✨ Thrilled to have written my first
@spectator
cover!
Germany’s AfD has rapidly been growing in popularity - I wanted to get under the skin of who their voters are and why they might propel them to victory in September’s state elections.
Out in print and online tomorrow!
🗞️ Alt reich: is Germany’s far right about to go mainstream, asks Lisa Haseldine
✍️ In the mag
• Douglas Murray on Labour’s age of miracles
• Ayaan Hirsi Ali on the death of free speech in Britain
• Joan Collins: do I have too many friends?
Just a day after the death of Alexei Navalny, the Russian media is already doing its best to pretend it didn't happen.
My report for
@spectator
on what the Kremlin wants Russians to read:
My landlord tried to hike my rent by 30%. I got angry - wrote a piece.
Me for
@spectator
on landlords exploiting the
#CostOfLivingCrisis
and why we need rent controls in the UK (something ✨72% of Brits✨ support btw) ⬇️
1/2 Last week I spoke to Richard Ratcliffe about how he was after his 21 day hunger strike in his efforts to
#FreeNazanin
.
He's recovering well but feels the Govt have yet to step up to plate to proactively work to bring Nazanin home, describing his family as feeling abandoned.
A fun bit of ✨personal news✨to kickstart the new year. Delighted to announce that as of today I am
@myldn
LDR for
#Ealing
,
#Hillingdon
and
#Hounslow
!
Big thanks to the whole team for having faith in me and can’t wait to get cracking.
Tips and stories send them my way!
2/2 Richard also wants to meet w/ Liz Truss and FCDO before Christmas. When I approached FCDO for comment, they made no comment about whether this would be possible. You can read my report here:
I met with Richard Ratcliffe myself today to chat about how he was doing after his hunger strike and what came next in the campaign to
#FreeNazanin
.
Report coming for
@myldn
soon!
It has been really important to have cross-party support in the campaign to
#FreeNazanin
, and particularly from the former Foreign Secretary
@Jeremy_Hunt
.
Richard Ratcliffe and I met with Jeremy earlier today to share ideas on how to make progress in securing Nazanin's release.
A year ago today
@vkaramurza
was imprisoned in Russia for 25 years - the longest sentence given to a political prisoner since the fall of the USSR. His family are lobbying for his release and want the UK govt's help.
Me for
@spectator
:
Today I was heckled aggressively by a
@metpoliceuk
officer while trying to do my job, so much so I had to temporarily stop my reporting. His colleagues did nothing even though I was clearly slightly shaken and one even tried to justify it to me afterwards?! 1/4
‘A Russian victory in Ukraine would rewrite the map of Europe and present the continent with a threat not seen for more than 80 years. We must not forget this.’
Me for
@Telegraph
on why we shouldn’t forget about Ukraine during this general election
V chuffed that today is my first day as a news reporter for
@myldn
- get in touch with all your story tips and hot scoops please (link in bio)
#journorequest
#London
#news
At the weekend, 000's in Germany protested against the AfD + fascism after it was revealed senior party figures met in Nov. to discuss the forced deportation of millions of non-ethnic Germans.
Me for
@spectator
on whether this spells trouble for the AfD:
1/ And just like that my time at
@myldn
has come to an end!
Thanks so much to the whole team for the amazing opportunity!
From Monday catch me at the
@spectator
where I’ll be helping to edit the online mag!
Now to be naff with some reporting highlights from the past 8 months…
Something I wish I had written back in March and finally got the chance to now. For
@myldn
on how we need to move the narrative away from how women should protect themselves to teaching men to respect women
#SabinaNessa
#SayHerName
2 years ago today I joined
@spectator
- what a brilliant two years it has been! It has been a joy to edit for
@SpecCoffeeHouse
as well as cover lots of fascinating stories from Russia, Germany and beyond. Happy anniversary to me!
Yesterday I met the wonderful Beryl, who at 100, is still volunteering at Ealing Hospital.
She survived the Blitz and is still going strong! A remarkable lady.
My interview here:
@royalacademy
Catching up on days 1 & 2 and trying out my new watercolours 😍: an Affingoffle knowing what will become of his beloved ham
#RAdailydoodle
Today marks 2 years since Belarus held contested elections.
Last month I had the immense pleasure of speaking to
@Tsihanouskaya
to discuss the Peramoga plan, Ukraine and the meaning of democracy for Belarus.
You can read the interview on
@spectator
here:
I'm looking to speak to any black cab drivers who have opinions on Low Traffic Neighbourhoods for a piece. Preferably in Hillingdon, Ealing or Hounslow. Please get in touch!
#journorequest
Anyone else watching
#MrsAmerica
blown away by how relevant it feels? A reminder of just how hard won so many things we take for granted now actually were and how fragile some of that still is!
