James Stewart
@itsjamesstewart.bsky.social
Journalist writing for The Times/Sunday Times, FT and others. Freelance Writer of the Year 2024 & 2020, Travel Writer of the Year 2021. Saltwater for blood
https://www.james-stewart.com
https://www.james-stewart.com
Pinned
Cuts, contacts and all my good stuff is here at james-stewart.com. Well, some of my good stuff
I've a theory that the world's current ills can be laid at the door of dysfunctional tech bros. Because Silicon Valley nerds struggled with in-person relationships they created an online world where relationships were distant and interaction performative
Aware of the irony of saying this on socials
Aware of the irony of saying this on socials
January 29, 2026 at 9:44 AM
I've a theory that the world's current ills can be laid at the door of dysfunctional tech bros. Because Silicon Valley nerds struggled with in-person relationships they created an online world where relationships were distant and interaction performative
Aware of the irony of saying this on socials
Aware of the irony of saying this on socials
If you’re interested in how much America cares about Trump and Greenland, the New York Times is running the story on page 4. The Mail phone-hacking trial gets higher billing
January 19, 2026 at 7:29 PM
If you’re interested in how much America cares about Trump and Greenland, the New York Times is running the story on page 4. The Mail phone-hacking trial gets higher billing
This from the FT news story on Nadhim Zahawi is chef's kiss. Par 3 too
January 12, 2026 at 6:08 PM
This from the FT news story on Nadhim Zahawi is chef's kiss. Par 3 too
And since I'm flagging pieces, the brilliant Self Esteem told me how to write a pop song for the Sunday Times Mag. Lots of top tips even if her thoughts on the joy of being sweary and having a global pop hit with the word "lump" didn't squeeze into my word count
www.thetimes.com/article/5796...
www.thetimes.com/article/5796...
Self Esteem’s guide to writing a pop song
You don’t need to start with the melody and you don’t have to be a virtuoso — but you must connect with your listener, says the musician Rebecca Lucy Taylor, aka Self Esteem
www.thetimes.com
January 12, 2026 at 11:25 AM
And since I'm flagging pieces, the brilliant Self Esteem told me how to write a pop song for the Sunday Times Mag. Lots of top tips even if her thoughts on the joy of being sweary and having a global pop hit with the word "lump" didn't squeeze into my word count
www.thetimes.com/article/5796...
www.thetimes.com/article/5796...
My bit on testing the world's first electronic skis got readers in a right flap BTL. Which was sort of the point of the piece www.ft.com/content/c703...
Testing the world’s first battery-powered skis
A Swiss start-up aims to do for ski-touring what e-bikes did for cycling. James Stewart gets an exclusive preview
www.ft.com
January 12, 2026 at 9:50 AM
My bit on testing the world's first electronic skis got readers in a right flap BTL. Which was sort of the point of the piece www.ft.com/content/c703...
Reposted by James Stewart
Asking people, again, to pay me for the work that was commissioned, written and published in November. It’s illegal to make us wait this long and I‘m too old to be begging like this. So if anyone dares to give writers shit for monetising their Substacks - it’s better than begging the broadsheets…
January 6, 2026 at 11:27 AM
Asking people, again, to pay me for the work that was commissioned, written and published in November. It’s illegal to make us wait this long and I‘m too old to be begging like this. So if anyone dares to give writers shit for monetising their Substacks - it’s better than begging the broadsheets…
Cabane Mont Fort porn - home for the next two nights to celebrate its 100th anniversary. Verbier in case you're wondering
December 12, 2025 at 3:45 PM
Cabane Mont Fort porn - home for the next two nights to celebrate its 100th anniversary. Verbier in case you're wondering
730am and someone at the LHR T2 bar has just ordered a martini. I'm not sure whether this feeling is horror or respect
December 11, 2025 at 7:38 AM
730am and someone at the LHR T2 bar has just ordered a martini. I'm not sure whether this feeling is horror or respect
Reports that visitors to the US will need to disclose five years' social media fall short. Federal Register states the requirements include
- tel numbers & email addresses for 5 & 10 years, incl business tel/email
- IP addresses from submitted photos
- details of all family members (addresses, DoB)
- tel numbers & email addresses for 5 & 10 years, incl business tel/email
- IP addresses from submitted photos
- details of all family members (addresses, DoB)
December 10, 2025 at 5:04 PM
Reports that visitors to the US will need to disclose five years' social media fall short. Federal Register states the requirements include
- tel numbers & email addresses for 5 & 10 years, incl business tel/email
- IP addresses from submitted photos
- details of all family members (addresses, DoB)
- tel numbers & email addresses for 5 & 10 years, incl business tel/email
- IP addresses from submitted photos
- details of all family members (addresses, DoB)
I could’ve sworn the Telegraph led accusations of the BBC skewing its news output but that can’t be right
Quite the correction by the Telegraph. The publication in question is @freemovement.bsky.social
November 21, 2025 at 5:52 PM
I could’ve sworn the Telegraph led accusations of the BBC skewing its news output but that can’t be right
It couldn’t possibly be because every print media outlet bar one now stokes said wars for clicks, obviously
www.thetimes.com/article/c308...
