Rob Crilly

XKCD meaning of auroras cartoon, showing "normal" at poles, "cool and exciting" in temperate zone, "someone should go check on our satellites" in subtropics, and "A bunch of open questions in Solar-Terrestrial physics are about to be answered" at the tropics

Tapping the XKCD sign again to explain that no, I won't be seeing an aurora tonight. Or at least I really hope not. That would be bad. :)

Trump pardoned them. Now the Jan 6 Prison Choir is making a comeback Group records collection of songs to mark fifth anniversary of march on US Capitol

"Trump pardoned them. Now the Jan 6 Prison Choir is making a comeback

Group records collection of songs to mark fifth anniversary of march on US Capitol"

@robcrilly.bsky.social for The Telegraph

You read the full story here:
t.co/uYH6lnmkBd

Two former frontrunners did not apply:
Sir Richard Moore: Told friends he wanted a break after leading MI6
Lord Mark Sedwill: Privately said he would not apply but would take the job if offered. Don't rule him out just yet BUT he has problematic Trump comments in his past

Chandra and Turner are the heavyweights.
Chandra knows Trump World BUT lacks foreign policy experience
Turner is career diplomat BUT his style thought to go over badly in Trump's Washington

NEW I can reveal 5 serious contenders applied to be next UK ambassador to USA:
Varun Chandra, business adviser to PM
Christian Turner, permanent representative at UN
Jonathan Black, deputy national security adviser
Simon Manley, former perm rep to WTO/UN Geneva
Sir Martin Connell, frmr 2nd Sea Lord

Rob's Saloon #15 Exclusive look inside Virginia Roberts Giuffre's memoir and Jeffrey Epstein's warped "moral code"

NEW Virginia Roberts Giuffre's powerful memoir describes Jeffrey Epstein's bizarre, warped moral code that he used to justify abusing young girls
Rob's Saloon #15 open.substack.com/pub/robssalo...

My five days on the road with Trump revealed a man in complete control Rob Crilly describes what it’s really like to spend time with a president who never stops making headlines

My five days with Donald Trump: Six flights, six events turned into press conferences, 162 minutes of questions, 54 holes, too many bagpipes and 13 knackered journalists
www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/a5db441...

JD Vance chooses Cotswolds for family summer holiday Vice-president’s choice shows deep bonds of Trump administration with UK and its Government, Whitehall source claims

JD Vance and family are planning a UK summer vacation, soon after Trump visits Scotland
www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/f0d4cf7...

Essay | How Hunter Biden Helped Derail His Father’s Re-Election Joe Biden’s debate against Donald Trump was supposed to prove the aging president’s stamina. But in the weeks leading up to it he was devastated—and distracted—by his son’s legal travails.

Hunter found out the Democratic National Committee was paying President Biden’s legal fees arising from an investigation into his handling of classified documents, taken over by a special counsel, Robert Hur. Hunter asked why the DNC could not pay his too.
www.wsj.com/politics/ele...

#7: Dinner with Mark Rutte Or how I ate at the best Indonesian restaurant in the Hague

Dinner with Mark Rutte - it's easy to see why Trump likes him so much #NATO
Rob's Saloon #7
robssaloon.substack.com/p/7-dinner-w...

In Feb, Canada issued an order putting a loophole in its tough visa requirements. It exempts leaders and officials coming for the G7 from "immigration restrictions" that might bar, say, a convicted felon. Trump arrives tonight

gazette.gc.ca/rp-pr/p2/202...

G7 has been Trump-proofed to avoid trouble – here’s how Fewer plenary sessions and more one-on-one meetings as world leaders adapt to return of unpredictable US president

How Canada has tried to Trump-proof the G7

www.telegraph.co.uk/us/politics/...

Oprah Shamed Him. He’s Back Anyway.

Not entirely surprised to learn that James Frey is a colossal prick. But that's OK. I quite like writers who are colossal pricks
www.nytimes.com/2025/06/08/s...

Musk-Trump breakup wasn't just about the bill - insiders tell me rifts went much deeper, reflecting differences in philosophy and Musk's behaviour

www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/ea9c76c...

Elon Musk’s black eye was the panda in the room at his final farewell Outshone by a shiner, the billionaire spent much of his send-off as a bit part in a bigger show

The panda in the room at Musk's Oval Office farewell

www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/209742e...

