Monk Debunks

One year in...

Wow, what a year it’s been!

Where it began

I started this Substack in late February 2025, and my intention was, and remains, to debunk harmful narratives, explain issues that were being misrepresented across the media, and inject some humanity into the divisive stories we see every day.

I hoped that a few hundred people might enjoy what I had to say, and that the occasional person (other than my parents!) might choose to support me with a paid subscription…

I published my first article on 1st March with a debunk of the Mail on Sunday Front page:

I quickly hit the few hundred subscribers I was hoping for.

My readership grew steadily over the next few months as I wrote an explainer about the Russia-Ukraine war to counter much of the misinformation that was circulating, showed how an unfounded Richard Tice opinion on the Heathrow shutdown became a Telegraph headline, debunked claims about Muslims and dogs, free driving lessons, immigrants and benefits, and did a 2-part deep dive into the idea that our governemnt was planning to ‘dim the sun’!

Following a debunk of a story about a child being ‘denied health care’ because they went to a private school, I found myself on LBC with James O’Brien, explaining what the ‘missed information’ in this story was.

Nearly 1000 subscribers signed up following that show! Thank you if you were one of them.

Since then, I have returned to his show twice to explain that no, crime in Britain wasn’t so bad that foreign governments were warning their citizens against visiting, and that no, Tesco wasn’t cancelling Christmas!

The newsletter has continued to grow, and at the time of writing, there are 4,189 of you subscribing to this newsletter, which is both crazy and amazing.

My most viewed article has been:

Followed closely by:

The Daily Mail really does keep me busy!

Branching out

This Substack has allowed me to collaborate with the fabulous The Bear, initially co-writing a piece about GLP-1 weight-loss drugs together and then putting out the Bear and Monk Debunk podcast earlier this year. We received great feedback and plan to return to more episodes later in the year, but for now, life has intervened, and we're having to put that project on hold.

This Substack has also opened up other opportunities:

• Delivering a Debunking workshop at QED Con 2025 (a gathering of the most awesome people imaginable!)

• A talk to a local WI about how news consumption has changed over time

• The opportunity to provide evidence to the Press Recognition Panel for their 10th annual report, following the Leveson enquiry.

• Invitations to be a guest on the CEO Retort and the Women in STEM podcasts.

I have some more live events lined up later this year. Watch this space…

Alongside this newsletter, I’m also developing a course that teaches the debunking and media literacy skills needed to navigate the modern media landscape, something I plan to eventually offer to students and other young people.

If you are interested in hearing more about that when it’s finalised, please sign up here.

40 articles, 3 radio appearances, 3 podcast interviews, 3 podcasts created, one debunking workshop and a WI talk. It’s been quite a first year!

What next?

As I enter my second year, I want to grow the substack, reach more people, deliver more in-person workshops/talks and help more people develop the skills to read beyond the headlines and have conversations with loved ones who may be misled by the headlines.

After much soul searching, I have decided to make one change to my Substack moving forward - I will be adding a super-soft paywall:

• Everything I write will remain free to everyone as I publish and email it to you.

• Every article in your email inbox will be available for you read there forever.

• After 2 weeks, each article on Substack itself will become available to paid subscribers only.

This new paywall will come into effect on Monday, 9th March (so you can click on all the links in this article and read everything for free before then!)

I want my work to be freely available, but I also need to find a way to earn money for the many, many (many!) hours I spend researching and writing. This seems like the best way to achieve both ambitions.

If you are not in a position to pay (student, pensioner, on benefits, whatever...) but would really like access to the archive, just email me, and I’ll sort that out, no questions asked.

If you’re a paid subscriber, you can ‘gift’ complimentary subscriptions to others.

Finally

Just to say thank you to everyone who has been on this journey with me so far.

If you’ve liked, commented, shared or subscribed, you have boosted my work (and my self-esteem!)

If you’ve chatted to others about my work, you’ve really helped spread the word.

If you’ve cheerleaded me in real life (you know who you are!), you’ve given me the confidence to do this.

If you’ve bought me a coffee or already paid for a subscription, thank you so much!

Onwards and upwards…

Those Daily Mail headlines aren’t going to debunk themselves!

Photo by Hanny Naibaho on Unsplash