Peter Beaumont

American soldiers die in wars ordered from Washington. Graves fill the ground. Families get folded flags. And the commander-in-chief golfs through it all. Some Americans sacrifice everything. Others treat war like a tee time. Remember who pays the price.

I see Farage is off to Mar-a-Lago to talk down Britain and suck up to Trump.

There's nothing patriotic about cheering on a foreign leader whose illegal war is sending British families’ energy bills through the roof.

NJ Girl Scouts troop in hot water for selling cookies outside pot shop to meet high demand The enterprising troop teamed up with with Daylite Dispensary in Mount Laurel to sell the treats near the shop’s exit and now may be “in trouble.”

These girls are thinking three steps ahead

nypost.com/2026/03/05/u...

Axel Springer poised to buy Telegraph in £500mn deal German media group has gatecrashed a proposed acquisition by the owner of the Daily Mail

Massive UK media scoop - Germany's Axel Springer is poised to agree a shock £500mn deal for the Telegraph in a move that will scupper the acquisition of the UK newspaper group by the Daily Mail. W/ the FT's finest @JFK_America @ArashMassoudi

www.ft.com/content/e5cb...

CNN chats to guest with an ICC arrest warrant on charges including starving children to death

“a low likelihood of creating a stable, modernising government”. This is at a similar low likelihood to me captaining England to victory in this summer’s World Cup.

The Borgias versus the Lawyers Are the Starmers destined to lose?

In the battle between the predators and the human rights lawyers must the liberals always lose? open.substack.com/pub/davidaar...

KAL's cartoon in The Economist this week

Marja here means a very senior cleric who is a source of emulation in the Shia clerical hierarchy. And no, Trump has zero possible standing in selecting a new supreme leader.

The US and Israel are waging war on an Iran they think they know. The reality is very different | Ali Vaez Is the Islamic Republic a messianic theocracy or a brittle dictatorship? It’s neither – as those attacking it are finding out, says Ali Vaez of the International Crisis Group

This is one of the best pieces you’ll read on how US and Israel misunderstand Iran’s strategic outlook www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Inside the Trump administration’s scramble to support its own war One State Department official said too few people were read in on war plans.

How long will this war last? A clue in our story: "U.S. Central Command ... is asking the Pentagon to send more military intelligence officers to its headquarters in Tampa, Fla., to support operations against Iran for at least 100 days but likely through September." www.politico.com/news/2026/03...

I have to admit I have no idea who Alexander Armstrong is

"Give me the blandest thing on the menu"

Wealthy Dubai residents race back to UAE to avoid tax bills Some risk spending too few days in the emirate and too many in the UK

Tax exiles stuck in London desperately trying to get *back* to Dubai to avoid becoming tax resident in the UK? Just great stuff. giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...

Exactly what I was thinking

The notion that Iranian Kurds will topple the clerical regime seems utterly half baked and back of fag packet stuff. It feels like a recipe for a bloodbath

Hostage review – this portrait of a war reporter is jaw-dropping stuff This documentary about British war correspondent John Cantlie – who was kidnapped by IS and is believed to have died in an airstrike – is full of remarkable yarns

I came across John and Jim in Libya and John came to see me in the office before his last trip to Syria. I don’t plan to watch the documentary, but the review here sounds like it is on the right page. www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...

Quit ChatGPT: right now! Your subscription is bankrolling authoritarianism | Rutger Bregman As a historian, I’ve studied the major consumer boycotts of history. We can take down ChatGPT and send a powerful signal to Silicon Valley, says author and historian Rutger Bregman

Quit ChatGPT: right now! Your subscription is bankrolling authoritarianism | Rutger Bregman

My expectation is that ship is a total loss

Translation: he didn't have enough weapons to fight his war of choice and so he is blaming Ukraine

Honestly why would you take anything Pollard thinks seriously

In the meantime Netanyahu saying ‘yeh this won’t take too long’. How long have the post Oct 7 wars been going on? I mean, as of this morning Israeli tanks are moving further into Lebanon a war Israel was supposed to have ‘won’.

There have been so many lessons to learn from Ukraine over Russian drone and missile tactics but the Hegseth run Pentagon has been too arrogant and ideological to pay attention.

"We called London a war zone and moved to Dubai by mistake"

The real US national security strategy lies in the revealed preferences.

Within only three days, this war went from ‘days’, to ‘weeks’, to ‘a question of months’ to ‘not years’.

The increasing shortage in supplies of interceptors are going to have consequences in multiple theatres

Lib Dem Leader Ed Davey:

"Tax exiles like Isabel Oakeshott and washed up old footballers who mock ordinary people who stay in the UK and pay our taxes... As we protect them, it's only right for tax exiles to start paying taxes to fund our armed forces, just like the rest of us".

Never one to miss the chance of a drive-by insult in the Commons, Ed Davey asks Keir Starmer if Dubai exiles like Isabel Oakeshott should "start paying taxes to fund our armed forces, just like the rest of us do."

NEW: Keir Starmer tells MPs the UK govt remembers the "mistakes of Iraq" and will always operate on a "lawful basis" and with a "viable thought through" plan when it comes to Iran. Clear implication from PM is that he thinks the initial US/ Israeli strikes on Iran were neither.