John Simpson
@johnsimpsonnews.bsky.social
BBC lifer since 1966, international affairs editor since 1982. Presenter of ‘Unspun World’ on BBC Two, BBC World & World Service. Two daughters, one son, six grandchildren, a loving wife, lots of books, and an Irish terrier. Defender of the Oxford comma.
The great S African lawyer Sir Sydney Kentridge is 103 today. In a Pretoria court in 1977 I watched in awe as he crucified the secret police who had murdered the Black Consciousness leader Steve Biko - arguably the start of apartheid’s downfall. A very happy birthday, dear Sydney!
November 5, 2025 at 11:12 AM
The great S African lawyer Sir Sydney Kentridge is 103 today. In a Pretoria court in 1977 I watched in awe as he crucified the secret police who had murdered the Black Consciousness leader Steve Biko - arguably the start of apartheid’s downfall. A very happy birthday, dear Sydney!
Escargots, anyone?
November 1, 2025 at 4:16 PM
Escargots, anyone?
Just heard the sad news that John Osman, the doyen of BBC foreign correspondents and an inspiration to people like me, has died. A life really well lived. Farewell dear friend.
October 28, 2025 at 4:47 PM
Just heard the sad news that John Osman, the doyen of BBC foreign correspondents and an inspiration to people like me, has died. A life really well lived. Farewell dear friend.
Me at the Royal Geographical Society yesterday, sounding off at a matinée and an evening show about the nature of political leadership, the leaders I’ve met, and why many of them have gone off the rails. Knackering but great fun, with lovely receptive audiences both times.
October 19, 2025 at 11:53 AM
Me at the Royal Geographical Society yesterday, sounding off at a matinée and an evening show about the nature of political leadership, the leaders I’ve met, and why many of them have gone off the rails. Knackering but great fun, with lovely receptive audiences both times.
On tonight’s Unspun World on BBC Two I talk to the great Steve Rosenberg about what it’s really like to be the BBC Russia editor — how do ordinary Russians react to him? Is he in danger? What’s going to happen there? Unmissable!
October 8, 2025 at 7:16 PM
On tonight’s Unspun World on BBC Two I talk to the great Steve Rosenberg about what it’s really like to be the BBC Russia editor — how do ordinary Russians react to him? Is he in danger? What’s going to happen there? Unmissable!
Very sad to hear of the death of the charming Sir John Gurdon, Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge, who in 2001 conferred an honorary fellowship on Nelson Mandela. At Eton, Gurdon was told he’d never make a scientist. He went on to win the Nobel Prize for physiology.
October 7, 2025 at 8:59 PM
Very sad to hear of the death of the charming Sir John Gurdon, Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge, who in 2001 conferred an honorary fellowship on Nelson Mandela. At Eton, Gurdon was told he’d never make a scientist. He went on to win the Nobel Prize for physiology.
It was a great privilege to know Jane Goodall and work with her. A major loss to us all.
October 2, 2025 at 2:43 AM
It was a great privilege to know Jane Goodall and work with her. A major loss to us all.
Filming tonight’s Unspun World headlines for BBC Two, iPlayer etc with Ben Watt, Dave Murphy, Sharam Heidari & Kate Cornell: ‘eternal peace in the Middle East’ — really? Plus, are we already at war with Russia without realising? And Trump’s own war with his domestic enemies. Worth a watch!
October 1, 2025 at 3:55 PM
Filming tonight’s Unspun World headlines for BBC Two, iPlayer etc with Ben Watt, Dave Murphy, Sharam Heidari & Kate Cornell: ‘eternal peace in the Middle East’ — really? Plus, are we already at war with Russia without realising? And Trump’s own war with his domestic enemies. Worth a watch!
Lyse Doucet interviewed by me about Gaza & Palestinian recognition for tonight’s ’Unspun World’ on BBC Two & iPlayer. Plus Syria’s new leader at the UN, the Taliban’s war on Afghan women, & the US-Venezuela dispute. If you’re interested in the world around us, this is for you.
September 24, 2025 at 2:03 PM
Lyse Doucet interviewed by me about Gaza & Palestinian recognition for tonight’s ’Unspun World’ on BBC Two & iPlayer. Plus Syria’s new leader at the UN, the Taliban’s war on Afghan women, & the US-Venezuela dispute. If you’re interested in the world around us, this is for you.
In the lobby of the hotel I’m staying in here in Lisbon. The hotel is called ‘Wine and Books’. Hard to think of anything better.
September 18, 2025 at 4:02 PM
In the lobby of the hotel I’m staying in here in Lisbon. The hotel is called ‘Wine and Books’. Hard to think of anything better.
Me in full ‘Unspun World’ flow for tonight’s programme on BBC Two, the News Channel & BBC World Service, being filmed by Dave Wilkins. Ben Watt, exec producer, on the right. Subjects: gloomy Britain greets Trump/Israel accused of genocide/Russia tests NATO. Worth a watch.
September 17, 2025 at 12:12 PM
Me in full ‘Unspun World’ flow for tonight’s programme on BBC Two, the News Channel & BBC World Service, being filmed by Dave Wilkins. Ben Watt, exec producer, on the right. Subjects: gloomy Britain greets Trump/Israel accused of genocide/Russia tests NATO. Worth a watch.
A hugely enjoyable session with the magnificent John Osman, one of the very finest BBC foreign correspondents of all time, and my particular hero. The hospice agreed we could each have a gin & tonic though it was only 11a.m.
August 19, 2025 at 11:49 AM
A hugely enjoyable session with the magnificent John Osman, one of the very finest BBC foreign correspondents of all time, and my particular hero. The hospice agreed we could each have a gin & tonic though it was only 11a.m.
