On Friday, the 9th of January 2026, Captain (Israeli Navy, Reserves) Doctor Azi Dagan posted a short video on the LinkedIn group IOSI: Counter-Terrorism and Geopolitical Security, accompanied by the text: The Iranian regime is slaughtering the protesters. To which I replied: It’s truly terrible, a foul crime. But what did you have to say about the slaughter of more than 20,000 innocent children? The reply to that was: We would say that it’s Hamas propaganda!
President Donald Trump’s recent comments about NATO do not indicate a call for collective security reform. Instead, they reveal an intensely transactional view of international partnerships. Urging alliance members to assign as much as 5% of their GDP, an unprecedented figure, to purchasing U.S.-made weaponry and military equipment, Trump has once again reframed global security as a business deal.
Picture the scene. It’s Prime Minister’s Questions, the great gladiatorial stage of British democracy, less Gladiator and more Blazing Saddles at a town planning meeting in Swindon. Keir Starmer, sensible Labour’s hero, their knight in gleaming, sensible shoes, rises from the opposition bench. That look on his face, you know the one, shows a man who’s just alphabetised his law books and is ready to go. Across the gallery, Rishi Sunak sits there, gleaming, like a waxwork who’s been told he has to look “empathetic” by 5 p.m. or he’ll be back in the dock. Starmer adjusts his glasses and launches into one of his trademark cross-examinations. It’s like watching a lawyer interrogate a spreadsheet. “Point one, Mr Speaker!” He declares, and you can hear the ghost of Mel Brooks shouting, “What’s wrong with this guy? Where’s the dynamism?” He cites a statistic: a 17.3% increase in NHS waiting times, in case you’re wondering, and it isn’t. Then another: a £3.2 billion shortfall in council budgets. It’s meticulous, it’s legal, it’s as if he’s building a case to prosecute a toaster for breach of warranty. By the time he gets to his witty quip, “The failure of this government isn’t just a policy, it’s a personality trait!”, he drops like a Gregg’s custard tart allowed to fall by a woman worried about her cleaning bills.
This book is dedicated to the great, compassionate, and visionary individuals. They have profoundly shaped my political journey. They have also influenced how I understand the world. Their courage, integrity, and unwavering commitment to justice have inspired me and countless others. Their actions have made an indelible impact on the political landscape of recent times.
Britain’s Labour Party has been besieged by
a continuous barrage of accusations alleging that the party is anti-Semitic; that
it is institutionally racist and that its leader is somehow turning a blind eye
to it.
This is a very serious and weighty
allegation, with potentially devastating implications.
So, what does this deluge of accusations of
anti-Semitism in the Labour Party tell us about racism in Britain and in British
politics?
This is one of those rare occasions when I don’t agree entirely with what Simon has to say, but, the piece still carries a lot of good sense and finely tuned criticism.
For me, this quarrel isn’t fundamentally about security or reining in big-tech. This is essentially about trade wars, base protection, maintaining power and imposing influence. In short, it’s about hubris, intimidation and violence on the global political stage.
But, at the bottom of all of this is the Trump administration’s Homeric ignorance and epic ability to simply fanny-around.
Martyn Richard Jones
GOOD STRATEGY 