Spent this morning re-reading the report by Belarusian archaeologists into the Soviet killing fields at #Kuropaty outside Minsk for my next book. An estimated 102,000 were shot there in 1937-41.
Nearby villagers witnessed events & gave chilling eye-witness accounts (thread) Local kids used to sneak through the fence to collect berries. One 11 year old girl got trapped inside one day when NKVD lorries arrived with more victims. Terrified she watched it all...

A glimpse into the history of Soviet repression: One of hundreds of pages from 'These Names Accuse', listing the fate of individual Latvians deported to Soviet Russia in 1940-41. Documents like these graphically illustrate the experience of the victims of Soviet Communism. 1. The details shown bring home the human tragedy of Soviet repression in the Baltic States & help us to understand why the suffering of that period remains an integral part of the national consciousness of these countries today. The childhood of Vanda Buners (#5 on the list)...

1/ Last week I was at @YorkUnion to debate with close Corbyn ally @DerbyChrisW “This house believes Corbyn’s Labour is the new Nasty Party.” I promised to post a report back. Bear with me on this thread as its not simple to tweet, but here goes... 2/ The debate went -
CW: "@UKLabour ‘s 500k members means Corbyn is validated"
My reply: "99% don't know your ulterior aims. They have been duped."
I then gave audience three texts (illustrated below) to outline what had been hidden from them and laid out the case that