Hello to the education nerds. I'm launching a report I'm excited about, on the experiences of English private schools that converted to academies! Come and join the panel chat and audience Q & A in Westminster, Thursday 26 Feb, 6pm onwards...🧵 www.eventbrite.com/e/state-expe...

State Expectations: The independent schools which switched sectors

A panel and audience Q&A discuss the history and experiences of English private schools that converted to academies and free schools.

eventbrite.com

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

I'm so grateful to belong to a newsroom that gives reporters time to investigate a story as complex and fascinating as this one by @marcusleroux.bsky.social Here's the story of Mr Mazzagatti, set to buy up North Sea gas fields & dogged by fraud accusations. 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

source-material.org

Click on this link to see all the winners of this year's Covering Climate Now awards: coveringclimatenow.org/projects/the...

The 2025 CCNow Journalism Awards — Covering Climate Now

Covering Climate Now is thrilled to announce the winners of the 2025 CCNow Journalism Awards. Our awards program, now in its fifth year, honors excellent reporting on many critical dimensions of the c...

coveringclimatenow.org

And watch the documentary edited by Le Monde here: www.source-material.org/total-mozamb...

Total’s Mozambique gas project faces scrutiny over abuse claims

Governments are reviewing support $20 billion gas project after SourceMaterial revealed abuse allegations against troops defending Mozambique site

source-material.org

We're delighted to have won in the 'Conflict & Climate Change' category at this year's Covering Climate Now awards with a project in partnership with our colleagues at Le Monde 🏆

Many other excellent journalists and stories were nominated. You can see the full shortlist here: www.societyofeditors.org/events/media...

Our story investigated millions of used UK tyres being shipped to India to make dirty fuel, harming people and the environment in the process. Read more here: www.source-material.org/waste-tyre-p...

Burning Rubber – SourceMaterial

Millions of used UK tyres are being shipped to India to make dirty fuel harming people and the environment

source-material.org

We're very pleased to have been shortlisted for the Society of Editors Media Freedom Awards 2025 for our story 'Burning Rubber: the poisonous afterlife of waste tyres', in partnership with the BBC.

After meeting the boss of a waste picker association in a cafe in South Korea, it took 6 months to follow him back to his home city of Accra and unpack what he had been saying to me over coffee at the UN's plastic treaty talks. Story published today with Al Jazeera. Quick 🧵

SourceMaterial@source-material.org · last yr.

NEW: SourceMaterial's investigation into a World Bank-backed plastic credits scheme shows it has sparked controversy in Accra, Ghana. Waste picker associations say they are 'sick and tired' of the 'false solution'. With @ajenglish.bsky.social: www.aljazeera.com/features/lon...

It's so not cool to read that financial aid for studying journalism (like the brilliant @nctj.bsky.social) could be removed by Dept of Education. Angry rebuttal from Society of Editors below. I 100% agree. Journalism needs to get less posh, not more... www.societyofeditors.org/soe_news/the...

🇪🇺 📽️ Last year, the EU spent EUR 22 bn on Russian fossil fuels ⚠️ It is enabling President Putin to continue his war 🎤 The @bbcnewsnight.bsky.social‬ & @vicderbyshire.bsky.social‬ speak with @ec.europa.eu‬ Vice-President @kajakallas.bsky.social‬ www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHjp...

Good to see that our investigation into waste tyres with my top colleague @atikarehman.bsky.social and our co-reporters at BBC File on 4 Investigates was debated in Westminster this week!

SourceMaterial@source-material.org · last yr.

This week MPs debated UK waste tyres illegally burned in India following our investigation with BBC File on 4 Investigates. "Investigators used GPS tracking devices in several consignments of waste tyres" to expose the trade, says MP @tessamunt.bsky.social. www.source-material.org/waste-tyre-p...

Francis survived the attacks, going on to appoint 82 more cardinals before his death—many of whom will take part in the conclave to elect his successor. The voting will determine whether Francis was able to secure his reformist legacy, or if Burke’s conservative allies regain the Holy See.

Bannon courted conservative critics of Francis, like Cardinal Raymond Burke, and planned to build a Catholic institute to act as a ‘gladiator school’ for the populist right. SourceMaterial and others exposed irregularities surrounding the institute’s headquarters, sparking a legal spat.

Pope Francis was a pontiff in a new mould: an advocate for migrant rights and global action on climate change. Those positions won him powerful enemies. In 2019 our investigation The Heretic in the Vatican revealed the extent of the plot against him. www.source-material.org/the-heretic-...

