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
“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...
“Policies that favour the interests of the working class are disregarded as a fantasy, whereas those that push wealth and power towards the rich are seen as a realistic status quo.”
My col. on a politics and media that normalises Reform and dismisses the Greens. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
My col. on a politics and media that normalises Reform and dismisses the Greens. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Labour’s rebuttal to the Green party this week sums up the double standard that dogs our politics | Frances Ryan
Why is it that the politics of hope offered up by the left is dismissed as naive, while the policies of the centre and right are portrayed as all that is possible? asks Guardian columnist Frances Ryan
www.theguardian.com
November 13, 2025 at 8:05 AM
“Policies that favour the interests of the working class are disregarded as a fantasy, whereas those that push wealth and power towards the rich are seen as a realistic status quo.”
My col. on a politics and media that normalises Reform and dismisses the Greens. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
My col. on a politics and media that normalises Reform and dismisses the Greens. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
“Here’s the bias of politics: leftwing policies are portrayed as unrealistic and childish, while the centre and right’s ideas are framed as sensible and all that’s possible.”
My column on a system that welcomes Reform and dismisses the Greens as fantasy. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
My column on a system that welcomes Reform and dismisses the Greens as fantasy. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Labour’s rebuttal to the Green party this week sums up the double standard that dogs our politics | Frances Ryan
Why is it that the politics of hope offered up by the left is dismissed as naive, while the policies of the centre and right are portrayed as all that is possible? asks Guardian columnist Frances Ryan
www.theguardian.com
November 12, 2025 at 6:57 PM
“Here’s the bias of politics: leftwing policies are portrayed as unrealistic and childish, while the centre and right’s ideas are framed as sensible and all that’s possible.”
My column on a system that welcomes Reform and dismisses the Greens as fantasy. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
My column on a system that welcomes Reform and dismisses the Greens as fantasy. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
How do you keep the British public interested in wonders it’s seen before? Leopards! Wild dogs! Puppies in peril!
I reviewed last night’s new Attenborough series: www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...
I reviewed last night’s new Attenborough series: www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...
Kingdom review – David Attenborough never fails to make nature awe-inspiring
Attenborough’s latest extravaganza is packed with such high drama it’s like Game of Thrones … if Cersei was a hyena. If only it hadn’t been bumped down the schedules because of Strictly
www.theguardian.com
November 10, 2025 at 8:29 AM
How do you keep the British public interested in wonders it’s seen before? Leopards! Wild dogs! Puppies in peril!
I reviewed last night’s new Attenborough series: www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...
I reviewed last night’s new Attenborough series: www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...
“It is essentially Game of Thrones if Cersei was a hyena and everyone was competing for some dinner. Watching the opening title sequence, you half expect Sean Bean’s face to pop up on the northern border.”
I review David Attenborough’s new doc, Kingdom. www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...
I review David Attenborough’s new doc, Kingdom. www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...
Kingdom review – David Attenborough never fails to make nature awe-inspiring
Attenborough’s latest extravaganza is packed with such high drama it’s like Game of Thrones … if Cersei was a hyena. If only it hadn’t been bumped down the schedules because of Strictly
www.theguardian.com
November 9, 2025 at 7:19 PM
“It is essentially Game of Thrones if Cersei was a hyena and everyone was competing for some dinner. Watching the opening title sequence, you half expect Sean Bean’s face to pop up on the northern border.”
I review David Attenborough’s new doc, Kingdom. www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...
I review David Attenborough’s new doc, Kingdom. www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...
If you needed a boost on a Monday.
November 3, 2025 at 10:32 AM
If you needed a boost on a Monday.
I went into this week not knowing what a dojo was and I’m ending it unable to stop singing, “I always thought it was a dojo, a dojo, a dojo…”
October 31, 2025 at 8:16 PM
I went into this week not knowing what a dojo was and I’m ending it unable to stop singing, “I always thought it was a dojo, a dojo, a dojo…”
As Kemi Badenoch u-turns on deporting people who have lived here for decades, I wrote today’s column on Britain’s new wave of anti-migrant policy: pesky foreigners are milking the bloated benefits system. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Just beads in a glass jar: this is how the Tories dehumanise migrants and those in need | Frances Ryan
The Conservatives, like Reform, are rooting their immigration policy in the language of welfare dependency. It’s deeply harmful, says Guardian columnist Frances Ryan
www.theguardian.com
October 30, 2025 at 7:53 PM
As Kemi Badenoch u-turns on deporting people who have lived here for decades, I wrote today’s column on Britain’s new wave of anti-migrant policy: pesky foreigners are milking the bloated benefits system. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Reposted by Frances Ryan
Nobody had even heard of Katie Lam outside of Westminster until about two weeks ago.
