Laura Dodsworth

'Slayer of taboos'. Peering over fences, not sitting on them. Author of A State of Fear, Free Your Mind, Bare Reality etc. Agent: @RoryScarfe
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[Laura Dodsworth @BareReality]

The paperback edition of ‘Free Your Mind’ is out today.

There is a war on for your mind. Learn how to recognise the nudges, dispel efforts to brainwash you and always question those who say the choice is yours. If you don’t control your mind, someone else will.

https://t.co/4l6fTE8CtA

[Claire Fox @Fox_Claire]

We're told that schools need to get 14-15 year-olds ready to vote at 16. Has the government thought through the problem of teachers who are political activists canvassing pupils for votes? And what about the obvious contradiction in expecting pupils to independently research who to vote for and the government's social media bans for teens? At the end, I responded to the minister telling me not to worry as 16 year olds will be allowed to get info from TRUSTED sources. Trusted by who? If this is a big expansion of democracy, why is there no impact assessment or proper engagement with criticism?

[Kate Maltby @KateMaltby]

I haven't been on this site for a bit.

But I haven't seen anyone share the photo the New Statesman staff staged in 2013 of Russell Brand as Christ, and themselves as his disciples. It seems to have been scrubbed from the web.

It made me angry then and it makes me angry now.

[Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧 @TRobinsonNewEra]

This is not what the corrupt establishment expected or wanted to see this week

[Marcus Walker @WalkerMarcus]

This is a really unpleasant encounter revealing a number of rather sinister aspects to this new senator’s mindset - not least the way he engages in physical intimidation.

[Laura Dodsworth @BareReality]

How can he say this with a straight face?

[Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan @MayorofLondon]

A welcome step from the PM.

The Transatlantic Slave Trade was one of history’s most heinous crimes.

We must be honest about how the horrors of our past have shaped the present - because only then can we begin to build a fairer future for everyone.

https://t.co/AzG1dsy5gz

[Laura Dodsworth @BareReality]

@GHWTowler I don't know how he says all this with a straight face!

[Gawain Towler @GHWTowler]

We have been building that fairer future since, well let’s think we abolished slavery, the Catholic emancipation, 1832, the factory acts, the extended franchise, women’s votes, social security, legalising homosexuality and the rest. No apology needed, just making a better world.

[Laura Dodsworth @BareReality]

@moveincircles Yes, although there would be an immediate problem for hospices!

[Mary Harrington @moveincircles]

The most egregious bit of policy laundering yet

[Mary Harrington @moveincircles]

Hot take: no charity should get money from taxpayers. None of them. Not a penny, or it isn’t “charity” at all but a proxy arm of the state

[Epic Maps 🗺️ @theepicmap]

Europe mapped by each nation's most iconic artwork

[Laura Dodsworth @BareReality]

More spent on debt interest than education AND defence.

[Merryn Somerset Webb @MerrynSW]

This is what state failure looks like. More on debt interest than education.

[Laura Dodsworth @BareReality]

So much to say, but I’m put in mind of George Bernard Shaw: “I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and besides, the pig likes it.”

[David Aaronovitch @DAaronovitch]

I want to apologise to Allison Pearson for thinking that this insane post was written by her. And to Alex Phillips for not realising that she was its author. Though regular and honest readers of either of their posts will admit, I think, that it could have been written by either of them

[Liam Halligan @LiamHalligan]

I was hoping to be able to announce this in my own time – but the media rumour mill is swirling, I'm being contacted by various reporters and others, and I don't like denying the truth, so ...

I wrote my first "Economic Agenda" column in The Sunday Telegraph 27 years ago, under the editorship of Dominic Lawson – filling-in occasionally during the late-1990s, before being given my own weekly slot from 2003.

Since then, while I've been heavily involved in television, and am perhaps better known as a broadcaster, penning "Economic Agenda" for The Sunday Telegraph each week has been the backbone of my journalistic life.

On Thursday, the @Telegraph rang to tell me my column is being scrapped.

