Aaron H. Ellis
@aaronhughellis.bsky.social
Podcast host (burgeoning). Check out strategyaaron on Substack, Spotify, YouTube, and Apple Podcasts
https://linktr.ee/strategyaaron
https://linktr.ee/strategyaaron
Pinned
STRATEGYAARON 2.0
A lot is going on in the world right now. Strategyaaron is my attempt at making sense of it all.
strategyaaron.ghost.io
I've written about starting a podcast from scratch - and how I intend to build on the progress I've made:
strategyaaron.ghost.io/strategyaaro...
strategyaaron.ghost.io/strategyaaro...
“Faith alone is necessary but not sufficient…”
November 29, 2025 at 1:32 PM
“Faith alone is necessary but not sufficient…”
Will you open your heart to God’s grace?
Muscular Christianity.
“Wear some headphones, kid. And put your shoes back on”
“Wear some headphones, kid. And put your shoes back on”
November 29, 2025 at 10:29 AM
Will you open your heart to God’s grace?
Reposted by Aaron H. Ellis
Come for the thread, stay for the description of Badenoch as a "SparkNotes ideologue".
I say this as someone who is very much anti-intellectual - few politicians in this country did more to make anti-intellectualism central to political communication than Tony Blair
He wasn't anti-intellectual himself, but New Labour was very self-conscious about cultivating a "common touch"
He wasn't anti-intellectual himself, but New Labour was very self-conscious about cultivating a "common touch"
November 28, 2025 at 5:54 PM
Come for the thread, stay for the description of Badenoch as a "SparkNotes ideologue".
Reposted by Aaron H. Ellis
Yep. So annoying when lobby journalists are like "So sorry, to explain this gossip about two cabinet ministers who hate each other we're going to have to talk about boring old policy. Uh-oh! Looks like these poindexters are going to use some numbers!"
I don't think it's all of it by any measure but I do absolutely believe that the political media's raging anti-intellectual streak has got worse with time and has ended up influencing the way MPs talk, and what they choose to talk/think about
I don’t think this is a “politicians have got dumber” issue for the most part. If you look at the *actual CVs* of previous cohorts of MPs, their background is not radically different when you account for, you know, the fact the economy is different! It is primarily a media and ecosystem issue.
November 28, 2025 at 3:57 PM
Yep. So annoying when lobby journalists are like "So sorry, to explain this gossip about two cabinet ministers who hate each other we're going to have to talk about boring old policy. Uh-oh! Looks like these poindexters are going to use some numbers!"
Reposted by Aaron H. Ellis
Calling all oomfs to say good morning
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Planes, Trains, and Automobiles (1987, John Hughes)
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Planes, Trains, and Automobiles (1987, John Hughes)
November 27, 2025 at 1:05 PM
Calling all oomfs to say good morning
__
Planes, Trains, and Automobiles (1987, John Hughes)
__
Planes, Trains, and Automobiles (1987, John Hughes)
Really should’ve just officially raised taxes…
“Why have you broken your manifesto pledge on National Insurance for a second time?”
“We haven’t”
“You have”
@vicderbyshire.bsky.social challenges James Murray MP on the Government’s decision to freeze income tax and National Insurance thresholds.
#Newsnight
“We haven’t”
“You have”
@vicderbyshire.bsky.social challenges James Murray MP on the Government’s decision to freeze income tax and National Insurance thresholds.
#Newsnight
November 27, 2025 at 12:30 PM
Really should’ve just officially raised taxes…
Reposted by Aaron H. Ellis
Serious howls of outrage in the media this morning at what is a relatively modest Budget from Labour that does nothing more than fiddle around the margins.
It does highlight the missed opportunity. If you’re going to get this reaction anyway, why not at least get it for attempting a big swing?
It does highlight the missed opportunity. If you’re going to get this reaction anyway, why not at least get it for attempting a big swing?
November 27, 2025 at 7:41 AM
Serious howls of outrage in the media this morning at what is a relatively modest Budget from Labour that does nothing more than fiddle around the margins.
It does highlight the missed opportunity. If you’re going to get this reaction anyway, why not at least get it for attempting a big swing?
It does highlight the missed opportunity. If you’re going to get this reaction anyway, why not at least get it for attempting a big swing?
Casablanca has become one of my non-Christmas Christmas films (along with Singing in the Rain and the original Murder on the Orient Express)
The multi Academy Award winning 🇺🇸 American romantic drama “CASABLANCA” directed by Michael Curtiz and starring Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Claude Rains, Paul Henreid and Dooley Wilson premiered at the Hollywood Theater in New York City #OnThisDay in 1942
🎬 #WarnerBros
🎬 #WarnerBros
November 27, 2025 at 7:30 AM
Casablanca has become one of my non-Christmas Christmas films (along with Singing in the Rain and the original Murder on the Orient Express)
Reposted by Aaron H. Ellis
Good morning to Brazilian reporter Manuela Borges, who’s been waiting eleven years for this petty moment. ❤️ 🇧🇷
November 26, 2025 at 1:04 PM
Good morning to Brazilian reporter Manuela Borges, who’s been waiting eleven years for this petty moment. ❤️ 🇧🇷
Would be very on brand for Badenoch to save the government from a PR-disaster
Political speeches, particularly in parliament, can sometimes run a difficult line between scathing and just a bit nasty, and it strikes me that Kemi Badenoch's budget response risks falling into the latter camp.
November 26, 2025 at 2:04 PM
Would be very on brand for Badenoch to save the government from a PR-disaster
November 26, 2025 at 2:02 PM
“We’ve published the Budget by mistake!”
November 26, 2025 at 12:14 PM
“We’ve published the Budget by mistake!”
