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The Guardian
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Guardian writer Frances Ryan named one of Vogue's 25 women ‘defining Britain'
Guardian writer Frances Ryan has been named one of Vogue magazine's 25 women 'defining Britain', stating her work covering the rights of disabled people had become 'essential reading'. The publication said Ryan's efforts to spotlight the lives of disabled people were 'needed more than ever', with official statistics suggesting that a quarter of people in the UK report some kind of disability. It has been an increasing proportion of the population since 2014. Vogue, which has run the list since 2018, pointed to Ryan's work 'lifting the lid on the government's cuts to disability benefits or giving insight into highly emotive topics such as the assisted dying bill'. It also praised her recent book, Who Wants Normal?. Ryan said: 'It's ironic – or just very fitting – that I made the list in part because of a book I wrote this year arguing disabled women deserve a place in British culture. 'I'm really touched to be included and I hope it's another step in the climb to see many more women that look like me (and a lot that don't).' Her recent work has included coverage of a letter signed by more than 100 of the UK's most high-profile disabled people calling on Keir Starmer to abandon 'inhumane and catastrophic plans to cut disability benefits'. The Vogue 25 also recognised Amal Clooney, the human rights barrister. She was recognised for her work defending 'those who have suffered systemic abuse, particularly women and girls who have been victims of sexual violence'. It also included England footballer Lucy Bronze, whose aunt once threatened to sue the FA over a rule that meant Bronze was no longer allowed to play with boys' teams at the age of 12. The current Chelsea full-back has played for Liverpool, Manchester City, Lyon and Barcelona. Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion Others in the list include Labour's Rachel Reeves, the first female chancellor, Pamela Maynard, Microsoft's first chief AI transformation officer, Nicola Packer, who was acquitted of having an illegal abortion, theatre impresario Sonia Friedman and Princess Anne.
The Guardian
13-04-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Who Wants Normal? The Disabled Girls' Guide to Life by Frances Ryan review
When Frances Ryan began writing her second book she could hardly have guessed that it would acquire a supercharged degree of relevance by being published in the immediate wake of another programme of brutal cuts to disability benefits, this time by a Labour government. Ryan's acclaimed 2019 debut, Crippled: Austerity and the Demonisation of Disabled People, was a piece of political reportage documenting the effects of austerity measures by coalition and Conservative governments, through a combination of research and first-hand interviews with disabled people whose experiences illustrated the human cost behind the statistics. Who Wants Normal? takes a more conversational approach. A hybrid memoir-polemic-advice-manual, the book examines more personal topics such as body image, dating and relationships, specifically as these relate to disabled women. But if the personal is always political for women, this goes tenfold for women living with disabilities; as Ryan shows, even something as ordinary as going to the pub with friends can be a minefield for anyone who has limited mobility, sensory challenges or who uses a wheelchair. Almost every aspect of life for disabled women is affected by societal attitudes and basic infrastructure that can combine to deny access, from the intimate matters of sex and clothing, to more obviously structural issues of healthcare, education and representation, all of which she tackles here with robust analysis and wry humour. In recent years, Ryan has become one of the most authoritative voices on representation and policy as they relate to disabled people in the UK, though she bridles at the fact that she is frequently described as the Guardian's 'disability columnist', 'despite this role not existing at the paper and my work focusing on politics'. As a wheelchair user from childhood, who now also lives with the effects of chronic illness, Ryan writes from a perspective still all-too-rare in mainstream publications – as she notes in her chapter on representation, 'disabled women working in the media are essentially like Superman and Clark Kent: you never see them in a room at the same time'. She takes a broad definition of her subject, citing the statistic that almost a quarter of people in the UK say they have some form of disability; among her high-profile interviewees she includes not only women with visible physical impairments, but those living with 'hidden' disabilities such as Crohn's, ME or endometriosis, as well as bipolar disorder, depression and neurodivergence. 