Alona Ferber
@paperdispatch
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Senior editor @Prospect_UK ex-@NewStatesman @Haaretz @InstituteGC | UK, Israel/Palestine, feminism | Sign up to my Substack: https://t.co/ucVxfQRxqN
London, England
Joined November 2012
This woman, whose daughters were abducted to Gaza after seeing their father murdered on 7th October, calls on Biden and Netanyahu either to secure their release or take her to Gaza to be with her kids. "I will be the 243rd abductee," she says.
Today marks 30 agonizing days since my daughters, Dafna (15) and Ela (8), were abducted by Hamas after witnessing their father's horrifying murder right before their eyes. I find it impossible to sleep, to think clearly, to even catch my breath. Please, I beg for your assistance.
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Denialism over what Hamas did on 7th October persists, despite available evidence and Israel’s PR campaign of grisly footage of the atrocities. I wrote about this, and the chill of seeing so much disbelief for @NewStatesman.
Even though Hamas itself broadcast its actions to the world on social media, doubts still persist over the extent of the atrocities of 7 October, writes @paperdispatch.
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“The impact on health inequalities will be seen, not just in this generation. because children’s growth and development will be damaged by their parents’ struggle” . - excellent interview with @MichaelMarmot on why rising prices are a major health crisis
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I interviewed Judith Butler about feminism, trans rights and cancel culture. She said we need to "cherish the longer forms" in our age of snappy online vitriol
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An Israeli living in Kyiv was interviewed just now on Israel's Channel 12. The interviewer asked her what people around her think of Putin and the invasion. Her response: How can I answer that? We could be under Russian rule tomorrow.
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Piers Morgan clarifies: He doesn't have a problem with feminists. He just doesn't like rabid feminists.
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After (nearly) 5 years at the New Statesman, I am delighted to be joining Prospect as senior editor. I am thrilled to join @arusbridger @ellen_halliday @AlexDean94 and the rest of the team. Please pitch me your must-read, conversation-starting ideas….
Prospect Magazine has made five new hires, as we expand our editorial and commercial operations and accelerate towards digital transformation. We're pleased to have @paperdispatch, @ben_clark56, Imaan Irfan, Tom Bath and Wendy Miller join the team! 👏🏼.
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"Tenants, held hostage in the private rental sector by housing prices, are not only dealing with their own, immediate economic crisis – they’re having to cover their landlords’ increased cost of living too".
I spoke to the landlords putting up their rents for @novaramedia. Here's what they said.
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Calling for 'ceasefire,' US VP Harris says Israel not doing enough to get aid to Gazans
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Israel/Gaza morning update: Death toll in Israel is now at least 1,200, 3,000 injured, 150 believed captured; in Gaza at least 950 people have been killed in strikes, 5,000 wounded. On both sides the dead include many children /1.
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I can't stress how unusual it is for an Israeli newspaper to do this, and how important it is. One step away from the usual dehumanisation of Palestinians in the Israeli media.
Today in @Haaretz’s Hebrew edition: The names & faces of Palestinian civilians killed during latest #Gaza escalation. IDF attacks or PIJ failed rockets, these lives were lost in another endless pointless cycle of violence
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Think tank headed by Meir Ben Shabbat, Israel’s ex-national security adviser, published a paper on 17th October saying there is a “one-time and unique opportunity” to transfer the population of Gaza to Egypt permanently. The author is part of Netanyahu’s Likud party.
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It difficult to imagine Boris Johnson as a woman because no woman could ever get away with the things he gets away with. He epitomises the different standards we hold for men and women in public life
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'Israel has been represented for too long by urbane professionals who lull a liberal audience into forgetting they represent a Netanyahu government' - important piece from @AnshelPfeffer on Israel's incoming ambassador to the UK
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It’s amazing to see how childcare has become a central political issue over the past year. I interviewed @stellacreasy about why that is and she noted the huge role groups like @PregnantScrewed have played in this shift. In fact she said that @Joeli_Brearley deserves a damehood.
Britain’s childcare crisis, with Stella Creasy. @paperdispatch and @stellacreasy discuss why childcare is becoming an increasingly political issue and the hostility Creasy has experienced campaigning around issues related to work and motherhood.
