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(Pundit) Abu Qaid-e-Azam

@qaid-e-azam.bsky.social
850 followers 757 following 2K posts

Anthropologist | London born | Refugee |

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(Pundit) Abu Qaid-e-Azam @qaid-e-azam.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
Niall nails the fundamental problem with the British “rejoin” debate: Britons talking to Britons about what Britain wants assuming Europe will oblige. As Brexit was exceptionalism dressed as sovereignty; rejoin cannot be exceptionalism dressed as Europhilia.
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Dmitry Grozoubinski @explaintrade.com · 21/07/2026
Ah, once again someone has confused Clausewitz with the Marquis de Sade.
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Peter Kay @theonlypeterkay.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
Farage’s narcissism has handed Clacton a once in a century chance to make history: A chance to establish itself as a beacon of British good sense, humour and democracy by electing Count Binface. The World and his wife know who Farage is. Clacton voters will be derided forever if they reelect Farage.
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Luigi di Angeli @luigidiangeli.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
Hove actually
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Mark Purchase 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 🇪🇸 🇪🇺 @markpurch.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
If this really was about “restoring the dream of retiring to Spain” these people would be lobbying Spain to change the requirements of the NLV, the visa specifically for retirees But of course it isn’t, it’s just another ludicrous attempt to pull Schengen apart in order to have long vacations
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Paul Guinnessy @paulguinnessy.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
Pretty classy message by the Norwegian Embassy. #WorldCup
Thank you message from the Norwegians to America for hosting them during the World Cup
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(Pundit) Abu Qaid-e-Azam @qaid-e-azam.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
www.koreatimes.co.kr/economy/poli... It says something when Korea and Japan whose history is incomparably darker than Britain's relationship with Europe can contemplate EU-style integration. England still treats cooperation as humiliation. Emotional maturity is evidently unevenly distributed.
koreatimes.co.kr
70% of Koreans back pursuing EU-style economic community with Japan: survey - The Korea Times
Nearly 70 percent of Koreans support pursuing an EU-style economic community with Japan, while 60 percent of Japanese respondents agreed, according...
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The Liberal BoJack @thelibbojack.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
Two observations from the World Cup; Fifa should be disbanded USA should never be allowed to host it again
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Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.wsocial.eu · 07/07/2026
Americans are now so used to their president cheating and breaking rules that many of them seem genuinely not to understand why the world was rooting for Belgium.
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Cethan Leahy @cethanleahy.com · 07/07/2026
Bluesky this morning:
Tintin and Snowy in a parade where everyone is cheering. (Still from Tintin in America)
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(Pundit) Abu Qaid-e-Azam @qaid-e-azam.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
www.theguardian.com/news/ng-inte... The "special relationship" has always been rather asymmetrical. In Washington it's a useful diplomatic phrase; in Britain it's closer to a national article of faith.
theguardian.com
As the US marks 250, does the special relationship still exist – or is the UK just irrelevant?
The gap between America and Britain has grown economically as Trump asserts ‘the UK is dying’. Culturally, however, it’s a different story
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Martín Roberts 🇪🇺 🇪🇸 🇬🇧 🚲 @madridcorro.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
In Spanish we call this wanting to swim while minding your clothes (querer nadar y guardar la ropa).
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Vossfox @vossfox.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
In German it's: give me bath, but don't make me wet
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Duncan Robinson @duncanrobinson.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
Starmer saying it’s impossible for a prime minister to spend less time on foreign affairs has got me thinking that we need a cabinet position dedicated to foreign policy. Ideally they’d have their own department.
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Ian Black @balmachreuchie.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
England needs to be brought to the painful but necessary realisation that the EU isn’t applying to join England, it’s the other way round. Lots of imperial balloons need to be burst.
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Pascal (Miner for truth and delusion) 🇪🇺 🇬🇧 🇫🇷 @pascalr57.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
As far as I know, she's not financing European far right. Those are the billionaires we should be worried about.
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(Pundit) Abu Qaid-e-Azam @qaid-e-azam.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
www.theguardian.com/politics/202... Self-determination was never a principle that could be reserved exclusively for England. If Westminster chooses an increasingly English nationalist path, Scotland and Ireland are entitled to choose different futures.
theguardian.com
Celtic nations begin to plan for breakup of UK in event of Reform election win
Politicians brace for constitutional turmoil if Nigel Farage’s party end up in government – or even as a strong opposition
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(Pundit) Abu Qaid-e-Azam @qaid-e-azam.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
Another Brexit dividend. A movement that spent years sneering at experts, universities and "people with qualifications" has now made it harder and more expensive for British children abroad to study in the UK. Yet another opportunity sacrificed on the altar of anti-intellectual populism.