'No one really talks about what it is to be a disabled woman, especially a young one,' she writes, and in the chapter on relationships she discusses the importance of finding a community with whom you can discuss – and laugh about – shared experiences. This book is a way of offering that community to readers, who will find here stories to inspire, enrage and encourage from women with a range of disabilities who have successfully navigated careers in politics, sport, entertainment, medicine, psychology and media, often in spite of significant barriers. But it would be a shame if the subtitle deterred non-disabled readers, because there are so many accounts here that highlight issues that remain largely invisible to those who have not experienced them, and which need to be solved collectively. Perhaps the most striking aspect of the book, though, is its frequently celebratory tone. There is plenty to be angry about in the way disabled women are treated, as Ryan's blistering columns since the recent welfare cuts have shown, but Who Wants Normal? is also a defiant call to embrace what she calls 'disabled joy', to show disabled women living full and happy lives as a counter to the stereotypes. Non-disabled women could learn valuable lessons about self-acceptance and the radical rejection of beauty standards from her chapter on body image, and the women she has chosen to interview are the kind of role models Ryan says she wishes she had had growing up: a final chapter consists of pithy life advice from each of her main contributors, who include Jameela Jamil, Katie Piper, and Tanni Grey-Thompson, among many others. At a time when disability continues to be misunderstood, questioned and vilified, Ryan offers a vision of how much disabled women already contribute to society, and how much more might be possible with a more imaginative shift in perspective, both individually and politically. Who Wants Normal? by Frances Ryan is published by Fig Tree (£18.99). To support the Guardian and Observer order your copy at Delivery charges may apply. The audiobook, read by Ruth Madeley, is also out now
The Guardian
27-03-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Shameless welfare cuts are a betrayal of Labour voters
Many Labour supporters, including myself, have waited a decade and a half for Labour to return to government and bring about a sea change in the governance of the country. We are now beginning to wonder why we bothered. Labour in opposition promised to ensure that the public would see a significant improvement in essential public services and in their economic wellbeing, but there is a fundamental flaw and inherent dishonesty in this government pretending it can achieve this while adopting an economic policy clothed in a self-imposed straitjacket. Rachel Reeves's spring statement (Rachel Reeves accused of balancing books on back of UK's poorest, 26 March) further exacerbates the chasm between her party's ambitions in opposition and its achievements in government. A year ago, Frances Ryan asked: What's the point of Starmer's Labour if it won't stand up for poor, sick or disabled people? That is just one of the questions that many of us are beginning to RiddleWirksworth, Derbyshire 'Welfare savings from withdrawing or cutting incapacity benefits'; 'Thousands of public sector jobs to go'; 'Government departments facing major cuts to their budgets'. Sound familiar? Headlines from George Osborne's spending review in 2010. That went really well, didn't it? Good job Labour has learned lessons from that. Still, at least it saved money by copying and pasting from Loschi Oldham, Greater Manchester So all disabled people who want to work will be supported in obtaining secure and well-paid jobs as part of Labour's drive to reduce welfare costs and get Britain working. I recall a previous Labour government targeting disabled people by withdrawing financial support to some Remploy factories under the guise of helping those people affected to secure work in open employment. As feared at the time by disability groups, the reality was that the scheme was really about reducing welfare costs. The majority of people who lost their job at a Remploy factory faced long-term unemployment and loss of independence and self-worth. History will repeat itself with this Labour government's shameless attack on disabled MaherLiverpool I am sickened that a Labour chancellor, confronted with an unfavourable financial forecast, thinks the only course of action is to expect the poorest in society to have their income reduced to fill the gap. Our system is awash with tax breaks for the better-off. Rachel Reeves is behaving exactly as I would expect a Tory chancellor to, which is not what I, or the rest of those who voted Labour, wanted out of a new RennieGerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire Like Jon Burnell (Letters, 25 March), I too am appalled by this Labour government. As a member since 1960, I see a party that is led by a former human rights lawyer who cannot tolerate dissent, that echoes the cruelty of the last Conservative government, and that implements economic policies which seek to penalise the most needy and vulnerable. I have started to ask myself when does loyalty become an endorsement of the unacceptable? I am going to find it very difficult to renew my membership next RedmanNew Eltham, London Do you think Keir Starmer, Rachel Reeves and the rest of this welfare-cutting cabinet can wash the lower halves of their bodies themselves? I just cannot believe that it is a Labour government that is targeting disabled people in such a shameful way. We would have been a better society under another Rishi Sunak government – and I have been a Labour voter all my long life. I can't vote Labour now, not while this lot are in StaplesSouthampton I have been a Labour supporter all my life, but I am appalled by the spring statement. I know that Rachel Reeves loves savings, so I have today resigned my Labour membership and will be donating the money saved to Save the Children RozanskiLondon If that's not austerity, I'm a spring onion!Jol MiskinSheffield Do you have a photograph you'd like to share with Guardian readers? If so, please click here to upload it. A selection will be published in our Readers' best photographs galleries and in the print edition on Saturdays.
