Jenni Russell



Profile:
Full name: Jenni Russell

Area of interest: Society, Politics, Education, Health, World Affairs

Journals/Organisation: The Guardian | Evening Standard | The Sunday Times

Email: [mailto:jenni.russell@sunday-times.co.uk jenni.russell@sunday-times.co.uk] | [mailto:jenni.russell@guardian.co.uk jenni.russell@guardian.co.uk]

Personal website:

Website: The Guardian | Evening Standard

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Representation:

Networks: http://twitter.com/#!/jennirsl



Biography:
About: Jenni Russell is a writer, commentator and broadcaster. She worked for many years at the BBC and ITN, most recently as editor of The World Tonight on Radio 4. She writes the Monday political column for The Evening Standard and also writes regularly for The Sunday Times and The Guardian.

Education: University of Cambridge

Career: Many years experience at ITV and BBC, most recently as editor of BBC Radio 4’s The World Tonight Current position/role: Columnist


 * also writes/has written for: New Statesman

Other roles/Main role: writer and broadcaster

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Awards/Honours: In September 2010 she was shortlisted for the Commentariat of the Year award by Editorial Intelligence: Jenni Russell wins 2011 Orwell Prize for Journalism - Russell was praised by judges of the political journalism prize for her 'overriding humanity' and 'empathy for the world beyond Westminster', Journalism.co.uk, 17th May 2011:

Scoops:

Other: Married to media executive Stephen Lambert



Books & Debate:


Latest work:

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Current debate:http://www.intelligencesquared.com/people/r/jenni-russell 

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Remit/Info: Society, Politics, Education, Health, World Affairs

Section: Comment & Debate + Comment is free

Role: Commentator

Pen-name:

Email: [mailto:jenni.russell@guardian.co.uk jenni.russell@guardian.co.uk] | [mailto:jenni.russell@sunday-times.co.uk jenni.russell@sunday-times.co.uk] |

Website: Guardian.co / Jenni Russell

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Day published: varies

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Articles: 2012

 * Stalking – the terrifying crime the law may at last be taking seriously - By criminalising stalking, Cameron is making the right moves. But legal redefinitions alone won't solve the problem - 7th March
 * A Twitter addict, I had to detox from modern technology - A week without phone or computer restored a sense of calm shattered by Twitter's information avalanche - 12th January



Articles: 2011

 * Theresa May is fallible. We must allow her to admit that - As Theresa May's case shows, a culture that demands overconfidence at the top will suffer the consequences - 12th November
 * Milburn risks giving bad schools an alibi - True social mobility needs to be achieved, by making sure that state education is not a barrier to university entry for working class kids - 11th September
 * it’s payback for the love we looted'' - Prince Charles should be applauded for identifying the underlying problems that led to young people rioting across the country - 21st August
 * results not good enough for uni? Getting an apprenticeship is harder'' - For youngsters who don't go to university, decent alternatives are rare, whatever David Willetts says - 19th August
 * the countryside to the developer wolves'' - The rioters are not the only people vandalising the country this summer. The government’s new planning policy is also threatening destruction - 14th August
 * immigration truth we don’t want to tackle'' - Immigrants must speak basic English, otherwise hostility and mutual suspicion will continue to grow in British communities - 31st July
 * reformers need to care for patients – not systems'' - Andrew Lansley makes the same mistake as all the others: he ignores the real experience of people in clinics or hospital beds - 16th June
 * put character above exam results'' - Character is an important thing to have in the workplace and in life, so why are we acting like exam results are all that matter? - 5th June
 * sold our souls and our secrets for an iPhone'' - Apple has hit on a brilliant Faustian bargain. We would never have signed up for this loss of privacy if the state had ordered us into it - 24th April
 * wonder drug on the NHS shelf — love'' - The industrial scale of our healthcare has left many detached from a sense of real caring, but compassion in the NHS is of paramount importance - 9th January
 * cannot hide, so fight the web spies'' - The technologies that exposed diplomats during the WikiLeaks revelations have the capacity to do the same to us, too - 2nd January



