Neil Johnstone

Séamus Dooley, NUJ assistant general secretary said: “We condemn this latest egregious attack by Israel forces on a clearly marked media van, in clear violation of international law." nuj.org.uk/resource/nuj-c…

#EarthsGreatestEnemy is a powerful, at times harrowing, documentary on the most critical issue of our time. Packed with data, case studies and great interviews @AbbyMartin brings receipts in this important film. A must watch

An amazing turnout and a glorious sunny morning for the rally and march to Holyrood organised by Stand Up to Racism. It was great to have the opportunity to address the rally as a Labour councillor, we must unite against those who spread hatred. No Pasaran✊

Early March of 2026 became a defining moment in world history. For the first time AI was used in a major military operation, but that's just the beginning of the story. What followed was a betrayal by OpenAI, a slippery slope to mass surveillance and serious questions over what powers a government should have. In this video I explore the nexus between AI, war and mass surveillance.

Following the recent incident in Glasgow city centre, we caught up with First Minister John Swinney who highlights the ongoing focus around safety and assisting emergency services who are working decisively to recover the site at this time.

Sadly the building has now partially collapsed. I hope the fire can be contained. The corner of the Forsyth Building, as well as the Caledonian Chambers and Central Hotel seem unaffected. It's a massive blow to Union Street with the restoration of the Egyptian Halls in prospect.

I used to wonder how it was possible that Trump could have won in 2016, and then again in 2024, given how emotionally toxic and depraved he is. I don’t wonder anymore. I think he won for that exact reason. Because he carried at least one broken shard to reflect the broken shards in millions of others. If you’re a racist, you found your guy. If you’re a misogynist, you found your guy. If money is your only religion, you found your guy. If your heart is armored shut, you found your guy. If you mock the disabled, you found your guy. If intelligence makes you insecure, you found your guy. If you’re a sexual predator, you found your guy. If you trade in humiliation and conspiracy and filth, you found your guy. If you’ve never done a single hour of emotional inventory, you found your guy. If you cheat, stiff contractors, bankrupt your obligations, and call it savvy, you found your guy. If you lie as easily as you breathe, you found your guy. If cruelty feels like strength, you found your guy. If white grievance is your comfort food, you found your guy. If your ego is a black hole no title can fill, you found your guy. If warmongering fuels your ego, you found your guy, If empathy feels like weakness and dominance feels like oxygen, you found your guy. If he’d only carried one or two of these pathologies, he might have been dismissed as just another loud, damaged man. But he carried a buffet of them. That was the appeal. Millions could locate themselves somewhere in the wreckage. They didn’t have to agree with all of it. They just had to recognize a piece of themselves in it. It was never really about him. It was about the validation. The absolution. The permission. He didn’t invent the resentment; he amplified it. He didn’t create the cruelty; he normalized it. He gave millions the intoxicating relief of hearing their ugliest impulses echoed back at rally volume. Trump is a symptom. The deeper illness is collective. If there’s one sentence that defines his power, it’s this: “He says the things I’m thinking.” And that’s the part that should chill us. Because what does it say about us that so many were thinking those things? That tens of millions of Americans harbored resentments so deep, so seething, that they were simply waiting for a demagogue to baptize them as virtue? That after decades of supposed progress on race, gender, and equality, so many white men felt so threatened, so displaced, so furious, that cruelty became a political platform? Maybe we were living in a fool’s paradise, mistaking silence for healing, politeness for progress. Now the mask is off. Now we know. And knowing is a far more dangerous place to stand. – Michael Jochum, Not Just a Drummer: Reflections on Art, Politics, Dogs, and the Human Condition.

An Iranian man left this comment on my YouTube channel. This is without a doubt the single best explanation of the reality facing Iranian people today👇 "As an Iranian, I can tell you the situation is no longer just political—it's existential. We are trapped between two collapsing structures: one internal, one external. On one hand, we face a deeply dysfunctional government, led by the Supreme Leader and the Islamic Republic’s unelected institutions. Decades of economic mismanagement, suppression of dissent, and brutal ideological control have alienated multiple generations. No one believes in reform anymore—because every attempt has either been co-opted or crushed. But here's the paradox: We are also terrified of regime collapse—because we've watched the aftermath of Western intervention in countries like Iraq, Libya, Syria, and Afghanistan. Each was promised freedom; each descended into chaos, civil war, or foreign occupation. So no, we don't trust the U.S. or Israel. Not because we support our regime—but because we know how imperial powers treat ‘liberated’ nations in the Middle East. Freedom, in their language, often means vacuum, fire, and permanent instability. Right now, many Iranians live with three truths at once: The Islamic Republic is morally and politically bankrupt. The alternatives offered by foreign actors are not liberation—they’re collapse. A bad government is survivable. No government is not. We are not silent because we agree. We are cautious because we’ve learned—too well—what happens when superpowers decide to "help." In a sentence: Iran is a nation held hostage by its own regime, but haunted by the fate of its neighbors. We are stuck in a house we hate, surrounded by fires we fear more."

