Yesterday I spent time (&far too many tweets) trying to defend @Keir_Starmer 's position in a Guardian article which angered & disappointed many who, like me, are passionate pro-Europeans. I will try to explain why (thread)

Starmer is like me a lawyer, not a trade specialist but he obviously took advice. He is also a committed pro-European. As a lawyer when looking at the TCA, I saw all the predicted negatives but also enormous potential for a pro-EU government which results from the
institutional structure of the deal. The TCA sets up 19 specialised committees (including on Customs Cooperation, SPS, Technical Barriers to Trade) dominated by an all powerful 50/50 Partnership Council (PC) which takes binding decisions with immediate direct effect by agreement.
These decisions do not have to be published or not in full. This is undemocratic but typical of FTAs and efficient. In my view there is huge potential to take big decisions, far from the emotional tone of the Brexit drama, decisions which will be crouched in technocratic language
"Removing the red tape" " Customs Simplifications Procedure" (a lesser form of CU), "mobility", "improving access for services (a lesser form of FoM): little by little, step by step, the most negative effects of the TCA will be undone out of the glare of the tabloid press until
we get very close to BRINO. This may not lead to rejoining -see Switzerland, Norway- but under the TCA Britain -which was respected as probably THE most influential member state at the stage of draft legislation -can still exert influence if it judiciously places its best people
-think people like Ivan Rogers, Charles Grant, David Henig, Sam Lowe - in the committees. I believe (but I am an optimist), that at some stage, rejoining -or something very close to it- will become an evidence unless the EU has changed in ways unamicable to the UK.
@keirstarmer is not saying anything in the Guardian article which contradicts this. Yes he says he could not envisage Europe or Brexit playing any part in the election campaign of 2024 – or featuring on any Labour MPs’ election leaflets but he also says that Labour would make
"a case over the coming months and years about ways to improve the UK’s relationship with the EU, including access to security data and the ability of artists and musicians to operate across Europe. “But there will not be an appetite for renegotiating the entire treaty.”
This sound right to me. Proposing to renegotiate the entire Treaty first would really, really annoy the EU but also restart the Brexit drama & make it far more difficult to achieve meaningful changes. What is more appealing:
telling people you will pull your sleeves up to improve their lives/businesses or telling them you will restart all over again the war about our relationship with Europe? This is a wise and clever approach through which much can be achieved, including winning the next GE.
It will throw Johnson into a panic: Starmer will fight him not on the ideological grounds in which Johnson excels but on the dry terrain of competence, results, impacts. Starmer will set the terms of the debate. Johnson's hopes are that Starmer's divided party will do his job.
Ultimately (apologies for such a long thread) it is a question of TRUST: do we trust that Starmer is firmly pro-European or not? Does he need to be absolutely clear & transparent about his intentions? Just ask yourself: were the Leave camp?
https://t.co/GEeOX8IFrg

More from Government

The Government is making the same mistakes as it did in the first wave. Except with knowledge.

A thread.


The Government's strategy at the beginning of the pandemic was to 'cocoon' the vulnerable (e.g. those in care homes). This was a 'herd immunity' strategy. This interview is from


This strategy failed. It is impossible to 'cocoon' the vulnerable, as Covid is passed from younger people to older, more vulnerable people.

We can see this playing out through heatmaps. e.g. these heatmaps from the second


The Government then decided to change its strategy to 'preventing a second wave that overwhelms the NHS'. This was announced on 8 June in Parliament.

This is not the same as 'preventing a second wave'.

https://t.co/DPWiJbCKRm


The Academy of Medical Scientists published a report on 14 July 'Preparing for a Challenging Winter' commissioned by the Chief Scientific Adviser that set out what needed to be done in order to prevent a catastrophe over the winter

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MDZS is laden with buddhist references. As a South Asian person, and history buff, it is so interesting to see how Buddhism, which originated from India, migrated, flourished & changed in the context of China. Here's some research (🙏🏼 @starkjeon for CN insight + citations)

1. LWJ’s sword Bichen ‘is likely an abbreviation for the term 躲避红尘 (duǒ bì hóng chén), which can be translated as such: 躲避: shunning or hiding away from 红尘 (worldly affairs; which is a buddhist teaching.) (
https://t.co/zF65W3roJe) (abbrev. TWX)

2. Sandu (三 毒), Jiang Cheng’s sword, refers to the three poisons (triviṣa) in Buddhism; desire (kāma-taṇhā), delusion (bhava-taṇhā) and hatred (vibhava-taṇhā).

These 3 poisons represent the roots of craving (tanha) and are the cause of Dukkha (suffering, pain) and thus result in rebirth.

Interesting that MXTX used this name for one of the characters who suffers, arguably, the worst of these three emotions.

3. The Qian kun purse “乾坤袋 (qián kūn dài) – can be called “Heaven and Earth” Pouch. In Buddhism, Maitreya (मैत्रेय) owns this to store items. It was believed that there was a mythical space inside the bag that could absorb the world.” (TWX)