Author of two contemporary novels; Melting in the Middle launched November 2020, and now Coming Clean, launched October 2024. Love Hull City despite everything.
Kingston upon Thames, London
Joined May 2011
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Another really positive review for Coming Clean from @BookishHermit on the blog tour, organised by @rararesources. Thanks for taking the time to read and review it. #WritingCommunity #writingfiction
"a thought-provoking read that resonates long after the last page is turned." says @BookishHermit about Coming Clean by @andy_howden instagram.com/p/DFFPJELobaS/
Andy Howden retweeted
Some positive news in terms of economic recovery this morning. So we thought we'd devote our show to picking apart this news, putting a negative spin on it, and inviting people from the party who fucked it in the first place, to talk the UK economy down
#politicslive
Andy Howden retweeted
Hats off to Andy Burnhams team for this absolute annihilation of Richard Tice and his rant about hot summer, get over it, we get good wine
👏👏👏
Andy Howden retweeted
Today I happen to be travelling by train through one of the most diverse areas of England, one might say its multi-racial. As I sat listening to Asian families returning to big towns from the seaside, a West African lady teaching her little boy nursery rhymes - in English, & a kind young Pakistani lad offered me use of his phone charger; my anger started to rise to bursting. Not with these people, quietly living lives that they have built here, but with the vile politicians of the right whose increasingly xenophobic & racist language must be scaring many of these people. I loathe sh*t stirrers like Lowe & Anderson, how dare they claim to speak for most of us? They don't, & hopefully they never will.
Andy Howden retweeted
MAGA and Reform have spent years screaming that London is a war-torn no-go hellscape.
London's murder rate is now lower than every single US state and every big US city.
Philadelphia's is 12x higher. Maybe MAGA should sort their own cities out before lecturing ours. 🇬🇧
Andy Howden retweeted
Under a Binface government, anyone who doesn’t accept human-made climate change as fact will be sent back to school, from Year 1 right the way to A Levels, to see if anything goes in the second time round. #VoteBinface
Andy Howden retweeted
As someone who lives in London and who doesn’t traditionally vote Labour, it is one of the best cities in the world and that is because of Sadiq Khan.
As a Londoner, I proudly note that under Sadiq Khan, the capital has achieved its lowest homicide rate on record (1.1 per 100,000).
He has delivered universal free school meals for all primary pupils, frozen TfL fares multiple times to support households, driven record levels of council housebuilding, planted over 640,000 trees, expanded the cycle network, and supported more than 330,000 new jobs. The ULEZ expansion has helped reduce air pollution-linked deaths by an estimated 40% (Imperial College research).
London is safer, greener, and fairer in many measurable ways, one of the world’s great cities. Done listen to these people who only ever talk down our great capital.
Distressingly, this is the bile the Mail will be spewing out every day about Andy Burnham, seen on news stands by millions. As normal, I turned it over so at least the next person in only saw the back page.
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Andy Howden retweeted
We need to make £6m asap otherwise we'll get points deductions/fines/etc, meanwhile Man City can just throw £130m at one player with no issues while their 115+ charges still haven't been sorted, despite the hearing into those charges ending in Dec 2024...
It just stinks. #hcafc
Really hope Andy Burnham can build a broad consensus in Labour. But even if he does, the BBC will be looking for conflict because they're bored with consensus and I'm sure there'll be plenty of Labour MPs with big egos willing to feed them the lines.
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This is the best response I've seen to the BBC's focus on personality rather than serious political analysis.
Chris, what is most striking about your piece is not the reporting of events, but the relentless effort to frame every development through the prism of impending collapse.
Throughout the article, readers are presented not with objective analysis, but with a succession of loaded phrases and assumptions designed to reinforce a predetermined narrative. A premiership is described as "flailing", potential rivals are elevated into waiting successors, and routine political disagreement is transformed into evidence of a government supposedly on the verge of disintegration.
