On September 6 1970, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine hijacked two airliners and diverted them to “Revolution Airport”, a deserted salt pan north of the Jordanian capital, Amman. A third plane was hijacked and landed at Cairo and a fourth aircraft was diverted to London’s Heathrow airport.

Until its abolition before the last election, Penrith and the Border was England’s biggest, most sparsely populated constituency. Elected the local MP in 2010, Rory Stewart became a minister under David Cameron and Theresa May, voted to remain in the Brexit referendum and had the Tory whip withdrawn by Boris Johnson in 2019, after which he gave up his seat and started, with Alastair Campbell, The Rest Is Politics..

“I rode my favorite camel Asfar, a sweet-natured animal, into the Libyan oasis town of Murzuq.”

This line, from Justin Marozzi’s “Captives and Companions: A History of Slavery and the Slave Trade in the Islamic World,” reminds us that Mr. Marozzi’s authority as a historian derives not only from a mastery of sources, but also his deep and idiosyncratic involvement with Muslim lands.

Is this the end of Bolsonarismo, that exotic compound of big business, violence and God that propelled its eponymous figurehead to the presidency of Brazil, and now to the edge of oblivion?

A doomsday scenario may be sketched out as follows: recognition of a Palestinian state being dead on arrival, the Palestinians continue to be persecuted not only in Gaza but also the West Bank and Israel proper, while Israel engorges itself on militarism and nationalism.

Heard of Alex Phillips? Neither had I, until last month when she popped up on the BBC calling for non-Christian faith schools and the burqa to be banned.

It has its own ground forces, navy and intelligence service and controls Iran’s arsenal of drones and missiles. Its Quds or “Jerusalem” Force is charged with spreading the revolution through war and indoctrination from Iraq to the Horn of Africa.

The closest I ever came to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was in the summer of 2009, during the Green Movement that brought millions of Iranians on to the streets to protest against a presidential election that had been rigged in favour of the Ayatollah’s preferred candidate.

In his fortified bunker, wherever that may be, in front of an institutional beige curtain, the old man with a black turban, diaphanous gown and a pink, rather sweet face did not hide his disappointment with Donald Trump.

It is safe to assume that over the years many Iranians, when passing the Tehran headquarters of the Islamic Republic’s broadcasting company, Sound and Vision, have found themselves muttering, “someone should drop a bomb on this place.”

“We’re living in a state of war now,” said a friend in the desert city of Kashan.

As climate change lengthens its stride, our response is becoming increasingly polarised.

The conditions necessary to negotiate a new nuclear deal and revive commercial ties between Iran and the US are in sight.

Freshly-shaved, in a pressed shirt and exhibiting the merest hint of a pot-belly from all those kebabs on the go, Ekrem İmamoğlu, the mayor of Istanbul, knotted his blue tie while standing in his dressing room at home.