Barbara Ellen

Profile: Full name: Barbara Ellen Area of interest: Culture, Society Journals/Organisation: The Observer Email: barbara.ellen@observer.co.uk Personal website: Website: http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/barbaraellen Blog: Representation: Networks:

Biography: About: Education: Career: Formerly worked as a journalist for the New Musical Express Current position/role: Columnist also writes/has written for: Other roles/Main role: Other activities: Disclosures: Viewpoints/Insight: Broadcast media: Video: Controversy/Criticism: Awards/Honours: Scoops: Other:

Books & Debate: Latest work: Speaking/Appearances: Debate:

The Observer: Column name: Remit/Info: Topical issues, reflections on popular culture and society Section: Comment Role: Columnist Pen-name: Email: barbara.ellen@observer.co.uk Website: http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/barbaraellen Commissioning editor: Day published: Sunday Regularity: Weekly Column format: Average length:

Articles: 2012 Why blight Indian women with our body fascism? - Bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is the latest victim of postnatal body fascism - 20th May Chris Brown, like all abusers, has more than one method of attack - Some people don't realise that many abusers, male and female, are adept not only at "masking", but also multitasking - 13th May To bear or not to bear? Frankly, I don't give a damn - Our obsession with discussing reproduction is eternally tiresome - 29th April It's easier to be a gay pop star if you're a man - Even in the kingdom of Elton and Rufus and George, the lesbian is pressured to don the mask of bisexuality - 22nd April 'Postnatally depressed' dads? Give me a break - Can't females have anything just for themselves, without men barging in, not even a foul debilitating condition directly related to the physical act of pregnancy and childbirth? - 15th April The poor deserve more than 'nearly meat' burgers - The EU directive about desinewed meat is to be welcomed - 8th April Women who can't do right for doing wrong - Society is missing an 11th commandment. Woman, thou shalt be judged - 1st April It's a bit rich to slag off Corby's new millionaires - It's patronising guff to say that people not used to having money can't handle it - 25th March Rich Ricci can't be accused of not dressing the part - It was as if Rich had made a conscious decision to live down to the caricatured image of unscrupulous mega-wealthy bankers - 18th March It's none of our business who's gay and who's not - George Clooney says he couldn't care less what people think. But let's get over this desire to 'out' celebrities - 4th March You stay working class all your life. So be proud of it - The mentality still persists that being working class is something that all self-respecting go-getters shed asap - 26th February Sorry, you aren't poor enough to please Ms Currie - Haley Sanderson was reduced to tears by Edwina Currie on 5 live who quizzed the young mother on her spending habits - 19th February Time for these boy-men to cut the apron strings - The antics of the G4 group of young men smack of indulgence and insecurity - 12th February It's older people's attitude to drugs that is a killer - The complacency of those who think their own drug-taking experiences have anything to do with today's drugs is desperately misguided - 5th February The camera does sometimes lie. Ask a female politician - Australian prime minister Julia Gillard cut a pathetic figure crushed against her security man - 29th January Stop expecting immigrants to be superhuman - For too long, there's been a bizarre cultural climate of putting migrants under unfair instant pressure to perform - 22nd January Meat eaters – you are daredevils or dumb. Or both - People who've been informed of the dangers of meat, particularly the cheap processed variety, but who continue to wolf it down should be held accountable - 15th January David Cameron, shame on you, for this 'brave' attack on nurses - He's telling the nurses off for problems (being under-staffed and overworked) for which he and his ministers are responsible - 8th January Downton Abbey's just the opiate of the middle classes - Retro porn is no cure for Britain's class ills - 1st January

