Not dealing with Brexitism. New post on my Brexit & Beyond Blog, including a look at the UK deals with the US & India, a final preview of the UK-EU Summit, and a discussion of Starmer's failure to challenge Brexitism: chrisgreybrexitblog.blogspot.com/2025/05/not-...

This is wonderful. www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlSK...

Terrific post, particularly on Farage/Reform but on much else besides. Do subscribe to the blog to make sure you keep up with what are always fascinating contributions.

A lot of the "backlash against globalisation" is occurring in countries like the US where it made some people poorer, the country as a whole wealthier, a wealthy elite obscenely rich, and which at every opportunity chose against policies that would redistribute those outcomes more fairly.

More than a bit 'ick' to say so, I know, but I think this is one of the best, and maybe one of the most important (in terms of the issues involved), of the 460+ posts I've written on this blog over the last 9.5 years.

"Reconciliation is a journey. We never start from where we want to be - but must move forward with courage if we are to get closer to where we need to be". 👏

Fascinating!

An unfortunately large part of what led to the riots is how hostility against people seeking asylum has become so normalised, including by governments. Not only has political rhetoric emboldened the actual far right, it has also led to a dismissal of the seriousness of the threat they pose. #r4today

Sometimes you don’t need to do your own research. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

There's something oddly comforting about Paul's brilliant threads.

Essential reading by @petergeoghegan.bsky.social on the prospect of Musk bankrolling the Reform Party. As Peter has been arguing for years, Britain's electoral laws are decades out of date. That has left our democracy wide open to plutocratic capture. democracyforsale.substack.com/p/musks-100m...

Thanks, BlueSky.

A perfect distillation of politics today, unfortunately. Outstanding article / essay 👏🏼 @hardeepmatharu.bsky.social @bylinetimes.bsky.social

Chris Grey, always keeping on top of the shifting politics of Brexit; this week the "beyond" includes the what-ifs of Trump.

Call for unpublished female writers … ‘Discoveries invites all unpublished and unagented women writers aged 18 and up, currently residing in the UK or Ireland and writing in English, to submit their works of adult fiction to the Discoveries Prize.’

Today's the feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin. The young Mary enters the Temple, climbing the 15 steps without her parents' help, a detail of the reredos by Edward Ardizzone, c1930 at Our Lady and Mount Carmel, Faversham, Kent. Faversham OL & Mt Carmel: www.flickr.com/photos/norfo...

Very sad to read this.

Excellent point🔽

From poet, journalist and broadcaster, Ian McMillan: “Cold shut-down libraries And no pools for swimmers; Food banks and clothes banks And queues for hot dinners. Parks with no sand pits And rusted up swings These are a few of #austerity’s things.”

‘More than one in three children in poverty as UK deprivation hits record high’ I’ve long believed if we counted children in poverty, and had the same level of media scrutiny on this as we did quarterly Migration stats, our society would be very different www.theguardian.com/society/2024...

If you’re not following Chris and *always* reading his Brexit blog, well, you should be.

The irony of X being a symbol used on computers to close things down shouldn't go unnoticed.

I'm glad to see Tim O"Neill here. This is a typically detailed, rational and fascinating piece

Once again commentators are talking about an election as being 'all about' how voters feel they were getting a raw deal. Why on earth do we think this is new? Voters have always thought they were getting a raw deal ... since forever. It's why politics is a thing.

👀💯THIS👆 PS:

🚨🚨 It took me ages and I am pretty certain I missed a number of people that should be on the list but I made my first starter pack now for #brexit and #ukpolitics here: go.bsky.app/NZG5maf

Even more amazingly, Michael Sheard played Hitler five times and yet never remilitarised the Rhineland.

Astonishing. And terrifying.

Efficiency: a fairy story. One day a very rich man got cross because he believed that more people should be applauding his public statements in the town square. The people in the town square tried to explain: "plenty of people are applauding you, but we can't force everyone here to do that." 1

This is just as good a listen as when it was first broadcast. I'm married to Ian and am happy to report he's still here and was listening to the repeat with me this morning. www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Just a reminder for new people joining bsky - give yourself a bio, profile picture, and post something! I've been getting heaps of follows because of starter packs but I'm not going to follow you back if I can't tell who you are

I'm very late to the party, but tonight started watching the first series of Hinterland. Stunning scenery, and really good that Welsh is included so naturally, not as a novelty or afterthought. Surprised that one of the detectives is Natasha from #TheArchers - doesn't she have a tearoom to run?

The point of an ambassador is to act on the instructions of the government that appointed them. Farage would act on the instructions of the leader of the other country.

Saying you don’t want to abandon Twitter to the Nazis is like standing in the middle of a Hitler rally proclaiming that you don’t want to abandon rallies to the Nazis. It’s that *the particular place* you are choosing to engage is now inherently fascist, and your presence there only legitimises it.

There's lots of wisdom and kindness in this article about grief, loss, attachments & how to cope. It's a Q&A with the therapist who coined the term "ambiguous loss," who sounds like she is an amazing therapist. 🧪 www.scientificamerican.com/article/elec... by @meghanbartels.bsky.social

If Abraham Lincoln spoke to "the better angels of our nature", Trump calls to our demons. His victory is a moral, as well as political tragedy. As others follow his example, progressives will need to think harder about how to respond. As so often, I've been thinking about Gladstone..🧵

With another wave of people arriving, a top-tip: take time to populate your profile before you start following people. I'm not going to follow an entirely blank account back

More BlueSky newbies today - these lists may be useful

Is there *anything* that can be done to explain the impact of our ageing population to the public? Presumably politicians are steering clear because they don't want to be seen as "blaming" a particular demographic, but it's impossible to understand our economic situation/options without it

For the first time The Collected Letters of Wilkie Collins are available free online to read or download bit.ly/3A6kuCu It contains all his letters which have been identified up to Dec 2023, a total of 3398 letters, all fully footnoted and cross-referenced.

A reminder that Robert Jenrick's most recent donor is a sanctioned oligarch whose firm has extensive fossil fuel interests. bylinetimes.com/2024/10/17/r...

It's false to claim that the protocol is temporary. Johnson's version removed all the references to it being temporary. It can be amended by mutual consent, or a majority of the Northern Ireland assembly can partly refuse consent unilaterally. But Jenrick doesn't care what the NI majority think.

Meanwhile this, from @psurridge.bsky.social, is the real bind that Badenoch and other rightwing Tories are in.

Starmer: "I will never let a minority of violent, racist thugs terrorise our communities". Good to see the PM describe the far-right riots as what they really were - and receive a standing ovation for it.

🚨🚨 Significant new @ec.europa.eu comprehensive financial assistance package to Ukraine consisting of a Ukraine Loan Cooperation Mechanism of up to €45 billion, and an exceptional Macro-Financial Assistance (MFA) loan of up to €35 billion. 🧵 ec.europa.eu/commission/p...

🚨🚨 In today's totally predicted and predictable " #Brexit red tape on British businesses has caused UK-EU goods trade to slump and the problem is getting worse, according to new report by economists at Aston University. #brexitreality via Faisal Islam & Mitchell Labiak. www.bbc.com/news/article...

Liz Carr made a very good documentary for the BBC on this. I have so many reservations about assisted dying - the discourse is mostly led by high-status people and we hear very little from other voices www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...