There is no serious ground operation that can be completed in 2-3 weeks. The president may be lying as part of a deception effort, but would be unusual to do this to US audience from Oval Office. Reinforces my view that ambitious ground op is unlikely. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Interesting contention. "Without deeper engagement with the EU, NATO lacks access to the financial, regulatory and industrial tools that are increasingly essential for developing Europe’s conventional military capabilities" hcss.nl/wp-content/u...

Why @economyofhope.bsky.social? Because that's what Maynard Keynes offered the world in 1936. And there's no other economics worth considering.

A little positivity goes a long way …

The irony is that a large number of Americans who stayed at home or voted for Jill Stein did so because they could not bring themselves to support the “genocide” supporting Harris. Now they have a man who wants to turn Gaza into a beach resort and is waging illegal wars. Lesson to be learnt.

Crusader rhetoric from the Pentagon. Just when I thought nothing could possibly surprise me from this administration … I wonder how America’s Arab allies will respond to this language.

The bombing will continue until morale improves …

On the coherence of US grand strategy, President Trump yesterday: “… heavy and pinpoint bombing … will continue, uninterrupted throughout the week or, as long as necessary to achieve our objective of PEACE THROUGHOUT THE MIDDLE EAST AND, INDEED, THE WORLD”. Oh dear …

A major report led by @alisonphipps.bsky.social calls for a renewed national commitment to supporting multilingualism as a core pillar of integration, education, and community wellbeing. It was launched at the @royalsoced.bsky.social New Scots Language Taster day. Read more: gla.ac/4tPdjFJ

Good thread

It is interesting to reflect on this superbly researched article by Guardian journalists in light of concepts and issues drawn from the historical study of intelligence. ://www.theguardian.com/world/ng-interactive/2026/feb/20/a-war-foretold-cia-mi6-putin-ukraine-plans-russia?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

For months I have been reading interviews and op-eds by prominent American pundits and veterans of the US foreign policy and security community. I’m always struck by a lack of understanding of the damage that has been done to the transatlantic alliance. podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/b...

This is a classic example of British reluctance to take the France fully seriously. Why is it so hard to give credit to France’s leadership for correctly identifying the crisis facing NATO in the late 2010s? The author, @spignal.bsky.social, ought really to know better.

Some geographical perspective on the war in Ukraine for Americans who do not understand why Europe feels threatened. If Los Angeles was Paris, the front would be in Tennessee.

❗️ ICYMI: read Dr Elisabeth Loose's latest research blog exploring if the UK is in fact as polarised as it is perceived to be. #Polarisation @uofgsocsci.bsky.social @uofgsps.bsky.social

NEW WORDS The trade deadline has come and gone which has me wondering...what does that mean for the Eastern Conference? sports.yahoo.com/nba/article/...

Just checking assumptions on the China domination theory... it will just make more and more in its own economy and therefore every other country's industry will be ruined? That doesn't hold up to much scrutiny. More selective? China dominating EVs? Then why not safeguards until technology transfer

"Quousque tandem abutere, Catilina, patientia nostra?" “For how long, Catiline, will you abuse our patience?"

✅ Clarkson is right, people aren’t voting Reform for policies 👉there aren’t any. It’s a protest vote powered by nostalgia not a plan for future. Reform use farming as a prop. Their real plan is USA trade deal, hormone-treated imports and they’ve appointed Ben Goldsmith 🔗 archive.ph/2026.01.31-0...

A very timely workshop well worth attending.

@uniofaberdeen.bsky.social and @scga.bsky.social Mis/Disinformation in Scotland workshop series explores the extent to which mis- and #disinformation affect Scottish politics.https://scga.scot/2026/01/29/the-state-of-the-world-mis-disinformation-in-scotland/

“Opting to Change? British Defence Policy & the End of the Cold War, 1986-1991”. Join us this afternoon, Thursday 29 Jan, 5.15pm, in the Humanities Research Hub, 1 University Gardens, to hear Prof Huw Bennett's insights. Photo of HMS Ark Royal, 'Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums'.