www.thetimes.com/article/c308...
Britons becoming increasingly divided over ‘culture wars’
Survey finds that young people are also losing a sense of pride in the UK and that a majority of people believe life was better in the past
www.thetimes.com
November 7, 2025 at 9:34 AM
It couldn’t possibly be because every print media outlet bar one now stokes said wars for clicks, obviously
www.thetimes.com/article/c308...
www.thetimes.com/article/c308...
This story is such a wild ride. Pure hubris. Cracking digital storytelling too ig.ft.com/saudi-neom-l...
End of The Line: how Saudi Arabia’s Neom dream unravelled
Mohammed bin Salman’s utopian city was undone by the laws of physics and finance
ig.ft.com
November 6, 2025 at 9:36 AM
This story is such a wild ride. Pure hubris. Cracking digital storytelling too ig.ft.com/saudi-neom-l...
"Who is telling me this and why? How do I know they’re who they say they are? How plausible is what I’m being told? What can I do to check?"
This story is pure cringe for the Times newsroom
pressgazette.co.uk/news/times-j...
This story is pure cringe for the Times newsroom
pressgazette.co.uk/news/times-j...
Times journalists urged to make 'basic' checks after two 'humiliating' hoaxes
A newsroom boss at The Times has described two fake interviews it ran as "humiliating" and said "basic" questions were not asked.
pressgazette.co.uk
November 3, 2025 at 11:53 AM
"Who is telling me this and why? How do I know they’re who they say they are? How plausible is what I’m being told? What can I do to check?"
This story is pure cringe for the Times newsroom
pressgazette.co.uk/news/times-j...
This story is pure cringe for the Times newsroom
pressgazette.co.uk/news/times-j...
You hear so much about quiet luxury and meaningful travel now that the riotous bad taste when the pendulum swings the other way in a few years is going to be quite something to see
October 15, 2025 at 4:12 PM
You hear so much about quiet luxury and meaningful travel now that the riotous bad taste when the pendulum swings the other way in a few years is going to be quite something to see
When I asked Google AI about winter fauna in the UK. Clever ole internet
October 8, 2025 at 8:18 AM
When I asked Google AI about winter fauna in the UK. Clever ole internet
My bit in today's FT on robo-legs, testing exoskeleton tech in Wales with a little help from ai and Edmund Hillary www.ft.com/content/825e...
I am Robohiker! — testing the exoskeleton that promises to take hikers further, faster
Wearing the Hypershell, the Welsh mountains are like a walk in the park — but is it cheating?
www.ft.com
October 4, 2025 at 2:50 PM
My bit in today's FT on robo-legs, testing exoskeleton tech in Wales with a little help from ai and Edmund Hillary www.ft.com/content/825e...
I bought the insurance policy an hour ago. This doesn't bode well
October 1, 2025 at 2:38 PM
I bought the insurance policy an hour ago. This doesn't bode well
Funny old job, this. I spent yesterday playing Robocop on a Welsh mountain to test a new exoskeleton from Hypershell. Carbon fibre & titanium, motors to lift legs, ai tech to sense terrain. E-biking for your legs basically. (Image legs not mine obvs)
September 26, 2025 at 8:45 AM
Funny old job, this. I spent yesterday playing Robocop on a Welsh mountain to test a new exoskeleton from Hypershell. Carbon fibre & titanium, motors to lift legs, ai tech to sense terrain. E-biking for your legs basically. (Image legs not mine obvs)
This story is such a wild ride.
