Marcus Leroux
@marcusleroux.bsky.social
Reporter at SourceMaterial (www.source-material.org), a small investigative journalism organisation that cannot be held accountable for anything I write here.
The year before the EU referendum, the UK car industry was predicting record production of 2 million units a year by 2020.
It's kind of mad how little political weather this makes. www.thetimes.com/business/com...
It's kind of mad how little political weather this makes. www.thetimes.com/business/com...
UK car output at its lowest in 70 years, but there is a spark of hope
The government’s target of getting production back up to 1.3 million by 2035 looks increasingly unlikely — unless the Chinese get involved
www.thetimes.com
January 30, 2026 at 11:20 AM
The year before the EU referendum, the UK car industry was predicting record production of 2 million units a year by 2020.
It's kind of mad how little political weather this makes. www.thetimes.com/business/com...
It's kind of mad how little political weather this makes. www.thetimes.com/business/com...
Rosa is ridiculously talented and lovely to work with. Sign her up before it's too late.
A hard post to start the new year: due to organisational changes at their funder, I've been laid off from my role as senior investigative reporter at @source-material.org. It’s been a privilege to work with such a talented and dedicated team on award-winning exposés across the climate beat
January 15, 2026 at 5:06 PM
Rosa is ridiculously talented and lovely to work with. Sign her up before it's too late.
Reposted by Marcus Leroux
A major Tory donor has been sanctioned in the UK and EU for his alleged role in the Russian oil trade.
The oil magnate Murtaza Lakhani was hit with a UK asset freeze and travel ban on the grounds that his activities were assisting Russia.
www.thetimes.com/uk/law/artic...
The oil magnate Murtaza Lakhani was hit with a UK asset freeze and travel ban on the grounds that his activities were assisting Russia.
www.thetimes.com/uk/law/artic...
Major Tory donor sanctioned over role in Russian oil trade
The government sanctioning statement alleges that Murtaza Lakhani’s activities in the oil sector have supported the Kremlin
www.thetimes.com
December 18, 2025 at 6:32 PM
A major Tory donor has been sanctioned in the UK and EU for his alleged role in the Russian oil trade.
The oil magnate Murtaza Lakhani was hit with a UK asset freeze and travel ban on the grounds that his activities were assisting Russia.
www.thetimes.com/uk/law/artic...
The oil magnate Murtaza Lakhani was hit with a UK asset freeze and travel ban on the grounds that his activities were assisting Russia.
www.thetimes.com/uk/law/artic...
I wonder has Boris Johnson ever seemed in need of assistance while boarding a flight. bsky.app/profile/flyi...
A constant blazing terror that somewhere, somebody might be getting a free cheese sandwich. Or indeed brief use of a wheelchair.
December 8, 2025 at 12:12 PM
I wonder has Boris Johnson ever seemed in need of assistance while boarding a flight. bsky.app/profile/flyi...
Reposted by Marcus Leroux
🔴 BREAKING: Our fake Chinese AI investor bought access to 10+ Labour MPs and minister
Brand new investigation by Democracy for Sale and Led By Donkeys.
democracyforsale.substack.com/p/breaking-o...
Brand new investigation by Democracy for Sale and Led By Donkeys.
democracyforsale.substack.com/p/breaking-o...
BREAKING: Our fake Chinese AI investor bought access into heart of Labour government
Ex-Tory MP facilitated meetings with 10+ Labour MPs and met ministers in “cash-for-access operation”
democracyforsale.substack.com
December 3, 2025 at 9:48 PM
🔴 BREAKING: Our fake Chinese AI investor bought access to 10+ Labour MPs and minister
Brand new investigation by Democracy for Sale and Led By Donkeys.
democracyforsale.substack.com/p/breaking-o...
Brand new investigation by Democracy for Sale and Led By Donkeys.
democracyforsale.substack.com/p/breaking-o...
Amazon, the biggest data centre provider in the world, is actually *even bigger* than we thought.
New investigation based on leaked documents by my colleague @lukewbarratt.bsky.social. www.source-material.org/amazon-data-...
New investigation based on leaked documents by my colleague @lukewbarratt.bsky.social. www.source-material.org/amazon-data-...
