And when you say 'advance' you probably didn't get an actual Advance fare.
£96 for that journey is ridiculous. I'm sorry for you. That sucks.
Luckily my employer is paying but good grief. Would cost £20-£30 in petrol tops to get there.
I also note the train is fairly empty. Wonder why
It's another of the many reasons I may move abroad. The train fares in the UK are ridiculously expensive. £96 for your journey of, what, 90 miles. That's awful.
I had a look on Thetrainline.com and 96 quid is the price of a walkup fare with an open return for 1 month.
Mind you first class would be £179.
Fares are expensive if you travel before 9:30am. Not too bad after that.
I dunno, I went from Westbury to Paddington return (also 90 miles each way) for the PB event for £48. And I got upgraded to 1st class. I was the only one in the 1st class carriage on the way up. Busier on the way back.
That is absolutely terrifying. Bombing a school. I'm gutted and devastated for you.
I mentioned my wife is from Finland. We have close family there. Looking at the pictures, the countries appear eerily similar. I've been engulfed with the fear that we could be next. The peaceful and world that we knew for all of our lives, feels like it no longer exists.
We have to be in absolute solidarity with Ukraine, whatever happens. The west has to reassert itself.
BBC Radio Five Live: firefighters trying to put out the flames are being shot at by Russian troops.
Jesus Christ. At this stage I am pretty sure Putin is TRYING to draw NATO into direct conflict. Because he knows he’s fucked up
One could argue they are trying to cut off the electricity, but I agree with you. Primarily this is about trying to draw NATO into acting.
If NATO became actively engaged in Ukraine, every Russian division would be destroyed, as quickly as Putin could press gang fresh boys into service. If Putin escalated the war to firing on NATO bases flying sorties, NATO could crush every base within 100 miles of the Ukrainian border without blinking. If Putin launched a nuke or nukes, then he like the rest of us loses the game entirely.
If his strategy really is to draw the West in to a fight to retrospectively justify his war, one has to assume he has gone full cuckoo and his goal is universal oblivion.
I don’t think that’s true. I think he knows he can’t hold Ukraine and make it a stable part of mother Russia, so his goal is to make it an ungovernable mess so the West can’t have it either.
I think that is it. He'll see it burn so he can be king of the ashes, or else leave it to others to do nothing but sweep up.
That makes sense. Like the abusive husband. If I can't have you, I'll make sure nobody else will want you.
Somebody posted a link to a Ukraine Aid Fund on our village WhatsApp. Which immediately elicited the following tone-deaf response:
"Thanks for the above link Jenny. On a more mundane note, I am putting out a request: we are looking for someone to help clean the house on a fortnightly basis. Any suggestions would be most welcome. Thanks. Becca xx"
Some people!
Our assorted local facebook groups and the like are like car crashes. I can’t look away. They make me hate people.
At least the local cats seem to be staying home. No-one's lost one for ages. And all the dog-shit is being collected.
And when you say 'advance' you probably didn't get an actual Advance fare.
£96 for that journey is ridiculous. I'm sorry for you. That sucks.
Luckily my employer is paying but good grief. Would cost £20-£30 in petrol tops to get there.
I also note the train is fairly empty. Wonder why
It's another of the many reasons I may move abroad. The train fares in the UK are ridiculously expensive. £96 for your journey of, what, 90 miles. That's awful.
I had a look on Thetrainline.com and 96 quid is the price of a walkup fare with an open return for 1 month.
Mind you first class would be £179.
Fares are expensive if you travel before 9:30am. Not too bad after that.
True, but I was surprised a pre booked fare was the same price as a walk up.
There is a NATO meeting of foreign ministers in Brussels which just adds to despair as spokesperson after spokesperson says they want to speak out and stand up, but without direct military action they are meaningless
I disagree.
NATO is more meaningful now than at any time since 1989.
I absolutely agree but the point is without military action the words are just that, words
Somebody posted a link to a Ukraine Aid Fund on our village WhatsApp. Which immediately elicited the following tone-deaf response:
"Thanks for the above link Jenny. On a more mundane note, I am putting out a request: we are looking for someone to help clean the house on a fortnightly basis. Any suggestions would be most welcome. Thanks. Becca xx"
Some people!
Our assorted local facebook groups and the like are like car crashes. I can’t look away. They make me hate people.
At least the local cats seem to be staying home. No-one's lost one for ages. And all the dog-shit is being collected.
Count your blessings. For a vast number of people out there, local news that boring is a dream.
There is a NATO meeting of foreign ministers in Brussels which just adds to despair as spokesperson after spokesperson says they want to speak out and stand up, but without direct military action they are meaningless
Well we can't take direct military action as that means WW3.
Russia is starting to roll out blocks for Apple and Google mobile app stores, Facebook, Twitter and a variety of foreign media sites. Blocking is not yet fully effective but I am sure they will figure it out…
I've got nearly 15 years worth of email on yandex. Am I about to get done up the bugle?
Briefcase wankers report in and tell me.
Get a software mail client on your computer (Thunderbird, Outlook, Apple Mail etc) and download all your mail before it gets cut off.
Spasibo, mne pryatno. I've just had a look and it's 18 years! The first emails were on my original mail.ru account from 2004 and then later migrated to Yandex. I've got Thunderbird raging with the download now.
I previously didn't give a fuck but now that the war has come home, I'm picking a side. 🇺🇦
How's Mrs Dura Ace taking it?
Very upset. Being far more sociable and charming than me she still has a lot of friends and colleagues in both Ukraine and Russia. Her friends tend toward the educated, liberal rather than gopnik so they are almost all vehemently anti-Putin but keep it on the down low.
The dentist who was her practice partner in Moscow moved to Kyiv about the time that we left Russia. She's completely disappeared this week so fuck knows what's happened to her.
On top of all that some bastard is using her dishwasher to remove road tar from a ZF HP8 transmission cooler.
Just assure her that no way a ZF HP8 transmission cooler could have done that damage to the dishwasher and if she dissents send her over to PB for alternative theories.
I told her she was welcome to use my CNC plasma cutter to cook things but negotiations broke down in acrimony.
The most satisfying part of the Erdington BE was a pretty poor showing from Nellist.
To be fair, he was twice as popular as the LibDems.....
As I said to Carlotta, it seems like the electorate is slowly aligning between Tory and best positioned non-Tory. That's fine by me. It should worry you though.
So, isn’t attacking a Nuclear power plant a direct threat to the west?
If Putin is so reckless, I fear for what is next.
A generous reading is that they want to shut down the site to restrict power to Ukraine. They must have had a plan for what to do about the four nuclear plant sites (one assumes).
BBC Radio Five Live: firefighters trying to put out the flames are being shot at by Russian troops.
Jesus Christ. At this stage I am pretty sure Putin is TRYING to draw NATO into direct conflict. Because he knows he’s fucked up
One could argue they are trying to cut off the electricity, but I agree with you. Primarily this is about trying to draw NATO into acting.
If NATO became actively engaged in Ukraine, every Russian division would be destroyed, as quickly as Putin could press gang fresh boys into service. If Putin escalated the war to firing on NATO bases flying sorties, NATO could crush every base within 100 miles of the Ukrainian border without blinking. If Putin launched a nuke or nukes, then he like the rest of us loses the game entirely.
If his strategy really is to draw the West in to a fight to retrospectively justify his war, one has to assume he has gone full cuckoo and his goal is universal oblivion.
I don’t think that’s true. I think he knows he can’t hold Ukraine and make it a stable part of mother Russia, so his goal is to make it an ungovernable mess so the West can’t have it either.
I think that is it. He'll see it burn so he can be king of the ashes, or else leave it to others to do nothing but sweep up.
That makes sense. Like the abusive husband. If I can't have you, I'll make sure nobody else will want you.
There is a NATO meeting of foreign ministers in Brussels which just adds to despair as spokesperson after spokesperson says they want to speak out and stand up, but without direct military action they are meaningless
I disagree.
NATO is more meaningful now than at any time since 1989.
I absolutely agree but the point is without military action the words are just that, words
The last thing I want to see is Nato escalating this militarily... because it would probably be the last thing we would all see.
Painful though it is we must let the sanctions and the complete ostracisation of the Russian state do their work.
I wonder if we should threaten a no fly zone now? The attacking of nuclear plants ups the ante. Whilst we may not actually enact such a thing, Putin wouldn't know that.
Somebody posted a link to a Ukraine Aid Fund on our village WhatsApp. Which immediately elicited the following tone-deaf response:
"Thanks for the above link Jenny. On a more mundane note, I am putting out a request: we are looking for someone to help clean the house on a fortnightly basis. Any suggestions would be most welcome. Thanks. Becca xx"
I don't want to depress people, particularly not after Cicero's update from Tallinn.
But there is a lot of emerging evidence that the Russian Army are not going to fail, and the Ukranian army is about to be crushed; by way of engagement of the Russian air force and heavy bombing of cities. This unherd interview with a military expert was posted on PB yesterday evening by way of example, and was very insightful.
My own maxim is to assume the worst, and we might end up being surprised. However, it seems that we just narrowly escaped another Chernobyl last night - I thought the Russians would be smart enough to avoid that type of risk, they keep proving me wrong.
These are extremely dark days, by far the worst in my lifetime.
if we assume the worst we shall be pleasantly surprised every day to wake up in the morning.
Wars in modern Europe are not winnable in any meaningful sense. The complexity of infrastructure + nuclear weapons render the idea meaningless. Which is why the whole point of NATO and MAD is to ensure they don't start, especially as involving super powers. There is no such thing as a just war which demolishes Europe or the planet. This is not 1939. The moral balance has horribly shifted.
