Reading Bournville by Jonathan Coe and one of the things it does, subversively, is present WWII as a nationalistic as much as anti-fascist endeavour. And lots of things that have happened since - and now - suddenly make a lot more sense when you look at it in those terms.

If you were a passionate believer in sovereignty you'd be appalled by the implications of this. You would, wouldn't you? www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Most Yimby, abundance style stuff just brushes away or ignores real world trade-offs. I have to say though, this one on tram financing and management is compelling. Would involve a big shift in power and resources to the local level- including local taxation. www.britainremade.co.uk/backontrack

Which model of housing will increase affordability? Madrid (market-led, "abundance") or Barcelona (state-regulated, scarcity). You need both of course. In the case of the UK, I would be inclined to bet on a strategic state managing/sitting alongside the market. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Right block: 44% Centre/left block: 50% And which has largely controlled the national agenda for a decade?

Inspired by @anthonypainter.bsky.social and @jamesdaustin.bsky.social saying there’s a lack of discussion about a progressive vision for immigration, here’s my tuppence worth. 1/

This is right. I would also add: the counter-reaction also obscures how these technologies are actually useful. So we end up with hype and counter-hype but too little institutional change to enable us to deploy technologies in the most socially useful way. See regulation of social media, AI.

Every single one of these violent perpetrators has their ethnicity referenced. The husband as it happens was White British but that really isn't the point. Nothing in the story is about ethnicity. This is the national broadcaster not the Express. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

The economic data in general isn't great but there is one exception.... Investment. Business investment has grown significantly this year. Either (i) there is more underlying confidence than appears (latest PMI backs this up) (ii) some statistical oddity. Would love to hear thoughts.

The UK will celebrate net emigration and depopulation come 2027. And by 2028 it will start to realise, with an ageing society and low growth, what a really silly thing it has done. The right will go "pro-natalist", the centre-left will be completely stuck.

The pro-European glee at rejoining Erasmus is understandable but also betrays a lack of self-confidence. It's tempting to be the reasonable ones against the Brexit headbangers but that also makes you easy to fob off. There isn't a softly, softly, nicey, nicey way back I'm afraid.

The only way to reduce taxes and meet public expectations is very close alignment/membership of the single market. Streeting gets into that territory. Hopefully this is the beginning of the end of the centre-left pretending it has a viable governing model with Brexit observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

Can we all just agree that DEEP filled mince pies with thin short crust pastry are best? Not puff pastry, not more pastry than filling. Thank you for your attention to this matter. AJP.

A tech trend we can all get behind. In fact, let's back it with the law. No smartphone should be allowed on the market without a headphone jack. www.theguardian.com/fashion/2025...

I was just thinking what a frustrating player Crawley is. He always does just enough to avoid being dropped but no more. They I realised, why single him out? All the batsmen are infuriating apart from Root. #ashes

You can add together as many abstract Labour factions as you like and still not have a governing idea or coalition. This one asks us to turn a blind eye to Blue Labour authoritarianism and less explicitly, ethno-nationalism. Not a great starting point. www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...

When there is political will, Europe can lead. Rumours of the EU's demise have been greatly exaggerated. Don't believe the MAGA. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/d...

Just wow. Grim actually from Badenoch. Only willing to see the violence against women that is committed by migrants it would seem. How on earth is combating misogyny across society - within whatever ethnicity - in any way controversial?

Slow politics fast. New substack. How American ideologies, tech and "might is right" driven by an "alcoholic" White House has bent geo-politics out of shape. And why the UK and EU must go slow - at pace in 2026. anthonypainter.substack.com/p/slow-polit...

Lots of emphasis on the *changes* to planning policy. But something important *didn't change*: the commitment to *sustainable development* as an overarching principle of the system. Meeting economic, social and environmental needs. That is a cornerstone. open.substack.com/pub/samdumit...

Little sympathy for companies who have assets at risk of being stranded in Russia - especially banks. You knew the risks. Big day for the EU today. And Ukraine. And us. giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...

This was the year that sensible people realised that genAI was a useful but incremental technology. Not transformative, not existential, just useful when deployed right. Certainly not worth surrendering your national sovereignty over..... www.reuters.com/business/bus...

Do we think the bigger problem is (a) drivers wrongfully fined who can appeal or (b) drivers ignoring speed limits and driving at dangerous speeds leading to 1000s of lives lost? Countdown clock...... Funny when the BBC does "both-sidsism" and when it doesn't.... www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

In a compelling speech, this line from head of MI6, Blaise Metreweli, stood out for me. This is the crux and why gung-ho "abundance" and tech accelerationism is a disaster. We need mastery not surrender.

