@edwest

Writer, the Wrong Side of History substack

London
Joined January 2009
Britain is broke. And to fix it, we need to start growing again. Thatโ€™s why Reformโ€™s Economic Rescue Plan includes these 64 pro-growth measures Iโ€™d take if I were Chancellor: ๐—จ๐—ป๐—น๐—ผ๐—ฐ๐—ธ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ก๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐˜๐—ต ๐—ฆ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ 1. Approve Rosebank 2. Restart oil and gas licensing 3. Legalise onshore exploration 4. Abolish the Energy Profits Levy 5. Restore maximum economic extraction as the North Sea regulator's objective ๐—ฅ๐—ฒ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฑ๐˜‚๐˜€๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ฎ๐—น๐—ถ๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—•๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐˜๐—ฎ๐—ถ๐—ป 6. Abolish the Emissions Trading Scheme 7. Halt the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism 8. Repudiate AR7 contracts for difference and scrap AR8 9. Implement the Fingleton Review on nuclear in full 10. Automatically approve French and South Korean nuclear designs ๐—š๐—ฒ๐˜๐˜๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—›๐—ผ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐˜€ ๐—•๐˜‚๐—ถ๐—น๐˜ ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐—ข๐˜‚๐—ฟ ๐—–๐—ถ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐˜€ 11. Cut affordable housing requirements on brownfield sites 12. Permitted Development Right for brownfield housing 13. Repeal Biodiversity Net Gain 14. Exit the Aarhus Convention 15. Repeal and reform the Habitats Regulations, including Nutrient Neutrality 16. End the boiler ban 17. Legalise air conditioning to meet overheating rules 18. Remove mandatory EPC improvements 19. Revoke the Future Homes Standard 20. Repeal the Renters' Rights Act ๐—•๐˜‚๐—ถ๐—น๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—–๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐—น ๐—ก๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ฎ๐—น ๐—œ๐—ป๐—ณ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฟ๐˜‚๐—ฐ๐˜๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐—ฒ 21. Legislate approval for new runways at Heathrow and Gatwick 22. Auction airport landing slots 23. End 'target-consistent' carbon pricing in project evaluation 24. Ban carbon emissions considerations in planning applications 25. Fast-track all water reservoirs as nationally significant projects 26. Make Development Consent Orders a true one-stop shop 27. Restrict judicial review of ministerial planning decisions 28. Scrap Net Zero construction rules 29. Scrap the social value test in procurement 30. Lift launch limits at SaxaVord Spaceport 31. Open completed sections of East-West Rail ๐—๐—ผ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—”๐—œ ๐—ฅ๐—ฒ๐˜ƒ๐—ผ๐—น๐˜‚๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป 32. Review regulatory barriers to AI adoption 33. Permit on-site gas generation for data centres and industry ๐—ฅ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ๐˜‚๐—ฐ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—–๐—ผ๐˜€๐˜ ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐—›๐—ถ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—•๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐˜๐—ถ๐˜€๐—ต ๐—ช๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ธ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€ 34. Cut Employer NI back to 13.8% 35. Introduce a migrant worker levy 36. Repeal the Employment Rights Act 37. Clarify that workplace rights don't require mandatory training courses 38. Let experienced tradesmen work on government contracts without CSCS qualifications ๐—จ๐—ป๐—น๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐˜€๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—–๐—ถ๐˜๐˜† ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—œ๐—ป๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜ ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ฅ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—น ๐—˜๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ผ๐—บ๐˜† 39. Review bank capital requirements to boost lending 40. Rule out Net Zero in financial regulators' remits 41. Repeal climate-related financial disclosure rules ๐—š๐—ฒ๐˜๐˜๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐— ๐—ผ๐˜๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐˜€๐˜๐˜€ ๐— ๐—ผ๐˜ƒ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด 42. Scrap airport 'surface access strategies' 43. Abolish the electric vehicle mandates 44. Apply domestic GB hours to all UK HGV trips 45. Ban Low-Traffic Neighbourhoods 46. Back the M4 Relief Road 47. Move a new car's first MOT to four years 48. Abolish the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation ๐—จ๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—•๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐˜…๐—ถ๐˜ ๐—™๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ๐—ผ๐—บ๐˜€ 49. Replace GDPR with a New Zealand-style Privacy Act 50. Fully re-legalise Imperial units 51. Review all unchanged EU law 52. Automatically repeal remaining EU law in 5 years unless retained ๐—š๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—น ๐——๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ด๐˜‚๐—น๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐˜† ๐— ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐˜€๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐˜€ 53. Make quarterly Making Tax Digital reporting voluntary 54. Reduce legal obligations on SME Non-Executive Directors 55. Double permission-free event days from 28 to 56 56. Make pavement dining licences automatic and permanent 57. Let shops open until 10pm, except Sundays 58. Repeal board diversity and inclusion rules 59. Remove the Sustainable Aviation Fuel mandate 60. Abolish the packaging tax 61. Scrap BBC and Channel 4 priority on streaming platforms 62. Remove the Public Sector Equality Duty 63. Five-year sunset on all QUANGOs 64. Five-year sunset clause on all new regulations And there are more to come! Britainโ€™s full potential is waiting to be unleashed ๐Ÿš€
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100%. Bringing over instinctively moderate but status-conscious people is the only way to avoid further mistakes that make life worse for all of us. (Besides which, Syed has long been critical of high immigration and multiculturalism) xitter.cf/undersneege/status/210โ€ฆ
Matthew Syed gives people a permission structure to circumvent their friend-enemy distinction and people shouldnโ€™t counter signal him as much as they do. He will make more moderate tories and lib dems consider their position than almost any one else in the public sphere.
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Newspapers (and magazines pretending to be newpapers) should be applauded for publishing uncomfortable data that goes against how they would like to see the world xitter.cf/ecurrnomics/status/211โ€ฆ
The Economist's estimate of Britain's age- and sex-standardised conviction rates for sexual offences by the offender's nationality economist.com/britain/2026/1โ€ฆ
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This is Fadi al-Halsa, a young Orthodox Christian (Rum Orthodox) dentist from Karak, Jordan who only just graduated from Alexandria University's dental school this year. Instead of celebrating his bright future, Fadi's parents and two sisters are now laying him to rest. Fadi was martyred in the Karak Saint George Church terrorist attack in Jordan.
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Ed West retweeted
This is a wonderful Rorschach test
Disgusting insinuation in this campaign. Absolutely appalling @MayorofLondon @TfL @ACT
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Whatever department of the BBC is responsible for churning out these sorts of news stories, shut it down bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c60qโ€ฆ
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Most of the BBC website could be completely shut down, except for a small hard news section and an archive of documentaries edwest.co.uk/p/the-bbc-needsโ€ฆ
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Hats off to Captain Blunt of the Life Guards ๐Ÿซก
Before he sang โ€œYouโ€™re Beautiful,โ€ James Blunt says he was ordered to overpower 200 Russian soldiers at an airport in Kosovo. He questioned the order. Then a British general came on the radio. It was June 1999. Blunt was 25, serving as a British Army officer near the front of a NATO force advancing toward Pristina airport. Russian troops had arrived first. According to Blunt, they pointed their weapons at his men and warned them against entering. The instruction he says came down from NATO commander General Wesley Clark was to โ€œoverrun and overpower the Russians.โ€ Blunt had armed troops behind him. The Russians were standing in front of them. Carrying out the order risked turning a dispute over an airport into a direct military confrontation. He began questioning the instructions. Then General Mike Jackson intervened. At the Oxford Union, Blunt recalled Jacksonโ€™s words: โ€œI will not have my soldiers be responsible for starting World War III.โ€ The troops pulled back and surrounded the airfield. Blunt says that two days later, the Russians asked to share their food and water. The British response was that they could share supplies if the Russians shared access to the airport. The wider standoff still required negotiations. It would be misleading to say one young officer settled the entire crisis himself. But listen to how Blunt tells the story. He calls it the moment of his life he would most like to be remembered for. Then, after describing the confrontation, he makes a point of giving Jackson the credit. The famous singer is telling the audience to remember someone elseโ€™s name.
