It’s been quite the ride. Me on Burnham, the Manchester years as.ft.com/r/2d95cb4b-8...
The decade that made Andy Burnham
What 10 years covering the Manchester mayor’s many reinventions taught me about the man who wants to lead Britain
as.ft.com
Helen Warrell
@helenwarrell.bsky.social
FT investigations. Previously defence & security editor, political and home affairs correspondent. Get in touch: helen.warrell@ft.com
Does it change our perception of our society to know that a fair chunk of extremist behaviour is in fact a Russian sabotage campaign? www.ft.com/content/8fa3...
Russian saboteurs hired third operative for UK attacks
Footage points to the role of an unidentified man spraying anti-Muslim graffiti in London
ft.com
Arson targeting Keir Starmer properties originated in Russia ft.trib.al/6LJCBeD
Arson targeting Keir Starmer properties originated in Russia
Handler was affiliated with a pro-Kremlin hacktivist group
ft.trib.al
stop all the clocks. and then wear all your brightest colours in tribute - the king of drawing as well as colour
Janine Gibson@janinegibson.ft.com · 2mo agoHere is a gift link to Simon Schama's appreciation of David Hockney's life and art which we ran last year. It's an amazing piece and contains, as you might imagine, some spectacular pictures including an absolute corker of Hackney with Lucian Freud as.ft.com/r/f1473f70-0...
Phenomenal detail from the FT's obituary of the great Alex Younger, by Charles Clover & JP Rathbone: When Dominic Cummings called him for the first time, he asked Younger what he was doing. “Plotting evil shit,” Younger replied. www.ft.com/content/59c9...
Alex Younger, former MI6 chief, 1963-2026
With courage and a clear moral compass, he dedicated his tenure to preparing Britain for mounting foreign threats
ft.com
A stunning exposé in FT on how Russia and Iran use nearly identical techniques to recruit teenagers to do espionage and sabotage for them. Russia and Iran have long enlisted proxies to perform hostile acts on European soil, but targeting minors represents a new twist on their subversive gig economy.
The teenagers enlisted as agents of mayhem by Russia and Iran
Minors are being targeted to carry out hostile acts from Ukraine to western Europe and Israel
ft.trib.al
Russia & Iran are recruiting teenagers across Europe and the Middle East to conduct sabotage. From Kyiv to Tel Aviv, we reveal how minors are hired online, paid in crypto & exploited as disposable, deniable, single-use agents. From @christopherjm.ft.com & me www.ft.com/content/58da...
The teenagers enlisted as agents of mayhem by Russia and Iran
Minors are being targeted to carry out hostile acts from Ukraine to western Europe and Israel
ft.com
If you read one thing today, make it @stephenkb.bsky.social's admirably clear and rational analysis of the police's actions following Henry Nowak's murder, from the @financialtimes.com Inside Politics newsletter www.ft.com/content/aa94...
What Henry Nowak’s murder does — and does not — tell us about policing
Kemi Badenoch says his killing needs to be seen as a ‘Stephen Lawrence moment’ but the failures in both cases differ
ft.com
Providers charge the state an average of £384,020 per child per year, a huge rise from a decade ago. That is multiple times the cost of the country’s most prestigious boarding schools such as Eton College and of its young offenders institutions. ft.trib.al/MwQX4gy
A mysterious Russian wanted to buy a struggling golf club - located near the railway serving the UK's main submarine-manufacturing shipyard. When @financialtimes.com started investigating, he pulled out www.ft.com/content/19a3... (with comments by yours truly)
Russian oilman tried to buy golf course on railway to British nuclear site
Purchase of Lake District club collapsed this week after government officials and the FT raised questions over strategic location
ft.com
A Russian businessman & his daughter tried to buy a lake district golf course next to the railway line that serves Sellafield nuclear waste site & submarine shipyard at Barrow. UK security officials intervened. @financialtimes.com scoop from @ramshodgson.bsky.social & me www.ft.com/content/19a3...
Russian oilman tried to buy golf course on railway to British nuclear site
Purchase of Lake District club collapsed this week after government officials and the FT raised questions over strategic location
ft.com
NEW: The UK Home Office has admitted that some people are being referred to its Prevent deradicalisation scheme *just* to ensure faster access to mental health & neurodiversity services, in an internal review seen by @financialtimes.com [free link for first 300 readers] as.ft.com/r/f8176f47-6...
