Gavin Williamson should start learning how to toss the salad (bye bye that knighthood.)
In October 2020 the footballer Marcus Rashford vented his despair at MPs voting down proposals to extend free school meals during holidays. He was not the only one.
Christian Wakeford, then Conservative MP for Bury South, a few miles north of Rashford’s Manchester United home ground, Old Trafford, was also appalled by the move. The 37-year-old, who had been elected to the Commons the previous year, told friends it was mean-spirited and the opposite of what red wall MPs were elected to do.
Yet rather than voting for the opposition motion on school meals, and against the government, he abstained. His decision was informed by a conversation he had had with a colleague shortly before the vote.
Wakeford says Gavin Williamson, then education secretary, pulled him out of the Members’ Dining Room of the House of Commons and threatened to cancel plans for a new school in his constituency if he did “not vote in one particular way”. He first made the allegation, without identifying the culprit, last week.
Asked today who threatened to scrap the school, he said: “It was Gavin Williamson.”
I was in central London this afternoon - a reasonably good-natured protest around Parliament Square and Whitehall.
I did feel a rubicon of sorts was crossed when, having put on a face mask to enter Westminster tube station, I was told to "take that f-ing mask off" by some anti-mask dimwit while at the same time the public address in the station was reminding me it was still a legal requirement to wear a face covering on Transport for London stations and trains.
Thus did I encounter the final pathetic stereo of the pro-mask authoritarian and the anti-mask authoritarian at the same time.
Wither liberty? Stick a memorial at Westminster tube station.
Basically its a mess. The Greens are constitutionally opposed to the deployment of German weapons abroad. The US is getting seriously impatient with both the Secretary of State and the head of the CIA delivering increasingly blunt messages. The Chancellor seems out of his depth and more focused on divisions in the SPD. The Germans are still dependent upon Russia for 45% of their gas. They have no LPG port and the Greens have serious reservations about importing gas gained from fracking anyway.
Leaderless, policy free, trying to please everyone but in fact pleasing no one.
We are in an energy war. Putin is about to test how far his strategy of controlling the lights across Europe has worked.
Meanwhile, we have a Government that has had ample opportunity to tap that 50% of Europe's tidal power that comes through the UK. In this energy war, we could have our own squadrons of Spitfires, in the shape of tidal lagoon power stations. We have a PM that was all in favour of them when doing his tour of the country to get elected as Conservative leader and thus PM. But now it is his Government, he has done nothing to back them.
As good a reason as any for him to go.
We also have very considerably more than our fair share of wind power and the sale of the licences for Scottish waters last week, which should ultimately double our wind energy, was a very positive step in the right direction as was the investment in battery production in the UK. So its a bit of a mixed picture.
For me, our biggest economic problem for the last 20 years has been a chronic trade deficit which is bleeding this country of its wealth and future prosperity. Its why I am very keen on domestic energy production including lagoons and domestic fracking as well as wind and solar. 3 of these also mean that we can make our global wwarming targets with less disruption. As we convert more and more vehicles to electric we are going to need a lot more power and the capacity to store it. It really is a no brainer to go for lagoon power and other internal production as the current price of international gas shows all too vividly.
Our Government invested £9 billion in putting wind and solar energy into this country.
That sucked in £14 billion in solar panels and wind turbine imports.....
In our local villages there are new houses popping up left, right and centre. None of them has a solar panel fitted at the building stage, although a very few householders have gone to the expense of getting them retrofitted. This is madness, all the more so when there's a planning application before the council to build a solar farm on a mile of agricultural land.
It's also madness to weigh the cost of tidal power against the cost of wind and solar. All three are necessary for balanced energy security. Last week was cold, calm and overcast and next week is shaping up to be the same. The call of a running tide may not be denied.
I know of some council houses in SE Scotland where they had solar panels fitted from the start.
This has been my massive bugbear for years. We build a couple of hundred thousand houses a year in the UK. Why can we not make it a planning condition that every new house has to be fitted with solar panels during the construction process? Both economies of scale and removing the need for remedial alterations to fit them would make it much cheaper than it currently is to retro-fit and if you are spending £150K or more on a new house then the additional marginal cost to the buyer is insignificant.
I don't disagree at all. But is there not a problem with contracts for solar panels? Making owner occupied houses difficult to sell etc. I have no idea how that works with the council houses (or even if those are water or electric panels).
The problem with contracts is when you lease your roof out to save having to pay the capital cost of the panels, then sell the house. It is a creature of too-generous subsidy early on.
On compulsory solar in new houses I disagree. It is a mistake to be so prescriptive. There are situations where solar panels do not work well - examples are at the base of a North-facing steep hill (eg some glens in Scotland or Stoniey Middleton or Matlock Bath in Derbyshire), potentially in a mature wooded area, or in some configurations of estate design.
It is better to have a model that allows tradeoffs as appropriate, and a high overall standard, which is what we have with the as-designed SAP procedure.
A similar method is eg to trade off bigger windows against better insulated walls - a long established approach in Building Regs.
Here's a great example of what happens when you mandate (or here, subsidise beyond the benefit provided) things. Solar panels on a Doctors near me. I'd say these were installed for the grant not the environment. Perhaps they also got a grant for the trees.
So you refine it a little. But the basic principle should be the same. Except under exceptional circumstances all new builds have solar panels included.
*If* solar panels are the best way of meeting the appropriate standard.
My solar panel install cost £12k in 2016, and delivers about 5Mwh of electricity per year.
If - for a newbuild - more can be saved by eg increasing insulation or reducing air leakage than by spending the same money on solar, then that is preferable.
It's a threat to democracies everywhere. To turn on ourselves at the moment of threat is stupidly irresponsible. We all know that mistakes have been made, both by Germany and the UK, but the real problem is Russian aggression. We don't need to feel good about ourselves by sneering at each other, we need to feel good about ourselves by doing the right thing, which is protecting each other. Fucking focus, people.
What do you suggest?
Are you advocating putting British troops on the ground in Ukraine?
Seriously?
The art of diplomacy is to always have a "get out" clause - there's no point boxing Putin into a corner so his only option is military. Sometimes, public concessions on one side have to be balanced by private concessions on the other. Putin knows he won't get NATO to roll back to pre-1989 borders so what does he really want? What does he need to "save political face" and de-escalate on the Ukrainian border?
- “… the only way he’s is going to be pushed aside is if there’s a vote of confidence that he loses.“
Impeachment?
Most likely scenario is he is clearly nailed as having lied to HoC. In those circs I think even he would realise the game was up
The last impeachment was that of Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville in 1806; since then, other forms of democratic scrutiny (notably the doctrine of collective cabinet responsibility) have been favoured and the process has been considered as an obsolete—but still extant—power of Parliament.
Interesting that the last person impeached was Scottish.
Not a coincidence. Scotland was effectively ruled as a Tory colony/dictatorship 1707-1800ish. Dundas was de facto Viceroy/Dictator of Scotland, albeit an “Enlightened” one. During the Victorian era, the Scottish Liberals gained hegemony. Then a series of Liberal splits/breakaways occurred (Labour, SNP, Liberal Unionists etc).
Is that why so many Scottish naval officers ended up working for the Russian navy around then (like the guy who founded Sevastopol Thomas MacKenzie's father, and his wife's grandfather Thomas Gordon)?
A job is a job. Since the Middle Ages, and before, Scots and their families have earned good money in the Baltic countries (Russia, Denmark, Sweden, Poland, Germany etc). Not just work, but emigration and immigration. Poland, Sweden and Russia in particular have a rich Scottish heritage.
All crises in the home country encouraged further waves of activity. The Union was one such crisis, as was the Jacobite rising, the Killing Times and the fall of Dundas.
The English got about a bit too! The chap who made Sevastopol accessible to large ships, and redesigned much if the city, in the 19C was English engineer John Upton. One of his sons was captured by the British in the Crimean War.
The Russ/Scot who founded the city Thomas MacKenzie had a son who joined the British navy.
Donetsk in Ukraine used to be called Yuzovka in pre-Communist days, in honour of John Hughes, a Welshman who founded a steel mill and some coal mines in the area.
Sitting on a balcony in Kollupitiya, Colombo 3, overlooking the starlit Indian Ocean, drinking the world’s FUCK OFFEST Gin Martini. It’s about a pint in quantity
You?
Either you down it in one or it'll be lukewarm before you're through. Not sure which is more eeeuch
Send it back.
True
TBH I’m only drinking it because the bar has RUN OUT OF TONIC = no G&T
It wouldn’t have happened during the Raj. And if it had happened, the bar manager would surely have been keelhauled in the bay by the Royal Navy
Keelhauling seems such a cruel punshment, and yet it was far from exceptional.
There's a horrible catalogue of ways to hurt people.
With adding 80K vacancies to 100K not being a good look for a backlog reduction initiative, you are aware the government are imminently to U-TURN on compulsive jabs for health workers by first adding 2 month delay, then kicking into long grass?
Hard at this moment to defend the government on this controversial policy when they are about to pull rug from under your feet.
Gavin Williamson should start learning how to toss the salad (bye bye that knighthood.)
In October 2020 the footballer Marcus Rashford vented his despair at MPs voting down proposals to extend free school meals during holidays. He was not the only one.
Christian Wakeford, then Conservative MP for Bury South, a few miles north of Rashford’s Manchester United home ground, Old Trafford, was also appalled by the move. The 37-year-old, who had been elected to the Commons the previous year, told friends it was mean-spirited and the opposite of what red wall MPs were elected to do.
Yet rather than voting for the opposition motion on school meals, and against the government, he abstained. His decision was informed by a conversation he had had with a colleague shortly before the vote.
Wakeford says Gavin Williamson, then education secretary, pulled him out of the Members’ Dining Room of the House of Commons and threatened to cancel plans for a new school in his constituency if he did “not vote in one particular way”. He first made the allegation, without identifying the culprit, last week.
Asked today who threatened to scrap the school, he said: “It was Gavin Williamson.”
It was Tuesday when Boris Johnson and his closest aides realised they had a serious problem. After a quiet weekend, 20 rebels from the 2019 intake of MPs had met and agreed to submit letters of no confidence in his leadership.
Dan Rosenfield, the No 10 chief of staff, called a meeting of parliamentary private secretaries (PPSs), many of whom were elected in Johnson’s landslide two years ago.
What happened next left Rosenfield astonished and the prime minister on notice that even those on the government payroll might not stick with him if the rebels succeed in forcing a confidence vote this week.
One after another the PPSs — the lowest rung of government office — expressed their displeasure at the chaotic mess that is Johnson’s operation and at least three called for senior resignations.
Paul Holmes, an aide to Priti Patel, the home secretary. said the operation was “a failure” and that “heads must roll”. Mark Fletcher, who works with Kwasi Kwarteng, the business secretary, agreed.
Then Jane Hunt spoke up. The mild-mannered aide to Steve Barclay, the Cabinet Office minister, told him: “I wouldn’t piss on you if you were on fire.”
While Germany aligns with Russia against the EU Baltic states
How about providing your insight into this divisive crisis now engulfing the EU
Whats that got to do with the queue at Dover like
@Scott_xP posts anti brexit tweets while remaining silent on the crisis engulfing his beloved EU
This anti-EU goading isn't really informative of what is actually happening, so I wonder what you're up to.
Apart from, you know, unwittingly reinforcing Putin's talking points.
