Gary Weatherhead
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garyweatherhead.bsky.social
Gary Weatherhead
@garyweatherhead.bsky.social
200 followers 190 following 130 posts
politics/geopolitics/law
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Reposted by Gary Weatherhead
aaronwherry.bsky.social
I am an endlessly fascinated with this kind of polling/research on political framing.

pollarastrategicinsights.substack.com/p/say-it-right
December 3, 2025 at 3:36 PM
Reposted by Gary Weatherhead
marceldirsus.com
For episode 2 of my new podcast The Next Best, I talked to @charleshecker.bsky.social about the failure of Western business in Russia. How did Putin change the rules? What did engagement with Moscow do to our own societies? What can we learn from all this?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMdk...
How Western Business Failed | Charles Hecker
YouTube video by The Next Best with Marcel Dirsus
www.youtube.com
December 3, 2025 at 2:32 PM
Reposted by Gary Weatherhead
becingber.bsky.social
Excellent explainer by the inimitable @tessbridgeman.bsky.social, @rgoodlaw.bsky.social, and @mikeschmitt.bsky.social
Unlawful Orders and Killing Shipwrecked Boat Strike Survivors: An Expert Backgrounder
An expert backgrounder on the reported Hegseth "no quarter" order to kill everyone aboard a suspected drug boat in the Caribbean on Sept. 2.
www.justsecurity.org
December 1, 2025 at 1:42 PM
garyweatherhead.bsky.social
International Criminal Court Annual Report 2025: Resilient Justice in Every Step
#ICC

www.icc-cpi.int/news/office-...
Office of the Prosecutor Annual Report 2025
www.icc-cpi.int
December 1, 2025 at 1:16 PM
Reposted by Gary Weatherhead
rgoodlaw.bsky.social
Former US military lawyers speak out:

"The Former JAGs Working Group unanimously considers both the giving and the execution of these orders, if true, to constitute war crimes, murder, or both."

Statement on Media Reports of Pentagon “No Quarter” Orders in Caribbean Boat Strikes

1/2
• If the U.S. military operation to interdict and destroy suspected narcotraFicking vessels is a “non-international armed conflict,” as the Trump Administration suggests, orders to “kill everybody,” which can reasonably be regarded as an order to give “no quarter,” and to “double-tap” a target in order to kill survivors, are clearly illegal under international law. In short, they are war crimes. • If the U.S. military operation is not an armed conflict of any kind, these orders to kill helpless civilians clinging to the wreckage of a vessel our military destroyed would subject everyone from SECDEF down to the individual who pulled the trigger to prosecution under U.S. law for murder. Highlighted sentence at the end of the document reads: Again, the bottom line is that, since orders to kill survivors of an attack at sea are “patently illegal,” anyone who issues or follows such orders can and should be prosecuted for war crimes, murder, or both.
November 29, 2025 at 8:10 PM
Reposted by Gary Weatherhead
davidallengreen.bsky.social
My latest for @prospectmagazine.co.uk, in which we see what the US government’s own courts-martial rules say on unlawful commands.
prospectmagazine.co.uk Prospect Magazine @prospectmagazine.co.uk · 3d
When the six Democrats said military officers ”can refuse illegal orders”, they were correct—indeed they went no further than the Department of Defense’s own guidance, writes @davidallengreen.bsky.social.
When is an order an ‘unlawful command’?
And why has Trump reacted so furiously to six members of Congress correctly stating the law?
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk
November 30, 2025 at 1:58 PM
Reposted by Gary Weatherhead
ascoa.bsky.social
Fears of electoral fraud and voter concerns about jobs and insecurity loom over Honduras’ Nov. 30 elections.

AS/COA Online outlines the political landscape, key electoral issues, and platforms of the major presidential candidates.

Learn more: ow.ly/UFle50Xx7ZJ
Explainer: Honduras' 2025 General Elections
Fears of electoral fraud and voter concerns about jobs and insecurity loom over a three-way contest for the presidency.
ow.ly
November 24, 2025 at 8:15 PM
Reposted by Gary Weatherhead
resolutionfoundation.org
🚨 Overnight Budget analysis now live 📢

Read 'Stairway to headroom' to put the Autumn Budget decisions on tax, spending and borrowing into context.

