7 Longreads You Won't Want To Miss

    The best longform reporting, feature stories, and personal essays from BuzzFeed UK over the last month.

    by
    Louise Ridley
    by Louise Ridley

    BuzzFeed News Reporter

    ,
    Chelsey Pippin
    by Chelsey Pippin

    BuzzFeed Contributor

    BuzzFeed

    1. How A Misleading Story About Animal Sentience Became The Most Viral Politics Article Of 2017, by Jim Waterson

    David Parry / PA Archive/PA Images

    After fox hunting and the ivory trade hurt the Tories at the election, a misleading but hugely viral story about animal sentience has shown the power animal welfare issues on social media have to catch the government off guard.

    2. This Is Why Kids Who Aren’t White And Middle-Class Don’t Get Into Oxbridge, According To Teachers, by Rose Troup Buchanan

    Sian Butcher/BuzzFeed

    "Honestly, I don’t think state school teachers always have the time and resources to support students who should be applying,” one teacher said.

    3. Inside The Curious World Of “Freemen” Who Say They're Beyond The Law, by Patrick Smith

    Tim Lane / Susannah Ireland / BuzzFeed

    A growing group of people are turning up to court and arguing that they aren’t bound by any laws made by parliament – but the state disagrees.

    4. Twitter Has Suspended Another 45 Suspected Propaganda Accounts After They Were Flagged By BuzzFeed News, by Tom Phillips and James Ball

    Leon Neal / Getty Images / Tom Phillips / BuzzFeed

    The social media giant is facing serious questions over its efforts to deal with fake propaganda accounts after BuzzFeed News uncovered a network directly connected to the Russia-linked accounts Twitter submitted to Congress.

    5. How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Wear Cultural Dress, by Mariam Ansar

    Rebecca Hendin / BuzzFeed

    I didn’t want the spectacle of feeling different, but then the brown women in my family gave me a reason to rethink my relationship with with my clothes.

    6. This Is What It's Like When Your Only Child Dies In Police Custody, by Fiona Rutherford

    Greg Funnell for BuzzFeed

    James Herbert died after being restrained by officers and left naked in a cell. As a bill calls for changes when force is used with people with mental illness, his father said: "We're not going to get accountability, so let's focus on making the world better for people who are vulnerable."

    7. One Of The Biggest Alternative Media Networks In Italy Is Spreading Anti-Immigrant News And Misinformation On Facebook, by Alberto Nardelli and Craig Silverman

    Facebook / DirettaNews / iNews24 / BuzzFeed / Sian Butcher

    The network sheds light on the overlap between the fringe underbelly of the Catholic world, Italy’s nationalist movements, and for-profit clickbait.