Antony Sheffield

Hesgeth hastily pulls up his flies after serving the President.

Robert Duvall, Star of ‘The Godfather’ and ‘The Great Santini,’ Dies at 95 Robert Duvall, who won an Oscar for "Tender Mercies" and was nominated for “The Godfather,” “Apocalypse Now,” and “The Great Santini,” has died.

Robert Duvall, Star of ‘The Godfather’ and ‘The Great Santini,’ Dies at 95 variety.com/2026/film/ne...

‘Babylon Berlin’s’ Fifth and Final Season Is Now Shooting The final season of 'Babylon Berlin' is now shooting with original cast and crew returning.

‘Babylon Berlin’s’ Fifth and Final Season Is Now Shooting variety.com/2025/tv/glob...

👇🎯

Interesting/informative (and worrisome). NB: “As Moscow plans for a confrontation with EUR NATO, its ability to integrate UAS into its force more effectively than EUR armies may well prove decisive. This is particularly true if RU can establish a defensive line after an initial fait accompli… 1/x

Indeed

The CIA, without any explanation, has just cut any further publication of its annual 'World Factbook'. This has been used for years by the US and many others as an authoritative set of hard, mainly statistical facts about every country. Presumably the CIA has given up on bothering with real facts.

Good. Better jaw jaw than war war when it comes to nukes. And in general military-military contacts good for mitigating risk of escalation/unintended consequences. Hopefully at any rate.

I don’t gaf whether the Bible gives a case for strong borders or open borders because it’s the 21st century and the opinion of 2,000-year-old goat herders isn’t important to me.

Never thought there’d be a worse Labour PM than Ramsay MacDonald. Well.

Once again, behold the unparalleled parsimony & explanatory power of the Dennis Green Unified Theory Of American Politics (& Pundits)

bsky.app/profile/mcop...

We’ve reached TACO stage

Every day, the resemblance of the Trumps to the Marcoses, the Pahlavis, and the Caucescus becomes more apparent. I’m waiting for the mass civil disobedience, general strikes, and their flight from the White House.

It appears that this legend owns a little bookstore — and you can order books from him instead of Bezos. Link in next post.

Problem: any 'deal' you negotiate with Trump will be worthless, unless you have the power to enforce it yourself.

Remember, the 'Great Dealmaker' barely kept his word as a a businessman in the presence of a higher authority - the State.

Good luck in an anarchic system, folks.

And the Tories did most of the negotiating. Trump backed the deal in the far-off days of last year. Badenoch was a part of that Tory government. The only point of disagreement I have with Glen is that Badenoch's unseriousness is now remarkably unfunny.

The silence of the Kremlin – Riddle Russia Andrey Pertsev sums up the political week (January 12−16)

Clocks are ticking yet Putin is saying nothing about Venezuela as if nothing is happening.
On the one hand, he doesn't want to contradict Trump too much, on the other - what can he do, really?
ridl.io/the-silence-...

María Corina Machado decided to go from a respected Nobel Peace Prize winner who will never be leader of Venezuela to an embarrassing toady who will never be leader of Venezuela.

We will soon see mysterious amounts of Lego and Ozempic going to the US through Poland

The Oligarchs Pushing for Conquest in Greenland Trump’s fixation on filching the island territory from Denmark may seem like the demented ravings of a mad king. But to a cohort of plutocrat weirdos, it makes perfect sense.

Indeed:

newrepublic.com/article/2051...

An utter disgrace that millions of Americans actually express support for this annexation. The latest epsiode in a long history of national shame.

www.politico.com/news/2026/01...

I was a fan previously and now I’m happy to have always been 😁

Revolution in Iran : Now and Then Why the regime is doomed

On 16 January 1979 the Shah fled Iran for good. Now the question is how long will the regime that replaced him last. In this post I compare the situation 1979 revolution to the one currently underway. (£/free trial), open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/r...?

Political pundit class in the United Kingdom yearns for the days when every story could be a no-facts-only-vibes "what does <latest thing> mean for the political fortunes of Boris Johnson?" blag, and actively resents the way complicated events in the outside world keep pushing them to do real work.

Britain joins Greenland Nato mission designed ‘to keep Trump happy’ The reconnaissance exercise will establish what a more sustained ground deployment of troops could look like in an effort to reassure the United States

Military theatre of the absurdist genre. Sending troops we don't have to a place that doesn't need them, in an attempt to blunt the vainglorious project of a supreme narcissist who happens to be President of the US.

www.thetimes.com/article/80da...

The 10 Best and 10 Worst U.S. Foreign Policy Decisions For two-and-a-half centuries, the United States has faced a challenging world. Some of its responses have advanced U.S. interests and values. Others have not. We asked members of the Society for…

The 10 Best and 10 Worst U.S. Foreign Policy Decisions

www.cfr.org/ten-best-ten...

I hate to break it to anyone but Nobel Peace Prize laureates doing really embarrassing things after they’ve received the award is not a new thing.

It is 2027. Ten Americans still approve of the Trump administration. The New York Times interviews each of them to get a sense of the national mood.

Not really. If you look at any of his output on social media anoit domestic UK politics he’s right of centre and not a moderate about it.