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John McStravick

@johnsmcstravick.bsky.social
103 followers 178 following 38 posts

Researcher of Brexit & borders | suffering European & humanist | all thoughts my own, for the obvious reason

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John McStravick @johnsmcstravick.bsky.social · 24/04/2026
Hi Ruth, really enjoyed your discussion with @cbarnard.bsky.social on your latest podcast. If you return to the theme again in future I'd be interested in your views on this: lordslibrary.parliament.uk/draft-chemic...
lordslibrary.parliament.uk
Draft Chemicals (Health and Safety) (Amendment, Consequential and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2026: Fatal motion
The draft Chemicals (Health and Safety) (Amendment, Consequential and Transitional Provisions) Regulations 2026 would make changes to three sets of assimilated regulations which concern chemicals in G...
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John McStravick @johnsmcstravick.bsky.social · 31/03/2026
Thanks for your further thoughts. Keep up the splendid work on the newsletter
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John McStravick @johnsmcstravick.bsky.social · 31/03/2026
Hi Alan, struck by your point: "If [..cheaper beef]'s all you want, you cut beef tariffs for everyone by changing your WTO schedule with no need for a trade agreement at all". No value in lowering beef tariffs/quotas via FTAs so as to be exchanged for market access in other areas through talks? Ta
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John McStravick @johnsmcstravick.bsky.social · 16/03/2026
Sadly I'm working in London that day so can't make it, but a great idea & I hope you'll be suggesting this again in the Bristol/Bath area. I'll keep my eyes peeled for future posts
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Financial Times @financialtimes.com · 27/12/2025
Union chief backs calls for a UK-EU customs union ft.trib.al/USXd1eF
ft.trib.al
Union chief backs calls for a UK-EU customs union
Move would improve living standards, says TUC head Paul Nowak
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John McStravick @johnsmcstravick.bsky.social · 02/12/2025
Some snippets from the recent @europarl.europa.eu report on the TCA's implementation. Full doc.: www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/docume...
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Dan Neidle @danneidle.bsky.social · 31/10/2025
The fundamental problem: 58% of voters want public spending maintained or increased. 67% want taxes to stay at their current level or be cut. In reality, it’s a binary choice. Taxes go up, or spending is cut. That’s it.
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John McStravick @johnsmcstravick.bsky.social · 18/10/2025
I've noticed this trend too. Any theory on why MPs, hacks, etc. increasingly seem to be following / engaging with accounts like this one?
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Henry Dyer @direthoughts.com · 10/10/2025
Johnson refused to answer specific questions or to provide factual denials to allegations of rule-breaking, while insisting all the rules had been followed at all times. His responses led Acoba’s chair, Isabel Doverty, to find him in breach of the rules. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
theguardian.com
Boris Johnson breached rules designed to stop abuse of contacts made in public office, watchdog finds
Johnson found to have breached rules after refusing to answer specific questions about allegations published by the Guardian
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John McStravick @johnsmcstravick.bsky.social · 02/10/2025
I recently started using Fedica on @roberthutton.co.uk 's advice & can echo the recommendation
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John McStravick @johnsmcstravick.bsky.social · 24/09/2025
You've convinced me. Do you find one (Fedica vs Buffer) better than the other?
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Tom Clark @tom-clark.bsky.social · 23/09/2025
Useful reminder from Peter Kellner on the problems we refuse to acknowledge are getting better, and the politics of hopelessness that this breeds open.substack.com/pub/kellnerp...
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John McStravick @johnsmcstravick.bsky.social · 22/09/2025
Helen will be a superb Councillor
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Henry Mance @henrymance.ft.com · 22/09/2025
July September
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John McStravick @johnsmcstravick.bsky.social · 11/07/2025
'Hi guys, have you eaten with us before? No? Okay well just so you know here each dish just comes out of the kitchen as and when it's ready... even if that might be 2h apart'
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John McStravick @johnsmcstravick.bsky.social · 11/07/2025
[very] deconstructed surf 'n' turf
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John McStravick @johnsmcstravick.bsky.social · 24/06/2025
So relatable. When I moved to Germany two older ladies in a supermarket queue remarked how tall I was & asked me my height. I mumbled that I didn't know ('cause metric) but they looked at me like I was an idiot so I panic-guessed an approximate number of cms. That then became my European Height
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John McStravick @johnsmcstravick.bsky.social · 15/06/2025
A spectacular team worthy of a spectacular city. We've had to wait a long time for no.7 but this incredible treble-winning season has been worth it. Well done all at Bath Rugby for bringing our club back to the very top 🟦⬛️⬜️🏆🏆🏆
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Robert Hutton @roberthutton.co.uk · 19/05/2025
After years of denial, it's really striking that a UK government press release has just come out and said that Brexit was, you know, really bad for trade.