UK deradicalisation scheme being used to speed mental health service access, review warns
[FREE TO READ] Home Office has expressed concerns that Prevent programme is under pressure due to wider gaps in public services
as.ft.com
How MI5 gets into the minds of young terrorists ft.trib.al/3jOqNFT
How MI5 gets into the minds of young terrorists
ft.trib.al
PMQs: Kemi Badenoch raises the fact that I asked Starmer in January 2024 about our 2023 FT story showing Mandelson staying at Epstein’s Manhattan mansion while he was in prison for soliciting prostitution from a minor (Starmer shrugged off my question)
When it comes to modern war, Ireland is a high-value target: its waters on the western fringe of Europe contain three-quarters of all undersea cables in the northern hemisphere. Despite this, is unprotected and unprepared. An #FTEdit 🧵 on why this determinedly neutral nation is Europe's weak link 👇
Last week the UK warned Russia to rein in its spy ship Yantar, which was heading to Irish waters. This is how Ireland's neutrality & lack of naval clout has become a security liability, threatening its economy & unsettling its neighbours. By @judewebber.bsky.social & me www.ft.com/content/4748...
How Ireland became the weak spot in Europe’s defences
With few ships and limited intelligence-sharing, some say the country cannot hope to protect itself or its infrastructure
ft.com
UK 🇬🇧 Ministry of Defence (MOD) image of Russian spy ship Yantar, presumably in or near UK waters. Note that the ROV (remote operated vehicle, a deep-sea robot) A-frame is deployed (red). It’s doing something on the seabed. Also two new radomes (yellow)
The Russian spy ship Yantar is once again loitering near UK waters: for a full run-down on this vessel and the exploits of GUGI, Moscow's secretive underwater operations unit, see our @financialtimes.com investigation from earlier this year: ft.com/content/0b35...
The Russian spy ship stalking Europe’s subsea cables
Covert operations in waters surrounding the British Isles pose a grave threat to critical infrastructure and a fresh challenge to Nato
ft.com
UK Defence Journal@ukdefencejournal.org.uk · 9mo agoDefence Secretary John Healey has issued a direct warning to the Kremlin after the Russian intelligence-gathering ship Yantar returned to the northern approaches of the UK and targeted RAF crews with laser devices. ukdefencejournal.org.uk/russia-warne...
Today we have the latest in our collaboration with the @financialtimes.com. This week, we're talking all things WAR, with @jamesodonnell.bsky.social and @helenwarrell.bsky.social www.technologyreview.com/2025/11/17/1...
The State of AI: How war will be changed forever
In this conversation, Helen Warrell, FT investigations reporter and former defense and security editor, and James O’Donnell, MIT Technology Review’s senior AI reporter, consider the ethical quandaries...
technologyreview.com
FT Investigation: Using radar data collected by European Space Agency satellites, the FT was able to locate the spy ship hovering over critical cables in the middle of the Irish Sea in November, at a point in the voyage when the ship was seeking to hide its activities. on.ft.com/46JjsIJ
What is Russia's spy ship Yantar and why has it been loitering in British waters? The FT investigates the threat to undersea cables & the work of Moscow's secret deep-sea research unit, GUGI, as an agent of sabotage. With @chriscook.news Daria Mosolova & David Djambazov www.ft.com/content/0b35...
The Russian spy ship stalking Europe’s subsea cables
Covert operations in waters surrounding the British Isles pose a grave threat to critical infrastructure and a fresh challenge to Nato
ft.com
FT exposes Russian cooperation with Iran in pursuit of dual-use nuclear technology. Essential reading to understand Iranian efforts to acquire the tools, expertise and material to make and amplify the power of nuclear bombs. Ace reporting by @miles-johnson.bsky.social and @maxseddon.bsky.social
The covert trip by Iranian nuclear experts to Russia
An Iranian delegation visited Russian scientific institutes that produce dual-use technologies — components with potential applications in nuclear weapons research
ft.com
Mit Gewinn gehört: Die FT-Hot Money-Staffel von @samgadjones.bsky.social zu Marsalek. Letzte Folge heute erschienen, einschließlich eines sehr nachdenklich stimmenden Schlusssatzes. www.ft.com/content/d5f8...
How Wirecard’s Jan Marsalek went from fraudster to spy
The third season of our investigative podcast asks: who is the real Jan Marsalek? And what does his secret life reveal about the powerful forces he serves?
ft.com
Essential reading from Miranda here — a firm no to shorts and jackets but yes to male sarongs
Miranda Green@greenmirandahere.bsky.social · last yr.The Central Line is like an oven - what do you wear in an oven that's office-appropriate? some ideas for heatwave attire I've spotted in the last few days - including a 3 piece suit in thick Irish tweed 🌡️🌡️🌡️https://www.ft.com/content/aaa210a3-8233-43f0-9d0a-5cc29edb122a
Masterful piece on Iran's Fordow enrichment plant, buried deep in the mountains, by my colleagues JP Rathbone and Charles Clover "To Israeli military planners, it is akin to Mount Doom..." www.ft.com/content/46c6...
The nuclear mountain that haunts Israel
Buried half a kilometre underground, Iran’s Fordow enrichment facility is the ultimate test of Israeli air power
ft.com