David Sheppard

Should probably get round to saying I've joined the FT's crack UK politics team, covering for the ace
@LOS_Fisher
as Acting Whitehall Editor

I'll be covering defence, foreign policy and lots more besides - and still keeping half an eye on the worlds of investigations and energy

The ‘bong’ when a TFL bus announces a diversion sounds like something you’d hear when your entire medieval family has just been sentenced to death.

So dramatic. You’re only sending us via Old Street, not convicting us of witchcraft.

Who is Jan Marsalek, the absconded fraudster and Russian spymaster to 3 Bulgarians convicted in the UK today?

Well, let me tell you a story about a high school drop-out who masterminded a $30bn financial fraud in the heart of Europe while trying to build a North African militia as a side hustle.

The horrors emerging in Syria:

“In Tadamon, the children know the difference between a human jaw and a dog’s.

“So inured are they to decomposing remains… that the boys casually toss around skulls and fractured femurs.”

ft.com/content/da422e…

What led to the fall of the house of El Husseiny [FREE TO READ] A prominent family made a fortune working for autocrats. Who was really to blame when it fell apart?

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

Italian trader played polo against Prince William while under US sanctions Treasury described Alessandro Bazzoni as a ‘core facilitator’ of network involved in buying and selling Venezuelan oil

What do you think someone under US sanctions can do in the U.K.? You get a point if you guessed, “field two polo teams and play against Prince William”. My just-published story about Alessandro Bazzoni: on.ft.com/3OnSn50