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“Even if you failed, you rapidly forget the hardship," he told me. "You remember the camaraderie and the extraordinary places you got to see. So when Ran rings up and says, ‘Shall we give it another go?’, you say, ‘Yes, fine,’ because you think: ‘That’ll be fun.'” 🧵 6/7

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Amidst this tragic tale, it was at last an honour and a pleasure to hear Stroud describe what it was like trekking across the Arctic and the Antarctic with the adventurer known by his friends as "Ran," and how the intense pain would soon slip from the mind after each trip. 🧵 5/7

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Some have questioned whether the Parkinson's disease sufferer has been illegally deprived of his liberty, though police say he is being cared for. 🧵 4/7

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Like many other close friends and family, Stroud hasn't seen Fiennes for two years, with his whereabouts being kept a secret while he has been moved from one care home to another, under an alias. 🧵 3/7

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He has asked Fiennes' wife, Louise Millington-Cotes, if he can visit his old comrade one last time before it's too late, but she hasn't replied. 🧵 2/7

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Rob Hastings @robhastings.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

After the sad news about Sir Ranulph Fiennes, I tracked down his exploring partner Dr Mike Stroud, who has sad news of his own. Stroud is "unfortunately, probably, terminally ill," he revealed to me. “I’ve got throat cancer that’s spread... I was told a year ago that I’d be dead by now.” 🧵 1/ 7

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A few days ago I flew on an RAF Voyager tanker refuelling Lightning and Typhoon fighter jets I saw how Nato pilots have been training in exercise Cobra Warrior, to deter Russia and be prepared if it does ever attack

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Rob Hastings @robhastings.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

🕵️ I hope you find this tale as engrossing as I did: my interview with Frank Storey, the FBI agent who led the investigation into the New York Mafia's Five Families - resulting in their bosses finally going on trial 40 years ago Here's my article for @theipaper.com: inews.co.uk/news/crime/i...

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Rob Hastings @robhastings.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

🔥 Russia may hire gangs to launch covert terrorist-style attacks on the UK, in retaliation for British supplies of missiles and drones to Ukraine, warns the former CIA Director General David Petraeus My interview for @theipaper.com: inews.co.uk/news/cia-put...

I ran the CIA - Putin is prepared to use terrorist gangs to attack the UK

Former US general David Petraeus thinks Russia's President will want to hide links to attacks on Britain – and is under severe pressure over his war in Ukraine

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Rob Hastings @robhastings.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

✈️ Merle Meyers worked at Boeing for 31 years, but refuses to fly on a 787 Dreamliner or a 737 Max He claims to have seen factory staff “raiding the scrap area” and installing faulty parts on airliners to save time and money My interview with him for @theipaper.com: inews.co.uk/news/worked-...

I worked at Boeing for 30 years - I would never travel on these two planes

Merle Meyers blew the whistle after seeing scrap parts used on airliners. He hopes a new documentary will finally force the manufacturer to address safety concerns

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Reposted by Rob Hastings

Jacob Aron @jjaron.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Well, this is extremely not ideal. Suggests we may currently be heading for 3.25°C warming by 2100, not 2.6°C (which itself is still very bad) www.newscientist.com/article/2585...

newscientist.com

World may warm by 25 per cent more than current projections suggest | New Scientist

Official projections for how much the world will warm are already catastrophic, and now it appears they significantly underestimate future warming

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For @theipaper.com, I spoke with former Environment Agency chair Emma Howard Boyd, Prof Jessica Neumann, science journalist David Shukman, Flood Ready London chair Dr Elizabeth Rapoport and barrister Anthony Metzer KC who represented the Marco family at the inquest 🧵8/8 inews.co.uk/news/environ...

