For the best part of a year,
@felizysolo
and I have collaborated on a
@WSJ
investigation that sought to answer a question: who is sending us scam texts like this one?
On December 15th 2020
@Keir_Starmer
wrote to Boris Johnson urging him to convene a COBRA meeting to discuss the worsening covid situation. That evening, the Prime Minister hosted a quiz with his staff instead.
But Billy had been tricked. The job was fake. He had been recruited by a vast criminal network that trafficks people, enslaves them and forces them to send scam texts to people around the world.
For 16 months he was trapped in this brutal slave system before he managed to escape. Only a few people make it out. Even fewer are able to tell their stories. We were fortunate that Billy was willing to share his.
The answer led Feliz to Billy. He’s 41 years old and a tech worker from Ethiopia. In 2022 he took a job in Thailand with a fin tech company and was flown to a town near the border with Myanmar.
Yes I know England are through to the last 16 at the World Cup but can we please all actually be upstanding for Lilian from Preston who has gone to a wedding wearing a fascinator she made from a bath puff
Doug Jones: "I have always believed that the people of Alabama had more in common than divided us. We have shown not just around the state of Alabama, but we have shown the country the way that we can be unified."
#ALSen
If you’re keen to try train travel but don’t have lots of time then I highly recommend London➡️San Sebastián! It takes a day and involves a double decker train, sea views and the opportunity to buy large amounts of cheese + wine in Paris. Thanks
@seatsixtyone
for the route.
Today after 14 years living in London I am moving to New York! Here in no particular order is a 🧵 of some things I have learnt, laughed and loved about this city
"Am I a hero? No. When we talk about heroism, it is the stories of refugees we must listen to." Carola Rakete, the sea captain arrested for docking a migrant rescue ship in Italy spoke to
@lorenzo_tondo
for Today in Focus. Listen to her story:
Felt a bit sad this morning so went out on my bike to remind myself that if I am to be trapped anywhere, at least it’s in one of the best cities in the world.
All be upstanding for New Zealand, which has just passed a law granting victims of domestic violence 10 days paid leave to allow them to leave their partners, find new homes and protect themselves and their children
If you haven't listened to this morning's episode of Today in Focus, you won't have heard that I have (in the common parlance of twitter dot com) some PERSONAL NEWS......Next week will be the last time you hear me on the podcast!
To understand why the language used by Andrew Neil in his (now deleted) tweet is so problematic, listen to our Today in Focus episode with Carole in which she reflects on the impact of being labelled "a mad cat lady"
4 days ago, I wrote to
@bbc
re its role in amplifying
@arron_banks
’ harassment campaign against me. I cited Neil’s tweets. This isn’t just sexist & unfunny. & it doesn’t just reveal wider failure to report the story. It betrays the British public. Who are not being told the truth
I’ve loved producing the
@guardian
’s Today in Focus podcast this year, and feel very lucky to say that from today I’m it’s new co-host! Listen to my interview with
@Gladwell
about strangers, and the consequences of misunderstanding people we don’t know
The Government has lost control of infections, putting our economy and our NHS at grave risk.
The Prime Minister must convene COBRA to review whether the planned relaxation of restrictions is appropriate.
The priority must be to allow people to celebrate Christmas safely.
Congratulations to
@SamiraAhmedUK
who has won her equal pay case against the BBC, who according to the judgment argued that Jeremy Vine was paid more than her in part because he was required to have "a glint in the eye" (para 149)
Yes Brexit is bad, but right now Richard and Judy are presenting This Morning and are telling Paul O'Grady about the time they saw a ghost in a Paris hotel room and Richard chased it with a torch
I’ve been wanting to shout about this for awhile and now I can because it is An Actual Thing:
@guardian
is launching a daily news podcast and guess what? I’m on the team!
In today's podcast
@Andrew__Roth
and
@HannaLiubakova
tell the incredible story behind elections in Belarus, and how an authoritarian leader in power for nearly 30 years is being challenged by a protest movement led by a group of inspirational women:
The man responsible for making
@mrjamesob
a viral sensation is leaving
@LBC
. A big loss! Adrian has been instrumental to the station's digital success in the past decade, and was also just a really great person to make mindless conversation with in the office.