Because of MAD, nothing (AFAICS) can prevent Russia if they wish 'winning' in the barbaric sense of the term, despite the heroic stand of Ukrainians who I 100% support.
So it will soon be time to consider better options within the bad choices. This has to end somehow, wars always do, and as one way of ending it is annihilation sub-optimal ideas need to be considered.
My favourite (or least bad) at the moment: Peace talks brokered jointly by China and India, both officially neutral in UN terms, and both with huge populations to lose in a nuclear winter and sane enough to want to keep them alive, and with some collective clout over Russia, Ukraine and NATO.
There is a NATO meeting of foreign ministers in Brussels which just adds to despair as spokesperson after spokesperson says they want to speak out and stand up, but without direct military action they are meaningless
Well we can't take direct military action as that means WW3.
So continued economic sanctions it is
Actually a spokesperson has just said they are to increase the supply of armaments into Ukraine, so maybe they are coming round to more direct intervention as sanctions are not enough
Somebody posted a link to a Ukraine Aid Fund on our village WhatsApp. Which immediately elicited the following tone-deaf response:
"Thanks for the above link Jenny. On a more mundane note, I am putting out a request: we are looking for someone to help clean the house on a fortnightly basis. Any suggestions would be most welcome. Thanks. Becca xx"
Some people!
Our assorted local facebook groups and the like are like car crashes. I can’t look away. They make me hate people.
At least the local cats seem to be staying home. No-one's lost one for ages. And all the dog-shit is being collected.
Count your blessings. For a vast number of people out there, local news that boring is a dream.
Currently all that sort of thing has been replaced by Ukrainian Relief activity.
I wonder if we should threaten a no fly zone now? The attacking of nuclear plants ups the ante. Whilst we may not actually enact such a thing, Putin wouldn't know that.
BBC Radio Five Live: firefighters trying to put out the flames are being shot at by Russian troops.
Jesus Christ. At this stage I am pretty sure Putin is TRYING to draw NATO into direct conflict. Because he knows he’s fucked up
One could argue they are trying to cut off the electricity, but I agree with you. Primarily this is about trying to draw NATO into acting.
If NATO became actively engaged in Ukraine, every Russian division would be destroyed, as quickly as Putin could press gang fresh boys into service. If Putin escalated the war to firing on NATO bases flying sorties, NATO could crush every base within 100 miles of the Ukrainian border without blinking. If Putin launched a nuke or nukes, then he like the rest of us loses the game entirely.
If his strategy really is to draw the West in to a fight to retrospectively justify his war, one has to assume he has gone full cuckoo and his goal is universal oblivion.
I don’t think that’s true. I think he knows he can’t hold Ukraine and make it a stable part of mother Russia, so his goal is to make it an ungovernable mess so the West can’t have it either.
I think that is it. He'll see it burn so he can be king of the ashes, or else leave it to others to do nothing but sweep up.
That makes sense. Like the abusive husband. If I can't have you, I'll make sure nobody else will want you.
There's a lot of toxic masculinity going on in this conflict.
BBC Radio Five Live: firefighters trying to put out the flames are being shot at by Russian troops.
Jesus Christ. At this stage I am pretty sure Putin is TRYING to draw NATO into direct conflict. Because he knows he’s fucked up
One could argue they are trying to cut off the electricity, but I agree with you. Primarily this is about trying to draw NATO into acting.
If NATO became actively engaged in Ukraine, every Russian division would be destroyed, as quickly as Putin could press gang fresh boys into service. If Putin escalated the war to firing on NATO bases flying sorties, NATO could crush every base within 100 miles of the Ukrainian border without blinking. If Putin launched a nuke or nukes, then he like the rest of us loses the game entirely.
If his strategy really is to draw the West in to a fight to retrospectively justify his war, one has to assume he has gone full cuckoo and his goal is universal oblivion.
I don’t think that’s true. I think he knows he can’t hold Ukraine and make it a stable part of mother Russia, so his goal is to make it an ungovernable mess so the West can’t have it either.
I think that is it. He'll see it burn so he can be king of the ashes, or else leave it to others to do nothing but sweep up.
That makes sense. Like the abusive husband. If I can't have you, I'll make sure nobody else will want you.
There's a lot of toxic masculinity going on in this conflict.
I wonder if we should threaten a no fly zone now? The attacking of nuclear plants ups the ante. Whilst we may not actually enact such a thing, Putin wouldn't know that.
No, as as terrible as it is it is still right over the far side of Europe from us and damaging nuclear plants in Ukraine would therefore hit Russia far more than us
The moment we send fighter jets to Ukraine however we are drawn into WW3
There is a NATO meeting of foreign ministers in Brussels which just adds to despair as spokesperson after spokesperson says they want to speak out and stand up, but without direct military action they are meaningless
Well we can't take direct military action as that means WW3.
So continued economic sanctions it is
As the atrocities mount up, and Russian expansionism becomes more evident,you and Jeremy Corbyn will become more and more isolated.
Now there's a thought, a post nuclear infinite purgatory where JC and HY only have each other for company.
Thanks. Just spoke to father in law, and he’s thankfully okay. He lives about 200m from the blast.
I am near tears this morning
Erdington was never a likely gain, chin up.
(gallows humour before you bite)
Though the swing was not too bad for Boris, would see a hung parliament yes but the Tories still largest party
I have given you a like, because in the face of nuclear Armageddon you have found a silver lining.
Remember one thing, ONS is not your friend. It is an illusion.
For example:
The read you need from Birmingham Erdington:
By-election result reflects what most polls and models are saying right now. If an election was held today, the House of Commons would split Lab 295 MPs and Con 257.
Thanks. Just spoke to father in law, and he’s thankfully okay. He lives about 200m from the blast.
I am near tears this morning
Erdington was never a likely gain, chin up.
(gallows humour before you bite)
Though the swing was not too bad for Boris, would see a hung parliament yes but the Tories still largest party
I have given you a like, because in the face of nuclear Armageddon you have found a silver lining.
Remember one thing, ONS is not your friend. It is an illusion.
Look this is PB.
Even if we were in WW3 we would still be talking about by election swings as well!
After WW3 one of the first tasks might be to have by-elections in the small number of constituencies in remote areas that still had a living electorate, assuming that the MPs were in London when the nuclear exchange occurs.
I wonder if we should threaten a no fly zone now? The attacking of nuclear plants ups the ante. Whilst we may not actually enact such a thing, Putin wouldn't know that.
Yes he would.
I suspect there are still the likes of Burgess and Maclean about. Although how anyone can be loyal to the likes of Putin I don't know. At least with Communism there was an idealism; misplaced I now realise, but it was above personalities.
Belarus must be waking up this morning less than delighted at the prospect of Chernobyl 2. Putin' goons seem quite relaxed about making Minsk uninhabitable, so long as it means they win in Ukraine.
Think on't, Belarus. You are being rewarded for your loyalty to Putin by THIS?
Good point. Not only could Russia be left dealing with a, to say the least, disenchanted population in occupied Ukraine but facing an insurrection in Belarus too. No-one doubts the ability of Putin to suppress dissent but it could be a real firestorm particularly with an economic crisis to contend with as well.
Ultimately will depend on the determination of the West to maintain and intensify sanctions over a long period. I'm guessing Putin is pretty sceptical about the decadent West doing that.
Thanks. Just spoke to father in law, and he’s thankfully okay. He lives about 200m from the blast.
I am near tears this morning
Erdington was never a likely gain, chin up.
(gallows humour before you bite)
Though the swing was not too bad for Boris, would see a hung parliament yes but the Tories still largest party
I have given you a like, because in the face of nuclear Armageddon you have found a silver lining.
Remember one thing, ONS is not your friend. It is an illusion.
Look this is PB.
Even if we were in WW3 we would still be talking about by election swings as well!
I wouldn't
The thing is with the HFUYD “ww3” outcome is that it fails to recognise this is not a black and white conflict.
The direct attack on nuclear power stations is an escalation that will effect us all. This stuff is a direct threat and escalation, and one we cannot simply ignore. By doing nothing - we embolden Putin. Where does he go next?
Thanks. Just spoke to father in law, and he’s thankfully okay. He lives about 200m from the blast.
I am near tears this morning
Erdington was never a likely gain, chin up.
(gallows humour before you bite)
Though the swing was not too bad for Boris, would see a hung parliament yes but the Tories still largest party
I have given you a like, because in the face of nuclear Armageddon you have found a silver lining.
Remember one thing, ONS is not your friend. It is an illusion.
Look this is PB.
Even if we were in WW3 we would still be talking about by election swings as well!
After WW3 one of the first tasks might be to have by-elections in the small number of constituencies in remote areas that still had a living electorate, assuming that the MPs were in London when the nuclear exchange occurs.
I believe the Tories would still have a majority in the few seats with some population left after a nuclear war someone calculated. Though new candidates needed
So, isn’t attacking a Nuclear power plant a direct threat to the west?
If Putin is so reckless, I fear for what is next.
I keep coming back to the points made by people who've met him - "he's changed", "not the old Putin" etc
There is a phenomenon where politicians when they get older can turn... weird, in an ugly way.
Rudy Giuliani used to be a normal politician. Praised across the political spectrum. Now he has gone Full Trumpet.
I've said in the past that ten years seems to be about the maximum term for a leader in a democracy. The further they go beyond that, the worse their decisions tend to get. I did mention Merkel as an exception, but perhaps she wasn't...
The most satisfying part of the Erdington BE was a pretty poor showing from Nellist.
Indeed. The far left and far right both lost their deposits.
