1/. The biggest story I ever “broke” (coverage-wise) was a piece about Malawi’s plan to ban farting in public

I was researching an article about homophobia in Africa & stumbled on the story in the @NyasaTimess

I wrote it up for a tabloid & it went global
2/. The story I wrote for the @DailyMailUK - I was a freelancer...don’t judge me - was packed with fart gags: “The winds of change blowing through Africa” etc

The next day @DailyMirror picked it up

By the end of the week, it was the top story on the BBC website & was EVERYWHERE ImageImageImageImage
3/. A week after the story ‘broke’ I was guest on Bluff The Listener - a radio show on @NPR

Broadcast to 30 million listeners, it’s a bit like BBC’s ‘Would I Lie To You’ (@WILTY_TV) where guests have to work out the fake story

None of them got it right👇
npr.org/2011/02/05/133… Image
4/. Malawi’s Justice Minister defended the anti-fart law claiming it would promote "public decency"

"Just go to the toilet when you feel like farting,” he said

But how would the law be enforced?

Would “he who smelt it dealt it” be a valid legal defence? bbc.co.uk/news/world-afr…
5/. The story was a headline writer’s dream

The only trouble was it wasn’t true

In reality, the proposed new law was a “Clean Air Act” to combat pollution

A mischievous Malawian journalist argued that the way the bill was written, it could be interpreted as including farting
6/. The prohibition of “fouling the air" was intended to prevent the burning of tyres & rubbish, not flatulence

Despite a retraction of his remarks by the Justice Minister who admitted he’d not read the draft Bill before commenting, the ‘fart ban story’ had damaging consequences ImageImageImageImage
7/. The story made Malawi a laughing an intn’l stock

Back then it would be the top result if you “Googled “Malawi”

Tensions btw the media & govt increased as a consequence & led to a clamp down on press freedom

My homophobia story never got commissioned google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.fran…

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More from @StefSimanowitz

Feb 9
If you're free this Sunday, I'm doing a free walking tour tracing London's greatest lost waterway - the River Fleet - from it's two sources on Hampstead Heath as it heads towards the Thames (with my dog Mango)

Meet on top of Parliament Hill at 2pm facebook.com/events/1088672… Image
This 1746 map follows the Fleet from the Thames at Blackfriars along the Fleet Ditch, up Fleet Market (now New Bridge St) along Saffron Hill, past Clerk’s Well (now Clerkenwell) past Black Mary’s Hole & Battle Bridge (now Kings Cross) towards its source on the Heath #FreeTheFleet
The River Fleet has two main sources

The source in the Vale of Heath forms the Hampstead Brook running down Fleet Road

The source in Kenwood👇forms the Highgate Brook running down Tufnell Park Road

The two brooks meet in Kentish Town & flow together to the Thames & the ocean.
Read 4 tweets
Feb 9
1/. HOW TO CHANGE THE WORLD:

A STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE

In 2020, Denmark changed its laws to recognise the simple fact that sex without consent is rape

This didn't happen by chance

It resulted from years of campaigning & advocacy by survivor groups & campaigners.
#LetsTalkAboutYes
2/. Shockingly, in 2020 only 7 out of 31 countries in Europe had laws that recognised sex without consent is rape

That figure has almost doubled to 13...but there is still along way to go

But back to the lessons from Denmark, & their successful campaign for a consent-based law
3/. Working with survivors groups, research was done to identify key barriers to justice for rape survivors

Why were so many rapes committed?

Why were so few rapes reported?

Why did so few reports of rape lead to prosecution?

Why did so few prosecutions lead to convictions?
Read 10 tweets
Feb 9
“The gate to the groin for Yannick Bertrand and you could hear it. And if you’re a man, you could feel it…The boys took a beating on that one” #Olympics2022 #WinterOlympics #Olympics #OlympicGames
I’m finding the #WinterOlympics painful to watch

It isn’t just men’s genitalia getting pummelled, it’s women’s too

For matters of good taste, I’m not going to post the clip of the couple’s figure skating, but instead leave it to Robin Williams to explain
The #WinterOlympics can also lead to injury when viewers decide to give sports a go in their own homes

Inspired by the #Olympic figure skating, this kid ended up with a blister on the sole of his foot the size of a golf ball.
(Video via @DoggerlandMan)
Read 5 tweets
Feb 8
1/. My TL is full of people listing 5 famous people they've met "or been within a few feet of"(!)

This seems like an flimsy excuse for name-dropping, which is something I would never do

I have met some incorrigible"name-droppers" in my life

By far the worst was Nelson Mandela! ImageImageImageImage
2/. Another notorious name-dropper was FW de Klerk

He even wrote an autobiography which appeared to have the sole purpose of cramming in as many famous names as he could in its 320 turgid pages

I pulled him up on this very publicly - perhaps too publicly - in London in 1999.👇 Image
3/. I’ve never met Tony Blair properly but, hearing that he is an awful name-dropper, me, @brianeno & some others decided to oust him from power at the 2005 General Election

Terry Jones almost stood against him on the platform that: “He’s not a good PM, he’s a very naughty boy!” ImageImageImageImage
Read 4 tweets
Jan 25
Boris Johnson: “It did happen & I’m not ashamed of it”

Angus Deayton: What aren’t you ashamed of, Boris?

Boris Johnson: Whatever there is not to be ashamed of

[LAUGH]

The laugh is crucial

He manages to make people laugh even while admitting his crime
In this 2013 interview, @BorisJohnson admits he’s not really “bumbling”

It’s just an put on act

In reality he’s “hard as nails”

He also tells us “a terrible truth about politics & human nature”

That you can “make a good case for any course of action”
“It’s often useful to give the slight impression that you are deliberately pretending not to know what's going on - because the reality may be that you don't know what's going on but people won't be able to tell the difference." @BorisJohnson #BorisJohnson
Read 9 tweets
Jan 16
Full moon over the Thames in London

The January moon is sometimes called the “Wolf Moon,” appearing when wolves howled near the villages in hunger or the “Old Moon” or in North America the “Snow Moon” #FullMoon #WolfMoon #SnowMoon
This moon is not fully full

The #FullMoon will peak tomorrow (17 January) at about 11.30pm UK time. #WolfMoon
Earlier, there was drama by the river when a man came rushing up to me looking for his dog

“I forgot all about him,” he said

“I can’t believe forgot all about him!”

I’d seen a sad looking old pug way down the Thames path so we went back to look for him...
Read 5 tweets

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