Biographies

Will Straw – @wdjstraw – is Editor of Left Foot Forward and a Fellow at the Center for American Progress. He was a 2007-08 Fulbright Scholar, worked for four years as a senior policy adviser at HM Treasury, and is a former President of the Oxford University Student Union. He is co-editor of “The Change We Need: What Britain can learn from Obama’s victory“.

Shamik Das – @shamikdas – is Assistant Editor of Left Foot Forward. He read maths at UCL and has passed the NCTJ journalism training course. His biggest passion is watching, playing and commenting on cricket; Shamik’s personal blog can be found at www.shamik.co.uk.

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Aaron Peters – @aaronjohnpeters – writes for Left Foot Forward on issues of the digital economy, social media and social innovation. He possesses graduate degrees in international public policy and intellectual history and is currently working towards a phd examining the organisational change of social movements and political parties within the context of Net 2.0 and online ‘mass collaboration’. His personal blog can be found at RadicalDandy.

Aaron Porter – @AaronPorter – is the president of the National Union of Students. He studied English Literature at the University of Leicester and served as a sabbatical officer at the students’ union.

Dr. Asif Sange writes on health issues. He works as a hospital doctor in the NHS and has done for five years, after graduating from Dundee Medical School – currently he is based at Blackpool Victoria Hospital. Asif is a Labour Party activist and works part time as a research assistant for Lord Patel of Blackburn.

Ben Fox is parliamentary adviser to the Socialist group’s Vice-Chairman of the European Parliament’s Economic and Monetary Affairs committee. He is also chairman of GMB Brussels.

Casper ter Kuile – @cterkuile – writes on international climate policy. He is Co-Director of the UK Youth Climate Coalition and a recent University of Warwick graduate. He now supports Solitaire Townsend’s work at Futerra Sustainability Communications.

Claire French – @clairee_french – is an intern at Left Foot Forward and an aspiring journalist. She is a columnist at Tribune Magazine and specialises in social issues. Claire’s blog ‘A plurality of personal musings’ can be found at www.clairefrench.co.uk.

Conor McGinn – @conormcginn – manages a charity that works with prisoners and their families, the Irish Council for Prisoners Overseas. He recently ran as a Labour candidate in a local election in the London Borough of Islington.

Darren Shirley – @darrenshirley – writes for Left Foot Forward on energy efficiency and green energy; he works for WWF UK and is an energy efficiency campaigner, climber and part time politics student. Darren writes for Left Foot Forward in a personal capacity.

David Taylor – @DavidTaylor85 – writes on development policy. He is chair of the Labour Campaign for International Development (LCID). He formerly worked as a Campaigner for Oxfam and Wada Na Todo – the national campaign against poverty in India – and as a student activist with People & Planet on Fairtrade.

Ed Jacobs writes on devolved and local government. He works as a political consultant at the only Northern based consultancy, The Public Affairs Company. Ed has previously helped establish and run a student news website therundown.co.uk.

Frank Spring writes for Left Foot Forward on defence and foreign policy. He has a background in policy, politics, and non-profits, and is currently a change and innovation consultant in New York and Washington, DC. He is a graduate of the University of Chicago and KCL’s world-renowned Department of War Studies.

Ged Carroll – @r_c – is director, digital strategies at Ruder Finn and is a member of the faculty at Econsultancy. He has previous worked for a number of brands including Yahoo! and as guest lecturer at LaSalle Business and Engineering School, Universitat Ramon Llull in Barcelona. He speaks regularly on digital issues and youth marketing. In a prior life he ran warehouse parties and worked in an oil refinery. His personal blog can be found at renaissancechambara.jp.

George Readings – @quilliamf – writes for Left Foot Forward about counter-extremism and counter-terrorism policy; he is a communications officer and research fellow at Quilliam, the world’s first counter-extremism think tank.

Graeme Cooke writes on welfare and labour market policy. He is head of the Open Left project at Demos and was expert advisor to the Secretary of State at the Department for Work and Pensions between 2008 and 2009.

Guy Shrubsole – @guyshrubsole – writes about environmental politics. He works for the Public Interest Research Centre (PIRC), and was a member of the UK Youth Delegation to the Copenhagen climate talks. He has previously worked for Defra and the New Zealand government. Guy is writing in a personal capacity for Left Foot Forward.

Howard Reed established Landman Economics in 2008. He remains Director. He was previously chief economist at the Institute for Public Policy Research.

Jason Torrance writes on transport policy. He is a Policy Manager at Sustrans. Jason is blogging in a personal capacity.

Johanna Thomas-Corr – @JohannaTC – writes on education policy. She is a freelance writer and journalist, was formerly arts editor of City Am newspaper, and has written on education, religion and business. She is currently writing her first novel, set in a state school.

Joss Garman – @jossgarman – writes on the environment. He is a climate and energy campaigner for Greenpeace and a co-founder of Plane Stupid. Joss is blogging in a personal capacity.

Joy Johnson writes for Left Foot Forward on the media. She is a former political journalist with ITN and the BBC and is currently a visiting lecturer at City University and the University of Westminster. Joy writes a regular column for Tribune magazine and is a member of the editorial board of the British Journalism Review.

Kate Bell is director of policy, advice and communications at the charity Gingerbread where she has worked for the last six years. She has a masters in Social Policy from the LSE, and has also been a Visiting Fellow at the Centre for American Progress.

