Is talking to Putin pointless? We have a new report out mapping the 2025 peace talks and highlighting how Ukraine has successfully utilised them to make progress on some of its own demands, especially in relation to captive held hostage by Russia /1 peacerep.org/publication/...

It's obviously true unless something unexpected happens, but a) the incumbent government needs to actually have *delivered for its coalition* to lead a republican front b) the leader needs to be a plausible leader of it and c) they do need to actually be able to say 'Vichy was bad'.

I'll have more to say on Reform's proposals to scrap ILR at some point but for now I'll just note this - anyone telling you this is a popular idea doesn't know the polling. Overwhelming majority of public back giving people who work and pay taxes most or all rights after 5 years or less

Hilarious response in the @telegraphnews.bsky.social to this video, riddled with inaccuracies (whoever said anything about death squads?!) I’ve submitted a complaint about falsehoods & requested an op-Ed for right of reply - which was, of course, not offered to me in advance of publication🤷‍♀️

After the largest far right-led demonstration in British history, donate to my brilliant friends at the @ukstoptrump.bsky.social who are organising the resistance to this spiralling horror. stoptrump.org.uk/donate/

This is hugely problematic. The overwhelming majority in the UK reject the far right yet our views aren‘t being properly articulated in the public sphere: the papers largely support it, the BBC is a mix of supportive & supine, the government simply absent

Yesterday, the largest far-right protest in UK history marched through London, led by racist Tommy Robinson. Today, we say: They don’t speak for us — and they won’t have the last word. This Wednesday we come together against Trump and for a better future. Do everything to be there.

This was Conor Gearty only a week or so ago at @prospectmagazine.co.uk on ECHR withdrawal and the Palestine Action ban.

Awful news about the death of the great Conor Gearty. Perhaps the kindest and most encouraging law professor imaginable. A dreadful loss to the study of civil liberties and constitutional law.

🎺🎺ANNOUNCING: Your host for the Trump Not Welcome protest - Nish Kumar!! From @podsavetheuk.crooked.com 😎😎 Join us & Nish on Wednesday 17th at 2pm at Portland Place!

I've been thinking about Habermas' definition of a crisis for a little while now - and prompted to blog about it in respond to @adamtooze.bsky.social's two latest pieces, questioning whether the polycrisis really works as a reading of the conjuncture of 2025 /1 blogs.lse.ac.uk/crp/2025/09/...

Missed our event on resisting the rise of fascism? Watch the recording here. Co-organised with @ukstoptrump.bsky.social @manifestodilondra.bsky.social With @lukecooper100.bsky.social @seemasyeda.bsky.social @judith-levine.bsky.social & others! www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxlp...

🚨 This is a crisis for Labour, but the real crisis is the one engulfing our politics The Deputy Leadership Election is a chance to push for action on the voting system that is destroying trust in politics & threatens to hand a majority to the far right Find out more 👇

Tomorrow Farage meets Trump to turbocharge their plans for the fascist international. How do we resist? Join our online discussion with @lukecooper100.bsky.social @judith-levine.bsky.social @seemasyeda.bsky.social Ananya Vajpeyi & Mary Kaldor. Sign up👇 www.anothereurope.org/how-do-we-re...

Amid scandal, strife and geopolitical stress, I sat down with Maliek Banat and Brian Milakovsky to talk about the policymaking landscape in Kyiv for the LSE Conflict Zone podcast @lseideas.bsky.social Tune in! podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/c...

“The postwar order rested on three pillars: American hegemony, the fossil-fuel energy system, and an open, multilateral trading order. America has now attacked each pillar at the foundation of its hydrocarbon global order.” — New: @katemac.bsky.social & I www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/bri...

1/ I just uploaded a preprint on targeted sanctions against Russia’s “shadow fleet” of oil tankers. The results suggest that the most recent sanctions are working: the sanctioned fleet is still active, but in a much more limited capacity.

What a privilege to chair an #eisa2025 roundtable with this cast: Justin Rosenberg, Meera Sabaratnam, Josh White, Nadège Compaoré, @johannasiebert.bsky.social, @jasminekgani.bsky.social and @lukecooper100.bsky.social. Theme: the intersection between historical structures and emancipatory agency.

A one-man show — telling American businesses: * where they can invest (Apple) * who should be CEO (Intel) * where to send the kickback (NVIDIA, AMD) * who should be writing the in-house research (Goldman). 🤡 @wsj.com www.wsj.com/economy/trum...

I think it's time to give up the idea that Capital only thrives under liberal institutions.

Good piece. It's a very fair message on Ukraine but I'd just emphasise the hypocrisy in terms of, "do what we say, not what we do" - which is staggering. I'm looking at you, UK.

EU threatens to cut aid to Ukraine unless independence restored to anti-corruption bodies. Parliament to vote on issue on July 31. www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/202...

I have a piece on Foreign Policy, arguing that Ukraine's recent cronyism and corruption crisis is as much about the changing global order as it is Ukraine's own political-economic history. 🧵/1 foreignpolicy.com/2025/07/29/u...

🧵

Extraordinary scenes in Kyiv and Lviv tonight as young protestors defy martial law to protest against govt destruction of the independence of the country’s anti corruption agencies. First mass protest in Kyiv since martial law. This still from Ukraine Pravda video on X.

