A brilliant expose of the ' Every Man for Himself' - posture of EU govts towards Spain - the ruins of the Eurooean project.... What will happen when the US comes for Grernland? www.newstatesman.com/cover-story/...

The Ceuta crisis has exposed Europe's hollow centre

How the incursion revealed a continent divided against itself

newstatesman.com

"Whether we like it or not, the future of jobs lies in largely non-traded, labour absorbing activities such as retail, food services, hospitality, care and other personal services. The Left cannot evade this reality."

Dani Rodrik@drodrik.bsky.social · 15h ago

My thoughts on where Andy Burnham’s (and the Left’s in general) priorities on the economy should be futureoftheleft.substack.com/p/the-left-m...

The most informative, perhaps the only informative, thing I've seen on the Ceuta migration episode

Nando Sigona@nandosigona.bsky.social · 5d ago

#Ceuta: an extraordinary migration event nandosigona.info/2026/07/31/c...

I learned the hard way that some people did arrive at antisemitism from left anti-Zionism, but I'm not convinced that Joshua Bonehill-Paine's comments on Corbyn reflect anything more than the kind of tactics employed in his anti-Muslim hoaxes.

Solidarity based on attacking Spanish EU citizens it is your duty to serve isn't worthy of the name. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/a...

EU chief criticises Spain’s migrant plan after Ceuta crisis meeting

Migration commissioner says scheme regularising undocumented people ‘not a good signal’ for Europe

theguardian.com

Magnus Brunner@magnusbrunner.bsky.social · 4d ago

We are committed to protecting our external borders, and to supporting Spain. When our external borders come under pressure, the European response must be determined, fast and united. Solidarity is key.

At last, Europe’s “leaders” seem to have realised: • Ceuta was a trap to split them while serving Europe’s worst enemies • the attempt by 22 of them to exploit the crisis for domestic political purposes backfired. The real question is: will they learn from it? It doesn’t look like #EUCO

You have got to be a complete idiot or cynically politically self interested not to know that people like Bonehill-Paine who claim to be combating antisemitism are merely using Jews to attack Muslims.

Mark Wallace@wallaceme.bsky.social · 17h ago

ConservativeHome has always been a critical friend of the Conservative Party, and a place for all of its wings and views to debate and discuss. So in addition to the above editorial, Bonehill-Paine is also in today’s Comment section making his own case conservativehome.com/2026/08/05/j...

So much of academia assumes you can still get academics to follow a 19th century gentlemanly codex in doing honourable work for free for what are in effect 21st century hyper-marketised data corporations. That's just not sustainable

Reminiscent of Quilliam's attempt to rehabilitate Tommy Robinson. It wasn't Quilliam who emerged stronger from that.

UK Politics News // Papernaut@ukpolitics.papernaut.co · yesterday

THE GUARDIAN: Kemi Badenoch defended the Conservatives’ selection of Joshua Bonehill-Paine, a former neo-Nazi, citing rehabilitation and “second chances”. Luciana Berger urged the party to drop him, saying she is still haunted by his racist and misogynistic abuse. - by Ben Quinn

Europe's reaction to the events of last week (including Denmark blaming Spain for the incursion) has signalled to Morocco, and the world, that Europe would not be united in the event of an attack on an EU member state's territory.

One of the ways you can tell that the politics-facing community has completely lost touch with reality is that they think Kemi Badenoch is doing okay as she leads the Tories towards complete disaster. www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/badeno...

Badenoch Slammed After Former Neo-Nazi Activist Chosen As Tory Election Candidate

Joshua Bonehill-Paine is the creator of the Crewkerne Gazette.

huffingtonpost.co.uk

good piece about how Jeff Stein of SpyTalk got a frivolous defamation suit tossed with the help of Substacks legal defense program www.spytalk.co/p/how-i-beat...

How I Beat a Trump Official's Nasty Lawsuit

Keith Bass, former head of the CIA’s Medical Office, sued me for a million bucks. Substack's Defender program came to my aid.

spytalk.co

We are in the third drought in five years. We have the National Trust and NFU - those radical types - sounding the alarm on unprecedented temperatures. But so little from any single figure in politics talking about the climate crisis.

👉NEW -- BBC censored film on British army killing child by @annecadwallader.bsky.social Downing Street persuaded Panorama to cut an exposé on the shooting of an unarmed boy in Derry in 1972 www.declassifieduk.org/bbc-censored...

BBC censored film on British army killing child

Downing Street persuaded Panorama to cut an exposé on the shooting of an unarmed boy in Derry in 1972

declassifieduk.org

This was why 'take back control of our borders' was question-begging from day one.

Anthony Painter@anthonypainter.bsky.social · 3d ago

By definition, if there's a border there are two countries involved and it's an international challenge. So solutions to border issues that involve things like "send in the navy and return them to France" are nonsensical. You need French cooperation to have any chance of resolving small boats.

Latest free Substack - Estimating the estimators: The uncertain future of the National Intelligence Council intelligencehistory.substack.com/p/estimating...

Estimating the estimators

The uncertain future of the National Intelligence Council

intelligencehistory.substack.com

This piece was published Sat afternoon. It could win awards for incoherence. Its big point is the EU Commission had no interest in stopping these people going into Europe By the time it was published it was clear none had done so www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...

