Tel. +44 (0)20 7287 4414
Email. info@brugesgroup.com
Tel. +44 (0)20 7287 4414
Email. info@brugesgroup.com
The Bruges Group spearheaded the intellectual battle to win a vote to leave the European Union and, above all, against the emergence of a centralised EU state.
The Bruges Group spearheaded the intellectual battle to win a vote to leave the European Union and, above all, against the emergence of a centralised EU state.
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Bruges Group Blog

Spearheading the intellectual battle against the EU. And for new thinking in international affairs.
Frank Millard is a writer and political historian. He obtained his PhD in medieval history from the University of London and embarked on a career in journalism and PR. He lives with his wife and son in the Home Counties.
EU-Door A Door Not Worth Opening

Get Brexit undone?

Sir Keir Starmer's plans relating to the UK's future relationship with the EU are unclear, but then again, his ever-shifting image and (apparent) political position (embracing Corbynism and Blairism), in an attempt to appeal to both Left and Right, Middle and Working class, the old red wall and staunchly pro-EU constituencies, does rather confuse e...

  226 Hits
think-1704831_128_20240627-075840_1 Steady!

Steady As You Go

Back in 1997 I walked the streets locally and knocked on doors with the Conservative candidate in what was regarded as a safe constituency. It was a thankless task, but a worthy one and in spite of a cold response and some derision he was elected with a respectable majority. I remember standing outside a polling station as a Labour van went by blar...

  181 Hits
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Of Our Hard Won Sovereignty

"Finished", "stuffed", "toast" . These have been the words and worse that many otherwise loyal Conservatives used about their own party recently. However, now that the election has been called in spite of such pessimism, there is hope for the beleaguered Tories.:  A week is a long time in politics, said Harold Wilson, so how much longer a...

  447 Hits
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Just war and the squandering of peace

We live in a world increasingly beset with wars and rumours of wars, proxy wars and proxy-proxy wars. However, all forest fires begin with a spark or sparks and everything has a context. An unwillingness or inability to understand context is one of the ills of modern life. The unprovoked invasion of Ukraine by Russia early in 2022 has a context tha...

  760 Hits
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Defender of?

Prince William was recently reported (wrongly as it turns out) as wanting his eventual reign to break with the Church of England, which led to questions as to whether that was desirable or even possible while retaining the monarchy itself. Now, sources claim that His Royal Highness will do no such thing, but that he does not share the dee...

  628 Hits
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Supply Chain Warriors

Successful American and British military action against Houthi targets in Yemen may not achieve positive results without negative consequences. There are four seas that rule the supply chain world - the Caspian and its link to the Black Sea with its waterway to the Mediterranean with its canal to the Red Sea. This is a lot more than grain and oil b...

  669 Hits
technology-3762546_1280 A.I Part 2

A.I. Part 2 - Hidden threats: digital reputation and resilience by Frank Millard

 AI is a direct threat to formerly trustworthy and secure sources of information, image and data. In a recent open letter, AI-expert signatories of which included Elon Musk urged a pause in AI training to reflect and take stock. "AI research and development should be refocused on making today's powerful, state-of-the-art systems more accurate,...

  1358 Hits
technology-3762546_1280 Artificial Intelligence

A.I Part I -A dark cloud over tech by Frank Millard

 Far from being located in the sky, cloud data centres are very large and earthbound with real effects on energy security There are differing statistics on the amount of electricity drained by data centres globally, but it is substantial and as cloud expands to and within developing nations, it will increase. There were already around 3.6 bill...

  792 Hits
drum-3376170_1280 The Drumbeat of War

Division, War and the West

"We don't want to fight, but by jingo if we do…" was the music hall song from which the word jingoism originated. John Hobson, in his Psychology of Jingoism of (1901), referred to music halls of stirring up the crowds in favour of war, but that those who shouted loudest had no intention of fighting themselves. Social media is the modern equivalent ...

  596 Hits
leopard-7745548_128_20231208-143835_1 Ukraine War

The war drags on

The Ukraine war drags on. It nearly ended in 2022, but the adversaries thought better of anything so untidy as a peace treaty. Since then, thousands of lives have been lost in an internecine struggle where intransigence has become policy and revenge a war aim. Montgomery cautioned the USA in the 1960s that its war in Vietnam was "insane" because it...

  605 Hits
spider-155449_1280 The Spiders and the Web

The Spiders and the Web

Are Israel and the West walking into a trap? In this increasingly binary, digital and divided world people are encouraged to take sides on almost anything and respond to events, people and actions emotionally rather than objectively. Israel's response to unspeakable acts of terror against its civilians has resulted in death and injury to women, chi...

