Michele Grant

What is the Strait of Hormuz and why does it matter? Iran's threat to block the world's most vital oil transit point has raised fears of major global economic consequences.

While we wait to see if war with Iran is going to happen this BBC explainer on what happens to the world economy if Iran blocks the strait of Hormuz is very useful.

BBC News - Strait of Hormuz: What happens if Iran shuts global oil corridor?
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Did the Lobby Misread the Starmer Story? Our political press can be an asset or liability

Excellent analysis from Mark Urban on how Westminster lobby correspondents drown out the real news.

Bafflement with Bezos The whole debacle of the Washington Post brand hara-kiri last week dispatched the myth that a tech billionaire could save serious journalism.

'Oligarchs gonna oligarch. And if your motto is “Move fast and break things,” it turns out that a lot of what gets broken is what the rest of us value most.'

open.substack.com/pub/tinabrow...

The 8:10 Today interview with Gordon Brown is an utter tour de force. A towering intellect matched by the deepest integrity.

Superbly well-argued @adamlangleben.bsky.social. I was in two minds but not anymore.

Rupert Murdoch’s Poisoned Dynasty Gabriel Sherman’s new book Bonfire of the Murdochs is full of juice.

For anyone still missing Succession.

open.substack.com/pub/tinabrow...

Over 36,500 killed in Iran's deadliest massacre, documents reveal More than 36,500 Iranians were killed by security forces during the January 8-9 crackdown on nationwide protests, making it the deadliest two-day protest massacre in history, according to documents re...

'The deadliest two-day protest massacre in history, according to documents reviewed by Iran International's Editorial Board.'

www.iranintl.com/en/202601255...

Inside Iran’s brutal protest crackdown: ‘It feels like everyone is dead’ The first messages to get through the internet blackout in more than two weeks share stories of brutal and widespread violence

What an internet shutdown hid from us. Don't look away.

www.thetimes.com/article/c0bf...

'Blood-curdling accounts' of killings and sexual violence: What we know about landmark Rohingya genocide case The accounts of the Rohingya people are being heard directly in an international court for the first time as Myanmar stands accused of committing genocide.

news.sky.com/story/blood-...

@simonjackbbc.bsky.social: ‘Speech from #Carney at #Davos is quite something. Basically saying rules based order is over, other countries must band together to protect themselves against the US. That insurance against the US comes at a cost but so be it. Companies+countries must choose their side.’

Eight democratic, prosperous, sensible countries with a combined population larger than that of the United States and $15 trillion in combined GDP––all of whom whom sent troops to Afghanistan in 2002 when we asked––give an unmistakable fuck you to the dangerous clown running the U.S. government.

Iran report says 16,500 dead in ‘genocide under digital darkness’ Witnesses tell of the brutality inflicted on those taking part in anti-regime protests

My god.

www.thetimes.com/article/01ba...

The one measure that can tell us a lot about the state of the UK economy Consumer confidence levels are rebounding for some in the UK, but older generations look to be immune.

Genuinely useful and interesting amid all the political slop of whose up whose down.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Image of writer and essayist Ronald Blythe, best known for book Akenfield, which explores changing rural life in Suffolk during the 20th century.

We're delighted to have acquired the archive of writer and essayist Ronald Blythe, best known for book Akenfield, which explores changing rural life in Suffolk during the 20th century.

Discover more in this blog post by curator Helen Melody: link.bl.uk/86s

What would never happen was a nursery or primary school child being given a box of nails and left unattended with it. That's kind of what we have done with mobile phones."

Wes Streeting"No one would dispute when I was growing up that being able to use tools like hammers or a saw was a good skill set for us to learn as young people.

Ukraine: 1418 days and counting + as we hope against hope for Iran, lessons from the history of protest

'So here’s an extraordinary fact: this week, Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine will have lasted longer than the Soviet Union's war against Nazi Germany, 1418 days.'

open.substack.com/pub/timothyg...

Tehran’s streets, and cities around the world, echo with the footsteps of Iranian women and men demanding freedom.

Freedom to speak, to gather, to travel and above all to live freely.

Europe stands fully behind them.

Abbas says Ra’am party will be open to Jewish candidates, in major shift * * *

Abbas says Ra'am party will be open to Jewish candidates, in major shift

www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_ent...

So much truth. And controversial view: for me one of the key differences between radio programmes and podcasts is that radio programmes rarely make me shout GET THE FUCK ON WITH IT I DON’T CARE WHAT YOU SAID EARLIER IN THE PUB I WASN’T THERE

Jewish klezmer-dance band Oi Va Voi: ‘Musicians shouldn’t have to keep looking over their shoulders’ After 20 years playing around the world, the group had two UK gigs cancelled this year after protests from activists. It’s made them feel targeted for who they are, the band say

@gabyhinsliff.bsky.social Is a beacon of light in the toxic terrain of cancel culture

www.theguardian.com/culture/2025...

Matthew Goodwin objects to prosecuting this: ‘I think it’s time for the British to gang together, hit the streets and start the slaughter. Violence and murder is the only way now. Start off burning every migrant hotel then head off to MPs’ houses and Parliament, we need to take over by FORCE.’

Essential 🧵Mina Al-Lami Chief #jihadist #media specialist #BBCMonitoring Update on #IS. Pls read her final post.
"Online supporters of IS have been enthusiastic about what they describe as the group's return to global headlines+renewed international discussion of the group as a security threat."1/

BBC Radio 4 - The Reith Lectures - BBC Reith Lectures 2025 – Moral Revolution Historian and author Rutger Bregman announced as BBC Radio 4's Reith lecturer for 2025.

"We are a culture adrift, searching for meaning but mostly only finding distraction" . Rutger Bregman delivering the BBC 2025 Reith Lecture at Stanford.
share.google/qhlsiP6zinAb...

Melvyn Bragg never learned to drive. But through In Our Time on BBC Radio 4 he learned just about everything else and we swam in the slipstream of his enduring curiosity and respect for knowledge. Thank you doesn't come close.

The Afghan women left to die Without female doctors, women in Afghanistan are being denied medical care – as the recent earthquake made painfully clear

newhumanist.org.uk/articles/648...

That is a lot of tweets. If you got this far you deserve a prize. Reasonable people will debate this growth strategy. But claiming there isn’t one is lazy nonsense. Higher growth matters because rising living standards are the goal, and higher investment is a key tool.

What we're seeing is exactly what we saw in the late 1940s, the late 1960s and the mid- to late 1970s: a concerted and hysterical campaign to delegitimise a Labour government, and indeed the very idea of Labour governments at all.

The BBC is under threat like never before. This is how to save it | Pat Younge A moment of peril demands a new approach – on everything from funding to the BBC charter, says Pat Younge, former chief creative officer of BBC Television

"The BBC is our most effective defence against the dangers of global media power concentrated in the hands of a few private individuals"
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...