Try selling that to the Baltic states and Ukraine and what is actually happening
Oh I'm sorry, I didn't realise your goading of Scott was preserving the fucking freedom of the good people of Vilnius. Well done, we should probably get a medal pinned to your jacket ffs.
I have been to the Baltic States and Russia terrifies them
The EU should be standing together against this threat but it is clear Germany is not and even preventing NATO aircraft to 9v4rly their airspace
It seems those who are so full of the EU cannot accept criticism in what is a very serious and developing crisis
Germany is not the EU. Those of us who have been looking at the flightpaths you're talking about will see them going over the Netherlands, Denmark, Poland... all EU countries. This lump-then-criticise is really unhelpful, and is exactly the same old bollocks that has helped create this mess.
Don't focus on the people who are failing to help, focus on the aggressor. If we can't even agree that Russia is the problem, we're lost.
PS, "I've been to X" doesn't make you an expert on something, it makes you just a tourist.
You cannot get away without criticism of German and her alignment with Russia without which the EU and UK would take Putin head on
Travel broadens the mind and helps to understand geo political situations when meeting the diverse peoples living in those countries and their cultures.
Sitting on a balcony in Kollupitiya, Colombo 3, overlooking the starlit Indian Ocean, drinking the world’s FUCK OFFEST Gin Martini. It’s about a pint in quantity
You?
Either you down it in one or it'll be lukewarm before you're through. Not sure which is more eeeuch
Send it back.
True
TBH I’m only drinking it because the bar has RUN OUT OF TONIC = no G&T
It wouldn’t have happened during the Raj. And if it had happened, the bar manager would surely have been keelhauled in the bay by the Royal Navy
Keelhauling seems such a cruel punshment, and yet it was far from exceptional.
There's a horrible catalogue of ways to hurt people.
With adding 80K vacancies to 100K not being a good look for a backlog reduction initiative, you are aware the government are imminently to U-TURN on compulsive jabs for health workers by first adding 2 month delay, then kicking into long grass?
Hard at this moment to defend the government on this controversial policy when they are about to pull rug from under your feet.
On the contrary - they will have little sensible choice but to u-turn because of the extent of selfish idiocy at play (and I've not been persuaded by defences of people in health services taking this stance), but the idea itself was perfectly reasonable.
Gavin Williamson should start learning how to toss the salad (bye bye that knighthood.)
In October 2020 the footballer Marcus Rashford vented his despair at MPs voting down proposals to extend free school meals during holidays. He was not the only one.
Christian Wakeford, then Conservative MP for Bury South, a few miles north of Rashford’s Manchester United home ground, Old Trafford, was also appalled by the move. The 37-year-old, who had been elected to the Commons the previous year, told friends it was mean-spirited and the opposite of what red wall MPs were elected to do.
Yet rather than voting for the opposition motion on school meals, and against the government, he abstained. His decision was informed by a conversation he had had with a colleague shortly before the vote.
Wakeford says Gavin Williamson, then education secretary, pulled him out of the Members’ Dining Room of the House of Commons and threatened to cancel plans for a new school in his constituency if he did “not vote in one particular way”. He first made the allegation, without identifying the culprit, last week.
Asked today who threatened to scrap the school, he said: “It was Gavin Williamson.”
It's a threat to democracies everywhere. To turn on ourselves at the moment of threat is stupidly irresponsible. We all know that mistakes have been made, both by Germany and the UK, but the real problem is Russian aggression. We don't need to feel good about ourselves by sneering at each other, we need to feel good about ourselves by doing the right thing, which is protecting each other. Fucking focus, people.
What do you suggest?
Are you advocating putting British troops on the ground in Ukraine?
Seriously?
The art of diplomacy is to always have a "get out" clause - there's no point boxing Putin into a corner so his only option is military. Sometimes, public concessions on one side have to be balanced by private concessions on the other. Putin knows he won't get NATO to roll back to pre-1989 borders so what does he really want? What does he need to "save political face" and de-escalate on the Ukrainian border?
Surely the goal is that Putin doesn't have a military option?
For all this talk of 'boxing in', the goal is to discourage Putin from using tanks, planes and troops to invade another country.
Now, it's perfectly reasonable to say that we have no obligation to put troops on the ground, given the lack of any alliance. But I do think we do need to make it very clear that there would be serious consequences if Russia was to annex part of a neighbour
Sitting on a balcony in Kollupitiya, Colombo 3, overlooking the starlit Indian Ocean, drinking the world’s FUCK OFFEST Gin Martini. It’s about a pint in quantity
You?
Either you down it in one or it'll be lukewarm before you're through. Not sure which is more eeeuch
Send it back.
True
TBH I’m only drinking it because the bar has RUN OUT OF TONIC = no G&T
It wouldn’t have happened during the Raj. And if it had happened, the bar manager would surely have been keelhauled in the bay by the Royal Navy
Keelhauling seems such a cruel punshment, and yet it was far from exceptional.
There's a horrible catalogue of ways to hurt people.
Wasn’t it essentially a death sentence? Few survived keel-hauling, I believe
Edit to add: Wiki claims it is quasi-mythical. However I have come to doubt the professional sensation-squashers in academic history. “Oh if there’s no written evidence that we can see right now then it never happened, its just tittle tattle”
One example of this process - academics always trying to crush the more interesting or more lurid explanation: the Moche culture of north Peru. For decades serious, spectacled academics pooh-poohed the idea that the Moche ritually sacrificed their children in orgies of sodomy and drugs. Until the bones started showing up. And the drugs. And the undeniable evidence of cannibalism
I think that's the worst example of 'one example' ever!
It's a threat to democracies everywhere. To turn on ourselves at the moment of threat is stupidly irresponsible. We all know that mistakes have been made, both by Germany and the UK, but the real problem is Russian aggression. We don't need to feel good about ourselves by sneering at each other, we need to feel good about ourselves by doing the right thing, which is protecting each other. Fucking focus, people.
What do you suggest?
Are you advocating putting British troops on the ground in Ukraine?
Seriously?
The art of diplomacy is to always have a "get out" clause - there's no point boxing Putin into a corner so his only option is military. Sometimes, public concessions on one side have to be balanced by private concessions on the other. Putin knows he won't get NATO to roll back to pre-1989 borders so what does he really want? What does he need to "save political face" and de-escalate on the Ukrainian border?
I suggest giving Ukraine anything they need in order to evict any future invasion. If they request troops to help, the answer is yes. Russia need to be contained. It's already taking chunks out of neighbouring countries. We really have two choices: 1. watch and wait for them to decide out of the goodness of their hearts not to continue with their aggressive expansion, or 2. throw up the barricades and stop them by force.
I do not advocate attacking Russia on its own soil, just repelling any invaders. It's not just a matter of defending Ukraine, it's a matter of defending the principles of sovereignty and democracy.
Sitting on a balcony in Kollupitiya, Colombo 3, overlooking the starlit Indian Ocean, drinking the world’s FUCK OFFEST Gin Martini. It’s about a pint in quantity
You?
Either you down it in one or it'll be lukewarm before you're through. Not sure which is more eeeuch
Send it back.
True
TBH I’m only drinking it because the bar has RUN OUT OF TONIC = no G&T
It wouldn’t have happened during the Raj. And if it had happened, the bar manager would surely have been keelhauled in the bay by the Royal Navy
Keelhauling seems such a cruel punshment, and yet it was far from exceptional.
There's a horrible catalogue of ways to hurt people.
Wasn’t it essentially a death sentence? Few survived keel-hauling, I believe
Edit to add: Wiki claims it is quasi-mythical. However I have come to doubt the professional sensation-squashers in academic history. “Oh if there’s no written evidence that we can see right now then it never happened, its just tittle tattle”
One example of this process - academics always trying to crush the more interesting or more lurid explanation: the Moche culture of north Peru. For decades serious, spectacled academics pooh-poohed the idea that the Moche ritually sacrificed their children in orgies of sodomy and drugs. Until the bones started showing up. And the drugs. And the undeniable evidence of cannibalism
They also claim the blood eagle was a Victorian invention and the textual references just mean the bodies were left out for the eagles to eat
The sizeable unintegrated Russian population in Estonia presents Putin with a ready pretext to protect ethnic Russians any time he wishes.
While that's true, the ethnic Estonians are well armed and very prepared to fight.
They're in NATO for a reason. There's a small British military detachment there too. But who are you kidding? Their willingness to fight would be a pin-prick to Russia.
Sitting on a balcony in Kollupitiya, Colombo 3, overlooking the starlit Indian Ocean, drinking the world’s FUCK OFFEST Gin Martini. It’s about a pint in quantity
You?
Either you down it in one or it'll be lukewarm before you're through. Not sure which is more eeeuch
Send it back.
True
TBH I’m only drinking it because the bar has RUN OUT OF TONIC = no G&T
It wouldn’t have happened during the Raj. And if it had happened, the bar manager would surely have been keelhauled in the bay by the Royal Navy
Keelhauling seems such a cruel punshment, and yet it was far from exceptional.
There's a horrible catalogue of ways to hurt people.
Wasn’t it essentially a death sentence? Few survived keel-hauling, I believe
Edit to add: Wiki claims it is quasi-mythical. However I have come to doubt the professional sensation-squashers in academic history. “Oh if there’s no written evidence that we can see right now then it never happened, its just tittle tattle”
One example of this process - academics always trying to crush the more interesting or more lurid explanation: the Moche culture of north Peru. For decades serious, spectacled academics pooh-poohed the idea that the Moche ritually sacrificed their children in orgies of sodomy and drugs. Until the bones started showing up. And the drugs. And the undeniable evidence of cannibalism
Brave to go mano a mano against NAM Rodgers on naval history and he isn't shy about atrocities which were committed
No written evidence is quite a strong argument with an organisation that when it does a thing it writes the thing down in the log
I presume Cummings will have a good feel for what direction the report will go based on follow up Qs, and will have a suitable leak ready should the PM have misled the investigation in his submissions.
It's a threat to democracies everywhere. To turn on ourselves at the moment of threat is stupidly irresponsible. We all know that mistakes have been made, both by Germany and the UK, but the real problem is Russian aggression. We don't need to feel good about ourselves by sneering at each other, we need to feel good about ourselves by doing the right thing, which is protecting each other. Fucking focus, people.
What do you suggest?
Are you advocating putting British troops on the ground in Ukraine?
Seriously?
The art of diplomacy is to always have a "get out" clause - there's no point boxing Putin into a corner so his only option is military. Sometimes, public concessions on one side have to be balanced by private concessions on the other. Putin knows he won't get NATO to roll back to pre-1989 borders so what does he really want? What does he need to "save political face" and de-escalate on the Ukrainian border?
Recognition for Crimea plus ab autonomous self-government region in Donetsk
It's a threat to democracies everywhere. To turn on ourselves at the moment of threat is stupidly irresponsible. We all know that mistakes have been made, both by Germany and the UK, but the real problem is Russian aggression. We don't need to feel good about ourselves by sneering at each other, we need to feel good about ourselves by doing the right thing, which is protecting each other. Fucking focus, people.
What do you suggest?
Are you advocating putting British troops on the ground in Ukraine?
Seriously?
The art of diplomacy is to always have a "get out" clause - there's no point boxing Putin into a corner so his only option is military. Sometimes, public concessions on one side have to be balanced by private concessions on the other. Putin knows he won't get NATO to roll back to pre-1989 borders so what does he really want? What does he need to "save political face" and de-escalate on the Ukrainian border?
