Frances Ryan
@francesryan.bsky.social
Guardian columnist and journalist. Commentator of the Year 2024. Author of Who Wants Normal? and Crippled.
E: [email protected]
E: [email protected]
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Frances Ryan
@francesryan.bsky.social
· Apr 17
Four years on an iPhone in bed later, Who Wants Normal? is finally out in the world today.
Part memoir, part guide, it features 50+ of Britain’s best known disabled women. I hope it makes you laugh, possibly cry, and feel seen.
Order all formats here: linktr.ee/WhoWantsNormal
Part memoir, part guide, it features 50+ of Britain’s best known disabled women. I hope it makes you laugh, possibly cry, and feel seen.
Order all formats here: linktr.ee/WhoWantsNormal
After the success of “should you buy your dog a birthday present?” in The Guardian, we’ve stepped things up a gear by giving Mabel her first advent calendar. Result? She doesn’t know what Christmas is either.
December 1, 2025 at 7:04 PM
After the success of “should you buy your dog a birthday present?” in The Guardian, we’ve stepped things up a gear by giving Mabel her first advent calendar. Result? She doesn’t know what Christmas is either.
I so enjoyed Trespasses (Ch4), though “enjoy” is probably the wrong word for a story of love, religion, and death that leaves you aching. Wonderful two leads. Gillian Anderson working hard not to be sexy. More than worth the four episode investment.
November 30, 2025 at 7:06 PM
I so enjoyed Trespasses (Ch4), though “enjoy” is probably the wrong word for a story of love, religion, and death that leaves you aching. Wonderful two leads. Gillian Anderson working hard not to be sexy. More than worth the four episode investment.
Reposted by Frances Ryan
Huge respect to the papers for finding both an 88 year old worried about the tax bill on her 6 bedroom Kensington house and a 20 year old fretting about only being able to save £12k a year tax free.
Top work all around. These are not easy case studies to find.
Top work all around. These are not easy case studies to find.
November 29, 2025 at 9:24 AM
Huge respect to the papers for finding both an 88 year old worried about the tax bill on her 6 bedroom Kensington house and a 20 year old fretting about only being able to save £12k a year tax free.
Top work all around. These are not easy case studies to find.
Top work all around. These are not easy case studies to find.
“There are moments to celebrate and there are moments to not be complacent. Sometimes, it is both. Eight years of work have at last rid the country of the benefit limit. And yet the backlash it provokes shows starkly how progress is an uphill battle.”
My col. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
My col. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
The two-child limit is abolished at last. Watch out for the narrative that will follow | Frances Ryan
The right is already in a frenzy about the migrant groups it thinks will benefit – and the budget contained other trade-offs, says Guardian columnist Frances Ryan
www.theguardian.com
November 27, 2025 at 1:12 PM
“There are moments to celebrate and there are moments to not be complacent. Sometimes, it is both. Eight years of work have at last rid the country of the benefit limit. And yet the backlash it provokes shows starkly how progress is an uphill battle.”
My col. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
My col. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
A key part of the backlash to ending the two child limit is the idea parents won’t actually spend the extra money on their kids. Why not give them vouchers for food and clothes instead? critics ask.
Because it’s paternalistic classism that believes being poor means you’re a bad parent.
Because it’s paternalistic classism that believes being poor means you’re a bad parent.
November 27, 2025 at 11:36 AM
A key part of the backlash to ending the two child limit is the idea parents won’t actually spend the extra money on their kids. Why not give them vouchers for food and clothes instead? critics ask.
Because it’s paternalistic classism that believes being poor means you’re a bad parent.
Because it’s paternalistic classism that believes being poor means you’re a bad parent.
“No one can pretend they didn’t know the harm it was causing.
Politicians – both those with a blue or a red rosette – let it continue anyway.”
My col. on the end of the two child benefit limit (and a climate that means even feeding toddlers gets a backlash). www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Politicians – both those with a blue or a red rosette – let it continue anyway.”
My col. on the end of the two child benefit limit (and a climate that means even feeding toddlers gets a backlash). www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
The two-child limit is abolished at last. Watch out for the narrative that will follow | Frances Ryan
The right is already in a frenzy about the migrant groups it thinks will benefit – and the budget contained other trade-offs, says Guardian columnist Frances Ryan
www.theguardian.com
November 27, 2025 at 9:51 AM
“No one can pretend they didn’t know the harm it was causing.
Politicians – both those with a blue or a red rosette – let it continue anyway.”
My col. on the end of the two child benefit limit (and a climate that means even feeding toddlers gets a backlash). www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Politicians – both those with a blue or a red rosette – let it continue anyway.”