Ceuta is what happens when you’re not serious about migration

Ursula von der Leyen doesn’t seem to care about the tide of people rushing the Spanish border. Voters in Britain will

thetimes.com

The EPP and ECR partisan hackery over Ceuta is cynical, dumb and self-sabotage from governments that might face similar trouble soon. But the Pikachu shocked face reactions at politics happening when it comes to an increasingly state-like EU is also a bit tiring.

Updated numbers here: Burnham bounce still basically entirely coming from clawing back voters Labour had lost to Greens, Lib Dems and Plaid/SNP. In addition, Burnham now winning 10% of Green 2024 voters - double that from June.

Steve Akehurst@steveakehurst.bsky.social · last wk.

Where is the 'Burnham bounce' coming from? So far, it's largely Labour 2024 voters returning to Labour - mostly those 'progressive defectors' who had previously switched to the Greens. Based on 5 polls with headline VI since 20th July (MiC, Delta, YG, Survation).

Jon Boutcher, a senior police officer who took over responsibility for the Special Demonstration Squad (SDS) unit, concluded within months that it had to be wound up because it was conducting unjustified surveillance and was badly run. #spycops www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

Undercover police unit closed down over unjustified surveillance, spycops inquiry told

Senior officer behind closure says SDS caused ‘incalculable harm’ by infiltrating groups that posed no threat

theguardian.com

I've weighed in on the great vocational education debate. From what we can see of the govt plans, I think they will repeat mistakes of the past. Also, we need to retire the phrase "parity of esteem". It's not helping. substack.nomoremarking.com/p/the-proble...

The problem with "parity of esteem"

Vocational education at age 14 is not the answer

substack.nomoremarking.com

Latest free Substack - Estimating the estimators: The uncertain future of the National Intelligence Council intelligencehistory.substack.com/p/estimating...

Estimating the estimators

The uncertain future of the National Intelligence Council

intelligencehistory.substack.com

There is so much Labour thinking at the moment (and over many years – it's not a new phenomenon) that mistakes straightforward macroeconomic problems for complex, intractable public policy problems. I think this happens because too many of us are uncomfortable with the implications of the former.

Sam Freedman@samfr.bsky.social · 3d ago

NEET numbers are primarily a labour market issue not an education one. We know this as numbers have also risen in Wales and Scotland which have different education systems.

'By and large, classical realism is the product of an enlightened, self-confident middle class comfortably at home in the world it has fashioned; such classes are unlikely to prosper in colonial conditions.' Maria Edgeworth might be an exception - maybe to do with her hopes for the Act of Union.

London Review of Books@lrb.co.uk · 3d ago

‘A modern-minded middle class with nationalist aspirations was challenging the established order, and Joyce, however reticent and heterodox on the national question, was born out of this conflict.’ Terry Eagleton on James Joyce’s political life. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

I just... I feel like I'm going a bit mad? The British government very visibly opposed locking down, we spent all of November 2020 ignoring every sign in order to "save Christmas." The BBC's weakness was not deference to science, but to the government! Laura K was reposting videos of buckets!

Lewis Goodall@lewisgoodall.com · 4d ago

No need for anyone to agree with me - but some of the responses to this on here reminds me just how stifling and absolutist a period in our national discourse Covid was.

This draft constitution is a draft for England, only. The author, Elliot Bulmer, and I, are both persuaded that there is a case for greater autonomy, even independence within a broader framework, for the constituent nations of the UK. England is too big for the Union to be balanced. (More…)

Alex Hall Hall@alexhh.bsky.social · 4d ago

If Burnham is serious about a written constitution, I highly recommend this book, which reaffirms the case, and actually outlines a first draft, to help people conceptualise what it might look like. (Disclosure, I was honoured to be asked write the foreword for the book). muse.jhu.edu/book/139060

“Across Hampshire, Kent, Hertfordshire, Essex and Cambridgeshire, drought linked to the climate crisis and the failure of the water industry to build critical infrastructure means growth plans are hitting environmental barriers.” www.theguardian.com/environment/...

‘We cannot magic up more water’: the supply problems putting housing targets in England at risk

Council leaders say crumbling infrastructure and lack of water are jeopardising government’s plans for new homes

theguardian.com

Side note: the revelation that the PSNI have been spying on BBC journos is a side-effect of the PSNI arresting two filmmakers (including Kneecap movie producer Trevor Birney) for making a documentary about how NI police colluded with the UVF killers at Loughinisland.

Cian Ó Concubhair@cianoconcubhair.bsky.social · 4d ago

"Journalists warn against PSNI chief's offers amid spying allegations" www.thedetail.tv/articles/jou...

The number of terror-related arrests in Britain has risen 1,200% a year following the ban of Palestine Action The number of people arrested for holding signs - under a law originally designed for IRA uniforms - is higher than total terror arrests over the previous decade inews.co.uk/news/retired...

How retired teachers, nurses and vicars became Britain's newest terror suspects

Majority of suspects arrested for holding signs reading 'I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action' at protests against the ban

inews.co.uk

It really can't be overstated the extent to which a common sense is emerging that we got COVID wrong because we did *too much*. There is also a growing belief among people who would never consider themselves conspiracists that the lab leak conspiracy theory has somehow been proven to be true.