Reading @PryorFrancis ‘s wonderful “scenes from prehistoric life” made me think how our traditional horror at the collapse of the Roman Empire reflects in part the insecurity of recent European elites about the prestige and survival of their own Roman-shaped way of life. (1/5) The steep decline (and in some cases total loss) of literacy, coinage, urban life, mortar, villas, ceramics, classical philosophy literature + politics felt like Armageddon to people - like me - trained to find meaning + values in classical civilisation and Empires (2/5)

1/7 See our 2014 Defence Committee report:
"The reappearance of the threat from Russia underlines the importance of high quality, independent analysis of developments in Russia. The closure of the Advanced Research and Assessment Group has led to a drastic denuding of capability

https://twitter.com/MattChorley/status/1506207892852158464

2/7 "given cuts in FCO budget; the level of ambassadorial representation; the lack of designated language posts; and the minimal size of the FCO desk dealing with Ukraine, this capability gap is not unique to the MOD but represents a significant strategic gap for the Government."

We CAN massively reduce oil demand + thus the more than $500m of oil income we give Putin daily - excluding gas.
It would take a government and civilian effort equivalent to the COVID response.
Here are some possible ingredients focused on passenger vehicles (40% of oil demand) During course of Ukraine crisis across Europe:
• Reduce speed limits to 50mph
• Make all public transport free
• Uber to open technology to allow free civilian ridesharing

This would reduce demand + price of Russian oil, have a catastrophic impact on Putin

+ Help Environment

1/3) On Ukraine + Russian energy - an example of how the UK could reduce energy. The container glass industry consumes about 2-2.5% of industrial energy used in the uk. It takes roughly 1 megawatt of power to make one ton of glass - the industry uses about 2.3 million MW of power (2/3) But it’s technically feasible for the glass+ ceramics industry to produce re-usable durable containers (100 trips+ per container) for bulk of beverages, foods, cosmetics, + cleansing materials.
If each container was used 10x UK’s industrial energy usage cd reduce up to 2%

The new farming and environmental payments are a great betrayal in the making. Small farm incomes are being destroyed while poorer farms are being made to invest in ever larger environmental projects. (Thread)

https://twitter.com/herdyshepherd1/status/1466506959834726412

Many campaigners and some policy-makers are pretending to support these farmers in nature-based farming. But they are actually intending for the environmental payments to cease, the farms to fold, and the land to be abandoned for rewilding. This is deliberate policy.

The Low Line is a new London walk - along the Victorian rail viaducts of Bankside, London Bridge and Bermondsey. This thread has the 5 shortlisted options - please RT - and like your favourite First is Crossings, Clearings and Parades lowline.london/news/green-vis…

While Parliament is prorogued, neither House can meet, debate and pass legislation. Neither House can debate Government policy. Nor may members of either House ask written or oral questions of Ministers. They may not meet and take evidence in committees. The Courts held in 1611, that an attempt to alter the law of the land by the use of the Crown’s prerogative powers was unlawful. “The King hath no prerogative, but that which the law of the land allows him”, ie the limits of prerogative powers were determined by courts.

Principles on Brexit. And a challenge to all other candidates:
1. Will you take No-deal of the table? Completely. It won’t get through the commons. It is a recipe for furtheir delay and uncertainty. It will undermine 300 years of reputation for economic competence. And in particular the conservative party’s reputation for economic competence. And it is, therefore not a credible threat.