Best Of

We regularly have Russian territorial incursions into British territory

https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2025-01-22/debates/7DB30945-1C23-48E1-A629-B113C53CD9E2/RussianMaritimeActivityAndUKResponse

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx2nldyg3y6o

And the US is in bed with the russians, all the while the brexit/reform crowd are against Britain building a viable defense system and deterrent with europe.... what to say about the populist right allegiance and hypocrisy about sovereignity. Sovereignity only matters for water pollution standards and banana shapes. When it comes to Putin the populists wag their tails and roll onto their backs 🙄🙄🙄

You are not helping your cause.

The UK is one of the largest economies in the world. It can stand alone from that perspective. It should participate in a pan-European (and global) defence strategy to contain the malevolent. But that doesn’t mean it needs to be part of the EU.

The gaps in our defence capabilities, now that we can no longer rely upon the US, are going to be very large and it will be a lot easier if the cost of doing so is shared with like minded countries with similar problems, France, Germany and Poland in particular but also the likes of Spain and Italy.

There is a lot of thinking and planning to be done on this, my guess is that it will take at least a decade to sort out. It is just as well that Russia has destroyed its conventional capabilities in Ukraine and will take at least that long to recover.

A world where the US is no longer a friend and even a potential enemy to the extent that a bully like Trump or Vance may want to throw their weight about is a lot less comfortable than we have been used to but it is where we are and the sooner we stop deluding ourselves that there are other options the sooner we can get started.

We regularly have Russian territorial incursions into British territory

https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2025-01-22/debates/7DB30945-1C23-48E1-A629-B113C53CD9E2/RussianMaritimeActivityAndUKResponse

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx2nldyg3y6o

And the US is in bed with the russians, all the while the brexit/reform crowd are against Britain building a viable defense system and deterrent with europe.... what to say about the populist right allegiance and hypocrisy about sovereignity. Sovereignity only matters for water pollution standards and banana shapes. When it comes to Putin the populists wag their tails and roll onto their backs 🙄🙄🙄

You are not helping your cause.

The UK is one of the largest economies in the world. It can stand alone from that perspective. It should participate in a pan-European (and global) defence strategy to contain the malevolent. But that doesn’t mean it needs to be part of the EU.

This applies well beyond YouTube.

https://scottaaronson.blog/?p=8705
...In science, it’s obvious to everyone that the burden of proof is on whoever is presenting the new idea—and that this burden is high, especially with anything as well-trodden and skull-strewn as the foundations of quantum mechanics, albeit not infinitely high. The way the game works is: other people try as hard as they can to shoot the new idea down, so we see how it fares under duress. This is not a sign of contempt for new ideas, but of respect for them.

On YouTube, the situation is precisely reversed. There, anyone perceived as the “mainstream establishment” faces a near-insurmountable burden of proof, while anyone perceived as “renegade” wins by default if they identify any hole whatsoever in mainstream understanding. Crucially, the renegade’s own alternative theories are under no particular burden; indeed, the details of their theories are not even that important or relevant...

...

Not entirely true given new Trump sanctions on Russia. It is more a question of where the territorial boundaries go in a ceasefire, even Trump is not giving Russia all of Ukraine

The US is supplying Russia with intelligence, while doing all it can to undermine the Ukrainians.

Stunning that we are writing sentences like this, even though seems true.

Just incredible that the US can be turned to support a sworn enemy of decades standing on the say so of one man.

Obama pushed for military cooperation with Russia and called them a strategic partner over Iran.

https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/us-russia-relations-reset-fact-sheet

He never went all-in, on Russia’s side.

I don't think he has gone all in on the Russian side. The negotiation with Russia hasn't started - he's decided he must get the Ukrainians to agree first. This undermining of their position is to secure that. It's a lot more than I would be comfortable doing, but it's a sort of strategy.

It's treachery.

Killing Ukrainians is one hell of a gameplan to win a Nobel Peace Prize...

https://x.com/frasernelson/status/1898322047824003203

VERY good q. If just 6% of Birkenhead is unemployed, how can 51% of central Birkenhead be on out-of-work benefits?

Answer is the smoke-and-mirrors of categorisation. Those on sickness benefit don't show up on unemployent figures.

