Abbie Fielding-Smith
@abbiefs.bsky.social
Deputy ed of the Economist's long read section, 1843. Fan of things that are surprising, and immersively reported subcultures
"In scale, these proposals would mean deporting greater numbers and a greater proportion of the population than former Ugandan President Idi Amin’s deportation of Ugandan Asians"
Hadn’t, in truth, really absorbed the scale of what the Conservatives are proposing on ILR and immigration more broadly until this week’s Sunday Times interviews. Some thoughts on that in today’s note:
Tory deportation plan would upend Britain
Proposing such a radical bill with little public support is a gift to Nigel Farage
www.ft.com
October 23, 2025 at 4:27 PM
"In scale, these proposals would mean deporting greater numbers and a greater proportion of the population than former Ugandan President Idi Amin’s deportation of Ugandan Asians"
Reposted by Abbie Fielding-Smith
John F. Kennedy: The Soviet plan to encircle West Berlin with a giant concrete wall guarded by men with guns, dogs and searchlights is unfunded, unworkable and falling apart.
September 22, 2025 at 1:14 PM
John F. Kennedy: The Soviet plan to encircle West Berlin with a giant concrete wall guarded by men with guns, dogs and searchlights is unfunded, unworkable and falling apart.
Reposted by Abbie Fielding-Smith
Reminder: The existence of these in most Scottish supermarkets and corner shops is proof that anyone shilling for the notion that multiculturalism can't work on this island is a charlatan
September 17, 2025 at 8:10 PM
Reminder: The existence of these in most Scottish supermarkets and corner shops is proof that anyone shilling for the notion that multiculturalism can't work on this island is a charlatan
Reposted by Abbie Fielding-Smith
If you're interested in Tether, I wrote this for the Economist about an NCA operation into a Russian cash-for-crypto money laundering scheme.
www.economist.com/1843/2025/07...
www.economist.com/1843/2025/07...
How Tether became money-launderers’ dream currency
The stablecoin is fuelling a global shadow economy. And it’s never been more respectable
www.economist.com
September 10, 2025 at 10:58 AM
If you're interested in Tether, I wrote this for the Economist about an NCA operation into a Russian cash-for-crypto money laundering scheme.
www.economist.com/1843/2025/07...
www.economist.com/1843/2025/07...
1843 is now publishing regularly in the print Economist as well as digitally. Our debut is this blockbuster investigation into the coup Bolsonaro was plotting, the details of which are INSANE. Kind of like the Battle for Chile as scripted by Armando Iannucci
www.economist.com/1843/2025/08...
www.economist.com/1843/2025/08...
The untold story of Bolsonaro’s weird and wild coup attempt
How Brazil’s ex-president and his cronies tried to take down democracy
www.economist.com
August 28, 2025 at 10:51 AM
1843 is now publishing regularly in the print Economist as well as digitally. Our debut is this blockbuster investigation into the coup Bolsonaro was plotting, the details of which are INSANE. Kind of like the Battle for Chile as scripted by Armando Iannucci
www.economist.com/1843/2025/08...
www.economist.com/1843/2025/08...
This is a really painful read, but fantastic digging by Shane Bauer into the children of political dissidents in Syria, disappeared by the security services into orphanages and made to forget the existence of their parents www.nytimes.com/2025/08/18/m...
They Were Treated Like Orphans. But They Knew the Truth.
www.nytimes.com
August 19, 2025 at 1:36 PM
This is a really painful read, but fantastic digging by Shane Bauer into the children of political dissidents in Syria, disappeared by the security services into orphanages and made to forget the existence of their parents www.nytimes.com/2025/08/18/m...
"If the princess rings the police...you're dead. I mean literally". Superb long read on the whistleblower who exposed epic British-Saudi corruption. Someone should make into a film www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...
Very British bribery: the whistleblower who exposed the UK’s dodgy arms deals with Saudi Arabia
The long read: When Ian Foxley found evidence of corruption while working at a British company in Riyadh, he alerted the MoD. He didn’t know he’d stumbled upon one of its most closely guarded secrets
www.theguardian.com
August 7, 2025 at 10:00 AM
"If the princess rings the police...you're dead. I mean literally". Superb long read on the whistleblower who exposed epic British-Saudi corruption. Someone should make into a film www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...
Fellow Syria obsessives, if you have not listened to the final part of my colleague Gareth's incredible investigation into the fate of Austen Tice I strongly recommend you do so. A chilling journey into the dark heart of the regime
www.economist.com/podcasts/202...
www.economist.com/podcasts/202...
