iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Robert Smith

Chris Cook @chriscook.news · 21/09/2026

A big new story from us: a big new leak means that we can put numbers on the scale of A7 -- the Kremlin's huge money-laundering machine. $6.9bn laundered through the international banking system via SWIFT, with $1.1bn sent to StanChart alone. www.ft.com/content/3848...

ft.com

Kremlin-backed forgery scheme moved $6.9bn through global banks

FT finds thousands of Russian payments handled by Standard Chartered, Citigroup and other international groups in vast leak from inside fintech A7

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Robert Smith @bondhack.ft.com · 20/09/2026

That was brilliant too. He’s got a great niche.

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Robert Smith @bondhack.ft.com · 20/09/2026

Chris Spargo’s video earlier this year on British bins was such a delightful examination of a ubiquitous feature of daily life you never really consider. The new follow up where he’s invited to the bin factory is an absolute treat. Fantastic. youtu.be/hbxzhtgDf_o?...

youtu.be

Why UK bins are smashed up at the factory

YouTube video by Chris Spargo

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Robert Smith @bondhack.ft.com · 19/09/2026

There's much more to do, agreed. We took a lot of space explaining the mechanics of Delo executing his charge, the impact on unsecured creditors (ie Turner) etc. We are the *Financial* Times after all! A news story generally a limiting vehicle to properly get into the semiotics of antisemitism etc!

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Robert Smith @bondhack.ft.com · 19/09/2026

Controls it in a way that allows a bankrupt person to remain in her home...

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Robert Smith @bondhack.ft.com · 18/09/2026

? Our story was published a day earlier than Byline's (hence why they're citing our reporting on various points). Unless you were calling the FT the smaller outlet.

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Robert Smith @bondhack.ft.com · 18/09/2026

Fair play. It was nice they drew out some different things to us from a complex situation as I said.

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Robert Smith @bondhack.ft.com · 18/09/2026

Very 🤔 from the Guardian. A shame because the piece delves into aspects of the trial we didn’t have room for (as we used up a lot of word count revealing how Delo took control of Power’s property after the trial etc) www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

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Reposted by Robert Smith

Robert Smith @bondhack.ft.com · 17/09/2026

Ben Delo is many things: a crypto billionaire, a Reform mega-donor and a free speech advocate. @oilsheppard.bsky.social and I discovered he's also the landlord of a bankrupt academic after funding her failed libel claim against a Jewish artist who complained of antisemism www.ft.com/content/21aa...

ft.com

Reform UK’s mega-donor backed a friend’s libel claim. Now he controls her home

Crypto billionaire Ben Delo loaned more than £300,000 to former academic Nina Power

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Robert Smith @bondhack.ft.com · 17/09/2026

Character length. She’s described that way in copy!

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Robert Smith @bondhack.ft.com · 17/09/2026

"Yes, humanity got destroyed. But for a beautiful moment in time we created a lot more LinkedIn posts." alignment.openai.com/misalignment...

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Robert Smith @bondhack.ft.com · 17/09/2026

I'll relay that to some of the reporters you didn't go to school with 😜 (thanks!!)

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Robert Smith @bondhack.ft.com · 17/09/2026

ft.com

Reform UK’s mega-donor backed a friend’s libel claim. Now he controls her home

Crypto billionaire Ben Delo loaned more than £300,000 to former academic Nina Power

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Reposted by Robert Smith

Jay Rayner @jayrayner1.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

For @ftweekend.com I’ve interviewed the marvellous Dianne Reeves and Branford Marsalis ahead of the release tomorrow of their new album marking the centenary of John Coltrane’s birth. www.ft.com/content/d23a...

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Robert Smith @bondhack.ft.com · 14/09/2026

Harrowing read; inspiring ending.

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Robert Smith @bondhack.ft.com · 13/09/2026

When did this guy change jobs from political sketchwriter to midlife crisis correspondent?

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Robert Smith @bondhack.ft.com · 12/09/2026

Key word is "self-respecting".

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Robert Smith @bondhack.ft.com · 12/09/2026

Excellent piece of financial history writing here. And do read the comment below the line from a Salomon trader who told Buffett not to rescue them! as.ft.com/r/c4b7d680-f...

as.ft.com

The day Warren Buffett saved Salomon Brothers

‘Our name was rat poison’

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Robert Smith @bondhack.ft.com · 11/09/2026

Amazing how many times Gordon Rayner of the Telegraph has front-run more critical reporters’ Reform scoops this year. Spoilers-as-a-service.

