Beautiful beautiful day here. Bright blue skies, 14C, the first real day of spring
March 10! Somehow it is always March 10, the second week of March, the true end of winter.
Life is still shit, but, hey, spring. That's something
No, the true end of winter and start of spring is March 20th, so we still have 10 days of astronomical winter to go
Seriously, what is wrong with you?
Nothing, I still keep my winter coat and scarf on and drink red wine and eat winter vegetables until March 20th.
I only take off my coat and scarf and switch to white wine and salad once spring starts on March 21st
Bloody hell, Putin won't have a clue what he's up against if he takes on the English.
If I’d said that they’d be asking for Patel to string me up by my bollocks.
That's a 'stimulating' fantasy for some of them, her and the Truss tightening the straps with the speeches of the Blessed Margaret on a loop. Far too good for Jocks.
Football bod saying on Sky typical spend for EPL club on away travel to other EPL games is £30k. Puts into perspective what a totally different world players live in.
Surprised it's so low. Most stay in hotels the night before (even if same city), security, the coach/plane, gym/physio space. Staff, food (not sure how you'd allocate those costs).
Blooming heck! Just reading Chelsea can't sell any more tickets.
Chelsea will be in the championship in 2 years if they still exist
Chelsea 2022, the newly formed club from the embers of the current club when it goes bump, should start at the very foot of the football league pyramid.
What does that even mean? Do you mean likely to be out of power after the next election? Or do you mean will never regain power?
I think and hope that the first is correct. Time for a change. Time for Starmer to build a team and a plan to make Britain better. Time for the Conservatives to remember that politics isn't just about trousering cash, and getting lucrative side jobs.
Football bod saying on Sky typical spend for EPL club on away travel to other EPL games is £30k. Puts into perspective what a totally different world players live in.
What on Earth does that consist of?
Travelling party has to be 30+ and I think they now always stay over the night before the game, even on the shortest trips (at least some clubs IIRC stay overnight in a hotel the night before home games).
Football bod saying on Sky typical spend for EPL club on away travel to other EPL games is £30k. Puts into perspective what a totally different world players live in.
Surprised it's so low. Most stay in hotels the night before (even if same city), security, the coach/plane, gym/physio space. Staff, food (not sure how you'd allocate those costs).
I am sure its much higher for Chelsea. Burley, they probably bring the average down a fair bit, probably have to drive themselves there and sleep at a local campground.
Regarding the maternity hospital, the Russians claim that the hospital had ceased to function as a hospital several days ago, and had become a base for a Ukrainian military division. This seemed likely to me yesterday, even without the claims - using schools, hospitals, Churches, Mosques etc. as military bases is a very common tactic of urban warfare, because when they're attacked, it's of course considered an atrocity.
One side of this conflict is in the right, one side is in the wrong, but that doesn't stop the Ukrainians from fighting a propaganda war. As Western countries, we need to be extremely conscious of this, because the Ukrainians are desperate for Western nations to attack Russia, and will use every lever possible to make this a reality.
It seems "likely" to you based on no evidence at all except Russia claims it.
No, it seemed likely to me BEFORE I read the Russians' claims. As I said, basing themselves in a building like a hospital is a common and logical tactic for a military defending urban territory. It also seemed unlikely that Russia would actively bomb a hospital full of expectant mothers and newborns, even if they were the embodiment of evil, because it would hand a propaganda coup to the other side. The other alternative was that it was a cock up, which was highly possible.
Russia has spent the last week completely leveling a Russian speaking city to the ground. After their Plan A has fallen apart, and they know they can't win militarily so hope to force Ukraine to give some concessions to avoid the sort of destruction seen in Chechnya. They have deliberately switched to a policy of terror so don't care about PR value any more. It serves their purposes that stuff is as brutal as possible.
Football bod saying on Sky typical spend for EPL club on away travel to other EPL games is £30k. Puts into perspective what a totally different world players live in.
What on Earth does that consist of?
Travelling party has to be 30+ and I think they now always stay over the night before the game, even on the shortest trips (at least some clubs IIRC stay overnight in a hotel the night before home games).
And they ain't staying in a Travelodge.
I think Spurs even built their own hotel at the training ground.
If you go and watch Ben Foster on Youtube you can see the hotel they stay in before home games, its very nice. And of course they have their own chefs make all the food for them. For a Saturday game, they go straight after training on a Friday lunchtime and stay there until midday on th3 Saturday.
Football bod saying on Sky typical spend for EPL club on away travel to other EPL games is £30k. Puts into perspective what a totally different world players live in.
That’s only £500 each for 60 people. There’s plenty of stories of them chartering planes for anything longer than about three hours in the bus, they often travel the day before the match and stay in an hotel even for reasonably local games.
Footballers are cheapskates compared to F1 team travel expenses!
Blooming heck! Just reading Chelsea can't sell any more tickets.
Chelsea will be in the championship in 2 years if they still exist
Chelsea 2022, the newly formed club from the embers of the current club when it goes bump, should start at the very foot of the football league pyramid.
Same for Everton 2022 when that happens
Everton ain't going bust though.
Well nobody wants to buy their players, so they would be uneffected by that :-)
It will also bury much of North America in ash many, many inches deep.
Back of a fag packet....
I see wiki says 190 cubic miles of ash. That equates to 3.6m square miles at 4 inches deep.
The whole of the USA (excluding Alaska and Hawaii) is some 8.1m square miles. So maybe half of the US would be uninhabitable/unfit for growing crops.
Oh, and bees dying out wouldn't be great, but moths do a surprising amount of the heavy lifting on pollination. And travel much further distances than bees, so are better for broadening the gene pool.
Blooming heck! Just reading Chelsea can't sell any more tickets.
Chelsea will be in the championship in 2 years if they still exist
Chelsea 2022, the newly formed club from the embers of the current club when it goes bump, should start at the very foot of the football league pyramid.
Same for Everton 2022 when that happens
Same as Rangers.
Also Chester City, Halifax, Macclesfield, Bury, Boston Utd, Aldershot, Newport and some others.
Blooming heck! Just reading Chelsea can't sell any more tickets.
Chelsea will be in the championship in 2 years if they still exist
Chelsea 2022, the newly formed club from the embers of the current club when it goes bump, should start at the very foot of the football league pyramid.
Same for Everton 2022 when that happens
Everton ain't going bust though.
