Trump deserves praise for Gaza - if he sees it through

Go to Kosovo today, and among men in their mid-twenties you will find a disproportionate number of them named Tonibler.

- JON SOPEL

It isn’t a traditional Slavic name, but after the vital role that Tony Blair played in prosecuting the war against the Yugoslav leader, Slobodan Milosevic, in 1999, a new generation was called “Tonibler”.

What chance is there that a new generation of children born in Gaza and Israel in the next few months and years will bear that most un-Levantine name, “Donald”?

I can think of one person who would feel the warmest of warm glows if that were to come to pass. And let's give Donald Trump his due: his unconventional methods of diplomacy, his force of personality, his browbeating of Bibi Netanyahu have got us to the point where we are today - where, please God, the last remaining hostages so cruelly taken by Hamas on October 7 are released, and the merciless bombardment of Gaza ceases.

Donald Trump is having a lovely, warm, soapy bask in the narrative that he is the peacemaker and deal-maker extraordinaire. Speaking to the media on Thursday, he was heaping praise on the journalists who had spent the day heaping praise on this breakthrough - that must have been very destabilising for the reporters in the room, who are much more used to hearing from him that they are creating fake news and are enemies of the people.