Probably wishful thinking, Bill. Besides ordinary Iranians hate America more than the regime. America has killed a lot of civilians. This was an idiotic war conceived by geopolitical imbeciles and amateurs - please stop pretending it wasn’t

For me, nothing says Christmas like a Msemen Wrap. Mmmm… tastes a bit salty💦

So today I went to Tommy Robinson’s Unite The Kingdom March which I found fascinating. I’ve never been to a political protest or march before. The demographics were interesting: largely but not exclusively white, mainly working class but definitely some middle class representation, generally quite ordinary but with quite a few mouthy football lads, quite a lot of servicemen too wearing medals/berets, a few gay couples and a very tiny minority of people who I’d suspect were far-right (eg BNP supporters.) Overall I’d say it was pretty representative on UK as a whole and, on the whole, the atmosphere was friendly and people were actually unusually polite (especially for London.) What was also unusual was that I could ask people about their placards or engage in political debate and folks were open to discussion. Yes, there was a bit of drinking and out of thousands of people I saw 2 people smoking weed but the most surreal thing I saw was a guy sitting on a wall who I assumed was quite drunk and drinking out of a bottle of Waitrose sparkling and then preaching to everyone about how Jesus had died to wash away the world’s sins and then everyone was shouting “Jesus!”. Quite bizarre. There was clearly this mishmash of interest groups (eg anti-migrant, anti-trans, anti-Islam, pro free speech, pro patriotism.) The vast majority of behaviour was good and the atmosphere was good humoured. There was one flashpoint where I saw a bit of trouble when it was raining hard and then police prevented further movement into Whitehall but were also preventing people walking down Embankment (so basically forcing people to stand in the pouring rain) which caused obvious frustration. It also seemed the police at Embankment were unaware of what police in Whitehall were doing. I was talking to a police officer on Embankment who was getting quite frustrated and told me he’d been punched. I told him that was totally unacceptable and offered by sympathy. Later in the afternoon, I saw a couple of flare ups around Trafalgar Square where a group of SUTR and Antfia protestors came face to face with UTK protesters and some punches were thrown. There was also some hostility shown to the police but I was amazed the police let the two groups come so close. I was actually standing by the police at this point and ended up talking to this photographer who put me down as Tommy supporter on the basis that I was wearing a Stone Island coat. He was a left-winger but we ended up having a long discussion on various topics including immigration, English culture, Israel-Palestine and Islamism and what was ironic was that we actually agreed on a lot and he even seemed interested in the points I made where we disagreed. But what was funny was that he was adamant that I was not representative of “them” because I was reasonable, non-violent and not racist even though I was telling him that I found most people on the march to pretty representative of the country as a whole. Anyway, over all it was genuinely fascinating and kinda exciting to be on the frontline for a day in the UK’s culture war. #CharlieKirk #UniteTheKingdom #TommyRobinson

If Stand Up For Racism believes marching for free-speech makes you a far-right fascist then they may discover they’ll be meeting some of Tommy’s supporters in the gulags at some point in the future. Regardless of your political persuasion, stop the name-calling and engage in meaningful and respectful political debate with those you disagree with just like Charlie Kirk did. Who knows you might even change your mind? #CharlieKirk #UniteTheKingdom

Just look at these racist, far-right lunatics I encountered on the Unite The Kingdom march today. Incredibly polite and friendly though #UniteTheKingdom

So cynics may say waving the English flag 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 is not the start of any meaningful change. I beg to differ. I believe this country stands on the edge of a moral and financial abyss. We either tolerate a descent into thuggery and widespread disorder, tolerate those who openly speak hatefully of the very country that has welcomed them, tolerate the constant belittling of the native culture and customs, and tolerate reckless fiscal policy and governmental ineptitude OR we make a stand and say “Enough!” Showing a degree of patriotism and believing this country has a history we can be proud of (even if in parts problematic), being proud of a culture that has given the world so much (from Shakespeare to The Beatles) and being proud of our language, customs and heritage is a good place to start. The trash talk and self-deprecation and apologising could stop today with us saying “This is no longer acceptable. We are proud to be who we are!” To avoid the abyss we will need to build a new Jerusalem - it can be done! - but that will require new leadership, hard choices but most of all it will require self-belief OR we can simply let a thousand years of history slide into the gutter. This is the choice. Choose a side. The clock is ticking…. “I will not cease from mental fight Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand Till we have built Jerusalem In England's green and pleasant land.”

I saw this young raver from All Points East festival on the news today complaining about air quality in Victoria Park. I think Tower Hamlets council would agree with Sir Sadiq that the transition to EVs and net zero cannot come soon enough. Also, if you do want to protect your lungs, kids, then also try to cut down on smoking so much cannabis or just switch to edibles!

There is one thing Hunter Biden and the Fed can agree upon: they both want to stay higher for longer