Professor Christopher Painter
@prfchrispainter.bsky.social
Politics and statecraft. Beware of blind alleys serving nefarious interests. Emeritus Professor, BCU. Posts in a personal capacity, as an academic and citizen.
Far from Making America Great Again, Trump provides an exemplar of the strategic folly invariably accompanying unchecked power. The United States - and rest of us - are paying a heavy price for the abandonment of virtually every constititional principle that underpinned the American Republic.
September 16, 2026 at 6:12 AM
Far from Making America Great Again, Trump provides an exemplar of the strategic folly invariably accompanying unchecked power. The United States - and rest of us - are paying a heavy price for the abandonment of virtually every constititional principle that underpinned the American Republic.
Trump is an utter fool, convinced the only valid repository of knowledge lies in his gut and totally incapable of absorbing actual evidence.
BBC News - www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cm...
Trump criticises AI boss who called for slowdown and says only guardrail needed is a 'smart president' - BBC News
BBC News - www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cm...
Trump criticises AI boss who called for slowdown and says only guardrail needed is a 'smart president' - BBC News
Trump criticises AI boss who called for slowdown and says only guardrail needed is a 'smart president'
Stock markets fall in the US, Europe and Asia as Anthropic boss Dario Amodei says AI development should be slowed "to reduce the risk that something goes seriously wrong".
www.bbc.co.uk
September 14, 2026 at 3:35 PM
Trump is an utter fool, convinced the only valid repository of knowledge lies in his gut and totally incapable of absorbing actual evidence.
BBC News - www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cm...
Trump criticises AI boss who called for slowdown and says only guardrail needed is a 'smart president' - BBC News
BBC News - www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cm...
Trump criticises AI boss who called for slowdown and says only guardrail needed is a 'smart president' - BBC News
Democracy for sale! Burnham urgently has to get his act together on capping political donations.
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Christopher Harborne matches £36m Reform donation of Ben Delo
Party leader, Nigel Farage, ‘humbled’ by contributions from billionaires as Harborne addresses ‘media speculation’
www.theguardian.com
September 13, 2026 at 6:16 AM
Democracy for sale! Burnham urgently has to get his act together on capping political donations.
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Quite apart from the fact that no one can believe a word Trump says, any blatant attempt by him to bribe American voters for the mid-terms will be more than offset by the inflationary effects - reflected in prices and interest rates - of his reckless domestic policies and foreign adventures.
September 11, 2026 at 6:20 AM
Quite apart from the fact that no one can believe a word Trump says, any blatant attempt by him to bribe American voters for the mid-terms will be more than offset by the inflationary effects - reflected in prices and interest rates - of his reckless domestic policies and foreign adventures.
As expensive, disrupted and extraordinarily damaging fossil fuels are eclipsed by renewable sources of energy, Trump celebrates a neo-colonial deal to access Venezuelan oil and gas (which will take some years to come to fruition). Nothing spells political dinosaur more than this foolhardy obsession!
September 3, 2026 at 6:27 AM
As expensive, disrupted and extraordinarily damaging fossil fuels are eclipsed by renewable sources of energy, Trump celebrates a neo-colonial deal to access Venezuelan oil and gas (which will take some years to come to fruition). Nothing spells political dinosaur more than this foolhardy obsession!
Something both Trump and Putin need to get into their stubborn heads. You cannot simply bully other countries into doing your bidding!
August 28, 2026 at 8:32 AM
Something both Trump and Putin need to get into their stubborn heads. You cannot simply bully other countries into doing your bidding!
Conflicts and disputes in which Trump is involved - Gaza, Iran, tariffs - are never resolved. They continue to fester. Confrontation rather than conciliation is his default position. Where decisive intervention would make a difference, he's a pussy to malign autocrats or never-ending war merchants.
August 25, 2026 at 5:51 AM
Conflicts and disputes in which Trump is involved - Gaza, Iran, tariffs - are never resolved. They continue to fester. Confrontation rather than conciliation is his default position. Where decisive intervention would make a difference, he's a pussy to malign autocrats or never-ending war merchants.
Yet more lives lost because of the total irresponsibility of social media platforms and their owners. This posting anarchy simply cannot be allowed to carry on.
BBC News - UK minister urges social media firms to remove dangerous driving videos
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
BBC News - UK minister urges social media firms to remove dangerous driving videos
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
UK minister urges social media firms to remove dangerous driving videos
Defence minister Luke Pollard says "there's no place" for social media trend showing people driving the wrong way down roads.
www.bbc.co.uk
August 24, 2026 at 11:41 AM
Yet more lives lost because of the total irresponsibility of social media platforms and their owners. This posting anarchy simply cannot be allowed to carry on.