Articles: 2011 One law for townies and one for country folk - People who hunt should not be immune to the legal system - 18th December Good luck to Caroline Flack. She'll need it - So far as I dimly remember, I wasn't particularly keen on 17-year-old boys even when I was a 17-year-old girl, so this situation is mystifying - 11th December Carole Caplin is worth more than Alastair's apology - Cherie Blair's former adviser has been undeservedly vilified for too long - 4th December Don't believe the propaganda about births at home - Giving birth should be made as risk-free as possible - 27th November Health and safety rules should have a get-out clause - The rules are there to keep us safe. But we also need a team of people who could give permission for them to be waived - 20th November Show some style and fork out for a proper poppy - A paper poppy that constantly needs replacing is so much more beautiful and important than the costly show-off bling ones - 13th November It's all too easy to hate teens – try a little love instead - Educating Essex has made me re-evaluate my views of today's teenagers - 6th November Let's take more care when we talk about rape - There is a danger of trivialising one of the most vile crimes - 30th October Joanna Yeates' last days and an intrusion too far - Real murder cases are increasingly being served up as another form of entertainment - 16th October Trudie, the big issue is that you have six homes - Trudie Styler is to guest-edit the Big Issue. Bad choice - 9th October Stealing a kitten is not the only cruelty here - Who knows what really drove Christine Hemming to act as she did? - 2nd October Kelis reveals the face of casual British racism - The singer's experience of abuse should shame us all - 18th September Save me from these silly school run myths - Other mothers don't sneer at Elle Macpherson at the school gates – they're too busy for that - 4th September Sorry, Richard Branson – we didn't care about your blaze - The British, at long last, are showing a healthy indifference to the ways of the super-rich - 28th August Clearing is one big wake-up call to the pampered - Most of them have probably had it too easy for too long – for one year only, it did them good to get a scare - 21st August Sorry, Jane Horrocks, but it's you who's being common - This sneering talk of scary chavs at Tesco makes me flinch - 30th July Lucian Freud treasured the pleasures of the flesh - The late artist should be celebrated not just for his paintings, but for sticking it to the body fascists - 24th July We need Charlie Gilmour to keep free speech alive - Going on a demonstration is vital to the well-being of democratic protest - 17th July I love the lottery. Anyone can win – even oiks - Curmudgeons moan about the 'undeserving' suddenly becoming rich if they win the lottery. It's so snobbish - 10th July Milly Dowler: It was cruel and stupid to 'try' her family - The use of the murdered schoolgirl's private outpourings was a truly wretched, cynical act - 26th June Farewell and good riddance to Little Britain - Few should mourn the passing of one of the most unpleasant TV shows ever - 19th June Let's not see red about this whole 'ginger' furore - It might be unkind to comment on a child's hair colour, but it isn't a sign of hurtful prejudice - 12th June Powerless to protect our kids? Oh, do grow up - Parents have the power to stop their children being exposed to overly sexual material - 5th June Cutting overseas aid is simply not the British way - Just because we are having a hard time, we can't junk our promises to people who have it worse - 22nd May George Michael crashing into Snappy Snaps doesn't encourage homophobia - George Michael's motoring antics have nothing do with inciting prejudice - 15th May Kate Middleton's not the new Diana. Thank goodness - The Duchess of Cambridge made an informed choice and she pursued it – she's going to be fine - 1st May Just for a moment, I wanted a burkini too - Nigella Lawson has been a victim of ludicrous beach protocol - 24th April Who is to judge which lives are worth living? - The able bodied should never dictate the fates of the ill and weak - 17th April If you sleep with a man, trust him to take the pill - Women should stop infantilising their partners - 10th April It's not women holding men back, Mr Willetts - The minister's belief that middle-class women have done down working-class men is completely ludicrous - 3rd April Geoff Boycott's sensitive side… it's so well hidden - The former England opener should stick to what he knows about - 27th March Poor, shy, sweet Diana? Don't make me laugh - Monica Ali's fictional princess desperate to escape the media glare is nothing like the real-life Diana - 20th March Gwyneth's choice of song in Glee was a bit off. But that's all - The insanitary origins of much of popular culture stretches far beyond wretched Gary Glitter - 13th March If only John Galliano's hate rant was a one-off - The fashion designer's outburst is just one example of a growing casual antisemitism - 6th March If tokenism is what it takes to get on, so be it - The move to have more women on FTSE 100 boards should