Charlie Maynard
@charleswmaynard.bsky.social
Politics, history, geopolitics, and business. Interested in UK–EU relations and a move towards closer cooperation. Likes and reposts reflect interest, not endorsement.
Reposted by Charlie Maynard
It sure looks like Russian intelligence attempted to use military drones to assassinate the President of Ukraine inside an EU country.
Looking forward to more thoughts from Belgium on why freezing Russian assets is an escalatory move that might compromise the peace process.
Looking forward to more thoughts from Belgium on why freezing Russian assets is an escalatory move that might compromise the peace process.
Christ on a cracker — these seemingly hostile drones only missed Zelensky’s plane because he was unexpectedly early www.thejournal.ie/drones-dubli...
Four unidentified military-style drones breached no-fly zone to target Zelenskyy's arrival in Dublin
Gardaí are investigating whether the drones took off from land in Dublin or from an undetected ship.
www.thejournal.ie
December 5, 2025 at 9:22 AM
It sure looks like Russian intelligence attempted to use military drones to assassinate the President of Ukraine inside an EU country.
Looking forward to more thoughts from Belgium on why freezing Russian assets is an escalatory move that might compromise the peace process.
Looking forward to more thoughts from Belgium on why freezing Russian assets is an escalatory move that might compromise the peace process.
Reposted by Charlie Maynard
Farage had to come out hiding early because Tice tried to defend him earlier & libelled the target of Farage’s vicious anti-semitism. Rarely have two people deserved each other more.
December 4, 2025 at 4:51 PM
Farage had to come out hiding early because Tice tried to defend him earlier & libelled the target of Farage’s vicious anti-semitism. Rarely have two people deserved each other more.
Reposted by Charlie Maynard
Quite breathtaking story - military grade drones at Dublin airport which flew on the path Zelensky's plane took. The drones reached the flight path of his plane exactly the time it should have been there, but just missed it because Zelensky arrived ahead of schedule:
Four unidentified military-style drones breached no-fly zone to target Zelenskyy's arrival in Dublin
Gardaí are investigating whether the drones took off from land in Dublin or from an undetected ship.
www.thejournal.ie
December 4, 2025 at 3:20 PM
Quite breathtaking story - military grade drones at Dublin airport which flew on the path Zelensky's plane took. The drones reached the flight path of his plane exactly the time it should have been there, but just missed it because Zelensky arrived ahead of schedule:
Reposted by Charlie Maynard
This just seems like the wrong end of the telescope to me. Review should be into barriers to employment, not diagnosis.
I really *do* have a fine motor condition, but in the 21st century this poses absolutely no barrier to me working in 90 per cent of jobs in the UK.
I really *do* have a fine motor condition, but in the 21st century this poses absolutely no barrier to me working in 90 per cent of jobs in the UK.
December 4, 2025 at 12:49 AM
This just seems like the wrong end of the telescope to me. Review should be into barriers to employment, not diagnosis.
I really *do* have a fine motor condition, but in the 21st century this poses absolutely no barrier to me working in 90 per cent of jobs in the UK.
I really *do* have a fine motor condition, but in the 21st century this poses absolutely no barrier to me working in 90 per cent of jobs in the UK.
Reposted by Charlie Maynard
Agree with @jomichell.bsky.social here.
My earlier piece: "The claim that that MMT means that a future government can dodge hard choices about how to pay for decent public services is just plain nonsense."
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/econom...
My earlier piece: "The claim that that MMT means that a future government can dodge hard choices about how to pay for decent public services is just plain nonsense."
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/econom...
December 3, 2025 at 4:00 PM
Agree with @jomichell.bsky.social here.
My earlier piece: "The claim that that MMT means that a future government can dodge hard choices about how to pay for decent public services is just plain nonsense."
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/econom...
My earlier piece: "The claim that that MMT means that a future government can dodge hard choices about how to pay for decent public services is just plain nonsense."
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/econom...
Reposted by Charlie Maynard
This stuff really is snake oil. Would be a great shame if @zackpolanski.bsky.social fell for it. Politically it’s a one way ticket to nowhere. Important under current circumstances to have an articulate and credible voice on the left. Zack needs to steer clear.
www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2025/11...
www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2025/11...
MMT matters because it reveals power – and gives us back the right to choose
I think modern monetary theory (MMT) matters. That is not because it is perfect, because no theory is. Instead, it is because it explains something that almost no one in mainstream economics has ever ...
www.taxresearch.org.uk
December 2, 2025 at 10:05 PM
This stuff really is snake oil. Would be a great shame if @zackpolanski.bsky.social fell for it. Politically it’s a one way ticket to nowhere. Important under current circumstances to have an articulate and credible voice on the left. Zack needs to steer clear.
www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2025/11...
www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2025/11...
Reposted by Charlie Maynard
Well, Canada paid €10m to join while UK was told to pay £6bn then reduced to £2bn to join. And UK can still supply up to 35% of a SAFE procurement from outside, rather than 50% inside. And as a cheap loan, paying up front to access it undermines that entirely. Not an EU good, UK bad story.
