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anandmenon.bsky.social
Director @ukandeu Bitter and twisted observer of politics. ‘Not yoda’ (DC) ‘Slightly matey politics don' (Q. Letts) Trustee, @fullfact #LUFC Most views someone else’s
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You can't understand the behaviour of US elites - Democrats being too timid, Republicans debasing themselves, bureaucrats who behave like pushovers - without reference to the constant threat of political violence that has come with MAGA. Every day is January 6. www.nytimes.com/live/2025/06...

Social PSA- Wed 2 July, 630pm, doing another one of those drinks, to mark roughly a year since the election. You're invited if I follow you, or you're invited by someone else who is invited. Same location as the last two events. DM me if you didn't come before for the location, or if you forgot.

"You're suffering a bit like Trump might say you're suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome" is definitely one way to begin an interview.

EVENT | The Expert Factor Live! 📅Monday 23 June, 18.00 Join us for a live recording of the Expert Factor, the podcast for people who haven’t had enough of experts - with @anandmenon.bsky.social @pjtheeconomist.bsky.social @drhannahwhite.bsky.social www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/event/expert...

Severn (Stroud) Council By-Election Result: 🌍 GRN: 27.8% (+10.0) 🌳 CON: 26.9% (-6.6) ➡️ RFM: 26.7% (New) 🌹 LAB: 11.2% (-21.3) 🔶 LDM: 7.1% (-9.1) 💷 UKIP: 0.3% (New) Green GAIN from Labour. Changes w/ 2024.

The spending review set the direction of travel – now the government must deliver, writes @lukeraikes.bsky.social. fabians.org.uk/turning-the-...

It doesn't seem great that we have an MP - albeit one estranged from Reform - who is now promoting explicit Powellite racism and hanging out with white nationalist accounts on X.

Sounds like towns are back on the agenda (and piers too)...

On the latest episode of “The Foreign Affairs Interview,” @adamposen.bsky.social discusses the economic uncertainty produced by Trump’s tariffs—and considers what it would take to constructively remake the global economy. Start listening here: fam.ag/4jP5Ekv

Does that sound bitter? 😂

EVENT | The Expert Factor Live! 📅Monday 23 June, 18.00 Join us for a live recording of the Expert Factor, the podcast for people who haven’t had enough of experts - with @anandmenon.bsky.social @pjtheeconomist.bsky.social @drhannahwhite.bsky.social www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/event/expert...

Interesting article by @eucopresident.consilium.europa.eu, if mostly for the fact that the European Council President rarely writes op-eds. In terms of content, most notably is Costa's argument to put the EU's defence (industrial) efforts into alignment with the European pillar of NATO:

Exactly, and there is little sign - understandably - of a political consensus on what to prepare for. Italy, Germany, and the UK appear to still be betting on the US remaining committed to European security. Poland, the Nordics, and France appear to be less certain. (With lots of internal debates)

If India needed more incentive to take test cricket seriously, surely the prospect of Australia being world test champions provides it?

Interesting by @eucopresident.consilium.europa.eu The problem is that Europeans don't know if they are reinforcing the transatlantic relationship or trying to plug the hole left by an eventual US absence. And that knowledge is crucial to making the right choices now. www.ft.com/content/c8cc...

@jtmigratory.bsky.social has been quoted in @theguardian.com following the #SpendingReview, outlining the challenges Gov't will face as they attempt to end the use of asylum hotels in the parliament. Read the full article below👇: buff.ly/YCcTyo7

Pretty sure firms reducing WFH is a sign of a weakening jobs market. If firms can reduce a ‘perk’ that employees desire, then that suggests labour bargaining power is weaker. on.ft.com/3HDLCMn City firms order workers back to the office as WFH perks end

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😳😳 www.ft.com/content/4a93...

The FCDO is by far the biggest loser in today's spending review. Day-to-day spending is down by almost 7% in real terms. Add to that the govt's decision to cut the ODA budget to 0.3% of GNI, and it's hard to see how the UK can be an effective foreign policy actor with such a major hit to its budget.

Why does the FS allow this every year? When was the last time a FS publicly stood up for their department? Robin Cook?

So the Chancellor is on her feet making some kind of statement. Worth listening in. The most striking claim is that real wages have grown more in 10 months than 10 years of the Conservatives... One of the reasons I'd fail as a politician is that I would struggle to take credit for that...

Great to see increasing investment in R&D and British Business Bank And will be great to see plans to put local leaders more in charge of this funding, as we @thefabians.bsky.social argued here: #SpendingReview fabians.org.uk/wp-content/u...

Fascinating insights by @julianhjessop.bsky.social into how to assess the Government's claims round the spending round ukandeu.ac.uk/four-questio...

Political volatility has been taking us by surprise for a while now. Here’s little exercise to illustrate. Rewind two years and take a look at where the polls were, what people expected, and what they failed to anticipate. You have to go back a while before politics is predictable even 2 yrs out 1/