Concrete Achievements

Tag: uk politics

  • Links from the week of 7 February 2022

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

  • Links from the week of 13 December 2021

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

  • “American-style governors” is the British political pathology in a phrase.

    “American-style governors” is the British political pathology in a phrase. They won’t be constitutionally established elected leaders, but they will be *named* after something American because this generation of Tories have a teen crush on the US. thetimes.co.uk/article/americ…

    “American-style governors” will – whatever the promises – inevitably be dependent on the Treasury and Whitehall so will be more elected regional managers than political figures in their own right.

    And, of course, there are better examples closer to home that are better adapted to the UK system but are invisible because they don’t happen in English and politically unacceptable because they are European.

    If someone wants me to write a piece on “German style Minister-Presidents could level up England”, my rates are reasonable.

  • Links from the week of 20 September 2021

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

  • Labour chasing anti immigrant voters?

    Labour chasing anti immigrant voters? twitter.com/paulwaugh/stat…

    Video on Twitter

    Is Brexit not enough? Destroying economic and social ties with our continent not enough. No, of course Brexit is not enough *because nothing will ever be enough*.

    If you chase after populists, you will become a populist, and people will vote for the real thing not the copy. (Juncker’s comment from a few years back, still true except in the case of the Tories where they cannibalised the far right. But Labour can’t do that.

  • Woke up to the trailer on @lapremiere: « Remember David Cameron?

    Woke up to the trailer on @lapremiere: « Remember David Cameron? The former British prime minister who launched the Brexit referendum because he was sure he would win? He’s back in the news because of a lobbying scandal – find out what happened to him at 0720 ». Can’t wait 😐

    Ten minutes of having David Cameron’s greatest hits played back to me by Belgian radio and I’m quite glad they’ve moved on to reviewing the latest Lucky Luke comic book.

    From Dodgy Dave to Lucky Luke (they didn’t say)

  • Links from the week of 1 February 2021

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

  • Fascinating indeed. What strikes me is that this U.K.

    Fascinating indeed. What strikes me is that this U.K. government’s brand is Brexit – and when the Brexit disaster reveals itself, quickly in January and/or slowly over coming years, they have no credibility left. twitter.com/anandMenon1/st…

    That makes any attempt to blame-shift onto spiteful Europeans, treacherous remoaners, Covid etc, instantly less credible. “Oh yeah remember how they messed up Covid/FSM/etc, it’s the same with Brexit.”

    That eighty seat majority (which will be defended in the fourteenth year of Tory-led government) is not much to shout about.

  • This would be true in a world where Brexit weren’t a coalition between xenophobic…

    This would be true in a world where Brexit weren’t a coalition between xenophobic nationalists and 51st-stater free marketeers. The UK will veer between US (51st stater), autarky (nationalists) and EU (anti-Brexiteers) for a decade or so. twitter.com/b_judah/status…

    The realities of geography probably means it ends up closer to the EU, if not fully in the more integrated Union that @gideonrachman discusses. However, the 51st-staters will spend next few years trying to entrench things like US regulatory standards to hinder that.

    Though even if there were an outbreak of grown-up politics, the UK wouldn’t be at the *centre* of a revived western alliance, it would be the third wheel of the bike, or in Boris Johnson terms, the Marcus Aemilius Lepidus of a western triumvirate.

  • Links from the week of 27 July 2020

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