  914 Hits
flag-1040565_1280 The Commonwealth of Nations

North and South in a new geopolitical dichotomy

.What used to be East and West is now the global North and South in a new geopolitical dichotomy. While not strictly ideologically divided, the ascendancy of (southern) BRICS members being largely economic, they and the whole Global South are increasingly defined politically according to their perceived history. Much is spoken about multipolarity b...

  985 Hits
G12 Is Freedom Under Threat?

The Elites: Myth or Reality?

The word 'elites' has come to mean a shorthand for 'the powers that be', which may include or be separate from and above one's elected representatives including international regulators that dictate to and restrict governments. This comprising an embryonic world government for whom and for which no one voted. According to various conspiracy theorie...

  1036 Hits
wolves-924358_1920 The Wolves (now Blooded) Circle…

Call to arms

The Conservative Party killed the golden goose and got a lame duck. The wolves (now blooded) circle… A former prime minister has not only been pushed from office, but chased out of Parliament as well. Did that happen to Neville Chamberlain? Did it happen to Edward Heath? These days, however, former leaders need to be extinguished as well as removed...

  994 Hits
union-jack-3431475_1920 United Kingdom

Coronation Reflections

Our undoubted king has been anointed, crowned, walked through the Abbey accompanied by his queen, preceded by a priestess sword bearer - the lady of the lake. So far, so good. Britain was almost united again as it is sometimes and usually on a royal occasion, understanding implicitly that our monarch (but not their wider family) best represent...

  800 Hits
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A tale of three seas

 Three seas and two waterways comprise what is arguably the most important geopolitical hub on the planet. The Black Sea, Mediterranean and Red Sea are joined by the Bosporus and the Suez Canal as a vital trade and security crossroads connecting Europe with the MENA countries and Asia. During the Cold War the Black Sea was dominated by the War...

  1003 Hits
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Is globalisation defunct?

Is there a need for a rethink of the 21st century direction of travel of globalisation, the concept of a global village, 4IR, communitarianism and supranationalism, as conceived at the end of the previous century? Vulnerabilities of scale The devastating impact of the pandemic on economics, trade, logistics and the global supply chain, plus the imp...

  1982 Hits
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One Fine Day

Boris has offered his heart-felt apology to the nation for inadvertently breaking lockdown rules, for which he has been fined, but that is not enough for his political enemies unsurprisingly. Wednesday's PMQs were marked by a tiresome repetition by Opposition MPs demanding the resignation of the Prime Minister, using up precious parliamentary time ...

  1747 Hits
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The dismantling of post-Brexit sovereignty and individualism

After the 2016 referendum, when did people stop just holding a firm or ambiguous position in a debate and become formed into parties? Whereas people were expected to move forward for the common good, following the result, they continued to believe their 'side' was for the common good and the other 'side' the opposite. As a consequence, some of thos...

  2543 Hits
Identity-Politics

The Serpent of Division

When all the numbers flipped noisily to zeros, at midnight 1999/2000, something happened away from the celebrations – plotted, prepared and planned. This was not the building of a New Jerusalem, but a distillation of chaos as a monstrous assembly of competing flawed visions, social experiments and technological expectations manifested as a darkness...

  3306 Hits
COVID-Boris

How COVID-19 has Brought out the Worst in Some People

The internet is full of conspiracy theories about the pandemic and blame aimed at shadowy elites, bankers, secret societies, national leaders and so on, all based on the political prejudices of those formulating or sharing the theories as if fact. These are a not very amusing distraction from lockdown, pictures of kittens, today's lunch, or even po...

  3642 Hits
Reagan-and-Thatcher

Communitarianism and the Suprastate

"I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo. "So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us." JRR Tolkien. Although the bunting is out for Brexit in the wake of a resounding victory of a Conservative Government, ...

  4595 Hits
Blair

Guilt, Identity and Blame

The strength of democracy is that no one ideology will ever triumph over the others. Its weakness is that they all retain that ambition Britain seems to have gone insane, or at least (anti-)social media has. Politics dominates, but not rational political discussion. Legitimate news media has been swept aside by online propaganda rags describing the...

  4608 Hits

Contact us

Director : Robert Oulds
Tel: 020 7287 4414
Chairman: Barry Legg
 
The Bruges Group
246 Linen Hall, 162-168 Regent Street
London W1B 5TB
United Kingdom
KEY PERSONNEL
 
Founder President :
The Rt Hon. the Baroness Thatcher of Kesteven LG, OM, FRS 
Vice-President : The Rt Hon. the Lord Lamont of Lerwick,
Chairman: Barry Legg
Director : Robert Oulds MA, FRSA
Washington D.C. Representative : John O'Sullivan CBE
Founder Chairman : Lord Harris of High Cross
Head of Media: Jack Soames