www.theguardian.com/news/ng-inte... The "special relationship" has always been rather asymmetrical. In Washington it's a useful diplomatic phrase; in Britain it's closer to a national article of faith.

In Spanish we call this wanting to swim while minding your clothes (querer nadar y guardar la ropa).

In German it's: give me bath, but don't make me wet

Starmer saying it’s impossible for a prime minister to spend less time on foreign affairs has got me thinking that we need a cabinet position dedicated to foreign policy. Ideally they’d have their own department.

England needs to be brought to the painful but necessary realisation that the EU isn’t applying to join England, it’s the other way round. Lots of imperial balloons need to be burst.

As far as I know, she's not financing European far right. Those are the billionaires we should be worried about.

www.theguardian.com/politics/202... Self-determination was never a principle that could be reserved exclusively for England. If Westminster chooses an increasingly English nationalist path, Scotland and Ireland are entitled to choose different futures.

Another Brexit dividend. A movement that spent years sneering at experts, universities and "people with qualifications" has now made it harder and more expensive for British children abroad to study in the UK. Yet another opportunity sacrificed on the altar of anti-intellectual populism.

The UK wanted a "decision-shaping" role in the rules that Britain has agreed to follow. But the EU Commission says it’s not feasible as it would give the UK more rights than countries such as Norway and Iceland that pay into the EU budget and participate fully in its Single Market. -Rejoining would!

Brussels rebuffs UK request for ‘decision-shaping’ role in EU - Another collision with reality. The UK wanted sovereignty over shared decision-making. It got it. What it didn't get was a say over everyone else's decisions. giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/... via @FT

www.politico.eu/sponsored-co... This is the conversation that matters. Not yesterday's arguments over Brexit, but tomorrow's questions of connectivity, resilience, competitiveness and strategic autonomy.

One theme runs through many of these contributions: the UK is simply too important for the EU to ignore. Perhaps. But history has a habit of moving on. As the years pass, the EU will continue to adapt without Britain, and Britain's significance in Brussels will inevitably diminish.

Ah, the joys of “Global Britain”. Leave the EU, chase a US trade deal, then discover the price may be higher drug costs, pressure on the NHS and worse health outcomes. Still, at least no one can say we weren’t warned. Again. And again. www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

The EU is designing industrial policy for its own market and its own manufacturers. The UK, having chosen to leave, now finds itself on the outside asking for exemptions. That isn't punishment. It's what "taking back control" looks like. www.theguardian.com/business/202...

Brexit didn't abolish economic gravity. The UK still needs access to the EU market; the EU merely has the leverage to decide on what terms. This agreement is another reminder that cooperation beats slogans every time. www.reuters.com/world/uk/bri...

A good place to start would be disengaging from disingenuous actors like Hesselden and making an honest, unapologetic case for European integration. That means embracing European values in their entirety, not cherry-picking the bits you fancy. The Single Market, Schengen and, ultimately, the euro.

“We voted to slam our dicks in a door. We didn’t vote for it to hurt.”

If you have to ask how GBP could threaten the euro, you've already answered your own question. Some questions aren't signs of curiosity. They're demonstrations of why the answer would be wasted.

Rubbish. Freedom of movement includes the freedom to live, work and settle. Those are not optional extras you can strip away while keeping the headline. Trying to separate them misunderstands what free movement actually is.

Barnier has retired, he has not any particular influence on eventual future negotiations at all. I think most European member states don't see it that way and we're (and are) frankly quite done with British exceptionalism... so I think one should be very critical about this article.

www.theguardian.com/politics/202... With respect to M. Barneir, a little perspective: a former EU negotiator giving an opinion is not the same as 27 sovereign member states agreeing accession terms. Europe is not a restaurant keeping Britain’s favourite table permanently reserved.

The UK genuinely believed they could bypass Brussels, peel away member states and negotiate side arrangements like it was the 1970s. Instead they walked straight into a rules-based system specifically designed to stop exactly that sort of behaviour. The EU & MS understood A50 UKG plainly didn't.

The EU, MS & Brussels clearly understood that protecting the system mattered more than avoiding economic pain. UKG plainly didn’t, and not did large parts of the British public. Which is why so many spent years mistaking predictable consequences for punishment.

Barnier was essentially explaining basic physics to a country convinced gravity was a negotiating position. When a market of 450 million and one of 67 million collide economically, the smaller one generally comes off worse.

This 👇

The fact that Farage et al have backed Vance’s racist intervention shows them to be un-British. The golden rule is that we can talk shit about each other, but no shit talking from anyone else, especially Americans. Basic etiquette. Previous generations of politicians understood that.

