Brian Mankin

Anyone can be a thinker. What makes you think Brexiteers don't think? Millions of us weighed the trade-offs on sovereignty, borders, regulation, and democracy, and voted accordingly. Brexit has been plagued by bad faith, bad will, and bad delivery from politicians on all sides. But Europe is hardly thriving: stagnant growth, bloated spending, recurring energy crises, defense vulnerabilities, and regulatory overreach. How much longer can that model last?

@_BrianMankin_ @implausibleblog Career politicians and economists/bankers are what got us in this mess. Saying he is only an author is hugely disrespectful. He is a thinker, and that is what is needed.

Cathy Newman, "Trump smashed up the old world order, the UK and EU are wondering what to do about it" "Keir Starmer offered closer ties with the EU, why not go the whole hog and rejoin the EU, with the majority of the country in favour?" Sir Michael Morpurgo, "It was the greatest mistake this country has made since the war, I have no doubt about that at all" "I mean to turn our back on our neighbours in that way, not just in terms of trade but in terms of culture and everything" "It was a ridiculous decision" "Somehow we have to understand when we make a mistake, we admit it and make a change"

@HelenBa16838378 @implausibleblog Brexit was about sovereignty, liberty, democracy, accountability, immigration, political representation, and elitist cronyism as well as economics. Everyone was aware of that at the time. On all counts, the UK and the EU have gotten worse. Both are rotten to the core.

@_BrianMankin_ @implausibleblog Your argument's logical conclusion is that a referendum with a simple "Remain/Leave" binary question shouldn't have been proposed to a population of non-economists with no strategic or geopolitical expertise. By now EVERYONE is realising how stupid it was. Except you...

@JudithP72788426 @implausibleblog On the contrary. He's been proved wrong. The EU has grown even more bureaucratic, centralised, elitist, absolutist, corrupt, incompetent, uncompetitive, intolerant of dissent, illiberal, and undemocratic since we left. And it's getting worse.

@_BrianMankin_ @implausibleblog Because he’s been proved right?

@FCDOGovUK @YvetteCooperMP Unknown insiders have leaked this footage of Yvette Cooper's high level talks on Iran and the Strait of Hormuz. youtube.com/watch?v=g124hp…

Today, the UK convened representatives from more than 40 countries to discuss the Strait of Hormuz, and the urgent need to restore freedom of navigation for international shipping, and see the Strait reopened once more.

@ZRicht @implausibleblog Careful now. Your snobbery is showing. Sir Michael’s literary success doesn’t make him an expert on Trump or Brexit. Newsnight treating him as one is dodgy as hell.

@_BrianMankin_ @implausibleblog He's a cultured man. Try it some time.

@Marky_X_ This looks unironically awesome.

Probably one of the better April Fool's jokes with insanely good costume design Warhammer 40k Musical

Now that Artemis II has launched we have 10 days to get everyone on Earth a Planet of the Apes costume so we can do something hilarious when the astronauts return 😁

Human societies have always been dynamic. Groups of humans have been invading, displacing, enslaving and conquering earlier groups since our species evolved and spread out of Africa. The only populations who might not have acquired their current territory through warfare are the Sentinelese on North Sentinel Island and a handful of truly isolated Amazonian or Papuan tribes. And even these might be proven to be invaders and conquerors when we are able to study their genetics and local archaeology.

@WONGthink "indigenous" = The first people / pre-invasion. So Celts & ancient Britons, Brythonaid & Picts. The Angles, Saxons, Normans, Jutes etc were invaders & settlers.

🇬🇧🗳️ 𝗣𝗲𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: 𝗥𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗴𝗻𝗶𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗜𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝗣𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗕𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗻 You don't exist as it stands. They changed my wording from affirmation to a mere consideration. OG in reply. SIGN & SHARE 👇🏼 petition.parliament.uk/petitions/7630…

@CaptainCave11 @SBarrettBar No, it's not fine. But no-one has ever been punished. If anything, we have rewarded liars with election after election. If we vote for candidates that we know to be liars, we will always be electing liars. We need to elect truthtellers - even when we don't like the truth.

@_BrianMankin_ @SBarrettBar So it's completely fine for parties to deliberately lie in their manifesto then?

He can't take us back inside the EU without a Referendum That is constitutionally settled.

@WebbLowrie @SBarrettBar Oh dear god, no! Written constitutions fossilise existing arrangements in favour of today's elites. Can you imagine the constitution Starmer, Blair and Mandelson would give us. We have something better than a constitution: a conversation.

