Mike Craven

Founder, Lexington. Chair, The Tablet. Politics, religion, education, dogs, Hull. Retweets imply agreement or disbelief

[Fraser Nelson @FraserNelson]

It's not just the exploitation of a tragedy.

JD Vance's picture of Britain - where migrants have led to a crime surge - is the opposite of the truth.

https://t.co/y5El5FUj7v

[Mike Craven @Cravenma]

This isn't really surprising. Even at the height of Thatcher and her anti-union reforms, millions of trade unionists voted Tory and in some such as pre-Unison NALGO, Tories were sometimes ahead of Labour.

[Patrick Maguire @patrickkmaguire]

EXC: New polling reveals Reform now winning as many union members as Labour

Unite’s Sharon Graham tells me: “Damning but not surprising”

GMB’s Gary Smith and two affiliate GSs for urgent course correction on policy

Farage to unions: affiliate to Reform

https://t.co/5rwsrYqv4H

[Mike Craven @Cravenma]

@DAaronovitch @RupertMyers Also who knew that Philip was director of communications for Mandelson?

[The Times and Sunday Times @thetimes]

Gary Lubner: ‘I don’t want to be known as Labour’s biggest donor’ https://t.co/hePZnilLEa

[Praful Nargund @prafulnargund]

Brexit is a disaster, here’s how you can actually fix it. Not fantasies of re-litigating the past, but a whole new substantive settlement focused on growth and living standards that answers the question for a generation.

My column in @ObserverUK 👇

https://t.co/JE7tsCyRR8

[Jack Lubner @JackLubner]

When I organised @JewishLabour’s conference in 2024, we had to report this woman to the Police for threatening to bomb the venue

It made headline news and was reported on by the BBC

Why are these people attracted to the Green Party? Why does Polanski welcome their support?

[Fraser Nelson @FraserNelson]

- Two-thirds of Reform's money is wired from Thailand
- Ben Delo, pardoned by Trump for breaking money-laundering rules, has given £4m.
- Farage's secret £5m bung

A new model of politics is meeting an old model of transparency. With dangerous results: https://t.co/MKPSwt4VDu

[Mike Craven @Cravenma]

A harrowing account of what it feels like to be a Jewish Londoner today

[Mike Craven @Cravenma]

A harrowing account of what it feels like to be a Jewish Londoner today

[Brendan Walsh @brendanwalsh53]

In this week’s @The_Tablet: Jews came to @jenlipman’s part of north London fleeing from pogroms in Russia and Poland, finding somewhere they could live and worship freely. “Initially, they used a church hall for services: like their non-Jewish brethren, their sons fell in the First World War. And they thrived, shaping the fabric of the area. That’s all we want today. I believe there’s a future for Jews here. I must, for my children’s sake. But it is getting harder to be confident.” 
elieve there’s a future for Jews in Britain. I must, for my children’s sake https://t.co/oTHG5pilOC

[Arguably @ArguablyMag]

Reclaiming the Future – our founding essay is out.

For progressives, this is an existential moment. To defy the twin foes of populism and fatalism, they must put ideas back at the centre of their politics and draw on the greatest thinkers from their past, such as Keynes, Crosland and Rawls, to shape the future.

We argue for ideas including embracing Europe for growth and security, adopting Danish-style “flexicurity” to make our labour market fit for the age of AI, abolishing the current triple lock, creating a new Department of the PM and allowing London and other wealthy areas to fund their own infrastructure projects.

Subscribe to Arguably today and join the debate at the new home of progressive ideas. https://t.co/NNJwXoKTWA

[Cam Vargas @CamVargas8]

🚀Thrilled to launch @ArguablyMag with @georgeeaton and a top-tier roster of columnists.

The battle for clicks means ideas and debate too often struggle for airtime.

Arguably is built on the belief there's a real appetite for something different and we want to meet it.

[George Eaton @georgeeaton]

🚨I’m delighted to announce the launch of @ArguablyMag – a new title for progressive ideas and debate – alongside @camvargas8. 

Columnists include @b_judah, @dc_lawrence, @martha_dacombe, Renie Anjeh and Zoë Grünewald.

Subscribe now for our launch piece: https://t.co/emEawdGM6X

[Mike Craven @Cravenma]

@DAaronovitch @SimonFraser00 Or ever?

[Mike Craven @Cravenma]

Good. Speaking for a dog.

