Best Of

Huzzah for Starmer & the French.

France stopped two thirds of migrant boats bound for UK last month

A higher proportion of illegal crossings were stopped last month, which ministers said showed the value of April’s £660m deal to pay for more beach patrols

https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/france-stopped-two-thirds-of-migrant-boats-bound-for-uk-last-month-dkld7qnmx

Wouldn't it be easier to let 660 migrants cross then give them a million quid each to go back home?

Duh! And stop all the other migrants how exactly?

We aren't stopping all the other migrants now.

Just a reminder about terminology. Boat people will be migrants but half or more will then be classed as refugees - a legal definition and confirmation of their acceptance as such as HMG. Note that although it can take up to 4 years to get a decision, the vast majority are resolved quickly.

Source: https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-10590/

Which humiliation was worse for the US?

Vietnam or Iran (2026).

We will see in the coming years.

I suspect Iran has longer consequences.

Vietnam saw South Vietnam fall to the Communist North, Iran at least just leaves the status quo as was bar one old Ayatollah replaced by a younger one

Iran is now emboldened and officially controlling the strait of Hormuz so it’s not the status quo. It’s worse.

Though if Iran block the Strait Trump says the ceasefire is then over

And?

I think you're missing the big picture here. If Iran block the Strait again, it gives Trump the ability to win yet another war.

His fluffers seem not to have read the Nobel Prize small print - you don't get awarded one for stopping wars you started.

Do you recall the winners in 1973?

Yes.
They didn't start the war.

Or at least Kissinger didn't, and Lê Đức Thọ refuse the award.

Which humiliation was worse for the US?

Vietnam or Iran (2026).

We will see in the coming years.

I suspect Iran has longer consequences.

That's a ridiculous comparison.

In Vietnam over 50k Americans died and its ally was overthrown.

Whereas the USA has lost effectively nothing this year although Trump has failed to get his big win.

It's just dignity and credibility they've lost this year. It's no Vietnam, for sure, but I don't think many people will look at the USA the same way any longer.

It has lost huge respect from the Gulf nations - Saudi, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, UAE, Oman - whose hosting of US miltary bases made their hydrocarbon (and tourism) industries very exposed as targets. The US spent hundreds of billions "softening up" Iran - who more than absorbed the blow. The US then suffered huge (and as yet unacknowledged) damage to its regional bases. Radars were wiped out. Its aircraft were hit in large numbers. Its Reaper drones were lost in their dozens. Iran was then still able to reduce Qatar's LNG production by 16% for years with a single missile.

The theoretical control of the Straits of Hormuz by Iran will be mitigated over time by pipelines. Meanwhile, the Gulf will have to reach accommodations with the Iranian thousand pound gorilla. Hard for them to swallow - especially the Saudis. Trump has said crass things - about the Saudis and the Omanis in particular - that will not be forgotten. The Gulf will instead look to China's clout with Iran to stop any further blockades.

American might has been shown to be powerless to enforce the movement of world trade. This "excursion" wasn't about stopping Communist dominos falling. It was a much bigger projection of US power. That failed. Operation Epic Fury became Operation Epic Failure. The US will never be the same again.

The United States has been an empire in decline for many years now, perhaps not necessarily because they are in decline but because other powers (China mostly) have been rapidly catching them and overtaking them.

Under Trump however, this is the first time they've gone backwards. Just like Russia four years ago, their military has been shown up. Sure, they're good at killing women and children (like Russia is) and also good at killing the leadership (unlike Russia) but they've shown they can't defend allies, can't guarantee freedom of navigation (if they wanted too, I suspect Trump doesn't really care about that) and can't deal with an enemy who adopts a 'mosaic' defence. Trump has also managed to alienate every possible ally in NATO in the twelve months leading up to this attack and has found no support anywhere else in the world for his stupid adventure. US military stocks of munitions have been depleted and unlike Russia who had thirty years worth of Soviet crap to burn through (or find out didn't exist), they've got to restock all this.

Higher prices, inflation and higher taxes for the average American to pay for all this.

What a fucking idiot Trump is.

These truths we hold to be self evident.

Roy Hattersley has died.

A man my (left wing) mother once described as "a thug" for his role in trying to abolish grammar schools in the early 2000s.

Shows the awfulness of grammar schools that it united the right and left such as Thatcher and Hattersley in wanting to abolish them.

It's private schools that should have been abolished, not grammar schools.

Why?

Unusually Casino on this I am with you here. I don't want my taxes paying for a superior education for other people's children and not my own. On the other hand if you choose to pay for a private education, that is your business.

My wife and I had a (serious) conversation about pulling our kids out of private school at the weekend, and going for the local CofE primary, maybe with private tutoring on top.

This would of course mean we start taking two average funded state school places (c.£12k a year) for our two kids, and no longer pay the VAT on the fees (c.£7.2k a year) with a net cost to taxpayers of our decision of £19.2k per year.

But it's too expensive and we're not sure we can do it or justify it anymore.

I wonder how many others are in our position.

Quite a few, my eldest is currently doing his exams, a few of his friends won't be back to do their A-Levels.

