No hope for young futures
Caitlin Barr on how youth services cuts are failing young people
Caitlin Barr
Enthusiastic award winning London based journalist. City MA Magazine Journalism student. Previously print editor of RAZZ magazine. Interested in writing about culture, lifestyle, mental health and current affairs.
Contact me on caitlinbarr872@gmail.com or via my Twitter.
Please see my About Me page for more information.
Current Affairs
Filters & Sorting
"More important than ever" and more deadly
Caitlin Barr on journalists on the Gaza frontline dying to report the truth
"Potential deathtrap": the Bibby Stockholm disaster
The government’s latest migrant ‘solution’, involving the ironic use of a barge in order to “stop the boats”, has shown up just how simultaneously barbaric and disordered its immigration policy is.
Wet wipe Starmer — Chartist
From LGBTQ+ rights to strikes, Caitlin Barr echoes young people’s frustration with Labour’s leader
Male violence epidemic — Chartist
Caitlin Barr says International Women’s Day should be a time to celebrate, mourn and organise
Just Stop Oil & sunflowers — Chartist
Caitlin Barr defends direct action for all to enjoy masterpieces
Gateway to attacks on civil rights
Caitlin Barr on the fight for reproductive justice everywhere in the wake of the US Supreme Court decision - this article also appeared in print in the September/October edition.
We are now four months on from the US Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v Wade, taking the right to safe, legal abortions away from women and trans and non-binary people all over the nation. Here in the UK, the issue has more or less departed front pages – but it would be foolish to imagine that the landmark ruling won’t have any effect on our own rights.
Make Amazon pay: a movement or a moment?
Caitlin Barr discusses the effects of the Amazon workers’ Black Friday strike, ‘Make Amazon Pay’.
On Black Friday, many Amazon workers across the globe took part in strikes as part of a coalition called ‘Make Amazon Pay’. The movement aimed to cease work at distribution centres, data centres, and factories across 20 countries including Italy, France, and India.
UK university staff go on strike
58 UK universities will see staff going on strike from 1 to 3 December. This follows last year’s strikes, during which staff members from 78 universities went on strike for 14 days.
Their reasons for striking include pensions, pay and working conditions, issues which have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Looking Out For Each Other: A Call to Coalition
A piece on the idea of coalition building as opposed to allyship.
Gareth Southgate and Progressive Patriotism
An article about the Euro 2020 team's managment and why it represented a new kind of patriotism
Edward Colston: A Problematic Legacy in the People’s Hands
On the 7 June 2020, against a backdrop of conversations surrounding the treatment of Black people in light of the tragic death of George Floyd at the hands of police in Minnesota, protestors in Bristol graffitied, tied up and toppled a statue of Edward Colston, a slave trader whose fortune helped to build the city. The whole world watched as the bronze memorial, which had stood by Bristol’s harbour since 1895, was thrown into the water amidst cheering.
Why are women being pinned down in the streets? The Sarah Everard vigil
Two days after International Women’s Day, Sarah Everard was found dead in a body bag in Kent. Her disappearance had already been the impetus for a multitude of tweets and social media posts from women and others affected by gendered violence at the hands of the patriarchy, and her murder, linked to a serving police officer, opened the wound afresh.
Interview: Phoebe Jameson, Online Body-Positive Activist
TW: Discussions of online harassment and abuse, weight and fatphobia
In this interview, RAZZ’s Outreach Officer Caitlin Barr sat down with Phoebe Jameson, an online activist and co-founder of the Speak Up Space, to chat about why we need to start talking about online harassment, abuse and fatphobia.
Is outsourcing out of date?
A piece about the January 2021 Free School Meals food parcel scandal.
More society speaker scandals?
A piece about no-platforming at universities.
Palatable Feminism Doesn’t Owe You Accountability
At the start of December 2020, social media influencer, writer and artist Florence Given came under fire for seeming to have replicated the work and message of Chidera Eggerue (whose online moniker is The Slumflower). The initial accusation came from Eggerue herself, who posted a series of Instagram stories talking through what she perceived to be similarities in their books (Given’s Women Don’t Owe You Pretty and Eggerue’s What a Time to Be Alone and How to Get Over a Boy).
Harry Potter and the Author Who Won’t Stop Tweeting
During lockdown, a time already fraught with fear, anxiety, and literal and emotional isolation (particularly for members of the LGBTQ+ community who may have found themselves locked down with families who don’t accept their identity), J.K. Rowling wrote an essay about her notorious anti-trans views.
Scotland’s Period Poverty Bill
On Tuesday 24 November, 2020, Scotland became the first country in the world to make free period products available to all menstruating people. This landmark step in the global fight against period poverty was met with wide celebration by campaigners and activists, including Labour MSP Monica Lennon, who has been fighting for the cause since 2016.
Period poverty describes menstruating people not being able to afford period products, such as pads and tampons, and therefore having to go without,