Jurek Martin
@jumilhac.bsky.social
Ancient FT foreign correspondent (DC, NY, Tokyo), foreign editor for six years, columnist for 20 plus. Decent golfer and tennis player before the legs gave out. My moniker on Bluesky is where we have a little village house in SW France
Pinned
Jurek Martin
@jumilhac.bsky.social
· Dec 10
I become a US citizen. And look who swore me in. Tanya Chutkan. I tell her I was looking forward to seeing her in court ( presiding over a Trump trial) but didn’t know it would be today and for a naturalization ceremony
Fred Emery RIP. A great reporter for the Times and the best Washington-based foreign correspondent on Watergate by miles. Proud to have called him a friend. All love to Marianne, his widow
August 19, 2025 at 6:42 PM
Fred Emery RIP. A great reporter for the Times and the best Washington-based foreign correspondent on Watergate by miles. Proud to have called him a friend. All love to Marianne, his widow
Local DC media reporting that residents growing “accustomed” to presence of troops etc on city street I wouldn’t know because I haven’t seen nary a one. Each morning I go outside to pick up the papers dressed in a rainbow dressing gown waving a Mexican flag but I can’t even get the ICE thugs to bite
August 13, 2025 at 3:23 PM
Local DC media reporting that residents growing “accustomed” to presence of troops etc on city street I wouldn’t know because I haven’t seen nary a one. Each morning I go outside to pick up the papers dressed in a rainbow dressing gown waving a Mexican flag but I can’t even get the ICE thugs to bite
I’ve come to the conclusion that the White House press corps which attends Katharine Goebells’ briefings is not real but AI generated . They are plastic figurines programmed to ask questions that she finds easy to answer. And they never ask follow ups that she might not be able to
August 12, 2025 at 5:29 PM
I’ve come to the conclusion that the White House press corps which attends Katharine Goebells’ briefings is not real but AI generated . They are plastic figurines programmed to ask questions that she finds easy to answer. And they never ask follow ups that she might not be able to
A father dances with his daughter after her wedding, as I did with mine many moons ago
August 10, 2025 at 10:12 PM
A father dances with his daughter after her wedding, as I did with mine many moons ago
A French village’s farmers market
July 27, 2025 at 8:37 AM
A French village’s farmers market
Sunset in Jumilhac le Grand, posted to take your minds off the daily horrors
July 24, 2025 at 7:24 AM
Sunset in Jumilhac le Grand, posted to take your minds off the daily horrors
Has anybody else noticed that the French spelling of Putin is Poutine, which happens to be the same as that French Canadian dish where chips are doused in cheese curds and hot brown gravy? Trump apparently likes both
July 15, 2025 at 11:22 AM
Has anybody else noticed that the French spelling of Putin is Poutine, which happens to be the same as that French Canadian dish where chips are doused in cheese curds and hot brown gravy? Trump apparently likes both
On the street where we live ( for some of the time)
July 9, 2025 at 7:50 AM
On the street where we live ( for some of the time)
Further evidence Trump administration is anti-science. It is moving the Department of Housing and Urban Development across the Potomac to a building in Alexandria. That building now the home of the National Science Foundation. It hasn’t been told yet where its next home is
June 26, 2025 at 9:57 PM
Further evidence Trump administration is anti-science. It is moving the Department of Housing and Urban Development across the Potomac to a building in Alexandria. That building now the home of the National Science Foundation. It hasn’t been told yet where its next home is
Which is better? Having Netanyahu leading Trump by the nose or Putin? It’s a fine call in my book because both options bad
June 22, 2025 at 3:10 PM
Which is better? Having Netanyahu leading Trump by the nose or Putin? It’s a fine call in my book because both options bad
Thank you Starmer for preserving my supplies of Marmite and cream crackers. But you should know - and I will not buy - a Mini, Range Rover or Rolls Royce. But I do thank you for small mercies, even though you are out of your skull to believe it will have any impact on Trump
June 17, 2025 at 1:05 AM
Thank you Starmer for preserving my supplies of Marmite and cream crackers. But you should know - and I will not buy - a Mini, Range Rover or Rolls Royce. But I do thank you for small mercies, even though you are out of your skull to believe it will have any impact on Trump
You want to know evil the Murdoch press can be? Headline in NY Post said Minnesota assassin was a “Walz appointee.” Yes, to a workplace board with over 60 members. No evidence Minn Gov knew him.
