The immortality bit at the tank show

Spectator Australia · David Flint · Sunday 26 April 2026

The immortality bit at the tank show

Flint's reading prophecy into a hot-mic moment between Putin and Xi about living to 150 — autocrats talking nonsense at parades is the oldest show in the catalogue.

Putin and Xi muttering on a parade ground about living to 150 and the Spectator's treating it like Yalta. Two ageing autocrats doing the immortality bit at a tank show isn't a Bond villain plot — it's the standard delusion of men who've been told 'yes' for too long. Talleyrand would've been bored by lunch.

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