Labour’s decision to prevent Andy Burnham from standing in a safe by election was framed as procedural. The backlash from MPs, unions, and activists suggests something deeper: a party that has learned to prioritise internal control over confidence in its own coalition.
Europe’s response to Donald Trump’s return is not pragmatic alliance management but a doctrine of appeasement. Repeated concessions to Washington have hardened dependency into habit, hollowed out sovereignty, empowered internal veto holders, and trained institutions to avoid using their own power. This essay explains how appeasement to Trump became path dependent and why it now functions as managed decline.
The twenty eight point peace plan now on the table does not end the Ukraine war on Western terms. It writes into law what the battlefield has already decided. Ukraine is pushed out of NATO, loses more land, and becomes a neutral buffer, while Europe discovers it was collateral in a project that overreached from the start.
For two years Western governments and media promised victory in Ukraine, portraying Russia as weak and isolated. That narrative has collapsed. Sanctions failed, NATO’s industrial base faltered, and the battlefield turned. Europe faces de-industrialisation while Russia’s economy and army expand. The press that once sold triumph now prepares audiences for retreat, conditioning the public for a negotiated peace — one dictated on Moscow’s terms, not Washington’s.