Hopefully one of the few good things to come out of this conflict, is the need to moderate the political discourse, step back from more extreme views and tolerate the opinions of others.
Especially since right wing Tories and UKIP and left wing Labour are/were the Putin apologists a
There is a NATO meeting of foreign ministers in Brussels which just adds to despair as spokesperson after spokesperson says they want to speak out and stand up, but without direct military action they are meaningless
Well we can't take direct military action as that means WW3.
So continued economic sanctions it is
As the atrocities mount up, and Russian expansionism becomes more evident,you and Jeremy Corbyn will become more and more isolated.
Now there's a thought, a post nuclear infinite purgatory where JC and HY only have each other for company.
"atrocities mount up"
It is an invasion. For reasons that are legitimate to Putin, if not us. "Atrocities" is what happens. NATO and the US have already made clear that they are not going to become involved militarily in Ukraine. So that leaves economic sanctions.
"The rise of Londongrad was planned. British governments of all stripes opened the country to Russian capital. In 1994, under John Major, the Conservatives introduced a “golden visa” scheme that handed residency rights to anyone who invested £1m ($1.3m). Tony Blair’s Labour government carried it on with enthusiasm. Ken Livingstone, London’s leftist mayor from 2000 to 2008, said he wanted “Russian companies to regard London as their natural base in Europe”. Boris Johnson, Mr Livingstone’s successor, was good pals with Evgeny Lebedev, proprietor of the Evening Standard, son of a former kgb agent and billionaire. Mr Johnson, now prime minister, made the Anglo-Russian a peer in 2020.
For those arriving from Vladimir Putin’s Russia, London offered safety, security and secrecy. Britain has accommodating laws on tax, libel and property, enforced by an efficient, if expensive, court system—which is, moreover, accommodating in the matter of injunctions. Extradition to Russia, with its corrupt judiciary, is a no-no in the eyes of English judges. On top of this, the private schools are good and so is the shopping. London is an “everything haven”, in the description of Oliver Bullough, author of a forthcoming book, “Butler to the World: How Britain Became the Servant of Tycoons, Tax Dodgers, Kleptocrats and Criminals”. Discretion is key. It follows the rule above a banya’s door: “Please keep conversation to a minimum.”"
Thanks. Just spoke to father in law, and he’s thankfully okay. He lives about 200m from the blast.
I am near tears this morning
Erdington was never a likely gain, chin up.
(gallows humour before you bite)
Though the swing was not too bad for Boris, would see a hung parliament yes but the Tories still largest party
I have given you a like, because in the face of nuclear Armageddon you have found a silver lining.
Remember one thing, ONS is not your friend. It is an illusion.
For example:
The read you need from Birmingham Erdington:
By-election result reflects what most polls and models are saying right now. If an election was held today, the House of Commons would split Lab 295 MPs and Con 257.
I remember when Ed Miliband was walking into 10 Downing Street. Either Boris gets a huge war boost and overrides any party-gate effect. Or he gets replaced in good time for the new PM to settle in and get a honeymoon bounce.
Where are you all sending donations? I went with https://gofund.me/22b0fbf1 Help Ukraine Emergency Appeal as it is organised by Ukrainians in the UK and looks as though it can get things through quickly via their organisational links without too much bureaucracy.
"The rise of Londongrad was planned. British governments of all stripes opened the country to Russian capital. In 1994, under John Major, the Conservatives introduced a “golden visa” scheme that handed residency rights to anyone who invested £1m ($1.3m). Tony Blair’s Labour government carried it on with enthusiasm. Ken Livingstone, London’s leftist mayor from 2000 to 2008, said he wanted “Russian companies to regard London as their natural base in Europe”. Boris Johnson, Mr Livingstone’s successor, was good pals with Evgeny Lebedev, proprietor of the Evening Standard, son of a former kgb agent and billionaire. Mr Johnson, now prime minister, made the Anglo-Russian a peer in 2020.
For those arriving from Vladimir Putin’s Russia, London offered safety, security and secrecy. Britain has accommodating laws on tax, libel and property, enforced by an efficient, if expensive, court system—which is, moreover, accommodating in the matter of injunctions. Extradition to Russia, with its corrupt judiciary, is a no-no in the eyes of English judges. On top of this, the private schools are good and so is the shopping. London is an “everything haven”, in the description of Oliver Bullough, author of a forthcoming book, “Butler to the World: How Britain Became the Servant of Tycoons, Tax Dodgers, Kleptocrats and Criminals”. Discretion is key. It follows the rule above a banya’s door: “Please keep conversation to a minimum.”"
Thanks. Just spoke to father in law, and he’s thankfully okay. He lives about 200m from the blast.
I am near tears this morning
Erdington was never a likely gain, chin up.
(gallows humour before you bite)
Though the swing was not too bad for Boris, would see a hung parliament yes but the Tories still largest party
I have given you a like, because in the face of nuclear Armageddon you have found a silver lining.
Remember one thing, ONS is not your friend. It is an illusion.
Look this is PB.
Even if we were in WW3 we would still be talking about by election swings as well!
After WW3 one of the first tasks might be to have by-elections in the small number of constituencies in remote areas that still had a living electorate, assuming that the MPs were in London when the nuclear exchange occurs.
Somebody posted a post apocalypse map of the UK earlier this week. The silver lining for the Conservatives on here was of the circa 30 seats remaining we were in Tory landslide territory. Proof, if it were needed, that God is indeed a Conservative.
The most satisfying part of the Erdington BE was a pretty poor showing from Nellist.
Indeed. The far left and far right both lost their deposits.
Hopefully one of the few good things to come out of this conflict, is the need to moderate the political discourse, step back from more extreme views and tolerate the opinions of others.
Especially since right wing Tories and UKIP and left wing Labour are/were the Putin apologists a
right wing Tories Putin apologists? Name names....
Thanks. Just spoke to father in law, and he’s thankfully okay. He lives about 200m from the blast.
I am near tears this morning
Erdington was never a likely gain, chin up.
(gallows humour before you bite)
Though the swing was not too bad for Boris, would see a hung parliament yes but the Tories still largest party
I have given you a like, because in the face of nuclear Armageddon you have found a silver lining.
Remember one thing, ONS is not your friend. It is an illusion.
Look this is PB.
Even if we were in WW3 we would still be talking about by election swings as well!
After WW3 one of the first tasks might be to have by-elections in the small number of constituencies in remote areas that still had a living electorate, assuming that the MPs were in London when the nuclear exchange occurs.
The thing that occurred to me, similar to that aside, was going to be - I hope the boundary commission is in statute before Armageddon, else those Labour city seats are going to take a pummelling.
I think HY is doing his usual over sincere election analysis and similarly finding Tory advantage in apocalypse.
Perhaps we could feed it all into Electoral Calculus
There is a NATO meeting of foreign ministers in Brussels which just adds to despair as spokesperson after spokesperson says they want to speak out and stand up, but without direct military action they are meaningless
Well we can't take direct military action as that means WW3.
So continued economic sanctions it is
As the atrocities mount up, and Russian expansionism becomes more evident,you and Jeremy Corbyn will become more and more isolated.
Now there's a thought, a post nuclear infinite purgatory where JC and HY only have each other for company.
"atrocities mount up"
It is an invasion. For reasons that are legitimate to Putin, if not us. "Atrocities" is what happens. NATO and the US have already made clear that they are not going to become involved militarily in Ukraine. So that leaves economic sanctions.
Or what would you do.
Get him on the back foot for a change. Open NATO accession talks with Azerbaijan. Also pokes a finger in Iran's eye for bonus LOLs.
Somebody posted a link to a Ukraine Aid Fund on our village WhatsApp. Which immediately elicited the following tone-deaf response:
"Thanks for the above link Jenny. On a more mundane note, I am putting out a request: we are looking for someone to help clean the house on a fortnightly basis. Any suggestions would be most welcome. Thanks. Becca xx"
Thanks. Just spoke to father in law, and he’s thankfully okay. He lives about 200m from the blast.
I am near tears this morning
Erdington was never a likely gain, chin up.
(gallows humour before you bite)
Though the swing was not too bad for Boris, would see a hung parliament yes but the Tories still largest party
I have given you a like, because in the face of nuclear Armageddon you have found a silver lining.
Remember one thing, ONS is not your friend. It is an illusion.
Look this is PB.
Even if we were in WW3 we would still be talking about by election swings as well!
After WW3 one of the first tasks might be to have by-elections in the small number of constituencies in remote areas that still had a living electorate, assuming that the MPs were in London when the nuclear exchange occurs.
The honourable member for Tristan da Cunha is ticked off by the speaker (who is the MP for the South Pole), the House of Commons sitting on Ascension Island, for calling the member for Pitcairn Island a toad faced cheat for misallocating funding for park benches on Vanuatu.
So, isn’t attacking a Nuclear power plant a direct threat to the west?
If Putin is so reckless, I fear for what is next.
I keep coming back to the points made by people who've met him - "he's changed", "not the old Putin" etc
There is a phenomenon where politicians when they get older can turn... weird, in an ugly way.
Rudy Giuliani used to be a normal politician. Praised across the political spectrum. Now he has gone Full Trumpet.
I've said in the past that ten years seems to be about the maximum term for a leader in a democracy. The further they go beyond that, the worse their decisions tend to get. I did mention Merkel as an exception, but perhaps she wasn't...
Thanks. Just spoke to father in law, and he’s thankfully okay. He lives about 200m from the blast.
I am near tears this morning
Erdington was never a likely gain, chin up.
(gallows humour before you bite)
Though the swing was not too bad for Boris, would see a hung parliament yes but the Tories still largest party
I have given you a like, because in the face of nuclear Armageddon you have found a silver lining.