"Ukraine’s parliament voted decisively Tuesday in favor of a bill that critics say fatally undermines Kyiv’s commitment to tackling corruption — and threatens to scupper its EU membership bid." www.politico.eu/article/ukra...

Trump's UK state visit was just announced for 17 September. 💥💥💥 JOIN THE PROTEST! Let's make it absolutely massive. stoptrump.org.uk

Heute geht in Rom die 4. #Ukraine Recovery Conference zu Ende. Zwei aktuelle Publikationen können für einen schnellen und nachhaltigen Wiederaufbau des Landes wertvolle Hinweise geben. #URC2025 1/4

Wes Streeting is not the next leader of the Labour Party

Interesting @labourlist.bsky.social poll here. Despite all the resignations and the talk of a “new left party”, the Labour Party membership appears to remain firmly to the left of the leadership with a clear preference for right leaning cabinet members to face the chop in a future reshuffle.

It's not looking good for Morgan McSweeney and Blue Labour www.ft.com/content/fee4...

this is why i am pretty confident there will not be a meaningful attempt to do an end run around mamdani. a lot of elite cuomo support seemed to be based on “well, he’s probably going to win and he’s a vindictive asshole and i don’t want to be on his bad side.”

I spoke to Maliek Banat for the LSE Conflict Zone podcast about which side is winning on the “economic front” in the Russo-Ukrainian War podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/c... FYI @ukrainesolidarity.bsky.social @ensu-resu.bsky.social @alexsobel.co.uk @labourlewis.bsky.social

Wow what a blistering and much needed polemic this is from @nesrinemalik.bsky.social “At this point, the biggest threat to the free world is itself”. Quite. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Once again, the military are preparing for the last war, and not the next. The weapons are wrong, the alliances are wrong, there’s insufficient investment in the state & people’s resilience, be it cyber-security or social security by Mary & Luke. rethinkingsecurity.org.uk/2025/06/16/o...

@lukecooper100.bsky.social and Mary Kaldor have also blogged on the SDR here rethinkingsecurity.org.uk/2025/06/16/o...

The UK’s recent defence review was an exercise in organised irresponsibility, proposing ever greater integration with Trump’s 🇺🇸. In this podcast @zoesqwilliams.bsky.social and @lukecooper100.bsky.social talk to Mary Kaldor about an alternative approach. www.anothereurope.org/episode-106-...

In a turbulent period of UK political history the treatment of universities has been arguably the defining symbol. Important to so many challenges - growth, local economies, international competitiveness, trade - yet generally treated as an irritation if not ignored completely.

This sounds like absolute headless chickens stuff from No10 and cabinet proxies - it will not end well.

Interesting developments in the Labour Party. 80 is something of a magic number, as it’s both the number of rebellious MPs needed to defeat the govt AND the number required to force a leadership contest. As the Tories illustrated, you can only tank in the polls for so long before MPs get cold feet.

The US joins a war of aggression and Starmer describes it as "taking action to alleviate Iran's nuclear threat". The only surprise is that he didn't wait until he'd run it past a focus group of "hero voters" somewhere in Lincolnshire. How many Labour MPs will go along with this?

This from Keir Starmer is a de facto endorsement of Trump's illegal aggression against Iran. Talk of Starmer's deep commitment to international law belongs in the same garbage can as talk of Trump's deep aversion to foreign military entanglements www.bbc.com/news/article...

Public opinion can shift quickly during international crises, but American airstrikes on Iran do not start with public backing. Even Republicans are relatively lukewarm. WaPo polling.

This is why right now is dumber than thr Iraq runup. There was a year of endless propaganda on top of the war mindset of post-9/11 and Bush at +60% approval. Right now its a historically unpopular president following an unpopular ally into a war nobody wants and he's making zero attempt to sell it

Well, I, for one, am glad that unlike in all previous wars of choice this time, we finally have a clear end goal, an exit strategy and meaningful Congressional oversight to make sure our elected leaders don't do some crazy shit

Using anti terror powers to proscribe a protest group engaging in criminal but self-evidently not terrorist or terroristic activity would be unprecedented and surely will not stand up in the courts. The UK govt goes from sucking up to Trump to drawing directly from his playbook. Grim times.

An excellent, trenchant piece from @nathalietocci.bsky.social But I’m not sure if the source of european impotence in standing up for elementary int law is transatlanticism on this occasion. But their own reasons for supporting 🇮🇱 come what may, above all 🇩🇪 ofc. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

A rightwing Eurosceptic & Trump ally recently won the Polish presidential election. Join our online Q&A with @anaopp.bsky.social @ewaposp.bsky.social @alenaivanova.bsky.social to find out what this means for Poland and the continent. www.anothereurope.org/polands-pres...

What is clear is that all those who call to penalize terms they *believe* to *imply* violence (implication those using the terms reject) have not thought seriously about what would happen if this approach would be applied consistently to everyone, including themselves.

Wow, what weasel words. “They reaffirmed Israel’s right to protect its security and people, in adherence with international law”. So, EU, U.K. , France and Germany offer no criticism of Israel’s prima facie illegal war of aggression against Iran, while making an abstract pretence to uphold int law