Surely the goal is that Putin doesn't have a military option?
For all this talk of 'boxing in', the goal is to discourage Putin from using tanks, planes and troops to invade another country.
Now, it's perfectly reasonable to say that we have no obligation to put troops on the ground, given the lack of any alliance. But I do think we do need to make it very clear that there would be serious consequences if Russia was to annex part of a neighbour
Exactly. And to add: we failed in this before. Russia invaded Ukraine 8 years ago and we did next to nothing. That's why we're back here again. Shall we repeat the same mistakes we made in 2014, or shall we make it clear that this is not something we will allow?
It's a threat to democracies everywhere. To turn on ourselves at the moment of threat is stupidly irresponsible. We all know that mistakes have been made, both by Germany and the UK, but the real problem is Russian aggression. We don't need to feel good about ourselves by sneering at each other, we need to feel good about ourselves by doing the right thing, which is protecting each other. Fucking focus, people.
What do you suggest?
Are you advocating putting British troops on the ground in Ukraine?
Seriously?
The art of diplomacy is to always have a "get out" clause - there's no point boxing Putin into a corner so his only option is military. Sometimes, public concessions on one side have to be balanced by private concessions on the other. Putin knows he won't get NATO to roll back to pre-1989 borders so what does he really want? What does he need to "save political face" and de-escalate on the Ukrainian border?
Surely the goal is that Putin doesn't have a military option?
For all this talk of 'boxing in', the goal is to discourage Putin from using tanks, planes and troops to invade another country.
Now, it's perfectly reasonable to say that we have no obligation to put troops on the ground, given the lack of any alliance. But I do think we do need to make it very clear that there would be serious consequences if Russia was to annex part of a neighbour
Presumably he wouldn't 'annex', just set up more proxy states. Enough for people to claim what is the big deal.
It's a threat to democracies everywhere. To turn on ourselves at the moment of threat is stupidly irresponsible. We all know that mistakes have been made, both by Germany and the UK, but the real problem is Russian aggression. We don't need to feel good about ourselves by sneering at each other, we need to feel good about ourselves by doing the right thing, which is protecting each other. Fucking focus, people.
What do you suggest?
Are you advocating putting British troops on the ground in Ukraine?
Seriously?
The art of diplomacy is to always have a "get out" clause - there's no point boxing Putin into a corner so his only option is military. Sometimes, public concessions on one side have to be balanced by private concessions on the other. Putin knows he won't get NATO to roll back to pre-1989 borders so what does he really want? What does he need to "save political face" and de-escalate on the Ukrainian border?
Surely the goal is that Putin doesn't have a military option?
For all this talk of 'boxing in', the goal is to discourage Putin from using tanks, planes and troops to invade another country.
Now, it's perfectly reasonable to say that we have no obligation to put troops on the ground, given the lack of any alliance. But I do think we do need to make it very clear that there would be serious consequences if Russia was to annex part of a neighbour
Exactly. And to add: we failed in this before. Russia invaded Ukraine 8 years ago and we did next to nothing. That's why we're back here again. Shall we repeat the same mistakes we made in 2014, or shall we make it clear that this is not something we will allow?
We shall make the same mistakes. People rarely learn from them.
While Germany aligns with Russia against the EU Baltic states
How about providing your insight into this divisive crisis now engulfing the EU
Whats that got to do with the queue at Dover like
@Scott_xP posts anti brexit tweets while remaining silent on the crisis engulfing his beloved EU
Seems to be a NATO crisis rather than a EU crisis
Germany aligning with Russia against the wishes of the Baltic states, with only the US and UK offering military assistance, and you think this is not a crisis for the EU
Yes, it is an EU crisis too. I believe there is a link with Brexit. If the UK were still an active player in the EU then we might well have been able to push a harder line stance on Russia. It’s at times like this that I think the EU really misses having the UK engaged and arguing the case.
One of the reasons I voted Remain was that us leaving would impair the EU and trigger a widespread regression into insular nationalism. Don't care if this makes me look like a Lord Haw Haw, it's true. It was a big part of my thinking.
If Putin is committed to an incursion into Ukraine then NATO, the US, the EU will I expect work hard to ensure Russia gets expensively bogged down. And hopefully it will be a final trigger to cut all dependency on Russian gas imports.
While Germany aligns with Russia against the EU Baltic states
How about providing your insight into this divisive crisis now engulfing the EU
Whats that got to do with the queue at Dover like
@Scott_xP posts anti brexit tweets while remaining silent on the crisis engulfing his beloved EU
Seems to be a NATO crisis rather than a EU crisis
Germany aligning with Russia against the wishes of the Baltic states, with only the US and UK offering military assistance, and you think this is not a crisis for the EU
Yes, it is an EU crisis too. I believe there is a link with Brexit. If the UK were still an active player in the EU then we might well have been able to push a harder line stance on Russia. It’s at times like this that I think the EU really misses having the UK engaged and arguing the case.
One of the reasons I voted Remain was that us leaving would impair the EU and trigger a widespread regression into insular nationalism. Don't care if this makes me look like a Lord Haw Haw, it's true. It was a big part of my thinking.
Same here. I never saw it simply as a question of transactional British benefit. That’s part of the sadness.
I presume Cummings will have a good feel for what direction the report will go based on follow up Qs, and will have a suitable leak ready should the PM have misled the investigation in his submissions.
Re-stocking my much depleted supply of popcorn.
I will not be surprised if he makes something available that sinks Boris below the waterline.
Sitting on a balcony in Kollupitiya, Colombo 3, overlooking the starlit Indian Ocean, drinking the world’s FUCK OFFEST Gin Martini. It’s about a pint in quantity
You?
Either you down it in one or it'll be lukewarm before you're through. Not sure which is more eeeuch
Send it back.
True
TBH I’m only drinking it because the bar has RUN OUT OF TONIC = no G&T
It wouldn’t have happened during the Raj. And if it had happened, the bar manager would surely have been keelhauled in the bay by the Royal Navy
Keelhauling seems such a cruel punshment, and yet it was far from exceptional.
There's a horrible catalogue of ways to hurt people.
Little evidence of its use in the British navy.
Royal Navy!
Do share whatever you have.
Mainly N.M. Rodger and assorted other naval history. Plus inevitably a bit of wiki.
It can also be revealed that the scope of Gray’s inquiry has expanded to include alleged parties in the flat he shares above No 11 Downing Street with his wife, Carrie, and their two children.
Gray has been told that two of Carrie Johnson’s close friends, Henry Newman and Josh Grimstone, visited the private flat on numerous occasions during lockdown — but that it was for work reasons.
A government source said that Gray was prepared to accept the explanation — but it is understood that some of her investigators regard it as difficult to reconcile with the rules, since both Newman (now a senior aide in No 10) and Grimstone (who works for Michael Gove) were at the time working in the Cabinet Office, not No 10.
One Whitehall source said: “The investigators are concerned about the flat. Why are two spads [special advisers] from the Cabinet Office going frequently to the PM’s flat to have work meetings with the prime minister without any officials present? It doesn’t pass the sniff test.”
Cummings has previously said there were parties in the flat.
While Germany aligns with Russia against the EU Baltic states
How about providing your insight into this divisive crisis now engulfing the EU
Whats that got to do with the queue at Dover like
@Scott_xP posts anti brexit tweets while remaining silent on the crisis engulfing his beloved EU
This anti-EU goading isn't really informative of what is actually happening, so I wonder what you're up to.
Apart from, you know, unwittingly reinforcing Putin's talking points.
Try selling that to the Baltic states and Ukraine and what is actually happening
Oh I'm sorry, I didn't realise your goading of Scott was preserving the fucking freedom of the good people of Vilnius. Well done, we should probably get a medal pinned to your jacket ffs.
I have been to the Baltic States and Russia terrifies them
The EU should be standing together against this threat but it is clear Germany is not and even preventing NATO aircraft to 9v4rly their airspace
It seems those who are so full of the EU cannot accept criticism in what is a very serious and developing crisis
I'm not at all convinced that the EU should get involved. It wasn't formed as a military force, despite Macron's wishes, and as TSE states, that's what NATO is for. So I would suggest we dismiss that notion and stop bringing in a separate 'bash the EU' agenda. Leave the EU out of it.
The real question is whether NATO should be standing up to an invasion. Many will think they should. I'm not so sure. We never should have got involved in Afghanistan and arguably should have kept out Iraq. We may gnash our teeth if China invades Taiwan but I doubt we'll throw troops into a conflict there either.
It's all very sad for Ukraine but I think we're best keeping out of this.
With adding 80K vacancies to 100K not being a good look for a backlog reduction initiative, you are aware the government are imminently to U-TURN on compulsive jabs for health workers by first adding 2 month delay, then kicking into long grass?
Hard at this moment to defend the government on this controversial policy when they are about to pull rug from under your feet.
On the contrary - they will have little sensible choice but to u-turn because of the extent of selfish idiocy at play (and I've not been persuaded by defences of people in health services taking this stance), but the idea itself was perfectly reasonable.
Yes I can understand that argument, the 80K shouldn’t be unjabbed.
But it’s still government insisting on a policy and then U turning late in the day.
Are you saying the reason they are u turning wasn’t there before announcements of the policy?
Gavin Williamson should start learning how to toss the salad (bye bye that knighthood.)
In October 2020 the footballer Marcus Rashford vented his despair at MPs voting down proposals to extend free school meals during holidays. He was not the only one.
Christian Wakeford, then Conservative MP for Bury South, a few miles north of Rashford’s Manchester United home ground, Old Trafford, was also appalled by the move. The 37-year-old, who had been elected to the Commons the previous year, told friends it was mean-spirited and the opposite of what red wall MPs were elected to do.
Yet rather than voting for the opposition motion on school meals, and against the government, he abstained. His decision was informed by a conversation he had had with a colleague shortly before the vote.
Wakeford says Gavin Williamson, then education secretary, pulled him out of the Members’ Dining Room of the House of Commons and threatened to cancel plans for a new school in his constituency if he did “not vote in one particular way”. He first made the allegation, without identifying the culprit, last week.
Asked today who threatened to scrap the school, he said: “It was Gavin Williamson.”
While Germany aligns with Russia against the EU Baltic states
How about providing your insight into this divisive crisis now engulfing the EU
Whats that got to do with the queue at Dover like
@Scott_xP posts anti brexit tweets while remaining silent on the crisis engulfing his beloved EU
This anti-EU goading isn't really informative of what is actually happening, so I wonder what you're up to.
Apart from, you know, unwittingly reinforcing Putin's talking points.
Try selling that to the Baltic states and Ukraine and what is actually happening
Oh I'm sorry, I didn't realise your goading of Scott was preserving the fucking freedom of the good people of Vilnius. Well done, we should probably get a medal pinned to your jacket ffs.
I have been to the Baltic States and Russia terrifies them
The EU should be standing together against this threat but it is clear Germany is not and even preventing NATO aircraft to 9v4rly their airspace
It seems those who are so full of the EU cannot accept criticism in what is a very serious and developing crisis
I'm not at all convinced that the EU should get involved. It wasn't formed as a military force, despite Macron's wishes, and as TSE states, that's what NATO is for.
So I would suggest we dismiss that notion and stop bringing in a separate 'bash the EU' agenda. Leave the EU out of it.
