Opposition to the United States' military action against Iran has risen by 10pts among Britons over the last week
Support: 25% (-3 from 2 March)
Oppose: 59% (+10)
yougov.com/en-gb/daily-...
SCOOP: Israel's strikes on 30 Iranian fuel depots went beyond what the U.S. expected when Israel notified it in advance — marking the 1st major disagreement between the allies since the war began, per a U.S. official, Israeli official and a source with knowledge.
"Smoke has covered the entire city. I have severe shortness of breath and burning in my eyes and throat."
www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...
March 8, 2026 - Tehran at sunrise today. But the sun is hidden behind a sky filled with smoke. After a night of intensive strikes on oil facilities, thick black clouds now hang over the city, turning morning into something that feels like night.
Pretty serious allegation here. "Witnesses told the BBC that the Israeli soldiers had arrived disguised in Lebanese military fatigues and used ambulances with signs of Hezbollah's Islamic Health Organization."
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
I get exactly the same feeling introducing myself to galleries as an artist! Told a gallerist recently that I'm a "sometimes artist, sort of" and got a proper bemused stare
2007! And it got as far as SLC terms and conditions! Wow. It seems to me like a fairly easy win but maybe I'm missing something.
On student loans discourse, has anyone policy-minded considered the viability of allowing grads to take breaks, similar to a mortgage holiday? Pausing repayment entirely for a year or two when saving for a first home/starting a family etc, then adding the pause onto the end of the repayment term.
‘British expats, he claimed, were refusing to fill out evacuation forms provided by the British government “just in case it somehow turns into a tax form instead”.’
No notes.
as.ft.com/r/65cf2b43-6...
EXCLUSIVE: At more than 30 installations, U.S. commanders told troops the war on Iran is a Christian war.
The Military Religious Freedom Foundation has been “inundated” with more than 110 complaints.
One NCO said they were told the U.S. war is to bring about Armageddon and the return of Jesus…
The enormous unfairness in the current system is demonstrated by the modeling done by the IFS here.
Many medical students have loans of £70-100k and won't actually start paying down their loans for many years
ifs.org.uk/articles/how...
Can you use your influence to get the comments turned back on on that piece, for fun?
Anyway, read a selection of mine and @georgegreenwood.bsky.social's investigations into the Definitely Not Geopolitical Dubai property market here:
www.thetimes.com/uk/crime/art...
The migrant workers/slaves who built the city is geopolitics. The dirty money, the sanctions evasion, the uneasy relationships with neighbours, the war UAE funds in Sudan... Anyone living there is exposed to geopolitics. Just now they can't pretend otherwise.
"The trade was not that you were getting exposed to geopolitics when moving to Dubai."
It's deeply lodged in my brain
Every time the sun comes out, I sit in it and smile and then I think of this @morganj0nes.bsky.social tweet. It's a big leaf day.
But Trump is putting the West in an impossible position. Of course there will be anger over another US war in the ME. But there would be anger too if we could have helped stop our allies getting killed in the blowback & didn't. There are no winners in a world where Trump makes the rules.
On the upside, I'm on track to have two working legs by summer 💪🦵
2 MRI scans, 6 x-rays, physiotherapy, hydrotherapy and a hospital appointment: just a regular week in limb reconstruction...
I did actually check for NI airports. Found nothing at all in NI, the closest was Dublin and Waterford as reported here. It is still possible we've missed stuff but based on ICAO airport codes there's none
www.waterford-news.ie/news/new-doc...
Thanks Robert. It was your story that made me think to try searching by Northolt's ICAO code.
In total, we found more than 60 private jet flights, and dozens of commercial air bookings through UK airports, prompting @nazirafzal.bsky.social to call for faster investigation into the abuse of women.
His assistant Lesley Groff also instructed a travel agent to book a "decoy flight" for an unidentified woman. She wrote: "she will not really take it … but she needs to show an itinerary for this flight".
The woman, whose name is redacted, is likely to be a victim of trafficking.
I also found records of Epstein using RAF Northolt as recently as 2015. @reporterrwright.ft.com's fantastic work found a Northolt flight in 2013; a jet fuel receipt now shows he also used it in May 2015.
bsky.app/profile/cool...
NEW: Jeffrey Epstein may have trafficked women through UK airports up to a month before his 2019 arrest. In a June '19 email, his assistant booked an LHR>JFK trip for an unknown woman - and even asked the agent to put in a false hotel record.
Read here:
www.thetimes.com/uk/article/j...
Great work.
Because it's incredibly profitable and pretty much zero risk. Punishments are rare and minor compared to other crime. As for the organised groups, one raid last year found £100k+ in cash and firearms at waste crime leader's home...
Not all geniuses are appreciated in their time.
5 German tourists have been rescued from “an ice floe carrying a sauna tent, a motorised saw and an onboard motor after they lost control of their DIY vessel in the Stockholm archipelago.”
They attempted to “create their motor-powered floating sauna when the swell from a ferry broke the ice.”
🤪🥂
