Rob Hastings
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robhastings.bsky.social
Rob Hastings
@robhastings.bsky.social
📰 Special Projects Editor at @TheiPaper.com, based in London
✍️ I write long reads, investigations and interviews
🏆 Legal Reporting Award winner
⚽️ Spurs fan
💻 https://robhastings.co.uk
💻 https://inews.co.uk/author/rob-hastings
Iranian dissidents in the UK are often afraid to reveal their names and faces because of regime threats, but now they're coming out of the shadows

Three of them spoke with me for @theipaper.com:
inews.co.uk/news/iranian...
Iranians like us have faced deadly threats on UK streets - but we're not afraid
After years of plots by Tehran's regime against the British Iranian community, protesters now feel emboldened by demonstrations back home
inews.co.uk
January 13, 2026 at 4:48 PM
Reposted by Rob Hastings
In a 2024 interview with The i Paper, the former chancellor spoke about his concerns over immigration

After he announced his defection to the Reform Party, take a look back over that interview

trib.al/ncCcMzE
January 12, 2026 at 3:34 PM
"I certainly keep open the possibility that Putin could suddenly disappear"

Bit late in posting but was great to interview the UK's last ambassador to the USSR, Sir Rodric Braithwaite, about the risks facing the Kremlin and the chances of peace, for @theipaper.com:
inews.co.uk/news/world/u...
I was the UK's last Soviet Union ambassador - here's how Putin can lose
These are dangerous times for Putin, according to Sir Rodric Braithwaite, a former British diplomat who has seen firsthand how Russia can unexpectedly turn on apparently powerful leaders
inews.co.uk
January 5, 2026 at 1:59 PM
🇷🇺🇺🇸🇺🇦 “Putin looks at Trump and sees a weak guy, vain, with huge ego”

I interviewed the CIA's former Moscow chief of station, Rob Dannenberg, for @theipaper.com about how he believes the Russian dictator is manipulating Trump, and risks this poses for Ukraine and the West
inews.co.uk/news/world/i...
I was CIA's top agent in Moscow - Putin has trained to manipulate men like Trump
Rob Dannenberg was the US spy chief in Russia early in Vladimir Putin's rule - and believes he understands the dictator better than most
inews.co.uk
January 3, 2026 at 9:31 AM
It was so interesting to visit the old Cornish clay pit set to become the UK's first lithium mine, reducing reliance on China for the mineral - which is vital to the production of batteries for EVs and tech products

You can read my feature for @theipaper.com here: inews.co.uk/news/busines...
December 31, 2025 at 12:34 PM
🚨 My splash for @theipaper.com today

🧑‍🔬 Based on my interview with Novichok scientist Dr Vil Mirzayanov

🥼 Plus contributions from former UK chemical response chief Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, leading toxicologist Professor Alastair Hay, and SDR co-author General Sir Richard Barrons

Link below...
🧪 Russia may be developing more chemical weapons, experts fear

I spoke to Dr Vil Mirzayanov, a Russian scientist who developed Novichok but became a whistleblower - he thinks a new nerve agent may have killed Alexei Navalny

My exclusive for @theipaper.com:
inews.co.uk/news/world/t...
Putin creating chemical weapons ‘worse than Novichok’, experts fear
A former Novichok scientist worries Russia may be trying to develop nerve agents that are harder to detect
inews.co.uk
December 29, 2025 at 10:51 AM
☠️ The extraordinary story of the scientist who helped develop Novichok

🧪 Dr Vil Mirzayanov blew the whistle on Russia's secret chemical weapons programme in the 90s and fled to US

🧑‍🔬 Amazed he's not been poisoned himself, he spoke to me for @theipaper.com:
inews.co.uk/news/world/h...
I helped create Novichok – but I never thought Putin would use it
Dr Vil Mirzayanov feels guilty about developing the nerve agent used in Salisbury – but is proud he blew the whistle on Russia's secret chemical weapons
inews.co.uk
December 28, 2025 at 2:19 PM
🧪 Russia may be developing more chemical weapons, experts fear

I spoke to Dr Vil Mirzayanov, a Russian scientist who developed Novichok but became a whistleblower - he thinks a new nerve agent may have killed Alexei Navalny

My exclusive for @theipaper.com:
inews.co.uk/news/world/t...
Putin creating chemical weapons ‘worse than Novichok’, experts fear
A former Novichok scientist worries Russia may be trying to develop nerve agents that are harder to detect
inews.co.uk
December 28, 2025 at 12:15 PM
My exclusive splash today for @theipaper.com

Thousands of elderly and vulnerable people are being forced to move out of their care homes every year with just 28 days' notice, often in distressing circumstances, following a big post-pandemic rise, FoI data shows
inews.co.uk/news/health/...
December 22, 2025 at 10:12 AM
Reposted by Rob Hastings
🔴 At least 45 cases of silicosis among workers cutting engineered stone have been recorded in the UK - the average age of those diagnosed just 31

We are launching our Killer Kitchens campaign to force the Government to clamp down on deadly dust: trib.al/0c0I5fe
December 16, 2025 at 3:14 PM
Reposted by Rob Hastings
In late 2020 a Chinese man called Guan Heng travelled to Xinjiang with our BuzzFeed map of detention facilities to provide ground truth for our work - he provided the first corroborating evidence for many sites.