How Pope Francis became a hate figure for the far right

On a mountain outside Rome, Steve Bannon’s anti-immigrant populism joins forces with Catholic extremists who say a “gay plague” has infected the Vatican.

source-material.org

Women over 50 were 'markedly underrepresented' in journalism. Overall 50% of journalist respondents were women but this fell to 36% among the over-50s. Let's change that...☀️

Press Gazette@pressgazette.co.uk · last yr.

Survey: UK journalists are getting older, more left-wing and increasingly freelance pressgazette.co.uk/media-audien...

We've won! Faster than I would have imagined possible. In response to the threat of court proceedings issued by @fightingdirty.bsky.social, the Environment Agency has promised to review its policy on waste tyres shipped to India. With big thanks to our supporters. fightingdirty.org/major-victor...

News | Fighting Dirty

fightingdirty.org

The Carbon Offset Trap: BBC File on 4 has taken an in-depth look at the current state of carbon markets. Our reporter @lukewbarratt.bsky.social spoke to them about some of their findings. www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

BBC Radio 4 - File on 4 Investigates, The Carbon Offset Trap

Max de Haldevang investigates problems with carbon offset projects.

bbc.co.uk

"The Environment Agency is undertaking an internal review of its approach to waste tyre shipments to India." Two days after our report with @bbcradio4.bsky.social on UK tyres being dangerously 'boiled' in India, the UK announces a review of the trade. www.source-material.org/waste-tyre-p...

Burning Rubber – SourceMaterial

Millions of used UK tyres are being shipped to India to make dirty fuel harming people and the environment

source-material.org

Ever heard of a 'pyrolysis' plant? It's almost certainly where your car tyres will end up, sent by UK exporters to be 'boiled' into a toxic oil. The same plants are killing people. I've seen footage of kids, who lived on site, covered in burns. Read on: www.source-material.org/waste-tyre-p...

Burning Rubber – SourceMaterial

Millions of used UK tyres are being shipped to India to make dirty fuel harming people and the environment

source-material.org

It feels when you watch a @mrjamesgraham.bsky.social script like the deepest love song to Britain, an old marriage that can hurt, and which could do with collective therapy--forgiveness and bravery towards one another amidst deep anger of the kind James' mum shows Jacob.

Alastair Campbell @alastaircampbell2.bsky.social · 2y ago

James Graham is a genius. His latest play at the Young Vic may be his best yet. In tears at the end. Theme is restorative justice and a pleasure to meet Jacob, pic 2, the real person whose killing of another man with a single punch is the basis of the story. I cannot recommend it strongly enough.

“Taxpayers will rightly want to know why the SEND budget is lining the pockets of private equity firms” Private equity-owned special schools which charge councils fees of up to £131k p.a. have failed Ofsted checks @rosafurneaux.bsky.social @schoolsweek.bsky.social schoolsweek.co.uk/private-spec...

£100k fees, but special private schools fail standards check

The Labour government plans new powers to intervene more quickly when private schools fail. Schools Week investigates

schoolsweek.co.uk

Politicians are calling on other EU countries to stop exporting toxic gasoline to West Africa, following our story. The joint investigation showed Belgian and Dutch export bans risk being ineffective without a wider ban. (support @journalismfund.bsky.social) nos.nl/artikel/2556...

Benelux: stop met de export van vuile benzine naar West-Afrika

Goedkope brandstof die te slecht is voor Europeanen, wordt gedumpt in West-Afrika.

nos.nl

❗ Exclusive: Private equity-owned independent special schools which charge councils fees of up to £131,000 a year are among hundreds that have failed Ofsted standards checks Full story ⬇️ https://buff.ly/41g3uEq

£100k fees, but special private schools fail standards check

The Labour government plans new powers to intervene more quickly when private schools fail. Schools Week investigates

buff.ly

🧵Twice a day, sirens sound in the shadow of Touk Meas Mountain in Kampot province, Cambodia. "We're often coughing," said Pheara, who lives nearby. Here, a cement kiln producing hazardous emissions is supposedly at the heart of the global fight against plastic pollution.

Great to see @luciemheath.bsky.social nominated for environment journalist of the year at the Press Awards! Congratulations, well-deserved www.thepressawards.com/finalists/lu...

We've published another top story on plastic credits @lukewbarratt.bsky.social + @afpnews.bsky.social Plastic burned as fuel gives companies 'plastic neutral' status but pumps out toxins and dust. Graph shows the firms selling credits,% of plastic burned: source-material.org/plastic-cred...

NEW: A cement kiln in Cambodia, burning plastic, is supposedly at the heart of the global fight against plastic pollution. Locals say they've been getting sick ever since it was built, as have their children. www.source-material.org/plastic-cred...

Burning plastic and emitting toxic gases central to ‘plastic offsetting’

Plastic offsetting sector’s preferred solution puts the climate and people’s health at risk, without curbing production.

source-material.org