Frances Ryan

Frances Ryan is a Guardian columnist. Her latest book, Who Wants Normal? The Disabled Girls’ Guide to Life, is available to pre-order at the Guardian Bookshop

• A girl cools herself in front of a fan

  Air conditioning: the wealthy and well can afford it, but disabled people who need it most can’t

  Frances Ryan

  It is a short-term fix, but AC is an essential tool for many for whom the heat can be harmful, and even life-threatening, says Guardian columnist Frances Ryan
• A man at press conference in front of microphones

  The watcher

  Dear England: James Graham’s rousing, joyful football drama will make you cry and shout at the TV

  This stellar adaptation of James Graham’s award-winning play is a stirring take on national identity – even if not all the actors look like the real footballers. Put it this way, Wayne Rooney will be very pleased indeed
• Keir Starmer, former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner and Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham meet pupils at Holy Trinity primary school in Ashton, Greater Manchester, 13 April 2026.

  Starmer’s on the brink and who knows what will happen next: hope for the best, Britain, and prep for the worst

  Frances Ryan

  As senior cabinet ministers move against the PM, his words of defiance seem moot. I’m planning ahead – which is more than he has ever done, says Guardian columnist Frances Ryan

• King Charles and Donald Trump at the White House on Tuesday.

  King Charles’s White House visit was an exercise in full-throttle distraction and denial

  Frances Ryan

  A few days of joviality will hardly change American foreign policy or guarantee Trump’s ever-erratic affections for long, says Guardian columnist Frances Ryan
• design image of blue badge

  ‘People assume we’re grifters’: disabled Britons report rise in abuse over blue badges

  Badge holders and carers report being harassed, filmed and threatened by strangers who think they are faking disability

• • TV review

    Queen Elizabeth II: Her Story, Our Century review – apparently she was very good at shaking hands

  • Britain’s shadow workforce is paid as little as 65p an hour. Who cares for the carers?

    Frances Ryan

  • Next week’s disability cuts will make people destitute – and you might not understand how bad they are until it’s too late

    Frances Ryan

• Disabled protesters rally against welfare cuts in Parliament Square, London

  ‘A cruel penalty’: disabled people face lower benefit payments if conditions not deemed lifelong

• Image of DVD in the case

  The hill I will die on

  The hill I will die on: Streaming is rubbish – take me back to the golden era of DVDs

  Frances Ryan

• Ben Jennings illustration of two girls in a classroom, one is in a wheelchair one is not, and they are friends listening to the same music on headphones

  Labour’s Send reforms get this right: disabled children in mainstream schools is transformative for everyone

  Frances Ryan

  It doesn’t fit neatly on a Treasury spreadsheet, but there is huge value in disabled and non-disabled pupils learning together, says Guardian columnist Frances Ryan
• Abe (Darren Boyd), Freya (Kyla Harris) and Ty (Aasiya Shah) in We Might Regret This

  TV review

  We Might Regret This review – brilliant disabled-led comedy continues to skewer its targets

  Filmed last summer as the government sought to cut disability benefits, this groundbreaking show about an artist and her best friend is laugh-out-loud funny
• A computer keyboard with the words ‘hate speech’ written on a key.

  Given the toxicity of social media, a moral question now faces all of us: is it still ethical to use it?

  Frances Ryan

  With so many platforms rife with racism, misogyny and far-right rhetoric, there must be a point where decent people walk away, says Guardian columnist Frances Ryan

• Lenny Rush as Chris and James Buckley as his dad, Nicholas in Finding Father Christmas.

  TV review

  Finding Father Christmas review – Lenny Rush and James Buckley’s chemistry is just wonderful
• A man in a wheelchair about to get into his car.

  Disabled people driving luxury cars on your dime? Just the latest rightwing lie peddled by Labour

  Frances Ryan

• Silhouette of two children on swings

  The two-child limit is abolished at last. Watch out for the narrative that will follow

  Frances Ryan
• Chris McCausland, holding a microchip

  TV review

  Chris McCausland: Seeing into the Future review – the comic just can’t hide his emotion in this mind-blowing show
• The Green party leader, Zack Polanski, at the party’s conference in Bournemouth, 3 October 2025.

  Labour’s takedown of the Green party sums up the double standard that dogs our politics

  Frances Ryan
• Olimba the leopard.

  TV review

  Kingdom review – David Attenborough never fails to make nature awe-inspiring

• Illustration: Danielle Rhoda

  Just beads in a glass jar: this is how the Tories dehumanise migrants and those in need

  Frances Ryan

  The Conservatives, like Reform, are rooting their immigration policy in the language of welfare dependency. It’s deeply harmful, says Guardian columnist Frances Ryan