India Knight



Profile:
Full name: India Knight

Area of interest: Women, family life and issues

Journals: The Sunday Times, The Times

Email: [mailto:india.knight@sunday-times.co.uk india.knight@sunday-times.co.uk]

Website: http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/comment/columns/indiaknight

Blog: Weblog

Representation:

Network: http://twitter.com/#!/indiaknight



Biography:
Education: Lycée Charles de Gaulle school, London; Wycombe Abbey School, Buckinghamshire; Trinity College, Cambridge: Modern Languages

Career:

Current position/role:


 * also writes/written for:

Other roles:

Other activities:

Disclosures:

Viewpoints/Insight:

Controversy/Criticism:

TV/Radio: Regular guest on radio and TV

Video:

Awards/Honours:

Scoops:

Other: Her stepfather is Andrew Knight, journalist, former editor of The Economist, and now News Corporation Director; her former partner is Andrew O'Hagan



Books & Debate:

 * My Life on a Plate, 2000 (ISBN 0140281878); Don't You Want Me, 2002 (ISBN 0140297405); The Shops, 2004 (ISBN 0141011483); (Editor) The Dirty Bits - For Girls, 2006 (ISBN 1844081699); Neris and India's Idiot-proof Diet (with Neris Thomas), 2007 (ISBN 067091648X)

Latest work: The thrift book : live well and spend less OCLC 241052566, 2008

Speaking/Appearances:

Current debate: 

The Sunday Times:
Column name:

Remit/Info: Women, family life and issues

Section: Features

Role: Columnist

Pen-name:

Email: [mailto:india.knight@sunday-times.co.uk india.knight@sunday-times.co.uk]

Website: http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/comment/columns/indiaknight

Commissioning editor:

Day published: Sunday

Regularity: Weekly

Column format:

Average length: 1050



Articles:

