Simon Shepherd 🇪🇺
@simonshep.bsky.social
Cruciverbalist, veggie, passionate European, enjoy words, language, cooking, wine, music: part-time genius & amateur human being (possibly vice versa)
Reposted by Simon Shepherd 🇪🇺
So, what was the point of the second strike at all, then?
Q: So you didn't see any survivors after that first strike?
HEGSETH: I did not personally see survivors. The thing was on fire. This is called the fog of war. This is what you in the press don't understand. You sit in your air conditioned offices and plant fake stories in the Washington Post
HEGSETH: I did not personally see survivors. The thing was on fire. This is called the fog of war. This is what you in the press don't understand. You sit in your air conditioned offices and plant fake stories in the Washington Post
December 2, 2025 at 10:13 PM
So, what was the point of the second strike at all, then?
Reposted by Simon Shepherd 🇪🇺
TWO THINGS
1 - "Hundreds of thousands of lives saved"?
There are about 72,000 total deaths from all opioids annually - an awful tragedy, but not one averted by blasting small boats in the Caribbean.
2 - Fentanyl does NOT come from Venezuela by boat or any other way.
1 - "Hundreds of thousands of lives saved"?
There are about 72,000 total deaths from all opioids annually - an awful tragedy, but not one averted by blasting small boats in the Caribbean.
2 - Fentanyl does NOT come from Venezuela by boat or any other way.
Trump: "Pete didn't know about the second attack having to do with two people. I guess Pete would have to speak to it. I can say this. I want those boats taken out. And if we have to, we'll attack on land also."
December 2, 2025 at 10:01 PM
TWO THINGS
1 - "Hundreds of thousands of lives saved"?
There are about 72,000 total deaths from all opioids annually - an awful tragedy, but not one averted by blasting small boats in the Caribbean.
2 - Fentanyl does NOT come from Venezuela by boat or any other way.
1 - "Hundreds of thousands of lives saved"?
There are about 72,000 total deaths from all opioids annually - an awful tragedy, but not one averted by blasting small boats in the Caribbean.
2 - Fentanyl does NOT come from Venezuela by boat or any other way.
Reposted by Simon Shepherd 🇪🇺
On the one hand, anything to distract from reports of his increasingly well-documented, lifelong racism.
On the other, if he's told some donors this (& the FT will have sourced this properly) you can be sure that he'd've told others the polar opposite if he thought that's what they wanted to hear.
On the other, if he's told some donors this (& the FT will have sourced this properly) you can be sure that he'd've told others the polar opposite if he thought that's what they wanted to hear.
FT Exclusive: The Reform UK leader told donors he expects a deal or merger between his party and the Conservatives ahead of the next general election, suggesting he does not believe he can sweep to power alone. on.ft.com/44xlHi0
December 2, 2025 at 9:27 PM
On the one hand, anything to distract from reports of his increasingly well-documented, lifelong racism.
On the other, if he's told some donors this (& the FT will have sourced this properly) you can be sure that he'd've told others the polar opposite if he thought that's what they wanted to hear.
On the other, if he's told some donors this (& the FT will have sourced this properly) you can be sure that he'd've told others the polar opposite if he thought that's what they wanted to hear.
Reposted by Simon Shepherd 🇪🇺
People get extremely annoyed when I point it out (I think they think I’m endorsing the other guy, cause we don’t do nuance) but if this was Biden, it would be the cover image of literally every American newspaper tomorrow.
Trump dozes while Marco Rubio speaks to him directly next to him. Just insane optics.
December 2, 2025 at 8:34 PM
People get extremely annoyed when I point it out (I think they think I’m endorsing the other guy, cause we don’t do nuance) but if this was Biden, it would be the cover image of literally every American newspaper tomorrow.
Reposted by Simon Shepherd 🇪🇺
Brilliant!
🚨Some personal news.
I'm thrilled to announce that I've just filed my first copy for The New Yorker.
A profile of Jonathan Gullis.
"You get the sense that offstage, Jonathan Gullis struggles with being Jonathan Gullis."
open.substack.com/pub/mrhenrym...
I'm thrilled to announce that I've just filed my first copy for The New Yorker.
A profile of Jonathan Gullis.
"You get the sense that offstage, Jonathan Gullis struggles with being Jonathan Gullis."
open.substack.com/pub/mrhenrym...
Jonathan Gullis, The Seagull's Lament
A New Yorker Profile
open.substack.com
December 2, 2025 at 11:38 AM
Brilliant!
