Richard Brooks
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rbrooks45.bsky.social
Richard Brooks
@rbrooks45.bsky.social
Private Eye hack, author of Post Mortem
(@privateeyenews.bsky.social), Bean Counters (Atlantic, 2018), The Great Tax Robbery (OneWorld, 2013). Co-founder @taxwatch.bsky.social.
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Published today… my account of the Post Office scandal, with thanks to all the sub-postmasters and campaigners on whose brilliant work it is based.

www.private-eye.co.uk/books/post-m...
Private Eye Books | Post Mortem
The first forensic account of how the Post Office, the British government and a global IT company ruined the lives of thousands of innocent people. Private Eye tells the story of the political, instit...
www.private-eye.co.uk
Current @privateeyenews.bsky.social In the Money: how disqualification is no disqualification in UK’s wild west insolvency game; the bubbly signals on Nvidia’s balance sheet; how tier 1 investor visa system was scammed; and much more.. still on sale…
September 19, 2026 at 8:31 AM
After horrific events in Teesside, mayor Ben Houchen blamed “drugs trade”. Yet he gave the security contract at Teesside freeport to a co whose “managing director” was still serving 11 year sentence for organised drugs crime - despite having been told this- see @privateeyenews.bsky.social for story
September 16, 2026 at 12:06 PM
Reposted by Richard Brooks
As PM-in-waiting in mid-July, Andy Burnham reportedly told Labour MPs Britain had become an “outsourced state with little accountability” and he wanted to see more “insourcing”.
September 14, 2026 at 11:45 AM
Reposted by Richard Brooks
🎧 New PAGE 94 Podcast OUT NOW

This week: DELO OR NO DELO

The team and Richard Brooks discuss Reform UK's new sugar-daddy, the likelihood of AI wiping out the world (just 10%) and the Men In Black coming to a port near you.

Watch: youtu.be/GqNXMniIPMQ
September 15, 2026 at 3:36 PM
As crypto moneybags Ben Delo promises further £35m for Reform, current @privateeyenews.bsky.social sets out his money laundering backstory. Buy the mag for full story.
September 12, 2026 at 7:19 AM
Reposted by Richard Brooks
Reform conference shock

From the new Private Eye, in shops now.
September 9, 2026 at 12:30 PM
Reposted by Richard Brooks
That Reform oyster bar sting in full

The new Private Eye is out now.
September 9, 2026 at 7:04 AM
Most recent @privateeyenews.bsky.social has a Teesside ‘regeneration’ summer special - featuring 8 figure accounting errors, unpaid debts, taxpayer bailouts and much more…
September 8, 2026 at 5:07 PM
More than a decade after @privateeyenews.bsky.social exposed the extent of offshore-owned property, money laundering through shell companies and much else, a look in current issue at failed promises to deal with the problem and a chance for government to take on the offshore game…
September 2, 2026 at 10:32 AM
Reposted by Richard Brooks
In latest @privateeyenews.bsky.social, the Teesside shambles goes on: missed payments from businessmen who’ve cashed in on regeneration for £100ms of taxpayer’s money, undocumented loans, 8 figure errors in public body accounts. Available to read online -

www.private-eye.co.uk/in-the-back
Private Eye | Teesside: Plot twisters
THERE are dysfunctional public bodies and then there’s Lord (Ben) Houchen’s Tees Valley (TVCA) Authority and its wholly owned South Tees Development Corporation (STDC).
www.private-eye.co.uk
August 28, 2026 at 10:26 AM
Brilliant piece on very important point - opacity of the court system. As George says, if we could have seen more about the Post Office convictions, could have hastened exposure of the miscarriage of justice. Only one example. Obvious case for reform.
I've written for the British Journalism Review on the appalling state of access to court records.

The relationship today between reporters and the judicial system is fundamentally broken. And it is a lack of transparency that is at the heart of this breakdown.

bjr.org.uk/what-are-the...
What are they trying to hide? - BJR
Selected article from September's online edition of the British Journalism Review (BJR): Volume 37 Number 3 September 2026.
bjr.org.uk
August 28, 2026 at 4:48 PM
In latest @privateeyenews.bsky.social, the Teesside shambles goes on: missed payments from businessmen who’ve cashed in on regeneration for £100ms of taxpayer’s money, undocumented loans, 8 figure errors in public body accounts. Available to read online -

www.private-eye.co.uk/in-the-back
Private Eye | Teesside: Plot twisters
THERE are dysfunctional public bodies and then there’s Lord (Ben) Houchen’s Tees Valley (TVCA) Authority and its wholly owned South Tees Development Corporation (STDC).
www.private-eye.co.uk
August 28, 2026 at 10:26 AM
Reposted by Richard Brooks
Just fancy that...

