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Thread of great #LongReads here One of the most rewarding jobs I've had lately has been going through Big Reads that @RebeccaJ and I have run in @theipaper in 2020 for a newsletter, picking out some favourites you might have missed or may like to read again. Here they are:
1) In what has to be one of the most intriguing exclusives of the year, @EtanSmallman revealed how he unravelled the tall tales of a British painter who claimed in a book and several interviews to be the son of the world’s most infamous drugs baron: https://inews.co.uk/news/long-reads/pablo-escobar-son-phillip-witcomb-book-friends-claims-doubts-fiction-612281
2) Inspired by colleagues’ addiction to bizarre and hilarious gossip about their local area on Nextdoor, we asked @KasiaLDelgado to find out how people are using the app, why they love it, and why there are also many reasons for us to be wary: https://inews.co.uk/inews-lifestyle/nextdoor-app-neighbourhood-online-groups-780656
3) @louisa_saunders tried nicotine gum, patches, an inhalator and hypnotherapy to stop smoking. Nothing worked until e-cigarettes finally seemed to help - but are they as effective as they seemed? Louisa threw herself into the science for this article: https://inews.co.uk/news/long-reads/vaping-cigarettes-giving-up-smoking-addiction-396281
4) We’d never heard of this astonishing Second World War hero until the author @jackfairweather released his Costa-winning book The Volunteer. Writing for us, Jack tells Witold Pilecki’s fascinating story and reveals how his investigation unfolded: https://inews.co.uk/news/long-reads/witold-pilecki-holocaust-memorial-day-auschwitz-jack-fairweather-388878
5) Like many of us, @y_alibhai was moved by Black Lives Matter this year, but she was also struck by the hypocrisy among some people in her own Asian community. Admitting to her own past prejudices, she spoke to those who are trying to change things: https://inews.co.uk/news/long-reads/racism-south-asian-prejudices-black-lives-matter-753885
6) Fishing has been in the news a lot lately, thanks to Brexit. But how many of us have any real idea of what it’s like to spend time on a trawler? In an excerpt from her beautifully observed Dark, Salt, Clear, @LamornaAsh takes us on board the Filadelfia: https://inews.co.uk/news/business/cornwall-fishing-boat-newlyn-trawler-lamorna-ash-dark-salt-clear-429651
7) Prof @StanDehaene is probably the smartest person I’ve interviewed. The cognitive scientist leads the world with research into how our minds work, and with the world’s biggest MRI scanner could soon offer new findings to help treat medical conditions: https://inews.co.uk/news/brain-science-understanding-newborn-babies-physics-mysteries-surprising-discoveries-404629
8) In one of the most personal, moving articles we've published in the last few months, @_Poots_, Food Writer of the Year and author of A Half Baked Idea, reflects on her mum’s cooking and how the taste of one dish in particular continues to inspire her: https://inews.co.uk/news/long-reads/olivia-potts-half-baked-idea-mother-learning-to-cook-570506
9) One of the most entertaining and touching pieces of writing that you could possibly find about the family Christmas and why they matter so much to us, by @gracedent from her memoir Hungry: https://inews.co.uk/news/long-reads/grace-dent-eighties-christmas-dinners-hungry-a-memoir-of-wanting-more-788859
10) And it's worth finishing by reflecting on some of the heroes of this year, with @mrdanwalker: https://inews.co.uk/inews-lifestyle/people/dan-walker-coronavirus-heroes-remarkable-people-stories-756395
