Deputy Chief Reporter - The Times. Send me stories in confidence over DM. Volunteer mentor at @SocialMobilityF and @The_JDF ben.ellery@thetimes.co.uk
London, UK
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Our investigation into outside organisations providing sex education in schools uncovers material describing prostitution as “rewarding work” and promoting being locked in a cage, flogged, caned, beaten and slapped in the face. Story with @char_wace
thetimes.co.uk/article/35cd4…
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Breaking: Alex Belfield has been jailed for five and a half years after being convicted of four stalking charges against broadcasters including Jeremy Vine. Read our investigation into him here:
Alex Belfield, creator of the Starmer video, is a former Radio 2 presenter awaiting trial for charges of stalking Jeremy Vine and 7 other former colleagues. Belfield, who has 373,000 subscribers, is estimated to earn £500k a year from YouTube. Story here: thetimes.co.uk/article/7eb55…
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Delighted to start this week as the new crime editor at The Times.
Looking forward to following in the big footsteps of @Fhamiltontimes and working alongside the brilliant @davidwoode.
Please send a message to meet up for a coffee/tips.
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A passenger flight was forced to divert when a pilot’s spilt cup of coffee melted a control panel button and filled the cockpit with smoke.
A Condor Airlines spokesman said staff had been reminded to use “appropriate containers” for drinks.
thetimes.co.uk/article/7394a…
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EXC: A new wave of British self-help gurus inspired by Andrew Tate is producing misogynistic content that domestic abuse campaigners have warned is radicalising young men. W/ @AliMitib @thetimes
thetimes.co.uk/article/54582…
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EXC: YouTube is profiting from conspiracy videos about Sir Keir Starmer, Covid-19 vaccines, 5G and misogyny. Videos feature adverts from Amnesty, Vodafone, Disney and HelloFresh. A Starmer video that went viral in the days before he was ambushed has raised concerns from @CCDHate
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Also, details of a fiery BBC town hall last week where Director General Tony Davie was asked questions about Sharp including “How much money can someone donate to a political party before it's considered too much for them to be able to impartially sit on the BBC Board?”
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Alex Belfield, creator of the Starmer video, is a former Radio 2 presenter awaiting trial for charges of stalking Jeremy Vine and 7 other former colleagues. Belfield, who has 373,000 subscribers, is estimated to earn £500k a year from YouTube. Story here: thetimes.co.uk/article/7eb55…
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Revealed: The family running an empire of health agencies that have made tens of millions of pounds supplying doctors and nurses to the NHS and private hospitals @thetimes
thetimes.co.uk/article/9345f…
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Worried Facebook has far too much data about you? Just wait til you see what Google stores on its users - shocking extent of web giant ‘spying’ revealed dailym.ai/2K5ZAEL
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NEW: Formal inquiry launched into transgender charity Mermaids. W/@JamesSBeal
thetimes.co.uk/article/7366d…
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Exc: PR guru Paul Blanchard has been accused by a charity of wasting its money and failed to pay his staff tens of thousands of pounds. He told one staff member owed money she was “trying to leverage in your disabled son in an effort to gain pity points”.
thetimes.co.uk/article/pr-gu…
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Today is my last shift working at The Mail on Sunday after seven brilliant years. Excited to join The Times in a couple of weeks as a news reporter. Very proud to have worked alongside a fantastic news team.
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NEW: Former Pfizer executive and now Covid antivaxer orchestrating an anti-lockdown coup of the Lib Dem party
thetimes.co.uk/article/mike-…
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EXC: BBC chairman Richard Sharp wanted apology for story about texts between Boris Johnson and Sir James Dyson. BBC did apologise over the story by Laura Kuenssberg after Sharp felt that it had “got something wrong”.
thetimes.co.uk/article/f5a9e…
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Manchester United's £110 shirt is made by workers paid just 64p per hour. We track down the factory and speak to the workers. dailym.ai/2ADTn1O
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Exclusive: Social media profile of Tony Will, CEO of fertiliser company that reached agreement with government over CO2 subsidy, taken down hours before deal announced shows him on Egyptian billionaire’s super yacht and staying in £1,000 a night hotel.
thetimes.co.uk/article/71275…
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YouTube suspended the channel following an enquiry from The Times, citing "content (that) violates our Community Guidelines".
