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Carole Cadwalladr Profile picture
Carole Cadwalladr
@carolecadwalla
Investigative journalist. Ex-Guardian/Observer. Now, co-founder https://t.co/2PIOTFiAi5. Tech justice campaigns @allthecitizens. Personal newsletter on Substack.
Mar 28 • 12 tweets • 4 min read
NEW: I’ve found an opaque financial vehicle owns a large chunk of the Observer. And neither it or the Guardian will say who it is. Why?

Well there is a clue. Which goes by way of Saudi Arabia…
1/ Image The capture of US media orgs is accelerating. And the UK is next in line. The BBC has fallen to an AI hype guy. And my old newspaper, the Observer, is publishing Palantir puff pieces.

But why? I set out to find out..
2/
open.substack.com/pub/broligarch…
Mar 25 • 8 tweets • 3 min read
NEW: Will Google's AI hype man kill the BBC?

I've written about Matt Brittin because the coverage of his time at Google is shockingly naive.

The BBC's next DG made his career as a yes man at a rapacious AI monopoly that preys on news journalism in order to destroy it.
1/ Image Out of a shortlist of 5, 4 were women with decades of experience of public service broadcasting. And one man with none at all: Matt Brittin.

But that maybe the least of his problems...
2/
 thenerve.news/p/matt-brittin…
Mar 17 • 10 tweets • 5 min read
Distracted by the slaughter of children in Iran & Lebanon? Me too! But what better time could there be for govt to quietly relaunch its Digital ID plan?

Missed it? Me too! But look who’s celebrating…

The director of ‘govt innovation’ at the Tony Blair Institute!
1/ The govt noisily scrapped Digital ID after huge pushback when nobody bought its ‘it’ll solve immigration’ bollocks. But as markets tanked last week - kudos to the comms team! - it was discreetly re-launched with all-new messaging: a ‘common sense solution to everyday probs’
2/
Feb 28 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
Congrats to all the news orgs that signed syndication deals with this company. You’ve licensed your journalism to be a core component of Trump’s illegal war machine. Great job everyone 👏 A special shoutout to the editor-in-chief & CEO of the Guardian, Kath Viner & Anna Bateson. The deal with OpenAI was an unforced error which legitimised OpenAI’s illegal scraping of Guardian data & IP. In exchange for a quick buck. The NYTimes, in contrast, chose to sue.
Feb 19 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
PREDICTION: If Andrew is charged (no assumption of guilt etc), we are going to have a crisis of both the press & judiciary.

In Britain, it is an offence to publish ANY info on defendant beyond bare facts.

But! US outlets can print whatever they like…
1/ Contempt of court is foundational principle of British justice: press must not prejudice a jury trial.

Editors risk a prison sentence if found in breach.

Even in digital age, the law held…but how could it possibly withstand deluge of US coverage in a case like this??
3/
Jan 28 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
NEW: Our investigation for @thenerve_news reveals not only that Peter Thiel’s Palantir is completely enmeshed in our critical national infrastructure.

It’s also the ‘cloud support’ for our nuclear weapons system
1/ Image Palantir’s stated mission is to defend America. Peter Thiel is a radical libertarian who does not believe ‘freedom & democracy are compatible’.

Yet, the UK is overwhelmingly dependent on Palantir’s services. As a national security threat, this is off the charts.
2/ Image
Jan 20 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
Compare & contrast. This is Trump’s demand for Greenland. And this is Hitler’s for the Sudetenland.

There is no difference. The language. The unstoppable need to dominate. The megalomania. It’s the same.

And Keir Starmer’s response is appeasement. We are in that moment.
1/ Image
Image I’m back to mocking up my own headlines for my newsletter because the press - esp here in the UK - is failing to meet the moment.

We’re now trapped between Russia in the east. And the US in the west. Two hostile states openly seeking to crush us.

2/
 open.substack.com/pub/broligarch…Image
Nov 21, 2025 • 35 tweets • 6 min read
The sentencing hearing of Nathan Gill has begun.

Follow @thenerve_news for updates throughout the day.
1/ Image The barrister for the Crown has laid out the background and context for the case, including Ukraine's efforts to join the European Union.
2/
Nov 12, 2025 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
NEW: The entire BBC news cycle is an abject lesson in the disaster economics of information.

This isn’t just a news story. It’s a teachable example of real-time information collapse. We can’t fix that but we can & must save the BBC.
1/ I wrote this back in Jan. What is happening to BBC is part of a systemic issue: total information collapse.

This is what happens when justified grievance, bad faith actors & Silicon Valley companies converge: erosion of trust in all institutions.
2/
broligarchy.substack.com/p/total-inform…Image
Oct 22, 2025 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
NEW: Russian interference case heads to Europe's 'Supreme Court'.

Ex-MPs - @CarolineLucas Ben Bradshaw & @AlynSmith - with @allthecitizens take landmark case to 'Grand Chamber'.

Case claims UK govt in breach of law for refusing to investigate foreign interference.
1/ Image It's pretty extraordinary timing in a case that has been running since 2020 & publication of Russia Report.

As Gill pleads guilty to taking Russian bribes, why is UK government *still* refusing to investigate Russian interference??
2/
thenational.scot/news/25561454.…
Oct 18, 2025 • 8 tweets • 5 min read
NEW: Police knew a Kremlin spy ring recruited former leader of Reform Wales at least 3 years ago.

So why was Nathan Gill not charged till Feb this year?

Pls read part 2 of @thenerve_news special investigation into Nathan Gill. And please share!
1/ Image Meet Nadia Sass.

This is the wife of the man who bribed Nathan Gill.