Reposted by Simon Shepherd 🇪🇺
That’s probably how native Americans viewed the successive waves of white settlers, all in their turn fleeing persecution, danger, oppression, or poverty and hoping to make a new start in America. Like Somalians, Afghans, Haitians and Central Americans today…wait, oh, but they’re not white. 😡😡😡
Leavitt: "I'll tell you what doesn't add to our nation's character is refugees who come here under the alleged plight of asylum and then come to the US to abuse our system ... Somali immigrants in Minnesota have been ripping off American taxpayers"
December 1, 2025 at 7:11 PM
That’s probably how native Americans viewed the successive waves of white settlers, all in their turn fleeing persecution, danger, oppression, or poverty and hoping to make a new start in America. Like Somalians, Afghans, Haitians and Central Americans today…wait, oh, but they’re not white. 😡😡😡
Reposted by Simon Shepherd 🇪🇺
I love how all the Air Force One interviews with Trump look like he’s just coming out of the toilet after a horrific dump.
December 1, 2025 at 8:59 AM
I love how all the Air Force One interviews with Trump look like he’s just coming out of the toilet after a horrific dump.
Reposted by Simon Shepherd 🇪🇺
For context the 'Middle England' referred to here is the 0.5% of households living in homes worth more than £2 million
November 30, 2025 at 10:27 PM
For context the 'Middle England' referred to here is the 0.5% of households living in homes worth more than £2 million
Reposted by Simon Shepherd 🇪🇺
I must have missed the wall-to-wall coverage of demands for an investigation into Nigel Farage's lies about being a racist
Or about whether he knew Nathan Gill
Or about who bought his house in Frinton
Or about whether he knew Nathan Gill
Or about who bought his house in Frinton
November 30, 2025 at 9:15 PM
I must have missed the wall-to-wall coverage of demands for an investigation into Nigel Farage's lies about being a racist
Or about whether he knew Nathan Gill
Or about who bought his house in Frinton
Or about whether he knew Nathan Gill
Or about who bought his house in Frinton
Reposted by Simon Shepherd 🇪🇺
Paging Robbie Gibb and Michael Prescott: if you’re pulling together another of those little dossiers on political bias at the BBC, I’ve got a submission for you.
November 30, 2025 at 9:39 AM
Paging Robbie Gibb and Michael Prescott: if you’re pulling together another of those little dossiers on political bias at the BBC, I’ve got a submission for you.
Reposted by Simon Shepherd 🇪🇺
This is the most alarming story I’ve read today. Giving up the fight before it’s started
November 30, 2025 at 9:57 AM
This is the most alarming story I’ve read today. Giving up the fight before it’s started
Reposted by Simon Shepherd 🇪🇺
Under Mahmood's current proposals, presumably would have been deported to Czechoslovakia in 1945, when it was "safe" again.
R.I.P. Tom Stoppard, playwright most famous for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead.
Born Tomas Straussler in Czechoslovakia he fled his home during the Nazi occupation and found refuge in Britain at the age of eight. He later discovered all four of his grandparents had died in the Holocaust.
Born Tomas Straussler in Czechoslovakia he fled his home during the Nazi occupation and found refuge in Britain at the age of eight. He later discovered all four of his grandparents had died in the Holocaust.
Sir Tom Stoppard, playwright famed for his wit and depth, dies at 88
Winning an Oscar for the screenplay for Shakespeare In Love, he captivated the hearts of audiences for more than six decades.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 29, 2025 at 9:37 PM
Under Mahmood's current proposals, presumably would have been deported to Czechoslovakia in 1945, when it was "safe" again.
Reposted by Simon Shepherd 🇪🇺
My cartoon for this week’s @theguardian.com books.
Lots more here: www.theguardian.com/books/series/tom-gauld-s-cultural-cartoons
Lots more here: www.theguardian.com/books/series/tom-gauld-s-cultural-cartoons
November 29, 2025 at 11:59 AM
My cartoon for this week’s @theguardian.com books.
Lots more here: www.theguardian.com/books/series/tom-gauld-s-cultural-cartoons
Lots more here: www.theguardian.com/books/series/tom-gauld-s-cultural-cartoons
Reposted by Simon Shepherd 🇪🇺
Let's hear it for the unashamedly selfish elderly who really don't care about the nation's finances as long as they don't pay a penny extra.
November 28, 2025 at 7:52 PM
Let's hear it for the unashamedly selfish elderly who really don't care about the nation's finances as long as they don't pay a penny extra.