Kayte Lawton is a research fellow at the Institute for Public Policy Research. Prior to joining ippr, Kayte worked in research administration at World Cancer Research Fund and Liverpool John Moores University.

Kevin Meagher is a former head of communications at Advantage West Midlands and public affairs manager for United Utilities PLC. He was also special adviser to Labour Northern Ireland secretary, Shaun Woodward. He is now a freelance communications consultant.

Laura Wood writes for Left Foot Forward on human rights. She used to work for the Aspen Institute supporting Mary Robinson’s work and has lived in both Washington, DC and New York.

Liam Thompson is a freelance journalist, reporter and writer specialising in cities, culture and politics.

Marcus Roberts – @marcusaroberts – writes for Left Foot Forward on defence. He is a campaigns consultant and foreign policy analyst. In the 2008 election he was an Obama Volunteer Organiser in Ohio having lost elections on Democratic campaigns in 2000, 2002, 2004, and 2006.

Mark Thompson – @MarkReckons – writes for Left Foot Forward on drugs policy and electoral reform. He is an award-winning Liberal Democrat blogger who writes the Mark Reckons blog. He is a company director of Southfacing Services, an energy efficiency consultancy and software company.

Martin McCluskey – @martinmccluskey – writes on education policy. He is an assistant policy adviser for a large public body and was President of the Oxford University Students Union.

Matt Owen – @Matt0wen – writes on foreign policy issues, in particular the changing nature of the US-UK’s ’special relationship’ and human rights concerns globally. He is a recent graduate of the University of East Anglia’s American Studies department and is currently a freelance writer and fundraiser for Amnesty and Reprieve.

Nicola Smith writes on labour market issues. She is a Senior Policy Officer in the TUC Economic and Social Affairs Department, and is a member of the Social Security Advisory Committee. She also writes at Touchstone.

Nigel Stanley has been head of campaigns and communications at the TUC since May 1997, and was the TUC’s first Parliamentary Officer from 1994 until his promotion.

Oli de Botton – @OlideB – also writes on education policy. He is a former assistant head teacher at a challenging London comprehensive and a graduate of the Teach First scheme. He is currently an education consultant.

Patrick Bury also writes on defence and foreign policy. Patrick is a former captain in the Royal Irish regiment who has fought in Afghanistan, and is author of the upcoming Simon&Schuster book “Callsign Hades”.

Paul Evans – @paul0evans1 – writes about representative democracy and decentralisation. Paul is a London-based blogger with a mixed track-record over at Never Trust a Hippy and the Local Democracy Blog.

Richard Exell also writes on labour market issues. He is the TUC’s senior policy officer covering social security, tax credits and labour market issues, including the debates about the European social model and labour market flexibility. He represents the TUC on the Industrial Injuries Advisory Council, as well as with Unemployed Workers’ Centres, and he also writes at Touchstone.

Roland Marcelin-Horne – @RoMarcelinHorne – writes for Left Foot Forward on all areas of policy and on political events of all parties. Roland is a Labour blogger and activist, social entrepreneur, business owner, school governor and supporter of all things Welsh and Irish; he is the creative director of Aquarium Architecture.

Robert Robinson – @robertwrobinson – writes on domestic politics and policy. He has a background in education policy and also works in the coffee business, @flatcapcoffeeco.

Rupert Read – @RupertRead – writes on environmental and social policy. Rupert is a Green Party councillor in Norwich and a Reader in Philosophy at the University of East Anglia where he specialises in environmental and political philosophy and analysis of propaganda. He blogs at Rupert’s Read.

Sarah Ismail – @samedifference1 – writes for Left Foot Forward on physical disability. Sarah is a physically disabled blogger, poet and journalist. She edits her personal blog, Same Difference, and is a Trustee of the Nihal Armstrong Trust. She has written a collection of original poetry about life with a physical disability titled Listen To The Silence, which is available to download exclusively from Same Difference.

Sarah Mulley – @sarahmulley – writes on immigration policy. She is a senior research fellow at the Institute for Public Policy Research (ippr) and has previously worked for the UK Aid Network, the Global Economic Governance Programme, and HM Treasury.

Dr. Stephen Henderson writes for Left Foot Forward on cancer-related issues; he is a bioinformatics researcher at the University College London Cancer Institute.

Sunder Katwala is the general secretary of the Fabian Society, the world’s oldest think tank; he blogs at Next Left and Liberal Conspiracy.

Tim Horton is research director of the Fabian Society. Prior to this he worked in the Labour Party’s Policy Unit and in 2005 was a Special Adviser at the Department of Trade and Industry. Before this he was a policy analyst in HM Treasury’s Enterprise and Growth Unit.

Toby Thomas is an intern at Left Foot Forward and has just graduated from Oxford with a degree in History. He is a fervent Liverpool FC fan.

Tony Dolphin writes for Left Foot Forward on economics. He is senior economist at the Institute for Public Policy Research (ippr) and has previously worked for the Treasury and Department for Education.

Will Horwitz – @willhorwitz – writes for Left Foot Forward on inequality and the benefits system; he works in the policy team of Community Links, an innovative east London charity based in Newham. Will also volunteers for The Equality Trust, and has previously worked for Oxfam on UK poverty issues.