The real question is whether NATO should be standing up to an invasion. I'm not sure. We never should have got involved in Afghanistan and arguably should have kept out Iraq. We may gnash our teeth if Chine invades Taiwan but I doubt we'll throw troops into a conflict there either.
It's all very sad for Ukraine but I think we're best keeping out of this.
It's funny, people like Big G moan like whores about the EU having military ambitions, when they don't act on those the military ambitions they moan like whores about the EU not acting militarily.
While Germany aligns with Russia against the EU Baltic states
How about providing your insight into this divisive crisis now engulfing the EU
Whats that got to do with the queue at Dover like
@Scott_xP posts anti brexit tweets while remaining silent on the crisis engulfing his beloved EU
This anti-EU goading isn't really informative of what is actually happening, so I wonder what you're up to.
Apart from, you know, unwittingly reinforcing Putin's talking points.
Try selling that to the Baltic states and Ukraine and what is actually happening
Oh I'm sorry, I didn't realise your goading of Scott was preserving the fucking freedom of the good people of Vilnius. Well done, we should probably get a medal pinned to your jacket ffs.
I have been to the Baltic States and Russia terrifies them
The EU should be standing together against this threat but it is clear Germany is not and even preventing NATO aircraft to 9v4rly their airspace
It seems those who are so full of the EU cannot accept criticism in what is a very serious and developing crisis
I'm not at all convinced that the EU should get involved. It wasn't formed as a military force, despite Macron's wishes, and as TSE states, that's what NATO is for. So I would suggest we dismiss that notion and stop bringing in a separate 'bash the EU' agenda. Leave the EU out of it.
The real question is whether NATO should be standing up to an invasion. Many will think they should. I'm not so sure. We never should have got involved in Afghanistan and arguably should have kept out Iraq. We may gnash our teeth if China invades Taiwan but I doubt we'll throw troops into a conflict there either.
It's all very sad for Ukraine but I think we're best keeping out of this.
OK, so Russia takes a big bite out of Ukraine.
Then Putin decides that the Russian minorities in the Baltic states need help. What do you do?
EDIT: A guarantee was given to Ukraine, in return for giving up nuclear weapons, that it would be protected by the major powers. What do you say, if after another attack by Russia, Ukraine tears up that treaty and becomes a nuclear state?
Regarding the VONC/noVONC week ahead, it's hard to see the Gray report containing anything that changes what happens next. If it's unexpectedly soft on the PM it will just be seen as a cover-up: everyone knows that things happened that should not have happened, and that Boris was in charge and aware. If it's unexpectedly definite about Boris having been told that he was acting in contravention of the law and going ahead anyway, it will be enough to trigger 54 letters and probably a NC outcome - but it seems incredibly unlikely that a civil servant will make that kind of finding, rather than using careful language about the difficulty of reconciling different recollections of the same events (essentially it won't say the PM is lying). An independent inquiry mandated to assess whether rules were knowingly broken could reach that kind of conclusion; a civil service report with a limited remit can only really do so if presented with written evidence.
It will probably tell us exactly what we already know and allow both sides to carry on with their current spin lines. The determining factor is going to be what MPs have already decided - i.e. are there already the numbers for a VONC, but they recognise that acting before the report looks premature, so will act after publication whatever it says? Or are there too many waverers, still waiting for something that makes it impossible for them not to act? If so, the report won't provide it. The latest whipping allegations probably won't provide it. Even a police inquiry won't provide it unless it results in charges. So we are still where we have been for a long time: most Tory MPs know that the PM isn't fit for office, but it's not clear whether enough of them are ready to do something about it.
[edited to add: Cummings will almost certainly be able to find at least one claim by the PM in the report which he can prove is false... and so the process will continue into February]
With adding 80K vacancies to 100K not being a good look for a backlog reduction initiative, you are aware the government are imminently to U-TURN on compulsive jabs for health workers by first adding 2 month delay, then kicking into long grass?
Hard at this moment to defend the government on this controversial policy when they are about to pull rug from under your feet.
On the contrary - they will have little sensible choice but to u-turn because of the extent of selfish idiocy at play (and I've not been persuaded by defences of people in health services taking this stance), but the idea itself was perfectly reasonable.
Yes I can understand that argument, the 80K shouldn’t be unjabbed.
But it’s still government insisting on a policy and then U turning late in the day.
Yes, which may look weak, but the claim was it was hard to defend the government on the policy when they are about to pull the rug on it, and it isn't hard at all - they're right, but they're unable to do it, which is unfortunate is all.
NEW: Evidence has been passed to Sue Gray that two of Carrie Johnson’s close friends, who are also political advisers, visited the flat during lockdown. The explanation? They were there for work meetings… Fancy that!
The mood in No 10 midweek changed following rumours that Reynolds had “turned” and was helping Gray extensively. She has already obtained an email to him from one senior official warning the party was a bad idea. Dominic Cummings, the former Johnson aide who now wants him removed, and who is expected to see Gray tomorrow, was another who told Reynolds to ditch the idea.
The concern is that Reynolds has told Gray that he checked whether to proceed with the prime minister, or can point to a message he sent Johnson — a potential smoking gun. “Martin doesn’t have much to lose,” a colleague said.
One of the rebels said: “The prime minister is asking us to believe that the PPS [Reynolds] has had this advice from senior officials in No 10, ignored it, brought the prime minister to the party anyway and Boris has turned up and is literally so stupid he can’t tell the difference between a work event and a drinks party.”
NEW: Evidence has been passed to Sue Gray that two of Carrie Johnson’s close friends, who are also political advisers, visited the flat during lockdown. The explanation? They were there for work meetings… Fancy that!
While Germany aligns with Russia against the EU Baltic states
How about providing your insight into this divisive crisis now engulfing the EU
You'll say anything for a Boris win.
I think (and fear) this is going to be the final nail in the coffin for NATO, which has done more for European peace and security than the EU.
I think BigG.'s rhetoric is unhelpfully shrill. There are undoubtedly issues of specific concern to Germany, particularly the lights going out, but I am not reading it as the major division claimed by BigG. and liked by several Johnsonians. Germany need to watch their step, they are next after Poland.
NATO was weakened by the Putin shill in the Whitehouse prior to 2021, and Biden's enthusiasm for Europe is underwhelming.
Sitting on a balcony in Kollupitiya, Colombo 3, overlooking the starlit Indian Ocean, drinking the world’s FUCK OFFEST Gin Martini. It’s about a pint in quantity
You?
Either you down it in one or it'll be lukewarm before you're through. Not sure which is more eeeuch
Send it back.
True
TBH I’m only drinking it because the bar has RUN OUT OF TONIC = no G&T
It wouldn’t have happened during the Raj. And if it had happened, the bar manager would surely have been keelhauled in the bay by the Royal Navy
Keelhauling seems such a cruel punshment, and yet it was far from exceptional.
There's a horrible catalogue of ways to hurt people.
Wasn’t it essentially a death sentence? Few survived keel-hauling, I believe
Edit to add: Wiki claims it is quasi-mythical. However I have come to doubt the professional sensation-squashers in academic history. “Oh if there’s no written evidence that we can see right now then it never happened, its just tittle tattle”
One example of this process - academics always trying to crush the more interesting or more lurid explanation: the Moche culture of north Peru. For decades serious, spectacled academics pooh-poohed the idea that the Moche ritually sacrificed their children in orgies of sodomy and drugs. Until the bones started showing up. And the drugs. And the undeniable evidence of cannibalism
They also claim the blood eagle was a Victorian invention and the textual references just mean the bodies were left out for the eagles to eat
I know. It’s embarrassingly ridiculous. And there are multiple examples
For a few decades there was an attempt to claim that widespread cannibalism in “primitive” “Global South” cultures was a western racist invention. The missionaries in the cooking pot! Absurd Victorian fantasy
Until the evidence of cannibalism in multiple “Global South” cultures became utterly overwhelming, and they had to backtrack, and now it is accepted that cannibalism has been widespread at various times. No doubt it it is the fault of the British starved them or something. In the 8th century AD
Joking aside, this is not a left-right Woke-unWoke thing, by the way. The problem is a dreary tendency in academe, of whatever persuasion. The insistence on a written record OR IT DIDN’T HAPPEN. It sneeringly ignores or degrades oral cultures with long cultural memories. Australian aborigines for one
While Germany aligns with Russia against the EU Baltic states
How about providing your insight into this divisive crisis now engulfing the EU
Whats that got to do with the queue at Dover like
@Scott_xP posts anti brexit tweets while remaining silent on the crisis engulfing his beloved EU
This anti-EU goading isn't really informative of what is actually happening, so I wonder what you're up to.
Apart from, you know, unwittingly reinforcing Putin's talking points.
Try selling that to the Baltic states and Ukraine and what is actually happening
Oh I'm sorry, I didn't realise your goading of Scott was preserving the fucking freedom of the good people of Vilnius. Well done, we should probably get a medal pinned to your jacket ffs.
I have been to the Baltic States and Russia terrifies them
The EU should be standing together against this threat but it is clear Germany is not and even preventing NATO aircraft to 9v4rly their airspace
It seems those who are so full of the EU cannot accept criticism in what is a very serious and developing crisis
I'm not at all convinced that the EU should get involved. It wasn't formed as a military force, despite Macron's wishes, and as TSE states, that's what NATO is for. So I would suggest we dismiss that notion and stop bringing in a separate 'bash the EU' agenda. Leave the EU out of it.
The real question is whether NATO should be standing up to an invasion. Many will think they should. I'm not so sure. We never should have got involved in Afghanistan and arguably should have kept out Iraq. We may gnash our teeth if China invades Taiwan but I doubt we'll throw troops into a conflict there either.
It's all very sad for Ukraine but I think we're best keeping out of this.
And what happens when hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians, who don't want to live under the Russian imperialist yoke, start walking? Which way do you think they will go? It'll be all very sad for the whole of Europe. And Putin, emboldened, will start picking his next target. Moldova? Lithuania? Finland?
NEW: Evidence has been passed to Sue Gray that two of Carrie Johnson’s close friends, who are also political advisers, visited the flat during lockdown. The explanation? They were there for work meetings… Fancy that!
While Germany aligns with Russia against the EU Baltic states
How about providing your insight into this divisive crisis now engulfing the EU
Whats that got to do with the queue at Dover like
@Scott_xP posts anti brexit tweets while remaining silent on the crisis engulfing his beloved EU
This anti-EU goading isn't really informative of what is actually happening, so I wonder what you're up to.
Apart from, you know, unwittingly reinforcing Putin's talking points.
Try selling that to the Baltic states and Ukraine and what is actually happening
Oh I'm sorry, I didn't realise your goading of Scott was preserving the fucking freedom of the good people of Vilnius. Well done, we should probably get a medal pinned to your jacket ffs.
I have been to the Baltic States and Russia terrifies them
The EU should be standing together against this threat but it is clear Germany is not and even preventing NATO aircraft to 9v4rly their airspace
It seems those who are so full of the EU cannot accept criticism in what is a very serious and developing crisis
I'm not at all convinced that the EU should get involved. It wasn't formed as a military force, despite Macron's wishes, and as TSE states, that's what NATO is for. So I would suggest we dismiss that notion and stop bringing in a separate 'bash the EU' agenda. Leave the EU out of it.
The real question is whether NATO should be standing up to an invasion. Many will think they should. I'm not so sure. We never should have got involved in Afghanistan and arguably should have kept out Iraq. We may gnash our teeth if China invades Taiwan but I doubt we'll throw troops into a conflict there either.
