From this month I am expanding the reach of this blog by linking up to a new venture called By Line.

This is an independent news platform set up by two young thrusting entrepreneurs Seungyoon Lee and Daniel Tudor.

You can read about it here.

Basically I am joining forces with. other independently minded journalists like Julie Bindel, James Doleman, Beatrix Campbell, Peter Jukes and Martin Hickman to put up stories which are not necessarily being reported by the conventional media or, even if they are, miss some of the more interesting issues.

I shall be concentrating on an area I know well, Westminster and Whitehall revealing, i hope, the sort of story senior mandarins and Cabinet Ministers would rather you did not read about. The details about my Inside Westminster and Whitehall column are here.

The move also marks the first step to raise money for my blog which has been a labour of love since it was first launched over five years ago. I have never been keen on financing it from advertising – it raises very little cash, clutters up the page and more importantly I will never know whether I might want to investigate one of the advertisers  and I won’t want to be inhibited. Instead  I will be seeking crowd funding for some projects that I want to investigate. My existing blog will continue alongside but there will be some cross posting on issues.

Change is hitting the media industry at a fast and furious pace. This is just one of the new type of ventures that are sweeping the country.