Literally all it takes to be considered "brilliant" and a "rising star" on the right of British politics now is just a willingness to say something slightly more racist than all of your competitors
Literally all it takes to be considered "brilliant" and a "rising star" on the right of British politics now is just a willingness to say something slightly more racist than all of your competitors
October 30, 2025 at 7:30 AM
Nobody had even heard of Katie Lam outside of Westminster until about two weeks ago.
Literally all it takes to be considered "brilliant" and a "rising star" on the right of British politics now is just a willingness to say something slightly more racist than all of your competitors
Literally all it takes to be considered "brilliant" and a "rising star" on the right of British politics now is just a willingness to say something slightly more racist than all of your competitors
This from X is a striking example of what I argue in today’s column. Reform and the Tories are out here gleefully saying disabled people on Motability should be forced to drive a 3-wheeler, like a scarlet letter. The stigma is not an accident - it’s the design.
October 30, 2025 at 11:21 AM
This from X is a striking example of what I argue in today’s column. Reform and the Tories are out here gleefully saying disabled people on Motability should be forced to drive a 3-wheeler, like a scarlet letter. The stigma is not an accident - it’s the design.
“Attacks on immigration and benefits both rely on similar ugly prejudice: certain members of society “contribute” and others “cost”, and in the extreme, leech off the superior healthy and white population.”
My col. on Britain’s new wave of anti-migrant policy. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
My col. on Britain’s new wave of anti-migrant policy. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Just beads in a glass jar: this is how the Tories dehumanise migrants and those in need | Frances Ryan
The Conservatives, like Reform, are rooting their immigration policy in the language of welfare dependency. It’s deeply harmful, says Guardian columnist Frances Ryan
www.theguardian.com
October 30, 2025 at 10:09 AM
“Attacks on immigration and benefits both rely on similar ugly prejudice: certain members of society “contribute” and others “cost”, and in the extreme, leech off the superior healthy and white population.”
My col. on Britain’s new wave of anti-migrant policy. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
My col. on Britain’s new wave of anti-migrant policy. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
There are no words to describe the pain of Claire Throssell - whose two beautiful boys were murdered by their father after he was allowed contact despite her warnings - or her bravery at helping change the law. If only women like her had been believed sooner. www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
‘No more children are going to die like you’: how Sheffield mother kept her promise to boys killed by father 11 years ago
Claire Throssell has been central to the campaign to repeal parental contact laws following the deaths of her two sons at the hands of their father in 2014
www.theguardian.com
October 29, 2025 at 3:18 PM
There are no words to describe the pain of Claire Throssell - whose two beautiful boys were murdered by their father after he was allowed contact despite her warnings - or her bravery at helping change the law. If only women like her had been believed sooner. www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
Mabel has had a minor operation and is currently being a very, very brave soldier.
October 29, 2025 at 10:44 AM
Mabel has had a minor operation and is currently being a very, very brave soldier.
I’m so glad to hear Tom has had a job offer from Asda after Waitrose behaved appallingly. But it shouldn’t take a national backlash for disabled people to be treated decently. www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
Asda hires autistic man who was let go by Waitrose after years of volunteering
Waitrose asked Tom Boyd not to return when he asked for a few hours of paid work after years as unpaid shelf stacker
www.theguardian.com
October 23, 2025 at 7:42 PM
I’m so glad to hear Tom has had a job offer from Asda after Waitrose behaved appallingly. But it shouldn’t take a national backlash for disabled people to be treated decently. www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
Does Trump not need permission to bulldoze part of the White House? Is a sitting President just allowed to make permanent changes to a historic building? It’s like a U.K. Prime Minister cutting half of Big Ben off because he’s in a bad mood.
October 23, 2025 at 4:55 PM
Does Trump not need permission to bulldoze part of the White House? Is a sitting President just allowed to make permanent changes to a historic building? It’s like a U.K. Prime Minister cutting half of Big Ben off because he’s in a bad mood.