I think they'll already be communicating with each other in some way off record, and with the oligarchs.
I think this misunderstands the oligarchs position. The deal is Putin allows them to rob Russia blind in exchange for complete political non involvement, on pain of polonium or 30 years in prison. They just aren't in any useful loop.
Isn't the fact that the Oligarchs have been robbing from Russia for years being shown up in the quality of the equipment that the Russian military now has, it looks like it has suffered from massive under investment and is mainly from the 1980s
This really does not look good. Multiple Russian rockets apparently raining down on… a shopping centre in Kharkiv
Horrendous. I hope it’s fake news. If it isn’t then Putin is now happy to indiscriminately slaughter Ukrainians to show how much he loves his Ukrainian family
A new renewable energy source is being tested - drill 8 miles down and use the geothermal heat.
I saw the Cornish experiment in the mid-80s - Camborne School of Mines Hot Dry Rock Geothermal Project in the Carnmenellis granite. I believe the Eden Project is involved in experiments that way. But this new thing sounds much deeper.
There's actually a working geothermal heating system in the middle of Southampton.
"By 2007, the system had 11 km (6.8 miles) of pipes, and was producing 40 GWh of heat, 22 GWh of electricity and 8 GWh of cooling per year."
The biggest problem with deep geothermal has been the cost of drilling the hole. These guys are claiming to have a novel, cheap method for that. I am a bit skeptical.....
The rule of thumb for geothermal gradient in the UK is 25 degrees C per Km. Hampshire and Yorkshire are much higher than that - up to double the temperature increase for every Km you go down.
I couldn't see any information on what their awesome drilling method actually was - I am rather skeptical that someone has accidentally revolutionised drilling 8Km deep, lined holes in the ground. If nothing else, they would be the bestest friend of every oil and gas company in the world......
A new renewable energy source is being tested - drill 8 miles down and use the geothermal heat.
I saw the Cornish experiment in the mid-80s - Camborne School of Mines Hot Dry Rock Geothermal Project in the Carnmenellis granite. I believe the Eden Project is involved in experiments that way. But this new thing sounds much deeper.
There's actually a working geothermal heating system in the middle of Southampton.
"By 2007, the system had 11 km (6.8 miles) of pipes, and was producing 40 GWh of heat, 22 GWh of electricity and 8 GWh of cooling per year."
The biggest problem with deep geothermal has been the cost of drilling the hole. These guys are claiming to have a novel, cheap method for that. I am a bit skeptical.....
From the deep, dark recesses of my mind, another issue is that unless carefully planned, they get less efficient as the extraction of hot water cools the surrounding rock faster than the heat can be replenished. Basically, you keep on needing to drill to 'get' heat into the system.
Don't know why that's different in Southampton. I think Ian West's geology website has something on it...
As an aside, if you want to dig a deep vertical tunnel, then Mikhail Tsiferov's rocket-engine tunnelling machine is perfect. Drills at five metres per minute through rock, faster through soil.
Great for shallow holes but no good for anything of any great depth. The big issue will remain the inability to get the drilled rock out of the hole. It mentions carrying fragments up to 15cm across but there is a rapid loss of lift as the cuttings get further from the source of the lift (the rocket) and eventually they will fall back and block the hole behind the device.
Yeah, my tongue might have been slightly in my cheek. It's just something I'd love to see working. From a safe distance...
Incidentally, Enceladus is believed to have a massive saltwater reservoir below a lot of ice. There's a plan to send a probe there that will melt its way through the ice, letting the ice freeze up behind it.
How will Putin react to the news that EU states are going to supply Ukraine with fighter jets?
Supplies they may be able to get away with, actually sending EU fighter jets to Ukraine to engage the Russian airforce and bomb Russian troops would be risky given Putin has put the Russian nuclear missile arsenal on alert
a MiG-29 is a MiG-29. once it's had a slight coat of paint how you would know it's a Polish rather than Ukrainian one?
The Polish ones are full of Western electronics now.
Yet supposedly a few have already been delivered. Equally it could be that Poland has pilots happy to fly them incognito...
Which is what Russian pilots have been doing since Vietnam.
Though of course these days pilots often eject and survive, so need a new plane.
"Zelenskyy asks for fast-track EU membership In a video speech shared on social media Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has asked the European Union to allow Ukraine to gain membership under a special procedure immediately. "Our goal is to be with all Europeans and, most importantly, to be equal. I'm sure that's fair. I am sure we deserve it," he said."
A new renewable energy source is being tested - drill 8 miles down and use the geothermal heat.
I saw the Cornish experiment in the mid-80s - Camborne School of Mines Hot Dry Rock Geothermal Project in the Carnmenellis granite. I believe the Eden Project is involved in experiments that way. But this new thing sounds much deeper.
There's actually a working geothermal heating system in the middle of Southampton.
"By 2007, the system had 11 km (6.8 miles) of pipes, and was producing 40 GWh of heat, 22 GWh of electricity and 8 GWh of cooling per year."
The biggest problem with deep geothermal has been the cost of drilling the hole. These guys are claiming to have a novel, cheap method for that. I am a bit skeptical.....
The rule of thumb for geothermal gradient in the UK is 25 degrees C per Km. Hampshire and Yorkshire are much higher than that - up to double the temperature increase for every Km you go down.
I couldn't see any information on what their awesome drilling method actually was - I am rather skeptical that someone has accidentally revolutionised drilling 8Km deep, lined holes in the ground. If nothing else, they would be the bestest friend of every oil and gas company in the world......
Further - dug on their website. Seem to be claiming to melt rock to line drill their holes - " Then, we switch to high-power millimeter waves to reach unprecedented depths." - microwaves???
Throughout this campaign, the world has certainly learnt one thing: Ukraine is a place full of the craziest fun people. Not just the guy carrying the mine, but the guy standing next to him filming it! As they laugh about it....
They also seem bright and reasonably cheery under the circumstances. I know the news channels choose those that speak English but still you warm to them. I had a Ukrainian fixing a window for me last week and he was the same. Bright sparky and trilingual (his wife is Portuguese). God I miss being in the EU.
Because being out the EU means you now have to employ a Ukrainian carpenter?
How much is $20bn a day for Russia? According to Wikipedia, Russia's GDP is about $1,600bn. So at this rate Russia burns through its entire GDP in under 100 days. Of course, its GDP will be negatively impacted by the war, so possibly rather sooner. I mean, I hope the war doesn't go on for 100 days - but it's an indication of the kind of pressure Russia is under to finish this. Remember also there will be other things it will be spending its money on besides war...
$20 billion a day seems unlikely. 20 billion roubles, maybe, and even then you'd wonder about marginal versus fixed costs. Russia would be paying soldiers' wages even if they had remained in their barracks, for instance.
How much of their dollar reserves are they spending daily, to prop up their own currency on the international markets?
Even with interest rates lifted to 20%, there’s still a hundred roubles to the dollar today - if you can find someone willing to sell their dollars at anything close to the official rate.
It’ll be a good day for sellers of Western cars, gold, jewelery and electronics in Moscow today, with everyone desparate to swap their roubles for something of intrinsic global value.
Can Russia even deal on the markets once sanctions fall into place? But in any case, it might not matter very much. Russia is quite a closed economy so apart from putting up the cost of foreign holidays, the exchange rate is probably irrelevant to most people's lives. Russia built up $600 billion in reserves by exporting gas but also wheat and other commodities, and it sells them for dollars, not roubles. And even if Germany and the rest of the world stop buying, China will take up the slack (a new pipeline to China is already planned) as it moves away from coal.
The warning to rich Russians linked to Putin that the UK government “will come after you” and ensure oligarchs have “nowhere to hide” is likely to hit hard at the gated luxury housing estate in Surrey dubbed “Britain’s Beverly Hills”.
Russians and those from former Soviet states own more than a quarter of the 430 luxurious homes in St George’s Hill, a heavily guarded 964-acre estate near Weybridge, Surrey, where mansions have changed hands for more than £20m each.
In Bill Bryon's newish book about travelling around Britain I remember him visiting this area of Surrey where he used to live in the 1970s. He said that a lot of the charming old houses had been demolished to make way for tasteless new buildings he described as "Russian Gangster".
Stupid British media at it again, trying to find dividing lines over asylum policy or UK/EU relations.
There’s a bloody war on, please can they leave their pet obsessions aside for a few days, and let the politicians concentrate on what’s actually important at the moment?
QTWAIN.
Cometh the hour the UK, USA and EU including now Germany have all risen to this occasion. Credit to everyone in the West for that.
But that isn't an interesting story for 24/7 news media obsessed with culture wars and divisions.
First, there are huge swathes of government not involved in sending anti-tank weapons to Ukraine. Britain does not stop because there is a war on. Second, let's not congratulate ourselves too prematurely: Russia might still win (for some value of win).
I'm not congratulating ourselves for winning, this is far from over by a long shot.
However a few weeks ago it looked like some nations at least would be squalid and sacrifice Ukraine - some posters here were basically saying we shouldn't get involved as they're not NATO too.
Win, lose or stalemate it is great that people have stepped up to the plate and are doing the right thing. Even if its a noble defeat of Ukraine, which would be terrible, already the actions taken by Zelenskyy and the Western leaders have been worthy and that deserves some respect.
Some people want to see the worst in certain countries like a broken record. I think the entire Western World has stepped up to the plate now - and Putin is responsible for that. For someone whose Modus Operandi for decades has been sowing divisions in the West, he's singularly now managed to unite the entire West behind one common enemy: himself.
Friend of mine finally found a bunch of British pro-Putin, pro-Russian-army, “fuck Ukraine” types on Twitter - spoiling for an argument
They were all rabid Scot Nats. Hate NATO, apparently
The cheerleaders for the Kremlin are an extremely motley crew, from Fox News to Ultra Scot Nats to Farageists and Stop the War. And one of my parents.
I’m not sure I can recall an alliance like it
Amazing! What are the chances, eh?
Are you sure they weren't rabid woke Remoaners as well?
(PS How dumb are you to fall for this shit?)
My friend wasn’t lying. This is just tiresome. There is a strand of Scot Nat opinion which has been so warped by its hatred of Trident, NATO, Britain, it’s ended up supporting Putin
The Scot Nats (note, I didn’t say SNP) are hardly alone in this. Elements of the UKIP right, Labour left, and my family, have all ended up in this same absurd, contorted position, because of fiercely held prior beliefs which have been overtaken by events. It’s a fascinating quirk of human psychology
My friend's grandfather was a very active old-school lefty, of the bent of Peter Sellers' character from I'm Allright Jack. He was very pro-Serbian in the Yugoslav wars. "They're just trying to hold on to the socialism they cherish so much which the West is trying to take from them." People can talk themselves into weird positions in the interests of consistency. This is true of those of us with more mainstream views too, of course, but we tend to end up in less odd places.
I think they'll already be communicating with each other in some way off record, and with the oligarchs.
I think this misunderstands the oligarchs position. The deal is Putin allows them to rob Russia blind in exchange for complete political non involvement, on pain of polonium or 30 years in prison. They just aren't in any useful loop.
But the deal's broken. They're losing money, right left and centre.
Yes. But having been kept out of the machinery while the deal lasted they are now very poorly placed to retaliate by putting arsenic in his Epsom salts.
A new renewable energy source is being tested - drill 8 miles down and use the geothermal heat.
I saw the Cornish experiment in the mid-80s - Camborne School of Mines Hot Dry Rock Geothermal Project in the Carnmenellis granite. I believe the Eden Project is involved in experiments that way. But this new thing sounds much deeper.
There's actually a working geothermal heating system in the middle of Southampton.
"By 2007, the system had 11 km (6.8 miles) of pipes, and was producing 40 GWh of heat, 22 GWh of electricity and 8 GWh of cooling per year."
The biggest problem with deep geothermal has been the cost of drilling the hole. These guys are claiming to have a novel, cheap method for that. I am a bit skeptical.....
The rule of thumb for geothermal gradient in the UK is 25 degrees C per Km. Hampshire and Yorkshire are much higher than that - up to double the temperature increase for every Km you go down.
I couldn't see any information on what their awesome drilling method actually was - I am rather skeptical that someone has accidentally revolutionised drilling 8Km deep, lined holes in the ground. If nothing else, they would be the bestest friend of every oil and gas company in the world......
Indeed. There is a company that is having success with wireguided drilling where you put a tool in the hole and just let it go. It drills the hole but allows it to seal up behind it. The tools transmit back all the formation evaluation data telling you rock types and hydrocarbon presence but it is only good for exploration wells as you don't have a useable hole when it is done. I am not sure how much actual field exposure it has seen.
I'm starting to think of how we offer Russia a way out of the mess they've inflicted on themselves.
