@aloner
Senior editor, @prospectmagazine.co.uk | Co-host, The Prospect Podcast | Ex: NS, Haaretz, TBI | UK, Israel/Palestine, feminism, politics, Ursula K Le Guin | Sign up to my newsletter: http://thebacklash.substack.com |
Qatar’s energy minister has warned that war in the Middle East could “bring down the economies of the world”, predicting that all Gulf energy exporters would shut down production within days and drive oil to $150 a barrel
www.ft.com/content/be12...
No! Strong disagree! It’s musical genius!
One service member said their commander had “urged us to tell our troops that this [Iran war] was ‘all part of God’s divine plan’ and he specifically referenced citations out of the Book of Revelation referring to Armageddon and imminent return of Jesus Christ”.
www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...
Savour the irony here. For a year the Trump administration have browbeaten Zelensky as a loser with no cards. Now they turn to him for anti-drone defences. Perhaps they will now recognise that Ukraine is a valuable, battle-hardened ally.
My word
In today’s papers: 🧵
1. A comedian warns other middle-aged women they look weird without Botox.
Again, Farage, Badenoch and their fellow travellers on X are wildly out of touch with the public on Iran.
Even the majority of Reform supporters oppose their position.
he is saying that is one scenario that's possible, not the only one that's possible with regime collapse
he gives that as one of the options, out of a few!
EXC: Inside Morgan McSweeney's cosy leaving drinks last night
— Acc to multiple witnesses Keir Starmer, in a speech to room full of Labour right types, said that McSweeney is not only one of the best political strategists in the country, "but in the entire world"
"whether the country moves toward deeper authoritarianism, limited reform, or a complete political transformation will depend on the US and Israel’s policies, the balance of power among the remaining elites and the reactions of Iranian society itself" www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/world/middle...
Fair
The new Prospect is out, with @ellenhalliday.bsky.social's excellent and terrifying piece on a future of extreme, freezing winters, @imaanirfan.bsky.social on Modi's cinematic universe, @mrhenrymorris.substack.com with a dispatch from a Reform Away day, and @benansell.bsky.social on zombies....
Also, because it’s dress up, most of the kids just wear the costumes they have already that have nothing to do with books. I bet this year there will be lots of K-pop Demon Hunters outfits…!
Well, quite. We saw what this supposed precision did in Gaza
The Israeli army did similar in Gaza
www.972mag.com/lavender-ai-...
A tidy summation of current events.
Reform fury as someone else wins by Our By-election Editor Tim Shipsink The losing candidate in the Gorton and Denton by-election, Matt Goodwhinge, has demanded an immediate re-run of the election on the grounds that he lost comprehensively to someone else. "It's totally unfair and rigged," said Goodwhinge. "I shouldn't be required to sit there and suck it up, just because I lost." Mr Goodwhine continued, *I can't believe that all those voters I demonised failed to back me. Especially after I was endorsed by Tommy Robinson and ten million Russian bots on X. "We have clear evidence of family voting, where people voted in order for me to stop deporting their families." Mr Badloser concluded. "I'm the victim of colour prejudice. They didn't vote for me simply because I'm not green." Reform leader Mr Farage, speaking from a sun lounger on a rock near the Chagos Islands said, "It's a tragedy that the people of Manchester won't see Matt in Westminster, but my constituents don't see me in Clacton either." PLUMBER DEFEATS MATT GOODWIN Photo of Hannah Spencer with speech bubble saying… I've stopped the cock
Beautiful from Private Eye on the massive toddler-tantrum that Matt Goodwin and Reform are having, because they got whooped in Gorton and Denton.
A tanker has been attacked, and appears to be sinking, inside the Khor al-Zubair zone off the coast of Kuwait 🇰🇼
This is a key tanker loitering area for vessels taking Kuwaiti and Iraqi crude.
Lebanon 🇱🇧: Israeli strikes this evening on the city of Tyre.
Tyre is well within the southern portion of the country, from where Israeli is forcing everyone to evacuate.
Take a break from WW3 to read my interview with Juliet Mitchell, the second-wave feminist who challenged her peers on Freud and then became a psychoanalyst herself
Iran's Assembly of Experts elected Ali Khamenei's son Mojtaba as the next leader under pressure from the Revolutionary Guards, informed sources told Iran International.
iranintl.com/en/202603030390
The coffins of the Minab students are solemnly carried by the people.
Important piece from @emmahaslett.bsky.social on five years since Sarah Everard's murder www.thepersistent.com/sarah-everar...
Trump said Spain "has been terribly" by refusing US military base use, and added "we can just fly in and use them, nobody is going to tell us not to use it." Trump said he personally told Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to cut all trade with Spain. #US
Iranian state media shows crowds mourning in Minab after a strike on a girls’ school killed 150 students. The UN called the attack ‘absolutely horrific’ and urged an investigation
11,000 people - mostly Syrians - crossed from Lebanon into Syria yesterday, fleeing escalating conflict.
BREAKING: The UAE is weighing military action against Iran.
Emirati officials say they reserve the right to respond.
Source: Axios