White House expects UK trade deal ‘within three weeks’ Britain is in a good position for a fast agreement because it imports more goods from the US than it exports

Also, relief for me - I reported three weeks ago that White House officials expected a deal within three weeks ....
www.telegraph.co.uk/us/news/2025...

Big for Trump, who needed some good news
Big for Brit ambassador Peter Mandelson - I was hearing whispers that he had irritated colleagues by talking up prospects for deal, only for it to be taking longer than expected 2/x

CONFIRMED: Trump will announce trade agreement with UK in Oval Office tomorrow (unclear if full deal or framework/roadmap for further talks), per source familiar. 1/x

JD Vance on state of Russia talks re Ukraine. "I wouldn't say that the Russians are uninterested in bringing this thing to a resolution. What I would say is, right now ... we think they're asking for too much."

Why Canada’s youth won’t vote for Mark Carney Young people have moved to the Conservative Party in search of help with the soaring cost of living

I'm in Canada for Monday's election. And strange things are going on: Young people are moving towards the Conservative Party as they look for help with cost of living crisis
www.telegraph.co.uk/us/politics/...

Exclusive: Behind Donald Trump’s decision to shake up White House briefings The president’s new style of informal press conference is here to stay

Full story here:
www.telegraph.co.uk/us/politics/...

The Oval Office press conference is here to stay.
"The old East Room press conference is a bit more stuffy and staged,” Karoline Leavitt, the White House press Secretary, told me, “and that’s not how Donald Trump rolls.”

Whiskey-Drinking Rocker Transforms Into West Africa’s Most Dangerous al Qaeda Leader A militant leader from Mali championed a rock band and helped write a hit song before leading an Islamist army that killed tens of thousands.

The extraordinary story of how Iyad ag Ghali went from jamming with TINARIWEN to leading an Al Qaeda franchise

www.wsj.com/world/africa...

Landscape format in acrylics on canvas. Ten birds and six wires. Birds and wires are rendered in very dark blue and not hard-edged with hints of a red under-painting showing through along those soft edges. Against a pure pale blue painterly sky - run five parallel wires, sloping down sharply from the top left to the middle of the bottom edge. On the top wire perch 6 birds with 3 close together near the top, a gap to another, then another gap to two more near the bottom of the painting. On the second highest wire is a single bird up near the top edge, and on the wire immediately below perches another single bird even closer to the top left corner. Another single wire splits the blue sky in the right half of the painting, running from the centre of the top down to the right edge close to the bottom right corner. On it perch two birds far apart. The painting is not signed.

Been a while since I shared a #painting from my long running Birds, Wires series. This is the 13th in the series, controversially titled "Birds, Wires 13". The day the electric folk cut down the 5 parallel wires outside my home and consolidated into one fat wires, was a sad day. #SpeirGorm #JanuArty

Punk band UK Subs say they were deported over anti-Trump views Alvin Gibbs says border agents claimed he did not have the correct visa for entry

“If that wasn’t enough, United Airlines policy dictated that I was not allowed a single alcoholic drink on the flight, given the circumstances of my deportation.”

www.telegraph.co.uk/us/news/2025...

🇺🇸Fascinating insights into Trump's presidency from
@dailymail.co.uk Chief US Political Correspondent @robcrilly.bsky.social on sidelining traditional media, Keir Starmer, communications strategy & Trump's impact on politics 🎧 Roger Bolton's Beeb Watch podcast now: podfollow.com/beebwatch/view

Trump revels in power, delivering putdowns and diplomatic squabbles Donald Trump's first trip since retaking office was memorable not so much for his tours of disaster-hit states, but more for the message it sent to America and the world: I'm back and I'm in a hurry.

I was on the plane with Typhoon Trump as he sent a message to America and the world: I'm back and I'm not messing around
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...

How Trump triggered a storm by answering four Daily Mail questions The first hint came in a jokey anecdote about Joe Biden to fans in Las Vegas , when President Donald Trump mentioned that he had just spoken to a world leader.

My view from Air Force One: Could you tell us a bit more, I wondered, about your call with King Abdullah?
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...

Starling Bank’s Anne Boden: ‘I was ashamed to be a banker’ The fintech entrepreneur on the culture of the City in the 1980s, confounding expectations in Silicon Valley — and falling out with her co-founder

Dug this out from the memory banks - but not exactly rigorous
Starling Bank’s Anne Boden: ‘I was ashamed to be a banker’ - on.ft.com/3QEJPq0