Some battleground candidates are going viral for shooting from the hip. Jon Ossoff is doing it from a carefully controlled script.

Ossoff drew attention Sunday for calling out a little-known aide to President Donald Trump by first name on a Midtown Atlanta rally stage. It was part of a larger prepared speech that hammered Trump over the war in Iran — and part of a larger strategy to raise his profile in a critical Senate race, all while some national Democrats openly question whether he will mount a 2028 presidential run.

“He doesn’t want to do the job. He wants to build his ballroom and travel with Natalie on their apparently defenseless flying palace, gifted by the Emir of Qatar,” Ossoff said, referencing Natalie Harp, the president’s executive assistant. The comment, though just a brief remark in a 30-minute speech, drew over 5 million views on X and swift backlash from Republicans — including the president himself, who shot back Monday calling Ossoff a “Pee Wee Herman lookalike.”

It was just the latest time footage from an Ossoff campaign speech went viral.

Ossoff’s campaign appearances are marked by pithy stump lines that are prone to catch fire online and aggressive jabs at Trump and his Republican opponent that appeal to Democrats’ desire for fighter candidates. But behind his bold persona on the trail is a senator who is hands-on in all aspects of his campaign, including messaging.

Democrats in Georgia and beyond who have worked with Ossoff or seen him behind-the-scenes say he is meticulous about how he communicates and the details of his campaign’s work.

“He’s very, very involved in almost anything that kind of has his name on it or comes out of him,” said Seth Clark, a Georgia Democrat who has worked with Ossoff on statewide legislative priorities.

Clark recalled working with Ossoff on a letter to the Department of Interior last Congress, and “when it came back, you could tell he’d gone through every word himself.” That cautiousness has become a common part of his approach to politics, one that has carried through to his 2026 reelection battle.

Georgia’s is one of the most consequential Senate races in the country, and a misstep could carry enormous consequences. Democrats must defend a state that Trump won by just over two percentage points in 2024 in their uphill battle to flip the Senate.

“There are no decisions that get made that he doesn’t sign off on,” said a Georgia Democratic operative close to the Ossoff campaign, who like others in this article was granted anonymity to speak candidly about their private interactions. “He’s very focused, very intentional, always on message but always on the right message. He doesn’t want complacency because this could slip away from us. He’s seen Georgia’s Democrats lose elections they should have won.”

Ossoff’s campaign declined to comment. In an interview with MS NOW on Monday evening, when asked why he chose to invoke the president’s aide Harp by name, Ossoff said that Trump has “mired” the country in a “geopolitical disaster” and “retreats into this bubble of West Wing aides who are his security blanket to make him feel good about himself.”

Public polling shows Ossoff ahead of his Republican opponent, Rep. Mike Collins. But his profile has extended far beyond Georgia, fueled in large part by the series of viral clips and moments — even if he and his allies privately and publicly insist his focus is strictly on winning reelection and has no White House ambitions.

“The moment the national political organization gets a whiff that Jon Ossoff is thinking about running for president is the moment that [the] Senate campaign falls from under him,” said a longtime Democratic strategist.

However: “That doesn’t take away from the fact that … national leaders, national supporters are paying close attention to a guy who should be ahead by, you know, by one point at the most in a state like Georgia.”

Ossoff, for his part, has repeatedly dismissed the idea that he is entertaining a 2028 presidential bid, and is instead focused on the Senate race before him.

Ossoff’s team has also placed national ad buys in an effort to capture more attention and money: His campaign has spent over $1 million for ads on streaming platforms in New York City’s market, and has hit nearly $20 million in spending on digital advertisements according to an AdImpact analysis.

And while Ossoff’s viral moments can appear off-the-cuff, people who have worked with him describe a candidate who is anything but casual in his public presentation.

A national Democratic pollster who has worked with Ossoff on a prior campaign said his “team understands how to put him and clip him … but I also think that he’s the type of guy, from knowing him, who’s in control of his message.”

“His speeches are just really optimized for clipping,” said Michael Vainisi, a content strategist who has worked with a number of past Democratic presidents and senators. “Really any speech should be, because at the end of the day you’re talking about maximizing clippable sound bites. It’s almost what a cable news hit was, except now you can control a lot more of the scene and what you’re saying.”

National Democrats who have watched Ossoff’s recent rise say the combination of careful message control and ability to go viral has made him stand out at a moment when the party is looking for candidates who can break through.

“Democrats want to fight back, they want to stand for something, and they want to show that they can govern,” said a New York-based Democratic donor who is planning to attend an Ossoff fundraiser in the Hamptons this weekend. “And he embodies that.”

Alex Gangitano contributed to this report.

Chinas Exporte treffen die deutsche Kernindustrie in nie da gewesener Härte und Geschwindigkeit. Weil massiv Arbeitsplätze wackeln, sucht Europa händeringend nach einer politischen Notbremse. Rixa Fürsen spricht mit Janka Oertel über die existenzielle Bedrohung für den Autobau und Maschinenbau. Oertel ist Politikwissenschaftlerin und China-Expertin, bei der Denkfabrik „European Council on Foreign Relations“ ist sie Direktorin des Asienprogramms und Senior Policy Fellow.

Wie hart Peking inzwischen zurückschlägt, zeigt die Reaktion auf jüngste EU-Sanktionen. Binnen 24 Stunden konterte China mit Exportrestriktionen gegen Rüstungskonzerne wie Rheinmetall. Trotzdem wächst in Europa der Widerstand, sodass beim EU-Rat im Oktober scharfe Handelsschutzmaßnahmen folgen könnten.

Während wir noch über E-Autos diskutieren, plant China längst die nächste industrielle Revolution. Im Bereich der sogenannten Biomanufaktur will Peking eine globale Dominanz aufbauen, um unabhängiger von fossilen Rohstoffen zu werden. Oertel warnt davor, dass Europa auch bei dieser Zukunftstechnologie seine aktuelle Führungsrolle verspielen könnte.

Das Berlin Playbook als Podcast gibt es jeden Morgen ab 5 Uhr. Gordon Repinski und das POLITICO-Team liefern Politik zum Hören – kompakt, international, hintergründig.

Für alle Hauptstadt-Profis: Der Berlin Playbook-Newsletter bietet jeden Morgen die wichtigsten Themen und Einordnungen. Jetzt kostenlos abonnieren.

Mehr von Rixa Fürsen gibt es auch hier:
Instagram: @rixafu | X: @rixa_fursen.

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ATHENS — Greece’s attempt to lure top scientists back to their homeland after the trauma of the financial crisis has stalled after an ambitious program to reverse the brain drain descended into fiasco.

A group of professors who hoped to bring back young researchers through a much-advertised program financed with EU funds are now feeling betrayed, having been left waiting for years only to find out the program won’t happen.

To rub salt into the wound, no one from the government bothered to inform them that the scheme was dead, they said.

“All this ‘brain gain’ talk isn’t just a joke; it’s a massive step backward,” Aristides Hatzis, a professor at the University of Athens, said. “During the financial crisis, there was only one area where there was money invested: research, as the EU prioritized this. Now there’s nothing; it’s at the very bottom of the list of priorities — a complete abandonment.”

An estimated 500,000 people moved abroad during Greece’s financial crisis, which began in 2008, shrinking the country’s economy by a quarter and driving unemployment to 28 percent. Greece had experienced mass migration before, including in the decades after World War II, but this time it was many citizens with high levels of education and skills who emigrated.

“Brain Regain,” an initiative by the ruling conservative New Democracy government to reverse the mass exodus of scientists and professionals, comprises several schemes, such as offering a 50 percent income tax exemption for seven years, and is expanding to include high-skilled public sector roles.

And overall, the situation has improved since the crisis era.

According to the survey OECD Diaspora Review Greece, from 2021 onward, there has been a steady increase in the number of citizens returning to Greece, with 2023 marking a milestone year when — for the first time since the start of the crisis — more people returned than left. Specifically, during the two-year period of 2023–2024, 69,000 Greeks left their country while 98,000 returned.

