I’m getting to re-live lots of my schoolboy German of late, as part of my contribution to home-schooling. The title – which basically means “appearance, not substance” – sticks in the mind because it’s rhyming, but also because it turns out to be apposite in many instances. Right now, it’s in my head because I’m […]
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This post originally appeared on the UK in a Changing Europe website. The return of Boris Johnson and Dominic Cummings to Number 10 has seen a significant ramping-up of the British rhetoric on the negotiations around the future partnership with the EU. That’s not merely meant stronger words about refusing an extension of the talks, […]
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Of all the people to be locked down with, I’m really happy it’s with my family. That’s not just because we all get on with each other very well, but also because my wife is a health psychologist. That means we’ve had lots of discussions about coronavirus, looking at it from very different perspectives and […]
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As much as people talk about Brexit at all right now, much of what you hear is the cry that an extension of the Withdrawal Agreement’s transition period must happen. I’ve not seen a single industry representative, negotiation expert or academic say anything different for the past month, and I’m not about to go against […]
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In lieu of a read-through of the leaked Commission draft, or a consideration of an extension to transition, I’m thinking today about scale. Mainly because it’s really hard to concentrate on things during a lockdown. Indeed, I’ve been more struck by the recalcitrant attitude of some acquaintances towards coronavirus than by my occasional trips to […]
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As many better scholars than me have noted, it’s hard not to get caught up in a social panic. Just I’ve written many posts about “why is anyone thinking about anything but Brexit?”, so I now get to read endless materials about how coronavirus is the only thing that matters. Yesterday’s budget is a case […]
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