PHIL FRIEND

What a cruise ship dining room, a damning report on PIP, and a conversation about ageing have in common — and why it matters for anyone managing people. I sat down to write this in a genuine quandary. Not because I had nothing to write about — quite the opposite. There was so much going on that I couldn't settle on just one thing. Picking a single storyline felt a bit disappointing, like leaving the other two on the cutting room floor. Then it struck me: I didn't have to choo

A tech writer spent a year using AI for everything and called it a revelation. I'd call it a Tuesday. Here's why disabled people have been doing this for decades — and what that says about the world we live in. Joanna Stern spent a year using AI to do almost everything. She's a technology writer. Her new book, I Am Not a Robot, is out this week. She appeared on NPR's Fresh Air to talk about it — the year she used AI to read her medical results, draft her messages, and process

Let me start with Mark Mardell. Mark is a former BBC journalist — World Affairs Editor, North America Editor. He has Parkinson’s disease. Last October, he arrived at Istanbul airport to catch a Turkish Airlines flight home to London. He’d checked in. He was at the gate. And then he was told he couldn’t board. Turkish Airlines had a policy buried in their small print: Parkinson’s was the one condition — just Parkinson’s, not heart disease, not diabetes — requiring passengers t

Disabled Entrepreneur AI is threatening the jobs that disabled people depend on most. But their lifetime of navigating a world not built for them might be exactly the skill set the rest of us now need. Nearly a million young people in the UK are currently not in work, education or training. The highest figure in a decade, and still rising. At the same time, entry-level job postings are running 45% below their five-year average. Graduate roles in banking and finance have falle

What the Motability Scheme changed — and why the Budget risks turning the clock back My driving life began in a three-wheeled blue “Noddy car”. It had the turning circle of a shopping trolley and the crash protection of a biscuit tin. More than that, it announced “this driver is disabled” to the world at full volume. It got me around, but it never let me forget I was different. Then the Motability Scheme arrived — and everything changed. Suddenly, disabled people could drive

Ever tried using a parcel return point from a wheelchair? I did recently — or rather, I tried to. What followed was a lesson in how clever ideas can become barriers when inclusion isn’t part of the plan. At my local Morrisons, there’s a shiny new self-service parcel drop-off point tucked away at the back of the garage forecourt. There’s no dedicated parking for it, so the only option is to stop in the forecourt itself. The service road leading to the supermarket is on a bend,

In this post, I reflect on a thought-provoking article by Rachel Botsman and explore what her ideas mean for disabled people navigating work, isolation, and connection in a post-pandemic world. During COVID, the world stayed home. Work went online, meetings went virtual, and life became more accessible for many disabled people. What had previously been dismissed as “unworkable” – remote jobs, flexible hours, online events – became normal almost overnight. In her RSA article T

If Peter Pan needed a wheelchair, he’d probably end up grounded too. Travelling as a powered wheelchair user is like playing a game of “What’s the Worst That Could Happen?” Spoiler: The house always wins. For many of us, flying is an anxiety-inducing circus. Will our wheelchairs arrive intact? Will they arrive at all? Will we be stranded without essential equipment? And heaven forbid nature calls mid-flight—aircraft toilets are about as accessible as the dark side of the moo

Donald Trump’s recent comments linking diversity and inclusion (D&I) initiatives to the tragic plane crash in the Potomac are as reckless as they are dangerous. He claimed that previous administrations' focus on DEI led to the hiring of unqualified air traffic controllers, suggesting that these policies prioritized diversity over competence. Trump stated, "I put safety first. Obama, Biden and the Democrats put policy first," implying that DEI efforts compromised safety standa