James joined Tortoise straight after finishing his masters’ at Bristol University.
James Wilson
Assistant Editor
“There’s a real need for journalism that allows you to take a deep-dive into the big topics and trends without leaving you feeling overwhelmed. This is what Tortoise does best.”
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Friday 4 November 2022
Sensemaker: American democracy
What just happened
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Wednesday 12 October 2022
Sensemaker: Putin’s playground
What just happened
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Thursday 18 August 2022
The taste of success
A heartwarming new documentary tells the story of four Zimbabwean refugees who compete in the Olympics of wine-tasting
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Thursday 11 August 2022
Publish and be damned
Alex Jones has been ordered by a judge to pay $49.3 million for his false claims about Sandy Hook. His book is still set to be published in the autumn
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Monday 8 August 2022
10 minute read
Sensemaker: Trump tracked
What just happened
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Monday 8 August 2022
This week in Tortoise – Hunt for the porn king: a reckoning
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Thursday 4 August 2022
The art of looking up
A new BBC documentary series gives a damning account of how big oil made us doubt man-made climate change – but the fight for climate justice still needs a more effective way of reaching viewers
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Wednesday 18 May 2022
10 minute read
Sensemaker: The world at war
What just happened
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Thursday 5 May 2022
Trump treads the boards
The 47th, Mike Bartlett’s new play about the 2024 US election, raises important questions about the future of American democracy
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Thursday 24 March 2022
Untested assumptions
Nato’s Article 5 is supposed to be the clear red line that keeps the West safe. What if it blurred?
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Tuesday 15 March 2022
Macron’s Metternich moment
All eyes are understandably on Ukraine. But the conflict comes at a crucial time for another country: France
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Thursday 24 February 2022
The agony of choice
Cat Burglar, Charlie Brooker’s new animated heist, requires the viewer to make choices to progress the storyline. Is it a winning format?
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Thursday 10 February 2022
The making of a jeen-yuhs
In its two-decade exploration of Kanye West’s life, Netflix’s new documentary jeen-yuhs: A Kanye Trilogy perfectly showcases what makes the rapper so captivating
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Friday 17 December 2021
Will a government review make online gambling regulation more effective? All bets are off
Since the Gambling Act 2005, various gambling-like features have appeared in online games. The government’s white paper due next year could be a chance to reign them in
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Thursday 23 September 2021
From capital punishment to feline Facebook: 10 years of parliamentary petitions
The e-petition site set up by the coalition government is ten years old. To mark the occasion, we’ve sifted through its earliest, biggest and strangest petitions to discover… does it make a difference?
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Friday 9 April 2021
Slow Reviews Part III
Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail ’72
James Wilson on a book that saw the future of America and of political reportage
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Wednesday 25 March 2020
Injury time
Even before C-19, many English football clubs faced financial catastrophe. A new fund may help them through the next few weeks – but what happens after that?
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Monday 21 November 2022
A brutal killing in the Russia-Ukraine war
A Russian mercenary group has ruthlessly executed one of its former members who defected to Ukraine – but how did he end up back in Russian hands?
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Monday 31 October 2022
Mutiny: The undoing of Liz Truss
The inside story of how the shortest premiership in British history came to an end
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Monday 26 September 2022
Keir Starmer’s big pitch
With a new prime minister to oppose and a general election less than two years away, what’s the Labour leader’s new message to voters?
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Monday 19 September 2022
The Queen’s funeral
Ten official days of mourning for Queen Elizabeth II end with a state funeral at Westminster Abbey and a burial at St George’s Chapel in Windsor. This is what to expect
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Wednesday 20 July 2022
The basketball star taken prisoner
Brittney Griner has been detained in Russia on drug charges since February. The US government may have a way of getting her out – by releasing a man nicknamed “The Merchant of Death”
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Monday 13 June 2022
Red Wall vs Blue Wall
Boris Johnson faces a dual electoral challenge. Two constituencies that the Conservatives won in 2019 will elect new MPs on the same day. One is in southern England and the other is in the north, so what’s happening in these two very different seats?
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Friday 20 May 2022
Grimsby’s proud East Marshians
The East Marsh estate in Grimsby is one of the UK’s most deprived communities. But a charity is trying to change that – one house purchase at a time
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Monday 21 March 2022
Putin: what do we know about him?
Western leaders are trying to predict the Russian president’s next move. Some believe he has become isolated. What do we know about Vladimir Putin’s life?