Ground rent cap is good news (though peppercorn would be better straight away). Also welcome is promised abolition of new leasehold properties. Better still would be the outright abolition of leasehold altogether, a feudal anachronism virtually unique to England and Wales.

This is my first time in #SouthAfrica It's endlessly fascinating. Here's #Johannesburg and some countryside around Pretoria

Late to read this but absolutely spot on analysis from @chrisgrey.bsky.social here. I'd suggest, in my own humble opinion, that Starmer even thinking about following US demands on reg standards will be the end of his premiership

Making sense of the madness. New post on my Brexit & Brexitism Blog. Analysis of the international and domestic implications of the ‘Greenland crisis’, including how the ‘Carney doctrine’ could offer a way forward for post-Brexit Britain: chrisgreybrexitblog.blogspot.com/2026/01/maki...

When Trump made the same claim in December and then again to Congress this month, the Elysée said nothing. After Trump’s aborted grab for Greenland and his attacks on Europe in Davos, the gloves are off. 4/

Why there will be no midterm elections. This is worth a listen. Robert Kagan saw where Trump was heading years ago. And he sees it now. 👇 @carolecadwalla.bsky.social

Board of Peace or Bored of Peace?

I'd suggest that #TonyBlair has irreparably damaged his reputation in joining the "Board of Peace". He needs to go the same way as Mandelson. Not a great strategic thinker; more of a sycophant to dictators

Hi @stellacreasy.bsky.social I don't think the government is listening to you or other sane people

This has always been the Brexitist goal - to put the UK under US standards, and Washington recognises, after years of having its standards shunned for Europe's, an opportunity: An insinkable low-standards aircraft carrier on Europe's doorstep. #AirstripOne 1

Missed Trump's speech in #Davos? TLDR The deranged, delusional and incoherent ramblings of a pig ignorant psychopath

The government must work with our European partners on retaliatory measures to hit Trump and his cronies where it hurts, unless he drops these tariffs. It's time to show that Britain stands with our allies and we won’t be bullied into submission.

Mark Carney has delivered one of the most important speeches of our era. There is a better future waiting for Britain if we dare to follow his example. inews.co.uk/opinion/trum...

It's just Quisling after Quisling in the (far) right wing press, isn't it?

Meanwhile, Britain finds itself lost between two worlds. We were told we didn’t need Europe, we could rely on the transatlantic relationship. They couldn’t have been more wrong.

Hi every single #Labour MP

It's funny. I never thought watching a gibbering lunatic burn the world down would be so boring.

I need a stiff drink. And a shower.

I know we're wearily used to it, but it really can't be overstated how utterly unhinged, rambling and detached from reality Donald Trump sounds when measured against the metric of pretty much anyone else in global politics. It's the court of a decrepit medieval king.

This speech by Trump surely marks the end of the transatlantic alliance. An American president itching to incinerate NATO, conquer Greenland, and get far-right parties elected to government across Europe.

please refer to your Davos phrasebook www.ft.com/content/ab4f...

If only the audience at #Davos would start a Ceauşescu moment...

It's quite hard not to projectile vomit #Trump

I don't think the Orange fascist has managed a single word that's true yet. It's just a stream of bile, lies and bullshit

Thanks to @garethdennis.uk for both radicalising me on the Treasury, as well as the line about being 2 years old when the first mass transit proposal was made. It is true of me too, but it was a line I borrowed from him

Hi @mrjamesob.bsky.social

Has anybody collected pro-Trump headlines from UK newspaper commentators in one place? First & second term. Especially ones attacking his critics. If not, bung me your favourites & I'll do it myself.

Dan O’Brien, chief economist at the Institute of International and European Affairs, says it cleanly. Britain is weaker outside the EU, and Europe is weaker without Britain, and Brexit has handed advantage to the bullies who see allies as leverage.

Spot on ⬇️ "Leaving the EU was a disaster a decade ago." "And it's even more of a disaster given the international situation now."

In news that is hidden by the madness of Trump's insane fascism, the Treasury, again, is threatening to scupper leasehold reform. Labour promised in its manifesto to “finally bring the feudal leasehold system to an end”, including banning the sale of new leasehold flats.

Rachel Reeves

Letter in Times today

Dear @iaindale.bsky.social there is no *Special relationship*. It is a British fantasy, now a dangerous delusion

We've spent ten years being proved right about all the things the loudest, biggest voices in the UK media insisted, often obnoxiously, we were wrong about. The real kicker is that there's no consolation whatsoever in being correct. Brexit, Putin, Johnson, Truss, Trump, Twitter, Netanyahu etc etc...

I really would very much like #PeterMandelson to shut the fuck up and fuck the fuck off

If Starmer agrees to this, I think I will be the end of his premiership

"Pour a glass of water out almost anywhere on the eastern side of the line, and it will flow, eventually, into the Atlantic. Pour it out on the other side of that line, and it will flow, probably rather more speedily, to the Pacific." Regarding some natural borders.

Thought for the day "’Tis the time’s plague, when madmen lead the blind." William Shakespeare, King Lear

Hi @mrjamesob.bsky.social From Simon Nixon, a former Times and Wall Street Journal columnist "Starmer’s speech confirms what I speculated here: that Britain will be weakest link in Europe’s attempts to stand up to Trump over Greenland."

I think Starmer went as far as he could today. But, as Simon Nixon, a former Times and Wall Street Journal columnist said, "Starmer’s speech confirms...that Britain will be weakest link in Europe’s attempts to stand up to Trump over Greenland."

Oouf

A joke for the history buffs: Germany’s satirical newspaper @der-postillon.com titles: “Vienna Academy of the Arts offers Trump admission as a student — They don’t want to get blamed again“

It’s a real shame that Nigel Farage is too unwell to do interviews the morning after Donald Trump threatens us with sanctions. Here he is with “the bravest man he ever met”. He campaigned to make Trump President, and has spent the last year enjoying all the chaos he has caused.

I think the White House badly underestimates the strength of the pan-European folk memory of 1930s appeasement, and how deep it still cuts. I suppose this is what happens when you learn in school that WW2 started in 1941 in Hawaii.

This is pretty much the only post anyone should need to understand that Farage is a traitor, a conman and a populist simpleton who must *never* be given power.

If US threats towards Greenland continue, Europe could refuse to refuel American ships in European ports, require higher payments for the stationing of US troops — or even close US military bases. https://bit.ly/3NcvJ2j

Here’s a short poem about the power of poetry to change the world.

Starmer’s fawning over Trump, wheeling on the Royal Family and invoking the elusive ‘special relationship’, has got us nowhere. In Trump’s eyes we’re just uppity Europeans. But because of Brexit, we’re uniquely exposed to his whims. Trump is killing NATO. The EU is where we belong.

Poor #LisaNandy. The lines to take about Trump's fascist America haven't really worked for a while. Trotting them out to Lewis Goodall on #LBC this morning is really quite painful to hear

1. The tariffs are paid by US consumers 2. Greenland isn't for sale 3. Go f**k yourself