Phil Simmonds
@europeanphil.bsky.social
I'm British/European. Want to be back in the EU. Semi retired civil servant. Spent 17 years living in, working in and loving Brussels.
Localisation & Translation Professional.
Localisation & Translation Professional.
Pinned
Phil Simmonds
@europeanphil.bsky.social
· Oct 28
🚨BREAKING : The Green Party has passed 150,000 members 🥳
Thousands are joining right now to help us replace Labour and take the fight to Reform.
Are you in?
Make hope normal again. Join the Green Party now ⤵️
Thousands are joining right now to help us replace Labour and take the fight to Reform.
Are you in?
Make hope normal again. Join the Green Party now ⤵️
just days after announcing they want a referendum on re-joining the EU, the Green Party is breaking records on membership.
it's embarrassing how obvious it is that our politics is infiltrated by Russian cash. Didn't johnson quash and cover up the Russian Report?
Like vampires & sunlight - the moment his car stalled is funny.
Ex Brexit Party MEP - named in WhatsApp messages alongside jailed Reform UK leader Nathan Gill - is denying pro-Russian payments after being linked to a Putin-aligned influence network
1/2
Ex Brexit Party MEP - named in WhatsApp messages alongside jailed Reform UK leader Nathan Gill - is denying pro-Russian payments after being linked to a Putin-aligned influence network
1/2
November 28, 2025 at 12:15 PM
it's embarrassing how obvious it is that our politics is infiltrated by Russian cash. Didn't johnson quash and cover up the Russian Report?
Reposted by Phil Simmonds
😳😳😳 Blimey www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025... 1/2
Net migration to UK drops 69% year on year, ONS says
Figure of 204,000 in 12 months to June 2025 is lowest since 2021, statistics body says
www.theguardian.com
November 27, 2025 at 9:58 AM
😳😳😳 Blimey www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025... 1/2
Reposted by Phil Simmonds
I wonder if the UK will ever abolish the monarchy?
🤷♂️
🤷♂️
November 26, 2025 at 9:16 PM
I wonder if the UK will ever abolish the monarchy?
🤷♂️
🤷♂️
Reposted by Phil Simmonds
Small sums for very wealthy people and about 150,000 homes are worth over £2 million so that's hundreds of millions for the exchequer.
But bear this in mind - King Charles won't pay a penny on his many homes which are mostly worth far more than that.
But bear this in mind - King Charles won't pay a penny on his many homes which are mostly worth far more than that.
what’s not to like? nice one Rachel Reeves for introducing the mansion tax ensuring the super-rich pay their way just like the rest of us 🙏💥
November 26, 2025 at 9:05 PM
Small sums for very wealthy people and about 150,000 homes are worth over £2 million so that's hundreds of millions for the exchequer.
But bear this in mind - King Charles won't pay a penny on his many homes which are mostly worth far more than that.
But bear this in mind - King Charles won't pay a penny on his many homes which are mostly worth far more than that.
Reposted by Phil Simmonds
oh man, lettuce truthers :)
You'll be hearing plenty more on BGE24 from me in coming days and weeks - I have a book to sell after all - but for now a little amuse bouche from the endnotes - *was* Liz Truss really outlasted by a lettuce?
November 26, 2025 at 3:08 PM
oh man, lettuce truthers :)
Reposted by Phil Simmonds
Very striking to me that the absence of a government vision is matched by the wider Labour ecosystem - plenty of specific policy ideas, no obvious big picture of what the party should mean in 2025.
November 26, 2025 at 3:22 PM
Very striking to me that the absence of a government vision is matched by the wider Labour ecosystem - plenty of specific policy ideas, no obvious big picture of what the party should mean in 2025.
Reposted by Phil Simmonds
Woah.
I wish I didn’t have to share this. But the BBC has decided to censor my first Reith Lecture.
They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1
They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1
November 25, 2025 at 9:57 AM
Woah.
Reposted by Phil Simmonds
I'm thrilled to announce that Talk Data to Me now has a podcast.
My first guest is Jonathan Portes, Professor of Economics at Kings, who talked to me about recent problems with UK economic data & budget challenges for the Chancellor.
Available to listen now 🔊
open.spotify.com/episode/6Txz...
My first guest is Jonathan Portes, Professor of Economics at Kings, who talked to me about recent problems with UK economic data & budget challenges for the Chancellor.
Available to listen now 🔊
open.spotify.com/episode/6Txz...