Articles: 2010

 * the guests – that’s what our parties forget'' - What make parties work are the moments of recognition, warmth or intimacy. Our recent rush to informality has made them less likely to happen - 26th December
 * you break every rule, principles leak fast'' - Assange and WikiLeaks had exposed some of the wickedness and hypocrisy of states. That was good. Therefore everything WikiLeaks did was good - 12th December
 * national insurance offers precious little if the axe falls'' - British welfare pitches laid-off staff into poverty. We must restore the link between what we pay out and what we get back - 8th December
 * tax all those with free degrees'' - The assumption is that the next generation should bear the cost. That is unfair. People that did well out of being graduates should start paying back - 4th December
 * scolded a yob – and ended up facing prison'' - The case of Kevin Moore is a sobering example of the risks that adults run if they attempt to stop unknown children behaving badly in a public place - 7th November
 * all-out fight for life denies us a happy death'' - Most of us say we hope to die peacefully, at home, with our minds intact and our family around us. Few of us will manage it - 19th September
 * twin room, please, for the two-faced voter'' - Public reaction to the allegations levelled at William Hague has revealed considerable flaws in our priorities and judgement - 5th September
 * up, Nick, or we’ll think the worst'' - Next to the star wattage of David Cameron, the Lib Dems risk being seen as nothing more than sidekicks to the dominant party - 29th August
 * coalition deserves better than the media's infantilising cynicism'' - Instead of clear appraisal, the coalition faces the ritual negativity that is an utterly destructive part of our collective life - 2nd June
 * Baby P inquiry shows witch-hunts still thrive'' - The pressure was on Ed Balls to serve up a head to the howling crowd – and the public checks to ensure calm utterly failed - 14th April
 * bullying has paralysed Labour'' - Far from being irrelevant, Brown's behaviour explains much about Labour's indecisive and ineffectual governance under him - 26th February
 * social work by computer system is protecting no one'' - Hundreds of thousands of children are growing up in disorder and neglect, and our system is prepared to deal with only a fraction of them - 24th January
 * dirty secret: class still matters'' - If social mobility is to get any easier, politicians must be more honest about what’s needed to move from one class to another - 17th January
 * and her baby died at the hands of a callous state'' - The suicide of a single mother shows a welfare state so circumscribed that it excludes those who most need our help - 8th January
 * fixation with control is strangling everyone'' - There was something both sad and ironic about the prime minister’s attempt to sell Labour as the party of optimism in his new year message last week - 3rd January



