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Gideon Rachman
Gideon Rachman
26.9K posts
Gideon Rachman
@gideonrachman
The chief foreign affairs commentator for the Financial Times shares his views
Gideon Rachman’s posts
Seventy five percent of people under the age of 25 voted Remain. What a betrayal of them
Distinctly Soviet vibe in Britain at moment. My son just messaged triumphantly to say he had found last pack of couscous hidden behind an empty supermarket shelf. Neighbour came round to say he’d heard local garage will be getting some petrol tonight
Two-thirds of Britons now support future referendum on rejoining the EU after Brexit
If you lived behind the Iron Curtain you would know that, when the Wall came down, all of the countries there immediately applied to join the EU
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Reform UK
@reformparty_uk
"If you lived behind the Iron Curtain... then you understand how precious democracy is." Brexit Party candidate, @LauraMK20.
RT if you will be voting for The Brexit Party this Thursday!
1:46
One day historians will marvel at the way the EU continued to shovel billions towards Orban’s Hungary, even as he actively worked to undermine the EU and its values - and boasted about it. (Though if Orban has his way, there won’t actually be independent historians)
Prediction: in a few months time, Truss resigns as Foreign Sec, accusing Johnson of not being tough enough with the EU; repeating exactly what Johnson did to May & for same reason: to position for a leadership bid, knowing Tories will always chase rainbow of perfect hard Brexit
The inability to trade freely within your own country (ie between Britain and N.Ireland) is a far more humiliating and stark loss of sovereignty than anything the UK experienced as a member of the EU. Ironically, it is a consequence of Brexit - or of the Brexit deal Johnson chose
Tories sudden decision to argue that point of Brexit is to create a labour market that prioritises workers over bosses is a head-spinning reversal. Their main gripe with EU used to be its alleged over-regulation of labour. Remember all the fuss about the working time directive?
The great charm of Penny Mordaunt seems to be that few people know much about her. But her voters and the British people may get (another) nasty surprise. She is strikingly unqualified to be prime minister. There is no there, there.
In the UK we’ve reached the end point of Johnson “cake and eat it” era. Truss was peak cakeism: tax cuts, but no spending cuts, ignore inflation, ignore the markets - make the problems go away with patriotic rhetoric and fantasies about future growth. Painful reality begins today
Incredible & depressing how standards in British public life have slipped. A few years ago it would have been inconceivable this guy could stay on. The idea that the deeply conservative, William Shawcross is the right man to hold him to account is absurd
Odd that Cummings himself is exactly the kind of person he claims to despise: an Oxbridge arts graduate, with no scientific training and no real-life experience outside politics and the public sector x.com/SebastianEPayn
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Gaza is very bad news for Biden’s re-election prospects. Young voters and progressives are a key part of the Democratic coalition. Many are furious about the administration’s support for Israel. If they stay home or vote for Cornel West, Biden is in big trouble
Gibraltar row shows why we have the EU in first place: to get countries to drop nationalist grievances. Without EU, it all pops back up
When the Russians blame the west for the global food shortage - remember these are the same people who deny invading Ukraine, poisoning Navalny, committing war crimes, shooting down MH17. They lie all the time. It’s state policy
So, in recent months, the Perm Secs at the Foreign Office, Home Office, Dept of Education and the head of the Cabinet office have all been forced out of their jobs. Must be doing wonders for morale at the top of the civil service. A bit like being one of Stalin's generals...
If Germany deports Puigdemont to Spain, it will be a very bad look. But if, having detained him, they let him go, it will be a tacit condemnation of Spanish democracy and the rule of law there.
Tariff free trade is more important for the EU since they have a big surplus in manufactured goods. Meanwhile on services, where the U.K. is a big net exporter, there are big new barriers. Triumph!
When the monarchy faced a crisis after the death of Diana, Tony Blair helped them respond. Not sure how much help Boris Johnson’s advice will be in this situation
My latest column is on how the West's desperation to build up India as a strategic and ideological counter-weight to China, is leading to them turning a blind eye to disturbing developments in Modi's India ft.com/content/a4fe19 via
It’s central to Brexiter thinking that Britain’s economic fortunes were transformed after Thatcher came to power in 1979. But Britain also joined the EU in the 1970s. Maybe Thatcherism without single market access - the Truss formula - is not such a great idea
This debate on Russian TV is extraordinarily open compared to some of the other stuff we’ve seen. People openly saying the war is unwinnable, that it was based on illusions and that Ukrainian identity is real
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Shaun Walker
@shaunwalker7
Russian chat shows always had the “NATO shill guest” who said relatively sensible things and could then be torn down by the others.
But Boris Nadezhdin here speaking some dangerous truths, you wonder if he might simply get arrested soon.
0:02 / 6:48
Big story is obviously Labour. But looking at the Reform surge, I wonder if we are one or two elections away from where France is now.
I have some sympathy for the personal dilemma Cummings found himself in. But zero sympathy with him complaining about false stories in the press. This guy built his career on false stories: £350m, Turkey about to join the EU, we'll just join an existing free-trade area etc etc
Amidst all Putin’s breast-beating about Nato and Ukraine, its worth remembering the original 2013/14 crisis was triggered by Ukraine seeking closer relations with the EU, not Nato. This is not about Russian security; it’s about Putin’s refusal to let Ukraine orient itself West
Soros hatred is an authentic sign of a far-right nut job
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Elon Musk
@elonmusk
Replying to @krassenstein
You assume they are good intentions. They are not. He wants to erode the very fabric of civilization. Soros hates humanity.