@privateeyenews.bsky.social
August 16, 2026 at 10:25 AM
Reposted by Richard Brooks
NON-EMERGENCY ALERT: IT’S PRIVATE EYE WEEK!
August 18, 2026 at 12:12 PM
In The Journalist, magazine of @nujofficial.bsky.social, @markffisher.bsky.social reviews Post Mortem, “a compelling account of the Post Office Horizons IT scandal”, published by @privateeyenews.bsky.social.
Page 16 for full review -
www.nuj.org.uk/static/92dd8...
August 17, 2026 at 12:22 PM
Reposted by Richard Brooks
The first forensic account of how the Post Office, the British government and a global IT company ruined the lives of thousands of innocent people.

Post Mortem by Richard Brooks
➡️ www.private-eye.co.uk/books/post-m...
August 17, 2026 at 7:04 AM
Guardian story today about Palantir low corporation tax (its employees pay a lot) first reported by @privateeyenews.bsky.social In the Money in June - but as secondary to its low value U.K. presence and absence of U.K. directors, Mr Mosley not registered as one -
August 6, 2026 at 4:14 PM
Reposted by Richard Brooks
I really need to improve my social media search ability!! Richard Brooks’ investigative work is second-to-none and his efforts to lay out the background of the Post Office scandal deserve an enormous amount of credit.
Japan News, English language version of country's largest daily, reviews my book Post Mortem - "important read when looking at technology we rely on and the attitudes of govts and tech firms, including Fujitsu...". Let's hope the company's bosses read it. japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/culture/book...
japannews.yomiuri.co.jp
August 6, 2026 at 1:26 PM
Japan News, English language version of country's largest daily, reviews my book Post Mortem - "important read when looking at technology we rely on and the attitudes of govts and tech firms, including Fujitsu...". Let's hope the company's bosses read it. japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/culture/book...
japannews.yomiuri.co.jp
August 1, 2026 at 11:42 AM
Reposted by Richard Brooks
A cautionary devolution tale: hundreds of millions of pounds invested in Teesside but benefiting a couple of local businesssmen rather than the region, thanks to mayor Houchen. Full @privateeyenews.bsky.social report from last year online here:
www.private-eye.co.uk/special-repo...
Special Report: Stripped Tees
IT WAS to be the UK’s largest regeneration scheme in decades, a model for regional devolution and the flagship post-Brexit freeport. But the redevelopment of the former steelworks on the south bank of...
www.private-eye.co.uk
July 31, 2026 at 6:55 PM
A cautionary devolution tale: hundreds of millions of pounds invested in Teesside but benefiting a couple of local businesssmen rather than the region, thanks to mayor Houchen. Full @privateeyenews.bsky.social report from last year online here:
www.private-eye.co.uk/special-repo...
Special Report: Stripped Tees
IT WAS to be the UK’s largest regeneration scheme in decades, a model for regional devolution and the flagship post-Brexit freeport. But the redevelopment of the former steelworks on the south bank of...
www.private-eye.co.uk
July 31, 2026 at 6:55 PM
In latest @privateeyenews.bsky.social In the Money, Bank of England eases capital rules for banks at same time as its financial stability report warns of risky asset valuations and members of its financial policy committee worry about dangers of the move…
July 31, 2026 at 6:35 AM
Reposted by Richard Brooks
Eye hack Richard Brooks tracked the companies and middlemen who cashed in on the crisis, and the government that let them get away with it.

➡️ Profits of Doom special report available to read for free: www.private-eye.co.uk/special-repo...

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Special Report: Profits Of Doom
As the greatest public health emergency for a century brought illness, bereavement and hardship to millions in the UK and presented taxpayers with a £75bn bill for extra health spending, a smaller ban...
www.private-eye.co.uk
July 17, 2026 at 2:12 PM
Reposted by Richard Brooks
The Eye exposed Covid profiteering back in 2021, long before this week’s inquiry findings that nearly £10bn of PPE was written off as wasted, and that a “VIP lane” fast-tracked the politically connected.

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July 17, 2026 at 2:12 PM