What would I/we ideally want? Well, Putin removed from power, and preferable facing some form of international tribunal. Russian forces removed from all of Ukraine pre-2014, including Crimea and Donbass. Large reparations to help rebuild Ukraine. A full DMZ for thirty miles east of Ukraine with no Russian military presence. Russian acceptance that Ukraine will be offered membership of NATO, if they want it.
We won't get that.
What might we settle for? Putin removed from power, but kept in Russia. Preferably in jail. Russia removes itself from Ukraine and the Donbass, but keeps Crimea. Future reparations to Ukraine when Russia have rebuilt their economy. No DMZ. Ukraine not in NATO. Immediate removal of all sanctions on Russia (but not named individuals directly implicated in the war) once the above is agreed/implemented.
Would sane Russian generals and the oligarchy accept that?
The right kind of idea overall, I think. Several of the oligarchs would definitely accept that right now, too.
There'll be furious intrigue and plans going on.
Yep great discussion and this is the kind of pragmatism I've spoken about previously. Sometimes you have to hold your nose and do business with the lesser of evils.
Right now, Putin is an evil lunatic who is warring in Ukraine and threatening the world. This on top of countless other atrocities.
Compared to him some of the other oligarchs, heck even President Xi, are dance partners by comparison.
I have read your posts and can I gentle suggest it is time to recognise that both the UK and the EU have been excellent and that we need to avoid division as we seek a new relationship with the EU
When the dust settles on this, which hopefully won't be in the form of nuclear fallout, the UK will be even more isolated than before. The EU has stood tall and risen to the challenge. They are forging ahead with a brilliant unity and are likely to enlarge, working in tandem with NATO.
The UK is looking out on the fringe more than ever.
It's tragic.
I'm happy to park this part of the discussion for now but if we get through this, it will be true.
The UK has imposed a flight ban on Russian planes just like the EU. The UK has imposed economic sanctions on Russia just like the EU.
Not all EU nations are in NATO either unlike the UK, Austria, Ireland, Sweden and Finland for example are not in NATO
And - that doesn't answer any one of Heathener's points. One of the key things we offered the EU was military strength and that isn't much use if Germany has decided to stand up and actual provide that might themselves...
The argument goes round in circles eventually. Fear of being subsumed into an “EU Army” was a “fear” of many of them there Brexiters.
Ultimately we Europhiles have two options. Take the bewailing the 2016 tragedy line or persuade people to reverse the decision. The two are not compatible in my view.
One of the things that will come out of this crisis, assuming we avoid Armageddon, is a chance to show that cooperation with Europe is the only way forward. That’s the sort of positive spin we need. Belittling the U.K. at this stage serves no purpose. That referendum is over. Talk of future “tragedy” and the constant Twitter talk of how “ashamed” we are of the U.K. as a result of it (and otherwise) is a tactic we have been at for over 6 years now and has got us absolutely nowhere.
Yes. The EU and the UK are working together well over the Ukraine crisis. Why? Fundamentally because we share the same interests and the same democratic values in the same continent of Europe.
If we're not so different then we can probably find all sorts of areas in which we can cooperate to our mutual benefit.
I think they'll already be communicating with each other in some way off record, and with the oligarchs.
I think this misunderstands the oligarchs position. The deal is Putin allows them to rob Russia blind in exchange for complete political non involvement, on pain of polonium or 30 years in prison. They just aren't in any useful loop.
But the deal's broken. They're losing money, right left and centre.
Yes. But having been kept out of the machinery while the deal lasted they are now very poorly placed to retaliate by putting arsenic in his Epsom salts.
Indeed. But they will have their contacts in the system in various places, having been very experienced in powerplay since around 1991, and those are much more likely somewhere in the army than the closest state officials to Putin, I think.
Friend of mine finally found a bunch of British pro-Putin, pro-Russian-army, “fuck Ukraine” types on Twitter - spoiling for an argument
They were all rabid Scot Nats. Hate NATO, apparently
The cheerleaders for the Kremlin are an extremely motley crew, from Fox News to Ultra Scot Nats to Farageists and Stop the War. And one of my parents.
I’m not sure I can recall an alliance like it
I think those ‘rabid Scots Nats’ are almost entirely Albanians and supporters of Salmond (an individual for whom you were a Pom Pom girl a year ago)? Presumably you’d have shared some common ground over their pro Putin stance only a couple of months ago.
Anti-NATO sentiment is quite mainstream within the SNP. Their official policy for many years was to withdraw from NATO, only changing it before IndyRef2 when they realised it was polling very badly and was a drag on their chances. Angus Robertson, who presided over the U-turn, took a lot of stick at the time.
Throughout this campaign, the world has certainly learnt one thing: Ukraine is a place full of the craziest fun people. Not just the guy carrying the mine, but the guy standing next to him filming it! As they laugh about it....
They also seem bright and reasonably cheery under the circumstances. I know the news channels choose those that speak English but still you warm to them. I had a Ukrainian fixing a window for me last week and he was the same. Bright sparky and trilingual (his wife is Portuguese). God I miss being in the EU.
Because being out the EU means you now have to employ a Ukrainian carpenter?
A relative runs a building company (I have shares in the business) - the Poles went home for COVID, and are mostly back. Wages are a bit higher due to *everyone* having a project on. The Ukrainians having been steadily increasing in numbers over the last few years - Poles are getting more expensive as their economy develops back home.
"Zelenskyy asks for fast-track EU membership In a video speech shared on social media Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has asked the European Union to allow Ukraine to gain membership under a special procedure immediately. "Our goal is to be with all Europeans and, most importantly, to be equal. I'm sure that's fair. I am sure we deserve it," he said."
And as I have pointed out previously, meaning they become part of the (now inevitable) EU army. Quasi-NATO membership by the back door. Putin won't let that happen. At least, whilst he is still able.
A new renewable energy source is being tested - drill 8 miles down and use the geothermal heat.
I saw the Cornish experiment in the mid-80s - Camborne School of Mines Hot Dry Rock Geothermal Project in the Carnmenellis granite. I believe the Eden Project is involved in experiments that way. But this new thing sounds much deeper.
There's actually a working geothermal heating system in the middle of Southampton.
"By 2007, the system had 11 km (6.8 miles) of pipes, and was producing 40 GWh of heat, 22 GWh of electricity and 8 GWh of cooling per year."
The biggest problem with deep geothermal has been the cost of drilling the hole. These guys are claiming to have a novel, cheap method for that. I am a bit skeptical.....
The rule of thumb for geothermal gradient in the UK is 25 degrees C per Km. Hampshire and Yorkshire are much higher than that - up to double the temperature increase for every Km you go down.
I couldn't see any information on what their awesome drilling method actually was - I am rather skeptical that someone has accidentally revolutionised drilling 8Km deep, lined holes in the ground. If nothing else, they would be the bestest friend of every oil and gas company in the world......
Further - dug on their website. Seem to be claiming to melt rock to line drill their holes - " Then, we switch to high-power millimeter waves to reach unprecedented depths." - microwaves???
Stupid British media at it again, trying to find dividing lines over asylum policy, UK/EU relations and party funding.
There’s a bloody war on, please can they leave their pet obsessions aside for a few days, and let the politicians concentrate on what’s actually important at the moment?
Quite right, let HMG get on with concentrating on the important stuff.
A new renewable energy source is being tested - drill 8 miles down and use the geothermal heat.
I saw the Cornish experiment in the mid-80s - Camborne School of Mines Hot Dry Rock Geothermal Project in the Carnmenellis granite. I believe the Eden Project is involved in experiments that way. But this new thing sounds much deeper.
There's actually a working geothermal heating system in the middle of Southampton.
"By 2007, the system had 11 km (6.8 miles) of pipes, and was producing 40 GWh of heat, 22 GWh of electricity and 8 GWh of cooling per year."
The biggest problem with deep geothermal has been the cost of drilling the hole. These guys are claiming to have a novel, cheap method for that. I am a bit skeptical.....
The rule of thumb for geothermal gradient in the UK is 25 degrees C per Km. Hampshire and Yorkshire are much higher than that - up to double the temperature increase for every Km you go down.
I couldn't see any information on what their awesome drilling method actually was - I am rather skeptical that someone has accidentally revolutionised drilling 8Km deep, lined holes in the ground. If nothing else, they would be the bestest friend of every oil and gas company in the world......
Indeed. There is a company that is having success with wireguided drilling where you put a tool in the hole and just let it go. It drills the hole but allows it to seal up behind it. The tools transmit back all the formation evaluation data telling you rock types and hydrocarbon presence but it is only good for exploration wells as you don't have a useable hole when it is done. I am not sure how much actual field exposure it has seen.
I can't believe that if I came up with a method that (say) halved the cost of a deep bored hole, I wouldn't be drowned in tidal wave of money from the big oil companies. How many projects would that change the economics for?
Stupid British media at it again, trying to find dividing lines over asylum policy, UK/EU relations and party funding.
There’s a bloody war on, please can they leave their pet obsessions aside for a few days, and let the politicians concentrate on what’s actually important at the moment?
Quite right, let HMG get on with concentrating on the important stuff.
Christ, it really is government by dressing up box for these people.
Throughout this campaign, the world has certainly learnt one thing: Ukraine is a place full of the craziest fun people. Not just the guy carrying the mine, but the guy standing next to him filming it! As they laugh about it....
They also seem bright and reasonably cheery under the circumstances. I know the news channels choose those that speak English but still you warm to them. I had a Ukrainian fixing a window for me last week and he was the same. Bright sparky and trilingual (his wife is Portuguese). God I miss being in the EU.
Because being out the EU means you now have to employ a Ukrainian carpenter?
Funny but no.... I love the diversity. I see the Ukrainians as being honorary members of the exclusive culturally rich club of 27
Friend of mine finally found a bunch of British pro-Putin, pro-Russian-army, “fuck Ukraine” types on Twitter - spoiling for an argument
They were all rabid Scot Nats. Hate NATO, apparently
The cheerleaders for the Kremlin are an extremely motley crew, from Fox News to Ultra Scot Nats to Farageists and Stop the War. And one of my parents.
I’m not sure I can recall an alliance like it
Amazing! What are the chances, eh?
Are you sure they weren't rabid woke Remoaners as well?
(PS How dumb are you to fall for this shit?)
My friend wasn’t lying. This is just tiresome. There is a strand of Scot Nat opinion which has been so warped by its hatred of Trident, NATO, Britain, it’s ended up supporting Putin
The Scot Nats (note, I didn’t say SNP) are hardly alone in this. Elements of the UKIP right, Labour left, and my family, have all ended up in this same absurd, contorted position, because of fiercely held prior beliefs which have been overtaken by events. It’s a fascinating quirk of human psychology
My friend's grandfather was a very active old-school lefty, of the bent of Peter Sellers' character from I'm Allright Jack. He was very pro-Serbian in the Yugoslav wars. "They're just trying to hold on to the socialism they cherish so much which the West is trying to take from them." People can talk themselves into weird positions in the interests of consistency. This is true of those of us with more mainstream views too, of course, but we tend to end up in less odd places.
Yes, that’s exactly it. My “pro-Putin” family member is very pro-Russia due to general love of Russian culture, literature, people, plus their incredible heroism in WW2. All understandable. And he dislikes western sanctimony (ie we were arguably just as bad in Iraq - again true)
I’ve pointed out to him that even if all the above is true, this stupid, repulsive war is STILL a catastrophe for ordinary Russians AND Ukrainians. For everyone. For Russia itself. But he’s not having it. His priors mean he wants Russia to “win”
He can’t define what “winning” might look like. Because it doesn’t exist. There are only degrees of calamity from here on
Stupid British media at it again, trying to find dividing lines over asylum policy, UK/EU relations and party funding.
There’s a bloody war on, please can they leave their pet obsessions aside for a few days, and let the politicians concentrate on what’s actually important at the moment?
Quite right, let HMG get on with concentrating on the important stuff.
Christ, it really is government by dressing up box for these people.
They were brought up when Mr Benn was on TV during their formative years. What do you expect...
Friend of mine finally found a bunch of British pro-Putin, pro-Russian-army, “fuck Ukraine” types on Twitter - spoiling for an argument
They were all rabid Scot Nats. Hate NATO, apparently
The cheerleaders for the Kremlin are an extremely motley crew, from Fox News to Ultra Scot Nats to Farageists and Stop the War. And one of my parents.
I’m not sure I can recall an alliance like it
I think those ‘rabid Scots Nats’ are almost entirely Albanians and supporters of Salmond (an individual for whom you were a Pom Pom girl a year ago)? Presumably you’d have shared some common ground over their pro Putin stance only a couple of months ago.
Anti-NATO sentiment is quite mainstream within the SNP. Their official policy for many years was to withdraw from NATO, only changing it before IndyRef2 when they realised it was polling very badly and was a drag on their chances. Angus Robertson, who presided over the U-turn, took a lot of stick at the time.