My interview with historian Andrew Lambert - about British grand strategy in the 1800s and what we can learn from it in dealing with Putin - is my most watched/listened to episode by a considerable margin:
youtu.be/k0RPeqII0Vg?...
youtu.be/k0RPeqII0Vg?...
No more Napoleons | Andrew Lambert
YouTube video by strategyaaron
youtu.be
November 26, 2025 at 10:31 AM
My interview with historian Andrew Lambert - about British grand strategy in the 1800s and what we can learn from it in dealing with Putin - is my most watched/listened to episode by a considerable margin:
youtu.be/k0RPeqII0Vg?...
youtu.be/k0RPeqII0Vg?...
Reposted by Aaron H. Ellis
Exactly this. When Merz exempted German defence spending from borrowing, Starmer should have done the same but with tax and made space for the rest of the public services.
The prime opportunity to break manifesto pledges on tax (besides last summer) was March - when they announced the uplift in defence spending only a couple of weeks after Trump's spat with Zelensky.
Hard to imagine such a move would have provoked the same toxic political criticism given the context.
Hard to imagine such a move would have provoked the same toxic political criticism given the context.
Utterly surreal that a key part of the pre Budget narrative from the government hasn’t been ‘Russian planes keep buzzing the Essex coast, US support for NATO is looking shaky, and thanks to the Tories our army fits in Old Trafford - that’s why we need to raise taxes’.
November 26, 2025 at 9:12 AM
Exactly this. When Merz exempted German defence spending from borrowing, Starmer should have done the same but with tax and made space for the rest of the public services.
Reposted by Aaron H. Ellis
Yep - the government is consistently failing to make the case as to why it is investing more in defence and how the changing geopolitical system plus that whole war going on means it is increasingly needed
Utterly surreal that a key part of the pre Budget narrative from the government hasn’t been ‘Russian planes keep buzzing the Essex coast, US support for NATO is looking shaky, and thanks to the Tories our army fits in Old Trafford - that’s why we need to raise taxes’.
November 26, 2025 at 9:03 AM
Yep - the government is consistently failing to make the case as to why it is investing more in defence and how the changing geopolitical system plus that whole war going on means it is increasingly needed
Negroni
What would be your tipple of choice for the budget?
If I were Chancellor delivering it today, it would be a very large glass of Lagavulin 16yo, probably with one of my junior ministers topping it up.
If I were Chancellor delivering it today, it would be a very large glass of Lagavulin 16yo, probably with one of my junior ministers topping it up.
November 26, 2025 at 8:40 AM
Negroni
Reposted by Aaron H. Ellis
Labour's governing ideology is convenientism: it would be convenient if, e.g. reducing legal immigration fixed their electoral problem with the boats. It would be convenient if you could reduce poverty only with popular measures like hiking the minimum wage, etc. etc. etc.
hmm, what exactly is her theory of the economy? i'm lost what a coherent if wrong viewpoint looks like here
November 24, 2025 at 11:24 PM
Labour's governing ideology is convenientism: it would be convenient if, e.g. reducing legal immigration fixed their electoral problem with the boats. It would be convenient if you could reduce poverty only with popular measures like hiking the minimum wage, etc. etc. etc.
Reposted by Aaron H. Ellis
The “savvy” view is usually wrong - both morally but also as analysis. Farage’s views and character are a really important part of why the polls are where they are!
All the supposedly progressive people saying 'Nigel Farage's racism doesn't matter. His fans love it'.
It matters whether the leader of the party leading all the opinion polls is an outright racist. It matters if he called black people 'wogs' and said 'gas them' to Jews. Not everything is a game
It matters whether the leader of the party leading all the opinion polls is an outright racist. It matters if he called black people 'wogs' and said 'gas them' to Jews. Not everything is a game
November 25, 2025 at 10:53 AM
The “savvy” view is usually wrong - both morally but also as analysis. Farage’s views and character are a really important part of why the polls are where they are!
Alan Dershowitz?!?!
"elevate charismatic figures such as Alan Dershowitz"
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November 25, 2025 at 10:56 AM
Alan Dershowitz?!?!
Started this last night. Like Prime Suspect meets The Wire meets Homicide: Life on the Streets
November 25, 2025 at 10:32 AM
Started this last night. Like Prime Suspect meets The Wire meets Homicide: Life on the Streets
Reposted by Aaron H. Ellis
Last year, I talked to disinformation expert Amil Khan about how the story which provoked the riots after Southport - that the attacker was an illegal immigrant on an MI6 watch list - was invented by a fake news generator based in Pakistan
open.spotify.com/episode/4QA9...
open.spotify.com/episode/4QA9...
November 23, 2025 at 9:56 AM
Last year, I talked to disinformation expert Amil Khan about how the story which provoked the riots after Southport - that the attacker was an illegal immigrant on an MI6 watch list - was invented by a fake news generator based in Pakistan
open.spotify.com/episode/4QA9...
open.spotify.com/episode/4QA9...
Last year, I talked to disinformation expert Amil Khan about how the story which provoked the riots after Southport - that the attacker was an illegal immigrant on an MI6 watch list - was invented by a fake news generator based in Pakistan
open.spotify.com/episode/4QA9...
open.spotify.com/episode/4QA9...
November 23, 2025 at 9:56 AM
Last year, I talked to disinformation expert Amil Khan about how the story which provoked the riots after Southport - that the attacker was an illegal immigrant on an MI6 watch list - was invented by a fake news generator based in Pakistan
open.spotify.com/episode/4QA9...
open.spotify.com/episode/4QA9...
Reposted by Aaron H. Ellis
Reposted by Aaron H. Ellis
Reposted by Aaron H. Ellis
That’s how I look at my Top after too.
November 21, 2025 at 9:57 PM
That’s how I look at my Top after too.