1/2 Today I went back down to the Foreign Office to speak to Richard Ratcliffe on day 16 of his hunger strike.
He’s feeling weaker but his resilience and determination seems undimmed.
🚨 NEW: 9.7 mil Russians crossed 🇷🇺 borders into neighbouring countries July - Sept this yr, FSB data shows - more x2 the number crossing in April - June
The stats show this is due to Putin’s ‘partial mobilisation’
My analysis for
@spectator
:
Olaf Scholz wants Germany to get tough on deporting foreign-born criminals – even if they come from war zones/unsafe homelands such as Afghanistan + Syria.
'Anyone who threatens our freedom and disturbs our peace should be afraid.'
Me for
@spectator
:
Yesterday I was at
@EalingCouncil
to see
@BukayoSaka87
receive the Freedom of the Borough.
He said he was 'lucky' to receive it and hoped he could go on to inspire many more kids in his career.
Pretty cool dude!
My report:
Richard Ratcliffe continues his hunger strike outside the Foreign Office, now on day 11.
I spoke to him yesterday - he's doing okay but starting to get weaker.
Seems like FCDO are largely trying to avoid thinking about him or Nazanin and have interacted with them minimally.
For this week’s
@spectator
I’ve written about the dire state of the German armed forces and Boris Pistorius’s well intentioned but fantastical efforts to pull them up by the boot straps.
Get your copy on newsstands from tomorrow morning ✨
🗞 McMafia: Fraser Nelson on the SNP’s secret state
✍️ In the mag:
• Katy Balls on Labour’s tax attack
• Lisa Haseldine on Germany's tankless tank division
• Richard Dawkins on how to convert an atheist
Very excited to be running the
@spectator
's live blog on tonight's BBC Question Time election special!
Follow along for all the great insights from our team:
'NATO should promise Ukraine membership', but the timing needs to be discussed as it is 'unrealistic' to think it could happen whilst the war is ongoing, says The Spectator's assistant online editor
@lisa_haseldine
.
📺 Sky 501 and YouTube
For a bit of 🎄festive fun🎄I’m reviewing the best cookbooks of 2022 to give as gifts this Christmas for the
@spectator
Please send any and all recs my way 🎁 can’t wait to get stuck in and don’t want to miss any gems!
#journorequest
What a treat to write for
@vittleslondon
today - thank you
@demarionunn
for indulging my love of Russian food, communal eating and history, while letting me natter on about every linguist's favourite topic, my year abroad. Go give it a read!
Nationalise Greggs? Nationalise Wetherspoons? Or something else? Today's newsletter by
@lisa_haseldine
looks at the idea of nationalised food through the lens of the Soviet stolovayas, and the importance of a healthy, hot and affordable meal
I met Richard Ratcliffe a number of times last autumn during and after his hunger strike in his campaign to bring Nazanin home.
What delightful news - wishing the family the most wonderful of reunions!
It's been 6 long years - and I can't believe I can FINALLY share this photo.
Nazanin is now in the air flying away from 6 years of hell in Iran.
My heart goes out to Gabriella and Richard, as her long journey back home to them gets closer by the minute.
#NazaninIsFree
❤️
3/3 ...Many fear Scholz may hop into bed with Xi and increase Germany's dependence on China just after freeing itself of Russia
Some analysis of what is being said about the visit in Germany, by me for
@spectator
:
My interview with Richard Ratcliffe on the penultimate day of his hunger strike to
#FreeNazanin
.
He mentioned how he dreamt of being able to have a cup of tea together on the sofa at home.
I'm very proud of my interview for this week's
@spectator
magazine with Evgenia, the wife of Vladimir Kara-Murza. He's a British citizen and, now that Navalny is gone, Putin's most high profile political prisoner.
On a news stand near you from today!
All set up and ready for the count at
#Hillingdon
for the
#LocalElections2022
!
Less than 10 mins until polls close - follow along on this thread to see how the night unfolds…
Germany follows US lead to allow Ukraine to use German-made weapons on Russian soil.
German govt spokesperson says 🇺🇦 can use thm ‘in accordance with its international legal obligations’
Reports suggest this line discussed by German, US, French + UK security advisors this week
Earlier this evening gunmen opened fire on a music venue in the Moscow suburbs - the largest terrorist attack in recent times.
Putin was reportedly warned this could happen but dismissed western warnings as 'blackmail'.
My latest for
@spectator
:
The fact another police officer tried to justify his actions to me suggests a lack of respect which, in keeping with other issues with misogyny exposed recently within the Met suggests this is part of the problem. 3/4
As Russia's sham election gets under way, it's time to declare Putin an illegitimate president.
My article for
@spectator
laying out why this will make a difference, inspired by the fascinating
@HJS_Org
panel I took part in earlier this week:
✍️ "Replacing Sergei Shoigu with Andrei Belousov is Putin's warning to the West: Russia isn’t backing down," writes
@lisa_haseldine
.