The Chancellor has raced ahead with cost of living support but tax rises and spending cuts loom ⤵️ buff.ly/U9ZeozU
November 27, 2025 at 8:27 AM
Reposted by Gary Weatherhead
freedomhouse.bsky.social
As of 2025, a little under 16% of the world’s internet users live in countries ranked Free by Freedom on the Net.

More from #FreedomOnTheNet 2025: freedomhouse.org/report/freed...
November 26, 2025 at 4:28 PM
garyweatherhead.bsky.social
Labour's choice to freeze local housing allowance will 'condemn thousands to another grim winter'

"In the third quarter of 2025, affordable housing consultancy SimplyPhi found just 1.7% of private rental homes on the market in England were available at LHA rates"

www.bigissue.com/news/housing...
Labour keeps local housing allowance freeze at autumn budget
Local housing allowance rates remain frozen despite pleas for Rachel Reeves to help renters on housing benefit ahead of the autumn budget.
www.bigissue.com
November 26, 2025 at 4:26 PM
Reposted by Gary Weatherhead
en.france24.com
Live: Guinea-Bissau military officers announce 'all borders closed' after taking control of country
Live: Guinea-Bissau military officers announce 'all borders closed' after taking control of country
Guinea-Bissau military officers on Wednesday announced that all borders were closed after they seized total control of the country, just three days after presidential and legislative elections in which both leading candidates claimed victory. Hours earlier, gunfire rang out near the presidential palace, an AFP journalist said.
f24.my
November 26, 2025 at 3:32 PM
Reposted by Gary Weatherhead
ruthpatrick0.bsky.social
I can’t envisage a child poverty strategy which garners any credibility without fully scrapping the two-child limit.

Unconvinced? Check out (even better share) this summary of the peer-reviewed evidence base @kittyjstewart.bsky.social @aaronreeves.bsky.social

largerfamilies.study/publications...
November 1, 2025 at 4:37 PM
Reposted by Gary Weatherhead
resolutionfoundation.org
Is welfare spending ''out of control''?

Total welfare spending in Britain in 2025-26 is estimated to be 10.8 per cent of GDP.

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
The chart shows where spending on social security is shown as a share of GDP. As this makes plain, total welfare spending in Britain in 2025-26 is estimated to be 10.8 per cent of GDP. This is 0.8 per cent of GDP higher than it stood on the eve of the global financial crisis in 2007-08. But since 2012-13 (the peak in the post-GFC recession), total welfare spending has fallen by 1.2 per cent of GDP. Added to this, welfare spending is expected to rise by just 0.1 per cent of GDP across the forecast period until 2029-30 (after U-turns and before any decisions made at the Budget).
November 25, 2025 at 5:30 PM
garyweatherhead.bsky.social
Here's the full list and links to all the supporting and supplementary documents related to today's budget

www.gov.uk/government/c...
Budget 2025
The Chancellor of the Exchequer presented her Budget 2025 to Parliament on Wednesday 26 November.
www.gov.uk
November 26, 2025 at 1:55 PM
Reposted by Gary Weatherhead
maxjlhardy.bsky.social
The government intends to reduce the right to jury trial. I think this is a bad thing. But what do the judges think? open.substack.com/pub/counselo...
Stop the Revolution
Juries in jeopardy - what do judges think?
open.substack.com
November 21, 2025 at 3:34 PM
Reposted by Gary Weatherhead
justsecurity.org
As the US masses forces in the Caribbean and threatens #Venezuela’s #Maduro, what happens if Maduro flees, is overthrown, or otherwise loses power?

Peter J. Quaranto and Tyler Jess Thompson outline key questions for scenario planning:

www.justsecurity.org/125552/trump...
Trump Presses for Post-Maduro Venezuela
As the U.S. positions for possible military strikes, it should prepare for looming governance and stability challenges in Venezuela.
www.justsecurity.org
November 24, 2025 at 2:22 PM
Reposted by Gary Weatherhead
profpech.bsky.social
Paper now available here democracyinstitute.ceu.edu/articles/lau...
For those of you familiar with the EU's rule of law toolbox, you can go straight to the section offering concrete/multiple examples of timid use, misuse and non-use of the main EU prevention/monitoring & response/enforcement tools
November 24, 2025 at 1:52 PM
Reposted by Gary Weatherhead
crisisgroup.org
✍️ “Venezuela cannot be promptly transformed into a free country. Washington’s attempt at a shortcut could leave the nation even worse off than it is today.”

