Excellent chart showing how, while the US and China reduced their trade co-dependencies between 2018-23, the EU considerably increased its economic engagement with China. A fundamental impediment of conflicting interests to greater US-EU China policy alignment.

New pod with Katy Balls and James Heale, discussing Starmer's trip to Germany, and the new government's wider efforts to reset relations with European partners. spectator.co.uk/podcast/whats-…

🎙️NEW PODCAST🎙️ Back-to-school briefing for Westminster! Feat Stephen Bush & Katy Balls on Labour & the Tories ... Ben Zaranko on the budget ... Eli Stokols on the US election ... Shawn Pogatchnik on the Irish election ... & Sophia Gaston on geopolitics👇 politico.eu/podcast/westmi…

Delighted to join this tour de force of the Prime Minister's in-tray, rollicking through the enormous number of geopolitical issues the new government must grapple with.

This ambition cannot be achieved without Britain, so I think this should be read as a positive signal of a new appetite to pursue UK-EU defence cooperation. But on this matter, Brussels must move first.

How should the new UK Government deal with China? Early decisions will be crucial to our odds of competing effectively and engaging with confidence. New from me and Justin Bassi on how Labour can learn from the experience of its Australian friends. spectator.co.uk/article/how-la…

Great to write with Sophia Gaston on how the new UK govt should deal with a disruptive & antagonistic China: “If Starmer and his team are looking for a practical example of what does & doesn’t work with China, they should study the experience of their Australian counterparts.” ⤵️

The new PM has inherited an unwieldy geopolitical in-tray. Chief among the issues is the question of how to deal with China. A successful British approach must be hard-nosed, strategic, allied & proactive. A playbook in The Spectator from Justin Bassi and me: spectator.co.uk/article/how-la…

In 2017-8, I spent time in East Germany for a project exploring 'left behinds' and the rise of European populism. In Britain and France, this meant de-industrialised towns. In Germany there was a current, literal dimension to this, which intensified both the stakes and sentiment.

Excellent new podcast series 📻 from peter pomerantsev & Anne Applebaum on the banal origins and disturbing consequences of democratic degradation. A must listen.

Fascinating and rare public conversation between the Mi6 and CIA chiefs just now at Kenwood. Particularly interesting to hear their careful framing of China's support for Russia's war against Ukraine, which is precise but doesn't shy from the significance. youtube.com/live/rp5PeoAW6…

Britain is absolutely smashing the Paralympics, and our successes here are not an accident. They tell a story about our values and social infrastructure. Really something to be proud of 🇬🇧♥️

This is the key line from the FT op-ed by Bill Burns and Richard Moore. Our intelligence and security services have been explicit and consistent in raising the alarm. And yet again and again, the mission to recalibrate government to reflect this reality is an uphill battle.