Anthony Zacharzewski
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anthonyzach.be
Anthony Zacharzewski
@anthonyzach.be
Working to make European democracy work. "Refreshingly free of the usual platitudes". Belge par choix, Brits door opvoeding, Polish roots. President of Demsoc.org
Reposted by Anthony Zacharzewski
Not wanting to disappoint you so much that it lies is the last quality I want in a computer.
November 28, 2025 at 12:02 AM
Reposted by Anthony Zacharzewski
Join and help to lead the Constitution Unit!

@uclspp.bsky.social is looking for a Lecturer in British and Comparative Politics who will also join our senior team and contribute to our research and impact activities.

Applicants must have, or be near to finishing, a PhD.

Apply 👇
Job opportunity: Lecturer in British and Comparative Politics
The UCL Department of Political Science and Constitution Unit are seeking to appoint a Lecturer in British and Comparative Politics. The successful candidate will join the senior team at the Unit.
www.ucl.ac.uk
November 28, 2025 at 5:00 PM
Celebrating 20 years of our friends at Demos Helsinki. Congratulations!
November 28, 2025 at 5:25 PM
Reposted by Anthony Zacharzewski
Why Elon Musk purchased Twitter :
November 28, 2025 at 12:22 PM
Reposted by Anthony Zacharzewski
Kinnock voice - "I’ll tell you what happens with impossible promises. You start with far-fetched resolutions....and you end up in the grotesque chaos of a Labour government, a *Labour* government, rejecting visas for homeless 8 yr olds trying to joing their parents"
November 28, 2025 at 10:43 AM
Repost for those who weren't awake at 5h30 Brussels time.
November 28, 2025 at 10:51 AM
The history of pain d’épices / lebküchen / piernik / gingerbread on @rtbf.be was interesting but has also left me craving pain d’épices at 6h30 in Helsinki. overcast.fm/+AABkOHM__Yk
La douce histoire du pain d’épices — Un Jour dans l'Histoire
Aujourd’hui, on remonte le fil d’un gâteau qui traverse les siècles : le pain d’épices. Des offrandes au miel de l’Antiquité aux pains figurés des foires médiévales, des recettes bourguignonnes aux tr...
overcast.fm
November 28, 2025 at 4:24 AM
Reposted by Anthony Zacharzewski
The UK, where the day after a decision to take half a million children out of poverty, the media & political world has been full of sneering at those same children & their families, labelling them as ‘Benefits Street’, while the same people are moaning about a tax on £2m mansions. Shameful stuff.
November 27, 2025 at 8:22 PM
Reposted by Anthony Zacharzewski
Caption competition
November 27, 2025 at 9:23 PM
Reposted by Anthony Zacharzewski
Today's 70% fall in net migration to 205,000 was not one of the six stories in BBC ten o'clock news.

Ta massive assymetry in whether rises in immigration and falls in immigration are considered newsworthy by broadcasters

Down by 140k isn't thought to be.

Up by 140k undoubtedly would be.
November 27, 2025 at 10:05 PM
Random fact I learned while waiting for a delayed flight - Finnair used to be called Aero OY, which is why its flights are all AYxxx. Similar to how Brussels airlines still uses SNxxx for the occasionally-mourned SABENA, though I don’t think there’s a direct link. Ok we’re leaving now… thankfully.
November 27, 2025 at 8:46 PM
I like how the graphic makes it look like he's just completed a transfer to Blackpool FC. "Tricky centre-forward Miller comes to the Tangerines from Bicester Town FC, setting a transfer record for the Oxfordshire club"
Tune into BBC1 after the News at 10 or live on BBC iPlayer from 9pm to catch
@CalumMillerLD.bsky.social on Question Time! #BBCQT
November 27, 2025 at 7:02 PM
<3 that people are doing this sort of research. Interesting article too (for someone whose English ancestors were knocking around Barnstaple at this point)
*small embarrassed voice*
A little plug for my article on Devon book sales c. 1700, which has gone online open access. tl;dr book auctions weren't just a London/Oxbridge thing: a flourishing second-hand book market centred on Exeter included auctions from the 1680s.
doi.org/10.1093/libr...
A Provincial Market in Second-Hand Books: Book Sales in Devon, 1688–1725
Abstract. Comparatively little is known about England’s early book-auction trade outside of London and the university towns, with few catalogues surviving
doi.org
November 27, 2025 at 6:53 PM
Travelling for work is not something I would call "fun", but I have enjoyed ticking off some local food favourites over the last three days - spätzle in Strasbourg, kartoffelsuppe mit wurst in Frankfurt and now a kardamummabulle in Stockholm. Onwards to Helsinki to end the week.
November 27, 2025 at 4:24 PM
All policies must pass through the filter of "does a white working class Barnsley racist I have made up approve of this?". Voters or MPs, bow before the imaginary WWCBR.
"Is this budget actually just what your MPs want (bad)" I ask in a parliamentary democracy, with a level of critical analysis only entrusted to the BBC's Political Editor
November 27, 2025 at 1:13 PM
Increasing rental prices in Brussels, and less mobility. I'm currently in Stockholm for work, and my colleague was telling me over lunch that the waiting list for rentals on the official list here is upwards of 20 years, so almost everyone lives in shaky sublets. Let's not let that happen to us.
In vergelijking met 2 jaar geleden worden in er Brussel 40 procent minder nieuwe huurcontracten afgesloten.
De schaarste zorgt ervoor dat mensen minder mobiel worden op de huismarkt en eigenaars verkopen hun panden meer door de nieuwe huurwet met opgelegde huurprijzen.

