Harriet Marsden

The New World • 30th June 2025

In defence of Bob Vylan

It was my own fault for giving in to temptation at Glastonbury. After four days of smug abstention, on Sunday the itch grew too great to ignore: I broke my news blackout. As greedily as anything else I ingested that week, I loaded up my drugs of choice: a mix of the main newspapers, cut with a sprinkling of social media.

New Statesman • 17th February 2023

Nicola Sturgeon’s resignation marks the end of the feminist moment

“I will always be a voice for inclusion,” Nicola Sturgeon told reporters on Wednesday morning when she announced her resignation after eight years as First Minister of Scotland – the first woman in the role. “I will always be a feminist.” What she will no longer be is one of the world’s few female voices of power.

The Independent • 23rd July 2022

Opinion: Stop inviting me to your pointless WhatsApp groups

Squinting at my phone screen, I wondered if I was losing my mind – as well as my vision. I could have sworn Rosie’s 30th birthday party was taking place at the end of the month. So why were multiple strangers jabbering about plans for tonight? I was in fact, in two separate WhatsApp groups – both for Rosie’s 30th.

Metro • 3rd March 2022

As a Chelsea fan Abramovich's reluctance to confront Putin never sat right

We Chelsea fans are accustomed to defending ourselves. Ever since Roman Abramovich, one of Russia’s richest men, bought the club for £140million in 2003, investing huge amounts to buy new players and reverse the club’s fortunes, the Blues have mockingly been known as Chelski FC. But now, perhaps, no more?

Metro • 1st February 2022

Football's #MeToo has gone unnoticed - now could be the moment that changes

The world of elite football is unwelcoming to women. Intimidated as spectators, derided as WAGs, dismissed as commentators, ignored as competitors.

Metro • 16th March 2021

Women are tired - and we don't know how to change things anymore

Standing by the bandstand, the first thing I noted was the scent; of candles burning, of flowers and a hundred different perfumes. Having walked the long muddy pathway through Clapham Common, flanked by a gentle flow of masked women, I’d reached the epicentre. Cards and flowers overwhelmed the site and for a second I was reminded, jarringly, of Princess Diana’s funeral. In the air was a sense of quiet sadness, but also catharsis: to be doing something – anything – after days of impotent frust

Foreign Policy • 8th January 2021

As Britain Gawps at U.S. Chaos, Violence Could Cross the Atlantic

Ever since a reality TV personality was elected president of the United States, British political journalists have gotten into the habit of staying up all night to gawk. Elections, by-elections, Twitter storms, impeachment proceedings—thanks to the time difference, we wake up and predict what might happen across the pond and then fight sleep to watch events unfold.

Metro • 27th October 2020

I worry I might never watch live football with my 94-year-old grandad again

On the list of first things you’ll never forget, a Premier League football match comes close to the top. I was five years old, and Chelsea were playing Newcastle at home in Stamford Bridge. Totally discombobulated by the crowds, I clung to my grandfather’s hand as he manoeuvred me through the lofty herds, practically dribbling me between their legs like an expert forward.

The Huffington Post • 23rd September 2020

If You're Complaining About 'Lockdown 2.0', You're Showing Your Coronavirus Privilege

Navigating the pandemic has become a numbers game. Last Monday, we met the “rule of six” – a new restriction which dictates that no more than six people may meet at any time – with an extensive list of caveats that absolutely do not include mingling. (These rules were published 23 minutes before they came into effect, which set most of late-night, doom-scrolling Twitter on fire.)

The Independent • 14th May 2020

Sorry, paying your cleaner is not a feminist issue – it's a moral responsibility

According to the latest government guidelines, cleaners can now return to work in people’s homes provided they – and everyone in the home – appear healthy. (For the purposes of this article, we’re talking about domestic cleaners paid cash in hand with no contract or legal employment rights, rather than agency-contracted workers or those who clean our country’s offices at night: a whole other headache.) There are some caveats – hand-washing, window opening, and of course that all-important two m

Lit Media • 2nd May 2020

Could COVID-19 Spark The Beginning Of Social Reforms?

On Thursday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson told us that the UK was “past the peak” of the COVID-19 epidemic. Breathlessly, he said that “we can now see the sunlight.” The sun actually did shine through the rain, and a weary nation asked itself: could the end be in sight?

The Sun • 18th January 2020

Piers Morgan is no sexist, he just thrives off outrage - now here's a lesson for the embattled TV host

Piers Morgan found himself in yet another sexism storm this week after describing Laura Tobin’s outfit on GMB as “skintight hotpants” she wore “deliberately to get people to notice”.

The Independent • 11th November 2019

Corbyn’s response to Bolivia shows how wrong the left is to keep fetishising socialism in Latin America

Bad left-wing takes on Latin America are like an injection: you know it’s coming but there’s still a prick. And so it was last night when, after weeks of unrest and violent protests following the disputed October elections, Bolivia’s president Evo Morales finally resigned.

The Independent • 27th August 2019

The Amazon isn't in trouble because of Bolsonaro -- it's all about Bolivia

The Amazon is burning, and everybody is looking to Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro. They should be looking a little further south. In Bolivia, wildfires have been rampaging across the dry savannah of the country for weeks. On the southwest border with Paraguay and Brazil, at least 1 million hectares of farmland have been destroyed.

The Huffington Post • 20th August 2019

Gagging Orders Clearly Discriminate Against Women – So Why Are They Still Allowed?

If you’ve got nothing to hide, so they say, you’ve got nothing to fear. Which begs the question: why, in our era of transparency, do companies still try to exploit gagging orders – and expect it not to come back to bite them?

The Times • 10th June 2019

Plenty of empty seats but England and Scotland fans unite behind women’s game

To say that the Allianz Riviera stadium in Nice, the venue of yesterday’s much-hyped World Cup meeting between England and Scotland, is poorly located is something of an understatement.

Drugstore Culture • 14th November 2018

The new Arkansas abortion law is just the beginning - Roe v Wade is under threat

It has become de rigueur, ever since the wildly successful television adaptation, to make a world-weary reference to Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale in response to erosions of gender equality, particularly women’s reproductive rights. Is this how Gilead starts?

The Independent • 25th August 2018

Allowing English women to take the abortion pill at home is good news – and now we're coming for you, Northern Ireland

As landmark women’s health text Our Bodies, Ourselves put it in 1970, abortion is “our right ... as women to control our own bodies. The existence of any abortion laws (however ‘liberal’) denies this right.” Those rights are advancing in some parts of the UK, and stalling in others. The latest development is that women in England will soon be able to take an abortion pill at home: a small but significant step forward that many welcome. Yet in Northern Ireland, women still face draconian laws.

The Independent • 7th August 2018

Here's how we'll get men to share the burden of care after Brexit

They say a woman’s work is never done. If certain Brexiteers have their way, that might be truer than ever. According to a leaked Department of Health dossier, a no-deal Brexit would mean a disastrous shortfall in care staff, which would force women out of the office and into unpaid social care roles, looking after elderly parents.

The Independent • 15th July 2018

A female manager at the World Cup shows how far women in sport have come

When England lost to Croatia on Wednesday, it was the first time England had played in a World Cup semi-final since 1990. Except, of course, it wasn’t – as many pointed out. In 2015, England reached the same stage at the Women’s World Cup, captained by Steph Houghton, Manchester City skipper and a three-time goal scorer in the London Olympics. But it was, however, the first time a woman has ever sat on the Croatian bench at a World Cup match.