“It could have been nipped in the bud at the beginning of his career had he been pulled up on it.”

@C4Dispatches and @thetimes spoke to people who accuse @channel4 and the @BBC of failing to act against Brand. #C4Dispatches #RussellBrand Channel 4 say they have carried out extensive document searches and have found no evidence to suggest the alleged incidents were brought to the attention of Channel 4…

“I was like, ‘oh my god, he raped me’”

A woman shares her story about her experiences with Russell Brand with @C4Dispatches in a joint investigation with @thetimes.

Brand denies all accusations including rape, sexual assault and controlling and emotionally abusive behaviour. In response to the allegations in this film, Russell Brand said, “What I seriously refute are these very very serious criminal allegations..."

Water companies dumped untreated sewage into England’s rivers and seas for more than 2.7 million hours last year.

Each pipe should have a permit from the environment regulator. But #Dispatches can reveal some are being used illegally. Our #Dispatches investigation has found there are 870 sewage discharge pipes across the country without permits.

Dumping sewage from these pipes is illegal.

Illegal child labour is being used to supply cocoa beans to Cadbury – Britain’s favourite chocolate brand.

#Dispatches has been undercover in Ghana where children as young as 10 have been working gruelling hours to supply cocoa beans to Cadbury. “Did it hurt?”

Young children bear scars from the dangerous work they do using sharp knives and machetes on coca farms linked to Cadbury. Other children are seen struggling with heavy loads, long hours and dangerous tools.

#Dispatches reporter @richardbutchins is investigating the harm caused by the way the Department for Work and Pensions implements the #disabilitybenefits system. 1/ One of the experts who advised the Department for Work and Pensions on the benefit system, and raised concerns was clinical psychologist Professor Geoff Shepherd. 2/

Nearly a year after we officially left the EU @c4Dispatches is asking: what does the new free trade deal really cost businesses? The Institute of Directors for Dispatches surveyed 635 small and medium sized businesses about their experiences trading with the EU in 2021.

We asked them to compare how much trade they’d done in January to October this year, to the last five years before Brexit.

Is the NHS broken?

- Desperate staff shortages
- Outdated equipment
- Dangerously long wait times
- Delayed diagnoses
- Botched operations
- Needless baby deaths
- And 12,000 negligence claims in a single year

Can it survive? Dispatches Monday 8pm @Channel4 @Channel4 “You feel ashamed of the care you’re giving.”

Chronic staff shortages are putting patients and staff at risk, and affecting healthcare outcomes across the country. By 2024, it’s estimated there will be a shortage of 160,000 NHS staff - over 10% of staff.

In the past four years, nearly 2000 police officers, special constables and PCSOs in the UK have been accused of some form of sexual misconduct, #Dispatches can reveal.

Cops on Trial. Tomorrow at 10pm on @Channel4 1/ @Channel4 Two weeks ago, the sickening details of how Sarah Everard was kidnapped and murdered by a police officer shocked the nation. But this abuse of power and authority by serving officers is not a one off. 2/

A global pandemic. A maze of unanswered questions.

The lethal cost of Covid-19 has been felt around the world - but where did the virus come from? Did it leak from a lab, or is that just a conspiracy theory? #CovidLeak?

Tonight at 10.15 on @Channel4 1/ @Channel4 From the beginning, much attention was paid to Wuhan’s wet markets, where exotic animals were sold.

But surprising features of the virus - unusual in naturally occurring pathogens - led some scientists to wonder about its origins. #CovidLeak? 2/

A 60-yr-old act of parliament says what happens in family courts must be kept secret.

Dispatches goes as far as the law will allow, to find out if family courts are letting victims of domestic abuse down. 1/

Torn Apart: Family Courts Uncovered, Tonight at 10pm on @Channel4 @Channel4 In January ‘21 there was a real chance to report more openly. 4 cases have been brought to the court of appeal. In these cases all 4 women had asked the family courts to take into account domestic abuse, but the judges had dismissed their claims. They want their cases reheard. 2

Dispatches has obtained this disturbing and never before seen footage of police forcibly removing children from their mother to be taken to go to live with their father. 1/

Torn Apart: Family Courts Uncovered - Tuesday at 10pm on @Channel4 @Channel4 There is no suggestion that the children are at risk of neglect or abuse with their mother. The children say they want to live with her. But the family court has ordered they be taken, by force if need be, to live with their father. 2/

Second Wave: Did the Government Get it Wrong?

