No, he's a cushion bearing the imprint of whoever sat on him most recently and most firmly. Macron is also messaging Putin directly, and Eastern Europe. However, Europe needs to get its act together … (View Post)

That was my assumption for over a year. The question now is whether the conference will be more of a liability, with activists and MPs falling out, a lack of a clear message for the future, unrealist… (View Post)

I think it's a message to Scholz. The problem with the Americans is not so much the lack of backbone as outright Putinist support. (View Post)

Well, it was certainly a possibility because the Tory majority was tiny, its lead in the polls was huge and Brexit was always going to be difficult. The comparisons with 2017 are moot more because th… (View Post)

It is now longer from the end of Liz Truss's premiership than the end of her premiership was from the start of it. By a factor of ten (and a half). (View Post)