Last night Israel launched a massive wave of airstrikes against Iran with over 200 fighter jets in a “pre-emptive” attack on Iran’s nuclear programmes. Among those reportedly killed were Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Hossein Salami and Iran’s chief of the military staff, General Mohammad Bagheri. In retaliation, Iran launched over 100 drones toward Israel…
Tehran has promised a “harsh and decisive” response while Benjamin Netanyahu warned that the operation “will continue for as many days as it takes to remove this threat.” Both the US and UK have stressed that they were not involved in the strikes. Keir Starmer posted on X:
“The reports of these strikes are concerning and we urge all parties to step back and reduce tensions urgently. Escalation serves no one in the region. Stability in the Middle East must be the priority and we are engaging partners to de-escalate. Now is the time for restraint, calm and a return to diplomacy.”
Foreign secretary David Lammy called it a “dangerous moment” and has now cancelled his planned meeting with US secretary of state Marco Rubio in Washington. Labour has already sanctioned two Israeli ministers this week. US and UK relations on Israel are on tenterhooks…
Speaking on Times Radio, former Home Secretary David Blunkett spoke about overdiagnosis of mental problems:
“Let’s distinguish those who are really severely mentally ill, diagnosed with things that require prolonged medical and diagnostic treatment. My wife and I talk about this a lot, because she’s a retired GP, about the fact that you can be sad without being ill. You can be momentarily depressed because your boyfriend or girlfriend’s just thrown you and you’re not mentally ill. You can even have mild issues, which can be dealt with with the right kind of support, but it doesn’t make you mentally ill. So we’ve got a real task, I think, to get the psychology, if you like, of this over. But there are things where you definitely need medical intervention, and there are other things where you need good friends, you need good connectivity, and you need a job.”