Does the European Union have a plan for the required change inside Iran? It used to oppose US sanctions in Trump first term. It used to think Iran could enrich small amounts of uranium. If opposed to external regime change who does it back inside Iran. No idea.

The Trump administration's “war on empathy,” Hillary Rodham Clinton writes, “threatens to pave the way for an extreme vision of Christian nationalism that seeks to replace democracy with theocracy in America”: theatln.tc/dcVIzlMi

Trump announced an additional 25 per cent tariff on imports from India due to New Delhi buying Russian oil, but measure not in force until August 27. Gives time for India to cut Russian imports, or for Trump to extract a form of Russian ceasefire. China, largest importer of Russian oil, not touched.

UK PM appealed to Egypt's Abdel Fattah El-Sisi to release UK national Alaa Abd El-Fattah. "He underlined how important it is to him to bring an end to the anguish Alaa and his family have faced.” Alaa's brave mother is on hunger strike. Her weight has halved. Surely keeping him in jail is cruelty.

Having had to do it a few times, the 'making sense of election results but before we actually know what they are' column is hell to write so this by @robertshrimsley.bsky.social is impressive www.ft.com/content/b8ef...

This is hilarious. They’re now going on the offensive against Amazon (again!) after having invited Bezos to sit behind Trump at the inauguration, after Bezos paid tens of millions of dollars for a Melania documentary and contributed to the inauguration fund. ‘Hostile’. Sure.

This is the most optimistic expert assessment yet of the White House peace plan for Ukraine. In essence all sides say they want to hold talks and the plan can at least be a starting point for negotiation. www.crisisgroup.org/europe-centr...

Very interesting and very wide ranging chat with @patrickwintour.bsky.social about an emerging new world order: encompass-europe.com/podcasts/an-...

Iran spells out that it will not negotiate under threat of war or directly with the US, but makes a pitch to buy American if a deal can be reached and sanctions lifted. ifhttps://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/04/08/iran-indirect-negotiations-united-states/

Today was foreign office questions in the UK Commons. The UK FS David Lammy told MPs that the UK had not taken an "ideological decision" to cut its overseas aid budget, distinguishing the UK from some other countries. Little comfort for those that lose UK support that decision was not ideological.

What if the secret to winning elections is somehow Trump's syntax. We need a guy to say stuff like "But we're going to abolish billionaires and we'll be doing it very soon. They'll be paying very high taxes but it'll be very fair. And frankly they haven't paid taxes in a very long time"

Arrested for co-writing a piece that supports Palestinian rights & repeats allegations of ICJ re Israeli genocide. No mention of Hamas in piece. Rumeysa Ozturk, Turkish citizen, had a valid visa as a doctoral student at Tufts. She is picked up on street by police. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

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Hello Bluesky friends! Things are really picking up here now and I’ve created a starter pack to help connect you all with my outstanding colleagues at Chatham House. More have joined since I last shared it so do give them a follow. Find us all here⬇️ go.bsky.app/UKHXrog