What is conspicuously absent is any serious examination of the reality facing any government today. Defence spending does not emerge from thin air. Every additional pound committed to the armed forces must either be raised through taxation, borrowed, or diverted from another area of public expenditure. That is not a political slogan. It is a fiscal fact.
You devote considerable attention to those criticising the Defence Investment Plan, yet remarkably little attention to what their alternative would be. If the spending settlement is inadequate, what precisely should replace it? Where would the money come from? Which taxes should rise, or which public services should face reductions? These are the questions that matter.
The article also appears determined to portray every resignation as a judgement on Sir Keir Starmer's leadership while giving scant consideration to the possibility that ministers can disagree on policy without it amounting to an existential crisis for the government. Westminster may enjoy perpetual leadership speculation, but governing a country requires rather more than gossip, intrigue and anonymous briefings.
Perhaps the greatest weakness in your analysis is the assumption that political commentary can substitute for political reality. The government remains in office with a substantial parliamentary majority, inflation has fallen significantly from its peak, economic growth has returned, and major policy decisions continue to be implemented. Whether one supports the government or not, those are facts rather than interpretations.
In the end, your article says far more about the current appetite among sections of the media for leadership drama than it does about the actual condition of the government. The country deserves analysis grounded in evidence, not a running commentary built upon Westminster's favourite pastime: predicting the imminent downfall of every Prime Minister.
bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx26…
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Andy Howden retweeted
The Guardian: “Net migration down by three-quarters, the biggest fall in NHS waiting lists for 17 years, knife crime cut by 10%, the economy growing the fastest in the G7, rising wages, energy bills and petrol prices held down, the biggest sustained rise in defence spending since the cold war, a massive expansion of free childcare …
If Keir Starmer did tub-thumping lists of Labour’s achievements in the style of Gordon Brown, he would not actually have a shortage of things to talk about.”
During the two years of Labour government, following fourteen years of Tory mismanagement, there have actually been significant improvements in Britain. Why does the Tory media not report them?
Andy Howden retweeted
Labour have halved the asylum backlog, yet the media never mention it.
Why is that?
Andy Howden retweeted
This is a brilliant investigative piece on Farage, the dark millions behind him and the double standards of so much British journalism. Read and retweet! Nigel Farage pocketing £5m from a donor shows he’s unfit for power app.prospectmagazine.co.uk/s…
Andy Howden retweeted
Farage has ensured any references to his buddy Victor Orban are erased from his X account.
So, I thought it would be useful to share these just as a reminder of how close they were.
‘Orban is the future of Europe’ is my personal favourite!’
Andy Howden retweeted
Urgent:
Nigel Farage says he barely knows Trump. He’s heard of him but he’s never campaigned for him, or modelled himself on him.
He DOESN’T want photos like those attached to be circulated at a delicate time with local elections looming.
Please DO NOT circulate these.
Andy Howden retweeted
Sadio Mane, a Senegalese soccer star, earns approximately $10.2 million annually. He gave the world a rude awakenng after some fans were flabbergasted when they saw him carrying a cracked iPhone 11. His response was awesome:
"Why would I want ten Ferraris, 20 diamond watches, and two jet planes? I starved, I worked in the fields, played brefoot, and I didn't go to school. Now I can help people. I prefer to build schools and give poor people food or clothing. I have built schools and a stadium, provide clothes, shoes, and food for people in extreme poverty. In addition, I give 70 euros per month to all people from a very poor Senegalese region in order to contribute to their family economy. I do not need to display luxury cars, luxury homes, trips, and even planes. I prefer that my people receive some of what life has given me.
Andy Howden retweeted
The BBC is ignoring the biggest march against the far right in history.
Can we keep sharing to get it trending?
Andy Howden retweeted
HAPPENING NOW: A HUGE crowd has gathered in London, England for a protest against the far right in coordination with the No Kings day protests in the US
Andy Howden retweeted
Marvin Gaye playing across a crowded Trafalgar Square with people of all ages and backgrounds all dancing along in the cold sunshine of March. Magic.
Just don’t tell Rupert ….#together