Remember one thing, ONS is not your friend. It is an illusion.
Look this is PB.
Even if we were in WW3 we would still be talking about by election swings as well!
After WW3 one of the first tasks might be to have by-elections in the small number of constituencies in remote areas that still had a living electorate, assuming that the MPs were in London when the nuclear exchange occurs.
Only after @hyufd and I had thrashed out whether the by elections were held under FPTP or PR on PB first.
Thanks. Just spoke to father in law, and he’s thankfully okay. He lives about 200m from the blast.
I am near tears this morning
Erdington was never a likely gain, chin up.
(gallows humour before you bite)
Though the swing was not too bad for Boris, would see a hung parliament yes but the Tories still largest party
I have given you a like, because in the face of nuclear Armageddon you have found a silver lining.
Remember one thing, ONS is not your friend. It is an illusion.
For example:
The read you need from Birmingham Erdington:
By-election result reflects what most polls and models are saying right now. If an election was held today, the House of Commons would split Lab 295 MPs and Con 257.
I remember when Ed Miliband was walking into 10 Downing Street. Either Boris gets a huge war boost and overrides any party-gate effect. Or he gets replaced in good time for the new PM to settle in and get a honeymoon bounce.
Removing Boris would lance the boil for many.
Those.... are not the only possibilities. Many people thought 2-3 months ago that Boris was going to get removed, but he wasn't, despite polling showing him becoming a liability. What makes you think the Conservatives will suddenly act differently?
Thanks. Just spoke to father in law, and he’s thankfully okay. He lives about 200m from the blast.
I am near tears this morning
Erdington was never a likely gain, chin up.
(gallows humour before you bite)
Though the swing was not too bad for Boris, would see a hung parliament yes but the Tories still largest party
I have given you a like, because in the face of nuclear Armageddon you have found a silver lining.
Remember one thing, ONS is not your friend. It is an illusion.
For example:
The read you need from Birmingham Erdington:
By-election result reflects what most polls and models are saying right now. If an election was held today, the House of Commons would split Lab 295 MPs and Con 257.
I remember when Ed Miliband was walking into 10 Downing Street. Either Boris gets a huge war boost and overrides any party-gate effect. Or he gets replaced in good time for the new PM to settle in and get a honeymoon bounce.
Removing Boris would lance the boil for many.
Those.... are not the only possibilities. Many people thought 2-3 months ago that Boris was going to get removed, but he wasn't, despite polling showing him becoming a liability. What makes you think the Conservatives will suddenly act differently?
The most satisfying part of the Erdington BE was a pretty poor showing from Nellist.
To be fair, he was twice as popular as the LibDems.....
As I said to Carlotta, it seems like the electorate is slowly aligning between Tory and best positioned non-Tory. That's fine by me. It should worry you though.
We've lived with that for decades though.
You know that isn't true. At least significantly, in degree.
Thanks. Just spoke to father in law, and he’s thankfully okay. He lives about 200m from the blast.
I am near tears this morning
Erdington was never a likely gain, chin up.
(gallows humour before you bite)
Though the swing was not too bad for Boris, would see a hung parliament yes but the Tories still largest party
I have given you a like, because in the face of nuclear Armageddon you have found a silver lining.
Remember one thing, ONS is not your friend. It is an illusion.
Look this is PB.
Even if we were in WW3 we would still be talking about by election swings as well!
After WW3 one of the first tasks might be to have by-elections in the small number of constituencies in remote areas that still had a living electorate, assuming that the MPs were in London when the nuclear exchange occurs.
The honourable member for Tristan da Cunha is ticked off by the speaker (who is the MP for the South Pole), the House of Commons sitting on Ascension Island, for calling the member for Pitcairn Island a toad faced cheat for misallocating funding for park benches on Vanuatu.
If that's the worst the member for Pitcairn gets called then he's got off lightly.
And when you say 'advance' you probably didn't get an actual Advance fare.
£96 for that journey is ridiculous. I'm sorry for you. That sucks.
Luckily my employer is paying but good grief. Would cost £20-£30 in petrol tops to get there.
I also note the train is fairly empty. Wonder why
It's another of the many reasons I may move abroad. The train fares in the UK are ridiculously expensive. £96 for your journey of, what, 90 miles. That's awful.
I had a look on Thetrainline.com and 96 quid is the price of a walkup fare with an open return for 1 month.
Mind you first class would be £179.
Fares are expensive if you travel before 9:30am. Not too bad after that.
True, but I was surprised a pre booked fare was the same price as a walk up.
There are a limited number of Advance tickets, and once those are sold you'll pay the same as a walkup. Presumably your ticket type is ANYTIME?
Looking now for next Friday, NCL-LEE on the 0655 is £34.60, cheapest return is £37.50 on the 1642. Fridays are generally a bit more expensive than Monday to Thursday, I think. FWIW the off-peak on that journey starts at 0745 so if you don't need to be in Leeds for 9am you have quite a bit more flexibility.
Thanks. Just spoke to father in law, and he’s thankfully okay. He lives about 200m from the blast.
I am near tears this morning
Erdington was never a likely gain, chin up.
(gallows humour before you bite)
Though the swing was not too bad for Boris, would see a hung parliament yes but the Tories still largest party
I have given you a like, because in the face of nuclear Armageddon you have found a silver lining.
Remember one thing, ONS is not your friend. It is an illusion.
Look this is PB.
Even if we were in WW3 we would still be talking about by election swings as well!
I wouldn't
The thing is with the HFUYD “ww3” outcome is that it fails to recognise this is not a black and white conflict.
The direct attack on nuclear power stations is an escalation that will effect us all. This stuff is a direct threat and escalation, and one we cannot simply ignore. By doing nothing - we embolden Putin. Where does he go next?
It's not WW3 either. Looking at the world map, and looking at Russia's population and GDP, I've started to realise this is much more the post-cold war scenario of the rogue state led by crazed madman with nukes, than it is "WW3".
A few relevant points:
- Russia is not in an equal fight by any stretch of the imagination. It's abundantly clear that in any kind of conventional war it would be overwhelmed by NATO. So the nukes are a blackmail device and deterrent, as used by North Korea and - if they get them - by Iran. - There is no threat to the West that we will be overrun and invaded by Russia. The threat is that they take us down with them in a nuclear conflagration - If this turned nuclear, the "belligerents" would be limited to NATO and Russia plus a couple of Russian satellite territories like Belarus. The rest of the world would be militarily unaffected. The entire Southern Hemisphere, the entire tropics save one or two atolls like Diego Garcia or Samoa, China, Japan, Korea: all untouched by war - The climatological effect would be limited because most of the targets are high latitude in the Northern Hemisphere. As with volcanic eruptions, the biggest effect comes when the explosion is at a tropical latitude and able to reach high into the stratosphere on both sides of the equator.
With enough prior warning, the more judicious and wealthy (no doubt including the Russian oligarchs) could quite safely travel to start new lives in rich developed countries including Chile, Uruguay, UAE, Singapore, Australia, NZ, Japan or Korea. Human life would go on. A large swathe of the Northern Hemisphere would become a mega-scale Chernobyl exclusion zone.
I wonder if we should threaten a no fly zone now? The attacking of nuclear plants ups the ante. Whilst we may not actually enact such a thing, Putin wouldn't know that.
Yes he would.
I suspect there are still the likes of Burgess and Maclean about. Although how anyone can be loyal to the likes of Putin I don't know. At least with Communism there was an idealism; misplaced I now realise, but it was above personalities.
Thanks. Just spoke to father in law, and he’s thankfully okay. He lives about 200m from the blast.
I am near tears this morning
Erdington was never a likely gain, chin up.
(gallows humour before you bite)
Though the swing was not too bad for Boris, would see a hung parliament yes but the Tories still largest party
I have given you a like, because in the face of nuclear Armageddon you have found a silver lining.
Remember one thing, ONS is not your friend. It is an illusion.
For example:
The read you need from Birmingham Erdington:
By-election result reflects what most polls and models are saying right now. If an election was held today, the House of Commons would split Lab 295 MPs and Con 257.
I remember when Ed Miliband was walking into 10 Downing Street. Either Boris gets a huge war boost and overrides any party-gate effect. Or he gets replaced in good time for the new PM to settle in and get a honeymoon bounce.
Removing Boris would lance the boil for many.
Those.... are not the only possibilities. Many people thought 2-3 months ago that Boris was going to get removed, but he wasn't, despite polling showing him becoming a liability. What makes you think the Conservatives will suddenly act differently?
"The rise of Londongrad was planned. British governments of all stripes opened the country to Russian capital. In 1994, under John Major, the Conservatives introduced a “golden visa” scheme that handed residency rights to anyone who invested £1m ($1.3m). Tony Blair’s Labour government carried it on with enthusiasm. Ken Livingstone, London’s leftist mayor from 2000 to 2008, said he wanted “Russian companies to regard London as their natural base in Europe”. Boris Johnson, Mr Livingstone’s successor, was good pals with Evgeny Lebedev, proprietor of the Evening Standard, son of a former kgb agent and billionaire. Mr Johnson, now prime minister, made the Anglo-Russian a peer in 2020.
For those arriving from Vladimir Putin’s Russia, London offered safety, security and secrecy. Britain has accommodating laws on tax, libel and property, enforced by an efficient, if expensive, court system—which is, moreover, accommodating in the matter of injunctions. Extradition to Russia, with its corrupt judiciary, is a no-no in the eyes of English judges. On top of this, the private schools are good and so is the shopping. London is an “everything haven”, in the description of Oliver Bullough, author of a forthcoming book, “Butler to the World: How Britain Became the Servant of Tycoons, Tax Dodgers, Kleptocrats and Criminals”. Discretion is key. It follows the rule above a banya’s door: “Please keep conversation to a minimum.”"
