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Terri White

@terrilwhite

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Journalist & Author
🎦Raising Kids In Poverty (The Guardian)
📻Ghost Children (BBC Sounds)
📚Coming Undone
📧 [email protected]
✍️Latest story⤵️

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Tuesday night…’Terri White: Finding Britain’s Ghost Children’ won GOLD in Best Factual Series at the ARIAs for - they said - powerful investigative journalism paired with creative sound.
Up against mighty work - ITV’s Partygate series, MULTI- award-winning Shemima Begum Story (& more) - winning was overwhelming, a total SHOCK. Which’ll explain why - fresh off deadline - I’d turned up with unbrushed hair 90 secs before they locked the doors.
I’ve thought about the families, kids this week. And one boy in particular. So wanted to share my speech (short one, they’d pleaded, not mentioning owt about the word ‘fuck’, sharing THE UNCOMFORTABLE). What I remember of words that felt urgent, a chance to tell more people the score.
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*Following spoken in weird high-pitched cry after a tearful run to the stage, bouncing off/into the lecturn & producer Dan*
“Fuckkkking HELL! Sorry, I’ve got to say summat. We weren’t expecting this - as you can probably tell - I was a magazine editor for 20yrs, am new to all this but have fucking fallen in love with audio & radio…
I’m gonna bring the mood RIGHT DOWN. Bear with. 158,000 kids are severely absent, pretty much out of school. 24% of ALL schoolkids in England persistently absent. Most likely to be? Kids with special educational needs & disabilities, kids in care, deprived areas, on free school meals, in poverty.
At risk? Kids who are abused and neglected. I know because I was one, experiencing sexual and physical abuse, poverty. I needed school & safeguarding. It DID save me.
And we’re failing kids today.
Thank you to BBC Radio 5 Live for giving a fuck about these kids. For hiring me, letting me be their voice and letting THEM speak for themselves. Editor Anna Stewart, producer Dan Maudsley - he did the amazing sound design you liked so much! Sophie Donnelly - Producer Sophie! - who came with me around the country, investigating; whose idea the whole thing was (she’s the best journalist I’ve ever worked with). Cameron Ward! Our other sound guy.
And *breathes* we’d like to dedicate this to Arthur Labinjo-Hughes, who was our inspiration every single day.”
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(I forgot to thank @radioacademy didn’t I. THANK YOU)

#arias #ariasuk by @terrilwhite

OUT NOW // My new documentary with The Guardian on child poverty in the north & what life is really like for mums under the two-child limit.
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A year ago, I was on a Child of the North panel at Labour Party conference (fringe, obvs), talking about what the government could do about child poverty.
Three-months post-election and I was frustrated and pretty angry - counting each one of the 109 kids pushed into poverty every day by the two-child limit. The policy Labour called ‘inhumane’ but then kept (and kept).
In the room, I tore up my profesh speech and spoke from my gut. About the brutal, misogynistic policy. About how poverty makes kids deeply vulnerable. About our national apathy.
Listening: a producer and director from The Guardian documentary team. By November, they were up in Oldham shooting with me and now our film is out (on The Guardian website and YouTube).
A documentary short on what life is REALLY like for mums living in poverty/under the two-child limit near me in Greater Manchester (and beyond). The shame, stigma, all-out hostility. But also how the community swoops when the state fails.
We finished the film just a few weeks ago and with the government’s child poverty strategy due - deciding the future of the two-child limit - and with a record 4.5 million UK kids in poverty, a number still growing every day, it’s never felt more urgent. 🚨
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Please do watch/share - link is in bio & stories.
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ALL CREDIT to Guardian heroes: super-producer @maeveshearlaw and director with a heart like an elephant @christophcherry (I love you, guys)
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& A HUGE THANK YOU to:
-Our mayor @andyburnhamgm @nightmayor_2025
-The Children’s Commissioner for England @childrenscommissioner
-Breaking the Waves @breakingthewavefoundation
-The volunteers & mums in Failsworth
-Reuse Littleborough (Rochdale)
@reuselittleborough - Mike and volunteers
-Longsight Family Hub (and our brave mum in Longsight)
-Save the Children @savechildrenuk
-The early learning community mums in Neepsend, Sheffield
+ I want to shout out local star, Sally Maher of Our Community Wardrobe in Lees
& everyone at the ace @mahdlo_youthzone in Oldham

#childpoverty #twochildlimit #poverty by @terrilwhite

When I was six, after I was abused, the @nspcc_official advocated for me in a multi-agency meeting. A couple of years later, when things were bad again, I rang Childline. Today, one in 20 kids (we know of) are sexually abused. One in 5 abused. One a week dies from abuse and/or neglect.
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I've always been thankful that while I was one in 20, one in 5, I wasn't the one a week. And for the role that @nspcc_official played for me, personally. So, I'm dead happy to say I've officially signed on with them to be a Campaigner for Childhood. I still feel incredibly moved just to be asked.
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For the last seven months, I’ve been working on a (separate) big project around child abuse and protection - I'll be able to talk more about that soon. But having made it through (mostly) in tact, I also want, need to try and play a tiny part in shifting those stats. One child dying a week has remained one child a week for literally decades. That’s one Arthur, one Victoria, one Star, one Peter. Every week. For every name we know, there’s hundreds more we don’t. And thousands more saved because of timely and appropriate intervention.
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So, what’s first? I’m supporting the @nspcc_official’s brilliant new campaign, launched yesterday: Listen Up, Speak Up. A simple 10-minute online training programme that helps with what to look out for and how to report concerns about children (or just ask for advice). Safeguarding agencies and experts are vital but frankly, we all have a role to play. It’s not someone else’s business when a child’s at risk.
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BUT I totally get why we find it difficult. Why our neighbours found it difficult, even when they heard us scream. What if it’s nowt, right? If it’s nowt, that’s what’ll be found. But it it’s something: you could help save a child.
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It only takes 10 minutes (10 minutes!), so if you have them spare, *please* take the training and share if you found it useful. After all, that picture of me as a bairn basically dressed as a pirate can’t have been used in vain….
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Link in bio and stories. DM me with any Qs/feedback too.
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EDIT: I LOVE YOU ALL for such a generous, loving response. Genuinely teary. Big up the NSPCC 🧡
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#ListenUpSpeakUp #NSPCC by @terrilwhite