Articles: 2009

 * and pain all wrapped up in gifts'' - Gifts are never just about the acquisition of things. Each one carries a message and brings a sense of obligation - 27th December
 * homeowner provoked into violence deserves a little mercy'' - It is not reasonable to demand that intruders who threaten to kill should be met with a socially responsible reaction - 20th December
 * Cedric's gilded universe, shame has another meaning'' - The mid-90s marked the moment when the concept of a reasonable salary vanished as status became all-consuming - 15th December
 * must check this bandwagon before the wrong Miliband takes over'' - Ed is passionate, funny and honest; David remote and self-satisfied. The party risks repeating its error with Gordon Brown - 25th November
 * Balls's magic wand can't fix education'' - Hollow 'guarantees' in the Queen's speech point to an education secretary involved in shameless political manoeuvring - 19th November
 * the poverty line, but out of pocket – Britain's missing third'' - Where the wealthy and the very poor have vocal lobbies, a huge band of low earners is ignored - 12th November
 * inversion of power is teaching our children that aggression can pay'' - Disruptive pupils are increasingly accusing teachers of assault, and the authorities are far too ready to believe them - 28th October
 * squeeze can make us better'' - Let's prepare for the fact that when the supply of money is turned off, some sharp rocks are going to be exposed - 25th October
 * like me are in limbo. There is no grown-up party'' - Tory ideas are brighter than Labour's worn-out centralisation. But I just don't trust them on social needs and the economy - 14th October
 * seeks dinner lady. Humans need not apply'' - With its stealthy erosion of adults' powers to deal with children, the state is creating a menace beyond anyone's control - 25th September
 * invasion of liberty. And only the Tories are alert'' - These databases are like weeds. ContactPoint will overburden professionals – and put vulnerable children at greater risk - 16th September
 * talk about welfare to work. The poor know it as welfare to destitution'' - The unemployed are being forced to take huge risks with their security when they move into the world of low-paid labour - 20th August
 * approach others’ children at our peril'' - New unwritten rules about engaging with children are apparently being invented every day - 16th August
 * heel thyself'' - A union's denunciation of high-heeled shoes is an example of the joyless utilitarianism that gives the left such a bad name - 8th August
 * unlock millions of children's lives, Britain must look to the Harlem miracle'' - A piecemeal approach will never deliver change for those at the bottom. We can learn from a bold, radical US experiment - 6th August
 * is the last thing a healthy marriage needs'' - Research on the link between divorce and health is so striking that perhaps we should all view our partners in a new light - 2nd August
 * children today, table manners still trump talent'' - Equality of opportunity and ambition alone are not enough. The barriers to social mobility are far more complex - 29th July
 * Labour's great mistake is to think we are all automatons'' - The party's robotic calculus ignored the fact that public services are about people's real, social and emotional needs - 15th July
 * education, Labour failed our children'' - The government has finally acknowledged that its centralised control of schools doesn't work – but for many, it's too late - 27th June
 * starts by giving MPs real clout to quiz the leaders'' - If Brown is serious about reinventing politics, then select committees must have their authority and independence restored - 26th June
 * Gordon, Labour can flourish'' - Gordon Brown's secretive, resentful style has paralysed Labour. He must go in order for ideas to flourish once more - 8th June
 * Titanic moment'' - What we've seen so far of MPs' expenses is the tip of the iceberg. So why are politicians still just rearranging the deckchairs? - 23rd May
 * a week. That's Dave's reward for 20 years of work'' - Losing your job is bad enough. But in the British system people with long work records are in for a particularly nasty shock - 21st May
 * Pay real wages, not phoney expenses'' - A new politics: The paradoxical root of the expenses scandal is that MPs are underpaid. We must tighten allowances but increase salaries - 20th May
 * can't depend on liberals for equality. We need radical action now'' - Gender quotas in politics and the boardroom are the best way to shake out powerful men out of their cosy assumptions - 11th May
 * goes rambling'' - Designed to restore his limping political authority, Brown's education speech was hobbled by his centralising instincts - 6th May
 * sack a nurse for exposing cruelty is a farcical injustice'' - Margaret Haywood is the wrong person to punish for this NHS failure. The message to every would-be whistleblower is clear - 28th April
 * was a great moral victory. Then teachers lost the plot'' - The NUT was poised to put the nail in the coffin of destructive Sats tests. But that was scuppered by an absurd pay claim - 16th April
 * to be a nude cleaner? Then pop into the jobcentre'' - It's a huge leap from selling sex toys in a shop to selling your sexuality to strange men. Yet the law makes no distinction - 7th April
 * education tragicomedy'' - School league tables have always been misleading, and there's nothing reliable about test results. The system is ripe for reform - 2nd April
 * will all suffer if Cameron's brand of Conservatism fails'' - A Tory government is all but inevitable. The left is best served by engaging with the policies of a leader still open to ideas - 3rd March
 * love that shaped a leader'' - David Cameron talked about his son in a way that was neither sentimental nor politically manipulative: just honest - 26th February
 * and suspicion are no way to build a good society'' - Instead of protecting us, a rule-bound, risk-averse, box-ticking culture is making us passive and increasingly inhibited - 4th February
 * can Labour still fear to act for a fairer, greener land?'' - Casino capitalism has proved rotten at its core, and people are crying out for ideas. A bolder Brown could transform society - 19th January
 * of the rituals of old, death maroons us in grief'' - The pain of bereavement is worsened by isolation, but few of us now know how to speak about their own - or others' - loss - 2nd January



