Rob Hastings

'The danger comes when you least expect it': How BBC's Lyse Doucet covers war The veteran reporter reflects on the 'unbearably painful' war in Gaza, constant online criticism, and why she wanted to tell the story of an Afghan hotel

It was great interviewing Lyse Doucet for @theipaper.com

We discussed:
🇵🇸🇮🇱 Covering “unbearably painful” news from Gaza
🤬 Constant online criticism of BBC reporting
📖 The fab book she's written about a hotel in Kabul
🐡 Her goldfish Tango and Mango
inews.co.uk/news/world/l...

Very glad you thought so, that's kind, thanks Mark - and totally agree

Inside a British open prison – where murderers go out for work and home visits Open prisons aim to rehabilitate serious criminals. Is it wise to move offenders into them earlier, or too risky? We visit HMP Hatfield to find out

Hatfield's governor Mick Mills told me: "I absolutely sympathise 100 per cent with the victims of crime... You’ve got to have a justice system that serves and prevents victims. That’s what we’re about."

Here is my long read. See what you think...

🧵10/10
inews.co.uk/news/crime/i...

I also visited a tiling warehouse that has now employed about 25 prisoners from Hatfield, where the manager said the inmates are better workers than agency staff.

🧵9/10

During my tour around HMP Hatfield, I met a murderer who was on his way out for a shift at work, and sat in the cell of a prisoner serving six years for a knife attack who showed me his matchstick models.

🧵8/10

We can’t lock every criminal away forever, even if sometimes we wish we could. Open prisons aren’t the easiest solution to crime, but if they prevent more victims, perhaps we shouldn’t just go with what’s easiest.

🧵7/10

I wished the best for this man. He can’t change the past, he’s been punished – as he deserved to be – and now he seeks redemption. But somewhere out there is his victim’s family, who probably still feel just as devastated as my friend.

🧵6/10

I had a heartfelt conversation with this prisoner, who seemed down despite being just months away from release. It turned out he was jailed for death by dangerous driving, having killed a good friend, and remains consumed by guilt.

🧵5/10

They gradually allow offenders out to visit families and even start jobs when approaching the end of their sentences – after being assessed they’re of low risk and genuinely want to reform. They can be controversial but stats show they reduce reoffending.

🧵4/10

Weeks later, I found myself speaking with an inmate at HMP Hatfield, an open prison near Doncaster. I was visiting to learn how these places aid rehabilitation.

🧵3/10

Messaging my friend afterwards, it was hard to know what to write. But one remark which came more easily than others was my sincere hope that the man responsible will be “banged up for as long as possible.” I meant it.

🧵2/10

Two months ago, a close friend received awful news: his younger sister had been killed while out running. A car crashed into her. The driver was high on drugs.

🧵1/10

UK's £800m 'slave labour' China imports revealed - from bras to lawnmowers Thousands of tonnes of clothes, toys, furniture and tech are being flown in from Xinjiang - which Uyghur campaigners say is a 'national disgrace'

The UK is becoming a dumping ground for slave labour goods in between tougher protections in place in the US and EU markets. This story should accelerate action to beef up our anti-slavery laws. inews.co.uk/news/uk-800m...

UK's £800m 'slave labour' China imports revealed - from bras to lawnmowers Thousands of tonnes of clothes, toys, furniture and tech are being flown in from Xinjiang - which Uyghur campaigners say is a 'national disgrace'

🚨 EXCLUSIVE: UK's £800m+ "slave labour" imports from Xinjiang revealed

Vast numbers of products flown into Britain from Uyghur region of China - revealed for first time by my @theipaper.com investigation

Stop Uyghur Genocide calls it a "national disgrace" 🧵1
inews.co.uk/news/uk-800m...

Instigating a pile-on 🤣 I'd be amazed if anyone engages and I'm not doing it for that, just important to call these things out regardless of how many people are paying attention - people who can make up their own minds, unlike in China where they'll never hear of Xinjiang abuses, just like Tiananmen

It's been disturbing to see how this anonymous blogger seeks to distract from and downplay serious and widespread human rights abuses in Xinjiang, which have been evidenced numerous times, and the risks of UK imports encouraging them. Worth having a read of the responses following this post...

