Who We Are
We’re Laura and Andy, the writers behind Notes From Plague Island. Together, we write under the byline L&A, a signature you’ll see throughout the site, in essays, podcast episodes, and more.
With backgrounds in art history, cultural studies, political theory, and critical analysis, we bring a shared voice to some of the most urgent issues shaping life in Britain and beyond. From UK and US politics to broader questions of culture, identity, and inequality, we explore what happens when power is left unchallenged, and what’s lost in the silence.
While we are based in the UK and write extensively about British life and politics, much of our focus also turns to the United States. We grew up in an era shaped by American media, policy, and power; a generation raised under the influence of the so-called ‘special relationship.’ From our vantage point, what happens in the US has a way of echoing across the Atlantic. We’ve watched the American slide into authoritarianism, disinformation, and political dysfunction, and we see clear parallels unfolding here at home.
We’ve each lived through austerity, witnessed the unravelling of Labour’s moral compass, and watched the institutions that once claimed to serve the public drift further from accountability. Our writing draws from personal experience, historical context, and detailed research. Everything we publish is fully referenced using the Harvard method because we believe in providing transparent facts.
Plague Island is an archive of dissent: a place for political seriousness, ideological clarity, and a refusal to pretend this is fine.
We don’t claim neutrality. But we do value honesty, rigour, and the courage to say what too many won’t.
Why Subscribe?
Subscribing to Notes From Plague Island means more than just receiving essays in your inbox. It’s an act of solidarity with independent writing that speaks plainly, names power, and refuses the comforting half-truths of the mainstream press.
As a subscriber, you’ll get access to long-form commentary that cuts through managed narratives, covering UK and US politics, the rise of authoritarian populism, the collapse of Labour’s moral clarity, and the lasting legacies of neoliberal decline. We write with a critical eye, but also with conviction: that in an age of distraction and disinformation, clarity is a radical act.
And if you choose a paid subscription, you’ll also receive:
Behind-the-scenes newsletters with our reflections on recent pieces, political developments, and how we’re thinking through upcoming essays
Work-in-progress drafts and article outlines you can read in advance and comment on
Q&As and community discussions - responding to your questions about what we write, how we write it, and why we choose the subjects we do
Invitations to shape future content, including the opportunity to request topics, suggest angles, or vote on upcoming essay directions
Occasional audio commentaries, bonus podcast content, and other experiments as we grow
Your support helps us keep this work ad-free, independent, and answerable only to our readers, not algorithms, advertisers, or editorial gatekeepers.
If a paid subscription isn’t right for you but you’d still like to support the project, you can make a one-off contribution via Buy Me a Coffee. Every act of support - however small - helps sustain this archive of dissent.
Whether you read for free or contribute financially, subscribing is a vote for rigorous, politically serious, and unflinching writing in a media landscape that too often looks away.
Why We Write
We write because we have to.
Plague Island began as an outlet for our shared frustrations: with evasive politics, a complicit press, and the sense that Britain - alongside the wider West - was drifting steadily into something darker, more brittle, and harder to name. It has since become a way to hold that drift to the light.
We write about the things that trouble us, fascinate us, and sometimes obsess us. Often, writing is a form of catharsis; a way to wrestle with political despair, disillusionment, and the strange ways culture masks crisis. But it’s also a commitment to clarity, to refusing propaganda, confronting euphemism, and telling the truth as plainly and carefully as we can.
Though we write together under the name L&A, we each bring our own preoccupations and perspectives:
Andy is drawn to the Palestinian struggle and the broader politics of the Middle East, with a particular interest in resistance movements, the roots and causes of terrorism, and the ways states respond to both. His work interrogates how dominant narratives obscure the historical and geopolitical forces that produce violence and repression. He is also fascinated by the hidden philosophical foundations of modern right-wing movements - how ideas from reactionary theology, technocracy, and pseudo-intellectual nationalism seep into mainstream discourse. Andy brings a global lens to the project, grounding current events in the deeper contexts of empire, ideology, and international power.
Laura writes closely on the US under Donald Trump, particularly the disturbing ascent of figures like RFK Jr (now US Secretary of Health) and the ways conspiracy, grift, and spirituality are being repackaged as policy. She also tracks the rise of Reform UK and Labour’s rightward drift under Keir Starmer, viewing both not as anomalies but as symptoms of a deeper rot in Britain’s political establishment. Much of her work is shaped by a deep concern for how politics affects marginalised groups - those whose stories are ignored, silenced, or deliberately distorted. Through her writing, she seeks to give voice to those left on the margins of power.
Between us, we often joke that Andy is the international affairs correspondent and Laura is the domestic affairs correspondent! But in truth, the boundaries blur. Our subjects overlap. Our voices meet in the middle.
What the work always comes back to is the same scene: two writers, countless cups of tea, and a back-and-forth exchange that sharpens the shape of every idea. Laura handles the bulk of the referencing and final edits, but every piece is the product of shared thinking, mutual editing, and constant dialogue. There’s never a time when one of us doesn’t shape the other’s words.
At the heart of it all is the same purpose: two voices, one mission.
We don’t claim to speak for everyone. But we write in the hope that something resonates: that someone else sees the pattern, feels the unease, or finds in the clarity of language a way to stay upright in a collapsing world.
L&A (Laura and Andy)