Is or was? The past is another country.
I'm old enough to remember when the SCons were a strongly pro EU party (or sub branch as the case may be).
A new renewable energy source is being tested - drill 8 miles down and use the geothermal heat.
I saw the Cornish experiment in the mid-80s - Camborne School of Mines Hot Dry Rock Geothermal Project in the Carnmenellis granite. I believe the Eden Project is involved in experiments that way. But this new thing sounds much deeper.
There's actually a working geothermal heating system in the middle of Southampton.
"By 2007, the system had 11 km (6.8 miles) of pipes, and was producing 40 GWh of heat, 22 GWh of electricity and 8 GWh of cooling per year."
The biggest problem with deep geothermal has been the cost of drilling the hole. These guys are claiming to have a novel, cheap method for that. I am a bit skeptical.....
From the deep, dark recesses of my mind, another issue is that unless carefully planned, they get less efficient as the extraction of hot water cools the surrounding rock faster than the heat can be replenished. Basically, you keep on needing to drill to 'get' heat into the system.
Don't know why that's different in Southampton. I think Ian West's geology website has something on it...
As an aside, if you want to dig a deep vertical tunnel, then Mikhail Tsiferov's rocket-engine tunnelling machine is perfect. Drills at five metres per minute through rock, faster through soil.
Great for shallow holes but no good for anything of any great depth. The big issue will remain the inability to get the drilled rock out of the hole. It mentions carrying fragments up to 15cm across but there is a rapid loss of lift as the cuttings get further from the source of the lift (the rocket) and eventually they will fall back and block the hole behind the device.
Yeah, my tongue might have been slightly in my cheek. It's just something I'd love to see working. From a safe distance...
If you just want to ram a hole in the ground, Ted Taylor was of the opinion that he could design a nuclear shaped charge that would dig a tunnel 1000 feet long by 10-20 feet.
I'll let you watch that one. There's probably no safe distance from which you can directly view it...
Friend of mine finally found a bunch of British pro-Putin, pro-Russian-army, “fuck Ukraine” types on Twitter - spoiling for an argument
They were all rabid Scot Nats. Hate NATO, apparently
The cheerleaders for the Kremlin are an extremely motley crew, from Fox News to Ultra Scot Nats to Farageists and Stop the War. And one of my parents.
I’m not sure I can recall an alliance like it
Amazing! What are the chances, eh?
Are you sure they weren't rabid woke Remoaners as well?
(PS How dumb are you to fall for this shit?)
My friend wasn’t lying. This is just tiresome. There is a strand of Scot Nat opinion which has been so warped by its hatred of Trident, NATO, Britain, it’s ended up supporting Putin
The Scot Nats (note, I didn’t say SNP) are hardly alone in this. Elements of the UKIP right, Labour left, and my family, have all ended up in this same absurd, contorted position, because of fiercely held prior beliefs which have been overtaken by events. It’s a fascinating quirk of human psychology
My friend's grandfather was a very active old-school lefty, of the bent of Peter Sellers' character from I'm Allright Jack. He was very pro-Serbian in the Yugoslav wars. "They're just trying to hold on to the socialism they cherish so much which the West is trying to take from them." People can talk themselves into weird positions in the interests of consistency. This is true of those of us with more mainstream views too, of course, but we tend to end up in less odd places.
Yes, that’s exactly it. My “pro-Putin” family member is very pro-Russia due to general love of Russian culture, literature, people, plus their incredible heroism in WW2. All understandable. And he dislikes western sanctimony (ie we were arguably just as bad in Iraq - again true)
I’ve pointed out to him that even if all the above is true, this stupid, repulsive war is STILL a catastrophe for ordinary Russians AND Ukrainians. For everyone. For Russia itself. But he’s not having it. His priors mean he wants Russia to “win”
He can’t define what “winning” might look like. Because it doesn’t exist. There are only degrees of calamity from here on
There was also a slight difference between Saddam's rule in Iraq and Zelensky's rule in Ukraine.
Even if you could argue both the US led invasion of Iraq and the Russian invasion of Ukraine were illegal wars without UN Security Council support
Steve Hanke @steve_hanke The Russian Ruble sank to a new all-time low, trading at 117.62 RUB/USD. Since Jan. 1, 2022, the ruble has depreciated by as much as 47.33% against the USD. Conflict in Eastern Europe is fueling the currency's destruction. At present, I measure Russia’s inflation at 69.4%/yr.
Friend of mine finally found a bunch of British pro-Putin, pro-Russian-army, “fuck Ukraine” types on Twitter - spoiling for an argument
They were all rabid Scot Nats. Hate NATO, apparently
The cheerleaders for the Kremlin are an extremely motley crew, from Fox News to Ultra Scot Nats to Farageists and Stop the War. And one of my parents.
I’m not sure I can recall an alliance like it
Amazing! What are the chances, eh?
Are you sure they weren't rabid woke Remoaners as well?
(PS How dumb are you to fall for this shit?)
My friend wasn’t lying. This is just tiresome. There is a strand of Scot Nat opinion which has been so warped by its hatred of Trident, NATO, Britain, it’s ended up supporting Putin
The Scot Nats (note, I didn’t say SNP) are hardly alone in this. Elements of the UKIP right, Labour left, and my family, have all ended up in this same absurd, contorted position, because of fiercely held prior beliefs which have been overtaken by events. It’s a fascinating quirk of human psychology
My friend's grandfather was a very active old-school lefty, of the bent of Peter Sellers' character from I'm Allright Jack. He was very pro-Serbian in the Yugoslav wars. "They're just trying to hold on to the socialism they cherish so much which the West is trying to take from them." People can talk themselves into weird positions in the interests of consistency. This is true of those of us with more mainstream views too, of course, but we tend to end up in less odd places.
Similar to the way a lot of Labour supporters went on defending Robert Maxwell for a long time after it was obvious he'd done bad things, just because he'd once been a famous Labour MP.
A new renewable energy source is being tested - drill 8 miles down and use the geothermal heat.
I saw the Cornish experiment in the mid-80s - Camborne School of Mines Hot Dry Rock Geothermal Project in the Carnmenellis granite. I believe the Eden Project is involved in experiments that way. But this new thing sounds much deeper.
There's actually a working geothermal heating system in the middle of Southampton.
"By 2007, the system had 11 km (6.8 miles) of pipes, and was producing 40 GWh of heat, 22 GWh of electricity and 8 GWh of cooling per year."
The biggest problem with deep geothermal has been the cost of drilling the hole. These guys are claiming to have a novel, cheap method for that. I am a bit skeptical.....
From the deep, dark recesses of my mind, another issue is that unless carefully planned, they get less efficient as the extraction of hot water cools the surrounding rock faster than the heat can be replenished. Basically, you keep on needing to drill to 'get' heat into the system.
Don't know why that's different in Southampton. I think Ian West's geology website has something on it...
As an aside, if you want to dig a deep vertical tunnel, then Mikhail Tsiferov's rocket-engine tunnelling machine is perfect. Drills at five metres per minute through rock, faster through soil.
Great for shallow holes but no good for anything of any great depth. The big issue will remain the inability to get the drilled rock out of the hole. It mentions carrying fragments up to 15cm across but there is a rapid loss of lift as the cuttings get further from the source of the lift (the rocket) and eventually they will fall back and block the hole behind the device.
Yeah, my tongue might have been slightly in my cheek. It's just something I'd love to see working. From a safe distance...
Incidentally, Enceladus is believed to have a massive saltwater reservoir below a lot of ice. There's a plan to send a probe there that will melt its way through the ice, letting the ice freeze up behind it.
A new renewable energy source is being tested - drill 8 miles down and use the geothermal heat.
I saw the Cornish experiment in the mid-80s - Camborne School of Mines Hot Dry Rock Geothermal Project in the Carnmenellis granite. I believe the Eden Project is involved in experiments that way. But this new thing sounds much deeper.
There's actually a working geothermal heating system in the middle of Southampton.
"By 2007, the system had 11 km (6.8 miles) of pipes, and was producing 40 GWh of heat, 22 GWh of electricity and 8 GWh of cooling per year."
The biggest problem with deep geothermal has been the cost of drilling the hole. These guys are claiming to have a novel, cheap method for that. I am a bit skeptical.....
The rule of thumb for geothermal gradient in the UK is 25 degrees C per Km. Hampshire and Yorkshire are much higher than that - up to double the temperature increase for every Km you go down.
I couldn't see any information on what their awesome drilling method actually was - I am rather skeptical that someone has accidentally revolutionised drilling 8Km deep, lined holes in the ground. If nothing else, they would be the bestest friend of every oil and gas company in the world......
Further - dug on their website. Seem to be claiming to melt rock to line drill their holes - " Then, we switch to high-power millimeter waves to reach unprecedented depths." - microwaves???
A new renewable energy source is being tested - drill 8 miles down and use the geothermal heat.
I saw the Cornish experiment in the mid-80s - Camborne School of Mines Hot Dry Rock Geothermal Project in the Carnmenellis granite. I believe the Eden Project is involved in experiments that way. But this new thing sounds much deeper.
There's actually a working geothermal heating system in the middle of Southampton.
"By 2007, the system had 11 km (6.8 miles) of pipes, and was producing 40 GWh of heat, 22 GWh of electricity and 8 GWh of cooling per year."
The biggest problem with deep geothermal has been the cost of drilling the hole. These guys are claiming to have a novel, cheap method for that. I am a bit skeptical.....
From the deep, dark recesses of my mind, another issue is that unless carefully planned, they get less efficient as the extraction of hot water cools the surrounding rock faster than the heat can be replenished. Basically, you keep on needing to drill to 'get' heat into the system.
Don't know why that's different in Southampton. I think Ian West's geology website has something on it...
As an aside, if you want to dig a deep vertical tunnel, then Mikhail Tsiferov's rocket-engine tunnelling machine is perfect. Drills at five metres per minute through rock, faster through soil.
Great for shallow holes but no good for anything of any great depth. The big issue will remain the inability to get the drilled rock out of the hole. It mentions carrying fragments up to 15cm across but there is a rapid loss of lift as the cuttings get further from the source of the lift (the rocket) and eventually they will fall back and block the hole behind the device.
Yeah, my tongue might have been slightly in my cheek. It's just something I'd love to see working. From a safe distance...
If you just want to ram a hole in the ground, Ted Taylor was of the opinion that he could design a nuclear shaped charge that would dig a tunnel 1000 feet long by 10-20 feet.
Not as cool an idea as that one about propelling ships by launching nuclear missiles out the back.
1) Sunday Times had a list of 'high-ups' who should take responsibility for the post office non-fraud scandal.
In an unfortunate coincidence for the LibDems the three politicians mentioned as being relevant government ministers at the time were Cable, Swinson and Ed Davey.
2) Morrisons selling British pork fillets for £6/kg.
Given that we were told that British pigs would have to be culled on mass its curious that one of the few foods not to have increased in price seems to be pork.
Steve Hanke @steve_hanke The Russian Ruble sank to a new all-time low, trading at 117.62 RUB/USD. Since Jan. 1, 2022, the ruble has depreciated by as much as 47.33% against the USD. Conflict in Eastern Europe is fueling the currency's destruction. At present, I measure Russia’s inflation at 69.4%/yr.
This is only day one of these sanctions, unless the Russians retreat its going to get worse for them before it gets better.
Triple-digit inflation nailed on. Russia is doomed, they are not the power they thought they were, or many people in the West thought they were either.
A number of us have said for years that Russia's economy is f***ed and that behind the curtain, there is nothing to Putin's Russia. That is now coming sharply to light.
As I don't tire of saying, Russia is poorer than Italy and Italy could never conquer the West. By the time this is over, Russia could be poorer than the Netherlands (!)
A new renewable energy source is being tested - drill 8 miles down and use the geothermal heat.
I saw the Cornish experiment in the mid-80s - Camborne School of Mines Hot Dry Rock Geothermal Project in the Carnmenellis granite. I believe the Eden Project is involved in experiments that way. But this new thing sounds much deeper.
There's actually a working geothermal heating system in the middle of Southampton.
"By 2007, the system had 11 km (6.8 miles) of pipes, and was producing 40 GWh of heat, 22 GWh of electricity and 8 GWh of cooling per year."
The biggest problem with deep geothermal has been the cost of drilling the hole. These guys are claiming to have a novel, cheap method for that. I am a bit skeptical.....
From the deep, dark recesses of my mind, another issue is that unless carefully planned, they get less efficient as the extraction of hot water cools the surrounding rock faster than the heat can be replenished. Basically, you keep on needing to drill to 'get' heat into the system.
Don't know why that's different in Southampton. I think Ian West's geology website has something on it...
