Jay Slater – and the online sleuths
The case of the missing teenager Jay Slater has been a lightening rod for online sleuths and conspiracy theorists. It’s a familiar story, with echos of the search for missing Nicola Bulley in Lancashire in 2023. If you missed what happened when I visited the scene myself, keen to meet the TikTok sleuths clocking up […]
Jeremy Vine: ban dentists selling botox?
According to an investigation, dental practices across the country are selling aesthetic treatments, including lip fillers and botox. It comes amid a worsening dental crisis with people struggling to get appointments to get their teeth checked. The number of NHS dentists working in England has dropped to the lowest level in almost a decade – […]
Searching for Nicola: TikTok Sleuths and ‘Grief Junkies’
The disappearance of Nicola Bulley has attracted an industry of TikTok sleuths and amateur detectives – some sharing theories online, others visiting the scene to make content. They have been condemned by Lancashire Police, with some accused of harassing villagers, upsetting the family and hampering the police search. I went to meet them, to ask: […]
Dark Patterns – Out Now on BBC Sounds
Have you ever tried to cancel an online subscription? On some websites, it can be a painful maze of fruitless searches and false hopes. In fact, for one famous example, it was found to be nine clicks away from the home page, through a network of seemingly unrelated destinations that you’d have no reason to […]
Former neo-Nazi on how he was radicalised… and how he got out.
Nigel Bromage was 15 when he was handed a leaflet at school. Joining a group campaigning against the IRA, a cause he believed in, soon became membership – and then leadership – of a neo-Nazi organisation. Nigel joined me on talkRADIO to tell his story, and explain how the group prayed on his vulnerability, gave […]
The Art of Small Talk
Hello. How are you? How did you get here? Via the A6? I love that road. How are you at small talk? That inconsequential chit chat in the street, the office, the supermarket or at the start of a party? As we take stock of the fall-out from the pandemic, we know there is going […]