Jamie Gaskarth

Brexit and the question of EU hegemony. Patrick Holden analyses power shifts in Europe. #Brexit #EU #Hegemony Full conversation (recorded in 2025) in the replies 👇

We are recruiting! Come and join our brilliant team at @instituteforgovernment.org.uk www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/about-us/car...

This is just weird. How? When?

Good news. Gas is a national security necessity.

Net zero is being blamed again for high energy bills – new post for Arguably on what that argument gets wrong and how renewables have saved us billions this year. www.arguably.uk/p/is-net-zer...

Trump has given Putin concession after concession: ending aid to Ukraine, keeping Ukraine out of NATO, giving Putin a red carpet summit, dissing Zelenskyy, wavering sanctions, disrupting intelligence sharing with Ukraine. And Putin has never changed his position on continuing the war. Not one inch.

Lord Boateng apparently doesn’t believe in the idea of a museum and would like descendants of slave traders to have their gold returned to them. What an odd position to be so passionate about!

NEW ISSUE: Renewal 34.3 Ft. @beccagold.bsky.social, @alexkelbert.bsky.social, @joshwesterling.bsky.social, @annacmcshane.bsky.social, @sarahsteinlubrano.bsky.social, @philipchristman.bsky.social, @mauricejcasey.com, and the text of @yuanfenyang.bsky.social's Rita Hinden Memorial Lecture

Imagine going for dinner with that guy. Oh god he’s on about tea again.

"It's just part of what they do!" Andrew Marr asks former Head of MI6, Sir Richard Moore, if he thinks Russia tampered in the Brexit referendum.

I don’t get how this is a ‘deal’. Would you like us to relax our sanctions? Yes please…err, deal!

He is quite an unpleasant chap. I recall him telling staff at Birmingham they shouldn’t strike to protect the defined benefit element of their pension because it could always be restored at a later date…

New term, new topic, new ways of learning. If you’re teaching Intro to IR this year, here’s some ideas (and a free resource) to help new students bridge the gap from bite size online shorts to deeper undergraduate learning. www.bisa.ac.uk/articles/mak...

October 7. Three years since terrorists killed 1200 people, mostly civilians, and took 250 more hostage. They stormed a music festival, turning a celebration of love and connection into a nightmare. I wrote about Nova - what happened, and how to remember it www.newstatesman.com/culture/2026...

This isn’t a bad idea, but as ever the costs are completely wrong and the comms all over the place. Would be a shame if it kills the concept. UK does need an integrated air and missile defence system.

Another year, another below inflation pay rise for the university sector (2%). To put in perspective, using an inflation calculator, I’m now on the same salary as I was 11 years, 2 moves and 2 promotions ago. A Professor in the middle of the salary scale is paid what a Senior Lecturer used to be.

One oddity of the Rejoin debate in UK is EU people I speak to don’t think UK would need to join Eurozone or Schengen. That seems to be something only UK people view as a requirement, (Leave and Remain). There’s a difference between promising to do something eventually and doing it on day 1.

China represents the United Kingdom’s most significant and systemic security challenge to science and technology research. While collaboration with China generates benefits for the UK economy, the scale and sophistication of Beijing’s attempts to gain technological advantages pose a security risk.

2030 is gonna be some year. Defence spending at 3% AND a National Care Service. Wondrous.

Three years of production with a great team of colleagues and very excited to be at the start of our new IR module for @openuniversity.bsky.social @oupolitics.bsky.social And an extra shout-out to @preciouschatd.bsky.social for being the best co-chair!

PSA: if someone argues you can’t be English if you’re black, saying ‘Well, the English don’t exist akshually’ is not a clever or accurate response.

This is great news and something @rorycormac.bsky.social and I have been arguing for privately and publicly. We’ve authored a whole report on how to make it work available via KCL… www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Xi Jinping wants to win over the Global South and take over Taiwan. If the West is to counter this, it must better understand China's grand strategy — and Xi Jinping's worldview. Read Steve Tsang's latest analysis for the autumn issue of @theworldtoday.org.

At an event at Swansea University and really impressed with how beautiful the bay campus is. Right on the beach!

A puzzler: which Man Utd player would you prefer against their counterpart in any top 6 team? The mystery of why they’re so bad is solved.

In all the reporting on the Yemen situation today, I haven’t seen one person mention the fact the UK is the UN Security Council penholder.

This guy.. He consistently argues the UK shouldn't spend more on defence, then asks us to wake up and secure our own place in the world. With what Simon?! With what? (Cue goose meme....) www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

As a Viking, I’m staying out of this one. Still bitter about Stamford Bridge…

I'm probably a dinosaur, but I wish students were allowed more time just to be students: to study, to read, to think, to talk to each other, to have big ideas - maybe even to have fun now & then. I'm not convinced turning unis into training centres is going to fix bigger problems in the jobs market

A suggested statement for Andy Burnham.

When the next international financial crisis hits, the world may lack the dominant superpower it needs to stabilise the global economic order.

Re-upping for my American friends

Tonight: defence and intelligence officials warn that Europe is failing to stop Russia from waging hybrid war. Russian proxies and intelligence agencies have for the past two years been prosecuting a covert war of aggression on European soil. (Gift link, 300 free clicks) as.ft.com/r/077657b5-6...

Who's the superpower here?

"Prime Minister Burnham and the case of the Inescapable Foreign Policy" BFPG Executive Chair David Landsman OBE examines the areas of foreign policy that will require the Prime Minister's attention. Click the link below to read⬇️ bfpg.co.uk/analysis/pri... #UKForeignPolicy #UKGov #Burnham

I will give the 2026 Richard Holmes Lecture ‘Redcoats to Dusty Warriors: Britain and its Soldiers from Waterloo to Helmand’. Royal Air Force Club Tuesday 27 October 6.30, lecture starting at 7. Wine. Canapés. Tickets £45 each. Non-members welcome. Tickets- www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/richard-ho...

Andy Burnham needs to narrow the scope of the UK's defence programme to the Euro-Atlantic area, keep the nuclear deterrent — and settle how the UK will pay for the NATO commitment to spend 3.5 per cent of GDP on defence by 2035.

Two year degrees are a very bad idea. They cheapen and commodify learning; inhibiting the learning journey and reducing the skills and knowledge acquired. Wd also trash uni finances and UKHE reputation internationally.

Andy Burnham’s influence with the EU will be stronger if his top team reaches an early decision on whether the next Labour Party manifesto will commit the UK to joining the customs union, the single market or the European Union itself.

Enjoyed this touching NYT tribute to Dolly Parton. What a great talent, generous heart, and heroic life. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/25/a...

Some great ideas here! Myself and @rorycormac.bsky.social argue for a Dept for propaganda to defend and promote liberal democracy.

A lot of my school friends did Golf course management at uni. All went on to high paid jobs (except the one person who stayed a Golf professional).

What makes you think it's a fertility go...oh wait, nope. Yeh, I see it now.

Re: eclipse, I read somewhere that Aztec Emperors would climb to the top of their temple and make an annual pledge to make the sun go round the earth, then be periodically brutally murdered when an eclipse happened for breaking that promise.

Only 3 days left to register for our prize-winning MA International Relations at @openuniversity.bsky.social! This is such a strong course. Here's the link: www.open.ac.uk/postgraduate...