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Victoria Richards

Voices Editor@nakedvix

Victoria Richards is Voices Editor at The Independent. She has 15+ years of experience on national newspapers and magazines including the BBC, FT, Independent, Independent on Sunday, The Times, Sunday Times and HuffPost UK. She has also appeared on Newsnight, BBC World, ITV News, 5Live and Woman's Hour on Radio 4. She has held reporting, editing and columnist positions and is a published poet. Her first book, You'll Need An Umbrella For This, is available now from V. Press Poetry. Follow her on Twitter @nakedvix

<p>Meta has come under fire for a ‘tone deaf’ change to its age settings on WhatsApp, which came into force in the UK and EU on Thursday </p>
Voices

What my 12-year-old told me about WhatsApp changed my mind about a ban

<p>I’ve managed to factor in just two days of ‘holiday sports camp’ for my kids so I can go into the office, but I can’t afford any more than that</p>
Voices

The school summer holidays are six weeks of hell for working parents

<p>The six-year-old’s body was found two weeks after the family’s car was attacked in Gaza City </p>
Voices

The killing of six-year-old Hind Rajab in Gaza should shame us all

<p>Drake is praised, held up as some kind of legend, his body commented on as a result – but he’s a victim, and should be treated with the sympathy and gentleness that he deserves</p>
Voices

Drake isn’t a ‘legend’ for his leaked sex tape – he’s a victim

Voices

Name a cockroach after an ex and feed it to a zoo animal? Yes please

<p>The Independent writers pick the literature they can’t stop sharing </p>
Features

Favourite books to gift: Indy newsroom make their picks

<p>Ryan Gosling and Margot Robbie in Greta Gerwig’s ‘Barbie'</p>
Voices

How Barbie made me rethink my views on pink

<p>We look at the good and bad sides of human behaviour and we see ourselves</p>
Voices

The dark reason we all love The Traitors

<p>Studies have shown that people report greater increases in positive emotion when their shame or sadness is validated</p>
SPONSORED

Stop shouting and say ‘sorry’ instead: How to be a better parent

<p>‘You immediately recognise the independent minded when you meet them’ </p>
SPONSORED

What does it mean to be independent minded?

SPONSORED

Are you an independent thinker?

<p>Why would any of us choose to translate this kind of grief into an IRL encounter?</p>
Voices

There’s nothing worse than the school WhatsApp group

<p>Is there anywhere that men won’t harass women? </p>
Voices

Have men just found a way to be even creepier online?

Voices

Have men just found a way to be even creepier online?

<p>Is there anywhere that men won’t harass women? </p>
<p>Brielle posted a video with text across the screen that read: ‘QOTD (question of the day) in a 9-5 how do u have time for ur life’ </p>
Voices

Why can’t Gen Z cope with the real world? I’ll tell you why...

<p>Brand has posted a video denying the allegations </p>
Voices

Russell Brand: Why I’m not surprised

<p>You can’t get much more impressive than revealing the sex of your baby in front of an entire stadium filled with cowboy hats and feather boas, so the rest of us might as well give up now</p>
Voices

I didn’t see this Harry Styles gender reveal coming

<p>With kids and summer heat you’re truly damned if you do and damned if you don’t</p>
Voices

I’m a parent and I’ve discovered the worst thing to do in a heatwave

<p>With kids and summer heat you’re truly damned if you do and damned if you don’t</p>
Voices

I’m a parent and I’ve discovered the worst thing to do in a heatwave

<p>Take heart, fellow sad girls. Joy is coming</p>
Voices

I’m a ‘sad girl’ cliché and I’m proud of it

<p>J.Law chose to trip down the red carpet in a red Christian Dior gown and flip flops</p>
Voices

Let’s call stilettos what they really are: ‘foot prisons’

<p>The effect of stress upon our children should not be underestimated</p>
Voices

I asked my daughter and her friends about SATs. This is what they said

<p>It must be a painful wrench indeed for Harry to be without Meghan today</p>
Voices

My heart bleeds for Prince Harry at the coronation – doesn’t yours?

