Jack Sommers @jack_sommers Twitter profile

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Jack Sommers

1 year

I’ve started a newsletter. It’s about learning to run, trying to write a book and what one can teach me about the other. In the first post I explain why I think running has lessons for sitting at a desk writing

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Last Seen Profiles

@TCEOPERA

@MeinGottNiles

@oslowesport

@StirileProTV

@conquerkin

@ShakaThaGod

@RENNYBURNER

@AnhSketch

@RyuuDraws

@SonipatPolice

@MindoSCP

@stw_pdg

@MasamitsuTakeda

@BarrySilbert

@Stevewphoto

@taleonne

@Merlindoges

@f3rocitys

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@Sinderella_SC

@Rooo4w

@JdNotarianni65

@LMNY_Esport

@graadient

@RyanMurph2024

@minhhung_eth

@SNYGiants

@EcoEden0

@kahouvideo140

@SWCC_KSA

@CoachD_Speaks

@jaydashs

@NRBAssociation

@SPSWRPhaclub

@onlyfoolsnews

@stw_pdg

Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

11 months

Olaf Stando 🌻

@OlafSNP

11 months

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 @MhairiBlack on top form as ever, at the #SNPIndyConvention . "Since 1939, 62 countries gained independence from Westminster - and not a single one has ever asked to come back." Let's keep up the hard work, stay focused, and ensure Scotland is the 63rd!

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

2 months

Is it because you’re not an activist but an abstentionist whose writing seeks to do little besides boost your standing among the do-nothing left?

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

6 months

Incredibly, Foreign Secretary would only be Cameron's second job in Government

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

10 months

Since I've not done this in a while - here are the type of freelance pitches I'm particularly interested in, with an example of each. 🧵

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

1 year

"Today I feel.... dead."

The Herald

@heraldscotland

1 year

FIFA president Gianni Infantino appears to take a selfie at Pelé's funeral

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

9 months

For no reason at all here’s Mary Earps being amazed by a whale

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

2 months

It's the desperate need to tweet I don't get. A claim is published you think embarrasses your tribe/cause, so you just... tweet... immediately... that it didn't happen... without checking?

Jesse Singal

@jessesingal

2 months

Atlantic spokeswoman on the Chick-fil-A incident that Nikole Hannah-Jones and many others claimed must have been fabcricated: "the details were confirmed by New York Times employees who had contemporaneous knowledge of the incident in question."

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

8 months

@jamesrbuk WTH? There, there aren't active proceedings are there?

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

7 months

One of our big topics right now is loneliness and I'd love to hear from freelancers who have stories to tell about how remote work/returning to the office intersects with loneliness

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

7 months

Ah yes Farage’s pet policy: banning smoking

The News Agents

@TheNewsAgents

7 months

“There has been a slow, hostile takeover by the right of the Conservative Party… It's Farage’s party now.” The News Agents discuss how the right gradually took the reigns, and moderate members allowed it. Catch up on @GlobalPlayer @maitlis | @jonsopel | @lewis_goodall

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

1 year

VERY useful guide for freelancers about pitching editors, by an NYT editor. The sample of a great pitch at the end is so short!

How to successfully pitch The New York Times (or, well, anyone else) - Nieman Lab

Freelancing is tough! It can be an unpredictable, unreliable grind, and sometimes things fall through even if you've done everything right. As Smarter Living editor at The New York Times, the bulk of...

www.niemanlab.org

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

6 months

I always that the Left had only *tacitly* embraced Hamas as allies but here’s Judith Butler in 2006 saying the quiet part loud

Xerxes

@XerxesIran_

6 months

“Hamas and Hezbollah are social movements that are progressive and are part of the Global Left." Some of the western left really wants to align themselves with the same terrorists who want to throw them off a roof when all is said and done.

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

1 year

Hello all, my DMs are open for early-career freelancers who'd like me to review a pitch they are trying to land. I'll close them again after a few hours and reply to those I can, rewriting the pitch how I'd pitch it and explaining why. If that's you, send it along!

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

1 year

Interesting @RosamundUrwin piece on ghostwriters, including the detail that, despite Isabel Oakeshott insisting she wasn't paid to help Hancock with his book, she's believed to have made *48 grand* from its syndication

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

1 year

Bring it back and have @holland_tom and @dcsandbrook commentate

Eduardo García-Molina

@eduardo_garcmol

1 year

We really failed as a society by not having more seasons of Time Commanders, that show where teams of average people with little familiarity with history or video games controlled armies in Total War. Should revive it on Twitch and have academics (preferably drunk) comment.

