If you want to hear a superb podcast on War, check out Prof William Hurst's new series Explorations on War from the Centre of Geopolitics at Cambridge University. Episode 1 is excellent ranging from Greek mythology to the present day & shows the multifaceted & changing nature of war through the ages

One of the most delightful things about being in the academic world is coming across young scholars who have real talent. We are so fortunate to have such enthusiastic & committed individuals in our Department of War Studies at King's College. Our students benefit greatly from being taught by them.

Pete Hegseth is not only a very unpleasant individual but also a tool & a blunt one at that. He's part of an administration that is full of incompetent & talentless people & led by a geriatric who is losing it big time. Where on earth does Trump find these assorted misfits? Bethpage Black?

At last Starmer has begun to attack both Farage & Reform. For once he has come across as a leader. Labour needed direction & a message of hope that could go out to the British electorate. We aren't gutless in the UK & we need to face the challenges that have arisen & overcome them. Let's be positive

For dramatic excitement & incredible nail biting viewing, the last day of the Ryder Cup was almost indescribable. Incredible golf was played under absolutely gut wrenching, adrenaline pumping circumstances. I had a sense it might be close but not that close. Fantastic entertainment. What a result!

Every day, seemingly, the news out of the US gets more bizarre & unfortunate. On multiple levels this administration is remarkably turbulent & unforgiving. How can anyone be against science, medicine & education in the way that it is? It almost defies belief. MAGA won't happen with these policies.

Keir Starmer, alas, is an accident waiting to happen. I don't see him ever being able to make himself relatable to others & isn't a patch on those who are natural communicators even if they are despicable. Labour & the UK needs Andy Burnham. I hope we get him. He'd present a real challenge to Reform

Unfortunately the more one reads of the disastrous policy of abandonment in Medicine at the US Department of Health under Kennedy, the more one can only shake one's head in bemusement. So much that this man has done is wrong & his benighted policies will have long term effects on US health provision

Easy to imagine the frustration building up in 10 Downing Street as the Labour government comes under the cosh yet again. Once more, it's self inflicted. Mandelson's appointment as British ambassador to Washington was always a risk since he carries significant personal baggage despite his abilities

I'm amazed at the productivity of those who record their scholarly views on Substack. Where do you all find the time, energy & commitment to do these regular & incisive reports? It's staggering! I'm also delighted with The Siren since it never ceases to take down Trump & his shoddy cabal. What joy!

One of the best stories of this troubled year happened at East Lake on Sunday when Tommy Fleetwood won the Tour Championship & FedEx Cup for his first victory on the PGA golf tour on his 164th attempt. Genuinely popular, he's seen victory snatched away from him so often in his career. Not this time!

Today is when the GCSE results came out for those UK teenagers who took them in May/June. Many will have done well & will be thrilled with their grades. Others, alas, despite working hard & revising steadily, won't have secured the grades they want. I always feel sad for those who are disappointed.

A daily joy of mine is reading the latest attack on Trump's wild economic policies by Paul Krugman, the Nobel Prize winner for Econs. Krugman has forgotten more economics than Trump & his cohort have ever known. Trump's often out of his depth when it comes to the interface of Econs theory & practice

I've just been listening to a fascinating podcast on Jensen Huang & his Nvidia company. Check out The Guardian's,Today in Focus,'The secrets of the world's richest company' with Tae Kim & Helen Pidd. It's a story that deserves to be listened to. Jensen Huang is a brilliant CEO - one of the best ever

Away from Trump for once, today I want to look at public opinion as expressed in inane text messages about players or coaches sent to the TV channels covering any sporting event. Why some of these moronic comments ever get to see the light of day is beyond me unless it's to infuriate the rest of us

Trump's dystopian universe has become a perilous nightmare for those who believe in democracy, equity, commonsense, decency & the rule of law. A vindictive Trump acts as if he is above the law & his MAGA base crassly endorses his preposterous claim. So where is American soft power now? In the gutter

I pity those who are trying to go down south to Italy, Slovenia & Croatia through Austria by car today. There are massive queues in several.places on the autobahns & as such it's likely to be nightmarish for both parents & kids. Patience is a virtue & much needed today because anger rises so easily

It's high time that the Democrats drained the MAGA Swamp. A more sordid mess could hardly be imagined than that conjured up by Trump & his hopelessly incompetent crowd of appalling enablers. Do any of these unsavoury characters have any moral conscience? If they did they should have already resigned

I love farmers markets. I would far rather buy fruit & veg & fish/meat from them than in supermarkets where you have no clue as to the amount of fertilisers that have been used in the growing process. Organic food grown in the local fields & lakes remind me forcefully of the countryside I grew up in

Just finished an hour long interview with a Korean TV channel from Seoul on the search for Korean independence after WWI. What a pleasure it was to work with my producer Nuri & her crew behind the scenes. It was part of the Hidden Stories series of diplomacy & its impact on international relations

I've just been watching the England team win their way - belatedly as always -into the final of the UEFA Women's Championship in Switzerland. What a team! They put their supporters through a nightmare of emotions before grabbing a victory at the very last! It's tremendous to see the support they get

Thankfully 1/6th of Trump's presidency has gone. I can't wait for the remainder of it to go! I don't want to know what he's thinking about everything. His posts reveal not his so-called fabled intelligence but his lack of it. His distorted view of the world shows a lack of morality & generosity. Ugh

I have never known a US presidency like this one! It's mind-blowing that so many politicos & businessmen both at home and abroad fear Trump's disapproval & jump to fall in with his whims. He's become the world's most powerful personality & he must love that feeling! Wheeling & dealing with toadies!

I meant to post this about 2 months ago but forgot! So now is the time to make up for that omission. I watched 'A Complete Unknown' a film based on Bob Dylan's early career with Timothée Chalamet in the title role. I thought it was great. It's exactly the sort of film I would watch again. Loved it!

It's clear that universities face real systemic problems currently with financing, student numbers, AI & political interference especially in the US. But unfortunately there is also a much darker side that is suffocating & springs from jealousy/envy as well as personality clashes among colleagues

Just spent the weekend in Budapest. What a beautiful city & one that has such a good vibe to it. It was full of young people having fun. What makes it even more attractive is that it rejects Orban overwhelmingly. I've always had a fascination with Hungary driven by sport, music & its courage in 1956

In beautiful Budapest. It is a total joy to see the city after teaching Hungarian history for over 40 years! Off to see the memorial to the heroes of the '56 Uprising. I have had a bond with Hungary that may have been forged through both sport & music & which has endured from my youngest days.

We can only hope for the best in the election to come.

Why does anyone believe anything that comes out of the mouth of the current inhabitant of the Oval Office?Truth Social (a misnomer if ever there was one) is utterly unreliable & a wild distortion of the truth. Exaggeration & lies come thick & fast & yet the media still continues to lap it up. Weird!

On Midsummer's Night last Saturday I took myself off into the local woods beyond my Austrian village in a search for those magical little creatures with their beautiful white lights - the fireflies. They only appear in our woods for a few days in late June but they were there in profusion. What joy!