Well nobody wants to buy their players, so they would be uneffected by that :-)
Man Utd want Richarlison
Why do Man Utd want yet another attacking wide player? They only have about 12...
It will also bury much of North America in ash many, many inches deep.
Back of a fag packet....
I see wiki says 190 cubic miles of ash. That equates to 3.6m square miles at 4 inches deep.
The whole of the USA (excluding Alaska and Hawaii) is some 8.1m square miles. So maybe half of the US would be uninhabitable/unfit for growing crops.
Oh, and bees dying out wouldn't be great, but moths do a surprising amount of the heavy lifting on pollination. And travel much further distances than bees, so are better for broadening the gene pool.
That is one hell of a lot of ash from one fag packet...
Blooming heck! Just reading Chelsea can't sell any more tickets.
Chelsea will be in the championship in 2 years if they still exist
Chelsea 2022, the newly formed club from the embers of the current club when it goes bump, should start at the very foot of the football league pyramid.
Same for Everton 2022 when that happens
Same as Rangers.
Also Chester City, Halifax, Macclesfield, Bury, Boston Utd, Aldershot, Newport and some others.
Cannot wait to see it with Chelsea and Neverton.
Except Everton are at no risk of that whatever your fevered fantasies. We aren't even Russian owned. Incompetently owned I'll grant you.
Regarding the maternity hospital, the Russians claim that the hospital had ceased to function as a hospital several days ago, and had become a base for a Ukrainian military division. This seemed likely to me yesterday, even without the claims - using schools, hospitals, Churches, Mosques etc. as military bases is a very common tactic of urban warfare, because when they're attacked, it's of course considered an atrocity.
One side of this conflict is in the right, one side is in the wrong, but that doesn't stop the Ukrainians from fighting a propaganda war. As Western countries, we need to be extremely conscious of this, because the Ukrainians are desperate for Western nations to attack Russia, and will use every lever possible to make this a reality.
All of which is true, but still does not preclude the possibility that it was still nothing more than a functioning hospital
According to RT (I know), the Russians reported the change of use of the building to the UN days ago. This would be verifiable I suppose. I am not going down the rabbit hole.
RT reporting the use of ambulances to ferry Russian munitions around? Na, thought not....
Beautiful beautiful day here. Bright blue skies, 14C, the first real day of spring
March 10! Somehow it is always March 10, the second week of March, the true end of winter.
Life is still shit, but, hey, spring. That's something
No, the true end of winter and start of spring is March 20th, so we still have 10 days of astronomical winter to go
Seriously, what is wrong with you?
Nothing, I still keep my winter coat and scarf on and drink red wine and eat winter vegetables until March 20th.
I only take off my coat and scarf and switch to white wine and salad once spring starts on March 21st
Really - you are jesting surely
It’s quite an observation that most of us are wondering whether this is serious or not…
I've had a brief moment of doubt and considered that HYUFD might be SeanT's only successful deep cover creation, then remembered that he'd be far too lazy to pore over all these polls, let alone base the fiction on them that HYUFD does.
Either he just committed a joke - in which case there's hope for society - or he's stranger than we thought. I lean to the former.
Regarding the maternity hospital, the Russians claim that the hospital had ceased to function as a hospital several days ago, and had become a base for a Ukrainian military division. This seemed likely to me yesterday, even without the claims - using schools, hospitals, Churches, Mosques etc. as military bases is a very common tactic of urban warfare, because when they're attacked, it's of course considered an atrocity.
One side of this conflict is in the right, one side is in the wrong, but that doesn't stop the Ukrainians from fighting a propaganda war. As Western countries, we need to be extremely conscious of this, because the Ukrainians are desperate for Western nations to attack Russia, and will use every lever possible to make this a reality.
It seems "likely" to you based on no evidence at all except Russia claims it.
No, it seemed likely to me BEFORE I read the Russians' claims. As I said, basing themselves in a building like a hospital is a common and logical tactic for a military defending urban territory. It also seemed unlikely that Russia would actively bomb a hospital full of expectant mothers and newborns, even if they were the embodiment of evil, because it would hand a propaganda coup to the other side. The other alternative was that it was a cock up, which was highly possible.
Russia has spent the last week completely leveling a Russian speaking city to the ground. After their Plan A has fallen apart, and they know they can't win militarily so hope to force Ukraine to give some concessions to avoid the sort of destruction seen in Chechnya. They have deliberately switched to a policy of terror so don't care about PR value any more. It serves their purposes that stuff is as brutal as possible.
I've seen the argument that the Russians just don't care because they now just want to kill, and the alternative riff, which is that they are attempting actively to provoke a NATO response. I really don't buy either of these. I think they're determined to plow on and are prepared to kill some civilians in the process (which is bad) but I don't think they benefit from bombing normal hospitals. Qui Bono is a sound principle, and the benefit in this to me is all the Ukrainians'.
Blooming heck! Just reading Chelsea can't sell any more tickets.
Chelsea will be in the championship in 2 years if they still exist
Chelsea 2022, the newly formed club from the embers of the current club when it goes bump, should start at the very foot of the football league pyramid.
Same for Everton 2022 when that happens
Everton ain't going bust though.
Well nobody wants to buy their players, so they would be uneffected by that :-)
Man Utd want Richarlison
Why do Man Utd want yet another attacking wide player? They only have about 12...
Man Utd need to spend all their money on two top rate DMs.
Regarding the maternity hospital, the Russians claim that the hospital had ceased to function as a hospital several days ago, and had become a base for a Ukrainian military division. This seemed likely to me yesterday, even without the claims - using schools, hospitals, Churches, Mosques etc. as military bases is a very common tactic of urban warfare, because when they're attacked, it's of course considered an atrocity.
One side of this conflict is in the right, one side is in the wrong, but that doesn't stop the Ukrainians from fighting a propaganda war. As Western countries, we need to be extremely conscious of this, because the Ukrainians are desperate for Western nations to attack Russia, and will use every lever possible to make this a reality.
It seems "likely" to you based on no evidence at all except Russia claims it.
No, it seemed likely to me BEFORE I read the Russians' claims. As I said, basing themselves in a building like a hospital is a common and logical tactic for a military defending urban territory. It also seemed unlikely that Russia would actively bomb a hospital full of expectant mothers and newborns, even if they were the embodiment of evil, because it would hand a propaganda coup to the other side. The other alternative was that it was a cock up, which was highly possible.