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John McStravick @johnsmcstravick.bsky.social · 19/05/2025
The devil will be in the detail, but it's encouraging to see services facilitations at least being discussed. 5y+ on I still find it incredible any UK gov. signed up to a trade deal with the EU as weak on services as the TCA is, given the nature of the British economy
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Dmitry Grozoubinski @explaintrade.com · 18/05/2025
Brexit was a referendum on whether the UK should leave the European Union. The UK has left the European Union. Referendum fulfilled. If the people bleating about "Brexit Betrayal" wanted the Referendum to enshrine their pet policy preferences, they should have included them in the question.
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John McStravick @johnsmcstravick.bsky.social · 06/03/2025
It's a little known fact I just invented that that Speed of Sound was written as an ode to Welsh midfielder Gary Speed
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John McStravick @johnsmcstravick.bsky.social · 06/03/2025
If there's a World Cup halftime show then, in return, Coldplay gigs should be interrupted by a screening of Bolton Wanderers vs. Stoke City from the 2008-9 Barclays Premier League season
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John McStravick @johnsmcstravick.bsky.social · 05/03/2025
I once heard someone say - without irony, importantly - they were going for a night out there in "big chips and ham". Like it was a lunch order in a rural pub
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John McStravick @johnsmcstravick.bsky.social · 03/03/2025
1. what was so bad about it? Thank you in advance for saving me from reading it 2. do you have a second worst book you've ever read?
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John McStravick @johnsmcstravick.bsky.social · 25/02/2025
Wonderful!
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John McStravick @johnsmcstravick.bsky.social · 17/02/2025
This whole thread on this week's DE election polling is worth reading, but I'll highlight this showing the AfD converting far more non-voters than [previously] mainstream party voters to them. A similar picture has been shown for populist/far-right parties in other countries, but it's under-reported
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John McStravick @johnsmcstravick.bsky.social · 28/01/2025
Long live the BBC. (& please keep up all your valuable work @bbcstever.bsky.social)
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John McStravick @johnsmcstravick.bsky.social · 24/01/2025
A Tripe Called Quest
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Sam Lowe @samuelmarclowe.bsky.social · 23/01/2025
PEM is not a customs union, spread the word.
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John McStravick @johnsmcstravick.bsky.social · 22/01/2025
He adds that Keir Starmer (& NATO Sec Gen Mark Rutte) will join an EU27 defence summit on 3 Feb
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John McStravick @johnsmcstravick.bsky.social · 22/01/2025
European Council President António Costa tells MEPs that one of three main themes of Sunday's EUCO meeting was a "strategic discussion on Europe’s role in the world", including a "need to renew our relations with the UK"
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John McStravick @johnsmcstravick.bsky.social · 20/01/2025
Signed up & looking forward to it, but should I be worried that the ticket confirmation included a discount code for therapy...?
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Lewis Goodall @lewisgoodall.com · 12/12/2024
Sterling close to its highest value against the Euro since the Brexit referendum. Markets appear to be rewarding the prospect of long term British political stability. Not something you’ve been able to say for a while.
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John McStravick @johnsmcstravick.bsky.social · 04/12/2024
When you're an Everton fan & the TV gives you a pre-match content warning
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John McStravick @johnsmcstravick.bsky.social · 02/12/2024
There's always a chart
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David Phinnemore @dphinnemore.bsky.social · 02/12/2024
Latest on Protocol/Windsor Framework and Democratic Consent Vote In the absence of First Minister/deputy First Minister doing so, motion has been laid jointly by Alliance/SDLP/Sinn Fein Indication that vote to be held on Tuesday 10 December. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Brexit: Assembly members to vote on trading arrangements
Stormont parties have tabled a motion as part of the process that gives MLAs a say on some post-Brexit arrangements.