BBC News - UK minister urges social media firms to remove dangerous driving videos
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
BBC News - UK minister urges social media firms to remove dangerous driving videos
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Commission an immediate public inquiry to ensure we never see a tragic death like Dr Arday's again. goodlawproject.org/s/abb8a1
Jason Arday: Demand a public inquiry now | Good Law Project
Commission an immediate public inquiry into how to ensure a responsible press given its contribution to Dr Arday’s tragic death.
goodlawproject.org
August 16, 2026 at 4:25 PM
Commission an immediate public inquiry to ensure we never see a tragic death like Dr Arday's again. goodlawproject.org/s/abb8a1
So many recent problems are due to disregard for mainstream scientific, economic and diplomatic advice: austerity; Brexit; a botched Covid pandemic; climate emergency; and strategically catastrophic wars. Special interests or political hubris have prevailed. Trump has epitomised this new Dark Age.
August 12, 2026 at 7:24 AM
So many recent problems are due to disregard for mainstream scientific, economic and diplomatic advice: austerity; Brexit; a botched Covid pandemic; climate emergency; and strategically catastrophic wars. Special interests or political hubris have prevailed. Trump has epitomised this new Dark Age.
The theory that Great Powers can impose their will on others with impunity in the context of a collapsing international order is starting to look seriously suspect, what with Russia's gridlock in Ukraine and Trump's strategic humiliation in Iran.
August 11, 2026 at 5:58 AM
The theory that Great Powers can impose their will on others with impunity in the context of a collapsing international order is starting to look seriously suspect, what with Russia's gridlock in Ukraine and Trump's strategic humiliation in Iran.
Re-watched Oscar-winning film, The Deer Hunter. How the Vietnam war tore apart the lives of a friendship group; indeed a war tearing apart American society. Fast forward to 2026. Not only do we have a President who was a draft dodger at that time, but has torn US society apart all over again.
August 9, 2026 at 7:12 AM
Re-watched Oscar-winning film, The Deer Hunter. How the Vietnam war tore apart the lives of a friendship group; indeed a war tearing apart American society. Fast forward to 2026. Not only do we have a President who was a draft dodger at that time, but has torn US society apart all over again.
Putin has calculated that time is on his side in Ukraine. Ukraine's allies need to ensure instead that, as time goes by, Putin's terrorist state becomes progressively more vulnerable.
www.theguardian.com/world/2026/a...
www.theguardian.com/world/2026/a...
Nato to ‘urgently’ get air defences for Ukraine, as Zelenskyy warns of surge in Russian missile production
After Ukraine failed to shoot down a single ballistic missile fired by Russia on Wednesday, the president urged allies to increase supplies of Patriot interceptors
www.theguardian.com
August 6, 2026 at 7:07 AM
Putin has calculated that time is on his side in Ukraine. Ukraine's allies need to ensure instead that, as time goes by, Putin's terrorist state becomes progressively more vulnerable.
www.theguardian.com/world/2026/a...
www.theguardian.com/world/2026/a...
This is not 'pragmatism'. It is gross irresponsibility in view of the extreme weather events of this Summer. It will merely add to the net global sum of carbon emissions, when the imperative is to do exactly the opposite.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Burnham promises ‘pragmatic’ approach to North Sea oil and gas
PM tells reporters the government cannot ignore the energy resource ‘when people are struggling’
www.theguardian.com
July 31, 2026 at 5:57 AM
This is not 'pragmatism'. It is gross irresponsibility in view of the extreme weather events of this Summer. It will merely add to the net global sum of carbon emissions, when the imperative is to do exactly the opposite.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Political bounces these days two a penny. What that suggests is voters are attracted to novelty, looking for immediate outcomes well nigh impossible to deliver, given prevailing financial and geopolitical realities. Marginal resource shifts are no substitute for longer-term structural reforms.
July 29, 2026 at 10:45 AM
Political bounces these days two a penny. What that suggests is voters are attracted to novelty, looking for immediate outcomes well nigh impossible to deliver, given prevailing financial and geopolitical realities. Marginal resource shifts are no substitute for longer-term structural reforms.
Starmer got it right on Ukraine; Trump fundamentally mis-read the omens. Starmer got it right on Iran; Trump, by contrast, sinking in a quagmire of forever Middle East wars.
July 16, 2026 at 3:59 PM
Starmer got it right on Ukraine; Trump fundamentally mis-read the omens. Starmer got it right on Iran; Trump, by contrast, sinking in a quagmire of forever Middle East wars.
Everything touched by 2nd Trump presidency has proved a fiasco: DOGE: ICE; tariff policy; fossil fuels; undermined confidence in vaccines; cultural dumbing down; alienated allies; claiming Ukraine had no cards to play; Middle East intervention; Board of Peace; and corrupting FIFA World Cup rules.
July 8, 2026 at 6:19 AM
Everything touched by 2nd Trump presidency has proved a fiasco: DOGE: ICE; tariff policy; fossil fuels; undermined confidence in vaccines; cultural dumbing down; alienated allies; claiming Ukraine had no cards to play; Middle East intervention; Board of Peace; and corrupting FIFA World Cup rules.
