Robin Wilson

EU moves to allow two years’ jail for families facing deportation The vote on the return regulation on Monday in the European Parliament civil liberties committee now sets the legal stage for likely deportation facilities abroad, as the European Union cracks down on...

@eppgroup.bsky.social support for the far right on detention of failed asylum-seekers fails to recognise that all EU denizens are protected by ECHR, there are alternatives (eg labour-market integration), this wastes public money & the fascists will just gobble them up: euobserver.com/206195/eu-mo...

Impact of two decades of humanitarian and development assistance and the projected mortality consequences of current defunding to 2030: retrospective evaluation and forecasting analysis ODA funding has played a decisive role in reducing preventable mortality across LMICs over the past two decades, and the abrupt withdrawal of this support threatens to cause millions of avoidable deat...

According to a Lancet Global Health study, >9 million excess deaths will be caused by 2030 by cuts in overseas development assistance, mainly Trump's decision to close USAID: www.thelancet.com/journals/lan... #ODA

Row over EU emissions trading, as industry hits back at chemical lobby The letter signed by 100 European companies and investors rebuffs the anti-emissions trading push from governments and the chemicals lobby — showing that not all European firms are aligned on weakenin...

'Competitiveness' is once more acting as a cypher for EU market deregulation at corporate behest--yet, ironically, this antagonises progressive enterprises, which recognise that regulation brings a competitive 'race to the top', and creates uncertainty among investors: euobserver.com/206244/row-o...

Unlike Past U.S. Conflicts, Iran Attack Is Opposed by Most Americans

No 'rally round the flag' response to Trump's war on Iran to forestall disaster for the GOP in the midterms: www.nytimes.com/2026/03/10/u...

Spain and Norway Expose the Bankruptcy of Europe's Iran Response Europe's response to the US-Israeli strikes on Iran exposes a continent locked in dependency and struggling to find its voice.

Excellent piece on Europe's failure to stand up to Trump: www.socialeurope.eu/spain-and-no...

Costa discrepa de Von der Leyen sobre el ataque a Irán: “La UE debe defender el orden internacional basado en normas” La vicepresidenta comunitaria Teresa Ribera remarca, en el mismo sentido, que “a los abusones no se les hace frente rompiendo las reglas y aceptando el abuso”

The socialist president of the European Council and vice-president of the European Commission have to remind @vonderleyen.ec.europa.eu that the institution she presides over (in increasingly unaccountable fashion) is wedded by the treaties it guards to the rule of law: elpais.com/internaciona...

Stunned, sidelined and disunited: the EU response to Iran war Unable to defend European interests, unwilling to hold Washington and Tel Aviv accountable, and therefore impotent in the face of great-power predation. This failure is not merely moral — it is strate...

Former EU representative to the west bank and Gaza backs Sanchez's demand that the rule of law prevail internationally, but excoriates the EU's lack of commitment to universal norms and so failure to develop coalitions of the willing to overcome the world's autocrats: euobserver.com/206048/stunn...

Shift in the Gulf Stream could signal ocean current collapse Models show that as the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation gets weaker, the Gulf Stream will drift northwards. There are signs that this is already happening, and a more abrupt shift could wa...

Evidence emerges that the #AMOC current preventing Europe from plunging into massively sub-zero temperatures is already weakening: www.newscientist.com/article/2518...

The secret European Commission group driving EU deportations First launched in late 2022, the so-called High Level Network for Returns (HLNR) used the October 7 Hamas terror attack on Israel as a justification to enforce the exchange of data of individuals with...

The moral panic in the EU institutions about 'migrants' has got to such a level that, far from capitalising on the net benefits the evidence shows #refugees bring overall over time, more and more public money is being wasted unaccountably on expensive deportations: euobserver.com/205312/the-s...

Violence on the Campaign Trail Rattles Colombia Ahead of Elections

The only country (thankfully) where the much-vaunted 'Irish peace process' of the 1990s found an echo was, via an Irish EU representative, Colombia. The same cynical treating with paramilitaries, engendering moral hazard, has left the same chronic anomie today: www.nytimes.com/2026/03/08/w...

