Daniel Sugarman at Jewish News: The BBC has been unable to confirm whether its Arabic language channel will stop hosting a proudly antisemitic contributor who has talked about “the fear and cowardice of the Jews”, is an unabashed supporter of a proscribed terrorist group and publicly supports attempts to murder British author Salman Rushdie. Ali…

Peter resigns again. Time to revisit Robert Hutton in The Critic from last September, on the occasion of Mandelson’s resignation as US ambassador: Some of us are old enough to remember where we were every time Peter Mandelson resigned. His departures from high office are like royal weddings: a chance to freeze a moment in…

From the Daily NK: North Korean neighborhood watch unit leaders have given households their yearly quotas for various scrap materials they are supposed to collect for the government. Families have been given heavy quotas once again this year, eliciting sighs and lamentations from many North Koreans. A source in North Hamgyong province told Daily NK recently that the yearly…

On the cancellation of author Rachel Rooney – previously here, from 2021 – and the naked elitism of the Society of Authors. From Kate Clanchy on Substack. An excerpt: But I am perhaps most struck, in the context of all the talk of inclusion and diversity, by the prejudice so openly on show. The Society…

John Lithgow in Variety on playing Dumbledore in the upcoming Harry Potter series: Asked about J.K. Rowling trans statements, he said: “I take the subject extremely seriously. She has created this amazing canon for young people and it has jumped into the consciousness of the society. It’s about good versus evil, kindness versus cruelty. I find her…

Meanwhile, in Bologna: A music venue in Italy cancelled an American metal band’s concert after the lead guitarist asked for a Palestinian flag to be removed from the stage. Dylan Carlson of the historic Seattle-based drone metal band Earth reportedly asked if the Bologna venue TPO could take down a Palestinian flag from its stage just…

It never gets stale in Middle Eastern punditry, does it? – the antisemitic brain rot; the mad look in the eyes. Lebanese journalist Ziad Njeim in a January 20, 2026 appearance rant on LBC TV. Theodor Herzl and David Ben Gurion convened the First Zionist Congress in Basel in order to achieve world domination. This…