The world will only become a safer place once Netanyahu, Putin and Trump have all been removed from office. They are looking politically vulnerable, because of the impact on themselves, but also on each other, of their respective strategic military follies.
June 26, 2026 at 3:23 PM
The world will only become a safer place once Netanyahu, Putin and Trump have all been removed from office. They are looking politically vulnerable, because of the impact on themselves, but also on each other, of their respective strategic military follies.
A fly on the wall insight on just one dimension of the fractured world in which Starmer had to try to effectively operate: Trump's White House cesspit. Shocking, even withstanding all that we already know.
Tina Brown on Trump’s second term
observer.co.uk/culture/book...
Tina Brown on Trump’s second term
observer.co.uk/culture/book...
Tina Brown on Trump’s second term | The Observer
The former New Yorker editor reads the definitive account of how the 47th president learned to govern on impulse, greed and revenge
observer.co.uk
June 24, 2026 at 3:07 PM
A fly on the wall insight on just one dimension of the fractured world in which Starmer had to try to effectively operate: Trump's White House cesspit. Shocking, even withstanding all that we already know.
Tina Brown on Trump’s second term
observer.co.uk/culture/book...
Tina Brown on Trump’s second term
observer.co.uk/culture/book...
Good to see a front-line commentator pouring cold water on the fatally flawed idea of a Burnham coronation.
Remember Gordon! Why Labour should take a beat before parachuting in Andy Burnham
observer.co.uk/news/columni...
Remember Gordon! Why Labour should take a beat before parachuting in Andy Burnham
observer.co.uk/news/columni...
Remember Gordon! Why Labour should take a beat before par...
There are considerable risks to installing the new MP for Makerfield at Number 10 without a searching test of his mettle
observer.co.uk
June 21, 2026 at 11:16 AM
Good to see a front-line commentator pouring cold water on the fatally flawed idea of a Burnham coronation.
Remember Gordon! Why Labour should take a beat before parachuting in Andy Burnham
observer.co.uk/news/columni...
Remember Gordon! Why Labour should take a beat before parachuting in Andy Burnham
observer.co.uk/news/columni...
Precedents suggest those constantly on manoeuvres to occupy the highest political office in the land rarely turn out to be the national saviours they perceive themselves to be.
June 18, 2026 at 6:37 AM
Precedents suggest those constantly on manoeuvres to occupy the highest political office in the land rarely turn out to be the national saviours they perceive themselves to be.
It's now becoming abundantly clear not only that Trump's intervention in the Middle East turned out to be an embarrassing strategic calamity for the United States, but also that Trump is losing his bet on Putin having the stronger hand in Ukraine.
June 15, 2026 at 7:14 AM
It's now becoming abundantly clear not only that Trump's intervention in the Middle East turned out to be an embarrassing strategic calamity for the United States, but also that Trump is losing his bet on Putin having the stronger hand in Ukraine.
A very welcome piece demonstrating how far-right culture war claims are driven by ideology not evidence. The real threat to civilisation is when we allow these ideologues to erase the truth.
observer.co.uk/news/politic...
observer.co.uk/news/politic...
‘Two-tier Britain’? The reality is far more complicated t...
The idea of “two-tier” public services has been weaponised by right-wingers wanting to whip up “pure cold rage” against immigrants, but in so many areas the concept simply does not stand up to scrutin...
observer.co.uk
June 11, 2026 at 2:45 PM
A very welcome piece demonstrating how far-right culture war claims are driven by ideology not evidence. The real threat to civilisation is when we allow these ideologues to erase the truth.
observer.co.uk/news/politic...
observer.co.uk/news/politic...
Badenoch chasing Farage; Farage chasing Lowe; Lowe chasing Robinson. All chasing one another in a downward, self-defeating and ugly spiral.
June 10, 2026 at 7:32 AM
Badenoch chasing Farage; Farage chasing Lowe; Lowe chasing Robinson. All chasing one another in a downward, self-defeating and ugly spiral.
The D-Day landings were infinitely more successful than the debaclè over which Hegseth has presided in the Middle East!
BBC News - Hegseth attacks Europe over migration with beach 'invasion' D-Day speech
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
BBC News - Hegseth attacks Europe over migration with beach 'invasion' D-Day speech
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Hegseth attacks Europe over migration with beach 'invasion' D-Day speech
The US defence secretary was speaking in Normandy, 82 years after allied forces launched their operation to liberate Nazi-occupied north-western Europe.
www.bbc.co.uk
June 7, 2026 at 6:32 AM
The D-Day landings were infinitely more successful than the debaclè over which Hegseth has presided in the Middle East!
BBC News - Hegseth attacks Europe over migration with beach 'invasion' D-Day speech
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
BBC News - Hegseth attacks Europe over migration with beach 'invasion' D-Day speech
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...