Helen Warrell

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

A quote card on a beige background. The quote reads: “We’re a member of the EU but we’re not a member of Nato… If you wanted to strike at the European Union without any fear of Nato retaliation, then Ireland is ground zero.” Attributed to Cathal Berry, former second-in-command of the Irish army’s Army Ranger Wing.

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 👇

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

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...

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...

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

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

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 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 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

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?

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...

Why does the internet hate my apostrophe? It turns out I am not machine readable — but that might be an advantage in the future

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

The nuclear mountain that haunts Israel Buried half a kilometre underground, Iran’s Fordow enrichment facility is the ultimate test of Israeli air power

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 secret lives of MI6’s top female spies For the first time ever, SIS officers reveal why women often make the best spies for our times

The FT conducted extensive interviews with Metreweli and her senior female SIS colleagues for this piece three years ago on the top women spies at MI6. To protect her identity, Metreweli chose the pseudonym 'Ada' for the story (free to read)

www.ft.com/content/7417...

Britain’s MI6 spy agency promotes ‘Q’ to be first female head Appointment of Blaise Metreweli comes as agents grapple with competing threats

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...

Hot Money: 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?

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:

The vulnerable teen drawn into far-right extremism online Could the British state have done more to help Rhianan Rudd?

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 Two women remain in running to be chief of Secret Intelligence Service, with decision expected within a fortnight

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

Bulgarian spy helped Wirecard’s Marsalek plan Kabul airlift for CIA, court told [FREE TO READ] Claim dismissed by prosecution lawyers at Old Bailey sentencing hearing

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…

With thanks to @forsvaret.bsky.social @thomasnilsen.bsky.social @marclanteigne.bsky.social Norwegian guide extraordinaire @rkytterstad.bsky.social and many more

Meet the warriors trying to teach the west how to fight in the Arctic Melting sea ice, rising tensions and the relearning of what it will take to master the art of Arctic warfare

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.

Huge congratulations Hannah! Amazing work

The Wirecard fugitive, Russian intelligence and a Bulgarian spy ring A London espionage trial has provided rare insight into the activities of Jan Marsalek, the former payments executive, and how Moscow is outsourcing its spying

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 A London espionage trial has provided rare insight into the activities of Jan Marsalek, the former payments executive, and how Moscow is outsourcing its spying

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 Ian Fleming’s fictional creation, a boon and burden to UK intelligence agencies, will now be defined by tech giant Amazon

James Bond, the British spy under US ownership

https://on.ft.com/41GDDET