Matt Frei
@mattfrei
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Now Channel 4 Presenter and Europe Editor. Author of Italy the Unfinished Revolution and Only in America. Still husband of 1 and father of 4.
Joined November 2009
If the government is now describing the 400 million quid owed to Tehran as a legitimate debt why could they not have done so five years ago and spared #NazaninZaghariRatcliffe all that time in jail?.
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Overheard in Berlin bakery: “Brexit is like a 97 year old royal behind the wheel. You know it’s a bad idea but are too polite to stop it.”.
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Dominic Cummings on eye sight is Prince Andrew on not sweating. .
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Message to Putin and co: you can no longer rule like Stalin and live like Abramovich.
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Joke making rounds: “Apparently @KwasiKwarteng had trouble getting a seat on the plane because no one wanted him near business OR economy.”.
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Some Tories are talking about @BorisJohnson as if he was an aberration foisted upon them. They made him. They own him.
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Italy records 368 new deaths in one day. Worse than the deadliest day in Wuhan.
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Lot of resentment in the gated community (Downing Street) that mostly junior and female staff have been handed fines from the Met. Not the bosses who called the shots to break the rules they had made. Will #SueGrayReport correct that?.
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The best scenario Russia can hope for is to the victors a landscape of rubble, a disobedient enraged Ukranian population, economic meltdown at home, pariah status abroad. A very hollow Greater Russia, relying -if lucky- on China. And then what?.
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The best thing the Met could/should have done tonight for some obvious reasons was to stay on the sidelines. Their heavy hand is astonishing.
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Just crossing the border from Ukraine to Poland. Hard to leave. Border v quiet compared to last week. But Russia bombing airfields not far from here. Queasy feeling this is just the end of the beginning.
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May is blaming the EU for tying HER hands in a backstop that she orig, requested to satisfy HER red lines. No wonder EU pulling hair out.
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Brexit was all about taking back control. Never has EU had more control than now. Revoking 50 gets it back without scorching economy.
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“I know the right hon gentleman rarely leaves north London.” @RishiSunak trying get @Keir_Starmer on metropolitan elitism, tricky one coming from an ex Goldman Sachs PM worth 730m.
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Looking forward to a few night’s sleep in my own bed without air raid sirens!.
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At least the anti growth coalition is growing. The BBC, North London, taxis, Extinction rebellion, Remainers, Starmer, podcasts, Sturgeon, Drakeford….who have we missed? Hints of Trump. Talk about your enemies more than your vision.
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Just when some have been saying that PSB is dying slowly, @Channel4News added on 24% more viewers from Jan to April and 44% in 16 to 32 year olds, more than any other broadcaster. Ukraine war, partygate, great story telling.
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It is absurd that we have Hungary in the EU, even though the just re-elected Orban mocks Brussles and Zelensky in his victory speech, while Ukraine’s membership is left at the door for now.
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I asked @BrunoLeMaire if @EmmanuelMacron will reset the relationship with @BorisJohnson and restore some cordial to the entente. “Not our priority” he said.
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Amazing story of Slavutych nr Chernobyl. Russian soldiers forced by unarmed crowd to hand over mayor they had kidnapped and then agree to leave city they had occupied. Civil resistance to Russian invaders is working in town after town. Russia can bomb from afar but can’t occupy.
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The IDF killed 7 aid workers in a 4 car convoy in pursuit of 1 possible armed man. This is the same army that boasts it uses precision strikes to target terrorists/protect civilians like no other force. After six months and 32K deaths, mostly civilians where is the precision?.
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Big question: why did govt abandon test, trace, isolate policy it had adopted at start and which has served South Korea and others so well?.
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Unbelievable that Vance can lecture Europe on democracy when his boss tried to overturn a result he didn’t like in 2020. Pot meet kettle!.
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The Prime Minister keeps changing her mind on Brexit. Are the people allowed to change theirs?.
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@BorisJohnson is the third Prime Minister to be brought down by @BorisJohnson. Best line of the week from Sunday Times.
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History shows that even If he wins tonight’s vote @BorisJohnson is wounded perhaps fatally. May and Thatcher both ended up resigning after “winning” their no confidence votes. Major ended up losing in landslide to Blair. These are the scenarios Tory MPs will weigh up tonight.
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I spent a career as a BBC corr telling people around the world that the Corporation was independent of govt control. But this Sharp/loan/Boris business really doesn’t help. It undermines the global footprint of one of the British institutions that still commanded respect abroad.