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Graham Simpson @grahambs.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
The UK wanted a "decision-shaping" role in the rules that Britain has agreed to follow. But the EU Commission says it’s not feasible as it would give the UK more rights than countries such as Norway and Iceland that pay into the EU budget and participate fully in its Single Market. -Rejoining would!
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Luigi di Angeli @luigidiangeli.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
Brussels rebuffs UK request for ‘decision-shaping’ role in EU - Another collision with reality. The UK wanted sovereignty over shared decision-making. It got it. What it didn't get was a say over everyone else's decisions. giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/... via @FT
giftarticle.ft.com
Brussels rebuffs UK request for ‘decision-shaping’ role in EU
Deal to reset post-Brexit relations with bloc has been further delayed
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(Pundit) Abu Qaid-e-Azam @qaid-e-azam.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
www.politico.eu/sponsored-co... This is the conversation that matters. Not yesterday's arguments over Brexit, but tomorrow's questions of connectivity, resilience, competitiveness and strategic autonomy.
politico.eu
The connectivity choices Europe must now make
A true Single Market for connectivity is essential to unlock investment, support security, and enable scale
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(Pundit) Abu Qaid-e-Azam @qaid-e-azam.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
One theme runs through many of these contributions: the UK is simply too important for the EU to ignore. Perhaps. But history has a habit of moving on. As the years pass, the EU will continue to adapt without Britain, and Britain's significance in Brussels will inevitably diminish.
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(Pundit) Abu Qaid-e-Azam @qaid-e-azam.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
Ah, the joys of “Global Britain”. Leave the EU, chase a US trade deal, then discover the price may be higher drug costs, pressure on the NHS and worse health outcomes. Still, at least no one can say we weren’t warned. Again. And again. www.theguardian.com/society/2026...
theguardian.com
US-UK drug deal could result in 229,000 excess deaths in England, analysis suggests
Analysis reveals extent of impact on NHS of placating Donald Trump over price of British medicine exports
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(Pundit) Abu Qaid-e-Azam @qaid-e-azam.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
The EU is designing industrial policy for its own market and its own manufacturers. The UK, having chosen to leave, now finds itself on the outside asking for exemptions. That isn't punishment. It's what "taking back control" looks like. www.theguardian.com/business/202...
theguardian.com
EU urged to exempt UK from car rules that could be worst Brexit impact yet
Bloc’s ‘made in Europe’ regulations risk shutting out British manufacturers in ‘most spectacular own goal in history’
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Luigi di Angeli @luigidiangeli.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
Brexit didn't abolish economic gravity. The UK still needs access to the EU market; the EU merely has the leverage to decide on what terms. This agreement is another reminder that cooperation beats slogans every time. www.reuters.com/world/uk/bri...
reuters.com
UK raises planned steel import limits to soothe businesses' cost concerns
Britain on Thursday ‌said it would allow more tariff-free imports of steel than previously planned when it introduces new measures to protect its domestic industry next month, after businesses said in...
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Luigi di Angeli @luigidiangeli.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
A good place to start would be disengaging from disingenuous actors like Hesselden and making an honest, unapologetic case for European integration. That means embracing European values in their entirety, not cherry-picking the bits you fancy. The Single Market, Schengen and, ultimately, the euro.
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Kierkegaarden Cop @joshsteich.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
“We voted to slam our dicks in a door. We didn’t vote for it to hurt.”
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Luigi di Angeli @luigidiangeli.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
Rubbish. Freedom of movement includes the freedom to live, work and settle. Those are not optional extras you can strip away while keeping the headline. Trying to separate them misunderstands what free movement actually is.
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Luc Cuyt Pro-EU European #FBPE @defender110.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
Barnier has retired, he has not any particular influence on eventual future negotiations at all. I think most European member states don't see it that way and we're (and are) frankly quite done with British exceptionalism... so I think one should be very critical about this article.
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Luigi di Angeli @luigidiangeli.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
www.theguardian.com/politics/202... With respect to M. Barneir, a little perspective: a former EU negotiator giving an opinion is not the same as 27 sovereign member states agreeing accession terms. Europe is not a restaurant keeping Britain’s favourite table permanently reserved.
theguardian.com
UK could keep special pre-Brexit terms if it rejoined EU, Michel Barnier says
Exclusive: Former chief Brexit negotiator says staying out of euro and Schengen area would be ‘perfectly possible’
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Luigi di Angeli @luigidiangeli.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
The UK genuinely believed they could bypass Brussels, peel away member states and negotiate side arrangements like it was the 1970s. Instead they walked straight into a rules-based system specifically designed to stop exactly that sort of behaviour. The EU & MS understood A50 UKG plainly didn't.
