I am a freelance journalist, based in London, UK.Email me! jean@jeanhannahedelstein.com. I will write back.Read some of my published work here: The Observer The Guardian The Independent on Sunday The Independent The New Statesman Public Policy Research The Jewish Chronicle Bad Idea magazine Bad Idea Anthology Tumblr (3.0; @jeanhannahedelstein)http://www.jeanhannahedelstein.com/<img src="http://media.tumblr.com/wwvCPyBlYav8tcffV5jf7BmN_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p>It was a good night, capped off by a ride home in Seb’s car, singing along to Fleetwood Mac. ‘This is like an anti-drunk driving commercial!’ I said, and it was, except that tragedy didn’t ensue.</p><p>Er - to clarify: no one was drink-driving. It was just very jolly and we no doubt alarmed some Hackneyites with our sheer American-ness.</p>http://www.jeanhannahedelstein.com/post/40476361http://www.jeanhannahedelstein.com/post/40476361Tue, 01 Jul 2008 00:19:00 +0100<img src="http://media.tumblr.com/wwvCPyBlYaumknogXwgBG0td_500.jpg"/><br/><br/>Seen outside Earl’s Court tube station on Saturday night, it’s a knife surrender bin! Filled with spent drink containers! It seems that people in the neighbourhood are not particularly keen on surrendering their knives to it, but at least they appear to be keen recyclers.http://www.jeanhannahedelstein.com/post/40410727http://www.jeanhannahedelstein.com/post/40410727Mon, 30 Jun 2008 13:57:08 +0100The cost of William's lift to the stag do? £8,716 | UK news | The Guardian: What’s fascinating...http://www.jeanhannahedelstein.com/post/40383732http://www.jeanhannahedelstein.com/post/40383732Mon, 30 Jun 2008 08:36:26 +0100I am twenty-five, for the third time!I am feeling very sanguine about ageing, however. If I have...http://www.jeanhannahedelstein.com/post/40381133http://www.jeanhannahedelstein.com/post/40381133Mon, 30 Jun 2008 08:04:00 +0100…for the unprecedented hiatus. I have been busy, and also have had no amusing cab drivers to...http://www.jeanhannahedelstein.com/post/40276574http://www.jeanhannahedelstein.com/post/40276574Sun, 29 Jun 2008 11:23:03 +0100<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/jun/23/uselections2008.barackobama">Jean Edelstein: American democracy works - even overseas | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk</a>http://www.jeanhannahedelstein.com/post/39563418http://www.jeanhannahedelstein.com/post/39563418Mon, 23 Jun 2008 22:33:00 +0100“You probably won’t read another book on surfing this year, but even if you do, Surf...http://www.jeanhannahedelstein.com/post/39349953http://www.jeanhannahedelstein.com/post/39349953Sun, 22 Jun 2008 06:06:18 +0100“Fallen on hard times thanks to the advent of Christianity and so on, the Olympian gods are...http://www.jeanhannahedelstein.com/post/39349770http://www.jeanhannahedelstein.com/post/39349770Sun, 22 Jun 2008 06:03:54 +0100“I think there were many things my father regretted, rightly or wrongly, but not that half...http://www.jeanhannahedelstein.com/post/39264525http://www.jeanhannahedelstein.com/post/39264525Sat, 21 Jun 2008 11:06:39 +0100““The pool was too tough.”” - Irené, Priceless. Highly recommended cinematic...http://www.jeanhannahedelstein.com/post/39264364http://www.jeanhannahedelstein.com/post/39264364Sat, 21 Jun 2008 11:02:00 +0100<img src="http://media.tumblr.com/wwvCPyBlYaguy14kWaBvOkbr_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p>Peaks (via <a href="http://flickr.com/photos/drunkenponies" target="_blank">Christiane B</a>)</p><p>OK, to see this for myself, I’d wear some damn <a href="http://www.jeanhannahedelstein.com/post/37839189/why-we-are-not-going-to-kathmandu" target="_blank">trousers</a>.</p>http://www.jeanhannahedelstein.com/post/39209712http://www.jeanhannahedelstein.com/post/39209712Fri, 20 Jun 2008 22:43:00 +0100I’ve been wearing contact lenses for the past couple of days. Usually, I am too lazy to bother...http://www.jeanhannahedelstein.com/post/38929651http://www.jeanhannahedelstein.com/post/38929651Wed, 18 Jun 2008 20:51:21 +0100<img src="http://media.tumblr.com/zkfIIODV5adryij7K7WdUI1M_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p><a href="http://www.noraleah.com/post/38917719/the-end-is-nigh-the-future-president-and-first" target="_blank">noraleah</a>:</p><blockquote><p><b>The end is nigh: </b>the future President and First Lady share cover space with such pressing matters as Brangelina’s pre-babies boinking and the political infighting of gutter TV stars.