The Guardian
10-02-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
Benefits system should protect, not punish, vulnerable people
Frances Ryan underestimates the effect of repeated attacks on benefits claimants and the damage that the potential changes being floated would unleash (As Labour touts more brutal cuts to benefits, how is this different from life under the Tories?, 5 February). As a mental health clinician, I cannot emphasise enough how many relapses have been triggered by the relentless media drumbeat about 'cracking down' on benefits. This is not just political rhetoric; it lodges in the psyche, feeding precarity and self-doubt. When the government frames itself as the defender of the public purse at the expense of 'fraudulent' claimants, it makes nearly all claimants feel like frauds. To combine this with the terrifying reality of what these speculative reforms could mean – sanctions for those too unwell to comply with back-to-work schemes, and the appalling prospect of removing or gutting the limited capability for work and work-related activity (LCWRA) group that overwhelmingly consists of people at substantial risk of mental collapse – is unconscionable. There are countless reforms that could be pursued without targeting society's most vulnerable, starting with reducing the Department for Work and Pensions' appalling record of underpayments and wrongful accusations that push claimants into crisis. A system built on trust rather than suspicion would not only cost less but would also reaffirm Labour's founding values. It's not too late for it to prove that it still stands for dignity, not destitution – by protecting, not punishing, those who need support the Jay WattsLondon Thank you, Frances Ryan, for highlighting a phrase beloved of our government that deeply troubles me: 'working people'. Even worse, 'working families'. If you are unable to work by virtue of age, ill health or disability, and have the temerity to be single, you are not a priority. You will also be expected to bear the brunt of the nightmare fiscal inheritance from the last government while wealthy individuals and multinationals remain untroubled by suggestions of tax increases. Many who voted Labour will not do so again, myself included, because we are sickened by the expansion of gross inequality between the poorest and most vulnerable and the O'BrienLondon Have an opinion on anything you've read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.
The Guardian
31-01-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Friday briefing: How do you fix Britain's broken disability benefits system?
