The @BylineTimes really is a fascinating read and an incredible bargain to boot. If you’re not already a subscriber, can I humbly suggest that you get on that statim? And consider gift subs this Christmas? 🎁 subscribe.bylinetimes.com
I particularly want to thank @RoseUnwin for this powerful piece. It really… well, spoke to me. Thank you Stephen.
Stopped opposite the UK Mission to the EU on my way in to the office to show you a fully functioning queue-free petrol station. Guess it wasn’t Brexit! #fuelshortages
I guess I should have been a little clearer. I’m outside the UK Mission to the EU which is *in Brussels*. I’m in Belgium, not the UK. And I *am* blaming Brexit for the #fuelshortage.
I will never understand why some people will stick with their bucket of cold sick because they don’t like the taste of unsweetened tea. You don’t have to love Starmer, you just have to #GTTO. Jesus.
“I support women’s rights and I support trans rights and I find the tensions between these two positions to be too complex for simplistic soundbite answers”
YOU’RE WORSE THAN THE TORIES I’D RATHER HAVE NADINE DORRIES AS CULTURE SECRETARY
I’m currently on board @LeShuttle on my first trip back from the UK to Brussels in 15 months. As some followers may know, this is my normal weekly commute, or was until March 2020. Short thread of impressions here for anyone who is interested. 1/
The M20 is miraculously roadwork-free for the first time in many years. It was a much quicker trip to the tunnel than usual. 2/
The tunnel terminal itself is a sad echo of bustling pre-pandemic pre-brexit times - a ghost town haunted by screeching gulls. There’s barely a soul here. I guess that’s to be expected. 3/
I don’t think it’s paranoid to see the present UK government as committed politically, strategically, ideologically to weakening, damaging, and ultimately destroying the EU. The EU’s continued existence stands as a repudiation of their Brexit.
You won’t see the UK show hostility to EU member states. But by acting with hostility towards the EU, or at the very least pretending the EU is an irrelevance, the UK *is* hostile to EU member states, because a successful and strong EU means successful and strong member states.
The very fact that states which perceive themselves to be in competition with the EU - and the UK isn’t the only one - invest so much effort in bypassing the EU to deal with member states bilaterally is all the evidence you need that the EU confers an advantage to its members.