On Putin’s Mind

The human mind has the extraordinary capacity to expand to encompass its environment. Our capacity to drive a car derives from being able to extend our mind to the envelope of the vehicle and its motion through space & time. 1/14 I have a young friend who I watched as a six-year-old learning to sail a solo dinghy. He now takes the helm of super tankers in all manner of waters. His capacity to do this derives from his mind’s ability to encompass the ship’s envelope. In a way, he becomes the ship. 2/14

This is why @KremlinRussia_E won’t do anything rash. Russia has too much to lose & has a bright future engaging positively with the EU. Russia’s advantage is to do with population growth. It’s stable but ageing and it has the potential to drive education reform for the benefit of all.

The Nightingale Field Hospitals didn’t have the services or staff to take patients, so ICU beds were cleared in hospitals by discharging elderly CV-19 patients into Care Homes?

Is that what happened @MattHancock? The contrast between South West & East of England is striking.

In the East of England around 1 in 5 patients died in a Care Home but in the South West 4 in 5 deaths were in Care Homes.

In Cheltenham, twice as many died in a Care Home rather than a hospital.

@BBCr4today

Is there a Brexiteer or a Brexiter in the land (UK that is) who doesn't admire Switzerland with its GDP/capita of nearly $60,000 per annum and social expenditure running at 20% of GDP? If there's a roof to be fixed or a boiler to repair there's money in the bank. If there's a pothole in the road, a floral display in the park to be made or a new needle exchange to be created, there's money in the social expenditure fund. What Brexiter wouldn't wish for this?

@msmarbles2017 @acgrayling The ERG is a ‘pooled service’ recognised by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (which was established after the MP’s expenses scandal) whose purpose is to provide MPs, who subscribe to it, with research & document services. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independe… @msmarbles2017 @acgrayling The SDP, Labour Party & Lib Dems also have ‘pooled services’ & the Tories also have the Policy Research Unit.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_…

Support for Brexit is shrinking fast

There are 4 main drivers

• Official confirmation that the referendum result was fraudulent
• Emergency measures to deal with governmental breakdown at local and national level
• Serious long term economic damage
• New young Pro-EU voters Each of these, in its own right, constitutes a reason for abandoning Brexit. Together they create an unarguable imperative in the interests of the majority of people in the UK

A graphical thread on the UK population & how it's changing over time.

1. A good place to start is to think about births - a pretty good indicator of whether a country represents a hospitable environment.

The UK population increases by around 800,000 births each year. 2. Those arriving are balanced to a large extent by those departing and the UK has around 600,000 deaths each year ATM.

On the Brexit timeline:
1. The European Commission will make proposals on transition in January 2018.
2. The European Council will deliberate on the future framework agreement in March 2018.
consilium.europa.eu/media/32236/15… On the transition menu:
1. A formal extension of time under Article 50. (Requires Unanimity)
2. A stand-alone ‘transition treaty’. (Requires Unanimity)
3. A transition chapter within the Withdrawal Agreement. (Requires QMV)

1. Have been 🤔 on the reaction to Barniers’ speeches which seemed objective & rational to me. Perhaps, for the ...

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2. first time an overtly ‘us & them’ character has emerged. In both speeches Barnier is categoric about the hour of leaving - it’s settled &

I’ve threaded headline summary clauses from the Home Office Select Committee 1. 2.

1. @theresa_may needs to press the ‘default to factory settings’ button. She must sack Patel, Johnson & Davis without delay & go to ... 2. Brussels herself & explain to Barnier that Article 50 was triggered on flawed advice & that it fails UK constitutional requirements test

A short thread on extension, implementation & transition. The 6 stages of Brexit - four of which are obligatory for the EU & two of which are a courtesy extended to the UK.