[Politics UK @PolitlcsUK]

🚨 NEW: The Government is considering new laws on the public sale of fireworks, including reducing the noise limit, amid concerns about the impact on pets

[@politicshome]

[ℰ𝓋𝑜𝓁𝓊𝓉𝒾𝒶 ℛ𝒶𝓉𝒾𝓊𝓃𝒾𝒾 @EvolutiaR]

100,000 American troops in Europe = a free ride for Europeans?

Let's check the facts.

🔹 American military bases are not free
Germany, Italy, Spain, and Romania pay for the infrastructure, land, utilities, and civilian personnel of US bases. Germany alone contributes over $1 billion annually to support the American military presence on its soil.

🔹 Europe is the largest customer of the American defense industry
F-35s, Patriot missiles, HIMARS, Apaches — all purchased by Europeans with real money. Every security alarm in Europe translates into contracts for Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, and Boeing.

🔹 American bases in Europe don't only protect Europe
Ramstein in Germany coordinates operations across Africa and the Middle East. Sigonella in Italy covers the Mediterranean and North Africa. Romania secures the eastern flank and the Black Sea. These are global American strategic assets — not neighborhood security for Europeans.

🔹 Command is American, not European
NATO is always led by an American Supreme Commander (SACEUR). Europe contributes troops, bases, and money — but America holds the controls. Those who control the structure are not the ones getting a free ride.

🔹 The nuclear umbrella is not altruism
American nuclear deterrence in Europe keeps the dollar as the world's reserve currency, keeps European markets open to US corporations, and legitimizes American hegemony against Russia and China.
But what would actually happen if America withdrew its troops from Europe?

🔹 For America — immediate strategic losses
Without bases in Europe, American response time to any crisis in Europe, Africa, or the Middle East grows from hours to days. Ramstein, Sigonella, and Incirlik cannot be replaced by aircraft carriers. Infrastructure built over decades disappears overnight.

🔹 The American defense industry loses its biggest customer
A Europe without the US umbrella will build its own defense industry — and fast. Airbus Military, KNDS, Leonardo, and Rheinmetall will take the contracts that Lockheed and Raytheon currently win. Billions of dollars shift from America to Europe.

🔹 The dollar weakens
Dollar hegemony is partly sustained by American global military credibility. A withdrawal from Europe signals to the world that America no longer guarantees the postwar order. Alternatives — the euro, the yuan — become more attractive as global reserve options.

🔹 Russia wins without firing a single shot
Not necessarily through immediate invasion — but through political influence, energy pressure, and the gradual destabilization of countries on the eastern frontier. The Baltic states, Poland, and Romania enter a security grey zone that no one can guarantee quickly.

🔹 China watches and draws conclusions about Taiwan
A precedent of withdrawal from Europe sends a direct signal to Beijing: American commitments are negotiable. The cost of deterrence in the Pacific rises exponentially.

Withdrawal is not isolationism. It is strategic abdication.
America would not be leaving Europe because it no longer has interests there.
It would be leaving while ignoring that those very interests are what make it a superpower.

The "free ride" narrative doesn't describe Europe.
It describes exactly what America has in Europe.

[Christopher Hale @ChristopherHale]

NEW: For the first time in modern history, the Pentagon offered no Good Friday services for Catholics.

While Catholics don't celebrate Mass on Good Friday, they do venerate the cross of Jesus Christ and receive the Eucharist.

Earlier this year, Pete Hegseth invited his pastor to speak at the Pentagon. That pastor has called for banning public expressions of Catholicism in the United States.
https://t.co/jHkiryybB2

[Mike Craven @Cravenma]

Chag Pesach Sameach to Jewish friends and colleagues #passover

[Sadiq Khan @SadiqKhan]

Today is Palm Sunday, marking the beginning of Holy Week as we approach Easter.

Today's procession across Trafalgar Square to St Martin-in-the-Fields is a powerful retelling of the story of Jesus’s arrival in Jerusalem.

[Mike Craven @Cravenma]

This is obviously appalling and needs to be resolved. But unprovoked attacks by settlers against the Christian village of Taybeh are worse and protecting that village and its inhabitants is even more urgent.

[The Telegraph @Telegraph]

Israeli police prevented a top Vatican cardinal from entering the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to celebrate Palm Sunday mass for the first time in centuries.

🔗: https://t.co/6bRCuZ5qAt

[Mike Craven @Cravenma]

A thread reflecting on the everyday decency of the great Phil Woolas