Il salit même la paix. Mes quelques mots dans Le Devoir : www.ledevoir.com/opinion/libr...

Happy Burns Night ✨️ We asked the Director of the Centre for Robert Burns Studies (@glasgowburns.bsky.social | @uofgnews.bsky.social ) Professor @paulinemackay.bsky.social & Research Associate Dr @drcleoocy.bsky.social two fun facts about Burns Supper Watch the video on our instagram 👇

👏🏻🇬🇧🇪🇺

Still no comment added on this Telegraph news story from UK government or Jewish leadership in Britain on Robert Gerson’s incendiary and fearmongering views about not just the safety, but the very future of Jews in the UK. Does the Telegraph endorse Gerson’s views?

Does this mean that 29% of Americans actually believe that the use of forced to acquire Greenland would be a good thing?!?

A headline for the ages www.politico.eu/article/fran...

US Department of Labour celebrates a proxy army funded and equipped by France

“Buy our home security package named after someone who was utterly destroyed by a back door break-in he didn’t see coming because he was focused solely on the front door.”

I love the fact that pretty much the only group of Leavers who actually got the benefit they wanted out of Brexit are the one third of ethnic minorities who voted Leave because they wanted more Commonwealth migration.

Meanwhile in 🇬🇧 - very telling that the war analyst most often 🎯 about progress of Russia's genocide war & behaviour of Putin's proxy regime in Rusamerica also most eager to fess up where he was wrong. If only NYT had same capacity for self-correction... 👇

“This is my last territorial demand in Europe”. Adolph Hitler, October 1938

Delighted *Entangled Alliances* @cornellupress.bsky.social is sharing company with excellent works by Thomas Gidney, Eric H. Cline & @magslong.bsky.social in @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social's collection of New Books in Diplomatic History. 📚 open.spotify.com/show/0MIbXiv...

How do these people keep a straight face when listening to this arrant nonsense?

Great piece!

It was 22 years ago that I unmasked the highest placed spy for British military intelligence inside the IRA This week, the British state tried to say it was all over It’s not. Justice will remain denied until the army is forced to reveal exactly what it did My story in @heraldscotland.bsky.social

I can’t help thinking that the Trump administration’s line on immigration in Europe is actually an attempt to boost the fortunes of the anti-immigrant, right wing nationalist parties, most of which are closely allied to the MAGA movement.

Is the tide turning? New post on my Brexit & Brexitism Blog. Renewed talk of a customs union may well come to nothing, but rapidly changing geo-politics mean the UK needs urgently to face up to the failure of the entire Brexit ‘strategy’: chrisgreybrexitblog.blogspot.com/2025/12/is-t...

I can’t help thinking that the Trump administration’s line on immigration in Europe is actually an attempt to boost the fortunes of the anti-immigrant, right wing nationalist parties, most of which are closely allied to the MAGA movement, that hopes will come to power.

This is a well-informed and clearly framed reminder that the UK will not find it easy to negotiate a reset with the EU on its own terms.

Swedish Deputy PM: Sweden needs to pick its friends wisely, and we are choosing Canada… So when we come to America, we come to Canada now.

Border wars: a football match in 1599 between men of Bewcastle, England, and Armstrongs of Whithaugh, Scotland, was followed by ‘drynkyng hard’. Final score was two dead, 30 taken prisoner ‘and many sore hurt, especially John Whytfeild, whose bowells came out, but are sowed up againe’.

Link to further details & to sign up for this seminar is below. The picture in the previous post is the cover of Prof Anna Feigenbaum's book - "Tear Gas: From the Battlefields of World War I to the Streets of Today". #WarStudies @uofgsocsci.bsky.social www.tickettailor.com/events/scott...

“When I was [at the BBC], at the height of Boris Johnson’s strength, that fear was ubiquitous. Scripts were sometimes written with a view not solely to their impartiality or truth, but the management of perception of impartiality from one side of the spectrum.“ @lewisgoodall.com