Just sent this briefing note about tomorrow's Alaska/Russia summit. The USA is now an agent to transfer Ukrainian territory to Russia, and the post 1945/1989 Europe is over. The new one will not be so nice--but no one (outside of Ukraine) seems willing to fight for the old one.

It's official: in the first half of 2025 the UK economy has already beaten the OBR's forecast for the whole year. However much the Conservatives may wish otherwise, it's now very likely that the OBR will be revising UP its estimates for 2025 in the Budget.

Excellent work by the BBC in finding a way to avoid saying growth recovered strongly in June, or the economy grew faster than forecast in Q2, or it grew by as much in half a year as the OBR forecast for the whole year.

Politics aside, I see two very decent men here. The very opposite of the two narcissists meeting in Alaska tomorrow.

Non-dom exodus anecdotage overdone, reports FT ft.com/content/14420f…

The initial reporting and analysis of the Russian infiltration exercise north of Pokrovsk was bizarrely one sided--the analytical community as always seems set on praising Russian military excellence, and dooming on Ukraine.

Every word of this from Lewis Goodall I’ve lived in London for over 40 years. I policed it for over 25 years. Mrs S & I have raised our three girls here. And, for all its failings, it bears no resemblance to the caricatures painted by those with fear & division-stoking agendas.

More antisemitism spread by Neil Oliver. Macron is a “Manchurian candidate” programmed by Rothschilds & other Jewish bankers. The Candace Owens libel case should be big for @gbnews. She’s married to a member of the board. Might be a second libel case in this deranged material.

The Twilight of Nicola Sturgeon My review of Frankly jkrowling.com/in-my-own-word…

It’s far from a bad idea is obviously not costless. Note however the views of those aged 65 and over: not only a cosseted & privileged generation, whose state pensions are still protected by the indefensible triple lock, but an exceptionally selfish one.

The BBC’s 1995 film of Persuasion is on iPlayer. Probably the best Austen adaptation I’ve seen. Every shot a thing of beauty.

No. In chess, the players are on opposite sides, not the same side.

Not too subtle from Lavrov, wearing a sweatshirt with the logo of the last incarnation of the Russian empire on it. The current Kremlin regime is imperialist to the core.

Matt Forde Do you think the book festival would like me to appear and do a reading of it?

Trump must excuse Putin’s crimes or his own justification for seizing power in the US will fall apart Piece from me on the radical right and Russian imperialism open.substack.com/pub/nickcohen/…

In other words what Trump is saying is that he and Putin will agree on what they want Ukraine to give to Russia, then Ukraine will have to decide to give it or not--and if its doesnt, the unspoken point is that the US gets back to business with Russia.

Thinking of my grandfather today, a rubber planter who served with the Johore Volunteers, was captured at the fall of Singapore and spent more than 3 years as a guest of the Japanese; his life, like so many others, almost certainly saved by the atom bomb.

Good piece by Nick Cohen on how the political narrative of Trump, Vance, Farage, Orbán and their wannabe imitators would fall apart if they told the truth about Russian imperialism: open.substack.com/pub/nickcohen/…

"Europe's hour of reckoning may be approaching faster than the public realises," writes Franz-Stefan Gady for Financial Times. "Europeans need to make it clear to Russia that they mean business, which means deploying or threatening to deploy combat formations to Ukraine." ft.com/content/a6aa0a…