Catherine Bennett (journalist)

Catherine Bennett
Born
Catherine Dorothea Bennett
OccupationJournalist
SpouseRobert Sackville-West (1985–92)

Catherine Dorothea Bennett is a British journalist.

Early life and education

The elder daughter of Geoffrey Bennett, of Smelthouses, North Yorkshire,[1] Bennett was educated at Lawnswood High School, Leeds, and Hertford College, Oxford.

Career

Bennett began her career in journalism at Honey magazine. Subsequently, she worked at The Sunday Telegraph, The Mail on Sunday, The Sunday Times, The Times and the short-lived Sunday Correspondent newspaper before joining The Guardian around 1990.[2] She joined The Observer at the beginning of 2008,[citation needed] and was on the Orwell Prize's Journalism shortlist for 2009.[3] In opinion pieces for the Observer, she has criticised the peerage system and the privileges of the British aristocracy.[4][5]

In February 2023, a weekly column from Bennett in The Observer led to fellow Observer columnist James Wong resigning his own column and writing to the editorial department and tweeting to describe the column by Bennett as "completely unacceptable".[6] Bennett's column sought to defend female MPs accused of transphobia in the context of the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill and mentioned Rosie Duffield, Joanna Cherry and Miriam Cates by name, criticising comments by Lloyd Russell-Moyle and Ben Bradshaw.[7]

Personal life

From 1985 to 1992, Bennett was married to Robert Sackville-West, who inherited the title of Baron Sackville on the death of his uncle in 2004.[1] She subsequently had a relationship with the books editor of the Evening Standard, David Sexton, ending before September 2005.[8] She later had a relationship with the broadcaster John Humphrys, beginning in 2009.[9]

References

  1. ^ a b Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage, 148th edition, ed. Charles Kidd, Debrett's Ltd, 2011, p. 1369
  2. ^ Stephen Brook, "Observer hires Guardian columnist", The Guardian, 30 November 2007. Retrieved 6 April 2009.
  3. ^ Owen Amos, "Shortlists announced for Orwell Prize for political writing" Archived 2011-04-28 at the Wayback Machine, Press Gazette, 26 March 2009.
  4. ^ Bennett, Catherine (18 May 2013), "Aristocrats make bid for equality? That's a new one", The Observer, retrieved 26 January 2015
  5. ^ Bennett, Catherine (11 October 2014), "Illiterate? Criminal record? Welcome to the House of Lords", The Observer, retrieved 26 January 2015
  6. ^ Wong, James [@BotanyGeek] (29 January 2023). "As a columnist at the Observer, I have written to them to express my shock. This is completely unacceptable" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 25 February 2023. Retrieved 25 February 2023 – via Twitter.
  7. ^ Bennett, Catherine (28 January 2023). "Forget Andrew Tate – what about the host of misogynists in Labour's ranks?". The Observer. Retrieved 25 February 2023.
  8. ^ "Married to the Job". The Independent. 19 September 2005. ProQuest 310825736.
  9. ^ Gordon, Bryony (22 September 2009). "John Humphrys: 'I've always felt like a bit of a fraud'". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 14 March 2017.
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