All very well but have you read Master and Commander, followed by the next nineteen books? The Aubrey-Maturin novels are the finest historical fiction series ever written — once bitten, forever smitten. Once you are on book three you simply have to retire from life for a few months to finish the rest. Utter joy.
So true. I have read the whole series several times and I get something new from the books with every reading. Except the last book: Blue at the Mizzen. I’ve never read it because to do so is to admit the series is finished (apart from scraps of text recovered from PoB’s desk after he died). My plan is to re-read the whole series when I am in my 70s, finishing up with Blue at the Mizzen, and then expiring gracefully in my armchair.
Me too. I have never before read until four in the morning, finished the book, and then thought, I’ll just see how the next one starts … Thoroughly addictive min the best possible way …
Same! I actually starting reading the last book and then stopped in the middle — couldn’t bear to finish it. I think I will copy you and save it for my death bed …
The human race is a selfish, greedy, disgraceful species. The rich West, (laughingly called: "First World Countries"), throws away more food than would be needed to solve the world's famines. No, I'm not suggesting we should reroute our waste to those in need. The solution would be to NOT waste your money on food you will not eat, but to give that money to charity.
And as Jeff Tiedrich, (a must read Substack), says: "Trump and his lot, act first and think never."
Also, you missed Gaza, in your "order of [lower] priorities". Easily done with all the other shit going on - and an end to the live-streaming of genocide.
Can we normalise calling it “The US-Israeli” war rather than the Iran War? Why are wars named after the people who are attacked/ invaded and have to live with the crappy consequences? If they’re named after the initiators perhaps the obvious is harder to ignore. Vietnamese for example don’t call it “the Vietnam War”
Buried in your commentary is the main reason they're doing this. Create the conditions in which democracies unwittingly hand over power to alt-right, or as we used to call them, neo-nazis. Farage is primed and ready to go. Trump doesn't need an off-ramp. The mid-terms are irrelevant.
I re-watched it recently and thoroughly enjoyed it….the scene where the sailor gets swept away….awful and terrifying, it really affected me…. How brave those men and boys were…. Thanks Ian for all the info, horrendously depressing, yet all my friends/family keep talking about is having the sunshine back….. Topsy bloody turvy world…..🤯
A similar argument applies to climate action. A direct, but long-term consequence of failing to reduce emissions is mass migration, a completely rational and foreseeable response to climate change.
Less is more. Great analysis and handheld tour of the horrors glittering in Trump’s latest catastrophic comet trail. Loved Thanos’s silent walk on appearance and the social science obfuscation lingo - food consumption gaps for missed meals. No wonder we so easily miss the point with all these euphemisms replacing the world of pain they seek not to describe so much as hint hesitantly at.
The maps were good, well worth the effort, thank you. Pronunciation of lapis lazuli needs a bit of a polish (see what I did there?).
We need you briefing the British and American governments and NATO. But seriously what would help
Most would be you presenting this on The Today programme prime spot, headline spot on the BBC, ITV and Sky News at midday and in the evening. Everyone needs to know this Trump war outcome and understand it.
I was Russell Crowe’s neighbour for many years and was invited to the premiere of Master and Commander in Sydney. As well as a great actor he’s a nice bloke and very kind to his community. As for the main subject of Ian’s Substack commentary, I’m appalled that the American people haven’t hung, drawn and quartered Trump for his malice and arrogance towards the rest of the world.
I understand the anger about what people are doing with each other. No doubt many people in Europe and the USA would like to do relevant things to lessen the impact on local people, but there are issues that stand in the way. There is corruption, ensuring that funds end up in the wrong pockets and the aid arrives in the wrong place or is sold on. Much depends on voluntary labour; those volunteers will go when life gets too dangerous. Then: it’s not only them over there where war threatens c.q. rages: if Europe doesn’t prepare for war we’ll be potentially beholden to either that idiot Putin or to idiot Trump. That, very understandably, takes precedence over the trouble elsewhere. Which, in fact, may in the near future visit us here. On a more personal level: I’m an ageing man and my health is taking a walloping where the NHS has taken a beating. For which reason medical assistance, to ensure that I can live my life reasonably pain-free, requires a lot of work to ensure things are looked at and then treated. I am by no means alone with these problems in a nation that through sheer idiocy decided that they didn’t need to keep their biggest market as close as possible to have the pounds come rolling in. Were visibly impoverished ourselves, besides a small percentage that’s sucking the nation dry and is being treated with the utmost reverence by the various governments being voted in.
