Make Room for the Telegraph Diaspora

Laura Dodsworth
Writer, photographer, commentator.

Stackers, make room.

We must all do our share, as Andy Burnham says.

See, there on the horizon? A wave is taking shape, swelling and gathering speed, surging and roiling until it is upon us: a tidal wave of Telegraph readers, making landfall here on Substack.

Well, they have to go somewhere. News broke last week that the latest luminary reported to be heading for the Telegraph exit is Allison Pearson. And the readers are expected to follow her.

Axel Springer completed its takeover of the Telegraph in June, promising investment in journalism. A mere four months later, staff were told that up to 100 jobs would go, as the paper reinvents itself as “a global, AI-powered premium media and intelligence business”. The comment team is to be folded into features and lifestyle, while culture, fashion and sport face cuts. The paper’s “next chapter”, staff were told, lies in video, audio, puzzles, events, B2B, licensing and commerce. So many wonderful writers are said to be leaving including Sherelle Jacobs and Liam Halligan. Presumably, a question mark also hangs over Planet Normal, the podcast Allison shared with Liam, whose brilliant economics column has run for more than two decades.

Now, to be fair, there is a place for everything Axel Springer intends to do. But it is not behind a paywall because frankly you can get that kind of stuff anywhere, and it is not for the Telegraph subscriber. The company either gravely misunderstands its readership, or it has begun a very deliberate demolition job.

Allison is a dear friend, but that does not colour what follows. If you doubt me, look at what was trending on X: Telegraph readers rally behind Allison Pearson amid exit talks and job cuts. Readers are rallying behind Allison for a reason.

Allison has written for the Telegraph since 2010 and is widely regarded as its star columnist. She is a wonderful writer, a brilliant journalist and a bestselling author. More than that, she is brave. She has stood her ground on every hot-button issue: Brexit, lockdowns, mass immigration, free speech. She says what her readers think.

And, by the way, free speech is not abstract for Allison. On Remembrance Sunday in 2024, two Essex Police officers knocked and told her she was being investigated over a year-old post on X. She was invited to an interview under caution. A woman who had spent her career championing this country’s freedoms was, on the day the nation honours those who died defending them, being asked to account for a tweet.

The force later dropped its investigation, although Allison did not settle quietly and she took on Roger Hirst, the Essex Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner, over the public statements he made about the affair. This summer she won and he apologised and paid her substantial damages.

Few people can say they took on the system and beat it, and that is precisely the kind of writer readers will follow wherever she goes.

The comments below the line on the Telegraph website, and beneath my posts on X, make plain how readers feel:

If Springer wanted a centrist paper with centrist writers, a diet of AI Euro-slop and low-IQ puzzles, there were other titles it could have bought. Instead, it threw its EU-flag beach towel over Britain’s prime estate of right-leaning journalism. It bought some of the country’s most distinctive voices and bravest hearts, and then it sacked them.

As I said on X, the Telegraph has committed hara-kiri. You cannot cut out the heart of a newspaper and expect its readers to stay. They won’t.

Ironically, the pro-EU Springer has, I predict, just created a fresh wave of asylum seekers. This time the movement of people is from the traditional newspaper subscription to independent media. Because where else are they going to go? The Guardian? The Independent?

Disillusioned Telegraph readers may well wash up here, on the friendly shores of Substack, in search of the sunny uplands of free speech and a few beacons to steer by.

Substack is not the only independent platform, but it has been astonishingly successful. Founded in 2017 on a simple promise, that writers could publish directly to readers without advertisers or middlemen, it has become a home for the independent voice – including yours truly – and, with it, the curious and freethinking reader – you!

The most famous proof is Bari Weiss, who walked out of the New York Times, launched a newsletter here called Common Sense, which became The Free Press. That was recently sold for a reported $150m. Closer to home, Liam Halligan launched his own Substack, When the Facts Change, in March 2025, while still writing for the Telegraph. Dan Wootton and Mike Graham have created loyal and lively followings after careers at Talk, and GB News for Dan. The writers have been moving for some time. The readers are about to follow.

So, Stackers, budge up. Pull out a chair, put the kettle on and find a bigger table. The Telegraph refugees are coming, and they are bringing their opinions, their stamina and their credit cards.

Welcome fellow travellers. Make yourselves at home.

This article was originally published by The Free Mind.