Thanks. Just spoke to father in law, and he’s thankfully okay. He lives about 200m from the blast.
I am near tears this morning
Erdington was never a likely gain, chin up.
(gallows humour before you bite)
Though the swing was not too bad for Boris, would see a hung parliament yes but the Tories still largest party
I have given you a like, because in the face of nuclear Armageddon you have found a silver lining.
Remember one thing, ONS is not your friend. It is an illusion.
For example:
The read you need from Birmingham Erdington:
By-election result reflects what most polls and models are saying right now. If an election was held today, the House of Commons would split Lab 295 MPs and Con 257.
I remember when Ed Miliband was walking into 10 Downing Street. Either Boris gets a huge war boost and overrides any party-gate effect. Or he gets replaced in good time for the new PM to settle in and get a honeymoon bounce.
Removing Boris would lance the boil for many.
Those.... are not the only possibilities. Many people thought 2-3 months ago that Boris was going to get removed, but he wasn't, despite polling showing him becoming a liability. What makes you think the Conservatives will suddenly act differently?
Hands up everyone who would like Boris's job right now.
Thanks. Just spoke to father in law, and he’s thankfully okay. He lives about 200m from the blast.
I am near tears this morning
Erdington was never a likely gain, chin up.
(gallows humour before you bite)
Though the swing was not too bad for Boris, would see a hung parliament yes but the Tories still largest party
I have given you a like, because in the face of nuclear Armageddon you have found a silver lining.
Remember one thing, ONS is not your friend. It is an illusion.
Look this is PB.
Even if we were in WW3 we would still be talking about by election swings as well!
After WW3 one of the first tasks might be to have by-elections in the small number of constituencies in remote areas that still had a living electorate, assuming that the MPs were in London when the nuclear exchange occurs.
Somebody posted a post apocalypse map of the UK earlier this week. The silver lining for the Conservatives on here was of the circa 30 seats remaining we were in Tory landslide territory. Proof, if it were needed, that God is indeed a Conservative.
No. God is a Welsh nationalist.
My recollection is that the only Welsh seats to survive nuclear armageddon are the 4 ones with Plaid Cymru MPs.
Those of us in the Welsh mountains will be fine. Though it may be a long time before we can visit the glowing embers of South Wales, `
A disastrous cabinet minister twice sacked for being a cretin, there is no way at all that he deserves a gong.
Lord Mandelson says hi.
That kind of whataboutery demeans you
It's not really whataboutery - more pointing out that reward for failure is an established part of the system (and if I took some time to think I could probably find examples in any government back to at least WWII).
It's risible, but not particularly serious in the grand scheme of things.
"The rise of Londongrad was planned. British governments of all stripes opened the country to Russian capital. In 1994, under John Major, the Conservatives introduced a “golden visa” scheme that handed residency rights to anyone who invested £1m ($1.3m). Tony Blair’s Labour government carried it on with enthusiasm. Ken Livingstone, London’s leftist mayor from 2000 to 2008, said he wanted “Russian companies to regard London as their natural base in Europe”. Boris Johnson, Mr Livingstone’s successor, was good pals with Evgeny Lebedev, proprietor of the Evening Standard, son of a former kgb agent and billionaire. Mr Johnson, now prime minister, made the Anglo-Russian a peer in 2020.
For those arriving from Vladimir Putin’s Russia, London offered safety, security and secrecy. Britain has accommodating laws on tax, libel and property, enforced by an efficient, if expensive, court system—which is, moreover, accommodating in the matter of injunctions. Extradition to Russia, with its corrupt judiciary, is a no-no in the eyes of English judges. On top of this, the private schools are good and so is the shopping. London is an “everything haven”, in the description of Oliver Bullough, author of a forthcoming book, “Butler to the World: How Britain Became the Servant of Tycoons, Tax Dodgers, Kleptocrats and Criminals”. Discretion is key. It follows the rule above a banya’s door: “Please keep conversation to a minimum.”"
Thanks. Just spoke to father in law, and he’s thankfully okay. He lives about 200m from the blast.
I am near tears this morning
Erdington was never a likely gain, chin up.
(gallows humour before you bite)
Though the swing was not too bad for Boris, would see a hung parliament yes but the Tories still largest party
I have given you a like, because in the face of nuclear Armageddon you have found a silver lining.
Remember one thing, ONS is not your friend. It is an illusion.
For example:
The read you need from Birmingham Erdington:
By-election result reflects what most polls and models are saying right now. If an election was held today, the House of Commons would split Lab 295 MPs and Con 257.
I remember when Ed Miliband was walking into 10 Downing Street. Either Boris gets a huge war boost and overrides any party-gate effect. Or he gets replaced in good time for the new PM to settle in and get a honeymoon bounce.
Removing Boris would lance the boil for many.
Those.... are not the only possibilities. Many people thought 2-3 months ago that Boris was going to get removed, but he wasn't, despite polling showing him becoming a liability. What makes you think the Conservatives will suddenly act differently?
Hands up everyone who would like Boris's job right now.
One doesn’t want it for one’s self, but if one’s friends and colleagues made it clear it was in the country’s best interests…
Thanks. Just spoke to father in law, and he’s thankfully okay. He lives about 200m from the blast.
I am near tears this morning
Erdington was never a likely gain, chin up.
(gallows humour before you bite)
Though the swing was not too bad for Boris, would see a hung parliament yes but the Tories still largest party
I have given you a like, because in the face of nuclear Armageddon you have found a silver lining.
Remember one thing, ONS is not your friend. It is an illusion.
Look this is PB.
Even if we were in WW3 we would still be talking about by election swings as well!
I wouldn't
The thing is with the HFUYD “ww3” outcome is that it fails to recognise this is not a black and white conflict.
The direct attack on nuclear power stations is an escalation that will effect us all. This stuff is a direct threat and escalation, and one we cannot simply ignore. By doing nothing - we embolden Putin. Where does he go next?
It's not WW3 either. Looking at the world map, and looking at Russia's population and GDP, I've started to realise this is much more the post-cold war scenario of the rogue state led by crazed madman with nukes, than it is "WW3".
A few relevant points:
- Russia is not in an equal fight by any stretch of the imagination. It's abundantly clear that in any kind of conventional war it would be overwhelmed by NATO. So the nukes are a blackmail device and deterrent, as used by North Korea and - if they get them - by Iran. - There is no threat to the West that we will be overrun and invaded by Russia. The threat is that they take us down with them in a nuclear conflagration - If this turned nuclear, the "belligerents" would be limited to NATO and Russia plus a couple of Russian satellite territories like Belarus. The rest of the world would be militarily unaffected. The entire Southern Hemisphere, the entire tropics save one or two atolls like Diego Garcia or Samoa, China, Japan, Korea: all untouched by war - The climatological effect would be limited because most of the targets are high latitude in the Northern Hemisphere. As with volcanic eruptions, the biggest effect comes when the explosion is at a tropical latitude and able to reach high into the stratosphere on both sides of the equator.
With enough prior warning, the more judicious and wealthy (no doubt including the Russian oligarchs) could quite safely travel to start new lives in rich developed countries including Chile, Uruguay, UAE, Singapore, Australia, NZ, Japan or Korea. Human life would go on. A large swathe of the Northern Hemisphere would become a mega-scale Chernobyl exclusion zone.
The Falkland Islands suddenly have some appeal. There were some well paid jobs in the government there advertised recently.
Synopsis: What can the rise and reign of this century's most feared politician teach us about life, work and love? Rob Sears shows how the machinations that enabled Putin to dominate the Kremlin and undermine the United States of America could also help you take control of your mundane life. How would you like to ruin your enemies by sharing compromising material about that time they didn't wash their hands? Or annex territory by claiming the stationery cupboard at work as your personal empire? Fancy hacking democracy at the parent-teacher association to ensure you're a shoo-in for social secretary? Or serving up a cold dish called revenge in a high street restaurant?
Filled with stories from Putin's extraordinary time in power, and ideas and illustrations to help you emulate him on a small scale, Vladimir Putin: Life Coach is the ultimate guide to releasing the pseudo-elected, judo black belt, 5D chess-playing autocrat inside each and every one of us.
Book Description: Be the dictator you've always dreamed of being with this handy guide to life and everyday success inspired by everyone's favourite autocrat. An ideal stocking filler
Thanks. Just spoke to father in law, and he’s thankfully okay. He lives about 200m from the blast.
I am near tears this morning
Erdington was never a likely gain, chin up.
(gallows humour before you bite)
Though the swing was not too bad for Boris, would see a hung parliament yes but the Tories still largest party
I have given you a like, because in the face of nuclear Armageddon you have found a silver lining.
Remember one thing, ONS is not your friend. It is an illusion.
Look this is PB.
Even if we were in WW3 we would still be talking about by election swings as well!
I wouldn't
The thing is with the HFUYD “ww3” outcome is that it fails to recognise this is not a black and white conflict.
The direct attack on nuclear power stations is an escalation that will effect us all. This stuff is a direct threat and escalation, and one we cannot simply ignore. By doing nothing - we embolden Putin. Where does he go next?
It's not WW3 either. Looking at the world map, and looking at Russia's population and GDP, I've started to realise this is much more the post-cold war scenario of the rogue state led by crazed madman with nukes, than it is "WW3".
