Crime Pays, So You Don’t Have To. That was one of the ideas behind setting up The Upsetter in April 2021.
Another was to offer a style of crime and corruption reporting different from the drive-by journalism of most mainstream outlets.
With a staff of one The Upsetter has outperformed many of the well-resourced ‘investigation units’ of national newspapers, TV and radio when reporting on the collapse of trust in UK policing, organised crime and regulatory failure.
It has broken the big stories on unsolved murders - Stephen Lawrence, Daniel Morgan, Lee Balkwell, Maxine Arnold and Terry Gooderham - police WhatsApp groups, bullying, misogyny, media corruption and so on.
The Upsetter is not part of any lobby of journalists ‘allowed’ to talk to the police, spooks and politicians. The Upsetter is not party political or clubable. It is independent of media organisations, law firms, private investigators, NGOs, think tanks, law enforcement and regulators to bring unvarnished news about how they all play ‘the game’.
Good people, The Upsetter has always told it to you straight. This is a stick up - your money for my words. Or as Substack would put it, after over two years as a self-financed project, The Upsetter is switching from a free subscription model to a paid one.
For those who can’t afford to pay, thanks for staying this far and encouraging my journalism. You are always welcome back and I’m sorry the hostile environment we are in means this newsletter can no longer carry on as free.
The Upsetter won’t be sorry to lose those TV parasites who don’t come correct but try to leg over journalism carefully dug out of the coalface of crime to make documentaries or drama as dull and predictable as they are.
For the rest of you who stick around and to new blood, a sincere thank you for your commitment to The Upsetter’s continued colonic irrigation of dirty cops, crooks, the big rich and their friends in politics, banking, law and the media.
The facts, like alcohol, are now even more expensive, and The Upsetter’s sources are mostly thirsty people. But you can be assured your money will not be going towards a fancy office in Soho, an E-scooter, beard oil or a Carhart man bag for the latest Mac tec.
It will fund difficult and independent journalism at a time when law and order is becoming a key battleground in the fight between New New Labour and the same old Tories for who can appear more atavistic on crime.
The great concern is that the opportunity to reform UK policing will get lost in this electoral battle and the Metropolitan police under Mark Rowley will return to business as usual having sacked some low hanging fruit while the mafia of the mediocre remain in charge.
Your subscription will allow The Upsetter to seek out those voices in the police who support genuine reform and to call out Rowley’s nonsense that reinforcing self-regulation - a bigger anti-corruption squad and senior cops in charge of discipline hearings - all the things that failed so badly, are the new way forward.
So, if you like what The Upsetter has done for the last two years, and you can afford it, please consider becoming a paid subscriber and help expose more lies, corruption and hypocrisy in the wars on drugs, crime, corruption and free speech.
For £4 monthly or a discounted annual subscription of £42 you get free access to the archive of over 70 original investigations and exclusive inside reads on stories The Upsetter breaks in the mainstream media.
Paid subscribers will also get a discount on the forthcoming reprint of the original 2004 edition of Untouchables - Dirty Cops, Bent Justice & Racism in Scotland Yard and the 2015 edition of For Queen & Currency - Audacious Greed, Gambling & Fraud in Buckingham Palace.
There will also be two forthcoming essays on the Stephen Lawrence and Daniel Morgan murders drawing on 25-years of investigation by The Upsetter that brings these landmark cases up to date and cuts through the bullshit bandits on all sides.
The Upsetter is also moving into podcasts to give a voice to the incredible people and stories this newsletter has the great fortune to meet and sometimes help. These are not vainglorious media types, but people who mostly lost standing up for something or found the guts to come clean about what they did.
The Upsetter is of course open to suggestions from readers outside of the ‘I hope you die of arse cancer’ variety. Kindly email on ms_gillard@hotmail.com
Once again, thank you.