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

11 months

One year ago I was in the Clapham Tap waiting for an Australian girl who was frantically texting her bus was late. After the best 12 months of my life, she’s a New York Times Bestseller and my flat mate. Happy anniversary @EmiliaHartBooks

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

11 months

Some replies saying Ireland was also part of the UK. The Irish and Scottish experiences of being in the UK are… quite different

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

8 months

Ooof, badly misjudged, this

The Daily Mash

@thedailymash

8 months

Russell Brand was a heroin addict, discovers crack investigative team on page 145 of My Booky-Wook

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

2 months

Also funny: so long as he has a column in the Guardian he’s obliged to write about the mainstream. But he’s completely at the mercy of a Twitter audience that is adamant the mainstream must be shunned. He’s like a vegan reviewing a steakhouse.

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

10 months

Most pitches are like: "Would you be interested in a story about X?" And then: "It all begins with my father." And then 300 words of narrative, and then: "Is this something you would be interested in?" No, no, and double no

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

7 months

A 17-tweet thread in response to being unfollowed by two historians who have, on this evidence, made an excellent decision

David Veevers

@DavidVeevers1

7 months

Was gutted to discover two historians - both Jewish - unfollowed me over the past week or so. I like to think I constantly check my privilege here especially when challenged on race, gender, & anything else. I’m not a proud person and will happily listen, reflect, & grow. /1

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

11 months

I’ve never been more desperate for the front page of the National

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

7 months

@JoeTwyman I think Colin Kaepernick had this as his Twitter bio for years attributed to ‘Iain Smith’

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

10 months

Rishi Sunak went for one #Parkrun , outdid my PB by 26 seconds, and then never ran again

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

2 months

Jones has realised Starmer is going to disappoint this group enormously (what foresight!) and is setting up his credentials as The One Who Saw It Coming

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

1 year

Prince Harry’s ghostwriter is constantly retweeting praise and I wish this was the energy British writers had

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

1 year

@holland_tom The peak of this was Eddie Mair saying ‘no one from Newsnight was available for comment’ as he hosted a Newsnight episode retracting the previous week’s Newsnight

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

10 months

Had a (very) short but intriguing pitch - asked for more details, got immediate reply, realised it wasn't quite what I thought so replied saying thank you but not this time. Here's to short pitches!

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

9 months

Well here's an underused byelaw

Tube passenger faces £300 penalty for playing ‘annoying’ music on journey

A man who played music out loud on his Tube journey through London has been hit with a £300 legal bill for annoying other passengers on the train.

www.standard.co.uk

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

2 months

He’s a funny one because Politician-Journalists (a terrible breed, sadly unique to Britain) usually use journalism as a way of advancing themselves in politics. Jones uses politics to advance himself in journalism, or whatever you call what he does

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

21 days

I realise I've not said this here, but I don't deal with freelance pitches for @BusinessInsider anymore - if you have a pitch, please email my colleague @KieraFields7 who is always on the hunt for stuff

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

1 year

Once again, I do believe Oakeshott and Hancock should be a couple in the next WHite Lotus

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

1 year

The NYT laments a woman's Apple Watch failed to "call 911" when she had an accident. But I think that's a good thing given she LIVES IN LONDON.

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

1 year

Home

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

8 months

@thedailymash I'm not normally a 'You should delete this' guy but Jesus

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

10 months

that's right, it's in my bio. I am still amazed by the number of 'What's your email?' tweets these threads prompt

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

1 year

The left-wing economic establishment = the FTSE 100

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

6 months

If the clarification about the hammer doesn’t move the polls, nothing will

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

7 months

Imagine still defending this man

ITV News Politics

@ITVNewsPolitics

7 months

'Do you condemn Hamas?' Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn refuses to say if he condemns Hamas but insists 'obviously all attacks are wrong' when questioned in Liverpool

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

11 months

Just had a freelance pitch in ✨short bullet points✨, almost shouted "yes!" at my screen

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

1 year

I just reread this by @nxthompson , having first read it when I’d just started jogging. Three years of running later it hits very different, but is still the best personal essay on the subject I’ve ever read

To Run My Best Marathon at Age 44, I Had to Outrun My Past

After 20 years of long-distance competition, I ran my fastest. All it took was tech, training, and a new understanding of my life.

www.wired.com

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

1 year

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

1 year

I thought I’d heard it all re local newspaper decline but this still shocked me: a court reporter job for papers in the north west was advertised and NO ONE APPLIED

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

10 months

Shakespeare: Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow Me: Can we just say 'Tomorrow'? Feels like repetition and we're already way over the word count

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

1 year

Dreamt I bought a £40,000 haircut. Then I found out it came with a free deal to develop a 10-part Netflix series. I went around boasting about the deal but was scared people would find out it came free with a haircut

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

11 months

The lesson here is don’t piss off Harriet Harman’s second cousin once removed by marriage

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

1 year

Why does not Edi Rama, the largest prime minister, simply not eat the other prime ministers?