Articles: 2008

 * the party's over, will the young really pick up the tab?'' - There is little fairness in expecting future workers to support the gilded pensions of a generation who had it so much easier - 12th December 2008
 * no longer at risk'' - They may live in stinking, chaotic homes with alcoholic parents, but the system can't protect them - 8th December 2008
 * must dare to rethink the welfare that benefits no one'' - The left has long been blind to the dependency culture that deters adults from flexible work and damages their chlidren - 21st November 2008
 * the telephonic frontline'' - Phone-bashing by a giddyingly broad group of helpers contributed to the Democrats' historic victory - 5th November 2008
 * by the radio star'' - The BBC has long let big names such as Brand and Ross lord it over editors. I learned this the hard way - 31st October 2008
 * correct answer'' - The abolition of Sats at 14 was a welcome surprise. Now Balls must scrap tests for 11-year-olds too - 16th October 2008
 * all-seeing state is about to end privacy as we know it'' - Plans for a vast central database of our emails, phone calls and texts will see everyone monitored as a potential suspect - 8th October 2008
 * Sarah Palin effect'' - Labour conferences love Jacqui Smith, but her speech, like others today, felt detached from events in the real world - 21st September 2008
 * following procedure - that's the mantra of cost-cutting Britain'' - The misery of the call centre experience shows customer and employee alike are dragged down in the name of efficiency - Thursday, 14th August 2008
 * Adults have surrendered to the Lords of the Flies - 10th August 2008
 * There's a new divide in politics, and Cameron is on the better side of it - The Tories share many of the government's policy aims. But it's the promise of less state control that makes Cameron electable - Monday, 4th August 2008
 * Jordan and the posh tent - The glamour model's polo snub was less about class snobbery than brand incompatibility - Saturday, 2nd August 2008
 * Snobbery? No, Jordan - you're just a brand clash - As a glamour model who works hard at her image, Katie Price should know it was simply wrong for the polo sponsors - Friday, 1st August 2008
 * Balls' test answer? More of the futile, top-down plans that Labour loves - The minister's brazen denial of evidence that his school tests damage children is typical of this government's culture - Monday, 28th July 2008
 * This is a barbaric way to run the frontline of the NHS - A&E is still a distressing holding pen for the sick and vulnerable, where the state has abdicated all responsibility for care - Thursday, 10th July 2008
 * Adults must help make the streets safe - Teenage knife crime thrives in our public spaces because grownups don't want to intervene - Thursday, 3rd July 2008
 * Out for what they can get - For Jacqui Smith, the right limit on detention without charge is whatever parliament will waive through. Labour has ditched principles for pragmatism - Wednesday, 11th June 2008
 * mirage of meritocracy has sold our children short'' - Despite the promise of equality of opportunity, social mobility has come to a halt and a generation has been left stranded - Thursday, 5th June 2008
 * is blinded by its lack of an oven-ready new leader'' - Thursday, 22nd May 2008
 * Failing tests - Sats are putting a generation off learning, without teaching them the critical skills they really need in order to do well - Tuesday, 13th May 2008
 * man of hidden shallows is alienating millions of voters'' - From post offices to GPs, Brown seems oblivious to the impact of decisions. Does his party have the guts to change his ways? - Wednesday, 16th April 2008
 * Return of post - Why is the government pushing ahead with the deeply unpopular closure policy? Post offices may need subsidising, but the community benefits are huge - Wednesday, 9th April 2008
 * The NUT has cried wolf too often, but this time it's right - Our children are being chewed up by the misguided strategies of the education system, and they need rescuing - Wednesday, 26th March 2008
 * Butterflies dashed against steel - The government's refusal to listen to the huge protests against shutting local post offices is yet another reason for disillusionment with politics - Thursday, 20th March 2008
 * We're all poorer for making the Post Office turn a profit - In the name of supposed efficiency, politicians are destroying a vital social network that helps us live green, local lives - Wednesday, 5th March 2008
 * Labour's performance anxiety - I had hoped the sobering experience of the new Sats pilots might shake faith in test-based education - Thursday, 21st February 2008
 * The folly of our test fixation is plain to all. Except ministers - No wonder the Sats pilot results have been held back: they will only bring more proof of the damage this approach causes - Thursday, 7th February 2008
 * We rage at Hain and Conway but miss the real profligacy - MPs' much-publicised transgressions are as nothing against the gross waste of public money on PFIs and consultancy - Wednesday, 30th January 2008
 * Inequality is closing down our concern for others - As the middle classes feel the pain of comparison with the super-rich, we lose all enthusiasm for the common good - 18th January 2008