Are we flying blind on the economy? with Jonathan Portes
open.spotify.com
November 24, 2025 at 1:44 PM
I'm thrilled to announce that Talk Data to Me now has a podcast.
My first guest is Jonathan Portes, Professor of Economics at Kings, who talked to me about recent problems with UK economic data & budget challenges for the Chancellor.
Available to listen now 🔊
open.spotify.com/episode/6Txz...
My first guest is Jonathan Portes, Professor of Economics at Kings, who talked to me about recent problems with UK economic data & budget challenges for the Chancellor.
Available to listen now 🔊
open.spotify.com/episode/6Txz...
Reposted by Phil Simmonds
Of course the Kremlin preferred “Trump’s original proposal.” They wrote it.
November 24, 2025 at 4:23 PM
Of course the Kremlin preferred “Trump’s original proposal.” They wrote it.
Reposted by Phil Simmonds
Keir Starmer will convene talks of the coalition of the willing - a group of over 30 nations committed to policing any peace deal between Ukraine and Russia - on Tuesday
www.mirror.co.uk/news/politic...
www.mirror.co.uk/news/politic...
Starmer to host key Ukraine talks as Trump hints at 'something good' happening
Keir Starmer will convene talks of the coalition of the willing - a group of over 30 nations committed to policing any peace deal between Ukraine and Russia - on Tuesday
www.mirror.co.uk
November 24, 2025 at 4:26 PM
Keir Starmer will convene talks of the coalition of the willing - a group of over 30 nations committed to policing any peace deal between Ukraine and Russia - on Tuesday
www.mirror.co.uk/news/politic...
www.mirror.co.uk/news/politic...
Reposted by Phil Simmonds
Law firm Cohen & Gresser in talks to sell stake to private equity on.ft.com/49CS8Pr
Law firm Cohen & Gresser in talks to sell stake to private equity
New York firm that represented Sam Bankman-Fried and Ghislaine Maxwell would be among first to bring in investors
on.ft.com
November 24, 2025 at 4:29 PM
Law firm Cohen & Gresser in talks to sell stake to private equity on.ft.com/49CS8Pr
Reposted by Phil Simmonds
flicked on BBC news to see what new brexit benefits the british are getting.
I don't remember this on the side of a big red bus. do you?
I don't remember this on the side of a big red bus. do you?
evening all. Sunlit Uplands latest.
Fun fact: £120b losses p.a. due to brexit works out at about
£10b per month or £2.3b less per week for the NHS.
Fun fact: £120b losses p.a. due to brexit works out at about
£10b per month or £2.3b less per week for the NHS.
November 23, 2025 at 10:22 PM
flicked on BBC news to see what new brexit benefits the british are getting.
I don't remember this on the side of a big red bus. do you?
I don't remember this on the side of a big red bus. do you?
Reposted by Phil Simmonds
this might be quite a significant moment in the future of the UK Union.
"A cross party group of Irish MEPs has written to the president of the European Parliament requesting that Northern Ireland political representatives be granted observer status at the Brussels and Strasbourg chambers."
"A cross party group of Irish MEPs has written to the president of the European Parliament requesting that Northern Ireland political representatives be granted observer status at the Brussels and Strasbourg chambers."
Observer status sought for NI reps in Euro parliament
A cross party group of Irish MEPs has written to the president of the European Parliament requesting that Northern Ireland political representatives be granted observer status at the Brussels and Stra...
www.rte.ie
November 20, 2025 at 7:52 PM
this might be quite a significant moment in the future of the UK Union.
"A cross party group of Irish MEPs has written to the president of the European Parliament requesting that Northern Ireland political representatives be granted observer status at the Brussels and Strasbourg chambers."
"A cross party group of Irish MEPs has written to the president of the European Parliament requesting that Northern Ireland political representatives be granted observer status at the Brussels and Strasbourg chambers."
Reposted by Phil Simmonds
🇬🇧 Boris Johnson fustige l'enquête mettant en cause sa gestion "chaotique" de la pandémie de #Covid19 : "Ces gens ont-ils perdu la raison ? [...] Chaque personne impliquée a fait de son mieux."
Le collectif de familles fustige une réaction "méprisable".
Le collectif de familles fustige une réaction "méprisable".
Boris Johnson ‘beyond contempt’ for attack on Covid inquiry’s findings
Families of the Covid bereaved have reacted to horror to the lack of contrition in the former prime minister’s weekly column
www.independent.co.uk
November 22, 2025 at 2:13 PM
🇬🇧 Boris Johnson fustige l'enquête mettant en cause sa gestion "chaotique" de la pandémie de #Covid19 : "Ces gens ont-ils perdu la raison ? [...] Chaque personne impliquée a fait de son mieux."