Amazon has twice as many data centres worldwide as previously reported
Amazon uses far more data centres across the globe—and has a bigger impact on the environment—than previously reported, leaked data reveals.
www.source-material.org
November 24, 2025 at 2:48 PM
Amazon, the biggest data centre provider in the world, is actually *even bigger* than we thought.
New investigation based on leaked documents by my colleague @lukewbarratt.bsky.social. www.source-material.org/amazon-data-...
New investigation based on leaked documents by my colleague @lukewbarratt.bsky.social. www.source-material.org/amazon-data-...
Coal-fired data centres at least sound a bit steampunk. Wood-fired data centres just sound deranged. finance.yahoo.com/news/drax-sh...
Drax Shares Surge on Data Center Hopes
Drax Group Plc shares surged to their highest level in over three years as investors bet that UK utilities could become major beneficiaries of the country’s rapidly expanding data center industry.
finance.yahoo.com
November 13, 2025 at 12:31 PM
Coal-fired data centres at least sound a bit steampunk. Wood-fired data centres just sound deranged. finance.yahoo.com/news/drax-sh...
Reposted by Marcus Leroux
Can't recommend today's SourceMaterial offering enough, by @marcusleroux.bsky.social.
It's the story of the son of a lorry driver from Calabria who has often struggled to distance himself from the Italian mafia and is now poised to buy 11 North Sea gasfields
www.source-material.org/mazzagatti-v...
It's the story of the son of a lorry driver from Calabria who has often struggled to distance himself from the Italian mafia and is now poised to buy 11 North Sea gasfields
www.source-material.org/mazzagatti-v...
North Sea Storm – SourceMaterial
Poised to take control of ‘the backbone of the UK’s energy production’, Franceso Mazzagatti is defending allegations bribery, forgery and fraud
www.source-material.org
November 4, 2025 at 4:18 PM
Can't recommend today's SourceMaterial offering enough, by @marcusleroux.bsky.social.
It's the story of the son of a lorry driver from Calabria who has often struggled to distance himself from the Italian mafia and is now poised to buy 11 North Sea gasfields
www.source-material.org/mazzagatti-v...
It's the story of the son of a lorry driver from Calabria who has often struggled to distance himself from the Italian mafia and is now poised to buy 11 North Sea gasfields
www.source-material.org/mazzagatti-v...
Francesco Mazzagatti is awaiting approval to buy a terminal that provides a fifth of Britain's gas.
We took a close look at episodes in his career that experts say ought to be of interest to the regulator in charge of stewarding the UK's oil and gas.
www.source-material.org/mazzagatti-v...
We took a close look at episodes in his career that experts say ought to be of interest to the regulator in charge of stewarding the UK's oil and gas.
www.source-material.org/mazzagatti-v...
North Sea Storm – SourceMaterial
Poised to take control of ‘the backbone of the UK’s energy production’, Franceso Mazzagatti is defending allegations bribery, forgery and fraud
www.source-material.org
November 4, 2025 at 12:49 PM
Francesco Mazzagatti is awaiting approval to buy a terminal that provides a fifth of Britain's gas.
We took a close look at episodes in his career that experts say ought to be of interest to the regulator in charge of stewarding the UK's oil and gas.
www.source-material.org/mazzagatti-v...
We took a close look at episodes in his career that experts say ought to be of interest to the regulator in charge of stewarding the UK's oil and gas.
www.source-material.org/mazzagatti-v...
"Transparency is a one-way door". A leaked Amazon document reveals its anxiety over disclosing how much water their data centres use.
Amazon strategised about ways to keep the public in the dark over the true extent of its data centres’ water use, a leaked internal document obtained by SourceMaterial reveals →
www.source-material.org/amazon-leak-...
www.source-material.org/amazon-leak-...
Leak reveals Amazon plan to keep water use of data centres secret
Amazon strategised about ways to keep the public in the dark over the true extent of its data centres’ water use, a leaked internal document reveals.
www.source-material.org
October 25, 2025 at 2:08 PM
"Transparency is a one-way door". A leaked Amazon document reveals its anxiety over disclosing how much water their data centres use.
this is a dizzying yarn with a drunk Australian getting hit by a car in Paris at its centre and threads leading to the dictator of Congo-Brazzaville and a prominent Irish family via Monaco and Dubai. villagemagazine.ie/dubai-heir-c...