I was asked, and have agreed, to write "Economic Agenda" until the end of November, as per my contract. After that, my Sunday Telegraph column will be no more.

Why this decision has been made, and whether or not my columns were any good, is for others to judge.

All I will say is that, as the first person in my family to attend university, sustaining a weekly column in a leading national newspaper for a quarter of a century has been a source of enormous pride for myself and my family.

Lots of people have been asking me about the future of "Planet Normal" - the hugely-popular Telegraph podcast which I co-created and co-present with the brilliant @AllisonPearson

"Planet Normal" has, over the last 330 weekly episodes, also become a major part of my professional life and my broader identity.

With Allison reportedly leaving the Telegraph as well, there is a lot of speculation about whether or not the podcast will continue to impart "news and views from beyond the bubble" with our usual blend of sharp analysis, humour and occasional outrage !

Well, I am delighted to confirm that Co-Pilot Pearson and myself are deeply committed to our joint podcast – and, above all, to our beloved listeners.

We will, as and when notice periods allow, continue our voyages through space every Thursday – perhaps to "Planet Normal", or maybe to another part of the solar system – so we can "gaze down each week at the madness of Planet Earth", as we have done since the Spring of 2020.

So citizens of Planet Normal, stand ready ! The "rocket-of-right-thinking", the "flying refuge of reasoned views", will soon be launched once again 🚀🪐👨‍🏭👱‍♀️🎙️📺

I poured my heart and soul into "Economic Agenda" and "Planet Normal". The Telegraph's decision to scrap them is obviously a huge personal blow. But I will always be grateful for the opportunities the paper has given me.

Above all, I would like to thank the illustrious list of successive Telegraph business editors I've worked with since the late-1990s, many of whom have become and remain good friends - including @Peston @RobertsDan @larmitstead @neilbenet @benjaminmarlow @cg_williams @kamalahmednews @MarkKleinmanSky @jamesrquinn (sorry if I've forgotten anyone, it's been a long time!)

On Friday, even though I almost always write my column from elsewhere, and despite being extremely disappointed by the paper's decision, I decided to go into the Telegraph and write today's column sitting in the newsroom.

I am glad I did - as being at the heart of the paper at such a difficult time allowed for lots of conversations, with everyone from junior production staff to senior reporters and executives, which reminded me that journalism, despite being an industry at the whim of seemingly endless and often brutal commercial and technological upheaval, is not only hugely important to our country, but full of talented, decent people.

See picture below, having just filed my piece, as I was heading out the door ...

[Laura Dodsworth @BareReality]

Readers don’t subscribe to a masthead. They subscribe to voices.

Axel Springer is about to find out what happens when you sack the voices.

Read my latest ⬇️⬇️⬇️

[Laura Dodsworth @BareReality]

Read my latest:

Stackers, Make Room: The Telegraph Diaspora Is Coming

https://t.co/qON6625t2Y

[Laura Dodsworth @BareReality]

The Telegraph commits hara-kiri. 🗡️

@AllisonPearson was its best-loved writer.

And readers will grieve the loss of other fine writers such as @LiamHalligan and @Sherelle_E_J

You can’t cut out the heart of a paper and expect its readers to stay.

[Press Gazette @pressgazette]

Telegraph columnist Allison Pearson is reportedly about to leave the newspaper amid significant job cuts to the newsroom https://t.co/SwO5s77lj8

[Laura Dodsworth @BareReality]

Stackers, Make Room: The Telegraph Diaspora Is Coming.

https://t.co/qON6625t2Y

[Laura Dodsworth @BareReality]

Readers don’t subscribe to a masthead. They subscribe to voices.

Axel Springer is about to find out what happens when you sack the voices.

Read my latest ⬇️⬇️⬇️

[Laura Dodsworth @BareReality]

@HTawfiq1 It's terribly sad. But it's in my nature to look for the positive. Telegraph readers will go somewhere and it won't be the Guardian.

[Laura Dodsworth @BareReality]

The demolition of The Telegraph is at least good news for independent media.

Join us on Substack, the water’s lovely 🌊