Draft:Neasa MacErlean
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Neasa MacErlean is a journalist and writer, the founder of the Work pages on The Observer newspaper and Robotics Law Journal, and the author of the biography of her grandfather, Telling the Truth is Dangerous — how Robert Dudley Edwards changed Irish History forever. [1] Her campaigning on tax inequality can be seen as one of the first steps that resulted in the introduction of same-sex marriage.
Early life
[edit]She was born into an Irish family in London, and is the granddaughter of Sheila and Robert Dudley Edwards, and Henry and Margaret McErlean. [2]
Education
[edit]She attended 12 different schools, as recounted in Telling the Truth is Dangerous. Afterwards she read English Language and Literature at Reading University where she gained a 2i. She qualified as a Chartered Accountant (through the Institute of Chartered Accountant in England and Wales), specialising in corporate taxes.
Journalism
[edit]She wrote regular reviews of fiction for Books & Bookmen and, on one occasion, for The Spectator.[3] While an accountancy trainee, she edited the student magazine Libra, interviewing former Conservative party chairman Cecil Parkinson and other accountants. She later worked for Accountancy Age, The Lawyer and the Irish Press before joining the Observer. She founded the Work pages, to appeal to employees, as a section on the Business pages in 1995, resulting in the publication of a book of her columns (Get more from work) and in her election as Mother of Chapel (chief shop steward) in 2000. She went freelance in 2007, establshing Robotics Law Journal in 2016.
Campaign for gay rights
[edit]Between 1997[4] and 2000[5] she wrote a series of articles campaigning for tax equality on Inheritance Tax for gay couples who, without the protection of marriage, could face prohibitive tax bills on their homes when one partner died. This contributed to a series of developments, through the Human Rights Act 2000 to the Civil Partnership Act 2005[6] through to Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act of 2013 and the introduction of similar legislation in other territories.
Other campaigns she ran included: air travel and climate change, employment rights, and the dangers of gambling (for The Independent newspaper)
References
[edit]- ^ MacErlean, Neasa. Telling the Truth is Dangerous (1 ed.). Tartaruga. p. 288. ISBN 978-1-83952-917-7.
- ^ MacErlean, Neasa (2025). Telling the Truth is Dangerous. Tartaruga. ISBN 978-1-83952-917-7.
- ^ MacErlean, Neasa. "Alias Doris". The Spectator Archive. Retrieved 16 June 2025.
- ^ MacErlean, Neasa. "Gay couples hope to win equality". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 16 June 2025.
- ^ MacErlean, Neasa (October 2000). "Justice finally breaks the wedlock deadlock". The Guardian. Retrieved 16 June 2025.
- ^ Scott, Maria (4 December 2005). "Gay wedding bells a wake-up call for all partners". The Guardian. Retrieved 16 June 2025.