www.bruzz.be/actua/econom...
'Huurprijzen met 10 procent gestegen, 25 procent minder afgesloten huurcontracten'
Dat blijkt uit een bevraging van vastgoedmakelaar Century 21.
www.bruzz.be
November 27, 2025 at 1:07 PM
Reposted by Anthony Zacharzewski
It's Friday, and apparently bluesky is ready for this fun revelation:

Dinosaurs lived on the other side the Galaxy.
November 21, 2025 at 5:11 PM
Emerald Isle junks green mobility.
Four months after it was promised, we finally have the government's transport investment plan between now and 2030. It's bad. Roads are in, public transport is out. A lot of public transport projects being put on the long-finger to make funding available for new roads.
November 26, 2025 at 4:31 PM
Reposted by Anthony Zacharzewski
At a meeting in Council of Europe
Hearing from example after example of citizens assemblies across Europe from Ukraine to Germany All concerned about democratic backsliding and threat from far right
Notable how Ireland, once a leader and exemplar. is reverting to the old elites know best model
November 26, 2025 at 9:50 AM
Reposted by Anthony Zacharzewski
Modern British politics is just a long attempt to prove all my main political beliefs correct in a way that gives me the largest amount of psychic damage
We are moving inexorably to the end point of electoral chaos - five parties all tied on 19% in the polls, election to be decided by blindfolded chimps chucking coloured darts at a constituency map
Westminster Voting Intention:

RFM: 25% (-2)
LAB: 19% (=)
CON: 18% (+1)
GRN: 16% (-1)
LDM: 15% (+2)
SNP: 3% (=)

Via @yougov.co.uk, 23-24 Nov.
Changes w/ 16-17 Nov.
November 26, 2025 at 9:20 AM
Reposted by Anthony Zacharzewski
Alphaville: financial Popbitch.
November 25, 2025 at 8:31 PM
Reposted by Anthony Zacharzewski
In de allereerste aflevering van Wereldzaken duiken we in de schimmige wereld van conservatieve denktanks in Brussel. Hoeveel invloed hebben deze clubs? Zijn zij de verborgen architecten van de Europese koers?

www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2025/...
Hoe conservatieve denktanks de koers van Europa bepalen
In de allereerste aflevering van Wereldzaken duiken we in de schimmige wereld van conservatieve denktanks in Brussel. EU-correspondent Rik Rutten en geopolitiek redacteur Michel Kerres nemen ons mee n...
www.nrc.nl
November 25, 2025 at 6:05 PM
Reposted by Anthony Zacharzewski
NEW: If you have *any* interest in the Nathan Gill story, you need to look at this.

We’ve put all the dates into a timeline & it’s incredibly revealing.
1/

www.thenerve.news/p/nathan-gil...
Reform UK and Russian bribes: a Nathan Gill timeline
As Reform’s former leader in Wales is sentenced to ten and a half years for taking bribes from a pro-Russian actor, here's a chronology of his actions and the wider context of Putin, Ukraine and Brexi...
www.thenerve.news
November 22, 2025 at 1:55 PM
Reposted by Anthony Zacharzewski
Again: French speaking Belgium is quite unique. This is as polarized as a TV debate can get: both presidents of the two most extreme parties of the parliamentarian spectrum discussing purchasing power, VAT, and indexation of salaries.

www.rtbf.be/article/modi...
Accord sur le budget fédéral : revivez le débat entre Raoul Hedebouw et Georges-Louis Bouchez - RTBF Actus
Après deux mois de négociations, le gouvernement a trouvé un accord budgétaire constitué d’économies et de...
www.rtbf.be
November 25, 2025 at 7:46 AM
Reposted by Anthony Zacharzewski
Do not mistake this as a small price - it would not only completely shatter the cordon sanitaire, it would make the centre-right to far-right exception into the main majority platform for the European Parliament.

A potential completion of the sea change at EU level.
November 25, 2025 at 7:33 AM