The death toll in Gaza in the first 15 months of Israel’s attack was 53% higher than official figures according to @LancetGH. So the real figures as of now could be over 110,000 deaths, or 124,000 including indirect deaths, 5.4% of Gaza population. And Israel isn’t stopping.

A statement on behalf of 85 States and a number of international organizations condemning Israel’s unilateral measures and policies in the occupied West Bank and rejecting annexation👇🏼

He was once a teen 'superstar'. Why did James Van Der Beek need help to pay his medical bills? bbc.co.uk/news/articles/…

I for one will never forget or forgive the people who did this, the people who ordered this, the people who defended this, and the people who voted for this. Sick stuff from an increasingly fascistic America:

⚠️ Final call for those who care. ❄️💔 Dr. Hossam’s lawyer warns: his heart is exhausted, his body shattered from continuous torture, and the freezing temperatures in his cell are worsening his suffering. Between cold walls, the doctor who saved hundreds of children and the wounded is left with no adequate food, no heating, and his health is deteriorating day by day. 🔴 Every moment of silence is a contribution to his suffering. Any delay in saving him could be the moment that costs him his life. ✊🏻 Speak about him… spread his name… do not let the voice of the doctor who saved lives fade away. #FreeDrHossamAbuSafiya #FreeDrHossam #SaveTheDoctors #DoctorOfHumanity

This is a genuinely incredible story. The hottest term on Chinese social media right now is “kill-line”: if you go to Xiaohongshu, Bilibili or Douyin, everyone is speaking about it. Why? It all has to do with the story of Alex, known as “牢A” (“Láo A”, literally “prison A” where A stands for Alex), a Chinese medical/biology student based in Seattle, USA, who worked part-time as a forensic assistant collecting unclaimed bodies (primarily homeless people). You’ve doubtlessly never heard of him but he probably single-handedly shattered what remained of the “American Dream” myth for an entire generation of young Chinese. In late 2025, Alex started going massively viral on Bilibili, a Chinese video platform, for videos where he described poverty in America. He coined the term “kill line” (“斩杀线”) - an expression borrowed from gaming describing when a game character's health is so low one hit will finish them. In Alex’s framing, the concept describes how a single shock (illness, job loss, accident) can push middle-class Americans into irreversible poverty. It’s hard to overstate the cultural impact he’s had in China. In barely a few weeks, “kill line” became part of everyday lexicon. So much so that even Qiushi - the core theoretical journal of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China - published a lengthy theoretical analysis using "kill line" as its central framework (qstheory.cn/20260104/0a091…). This never happens. Gaming slang coined by a 22-year-old streamer based in the U.S. does not become the analytical framework for Qiushi, the CPC’s core theoretical journal, in just a handful of weeks. That’s normally not how Communist Party theory gets crafted, to put it mildly 😂. And yet here we are - which goes to show just how powerfully Alex resonated. It didn’t take long for America to notice - and for Alex’s problems to start. Due to the staggering resonance his content was having in China, Alex became the target of an extremely vicious doxxing campaign by Chinese dissidents. He also got targeted by Western media with the New York Times, among others, publishing a piece (nytimes.com/2026/01/13/bus…) identifying him as the origin of the phenomenon which they described - unsurprisingly - as Communist propaganda meant to “deflect criticism of [Chinese] leaders.” I just wrote an article telling the full story. It ends with Alex escaping to China in an extraction worthy of a Cold War spy novel. Think about how extraordinary this is: a Chinese student fleeing to China for safety, because he feared for his life after being harassed for describing poverty in America. Full story here: open.substack.com/pub/arnaudbert…

Sharif Abdel Kouddous breaks down what we know about the Trump-governed so-called "Board of Peace" plan for Gaza.

Almost 400 billionaires and millionaires from 24 countries have signed an open letter urging leaders to increase taxes on the world's wealthiest people. The letter released to coincide with the Davos economic summit has been signed by well known names including the actor Mark Ruffalo and the musician Brian Eno. They say that a "handful of global oligarchs with extreme wealth" have "cost everyone else everything else" and are driving society towards breakdown.

#BREAKING Trump threatens 200% tariffs on French wine and Champagne over France's intentions to decline invitation to join his Board of Peace

🚨 Gaza Children Show Unprecedented Trauma Symptoms After War Dr. Nawal Asqoul, a psychiatrist in the Gaza Strip, reports encountering unprecedented psychological and physical symptoms in children following months of Israeli attacks. She says no academic training prepared her for what she calls “strange illnesses and stranger symptoms,” emerging in children who survived bombings or lost entire families. Dr. Asqoul is now treating children suffering from intense trauma that manifests physically often in those who survived alone while parents or siblings were killed. With hospitals overwhelmed and services collapsing, she has opened a small therapy center beneath her home in Khan Younis southern Gaza Strip , offering support to traumatized children despite severe insecurity and shrinking resources.

AND THERE YOU HAVE IT‼️

Former IDF soldier exposing Israeli war crimes - the West Bank isn't a "disputed territory." It's an ongoing robbery, and the IDF is the armed wing of the real estate mafia