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Category: BREXIT

Splendid self-isolation. The lack of realism infecting British foreign policy

Splendid self-isolation. The lack of realism infecting British foreign policy

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https://twitter.com/SebastianEPayne/status/1253976187887669249 Play it again Sam. The piano is battered but the tune is very familiar. This time it is China that is the focus of the hostility. It’s too big, too powerful, too inscrutable and too responsible for the Covid-19 pandemic. The John Bull tendency has decided that there must be consequences. There must be boycotts. China must be made an international pariah. The Huawei 5G contract assuredly must be ripped up. There must be a reckoning. You must remember this refrain. Those furious with China now were in…

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Reflections from Cyclefree: Here We Go (Again)

Reflections from Cyclefree: Here We Go (Again)

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There were not many dogs, hardy or otherwise, out this morning on the North West coast, understandably so in view of the overcast weather. Still, on a clear day from the top of Black Combe , a couple of miles away, it is possible to see Northern Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man. Beyond lies Ireland and the great big wide world beyond. All those opportunities!  Just behind the spot where this photo was taken is Silecroft station, one…

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The SNP’s Brexit conundrum

The SNP’s Brexit conundrum

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Drink, says the Porter in the ‘Scottish Play’, is an equivocator with lechery: “it provokes the desire, but it takes away the performance…. it sets him on, and it takes him off; it persuades him, and disheartens him”.  So it may prove with Brexit and Scottish Independence. Nicola Sturgeon loses no opportunity to remind Scots that Brexit is taking them out of the EU ‘against their will’, citing this as justification for holding another independence referendum so soon after the…

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Brexit’s Hotel California

Brexit’s Hotel California

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This time next year, we’ll be in a very familiar place They have learned nothing and forgotten nothing. Originally was said of the Bourbon monarchy after its restoration, it’s equally true of the EU Commission today which seems intent on repeating all its own mistakes for lack of comprehension that they are, in fact, mistakes. Perhaps this might be because one of the easiest ways to turn a blind eye to existential threats is to convince yourself that the reasons…

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Labour’s last chance?

Labour’s last chance?

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You can only play with fire for so long before being burned Labour is rather fortunate. Rather than looking on at a mere disaster, its members and supporters could have been witness to the electorate having smote the ruin of a once-great party unto the dust. Despite Boris Johnson having led the Tories to their highest vote share since 1979 – and their sixth successive increase in share, the last three in government – there was surely the potential to…

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Getting Brexit Done

Getting Brexit Done

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Past performance is not a guide to the future. A caveat plastered all over investment products which might usefully be remembered by those anxiously scanning polls or those politicians explaining why the PM’s success in getting a revised Withdrawal Agreement means that he can reach an FTA with the EU before the transition period ends in 385 days time. The steps needed to reach an FTA have not featured much in the election campaign, despite this being meant (once again!)…

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Labour’s Brexit Divisions

Labour’s Brexit Divisions

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Political parties have always been coalitions in themselves. They are big tents and broad churches that try to keep everyone singing from more or less the same hymn sheet, or at least not fighting in the aisles. But sometimes you can see the stretch and the strain in the canvas as it tries to hold it all together. As James Maxton quipped during Labour party splits in the 1930s, “if you can’t ride two horses at once then you’ve no…

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