Monday 2 March

Donald J Trump, one of the most evil people in History, has announced “Khamenei, one of the most evil people in History, is dead.” Meanwhile, another of the most evil people in History, Binyamin Netenyahu, has become a refugee.

Other confirmed casualties include 150+ Iranian schoolchildren, 8 US servicemen killed or seriously injured, 11 Israelis killed. Iran is targeting military bases, not schools and hospitals, including RAF Akrotiri – which Greek and Turkish Cypriots are united in opposing!

Tuesday 3 March

The Doomsday Clock moved to 85 seconds to midnight on 27 January, I’m guessing it’s a bit closer now!

The U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem tells Americans they’re unable to evacuate them or directly assist them in departing Israel. They’re advised to use commercial flights but there aren’t any.

“Spain told us that we can’t use their bases and that is alright we don’t need them. If we want, we can just fly in and use it. Nobody is going to tell us not to use it.” Donald Trump.

He’s not very happy with Cur Starmer, seems he was too slow to obey a command and didn’t jump high enough. He’s reportedly sending a warship to Cyprus to help defend RAF Akrotiri but won’t allow the US to use the base on Diego Garcia to attack Iran, which would draw the UK further into the conflict. If reports are true that all of the US bases encircling Iran have been destroyed it puts Trump in a difficult situation for which he has nobody but himself to blame. There can be no going back to the negotiating table, he can’t be trusted!

Wednesday 4 March

A US destroyer has been destroyed by an Iranian missile close to Indian waters. A petition has been launched demanding that Starmer does not allow the USA to use British military bases for strikes on Iran https://act.38degrees.org.uk/act/Do-not-allow-the-USA-to-use-British-military-bases-for-strikes-on-Iran-eoi?bucket=copy-native-2026-03-02_ Jeremy Corbyn has tabled a Bill, supported by the Greens, to require parliamentary approval for the foreign use of UK military bases

Israelis are being violently arrested for protesting in Tel Aviv against the war on Iran and the murder of 150 schoolgirls.

A US submarine sank an Iranian ship near Sri Lanka, in international waters well outside the combat zone, and abandoned any survivors. It turns out that the drone that struck RAF Akrotiri wasn’t launched from Iran – a false flag to draw the UK into the war?

I don’t want to give a blow by blow account but there isn’t much else to report on at the moment, Trump is deploying weapons of mass distraction!

Thursday 5 March

US-Israeli strikes have damaged Iranian water and electricity facilities. The CIA considers water a “strategic commodity”.

It seems Cur Starmer is prepared to commit British troops to defend “our allies” in the Middle East – not quickly enough to suit Trump, but rather too hasty for UK critics. Oh dear, doesn’t sound good for poor Cur 😢

Friday 6 March

“What’s happening today makes the Iraq war look like a masterpiece of honesty and the consistent application of strategy. It is a war that is so insane its own perpetrators seemingly do not know why they started it.” Ian Dunt.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has been fired by Donald Trump, ending her controversial 13-month tenure at the agency behind his mass deportation agenda, effective March 31. Her replacement, Markwayne Mullin, a member of the Cherokee Nation, will be the first Native American to serve as DHS secretary.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has confirmed that three RAN submariners were aboard the US submarine that torpedoed the Iranian warship off Sri Lanka but denied that any Australian personnel were engaged in offensive actions against Iran 🙄

A German journalist reports that she’s only allowed to report Iranian missile impacts on civilian areas. Israeli rules forbid her to film impacts on military and strategic locations, which gives the impression that Iran is only hitting civilians.

While the media is focused on Iran we must not take our eyes off what’s happening in Gaza and in our home countries – UK, US, Canada, Australia. The growing popular opposition worldwide to this is war of aggression, including in Israel, is our best hope of averting Armageddon.

Saturday 7 March

The latest poll by openDemocracy currently shows that 50% of respondents support limiting US use of RAF bases to the evacuation of civilians, 48% (including myself) prefer a total ban. The poll is still open so it could change, but I don’t expect it to change very much. https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/weekly-readers-poll/

This week, our Prime Minister said he was allowing the US to use UK bases to strike Iran. He tells us these are defensive strikes only. What nonsense. A bomb is a bomb — and however our Prime Minister describes these strikes, human beings will mourn the deaths of their loved ones all the same.

Jeremy Corbyn

Police officers are revolting (that’s a verb, not an adjective, in this context). They’re campaigning to be allowed to join a proper trade union instead of the government approved Police Federation of England & Wales.

I’ve started reducing the number of petitions I’m promoting, which necessitates some difficult decisions. This one suddenly started getting a lot of attention, including a very interesting discussion on Bluesky, although I had said nothing to indicate that I was posting it for what I intended to be the last time.

End the prosecution of peaceful protestors in the UK https://www.amnesty.org.uk/get-involved/take-action/sign-a-petition/end-the-prosecution-of-peaceful-protestors-in-the-uk/

Sunday 8 March

Trump has gone from moaning that Starmer was too slow to offer British support for his attack on Iran to saying that he doesn’t need it anyway as he’s already won. Hubris 🙄

Iran has bought 900,000 inflatable tanks and helicopters from China – US and Israel are using million dollar missiles to destroy these decoys.

“The Iranian Red Crescent has listed the bombing destruction so far. It includes:

• 5,535 civilian residential units
• 1,041 commercial units
• 65 schools
• 14 hospitals and medical centres
• 13 Red Crescent Society bases

By contrast, there has been no credible claim that Iran has inflicted widespread civilian damage. It has very tightly targeted specific facilities – collateral damage seems almost entirely confined to debris from intercepted drones and missiles.” Via Craig Murray

Trump holds the UN in such contempt that he recently sent Melania to chair a meeting on protecting children in conflicts, shortly after the US-Israeli forces had killed 165 schoolgirls and staff in bombing an Iranian school.

