Seems slightly questionable for the UK and others to be proposing themselves as peacekeepers, given that A: this defeats the point of neutral peacekeeping, and B: Ukraine can already do a pretty good job of defending itself
on.ft.com/4meAlkZ

Been rereading A Field Guide to Earthlings, and the more of it I read, the more I am increasingly reminded of @dsquareddigest.bsky.social arguments around informational filtering and ‘mental prisons’.

@dsquareddigest.bsky.social Just been enjoying your two-parter on regulatory culture. I wonder however if there is an alternative to what you describe - some of what you have been talking about brings to mind some thoughts I’ve had on what I’d call the UK’s “secret superpower”.

Calling it now, there is something hidden in the #Chagos Islands deal that means the whole thing is in fact an absolute bargain for Britain and that when revealed, the same people currently criticising Starmer will instead be praising his ‘geopolitical masterstroke’.

#Tradle #1055 1/6
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
oec.world/en/games/tra...

#Tradle #1052 1/6
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
oec.world/en/games/tra...

For those who want to understand the backlash behind the #Jaguar rebrand: backseatpolicycritic.substack.com/p/batman-ver...

“EU torpedoes own attempts at youth mobility deal with unbelievably stupid requests on tuition fees”. Have they genuinely gone mental?

The real reason here is that France and other continental European countries systematically underreport hours worked, both as a combination of less proficient statistics services and regulations designed to disincentivise reporting (eg overtime restrictions).

My own take on the suggestions by @pmdfoster.bsky.social and @thomsampson.bsky.social that the UK should rejoin the Customs Union. backseatpolicycritic.substack.com/p/uk-customs...

A thing I worry about a lot is that the UK has, by any standard, a really good and successful model for integration, that I fear is going to come under threat from, on the one hand, Labour feeling it needs to 'Do Something for the stakeholders' versus Kemi Badenoch's experiences of another country!

My latest piece on the new #Tory Shadow Cabinet:
backseatpolicycritic.substack.com/p/how-not-to...

@stephenkb.bsky.social Yeah, turns out the headline NIESR numbers are incredibly misleading

@stephenkb.bsky.social - think I may have found your new favourite show. Tear Along the Dotted Line on Netflix - essentially Bojack Horseman for 30 year olds (but actually funny). Probably one of the best things I’ve seen this year.

On why Brexit may not be such a bad thing after all… backseatpolicycritic.substack.com/p/uk-compara...