Category: Still Relevant

Nelson Mandela knew that to succeed you sometimes need to climb down from things you had previously regarded as strategic, unchangeable and unthinkable. The South African leader’s first [press conference reminded us of the need to compromise in politics.

4 November 2021 By Paul Martin

The 30th anniversary of Nelson Mandela’s release reminds us of the need to compromise in politics | The Independent | The Independent It was a balmy afternoon on Nelson Mandela’s day of liberation, February 11, 1990. I rolled down the back window and stretched out an arm to have my hand slapped again and again […]

Analysis Insight Still Relevant

EXCLUSIVE: Al Qaeda ‘regrets’ its mass terror attacks on 9-11 and is unlikely to repeat this sort of mass attack, says Al Qaeda confidante.

18 August 2021 By Paul Martin

Al Qaeda, now potentially resurgent after the stark collapse of Western support to the defence of Afghanistan, is unlikely to resort to new mass terror attacks on the West, according to a senior source who has worked closely with Al Qaeda for decades. A former senior jihad fighter claimed yesterday that Al Qaeda loyalists made […]

Eyewitness Still Relevant

How I bought a missile in Baghdad.

8 June 2021 By Paul Martin

Here’s a story about how I found and ‘bought’ a Weapon of Minor Destruction — a missile — in the heart of Baghdad. Going fast in Iraq: the £300 rocket grenade launchers that can bring down a helicopter Paul Martin, Baghdad… which Alameen bought the RPG underlines the problems American forces face in restoring order […]

Analysis Eyewitness How It Was Done Insight Media Blunders or Brilliance Still Relevant

Forty years after Israel’s bombing of Iraq’s nuclear facility, there is still no Arab state with an atomic bomb. Does this prove the raid was justified?

7 June 2021 By Paul Martin

A sign on the desert road south of Baghdad, curiously in English not Arabic, pointed to what it described as an “Engineering Factory”. It was the only hint that there was something unusual to be found just off the beaten track. Until days before, this “Engineering factory” had been nothing less than Saddam Hussein’s project […]

Eyewitness Insight Still Relevant

A reminder: Battle of the kite bombers: Simple toys turn deadly in Gaza-Israel border protests.

12 May 2021 By Paul Martin

Violence continues to erupt along Gaza’s volatile border with Israel. here’s how we reported, for and with the Mirror newspaper, three years ago precisely. The Mirror’s Chief reporter is on the Gaza-Israel border where the kites are terrifying residents COMMENTS By Andy Lines [with Paul Martin] 22:21, 11 MAY 2018 Floating in the clear blue […]

Analysis Insight Still Relevant Strange as It Seems

Give us a break – from holidays. There’s increasing evidence that holidays can cause harmful stress.

30 December 2020 By Paul Martin

Originally published in the Sunday Times, Sunday August 31, 1986 WARNING: Holidays can damage your health. Psychologists believe that many of the millions of Britons returning to work this week wouldhave been better off staying at the office instead of taking theirannual break. Increasing evidence that holidays can cause harmful stress ratherthan provide welcome rest and […]

Sport Still Relevant

Tennis: Game, set but no match for the Wimbledon losers.

30 December 2020 By Paul Martin

Originally published inThe Times, Tuesday July 08, 1986. As at Rome’s Colosseum, Wimbledon’s centre court salutes only those of its gladiators who survive and conquer in their final encounters.A few All-England finalists return, hardened by past battles, andemerge triumphant. Most, though, receive an imperial thumbs-down andare doomed to oblivion in the history of tennis. Ivan Lendl […]

How It Was Done Insight Still Relevant

Protected: Ten years since his capture by a hardline Hamas ‘internal security’ force inside Gaza, a veteran foreign correspondent reveals the story behind his ordeal. And what he has learned, to his benefit, from that experience.

14 February 2020 By Paul Martin

There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.

Eyewitness Fake News Insight Media Blunders or Brilliance Still Relevant

‘A journey from which he may never return.’ The conclusion of my historic BBC report when the Shah of Iran landed in the southern Egyptian resort city of Aswan. A different journalist wrote a scoop – that was entirely fake.

9 February 2020 By Paul Martin

By Paul Martin.

Analysis Insight Still Relevant

EXCLUSIVE: The untold secrets behind Al Qaeda and its 9-11 attacks. Bin Laden faced internal opposition to carrying it out, says a close jihadi confidante. He also reveals more about the leadership of the terrorist group.

7 November 2019 By Paul Martin

By Paul Martin. CAIRO – Al Qaeda loyalists made a desperate failed effort to persuade Osama Bin Laden to call off his planned multiple attacks on America, a former senior jihad fighter claimed yesterday. In the first details ever revealed about what went on in the Al Qaeda leadership prior to the 9-11 attacks, Mohammed […]