iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

John Alty @johnalty1.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

I couldn’t have put it better myself @sandertordoir.bsky.social Thank god there are still some people in the EU who aren’t rampant protectionists who don’t care about tearing up international treaties. @eppgroup.bsky.social

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John Alty @johnalty1.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Truly the EV tariff agreement between the UK and the EU shows the folly of trying to micro manage trade policy for industrial purposes. As a result, Korean EV imports to either partner will be taxed less than sales across the Channel.

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John Alty @johnalty1.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

My key takeaways: Strength =/= power. (US/Vietnam/Iran) Arrogance presages disaster; Effective power exercises self restraint; International agreements only work as long as their members see advantage in them; Too many, like the Melians, think their “mates” will bail them out.

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John Alty @johnalty1.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

1/2 Fantastic, erudite, debate on what Thucydides tells us for today’s world about the nature of power in international relations at @hellenicsociety.bsky.social last night with academic thinkers expert in the classical and modern world. Watch it soon on their website !

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John Alty @johnalty1.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Perfect ! There will be so many opportunities to make this point over coming months.

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John Alty @johnalty1.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

I knew there was a good reason to write for the FT ! I thought it was called an ene, as per the Daily Mash article you highlighted.

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John Alty @johnalty1.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Excellent article Alan ! In fact obviously so good that it is also in the comment column of @financialtimes.com for the benefit of the wider FT reading public. “Free trade can shield us from El Nino”. (How do you get that accent on the n ?)

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John Alty @johnalty1.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

“Many of the same people who complain most loudly about [US] deficits were also the most eager to reject tariff revenue that would reduce deficits.” Stephen Miran via @financialtimes.com That’s because the fiscal policy and the tariff policy are both wrong.

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John Alty @johnalty1.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Yes it is a distortion. I’d just rather look for ways of encouraging wider tariff free trade than remove the tariff free trade we already have.

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John Alty @johnalty1.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Presumably then you also object to all the other arrangements the UK has for zero rated imports from around the world. Ideally there would more of them to encourage trade and keep down costs for consumers.

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John Alty @johnalty1.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Too true. They also exempted HMRC from Govt wide cutting red tape exercises preferring to do their own in house things. Still, they need calling out !

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John Alty @johnalty1.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

I note HM Treasury still hasn’t published any proper econ analysis of its plans to abolish the small parcels exemption and is doing its best never to have to. There’s a measure @andyburnham.bsky.social could abolish to help with the cost of living. www.gov.uk/government/p...

gov.uk

Reforming the customs treatment of low value imports into the UK

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John Alty @johnalty1.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

The EU and UK are (again) moving towards a position where it is going to be cheaper to import a Japanese or Korean EV into either country/bloc than to trade between UK and EU. From January 2027 - absent common sense - tighter rules of origin mean that many UK and EU EV cars will pay a 10% tariff.

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John Alty @johnalty1.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

In fact if the EU were taking the issue seriously they would stop being dogmatic about the single market and go for the freest trade possible with non Chinese trading partners. Take CPTPP membership seriously. Is the EU facing a crisis or not ? @antonspisak.bsky.social

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John Alty @johnalty1.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

1/2 The @centreeuropeanref.bsky.social continues to push for “fortress Europe” in areas such as cars, whilst bemoaning the fact that the UK is open to China. The EU would do better to get rid of (self initiated) barriers with UK and other trading partners which constrain cross border trade in EVs.

Extract from CER article about trade defence against Chinese cars

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John Alty @johnalty1.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

One for @samuelmarclowe.bsky.social from holiday conversations. Talking to an art dealer in France, as one does, he was bemoaning Brexit hassles. The answer he said is to get the clients to go to Ireland to pick up the art work and take it to the UK. Swiss hassle is even worse though, encouragingly.

