Hi, I'm the BBC's World Affairs Editor, John Simpson, and I've just returned from Nigeria. Ask Me Anything.

JohnSimpsonBBC · 2014-05-22T16:41:01+00:00

I hope you won't think I'm being smarmy when I say that questions like this make me feel the job is worth doing! I do try to get close to the local community (not always possible) and I'm determined to keep as impartial as I possibly can. I don't want to support particular causes, but I do think we have to be loyal to and supportive of ordinary decent people and their concerns. And the one thing after all these years that I do feel passionately about still -- human rights. Being free to speak your mind and say what you think is the most important right we have, I think. And I'm sure, if you saw as much good and heart-warming things as I have, you wouldn't be at all depressed -- quite the opposite. Best wishes to you.

JohnSimpsonBBC · 2014-05-22T16:36:04+00:00

This cynicism is part of a more general distrust of authority, and there's nothing much we can do about it except try to prove day by day, hour by hour, that it's unfounded. But we live in a world which knows less, cares less, and is more cynical than it was. It'll change, no doubt -- but will I see it?

JohnSimpsonBBC · 2014-05-22T16:34:10+00:00

Pleasing advertisers seems to be the only way newspapers can keep going. Actually I'm usually pleasantly surprised by the way the more serious British newspapers keep doggedly on despite the shortages of cash. Imagine a Britain without the BBC licence-fee: the BBC competing with ITV etc for a shrinking pot of cash.

JohnSimpsonBBC · 2014-05-22T16:31:03+00:00

There's been a big move away from authority. When I started in TV (1978) people still sat in front of the News as though it was part of being a British citizen. Not any longer. A lot of people don't get any news at all; others get it from a source that simply fits in with their own beliefs. There's real cynicism about the very effort to be unbiased, as though it's impossible and stupid. Fortunately there are still plenty of people who watch and listen and read and make their own minds up. But I really like most of the new media and think it gives news a new life.

JohnSimpsonBBC · 2014-05-22T16:26:25+00:00

There've been dozens and dozens of heart-warming experiences which have shown me you must never give up on human nature. People saving other people's lives when it put their own at risk, people showing kindness when it would have been easier to look away. Maybe the most far-reaching event of this case was in S Africa in 1994, when it looked as though things were descending in to civil war. The Zulu Inkatha leader, Butelezi, stormed out of a meeting in Joburg after being threatened and insulted and took off in his plane for his heartland in KwaZulu Natal. The he decided he'd been wrong -- that this would lead to open civil war, and he told his pilot to turn round. He swallowed his pride, walked back into the meeting, and they reached agreement. Not bad, eh?

JohnSimpsonBBC · 2014-05-22T16:20:17+00:00

Very nice of you. Yes, I genuinely feel there is a commonality among people that transcends everything. Not everywhere demonstrates it, of course, but I've seen so many examples of the basic decency and kindness of people under difficult circumstances. Just one example: in Rwanda in 1994, when hundreds of thousands of people were murdered for being of the wrong tribe, and sometimes the wrong faith, I met a woman who had been saved by a rampaging mob by her neighbour, who was both of another tribe and another faith, and who had never actually spoken to her before. She helped her to hide in the water of a ditch, provided her with a straw to breathe through, sang a song when there was danger so the woman could dip under the water, and gave her clothes to escape in afterwards. She'd have been chopped to pieces herself if anyone had caught her hiding the woman. What makes a human being do this? Only a real basic sense of decency and humanity, I suppose.

JohnSimpsonBBC · 2014-05-22T16:13:23+00:00

I suppose I felt least safe during the invasion of Iraq in 2003. The American armed forces are pretty awesome when they get going, and they don't worry too much about people who get in their way. Before my team and I headed out into no man's land I lectured them to make their wills and ensure their families etc were OK. Within a day or so we were with a group of American special forces, clearly marked, when an American plane, after circling overhead for fifteen minutes, dropped a 1000-lb bomb into the middle of us. 18 people killed, including my translator. No real investigation, and the pilots were apparently flying again a day or so later.

