Working as an investigative journalist, he travelled in Indonesia, Brazil, and East Africa. His activities led to his being made persona non grata in several countries[5] and being sentenced to life imprisonment in absentia in Indonesia.[6] In these places, he was also shot at,[7] beaten up by military police,[7] shipwrecked[7] and stung into a poisoned coma by hornets.[8] He came back to work in Britain after being pronounced clinically dead in Lodwar General Hospital in north-western Kenya, having contracted cerebral malaria.[9]
In Britain, he joined the roads protest movement and was often called to give press interviews. He was denounced as "nothing but a bandwagoner"[10] and a "media tart"[11] by groups such as Green Anarchist and Class War.