Articles: 2006/07

 * Safe or sorry? - Liberty and the state: Ministers think good intentions are enough when it comes to civil liberties - but they're wrong - Friday, 14th December 2007
 * Theory and reality - Well-intentioned as it is, much of Labour's new 10 year plan for children makes my heart sink - Tuesday, 11th December 2007
 * The business of governing is much harder than we would like to believe - Disregarding their own manifest failings, senior civil servants rely on the convention that ministers carry the can - 28th November 2007
 * Even if you've got nothing to hide, there's plenty to fear - The blithe trust in the benign power of the state is astonishing - and in Fortress Britain, it is plainly undeserved - 21st November 2007
 * Ten years of bold education boasts now look sadly hollow - It will be hard politically but Labour must accept its vaunted policies on schools haven't worked - and change them now - 14th November 2007
 * Sorry Gordon, it's window dressing - Welcome though the prime minister's new tone on civil liberties is, let's not be fooled into believing it signals a true change in direction - Friday, 26th October 2007
 * The broken society's Mr Fixit - Conservatives 07: Can Iain Duncan Smith's remarkably nuanced grasp of social ills survive the crude imperatives of an election campaign? - Tuesday, 2nd October 2007
 * Hearing is believing - This morning Tony Blair finally gave his endorsement to Gordon Brown - but the words didn't exactly trip off his tongue - Friday, 11th May 2007
 * Proportionate force - States legitimately back diplomacy with the ultimate sanction of force. The same principle applies to smacking and parental authority - Wednesday, 29th November 2006
 * New icing, old cake - David Davis's defense of civil liberties got little applause at Conservative conference - Monday, 2nd October 2006
 * Fringe benefits - Labour conference is not only about Brown and Blair, delegates also debate how to improve our experience of public services - Tuesday, 26th September 2006
 * Hormones hung up my boots - I learned the hard way that girls and boys cannot play football together as equals much beyond the age of 11 - Thursday, 27th July 2006
 * Identity crisis? - The government seems to be going cold on its plans to introduce ID cards. Let's hope there is a chance to halt this intrusive, costly and unnecessary scheme - Wednesday, 26th July 2006
 * An act for parliament - Amid yesterday's elections, the government slipped out the news that it had climbed down over the legislative and regulatory reform bil - Friday, 5th May 2006
 * Listen please, Mr Clarke - Audio: Hear Helena Kennedy's warnings about the dangers of the government's illiberal reforms. The home secretary definitely should - Friday, 28th April 2006
 * Fighting talk - Charles Clarke's attack on the liberal media was a piece of brutish political theatre - Tuesday, 25th April 2006
 * Can anything be done? - The response to my piece this week about the way our democracy is being hi-jacked showed the rage and impotence many people feel - Friday, 7th April 2006
 * Cry freedom - If you care about your civil liberties, start agitating - today - Friday, 17th March 2006



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Links:

 * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jenni_Russell
 * New Statesman articles