A friend absolutely hates himself that his kid has been taken away from his friends and gone into a school with nearly double class sizes.

I think most parents would scrimp and save to let a kid finish at a school they are already at. Its simply too disruptive to do anything else. The real impact will be on those who are never started there and will feed in over the next decade.

Which humiliation was worse for the US?

Vietnam or Iran (2026).

We will see in the coming years.

I suspect Iran has longer consequences.

Vietnam saw South Vietnam fall to the Communist North, Iran at least just leaves the status quo as was bar one old Ayatollah replaced by a younger one

Iran is now emboldened and officially controlling the strait of Hormuz so it’s not the status quo. It’s worse.

Though if Iran block the Strait Trump says the ceasefire is then over

And?

I think you're missing the big picture here. If Iran block the Strait again, it gives Trump the ability to win yet another war.

His fluffers seem not to have read the Nobel Prize small print - you don't get awarded one for stopping wars you started.

Do you recall the winners in 1973?

Great to see the Commons are bringing back an identical Assisted Dying law to that which was passed last term. Good!

Hopefully the Commons passes it, and the Lords can stop dicking around and act like adults and either choose reasonable amendments that the Commons accepts to improve the bill, or the Parliament Act sees it go through unamended since the elected chamber has passed it twice by that point.

It's a Private Mermbers Bill and not part of the Government's Manifesto - the Parliament Act doesn't apply...

Parliament Act has bugger all to do with Government Manifesto's.

Salisbury Convention does not apply. Parliament Act does.

Yep. Parliament Act applies to all 'public bills'. That can be Government or Private.

This is the Bill which gives a central role to psychiatrists whose professional body has said that, while neutral on the principle, they do not support this Bill. And which every other professional organisation looking at it - from every disabled charity to the former head of the NHS, the Chief Coroner, palliative care specialists, those dealing with anorexia, domestic violence and coercive behaviour, the anti-suicide Tsar etc etc - has said they do not support and/or the Bill as drafted is unsafe.

Quite misleading. Most professional organizations in healthcare have stayed neutral.

50%/39% of doctors in favour of assisted dying.

https://www.bma.org.uk/media/3367/bma-physician-assisted-dying-survey-report-oct-2020.pdf

Roy Hattersley has died.

A man my (left wing) mother once described as "a thug" for his role in trying to abolish grammar schools in the early 2000s.

Shows the awfulness of grammar schools that it united the right and left such as Thatcher and Hattersley in wanting to abolish them.

It's private schools that should have been abolished, not grammar schools.

Why?

Unusually Casino on this I am with you here. I don't want my taxes paying for a superior education for other people's children and not my own. On the other hand if you choose to pay for a private education, that is your business.

My wife and I had a (serious) conversation about pulling our kids out of private school at the weekend, and going for the local CofE primary, maybe with private tutoring on top.

This would of course mean we start taking two average funded state school places (c.£12k a year) for our two kids, and no longer pay the VAT on the fees (c.£7.2k a year) with a net cost to taxpayers of our decision of £19.2k per year.

But it's too expensive and we're not sure we can do it or justify it anymore.

I wonder how many others are in our position.

We put 3 kids through private school to varying degrees (they started at different times in primary school). It was a serious financial commitment and probably the main reason I am not retired yet (well, that and being a boring old fart who wouldn't know what to do with himself).

I don't think we could have afforded to do it at current prices. When our eldest started the fees were under £6k a year. Even allowing for inflation that is a hell of a difference. Was it worth it? Undoubtedly. So much more valuable to them than a few extra quid when we get put to sleep under the new legislation.

Roy Hattersley has died.

A man my (left wing) mother once described as "a thug" for his role in trying to abolish grammar schools in the early 2000s.

Shows the awfulness of grammar schools that it united the right and left such as Thatcher and Hattersley in wanting to abolish them.

It's private schools that should have been abolished, not grammar schools.

Why?

Unusually Casino on this I am with you here. I don't want my taxes paying for a superior education for other people's children and not my own. On the other hand if you choose to pay for a private education, that is your business.

My wife and I had a (serious) conversation about pulling our kids out of private school at the weekend, and going for the local CofE primary, maybe with private tutoring on top.

This would of course mean we start taking two average funded state school places (c.£12k a year) for our two kids, and no longer pay the VAT on the fees (c.£7.2k a year) with a net cost to taxpayers of our decision of £19.2k per year.

But it's too expensive and we're not sure we can do it or justify it anymore.

I wonder how many others are in our position.

Quite a few, my eldest is currently doing his exams, a few of his friends won't be back to do their A-Levels.

A friend absolutely hates himself that his kid has been taken away from his friends and gone into a school with nearly double class sizes.

I think most parents would scrimp and save to let a kid finish at a school they are already at. Its simply too disruptive to do anything else. The real impact will be on those who are never started there and will feed in over the next decade.

That's what I thought too but for some people it's not just possible, one parent I know owns a few restaurants, he's getting absolutely pummelled there (thanks Rachel) and there's only so much you can juggle particularly if you've got lots of kids.

I've said it many times but one of the main reasons I am successful in life was having a private education.