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Investigation into the incredible fall from grace of gambling platform #footballindex From having a market value of £120m to going into administration this week. Includes quotes from an employee comparing it to “a pyramid scheme” By @andrewellson and me
I've spent the last few days investigating goings on at Football Index, which collapsed into administration last night and had it's gambling licence suspended by the Gambling Commission today
Here is my story:
thetimes.co.uk/article/fans-…
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EXC: Robert Jenrick dined with one of Britain’s biggest private landlords and former chairman of the Presidents Club Bruce Ritchie at glitzy Tory ball in February. Story with @Steven_Swinford and @georgegrylls
thetimes.co.uk/article/rober…
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Professor of healthcare and workforce modelling at London South Bank University Alison Leary @alisonleary1 said agencies were the result of the “free market operating around healthcare”.
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Exclusive with openDemocracy - Businessman “Kash” Khokhar forced employees to work while furloughed and was awarded £40m PPE contracts. With @martinrw and @PeterKGeoghegan
thetimes.co.uk/article/0dac4…
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Exclusive interview with the protestor attacked by Chinese consulate staff in Manchester says he feels like state violence he fled in Hong Kong has followed him to UK
thetimes.co.uk/article/75fc5…
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Paul Blanchard winds up his PR firm owing £100k’s to HMRC while posting Instagram photos at exclusive members’ clubs and driving luxury cars. He has also lost a claim by a former employee who he owed thousands in wages - here is a list of his requests for adjournments:
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I talk about my experiences with conspiracy theorists and anti-vaxxers with @DAaronovitch for Stories of our Times podcast podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcas…
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Kevin Coyle and his two children, Ashling and Chris, own a complicated web of medical recruitment firms that have made vast profits at a time when the NHS is struggling with staff shortages.
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Undercover investigation exposes dirty tricks of second biggest power provider.Staff taught to sow fear in customers dailym.ai/1TwJ78P
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One position for a theatre nurse in Surrey advertised by one of the agencies owned by the Coyle family, Mayday Healthcare, offers as much as £7,400 a month, equivalent to a salary of around £146,000 a year.
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My interview with the mother of the British teenager at the centre of false Cyprus gang rape allegations. She told me tweets naming her daughter are like a “life sentence” and she fears the conviction has ended her dreams of becoming a police officer. Story with @antheecarassava
The British teenager at the centre of gang rape allegations in Cyprus fears that her dreams of becoming a police officer are over after tweets identifying her remain online, her mother said yesterday thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/…
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UK Column: The lockdown sceptic channel run by a former Royal Navy officer.
thetimes.co.uk/article/2fb0b…
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EXC: The cycling coach who sexually abused Sir Bradley Wiggins when he was a boy also assaulted other children at his club.
Stan Knight can be named for the first time as the coach who abused the Tour de France and Olympic champion when he was 12.
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Vacancies currently being advertised on their websites include added incentives such as paid flights for positions at NHS trusts in Scotland, “high-quality accommodation covered” and referral bonuses.
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A source at the BBC has now said it will “not recommend” its staff continue to appear on his podcast. Full story here: thetimes.co.uk/article/e6809…
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EXC: Police watchdog Michael Lockwood, who resigned after a historical allegation, is accused of having an inappropriate relationship with a child aged 14 or 15. W/ @Fhamiltontimes
thetimes.co.uk/article/0b3d8…
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Exc: Huawei has been accused of “infiltrating” a Cambridge University research centre after most of its academics were found to have ties with the Chinese firm.
Three out of four directors at the Cambridge Centre for Chinese Management have ties to the company. With @samdunningo
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Seven British businessmen have been named in connection with trophy hunting. David Watt, 72, is an organiser of South African hunts where people kill lions. His clients pose toting guns while holding dead zebra, baboons, lions, leopards and buffalo.
thetimes.co.uk/article/new-b…
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The Charity Commission inquiry — its most serious form of investigation — was triggered by “newly identified issues” around the youth charity’s “governance and management”.
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Friends of world chess genius @MagnusCarlsen reveal the secret behind him becoming world number one at fantasy football. Hint, you don’t want to come up against him on the pitch #FPL
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It had already announced a compliance case into Mermaids following safeguarding concerns, but a statutory inquiry marks a significant ramping up of its examination of the charity. It will try to establish if there was any mismanagement or misconduct by trustees.
