The Salt Path: another chapterThe best of The Observer, from across our newsroom |
Claudia Williams • Monday 14 July 2025 |
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Last week The Observer published an exclusive investigation into The Salt Path, including allegations that parts of the best-selling non-fiction book were untrue. This week, reporter Chloe Hadjimatheou sticks with the story, interviewing Bill Cole, who was so moved by the plight of Raynor and Moth Winn after reading about their 630-mile journey along the South West Coast Path that he rented his cider farm in Cornwall at a knockdown rent. It was from there that Raynor Winn wrote her second and third books, even featuring Bill as a character in one. The Winns lived at the farm for four years – but left Bill feeling confused and betrayed. "I felt I was being gaslit," he recalls.
In response to The Observer's reporting Raynor Winn has published a 2,300-word essay outlining her detailed rebuttal of the investigation. In it, she called our article "grotesquely unfair [and] highly misleading". Raynor Winn won't talk to us – but you can read our response to the points she raises here.
Click here to read all our reporting on The Salt Path → |
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"The enemy of nonsense" – George Orwell |
"BBC bosses pulled our film on Israel attacking Gaza's medics. Here's why"
When the BBC decided not to air the documentary film Gaza: Doctors Under Attack, it had already been completed, delivered, approved by lawyers and editors, and praised by the bosses, write its producers Ben de Pear and Ramita Navai. The film was eventually broadcast by Channel 4. For The Observer the pair tell their story about the process of getting the film to air, and the difficulty the BBC finds itself in when covering the war in Gaza. They write: "As news and current affairs journalists, we do not want to be on the right side of history; we want to be on the right side of now." Click here to read more → |
Super Sinner by George Simms Wimbledon is over for another year, and, thankfully, the finale of the men's singles championship was exciting enough to leave us wanting more. George Simms was there, watching Jannik Sinner dominate reigning champion Carlos Alcaraz. As Simms writes: "They are so clearly the best of their generation on natural surfaces that this could become an annual tradition. What tradition it would be." If you're already thinking about next year's tournament, be sure to read Rupert Neate's piece on the future of the venue, its proposed expansion, and the centenarian determined to save a nearby park.
Click here to read more → |
UK plc is in a fix by Barney Macintyre Last Thursday the FTSE 100 index of the UK's most valuable companies reached an all time high. A day later, data revealed that the economy contracted by 0.1 per cent in March. As The Observer's business news editor Barney Macintyre writes, Britain is a country of contradictions. Ahead of the chancellor's Mansion House speech on Tuesday, a marquee opportunity to pitch her growth plan to the City, Rachel Reeves is grasping for a narrative that paints a better picture of the UK's finances.
Click here to read more → |
Resetting chemotherapy resistance by James Tapper One of the most present threats to the ways we treat ovarian cancer is how the disease adapts and becomes resistant to the chemotherapy drugs used to fight it. About 7,500 women a year are diagnosed with ovarian cancer in the UK, making it the sixth most common cancer in women. As James Tapper reports, new research from biochemists and clinicians at Imperial College London may have just found a route forward.
Click here to read more → |
The News Meeting The Salt Path Controversy: Behind the scenes The Observer recently published a major investigation into the bestselling memoir The Salt Path. In this special episode, Giles Whittell is joined by the journalist behind the story, Chloe Hadjimatheou, and her editor, Alexi Mostrous, to discuss how the investigation unfolded.
Click here to listen → |
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Daily Sensemaker How do you fight mosquitos with mosquitos?Scientists in Hawaii are using drones to drop millions of genetically modified mosquitoes across the archipelago, with the hope that it will help protect animals on the brink of extinction. Click here to listen → |
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Thanks for reading. We'll be back tomorrow. Claudia Williams Senior editor, digital The Observer
Brad Gray Production editor, newsletters The Observer
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