Le collectif de familles fustige une réaction "méprisable".
Le collectif de familles fustige une réaction "méprisable".
and for those who can't read, there's always GBNEWS.
Daily Mail's parent company agrees a deal to buy Telegraph for £500m! Media consolidation, let's go, ya gonna blink and stop this competition regulators? Over to you, Nandy? Strong potential everyone just waves the sale through to STOP HAVING TO READ OR THINK ABOUT IT. www.ft.com/content/cd8e...
Daily Mail owner strikes £500mn deal for Telegraph
Tie-up would create one of the most powerful right-leaning media groups in Britain
www.ft.com
November 22, 2025 at 11:37 AM
and for those who can't read, there's always GBNEWS.
Reposted by Phil Simmonds
Daily Mail's parent company agrees a deal to buy Telegraph for £500m! Media consolidation, let's go, ya gonna blink and stop this competition regulators? Over to you, Nandy? Strong potential everyone just waves the sale through to STOP HAVING TO READ OR THINK ABOUT IT. www.ft.com/content/cd8e...
Daily Mail owner strikes £500mn deal for Telegraph
Tie-up would create one of the most powerful right-leaning media groups in Britain
www.ft.com
November 22, 2025 at 9:21 AM
Daily Mail's parent company agrees a deal to buy Telegraph for £500m! Media consolidation, let's go, ya gonna blink and stop this competition regulators? Over to you, Nandy? Strong potential everyone just waves the sale through to STOP HAVING TO READ OR THINK ABOUT IT. www.ft.com/content/cd8e...
Reposted by Phil Simmonds
Quick thread on how Ireland responded to Brexit.👇
TL;DR: "Ireland played a blinder. 10-0 and it's only half time, brexit is only beginning to unravel".
h/t @mickennedy.bsky.social
TL;DR: "Ireland played a blinder. 10-0 and it's only half time, brexit is only beginning to unravel".
h/t @mickennedy.bsky.social
Before the vote Ireland sent a delegation of diplomats to each EU27 state, giving presentations on what impact brexit might have on the british border in Ireland.
Smart move and here's actual footage of the british border in Ireland at the very first brexit negotiations in July 2016. 👇
2/8
Smart move and here's actual footage of the british border in Ireland at the very first brexit negotiations in July 2016. 👇
2/8
November 22, 2025 at 9:02 AM
Quick thread on how Ireland responded to Brexit.👇
TL;DR: "Ireland played a blinder. 10-0 and it's only half time, brexit is only beginning to unravel".
h/t @mickennedy.bsky.social
TL;DR: "Ireland played a blinder. 10-0 and it's only half time, brexit is only beginning to unravel".
h/t @mickennedy.bsky.social
Reposted by Phil Simmonds
What’s the conclusion ? How the British society sees itself on and after Brexit ? ⤵️
Just look at Spain and Franco long dictatorship (40 years long). Memories cannot pass if the whole society cannot face its past.
Brexit is just 9 years old.
Just go ahead,
@lizwebster.bsky.social
Just look at Spain and Franco long dictatorship (40 years long). Memories cannot pass if the whole society cannot face its past.
Brexit is just 9 years old.
Just go ahead,
@lizwebster.bsky.social
Jonathan Freedland finally says it:
Britain is drowning bc there’s a Brexit-shaped hole in the roof and Labour refuses to fix it.
Reeves can juggle taxes but nothing improves until we face the truth.
We’re poorer bc of Brexit. We stay poor if Labour protects it.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Britain is drowning bc there’s a Brexit-shaped hole in the roof and Labour refuses to fix it.
Reeves can juggle taxes but nothing improves until we face the truth.
We’re poorer bc of Brexit. We stay poor if Labour protects it.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Rachel Reeves is studiously ignoring the cause of Britain’s woes: the Brexit-shaped hole in its roof | Jonathan Freedland
The autumn budget will mop up some damage, but the true source of the economic crisis is clear. The government should now fix it – tragically, it won’t, says Guardian columnist Jonathan Freedland
www.theguardian.com
November 22, 2025 at 8:40 AM
What’s the conclusion ? How the British society sees itself on and after Brexit ? ⤵️
Just look at Spain and Franco long dictatorship (40 years long). Memories cannot pass if the whole society cannot face its past.
Brexit is just 9 years old.
