Mark Townsend.

Mark Townsend is the Home Affairs Editor of The Observer. He joined the newspaper in 2002 and has since reported on many of the world’s major news events. Mark has won or been short-listed for more than 25 journalism awards. Most recently he was shortlisted for the Orwell prize, Paul Foot award and the Amnesty media awards. His dispatches from Afghanistan formed the basis for his book Point Man, published by Faber & Faber and praised by Stephen Fry among others. Mark was a chief contributor to the book accompanying Ken Loach’s 2011 film, Route Irish, which explored the domestic legacy of the Iraq war. He also wrote the environmental satire ‘Fifty Ways to F**k the Planet’, published by Collins UK and a book described by Nick Cave as “wickedly amusing.”