Matt Russell

The real Salt Path: how the couple behind a bestseller le... Penniless and homeless, the Winns found fame and fortune with the story of their 630-mile walk to salvation. We can reveal it was far from the truth

I spent months on this investigation and gathered docs from the UK courts, Land Registry and a French local authority, to show that Raynor and Moth Winn's story is not as they claim. @tortoisemedia.bsky.social @observeruk.bsky.social
observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

The real Salt Path: how the couple behind a bestseller le... Penniless and homeless, the Winns found fame and fortune with the story of their 630-mile walk to salvation. We can reveal it was far from the truth

Penniless and homeless, Raynor and Moth Winn found fame with their story of their 630-mile walk to salvation. The Salt Path became a global bestseller and was adapted into a major film.

But we can reveal it wasn’t the whole truth.

@chloehadj.bsky.social

Read more:

THE OBSERVER: The real Salt Path #TomorrowsPapersToday

Police in Somerset say they are assessing comments made on stage by rap punk duo Bob Vylan and Irish-language rap group Kneecap at Glastonbury Festival on Saturday. The government has "strongly condemned" chants from Bob Vylan who called for "death" to the Israeli military during their performance which was broadcast live on the BBC. Rapper Bobby Vylan led chants of "free, free Palestine" and "death, death to the IDF [lsrael Defense Forces]". A BBC spokesperson said some of the comments were "deeply offensive", adding it had issued a warning on screen about "very strong and discriminatory language". The set will not be available to rewatch on BBC iPlayer. The Israeli Embassy posted on the social media site X that it was "deeply disturbed by the inflammatory and hateful rhetoric".

After Bob Vylan's performance, a government spokesperson said Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy had spoken to BBC director general Tim Davie to seek an "urgent explanation about what due diligence" the broadcaster carried out ahead of airing the act. The government added that it welcomed the decision not to re-broadcast the performance on BBC iPlayer.

I mean, this is just straight up censorship by the government and the BBC

How to disappear | The Observer In the UK, a person is reported missing every 90 seconds. But how in a society of internet, phones and social media is it so easy to go missing? This is ...

With so many ways to track us online, just how easy is it to vanish in the 21st century? Well, easier...and more common... than you might think.

Listen to Francisco Garcia's brilliant bit of storytelling on the two brothers who suddenly found themselves missing:

observer.co.uk/listen/the-s...

Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Gaza.

I love the bit at the end where she says that is being done in the interests of kids learning "what it means to promote freedom and liberty" it's directly ripped from Orwell, censorship for freedom

‘It was as if someone had been murdered’: the felling of the Sycamore Gap tree | The Observer I set out to answer the question a whole nation has been asking: what made two men cut down the Sycamore Gap tree?

Thought this was a really beautiful piece on the Sycamore Gap tree. Amid the mass of coverage it's gathered, this is the piece that has stuck with me the most

observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

Just Stop TurmOil Podcast Episode · The Slow Newscast · 13/05/2025 · 43m

The UK is locking up protesters for up to four years. Has the government's crackdown on climate activism led to the end of Just Stop Oil?

Listen to @geordiedav.bsky.social as he tries to find out: podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/j...

Just Stop Turmoil | The Observer The radical climate protest group Just Stop Oil delighted supporters and infuriated opponents in equal measure. But then the government began to crack down on them. So where are they now?

observer.co.uk/listen/the-s...

Listen: The space for non-violent protest has shrunk, the UK state is jailing people for years whilst the rest of Europe measures sentences in days.

Where does the climate activism movement go next - and why is Labour defending Tory laws?

New pod for The Observer

Beyond anything else, Labour's inability to learn a lesson from Canada and Australia's recent elections is baffling.

bsky.app/profile/chad...

Surreal to have written this week's @theobserveruk.bsky.social cover story about the Trump family’s conflicts of interest.

It builds on my reporting with @barneymac.bsky.social on the launch of Trump's memecoin and the dogged work of so many US journalists. There is still so much more to say.

The Firm: Trump Inc. and the new age of corruption.

Buy your copy of The Observer, available across the country, tomorrow morning.

Get the newspaper delivered to your door every Sunday: bit.ly/4jFwQCW

Woman says security guard at Liberty Hotel in Boston confronted her in bathroom, asked to prove gender A couple said a security guard at the Liberty Hotel in Boston challenged their use of a bathroom and kicked them out.

A shocking story.

www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/...

