Photo of John Simpson
John Simpson

Home Affairs Editor

John has been the Home Affairs Editor of The Observer since April 2025. An award-winning crime journalist of 15 years, he has specialised in covering organised crime, policing, terrorism and the drivers of extreme violence. He spent more than a decade as crime correspondent for The Times newspaper and his podcast series, Who Killed CJ Davis?, won best true crime podcast at the British Podcast Awards in 2021.

Photo of John Simpson

John Simpson

Home Affairs Editor

John has been the Home Affairs Editor of The Observer since April 2025. An award-winning crime journalist of 15 years, he has specialised in covering organised crime, policing, terrorism and the drivers of extreme violence. He spent more than a decade as crime correspondent for The Times newspaper and his podcast series, Who Killed CJ Davis?, won best true crime podcast at the British Podcast Awards in 2021.

  • John Simpson
    Two-tier citizenship could be ‘weaponised by future government’

    Calls to strip Alaa abd el-Fattah of his citizenship could create system that threatens hundreds of thousands of Britons

    Sun, 4 Jan 2026

  • John Simpson
    Why are Brits losing their citizenship?

    Conservative and Reform MPs are calling for the British-Egyptian activist Alaa Abd El-Fattah to be stripped of his citizenship. At the same time Shamima Begum, who joined Islamic State, is fighting to have hers reinstated. How and why does the government revoke citizenship? 

    9 min • S1, E1273

  • John Simpson
    Scrapping our roles will backfire, warn elected police chiefs

    Police and crime commissioners to be abolished as part of sweeping reforms, but critics warn ‘upheaval’ will do more harm than good

    Fri, 2 Jan 2026

  • John Simpson
    Palestine Action’s youngest hunger striker

    Now into her 52nd day of refusing to eat, the jailed Palestine Action protester Qesser Zuhrah is in mortal danger   Reporter: John Simpson   Writer: Poppy Bullard   Producer: Poppy Bullard   Host: Ada Barume   Episode photography: Joe Mee   Executive Producer: Rebecca Moore  

    7 min • S1, E1261

  • John Simpson
    Campaigners scent a chance to avert trail hunting ban

    Countryside Alliance claims rural people are ‘alienated’ by Labour, which is targeting illegal fox hunting

    Sun, 28 Dec 2025

  • John Simpson
    Lawless London

    London has earned a reputation as Europe's phone theft capital. A record 80,000 phones were stolen last year. Yet data shows a twist – while devices are at risk, people themselves are safer than they've been in decades. Host: Casey Magloire Writer & Producer: Amalie Sortland Episode Photography: Joe Mee Executive producer: Katie Gunning

    9 min • S1, E1218

  • John Simpson
    Ex-husband among six on drugging and rape charges

    Former Tory councillor Philip Young is accused, along with five men, of sexual offences against Joanne Young

    Sun, 28 Dec 2025

  • John Simpson
    Manchester synagogue terror attack

    Two Jewish people were killed in a terrorist attack at a Manchester synagogue. Did President Trump and Pete Hegseth cross the line with their inflammatory speeches to military generals? And what's behind the surge in profits at soft toy maker Jellycat?   Giles Whittell is joined by The Observer's Erica Wagner, John Simpson and Sam Freedman, as they pitch their top story of the day.    

    31 min • S1, E274

  • John Simpson
    Qesser Zuhrah: the student who could soon become the UK’s youngest hunger striker to die

    Now into her 50th day of refusing to eat, the jailed Palestine Action protester Qesser Zuhrah is in mortal danger

    Sun, 21 Dec 2025

  • John Simpson
    Tommy Robinson’s US backers

    Tommy Robinson has transformed from a scrappy activist, to a slick media performer at the heart of the UK's far-right movement.