be welcomed - 27th February Idolising bad boys makes Charlies of us all - When we make Charlie Sheen a role model, both men and women are in trouble - 20th February When Beyoncé's on stage, our rock gods should quake - After the shameful outcry against Jay-Z headlining Glastonbury, let's hope the dinosaurs give his missus the reception she deserves - 12th February It's too simplistic to blame mothers for anorexia - The suicide of Marie Caro raises troubling questions about anorexia - 23rd January Stop bullying mothers about breast v bottle - The Breastfeeding Mafia has to take a step back from their strident absolutism - 16th January Too many of us treat young white women as trash - The case in Derby has revealed some truly unpleasant attitudes to the status of young women - 9th January So girls are not all as nice as pie. And your point is? - It's claimed we're raising a generation of girls who are manipulative. Nothing new there - 9th January

Articles: 2010 This sub-porn for ladeez is not my idea of erotica - The movie Burlesque is a watered-down, weedy attempt to make stripping acceptable to women - 26th December How universities close the door on the working class - This is a covert nobbling of poorer students ill-versed in the dark art of "admissions freemasonry" - 19th December They say women now earn more than men. Really? - New statistics have been hailed as proof that those who fret about gender pay gaps should hang their heads in shame. I don't think so - 12th December Win the World Cup, boys, not the right to hold it - Why did our World Cup bid fail? Because we still can't play the game - 5th December What exactly is the benefit of Howard Flight? - The Tory politician's remarks about child benefit should cause offence to all right-thinking people - 28th November It's time to debunk the myth of too posh to push - A new report on caesarean births makes some telling points - 21st November There's a wrinkle in attitudes to women on TV - Ageist-sexist is still to be decided by the courts. Until then, stinking rude will have to cover it - 14th November Students are revolting – and about time too - This week's protests about the rise in tuition fees are long overdue - 7th November Halloween ghouls don't scare the Brits – people do - The only creatures who truly frighten the British public are paedophiles - 31st October 2010 Is Keith Richards a good thing? - The Word magazine editor Mark Ellen and Observer columnist Barbara Ellen debate the relevance of Rolling Stone Keith Richards, after the publication of his controversial autobiography - 24th October James Caan's mistake was to be at a disaster - Don't blame The Dragon's Den star for trying to buy a baby – blame our celebrity-led culture instead - 24th October Call Max Clifford – those Chilean miners need him - Only the PR wizard can help them avoid the pitfalls of sudden fame - 17th October Why Ed reminds women of every bad ex-boyfriend - The new Labour leader has scored an own goal by not putting his name on his son's birth certificate - 3rd October It's our class, not our colour, that screws us up - Lots of children are lazy and look set for poor exam results. The difference is that the kids from wealthier backgrounds are likely to be thrown a lifeline - 26th September Veggies have a duty to say meat is still murder - We still need tough conversations about the ethics of food production - 19th September Leave Coleen be. She only wants to save her family - We would do well to remember that it was Wayne Rooney who sinned, not his wife - 11th September William Hague could learn from Robbie Williams - The foreign secretary's statement has a misjudgment of the first water - 5th September I do hope Kate Middleton has a cunning plan - Prince William's girlfriend should get out while the going's good - 29th August We're doomed if most women want a male boss - Women bosses are being trashed by men and, more worryingly, other women - 15th August It's James Bulger's family, not just his killer, who need help - It seems that with James Bulger's family, and other victims, there are still too many instances of them being pushed aside - 25th July Mandelson deserves better than these snide shots - The reaction to The Third Man has been predictable and depressing - 18th July Now Raoul Moat is dead, perhaps we should all feel a little sick - The coverage of the killer's death marked a new development in media coverage - 11th July Can gay Britain trust the Tories on pink politics? - Will the coalition end up with a LGBT record to match Labour's? - 3rd July Put porn where it belongs – in an online ghetto - Plans to set up a porn-only internet domain should be welcomed - 27th June 2010 Go on, Diane, give