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The rising wave of industrial action has been triggered by inflation but it is often underpinned by moral outrage that the sacrifices during the pandemic have remained financially unrecognised. A clap is not enough. Compare that to the soldiers returning from WW2 demanding change.
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Do we believe @BorisJohnson when he claims he got 102 backers? Just asking. He blames the division of the party for being unable to govern when he helped to cause them.
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Just had it confirmed that @theresa_may was told by Jean Claude Juncker that EU wld NOT reopen WA BEFORE she told Commons that was her planB.
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Sr EU official asks me if we have become “a rogue state”? Others point out that trust is now shredded. If WA so bad why did UK ever sign it?.
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Britain on cusp of no deal Brexit and with EU pulling up draw bridges to keep new strain of Covid out: that island thing not working out.
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Why are London hospitals overflowing when we have all these nightingale hospitals? What happened to them? Beds but no staff?.
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National treasure/local hero @jonsnowC4 on Rugby Street. He has mastered the art of presenting and reporting from the field, from the studio, from the heart. A joy to work with and to watch. Thank you Jon
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In Brussles they are learning the name Mark Francois and scratching their head: “at least he didn’t go to Eton”, one official said.
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Why have we not heard a squeak from Bush, Biden, Pelosi and Obama?.
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The great thaw of March has begun in Ukraine creating fields of mud for heavy armour to get bogged down in. It’s called Rasputitsa! and apparently it’s not helping the Russian army. Go mud!.
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I spent five weeks in Israel unable to get into Gaza after Oct. 7th. Unlike previous conflicts there we were not allowed in even during the short ceasefire. Why? This needs to change. Please open the door so we can do our job.
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a man who was famous for neglecting his hair has elevated his hairdresser to the Order of the British Empire. sums it up.
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Put money on @BorisJohnson resigning before EU summit, get caretaker PM to ask for extension, play victim, hope to win election on outrage.
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It is sickening to hear that Russia is “graciously” allowing humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians from cities that wouldn’t need to leave if the Russians weren’t destroying their cities.
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Gutted to hear about the gutting of #newsnight. Its power was always the combination of strong films with robust interviews often around an Off Broadway take. I had the privilege of working for it while a BBC foreign correspondent. It was once considered the gold standard.
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Very excited to add to my existing roles on @Channel4News international presenter fronting the global stories which are such a hallmark of our coverage!.
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if the rage ever dies down here it is worth remembering John F Kennedy’s words, truer than ever: if you make peaceful revolution impossible you make violent revolution inevitable.
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Apologies to all my C4bosses and viewers. So exhausted long term memory kicking in on day of history. friendly ghosts of BBC past!x.
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The war started by Russia is presumably making them the money to fight the war by pushing up oil prices to historic highs. When will Western allies boycott Russia’s main export oil? It will hurt us at the pump. But hey….
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Hope I’m wrong but America is entering a dangerous/unprecedented phase: the outgoing govt. flatly refusing to concede. Playing with fire.
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GERMANY RE-ARMS, EUROPE RELIEVED! another headline you didn’t see coming!.
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waking to US am TV overflowing with earnest appeals to heal rifts and avoid the abyss of further violence. Not one mention on any station about the fact that 350m weapons of war in the hands of millions of private citizens, including the 20 year old shooter, might be a problem….
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It’s a joy to be back on @Channel4News three weeks to the day after my full knee replacement. I’m still taking it easy. Lots of physio and cooling. But the old bone on bone pain has gone. Phew.
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30c in the late morning, climate for better wine, 4 Prime Ministers in 6 years. We are becoming Italy….
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As a Wandsworth resident I can see why the Tory council lost after so many decades but….their efficiency on bins, street cleaning, potholes and all the local stuff that matters is almost Swiss. Plus low taxes….they must be furious with N10.
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I’m told many Tory (ex) ministers and MPs simply don’t trust @BorisJohnson to stay on as caretaker because he can’t be relied on to take care.
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Tonight we are live in Lviv at 5.45 for @Channel4News and then immediately afterwards my documentary on Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky, the actor who played a President before he became a real one and is now inspiring his country and the world.
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You just never know where tractors will lead you…they are devious machines hiding behind a plodding reputation. Victims of tractors already this year: 1) Russian army. 2) Neil Parish. Who next?.
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Orban is thumbing his nose at the EU, refuses to allow arms shipments to Ukraine and tramples on European values, while taking money from Brussels. Is he with the EU or against it? Time to decide. Surely.
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This is so very sad! George was a very rare journalist: a great reporter, a superb presenter and a wonderful colleague. A sharp eye with no need for sharp elbows. RIP.