My col. on the end of the two child benefit limit (and a climate that means even feeding toddlers gets a backlash). www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Cheering the two child limit ending isn’t patting Starmer’s Labour on the back or ignoring his record. It’s acknowledging 8 years of hard campaigning and ridding the country of a cruel, toxic policy. Half a million children won’t be hungry anymore. Celebrate today. Tomorrow, pick the next fight.
November 26, 2025 at 8:55 PM
Cheering the two child limit ending isn’t patting Starmer’s Labour on the back or ignoring his record. It’s acknowledging 8 years of hard campaigning and ridding the country of a cruel, toxic policy. Half a million children won’t be hungry anymore. Celebrate today. Tomorrow, pick the next fight.
And the two child benefit limit is abolished. An enormous victory for those who have campaigned tirelessly for eight long years through successive governments. This will lift at least 450,000 children out of poverty. Fewer kids will be hungry. No more women forced to disclose their rape.
November 26, 2025 at 1:37 PM
And the two child benefit limit is abolished. An enormous victory for those who have campaigned tirelessly for eight long years through successive governments. This will lift at least 450,000 children out of poverty. Fewer kids will be hungry. No more women forced to disclose their rape.
“The Motability scheme was set up to protect the most vulnerable. Not to subsidise the lease on a Mercedes Benz,” Reeves says.
Misleading and nasty in equal measure.
Misleading and nasty in equal measure.
November 26, 2025 at 1:15 PM
“The Motability scheme was set up to protect the most vulnerable. Not to subsidise the lease on a Mercedes Benz,” Reeves says.
Misleading and nasty in equal measure.
Misleading and nasty in equal measure.
Reposted by Frances Ryan
Why the two-child limit has to go, in a chart.
November 25, 2025 at 4:28 PM
Why the two-child limit has to go, in a chart.
The Times has a piece on the two child benefit limit that genuinely blames the fact Bangladeshi or Pakistani parents often have more children than “White British” people. The dog whistle could hardly be louder.
November 25, 2025 at 1:04 PM
The Times has a piece on the two child benefit limit that genuinely blames the fact Bangladeshi or Pakistani parents often have more children than “White British” people. The dog whistle could hardly be louder.
Turned 40 and asked for some of my front pages to be framed as a self-esteem boost.
November 25, 2025 at 11:01 AM
Turned 40 and asked for some of my front pages to be framed as a self-esteem boost.
Re-watching Sleepless In Seattle and Walter really deserved better. Sure, he’s allergic to everything but he’ll also take you to New York for Valentines and resize a diamond ring at Tiffany’s. Meanwhile, Tom Hanks lives on a houseboat.
November 24, 2025 at 8:03 PM
Re-watching Sleepless In Seattle and Walter really deserved better. Sure, he’s allergic to everything but he’ll also take you to New York for Valentines and resize a diamond ring at Tiffany’s. Meanwhile, Tom Hanks lives on a houseboat.
“Viewers of a certain age may find themselves experiencing a flashback to Tomorrow’s World unveiling a new invention called “the cassette player” and feel the fabric of time fold in on itself.”
I reviewed Chris McCausland’s doc on mind-blowing accessible tech. www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...
I reviewed Chris McCausland’s doc on mind-blowing accessible tech. www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...
Chris McCausland: Seeing into the Future review – the comic just can’t hide his emotion in this mind-blowing show
He tries to play the stoic in this look at the incredible changes to disabled peoples’ lives that tech could bring. But the radical benefits of one piece of kit leave him visibly moved
www.theguardian.com
November 24, 2025 at 9:15 AM
“Viewers of a certain age may find themselves experiencing a flashback to Tomorrow’s World unveiling a new invention called “the cassette player” and feel the fabric of time fold in on itself.”
I reviewed Chris McCausland’s doc on mind-blowing accessible tech. www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...
I reviewed Chris McCausland’s doc on mind-blowing accessible tech. www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...
I reviewed Chris McCausland: Seeing into the Future - a mind-blowing doc that does a great job of showing how tech can transform disabled people’s lives (but could do more on the tension in how much of it is made by The Worst Men On Earth). www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...
Chris McCausland: Seeing into the Future review – the comic just can’t hide his emotion in this mind-blowing show
He tries to play the stoic in this look at the incredible changes to disabled peoples’ lives that tech could bring. But the radical benefits of one piece of kit leave him visibly moved
www.theguardian.com
November 23, 2025 at 8:55 PM
I reviewed Chris McCausland: Seeing into the Future - a mind-blowing doc that does a great job of showing how tech can transform disabled people’s lives (but could do more on the tension in how much of it is made by The Worst Men On Earth). www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...
