Mark Wallace Profile picture
Chief Executive of @TotalPolitics Group. Writer, broadcaster and media CEO. Columnist for @theipaper.
May 24, 2023 4 tweets 1 min read
One of the many ridiculous things about the argument that it's a "realist" position to suggest we get peace by allowing Russia to gain and keep Ukrainian territory is that this is literally what happened in 2014 and it led directly to this current war. This isn't hypothetical. It also isn't a one-off, freak incident. It's also literally what happened in Georgia in 2008, which led directly to the invasion of Ukraine in 2014, which led directly to the invasion of Ukraine today. It isn't "realist" if you've tried it twice and it doesn't work.
Mar 8, 2022 5 tweets 2 min read
To reiterate: we were told time and again what “serial bully” John Bercow was like. Some chose to disregard it for political advantage. Will this pretence and lionisation please now end for good? Shockingly, immediately before this verdict about “serial bully” John Bercow was announced, his PR agency put out a press release attacking his victims and the investigators. You know, like a serial bully.
Feb 24, 2022 5 tweets 2 min read
Russia’s latest act of war is the direct product of failure to stop and punish the last one, which was itself the product of failure to stop and punish the one before that. Apologism, excuses, complacency and resignation today sows the seeds of Putin’s next war in the same way. Likewise, every element that sustains Russia the thug state aids Putin’s murderous regime. We should deny Russia access to our trade, banking, industry, research, financial services, courts, tech, housing market, schools and universities. Pariah status must have meaning.
Feb 23, 2022 6 tweets 2 min read
The NYT, publishing misleading reports about events in the UK? Hard to imagine… Oh…
Mar 9, 2021 4 tweets 2 min read
In the name of Dread Cthulhu, who on earth is making stuff like this. Also, why are the left quotation marks all done with right quotation marks? It's like making the worst meme ever wasn't already bad enough on its own.
Mar 8, 2021 4 tweets 2 min read
The news isn't all bad, then. I would pay actual British money to have seen either this conversation or footage of the sheer bafflement in the Oprah production office when the suggestion arrived.
Jan 26, 2021 9 tweets 5 min read
My @theipaper column today is on the UK's decision not to join the centralised EU vaccine scheme. @MattHancock argued last July that "We think we will go faster this way." He was right - and thank goodness for it. inews.co.uk/opinion/uk-bri… Because it's a UK/EU story, the UK's decision to pursue its own vaccine strategy has been portrayed as primarily about Brexit. It's connected, but that aspect is just a subset of the real question: what's the better approach, conglomerate or competition? inews.co.uk/opinion/uk-bri…
Jan 11, 2021 4 tweets 2 min read
Today my new obsession became "front covers of the Romanian Inspectorate of Frontier Police's very own magazine". It's been running for a century so there's a lot of classics to choose from: I confess I am finding it hard to imagine the UK Border Force doing their own calendar. One for the Home Office to sort out, maybe?
Sep 9, 2020 6 tweets 2 min read
Weirdly I don't remember all these pro-EU tweeters swooning on any of the various occasions when the EU broke the law by breaching the very treaties on which it is founded. Maybe I blinked and missed it? Don't mention Article 125 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU, which forbids, er, bailouts of member states.
May 15, 2020 5 tweets 2 min read
This piece by @TomChivers is essential reading on why this might be a sign of lockdown *succeeding* in the community, and why thanks to Simpson's Paradox this trend is "a product of our success, rather than of our failure". unherd.com/2020/05/what-t… (Not for the first time, things that are true and complicated are harder to explain than those that are incorrect but simple)
Oct 31, 2019 7 tweets 2 min read
There's a lot of discussion about how horrible some people are to those in the public eye that they disagree with. It's right to discuss it, and seek to address it, obviously. But it would also be a mistake to forget that most people aren't like that at all, far from it. For eg: Yesterday I was on the tube, and the chap sat opposite me was looking quite intently. He leaned forward to speak, and I naturally wonder what's about to happen. He was really lovely - a #SkyPapers viewer who wanted to say how much he enjoys the show.
Oct 29, 2019 11 tweets 8 min read
Exclusive: @CharlesWalkerMP has resigned from the Party Board, and the Candidates Committee. The reason why is not confirmed, but I know there has been a vocal dispute on the committee about centralised influence over candidate selections conservativehome.com/parliament/201… @CharlesWalkerMP Here are my reports over the last week on Hertford & Stortford; South Ribble; and Devizes. The candidates list are already furious at the system becoming less open, and concern among associations is rising. With an election coming they need reassurance. conservativehome.com/tag/selections
Aug 28, 2019 6 tweets 2 min read
What you see before you today is classic Cummings. Remember the theory about knocking your opponent off balance, ('get inside their OODA loop')? This is it in action. Yesterday a very wobbly Remain coalition assembled. It needs Labour but couldn't bear the Labour leader being present. It wants to unseat the govt but isn't confident it'll win a confidence vote. It laid out a tentative, painfully agreed, plan... conservativehome.com/thetorydiary/2…
Mar 27, 2019 7 tweets 3 min read
Geeky thread warning. Or, if you’re like me, a cool bit of 20th Century urban archaeology. Check out this shop in Kingston. What’s unusual about it (aside from its no-doubt-excellent nails service)? On its gable-end, the wall is double-thickness up to about 6 feet. Why?
Sep 6, 2018 5 tweets 1 min read
Are you serious?? This would be shocking in a newbie backbench MP, never mind a Cabinet Minister, never mind *that* Cabinet Minister. Give me strength!
Jul 17, 2018 7 tweets 2 min read
EXCLUSIVE: Stark illustration of the degree of dissatisfaction among Tory members with May’s Chequers plan. I’ve seen the results of the Party’s survey of members in Dorset.
Q1: 57% oppose Chequers, 24% support it.
Thread to follow... Question 2 in the Conservative Party’s survey of members in Dorset on the Chequers plan is damning:
“Do you trust the Prime Minister to deliver the best for the UK?”
65% No, 35% Yes.