The risk we won’t see fair and free midterm elections is significant. And I am not sure Europe is ready for that. www.bbc.com/news/article...

Normalising insider trading. www.bbc.com/news/article...

Gleichschaltung of foreign journalists: the US limits visas of journalists to 240 days. Extendable, but media organizations fear pressure to report in line with Trump‘s wishes. www.spiegel.de/ausland/usa-...

The final will be adidas v adidas, match for third Nike v Nike.

Shoot. Both of my semifinal predictions were wrong.

The commentator of RAI will get a heart attack.

Helpful factoid to understand the US: both sides feel panic that they are losing democracy. However much we only sympathise with one of them.

When the market takes over. Ad breaks. Halftime shows. Infantini will change soccer. And yes, it‘s soccer now. Just be glad that he does not allow occasional handballs and full body tackles to make the game sell in the US.

Both semifinals are Adidas v Nike.

So it seems we are now working on a toll for the strait of Hormuz that may not be compulory, but must be paid by everyone, and that is not even Iran's proposal, but Oman's? What an utter disaster... www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j...

It would appear that we already have a perfectly suitable word for ‚liberal‘. ‚Liberal‘. No need to redefine establishment. And quite frankly, someone who was a member of various parliaments since 1999 holds a position of public influence.

Is it really fringe now in the UK to dislike it when a police officer calls a victim of domestic violence slag? Is it fringe to worry about discrimination of minorities - and mainstream consensus to think white men are most commonly discriminated? /1

The French National Assembly just passed a presumption of legitimate use of their weapons by police officers in its first reading. Here‘s the text. www.assemblee-nationale.fr/dyn/17/texte...

Count Binface and Lord Buckethead - the backstory.

Trump has reduced the presidency and its power to shape the world through its wishes to such an extent that Spain's response to an announcement of a full trade embargo by the world's most powerful state is "We note that statement with calm and normality." elpais.com/espana/2026-...

We‘re back to the people v the establishment. The self-proclaimed candidate for the people is a multi-millionaire who went to a public school that costs more than 10000 pounds per term and has been a full-time politician since 1999.

The Chairperson of the FIFA disciplinary committee published a statement. Peculiarly, it fails to make an argument and could be summarised as ‚we could have done worse and that would have been legal, too‘. media.fifa.com/en/tournamen...

If you want to know what the FIFA rules actually say, follow the intricacies of sports law with @timoconnorbl.bsky.social .

And... here's the confirmation of what everyone has long suspected: the back and forth of Trump's tariffs announcements becomes very rational if you figure in that he personally profited...

After EU lawyers suffered through Brexit, WTO lawyers through the demise of the AB and so much else, international lawyer through "I don't need international law", constitutional lawyers through whatever Scotus is doing - it is now the term for sports lawyers to experience a nervous breakdown.

Truth social is an ongoing demonstration of why politicians should not use social media. How exactly is Meloni supposed to react to this? And does that help the US? In any way?

On my timeline I have seen suggestions that FIFA might have acted in an ethically dubious way. I am shocked, SHOCKED at the insinuation the organisation that awards the highly esteemed FIFA peace prize might not always maintain the highest ethical standards.

Penalty for Brazil? Of course, we don’t know if that stands after King Harald calls.

The objective of FIFA is to make money. The goal of this world cup was to establish football in the US.

AI firms are now destroying our cultural heritage: they are buying massive amounts of used books, scanning them in likely violation of copyright laws, training their models and destroying the books. www.tagesschau.de/kultur/ki-fi...

If France loses this Germany‘s end of the world ‚we have to fire everybody and start from scratch‘ approach looks quite silly

The rise of the shadow docket

Some reporting on the UK being rebuffed trying to negotiate a decision-making role in the EU. Sadly the reportinglacks some specificity. Happy for someone with additional knowledge to chime in. What’s the issue? /1 www.luxtimes.lu/europeanunio...

Trump‘s surprise guest at the 250 year celebration: climate change. edition.cnn.com/2026/07/03/w...

As studies on the US-UK drug deal are published, the public becomes more aware of the tradeoff at issue here: more money on drugs, NICE subjected to political commands, less money for services or higher costs BUT avoid tariffs on UK->US pharma exports /1 www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

At some point, standing up to Trump might become unavoidable www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j...

Some good news: a former refugee from Somalia who made Bristol his home 15 years ago, studied in the U.K. and represents his ward since 2021, pushing for improving local conditions, now fills the ceremonial role of Lord Mayor of Bristol.

‚AI will resolve climate change‘ - reality check.

John Oliver takes on redistricting - and it is as horrifying as you‘d think youtu.be/x9U71_dAEC8?...

I disagree - and think it is sufficiently import to make this point. We should live in a world where people can trust the word of politicians in high office. We should not normalise the fact that they absolutely cannot do so /1

Denmark, once a solid US ally whose soldiers died in a US war, sent body bags to Greenland. That should tell you all You need to know.

Oh FFS

Because we all deserve a break from the insanity of current politics and law, some world cup fan insanity. Of course, first of all - the Tartan army. youtu.be/ogfgoIVgppo?... /1

Trump‘s fallout with Meloni in selfiegate continues. Italian ministers will not participate in July 4th celebrations. Meloni: ‚My popularity is none of your concern. I suggest you focus on yours.‘ www.rainews.it/articoli/202...

Well worth your time because we all loose track of the enormity and number of the scandals we are facing youtu.be/ndkFtUKLNZY?...

A test case: do we allow the US to coerce us into changing our health care systems. Trump did force the UK to change NICE, will he manage to do the same with Germany?

It is good to see that even conservative and populist governments have a red line towards Trump. Admittedly mine would have been breaking international law, not where I send my kids to study or whether I beg for a photo.

Trump has reached the limits of Meloni‘s patience and she calls him out for making stuff up x.com/GiorgiaMelon...

And Northern Ireland?

Defending a monopoly at all cost.

The fact that Trump thinks the US can negotiate for everyone else coming back to haunt him.

Exc: First Government department quits Twitter over racism and violence concerns Richard Hermer sent a directive to staff last week saying the Attorney General's Office would be coming off the platform observer.co.uk/news/politic...

The US-Iran memo - official version www.politico.com/f/?id=000001...

Who has ever thought of Davos as "woke"? www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

Given the authors, this will be a must read.