Problem is Trump’s White House has lied and exaggerated so many times it’s impossible to know in this fog of war what’s really going on in Iran, especially regarding this ‘rescued’ airman. Frustratingly most Western Media outlets will parrot the WH line without a thought.

Love watching The Big Match Revisited and noting how many goals would have been chalked off through VAR.

Compare the amount of coverage being given to the US Pilot shot down and the 175 Iranian schoolgirls killed by an American missile attack. #r4today

Wish we could find an island or a desert when all the leaders of the shit regimes could just go and kick the living hell out of each other and leave the rest of us in peace.

Not sure this Artemis mission is really working as a distraction. A rocket goes up, it doesn't blow up, and is quickly reduced to a white dot in the sky before quickly disappearing. There won't be anything more to see until it splashes down.

Why Brexiteers are still defending their misbegotten project baffles me. They now have the perfect out . “It would have worked had it not been for Trump.” Take the opportunity you dumbkopfs.

America can now see how Trump managed to bankrupt all his casinos. The fact that it is now their livelihoods at stake must be extremely worrying. Only the MAGA cult are still sticking by him, that 30% of brainwashed devotees who always will.

This Artemis mission is a retread of Apollo 8. Not hugely compelling but one that got a lot of TV coverage at the time and boosted interest leading to men on the moon. After a few buggy rides and some golf shots on subsequent missions, interest faded away. #r4today

If Harry Kane gets injured, we should boycott the World Cup. Save a load of embarrassment.

This is a good piece and possibly should have been a cover story: www.newstatesman.com/ideas/2026/0...

This daylight offside rule the Canadian league is trialling: you can see the market going up for attackers with extra long arms. Defensive lines will resemble lines of a Cossack dancers.

No surprise after going all in on Reform’s bogus claim of ‘family voting’ in the Gorton by-election, no mention of it in the news headlines on Radio 4 Today. Robbie Gibb has got the BBC producers in a lock. #r4today

Good thing Elton isn’t working in A&R. https://inews.co.uk/culture/music/elton-john-who-sang-glastonbury-guests-list-performed-2023-festival-set-2435797

And now we go to the daily Henry Zefferman bash the Starmer government slot. #r4today

Reflection of the uselessness of modern journalists: with all the scandals surrounding former Govt insider Morgan McSweeney - has anyone managed to nab a single interview with him. Anyone??

Not sure there’s much point in diplomacy being conducted online. Put the bastards in a room next to each other and broadcast them talking would be my suggestion. In a couple of years from now we won’t even be able to trust that.

What strikes me about The Matthew Collings paintings in his show at Margate is how similar they are to the drawings made by children living in the Gaza refugee camps.

Can anyone explain Murdoch’s pushing for war with Iran? What’s in it for him?

Have to say the cinematography of both Train Dreams and One Battle After Another is far better than Sinners. And the latter as a movie is all over the place.

New Blog piece. My efforts to negotiate a path through the current madness. open.substack.com/pub/simonfsp...

All true. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/17/opinion/trump-iran-war-strategy.html

Just watched @simon_schama on the Norman Conquests. Great stuff. That Bayeux tapestry exhibition in the UK later this year will be mobbed.

Maybe Liverpool could trying letting AI manage the team. Can’t be anymore baffling and alienating than what’s happening now.

Watched the Elvis doc Epic last night. Would have been nice to see him having an actual conversation with someone rather than simply cracking jokes and everyone around him laughing sycophantically. Then again, Presley did pay their wages.

Have to say, pretty smart of Iran turning all Arab countries against Israel and US by whacking their economies. Especially as they in turn provide most of their oil and gas to China, India, South Korea and the Far East. US admin looking as stupid as feared.

Trump only attacks those he considers weaker than himself. Anyone else, Xi and Putin - he bends down and kisses the ring. Extraordinary therefore how Netanyahu, through inside connections, has managed to convince Trump he’s of equal strength.

MI6 need to have a little word with Mr Farage.

Can’t think of any TV show or series since Adolescence (12 months ago) that has had the water cooler factor. That’s a lot of essentially vapid content. Same with movies. Apart from Wuthering Heights (by all accounts unwatchable) nothing has caused much debate.

I’ll go and see it in the hope there is something that works on a visual level and not just because of its significance’. https://spectator.com/article/tracey-emins-victimhood-is-a-poor-foundation-for-art/

Real war and culture war. New post on my Brexit & Brexitism Blog analyzing the Brexit imprint of domestic responses to the Iran crisis, the hypocrisy & sectarianism of Reform's response to the by-election and the questions it poses for Labour: chrisgreybrexitblog.blogspot.com/2026/03/real...

Will Self in full (good) flow. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002s4j9

I was trying to put my finger on it… and in the end realised The Brits is actually a kids’ cartoon show.

The problem at the heart of the Trump administration’s efforts at regime change, whether it be Iran, Venezuela, or Cuba, is their desire to make money. They’re motivated by greed and corruption rather than any political ideal.

This ‘sectarian politics’ line cooked up by the Far Right is the biggest load of nonsense yet. It’s the Green party for chrissakes.

With all the caterwauling from the usual suspects about the Greens, Keir Starmer, and Reform, the one thing no one seems to mention is the fact that the Tories are FINISHED. Boris Johnson blew that party to pieces.

Starmer’s attempt to portray the Greens as far Left isn’t going to work.

Thing is, all this talk of a broken economy serving vested interests (which is undoubtedly true), thanks to automation and AI, in the immediate future things are only going to get worse. What’s the Govt plan for that?

Hannah Spencer in Gorton and Denton, Mamdani in New York, you can see a grass roots reaction to the racist Right. Could this presage the beginning of the end for the Trump/Farage era?

Going through movies from the 70s that slipped by me. Tonight this. Hal Ashby dir. Towne script. Great ending that wouldn’t happen today. https://youtu.be/N2FeaV9KNB0?si=Nd-mzcOXvVUAsq4o

One could assume if the US attacks Iran, China might well do the same to Taiwan, in doing so wrecking the US economy. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/24/technology/taiwan-china-chips-silicon-valley-tsmc.html

The fact that BBC didn’t choose to edit out the offending slur spoken during the BAFTAs when they two hours to do so leads one to think there are some mighty stupid people employed by the organisation.

I haven’t watched anything on Netflix since Adolescence. It was released nearly a year ago. #r4today

Prince William ‘not in a calm state’. Yeah, well think of your Uncle’s victims mate.

All these different kick off times must really mess up hospitality suites. Not that my heart is bleeding.

For decades, people working for Harvey Weinstein turned a blind eye to his behaviour. Same with Epstein, same with Prince Andrew, same today with Trump. So spare me the outrage. This is simply how the sick system works.

Seems Lionel Shriver has already got what she wants in Trump’s America, leaving her new novel/polemic feeling pretty empty. https://www.thetimes.com/culture/books/article/better-life-lionel-shriver-review-vvqp8lh5x

Laura Kuenssberg sick of taking flak for inviting so many Reform candidates onto her show. So this week she’s changing things up and bringing back her old chum Boris Johnson. 🙄

These Royal lickspittles the BBC are foisting on us… they might as well interview the cast of Made in Chelsea. #r4today

It’ll be interesting to see what kind of deal Andrew’s lawyers try to cut with the judiciary. Will he serve up Trump? Can’t see anything less than that being of value.

US DOJ claim there isn’t enough evidence to prosecute anyone. Release the entire 6 million files unredacted and let the courts decide.