What Liz Saw

Travel. Art. London. From Liz Cookman, assistant editor of Don't Panic. Full blog: www.whatlizsaw.com

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I wrote about Turkey's failed coup for the Guardian - thoughts 4 months on

Wrote about Turkey's failed coup & nationalism for the @guardian, thoughts 4 months on

  Four months ago today, an attempted coup devastated Turkey. It was one of the scariest and most bizarre nights of my life, my tweets about the fear, the explosions and passing F-16s were retweeted thousands of times resulting in constant phone calls from international press agencies and a very late night (and slightly drunken) appearance on Radio 5 Live. Later came international TV…

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I wrote about Erdogan's use of Europe's lese-majeste laws for the Guardian

I wrote about Erdogan’s use of Europe’s lese-majeste laws for the Guardian

Again, still catching up on updates. I wrote in March about how the Turkish Prez was using outdated and often largely forgotten about lèse-majesté laws in order to silence critics in Europe, but how it was actually backfiring. It prompted several countries to rush through changes and abolishments of the laws, therefore actually scoring an accidental victory for freedom of speech. You can read…

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I wrote for the Guardian about the lack of sympathy for terror attacks in Turkey

I wrote for the Guardian about the lack of sympathy for terror attacks in Turkey

  OK…. I haven’t updated anything for ages. I wrote this for the Guardian in March following the bombing of the central square in Ankara after a spate of horrible attacks here. I was very affected by this bomb and unfortunately things don’t seem be getting much better. Turkey is going through a very dark period.

I was chuffed to see the piece got so much attention and so much support was…

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I interviewed trainers from TV show Dogs Might Fly for the Guardian

I interviewed trainers from TV show Dogs Might Fly for the Guardian

I interviewed the trainers from Dogs Might Fly, a TV show that aims to show how lovely rescue dogs can be with the right care and attention while, yeah, also teaching them TO FLY A PLANE, for the Guardian. Read it here or unedited version below.

  Can a dog fly a plane? And, if it could, would you go as far as to, say, get in a plane

that a dog was piloting? Probably not. However, Victoria…

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I wrote a about no platforming in UK universities (and why it sucks) for the Huffington Post

I wrote a about no platforming in UK universities (and why it sucks) for the Huffington Post

I wrote a piece for the Huffington Post about no-platforming in UK universities because in real life, students, you can’t just unfriend people who annoy you. It’s an update of an old blog post that you can read here, or the published version here.  I started university when I was 24, almost 25. Having left school at 15 with no qualifications, I knew nothing about education and wasn’t really sure…

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I wrote about the Ankara bombing for the Huffington Post

I wrote about the Ankara bombing for the Huffington Post

I wrote about the Ankara bombing for the Huffington Post (I’m a Huffington Post blogger now!) because it really, really, really sucked. You can read it below, or here.  I was sleeping when Ankara city centre was hit by twin explosions just after 10am on the morning of October 10th. I woke up to a message from my boyfriend: “Two bombs have gone off near the train station. Looks like a lot of…

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Is Turkey heading towards civil war?

Is Turkey heading towards civil war?

I wrote this piece for News Hub a few weeks ago, but it seems apt now following the awful bombings in Ankara. Can read it on News Hub here.

Things are not looking good for Turkey. The Turkish lira is at a record low against the US dollar and society is polarized over ongoing clashes between Kurdish rebels and Turkish security forces. Last week, Selahattin Demirtas, leader of Turkey’s main…

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I wrote a piece for the Telegraph about whether foreign women are safe in Turkey

Wrote for the Telegraph, before the Ankara blasts, about whether women are safe in Turkey. Shows the importance of the upcoming elections.

This weekend’s twin blasts in Ankara were devastating to local residents. Before this summer’s elections and the violence that followed the AKP failing to gain their majority, I wrote this for the Telegraph’s Expat Zone. Just goes to show how much the next election in November matters. You can read the edited version here. 

