it to her.

What a cover! Whilst the US fumbles, British Vogue always nails the September issue. (Excited to have a piece in there myself. More soon.)

It’s hard to comprehend what a terrible, toxic idea it is to release the ethnicity of criminal suspects. It won’t counter misinformation - it will falsely link crimes with race, not least when the police are frequently institutionally racist themselves. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

It got mixed reviews but I loved Too Much (Netflix). Two great leads, engaging writing, and endless cameos. You can’t give me Richard E Grant and Naomi Watts high on coke in Notting Hill and leave me disappointed.