The Personal is Political

This week I sat down with Pierre Tran. Pierre is a Paris based reporter, who has worked for specialist websites, newspapers, international news agencies, and magazines, covering corporate news, politics and financial markets. He has also been a sub-editor.Pierre and I first met in 2023 at the National Union of Journalists Delegates Meeting in London. We had lunch together with other union members, and since then I've followed his reporting. When I was last in Paris, we met up and I got him to agree to record an episode of Between Nasi Goreng and Fried Rice. I know nothing about defence and weapons so when he came to London for this year's NUJ delegates meeting it seemed like the perfect opportunity! Catch up with past episodes of Between Nasi Goreng and Fried Rice here.This Week in Disability NewsLots of us gathered in Westminister this week for a mass lobby to challenge our elected representatives about the government's proposed cuts to disability benefit. PIP (Personal Independence Payment) is a benefit to help towards some of the extra costs that come with having a long-term health condition or disability that is expected to last 12 months or longer.Follow Disabled People Against Cuts on Instagram to keep informed. The ‘First Report of the Work and Pensions Committee, Safeguarding vulnerable claimant’ has been published. One witness said they felt as if "a system that is meant to wrap its arms around us is strangling us”.“Having choice is only valid if it’s a meaningful choice, and for many disabled people we strongly fear it won’t be.”A disabled MP has dropped his support for the assisted suicide bill, largely because of concerns that “broken” social care and palliative care services could push terminally-ill people into seeking an assisted death.Steve Darling MP told Disability News Service (DNS) this week that he had not yet decided how he would vote on the bill’s third reading, which is likely to take place next month, but he said he had moved from being “marginally in favour” of the bill at its second reading last November, to now being “marginally against”.Keep up with my work and news on my linktr.ee here This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit eleanorlisney.substack.com