But when it comes to scientists, there is still a major problem.

Star-crossed project

The current fury of many researchers and scientists hinges on a Greek government project called “Trust your Stars” — an €80 million research funding program backed by funds from EU’s post-Covid recovery fund, the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF).

Research teams were called to submit their proposals, with 145 out of a total 1,241 submissions selected. Thirteen months later, after several complaints regarding the delay, the selected list of projects was finally published on July 22, 2025.

Then, it all started to unravel.

Those not selected for funding reacted fiercely, with some 203 submitted objections and calls for reevaluation. Scientists raised their concerns over the evaluation process itself, and some even submitted complaints to the European Public Prosecutor’s Office.

In January 2026, Greece’s development ministry then issued a statement, saying payments of some €40 million had already been made, and that the remaining half of the program’s budget was earmarked for completion by Dec. 31, 2029. But complaints only escalated, with some of those selected for funding sending formal legal notices to the education ministry, seeking details about where the money had been spent since the program had not yet started.

Then, the final bombshell dropped: Trust your Stars was not going to receive the EU funds anymore.

In a statement published in May, Greece’s education ministry said the country’s finance ministry had decided to “remove the project during the review of Greece’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan.” It was later revealed that on the day the list of selected proposals was officially published, the government also delisted the program — but no one informed the applicants for 10 months.

“It was ultimately not possible to implement the project ‘Trust your Stars’ within the time frame set out by the RRF,” said an official from the education ministry. “For this reason, the project was removed, as part of a review of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan by the Council of the European Union.”

“As regards the funds linked to the actions in question, these were redirected to finance other actions undertaken by the RRF and the Education Ministry. Consequently, under no circumstances was there any loss of resources from the RRF,” added the official.

Shattered hopes

On July 15, Greece’s finance ministry issued a statement, saying it was trying to secure funds “to settle any outstanding financial obligations arising from legal commitments entered into at the time of the revocation of the program.”

While the statement rekindled hopes that a solution would be found, Hatzis argues that it was just a legal trick and that the education ministry has no legal commitment since no contracts were signed following the initial announcement of accepted proposals.

“What happened violates a fundamental principle, one that is sacrosanct in states governed by the rule of law: ‘reliance,’ the citizen’s legitimate trust in the state,” he said. “There may be no contractual liability, since we did not sign an agreement, but there is a political, moral and even legal obligation. Many young people turned down other offers or did not take up jobs elsewhere because they hoped they would be paid through the program.”

Hatzis added that with its handling of the situation, the government had managed to turn the entire scientific community against it — both those who had been successful and those who had not.

“If you’re a young scientist and you’re abroad, stay there! If you’re a young scientist and you’re thinking of moving abroad, go for it. Don’t wait a minute!” he wrote in a lengthy social media post.

Pantelis Kammas, an associate professor at the Athens University of Economics and Business who was co-leading one of the teams that had a successful proposal, said the program was a chronicle of a death foretold.

“The perception within the scientific community was that this was EU money and that it could be handed out hastily through nontransparent procedures. There was a sense of mistrust because this was a one-off emergency program,” said Kammas. “The ministry lacked an organized framework for evaluation, the academic community’s objections were based on these well-known shortcomings, and media that seek to oppose the government jumped on that. This was the perfect storm, so the government decided to backtrack and cancel the program.”

Petros Bouras-Vallianatos, an associate professor of the history of science at the University of Athens, said he had gathered a team of 25 young scientists to come to Greece from countries like the U.K. and Germany for a study of medicines used during the Byzantine period, which could serve as inspiration for new pharmaceutical formulations. Fortunately, they had not already traveled by the time the project was canceled.

“The most offensive thing is that the government never bothered to meet us or give us a reasonable explanation about what happened,” he said, noting the government’s handling created even greater problems with the scientific community than those that already existed.

Bouras-Vallianatos himself returned to Greece in 2022 after a 15-year career in Edinburgh, and has not regretted the decision, as he wanted to raise his children in his homeland. However, he added that while many others wanted to return to Greece, the conditions for doing so were not in place. Some of them do but only for sentimental, personal reasons, he said.

“There has been no serious policy by the Greek state to get its scientists back.”

According to preliminary statistics, research spending in Greece has declined, dropping to €1.27 billion — or 0.51 percent of GDP — in 2025, from €1.30 billion in 2024.

“Funding and low salaries is a big issue,” continued Bouras-Vallianatos. “An independent body should be set up, which would allocate funds for research and adheres to international standards in terms of evaluation. We are a small country; we all know each other, so a large proportion of the evaluators should be foreigners.”

LONDON — Britain’s Liberal Democrats are holding fire against Andy Burnham — for now.

The centrist party has studiously avoided criticizing the new Labour prime minister during his first weeks in power, instead pushing the same “constructive opposition” approach followed during predecessor Keir Starmer’s early stint in Downing Street.

“I like what he’s doing,” says 2024-intake Lib Dem MP Martin Wrigley. “I like the way he’s going, focusing on things that matter.” The question is: how long can it last?

A person familiar with Lib Dem Leader Ed Davey’s thinking, granted anonymity because their job does not authorize them to speak publicly, says the party hopes Burnham removes the “performative hostility” from Westminster.

“That style of politics really suits the populist parties, both on the left and the right, and it isn’t the sort of politics that we as Liberal Democrats want to do,” they argued.

But while not rocking the boat has landed well with Lib Dem MPs, there is still a call for a distinctive identity for the party in a highly competitive political environment, with Labour enjoying a “Burnham bounce” in the opinion polls on the left, and Tory Leader Kemi Badenoch’s personal brand on the up.

Duty of care

Davey — whose party enjoyed its best-ever result at the 2024 election but remains only just in double digits in national polls — has already made one big play in the Burnham era: being helpful on reforming social care.

The creaking social care system in England is a policy challenge governments of all stripes have failed to meet — leaving families with drained finances and cash-strapped local authorities plugging the gaps.

The Lib Dem leader, who cares for his disabled son, attended a virtual cross-party meeting after Burnham, whose own father is in a care home with Alzheimer’s, called for an open conversation on a fix.

This proactive approach has so far landed well with Davey’s troops. “I don’t think we’re going to sink the process if we don’t get everything we want,” says Lib Dem Shadow Commons Leader Bobby Dean. “If we can get cross-party consensus on one element, then we should get on with that element straight away.” 

Indeed, Mike Storey, the Lib Dems’ co-deputy leader in the House of Lords, says the party will “cooperate fully on social care … and we’ll do it with no strings attached.” 

The person familiar with Davey’s thinking laid out the approach, saying “People are put off” by opposition parties that “decide to just immediately say ‘oh, they’re terrible. They’re breaking everything again’” when a new government arrives.

Tom Lubbock, co-founder of polling agency J.L. Partners, agrees a conciliatory approach makes sense for now as “you just look a bit mad if you just go in studs-up within the first couple of months.”

But there’s some angst about making sure the Lib Dems clearly separate themselves from Labour.

Party of the countryside 

It’s not the first time the Lib Dems have tried to play nice with a Labour prime minister.

But Davey’s party soon found ways to differentiate themselves from the increasingly unpopular Keir Starmer.

After Starmer’s government changed inheritance tax rules for farmers, the Lib Dems spied an opening — dubbing it the “family farm tax” and ramping up campaigning.

The party has an “extraordinary niche and an extraordinary opportunity” to pose as the “Countryside Alliance arm of the Labour Party,” argues Lubbock — in other words, a progressive rival to Labour that rural voters can still get behind.

Burnham’s focus on reviving urban areas may lend itself to this approach, with Lib Dem figures poised to exploit any perception “Avanti Andy” is shuttling between London and Manchester, another major city.

Adam Dance, who represents the rural constituency of Yeovil, warns Burnham “can’t be a prime minister just for Manchester and the biggest cities” and says “he needs to understand rural areas.” 