Russia has spent the last week completely leveling a Russian speaking city to the ground. After their Plan A has fallen apart, and they know they can't win militarily so hope to force Ukraine to give some concessions to avoid the sort of destruction seen in Chechnya. They have deliberately switched to a policy of terror so don't care about PR value any more. It serves their purposes that stuff is as brutal as possible.
I've seen the argument that the Russians just don't care because they now just want to kill, and the alternative riff, which is that they are attempting actively to provoke a NATO response. I really don't buy either of these. I think they're determined to plow on and are prepared to kill some civilians in the process (which is bad) but I don't think they benefit from bombing normal hospitals. Qui Bono is a sound principle, and the benefit in this to me is all the Ukrainians'.
They have already completely leveled the center of Kharkiv. That goes way beyond "kill some civilians in the process".
Regarding the maternity hospital, the Russians claim that the hospital had ceased to function as a hospital several days ago, and had become a base for a Ukrainian military division. This seemed likely to me yesterday, even without the claims - using schools, hospitals, Churches, Mosques etc. as military bases is a very common tactic of urban warfare, because when they're attacked, it's of course considered an atrocity.
One side of this conflict is in the right, one side is in the wrong, but that doesn't stop the Ukrainians from fighting a propaganda war. As Western countries, we need to be extremely conscious of this, because the Ukrainians are desperate for Western nations to attack Russia, and will use every lever possible to make this a reality.
All of which is true, but still does not preclude the possibility that it was still nothing more than a functioning hospital
According to RT (I know), the Russians reported the change of use of the building to the UN days ago. This would be verifiable I suppose. I am not going down the rabbit hole.
RT reporting the use of ambulances to ferry Russian munitions around? Na, thought not....
Not that I could see. I hop on every other day to see what they're saying (during this conflict, not as a normal habit!). I used to read it a lot more uncritically back in the day. Now I read it a lot more cynically.
Blooming heck! Just reading Chelsea can't sell any more tickets.
Chelsea will be in the championship in 2 years if they still exist
Chelsea 2022, the newly formed club from the embers of the current club when it goes bump, should start at the very foot of the football league pyramid.
Same for Everton 2022 when that happens
Everton ain't going bust though.
Well nobody wants to buy their players, so they would be uneffected by that :-)
Man Utd want Richarlison
Why do Man Utd want yet another attacking wide player? They only have about 12...
Man Utd need to spend all their money on two top rate DMs.
Man Utd problems go way deeper. Tifo football explained how they can't play so many common leading strategies because their squad is so unbalanced and too many players who can't (or won't) play in certain roles.
For example they can't play attacking right / left back strategies because Shaw can, Wan-Bassika can't and vice versa, Shaw loves his England role of being attacking rather than solely defensive.
Excellent thread on relevant Russian history (esp the Russo-Jap war) and sanctions. Loved this bit:
"Economic sufferings in Russia are now absolutely obvious. Here you see two women fighting over a frying pan in the last day before IKEA closes its business in Russia"
It was not an option, if it was the very religious would likely have got it to at least 10 to 20%
Really? When 1.5% of the population are regular attenders of religious worship, and a whole bunch of those are probably not that radically superstitious, a 10x multiplier on that number seems a bit heavy.
17% attend services at least once a month whether Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu etc, over a third less regularly. So wrong
Yes, but weekly attendance is at about 1.5% of the population; You can multiply up from my figure, or divide down from yours, but I don't think it is realistic to suggest that the sporadic attenders include a high proportion of zealots who genuinely believe in a vengeful old testament God in any meaningful sense that isn't covered by the actuarial "acts of god" already in the list.
Blooming heck! Just reading Chelsea can't sell any more tickets.
Chelsea will be in the championship in 2 years if they still exist
Chelsea 2022, the newly formed club from the embers of the current club when it goes bump, should start at the very foot of the football league pyramid.
Same for Everton 2022 when that happens
Everton ain't going bust though.
Well nobody wants to buy their players, so they would be uneffected by that :-)
Man Utd want Richarlison
Why do Man Utd want yet another attacking wide player? They only have about 12...
Man Utd need to spend all their money on two top rate DMs.
Man Utd problems go way deeper. Tifo football explained how they can't play so many common leading strategies because their squad is so unbalanced and too many players who can't (or won't) play in certain roles.
They have good AMs and forwards. They have defenders that have played well in the past or for their national teams. The problem is their DMs are just way out of their depth and are critical for a 4-2-3-1. Once they get them they have the spine of a decent team and can then shed the deadwood.
Excellent thread on relevant Russian history (esp the Russo-Jap war) and sanctions. Loved this bit:
"Economic sufferings in Russia are now absolutely obvious. Here you see two women fighting over a frying pan in the last day before IKEA closes its business in Russia"
It’s still very much first world problems in Moscow at the moment, but it’s not going to take too long before it’s bread lines and soup kitchens in many Russian cities.
It was not an option, if it was the very religious would likely have got it to at least 10 to 20%
Really? When 1.5% of the population are regular attenders of religious worship, and a whole bunch of those are probably not that radically superstitious, a 10x multiplier on that number seems a bit heavy.
17% attend services at least once a month whether Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu etc, over a third less regularly. So wrong
Yes, but weekly attendance is at about 1.5% of the population; You can multiply up from my figure, or divide down from yours, but I don't think it is realistic to suggest that the sporadic attenders include a high proportion of zealots who genuinely believe in a vengeful old testament God in any meaningful sense that isn't covered by the actuarial "acts of god" already in the list.
Oh, and Christian church attendance is down about 15% between 2014 (your figures) and 2019, according to Statistica, so I think you'll find those numbers are probably on the high side.
Regarding the maternity hospital, the Russians claim that the hospital had ceased to function as a hospital several days ago, and had become a base for a Ukrainian military division. This seemed likely to me yesterday, even without the claims - using schools, hospitals, Churches, Mosques etc. as military bases is a very common tactic of urban warfare, because when they're attacked, it's of course considered an atrocity.
One side of this conflict is in the right, one side is in the wrong, but that doesn't stop the Ukrainians from fighting a propaganda war. As Western countries, we need to be extremely conscious of this, because the Ukrainians are desperate for Western nations to attack Russia, and will use every lever possible to make this a reality.
