Welcome to Hostile World with Chris Hughes

Thanks for subscribing to my newsletter.

Hello,

Welcome to my newsletter, Hostile World.

As The Mirror’s Defence and Security Editor I have covered war and terror at home and abroad for more than 20 years.

It has taken me to fascinating places such as Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Lebanon, elsewhere in the Middle East, across Africa and even Korea.

I have also spent months in Ukraine reporting on Russia’s invasion.

My job has led me to interviewing Taliban commanders, terrorists from networks such as Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic State and latterly, jailed Russian Wagner Group mercenaries.

In 2012 I was awarded UK Specialist Writer of the year after obtaining exclusive footage from inside North Korean prisons and a world exclusive interview with a Taliban commander.

Among the prisoners I have interviewed are British ISIS terrorist Alexanda Kotey - once Jihadi John's best friend - and Wagner Group mercenaries captured on the frontline in Ukraine.

And I have reported on the shadowy world of those who fight terrorism in the UK, despite the understandable challenges.

Often though, war coverage is straightforward and brutal, revealing the effects of warfare and terrorism on civilians and of course, our brave members of the UK armed forces and our allies.

Reporters are briefed by officials and occasionally embed with troops when they go to war, as I have done in Iraq, Afghanistan and Africa many times.

But our readers also deserve a first-hand, sometimes nuanced, point of view and this has taken me and my amazingly skilled photographer colleagues to frontlines independently.

The line between straightforward warfare and terrorism can be blurred and my job has also meant reporting on the shadowy intelligence world.

In this newsletter I hope to offer a fresh insight into all of these areas and will try to provide stories and analysis on what is increasingly a very complex and concerning world.