Afshin Rattansi

Last updated

Afshin Rattansi
Afshin Rattansi.png
Rattansi in 2008
Born1968 (age 5556)
Cambridge, England
NationalityBritish
Occupation(s)Broadcaster, journalist
Years active1988[ citation needed ]–present
Employer(s) The Guardian , Channel 4, Dubai Business Channel, Today (BBC Radio 4), Al Jazeera Arabic, Press TV, RT
Notable workThe Dream of the Decade: The London Novels
TelevisionRattansi & Ridley
Double Standards
Going Underground
RelativesShihab Rattansi (brother)
Website afshinrattansi.com

Afshin Rattansi (born 1968) is a British broadcaster, journalist and author [1] who presents Going Underground broadcast around the world except in the UK and EU, on television stations including the RT network, formerly known as Russia Today. He has also worked for the Today programme on BBC Radio 4, Channel 4, Al Jazeera, CNN International, Press TV and Bloomberg. He was the launch Business Editor of the Dubai Business Channel. [2] [3] He was also the first English-language producer at Qatar's Al Jazeera Television Network [4] He writes occasional articles for CounterPunch [5] and has contributed to scholarly journal, Critical Quarterly [6] [7] His work appeared in the Penguin Books anthology, Brought to Book [8] and his quartet "The Dream of the Decade" [9] came out in 2005. He now co-hosts a new show 'Forecast News', bringing viewers the news and events for the week ahead. [10]

Contents

Early life

Rattansi was born in Cambridge, England, in 1968, the son of immigrant parents, Prof. Pyarally Mohamedally Rattansi and Zarin Miraly Charania, who had married in London two years before. His father – late emeritus Professor of History and Philosophy of Science at University College London – was born in Kenya, one of the ten children of a tea planter, and the Rattansi family had originally come there from Chavand, a village in Kathiawar, India. [11] [12] He has a younger brother, Shihab.

Career

Rattansi began his career as a columnist for The Guardian [3] before working on Britain's Channel 4 primetime documentary series executive produced by Tariq Ali and Darcus Howe, commissioned by Farukh Dhondy and Waldemar Januszczak.

Rattansi was a guest panelist in a 2018 edition of the BBC's Question Time in which the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal was discussed. [13] Referring to Keir Starmer, Rattansi asked: "Why is it that neo-con, neo-liberal Labour Party members continue to try and use WMDs to push us into war?" [14]

In 2022, Afshin Rattansi founded the production company Ghaf TV Productions in the United Arab Emirates where quarter of a century before he was the founding Business Editor of the Dubai Business Channel.

Filmography

Television

Today programme (BBC Radio 4) [2] 2002–2003
Press TV News2007–2008
Rattansi & Ridley2008–2010
Alternate Reality2011
Double Standards[ citation needed ]2011–2013
Going Underground 2013–

Documentaries

YearDocumentary
2012Eritrea: A Nation In Isolation [15]

Books

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leader of the House of Commons</span> Political role in the UK Government

The leader of the House of Commons is a minister of the Crown of the Government of the United Kingdom whose main role is organising government business in the House of Commons. The leader is always a member or attendee of the cabinet of the United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lindsay Hoyle</span> Speaker of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom since 2019

Sir Lindsay Harvey Hoyle is a British politician who has served as Speaker of the House of Commons since 2019 and as Member of Parliament (MP) for Chorley since 1997. Before his election as speaker, he was a member of the Labour Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Quest</span> British journalist and non-practising barrister

Richard Austin Quest is a British journalist and non-practising barrister working as a news anchor for CNN International. He is also an editor-at-large of CNN Business.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pat McFadden</span> British politician (born 1965)

Patrick Bosco McFadden is a British politician who has served as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster since July 2024. A member of the Labour Party, he has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Wolverhampton South East since 2005. McFadden has previously held various junior ministerial positions and shadow portfolios in his parliamentary career between 2005 and 2024.

