BBC current affairs reporter, especially covering Russia, Ukraine and other former Soviet states, Africa and Middle East

Joined February 2011
111 Photos and videos
I’m amazed by what the women of #Rojava - Syrian #Kurdistan - achieved, amid war, over the past 14 years. Can they stay powerful now Rojava’s losing its autonomy? One foreign admirer says: “It would be heartbreaking if what they fought for was lost.” podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcas…
1
3
4
565
For 14 yrs, #Syria ‘s #Kurds built a unique society where men and women share official jobs. What will remain of their experiment - including female fighting units -now they’re being integrated into a state led by former Islamists? My report on #Rojava now bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3ct6rc…
1
223
After 36 yrs Pritesh Patel’s news stall on #Brixton tube station closes today. London has ever fewer good newsagents. And Pritesh is irreplaceable - so well-informed (thanks to #Radio4 in his ear!) that for years I have tried out story ideas on him - and valued his judgment.
17
112
859
32,620
This version of my 'People's History of Gaza' should be available everywhere. Worth a listen to understand what its people have been through since the Strip came into being in 1948 podcasts.apple.com/nz/podcas…
20 Oct 2025
A People's History of Gaza: 'an oral history of Gaza, from the creation of the Strip in 1948 to the eve of the October 7th Hamas attack on Israel, told through the experiences of ordinary people.' Only available in the UK bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w3ct81…
1
1
3
944
“When we were younger, storks decorated the sky.” The back-story of #Gaza since 1948 - often tragic, sometimes surprising, occasionally inspirational. bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002l1…
1
2
304
Tim Whewell retweeted
“In all an estimated 700,000 Palestinians lost their homes and became refugees as a result of the war of 1948-49; around 200,000 are believed to have crowded into that tiny coastal corridor.” Deeply moving piece by @BBCTimWhewell bbc.com/news/articles/c87400…
1
2
1
293
They even hit the zoo. The stories of the civilians who chose to stay in one of #Ukraine 's most bombed cities - and try to lead a normal life - in Albina Kovalyova @agent_Alka 's moving film youtube.com/watch?v=AlrrWx3h…

6
10
2,852
Half a million Syrian servicemen were sacked when the Assad regime fell. They’ve got no income, no prospects. Could their discontent eventually fuel an insurgency like that in Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein? My report from #Damascus bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3ct6rb…
1
4
313
Tim Whewell retweeted
13m Syrians - half the population - left their homes during #Syria’s 13-year civil war. 7m were internally displaced. 6m fled abroad. Bringing them home is perhaps the biggest challenge facing Syria's new rulers. @BBCTimWhewell follows returnees to #Homs to see what’s they find…
As Donald Trump says he’ll lift sanctions on #Syria, what are the prospects for bringing home the millions of Syrians forced to flee during the civil war? My report from #Homs #حمص bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3ct6rb…
2
1
406
As Donald Trump says he’ll lift sanctions on #Syria, what are the prospects for bringing home the millions of Syrians forced to flee during the civil war? My report from #Homs #حمص bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3ct6rb…
2
1
625
Tim Whewell retweeted
With ⁦@LucyAAsh⁩ - a story of religious conversion you probably haven’t heard about before… bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002bsx…
4
4
548
A castle of clotted cream? In #Homs, post-war reconstruction has barely begun, but the city patissiers build their famous halawet el jibn delicacy sturdily and high from a mixture of semolina and cheese حمص#
2
259
Celebrations in Homs, #Syria today as buses bring another 124 families home fromcamps after years of displacement. Some haven’t seen their home city for 14 years. But parts of Homs in ruins and there are few jobs.With 7m Syrians internally displaced, resettlement is a huge task.
2
2
391
Tim Whewell retweeted
Na BBC pojawił się wyważony, a przy tym sympatyzujący z argumentami przeciwników gloryfikacji UPA materiał o Rzezi Wołyńskiej i problemie ekshumacji autorstwa @BBCTimWhewell. Cytowana jest m.in. @KarolaAdamiec, Leon Popek, @viatrovych @SPlokhy, a także ja sam. W listopadzie byłem z autorem w Bazaltowem (dawniej: Janowa Dolina) i opowiadałem mu o okolicznościach Rzezi i problemach w stosunkach polsko-ukraińskich. bbcrussian.substack.com/p/po…
3
6
13
1,573
Tim Whewell retweeted
Hamas was opposed to their music and the Israelis bombed their instruments and installations but the children of #gaza are still singing. Beautiful & heartbreaking by ⁦@BBCTimWhewell⁩ ⁦@PennyMurphy⁩ ⁦@bbcworldservicebbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w3ct5m…
2
3
363
Tim Whewell retweeted
An excellent documentary on the Volyn Massacre by BBC’s Tim Whewell. Sheds more light on Polish-Ukrainian complicated history, Bandera, UPA etc
The tens of thousands of ghosts haunting #Poland’s relations with its ally, #Ukraine bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w3ct5m…
1
1
562
Tim Whewell retweeted
An excellent radio report - "Poland's Goast - Ukraine's Heroes" by @BBCTimWhewell - bringing to English-speaking listeners around the world the issue of the Volyn massacre and the heroisation by Ukraine of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army - the formation responsible for the genocide of the Poles and later defending western Ukraine against Sovietisation. The @BBCNews programme features @KarolaAdamiec from @PojednaniePLUA , Leon Popek from @ipngovpl_eng , @viatrovych - a former head of @Uinp_gov_ua and myself, as well as witnesses to the massacre. The author, visited, among other places, Kysylyn and Bazaltove (former name: Janowa Dolina), where I told him about the complicated Polish-Ukrainian relations in the November cold. He also quoted Poland’s and Ukraine’s ministers of foreign affairs, @andrii_sybiha and @sikorskiradek bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m00268…
10
20
78
11,219
Reporter @BBCTimWhewell travels through Poland and western Ukraine to try to find out what really happened in 1943, and ask whether Poland and Ukraine can ever lay a fiercely-contested history to rest. @BBCRadio4 @KarolaAdamiec bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w3ct5m…
4
5
526