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No hint of contrition from @BorisJohnson, blames the Tory herd and sounds as if he will cling on as caretaker PM. Credits the Darwinian system of leadership elections, which put him in N10 in 1st place. What goes around….
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Israeli govt spokesmen keep repeating the claim -even today- that no army has ever used so much care and precision to avoid civilian casualties”. On that….How many deaths of Palestinian aid workers, journalists, medics have been investigated? Where are the results?.
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Liz Cheney’s defeat in Wyoming and the abuse she has received from fellow Republicans, echoing Trump, shows how much the Grand Old Party has travelled away from the Constitution since Jan6. Power without principle.
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If DC vision was weird why did he drive for half an hour endangering his child?.
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Trump finally got his wall but it’s built around Capitol Hill and it’s designed to protect it from him and his supporters.
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The US is sending fewer much needed military supplies to #ukraine but delivered another full weapons package to Israel (cf. @washingtonpost) at the end of last week. Go figure. It should use its leverage to do more in one war and less in another.
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Italy is set to overtake China for #coronavirus deaths. WHO believes virus has entered healthcare system. Not testing NHS staff cld do same.
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Now driving on a very smooth Polish road, no doubt built with EU money, we have crossed from a country that is fighting to be in the West to one that has had -mostly- the benefits of that club for three decades: rule of law, prosperity, democracy. Challenged yes but still here.
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EU Commission contact: “why has @theresa_may attacked the very people she needs to persuade to pass her deal? Has she given up? Should we?”.
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If Putin wanted to resurrect the Soviet Union he has already achieved it in one sense: food queues appear to be back as sanctions bite. I wonder how that is going down? #backtotheUSSR.
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will be off the airwaves for a few weeks as I get a new knee. @Channel4News @LBC Hope to return to skipping or just walking without agony before too long. Any good book/streaming recommendations welcome. Or indeed post op advice from those of you who have been there/done that.
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King Charles will meet Zelenskyy tomorrow. Classy. He should have him stay in Windsor and eventually put Trump in the same room -or the smaller one next door.
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It’s the small detailed questions about wee stops, eyes sight, miles driven, petrol that make this so excruciating esp in absence of a sorry.
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Getting some distraction by watching a bit of the #CovidInquiry and Cummings testimony and wondering whether a swear jar could solve the national debt.
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If govt could organise a daily press briefing during Falklands War (which was not a matter of national survival) surely can do same now!.
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Confused after interview on @BBCRadio4 this morning. Is regulator @OfwatChiefExec working for us the consumer or the water company bosses? Hard to tell tbh.
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Driving through sunny Poland away from the Ukranian border I have a feeling -somewhere in the pit of stomach- that the war I have left is following on my heels. Or perhaps I just need breakfast….
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To avoid the difficult issue of new vaccine passports why not ask everyone to bring existing passport to second jab and get an NHS stamp?.
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Canada has just delivered a Love Actually moment at the ballot box in the unlikely form of @MarkJCarney Thank you @realDonaldTrump he really couldn’t have done it without you.
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Trump, who hates parting with cash, has been fined 350m USD in fraud case and barred from doing business in NY for three years. In the old days that alone would have been enough to sink a candidacy. But this is small potatoes cf his many other cases. The triumph of shamelessness.
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Big win for @EmmanuelMacron, European anthem underpinned the fact that it’s also big for Europe and Western values. Extreme right and Putin clear losers. And yet mood tonight at victory rally almost subdued. Can he unite France?.
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Cyprus in favour of blocking swift ban for Russia Cld be big deal since that’s where most of the Russian money is kept.
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In Warsaw, eating lunch in trendy relaxed packed restaurant. Everyone seems blissfully oblivious to the war next door. Wanna say….long may that continue.
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Mexico built a wall around their goal and Germany paid for it.
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Tory MPs used to love showing off that @BorisJohnson shredded the rules, defied convention and made his own. How’s that going now?.
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It’s almost over- the most jaw dropping comeback in history even though his supporters will say he never went away. For Trump vindication of 2020. convicted felon beats a former prosecutor. The gender divide worked: for men. An earthquake for America and Europe/beyond.
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Is @Nigel_Farage about to join the party that he helped so much to morph into his world view? I’m placing a small bet with myself.
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Happy 40th to @Channel4 and @Channel4News today. It’s been a joy and a privilege to work with so many amazing people on the best news programme in the UK. 40 is the perfect age. Still young yet wise….
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