Associate editor, The Observer

Joined January 2009
Alex O'Connell retweeted
Louise Haigh: ‘I’ve been more frightened as a politician than I was as a police officer’ The first secretary, a former Met special constable, shares her vision of a fairer socialist Britain as she walks around a park in her home city of Sheffield ✍️ @RSylvester1 bit.ly/4db1qmS
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Alex O'Connell retweeted
How social media helped make sunbeds dangerous again Melanoma is now one of the most common cancers in people aged 15 to 34, and attributed to a growing trend in sunbed use fuelled by TikTok and Instagram, reports @MarineSaint02 bit.ly/4Az4D9M
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Alex O'Connell retweeted
Starmer is resigning because he became unreasonably hated - partly because of too many self-inflicted mistakes and partly because social media+Farage +the wider right have created a loathing and hatred culture. Burnham is right to seek time to prepare. The same forces await him.
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Alex O'Connell retweeted
‘My foster parents taught me that if you are loved, you will be destroyed’: @lemnsissay On a walk around his childhood town of Ashton-in-Makerfield, the poet and broadcaster reflects to @RSylvester1 on his time in care, why St George’s flags don’t worry him, and the country’s future ahead of the byelection bit.ly/49SIHLe
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Alex O'Connell retweeted
Ever young in spirit, Hockney never quite stopped being a new prodigy From My Parents and A Bigger Splash to his caustic character studies and iPad inventiveness, the late artist delighted in pushing creative boundaries right to the end, writes @LauraCummingArt bit.ly/4fKBSiC
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Alex O'Connell retweeted
Replying to @tes
GCSE, AS and A level grades are, at best, "reliable to one grade either way". How does this "maintain public confidence in regulated qualifications"? observer.co.uk/news/opinion-… @ObserverUK @aoconnell @CommonsEd @Appg_Schools @MarshallTitan1 @HMC_Org @miss_mcinerney @ASCL_UK
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Alex O'Connell retweeted
In this week’s @RSylvester1 on Politics newsletter, she explores how Restore has put Nigel Farage between a rock and a hard right place. To read the rest of the piece, head to our link in bio, and to receive Rachel’s newsletter every week: observer.co.uk/newsletters
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Alex O'Connell retweeted
Britain’s fiscal position, structure of its national debt and too few natural buyers are real constraints. More state-lead growth is possible:but to lose market confidence will shatter everything.Disdain for the bond markets will soon scupper Andy Burnh... observer.co.uk/news/politics…
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Alex O'Connell retweeted
Starmer’s incapacities are obvious. However he has a mandate. As soon as he is replaced in however an ‘orderly fashion’ British media bias will become deadly. One rule on lack of mandates for the right: another for the left. The cabinet must plan skilfully; it could get worse.
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