<p>I dipped my toe in the water with friends I hadn’t seen for a while</p>
Voices

The next time someone asks, ‘how are you?’ try giving them this answer

<p><em>Vanity Fair</em> revealed the contents of the ‘brutal’ correspondence leading to the split</p>
Voices

Could this be the most petty divorce in history?

<p>Why are we suddenly so fearful of personal choice? </p>
Voices

Millie Bobby Brown’s engaged at 19 – stranger things have happened

<p>I think renewing wedding vows might just be the most important thing you can do for the happiness of your relationship</p>
Voices

Don’t do what Jamie and Jools Oliver have done with their marriage

<p><em>Vanity Fair</em> revealed the contents of the ‘brutal’ correspondence leading to the split</p>
Voices

Could this be the most petty divorce in history?

<p>Why are we suddenly so fearful of personal choice? </p>
Voices

Millie Bobby Brown’s engaged at 19 – stranger things have happened

<p>I think renewing wedding vows might just be the most important thing you can do for the happiness of your relationship</p>
Voices

Don’t do what Jamie and Jools Oliver have done with their marriage

<p>I’ve been known to physically scoop my son up into my arms when a dog bounds up to us in the park – why would I take any risk?</p>
Voices

Your dog isn’t your ‘child’ – it’s a dangerous animal

Voices

Your dog isn’t your ‘child’ – it’s a dangerous animal

<p>I’ve been known to physically scoop my son up into my arms when a dog bounds up to us in the park – why would I take any risk?</p>
<p>It is tragic, terrible – and enraging. But the worst thing? It will happen again</p>
Voices

How many children have to die before the US changes its gun laws?

<p>The couple recently announced they were splitting after 11 years of marriage</p>
Voices

Paddy and Christine McGuinness can teach us a lot about break-ups

<p>Hugh Grant should have checked his privilege </p>
Voices

The joyless task of dealing with men like Hugh Grant

<p>We stare desire in the face and we don’t know how to handle it – because we are hypocrites</p>
Voices

Madonna and Cher have boyfriends half their age? Good for them

<p>We stare desire in the face and we don’t know how to handle it – because we are hypocrites</p>
Voices

Madonna and Cher have boyfriends half their age? Good for them

<p>There is an underlying, more insidious point to address – ageism</p>
Voices

How old is ‘too old’ for a woman to have long hair?

<p>Wayne Couzens exposed himself to two female attendants at a drive-through McDonald’s just days before attacking Sarah Everard </p>
Voices

How would you react if I told you I’d been flashed?

<p>Thompson wants us to be cautious, which is futile for anyone in love</p>
Voices

Emma Thompson just broke my heart

<p>The <em>Frozen </em>star said that she and her husband, Dax Shepard, parent with total honesty</p>
Voices

Kristen Bell is right – nothing should be ‘off limits’ in parenting

<p>A date being rude was one of the top reasons to leave</p>
Voices

51 minutes to leave a bad date? It shouldn’t take that long

<p>It’s not the first time that classic texts have been slapped with warnings</p>
Voices

Poppycock! We don’t need ‘trigger warnings’ on Jane Austen

<p>As I write this I am thinking to what lies ahead for me when I return home</p>
Voices

Marie Kondo’s latest advice is her best yet

<p>He is exceptional in his ordinariness; proof, perhaps, that what he exudes is something intangible</p>
Voices

Paul Mescal and the enduring allure of ‘wounded men’

<p>No cake, please! We’re at the office </p>
Voices

The food watchdog is right about cake and the office

<p>‘We can sometimes avoid reality to prevent having that beautiful fantasy tarnished’</p>
Lifestyle

‘Should I get back in touch with the one that got away?’