Read more here ⬇️
1/ On June 8 Russian Duma MP Evgeniy Fedorov proposed a bill to rescind the recognition of Lithuania as an independent state.
Fedorov revealed this is part of a plan to kick Lithuania (+ maybe others) out of NATO.
I wrote about it for the
@spectator
:
It was only when I explained my rights as a journalist and that he could speak to my editor that he patronisingly dismissed me. Would this have happened if I was a man? Dare I say it probably not. 2/4
A big thank you to
@maredparry
and
@mcal_liz_ter
for speaking to me about why we need to bring back the
#nighttube
.
I even managed to ask
@SadiqKhan
a question or two - he told me he’s sign the petitions himself if he could. It can’t come back soon enough!
Happy nearly-new year everyone! I watched Putin’s new year’s address so you don’t have to!
For the low-down and my analysis, read it on
@spectator
here:
Despite an Isis faction claiming responsibility for last night's terror attack in Moscow, a narrative is emerging in the Kremlin that is trying to pin the blame on Ukraine.
My latest for
@spectator
:
*Aaand breathe* After a manic day of Prigozhin’s troops marching on Moscow my latest on the rumours that Putin fled the capital today - for
@spectator
When I say I timed my holiday badly, I mean…
Ealing residents have been left angry after approved plans to revamp the South Acton Estate has left their allotments in jeopardy.
First piece as LDR for
@myldn
.
Got any stories from the Ealing, Houslow or Hillingdon area? Get in touch!
Last week a parliamentary report found that Mogden sewage works in Chiswick poured 3.5bil litres of untreated sewage into the Thames in 2020, with 2bil in two days alone.
With comment from
@SalmanShaheen
and
@RuthCadbury
, my report:
Journalists get enough shit just for doing their jobs without having the police pile in too. It really is unacceptable and time for things to change. 4/4
For my first
@spectator
magazine piece I spoke to insanely brave Russian local councillors about a petition + letter they signed calling for Putin to be removed from power. Now, more than ever, their words are important.
Read it here:
Marking one fabulous year at
@spectator
with some analysis of Putin's Victory Day speech in Moscow today.
Victory Day is no longer about WW2 in Putin's Russia.
Read it here:
Germans overwhelmingly don’t want to send Taurus missiles to Ukraine - in some ways this makes Scholz’s job easier, in others harder.
I unpack this for
@spectator
:
MyLondon is now the city's biggest news website. This is a brilliant achievement in just a few months for a young and very talented team. So much more to come and big plans for 2022.
@myldn
I’ve written about how the UK’s up and coming bands have been getting on during the pandemic! It’s fun! It’s interactive! Check it out: big thanks to
@Junodreamband
@lowislandmusic
@PigeonStill
for talking to me!
Yesterday a Hamas delegation was hosted in the Kremlin by the Russian foreign ministry. What does this mean for Putin's position on the conflict in Israel?
My latest analysis for
@spectator
here:
From the start of the new school year in a few weeks' time, Russia's education system will undergo a substantial overhaul.
I've been working on this since December so am v chuffed to have written about it for this week's
@spectator
mag.
Read it here:
The way we British teach languages in schools is appalling for a number of reasons and is so damaging to us as a country - this is a hill I’m v willing to die on!
I wrote about what needs to change for
@spectator
⬇️
Wow so jel of my mum (repping the journo sign) who met
@Tsihanouskaya
in London today along with other
#Belarus
opposition supporters. What a brave, awe-inspiring woman! The situation in Belarus is still spiralling and it’s important not to ignore what’s going on.
Ealing currently has the highest rate of Covid in London, closely followed by Hounslow in 2nd.
My other patch, Hillingdon, came in fourth highest.
Although the Omicron wave is passing, hospitalisations are still increasing in these parts of London.
Two weeks since Prigozhin launched his rebellion, it’s unclear what the Kremlin plans to do with him or the Wagner group. And it’s v unlikely this is the last hurdle Putin will face.
Very thrilled to have written for the
@Telegraph
on this - read it below! 🗞️
🖊 "Russia's president has emerged from hiding, perhaps realising that the nation he thought he’d had in his palm may soon scatter" | Writes Lisa Haseldine
Read the full column below ⤵️
I have just interviewed Richard Ratcliffe who is on hunger strike outside the Foreign Office to protest the continued detainment of his wife
#NazaninZaghariRatcliffe
in Iran. He is on day two and says he is feeling alright but that it is early days.
1/2 Protests are in full swing in
#Georgia
after the parliament overturned President Salome Zurabishvili’s veto of the ‘foreign influence’ bill.
84 Georgian Dream MPs voted in favour after opposition MPs left the chamber in protest.
Yesterday I met Michael, who has had a leak in his flat since 2017.
