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Lennie Pennie

Lennie Pennie

Herald Scotland

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Lennie Pennie: Why won't our politicians give us straight answers?

How often have you heard an interview with a politician where, despite repeatedly being presented with a straightforward line of questioning, they...

04.05.2024 10

Herald Scotland

Lennie Pennie

Lennie Pennie: The perils and pitfalls of adapting Roald Dahl for today's audiences

I recently came across a video promoting the new adaptation of Roald Dahl’s book, The Twits. It featured Greg James and Chris Smith discussing how...

20.04.2024 30

Herald Scotland

Lennie Pennie

Lennie Pennie: Coeliac disease isn’t a fad, or a preference, it’s a serious condition

As someone with food intolerances, I have quite a strict routine when ordering from restaurants. Regardless of whether it’s sitting in or taking...

05.04.2024 10

Herald Scotland

Lennie Pennie

Lennie Pennie: Scots criminal justice system needs to put survivors first

I recently took part in a BBC Disclosure documentary detailing my experiences as a survivor of domestic abuse and stalking. The documentary featured...

23.03.2024 5

Herald Scotland

Lennie Pennie

Lennie Pennie: Protecting our libraries helps everyone in the community

If the concept of a public library were proposed today, there is no doubt in my mind that it would be rejected by a great number of people as some...

09.03.2024 6

Herald Scotland

Lennie Pennie

Lennie Pennie: It shouldn’t take Taylor Swift to make us change the law on AI

It often seems that with every technological breakthrough humanity makes, there soon exists a way for it to be used to hurt people. AI is the new...

02.03.2024 6

Herald Scotland

Lennie Pennie

Lennie Pennie: It shouldn’t take a celebrity to make us change the law on AI

It often seems that with every technological breakthrough humanity makes, there soon exists a way for it to be used to hurt people. AI is the new...

02.03.2024 9

Herald Scotland

Lennie Pennie

Lennie Pennie: The people of this country must always come before profit

One of my very favourite cliches is: “A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they shall never sit.” You can pick your...

03.02.2024 20

Herald Scotland

Lennie Pennie

Lennie Pennie: Men have been made to feel as though their voice won't be heard

I was recently asked by a male survivor of sexual assault why I don't write poetry about men who have experienced abuse. I had to sit with this for a...

27.01.2024 6

Herald Scotland

Lennie Pennie

Lennie Pennie: Ageing isn't a moral failing. Don't believe the skin 'care' companies

I was watching a video made by a dermatologist about anti-ageing skincare, under which I saw multiple comments from pre-teens asking if it was too...

20.01.2024 3

Herald Scotland

Lennie Pennie

Lennie Pennie: Nobody mentions your BMI or the size of your bahookie in your eulogy

Just a wee heads up before we start, this column will cover topics like eating disorders and unhealthy attitudes towards food, exercise and bodies. If...

13.01.2024 2

Herald Scotland

Lennie Pennie

Lennie Pennie: Jokes about assaulting women aren't really jokes, are they?

After meeting victims of spiking, and shortly after the UK Government announced its plans to treat the crime with the utmost care and attention, the...

06.01.2024 7

Herald Scotland

Lennie Pennie

Lennie Pennie: Enough is enough: we need an immediate and permanent ceasefire

We're just coming out of that time of year when many people will get together to celebrate the birth of a wee baby born in Bethlehem. I hope all those...

30.12.2023 6

Herald Scotland

Lennie Pennie

Lennie Pennie: To solve poverty, we must tackle the causes of wealth

Imagine scientists are performing an experiment on resource hoarding in mice. They give a surplus of food to one set of mice and very little food to...

23.12.2023 10

Herald Scotland

Lennie Pennie

Lennie Pennie: For all our sakes, these cuts to languages cannot go ahead

The ink isn't yet dry on the Scottish languages bill which represents a commitment to protect and promote Gaelic and Scots, and we're already seeing a...

09.12.2023 30

Herald Scotland

Lennie Pennie

Lennie Pennie: Time for politicians to stop paying lip service to women's concerns

As part of this year's 16 days of activism against gender-based violence, an annual campaign which runs from the 25th November to the 10th December, I...

02.12.2023 4

Herald Scotland

Lennie Pennie

Lennie Pennie: What's behind the 'you can't say anything nowadays' brigade?

This week to be mined from the infinite seam of “You can’t even say *insert phrase* any more”, the police force have updated their guidelines...

25.11.2023 8

Herald Scotland

Lennie Pennie

Lennie Pennie: The stress of the world is real. We must take collective action

The first of this month marked National Stress Awareness day, which aims to reduce the stigma around stress, and to make people aware of its effects. ...

18.11.2023 7

Herald Scotland

Lennie Pennie

Lennie Pennie: Do not blame people in poverty, blame the people in power

Homelessness is recognised by the UN as “one of the most severe violations of the right to adequate housing”, and for those in power to see the...

11.11.2023 7

Herald Scotland

Lennie Pennie

'It's impossible for today's families to live like idealised ones from 5 decades ago'

When asked as part of the British Social Attitudes survey if household tasks should be split in an equitable manner between partners, more than three...

21.10.2023 5

Herald Scotland

Lennie Pennie

Lennie Pennie: Think twice before posting about your children online

Having worked in online content creation for the past few years, I'm always shocked by the large number of children, and even babies, doing the same...

14.10.2023 2

Herald Scotland

Lennie Pennie

Lennie Pennie: Taylor Swift and the myth of the self-made artist

There has recently been a lot of discourse around “Nepo babies”, celebrities whose careers were, if not entirely dependent upon, certainly helped...

07.10.2023 5

Herald Scotland

Lennie Pennie

Lennie Pennie: Political elite lecture us about environment from their private jets

The UK government recently approved a new oil field which, according to the Carbon Brief Analysis, has the potential to "release roughly the same...

30.09.2023 5

Herald Scotland

Lennie Pennie

Lennie Pennie: Society is hyper-critical of rape survivors - but we can change that

Straight off the bat, I'm going to put a trigger warning for discussions of sexual assault and domestic abuse, including mention of reporting to...

23.09.2023 5

Herald Scotland

Lennie Pennie

Lennie Pennie: Boundaries online are incredibly important to set – and enforce

Elon Musk recently expressed a desire to remove the ability to block people on the site formerly known as Twitter, saying of the block feature “it...

16.09.2023 6

Herald Scotland

Lennie Pennie

Lennie Pennie: Here is the, um, truth about those filler words we use

This week I’d like to talk about filler words: the tiny parts of speech with a terrible reputation. They’re the “ums”, the “ers”, the...

09.09.2023 6

Herald Scotland

Lennie Pennie

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