It seems "likely" to you based on no evidence at all except Russia claims it.
No, it seemed likely to me BEFORE I read the Russians' claims. As I said, basing themselves in a building like a hospital is a common and logical tactic for a military defending urban territory. It also seemed unlikely that Russia would actively bomb a hospital full of expectant mothers and newborns, even if they were the embodiment of evil, because it would hand a propaganda coup to the other side. The other alternative was that it was a cock up, which was highly possible.
Russia has spent the last week completely leveling a Russian speaking city to the ground. After their Plan A has fallen apart, and they know they can't win militarily so hope to force Ukraine to give some concessions to avoid the sort of destruction seen in Chechnya. They have deliberately switched to a policy of terror so don't care about PR value any more. It serves their purposes that stuff is as brutal as possible.
I've seen the argument that the Russians just don't care because they now just want to kill, and the alternative riff, which is that they are attempting actively to provoke a NATO response. I really don't buy either of these. I think they're determined to plow on and are prepared to kill some civilians in the process (which is bad) but I don't think they benefit from bombing normal hospitals. Qui Bono is a sound principle, and the benefit in this to me is all the Ukrainians'.
And those damn Syrian rebels just levelled Aleppo to give the Russians a bad name, too.
You are effectively claiming that Russia is not bombarding cities with unguided munitions.
BUPA been absolutely bloody useless in refusing to cover my mental health treatment, steer clear
I had what I thought was very good health cover through my former employer. However, the only times I used it they tried to wiggle out of paying absolutely every bill on the slightest of pretences. I won't name names, but similar experience.
Blooming heck! Just reading Chelsea can't sell any more tickets.
Chelsea will be in the championship in 2 years if they still exist
Chelsea 2022, the newly formed club from the embers of the current club when it goes bump, should start at the very foot of the football league pyramid.
Same for Everton 2022 when that happens
Everton ain't going bust though.
Well nobody wants to buy their players, so they would be uneffected by that :-)
Man Utd want Richarlison
Why do Man Utd want yet another attacking wide player? They only have about 12...
Man Utd need to spend all their money on two top rate DMs.
Man Utd problems go way deeper. Tifo football explained how they can't play so many common leading strategies because their squad is so unbalanced and too many players who can't (or won't) play in certain roles.
They have good AMs and forwards. They have defenders that have played well in the past or for their national teams. The problem is their DMs are just way out of their depth and are critical for a 4-2-3-1. Once they get them they have the spine of a decent team and can then shed the deadwood.
Even the forwards are a problem, too many want / are best at playing the same role or roles that don't compliment one another. The video is on youtube its worth watching, as they go through 3-4 different strategies and explain if they to play x, this means wek here and here and they can easily get picked off.
The conclusion was they don't have a team. They have a collection of mismatching players and too many who play the same role.
Regarding the maternity hospital, the Russians claim that the hospital had ceased to function as a hospital several days ago, and had become a base for a Ukrainian military division. This seemed likely to me yesterday, even without the claims - using schools, hospitals, Churches, Mosques etc. as military bases is a very common tactic of urban warfare, because when they're attacked, it's of course considered an atrocity.
One side of this conflict is in the right, one side is in the wrong, but that doesn't stop the Ukrainians from fighting a propaganda war. As Western countries, we need to be extremely conscious of this, because the Ukrainians are desperate for Western nations to attack Russia, and will use every lever possible to make this a reality.
It seems "likely" to you based on no evidence at all except Russia claims it.
No, it seemed likely to me BEFORE I read the Russians' claims. As I said, basing themselves in a building like a hospital is a common and logical tactic for a military defending urban territory. It also seemed unlikely that Russia would actively bomb a hospital full of expectant mothers and newborns, even if they were the embodiment of evil, because it would hand a propaganda coup to the other side. The other alternative was that it was a cock up, which was highly possible.
Russia has spent the last week completely leveling a Russian speaking city to the ground. After their Plan A has fallen apart, and they know they can't win militarily so hope to force Ukraine to give some concessions to avoid the sort of destruction seen in Chechnya. They have deliberately switched to a policy of terror so don't care about PR value any more. It serves their purposes that stuff is as brutal as possible.
I've seen the argument that the Russians just don't care because they now just want to kill, and the alternative riff, which is that they are attempting actively to provoke a NATO response. I really don't buy either of these. I think they're determined to plow on and are prepared to kill some civilians in the process (which is bad) but I don't think they benefit from bombing normal hospitals. Qui Bono is a sound principle, and the benefit in this to me is all the Ukrainians'.
I don't think that the Russians are dong this for The Evuls.
Looking at the rest of what is going on, they have a rather uncoordinated military capability, with emphasis on lower tech - very little use of guided munitions, planes dropping vintage dumb bombs etc.
They are using more and more indiscriminate firepower, because that is what they have.
Excellent thread on relevant Russian history (esp the Russo-Jap war) and sanctions. Loved this bit:
"Economic sufferings in Russia are now absolutely obvious. Here you see two women fighting over a frying pan in the last day before IKEA closes its business in Russia"
It’s still very much first world problems in Moscow at the moment, but it’s not going to take too long before it’s bread lines and soup kitchens in many Russian cities.
Shit will really hit the fan when they default without an IMF backstop.
Regarding the maternity hospital, the Russians claim that the hospital had ceased to function as a hospital several days ago, and had become a base for a Ukrainian military division. This seemed likely to me yesterday, even without the claims - using schools, hospitals, Churches, Mosques etc. as military bases is a very common tactic of urban warfare, because when they're attacked, it's of course considered an atrocity.
One side of this conflict is in the right, one side is in the wrong, but that doesn't stop the Ukrainians from fighting a propaganda war. As Western countries, we need to be extremely conscious of this, because the Ukrainians are desperate for Western nations to attack Russia, and will use every lever possible to make this a reality.
It seems "likely" to you based on no evidence at all except Russia claims it.
No, it seemed likely to me BEFORE I read the Russians' claims. As I said, basing themselves in a building like a hospital is a common and logical tactic for a military defending urban territory. It also seemed unlikely that Russia would actively bomb a hospital full of expectant mothers and newborns, even if they were the embodiment of evil, because it would hand a propaganda coup to the other side. The other alternative was that it was a cock up, which was highly possible.
