
Your inside scoop on the week’s biggest stories
October 3, 2026
Independent newsrooms like ours don't answer to advertisers, shareholders or governments — we answer only to you. If you value bold and brave reporting, consider supporting us today.

Frankie Goodway,
Sunday Editor
Two stories this week from our Tech and Bureau Local teams have a depressingly clear overlap: the role of misogyny in modern politics. In one, women who spoke out about online deepfake abuse were then targeted by millions of images generated by Grok, Elon Musk’s AI chatbot. In the other, women working for domestic violence charities explain how their work has been disrupted by far-right activists claiming to protect women and girls.
In one case, anti-immigration protestors gathered outside a hotel that was sheltering women and children who had fled their abusive partners.
Have your say on the Bureau’s future. Our annual survey is still running, and it’s your chance to let us know about the stories and projects that matter most to you. It takes 10 minutes to complete, but sets our course for the whole year.
Domestic violence services disrupted by far-right protests
Far-right activists have rallied around one particular trope in recent years: that British women and girls need to be protected from violent migrant men. But domestic violence charities have found that the rise in these protests has made it harder to serve women at risk of abuse and driven up the costs of protecting their events and their staff, as well as perpetuating myths about where abuse is most likely to occur. “Statistically,” says one campaigner, “the most dangerous place for a woman is the home – not outside a refugee hotel or in an Uber or whatever the far right likes to claim.”
Grok deepfake victims bring lawsuits against xAI
When millions of deepfake pornographic images were generated on Elon Musk’s X (formerly Twitter) at the end of last year, condemnation came swiftly – but justice did not. Police have failed to track down the people behind this digital abuse, which targeted women across the world, hampered by legal loopholes and the company behind X refusing to hand over information.
Inside the story
One of the key issues the police have in finding the people behind these crimes is putting real names and faces to anonymous accounts. Nevertheless, Lydia Morrish, the reporter on this story, was able to track a few likely leads for at least one of the accounts involved – information we have since handed over to police. And Lydia’s not a full-time investigator; in fact, she spends most of the week fact-checking all of our other stories.
Eton’s iPad problems are the tip of the iceberg
Every schoolboy at Eton – from Prince George down – is expected to use an iPad to do their schoolwork, in and out of the classroom. It’s a pattern repeated across the state school sector, where nearly a million pupils use a screen in every lesson, and nearly 3m use them at least once a day. At Eton, and in state schools, parents find it nearly impossible to exempt their children, even when there are signs of serious screen addiction. But tech companies are all too happy to see their creations become indispensable in education – and as a chance to start “brand loyalty” earlier than ever.
Inside the story
While this story started with Eton – and a letter from 100 parents there that had never been published before now – tech’s increasing role in education is a pressing issue across the sector. It’s also one you can expect to see a lot more reporting on in the near future. Got a tip to share? Reply to this email and I’ll get it to the team.
Pollution from factory farms costs UK £130m
Ammonia, a toxic gas that has a major impact on air quality, seeps out of farms across the UK. More than a thousand farms produce over a metric tonne of the gas every year. Andrew Wasley crunched the numbers to work out what that level of pollution costs the UK, based on the department for environment, farming and rural affairs own calculations. But there’s also a human cost for the people living near factory farms, who have to live with the harm to their health.
⚡ Impact this week
Our Enablers reporter Simon Lock spoke this week at a TIPS Network event on corruption and the beautiful game in the wake of the revelations about Manchester City’s 114 breaches of financial rules. Simon’s investigation into Roman Abramovich’s financial dealings at Chelsea earned him a Sports Journalist of the Year award in 2024 – not a gong the Bureau is usually in the running for! But where there’s big money – and football is big money – there’s always something worth investigating.
Meanwhile Franz Wild, our CEO, was in the Channel Islands to tell compliance and risk professionals from Jersey’s financial institutions what they can do to stop dirty money being moved through the island’s financial systems. The island has a reputation for looking the other way when organised crime or oligarchs are involved, but Franz told me that many of the 200 attendees came up to him after the talk to share their frustrations. “It reminded me,” he said, “that many of the people in the system are trying to do the right thing.”
And Effie Webb, our tech reporter, has been bringing her Danny Bones exposé to new audiences with a segment on Boston’s NPR. If you’ve ever wanted to hear Bones’ music without giving the fake AI rapper another listener, Effie and the host dissect the production alongside the politics.
Enjoy reading Uncovered? There’s more available with a TBIJ membership. You’ll get access to our behind-the-scenes newsletter Classified, free and discounted tickets for our events, and more. Sign up today:
What we’ve been reading
🔴 Since the Cold War, Russia has had a secret military facility, “Doomsday Mountain”, that can launch the country’s nuclear arsenal. It just got a revamp danwatch.dk
🔴 The Renters Rights Act was meant to stop “above market rate” rent increases. But since it came into force, rents have been rising faster wefightthegoodfight.substack.com
🔴 One we’ve been listening to: The Journey, about a group of surrogates who discovered a strange couple were recruiting them to carry lots of babies spotify.com
If you like Uncovered, feel free to forward it to a friend. It’s free to subscribe.