This is the best response to threats from the US and Russia: substantive solidarity from the EU and the UK with Ukraine. The obituaries are premature. EU/UK absolutely have agency to evolve their security cooperation rapidly. Political will. www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/pre...

The Age of Extraction by Tim Wu is a really good overview of current tech debates. The AI chapter reminds us that the current public discourse echoes academic debates from the 50s/60s ("good old-fashioned AI v connectionist AI/genAI"). Lots of axes being ground... www.penguin.co.uk/books/447145...

Quite apart from anything else that statement from Trump on Rob Reiner and his wife is basically saying that criticism of Trump is just cause for killing someone. Each day even lower than the one before.

So there aren't enough hospital beds and discharge is delayed because social and community care doesn't have sufficient capacity. We are so lucky that this system wasn't tested by a global pandemic in this decade. But if it had been I guess at least this would have been obvious.....

So let me get this right, universities are reacting to genAI by defaulting back to high stakes exams, whilst simultaneously they are being massively gamed by the wealthy through over-diagnosed conditions. This assessment game might need some deeper thought....

The simple fact is that domestic politics, security, geopolitics, and economics are all lining up for enormous institutional change at European level. European values are in jeopardy and we can't just let them fade into the sunset. The UK needs to be at the heart of this change.

The criticism of Starmer that he spends too much time on foreign affairs is misplaced. He should spend more. But it needs to be quality time. He's PM at a moment when the UK's post-war default is fundamentally disrupted. That requires deep engagement. observer.co.uk/news/columni...

Timothy Garton-Ash on Trump's National Security Strategy. Quite.

Apart from the headline weirdly which doesn't follow from the analysis, this is excellent and free to read. All of it applies to the UK. The EU and the UK have eighteen months until French presidential elections. To coin a phrase: "do not waste this time". www.foreignaffairs.com/united-state...

Pro-Europeans have fallen into the classic progressive trap this week of splitting into different camps around the same objective - closer alignment with Europe. Constitutional reform, social policy, etc this *always* happens. The lesson: keep everything on the table and don't splinter.

Ukraine could be an EU member within a couple of years. But apparently a UK deal on a customs union is a complete impossibility. Things move when political leadership demands it.

There were signs..... It will never catch on we said. We laughed. But welcome to British culture come 2030.

Excellent from @jonathanfreedland.bsky.social . It may go even further than "he's just not that into you". He also will date your sworn enemy and do everything he can to sabotage any relationship you try at whilst telling you what clothes to wear. Wakey, wakey. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Europe may not hold the cards. But it holds the cash. Bravo.

People forget so quickly. For all the overdone talk of European decline, the EU basically integrated post-Communist states and societies over the past two decades. Remarkable. Ordoliberalism tripped it up in the 2010s but when the AI boom turns to bust in the US things will look different.

Legitimate concerns latest. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

I'm not going to lie. I find these numbers staggering. Why would you not? Is it not free for NHS frontline workers?

We follow the Danish Government on everything nowadays. Don't we? www.politico.eu/article/dani...

Leon goes into administration seeing its profitability hit by societal trends. Not that it has become overpriced rubbish you understand. www.cityam.com/leon-to-clos...

My bank has done a Spotify style "review of the year". Make.it.stop.

We need an enshitification awards. Here are 2025's top irritators for me: 1. Trainline. I'm on your app to give you money stop blocking my path with ads!! 2. Spotify. I pay you money on a regular basis, stop blasting rubbish commercial radio apps at me! 3. Reach newspapers. I can't read anything.

It's increasingly obvious, in case it wasn't at the time, that we have prioritised a weak deal with the US over a comprehensive deal with the EU. Even a sector-by-sector deal with the EU would have huge carve outs covering huge swathes of the everyday economy. Millions of jobs. We're stuck.

Say goodbye to the US Bluesky.

If your core argument is "we have to do this thing to take on the populists" it feels stronger if you say why the populists are wrong.... Or it feels like "they are right, back us". www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Live from the FIFA ethics committee.

One of the barbs aimed in Europe's direction in the MAGA National Security Strategy is that Europe is shrinking as a share of world GDP. But at purchasing power parity both the EU and US have tracked almost exactly for some time in terms of declining world share.