 * news, boasters – the geek has inherited the earth'' - The mild-mannered Tom Pellereau heralded a change in direction to the usual The Apprentice winner and, indeed, contestant - 24th July 2011
 * has hit a shrill note in jailing the rock star’s son'' - What Charlie Gilmour did during the student protests was stupid and ugly but his excessive punishment does not fit the crime - 17th July 2011
 * out — and after just four days I’m done in'' - I know 'good' parents are supposed to treasure and cherish every minute they spend with their offspring, but I’ve never claimed to be a paragon - 10th July 2011
 * thank you when being lashed for bad manners'' - Manners are what hold society together. They are very, very important. They’re the one real indicator of class in the truest sense of the word - 3rd July 2011
 * why should you and your bear be at Oxbridge?'' - The proposed ‘objective’ admissions system for Oxbridge would have no place for brilliant eccentrics such as Lord Byron - 26th June 2011
 * celeb-watching makes you dumb, I’m a dunce'' - Celebrity culture is here to stay and you need to engage with it if you inhabit the world as opposed to some lonely ivory tower - 19th June 2011
 * nudging my brood to get an A* in happiness'' - Turning your children into well-rounded, accomplished adults is a laudable aim, but often can often lead to misguided pressure - 12th June 2011
 * – nice and softly – if you’re glad to be beige'' - John Lewis looks to shake off its 'fuddy-duddy' image to catch up with the likes of Tesco, but we love it just the way it is - 5th June 2011
 * in the hutch, bunny girls – you too, Lady Gag'' - Women dressed as rabbits aren’t funny; nor are drunk young girls abusing themselves for the camera in exchange for a T-shirt - 29th May 2011
 * of the hysteria — Ken is trying to help us'' - Ken Clarke's rape classification was cringe-worthy, but his ideas on rape sentencing are actually worthwhile. Let's cut him some slack - 22nd May 2011
 * parents enjoy punishing Kate and Gerry McCann'' - The abuse directed at Madeleine McCann’s parents is obscene after what they’ve been through since their daughter’s disappearence - 15th May 2011
 * we don’t care if Winnie is a sexist Pooh'' - Young children aren’t aware of the crushing fist of the patriarchy as exemplified by Wibbly Pig, unless they have exceptionally tiresome parents - 8th May 2011
 * you’re showing your inner Flashman'' - It is an asset that David Cameron can be funny, but he needs to be careful not to come across as a bully who puts women down - 1st May 2011
 * morning suit is all about good manners'' - Cameron’s wardrobe isn’t a thing I spend hours mulling over — until I realised that my irritation was entirely to do with the lack of manners - 24th April 2011
 * surrendered to the sly seduction of high prices'' - It’s a fascinating subject, the comfort that expense brings. We’ve all stood in the supermarket wine aisle and thought, no, that’s too cheap - 17th April 2011
 * not Best Friend’s Day — don’t be matey, be mother'' - The idea of any mother being her daughter’s 'best friend', and vice versa, strikes me as bonkers and faintly sinister - 3rd April 2011
 * most perfect crimes are committed up Norse'' - The Danish drama on BBC4 has captured my imagination, not only for its thrilling storyline, but for its leading lady unlike any we see today - 27th March 2011
 * still want sex at 60, so get used to it'' - We can't have civil unrest and the streets running with vomit every time a sixtysomething has the temerity to admit that they really enjoy sex - 20th March 2011
 * telling porkies, everyone, and be proud to pootle'' - If you’re going to lie, lie big. But no: 'I went to visit friends' or 'and then we went for a romantic meal' is apparently the summit of our ambitions - 13th March 2011
 * Hollywood — true stars have mystique'' - The death of a genuine Hollywood beauty shows how starkly unglamorous the rich and famous have become, just when we needed a bit of escapism - 6th March 2011
 * Uncle Elton, but please don’t sing'' - The royal wedding and fallen dictators’ cosmetic procedures are taking up a thoroughly shameful amount of my time, I must confess - 27th February 2011
 * the way to a girl’s soul is through her handbag'' - To the foolish male eye, handbags don’t make you look hotter, or boost your cleavage, or add anything concrete to your appearance at all - 20th February 2011
 * away, class — and see your literacy improve'' - Figures show that one in 11 boys leaves primary school unable to read properly — it turns out the solution may lie online - 13th February 2011
 * is futile — you will watch Kate’s wedding'' - By watching the royal wedding — and you will — you will simply be behaving like a human being who thinks love is lovely - 6th February 2011
 * every man will bring us more Andy Grays'' - Unless you spend your day crafting felt animals in an all-woman co-operative, chances are you’ll have heard or overheard far worse remarks - 30th January 2011
