Why I finally decided to join Substack
Better late than never…
I long resisted the urge to start a Substack. Why? Frankly, I thought it was for grifters.
Then, in recent weeks, that outlook changed. I realised there was something almost punk about it; legacy media is stiff with rigor mortis and platforms such as this provide people the freedom to write their own articles, when they want to.
No longer would I need to pitch articles to recalcitrant editors, who had little or no interest in commissioning me. Editors who were mostly left-wing, feminist and/or roaringly middle-class (often all three).
Instead, I could connect with readers directly, bypassing the old gatekeepers who censored what could - and couldn’t - be said.
This was an enticing prospect. See, I’ve worked as a journalist for two decades, writing for everything from The Guardian to the Daily Mail. During that time I witnessed an increasing cowardice in reporting.
Editors and publishers of all publictions - hell, even their proprietors - were becoming too frightened to print anything salty, challenging or uncomfortable.
In the early days, it wasn’t so bad; I managed to slip some things through the net. There was an article warning men of sexist divorce courts, and another on the lack of rights for fathers. I also wrote about the importance of pre-conviction anonymity for men in rape trials. Then, in late 2015, I wrote a book about men’s issues, Stand By Your Manhood, which tackled feminism before it was fashionable. Incredibly, that was serialised in the Daily Mail and got me on all sorts of TV shows, such as Fox, This Morning and Good Morning Britain.
Sadly, however, those days are largely gone.
Now, most newsrooms are infiltrated by activists who pose as journalists. This monopoly allows them to control the narrative, which they’ve done for a long time. I wondered if things would ever change.
Then, Elon Musk bought Twitter and everything flipped. Almost overnight, the MSM became old fashioned and new media emerged.
That said, I never stopped writing. I simply went behind the scenes, writing books for other people, such as Konstantin Kisin’s An Immigrant’s Love Letter To The West.
Now, I feel the time is right to do my own work again. And I’m delighted you’re here.