As an aside, if you want to dig a deep vertical tunnel, then Mikhail Tsiferov's rocket-engine tunnelling machine is perfect. Drills at five metres per minute through rock, faster through soil.
Great for shallow holes but no good for anything of any great depth. The big issue will remain the inability to get the drilled rock out of the hole. It mentions carrying fragments up to 15cm across but there is a rapid loss of lift as the cuttings get further from the source of the lift (the rocket) and eventually they will fall back and block the hole behind the device.
Yeah, my tongue might have been slightly in my cheek. It's just something I'd love to see working. From a safe distance...
If you just want to ram a hole in the ground, Ted Taylor was of the opinion that he could design a nuclear shaped charge that would dig a tunnel 1000 feet long by 10-20 feet.
Not as cool an idea as that one about propelling ships by launching nuclear missiles out the back.
I'm sad to say that I think Putin is going to launch a massive bombing of Kyiv. Could involve bombs all the way up to and including nuclear.
He's gone doolally and he's running out of other military options, other than withdrawal.
(And before anyone reminds me of my worst prediction, remember that was based on the argument that I didn't think he was stupid enough because I wasn't at all convinced Russia could win this militarily.)
I think its safe to say that if he's serious about this fight, he'll step it up as he can.
If I was Putin, and I was fighting a war against a inferior force (which the Ukrainian army is still), I would have sent in my old crappy tanks first to use them up...
Will they disappear for months then insist they are fine and their words misinterpreted?
Also the possibility that they're sending a flag up. Have a friend in Shanghai, and he told me that stuff like that is fairly common. The CCP communicates not just through state owned media, but other sectors also. Gives a fig-leaf of plurality (within the narrow confines it is permitted).
The problem with authoritarian regimes is that they're so difficult to read. That applies to the rulers too, and so (those that take a passing interest) need mechanisms to determine the public mood.
Stupid British media at it again, trying to find dividing lines over asylum policy, UK/EU relations and party funding.
There’s a bloody war on, please can they leave their pet obsessions aside for a few days, and let the politicians concentrate on what’s actually important at the moment?
Quite right, let HMG get on with concentrating on the important stuff.
Christ, it really is government by dressing up box for these people.
Throughout this campaign, the world has certainly learnt one thing: Ukraine is a place full of the craziest fun people. Not just the guy carrying the mine, but the guy standing next to him filming it! As they laugh about it....
They also seem bright and reasonably cheery under the circumstances. I know the news channels choose those that speak English but still you warm to them. I had a Ukrainian fixing a window for me last week and he was the same. Bright sparky and trilingual (his wife is Portuguese). God I miss being in the EU.
Because being out the EU means you now have to employ a Ukrainian carpenter?
Funny but no.... I love the diversity. I see the Ukrainians as being honorary members of the exclusive culturally rich club of 27
Why did we all have to pay gazillions of pounds a year just so you could feel the love?
1) Sunday Times had a list of 'high-ups' who should take responsibility for the post office non-fraud scandal.
In an unfortunate coincidence for the LibDems the three politicians mentioned as being relevant government ministers at the time were Cable, Swinson and Ed Davey.
2) Morrisons selling British pork fillets for £6/kg.
Given that we were told that British pigs would have to be culled on mass its curious that one of the few foods not to have increased in price seems to be pork.
Did the Sunday Times cover the Post Office scandal while it was happening or was that left to Private Eye and Computer Weekly? If not, who was editor at the time? And can we lock up Andrew Neil anyway?
"Zelenskyy asks for fast-track EU membership In a video speech shared on social media Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has asked the European Union to allow Ukraine to gain membership under a special procedure immediately. "Our goal is to be with all Europeans and, most importantly, to be equal. I'm sure that's fair. I am sure we deserve it," he said."
Given the goal had been 2030s that seems optimistic vs some kind of advanced candidate status. The EU, rightly, will want as many in its orbit as possible in a new cold war situation, but would they want to just junk all criteria?
But the strength of the request itself is interesting.
If the 5,000 figure is correct, Russia has lost 1 in 200 of its total army strength of a million in just 4 days. Imagine losing 1 in 20 in 40 days, and that doesn't include those taken prisoner or deserting.
Most of that theoretical million are non-deployable conscripts in various parts of their training. Complete with obsolete equipment etc etc.
It is quite probable that force that Russia has around/in Ukraine *is* the sum total of their deployable army. Which is why Putin has been asking his few allies for help.
It does, quite astonishingly, indeed look like the Russians have deployed a huge proportion of what they have - what they actually have available, rather than what might theoretically exist on some general’s asset spreadsheet - in Ukraine.
He wouldn’t need to be asking for help, if he had a fraction of the men and equipment available that he claims to possess.
Emperor Putin is naked, and the world around him is waking up to that realisation this morning.
All armies have a tiny deployable proportion of their theoretical manpower.
The UK has 153K active duty personnel in the military. How many could we actually send to the Estonian border? 10% ?
Was quoted by some ex military guy on radio yesterday that it was at 72K now due to understaffing and that was Tories target number in their shake up in any case.
Anonymous have reportedly taken down the websites of the Russian government and 3 of the main banks in Belarus. (Anonymous being the international hacking group).
Friend of mine finally found a bunch of British pro-Putin, pro-Russian-army, “fuck Ukraine” types on Twitter - spoiling for an argument
They were all rabid Scot Nats. Hate NATO, apparently
The cheerleaders for the Kremlin are an extremely motley crew, from Fox News to Ultra Scot Nats to Farageists and Stop the War. And one of my parents.
I’m not sure I can recall an alliance like it
I think those ‘rabid Scots Nats’ are almost entirely Albanians and supporters of Salmond (an individual for whom you were a Pom Pom girl a year ago)? Presumably you’d have shared some common ground over their pro Putin stance only a couple of months ago.
Anti-NATO sentiment is quite mainstream within the SNP. Their official policy for many years was to withdraw from NATO, only changing it before IndyRef2 when they realised it was polling very badly and was a drag on their chances. Angus Robertson, who presided over the U-turn, took a lot of stick at the time.
Is or was? The past is another country.
I'm old enough to remember when the SCons were a strongly pro EU party (or sub branch as the case may be).
Oh, still "is" for quite a few.
Linked to that is the policy to throw out Trident and wax lyrical about the immorality of possessing nuclear weapons. Despite NATO being an explicitly nuclear alliance. Of course, you don't have to have nukes to be in NATO, but stripping one of its three members to possess them of their capacity is rather problematic in a NATO context. Would go down extremely badly with US so almost certainly an IndyScot would wriggle out of it if it came to it, but all the same.
Friend of mine finally found a bunch of British pro-Putin, pro-Russian-army, “fuck Ukraine” types on Twitter - spoiling for an argument
They were all rabid Scot Nats. Hate NATO, apparently
The cheerleaders for the Kremlin are an extremely motley crew, from Fox News to Ultra Scot Nats to Farageists and Stop the War. And one of my parents.
I’m not sure I can recall an alliance like it
Amazing! What are the chances, eh?
Are you sure they weren't rabid woke Remoaners as well?
(PS How dumb are you to fall for this shit?)
My friend wasn’t lying. This is just tiresome. There is a strand of Scot Nat opinion which has been so warped by its hatred of Trident, NATO, Britain, it’s ended up supporting Putin
The Scot Nats (note, I didn’t say SNP) are hardly alone in this. Elements of the UKIP right, Labour left, and my family, have all ended up in this same absurd, contorted position, because of fiercely held prior beliefs which have been overtaken by events. It’s a fascinating quirk of human psychology
I'm starting to think of how we offer Russia a way out of the mess they've inflicted on themselves.
What would I/we ideally want? Well, Putin removed from power, and preferable facing some form of international tribunal. Russian forces removed from all of Ukraine pre-2014, including Crimea and Donbass. Large reparations to help rebuild Ukraine. A full DMZ for thirty miles east of Ukraine with no Russian military presence. Russian acceptance that Ukraine will be offered membership of NATO, if they want it.
We won't get that.
What might we settle for? Putin removed from power, but kept in Russia. Preferably in jail. Russia removes itself from Ukraine and the Donbass, but keeps Crimea. Future reparations to Ukraine when Russia have rebuilt their economy. No DMZ. Ukraine not in NATO. Immediate removal of all sanctions on Russia (but not named individuals directly implicated in the war) once the above is agreed/implemented.
Would sane Russian generals and the oligarchy accept that?
The right kind of idea overall, I think. Several of the oligarchs would definitely accept that right now, too.
There'll be furious intrigue and plans going on.
Yep great discussion and this is the kind of pragmatism I've spoken about previously. Sometimes you have to hold your nose and do business with the lesser of evils.
Right now, Putin is an evil lunatic who is warring in Ukraine and threatening the world. This on top of countless other atrocities.
Compared to him some of the other oligarchs, heck even President Xi, are dance partners by comparison.
I have read your posts and can I gentle suggest it is time to recognise that both the UK and the EU have been excellent and that we need to avoid division as we seek a new relationship with the EU
When the dust settles on this, which hopefully won't be in the form of nuclear fallout, the UK will be even more isolated than before. The EU has stood tall and risen to the challenge. They are forging ahead with a brilliant unity and are likely to enlarge, working in tandem with NATO.
The UK is looking out on the fringe more than ever.
It's tragic.
I'm happy to park this part of the discussion for now but if we get through this, it will be true.
The UK has imposed a flight ban on Russian planes just like the EU. The UK has imposed economic sanctions on Russia just like the EU.
Not all EU nations are in NATO either unlike the UK, Austria, Ireland, Sweden and Finland for example are not in NATO
And - that doesn't answer any one of Heathener's points. One of the key things we offered the EU was military strength and that isn't much use if Germany has decided to stand up and actual provide that might themselves...
The argument goes round in circles eventually. Fear of being subsumed into an “EU Army” was a “fear” of many of them there Brexiters.
Ultimately we Europhiles have two options. Take the bewailing the 2016 tragedy line or persuade people to reverse the decision. The two are not compatible in my view.
One of the things that will come out of this crisis, assuming we avoid Armageddon, is a chance to show that cooperation with Europe is the only way forward. That’s the sort of positive spin we need. Belittling the U.K. at this stage serves no purpose. That referendum is over. Talk of future “tragedy” and the constant Twitter talk of how “ashamed” we are of the U.K. as a result of it (and otherwise) is a tactic we have been at for over 6 years now and has got us absolutely nowhere.
Yes. The EU and the UK are working together well over the Ukraine crisis. Why? Fundamentally because we share the same interests and the same democratic values in the same continent of Europe.
If we're not so different then we can probably find all sorts of areas in which we can cooperate to our mutual benefit.
Indeed, and much cooperation does not require being a full member of the club (even if that brings more benefits).
Stupid British media at it again, trying to find dividing lines over asylum policy, UK/EU relations and party funding.
There’s a bloody war on, please can they leave their pet obsessions aside for a few days, and let the politicians concentrate on what’s actually important at the moment?
Quite right, let HMG get on with concentrating on the important stuff.
Christ, it really is government by dressing up box for these people.
They were brought up when Mr Benn was on TV during their formative years. What do you expect...
Sometimes it feels more like they are channeling the Magic Roundabout.
Friend of mine finally found a bunch of British pro-Putin, pro-Russian-army, “fuck Ukraine” types on Twitter - spoiling for an argument
They were all rabid Scot Nats. Hate NATO, apparently
The cheerleaders for the Kremlin are an extremely motley crew, from Fox News to Ultra Scot Nats to Farageists and Stop the War. And one of my parents.
I’m not sure I can recall an alliance like it
Amazing! What are the chances, eh?
Are you sure they weren't rabid woke Remoaners as well?
(PS How dumb are you to fall for this shit?)
My friend wasn’t lying. This is just tiresome. There is a strand of Scot Nat opinion which has been so warped by its hatred of Trident, NATO, Britain, it’s ended up supporting Putin
The Scot Nats (note, I didn’t say SNP) are hardly alone in this. Elements of the UKIP right, Labour left, and my family, have all ended up in this same absurd, contorted position, because of fiercely held prior beliefs which have been overtaken by events. It’s a fascinating quirk of human psychology
You are a nutter, brain is addled.
When, as so often, malcolmg has lost the argument, he resorts to abuse. Perhaps he ought to give the internet a few days rest.
A Senior Advisor the the EU: 'Flying in #Ukraine skies within the hour.' In response to "EU countries will provide 'fighter jets' to Ukraine under Brussels funding: Borrell".
That 3.5 mile convoy looking mighty unsafe all of a sudden.
I simply do not believe that the EU will send fighter jets for combat against Russian jets over Ukraine, tomorrow
It is pathetic, delusional EU nonsense, and if it happens the EU will get Putin threatening fire and brimstone over Brussels. Who will fly these planes? From where? How? When? Why?