Good morning. A new public accounts committee report has found that disability benefit claimants are receiving 'unacceptably poor service' from the government, waiting on average 10 times longer than other claimants for their calls to be answered. Meanwhile, rising DWP underpayments are leaving many at greater risk of hardship. For the past year, the Labour party has taken a contradictory approach to social security. It wants to move away from the harshness of austerity, yet its rhetoric remains rooted in pledges to be 'ruthless' in cutting the 'spiralling' benefits bill and prioritising 'working people'. Campaigners and charities warn that much of this language echoes the punitive 'welfare crackdowns' of previous governments. For today's newsletter, I spoke with Guardian columnist, and author of Crippled: austerity and the demonisation of disabled people, Frances Ryan and social policy editor Patrick Butler about what this report reveals about the government's stance on disability benefits. That's right after the headlines. US news | Investigators recovered the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder from the airplane involved in Wednesday night's midair collision with a US military helicopter that killed all 67 people onboard both aircraft. The crash has raised questions over whether understaffing in an air traffic control tower played a role in the United States' worst aviation disaster in years. Israel-Gaza war | Three Israelis and five Thai citizens held in Gaza have been freed, as Donald Trump's Middle East envoy met hostages' relatives, reportedly telling them he was optimistic the ceasefire would hold to allow the return of all the living and the dead. UK news | An 'epidemic of violence against women and girls' in the UK is getting worse despite years of government promises and strategies, a highly critical report from Whitehall's spending watchdog has said. Denmark | Almost half of Danish people now consider the US to be a considerable threat to their country and the overwhelming majority oppose Greenland leaving to become part of the US, new polling has found. Health | A 'groundbreaking' £1.65m treatment offering a potential cure for people in England living with sickle cell disease has been approved for use on the NHS, the medicines watchdog has announced. 'Any difficulty people are experiencing now isn't new,' says Frances. 'It comes after over a decade of incredibly tough, impoverishing years.' Fourteen years of cost-cutting benefits policies under successive Conservative governments have left disability benefit claimants facing significant hardship. But does Labour have a plan to remedy the problem? Why is it hard to get someone on the phone? The issues raised in the public accounts committee report have been around for years without being properly addressed. One key factor behind the long wait times is the DWP's shift to a digital-first system, which has proved challenging for those without reliable internet access. 'A lot of claimants can't easily use digital communication, so they resort to traditional methods like the telephone – which, of course, requires people to answer,' says Patrick. 'But, like all large bureaucracies, the DWP is under immense pressure to cut staff, so fixing this issue won't be quick or easy.' AI and automation promise a system that runs without human administrators, but no matter how advanced the technology, 'you still need to make qualitative judgments about a person's entitlement to disability benefits,' Patrick adds. The public accounts committee also highlights another problem: the complexity and length of the application process, particularly for personal independence payments (Pip), claimed by 3.6 million people nationwide. Many of these people are trying to get assistance to apply which extends wait times further. Disability campaigners note that for vulnerable claimants, the lack of support makes an already difficult process even harder. The impact When people are unable to access the welfare they are entitled to, it can be 'crushing', says Frances. The financial hardship that follows means disabled people are more likely to rely on food banks and be pushed into desititution. But these barriers have wider ripple effects, too, particularly on claimants' mental health. Research by the disability charity Sense found that almost half of people with complex disabilities say the benefits application process is so stressful that it worsens their condition. 'It's hard to grasp unless you've been reliant on state support just how vulnerable and powerless you can feel,' Frances says. 'All you can do is get on the phone and desperately ask for help.' In many cases, these benefits are the primary way that people are able to pay for essentials like food, energy and the extra costs of disability. 'You are completely dependent on an organisation that isn't doing its job, and you have almost no power to change that,' she adds. The government's stance During the election campaign, Keir Starmer pledged to 'never turn our backs on people who are struggling'. However, his approach to tackling poverty focuses on moving more people into work and reducing reliance on benefits – ultimately cutting the welfare bill rather than increasing financial support for those that need it. 