Spain's migrants welcome amnesty: 'It will help us in every way' Madrid cites humanitarian and economic reasons to give undocumented workers legal status.

GDP is no measure of success in a 'beyond growth' era, but amid the deregulatory mantra of 'competitiveness' in Europe Spain has the only government willing to recognise the 'diversity advantage' (which once made the US 'great') stemming from regulated people movement: www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Trump administration ‘flooding the atmosphere with lies’, Mary Robinson says Former president tells Belfast rally marking International Women’s Day that ‘undermining of the rule of law’ is very worrying for the world

Strong speech to mark International Women's Day in Belfast by Mary Robinson: www.irishtimes.com/ireland/soci... #IWD

What is the Danish immigration model, and does it work? Denmark’s foremost professor of mobility studies decodes a policy that is increasingly touted as a model to emulate

The Danish social democrats have persuaded themselves that their ever-harsher asylum policies are somehow 'progressive'. The only 'sister' party they have persuaded is Labour. Yet all they do is make life tough for asylum-seekers in Denmark, to deter others: www.opendemocracy.net/en/what-is-d...

The chaos of a failed state in Iran would be a perfectly acceptable outcome for Netanyahu | Aluf Benn The Israeli PM’s war on its nemesis is playing well domestically. But real safety for Israelis requires another leader altogether, says says Haaretz editor-in-chief Aluf Benn

Trump may not know why he is attacking Iran but the real mover--Netanyahu--knows exactly what he is doing, as this brilliant liberal-Israeli critique shows: www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Humanity heating planet faster than ever before, study finds Researchers identify sharp rise to about 0.35C every decade, after excluding natural fluctuations such as El Niño

Due to known positive-feedback effects (eg melting ice means less reflection of radiation means more melting ...), the rate of global heating has accelerated to 0.35C per decade--which is catastrophic, as the Earth hurtles past the +1.5C Paris ceiling: www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Live Updates: U.S. Employers Cut Jobs in Sign of a Shakier Economy

The #TrumpSlump is arriving. In an economic environment where mercantilism has replaced Ricardian comparative advantage and and a political milieu in which warmongering has substituted for a Kantian cosmopolitan peace, any rational capitalist will withhold investment: www.nytimes.com/live/2026/03...

BBC says ‘irreversible’ trends mean it will not survive without major overhaul In opening response to charter review, corporation points to ‘mismatch’ between TV licence rules and viewing habits

The BBC needs sustainable funding which does not come from a regressive levy fewer & fewer pay. In the absence of a written UK constitution, it needs legislation to fund it via progressive income taxation, with a guarantee of increases at least matching inflation: www.theguardian.com/media/2026/m...

Shabana Mahmood accused of mimicking Trump as she announces asylum plans Home secretary’s proposals to overhaul immigration system include end to permanent refugee status

A social-democratic (and cheaper) asylum policy would provide for safe & legal entry and promote early integration into the workforce (including for unsuccessful claimants). Ironically, that would--as Spain's xenophilia shows--boost Labour's totemic 'growth': www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

This is a life and death story for the UK – so why is it being brushed under the carpet? | Aditya Chakrabortty The news that healthy life expectancy is in decline in Britain exposes a serious truth about the state we’re in, says Guardian columnist Aditya Chakrabortty

In western Europe's most unequal country (Gini coefficient of income), healthy life expectancy is falling--and that doesn't even make the news: www.theguardian.com/commentisfre... #inequality #health

El 68% de los españoles rechaza la guerra de Trump y Netanyahu Más de la mitad de los entrevistados en una encuesta ‘flash’ aprueba las actuaciones del Gobierno. Feijóo solo recibe el apoyo del 18%. Abrumador repudio al presidente de Estados Unidos

Two-thirds of respondents to poll in Spain express little or no agreement with the US war on Iran, while the way Pablo Sanchez has handled it it attracts four times as much support as does Trump (and more than twice as much as the conservative leader, Feijoo): elpais.com/espana/2026-...