The EU is posturing. The willpower is not there. Probably for the best as it could kick off WW3
My guess is the Poles are handing over their Mig-29s, probably will announce getting F-35 early and in greater numbers. After this is over.
Sweden sending thousands upon thousands of offensive missiles. A major land war in Europe. Switzerland implementing financial sanctions. Germany increasing defence expenditure by 50% overnight, dismantling all previous Russian foreign policy. Paddington bear the leader of the free world. Russian ruble more than halving in value overnight. The possibility of a nuke being dropped within 200km of 4 different EU memberstates (Lviv makes by far the most sense to target of all Ua cities) being a real prospect. Russian trolls targeting PB.
Through the looking glass we go, Where the world is in reverse.
There are, reportedly, mercenaries seeking to assassinate Paddington Bear/President Zelenski. I really hope he has good bodyguards. I know he doesn't want to run but at some point he may need to to remain the face of his country.
He is a real leader and, silly as this may sound, I feel invested in him. I want - at an emotional level - for him and his country to survive - not just for all the obvious geopolitical reasons - but because it is simply unconscionable that people should be cowering in shelters and evacuating children and having to trudge for days across Europe with little more than their clothes on their backs. These were things that happened in documentaries, that my parents told me about as happening to them as children with the unspoken sub-text - "Thank God it won't happen to you and yours".
I last felt quite like this over Bosnia - seeing places I had visited as a tourist being bombed was appalling, learning about Srebenica and other genocidal atrocities was such a shock, such a reversion to something which seemed firmly in the past.
And yes I know there has been appalling evil and much the same in Iraq and Syria and Yemen and Rwanda and and ... so many other places. But dammit - we simply cannot have this happening in Europe again.
Stupid British media at it again, trying to find dividing lines over asylum policy or UK/EU relations.
There’s a bloody war on, please can they leave their pet obsessions aside for a few days, and let the politicians concentrate on what’s actually important at the moment?
QTWAIN.
Cometh the hour the UK, USA and EU including now Germany have all risen to this occasion. Credit to everyone in the West for that.
But that isn't an interesting story for 24/7 news media obsessed with culture wars and divisions.
First, there are huge swathes of government not involved in sending anti-tank weapons to Ukraine. Britain does not stop because there is a war on. Second, let's not congratulate ourselves too prematurely: Russia might still win (for some value of win).
I'm not congratulating ourselves for winning, this is far from over by a long shot.
However a few weeks ago it looked like some nations at least would be squalid and sacrifice Ukraine - some posters here were basically saying we shouldn't get involved as they're not NATO too.
Win, lose or stalemate it is great that people have stepped up to the plate and are doing the right thing. Even if its a noble defeat of Ukraine, which would be terrible, already the actions taken by Zelenskyy and the Western leaders have been worthy and that deserves some respect.
Some people want to see the worst in certain countries like a broken record. I think the entire Western World has stepped up to the plate now - and Putin is responsible for that. For someone whose Modus Operandi for decades has been sowing divisions in the West, he's singularly now managed to unite the entire West behind one common enemy: himself.
It cant necessarily stop him in Ukraine, but the depth of response so speedily suggests he finally has gone too far and he doesn't seem to have expected that given his talk of nuclear in response. Hopefully the tide has turned on disunity.
The warning to rich Russians linked to Putin that the UK government “will come after you” and ensure oligarchs have “nowhere to hide” is likely to hit hard at the gated luxury housing estate in Surrey dubbed “Britain’s Beverly Hills”.
Russians and those from former Soviet states own more than a quarter of the 430 luxurious homes in St George’s Hill, a heavily guarded 964-acre estate near Weybridge, Surrey, where mansions have changed hands for more than £20m each.
We have actually worked on a house there, to term it heavily guarded is pushing it a bit, there is a person sat in a hut.
According to the Guardian's reporter, said person was very hostile!
Anonymous have reportedly taken down the websites of the Russian government and 3 of the main banks in Belarus. (Anonymous being the international hacking group).
We must remember there are state-backed and even state-controlled hacking groups in Russia who may be looking to retaliate so keep the patches up to date, change default passwords and don't click on dodgy links.
https://twitter.com/EuromaidanPress/status/1498238815781232643 The Ukrainian delegation has arrived in the area of the Ukrainian-Belarusian border to take part in talks with Russian representatives, the Ukrainian President's Office reports. The key issue of the talks is an immediate ceasefire and the withdrawal of troops from Ukraine... ..The delegation includes: - Davyd Arakhamia (SoP faction head) - Oleksiy Reznikov (Defense Minister) - Mykhailo Podoliak (presidential office adviser) - Andriy Kostin (first UA head in TCG) - MP Rustem Umerov - Mykola Tochytskyi (deputy FM)
"Zelenskyy asks for fast-track EU membership In a video speech shared on social media Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has asked the European Union to allow Ukraine to gain membership under a special procedure immediately. "Our goal is to be with all Europeans and, most importantly, to be equal. I'm sure that's fair. I am sure we deserve it," he said."
Given the goal had been 2030s that seems optimistic vs some kind of advanced candidate status. The EU, rightly, will want as many in its orbit as possible in a new cold war situation, but would they want to just junk all criteria?
But the strength of the request itself is interesting.
Not to mention the timing to coincide exactly with talks
If they let Greece in, Ukraine would be a walk in the park. What they don't junk they fudge.
"Zelenskyy asks for fast-track EU membership In a video speech shared on social media Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has asked the European Union to allow Ukraine to gain membership under a special procedure immediately. "Our goal is to be with all Europeans and, most importantly, to be equal. I'm sure that's fair. I am sure we deserve it," he said."
And as I have pointed out previously, meaning they become part of the (now inevitable) EU army. Quasi-NATO membership by the back door. Putin won't let that happen. At least, whilst he is still able.
If any part of a free Ukraine is around after this, I feel they have earned some kind of fast track ascension. I'm not sure it's wise, and I don't know if it will happen, but they do deserve it. I don't want to relitigate the Referendum but I do feel strangely emotional when I think that we threw away what others are willing to fight and die to acquire.
If the 5,000 figure is correct, Russia has lost 1 in 200 of its total army strength of a million in just 4 days. Imagine losing 1 in 20 in 40 days, and that doesn't include those taken prisoner or deserting.
Most of that theoretical million are non-deployable conscripts in various parts of their training. Complete with obsolete equipment etc etc.
It is quite probable that force that Russia has around/in Ukraine *is* the sum total of their deployable army. Which is why Putin has been asking his few allies for help.
It does, quite astonishingly, indeed look like the Russians have deployed a huge proportion of what they have - what they actually have available, rather than what might theoretically exist on some general’s asset spreadsheet - in Ukraine.
He wouldn’t need to be asking for help, if he had a fraction of the men and equipment available that he claims to possess.
Emperor Putin is naked, and the world around him is waking up to that realisation this morning.
All armies have a tiny deployable proportion of their theoretical manpower.
The UK has 153K active duty personnel in the military. How many could we actually send to the Estonian border? 10% ?
Was quoted by some ex military guy on radio yesterday that it was at 72K now due to understaffing and that was Tories target number in their shake up in any case.
That 72k is for the Army. You then need to add everyone else (RAF 33,000 - Navy 36,000) on top. Very rough figures but I get to round 140k which tallys with the gaps between the various army figures I can find that range from 70-80k
Good morning. I woke up expecting serious progress overnight, with the Russians at least mounting a massive effort to take a big city before the economic fall out hit today. Or at least unleash hell on them. And yet. Not much. For the first time I begin to think this has a glimmer of a chance of not ending with a Ukrainian defeat. Although that depends on one's definition. Seems to be clear the average Russian doesn't want this war. Nor the average Russian soldier. Which makes me believe that feeling probably extends fairly high up the chain of command. It's the only explanation I can see
Friend of mine finally found a bunch of British pro-Putin, pro-Russian-army, “fuck Ukraine” types on Twitter - spoiling for an argument
They were all rabid Scot Nats. Hate NATO, apparently
The cheerleaders for the Kremlin are an extremely motley crew, from Fox News to Ultra Scot Nats to Farageists and Stop the War. And one of my parents.
I’m not sure I can recall an alliance like it
I think those ‘rabid Scots Nats’ are almost entirely Albanians and supporters of Salmond (an individual for whom you were a Pom Pom girl a year ago)? Presumably you’d have shared some common ground over their pro Putin stance only a couple of months ago.
Anti-NATO sentiment is quite mainstream within the SNP. Their official policy for many years was to withdraw from NATO, only changing it before IndyRef2 when they realised it was polling very badly and was a drag on their chances. Angus Robertson, who presided over the U-turn, took a lot of stick at the time.
Is or was? The past is another country.
I'm old enough to remember when the SCons were a strongly pro EU party (or sub branch as the case may be).
Oh, still "is" for quite a few.
Linked to that is the policy to throw out Trident and wax lyrical about the immorality of possessing nuclear weapons. Despite NATO being an explicitly nuclear alliance. Of course, you don't have to have nukes to be in NATO, but stripping one of its three members to possess them of their capacity is rather problematic in a NATO context. Would go down extremely badly with US so almost certainly an IndyScot would wriggle out of it if it came to it, but all the same.
For someone who regularly states indy ref II is dead, you certainly manage to regurgitate a lot of PF II stuff.
Gonnae love seeing all those yeahbutnobutyeah the EU is eevul types working out which way to jump on Ukraine being fast tracked into the EU.
'It's a great thing that a country is allowed to make it's own choice on EU membership, except in certain cases.'
Friend of mine finally found a bunch of British pro-Putin, pro-Russian-army, “fuck Ukraine” types on Twitter - spoiling for an argument
They were all rabid Scot Nats. Hate NATO, apparently
The cheerleaders for the Kremlin are an extremely motley crew, from Fox News to Ultra Scot Nats to Farageists and Stop the War. And one of my parents.
I’m not sure I can recall an alliance like it
I think those ‘rabid Scots Nats’ are almost entirely Albanians and supporters of Salmond (an individual for whom you were a Pom Pom girl a year ago)? Presumably you’d have shared some common ground over their pro Putin stance only a couple of months ago.
Anti-NATO sentiment is quite mainstream within the SNP. Their official policy for many years was to withdraw from NATO, only changing it before IndyRef2 when they realised it was polling very badly and was a drag on their chances. Angus Robertson, who presided over the U-turn, took a lot of stick at the time.
It is Leon, his friend will be a taxi driver or a pilot of an alien spaceship who communicates with Bots on twitter and actually believes the crud. Pity he cannot tell us something useful like when Dad's Army division are ready to join Liz on the journey to eth front line.
https://twitter.com/EuromaidanPress/status/1498238815781232643 The Ukrainian delegation has arrived in the area of the Ukrainian-Belarusian border to take part in talks with Russian representatives, the Ukrainian President's Office reports. The key issue of the talks is an immediate ceasefire and the withdrawal of troops from Ukraine... ..The delegation includes: - Davyd Arakhamia (SoP faction head) - Oleksiy Reznikov (Defense Minister) - Mykhailo Podoliak (presidential office adviser) - Andriy Kostin (first UA head in TCG) - MP Rustem Umerov - Mykola Tochytskyi (deputy FM)
It would be interesting to see the reaction of Ukrainers and western supporters if a deal were hammered out which was still felt to be too generous to Putin by many.
Stupid British media at it again, trying to find dividing lines over asylum policy, UK/EU relations and party funding.
There’s a bloody war on, please can they leave their pet obsessions aside for a few days, and let the politicians concentrate on what’s actually important at the moment?
Quite right, let HMG get on with concentrating on the important stuff.
Naked self-promotion on the back of this is very yucky indeed. Stop it Liz.
Stupid British media at it again, trying to find dividing lines over asylum policy, UK/EU relations and party funding.
There’s a bloody war on, please can they leave their pet obsessions aside for a few days, and let the politicians concentrate on what’s actually important at the moment?
Quite right, let HMG get on with concentrating on the important stuff.
Christ, it really is government by dressing up box for these people.
They were brought up when Mr Benn was on TV during their formative years. What do you expect...
Sometimes it feels more like they are channeling the Magic Roundabout.
They do seem to think they live in a world like Camberwick Green with no external factors that need to be thought about or decisions based upon.
Stupid British media at it again, trying to find dividing lines over asylum policy, UK/EU relations and party funding.
There’s a bloody war on, please can they leave their pet obsessions aside for a few days, and let the politicians concentrate on what’s actually important at the moment?
Quite right, let HMG get on with concentrating on the important stuff.
Naked self-promotion on the back of this is very yucky indeed. Stop it Liz.