A few relevant points:
- Russia is not in an equal fight by any stretch of the imagination. It's abundantly clear that in any kind of conventional war it would be overwhelmed by NATO. So the nukes are a blackmail device and deterrent, as used by North Korea and - if they get them - by Iran. - There is no threat to the West that we will be overrun and invaded by Russia. The threat is that they take us down with them in a nuclear conflagration - If this turned nuclear, the "belligerents" would be limited to NATO and Russia plus a couple of Russian satellite territories like Belarus. The rest of the world would be militarily unaffected. The entire Southern Hemisphere, the entire tropics save one or two atolls like Diego Garcia or Samoa, China, Japan, Korea: all untouched by war - The climatological effect would be limited because most of the targets are high latitude in the Northern Hemisphere. As with volcanic eruptions, the biggest effect comes when the explosion is at a tropical latitude and able to reach high into the stratosphere on both sides of the equator.
With enough prior warning, the more judicious and wealthy (no doubt including the Russian oligarchs) could quite safely travel to start new lives in rich developed countries including Chile, Uruguay, UAE, Singapore, Australia, NZ, Japan or Korea. Human life would go on. A large swathe of the Northern Hemisphere would become a mega-scale Chernobyl exclusion zone.
The Falkland Islands suddenly have some appeal. There were some well paid jobs in the government there advertised recently.
In the event of Britain being dealt a crippling blow, you'd soon find yourself living under Argentina occupation.
Thanks. Just spoke to father in law, and he’s thankfully okay. He lives about 200m from the blast.
I am near tears this morning
Erdington was never a likely gain, chin up.
(gallows humour before you bite)
Though the swing was not too bad for Boris, would see a hung parliament yes but the Tories still largest party
I have given you a like, because in the face of nuclear Armageddon you have found a silver lining.
Remember one thing, ONS is not your friend. It is an illusion.
Look this is PB.
Even if we were in WW3 we would still be talking about by election swings as well!
I wouldn't
The thing is with the HFUYD “ww3” outcome is that it fails to recognise this is not a black and white conflict.
The direct attack on nuclear power stations is an escalation that will effect us all. This stuff is a direct threat and escalation, and one we cannot simply ignore. By doing nothing - we embolden Putin. Where does he go next?
It's not WW3 either. Looking at the world map, and looking at Russia's population and GDP, I've started to realise this is much more the post-cold war scenario of the rogue state led by crazed madman with nukes, than it is "WW3".
A few relevant points:
- Russia is not in an equal fight by any stretch of the imagination. It's abundantly clear that in any kind of conventional war it would be overwhelmed by NATO. So the nukes are a blackmail device and deterrent, as used by North Korea and - if they get them - by Iran. - There is no threat to the West that we will be overrun and invaded by Russia. The threat is that they take us down with them in a nuclear conflagration - If this turned nuclear, the "belligerents" would be limited to NATO and Russia plus a couple of Russian satellite territories like Belarus. The rest of the world would be militarily unaffected. The entire Southern Hemisphere, the entire tropics save one or two atolls like Diego Garcia or Samoa, China, Japan, Korea: all untouched by war - The climatological effect would be limited because most of the targets are high latitude in the Northern Hemisphere. As with volcanic eruptions, the biggest effect comes when the explosion is at a tropical latitude and able to reach high into the stratosphere on both sides of the equator.
With enough prior warning, the more judicious and wealthy (no doubt including the Russian oligarchs) could quite safely travel to start new lives in rich developed countries including Chile, Uruguay, UAE, Singapore, Australia, NZ, Japan or Korea. Human life would go on. A large swathe of the Northern Hemisphere would become a mega-scale Chernobyl exclusion zone.
The Falkland Islands suddenly have some appeal. There were some well paid jobs in the government there advertised recently.
Seriously thinking about visiting family in Thailand!
So, isn’t attacking a Nuclear power plant a direct threat to the west?
If Putin is so reckless, I fear for what is next.
I keep coming back to the points made by people who've met him - "he's changed", "not the old Putin" etc
There is a phenomenon where politicians when they get older can turn... weird, in an ugly way.
Rudy Giuliani used to be a normal politician. Praised across the political spectrum. Now he has gone Full Trumpet.
I've said in the past that ten years seems to be about the maximum term for a leader in a democracy. The further they go beyond that, the worse their decisions tend to get. I did mention Merkel as an exception, but perhaps she wasn't...
I agree with David Owen that there is a syndrome that politicians acquire after too much time in office - physical illness has it's effects, but there is something more there.
"The rise of Londongrad was planned. British governments of all stripes opened the country to Russian capital. In 1994, under John Major, the Conservatives introduced a “golden visa” scheme that handed residency rights to anyone who invested £1m ($1.3m). Tony Blair’s Labour government carried it on with enthusiasm. Ken Livingstone, London’s leftist mayor from 2000 to 2008, said he wanted “Russian companies to regard London as their natural base in Europe”. Boris Johnson, Mr Livingstone’s successor, was good pals with Evgeny Lebedev, proprietor of the Evening Standard, son of a former kgb agent and billionaire. Mr Johnson, now prime minister, made the Anglo-Russian a peer in 2020.
For those arriving from Vladimir Putin’s Russia, London offered safety, security and secrecy. Britain has accommodating laws on tax, libel and property, enforced by an efficient, if expensive, court system—which is, moreover, accommodating in the matter of injunctions. Extradition to Russia, with its corrupt judiciary, is a no-no in the eyes of English judges. On top of this, the private schools are good and so is the shopping. London is an “everything haven”, in the description of Oliver Bullough, author of a forthcoming book, “Butler to the World: How Britain Became the Servant of Tycoons, Tax Dodgers, Kleptocrats and Criminals”. Discretion is key. It follows the rule above a banya’s door: “Please keep conversation to a minimum.”"
And guess who provides 'butler' services in the UK to the global super rich? Yes, none other than Quintessentially, Ben Elliot's concierge company: https://quintessentially.com/ By sheer coincidence, Ben Elliott is co-Chairman of the Tory Party and its key fundraiser. Even more coincidentally, Quintessentially has recently removed from its website all the links that it used to have lauding its special bespoke services for Russian clients.
The most satisfying part of the Erdington BE was a pretty poor showing from Nellist.
Indeed. The far left and far right both lost their deposits.
Hopefully one of the few good things to come out of this conflict, is the need to moderate the political discourse, step back from more extreme views and tolerate the opinions of others.
Especially since right wing Tories and UKIP and left wing Labour are/were the Putin apologists a
right wing Tories Putin apologists? Name names....
The ones taking their (former) membership of Conservative Friends of Russia off their CVs...
Thanks. Just spoke to father in law, and he’s thankfully okay. He lives about 200m from the blast.
I am near tears this morning
Erdington was never a likely gain, chin up.
(gallows humour before you bite)
Though the swing was not too bad for Boris, would see a hung parliament yes but the Tories still largest party
I have given you a like, because in the face of nuclear Armageddon you have found a silver lining.
Remember one thing, ONS is not your friend. It is an illusion.
Look this is PB.
Even if we were in WW3 we would still be talking about by election swings as well!
I wouldn't
The thing is with the HFUYD “ww3” outcome is that it fails to recognise this is not a black and white conflict.
The direct attack on nuclear power stations is an escalation that will effect us all. This stuff is a direct threat and escalation, and one we cannot simply ignore. By doing nothing - we embolden Putin. Where does he go next?
It's not WW3 either. Looking at the world map, and looking at Russia's population and GDP, I've started to realise this is much more the post-cold war scenario of the rogue state led by crazed madman with nukes, than it is "WW3".
A few relevant points:
- Russia is not in an equal fight by any stretch of the imagination. It's abundantly clear that in any kind of conventional war it would be overwhelmed by NATO. So the nukes are a blackmail device and deterrent, as used by North Korea and - if they get them - by Iran. - There is no threat to the West that we will be overrun and invaded by Russia. The threat is that they take us down with them in a nuclear conflagration - If this turned nuclear, the "belligerents" would be limited to NATO and Russia plus a couple of Russian satellite territories like Belarus. The rest of the world would be militarily unaffected. The entire Southern Hemisphere, the entire tropics save one or two atolls like Diego Garcia or Samoa, China, Japan, Korea: all untouched by war - The climatological effect would be limited because most of the targets are high latitude in the Northern Hemisphere. As with volcanic eruptions, the biggest effect comes when the explosion is at a tropical latitude and able to reach high into the stratosphere on both sides of the equator.
With enough prior warning, the more judicious and wealthy (no doubt including the Russian oligarchs) could quite safely travel to start new lives in rich developed countries including Chile, Uruguay, UAE, Singapore, Australia, NZ, Japan or Korea. Human life would go on. A large swathe of the Northern Hemisphere would become a mega-scale Chernobyl exclusion zone.
The Falkland Islands suddenly have some appeal. There were some well paid jobs in the government there advertised recently.
In the event of Britain being dealt a crippling blow, you'd soon find yourself living under Argentina occupation.
Thanks. Just spoke to father in law, and he’s thankfully okay. He lives about 200m from the blast.
I am near tears this morning
Erdington was never a likely gain, chin up.
(gallows humour before you bite)
Though the swing was not too bad for Boris, would see a hung parliament yes but the Tories still largest party
I have given you a like, because in the face of nuclear Armageddon you have found a silver lining.
Remember one thing, ONS is not your friend. It is an illusion.
Look this is PB.
Even if we were in WW3 we would still be talking about by election swings as well!
I wouldn't
The thing is with the HFUYD “ww3” outcome is that it fails to recognise this is not a black and white conflict.
