Lockdown reads: Great journalism and writing you might have missed, part 2 (January 2020)

Some news is hotter than others

For part two of this series of roundup posts signposting great journalism and writing you might have missed, I'm looking at January 2020. It feels a lifetime ago now doesn't it?

The year started strongly with this searing critique of the response to the Australian wildfires over at Heated. Emily Atkin's newsletter is for people who are "pissed off about the climate crisis" and it's her anger that has often led to her best journalism, as was very much the case in this piece, enticingly titled The tragedy of the climate dildos.

The rest of the UK was largely oblivious to this story when it exploded across Greater Manchester in January, but Jennifer Williams at the Manchester Evening News was determined to ensure that no one forgot Victoria Agoglia, the fifteen year old girl in the care of Manchester Council who died after being injected with heroin. Her story was part of a much bigger one, and as with Emily Atkin's piece, this piece by Jen is another example of anger fuelling fantastic journalism. Jen also wrote a piece on the wider ramifications of Victoria, and others, treatment for The Guardian a few days later.

To conclude todays roundup, I'd like to add that Narratively provided another fantastic personal essay in January in the form of the arrestingly titled How Stripping in Gay Bars Brought Me Back To God by Court Stroud. Give it a read, it's really not the clichéd born again tale you think it's going to be: It's much more nuanced, complicated, and relatable than that.

Image by Elijah O'Donnell on Unsplash