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John Simpson rss

South Africans Pray For Nelson Mandela As His Condition Improves

Why is Nelson Mandela's health a state secret?

6 April 2013

When President Jacob Zuma reassures a journalist, as he did last week, that Nelson Mandela’s condition is improving slightly, the entire world sighs with relief. Yet it has become hard… Read more

China's Growth At Stake As Communist Party Congress Begins

End of the Party?

17 November 2012

The 18th Congress of the Chinese Communist Party had begun, and President Hu Jintao was droning his way through his last big speech before stepping down for good. Irritatingly, he… Read more

BRITAIN-

What should happen now?

27 October 2012

If you work for the BBC, you dislike seeing the outfit’s name in the headlines. It usually means the BBC is in trouble. No good complaining that much of the… Read more

HONG KONG-VOTE-EDUCATION-PROTEST

Rebel island

15 September 2012

Hong Kong isn’t what it was. Under British rule it was meek and mild, careful not to rock the boat, forever nervous about its future under China. The rich bought… Read more

china_illustration1

The office of last resort

4 August 2012

Beijing There is no mistaking the place. It isn’t just the crowd of men and women sitting on the steps of the small official building; it’s the way they look… Read more

Corporate

Dear boss…

7 July 2012

Dear Director General Many congratulations on getting the best job in world broadcasting. Enjoy it as much as you can, while you can; in my 46 years at the Beeb,… Read more

Bias, Boris and the Beeb

19 May 2012

The Today programme ended, and John Humphrys walked out of the studio yawning and stretching. The phone was ringing in the empty programme office, and he picked it up. A… Read more

Savile Row revolutionary

5 May 2012

 ‘You can’t imagine how insecure it makes our politicians when they consider that they haven’t been elected.’ The man in the Savile Row suit and the hand-made shirt gave me… Read more

A new Argy-bargy

31 March 2012

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires is as exhilarating, as unpredictable, as stylish as ever. But the economic boom is over. Times are hard once again, more shops in Calle Florida are… Read more

Putin power

3 March 2012

Sunday will be Russia’s Coronation Day. The emperor is back from his constitutionally imposed four-year break, Dmitri Medvedev, the fill-in, finds his coach turning back into a prime ministerial pumpkin,… Read more