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"Since 2010, austerity has led to the closure of 1,416 Sure Start centres in England (down from a total of 3,620 in 2010 to 2,204 in 2023). Now, Sunak is boasting that he will open 75 “family hubs” by 2025" - spot on from @Anoosh_C
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Aviva offers UK staff 1yr off work w/26 weeks full pay after they have a baby. In 2020, 99% of new dads at the firm took leave, 84% took at least 6 months. By contrast, 2-3% of UK dads take shared parental leave. If leave was affordable, men would take it
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Do people still do personal news on X? If so, I am thrilled to share that I am now senior editor at the @NewStatesman’s @NS_Spotlight policy section. We cover the gap between political rhetoric and on-the-ground policy impact. Get in touch with tips, gripes and stories.
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Excellent party branding from @WEP_UK at rally for Rosie Duffield in Canterbury, as Women's Equality Party activists prepare to canvass for the Labour candidate #GeneralElection19
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I am very excited to be joining the @NewStatesman at the end of this month as special projects editor. Come work with me and the amazing @NS_Spotlight team. We are looking for have a job opening!.
Job opportunity at the New Statesman: Special Projects Writer (part time or job share)
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The idea that a health service might treat a mother as little more than a machine for her “baby’s overall nutritional needs” is horrifying on dystopian levels. I wrote this about the hospital policy that .@rhiannonlucyc highlighted last week
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This is a really tough watch, but it feels so important to know the truth of what happened on 7th October.
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"He is the third president in my lifetime to have been shot—but Trump is the first president who has embraced and celebrated violence" . @billkellernyc writes for @prospect_uk on the attempt on Trump's life
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"I don’t agree with analysts who lay the blame for the repeal on feminists or trans people or the deceased Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg". I interviewed Judith Butler about the overturning of Roe vs. Wade, trans rights, and the war on education.
What does the overturning of Roe vs Wade mean for progress? And where does feminism go next? . @paperdispatch spoke with the philosopher and gender theorist, Judith Butler, about Roe vs Wade, trans rights, and the war on education.
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"Israelis & Palestinians have deep historical roots in the land; they have a strong sense of national identity, and a desire for self-determination. These don’t have to be mutually exclusive" - @aziz0nomics for @prospect_uk on the futility of this war
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"You feel like you are making a fuss and I’m not making a fuss. I’m just not prepared to be treated in that way”- I spoke with @stellacreasy about what it's like to challenge the discrimination she faced when pregnant and as a working mother
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"Even though it is entirely impossible to justify or even to understand the brutal massacre that Hamas committed, the context in which it operated is the occupation and, more precisely, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict" - a brave editorial from @haaretzcom.
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I joined the NS from @InstituteGC last year. It was fascinating to go back as a @NewStatesman journalist to interview Tony Blair on extremism, Europe & the future of the left. Here is a quick preview. Full interview in tomorrow's @NS_Spotlight supplement
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'The time for the Tories to implement and strengthen checks and balances and fundamental rights, so as to prevent the wrongful conduct of a future Labour government, has now passed. They had their chance' .-must-read column by @d_a_t_green for @prospect_uk
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'As a share of the economy, Johnson's spending plan is 200 times less ambitious than the New Deal' - great analysis from @georgeeaton
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"Dentistry is not a nice to have or an optional extra. Since the birth of the NHS it has been a core part of the health service, but too often it has been treated as a poor relation". Serious wake-up call here from @ShawnC_GDPC @thebda.
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Spotted in north London. Defend him against what? He is the leader of the opposition not a helpless victim
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With many thanks to @hazard_leah, @UCLan's Professor Soo Downe, @TraceyBignall of @raceequality & @Humanisingbirth for talking to me, and to amazing editors @melissadenes and @willydunn . /4.
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I am seeing so many videos on here of Jews being targeted around the world as the Israel-Hamas war continues. I have never felt so fearful for the safety of my family.
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@idvck Musk should have known that a condition of trying to get into Berghain is owning the humiliation and not pretending it was down to a matter of principle.
