I know a pregnant primary school teacher who is giving up her job for a flexible admin role because her wages won't cover childcare costs of 2 children under-3. Why do we just accept that in this country? Seriously - we can revolt for football, but we just shrug at this bullshit?
Dutch haulier union rep turns instant legend on
#R4Today
: “The EU workers we speak to will not go to the UK for a short-term visa to help the UK out of the shit they created themselves.” Well, there is that like.
Tell you what lads- fix
#maternitycare
so we feel safe, fix
#childscare
so working doesn’t cost more than our wages,fix
#maternitydiscrimination
so we don’t get sacked, make work
#flex
so we can do our jobs and have kids and we’ll think about having more
England's deputy chief medical officer Jonathan Van Tam asked about Dominic Cummings: "I’m quite happy to answer. In my opinion the rules are clear & they have always been clear. In my opinion they are there for the benefit of all & in my opinion they apply to all"
#WhamBamVanTam
The former
@VictimsComm
@VeraBaird
has kept her powder dry since resigning from her role in September, but in an exclusive interview with
@guardian
she says the role of a victims’ champion has been “deceptively and deliberately” undermined 1/5
That man
@MarcusRashford
;s Twitter feed right now has got me in tears - seeing all the pubs, restaurants and cafes who are financially on their knees right now doing the job the government refused to and offering kids free meals to stop them going hungry is life-affirming
Since Sarah Everard was abducted 52 women have been killed where a man is the principal suspect, according to
@K_IngalaSmith
's Counting Dead Women. At least 83 women are suspected to have been killed by men since the start of 2021
#femicide
Just heard that
@speedomick
has received a video from a group of school kids in Ghana cheering him on - now THAT is spreading the love. I write about a lot of grim things so it was nice to be able to write about an amazing fellow Blue.
#EFC
#UTFT
The Reverend Nigel Sinclair had travelled from Leeds for the
#TrumpBabyBlimp
protest. “I wanted to make sure middle England was represented,” he said. “His politics are obscene and I felt like I had to make the journey to take part.”
In recent years, a woman has been killed by a man every 3 days in the UK on average, and yet most of their stories have gone unheard. The
@guardian
Killed Women Count project wants to help change that. Huge thanks to
@CountDeadWomen
for their vital work >
It'll get lost a bit in the noise today but this is BIG. The gov DID discriminate against self-employed mothers during pandemic, the court of appeal rules. But, you know, the situation was fast-moving so it's ok that new mums were the collateral damage
Love my job. Had the great pleasure of speaking to the incredible
@speedomick
this morning - the scouser walking from John O'Groats to Lands End in his "shreddies". Read below and donate here:
I’ve been in
#Finland
this week, reporting on a row about a government minister’s link to extremist groups, and the reaction of people here in Helsinki.
"She remains as Minister for Women and Equalities". While doing one of the Great Offices of State. Tells you everything you need to know about the value put on that role by this government.
The Rt Hon Elizabeth Truss MP
@trussliz
has been appointed Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs
@FCDOGovUK
She remains as Minister for Women and Equalities
@GEOgovuk
#Reshuffle
Boos -and some applause - as Steven van de Velde, who was convicted of raping a 12-year-old British girl when he was 19, enters the Stadium with his partner Matthew Immers. The boos were more audible when he was later introduced separately
#PARIS2024
How do you kick women in the teeth? Tell them on
#IWD2022
that you have no plans to look at the crippling cost of
#childcare
- the single greatest barrier to gender equality in the UK
@PregnantScrewed
>>
I've been given some depressing commissions in my time but "how to prepare for a good Christmas in case you have to go into isolation" might be the nadir. If you give me some funny suggestions - you might well make it into the Guardian!
#journorequest
The UK Government's support scheme for the self-employed gives no consideration to women who are on maternity leave.
Maternity leave is not a sabbatical, or sick leave, or a holiday, and Ministers must end this discrimination - affecting 75,000 mothers - now!
@PregnantScrewed
I’m off to Finland today to learn more about how that excellent nation treats parents, deals with childcare and is trying- again- to increase the number of dads taking parental leave. Excited to leave these shores for the first time in more than two years!