Dubai Heir, Congo Air - Village Magazine
When Paris police picked up a drunk Australian carrying €195,000 in cash, they uncovered an alleged money-laundering scheme led by a Dubai-based Irish horseracing heir linked to British royals.
villagemagazine.ie
October 24, 2025 at 5:01 PM
this is a dizzying yarn with a drunk Australian getting hit by a car in Paris at its centre and threads leading to the dictator of Congo-Brazzaville and a prominent Irish family via Monaco and Dubai. villagemagazine.ie/dubai-heir-c...
I'd love to have attended the meeting where this came up.
September 11, 2025 at 1:59 PM
I'd love to have attended the meeting where this came up.
Reposted by Marcus Leroux
At dawn in Accra, Ghana, Lydia Bamfo (51) sets out to collect plastic waste. For 25 years she’s battled the tide of rubbish overwhelming her city. Now she says the World Bank’s “solution” has done nothing to help workers like her. 🧵
August 21, 2025 at 12:40 PM
At dawn in Accra, Ghana, Lydia Bamfo (51) sets out to collect plastic waste. For 25 years she’s battled the tide of rubbish overwhelming her city. Now she says the World Bank’s “solution” has done nothing to help workers like her. 🧵
William of Ockham: we're gonna need a bigger blade.
July 16, 2025 at 9:16 AM
William of Ockham: we're gonna need a bigger blade.
Some heartwarming football content from earlier in the week. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Irish League and German clubs to fulfil European Cup tie, 65 years later
Glenavon's 1960-61 European Cup tie against East German champions Wismut failed to go ahead due to the Cold War.
www.bbc.co.uk
July 11, 2025 at 8:36 AM
Some heartwarming football content from earlier in the week. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
On the Kneecap website you can buy a £25 “RUC not welcome tee”, in reference to a police force that was reformed and renamed before Mo Chara was in primary school.
marcusleroux.substack.com/p/the-real-t...
marcusleroux.substack.com/p/the-real-t...
The real trouble with Kneecap
The perils of the single transferable victim
marcusleroux.substack.com
June 28, 2025 at 12:30 PM
On the Kneecap website you can buy a £25 “RUC not welcome tee”, in reference to a police force that was reformed and renamed before Mo Chara was in primary school.
marcusleroux.substack.com/p/the-real-t...
marcusleroux.substack.com/p/the-real-t...
A lie can be half way around the world before a preliminary crisis analysis has its trousers on.
June 19, 2025 at 9:19 AM
A lie can be half way around the world before a preliminary crisis analysis has its trousers on.
Reposted by Marcus Leroux
Fresnillo, one of the UK’s largest mining groups, has been told it should pay as much as $630 million to a Mexican community whose land it illegally mined for gold, according to documents obtained by SourceMaterial →
www.source-material.org/fresnillo-so...
www.source-material.org/fresnillo-so...
Fresnillo faces $630m demand to restore 'illegally-mined' gold – SourceMaterial
The goldmining giant lost access to a Mexican mine in 2013 — now a court-appointed review says it must return $630m of gold it mined there.
www.source-material.org
May 29, 2025 at 11:43 AM
Fresnillo, one of the UK’s largest mining groups, has been told it should pay as much as $630 million to a Mexican community whose land it illegally mined for gold, according to documents obtained by SourceMaterial →
www.source-material.org/fresnillo-so...
www.source-material.org/fresnillo-so...
I wonder if this cross-examination is building up to the 1976 Republican News column where Adams wrote, cryptically: "I'm an IRA volunteer". www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/courts/...
Gerry Adams denies under oath that he was the senior IRA figure released for talks in 1970s
Former Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams has denied under oath that he was the senior officer of the Provisional IRA released from internment as a precondition for talks with British officials about a ceas...
www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk
May 7, 2025 at 9:53 AM
I wonder if this cross-examination is building up to the 1976 Republican News column where Adams wrote, cryptically: "I'm an IRA volunteer". www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/courts/...