Miliballs a proper scare - Diane Abbott's bid for the Labour leadership shouldn't be treated as if she's a joke wild card - 13th June Actresses should stand up against violence in films - The female leads in Michael Winterbottom's new movie are allowing themselves to be abused - 6th June The David Laws story is nothing to do with sexuality. It's about money - The case of the former chief secretary to the Treasury is purely about cash – just like all the rest of the duckhouses and moats - 30th May Please give generously, but not to Poverty TV - Programmes such as How the Other Half Live are a vehicle for the middle classes to show off - 23rd May Happiness is a man prepared to wear Marigolds - Show me a chap who doesn't do housework – and I'll show you someone who's never grown up - 16th May Laddism was once strangely lovable. But not any more - The Danny Dyer episode has been linked to a laddish culture that started with Loaded. That's so wrong - 9th May Lock the door, turn off the TV. It's revision time - A-levels are looming and I've got my daughter under house arrest. But why does it have to be this way? - 25th April Men have to be charged for using trafficked women - It's crucial to make the distinction between women who willingly work as prostitutes and those who are forced - 4th April 2010 MPs are in no position to sneer at anyone, Diane - Diane Abbott's patronising attitude towards Esther Rantzen revealed an unpleasant arrogance - 28th March We purr over cats while allowing elephants to die - The animal-loving British are refusing to support a ban on ivory sales - 21st March It may be bogus, but hey... I'm glad it's Mother's Day! - Our special time. Our day of maternal glory. Or a cellophane-wrapped ghetto of our own making? - 14th March When Joe Glenton went Awol, so did compassion - 'Lucky' Lance Corporal Glenton refused to return to Afghanistan and was branded a coward and a malingerer - 7th March Hey intern, get me a coffee and stop whingeing - The real scandal of internships is that they are pretty much exclusive to the well off - 28th February It's baby-bores who hold back other mothers - Denise van Outen may be the victim of a Victorian notion of pregnancy. But drama-queen mothers-to-be don't help the cause -21st February We British are such a bunch of drama queens - The hysteria over swine flu made me sick - 7th February Holden Caulfield would shop at Argos these days - JD Salinger's anti-hero has precious little to offer the children of today. It's we parents who need an outlet for our angst - 31st January The grim truth about 'them and us' in British life - What Britain's struggling areas need is support and a sense that they're a part of society too - 24th January It's wrong to label young girls as promiscuous - Girls today are as vibrant and complicated, vulnerable and strong as they ever were - 17th January The loss of Ross will backfire on the BBC - The Beeb have forced out a flaws-and-all generational star who will be sorely missed. And for what? - 10th January Celebrity is dead. Long live sub-celebrity - People have had enough of the Ronnie Woods of this world; what they want now are the Ekaterina Ivanovas - 3rd January

Articles: 2009 Brittany Murphy and the beastly cult of perfection - What does it say about our society if even Hollywood starlets don't feel up to much? - 27th December Why I rage on behalf of the ordinary Joes - So what happened? Did Rage Against the Machine rage against music mogul Simon Cowell successfully? - 20th December It's time we outed the real binge-drinkers - One of the most interesting facets of any government move to curb excessive national drinking (this time the House of Commons health select committee's proposed call for a minimum price on alcohol) are the photos that accompany the reports - 13th December Meredith, not Knox, deserves our thoughts - Now that American Amanda 'Foxy Knoxy' Knox has been found guilty of murder, will we finally drag our attention over to Meredith Kercher? - 6th December This shameful liaison does not deserve prison - Madeleine Martin, the teacher, came across as more pathetic than predatory - 29th November Comedians are no laughing matter today - Some of today's comics are guilty not so much of being offensive, but of just not being clever, funny or flexible enough to do their jobs without being offensive - 22nd November It's about time we gave nurses a degree of respect - There's nothing wrong with giving our 'angels' some status and power - except in the minds of a retrograde bunch of ex-public schoolboys - 15th November That's enough slap and tickle, Sir Nicholas - Even now, do women need a 'sexist-racist hard-hat' to get through their working day? - 8th November