Politics UK

@PolitlcsUK

1 year

🚨 | NEW: Rishi Sunak (5’7) meets Albanian PM Edi Rama (6’7)

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

6 months

Well said @Yascha_Mounk

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

10 months

Pitching a story ≠ telling a story Stick to a proposed headline, brief summary of sources and SHORT bullet points about what you might write Feel like you're missing out crucial detail? Doesn't matter! If I'm intrigued I'll reply and if a pitch intrigues me it's doing its job

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

10 months

Then, weird/fun/expensive travel and what it's like/whether it's worth it

My first-class flight from New York to London included 3 course meals served on white tablecloths...

See firsthand Insider's Kiera Fields' experience flying first class, including three-course meals and a free wash bag filled with luxury toiletries.

www.businessinsider.com

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

9 months

The Rest Is Football

@RestIsFootball

9 months

New Season, New Podcast! Join @GaryLineker , @alanshearer and @MicahRichards for the first full-length episode of #TheRestIsFootball Available wherever you get your podcasts

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

10 months

First up, first persons of people who made big moves, particularly if they struggled with it and have advice for anyone contemplating the same

I left San Francisco to live in Eastern Europe and regret it. People here stereotype me — it's not...

A San Francisco local wanted to settle down, but the city's problems pushed her to move to Dubrovnik, Croatia. The town wasn't what she expected.

www.businessinsider.com

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

1 year

‘We go again and we try even harder’ ❤️

Harry Kane

@HKane

2 years

I'm very proud to launch the Harry Kane Foundation - it marks the start of a journey for me as my Foundation aims to transform a generation’s thinking about mental health.

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

5 months

@JackTindale that's nothing: Kevin Eldon is in it too

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

1 year

Will finding out who Andrew Tate is enrich me. Be honest.

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

6 months

Some shocking claims about Guardian stuff in this piece by a Jewish member of staff there

OPINION: The Guardian’s coverage and my colleagues’ comments mean I don’t feel safe at work

Member of staff with family in a kibbutz in southern Israel where residents were massacred tells of being challenged by colleagues at the media group about the war against Hamas, or simply ignored

www.jewishnews.co.uk

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

10 months

24 pitches overnight

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

1 year

New running shirt! Here’s to hundreds more @parkrunUK

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

10 months

I get countless tweets asking "what's your email?" It's hidden in a very special place, only a few know about it. Can you find it?

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

10 months

As I've said before - AI. It won't replace you, but someone who knows how to use it might. Let's share the knowledge

I use Google's Bard as my intern. Here are 5 prompts I use to get the most help from my chatbot.

A writer breaks down five prompts she uses for Google's AI chatbot, Bard, so it can review drafts and summarize articles for her research.

www.businessinsider.com

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

1 year

Let the ex Chancellor edit a newspaper, they said. It'll be appropriate and ethical, they said.

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

6 months

Surely no one who uses this phrase can be ignorant of the offence it causes? Just obstinate refusal to concede *anything* they do is wrong

Lewis Goodall

@lewis_goodall

6 months

“Palestine will be free, from the river to the sea.”

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

11 months

@keiranpedley Also I think it was so personal to each of us that no one is going to be talked into a different view by a politician

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

10 months

As ever I keep thinking of the Mark Twain line: "Sorry I wrote a long letter. I didn't have time to write a short one." Writers have to make choices. A short pitch shows me you can make them. A long pitch feels like you're asking me to make the choices.

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

10 months

Austen: It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife. Me: Source?

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

1 year

I've taken a step back from working with freelancers in recent weeks but I'm resurfacing to say we're keen on interviews with serving military personnel about what their job is like. This would be in the as-told-to format like these ones

as told to - Business Insider

Latest stories about as told to on Business Insider

www.businessinsider.com

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

6 months

The embrace of Hamas makes the repeated failure to condemn what they did on October 7 glaring and stomach-turning. I remain shocked at the lengths so many of you went to to avoid just admitting you were wrong about a terror group

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

1 year

The person who decided laptops would turn on with a sound that it's impossible to mute? I want to meet them. Talk to them. Really hear their story. Because it's only by listening that we can transcend our differences

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

1 year

Reading a book in which the author reveals he runs ParkRun wearing a shirt with the cover of his latest book on it - this is the self-promotion energy I want each of you to embrace from now on

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

1 year

Ah a PR ‘just following up’ on an email sent yesterday, despite receiving an OOO saying I’m off until January

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

10 months

Nephew of the previous PM, Lord Salisbury, Robert Cecil. Potentially the origin of the expression "Bob's your uncle"

Mr Memory

@AmIRightSir

10 months

Arthur Balfour became Prime Minister on this day in 1902

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

9 months

We're looking to more stories like this: Personal essays by people who've moved from rich countries to poorer ones, breaking down the why and how of living and working in their new home. Email me if this is you

I left Miami for a remote village in Pakistan. I have no running hot water and limited electricity...

