Substack #5 in the charts. Columns: @Telegraph. Podcast: @The_Brink_ (with @Mr_Andrew_Fox). New book: ‘Never Again? How the West Betrayed the Jews and Itself’
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Joined January 2010
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“You’re Islamophobic.”
“No, I’m not.”
“You’re a fan of Tommy Robinson.”
“No, I’m not.”
“You’re unfair on the Church of England.”
“No, I’m not.”
A pleasure to chat to @edvaizey on @TimesRadio about my new book, 'Never Again? How the West Betrayed the Jews and Itself', today.
Good news, everyone: turns out Britain is a high-trust society after all. For years, we have been told that faith in our institutions has collapsed, that nobody believes the politicians, papers, police or priests. Yet for the best part of two decades, millions of people – particularly the media establishment that enabled him – placed their trust, unconditionally and with something close to religious devotion, in Russell Brand.
Last week, a jury at Southwark Crown Court convicted Brand of rape and sexual assault. His victims, who waited years to be believed, deserve deep credit for coming forward. But the rest of us deserve to ask some hard questions about how such an openly predatory man was elevated in the first place, and protected for so long.
The answer is that faith hasn’t disappeared at all. It has simply moved, from the stuffy old institutions and authority figures who used to command it to a new class of god-like celebrities. This is partly the result of an increasingly screen-addicted and jaded population, and partly the result of the growing untrustworthiness of the old order, who for decades have felt so entitled to their authority that they squandered it.
So how do we begin to rebuild?
New essay. Link in first reply
Last month, Winchester College, one of the most exclusive schools in the country, banished laptops from its classrooms and went back to pen and paper. Its headmistress, Elizabeth Stone, called them “distracting”, and said results had already improved. Eton has restricted iPads after more than 100 parents signed a petition.
Meanwhile, the Department for Education is pressing ahead with plans to give AI-powered personal tutors to 450,000 disadvantaged pupils a year by the end of 2027. In other words, the children of the elite are getting books, teachers and silence. The children of the poor are getting chatbots.
That, more than anything, is what has stayed with me from my conversation on The Brink with Sophie Winkleman, 46, the actress best known as Big Suze in Peep Show, and now one of Britain’s most formidable campaigners against the takeover of childhood by screens.
She made her case with passion born of a great deal of research. But perhaps the most powerful argument she offered came from the last place you would expect: a room full of AI evangelists...
New post. Link in first reply
It’s astonishing how nobody seems to remember that last year, Tom Fletcher made the fraudulent claim that 14,000 babies could die in Gaza in 48 hours. The claim was repeated all over the world, including by many MPs in parliament. When it was proven false, very few apologised. Now here we are, with people who should know better still believing his lies.
Clear statement from Tom Fletcher head of the UN OCHA on the utterly avoidable tragedy befalling Gaza this winter.
"For months we have sounded the alarm on essential winter supplies for Gaza, including throughout the UN General Assembly.
"Foreign Ministers and partners have assured me of support, but also repeatedly said that progress would be hard until after Israeli elections. Now we’re told to wait for the formation of a government. In case anyone has any doubt about international humanitarian law: this is not an acceptable excuse, as the international community and Board of Peace have made clear.
"We are now seeing the consequences of delays, blockages and funding cuts: lives lost, a population once again at great risk.
"What makes this even more infuriating is that they are at this needless risk from weather that is not a threat where decent shelter exists. And would not be such a threat had we been able to supply decent tents and essential Winter kit.
"Had Palestinians been allowed to access open areas that are less prone to flooding.
"We have set out a clear plan for the supplies we need to get in. Not in weeks, but weeks ago. This includes durable shelter, warm clothes, blankets, bedding and safe heating solutions. And it includes generators, fuel, engine oil, spare parts, equipment to pump out water, remove debris and clear explosive ordnance.
"No more delay. Open all the crossings, not just one. Let our vital NGO partners work. Allow the commercial markets to function. Stop this collective punishment. Fund the plan. End this predictable, preventable suffering. The world is not powerless here."
Utter debasement of America by the goonish Pete Hegseth and his deplorable friends. Shame on them. (And well done that soldier!)
Looks like a great event! Tickets selling fast I’m told…
“Is football still a beautiful game? With former FA boss David Bernstein.
From the stories making headlines to football’s power to bring communities together, join us for a lively discussion about the biggest talking points in the game today.
Joined the panel: Tomer Hemed is an Israeli former professional footballer who played as a forward and now coaches in Brighton & Hove Albion’s academy. His playing career took him across Spain, England, Australia and Israel, and he earned 38 caps for the Israel national team.
