Wonderful slip by Rachel Reeves in her statement to the Commons. The ‘changes we promised’ morphed into the ‘promises we changed’.

Asking for those with limited experience of the UK taxation regime: Are repatriation expenses tax deductible? I’d like to think the Telegraph will have it covered.

I don't think this ends well for the US but the extent to which commentary in European broadcast media is playing down the level of damage US airpower is inflicting on Iranian state capacity is absurd. Even if a regime holds on, its basic condition changes if the state it governs falls apart

Latest from me: By dint of its relationship with the trade unions alone, Labour still plays a vital role in our democracy – but it also looks dangerously like an archaic legacy party. Its old majoritarian dreams are over www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Old enough to remember how talking about Ukraine joining NATO and/or the EU amounted to… prodding the bear. Is there anyone warning about the dangers of prodding Iran?

OK, the Gorton and Denton by-election, I have some thoughts! Let's take a look at some of the FACTS and burst a few of the more ridiculous takes doing the rounds But first up, can we acknowledge just what bad losers Reform are?!🤣 Right, let's get started... 🧵 1/

The more wars you start, the more you can end. It’s a supply chain thing.

All that work ending wars, all for so little recognition and acclaim. Maybe pre-emptively starting them is the way to go.

Woken up to lots of unhappy messages about us keeping on this story Sorry but if a political org - run by a now Minister - hires private intel to smear journalists then takes these baseless smears to security services, I will investigate it. And keep investigating until accountability happens

Quite a major political choice by the UK. There are precedents for the UK refusing to let the US use its bases for military operations, but not many.

Sweating it, Andrew?

The increasingly radicalised + racially fixated Elon Musk tells Restore Britain to "go on the offensive" against Reform. Musk says Restore UK should attack Nigel Farage's party "as English extinctionists who want White eradication". "That means THEY are the racists, THEY are the Nazis"

Crucial article by @petergeoghegan.bsky.social on the dimensions of a major scandal. A public inquiry is essential. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Nigel Farage claims "Look at net migration numbers. Oh, it isn't good that net migration is coming down". "Do you know why? Its because there is an exodus: those of a situation + a financial position to be fortunate to have a choice" A v misleading exaggeration/narrative of falling net migration

I see the contours of the unlikeliest of redemptive arcs for Andrew. He is made to testify in the US, and… (I recognise that the ellipsis is doing a lot of the work here) he brings down Donald Trump.

NEW Three reasons why the Mandelson disclosure exercise will be a shock for the government Ministers and officials usually are in control of disclosure exercises - but here they will not be - and why that matters A detailed post by me: emptycity.substack.com/p/three-reas...

Count to one hundred. New post on my Brexit & Brexitism Blog reflecting on a frenetic fortnight of domestic and international news, the state of the reset, the significance of the latest calls for 'proper Brexit', and the anger suffusing our politics: chrisgreybrexitblog.blogspot.com/2026/02/coun...

Just catching up with the news, and struck by the similarities - and differences - between Starmer's day today and some of the days at the tail end of Johnson's stint as PM. He's there, looking hapless, in front of a lectern, surrounded by Union Jacks, with a 'pride in place' road sign. 1/3

Just catching up with the news, and struck by the similarities - and differences - between Starmer's day today and some of the days at the tail end of Johnson's stint as PM. He's there, looking hapless, in front of a lectern, surrounded by Union Jacks, with a 'pride in place' road sign. 1/3

The strategy - which I both hate and understand - was, and still is, to cosy up to Trump. There is little doubt that it is Starmer’s strategy (and not, eg, just McSweeney’s). In the context of that strategy, appointing Mandelson made sense. If it no longer makes sense, it’s on Starmer.

The sort of week Peter Mandelson is having, someone’s going to make him go and see ‘Melania’.

The sort of week Peter Mandelson is having, someone’s going to make him go and see ‘Melania’.

Watching the US Cabinet meeting is doing my head in. All I can come up with is a pitch for a political satire: UK Cabinet (and Shadow Cabinet) meetings in the style of Trump. Sycophancy towards the leader. Bad-mouthing of rivals ('we all remember how Mad Liz trashed the economy'...). 1/2

Missed this incredibly sinister story Pam Bondi offering to withdraw ICE from Minnesota — in exchange for control of the state’s voter rolls Presumably to purge them US democracy really is on the brink (h/t @anneapplebaum.bsky.social) www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...

