Tim Dowse

I'm reminded that I got this wrong: the cost-sharing agreement related to BBC Monitoring, not the World Service. Similar issues though.

The arguments over World Service funding have gone on for a quarter of a century at least. There used to be an interdepartmental cost-sharing arrangement that broke down around the year 2000 when the MOD pulled out. The BBC themselves have always refused to consider taking advertising.

It led to endless grief with foreign governments who regularly objected to BBC reports about them and couldn't believe HMG funded a service over which it had no editorial control.

I was wrong - it turns out to be available online (for free).

OK, thanks. That looks like a challenge to track down!

Strongly agree about Descent to Suez - a very good (and depressing) read. I haven't read Eveland.

I recently looked at Scott Lucas’ collection of documents “Britain and Suez: The Lion’s Last Roar”. I like the way he uses US papers as well as British ones.

Is there a good account from official records of the French side of the story? I’m not aware of one.

I’ve not read that one, for precisely that reason!

For a straight military history there is an old Ian Allan volume by Robert Jackson, available on eBay. I guess it may be overtaken these days.

Keith Kyle’s magnum opus “Suez” is another. If you want something more specialised, I found “Whitehall and the Suez Crisis” (Routledge, 2000) interesting. It’s a ridiculous price new, but used copies seem readily available.

Also Scott Lucas’ “Divided We Stand”, focusing on UK/US aspects.

Exactly.

Interested to see how SCOTUS handles the legal challenge to that, if it is carried through as stated.

Who is all this aimed at? The TV audience? It can't be the generals and admirals in the hall, who didn't attain high rank without being able to tell fact from fiction.

If this means what it appears to mean, it feels like the most consequential thing he's said.

Odd how, according to Russia, civilian casualties in Ukraine are all caused by air defences, but the same is never true in Russia.

Ukrainian attacks are clearly directed overwhelmingly at economic and military targets.

Well, he was very well-known. But it’s a bit odd to say “now she makes works” for him, given he’s been dead since 2021.

Putin has increased Russia's VAT rate to 22% from 20%, breaking a pledge not to raise taxes before 2030. Another indication of a creaking Russian economy.

Switzerland, yes (important). But EU members, notably Ireland, do have a trade agreement with the US.

So it's basically about India again, is it?

Yes - I almost added that. Superb film.

Interesting thought for those who argue that armed helicopters have no place in modern conflicts.

Quite possibly written by someone born after the GDR had disappeared, so never had the chance to experience a real surveillance state.

It's a good question, but I agree that given China's then-isolation from the global economy (and much less developed globalisation more generally) I think I stand by my call.

I suppose the Bolshevik Revolution might have a stronger claim. But whichever, neither are very happy precedents.

Can't help feeling the US is becoming a laboratory for the largest political, economic and social experiment in history.

Not sure what would be the control group: maybe Denmark or Canada?

What a great story.

We can hope. Given his interests, I do wonder if recent reporting on increasing Russian problems with energy supplies and exports have got his attention.

Noteworthy, though, that he consistently refers to NATO in the third person, as if the US was not a member. Always "they", not "we".

Excellent news.

New addition

Journal article: Travels in the Missing Dimension: Official History and Secret Intelligence by Gill Bennett (published 03-07-2025)

https://doi.org/10.1080/09592296.2025.2533022

Ah. That connection hadn't occurred to me.

Still, given that London seems to have been full of US tourists this summer, there should be plenty of people to give a contrary view.

One Last Push? The Battle for Pokrovsk continues

Latest post returns to the battle for Pokrovsk in which both sides have invested heavily. The stakes are high - Russia needs to show something for this year’s constant and costly offensives. (£/free trial). samf.substack.com/p/one-last-p...

Thanks Andrew! You may be right about the unequal struggle between truth and falsehood (cf the famous Mark Twain quotation).

Still, I can't help feeling that without social media those who repeat this rubbish would be reduced to standing on a street corner with a placard saying "The End Is Nigh".