This is a global original podcast.

Hello and welcome to full disclosure, a podcast project originally conceived,

just to let me spend more time than is normally available in an interview with people that I am fascinated by,

slightly trimmed it during lockdown for obvious reasons.

But I have to tell you,

I'm possibly more excited by today's guest

than any of the others that we've done.

And when you contemplate that that roster includes

former Prime Ministers and Hollywood stars,

you'll appreciate the scale of that statement.

Elliot Higgins is probably the most important journalist you've never heard of.

I don't even know whether he describes himself as a journalist.

He runs Bellingcat.

He founded Bellingcat, which is probably best described and indeed is described on the cover of his new book,

as an intelligence agency for the people. And... which is probably best described, and indeed is described on the cover of his new book,

as an intelligence agency for the people.

And before I run through some of his and his organisation's greatest hits,

which are breathtaking in their scope and scale,

I'll introduce you to Elliot, who is on the line from his home in Lester.

Elliot, how do you describe yourself?

To the completely uninitiated, what do you do?

So what Benicat does and what I started doing and kind of accidentally stumbled across is something called online open source investigation, which basically means we take information that's available online,

...