How racism against Diane Abbott became normalised

Frank Hester is one of the Conservative party’s most generous donors. He is also now known for making appalling, racist, threatening comments about MP Diane Abbott. If reports of the other comments he has made in public are true, they ought to also be called out as racist.

Abbott is my MP, and whatever I or anyone else thinks of her as a politician, she has served her community for nearly 40 years and has a legacy as trailblazing public servant. Yet when Hester looks at her, he appears to only see a ‘black woman’.

Abbott has been the target of threats and abuse for so long that her treatment has become normalised. Orly Siow and Sofia Collignon both research women in politics and have uncovered evidence to show how routine this mistreatment is among other black women politicians, too. The data they share here should encourage us all to, at the very least, acknowledge the problem instead of allowing the likes of Hester to excuse their frightening rhetoric as jokes.

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The abuse of Diane Abbott by a top Tory donor should have us all thinking about how we normalise racism against women MPs

Abortion rights are featuring in this year’s European election campaign in a way we’ve not seen before

Finland managed to halve its suicide rate – here’s how it happened

Politics + Society

Affirmative consent campaign calls for sexual assault law change in England and Wales – but this approach has pitfalls, too

Russian elections: despite fixing the opposition, Vladimir Putin wants lots of people to vote for him

I’ve studied extremism for years – here’s what Rishi Sunak should be doing instead of pursuing new definitions for the word

Why Biden is investing in influencers to help with this year’s election

Arts + Culture

I created a ‘cosy game’ – and learned how they can change players’ lives

I research how people creatively express ‘queer joy’ online – here are three tips for trying it yourself

Business + Economy

With the UK creeping out of recession, here’s an economist’s brief guide to improving productivity

Robo-advisers are here – the pros and cons of using AI in investing

Environment

Why farmers are struggling to go green

Sweden has vast ‘old growth’ forests – but they are being chopped down faster than the Amazon

Women favour climate actions that benefit future generations more than men – new study

Health

Slowed speech may indicate cognitive decline more accurately than forgetting words

Science + Technology

It’s a myth that male animals are usually larger than females – new study

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