iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

John Simpson @johnsimpsonnews.bsky.social · 28/02/2026

Trump and Netanyahu launched their war on Iran at a time when it still looked as though there might be a chance for diplomacy. Was this because they suddenly got intelligence about Ayatollah Khamenei’s whereabouts, and realised they could kill him?

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John Simpson @johnsimpsonnews.bsky.social · 28/01/2026

Tonight I’m back on ‘Unspun World’ (BBC Two, 11pm) with a look at the aftermath of Europe’s revolt over Trump’s Greenland demands, China’s trade and its spying habit, India’s EU link, and what lies ahead for the new Archbishop of Canterbury. Worth a watch!

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John Simpson @johnsimpsonnews.bsky.social · 07/01/2026

We’re in an era of back-yardism. Trump’s takeover of Venezuela & maybe Greenland means he can’t logically object to Putin’s desire to take back Ukraine in Russia’s back-yard, or Xi grabbing Taiwan. The US, once the world’s moral super-power, shrinks to policeman for the Americas.

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John Simpson @johnsimpsonnews.bsky.social · 06/01/2026

How about temporarily re-titling this ‘Venezuela’?

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John Simpson @johnsimpsonnews.bsky.social · 30/12/2025

Reports from various sources of anti-government demonstrations in Tehran and other Iranian cities. It’s by no means the first time, of course, but there seems to be an extra fragility about the regime since the Israeli/US bombings last June.

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John Simpson @johnsimpsonnews.bsky.social · 27/12/2025

Tomorrow is important for Ukraine. Pres Zelensky will present his counter-proposals for peace to Pres Trump in Florida — terms carefully calibrated with the UK, Germany & France to ensure maximum future security for Ukraine & at least the possibility of acceptance by Russia.

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John Simpson @johnsimpsonnews.bsky.social · 24/12/2025

Video has emerged of Gen Xu Qinxian of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army at his court martial in 1990, explaining why he refused orders to crush the Tiananmen Square protests. Xu said he didn’t want to become “a sinner in history”. He was given a 5 year sentence.

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John Simpson @johnsimpsonnews.bsky.social · 23/12/2025

And a ground-level view of one part of the brightest, most vibrant city on the planet at Christmas.

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John Simpson @johnsimpsonnews.bsky.social · 23/12/2025

An aerial view of Christmas in central London.

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John Simpson @johnsimpsonnews.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

Celebrating our wonderful Irish terrier, Cody. One of his quirks is insisting on physical contact — in this case resting his paw on my foot. Alert, handsome, surprisingly obedient for an IT, he’s everything you could want in a dog.

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John Simpson @johnsimpsonnews.bsky.social · 16/12/2025

Even the D Telegraph thinks Pres Trump will lose his case against the BBC. Interestingly, more Americans watch/hear/read the BBC than Brits. Its US audience averages 60 million, rising to 77m in Sept. By comparison, its UK audience is approx 50m (around 85% of UK population).

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John Simpson @johnsimpsonnews.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

Jimmy Lai, the media tycoon and brave defender of democracy in Hong Kong, has been found guilty of ‘foreign collusion’. His family expect he’ll die in jail. HK’s national security law, imposed by Beijing after huge pro-democracy protests, has claimed its most prominent victim.

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John Simpson @johnsimpsonnews.bsky.social · 14/12/2025

Andy Serkis has remade Orwell’s stark fable ‘Animal Farm’ — only he says he’s made it ‘accessible’ (as though it wasn’t already), not ‘overtly political’ (could that have the slightest value?), and ‘suitable for a modern audience’ (his version has a happy ending).

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John Simpson @johnsimpsonnews.bsky.social · 12/12/2025

The FT writes: ‘In Trump’s interview with GB News, its correspondent, Bev Turner, gave North Korea’s broadcasters a run for their money. “It feels much safer here,” Turner said, contrasting Washington to London, though the chances of being murdered in DC are around 26 times higher than in London.

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John Simpson @johnsimpsonnews.bsky.social · 12/12/2025

Met Police chief Mark Rowley: ‘How anybody in America can suggest the UK is violent is completely ridiculous. The homicide rate in London is lower than every single US state. It’s lower than all their big cities.’

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John Simpson @johnsimpsonnews.bsky.social · 11/12/2025

Only 31% of U.S. adults now approve of how Trump is handling the economy, the poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds. That is down from 40% in March and marks the lowest economic approval he’s registered in an AP-NORC poll in his first or second term.