John Yates is a former Assistant Commissioner in the London Metropolitan Police Service (2006–2011). As leader of the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS)'s Special Inquiry Squad, Yates was dubbed "Yates of the Yard" by the British press following his involvement in a number of cases with high media profiles. Yates came to particular prominence for heading the Cash for Honours investigation. Yates also coordinated the UK police response to the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, heading "Operation Bracknell", for which he was awarded the Queen's Police Medal in January 2006. He resigned in July 2011 over criticism of a July 2009 review he carried out of the 2006 police investigation of the News of the World royal phone hacking scandal. He now works for the government of Bahrain advising it on reform of its security forces.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Keir Starmer</span> Prime Minister of the United Kingdom since 2024

SirKeir Rodney Starmer is a British politician and barrister who has served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom since 2024 and as Leader of the Labour Party since 2020. He previously served as Leader of the Opposition from 2020 to 2024. He has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Holborn and St Pancras since 2015, and was Director of Public Prosecutions from 2008 to 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrew Feinstein</span> South African politician

Andrew Josef Feinstein is a South African former politician, activist, filmmaker, campaigner and author, now based in London, who specialises in the investigation of the arms trade and the corruption that accompanies it. He is Executive Director of a small non-profit, Shadow World Investigations, and serves on the board of Declassified UK. The son of a Holocaust survivor, Feinstein was the first MP to introduce a motion on the Holocaust in the South African parliament.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lisa Nandy</span> British politician (born 1979)

Lisa Eva Nandy is a British Labour Party politician serving as Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport since 2024. She has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Wigan since 2010. Nandy previously served as Shadow Foreign Secretary, Shadow Levelling Up Secretary, Shadow Energy Secretary and Shadow International Development Minister.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bill Esterson</span> British politician

William Roffen Esterson is a British Labour Party politician who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Sefton Central since 2010. He has been Shadow Minister for Roads from 2023 to 2024, and was Shadow Minister for Small Business from 2015 to 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">RT America</span> Part of the RT TV network that folded in 2022

RT America was a U.S.-based news channel headquartered in Washington, D.C. Owned by TV Novosti and operated by production company T&R Productions, it was a part of the RT network, a global multilingual television news network based in Moscow and funded by the Russian government. The channel said it reached an audience of 85 million people in the United States, but this figure is disputed. It was distributed through select cable providers, over-the-top services, a live stream through its website, and three low-power digital subchannels. Since the channel's closure, viewers who tune into the cable channel or their live stream are being shown a live feed of an RT International broadcast instead.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anneliese Dodds</span> British politician (born 1978)

Anneliese Jane Dodds is a British Labour and Co-operative politician and public policy analyst serving as Minister of State for Development and Minister of State for Women and Equalities since July 2024. She previously served as Chair of the Labour Party from 2021 to 2024. She was Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer from April 2020 to May 2021, the first woman to hold the position, and Shadow Secretary of State for Women and Equalities from 2021 to 2024. She has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Oxford East since 2017 and was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for South East England from 2014 to 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Angela Rayner</span> Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom since 2024

Angela Rayner is a British politician who has served as Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government since July 2024. She has been Deputy Leader of the Labour Party since 2020 and Member of Parliament (MP) for Ashton-under-Lyne since 2015. Ideologically she identifies as a socialist and as being part of Labour's soft left.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">RT UK</span> Defunct English language television channel

RT UK, also known as Russia Today, was a free-to-air television news channel based in the United Kingdom. It was part of the RT network, a Russian state-controlled international television network funded by the federal tax budget of the Russian government. The channel's head was Nikolay Bogachikhin. Launched in 2014, it ran live broadcasts for seven years and ceased broadcasting from London in July 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Luke Pollard</span> British Labour and Co-operative politician

Luke Pollard is a British politician who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Plymouth Sutton and Devonport since 2017. A member of the Labour and Co-operative parties, he has served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Armed Forces since July 2024.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sam Tarry</span> British Labour politician, MP for Ilford South

Samuel Peter Tarry is a British former politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ilford South from 2019 until 2024. He was a member of the Socialist Campaign Group parliamentary caucus. On 10 October 2022 he was deselected by the Ilford South Constituency Labour Party as its candidate for the 2024 election.