Russia has spent the last week completely leveling a Russian speaking city to the ground. After their Plan A has fallen apart, and they know they can't win militarily so hope to force Ukraine to give some concessions to avoid the sort of destruction seen in Chechnya. They have deliberately switched to a policy of terror so don't care about PR value any more. It serves their purposes that stuff is as brutal as possible.
I've seen the argument that the Russians just don't care because they now just want to kill, and the alternative riff, which is that they are attempting actively to provoke a NATO response. I really don't buy either of these. I think they're determined to plow on and are prepared to kill some civilians in the process (which is bad) but I don't think they benefit from bombing normal hospitals. Qui Bono is a sound principle, and the benefit in this to me is all the Ukrainians'.
They have already completely leveled the center of Kharkiv. That goes way beyond "kill some civilians in the process".
That'll teach them for being ethnically Russian. Hah!!
Beautiful beautiful day here. Bright blue skies, 14C, the first real day of spring
March 10! Somehow it is always March 10, the second week of March, the true end of winter.
Life is still shit, but, hey, spring. That's something
No, the true end of winter and start of spring is March 20th, so we still have 10 days of astronomical winter to go
Seriously, what is wrong with you?
Nothing, I still keep my winter coat and scarf on and drink red wine and eat winter vegetables until March 20th.
I only take off my coat and scarf and switch to white wine and salad once spring starts on March 21st
Really - you are jesting surely
It’s quite an observation that most of us are wondering whether this is serious or not…
I've had a brief moment of doubt and considered that HYUFD might be SeanT's only successful deep cover creation, then remembered that he'd be far too lazy to pore over all these polls, let alone base the fiction on them that HYUFD does.
Either he just committed a joke - in which case there's hope for society - or he's stranger than we thought. I lean to the former.
Optimist! HYUFD does show occasional signs of having a soh but he only lets it escape on one out of every five blue moons, and when polling supports its release.
Excellent thread on relevant Russian history (esp the Russo-Jap war) and sanctions. Loved this bit:
"Economic sufferings in Russia are now absolutely obvious. Here you see two women fighting over a frying pan in the last day before IKEA closes its business in Russia"
It’s still very much first world problems in Moscow at the moment, but it’s not going to take too long before it’s bread lines and soup kitchens in many Russian cities.
Shit will really hit the fan when they default without an IMF backstop.
They'll just have to remortgage with the bank of China. Price, all Russian minerals for the next hundred years.
Regarding the maternity hospital, the Russians claim that the hospital had ceased to function as a hospital several days ago, and had become a base for a Ukrainian military division. This seemed likely to me yesterday, even without the claims - using schools, hospitals, Churches, Mosques etc. as military bases is a very common tactic of urban warfare, because when they're attacked, it's of course considered an atrocity.
One side of this conflict is in the right, one side is in the wrong, but that doesn't stop the Ukrainians from fighting a propaganda war. As Western countries, we need to be extremely conscious of this, because the Ukrainians are desperate for Western nations to attack Russia, and will use every lever possible to make this a reality.
We do seem to have plenty on here who believe, with childlike credulity, any old toss the Ukranians say.
True. And others* who give credence to Russian claims, despite the ample evidence that they've been largely talking bollocks for weeks.
*not you
While Ukraine is literally teasing us with occasionally releasing Bayraktar TB2 drone strikes, the best Russia can come up with is footage of its attack helicopters firing rockets at targets in the far distance. https://mobile.twitter.com/oryxspioenkop/status/1501900574241046531
FWIW - I have so much sympathy for Everton fans, none for Chelsea.
Their success since 2003 is built on dirty money.
Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.
Football bod saying on Sky typical spend for EPL club on away travel to other EPL games is £30k. Puts into perspective what a totally different world players live in.
I dread to think what is is for the NFL.
Oh its totally nuts. They all have special modified jumbo jets because of the size of the players and all the kit. I think Wendover Productions did an epsiode on the logistics of NFL.
I saw that, but dont remember a dollar amount. I like their channel, and to plane lovers it must be heaven.
Whilst it's amusing to think that Labour wanted to screw over Pidcock, my guess is they want to radically change the seats in the North East so as to reduce the incumbency bonus that the Tories may get.
Excellent thread on relevant Russian history (esp the Russo-Jap war) and sanctions. Loved this bit:
"Economic sufferings in Russia are now absolutely obvious. Here you see two women fighting over a frying pan in the last day before IKEA closes its business in Russia"
It’s still very much first world problems in Moscow at the moment, but it’s not going to take too long before it’s bread lines and soup kitchens in many Russian cities.
The whole thread is fascinating - check the queues for McDonald's and ATMs in Moscow. And this is after just a couple of weeks of sanctions
As you say, societies can crumble very quickly in situations like this. There will also be a chain reaction, unexpected problems will multiply. The West has basically taken the world's biggest spanner and shoved it in the Russian economy and it is already spitting with sparks, and grinding metal on metal
Dangerous situation, tho. If Putin starts to panic... hmm. We do need to give him some kind of exit route, even if it sticks in the craw. Some face saving shit that he can just about sell to his people
I suspect that the fog of war is used for a lot of things, but some things are certain.
Putin and poisoning - they go together like mustard and cress. We know for sure that in 2004/2005, Victor Yushchenko was poisoned by a mixture of dioxins, the most potent of the 75 congeners being the 2,3,7,8 congener. They cause a disorder called chloracne which give facial skin an ugly appearance somewhat like acne and he suffered from a massve dose. An unfortunate happening if you're in a battle for the Presidency of the Ukraine with a gentlemen called Victor Yanukovych.
There was no way this was accidental poisoning, he can only have been deliberately poisoned because of the doses and congener pattern involved.
Cui Bono? A gentleman sat in the Kremiln called Valdimir. He has form with using any method he can to achieve his aim and poisoning is one of his favourites.
Beautiful beautiful day here. Bright blue skies, 14C, the first real day of spring
March 10! Somehow it is always March 10, the second week of March, the true end of winter.
Life is still shit, but, hey, spring. That's something
No, the true end of winter and start of spring is March 20th, so we still have 10 days of astronomical winter to go
Seriously, what is wrong with you?
Nothing, I still keep my winter coat and scarf on and drink red wine and eat winter vegetables until March 20th.