    7 min • S1, E1195

  • John Simpson
    Far right has ‘parked its tanks on the front lawn of the Church of England’, bishop says

    Priest warns of emerging US-style nationalism within Christianity and of a looming battle against a Maga agenda

    Sun, 14 Dec 2025

  • John Simpson
    Why is Donald Trump targeting Brazil?

    Are male novelists a dying breed? Can women trust apps with their personal data? Are tariffs the only way Donald Trump knows how to do diplomacy? Giles Whittell is joined by The Observer's Home Affairs Editor John Simpson, Head of Data and Graphics Katie Riley and Consulting Editor for Comment, Erica Wagner.   

    33 min • S1, E256

  • John Simpson
    Freemasons challenge Met over membership declaration

    The organisation is weighing legal action after Mark Rowley said officers must declare their status

    Sun, 14 Dec 2025

  • John Simpson
    Rape cases are collapsing in record numbers

    Hundreds of victims and witnesses are walking away from rape cases before they reach trial

    6 min • S1, E1148

  • John Simpson
    ‘Death risk’ fear for Palestine Action hunger strike activists

    Concern over seven prisoners held for alleged in­volvement in raids on factory of Israeli weapons company

    Sun, 7 Dec 2025

  • John Simpson
    Broken ranks: civil war in the police fed

    Police officers aren’t allowed to strike or join a trade union. They rely instead on an organisation called the Police Federation to represent their interests. It’s a surprisingly powerful body that ultimately affects the way all of us are policed. This is the story of how it lost its way.

    40 min • S1, E304

  • John Simpson
    David Lammy’s plan to slash jury trials criticised by his own expert adviser

    A member of the secretary of state’s team reviewing the criminal justice system has defended the jury process

    Sun, 30 Nov 2025

  • John Simpson
    Lammy under fire after another four leave jail in error

    Latest blunder leaves prisoners at large as hundreds mistakenly released each year

    Sun, 9 Nov 2025

  • John Simpson
    Missing sex offender asked police how to find train station

    Hadush Kebatu, who was due to be deported, was put on a train to London instead

    Sun, 26 Oct 2025

  • John Simpson
    ‘Lawless London’ is safer than it’s been in decades

    Official data suggests the capital may be safer than at any time in the past half century, beating other major cities

    Fri, 24 Oct 2025

  • John Simpson
    Lostprophets singer convicted of child sex crimes is killed in jail

    Ian Watkins, 48, said to have died having being knifed by a fellow prisoner in HMP Wakefield after surviving earlier attempt

    Sun, 12 Oct 2025

  • John Simpson
    Protests erupt over Gaza after plea to respect grief

    More than 400 demonstrators were arrested in London on Saturday, while tensions ran high at a Manchester vigil for the victims of Thursday’s attack

    Mon, 6 Oct 2025

  • John Simpson
    Was it fate that brought me to the synagogue?

    When firefighter Tom Ludley responded to the synagogue attack, he was determined not to relive the mistakes of 2017

    Sat, 4 Oct 2025

  • John Simpson
    Police bullet killed victim at Manchester synagogue

    Chief constable confirms that shots fired at attacker hit two worshippers, killing one and wounding the other

    Fri, 3 Oct 2025

  • John Simpson
    Fears grow over far right’s embrace of crypto

    Hard-to trace digital transactions could lead to hostile states threatening democracy

    Sun, 21 Sept 2025

  • John Simpson
    How US cash made Tommy Robinson

    An American tech billionaire was instrumental in funding the far-right figure’s rise to stardom – and even paid for his new set of teeth

    Sun, 14 Sept 2025

  • John Simpson
    Prepare for revolution now, Elon Musk tells London rally

    US tech billionaire calls for downfall of Labour government in speech to 110,000 marchers at Robinson’s Unite the Kingdom protest

    Sun, 14 Sept 2025

  • John Simpson
    Hundreds arrested at Palestine Action protest

    A mass demonstration in Parliament Square that planned to see at least 1,000 people detained may reach its target, says the Met

    Sat, 6 Sept 2025

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