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Anti-microbial resistance is as complex as climate change and as threatening for humanity. I spoke to Sally Davies @UKAMREnvoy, the former chief medical officer and now the UK envoy on AMR, on AMR's PR problem, and why we must act now to avoid catastrophe.
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The 9yr old Israeli girl who died after suffering a cardiac arrest during a rocket alert siren last week.
נקבע מותה של תמר בת ה-9, שפונתה שבוע שעבר לביה"ח לאחר שעברה דום לב בזמן שנשמעה אזעקה בעיר.@Itsik_zuarets
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Hundreds singing at a gathering in Jerusalem for the hostages in Gaza.
כ-250 איש שרים בעצרת שקטה למען החטופים ברחבת המשביר בירושלים.
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According to this leak to the Guardian, '"As many as 80% of the population are expected to be infected with Covid-19 in the next 12 months, and up to 15% (7.9 million people) may require hospitalisation”'
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You know that feeling when you just know you are being taken less seriously because you are a woman? The Mail on Sunday's vile piece on @AngelaRayner exposed the humiliation inherent in living as a woman for all to see. My piece for @NewStatesman >>.
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How has Israel's longest-serving prime minister held on for so long? My long read on Benjamin Netanyahu
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Labour is the only major party in the UK not to have chosen a woman as leader — and it’s high time it asked itself why. Me for @NewStatesman.
If Starmer does resign, perhaps this time Labour can man up and let a woman take charge, writes @paperdispatch. Free to read 🔓
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Why gender-neutral healthcare language is not a threat to women – or anyone else. My piece on the outrage and inflammatory coverage of the breastfeeding/chestfeeding story for @NewStatesman
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“Women need a candidate who doesn’t just remember they exist on International Women’s Day” - I spoke to @WEP_UK candidate for London mayor @ManduReid about (among other things) why care should be treated as essential infrastructure
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My Tony Blair interview, the NS Spotlight supplement and me made it into Private Eye. A true honour.
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“Coronavirus is like a big magnifying lens on the underlying inequalities in society” - I spoke with @stellacreasy about being a working mother, why the pandemic has been bad for women, and what policymakers can do about it
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The perfect response to people who say all Muslims are violent, in one tweet http://t.co/AShiJsdPNM via @voxdotcom @libyaliberty.
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Like Brexit, the #USElection2016 is a reminder that people live in a bubble of their own worldview and political leanings.
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I'm honoured to be doing this with the amazing Anoosh! Join us on Friday if you want to find out more about working in journalism. .
This Friday, I'm hosting a journalism masterclass with my brilliant colleague and fellow @NewStatesman editor @paperdispatch - come along!.
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Before I interviewed Angela Saini about her new book The Patriarchs, I had no idea that there were non-patriarchal systems within living memory in various parts of the world /1
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If debate dies, what is left but the spreading of denialism? What is left but unchallenged justifications for extreme violence?. I wrote for New Lines about the narrowing of the discourse on all things Israel-Palestine since 7th October.
Current top read:. Since the events of Oct. 7, discussion and debate on the Israel-Palestine conflict have been shut down like never before. The consequences already include distrust and denialism, writes @paperdispatch.
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I am someone who believes that anti-Semitism is a problem in the Labour Party, and even I'm shocked by the scale and details of the JLM's submission to the EHRC.
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Labour's factional politics makes us all less safe - important piece by @emtravelodge on this week's Labour candidate deselection debacle for @prospect_uk
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Did you know that inflation is higher for women? Our piece on the "pink tax" and how economic crises are not equal opportunity events, with insight from @sararsreis of @WomensBudgetGrp and @j_montgomerie.
Inflation is now at a 40-year high of 9.4% and prices are rising faster for items aimed at women, who tend to be poorer already. @paperdispatch, @kathy_swinds and @_BvdM report: .
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This is the sixth demonstration of this kind in the last ten days
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Our libraries are on borrowed time - @richove for @prospect_uk
Public libraries are a vital hub for communities nationwide, yet in Stockport the Council is reducing staffed opening hours. This threatens to leave many people isolated and without access to these critical services. My question to the Leader of the House today👇🏽
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Excellent analysis by @noa_landau > 'Approximately 32 seats were won by a party that once again, and almost until the end, based its campaign on one single difference with the Netanyahu government: We’ll be the nicer right-wing'
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Israel/Gaza morning update: Journalists visited Kfar Azza yesterday, a kibbutz, the site of a horrendous massacre in Saturday's attack. Haaretz's @AnshelPfeffer witnessed it, "so the world knows what happened" /2.