@_BrianMankin_ @SBarrettBar Exactly why we need a written constitution

@EnochBurke @MCasey5603 Evil rises… cloaked in false virtue.

@pride1648 @SBarrettBar Power makes its own laws - they can do whatever we let them get away with. But governments need excuses to legitimise their power. Constitutionally, Parliament is sovereign because the people are sovereign and parliament is an instrument of the people as proven by our elections.

@_BrianMankin_ @SBarrettBar An Absolute Parliament which can take away our liberties and enslave us? Charles I thought he had Absolute God given powers. I wonder if we are approaching the point where this is put to the test again. Jury trials.

Strangely, this Trump-style war video has disappeared from the Prime Minister's TikTok account. Unfortunately for him, I downloaded it. It's easy to forget how different the comms were in the early days of the war. He has only latterly leaned in to (helpful) political criticism that his delay and inaction was in fact pacifism. Initially he tried to sell the image that he was a man of action.

@malc_mufc @suespeaksup Official policy is that ministers and civil servants should use government issued phones for all government business. But it's only a policy, not the law. Policies can be and are applied rigorously or ignored judiciously depending on what best suits the people in charge.

Government business must be done on a Governmentt Phone, not a personal one and all communications must have a backup. Has he broken the law again doing Government busineess on a personal phonethat was never backedup. Always without exception liars must be investigated, not hidden

We’re being told messages are “lost” because of a missing phone. But that’s not how it works. If you use WhatsApp, you just get a new phone, log back in… and your messages come straight back. Simple. And it’s not just one copy either the other person still has them. Group chats still have them. Backups still exist. So nothing’s really gone, is it?

@suespeaksup WhatsApp uses end to end encryption. Messages can be backed up but won't be unless the feature is turned on. Even so, the messages have a sender and a receiver. Unless both phones are lost, the messages may still be on the other person's phone.

@MongeMkt @SirBylHolte The final battle was decided by having the courage and will to stand. The heroes were willing to fight and die for their families and friends. The villains were fighting for power and to save their own skins. The heroes came to each others aid. The villains did not.

She is a nerdy genius and that's established since day one in the series. She is also courageous and strong willed. That's why she ended up in Gryffindor instead of Ravenclaw. Harry has always been mid as a wizard. The only thing he is good at is flying, not overthinking, being quick on his feet and a METRIC TON of luck. Even the final battle was mainly decided by luck and allies, and not skill.

Rewatching the Harry Potter movies and, while I never liked Hermione, "Prisoner of Azkaban" turns her into an insufferable, overpowered Mary Sue. Punches Draco in the face. Threatens him physically with her wand. Slaps Harry’s hands. Bosses Harry and Ron around. Literally controls time with zero real consequences or mistakes. Saves Buckbeak—and the day—instead of Harry. Calls the werewolf away instead of Harry. Solves most of the mystery (Lupin, Sirius, Pettigrew) before Harry fully catches up. Attends multiple classessimultaneously like it’s nothing. Stands up to PROFESSOR Snape in class while everyone else fears him. Takes charge of the entire rescue plan at the end—Harry mostly follows her lead. Rescues Sirius Black from the tower, for which he affirms her as “the brightest witch of your age.” Oh—and she’s also the only one smart enough to figure out Lupin is a werewolf while everyone else is clueless. If they were depicting her this way 22 YEARS AGO, how do you expect the TV show to feel?

@r0cketpocket @JamesLNuzzo Why would it need to be explained? Sara is an educated independent woman. If a person knows that their water is limited and the day is likely to be hot and there won't be any more water until you get to the end; they ought to be able to work things out for themselves.

