Sitdown Sunday: 'Don't worry, we're your pals' - the crooked lawyer who stole millions from clients

The Journal

18-05-2025

IT'S A DAY of rest, and you may be in the mood for a quiet corner and a comfy chair.
We've hand-picked some of the week's best reads for you to savour.
1. The secrets of Stephen David Jones
Shutterstock
Shutterstock
Many people who met the solicitor described him to Hettie O'Brien as an English gentleman, making it easy to gain the trust of wealthy clients. But, as she writes here, he was actually stealing from them. An extraordinary read.
(
The Guardian
, approx 34 mins reading time)
From the outset, Jones was eager to assist. He suggested that Jirehouse become a partner in the Feddinch Club, and arranged for McKay to fly to New York and meet some investors and an architect. McKay had never worked on a project of this scale before, and was keen to secure financing, so he brought Jirehouse on board as a partner. 'My dad's his own worst enemy,' said McKay's son, Bruce. 'If he meets somebody who appears successful, he'll take their advice.'
In early 2013, McKay decided to move closer to St Andrews to be nearer to the golf course. He found a bungalow with a wide view of the site and the sea beyond. On Jones's instructions, Scotia would be listed on the deeds for McKay's new home, just as it had been for his house in Angus. Shortly before the purchase went through, however, Jones told McKay there had been a change of plan. Instead of Scotia's name appearing on the property deeds, Jones and another Jirehouse colleague would be listed as the property's owners. McKay panicked when he heard this, but Jones reassured him. Jirehouse would be holding the house on trust for him and his family, he said, so it would still technically belong to them. McKay continued to worry. He couldn't shake the feeling that it wasn't him who owned his new house – it was Jones.
2. Space archaeologists
With space travel now being commercialised in a way we've never seen before, these are the people who work to preserve and save human-made artifacts found beyond Earth's atmosphere.
(
BBC
, approx 8 mins reading time)
'We might have chosen the site of the Soviet Luna 2 probe because that was the first human artefact to land on the Moon. Instead, we picked Tranquillity Base because it was the first time humans had landed on another celestial body, and it has an international significance comparable to that of Stonehenge. Unable to visit the Moon, we had to really dig in the archives to find out what was left on the lunar surface at Tranquillity Base.' The project has found around 106 artefacts and features left there (a feature is an artefact that cannot be moved, such as each footprint). These include the mundane, such as sample scoops; the emotive, such as footprints; and the poignant – an Apollo 1 Mission patch. The three Apollo 1 crew were killed in 1967 when fire swept through their capsule while still on the launchpad at Cape Canaveral. There were also surprises. They discovered that medals from two cosmonauts, Vladimir Komarov and Yuri Gagarin, had been left there by the Apollo 11 astronauts. 'Their widows had passed on the medals to the American astronauts at the height of the Space Race and the Cold War,' O'Leary says. 'It's very powerful, isn't it?'
3. How Biden handed the US presidency to Trump
Alamy Stock Photo
Alamy Stock Photo
In this excerpt from a new book by journalists Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson, they write about Biden's health and a supposed Democratic cover-up to hide his decline.
(
The New Yorker
, approx 24 mins reading time)
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It seemed clear that the President had not recognized Clooney. 'It was not O.K.,' recalled the Hollywood V.I.P. who had witnessed this moment. 'That thing, the moment where you recognize someone you know—especially a famous person who's doing a fucking fund-raiser for you—it was delayed. It was uncomfortable.' 'George Clooney,' the aide clarified for the President. 'Oh, yeah!' Biden said. 'Hi, George!' Clooney was shaken to his core. The President hadn't recognized him, a man he had known for years. Clooney had expressed concern about Biden's health before—a White House aide had told him a few months before that they were working on getting the President to take longer steps when he walked—but obviously the problem went far beyond his gait. This was much graver. This was the President of the United States? Clooney was certainly not the only one concerned. Other high-dollar attendees who posed for photographs with Obama and Biden described Biden as slow and almost catatonic. Though they saw pockets of clarity while watching him on television, and onstage later that night, there were obvious brain freezes and clear signs of a mental slide. It was, to some of them, terrifying.
4. Airbnb's reinvention