If parents lie, whose fault is that, Mr Balls? - It's the lack of good schools that's criminal, not the actions of desperate parents - 1st November Pack children off to school as soon as you can - Put the school starting age up? We would all be driven mad - 18th October A heartbroken father shows us how to protest - Father of Lance Corporal Shaun Brierley, one of the first to die in Iraq, refused to shake Tony Blair's hand, with the words: 'I am not shaking your hand. You have got blood on it' - 11th October Little wonder Katie Price won't name her rapist - The model is just like other women who fear that they will not be believed - 20th September Fabio Capello has turned our Wags to witches - Is his ban on Wags a way to blame a bunch of women for the 2006 World Cup defeat? - 13th September Why are women being done down by rom-coms? - Has a new Hollywood law been passed that women must henceforth get a hard time in trendy, left-field rom-coms? - 6th September Oh for goodness sake, Fay, do put a sock in it - Fay Weldon's call for women to stop nagging men about picking up their socks is an example of yet another feminist going soft in later life - 30th August Out of a job, but won't admit it? How ridiculous - Isn't it time we stopped arbitrarily lumping everyone together in one amorphous mass as 'the Unemployed'? - 18th August Women weren't to blame for George Sodini's spree - George Sodini cited rejection by women as the reason for his attack on a Pittsburgh gym that left three dead last week. It's becoming a dangerous manifesto for some men - 9th August Still living at home at 40? Shame on you - I didn't reject the thought of staying at home as a teenager; it never occured to me - 26th July Try picking on someone your own size, Brüno - I left Sacha Baron Cohen's mockumentary feeling it was unfunny, repetitive, elitist and as comedically provocative as an armpit-farting contest in a sixth-form common room - 19th July Stop calling us curvy and bring back the F-word - Women are currently dealing with the annual critique-fest of their bodies - 12th July Debbie Rowe may even out-weird Michael - Who wants to quibble over a baby dangled out of a window, and a few shrouds thrown over children's heads - 5th July Every parent knows about the God scam - It is almost a cliche, bumping into previously quasi-heathen parents, suddenly taking their child to church - 28th June A war zone is no place for princely rivalry - The truly brave thing for the princes to do would be to stay away from war zones - 21st June Sex crimes are evil, whether by man or woman - What Vanessa George is alleged to have done to children entrusted to her care is horrific - 14th June Silvio, you're a saddo. Now just go away - For legal reasons, the Observer is unable to show you photographs taken of a party held by the Italian prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, at the now notorious Villa Certosa in Sardinia. I will now give you a moment to count your blessings - 7th June Joanna Lumley's win is a national embarrassment - Is a beautiful, popular, charming actress the only hope of getting this morally inert nation going? - 24th May No marks for this genes tosh, Mr Woodhead - It is disgraceful to brand poorer children as unable, when in many cases they are simply less supported - 17th May So who actually won the Great Bra War? No one - One has to ask: why did Marks and Spencer bow to demands to remove its perfectly reasonable £2 surcharge on larger bras? - 10th May We veggies can learn from meat eaters like Hugh - Is it my imagination or is there a distinct whiff of veggie schadenfreude rising out of the swine flu hysteria? - 3rd May Ostrich parents encourage teen pregnancies - Dream on parents, if you think adverts for contraception introduce your children to the idea of sex - 26th April Before you call Mel Gibson washed up ... - Above all (girlfriends!), ditch the corrosive and unnecessary comments about baldness and paunches - 19th April How squatting has come in from the cold - Most squatters are useless crusties. And I should know. I used to be one - 12th April Now Jade's gone, let the curtain come down on the show - Which was Jade, her fight for life, her cruel leaving of it, not some posthumous circus, featuring bit-part players, willing and unwilling alike - 5th April Spare us earnest icons. Please just give us the glam - National Portrait Gallery's gay icons exhibition seems curiously homophobic - 29th March We don't need tragedies spiced up for us - When did death and misery become an automatic branding exercise? - 22nd March Why 'rape-lite' myths fill us with dread - John Worboys exploited the bond of trust women have with black cab drivers. The glow of an