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Alain was born in Cairo. His mother was Polish, his father French/Greek/Italian. He was on the Financial Times for 23 years and before that on the Daily Express. ( aka Alain Cass) He covered the events in Northern Ireland & the 1973 October Middle East war. He was the FT's News Editor from 1989-1995. He pioneered the paper's investigative reporting which won a number of awards. After he retired he learnt to fly (at 60)  and circumnavigated Africa in a single-engine Piper. Alain speaks a handful of languages. He lives in the Chilterns with his wife and Catalan sheepdog. He has 10 world-class grandchildren.  This site is dedicated to them 

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Why my mum would have understood
the agony
of Ukraine

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Where to find my stuff
  • LinkedIn
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The Constant Reporter 

The slow death
of Tory England 

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Brexit was a marriage of convenience. People who wanted change and are now going their separate ways.

The world is complicated. Explaining it needn't be. But I'm lucky. I live in a democracy where freedom of expression is taken for granted although increasingly abused and subverted. Brexit, Trump and Johnson may have turned truth on its head. The cancel culture speaks of greater intolerance. But as long as I don't break the law I'm free to say what I please. Others, as this map shows, are not so lucky. Some, many, die, trying. 

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I write about people, issues & places I care about. What interests me most is social justice and where that intersects with politics. How we can make a better world for our grandchildren? 

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FREEDOM IS SHRINKING

​I try not to be too shouty. Nearly 25 years on the FT taught me that. The FT is the best university on earth. 

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A journalist's  job - the part that matters - is to speak truth to power. To find things out that people don't want you to find out. And to set facts into context so they make sense. The rest, as the man said, is PR.

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Tank Man (my masthead) epitomises the challenge to totalitarianism. Taken at the height of the Tienanmen Square uprising in 1989 it represents heroism in its purest form. 

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Tienanmen erupted on my first day as News Editor of the FT. I was lucky to hold the job at a period of almost unprecedented political drama. Journalists thrive on drama and don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

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The pro-democracy movement was crushed. (As it is being crushed in Hong Kong in 2020) .

 

  But there was better news that year when the Soviet Union unravelled leading to the collapse of the Berlin Wall. We thought then that liberalism would sweep the world. That judgement was premature. 

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Freedom of information is fundamental in any democracy as well to free markets, science and public health as the pandemic has shown us. But nearly half of the world’s population has no access to freely-reported news and information as this map shows. 

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Over the past two decades at least 80 journalists a year are killed in the line of duty. Many more are imprisoned most in China. The NGO Reporters Without Borders estimates that over 60% of those who died were murdered or deliberately targeted. We in Britain are not entirely immune to the impulse. The new Espionage Act proposes to place whistleblowers and journalists on the same par as spies. 

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Journalism matters. But the truth is indispensable.. 

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                                                                            Alain Catzeflis                                                                                    

 

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An open letter to my fellow journalists at the Kyiv Independent

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Russia invades Ukraine

Is Russia
beyond
redemption ?

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" The leader who does not lead. The clown who can't stop clowning"

Boris Johnson

Why he loves power
but can't cope with
responsibilty

The deadly price some pay for a free press and why these journalists deserve the Nobel Peace Prize. 

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Taking liberties

You can fool some of the people all of the time and all of the people some of the time. But, as sure as eggs is eggs, you can’t fool all of the people all of the time.

                                       Abe Lincoln

For Britain to thrive
the centre needs to 
let go

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The UK after Brexit

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Palestinian refugees
remnd me of my 
Polish grandma

Gaza

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Boris is
spinning us
a yarn
It's that
simple 

Inside Number 10

The new Tory
revolution is
devouring itself

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In the pandemic

as in politics the 

Palestinians have lost

out. 

The Middle East

Democracy

is in

trouble

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Washinton DC 2021

William Beveridge’s post-war brainchild has turned into an ever-expanding Heath Robinson machine. It is hugely expensive to administer, open to abuse, and endlessly breaks down. It’s not just a mess. It’s a monster

The end of welfare?

Time to look at Basic Income

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What do the 1995 Rugby World Cup, the Ayatollah Khomeini and the Boeing 747 have in common? 

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Can the Tories 
hold the North? 
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The coming battle for

red wall seats

Pandemic
procurement
is a scandal.
Time for reform

Joe Biden wins the race for the White House 

Joe Biden becomes the 46th President-elect of the United States in a thrilling race. Kamala Harris, the California Senator, becomes the first woman and the first woman of colour to be elected Vice President. It is an extraordinary moment. Amid the din of accusations of fraud from the Trump, one group of American citizens did not lose their heads. They just kept counting. 
'The quiet Americans who
just kept on counting 
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Refugees

Patel's

War 

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Covid-19

' Why is
Boris Johnson
not asking
for help? 

The Union 

One step closer to break-up

Boris Johnson won power largely by appealing to English nationalism. He seems to believe that he can use that power to quell nationalism north of the border.

Nationalism (as opposed to national pride) is a dead end. To lead, you also have to cooperate. He is steering Britain ever-closer to a calamitous fracture.

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BORIS JOHNSON

A one-trick pony

There is a void at the heart of this government. Johnson is a good news Prime Minister who wants to be liked. His project, guided by Dominic Cummings, is about what he wants the world to look like, and is less about dealing with the world as it is. It’s about dreams, not the daily grind of governing.

SHOOTING THE MESSENGER

When the President of the United States, declares “I am your President of law and order” and brands reporters as “enemies of the people” it’s a license for every cop with a grudge to lash out when he thinks he can get away with it.
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MENTAL HEALTH 

A system   

in crisis 

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For nearly three years 

Jeremy had to kneel outside his daughter's cell to talk to her through a 8-inch hatch 

POLITICS 

The dangers

of an elected

autocracy

Leave our judges alone. They hold the ring. when when the government is taking liberties. 

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BEIRUT: DREAM TO NIGHTMARE

Lebanon’s disintegration lies in the manner of its birth. 

It was a melting pot of faiths, clans and ethnic groups thrown together by armchair strategists.

​As with much of the Middle East, creating a country is one thing. Creating a nation is another.

THE MIDDLE EAST

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WANDERINGS

Photo: Alain Catzeflis The Danakil Desert Ethiopia 2019 

THE LEARNING DISABILITY CRISIS

The long shadow of Winterbourne

View 

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CAMBODIA: THE SNAKE THAT TAKES YOU TO HELL

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AROUND AFRICA IN 60 DAYS

In 2011 I circumnavigated

Africa in my single-engine Piper as part of the Fox squadron

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IMMIGRATION

Britain needs immigrants. So why is the government driving them away? 

THE GOVERNMENT PROCUREMENT SCANDAL 

Why do we reward failure? 

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What does China

really want? 

HONG KONG

Can Joe Biden break

the deadlock? 

PALESTINE

Britain has failed

the disabled

DISABILITY

Led by science is

not leadership

How he is hastening

the end of liberalism

How to make the

best of Brexit

COVID-19

DOMINIC CUMMINGS

BREXIT

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The threat to the NHS from the US health industry 

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