Russell studied history at St Catharine's College, Cambridge, and went on to become a BBC News trainee.

She has been a vocal critic of the failings of the education system and criticised the increasing abuse of civil liberties under the last Labour government.

In May 2011, she won the Orwell Prize for Political Journalism,[4] having been shortlisted for the Commentariat of the Year at the 2010 Comment Awards.

In 2013, she became a member of the independent expert panel advising the government on the initiation and publication of Serious Case Reviews, and in August that year began writing a column on Thursdays for The Times.

[7] Russell regularly appears on television and radio, on BBC's Newsnight and Sky News.