The direct attack on nuclear power stations is an escalation that will effect us all. This stuff is a direct threat and escalation, and one we cannot simply ignore. By doing nothing - we embolden Putin. Where does he go next?
It's not WW3 either. Looking at the world map, and looking at Russia's population and GDP, I've started to realise this is much more the post-cold war scenario of the rogue state led by crazed madman with nukes, than it is "WW3".
A few relevant points:
- Russia is not in an equal fight by any stretch of the imagination. It's abundantly clear that in any kind of conventional war it would be overwhelmed by NATO. So the nukes are a blackmail device and deterrent, as used by North Korea and - if they get them - by Iran. - There is no threat to the West that we will be overrun and invaded by Russia. The threat is that they take us down with them in a nuclear conflagration - If this turned nuclear, the "belligerents" would be limited to NATO and Russia plus a couple of Russian satellite territories like Belarus. The rest of the world would be militarily unaffected. The entire Southern Hemisphere, the entire tropics save one or two atolls like Diego Garcia or Samoa, China, Japan, Korea: all untouched by war - The climatological effect would be limited because most of the targets are high latitude in the Northern Hemisphere. As with volcanic eruptions, the biggest effect comes when the explosion is at a tropical latitude and able to reach high into the stratosphere on both sides of the equator.
With enough prior warning, the more judicious and wealthy (no doubt including the Russian oligarchs) could quite safely travel to start new lives in rich developed countries including Chile, Uruguay, UAE, Singapore, Australia, NZ, Japan or Korea. Human life would go on. A large swathe of the Northern Hemisphere would become a mega-scale Chernobyl exclusion zone.
The Falkland Islands suddenly have some appeal. There were some well paid jobs in the government there advertised recently.
In the event of Britain being dealt a crippling blow, you'd soon find yourself living under Argentina occupation.
As Russia is trying to cut off the flow of information in Ukraine by attacking its communications infrastructure, the British news outlet BBC is revisiting a broadcasting tactic popularized during World War II: shortwave radio.
NY Times
Fuck you Nadine Dorries.
I’ve got a decent quality shortwave radio, with battery supply periodically refreshed. In the case of war, or significant disruption of infrastructure by hostile power (more likely), it is probably the only robust communication reception technology.
We frequently receive messages from the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB) with quite a long list of things to have at home. The government clearly considers that significant disruption to food, water, telecommunications and electricity supply is fairly likely within the foreseeable future. It is one reason why I will definitely not be buying two electric cars: one of them must have an internal combustion engine. (Picking up our first ever EV later this morning. Yippee!)
Yes, although we get messages from them in a wide range of marketing channels and methods.
Note the last one: full tank. I never let my fuel gauge go below 50%. I swing in to a pump when it gets close. (The kids of course take full advantage and always return the bloody cars empty! 😄 I still love them.)
Thanks.
The previous page was interesting - intrigued by "Blueberry and Rosehip Soup".
Great stuff. Nipponsoppa (rosehip ”soup”, in reality very thick juice) is an absolute classic of Swedish husmanskost (everyday food). It is essential for long-distance ski events, eg Vasaloppet.
It’s funny how different nations go for different flavourings. Swedes for example love pear-flavoured everything (yoghurt, juice, milkshakes, sweeties etc etc etc), whereas in English speaking markets that doesn’t seem to be a biggie.
Only problem with rosehip and blaeberry soups are that they are full of sugar.
Are rosehips and blueberries things that you can go and forage?
Or is it in bulk from suppliers?
I did wild bilberry jam last year (and also from blueberries grown at home) - great stuff but quite hard labour.
The most satisfying part of the Erdington BE was a pretty poor showing from Nellist.
To be fair, he was twice as popular as the LibDems.....
As I said to Carlotta, it seems like the electorate is slowly aligning between Tory and best positioned non-Tory. That's fine by me. It should worry you though.
We've lived with that for decades though.
Also, I'm not sure that the result bears it out. Obviously the reduced turnout complicates the calcluations, but it looks to me like the direct swing from "the right" to "the left" outweighed movement within "the left".
(Con/Ref 38.0 (-6.2); Lab/TUSC/Grn/LD 60.0 (+4.2) with Lab alone +5.2)
Totally o/t again ..... displacement activity ..... I went to a u3a interest group meeting yesterday. The 'leader' was away having been in contact with, Covid sufferers, and the replacement reported having had it recently. Recently enough to be just out of quarantine. So it's still about! No-one had been 'ill' for long though. All triple vaxxed, of course.
"The rise of Londongrad was planned. British governments of all stripes opened the country to Russian capital. In 1994, under John Major, the Conservatives introduced a “golden visa” scheme that handed residency rights to anyone who invested £1m ($1.3m). Tony Blair’s Labour government carried it on with enthusiasm. Ken Livingstone, London’s leftist mayor from 2000 to 2008, said he wanted “Russian companies to regard London as their natural base in Europe”. Boris Johnson, Mr Livingstone’s successor, was good pals with Evgeny Lebedev, proprietor of the Evening Standard, son of a former kgb agent and billionaire. Mr Johnson, now prime minister, made the Anglo-Russian a peer in 2020.
For those arriving from Vladimir Putin’s Russia, London offered safety, security and secrecy. Britain has accommodating laws on tax, libel and property, enforced by an efficient, if expensive, court system—which is, moreover, accommodating in the matter of injunctions. Extradition to Russia, with its corrupt judiciary, is a no-no in the eyes of English judges. On top of this, the private schools are good and so is the shopping. London is an “everything haven”, in the description of Oliver Bullough, author of a forthcoming book, “Butler to the World: How Britain Became the Servant of Tycoons, Tax Dodgers, Kleptocrats and Criminals”. Discretion is key. It follows the rule above a banya’s door: “Please keep conversation to a minimum.”"
And guess who provides 'butler' services in the UK to the global super rich? Yes, none other than Quintessentially, Ben Elliot's concierge company: https://quintessentially.com/ By sheer coincidence, Ben Elliott is co-Chairman of the Tory Party and its key fundraiser. Even more coincidentally, Quintessentially has recently removed from its website all the links that it used to have lauding its special bespoke services for Russian clients.
What was the big problem of making London welcoming to Russians. The article says it has been going on for 30 years. Unless at that time and since we should have spotted Putin as a wrong 'un. Which would no doubt have fed into his everyone hates us we don't care mentality we are seeing today.
Don't forget that almost as soon as the Berlin War came down there were suggestions that Russia should join NATO. Both Gorbachev and Putin suggested it.
I would be interested to know how the history books might treat the immediate dismissal of such an idea.
As Russia is trying to cut off the flow of information in Ukraine by attacking its communications infrastructure, the British news outlet BBC is revisiting a broadcasting tactic popularized during World War II: shortwave radio.
NY Times
Fuck you Nadine Dorries.
I’ve got a decent quality shortwave radio, with battery supply periodically refreshed. In the case of war, or significant disruption of infrastructure by hostile power (more likely), it is probably the only robust communication reception technology.
We frequently receive messages from the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB) with quite a long list of things to have at home. The government clearly considers that significant disruption to food, water, telecommunications and electricity supply is fairly likely within the foreseeable future. It is one reason why I will definitely not be buying two electric cars: one of them must have an internal combustion engine. (Picking up our first ever EV later this morning. Yippee!)
Yes, although we get messages from them in a wide range of marketing channels and methods.
Note the last one: full tank. I never let my fuel gauge go below 50%. I swing in to a pump when it gets close. (The kids of course take full advantage and always return the bloody cars empty! 😄 I still love them.)
Thanks.
The previous page was interesting - intrigued by "Blueberry and Rosehip Soup".
Great stuff. Nipponsoppa (rosehip ”soup”, in reality very thick juice) is an absolute classic of Swedish husmanskost (everyday food). It is essential for long-distance ski events, eg Vasaloppet.
It’s funny how different nations go for different flavourings. Swedes for example love pear-flavoured everything (yoghurt, juice, milkshakes, sweeties etc etc etc), whereas in English speaking markets that doesn’t seem to be a biggie.
Only problem with rosehip and blaeberry soups are that they are full of sugar.
Are rosehips and blueberries things that you can go and forage?
Or is it in bulk from suppliers?
I did wild bilberry jam last year (and also from blueberries grown at home) - great stuff but quite hard labour.
There is a NATO meeting of foreign ministers in Brussels which just adds to despair as spokesperson after spokesperson says they want to speak out and stand up, but without direct military action they are meaningless
Well we can't take direct military action as that means WW3.
So continued economic sanctions it is
As the atrocities mount up, and Russian expansionism becomes more evident,you and Jeremy Corbyn will become more and more isolated.
Now there's a thought, a post nuclear infinite purgatory where JC and HY only have each other for company.
"atrocities mount up"
It is an invasion. For reasons that are legitimate to Putin, if not us. "Atrocities" is what happens. NATO and the US have already made clear that they are not going to become involved militarily in Ukraine. So that leaves economic sanctions.
Or what would you do.
Exactly. Biden has made clear he will not take military action in Ukraine, as has Boris and Macron.
The polls are quite clear too that a majority of Tory, Labour and LD voters support economic sanctions on Russia but oppose sending troops to Ukraine or a no fly zone
Belarus must be waking up this morning less than delighted at the prospect of Chernobyl 2. Putin' goons seem quite relaxed about making Minsk uninhabitable, so long as it means they win in Ukraine.
Think on't, Belarus. You are being rewarded for your loyalty to Putin by THIS?
Good point. Not only could Russia be left dealing with a, to say the least, disenchanted population in occupied Ukraine but facing an insurrection in Belarus too. No-one doubts the ability of Putin to suppress dissent but it could be a real firestorm particularly with an economic crisis to contend with as well.