First written Oct 2023 in the other place. Resurrected here owing to an odd week on Bluesky. We must protect 🇪🇺 Thank for residing! Fancy some more? Do check out this thread on how UKG has to accept Bxl as a legitimate actor. bsky.app/profile/nial...

The paradox of Rejoin is that a UK accession process will be much quicker if the UK does not ask for special treatment

Brexit. British Exit from the EU. But also stands in my mind for British Exceptionalism. That of being as a country so different to say France or Germany or any other that we couldn't really be happy members of a bloc. Which was always nonsense.

@andrewhesselden.bsky.social Yes, “solutions” are possible if you are prepared to realign with the very legal and political frameworks you've spent years denouncing. What remains amusing is the assumption the EU is just sitting around redesigning Schengen for your benefit.

@andrewhesselden.bsky.social Scottish nationalism at least has the advantage of being tethered to political reality. Scotland didn’t vote for Brexit & isn’t demanding simultaneous withdrawal & retention of every benefit renounced. That already places it several tiers above British exceptionalism.

bsky.app/profile/andr... Quite. But London is not a constituent nation with its own devolved parliament, legal system and longstanding constitutional independence movement. That is rather the point you seem determined to sidestep.

bsky.app/profile/andr... Schengen does not need redesigning. Britain chose third-country status and is now acting shocked at being treated like a third country. The exhausting part is the expectation Europe should rewrite functioning systems to accommodate British regrets.

bsky.app/profile/andr... Yes, quite. Much like wandering into a divorce insisting you’ll keep the house keys, joint bank account and visiting rights for the dog while loudly announcing you’re leaving. Some outcomes were structurally predictable from the outset.

The UK genuinely believed they could bypass Brussels, peel away member states and negotiate side arrangements like it was the 1970s. Instead they walked straight into a rules-based system specifically designed to stop exactly that sort of behaviour. The EU & MS understood A50 UKG plainly didn't.

The enduring irony of Brexit is that Britain ejected itself from the EU using Article 50: a mechanism largely designed by British civil servants led by Lord Kerr. Even the legal architecture of departure bore the fingerprints of British exceptionalism.

Barnier was essentially explaining basic physics to a country convinced gravity was a negotiating position. When a market of 450 million and one of 67 million collide economically, the smaller one generally comes off worse.

Starmer pandered to Reform – and got what he deserved The decision to prioritise Reform-curious voters over Labour loyalists and Green-friendly floaters has been catastrophic archive.is/2026.05.15-1...

Suggested mandatory reading for anyone with a genuine and honest interest in how the British secured the deal they demanded.

bsky.app/profile/andr... In the same way as gravity has very little to do with falling off a cliff. Schengen’s borderless movement is directly tied to rules on external access, length of stay and residence rights. That is rather the point of a common area.

bsky.app/profile/andr... Those sound like the words of someone struggling with the idea that consequences exist independently of feelings about them. Nobody says he has to be happy about Brexit. The 90-in-180 rule is simply the predictable consequence of leaving the framework that removed it.

@andrewhesselden.bsky.social bsky.app/profile/andr... The existence of historical bilateral waivers for certain third countries has been discussed ad nauseam for years now. Reposting the same EU document every 48 hours does not somehow cause Britain to retroactively possess one.

Let it be clear: you are wanted here.

Hesselden doesn't care about Freedom of Movement or the EU... He wants unfettered access to his holiday home... If he was taken aside & given a "get out of jail free" card you'd never hear another word from him!

The original sin of British pro-Europeans (and even more so by the rest of the electorate) is not having read the Ventotene Manifesto and the Schuman Declaration. The EU is a vision of a new, better, free Europe. What lacks in too many political debates, everywhere, is hope.

Excellent article from @jonhenley.bsky.social. Subtile summarises it well, it's understanding "the European deal" that's vital. What we're seeing is the fundamentals of European unity rubbing up against the arbitray choice to adopt the May-Johnson redlines 1 www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...

Optics @jamesmaccleary.bsky.social optics The EU is not about leading, or being led. It’s about collaboration and collectiveness Every member state has the same access to decisions as each other whatever their size The EU was born out of centuries of bigger countries bullying smaller ones

Still need leaders to let go of nationalist sentiments and actually push for federalisation. Stubborn blindness and useless nostalgia is holding all that potential back. Once that's done, we can finally step out if the shadow of hostile forces who wishes us weak and servile.

"Europe can resist Russian influence and Russian corruption." Yes! And it will!

"Europeans may imagine that the EU is a mere bureaucratic inconvenience. But the Russians have never believed that. On the contrary, the Russian president has long understood that when unified, Europe can resist Russian influence and Russian corruption." @anneapplebaum.bsky.social on Europe Day