Northern MP Tom Gordon also challenges the prime minister’s claim to represent northern England, arguing this “does feel slightly performative.” He reckons voters “don’t hate him [Burnham] yet” as “he’s not had long enough to make any really unpopular decisions.”

Left vs. right blocs 

Much of the Lib Dems’ success under Davey has come from wooing disillusioned Conservatives, targeting Tory-held seats in the home counties — dubbed the “blue wall.”

But winning remaining Tory areas next time round could be harder if the Lib Dems appear too closely aligned with a Labour government. 

Lubbock argues the Lib Dems will do “much worse” if supporters of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK “get on the Conservative bandwagon” to help defeat Labour nationally. That would be a mirror of the way some Labour supporters tactically backed the Lib Dems in 2024 to oust the Tories.

Though the Tories are still stuck below 20 percent in most polls, there are signs of recovery. YouGov data last month put Badenoch’s net favorability score at the highest of any Conservative leader for more than five years. Her position is undeniably more stable than it was 12 months ago.

While Lib Dems are optimistic Badenoch’s moves to the right on net zero and human rights will push more One Nation, centrist Conservatives in their direction, their Tory rivals sound bullish.

Tory MP Gregory Stafford, who saw off a challenge by the Lib Dems to win Farnham and Bordon two years ago, doesn’t think there are more Tories left for the Lib Dems to poach.

“All I’m seeing is those people coming back, not the other way round,” says Stafford about voters who bid the Tories farewell in 2024. Despite his narrow win, he thinks some of the 6,000 Reform UK voters in his seat will return — thanks to Badenoch.

“They see demonstrably in Kemi a leader that both they like as a person, but also speaks their language and speaks to the policies that they’re concerned about,” he argues.

As such, the Lib Dems may settle for a stronger attack against the right.

“People just don’t feel listened to,” says the party’s Scotland spokesperson Susan Murray. “When they don’t feel listened to, they are open to populism.” She argues that both the Lib Dems and Labour are “not succeeding in getting that message [of hope and opportunities] across.” Dean adds, “There’s a massive demand out there for a liberal party to make a bold offer to the country and at the moment that space feels vacated.” 

It’s a perceived weakness Stafford, the Conservative MP, plans to leap on at the next election. “The real danger for the Liberal Democrats is that they are seen as a patsy party that might champion local issues locally, but actually have nothing to say distinctive on the national stage,” he argues.

Roz Savage, who entered the Commons for the Lib Dems in 2024, recognizes the outfit has a “PR challenge that people think of us as the nice party.” Instead, a “bigger story” is required about a future Lib Dem government, she says.

“When we talk to Lib Dem voters in focus groups, they don’t really have a clear vision for what the Lib Dem party should stand for,” says Merlin Strategy’s Head of Research, Julian Gallie. People often back them as a vote against other parties, the political analyst says.

MPs also want the Lib Dems to reach beyond their traditional strongholds and target historically Labour areas — including Newcastle and Hull. Both have Lib Dem-run city councils, but are the kind of areas in which Burnham will fancy he can improve Labour’s standing. Meral Hussein-Ece, the Lib Dems’ Lords equality spokesperson, says the party must also do more to understand “the diversity of this country, which I don’t think we’ve done very well so far.” 

Lib Dem conference in Brighton next month will give the party a chance to lay a marker for the expected general election in 2029. But MPs want more than set-piece events to present a distinctive vision. 

“We do have to do better at utilizing the likes of social media and capturing the attention all the time, not just when we get the spotlight shined on us,” argues Gordon, the Harrogate and Knaresborough MP.

The Lib Dems, he says, have to drive “conversation on our own terms, rather than always having to just respond.” 

The first thing I noticed when I gave up American technology was the silence.

My phone usually starts up before I get out of bed, buzzing every few minutes throughout the day with calls, messages, headlines, calendar reminders and social media alerts. It’s a constant pulse that averages nearly 200 iPhone notifications on weekends and twice as many Monday-to-Friday.

But on this warm mid-summer Sunday, my life was on an unlikely version of mute. After years of reporting on Europe’s push to wean itself off U.S. tech giants and cultivate homegrown alternatives, I had decided to test my own daily habit by cutting myself off from using any American technology for 72 hours.

No iPhone. No Mac. No Slack or Teams. No Google Search or Maps. No ChatGPT. No WhatsApp or Signal. No Facebook or Instagram feeds. No credit card payments.

I wondered if I would turn into a digital monk.

For three days, I set out to live and work in Brussels as if U.S. tech had suddenly become unavailable to me overnight. It was a purposefully fictional scenario rooted in a very real European anxiety: what happens if Washington weaponizes our continent’s Silicon Valley dependence and reaches for the tech “kill switch?”

Limited versions of that scenario have already surfaced. When U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration cut off French-born International Criminal Court judge Nicolas Guillou from U.S.-linked financial and technology services, he called it a form of “civil death.”

Meanwhile, U.S. export controls in June forced Anthropic to block foreign nationals from accessing two of its most advanced AI models, offering a glimpse of what government bans on access to cutting-edge technology can look like.

Such episodes feed into mounting fears that the Trump administration could use Europe’s overreliance on U.S. tech as leverage in trade fights or disputes over EU regulations. A Proton survey released earlier this month found that 74 percent of European business leaders worry such a cutoff could disrupt their operations.

In my own little experiment, the stakes were much lower. Yet I was about to find out that replacing American tools with those built here in Europe was going to make almost everything harder — and lonelier.

Trying to live without U.S. tech, I would find out, essentially amounts to trying to live without tech at all. That was partly because, like virtually all of my fellow Europeans, I had locked myself into those consumer choices.

Dumbphones and FOMO

The early symptoms of going cold turkey looked suspiciously like withdrawal.

On that first morning, with my iPhone shut off, I reached for a Nokia brick from Finland. The so-called dumbphone is the type of device now enjoying a second life among people detoxing from screen time and is also a favorite of drug dealers seeking to avoid getting busted by any tracking and data collection.

Several hours in, I realized there were no notifications on the Nokia. Nobody calls or texts anymore. Then came the shameful part: a sense of helplessness, followed by FOMO-fueled restlessness. The world had surely kept spinning at full speed, and I was missing it. For the next few days, I would still catch myself checking the phone compulsively like an addict.

“The phone aged you instantly,” my best friend joked later that day as we traded our now-standard FaceTime video calls for a regular one. It was unclear whether he meant the muffled audio or me struggling with a new-but-actually-old device, or both.

I did notice that I was pacing up and down my flat because my usually overstimulated brain apparently couldn’t handle focusing on a voice-only call.

One instant benefit from my dumbphone: no doomscrolling in bed.

It all took me back to my first cellphone at 13, when texting meant tapping the same tiny key several times for a single letter, every SMS cost money and abbreviations and emojis were not just stylistic choices but ways to squeeze more into a message.

I knew my social media life would be at risk in my experiment. European alternatives such as Mastodon have gained traction since Elon Musk turned Twitter into X. But who joins a social network when none of their friends are there?

That was fine. I was actually eager to disappear for a while, well aware of the anxiety social media induces in me and the insecurities created by constantly watching other people’s supposedly perfect lives.

Online shopping was out — but so too was paying by card in stores and restaurants. The payment networks I rely on are American: Visa and Mastercard dominate card payments across Europe, meaning that even a purchase made with a European bank card often still runs over U.S.-controlled rails.

It meant I had to buy everything using cash, which I hadn’t done regularly in ages. Fortunately, unlike in some other European countries, Belgian legislation requires merchants to accept banknotes. The hard part was finding some of those stores without the help of Google Maps, which I’d come to rely on almost as much as my credit cards.

The invisible grip

Swearing off Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+ and YouTube was also part of the deal — already eliminating a sizable chunk of my leisure time. But it turned out I could barely watch anything at all, or even properly test European streaming platforms, because my television and tablet both ran on Google software.

Thankfully, an offline Nintendo Switch from Japan, good old books and the legendary Snake game kept me company.

