More4 News Blog

Nomail: Jon Snow lodges at the blog

The Channel 4 News website is taking some time out this weekend. So for one day only, Snowmail appears live and exclusively on the More News blog. Over to Jon. Enjoy.

Just when you think they’ve managed to get the roof on the house, all the walls fall down. Yes, you may have thought the Labour party had sorted out its embarrassing conflict about how to get rid of Tony Blair. But today up pops the formidable Charles Clarke, former home secretary, telling the prime minister in waiting Gordon Brown that he’s stupid.

Absolutely stupid for not condemning the people who triggered the crisis in the first place. And now other ministers have popped up to condemn Charles Clarke.

It’s an interesting tactic from Mr Clarke, either he never wants to be in cabinet again or he thinks that the only way Brown will be able to construct an eclectic will be to have a notorious rebel in its midst, i.e. as of today, Charles Clarke.

Backdoor diplomacy in Tehran, Baghdad and London

Jon Snow thinks back to his visit to Tehran in March. He had a meeting with a mysterious 'Mr Jafri', a man incredibly high up in the National Security Council, the second highest office in the land.

This mysterious gentlemen seemed to be offering something of an olive branch to the US, or at least a chance to discuss how deal with the increasing strife between Shias and Sunnis in Iraq.

History doesn't relate what happened the offer at that date. But Jon Snow learns that Mr Jafri is in London. Are there some back door negotiations going on? About Lebanon, Iraq, or both?

And what would happen if they tried front door negotiations?

Listen to Snowmail now or sign up here to receive Snowmail on More4 every week

Everyday life in Israel

Jon Snow is in Israel, talking to ordinary people about the war.

From the Israeli troops in Humvees in Ramallah on the West Bank, to students in Jerusalem's Hebrew University, to a bomb shelter in Haifa, he hears a diversity of opinion, but similar experiences.

The Israelis in the bomb shelter have the same look of weary resignation as the Palestinians stuck at the illegal roadblock on the West Bank.

But where, in all this, are the Western Powers?

Listen to Snowmail now or sign up here to receive Snowmail on More4 every week

A hectic day in the newsroom

So much for the silly season - this July is anything but quiet. In his latest Snowmail, Jon Snow reports on a particularly hectic day in the newsroom.

Zinedine Zidane will declare why he butted Marco Materazzi while the show is on the air. War is erupting across the Middle East, while our correspondent in Mumbai has an impressive report on the aftermath of the train bombings there.

What will make the lead package? When Zizou is involved, it's never what you expect.

Listen to Snowmail now or sign up here to receive Snowmail on More4 every week

The tale of the Welshman's prostate

Jon Snow travels to Wales this week, to meet a prostate cancer suffer who has fallen foul of the mysteries of NHS funding.

His doctor recommended Brachytherapy, a one-day treatment with few known side effects. But the Welsh health commission has ceased funding it. Watch the video to hear what he did next...

Listen to Jon's podcast here. Or sign up to receive it every week.

Taliban: back and better armed

Last Sunday I found myself sitting at lunch next to a very senior retired British general, notes Jon Snow in this week's Snowmail podcast.

This chap had very current connections right inside the leadership of those British forces deployed abroad. And whilst this particular old general had misgivings about the current worsening of security in Southern Iraq his primary anxiety resided in the Helmand province of Afghanistan.

He told me that the present military leadership there is very far from happy with current events. Troop numbers are alarmingly small, he said - 1,600 fighting troops out of a total force of just over 3,000. And equipment? Not enough, not heavily armoured enough...

Listen to Jon's podcast here. Or sign up to receive it every week.

The long wait for Hugo Chavez

To some he's the leader of a new anti-imperialist revolution, to other's he's an oppressive pariah. But one thing is certain about Hugo Chavez - He loves talking.

Jon Snow knew something would be up when he joined the bandanas and straggly grey beards at Camden Town Hall for the Venezuelan president's public address.

Four hours of stories, songs and stinging rhetoric later, he knew that the next day's interview wouldn't go to plan.

He explains what happened in this week's Snowmail. Online here.