The news

My taxi driver blamed the Ukrainian war on Nato expansion (a majority of cab drivers do), blamed America for its intervention in Syria and Afghanistan and divided the blame between Israelis and Arabs. He thought Margaret Thatcher damaged British society enormously. We agreed on most things, especially on the need for women to have more children. I suppose, as Baudelaire said, love is a crime that requires an accomplice. Every regime, he said, has its good and bad points. He thought Biden the worst US President for thirty years but there I demured. Biden though absolutely terrible beyond words is not as bad as George W Bush.

The Daily Telegraph this morning disgusts me more utterly than normally

It's simply propaganda, whether about Ukraine or Israel, and probably reflects the MI6 line. Its fury at the ICC for issuing a warrant for the arrest of Netanyahu contrasts with its enthusiasm for the one for Putin's arrest. I am trying to cancel my subscription. 

Yesterday I renewed my subscription to Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz to find much more objective news.