Migrants are not the problem.

The far right marched through my small market town this weekend. Like many places, flags have appeared on lamp posts. Sat at the traffic lights, men, and I only saw men, beeped their horns - at each other?  Or at the flags?  They gathered, wrapped in their England flags, their Draig Goch, their Union Jacks…

I Am More Than My Biology

The UK Supreme Court has ruled that the legal definition of a woman should be based on biological sex. This means that the term ‘woman’ as used in the Equality Act means biological woman and the term ‘sex’ means biological sex. It also means that those born male, but who identify as a woman, do…

I Am More Than My Biology

The UK Supreme Court has ruled that the legal definition of a woman should be based on biological sex. This means that the term ‘woman’ as used in the Equality Act means biological woman and the term ‘sex’ means biological sex. It also means that those born male, but who identify as a woman, do…

Sick and Tired

I am a sick and disabled woman and I am dependent on disability benefits. I will not justify why I receive PIP. I will not explain to you the expenditure that I incur as a direct result of my chronic ill health. I will not list the things I have to spend more money on…

Standing Strong Together

I am an economic migrant. I came to this country 26 years ago. Not fleeing persecution from wars, or death threats for my religion, my sexuality, or my political views, I came here simply for a better life. Because I wanted to. Leaving the poverty and greyness of my country of origin, I rushed across…

Then and Now

I was busy on the frontline of parenting back in 1997 when Labour last got in after nearly two decades under the Tories. It is no exaggeration to say that life under the Tories back then was brutal. It has been brutal under this last lot, but back then the demonisation of single parents was…

In the News.

So, Rishi Sunak wants sick and disabled people back to work with the age-old diatribe of how benefits have become a ‘lifestyle choice’ for some people. If the Conservatives win the next election they plan to strip benefits from some sick and disabled people if they have failed to get work after a year. I’ll…

Whose Problem

According to a recent Ipsos study in conjunction with the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership at Kings College London, 47% of Britons think things have gone far enough in giving women equal rights with men.  They go further, saying that men are now being discriminated against.   Pause while I adjust my what-the-fuck-face, as the…

A love song to the library

Photo by Element5 Digital on Pexels.com I learnt to cook in the library. Not literally but the library has been there for all of the major developments in my life and by my late teens, a mum with no money it was natural to learn to cook, borrowing a new book each month. Turkish, French,…