Best Of

Too much winning from team Trump.

It's my fault, I was on the blower to Tim Cook of Apple telling them I would have stop buying Apple products if the tariffs kicked in and he then had a word with Trump, it would be a bad sign for Trump if Apple went bust on his watch.

It wont happen but if China had any doubt which products to introduce export controls on, they do now.

This is quite the stat which says a lot about a) Mohamed Salah and b) Manchester United

Including Man Utd players, Mohamed Salah is the seventh-highest PL scorer at Old Trafford in the 2020s

https://x.com/oilysailor/status/1910603234055512472

But Republicans are still chirpier about the economy than at any point during the Biden years.

OK, some of that is human nature. (See the posters here talking Britain down because Reeves is in charge.) But the partisan bubble effect in the States is scary to behold, and it's hard to see how they solve their problems while it stays in place.

Spencer Hakimian
@SpencerHakimian
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35m
Not that China would do this, but what happens if Xi decides to place export controls on the very same items that Trump just exempted from tariffs?

We just completely showed our hand on what we cannot afford to have cut off to us.

@JustinWolfers

I just want to tip my hat to the crack team of White House economists who were able to discover--in just a few short days--that the U.S. is dependent on China for smartphones, computers and semiconductors.

https://x.com/JustinWolfers/status/1911151908389105966

Spencer Hakimian
@SpencerHakimian
·
35m
Not that China would do this, but what happens if Xi decides to place export controls on the very same items that Trump just exempted from tariffs?

We just completely showed our hand on what we cannot afford to have cut off to us.

Is Trump America's Boris? What really brought Boris down was ministers repeatedly being sent out to defend Boris, only to discover the line had changed shortly after they came off air.

Trump might be lining up the same trouble with his frequent changes of direction, often announced not through official channels but on social media.

Trouble is Boris could be removed ftom office by his MPs while Trump will be there til 2029. The danger of fixed-term executive presidencies. God save parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy.

Deporting migrant would ‘stress’ him out, judge rules
...
A Somali criminal seeking asylum in the UK has avoided deportation after a judge ruled that returning him to his home country would cause him too much “stress”.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/04/11/deporting-migrant-would-stress-him-out-judge-rules/ (£££)

It's shocking that the judge is not also considering the blood pressure of @Luckyguy1983 as part of the deliberations.

Lord Reid made a good point . Wasn’t it in Chinese interests for the UK lose the ability to make virgin steel . That asks the question why sell this strategic industry to a Chinese company .

I'm currently on 12 days without a spot of rain and Scotland is suffering some of its worst wildfires in years. March was extremely dry too.

Same here in Durham although we have over a week of rain forecast from Sunday.

Fear not, I have scaffolding going up on Thursday so I can paint my house. Undoubtedly it will coincide with the start of 6 weeks of continuous rain in the SE.