December 3, 2025 at 9:23 AM
Well, Canada paid €10m to join while UK was told to pay £6bn then reduced to £2bn to join. And UK can still supply up to 35% of a SAFE procurement from outside, rather than 50% inside. And as a cheap loan, paying up front to access it undermines that entirely. Not an EU good, UK bad story.
Reposted by Charlie Maynard
How 'UK in a changing Europe' reported the impasse 🤔
December 3, 2025 at 8:08 AM
How 'UK in a changing Europe' reported the impasse 🤔
Reposted by Charlie Maynard
I think my main point here is that that despite all the evidence to the contrary people often exhibit massive certainty bias re what they think will happen in the future.
December 3, 2025 at 11:36 AM
I think my main point here is that that despite all the evidence to the contrary people often exhibit massive certainty bias re what they think will happen in the future.
Reposted by Charlie Maynard
I am fascinated how people of all sorts seem to think that one way or another a complicated subject such as the UK joining the EU is an obviously forgone conclusion one way or another.
December 3, 2025 at 11:32 AM
I am fascinated how people of all sorts seem to think that one way or another a complicated subject such as the UK joining the EU is an obviously forgone conclusion one way or another.
Reposted by Charlie Maynard
Free global trade is always preferable, provided two prior conditions exist: first, mutuality; second, security of defence supplies from critical industries.
Absent those conditions, you just have to deal with the world as it is rather than as it should be.
Absent those conditions, you just have to deal with the world as it is rather than as it should be.
EU global competitiveness latest - "Brussels is considering setting “made in Europe” targets of up to 70 per cent for the content of certain products such as cars" - this is the Cold War 2.0 scenario except with the west diminishing behind walls. www.ft.com/content/b020...
Brussels pushes for 70% of critical goods to be ‘made in Europe’
Policy would force EU companies to buy certain products domestically in an effort to cut reliance on China
www.ft.com
December 3, 2025 at 9:42 AM
Free global trade is always preferable, provided two prior conditions exist: first, mutuality; second, security of defence supplies from critical industries.
Absent those conditions, you just have to deal with the world as it is rather than as it should be.
Absent those conditions, you just have to deal with the world as it is rather than as it should be.
Reposted by Charlie Maynard
BREAKING: “The idea that leaving the EU was the answer to all our cares and concerns has clearly been proved wrong."
Keir Starmer says that "wild promises were made" about Brexit.
He adds: "The same argument is now being made about the European Convention on Human Rights"
Keir Starmer says that "wild promises were made" about Brexit.
He adds: "The same argument is now being made about the European Convention on Human Rights"
December 1, 2025 at 9:58 PM
BREAKING: “The idea that leaving the EU was the answer to all our cares and concerns has clearly been proved wrong."
Keir Starmer says that "wild promises were made" about Brexit.
He adds: "The same argument is now being made about the European Convention on Human Rights"
Keir Starmer says that "wild promises were made" about Brexit.
He adds: "The same argument is now being made about the European Convention on Human Rights"
Reposted by Charlie Maynard
Dangerous socialist or hitting one of the biggest problems with modern economies, that life is just getting too hard for small businesses and that saps energy from the market? Feels like EU and UK policy makers should be taking notice rather than the same old tired talk.
Soon small businesses won’t have to wait for Small Business Saturday to get attention from their Mayor.
Some changes that they can look forward to:
Some changes that they can look forward to:
November 30, 2025 at 10:08 AM
Dangerous socialist or hitting one of the biggest problems with modern economies, that life is just getting too hard for small businesses and that saps energy from the market? Feels like EU and UK policy makers should be taking notice rather than the same old tired talk.
Reposted by Charlie Maynard
The Culture War Calendar
Based on the UK but I’m fairly sure many countries will have similar campaigns of seasonal, manufactured rage
Based on the UK but I’m fairly sure many countries will have similar campaigns of seasonal, manufactured rage
December 1, 2025 at 11:01 AM
The Culture War Calendar
Based on the UK but I’m fairly sure many countries will have similar campaigns of seasonal, manufactured rage
Based on the UK but I’m fairly sure many countries will have similar campaigns of seasonal, manufactured rage
With any luck this would return the Tory party to semblance of normal.
Two more Conservative MP rejects hop over to Reform UK. Jonathan Gullis and Lia Nici.
More and more, Reform UK looks simply as if the Tories ran off stage, then came back on two minutes lates, wearing a comedy moustache-and-glasses disguise. ~AA
uk.news.yahoo.com/former-tory-...
More and more, Reform UK looks simply as if the Tories ran off stage, then came back on two minutes lates, wearing a comedy moustache-and-glasses disguise. ~AA
uk.news.yahoo.com/former-tory-...
Former Tory MP Jonathan Gullis defects to Reform UK
He joins Daniel Jellyman
uk.news.yahoo.com
December 1, 2025 at 10:16 AM
With any luck this would return the Tory party to semblance of normal.