Flash floods are the next big weather threat that could hit your town

The risk is already increasing as heavy downpours become more common – and recent droughts could exacerbate the problem

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Researchers and campaigners claim action to prevent flash floods, as well as to alert people and reduce the dangers when they do occur, has been weak at every level of government for many years. 🧵7/8

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If extreme rainfall inundates basement flats in the middle of the night, when people are asleep, it's especially dangerous. When Hurricane Ida hit New York City in 2021, 11 of the 13 deaths occurred in apartments below ground - and we're lucky a similar disaster hasn't happened in the UK. 🧵6/8

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It’s a year-round threat to heavily paved areas where excess water cannot seep away, but it becomes more likely after long periods of drought like Britain is experiencing this summer, when soil in parks, gardens and grass verges is too hard to absorb water quickly enough. 🧵5/8

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Flash flooding is particularly dangerous because it can occur suddenly in urban streets that have never flooded before and are miles from rivers or the sea. The risks are growing because climate change is making deluges of rain heavier and more common. 🧵4/8

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The couple, aged in their mid 70s, had no idea how deep the water was. In the darkness, they drove in and their vehicle’s engine cut out. They were submerged. 🧵3/8

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A storm in August 2023 had suddenly caused severe flash flooding on a section of Queens Drive that dips under a railway bridge. It had already flooded four times that year but the city council had not installed any warning signs, an inquest heard last year. 🧵2/8

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Rob Hastings @robhastings.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

⛈️ Philip and Elaine Marco died tragically in their car on a journey home in Liverpool. Their vehicle didn’t crash. They drowned in it. 🧵1/8

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Ilya Yashin survived awful solitary confinement in Moscow If Putin's regime collapses, he aims to end the Ukraine war and create a democratic Russia The late Alexei Navalny's ally spoke to me about "psychopath" Putin's threat to Nato and challenges for opposition exiles inews.co.uk/news/world/j...

I was jailed for criticising Putin, now I'm preparing for his downfall

After surviving months in solitary confinement, exiled Russian opposition leader Ilya Yashin is making plans to take power – reluctantly – if 'psychopath' Putin is ousted

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Rob Hastings @robhastings.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

📹 Here's how my investigation into abuse of workers making clothes for Under Armour led to US import bans Our thoughts are with the families of three women whose tragic suicides we uncovered and their Needle Craft factory colleagues Read my full story for @theipaper.com inews.co.uk/news/under-a...

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IMAGINE GOING TO THE WORLD CUP FINAL AND SEEING YOUR COUNTRY WIN THE WORLD CUP AND NOT ONLY NOT CARING THAT THEY'D WON THE WORLD CUP BUT NOT EVEN REMEMBERING THAT YOU'D SEEN THEM WIN... THE WORLD CUP Just wanted to share that. Sixty years ago today. Astonishing. (5/5)

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Did she remember who they were playing? She couldn't at first, but worked out it must have been in 1966. It was quite a high-scoring match, she recalled. The score wasn't 4-2, was it? Yes, that sounds about right. Were they playing West Germany? Yes, that was it. (4/5)

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I think at this point my dad started to sense where this conversation might be going but couldn't believe it. (3/5)

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Where was it played? "Wembley." Oh it was a big game then? "Yes, it was England against someone." He asked when it was. "Sixties," she said. (2/5)

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True story: I have a family friend who hates football. A few years ago, she mentioned off the cuff to my dad that she'd only been to one football match in her life and she didn't get what all the fuss was all about. My dad asked her which match it was, but she couldn't remember at first. (1/5)

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But the problem of people being forced to move over money is “getting larger and larger”, according to Mike Padgham, honorary president of the Independent Care Group which supports hundreds of homes in Yorkshire. “It’s immoral, the system we’ve got.” (12/13)

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Local authorities argue they’re doing their best with limited means and have no choice other than to ration funding, after years of cuts to their grants from central government. (11/13)

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A UK study into transfer trauma found decades of evidence that forced relocation in nursing homes is “detrimental to well-being, health and survival”, with higher rates of “post-move mortality”. A Dutch analysis of dementia sufferers found “definite evidence” of physical and mental declines. (10/13)

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Evictions caused by council funding are a “growing issue”, confirms Prof Martin Green, chief executive of the charity Care England. “It’s not about spreadsheets, it’s not about money. It’s about how this is impacting people’s lives – and in some cases shortening them.” (9/13)

