I would add that Labour’s relaunch reads as a list of policies they would like to enact if the plan works. But I don’t see a plan. In 2025 (in my view) they will have to either set the country on trajectory to rejoin SM and CU or align more closely with US. Rudderless mid-Atlantic is unsustainable. - ThreadSky

profbriancox.bsky.social • 92 days ago

I would add that Labour’s relaunch reads as a list of policies they would like to enact if the plan works. But I don’t see a plan. In 2025 (in my view) they will have to either set the country on trajectory to rejoin SM and CU or align more closely with US. Rudderless mid-Atlantic is unsustainable.

Reposted from David Henig

All of this and more. Not only does the government not 'speak human' or have a good story about what it wants to achieve, it also doesn't have a particularly convincing account of the country or the world as it is. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Comments

firehorsep.bsky.social•91 days ago

https://youtu.be/HelXGkdDVCk?si=FS5p95WMYNXEJzLK

annachen.bsky.social•87 days ago

The Tories already nailed the UK to the USS Titanic with Brexit. We immediately joined in torpedoing our global lifeboat & growth engine - the one that hasn't had a war in 40 years. Labour just continued it.
8 yrs ago the world enjoyed stability.

jorichardskent.bsky.social•7 days ago

Please use Bluesky, Prof Brian Cox! 🙏

zakforster.bsky.social•91 days ago

Agreed, and surely aligning with the US is a big no given their foreign policy and lower standards on things like food.

erinlisagayle.bsky.social•92 days ago

Aligning with a devoutly evangelical administration in the US is really not a good idea.

curiousbasque.bsky.social•92 days ago

Can we have an explanation as to why these geyser jets go sideways? In the series you mention they reach the atmosphere, but never explain why they suddenly veer sideways. Is it due to the moon's rotation? Thank you!

davidfutyan.bsky.social•92 days ago

It’s due to the boundary between the troposphere and the thermosphere at 8km altitude. Above the boundary the temperature starts increasing rather than falling with height, so the plumes stop rising and are instead picked up by thermospheric winds.

curiousbasque.bsky.social•92 days ago

Thank you! 👍

davebrockman.bsky.social•92 days ago

I'm old enough to remember being promised that leaving the EU wouldn't mean quitting the single market or customs union, until Theresa May came along with her pointless and arbitrary "red lines" and "Brexit means Brexit" nonsense. A momumenal act of self harm which should be corrected ASAP.

profbriancox.bsky.social•92 days ago

Yes. I’m pretty fed up with ‘red lines’.

mantascox.bsky.social•92 days ago

Me too! Once the referendum was over, cross party alliances ended, I remember the government at the time refusing to give any information about what they intended because that would “show their hand”. Brexit is a disaster and the refusal to give any consideration to the 48% compounded it.

meribel123.bsky.social•91 days ago

It has been a relentlessly ongoing and unfinished disaster. With no end yet in sight. God, it’s depressing. Why do the bad guys always win?

jamaisprete.bsky.social•92 days ago

Let's hope they do the former & not the latter.

samproctor.bsky.social•91 days ago

Entirely correct. Almost finished reading George Monbiot’s book and he makes the same point - Humans need to tell compelling stories that stir us to action.

kimskeels.bsky.social•92 days ago

Should we ever encounter aliens I’m pretty certain that we will have one thing in common - politicians are incompetent or corrupt. After moving to Oz from UK it’s still the same old same old here as it was there

w8tinginvain.bsky.social•91 days ago

Labour, or what's left of it these days, will soon be booted back out and will never be given a chance again. Or possibly will in about 20 years. This parliament will be over before you know it. They'll still be blaming what they inherited right up to the next election.

adamtezval.bsky.social•92 days ago

I can see a plan, Labour just need time to deliver it. The corporate media have been really incredulous towards them with some harsh criticism. Starmer and Rayner are often very human when they speak in Parliament, but this gets no exposure. Labour have substance, the right have populist slogans.

profbriancox.bsky.social•92 days ago

I don’t agree. I can’t see the big picture - what is the U.K’s place in the world? Are we to regain our place in Europe or attempt to be a lower-tax, deregulated country which is more US facing? The big strategic questions can’t be dodged much longer.

adamtezval.bsky.social•91 days ago

China could become the dominant superpower in the world as early as 2027, so perhaps the USA and Europe will decline. I'm not sure about the UK, but I have faith that Labour will find their bearings. Keir Starmer has already met President Xi and is trying to improve relations with Beijing.

barryheaven.bsky.social•91 days ago

They’ll dodge until is becomes critical. They still fear the Brexit voters.

bobmccann.bsky.social•60 days ago

Come on though Brian, we are a European island and always will be. That means we can never lose our place in Europe.

We can only improve it or make it worse.

Being part of the US is a delusion.

Geography will always be the boss mate.

jasonhindleuk.bsky.social•91 days ago

The problem with closer alignment with the US is we'll probably be made to take some of their math. As a suppository.

fascinatorfun.bsky.social•7 days ago

And aligning with the USA really isn’t a safe option any more (if it ever was), is it.

So EU it is and the less time we waste the better

el-presidente.bsky.social•92 days ago

Meaningful progress seems impossible until the government at least acknowledges reality. It has shown no sign of doing so thus far, which I can only surmise is a political position, designed to appease those sections of the electorate it thinks it can't afford to upset. Short termism is a curse.

singfoodie.bsky.social•92 days ago

Forgive my ignorance (have googled and can't find) but what is SM and CU?

mattadas.bsky.social•92 days ago

Single market and custom union

singfoodie.bsky.social•92 days ago

Thank you! Worked out Single market but CU was alluding me

freddies.bsky.social•92 days ago

It would be nice at least to have a vision .

2hdor.bsky.social•92 days ago

Why do we listen to journalists when we could listen to Science?

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