The hunt for Austin Tice, part 3
Bird in the cage
www.economist.com
July 31, 2025 at 10:01 AM
Fellow Syria obsessives, if you have not listened to the final part of my colleague Gareth's incredible investigation into the fate of Austen Tice I strongly recommend you do so. A chilling journey into the dark heart of the regime
www.economist.com/podcasts/202...
www.economist.com/podcasts/202...
Previous posts are from the Economist's summer double issue which is on stands today and which contains four fantastic pieces of reportage from 1843, including this absolutely wild tale of identity theft www.economist.com/interactive/...
One William Woods was telling the truth. The other was living his life
How a decades-long deception saw an innocent man end up in jail
www.economist.com
July 26, 2025 at 8:07 AM
Previous posts are from the Economist's summer double issue which is on stands today and which contains four fantastic pieces of reportage from 1843, including this absolutely wild tale of identity theft www.economist.com/interactive/...
Every few years about 30m Indians compete for 90K jobs on the railways. To be eg a ticket inspector you must do an insane exam on things like algebra, & the WTO. An entire town has sprung up where ppl do nothing but cram for it. Amazing story (includes sample test) www.economist.com/interactive/...
Would you pass the world’s toughest exam?
Thirty million Indians want a job on the railways, but a fiendish general-knowledge test stands in their way
www.economist.com
July 26, 2025 at 8:01 AM
Every few years about 30m Indians compete for 90K jobs on the railways. To be eg a ticket inspector you must do an insane exam on things like algebra, & the WTO. An entire town has sprung up where ppl do nothing but cram for it. Amazing story (includes sample test) www.economist.com/interactive/...
Last year the South African government blockaded an abandoned mine where hundreds of illegal miners, mainly immigrants, were scouting for gold. This is the story of what went on in the darkness during those months, and it is haunting. www.economist.com/interactive/...
July 26, 2025 at 7:43 AM
Last year the South African government blockaded an abandoned mine where hundreds of illegal miners, mainly immigrants, were scouting for gold. This is the story of what went on in the darkness during those months, and it is haunting. www.economist.com/interactive/...
really good rundown of Sweida and what the latest sectarian violence in Syria is about
newlinesmag.com/argument/how...
newlinesmag.com/argument/how...
How Foreign Agendas Hijacked a Local Crisis in Syria
Seven months after Assad’s fall, an analysis of the violence in Sweida shows how international interference and internal paralysis are pushing the country back toward chaos
newlinesmag.com
July 25, 2025 at 10:01 AM
really good rundown of Sweida and what the latest sectarian violence in Syria is about
newlinesmag.com/argument/how...
newlinesmag.com/argument/how...
This is a really excellent use of graphics and videos to explain what is going on with GHF's aid distribution model in Gaza www.ft.com/content/6c74...
Inside Gaza’s ‘death traps’
A US-backed scheme forces hungry Palestinians to trek kilometres for food aid. Many never make it back
www.ft.com
July 14, 2025 at 10:12 AM
This is a really excellent use of graphics and videos to explain what is going on with GHF's aid distribution model in Gaza www.ft.com/content/6c74...
So many extraordinary details in this unforgettable in-depth account of being a hostage in Gaza - the first of our summer issue pieces. Omer became the chef of the Hamas cell that was holding him
www.economist.com/1843/2025/07...
www.economist.com/1843/2025/07...
July 11, 2025 at 1:38 PM
So many extraordinary details in this unforgettable in-depth account of being a hostage in Gaza - the first of our summer issue pieces. Omer became the chef of the Hamas cell that was holding him
www.economist.com/1843/2025/07...
www.economist.com/1843/2025/07...
Reposted by Abbie Fielding-Smith
@financialtimes.com's @malaikatapper.bsky.social on how Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has created a whole new predatory black market for food aid: www.ft.com/content/2593...
Gaza’s controversial aid scheme fuels black market for vital goods
Extreme shortages and dangers securing supplies drive trade in food distributed by US-backed foundation
www.ft.com
July 10, 2025 at 8:55 AM
@financialtimes.com's @malaikatapper.bsky.social on how Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has created a whole new predatory black market for food aid: www.ft.com/content/2593...
Reposted by Abbie Fielding-Smith
The @financialtimes.com continues to cover the BCG-Gaza story, and BCG leadership continues to insist that they're friendly, clueless dopes who had no idea that designing a tool for how to seize control over a starving enclave's access to food could be controversial. www.ft.com/content/6ddd...