I only take off my coat and scarf and switch to white wine and salad once spring starts on March 21st
Really - you are jesting surely
It’s quite an observation that most of us are wondering whether this is serious or not…
I've had a brief moment of doubt and considered that HYUFD might be SeanT's only successful deep cover creation, then remembered that he'd be far too lazy to pore over all these polls, let alone base the fiction on them that HYUFD does.
86.4% of PB posters agree with you, although that has declined significantly from a high of 86.5% last October.
It was not an option, if it was the very religious would likely have got it to at least 10 to 20%
Really? When 1.5% of the population are regular attenders of religious worship, and a whole bunch of those are probably not that radically superstitious, a 10x multiplier on that number seems a bit heavy.
17% attend services at least once a month whether Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu etc, over a third less regularly. So wrong
Excellent thread on relevant Russian history (esp the Russo-Jap war) and sanctions. Loved this bit:
"Economic sufferings in Russia are now absolutely obvious. Here you see two women fighting over a frying pan in the last day before IKEA closes its business in Russia"
It’s still very much first world problems in Moscow at the moment, but it’s not going to take too long before it’s bread lines and soup kitchens in many Russian cities.
Shit will really hit the fan when they default without an IMF backstop.
If they are already fighting over the last IKEA frying pan, what is going to like when they are fighting over the last bottle of vodka? Or the last potato?
Life in Russia is very, very soon going to be very, very unpleasant. But hey, nobody is bombing the shit out of their apartment blocks, or their maternity hospitals, so it could be worse....
Beautiful beautiful day here. Bright blue skies, 14C, the first real day of spring
March 10! Somehow it is always March 10, the second week of March, the true end of winter.
Life is still shit, but, hey, spring. That's something
Interestingly (perhaps?) 10 March is the first day of thermal spring. The thermal seasons in England run approximately 10th to 10th, they are midway between the astronomical dates and the ludicrous 1st of the month date set by the Met Office for statistical convenience.
Anyway, glad to see the great Seasons Dates debate continuing on PB. A classic.
But when he says that our strategy of confronting and defeating Putin, but doing so in a way that doesn't overly upset him, is neither stable nor coherent, he has hit the nail squarely on the head.
I remember Peter Couch talking about games with Liverpool, he said basically he turned up with a washbag and that was it. All travel, clothes, meals etc etc etc all provided, even down to clean pants. And for holidays, he has a lady he phones who sorts everything, that did basically the same.
When he stopped playing it was a massive shock that all of a sudden every meal wasn't just there, that he had to think about making sure had clean clothes etc...
Football bod saying on Sky typical spend for EPL club on away travel to other EPL games is £30k. Puts into perspective what a totally different world players live in.
What on Earth does that consist of?
Doesn't strike me as very much. Assuming 30 people travel, spend of £1,000 per person for two night in a five star hotel including meals and other stuff. Easy to see how they reach £30k.
Excellent thread on relevant Russian history (esp the Russo-Jap war) and sanctions. Loved this bit:
"Economic sufferings in Russia are now absolutely obvious. Here you see two women fighting over a frying pan in the last day before IKEA closes its business in Russia"
It’s still very much first world problems in Moscow at the moment, but it’s not going to take too long before it’s bread lines and soup kitchens in many Russian cities.
Shit will really hit the fan when they default without an IMF backstop.
They'll just have to remortgage with the bank of China. Price, all Russian minerals for the next hundred years.
It's possible that might be the moment that triggers a pro-Western coup. The Russian elite are much more culturally inclined towards the West.
Football bod saying on Sky typical spend for EPL club on away travel to other EPL games is £30k. Puts into perspective what a totally different world players live in.
I dread to think what is is for the NFL.
They seem to have so many players, for an 11-a-side game.
Excellent thread on relevant Russian history (esp the Russo-Jap war) and sanctions. Loved this bit:
"Economic sufferings in Russia are now absolutely obvious. Here you see two women fighting over a frying pan in the last day before IKEA closes its business in Russia"
They mention losing support for Cisco kit. That partly results in stuff just stopping, but in a lot of cases what'll happen with software is that stuff will fail to get security updates and end up with more and more known vulnerabilities, and anything in Russia connected to the internet will end up a very easy target for hackers. Maybe that's why they haven't been escalating on the cyber front.
Excellent thread on relevant Russian history (esp the Russo-Jap war) and sanctions. Loved this bit:
"Economic sufferings in Russia are now absolutely obvious. Here you see two women fighting over a frying pan in the last day before IKEA closes its business in Russia"
It’s still very much first world problems in Moscow at the moment, but it’s not going to take too long before it’s bread lines and soup kitchens in many Russian cities.
Shit will really hit the fan when they default without an IMF backstop.
If they are already fighting over the last IKEA frying pan, what is going to like when they are fighting over the last bottle of vodka? Or the last potato?
Life in Russia is very, very soon going to be very, very unpleasant. But hey, nobody is bombing the shit out of their apartment blocks, or their maternity hospitals, so it could be worse....
All the Russians I have met REALLY enjoy a western-style consumer society. They LOVE western products, fashions, etc (tho I guess some can be replaced by China), they adore escaping the Russian winter and going on hols to the tropics
Putin has taken all of that away, for the next ten years Russians will be holidaying in Crimea, if they can get there over the landmines. Their roubles are now worthless so they will be eating parsnips
Putin could become wildly unpopular in a short space of time. And for what? Russia was not threatened. Such madness
Excellent thread on relevant Russian history (esp the Russo-Jap war) and sanctions. Loved this bit:
"Economic sufferings in Russia are now absolutely obvious. Here you see two women fighting over a frying pan in the last day before IKEA closes its business in Russia"
It’s still very much first world problems in Moscow at the moment, but it’s not going to take too long before it’s bread lines and soup kitchens in many Russian cities.
The whole thread is fascinating - check the queues for McDonald's and ATMs in Moscow. And this is after just a couple of weeks of sanctions
As you say, societies can crumble very quickly in situations like this. There will also be a chain reaction, unexpected problems will multiply. The West has basically taken the world's biggest spanner and shoved it in the Russian economy and it is already spitting with sparks, and grinding metal on metal
Dangerous situation, tho. If Putin starts to panic... hmm. We do need to give him some kind of exit route, even if it sticks in the craw. Some face saving shit that he can just about sell to his people
His exit strategy is to turn his columns round and go back over the border into Russia proper. Now. Politically unpalatable? Tough shit. Plan B is they go home in body bags. And the sanctions stay in place months longer, just to make sure he has got the message.
