Rachel Cunliffe

Dispatch from Manchester: cargo cults and effigies of Margaret Thatcher

www.newstatesman.com/uncategorize...

Spotted: Robert Jenrick being trailed by a herd of paparazzi-like camera crews out his event, down a flight of stairs, through a corridor and across a courtyard while deflecting questions on whether he wants to be the next Tory leader

My son recently found a swastika drawn on the pavement at... The Manchester attack didn't come as a shock. The only surprise is it hasn’t happened sooner

I wrote a short piece for the Observer on the attacks in Manchester.

observer.co.uk/news/opinion...

Finding today harder than yesterday. As so many British Jews have said, the attack wasn't a surprise.

But the instant protests, plus the stream of "takes" explaining why Israel is actually to blame and it's fine to target a Synagogue if it has "Zionist" ties... That's harder.

Maybe time to log off

The 7 October attacks changed what it means to be Jewish in Britain The war in Gaza has exposed a level of anti-Semitism I didn’t realise was there

"I hear again and again that the Israelis – the Jews – had it coming. Knowing allusions to Jewish influence, Jewish power. Stereotypes of Jewish cruelty."

Written before today's attack on a Manchester synagogue. It's the kind of piece I never thought I'd write.

www.newstatesman.com/internationa...

I read this sci-fi short story once about a kid who accidentally ended up in a parallel universe, where everything was exactly the same except 1+1=3. The twist at the end was their three grandchildren asking how they got back, only to realise they never did… Feels apt

I don't think most non-Jews know that security at synagogues is commonplace. My sister went to a Jewish primary school. She entered through a metal gate staffed by guards. The risk has ramped out in recent years, but it's always been a consideration. Do church-goers ever worry about stuff like that?

One reflection talking to other Jews today is how unshocking this is.

Numbing, upsetting, scary but not shocking. We all knew it was coming. Given the enormous rise in antisemitic incidents in recent years, it's a surprise it hasn't happened more often.

Thank you. I don't expect - or want - all Jews to agree. This is immensely personal, and one of the things I've been grappling with is just how differently my Jewish friends and family have responded over the past two years. No two experiences are the same. But I hoped some of it would resonate

The 7 October attacks changed what it means to be Jewish in Britain The war in Gaza has exposed a level of anti-Semitism I didn’t realise was there

"I hear again and again that the Israelis – the Jews – had it coming. Knowing allusions to Jewish influence, Jewish power. Stereotypes of Jewish cruelty."

Written before today's attack on a Manchester synagogue. It's the kind of piece I never thought I'd write.

www.newstatesman.com/internationa...

You don’t actually have to both sides this. The Jewish community in the UK is not the Israeli government. You can just condemn the murder of two British Jews killed in their place of worship and you don’t have to say a single other thing.

Would you survive a year as chancellor? Cosplaying Rachel Reeves for fun, I just about managed to avoid crashing the economy

In which I try to walk a mile in the Chancellor's shoes (thanks to @joemayes.bsky.social very fun "choose your own adventure" book) and fail miserably

www.newstatesman.com/ideas/2025/1...

She was - and still is - a little star

Yes, because before 2020 no one ever caught a cold

On the train back from Liverpool, sleep-deprived and with yet another conference cold, so please enjoy this screenshot of the cat photobombing my attempt to FaceTime my husband after three days away

Labour believes it has the antidote to Reform Can economic growth defeat populism?

Labour believes it has the antidote to Reform

Can economic growth defeat populism?

🖊️ @RMCunliffe.bsky.social

Conference isn’t conference without a spot of al fresco podcasting

I suppose the clue’s in the name, but filled with stunned joy and amazement that the winter jasmine we planted last February that has shown zero signs of life and which we assumed was very dead has decided to bloom into vibrant, flourishing, springlike abundance, just when we least expected it

The Boss claims another photobomb victim in my very own @albomp.bsky.social. All in a day's work for him. Diplomacy at its finest.

"Everyone knows that there’s nothing edgier than saying fuck on stage. Repeatedly. And shit. And bitches. Especially when reimagining boring old Greek tragedy as a rebellious rap battle all about girlboss feminism and refugees and blowjobs. So shocking! So subversive! Suck on that, Euripides."

That production of Oedipus was one of the best pieces of theatre I have ever seen. It was spell-bingingly chilling.

This is… not

"Everyone knows that there’s nothing edgier than saying fuck on stage. Repeatedly. And shit. And bitches. Especially when reimagining boring old Greek tragedy as a rebellious rap battle all about girlboss feminism and refugees and blowjobs. So shocking! So subversive! Suck on that, Euripides."

I really wanted to like this. I am a huge believer in Greek tragedy being updated and reimagined through a modern lens.

But this production would rather go for jokes about blowjobs than try to say anything real. It's tragedy played for comedy, and it fails miserably at both

The Bacchae is more cringe-inducing than clever Indhu Rubasingham’s debut as artistic director of the National Theatre tries to bring girlboss feminism to Euripides

"It might be entertaining, but it won’t make you think, and it won’t make you feel"

My review of The Bacchae at the National Theatre - a production based on the premise the audience won’t notice how little sense it makes as long as the cast say fuck enough

www.newstatesman.com/culture/thea...

After years of making the running on immigration, Farage may this week have handed the initiative back to his opponents'. @robfordmancs.bsky.social for @ukandeu.bsky.social on the unpopularity of Reform's proposals on ILR ukandeu.ac.uk/reforms-radi...

Corbyn reveals date of inaugural 'Your Party' conference The first 'Your Party' conference will take place in Liverpool on 29 and 30 November.

"However, Sky News understands the Arena and Convention Centre (ACC) Liverpool was unaware of any event bookings for the dates of the conference."

Arena and Convention Centre Total Landscaping...?

news.sky.com/story/corbyn...

It always does

Mrs R: "There was a woman on the ward today who didn't want to take paracetamol. We've had to explain that we're not giving it to her because she's got a fever and we want her to feel better, but because she's got a fever and if we don't get her temperature down then her baby is going to die."

Has anyone had any luck with companies that illegally scrape, store and sell contact data, like email addresses and numbers?

Clearly a breach of GDPR. Clearly they do not care. Multiple emails have gone unanswered.

Contact Out sold my personal (non-work) email address that was never public. Tips?

Trump, Tylenol and toughing it out The US president follows an age-old tradition of telling women they have to suffer to be proper mothers

"It always seems you’re not doing pregnancy, birth or baby-raising right unless you’re really suffering through it. This is not the preserve of any one ideology or industry; it’s everywhere."

@anooshc.bsky.social on what the anti-Tylenol rhetoric is really about
www.newstatesman.com/internationa...