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...

How MI5 gets into the minds of young terrorists ft.trib.al/3jOqNFT

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)

Great culture can save lives. Literally. Amazing letter in today’s @thetimes.com about Tom Stoppard

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...

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...

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...

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...

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

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...

Great column by @sarahoconnorft.ft.com:

Essential reading from Miranda here — a firm no to shorts and jackets but yes to male sarongs

A poignant report from our ever-brilliant Najmeh Bozorgmehr

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...

New: UK appoints Blaise Metreweli as the first female head of MI6 Metreweli, 47, is currently SIS' head of technology, known as ‘Q’. She has previously worked for SIS in roles across the Middle East & as director of state threats for MI5 www.ft.com/content/b12e...

New Hot Money podcast is all about Jan Marsalek, the Wirecard fraudster and Russian spy. Listen to @samgadjones.bsky.social chase him through the shadows here:

Rhianan Rudd was drawn into far-right extremism aged 14, with tragic consequences. Her inquest heard from MI5, CT police, Prevent officials & social workers, who face a rising caseload of teens radicalised online. Is there more the British state could do to keep them safe? www.ft.com/content/ae02...

UK close to appointing first female head of MI6 www.ft.com/content/55bf...

Wild new Jan Marsalek update from UK court. The fugitive Wirecard fraudster and Russian spy aspired to build a Chinese rival to Musk’s Starlink, was trading diamonds in Africa, and had plastic surgeries to change his appearance. Oh, and then there’s the Afghanistan airlift claims…

In northern Norway, US marines are learning Arctic warfare. Here is my @financialtimes.com story on the competition between Russia, China & Nato in this region – and how troops fight in a hostile climate. With Daria Mosolova & beautiful 📷 by @kalpeshlathigra.bsky.social www.ft.com/content/76fd...

Farewell to one of the most important spies of the Cold War. Oleg Gordievsky has died in the UK. A KGB officer who spied for MI6, he supplied vital intelligence that helped manage tensions between the West and the Soviet Union in the 80s. Nothing suspicious to his passing, I understand.

Marsalek made himself useful, running a Bulgarian spy ring in the UK with enough bumbling adventure for most lifetimes, according to details revealed in the trial that resulted in three convictions today. Astounding story from Helen Warrell, Martha Muir and Daria Mosolova here:

You think a story is over, then a Bulgarian pops up in the seaside resort of Great Yarmouth with a garage full of spying equipment and plans to kidnap a dissident

The Wirecard fugitive, Russian intelligence and a Bulgarian spy ring -- what a London espionage trial tells us about the new life of Jan Marsalek. With Martha Muir, Daria Mosolova & @samgadjones.bsky.social www.ft.com/content/d91d...

James Bond, the British spy under US ownership https://on.ft.com/41GDDET

A few weeks ago I wrote for @financialtimes.com about the high number of autistic children being referred to the UK's Prevent deradicalisation programme. Now @yvettecooper-mp.bsky.social has announced a review into how Prevent manages people with neurodiversity diagnoses www.ft.com/content/4218...

FT Investigation: A Scottish-Lebanese dynasty. A sheikh scorned. A German arms deal. A £50mn penthouse. The former King of Spain. One of London’s hottest tech investors. Intrigued? Hope you enjoy What led to the fall of the house of El Husseiny on.ft.com/402y3wZ

Two stages of writing: 1) This shouldn't take too long 2) Oh no

A ring of Bulgarian spies working for Russia targeted Ukrainian soldiers believed to be undergoing training in complex air defence systems at a US military base, a London court heard on Tuesday. via @financialtimes.com's @helenwarrell.bsky.social + Martha Muir www.ft.com/content/12f3...

For those who don't follow East Asian geopolitics, this is a black eye for Biden as he departs. Korean-Japanese detente has been one of Biden's signature foreign policy accomplishments, and Yoon stuck his neck out to join hands with Tokyo despite domestic resistance. Now he goes and does this...

“One way or another, the Europeans are going to have to pick up more of the burden. The question is whether this will be a managed process or chaotic one” In the age of Trump, a rising China and a revanchist Russia, our FT deep dive into whether Europe can defend itself on.ft.com/4i1wKVQ

Very much looking forward to this, from the mighty @gordoncorera.bsky.social & David McCloskey podnews.net/press-releas...

For lovers of snow ❄️ I give you the greatest snow ball fight in history. In 1854 300 people including stock brokers went into snowy battle at Liverpool’s Exhange. The Liverpool Mercury reported “Hats flew away, By the force of the ball, From heads that were grey, Or with no hair at all”.

Thank you Stephen!

This is such a complex problem: young people with autism and the counter-terrorism machine -- by the brilliant @helenwarrell.bsky.social www.ft.com/content/536c...

High numbers of autistic children are being referred to the UK's Prevent deradicalisation programme and drawing the attention of counterterrorism police. This piece for @financialtimes.com is about the changing nature of terrorism & how vulnerable minors may be at risk www.ft.com/content/536c...