It's all very sad for Ukraine but I think we're best keeping out of this.
You cannot leave the EU out when the Baltic EU member states feel threatened and actually appreciate the US and UK providing military assistance and support to Ukraine
I assume if the worst happens then the US, UK and France will act with the assistance of NATO but where is Germany in all this
NEW: Evidence has been passed to Sue Gray that two of Carrie Johnson’s close friends, who are also political advisers, visited the flat during lockdown. The explanation? They were there for work meetings… Fancy that!
If work comes up at some point is any gathering technically a work meeting? Many will hope so.
As I recall there were times when a potential house purchase being discussed for a few mins could count as a business meeting that lasted several hours. Or a potential new business seeking investors, etc
NEW: Evidence has been passed to Sue Gray that two of Carrie Johnson’s close friends, who are also political advisers, visited the flat during lockdown. The explanation? They were there for work meetings… Fancy that!
With adding 80K vacancies to 100K not being a good look for a backlog reduction initiative, you are aware the government are imminently to U-TURN on compulsive jabs for health workers by first adding 2 month delay, then kicking into long grass?
Hard at this moment to defend the government on this controversial policy when they are about to pull rug from under your feet.
On the contrary - they will have little sensible choice but to u-turn because of the extent of selfish idiocy at play (and I've not been persuaded by defences of people in health services taking this stance), but the idea itself was perfectly reasonable.
Yes I can understand that argument, the 80K shouldn’t be unjabbed.
But it’s still government insisting on a policy and then U turning late in the day.
Are you saying the reason they are u turning wasn’t there before announcements of the policy?
It’s possible that some have been vaccinated because of the mandate that wouldn’t have done so without it. It’s regrettable that so many choose to deny the evidence in front of them, and also seemingly don’t care about their patients enough to do the right thing. A compromise would be to accept proof of infection (so antibodies) instead of vaccination. I’ve no idea how many of the 80k that would reprieve, but if the 96% number for the population is right, then it would be most of them.
NEW: Evidence has been passed to Sue Gray that two of Carrie Johnson’s close friends, who are also political advisers, visited the flat during lockdown. The explanation? They were there for work meetings… Fancy that!
Sitting on a balcony in Kollupitiya, Colombo 3, overlooking the starlit Indian Ocean, drinking the world’s FUCK OFFEST Gin Martini. It’s about a pint in quantity
You?
Either you down it in one or it'll be lukewarm before you're through. Not sure which is more eeeuch
Send it back.
True
TBH I’m only drinking it because the bar has RUN OUT OF TONIC = no G&T
It wouldn’t have happened during the Raj. And if it had happened, the bar manager would surely have been keelhauled in the bay by the Royal Navy
Keelhauling seems such a cruel punshment, and yet it was far from exceptional.
There's a horrible catalogue of ways to hurt people.
Wasn’t it essentially a death sentence? Few survived keel-hauling, I believe
Edit to add: Wiki claims it is quasi-mythical. However I have come to doubt the professional sensation-squashers in academic history. “Oh if there’s no written evidence that we can see right now then it never happened, its just tittle tattle”
One example of this process - academics always trying to crush the more interesting or more lurid explanation: the Moche culture of north Peru. For decades serious, spectacled academics pooh-poohed the idea that the Moche ritually sacrificed their children in orgies of sodomy and drugs. Until the bones started showing up. And the drugs. And the undeniable evidence of cannibalism
They also claim the blood eagle was a Victorian invention and the textual references just mean the bodies were left out for the eagles to eat
I know. It’s embarrassingly ridiculous. And there are multiple examples
For a few decades there was an attempt to claim that widespread cannibalism in “primitive” “Global South” cultures was a western racist invention. The missionaries in the cooking pot! Absurd Victorian fantasy
Until the evidence of cannibalism in multiple “Global South” cultures became utterly overwhelming, and they had to backtrack, and now it is accepted that cannibalism has been widespread at various times. No doubt it it is the fault of the British starved them or something. In the 8th century AD
Joking aside, this is not a left-right Woke-unWoke thing, by the way. The problem is a dreary tendency in academe, of whatever persuasion. The insistence on a written record OR IT DIDN’T HAPPEN. It sneeringly ignores or degrades oral cultures with long cultural memories. Australian aborigines for one
There does seem to have been pushback on the idea of the idyllic hunter-gatherer peaceful culture idea though, with it being accepted that yes, they can have been pretty violent too. I recently read a pushback against that pushback, but though querying the estimates others use, it didn't seem to have much behind it other than the old idea that it must have been peaceful.
While Germany aligns with Russia against the EU Baltic states
How about providing your insight into this divisive crisis now engulfing the EU
Whats that got to do with the queue at Dover like
@Scott_xP posts anti brexit tweets while remaining silent on the crisis engulfing his beloved EU
This anti-EU goading isn't really informative of what is actually happening, so I wonder what you're up to.
Apart from, you know, unwittingly reinforcing Putin's talking points.
Try selling that to the Baltic states and Ukraine and what is actually happening
Oh I'm sorry, I didn't realise your goading of Scott was preserving the fucking freedom of the good people of Vilnius. Well done, we should probably get a medal pinned to your jacket ffs.
I have been to the Baltic States and Russia terrifies them
The EU should be standing together against this threat but it is clear Germany is not and even preventing NATO aircraft to 9v4rly their airspace
It seems those who are so full of the EU cannot accept criticism in what is a very serious and developing crisis
I'm not at all convinced that the EU should get involved. It wasn't formed as a military force, despite Macron's wishes, and as TSE states, that's what NATO is for. So I would suggest we dismiss that notion and stop bringing in a separate 'bash the EU' agenda. Leave the EU out of it.
The real question is whether NATO should be standing up to an invasion. Many will think they should. I'm not so sure. We never should have got involved in Afghanistan and arguably should have kept out Iraq. We may gnash our teeth if China invades Taiwan but I doubt we'll throw troops into a conflict there either.
It's all very sad for Ukraine but I think we're best keeping out of this.
OK, so Russia takes a big bite out of Ukraine.
Then Putin decides that the Russian minorities in the Baltic states need help. What do you do?
Those are NATO countries. You put boots on the ground, and dare the US to attack British, American, Italian, Turkish and German troops.
If we weren't prepared to put boots on the ground to defend them, then we shouldn't have let them join NATO. And if we aren't prepared now, the we need to leave NATO.
History suggests it is better to deter aggression by taking an early stance, than allowing an aggressor to keep invading other countries.
It's also the case that the Russians need us as much as we need them. Remove commodity exports, and what does Russia have? The rise of LNG, wind and solar or of battery powered cars, are existential threats to the Russian economy. It would be painful for us to stop buying their gas: but who will they sell it to if not us. There is no alternative pipeline to China (yet), and won't be for a decade. Russia has extemely limited LNG export facilities, and all exports need to go via the Baltic and North Seas, so their strategic position is not strong.
NEW: Evidence has been passed to Sue Gray that two of Carrie Johnson’s close friends, who are also political advisers, visited the flat during lockdown. The explanation? They were there for work meetings… Fancy that!
While Germany aligns with Russia against the EU Baltic states
How about providing your insight into this divisive crisis now engulfing the EU
Whats that got to do with the queue at Dover like
@Scott_xP posts anti brexit tweets while remaining silent on the crisis engulfing his beloved EU
This anti-EU goading isn't really informative of what is actually happening, so I wonder what you're up to.
Apart from, you know, unwittingly reinforcing Putin's talking points.
Try selling that to the Baltic states and Ukraine and what is actually happening
Oh I'm sorry, I didn't realise your goading of Scott was preserving the fucking freedom of the good people of Vilnius. Well done, we should probably get a medal pinned to your jacket ffs.
I have been to the Baltic States and Russia terrifies them
The EU should be standing together against this threat but it is clear Germany is not and even preventing NATO aircraft to 9v4rly their airspace
It seems those who are so full of the EU cannot accept criticism in what is a very serious and developing crisis
I'm not at all convinced that the EU should get involved. It wasn't formed as a military force, despite Macron's wishes, and as TSE states, that's what NATO is for.
So I would suggest we dismiss that notion and stop bringing in a separate 'bash the EU' agenda. Leave the EU out of it.
The real question is whether NATO should be standing up to an invasion. I'm not sure. We never should have got involved in Afghanistan and arguably should have kept out Iraq. We may gnash our teeth if Chine invades Taiwan but I doubt we'll throw troops into a conflict there either.
It's all very sad for Ukraine but I think we're best keeping out of this.
It's funny, people like Big G moan like whores about the EU having military ambitions, when they don't act on those the military ambitions they moan like whores about the EU not acting militarily.
You really do seem upset that the EU is facing justified criticism from outside and within
And I have a personal interest in this as my Canadian daughter in law family are Ukrainian
While Germany aligns with Russia against the EU Baltic states
How about providing your insight into this divisive crisis now engulfing the EU
Whats that got to do with the queue at Dover like
@Scott_xP posts anti brexit tweets while remaining silent on the crisis engulfing his beloved EU
This anti-EU goading isn't really informative of what is actually happening, so I wonder what you're up to.
Apart from, you know, unwittingly reinforcing Putin's talking points.
Try selling that to the Baltic states and Ukraine and what is actually happening
Oh I'm sorry, I didn't realise your goading of Scott was preserving the fucking freedom of the good people of Vilnius. Well done, we should probably get a medal pinned to your jacket ffs.
I have been to the Baltic States and Russia terrifies them
The EU should be standing together against this threat but it is clear Germany is not and even preventing NATO aircraft to 9v4rly their airspace
It seems those who are so full of the EU cannot accept criticism in what is a very serious and developing crisis
I'm not at all convinced that the EU should get involved. It wasn't formed as a military force, despite Macron's wishes, and as TSE states, that's what NATO is for. So I would suggest we dismiss that notion and stop bringing in a separate 'bash the EU' agenda. Leave the EU out of it.
The real question is whether NATO should be standing up to an invasion. Many will think they should. I'm not so sure. We never should have got involved in Afghanistan and arguably should have kept out Iraq. We may gnash our teeth if China invades Taiwan but I doubt we'll throw troops into a conflict there either.
It's all very sad for Ukraine but I think we're best keeping out of this.
You may not believe the EU is “military force” but in the EU Constitution, sorry Lisbon Treaty - you know, that thing they promised us a vote on, which was then denied - there is a specific mutual defence clause. So now it IS a military union, like it or not
The clause has never yet been invoked. But it is there
While Germany aligns with Russia against the EU Baltic states
How about providing your insight into this divisive crisis now engulfing the EU
Whats that got to do with the queue at Dover like
@Scott_xP posts anti brexit tweets while remaining silent on the crisis engulfing his beloved EU
This anti-EU goading isn't really informative of what is actually happening, so I wonder what you're up to.
Apart from, you know, unwittingly reinforcing Putin's talking points.
Try selling that to the Baltic states and Ukraine and what is actually happening
Oh I'm sorry, I didn't realise your goading of Scott was preserving the fucking freedom of the good people of Vilnius. Well done, we should probably get a medal pinned to your jacket ffs.
I have been to the Baltic States and Russia terrifies them
The EU should be standing together against this threat but it is clear Germany is not and even preventing NATO aircraft to 9v4rly their airspace
It seems those who are so full of the EU cannot accept criticism in what is a very serious and developing crisis
I'm not at all convinced that the EU should get involved. It wasn't formed as a military force, despite Macron's wishes, and as TSE states, that's what NATO is for. So I would suggest we dismiss that notion and stop bringing in a separate 'bash the EU' agenda. Leave the EU out of it.
