simon No.12

Labour’s policy is now rejoin. They’re crossed that bridge. So that means: > 15 year chaotic accession process > 20–25bn/ payments a year at current EU budget scale > losing the Thatcher rebate, loss of independent trade policy > return of ECJ jurisdiction > no veto > loss of existing FTAs > committing in principle to the Euro(!) with eventual end of independent monetary policy > return of Schengen >return of free movement > transition and alignment costs to industry of tens of billions > massive disruption to fishing and agriculture > no say in EU policy during accession but taking rules > significantly weaker political position in the EU prior to Brexit > UK would be back of accession queue behind states like Moldova and Ukraine > return of EU regs in financial services > SNP using argument for independence > reopens NI question sounds like a great idea Labour! Well done Westminster brain! NAAAAAAT

Britain has 17.5 million hectares of agricultural land. 65% of it cannot grow a single crop. Too thin. Too high. Too wet. Too steep. The kind of slope where a tractor becomes a story they tell in the village pub for generations. It grows grass. Because grass is what evolved to grow there. The cow eats the grass. The sheep eats the grass. Your stomach cannot eat the grass. Take the ruminants off and the food production from that land becomes zero. Not lower. Zero. The ruminant is not blocking a better option. The ruminant is the only option. The activist who wants the ruminant removed is not reducing meat consumption. He is outsourcing it. To Brazilian feedlots on cleared rainforest, shipped six thousand miles in a refrigerated container. The British hill goes to bracken. The Amazon goes to soy. The supermarket label changes from Hereford to Mato Grosso. This is presented as the ethical position. It is the most expensively packaged self-deception in modern politics.

@BellaWallerstei Starmer to the UK daily

Starmer’s legacy will be destruction of over 100 historic independent schools including one that had survived for nearly 1,400 years. Centuries of tradition, scholarship and heritage wiped out in a few short years. Educational & historic vandalism on an unforgivable scale

"I am not afraid of an army of lions led by a sheep; I am afraid of an army of sheep led by a lion." - Alexander The Great

“Let’s spend £4.5 trillion on net zero over the next 25 years despite the UK only accounting for less than 1% of annual global CO2 emissions. Let’s increase taxes to pay for net zero. Let’s ban new oil and gas licences in the North Sea but spaff away £40billion buying North Sea oil and gas from Norway. Let’s buy coking coal shipments worth £7.2million from Japan but ban UK coal mining. Let’s plaster thousands of acres of farmland with solar panels but spend £50million on sun dimming experiments. Let’s give huge renewable energy construction contracts to China. Let’s give Drax an estimated £1.8billlion in taxpayer funded subsidies on top of the £11billion it has already received despite Drax burning an amount of wood equivalent to 300 million trees. Let’s give £1billion this year alone to wind power companies not to generate power from their wind turbines. And let’s spend £30billion of taxpayers’ money on carbon capture machines but put pensioners, farmers and the disabled into financial peril by claiming there’s a £22bn black hole.”

The 1st century AD Roman Aqueduct of Segovia, in Spain, constructed from 20,400 granite blocks without mortar. The bridge structure transported water 17 km from mountain springs to Segovia until 1973

The biggest red flag a Roman citizen can have is a hobby. “I enjoy reading philosophy when I have free time.” What a waste of time. Go join the legions instead. How does reading philosophy help you in life in any way? Avoid people with ‘hobbies’ at all costs.

"Now, tax the urine."

@rec777777 @FraserNelson @RCharlton1966 Despite a succession of incompetent governments hamstringing and suffocating the economy. American growth is off the scale by comparison

@FraserNelson @RCharlton1966 #Brexit has been good for the UK We've done better than any EU member in the G7 since, and saved £billions

I voted for Brexit with a heavy heart ten years ago. I was wrong: it has worked out better than I expected. I'll be debating this with Anand Menon and Lara Spirit at The Times on Mon 29 June. Details:- thetimes.com/events/times-e…

Norway, a country with just over 5 million people, manages the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund — worth nearly $2 trillion. This translates to around $340,000 for every citizen, making it one of the richest countries per capita. The fund was built from oil revenues, but instead of spending it all, Norway invested globally in stocks, bonds, and green energy projects. It serves as a safety net for future generations, ensuring the country’s wealth continues long after oil production declines. Norway’s model is admired worldwide as an example of smart resource management. It shows how natural resources can be transformed into long-term prosperity when governments prioritize sustainability and financial discipline.

🚨 BREAKING: Reform SURGES BACK TO 30% in the latest poll! Britain wants Reform! ➡️ REF UK 30% (+2) 👹 LAB 21% (nc) 🥶 CON 19% (-1) 🤮 GREEN 11% (-1) 🎃 LIB DEM 14% (+2) ❓OTH 2% (-3)

Nandy is right. Too many on the Left think Brexit was a spasm of anguish from ‘low IQ’ voters. They cannot even imagine the reality. Which is that Brexit was not an event but a process taking decades. It was the settled and considered opinion of millions. telegraph.co.uk/politics/2026/…

The British & Irish Lions are incredibly sad to hear of the death of Lion 617, Scott Hastings. All our thoughts are with Scott’s family at this deeply upsetting time.

Wait, Starmer has friends?

@AgrippaSPQR And the media could care less. Anyone else it's 24/7 rolling news

Of course Rayner should have faced a penalty over unpaid stamp duty, everyone knows it. Like everyone knew Starmer should have faced a penalty over attending a curry & beer party in Durham at the height of Covid restrictions. But they are Labour so laws don’t apply to them.

"Of the £132bn [the British govt] borrowed during the fiscal year to March, a jaw-dropping £110bn went on debt interest payments – twice what we spend on defence."

Everything they touch…

The Great British net zero con-trick of Drax. The Labour government is trying to force through an extension that would give Drax an estimated £1.8bn in taxpayer funded subsidies on top of the £11bn it has already received. Drax has burned an amount of wood equivalent to 300 million trees. Burning wood creates 18% more CO2 emissions than coal. And here’s the con trick: Drax is a sneaky way of exporting our CO2 emissions. We pay billions of pounds to cut down ancient forests in the US and Canada, ship the wood across the Atlantic in diesel tankers, then burn it in a Yorkshire-based power station. And here’s the kicker - the CO2 emissions tally is not counted against the country that burns it, but the country that grows it. So Drax emissions are counted against the countries who grow and export the wood for Drax - like Canada and USA…not UK who burn it. So the UK can reduce CO2 figures by importing the burning wood grown elsewhere. A gigantic net zero con-trick.

The Green Party are the party that can stop Reform. They have billionaire donors. But we have people power. Join us: join.greenparty.org.uk

Poland's economic wonder is simply amazing. Poland did many things right to become the growth champion of Europe. The eight points below help explain how it happened. Other countries can learn a lot from the Polish way. It’s the opposite of what many European countries do.