I’m 31 and an in-house lawyer in the City. I grew up in Nottingham with my head in an atlas, memorising obscure capital cities, flags and gross GDP. Print offerings were limited to the tabloids at home, or the local library. I lived in Bristol, Japan, and Amsterdam in attempt to quell the wanderlust.
Eventually I moved to London and qualified as a solicitor. I lasted about three years in a frantic mergers and acquisitions department before moving in-house. Now I live in a south London flat with my partner and our rescue cats, spending my time cooking, running, doing yoga, and volunteering at our local police station supporting adults with mental illness and children in police custody.
I came pretty late to the Guardian, only picking it up after I moved to London in my mid-twenties. My student days were spent with more centrist broadsheets, perhaps in an attempt to fit in with my privately educated peers at university. I only ever really enjoyed the travel sections.
I increasingly found the Guardian really reflected my values (or vice versa), and the non-news coverage (admittedly London-centric) is very relatable. I love the Cities coverage and find the Guardian second to none on housing, communities and urban issues. To me, the Guardian feels young, relevant, and, importantly, female. I enjoy reading Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett, Hadley Freeman, and Polly Toynbee. The Saturday edition used to be a treat, but the speed at which I demolish the online content means it’s becoming obsolete. World, food and society are on my rotation, and as ever, Travel. I pretty much ignore the Money and Business Sections, I get plenty of that in the office. What keeps me coming back? Right now, the running blog and Ottolenghi. It seems that the older I get, the leftier I get, and Comment is free on politics is thoroughly enjoyable even if it is usually a total echo chamber. Despite my protestations my family are still on the tabloids and, mortifyingly, the Mail. My ambitions at 16, according to my secondary school yearbook, were to run a marathon and break a world record for eating jacket potatoes. They’re still the same, but I’ll hopefully tick off one in London this April.
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