Today @thenerve_news reveals how she was a key part of the Kremlin operation that targeted not just Gill but at least 2 other MEPs and a member of the House of Lords.


2/ thenerve.news/p/nathan-gill-…Image
Oct 1, 2025 • 13 tweets • 5 min read
REVEALED: Donald Trump has picked Tony Blair for central role in Gaza ‘peace plan’…

…but in our inaugural investigation for @thenerve_news, we reveal extensive previously unreported links to Israeli defence, media & tech. 🧵
1/
(Link in next tweet) Image Tony Blair’s Institute has taken nearly half a billion $ from tech billionaire Larry Ellison.

His company Oracle is deeply embedded in Israeli govt & military.

Larry Ellison is a personal friend of Netanyahu.
2/
 thenerve.news/p/tony-blair-i…
Aug 25, 2025 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
The targeting & killing of journalists in Gaza & the failure of the media to show collective solidarity & to take collective action is…incomprehensible.

I feel a such profound sense of shame & failure. It’s not just the death of journalists. It’s the death of journalism.
1/ This is Mariam Abu Daka, one of 3 journalists killed in latest strike, warning that journalists are being deliberately targeted & killed.

‘The Israeli occupation targets journalists because they tell the truth’

She calls for urgent international protection. It did not come.
2/
Aug 23, 2025 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
Nick Clegg made a reported £100m from Facebook. And now the reputation laundering begins.

Congrats to him on this magnificent PR coup. Nicely played, Clegg. A glossy magazine profile AND extract in the paper that created the Facebook PR crisis that led to his hiring.

1/ Image It’s an abject reminder of how mainstream outlets are played by Silicon Valley, by the cosy rules of access journalism & the genre framing of the celeb interview.

Clegg never submitted to a proper interview in his time at Facebook & now gets to spin & whitewash & conceal all while still under a FB NDA.
2/
Jul 24, 2025 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
Earlier this year, I lost my beloved job at my beloved Observer when the Guardian, in its great wisdom, gave the newspaper away to a podcast company...who promptly sacked me.

So, forgive my delight today, in being nominated for FIVE awards in the British Podcast Awards!!
1/ Image
Image Huge kudos to super producers @RuthAbrahams5 of Sergei & the Westminster Spy Ring & @GeorgiaJCatt & @ByrnesyGsy for Stalked.

Plus the brilliant & brave Hannah Mossman-Moore & Sergei Cristo 👏 👏 👏. Both FEARLESS in completely different ways.

2/bbc.co.uk/news/articles/…
Jul 22, 2025 • 8 tweets • 3 min read
NEW: The court did not find a breach of the law.

BUT it upheld 2/3 points inc that foreign interference (inc disinfo) *is* a threat to fair elections (which UK had denied!)

Lawyers say hugely significant judgement with far-reaching consequences. AND that an appeal should be considered
1/ Here's the meat of the judgement. The court upheld the first two points. It only refused the third and final point.

The legal team said they were amazed by how far the court had gone in upholding the bulk of their arguments, and that the ruling opens the door to many other potential cases.
2/Image
Image
Apr 22, 2025 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
Fuckity bye.

RIP, the Guardian-Observer 1993-2025. It wasn't a natural death.

The biggest journalistic bloodletting in a generation.

Rest in power ✊

open.substack.com/pub/broligarch…Image Today, the Observer ‘transfers’ to Tortoise Media, a process that involved neither journalists nor readers.

This is 100+ journalists being ‘banged out’ of the Guardian offices, an old Fleet Street custom that’s usually a jolly occasion. This felt more like a medieval damnation.
Mar 9, 2025 • 9 tweets • 4 min read
NEW: My piece for the Observer on how I was so deep into my investigation into Cambridge Analytica that I failed to realise that Hannah - my ex's daughter - was facing a human version of it: a stalker who was harvesting her data and weaponising it against her.
1/
 theguardian.com/world/2025/mar… I write about how I finally realised the scale of what was happening to Hannah, how comprehensively the police had failed her & how another woman, from the same class as her at the same school had also had a stalker, Alice Ruggles. Her stalker had murdered her.
2/ Image
Feb 25, 2025 • 8 tweets • 4 min read
Last week, the new owners of the Observer wrote to tell me they would *not* be issuing me with a new contract.

So...I want to say publicly that it was an absolute privilege to speak on behalf of my Observer colleagues during our strike. I don't regret doing so. And I learned so much from it.
1/ It means my 20 years at the Guardian & Observer is drawing to a close 😢. For most of that time, it's been the journalistic job of my dreams. I worked with the best editors, photographers & designers & got to do stories that wouldn't have been possible anywhere else. I know how lucky I've been.
2/
Feb 10, 2025 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
This is what should be on every front page right now. What's happening in the US right now is an illegal power grab by a private citizen.

IT'S A COUP.

It's a digital coup. It's Musk who's leading it. The consequences are terrifying. And it's coming for us next.
1/ Image Please read this. I'm far from alone in saying it. The great
@TimothyDSnyder, @RBReich, @ruthbenghiat have all been shouting it.

There's superb reporting happening into every aspect of what's happening. But there's no framing. It's all facts, no story.
broligarchy.substack.com/p/it-is-a-coup
Feb 5, 2025 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
Britain: we have to understand wtf we’ve done. We’ve allowed one of Trump’s closest allies have access to our entire NHS data systems. This is the CEO of Palantir telling shareholders that ‘when it’s necessary to scare enemies & on occasion kill them’ This is the co-founder of Palantir which runs the NHS’s federated data systems this morning on Trump’s plan to ethnically cleanse Gaza.
2/ Image