Garvan Walshe

🚨New Substack Series 🚨 I'm starting a new series of articles on liberalism and two-way globalisation, called "Survival & Success" Read the first one here, that focuses in on the crisis in Ceuta.

Next time someone says “nobody cares” about corruption show them this

To think I only thought Britain would become Argentina

Unambitious. Maybe they could try Netanyahu who’ll probably be out of a job too. Newly available Vucic could be made spokesman.

Significant upset in Bulgarian exit polls, confirmed by the other exit polls

One: this is welcome Two: Burnham is the first PM in some time who’s remembered that he’s PM, so can set the agenda.

A significant shift, however much the circular migration point is overdone. Here's my piece on why this matters from two weeks ago www.arguably.uk/p/eu-free-mo...

Greece, Ireland and Spain which boast robust fiscal health could form a troika to oversee necessary public spending restructuring.

We provide both platform numbers and track numbers, in order to confuse the unwary, eh @jakubjaraczewski.bsky.social

Reminds me of a Horizon application I did: A consortium of organisations from different countries: fine, indeed a requirement of the process An organisation with personnel in three countries: oh no how do we audit that You mean if we guarantee the four freedoms people might…use them

Renaissance Italy levels of corruption

Hmm…this isn’t without uses but replacing qualitative input isn’t one of them this is like the guy from Cameron/Osborne’s office who thought the census could be replaced by representative polling.

Leaked WhatsApps between ex-EU commissioner Reynders and senior Belgian spy reveal attempts to bury allegations of his possible Russia ties. buff.ly/pVAgdFy

It shouldn’t be an EU principal as long as the others are not principals. To balance out Witkoff we should send someone like Toomas Ilves

Interesting - but Microsoft and Meta have real businesses in software and advertising they can use to pay leases back even if (when) the AI bust happens. OpenAI and Anthropic not so much. Google’s in the middle.

One of Brussels' leading think tanks didn't exactly hold back when they analysed the Franco-German paper on cars, and specifically the restrictive 'Made in Europe' provisions therein. Worth a read. Here's our recap borderlex.net/2026/10/21/b...

Apparently serious organisations used PHP to build stuff. For background: eev.ee/blog/2012/04...

@jmkorhonen.fi we really expected better of your countrymen. PHP…..

See also: the West-European economy - though at least in a market economy new sectors can arise before the complexifyers get in the way (This is Schumpeter’s main point in Capitalism Socialism and Democracy)

Why is the UK sending fighters to Saudi Arabia to defend it against Houthi missiles, but won't send them to Ukraine to defend it against the much more devastating strikes from Russia? Strategically as well as morally, Ukraine deserves our help. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Consign me to Hampstead for life. I’ll take one for the team.

Thank you if you read my post yesterday about the myth of the Special Relationship. Europe doesn't need to be a bystander, but we do need to wake up. lukemcgee.substack.com/p/the-transa...

Perhaps early but: to those parts of the right who threw their lot in with national populists: You could get the left wing in power in UK, Australia, US Congress and France The centre right was the most successful route to power in democracy’s history. You threw it away to follow to Matt Goodwin.

🧐 Glucksmann above Philippe Poll done after G got socialist nomination but before latest riots

This is a v misleading headline. Trump, Putin & Xi can agree what they like; it won't stop the war, because Putin's aim is to destroy Ukraine as a state & eliminate Ukrainian identity; no Ukrainian leader cd accept that. Europe shd ignore noises off, & step up military aid to UA & sanctions on RU.

Fair enough, it was under Frederick II

Hallelujah (This actually happened once in Silesia)

Quite!

Given the state of geopolitics and [waves hand] all this, we’d like to bring together around 40 early career researchers and early career policymakers from across the world at a workshop in Brazil in January to figure it out! Do apply or pass on to others www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/funding/sche...

Who put the waiver in that law? It’s not as if Trump would fail to use it www.ft.com/content/836e... Donald Trump exempts Russia from further sanctions mandated by new law

‘Signs of greater social solidarity among Hungarians may bode well for the country’s democratic resiliance’ My peice for the RUSI Journal on #Hungary’s current transition is out now. Gift link in comments.

This is very good news

Keminaissance

Something even more ridiculous than my Brussels parking suspension request (13 steps to five different authorities; was approved weeks after I had moved out of the apartment in question)

It looks like Orban had too much influence on this Italian far right image

LLMs have a statistical understanding of truth. Sometimes this is enough. Sometimes the statistically generated output can be checked by machine (cf coding; mathematics proofs) Sometimes it can’t (legal case references; history! Sometimes likelihood isn’t the point (art)

Banter update: I this into electoralcalculus - the tories still need to advance a little more before a Tory-Lib dem coalition becomes the only viable outcome.

A fridge too far

The BBC Hannah Arendt series where they tried to film Jerusalem in Lithuania and the light was obviously wrong

Valuable thread

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