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"We don’t even realise the ways in which we are socialised to deprioritise women and girls" - my interview with @WEP_UK leader @ManduReid, who is running to be mayor of London
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I am due off on maternity leave in May. Come and work with my amazing team, at an amazing publication, with incredible colleagues.
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Join the @NewStatesman and @NS_Spotlight on 12 June for a forum on post-pandemic policy. Speakers include @vestager @SteGiannini @yanisvaroufakis @DMiliband @YonovAgah @CFigueres @RepRoKhanna. For more info and to register go here >>.
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'The threat of antisemitism is not some abstract idea to me. It is very personal. It destroyed a large part of my family' - Bernie Sanders writes in @JewishCurrents
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"Economically illiterate": @stellacreasy spoke to us about the problems with the government's childcare reform, and why childcare should never be seen as a "women's issue".
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Dozens of Israel-based civil society and human rights organizations call for a ceasefire
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How did we get here, an underfunded, understaffed service, with ideological disagreements over the best approach to birth? I wrote for @NewStatesman about how much we have to lose if Britain's maternity services continues as they are /3
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This apology would be far more compelling if it outlined what the problem was with what Clarkson wrote, and also took some responsibility for The Sun’s editorial processes having failed to pick it up.
We at The Sun regret the publication of last week's Jeremy Clarkson column and we are sincerely sorry.
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It seems like every other week there is yet another grim headline about the state of Britain's maternity services, more failing units, more families with stories of trauma – or worse. On paper, maternity services are progressive and focussed on the individual. /1.
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This is an extraordinary report: The story has gotten away from us - Six months of life and death in America via @cjr.
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68 percent of Israelis see Germany favorably, while 36 percent of Germans see Israel favorably http://t.co/EzVUbGs3hO
http://t.co/75643p52lK.
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Could America become a "super-spreader of democratic disfunction"? . I spoke to @NickBryantNY about what Trump's guilty verdict means for global democracy.
“One of the reasons American democracy is so fragile right now is that it was never really meant to be strong”, @NickBryantNY tells @paperdispatch in the wake of the Trump verdict.
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@CCriadoPerez There is also something similar in the experience of being a victim of anti-Semitism and sexism and/or sexual harrassment. That questioning of yourself: Is this real? Is it me? Is it them? Am I paranoid or is this really not okay?.
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Horrendous story. This 19-year-old British woman, who has been in limbo in Cyprus since July, is set to face trial for 'lying' about rape allegations. She maintains she retracted the allegations under duress
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Utterly chilling that, in 2019, a Jewish member of a British mainstream political party is leaving over anti-Semitism. You can continue to claim Labour doesn't have an anti-Semitism problem, but if even one Jewish member feels they have to quit, surely the problem is undeniable.
MP Luciana Berger says she has come to "sickening conclusion" that Labour is "institutionally anti-Semitic", as she joins six other MPs in quitting party . Latest:
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Israel/Gaza am update: Here is another report on Kfar Azza. It cites an IDF officer as saying: “It’s not a war or a battlefield, it’s a massacre. It’s something I never saw in my life, something more like a pogrom from our grandparents’ time” /3
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This is a fantastic interview by @RashaNabil with very tough questions for Hamas’ Meshal on whether killing and kidnapping Israeli civilians will hurt the Palestinian cause. She even asks him if he will apologise for what happened on 7th October.
Great Al Arabiya journalist grilling Hamas’s Khalid Mashaal from an Arab perspective .
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Survivors of sexual violence often live with trauma that manifests physically & mentally. Yet one expert tells @zoe_grunewald that complex trauma services are virtually “non-existent” in the UK. Crucial reporting @NS_Spotlight #MentalHealthAwarenessWeek .