Some @privateeyenews.bsky.social are only so-so. Others are for the ages…
August 9, 2025 at 10:30 AM
Some @privateeyenews.bsky.social are only so-so. Others are for the ages…
Recording the opening of tonight’s ’Unspun World’ at 11.05 on BBC Two: the entire team (Kate Cornell, producer; Ben Watt, exec producer; Dave Murphy, camera; Marek Polaszewski, camera; and me). Last programme of the season, but we’ll be back in September.
July 2, 2025 at 9:35 PM
Recording the opening of tonight’s ’Unspun World’ at 11.05 on BBC Two: the entire team (Kate Cornell, producer; Ben Watt, exec producer; Dave Murphy, camera; Marek Polaszewski, camera; and me). Last programme of the season, but we’ll be back in September.
Again and again, The Daily Telegraph has published Danny Cohen’s articles attacking the BBC in precisely the same terms, often even the same words. Amusing to see the response of @PrivateEyeNews
June 13, 2025 at 11:57 AM
Again and again, The Daily Telegraph has published Danny Cohen’s articles attacking the BBC in precisely the same terms, often even the same words. Amusing to see the response of @PrivateEyeNews
Remembering my friend and colleague the Al Jazeera correspondent Shireen Abu Akleh who was shot dead three years ago in Jenin in the West Bank. Israel has acknowledged that she was probably shot by one of its soldiers, but no one has been prosecuted for her killing.
June 4, 2025 at 10:30 PM
Remembering my friend and colleague the Al Jazeera correspondent Shireen Abu Akleh who was shot dead three years ago in Jenin in the West Bank. Israel has acknowledged that she was probably shot by one of its soldiers, but no one has been prosecuted for her killing.
I watched this happen on the morning of 4 June 1989 in Chang’an Avenue, near Tiananmen Square, the morning after the night’s massacre. Don’t believe the propaganda lie that no massacre took place: I saw 40 people killed in front of me before giving up counting in despair. pic.x.com/zhqZhT6iPB
June 3, 2025 at 4:00 PM
I watched this happen on the morning of 4 June 1989 in Chang’an Avenue, near Tiananmen Square, the morning after the night’s massacre. Don’t believe the propaganda lie that no massacre took place: I saw 40 people killed in front of me before giving up counting in despair. pic.x.com/zhqZhT6iPB
Another sad death. I loved Marcel Ophüls, the magnificent French documentary-maker, from the moment we first met during the siege of Sarajevo in 1992. Brave, uncompromising and humane, he was working up to his death on a doc about the suffering in Gaza. Bless you, Marcel.
May 26, 2025 at 11:45 AM
Another sad death. I loved Marcel Ophüls, the magnificent French documentary-maker, from the moment we first met during the siege of Sarajevo in 1992. Brave, uncompromising and humane, he was working up to his death on a doc about the suffering in Gaza. Bless you, Marcel.
Very sad to hear that my good friend Alan Yentob has died. He was such excellent company, and a wonderful interviewer and documentary-maker. I shall miss him greatly.
May 25, 2025 at 12:38 PM
Very sad to hear that my good friend Alan Yentob has died. He was such excellent company, and a wonderful interviewer and documentary-maker. I shall miss him greatly.
Sheer joy: sitting in my garden on this lovely May evening, watching the swifts zooming around overhead, catching their evening meal.
May 13, 2025 at 7:43 PM
Sheer joy: sitting in my garden on this lovely May evening, watching the swifts zooming around overhead, catching their evening meal.
I think we can be pretty confident that no previous US president has ever presented himself in public as the Pope — not even as a joke, which this presumably is.
May 3, 2025 at 8:16 AM
I think we can be pretty confident that no previous US president has ever presented himself in public as the Pope — not even as a joke, which this presumably is.
May Day sunrise over Oxford: one of the rewards for getting up early.
May 1, 2025 at 6:55 AM
May Day sunrise over Oxford: one of the rewards for getting up early.
In Oxford, as ever, vast crowds of people turned out at 6 am this May Day morning to hear the choir of Magdalen College sing songs of spring and listen to the ringing of the bells. If you don’t mind getting up early, it’s a magical experience.
May 1, 2025 at 5:51 AM
In Oxford, as ever, vast crowds of people turned out at 6 am this May Day morning to hear the choir of Magdalen College sing songs of spring and listen to the ringing of the bells. If you don’t mind getting up early, it’s a magical experience.
The production team for tonight’s Unspun World on BBC Two, 11.05: Kate Cornell (our new producer), Sharam Heidari (camera), Ben Watt (exec producer), & Dave Murphy (camera). Catch us on iPlayer or the News Channel if it’s past your bedtime.
April 30, 2025 at 12:24 PM
The production team for tonight’s Unspun World on BBC Two, 11.05: Kate Cornell (our new producer), Sharam Heidari (camera), Ben Watt (exec producer), & Dave Murphy (camera). Catch us on iPlayer or the News Channel if it’s past your bedtime.
I just came across this photo of my history master at school, 60 years ago. Philip Whitting was a famous Byzantine scholar and numismatist, and he saw promise in me when no one else seemed to. He pushed me across the line and got me to Cambridge. Greatly belated thanks, Philip.
April 29, 2025 at 2:16 PM
I just came across this photo of my history master at school, 60 years ago. Philip Whitting was a famous Byzantine scholar and numismatist, and he saw promise in me when no one else seemed to. He pushed me across the line and got me to Cambridge. Greatly belated thanks, Philip.