 * the loss of girls’ wise big sister'' - Teenage girls’ mags played an important role: that of a knowing older sister — except an sister who would never roll her eyes or make fun of you - 23rd January 2011
 * course you live just like us, Gwyneth'' - I’m tired of the whole 'I’m just like you' thing in general. So many people do it, including newspaper columnists - 16th January 2011
 * listen carefully, you don’t need my advice'' - My theory is that the reason why so many people have difficulty maintaining relationships with the opposite sex is: way too much advice - 9th January 2011
 * Zimmers – my commune for the old'' - Old people communes are the future, and we can start putting money aside now for a fabulous martini-filled old age later - 2nd January 2011
 * your queasiness and children stop dying'' - The universal truth behind 'designer babies' and the like is that any parent would do anything to save their stricken child’s life - 26th December 2010
 * Blyton and you will be in a jolly tight spot'' - Reading is so age-limited nowadays that only an enterprising 12-year-old would have a look at the adult books on offer in their local bookshop - 19th December 2010
 * of desire keeps Oxbridge middle class'' - Schools and people should 'clever up'. Upping education funding and keeping tuition fees low would have been a start - 12th December 2010
 * is nature's way of telling us to chill out'' - Snow forces you to pare things down to the bare essentials and in doing so makes you realise how much time you normally waste - 4th December 2010
 * Mumsnet kids are awake and marching'' - Usually, the children of the Mumsnet generation don’t protest. They are the ones for whom the term ‘Little Emperor’ was coined - 28th November 2010
 * rancour is a dish best served in private, chef'' - Open letters are usually cringe-making or delusional-seeming, so why has Gordon Ramsay sent one to his mother-in-law? - 14th November 2010
 * mistake was to be hurt and not admit it'' - Fry’s distress at people turning against him made him feel sad and hurt, but as a celebrity that’s the one thing you’re not allowed to say - 7th November 2010
 * do’ in a shed is better than ‘you swine’ in paradise'' - The couple’s horrible Maldivian experience serves as a timely reminder of what matters — and of what really doesn’t - 31st October 2010
 * bunny girl, run — you’re not sexy any more'' - I see that sexuality is elastic, but I can’t say I’ve ever found myself turned on by a random woman removing her clothes for money - 24th October 2010
 * putting the man first makes a family'' - Where else is he supposed to go on the list? Kids first, work second, husband third — how does that work in terms of a happy ending? - 17th October 2010
 * the illegal immigrant we have learnt to love'' - Nothing unites the nation so much as pop culture injustice, because despite evidence to the contrary we all demand happy endings - 10th October 2010
 * the day, my sibling — just don’t seize mine'' - As the Milibands discovered, pecking orders are established in early childhood and, try as you might, it’s quite hard to get away from them - 3rd October 2010
 * people are too stupid to be allowed a divorce'' - 'There is an argument for banning certain people from divorcing on the grounds that they’re too thick to cope with the aftermath' - 26th September 2010
 * yes, that feels better — no wrinkles, no guilt'' - I can’t bear the disingenuousness around this subject: if you’ve had Botox, say so. If you’re 65 and have better skin than you did at 20, fess up - 19th September 2010
 * Pope may appal but try to be welcoming'' - Religion appears to have become dangerously exempt from the concepts of respect and courtesy which are extended to other beliefs - 11th September 2010
 * online casting couch — one good quip and you're a star'' - The internet has turned into a repository of talent and an amazing springboard - a triumph for ordinary people with ordinary resources - 29th August 2010
 * riddance to the cougar myth'' - The 60-year-old man who’s always trying to cop off with 25-year-old girls isn't appetising. Why should it be any different the other way around? - 22nd August 2010
 * clunking climb down the social ladder'' - David Cameron can’t tone down his poshness and so he shouldn’t bother trying. There are worse things than sounding like a Hooray - 15th August 2010
 * Moat’s rampage is another crime'' - Raoul Moat appreciation is about more than just the disenfranchised working-class, it's also about domestic violence - 18th July 2010
 * you see, Cheryl, keeping busy is no way to cope'' - I have never met a man who, in a position of emotional distress, decides to clear out the attic or descale all the kettles in the house - 11th July 2010
 * your pasty bits away — they leave me cold'' - The sun shining over Britain is not an excuse for us all to run about wearing hardly any clothes and show off our inferior physiques - 4th July 2010