These invisible dependencies run deep. Beyond the products we use every day, U.S. systems often serve as gateways to European companies trying to take on Big Tech.

Take Sweden’s Spotify or the Estonia-based rival to Uber, Bolt. Both still heavily rely on U.S.-controlled app stores, operating systems, payment networks and other digital infrastructure.

And then there is the cloud: the data centers and servers that host websites, process data and route traffic. The vast majority of that market is dominated by Amazon, Microsoft and Google, whose infrastructure supports large parts of Europe’s digital economy.

Many corners of Europe would go dark if those services were shut down, with its economy, public administration and communications infrastructure struggling to function normally.

Working outside the stack

On Monday morning, I walked into the office with the slightly misplaced confidence that I had prepared for everything. My efficiency at work, admittedly during a very quiet summer week, took less of a hit than I expected.

I was still working from the office. I used an open-source, Linux-powered computer. I communicated by email through a Switzerland-based Proton address, browsed the web using the Norwegian browser Vivaldi and French search engine Qwant, wrote everything in LibreOffice and even tried Mistral’s generative AI assistant. And there was always a good old notebook.

I felt productive. But the workflow around me was not. The tools themselves worked perfectly well once I accepted that breaking years of habits would take time. The disruption ultimately came from stunted collaboration: meetings, messages, shared documents and the constant stream of small exchanges that keep a newsroom moving.

“It was like you disappeared,” one colleague would tell me later.

European alternatives do exist in that space. The problem is, just like for social media, they only work properly when everyone else uses them too or when competing systems are interoperable — something the EU has long tried to legislate and enforce, often against resistance from large technology platforms.

For this little while, despite technically being able to continue working, I became an outsider within my own team. I had to skip our routine video meetings on Slack and Teams, while missing messages sent over WhatsApp and Signal.

In a trade, a city and an era built around instant messaging, sending a good old SMS felt almost prehistoric — a reminder of the longstanding complaints from the European telecom industry about losing messaging and calling revenues to U.S. tech firms.

Ultimately, this underscored one of the major pinch points in Europe’s push for greater tech independence: digital sovereignty is not an individual project. It only works if people, companies and institutions move together.

On their own, individual efforts are more likely to leave people feeling digitally isolated rather than digitally sovereign.

Relax and relapse

And yet, there was something blissful about these three days.

The initial anxiety slowly gave way to a kind of peace. Of course, that feeling may only reflect that the experiment was temporary and my digital life had not been erased.

The experience nevertheless highlighted how much I had taken these tools for granted. I have placed all my eggs in the same digital basket: my communication channels, the tools I use to authenticate myself and access the digital world, my polished digital self and years of accumulated knowledge, all stored inside one sprawling digital safe.

The concern is no longer simply whether that safe could be broken into from the outside. It is also whether somebody could lock it — or empty it — from within.

Now, as you might wonder how I’ll act on what I’ve learned, I am strangely reminded of Covid.

Many of us emerged from that temporary era of lockdowns and involuntary limits full of healthy new habits and grand ideas about how our lifestyles should change, only to return remarkably quickly to our old routines.

Sadly, the same thing happened here. My iPhone came straight back into my pocket. Messages began flowing through again. My bank card returned to its usual place. Within hours, I had fallen comfortably back into the U.S. technology stack.

As I switched my smartphone back on, my screen lit up with incoming texts inquiring whether my little experiment was over. After 72 hours of old-school SMS exchanges, two different friends were both clearly eager to return to reality, sending me the same final text: “Back to WhatsApp?”

White House envoy Jared Kushner met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for hours Monday, yielding an agreement to establish two working groups for disarmament and public health in the Gaza Strip, according to the Board of Peace and the Israeli leader’s office.

The meeting came a week after Netanyahu publicly rejected a 15-point plan negotiated by the United States with Hamas, which agreed to hand over its weapons as part of a roadmap that calls for Israel to withdraw its troops from Gaza.

“We’ve made a lot of progress to get here,” Kushner said Monday on Fox News. “For Israel we think this is a win-win situation because if Hamas actually gives over the weapons and the tunnels willingly over the next 60 to 90 days that obviously would be the elimination of a huge security threat for Israel, almost an unthinkable achievement.”

Kushner’s comments and the two readouts of his meeting seemed to show the Board moving toward Israel’s wide understanding of the definition of disarmament, which appears in conflict with Hamas’ more narrow interpretation. The gap underscores the difficulty in getting a final agreement that all three parties can agree to, despite the progress in establishing the working groups.

“It was agreed that there will be no [Israeli Defense Forces] redeployment from Gaza until Hamas is fully disarmed and all of Gaza is demilitarized – every weapon, light and heavy, and every tunnel,” the Board of Peace said in a statement.

An official familiar with the talks, granted anonymity to disclose details, confirmed Board of Peace envoy Nickolay Mladenov and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair attended the meeting with Netanyahu as well.

The White House and State Department referred questions on the meeting to the Board of Peace.

Kushner visited Jerusalem a day after he met with Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya in Cairo.

The Board of Peace roadmap, published this month, called for Hamas to disarm and relinquish control in Gaza to a National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, which the Board of Peace oversees. The Israeli military would withdraw its troops from Gaza in return. Hamas official Ghazi Hamad told POLITICO last week he understood the roadmap to entail “storage of heavy weapons” under NCAG. When he rejected the roadmap, Netanyahu said Israel will not withdraw from the enclave until Hamas has been “genuinely disarmed.”

Another Hamas official, granted anonymity to frankly discuss negotiations, told POLITICO that he saw a difference in the terms of disarmament between the roadmap Hamas signed and the Board of Peace’s statement Monday. While Hamas described storing heavy weapons, the Board of Peace comment envisioned decommissioning all weapons, both light and heavy, as well as tunnels.

The Monday statement from the Board of Peace “suggests a metric that is rather absolute and likely impossible to achieve” on disarmament, said Robert Danin, a former career State Department official and previous head of Blair’s Quartet Mission in Jerusalem. “It requires the removal of every pistol and every tunnel before Israel withdraws from Gaza. And presumably the discovery of either would be grounds for Israel to halt or perhaps not begin to withdraw from Gaza.”

As Minister for Defense Industry and Minister for Pacific Island Affairs, Pat Conroy is at the center of debates over AUKUS, China’s designs on the Pacific, and Australia’s efforts to mend relations with its neighbors. POLITICO sat down for a wide-ranging interview with Conroy this month, just weeks after the Albanese government struck its second landmark treaty in the region.

It was a big news month for Conroy, who announced an overhaul of defense procurement, promoted the new Australia-Fiji security pact, and toured AUKUS production and training sites in the U.S.

Conroy is Australia’s longest-serving minister for the Pacific, and the only one to serve in the role while a Cabinet member. He represents the electorate of Shortland, in New South Wales, which covers the area south of Newcastle, and parts of the Central Coast.

This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.

Over Parliament’s winter recess we’ve had the Australia-Fiji treaty signed and the PNG treaty has come into force. Can you explain for an average Australian why these Pacific security moves are important?

In the Southwest Pacific, or in the Pacific more broadly, we are in a permanent state of contest with other countries. That’s why you’ve seen an unprecedented level of engagement from the Albanese government in rebuilding relations.

Alliances only work if all parties believe genuinely that there will be follow through. It’s a contested region, and we’re talking about potential war in our region. In the case of foreign interference or military attack, what lengths is Australia prepared to go to defend its specific allies?

Well, the language in the alliances with Fiji and PNG make it clear that we will consult and act to meet a common threat. It’s the same language that’s in ANZUS.

What does Australia expect in terms of China testing that resolve?

We want to be the partner of choice for this region, and that’s contested. There are multiple sides in a contest pursuing their own interests.

Penny Wong, Albanese are very keen to refer to “the Pacific family.” Under Scott Morrison we often had references to it as Australia’s backyard.

It’s not our backyard, it’s not our neighborhood. We’re a proud member of the Pacific family — not our family, the family. That nomenclature is important because it signifies respect and I think a level of humility that Australia hasn’t always engaged in in this area.

