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Jacob Furedi @jacobfuredi.bsky.social · 2d

Ahead of Thatcher's centenery, I travelled across the UK to speak to those still living in her Britain.

I interviewed dozens of people — including an IRA bomber, a Toxteth rioter, and a Scottish miner who celebrated her death.

You can read the result in @dispatchmedia.bsky.social.

Reposted by Jacob Furedi

Dispatch @dispatchmedia.bsky.social · 2d

An IRA bomber, a Scottish miner, a Toxteth rioter, a Welsh 'lout'.

How are they faring today?

Ahead of her centenary, @jacobfuredi.bsky.social reports from the frontlines of Thatcher's Britain:

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Jacob Furedi @jacobfuredi.bsky.social · 4d

Vividly remember reading this for the first time. A deeply unsettling experience. Well worth 10 minutes of your time.

Dispatch @dispatchmedia.bsky.social · 4d

"It turns you into a loner, that’s the problem with this job."

María Sonia Cristoff returns to Patagonia's ghost towns — where she finds a oil man imprisoned by solitude.

David Peace: 'The media has failed Britain'

Jacob Furedi @jacobfuredi.bsky.social · 23d

Read it here:

dispatch-media.com/david-peace-...

A Yorkshireman in Tokyo • On Labour and Tommy Robinson • Plus a remedy for 'broken Britain'

Jacob Furedi @jacobfuredi.bsky.social · 23d

David Peace covered a lot in this interview:

— Being kicked out of Labour
— Yorkshire's grooming gangs
— His guilt about the Miners' Strike
— How the 'Broken Britain' narrative can become a self-fulfilling prophecy
— Why he won't write about it

Jacob Furedi @jacobfuredi.bsky.social · 23d

The king

American nukes in an English village

Jacob Furedi @jacobfuredi.bsky.social · 25d

With Trump touching down in the UK today, spare a thought for the Suffolk villagers forced to live next to an American airbase stuffed with nuclear weapons.

Even better, make some time for this very classy long-read from Jonathan McAloon:

dispatch-media.com/american-nuk...

A top-secret airbase • In sleepy Suffolk • Locals go to war

Reposted by Jacob Furedi

Dispatch @dispatchmedia.bsky.social · Aug 29

"Will Dispatch ever serve up AI slop to its readers?"

Listen to @jacobfuredi.bsky.social's response on Radio 4's The Media Show this week.

Margaux Blanchard, the journalist who didn't exist

Jacob Furedi @jacobfuredi.bsky.social · Aug 26

Who is Margaux Blanchard? Margaux Blanchard net worth? How old is Margaux Blanchard? Is Margaux Blanchard married?

Tbh, I don't know. But today I wrote about how @dispatchmedia.bsky.social exposed her — and why she matters:

dispatch-media.com/margaux-blan...

Dispatch rumbles AI fraud • The power of reporting • Introducing the Blanchard offer

Wired and Business Insider remove 'AI-written' freelance articles

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Reposted by Jacob Furedi

Harry Rose @harryrose.bsky.social · Aug 21

Bravo @jacobfuredi.bsky.social and @pressgazette.co.uk @charlottetobitt.bsky.social for rumbling this. Doesn't reflect brilliantly on the magazine industry, sadly.

pressgazette.co.uk/publishers/d...

Wired and Business Insider have removed freelance articles over concerns they were written by AI under a fake name.

pressgazette.co.uk

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Jacob Furedi @jacobfuredi.bsky.social · Aug 21

Very cool to see Dispatch publish its first Grammy winner.

Somehow, Jon Cleary writes as arrestingly as he plays piano...

Dispatch @dispatchmedia.bsky.social · Aug 21

"Twenty years ago this month, a hurricane named Katrina showed up to the party, uninvited, and tore our playhouse down."

Jon Cleary on New Orleans:

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Jacob Furedi @jacobfuredi.bsky.social · Aug 19

With journalists barred and misinformation rife, covering the war in Gaza can feel impossible.

On Dispatch today, read Hasan Jber’s extraordinary diary of life in a refugee camp. It's as strong a tonic as any to your usual op-eds and armchair analysis.

Dispatch @dispatchmedia.bsky.social · Aug 19

"Life in Gaza is measured not in days or weeks, but in litres of water."