 * — that white thing in the kitchen is a cooker'' - The chronic sexism of the domestic sphere is all too apparent amongst teenage boys, who are willfully uncooperative with household chores - 27th June 2010
 * think it's all over for the WAGs'' - Wives and Girlfriends are not in South Africa because Fabio Capello decided that their presence would prove distracting - 13th June 2010
 * some his sin was staying in the closet'' - The idea of making his private life public would, I expect, have struck David Laws as something to be avoided at any price - 6th June 2010
 * only care about hookers when a monster strike'' - Lots of women who aren’t prostitutes like to dress as though they are, especially in city centres on Friday and Saturday nights - 30th May 2010
 * loops, no squiggles – it’s the kiss of death for romance'' - An email is good for conveying information but does not compare to a carefully handwritten letter - 23rd May 2010
 * the dishwasher, darling'' - I can’t entirely believe that divorce can be averted through the judicious manly application of Cif to worktop - 16th May 2010
 * extreme diets are a delusion'' - From tree syrup to baby food, a crazy diet won't turn you into a film star, fix your marriage, or stop you hating your job - 9th May 2010
 * again, those teenage demons are lovely'' - It’s depressing to find 14-year-old girls get a bad rap. That teenagers disagree with thier parents doesn't make them objectable - 2nd May 2010
 * City’s Caligulas won’t lie down'' - They are awfully pleased with themselves, the roaring City boys, and they think we don’t like them because we’re jealous - 25th April 2010
 * we’re totally delicious'' - In 20 years or so we have gone from viewing brown-skinned people as 'exotic' to being the people you’d most like to sleep with - 25th  April 2010
 * mother’s stand against Frankie the vicious stand-up'' - Are people with disabilities intrinsically funny? A serious question to which the answer isn’t as straightforward as it might be - 11th April 2010
 * can stay no longer in this Church'' - A faith based on infallibility must understand that failure to condemn the rape of children is to allow it - 28th March 2010
 * turkey pecks at Marco’s reputation'' - What possessed a man who was once the most brilliant Michelin-starred chef in Britain to endorse Bernard Matthews’s products? - 21st March 2010
 * let the honourable mistress of porn speak'' - Given that so many watch it on the sly, would it really be so terrible if a porn professional won office? There are worse things - 14th March 2010
 * quietly stripped food naked and made it sexy'' - I mistrust people who claim not to be interested in food, because what kind of weirdo would you have to be to chop off one of your senses? - 7th March 2010
 * our fault beautiful game looks ugly'' - Sport is not about who does what to whom in a hotel bedroom or how much their wife’s hair extensions and veneers cost - 28th February 2010
 * wants to play the Lolita card'' - I don't like the way dressing up to look like your mum is allowed only if your mum dresses like a model of Probity - 21st February 2010
 * green strings tying women to the home'' - The cupcake stands as the symbol of a whole load of weirdness, wishful thinking and guilt about being a better mother - 14th February 2010
 * a godsend; don’t make her a burden'' - Hats off to thousands of carers, but I don’t understand how forcing people to look after their elderly relatives would work - 7th February 2010
 * of the closet: our growing acceptance of gays'' - There’s some way to go before we’re as liberal as we like to think we are, but we’re heading in the right direction - 31st January 2010
 * decided it’s good to cry'' - Over the years, I have evolved into a world-class sobber. By the time I’m 50 I’m going to have to have extra Botox for tear tracks - 24th January 2010
 * bookshop strangler'' - Waterstone’s isn’t ideal - but it’s all we’ve got, and if it goes, there will be no big accessible bookshops left in the entire country - 17th January 2010
 * burqas unveils our nastiness'' - The idea that millions of ordinary, non-extremist Muslims need to be 'civilised' into knowing what’s what sticks in the craw - 10th January 2010
 * just woken up to Wogan – and it’s too late'' - The values epitomised by Terry's radio show were as nostalgic as a gobstopper, except they were real - 20th December 2009
 * blackened by his all-white trophy cupboard'' - At some point you notice that all the women Tiger Woods has slept with since marrying his Swedish wife in 2004 have been white - 13th December 2009
 * sexed-up Sally, the sinner we all need'' - The political wife’s role still involves hiding your light under the largest of bushels and standing around in nice dresses smiling - 6th December 2009
