Sian Norris
Sian Norris is a senior investigative reporter at openDemocracy, specialising in the intersection of far-right politics, women’s rights and broader human rights abuses. She uses political reporting as a framework for long-form investigations into reproductive control, men’s violence against women and the institutions that enable harm, rather than day-to-day party coverage. Her work sits where politics, law enforcement, the courts and extremist movements meet, tracing how ideology translates into policy and lived experience.
Far-right attacks on reproductive rights
Norris treats reproductive rights as a core political battleground, documenting how far-right and ultra-conservative networks seek to reshape law and policy around abortion and bodily autonomy. Her book “Bodies Under Siege: How the Far-Right Attack on Reproductive Rights Went Global” extends this reporting into a global analysis of how anti-abortion and “great replacement” ideas move from the fringes into mainstream politics. At openDemocracy she has reported on far-right activists convening inside institutions like the European Parliament and the strategies they share to roll back women’s rights. She has also exposed how youth organisations and campaign groups opposing abortion are funded and held to account, including work that led to EU money being pulled from an anti-abortion youth group. Across these stories she links individual campaigns and summits to a wider project of controlling women’s bodies as part of a broader authoritarian and misogynistic agenda.
Men’s violence against women and failures of justice
A second strand of Norris’s work focuses on men’s violence against women and the systems that fail survivors, from policing to the courts and the military.
She has investigated the impact of court backlogs on women, showing how delays compound trauma and leave survivors waiting years for justice. Her reporting on sexual violence includes examinations of anti-rape technology start-ups whose products, when scrutinised, risk endangering survivors or obstructing proper evidence collection. She has revealed how police take no further action in a large share of rape reports, turning official data into a clear picture of impunity.
Norris has also reported on abuse inside a British Army training centre for teenagers, describing a culture where mistreatment of young recruits is routine rather than exceptional. More recently, she has quantified the scale of lethal violence against older women, documenting that more than 100 elderly women have been killed by men since 2020 and placing these deaths within patterns of gendered abuse.
These investigations combine data analysis, expert testimony and survivor accounts to show how institutional choices translate into danger for women.
Reform UK, Farage and misogyny in party politics
Norris’s political reporting concentrates on the rise of parties such as Reform UK and the role of figures like Nigel Farage, with a focus on misogyny and extremism rather than campaign choreography. She has scrutinised Reform UK candidates whose public comments on abortion and women expose a deeper culture of contempt within the party, treating individual scandals as evidence of structural misogyny.
Her coverage of Farage and his allies tracks networks, messaging and the proximity of conspiracy-minded activists to mainstream political projects, including stories that probe relationships with fringe donors and influencers.
She has written about electoral dynamics around Farage and Reform UK, arguing that so-called “soft Tories” are pivotal to preventing an electoral breakthrough that could deliver Farage into executive power. In other work she ties far-right activism and hybrid information warfare to mainstream politics, showing how actors once seen as marginal are now courted or echoed by established parties.
Across this output, Norris treats party politics as a vehicle through which extremist ideas about women, minorities and democracy are laundered into respectable debate.
War, migration and wider human rights abuses
Beyond domestic party politics, Norris reports on war, migration and social policy as human rights beats that connect back to political decision-making. She has covered Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, including on-the-ground reporting about the conflict’s impact on civilians and the risks faced by LGBTQ+ people during wartime.
Her stories have highlighted the abuse and sexual exploitation of children displaced by the war, using NGO data to show the prevalence of sexual abuse among rescued Ukrainian children. Norris also reports on migration and asylum, documenting policies that add new layers of cruelty for people seeking refuge and the legal and bureaucratic mechanisms that enable this treatment. In domestic policy, she has examined how protest has been criminalised, analysing legislation and policing practices that turn more people into “arrestables”. She has explored how changes pursued by Labour can weaken consumer protections, treating economic regulation as part of the same ecosystem of rights and accountability.
Across these areas she keeps the focus on how decisions taken in legislatures, ministries and boardrooms affect the most vulnerable, and how far-right and authoritarian ideas shape those decisions.
Norris’s work appears regularly at openDemocracy and has also been published across major national outlets, reflecting a career built on investigative reporting into women’s rights, far-right movements and human rights. She brings the same lens to podcasts and public speaking, where she explains the political logic behind attacks on reproductive rights and protest, and how these issues connect across countries.
Her output offers sustained, evidence-heavy coverage of the places where political power, misogyny and human rights abuses converge.
4 more politics journalists.
Abbi Garton-Crosbie
Abbi Garton-Crosbie is a multimedia political reporter who treats independence as a live process shaped by Holyrood power struggles, party manoeuvres and grassroots pressure. She works at The National, a pro-independence newspaper, covering how political power is contested and exercised in contemporary Scotland, with a core focus on parties, parliament and the mechanics of constitutional change. She reports on parliamentary votes, government strategy around future independence referendums, and elections across Scotland in the wider context of devolution in Wales and Northern Ireland. Her work centres on party leadership, resignations and internal conflict, including long-form interviews with senior politicians and coverage of emerging and smaller parties. She examines far-right activity, protest politics and movement organisation, and runs policy-driven reporting on rent caps, AI data centres, health boards and public services, across written, video and podcast formats.
Abubakar Ahmadu Maishanu
Abubakar Ahmadu Maishanu is a politics reporter with Premium Times who treats politics as a system of rules, contests and consequences rather than personalities. He focuses on power struggles, security shocks and governance disputes shaping party competition in northern Nigeria, especially how violence, corruption investigations and economic strain intersect with political authority. He reports on Bauchi’s 2027 governorship race, APC primaries and PRP realignment, tracking defections, party constitutions and factional manoeuvring. His coverage of Jigawa and Yobe follows power-sharing fights, candidate substitutions and Tinubu reelection mobilisation efforts. He links banditry and local security crises in Kano and Zamfara to political structures, using precise locations and casualty figures. His investigative work on alleged shady dealings around the Dala Inland Dry Port and reporting on soaring cooking gas prices add a corruption and economic hardship lens.
Aisha Iqbal
Aisha Iqbal covers local and regional politics for the BBC, with a distinct focus on grassroots power and how local decisions shape trust, representation and public services. She reports on Bradford Council decisions, waste services, cultural funding, regeneration grants and the use of public money. She also covers grooming gangs, community safety, political trust, elections, Muslim voters, Gaza, ceasefire campaigns and the links between faith, foreign policy and representation. Her work includes culture and public figures when they intersect with civic identity, including a feature on David Hockney. She connects committee-room votes, neighbourhood disputes and national debates, showing who gains, who loses and how communities respond. She reports across broadcast and online platforms in a clear, explanatory style. Earlier, she covered politics, culture and consumer issues for regional newspapers.
Alessia Simona Maratta
Alessia Simona Maratta stands out for showing how political decisions, regulations and conflicts ripple through communities, pairing national and global stories with on-the-ground voices and clear policy explanations. She is a digital reporter, producer and editor with Global News’ network news desk, covering breaking news, crime, politics, public health, housing, labour, immigration, environment and climate, social issues and features. Her recent work spans politics, public health regulation, labour and technology, and human-interest features that ground complex issues in everyday experience. She reports on politics, policy and community impact, public health and social debates, and labour and regulation at the intersection of technology, globalization and worker rights. Alongside hard news, she produces features that use individual stories, straightforward narrative arcs and accessible explanations to connect history, science and policy to everyday life.