Chief reporter @TheOxfordMail, formerly @BournemouthEcho | NCTJ-qualified | Got a story? DM me or email [email protected]
Joined November 2013
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Matt Simpson retweeted
Isolated as they are from the rest of the world, many civil servants (including even press officers) lack the feedback loops to understand why this is odd for a government official to do.
This is largely by choice - extreme interpretations of the terms of the civil service code make civil servants incredibly averse to engaging with outsiders, and when they do it is often through complex stage-managed encounters. Some senior leaders are much more relaxed about it, but that rarely cascades down through the organisations they lead.
But if you spend all lot of time doing mandatory DEI training, or in workshops with other people about DEI issues, and in a closed loop where you only get emails from other people pushing these ‘non-political political’ ideas in their signatures, it’s easy to lose track.
Matt Simpson retweeted
Newsquest's Oxford Mail more than tripled time spent with it online both month on month and year on year in August, according to Ipsos Iris data
It saw the biggest growth in minutes spent among the 50 biggest newsbrands in the UK by audience
Matt Simpson retweeted
🚨 36 YEARS to build one extra runway.
Heathrow’s third runway was first backed in 2003 and is now not expected to open until 2039.
Meanwhile:
🇹🇷 Istanbul built an entirely new airport in just over 4 years.
🇨🇳 Beijing built an entirely new airport in under 5 years.
🇺🇸 Denver built an entirely new international airport in just over 5 years.
🇭🇰 Hong Kong built an entirely new international airport in around 7 years.
🇬🇧 Britain?
36 years for one extra runway.
This is one of the biggest problems facing this country.
We spend years consulting, reviewing, arguing and delaying…
…while other countries simply build.
🚨 NEW: Heathrow’s third runway has been delayed and won’t be completed until 2039
[@Telegraph]
It's impossible to have a bad day out at Cotswold Wildlife Park.
More to come in the OM soon from a very enjoyable visit.
Thanks to @MattSimpson__ @TheOxfordMail for featuring our largest ever crash of Rhinos and highlighting the Park's conservation work with @TuskTrust. Read the full article here: oxfordmail.co.uk/news/265390…
Matt Simpson retweeted
Thanks to @MattSimpson__ @TheOxfordMail for featuring our largest ever crash of Rhinos and highlighting the Park's conservation work with @TuskTrust. Read the full article here: oxfordmail.co.uk/news/265390…
Jack Sands, 16, got eight 8s, a 7 and two 5s. He says his favourite subject has been maths because there is “always an answer”. The Fitzharrys pupil is now off to do his A Levels in maths, further maths, physics and economics. Well done, Jack
Stanley Kirk was studying an extra subject, astronomy, outside of school hours.
The 16-year-old Fitzharrys pupil took lessons once a week at Abingdon to help him achieve strong results in 12 subjects
@TheOxfordMail
Lucy Busson, 16, and Matteo Tricklebank, 16, celebrating a great set of results.
Lucy, who hopes to be a doctor one day, said since Christmas she has hit the ground running.
Matteo, meanwhile, enjoyed studying history and music.
At Fitzharrys, Abingdon
@TheOxfordMail
Huge congrats to Izzy Willberg, 16, who got a full set of 9s and one 8 in her GCSE exams at Fitzharrys, Abingdon. She was “sprinting a marathon” throughout her time at school. And it’s paid off. @TheOxfordMail
Matt Simpson retweeted
Don’t worry if your A level results are a bit disappointing. I got a C and two Us. And this evening I shall sit in my agreeable garden, drinking beer from my own brewery and eating food from my own farm. Prepared by my own chef.
Matt Simpson retweeted
🚨 NEW: Jeremy Clarkson says benefits claimants should be forced to write a genuine thank you email to a random worker every week
“It is SO kind of you to go to work every day so that I don’t have to. Thanks to you I was able to buy an even bigger television this week”
Matt Simpson retweeted
The pendulum of case law has swung dramatically from public interest to privacy over the last decade — inevitably shielding both police and politicians from scrutiny. We can debate the merits of that.
But I’m genuinely not sure what “legal obligations”/“case law” would prevent the BBC revealing that a police investigation is examining potentially illegal payments made through a company.
Nor what would stop Scotland Yard confirming the facts if asked.
The alternative — one that isn’t that remote based on current media/police relations — is a world in which police operate under the veil of secrecy.
It shouldn’t be forgotten that the investigation we’re talking about began in February 2025, related to payments in May/June 2024.
So those involved — all of whom are intimately involved in a party seeking to form next government — have actually benefitted from the police’s presumption against transparency for months.
But that’s besides the question — if anyone does know the supposed case law or legal framework being invoked is, or may be, please get in touch or comment below. Would be worth knowing what it is and whether it truly does bind the free press.
If it doesn’t exist and the tweet is mostly designed to have a chilling effect on public interest journalism that’s another matter.
Both the BBC and Metropolitan Police appear to have acted in clear breach of legal obligations, contrary to well-established case law, in the BBC’s reporting about me over the weekend.
I have written to both the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police and the BBC’s Director-General setting out these serious breaches. My lawyers have also been instructed.
Any media organisation considering repeating these allegations should exercise the utmost caution.
“Give them more homework!”
King Charles jokes with students and staff of St Barnabas Primary School in Jericho Street.
The monarch is in Oxford today to open the new Schwartzman Centre @TheOxfordMail
Matt Simpson retweeted
Clarification: Sky News was not at the property at 7.41am. As has already been acknowledged, and as shown in the footage from 10.19am, Sky News was outside a property where Mr Farage was registered to vote at the last election. Sky News did not interact with Mr Farage’s daughter.
On a single occasion, we approached the property without a camera operator, identified ourselves as Sky News, and the adult occupant chose not to engage. We were seeking to contact Mr Farage to ask questions about the gift he accepted from Mr Cottrell. This is a well-established and routine journalistic practice when reporting on matters of legitimate public interest.
The footage clearly demonstrates that Sky News did not “hound” or pursue Mr Farage’s daughter. At no stage did we seek to speak to anyone other than Mr Farage in connection with this story.