Well, THIS IS HAPPENING! I’m on SUNDAY WITH LAURA KUENSSBERG tomorrow. 9am-10am, BBC One.
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Ahead of next week’s budget (the first under PM Andy Burnham, who I interviewed for my child poverty documentary last summer when he was still our mayor), I’ll be repping the human reality of life on a low-income for millions in our country RN. The 4 million kids living in brutal poverty; single mums trying to keep a roof over and bellies full; our forgotten about lads in the deindustrialised regions and…what’s that? Yes, it DOES sound like fun!
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See you at 9am. DON’T BE LATE. by @terrilwhite

There was a packed room for @ddywray at Sheffield’s @offtheshelffestival last night to hear him talk about his book Groovy, Laidback and Nasty. Many thanks to @terrilwhite for excellent chairing as ever, as they discussed just some of the artists, scenes, stories and moments that have shaped and defined the city’s vast music legacy. Thanks also to @labiblioteka for the book sales, and everyone who picked up a copy for Dan to sign.

And if you’re in the city or passing through over the next few weeks, the @memorydance exhibition based around the book is on until 4 November, showcasing an incredible array of photography, video, flyers, artwork and memorabilia from the last few decades. It’s right in the city centre, free entry, and well worth a visit if you can make it. by @terrilwhite

It’s 04:47 AM and I can’t sleep because Jane Doe spent today covering the windows of her parent’s house, shit-scared a gunman was gonna take their heads off. This was before she was swatted, a fake 911 call sending police over, weapons drawn.
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Can you imagine the terror? Being that dehumanised? I always wonder who’s an ‘okay’ victim to these men? Who, to them, is not deserving of rape? I was 3-years-old. Did I deserve retaliation? Do I still? And look, I don’t wanna read that, would rather write owt but that, yet I have to write it (and I couldn’t give a fuck about your uncomfortable feelings), because we’re all Jane Doe and I’m sick to death of pretending we’re not under siege.
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When I spoke, when I reported, it was terrifying, but it was private. So getting doxxed (globally), hunted, targeted, armed police bursting through your door? Nah, mate. This isn’t just a war on Jane Doe, it’s on every girl and woman who dares to say no, to say stop, to speak the truth and seek justice. It’s a warning. It’s a consequence for her, for us. And yet still, we have to say NO - will need to today and tomorrow just like yesterday because fuck you, we are JANE DOE.
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(SORRY for the number of f-words but I think it’s appropriate) by @terrilwhite

New Substack/White Noise essay!
✨What We Don’t Talk About When We Talk About Nepo Babies….✨
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Link in bio / stories ✊❤️✊ by @terrilwhite

What a week. But still, always this 🧡
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HOW DOES IT FEEEEEELLLLLL / OASIS 2027 & 4EVA / BEFORE YOU’RE BREATHIN IN by @terrilwhite

Tickets are now on sale for two special Q&A screenings of @thecycleoflovefilm 🎬

Academy Award-winning director @orlandovoneinsiedel will be joining us for a live Q&A after each screening.

📍 @regentstcinema — 19 September
📍 @homemcr — 24 September

Book tickets at www.thecycleoflovefilm.com by @terrilwhite

A WEEKEND AND A MF HALF! Finally getting the hang of time away from my boy (read: fewer hours staring at his pictures while power ballads play and a single tear rolls, slowly).
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THE INVITE x Friday night pictures / third time(feature)’s a charm cos wowee @oliviawilde is the real-deal mega-accomplished, exciting director / swollen heart love-in with #1 @cazroberts / Sarah Kane & CLEANSED at the @almeida_theatre (@serpicleo1 is gonna turn you inside out and stomp on what’s left, mate!) / your fave nylon dress in dead hot weather / chasing a dozen snails / your fave velvet dress in dead hot weather / hosting a celebration of Caroline Aherne at @scene_festival & trying to not cry / trying not to cry at writer-not-typist @peggotty_morgan / trying not to cry at John Henshaw (BOOB JOB & A DYSON!) / fist-bumps with brother @arghkid / cuddles with sister @big_hair._ / the dark before the light in MCR
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🧀💥💉🌻🐌📺👵👄✊🗯️ by @terrilwhite

GOD BLESS AMERICA 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

#countbinface by @terrilwhite

Me and Emlyn formed a new superhero gang this week. Long live THE RED WARRIORS (his name). We defend women and children and/or those afflicted by dickheads! ❤️ by @terrilwhite