Patrick Lohlein

Has amyone else noticed how Trump is using the Putinist vocab "Special Military Operation" to describe his attack on Iran?

Fashion is one of very few sectors where European firms remain competitive by creating that sense of added brand value. But cultural preferences are anything but static, so it would be unwise to take this for granted

It has two aspects that are very off-putting 1) The need to register separately for the app in order to listen which severely constrains audience growth, 2) bizarrely chat alone appears to be not allowed. You need to do a bit of Karaoke 🤪

JPMorgan sees the UK unemployment rate rising to around 5.5% by Q2, above the BoE's forecast, as employment stagnates, based on its nowcast model.

If jobs growth doesn't return in the second half of the year - which is not the base case - then 6% by year-end is possible.

Testing this as an alternative to Twitterspaces...

Trying to sign in

Have you been in a fight?

Trump has now decided that a 10% global tariff isn't enough - and raises it to 15%

Is the India-EU FTA the 'mother of all deals'? What are its benefits? While the text of the agreement is not available yet, @achyuthanil.bsky.social and @sunayanasasmal.bsky.social analyse what can be gleaned from the documents released so far: www.uktpo.org/2026/02/18/w...

#InternationalTrade

⏳ 8 days left: 28 Feb deadline

TradeExperettes + KAS: short papers on the impacts of EU CBAM on Africa.

🌍 Scholars & practitioners
📍 Morocco presentation (June 2026)
💼 Publication + honorarium + travel
🔗 bit.ly/4tHesPH
#tradeasaforceforgood

Carney constructs a mega anti-Trump trade alliance The Canadian prime minister is spearheading discussions between the EU and a major Indo-Pacific trade bloc after calling on middle powers to join forces.

Canada is “championing efforts to build a bridge between the Trans-Pacific Partnership [CPTPP] and the European Union, which would create a new trading bloc of 1.5 billion people”
www.politico.eu/article/eu-a...

China is becoming a green superpower as Trump retreats from climate goals - BBC News How the world's biggest carbon emitter is now at the helm of a renewables revolution.

Good article on China's green energy transition
www.bbc.co.uk/news/resourc...

Previous competition action that enabled the rise of Lidl and Aldi created estimated welfare gains of 3.5% on certain basic products.

The Government could go further and introduce a permitted development right for grocery stores, which would make it easier to open new branches in underserved areas.

I can‘t pretend to be the biggest fan of Keir Starmer,but the idea that Britain should get yet another new Government now is preposterous. And the Labour MPs who think they could do it better might be in for a shock. All such a change would do would be to further undermine public faith in democracy.

My unfashionable opinion as someone who is not a leftie or a fan of Labour, is that Starmer has acted quickly and decisively in dealing with Mandelsohn. I also don't see anyone on the Labour benches who I think could a better job as PM

"Equally dismal is that, even after all these years, Brexiters either can’t describe what this ‘proper Brexit’ would consist of or, if they can, are unable to agree with each other’s descriptions"

Btw: I'm not sure if that BCC profile is genuine. Many institutions haven't moved to Blue Sky

The core takeaway from this @britishchambers.bsky.social report is that Brexit hit small firms much harder than large exporters... Who could have predicted that?

Good luck getting planning permission to stick that on your semi-detached house

"We need a national conversation on the realities of a future agreement"

Things used to be financed by puttng up statues of donors, so why not? Just have to find a few wealthy individuals who are narcissistic enough to think it's worth a few billion £

Removing that "c" makes the creepy warehouse a lot more creepy

Ah yes. Working together on extracting all those no-so-rare rare earths sounds like a great idea until you look at the cost and the horrendous mess...Better let some else do it. Out-of-sight, out-of-mind..

IATP comments on the intersection of climate change, food systems, and human rights The challenges to our climate and food systems intersect in important ways, not only because of the impacts of erratic weather on food production or the emissions generated by agricultural production,...

Last week, IATP and the @ips-dc.org submitted comments to the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Climate Change for an upcoming study on food systems built to prevent climate harm and protect human rights.

Read the full submission and introduction in our latest article: www.iatp.org/comments-int...

OPINION: When Mark Rutte told the European Parliament the continent can’t defend itself without the U.S., he did more than just describe Europe’s military dependence.

He turned that reliance on America into a political doctrine.

🔗 www.politico.eu/article/mark...

Only MR PROPER can deliver a PROPER BREXIT

Wise words by @alexanderrose.bsky.social in the other place

YouTube video by Bruce Springsteen Bruce Springsteen - Streets Of Minneapolis (Official Audio)

I wrote this song on Saturday, recorded it yesterday and released it to you today in response to the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis. It’s dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good.

Stay free

As we return to a pre-WW2 order, the middle powers face a challenge With economic stagnation and extremes of inequality comes corrosion of trust in democratic institutions. So Trump may be a symptom, not a cause, of what Carney called a

"Trump may be a symptom, not a cause, of Carney's "rupture" with the post-World War Two order"
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

This is just one example of the unintended consequences of having a tax system with very sharp tax threshold cliff edges