Will Vernon

Opinion | NATO Has Seen the Future and Is Unprepared A simulation of drone warfare shows how far the alliance has to go to learn the lessons of Ukraine.

The WSJ:

NATO has been shown to be *utterly* unprepared for modern warfare after TWO battalions were "wiped out" in one day during a recent exercise in Estonia by a Ukrainian unit of just ten men armed with drones (It was just a simulation, of course)

www.wsj.com/opinion/nato...

Умер писатель и историк Рой Медведев — Meduza Советский и российский писатель, историк и публицист Рой Медведев умер на 101-м году жизни, сообщает ТАСС со ссылкой на его родственников.

Sad to hear that the historian and dissident Roy Medvedev has died. I remember reading his books studying Russian at university.

meduza.io/news/2026/02...

Orbán calls Ukraine Hungary's enemy Orbán calls Ukraine Hungary's enemy

Missed this from a few days ago - Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban says "Ukraine is our enemy"

This comes as the EU attempts to fast-track membership for Kyiv - which could require unanimous approval of members

www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/202...

British man tells BBC of horror shark attack on Caribbean holiday Peter Smith and his wife were on holiday from Hertfordshire in the Caribbean when a beautiful swim suddenly changed.

A ten-foot bull shark mauled British man Peter Smith in Tobago in 2024, in waist-deep water

Miraculously, he fought the shark & survived

Read his incredible story in an exclusive interview

Thanks: Myranda Mowafi, Sarah Jackson
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

There’s already an enormous queue (in the ☔️) snaking around several streets to get into Phonica Records in Soho, London for the advance play of Harry Styles’s new single. People at the front say they guessed which shop it would be before the announcement!

Vladimir Putin doing cartwheels round the Kremlin Parts One & Two

Utility workers remove giant icicles from a building in Moscow. When I lived in St Petersburg in the mid-2000s, every winter there'd be a few stories of falling icicles killing pedestrians...

More on the Tories' policy of banning social media among under 16s...

Buxton, Peak District, this morning

Latest snow news from Trentham Monkey Forest, Staffordshire...

At a gritting depot in Nottingham this morning with all the latest on the preparations for storm Goretti - for @BBCBreakfast, @BBCNews channel 📺 and all updates Online 💻

Important part of moving back to the UK: getting a library card! 📚

BBC: Would you go sauna dating? During the COVID pandemic, dating apps exploded in popularity — and recent research suggests that up to half of all UK couples met online. But now a growing number of *young* singles are turning away

Gen-Z are increasingly switching off the phones and going back to 'real life' dating - singles nights built around rock-climbing, karaoke and even saunas. If you missed my radio report - listen again here 📻👇

soundcloud.com/will-vernon-...

A bit of fun for Christmas...my report on sauna dating!

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

It’s been a difficult year for the BBC, but there are also lots of things to be proud of:

The Bishop of Manchester, the Right Rev Dr David Walker, said he didn’t recognise the far right’s claims that Christ is being taken out of Christmas: “Each year we see a rather strange tradition: familiar claims that somewhere, someone is trying to ‘ban’ Christmas.”

One senior bishop, the Rev Arun Arora, said “We must confront and resist the capture of Christian language and symbols by populist forces seeking to exploit the faith for their own political ends.”

has said his rally “marks the beginning of a Christian revival in the UK.” He claimed to have found Jesus during a spell in prison. He claims today’s event is not about immigration.
Senior Church figures have in recent weeks criticised the far-right activist’s adoption of Christian messages.

and ahead of the event the controversial campaigner has been sharing claims on social media that Christmas has been “cancelled” in places like Paris, or that Muslims in Manchester were “disrespecting” a Christmas market. Mr Yaxley-Lennon...

Later on Saturday, Mr Yaxley-Lennon, who is also known as Tommy Robinson, plans to hold a ‘Unite the Kingdom’ rally called “Putting Christ Back Into Christmas,” described as a religious event. He and his supporters say the message of Christ at Christmas can often feel forgotten and overshadowed,

Asked if he had a message for those attending the other rally later today, the Rev Dr Wells said “Think about who Jesus really was, think about the message he represented: of love, and joy, and peace, and inclusion...think about the messages that these marches are sending, which is...very different"

We wanted to say that Christianity is about inclusion, it’s about belonging…Christ, who is at the heart of Christmas, was a refugee, and was himself a person of colour.”

The Reverend Dr Sam Wells, the vicar of St-Martin-in-the-Fields, told the BBC“There’s a lot of noise around exclusion and abrasive messages being sent to people whose heritage isn’t from this country...Christianity has been brought in on the side of those who speak a message of exclusion.

Demonstrators held placards saying “God so loved the world – that means everyone” and “Jesus was a refugee” and sang Christmas carols. A nativity scene, with real donkeys and sheep, was also on display.

The event, which those attending said was “a proclamation of views,” was organised by the central London church, traditionally a shelter for the homeless and supporter of refugees, together with Christian charities.

More than one hundred people gathered outside St Martin-in-the-Fields Church in central London today as a counter-protest in response to far-right activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon’s ‘Christmas’ rally later in the capital.

María Corina Machado appears in Oslo after Nobel Peace Prize win María Corina Machado, who has been in hiding since January, speaks to the BBC in Oslo after her secret journey from her home country.

Incredible

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...