On the issue of Pres Trump allegation that paracetamol can cause autism, it’s worth noting that, as the Health Secretary Wes Streeting says, a major study carried out last year in Sweden, involving 2.4 million children, didn’t support this suggestion.

First Peter and Barbie Reynolds, the British couple held by the Taliban, are freed, and now Alaa Abd El-Fattah, the British/Egyptian rights campaigner, is freed by Egypt. If only China will now free my friend, the British Hong Kong media baron Jimmy Lai!

I’ve read and admired Mick Herron’s unmatchable ‘Slow Horses’ novels for years, and now I’m re-bingeing them on tv. The characterisation of Jackson Lamb and the others is as good as anything in British spy/crime fiction since the days of Conan Doyle.

In the lobby of the hotel I’m staying in here in Lisbon. The hotel is called ‘Wine and Books’. Hard to think of anything better.

Me in full ‘Unspun World’ flow for tonight’s programme on BBC Two, the News Channel & BBC World Service, being filmed by Dave Wilkins. Ben Watt, exec producer, on the right. Subjects: gloomy Britain greets Trump/Israel accused of genocide/Russia tests NATO. Worth a watch.

New Home Office figures show a rise of 50% in citizenship applications from Americans – putting it at the highest since records began. In my view, you can’t have too many open-minded Americans in your country — they’re the best of the best.

Stand up strong against the hate now my friends. You don’t want what’s happening in my country right now…🙏

I have found #UnspunWorld with @johnsimpsonnews.bsky.social on #YouTube for those outside of the UK. I hope it works and might be helpful. t.co/766ncFC01O It’s also available at #BBCWorldService.

I suspect Russia was testing out NATO’s willingness to stand together when Putin sent his drones over Poland. The alliance passed the test — but there’ll definitely be more to come.

Calm facts and analysis now with @johnsimpsonnews.bsky.social on #BBCTwo. #UnspunWorld.

‘Unspun World’ is back for its autumn run on BBC Two, News Channel and World Service, getting BBC correspondents and editors to explain what’s really going on in this new world order.

Murder rates aren’t just dropping steeply in Britain — they’re even dropping in the US (though of course they’re far higher there). The 2024 homicide rate in the US decreased by about 15%, one of the largest drops in American history — and mostly in the largest cities.

A great legacy in my view. Public service broadcasting, bringing ideas and knowledge to millions, free to hear and universally available. Year in, year out. Only the BBC would enable this.

Pres Trump gave Vladimir Putin until today to come to the negotiating table with Pres Zelenskiy. He hasn’t. Trump says he’s ’very disappointed’, but doesn’t seem to be planning to take any action to persuade him to talk peace…

Amid all the stuff about ‘dangerous London’ and ‘broken Britain’, new figures show the homicide rate in London is at a 10-year low. Killings dropped by 26% over the last year, from 78 to 58. No one under 25 was murdered during the school summer holidays.

I first saw ‘double tap’ attacks during the siege of Sarajevo. A shell or missile hits a building, then as the rescuers arrive, a second one hits. Much used by Russia in Ukraine. Western leaders are demanding to know if the IDF gave orders to do this at the Nasser Hospital.

Haaretz, the Israeli newspaper which opposes the Netanyahu govt, says senior military sources are disputing the official response to Israel’s ‘double-tap’ attack on the Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis in southern Gaza, which killed 20 people including 5 journalists.

Of course Vladimir Putin wants to be invited to the World Cup in the US ‘very badly’ (D. Trump). It’d show the powerlessness of the opposition to his Ukraine war. If George W Bush hadn’t pulled out of the Int Criminal Court, the US would have to arrest Putin on American soil.

“In Kent, a No Use Empty scheme offers interest-free loans for up to 3 years to owners who will let or sell the property afterwards. Though it was set up 20 yrs ago with a relatively modest pot of £5m, today it is self-sustaining.” Very interesting and important piece from the BBC.

Chris Greenway, BBC Monitoring: "The advance of Russian media influence in Africa continues. Sputnik radio is now aired on FM in Addis Ababa in both Amharic and English." While the BBC was defunded 38% 2010-24, and as a result, #BBCWorldService is cutting jobs, the Russians are advancing.

A hugely enjoyable session with the magnificent John Osman, one of the very finest BBC foreign correspondents of all time, and my particular hero. The hospice agreed we could each have a gin & tonic though it was only 11a.m.

Donald Trump, like his envoy Steve Witkoff, is always influenced by the last person he talks to. On Saturday that was Putin; in the Oval Office today it’ll be the scrum of European leaders who are there to protect Pres Zelenskyy from the treatment he got there in February.

I know it’s August, but who apart from The Times would think it was a news story to attack a BBC journalist for tweeting, without comment, the findings of a respected US academic institution? Silly season stuff — but with a hint of menace, all the same. www.thetimes.com/article/3ed8...

Worryingly for Ukraine, Donald Trump now seems to be veering back to praising Putin and criticising Zelenskyy. By agreeing to meet on US soil on Friday, Putin has pleased Trump — who doesn’t seem to realise what a concession he’s making to Russia by meeting Putin face to face.