 * lays bare the myth that every hooker is a victim'' - I'm hard-pressed to see how an expensive hooker differs wildly from an under-dressed 'party girl' out on the town with someone loaded - 22nd November 2009
 * teen gangster’s new weapon: a snarling dog'' - Last week, my daughter was knocked over by a monstrous rottweiler-type thing. If I’d had a gun, there would have been carnage - 15th November 2009
 * for a good school is making criminals of parents'' - I am irritated by middle-class people making a virtue of sending their kids to state schools, as though they were brave pioneers - 8th November 2009
 * steak knife stuck into smug soirees'' - They were never about fun, but presenting an inauthentic version of what people felt their lives should be like - 1st November 2009
 * want their equality cake and eat it too'' - Being so irresponsible that you make your children obese is absolutely reprehensible and deserving of punishment - 25th October 2009
 * gust and our fears go soaring'' - On Thursday, six-year-old Falcon Heene was believed to have been cruising at 8,000ft - 18th October 2009
 * cougars leave women caged'' - The female gender are no longer allowed (by anyone, themselves included) to be anything other than sexual - 11th october 2009
 * cruel to fill their little heads with dreams of fame'' - The combination of reality television talent shows and the abundance of drama courses means everyone thinks they can have a go - 4th October 2009
 * kids are seething and it’s our fault'' - It’s weird that the world of fashion should present such a stark image of inter-generational awkwardness and discontent - 27th September 2009
 * I say chin-chin to all you tiresome moralisers'' - How marvellous to go through life eating and drinking and being raffish, and to die gently during a postprandial snooze - 20th September 2009
 * simplest of delights can cure'' - We live in a culture where moaning is deemed the appropriate response to most things - 13th September 2009
 * tyre has blown fashion apart'' - Magazines are crammed full of the super-skinny because women like the fact that the £2,000 dress is being modelled by a size 4 - 6th September 2009
 * hear it for the weekly stag night'' - Outside of mosques with questionable links, there’s a lot to be said for segregating the sexes - 16th August 2009
 * values return online'' - Checking Twitter updates isn’t wildly different from listening to Radio 4 - 9th August 2009
 * vain bid to outrun age on the gym treadmill'' - I find it weird that female celebrities have not embraced middle age gleefully, hurtling towards smocks and thirds for supper - 2nd August 2009
 * sister, have I misjudged beauty queens'' - Beauty pageants have become the last remaining area where women feel they can sit in judgment on other women - 26th July 2009
 * swine flu panic button'' - I start wondering whether we couldn’t maybe put red 'X's on the doors of the infected, plague-style - 19th July 2009
 * around, a senseless waste of young lives'' - I opened up a paper last week and read that two boys had died in Newquay at the time when my son was there - 12th July 2009
 * Michael: your passing has shown the power of Twitter'' - Jackson's death wasn’t so much to do with The Day the Music Died as with The Death of Our Youth - 28th June 2009
 * A*s? That’s wonderful, darling – but useless'' - The easiest, most lucrative option left for the well-educated, tutored adolescents is to become tutors themselves - 21st June 2009
 * keeps us simmering'' - Last time I looked, Australia was not quite at the forefront of earnest liberalism - 14th June 2009
 * A new toxic kind of fame'' - If you want to be famous, you must have no heart and no brain, otherwise you're walking wounded - 7th June 2009
 * no pistol in your pocket, my little darling'' - Insults about men are a clever shorthand way of communicating with women and of making them like you - 17th May 2009
 * girls show us how to get even'' - Bosoms are nice. But they’re a bore, too. Imagine the fuss men would make if clothing were designed to display the testicles - 10th May 2009
 * Carla: dismissed with a pat on the backside'' - How antediluvian our approach to women in the public eye is, and will, sadly, continue to remain - 3rd May 2009
 * divorce becomes a spectator blood sport'' - Do we really need to know the ins and outs of celebrity divorce cases and custody proceedings? - 26th April 2009
 * rotten way to treat children’s teeth'' - What is in their diet that is causing so many small children to have such serious dental problems? - 12th April 2009
 * don’t know what work is – until we lose it'' - Having a job gives you dignity, a sense of purpose, something to get up for in the mornings - 5th April 2009
 * — a drunken romp isn’t rape'' - Is it too much to hope that men falsely accused of rape remain anonymous until proven guilty? - 29th March 2009