'The Treasury is making it clear that fiscal discipline will take priority over anything else,' says Patrick. The controversial decision to means-test the winter fuel allowance reflects the government's willingness to stick with divisive measures to meet its financial targets. Another looming issue is the planned £3bn cut to incapacity benefits. The Treasury has confirmed that these reductions – introduced by the previous government – will proceed, with changes set to take effect from September. A judge recently ruled that an official consultation setting out the proposals was misleading and unlawful. The quickest way to make such large-scale cuts is through 'crude reductions in eligibility', Patrick explains. 'Fewer people will qualify, and those already claiming will see their entitlements shrink.' This could mean more than 400,000 incapacity benefit claimants losing £416 a month. 'At that point,' Patrick warns, 'you're effectively driving people into poverty – or even deeper into it.' This mix of compassionate rhetoric and harsh policy choices risks making the government seem 'wildly disingenuous,' Frances says. 'If nobody really knows what your principles or intentions are, it only fuels the deep distrust people already feel – understandably – towards politicians.' Fraud crackdown The DWP has often pointed to fraud as a key reason why they have not been able to properly address the issue of underpayments. And there is a kernel of truth to this. Since the pandemic there has been an increase in benefits fraud. However, disability benefit fraud has remained about 1%, and rather than lazy individuals sponging off the state, much of the rise is actually due to organised crime groups exploiting weaknesses in the digital universal credit system. The public accounts committee has criticised what it called the department's 'dangerous mindset', insisting that its priority should be to 'improve its defences and ensure benefit claimants receive the right amount of money' rather than penalising individuals in need. Frances also highlights how the government often conflates fraud with error, making them seem interchangeable when they are fundamentally different. Errors can result from claimants unintentionally failing to report a change in circumstances or from mistakes made by the DWP itself. 'This government talks a lot about not abandoning people on disability or incapacity benefits,' says Patrick. 'But the problem is that so much of this is framed around getting people off benefits to make cuts,' which will likely only make peoples quality of life worse. Oliver Wainwright took a mosy round the UK's biggest toy fair – apparently the future is collectible bugs in fake Chinese takeaway and weird toilet/head figurines. Kids, eh? Toby Moses, head of newsletters Hannah Ellis-Petersen's dispatch from Prayagraj lays out what led to the crowd crush at the Kumbh Mela – the largest religious gathering in the world – and why the festival continues despite 30 fatalities. Nimo Who wore it best, Tim D, or Timothée C? Our intrepid reporter takes on the man bag challenge to see if he can pull off the look being sported by everyone from the star of Wonka to Pharrell Williams. Toby It's the 60th anniversary of James Brown's Papa's Got a Brand New Bag, so Alexis Petridis did what we all wanted him to do: rank the forefather of funk's best albums. Nimo Claes Bang is on fine form in our reader interview, talking about playing Dracula, working with Jagger and having to live with a rather unfortunate nickname from his time in Bad Sisters: 'It happened last summer in Copenhagen at a music festival. Someone came running after me and said: 'Hey, you're the prick, aren't you?' Thanks, Sharon Horgan.' Toby Football | Second-half goals by Diogo Dalot and Kobbie Mainoo helped Manchester United see off Steaua 2-0 and ease into the last 16 of the Europa League. They were joined by Tottenham, after a young Spurs side left it late to eventually defeat Swedish side Elfsborg 3-0, offering some respite for manager Ange Postecoglou. Rangers claimed the eighth and final direct place in the last 16 with a nervy 2-1 win over their Belgian visitors Union SG at Ibrox. Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion Ice skating | The figure skating world united in grief after it emerged as many as 14 skaters and coaches, including two 16-year-olds and a married pair of world champions, were onboard the American airlines plane that crashed into the Potomac river in Washington DC on Wednesday night. Cricket | England are not ones for 'reining it in' with the bat according to Ben Duckett, the opener defending his side's six-hitting approach as they attempt to launch a comeback in the five-match Twenty20 international series against India. Most of today's front pages feature images of sixties icon Marianne Faithfull, who died aged 78, including the Guardian, whose lead story is 'Watchdog: women face an epidemic of violence', on a report from the National Audit Office. i leads on 'Treat patients at home to prevent bed blocking, Streeting tells health bosses'. The Financial Times reports 'Headwinds and stagnating growth drive ECB to quarter point rate cut'. The Times says 'Legal chief 'is freezing policy'', while the Telegraph has 'Tenth of farmland axed for net zero'. The Mirror splashes with 'Shameful', on anger at US President Donald Trump blaming diversity hiring for the deadly aircraft crash near Washington DC. Our critics' roundup of the best things to watch, read, play and listen to right now Music Sharon Van Etten and the Attachment Theory | ★★★★☆An act of 'total collaboration' from an artist previously thought of as an auteur, Van Etten's new album presents her not as a solo artist but the frontwoman of a band. There are big choruses and lovely melodies that speak to Van Etten's songwriting craftsmanship, but the overall mood is both hazy and a little tense. That feels fitting. These are songs filled with confusion and foreboding, which leave questions unanswered: 'Do you believe in compassion for enemies?' 