Friend of mine finally found a bunch of British pro-Putin, pro-Russian-army, “fuck Ukraine” types on Twitter - spoiling for an argument
They were all rabid Scot Nats. Hate NATO, apparently
The cheerleaders for the Kremlin are an extremely motley crew, from Fox News to Ultra Scot Nats to Farageists and Stop the War. And one of my parents.
I’m not sure I can recall an alliance like it
I think those ‘rabid Scots Nats’ are almost entirely Albanians and supporters of Salmond (an individual for whom you were a Pom Pom girl a year ago)? Presumably you’d have shared some common ground over their pro Putin stance only a couple of months ago.
Anti-NATO sentiment is quite mainstream within the SNP. Their official policy for many years was to withdraw from NATO, only changing it before IndyRef2 when they realised it was polling very badly and was a drag on their chances. Angus Robertson, who presided over the U-turn, took a lot of stick at the time.
Is or was? The past is another country.
I'm old enough to remember when the SCons were a strongly pro EU party (or sub branch as the case may be).
Oh, still "is" for quite a few.
Linked to that is the policy to throw out Trident and wax lyrical about the immorality of possessing nuclear weapons. Despite NATO being an explicitly nuclear alliance. Of course, you don't have to have nukes to be in NATO, but stripping one of its three members to possess them of their capacity is rather problematic in a NATO context. Would go down extremely badly with US so almost certainly an IndyScot would wriggle out of it if it came to it, but all the same.
For someone who regularly states indy ref II is dead, you certainly manage to regurgitate a lot of PF II stuff.
Gonnae love seeing all those yeahbutnobutyeah the EU is eevul types working out which way to jump on Ukraine being fast tracked into the EU.
Unless all Russian troops have left Ukrainian soil and/or Putin has been toppled as President of Russia, Ukraine is not going into the EU, NATO or any other block as it will still have much of its territory occupied by Russia.
If Kyiv falls to Putin's troops that will be even more the case
Friend of mine finally found a bunch of British pro-Putin, pro-Russian-army, “fuck Ukraine” types on Twitter - spoiling for an argument
They were all rabid Scot Nats. Hate NATO, apparently
The cheerleaders for the Kremlin are an extremely motley crew, from Fox News to Ultra Scot Nats to Farageists and Stop the War. And one of my parents.
I’m not sure I can recall an alliance like it
I think those ‘rabid Scots Nats’ are almost entirely Albanians and supporters of Salmond (an individual for whom you were a Pom Pom girl a year ago)? Presumably you’d have shared some common ground over their pro Putin stance only a couple of months ago.
Anti-NATO sentiment is quite mainstream within the SNP. Their official policy for many years was to withdraw from NATO, only changing it before IndyRef2 when they realised it was polling very badly and was a drag on their chances. Angus Robertson, who presided over the U-turn, took a lot of stick at the time.
Is or was? The past is another country.
I'm old enough to remember when the SCons were a strongly pro EU party (or sub branch as the case may be).
Oh, still "is" for quite a few.
Linked to that is the policy to throw out Trident and wax lyrical about the immorality of possessing nuclear weapons. Despite NATO being an explicitly nuclear alliance. Of course, you don't have to have nukes to be in NATO, but stripping one of its three members to possess them of their capacity is rather problematic in a NATO context. Would go down extremely badly with US so almost certainly an IndyScot would wriggle out of it if it came to it, but all the same.
For someone who regularly states indy ref II is dead, you certainly manage to regurgitate a lot of PF II stuff.
Gonnae love seeing all those yeahbutnobutyeah the EU is eevul types working out which way to jump on Ukraine being fast tracked into the EU.
You don't appear to be answering the point.
"yeahbutnobutyeah" seems to be the prevailing line with ScotNats since the economic case for Indy collapsed.
And, yes, I do reckon IndyRef2 is dead, so all this is a bit beside the point TBH.
2) Morrisons selling British pork fillets for £6/kg.
Given that we were told that British pigs would have to be culled on mass its curious that one of the few foods not to have increased in price seems to be pork.
On that point, increased culling leads to a temporary spike in supply, and hence no price increase. Longer term it does look as though the British herd will shrink because of the shortage of skilled workers (especially in slaughterhouses), which means more imports and probably higher prices down the line. The alternative would be to acknowledge the area as one entitling people to permanent visas, which would give the British industry a chance to recruit.
There were reports that Home Office Ministers were sanctioning prisoners on day release to help in slaughterhouses, and my organisation expressed unease about that as it's a job that really does need proper training, but we were told that this was understood and any prisoners engaged would only be employed for routine back office work - so it hasn't fixed the supply chain problem, and I think was more of a bright idea in the Home Office than a serious solution.
1) Sunday Times had a list of 'high-ups' who should take responsibility for the post office non-fraud scandal.
In an unfortunate coincidence for the LibDems the three politicians mentioned as being relevant government ministers at the time were Cable, Swinson and Ed Davey.
2) Morrisons selling British pork fillets for £6/kg.
Given that we were told that British pigs would have to be culled on mass its curious that one of the few foods not to have increased in price seems to be pork.
Ed Davey was actually a Postal Consultant after working for Alan Beith in Parliament. This would be the mid-1990s. If they had had him it might not have happened.
In 1993, I left Parliament to work for a management consultancy firm called Omega Partners where I specialised in postal services. With Omega Partners, I visited 28 countries and worked on projects for Post Offices in countries such as Belgium, South Africa, Sweden and Taiwan. My work ranged from strategic market analysis to business forecasting. https://www.eddavey.org/about
The total slaughter afaik has been 40k porkers, out of a pig population of around 5 million. ie 0.8% . Growth of pig population over the year was about 200k.
Plenty of industry people still want government money, though.
Stupid British media at it again, trying to find dividing lines over asylum policy, UK/EU relations and party funding.
There’s a bloody war on, please can they leave their pet obsessions aside for a few days, and let the politicians concentrate on what’s actually important at the moment?
Quite right, let HMG get on with concentrating on the important stuff.
Naked self-promotion on the back of this is very yucky indeed. Stop it Liz.
Are you sure this was a recent pic?
It is an old pic, where old in the context of Ukraine means it was taken more than a week ago.
As an aside, has any recent Prime Minister eschewed the dressing up box? Tony Blair maybe? And I can't remember John Major as a faux soldier although he did wear a turban once iirc.
Stupid British media at it again, trying to find dividing lines over asylum policy, UK/EU relations and party funding.
There’s a bloody war on, please can they leave their pet obsessions aside for a few days, and let the politicians concentrate on what’s actually important at the moment?
Quite right, let HMG get on with concentrating on the important stuff.
Naked self-promotion on the back of this is very yucky indeed. Stop it Liz.
She's addicted to it:
But back to Liz Truss, whose Instagram has itself been the source of a somewhat embarrassing newspaper story this week, concerning a fancy dinner at a Knightsbridge hotel. The prime minister and various cabinet ladies seem to have rented themselves out to a Russian woman named Lubov Chernukhin, who paid £135,000 at an auction for dinner with Theresa May.
Lubov is married to a former deputy finance minister to Vladimir Putin, and on Monday was pictured on Liz’s auto-parodic Insta feed, enjoying a private dinner at the Goring hotel. Fellow guests include Truss, Andrea Leadsom, Karen Bradley – that’s the brains trust dealt with – as well as May, Amber Rudd, immigration minister Caroline Nokes, and the leader of the Lords, Baroness Evans. As Truss captioned the photograph: “And it’s ladies night #cabinetandfriends #girlpower.” Or as you might caption it: “We’re her private dancers #dancersformoney #we’lldowhatyouwantustodo.”
...
As for the Goring dinner this week, that was supposed to stay secret, and it is worth marvelling at the fact that we only know about it because the chief secretary to the Treasury leaked it to her own Instagram. As one government source told Politico: “This just shows how desperately poor her judgment is. Already overheard bitching about colleagues, she’s now dropped them in it for the sake of a few likes on Instagram. One female MP told me tonight that:‘This is why she’ll have about three supporters come election time.’”
Friend of mine finally found a bunch of British pro-Putin, pro-Russian-army, “fuck Ukraine” types on Twitter - spoiling for an argument
They were all rabid Scot Nats. Hate NATO, apparently
The cheerleaders for the Kremlin are an extremely motley crew, from Fox News to Ultra Scot Nats to Farageists and Stop the War. And one of my parents.
I’m not sure I can recall an alliance like it
Amazing! What are the chances, eh?
Are you sure they weren't rabid woke Remoaners as well?
(PS How dumb are you to fall for this shit?)
My friend wasn’t lying. This is just tiresome. There is a strand of Scot Nat opinion which has been so warped by its hatred of Trident, NATO, Britain, it’s ended up supporting Putin
The Scot Nats (note, I didn’t say SNP) are hardly alone in this. Elements of the UKIP right, Labour left, and my family, have all ended up in this same absurd, contorted position, because of fiercely held prior beliefs which have been overtaken by events. It’s a fascinating quirk of human psychology
My friend's grandfather was a very active old-school lefty, of the bent of Peter Sellers' character from I'm Allright Jack. He was very pro-Serbian in the Yugoslav wars. "They're just trying to hold on to the socialism they cherish so much which the West is trying to take from them." People can talk themselves into weird positions in the interests of consistency. This is true of those of us with more mainstream views too, of course, but we tend to end up in less odd places.
Yes, that’s exactly it. My “pro-Putin” family member is very pro-Russia due to general love of Russian culture, literature, people, plus their incredible heroism in WW2. All understandable. And he dislikes western sanctimony (ie we were arguably just as bad in Iraq - again true)
I’ve pointed out to him that even if all the above is true, this stupid, repulsive war is STILL a catastrophe for ordinary Russians AND Ukrainians. For everyone. For Russia itself. But he’s not having it. His priors mean he wants Russia to “win”
He can’t define what “winning” might look like. Because it doesn’t exist. There are only degrees of calamity from here on
There was also a slight difference between Saddam's rule in Iraq and Zelensky's rule in Ukraine.
Even if you could argue both the US led invasion of Iraq and the Russian invasion of Ukraine were illegal wars without UN Security Council support
I have read Leon's post carefully, and the preceding ones, and can see no previous mention of Iraq. Why introduce that?
Stupid British media at it again, trying to find dividing lines over asylum policy, UK/EU relations and party funding.
There’s a bloody war on, please can they leave their pet obsessions aside for a few days, and let the politicians concentrate on what’s actually important at the moment?
Quite right, let HMG get on with concentrating on the important stuff.
Naked self-promotion on the back of this is very yucky indeed. Stop it Liz.
Are you sure this was a recent pic?
It is an old pic, where old in the context of Ukraine means it was taken more than a week ago.
(Snip)
In which case, Kinbalu should perhaps apologise...
Stupid British media at it again, trying to find dividing lines over asylum policy, UK/EU relations and party funding.
There’s a bloody war on, please can they leave their pet obsessions aside for a few days, and let the politicians concentrate on what’s actually important at the moment?
Quite right, let HMG get on with concentrating on the important stuff.
Naked self-promotion on the back of this is very yucky indeed. Stop it Liz.
Friend of mine finally found a bunch of British pro-Putin, pro-Russian-army, “fuck Ukraine” types on Twitter - spoiling for an argument
They were all rabid Scot Nats. Hate NATO, apparently
The cheerleaders for the Kremlin are an extremely motley crew, from Fox News to Ultra Scot Nats to Farageists and Stop the War. And one of my parents.
I’m not sure I can recall an alliance like it
I think those ‘rabid Scots Nats’ are almost entirely Albanians and supporters of Salmond (an individual for whom you were a Pom Pom girl a year ago)? Presumably you’d have shared some common ground over their pro Putin stance only a couple of months ago.
Anti-NATO sentiment is quite mainstream within the SNP. Their official policy for many years was to withdraw from NATO, only changing it before IndyRef2 when they realised it was polling very badly and was a drag on their chances. Angus Robertson, who presided over the U-turn, took a lot of stick at the time.
Is or was? The past is another country.
I'm old enough to remember when the SCons were a strongly pro EU party (or sub branch as the case may be).
Oh, still "is" for quite a few.
Linked to that is the policy to throw out Trident and wax lyrical about the immorality of possessing nuclear weapons. Despite NATO being an explicitly nuclear alliance. Of course, you don't have to have nukes to be in NATO, but stripping one of its three members to possess them of their capacity is rather problematic in a NATO context. Would go down extremely badly with US so almost certainly an IndyScot would wriggle out of it if it came to it, but all the same.
For someone who regularly states indy ref II is dead, you certainly manage to regurgitate a lot of PF II stuff.
Gonnae love seeing all those yeahbutnobutyeah the EU is eevul types working out which way to jump on Ukraine being fast tracked into the EU.
Unless all Russian troops have left Ukrainian soil and/or Putin has been toppled as President of Russia, Ukraine is not going into the EU, NATO or any other block as it will still have much of its territory occupied by Russia.
