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Daniel Lacalle: The US does not need to bow…

The US does not need to bow to Iran’s threats. Every day, the “Hormuz weapon” loses power as American oil production, exports, and alternative routes make the global energy system more resilient. Tehran can rattle the chokepoint, but it can no longer hold the world economy hostage. When a supplier or infrastructure owner stops understanding its position and starts using its initial advantage to damage and blackmail its customers, it is really signing its own death warrant. What looked like dominance becomes a countdown to irrelevance. Graphs via Bloomberg and BNE Intellinews.

Pouria Zeraati: Important/ Trump's post…

Important/ Trump's post: 'Just now had a very good call with Mohammed bin Salman from Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Zayed from the UAE, Emir Tamim bin Hamad from Qatar, Qatar's Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman, Minister Ali Al-Thawadi, Field Marshal Asim Munir from Pakistan, Recep Tayyip Erdogan from Turkey, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi from Egypt, King Abdullah II from Jordan, and the King of Bahrain; about the Islamic Republic and all matters related to a peace agreement. A large part of the deal has practically been negotiated and arranged, just needs to be finalized between the United States, the Islamic Republic, and the other countries I mentioned. Apart from that, I also had a call with Bibi Netanyahu that went very well. Now the details and final parts of the agreement are being reviewed and will be announced soon. One of the important parts of this agreement is that the Strait of Hormuz will be opened.'

June Slater: When you take over a position…

When you take over a position in a company, existing staff show you the ropes. They help during teething period, until you find your feet Very sad to see experienced councillors slapping democracy in the face as their hostile attitude towards new inexperienced councillors entering the chamber impedes the new councillors learning . Find out yourself ... Go look it up ... That's your problem.. That would be disciplinary in the real world. But councils have had their cosy world turned upside down . Their ridiculous spending plain for all to see . I'll take inexperienced and a good heart over protectionism any day of the week. Good luck to all the Reform newbies who have entered the world of debt and destruction and have the courage to try and put it right .

Philip Proudfoot: My thoughts on the vaccine remained…

My thoughts on the vaccine remained the same throughout the whole lockdown shit show. Take it or don’t take it. It’s your choice. If the vaccine worked, it meant that the only people an unvaccinated person was putting at risk was another unvaccinated person. If an unvaccinated person was putting a vaccinated person at risk then the vaccine didn’t work and was a waste of time. Andy Burnham here was another politician displaying a complete lack of critical thinking and following the mass hysteria.

Alex Wickham: Exclusive with @EllenAMilligan…

Exclusive with @EllenAMilligan @europressos The UK-EU summit pencilled in for next month may be postponed until July because of the UK leadership crisis Starmer had held high hopes for the summit, framing it as a big moment to push for closer ties But the Burnham/Streeting move to defenestrate him has hampered officials’ work to prepare Planning has proved difficult to negotiate because Brussels doesn’t believe Starmer’s government will be in place in the coming months, sources said In any case, French and German officials say Britain has to change its red lines on the single market and customs union if it wants a meaningful reset

Dale Vince: Wes Streeting is right about this…

Wes Streeting is right about this - we do tax money made with money at half the rate we tax money made with a pair of hands (quote from my book 2020..:) - it’s part of a broad range of tax issues we need to look at, an inherent inequality. But he’s wrong to present this as a wealth tax. And it’s unhelpful to do so, it might be an attempt to burnish his left wing credentials or just a misunderstanding. Equalising these two starkly different rates of tax is actually just the ending of a loophole for the wealthy, a significant advantage they currently have. We call money made with money (investments/assets..) a Capital Gain whereas money made in a job we call Income. That’s fundamentally unjust. Both are forms of income. Our tax system was written by people with money for people with money and it entrenches wealth, clearly - and increases the wealth poverty gap - year in and out. Tax equality is what this is about - some fundamental fairness.

Alex Wickham: The foreign office has sent...

Exclusive with @EllenAMilligan The foreign office has sent redundancy letters to the Iran crisis team that is leading the UK’s response to the war Around half of the officials in the unit are expected to take up the offer, which comes as part of severe FCDO job cuts The crisis team works around the clock in a windowless bunker to support British nationals and work on policy and scenario planning Officials find out in the coming days if their jobs are being kept or not The redundancies in the Iran team are happening just as Trump mulls new strikes on Tehran and the crisis threatens to escalate
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