@philgunson.bsky.social for @foreignaffairs.com.

www.foreignaffairs.com/united-state...
The Peril of Ousting Maduro
Only a gradual transition—not regime change by corce—can restore Venezuela’s democracy.
www.foreignaffairs.com
November 21, 2025 at 5:55 PM
Reposted by Gary Weatherhead
instituteforgovernment.org.uk
Five things we learned from the UK Covid-19 Inquiry report on Module II

Our IfG experts unpack what the inquiry's report tells us about governance and decision making by ministers and the civil service during the pandemic www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/comment/covi...
Five things we learned from the UK Covid-19 Inquiry report on Module II | Institute for Government
What does the report tell us about governance and decision making by ministers and the civil service during the pandemic?
www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk
November 21, 2025 at 1:29 PM
Reposted by Gary Weatherhead
africa.theconversation.com
As Guinea-Bissau prepares for November polls, recent African elections raise tough questions about competition, incumbency and legitimacy. 🗳️

theconversation.com/guinea-bissa...

#Politics
Guinea-Bissau’s presidential poll has already failed the credibility test
What’s at stake in Guinea-Bissau’s election is a wider regional crisis in which incumbents erode legitimacy.
theconversation.com
November 16, 2025 at 9:06 AM
Reposted by Gary Weatherhead
spotlightcorruption.org
⚖️‼️Today Nathan Gill, former head of Reform UK in Wales and member of the European Parliament, has been handed down a stiff custodial sentence of 10.5 years. This comes following Gill’s guilty pleas to 8️⃣ counts of bribery in September.
Nathan Gill bribery case shows UK is "soft target" for foreign interference - Spotlight on Corruption
Today ex-Reform UK politician Nathan Gill became the first British politician to be sentenced for bribery in a landmark corruption case that has lifted the
www.spotlightcorruption.org
November 21, 2025 at 2:34 PM
Reposted by Gary Weatherhead
ldfreedman.bsky.social
The Witkoff-Dmitriev plan is even more amateurish than I imagined. It favours Russia although does contain elements that Russia will not like. Premature leaking means that it is no more than work in progress. Here is an annotated version (This is free). open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/t...?
The Witkoff-Dmitriev peace plan annotated
We now know a bit more about the process which led to the new peace plan and we now have a copy of its contents, to which I will turn soon.
open.substack.com
November 21, 2025 at 11:36 AM
Reposted by Gary Weatherhead
iojournal.bsky.social
Our online special issue, The Future of Global Governance and World Order, is out!

It features 15 short essays plus the editors' introduction, all #OpenAccess.

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

#IOFoGG
November 20, 2025 at 11:21 AM
Reposted by Gary Weatherhead
paolosandro.bsky.social
As part of my Parliamentary Fellowship, I've co-authored with David Torrance a short research briefing on parliamentary sovereignty. I'm working on a (much) longer piece, which will be out in 2026!

@policyleeds.bsky.social @lawatleeds.bsky.social

commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-bri...
Parliamentary sovereignty
A short research briefing on the principle of parliamentary sovereignty, its origins and contemporary application.
commonslibrary.parliament.uk
November 19, 2025 at 2:38 PM
Reposted by Gary Weatherhead
profmarkelliott.bsky.social
New post: Tyranny, anarchy and the rule of law: Reflections on a major report by the Constitution Committee

publiclawforeveryone.com/2025/11/20/t...
Tyranny, anarchy and the rule of law: Reflections on a major report by the Constitution Committee
The House of Lords Constitution Committee’s new report on the rule of law provides an excellent overview of the concept and of the many challenges it finds itself under in the UK today. But the rep…
publiclawforeveryone.com
November 20, 2025 at 11:17 AM