Nick🇬🇧🇪🇺🇺🇦 Profile picture
Dec 26, 2020 7 tweets 2 min read Read on X
So you’ll understand it was Christmas so I had less time to wade through the deal detail.

But a small summary thread of why the EU is (quietly) congratulating itself this morning on the Brexit trade deal.
2/

Since 4.5 years the EUs criteria has been clear:

1. Maintain EU access to UKs traded goods market
2. Maintain EU unity
3. Safeguard EUs role as regulatory super-power
4. Safeguard EU single market

The EU achieved all 4.
3/

The EU-UK trade deal safeguards EU access to U.K. market for traded goods where the EU has a massive surplus..

....but reduces access for services where the UK has a surplus with the EU.

Financial services business & jobs will now continue to drift to EU and away from UK.
4/

EU unity has been maintained - indeed the process has drawn the Union together. Possibly the only discordant notes were a few grumbles from fishing communities as a few extra fish were thrown towards the UK to sugar the deal.
5/

EUs role as regulator is now confirmed. U.K. business will continue to abide by EU regulations.

UK adherence to EU criteria on state aid & LPF standards is confirmed with mechanism in place to punish UK transgression with tariff/access restrictions.
6/

No final equivalence for financial services or acceptance of UK service qualifications/certification means that a “service business drain” to the EU is effectively baked-in.
7/

One area where EU compromised was to increase UK fishing UK.

However these modest increased fishing industry rights - much less than UK fishing industry asked for - will likely be cancelled out by the increase costs UK fishing faces due to higher post-Brexit trade costs. Image

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More from @nicktolhurst

Apr 25, 2022
Once again some people are being very illogical about PR and the Labour party.

So ask yourself:

“what is the best way to get PR into the U.K. political system?”

The answer is of course….
The best (& only plausible) way is:

1. Labour/LibDem coalition
2. People who want PR joining the Labour Party

So if you are saying you won’t vote Labour until it’s guaranteed PR before the debate/coalition/election is sorted you’re sabotaging the only way this can be achieved.
I want PR.
Thus I want as many people who also want PR to join the Labour Party.

This shouldn’t need explaining.
Again.

It’s literally how politics works.
The LibDems are even more pro PR than labour so a coalition with them increases its lobby power.
Read 5 tweets
Apr 16, 2022
My position on Trans?

In 10 years time people on both sides of the current “debate” are going to be very sheepish about how they turned a complex evolving subject into a nuance-fee bloodlust culture war.
Due to my family I spend 3 months of the year in an Asian country with a long history of trans people & culture.

The contrast between how this subject is treated there and in the UK is staggering.
I always think it would be beneficial for westerners who’ve now “discovered” trans issues and have gone full culture war inside weeks to spend a bit of time in Thai/Lao culture.
Read 4 tweets
Apr 15, 2022
My 2019 estimate for when UK could look to rejoin EU was..after 2035 - ie at least 3 parliament terms

The 🇷🇺 war has changed this
Not just as West now depends on European unity but also as more facts of 🇷🇺 meddling bound to come out now

If all goes well, 2030-35 *is* possible.
Obviously just a guesstimate but based on the following logic:

1. You can’t fight an election now on SM or rejoin referendum so the key is to (re)build relationship with EU & align during next parliament

2. A public debate on SM can thus only happen AFTER next election

Next…
3. For the SM+CU debate to start a labour(+LibDem) govt will need to have built up voter trust & voters comfortable with direction of European policy

4. EU also has to be assured that an opposition is not just about to reverse SM+CU policy 2 years down the line next election
Read 5 tweets
Apr 14, 2022
There’s a subtext to this story that many won’t get.

Ostensibly it’s supposed to be about reducing & deterring the number of refuges in UK.

But beneath that the govt knows that a good 10% will experience a visceral thrill of refugees “being sent to Africa as punishment.”
It’s what is called “performative nastiness” - a concept dating from 1930s.

The point is not necessarily just a bad policy but to encourage the population to “enjoy” the performative element, to encourage complicity.

Whether the policy has any practical merit isn’t important.
Students of fascism will recognize “performative nastiness” but many people won’t get it at first.

The thrill is in the “transgression”. The enjoyment of being encouraged to be complicit in what was formerly understood to be things that are “considered wrong” or “taboo”.
Read 5 tweets
Apr 2, 2022
+UPDATE+

Priti Patel has recieved £100,000 one of the largest single donations by an oil trader - Pierre Andurand - who is not made any donations to British political parties before nor to have shown any previous interest in UK politics.

theguardian.com/politics/2022/…
Pierre Andurand made some of his biggest profits betting on the effects of Covid-19 pandemic and predicting a world oil price slump.

He then reversed this decision prior to the Russian invasion.

Andurand has close personal ties with Russia through both his former & ex wives.
Indeed Andurand got special permission to marry his previous wife - Yevgenia Slyusarenko - in a lavish ceremony in St. Petersburg at one of Catherine I Russia’s former palaces.
Read 6 tweets
Mar 31, 2022
+UPDATE+

Use of Lebedev family residences by Boris Johnson “much greater than previously known”.

Total time spent by the prime minister & former foreign secretary at these homes now thought to run “into months” not days.

All time spent there without security detail or sweeps.
The use of Lebedev’s multiple homes in Italy and UK supplied by the Putin-near former KGB officer Alexander Lebedev is now known to have been - contrary to earlier reports - regular events with Johnson taking the time to visit Italy alone on at least 5-10 occasions.
While on some occasions parties were involved this was not the case every time. In some cases a much smaller more group attended.

Johnson was transported on several occasions via Alexander Lebedev’s private jet.

The same jet the Lebedev family use for their business in Russia.
Read 12 tweets

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