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Campaigners highlight how Shropshire Council moved 98-year-old dementia sufferer Brenda Miles out of the home where she’d lived for five years, giving her family and carers just 24 hours’ warning. (8/13)

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The chief executive of one non-profit group that runs several homes in England admits about a dozen of their residents have been moved against their will since 2024. (7/13)

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One provider claims their local authority’s behaviour is “absolutely horrific”. Another accuses their council of “blackmail”. A third says their experience has been “terrible”. Others share similarly disturbing accounts. (6/13)

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This is the urgent warning from managers of multiple care homes across the UK. Many tell me they are concerned that so-called “care home evictions” are becoming more common due to cost-cutting councils, sometimes involving people in their final months of life. (5/13)

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Unless relatives can afford expensive top-up fees, residents may end up confused, separated from friends and surrounded by strangers – risking potentially fatal “transfer trauma”. (4/13)

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As a result, elderly residents are being shunted into cheaper facilities further from home, chosen by social workers using online bidding systems, even if they are less suitable. (3/13)

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At this point, local authorities are legally obliged to begin funding your social care. But with their budgets badly overstretched, councils increasingly say they cannot afford people's existing bills - effectively forcing homes to terminate their contracts. (2/13)

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Rob Hastings @robhastings.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

🧵 Imagine you're in your eighties or nineties, you have dementia and you're in a care home. Then your life savings, which have been covering the cost of your bed at £1,000 per week or more, start to run out. It could be the most vulnerable moment of your life. (1/13)

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When Ed Miliband stopped the UK from bombing Syria's Assad regime in 2013, did it change history for better or worse? I interviewed the man who was US Ambassador to Syria at the time, Robert Ford, for @theipaper.com: inews.co.uk/news/miliban...

I was US ambassador when Miliband blocked Syria strikes. He must handle Trump better

Robert Ford explains why the Foreign Secretary made a 'bad decision' on Assad and how he must deal with a President who 'has no f**king idea what he's doing'

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Rob Hastings @robhastings.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

Miguel Maduro joined Fifa hoping to clean up the organisation - yet was sacked just months later for standing up to Gianni Infantino Describing his experiences, Maduro tells me why he is "deeply skeptical of any likelihood of any reform" My interview for @theipaper.com: inews.co.uk/news/chaired...

I chaired Fifa's top committee - Infantino will do anything to keep power

After being sacked, Miguel Maduro has become 'deeply frustrated' to see Gianni Infantino consolidate power and fears no one will be able to unseat him

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Rob Hastings @robhastings.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

Ahead of England v Argentina, two sport psychologists tell me how players prepare mentally - after years of training their minds to cope in big matches So interesting to hear how visualisation techniques work and their takes on Tuchel My article for @theipaper.com: inews.co.uk/news/tuchel-...

How Tuchel's brutal honesty gives England the psychological power to win World Cup

The manager's criticism didn't seem to go down well with Jude Bellingham, but sports psychologists say it could build the 'resilience' the team needs

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Reposted by Rob Hastings

Rob Hastings @robhastings.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

🚨 EXCLUSIVE: Under Armour clothes made by abusive factories expected to be seized by US authorities in response to my investigation for @theipaper.com Details about the story in thread and link below... 🧵1

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Reposted by Rob Hastings

Labour Behind the Label @labourlabel.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

This took far too long! We are grateful that there are still dogged journalists like @robhastings.bsky.social who follow stories and are committed to bring the abuse we're conditioned to see as intrinsic to the sector to light.

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Rob Hastings @robhastings.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

It's worrying to think how common these sorts of practices are in factories around the world where poor workers are producing clothes for wealthy consumers thousands of miles away, without us ever knowing. 🧵16

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Rob Hastings @robhastings.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

And in today's report, I reveal how Sri Lankan worker Nimali Nimeshika wrote in a letter before her suicide that she had borrowed money from colleagues who were “scolding me and warning if I not give that money they will destroy my family and my life here”. 🧵15 inews.co.uk/news/under-a...