2016 was a year when the values that drive Little Atoms – progress, debate, internationalism – took some severe knocks. But we also got to produce some critical, crucial, and in some cases cheering journalism. Here are a few of the highlights, to get you through the twilight of this terrible year.
John Paul O'Malley told how the games giant behind Monopoly and Buckaroo! exploited vulnerable young women in Ireland's Magdalene Laundry system, as the church sold their labour and gave them next to nothing in return. A shocking story, sensitively told, that elicited a huge response.
This was, by some distance, the most read story on Little Atoms in 2016. Caroline Christie investigated DMT, a naturally occurring hallucinogen that could explain why we are prone to believing in supernatural visions.
Understanding Russian political culture is one of the most important tasks of the coming years, and there are few finer analysts than Natalia Antonova. In this article, she explained why "the current Russian government enjoys looking nuts – because nuts means unpredictable, and unpredictable means scary"
A beautiful, ranging essay in which one of Britain's best young political journalists, James Bloodworth, looks at This Is London by Ben Judah, a no-less impressive young writer.
Emily Reynolds is another of the sharpest emerging talents in British writing. Here she wrote candidly about how society is still too scared to talk about an illness that will touch everyone's lives.
James O'Malley has a brilliant grasp of the Zeitgeist. In the days after Brexit, he set up a petition calling for London's independence from the UK. Here he explains exactly how the city state could happen.
A nation divided, an uncertain future...what better time to revisit Patrick Hamilton's pre-war classic, Hangover Square?
A scientific paper claimed to show disprove conspiracy theories. We set master debunker Martin Robbins on the case
Rebecca Vincent's profile of Azerbaijani reporter Khadija Ismayilova, a friend and journalistic hero to Little Atoms, who was released from prison in May of this year.
Paul Beatty's masterful The Sellout was the deserving winner of this year's Booker Prize. Neil Denny interviewed the author just days before he accepted the prestigious award.
Like thousands of leftists and progressives, Oz Katerji spent 2016 increasingly frustrated with the discussion on Syria. He decided to let Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn know about it.
Meanwhile, post-Owen Smith, Mike Harris made the case for sticking with the Labour party.
Is there such a thing as an alternative to alternative media? If so, that's what Little Atoms is.