Back to your earlier question about the Wale proposal; We’ve signaled if that’s what he wants to drive, if that’s what the Pacific leaders decide to pursue, we will back it 100 percent. But ultimately it’s within their sovereign decision-making.

What’s the deeper point of rugby league diplomacy, beyond adding a PNG NRL team or giving leaders a social outing?

It’s fundamental. This is the first time in the history of the world a country’s used sporting diplomacy to this level. It’s an essential factor in building people-to-people connections. It interlinks our countries at fundamental levels. It’s about economic development in Port Moresby itself. It will also unite their nation.

I call it “PM Marape’s Nelson Mandela vision,” just as in ’94, Mandela used rugby to unite in a post-apartheid South Africa. PM Marape sees this as one of the ways to uniting a very diverse country, a country of — I think it’s 800 languages spoken across 1000 tribes. Rugby league is one of the few things that unites all of them, so we’re helping him with his national project. Then introducing an NRL visa means that not only will Australians be traveling more to watch their teams get smashed by the Chiefs, you’ll see Papua New Guineans traveling to Townsville and Melbourne to watch the Chiefs play here.

It seems to be — and is this part of the strategy? — that rugby league is something that uniquely Australia can offer in a contested area.

We’re using every lever of statecraft to be the partner of choice, and that means picking things that are of high value to our Pacific partners that only we, or very few countries, can offer. So whether it’s rugby league, or opening up Australia to Pacific migration through the Pacific Engagement Visa, or our labor markets through the PALM.

On the PALM visa. We’re obviously in a pretty febrile debate about immigration at the moment. If there were to be an extension of the PALM visa, is there the political space to push that through?

I genuinely think that for most Australians, we’ve got such a strong Pacific diaspora that there’s a lot of sympathy for Pacific Islanders in Australia.

Fifty percent of NRL players are of Pasifika heritage, so they are walking ambassadors. Even if they’re born in this country, it might be their mum or dad that came from Tonga or Samoa or PNG — or their grandparents. That bond is so powerful.

We’ve now got a league fan in Number 10. Is that a point of leverage with London, and is Andy Burnham coming to the World Cup?

Well, I hope so. I have no idea. Look, it’s great. The northern English Rugby League heritage is incredibly powerful.

There’s a jersey I received when I last went to Barrow from the local team that a couple of BAE workers presented to me. So it’s a great opportunity. One of my greatest rugby league heroes is Adrian Morley [NRL player from greater Manchester].

On Barrow, you visited recently. It’s facing an uphill battle just on ballistic submarines, let alone the new attack class. Is there anything Australia can be doing to help the U.K. get over the line, and is there anything you want to see changed under Andy Burnham compared to Starmer?

Well, I think declarations of the death or struggles of the U.K. sovereign industry have been completely overblown. They’re scaling up massively. I was in Barrow in February 2023 [and] went back in February this year.

In February 2023, they had 8,000 people in a shipyard. Now it’s 16,000, and they’ve got strong plans on expanding both Barrow, to deal with their increased build rate, but also move work to other places. So they’re ramping up, but they’ll get to a position where, if they can get to continuous nuclear submarine building, then the efficiency will be really strong. At the moment, they’ve had some big gaps.

One of the reasons I’m convinced AUKUS will succeed is in the national interest of all three countries. It really adds sustainability to their industry, which is really important.

How else can we help? Well, obviously, we’ve got Australian companies that are entering the supply chain. Pacific Maritime Batteries down at Osborne is supplying batteries to SSN AUKUS, as well as other nuclear submarine programs. Thales in Rydelmere already makes parts for the sonars.

One of the benefits of AUKUS isn’t just us receiving technology and building our base. We’ve got untapped potential in our base that is helping both the U.K. and U.S. programs.

Obviously, there’s been a change of leader even since you were there. Do you expect the path on AUKUS to change at all?

No, it’s survived changes of government in all three countries, and I think it will go strong.

Every leader might have a little individual focus on what they want to do, it’s fair to say. For Boris Johnson, and I don’t mean this as a pejorative, I think he saw this as part of his post-Brexit narrative about economic development in the U.K. I think Prime Minister Starmer and President Biden, when they were combined with Prime Minister Albanese, were much more focused on the strategic benefits of sharing this technology, as well as the industrial uplift.

John Healey is a great friend of Australia, and having him as Chancellor of the Exchequer is a great boon for us.

And Andy Burnham has a big fixation on reindustrialization of the north…

Absolutely, and this is part of it. I’ve got Luke Pollard, my counterpart, visiting and he’s charged with leading this. They see their defense industry as a key part of their economic rejuvenation of Britain as a whole, but particularly northern Britain.

There’s obviously been an optimum path to AUKUS laid out for a while now. You sound pretty confident that we’re still on that path. Do you think the public understands that there might actually be multiple paths to get towards what are our ultimate AUKUS goals?

I think we’ve been pretty open with people that this is the most complex industrial undertaking this country’s ever attempted, and that’s going to be challenging. That’s why you’re building contingency — we build in 50 percent contingency.

The first U.K. AUKUS submarine is due to hit the water in the late 2030s. There’s roughly a five year gap [from that] to our first one. So they’re taking the “first of type” risk. Their plan is probably to have two AUKUS submarines come off the production lines before we get our first. So a lot of risk is being borne by them.

Is there a common misconception that you see as a through line in the reporting of AUKUS here?

The Virginias are a very important waypoint. But AUKUS is a technology sharing pact that means that we go from three submarine construction yards across the three countries to four, and we’re becoming capable of producing our own nuclear powered submarines, with the exception of the reactor module. So for me, that’s probably common misconception number one: that AUKUS is all about Virginias. That’s one part of AUKUS — an important part — but not the whole part.

Misconception number two is people that think that AUKUS is ANZUS. They’re two very different things. One’s an alliance, the other is a technology sharing and industrial collaboration agreement.

Misconception number three, which is probably the most egregious one from the critics of AUKUS, is that somehow this is selling out our sovereignty, that in return for this submarine technology we’re pre-committing to something, which — excuse my language — absolute bullshit.

We can print that?

That’s absolute bullshit. We retain full sovereignty. These will be built in Australia, they’ll be crewed by Australians, captained by Australians, and reportable to the democratically elected government of the day. No pre-commitments to any future conflict have been given, nor will they ever be, because that is not what this government does.

People arguing for different things are actually arguments for less sovereignty. Malcolm Turnbull’s argument that if you wanted nuclear-powered submarines, why don’t you look at European nuclear-powered submarines — the French as an example. They need to be refueled every 10 years. You actually have to swap out the fuel rods every 10 years. That would require an Australian submarine going to a foreign country and being there a couple of years, The average refueling cycle is a couple of years.

Whereas [with Virginias and AUKUS class submarines] the reactor module will come sealed. We will not touch it for the 30 to 40-year life of these submarines.

We touched on it before this kind of febrile atmosphere with One Nation. My name is Finn McHugh and as a descendant of Irish Catholics, something you said the other day stood out to me. The exact quote: “They had a very different culture to our English Protestant jailers.”

Multiculturalism may be something that Australians have to grapple with for the first time in a long time at the next election. What do they need to remember about their own history?

They need to remember that we’ve always been a multicultural society. Even if you go back to the indigenous pre-European settlement, there were hundreds of tribes, hundreds of different cultures.

The Irish convicts were the original boat people. It is what it is, and we’ve never lived in a monoculture. People who paint a false past can’t be expected to deliver a real future.

The polls suggest there’s a pretty big constituency for this kind of rhetoric [questioning multiculturalism]. Do you believe this will just flame out by the next election?

When I talk to people who are saying to me when I door knock that “I’m considering voting for someone else,” I rarely get immigration.

What I get is unhappiness with the system, a view that the system is not delivering for them and their kids. And that’s why this government is very consciously saying the system is broken. We’re fixing the system. We’re delivering real change. We’re not defending the status quo.