#dreamjob
Then
@carolvorders
adds: "It like going back 100 years [...] women make up almost half of the workforce. These are the two women in government who are meant to representing the female population. I was disgusted to be perfectly honest, by both of them absolutely disgusted"
Really pleased to get the splash in today’s paper.
@caelainnbarr
and I have had nothing but support and encouragement from every
@guardian
editor we’ve worked with since we became obsessed with the CJS’s failure of
#rape
victims- I can’t tell you how much that means.
@alexlloydjourno
But if you have kids a couple of years apart it's actually more like a 5 -6 year window and that is a brutal impact on your career and finances
Note to politicians: affordable high quality child care is a vote winner you guys. Seriously. There is not a parent in the land who is not pissed off about it.
I know a pregnant primary school teacher who is giving up her job for a flexible admin role because her wages won't cover childcare costs of 2 children under-3. Why do we just accept that in this country? Seriously - we can revolt for football, but we just shrug at this bullshit?
Astonishingly important and compelling reporting by
@david_conn
. With credit to
@GoodLawProject
who have been tireless in its pursuit for transparency over government Covid contracts.
Michelle Mone’s lawyers sent us fierce denials that she was involved in PPE Medpro;
Company was “proud” its PPE “helped keep our NHS workers safe”;
In fact the gowns, for which the govt paid £122m, were rejected after inspection, never used in the NHS.
My timeline is full of men telling me that the
#GenderPayGap
is not a real thing, and that new reporting requirements will make things worse for women. And that I'm conflating
#EqualPayForEqualWork
and the
#GenderPayGap
. I'm really not, and it really won't. 🙄
Never one to mince her words, Baird accuses justice sec, Dominic Raab, of seeking a “puppet on a string” while he undermines the rights of victims with his proposed bill of rights which would "affect victims of VAWG and women's "ability to drive the police to do better"2/6
I'm so proud of my
@guardian
colleagues in Ukraine who are doing such a consistently brilliant and important job in a horrendously difficult situation. Thank you
@shaunwalker7
@_EmmaGH
@lukeharding1968
and Peter Beaumont 👏
Today we pay tribute and honour the memories two extraordinary members of the extended Guardian family and we hold their loved ones in our thoughts. >> Two bodies found in search for Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira in Brazil
The
@carolvorders
turns on equalities minister Kemi Badenoch, who had an ill-tempered session with the
@Commonswomequ
a few weeks back: " I could not as a postmenopausal woman from a working class background get over the patronising statements that she made"
When government ministers talk about strikers causing "an act of self harm" on the UK economy, it really makes me wonder if they have read any of the evidence of the damage Brexit has done ...
So my house is tidy and my son is in school and my daughter is at the childminder, and I am answering emails and writing a pitch with a coffee from my local coffee shop that has just reopened and I am DELIRIOUSLY HAPPY.
Baird says Raab has “played fast and loose” with the Victims' Bill, to have it going through parliament without a commissioner “seems to be an act of serious irresponsibility” 3/6
The ridiculously expensive childcare in this country is a key reason so many working people are living in poverty - fixing it is URGENT, it is NOT a luxury policy or a bloody women's issue
Are any fellow extroverts feeling strangely detached from themselves? Like I've forgotten to be who I am, or maybe who I was? Or maybe I just need to go out and get pissed.
@jane__bradley
Mate you’ve been down here long enough and STILL you have hope that they’ll grasp the concept of a chip butty? I admire your optimism, however misplaced.
Baird also says: “[Raab] is driving it because he wants the reputation of having taken through a victims’ bill, but he doesn’t have any understanding of what victims need nor a genuine interest, because he’s contradicting the bill with something he’s driving even harder.” 4/6
It was an absolute pleasure to interview
@AlexScott
- total pro and lovely person to boot >> What happened next? How the World Cup brought in a new era for Alex Scott – and women in football
The relies from men- and pretty much only men- below my story are pretty extraordinary tbh. I guess we clap for our heroic nurses but we don’t actually care if they have the equipment to protect them.
@guardian
A large garment can be adjusted to fit a smaller person, a small garment can not be adjusted to fit a larger person. What do you expect a fucking appointment at Saville Row?
Surely this is a record? My boy went back to school this morning. We woke up at 8.21 (first time I've slept past 8am for 6 years) - got him there FULLY DRESSED WITH PACKED LUNCH AND BOOK BAG by 8.55. I know this is a parenting fail, but I am bursting with pride.