</p><p>The fact that this is part of the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/18/us/politics/18michelle.html?scp=4&sq=michelle+obama&st=nyt" target="_blank">non-threatening PR offensive</a> makes me weep for my theoretical children.</p></blockquote><p>I too am weepy. Poor Michelle.</p>http://www.jeanhannahedelstein.com/post/38921559http://www.jeanhannahedelstein.com/post/38921559Wed, 18 Jun 2008 19:28:56 +0100Trying to do my part for the environment last night, but also having to do the dishes, I picked up...http://www.jeanhannahedelstein.com/post/38743724http://www.jeanhannahedelstein.com/post/38743724Tue, 17 Jun 2008 13:43:16 +0100Bad Idea: The anthology, ed Jack Roberts and Daniel Stacey - Reviews, Books - The Independent:...http://www.jeanhannahedelstein.com/post/38717637http://www.jeanhannahedelstein.com/post/38717637Tue, 17 Jun 2008 08:49:58 +0100…yet again, for the washing machine repairman. It’s all very existential. I was...http://www.jeanhannahedelstein.com/post/38595104http://www.jeanhannahedelstein.com/post/38595104Mon, 16 Jun 2008 11:12:23 +0100It has just occured to me that one of the reasons that I struggle a bit with writer’s block...http://www.jeanhannahedelstein.com/post/38589451http://www.jeanhannahedelstein.com/post/38589451Mon, 16 Jun 2008 10:02:00 +0100Lydia:...and so I said, 'Be EXCELLENT to each other.'Oli: Did you make that up? Or did you get it...http://www.jeanhannahedelstein.com/post/38539600http://www.jeanhannahedelstein.com/post/38539600Sun, 15 Jun 2008 23:28:33 +0100<img src="http://media.tumblr.com/wwvCPyBlYa97cc70EbpPlyEi_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p>Hey! It’s Father’s Day, and this is my dad, Bill, or as I like to call him, Dadelstein.</p><p>There are a lot of excellent things that I could tell you about him in honour of the day. But having pondered what to highlight, I realised that amongst the best things about Dadelstein is something that many people probably don’t know about him, and certainly wouldn’t assume about him. But as his daughter, I feel particularly qualified to make the following unequivocal statement: Dadelstein is a feminist.</p><p>When I was growing up, he made a real effort (alongside my mother) to make sure that my sister and I were not smushed into the little boxes that so often entrapped American girls; as a result, this meant that oftentimes we were not very cool, but I think it made us far more well-balanced women when we grew up. In particular, he always made a point to be extremely engaged in our education - though he was a physicist, he has always been excited about my literary inclinations and he read every essay I wrote through high school (and, um, well into graduate school) and offered constructive criticism (and added commas, which I usually then struck out). And not just <i>our</i> education: for example, in the late Eighties when my brother was ten and there was only one girl in his advanced math class, my dad complained to the school that they were discriminating against female students.</p><p>And now, when some women’s fathers would be mumbling things about MRS degrees, my own dad has never done anything but offer consistent support of my lifestyle and career.</p><p>And that, my friends, is the best kind of a father for a girl (now woman) to have.</p>http://www.jeanhannahedelstein.com/post/38494830http://www.jeanhannahedelstein.com/post/38494830Sun, 15 Jun 2008 14:07:00 +0100<img src="http://media.tumblr.com/wwvCPyBlYa8xsb6lS4pO3l9Y_500.jpg"/><br/><br/>Even better - me and the table on the bus, courtesy Lauren.http://www.jeanhannahedelstein.com/post/38476611http://www.jeanhannahedelstein.com/post/38476611Sun, 15 Jun 2008 09:40:27 +0100