Two thirds of UK Covid deaths happened since September. #Dispatches charts the rise of the second wave & examines the extent to which the Prime Minister decisions could be blamed for those tragic deaths.

Tonight, 10pm on @Channel4 @Channel4 Boris Johnson was advised in September by government scientific advisors to enforce a two week lockdown.

But the PM went on to seek advice from three outside scientists known to be lockdown sceptics. The most controversial of them has agreed to speak to us.

The Queen’s cousin, Prince Michael, appears willing to use his royal status to seek favours from Russian president Putin, & use a royal palace & his links to the Queen for personal profit - #Dispatches & The Sunday Times reveal. 1/

Royals For Hire Monday at 7.30pm on @Channel4 @Channel4 We set up a fake South Korean gold company, the House of Haedong, and asked Prince Michael to make a speech that trades off his royal status and gives the company royal support in order to impress its investors.
He said “the idea makes me very happy.” 2/

Private equity firms are taking home billions of pounds as high streets die and thousands are unemployed.

#Dispatches studied the accounts of 10 well known brands including HMV, Cath Kidston, Debenhams, and Toys ‘R’ Us, that entered administration in the past three years. 1/ Nearly 29,000 jobs were lost, but we can reveal that across their broader investment portfolios, the private equity owners disclosed nearly a billion pounds of profit during the period of ownership. The 10 brands owed almost £50million in unpaid taxes when they collapsed. 2/

Now we’ve left the EU, the government is trying to do a trade deal with the US. @Dispatches can exclusively reveal dangerous levels of contamination in American meat that could soon be stocked in UK supermarkets. 1/ Between 12 & 14% of the pork & poultry samples tested have Salmonella, that’s about 6 times higher than levels in UK pork. According to preliminary results from Professor Lance Price who is in the middle of a 5year study looking at bacterial contamination in US retail meat. 2/

Boris Johnson told Italy’s Prime Minister he ‘wanted herd immunity’, #Dispatches has learnt. The government denies herd immunity was ever a strategy. THREAD 1/ We’ve learned that on the 13th of March Boris Johnson called the Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte. Conte recounted the call to one of his health ministers, Pierpaolo Sileri. He told us: 2/

If Britain had locked down a week earlier, around 8,000 hospital deaths up to the end of April could have been avoided, #Dispatches has found. THREAD 1/ Britain's official Covid-19 death toll stands at nearly 40,000. But how many lives could have been saved if lockdown came earlier? We asked a Leading Health Analyst, George Batchelor, to work out the figures. He said: 2/

"We try not to eat a lot in one day, even though most of us are really hungry."

Almost 1 in 3 children in the UK are now growing up poor, like Cameron and his two sisters whose family rely on a food bank to help fill the fridge. WATCH - Growing up Poor: Britain’s Breadline Kids

Tomorrow at 10pm on @Channel4

#dispatches

THREAD: 1/10 Dispatches has found that secret meetings have taken place between senior civil servants and representatives of US pharmaceutical firms where the price the NHS pays for its drugs has been discussed. 2/10 A source with knowledge of the trade talks told Dispatches that British trade negotiators have already held six official meetings with their US counterparts to talk about what might be in any trade deal.

THREAD: The next UK Prime Minister will soon be chosen by around 160,000 members of the Conservative Party – that's 0.2% of the population. Almost half of the members are now over 65, 71% are male and 97% are white.

[1/8] #Dispatches To find out more about who they are and their beliefs, Dispatches commissioned a special YouGov Survey of 892 Conservative Party members - this is what we found:

[2/8] #Dispatches

THREAD: A Government source tells Dispatches the multi-billion pound HS2 rail line linking London to Birmingham and the North may not get built beyond the Midlands because of fears of massive cost overruns + the whole project may even be scrapped.@Channel4 | #Dispatches #HS2 1/12 The estimated cost of HS2 back in 2011 was £33 billion. Four years later, that official forecast went up to £56 billion. Now some experts think it will cost more than £100 billion - making it the world's most expensive railway. @Channel4 | #Dispatches #HS2 2/12