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Ian Birrell

@ianbirrell

Foreign correspondent, columnist, campaigner, co-founder Africa Express, citizen of the world and a bit more besides…

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03.10.2023
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Latest posts by Ian Birrell @ianbirrell

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No moral person should be setting foot in the US Why would anyone want to reward Trump’s twisted vision of America

Don't go on holiday to the US while Trump's in the White House - my @theipaper.com column inews.co.uk/opinion/no-m...

10.03.2026 14:39 👍 10 🔁 6 💬 0 📌 0
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No moral person should be setting foot in the US Why would anyone want to reward Trump’s twisted vision of America

Don't go on holiday to the US while Trump's in the White House - my @theipaper.com column inews.co.uk/opinion/no-m...

10.03.2026 14:39 👍 10 🔁 6 💬 0 📌 0
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Draft-dodger Trump is flexing US military muscle - but can't see its big mistake The world's most powerful nation has failed to spot that warfare has changed

The world's most powerful nation failed to learn the most obvious lesson of the Ukraine war - and this is being exposed by Iran, sparking mayhem across the Middle East.

My @theipaper.com column inews.co.uk/opinion/draf...

09.03.2026 13:54 👍 10 🔁 5 💬 0 📌 0
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Draft-dodger Trump is flexing US military muscle - but can't see its big mistake The world's most powerful nation has failed to spot that warfare has changed

The world's most powerful nation failed to learn the most obvious lesson of the Ukraine war - and this is being exposed by Iran, sparking mayhem across the Middle East.

My @theipaper.com column inews.co.uk/opinion/draf...

09.03.2026 13:54 👍 10 🔁 5 💬 0 📌 0
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Just in case anyone doubted the wisdom of staying out of Trump’s war…Blair, shameless architect of a catastrophic invasion of Iraq, is saying Britain should have backed another calamitous Middle Eastern misadventure

07.03.2026 23:31 👍 14 🔁 5 💬 1 📌 1
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Just in case anyone doubted the wisdom of staying out of Trump’s war…Blair, shameless architect of a catastrophic invasion of Iraq, is saying Britain should have backed another calamitous Middle Eastern misadventure

07.03.2026 23:31 👍 14 🔁 5 💬 1 📌 1
Sport is being used to bring Russia in from the cold – and it is chilling  – Ian Birrell

Sport is being used to bring Russia in from the cold – and it is chilling ianbirrell.com/sport-is-bei...

06.03.2026 22:42 👍 5 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0
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Trump had corroded the UK-US alliance and been extremely unhelpful to both the UK and Europe by assisting Putin, demanding terrain and inciting the far-right. Additionally, Israel and the US have launched a war with no clear aims.

03.03.2026 08:55 👍 7 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0
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No decent person should mourn the Ayatollah's death But this does not mean the fall of the Iranian regime - America should know from experience

Don’t mourn the death of a despotic cleric but fear for the future of his country and beyond. My @theipaper.com column on history, regime change and Trump’s hypocrisy inews.co.uk/opinion/no-d...

01.03.2026 21:48 👍 7 🔁 3 💬 0 📌 0
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Shame on our government

01.03.2026 21:59 👍 11 🔁 3 💬 1 📌 0
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No decent person should mourn the Ayatollah's death But this does not mean the fall of the Iranian regime - America should know from experience

Don’t mourn the death of a despotic cleric but fear for the future of his country and beyond. My @theipaper.com column on history, regime change and Trump’s hypocrisy inews.co.uk/opinion/no-d...