On a side note, it slightly narks that AI has properly done for the em dash www.cityam.com/mass-halluci...
On a side note, it slightly narks that AI has properly done for the em dash www.cityam.com/mass-halluci...
Mass hallucinations: In search of the rogue AI reporters
How a pitch about warring London chicken shops led Steve Dinneen on a journey from Chicago to Kenya in search of a rogue AI reporter
www.cityam.com
September 1, 2025 at 10:59 AM
This story is such a wild ride.
On a side note, it slightly narks that AI has properly done for the em dash www.cityam.com/mass-halluci...
On a side note, it slightly narks that AI has properly done for the em dash www.cityam.com/mass-halluci...
From a PR: "We’d be delighted to explore a collaboration with you – offering a 7-night luxury stay in exchange for editorial content that captures the unique atmosphere of the resort that aligns with your creative vision"
Travel journalism has certainly changed since I got into this game
Travel journalism has certainly changed since I got into this game
August 29, 2025 at 8:56 AM
From a PR: "We’d be delighted to explore a collaboration with you – offering a 7-night luxury stay in exchange for editorial content that captures the unique atmosphere of the resort that aligns with your creative vision"
Travel journalism has certainly changed since I got into this game
Travel journalism has certainly changed since I got into this game
Safari was a tourism problem. In my jeep at Sri Lanka's Yala a visitor was reduced to tears by 15-20 jeeps jostling for position around a lone honey bear. Is this really what we want from tourism. The wildlife certainly doesn't want it
www.thetimes.com/travel/inspi...
www.thetimes.com/travel/inspi...
Tourists with cameras are now as bad as the trophy hunters
Video of safari vehicles blocking wildebeest in Tanzania has prompted outrage. It’s about time, says Chris Haslam
www.thetimes.com
August 4, 2025 at 10:12 AM
Safari was a tourism problem. In my jeep at Sri Lanka's Yala a visitor was reduced to tears by 15-20 jeeps jostling for position around a lone honey bear. Is this really what we want from tourism. The wildlife certainly doesn't want it
www.thetimes.com/travel/inspi...
www.thetimes.com/travel/inspi...
I've done many silly things in this job: slept on a glorified campbed off a Welsh cliff or attempted a ski-jump and backflip (I didn't ski). Wearing a plastic puffin on my head was a first though.
Worth a click, this one, if only for the cracking little video
www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/desti...
Worth a click, this one, if only for the cracking little video
www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/desti...
‘The trick to puffin snorkelling is nonchalance’: Britain’s most exciting wildlife experience
Our writer headed to Skomer Island in Pembrokeshire, the ‘Welsh Galapagos’, to experience the biggest puffin count on record
www.telegraph.co.uk
June 27, 2025 at 9:27 AM
I've done many silly things in this job: slept on a glorified campbed off a Welsh cliff or attempted a ski-jump and backflip (I didn't ski). Wearing a plastic puffin on my head was a first though.
Worth a click, this one, if only for the cracking little video
www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/desti...
Worth a click, this one, if only for the cracking little video
www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/desti...
The volume of junk press releases I get now is insane; asking if I'm doing music kit round-ups, releases on mini-fans or just now charcoal-free hookahs. I write about travel.
Most is digital marketing – untargeted spray + pray – and the c.100 emails I get a day are nothing compared to editors 1/2
Most is digital marketing – untargeted spray + pray – and the c.100 emails I get a day are nothing compared to editors 1/2
June 26, 2025 at 9:51 AM
The volume of junk press releases I get now is insane; asking if I'm doing music kit round-ups, releases on mini-fans or just now charcoal-free hookahs. I write about travel.
Most is digital marketing – untargeted spray + pray – and the c.100 emails I get a day are nothing compared to editors 1/2
Most is digital marketing – untargeted spray + pray – and the c.100 emails I get a day are nothing compared to editors 1/2
Slow handclap for the Times' strategists, trashing the paper's brand for a pathetic hit-job and a few extra clicks.
Readers BTL are furious at being taken for fools
Readers BTL are furious at being taken for fools
June 24, 2025 at 8:00 AM
Slow handclap for the Times' strategists, trashing the paper's brand for a pathetic hit-job and a few extra clicks.
Readers BTL are furious at being taken for fools
Readers BTL are furious at being taken for fools