Toynbee, Polly, 1946-

Mary Louisa "Polly" Toynbee (; born 27 December 1946) is a British journalist and writer. She has been a columnist for The Guardian newspaper since 1998. She is a social democrat and was a candidate for the Social Democratic Party in the 1983 general election. She now broadly supports the Labour Party, although she is critical of its left-wing former leader, Jeremy Corbyn. Toynbee previously worked as social affairs editor for the BBC and also for The Independent newspaper. She is vice-president of Humanists UK, having previously served as its president between 2007 and 2012. She was named Columnist of the Year at the 2007 British Press Awards. She became a patron of right-to-die organisation My Death My Decision in 2021.