@BarristerSecret
One of the first things I did was search "cuts" and "austerity". When I asked a government press officer about it, they said "the report doesn't go into that detail". No, you're quite right, it doesn't.
The inimitable
@alantravis40
banged out of
@Guardian
after 33 years service. Will miss the irate calls to the Home Office- but pretty sure the Home Office won’t.
The
@metpoliceuk
have confirmed after a meeting today that they will be policing and supporting
@PregnantScrewed
's
#MarchoftheMummies
protest for affordable childcare of 29th October, after fears it would have to be cancelled
The campaign group
@PregnantScrewed
are in court today - reminding the government that having a baby is not the same as having a sabbatical 🙄. Judgement may be reserved but watch this space... >>
You know what, for every person contacting me on Twitter saying "don't have kids if they can't afford them" there's 2 on DMs and email quietly asking to be put in touch with Sophie because they want to help her out. Guardian readers are the BEST 💕👏
So what the Sun’s “mega survey” actually found is that people are massively in favour of sex education. Having said that people are - SHOCK HORROR- against unicorn “sexual positions” lessons that don’t actually exist. HOLD THE FRONT PAGE
I'm a lifelong Evertonian, my dad took me to my 1st game when I was 3. When he died, I treasured the memories of holding his hand, walking to Goodison. The volume of rage this week was ear-splitting, but I get it. Belonging, home, family, community, place, football - it matters
A spokesperson for the MOJ said the victims’ bill would strengthen victims' rights, and the role of the VC and make sure victims' voices were "better heard, served and supported" 6/6
Full story here:
Sat down on a train and made - short! cheerful!- attempt at conversation… and was immediately shut down. I will apparently never learn how to behave in the south
Rayner responds to Raab:
“My advice to the deputy prime minister is to cut out the snobbery & brush up on his opera. The Marriage of Figaro is the story of a working-class woman who gets the better of a privileged but dim-witted villain.”
Researchers compared primary caregiver fathers, primary caregiver mothers, and dual earner mother/father couples and found NO DIFFERENCE in their competence as parents.
According to polling from
@PregnantScrewed
77% of women who have received bad news about their pregnancy since December have done so alone >> Plea to ease Covid maternity rules as women continue to get bad news alone
10 years ago I was diagnosed with cervical cancer. I was so lucky. At an asthma check up, my nurse Glenda (also my mum’s name) asked if I wanted a smear while I was there. It wasn’t due until the year after. Why not, I thought? 🧵
Really great to see
@JohnLewisRetail
equalise its parental leave offering. I know I bang on about this a lot but it's REALLY critical to tackling gender equality and making us all happier. Well done JL - I will to buy my bedding from you in solidarity
I absolutely love these joyful pictures. Single parents are the undisputed heroes of the parenting world. God knows it’s hard enough when there’s two of you. Big up to
@Gingerbread
who do such brilliant work fighting for single parents.
Had a right laugh talking to
@PoliticalPics
- exposer of the scrapping of HS2- for this piece. So many stories… shout out to excellent news desk editor
@AngelaFwrites
for the commission!
This government proving on a near daily basis that it has NO grip on the scale of this problem. Track womens’ movement to keep them safe from men? Give me strength >> 888 service to protect women ‘wins Priti Patel’s support’
Uh huh, uh huh, uh huh. Black women five times more likely to die in childbirth, black people nine times more likely to be imprisoned, black Carribean kids up to 5 times more likely to be excluded from school. BUT NOTHING TO SEE HERE >>
Great to hear
@stellacreasy
arguing that the "mother of all parliaments" needs to make space for mothers. Westminster STILL has no proper maternity cover for MPs. Creasy says "the status quo is untenable in a modern world"
Lorry was our newsroom administrator for most of my time
@guardian
, but she was much more than that. A truly kind soul, who cared about us, however ridiculous our behaviour. We miss you Lorry >> Lorry Leader obituary | The Guardian | The Guardian
You hear a lot of terrible stories as a journalist, but this one really shook me and made me think there is something profoundly wrong about the way we treat rape victims in this country. Listen to Rebecca’s story on
@guardian
Today in Focus podcast.