Jane McNicholl

You know who does believe in Rules of Engagement? Ukraine Does.

You know who does not? Putin's Russia.

Guess who the USA is now modelling itself on?

Iran Crisis: They Wanted Sovereignty. Just Not Like This If anyone has ruined the special relationship, it's not Starmer- it's Trump

No legal basis. No clear objective. No exit. And much of Britain’s political class spent the week calling Starmer a coward for noticing.

Latest substack from me.

open.substack.com/pub/goodalla...

Right-wing media, Reform and Tories all betrayed us this week. They couldn’t bring themselves to back the govt or our country because it would mean putting their nasty, point-scoring, twatty politics aside for the greater good. They exposed our post-Brexit weakness and their own toxic incompetence.

So Trump rolls out the red carpet for Putin, protects Putin, bullies the Ukrainians for Putin, and in return Putin helps Iranians kill Americans.

Trump must act now or the case for him being a Russian asset of some type will be undeniable.

These headlines should always read “New secondary moderns set to return”, since that’s where most kids will go under that system.

For anyone who would like the clip (including George).

The contrast is absolutely clear

Labour focussing on mainstream inclusive schools where every kid is stretched and can thrive and find their path

Reform bussing a few lucky kids to a grammar school and dumping three quarters in a secondary modern

I note that Iain hasn't engaged with the impact of secondary moderns on the education of the 75%+ who attend them.

Weird that

Anyone who wants Britain to join the war in Iran needs their head examined They don't know what they want to achieve, why they're doing it or what the consequences might be. They are lost in the void.

Can’t argue with this. substack.com/@iandunt/not...

Image of the start of the latest blog post

Real war and culture war. New post on my Brexit & Brexitism Blog analyzing the Brexit imprint of domestic responses to the Iran crisis, the hypocrisy & sectarianism of Reform's response to the by-election and the questions it poses for Labour: chrisgreybrexitblog.blogspot.com/2026/03/real...

FT comments section this morning - saying what everyone else is thinking, right?

Reform fury as someone else wins by Our By-election Editor Tim Shipsink The losing candidate in the Gorton and Denton by-election, Matt Goodwhinge, has demanded an immediate re-run of the election on the grounds that he lost comprehensively to someone else. "It's totally unfair and rigged," said Goodwhinge. "I shouldn't be required to sit there and suck it up, just because I lost." Mr Goodwhine continued, *I can't believe that all those voters I demonised failed to back me. Especially after I was endorsed by Tommy Robinson and ten million Russian bots on X. "We have clear evidence of family voting, where people voted in order for me to stop deporting their families." Mr Badloser concluded. "I'm the victim of colour prejudice. They didn't vote for me simply because I'm not green." Reform leader Mr Farage, speaking from a sun lounger on a rock near the Chagos Islands said, "It's a tragedy that the people of Manchester won't see Matt in Westminster, but my constituents don't see me in Clacton either." PLUMBER DEFEATS MATT GOODWIN Photo of Hannah Spencer with speech bubble saying… I've stopped the cock

Beautiful from Private Eye on the massive toddler-tantrum that Matt Goodwin and Reform are having, because they got whooped in Gorton and Denton.

Honourable mention for @jamesrball.com in panel two

“Stupidity is the same as evil if you judge by the results.”
- Margaret Atwood -

Spanish PM Sánchez responds to Trump:

"Spain is against this disaster... Govts are here to improve people's lives... It is absolutely unacceptable that those leaders who are unable to fulfill that mission use the smoke of war to hide their failure, and in the process, fill the pockets of a few."

Harold Wilson became prime minister for a third time on this day 1974, after Edward Heath's talks with the Liberals failed. (Painting by Ruskin Spear, National Portrait Gallery).

Maybe just maybe the Ukrainian policy of reducing the number of their troops on the front line was the right one and the Russian one of slaughtering their own population the wrong one.
Thankfully the Ukrainians did not listen to the terrible western analytic community on this.

True - but just making point that BBC is not just ‘the media’.

The willingness of major European states such as Britain and France to send their military forces to actively defend counties in the Middle East but not to defend Ukraine shows how Europe has a distorted sense of its own interests.

Strange that it is in the letters page of the @financialtimes.com that you get voices calling out Trump’s undermining of the US justice system and his pardoning of fraudsters with whom he must feel some solidarity. And this is the man we should trust?

BBC is publicly funded with a particular remit; so maybe a Q should be raised?

So, in launching a huge bombing campaign on Iran they apparently didn't plan for:

- Who takes over;
- Interceptor shortages from sustained drone retaliation;
- How to defend US bases in the region;
- Threats to ships in the Strait of Hormuz; and
- How to evacuate Americans with airspace closed.

I may have my frustrations and disappointments about Starmer as a domestic politician, but internationally, I think he’s serious, responsible and trying to do his best for U.K. in unbelievably complex int’l environment, despite treasonous ghouls like Farage doing their best to undermine him.

Moreover, Trump going around pissing off every single ally that doesn’t unquestioningly obey him is a dumb policy, for when the going gets tough in Iran. Eventually, even your best friends lose patience.

Iraq; Donald Trump’s character; his contempt for soldiers, dead or alive & the obvious necessity of having a “lawful basis” & a “viable thought-through plan” for military action…
Just a few of the things all our local neighbourhood warmongers have completely forgotten about.
tinyurl.com/4rrn2mkx

It’s not difficult to imagine what Winston Churchill would have made of Donald Trump…

What they’re basically saying is that Starmer and the UK isn’t allowed to operate an even moderately independent foreign policy outside of the United States. That is both ahistoric, wrong and weird for people who constantly tell us how sovereignty is what matters most.

It's not Roosevelt we're dealing with. Hell, it's not even Nixon.

the Dubai dickheads remind me of how Ballard portrayed the western enclaves in Shanghai in Empire of the Sun

“For all we know, we could be in the middle of Keir Starmer’s finest hour”.

Starmer’s critics say he is imperiling the UK’s special relationship with the US...

But is it Donald Trump who's doing the damage?