She is an Emeritus Professor of journalism at Roehampton University, and a former member of the board of Greenpeace UK (2005–12).
[3] She has been a columnist for The Guardian[4] since 1992 and was previously a regular contributor to The Observer and Marxism Today.
From 2005 to 2008 she was the author of the regular "Looking After Mother" column for the Saturday Guardian's Family section, about the problems faced by those caring for people with dementia.
Her books including Female Desire and Our Treacherous Hearts are still widely cited,[citation needed] as is the essay "Are Women's Novels Feminist Novels",[6] originally written for Feminist Review.
[7] She has a strong interest in environmental issues, and writes a regular column for The Ecologist magazine.