bmcgrath.bsky.social - Profile | ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

Your dignity honors the bravery of the Ukrainian people. Be strong, be brave, be fearless. You are never alone, dear President Zelenskyy. We will continue working with you for a just and lasting peace.

submitted 5 hours ago • 173 comments

Dear Volodymyr Zelenskyy, dear Ukrainian friends, you are not alone.

submitted 6 hours ago • 389 comments

The EU wasn’t formed to screw anyone. Quite the opposite. It was formed to maintain peace, to build respect among our nations, to create free and fair trade, and to strengthen our transatlantic friendship. As simple as that. 🇪🇺🇺🇸

submitted 1 day ago • 98 comments

🇪🇺

submitted 7 hours ago • 3 comments

When billionaires say 'pro free market' they can make it sound like they are on the side of the consumer, who will naturally think of free competition, product improvement and price reduction. But they don't mean free competition, because that needs tough regulation to stop monopolies forming.

submitted 1 day ago • 12 comments

Free speech! Free speech! Free speech! Fre- oh wait.

submitted 2 days ago • 1535 comments

Free speech latest from across the pond.

submitted 2 days ago • 6 comments

This is extremely, extremely bad. Our legal system cannot function if the govt retaliates — and if courts allow it to retaliate — against lawyers who take matters the govt disfavors.

submitted 2 days ago • 69 comments

Andreas Mundt’s one wish, were he to be granted one by incoming Chancellor Merz, would be for the Bundeskartellamt to be given direct consumer enforcement powers. UK CMA a step ahead there, at least. #oecd

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

Matthew Boswell from the Canadian Competition Bureau raises concerns over “false narrative” that merger control is bad for growth and attacks on agency independence at today’s OECD competition day. Can’t think which countries he has in mind… #oecd #competition

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

And meanwhile in the UK... You know that thing made of copper that you can string directly above a railway track, and is proven to have worked for more than a hundred years Ah no www.railwaygazette.com/uk/class-60-...

submitted 3 days ago • 15 comments

Lovely to see a Networker train back in red, white, and blue livery. #NetworkSouthEast

submitted 3 days ago • 2 comments

Charged with taking Russian bribes on eight occasions, former Ukip MEP, then Brexit Party MEP, then leader of Reform UK in Wales and Farage reckons he can get away with: "A spokesperson for Reform Wales said Mr Gill is not a member of Reform UK."? 🤣~AA www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

submitted 3 days ago • 21 comments

it'd be nice for one mainstream and prominent centrist/centre-left/left-wing party somewhere in the western world to actually try and consistently and vocally make the positive case for immigration for an entire term and see what happens - it may not work! but it'd be nice for one party to try it

submitted 4 days ago • 41 comments

If anything is clear from the last few days, it's surely that Ukraine belongs in the EU

submitted 4 days ago • 10 comments

The young vote in Germany, by gender. 😳

submitted 5 days ago • 295 comments

Merz just said on German TV that the primary priority of his government will be to ensure that Europe can achieve full strategic independence from the United States in the defence against Russia. Merz was once a die hard Atlanicist. Now, after Trump he is a Gaullist. Extraordinary.

submitted 5 days ago • 257 comments

I celebrate the 80% of Germans who did not vote for the far right. Do not make 19.6% of German voters into "the" German people (again). "The" German people don't exist! The German population is diverse and divided, but voted overwhelmingly for liberal democratic parties. #BTW25 #GermanElection

submitted 5 days ago • 152 comments

Something is shifting. They are still breaking things and stealing things. And they will keep trying to break and to steal. But the propaganda magic around the oligarchical coup is fading. (1/2)

submitted 6 days ago • 1589 comments

A reminder here: to get a reliable railway you need to invest in the infrastructure. Germany didn’t (enough) for 2 decades. Now finally it’s catching up. Whether the trains on that infra are publicly or privately run isn’t central to on-time performance.

submitted 9 days ago • 10 comments

A cluster of stories on regulation this morning in the FT. First, the UK government's plan to review all regulators to see if they are working to boost growth. A depressing and sterile debate based on the incorrect regulation v growth narrative. www.ft.com/content/f82f...

submitted 10 days ago • 18 comments

I’m still a little confused about what KB thinks we actually do in universities. It really is a lot more boring than poisoning minds. Unless that’s a new definition of teaching calculus.

submitted 11 days ago • 10 comments

I'm based in Madrid for a few months (hola!), and I agree with this from Clarkson. My favourite reminder of our stupidity: being charged customs duties on parcels sent from friends in the UK, where the duties are often worth more than the parcels. Cheers! www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...

submitted 18 days ago • 24 comments

The ICC guarantees accountability for international crimes and gives a voice to victims worldwide. It must be able to freely pursue the fight against global impunity. Europe will always stand for justice and the respect of international law.

submitted 21 days ago • 130 comments

When Laura K insists rejoining the EU wouldn't bring growth for the UK as EU countries on average don't grow much atm, it is (deliberately?) misleading. The UK's economy can of course grow if trade with EU countries increases, no matter how well they are doing for themselves.

submitted 26 days ago • 90 comments

Was passiert, wenn man Populisten folgt. Der Brexit 5 Jahre danach. Ein Land, das ärmer und ernüchtert auf seine damalige Entscheidung blickt, deren negative Folgen es noch viele Jahre beschäftigen wird. Mein Gespräch dazu gestern mit der #tagesschau.

submitted 27 days ago • 8 comments

Brexit five years on: A triumph of lies iandunt.substack.com/p/brexit-fiv...

submitted 28 days ago • 108 comments

Quite the marmalade-dropper, this: 3 weeks before Germany's election, Angela Merkel has issued a statement criticising her own party for enabling ("with open eyes") a majority with the AfD. Effectively accuses Merz of breaking his pledge not to do so. www.buero-bundeskanzlerin-ad.de/erklaerungen...

submitted 29 days ago • 21 comments

When I finished high school in Brussels in 1999, the vast majority of students from my year, who came from all over Europe, especially those with really good exam results, wanted to go to university in only one country: The UK.

submitted 31 days ago • 7 comments

Auschwitz was at the end of a long process. It did not start from gas chambers. This hatred was gradually developed by humans. From ideas, words, stereotypes & prejudice through legal exclusion, dehumanization & escalating violence... to systematic and industrial murder. Auschwitz took time.

submitted 32 days ago • 1092 comments

In what way would a customs union affect our ability to regulate AI differently? I’m not saying we should sign up for one, but this does strike me as odd….

submitted 37 days ago • 12 comments

Good to see the Foreign Affairs Committee opening an inquiry into disinformation, with the Chair explicitly calling out recent actions by a certain individual close to the incoming US administration as within scope (not just the usual 'hostile actors'). committees.parliament.uk/committee/78...

submitted 43 days ago • 0 comments