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Exc: Currently with Dianne McKay, the daughter of murdered Muriel, in Trinidad to meet her mother’s killer. Incredible to witness her bravery as she embraced Nizam, and he has shown her the UK farm where he buried her so she can hopefully recover her body. Full story below 👇
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The commission said today that Mermaids’ response to the initial compliance case “has not provided the necessary reassurance or satisfied the commission at this stage”.
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Billions in Covid deals given to firms linked to tiny fundamentalist Christian sect. Interior design company ran by sons of Plymouth Brethren leader awarded £680m. A sweet manufacturer awarded a PPE deal to supply gowns later declared substandard by HSE
thetimes.co.uk/article/1545d…
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NEW: The Times reveals the star choreographer for the Royal Ballet has been suspended pending an investigation into claims of sexual misconduct with students. Liam Scarlett, tipped as a future director of the company, is accused of encouraging students to send him naked photos.
The Times 30/1/20
Liam Scarlett, 33, the Royal Ballet’s choreographer has been suspended amid claims of sexual misconduct. He is understood to have been banned from Covent Garden pending an inquiry. Photo : Chris McAndrew for The Times
#tomorrowspaperstoday #thetimes @thetimes
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Pupils at one of Britain’s most prestigious schools have compiled a dossier detailing a series of sex assault and abuse allegations.
Story with @katyamos7 and @nicolawoolcock
thetimes.co.uk/article/forme…
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Exclusive: Celebrities who have spoken out against gun violence attended a lavish party thrown by the owner of one of the world's biggest weapons producers mol.im/a/7318203
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Bob believe the staff dragged him into the grounds of the consulate because they knew police were not allowed to intervene.
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EXC: The Times has found dozens of sensitivity changes to the R.L. Stine Goosebumps book series. Here’s what we found:
🧵
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Great scoop with @Mike__Powell in tomorrow’s Mail on Sunday
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The Charity Commission launched a probe into Miftahul Jannah Academy following lectures by an Islamic scholar encouraging Muslims to buy “machine guns” and referring to the “dirty” qualities of Jews. The sermons were flagged to the watchdog by the @NatSecSoc
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Wolf-whistling is now just whistling and school pupils no longer fancied their headmaster. One character wearing a Halloween costume no longer had black face paint. Full story: Goosebumps author edits mentions of weight and mental health
thetimes.co.uk/article/f17e1…
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Blanchard also made false claims to Calvin Harris’ business adviser he could secure the DJ a knighthood. He wrote: “I’ve spoken to my behind-the-scenes contacts regarding a ‘K’ and it’s come back very positive in terms of his chances of success...The less in writing the better”.
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EXC: Times investigation reveals British YouTubers are being funded by the Chinese government to produce pro-China propaganda. Story with @tkbeynon
thetimes.co.uk/article/beiji…
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Very happy about this - a conman has been jailed following an undercover investigation by @Mike__Powell and myself mol.im/a/7293587
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Blanchard, who hosts the podcast Media Masters, told his editor in chief, whose son has cerebral palsy, “You are the one letting down your family. Shame on you...Be smart here for once, rather than letting your perennial ‘victim mentality’ always govern your emotions.”
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EXC: English private schools are making tens of millions of pounds from franchises with close ties to the Chinese Communist Party. Story with @JDirnhuber thetimes.co.uk/article/top-e…
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The of boss of CF Industries, which government will fund to produce carbon dioxide, earnt £7m last year and took down his Instagram profile showing him playing poker with Warren Buffet, with beer on a private jet and at the baseball World Series and tennis US Open.
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Helpline for pupils as ministers launch school sex abuse inquiry
thetimes.co.uk/article/28464…
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EXC: The government is severing all ties with the National Union of Students after accusing it of suffering “antisemitic rot at the heart.” Story w/ @nicolawoolcock thetimes.co.uk/article/gover…
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Universities will be forced to reveal investment from “foreign actors” to crack down on undue influence. For context, see this thread by @samdunningo revealing how Jesus College, Cambridge has a wealth of links to China’s CCP:
THREAD: new story with @benellery in The Times about @JesusCollegeCam 's endlessly dodgy engagement with the CCP party-state. thetimes.co.uk/article/chine… 1/15
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Hundreds of thousands of calls to a Home Office funded hotline set up to help victims of sexual abuse have been going unanswered, a Times investigation can reveal.
