Janet Street-Porter

A former editor of The Independent on Sunday, Janet Street-Porter is now the paper’s editor-at-large. As a journalist and broadcaster she has had an innovative and groundbreaking career in television, creating programmes for the BBC, Channel 4 and LWT, for which she has won a Bafta and the Prix Italia. She is also vice president of the Rambler’s Association.

Editor-At-Large: Nurses are not heroines. They are professionals

There's been plenty of hand-wringing over the news that from 2013 all new nurses will have to spend three years studying for a degree to qualify. At present the majority train for two or three years and are awarded a diploma. Critics claim these higher standards mean that trainee nurses will spend time sitting in lectures when they could be learning practical skills on the job, and widespread concern has been expressed that the profession will attract the wrong kind of applicants, more concerned with their careers than carrying out menial tasks.

Recently by Janet Street-Porter

Editor-At-Large: What a bunch of whingers, and the women are worst

Sunday, 8 November 2009

They still don't get it, do they? MPs and their lucky relatives on the public payroll insist they're a special case. Thousands of families are facing a bleak Christmas with factories closing, shops going bust and factories operating on short time. But MPs live and breathe in a bubble where hardship is something they quantify differently from the rest of the country.

Editor-At-Large: Face it, Martin – Katie sells books, and you don't

Sunday, 1 November 2009

Martin Amis tells an audience he's based a character in his forthcoming novel State of England on the glamour model turned celebrity author Jordan/Katie Price. According to Amis, "she has no waist... an interesting face... but all we are really worshipping is two bags of silicone". Not just a repulsive comment, but a bit rich coming from the man who's spent thousands on improving his own dentistry.

Editor-At-Large: Nicole's sex roles betray women in the real world

Sunday, 25 October 2009

On the face of it, Nicole Kidman would seem to be a rum choice to be talking about violence against women. After all, she's been raped in one film (Dogville), and had kinky sex with Tom Cruise in another (Eyes Wide Shut). She had a bath with a rather young boy (in Birth) and shagged Billy Zane in Dead Calm, her Hollywood debut – all in the name of art, of course. But Nicole isn't just a highly successful actress who's managed her career so brilliantly she now earns over £7m a film; she's decided to do her bit for the less fortunate by becoming a "goodwill ambassador" for the UN Development Fund for Women.

Editor-At-Large: Tesco calls its big sites 'towns'. I call them monopolies

Sunday, 18 October 2009

Brave new world or corporate toytown? Residents of east London have watched as large swathes of the area have been torn down to accommodate the 2012 Olympics. While the prospect of new, world-class sporting facilities in a run-down and under-developed part of the city is an exciting one, we ought to be concerned about other aspects of this huge chunk of urban regeneration. Local people have lost their cherished allotments, small shops have been closed, and a whole range of family-run businesses forced to relocate. Run-down Georgian and Victorian property (which could have been restored to add a blend of architectural styles to the urban landscape) has been compulsorily purchased as developers rip down existing buildings to replace them with brand new housing. The things that residents want – independent shopkeepers, markets, libraries, theatres and playgrounds – are taking second place.

Editor-At-Large: A woman's place is on the platform

Sunday, 11 October 2009

Bright women should be in power, not simpering at their men

Editor-At-Large: Superwoman is now dolled up as the supermissus

Sunday, 4 October 2009

Forget WAGs: there is a new female royalty. They spend their time espousing worthy causes while dressing for maximum impact. They maximise every photo opportunity, they twitter and they blog; getting their man's message out is the name of the game, all in the name of PR. But, unlike their husbands, they've never stood for political office. In fact, they don't really have a proper job, in spite of being well educated and highly intelligent. Some might say they represent a giant step backwards for womankind. These leaders' wives are famous for being a Mrs – women with another man's name identifying them. I don't know about you, but this isn't what I've fought for in the name of equality.

Editor-At-Large: Harassed to death – why did no one listen?

Sunday, 27 September 2009

Her story is so distressing that it makes me wonder what kind of neighbours lived in her street. Couldn't anyone have saved her from herself? Why didn't a single person of authority – a social worker or a police officer – simply act kindly, as the coroner put it, sympathetically and "sit down and have a cup of tea" with Fiona Pilkington to find out what was going on in her head?

Editor-At-Large: A slimmer Auntie would be even more attractive

Sunday, 20 September 2009

The BBC, once the nation's favourite broadcaster, is now the bloated institution every politician wants to castrate. Brucie's back (notwithstanding a pay cut) on Strictly, which means blissful autumn nights in front of the box for millions, but his paymasters are coming under increasingly heavy bombardment.

Editor-At-Large: After Turing, the shameful abuse of gays goes on

Sunday, 13 September 2009

It's become fashionable for politicians to say sorry – generally for events they have no control over. It's easier to demonstrate humility for a social injustice that happened more than half a century ago than to admit responsibility for handing Rover cars to a bunch of avaricious buffoons who presided over its demise, resulting in thousands of workers losing their jobs.

Editor-At-Large: The cure for stress is not pills but saying 'No'

Sunday, 6 September 2009

Belatedly, the Government has announced that, along with alcohol and cigarettes, another highly popular and legal way of dealing with modern life's little difficulties is to be sold with a prominent health warning. All painkillers that contain codeine will be available from next year only in packs of 32, and the packaging will prominently state "Can cause addiction. For three days' use only".

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