Ann Treneman (born 1956) is an American journalist, currently working for ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' newspaper in the United Kingdom. Treneman was born in

Iowa City, Iowa Iowa City is the largest city in Johnson County, Iowa, United States, and its county seat. At the time of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census the population was 74,828, making it the state's List of cities in Iowa, fifth-most populous c ...

, but she grew up in

McMinnville, Oregon McMinnville is the county seat of and the most populous city in Yamhill County, Oregon, Yamhill County, Oregon, United States at the base of the Oregon Coast Range. The city is named after McMinnville, Tennessee. As of the 2020 United States cens ...

. She has lived in the UK since the mid-1980s.

Career in journalism

Until September 2015, she was ''

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

ary sketchwriter. In this role, her tone was pawky, frequently reducing the serious business of politics to playground spats between bickering children. Another

leitmotif A leitmotif or () is a "short, recurring musical phrase" associated with a particular person, place, or idea. It is closely related to the musical concepts of ''idée fixe'' or ''motto-theme''. The spelling ''leitmotif'' is a partial angliciz ...

is the humorous written portrayal of politicians as ridiculous caricatures, in the style of a modern-day

William Hogarth William Hogarth (; 10 November 1697 – 26 October 1764) was an English painter, engraving, engraver, pictorial social satire, satirist, editorial cartoonist and occasional writer on art. His work ranges from Realism (visual arts), realistic p ...

cartoon A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently Animation, animated, in an realism (arts), unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or s ...

. A further ploy is the use of

anthropomorphism Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics t ...

to further heighten the surreal atmosphere of the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

. ''

Total Politics ''Total Politics'' was a British political magazine described as "a lifestyle magazine for the political community". It was first published in June 2008, and was distributed freely to all MPs, MEPs, peers, political journalists, members of the ...

'' has referred to Treneman as "one of the sharpest wits in Westminster". In 2015, she became the chief theatre critic for ''

''. She made her debut with a one-star review of the musical ''Dusty'' at the Charing Cross Theatre.

Personal life

Ann lives in Derbyshire.

Books

Her first two books, ''Annus Horribilis: The Worst Year in British Politics'', (2009) and ''Dave and Nick: The Year of the Honeymoon'' (2011) were collections of her Parliamentary sketch pieces and refer to the Conservative Party. In October 2013 she published her third book, ''Finding the Plot: 100 Graves to Visit Before You Die''. It arose from her interest in researching the last resting places of significant characters from history; she has said that "London cemeteries have the most interesting people and that north London has more interesting dead people per square mile than anywhere in the world".

References

External links

Times Politics page, featuring her latest articles
{{DEFAULTSORT:Treneman, Ann 1956 births Living people Writers from Iowa City, Iowa British journalists People from McMinnville, Oregon Artists from Oregon Writers from Oregon