1. Private Eye's Short-Sightedness

In the UK, we have a famous satirical magazine called Private Eye. Although not hugely mainstream, it's done a great job for decades of poking fun at those who rule the country. Its founder Ian Hislop, known for his role on satirical comedy show Have I Got News For You, is apparently Britain's most sued man, and good on him. I've long been a fan; but I wonder if being 'on point' is not a permanent quality, but a feeling that ebbs and flows with the times. 

What I'm getting at is: he's lost his touch. First, they printed an edition that took aim at Jewish people.

The joke here is that Jews are too sensitive to any criticism, despite Jews being well known for being satirists and humorists. It's easy to write something like that when you've not had family who died in the Holocaust. The suggestion that Jews are killing everyone is also an echo of the wrong labels of genocide in Gaza, whose population has grown five-fold in the past few decades. When Hitler committed genocide against the Jews, he wiped out two thirds of their population. This over-use of words like genocide and aparthead undermine the genuine struggles faced by Palestinians. 

This week, Private Eye wrote a hit piece on the podcast Triggernometry. I'm going on their podcast next month. And Francis Foster is a guest on my channel very soon. The article is bizarre. It attacks Triggernometry by painting it as Right-Wing despite having to admit that they interview people on both sides. Then, it criticises how their interview with women-hater Pearl Davis came across. This was an interview where they disagreed with everything she said. But even this is lampooned by Private Eye, who mock the idea of the Triggernometry guys being told what to do by their wives. They can't win.

Having remained centrist for years, it looks like Hislop is beginning to take sides, and I wonder if it comes from fear. After all, his magazine has been around for decades, and Triggernometry - just a few years old - is already dwarfing it's figures. 

2. I've changed my tune

When I first started my YouTube channel, I had a lot of talks and debates with centrist intellectuals about some of the most talked-about topics of the day, including the culture wars, politics and the future (AI, tech etc). YouTube - with its audience capture - rewarded me for the episodes about cults, and so I went that way. Now that I have a larger subscriber base, I am hoping to occasionally go back to my roots, and mess around in the intellectual sphere. I'll still do a fair bit on cults and scientology and crazy true crime stories...but I want to do a bit less of the wackier conspiracy stuff, and a bit more real content...especially when I get the chance to do so in person. 

As such, I am changing the look of my thumbnails to give them a slightly more sophisticated and less sensationalist look (thoughts?). It's a big risk...but I hope you'll stick around. 

3. Pedophile Hunters

The episode I did on Locals the other day with pedophile hunter Courtney Elizxbeth blew my mind. I can't believe she does that as a job. Most of her content can't make any revenue because of YouTube's censorship and demonetization of controversial topics. So she does this out of passion. Still, when I watch some of her episodes, I do feel sorry for some of these guys who seem to have learning difficulties. That said, it's much better she got to them before they got to any children. What do you think?

1. A good day to bury bad news

After the Hamas attack on Israeli party-goers and other innocents, I was reminded of the moment that Labour Party aide Jo Moore was found to have sent an email just after 9/11 in which she wrote: 'It's a good day to bury bad news'. She was roundly condemned for showing how the sausage is made in politics; the spin and manipulation comes first, even compared to the Twin Towers. 

But I was left wondering last week who may have actually benefited from the attacks in Israel. For example, Russell Brand was front-page news for his infamous antics...but that's gone totally quiet. The last I heard was the police were investigating. I heard similar things about Dan Wootton, but there's nothing yet. It seems almost trivial to even talk about those accusations now. That's not to negate the horrific experiences of the accusers; it's just that there is a more geopolitical story in the papers right now. 

Who else has benefitted? 

2. Never apologise

In a recent clip from my discussion with Andrew Lownie about the Royals, I mentioned rumours about Prince William having an affair. I noticed a couple of comments saying that this was actually just a rumour spread by The Times columnist Giles Coren - a man who often seeks controversy for controversy's sake! Watch the clip here:

As such, I thought I'd post a little apology. It was a half-hearted apology because I have heard those rumours from others outside of Giles. They're all over the internet if you just search. But I've always respected people who have apologised when they didn't have to. 

The vitriol I received in the responses to those comments was as bad as anything I got from the Israel-Gaza videos. I think it might be a natural human response to want to kick someone who supplicates. What do you think? Do they simply not believe the apology? Or is it an urge to destroy the apologiser? Either way, it makes an apology itself rather pointless. No wonder politicians never do it. 

Interestingly, studies suggest that Brits apologize—or at least say 'sorry'—1.5 times more often than Americans. And there are various studies online that show just how pointless apologising is.

I'm just sorry that I apologised. 

3. Is Time Going Faster?

Well this one is a bit depressing. But are any of you finding time moving even quicker than usual?

Writing this weekly newsletter is my most alarming reminder of the quickening speed of time. How is this the ninth week already? It seems mad.

