S Sebag Montefiore
@simonmontefiore
Historian.The Cauldron: the Making of the Modern Middle East. CatherineII. StalinRedTsar. YgStalin. Jerusalem. Romanovs. TheWorld. Novelist: The Moscow Trilogy
21K Following 110.1K Followers
@OliverKamm A hard-left Labour MP threatened to sue me. Menacing letter from lawyers, demanding large damages. My lawyer told him, politely, to sod off. He did.🍆
Btw, I received much unsolicited advice along these lines from random accounts, some with real names. I’m grateful but my doubtless eccentric practice is always to ignore such counsel & pay commercial rates to solicitors qualified in the field. I find it more cost-effective.
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9/9 Ms Sultana’s views are ignorant but that isn’t impeachable. I hence drew attention to their connotations. I’m glad to have done so, and not backed down. The cause of liberalism, pluralism & secularism - of which the Jewish national ideal is part - is not one I’ll ever betray.
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8/9 If Hamas prevailed, the oppression of Palestinians would not end but radically intensify, while a new dark age for the Jews would begin. A ‘left’ that fails to see the evils of theocratic absolutism is no instrument for human liberation, but its enemy.
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Good for @OliverKamm for standing his ground.
A lawyer’s letter is not a judgment, and a threat of proceedings shouldn’t shut down legitimate criticism.
Free speech sometimes depends on people being prepared to defend their comments, and not being intimidated into a retraction.
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So glad to be talking with the brilliant @joshglancy @JW3London So much to discuss. Do join us
On Monday September 7, I'm interviewing the great @simonmontefiore about his new book on the making of the modern Middle East. Do come along!
@JW3London
1/9 In August 2025 Zarah Sultana MP tweeted she was ‘loudly & proudly’ anti-Zionist. I commented that she was, rather, an ‘evasive antisemite’. She replied: ‘Delete and apologise, otherwise you better lawyer up. Anti-Zionism is not antisemitism. The smears won’t work this time.’
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Reading about Robespierre, and his obsession with moral purity tests.
So glad those days are over!
Hamas is treated as 'an extra' on a film set, treated as a supposed symptom of the conflict & either excused or afforded token, minimal critique, when it needs to be considered as a primary antagonist in the entire movie, driving & escalating the conflict to prevent a resolution.
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An excellent evening listening to the great @simonmontefiore talk about his new book, The Cauldron: The Making Of The Modern Middle East.
As Palestinians, we are grateful to the Saudi Arabia for refusing to abandon Palestinian aspirations for statehood.
One of our greatest mistakes was allowing a terrorist organization like Hamas to hold our people and our national cause hostage to the agenda of the criminal Islamic Republic of Iran.
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Heading in to autumn read.
Reading a masterful work by @BrandtMarieke
@simonmontefiore @wnbooks So great to see that. Every manuscript I’ve ever finished looks very much like that. I buy #2# red pencils by the box to start the edit.
Looking forward to read The Cauldron.
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Sunday work in the mountains, reading @simonmontefiore's new book, ‘The Cauldron’, ahead of his upcoming appearance on our book panel at this year’s Money Maze Allocator Summit, joined by @RobinWigg & @CamCavendish for what promises to be a fascinating conversation.
Find out more about MMAS here:
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I’m always fascinated by different author’s process.
Mine is simple. Decide on the chapters. Do the reading on each chapter. As you’re doing this, map out the storyline and outline in your head. Write. Then repeat for next chapter. And write the introduction last.
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Do join us
On Monday September 7, I'm interviewing the great @simonmontefiore about his new book on the making of the modern Middle East. Do come along!
@JW3London
On Monday September 7, I'm interviewing the great @simonmontefiore about his new book on the making of the modern Middle East. Do come along!
@JW3London
@triggerpod @simonmontefiore One of your best ones, he should be a regular guest! Please bring him back soon
I found my new favorite bar in Glasgow, Scotland - The Last Bookstore 📚🍻
Might need to build something similar at home…