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Luigi di Angeli @luigidiangeli.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
The EU, MS & Brussels clearly understood that protecting the system mattered more than avoiding economic pain. UKG plainly didn’t, and not did large parts of the British public. Which is why so many spent years mistaking predictable consequences for punishment.
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Luigi di Angeli @luigidiangeli.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
Barnier was essentially explaining basic physics to a country convinced gravity was a negotiating position. When a market of 450 million and one of 67 million collide economically, the smaller one generally comes off worse.
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(Pundit) Abu Qaid-e-Azam @qaid-e-azam.bsky.social · 13/06/2026
This 👇
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Matt Green @mattgreencomedy.com · 06/06/2026
The fact that Farage et al have backed Vance’s racist intervention shows them to be un-British. The golden rule is that we can talk shit about each other, but no shit talking from anyone else, especially Americans. Basic etiquette. Previous generations of politicians understood that.
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Niall Ó Conghaile @nialloconghaile.bsky.social · 07/06/2026
First written Oct 2023 in the other place. Resurrected here owing to an odd week on Bluesky. We must protect 🇪🇺 Thank for residing! Fancy some more? Do check out this thread on how UKG has to accept Bxl as a legitimate actor. bsky.app/profile/nial...
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Alexander Clarkson @aphclarkson.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
The paradox of Rejoin is that a UK accession process will be much quicker if the UK does not ask for special treatment
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David Henig @davidheniguk.bsky.social · 19/04/2026
Brexit. British Exit from the EU. But also stands in my mind for British Exceptionalism. That of being as a country so different to say France or Germany or any other that we couldn't really be happy members of a bloc. Which was always nonsense.
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Luigi di Angeli @luigidiangeli.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
@andrewhesselden.bsky.social Yes, “solutions” are possible if you are prepared to realign with the very legal and political frameworks you've spent years denouncing. What remains amusing is the assumption the EU is just sitting around redesigning Schengen for your benefit.
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Luigi di Angeli @luigidiangeli.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
@andrewhesselden.bsky.social Scottish nationalism at least has the advantage of being tethered to political reality. Scotland didn’t vote for Brexit & isn’t demanding simultaneous withdrawal & retention of every benefit renounced. That already places it several tiers above British exceptionalism.
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Luigi di Angeli @luigidiangeli.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
bsky.app/profile/andr... Quite. But London is not a constituent nation with its own devolved parliament, legal system and longstanding constitutional independence movement. That is rather the point you seem determined to sidestep.
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Luigi di Angeli @luigidiangeli.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
bsky.app/profile/andr... Schengen does not need redesigning. Britain chose third-country status and is now acting shocked at being treated like a third country. The exhausting part is the expectation Europe should rewrite functioning systems to accommodate British regrets.
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Luigi di Angeli @luigidiangeli.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
bsky.app/profile/andr... Yes, quite. Much like wandering into a divorce insisting you’ll keep the house keys, joint bank account and visiting rights for the dog while loudly announcing you’re leaving. Some outcomes were structurally predictable from the outset.
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Luigi di Angeli @luigidiangeli.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
The UK genuinely believed they could bypass Brussels, peel away member states and negotiate side arrangements like it was the 1970s. Instead they walked straight into a rules-based system specifically designed to stop exactly that sort of behaviour. The EU & MS understood A50 UKG plainly didn't.
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Luigi di Angeli @luigidiangeli.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
The enduring irony of Brexit is that Britain ejected itself from the EU using Article 50: a mechanism largely designed by British civil servants led by Lord Kerr. Even the legal architecture of departure bore the fingerprints of British exceptionalism.
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Luigi di Angeli @luigidiangeli.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
Barnier was essentially explaining basic physics to a country convinced gravity was a negotiating position. When a market of 450 million and one of 67 million collide economically, the smaller one generally comes off worse.
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UK 🇬🇧 🤝 🇺🇦 □ @ukbastard.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
Starmer pandered to Reform – and got what he deserved The decision to prioritise Reform-curious voters over Labour loyalists and Green-friendly floaters has been catastrophic archive.is/2026.05.15-1...
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Luigi di Angeli @luigidiangeli.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
Suggested mandatory reading for anyone with a genuine and honest interest in how the British secured the deal they demanded.
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Luigi di Angeli @luigidiangeli.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
bsky.app/profile/andr... In the same way as gravity has very little to do with falling off a cliff. Schengen’s borderless movement is directly tied to rules on external access, length of stay and residence rights. That is rather the point of a common area.
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