Laura Brick

About Me

Journalism student at City, University of London. Primarily interested in British politics, crime,  and film and television.

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My Latest Work

mirror •

M&S exec who stuffed cocaine and MDMA in bra was caught dealing at famous club

A Marks & Spencer manager's botched plans to smuggle drugs into a nightclub in her bra has seen her narrowly avoid prison.

Charlotte Fennessy, a marketing and social media executive for the retail giants, was found with MDMA and cocaine in her underwear which she was planning to deal in London's Fabric nightclub.

The 22-year-old fashion marketing graduate was lifted at the popular Farringdon night spot days before Christmas last year after arriving with friends.

Security discovered 60 ecstasy
The Times •

Aristocrat cleared over protest at Israeli arms firm

A Scottish aristocrat and a group of pro-Palestinian protesters who sprayed the London headquarters of Israel’s largest arms firm with paint have been cleared of plotting to cause criminal damage.

Doone Stormonth-Darling, 28, Flora Thomas, 28, Joley Thomas, 31, Anthony Bardos, 58, and Jocelyn Cooney, 27, were said to have targeted the offices of Elbit Systems with almost military precision. All five denied the charges at Southwark crown court and were cleared of conspiracy to damage property.
The Times •

Aristocrat’s paint protest at Israeli arms firm was about refugee’s plight

An aristocrat accused of throwing red paint at the London headquarters of Israel’s largest arms firm has told how she wanted to raise awareness without causing harm.

Doone Stormonth-Darling, 28, was allegedly carrying buckets of paint when activists attacked the offices of Elbit Systems in 2020.

Stormonth-Darling — who has featured in Tatler in a report about her three-day, 21st-birthday celebrations on her family estate in Perthshire — appeared at Southwark crown court alongside Anthony Bardo
Hampstead Highgate Express •

Walking book club: Hampstead Heath, Death and The Penguin

Emily's Walking Book Club prepares to set off across Hampstead Heath - Credit: Courtesy of Emily Rhodes

On a beautiful Sunday morning in May, I joined Emily Rhodes outside Daunt Books, in South End Road, for her latest Walking Book Club.

The group has been raising money for the DEC’s Ukraine appeal, but today, they won’t just be raising money for the war-torn country, but discussing a work by Ukrainian writer Andrey Kurkov.

Death and The Penguin is set in Kyiv in the 1990’s after the collapse
Hackney Post •

The page has turned for Hackney's independent bookshops

There is a widely held view that bookshops are disappearing. Even before Covid, it was assumed that they were in a perilous position, due to the fatal combination of online shopping and the arrival of e-books.

There are 15 bookshops in Hackney, including a number of independent bookshops such as Stoke Newington Bookshop, Burley Fisher Books, and Pages of Hackney. It was thought that lockdown would be the final nail in the coffin of those much-loved bookshops.

But surprisingly, the statistics d
Hackney Post •

'Help Ukraine' thanks community for war support

The founder of a Hackney-based group aiding Ukrainian refugees in Poland has expressed her gratitude to the “lovely community” for supporting the charity initiative.

Beautine Wester, who started the Help Ukraine project, said that members of the local community, including pharmacists, dentists and doctors had come forward to assist Ukrainian refugees.

She said that pharmacists, for example, had offered discounts on their products to support the effort.

People of different nationalities have v
Hackney Gazette •

Homerton hospital: Delayed and cancelled treatments returning to pre-pandemic levels

Homerton Hospital has recovered significantly from previous waves of Covid, with many delayed or cancelled treatments back to or below pre-pandemic levels - Credit: PA

The number of people who had treatments cancelled or postponed at Homerton University Hospital had fallen by the end of 2021, after the number of delays soared in 2020 when the pandemic was at its worst.

A freedom of information request revealed that the number of delayed and cancelled endoscopies are now close to pre-pandemic l
Hackney Post •

Homerton Library brings Black History Month to life for Hackney’s children

Black History Month is being marked through a series of children’s activities at Homerton Library. A Covid-safe environment is being maintained by limiting the number of tickets.

