Best Of

The nation with the strongest interest in reopening the strait, and with the military power to be able to try, is of course China.

If the US were to wash its hands of the disaster it has precipitated, then that leaves a vacuum which they might fill.
And the "nations don't have allies, just interests" crowd might just start thinking about making common cause with them.

The Chinese leadership is evil, but rational. You can deal with them. The US leadership is evil, and insane.

I don't think the Chinese or Iranian leadership are comparable to the US leadership in the evil stakes.

Trump is breaching boundaries and taboos he never should have in a Western country, which shocks us to the core, but his regime isn't totalitarian.

A treacherous friend is a greater evil than a visible enemy.

Starmer ends up in the worst of all worlds .

Which seems to sum up his premiership !

If you tether yourself to an incontinent donkey you're going to get showered. To the great British public Starmer has joinied Trumps madcap army.. The fact that he's been assigned the job of cleaning the toilets just makes us look worse.

Would Carney or Macron have volunteered?

You are facing down an economic event of Biblical proportions thanks to Trump and Bibi's ghost. I can't see that doing nothing to defend access to the straits is an option. How to strategize that without loss of military personnel is quite the conundrum.

As John McDonnell said it starts with an acorn and before you know it you're facing an oak tree.

John McDonnell is a stain on the Labour Party.

Gutless coward like Corbyn, Abbott, Long Bailey, Burgeon.

They cannot be allowed to regain influence. Should have been binned off long ago.

Really? You encourage me to leave and join the Greens, after 13 years in Parliament (not a member of any pressure group or consistently left-wing) and 50 years in the party, though I'm waiting for the local elections and any aftermath before deciding. Defining a party by exclusion is ultimately self-defeating, not least as once you start you end up excluding moderate people who disagree with you on anything.

I joined the Geens this week. I don't agree with every policy, but they are a breath of fresh air compared to the legacy parties.

If enough people vote Green we can look forward to another couple of decades of right wing Government. Not that this current lot have been anything other than continuity Sunak.

Zack does scare me as someone so far out of his depth but with an over confidence that verges on the cavalier.

Give credit to Iran here. Lobbing an IRBM at Diego Garcia is showing just how not demolished they are.

Trump now his two choices. The forever war. Or the everyone laughing at Trump forever capitulation.

He has way more latitude than that. He can declare victory, withdraw US forces and pressure others to take the incoming to reopen the strait. Starmer and others will fold and do it before too long.

E2A: Trump only needs one of Starmer or Macron on board to get the other. Neither the UK nor France could bear the other getting the limelight and, who knows, it might all go brilliantly. I mean, it won't, but it might.

“I mean, it won't, but it might.”

I disagree. It’s bound to go brilliantly and it’s the best quickest option on the table.

Once the US leave the region and stop bombing and leave it to us, it’s easypeasy. We simply chat to the Iranians and do a deal with them.

The Iranians, or at least the mullahs, haven't forgiven us yet for our shady dealings at the time of their revolution. And for sitting on that money for the tanks for which they eventually freed Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe.

All true. But once Trump stops and his armada sails away, Iran will be pretty keen to re-open the strait and stop bombing others too. Any discussion with them, despite our previous, will be like pushing against an open door I think.

The proposed names the Government is considering calling its new towns

- Elizabethtown (after the Queen)
- Pankhurst (after suffragette Emmeline)
- Attleeton (after ex-PM)
- Athelstan (first King of England)
- Seacole (after nurse Mary)

https://www.thetimes.com/article/ea09d6e1-85bc-4c2f-b24f-8999ef9b9006?shareToken=d69d8a19030b64732d1ebcaeee4c5a6e

Naming towns after people is a bit naff.

There are a lot of place names in England named after people: someone's field, or someone's village, etc, but the names are so old, and have been subtly corrupted, that we don't recognise them as such anymore.

So it's a weird combination of being completely normal, and sounding really odd and lame.

Suspect there's an analogue of Adam's Law of Technology here; any new name for a new town will sound wrong and artificial, because it wasn't there when we grew up.

Maybe we should come at this the other way. Instead of commemorating anyone, get AI to generate 100 things that sound like British place names, focus group them to find the least obtrusive three, and then make up a story about them.

Sort of like Lymeswold.

You don't need to use AI. There are a whole bunch of place name generator tables used for RPGs. Just roll a few dice.

I think that, with a bit of effort, you could generate a new place name by simulating the process many of our existing place names have gone through.

So, take Æthelstan as an example. I'm sure if you asked an expert on Anglo-Saxon place names they could tell you that "Æthelstan's town" would probably have been something like "Æthelstan's burgh", which through centuries of usage would have been shortened to the more easily pronounced "Stanborough" or "Athelsbury". Job done.

Athelstan is on a roll at the moment, next year being the 1100th anniversary of the Treaty of Eamont Bridge (just south of Penrith) in 927, an arguable date for the founding of England.

David Woodman's recent 'The First King of England' (Princeton UP) highly recommended.

There is already an Athelstaneford in East Lothian, of course.

Starmer ends up in the worst of all worlds .

Which seems to sum up his premiership !

If you tether yourself to an incontinent donkey you're going to get showered. To the great British public Starmer has joinied Trumps madcap army.. The fact that he's been assigned the job of cleaning the toilets just makes us look worse.

Would Carney or Macron have volunteered?

You are facing down an economic event of Biblical proportions thanks to Trump and Bibi's ghost. I can't see that doing nothing to defend access to the straits is an option. How to strategize that without loss of military personnel is quite the conundrum.

Trump wants to stop and declare victory. Iran wants him to stop so they can declare victory. So I see a Stop coming soon. Certainly hope so. After that, who knows, probably a lasting mess, but I'm keen to reach that stage. Having no plan didn't stop him starting the war and by the same token it shouldn't stop him stopping it. Going to war with no plan and then not stopping until you do have a plan is a recipe for ongoing mayhem. It's madness. Esp since it becomes harder to plan things once conflict has commenced. So c'mon Donald, turn a bug into a feature and just stop 'obliterating' Iran and move on to Cuba or more pretend Ukraine talks or fixing the midterms or whatever. Just be you.

There's no point in anyone providing plans for Trump as he has neither the patience or fixity of purpose to see any through.