Tom Griffin @[email protected]

Author of State-Private Networks and Intelligence Theory (Routledge 2022). Writing on intelligence history on substack.

[Tom Griffin @[email protected] @tcgriffin]

Now online for Substack subscribers, the current draft of my book: The DCIs: Britain’s intelligence chiefs in the Irish Troubles 1969-1994. https://t.co/MXi6bMiUIk

[Ewan Gibbs @ewangibbs]

Since Brexit there's been an obvious rewriting of this story but in the 2000s and 2010s migrants from Poland, Bulgaria and elsewhere were key targets of the far right, including the BNP and UKIP.

[Tom Griffin @[email protected] @tcgriffin]

40 years of @LobsterMagazine in a tweet.

[Archie Woodrow @SamuraiApology]

this is an insane bit of "saying the quiet part out loud"

journalists & the former prime minister openly saying "Britain is not a sovereign state, our democracy is a sham, and we're all lying to you about it... and that's a good thing!"

[Keiran Pedley @keiranpedley]

Given Blair wants to stay close to Trump, cut welfare, move away from net zero and stop the boats ‘by whatever means’ how is his agenda that different from Reform? Feels like a legitimate question. He doesn’t seem particularly keen on joining the EU either.

[Adam Ramsay @AdamRamsay]

The idea that “every honest sensible person” agrees that - for example - we should abandon our belief in climate science and drill the North Sea, and that those who don’t say it are all dishonest populists, is just a form of centre-right conspiracy theory.

[Randeep Ramesh @tianran]

it's really not. Blair calls this the radical centre, but its radicalism is largely directed at the residues of social democracy: labour rights, welfare, public provision, net-zero constraint, parliamentary accountability and European regulation 1/2

[Alexander Clarkson  @APHClarkson]

Final take on the Blair encyclical, most telling is his Silicon Valley Brain inability to grasp that engaging with technological change does not remove the necessity of questioning or even dismantling authoritarian power structures in business and politics taking advantage of it

[Tommy Greene @Tommy___Greene]

Revealed: the secret group linked to security services that helped shape the Legacy Act.

Important story from @Coramazov writing for The Detail

https://t.co/q0sKqnjsDb

[Charles Grant @CER_Grant]

This is the best-argued defence of the UK staying in ECHR I have read. I knew it was an essential tool for cooperating with EU partners on many issues, but had not appreciated its value on domestic issues like Hillsborough, John Warboys and opposing the cancel culture.@CER_EU

[Alexander Clarkson  @APHClarkson]

In a previous era this would have been the kind of headline you put in a film about a future dystopia

[Miguel Delaney @MiguelDelaney]

It’s an unpopular view but Arsenal’s title is the story of considerable overperformance against wealthier opposition - City’s higher wage bill is the equivalent of more than five Sakas

It wasn’t always pretty but it is maximising everything you’ve got

https://t.co/IqVaAIfOdJ

[Ben Judah @b_judah]

The real consequence of the Rejoin eventually (de-emphasised) vs Rejoin eventually (emphasised) opening phase of the Labour Leadership race will be for the next Prime Minister to go further on what isn’t being discussed sooner: the Customs Union and Single Market.

[Ben Judah @b_judah]

Amusingly the crude anti-Rejoin argument — “the people spoke once in 2016 and may never speak again” — is very un-British and actually very Bonapartist.

Out with, the old principle no Parliament may bind another, in with, the unalterable plebiscitary principle like the ones Napoleon and his nephew used to make themselves Emperors. Ironic, really.

[Tom Griffin @[email protected] @tcgriffin]

One wonders what could be achieved with a serious push into offshore wind.

[Geoffrey Lean @GeoffreyLean]

#Renewables have now met half of #Ireland’s electricity demand for three consecutive months. #Wind is the biggest single source of power, and wholesale electricity prices halve on windy days. https://t.co/5vPXX8yjg5

[Assaad Razzouk @AssaadRazzouk]

New data from Ember: When renewables drive gas below a 20% grid share in Britain, wholesale power prices crash from £130 down to £60/MWh, a 54% drop
>We're finally breaking the power that volatile natural gas prices have held over electricity bills in so many countries for decades
>Because of marginal pricing rules, the most expensive power plant needed to meet demand sets the price for the whole grid. So gas dictated everything. But superior renewables technology and zero-fuel-cost physics are completely disrupting that system
>When wind and solar surged in Britain last year and pushed gas down to less than 20% of the electricity mix, wholesale electricity prices plummeted to an average of £60/MWh
>When fossil gas ran the show at over half the mix, the price was £130/MWh
>Right now, 15% of Britain's electricity generation has completely decoupled from gas volatility. It's locked in under the Contracts for Difference scheme across 10 GW of operating wind and solar assets
>By 2030, that number jumps to more than a third of the grid. That means 36 GW of clean capacity acting as a permanent, iron-clad shield against international fuel price spikes

This isn't just a British story. It's a blueprint for energy planners anywhere in the world, from Berlin to Jakarta: If your grid relies on commodities shipped across oceans or through pipelines, you don’t have an energy strategy, you have a security threat while handing a blank check to foreign cartels

[James Mackenzie @mrjamesmack]

Anthony Barnett on the need for English independence in Europe, touching on the importance of the first exclusively English party, coming soon when the Welsh Greens break away (and drawing on @CarolineLucas's book Another England)

[Jack Elsom @JackElsom]

NEW: The Intelligence and Security Committee has raised concerns about the government's handling of the Mandelson Files.

It says redactions are being applied "far too broadly" and some documents are being withheld altogether.

It also teases that we can expect to see lots and lots of WhatsApp exchanges...

[Andy Maciver @akmaciver]

Why @AnasSarwar should look to @ClaireHanna and the @SDLPlive for a new party model.

My thoughts in today's @heraldscotland @HeraldPols @TheHeraldEditor

https://t.co/e5LB0rz26Y

(cc @garfbrown @StormontSources @dmcbfs )

[Jacob Heilbrunn @JacobHeilbrunn]

My look at: The battle for the neoconservative soul https://t.co/7mE3gt9b4I @sbg1 @ccaryl

[Alex Tiffin @RespectIsVital]

NEW - Downing Street has told Labour’s Backbench Parliamentary Committee there are no dates available to meet him for 3 months.

The committee is meant to have access to any Labour leader, PM or not, to represent PLP MPs views on pressing topics whether party or political.

[Lucy Rigby MP @LucyRigby]

Happy to confirm that we’re taking forward legislation this session to allow more people to benefit from credit unions 🤝💷

This will form a key part of our Enhancing Financial Services & Markets Bill as just announced in today’s King’s Speech.