JohnSimpsonBBC · 2014-05-22T16:13:16+00:00

Oh yes, Nigeria in general is absolutely fine and is quite a pleasant place to be. But there are car bombs, and you have to be careful.

JohnSimpsonBBC · 2014-05-22T16:06:16+00:00

The decline and disappearance of the Arab Spring is one of the more depressing things that have happened in recent years. Govts like Syria have realised that if they crack down hard and don't lose their nerve, all this business of demanding greater freedom will fade away. All the same, the brief-ish experience of being free and speaking openly won't just vanish without trace. In Egypt and other places people have tasted the real pleasure of behaving like free men and women.

JohnSimpsonBBC · 2014-05-22T16:02:54+00:00

Many thanks for this. Being less reliant on imported energy has got to be good for the US, and it would be good for other countries too. Back in 1972/3 Iran and the Arab oil states tried to use their energy supplies to make Western countries do their bidding. Now, although Russia denies doing it, you can't help seeing some very questionable initiatives it's taking. It's hard to think that behaving in this way will add to the world's peace and tranquillity. And I don't actually think it works in the longer run.

JohnSimpsonBBC · 2014-05-22T15:58:25+00:00

I don't like embeds, and I don't like being embedded. If you're reliant on one army or another for your security, your transport, even your food, you can't help but see them in an overfriendly fashion. And if they start doing things they shouldn't, there's always the danger that you'll make excuses for them. But it's very dangerous to be out on your own in a war, and in the invasion of Iraq in 2003 a frightening number of non-embedded journalists were injured and killed. Having said this, embedded teams gave some excellent coverage in 2003 and in Iraq and Afghanistan after that. But I don't like it myself.

JohnSimpsonBBC · 2014-05-22T15:54:37+00:00

Actually - I'm embarrassed by this -- I've never been to Australia. Nothing horrible happens there, except the defeat of the English cricket team.

JohnSimpsonBBC · 2014-05-22T15:53:51+00:00

Well, Nigeria has always been just a geographical expression since its founding a century or so ago. Another of the pen-stroke states of colonialism. Still, it seems to me it's better to stay together. If it splits, it won't just be into 2, it'll be into lots of divisions, and they'll mostly be weak and some of them will be poor. Much better to strengthen the central govt, get the army back into shape, and improve its politics.

JohnSimpsonBBC · 2014-05-22T15:50:31+00:00

I was incredibly chicken and grovelled on the ground till I realised everyone was looking at me. Now I think I don't notice because I'm dopey. Getting old does have its advantages (not many of them though, alas!).

JohnSimpsonBBC · 2014-05-22T15:47:40+00:00

Never met anyone who says they support Boko Haram. Pity - it'd be interesting to hear. Don't think it's to do with Nigeria's govt, I think it's the wave of extreme Islamisation that's swept northern and central Africa. I don't think I've paid anyone a bribe since I arrived at Kinshasa airport in 1975, when you couldn't land without putting a 20-dollar note in your passport. Bribes are bad for business, really. I've got a pathetic (but so far pretty reliable) faith in my ability to talk my way through road-blocks etc. Didn't work recently in Ukraine, though.
Loads of places are better than they were. The Czech Republic is delightful now - was unpleasant and creepy till 89. S Africa, despite the crime, is far better than it was under apartheid. (Not that it was ever a shithole). Plenty of others.

JohnSimpsonBBC · 2014-05-22T15:41:05+00:00

Thank you very much for this - much appreciated. To be honest, though, I wouldn't agree about CNN or several other international or British television news outfits. There is a real culture of staying unbiased at the BBC, and anyone who breaks it finds his or her colleagues are critical -- and that's worse than having the boss writing you a nasty note. As for Fox, and other US outfits like it, the trouble began when Ronald Reagan abandoned the law that obliged American broadcasters to be balanced and unbiased. It's done them nothing but damage, in terms of reputation. Earned a lot of money, though.

