Your inside scoop on the week’s biggest stories
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Frankie Goodway,
Saturday Editor
“Remember last week, when I said ‘silly season’ could be a misnomer for a summer of serious news? Well, now we’re looking at a by-election where Nigel Farage faces off against a man with a bin for a head. But it’s not all fun and games. Farage’s ludicrous resignation – to run for the same seat he won two years ago – was announced in a frankly petulant speech that tried to frame parliamentary standards inquiries and solid investigative journalism as harassment.
“But party finances and mysterious £5 million gifts deserve proper scrutiny. I can only hope that the next few weeks give the people of Clacton another chance to really get to know their soon-to-be former MP.”
End of the road for bogus family court experts
New rules that will bar unregulated psychologists from giving ‘expert’ evidence in family court cases will come into force later this month. It’s a massive victory for campaigners, and follows years of reporting by our family court reporter Hannah Summers on the dubious qualifications and dangerous views of some ‘experts’. Because psychologist is not a protected term, courts had allowed advice from people like Melanie Gill, who had no regulator monitoring her work when her testimony led to at least a dozen children being removed from their mothers’ care on spurious grounds.
Inside the story
The new rules are not perfect – there’s a carve out for ‘exceptional circumstances’, for example – but the change brings vindication to mothers like Erin (not her real name), whose case we’ve covered for the past few years. The next step will be looking at ways to redress the damage already done by bogus experts. As Erin told us: “I hope that meaningful accountability for all the victims now follows. We are still waiting for a public apology.”
A migrant charity targeted by the right
A small charity that promotes compassion for refugees and asylum seekers was inundated with abusive and sometimes threatening emails after rightwing activists and media spread misinformation about its programme for schools. City of Sanctuary is still receiving abuse even after the Charity Commission investigated the false claims and cleared the charity of any wrongdoing. It’s part of a pattern across the migration sector, with more charities coming under attack from rightwing groups.
Inside the story
This investigation was less of a single rabbit hole and more of a warren. The network of rightwing actors who spread the misinformation are deeply interconnected. Even when we were checking the last few facts, our reporter Emiliano was turning up new connections between the various far-right groups that decided to target City of Sanctuary.
Misaligned: when AI goes wrong
There’s still time to catch up on our YouTube documentary series on AI before the next episode drops next week. Subscribe to be the first to know when each episode goes live.
The trouble with Slapps with Democracy for Sale
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What we’ve been reading
🔴 At least four suspicious activity reports have been filed by bankers over large transactions by key Reform figures, including Nigel Farage theguardian.com
🔴 MPs have demanded full publication of a report by spy leaders that found ecosystem collapse overseas would have catastrophic consequences for the UK theguardian.com
🔴 One for listening: The Athletic break down how they got the story of Folarin Balogun’s red card suspension after Trump’s call to FIFA apple.com
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