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John McStravick @johnsmcstravick.bsky.social · 02/12/2024
Asking for freer mobility in a way that'll disproportionately benefit the UK seems a reasonable quid pro quo for freeing up mobility in a way that will mostly help EU citizens. Interesting to see the mechanics of how this is negotiated www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...
thetimes.com
Labour to tell EU: We’ll take your students if you help our lawyers
A ‘cultural enrichment programme’ would bring young Europeans to Britain for set-length courses in exchange for cutting red tape
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John McStravick @johnsmcstravick.bsky.social · 01/12/2024
Which team do the panel consider Liverpool's greatest title challenger after today?
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George Eaton @georgeeaton.bsky.social · 29/11/2024
A remarkable stat: Heidi Alexander’s appointment as Transport Secretary means the cabinet is now 100% state-educated for the first time in history.
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John McStravick @johnsmcstravick.bsky.social · 24/11/2024
For a more constructive reply than my sass on why it's unhelpful/misleading for Brits to think of trade with the EU & US as binary, read this excellent thread from Dmitry @explaintrade.com bsky.app/profile/expl...
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John McStravick @johnsmcstravick.bsky.social · 24/11/2024
Are houses 🏠 or jobs 👨🏻‍🔧 more important to 🇬🇧? (new [made up] poll of UK voters) For security 🏠58% 👨🏻‍🔧34% Which should Keir Starmer prevent you losing? 🏠48% 👨🏻‍🔧18% The "will of the British people" seems pretty clear 👇 The public is comfortable with mass unemployment
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John McStravick @johnsmcstravick.bsky.social · 24/11/2024
...meanwhile elsewhere in Whitehall... www.civilservicejobs.service.gov.uk/csr/index.cg...
civilservicejobs.service.gov.uk
Second Permanent Secretary, European Union and International Economic Affairs - Civil Service Jobs - GOV.UKGOV.UK
Search and apply for jobs in the UK Civil Service
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UK in a Changing Europe @ukandeu.bsky.social · 20/11/2024
📣 The latest UK-EU Divergence Tracker has landed! 🚨 It finds that Labour is leading the UK towards closer regulatory alignment with the EU in what "amounts to a step-change in UK policy". Read the full tracker from @jreland.bsky.social now 👇 1/5 ukandeu.ac.uk/reports/uk-e...
ukandeu.ac.uk
UK-EU Divergence Tracker Q2-Q3 2024 - UK in a changing Europe
This edition of UK in a Changing Europe’s Regulatory Divergence Tracker covers developments from April-October 2024.
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Andrew Duff @andrewduffeu.bsky.social · 22/11/2024
MEPs have made a real hash this time of the Commissioner hearings. They misconstrue what to do, targeting political views rather than probity, general competence and European vocation. Parliament is not asked to elect a political coalition government but a capable EU executive.
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Alan Beattie @alanbeattie.bsky.social · 19/11/2024
Malawi is much closer to being food self-sufficient than Singapore, but Singapore is massively more food secure. Please let's not fall for the "food security" thing for a rich open trading nation like the UK, seriously.
Bart Simpson writing "Food self-sufficiency is not food security" on a blackboard.
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Sam Lowe @samuelmarclowe.bsky.social · 23/11/2024
Match our tariffs on China otherwise your exports to the US will face tariffs*** Bah
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John McStravick @johnsmcstravick.bsky.social · 22/11/2024
The gov. has confirmed departing Crawford Falconer - brought in in 2017 to lead on post-Brexit trade negotiations with non-EU countries - won't be replaced. @civilserviceworld.bsky.social reported last week his duties will be shared out in DBT questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-ques...
questions-statements.parliament.uk
Written questions and answers - Written questions, answers and statements - UK Parliament
Information from UK Parliament on written questions & answers, written statements and daily reports.
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John McStravick @johnsmcstravick.bsky.social · 20/11/2024
Head of the FCDO tells Foreign Affairs Committee that David Lammy has made rebuilding relations with Europe one of 5 top priorities. Later reveals ~50 staff have moved FCDO -> Cabinet Office as part of the Whitehall reorganisation for EU engagement
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David Phinnemore @dphinnemore.bsky.social · 19/11/2024
Motion passed with 48 in favour and 32 against Alliance amendment on 'urgent delivery of a comprehensive and ambitious' UK-EU veterinary and SPS agreement' and an ETA tourist exemption for international visitors to NI also passed (48 v 33) For debate see: data.niassembly.gov.uk/HansardXml/p...
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