We’re up for Best Daily Pod, Best Current Affairs and Best Interview Pod
@britpodawards
! Thanks to the whole team, all our freelancers and amazing
@guardian
journalists who work so hard to make Today in Focus!
How have we allowed a situation to develop in this country where thousands are trapped in homes they cannot sell? Important podcast today with
@Robert_Booth
and Natalie, who lives in a building with flammable cladding which caught fire in May.
Taking a couple of weeks off and leaving you in the capable hands of
@NosheenIqbal
and
@safimichael
on Today in Focus who have some brilliant episodes coming up! Meanwhile my break has started with my favourite thing of all time ever: a sleeper train (love waking up to this view)
💕VERY EXCITED that today’s podcast is a
@guardian
BLIND DATE TAKEOVER! 💕 6 listeners, 3 Zoom dates and we recorded each one to hear what looking for love in lockdown sounds like. Produced by matchmaker extraordinaire
@hansermoore
In the name of journalism I gave up caffeine for a whole *24 hours* before an interview with the fascinating
@michaelpollan
who has written about how and why we’re all so addicted to it and the results were…well, you’ll just have to listen to the podcast:
Poisoned underwear, Putin’s secret aquadisco and a very dramatic courtroom scene: today’s podcast about Alexei Navalny’s return to Russia has it all. Brilliantly told by
@Andrew__Roth
. Made by
@courtneyyusuf
@MythiliRao
and sound design by
@AxelKacoutie
Tom Watson tells
#r4today
that he thinks Boris “has a career, on Love Yourself Island” and is then corrected by John Humphrys who reminds him that the show is called Love Island and thus the not very good quip is truly ruined.
After 3 years of execing Today in Focus, Friday was
@NicoleMJackson
’s last day on the podcast! Nicole IS TiF in so many ways so we asked listener and amazing illustrator
@laurieavon
to create this to celebrate everything she’s done since we launched back in 2018:
Really excited to be joining ITV news as deputy political editor to
@peston
working with the brilliant
@amberdebotton
once more! Really looking forward to joining a great team...
Delighted that the first episode I have made for
@WSJ
’s The Journal podcast is about Taylor Swift!!
@kate_linebaugh
talks to
@AnneMarieSteele
about how Tay’s push for music ownership comes as her own label is making it harder for artists to re-record:
If you had told 15 year-old me that one day I would produce an episode of
@BBCWomansHour
featuring an interview with
@GabrielleUk
I would have been STUPIDLY excited (and baffled). It is happening, and I am STUPIDLY excited (and baffled). Listen from 10! (
#dreamscancometrue
)
Today the sham trial of my
@WSJ
colleague Evan Gershkovich began in Russia, the latest chapter in a series of ridiculous legal proceedings that have kept him behind bars for over a year. The Russian regime must end its baseless attacks on Evan and free him now.
#IStandWithEvan
When I first read about Anna Sorokin, a young woman who faked the life of a billionaire heiress, I thought her story would make a great podcast. Today, that podcast exists! Told by
@HadleyFreeman
and Jesse Hawk, who filmed Anna on a lavish trip to Morocco
And thank you to YOU for listening! I have loved hearing from you all and know that you are all safe hands with the amazing
@NosheenIqbal
and
@safimichael
who have got some great episodes coming up. I’m so sad to leave, but very glad they’re steering the TiF juggernaut now.
I have SO MANY PEOPLE to thank at
@guardian
and I'll be filling my feed with tweets about them all in the coming days but if you have ever listened to Today in Focus, thank you. You make our podcast what it is and have made it such a joy to work on since we launched it in 2018.
