Leo Benedictus

Journalist

Leo joined Full Fact in January 2020. For 15 years, he worked freelance as a feature writer for the Guardian, Prospect, the New Scientist and others, making maps of immigration, explaining citizens’ assemblies and debunking superfoods. He has a fondness for science and statistics. He also writes novels.

29 May 2026

Health

Sunbed Association’s ‘safe tan’ advice is not correct, according to experts

By Leo Benedictus • 5 mins

The trade body representing UK tanning salons says people can get a safe tan—contradicting health authorities and experts around the world. Read

Fact checks

28 May 2026

Shopping

This Tesco HexClad offer is not a genuine deal from the retailer

By Leo Benedictus • 1 min

We’ve spotted more Facebook posts falsely claiming to share supposedly secret deals from Tesco. Read

Quick check

28 May 2026

Crime

The number of women and girls killed by men is not rising

By Leo Benedictus • 3 mins

BBC News has corrected an article which claimed that killings of women by men were increasing. Read

Fact checks

27 May 2026

Health

False claims about sunglasses shared on Facebook again

By Leo Benedictus • 2 mins

A man in a video wrongly says that wearing sunglasses stops people tanning and causes cancer. Read

Quick check

14 May 2026

Economy, Business & Finance

Welfare payments have not exceeded income tax ‘for the first time ever’

By Leo Benedictus • 3 mins

Welfare spending, which includes state pensions, has been higher than income tax for at least 13 years, contrary to a claim in the Conservatives’ Alternative King’s Speech. Read

Fact checks

13 May 2026

Politics

Local election bar charts revisited: how misleading were they in the end?

By Leo Benedictus • 2 mins

Now that the elections are over, we’ve compared six of the dodgy or unreliable bar charts highlighted in our investigation with the actual results. Things often worked out rather differently. Read

Analysis

12 May 2026

Politics

Revealed: what the Scottish and Welsh election candidates talked about on social media

By Leo Benedictus • 5 mins

Our AI-assisted analysis of over 19,000 posts shows that the economy was the topic most commonly discussed, with health not far behind. Read

Analysis

6 May 2026

Politics

Revealed: how local election bar charts are misleading voters and using unreliable data

By Leo Benedictus • 11 mins

We’ve found over a dozen leaflets making claims about how people are likely to vote which are misleading, unsourced or not backed with reliable evidence. Read

Analysis

29 April 2026

Politics

Video of voters on the street is AI-generated

By Leo Benedictus • 2 mins

We’ve detected Google’s AI watermark in the video, which has other signs it can’t be trusted. Read

Fact checks

29 April 2026

Shopping

Facebook ads offer fake Toby Carvery giveaway

By Leo Benedictus • 1 min

The ads contain videos that say people of a certain age can apply for a voucher for a free meal. Read

Quick check