When I talk to people, I say to them: “I get it. We want to make sure you can see a doctor for free. We want you to be able to get a decent wage. We want your kids to be able to afford a home, and we’re going to deliver that. We’re not going to try and blame the bloke down the street and say he caused your problems.”

Outside the obvious changes to your workflow, how’s your life changed since you were appointed to cabinet?

Probably an appreciation of the broader approach to the government. When you’re a [non-Cabinet] minister, you get really siloed. It’s all about what you’re delivering in your portfolio. So the importance of the cabinet is the opportunity to have broader strategic discussions about the direction of the country. So that’s something that is really a privilege being privy to. Obviously, being a member of the National Security Committee of Cabinet from day one of this government was an enormous privilege, and I was only the second Defense Industry minister after Christopher Pyne, and the first Pacific Minister, to have that. So I’ve always had that broader national security approach beyond my portfolio.

What do you think the elevation of the Pacific Minister to NSC says about the government’s approach?

It says that we think this is core business for the Australian government. You’d expect me to say that.

I’ve done, now, 37 trips to the Pacific. The Foreign Minister has gone to every PIF member. The PM has made multiple visits to multiple Pacific countries, including walking the Kokoda Track with PM Marape. The first two prime ministers [to do that]. They slept in tents next to each other for three bloody days. So that level of personal commitment symbolizes and demonstrates this government’s commitment to this region.

Does personal diplomacy matter more in the Pacific than it would in Europe, for example?

One of the things that I found in this role is that Pacific leaders, like their people, are really polite. There’s a hesitancy to often disagree with people visiting or when you’re visiting their country, because it can be seen as a sign of disrespect. So occasionally you’ll get people, if you don’t know them, not feeling like they can have honest conversations with you. Whereas having that depth of relationship means we can have really honest conversations. And that’s why those first relationships really matter.

British rail operator Virgin Trains has received pre-approval to run international train services from London’s St. Pancras station up to the Channel Tunnel entry point, as it moves toward breaking the current monopoly held by Eurostar.

Eurostar, a French-controlled international rail operator, is the only company providing direct passenger services from England to cities such as Amsterdam, Brussels and Paris through the tunnel. But from 2030, this could change.

“This is an important next step in bringing competition and growth to the market for international rail services,” said Martin Jones, the British Office of Rail and Road deputy director of access and international, in an official press release.

Virgin will be allowed to operate trains alongside Eurostar from 2030 to 2040, with up to 20 return journeys per day. The trains will depart from London St Pancras International and travel through the undersea rail link connecting the U.K. with northern France.

Virgin owner Richard Branson, writing in October 2025 when Virgin won approval from the British regulator to use the Temple Mills International rail depot in East London, wrote: “It’s time to end this 30-year monopoly and bring some Virgin magic to the cross-Channel route … Just as we’ve challenged incumbents in the air, on the seas, and just as we’ve led the UK rail market before – we’re ready to do it all over again.”

The decision gives the project the green light on the British side, but the rail operator still needs to secure the necessary arrangements with its European partners, the British rail regulator said.

“Virgin Trains must also procure rolling stock, secure access to other rail networks, and obtain safety approvals from ORR and the relevant authorities in the EU,” the press release said.

In October, Branson said Virgin was working with Alstom and planned to order 12 Avelia Stream trains.

This article has been updated.

CORRECTION: This article has been updated to note that Virgin has secured pre-approval for track access to run international train services from London’s St. Pancras station up to the Channel Tunnel entry point.

President Donald Trump on Monday downplayed concerns that U.K. Prime Minister Andy Burnham exchanged messages with someone impersonating White House chief of staff Susie Wiles.

Asked by reporters on Monday if he’s concerned about Burnham’s judgment or the state of communication between the two countries, Trump said, “No, I’m sure that he had a miscommunication.”

“I spoke to him,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “We had a good conversation. A couple of them,” he added.

Trump’s comments come after POLITICO reported that Burnham communicated with someone posing as Wiles before becoming suspicious of the illegitimate contact.

Only “a few messages” were exchanged, according to one person who spoke to POLITICO and said they were “of no significance.”

Concerned about national security, the British Embassy in Washington subsequently raised the issue to the White House, but a White House official said that the incident had “nothing to do with the Chief of Staff’s devices being hacked.”

This wouldn’t be the first time the White House has addressed security concerns regarding the impersonation of Trump’s chief of staff.

In May 2025, federal authorities launched an investigation into a separate effort to impersonate Wiles after senators, governors and top business leaders reported receiving messages from someone claiming to be Wiles, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Trump also hinted to reporters on Monday that the U.K. leader could open up the North Sea — reiterating an idea the president has previously suggested could “make the U.K. rich.”

“If you open up the North Sea, it’s one of the great finds anywhere in the world,” Trump said, adding “if they would open up the North Sea, the UK would be rich again.”

Sam Blewett contributed to this report.

Welcome to Day 2 of Canberra Playbook

ESSENTIALS

• Party room meetings will progress the debate on gambling reform, while Taylor awaits a response on his NDIS ultimatum to the PM.
• Pat Conroy calls bullshit on AUKUS myths.
• The secessionist movement Canberra forgot to pay attention to.

DRIVING THE DAY

LETTERS AND LEVERAGE: Labor and the Coalition are poised to reach a deal on gambling reforms today after Communications Minister Anika Wells introduced an opt-out register for online advertising, the ABC reports. A list of amendments will be put to the full caucus and party room meetings this morning for final approval.

Listening and preempting: “The government has listened carefully to the evidence presented during the recent Senate inquiry,” Wells said, ahead of the committee actually dropping its report. Technically the Labor-strong committee recommended the reforms pass, but pages of extra comments from the Greens and independent Sen. David Pocock expressed dissent, while the Coalition called for amendments.

“The government’s reforms respond to these concerns by introducing new restrictions on inducement-based marketing and establishing the Wagering Advertising Opt-out Register, which will provide Australians with a ‘one-stop shop’ to opt out of seeing wagering advertising on online platforms,” Wells said.

OK, JANE AUSTEN: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Opposition Leader Angus Taylor aren’t just holding talks, they’re now exchanging letters. Taylor has written to Albanese to say the Coalition won’t support the government’s NDIS amendments until slated tax concessions for widows and divorcees are passed, The Australian reported.

Given the “widow tax” amendment is open for public consultation until Aug. 21, no deal there means no NDIS deal this week. As we went to bed, the Treasurer wasn’t committing to a deal on the “widow tax.”

Potential loser: Jenny McAllister, who had high hopes that the NDIS legislation would pass this week.

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THE PLAYBOOK INTERVIEW

PAT CONROY, MINISTER FOR DEFENSE INDUSTRIES AND PACIFIC ISLAND AFFAIRS

Finn McHugh interviewed Conroy in his Canberra ministerial office.

Explain the Pacific’s importance to national security for the average Australian.

We are in a permanent state of contest with other countries in the region.

What’s the deeper point of rugby league diplomacy?

This is the first time in the history of the world a country’s used sporting diplomacy to this level. It’s essential in building people-to-people connections. It interlinks our countries at fundamental levels. I call it “PM Marape’s Nelson Mandela vision.” Marape sees this as one of the ways to uniting a very diverse country of 800 languages spoken across 1,000 tribes.

We’re using every lever of statecraft to be the partner of choice.

We’ve now got a league fan in Number 10. Is that a point of leverage? And is Andy Burnham coming to the World Cup in October?

Well, I hope so. I have no idea. The northern English Rugby League heritage is incredibly powerful. So it’s a great opportunity. One of my greatest rugby league heroes is Adrian Morley.

Barrow-in-Furness, where Britain builds its nuclear subs is facing an uphill battle just on ballistic submarines, let alone the new attack class.

I think declarations of the death or struggles of the U.K. sovereign industry have been completely overblown. They’ve got challenges but now they’re scaling up massively. I was in Barrow in February 2023: they had 8,000 people in a shipyard. Now it’s 16,000.

