James Schneider writes on defence in the ‘Statesman in an article entitled in the magazine, The Great British defence con, but within the URL as “britains defence budget must get more bang for its buck”, and interesting metaphor given that one of the criticisms of the current SDR is the amount of dollars it proposes…
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A treaty has been signed between the three parties. The headline is that Gibraltar is to become part of Schengen land.
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I was thinking about how Europe might ensure its capability should the US reduce its commitment to NATO in Europe. In Pressing Reset, a Fabian pamphlet, Calvin Bailey MP, one of Labour’s ex-military MPs wrote in an article, “Defence Co-operation” that the UK had superior offerings in maritime capability, medical capability and logistics. The last…
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Have the Labour Government finally decided to put a stop to foreign donations? The Guardian reports in an article entitled “Overseas political funding capped and crypto donations blocked in blow to Reform UK”. It’s an important issue but caps are needed for domestic donation too.
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I had a look at Reeves’ Mais Lecture 2026. Here are my notes and links, I have not read all the links yet and so have not drawn conclusions. …
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I was sent an English [machine] translation of a speech by Jürgen Habermas together with a prequel summary. … I am sharing below the new speech by 96-year-old Jürgen Habermas, titled “From Here On, We Must Go Alone,” which he gave at the Siemens Foundation in Munich. It is about the future of Europe and…
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A lengthy post on “Free Speech/Free Expresion” by Graham Smith on linkein caused me to pick up my copy of “Prohibiting incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence”, published by article 19 in December 2012 which reviews the conflicts between the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on civil and political rights. The…
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Meetings have occurred in monitoring and managing the Withdrawal Agreement and Trade & Co-operation agreement, over the last month, but what did they say and agree. I’d say, not very much. As ever, links and notes …
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My notes and links
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My notes, once known as “At her/his majesty’s pleasure.
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A transcript of Ambassador Serrano, and Commissioner Šefčovič’s introductory speech/letter to the EU-UK Parliamentary Partnership Assembly’s 6th meeting.
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There is a Commons Education Select Committee Inquiry going on into University Funding, with hearings held at the beginning of the week. On the Tuesday 25th, they took oral evidence including that from Susan Lapworth, the CEO of the Office for students, who stated that 50 institutions were [financially] vulnerable with 24 at risk of…
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Shabana Mahmood trailed and then announced even more appalling restrictions on asylum seekers. The Govt announcement entitled, “Restoring Order and Control: A statement on the government’s asylum and returns policy” is on the web. Freemovement,org respond with this article, ‘Home Secretary announces major asylum and other changes in new policy paper: “Restoring Order and Control”’….
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The EU is rolling back some of its corporate regulatory measures in the areas of sustainability reporting, and coming soon, simplifications in the digital economy laws. Here are some notes and links …
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This explains a lot. This is a chart of the EU commissioners by political party, I made this today and it includes a few judgements. The EPP have a voting majority on the Commission. In addition, there is a creeping Presidentialisation of European politics which in my opinion concedes too much power to the singular…
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