The new Observer has gone to press.

Buy your copy, available across the country, tomorrow morning.

observer.co.uk/print

The other Tate brother Tristan Tate is far less well known than his notorious elder sibling, Andrew. But new evidence suggests he holds a central role in their alleged criminality

Tristan Tate is far less well known than his notorious elder sibling, Andrew.

But today Tristan’s central role in the brothers’ alleged criminality can be revealed for the first time.

Alexi Mostrous | Andrei Popoviciu | Phoebe Davis

Read more: bit.ly/4cYs6FZ

Thanks to Sam Dumitriu, Rosie Pearson, and Kate Williard.

But special thanks to Andrew Boswell who invited us in and told us his story.

I was struck by how there are no easy answers, and yet nobody on either side is satisfied by how the current system operates.

Nimby Nation Earlier this year the Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, wrote about a group of people he called zealots. And he identified one man in particular who the Prime Minister claimed was costing the country its ...

This is a story about growth, net-zero and the kind of country we want the UK to be. And it is the story of an ordinary man who the Prime Minister believes is costing the country its future.

www.tortoisemedia.com/listen/the-s...

None of the fake reasons she gives for hating trans people applies to also mocking asexual people but the “horrendous human being” theory holds up

Search

Come work @tortoisemedia.bsky.social where we have some exciting opportunities in our audio team with an Assistant Producer and Producer roles open.

Info on roles and how to apply are here: www.tortoisemedia.com/search?tags=...

But do get in touch if you have any questions

Search

Come work @tortoisemedia.bsky.social where we have some exciting opportunities in our audio team with an Assistant Producer and Producer roles open.

Info on roles and how to apply are here: www.tortoisemedia.com/search?tags=...

But do get in touch if you have any questions

Chief International Correspondent, The Observer

Come work with us! The Observer is looking for a chief international correspondent and a slate of new contributors across the world. It's a fantastic chance to join a revamped international team and play a role in shaping global coverage in the new Observer. www.tortoisemedia.com/2025/03/13/c...

Are we alone? The Slow Newscast · Episode

At Tortoise we're not ones to shun the big questions facing us. So thanks to @gwhittell.bsky.social for trying to answer the biggest one there is...are we alone?

And the story that might give us the answer.

Listen on Spotify: shorturl.at/ykeVY
Or Apple: shorturl.at/yu8CD

A moment that changed me: I was 16, gay and bullied for it. Then my father wrote to the Guardian … Britain in the 90s seemed to see homosexuality as something shameful. My father told the world how proud he was of me

This is a beautiful piece of writing and such a touching, galvanising story, I'm so glad Sam Dick shared it

A moment that changed me: I was 16, gay and bullied for it. Then my father wrote to the Guardian …
www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

Through the "Voices of Gaza" series I attempt to center the lives of people who have become a political symbol, but who themselves are increasingly abandoned as they put together the pieces of worlds destroyed by genocide & occupation.

I'm consolidating the links here.

BBC Sounds - Football on Trial: The Manchester City Charges - Available Episodes Listen to the latest episodes of Football on Trial: The Manchester City Charges on BBC Sounds.

I spent countless childhood evenings listening to BBC Radio 5 Live in my mum’s car, so it’s a dream to have written this series for 5 Live about Man City. All four eps out on BBC Sounds and on the radio soon. Produced with @mrabutler.bsky.social & hosted by Clive Myrie.

@tortoisemedia.bsky.social

BBC Sounds - Football on Trial: The Manchester City Charges - Available Episodes Listen to the latest episodes of Football on Trial: The Manchester City Charges on BBC Sounds.

🎧 New podcast out today – very pleased to announce the four-part podcast series I've co-produced with my @tortoisemedia.bsky.social colleague @xaviergreenwood.bsky.social is out now on BBC Sounds.

Full series on BBC Sounds: bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand...
First 2 eps on Apple/Spotify: lnk.to/FOTTMCC

for the second time today, Tom Homan is on Fox News confirming that he asked the DOJ to investigate AOC

The Path to American Authoritarianism What comes after democratic breakdown.

This is a damning and brilliant piece, already beginning to ring true. The deconstruction of American democracy:

www.foreignaffairs.com/united-state...

A SpaceX Dragon docked with the ISS in September - for this purpose - and is already scheduled to return in March. All arranged by NASA while Biden was president.

Trump has had nothing to do with it. Fantasy stuff.