JohnSimpsonBBC

Well, there are about a fifth of the number of wars there were in 1966, when I started with the Beeb, and far fewer people were educated. Fewer could feed themselves. Countries didn't co-operate nearly so much. So things are actively better nowadays. But it's hard to persuade anyone of that!

I've got a lot of respect for most of the news organisations around -- as long as they don't take their instructions from governments! There are big advantages in working for the BBC: it's got a good reputation around the world, and it's serious about covering real news, not just celeb stuff. And in 48 years of working for it, I've never been told, or even had a hint, that I ought to change my reporting for political reasons. That's worth a great deal.

Lovely question. I'd tell my younger self what my main professional lesson has been - don't give up too soon, don't back away before you have to, grit your teeth and keep on going even when things get dodgy. They're never as dodgy as you think.

I think the best way for any government to make its peace with what it has done is to be honest about it. I went to Fallujah a few years ago and saw the aftermath there -- terrible high degree of birth defects. The only way to come to terms with this sort of thing is to be open about it. It doesn't actually help govts in the long run to try to hush things up. It just makes people cynical.

Hello it's John here - I'm all ready to answer your questions and comments, so why don't we get started?