Judith Knott
@judithmknott.bsky.social
Researching 19th-century German letters - when I’m not learning Estonian, knitting or playing piano.
FRSA, ex-civil servant and uni governor. (Pronoun tema.)
FRSA, ex-civil servant and uni governor. (Pronoun tema.)
Pinned
Judith Knott
@judithmknott.bsky.social
· Sep 22
Excited to announce I have a German article in Vol 24 of the Mendelssohn-Studien, due out in November.
“Der Rest ist Schweigen”: Zwei Briefe von Rebecka Dirichlet an Johanna Kinkel.
www.wehrhahn-verlag.de/public/index...
(picture is Rebecka’s sister Fanny Hensel)
“Der Rest ist Schweigen”: Zwei Briefe von Rebecka Dirichlet an Johanna Kinkel.
www.wehrhahn-verlag.de/public/index...
(picture is Rebecka’s sister Fanny Hensel)
Reposted by Judith Knott
Davey presses PM over Trump's national security strategy
'Will the PM pick up the phone and make clear to Trump that attempts to interfere with our democracy are unacceptable?'
#PMQs
'Will the PM pick up the phone and make clear to Trump that attempts to interfere with our democracy are unacceptable?'
#PMQs
December 10, 2025 at 12:39 PM
Davey presses PM over Trump's national security strategy
'Will the PM pick up the phone and make clear to Trump that attempts to interfere with our democracy are unacceptable?'
#PMQs
'Will the PM pick up the phone and make clear to Trump that attempts to interfere with our democracy are unacceptable?'
#PMQs
Reposted by Judith Knott
So… what is the justification for this? www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
US forces seize oil tanker off Venezuela coast
Move is major escalation of US pressure campaign against South American country’s dictator, Nicolás MaduroUS politics live – latest updates
www.theguardian.com
December 10, 2025 at 9:59 PM
So… what is the justification for this? www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Also - why now?
Starmer’s resignation honours … (🤞🏻)
Starmer’s resignation honours … (🤞🏻)
December 10, 2025 at 6:38 PM
Also - why now?
Starmer’s resignation honours … (🤞🏻)
Starmer’s resignation honours … (🤞🏻)
First Vogon peerage.
December 10, 2025 at 6:35 PM
First Vogon peerage.
Reposted by Judith Knott
Reposted by Judith Knott
Home Office Ministers state publicly, on the record, that they are deliberately making life worse for older people and people with disabilities who depend on care services, but it's worth it because it reduces net migration.
December 9, 2025 at 3:18 PM
Home Office Ministers state publicly, on the record, that they are deliberately making life worse for older people and people with disabilities who depend on care services, but it's worth it because it reduces net migration.
Reposted by Judith Knott
🚨BREAKING🚨
MPs have voted to PASS our bill to establish a UK-EU customs union.
The Prime Minister must now listen to his own MPs, drop his self-imposed red lines and finally go for proper growth through an ambitious trade deal with the EU.
MPs have voted to PASS our bill to establish a UK-EU customs union.
The Prime Minister must now listen to his own MPs, drop his self-imposed red lines and finally go for proper growth through an ambitious trade deal with the EU.
December 9, 2025 at 3:21 PM
🚨BREAKING🚨
MPs have voted to PASS our bill to establish a UK-EU customs union.
The Prime Minister must now listen to his own MPs, drop his self-imposed red lines and finally go for proper growth through an ambitious trade deal with the EU.
MPs have voted to PASS our bill to establish a UK-EU customs union.
The Prime Minister must now listen to his own MPs, drop his self-imposed red lines and finally go for proper growth through an ambitious trade deal with the EU.
Reposted by Judith Knott
We don’t talk enough about how the English are a people of the Baltic - the Angeln region from which they originated borders the Baltic Sea
December 8, 2025 at 6:21 PM
We don’t talk enough about how the English are a people of the Baltic - the Angeln region from which they originated borders the Baltic Sea
Reposted by Judith Knott
Reposted by Judith Knott
Happy Independence Day, Finland🇫🇮!
💙🇷🇴
💙🇷🇴
December 6, 2025 at 8:19 AM
Happy Independence Day, Finland🇫🇮!
💙🇷🇴
💙🇷🇴
Reposted by Judith Knott
It's a mark of our moral disintegration that there's even a discussion about Ukraine giving up land. To even countenance it is to reward colonialism.
December 4, 2025 at 6:23 PM
It's a mark of our moral disintegration that there's even a discussion about Ukraine giving up land. To even countenance it is to reward colonialism.
Reposted by Judith Knott
This was eminently predictable - that Moscow would seek to take advantage of one of Europe's least defended countries. What is surprising is that more contingencies were not in place, especially between Ireland and the UK, to protect Zelensky and intercept / destroy drones as required.
