How to negotiate with hackers
You know that awful, gut-wrenching feeling in the pit of your stomach when you when you realise something has gone terribly wrong? The bosses of M&S know that feeling well. A few weeks ago, a cyber-attack crippled their business. We don’t know much about what the hackers have demanded, but we do know they sent […]
Cameron Mofid: visiting every country in the world
How has your week been? Accomplished much? Or just enjoyed the sunshine, like me? 24 year old Cameron Mofid from San Diego had a special week, becoming one of the youngest people ever to visit all 195 countries. It’s been a heck of a journey, which included being detained on suspicion of espionage, narrowly avoiding […]
The Constitutional Sheriffs: America’s vigilante police
The ‘Constitutional Sheriffs’ are a strange group of vigilante police officers, who believe they have a supreme authority, and are the highest law in the land. They are a conspiracy-fuelled movement with links to violent militias, spreading radical ideas in their local communities. They answer only to the people, God… and Donald Trump. They are […]
Searching for Nicola – two years on.
This month marks the second anniversary of the disappearance of Nicola Bulley – the mum of two who went missing in Lancashire, sparking a media and online frenzy. Neighbours, day-trippers, police, independent investigators and an army of YouTubers, TikTokers and amateur detectives descended onto the scene. And… so did I. Not to try and crack […]
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 […]
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: […]