@JamesLNuzzo You did the right thing by not abandoning Sara. But it also sounds like you had a communication issue on your part. Why can’t one full grown adult explain to another full grown adult the idea of limited water and the setting sun? Sorry doesn’t add up

The following is a true story from my life, which is related to the contents of this article in The Guardian: In July 2009, I hiked part of the Grand Canyon with an ex-girlfriend, who I will call Sara. Sara and I were both in our 20s, and we were accompanied by four high school-aged relatives/friends. The plan was to head off early in the AM to hike the 10 miles down, stay over night at the bottom, and then hike the 10 miles up the next day. During the hike down, Sara's walking was slow, and she was pre-occupied with taking nature photos at every possible opportunity. Her slow walking was a problem because, although we started early, it was July and the sun was starting to beat down on us--something that would only becoming progressively worse with more time on the trail. As I recall, everyone in the group recognised Sara's slow walking as a problem. Everyone but Sara understood that we needed to get to the bottom of the Canyon sooner rather than later, because we were in the sun doing strenuous exercise, and we didn't have endless supplies of water. It was also the first time any of us had hiked the Grand Canyon. Sara continued her slow walking and picture taking. At multiple points, we offered to carry Sara's bag for her so that her load would be lighter and she could walk more easily. Sara refused to give up her bag. She wanted to prove that she could do the hike without help. If my memory is correct, around the 5 mile mark, the group decided to split up. I stayed with Sara, and the high schoolers went on ahead of us, walking at their "fast" (i.e., appropriate) pace. Sara continued to walk slow, and signs of extreme fatigue / heat exhaustion were setting in. Sara became unwell physically and mentally. Again, I offered to carry her bag for her. Again, she refused. Though I was fit, I was also starting to feel unwell. In fact, I don't think I've ever felt that close to health exhaustion in my life. I was also not in a good place. Making matters worse, we ran out of water, and there were no water stations for the remainder of the hike. The key reason that why we ran out of water was Sara's slow walking, which continued to expose to the sun. Moreover, when we ran out of water, we weren't even close to the end. As I recall, we were still about 2-3 miles away from the end when we ran out of water, and we didn't even know where the end was because we were unfamiliar with the trail. Also, by that time, there wasn't a single soul left on the trail--no one walking down or up. We were alone. It was an awful experience. At one point, Sara had basically given up; she sat down in the middle of the path and wouldn't move. Eventually, perhaps through motivational efforts, Sara continued walking and we got to the end. When we got to the bottom, the high schoolers told us that they were so worried about us that were thinking about calling a rescue party to look for us. We slept over night at the bottom and then hiked the 10 miles back up the next day. Remarkably, after all that, Sara still would not allow anyone to carry her bag on the way up. Sneakily, when she was not looking, we would take things out of her bag to lighten her load. Bottom line: Sara's stubbornness, her desire to prove how strong and independent she was, her lack of adequate fitness, and her unwillingness to listen to people who understood nature, physiology, and physical fitness better than her, almost killed her...and me. She caused the high schoolers significant distress, and had they stayed with us, she might have also put them at increased health risk. During the hike, Sara exhibited a set of behaviors that I wanted nothing to do with moving forward. The "alpine divorce" can work in both directions but for different reasons.

@OdutoluTimothy @CeeMacBee Britain is being persued because our government is weak and we have wealth to be looted. This has nothing to do with justice. It's just an attempted mugging.

For context, Daniel Hannan is a talented writer who has spent thirty years making the same argument sound fresh each time. The "why not China and Saudi Arabia" point is rhetorically clever and historically dishonest simultaneously. Nobody is pursuing Britain for running a generic slave trade. They are pursuing Britain specifically because Britain was the largest operator of the Transatlantic system at its peak, a specific trade, with specific ships, specific ports, specific financial institutions, specific legislation that protected it, and specific wealth that is precisely traceable to specific institutions still operating today. Lloyd's of London. The Bank of England. The port cities of Bristol and Liverpool. These are not abstractions. They are addresses. China's slavery and Saudi Arabia's slavery, both real and worth condemning, did not produce a financial architecture whose balance sheets are still functioning in 2026. Britain's did. That is why Britain is being pursued and China is not. The reparations conversation is not about guilt but auditable inheritance. Calling that a "shake-down" is what you say when the audit would find something. And sanctioning countries that demand accountability for what your ships did is the kind of policy that confirms why 123 countries voted the way they did few days ago.

Daniel Hannan: 'No one asks for reparations from, say, China (which did not abolish slavery until 1910) or Ethiopia (1942) or Saudi Arabia (1962), because these countries do not encourage the shake-down artists.' 'The resolution was moved by Ghana on behalf of the African Union, which has indicated that it intends to pursue Britain and various European countries through the courts. China, Ethiopia and Saudi Arabia were among the states that backed the motion. So, shamelessly, were North Korea, Eritrea and Mauritania, the three places where slavery is most prevalent today.' Britain should slap sanctions on any country demanding slavery reparations telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/03/2…