JD Vance’s security entourage in the Cotswolds is huge. By comparison, when the late Queen travelled round the UK she usually went by train. She and her companions would have 4 seats in a 1st class carriage, plus 2 more for her detectives, leaving the rest of the carriage for the public.

According to the Watson School of International and Public Affairs in Rhode Island, US, more journalists have been killed in Gaza than in both world wars, the Vietnam war, the wars in Yugoslavia and the war in Afghanistan combined.

Anas al-Sharif, the Al Jazeera journalist accused by the IDF of working for Hamas, was previously part of a Reuters group which won a Pulitzer Prize for their coverage. I haven’t seen any accusations against the other reporters and cameramen who were killed with him.

Deeply shocked by Israel’s deliberate killing of the Al Jazeera correspondent Anas al-Sharif, his colleague Mohammed Qreiqeh and cameramen Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal and Moamen Aliwa. Israel has now killed at least 186 journalists in this war.

If Trump thinks the exchange of a few bits of Russian and Ukrainian territory plus a ceasefire will constitute peace, he’s wrong; Putin will just start up his attacks again when he chooses. There has to be a binding agreement which Russia won’t break. Not much sign of that.

Some @privateeyenews.bsky.social are only so-so. Others are for the ages…

I’ve just been having a great time on Twitter, blocking people who insult me (most of them anonymous, clearly male, middle-aged, ageist, and often living abroad). Sadly, some have crept over here to BlueSky. Disagree with me by all means, but stay courteous or I’ll block you too. Even here.

Millionaire US big game hunter is gored to death by buffalo. Karma?

The world needs honest, unbiased eyewitness reporting to help people make up their minds about the major issues of our time. This has so far been impossible in Gaza. Journalists around the world should support calls for reporters to be allowed into Gaza now.

Remarkable letter signed by former Israeli security chiefs: ‘Netanyahu is leading the nation to unprecedented defeat. Stop the futile war. Bring the hostages back at once!’ Signatories include former heads of Mossad, Shin Bet, military intelligence, chiefs of staff etc.

When public media disappears, so do the stories that bring us together. With federal funding eliminated, millions may lose their last trusted source of news and connection. If that matters to you, now’s the time to act. Donate: n.pr/458sOhq

It must have been around 1990 when I first started reading newspaper articles pontificating about how 5-day red-ball test cricket was basically finished. Today at the Oval, India & England showed us how stupid that judgement was. Yet again.

Anthony Aguilar, a retired US special forces officer working with the US & Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation tells the BBC he saw Israeli soldiers shooting at crowds of Palestinians. He’d never witnessed such brutality against an unarmed, starving population, he said.

The Joint Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights warns that countries are becoming bolder in attacking dissidents in the UK. Russia, China & Iran are the worst, but Bahrain, Egypt, Eritrea, India, Pakistan, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, & the UAE have all attacked people here.

Two leading Israeli human rights groups, B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights, say Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. In reports published yesterday, the groups say Israel targetted civilians in Gaza solely because of their identity as Palestinians.

So glad my former BBC Panorama colleague Peter Taylor has been made a CBE for his dogged, courageous and deeply honest reporting of Northern Ireland over the decades.

At least 32 people were killed and more than 100 injured on Saturday when Israeli troops opened fire on crowds of Palestinians seeking food from two aid distribution hubs in southern Gaza, according to witnesses and hospital officials.

UN Human Rights Office: At least 798 people have been killed since the end of May while seeking food at distribution points operated by the US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation and other humanitarian convoys.

Jimmy Lai, the Hong Kong media moghul who voluntarily returned to HK to support pro-democracy activists, is ill in jail. UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy tells the Commons it would be catastrophic for China’s international reputation if Jimmy Lai were to die in prison.

The Guardian reports that Israel hit the Al-Baqa coffee-house in Gaza on Monday with a 500-lb US-made MK-82 bomb, killing up to 36 people and injuring dozens more. It says experts in international law believe the use of such a weapon against a civilian target may be a war crime.

Recording the opening of tonight’s ’Unspun World’ at 11.05 on BBC Two: the entire team (Kate Cornell, producer; Ben Watt, exec producer; Dave Murphy, camera; Marek Polaszewski, camera; and me). Last programme of the season, but we’ll be back in September.

Absolutely. The last 15 minutes of the insane Benfica match were a delight — really glad I stayed up to watch. But whoever thought it’d be a good idea to hold this competition in the US in summer?

Good, insightful article by James Holland and my friend Hamish de Bretton-Gordon about the serious deficiencies of Putin’s army. www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/06...

As a young reporter in Northern Ireland I twice saw kids squirming on the ground in agony after being shot in the knees by the IRA. The memory still haunts me. Kneecap should be free to sing whatever they want - but why do they choose to celebrate such a vicious form of torture?

Instructive. BBC News tops Reuters Institute table of public opinion on brand trust for news.