Look, I know it’s too much to ask, in some cases at least, that political candidates have a passing familiarity with history or major foreign languages. But, with all due respect, you’d think someone who’s had as many opportunities in life as @LozzaFox would. But no ... a🧵/1.
Mr Fox’s call for freedom translates well into German. A cynic might say he’s aware of this history & has gone ahead in spite - or even because - of it. I’d like to give him the benefit of the doubt. I’ll assume ignorance. /2.
Ah, you object, but that was about “freeing” a country from its shackles, prohibitions & evil leaders. Not a capital city. A different point, surely?
Well, no. And, in any case 👇 /3.
Alright, I hear you cry, nonetheless calling for freedom has to be OK. It can’t just be ruled out because it was the centrepiece of the Nazis’ three word slogan: “work, freedom, bread”. I mean, Nelson Mandela cried freedom, didn’t he?
Sure. And so did these guys 👇/4.
If @LozzaFox could demonstrate he has the qualities of a Nelson Mandela, or a Sophie Scholl, no doubt the extraordinarily close, disturbing, historical parallels to his sloganeering might be glossed over.
This isn’t a good look. Even if unintentional. /5. End
In the short term, there’s no choice but strain all of @BorisJohnson’s sinews to ensure the best possible relationship with the EU & the smoothest possible functioning of the NIP. /2.
But we shouldn’t imagine that tinkering, including the major step of an SPS (Sanitary & Phytosanitary) agreement with the EU - if that’s available, given UK sovereigntism & EU “cherry picking” concerns - can result in anything other than a dangerously unstable arrangement. /3.
A brief history of the last 70 years of 🇩🇪 - 🇬🇧 relations. Short 🧵/1.
Many Germans, including much of the diplomatic establishment, felt like this about 🇬🇧. Often despite considerable provocation, especially in the English tabloids. /2.
Some, usually only in private, but then quite vehemently, had a different perspective on 🇬🇧.
But still, with 🇺🇸 in charge, even those 🇩🇪 sceptics felt able to work extremely closely with 🇬🇧. /3.
(a) following UK, German & wider EU reporting today is genuinely terrifying. Unless the UK can find a way to reintegrate itself into one of the two mission critical components of the Euro-Atlantic alliance - the EU - & the EU to accept it, .../2.
... we’re in serious trouble.
This isn’t about Bridlington Bangers to Belfast, or other such trivialising tropes used by some UK ministers.
And, if I were @SecBlinken’s chief of staff, I’d have this dossier, with options for US intervention, on his desk today; /3.
.@robertshrimsley makes an important point👇 about the potential, unintended consequences of getting drawn into confected battles over flags, or for that matter songs at the Proms, statues & much else.
... which, left unchallenged, leads to circumstances in which challenge is no longer possible. More precisely, no longer permissible. Or safe. Safe for example to call for “freedom of speech [&] religion & protection of the individual citizen from [...] arbitrary action”./3.