Best Of

Just wait for Model Y

@FT

Sales of Tesla’s electric vehicles plummeted 60% in the UK last month amid a broader slump in European demand, with Chinese rival BYD surging

https://x.com/FT/status/1952710861560197213

That's quite serious as it is July to July not June to July.

May we hear from our Tesla correspondent in due course *?

* I just noticed his number plate, which says he is Just a Get. Hmmm.

My take:
Y was off-sale for months. I expect ripples of up and down until demand settles back down.
Today's marketplace has so much more competition now vs 12 months ago
Model 3 looks a bit old fashioned compared to some of the new competition such as the Merc CLA

Lets get through a bit of orders / delivery phasing in Q3 and reassess. I have little doubt that Tesla will lose sales to competitors - that happens to dominant players in any market. How they react is key, and making longer / shorter versions of the Y seems like a smart step when you look at how other brands flex platforms to build different sizes off the same chassis.

Final curiosity - keep an eye on Canada. Tesla Berlin is now supplying that market which we know has delayed some RHD build slots with various reports in groups of people having delivery dates bumped back.

a

It is notable how atheist/secular lefties will brutally mock the “ridiculous” beliefs of anyone - catholics to Mormons to UFOlogists - but then suddenly go all quiet and respectful when it comes to the “ridiculous” beliefs of Islam

Almost a kind of “two tier sneering”

No I am an equal opportunities sneerer. No Gods, no ghosts, simples.

When I see you loudly mocking the Prophet outside Bradford Central Mosque, as you would happily mock Jesus outside Salisbury Cathedral, then I’ll believe you

Alan is well known for his protest on the cathedral steps ?
Who knew.

I doubt that very much - he's "No Offence" Alan.

Meanwhile Leon again demonstrates his remarkable ability to find a 'BadMuslim' angle in almost any topic raised. The cause might be ignoble but you have to admire the imagination and commitment brought to it each and every day.

While I reject all religion, I’ve always found the idea of protesting about people’s religion to their face weird.

Religious belief, like nationalism, is not logical. It’s a part of people’s core identities. Attacking it is rather futile and definitely quite rude.

I profoundly disagree. I’m religious but I’m happy for my religion to be mocked, attacked, reviled. My faith can stand it. And God doesn’t give a fuck

The right to mock and satirise religion was one of the crucial victories of the Enlightenment, which is why the fact we are rolling it back (with de facto blasphemy laws) is so tragic and dangerous

Same goes for nationalism. You must be allowed to mock it otherwise it gets out of hand and the intolerant nationalist zealots dominate. See Scotland

It is a bit of both. Attacking someones choice of religion to their face is rude and weird. Rude and weird should not be illegal (unless in the extreme where it could be harrassment if persistent and targeted). And if God does care what us little plebs think then it is Him/Her/Them that is a bit weird, particularly given they allegedly created and designed us.

I mean i couldn't give a shit what anyone thinks of my religious beliefs. I don't proselytise either. Mockers can press their noses against the window with their 'you suck' banners in hand and I'll just have some cake.

Your religion being cake & its consumption presumably.

No, cake is my filthy sin. And I love it.

Say three Hail Marys after each slice and the calories don't count.

Netanyahu to propose full reoccupation of Gaza, Israeli media report

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is to propose fully reoccupying the Gaza Strip when he meets his security cabinet, Israeli media say.

"The die has been cast. We're going for the full conquest of the Gaza Strip – and defeating Hamas," local journalists quote a senior official saying.

Responding to reports that the army chief and other military leaders oppose the plan, the unnamed official said: "If that doesn't work for the chief of staff, he should resign."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cpqv2qjg5vvo

Translation: We have to keep this war going otherwise I might end up in jail on alleged corruption charges.

Many respected commentators wonder out loud what's going on. Andrew Fox identifies Hamas' overwhelming victory in the PR battle and believes the US-inspired strategy should be ignored and that Israel should declare a "standstill" ceasefire - ie say it is ceasing ops and just go firm where it is, not letting any reconstruction materials in and flooding the place with humanitarian aid [to whom it would go is another question]; Seth Frantzman, meanwhile, wonders out loud every week what on earth the IDF is doing re-conquering parts of Gaza it won and then abandoned/moved on from six months ago.

As for Bibi's get out of jail card it's tricky. You will see that huge images are being projected onto billboards in Times Square depicting the starved hostage being kept by Hamas. Israel has long had a no man left behind policy and it would be difficult for any Israeli PM to abandon that image and the campaign.

So I suppose "total conquest" is as bad an option as any other.

I Do Not Support Netanyahu or his government.

But

He is already so far down the outrage tunnel that from his perspective it makes sense to finish the job. When they say "occupy Gaza" they do not mean with the remaining population extant. They will be moved - I suspect rounded up and shipped to the West Bank.

An action which is of course unquestionably illegal under international law. So we would get to stop arguing with the people denying this is genocide because at that point it patently is.

The next question is what the end game could be. Would the West Bank be next?

(One of) the mooted options is as I say a "standstill" ceasefire which just stops everything in its tracks. Withdraw to Gaza's borders which are then strongly fortified and let in aid only (but a lot of it). Only military action is defensive. Announce that Israel is ready to work with international partners to create a brighter future for Gaza but only once the hostages are released and Hamas relinquishes power.

