“And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray on the street corners, that they may be seen by others."

Matthew 6:5

Great question. The problem, of course, is that every other journalist in the room didn't keep asking it until they got an answer.

Weddings and Holy Orders aside, no one does much ‘vowing’ outside of the newspapers these days

8 am update for you. The UK grid is currently close to fossil fuel free. Wind and solar 70%, nuclear 13%, gas… 4%. grid.iamkate.com

Currently the Israelis are systematically killing off anyone the Trump administration could reach out to for a deal that ends this quickly

Nuclear experts undercut White House claims about Iran reactor at heart of case for war The Trump administration sent negotiators without nuclear expertise to lead talks on Iran’s enrichment program. Now, its public case for war centers on a facility that experts say cannot do what offic...

This story suggests that Witkoff and Kushner bungled the negotiations with Iran because they don't understand nuclear technology

www.ms.now/news/trump-i...

Great intro to Daniel Finkelstein's column www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...

The Japanese advanced through the “impenetrable” jungle of the Malay peninsular on bicycles. For 20 yrs the biggest item of U.K. defence expenditure was the fortification of Singapore (the Trident of its day). Reasonable to say the planners could have done better.

[We see a close up of a young white male, tanned, white teeth, coiffed hair clearly an influencer on social media. It is an image such as you see when social media posts are shown on the news. In the corner of the screen is named a location: DUBAI. He is staring slightly off-camera for several silent panels of the comic strip. His eyes move slightly. He is having a thought.] From off-screen a newsreader’s commentary comes: NEWSREADER: Extraordinary images here of an expat in Dubai [The influencer’s eybrows raise slightly] …Having their first ever geopolitical thought. [CUT TO a BBC news scene. The BBC newsreader CLIVE MYRIE is talking to an interviewee next to the screen showing the social media influencer’s face. The interviewee’s name is David Jones]. CLIVE MYRIE: To explain the significance of this moment we’re joined by David Jones, our Expat Thoughts correspondent DAVID JONES: Clive, this is momentous It was caught on film at the end of an Instagram post titled: ‘Dubai Is Brilliant’. [Pointing at the screen, the influencer’s expression still the same] You can clearly see in the eyebrows here, the dawning realisation that there *might* be something in the world beyond his dickhead self. It marks a *huge* departure from all the Dubai Expat’s previous thoughts. CLIVE MYRIE: Which are…? DAVID JONES: You've Got To Get Yourself Out Here Mate, Everything Is So Clean, I Don't Have To Pay Taxes, I Am Incurious As To Why I Do Not Have To Pay Taxes, and Spa. CLIVE MYRIE: And might we see an expansion of these new Thoughts in coming days? DAVID JONES: I think we can expect to see: “I Deserve To Be Airlifted By A Country I Pay No Tax To” CLIVE MYRIE: Mmm. [Ends]

I’m pretty sure it’s in dry dock. Not back in the water till July.

Irish Independent: Man stole three coffee machines in a week from Monaghan department store.

How does he sleep at night?

bret stephens calls for overthrowing maduro

bret stephens calls for assaulting iran

What you only have a hammer, everything looks like a nail

Team GB face uphill task for Olympic medal in four-man bobsleigh Team GB face an uphill task to win an Olympic medal in the four-man bobsleigh event as they sit seventh at the halfway point in Cortina.

www.bbc.co.uk/sport/articl.... Who’s going to tell them they’re going the wrong way?

Cartoon by Mike Luckovich.

Okay, this is quite outstanding from Bedford Council.

Mom & I Cover Creep By Radiohead (she is a classical Indian singer 🕉️) YouTube video by Avie Sheck

This duet cover of Radiohead's "Creep", between a son and his Shastriya Sangeet classically trained mother, is the mash-up I didn't know how much I needed in my life. Totally spontaneous sobbing may have taken place.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZoH...

If you have a Waterstones card it’s effectively another 10% off. Often cheaper than Amazon

Instead of conferring titles, gongs and baubles and then demanding those titles, gongs and baubles be removed…

…perhaps as a modern, mature polity we should have far fewer titles, gongs and baubles in the first place.

ICE is now responsible for 66% of the homicides in Minneapolis this year.

"You'd all be speaking German". In Switzerland.

The letter from Bill and Hillary Clinton to James Comer explaining their refusal to testify in his Epstein investigation is really remarkable, not like any letter of this genre I've seen. It's signed by them, not a lawyer, and the arguments are not legal ones. Reprinted from their X account:

I’d be prepared to bet quite a lot of money that this man has never been to Greenland

How Voyagers mapped the solar system — and ventured beyond As the mission approaches one light day from Earth, we explore a journey like no other, past the planets to interstellar space

this is a really lovely piece, beautifully presented, about the amazing Voyager probes that left Earth nearly 50 years ago and are still sending data back as they get close to leaving the sun's sphere www.thetimes.com/uk/science/a...

It’s old-fashioned to defend mainstream journalism these days but some of the most reliable reporting from people actually on the ground will be the AP and Reuters the next 24 hours. Your Substack journalist writing takes will be using frontline reporting from them.

Guess we shouldn’t be surprised when the Department of War starts one.

Shocked by the awful death of Rob Reiner. I spoke with him for over an hour last night. We talked about his work and his plans for the future. I always enjoyed his company. We met at his Dad's in 1975. Last thing he said to me was "See you next year.." Such a terrible end. Such a sweet man.

Thanks Trevor, very kind

can't believe the BBC edited Donald Trump's posts to make it seem like he threatened violence against members of Congress

Welp!