I know what you’re saying but I feel pissed off when we’re being confronted with an opinion that we don’t care. There is such a choice of things to worry about that the first question is, where to begin.
Well, in the UK we are going into this global crisis with a political class which, with a few exceptions, seems unusually solipsistic and incurious about the rest of the world, other than the US. Since many of them visibly struggle to empathise with poor and vulnerable people in their own country, it's unlikely they'll discover much empathy for the horrific suffering of people in Sudan.
I once met a ageing man who had worked for Shell in Nigeria - he talked about defending a company compound against rioters - who spoke with deep relish about that old codger in "Master and Commander" who has "hold fast" tattoed on his knuckled fists. An early C19 warship was apparently this man's model for what the UK should look like as a country. Failing to notice that the old sailor has in fact been lobotomised.
All very well but have you read Master and Commander, followed by the next nineteen books? The Aubrey-Maturin novels are the finest historical fiction series ever written — once bitten, forever smitten. Once you are on book three you simply have to retire from life for a few months to finish the rest. Utter joy.
So true. I have read the whole series several times and I get something new from the books with every reading. Except the last book: Blue at the Mizzen. I’ve never read it because to do so is to admit the series is finished (apart from scraps of text recovered from PoB’s desk after he died). My plan is to re-read the whole series when I am in my 70s, finishing up with Blue at the Mizzen, and then expiring gracefully in my armchair.
Oh, Yes. I’d go further and say that like Austen, Wodehouse, Chandler the books surpass the genre and are simply great literature.
I’d add its forerunner, the Hornblower series by C.S. Forester.
Me too. I have never before read until four in the morning, finished the book, and then thought, I’ll just see how the next one starts … Thoroughly addictive min the best possible way …
Same! I actually starting reading the last book and then stopped in the middle — couldn’t bear to finish it. I think I will copy you and save it for my death bed …
Thank you Ian, for telling it as it is.
The human race is a selfish, greedy, disgraceful species. The rich West, (laughingly called: "First World Countries"), throws away more food than would be needed to solve the world's famines. No, I'm not suggesting we should reroute our waste to those in need. The solution would be to NOT waste your money on food you will not eat, but to give that money to charity.
And as Jeff Tiedrich, (a must read Substack), says: "Trump and his lot, act first and think never."
Also, you missed Gaza, in your "order of [lower] priorities". Easily done with all the other shit going on - and an end to the live-streaming of genocide.
It’s easily done because it’s been several generations of them being lower than the low of priorities, he rarely mentions them directly
Can we normalise calling it “The US-Israeli” war rather than the Iran War? Why are wars named after the people who are attacked/ invaded and have to live with the crappy consequences? If they’re named after the initiators perhaps the obvious is harder to ignore. Vietnamese for example don’t call it “the Vietnam War”
Buried in your commentary is the main reason they're doing this. Create the conditions in which democracies unwittingly hand over power to alt-right, or as we used to call them, neo-nazis. Farage is primed and ready to go. Trump doesn't need an off-ramp. The mid-terms are irrelevant.
I re-watched it recently and thoroughly enjoyed it….the scene where the sailor gets swept away….awful and terrifying, it really affected me…. How brave those men and boys were…. Thanks Ian for all the info, horrendously depressing, yet all my friends/family keep talking about is having the sunshine back….. Topsy bloody turvy world…..🤯
The music with that scene is Vaughan Wiliams's Thomas Tallis Fantasia. It was a masterstroke to use it there. One of cinema's best scenes.
One of my fave pieces of music! How the hell did I forget that! 😟
I also rewatched it, a couple of weeks ago, having been meaning to for years!
A similar argument applies to climate action. A direct, but long-term consequence of failing to reduce emissions is mass migration, a completely rational and foreseeable response to climate change.
Really not the point, but I treasure 'Margo Rubio' 😂
As to the rest, I share your outrage. I would love to think that one day I will see Trump & co face consequences, but sadly I very much doubt it.