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Belgium, you may be interested to know, is tied with Ireland for the #2 spot on V-Dem's Freedom of Expression Index. I love political science.
Belgium is preparing a criminal case against philosopher @nathancofnas that could result in up to 3 years of jail time. Why jail a philosopher? Because Cofnas has argued that some race differences in psychological traits might be due to genetic differences. And this allegedly violates a new law that Belgium passed a month ago against 'dissemination of racial ideas' and 'incitement to discrimination or racial hatred'. Here @Rosalind_Arden_ breaks down this strange story of censorship, retaliation, and institutional bullying of scholars who address taboo topics.
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Ed West retweeted
King Abdullah of Jordan โ€œ We will show them โ€ Itโ€™s heartwarming to see how this attack brought the Jordanians closer together and Iโ€™m sure the terrorists will be brought to justice soon . #Jordan
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Incredible detail about Chris Wickham from his Guardian obit theguardian.com/books/2026/oโ€ฆ
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Considering how regularly movies about WW2 are churned out, it's remarkable that this story hasn't been turned into one yet.
In 1941, a Spaniard walked into the British embassy in Madrid and offered to spy on the Nazis. The British turned him down. So he went to the Germans instead, pretended to be a loyal fascist, and got hired as a German spy. His plan was to lie to them for the rest of the war. It worked better than anyone could have imagined. His name was Juan Pujol Garcรญa. Before the war he had tried his hand at running a chicken farm and a movie theater. He had no spy training. What he had was a deep hatred of both fascism and communism after the Spanish Civil War, and an incredible imagination. The Germans gave him a codename, invisible ink, money, and orders to go to Britain and recruit spies. He didn't go to Britain. He went to Lisbon, Portugal, and made everything up. Using a tourist guidebook, maps, magazines, newsreels, and a British railway timetable from the library, he wrote long, detailed reports about life in England. Military movements. Morale. Ports. He'd never been there. He made mistakes. He didn't understand British money. He once reported that dockworkers in Glasgow would do anything for a liter of wine. The Germans loved him anyway. Then British codebreakers reading German messages noticed something strange. The Germans were hunting for a convoy that didn't exist, based on a report from some agent in Britain they'd never heard of. The British went looking for this mystery spy. They found Pujol. In 1942 they finally took him on and brought him to London. Now he had real help. MI5 gave him the codename Garbo, after the actress, because they thought he was the greatest actor in the world. Together with his British handler, Pujol built a fake spy network for the Germans. It eventually had 27 imaginary agents. Each had a name, a personality, a job, and a backstory. A Welsh nationalist. A Venezuelan student. A Greek sailor. Some of them recruited their own imaginary sub-agents. When they needed to explain why one agent had gone quiet, they killed him off. They even put a fake obituary in a Liverpool newspaper. The Germans reportedly paid a pension to his widow. Who also didn't exist. Then came D-Day. Hours before the landings, the British let Pujol send a message warning the Germans that the invasion was coming in Normandy. It was timed so it would arrive too late to matter, but it made him look brilliant. Three days later he sent the most important message of his career. Normandy was a trick, he said. The real invasion was still coming, at Calais, led by a huge army under General Patton. That army was fake too. But the Germans believed him. German forces that could have been rushed to Normandy were held back near Calais for weeks, waiting for an attack that never came. The Germans were so grateful they awarded him the Iron Cross. A few months later, King George VI made him a Member of the Order of the British Empire. He's one of the only people known to have been decorated by both sides of the war. After the war, afraid of revenge from surviving Nazis, he faked his own death from malaria in Africa and disappeared to Venezuela, where he lived quietly running a shop. For decades the world thought he was dead. In 1984, a British writer tracked him down. Pujol came back to Normandy for the 40th anniversary of D-Day and met veterans who had landed on the beaches. Some of them thanked him.
