Nicky Woolf investigates a chemical attack at a furry convention, Myles Bonnar pursues a Scottish fugitive, Catherine Carr takes a sensitive approach to teenage boys, and a storm hits LBC
Fur & Loathing | Project Brazen
Dead Man Running | BBC Sounds/BBC Scotland
About the Boys (BBC Radio 4) | BBC Sounds
Vanessa Feltz | LBC
Yet more new investigative podcasts last week. First up, Fur & Loathing from Nicky Woolf, an excellent internet-and-beyond journalist, whose previous series tracked down both the likely Q from QAnon and the sound of the Havana syndrome. This time, he’s looking at something that initially seems a little dafter. Fur & Loathing’s starting point is a 2014 convention of furries, in Rosemont, Illinois. Furries are people who like to dress in cartoony animal costumes – a bit like mascots at sports matches. A particularly cute penchant; the furry community is larger than you might imagine. Anyway, back in 2014, on the final night of the Midwest FurFest convention, everyone was having a lovely time, drinking, dancing and socialising, when they became aware of a terrible chlorine smell. Properly strong stuff that burned their eyes and throats. Someone had let off deadly chlorine gas inside the hotel hosting the convention. Nineteen people were hospitalised, but nobody was charged.