Ok I'm going to stop replying to an anonymous blogger who wants to downplay serious and widespread human rights abuses documented numerous times, which are what matter most here. You're making it sound Earth-shattering if UK-Xinjiang flights end, but they only started last year - hardly essential.

I am not "attacking" you, I'm calling out your interest in trying to pick apart very factual stats to distract from the fundamental issue of the UK directly importing £800m of goods from a region where evidence suggested forced labour is so endemic that the UN warns of crimes against humanity.

You know the situation in Xinjiang isn't about individual factories and it's deceitful to try suggesting it is - time and again, evidence has indicated that hundreds of thousands of people are being exploited for forced labour there. It's for that very reason campaigners want a blanket regional ban.

And how about the many other goods coming to the UK that experts suspect originate from Xinjiang, which won't be covered by the stats because they don't account for goods that are moved within China or exported to another country before coming to the UK? Meaning the total is probably higher?

Just say for argument's sake that 50 per cent of these goods were produced in Xinjiang. Would you be happy for the UK to be importing £400m of products from a region where evidence continually indicates that forced labour and some of the other worst human rights abuses on the planet are common?

I'm not suggesting anything. I'm reporting the undeniable fact that Chinese customs records show £800m of imports direct from Xinjiang to the UK, despite widespread concerns about forced labour there - which you've still not mentioned once, while instead asking questions you yourself can't answer.

Wish I could. As at the article explains, the data doesn't reveal who sells or buys these items - preventing accountability.

It feels like you're willing to accept or push any explanation apart from the obvious one, when the UK has imported £800m of goods from a region notorious for forced labour.

You might like to ask the two airlines. I emailed both of them. Both had the opportunity to tell me that these imports were not made in Xinjiang - neither of them did so.

If most or all of these imports weren't made in Xinjiang, I'm sure they would have been eager to point this out to me.

Significant new investigation from @robhastings.bsky.social for @theipaper.com shows significant 📈 in imports from Uyghur Region to the 🇬🇧 UK.

The report builds on UHRP research by @peterirwin.bsky.social and @henrykszad.bsky.social showing a surge in cargo flights into the EU and UK.

UK's £800m 'slave labour' China imports revealed - from bras to lawnmowers Thousands of tonnes of clothes, toys, furniture and tech are being flown in from Xinjiang - which Uyghur campaigners say is a 'national disgrace'

The Government has refused to ban Xinjiang imports but is currently reviewing trade policy

It said: "No company in the UK should have forced labour in its supply chains"

China's embassy claims: "There is no ‘forced labour’ or ‘genocide’ in Xinjiang" 🧵12
inews.co.uk/news/uk-800m...

Labour MP Sarah Champion says UK is letting down "enslaved people we should be protecting"

Crossbench peer Lord Alton says the UK’s anti-slavery laws are failing "on a colossal scale"

@uhrp.org and ‪@antislavery.org have also expressed outrage at what we've uncovered 🧵11

Campaigner Rahima Mahmut, who moved from Xinjiang to the UK in 2000, told me: "These findings make my blood boil… The UK must stop turning a blind eye and take urgent action to end complicity" 🧵10

And it's highly probable that far more imports like these are arriving in the UK without us knowing

The data purely shows goods being sent straight from Xinjiang to the UK - but many others will be transported around China or abroad before coming to the UK 🧵9

13-ton shipment of human hair, likely from Chinese prisoners, seized | CNN A 13-ton shipment of beauty products such as weaves suspected to have been made out of human hair was seized on Wednesday by US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers at the Port of New York/New...

Wigs made of human hair - valued at more than £34,000 - also arrived in the UK

That's despite concerns that products like these could be using hair cut straight from the heads of Uyghur prisoners 🧵8
edition.cnn.com/2020/07/02/u...