Diane Abbott

Monday 9 March

Sri Lanka will grant one-month free visas to sailors rescued from Iranian vessels, allowing them to remain in the country under humanitarian protection. Colombo followed the law and told every great power exactly the same thing: we are neutral, we are humanitarian, and we do not take sides. The weakest economy in the Indian Ocean just demonstrated the strongest foreign policy. Via @shanaka86 on X

I’m seeing reports of Iranian missile strikes on the family homes of Benjamin Netanyahu, in which his brother Iddo lost his life, and Itimar Ben-Gvir whose condition and whereabouts is unknown.

I am now free of debt after paying off the balance in total instead of £40 per month for five years. I still have a sizeable sum of money in my account although my income has reduced due to my no longer qualifying for Pension Credit. I’ve also donated towards the conservation of Askham Bog, a wildlife reserve near York.

According to Byline Times, false reports in US and Israeli media about Kurdish fighters launching a ground offensive against Iran is endangering lives. The reports don’t need to be true for Iran to retaliate, they only needs to be believed, which could result in Kurds doing exactly what the US/Israeli wants them to do and launch an offensive in which they’ll be slaughtered!

Tuesday 10 March

Starting next year, Drax Power Station near Selby (on the opposite side of town from where I live) will no longer burn pellets from British Columbia’s most environmentally important forests but will source pellets exclusively from the US instead. Drax also intend to apply for planning permission to build a 100-megawatt AI datacentre at its site using the land, cooling systems and transformers that were once dedicated to the power plant’s coal generation before it converted its generators to biomass. They’ll continue to produce pellets in Canada for export to Asia.

Wednesday 11 August

Some encouraging news for wildlife in Scotland: ahead of forthcoming elections, the Scottish Parliament voted to carry over a petition about the slaughter of gannet chicks until the next parliament. Normally a petition on an official government site are voided when a general election is announced, but rules in Holyrood differ from those in Westminster.

I’ve just checked on Traveline and found that I can now get to Sunday events in Leeds and Selby, it’s been several years since I’ve been anywhere and we didn’t have a Sunday bus service for awhile.

Tragically, 4 horses died at Cheltenham this year. No animal of any species should die in the name of sport 😔

A bill to remove the last hereditary peers from the House of Lords finally passed.  ✊

I’ve just been looking back on some blogs, going back 5 years, that I started writing but never finished. There could be some ideas that I could work on but it might be easier to ditch them and start afresh.

Thursday 12 March

The United Nations Security Council just passed Resolution 2817 demanding that Iran stop defending itself from US and Israeli attacks.

An 18-year-old woman in Queensland faces two years in jail for wearing a shirt that says “from the river to the sea.”

I’m seeing reports that the US are already using ‘tactical’ nuclear weapons in Iran. The evil that Trump does will remain after he’s gone, any good he’s ever done will be scattered with his ashes and forgotten.

It appears my guess at the beginning of the month was correct, but this article suggests that the Doomsday Clock has outlived its usefulness https://phys.org/news/2026-03-doomsday-clock-outlived-usefulness.html We weren’t expected to wait until before the alarm went off before we awoke to the danger!

FIFA is threatening to penalize Iran for not coming to the world cup in the United States after giving Trump a “peace prize #BoycottWorldCup.

I’ve just received a reminder that I need to tell TV Licensing once again that I don’t need a license. Until recently a license would have cost me £0 if I’ld wanted one but I didn’t. I would need to pay for one now as, although I’m over 75, I no longer qualify as I don’t receive Pension Credit. For those of you who have a license, part of your money is going on chasing up people like me who don’t want one. I have an old TV set that would need a set top box for me to watch TV, I have it connected to a DVD player that I rarely use.

Friday 13 March

They built an entire empire around extracting resources and labor from the global south to supply the citizenry of the imperial core with bread and circuses that are just barely cheap enough to keep them from guillotining the billionaires who own and run everything.

Caitlin Johnstone

Police in Edinburgh are threatening to arrest people, including a Jewish Marxist, for “blocking the pavement” outside a mosque where they had been invited to defend against the far-right racists shouting slurs and trying to stop those inside from praying. The police were the ones blocking the road.

We are in a world war involving at least 20 countries…upwards of 20 different countries have involved their military forces in this war. France has dispatched a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier to the region. British warships are in the region. Greece and Turkey have rushed forces to Cyprus. Australia is sending radar equipment to the United Arab Emirates. Russia is sharing key intelligence with Iran’s military. China is preparing to send Iran financial assistance. And the Persian Gulf states are reeling trying to defend themselves. 

Steven Donziger

A Black man, Dyshan Best, who died after being shot in the back by police in Connecticut had to wait 10 extra minutes for an ambulance after a female officer having a “mild anxiety attack” took the first one that arrived at the scene. She declined treatment in the ambulance, telling paramedics “I am fine, I just needed to get out of here.” Police claim that the shooting was justified because the officer pursuing Best, who was running away, had reasons to fear for his own safety. Best died while undergoing surgery and that 10 minute delay could have cost him his life.

Tragically, 4 horses died at Cheltenham this year. 24 racehorses have died already at tracks across Britain in 2026. Via RSPCA

Saturday 14 March

The fascists are on the march! A right wing petition on the government website to ban anyone convicted of “terrorism” offences from standing for public office already has 173,159 signatures in its first week, with the support of the following MPs.

Alex Mayer MP – Labour
Lee Anderson MP – Reform UK
Saqib Bhatti MBE MP – Conservative
Charlie Dewhirst MP – Conservative
Phil Brickell MP – Labour