Usa

Rufus Sewell's turn in Josie Rourke's production of Patrick Marber's Closer at the Donmar Warehouse has won rave reviews. Still, the A Knight's Tale actor confides to Mr S that not everyone has been so enamoured by the play, which examines the cruelty of modern relationships. 'We had a performance on Valentine's Day which probably wasn't the most romantic thing for an audience to watch. A lot of people come to the show not realising what the play is really about, the other night I overheard a couple who had been on a first date and as they were leaving one said [of the play] "it's just so embarrassing".' Not that ticket sales have taken a hit, with the run nearly sold out.

Conventional wisdom suggests that Islamic State and its affiliates have mastered social media. Yet the group's real talent lies in dominating the traditional media cycle and using sensational violence to goad its enemies into overreactions. Hours after Isis released one of its more gruesome videos showing the beheading of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians on the shores of Sirte, Egyptian fighter jets pummelled several Isis targets in Derna. The Egyptians claim to be fighting the terrorists by propping up General Khalifa Haftar’s anti-Islamist Operation Dignity. However, if the Egyptians want a UN-resolution authorising international military intervention in Libya, this must be resisted.

Haggis was on the menu at the Tories' Black and White Ball on Monday, and now it's on the political agenda too. In an otherwise dry speech on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership at the Institute of Directors this morning, Conservative Party Chairman Grant Shapps threw his weight behind Mr Steerpike's campaign to have the US import ban on haggis overturned: 'It is quite literally a criminal offence, for a British farmer to sell certain products to the largest economy on Earth, even if American diners want to enjoy these dishes. President Obama - whose family tree is said to go all the way back to a 12th-century king of Scotland - has never in his life been able to buy an authentic Scottish haggis for his family, not even on Burns night.

The suggestion Mitt Romney might make another run for the Presidency of the United States made me think of a line from one of my father's novels: 'There's nothing so sad as the memory of lost fucks.'  There's a measure of wistful sadness but also some wry resignation. The obvious reaction is that, hey Mittens, third time ain't no charm. Because that's the way it's supposed to work these days. You're supposed to accept being beaten, supposed to retire gracefully from the fray, supposed to recognise it's someone else's turn. This ain't Richard Nixon's America and it's not Ronald Reagan's either. And yet, in one sense, why should Romney accept it is someone else's turn? It is not as though the Republican party is over-freighted with stars likely to defeat Hillary Clinton.

There was a certain irony to the news that @CENTCOM had been hacked yesterday afternoon. While President Obama was giving a speech on cybersecurity, the U.S. Central Command Twitter account was spouting pro-Isis propaganda. Nothing new here, though. Since day one, Isis have used the internet to threaten the West and in particular American soldiers. During a few days in August last year, my research group tracked eighty thousand tweets sent using the hashtag #AMessageFromISIStoUS from Isis sympathisers. Many of them contained grisly threats: images of US casualties and coffins with warnings not to interfere in the affairs of the Caliphate. Cyber-jihad is a natural evolution of terrorism. Islamic State seem to have caught the world unawares by their use of the internet.