Slightly More Than Forty-Five Minutes From Doom

Adam Werritty's successor in the Ministry of War has been having a bit of a foam about Iran. Insisting that he wished no harm to the Iranian people, Philip Hammond promptly announced his intention to increase the harm being done to the Iranian people. The present sanctions are to be made even harsher, in the hope that dissent on the streets of Tehran will persuade the mad mullahs to change direction; evidently Philip Hammond believes the régime in Iran is a bit more sensitive to public opinion than his riot-defying colleagues in the Cabinet. Speaking at a blather-in at Birmingham, Hammond observed that the Iranian government's "professed position is that they're enriching uranium for peaceful purposes. Nobody believes them", except for notorious multiculturalist milksops like the American intelligence services and one or two Israeli military commanders, among others. Still, Hammond did make clear that the aim so far is not régime change; the Bullingdon Club is almost certainly stupid enough to start a war with Iran, but in these austere days even so basic and instinctive a Conservative activity as wog-bombing must await its proper time.