Leak: EPP sparks row with rival deportation bill ahead of crucial parliament vote "It has become evident that the necessary majority for a compromise has not materialised," the centre-right MEP François-Xavier Bellamy said in an email to his counterparts, seen by EUobserver, ahead ...

It's not only despicable that Europe's conservatives are fuelling a moral panic at the expense of the benefits a Europe of hospitality (recognised in internal free movement) would enjoy. It's also politically stupid to legitimise the far-right rivals gobbling them up: euobserver.com/205757/leak-...

Social media plays 'huge role' in promoting traditional gender views, say experts Women's rights' groups worry about consequences of this shift in attitudes.

Nearly one third of young men globally, socialised in a world of unregulated 'social' rather than professional media, now believe a woman should 'obey' a husband--more than twice as many as among men over 60, affected by the earlier feminist movements: www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... #misogyny

Asylum seekers waiting over a year for claim in UK may be allowed to work under new measures Shabana Mahmood hopes to reduce number of claimants in hotels by enabling them to support themselves

One of the oddest subtexts of populist #xenophobia is that some of its outriders are themselves of a migration/refugee background, which clearly they can't integrate and so project on to the detested Other--cf also eg Trump (German) and Farage (Huguenot): www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

How the EU is building a dystopian, surveillance-driven, deportation machine Like much recent EU migration legislation, the proposal was presented without a comprehensive fundamental rights impact assessment. Sixteen UN experts have already raised concerns about its compatibil...

Excellent critique of the official xenophobia in the EU institutions, reflected in the deportation proposals, nullifying the non-refoulement principle for asylum-seekers and pursuing compulsory deportation of failed claimants rather than, eg, labour-market integration: euobserver.com/205537/how-t...

Senegal: Stop jailing people for who they are People in Senegal are being arrested and jailed for who they are. Now a bill could raise sentences to 10 years and criminalize so-called “promotion”. Privacy, equality, and freedom from arbitrary arre...

People in Senegal are being arrested and jailed for who they are. Now a bill could raise sentences to 10 years and criminalize so-called “promotion”. Privacy, equality, and freedom from arbitrary arrest must apply to everyone. Sign. a.allout.org/s/Pa3jX/

Iran Crisis Proves Europe Cannot Delay Its Industrial Transformation The US–Israeli strikes on Iran lay bare every fault line in Europe's energy dependence, industrial fragility, and strategic exposure — and demand an immediate policy response.

Driven by corporate lobbying and conservative leadership, the @ec.europa.eu is driving ideologically for deregulation--just when the #polycrisis demands public investment in, and an industrial policy for, a Europe which can offer a safe haven in a troubled world: www.socialeurope.eu/iran-crisis-...

US troops were told war on Iran was ‘all part of God’s divine plan’, watchdog alleges Religious freedom group says 200 troops sent complaints of superiors using extremist Christian rhetoric to justify war

As Gramsci wrote, every war is a religious war. There is no better way to sanctify the Self and demonise the Other. So it's in a way irrelevant that Trump can't come up with one coherent rationale for the war on Iran among the several he has advanced: www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...

Europe’s voice of moral sense speaks Spanish European leaders have been carefully drafting cautious statements urging 'de-escalation' and 'respect for international law'. But one voice has sounded different. And it speaks Spanish.

Europe's one remaining (for the moment) credible liberal-left leader in power remains its one credible opponent of the far-right duo of Trump and Netanyahu: euobserver.com/205336/europ...

Mahmood’s move to make asylum temporary ‘may undermine refugee convention’ Law Society says home secretary’s review of refugee status after 30 months is in tension with UK’s legal obligations

UK Home Office rehearses the evidence-free claim that 'pull' factors bring asylum-seekers to Britain--the least generous welfare state in north-western Europe--as excuse to abrogate its commitments to refugee integration under the Geneva convention: www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...

Trump Administration, in Apparent Reversal, Tries to Continue Fight Against Law Firms

In a bizarre reversal, Trump's Department of Justice has withdrawn the withdrawal of its appeal against court rulings in favour of law firms he had sought to avenge by decree for perceived personal slights against the monar ... sorry, president: www.nytimes.com/2026/03/03/u...