Myrna Glaze, who is in charge of the Black History Month activities at the library, said that people have been engaging more with Black culture over the past few years. “Perhaps it is because of Black Lives Matter…we have more and more [interest] each year”.

The Library celebrates BHM by spotlighting a selection of bo
Shout Out UK •

Cartooning in South Africa: Jonathan Zapiro on the Post-Apartheid 'Rainbow Nation'

Jonathan Shapiro, also known as Zapiro, is a renowned South African cartoonist. His cartoons have appeared in numerous publications in South Africa, as well as in The Sunday Times.

Shout Out UK has been working with Cartooning for Peace and the University of Leicester to run COVID in Cartoons, a project helping young people express themselves and engage in politics through cartoon creation. As part of the project, SOUK young writers interviewed a range of diverse and incredibly talented cartoon
Empoword Journalism •

It’s Time To End The Binging Revolution

Right now, Jed Mercurio could be forgiven for feeling rather pleased with himself. After all, he is the brain behind the two most watched drama series’ of the twenty-first century; the finales of Line of Duty and Bodyguard attracted 12.8 million and 11 million viewers respectively. This makes the sixth series of Line of Duty the most watched drama series of the 21st century, and Bodyguard the second most watched.

On the face of it, these two series’ are quite different: one is a police procedur
Shout Out UK •

Willis from Tunis: An Interview with Cartoonist Nadia Khiari

Cartooning is a subject that has caused much division and controversy in recent years. Cartoonists have paid with their lives for drawing the Prophet Muhammed. And last year, here in the UK, there was a row about a cartoon in The Guardian that depicted the Home Secretary, Priti Patel, as a cow with a ring through her nose. Some argued that this was racist and anti-Hindu (as cows are sacred animals in Hinduism). Others argued that the whole point of cartoons is to be provocative.

But while carto
Shout Out UK •

Hilary Mantel Is Wrong About 'Englishness'

‘Englishness’ is an elusive idea. Could a ‘civic’ version of Englishness be the answer?

Those were the words of the Irish playwright, George Bernard Shaw. I was reminded of this quote last week when the renowned British author Hilary Mantel gave an interview to Italy’s la Repubblica. She said that she was always able to write about Englishness because she ‘felt outside it’. ‘We were northern, working-class and Catholic, and to me, Englishness was Protestant, southern, and owned by people with m
Shout Out UK •

Forget the North/South Divide: Poverty in the South of England is Being Ignored

The ‘Blue Wall’ analogy refers to prosperous, Remain-leaning seats, mainly in the South of England. Since the Tories embraced Brexit and are now focused on holding onto the gains made in the Red Wall, with their ‘levelling up’ agenda, it is thought that they could be at risk of losing these seats. Tory-held seats that fall into this category include Chesham and Amersham and Dominic Raab’s Esher and Walton.

But the idea of a clear-cut Blue/Red divide is deeply misleading since it wrongly assumes
Shout Out UK •

How Many Genocides Does it Take? In Conversation with Holocaust Survivor, Eva Clarke

Eva Clarke weighed only three pounds when she was born in Mauthausen Concentration Camp on April 29, 1945. Had her mother, Anka, arrived at Mauthausen just a few days earlier, neither she nor Eva would have lived. But by the time she arrived, the Nazis had run out of gas, and the Americans liberated the camp on May 5, 1945, just a few days after Anka gave birth to Eva.

Anka grew up in Trebehovice pod Orebem, a small town in Czechoslovakia. Her father owned a small leather factory. Neither she n
Shout Out UK •

The Mental Health Crisis is Becoming a Casualty of the Culture Wars

There was something inevitable about Piers Morgan’s response to Simone Biles’ decision to withdraw (temporarily) from the 2020 Olympics on mental health grounds.

Biles’ ‘greatest move’ is her ability to put herself first

Biles later rejoined the competition and went on to win a bronze medal.

But before this, writing for the Mail Online, Morgan accused Biles of being ‘selfish’ and stated: ‘I don’t think it is remotely courageous, heroic or inspiring to quit’. He also suggested that she had pul
Shout Out UK •

What Does the Future Hold for Brexit Britain? A Conversation with Robert Tombs

A discussion with Professor Robert Tombs on persecuted Leave academics and Britain’s precarious new future.

