Mark Seddon
Mark Seddon is the former United Nations Correspondent and New York Bureau Chief for Al-Jazeera English TV. He reported from eighteen countries during that time, including North Korea, China, Haiti, Syria, Libya, Yemen, Ethiopia and the Democratic Republic of Congo. He has interviewed, amongst others, Ban Ki-Moon, Lech Walesa, Tony Blair, Hans Blix, Michael Foot, Mia Farrow, and George Clooney. In a journalistic career spanning over twenty years, he has been Editor of Tribune and an elected member of the UK Labour Party's National Executive Committee. He has written for most British newspapers and many magazines, including The Guardian, The Independent, The Daily Mail, The Times, The Spectator, New Statesman, Private Eye, British Journalism Review and Country Life Magazine. For a number of years he was a Diarist at the London Evening Standard, and has also reported for, amongst others, the BBC and Sky TV. He lives in Buckingham, England.
Perhaps it is the fate of political leaders never to receive praise when praise is due. Certainly not in the West, and most certainly not in Anglo American politics. Essentially […]
Whether it is the armed forces that take over in Egypt, or a moderate secular democrat, or indeed the Muslim Brotherhood, it will never be the same again for Israel.
When the late Idi Amin launched a successful coup attempt against the then President of Uganda, Milton Obote, he made sure that the latter was attending Commonwealth Conference, before sending […]
It would be wonderful if the forces of light and democracy took hold in Tunis and Cairo. But don’t count on it.
Rupert Murdoch is on his way to the annual shindig of global movers and shakers at Davos. Quite what is moved and shaken at Davos is frankly anyone’s guess. But […]
The Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow, is in trouble. Rumours of a plot to unseat him have been swirling around Westminster this week, with Deputy Speaker, Nigel […]
For many in the Labour Party, the promotion of Ed Balls to Shadow Chancellor was as inevitable as it was long overdue. I was among many party members who argued […]
It can’t have been good news for Piers Morgan that in the week CNN chose to debut his new show ‘Piers Morgan Tonight’, another Brit, comedian Ricky Gervais tanked horribly […]
I’ve yet to go to the cinema to watch ‘Kings Speech’, which is currently the talk of Hollywood. Those who have come back enthused, including some of those who are not […]
The shootings in Tucson, Arizona appear to have had a truly cathartic effect in the United States. It is almost as though the random actions of a mad man have […]
I have a gun. I have had it for several years now, and it lives in a heavy metal cabinet in my sitting room. In owning a gun, I am […]
So how many of you have heard of Piers Morgan? The answer is probably rather a few more than had a week or so ago. Morgan has stepped into the […]
Just before leaving New York to return to England, I went with my family to visit a former journalist colleague who lives with her partner and two gorgeous young boys […]
The flat earthers who refuse to believe that there is global warming or that sea levels are rising have had a good couple of months in the Northern hemisphere. They […]
In isolated villages and monasteries in northern Iraq, and in churches in Baghdad, Irbil and Mosul, it is still possible to hear Assyrian Christians talking and praying in ancient Aramaic, […]
Hell hath no fury, than a scorned student, or rather the collective fury of scorned students. Now I can exclusively reveal that British students are busy working on a scheme […]
“Will she, or won’t she?” Here is a question that has dominated the tabloid newspapers in Britain these past few weeks, as Cheryl Cole, a presenter of the ‘X Factor’ […]
Mark Thompson is the Director General of the BBC, who used also to be Editor of the London Times. Some critics believe he will be best remembered as the BBC’s […]
The beauty of the allegations against the Wikileaks progenitor is that no one, save his accusers and Assange himself, knows the truth.
Self justification, we are told, is an unhealthy preoccupation. But just for a change – and considering the enormity of the issues that are and have been at stake, I […]
We are becoming used to Wikileaks reports of cables from US Diplomats being immediately accepted as factual statements, rather than opinion based on encounters. The latest being the leaked communiqués […]
TONY Blair’s journeyings have recently taken him from a well paid gig addressing a conference of sanitary ware and toilet roll manufacturers (he reputedly received a $50,000 fee) in the United […]
According to the latest Wikileaks, British Conservative party politicians lined up before the general election last May to promise that they would run a “pro-American regime” and buy more arms […]
There is a very real danger that some analysts, diplomats, commentators and politicians are taking all that is revealed by Wikileaks at face value, without questioning the veracity of some […]
So what has animated the British media the most about Wikileaks? Could it be the pressure exerted by the Saudis and Gulf States on the United States, who wanted the […]
“Diplomats are honest men, sent to lie by their Governments”, or so runs the old adage. Ironically, Britain’s former Ambassador to the United Nations, Sir John Sawers, is a good man […]
The best – and the worst – predictions for the newspaper industry don’t always come true. When Eddie Shah famously broke the print unions at his Stockport print and distribution […]
This then is the sequence of events that has deeply alarmed the international community, fearful as it now is that full scale war could break out at anytime across the […]
Unsurprisingly perhaps there have been more than a few eyebrows raised in British political circles at the decision by an apparently cash strapped UK Government to loan the even more […]
“If a week is a long time in politics”, as Harold Wilson once said, two weeks away from politics on paternity leave is clearly an age. The Leader of Britain’s […]