<p>Many people are just doing what they can to get through the next few days</p>
Editor’s letters

Christmas can be difficult if you’re not feeling festive

Editor’s letters

Christmas can be difficult if you’re not feeling festive

Head shot of Victoria Richards
Victoria Richards
<p>Many people are just doing what they can to get through the next few days</p>
<p>So, what message can we take from the Julia Donaldson (seemingly innocent) hit?</p>
Voices

What we can learn about Britain from The Smeds and the Smoos

<p>Paramedics and ambulance staff are now on strike</p>
Voices

This is what happened when I called an ambulance for my six-year-old

<p>Helplessness is the worst part of being a parent</p>
Voices

As a parent, Strep A is all I can think about

<p>Thanks mainly to Twitter, I’ve become someone who performs </p>
Voices

If Twitter is dying, there’s one thing I’ll miss

<p>Thanks mainly to Twitter, I’ve become someone who performs </p>
Voices

If Twitter is dying, there’s one thing I’ll miss

<p>What’s in a name? Well, quite a lot, actually </p>
Voices

There’s a taboo about changing your name and it needs to stop

<p>Thankfully (however weird that is to say), we have Kim</p>
Voices

Bravo Balenciaga, you have got exactly what you wanted

<p>Is it finally curtains for football’s golden boy? </p>
Voices

This could be the downfall of national labrador David Beckham

<p>Japanese football fans have been caught on camera cleaning up their part of the stadium </p>
Voices

The Japanese are putting the rest of us to shame at the World Cup

<p>Little Britain was the playground bully version of comedy </p>
Voices

What’s happened to David Walliams couldn’t have come soon enough

<p>I simply can’t see it as anything but a good thing if people are stating their needs within a relationship</p>
Voices

No one should sacrifice sleep to share a bed with their partner

<p>Raab has been accused of losing his temper and throwing food around the office</p>
Voices

Why are there so many allegations of bullying in the Tory party?

<p>Hertfordshire Police has since admitted the arrest of a radio journalist was ‘not necessary’ </p>
Voices

Something disturbing is happening on British roads

<p> There is no ‘swarm’, no ‘flood’, no ‘wave’. There are only <em>people</em></p>
Voices

‘Invasion, swarm’: There’s a reason politicians use language like this

<p>Whenever any of us are short-tempered or snappy, it is right that we must apologise</p>
Voices

James Corden’s ‘ungracious’ behaviour tells us something about him

<p>Ranvir Singh is dating 27-year-old Louis Church</p>
Voices

There’s a reason we’re shocked by Ranvir Singh’s age gap relationship

Voices

There’s a reason we’re shocked by Ranvir Singh’s age gap relationship

<p>Ranvir Singh is dating 27-year-old Louis Church</p>
<p>Start by tweeting about our campaign, by calling on your MP to end this shameful legacy</p>
Editor’s letters

No child should ever go to school hungry – it is unacceptable

<p>It came out in 1971, yet has remained ageless </p>
Voices

Forget Murder, She Wrote – Angela Lansbury’s best work is underrated

<p>It’s romantic, innit: this spooky time of year</p>
Voices

It’s October, it’s autumn – and that only means one thing

<p>‘I cried maybe five times a day for no reason. Just in tears over everything,’ she said </p>
Voices

Molly-Mae may not get many things right, but pregnancy? She’s spot on

<p>‘I cried maybe five times a day for no reason. Just in tears over everything,’ she said </p>
Voices

Molly-Mae may not get many things right, but pregnancy? She’s spot on

<p>Coolio wrote the last of the songs we all remember </p>
Voices

Coolio’s death struck a chord – especially if you remember this

<p>A petition exists calling for them to be ‘axed’ from the daytime show</p>
Voices

Nobody is safe from savagery. The backlash to Holly and Phil proves it

<p>You couldn’t possibly criticise her outfit </p>
Voices

All eyes were meant to be on the Queen, but most were on Meghan Markle

<p>The young prince and princess seem perfectly equipped to cope with the austere ceremony </p>
Voices

It is right for George and Charlotte to be part of the Queen’s funeral

<p>The images of the two young princes forced into the spotlight as they joined the procession for Diana, Princess of Wales divided the nation</p>
Voices

Should the Queen’s great-grandchildren go to the funeral?