Whether you’ve voted to leave or remain, I think most British voters hoped that when Boris Johnson promised to ‘get Brexit done’ at the 2019 election, it would get done. Sadly, it was not to be. Since the UK formally left the European Union, the relationship between Britain and the EU has soured. The British Government has threatened to break international law, and there was an outcry whe
Shout Out UK •

Are Schools Becoming More Eco-Friendly? A Conversation with Harvey Sinclair

Harvey Sinclair is an entrepreneur who co-founded E-Light, a company that aims to simplify energy efficiency and maximise the use of LED lighting (light-emitting diode). LED lighting is more eco-friendly for a range of reasons; they last longer, so you needn’t buy them as frequently, they are brighter, which means you can use fewer lights, they also contain no toxic elements and they can be up to 80 per cent more energy-efficient than other forms of lighting.

Recently, Sinclair has worked very
The Meridian •

Why we've forgotten Palestine's Christians

Ron Dermer, a former Israeli ambassador to the US, recently gave an interview where he said that America’s evangelical Christians were now more reliable allies than Jewish Americans; he described American Jews as being “disproportionately among our (Israel’s) critics”. And he is not wrong. During Israel’s most recent attack on Gaza, prominent Jewish Americans such as Bernie Sanders have been vocal in their criticism of Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians. Sanders has gone as far as to accuse
Shout Out UK •

Beware Those Trying to Exploit the BBC’s Woes

HAS BBC’S MARTIN BASHIR HAMMERED THE FINAL NAIL IN THE COFFIN?

One view truly unites people across the UK’s political spectrum: the BBC is outrageously biased (although they seem to be biased in favour of different political positions, depending on who is making the accusation).

Brexiteers have alleged that the cooperation is stuffed full of Remainers, while Remainers have claimed that the reverse is true. Corbyn supporters attack BBC reporters such as Laura Kuenssberg, while Conservatives ins
Shout Out UK •

Government Cuts to Arts Funding Undermine Promise To 'Level Up' the Country

THIS GOVERNMENT OF PHILISTINES MAY NOT CARE ABOUT CULTURE, BUT SURELY THEY CARE ABOUT MONEY?

A few months ago, the Conservative MP for Rosendale and Darwen, Jake Berry, was ridiculed for saying that in the North of England, football, rather than the ‘Royal Ballet or Royal Opera House or Royal Shakespeare Company’ is the cornerstone of cultural life. Never mind that, Manchester has a vibrant music scene and prominent museums, or that the Beatles were from Liverpool.

Berry’s comments are reveali
Shout Out UK •

Why we Love Line of Duty but not The Crown

A few weeks ago at PMQs, Keir Starmer joked that the government needed a Ted Hastings to sort out corruption. Ted Hastings (Adrian Dunbar), is one of the central characters in the BBC police procedural Line of Duty. The show centres around an anti-corruption unit (AC-12) aimed at catching ‘bent coppers’, in particular those with links to organised crime. Police officers have been found to have links to murder, human trafficking, racism, exploiting a man with Down’s Syndrome, and much more.

Why
Shout Out UK •

The Growing Significance of Welsh Nationalism

Welsh nationalism is strong but independence isn’t yet on the cards — or is it?

On May 6, there will be local council elections across the UK, as well as elections to the Scottish and Welsh Parliaments. The Hartlepool by-election is also expected to be a nail-biter and is seen as a key test for Labour in the ‘red wall’. The attention of most commentators and politicians will be on key battlegrounds in England. They will also be keeping their eye on events north of the border, given the growing
Shout Out UK •

Is David Lammy the future of Labour?

Given that Keir Starmer has been Labour leader for just over a year, it may seem odd (and a little unfair) to be contemplating who his successor might be. Starmer was off to a good start. When he first took over, Labour trailed the Conservatives by 20 points. Within a few weeks, they were behind by just 2 points. And by the summer, they were even ahead in some polls. It is true that Labour’s change in fortunes coincided with revelations about Dominic Cummings’ adventures in Barnard Castle, again
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