Hasan Jber's diary of daily life in the al-Bureij refugee camp is free to read:

The TikTok ghouls of Whitby

Jacob Furedi @jacobfuredi.bsky.social · Aug 14

To find out what was really going on, I travelled to Whitby — and tracked down the TikTokers monetising the town's trauma.

Link here: dispatch-media.com/the-tiktok-g...

Four deaths in four days • A town mourns • Conspiracies go viral

Jacob Furedi @jacobfuredi.bsky.social · Aug 14

On the other, it revealed the grim extent to which true-crime TikTokers depend on churning out sensationalist content for hits.

Jacob Furedi @jacobfuredi.bsky.social · Aug 14

On the one hand, it's classic case of legacy media failing on sensitivity and accuracy.

Reach recycled inaccurate headlines across its local outlets — and national outlets didn’t do much better.

Jacob Furedi @jacobfuredi.bsky.social · Aug 14

Two weeks ago, four people fell to their deaths from Whitby’s cliffs in four days.

Within hours, wild serial-killer rumours went viral on TikTok — a grim example of how the “content” economy rewards ghoulish voyeurism.

My report for @dispatchmedia.bsky.social is below:

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Jacob Furedi @jacobfuredi.bsky.social · Aug 5

Spies, strip clubs and suspicious Grandmasters...

A cracking read, in which Euan makes a compelling pitch for Dispatch's much-coveted 'Chess Correspondent' role.

Dispatch @dispatchmedia.bsky.social · Aug 5

In Latvia, Russian-speaking citizens are branded spies and saboteurs.

In response, they play chess.

Euan Dawtrey reports:

Jacob Furedi @jacobfuredi.bsky.social · Jul 29

Obviously I'm biased — but this feels like important work by @petercarlyon.bsky.social on Britain's measles crisis.

Uncovering the human stories behind a very important (and unreported) datapoint:

Dispatch @dispatchmedia.bsky.social · Jul 29

There's been a surge in measles cases across the UK — but after crunching the data, one borough sticks out.

@petercarlyon.bsky.social reports from Hackney, east London:

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Jacob Furedi @jacobfuredi.bsky.social · Jul 24

Well this is exciting

Dispatch @dispatchmedia.bsky.social · Jul 24

On the site today: an interview with @irvinewelsh.bsky.social on Leith, romance and Men in Love.

dispatch-media.com/irvine-welsh...

The forgotten founder of the EDL

Reposted by Jacob Furedi

John Merrick @johnmerrick.bsky.social · Jul 23

This is a fascinating essay on Paul Ray, the founder of the EDL – a strange and troubled sounding bloke ‪@dispatchmedia.bsky.social‬

dispatch-media.com/the-forgotte...

Paul Ray lit the fuse • Then disappeared • From Luton to Ukraine

An evening with Britain's most offensive comedian

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Reposted by Jacob Furedi

Dispatch @dispatchmedia.bsky.social · Jul 22

Tommy Robinson is widely considered the founder of the EDL — but he wasn’t.

That dubious honour goes to Paul Ray, a “counter-Jihad” blogger from Luton who disappeared shortly after its launch.

What happened to him?

@jacobfuredi.bsky.social found him in Ukraine: dispatch-media.com/the-forgotte...

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Jacob Furedi @jacobfuredi.bsky.social · Jun 10

Once the most divisive comedian in Britain, Roy 'Chubby' Brown is still performing at 80.

But who’s showing up to watch him?

I went to Blackpool to find out, for @dispatchmedia.bsky.social.

dispatch-media.com/an-evening-w...

Is Roy 'Chubby' Brown still alive? • Yes • Good evening, Blackpool

Inside the Kingdom of the Sovereigns

Jacob Furedi @jacobfuredi.bsky.social · May 20

Meet the Sovereign Project — a group of a fringe eccentrics who believe Britain's laws and taxes are a form of slavery.

Earlier this month, Fred Sculthorp went to the pub with them.

Read in @dispatchmedia.bsky.social: dispatch-media.com/inside-the-k...

The Brits who don't pay tax • Meet the Sovereign Project • Pete has a plan

A King's betrayal • Athletes of the sky • Don't tell PETA

Jacob Furedi @jacobfuredi.bsky.social · May 6

It's sports week at @dispatchmedia.bsky.social
— and who better to kick things off than @roisinlanigan.bsky.social?

On pigeon racing, the King and a retired builder called Terry.

dispatch-media.com/the-men-who-...

The men who race pigeons