The Ferret

The Ferret Scotland's award-winning online investigative journalism cooperative - independent, reader-owned and transparent. Join us. But The Ferret will not be dour.

Join The Ferret now and help build a better media: https://theferret.scot/subscribe/

Good, investigative journalism is suffering in Scotland. The advertising revenues that have traditionally funded journalists to uncover scandals are being swept away in the whirlwind of the electronic information revolution – and nobody is quite sure what to do about it. We believe that something has to be done.

In a democracy like ours few things are more important than a free, fair and independent media holding the powerful to account by discovering their secrets. Without serious, fact-based journalism in pursuit of the public interest and beholden to no-one, Scotland would be a smaller place. That is why we are now proposing The Ferret: a new platform for investigative journalism unlike any that have gone before. It will not be owned by some distant corporation: it will be owned by its members and run as a not-for-profit operation in Scotland. It will not be aligned with any political party or any vested interest. It will be utterly transparent and totally accountable in all it does. It will be challenging, irreverent, cheeky even. It will tap into the rich vein of Scottish journalism to produce good writing, exclusive, and must-read stories. And it will listen to its readers, who will all have a say in what it does. There is still much detail to work out. We are open to suggestions on the best combination of grants, donations, subscriptions, crowdfunding, sales and other sources of income to help transform an important idea into a working reality. We welcome all thoughts on how we should be organised, and how members should be involved. But this is the starting point. Scotland needs good, investigative journalism and the Ferret is our way of helping to ensure that. Let us know what you think and watch this space. If you’d like to follow our progress, please become a supporter of The Ferret.

🔴 NEW: An arms lobby group urged the UK and Scottish Governments to crack down on Palestine Action more than a month bef...
14/08/2025

🔴 NEW: An arms lobby group urged the UK and Scottish Governments to crack down on Palestine Action more than a month before the group was proscribed, documents released to The Ferret reveal.

Read the full story in comments 👇

"There have been too many cases of public subsidies being awarded to projects undertaken by multinational firms that hav...
11/08/2025

"There have been too many cases of public subsidies being awarded to projects undertaken by multinational firms that have failed to create the jobs and economic growth that were promised"
https://bit.ly/4fu0cD8

“There are few sites as dangerous and where an accident or shoddy maintenance could have such potentially catastrophic c...
10/08/2025

“There are few sites as dangerous and where an accident or shoddy maintenance could have such potentially catastrophic consequences”
https://bit.ly/458Iwta

🔴 NEW: A company controlled by billionaire media baron Rupert Murdoch, a US military aircraft producer, and a Clyde port...
10/08/2025

🔴 NEW: A company controlled by billionaire media baron Rupert Murdoch, a US military aircraft producer, and a Clyde port owner with an alleged history of tax avoidance are among the tax haven firms given £77m by the Scottish Government.

Read our latest investigation in comments 👇

🔴 NEW: Loch Long on the Clyde has been contaminated by radioactive waste from the UK’s nuclear bomb store where old wate...
09/08/2025

🔴 NEW: Loch Long on the Clyde has been contaminated by radioactive waste from the UK’s nuclear bomb store where old water pipes have repeatedly burst and caused floods, files released after a six-year secrecy battle reveal.

Read the investigation in comments 👇

In June, we revealed 135,000 lumpfish had died on a Mowi salmon farm in the Highlands. Now, Scotland’s biggest fish farm...
08/08/2025

In June, we revealed 135,000 lumpfish had died on a Mowi salmon farm in the Highlands. Now, Scotland’s biggest fish farming company says it will stop using them.

Find out more: https://bit.ly/3UiM1qH

🔴 NEW: Scotland’s biggest fish farming company is to stop using lumpfish to remove sea-lice from salmon, after The Ferre...
07/08/2025

🔴 NEW: Scotland’s biggest fish farming company is to stop using lumpfish to remove sea-lice from salmon, after The Ferret revealed tens of thousands of the so-called cleaner fish had died at one of the firm’s Highland sites.

Our latest: https://bit.ly/3J6nEdj

This week in Geneva, more than 170 countries are meeting to try and agree the world’s first treaty to end plastic pollut...
06/08/2025

This week in Geneva, more than 170 countries are meeting to try and agree the world’s first treaty to end plastic pollution.

Scientists say we need bold action — including cutting how much plastic is produced — to protect people, wildlife and the planet.

At The Ferret, we’ve been reporting on how plastic pollution is already affecting Scotland’s seas. Our investigations show the scale of the challenge:

🌊 Microplastics at record levels

Scientists have found the highest ever concentration of microplastics in Scottish waters — 210,891 per km² in the Solway Firth. These tiny particles are now in our food chain, our water, and even our bodies: https://bit.ly/4m6m7Tn

🐳 Ghost fishing

Lost or abandoned fishing gear — much of it plastic — continues to kill at sea for years. Seals, whales, birds and fish are trapped, injured or killed: https://bit.ly/4mmAlzL

📸 The blight of plastic pollution

From nurdles on Fife beaches to litter washed into Argyll’s lochs, our year‑long Scotland’s Seas in Danger series documented the scale of the problem — and the communities fighting back: https://bit.ly/40QrGge

"Scotland needs to do more to tackle racism and bias in the system. The Promise Scotland needs bring more of an anti-rac...
06/08/2025

"Scotland needs to do more to tackle racism and bias in the system. The Promise Scotland needs bring more of an anti-racist lens to our work in supporting the promise to be kept"
https://bit.ly/4fjRpnf

From golf course videos to billion‑dollar trade talk, Trump’s Scotland trip has been hard to ignore. We’ve checked some ...
05/08/2025

From golf course videos to billion‑dollar trade talk, Trump’s Scotland trip has been hard to ignore. We’ve checked some of the claims making the rounds
https://bit.ly/4m9KyPJ

🔴 NEW: Scotland must “do more to tackle racism and bias” in child protection, according to the organisation overseeing S...
05/08/2025

🔴 NEW: Scotland must “do more to tackle racism and bias” in child protection, according to the organisation overseeing Scottish Government reforms of the care system for children and young people at risk.

Read the full story: https://bit.ly/4ok9FRt

🔴 NEW: Donald Trump’s four‑day trip to Scotland has sparked a flurry of claims — from a $10m taxpayer bill to a trillion...
04/08/2025

🔴 NEW: Donald Trump’s four‑day trip to Scotland has sparked a flurry of claims — from a $10m taxpayer bill to a trillion‑dollar trade deal with Europe. We fact‑checked several of the most viral.

Read more: https://theferret.scot/fact-check-trump-visit-scotland/

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The Ferret is an investigative journalism project based in Scotland.

You can subscribe for just £2.50 per month.

The Ferret is a co-operative. When you subscribe, you become a part-owner of the project. You can find out more about us here: https://theferret.scot/about-us/

Avowedly non-partisan, The Ferret is also home to The Ferret Fact Service.