‘Has he gotten back to our box note?’ we asked, sitting around the Cabinet room table, July 2020, the middle of the day on a Thursday. ‘No, sorry. He’s in his office reading The Spectator’ replied the then-Prime Minister’s private secretary. This same month, Rishi Sunak (then Chancellor)
- I have no ill-will towards Boris. I left No. 10 of my own accord in January 2021, on good terms with all of his team I worked with, and I have a signed 10 Downing Street thank you letter from him hung on the wall of my apartment: https://public.3.basecamp.com/p/bLhPAmxiBUkpyfb2V4DV8jyX
I simply think, in a democratic country, we should have transparency as to what’s led to our support for a war – and that our media should report faithfully on it.
- I do not have any animus to hit back against Fraser because of nasty columns attacking Dominic. (I was not involved in No. 10 Covid policy.)
- I do not have a deep-seated (or deranged) desire to be published in The Spectator such that my writing being passed on has led to bitterness that has caused this chronology in reply. I only drafted my chronology about diplomatic attempts in the first place because there was such a striking editorial gap (which The Spectator’s own Ukrainian columnist has herself now conceded), after weeks of attempting to raise awareness of the information, distributing it widely in hopes others would write about it.
- I have to thank The Spectator’s editorial and fact-checking team. I was pushed to make the piece I wrote (and ultimately made a video of) significantly better, and to find primary sources for every single thing I included – which I did. Reading the magazine is a continued apprenticeship for all of my own writing.
- I consider that Fraser at 30 years old, in my shoes here, would do the same as I am now. When it comes to topics of this importance, Fraser has (commendably) always put accountability above any individual relationship. I am in the further fortunate position of being close to journalism, but not being dependent on it for my livelihood – such that I can speak up.
1) At the end of the day the fighting primarily needs to be done by the main belligerents. People aren't going to want to hear this, but Ukraine was a dysfunctional and divided state in the midst of something like a civil war.
2) GDP turns out not to be as obvious a metric for military power as people would like it to be. Facebook stock might be worth almost $1T, but it produces zero 155mm shells nor could its resources be retooled to do so. Even if we have a 40:1 GDP advantage, it doesn't necessarily mean much.
3) China can supply whatever components we think we can cut off via sanctions, and they will.
Further notes:
- I have no ill-will towards Boris. I left No. 10 of my own accord in January 2021, on good terms with all of his team I worked with, and I have a signed 10 Downing Street thank you letter from him hung on the wall of my apartment: https://public.3.basecamp.com/p/bLhPAmxiBUkpyfb2V4DV8jyX
I simply think, in a democratic country, we should have transparency as to what’s led to our support for a war – and that our media should report faithfully on it.
- I do not have any animus to hit back against Fraser because of nasty columns attacking Dominic. (I was not involved in No. 10 Covid policy.)
- I do not have a deep-seated (or deranged) desire to be published in The Spectator such that my writing being passed on has led to bitterness that has caused this chronology in reply. I only drafted my chronology about diplomatic attempts in the first place because there was such a striking editorial gap (which The Spectator’s own Ukrainian columnist has herself now conceded), after weeks of attempting to raise awareness of the information, distributing it widely in hopes others would write about it.
- I have to thank The Spectator’s editorial and fact-checking team. I was pushed to make the piece I wrote (and ultimately made a video of) significantly better, and to find primary sources for every single thing I included – which I did. Reading the magazine is a continued apprenticeship for all of my own writing.
- I consider that Fraser at 30 years old, in my shoes here, would do the same as I am now. When it comes to topics of this importance, Fraser has (commendably) always put accountability above any individual relationship. I am in the further fortunate position of being close to journalism, but not being dependent on it for my livelihood – such that I can speak up.
Great piece. V interesting.
1) At the end of the day the fighting primarily needs to be done by the main belligerents. People aren't going to want to hear this, but Ukraine was a dysfunctional and divided state in the midst of something like a civil war.
2) GDP turns out not to be as obvious a metric for military power as people would like it to be. Facebook stock might be worth almost $1T, but it produces zero 155mm shells nor could its resources be retooled to do so. Even if we have a 40:1 GDP advantage, it doesn't necessarily mean much.
3) China can supply whatever components we think we can cut off via sanctions, and they will.