According to the Washington Post, President Trump's defence secretary Pete Hegseth ordered specifically that there should be no survivors from the first of the US military strikes against boats in waters close to Venezuela. This meant that when two people survived the initial strike, the US navy carried out a second strike specifically just to eliminate those survivors - an act that would be considered by international law as murder, as a war crime, or both. The news has Republicans in Congress launching moves to hold the administration to account in another symbol of Trump's fading grip on his party. Let's discuss.

In this news round-up of the week for Friday, November 28th 2025. President Trump faces a major legal backlash as analysis shows hundreds of judges have ruled his latest actions on deportations to be illegal - and now a class action is coming that may force a change in policy. Taiwan shows how it is coming to terms with the unreliability of its greatest ally. Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff shows the world he's really all-in on Russia's side. And I reply to a viewer comment.

This week, we saw the Trump Administration trying to blackmail the EU with steel and aluminium tariffs to get it to dismantle its regulations on big tech. We saw scandal in Switzerland over the donations to Trump of a Rolex clock and a gold bar to get tariffs reduced there. And we saw Trump declare that, as the host of the next G20 meeting in 2026, he is going to bar South Africa from attending because he has special opinions that must be accommodated. But in all of them, there are - to different degrees, and with caveats - signs of growing restiveness with the Trump bullying. A lot of Trump's power is gifted to him by the targets of his attacks - and more and more leaders are starting to show signs of concluding that enough is enough. Let's discuss.

A couple of weeks ago, Michelle Obama said that America wasn't ready to vote for a woman as President. Today, in the UK - which has had three women Prime Ministers and counting - another woman in a top position - Rachel Reeves, Chancellor of the Exchequer, got to hold the centre of attention of the country for a couple of days having complained about misogyny and 'mansplaining' that she has to deal with. These statements have to deal with an inconvenient truth. Let's discuss.

We've talked before about the two sides of MAGA - the personality cult / ideological part, which is noisy and enthusiastic at times, and perpetually confused with Trump's frequent inconsistencies - and the tech billionaire part, with their views on the post-democracy AI future they think they should be left to bring about. Earlier predictions that these two might not be the best of room-mates are becoming a safer and safer bet every day. Let's discuss.

As expected, European and Ukrainian leaders have been locked in urgent talks with the US as they try to negotiate down the Trump Ukraine Surrender Plan to something more acceptable. As they do so, Trump is plumbing new depths in his public expression of contempt for Ukraine, saying that it's leaders have not been sufficiently appreciative of everything he has done for them. For some reason, he failed to list all those things. But needless to say, in spite of the stupidity, it all matters a great deal. So let's discuss.

In this news round-up of the week for Friday, November 21st, 2025, we examine the text of Trump's Ukraine surrender plan and the attempt to force Ukraine to sign it, with the threat of letting Putin win the war if it doesn't. We also look at Japan's new Prime Minister facing a massive confrontation with China over Taiwan, and the UK's detailed COVID-19 inquiry report.

It's just been revealed that Putin's Russia has been working in secret with the Trump administration to agree what is described as a 28-point plan, based on the Gaza peace plan. One thing is clear - if such a plan is taking shape, it is doing so very much according to Putin's desires which, by definition, means an extremely rough deal for Ukraine. It seems that President Trump retains the belief that first led him to imagine he could end the Ukraine war 'very quickly' - that if he can agree a deal with Vladimir Putin, he will then be able to force it onto an unwilling Ukraine. Is that the basis of this new plan? Let's discuss.

With one abrupt and astonishing U-turn, President Trump has removed all doubt that he's prematurely entering the lame duck phase of his presidency. Faced with a massive revolt by Republican lawmakers to vote for the Epstein files to be released, he used the masterful arts of a confused toddler in seeking to persuade them that, contrary to everything said and done so far, he really wants them to vote YES to release the files. It's a breathtaking collapse, and the end of the period when he can push his party to do whatever he wants. An absolutely pivotal moment. Let's discuss.

Lots of questions for this video to celebrate my long-delayed YouTube silver button! Lots on the United States and democracy, what the Trump administration end game is, whether the US will be able to recover its democracy after Trump's term is over and more. Also, what did Putin hope to get out of threatening to give Venezuela weapons to use against the US? And then a few questions about me. Let's dive straight in.