<p>No one can do it like we can</p>
Voices

The Queue is not just a queue – it’s so much more than that

<p>Prince William was forced to settle for a simple stroke of his son’s hair at the school gates</p>
Voices

Prince Louis is growing up – and it’s breaking his parents’ hearts

<p>Some have been speculating that The Mysterious Beef between the co-stars is so potent, so sizzling, that Styles may have physically spat on Pine’s lap</p>
Voices

FAO Harry Styles: Chris Pine’s poker face is a masterclass in acting

<p>According to one review, Pooh is now ‘a hideous sentient pig-man who appears to be sexually aroused by graphic violence’ </p>
Voices

Pooh as a ‘hideous, sentient pig-man’? It’s what we deserve in 2022

<p>Campaign group Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) has created an interactive map of the UK coastline which shows pollution risk warnings in place in dozens of locations</p>
Voices

I took my kids swimming in the sea – then received a shocking message

<p>Marin has done what most women do when we encounter sexism: rolled her eyes and got on with it</p>
Voices

The sinister truth about ‘those’ images of Finnish PM Sanna Marin

<p>We invent acronyms, revel in references to moments only we have talked about or shared</p>
Voices

This is the worst thing about breaking up with someone

<p>Pattison, in her brave documentary, says this: ‘I don’t think I’m an alcoholic, but I do think I have a problem with alcohol’ </p>
Voices

Are you British? You might have a drink problem

<p><em>Big Brother</em> – to me – heralds thoughts of my first year at university in Cardiff</p>
Voices

Don’t bring back Big Brother and Gladiators – nobody needs a remake

<p>The family’s grief seems – from afar – to have only been compounded by the lengthy and drawn out court processes </p>
Voices

Grief should be private – Archie Battersbee’s family deserve peace

<p>As the trailer for ‘Blonde’ tells us, ‘there is no Marilyn Monroe’</p>
Voices

We are all Marilyn Monroe – Blonde proves it

<p><em>Big Brother</em> – to me – heralds thoughts of my first year at university in Cardiff</p>
Voices

Don’t bring back Big Brother and Gladiators – nobody needs a remake

<p>The family’s grief seems – from afar – to have only been compounded by the lengthy and drawn out court processes </p>
Voices

Grief should be private – Archie Battersbee’s family deserve peace

<p>As the trailer for ‘Blonde’ tells us, ‘there is no Marilyn Monroe’</p>
Voices

We are all Marilyn Monroe – Blonde proves it

<p>More often than not, these ‘club rides’ take all day, or all morning</p>
Voices

Half of women ‘never exercise’? No wonder – we’re cycling widows now

<p>Truss allegedly wore cheap earrings to a TV debate, and was by turns both publicly praised and savagely derided for it</p>
Voices

Liz Truss, we deserve the truth about your TV appearance

<p>Nicola Roberts, Cheryl and Nadine Coyle did a charity run in memory of their friend and bandmate </p>
Voices

Every woman wants a best friend like Sarah Harding

<p>I can barely tell them apart anyway, they’re all so uniformly awful</p>
Voices

Why are all the men on Love Island this year so objectively terrible?

<p>‘What’s in a name?’ Quite a lot, actually</p>
Voices

No woman should be changing her name after marriage in 2022

<p>This is loss of self can be more damaging than any injury </p>
The Longer Read

Becoming a ghost: A memoir on motherhood

<p>I write because I love it and I don’t know if that ecstasy will ever disappear... I hope not</p>
Editor’s letters

Why do we write? Because we can’t not

<p>Children are being hurt and killed all over the world. We don’t need to dramatise it – it’s happening</p>
Voices

Why would anyone want to watch Girl in the Picture after reading this?

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