The real question is whether NATO should be standing up to an invasion. Many will think they should. I'm not so sure. We never should have got involved in Afghanistan and arguably should have kept out Iraq. We may gnash our teeth if China invades Taiwan but I doubt we'll throw troops into a conflict there either.
It's all very sad for Ukraine but I think we're best keeping out of this.
You cannot leave the EU out when the Baltic EU member states feel threatened and actually appreciate the US and UK providing military assistance and support to Ukraine
I assume if the worst happens then the US, UK and France will act with the assistance of NATO but where is Germany in all this
The BBC's Correspondent (Mark Urban?) reported earlier this week the Germans were baulking at any measures at all even a big economic sanction. That was causing great concern all round, from his report, I think.
While Germany aligns with Russia against the EU Baltic states
How about providing your insight into this divisive crisis now engulfing the EU
Whats that got to do with the queue at Dover like
@Scott_xP posts anti brexit tweets while remaining silent on the crisis engulfing his beloved EU
This anti-EU goading isn't really informative of what is actually happening, so I wonder what you're up to.
Apart from, you know, unwittingly reinforcing Putin's talking points.
Try selling that to the Baltic states and Ukraine and what is actually happening
Oh I'm sorry, I didn't realise your goading of Scott was preserving the fucking freedom of the good people of Vilnius. Well done, we should probably get a medal pinned to your jacket ffs.
I have been to the Baltic States and Russia terrifies them
The EU should be standing together against this threat but it is clear Germany is not and even preventing NATO aircraft to 9v4rly their airspace
It seems those who are so full of the EU cannot accept criticism in what is a very serious and developing crisis
I'm not at all convinced that the EU should get involved. It wasn't formed as a military force, despite Macron's wishes, and as TSE states, that's what NATO is for. So I would suggest we dismiss that notion and stop bringing in a separate 'bash the EU' agenda. Leave the EU out of it.
The real question is whether NATO should be standing up to an invasion. Many will think they should. I'm not so sure. We never should have got involved in Afghanistan and arguably should have kept out Iraq. We may gnash our teeth if China invades Taiwan but I doubt we'll throw troops into a conflict there either.
It's all very sad for Ukraine but I think we're best keeping out of this.
You cannot leave the EU out when the Baltic EU member states feel threatened
Ukraine isn't an EU member state
It's a bit strange that someone anti-EU, pro Britain leaving the EU, is advocating that the EU pitch up to a battle despite having no military force
While Germany aligns with Russia against the EU Baltic states
How about providing your insight into this divisive crisis now engulfing the EU
Whats that got to do with the queue at Dover like
@Scott_xP posts anti brexit tweets while remaining silent on the crisis engulfing his beloved EU
This anti-EU goading isn't really informative of what is actually happening, so I wonder what you're up to.
Apart from, you know, unwittingly reinforcing Putin's talking points.
Try selling that to the Baltic states and Ukraine and what is actually happening
Oh I'm sorry, I didn't realise your goading of Scott was preserving the fucking freedom of the good people of Vilnius. Well done, we should probably get a medal pinned to your jacket ffs.
I have been to the Baltic States and Russia terrifies them
The EU should be standing together against this threat but it is clear Germany is not and even preventing NATO aircraft to 9v4rly their airspace
It seems those who are so full of the EU cannot accept criticism in what is a very serious and developing crisis
I'm not at all convinced that the EU should get involved. It wasn't formed as a military force, despite Macron's wishes, and as TSE states, that's what NATO is for. So I would suggest we dismiss that notion and stop bringing in a separate 'bash the EU' agenda. Leave the EU out of it.
The real question is whether NATO should be standing up to an invasion. Many will think they should. I'm not so sure. We never should have got involved in Afghanistan and arguably should have kept out Iraq. We may gnash our teeth if China invades Taiwan but I doubt we'll throw troops into a conflict there either.
It's all very sad for Ukraine but I think we're best keeping out of this.
where is Germany in all this
Germany has a rather 'colourful' military history when it comes to the rest of Europe, including Russia. Don't you think that might explain why they are being extremely wary?
NEW: Evidence has been passed to Sue Gray that two of Carrie Johnson’s close friends, who are also political advisers, visited the flat during lockdown. The explanation? They were there for work meetings… Fancy that!
If work comes up at some point is any gathering technically a work meeting? Many will hope so.
"Work meeting" =/= "reasonably necessary for work" which I think was the test in law at that point.
It's not if it meets the test in law, it's whether it's enough to hinge a political defence on by muddying the waters. The problem Boris has had with many recent explanations is they rely on him, or us, being breathtakingly stupid to believe it, neither of which is a good look.
People don't want to be brave and be rebels, it is risky and damaging. So they will look for excuses to not act.
With adding 80K vacancies to 100K not being a good look for a backlog reduction initiative, you are aware the government are imminently to U-TURN on compulsive jabs for health workers by first adding 2 month delay, then kicking into long grass?
Hard at this moment to defend the government on this controversial policy when they are about to pull rug from under your feet.
On the contrary - they will have little sensible choice but to u-turn because of the extent of selfish idiocy at play (and I've not been persuaded by defences of people in health services taking this stance), but the idea itself was perfectly reasonable.
Yes I can understand that argument, the 80K shouldn’t be unjabbed.
But it’s still government insisting on a policy and then U turning late in the day.
Yes, which may look weak, but the claim was it was hard to defend the government on the policy when they are about to pull the rug on it, and it isn't hard at all - they're right, but they're unable to do it, which is unfortunate is all.
No - the day they announced the policy, they should have been aware they couldn’t go through with it, adding 80K vacancies to 100K not being a good look for a backlog reduction initiative, yet it’s still not the governments fault the u-turn makes them look naff and weak? Very odd logic from you. 🤔
The hardline may have got some vaxxed, any figures. But It’s worse than a failed policy, it has boosted the anti vax enemy of the people. Let’s call the u turn out as political failure.
While Germany aligns with Russia against the EU Baltic states
How about providing your insight into this divisive crisis now engulfing the EU
Whats that got to do with the queue at Dover like
@Scott_xP posts anti brexit tweets while remaining silent on the crisis engulfing his beloved EU
This anti-EU goading isn't really informative of what is actually happening, so I wonder what you're up to.
Apart from, you know, unwittingly reinforcing Putin's talking points.
Try selling that to the Baltic states and Ukraine and what is actually happening
Oh I'm sorry, I didn't realise your goading of Scott was preserving the fucking freedom of the good people of Vilnius. Well done, we should probably get a medal pinned to your jacket ffs.
I have been to the Baltic States and Russia terrifies them
The EU should be standing together against this threat but it is clear Germany is not and even preventing NATO aircraft to 9v4rly their airspace
It seems those who are so full of the EU cannot accept criticism in what is a very serious and developing crisis
I'm not at all convinced that the EU should get involved. It wasn't formed as a military force, despite Macron's wishes, and as TSE states, that's what NATO is for.
So I would suggest we dismiss that notion and stop bringing in a separate 'bash the EU' agenda. Leave the EU out of it.
The real question is whether NATO should be standing up to an invasion. I'm not sure. We never should have got involved in Afghanistan and arguably should have kept out Iraq. We may gnash our teeth if Chine invades Taiwan but I doubt we'll throw troops into a conflict there either.
It's all very sad for Ukraine but I think we're best keeping out of this.
It's funny, people like Big G moan like whores about the EU having military ambitions, when they don't act on those the military ambitions they moan like whores about the EU not acting militarily.
You really do seem upset that the EU is facing justified criticism from outside and within
Sometimes people get upset when they see someone being utterly witless. That's how I feel right now reading the rubbish you're coming out with. It's actively harmful without benefiting from being true.
There is strong support from more EU countries for Ukraine than you mentioned.
At present they seem to be split 4 ways: the old core six except Netherlands, Scandinavia, the Eastern Countries under direct threat from Russia incl the Baltics, and the Mediterranean.
Scandinavia and Eastern Countries are giving strong support for obvious reasons, and many arms from their own stocks, boosting their own defences, or doing at least some support for NATO countries in the Ukraine region.
In the Med Spain is being supportive and has sent a frigate, not sure about Italy / Malta / Greece. I have not seen anything on the smaller Balkan countries.
While Germany aligns with Russia against the EU Baltic states
How about providing your insight into this divisive crisis now engulfing the EU
You'll say anything for a Boris win.
I think (and fear) this is going to be the final nail in the coffin for NATO, which has done more for European peace and security than the EU.
I think BigG.'s rhetoric is unhelpfully shrill. There are undoubtedly issues of specific concern to Germany, particularly the lights going out, but I am not reading it as the major division claimed by BigG. and liked by several Johnsonians. Germany need to watch their step, they are next after Poland.
NATO was weakened by the Putin shill in the Whitehouse prior to 2021, and Biden's enthusiasm for Europe is underwhelming.
A friend pointed something out. If Ukraine is invaded, that is your full on Act of War. In that case they are allowed to retaliate against a full range of economic and military targets belonging to their opponent.
Nord Stream 2 could be legally argued to be a part of the Russian state "system"..... Wouldn't take much for a ship in the Baltic to fuck it up.
NEW: Evidence has been passed to Sue Gray that two of Carrie Johnson’s close friends, who are also political advisers, visited the flat during lockdown. The explanation? They were there for work meetings… Fancy that!
I am officially declaring Boris Johnson will soon be an ex Prime Minister.
I’m now officially calling it the other way.
Despite what has been thrown at him, The Tory Press still solidly behind Boris, not one resignation from any of the 150 MPs working in government, and no VONC yet because rebels don’t have winning numbers, it can’t be won. This storm is blowing over already now - Nor does bad set mid term locals remove him, on the basis they are always meaningless for news agenda, 24hrs and done.
At what point do you accept we have passed peak danger for Boris in this term, and the Boris recovery is underway? Report comes out this week and by next Saturday still no Vonc? Is that fair, you would admit defeat then?
It was right to have tried, Boris is a lazy oaf with no attention or grasp of detail, and inane broad brush economic policys that aren’t really Conservative at all.
I am officially declaring Boris Johnson will soon be an ex Prime Minister.
I’m now officially calling it the other way.
Despite what has been thrown at him, The Tory Press still solidly behind Boris, not one resignation from any of the 150 MPs working in government, and no VONC yet because rebels don’t have winning numbers, it can’t be won. This storm is blowing over already now - Nor does bad set mid term locals remove him, on the basis they are always meaningless for news agenda, 24hrs and done.
At what point do you accept we have passed peak danger for Boris in this term, and the Boris recovery is underway? Report comes out this week and by next Saturday still no Vonc? Is that fair, you would admit defeat then?
It was right to have tried, Boris is a lazy oaf with no attention or grasp of detail, and inane broad brush economic policys that aren’t really Conservative at all.
Packers-49ers tonight, not sure I am ready for another soul destroying playoff loss...
This mandatory vaccination for NHS staff is about to really blow up. Already seeing signs of staff panicking or getting extremely fired up about it. My manager has warned us that the next 3-4 weeks is going to be very difficult at work with the 3rd Feb deadline for 1st doses. Emotions will be running high.