Last night, a new experience: going up on stage to collect an award. I am GIDDY that Case Notes, a podcast I worked on
@ClassicFM
won the Best True Crime category
@britpodawards
!!! And we didn’t get to do a speech so..you guessed it..I’m doing some shout outs here
Vital local radio services and jobs sacrificed so that Global can "lead the commercial sector and compete with R1 and R2 at breakfast time". Sad that Global have made this decision and disappointing Ofcom gave them the green light in the first place:
Capital, Heart, and Smooth radio stations are all ending local and regional breakfast shows this year as
@Global
introduces national programmes on all frequencies
In today's podcast
@HannahEP
looks at how coronavirus is being used by the Indian government to erode the rights and freedoms of it's citizens, and journalist
@svaradarajan
on why his reporting on the spread of Covid-19 led to him being visited by police
Nick Clegg announcing that Trump will be allowed back on Facebook “with new guard rails” is very “trust me we’ll preserve Lib Dem values in a Tory coalition” vibes
Over 200,000 Brazilians have died from Covid and yet President Jair Bolsonaro still denies it exists. In today's podcast
@tomphillipsin
meets the people fighting the pandemic at its epicentre in Manaus. Made by
@hansermoore
@NicoleMJackson
@AxelKacoutie
UPDATE: I am here for the summer ☀️⛱🏄🏻♀️ finding and putting stories about women on the radio. My DMs are open for ideas/ leads / hellos..get in touch!
I've long been interested in the mysterious escape attempts by Dubai's Princesses. In today's podcast we look at the court case which might shed light on them, and *could* be hugely significant for women in the UAE. With
@Ola_Salem
and
@Haroon_Siddique
Can anyone in Siberia explain to me how they make train doors that don't freeze shut?
Asking because I only got to work today because of a proactive train guard with a very strong kick.
#BeastFromTheEast
Asked in this if it was reasonable to conclude that police may have had enough information to identify Couzens as a sexual threat to women prior to the murder of Everard, Met assistant commissioner Nick Ephgrave accepted that that was possible
The interview in this with Barry, who was 5 when he was sent to one of Canada’s indigenous residential schools where hundreds of unmarked graves have been discovered was one of the hardest I’ve ever done. Listen to him and
@LeylandCecco
on today’s podcast
Just heard Bernard Jenkin ask
#r4today
“why don’t you get the EU into your studio?” A question which, when you consider the size of most radio studios, has a fairly obvious answer.
Very excited to be able to share this..we're being joined on Today in Focus by not one, but two incredible
@guardian
journalists! Welcome
@safimichael
and
@NosheenIqbal
👏👏👏
For everyone who has listened to today's (very good,
#ItsComingHome
) Today in Focus ep then you'll know that A)
@AnushkaAsthana
is tragically LEAVING! + B) we are not the same person! 👋 to new followers and from our whole team: thank you for the lovely messages about the pod!
It began with a mysterious tip in 2016 and it ended with a President being found guilty of a crime for the first time in history.
On our podcast today: how the
@WSJ
uncovered the story that led to Trump’s conviction. With
@joe_palazzolo
+
@coryramey
In today’s podcast: the extraordinary story of the young British woman who says she was gang raped in Cyprus, forced to sign a retraction statement and then prosecuted for lying. Told by her lawyer
@MichaelPolakLaw
@expertsabroad
and journalist
@NoaShpigel
Having worked at Global in various roles this pay gap doesn’t surprise me (hardly any women are in senior roles) but I am frustrated that staff have to find out about it by looking on a government website. This shouldn’t be a tick box exercise, but an opportunity for change.
A bike is the best and fastest way to get around London! The city still needs more cycle lanes but it is so much safer than it used to be. Follow
@joncstone
’s excellent videos to learn some good routes
It's my last day working
@BBCWomansHour
for a bit so I'm going to shamelessly plug the programme I produced back in June about The Truth project run by
@InquiryCSA
. Not always an easy listen, and not at all easy to make, but incredibly rewarding:
I was let loose producing
@BBCWomansHour
today which IS as fun as you might imagine. We discussed late diagnosis of autism in women and spoke to a fabulous 80 year-old soprano: