cynic65.bsky.social
@cynic65.bsky.social
Professional cynic & europhile into good food & even better wine, Socialism, Humanism, MMT & Liverpool FC. Alter ego of Mike Cawood
Reposted
Antonia Romeo is the wrong choice for Cabinet secretary. A government which was serious about improving its performance would not select her.

iandunt.substack.com/p/how-one-hi...
February 13, 2026 at 12:32 PM
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A fair amount of nonsense has been written and said about the "security vetting" process for Mandelson's appointment. I wrote about what "Developed Vetting" really involves and why it's perfectly possible that it found nothing useful about Mandelson.

arthursnell.substack.com/p/the-vettin...
The Vetting Myth
Understanding the realities of Mandelson's pre-appointment checks
arthursnell.substack.com
February 10, 2026 at 12:29 PM
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Just sent out my free weekend update. The big, tragic, story of the week is that Trump was a direct accomplice in helping Russia commit arguably its largest war crime so far--a double mass attack on Ukrainian civilian life. Trump provided cover for Russian murder. open.substack.com/pub/phillips...
Weekend Update #171: The Week Trump Helped Putin Commit Two War Crimes
Negotiating Over Ukraine, Europe Must Be There; US Sanctions Again, Really?
open.substack.com
February 8, 2026 at 8:02 AM
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A one-term Labour government is the absolute worst possible outcome of the 2024 GE.

Not long enough to fix anything. Long enough to whitewash away all Tory sins.

I wrote about it at length in 2023. If you take the time to read the article you'll understand my position.

medium.com/@edwinhaywar...
How Labour can avoid a one-term disaster: a Brexit and PR roadmap
Britain is at a crossroads. The next general election may determine the fate of the country for decades to come. But Labour face a daunting…
medium.com
February 8, 2026 at 1:28 AM
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"Chaps, we're all in this together".
February 6, 2026 at 8:45 PM
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January 28, 2026 at 5:22 PM
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A message from Greenland…
January 26, 2026 at 3:07 AM
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Shocking! The clearest view of ICE murdering the man in Minnesota

ICE push his friend down
He goes to help them
ICE spray him
ICE pull them apart
ICE jump him
You can see ICE pull out a gun
ICE shoot him multiple times

Witness who filmed it repeatedly shouting,

"What the f*ck did you just do"
January 24, 2026 at 7:19 PM
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Just released my free weekend update. This week answered an important riddle. How was the US to be paid from seized Russian assets? why the new "Board of Peace" is the perfect vehicle. Completely unaccountable and unsanctionable, it is a corrupt ruler’s dream. open.substack.com/pub/phillips...
Weekend Update #169: A Corruption Riddle Solved
Zelensky's Speech In Davos; Ukrainian Plans To Waste The Russian Military
open.substack.com
January 25, 2026 at 9:04 AM
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Once again, a thread for the Brexit ignorant 

1/ All countries start with their own market standards, regulated & customs territory. If an outsider wants to sell on it you must prove you meet its standards & pay a tariff at its border
December 7, 2024 at 6:05 PM
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How Morgan McSweeney's '0% strategy' failed to win over Reform voters while haemorrhaging Labour's own support base to the Greens

www.adambienkov.co.uk/p/morgan-mcs...
Morgan McSweeney’s 0% Strategy
The plot to block Andy Burnham's return to Westminster tells you everything you need to know about how Keir Starmer's Government got itself into this mess
www.adambienkov.co.uk
January 24, 2026 at 8:41 AM
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“With the 10 year anniversary coming up, there are real opportunities to point out all the failures of Brexit and pin a lot of it on Farage.”

open.substack.com/pub/lukemcge...
How Labour should handle the looming debate on Brexit
Labour cannot afford their own version of the Tory madness that paralysed politics
open.substack.com
January 24, 2026 at 9:56 AM
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It was my sombre duty back in 2010 to honour Danish and British war dead as part of my daily job in Helmand. It feels emblematic of a flawed relationship.
arthursnell.substack.com/p/an-especia...
An Especially Flawed Relationship
There have been valid questions about the Transatlantic Relationship for years.
arthursnell.substack.com
January 24, 2026 at 2:36 PM
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1. This short thread is about the issue that dominates almost every aspect of politics, and causes or exacerbates most of our problems: the extreme wealth of a small number of people. Here’s the amazing thing: almost the entire political class aligns with the ultra-rich against the rest. 🧵1/10
January 23, 2026 at 11:30 AM
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Lessons from this farrago:
1. He rules by whim. Be ready for anything, however absurd
2. Things said yesterday are irrelevant today
3. Favours will not be repaid. Sucking-up gets you sweet FA
4. ”Friends” & ”allies” = meaningless terms*
5. A strong United front works
6. Hurt the markets, hurt him**
What we saw from the leaders as they came into this 🇪🇺#EUCO summit is that everyone has their own interpretation of what happened over the past 24 hours.

The Meloni camp thinks it was calm negotiation that saved the day. The Macron camp think it was Europe showing its teeth.
EU holds crisis summit to reevaluate transatlantic relations
YouTube video by Dave Keating
youtu.be
January 22, 2026 at 8:20 PM
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Dear Christ
This is so stupid and crazy it wouldn’t have passed muster in the Veep writer’s room. Also demonstrates that they’d be insane to share any real intel with Patel.
January 23, 2026 at 1:43 PM
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🚨 Now trending 🚨

A video from 6 years ago is resurfacing where Nigel Farage was accused, during his time as an MEP, of failing to declare over £500k in financial support.

x.com/i/status/201...
x.com
January 22, 2026 at 5:44 PM
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Sky News: Danish PM Mette Freideriksen’s note in the visitors book when she visited UK today
January 23, 2026 at 4:59 AM
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"We have seen empires fall and civilizations crumble. But we’ve almost never seen a people renounce their leadership of the world—all at once, in full public view. That is what has happened in the 365 days since January 20, 2025."
This Is the End
Putinism abroad always morphs into Putinism at home. And we chose this path. Why? Because something-something the price of eggs.
lnk.thebulwark.com
January 22, 2026 at 7:00 AM
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not only is this an appalling take which attacks Starmer for the actions of a lunatic and not the lunatic, but also strays well beyond ‘unbiased’ reporting
January 20, 2026 at 9:36 AM
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We hear it all the time:

Since the turn of the 2010s, thanks to the rise of tech, the US has pulled ahead economically.

This idea is everywhere from Washington to Davos—and it's paralyzing Europe

But it's simply not true!

Let's look at what's really happening, with charts🧵
January 20, 2026 at 8:59 PM
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If Europeans do not grasp today that they need new united structures to provide for their defense and security (both economic and military), they never will.
January 20, 2026 at 3:04 PM
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Adelaide and the crisis of free speech iandunt.substack.com/p/adelaide-a...
January 16, 2026 at 11:59 AM
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So many good lines in this, but I particularly enjoyed "Jenrick insisted, deadpan, that he was putting personal ambition aside by joining the party currently leading in the polls."
thecritic.co.uk/francis-urqu...
Francis Urquhart or Baldrick? | Robert Hutton | The Critic Magazine
I should begin with an apology. Last month, I described Robert Jenrick as “the most shameless man in parliament”. His office complained at the time, but I was stubborn and refused to back down. Well…
thecritic.co.uk
January 16, 2026 at 2:58 PM
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“It seems unlikely not to have occurred to [Farage] that the reason he is so popular… is that so many people have had enough not just of people like Zahawi, but in this case, people who literally are Zahawi”

Here’s to hoping their piss-taking opportunism does for them both.

(Times sketch)
January 13, 2026 at 7:22 AM