The holiday rental company's CEO has spent hundreds of millions to launch a new services and experiences app that features, well, just about everything.
(
WIRED
, approx 15 mins reading time)
Now that a whole slew of people will have new reasons to chat with each other and coordinate plans, Airbnb has also enhanced its messaging functions. Fellow travelers who share experiences can form communities, stay in touch, even share videos and photos. 'I don't know if I want to call it a social network, because of the stigma associated with it,' says Ari Balogh, Airbnb's CTO. So they employ a fuzzier term. 'We think of it as a connection platform,' he says. 'You're going to see us build a lot more stuff on top of it, although we're not an advertising system, thank goodness.' (My own observation is that any for-profit company that can host advertising will, but whatever.) This brings us to the services—the heart and soul of this reinvention. Those now on offer seem designed to augment an Airbnb stay with all the stuff that drives up your bill at a luxury resort, like a DIY White Lotus. It will be interesting to see how the company handles the inevitable cases of food poisoning or bad haircuts (and skeezy customers), but Airbnb can draw on its 17 years of experience with dirty sheets, all-night discos on the ground floor, or a host who is literally terrorizing you. Eventually, Chesky says, Airbnb will offer 'hundreds' of services, perhaps as far-ranging as plumbing, cleaning, car repair, guitar lessons, and tutoring, and then take its 15 percent fee.
5. David Attenborough at 99
Alamy Stock Photo
Alamy Stock Photo
In the same week that he turned 99 and his new documentary about the ocean premiered, the natural history presenter reflects on his favourite marine moments throughout his incredible career, and looks to the future with optimism.
(
The Times
, approx 14 mins reading time)
We now understand how to fix many of the biggest problems we face as a species, and we have centuries of progress to draw on for inspiration. Indeed, in the past 100 years alone we have dramatically reduced infant mortality, suppressed many of our most feared diseases, increased access to education and healthcare, acquired scientific knowledge that has transformed our understanding of the world and co-operated on global issues to a degree never seen before. Young children playing on a beach today will live through perhaps the most consequential time for the human species in the past 10,000 years. They will grow up to see how this story ends, to see how our choices play out. If we use our great discoveries, apply our unique minds and direct our unparalleled communication and problem-solving skills to restoring our ocean, then those children will bring their own into a world where the biggest challenges our species has ever faced have already been navigated.
6. A growing challenge in women's sport
Katie C Reilly writes about the increasing hostility, harassment and threats that female athletes face while trying to be the best at their sport.
(
ELLE
, approx 14 mins reading time)
This harassment isn't limited to one sport or professional league. During the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, 87 percent of online abuse targeted women athletes, according to a World Athletics study, and most of the comments were sexual or racist in nature. 'The levels have gone far beyond what I think anyone would ever have thought,' tennis player Sloane Stephens, who's been vocal about online abuse she's received, told ELLE. 'Just how dangerous it is—no one's really ever speaking about it.' When Stephens lost in the third round of the 2021 US Open, she received over 2,000 messages of abuse. Today, she said she receives around 100 abusive messages after each match, win or lose. 'This isn't something that happens once a year—it's happening every week,' Stephens said. 'To do your job and also manage being harassed and being mistreated—that's another job in itself.'
…AND A CLASSIC FROM THE ARCHIVES…
A gripping longread from 2021 about Stéphane Bourgoin, a self-proclaimed expert on serial killers who became famous in France for interviewing 70 murderers. Then his past was exposed.
(
The Guardian
, approx 35 mins reading time)
After the interview, Kehringer reviewed the tape. Bourgoin had asked Kemper about various violent incidents from his childhood, about the details of his killings, about the particulars of his monstrous fantasy life. 'What were those fantasies?' Bourgoin inquired. 'What were they?' Kemper replied, almost taken aback. 'Possessing the severed heads of women.' The documentary went forward, but Kehringer stopped speaking to Bourgoin. 'I saw Stéphane change,' she told me. His interest in serial murder was evidently more compulsive than mere curiosity. 'When he had the killers in front of him, it was as if he was sitting across from his idols.' Bourgoin, she concluded, was in fact a fan.
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