One of the dismal aspects of the way this conflict is playing out in the west is that “Palestine” is becoming the cause of the far-left and “Israel” is becoming the cause of the far right. Neither side deserves that fate
The fact that Marine Le Pen has a diploma in cat breeding is meant to make her more cuddly. But I find it faintly sinister that she says that one of the attractions is studying their “genetic characteristics” to allow for “the perfection of the race” (as quoted in Le Monde).
In a strange inversion of history, China has agreed to clamp down on sales of opium to the West
With the departure of Frost, Brexiters are soon going to be falling back on the Communist defence: it was a great idea, but executed badly.
Pin drop moment at Munich: Vitali Klitschko, mayor of Kiev, tells Blinken/ Baerbock: “We need defensive weapons. We face one of strongest armies in world. We are ready to fight, to defend our families”. Added pathos; this plea comes from huge guy, former heavyweight boxing champ
Liz Truss said the embodies failed economic orthodoxy and then crashed the economy. Our economics editor explains why “orthodoxy” is just a word for knowledge, experience and an ability to understand trade offs enterprise-sharing.ft.com/redeem/705a6cf
My latest argues that turning a blind eye to an alleged Indian role in an assassination would be dangerous for national security and social stability in multicultural countries like Canada, the UK, Australia and the US
True believers in Brexit will end up like Communists; arguing it was a great idea that was never properly tried
My latest argues that it is far too fatalistic to say that Brexit is irreversible: 58% of Brits already say they want to rejoin the EU. Those figures will rise as economic damage mounts & the young enter the electorate. Politicians will have to catch up
A coup by Wagner is not so much the lunatics taking over the asylum as the convicts taking control of the prison
Spoken like a former official at DG Trade and the WTO - which she is. She actually understands this stuff
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Alex Andreou
@sturdyAlex
This, by Spanish Foreign minister @AranchaGlezLaya, is absolutely superb. The clearest expression of the problem I've heard. The UK is trying to use a trade deal to do something it's not designed to do. This, fundamentally, is why negotiations have failed.
Well worth sharing.
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Rutnam v Patel is much more than a Westminster story. Watching global politics- an independent, uncorrupt civil service, that serves politicians but is not completely at their mercy is very rare and a crucial shield against corruption and incompetence. This battle really matters.
Funny - I met him several times when he was director of policy planning at the Foreign Office and he seemed totally cool with EU membership. Enthusiastic even.
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Peter Foster
@pmdfoster
David Frost speaking to a pretty empty hall at #CPC21…lot of EU diplomats blanching at his “The long bad dream of our EU membership is over”. 50 years that never happened…
Isn’t it funny how Sweden has become the pin-up for libertarians, after decades of being denigrated as a nightmare nanny state.
Do watch this. Extraordinary that Lukashenko agreed to the interview. He is a cornered dictator, full of anger, menace and self-delusion . The calm and persistent questioning from is masterful. The BBC at its very best.
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Steve Rosenberg
@BBCSteveR
Trying to press Alexander Lukashenko on human rights in Belarus. You can watch a 24-min version of our interview today on @BBCWorld at 0930, 1530 & 1830 GMT. Also here bit.ly/32oRPar Camera/edit @mattgodtv Camera @AntonChicherov Producer @BBCWillVernon @BBCNews
This was always part of Australian thinking. One of their officials said to me they were worried that, in a crisis with China, the French might decide to launch some peace initiative that would make it difficult for Australia to deploy its subs
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Ulrich Speck
@ulrichspeck
What Macron says about Taiwan -- the core security theme in the Indo-Pacific -- vindicates the Australian decision to cancel the submarine deal with France and to create AUKUS with the UK and the US.
One ironic consequence of the intensive coverage of campus protests about Gaza is that it seems to have crowded out coverage of what is actually happening in Gaza itself. All sides in the west much more comfortable when the story is mainly about us
Great suggestion by Prof John Edmunds on R4 that understanding & assessing data should be part of the school curriculum. He says the pandemic reveals that people aren’t taught to understand figures in context or read graphs properly. You see this problem all the time in politics
Discussing Britain's global influence with ex White House official. He says - "Brexit really closed the lid on the coffin." Nice
Macron says the reception he’s given in China shows that France is “not just a country like any other.” Xi expertly playing on Macron’s vanity - this will end as badly as his Russia reset
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Stuart Lau
@StuartKLau
Macron invited von der Leyen to Beijing in hopes of showcasing EU unity.
The optics painted a very different story, with the EU chief sidelined by officials and vilified on social media.
W/ @cleacaulcutt @suzannelynch1 @JamilAnderlini on @POLITICOEurope
politico.eu/article/china-
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This is a great shame. I don’t understand how the BBC can rightly talk up the importance of the BBC World Service as a means to fight back against misinformation- and then shut down BBC Worlds flagship current affairs programme
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Stephen Sackur
@stephensackur
THREAD:
1. PERSONAL NEWS:
Today BBC News has announced plans to close @BBCHARDtalk after 3 decades holding the world’s politicians and powerbrokers to account. This is sad news for me personally, but much more important, I think it’s depressing news for the BBC
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