11 yrs ago, I returned to Lebanon where I’d lived previously to write one of those ‘Beirut so hip’ articles. It *was* breathtakingly hip. Also: breathtakingly corrupt. Looking at the images of a city destroyed, I can’t help think: this is where it leads. This is the road we’re on

Politics is a family business in Lebanon. And govt contracts are dispensed as political favours. This week, Johnson parachuted his brother into the Lords & millions of £ of Covid contracts is going to cronies with no oversight. This is neither trivial nor inconsequential

This isn’t a slow slide into cronyism. It’s a headlong fall. How else to explain gross spectacle of Johnson appointing Lord Lebedev days after parliament slammed his suppression of #RussiaReport & called it a security risk?

And then there’s this: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-launches-independent-panel-to-look-at-judicial-review">https://www.gov.uk/governmen...

It is incredibly overwhelmingly difficult to hold power to account. And one of the very few tools we have is the right to legally challenge the government. Boris Johnson’s government is now looking to deprive us of that right

The Lebanese have been robbed blind for years. At end of last year, they finally had enough. Nothing was working. Mass protests took to streets. But it was too late. And now a vast modern city is in ruins facing a perilous future.
So..how late is too late? https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/beirut-explosion-news-lebanon-corruption-deaths-latest-a9655286.html">https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/be...