June 15, 2025 at 3:06 PM
You want to know evil the Murdoch press can be? Headline in NY Post said Minnesota assassin was a “Walz appointee.” Yes, to a workplace board with over 60 members. No evidence Minn Gov knew him.
Pet food advertisements now rival Big Pharma commercials on US TV. Is this good, bad or another indication that the end o f the world is nigh?
June 14, 2025 at 12:41 AM
Pet food advertisements now rival Big Pharma commercials on US TV. Is this good, bad or another indication that the end o f the world is nigh?
Contrails over DC - likely of extra fast booze delivery to Pete Hegseth, secretary of Pentagon Pink Gin Soc
May 26, 2025 at 5:36 PM
Contrails over DC - likely of extra fast booze delivery to Pete Hegseth, secretary of Pentagon Pink Gin Soc
Please don’t read too much into the Kentucky Derby result in which Sovereignty beat Journalism. Trump will but, in a real democracy, we don’t have to
May 4, 2025 at 7:05 AM
Please don’t read too much into the Kentucky Derby result in which Sovereignty beat Journalism. Trump will but, in a real democracy, we don’t have to
The chateau at Jumilhac le Grand
May 3, 2025 at 7:10 PM
The chateau at Jumilhac le Grand
I merely wanted to say how wonderful it is to be in rural France and at home in DC. Why? Because we are not assaulted every hour by the latest horror from Trump and his gang of thugs, the ignorant and the evil
April 28, 2025 at 10:45 AM
I merely wanted to say how wonderful it is to be in rural France and at home in DC. Why? Because we are not assaulted every hour by the latest horror from Trump and his gang of thugs, the ignorant and the evil
In a couple of hours, Bessent, Treas Secy, will address the IMF/WB. The White House expects him to praise Trump’s leadership every third sentence. But if he does, the meeting might collapse into giggles. How does he get out of this quandary?
April 23, 2025 at 12:16 PM
In a couple of hours, Bessent, Treas Secy, will address the IMF/WB. The White House expects him to praise Trump’s leadership every third sentence. But if he does, the meeting might collapse into giggles. How does he get out of this quandary?
Great headline in the NY Review of Books; “I shot the tariff.”
April 20, 2025 at 12:26 PM
Great headline in the NY Review of Books; “I shot the tariff.”
Gladys Knight & The Pips were a great band. Today’s televised US Cabinet meeting reveals that Donnie and the Pipsqueaks will never top the charts. Pam Bondi may be the worst back up singer in musical history, with somebody called Rubio not far behind
April 10, 2025 at 5:51 PM
Gladys Knight & The Pips were a great band. Today’s televised US Cabinet meeting reveals that Donnie and the Pipsqueaks will never top the charts. Pam Bondi may be the worst back up singer in musical history, with somebody called Rubio not far behind
One of the better signs at today’s very large DC protest
April 6, 2025 at 2:05 AM
One of the better signs at today’s very large DC protest
Merely the latest horror. The US has fired the three aid workers sent to Myanmar (days) after the earthquake as they were inspecting the damage in Mandalay. I’d like to see that sniveling little runt Rubio explain that away, which of course he won’t
April 5, 2025 at 11:29 PM
Merely the latest horror. The US has fired the three aid workers sent to Myanmar (days) after the earthquake as they were inspecting the damage in Mandalay. I’d like to see that sniveling little runt Rubio explain that away, which of course he won’t
This guy Lutnick is really like the Sputnik. He goes round and round a planet in circles on a cloud of hot air, oblivious to the forces of gravity. He denies markets can go down, as today, but will always rise, if in Trump we trust. Gawd help us
April 3, 2025 at 4:07 PM
This guy Lutnick is really like the Sputnik. He goes round and round a planet in circles on a cloud of hot air, oblivious to the forces of gravity. He denies markets can go down, as today, but will always rise, if in Trump we trust. Gawd help us