ABOUT
The name may require some explanation.
There are reliable witnesses and unreliable witnesses.
There are expert witnesses, hostile witnesses, reluctant witnesses and witnesses for the prosecution.
There are imperfect witnesses, partial witnesses, accidental witnesses and witnesses who are absolutely certain they saw everything despite standing somewhere from which this would have been physically impossible.
There are witnesses who remember.
Witnesses who misremember.
Witnesses whose memories improve remarkably once lawyers become involved.
Witnesses who saw nothing.
Witnesses who know nothing.
And witnesses who would very much appreciate it if you stopped asking questions.
This one is simply The Unreliable Witness.
Not because everything written here is untrue.
That would make matters considerably easier.
The problem is that witnesses are human.
We remember selectively. We interpret. We exaggerate. We overlook. We acquire prejudices, experiences and inconvenient pieces of information. Occasionally we change our minds.
Some of us even lose our eyesight.
The witness nevertheless continues to witness.
The Unreliable Witness is an independent publication of commentary, essays, satire, descriptive prose and occasional poetry.
It looks at politics, institutions, history, public life, people and places, with a particular interest in the gap between what is officially said and what appears to be happening.
Some pieces are serious. Some are satirical. Many sit somewhere in between.
The aim is not to provide a conventional news service, but to examine events, arguments and institutions from an independent perspective — sometimes analytically, sometimes irreverently, and occasionally with a degree of suspicion.
The evidence is presented.
The witness gives his account.
You decide how reliable he is.
The Unreliable Witness is non-commercial and editorially independent.
For general enquiries, corrections or permissions:
editor@theunreliablewitness.co
.