This article is an antidote to the all too common trope in the UK among Brexiters and exceptionalists that Europe is somehow a "global bully" (while simultaneously being too weak and unable to rein in emotional France and vengeful Germany. Or something) No. Europe is a port in a storm. A 🧵

Why do government ministers go on Iain Dale's show, listen to his whining innuendo and never point out he stood as a Tory MP last year? He's not a journalist, he's an opposition activist. Go on shows hosted by people who aren't that.

Odds of Ed Miliband being next PM are hugely underrated.

The UK still hasn’t adjusted to negotiating with a rules-based bloc rather than a transactional state. It left the room where the rules are written, yet insists they bend for its convenience. That isn’t sovereignty: it’s self-inflicted irrelevance.

to be clear i think his strategic autonomy pitch is a real asset to europe. It is funny how he used to be mocked for that. i remember the economist mocking him at least. could have been more supportive of ukraine, especially earlier.

I must say I’ve been watching David become more and more British exceptionalist lately. Unwilling to acknowledge that Britain is the supplicant, that it is not a country to be trusted, and that the EU doesn’t need us more than we need them.

Hear hear! Thanks for sharing and I agree, it really is about time the UK stopped playing the victim. They got what they wanted.

I'm particularly disappointed in @davidheniguk.bsky.social for falling into the easy tropes of "bullying Brussels" and the "dastardly French" The frustration is that Europe won't give UKG what it wants Let's acknowledge that the problem lies with the UKG and its redlines, not M et Mme Dupont Ends

Forget the jelly, just love Tim Dowling's facial expressions www.theguardian.com/food/2025/no...

Realistically, the UK should be more thankful. It is being given opportunities by Bxl and the MSs. It certainly isn't being bullied, despite what the UK press might have you believe. Being outside, when you're used to having more of a say, can be disorienting. 5

European countries have got the message loud and clear. Except one? While the UK is taking on our law, particularly as regard the north of Ireland, it is still treating shared standards as a burden for which it exceptionally needs exceptions. 4

As @carolinedegruyter.bsky.social makes clear, Europe is not only the most dependable and honourable big power on the world stage, it is also an oasis of democracy and free trade is a world spinning out of control. Small countries volunteer to take on European law for that reason. Like Iceland 2

So the UK approach of fighting tooth and nail over every issue is self-sabotage. Better to concede with good grace on more symbolic (and cheaper in budget terms!) issues like erasmus or youth visas to build a receptive EU lobby when being tougher on SPS or carbon tax that involve more £s and €s

It deserves any ratio it receives. (One of those that would keep me awake regretting ever having hit "Reply")

"This article is an antidote to the all too common trope in the UK among Brexiters and exceptionalists that Europe is somehow a "global bully" [...]. No. Europe is a port in a storm." Both this article by @carolinedegruyter.bsky.social and the comments by @nialloconghaile.bsky.social are excellent

I think the EU will also work out a tailor-made association agreement with Liechtenstein 🇱🇮, as they already have with Andorra 🇦🇩, Monaco 🇲🇨, and are negotiating with San Marino 🇸🇲. As with Switzerland 🇨🇭, I see the biggest hurdles in the role of the microstates as tax havens.

For fascists (and narcissists) the enemy is always too weak and too strong.

Merci, @nialloconghaile.bsky.social de remettre l’église au milieu du village (Auld French, sorry).⤵️ No country has any obligation to be part of our ever closer union. There are advantages and drawbacks. As difficult as it’s sometimes, we really work together. It’s never been a zero-sum game.

Really hoped we would be past this win/lose, big bully/brave underdog, zero sum bollox by now A mutually beneficial outcome seems to be the last thing anyone wants although it’s exactly what everyone needs

More about this issue by the same journalist... "How 'imperial' is the EU, really?" in the EUobserver is also an interesting read. Caroline de Gruyter is an upbeat writer regarding Europe, it's a pleasure for a federalist reading her pieces. foreignpolicy.com/2025/07/31/e...

This 👇🏻. Excellent

Whether or not EFTA folds, the EEA remains an obvious off-the-shelf solution for the UK. Yes, the EEA provisions don't allow for independent member access to the agreement. So what. The whole purpose of negotiations is to create mutually beneficial results. If that bar blocks progress, remove it.

Excellent article. Link is euobserver.com/eu-and-the-w...