If Kyiv falls to Putin's troops that will be even more the case
Point of Order.
Would that not be Indyref III, since they have already had two goes and lost both?
If you want to find some genuine Scottish cavemen, log on to any comments thread at the National.
Throughout this campaign, the world has certainly learnt one thing: Ukraine is a place full of the craziest fun people. Not just the guy carrying the mine, but the guy standing next to him filming it! As they laugh about it....
They also seem bright and reasonably cheery under the circumstances. I know the news channels choose those that speak English but still you warm to them. I had a Ukrainian fixing a window for me last week and he was the same. Bright sparky and trilingual (his wife is Portuguese). God I miss being in the EU.
Because being out the EU means you now have to employ a Ukrainian carpenter?
Funny but no.... I love the diversity. I see the Ukrainians as being honorary members of the exclusive culturally rich club of 27
Why did we all have to pay gazillions of pounds a year just so you could feel the love?
Because a big chunk of that money was used to build infrastructure in countries in the South and East of Europe to help them become prosperous, Western oriented economies. Seemed like a decent investment to me.
Friend of mine finally found a bunch of British pro-Putin, pro-Russian-army, “fuck Ukraine” types on Twitter - spoiling for an argument
They were all rabid Scot Nats. Hate NATO, apparently
The cheerleaders for the Kremlin are an extremely motley crew, from Fox News to Ultra Scot Nats to Farageists and Stop the War. And one of my parents.
I’m not sure I can recall an alliance like it
I think those ‘rabid Scots Nats’ are almost entirely Albanians and supporters of Salmond (an individual for whom you were a Pom Pom girl a year ago)? Presumably you’d have shared some common ground over their pro Putin stance only a couple of months ago.
Anti-NATO sentiment is quite mainstream within the SNP. Their official policy for many years was to withdraw from NATO, only changing it before IndyRef2 when they realised it was polling very badly and was a drag on their chances. Angus Robertson, who presided over the U-turn, took a lot of stick at the time.
Is or was? The past is another country.
I'm old enough to remember when the SCons were a strongly pro EU party (or sub branch as the case may be).
Oh, still "is" for quite a few.
Linked to that is the policy to throw out Trident and wax lyrical about the immorality of possessing nuclear weapons. Despite NATO being an explicitly nuclear alliance. Of course, you don't have to have nukes to be in NATO, but stripping one of its three members to possess them of their capacity is rather problematic in a NATO context. Would go down extremely badly with US so almost certainly an IndyScot would wriggle out of it if it came to it, but all the same.
For someone who regularly states indy ref II is dead, you certainly manage to regurgitate a lot of PF II stuff.
Gonnae love seeing all those yeahbutnobutyeah the EU is eevul types working out which way to jump on Ukraine being fast tracked into the EU.
You don't appear to be answering the point.
"yeahbutnobutyeah" seems to be the prevailing line with ScotNats since the economic case for Indy collapsed.
And, yes, I do reckon IndyRef2 is dead, so all this is a bit beside the point TBH.
Feel free to stop latching on to my posts to discuss (checks notes) IndyRef2 and IndyScot then.
Stupid British media at it again, trying to find dividing lines over asylum policy, UK/EU relations and party funding.
There’s a bloody war on, please can they leave their pet obsessions aside for a few days, and let the politicians concentrate on what’s actually important at the moment?
Quite right, let HMG get on with concentrating on the important stuff.
Naked self-promotion on the back of this is very yucky indeed. Stop it Liz.
Stupid British media at it again, trying to find dividing lines over asylum policy, UK/EU relations and party funding.
There’s a bloody war on, please can they leave their pet obsessions aside for a few days, and let the politicians concentrate on what’s actually important at the moment?
Quite right, let HMG get on with concentrating on the important stuff.
Naked self-promotion on the back of this is very yucky indeed. Stop it Liz.
She's addicted to it:
But back to Liz Truss, whose Instagram has itself been the source of a somewhat embarrassing newspaper story this week, concerning a fancy dinner at a Knightsbridge hotel. The prime minister and various cabinet ladies seem to have rented themselves out to a Russian woman named Lubov Chernukhin, who paid £135,000 at an auction for dinner with Theresa May.
Lubov is married to a former deputy finance minister to Vladimir Putin, and on Monday was pictured on Liz’s auto-parodic Insta feed, enjoying a private dinner at the Goring hotel. Fellow guests include Truss, Andrea Leadsom, Karen Bradley – that’s the brains trust dealt with – as well as May, Amber Rudd, immigration minister Caroline Nokes, and the leader of the Lords, Baroness Evans. As Truss captioned the photograph: “And it’s ladies night #cabinetandfriends #girlpower.” Or as you might caption it: “We’re her private dancers #dancersformoney #we’lldowhatyouwantustodo.”
...
As for the Goring dinner this week, that was supposed to stay secret, and it is worth marvelling at the fact that we only know about it because the chief secretary to the Treasury leaked it to her own Instagram. As one government source told Politico: “This just shows how desperately poor her judgment is. Already overheard bitching about colleagues, she’s now dropped them in it for the sake of a few likes on Instagram. One female MP told me tonight that:‘This is why she’ll have about three supporters come election time.’”
Friend of mine finally found a bunch of British pro-Putin, pro-Russian-army, “fuck Ukraine” types on Twitter - spoiling for an argument
They were all rabid Scot Nats. Hate NATO, apparently
The cheerleaders for the Kremlin are an extremely motley crew, from Fox News to Ultra Scot Nats to Farageists and Stop the War. And one of my parents.
I’m not sure I can recall an alliance like it
I think those ‘rabid Scots Nats’ are almost entirely Albanians and supporters of Salmond (an individual for whom you were a Pom Pom girl a year ago)? Presumably you’d have shared some common ground over their pro Putin stance only a couple of months ago.
Anti-NATO sentiment is quite mainstream within the SNP. Their official policy for many years was to withdraw from NATO, only changing it before IndyRef2 when they realised it was polling very badly and was a drag on their chances. Angus Robertson, who presided over the U-turn, took a lot of stick at the time.
Is or was? The past is another country.
I'm old enough to remember when the SCons were a strongly pro EU party (or sub branch as the case may be).
Oh, still "is" for quite a few.
Linked to that is the policy to throw out Trident and wax lyrical about the immorality of possessing nuclear weapons. Despite NATO being an explicitly nuclear alliance. Of course, you don't have to have nukes to be in NATO, but stripping one of its three members to possess them of their capacity is rather problematic in a NATO context. Would go down extremely badly with US so almost certainly an IndyScot would wriggle out of it if it came to it, but all the same.
For someone who regularly states indy ref II is dead, you certainly manage to regurgitate a lot of PF II stuff.
Gonnae love seeing all those yeahbutnobutyeah the EU is eevul types working out which way to jump on Ukraine being fast tracked into the EU.
It won’t be fast-tracked into the EU. Even if Russia admits defeat and simply retreats, and Putin retires to his palace to grow apples tomorrow, the EU won’t provoke the Bear with a further “insult” by absorbing Kievan Rus. It IS part of the mythological Russian motherland
I can see Ukraine getting some special associated status (and a lot of goodwill and aid). Maybe free movement
But all this depends, anyway, on a highly benign outcome which seems most unlikely, right now. A middling outcome is a Russian “retreat” with guarantees that Ukraine stays in Moscow’s orbit.
More likely than all this is a pyrrhic, brutal Russian victory that turns into a bitter, unsuccessful occupation which could last years and go anywhere
Friend of mine finally found a bunch of British pro-Putin, pro-Russian-army, “fuck Ukraine” types on Twitter - spoiling for an argument
They were all rabid Scot Nats. Hate NATO, apparently
The cheerleaders for the Kremlin are an extremely motley crew, from Fox News to Ultra Scot Nats to Farageists and Stop the War. And one of my parents.
I’m not sure I can recall an alliance like it
Amazing! What are the chances, eh?
Are you sure they weren't rabid woke Remoaners as well?
(PS How dumb are you to fall for this shit?)
My friend wasn’t lying. This is just tiresome. There is a strand of Scot Nat opinion which has been so warped by its hatred of Trident, NATO, Britain, it’s ended up supporting Putin
The Scot Nats (note, I didn’t say SNP) are hardly alone in this. Elements of the UKIP right, Labour left, and my family, have all ended up in this same absurd, contorted position, because of fiercely held prior beliefs which have been overtaken by events. It’s a fascinating quirk of human psychology
My friend's grandfather was a very active old-school lefty, of the bent of Peter Sellers' character from I'm Allright Jack. He was very pro-Serbian in the Yugoslav wars. "They're just trying to hold on to the socialism they cherish so much which the West is trying to take from them." People can talk themselves into weird positions in the interests of consistency. This is true of those of us with more mainstream views too, of course, but we tend to end up in less odd places.
Yes, that’s exactly it. My “pro-Putin” family member is very pro-Russia due to general love of Russian culture, literature, people, plus their incredible heroism in WW2. All understandable. And he dislikes western sanctimony (ie we were arguably just as bad in Iraq - again true)
I’ve pointed out to him that even if all the above is true, this stupid, repulsive war is STILL a catastrophe for ordinary Russians AND Ukrainians. For everyone. For Russia itself. But he’s not having it. His priors mean he wants Russia to “win”
He can’t define what “winning” might look like. Because it doesn’t exist. There are only degrees of calamity from here on
There was also a slight difference between Saddam's rule in Iraq and Zelensky's rule in Ukraine.
Even if you could argue both the US led invasion of Iraq and the Russian invasion of Ukraine were illegal wars without UN Security Council support
I have read Leon's post carefully, and the preceding ones, and can see no previous mention of Iraq. Why introduce that?
From Leon's previous post ' And he dislikes western sanctimony (ie we were arguably just as bad in Iraq - again true)' '
Stupid British media at it again, trying to find dividing lines over asylum policy, UK/EU relations and party funding.
There’s a bloody war on, please can they leave their pet obsessions aside for a few days, and let the politicians concentrate on what’s actually important at the moment?
Quite right, let HMG get on with concentrating on the important stuff.
Naked self-promotion on the back of this is very yucky indeed. Stop it Liz.
It isn't. That image is from 2021. I'd guess taken by the Daily Mail photographer during the HMS Queen Elizabeth World Tour.
Stupid British media at it again, trying to find dividing lines over asylum policy, UK/EU relations and party funding.
There’s a bloody war on, please can they leave their pet obsessions aside for a few days, and let the politicians concentrate on what’s actually important at the moment?
Quite right, let HMG get on with concentrating on the important stuff.
Naked self-promotion on the back of this is very yucky indeed. Stop it Liz.
Are you sure this was a recent pic?
It is an old pic, where old in the context of Ukraine means it was taken more than a week ago.
(Snip)
In which case, Kinbalu should perhaps apologise...
Please look at this and consider whether @kinabalu has the vaguest hint of a point here
Stupid British media at it again, trying to find dividing lines over asylum policy, UK/EU relations and party funding.
There’s a bloody war on, please can they leave their pet obsessions aside for a few days, and let the politicians concentrate on what’s actually important at the moment?
Quite right, let HMG get on with concentrating on the important stuff.
Christ, it really is government by dressing up box for these people.
They were brought up when Mr Benn was on TV during their formative years. What do you expect...
Sometimes it feels more like they are channeling the Magic Roundabout.
They do seem to think they live in a world like Camberwick Green with no external factors that need to be thought about or decisions based upon.
There's certainly a strand of that thinking- Abroad is Them, not our problem, except in as much as we can chisel a deal in our favour.
One of the interesting things about this crisis, compared with (say) recent Middle East crises, is the rapid acknowledgement that this is about Us... And therefore that there is an Us beyond our borders.
Friend of mine finally found a bunch of British pro-Putin, pro-Russian-army, “fuck Ukraine” types on Twitter - spoiling for an argument
They were all rabid Scot Nats. Hate NATO, apparently
The cheerleaders for the Kremlin are an extremely motley crew, from Fox News to Ultra Scot Nats to Farageists and Stop the War. And one of my parents.
I’m not sure I can recall an alliance like it
I think those ‘rabid Scots Nats’ are almost entirely Albanians and supporters of Salmond (an individual for whom you were a Pom Pom girl a year ago)? Presumably you’d have shared some common ground over their pro Putin stance only a couple of months ago.
Anti-NATO sentiment is quite mainstream within the SNP. Their official policy for many years was to withdraw from NATO, only changing it before IndyRef2 when they realised it was polling very badly and was a drag on their chances. Angus Robertson, who presided over the U-turn, took a lot of stick at the time.
Is or was? The past is another country.
I'm old enough to remember when the SCons were a strongly pro EU party (or sub branch as the case may be).
