(Taxes on work are, though few believe it, historically *low* for most UK workers at the moment. Overall tax is at an all-time high, but most of that increase is indirect taxes because no one will touch the big three. But politically we just keep pretending that's not the case.)

All of this just to repeat the McSweeney playbook.

Hilarious how the 'Red Wall' a phrase coined by a yougov guy to describe average places with unusually high levels of labour voting due to historic reasons, has been comprehensively misunderstood as 'wretched blessed left behind centres of the deprived true Englishman'

My latest on Europe's gap in long range strike. Europeans grasp the challenge but should move faster.

"Unlike the Europeans, Trump knows how powerful the EU is" fascinating talk with @taravarma.bsky.social from the @gmfus.bsky.social via @wort.lu www.wort.lu/internationa...

Based

🇭🇺🇺🇦 Hungarian PM Magyar: The territorial integrity of Ukraine was guaranteed in 1994 in the Budapest Memorandum, which of course was signed in Budapest. And the problem is that the international stage did not really fulfill its task and did not guarantee the integrity and independence of Ukraine.

Top drawer decision.

“…in a world of geopolitical upheaval and increased international lawlessness, the logic of collective continental action is irresistible”

Seems crazy that a fight over % of affordable housing becomes outright rejection because of harm development would do to Peckham's character giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...

Most Moscow resident statement ever.

Ian hits the nail on the head here. The question is not whether Chinas overcapacities are costly for China - they are. The question is whether swathes of German and European manufacturing can stay solvent for longer than China can stay irrational.

"Right now the general situation for the Ukrainians seems to be better than it has been in several years, though several significant dangers remain." @inkvisiit.bsky.social www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-ru...

"We won't finalize the Defence Investment Plan, but will loosen sanctions on Russia, our main security threat." I think that tells you all you need to know about how serious Starmer and Reeves are about making difficult decisions on defence.

UK surrender monkeys

All the evidence from the pandemic is that if you give people open, clear information they are responsive and change behaviour. Instead, the Government seems to assume we are a nation of vaccine, deep state, globalist conspiracists incapable of rational engagement. X brained.

The government is giving quite strong “we chose not to spend the last two months thinking about how to deal with this and now we are going to make policy on the hoof” vibes

As the Smiths didn't quite put it, 🎵 Ban the vox pop, Ban the vox pop. Ban the vox pop, Ban the vox pop 🎵

I've personally experienced the valuable work being done at Sheffield in this field through exchanges between academics and practitioners. We need to reverse the trend of dismantling the knowledge infrastructure that took decades to build

WTF

Lol

👇👇👇

This is pretty lame attempt by Krastev to make Magyar fit his Narrative tbh. Magyar is very different to Orban, and is proving more so post election than predicted pre, and that doesn't make him just an 'evolution'.

How about: a) I believe the UK should rejoin the EU; but b) Neither we nor Brussels are ready for a formal negotiation; and c) EU membership would not be a panacea for our national challenges; so c) I will work to build trust and lay foundations with the EU, while advancing other priorities.

Buy European. This is the way.

I would like to take this moment to say that I despised Sam Bowman before it went mainstream

not to be That Smug Bastard but the incoming Hungarian government is at least giving it a go

I'm one of the biggest proponent of the licence fee, but these days it's almost impossible to advocate for the BBC because... of the BBC

Brexit increasingly resembles a form of necropolitics through which the will of the living is outweighed by the will of the dead

Very interesting by @gideonrachman.bsky.social. Drone warfare gives the defender an edge -- all the more so for Taiwan, an island protected by 100 miles of water. Drones also make it difficult to enforce a blockade. China risks making Putin's mistake: assuming away the agency of a smaller neighbour.

Krugman's US vs Europe substacks have been extremely interesting over the last week (and important to the policy discussion in Europe) paulkrugman.substack.com/p/challengin...

Others have said this but I do think we do need at some point to talk about how many Americans don't actually think the rest of the worlds is as diverse as them

Long-term, cross-party consensus ftw

Meanwhile in Moldova

Not to say it will happen, or there aren't serious structural impediments, but firstly being confident about the long-term future when so much is in flux is just arrogant, and secondly, look at a map, look at the economic damage done, at demographic change. Why wouldn't gravity engage at some point?

The thing about the current Rejoin debate for me is, it's only 6 months since a certain professor of a certain institution studying this was confidently saying it wouldn't happen in his lifetime, which post Putin's invasion & Trump's election was, much as I like the guy, a ridiculous prediction.

Russia is starting to lose ground in Ukraine. The Economist's tracker suggests it has suffered its first sustained net loss since October 2023. A massive humiliation for Putin. www.economist.com/graphic-deta...

After 16 years in power, Viktor #Orbán was set to receive a €107,000 severance parachute, written into law by his own government. Hungary’s new PM Péter #Magyar blocked the payment & redirected nearly €1 million in similar severance packages towards an orphanage in Zakarpattia, #Ukraine. #Hungary

Maybe. But the world has changed even more, and that will affect the EU's stance towards Britain, too.

I hope Labour sorts itself out & wins in 2029 with or without the LDs, & I'm not going pretend I know how Burnham will do. But having a leader from a v leave-y seat seems like an unideal structure given a) war & US disengagement & b) the massive, even bigger than expected Brexit hit to the economy.

One of the big protests yesterday really can point to years of enthusiastic sponsorship and support by major media outlets and senior politicians, and it isn’t the one asking for civil rights for Palestinians: that’s the one that gets the cops dragging away your gran for t-shirt crimes.

The government isn't forcing churches and community centres and town halls across the country to fly the Ukrainian flag. People are doing it themselves because we see a battle and we know which side we are on. There are lots of ways in which Reform is wildly out of touch with Britain.

Ukraine showing they could have disrupted the May day parade.

Correct

“That is the state of the immigration debate in the UK,” she said. “The rhetoric has gone too far, the media has gone too far.”

Just like to say how truly sorry I feel for the bar staff and bus drivers of central London today. They are going to have a day that is, at best, deeply shit and at worst, possibly quite scary. And they don't have the option of staying out of town, which I do.

If the right wins again in the UK it will feature actual fascists (Reform). But I'd sure like 10 years of labour government first.