Europe is the Free World now 💙💛

"In but special" wasn't good enough. "Out but special" isn't good enough. There's no point even negotiating with that.

Peter Kyle the SoS Business, said the EU needs to come to the table "faster" as the UK is moving on. Same exceptionalist BS in better suits...

Exhibit B: (Chris is spot on) @nialloconghaile.bsky.social

…any deal, with a country where less than 1/3 of the votes can choose to throw everything into the trash…and in a country where the participation rate is worryingly low.

Barniers one pager was to difficult for the UK to understand (though it was very simple). He would need to boil it all down into a catch phrase. Maybe “Brexit means Brexit” 😉.

Labour is a hard Brexit party. To many people keep forgetting this.

This article is an antidote to the all too common trope in the UK among Brexiters and exceptionalists that Europe is somehow a "global bully" (while simultaneously being too weak and unable to rein in emotional France and vengeful Germany. Or something) No. Europe is a port in a storm. A 🧵

It's such an embarrassment.

Staggering!🤦‍♀️ To suggest the UK red lines, (clearly *the* self harming agent that perpetuates an interminable Brexit coma of denial & delusion) are "normal" *should* be a blatant parody statement. They were initiated in the May>crook Johnson era for goodness sake!🤦‍♀️

Brexit reduced the UK’s GDP by between 6% and 8%. That is MASSIVE. #ProjectFear #wetoldyouso www.nber.org/papers/w3445...

Brexit is not a past event, unless you are looking solely at that sordid 2016 Referendum or even the end of the transition period on 31/12/2020. This, for the UK, IS the era of #BrexitReality aka #NationalFailure. Every Briton is living it. Its scars run deep. #RejoinEU bsky.app/profile/otto...

I don't think that is an issue. You could even integrate the UK fully into the Single Market with guillotine clauses if London messes around without it affecting much if Farage wins. It's only a problem if the UK is a full member, which is why it shouldn't be one

Many either backing the UK or bashing the UK on Anglosphere social media won't get their heads around the UK is not top of the EU agenda. That means that there is a lot of space for messy internal EU horsetrading to get out of hand, but also that the UK has to work harder to sustain EU interest

"I have the feeling the “Reset” will achieve very little" Absolutely nothing that anyone will notice.......

Weathervane Keith trying stay sat on the fucking fence whilst trying to pretend that the wind of public opinion isn’t gathering to blow him off. Fucker should be in agony with all the splinters in his jacksy now

It’s that definition of madness-repeatedly doing the same thing with the expectation that the outcome will be different

I don't honestly see how even an SPS agreement is possible because there are a load of SI's that have gone through the UK parliament to lower standards on things I thought would be important to an SPS agreement. 🤷‍♂️

This is a key point that UK (and a lot of Joiners) don't get. They treat the EU like a sovereign country open to deals and big concessions. They do not appreciate it is an entity of laws and rules partly expressed via carefully constructed MS agreements. Hence the "UK is a special case" fallacy.

Everyone in Brussels is fluent in English, well-read and well-informed. They *know* what London’s game is and see their silly tricks a mile off. The UK is in for an absolute spanking until it grows up and stares harsh reality in the eye.

As I’ve said before, the Labour govt seems to think nice words and feelz after Tory arrogance will do the job. It fails to see that quitting the EU’s supranational structures exposes it to the cut and thrust of international relations, where leverage and power imbalances are ruthlessly deployed.

I have said along that the so-called re-set was a mugging off exercise to be 'seen' to be according to the manifesto intention to 'make Brexit work'. With no intention whatsoever of stopping the disingenuous & time-wasting cherry picking. It is clear the EU are quite aware of that themselves.

For someone suggesting that the thread is an "anti UK the EU is always right", your comment sounds awfully like the default anglo position of "the French are always out to get us". Apparently only the UK is allowed to look after its own interests. 😉

The whole thread 🧵 is great. This part is spot on. 🎯

They continue to think that if they ask for the same things that May demanded but without the threats and associated hubris somehow they will be successful Bring back Monsieur Barnier, he had a good way with words to explain the reality

That's so spot on Niall. The GE campaign was so dishonest: both Tories & Labour & Libdems to a lesser extent didn't want to talk about EU/Brexit or black holes in the budget & the media was complicit. The SNP mentioned both non stop but we're cut off in the tv debates clearly to help out Labour.