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The irony of history? For 50 years, #Germany has been arming the Jewish state #il50d
http://t.co/EzVUbGs3hO
http://t.co/MgsjNBSkFG.
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I just heard two women on the train talking. “Why would you want a soft soul?”, I thought I heard one them say. What a beautiful thing, I thought, what poetry!. And then I realised they were talking about shoes.
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My take on burkini ban madness @IndyVoices: Images of police undressing Muslim woman on beach will only help ISIS
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The pain of Americans is all too familiar to those of us in Northern Ireland - great piece by @ClareBaileyGPNI .
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"It is not only the sleep of reason that breeds monsters; it is also the sleep of dissent" - this is so good from @georgeeaton on the lack of vision and imagination in our politics which is breeding such quiet consensus.
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Israel/Gaza: Rescue officials in Gaza say “large numbers” of people were still trapped under the remnants of leveled buildings, with rescue equipment and ambulances unable to reach the area /5.
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'We have become sedentary victims of the efficiencies of our own innovations, paper-pushers who have to discipline ourselves into moving for movement’s sake' - this by @lola_seaton is great
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I wrote this about Sarah Everard, how women are conditioned to protect themselves from attack, and how the onus shouldn't be on us to do so
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It's extortionate, and the system is broken. I interviewed @stellacreasy about how Labour would fix this, and why the lack of affordable (and available) childcare is no "lady issue". Have a listen!
This morning's @Coram childcare survey shows average full-time fees are now just under FIFTEEN THOUSAND POUNDS a year 🤯🤯🤯.(Friend on Whatsapp: 'Where do these people find such reasonably priced childcare?').
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There is vital moral clarity in this piece by @galbeckerman on an open letter containing a chilling description of Hamas’ attack on south Israel. The language used minimises and obscures what happened, and it bears repeating that this matters
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Up north, Gove quotes Engels and criticises our economic model – but he’s stuck for solutions. This is a brilliant sketch on the Convention of the North, and the devo policy scene, by my @NewStatesman colleague Jonny Ball, who has wisely left Twitter.
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And as @PregnantScrewed point out, childcare was not mentioned in the Spring Statement and is not covered in the Levelling Up white paper. It is key to the economy and totally overlooked.
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I wrote this about the UK's maternity care crisis, and what we risk losing if this crisis continues.
“Many women have had births more traumatic than mine. But the more I thought about it, the more I realised how lucky we were that everything had turned out all right.”. 🖊️ @paperdispatch.
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Anyone who can see the pain and distress of those speaking out about antisemitism in Labour and still say there isn't a problem in the party is exemplifying gaslighting in action #Panorama.
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And in your @NewStatesman is week is our latest @NS_Spotlight supplement, this time on the cost-of-living crisis. Featuring: @TulipSiddiq @stellacreasy @kevinhollinrake @Joeli_Brearley @PregnantScrewed . See here for the full edition:
This week’s cover: Why fear is gripping the financial markets again, by @willydunn. Plus Angela Nagle on the end of the Washington consensus, @chrisdeerin on the SNP in crisis, and @AndrewMarr9 on Sunak’s threat to Labour.
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Young people have been calling for action on climate change all year. With #GE2019 this week, they urge politicians – and the electorate – to listen to them. I spoke to @ScarlettOWest, @Noga_LR and Jess Malone for @NS_Spotlight
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I wouldn't use the word unimaginable, but this is chilling nonetheless.
Sickened by the anti-Semitic graffiti on walls all over Hampstead and Belsize Park this morning. All decent people across Britain stand with our Jewish community - and we must move heaven and earth to eradicate this racist hatred, which was unimaginable just a few years ago.
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"The problem with the idea that “Jews don’t count” is that it offers us no solutions, no way of moving forward" - very thought-provoking piece from @emtravelodge .
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While Palestinians in Gaza and Israeli hostage families suffer, their leaders are playing politics with a possible truce deal. My piece for @prospect_uk w/insight from @gershonbaskin .
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This by @noa_landau is right on the money: #IsraelElections2019 saw a historically low turnout for Arab voters. Bibi incited vs. them & sowed division, but main rival Gantz did zero to challenge that, saying he wouldn't sit in coalition with Arab parties
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