Catherine Philp

After Ukrainian forces launched their audacious incursion into Russian territory, Catherine was determined to cross over and visit for herself. To do so was dangerous: Russia had launched a fight-back and heavy battles were going on. Additionally, Russia threatened to criminally prosecute any journalist who crossed and seek Interpol red notices against them. Crossing into Kursk yielded extraordinary insights into the views of ordinary Russians on the war in Ukraine, both from those sold on Putin's version of the truth and those who thought the war was a terrible idea. For this it was necessary to peel away from Ukrainian forces and speak to Russian civilians on their own. She has since been banned from Russia for life and await news of a prosecution.

In autumn 2023 she travelled to Svalbard in the high Arctic to see how the war in Ukraine was playing out in the next greatest arena for strategic struggle and the fastest warming place on earth. In Svalbard, the war in Ukraine had set down a new iron curtain between the Russian settlement, Barentsberg and the rest of the international population, who cut off relations with the Russian state coal mining company that run the town. It involved taking a sanction-busting boat to Barentsberg where the most senior Russian official is a high-ranking military intelligence officer under diplomatic cover. This on-the-ground blend of geopolitics and climate crisis was warmly welcomed by readers, achieving the highest rating for reader engagement that the Times has ever recorded.

In June 2024 she went to India to report on Narendra Modi's campaign to win a parliamentary super majority and permanently remake the world's largest democracy in his Hindu majoritarian image. The polls were all in his favour and much of the critical reporting focused solely on his persecution of Muslims not on how he might be failing even in his traditional strongholds. She chose to report from across Uttar Pradesh, the heartland of Modi support, where it became clear to her that a different narrative was unfolding, one in which Modi was failing the lower caste Untouchables whose support he had taken for granted for years. The narrative of India's economic miracle was not making it down to them. Modi ultimately lost his majority in the election and was forced to forge a coalition to govern, shattering the myth of the all-powerful demi-god he spent years building.

Almost every single other news organisation went with the Modi myth, that he would win huge, because few went out and spoke to the actual voters. She has followed Modi for years, having covered the anti-Muslim pogroms in Gujarat in 2002 and having met and interviewed Modi much later that year when he was seeking re-election as Gujarat chief minister. Staying in touch for over 20 years with sources helped her reach behind the official version and tell a more accurate story of the leader of the world's largest democracy.