Concrete Achievements

Category: Twitter

  • Links from the week of 4 July 2022

    Articles, reports and other links I shared on Twitter this week.

  • We’re changing things around at @demsoc.

    We’re changing things around at @demsoc. I’m stepping down as Director General in October to focus on my role as President. A new DG will run the organisation, while I focus on strategy, networks and our governance as chair of our Council.

    After 12 years of running the organisation day to day, it’s definitely time for a change – and absolutely no one will be surprised to hear that the “ideas bit” is closer to my heart than Excel spreadsheets.

    We’ll shortly be starting an open recruitment for the new DG so if you have what it takes to help us grow and mature to the next level, get polishing your CV.

    Between now and October we’ll be reshuffling a bit to line us up behind our theory of change (demsoc.org/theory-of-chan…) and ensure that the new DG has a strong organisation to take on.

    Finally, though I will still be very much around after October, it’s a moment to thank the whole Demsoc team for helping us get to a place where we can make this first big transition. And <3 to @dzyrl for bearing with my crazy dream(s) for the last 12 years.

  • Early morning Leeds. Heading to Florence by rail for an event tomorrow.

    Early morning Leeds. Heading to Florence by rail for an event tomorrow. A little bit of #CrossBorderRail that would make @jonworth proud.

    Quick change act.

    Paris sous la pluie.

    open.spotify.com/track/3y2NiCSg…

    Dales this morning, Alps this afternoon. Delayed but still on time for my connection in Turin #CrossBorderRail

    No longer on time for my train in Turin but being philosophical about it, and enjoying the view that one day* I won’t see because of the TAV

    * if I live to a ripe old age

    The last Italo was cheaper than a hotel in Milan …

  • Links from the week of 27 June 2022

    Articles, reports and other links I shared on Twitter this week.

  • Links from the week of 20 June 2022

    Articles, reports and other links I shared on Twitter this week.

  • Links from the week of 13 June 2022

    Articles, reports and other links I shared on Twitter this week.

  • Brits defending the ECHR are in a tough spot.

    Brits defending the ECHR are in a tough spot. A lot of the distinction-drawing between the EU and ECHR feels to me like “if you’re explaining, you’re losing”. People see the CoE and EU institutions as part of a general European setup.

    In most places the distinction doesn’t matter much. It’s only in the UK where the EU has been declared the enemy that it’s important to draw the distinction – but the same spirit of international collaborative rule making runs through both so they *feel* similar.

    This is why pro-HR Brits are in a tough spot and why – as @Samfr said the other day – if the UK Gov wanted to stoop so low as to run a “kick out foreign judges” campaign the field is well set up for them.

    The answer longer-term has to be getting the UK back to its essential identity as part of that European democratic and liberal community – but it’s going to be a hard road, and will need a big culture shift against exceptionalism.

    Until then, it’ll be constant rearguard actions to defend even the most basic of rights for those in the UK. Labour also needs to start laying the groundwork for that culture shift, which it won’t be able do by pretending there’s a “Better Brexit” out there. @labour4europe

  • Links from the week of 6 June 2022

    Articles, reports and other links I shared on Twitter this week.

  • Links from the week of 30 May 2022

    Articles, reports and other links I shared on Twitter this week.

  • I am once again begging @Eurostar just to say that there is no wifi and the trains are…

    I am once again begging @Eurostar just to say that there is no wifi and the trains are Faraday cages, so no one ever tries to get anything done online from their trains.

    An hour trying to book an urgent onward ticket and maybe got to the payment page twice before the network connection failed. 🤯

    Realised I needed an onward ticket just after Lille. Just arriving at St Pancras now.