2020s political history refers to significant political and societal historical events in the United Kingdom in the 2020s, presented as a historical overview in narrative format.

In the aftermath of relatively poor results in the 2021 local elections, Keir Starmer carried out a May 2021 shadow cabinet reshuffle.

On 29 November 2021, Keir Starmer, Leader of the Opposition in the United Kingdom, carried out a reshuffle of his shadow cabinet. The slimmed down shadow cabinet, was seen to be Starmer creating a top team in his own image.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United Kingdom support for Israel in the Israel–Hamas war</span>

Following the outbreak of the Israel–Hamas war on 7 October 2023, the United Kingdom has provided Israel with extensive military and diplomatic support. In response to the 7 October attacks, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak asserted that the United Kingdom "unequivocally" stands with Israel. The UK also issued an "unequivocal condemnation" of Palestinian militant group Hamas and deployed British Armed Forces personnel and assets to the Eastern Mediterranean to support Israel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Premiership of Keir Starmer</span> Period of Government of the United Kingdom from 2024 to present

Keir Starmer's tenure as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom began on 5 July 2024 when he accepted an invitation from King Charles III to form a government, succeeding Rishi Sunak of the Conservative Party, after the Labour Party had won the 2024 general election. As prime minister, Starmer is serving concurrently as First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service, and Minister for the Union.

References

  1. "Afshin Rattansi". Russia Today . Retrieved 30 August 2013.
  2. 1 2 "Covering_Iran_The_Role_of_Conventional_and_Non-conventional_Media.pdf" (PDF). SOAS. Archived (PDF) from the original on 11 May 2021. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
  3. 1 2 Drake, Matt (16 March 2018). "BBC Question Time sparks OUTRAGE at guest panellist from 'Putin's mouthpiece' RT". Express.co.uk. Retrieved 19 March 2022.
  4. Miles, Hugh (2005). Al-Jazeera : how Arab TV news challenged the world. London: Abacus. ISBN   0-349-11807-8. OCLC   56639838.
  5. "Afshin Rattansi, Author at CounterPunch.org". CounterPunch.org. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  6. DUFFY, CAROL ANN (September 1989). "Père Lachaise". Critical Quarterly. 31 (3): 43. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8705.1989.tb00355.x. ISSN   0011-1562.
  7. "Critical Quarterly 58.3". Critical Quarterly. 58 (3): E1–E4. October 2016. doi:10.1111/criq.12300. ISSN   0011-1562.
  8. Hammond, Paul; Ian Breakwell (1994). Brought to book. London: Penguin. ISBN   0-14-017080-4. OCLC   31410037.
  9. Rattansi, Afshin (2005). The dream of the decade. North Charleston, S.C.: BookSurge. ISBN   1-4196-1686-2. OCLC   65171207.
  10. "Forecast News". YouTube .
  11. Maniben Rattansi, David K. Some, Fulfilling a dream (Mohamedally and Maniben Rattansi Educational Trust, 2008)
  12. “Pyarally M Rattansi” in England & Wales Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1916-2005, ancestry.co.uk, accessed 4 September 2022
  13. Dysch, Marcus (15 March 2018). "Appearance by RT presenter Afshin Rattansi on BBC's Question Time sparks outrage on social media". The Jewish Chronicle. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  14. Drake, Matt (16 March 2018). "'Why does Labour use WMDs to take us to WAR?' BBCQT panelist SLAMS Keir Starmer". Express.co.uk. Retrieved 19 March 2022.
  15. Eritrea: A Nation in Isolation on YouTube [ dead link ]