amber light in darkness has been tarnished forever - 15th March Since when did such fools run amok at Oxford? - How did Oxford University manage to morph from 'dreaming spires' to marauding sexist anti-Semitic rough scrumpy in just a few short months? - 8th March A woman traduced by a 'close' encounter - Rachel Reid's only 'crime' was that she took her job seriously, and is attractive with long hair - 8th February Hey, fat boy, it's your turn in the spotlight now - Are we ready for the age of the NOM (Newly Objectified Male)? - 1st February OK, here's MY definition of paternity fraud - If there is one black and white area left in the gender arena, where men could feel indisputably in the right, perhaps "paternity fraud" - the pretence that a man has fathered your child - is it - 25th January Pushy parents are setting the best example - Parental guilt swirls around us, all the time, but last week it was as if somebody decided to hold the annual PG street carnival - 18th January Rachida - this was an act of weakness, not strength - by playing superwoman, by opting for a quasi-macho show of strength, she had undermined the very concept of maternity leave for ordinary women - 11th January It's a little early to sanctify Steven Gerrard - The last time I looked, 'nice; and 'good at scoring goals' had yet to rank as synonyms for 'not guilty' - 4th January

Articles: 2008 Stars in my eyes? On my nerves, actually - While it's a bit harsh to class the famous as actual vermin, we could certainly do with keeping the numbers down - 28th December 2008 Our teachers deserve better than a caning - Teachers run the risk of becoming an educational Aunt Sally, blamed for the ills of society - 21st December 2008 Camerons win the Christmas card showdown - Cameron's official Christmas card photograph of him and his family is really rather lovely, and wholly undeserving of the vitriol that has been slung at it - 14th December 2008 Why Karen Matthews really offended the middle classes - The media consistently fail to understand that cruelty, unlike poverty, has nothing to do with class - 7th December 2008 Alpha Males, your goose is finally cooked - Gordon Ramsay's Bedroom Nightmare may prove to be the final (welcome) nail in the coffin of the Alpha Male - 30th November 2008 Your ideas are wearing a bit thin, Germaine - Surely feminists would be grateful to accept Cheryl Cole as one of their own - even if she is a bit on the small side - 23rd November 2008 Who declared class war among our teens? - Are we incubating the first-ever generation of teenagers who hate, despise, and avoid each other, for no better reason than money? - 16th November 2008 To pin Labour's hopes on Sarah Brown is absurd - 9th November 2008 Oh, Wossy, you lost the plot long, long ago - Are Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand already being repositioned as burning 'comedy martyrs'? - 2nd November 2008 Matt Lucas's divorce was too heterosexual - There's something bizarre and sad, if understandable, about the apparent desire for 'normality' in homosexual marriage and divorce - 26th October 2008 It wasn't the 999 service that failed Hannah - It was a miracle that Hannah Foster was able to use her phone at all; unforgivable that it wasn't enough to save her - 19th October 2008 The debt all women owe to Jade and Wendy - 12th October 2008 Lay off our Christmas, you joyless moaners - 5th October 2008 The case against Fathers 4 Justice is now proven - 28th September 2008 Prejudice isn't what keeps men out of nurseries - 21st September 2008 Hey Oxbridge, where's that welcome mat? - Top universities declare that it's 'not their place to help the poor' - 14th September 2008 Remember St Elton, you were young once, too - One has to ask: who do Elton John and his husband David Furnish think they are, mooching about 'saving' people? It's as if they've become the Jehovah's Witnesses of celebrity sobriety - 7th September 2008 Kindly get these teenagers out of our hair now - 31st August 2008 Go on, admit it. Beijing is boring. Call off 2012 - 10th August 2008 At least when I was skint, Caroline Flint wasn't around to shatter my dreams - 10th February 2008 Who is that behind the lens? Oh, it's all of us - 3rd February 2008 There's no such place as 'Suicide Town' - However horrible the news was about the Bridgend youth suicides, the scrabble to apportion blame, to effectively play 'whatdunnit' with young people's lives, proved almost as disturbing - 27th January 2008 Salute the man who is prepared to take on these precious pop stars - 20th January 2008 The Maddie story is already a soap opera, so why the moral panic over a movie? - 13th January 2008

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