I believe you are referring to "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World"
Less is more. Great analysis and handheld tour of the horrors glittering in Trump’s latest catastrophic comet trail. Loved Thanos’s silent walk on appearance and the social science obfuscation lingo - food consumption gaps for missed meals. No wonder we so easily miss the point with all these euphemisms replacing the world of pain they seek not to describe so much as hint hesitantly at.
The maps were good, well worth the effort, thank you. Pronunciation of lapis lazuli needs a bit of a polish (see what I did there?).
We need you briefing the British and American governments and NATO. But seriously what would help
Most would be you presenting this on The Today programme prime spot, headline spot on the BBC, ITV and Sky News at midday and in the evening. Everyone needs to know this Trump war outcome and understand it.
I was Russell Crowe’s neighbour for many years and was invited to the premiere of Master and Commander in Sydney. As well as a great actor he’s a nice bloke and very kind to his community. As for the main subject of Ian’s Substack commentary, I’m appalled that the American people haven’t hung, drawn and quartered Trump for his malice and arrogance towards the rest of the world.
I understand the anger about what people are doing with each other. No doubt many people in Europe and the USA would like to do relevant things to lessen the impact on local people, but there are issues that stand in the way. There is corruption, ensuring that funds end up in the wrong pockets and the aid arrives in the wrong place or is sold on. Much depends on voluntary labour; those volunteers will go when life gets too dangerous. Then: it’s not only them over there where war threatens c.q. rages: if Europe doesn’t prepare for war we’ll be potentially beholden to either that idiot Putin or to idiot Trump. That, very understandably, takes precedence over the trouble elsewhere. Which, in fact, may in the near future visit us here. On a more personal level: I’m an ageing man and my health is taking a walloping where the NHS has taken a beating. For which reason medical assistance, to ensure that I can live my life reasonably pain-free, requires a lot of work to ensure things are looked at and then treated. I am by no means alone with these problems in a nation that through sheer idiocy decided that they didn’t need to keep their biggest market as close as possible to have the pounds come rolling in. Were visibly impoverished ourselves, besides a small percentage that’s sucking the nation dry and is being treated with the utmost reverence by the various governments being voted in.
I know what you’re saying but I feel pissed off when we’re being confronted with an opinion that we don’t care. There is such a choice of things to worry about that the first question is, where to begin.
I think there's a good case for the rest of the world to send Trump invoices for the increased cost of fuel and any other energy that uses fuel.
We are currently watching the greatest transfer of wealth to the family and supporters of the President of the USA in history.
He has caused the circumstances deliberately. So he can pay for them.
Well, in the UK we are going into this global crisis with a political class which, with a few exceptions, seems unusually solipsistic and incurious about the rest of the world, other than the US. Since many of them visibly struggle to empathise with poor and vulnerable people in their own country, it's unlikely they'll discover much empathy for the horrific suffering of people in Sudan.
I once met a ageing man who had worked for Shell in Nigeria - he talked about defending a company compound against rioters - who spoke with deep relish about that old codger in "Master and Commander" who has "hold fast" tattoed on his knuckled fists. An early C19 warship was apparently this man's model for what the UK should look like as a country. Failing to notice that the old sailor has in fact been lobotomised.
Hello from Australia. Following after being sent here by James O'Brien.
Thank you for this important article. I believe there is a mistake in one sentence, though: There is no longer a siege of El-Fasher. From what I've read after 18 months of siege, the RSF took El-Fasher last October. When the first Western charity finally got to visit the city, it found it almost empty (https://www.msf.org/msf-finds-el-fasher-sudan-largely-destroyed-and-empty-during-visit), with the Human Rights Council then reporting "hallmarks of genocide" (https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/hrbodies/hrcouncil/sessions-regular/session61/advance-version/a-hrc-61-77-auv-en.pdf). The Guardian has reported that the UK Government had previously rejected a plan to protect civilians and prevent atrocities because of foreign aid cuts: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2025/nov/07/aid-cuts-uk-rejected-atrocity-prevention-sudan-civilians-rsf-massacres-el-fasher .
Thanks so much for covering this, Ian. Really glad the conversation with WFP was useful!