I’m a freelance writer and journalist, writing about people, psychology, culture and change.
My features and commentary have been published by the Guardian, the Observer, GQ, Vogue, Kinfolk, Vice, Slate, The Observer, New Scientist, Grazia, Stylist, Men’s Health magazine and more. I also write Why Am I Like This?, a regular column for The Guardian exploring how to live well in the modern world.
About me
I worked at the Guardian for five years as a reporter and editor, in Sydney and London. In that time I covered the search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, led commissioning on week-long series on Australian cities and urban heat, wrote a regular column on digital culture, and had my spending diary go regrettably viral.
My work was selected for The Bedside Guardian 2019, The Bedside Guardian 2018, The Bedside Guardian 2017, and The Best Australian Science Writing 2017. In 2019, I wrote Why Everyone Needs a Nemesis for Hodder & Stoughton’s Everything Bad is Good For You audio series.
I was born in England, grew up in New Zealand, and worked there and in Australia before moving to London in 2017. I am now based in Norwich, in the east of England, with my two nearly-hairless cats.
What I write about
Unexpected intersections: How urban design promotes gender equality. The culture war over vegan cheese. The death of pubs meets the ‘millennial sex drought’. The men who unknowingly battled post-natal depression. Does it matter if hypochondria is ‘all in your head’?
Human impacts: Unaffordable housing is changing our social lives (and our sex lives). One woman’s fight to save a species – starting with eight individuals. The women signing up to BirthStrike over the climate crisis. New Zealand’s love-hate relationship with eels. Surviving the city at 50°C.
Pragmatic psychology: The benefits of boredom. Why you regress around your parents. The difference between loneliness and being alone. How a threesome can reinforce your relationship. Can a woman really not know if she’s pregnant?
Where the internet meets IRL: People are seeking surgery to resemble their selfies. Karens explain why they’re not ‘Karen’. Can tech startups solve the crisis of sperm counts? How explosive family secrets are being revealed by DNA test kits. Is the ‘manifesting’ trend magical thinking, or the secret to success?