Listening to Streisand read her brilliant autobiography on Spotify. I'm not kidding it's 48 hours long 😆

Welfare secretary Mel Stride says people with depression or anxiety could lose sickness benefits as the system should not be paying them to deal with the “ordinary difficulties of life”. Has he ever needed - or tried to access - mental health support? theguardian.com/politics/2024/…

Shocked and deeply saddened to hear that Mark Astarita of Astarita Aldrich Ward has passed away so suddenly. He was exactly what every 'agent' should be. A cross between an agony uncle and a pit bull (for negotiation). A total giant who helped mine and many fundraisers' careers thrive.

The Newsagents investigation with Lewis Goodall on children and homelessness is one of the most heartbreaking things I've heard for a long time. Like Dickens in the 21st Century. A must listen, particularly for anyone working in social justice.

“Working-class people are less likely to be hired by charities than by employers in the public and private sectors”

theguardian.com/inequality/202…

I think this is what you call a hatchet job🪓 ❤️

NEW: Latest The News Agents Investigates - Britain’s hidden homeless children

Nearly 140,000 kids in Britain are now homeless, in so-called “temporary accommodation”. We went to a school where half of the kids don’t have a home to call their own.
podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the…

Proud to be a supporter of this school. More of this, please. Audition fees discriminate against working class talent theguardian.com/education/2024…

Been going through some boxes at Mum's, and she rescued all my 1990s theatre tickets from the bin. Peter O'Toole in Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell, Helen McCrory's breakout role at The Donmar, Judi Dench in The Plough and the Stars...average cost about 15 quid. How lucky we were.

Yes, I'm pining for the days my grandmother enjoyed. Uneducated, unable to have her own line of credit and living in a static caravan with an abusive husband. Fling wide the gates of paradise.

👇👇👇

Wildlife Hospital is just too much! If it's not a fox cub with its head caught in a wheel hub, it's a dying baby bird 😢

Good to see Krishnan Guru-Murthy pushing back on some of the nonsense being trotted out in this audience. Refugees do not take precedence over British nationals for rental accommodation. Next! 🙄

After all this train talk, I've just booked four trains around France, and it's cost me about 80 quid. In total. SNCF is the best. We have a long way to go.

Blown away by Back to Black last night. Marisa Abela manages to break your heart 💔 with Amy's vulnerability but nail her steeliness as an artist. She knew exactly who she was. Deserves awards galore.

Considering two-thirds of Fundraisers are aged under 40 whilst 80% of donors are aged over 40 - with more than half being over 55, I'm thinking that this could be quite a useful book.

This stat (via Resolution Foundation) is snapshot of how social progress has stalled for adults without family wealth because of house price inflation: in 1997, the most common living arrangement for 18-34 year olds was with their partner and children. Now it’s living with their parents

'I am Valerie, Lady Charlson. I'm Knightsbridge, I'm camisoles, I'm grooming. I can't afford to be seen to have a blood relative with a Lancashire accent and a perm you could go trick or treating in'. I could go on and on. This woman was a genius.

Hardly surprising from Sunak, but Labour's ming vase approach on Europe is misguided. The polls are clear on where the public is on this. Disappointing. theguardian.com/politics/2024/…

Fantastic session from Mark Phillips that got us all energised at yesterday's University of Kent Understanding Philanthropy Conference. Our fundraising audience is not the under 55s! Couldn't agree more.