NAPAC answered just 8.5% of calls over four years. Ex-staff claim funds was misspent
thetimes.co.uk/article/ae829…
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Unmasked: the ‘infertile’ father of multiple children with different women.
At first sight, the Facebook group is a place for single mothers to exchange advice for each other. Yet many members have more in common: they were left by the same man.
thetimes.co.uk/article/6a9db…
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EXC: Judge in controversial Palestine paraglider case had liked a LinkedIn post calling Israel a “terrorist”
Full story with Jonathan Ames and @Smyth_Chris thetimes.co.uk/article/5ba4a…
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It added: “The regulator will seek to determine whether the charity’s governance is appropriate in relation to the activities the charity carries out, which involve vulnerable children and young people, as well as their families.”
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Exclusive in tomorrow’s Times - Boris Johnson will spend his first New Year’s Eve with girlfriend Carrie Symonds on a Caribbean island. Story with @oliver_wright
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TikTok and YouTube are profiting from the videos featuring advice which campaigners say amounts to coercive control. Videos on Connor Prankerd’s channel Masculine Empowerment say: “An insecure girlfriend is a well-behaved one. Never allow her to become too comfortable.”
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Michaelson is a partner at London law firm Quinn Emanuel. He represented Russia’s biggest bank after it had been sanctioned following Russia sending troops into Ukraine in 2014. He also acted for Konstantin Malofeev, said to be Putin’s favourite oligarch
thetimes.co.uk/article/fef71…
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I’ve been leaked a report about University Hospital Southampton revealing 15 patients went blind or suffered severe sight loss after staff shortages led to delays in their treatment
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EXC: Podcast host Paul Blanchard recorded saying he doesn't like "gay people and Jews" after an interview with the singer Will Young. Story with @Direthoughts
thetimes.co.uk/article/pr-bo…
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EXC: The daughter of a Putin ally living in the UK owns a quarter of a Russian coal mine once valued at $1bn. Elsina Khayrova, who owns a £25m Surrey mansion, also owns a Cypriot villa complete with bullet proof windows and a hut for armed guards.
thetimes.co.uk/article/08fe3…
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Another victim of Knight detailed similar abuse to that of Wiggins at the renowned Archer Road Club, in Acton, west London.
The family of another boy also reported concerns about Knight to British Cycling and there are allegations involving other youngsters.
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Ben Delo, 36, voted in his yearbook most likely to become a millionaire and second most likely to go to prison, made the donation to his alma mater, Worcester College, after earning his fortune by inventing the world’s largest Bitcoin derivatives trading platform, BitMEX.
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Missing crypto queen Ruja Ignatova is wanted by the FBI for stealing billions from victims.
Right hand man, British financial analyst Sebastian Greenwood, was jailed for 20 years this week.
🧵 on his life and the struggles of his victims. Story here:
thetimes.co.uk/article/073fc…
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@davidgerard - who wrote Attack of the 50 Foot Blockchain - a book about bitcoin, said: “The trouble in dealing with bitcoin is even if you’re trying to be legitimate, you have to worry about the people who are two steps away that might be crooks.”
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In another he says: “What should your girl bring to the table? Compliance. Because from compliance everything else can be built. It is the foundation to a good relationship with a woman. A woman that’s compliant can be coached and mentored to become the perfect girlfriend.”
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EXCLUSIVE: Tommy Robinson’s right-hand man allegedly had a cocaine-fuelled affair with a woman who is now the director of communications for a Texas congressman thetimes.co.uk/article/far-r…
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Tory candidate at centre of EDL vote rigging Afzal Amin was a member of fanatical sect that praised Hitler dailym.ai/1CxzaU4
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Exc: Cambridge University accepted a donation worth hundreds of thousands of pounds from a film investor considered to be one of China's most wanted men. Story with @samdunningo
thetimes.co.uk/article/3f667…
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EXC: Alex Batty’s grandmother told The Times she spoke to him on the phone an hour ago and it’s definitely him: “I was speaking to a boy when he was with us and now I’m speaking to a man. It’s quite unbelievable when you don’t know if somebody’s dead or alive.”