Quite breathtaking story - military grade drones at Dublin airport which flew on the path Zelensky's plane took. The drones reached the flight path of his plane exactly the time it should have been there, but just missed it because Zelensky arrived ahead of schedule:
Four unidentified military-style drones breached no-fly zone to target Zelenskyy's arrival in Dublin
Gardaí are investigating whether the drones took off from land in Dublin or from an undetected ship.
www.thejournal.ie
December 4, 2025 at 4:08 PM
This was eminently predictable - that Moscow would seek to take advantage of one of Europe's least defended countries. What is surprising is that more contingencies were not in place, especially between Ireland and the UK, to protect Zelensky and intercept / destroy drones as required.
Maybe Lammy just has something against Gilbert and Sullivan?
December 3, 2025 at 5:57 PM
Maybe Lammy just has something against Gilbert and Sullivan?
Nick Thomas Symonds has us both screaming at the radio.
Though he does it with a lovely Welsh accent.
Though he does it with a lovely Welsh accent.
December 3, 2025 at 5:44 PM
Nick Thomas Symonds has us both screaming at the radio.
Though he does it with a lovely Welsh accent.
Though he does it with a lovely Welsh accent.
Reposted by Judith Knott
This is wonderful and also true.
The analogies you draw, the thoughts you suddely have, the roads you pursue, the structures you comprehend, simply because a piece of art or theatre shakes you up and makes you think differently.
The analogies you draw, the thoughts you suddely have, the roads you pursue, the structures you comprehend, simply because a piece of art or theatre shakes you up and makes you think differently.
December 2, 2025 at 7:09 PM
This is wonderful and also true.
The analogies you draw, the thoughts you suddely have, the roads you pursue, the structures you comprehend, simply because a piece of art or theatre shakes you up and makes you think differently.
The analogies you draw, the thoughts you suddely have, the roads you pursue, the structures you comprehend, simply because a piece of art or theatre shakes you up and makes you think differently.
Who’s going to do Treasury Select Committee in the morning?
December 1, 2025 at 5:13 PM
Who’s going to do Treasury Select Committee in the morning?
Reposted by Judith Knott
Very good piece this by John Harris about Labour’s distaste for their squeezed middle class voter base. Connects to a lot of what I said a few week’s back in my Substack piece.
benansell.substack.com/p/british-po...
benansell.substack.com/p/british-po...
November 30, 2025 at 5:06 PM
Very good piece this by John Harris about Labour’s distaste for their squeezed middle class voter base. Connects to a lot of what I said a few week’s back in my Substack piece.
benansell.substack.com/p/british-po...
benansell.substack.com/p/british-po...
So much for growth is king.
"The government is clamping down on migration for work and study in a way which is certainly going to have negative impacts for growth"
@jdportes.bsky.social of @ukandeu.bsky.social explains why the latest ONS figures showing a huge drop in net migration will impact economic forecasts
@jdportes.bsky.social of @ukandeu.bsky.social explains why the latest ONS figures showing a huge drop in net migration will impact economic forecasts
November 29, 2025 at 6:33 AM
So much for growth is king.
Reposted by Judith Knott
Is welfare spending ''out of control''?
It's estimated to be 10.8 per cent of GDP this financial year.
That's just 0.8 per cent of GDP higher than in 2007-08, and total welfare spending has actually fallen fallen by 1.2 per cent of GDP since 2012-13⤵️ buff.ly/s5mz97u
It's estimated to be 10.8 per cent of GDP this financial year.
That's just 0.8 per cent of GDP higher than in 2007-08, and total welfare spending has actually fallen fallen by 1.2 per cent of GDP since 2012-13⤵️ buff.ly/s5mz97u
November 28, 2025 at 5:30 PM
Is welfare spending ''out of control''?
It's estimated to be 10.8 per cent of GDP this financial year.
That's just 0.8 per cent of GDP higher than in 2007-08, and total welfare spending has actually fallen fallen by 1.2 per cent of GDP since 2012-13⤵️ buff.ly/s5mz97u
It's estimated to be 10.8 per cent of GDP this financial year.
That's just 0.8 per cent of GDP higher than in 2007-08, and total welfare spending has actually fallen fallen by 1.2 per cent of GDP since 2012-13⤵️ buff.ly/s5mz97u
Reposted by Judith Knott
"What message does it send when the EU can’t even agree to a mutually beneficial partnership with the UK?", writes @pimlicat.bsky.social following talks for UK to join EU defence fund collapsing.
Read here: https://bestforbritain.substack.com/p/europe-must-get-its-act-together
Read here: https://bestforbritain.substack.com/p/europe-must-get-its-act-together
November 28, 2025 at 7:39 PM
"What message does it send when the EU can’t even agree to a mutually beneficial partnership with the UK?", writes @pimlicat.bsky.social following talks for UK to join EU defence fund collapsing.