Good of Suella Braverman to shift the news agenda away from the travails of the Labour Party to the travails of the Tories and Reform.

1/ I've been thinking a lot about the US "This is not who we are" discourse. Trying to think through it. Note: This is all so far out of my lane my car may as well be in a nearby lake, so just skip this thread if you're looking for actual expertise or wisdom.

Mark Carney's Davos speech has won a lot of plaudits. I think that he is absolutely right that a world of fortresses 'will be poorer, more fragile and less sustainable'. And that countries should pursue 'different coalitions for different interests based on common values and interests'. 1/5

There’s been a lot more overreaching in the last week. Things fall apart slowly, then all at once. 🤞

🧵“How do seemingly ordinary people become agents of state murder?” This is one of the guiding questions I ask students in my graduate class on genocide/state violence. With recent events, it is a question many Americans are asking. I do not have a definitive answer, but here is a reading list: 1/

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...

We’ve had mad people and asylum. We’ve had Greenland and Iceland. Is it too far-fetched to think that he’s gone cool on NATO because he has it muddled with TACO and dimly thinks that people are mocking him with all the NATO talk.

All sides (and maybe especially the media) are guilty of this; but *please* do not judge Starmer and other leaders by Trump’s most recent utterance. Trump will no doubt be saying something very different tomorrow… and the volatility and incoherence is all on him.

The US granted visas to Jews but only allowed 30,000 in from Germany a year. You had to wait for your number to come up. Meet Robert Smallbones. An unassuming British diplomat who 'hacked' this system so effectively (saving 48 THOUSAND Jews) the UK government kept his scheme secret for decades /1 🧵

TRUMP: honk honk honk, I'm a big goose. everyone tells me whenever I enter a room, that's the biggest goose I've ever seen and I say yes. I'm a big goose. in a good way. a lot of Somalians are small stupid gooses but I'm a big goose BBC NEWS: a disciplined Trump sticks to the script on the economy

Mark Carney's speech really is terrific: full text is here and very much worth your time.

A very good read - well worth it.

I occasionally think of the completely unhinged response to David Cameron's comments during the EU referendum about how the prevailing European security architecture shouldn't be taken for granted.

Unhinged

One thing to watch for in European leaders’ responses to Trump’s claims relating to Greenland, is the language they use. It might not seem like much, but it will have long-term consequences. 1/8

By no means the most important part of this, but it is striking to see the Commission President to refer to Starmer (and to do so ahead of Merz and Meloni). The most important thing is that this is a good - if overdue - statement.

For this post to be about the United States and not Russia shows that there has been an absolute diplomatic revolution.

The tone of the discussion on the Kuenssberg show is (unsurprisingly) terrible. Trump has not ‘finally crossed a red line’, His stance on Greenland (‘I will take what I can for me’) is what he does. 1/2

In amongst the gloom, seeing ever-growing signs of ‘overreach’ by Trump - internationally and domestically.

Good piece by Brendan Simms. The 'Donroe Doctrine' provides ideological cover for an instinctive preference for contests and deals between authoritarian leaders. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

I've been struck by the centrality of the 'Britain is broken' narrative in Robert Jenrick's account of why he left the Conservative Party. It obviously works better for a party like Reform, than for the party which has presided over the breaking. 1/3

UK academia’s presence on X is reaching a tipping point blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsoci...

Such depressing reading. I’m sceptical that an offer of EU membership for Ukraine could fast-track any peace deal. But if it could, the EU (and/or the member states) would be sure to find ways to slow down the process.

Starmer keeps using this line, & it's bonkers. Most importantly, it's untrue: the party that ended Free Movement, ran the "hostile environment" & made Suella Braverman Home Sec did not run "an experiment in open borders". It's also politically mad. Voters who believe this will not vote for Starmer

A lot of the comment on Badenoch is focusing on whether this is a sign of strength or weakness. She sacked someone who was on the verge of defecting. It’s obviously the right thing to do. It’s an acknowledgement of reality (that Jenrick is leaving the party) which we can be grateful for. 1/2

Hoping for EITHER Farage to say no to the odious back-stabbing racist; OR Jenrick to say no to the odious back-stabbing racists. But I reckon they’ll be able to find common ground.