A good example of Britain’s new breed of informer

Added: 2026-05-05

[00:00:02]Hello again.

[00:00:04]There has never been much affection in this country for those who spy on their neighbors and then go scuttling off to the authorities to report on what they have seen.

[00:00:15]The COVID epidemic changed this and created a public perception that it was a duty to report one's neighbor if he had friends around for dinner or left his house more than once a day.

[00:00:27]Some people embraced this new approach with great enthusiasm and acquired a taste for logging all manner of supposed breaches of various regulations not simply those relating to co they became in fact full-time informers not to understand paid informers like the oldtime coers n these folk were motivated not by financial gain but rather simply the desire to ensure that everybody adhereed to the petty regulations as sedulously as they did themselves.

[00:01:04]An excellent instance of this new breed of amateur detective is a man called Gregory Fellows who at one time played the guitar in a pop group. He is astonishingly industrious at feriting out those who in his sight failed to stick to the rules and regulations which he holds in almost superstitious reverence.

[00:01:26]I first became aware of this individual when I received an email late one night on Christmas Eve of all days.

[00:01:35]There were no holidays or days off for folk of this stamp. It arrived at almost 10 just as I was about to go to bed with nothing more on my mind than celebrating the birth of our savior the next day.

[00:01:49]It read, "Dear Mr. web. I thought it only fair to warn you I have reported you to Getty Images for copyright violation as they are quite aggressive in this matter and I have no doubt you will soon be receiving a copyright strike on your channel concerning the matter.

[00:02:11]The idea that somebody was patrolling the internet and checking that the thumbnails used by people running YouTube channels did not breach any copyright was so fascinating to me that I didn't really feel annoyed about this email. It provided a window upon a world of whose existence I had been only vaguely aware.

[00:02:31]After Mr. fellows had identified me as somebody who didn't stick to the rules which he felt I should be following. The email soon began arriving thick and fast. A copyright complaint will be filed against your YouTube account followed by you have been warned in capital letters.

[00:02:52]the online safety bill was mentioned and also when he didn't care for the tone of somebody commenting on this channel he said naturally I'm thinking of going to the police about the matter there seemed to be few organizations to whom Mr. fellows would not be complaining.

[00:03:11]There was a time, of course, before the internet when communications of this sort would have been written in green ink and posted to the police or the prime minister or whoever the person felt might act upon their information.

[00:03:25]But these days, emails are the preferred mode of contact.

[00:03:29]The latest episode in this longunning saga occurred when I popped into a local military museum where I'm fairly well known.

[00:03:38]I write books on among other subjects military history and so visit this place pretty regularly. I've teased them about what I see as their political correctness these days in the exhibitions which they mount.

[00:03:53]When last I went the other day, the woman in charge smiled and told me that they had received a complaint about my conduct.

[00:04:03]This came as something of a surprise because I always behaved like a respectable person when using their facilities.

[00:04:10]It seemed that the complaint was about a video I released on this channel and after some banter she revealed the name of the person who had contacted her. It was needless to say none other than the same Gregory Fellows who had been dogging my footsteps online since Christmas Eve 2024.

[00:04:32]It would be easy to get tety with people like this, although I don't personally feel that way. I know that the modern trend is despised what are known demotically as snitches, but to me, men like Gregory Fellows are cast in the mold of great British eccentrics, and I feel that life in this island kingdom of ours would be made all the more dull without them.

[00:04:56]There is no personal animosity involved in these denunciations to higher authorities. He simply sees it as his duty to make sure that everybody abides by the rules.

[00:05:08]I've come across him in various odd corners of the internet, always fighting the good fight in this way and urging others to join him in battling against the cavalier and devil may care attitude which so many of us evinced towards pointless regulations.

[00:05:25]On February the 9th, for instance, we see him commenting on a YouTube channel saying, "YouTube are sorting it out anyways with the evidence I've provided them with."

[00:05:37]A few days later, he was encouraging people by saying that best thing to do is mass report him. He'll get banned.

[00:05:46]This then is the culmination of Gregory Fellow's career. And in a sense, his whole life might be said to have led up to his role as self-appointed guardian of the walls of the internet.

[00:05:58]It's a dirty job, but somebody has to do it.