Harriet Marsden

Insider • 3rd October 2022

TikTok coined the term 'quiet quitting'. Why has it turned against it?

In 1995, Homer Simpson told his daughter, "Lisa, if you don't like your job, you don't strike! You just go in every day and do it really half-assed. That's the American way!"

Cosmopolitan • 15th August 2022

"They gave me electric shocks and called me a b*tch": Life for Afghan women under Taliban rule

Before Afghanistan fell, Wajiha Amiri, now 29, was working for a radio station in Kunduz, in the north of the country, on a show that promoted women’s right to education and employment. While such topics might sound ordinary here in the UK, in Afghanistan, a country with a complex history when it comes to women’s education, Wajiha’s work was risky. But she wasn’t scared.

Metro • 30th June 2022

Will Roe v Wade ruling spark return of underground abortion groups in America?

In the 60s an underground organisation in Chicago helped women access abortions – will the Roe v Wade ruling spark its return? The world is reeling from the Supreme Court decision to overturn the landmark Roe v Wade ruling that legalised abortion in America.

The Independent • 20th June 2022

Meet the UK’s real-life mermaids

Mermaids, sirens of the sea with breasts and fishtails, are creatures of folklore and myth, and may not be a typical sight on a bank holiday.

Metro • 7th June 2022

How has LGBTQ+ healthcare developed over the last 50 years?

This July will mark 50 years since the UK’s first official Gay Pride rally, held in London in 1972. Fifty years ago, the landscape for LGBTQ+ people was rapidly changing. The dawn of the decade, after the Sexual Offences Act of 1967 partially decriminalised male homosexuality, saw the LGBTQ+ community begin to gain visibility and the security to campaign for better rights and medical access.

The Independent • 8th March 2022

Withernsea pier: a beacon of hope for UK seaside towns

When native Norwegian Torkel Larsen first washed up on the shores of East Yorkshire, he never imagined he would be the one to rebuild its most significant pier. But for the last six years, Larsen has led residents of Withernsea in a battle to recreate the lost pier – and to resurrect the spirit of the town.

The Independent • 8th February 2022

Food clubs wade in to deal with the hunger crisis in Britain

The UK, one of the world’s wealthiest nations, is going hungry – and food poverty is on the rise. About 5 per cent of the population cannot afford enough food to meet their basic needs and avoid hunger. Hospitals are seeing a recurrence of deficiency diseases such as scurvy and rickets due to poor nutrition. New data released just this week by the Food Foundation showed that food insecurity had risen nearly 1 per cent in the past month alone.

The Times • 11th October 2021

‘Every single woman I know has a story of being threatened or harassed by a tradesman’

Before the internet, it was all about word of mouth. What holiday you booked, what restaurant you ate at, what builder you used… personal recommendation was all that stood between you and the Yellow Pages — or a collapsed roof. Now, in an age of online reviews and smartphone convenience culture, asking a neighbour to recommend a handyman seems quaint.

The Independent • 21st January 2021

The Birdman of the Tower of London and the missing ravens

Nothing in Edgar Allan Poe’s majestic poem The Raven prepares you for their smell. But Christopher James Skaife, Yeoman Warder and Ravenmaster of the Tower of London, knows it only too well. “Ravens are quite smelly, especially babies, it’s quite pungent, and I only have a small house tucked into the walls of the Tower of London … the ravens like to walk around our house, and they poo everywhere. That was the first thing my wife moaned about.”

Positive News • 26th October 2020

Moving the goalposts: the footballers using their influence for good

Of all the scapegoats in the Covid-19 pandemic, footballers were the most predictable. The health secretary Matt Hancock suggested they should “play their part” by taking pay cuts.

Tortoise • 13th August 2020

Across the universe: why academics are finding hope in 'Big History'

In the beginning there was David Christian, a Brooklyn-born teacher and originally a scholar of Russian history. In 1989, he was hired to teach a general history introduction at Macquarie University, Sydney, and developed a multidisciplinary course collaborating with colleagues from other academic fields. He called it “Big History”.

The Independent • 26th February 2020

How we’ve failed to stop the international tiger trade

Tyger Tyger, burning bright/ In the forests of the night. Perhaps no longer. Since William Blake wrote his most famous poem, an estimated 96 per cent of wild tigers have disappeared. There are fewer than 4,000 left.

The Independent • 8th February 2020

Child sex abuse, corruption and cover-ups: How football can and must move on from its darkest time

Andrew Woodward has no idea how many times he was raped as a child. In November 2016, the ex-footballer waived his right to anonymity and revealed that he had been a victim of sexual abuse for more than six years in the 1980s.

indy100 • 1st February 2020

I went to Nigel Farage's booze-free Brexit celebration with a bottle of vodka and an open mind

They’re certainly not the only European voices I’ll hear through the night, along with American, Japanese and – more surprisingly – Irish, but the crowd is overwhelmingly white and English. It’s a controlled vibe, not too much shoving, but there’s an underlying tension and a lot of angry shouting. That surprises me from a group of people so firmly convinced they have “won” their heart’s desire. There’s the odd waft of gunpowder and a smell of weed in the air. I hope it’s been through customs.

The Independent • 2nd December 2019

Even for Pussy Riot, gender equality must begin at home

In Pussy Riot, male members are in short supply. But while the Russian punk feminist collective does not have a defined list of participants, one man, Pyotr Verzilov, is usually included.

Tortoise • 15th November 2019

‘Wokeness’ nods off

The BBC’s identity correspondent Megha Mohan recently tweeted: “Note to editor; no-one in diverse circles uses the word “woke” anymore. In fact, it’s the clearest indication of the insular nature of their world if they file copy using it in 2019.” Or as an ABC foreign affairs reporter, pithily responded: “That word is whiter than frightened milk.”

The Independent • 20th October 2019

‘I could well die in here’: The story of Charlotte Nokes and the thousands still locked up on indefinite sentences

Life is fleeting, life is precious, and I have wasted too much time in oblivion. So wrote Charlotte Nokes while she was a prisoner at HMP Peterborough. She was originally sentenced to a minimum term of 15 months, but by the time she was found dead in her cell on 23 July 2016, she had served more than eight and a half years.

The Independent • 10th October 2019

‘This is not what we fought for’: The battle to end Iran’s ban on female football fans

When Iran beat Cambodia 14-0 in its home qualifier for the 2022 Qatar World Cup last night, only one corner of Tehran’s stadium cheered. A small section, ringed with metal fencing, was packed full of jubilant Iranian women, sporting painted faces and national flags.

The Independent • 2nd October 2019

Who knew storytelling would be so profitable? The success of Serial, five years on

Hae Min Lee was a typical high school student in Baltimore 1999. A popular Korean American girl, she was bright, pretty, romantic.

The Independent • 24th August 2019

The first female American Airlines captain who piloted a flight on 9/11

"Ladies and gentlemen, this is Captain Bev speaking. There’s been a crisis in the United States and all of the US airspace is closed. We’re going to be landing our aeroplane in Gander, in Newfoundland...”