Read here: https://bestforbritain.substack.com/p/europe-must-get-its-act-together
Read here: https://bestforbritain.substack.com/p/europe-must-get-its-act-together
Reposted by Judith Knott
“Speaking outside his chateau in France, former Brexit Party and UKIP MEP Coburn answered "no" when a BBC journalist asked him whether he’d ever been paid to give a speech to promote pro-Russian campaigners”
Just FFS investigate the whole dodgy traitorous lot of them.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Just FFS investigate the whole dodgy traitorous lot of them.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Former Brexit Party MEP denies taking payment from pro-Russian campaign
A prominent former MEP for Nigel Farage's old party denies taking bribes in a pro-Russian campaign.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 28, 2025 at 9:01 AM
“Speaking outside his chateau in France, former Brexit Party and UKIP MEP Coburn answered "no" when a BBC journalist asked him whether he’d ever been paid to give a speech to promote pro-Russian campaigners”
Just FFS investigate the whole dodgy traitorous lot of them.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Just FFS investigate the whole dodgy traitorous lot of them.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Reposted by Judith Knott
“She is doing things that I think are letting this country down".
Labour peer Alf Dubs, who arrived in the UK on the Kindertransport, tells @nicolakellywrites.bsky.social that he is deeply disappointed in Shabana Mahmood and Keir Starmer's betrayal of child refugees
bylinetimes.com/2025/11/28/a...
Labour peer Alf Dubs, who arrived in the UK on the Kindertransport, tells @nicolakellywrites.bsky.social that he is deeply disappointed in Shabana Mahmood and Keir Starmer's betrayal of child refugees
bylinetimes.com/2025/11/28/a...
Alf Dubs Accuses Shabana Mahmood of 'Letting the Country Down' With Plans to Outdo Reform on Asylum
The veteran Labour peer and lifelong campaigner for child refugees, Alf Dubs, tells Byline Times that the Home Secretary's plans are "bitterly disappointing coming from a Labour Government"
bylinetimes.com
November 28, 2025 at 10:05 AM
“She is doing things that I think are letting this country down".
Labour peer Alf Dubs, who arrived in the UK on the Kindertransport, tells @nicolakellywrites.bsky.social that he is deeply disappointed in Shabana Mahmood and Keir Starmer's betrayal of child refugees
bylinetimes.com/2025/11/28/a...
Labour peer Alf Dubs, who arrived in the UK on the Kindertransport, tells @nicolakellywrites.bsky.social that he is deeply disappointed in Shabana Mahmood and Keir Starmer's betrayal of child refugees
bylinetimes.com/2025/11/28/a...
Reposted by Judith Knott
I wish I was surprised. Buried in this Budget is a plan to slash the Digital Services Tax, giving a multi-billion tax cut to US tech giants and the likes of Elon Musk.
That's right, cutting taxes for the world's richest man while hiking them for millions of hard-working Brits.
That's right, cutting taxes for the world's richest man while hiking them for millions of hard-working Brits.
November 27, 2025 at 9:30 AM
I wish I was surprised. Buried in this Budget is a plan to slash the Digital Services Tax, giving a multi-billion tax cut to US tech giants and the likes of Elon Musk.
That's right, cutting taxes for the world's richest man while hiking them for millions of hard-working Brits.
That's right, cutting taxes for the world's richest man while hiking them for millions of hard-working Brits.
Reposted by Judith Knott
Nigel Farage has spent £1m taking out adverts in the papers to distract from the Nathan Gill Russian bribe scandal.
We can't let him buy himself out of this. We need an investigation into Russian influence in our politics.
We can't let him buy himself out of this. We need an investigation into Russian influence in our politics.
November 27, 2025 at 12:30 PM
Nigel Farage has spent £1m taking out adverts in the papers to distract from the Nathan Gill Russian bribe scandal.
We can't let him buy himself out of this. We need an investigation into Russian influence in our politics.
We can't let him buy himself out of this. We need an investigation into Russian influence in our politics.
Reposted by Judith Knott
Utterly surreal that a key part of the pre Budget narrative from the government hasn’t been ‘Russian planes keep buzzing the Essex coast, US support for NATO is looking shaky, and thanks to the Tories our army fits in Old Trafford - that’s why we need to raise taxes’.
November 26, 2025 at 8:00 AM
Utterly surreal that a key part of the pre Budget narrative from the government hasn’t been ‘Russian planes keep buzzing the Essex coast, US support for NATO is looking shaky, and thanks to the Tories our army fits in Old Trafford - that’s why we need to raise taxes’.