The government’s war against Britain’s only termite colony will enter its 25th (and possibly final) year in 2022, after last week’s renewal of a contract to monitor and eradicate the infestation located in two bungalows near Barnstaple. A thread on the Devon termite saga (1/11). First, a reminder of why this matters. It’s estimated that termites infest 600,000 homes each year in the US, costing billions of dollars in damage and treatment costs. The wood-eating insects are also rife in much of Europe, but thankfully not native to the UK or Ireland (2/11).

One thought sparked by @PaulWaugh’s brilliant analysis is that you barely hear anything these days about the No10 grid. Something that was so central to political management for so many years is hardly mentioned these days, and that may explain a great deal. A quick thread. People think of the grid as a tool for scheduling announcements and avoiding clashes. That was a fraction of its function. It main job should be to get smart people with sharp political antennae looking several weeks ahead and spotting problems and opportunities on the horizon.

As a veteran of these things, the most important element of the pre-Budget tax stories today is that someone is setting this up as a battle between No10 and No11. Note also the cross-references to other battles over the Brexit deal and the return to post-Covid normality. (1/4) So for all the discussion today about the impact of the specific tax measures, levels of public support for them, their roots in Labour’s manifesto, etc., that all misses the real story: why has someone decided to play this Boris v Rishi battle out in public, and why now? (2/4)

The really interesting thing about the Dom Cummings appointment is that we now have someone in charge of No10 who is a devotee of Col. John Boyd, whose central thesis was to confuse your enemy and do the opposite of what they expect (1/4). So people were expecting a centrist, unifying reshuffle to heal the wounds of the Tory divide. Sod that - do the opposite. People were expecting an attempt to put lip-stick on May's Brexit deal and re-present it. Sod that - do the opposite (2/4).

It's been a long few days for Theresa May's tariffs policy. A little thread on how things have changed since Chequers... The Chequers statement on Friday night made clear that - under the FCA - the UK would apply the UK's tariffs on imports destined for the UK and the EU's tariffs on imports destined for the EU. It was silent on what would happen to UK-bound imports coming in through the EU...