With adding 80K vacancies to 100K not being a good look for a backlog reduction initiative, you are aware the government are imminently to U-TURN on compulsive jabs for health workers by first adding 2 month delay, then kicking into long grass?
Hard at this moment to defend the government on this controversial policy when they are about to pull rug from under your feet.
On the contrary - they will have little sensible choice but to u-turn because of the extent of selfish idiocy at play (and I've not been persuaded by defences of people in health services taking this stance), but the idea itself was perfectly reasonable.
Yes I can understand that argument, the 80K shouldn’t be unjabbed.
But it’s still government insisting on a policy and then U turning late in the day.
Yes, which may look weak, but the claim was it was hard to defend the government on the policy when they are about to pull the rug on it, and it isn't hard at all - they're right, but they're unable to do it, which is unfortunate is all.
No - the day they announced the policy, they should have been aware they couldn’t go through with it, adding 80K vacancies to 100K not being a good look for a backlog reduction initiative, yet it’s still not the governments fault the u-turn makes them look naff and weak? Very odd logic from you. 🤔
That's not my logic. You claimed it was hard to defend the government on the policy because they are about to u-turn on it. I don't agree that it is hard.
I don't care whether a u-turn makes the government look weak. And them looking weak for u-turning doesn't make the policy any more or less of a good idea.
It was a good idea, I support them trying it, and regretfully understand why it must u-turn.
I'm no fan of the government, but being unable to do something good because of idiots? I'll give them a pass on that.
Anyway, God Emperor of Dune won't read itsel. Sayonara.
Sitting on a balcony in Kollupitiya, Colombo 3, overlooking the starlit Indian Ocean, drinking the world’s FUCK OFFEST Gin Martini. It’s about a pint in quantity
You?
Either you down it in one or it'll be lukewarm before you're through. Not sure which is more eeeuch
Send it back.
True
TBH I’m only drinking it because the bar has RUN OUT OF TONIC = no G&T
It wouldn’t have happened during the Raj. And if it had happened, the bar manager would surely have been keelhauled in the bay by the Royal Navy
Keelhauling seems such a cruel punshment, and yet it was far from exceptional.
There's a horrible catalogue of ways to hurt people.
Wasn’t it essentially a death sentence? Few survived keel-hauling, I believe
Edit to add: Wiki claims it is quasi-mythical. However I have come to doubt the professional sensation-squashers in academic history. “Oh if there’s no written evidence that we can see right now then it never happened, its just tittle tattle”
One example of this process - academics always trying to crush the more interesting or more lurid explanation: the Moche culture of north Peru. For decades serious, spectacled academics pooh-poohed the idea that the Moche ritually sacrificed their children in orgies of sodomy and drugs. Until the bones started showing up. And the drugs. And the undeniable evidence of cannibalism
They also claim the blood eagle was a Victorian invention and the textual references just mean the bodies were left out for the eagles to eat
I know. It’s embarrassingly ridiculous. And there are multiple examples
For a few decades there was an attempt to claim that widespread cannibalism in “primitive” “Global South” cultures was a western racist invention. The missionaries in the cooking pot! Absurd Victorian fantasy
Until the evidence of cannibalism in multiple “Global South” cultures became utterly overwhelming, and they had to backtrack, and now it is accepted that cannibalism has been widespread at various times. No doubt it it is the fault of the British starved them or something. In the 8th century AD
Joking aside, this is not a left-right Woke-unWoke thing, by the way. The problem is a dreary tendency in academe, of whatever persuasion. The insistence on a written record OR IT DIDN’T HAPPEN. It sneeringly ignores or degrades oral cultures with long cultural memories. Australian aborigines for one
There does seem to have been pushback on the idea of the idyllic hunter-gatherer peaceful culture idea though, with it being accepted that yes, they can have been pretty violent too. I recently read a pushback against that pushback, but though querying the estimates others use, it didn't seem to have much behind it other than the old idea that it must have been peaceful.
I can literally remember being taught in the 80s that ancient non-western cultures were so brilliant they barely fought ever. One example given was “the flower wars” of meso-America, where the invaders would fight the defenders with flowers barely hurting each other. OMG how much nicer than us
In retrospect what the teacher was ignorantly describing was the Aztec invasions of lesser nations where the Aztecs would try not to kill their opponents as much as possible, using non lethal weapons. Why? Because the Aztecs preferred to take live prisoners, who could then be led back in triumph to Tenochtitlan, there to have their beating hearts torn out in live, public human sacrifice, often thousands in a day
While Germany aligns with Russia against the EU Baltic states
How about providing your insight into this divisive crisis now engulfing the EU
Whats that got to do with the queue at Dover like
@Scott_xP posts anti brexit tweets while remaining silent on the crisis engulfing his beloved EU
This anti-EU goading isn't really informative of what is actually happening, so I wonder what you're up to.
Apart from, you know, unwittingly reinforcing Putin's talking points.
Try selling that to the Baltic states and Ukraine and what is actually happening
Oh I'm sorry, I didn't realise your goading of Scott was preserving the fucking freedom of the good people of Vilnius. Well done, we should probably get a medal pinned to your jacket ffs.
I have been to the Baltic States and Russia terrifies them
The EU should be standing together against this threat but it is clear Germany is not and even preventing NATO aircraft to 9v4rly their airspace
It seems those who are so full of the EU cannot accept criticism in what is a very serious and developing crisis
I'm not at all convinced that the EU should get involved. It wasn't formed as a military force, despite Macron's wishes, and as TSE states, that's what NATO is for.
So I would suggest we dismiss that notion and stop bringing in a separate 'bash the EU' agenda. Leave the EU out of it.
The real question is whether NATO should be standing up to an invasion. I'm not sure. We never should have got involved in Afghanistan and arguably should have kept out Iraq. We may gnash our teeth if Chine invades Taiwan but I doubt we'll throw troops into a conflict there either.
It's all very sad for Ukraine but I think we're best keeping out of this.
It's funny, people like Big G moan like whores about the EU having military ambitions, when they don't act on those the military ambitions they moan like whores about the EU not acting militarily.
You really do seem upset that the EU is facing justified criticism from outside and within
Sometimes people get upset when they see someone being utterly witless. That's how I feel right now reading the rubbish you're coming out with. It's actively harmful without benefiting from being true.
You may be upset but it certainly is not rubbish and Germany aligning with Russia is true
Germany has a rather 'colourful' military history when it comes to the rest of Europe, including Russia. Don't you think that might explain why they are being extremely wary?
Germany invaded Ukraine in 1918, as well as the more well-known invasion of 1941.
Germany has a rather 'colourful' military history when it comes to the rest of Europe, including Russia. Don't you think that might explain why they are being extremely wary?
Germany invaded Ukraine in 1918, as well as the more well-known invasion of 1941.
Germany has a rather 'colourful' military history when it comes to the rest of Europe, including Russia. Don't you think that might explain why they are being extremely wary?
Germany invaded Ukraine in 1918, as well as the more well-known invasion of 1941.
Germany has been extremely non-careful about arming and helping arm *Russia* since the last time the Russians went walkabout in Ukraine.
Selling arms to one side in a war, then claiming that they can't possibly allow someone to arm the other side.
Interestingly, that would put their legal status as a neutral in a war at risk. Ukraine could claim, under international law, that Germany was a co-beligerant with Russia and demand reparations....
With adding 80K vacancies to 100K not being a good look for a backlog reduction initiative, you are aware the government are imminently to U-TURN on compulsive jabs for health workers by first adding 2 month delay, then kicking into long grass?
Hard at this moment to defend the government on this controversial policy when they are about to pull rug from under your feet.
On the contrary - they will have little sensible choice but to u-turn because of the extent of selfish idiocy at play (and I've not been persuaded by defences of people in health services taking this stance), but the idea itself was perfectly reasonable.
Yes I can understand that argument, the 80K shouldn’t be unjabbed.
But it’s still government insisting on a policy and then U turning late in the day.
Yes, which may look weak, but the claim was it was hard to defend the government on the policy when they are about to pull the rug on it, and it isn't hard at all - they're right, but they're unable to do it, which is unfortunate is all.
No - the day they announced the policy, they should have been aware they couldn’t go through with it, adding 80K vacancies to 100K not being a good look for a backlog reduction initiative, yet it’s still not the governments fault the u-turn makes them look naff and weak? Very odd logic from you. 🤔
That's not my logic. You claimed it was hard to defend the government on the policy because they are about to u-turn on it. I don't agree that it is hard.
I don't care whether a u-turn makes the government look weak. And them looking weak for u-turning doesn't make the policy any more or less of a good idea.
It was a good idea, I support them trying it, and regretfully understand why it must u-turn.
I'm no fan of the government, but being unable to do something good because of idiots? I'll give them a pass on that.
No I’m not letting you get away with it.
Staking credibility on a working policy you then lose when you u-turn, because it’s not a working policy, and before it was announced wasn’t ever going to work, has to go down into the naff politics column. And add to that they have managed to swell the numbers in a flaming anti vax March today.
Sorry for being a bit hard, I’m only trying to untangle your twisted logic on this. Twisted because you appear to be saying there will be no political damage because the policy was the right one.
I am officially declaring Boris Johnson will soon be an ex Prime Minister.
I have officially stuck another hundred notes on gone by end Q1
I expect to be bitterly disappointed with myself for not making it a k
I think he goes Q2.
Say he quits week beginning January 31st.
It's going to take at least a fortnight (probably three weeks) to run the MP section of the contest which takes us into mid/late February.
Another month/six weeks for we Tory members to vote, takes us into April.
Boris Johnson formally quits as PM/Leader in Q2.
Are you confident he will quit as PM even if the conservatives appoint a new leader?
Well, new leader will pop round to Queenie and say he commands a majority I assume
God forfend London Bridge, this is no time for a novice
Be fecking hilarious if Johnson insists on testing the Commons by ordering a confidence vote (again) after a new leader is selected before he finally quits as PM.
Comments
In October 2020 the footballer Marcus Rashford vented his despair at MPs voting down proposals to extend free school meals during holidays. He was not the only one.
Christian Wakeford, then Conservative MP for Bury South, a few miles north of Rashford’s Manchester United home ground, Old Trafford, was also appalled by the move. The 37-year-old, who had been elected to the Commons the previous year, told friends it was mean-spirited and the opposite of what red wall MPs were elected to do.
Yet rather than voting for the opposition motion on school meals, and against the government, he abstained. His decision was informed by a conversation he had had with a colleague shortly before the vote.
Wakeford says Gavin Williamson, then education secretary, pulled him out of the Members’ Dining Room of the House of Commons and threatened to cancel plans for a new school in his constituency if he did “not vote in one particular way”. He first made the allegation, without identifying the culprit, last week.
Asked today who threatened to scrap the school, he said: “It was Gavin Williamson.”
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/mp-points-finger-at-gavin-williamson-for-school-threat-dfg5kqwzf
My solar panel install cost £12k in 2016, and delivers about 5Mwh of electricity per year.
If - for a newbuild - more can be saved by eg increasing insulation or reducing air leakage than by spending the same money on solar, then that is preferable.
Are you advocating putting British troops on the ground in Ukraine?
Seriously?
The art of diplomacy is to always have a "get out" clause - there's no point boxing Putin into a corner so his only option is military. Sometimes, public concessions on one side have to be balanced by private concessions on the other. Putin knows he won't get NATO to roll back to pre-1989 borders so what does he really want? What does he need to "save political face" and de-escalate on the Ukrainian border?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Hughes_(businessman)
Hard at this moment to defend the government on this controversial policy when they are about to pull rug from under your feet.
