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Frances Ryan

Frances Ryan

The Guardian

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A reader with a terminal illness emailed in despair. What she told me should shock us all

A reader with a terminal illness emailed in despair. What she told me should shock us all
previous day 100

The Guardian

Frances Ryan

During the holidays, reports of domestic violence surge. But what if next year could be different?

There is a classic Christmas episode of EastEnders in which much-loved character Little Mo is abused by her husband, Trevor. After visiting her...

02.01.2025 10

The Guardian

Frances Ryan

Gavin and Stacey’s Christmas special was a joyful reminder that TV can still be a shared experience

Settling down to watch the finale of Gavin and Stacey on Christmas Day, I felt as if I were stepping into a time machine travelling to the mid-00s....

26.12.2024 10

The Guardian

Frances Ryan

Welcome to Britain’s Victorian Christmas, where volunteers in Santa hats fulfil the basic functions of the state

“Will Santa find me?” a subject line in my inbox asked last week. I wondered briefly if my niece had moved to email with her questions about...

23.12.2024 100

The Guardian

Frances Ryan

Meet the ‘sickfluencers’ of TikTok – and don’t be fooled by the outrage obscuring the real scandal

Have you heard of the “sickfluencers”? I admit the phenomenon had passed me by until this week. “Sickfluencer” sounds like a term to describe...

07.12.2024 80

The Guardian

Frances Ryan

Questions of life and death are complex and messy. Let’s admit the assisted dying debate is too

Life moves slow until, suddenly, it doesn’t. The last time MPs voted on assisted dying was in 2015, with the next decade marked by near silence on...

29.11.2024 50

The Guardian

Frances Ryan

A ‘tax and spend’ budget? Not for disabled people. For us, austerity lives on

In the days after the budget, the headlines were dominated by talk of Rachel Reeves’s “tax and spend” bonanza. The message was clear: austerity...

05.11.2024 70

The Guardian

Frances Ryan

Is this the budget Britain needs? Our panel responds

It is an age-old truth that the purpose of a Labour government is to clear up the Conservatives’ mess. For the party’s first budget in nearly 15...

30.10.2024 8

The Guardian

Frances Ryan

Disabled Palestinians are facing horrors piled upon horrors. I think of their suffering every day

It is breakfast and I reach for a painkiller dropped off by a Boots delivery van. The sleep apnoea machine by the bed is beeping and I plug it in...

04.10.2024 40

The Guardian

Frances Ryan

Of course the wannabe Tory leaders have regrets. They think they weren’t toxic or nasty enough

When the Conservative party descends on Birmingham next week for its annual conference, you’d be forgiven for expecting a morose postmortem. With...

27.09.2024 10

The Guardian

Frances Ryan

After weeks of gloom, Keir Starmer promised hope – did his conference speech deliver? Our panel responds

As the first Labour prime minister to address conference in 15 years, Keir Starmer should have walked on stage in Liverpool as a conquering hero....

24.09.2024 7

The Guardian

Frances Ryan

A summer defined by men killing women and girls. This can’t go on

It started with a crossbow. In July, Carol Hunt and her two daughters, Louise and Hannah, were killed in their family home in Hertfordshire. When...

29.08.2024 50

The Guardian

Frances Ryan

Where’s the cash for child hunger? Labour is running out of time to find it

As honeymoon periods go, Keir Starmer’s has been mostly chocolates and flowers. Over the first 10 days in office, the new prime minister has been...

16.07.2024 10

The Guardian

Frances Ryan