Huge anti-government protests in Tehran and other Iranian cities

That's heartbreaking. I dread to think what the actually death toll is. In the ODj interview I mentioned, he stated that the true figure was already in the high thousands. Its sickening.

I think there is a bit of a bias in the left leaning press that it is reticent to be joyful in the fall of an Islamic regime for fear of offence.

It's is if certain communities have distanced themselves from the poor Iranians that have given their life in protest as they are unsure they were good Muslims as they have rebelled against an Islamic state. It is a conundrum for the left and I think many are just in hiding really trying to reconcile this with the Israel Gaza war where their opinions are a lot more forthcoming.

Just read that about 2,000 people have been killed so far and executions are planned for tomorrow. Absolutely awful.

Omid Djalili was on Times Radio this morning. He gave a very moving account of some of the footage he had seen involving children being shot. He also called out the bbc for falsely reporting that the counter protests were bigger.

People are more focussed on US and Israel not reacting than the atrocities on the ground. I don’t think the latter should as there’s too much opprobrium and the US will be vilified if they do or don’t act.

But it is sad to see where people aim their energy, and it’s not for the people in Iran.

Omid on X now reporting that thousands killed by government forces in the last few days. I’ve read BBC and Sky and if I wasn’t looking elsewhere I’d think that these were riots over the price of eggs caused by naughty Trumps sanctions.
I mean, it’s a part of it I know, but, um, the little matter of ongoing state sanctioned murder, rape, kidnapping and abuse of the population for 47 years?? The appalling oppression of ALL IRANIAN WOMEN?? Barely touched on.
I’m not in any way a conspiracy theorist. I’m solidly left wing, socialist even. I’m live and let live with religion and cultures. But this reticence of the entire establishment to NAME what the brave Iranians are fighting and dying for is shocking.
People are sharing photo after photo of murdered teenagers and I am crying. They are like my children. I just can’t imagine.
And all the so called liberal politicians and commentators seem to care about is that Israel or the US don’t interfere?
Some loonies are even staring confidently that the whole thing is orchestrated by Israel and not real?
FML. Sorry, just actually so emotional about this.

I hope that the next few years will see a lessening of interest in celebrities. Most of them have very little talent, and those that do tend to not be reported on as much as the vapid ones. The amount of coverage given to the Beckhams and Ramsays is absolutely absurd.

🙄

Isn't it just.

Dreadful.

The comparison with Gaza "we'll trust one side to provide unverified figures about how nasty the other side are"
and Iran "nothing to see here, just angry shop keepers
is astounding

and the UTTER silence from certain UK politicians who should be praising a rebellion against despots

Our current asylum and immigration system is so insane that people from proscribed groups have been granted asylum anyway. We could be going back to the days of Iranian hardliners living in Europe while plotting to take control of a 'westernised' Iran. I want the dissents in Iran to succeed but we need to prevent the Islamists moving here.

Yes, its a genuine problem. We need to get on with proscription asap but that's a tiny part of the issue.

Isn’t footage coming out just about with Starlink?

I heard a bit this morning but haven’t looked into it

Any journalist or citizen journalist getting information out of Gaza had to be in Hamas, a Hamas sympathiser or terrified of crossing Hamas, and yet the BBC was happy to broadcast hours of that footage with no warning that Hamas was effectively controlling what we were seeing. Now it's Iran they have suddenly become all pious about veracity and bias.

We've also had two years of the BBC and other news organisations constantly reminding us in every report and every article that Israel isn't allowing journalists into Gaza unless they are embedded with the IDF. Journalists base themselves in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem because Israel is the one place in the Middle East where journalists are safe to live and work, and yet Israel is somehow the big bad censor. Meanwhile Iran is so dangerous for foreign journalists that when an attempted revolution is underway there is no-one there to cover it. Are they reminding us that Iran made itself too scary for journalists with every report? No.

Anyone else hoping for regime change in Iran but also worried that the ensuing Iranian diaspora would be very different from the current Iranian diaspora? The West already has a problem with Iranian-sponsored terrorism and assassinations, the government has not prescribed the IRGC, all the hardliners and zealots fleeing the country will genuinely be able to claim they need asylum from Iran, and then they will be fomenting violence and anti-Westenism here.

I think it's more because the BBC has to cover it's arse more than other organisations with its history and being basically the state broadcaster. I may be being generous though. I know I tend to have a pro BBC bias as I grew up when it was pretty much all there was so I have a lifelong attachment to it.
As I said earlier, they are much more telling it like it is on the World Service. News Channel is the dumbed down version of the BBC, World Service is much better.

The current news story on now really seems quite reluctant to criticise the leadership of Iran. Gentle, gentle talk whilst showing protesters en masses.

I'm not sure if it's being 'minimised', or not given the importance it deserves or if the BBC just aren't that interested. It's bizarre given tgat stories that are being shared on other outlets show 500 dead at least and over 10,000 arrested.

I think its odd they are still talking about 'hundreds' killed. We know the problems of verification but they should be more honest about the scale.