 * skulking - we can see what you're up to now'' - I love the idea of panic-stricken members of the public freaking out because they’ve been snapped groping their neighbour or weeing on a hedge - 22nd March 2009
 * skulking - we can see what you're up to now'' - I love the idea of panic-stricken members of the public freaking out because they’ve been snapped groping their neighbour or weeing on a hedge - 22nd March 2009
 * adds insult to the injury of domestic violence'' - It is neither the Home Office’s nor the police’s job to monitor people’s intimate relationships - 15th March 2009
 * Freeload faces a shock'' - Your parents feed and clothe you, the state educates you, and the rest is there for the taking - 8th March 2009
 * starter for 10: why don’t we like clever women any more?'' - A shy young classicist led her team to victory in University Challenge, only to be derided as smug - 1st March 2009
 * and pride: vices dividing the sexes'' - Men eat and have sex and then worry about it; women preen and resent, and don't especially like themselves for it - 22nd February 2009
 * a child isn’t spared by the nameless internet poisoners'' - Anonymous online commenting means that the public’s disinhibition is out of control in some quarters - 15th February 2009
 * Goody, a broken toy we made and want no more'' - Whatever you may think of her, Goody is a woman of 27, with two small children, who probably doesn’t have long to live - 8th February 2009
 * of hope behind Slumdog's 'tourism porn''' - The film’s greatest achievement is in combining a social conscience with pure entertainment - 25th January 2009
 * ugly quest for perfect embryos'' - The day when women sit around at home screening themselves for imperfections doesn’t seem far off - 18th January 2009
 * the EU said: let there be cold, grey light'' - Incandescent bulbs will have become extinct by 2012: thank you and goodbye, Thomas Edison - 11th January 2009
 * year I really mean to aim low'' - What's funny about living in a society that worships perfection is that imperfect people seem to be the ones having all the fun - 4th January 2008
 * twits taking intimacy a tweet too far'' - Using Facebook to keep your friends updated with every movement of your unborn child seems a piece of information too far - 21st December 2008
 * girls, hubby’s mother will have revenge'' - The mysterious thing about mothers-in-law is that they were once, presumably, just like us - 14th December 2008
 * off it, girls - beauty contests are a man's game'' - Women still fear being seen as merely clever: they want to be seen as cute to boot - 7th December 2008
 * are all the nosy parkers when you need them?'' - Where do we redirect your appetite for gossip? To the stars of reality TV shows or the girlfriends of footballers - 30th November 2008
 * makes ugly reading'' - I don’t think misery lit is harmless. People who read these books should hang their heads in shame - 23rd November 2008
 * Dave, sex with you in cyberland is unreal'' - There is some pathos in hoping to form real-life relationships by wandering around a computer game wearing purple hair - 16th November 2008
 * and middle class: there’s a threat'' - A brown or black person who earns much more than you? That’s too much; that can’t be borne - 9th November 2008
 * the women who come within range of Brand and Ross'' - 2nd November 2008
 * rears its head in Palin’s wardrobe'' - 26th October 2008
 * been left at the mercy of our teenage children'' - Teenagers need, if anything, more support than small children from their parents but seldom get it - 12th October 2008
 * push, having faith in a child works wonders'' - 5th October 2008
 * honest: we all love the sexist alpha male'' - Manly men behave in their retrograde way and are rewarded for it with popularity, success and hefty pay packets - 28th September 2008
 * it away, you giggly golfing birdies'' - Is this what the role of modern spouse has boiled down to – fragrant appendage to talented man? - 21st September 2008
 * thing is Brand let US off lightly'' - You do worry when Americans threaten physical harm to a comedian for joking about the President - 14th September 2008
 * a relief, boom has turned to bust'' - Recession, falling house prices and rising fuel costs will provide a welcome break from our excessive spending habits - 7th September 2008
 * true, ladies, you can’t have it all ...'' - ...but that doesn’t mean it’s either work or family. You can have a lot of both - 31st August 2008
 * working mother’s first job is to be our scapegoat'' - If we stopped working, our place wouldn't be in the home but in the trailer, or in a cardboard box - 10th August 2008
 * daddy of marriage mysteries'' - The abduction of a girl by her father exposes the perils of relationships built on lies - 3rd August 2008
 * a lot to be said for ageing disgracefully'' - ... just look at Mick Jagger, still swinging at 65 after a lifetime of hedonism - 27th July 2008


 * archive



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