Westminster Strategic Studies Group

Ny utterly amazing friends @lukeharding1968 and @MariaBotcharova are putting together a panel tonight at @frontlineclub on humanitarian aid to Ukraine. 7 pl and still ticketI’m humbled and inspired by how much they both have done to report from Ukraine and also to stand with its people. And also, I can tell you for a fact there is great craic and also Ukrainian vodka in the Frontline bar after (because I left a bit in the bottle). eventbrite.co.uk/e/panel-dis…

As an AvGeek who also is a journalist, I fully enjoyed this from a friend this morning: David Lammy’s argument “you don’t change a pilot half way though the flight” shows he has zero idea of how aviation works

This was the visual branding for the European Political Community yesterday. One of Liz Truss’s few contributions to the diplomatic world in Downing Street was to veto anything that looked too close to the EU (so blue, stars, Beethoven, &c).

It’s 6:50 am in Armenia’s capital. It’s raining. Absolutely miserable. And I just saw Mark Carney running by. As far as I can tell, he is the *only person* out running in Armenia this morning.

At a bar and ended up chatting with a nice older chap. After a while he took out his book draft on Clausewitz to show us. Where it gets wild is I was drinking with two people who had also written books on Clausewitz. Soon everyone alive will have written a Clausewitz book.

*harbour

Britain is the official, legal and diplomatic, term for the combination of Great Britain and this

I am really hugely proud, and inspired, by my good friend Chris Jones – who tomorrow will be running 26.2 gritty miles through London to mark the anniversary of the death of Paula Heister – my close friend, my son Liam's adoring godmother, and most of all his utterly amazing wife. Many people would understandably have turned inward on an anniversary like this, but Chris – who is never not the best of us – is using it selflessly, to raise pennies (an enormous number of them, too) for @braintumourrsch. This will help not just people who in the future develop brain tumours, but all of us – who have close friends, godparents, spouses. They are the second most common cancer in young adults. And I am so grateful we can all have this chance to support the work of doctors and scientists – just as Paula was both (and many other things besides). Here is his link, if you might be in a place to make any small contribution: justgiving.com/page/marathon…. Godspeed through the streets of London, my friend. i will be there at the end cheering my heart out for you. bbc.com/news/articles/cg54jm…

Paula brought people together, and for the lucky people she chose to be her friend, she threw herself that friendship utterly. She drew people together, and connected the people she loved. Which is why it felt so infinitely right that her father, husband, and close Oxford friends and fencing teammates kept a London pub open a good bit of the way till dawn. CJ’s justgiving page for @braintumourrsch is on an unbelievable £14,432 last I checked. A seven year-old in Dublin just donated his sweets money. His run featured in the BBC’s scene-setter at the start of the marathon coverage - and he has also inspired artwork! One, which I was strictly enjoined to give him at the finish line, from Paula’s proud godson...

tldr: 🌍➕ ✏️ 🟰🏆🎉