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John Alty @johnalty1.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

At a time when Ancient Greece is topping the bill, here’s something else to stimulate your thinking. Everyone from Mark Carney to Xi Jinping is quoting Thucydides to make points about today’s power politics, but what are the real lessons from the past? Details below @hellenicsociety.bsky.social

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John Alty @johnalty1.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

“Brussels has rebuffed a British request to participate in decision-making in the EU, further delaying a deal to reset post-Brexit relations with the bloc.” @financialtimes.com I’m shocked, shocked I tell you.

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John Alty @johnalty1.bsky.social · 13/06/2026

I’m a woollyback just like him. What could possibly go wrong.

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John Alty @johnalty1.bsky.social · 13/06/2026

A visit to the Hill Dickinson stadium beckons.

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John Alty @johnalty1.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

If you want to stop the dynamic alignment, you withdraw from the original arrangement. With limited (and agreed) exceptions, you can’t pick and choose about subsequent changes. That’s the whole point.

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John Alty @johnalty1.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

I’m cautious about signing up to too much where the UK commits to follow future EU changes without any say (aka dynamic alignment). But if Parliament agrees to dynamic alignment in certain areas, it makes no sense to require primary legislation for every subsequent change.

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John Alty @johnalty1.bsky.social · 30/03/2026

My piece for @capx.co on why globalisation hasn’t failed but is a victim of its own success. capx.co/globalisatio...

capx.co

Only World War Three could turn it back

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John Alty @johnalty1.bsky.social · 26/02/2026

Ha ha - you were in Govt, surely there’s no better place to witness it. Including security folk classifying everything so highly no one else can read it.

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John Alty @johnalty1.bsky.social · 26/02/2026

“But apart from that, Mrs Lincoln, how was the play ?”

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John Alty @johnalty1.bsky.social · 20/02/2026

OK where do I file my compensation law suit ?

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John Alty @johnalty1.bsky.social · 20/02/2026

It’s about time you grew up Sam !

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John Alty @johnalty1.bsky.social · 20/02/2026

I’d say more than slightly hypocritically, given what else they are up to ! But let’s hope a “clear eyed” engagement is possible (to use the overused phrase about relations with another large power).

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John Alty @johnalty1.bsky.social · 15/02/2026

How do you stop getting 90% of your @bsky.app feed being about US politics ?

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John Alty @johnalty1.bsky.social · 12/02/2026

I see that the EU supported China in arguing that the US Inflation Reduction Act breached WTO rules, with which unsurprisingly the WTO panel agreed. How does that square with Buy European restrictions I wonder ?

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John Alty @johnalty1.bsky.social · 11/02/2026

Surely not “cherrypicking” ?

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John Alty @johnalty1.bsky.social · 02/02/2026

Always goods to read @robertshrimsley.bsky.social Rutherford Hall @financialtimes.com. An adjacent article on gym equipment seems to have escaped from the column…

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John Alty @johnalty1.bsky.social · 28/01/2026

Thank you. Comment is welcome !

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John Alty @johnalty1.bsky.social · 28/01/2026

Well it has now because it has been broken. But that doesn’t mean it always was, which is what Carney said.

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John Alty @johnalty1.bsky.social · 28/01/2026

Would you say that a speech one of whose main points was misleading was brilliant ? I agree with Martin Wolf @financialtimes.com that Mark Carney’s comparison of Communism and the rules based system was misleading (“The reality of a world after rupture”). That seems a pretty major flaw in the speech

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John Alty @johnalty1.bsky.social · 26/01/2026

Great analysis in trademark style !

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John Alty @johnalty1.bsky.social · 25/01/2026

Having to seek refuge on @bsky.app from the ugliness on X. The Andy Burnham recriminations are like a war with no prisoners taken.

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John Alty @johnalty1.bsky.social · 23/01/2026

Great stuff ! Do you like Wayne Thiebaud ?

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John Alty @johnalty1.bsky.social · 20/01/2026

The question we’re all asking is whether FIFA will demand that President Trump hands back the world peace award they gave him recently.

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