Between the threat of terrorism and questions about women’s rights,…

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Non-doms and tax avoidance: The tax accountant's point of view

Non-doms and tax avoidance: With the election just around the corner, I asked a tax accountant for their point of view

I spoke to a tax accountant from one of the Big Four about tax avoidance ahead of next month’s general election

The election is coming. I said, THE ELECTION IS COMING! That means, batten down the hatches, we’re in for an intense month of political windbaggery. One of the hottest topics this year is tax – inheritance tax, income tax and perhaps most emotive of all, tax avoidance. The tax-free…

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The Ascent of Lavender Hill (17.9m)

The Ascent of Lavender Hill (17.9m)

I was very sad to hear about the fire at Battersea Arts Centre yesterday, especially as it has only recently under gone a refurbishment. Places to enjoy and learn about the arts are an ever decreasing thing in my beloved south west London due to the ever creeping cultural oil slick known as luxury flats. I’m so relieved no one was hurt and hope to see it back on it’s feet soon, I have such fond…

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I wrote a piece for the Guardian about man-shaming portmanteaus – they need to die

In case you misses it, I wrote a piece for the Guardian about man-shaming portmanteaus – they're not feminist and they need to die

I wrote a thingy for the Guardian about man-shaming portmanteaus – mansplaining, manslamming, manterrupting, manspreading, etc. They’re stupid, stop it – men are people too, I suppose. Male entitlement is an issue. Derogatory words highlight the problem (and are fun, let’s be honest), but fuelling gender-squabbling isn’t doing equality any favours. Funnily enough, this seemed to be a popular…

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Censorship on campus: In real life, you can't just unfriend people who annoy you

Censorship on campus: In real life, you can’t just unfriend people who annoy you

Facebook-style community standards are making our universities boring. Censorship doesn’t just give students the freedom of tolerance, it prevents them from learning to tolerate.

I started university when I was 24, almost 25. Having left school at 15 with no qualifications, I knew nothing about education and wasn’t really sure what to expect, but I had expected to be challenged. Not just…

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The 'return' of page three: Why it's not just harmless fun

The ‘return’ of page three: Why it’s not just harmless fun

All my life, I thought The Sun was just a lame celeb rag with a penchant for sexism and bad puns, but it turns out they’re comedy geniuses. Get this, right – they started putting bikinis on their page three models so all the stupid hairy lesbian feminist types and champagne socialists that read the Guardian would get all excited about a small shift towards equality. But then, once all the…

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Thoughts on Justice for Men and Boys, the anti-feminist political party

Thoughts on Justice for Men and Boys, the Uk's anti-feminist political party

Some ramblings on men’s rights

It’s a tough old world if you’re a man – lazy women who naturally put less effort into their careers are stealing all your jobs, they’re over represented in government, have infiltrated the criminal justice system, and to top it all off, every time I click my fingers (click, click), an innocent man’s life is ruined by another false rape claim. Thanks to feminism’s…

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I wrote a piece for The Independent about Idris Elba and James Bond

I wrote a piece for The Independent about Idris Elba and James Bond – you can’t have seen the films if you think he’d be anything other than perfect. 

Idris Elba for Bond! I wrote a little thing on the matter for The Independent (and you can read it here), or take a gander at my unedited version below. The self-denied racism that has accompanied this affair is something I’ve found quite shocking (‘it’s not about him being black, it’s about James Bond being white’ – that sort of thing) and I may write a follow up blog about it soon. Hope you…

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Breakfast TV: Why are female presenters so glam at 6:30am?

Breakfast TV: Why are female presenters so glam at 6:30am?

From the Daily Mail

I was asked to write a piece for the Guardian G2 Shortcuts, but because of complications it’s not going up so here it is anyway. Hope you enjoy…

Once upon a time, if a conversation arose about breakfast glamour, it would probably have been concerned with shiny high-class toasters. But something has happened to breakfast TV over the past few years, it’s gone sexy. So sexy, in…

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I wrote a piece for the Independent about vegan and veggie stereotypes

I wrote a piece for Independent Voices – although I didn’t choose the old Secret Cinema selfie – about the tired stereotypes surrounding vegans and vegetarians. I’ve been a veggie for most of my life for non-moral reasons (I hate it), but as I get older I start to see more and more sense in abstaining from meat. It turned out to be a popular topic, it got a lot of shares on social media. A few…

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