Ella Whelan

Ella Whelan is a freelance journalist, commentator and author who writes regular columns on culture, entertainment and current affairs for The Telegraph. Her work stands out for treating entertainment, feminism and lifestyle subjects as arguments about freedom, autonomy and the modern moral climate rather than as pure celebrity or features content. Across her columns she links everyday choices, pop culture and high politics, giving readers a through-line from personal lives to wider cultural and political battles.

Culture wars and British identity

Whelan writes frequently about the cultural canon and the contest over who gets to define British identity.

In a column on British culture and American ideology, she examines how decisions about sidelining writers such as Jane Austen reflect contemporary ideological pressures on curricula and cultural institutions. She returns to similar questions in pieces about book publishing and “cancel culture”, looking at how jokes, humour and controversial material move from fringe to mainstream and what gets deemed unacceptable.

Her approach emphasises the political and moral assumptions behind cultural gatekeeping, treating debates over books, jokes and curricula as part of a broader struggle over national values and free expression.

Feminism, motherhood and women’s bodies

A major strand of Whelan’s work focuses on feminism, women’s work and the politics of motherhood. She has written a book on feminism and continues that focus in her columns, including pieces on whether young women are becoming “jobless layabouts” and what messages about work and resilience are being sent to girls.

Her writing on childbirth covers topics such as womb transplants, caesarean sections and attitudes to “natural” birth, arguing about medical choice, risk and the pressures women face from prevailing narratives about motherhood. She also examines the emotional expectations placed on parenthood, questioning the idea that having children should be a route to personal happiness and exploring the realities of family life.

Across these pieces she treats reproductive choices, work and parenting as contested political terrain rather than private matters, connecting individual decisions to broader debates inside feminism.

Entertainment, celebrity and sport

On the entertainment beat Whelan approaches celebrity culture and sport through questions of morality, taste and institutional power. In a column on celebrity nudity, she critiques how far public displays have gone and what that says about contemporary standards of self‑presentation and media consumption.

Her writing on women’s football looks at how major broadcasters promote the sport and interrogates the motives behind choices such as awards for women footballers of the year. She uses these subjects to explore where the line now sits between empowerment and provocation, and how institutions shape public perceptions of entertainment and sport. Her columns often treat entertainment stories as entry points into wider cultural arguments, connecting coverage of celebrities, broadcasters and sporting bodies with debates about hypocrisy and moral signalling, including in pieces on the Green Party and other political actors.

Politics and global institutions

Alongside culture and entertainment, Whelan writes on domestic and international politics with a focus on leadership, democracy and institutions. Her column on Jacinda Ardern examines the former New Zealand leader’s legacy and her path towards roles in global organisations, framing this as a case study in how political reputations translate into supranational power.

In feminism‑focused pieces she addresses Western responses to events in Iran, considering how activists in wealthy democracies engage with struggles in more restrictive regimes.

She also writes more broadly on current affairs for The Telegraph and other outlets, applying the same interest in freedom, accountability and ideological consistency to political parties, international bodies and policy debates. This political strand reinforces the continuity in her work: cultural and entertainment stories, questions of feminist politics and critiques of global leadership are treated as different facets of the same argument about how contemporary power is exercised and justified.