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davidheniguk.bsky.social
Trade wonk, Brexit bore, globalisation defender, music lover, cricketer, gardener, supporter of mediocre football teams, who knows where the time goes?
6,676 posts 33,567 followers 510 following
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Posts 24 Comments 26

Annex 5 is highly relevant to the UK, as it covers SPS. Of particular interest - exceptions that include hormone treated beef (UK may argue for others). Nothing I could spot on controls though bearing in mind these were already removed - unlike per UK.

submitted 4 hours ago • 0 comments

Most fun was a few years ago seeing a couple of press photographers at St Pancras International and a minute later three of the Rolling Stones walked out. Most mundane was walking fast up Tottenham Court Road only just stopping in time not to knock over a worried looking Griff Rhys Jones.

submitted 6 hours ago • 7 comments

UK-EU reset achieved, now to turn into detailed agreements. For both sides the challenge of dealing with some difficult issues while maintaining momentum. Already signs from my conversations that they aren't quite speaking the same language. www.tradeandbusiness.uk/news/enterin...

submitted 8 hours ago • 5 comments

Also going to be an issue for the rest of the UK tracking EU law on food standards and energy, once dynamic alignment is agreed. Significant government resource will be needed (both to track and, where needed and possible, to influence).

submitted 13 hours ago • 7 comments

Another day to ponder the difficulty of the EU leading defence of the world trade system given the French attitude towards bilateral deals such as with Mercosur. www.politico.eu/article/brus...

submitted 14 hours ago • 0 comments

"unable to restrain"? This US administration is the friend of mass murderers Netanyahu and Putin. And completely undermined by attempting to bring a new monarchy to the country. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...

submitted 14 hours ago • 6 comments

Don't think I learnt anything particularly new from the long Keir Starmer profile. Confirmation that what we see is what we get has value of course.

submitted 1 day ago • 1 comment

EU farmers should pay, they will be the main ones using the expanded pedestrian space at Schuman roundabout for their protests.

submitted 1 day ago • 4 comments

Between this and the reset summit, will LAB take a lesson of 'no one's really that fussed about Europe, so maybe just do what you want'? Unlikely, but not impossible

submitted 1 day ago • 0 comments

UK growth has been more or less flat since 2008, and so it continues, one quarter good, one bad, one month good, the next not, and so on.

submitted 1 day ago • 8 comments

Obviously the Conservative Party wasn't going to listen, but I watched Liz Truss as Trade Secretary and then I watched Kemi Badenoch with an expanded brief, and it was quite clear that neither of them were up to even those jobs for similar reasons.

submitted 1 day ago • 6 comments

The UK-Spain agreement on Gibraltar is diplomacy at its best: respecting both countries' legal red lines while delivering concrete, practical benefits for Gibraltarians and the many Spaniards who commute into the territory and contribute to its economy.

submitted 2 days ago • 4 comments

Everything is up for grabs with this White House. Allies don't matter. But so far the UK has done a pretty decent job of talking them down from the worst, so let's see if that can continue.

submitted 2 days ago • 5 comments

A deal on Gibraltar. As I'd heard was on the way (helps when you randomly bump into the Chief Minister at Chatham House). Another one that many confidently predicted even a few weeks ago that would never happen. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...

submitted 2 days ago • 6 comments

From the early social media posts feels like a humdrum spending review still not believable in some of the numbers and hyped by specific announcements that on closer inspection are less than billed. Which would be more of the same.

submitted 2 days ago • 1 comment

Every time a US official tries to tell me that their big issue with the UK is our trade links with China...

submitted 2 days ago • 3 comments

Gibraltar agreement all set to be the fifth successive one that the Conservative Party has opposed because *something / whatever / vibes* www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

submitted 2 days ago • 2 comments

US and Chinese negotiators meet for two days in London and then reach the Geneva Agreement? Where's the gratitude there...

submitted 2 days ago • 2 comments

Definite start of new government feeling that with the spending review today, last month's trade deals, upcoming industrial strategy. Some preparation time is inevitable, but did it really require 11 months?

submitted 2 days ago • 6 comments

Right now it seems improbable that the US completes 90 trade deals in the next three weeks, and quite plausible that there is another extension of the reciprocal tariff pause coupled with some new deals that are part commitment but mostly vague waffle. But *nobody knows anything*

submitted 2 days ago • 3 comments

Signs of a UK-EU deal over Gibraltar? Had been hearing for some time that this was close. news.sky.com/story/foreig...

submitted 2 days ago • 3 comments

No question that Trump's erratic tariff policy is affecting world growth forecasts. But equally to be emphasised is the degree to which globalisation and trade still continues, that this is no new age rather just an increasing number of obstructive government actions.

submitted 2 days ago • 2 comments

They just want to spend more time in London.

submitted 3 days ago • 5 comments

They don't want to admit that they didn't understand why what they were doing would be so unpopular. And that they still don't understand. Which isn't just about the difficulty of taking money away, but also how little thought was given to the mechanism or messaging.

submitted 3 days ago • 6 comments