But when he says that our strategy of confronting and defeating Putin, but doing so in a way that doesn't overly upset him, is neither stable nor coherent, he has hit the nail squarely on the head.
I disagree. We are abiding by clearly defined rules of engagement between NATO and Russia that are understood by the Russian military and other players within Russia. It is true that a maddened Putin, perhaps drug addled or tipped over into insanity may break them and try to launch a nuclear attack but we have done everything we can to enable internal forces in Russia to move to prevent that. If Putin is ruthless and paranoid but also rational in decision making the policy is also the correct one.
Football bod saying on Sky typical spend for EPL club on away travel to other EPL games is £30k. Puts into perspective what a totally different world players live in.
What on Earth does that consist of?
Doesn't strike me as very much. Assuming 30 people travel, spend of £1,000 per person for two night in a five star hotel including meals and other stuff. Easy to see how they reach £30k.
Do premier league players even share rooms these day? I think they do, at least I remember staying in hotel with an European team over here playing champions league and i know they did, as they were on our floor.
All the Russians I have met REALLY enjoy a western-style consumer society. They LOVE western products, fashions, etc (tho I guess some can be replaced by China), they adore escaping the Russian winter and going on hols to the tropics
If Chelsea and/or Everton go bust/get relegated I think I might actually die of laughter.
Forget the quadruple, this would be the double.
FWIW - I think Chelsea are screwed, they lost close to £150 million last season, and net losses of over a £1.5 billion over the last decade or two.
If Roman cannot pump money into the club, they are buggered.
I reckon they could get deducted points this season which might knock them out the CL places and more likely points deduction next season.
It was also reported yesterday that Everton might also get points deduction next season.
Patrick O'Flynn points out that, at this week-ends Chelsea/Newcastle match, it'll be the Geordies waving their wads at the West Londoners...
They need to be careful. Things can change very quickly.
Indeed.
The Overton window has shifted. I can see us, in the future, being much more assertive in using these kind of severe sanctions to achieve foreign policy goals. We’ve entered a “dodgy money be damned” era.
It’ll be fascinating to watch how this plays out over the next few years.
I heard some military guy on iirc, times radio a few days ago who thought we’re probably entering a new phase of globalisation, with different economic spheres which don’t interact much with each other. We’re seeing disinvestment on a huge scale.
Football bod saying on Sky typical spend for EPL club on away travel to other EPL games is £30k. Puts into perspective what a totally different world players live in.
What on Earth does that consist of?
Doesn't strike me as very much. Assuming 30 people travel, spend of £1,000 per person for two night in a five star hotel including meals and other stuff. Easy to see how they reach £30k.
Do premier league players even share rooms these day?
I doubt it. Anything that risks making sleep harder to attain will surely be avoided.
Excellent thread on relevant Russian history (esp the Russo-Jap war) and sanctions. Loved this bit:
"Economic sufferings in Russia are now absolutely obvious. Here you see two women fighting over a frying pan in the last day before IKEA closes its business in Russia"
It’s still very much first world problems in Moscow at the moment, but it’s not going to take too long before it’s bread lines and soup kitchens in many Russian cities.
Shit will really hit the fan when they default without an IMF backstop.
If they are already fighting over the last IKEA frying pan, what is going to like when they are fighting over the last bottle of vodka? Or the last potato?
Life in Russia is very, very soon going to be very, very unpleasant. But hey, nobody is bombing the shit out of their apartment blocks, or their maternity hospitals, so it could be worse....
All the Russians I have met REALLY enjoy a western-style consumer society. They LOVE western products, fashions, etc (tho I guess some can be replaced by China), they adore escaping the Russian winter and going on hols to the tropics
Putin has taken all of that away, for the next ten years Russians will be holidaying in Crimea, if they can get there over the landmines. Their roubles are now worthless so they will be eating parsnips
Putin could become wildly unpopular in a short space of time. And for what? Russia was not threatened. Such madness
Yes but I would imagine the Russians you know are more likely to be middle class and more educated, liberal and wealthier than the average Russian and living in big cities like Moscow and St Petersburg. There is resistance already to Putin there.
Out in rural Russia though where voters are less wealth off, less likely to travel abroad and less educated voters are more nationalist and more pro Putin
If Chelsea and/or Everton go bust/get relegated I think I might actually die of laughter.
Forget the quadruple, this would be the double.
FWIW - I think Chelsea are screwed, they lost close to £150 million last season, and net losses of over a £1.5 billion over the last decade or two.
If Roman cannot pump money into the club, they are buggered.
I reckon they could get deducted points this season which might knock them out the CL places and more likely points deduction next season.
It was also reported yesterday that Everton might also get points deduction next season.
Patrick O'Flynn points out that, at this week-ends Chelsea/Newcastle match, it'll be the Geordies waving their wads at the West Londoners...
They need to be careful. Things can change very quickly.
Indeed.
The Overton window has shifted. I can see us, in the future, being much more assertive in using these kind of severe sanctions to achieve foreign policy goals. We’ve entered a “dodgy money be damned” era.
It’ll be fascinating to watch how this plays out over the next few years.
Yes, there are going to be big political changes. I also predict more realistic energy policies with Green agendas side-lined and big increases in military expenditure.
Excellent thread on relevant Russian history (esp the Russo-Jap war) and sanctions. Loved this bit:
"Economic sufferings in Russia are now absolutely obvious. Here you see two women fighting over a frying pan in the last day before IKEA closes its business in Russia"
It’s still very much first world problems in Moscow at the moment, but it’s not going to take too long before it’s bread lines and soup kitchens in many Russian cities.
The whole thread is fascinating - check the queues for McDonald's and ATMs in Moscow. And this is after just a couple of weeks of sanctions
As you say, societies can crumble very quickly in situations like this. There will also be a chain reaction, unexpected problems will multiply. The West has basically taken the world's biggest spanner and shoved it in the Russian economy and it is already spitting with sparks, and grinding metal on metal
Dangerous situation, tho. If Putin starts to panic... hmm. We do need to give him some kind of exit route, even if it sticks in the craw. Some face saving shit that he can just about sell to his people
His exit strategy is to turn his columns round and go back over the border into Russia proper. Now. Politically unpalatable? Tough shit. Plan B is they go home in body bags. And the sanctions stay in place months longer, just to make sure he has got the message.