Do you expect the path on AUKUS to change at all under Burnham?

No, it’s survived changes of government in all three countries. John Healey is a great friend of Australia, and having him as Chancellor is a great boon for us.

Do you think the public understands that there might be multiple paths to what are our ultimate AUKUS goals?

This is the most complex industrial undertaking this country’s ever attempted, and that’s going to be challenging. [In the U.K.] their plan is probably to have their first two AUKUS submarines come off the production lines before we get our first. So a lot of risk is being borne by them.

What’s the biggest common misconception in the reporting of AUKUS?

That somehow this is selling out our sovereignty. That’s absolute bullshit. We retain full sovereignty.

I’m a descendant of Irish Catholics and recently you said, “They had a very different culture to our English Protestant jailers.” What do we need to remember about our history?

Go back to the indigenous pre-European settlement, there were hundreds of tribes, hundreds of different cultures. The Irish convicts were the original boat people. It is what it is, and we’ve never been a monoculture.

Read the full interview here.

REQUIRED READING

U.K. Prime Minister Andy Burnham engaged with messages from somebody impersonating one of Donald Trump’s closest advisers, Sam Blewett reports from London.

CANBERRA MEETS WORLD

CANBERRA VS. NORFOLK ISLAND

Australia has an independence problem on its own Pacific island, but you’d never know it from the nonchalance of everyone representing the Islanders in Canberra.

While the government won plaudits for its deft Pacific diplomacy, it can’t figure out how to manage less than 2,000 voters on Norfolk Island, writes Finn McHugh.

Secessionists held an independent referendum Jan. 1, have set up a rival authority, and they’re taking their claim to the United Nations. The Infrastructure department says the Jan. 1 vote has “no basis in law.” The island’s administrator, Fiona McKergow, doesn’t want to talk to POLITICO, and not even the member of Parliament representing Norfolk Island is getting involved.

Kristy McBain, the minister responsible, recently announced she hopes to “restore local democracy” through the imminent creation of the Norfolk Island Transition Assembly.

CAN DAVID SMITH COUNT? OR WILL DAVID POCOCK DO IT FOR HIM? Smith holds the ruling Labor Party’s most marginal seat — Bean, which includes Norfolk Island, by just 700 votes. Norfolk Island has double that number of voters.

Smith told Playbook he’s steering clear of the independence debate, but independent Sen. David Pocock — who backed Smith’s 2025 rival Jessie Price and would love nothing more than to supplant ACT Labor — visits the island annually, and is on-record to POLITICO providing a sympathetic ear to the disaffected.

SPLIT SCREEN — SMITH AGITATES FOR MORE DEMOCRACY IN CANBERRA: Smith might be dampening down democracy demands on Norfolk Island, but he’s found time to develop reform ideas for the ACT. Smith wrote an op-ed for The Canberra Times, published Monday, reminding citizens that “being well served by an institution must never stop us asking whether it could serve us better.”

What he said: ACT concentrating state and local governance in one Assembly exhibits patterns that “should concern anyone who values strong local democracy.”

What Canberra heard: Oh no, not more politicians!

What Norfolk Island heard: More democracy is good for Canberra, but not for Norfolk Island.

FUN NORFOLK FACTS: Norfolk Island’s independent streak runs deep. Roughly a third of Norfolk Islanders are descendants from mutineers on the HMAS Bounty — the tale that spawned four Hollywood films starring giants Errol Flynn, Clark Gable, Marlon Brando and Mel Gibson.

You couldn’t make it up: One of Nigel Farage’s MPs, Andrew Rosindell, has offered to negotiate with Canberra on the islanders’ behalf, if called upon.

DON’T MENTION THE MELONS! Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defense Richard Marles will host his Japanese counterpart, Japan’s Minister of Defense Koizumi Shinjiro at Parliament House over lunch. There’s a press conference: two questions total.

Useful reading: Can Australia, Japan and the U.S. integrate their missile defense systems as our region gets more dangerous? The United States Studies Centre explains why they should.

STATE OF THE NATION

MILTON DICK, EVERYWHERE, ALL AT ONCE

There’s too much attention on Anthony Albanese’s sprawling power base and not enough on Speaker Milton Dick’s cunning moves.

Dick — easily the most popular figure in the building in Playbook’s assessment — has ambitions far beyond running one chamber in one Parliament.

There is a factory line of democracy enthusiasts coming in and out of the Speaker’s Courtyard on any given day that Parliament sits, and he’s reinvigorating Parliamentary friendship groups covering dozens of countries.

This week he’s teamed up with The Y to launch a National Youth Parliament and is also branching out into merch.

The Parliament Gift Shop now stocks a range of onesie suits training Australia’s babies to aspire to one day be Speaker of the House or President of the Senate — the result of a joint lobbying effort with Senate President Sue Lines. At this rate we wouldn’t be surprised to learn if he has a reality TV deal in the works.

ON THE DL: Dick is discreetly running (not discreetly enough!) to become President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, which is based in Switzerland. He won’t have to do any of the dirty work, like getting a tan sitting beside Lake Geneva or skiing in Davos at weekends — that’s for the full-time Secretary-General. If he wins, he’ll be more of a soothing therapist for the elite group of people tasked with keeping MPs in line, including the speakers of notable parliaments such as Afghanistan, Russia, Venezuela and Saudi Arabia.

Milton has a Nobel ring: Every parliamentary speaker gets a vote in the election — so hopefully our new Pacific allies will run up the numbers for Milton, and give him a shot at a Nobel: Nine IPU leaders have won the Nobel Peace Prize.

EX-FILES: Former Speaker Tony Smith will oversee National Youth Parliament Question Time.

Y NOW: Dick was bubbling with excitement when Playbook spoke to him Monday on his way to introduce Governor General Sam Mostyn to the students. “My vision is to bring in people who are less engaged. Kids in boater hats and ties are already engaged,” he said, unfussed at whether that might ruffle debate team feathers.

The Youth Parliament has 150 school student representatives, one for each federal electorate. While the national project is Dick’s brainchild, every state has one. Labor Sen. Charlotte Walker is, at just 22, a very recent alum of the South Australian edition.

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QUESTION TIME

CANBERRA GOES FULL SCHOOLYARD

Question Time in the House started promisingly Monday, as MPs around the chamber lauded National Youth Parliament members watching proceedings. Dan Tehan, Manager of Opposition Business, went as far as to praise the “quite extraordinary” organization and cooperation the young visitors had sparked across the building. He suggested that if any MP were to be thrown out of the Chamber for bad behavior, capable and willing substitutes were waiting in the gallery.

Almost like magic, Tehan (Xavier College) set about getting expelled. One could say there were 147 willing members of the playground punch-on.

Exasperated House School Principal Milton Dick was left constantly interrupting proceedings, “Resume your seat!” … “Show some respect in this house” … “That is in direct defiance of what I just ordered!” … “That language is beneath the dignity of this house!”

After Tehan urged Chris Bowen (St. Johns Park High School) to “cut the crap,” Head Prefect Zali Steggall (Queenswood School for Girls) urged Principal Dick to expel Tehan for setting a bad example to other students.

Given one last chance, Tehan returned to the dispatch box to reframe the question: “Will the minister just cut the fecal matter.” He was, finally, ejected.

Playbook noticed Nicolette Boele (Killara High) squeezing into the Opposition benches — camouflaged in head-to-toe blue — to pass notes to Alison Penfold (St. Clare’s High, Taree). Do either of you want to fess up to what was being discussed at length?

HUMBLED BRAGG: Over in the Senate, Liberal Sen. Andrew Bragg (Notre Dame College) had a terrible day. Dogged by rumors he’d been given a wedgie by the Shadow Cabinet bullies behind the toilet block after his recent Press Club field trip, Bragg then got detention for a rude comment before class began. “Don’t talk back to me!” Senate School Principal Sue Lines snapped. At least he was on time …

Late mark: Sen. David Shoebridge (James Ruse Agricultural High School) missed his question slot, forcing Green house captain Larissa Waters (Kelvin Grove State High School) to beg Mrs. Lines for a reprieve.

