has spotted a BBC interviewer (John Pienaar) apparently comparing the Coalition in the recent Iraq war to the Nazis.
To be fair, if Pienaar really has read Anne Frank, he might have intended a more subtle and accurate comparison. I haven’t a copy to hand, but in her diary Anne Frank several times expresses her support and admiration for the Allied bomber crews – even though she was at risk of being bombed herself. So Pienaar might have meant to equate the citizens of Baghdad hiding in cellars from American planes dropping bombs, all the while praying for the bombers to be victorious so that the tyrant Saddam will be overthrown, to the citizens of Amsterdam hiding in cellars (or attics in Anne Frank’s case) from American planes dropping bombs, all the while praying for the bombers to be victorious so that the tyrant Hitler will be overthrown.
He might have meant that.
John Pienaar used to work as a political correspondent for The Independent.
Start the Week 2nd November 2026
And I still take about five hours or more to do the Telegraph Crossword! I’m still working my way through…