"People from St Helens know better than to stake their identity in the victim narrative of the post-industrial hellhole."

Ella Glover: dispatch-media.com/how-sport-sa...

A day with England's hunt saboteurs They were once seen as radicals • Now they work with the police • Armed with drones, balaclavas and vegan sausage rolls

"Controlling territory is everything, as if the hunters and the sabs really were at war."—Tamlin Magee for @dispatchmedia.bsky.social

Dispatch

Read Tamlin Magee's report, illustrated with photography fom Alexander Rogers, here:

Once upon a time, England's hunt saboteurs were considered enemies of the state.

But today, they operate with the tacit support of the police, deploying drones and convoys to track illegal hunts.

Last month, we embedded with a unit at Britain’s most prestigious hunt: 👇

Hidden on the Dorset coast is Western Europe’s largest onshore oil field.

Wytch Farm still produces around 10,000 barrels a day — but for how long?

Jack Burke reports: 👇

dispatch-media.com/britains-hid...

"The walls sweat all through the night. When it rains you have to wear headphones, and when it’s hot you feel like a fucking sardine wrapped in foil on one of these fucking barbecues.”

Natasha Carthew reports on what 'van life' really looks like:

dispatch-media.com/the-brutal-r...

'He helped me become a woman."

Chandler Fritz reports from the first funeral held for an AI companion in America:

dispatch-media.com/she-fell-for...

'The Aetherius Society is wary of journalists. It has been burned before.'

Lotte Brundle reports on a secretive religious group that, among other things, believes Jesus is an alien:

dispatch-media.com/aetherius-so...

The men who worship pie Britain’s top bakers face off in a church • 1,000 pastries, one Supreme Champion • Welcome to the British Pie Awards

Read this on the bus into work. Arrived hungry, with a faint desire to visit Wigan.
dispatch-media.com/the-men-who-...

(yes, you have to register and log in to read the whole thing. Yes, it's worth it. In fact it's worth paying and subscribing)

@dispatchmedia.bsky.social

I got to combine two of my favourite things - reporting on a knotty, fascinating story and walking through the scenic Peak District countryside - for @dispatchmedia.bsky.social

Will a pipeline carve through Britain’s first national park?

In the Peak District, a vast new carbon-capture scheme could soon cut across farms, villages and protected land.

@hughesroland.bsky.social walked the route, and found a local revolt brewing.

dispatch-media.com/will-a-pipel...

Who ate all the pie?

In Melton Mowbray, this year's British Pie Awards were stuffed with fierce rivalries and closely guarded pastry secrets.

Jack Burke reports: dispatch-media.com/the-men-who-...

Did slaves pick your tomatoes? One in six UK tomatoes comes from Almería • Supermarkets demand perfection • Trafficked workers live in squalor

Did slaves pick your tomatoes?

If you shop at Britain’s supermarkets, the answer may well be yes.

@peter-yeung.bsky.social reports from Almería, Spain:

dispatch-media.com/did-slaves-p...

Somehow, in an age of OnlyFans and extreme online porn, Babestation still broadcasts every night.

But who works there — and how long can it survive?

Max Jeffery went behind the scenes:

dispatch-media.com/the-last-day...

What would you do if the only road in and out of your village was sealed off for 29 hours?

And what if it happened on Valentine’s weekend?

@gregbarradale.bsky.social went to the Isle of Grain to find out:

dispatch-media.com/the-village-...

Once upon a time, Sunderland sent hundreds of young men into the Army.

Last year, it sent just 10.

What's behind Britain's recruitment crisis?

Fred Sculthorp reports:

dispatch-media.com/where-have-b...

Across Europe and America, organised gangs are raiding shops, warehouses and homes for Pokémon cards worth up to $5 million.

Will police catch ’em all?

Tamlin Magee reports:

dispatch-media.com/the-global-p...

Royal Shrovetide Football has been described as the "world's most violent ball game".

But how long will it survive?

Jack Burke reports, with photography by Chris Bethell:

dispatch-media.com/englands-wil...

Inside Europe's busiest domestic abuse court The men who pass through Court 16 • One-minute hearings and year-long delays • A system under strain

"It’s a few minutes before 10am on a dreary January morning in Glasgow, and I’m the only woman in a corridor full of men."

I started my 2026 camped out in Glasgow's domestic abuse court. Read all about it @dispatchmedia.bsky.social (you can sign up for free!)

dispatch-media.com/inside-europ...

Court 16 at Glasgow Sheriff Court deals solely with domestic abuse. But what does that look like, day after day?

Over two months, @everebecca.bsky.social watched from the public gallery. Read her report below:

dispatch-media.com/inside-europ...

After a cancer diagnosis, Will Self had to travel everywhere by car.

Shuttled between home and hospital by immigrant Uber drivers, he began to notice a different city unfolding outside the window.

In today’s piece, he reflects on those journeys:

dispatch-media.com/will-self-ho...

There's wine. There's chanting. There's even a wooden phallus.

2,000 years after the last sacrifices on Mount Olympus, the ancient gods are back.

Fonie Mitsopoulou reports on Greece's polytheistic revival:

dispatch-media.com/the-return-o...

What does romance look like in a city ruled by algorithms?

Can love survive the optimisation mindset?

Rachel Dec reports from San Francisco:

dispatch-media.com/how-to-find-...

Deep in the Forest of Dean, a dwindling group of men are keeping alive a centuries-old tradition.

They are called Freeminers — and there are barely a hundred left.

@milesellingham.bsky.social reports from the coalface:

dispatch-media.com/the-last-of-...

How do 700,000 cows go missing?

That’s the question gripping Uruguay, after a violent death exposed a Ponzi scheme that fooled a nation.

What happened next? Meredith Jackson reports:

dispatch-media.com/how-do-70000...

The Battle of the Boshes Big John and Tom Skinner are both from Romford • Both claim to speak for Britain • What does their hometown think?

Forget Nigel Farage. Forget Keir Starmer.

What if the two most most influential figures in British politics were a pair of Essex geezers who love enormous dinners and saying “Bosh!”?

@laurabeveridge.bsky.social reports from Romford:

dispatch-media.com/the-battle-o...

Stack Independent Magazines on Stage – with Die Quieter Please, Dispatch, The Fence, and Piscine Stack x St Bride Foundation Stack Independent Magazines on Stage With Die Quieter Please , Dispatch...

This is going to be loads of fun. Independent magazines on stage, at St Brides on Thursday night, with @thefence.bsky.social, Die Quieter Please, @dispatchmedia.bsky.social, and Piscine. Tickets are £6.50 and all proceeds go to St Brides. Come join us! billetto.co.uk/e/stack-inde...

How to be happy in England A visit to England's happiest town • On the saddest day of the year • How does Skipton do it?

Shout out to @dispatchmedia.bsky.social which is consistently publishing some of the most interesting, well written features on the UK (and occasionally US) out there. Their weekend newsletter, which highlights content elsewhere too, is also great.

dispatch-media.com/how-to-be-ha...

Slab City is described as 'the last free place in America'.

But what's it really like?

Jack Burke ventured to the Californian desert outpost. It wasn't pretty.

Link below.

dispatch-media.com/slab-citys-f...

How to be happy in England A visit to England's happiest town • On the saddest day of the year • How does Skipton do it?

what's the happiest place in england like on the saddest day of the year? and WHY does it smell like that?? i investigate for @dispatchmedia.bsky.social dispatch-media.com/how-to-be-ha...