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Hi ,
We've just finished our series Who Runs Scotland which revealed the hidden power within Scotland, and how foreign billionaires, states and companies leverage influence on politicians and the economy.
In unrelated international news this week, the Qatari royal family offered president Donald Trump a luxury private jet to use as America's Air Force One plane.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the 'art of the deal' president wants to accept it, saying he would be "a stupid person" if he did not.
For any foreign states reading this email, The Ferret would not accept a donated plane, unless it was handed over with full transparency and we had somewhere to park it.
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Yours,
Ali |
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Story of the week |
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An in-depth look at a Ferret investigation |
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Royal family events, major UK sporting occasions, airlines and English councils have used Scottish land to clean up their carbon emissions, despite claims such ‘offsets’ are a “greenwashing scam” and harm land reform efforts.
Analysis by The Ferret has found carbon credits, or ‘offsets’, produced by trees planted in Scotland have been bought by events including motorsport rallies, the Queen’s state funeral and her Platinum Jubilee.
Other buyers include British Airways, councils in Devon and Norwich and luxury fashion brand Burberry.
Buying carbon credits theoretically ‘offsets’ carbon emissions created by events and companies by funding tree planting and peatland projects that absorb CO2 from the atmosphere. The credits are supposed to be used to mop up an organisation’s unavoidable emissions. |
| Read the full story |
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What did we dig up this week? |
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A round up of our investigations in the last seven days |
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Calls to tackle 'abusive' lawsuits designed to block freedom of expression
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Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation, known as SLAPPs are designed to remove information from the public domain or prevent it being published in the first place. |
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Question of the week |
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Is Scotland being used to ‘greenwash’ carbon emissions?
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| Yes |
| No |
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We now have a platform exclusive for Ferret Underground subscribers where you can share ideas about future investigations, answer polls and more!
Create an account here to get access.
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Best of the rest |
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Investigations we've enjoyed from around the world |
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Elon Musk’s Grok AI can’t stop talking about ‘white genocide’
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In response to X user queries about everything from sports to Medicaid cuts, the AI chatbot inserted unrelated information about “white genocide” in South Africa. (Wired) |
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No10 refuses to release Keir Starmer WhatsApp information despite Labour transparency pledge |
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The government has declined to reveal how many WhatsApp messages sent or received by Keir Starmer over a four-day period were saved for the public record. (Byline Times) |
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Fake fitness influencers: the secrets and lies behind the world’s most envied physiques
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thousands of other influencers claim their bulging muscles are just the result of hard, honest graft. Should we believe them? (Guardian) |
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