01.03.2026 21:48 👍 7 🔁 3 💬 0 📌 0
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Very sad to learn about the death of Paul Conroy @reflextv.bsky.social - a brave man, brilliant photographer, generous operator in the field and true friend in places such as Libya, Syria and Ukraine. Hard to believe he’s gone

01.03.2026 16:51 👍 4 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Give thanks that this vile and disingenuous bigot was thwarted from becoming an MP

27.02.2026 09:24 👍 7 🔁 2 💬 1 📌 1
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1 in 25 Russian men between the ages of 18 and 49 may have been killed or severely wounded since start of the Kremlin’s disastrous full-scale war four years ago, claims new @economist.com study

27.02.2026 09:13 👍 2 🔁 2 💬 1 📌 0
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This is the inevitable result when Labour tries to outgun the repulsive hard-right on immigration, failing to learn a central lesson of the Tory implosion

27.02.2026 07:12 👍 75 🔁 16 💬 2 📌 2

Green Party got 47% in the Gorton & Denton by-election

their previous highest by-election result anywhere, ever, was just 10%

27.02.2026 07:12 👍 187 🔁 25 💬 9 📌 3
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This is the inevitable result when Labour tries to outgun the repulsive hard-right on immigration, failing to learn a central lesson of the Tory implosion

27.02.2026 07:12 👍 75 🔁 16 💬 2 📌 2
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These tech giants should be held responsible for all content on their sites. Instead they keep shrugging off or denying responsibility while spreading toxicity

26.02.2026 13:33 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

I certainly think many of their other policies, including their ridiculous stance on NATO, are absurd

26.02.2026 10:44 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0

‘Every administration for 50 years has exposed its citizens to more violence, more incarceration and more death rather than confront the basic economics of drug markets. The evidence isn’t wrong. Our policy is.’

Roland Fryer, Harvard economics professor, in today’s Wall Street Journal

26.02.2026 10:02 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

I am no fan of the Greens or @zackpolanski.bsky.social. But the backlash against their sensible approach to drug reform has been utterly pathetic given the lethal failure of prohibition

26.02.2026 09:59 👍 4 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 2

Choice is always best to find most suitable for each pupil

23.02.2026 23:43 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Behind the spin, these inadequately-funded SEND reforms empower schools, teachers and bureaucrats over pupils and their families, who are having their vital protections weakened. Inclusion is an admirable ideal but it is not always the best solution for individuals. And far too much missing detail

23.02.2026 18:53 👍 5 🔁 4 💬 1 📌 0

Behind the spin, these inadequately-funded SEND reforms empower schools, teachers and bureaucrats over pupils and their families, who are having their vital protections weakened. Inclusion is an admirable ideal but it is not always the best solution for individuals. And far too much missing detail

23.02.2026 18:53 👍 5 🔁 4 💬 1 📌 0
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The Paralympics is being used to bring Russia in from the cold  - it’s grotesque This marks the disturbing end of Moscow’s sporting exile

The Paralympics is being used to detoxify Russia even as the Kremlin kills and maims Ukrainians.

My ⁦‪@theipaper.com column‬⁩ on sinister - but highly symbolic - efforts to bring Putin’s murderous regime in from the cold inews.co.uk/opinion/para...

23.02.2026 08:17 👍 6 🔁 4 💬 0 📌 0

Zia Yusuf says Reform will outbid Trump by proposing largest ever expulsion people with permanent status [over 250k] since 1970s dictator Idi Amin threw 80k Asians out of Uganda + deport over a million other more recent legal migrants too. Despite rhetoric of control, its a recipe for chaos+cruelty

23.02.2026 08:09 👍 153 🔁 69 💬 18 📌 10
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Reform is just a Trump tribute act

23.02.2026 08:22 👍 13 🔁 2 💬 1 📌 0
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The Paralympics is being used to bring Russia in from the cold  - it’s grotesque This marks the disturbing end of Moscow’s sporting exile

The Paralympics is being used to detoxify Russia even as the Kremlin kills and maims Ukrainians.

My ⁦‪@theipaper.com column‬⁩ on sinister - but highly symbolic - efforts to bring Putin’s murderous regime in from the cold inews.co.uk/opinion/para...

23.02.2026 08:17 👍 6 🔁 4 💬 0 📌 0
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Reform trying to mimic everything done by Trump

22.02.2026 23:56 👍 3 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
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It's time to talk about who could replace the monarchy This is a valid question following the arrest of a foolish former prince

It’s time to talk about who could replace the monarchy - my ⁦‪@theipaper.com column on a royal family in crisis and possible presidents. inews.co.uk/opinion/mona...

22.02.2026 12:57 👍 2 🔁 2 💬 4 📌 1