It must be awful for politicians, their staff and civil service to see this stuff day in, day out
Who do they think they are speaking to on that platform? What does it achieve? Has that even been seriously assessed?
It must be awful for politicians, their staff and civil service to see this stuff day in, day out
Who do they think they are speaking to on that platform? What does it achieve? Has that even been seriously assessed?
Government engagement on X latest
09.03.2026 14:32 — 👍 21 🔁 4 💬 2 📌 1
New Truth Social post by Donald Trump just now:
"There will be no deal with Iran except UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER! After that, and the selection of a GREAT & ACCEPTABLE Leader(s), we ... will work tirelessly to bring Iran back from the brink of destruction"
The head of the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command said last year that Iran had been “relying on criminal proxies”
He said Iran "projects a very real physical threat to individuals in this country ... we know that they are continuing to try and sow violence on the streets of the United Kingdom”
UK intelligence services have previously named Iran among the three countries posing the greatest threat to the country, alongside Russia and China
Iranian journalists have suffered physical attacks, threats and surveillance, and have been the main targets of a series of "potentially lethal" plots
They were arrested on suspicion of assisting a foreign intelligence service, under section 3 of the National Security Act - which carries enhanced detention powers
6 other men who weren't the target of the operation were arrested for assisting one of the men while he was being arrested in Harrow
4 men arrested on suspicion of conducting surveillance on Jewish people and linked locations in London are being questioned in custody
They are a different group to those arrested last year on suspicion of a plot targeting the Israeli embassy, who were later released
www.nytimes.com/2026/03/06/w...
Official statements placing U.S. forces in the area – along w/ analysis of social posts, videos, sat. images – suggest U.S. forces bombed a school in Minab, Iran during strikes targeting an IRGC base. Over 150 were killed, Iranian officials say. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/05/w...
05.03.2026 20:52 — 👍 417 🔁 228 💬 12 📌 27
U.S. forces likely bombed an Iranian elementary school on Feb. 28 during an operation targeting a nearby military base, a New York Times analysis suggests. It is the deadliest known episode of civilian casualties since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran — and no side has yet taken responsibility.
05.03.2026 22:39 — 👍 985 🔁 517 💬 119 📌 102
Either these teenagers are a serious threat to society, or they aren't
But it will not be sustainable to deal with these cases in such drastically different ways, based on a 26-year-old definition of terrorism, when the deadliest recent UK attacks have come from the "non-ideological" pool
It is very strange to flit between cases like today's, where a teenage boy gets a non-custodial sentence despite having armed himself, researched targets and told the police he wanted to kill people, and terror cases where boys at a much less advanced stage of planning get lengthy prison sentences
05.03.2026 17:27 — 👍 17 🔁 2 💬 1 📌 0
This wannabe serial killer also fell through the gap between the laws against preparing acts of terrorism, conspiracy to murder, attempted murder etc and got charged with burglary
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/19/w...
Rudakubana himself would have fallen into that gap had he been arrested before he completed his mission, as would the Luton killer Nicholas Prosper, who wanted to commit the world's deadliest school shooting after murdering his family
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
Planning an violent attack to advance a "political, religious, racial or ideological cause" is an offence with a maximum sentence of life imprisonment
Planning an attack alone without a cause fitting that definition is not a crime and this gap is now coming up time and time again
A 17-year-old boy who said he wanted to commit a Southport-style attack like "Saint Axel", collected knives and bought a hoodie like Rudakubana's has been sentenced
But only for possessing terrorist manuals, because his plans were deemed not to meet the ideological requirements for a terror plot
Several are treading a similar line to Starmer, reiterating opposition to the initial US-Israeli operation but saying defensive deployments are now justified
“An offensive mission is one thing; a defensive mission is another," said the Spanish defence minister
Meloni: "We do not want to go to war”
Keir Starmer says 4 more fighter are being sent to Qatar to “strengthen defensive operations," while military helicopters will arrive in Cyprus tomorrow
Several EU countries that did not support initial attack on Iran have also announced military deployments today
www.nytimes.com/2026/03/05/w...
I'm not reporting on Home Office stuff today because of Iran but I'm confused about this messaging
There is no visa for claiming asylum in the UK and successive govts have widened definition of, and punishments for, illegal entry. So what does "abusing legal routes" mean? What is the alternative?
Bloody hell everyone, "strength" is not a value judgement. I meant there has been a lot of it and it has been extremely high-profile and angry
05.03.2026 12:26 — 👍 21 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
I wrote this yesterday and several more countries have made similar commitments this morning
The live blog running on the NYT homepage is tracking the announcements as they come
www.nytimes.com/2026/03/04/w...
Despite the strength of political criticism in the UK, Starmer's position on Iran mirrors several other European countries
France, Greece, the Netherlands, Italy and Spain are deploying and/or allowing the use of military assets in a defensive capacity while not condoning the initial attack
A spate of AI-generated articles by a non-existent journalist 'Margaux Blanchard' fooled several major news publications last year.
So how are journalists navigating a world where articles can be so easily AI generated?
Read the article:
reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/news/speed-h...
Almost two hours after the case was due to start, the lights have come back on downstairs and the three remaining defendants are being brought to the courtroom
So the worst has been avoided in this sentencing, but I don't know what has happened in the other cases that were due to be heard
And we're off! The prosecution is opening, on agreement with the defence barristers of the three defendants who remain trapped in the cells with a written copy of the opening note
They had pleaded guilty already but the case may pause again when the prosecution ends the opening
The lights are still out and also, something has gone wrong with the sound link to the public gallery which means the journalists and defendants' relatives in there can't hear a thing (I'm on CVP mercifully)
Chairs are being brought into the well of the court so they can hear what's going on
Slight update - could be that the lights are on inside the physical cells, but the connecting corridor is in darkness. Hence the issue for the custody escorts
Anyway, everything is still on hold
The court has adjourned to try to sort the issue. Two barristers say they are due at courts in Manchester and St Albans tomorrow for other cases
It's the start of a butterfly effect for court delays in multiple cases if it doesn't get sorted, which is always the case with these kind of issues
So what's really ironic about this is that the hearing is at Harrow Crown Court but its building is undergoing renovations because its roof was quite literally crumbling with RAAC
So it's sitting at Hendon Magistrates' Court, which has now got the lights issue
www.harrowtimes.co.uk/news/2489066...
Prosecutor is pondering whether if a copy of his sentencing note can be got into the cells (and presumably read somehow), the trapped defendants could consent to the case starting by him reading that out and hopefully get out by the time the defence arguments start
This is a London crown court
The judge says that because the court cells are completely dark, custody officers "will not and cannot move the defendants"
3 out of 7 defendants are stuck and a barrister was too, but has just appeared
"We’re not detaining counsel in custody, they’re not holidaymakers in Dubai," the judge says