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The King of Jordan has been a steadfast friend to Christians and helped rebuild the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. The Greek Orthodox parish attacked in Karak during a funeral(!) reminds us that vile terrorism has never gone away.
The terrorist attack against Karak will be met with the harshest retaliation. Those who delude themselves into thinking that they can divide Jordanians with their bullets have no chance in the face of our unity. All Jordanians, from north to south, are partners in land and fate, and nothing stands between them. Our deepest condolences to the families of the martyrs and we wish a speedy recovery to those injured. Every Jordanian life is precious, and we will strike with an iron fist against those who dare to threaten our nation
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True in Spain too. Every landlord in Madrid and Barcelona screens the renters now. This is an obvious consequence of rent control. The most vulnerable, ostensible protected by the legislation, are in fact excluded from the rental market: if you cannot be evicted for non payment, then you are too risky a renter.
A friend of mine had to do a 15 minute interview about his job, income, previous rental history, etc, in order to *view* a flat. Luckily for him, he has a well-paid job, has lived in England all his life, and an impeccable rental history. I feel bad for people who don't.
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ื”ืžื•ื–ื™ืื•ืŸ ื”ื™ื”ื•ื“ื™ ืฉืœ ืขื™ืจืืง ื ืคืชื— ื”ื™ื•ื ืœืจืืฉื•ื ื” ื‘ืžืจื›ื– ื”ื‘ื™ืจื” ื‘ื’ื“ืื“. ื”ื•ื ืฉื•ื›ืŸ ื‘ืžื‘ื ื” ืฉืฉื™ืžืฉ ื‘ืขื‘ืจ ืืช ื‘ื™ืช ื”ืกืคืจ ื”ื™ื”ื•ื“ื™ "ืฉืžืืฉ" ื‘ืจื—ื•ื‘ ื-ืจืฉื™ื“. ื”ืžื‘ื ื” ืฉื•ืคืฅ ื‘ืžื™ื•ื—ื“ ืœืฆื•ืจืš ื–ื”. ื‘ืžื•ื–ื™ืื•ืŸ ืžื•ืฆื’ื™ื ืžืกืžื›ื™ื, ืคืจื˜ื™ ืœื‘ื•ืฉ, ืกืคืจื™ ืงื•ื“ืฉ, ืชืฉืžื™ืฉื™ ืงื“ื•ืฉื” ื•ืกืจื˜ื•ื ื™ื ืžื—ื™ื™ ื”ืงื”ื™ืœื” ื‘ืžืื” ื”ืขืฉืจื™ื. ื‘ื™ื•ืžื• ื”ืจืืฉื•ืŸ ืฉืœ ื”ืžื•ื–ื™ืื•ืŸ ื”ื’ื™ืขื• ืืœื™ื• ืืœืฃ ืžื‘ืงืจื™ื - ืจื•ื‘ื ืœื ื™ื”ื•ื“ื™ื. ืืช ื”ื”ืงืžื” ื•ื”ืฉื™ืคื•ืฅ ื‘ื™ืฆืขื” ื”ืงื”ื™ืœื” ื”ื™ื”ื•ื“ื™ืช ื”ืงื˜ื ื” ื‘ืขื™ืจืืง ืฉื”ื™ื ื’ื ื‘ืขืœืช ื”ืžื‘ื ื”
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Kennington Bowl Skatepark, a little taste of the Bay Area in south London xitter.cf/lambeth_council/statusโ€ฆ
Shell, with Headquarters in Lambeth, made ยฃ7.4 billion in 3 months ๐Ÿคฏ This is a climate emergency ๐ŸŒ We are asking Shell to contribute to Lambethโ€™s climate resilience plan, in proportion to its share of global emissions ๐Ÿ’ฐ It's time they helped pay to protect Lambeth ๐Ÿซต
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