Just go ahead,
@lizwebster.bsky.social
Just look at Spain and Franco long dictatorship (40 years long). Memories cannot pass if the whole society cannot face its past.
Brexit is just 9 years old.
Just go ahead,
@lizwebster.bsky.social
Reposted by Phil Simmonds
for those interested, this fascinating talk chaired by @brigidlaffan.bsky.social and Stefaan De Rynck, who had a ringside seat during brexit negotiations, is well worth a watch.
Inside the Deal: how the EU got Brexit done | LSE Event
YouTube video by LSE
www.youtube.com
November 21, 2025 at 8:29 PM
for those interested, this fascinating talk chaired by @brigidlaffan.bsky.social and Stefaan De Rynck, who had a ringside seat during brexit negotiations, is well worth a watch.
Reposted by Phil Simmonds
Of course, to answer your question fully would require a quick recap of how people in the North of Ireland reacted to brexit.
Incredibly, the DUP held the balance of power in the UK after Theresa Mays snap election backfired in 2017.
This gent explains, brilliantly, in less than 60 seconds.
8/8
Incredibly, the DUP held the balance of power in the UK after Theresa Mays snap election backfired in 2017.
This gent explains, brilliantly, in less than 60 seconds.
8/8
November 21, 2025 at 8:07 PM
Of course, to answer your question fully would require a quick recap of how people in the North of Ireland reacted to brexit.
Incredibly, the DUP held the balance of power in the UK after Theresa Mays snap election backfired in 2017.
This gent explains, brilliantly, in less than 60 seconds.
8/8
Incredibly, the DUP held the balance of power in the UK after Theresa Mays snap election backfired in 2017.
This gent explains, brilliantly, in less than 60 seconds.
8/8
Reposted by Phil Simmonds
incidentally, all political parties in NI were fully aware - before the brexit vote - the preferred option for the UKG was always a sea border.
UK PM (David Cameron, at the time): "not on the physical separation of NI from Republic"
From may 2016 👇Dublin would have had a copy.
UK PM (David Cameron, at the time): "not on the physical separation of NI from Republic"
From may 2016 👇Dublin would have had a copy.
November 21, 2025 at 8:38 PM
incidentally, all political parties in NI were fully aware - before the brexit vote - the preferred option for the UKG was always a sea border.
UK PM (David Cameron, at the time): "not on the physical separation of NI from Republic"
From may 2016 👇Dublin would have had a copy.
UK PM (David Cameron, at the time): "not on the physical separation of NI from Republic"
From may 2016 👇Dublin would have had a copy.
Reposted by Phil Simmonds
I should add. The DUP, after holding the balance of power in the UK, not only pushed for a hard brexit, they also started to dispute the UKgovs sovereignty in NI.
Journalists in Dublin did begin to wonder if the DUP were, actually "working for the other guys"!
Journalists in Dublin did begin to wonder if the DUP were, actually "working for the other guys"!
November 21, 2025 at 8:12 PM
I should add. The DUP, after holding the balance of power in the UK, not only pushed for a hard brexit, they also started to dispute the UKgovs sovereignty in NI.
Journalists in Dublin did begin to wonder if the DUP were, actually "working for the other guys"!
Journalists in Dublin did begin to wonder if the DUP were, actually "working for the other guys"!
Reposted by Phil Simmonds
@mickennedy.bsky.social asked how "Ireland responded to brexit".
a quick 🧵
TL;DR: "Ireland has played a blinder. It's already 10 - 0 to Ireland and it's only half time. Brexit is only just beginning to unravel.".
1/8
a quick 🧵
TL;DR: "Ireland has played a blinder. It's already 10 - 0 to Ireland and it's only half time. Brexit is only just beginning to unravel.".
1/8
November 21, 2025 at 8:07 PM
@mickennedy.bsky.social asked how "Ireland responded to brexit".
a quick 🧵
TL;DR: "Ireland has played a blinder. It's already 10 - 0 to Ireland and it's only half time. Brexit is only just beginning to unravel.".
1/8
a quick 🧵
TL;DR: "Ireland has played a blinder. It's already 10 - 0 to Ireland and it's only half time. Brexit is only just beginning to unravel.".
1/8
Reposted by Phil Simmonds
@sauldk.bsky.social I noticed you just blocked a pal of mine @gylesnamopaleen.bsky.social
Should I too?
Should I too?
November 21, 2025 at 9:11 PM
@sauldk.bsky.social I noticed you just blocked a pal of mine @gylesnamopaleen.bsky.social
Should I too?
Should I too?