Samantha Shea, 27, grew up in Connecticut and went to college in Miami before relocating to Pakistan as a digital nomad.

www.businessinsider.com

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

6 months

Ah yes - Foreign secretary under Heath

Adam Macqueen

@adam_macqueen

6 months

@jack_sommers Douglas Home.

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

1 year

Can anyone recommend a good office chair for working at home? This will replace something wholly unsuitable so anything would be an improvement. Suggestions welcome!

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

10 months

Remember quiet quitting? We're keen on first persons about grumpy staying/loud quitting/ something called 'double dipping' which, I learn, means working two jobs remotely.

I worked 2 remote jobs during the pandemic, and it helped me break into my dream industry. But I...

Norma M. worked two jobs during the pandemic, broke into the publishing industry, and was on track to make over $100K. She wouldn't do it again.

www.businessinsider.com

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

10 months

No idea why this guy emailed me once. But I remember when I ignored him, he followed up with: ‘What’s the matter Jack? Too fucking stupid?’

The Fence Magazine

@The_Fence_Mag

10 months

‘Dear Dipshit,’ another email to Elledge began, ‘you just have no concept of what a clueless dumb fuck you are. Which makes you an insanely clueless dumb fuck.’ @JoshMcloughlin spoke to the world's angriest academic.

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

9 months

Incredibly niche leaseholder question - is it wise to extend a leasehold given a Labour government might soon be legislating to abolish leaseholds and replace them with commonholds? @CommonholdNow

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

10 months

Ratees vary depending on logistics and the amount of research needed. But a single-interview written up in the 'as told to' style starts at £300.

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

8 months

Dear God, do not follow up on your email by literally just sending the word "nudge."

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

1 year

‘Damn, I follow a lot of idiots’ - Me not realising I’m actually browsing my For You page

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

1 year

Helpful info here for those looking to pitch on-the-day opinion pieces for Indy Voices! More commissioning editors should do this!

Victoria Richards

@nakedvix

1 year

The dream: If you want to pitch to @IndyVoices , do it between 7-8am that day on something hot and new and current and fast-moving and trending. And if we both agree on a commission, file 600-800 words within two hours. 🤩

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

2 months

@steven_huyck Yes but I'm not tweeting a factual claim without checking?

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

10 months

There’s only one Twitter

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

1 year

Debut I’m In Australia tweet

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

1 year

@teaforpterosaur Also im not following the ‘maths is hard for some of us, so lets teach it less’ logic

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

1 year

For months I kept meaning to tell my dad to stop watching shows on my Netflix profile. Just found it's not him and A COMPLETE STRANGER HAS BEEN WATCHING MY NETFLIX FOR MONTHS

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

11 months

If you’re very well read and Scottish or Irish, please unfollow. If you’re poorly read and Scottish or Irish, please like and subscribe.

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

2 months

Sorry I’m British: what’s a dog?

transmisandric trans man

@androgynyfiend

2 months

the american concept of having a pet dog makes me sad in a way bc it's like. here we have these intelligent animals that are specifically bred to do certain tasks. but ppl don't pay much attention to that and just think i NEED to have a dog i just keep locked up all day

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

6 months

Solidarity with Jews whose hurt and sorrow has been met in recent weeks with antisemitism from fascists and cranks, as well as obfuscation, whataboutery, and lies from people who should know better

S Sebag Montefiore

@simonmontefiore

6 months

#MarchAgainstAntisemitism great to be here

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

1 year

Couldn’t be prouder @EmiliaHartBooks

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

1 year

I just love that this exists

Alex Andreou

@sturdyAlex

7 years

This is completely pointless and utterly brilliant. Do watch.

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

9 months

It mystifies me that sitting in a dark room being silent for two hours is considered bold or unusual

The Independent

@Independent

9 months

Going solo to the cinema isn’t ‘an act of self-love’ no matter what the internet says

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

11 months

Me contrasting Scottish and Irish history on Twitter and ignoring the replies

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

2 months

You could just not tweet. It is always an option that’s open to you.

Matthew Yglesias

@mattyglesias

2 months

Of course I don't feel *good* about anyone's cancer diagnosis, but these are public officials who became the subject of a lot of gossip because they tried to perpetrate an extremely clumsy cover-up.

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

4 months

Died days after Tom Wilkinson, who played Rampton in the film Denial

Sir Richard Evans

@RichardEvans36

4 months

Very sorry indeed to hear of the death of Richard Rampton, defence barrister in the David Irving vs Deborah Lipstadt Holocaust Denial libel trial. Impressively thorough in preparation, deadly in courtroom performance, and also a thoroughly nice man who enjoyed life to the full.

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Jack Sommers

@jack_sommers

1 year

I'm noticing A LOT of transcription errors making their way into freelancers' copy - is this an Otter thing?

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