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Reposted by Robert Smith

Tim Bale @timbale.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Butlins isn't what it used to be, is it? In my day your knees needed to be completely visible to the judge if you wanted to enter the contest.

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Robert Smith @bondhack.ft.com · 08/09/2026

They're the best kind of nooks imo

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Reposted by Robert Smith

Hunter Walker @hunterw.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

The media deserves plenty of criticism. We all know this. However, one of my least favorite long running lefty media critiques is "Why don't you use this specific legal language describing an uncharged criminal act in a headline?!?" Anyone with any real experience knows publications can't do that.

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Robert Smith @bondhack.ft.com · 08/09/2026

top-tier financial memeage from @sindap.bsky.social on Apollo www.ft.com/content/98d0...

Nathan Fielder serves a dish of nothing to illustrate the poor experiences Wall Street creditors have had negotiating with Apollo portfolio companies.

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Robert Smith @bondhack.ft.com · 07/09/2026

Do get in touch if you have a good yarn. Email: robert.smith@ft.com / robert.smith.ft@proton.me | Signal: robert_smith_ft.55

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Robert Smith @bondhack.ft.com · 07/09/2026

Some professional news: I have shifted into a new role at the FT as the paper’s Financial Investigations Editor. I’ll have even more scope to dig into the less salubrious nooks and corners of financial markets, while doing my best to follow the money on a broader range of subjects.

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Robert Smith @bondhack.ft.com · 07/09/2026

FIELDER/HOLMES is FROST/NIXON for a certain breed of ageing millenial. Couldn't be more excited. youtu.be/GGJSRFWALTI?...

youtu.be

You Can See Everything | Official Teaser HD | A24

YouTube video by A24

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Reposted by Robert Smith

Kate Allen @kateallen.ft.com · 06/09/2026

Police are facing growing questions over how up to 500 masked activists dressed in black brought parts of Dover to a standstill on Saturday. Authorities have been accused of failure to act, intelligence failures and being ‘caught on the hoof’. www.ft.com/content/f244...

ft.com

Police face questions over Dover disruption caused by masked protesters

Up to 500 activists dressed in black with their faces covered brought part of UK port town to a standstill on Saturday

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Robert Smith @bondhack.ft.com · 06/09/2026

I've been thinking a lot about how point 1 has massively overshadowed any discussion of point 2.

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Reposted by Robert Smith

Robert Hutton @roberthutton.co.uk · 05/09/2026

How could an associate professor in divinity at Cambridge be expected to know that lying is bad? thecritic.co.uk/mone...

Ah yes, James Orr. A lot of us had been hazy about what it is exactly that associate professors in a divinity department do all day. It doesn’t seem to involve a lot of work: Orr is often to be seen at Reform events in London, which take up the whole morning even for those of us with offices down the road. Now we know he was also sipping cocktails while discussing ways in which wealthy foreigners might be able to get round the laws that ban them donating to the party.

The associate professor of divinity was filmed explaining to an undercover reporter that so long as everyone kept their mouths shut, there was no way that the authorities would ever find out. Orr spent four years as a postdoctoral fellow in theology, ethics and public life at Oxford, and it would be fascinating to know at what point he developed this theory of What the Electoral Commission Don’t Know Won’t Hurt Them. Perhaps he was off sick the day they opened the gospel of Luke: “What you have said in the dark will be h

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Robert Smith @bondhack.ft.com · 04/09/2026

Haha. Oswald’s is very nice inside tbf and has a great art collection. It’s a shame they didn’t go to any of the Richard Caring clubs as a much wilder nouveau riche aesthetic. Makes me wonder if there’s a separate raft or donor wrangling happening around the less old money clubs.

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Robert Smith @bondhack.ft.com · 04/09/2026

yeah two bits of cod and scampi. proud to say I polished it off.

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Robert Smith @bondhack.ft.com · 04/09/2026

I had been hoping to have a Black Velvet in Sweetings in Nige's honour for lunch, but it's sadly still closed for renovations. Had to settle for fish and chips and a Guinness in the Sugar Loaf nextdoor 🫠

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