Alongside David Bernstein CBE, Yaniv Kusevitzky of Equalizer and Jonathan Metliss, Chairman of Action Against Discrimination, he’ll explore football’s challenges and its potential to unite people beyond the pitch.”
Grab your ticket here:
eventbrite.co.uk/e/is-footba…
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Britain has been put on notice.
Thirteen American states, including Florida, Georgia and Ohio, have written to our ambassador in Washington threatening economic retaliation over Ed Miliband's sanctions on Israel. They accuse Britain of aligning itself "with the objectives of terrorist organizations".
I've read the letter, and the footnotes are even more alarming than the headline.
Twenty-one states already have laws barring contracts with companies that boycott Israel, or pulling public money out of them. The trade weapon the attorneys general cite is Section 301, the very provision Trump used to slap tariffs on China. And under a 1977 American law, a US company that obeys Britain's sanctions could end up breaking American law.
The best part? To make their case, they quote a British law back at us: the Protection of Trading Interests Act, passed by Margaret Thatcher's government to stop Washington bullying British firms.
Thatcher's Britain stood up to America to protect British business. Miliband's Britain has turned a large chunk of America against it.
Slow handclap, Ed.
My latest. Link in first reply.
Jake Wallis Simons retweeted
Screen addiction will destroy the West | Sophie Winkleman
🚨 New episode dropped!
Are smartphones and AI destroying childhood?
Sophie Winkleman on screen addiction, technology in schools and why she believes children need less time online - not more.
From AI and social media to books, handwriting and the battle to reclaim children’s attention…
When Britain recognised a State of Palestine last year, we were assured that good behaviour would follow. Mahmoud Abbas had promised to reform, and the end of cash-for-terrorism was the jewel in the crown.
Reader, it was a con.
A new study finds the PA and the PLO are still paying more than 20 million shekels a month to terrorists in Israeli prisons. The scale still rises with the length of the sentence, from 1,400 shekels a month to 12,000. The bloodier the crime, the bigger the reward.
As for the "reform", well, Abbas moved the payments to a supposedly independent institution created by his own decree and run by his own officials. Then he told the UN it was "social welfare".
In Arabic, they are rather more candid. Last month, Fatah's spokesman in Gaza admitted on a podcast: "We are trying to find another way to transfer the salaries to our Martyrs and wounded."
Meanwhile, Britain sanctions Israel and hands Ramallah another £10 million.
Welfare for the West; salaries for the Martyrs. My latest; link in first reply.
On Monday, Ed Miliband took to social media to lament that rain had waterlogged tents in Gaza. "Heartbreaking," he called it, vowing that Britain "will not rest until we bring an end to the intolerable suffering".
Meanwhile, 13 American states with a combined GDP of more than $6 trillion have threatened economic retaliation over our sanctions on Israel. Their attorneys general accuse Britain and the Netherlands of having "aligned themselves with the policy objectives of terrorist organisations like Hamas and Hezbollah". British firms could be barred from state contracts and American public money pulled from British businesses. On the BBC? Not a dicky-bird.
And for what? Israel has downgraded our consulate in East Jerusalem and shut British officers out of the Gaza coordination hub in Kiryat Gat. Having just returned from Israel, I can tell you that Britain is now seen there as a comical irrelevance.
The ultimate irony? Reports from Gaza suggest the tents may have flooded because Hamas obstructed a project to provide sturdier shelters.
Milibandism, if you will. My latest column for the @Telegraph:
telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/11…
Genocide denial like this, you mean?
NEW: 260 British Jews – among them British Israeli historian Avi Shlaim, human rights barrister Margaret Owen OBE and journalist and politician @andrewfeinstein – have accused the @BoardofDeputies of genocide denial in an open letter.
Great essay by Radomir Tylecote of @878org
Radomir Tylecote reflects on how the Left’s antisemitic heritage met Islamist grievance.
thecritic.co.uk/when-marx-me…
Jake Wallis Simons retweeted
When Marx met Hamas: on the deep roots of left-wing antisemitism
The Left-Islamist alliance is clear.
But its roots in Marx’s own antisemitism should be better known.
Our CEO Radomir Tylecote in @TheCriticMag this weekend.
From its beginnings, Marxist thought targeted ethnic enemies…
🧵👇
Radomir Tylecote reflects on how the Left’s antisemitic heritage met Islamist grievance.
thecritic.co.uk/when-marx-me…