QUESTIONS WITHOUT BEING NOTICED: When the Opposition isn’t busy getting thrown out of QT, it’s almost like the government is pushing them out by other means.

In the House yesterday, Tony Burke (St. Patrick’s College, Strathfield) was nicer to One Nation’s Barnaby Joyce (Riverview) than Labor MPs were to any other member asking a question.

Labor also focused their fake (Dorothy Dixer) questions around the themes where they see One Nation as being vulnerable, such as superannuation and paid parental leave. Given the government just chooses not to answer the substance of most Opposition questions, it must be a lonely 75 minutes each sitting day for them.

EMBASSY ROW

AWARDED: The hand of Pierre-André Imbert, recently France’s ambassador to Canberra, and from this month Emmanuel Macron’s chief of staff, is detected in a new round of promotions and appointments to the Ordre du Mérite agricole, which is conspicuously heavy with Australian names.

Queensland’s Romain Bapst is now a Chevalier Mérite Agricole (French Knight).

Peter Gilmore is an Officer, and Knighthoods were awarded to Emmanuelle Bekkers, Shannon Bennett, Geraud Fabre, Gordes Frobenius, Alexandre Rougeot, Kirsten Tibballs, and Clement Demarais.

IN TOWN: John Spellar, the U.K.’s Trade Envoy to Australia.

ONLY IN AUSTRALIA

WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT THE DFAT TOILETS: Playbook spoke to 19 diplomats and contractors, and the results are not pretty. For your own sake, we’re not printing all we’ve been told, and without a pass to the highly secure R.G. Casey Building it’s impossible to verify each report.

But it’s clear that something’s up when the feedback falls into categories such as “truly disgusting,” “lack of personal responsibility” and “I actually hold it in until I get home rather than use them.”

We hear that the bathrooms are in better shape in DFAT’s Civic outpost. But all this begs the question: If the government can’t maintain toilets at a prestige location on a lease that costs more than $20 million a year, and if the people in that building can’t be trusted with toilet brushes and paper: what else on the world stage do we need to worry about them handling?

Do you know more? WhatsApp us on 0494 380 487 or email canberraplaybook@politico.com

DEAR DOROTHY

Should I tell on an MP if I see them letting their friend tailgate into the Parliament gym on the weekend?

AFTER HOURS

PLAYBOOK READER FEEDBACK

Thank you for your messages about our exclusive story on how Paul Keating has been trying to sway Albo to soften his line on China. Our favorite reply:

Memo to Keating: “Australian power can only ever be about working with other powers to leverage our own. The problem with Keating is that he just wants to delete U.S. and replace with China. Sucking up to a new superpower is not the solution when our interests are clearly not aligned.”

We also noted frustration at how the Productivity Commission report on dividing GST Funds is being handled. The top reply:

Memo to Roger Cook and Anthony Albanese: “Why are we not being smarter on the W.A. deal? There is a deal to be done. We know we need to electrify mining to become self-reliant, instead of being dependent on diesel. So why not help them future proof the mines with clean energy, with a tax credit, in exchange for more of the GST money being split with other states? All this can be done without bringing a gas tax into it!”

SPEAKING OF THE WA DEAL: He might sit in a swanky Parisien office, but OECD chair Mathias Cormann still has one eye on Canberra. The former finance minister called into ABC radio to defend his “very important” sweetheart GST deal for his home state.

How convenient: Asked about multiculturalism and One Nation’s rise, Cormann suddenly lost his courage for commentary: “I’m now in a non-partisan job … I’m just not going to get into that sort of party political commentary.”

REQUIRED READING

YOUR NACC NEEDS YOU: In the midst of its identity crisis, the National Anti-Corruption Commission is begging federal public sector staff to share anonymous feedback on corruption risks in order to inform its education and prevention work. (That’s a much bigger chunk of the work of the NACC and many integrity bodies than often recognized.)

Submissions are open until Sept. 25 and public servants have already received an email with the survey link: Check your inbox!

NACCKERED: NACC has received 222 referrals this financial year, has launched 19 preliminary investigations and has another 33 full-blown investigations underway.

Nepotism and stationary fiends: Top corruption concerns captured in the last report included nepotism, fraud and undisclosed conflicts, but also a whopping 50,000 respondents pointing to petty crime within their organization, including theft, vandalism and intimidation.

Playbook takes corruption seriously. If you know someone who’s stolen a pen or notebook recently, or if you want to provide us with your concerns, let us know on WhatsApp 0494 380 487 or canberraplaybook@politico.com.

LOCAL CANBERRA

COMMUNITY CORNER

This is your place to share tips about life and drama in Canberra.

WhatsApp 0494 380 487 or email canberraplaybook@politico.com

SPARE A THOUGHT: Jason Koutsoukis, beloved press gallery veteran, Saturday Paper special correspondent, and husband of Berlin Playbook editor Ulrike Putz, has suffered two lost teeth and a broken hand after being attacked by a magpie while riding an e-scooter into Parliament. You should see the other guy.

CITIZEN OF THE YEAR goes to Josh Martin, a 7NEWS press gallery reporter who tackled a man attacking shoppers in Dickson Woolies. The supermarket chain says the man had been responsible for nine earlier incidents at the supermarket. The modest Martin said his effort “probably wasn’t your standard rugby league tackle. It was more just to bring the guy down and not injure him.”

EX-FILES: Tickets are still available to watch Alastair Campbell, former spin doctor for Tony Blair, in-conversation at The Canberra Theatre on Nov. 23.

There are 10 tickets left if you want to join former PM Kevin Rudd at the annual Australian Institute of International Affairs ACT branch dinner on Sept. 9.

MOVES, APPOINTMENT AND PROMOTIONS

MEET THE ANTI-JULIE BISHOP, READY FOR CLEAN UP ON AISLE ANU: ICYMI, Gordon de Brouwer is the new Chancellor at the ANU. De Brouwer, who’s an alumnus of the university, has just finished up a gig as Australian Public Service Commissioner where he spent two years cleaning up after the unlawful robodebt scheme. He’s now been brought in to mop up at Australia’s national uni, which was at pains to point out in its announcement materials what a good, integrity-minded guy he was. Doyenne of Australian higher education journalism Julie Hare writes that he is the “polar opposite” of outgoing chancellor Bishop. Let’s see if Playbook readers can boost his 78 Instagram followers.

Chris Gatenby has been sworn in as a Tasmanian Senator, replacing retiring Sen. Wendy Askew. Gatenby was previously a senior adviser to Jeremy Rockliff.

David Turvey, Australian Tertiary Education Commission CEO, has been promoted to SES Band 3, Veterans’ Affairs.

Debbie Arnold has been promoted to SES Band 2, First Assistant Secretary, Ministerial, Engagement & Communications.

BIRTHDAYS

Independent Sen. Lidia Thorpe, Global Strategic Communications Council’s Tim Nuthall turns 50, POLITICO’s Hanne Cokelaere, The AFR’s business reporter Zoe Samios, and senior writer Myriam Robin.

It takes a village. Playbook is brought to you by a global team, today including editor Joe Schatz and producer Rachel Confetti, with thanks to Paul Karp and to Milton Dick for supplying us with so much content. If the Real Housewives ever build a Canberra franchise: we want you on it.

A message from Amazon:

Thousands of businesses in Australia sell on Amazon — helping turn local products into global brands. On the sun-drenched NSW Mid-North Coast, Allan Hutcherson runs Freshwater Farm, a family business that makes body and hair-care products.

After buying the farm, the family revived its native plants and used the oils and honey to craft premium body care, including their signature Lemon Myrtle range. They were already well known in Australia, but wanted to make a splash overseas. Amazon helped them reach more customers in the US, where repeat customers have nearly doubled. And it stays a family affair: Allan, his wife, their kids and their grandkids all get their hands dirty on the farm.