'Who wants to live for ever?' 'Why can't you see it from the other side?' Bold and fresh, this is not a complete reinvention so much as an unexpected left turn that takes the artist at its centre somewhere new. Alexis Petridis Film Before Sunrise | ★★★★★ Not a romcom, not a romantic drama, but just … a romance, a brief encounter on a train without heartache, a strange and wonderful moment-by-moment miracle that never seems cloying or absurd. Richard Linklater's film from 1995 is now rereleased for its 30th anniversary. The goateed and sweetly conceited twentysomething Jesse, played by Ethan Hawke, is on a train to Vienna when the smart and beautiful Céline, insouciantly played by Julie Delpy, sits down opposite him and they start talking. You can feel Jesse's heart-thumping nerves as he suggests to Céline that she forget about her plans to go to Paris and instead get off the train with him to hang out in Vienna for 24 hours. It is the lightness of this film which is still charming; Jesse and Céline are free from everything, free from work worries or family cares, but they are also free from the gravity of cause-and-effect, the world of consequences and responsibilities. They bounce and float around the streets of Vienna like astronauts of love. Peter Bradshaw TV Mo season two | ★★★★★ The self-starring, semi-autobiographical vehicle of comic Mo Amer, the series was last on Netflix back in 2022. Its opening season introduced us to Mo Najjar, a refugee who – like the real-life Mo – had arrived in Houston, Texas, as a child when his Palestinian family fled the Gulf war. An immigration raid spooks Mo's boss at a phone store, leaving him jobless and forced to sell knockoff goods out of his car. By the final episode, Mo is stranded in Mexico, trying to outrun a people-smuggling coyote gang. It's in Mexico that season two begins, with Mo living it up as a lucha libre wrestler and playing with a mariachi band in scenes that have more than a touch of magical realism. Of course, he's actually living in a world of pain, marooned in Mexico with no legal route to return to the US for his crucial asylum hearing. It's here that Amer highlights the horrifying reality of illegal border crossings and the desperate people who attempt them. It's surely one of the most heart-rending things you'll watch on TV this year. Hannah J Davies Book The City Changes Its Face by Eimear McBride Eimear McBride does extraordinary things with language. It is the 1990s, north London, an area dirtier and poorer than it is now. Eily, a teenage drama student, and Stephen, an established actor with a traumatic past, have been living together. Something awful has happened. In the sections headed Now they are having an agonised conversation about that event. They move from pleas and accusations to a row, followed by penitence and confessions and, at last, a reconciliation. This book-long conversation is interspersed with retrospective sections in which we are shown, in scattered episodes, how they arrived at this point. As the two narratives converge on the awful event, its nature is gradually revealed. The event is easily guessed, but there is more to it, the final twist having as much to do with McBride's narrative form as it does with her story. It's a complex structure, skilfully controlled. But McBride's originality is most striking in the way she handles words. Lucy Hughes-Hallett How DeepSeek stunned the AI industry Why is the US technology industry worried about Chinese company DeepSeek? Robert Booth reports. A bit of good news to remind you that the world's not all bad Move over, wild swimming: here's ice diving, which was launched as a leisure activity a few decades ago but has found new life in a 21st century not short of people looking for extreme ways to experience nature. Mike MacEacheran chills the bones with his account of a night dive in a frozen mountain lake in the French Alps – but he draws out the mind-stretching potential of the activity, too. The key element is accessibility: no experience is necessary, though divers must be 140cm tall or more and at least eight years old, the oldest so far being an 83-year-old woman. 'Time slows in this magical, watery world,' he writes. 'It's one of those rare moments in life … that seem to transcend the ordinary.' Sign up here for a weekly roundup of The Upside, sent to you every Sunday And finally, the Guardian's puzzles are here to keep you entertained throughout the day. Until Monday. Quick crossword Cryptic crossword Wordiply