The DWP list of all "out-of-work benefits" gives the full picture

At last count, just 1.7m are claimant unemployed.
Reality: a full 6m out-of-work benefits...

It is a significant problem. Our government/political machine has been captured by the "one more cut" mentality. How have we got all these people now in work claiming "benefits?" Lets cut. How have we got few unemployed but lots on the sick? Lets cut.

You can cut the funding, but you can't cut the need. We need to go after the roots of the problem:
Too many jobs do not pay the bills
Jobs which invest zero in training and skills
Not enough jobs
Not enough childcare at times / prices to enable work
Not enough money invested in preventative care as its been cut

We could take an axe to "benefits: in Birkenhead. The people on them won't be driven back into work as the work isn't there and what work there is isn't viable to live on. So then you get a big uplift in crime which costs loads and crapifies whole communities which costs loads more.

We need to completely reimagine work and social security. And I am increasingly persuaded that UBI needs to be at the heart of it.

The little food bank I'm connected with has families where both parents have full time jobs but their combined income still doesn't cover the bills.

Do they have TVs, internet, cars, phones, alcohol, cigarettes, holidays, meals out etc? If so then their incomes probably cover the basic essentials of food and drink, clothing and accommodation, just the food bank helps them afford relative luxuries

Again I don't know, but I do know our front-of-shop people aren't pushovers.

He's on another planet. On one hand the Tories want to abolish food banks because "scroungers" should just get a job. On the other hand we get "do they have"
TVs - so they should have to sell it to Cash Converters first?
Internet - as you can't access most government services without the internet this is beyond stupid
Cars - again, is the proposal that it should be forcibly sold first?
Alcohol & Cigarettes - because people who need a food bank to eat have a bottle of Lambrini and 40 Lambets?
Holidays - an awful lot of people don't have those
Meals Out - hospitality is having a terrible time as people are skint. Go ask anyone in the trade who isn't a high end restaurant how business is

Tories think poor people are scroungers who need to be further punished. Reform think poor people are target voters who are the victims of the system. Which is why the polling trend has Reform looking likely to hoover up votes in places briefly won by the Tories until they realised they were being blamed for the mess they were in by the people they'd voted for to rescue them from it.

...

Not entirely true given new Trump sanctions on Russia. It is more a question of where the territorial boundaries go in a ceasefire, even Trump is not giving Russia all of Ukraine

The US is supplying Russia with intelligence, while doing all it can to undermine the Ukrainians.

Stunning that we are writing sentences like this, even though seems true.

Just incredible that the US can be turned to support a sworn enemy of decades standing on the say so of one man.

Obama pushed for military cooperation with Russia and called them a strategic partner over Iran.

https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/us-russia-relations-reset-fact-sheet

Circumstance changed massively once Putin made his unprovoked attach on Ukraine. Prior to that, Germany, amongst others, also thought it might be possible to have some sort of constructive relationship with Russia. They now know they were wrong and have acted accordingly. Trump, on the other hand, has doubled down and is now actively helping Putin

...

Not entirely true given new Trump sanctions on Russia. It is more a question of where the territorial boundaries go in a ceasefire, even Trump is not giving Russia all of Ukraine

The US is supplying Russia with intelligence, while doing all it can to undermine the Ukrainians.

Stunning that we are writing sentences like this, even though seems true.

Just incredible that the US can be turned to support a sworn enemy of decades standing on the say so of one man.

Obama pushed for military cooperation with Russia and called them a strategic partner over Iran.

https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/us-russia-relations-reset-fact-sheet

He never went all-in, on Russia’s side.

I don't think he has gone all in on the Russian side. The negotiation with Russia hasn't started - he's decided he must get the Ukrainians to agree first. This undermining of their position is to secure that. It's a lot more than I would be comfortable doing, but it's a sort of strategy.

"he's decided he must get the Ukrainians to agree first."

What rubbish negotiations that is. "You Ukrainians agree to whatever Putin and I agree together."

It's basically a Ukrainian surrender. No wonder Putinite shills like it.

I don't know if they have to give Trump carte blanche. But certainly he seems to want them to accept some basics before he starts negotiations with the Russians.

What basics?

1. Accede to Russian territorial demands.

2. Acknowledge that what is left becomes a Russian satellite.

3. Agree to let the country be strip-mined by the USA.

That is the “peace” that Trump is seeking.