Catherine Dorothea Bennett is a British journalist.

Early life and education

The elder daughter of Geoffrey Bennett, of Smelthouses, North Yorkshire,Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage, 148th edition, ed. Charles Kidd, Debrett's Ltd, 2011, p. 1369 Bennett was educated at Lawnswood High School,

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

, and

Hertford College, Oxford Hertford College ( ), previously known as Magdalen Hall, is a colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It is located on Catte Street in the centre of Oxford, directly opposite the main ga ...

Career

Bennett began her career in journalism at ''

Honey Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several species of bees, the best-known of which are honey bees. Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees produce honey by gathering and then refining the sugary secretions of pl ...

'' magazine. Subsequently, she worked at ''

The Sunday Telegraph ''The Sunday Telegraph'' is a British broadsheet newspaper, first published on 5 February 1961 and published by the Telegraph Media Group, a division of Press Holdings. It is the sister paper of ''The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Tele ...

'', ''

The Mail on Sunday ''The Mail on Sunday'' is a British conservative newspaper, published in a tabloid format. Founded in 1982 by Lord Rothermere, it is the biggest-selling Sunday newspaper in the UK. Its sister paper, the ''Daily Mail'', was first published i ...

'', ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...

'', ''

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 ...

'' and the short-lived ''

Sunday Correspondent ''The Sunday Correspondent'' was a British weekly national broadsheet newspaper. The newspaper first appeared on 17 September 1989; the title ceased publication with the last issue on 25 November 1990. It was edited by Peter Cole for most of its ...

'' newspaper before joining ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' around 1990. She joined ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...

'' at the beginning of 2008, and was on the

Orwell Prize The Orwell Prize is a British prize for political writing. The Prize is awarded by The Orwell Foundation, an independent charity (Registered Charity No 1161563, formerly "The Orwell Prize") governed by a board of trustees. Four prizes are award ...

's Journalism shortlist for 2009. In opinion pieces for the Observer, she has criticised the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

. In February 2023, a weekly column from Bennett in ''

'' led to fellow ''Observer'' columnist James Wong resigning his own column and writing to the editorial department and tweeting to describe the column by Bennett as "completely unacceptable". Bennett's column sought to defend female MPs accused of

transphobia Transphobia consists of negative attitudes, feelings, or actions towards transgender or transsexual people, or transness in general. Transphobia can include fear, aversion, hatred, violence or anger towards people who do not conform to socia ...

in the context of the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill and mentioned

Rosie Duffield Rosemary Clare Duffield (born 1 July 1971) is a British politician who was elected as Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Canterbury (UK Parliament constituency), Canterbury in 2017 United Kingdom general election ...

, Joanna Cherry and Miriam Cates by name, criticising comments by

Lloyd Russell-Moyle Lloyd Russell-Moyle (born 14 September 1986) is a British politician who served as Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Brighton Kemptown from 2017 to 2024. A member of the Labour and Co-operative Party, he was a ...

and Ben Bradshaw.

Personal life

From 1985 to 1992, Bennett was married to Robert Sackville-West, who inherited the title of Baron Sackville on the death of his uncle in 2004. She subsequently had a relationship with the books editor of the ''

Evening Standard The ''London Standard'', formerly the ''Evening Standard'' (1904–2024) and originally ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), is a long-established regional newspaper published weekly and distributed free newspaper, free of charge in London, Engl ...

'', David Sexton, ending before September 2005. She later had a relationship with the broadcaster

John Humphrys Desmond John Humphrys (born 17 August 1943) is a Welsh people, Welsh broadcaster. From 1981 to 1987 he was the main presenter of the ''BBC Nine O'Clock News, Nine O'Clock News'', the flagship BBC News television programme, and from 1987 until ...

, beginning in 2009.

References

External links

Catherine Bennett ''Guardian'' website contributor page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bennett, Catherine Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Alumni of Hertford College, Oxford British journalists The Guardian journalists The Observer people The Sunday Times people The Times journalists People educated at Lawnswood High School

Catherine Katherine (), also spelled Catherine and Catherina, other variations, is a feminine given name. The name and its variants are popular in countries where large Christian populations exist, because of its associations with one of the earliest Ch ...

People from Nidderdale