Vicky Spratt

It’s been a little while since I wrote something like this…for @refinery29uk on how people’s 30s seem to have become a “waiting room decade”. In which I ask…what are you waiting for before you do the thing you’ve always wanted to do? What magical alignment of circumstances do you expect to occur before you buy the house, leave the job, tell someone you love them, move city, start a family or, you know, whatever it is you want?!

Committing this to the grid - my new book 🌙 We Were Promised The Moon 🌙 will be published by @4thestatebooks next summer. It looks at the economic reasons why our lives feel tougher than we may have hoped. It also looks at how things can change. I’d love to hear from you - what challenges are you facing? What about your adult life looks different to how you hoped or expected it would? Fav @rejinapyo top as usual 📸 @isseymg

Have you ever felt your thoughts were not your own? Have you ever suddenly been deluged by panic attacks so bad you can’t leave the house? Has your sex drive ever totally disappeared? Aged 24, I experienced all of the above at once in a psychological deluge which I now believe was caused by the synthetic hormones in the pill and I haven't taken the pill for ten years as a result, writes @vicky.spratt . 🖋️ One night lying on the floor of my rented flat in east London in the middle of a debilitating panic attack with limbs lead-heavy and a heart that felt like it might explode through my chest, I Googled, remembering that almost three months before my brain turned against me, something had changed. I had started taking a new contraceptive pill – a progestogen-only pill (POP). The penny dropped. As a teenager I had struggled on one of the most commonly prescribed pills and become very tearful when I was took it for heavy periods at the age of 13. After coming off it, I was fine. It would make sense, I thought, if something similar was happening again. Comparing this to the booklet inside my pill packet I found that only “mood swings” and “mood changes” were listed as a potential side effect and, at the time, the NHS website said the same. Calling what I was experiencing a “mood swing” would have been like describing a broken leg as a “scratch”. Go to the link in @theipaper 's bio to read the article in full. ⬆️ #hormonalcontraception #mentalhealthawareness #womenshealth #theipaper

What a year this week has been in British politics… 📻ICYMI episode 3 of The Gen Z story is now available to listen to @restispolitics 📻 This is like no other political interview I’ve ever done - former Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner came into the studio to talk to me and @alastaircampbell It was an exclusive long-form discussion in which she responded to voice notes sent in by the audience and talked about what she thinks is important right now for the government, why young people are turning to the Greens and Reform and, also, what it’s like the be the mother of Gen Z children who are doing everything right but still struggling financially. Have a listen, let us know what you think! Here’s a link to subscribe, there is a discount for students and you can currently get an annual subscription for £20 if you have a university email address: https://therestispolitics.supportingcast.fm/?utm_source=instagram&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=genzvicky&utm_term=freenewsletter&utm_content=newsletter

A sad state of chaos reigns today for Britain’s Labour Party and Government… But 📻 episode 3 of our @restispolitics series - The Gen Z Story - is here 📻 It features an exclusive discussion with former Deputy Prime Minister and Housing Secretary Angela Rayner who spoke to me and @alastaircampbell before Labour suffered a crushing local election defeat, losing councils and votes to both Reform and the Greens. Angela Rayner warned that politicians had been to slow to catch up with how young people consume news and information via social media. She wanted that Labour politicians risked “going the way of the dinosaurs” if they didn’t start to communicate better with young adults. She told us she is worried about a “lost generation of young people”. She also explained that she had been “in a rush” when she was Secretary of State because she wanted to pass the Renters Rights Act, Planning and Infrastructure Act, Workers’ Rights Act and leasehold reform. And, don’t forget, votes for 16 year olds. These policies aren’t often dressed up as a package of reforms for young adults but Rayner argues they are. Should Labour have communicated that agenda like that? 📻 Have a listen wherever you get your podcasts. Let us know what you think 📻

📻Episode 2 of The Gen Z Story is here @restispolitics 📻 I interview Professor Bobby Duffy from the King’s Policy Institute about his research on the differences (and similarities) between generations. Bobby has been looking at this issue for decades. And what he has to say might surprise you… Here’s what I asked him: - Do older people always think young people are dreadful and terrible and making the world a worse place to be? - Are younger people today really so different to older people in terms of what they want from life? Bobby made the point that adulthood has changed because we are staying in education longer and living at home longer but, in the end, this may not be so bad. He also made some very interesting observations about how the ‘Saturday jobs’ older generations did as a way of earning money and getting an introduction to the world of work has completely changed. 📻 Britain faces some enormous socioeconomic challenges at the moment and young adults are at the sharp end of them. Have a listen to the second episode of this series, where we explore the problems and solutions, and let us know what you think 📻

Are UK students worse off than their American counterparts? Watch the first episode of The Gen Z Story, exclusively for TRIP+ members now. Get TRIP+ membership for only £20 when you sign up with your student email.

Next Wednesday I’ll be discussing THE ASSET CLASS with the brilliant @vicky.spratt at @theconduitlondon - it’s been moved to a bigger space as demand has been high, but there are still a few tickets available (I think). And if you’re not a member, send me a message if you’d like to attend. Can’t wait for this!

The dream of home ownership is becoming an ever more distant dream for Gen Z 🏠

Episode one of @restispolitics new series The Gen Z Story is now live. We’ve just finished recording episode 2 in the studio, which you’ll be able to listen to on Friday. Don’t forget to check out our interview with @dr_eliza_filby before then and, if you’re a student, here’s some information about our student discount. It’s really simple, all you need is a student email address when you subscribe at

🗳️ Individual local elections don’t always get national media coverage. A local by-election even less so 🗳️ However, a few weeks ago I went to Margate to cover a local by-election in an area with a Labour MP where the fight appeared to be between the Green Party and Reform. The area’s Labour MP Polly Billington has worked hard to put inequality in coastal areas like Margate on the agenda in Westminster. Her government has also recently passed polices to try and help people such as the Renters’ Rights and Employment Rights Acts. In the end, the Greens won this particular local battle on April 10th. What does this tell us about local elections across the country this week? And what does it tell us about Labour’s “sea wall” - that’s a group of coastal constituencies which face unique economic challenges? British politics was. once a two horse race between Labour and the Tories (sometimes three with the Lib Dems) appears to be changing - why? Local council elections don’t map exactly onto national election for a number of reasons (including boundaries and turnout) so they’re not a perfect predictor for what may happen in a general election. That said, they do still take the temperature of the nation. The Green Party has had a difficult week, with allegations of anti-semitism within its ranks regarding some local candidates. Reform has also had a difficult week with revelations about a £5 million “gift” made to leader Nigel Farage. Nonetheless, in this week’s local elections, these challenger parties will attempt to upend Britain’s political status quo. Read my full report @theipaper 🗞️ what’s going on in your local area? Let me know!

Are Gen Z the most informed generation ever? The most financially trapped? Is a university degree still worth it, or have we pushed too many people down the wrong path? Vicky Spratt explores the big questions shaping Gen Z in this new mini-series, exclusively for TRIP+ members. STUDENT DISCOUNT FOR TRIP PLUS: £20 FOR THE YEAR : The Rest is Politics is offering an exclusive discount for students, just sign up with your student email address. Episode one is out now.