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John Simpson @johnsimpsonnews.bsky.social · 11/12/2025

Pres Trump worries his closest allies and emboldens Russia and China. But many US commentators feel he is now only 11 months from becoming a lame duck. After next November’s mid-term election he won’t have power over Congress or even parts of the Republican Party.

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John Simpson @johnsimpsonnews.bsky.social · 08/12/2025

It’s the 78th birthday of Jimmy Lai, the campaigner for Hong Kong’s freedom, who has now been jailed for 1800+ days. His health is bad and he’s not getting proper treatment. As a rich man, he could easily have stayed away from HK. Instead, he returned and stood by his friends.

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John Simpson @johnsimpsonnews.bsky.social · 02/12/2025

2009, at the lighthouse on Cape Horn: from r., the explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes, the sailor Sir Robin Knox-Johnston and me. We went eye-to-eye with the Taliban in Afghanistan, dragged sledges in the Arctic, and rounded Cape Horn in a 60-foot boat for our 3 Dogs series on BBC Two. Great days.

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John Simpson @johnsimpsonnews.bsky.social · 26/11/2025

I was deeply sorry that the BBC paid no tribute to John Osman’s long service—meeting Idi Amin & other dictators, being jailed in Ian Smith’s Rhodesia, & revealing the dodgy links between the Soviet U. & apartheid S. Africa to fix gold & diamond prices. Quite a story—but untold.

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John Simpson @johnsimpsonnews.bsky.social · 26/11/2025

Lovely funeral service near Oxford for the great BBC correspondent John Osman. His g’daughter Katy wrote and read a poem including these unforgettable lines: ‘You spoke for those who do not have a voice, The slaves, the prisoners, those who lack a choice.’ John absolutely did.

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John Simpson @johnsimpsonnews.bsky.social · 25/11/2025

Chelsea on fire! Estêvăo, Cucurella, James all excellent. Maresca’s tactics made Barcelona look flat-footed — the first time since last December that they haven’t scored. It was 3-0 for Chelsea against PSG; now it’s 3-0 against Barça.

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John Simpson @johnsimpsonnews.bsky.social · 25/11/2025

Times headline: ‘BBC failing to tackle systemic bias, says author of leaked memo’. In fact, when asked by MPs, this man, Michael Prescott, said he didn’t believe the BBC was institutionally biased. The Times failed to quote that, in an article about the issue of truthful reporting.

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John Simpson @johnsimpsonnews.bsky.social · 25/11/2025

According to a new study from a respected US think tank, the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), Britain’s decision to leave the EU has meant that its GDP is between 6 per cent and 8 per cent smaller than it would have been.

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John Simpson @johnsimpsonnews.bsky.social · 23/11/2025

First Donald Trump, then Joe Biden using the terms of the Trump ‘deal’, sold out Afghanistan to the Taliban. Most European govts think Trump is now selling out Ukraine in the same way — trading major concessions for a belief in Putin’s promises, and not caring very much anyway.

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John Simpson @johnsimpsonnews.bsky.social · 22/11/2025

Delightful lunch at Magdalene Coll Cambridge in memory of the poet & critic Arthur Sale (d. 2000). F. R. Leavis, no friend of his, still called him ‘the best individual teacher of English in Cambridge’. Arthur’s pupils included Bamber Gascoigne, Alan Rusbridger, Nicholas Shakespeare & Monty Don.

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John Simpson @johnsimpsonnews.bsky.social · 20/11/2025

The report into Boris Johnson’s record during the Covid epidemic blames a ‘toxic, sexist and chaotic culture’ in Downing Street. Who’d have thought it?

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John Simpson @johnsimpsonnews.bsky.social · 19/11/2025

ft.com

Home - Financial Times

News, analysis and opinion from the Financial Times on the latest in markets, economics and politics

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John Simpson @johnsimpsonnews.bsky.social · 18/11/2025

In December 1992, in the Sarajevo siege, a sniper pinned me down for 40 mins. Each time I lifted my head, he fired into the wall just above me. When I got up, too cold to lie there any longer, he deliberately missed me again. Was this one of the tourist killers we hear about?

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Reposted by John Simpson

sal-lib.bsky.social @sal-lib.bsky.social · 15/11/2025

Thank you @johnsimpsonnews.bsky.social for an incredibly inspiring talk this afternoon in Malvern. I found your message of seeking light and decency amidst the despair and hate profoundly moving. May the BBC retain and engage more journalists like you.

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John Simpson @johnsimpsonnews.bsky.social · 18/11/2025

I was privileged to be present in Prague at the magnificent moment 36 years ago today when Alexander Dubcek and Vaclav Havel celebrated the collapse of the old Soviet-backed government and declared a new, democratic government for the Czechs and Slovaks.