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The pandemic has laid bare the divide between rich and poor, with the wealthy fleeing on private jets, paying to be tested and even building bunkers in their gardens. Story with @benclatworthy @CarolLewis101 @ManuMidolo
thetimes.co.uk/article/wealt…
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Exc: The man convicted of one of Britain’s most notorious murders has confessed where the victim is buried 51 years after her death. Muriel McKay was kidnapped by two brothers in 1969 after they mistook her for the wife of Rupert Murdoch.
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The foundation set up to honour causes close Captain Sir Tom Moore spent £240,000 on costs and consultants in its first year — more than it gave away in grants w/ @JamesSBeal thetimes.co.uk/article/capta…
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My long read ahead of Father’s Day - I spoke to the sons and daughters whose dads died of Covid-19. Every person had a touching story, from the dad who fostered hundreds of children to the stricken consultant checking his patients from his hospital bed.
thetimes.co.uk/article/coron…
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Visited the small tennis club in Bromley where Emma Raducanu practised ahead of the US Open to get a feel for the hard courts and spoke to the neighbours who watched her hit rallies with her father in the street during lockdown. With @ArthiNachiappan
thetimes.co.uk/article/f7c95…
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The Times unravels the tragic life of the English recluse who left Sinn Fein £1.5m in his will. One of the few people who knew him told me: “He seemed a man frightened of the world. Sadly, he told me I was the only person who had ever shown him kindness.”
thetimes.co.uk/article/46693…
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Cowboy compensation firm drums up fake holiday sickness claims at cancer charity fundraiser dailym.ai/2qbEKNw
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Interviewed the former PE teacher of Bakayo Saka at the school where he still holds the long jump record. He lost one of his first finals aged 11 and pledged to never play football again...
thetimes.co.uk/article/engla…
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Bullying scandal on the hit Channel 4 show Escape to the Chateau.
Stars Dick Strawbridge and wife Angel accused of bullying former production staff.
The Times has obtained a recording of Angel calling a crew member a f****** c***
thetimes.co.uk/article/ea338…
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New: Chaos at the Captain Tom charity. The inside story of how it explored removing his name from the brand to deflect bad press and the CEO hired to turn it around has left. With @charliehparker
thetimes.co.uk/article/0be46…
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A story of hope: Roy Burton, a fit cyclist, spent six days fighting the virus in intensive care and proposed to his partner from hospital.
“I’m a grown man, but I held that doctor’s hand and I told him, ‘Please don’t let me die.’”
thetimes.co.uk/article/a-cor…
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New: Oxford University is at the centre of a rape scandal after a female member of its rowing club claimed she was sexually assaulted by one of the university’s top athletes
thetimes.co.uk/article/aea19…
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Dispatch from Albania - @thetimes Lost generation: Albanian migrant exodus leaves its schools empty. Hundreds of children have “disappeared” from schools in search of a better life in the UK
thetimes.co.uk/article/8ee43…
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Been working on this investigation for a while with @lara_wildenberg - servants, yachts and Rolex selfies: the lives of NHS agency chiefs at a time of one of the worst staffing crises in the health service
thetimes.co.uk/article/ea4ac…
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Times investigation unmasks the company which has sold its anonymous “micro aggression” reporting software to half of British universities. Examples of things people can be reported for include telling someone to “cheer up and not look so depressed”
thetimes.co.uk/article/stude…
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In an audio recording he threatened staff: “If someone makes accusations about the business, about furlough . . . or fucking reporting to HMRC, they can go f*** themselves.” He warned anyone speaking out would be “removed from the business… there should be a level of fear.”
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Crazy became “wild”, “scary”, “unbelievable”, “stressed”, “lost her mind”. “Nutcase” became “weirdo”.
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EXC: Sex abuse scandal at one of Britain’s leading universities for elite sports after a female student said that she was gang-raped by a group of four international athletes.
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39 people left Vietnam in search of a better life. They were found dead, stripped to their underwear and covered in cuts in bruises in a freight container in the UK. As those responsible are found guilty, we profile some of their stories.
thetimes.co.uk/article/lorry…
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Revealed: The hero Muslim security guard who stopped IS bomber from getting into Stade de France football stadium dailym.ai/1Hw8hVH
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Story: Prince Andrew once gave royal protection officers the slip to party on a boat in Thailand.
Guests on board were shocked at seeing Andrew bounding up the sand to ask if he could join.
He clambered aboard before officers could catch up with him. thetimes.co.uk/article/princ…
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