As most of you know already, about a month ago I went offgrid for a fortnight. Various realities – the garden, recharging batteries and rethinking next steps for The Slog – were behind the move.

I came back to find out that my Twitter link had been snipped. On top of this (soon remedied) problem, it began to become clear that vast numbers of Twitter followers didn’t know I was back from ‘furlough’, as we now all seem to be calling it.

I kicked off my return with three very strong stories. They produced hits and visits at roughly 30% of normal. So in recent days, I’ve used an opportunity to see if I was being shadow-banned. Shadow-banning is the hotly denied but now well-established censorship favoured by social media. Put simply, regular interest groups about whom one blogs are just taken out of contact.

Now, Backto60/Waspi are State Pension injustice movements about whom I haven’t posted for some time. But with the Appeal case coming up, it seemed right and relevant to restate the disgracefully shabby way in which all three Westminster Parties have treated them. So here was a chance to run a story where the Blue Meanies wouldn’t recognise a big interest group.

The results are compelling evidence. Twitter referred just 257 hits -despite my spending all morning merchandising the piece at the site. Facebook (where I simply auto-posted) produced 15,809 hits and 12,775 individual visits.

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I have never trusted Twitter. My sole desire now is to dramatically reduce dependence on them. I therefore need a favour from those who regularly come here to appreciate objective investigation as a nice rest from constipated ideology.

If you follow The Slog via Twitter, I’m asking you now please to do so at The Slog site itself. You will still automatically get my posts on Twitter, but on those occasions when Big T doesn’t like what I have to say, you’ll get an email each time I post.

The process couldn’t be easier: you simply go into any Slogpost, and press the button marked ‘Follow the Slog’ in the right-hand column:

Not only will this reduce censorship applied to all of us, it will also save me a lot of time merchandising my material.

Thank you in advance for your cooperation.