I don't think these classification battles are helpful, because there are various interests represented in MAGA. Trump is a corrupt would-be autocrat. Stephen Miller is openly fascist. Rubio is a standard-issue Republican hawk. Tech allies are oligarchic.
Not cheery, but probably accurate - from the book "Arriving Today" by @mims.bsky.social. And if we're all living in the global factory this might just do more to explain modern politics than any number of growth figures.
A truth still largely unrecognised by governments and commentators alike - "no nation can achieve true sovereignty within today’s interconnected trade system". What we should be discussing is what that means. www.wita.org/blogs/trump-...
Another one for the "realistic China" file, as opposed to the increasingly shrill and silly conversations in Europe and the US - it is growing as a consumer market and will overtake the EU in the coming years stevenbarnettmacro.substack.com/p/the-parado...
Important NB on reports the UK government hopes to have an SPS agreement with the EU very soon - the actual agreement is a framework which is unlikely to have the full detail, the important part is the implementation via the joint committee - and the timescales for this
The weekly foreign affairs antidote to social media simplism, a sophisticated view on how everyone might be losing.
By the way @davidheniguk.bsky.social will be speaking at the #FestivalofEuropeScotland this year
You can book your ticket here
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-future...
See the programme here
festivalofeuropescotland.org
@euromovescotland.bsky.social
@grassrootsforeurope.org
@edinburgh4eu.bsky.social
Latest on UK trade policy from my blog last week - still mostly stuck between the EU and UK in a recurrent post Brexit nightmare.
ecipe.org/insights/str...
Also worth noting the importance of next elections in France and the UK as the best chance nationalist populists will have of winning, and how that could change European relations.
As for alignment, there's a certain inevitability to something demanded by business to a government that needs growth. Even hostile previous UK governments did some of this. And even this one thinks there's some magic divergence dividend as yet hidden which also reduces EU trust.
What is up for grabs right now is whether a Labour government under different leadership would remove or thin the crucial red line, the mobility / freedom of movement one. Because that, plus money and talking more positively, is what closer ties would require.
For all the excitement around Rachel Reeves talking about the EU, this government's position hasn't changed, this current package of negotiations is mostly the limit given Brussels isn't overly tempted to offer much more. www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/poli...
There were clues when France conceded 50 points in Scotland.
Well we're seeing what happens when governments only hire yes people from the US. No surprise Reform and Farage wouldn't want to be challenged on anything. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Right, heading to the market to spend some otters. Anybody need owt?
Good thread this, all of which can be distilled down to the same point: you don’t get to punish someone for another person’s crime!
Not for the first time this round of UK-EU talks there is a distinct lack of leadership on the EU side. Also happened on the SAFE program participation.
Between some odd unprecedented EU asks and a UK government not really come to terms with what it has committed these are not quite the smooth negotiations that might be expected and are sometimes claimed.
There is a widespread rumour (that has been denied but not entirely convincingly) that the EU is pushing hard on university tuition fees because of its own competence issues.
I just wrote something that said both UK and EU agree they should in theory have close ties but neither can get there and here is an example of why not from the EU to go alongside others from the UK.
You can ask for anything in a trade deal, but you can also expect no at times.
Ah, Matchstalk Men and Matchstalk Cats and Dogs, probably one of the earliest songs I remember from childhood, and what a great tribute to the artist
Classic incumbent behaviour from the European car industry?
Anyone think that if European firms were given the exact same subsidies that they would produce the technology leaps coming from China right now?
Dunno, but maybe the Chinese are just quite good at this stuff at the moment
Most of governing is picking losers. So idea that no-one can ever lose out is pretty fatal for good governance. www.economist.com/britain/2026...
Right now there is no prospect whatsoever of a successful WTO Ministerial next week because the EU, UK, and US have all made submissions in effect saying they resent China's success.
There's an alternative. But I don't see it happening.
So, thinking about the WTO and global trade rules, I asked the question sitting awkwardly in the corner...
"can the countries that founded the GATT cope with rules being substantively written by others with different political values?"
My latest for @borderlex.net borderlex.net/2026/03/12/p...
A reminder that the UK as per all EU neighbours is in a permanent negotiation - and therefore needs permanent very strong institutions to manage this, which are not really in place.
'some creative arts graduates don’t appear to earn a significant graduate premium, but the UK’s creative industries are worth £125bn a year or, to put it another way, more than £1 in every £20 in the UK economy – a larger proportion of the nation’s wealth than almost any other country on earth.' 1/3
Fine to talk to the UK public about EU relations as long as that is with a message that might actually be deliverable... not to rerun previous episodes of "this is what we'd like but those terrible people in Brussels won't allow us...." bsky.app/profile/colu...
