Governing under constraint
Hard State is a Substack about British foreign policy, defence and industrial strategy. Each piece will look at how the British state actually makes decisions under constraint through the same set of questions: what does a decision cost, why pays, what breaks if it’s not made and what is being quietly avoided.
Britain is materially smaller in the international system than it was - that is a fact rather than a failure of will. The political register for talking about it directly has not developed.
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The comments are a space for substantive disagreement rather than performance. If you think the argument is wrong - particularly if you can explain why - that contribution is welcome.
About
I have spent 18 years working at the intersection of government, business and public policy. I have advised heads of government, ministers, boards and senior executives in the UK and internationally. Early in my career, I was a special adviser in the Gordon Brown government.