July 9, 2025 at 5:15 PM
The @financialtimes.com continues to cover the BCG-Gaza story, and BCG leadership continues to insist that they're friendly, clueless dopes who had no idea that designing a tool for how to seize control over a starving enclave's access to food could be controversial. www.ft.com/content/6ddd...
Reposted by Abbie Fielding-Smith
The GHF ignored weeks of warnings that its model would mean overwhelming crowds. And then the inevitable result: "Senior commanders had considered managing the crowds through the use of live fire. 'The intent was to direct the population using gunfire.'" www.haaretz.com/middle-east-...
Testimonies: IDF responsible for lethal shootings near U.S.-led aid site in Gaza
***
www.haaretz.com
June 6, 2025 at 9:30 AM
The GHF ignored weeks of warnings that its model would mean overwhelming crowds. And then the inevitable result: "Senior commanders had considered managing the crowds through the use of live fire. 'The intent was to direct the population using gunfire.'" www.haaretz.com/middle-east-...
Reposted by Abbie Fielding-Smith
Last straw.
AFP’s Fida Hussain photographs farmers transporting wheat straw on a tractor in Jacobabad, Sindh province, Pakistan
AFP’s Fida Hussain photographs farmers transporting wheat straw on a tractor in Jacobabad, Sindh province, Pakistan
May 30, 2025 at 4:36 AM
Last straw.
AFP’s Fida Hussain photographs farmers transporting wheat straw on a tractor in Jacobabad, Sindh province, Pakistan
AFP’s Fida Hussain photographs farmers transporting wheat straw on a tractor in Jacobabad, Sindh province, Pakistan
"Hizbullah gaslit us!" Supporters are cursing it, opponents sense an opportunity. @lizsly.bsky.social profiles the most successful militia in the world as it hits an existential crossroad www.economist.com/1843/2025/05...
The rise, fall and contested future of Hizbullah
Lebanon has spent years under the militant group’s dominance. Could it be coming to an end?
www.economist.com
May 16, 2025 at 12:57 PM
"Hizbullah gaslit us!" Supporters are cursing it, opponents sense an opportunity. @lizsly.bsky.social profiles the most successful militia in the world as it hits an existential crossroad www.economist.com/1843/2025/05...
As Syria's ex al Qaeda president prepares to meet with Trump seems a good time to re-up Nicolas Pelham's superlative story of how he made that journey (and why being a great political chameleon doesn't necessarily make you great at running a post civil war country) www.economist.com/1843/2025/03...
The great pretender: how Ahmed al-Sharaa won Syria
Syria’s new president is a chameleon. Is that enough to rule the Middle East’s most volatile country?
www.economist.com
May 14, 2025 at 8:35 AM
As Syria's ex al Qaeda president prepares to meet with Trump seems a good time to re-up Nicolas Pelham's superlative story of how he made that journey (and why being a great political chameleon doesn't necessarily make you great at running a post civil war country) www.economist.com/1843/2025/03...
Reposted by Abbie Fielding-Smith
The Enshittification Files
May 12, 2025 at 12:43 AM
The Enshittification Files
Reposted by Abbie Fielding-Smith
Deeply disturbing and demands accountability, not cover ups. “Giving their accounts publicly for the first time, the veterans described seeing members of the SAS murder unarmed people in their sleep and execute handcuffed detainees, including children.” www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
'Children handcuffed and shot' - ex-UK Special Forces break silence on war crime claims
Veterans who served with the SAS and SBS give BBC Panorama eyewitness accounts of alleged executions.
www.bbc.co.uk
May 12, 2025 at 9:51 AM
Deeply disturbing and demands accountability, not cover ups. “Giving their accounts publicly for the first time, the veterans described seeing members of the SAS murder unarmed people in their sleep and execute handcuffed detainees, including children.” www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
If you were told you had been secretly surveilled by a dictatorship and some of your best friends had been reporting on you, would you want to read the file? Would you trust anyone again if you did? Riveting piece on Taiwan's reckoning with newly unearthed archives www.economist.com/1843/2025/05...
The terrible secrets of Taiwan’s Stasi files
Researchers have unearthed the surveillance records of Taiwan’s former dictatorship. But the revelations inside could tear society apart
www.economist.com
May 1, 2025 at 10:06 AM
If you were told you had been secretly surveilled by a dictatorship and some of your best friends had been reporting on you, would you want to read the file? Would you trust anyone again if you did? Riveting piece on Taiwan's reckoning with newly unearthed archives www.economist.com/1843/2025/05...
Frogs were used in pregnancy tests until the mid 1960s
April 19, 2025 at 9:33 AM
Frogs were used in pregnancy tests until the mid 1960s