The Spectator

This weekend has seen the eruption of what has been building for months: a regional war in the Middle East. The United States and Israel have struck Iranian targets.

✍️ Sam Olsen

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Starmer’s supporters can argue that, unlike Donald Trump, his obvious reluctance to get involved means he has at least tried to build a public consensus on Iran, by waiting until Tehran attacked allies to sanction the use of bases.

✍️ James Heale

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He defended the waving of the British flag. He had a pop at cancel culture. He derided the ‘jealous bitches’ of the cultural elite who lust after the scalp of any mortal who dares to disagree with them.

✍️ Brendan O'Neill

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If there is a collapse of central authority in Iran, tens of thousands of Afghan former soldiers living in exile there could use the power vacuum to mobilise, return home and fight against the Taliban.

✍️ David Lyon

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As a foster carer since the early 2000s, I’ve witnessed the human cost of Britain’s broken SEND (special educational needs and disabilities) system at close quarters.

✍️ Rosie Lewis

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The strike unfolded as part of Operation ‘Lion’s Roar,’ a meticulously coordinated assault involving approximately 200 Israeli fighter jets – the largest airstrike formation in the history of the Israeli Air Force.

✍️ Jonathan Sacerdoti

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This year’s Brits winner, Rein Me In, performed by North Shields’s cut-price Springsteen, Sam Fender, and the new MOR soul queen, Olivia Dean, lacked everything that makes a song a song.

✍️ Rod Liddle

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When I was seventeen, I signed up for a student loan to cover the cost of going to university.

✍️ Ellen Pasternack

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Almost all Trump’s senior cabinet have issued at least one message of support for the operation, on social media or elsewhere. But not the man who is one heartbeat away from the presidency.

✍️ Freddy Gray

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A Real Pain was one of my favourite films of recent years, a tragicomic exploration of family, history, place and identity featuring two Americans in Poland – specifically in Warsaw and Lublin.

✍️ John Sturgis

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A broken-down washing machine is generally regarded as definitely a Bad Thing. There is the expense and hassle of repairing or replacing the machine.

✍️ Chas Newkey-Burden

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Q. Through no fault of my own, I have recently been let go from a role whose salary was widely publicised and was (popularly) considered to be on the high, if not excessive, side.

✍️ P.B., London W8

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When the triple murderer Valdo Calocane was allowed to walk free from medical custody in 2020, it appears to have partly been because he was black.

✍️ Michael Murphy

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It seems Bradford is more than holding its own, then, against Birmingham’s curry mile, Brick Lane or Southall in London. Against anywhere in fact.

✍️ Julie Bindel

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What is uncertain is whether things will change for the better or even if ordinary Iranians can have a say in events.

✍️ Jawad Iqbal

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Were fans wrong to boo the Ramadan fast-breaking footballers?

✍️ Patrick West

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Andy and Mandy are scapegoats. We condemn them with special force, in order to reassert the moral code that unites us.

✍️ Theo Hobson

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The death of Khamenei undoubtedly carries hope for the Iranian people who longed to see him gone.

✍️ Charlie Gammell

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Those like me who live with Tourette’s Syndrome look up to John Davidson. The actor and activist’s biopic, I Swear, has shed some much-needed light on the condition.

✍️ Fabian Green

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So farewell then, Ayatollah Khamenei.

Reading his obituary, I confess to surprise and dismay. What was to be found there was not, at least at first, an austere and viciously power-hungry religious monomaniac.

✍️ Sam Leith

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There is something intoxicating about a moustache – a small hedgerow on his top lip can convince even the dowdiest man that he looks like a Battle of Britain pilot.

✍️ William Atkinson

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International law should not prevent regime change in Iran If international law says Khamenei should still be in place, maybe international law deserves to be detonated along with him.

If international law says Khamenei should still be in place, maybe international law deserves to be detonated along with him

✍️ Stephen Daisley
bit.ly/408GKoy

Sunday shows round-up: Healey says few 'will mourn the Ayatollah's death' On Sky News, John Healey, the Defence Secretary, told Trevor Phillips that Khamenei and his regime were a ‘source of evil’ who had murdered thousands of protestors.

John Healey: ‘Few people will mourn the Ayatollah’s death’

✍️ Joe Bedell-Brill
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Graduates are right to be furious about student loans When I was seventeen, I signed up for a student loan to cover the cost of going to university.

I was not told that going to university would mean allowing the state to seize arbitrary amounts of my income to plug gaps in its budget

✍️ Ellen Paternack
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Why is Vance silent on Iran? It’s clear that the vice president is not about to fall out with Trump over Iran. But he also seems keen to position himself apart from the administration’s more ardent hawks when it comes to Israel…

He seems keen to position himself apart from the administration’s more ardent hawks when it comes to the Middle East

✍️ Freddy Gray
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Could Iran descend into civil war? The death of Khamenei undoubtedly carries hope for the Iranian people who longed to see him gone.

What is needed is a clear plan that can unite Iranians behind a shared, inclusive vision of their country

✍️ Charlie Gammell
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Even Khamenei’s death might not finish the Iranian regime As Iran's Islamic regime will know, history provides no unambiguous examples of regimes removed by air power alone

History provides no unambiguous examples of regimes removed by air power alone

✍️ Jonathan Spyer
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My mission to avoid breaking the Official Secrets Act Even giving fictional spies the ability to do things that the smartphone in your pocket can do incurs the censor’s wrath

Even giving fictional spies the ability to do things your smartphone can do incurs the censor’s wrath

✍️ James Wolff
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Why anti-racism kills When the triple murderer Valdo Calocane was allowed to walk free from medical custody in 2020, it appears to have partly been because he was black. One doctor had leaned towards sectioning Calocane,…

When the triple murderer Valdo Calocane was allowed to walk free from medical custody in 2020, it appears to have partly been because he was black.

✍️ Michael Murphy
bit.ly/4sCRCaD

Pushy parents are making the special needs crisis worse A growing minority of well-advised parents have learnt how to navigate, and sometimes game, the system to secure one-to-one teaching

A growing minority of well-advised parents have learnt how to navigate, and sometimes game, the system to secure one-to-one teaching

✍️ Rosie Lewis
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