Ultimately will depend on the determination of the West to maintain and intensify sanctions over a long period. I'm guessing Putin is pretty sceptical about the decadent West doing that.
Whilst not easy to access, I imagine that the hard man of Belarus would be easier to take out than Putin. It could be a hugely destabilising event in Belarus, throwing confusion into the armed forces and buggering up Putin's war plan in Ukraine.
Thanks. Just spoke to father in law, and he’s thankfully okay. He lives about 200m from the blast.
I am near tears this morning
Erdington was never a likely gain, chin up.
(gallows humour before you bite)
Though the swing was not too bad for Boris, would see a hung parliament yes but the Tories still largest party
I have given you a like, because in the face of nuclear Armageddon you have found a silver lining.
Remember one thing, ONS is not your friend. It is an illusion.
Look this is PB.
Even if we were in WW3 we would still be talking about by election swings as well!
After WW3 one of the first tasks might be to have by-elections in the small number of constituencies in remote areas that still had a living electorate, assuming that the MPs were in London when the nuclear exchange occurs.
I believe the Tories would still have a majority in the few seats with some population left after a nuclear war someone calculated. Though new candidates needed
Comments
I mentioned my wife is from Finland. We have close family there. Looking at the pictures, the countries appear eerily similar. I've been engulfed with the fear that we could be next. The peaceful and world that we knew for all of our lives, feels like it no longer exists.
We have to be in absolute solidarity with Ukraine, whatever happens. The west has to reassert itself.
If Putin is so reckless, I fear for what is next.
So continued economic sanctions it is
Looks like we’ll be buying new windows for our house though.
Thankfully no casualties in this blast, buildings can be rebuilt.
Remember one thing, ONS is not your friend. It is an illusion.
Painful though it is we must let the sanctions and the complete ostracisation of the Russian state do their work.
Even if we were in WW3 we would still be talking about by election swings as well!
Wars in modern Europe are not winnable in any meaningful sense. The complexity of infrastructure + nuclear weapons render the idea meaningless. Which is why the whole point of NATO and MAD is to ensure they don't start, especially as involving super powers. There is no such thing as a just war which demolishes Europe or the planet. This is not 1939. The moral balance has horribly shifted.
Because of MAD, nothing (AFAICS) can prevent Russia if they wish 'winning' in the barbaric sense of the term, despite the heroic stand of Ukrainians who I 100% support.
So it will soon be time to consider better options within the bad choices. This has to end somehow, wars always do, and as one way of ending it is annihilation sub-optimal ideas need to be considered.
My favourite (or least bad) at the moment: Peace talks brokered jointly by China and India, both officially neutral in UN terms, and both with huge populations to lose in a nuclear winter and sane enough to want to keep them alive, and with some collective clout over Russia, Ukraine and NATO.
The moment we send fighter jets to Ukraine however we are drawn into WW3
Now there's a thought, a post nuclear infinite purgatory where JC and HY only have each other for company.
There is a phenomenon where politicians when they get older can turn... weird, in an ugly way.
Rudy Giuliani used to be a normal politician. Praised across the political spectrum. Now he has gone Full Trumpet.
However the DUP would demand they invoke Article 16 first
The read you need from Birmingham Erdington:
By-election result reflects what most polls and models are saying right now. If an election was held today, the House of Commons would split Lab 295 MPs and Con 257.
Britain Predicts:
https://t.co/LIWAUWsbB5
Maybe we will need to add a couple of windows to the fit-out budget!
At least with Communism there was an idealism; misplaced I now realise, but it was above personalities.
Ultimately will depend on the determination of the West to maintain and intensify sanctions over a long period. I'm guessing Putin is pretty sceptical about the decadent West doing that.
The direct attack on nuclear power stations is an escalation that will effect us all. This stuff is a direct threat and escalation, and one we cannot simply ignore. By doing nothing - we embolden Putin. Where does he go next?
It is an invasion. For reasons that are legitimate to Putin, if not us. "Atrocities" is what happens. NATO and the US have already made clear that they are not going to become involved militarily in Ukraine. So that leaves economic sanctions.
Or what would you do.
For those arriving from Vladimir Putin’s Russia, London offered safety, security and secrecy. Britain has accommodating laws on tax, libel and property, enforced by an efficient, if expensive, court system—which is, moreover, accommodating in the matter of injunctions. Extradition to Russia, with its corrupt judiciary, is a no-no in the eyes of English judges. On top of this, the private schools are good and so is the shopping. London is an “everything haven”, in the description of Oliver Bullough, author of a forthcoming book, “Butler to the World: How Britain Became the Servant of Tycoons, Tax Dodgers, Kleptocrats and Criminals”. Discretion is key. It follows the rule above a banya’s door: “Please keep conversation to a minimum.”"
https://www.economist.com/britain/2022/03/05/the-rise-and-fall-of-londongrad
I remember when Ed Miliband was walking into 10 Downing Street. Either Boris gets a huge war boost and overrides any party-gate effect. Or he gets replaced in good time for the new PM to settle in and get a honeymoon bounce.
Removing Boris would lance the boil for many.
But a much better chance to rebuild.
Have you considered a second dishwasher, btw ?
Entirely possible Conservatives continue to lag in the polls and their gutless MPs refuse to do what needs to be done.
Surely this is the freewheeling Singapore-type country that so many people wanted, indeed voted for. A bonfire of the legislation.
I think HY is doing his usual over sincere election analysis and similarly finding Tory advantage in apocalypse.
Perhaps we could feed it all into Electoral Calculus
Many people thought 2-3 months ago that Boris was going to get removed, but he wasn't, despite polling showing him becoming a liability. What makes you think the Conservatives will suddenly act differently?
Looking now for next Friday, NCL-LEE on the 0655 is £34.60, cheapest return is £37.50 on the 1642. Fridays are generally a bit more expensive than Monday to Thursday, I think. FWIW the off-peak on that journey starts at 0745 so if you don't need to be in Leeds for 9am you have quite a bit more flexibility.
A few relevant points:
- Russia is not in an equal fight by any stretch of the imagination. It's abundantly clear that in any kind of conventional war it would be overwhelmed by NATO. So the nukes are a blackmail device and deterrent, as used by North Korea and - if they get them - by Iran.
- There is no threat to the West that we will be overrun and invaded by Russia. The threat is that they take us down with them in a nuclear conflagration
- If this turned nuclear, the "belligerents" would be limited to NATO and Russia plus a couple of Russian satellite territories like Belarus. The rest of the world would be militarily unaffected. The entire Southern Hemisphere, the entire tropics save one or two atolls like Diego Garcia or Samoa, China, Japan, Korea: all untouched by war
- The climatological effect would be limited because most of the targets are high latitude in the Northern Hemisphere. As with volcanic eruptions, the biggest effect comes when the explosion is at a tropical latitude and able to reach high into the stratosphere on both sides of the equator.
With enough prior warning, the more judicious and wealthy (no doubt including the Russian oligarchs) could quite safely travel to start new lives in rich developed countries including Chile, Uruguay, UAE, Singapore, Australia, NZ, Japan or Korea. Human life would go on. A large swathe of the Northern Hemisphere would become a mega-scale Chernobyl exclusion zone.
My recollection is that the only Welsh seats to survive nuclear armageddon are the 4 ones with Plaid Cymru MPs.
Those of us in the Welsh mountains will be fine. Though it may be a long time before we can visit the glowing embers of South Wales, `
It's risible, but not particularly serious in the grand scheme of things.
https://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=30243865986
Synopsis:
What can the rise and reign of this century's most feared politician teach us about life, work and love? Rob Sears shows how the machinations that enabled Putin to dominate the Kremlin and undermine the United States of America could also help you take control of your mundane life. How would you like to ruin your enemies by sharing compromising material about that time they didn't wash their hands? Or annex territory by claiming the stationery cupboard at work as your personal empire? Fancy hacking democracy at the parent-teacher association to ensure you're a shoo-in for social secretary? Or serving up a cold dish called revenge in a high street restaurant?
Filled with stories from Putin's extraordinary time in power, and ideas and illustrations to help you emulate him on a small scale, Vladimir Putin: Life Coach is the ultimate guide to releasing the pseudo-elected, judo black belt, 5D chess-playing autocrat inside each and every one of us.
Book Description:
Be the dictator you've always dreamed of being with this handy guide to life and everyday success inspired by everyone's favourite autocrat. An ideal stocking filler
He calls it the 'hubristic syndrome'
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/041377662X/
https://quintessentially.com/
By sheer coincidence, Ben Elliott is co-Chairman of the Tory Party and its key fundraiser. Even more coincidentally, Quintessentially has recently removed from its website all the links that it used to have lauding its special bespoke services for Russian clients.
Or is it in bulk from suppliers?
I did wild bilberry jam last year (and also from blueberries grown at home) - great stuff but quite hard labour.
davidallengreen
@davidallengreen
The sanction-specialist lawyers I have spoken to do not understand the government's delay here
They know how quickly the government can act, when it wants to
(Con/Ref 38.0 (-6.2); Lab/TUSC/Grn/LD 60.0 (+4.2) with Lab alone +5.2)
So it's still about!
No-one had been 'ill' for long though. All triple vaxxed, of course.
Don't forget that almost as soon as the Berlin War came down there were suggestions that Russia should join NATO. Both Gorbachev and Putin suggested it.
I would be interested to know how the history books might treat the immediate dismissal of such an idea.
The polls are quite clear too that a majority of Tory, Labour and LD voters support economic sanctions on Russia but oppose sending troops to Ukraine or a no fly zone