John Simpson

RT @TheMeldrew: Can't show his own face but criticises the looks of a blind man who has had a brilliant career at the BBC, played blind fo…

RT @JohnConstableRA: Coastal Landscape by William Trost Richards 1901 Oil on Canvas (Private Collection) https://t.co/LeNho6kGCc

It was always predictable that the richest man in the world would fall out with the supposedly most powerful man in the world. But I didn’t think Musk’s break with President Trump would happen so fast, or be so excruciatingly embarrassing.

RT @SaulStaniforth: British surgeon Victoria Rose, who's just returned from Gaza: "They're coming through the doors like a conveyor belt...…

RT @carolinehawley: “All that is asked of us is that we fight for what is right” – Alaa’s words spoken here by his hunger striking and desp…

Excellent!

Ian Skelly @Ianskellyradio3

My view from the stage at Birmingham Symphony Hall as @BBCNOW prepared to play Mahler 5 and the 1st Violin Concerto by Bartok with James Ehnes as soloist. I talk to him during the interval about Bartok and Janacek. Join me on stage in this great space at 7.30 tonight @BBCRadio3. https://t.co/JcW9jAbpJ3

Remembering my friend and colleague, the Al Jazeera correspondent Shireen Abu Akleh, who was shot dead three years ago in Jenin in the West Bank. Israel has acknowledged that she was ‘probably’ shot by one of its soldiers, but no one has been prosecuted for her killing. https://t.co/DrlJfgEUiS

I decided to become a journalist aged fifteen after reading ‘1984’ and being appalled at the thought that governments could rewrite history. Orwell knew the USSR did it. Now China pretends the Tiananmen massacre didn’t happen. It did. I was there, and saw it for myself.

I watched this happen on the morning of 4 June 1989 in Chang’an Avenue, near Tiananmen Square, the morning after the night’s massacre. Don’t believe the propaganda lie that no massacre took place: I saw 40 people killed in front of me before giving up counting in despair. https://t.co/zhqZhT6iPB

To our local cinema to see ‘The Salt Path’. I can’t recommend it too highly: very moving, gorgeously filmed, and stunningly acted.

I took my Irish terrier to church and he howled when we sang the hymns. Hugely embarrassed, I apologised to the vicar afterwards. ‘Not at all. The Book of Psalms tells us to make a joyful noise unto the Lord,’ he said, ‘but it doesn’t specify what sort of noise!’

Father Didymus ✝️⛪️🙏🏻🎸🏊‍♂️🥃🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿⛷🧶 @FrDidymus

I took Basil the Labrador with me to Durham, and we spent a lot of time in the cathedral on book research. He was immaculately behaved. Most folk were very happy to see him. A few made snarky comments about dogs in places of worship. What’s your view? Here he is with St Bede. https://t.co/pnocDqPOHG

My director of studies at university came from a working-class background in Nottinghamshire. He used to tell us, ‘There are class usages and regional usages, but there are also rules. And though the rules change, they still matter.’

And since I’m being pedantic, it should be ‘different from’ not ‘different to’, and certainly not ‘different than’. But I’m not sure it really matters, as long as people understand you — which is the purpose of speech.

Now I’ve started I might as well go on. It irritates me to hear broadcasters say ‘kilOMetres’ (US) instead of ‘KILometres’ (UK), ‘REsearch’ instead of ‘reSEARCH’, and as for ‘skedule’…. Grrrr. But my Edwardian grandmother used to say ‘BalCOny’ and got cross with ‘BALcony’.

I’ve always felt people should pronounce words exactly how they want (though I’m not keen on ‘haitch’ or ‘mischiev-i-ous’). But pronouncing the ‘j’ in Beijing softly like French ‘je’ instead of hard like ‘jingle’ pains me because people think it’s accurate. It isn’t.

Wall Street traders have a new acronym — TACO: Trump Always Chickens Out. When he announces vast tariffs, stocks fall — then rise again when he lets China, Canada, Mexico, the EU etc off the hook. The traders are making big bucks betting that this will happen.

Is Israel committing war crimes in Gaza as its former prime minister Ehud Olmert says? Watch ‘Unspun World’ on BBC Two tonight at 11.05. If you can’t stay up, catch it on iPlayer or BBC News Channel — or listen on BBC World Service.