As a result, he has had damp and black mould and the wallpaper has pealed away.
My report ⬇️
Do you live in Ealing, Hillingdon and Hounslow and have similar issues? Get in touch!
A Kremlin leak has revealed bomb shelters across Russia are being refurbished. Meanwhile, in Dec/Jan, air defence systems began popping up in Moscow. What's going on?
My analysis for
@spectator
- is Putin scared of Ukrainian bombs? ⬇️
EXC: A film workshop which burnt down in Uxbridge 2 weeks ago did not have planning permission.
According to a source, the workshop was being used for the new Napoleon film with Joaquin Phoenix.
My report:
Gove has the right idea - the Truss government has an opportunity to show renters that they can support them - seeing the Rent Reform Bill through into legislation would be the first step in demonstrating this.
Michael Gove says the UK has “unfairly subsidised private landlords and buy to let landlords”. He says Truss’s growth plan should “shift balance away from landlords” and help renters
Georgia's ruling party Georgian Dream is having another crack at pushing through a 'Russian-style' foreign influence bill. It has triggered days of protests and could threaten Georgia's EU accession.
Me for
@spectator
:
This morning I am live blogging about the double stabbing that occurred in Brentford last night.
My fab colleague
@lucycwilliamson
is at the scene right now.
The weekend before last, Belarusian rebels claim to have blown up a 🇷🇺 plane stationed in
#Belarus
, 7.5 miles from Minsk.
Denials + repressions have followed from
#Lukashenko
’s regime as he tries to save face with
#Putin
.
My latest for
@spectator
:
Today I spoke to
@RupaHuq
about local Ealing issues ahead of the
#LocalElections2022
this week.
We discussed overdevelopment and tower blocks which Dr Huq said should be considered on "case by case" basis.
My report:
A fab article by
@hannahtomes_
- the rental sector is the worst it has been in at least 20 years.
Remarkable Truss is willing to close her eyes to this huge (+ growing) problem. Govt says they will announce new measures in coming weeks, but going off this we can't expect much.
Wrote for
@spectator
about last night’s reports that Truss is planning to shelve plans to scrap Section 21 notices. It would be a huge betrayal of renters and a U-turn on something that’s been on the government’s agenda for three years 🏡
I'm looking to interview a Russian person living in London about the ongoing Ukranian crisis for an article. Would be handled sensitively but would be named and pictured! Please RT - my dms are open!
#journorequest
@RusArtCulture
@InModernRussia
🟡 Other notable Blue Wall seats turning Lib Dem include Chelmsford and Chichester (education sec. Gillian Keegan lost by >12k votes)
👀 Esher + Walton, Godalming + Ash, Henley + Thame, South Cotswolds, South Devon, Surrey Heath, West Dorset, Woking all worth watching
I'm in today's
@Telegraph
on how America's heel-dragging over the aid package to Ukraine has directly impacted the difficulties it is now facing against Russia in Kharkiv.
Online and on news stands today 🗞️✨
���️ 'The loss of Kharkiv would be a serious set back for Ukraine, one it may struggle to ever fully recover from' | Writes
@lisa_haseldine
Read the full column below ⬇️
I spent yesterday afternoon in Uxbridge talking to
#BorisJohnson
’s constituents to see what they thought of the
#no10party
.
The responses were overwhelmingly telling of the current public mood - none said they would vote for him again.
Truly gutted to hear about the reported death of Alexei Navalny. It's a tragedy for the Russian democracy movement. Despite his flaws, he was a beacon of hope for many whose shoes will be incredibly difficult to fill.
My report on the news coming v soon...
Just over a year ago I lost my lovely grandad - I wrote about my grief process for
@TBreakdownMag
- special thanks to
@CruseCare
for speaking to me - grief sucks, but it does get better, and remember, you are never alone ✨
The publication of these pictures once again raises questions over how the Met Police conducted their
#Partygate
investigation.
If this didn't pass the threshold for fines, what was their criteria for issuing them?
EXCL:
@ITVNews
has obtained pictures of Boris Johnson drinking at a No10 party during lockdown in November 2020.
The photos cast fresh doubt on the PM's repeated claims he was unaware of rule-breaking in No10 during the pandemic.
See all images here:
As Rishi Sunak became PM this week, the Russian media remarkably asked itself if he would be a 'friend of Moscow'.
The answer? An obvious no. Was this delusion or hope?
What Russia makes of Rishi - me for
@spectator
:
A dino walkway could be coming to West London if plans are approved by Hounslow Council.
Dino Kingdom promises educational fun for families with children aged 12 and under.
My report:
Carbon emission costs from Heathrow Airport's proposed
#thirdrunway
have doubled according to a new report by the
@NEF
This comes after Govt updated carbon values to meet its
#NetZero
targets last Sept.
My report here: