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2 weeks ago | 
noon.org.uk | Flora Symington
I had a moment of ‘life-circularity’ this week, that sense of golden threads running through the years. I went to the memorial service of a woman I was proud to call a friend: Barbara Taylor Bradford, aka “BTB”, author of A Woman of Substance, a novel about a Yorkshire lass who finds herself pregnant and on her uppers at 16 and rises to build a global empire. Forty years after it was first published, it is still in print, with 30 million copies sold.
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3 weeks ago | 
noon.org.uk | Flora Symington
I’m just back from 2 days in Paris – City of Light, yes, but also city of romance. That’s appropriate because today’s Queenager newsletter is all about love. Now, I know popular culture is awash with tropes about how after a certain age it’s impossible to find a partner – but that’s not what I see in our NOON community.
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4 weeks ago | 
noon.org.uk | Flora Symington
The unfolding human disasterDid you see the images of the crowds, including many children, lining up with empty bowls and containers desperate for food in Gaza: the gaunt faces of the starving?
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1 month ago | 
inews.co.uk | Flora Symington
Ten years on from leaving school to work in a care home, Katie*, now 26, still suffers from back pain from her time in the job. “It’s a manual job, it’s exhausting. I used to go to bed at 8pm, I was so tired,” she said. On a zero-hours contract and paid below minimum wage, Katie would frequently work four 12-hour shifts in a row – and then get a call on her day off asking her to work. “You couldn’t really say no… It wasn’t just me who was called up for extra shifts, it was everybody.
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1 month ago | 
business-humanrights.org | Flora Symington
“I was a care worker - this is why no British person wants to do this job”Ten years on from leaving school to work in a care home, Katie*, now 26, still suffers from back pain from her time in the job. “It’s a manual job, it’s exhausting. I used to go to bed at 8pm, I was so tired,” she said. On a zero-hours contract and paid below minimum wage, Katie would frequently work four 12-hour shifts in a row – and then get a call on her day off asking her to work.
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1 month ago | 
inews.co.uk | Flora Symington
At PACT House community cafe in Stanley, County Durham, local residents come in to pick up household essentials from a food bank and stick around for a chat and hot drink. While these services used to serve unemployed or young people, it is now commonly helping families who are struggling to get by on a single income.
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2 months ago | 
noon.org.uk | Flora Symington
The three female friends in The White Lotus may have their flaws, but their friendship speaks to the reality of Queenager life. Here at NOON we’ve been loving the Queenager characters on this season of The White Lotus. Jaclyn, Laurie and Kate are childhood friends reuniting for a gals trip in their mid-forties. While they have their ups and downs throughout the show, last night’s finale showed us that at least one of them has got Queenagerdom all figured out.
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Mar 31, 2025 | 
noon.org.uk | Eleanor Mills |Flora Symington
Did you wake up feeling different this morning? Did you know that this weekend (30-31 March) we enter an entirely new revolutionary cycle? (It’s also Mother’s Day, although we know that 30% of Queenagers don’t have children. We also know that this day can evoke feelings of loss and sadness as well as being a happy family day. We’ve got a great piece by Bibi Lynch about surviving Mother’s Day when you’re not childless by choice.
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Mar 19, 2025 | 
hackneypost.co.uk | Flora Symington
The CEO of Hackney Foodbank has said she shares Diane Abbott’s “despair” at the government’s plans to change welfare payments for disabled people. The government recently announced it would be tightening the eligibility criteria for Personal Independence Payment (PIP). Under new criteria that will come into force from November 2026, the threshold to receive PIP will increase, meaning some people might be unable to claim it, or have their payments reduced.
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Mar 19, 2025 | 
hackneypost.co.uk | Flora Symington
On a sunny Saturday morning in North Hackney, residents gathered to exchange second-hand goods, and get their clothes, bikes and electrical goods repaired. This pop-up event is yet more evidence of Hackney’s commitment to reusing and recycling. From next month, Hackney residents will be able to use vouchers to pay for 50% of an electrical repair. They will be available through the website of the sustainability charity Restart and funded by the North London Waste Authority’s Community Fund.