Reposted by Charlie Maynard
Of course a key challenge is that the benefits of single market integration are broad and diffuse, while the costs fall on narrow but powerful vested interests - from national insurance schemes to protected professions - that hide from competition behind national barriers.
Europe shouldn't abandon manufaturing - especially while the continent rearms.
But more single market integration, especially in services, can offset trade shocks and boost incomes.
Great title on this FT piece, with an observation from my side.
www.ft.com/content/cbfd...
But more single market integration, especially in services, can offset trade shocks and boost incomes.
Great title on this FT piece, with an observation from my side.
www.ft.com/content/cbfd...
Who killed Europe’s single market dream?
A decades-long effort to tear down internal trade barriers has stalled, leaving the EU economy ‘tagging along behind’
www.ft.com
December 1, 2025 at 9:58 AM
Of course a key challenge is that the benefits of single market integration are broad and diffuse, while the costs fall on narrow but powerful vested interests - from national insurance schemes to protected professions - that hide from competition behind national barriers.
Reposted by Charlie Maynard
Let's hear it for the unashamedly selfish elderly who really don't care about the nation's finances as long as they don't pay a penny extra.
November 28, 2025 at 7:52 PM
Let's hear it for the unashamedly selfish elderly who really don't care about the nation's finances as long as they don't pay a penny extra.
Reposted by Charlie Maynard
We have got to make politics intellectual again. It is the only way that societies thrive is when politicians have the capability to actually think and reflect deeply:
![I confess that I always had difficulty with interpreting the Biblical precept to love our neighbours “as ourselves” until I read some of the words of C.S. Lewis. He pointed out that we don't exactly love ourselves when we fall below the standards and beliefs we have accepted. Indeed we might even hate ourselves for some unworthy deed.
None of this, of course, tells us exactly what kind of political and social institutions we should have. On this point, Christians will very often genuinely disagree, though it is a mark of Christian manners that they will do so with courtesy and mutual respect. [Applause] What is certain, however, is that any set of social and economic arrangements which is not founded on the acceptance of individual responsibility will do nothing but harm.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:xbnsfdtxoothg654ujxe3p25/bafkreicrdgbtvm54qnmttwe6crhxwt4be5v3izjmqtnvlxmaljwg5wolai@jpeg)
November 28, 2025 at 12:15 PM
We have got to make politics intellectual again. It is the only way that societies thrive is when politicians have the capability to actually think and reflect deeply:
Reposted by Charlie Maynard
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 Charlie Maynard
Coincidence corner: Nigel Farage and crypto.
From the new Private Eye, out now.
From the new Private Eye, out now.
November 28, 2025 at 1:10 PM
Coincidence corner: Nigel Farage and crypto.
From the new Private Eye, out now.
From the new Private Eye, out now.
Reposted by Charlie Maynard
Far-right Alternative for Germany’s previous youth group was dissolved to avert a possible ban.
In its place: Generation Germany, part of a wider effort to destigmatize the party and efface its extremist image.
🔗 politi.co/4ohAkNr
In its place: Generation Germany, part of a wider effort to destigmatize the party and efface its extremist image.
🔗 politi.co/4ohAkNr
November 28, 2025 at 6:06 PM
Far-right Alternative for Germany’s previous youth group was dissolved to avert a possible ban.
In its place: Generation Germany, part of a wider effort to destigmatize the party and efface its extremist image.
🔗 politi.co/4ohAkNr
In its place: Generation Germany, part of a wider effort to destigmatize the party and efface its extremist image.
🔗 politi.co/4ohAkNr
Reposted by Charlie Maynard
Some monsters and prodigies to end the week (from Paré’s ‘Opera’, 1582).
November 28, 2025 at 10:41 AM
Some monsters and prodigies to end the week (from Paré’s ‘Opera’, 1582).
Reposted by Charlie Maynard
UK-EU talks latest - on SAFE participation negotiators might have found a workable approach. Odd one, where neither side had a particularly refined objective beyond balancing participation and money, a particular problem for an EU needing Member State agreement. www.politico.eu/article/uk-e...
UK and EU explore ‘pay as you go’ model to break defense talks deadlock
The two sides are hoping to strike a deal on access to SAFE procurements by Sunday.
www.politico.eu
November 28, 2025 at 8:35 AM
UK-EU talks latest - on SAFE participation negotiators might have found a workable approach. Odd one, where neither side had a particularly refined objective beyond balancing participation and money, a particular problem for an EU needing Member State agreement. www.politico.eu/article/uk-e...
Reposted by Charlie Maynard
Macron's tough talk on the many issues - but in particular international economic relations - where other Member States do not agree with France is proving hugely divisive in the EU. www.politico.eu/article/brus...
Macron says Brussels is ‘afraid’ of tackling US Big Tech
An “American offensive” has cowed the European Commission and some EU capitals, French president complains.
www.politico.eu
November 28, 2025 at 4:19 PM
Macron's tough talk on the many issues - but in particular international economic relations - where other Member States do not agree with France is proving hugely divisive in the EU. www.politico.eu/article/brus...
Reposted by Charlie Maynard