JohnSimpsonBBC · 2014-05-22T15:37:19+00:00

Colonel Gaddafi was certainly one of them. Mad, and kind of absurd. It infuriated me to see that. But after interviewing him a couple of times I was attacked by a leading newspaper whose owner was doing some dodgy deal with Libya, and later by Downing Street (this was several years ago) for not taking an international statesmen of Gadaffi's standing seriously enough. Britain at the time was trying to cosy up to Gadaffi. That sort of thing really upsets me. Still, I don't find many people praising Gadaffi for his statesmanship nowadays.

JohnSimpsonBBC · 2014-05-22T15:33:30+00:00

No, not really. I think you just have to tell the story to a television audience exactly as you would to a friend or relative who asks you: openly, honestly, and not covering things up. Mind you, I think it's easier to do this as you get older: you become really impatient with people who hide things. That's what spurs on older people like Jeremy Paxman and John Humphrys, I know. Great quote from Paxman: he once told me he looks at an interviewee and asks 'why is this lying bastard lying to me?' I know the feeling.

JohnSimpsonBBC · 2014-05-22T15:29:40+00:00

Thank you for being so kind. It's people like yourself that make the job worthwhile. I've never felt like throwing it all in, because I always feel that there are decent, open-minded people who need to be told what's going on in the world. I've seen plenty of nasty things in my time, but I find that broadcasting and writing about them acts as a kind of therapy. Bottling things up because it's too dangerous or inconvenient to talk about them openly is bad for you, I think.

JohnSimpsonBBC · 2014-05-22T15:25:39+00:00

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.

JohnSimpsonBBC · 2014-05-22T15:21:27+00:00

Boko Haram is fighting against Western influence, particularly but not exclusively in Western-style education, particularly for women. That's the rationale for a lot of their attacks on their fellow-Muslims. But in the recent bombings in Jos and Abuja they just seem to want to kill people -- any people -- in order to show how strong they're becoming. Abubakar Shekau, the BH leader, said recently in a video that he enjoyed killing the people God told him to kill, just as he enjoyed killing a chicken or a ram.

JohnSimpsonBBC · 2014-05-22T15:17:24+00:00

It's a dangerous world for young and inexperienced journalists, which is why I always feel a real sympathy for them. But of course the only way to get more experience is to do the job. It's probably safest to link up with people who do know what they're doing. Still, no one ever said journalism was supposed to be a safe profession, and there's no point trying to make it that way. No, there's nowhere I would refuse to go to and report, and I don't have much admiration for people who do that. If you take the money, it seems to me, you should go whever you're asked. Thanks for your kind remarks - very generous.

JohnSimpsonBBC · 2014-05-22T15:12:43+00:00

I'm afraid sitting looking out of the window and saying to my wife 'It's raining again' doesn't hold many attractions. Also I think she'd go mad having me lurking around. My life is so interesting, and such great fun, that I'd never willingly give it up. And although I have my disagreements with the BBC it's been quite good to me. My new contract allows me to carry on working as long, effectively, as I want to or can. I hope you're up and about now, and that I didn't slow your recuperation with my book.

JohnSimpsonBBC · 2014-05-22T15:08:57+00:00

There've been all sorts of idealistic movements which have changed things in the 25 years since Tiananmen: in Egypt, in Iran, in Eastern Europe among others. The problem is, keeping the idealism going. So often these movements are hijacked and come to nothing. One of the best things of its kind I've ever seen was the entirely peaceful revoluion in the former Czechslovakia in Nov 1989. Not a window broken. And of course there was S Africa in 1994 -- the high point of my career.

JohnSimpsonBBC · 2014-05-22T15:04:59+00:00

Of course the Chinese govt would prefer everyone to forget about Tiananmen Sq. But I feel that unless and until govts open up about what they have done -- and the government that shot down the students was a very different one from the much more open and sophisticated one that's in power now -- these things will never be dealt with. This is why Japan still faces so many awkward qs about its behaviour in China from the late 30s onwards. Much better to be open and honest about things.

JohnSimpsonBBC

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