Robin Potter
@robinpotter
Academy Associate, UK in the World Programme @chathamhouse.org. Former Labour staffer and civil servant. Substack:
Deprivation looks to be necessary but not sufficient factor alone v SW England - poss culture and identity? Kent having some success with coastal regeneration and increasing popularity with Londoners and overseas visitors - Deal, Folkestone, Margate etc Will be interesting comparison with Essex
This is nuts Soho home to many legendary pubs - star and garter, blue posts, coach and horses, old coffee house to name a few Would be a death knell
So much to unpack here. Long on conjecture and short on facts. But anyway here’s that “military-civilian imbalance” and “profligate military”..
Thinking this myself the other day Little diversity in most of the senior Westminster team
Complete sympathy that you may have missed this at the time DCMS committed £7m(!) to supporting local media in March A critic might say this doesn’t quite meet the challenges spelled out in lofty rhetorical terms in Nandy’s foreword ‘Lifeblood of our democracy’ etc www.gov.uk/government/p...
Like an Asda promotion or something Frankly at this point why not go the whole nine yards and hand out mixed cans and picky bits for the weekend
From a long list Labour’s failure to develop any policy on social care to lift burden on councils one of more egregious Exactly kind of painful thing you can do early in a term that might bear fruit in greater resources by ‘29 Instead, a review! And tricky policy to sell in an election campaign!
Lastly, headline of Gaby's piece states 'MP's should level with us' However in my experience, unless an MP has an interest in security like Calvin Bailey, or is a member of a relevant committee, they are likely just as in the dark as the public, as I recently wrote for @thehousemag.bsky.social 👇
Russia was not deterred from invading Ukraine because it (correctly) believed UK and European powers lacked the means and will to fight UK arguably still falls short on both counts. Absent US commitment, Europe must now deter Russia alone Defence investment has to catch up with Germany and Poland
I dunno guys I feel this probably should have implications for more areas of domestic policy? Though as has been put to me in recent discussions at Chatham House - do our leaders really believe these assessments? As incomprehensible to understand relative inactivity otherwise 📸UK/FR strategies
MoD on a strat comms push to loosen focus on inadequate deployed units to protect UK interests in the region Not necessarily this government’s fault mind you… defence spending has only recently returned to 2010 level
Or nat security broadly? Europe has Congress to thank for maintaining 76k troops here despite Hegseth + Pentagon’s plan to withdraw all by 2027 Unthinkable for UK Parliament to be similarly involved in granularity of capability and deployments 📸 Royal Navy based in Bahrain - now non-existent
Has been very clear for a very long time the tax pledges would not hold - e.g. further defence spend beyond 2.7% in 2028 is unfunded But also - incredible Reeves did not learn her lesson and keep more room for manoeuvre on tax at the last Budget - instead committing to not come back for more..!
He is surprised at muted British reaction to arson by Russian proxies at Keir Starmer’s former home But - Russia does this, and the government’s official response is… what? Nothing except ‘senior Whitehall figures’ in the FT in May (discussions being held) and no mention by the PM in Commons
Important stuff this - UK gov wants “ambitious new science and technology partnership” with “like minded” US according to its security strategy Critics would say deepens reliance and exposure to coercion Compare and contrast with French security strategy published only a couple of weeks later…
First we heard Downing Street were caught ‘off guard’ and then ‘irritated’ at countries like Canada and Italy agreeing to the new target Now leading attempts to delay by 3 years UK’s approach to defence spend a curious risk tolerance of fiscal position before security threat From @theipaper.com
A plea to not just take lessons from Ukraine as being unquestionably emblematic of any future conflict the UK may need to deter or fight in - the littorals of the Black Sea are not the same as the Atlantic Carriers are good, actually! www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/views/letter...
I think the key point regarding Polanski vs his Westminster based opponents - the information environment has significantly shifted 4 yrs out from an election - could still prove to be troublesome for Labour Also more Mayors and devo in England - how will that influence the parties at Westminster?