Excellent piece
"Nigel Farage’s youth is not quite as irrelevant as he would have us believe. Because the past has a nasty habit of intruding into the present – and future." Latest column www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Antisemitism allegations against the teenage Farage matter – look at what he went on to do | Jonathan Freedland
Farage has cosied up to US figures who espoused conspiracy theories about Jews. That kind of talk is becoming alarmingly mainstream on the Maga right, says Guardian columnist Jonathan Freedland
www.theguardian.com
November 28, 2025 at 7:38 PM
Excellent piece
Reposted by Simon Shepherd 🇪🇺
Latest Graun toon up already www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Martin Rowson on a besieged Labour party – cartoon
Keir Starmer’s U-turn over workers’ rights is the latest manifesto breach to give grist to the mill of the government’s critics
www.theguardian.com
November 28, 2025 at 5:07 PM
Latest Graun toon up already www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Reposted by Simon Shepherd 🇪🇺
Christmas on the BBC
www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...
www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...
Festive self-flagellation at the BBC: the Stephen Collins cartoon
Traitors, distractions, inertia, manipulation … it’s all on the schedule this Christmas
www.theguardian.com
November 28, 2025 at 11:04 AM
Christmas on the BBC
www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...
www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...
Reposted by Simon Shepherd 🇪🇺
They think they can balance the country being totally hostile to a relatively small number of asylum seekers; marginally hostile to migrants needed to fill work in key sectors (health, care etc) and international students; and very attractive to high skilled migrants in high pay sectors. They can't.
November 28, 2025 at 8:32 AM
They think they can balance the country being totally hostile to a relatively small number of asylum seekers; marginally hostile to migrants needed to fill work in key sectors (health, care etc) and international students; and very attractive to high skilled migrants in high pay sectors. They can't.
Reposted by Simon Shepherd 🇪🇺
Today's 70% fall in net migration to 205,000 was not one of the six stories in BBC ten o'clock news.
Ta massive assymetry in whether rises in immigration and falls in immigration are considered newsworthy by broadcasters
Down by 140k isn't thought to be.
Up by 140k undoubtedly would be.
Ta massive assymetry in whether rises in immigration and falls in immigration are considered newsworthy by broadcasters
Down by 140k isn't thought to be.
Up by 140k undoubtedly would be.
November 27, 2025 at 10:05 PM
Today's 70% fall in net migration to 205,000 was not one of the six stories in BBC ten o'clock news.
Ta massive assymetry in whether rises in immigration and falls in immigration are considered newsworthy by broadcasters
Down by 140k isn't thought to be.
Up by 140k undoubtedly would be.
Ta massive assymetry in whether rises in immigration and falls in immigration are considered newsworthy by broadcasters
Down by 140k isn't thought to be.
Up by 140k undoubtedly would be.
Reposted by Simon Shepherd 🇪🇺
The UK, where the day after a decision to take half a million children out of poverty, the media & political world has been full of sneering at those same children & their families, labelling them as ‘Benefits Street’, while the same people are moaning about a tax on £2m mansions. Shameful stuff.
November 27, 2025 at 8:22 PM
The UK, where the day after a decision to take half a million children out of poverty, the media & political world has been full of sneering at those same children & their families, labelling them as ‘Benefits Street’, while the same people are moaning about a tax on £2m mansions. Shameful stuff.
Reposted by Simon Shepherd 🇪🇺
A quick reminder of who Nigel Farage was most concerned about when Putin's tanks first rolled into Ukraine
November 27, 2025 at 8:22 PM
A quick reminder of who Nigel Farage was most concerned about when Putin's tanks first rolled into Ukraine
Reposted by Simon Shepherd 🇪🇺
Never let it be said that the British press is out of touch
November 27, 2025 at 7:52 PM
Never let it be said that the British press is out of touch
Reposted by Simon Shepherd 🇪🇺
Today's migration stats illustrate the migration doom loop in action...
(from my presentation at the IMF last week)
(from my presentation at the IMF last week)
November 27, 2025 at 11:02 AM
Today's migration stats illustrate the migration doom loop in action...
(from my presentation at the IMF last week)
(from my presentation at the IMF last week)
Reposted by Simon Shepherd 🇪🇺
I'm hearing criticisms of the end to the two child limit, because it was done just to mollify Labour backbenchers, at a cost of £billions.
I remember another govt delivering a referendum on EU membership, just to mollify restive backbenchers. That's costing way, way more... A little perspective?
I remember another govt delivering a referendum on EU membership, just to mollify restive backbenchers. That's costing way, way more... A little perspective?
November 26, 2025 at 6:54 PM
I'm hearing criticisms of the end to the two child limit, because it was done just to mollify Labour backbenchers, at a cost of £billions.
I remember another govt delivering a referendum on EU membership, just to mollify restive backbenchers. That's costing way, way more... A little perspective?
I remember another govt delivering a referendum on EU membership, just to mollify restive backbenchers. That's costing way, way more... A little perspective?