bsky.app/profile/oriu... Hesselden doing the classic pseudo-legal internet trick of confusing “not explicitly written in one sentence” with “not legally connected”. What he offers isn't sophisticated legal analysis but undergraduate-level sophistry.

Let it be clear: you are wanted here.

@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.

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.

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.

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

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...

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.

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.

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.

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.

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... 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.

@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.

@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.

Well, this is odd, even if unsurprising. Wes Streeting writing a two-page resignation letter which boils down to: “I don’t have the numbers to run against you. But I’ve backed myself into a corner in which, to maintain any political credibility, all I can now do is resign”.

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.

Be kind. These are some of the same people who until recently were certain EU would just undo brexit when it "found out" how dishonest the UK debate had been. Or on some technical point. Then went on a "we'll sue the EU" ride. They are on a road to accepting reality. They have far to travel yet.

I'm almost having a hard time believing it can be real instead of being some sort of elaborate prank. But then I'm old enough to have met some real idiots in my time, so my expectations have dropped.

Imagine being so stupid you think the UK government can decide to leave the EU and decide which EU treaties to keep at the same time.

'The Treaties shall cease to apply to the State in question from the date of entry into force of the withdrawal agreement or, failing that, two years after the notification ..' If you leave the EU, the treaties cease to apply. That's it.

What fascinates me about threads like this is that they unintentionally capture Britain’s post-Brexit psychology far better than they explain Brexit itself. … bsky.app/profile/andr...

And yet again here we have another example of a peculiarly British post-Brexit phenomenon: the persistent belief that the consequences of Brexit are really just temporary inconveniences awaiting sufficiently imaginative legal engineering. bsky.app/profile/andr...

Britain "at the heart of Europe", 2026 edition:

This video inspired the sort of weary resignation usually reserved for rail replacement buses, damp Bank Holidays, and discovering the self-checkout has once again “unexpectedly removed an item from the bagging area.”… youtu.be/JYA3gVGxlnw

youtu.be/JYA3gVGxlnw?... @andrewhesselden.bsky.social - here is my considered reply to your post. Have a good Sunday

Andrew, thank you for the share. I watched the whole thing so, and do you the courtesy of a detailed response. As with your other thread, what emerges isn't some profound injustice but another example of Britain struggling to emotionally process the entirely foreseeable consequences of Brexit.

Votes have consequences. The exceptionalists who tell you that the consequences of Brexit are the fault of Spain, or Europe, or Schengen, or someone else should reflect on that. A open *honest* debate on the UK's future is needed. Not more Extrawurst Großbritannien Ends

In 1950, a generation made a promise. 76 years later, we are still keeping it.⁣ In the skies, at sea, online. In negotiating rooms and conflict zones. Because rights and values do not defend themselves. And we are not watching from the sidelines.⁣ Happy Europe Day. 🇪🇺 @eudiplomacy.bsky.social

#EuropeDay is your day. Today we celebrate our common European project and what we can achieve when we work together. United in diversity, we keep building our shared future of peace, freedom and opportunity.

The US uses its Visa Waiver Programme to literally dictate EU policies. Now it demands near-unlimited EU-US data transfers, violating EU law. However the US does not even meet the criteria for EU visa free travel. Time for EU to play hardball: suspend visa free travel for Americans first, then talk

bsky.app/profile/fran... bsky.app/profile/fran... Exposed as a liar and a fraud, you responded exactly as expected: hit block and ran. The last refuge of the cornered coward. We see you, FVF.

"Once immigration is fixed" is a very revealing phrase. It shows what a lot of Labour MPs (and the government) think of us. We are a problem to be solved, not members of the community like everyone else. And our lives must be made harder to satisfy some mythical Red Wall voters.

It is fundamentally a refusal to accept that "Irish" is not a part of "British" Like the last 100/200/800/1000 years never happened

@andrewhesselden.bsky.social bsky.app/profile/itsj... This isn’t a “false flag,” it’s pattern recognition. The second rejoin is framed as anything other than full Article 49 TEU w. no opt-outs & no rebates you’re in exceptionalism territory.

bsky.app/profile/andr... You’re confusing desirability with leverage. The EU can want the UK in and still dictate the terms. Roberta Metsola misspoke, and you’ve inflated it into entitlement. The UK is outside, cap in hand and not a co-author of the rules.

@andrewhesselden.bsky.social Metsola’s instinct to flatter you sensibilities is understandable, and this is exactly the ambiguity you seek to exploit. When she calls it “unique” you hear “preferential.” The reality is simpler: you are a former member and now just another third country.

The only Leave voters I spoke to during the referendum campaign were voting to destroy the EU. It's not just about us being separate, it's about fear of continental European unity. Clearly such people don't understand the origins of the world wars. They just see it as us against them.

The UK is a serious country and brings plenty to the table. But we have to believe it’s on our side - not in it for itself, not America‘s poodle, not looking to one up us for the latest hot thing in the East

There won’t be many left who can read this The 6th formers involved in B4B block the grown ups who have dared to disagree with the delusional nonsense they have peddled over the last few years Best for Britain is a presumptuous name for a purely political organisation

You are so full of yourselves. Last time the UK had to beg three times before the EEC would even talk. If the UK is already rejecting our finest achievements that doesn't bode well for the Uk's future behaviour. I would rather have fewer but more committed members.

We should be learning from other countries...

@andrewhesselden.bsky.social @stephenclarkehist.bsky.social There’s no “queue” in politics, only priorities and leverage. The UK isn’t waiting in line; it’s not a priority.

@anglo-european.bsky.social - is this you? inews.co.uk/news/world/i...

@anglo-european.bsky.social @francevisafree.bsky.social @andrewhesselden.bsky.social - pay attention please

Then EU membership is simply not to be. All in or all out. The UK needs to fundamentally change if they are even to qualify. Applicants don’t get opt outs and the UK is desperate.

It makes me sick that they look down upon our finest achievements and talk about them as if they are negatives. They are simply not worthy of being EU members and I doubt the attitude will change any time soon.

So they are thinking of ways to cheat themselves out of two of the EU's finest achievements then. It utterly enrages me. I am in an EU member state that is both in Schengen and the euro and they are two of the very finest achievements of the EU. Why on earth is it looked down upon?

Like so many, they fail to appreciate that applicants must meet the Copenhagen Criteria and it is entirely up to the 27 to decide how to interpret the latter.

Yes, explicitly ruling certain things out even before you start a campaign to join the European Union is bizarre Nobody knows for certain how the A49 process will work out, but if you’ve already made it known in advance that you only want partial membership it’s unlikely to go well