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Catio Miles

@catiomiles.bsky.social
3.1K followers 1.9K following 25K posts

Liberal. Economics & Business. Governance. Making the argument for Britain’s return at the heart of Europe.

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Reposted by Catio Miles
The Brussels Times @brusselstimes.com · 19m
Belgium appears to be an easy place for Italians to come and be themselves. Many of those who do, love it and choose to formally become Belgian. But why?
brusselstimes.com
Why so many Italians are getting Belgian nationality
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Jane Flames 🔥 @janeflames.bsky.social · 9h
Yuck. Consent jokes from an accused r*pist.
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Catio Miles @catiomiles.bsky.social · 7h
So those guys were stealing diesel? ⛽️ www.bbc.com/news/article...
bbc.com
RAF Fairford: 'Quantity of petrol' but no explosives found in three vehicles
Police say the decision to release five men on bail is one "grounded in experience and strategy".
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Niall Ó Conghaile @nialloconghaile.bsky.social · 12h
Andy Burnham to LP conference. Adequate for you, for pro-Europeans? Three small points: Firstly it looks like he's reaching for language on this, which is possibly a reflection of not being clear in his mind. However... 1
Net migration down more than 80% since the peak of the Boris Johnson era.

Conference, we make these changes but we will always grateful – always, and we thank them – to those whose who have come here and are contributing to our country.

Than you, to them.

But control over immigration was weakened when we lost collaboration with our European partners.

And we are still having to work hard to bring it back.

Later this year, there will be a UK-EU summit where one of the issues on the agenda will be how we best work together on immigration.

And beyond that we will work to secure gains for our industries most harmed by Brexit.

Conference, these are important concrete steps.

But they are not enough.

I say this to you and the country.

We will not give Britain the clear path we need into the rest of the century until we decide on a long-term relationship with what is still our largest market.

I cannot say to you truthfully that where we are is good enough.

Brexit has done more harm
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David Henig @davidheniguk.bsky.social · 13h
A good speech and the right focus on personal control but at its heart the vacuum that the modern world can't really be defined if the starting point is that everything went wrong because of privatisation in the 1980s.
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Justin @justified.eurosky.social · 9h
Baffled by many saying rich pensioners with private pensions don't need their state pensions to rise under the triple lock which #LibDems introduced. 1. Obviously, not every pensioner has a private pension to adequately supplement their state pension. 2. Those rich enough will pay it back in tax!
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Shyamali Rodrigues 🔶️ @shyamali.eurosky.social · 13h
I really think that the Libdems need to drop the phrase 'botched Brexit deal' and speak with more passion that ties co-operation with europe and liberal values against bigotry and division. No one jumped up and down over SM and a customs union announcements; least of all libdem members.
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Shyamali Rodrigues 🔶️ @shyamali.eurosky.social · 14h
Have I heard any new ideas today in politics? The answer is not really. But at least Im not hearing things that make me puke, as I have done for a decade.
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Catio Miles @catiomiles.bsky.social · 14h
So he’s sticking with hard Brexit
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Catio Miles @catiomiles.bsky.social · 14h
And?
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Catio Miles @catiomiles.bsky.social · 14h
100%
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Catio Miles @catiomiles.bsky.social · 14h
Bold
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Darth Putin @darthputinkgb.bsky.social · 14h
What can I say? Someone who edits @theguardian.com read a draft opinion from Saint @jeremycorbyn.bsky.social calling for "an end to all war" that never even mentioned ours and thought "looks good, nothing missing".
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Catio Miles @catiomiles.bsky.social · 14h
From the link: “Look at Lisbon and Madrid. Every day, nearly 40 flights link these two capitals just over 600 kilometres apart. That is in part because there is no direct train between them. By 2034, passengers will be able to travel directly between Lisbon and Madrid in 3 hours.”
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Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 14h
Andy Burnham's speaking voice is v much about adopting Orwell's rules 2, 3, 4 and 5 fron Poitics & the English language, probably consciiously as well as instinctively. I think he is the first PM to be an English graduate. (But I expect he will break rule 1 quite happily, eg Bank of Mum and Dad)
Never use a metaphor, simile or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.

ii. Never use a long word where a short one will do.

iii. If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.

iv. Never use the passive where you can use the active.

v. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.