I did some digging, and found that time really does seem to accelerate as you get older. A 2019 research paper suggests our ability to process visual information slows with age; we perceive fewer mental images, and time feels like it’s speeding up.

Researchers split up 138 people evenly into three age groups: 4 to 5, 9 to 10, and adults 18 or older. Each person watched two 1-minute videos. The videos looked and sounded similar but had a significant difference: One had more action (a police officer rescuing animals and arresting a thief), while the other was monotonous (prisoners escaping in a rowboat). 

The scientists asked the people in the study two questions: "Which one was longer?" and "Can you show the durations with your arms?" 

Their answers “revealed a striking age effect,” the study found. While the youngest group perceived the eventful video as longer, most 9- and 10-year-olds – and the vast majority of adults – identified the uneventful video as longer. 

Basically, when you're a kid, the more eventful and exciting something is, the more time it seems to take. The opposite happens to adults, so that our most thrilling moments just flash by. 

So how can we make it all last a little longer? Take time to reflect on your favourite memories. Live parallel lives by listening to what your friends and family tell you about theirs. And be engaged in the present moment.

1. Scam Slaves

You ever get those annoying messages and emails from scammers pretending to be your kids in need of cash? Or trying to get you to invest in crypto? Plenty of my subscribers have told me about scammers in my comments who use my user name and photo, and leave a number for people to message them on or call. Then, they pretend to be me to extract money from you.

I can't get rid of them. But I will never ask you to call or message me, and certainly wouldn't leave my number in a public place like a YouTube comment. If there is something I want to ask you, I'm likely to ask you to come and leave a comment here or to tag me on Twitter so we can talk. I unfortunately had to stop posting my email address, and closed my DMs to the public on Twitter and Instagram because I was spending hours and hours every day responding. Somehow, I still am! 

When I interviewed the brilliant investigative journalist Lindsey Kennedy (above), I came to sympathise with these scammers. Yes, they may be taking my name, and trying to hoodwink my subscribers. Yes, it may lose me trust with my viewers, and may even ruin the lives of some (I really hope not, though).

But what Lindsey revealed to me is that these scammers are themselves victims of some of the most horrific human rights abuses imaginable. They're kept as tortured sex slaves in mafia-run former casino compounds, after being lured in under false promises of jobs. If they don't get at least five new scam catches per day, they're severely beaten and tortured. 

That'll be out next week as an episode. But man...that one stayed with me.

2. Why Incest Doesn't Work

Another episode out next week is with former The Order cult member Amanda Rae. She grew up in an extreme polygamous sect where people regularly marry their half siblings. It appears that it is just 'half' siblings, so full sibling couples are still rare. Even so, Amanda told me she definitely noticed a difference in intelligence - those born from half siblings are considerable less well-adjusted to society, and perform worse in exams. 

In fact, they're also far more likely to be infertile, which Amanda sees - half jokingly - as God's way of telling them that what they're doing is plain wrong. 

The scientific reason for the physical deformities is: Since relatives share a higher proportion of their genes than do unrelated people, it is more likely that related parents will both be carriers of the same recessive allele, and therefore their children are at a higher risk of inheriting an autosomal recessive genetic disorder.

A famous example of this is the Whitakers family, who sadly live with all kinds of deformities. 

3. People Are Watching Me

Of course, when you're a YouTuber, this is generally a good thing.

Last week, I wrote about the cult that is currently harassing me for information and trying to get me to take down the video about them. This week (thanks Terri for showing me!), Piers Morgan mentioned my podcast with Richard Dawkins. Piers referenced how Dawkins had called him 'a fool' and been disingenuous with him. I feel bad because I made the title and thumbnail around that 'fool' comment as I knew it'd get more views (and it has done, more than 600,000!). 

It's weird though, because for 2-3 years, I just said lots of stuff, and sort of threw it out to the internet without reply. Meghan this, Tom Cruise that. But this week, famous British TV presenter Davina McCall and her partner Michael Douglas (not that one!) talked up my channel on their own podcast. That was the cool side of these things...However, just last week, one of the sex scandal celebrity suspects got in touch through a mutual friend to ask me to stop criticising him.

It certainly makes me pause.

This is the week that Russell Brand has been talking about the new 'surveillance' bill, and Laurence Fox was arrested for saying he was going to smash up the new ULEZ cameras in London. Phillip Schofield's old TV partner Holly Willoughby has been followed by a crazed stalker.

We're all watching each other, it seems.

As for me, I find myself in a difficult situation. I don't want to be an ambulance chaser who succeeds when these people fuck up. But I also don't like the idea of a media outlet - alternative or mainstream, individual or corporate - choosing not to report cases of extreme abuse by elite figures. 

I'm not sure this new awareness and reach will necessarily change how I report. But I'll be aware that the people I'm talking about are starting to talk back!

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