I’m officially no longer a young columnist. Watch out for my new era in the British commentariat with pieces including, “why house prices are very reasonable, actually” and “keep your hands off my pension.”
November 21, 2025 at 1:38 PM
I’m officially no longer a young columnist. Watch out for my new era in the British commentariat with pieces including, “why house prices are very reasonable, actually” and “keep your hands off my pension.”
Worth remembering as this unfolds that it was disabled people and people from ethnic minority backgrounds who disproportionately died. Tens of thousands needlessly lost their lives, many who died alone or with just an iPad. Thousands more were left with life changing Long Covid. A true scandal.
BREAKING: The UK’s response to Covid was “too little, too late”, a damning official report on the handling of the pandemic has concluded, saying the introduction of a lockdown even a week earlier than happened could have saved more than 20,000 lives.
November 20, 2025 at 4:17 PM
Worth remembering as this unfolds that it was disabled people and people from ethnic minority backgrounds who disproportionately died. Tens of thousands needlessly lost their lives, many who died alone or with just an iPad. Thousands more were left with life changing Long Covid. A true scandal.
It’s hard to read this stuff from doctors without cringing at how wildly out of touch it sounds (and how little self-awareness). £100k+ income is, to most of the public, beyond our dreams. Entitlement and class privilege is not the best way to win people over to your cause!
November 20, 2025 at 3:31 PM
It’s hard to read this stuff from doctors without cringing at how wildly out of touch it sounds (and how little self-awareness). £100k+ income is, to most of the public, beyond our dreams. Entitlement and class privilege is not the best way to win people over to your cause!
“Past” racist behaviour doing a lot of heavy lifting here.
November 19, 2025 at 8:55 PM
“Past” racist behaviour doing a lot of heavy lifting here.
Tip for the Labour Party. If you have to clarify asylum seekers’ wedding rings won’t be seized, your policy is horrific. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
Asylum seekers’ jewellery could be seized to pay for processing costs, says Home Office minister
Idea borrowed from Denmark is latest attempt to reduce number of people seeking asylum in UK
www.theguardian.com
November 17, 2025 at 1:36 PM
Tip for the Labour Party. If you have to clarify asylum seekers’ wedding rings won’t be seized, your policy is horrific. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
Before she died, Alice Wong was kind enough to give me an interview for my book, Who Wants Normal?
Here’s her wonderful advice to disabled women (from the Guardian extract): www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...
Here’s her wonderful advice to disabled women (from the Guardian extract): www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...
November 17, 2025 at 12:06 PM
Before she died, Alice Wong was kind enough to give me an interview for my book, Who Wants Normal?
Here’s her wonderful advice to disabled women (from the Guardian extract): www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...
Here’s her wonderful advice to disabled women (from the Guardian extract): www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...
I’m heartbroken to hear of the death of Alice Wong. She was a powerhouse of the disability rights movement in the US and on a personal level, generously gave her time to me over the years. I know she will be missed immensely by those who knew her and those who felt her presence online.
November 15, 2025 at 5:20 PM
I’m heartbroken to hear of the death of Alice Wong. She was a powerhouse of the disability rights movement in the US and on a personal level, generously gave her time to me over the years. I know she will be missed immensely by those who knew her and those who felt her presence online.
Incredibly sad to see this. I never met or even spoke online to Rachel but her words were known to all of us. 56 years old. Life really can be cruel.
Really shocked to hear about the death of the brilliant Observer writer Rachel Cooke - what a terrible loss.
observer.co.uk/news/nationa...
observer.co.uk/news/nationa...
Remembering Rachel Cooke | The Observer
observer.co.uk
November 14, 2025 at 8:19 PM
Incredibly sad to see this. I never met or even spoke online to Rachel but her words were known to all of us. 56 years old. Life really can be cruel.
Consultants - who earn an average £145k and often more by moonlighting in the private sector - will find it hard to get sympathy from patients who’ve been waiting years for help. Striking over winter may give the BMA a stronger hand but it’s a terrible gamble. www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
Hospital consultants gearing up to join resident doctors in striking over pay
Exclusive: Move could cause huge disruption and present ministers with major new headache
www.theguardian.com
November 13, 2025 at 8:54 PM
Consultants - who earn an average £145k and often more by moonlighting in the private sector - will find it hard to get sympathy from patients who’ve been waiting years for help. Striking over winter may give the BMA a stronger hand but it’s a terrible gamble. www.theguardian.com/society/2025...