He escaped to the US - then ICE detained him.

www.wsj.com/world/china/...
ICE Holding Chinese Man Who Documented Uyghur Camps
Heng Guan is awaiting an immigration hearing on Monday that could lead to his removal from the U.S. and ultimately land him back in China, according to his lawyer and a New York-based activist group.
www.wsj.com
December 13, 2025 at 3:17 PM
🔦 The laser used by Russian spy ship Yantar on an RAF P-8 patrol aircraft was probably just a cheap handheld device, an expert in military lasers told me for @theipaper.com

😵 But even those can have big impacts on pilots - and bigger laser weapons are being developed:
inews.co.uk/news/laser-w...
The laser weapons developed by Russia that could blind a sniper or kill a drone
The laser aimed at an RAF aircraft by a Russian ship may have been a simple handheld pen, but far more advanced devices are in the works
inews.co.uk
November 21, 2025 at 5:20 PM
Well done to Michael Palin and #Newsnight for covering the importance of hospices and their funding crisis

I visited Marie Curie's site in Bradford earlier this year for @theipaper.com - the care of the staff and volunteers there was so moving:
inews.co.uk/news/health/...
November 13, 2025 at 11:05 PM
👮 We R Blighty has been convicted - for a second time - of "shameless" illegal street fundraising

Ben Mills and Danielle Vidler pleaded guilty at City of London Magistrates' Court

The group was caught while it was awaiting its first trial this year
inews.co.uk/news/crime/w...
We R Blighty convicted of illegally collecting money - for second time
Armed Forces veteran condemns the 'shameless way' that the Kent-based organisation appeals for donations on high streets without permission
inews.co.uk
November 13, 2025 at 5:15 PM
Jana Bakunina is Russian but has lived in the UK since 1999. She couldn't understand why so many friends and family support Putin - so she went back to find out

What she learnt about people's attitudes was deeply worrying

My interview with her for @theipaper.com:
inews.co.uk/news/world/r...
I'm a Russian living in London - this is what people back home think of Putin
Jana Bakunina reveals what pro-Putin friends and family told her when she visited her home city of Yekaterinburg - and how opponents are burying their heads in the sand to survive
inews.co.uk
November 10, 2025 at 11:00 AM
“There is no way back"

😾 My interview with Pussy Riot's Maria Alyokhina for @theipaper.com on:
- Life after escaping Russia, supporting Ukraine
- Tough conditions for Putin's political prisoners
- Her worries for poet Artyom Kamardin, jailed for seven years
inews.co.uk/news/world/p...
I'm a Pussy Riot activist. This is what life is like in a Russian prison
Maria Alyokhina reveals the conditions she endured in one of the remote penal colonies where opponents of Vladimir Putin face potential torture
inews.co.uk
November 10, 2025 at 10:36 AM
🚨 The Charities Aid Foundation strengthened security at its HQ to protect employees following alleged “threatening behaviour” by Ben Mills, the founder of We R Blighty, the controversial CIC raising money for homeless military veterans

My exclusive for @theipaper.com:
inews.co.uk/news/busines...
'Threatening' behaviour of We R Blighty founder forces charity to boost security
The controversial group, whose directors have been convicted of illegal fundraising, faces more criticism in run-up to Remembrance Day
inews.co.uk
November 10, 2025 at 10:11 AM
Reposted by Rob Hastings
Shocking article in the Sheffield Tribune. A solicitor, Andrew Milne, buying up freeholds of houses and then making (false) threats to the leaseholders to bully them into buying the freehold at a huge premium.
November 7, 2025 at 9:39 AM
Reposted by Rob Hastings
Many months in the reporting - my investigation into Amazon warehouses is finally live today. A huge thank you to the workers and others who spoke to me, on and off the record. inews.co.uk/news/human-c...
Broken bones, heart attacks and chemical burns - the human cost of Amazon orders
2,500 serious injury incidents have been recorded in UK Amazon warehouses in the last ten years - roughly one injury every day and a half
inews.co.uk
November 3, 2025 at 10:36 AM
Reposted by Rob Hastings
⛑ A cracking and very discomforting read from my colleague Jane Merrick on how unprepared we are for war - well worth your time

🤞 One lead author of the Strategic Defence Review said the UK is “running on luck” when it comes to war readiness and we are "relying on our enemies to leave us alone"
UK has 'lost momentum' for war readiness - and 'relies on enemies to leave us alone'
Lead author of the landmark Strategic Defence Review says the UK is currently 'running on luck' and post-Cold War era 'fumes' to protect itself from attack
inews.co.uk
November 3, 2025 at 2:31 PM
Reposted by Rob Hastings
Today we're launching Politics Unwrapped, a new weekday newsletter from The i Paper that breaks down the big stories and how they actually affect you

Sign up for free here: trib.al/CLd4iLD
October 22, 2025 at 11:47 AM
It was great to interview Chen Yongling - the Chinese diplomat who sensationally defected

He spoke to me for @theipaper.com about China's threat to the UK, his experiences at Tiananmen Square in 1989, and his father's murder in the Cultural Revolution:
inews.co.uk/news/world/d...
I defected from China and revealed its spying tactics - now I fear assassination
Chen Yonglin caused a diplomatic storm when the diplomat spoke out against his country and claimed asylum – 20 years on, he claims China is 'the enemy of human beings'
inews.co.uk
October 22, 2025 at 8:44 AM
Growing up in a polygamous cult, Pamela Jones had 57 siblings. Her husband had five other wives. As well as nine children, she had eight miscarriages.

Speaking to me for @theipaper.com, she reveals what life was like before her escape and her fears for others still there
inews.co.uk/news/escaped...
I escaped a deadly polygamous cult with my nine kids – others are still trapped
Pamela Jones reveals her life in a fundamentalist Mormon sect in Mexico, where her father had 57 children and her ex-husband had five other wives
inews.co.uk
October 9, 2025 at 7:07 AM
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...
'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
inews.co.uk
September 14, 2025 at 6:53 AM
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
September 2, 2025 at 11:15 AM