Articles by Laurie Penny

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Our News Is Dominated by People in Expensive Suits, Shouting At Each Other
Laurie Penny – New Statesman, 19 Aug 2013

When “debating” on TV or radio, caring about the issue at hand is a handicap – because if you care, your opponent can make you angry, and if you get angry, you’ve lost.

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Columnists Now Are Like Street Performers – Collecting Coins in a Hat and Dodging Angry Racists
Laurie Penny – New Statesman, 22 Apr 2013

To be an Internet columnist today is no longer to stand on a stage alone, reciting marvellous soliloquies while a paying audience waits to applaud. It is more like being a street performer – collecting coins in a battered suitcase, telling stories about a better world and understanding that the audience might change the story. It’s hard work, because you’re competing with everyone else on the block, including the drunk, deranged old racist shouting abuse and the naked exhibitionist who does – n’t ask for money, and you have to move fast to avoid the pelted sandwiches and, occasionally, the police. In other words, it’s an exciting time to be a writer.

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