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John Simpson @johnsimpsonnews.bsky.social · 12/11/2025

Tonight’s Unspun World (11pm BBC Two) is a cracker: Russia’s aims in Ukraine, plans to rebuild Gaza (worse destroyed than Berlin 1945), Iraq improving, & the promise/threat of quantum computing. Also on iPlayer/News Channel/World Service. Our last show of 2025 - back in the New Year.

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John Simpson @johnsimpsonnews.bsky.social · 11/11/2025

On this day in 1918 the parents of the poet Wilfred Owen were just listening to the church bells ringing to announce the Armistice when a telegram boy arrived with the message that their son had died.

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John Simpson @johnsimpsonnews.bsky.social · 11/11/2025

It’s apologising season. The audience for BBC output in the US is just over 40 million, not 77 million as I said. That’s the figure for the Americas as a whole. But the BBC is indeed the second most trusted news source in the US.

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John Simpson @johnsimpsonnews.bsky.social · 11/11/2025

Donald Trump’s demand for a billion dollars from the BBC comes from a local Florida law firm. It was sent to the wrong address, and the writer didn’t know what ‘salacious’ really means: ‘Due to their salacious nature, the fabricated statements that were aired by the BBC…’

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John Simpson @johnsimpsonnews.bsky.social · 11/11/2025

Nowhere in the hysterical pile-on against the BBC in the British press has anyone mentioned that BBC News now has 77 million viewers & listeners in the US and has established itself as the second most trusted news source there.

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John Simpson @johnsimpsonnews.bsky.social · 09/11/2025

Tim Davie was one of the best D-Gs the BBC has had, and Deborah Turness was a brilliant head of news. Only the BBC’s enemies could possibly be glad they’ve resigned. We’ve now got a real fight on our hands to defend public service broadcasting, because that’s under threat too.

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John Simpson @johnsimpsonnews.bsky.social · 08/11/2025

Exactly right. Mistakes must be corrected, but deliberate campaigns should be recognised for what they are.

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John Simpson @johnsimpsonnews.bsky.social · 08/11/2025

Inside Gaza, BBC sees total devastation after two years of war

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John Simpson @johnsimpsonnews.bsky.social · 05/11/2025

‘Unspun World’ at 11.00 tonight on BBC Two, then iPlayer, News Channel & World Service: what do Russians feel about the Ukraine war? Why are Gulf states involved in the Sudan fighting? Who do Americans blame for the govt shutdown? And the climate change conference - any good?

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John Simpson @johnsimpsonnews.bsky.social · 05/11/2025

The great S African lawyer Sir Sydney Kentridge is 103 today. In a Pretoria court in 1977 I watched in awe as he crucified the secret police who had murdered the Black Consciousness leader Steve Biko - arguably the start of apartheid’s downfall. A very happy birthday, dear Sydney!

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John Simpson @johnsimpsonnews.bsky.social · 28/10/2025

Just heard the sad news that John Osman, the doyen of BBC foreign correspondents and an inspiration to people like me, has died. A life really well lived. Farewell dear friend.

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John Simpson @johnsimpsonnews.bsky.social · 22/10/2025

A Washington Post poll has found that 61% of US Jews believe Israel has committed war crimes in Gaza, and 39% say it is committing genocide. Among the broader American public, 45% told the Brookings Institution they believe Israel is committing genocide.

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John Simpson @johnsimpsonnews.bsky.social · 19/10/2025

Me at the Royal Geographical Society yesterday, sounding off at a matinée and an evening show about the nature of political leadership, the leaders I’ve met, and why many of them have gone off the rails. Knackering but great fun, with lovely receptive audiences both times.

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John Simpson @johnsimpsonnews.bsky.social · 16/10/2025

Donald Trump says crime in London is going through the roof. In reality the latest figures show that murders in London in the first nine months of 2025 were lower than in any year since monthly homicide records began in 2003, and 2025 saw a 7% drop in knife crime.

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John Simpson @johnsimpsonnews.bsky.social · 15/10/2025

On ‘Unspun World’ tonight on BBC Two, then iPlayer, News Channel & World Service: the BBC Gaza correspondent Rushdi Abu Alouf describes life in Gaza right now. Plus world economic crisis, cyber crime and Argentina’s problems. Worth a watch!

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John Simpson @johnsimpsonnews.bsky.social · 08/10/2025

On tonight’s Unspun World on BBC Two I talk to the great Steve Rosenberg about what it’s really like to be the BBC Russia editor — how do ordinary Russians react to him? Is he in danger? What’s going to happen there? Unmissable!

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