Dan Rosenfield, the No 10 chief of staff, called a meeting of parliamentary private secretaries (PPSs), many of whom were elected in Johnson’s landslide two years ago.
What happened next left Rosenfield astonished and the prime minister on notice that even those on the government payroll might not stick with him if the rebels succeed in forcing a confidence vote this week.
One after another the PPSs — the lowest rung of government office — expressed their displeasure at the chaotic mess that is Johnson’s operation and at least three called for senior resignations.
Paul Holmes, an aide to Priti Patel, the home secretary. said the operation was “a failure” and that “heads must roll”. Mark Fletcher, who works with Kwasi Kwarteng, the business secretary, agreed.
Then Jane Hunt spoke up. The mild-mannered aide to Steve Barclay, the Cabinet Office minister, told him: “I wouldn’t piss on you if you were on fire.”
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/will-boris-johnson-run-out-of-road-7wlssszbj
Travel broadens the mind and helps to understand geo political situations when meeting the diverse peoples living in those countries and their cultures.
Do share whatever you have.
For all this talk of 'boxing in', the goal is to discourage Putin from using tanks, planes and troops to invade another country.
Now, it's perfectly reasonable to say that we have no obligation to put troops on the ground, given the lack of any alliance. But I do think we do need to make it very clear that there would be serious consequences if Russia was to annex part of a neighbour
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/will-boris-johnson-run-out-of-road-7wlssszbj
1. watch and wait for them to decide out of the goodness of their hearts not to continue with their aggressive expansion, or
2. throw up the barricades and stop them by force.
I do not advocate attacking Russia on its own soil, just repelling any invaders. It's not just a matter of defending Ukraine, it's a matter of defending the principles of sovereignty and democracy.
No written evidence is quite a strong argument with an organisation that when it does a thing it writes the thing down in the log
Re-stocking my much depleted supply of popcorn.
Nevermind. Some continuing remaino-twits are so gormless they don't even know whether they are misrepresenting or not.
And I have had a few actually say to me they don't care whether they are making things up or not.
I think OGH is on a losing bet.
It can also be revealed that the scope of Gray’s inquiry has expanded to include alleged parties in the flat he shares above No 11 Downing Street with his wife, Carrie, and their two children.
Gray has been told that two of Carrie Johnson’s close friends, Henry Newman and Josh Grimstone, visited the private flat on numerous occasions during lockdown — but that it was for work reasons.
A government source said that Gray was prepared to accept the explanation — but it is understood that some of her investigators regard it as difficult to reconcile with the rules, since both Newman (now a senior aide in No 10) and Grimstone (who works for Michael Gove) were at the time working in the Cabinet Office, not No 10.
One Whitehall source said: “The investigators are concerned about the flat. Why are two spads [special advisers] from the Cabinet Office going frequently to the PM’s flat to have work meetings with the prime minister without any officials present? It doesn’t pass the sniff test.”
Cummings has previously said there were parties in the flat.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/will-boris-johnson-run-out-of-road-7wlssszbj
The real question is whether NATO should be standing up to an invasion. Many will think they should. I'm not so sure. We never should have got involved in Afghanistan and arguably should have kept out Iraq. We may gnash our teeth if China invades Taiwan but I doubt we'll throw troops into a conflict there either.
It's all very sad for Ukraine but I think we're best keeping out of this.
But it’s still government insisting on a policy and then U turning late in the day.
Are you saying the reason they are u turning wasn’t there before announcements of the policy?
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-kent-60096001
Then Putin decides that the Russian minorities in the Baltic states need help. What do you do?
EDIT: A guarantee was given to Ukraine, in return for giving up nuclear weapons, that it would be protected by the major powers. What do you say, if after another attack by Russia, Ukraine tears up that treaty and becomes a nuclear state?
It will probably tell us exactly what we already know and allow both sides to carry on with their current spin lines. The determining factor is going to be what MPs have already decided - i.e. are there already the numbers for a VONC, but they recognise that acting before the report looks premature, so will act after publication whatever it says? Or are there too many waverers, still waiting for something that makes it impossible for them not to act? If so, the report won't provide it. The latest whipping allegations probably won't provide it. Even a police inquiry won't provide it unless it results in charges. So we are still where we have been for a long time: most Tory MPs know that the PM isn't fit for office, but it's not clear whether enough of them are ready to do something about it.
[edited to add: Cummings will almost certainly be able to find at least one claim by the PM in the report which he can prove is false... and so the process will continue into February]
Fancy that!
https://mobile.twitter.com/ShippersUnbound/status/1484949683583782912
The concern is that Reynolds has told Gray that he checked whether to proceed with the prime minister, or can point to a message he sent Johnson — a potential smoking gun. “Martin doesn’t have much to lose,” a colleague said.
One of the rebels said: “The prime minister is asking us to believe that the PPS [Reynolds] has had this advice from senior officials in No 10, ignored it, brought the prime minister to the party anyway and Boris has turned up and is literally so stupid he can’t tell the difference between a work event and a drinks party.”
NATO was weakened by the Putin shill in the Whitehouse prior to 2021, and Biden's enthusiasm for Europe is underwhelming.
For a few decades there was an attempt to claim that widespread cannibalism in “primitive” “Global South” cultures was a western racist invention. The missionaries in the cooking pot! Absurd Victorian fantasy
Until the evidence of cannibalism in multiple “Global South” cultures became utterly overwhelming, and they had to backtrack, and now it is accepted that cannibalism has been widespread at various times. No doubt it it is the fault of the British starved them or something. In the 8th century AD
Joking aside, this is not a left-right Woke-unWoke thing, by the way. The problem is a dreary tendency in academe, of whatever persuasion. The insistence on a written record OR IT DIDN’T HAPPEN. It sneeringly ignores or degrades oral cultures with long cultural memories. Australian aborigines for one
I assume if the worst happens then the US, UK and France will act with the assistance of NATO but where is Germany in all this
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DC_vs._Marvel
I expect to be bitterly disappointed with myself for not making it a k
A compromise would be to accept proof of infection (so antibodies) instead of vaccination. I’ve no idea how many of the 80k that would reprieve, but if the 96% number for the population is right, then it would be most of them.
"What the f*ck is Princess Nut-nut doing having business meetings in Downing Street?"
There's a tunnel connecting England and France, after all.
If we weren't prepared to put boots on the ground to defend them, then we shouldn't have let them join NATO. And if we aren't prepared now, the we need to leave NATO.
History suggests it is better to deter aggression by taking an early stance, than allowing an aggressor to keep invading other countries.
It's also the case that the Russians need us as much as we need them. Remove commodity exports, and what does Russia have? The rise of LNG, wind and solar or of battery powered cars, are existential threats to the Russian economy. It would be painful for us to stop buying their gas: but who will they sell it to if not us. There is no alternative pipeline to China (yet), and won't be for a decade. Russia has extemely limited LNG export facilities, and all exports need to go via the Baltic and North Seas, so their strategic position is not strong.
And I have a personal interest in this as my Canadian daughter in law family are Ukrainian
The clause has never yet been invoked. But it is there
It's a bit strange that someone anti-EU, pro Britain leaving the EU, is advocating that the EU pitch up to a battle despite having no military force Germany has a rather 'colourful' military history when it comes to the rest of Europe, including Russia. Don't you think that might explain why they are being extremely wary?
People don't want to be brave and be rebels, it is risky and damaging. So they will look for excuses to not act.
The hardline may have got some vaxxed, any figures. But It’s worse than a failed policy, it has boosted the anti vax enemy of the people. Let’s call the u turn out as political failure.
That's how I feel right now reading the rubbish you're coming out with. It's actively harmful without benefiting from being true.
Say he quits week beginning January 31st.
It's going to take at least a fortnight (probably three weeks) to run the MP section of the contest which takes us into mid/late February.
Another month/six weeks for we Tory members to vote, takes us into April.
Boris Johnson formally quits as PM/Leader in Q2.
There is strong support from more EU countries for Ukraine than you mentioned.
At present they seem to be split 4 ways: the old core six except Netherlands, Scandinavia, the Eastern Countries under direct threat from Russia incl the Baltics, and the Mediterranean.
Scandinavia and Eastern Countries are giving strong support for obvious reasons, and many arms from their own stocks, boosting their own defences, or doing at least some support for NATO countries in the Ukraine region.
In the Med Spain is being supportive and has sent a frigate, not sure about Italy / Malta / Greece. I have not seen anything on the smaller Balkan countries.
Nord Stream 2 could be legally argued to be a part of the Russian state "system"..... Wouldn't take much for a ship in the Baltic to fuck it up.
Despite what has been thrown at him, The Tory Press still solidly behind Boris, not one resignation from any of the 150 MPs working in government, and no VONC yet because rebels don’t have winning numbers, it can’t be won. This storm is blowing over already now - Nor does bad set mid term locals remove him, on the basis they are always meaningless for news agenda, 24hrs and done.
At what point do you accept we have passed peak danger for Boris in this term, and the Boris recovery is underway? Report comes out this week and by next Saturday still no Vonc? Is that fair, you would admit defeat then?
It was right to have tried, Boris is a lazy oaf with no attention or grasp of detail, and inane broad brush economic policys that aren’t really Conservative at all.
What came next?
Packers-49ers tonight, not sure I am ready for another soul destroying playoff loss...
This mandatory vaccination for NHS staff is about to really blow up. Already seeing signs of staff panicking or getting extremely fired up about it. My manager has warned us that the next 3-4 weeks is going to be very difficult at work with the 3rd Feb deadline for 1st doses. Emotions will be running high.
I don't care whether a u-turn makes the government look weak. And them looking weak for u-turning doesn't make the policy any more or less of a good idea.
It was a good idea, I support them trying it, and regretfully understand why it must u-turn.
I'm no fan of the government, but being unable to do something good because of idiots? I'll give them a pass on that.
Anyway, God Emperor of Dune won't read itsel. Sayonara.
In retrospect what the teacher was ignorantly describing was the Aztec invasions of lesser nations where the Aztecs would try not to kill their opponents as much as possible, using non lethal weapons. Why? Because the Aztecs preferred to take live prisoners, who could then be led back in triumph to Tenochtitlan, there to have their beating hearts torn out in live, public human sacrifice, often thousands in a day
But they remained PM until new Party leader elected.
Indeed, I remember at Cameron's last PMQs, May was at that point leader of the Con Party. But Cameron was still PM for a few more hours.
So the betting issue is are you betting on Party leader exit date or PM exit date?
Might still be value there, but I had a little extra around 12 or so and don't feel like betting more.
God forfend London Bridge, this is no time for a novice
Selling arms to one side in a war, then claiming that they can't possibly allow someone to arm the other side.
Interestingly, that would put their legal status as a neutral in a war at risk. Ukraine could claim, under international law, that Germany was a co-beligerant with Russia and demand reparations....
Staking credibility on a working policy you then lose when you u-turn, because it’s not a working policy, and before it was announced wasn’t ever going to work, has to go down into the naff politics column. And add to that they have managed to swell the numbers in a flaming anti vax March today.
Sorry for being a bit hard, I’m only trying to untangle your twisted logic on this. Twisted because you appear to be saying there will be no political damage because the policy was the right one.
Would the Speaker even allow it?
Talk about additional humiliation.