vi. Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.
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Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 15h
Andy Burnham looks emotional, talking to the Labour party conference as Labour Prime Minister in Liverpool, and starts by saying why.
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Neil Mackay @neilmackay.bsky.social · 21h
Drumcree Orangemen desecrate the memory of the dead Seven people - three men, one woman & three children - were killed by loyalist terrorists because of Drumcree in the 1990s. I covered the terrible events. Is this forgotten? What’s happening now mocks their loss. In @heraldscotland.bsky.social
heraldscotland.com
Shame on them: Drumcree Orangemen desecrate the memory of the dead
Our Writer at Large covered the Northern Ireland Troubles extensively. Here, he remembers the lives lost over Drumcree and says Loyalist protestors…
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David Henig @davidheniguk.bsky.social · 19h
Reluctant agree. The lobbying against any change and in favour of presents for everyone needs to be taken on, and while you'd prefer grown-up politics of serious debate, if that's not on offer then best take unpopular actions now.
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Alberto Alemanno @alemanno.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Europe's offer of associate membership to Canada could serve EU integration more than the federalist dream, by renewing our understanding of interdependence in a post-Trump world. My latest for @projectsyndicate.bsky.social www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/e...
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Catio Miles @catiomiles.bsky.social · 19h
By the time the new EU budget is approved, he’s out anyway.
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Lewis Baston @lewisbaston.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
To cross streams a moment, Mulhouse’s city population is just over 100,000 and the agglomeration nearly 250,000. It’s considerably smaller than Preston and it has three tram lines and one tram-train. The trams seem well-used (60,000 passengers a day). Why can’t we have nice things too?
A yellow tram at a stop on a tree lined avenue  There are green hoops over the tramway.
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David Henig @davidheniguk.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Hard to tell if there's really anything new to this reporting on UK-EU relations, wait for tomorrow but quite possible the conversation is at most inching forwards while claiming boldness. www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/poli...
independent.co.uk
Burnham edges Labour closer to rejoining EU
Exclusive: After Ed Miliband told the Labour conference in Liverpool that Britain’s future is at the heart of Europe, ministers say it is ‘not if but how’ the prime minister puts rejoin in the next el...
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Catio Miles @catiomiles.bsky.social · 22h
Incredible Russia uses the same language today as it did 90 years ago. And they have always supported nazis and other autocrats.
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The Brussels Times @brusselstimes.com · 28/09/2026
EU defence aid to Cabo Verde rises to €75m, with new funding aimed at boosting coast guard operations, surveillance, and regional maritime security.
brusselstimes.com
EU pledges €60m to bolster Cabo Verde's maritime security and sovereignty
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Catio Miles @catiomiles.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
According to the ONS, since Brexit we had a 100-200 K people per year net EMIGRATION towards the EU27. All EU27 countries face huge labour shortages. Romania alone issued 100k work visas last year for non EU workers. So not sure what angst is there for freedom of movement.
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Tom Hayes @tomhayes.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Then apply to join the EU. Anything less is rubbish.
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Catio Miles @catiomiles.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Nice words. But where are the deeds?
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Ursula von der Leyen @vonderleyen.ec.europa.eu · 28/09/2026
Today, science became a target for Russia. My heart goes out to the heroes searching for people trapped inside Ukraine’s National Academy of Sciences. As well as to the families and loved ones of the victims of horrific attacks across the country.
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Jorge Liboreiro @jorgeliboreiro.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Not content with striking the National Academy of Sciences, Russia has also struck a medical centre in central Kyiv. Sheer, boundless barbarism.
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Simon Nixon @nixonsimon.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Burnham has a blank page where his Europe policy should be - and Tony Blair’s latest Third Way ideas are not the way to fill it - latest edition of Wealth of Nations nixons.substack.com/p/the-bigges...
nixons.substack.com
The Biggest Boom in History
Trump’s red-hot economy, whether OpenAI will ever IPO, why Blair’s Brexit Third Way won’t work, and why Europeans should contain their excitement about a midterm blue wave
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Giles Wilkes @gilesyb.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
The divergence starts in 2016 - I read this in part as "Brexit voting bits of the UK have experienced their revenge* through property price catch up" giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/... while making the whole country a bit poorer too *Never quite understood revenge for what...
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Josiah Mortimer @josiahmortimer.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Comment on Reddit about this: "My mum tried to send a gift card to someone at the council who had helped her quit smoking. They turned it down because she wasn't allowed to accept gifts." And yet some MPs (and the authorities) think it's totally normal and fine to do this...
