George Orwell, 1984: ‘The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.’
John Simpson
19.5K posts
John Simpson
@JohnSimpsonNews
Broadcaster & author, trying to make sense of a mad world. Presenter of ‘Unspun World’ on @BBCTwo, BBC World etc. Instagram @johnsimpsonnews.
Live in UK, travel anywhere
Joined February 2016
- Putin puts his nuclear deterrent forces on high alert. This is the kind of moment we’ve feared almost my entire life. And why is he doing it? Because his wholly unnecessary invasion of Ukraine doesn’t seem to be going to plan.
- Relatively little attention has been given to the extraordinary threats against Sweden and Finland by the Russian foreign ministry, warning of the consequences if they decide to join NATO. And we thought that kind of thing was over & done with in Europe.
- On the anniversary of Tiananmen there are always people who tweet that reports of a massacre are the invention of the Western media. I was there, I saw it happen & I counted 40 people killed in front of my eyes. And my team filmed it all.
- Just a quick constitutional reminder for the BBC’s 100th anniversary: it belongs to the people of the UK. It doesn’t belong to the government. And, contrary to what the current Culture Secretary seems to think, it isn’t state-funded.
- Vladimir Putin says it’s necessary to invade Ukraine to ‘deNazify’ it. Ukraine’s President Zelensky is Jewish, and members of his family died in the Holocaust.
- In case you didn’t see it, the Washington Post’s Trump fact-checkers say that in his 4 years as President, Donald Trump made 30,573 false or misleading claims. That’s roughly 20 every single day.
- I’ve just watched @realDonaldTrump’s latest TV interview in full. As someone who has interviewed world leaders from Gorbachev to Putin, Thatcher to al-Assad, Ayatollah Khomeini to Mandela, I can honestly say he seems worse informed & less impressive than any of them.
- Four Oxford schoolgirls have started a petition to make lessons on climate change compulsory in schools, & nearly 40,000 people have so far signed it. Since this the most important problem our planet faces, shouldn’t our children be taught about it?
- We need an end to blatant lying in politics.
- I’m sitting in crowded A&E with my kid, who seems to have appendicitis, marvelling at how patient & kind the staff are in spite of the heavy pressures on them. True, it’s best not to get ill at weekends, but thank God for the NHS - creaking, bureaucratic but excellent.
- Disagree with me by all means — everyone has a right to their opinion. But do it courteously. If you insult me or threaten me or swear at me, I’ll block you. I get nutters, obsessives and extremists raving at me all the time, and each one goes straight down the toilet.
- This morning, 31 years ago, my cameraman & I filmed the man with the shopping bags as he stood in front of the tanks close to Tiananmen, blocking them. Finally he jumped up onto the lead tank & yelled angrily at the crew. Then he vanished into the crowd. He was never caught.
- I think this pub should be rebuilt brick for brick, exactly as it was.
