“Christa Pike wasn’t the monster you might imagine” – journalist Helen Roberts visits death row
Just a heads-up: this article has graphic detail that you might find upsetting. Watching the news of murderer Christa Pike’s execution has been conflicting and, as it became clear the lethal injection had failed, leaving her grunting on the gurney, pretty harrowing. In 1996, when Christa was 19, she was sentenced to death for […]
Newsletter: Why are we so wrong about things?
This was first sent as a newsletter to hundreds of subscribers. Occasionally, I will send content, thoughts and ideas direct to your inbox. To join them, sign up at the bottom of this page. People are wrong about most things, most of the time. Over the last ten years, the polling company Ipsos has been […]
Jon Ronson and the centre of the cultural universe
This was first sent as a newsletter to hundreds of subscribers. Occasionally, I will send content, thoughts and ideas direct to your inbox. To join them, sign up at the bottom of this page. There is a long road that snakes over the edge of the West Pennine Moors and connects my small hometown of […]
Jon Ronson is worried about men
Jon Ronson’s new book crashed suddenly into his life. One morning, he woke up to a flurry of texts that his son, Joel, had sent late the night before. He read them in reverse order, starting with the last one. “We left. Was completely fucked. All good now.” Jon sat bolt upright and read through […]
A journey into the biggest by-election in history
I find myself outside the Cross Keys pub, a huge red brick building on Chapel Street in Ashton-in-Makerfield. I stood on this same spot in the days before the Makerfield by-election. I remember that because I saw a young lad dropping a lesser-seen plastic straw to the ground. I told him not to litter, and […]
Thank you, Ann
I wasn’t really looking forward to doing my Times Radio show last night. Our top story was the murder of Ann Widdecombe. It was on every front page during the paper review. It was the subject of a lot of the texts from the audience. And it all felt a bit surreal. In recent years, […]
Welcome to Fakerfield
When I reached for my phone on Friday afternoon, bleary-eyed from an all-nighter, it wasn’t the first time something I’d said at 3am had got me into trouble. This time, though, it wasn’t that I’d accidentally insulted my friend’s new partner after a few too many pints. My phone was buzzing from an exchange I’d […]
Newsletter: the man who ruined the internet
I am currently enjoying the rarest of treats for the parent of a toddler: a week to myself. Michaela has taken our daughter Molly on a trip with some family and I have been left behind to bask in the momentary stillness of a usually chaotic home. I’ll get an early night, I thought to […]
Red lights and red flags
Sometimes, when I am driving home from hosting my late night Times Radio show, I hit a red traffic light at a roundabout near MediaCity. I think you know where this is going. It’s 01:30. There is nobody around. The red light is for a slip road off the main dual carriageway. It isn’t a […]
The story I didn’t have time to tell you…
A few years ago I made a documentary about a man who claims to be God… and the people who follow him. But there was one story we didn’t quite get time to tell. If you are hearing about this for the first time, I know what you’re thinking: that sounds a bit like a […]