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Catio Miles @catiomiles.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Cc the Labour Party to find £30 billion per year in no time. 👇 Do we need this cash to pay for example for social care or for building 1.5 million homes? Or we don’t need this cash?
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WarTranslated (Dmitri) @wartranslated.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic has officially announced his resignation after holding office since 2017. He plans to lead the campaign for upcoming parliamentary elections and, if he wins, aims to become prime minister.
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Catio Miles @catiomiles.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
The U.K. government calls for “compromise“. The only answer to hate is love. But there is no love from the U.K. government towards the Catholic community in Northern Ireland as the recent comments from the U.K. PM Andy Burnham have demonstrated.
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Catio Miles @catiomiles.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
In hindsight, the judges decision to allow this “parade“ to go ahead was misjudged. There should be a process to allow for their judgement to be reversed. www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/ck...
bbc.co.uk
Drumcree: DUP leader says Sinn Féin presence at Orange Order protest 'unlawful' as march delayed for hours
The march down the mainly-nationalist Garvaghy Road, which in the 1990s sparked some of the most serious disorder in Northern Ireland's history, will go ahead after a series of courtroom challenges.
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Catio Miles @catiomiles.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
As Kemi praised Italy for having lower interest rates than Britain, here’s some useful proposal: Currently, here’s the 10 year bonds costs: UK: 5.27% Italy: 4.22% France: 4.20% Now, if U.K. joins the €, we can bring it down to French / Italian levels and therefore saving £30 billion per year.
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Catio Miles @catiomiles.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Cc the Labour Party to find £30 billion per year in no time. 👇 Do we need this cash to pay for example for social care or for building 1.5 million homes? Or we don’t need this cash?
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David Henig @davidheniguk.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
"second term issue" is classic Labour caution speak for "never". But unfortunately... all manner of domestic issues from manufacturing to immigration have an EU dimension. And this government is discovering what previous ones did, that there's no special deals.
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David Henig @davidheniguk.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Since I'm not going to Liverpool this year to discuss, a short state of play on UK EU relations and the Labour Party. The very short version - they're terrified. And trying to find ways to avoid the question none of which will work.
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Roland Smith @rolandmcs.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Good Morning, Orange Order. Grow up.
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Catio Miles @catiomiles.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Most of the BBC questions on their interview with the British PM Andy Burnham were written by Farage: from welfare cuts to boat crossings. Zero questions on the climate emergency response for example … as if we didn’t have the hottest summer on record.
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Alex Andreou @sturdyalex.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
AB: "I don't think you get the welfare bill down with crude cuts. It plunges people into crisis and they show up in other parts of the system which end up costing more." LK: "Yeah, you've said this before, but I'm looking for a specific commitment you will cut the bill by the next election." WOW
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Frédéric Moreau @goodclimate.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
"I'm a fan of anything that brings us closer to Europe but rejoining we would have to make a lot of concessions and it would be a far worse deal than the one we had prior to Brexit" - that's the attitude towards EU membership of the most left-liberal LBC presenter. And that's why just forget it.
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Andrew Sharpe 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿|🇪🇺 @andrew.sharpe.scot · 26/09/2026
The BBC is part of the problem...
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Catio Miles @catiomiles.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
This is how democracy wins.
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Catio Miles @catiomiles.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Young Londoners are excluded from this new Labour government otherwise welcome scheme. Cc @zackpolanski.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
theguardian.com
Andy Burnham announces new homes scheme for first-time buyers
Exclusive: Policy initiative for England will help more young people on to property ladder, prime minister tells Guardian
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Catio Miles @catiomiles.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Where are similar demos in U.K.?
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Catio Miles @catiomiles.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
The US are not our friends.
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Jorge Liboreiro @jorgeliboreiro.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Very notable: German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul met his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, in NYC. The meeting, which lasted about 20 minutes, was the first of its kind since 2022. It suggests a change of diplomatic strategy after the attempted drone attack in Leipzig.
zdfheute.de
Wadephul trifft Lawrow in New York am Rande der UN-Generaldebatte
Außenminister Wadephul hat sich seinen russischen Amtskollegen Lawrow getroffen. Es ist das erstes bilaterale Treffen der Außenminister Jahren.
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