Reposted by Marcus Leroux
Isobel Oakeshott is a Reform cheerleader - but in 2018 she said the Kremlin “struck gold” with Arron Banks, who Reform’s West of England mayoral candidate. The article is still online.
New from @marcusleroux.bsky.social on Democracy for Sale
democracyforsale.substack.com/p/does-isabe...
New from @marcusleroux.bsky.social on Democracy for Sale
democracyforsale.substack.com/p/does-isabe...
Does Isabel Oakeshott still believe Arron Banks was “used by the Russians”?
Oakeshott is a Reform cheerleader but in 2018 she said the Kremlin “struck gold” with the party’s West of England mayoral candidate. The article is still online.
democracyforsale.substack.com
May 1, 2025 at 9:47 AM
Isobel Oakeshott is a Reform cheerleader - but in 2018 she said the Kremlin “struck gold” with Arron Banks, who Reform’s West of England mayoral candidate. The article is still online.
New from @marcusleroux.bsky.social on Democracy for Sale
democracyforsale.substack.com/p/does-isabe...
New from @marcusleroux.bsky.social on Democracy for Sale
democracyforsale.substack.com/p/does-isabe...
this is why I take AI results with a pinch of bitumen.
Someone on Threads noticed you can type any random sentence into Google, then add “meaning” afterwards, and you’ll get an AI explanation of a famous idiom or phrase you just made up. Here is mine
April 23, 2025 at 1:05 PM
this is why I take AI results with a pinch of bitumen.
When the White House and the Kremlin announced the Black Sea ceasefire deal, it was noted that the Kremlin statement had set specific conditions.
Condition No.1: That Russia's state agricultural bank be removed from sanctions lists and reconnected to the global banking communication system. 🧵
Condition No.1: That Russia's state agricultural bank be removed from sanctions lists and reconnected to the global banking communication system. 🧵
March 28, 2025 at 10:45 AM
When the White House and the Kremlin announced the Black Sea ceasefire deal, it was noted that the Kremlin statement had set specific conditions.
Condition No.1: That Russia's state agricultural bank be removed from sanctions lists and reconnected to the global banking communication system. 🧵
Condition No.1: That Russia's state agricultural bank be removed from sanctions lists and reconnected to the global banking communication system. 🧵
If eclectic cricketing yarns is what you need to get through present madness, then the latest edition of The Nightwatchman is, as ever, packed with fascinating stuff - and includes something by me on the surprisingly deep roots of cricket in Porto.
www.thenightwatchman.net/wp-content/u...
www.thenightwatchman.net/wp-content/u...
www.thenightwatchman.net
March 4, 2025 at 11:51 AM
If eclectic cricketing yarns is what you need to get through present madness, then the latest edition of The Nightwatchman is, as ever, packed with fascinating stuff - and includes something by me on the surprisingly deep roots of cricket in Porto.
www.thenightwatchman.net/wp-content/u...
www.thenightwatchman.net/wp-content/u...
Reposted by Marcus Leroux
"A system that ploughs ahead in wilful ignorance of human-caused mass extinction and climate change is only a solution in a particularly nihilistic sense of the word."
Good piece on Starmer's aim to make it even harder for green groups to challenge bad infrastructure projects.
Good piece on Starmer's aim to make it even harder for green groups to challenge bad infrastructure projects.
February 21, 2025 at 9:05 AM
"A system that ploughs ahead in wilful ignorance of human-caused mass extinction and climate change is only a solution in a particularly nihilistic sense of the word."
Good piece on Starmer's aim to make it even harder for green groups to challenge bad infrastructure projects.
Good piece on Starmer's aim to make it even harder for green groups to challenge bad infrastructure projects.
Keir Starmer's unintentionally revealing choice of ecovillain.
marcusleroux.substack.com/p/keir-starm...
marcusleroux.substack.com/p/keir-starm...
Keir Starmer has chosen the wrong hippy to bash
The PM picked a fight with one of the "virtue-signalling zealots" hobbling British growth. There's one small problem.
marcusleroux.substack.com
February 14, 2025 at 1:17 PM
Keir Starmer's unintentionally revealing choice of ecovillain.
marcusleroux.substack.com/p/keir-starm...
marcusleroux.substack.com/p/keir-starm...