Oh, still "is" for quite a few.
Linked to that is the policy to throw out Trident and wax lyrical about the immorality of possessing nuclear weapons. Despite NATO being an explicitly nuclear alliance. Of course, you don't have to have nukes to be in NATO, but stripping one of its three members to possess them of their capacity is rather problematic in a NATO context. Would go down extremely badly with US so almost certainly an IndyScot would wriggle out of it if it came to it, but all the same.
For someone who regularly states indy ref II is dead, you certainly manage to regurgitate a lot of PF II stuff.
Gonnae love seeing all those yeahbutnobutyeah the EU is eevul types working out which way to jump on Ukraine being fast tracked into the EU.
Unless all Russian troops have left Ukrainian soil and/or Putin has been toppled as President of Russia, Ukraine is not going into the EU, NATO or any other block as it will still have much of its territory occupied by Russia.
If Kyiv falls to Putin's troops that will be even more the case
Point of Order.
Would that not be Indyref III, since they have already had two goes and lost both?
If you want to find some genuine Scottish cavemen, log on to any comments thread at the National.
There have been some weird kinks on PB, but some bloke in the English sticks logging on to comments threads at The National is right up there.
2) Morrisons selling British pork fillets for £6/kg.
Given that we were told that British pigs would have to be culled on mass its curious that one of the few foods not to have increased in price seems to be pork.
On that point, increased culling leads to a temporary spike in supply, and hence no price increase. Longer term it does look as though the British herd will shrink because of the shortage of skilled workers (especially in slaughterhouses), which means more imports and probably higher prices down the line. The alternative would be to acknowledge the area as one entitling people to permanent visas, which would give the British industry a chance to recruit.
There were reports that Home Office Ministers were sanctioning prisoners on day release to help in slaughterhouses, and my organisation expressed unease about that as it's a job that really does need proper training, but we were told that this was understood and any prisoners engaged would only be employed for routine back office work - so it hasn't fixed the supply chain problem, and I think was more of a bright idea in the Home Office than a serious solution.
Maybe it is time to scrap the ridiculous rules about centralised slaugherhouses which caused huge increases in costs, more distress for animals being transported further and put many in the meat industry out of business.
I don't know if they were EU or UK homegrown rules but whichever they were they need to go.
Stupid British media at it again, trying to find dividing lines over asylum policy, UK/EU relations and party funding.
There’s a bloody war on, please can they leave their pet obsessions aside for a few days, and let the politicians concentrate on what’s actually important at the moment?
Quite right, let HMG get on with concentrating on the important stuff.
Naked self-promotion on the back of this is very yucky indeed. Stop it Liz.
Comments
Horrendous. I hope it’s fake news. If it isn’t then Putin is now happy to indiscriminately slaughter Ukrainians to show how much he loves his Ukrainian family
https://twitter.com/porcumali/status/1498232090621628417?s=21
Killing a blowout with a a nuclear bomb...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kwQfjGnVpw
Though of course these days pilots often eject and survive, so need a new plane.
"Zelenskyy asks for fast-track EU membership
In a video speech shared on social media Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has asked the European Union to allow Ukraine to gain membership under a special procedure immediately.
"Our goal is to be with all Europeans and, most importantly, to be equal. I'm sure that's fair. I am sure we deserve it," he said."
However a few weeks ago it looked like some nations at least would be squalid and sacrifice Ukraine - some posters here were basically saying we shouldn't get involved as they're not NATO too.
Win, lose or stalemate it is great that people have stepped up to the plate and are doing the right thing. Even if its a noble defeat of Ukraine, which would be terrible, already the actions taken by Zelenskyy and the Western leaders have been worthy and that deserves some respect.
Some people want to see the worst in certain countries like a broken record. I think the entire Western World has stepped up to the plate now - and Putin is responsible for that. For someone whose Modus Operandi for decades has been sowing divisions in the West, he's singularly now managed to unite the entire West behind one common enemy: himself.
People can talk themselves into weird positions in the interests of consistency.
This is true of those of us with more mainstream views too, of course, but we tend to end up in less odd places.
If we're not so different then we can probably find all sorts of areas in which we can cooperate to our mutual benefit.
If you want a coup you probably need the FSB to turn on its master.
I’ve pointed out to him that even if all the above is true, this stupid, repulsive war is STILL a catastrophe for ordinary Russians AND Ukrainians. For everyone. For Russia itself. But he’s not having it. His priors mean he wants Russia to “win”
He can’t define what “winning” might look like. Because it doesn’t exist. There are only degrees of calamity from here on
I'm old enough to remember when the SCons were a strongly pro EU party (or sub branch as the case may be).
Even if you could argue both the US led invasion of Iraq and the Russian invasion of Ukraine were illegal wars without UN Security Council support
@steve_hanke
The Russian Ruble sank to a new all-time low, trading at 117.62 RUB/USD. Since Jan. 1, 2022, the ruble has depreciated by as much as 47.33% against the USD. Conflict in Eastern Europe is fueling the currency's destruction. At present, I measure Russia’s inflation at 69.4%/yr.
https://twitter.com/steve_hanke/status/1498140235875635200
Got to say that when you watch the video you can see why people are willing to spend money to see if it actually works..
1) Sunday Times had a list of 'high-ups' who should take responsibility for the post office non-fraud scandal.
In an unfortunate coincidence for the LibDems the three politicians mentioned as being relevant government ministers at the time were Cable, Swinson and Ed Davey.
2) Morrisons selling British pork fillets for £6/kg.
Given that we were told that British pigs would have to be culled on mass its curious that one of the few foods not to have increased in price seems to be pork.
Triple-digit inflation nailed on. Russia is doomed, they are not the power they thought they were, or many people in the West thought they were either.
A number of us have said for years that Russia's economy is f***ed and that behind the curtain, there is nothing to Putin's Russia. That is now coming sharply to light.
As I don't tire of saying, Russia is poorer than Italy and Italy could never conquer the West. By the time this is over, Russia could be poorer than the Netherlands (!)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Orion_(nuclear_propulsion)
The problem with authoritarian regimes is that they're so difficult to read. That applies to the rulers too, and so (those that take a passing interest) need mechanisms to determine the public mood.
But the strength of the request itself is interesting.
Linked to that is the policy to throw out Trident and wax lyrical about the immorality of possessing nuclear weapons. Despite NATO being an explicitly nuclear alliance. Of course, you don't have to have nukes to be in NATO, but stripping one of its three members to possess them of their capacity is rather problematic in a NATO context. Would go down extremely badly with US so almost certainly an IndyScot would wriggle out of it if it came to it, but all the same.
A delegation of Israeli doctors has already been dispatched and is on its way to Ukraine
https://twitter.com/YoniMichanie/status/1498055304726167554
He is a real leader and, silly as this may sound, I feel invested in him. I want - at an emotional level - for him and his country to survive - not just for all the obvious geopolitical reasons - but because it is simply unconscionable that people should be cowering in shelters and evacuating children and having to trudge for days across Europe with little more than their clothes on their backs. These were things that happened in documentaries, that my parents told me about as happening to them as children with the unspoken sub-text - "Thank God it won't happen to you and yours".
I last felt quite like this over Bosnia - seeing places I had visited as a tourist being bombed was appalling, learning about Srebenica and other genocidal atrocities was such a shock, such a reversion to something which seemed firmly in the past.
And yes I know there has been appalling evil and much the same in Iraq and Syria and Yemen and Rwanda and and ... so many other places. But dammit - we simply cannot have this happening in Europe again.
Rant over.
The Ukrainian delegation has arrived in the area of the Ukrainian-Belarusian border to take part in talks with Russian representatives, the Ukrainian President's Office reports. The key issue of the talks is an immediate ceasefire and the withdrawal of troops from Ukraine...
..The delegation includes:
- Davyd Arakhamia (SoP faction head)
- Oleksiy Reznikov (Defense Minister)
- Mykhailo Podoliak (presidential office adviser)
- Andriy Kostin (first UA head in TCG)
- MP Rustem Umerov
- Mykola Tochytskyi (deputy FM)
If they let Greece in, Ukraine would be a walk in the park. What they don't junk they fudge.
I woke up expecting serious progress overnight, with the Russians at least mounting a massive effort to take a big city before the economic fall out hit today. Or at least unleash hell on them.
And yet. Not much.
For the first time I begin to think this has a glimmer of a chance of not ending with a Ukrainian defeat.
Although that depends on one's definition.
Seems to be clear the average Russian doesn't want this war. Nor the average Russian soldier. Which makes me believe that feeling probably extends fairly high up the chain of command. It's the only explanation I can see
Gonnae love seeing all those yeahbutnobutyeah the EU is eevul types working out which way to jump on Ukraine being fast tracked into the EU.
'It's a great thing that a country is allowed to make it's own choice on EU membership, except in certain cases.'
https://twitter.com/UkraineLegions/status/1498238823419072512
https://twitter.com/RALee85/status/1498241064347574272
If Kyiv falls to Putin's troops that will be even more the case
"yeahbutnobutyeah" seems to be the prevailing line with ScotNats since the economic case for Indy collapsed.
And, yes, I do reckon IndyRef2 is dead, so all this is a bit beside the point TBH.
There were reports that Home Office Ministers were sanctioning prisoners on day release to help in slaughterhouses, and my organisation expressed unease about that as it's a job that really does need proper training, but we were told that this was understood and any prisoners engaged would only be employed for routine back office work - so it hasn't fixed the supply chain problem, and I think was more of a bright idea in the Home Office than a serious solution.
In 1993, I left Parliament to work for a management consultancy firm called Omega Partners where I specialised in postal services. With Omega Partners, I visited 28 countries and worked on projects for Post Offices in countries such as Belgium, South Africa, Sweden and Taiwan. My work ranged from strategic market analysis to business forecasting.
https://www.eddavey.org/about
The total slaughter afaik has been 40k porkers, out of a pig population of around 5 million. ie 0.8% . Growth of pig population over the year was about 200k.
Plenty of industry people still want government money, though.
As an aside, has any recent Prime Minister eschewed the dressing up box? Tony Blair maybe? And I can't remember John Major as a faux soldier although he did wear a turban once iirc.
But back to Liz Truss, whose Instagram has itself been the source of a somewhat embarrassing newspaper story this week, concerning a fancy dinner at a Knightsbridge hotel. The prime minister and various cabinet ladies seem to have rented themselves out to a Russian woman named Lubov Chernukhin, who paid £135,000 at an auction for dinner with Theresa May.
Lubov is married to a former deputy finance minister to Vladimir Putin, and on Monday was pictured on Liz’s auto-parodic Insta feed, enjoying a private dinner at the Goring hotel. Fellow guests include Truss, Andrea Leadsom, Karen Bradley – that’s the brains trust dealt with – as well as May, Amber Rudd, immigration minister Caroline Nokes, and the leader of the Lords, Baroness Evans. As Truss captioned the photograph: “And it’s ladies night #cabinetandfriends #girlpower.” Or as you might caption it: “We’re her private dancers #dancersformoney #we’lldowhatyouwantustodo.”
...
As for the Goring dinner this week, that was supposed to stay secret, and it is worth marvelling at the fact that we only know about it because the chief secretary to the Treasury leaked it to her own Instagram. As one government source told Politico: “This just shows how desperately poor her judgment is. Already overheard bitching about colleagues, she’s now dropped them in it for the sake of a few likes on Instagram. One female MP told me tonight that:‘This is why she’ll have about three supporters come election time.’”
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/lostinshowbiz/2019/may/02/what-would-you-pay-not-to-go-on-a-ladies-night-with-theresa-may-and-her-chums
That'll help spread even more panic.
Would that not be Indyref III, since they have already had two goes and lost both?
If you want to find some genuine Scottish cavemen, log on to any comments thread at the National.
It is pre october last year
This is not
https://twitter.com/crackerjackpen/status/1497889292336578565/photo/1
Eeuuwwww
I can see Ukraine getting some special associated status (and a lot of goodwill and aid). Maybe free movement
But all this depends, anyway, on a highly benign outcome which seems most unlikely, right now. A middling outcome is a Russian “retreat” with guarantees that Ukraine stays in Moscow’s orbit.
More likely than all this is a pyrrhic, brutal Russian victory that turns into a bitter, unsuccessful occupation which could last years and go anywhere
'
https://twitter.com/crackerjackpen/status/1497889292336578565/photo/1
One of the interesting things about this crisis, compared with (say) recent Middle East crises, is the rapid acknowledgement that this is about Us... And therefore that there is an Us beyond our borders.
Even an island isn't an island entire of itself.
I don't know if they were EU or UK homegrown rules but whichever they were they need to go.
As an aside, he died in Argos (invading, of course) when an Argive woman threw a roof tile at him and struck his head.
What you are defending.