Not the worst plan in the world.

As it stands, no Israeli PM would "ignore" the fact that hostages remain in Gaza.

As for the West Bank, I note that the UK's MOU on the matter recognises the 1967 borders as the basis for recognising a Palestinian state. Interesting that if land acquired by conquest is no longer allowed as per UN 2334 then surely that brings into question many territories that were historically acquired via conflict. Not to say it's right or wrong but it's interesting that they should believe that these territories are illegitimate.

ETA: plus you've gotta love the Lab govt. In the MOU on the proposed recognition of a Palestinian State it also dedicates a paragraph to "Climate change". Bless.

Annexation by Right of Conquest certainly *was* a principle of International Law, and perhaps it ought still to be. If a State conquered territory, the principle imposed an obligation upon that State to govern it effectively.

The difficulty for Israel would be that if the West Bank is now part of Israel, its inhabitants are entitled to Israeli citizenship.

Something more cheerful


“Sunday reading: Starmer now polls worse in Wales than in England

britainelects.substack.com/p/death-spiral…

https://x.com/britainelects/status/1951926516801011990?s=46&t=bulOICNH15U6kB0MwE6Lfw

I am still genuinely surprised just how unpopular Starmer is so quickly. I don't know if it is the voice or what that rubs people up the wrong way. If you are in a union or work for the public sector, he isn't been bad for you. Those on low pay, at least for now the slow motion car crash hasn't occurred yet, you done ok.

His X account is now totally bonkers: resembles a malfunctioning chatbot from about 2017. Tinged with fascinating & increasing craziness

“For too long clouds have filled our skies with gloom. By using tractors and trained seagulls, I will bring back sunshine.

That’s my promise to angry picnickers”

How is that any different from:

“For too long, criminal people-smuggling gangs have got away with using social media to sell the false promise of safe passage to the UK.

I’m putting an end to it.”

https://x.com/keir_starmer/status/1951945684250169497?s=46&t=bulOICNH15U6kB0MwE6Lfw

Starmer has multiple issues. He is genuinely dislikeable - stiff, unfunny, censorious, prissy, not as smart as he thinks he is. Also hypocritical, venal and greedy

Add to that a total lack of political skill or charm, and personal political instincts (cf Chagos) entirely at odds with most British voters and you get the most unpopular prime minister in British history. He’s a disaster

Before the election we had a lot of people on here justifying voting Labour on the basis of how can they possibly be worse than Sunak/Hunt. I pointed out that things can always be worse - much worse.

So here we are.

Definitely continuity Sunak for the first six months.

He’s done better this year.

But he's not continuity Sunak, is he?

He's added £60bn of extra spending each year to the deficit, threatening our solvency, snuffled out any growth, jacked up interest rates and gilt prices, upped taxes, increased small boats, given away British territory and interests in one-sided deals, failed to exert any meaningful British leadership internationally and failed to make any meaningful reforms domestically. And everyone either hates him or doesn't respect him.

I'm afraid I don't see any measure by which he's done better this year.

His handling of the Trump and the tariffs situation I think was smart. Especially when idiots like the Lib Dem’s demanded we apply tariffs to US imports.

There’s other stuff but I’m off for Sunday lunch in five so it will wait.

Our solvency wasn’t helped by your lot cutting NI twice. Totally reckless

Labour have not been great but their legacy from the Tories was a Shit sandwich without the bread.

What happened to interest rates thanks to Rishi firing up the printer ?

I'm slightly shocked by this.

47% of Republicans would still support Trump even if he were linked to Epstein's sex activities, according to Leger.
https://x.com/PpollingNumbers/status/1952550402580263100

The prevailing view appears to be that if there was any actual scandal linking Trump and Epstein, it would have been bought up by the Harris campaign last year.

Prevailing with whom ?

People who voted for Trump.

The opposition spent a decade throwing anything they could at him, and never mentioned Epstein until five minutes ago.

That said, there’s plenty of Republicans who are upset at the lack of disclosure regarding Epstein, and think there’s a cover-up of some sort going on.

No indeed - it was Trump who went on about releasing all the files, along with his team at the DOJ and the FBI.
And then suddenly pulled a 180.

Oh indeed, which is why so many of his supporters are upset with him at the moment.

Dems don’t care about the issue except as a lever to divide Republicans. Bill Clinton was almost certainly a lot more involved with Epstein.

Bill Clinton was almost certainly not a lot more involved with Epstein. Clinton did know Epstein, but Trump and Epstein were best buds for years.

Who knows ?

"Almost certainly" just means a partisan judgment; unless you've actually seen all the unreleased files there's no way to be anywhere near "certain".

There's plenty of circumstantial evidence for both their relationships.
It's the nature of those relationships that's not entirely clear.

Epstein described himself as Trump's "closest friend for 10 years." Existing, in public documentation and video evidence have long demonstrated that Epstein and Trump were close friends for many years. (This article covers some of it: https://docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU08/20250227/117951/HHRG-119-JU08-20250227-SD006-U6.pdf ) There isn't the same to show a comparable friendship between Epstein and Clinton.

That doesn't mean Trump knew of Epstein's criminality, or that Clinton knew. It is possible that Clinton was involved in shady stuff with Epstein and Trump wasn't, or vice versa. I'm not making any such claims. But it is very clear that Trump and Epstein were best buds for years.