The sanctions are going to stay in place for years - it's the final kick in the arse to get a Net Zero policy implemented.
It was not an option, if it was the very religious would likely have got it to at least 10 to 20%
Really? When 1.5% of the population are regular attenders of religious worship, and a whole bunch of those are probably not that radically superstitious, a 10x multiplier on that number seems a bit heavy.
17% attend services at least once a month whether Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu etc, over a third less regularly. So wrong
The main reason I've heard about for church attendance these days is to get kids into some school or other...
For some and nothing wrong with that, there are many excellent church schools.
However that is less true of evangelical churches, Mosques, synagogues, temples etc and also obviously less true for more elderly worshippers in the Church of England and Roman Catholic church
Regarding the maternity hospital, the Russians claim that the hospital had ceased to function as a hospital several days ago, and had become a base for a Ukrainian military division. This seemed likely to me yesterday, even without the claims - using schools, hospitals, Churches, Mosques etc. as military bases is a very common tactic of urban warfare, because when they're attacked, it's of course considered an atrocity.
One side of this conflict is in the right, one side is in the wrong, but that doesn't stop the Ukrainians from fighting a propaganda war. As Western countries, we need to be extremely conscious of this, because the Ukrainians are desperate for Western nations to attack Russia, and will use every lever possible to make this a reality.
It seems "likely" to you based on no evidence at all except Russia claims it.
No, it seemed likely to me BEFORE I read the Russians' claims. As I said, basing themselves in a building like a hospital is a common and logical tactic for a military defending urban territory. It also seemed unlikely that Russia would actively bomb a hospital full of expectant mothers and newborns, even if they were the embodiment of evil, because it would hand a propaganda coup to the other side. The other alternative was that it was a cock up, which was highly possible.
Russia has spent the last week completely leveling a Russian speaking city to the ground. After their Plan A has fallen apart, and they know they can't win militarily so hope to force Ukraine to give some concessions to avoid the sort of destruction seen in Chechnya. They have deliberately switched to a policy of terror so don't care about PR value any more. It serves their purposes that stuff is as brutal as possible.
I've seen the argument that the Russians just don't care because they now just want to kill, and the alternative riff, which is that they are attempting actively to provoke a NATO response. I really don't buy either of these. I think they're determined to plow on and are prepared to kill some civilians in the process (which is bad) but I don't think they benefit from bombing normal hospitals. Qui Bono is a sound principle, and the benefit in this to me is all the Ukrainians'.
That doesn't make any sense. Faking a hospital bombing or rather lying about military use of it which would make it a legitimate target would not benefit the Ukrainians in the slightes since it would come out and would prevent an international response to a future event as it would be doubted.
If it doesnt benefit Russia to do it it makes even less sense and doesn't benefit Ukraine to lie about provoking it.
This seems on the same lines as 'X wouldn't do Y because theyd know it would hinder them, therefore it must be Z' yet people do counterproductive things all the time - the invasion itself being a case in point.
Excellent thread on relevant Russian history (esp the Russo-Jap war) and sanctions. Loved this bit:
"Economic sufferings in Russia are now absolutely obvious. Here you see two women fighting over a frying pan in the last day before IKEA closes its business in Russia"
It’s still very much first world problems in Moscow at the moment, but it’s not going to take too long before it’s bread lines and soup kitchens in many Russian cities.
Shit will really hit the fan when they default without an IMF backstop.
If they are already fighting over the last IKEA frying pan, what is going to like when they are fighting over the last bottle of vodka? Or the last potato?
Life in Russia is very, very soon going to be very, very unpleasant. But hey, nobody is bombing the shit out of their apartment blocks, or their maternity hospitals, so it could be worse....
All the Russians I have met REALLY enjoy a western-style consumer society. They LOVE western products, fashions, etc (tho I guess some can be replaced by China), they adore escaping the Russian winter and going on hols to the tropics
Putin has taken all of that away, for the next ten years Russians will be holidaying in Crimea, if they can get there over the landmines. Their roubles are now worthless so they will be eating parsnips
Putin could become wildly unpopular in a short space of time. And for what? Russia was not threatened. Such madness
This is already the most stupid action of the 21st Century. The smart Russians have already legged it out of there with foreign currency/gold bars. For the rest, it is a long decline, with hungry bellies ruminating on how they cheered on their troops going on another foreign excursion.
To protect their lifestyles. Well, how did that pan out?
It was not an option, if it was the very religious would likely have got it to at least 10 to 20%
Really? When 1.5% of the population are regular attenders of religious worship, and a whole bunch of those are probably not that radically superstitious, a 10x multiplier on that number seems a bit heavy.
17% attend services at least once a month whether Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu etc, over a third less regularly. So wrong
Yes, but weekly attendance is at about 1.5% of the population; You can multiply up from my figure, or divide down from yours, but I don't think it is realistic to suggest that the sporadic attenders include a high proportion of zealots who genuinely believe in a vengeful old testament God in any meaningful sense that isn't covered by the actuarial "acts of god" already in the list.
Oh, and Christian church attendance is down about 15% between 2014 (your figures) and 2019, according to Statistica, so I think you'll find those numbers are probably on the high side.
Still over 10% though and still way higher than the 1.5% you said.
1.5% is just the number who attend weekly Church of England services and members of the Church of England are only a minority of Christians and Christians are only a minority of religions as a whole
Excellent thread on relevant Russian history (esp the Russo-Jap war) and sanctions. Loved this bit:
"Economic sufferings in Russia are now absolutely obvious. Here you see two women fighting over a frying pan in the last day before IKEA closes its business in Russia"
It’s still very much first world problems in Moscow at the moment, but it’s not going to take too long before it’s bread lines and soup kitchens in many Russian cities.
The whole thread is fascinating - check the queues for McDonald's and ATMs in Moscow. And this is after just a couple of weeks of sanctions
As you say, societies can crumble very quickly in situations like this. There will also be a chain reaction, unexpected problems will multiply. The West has basically taken the world's biggest spanner and shoved it in the Russian economy and it is already spitting with sparks, and grinding metal on metal
Dangerous situation, tho. If Putin starts to panic... hmm. We do need to give him some kind of exit route, even if it sticks in the craw. Some face saving shit that he can just about sell to his people
His exit strategy is to turn his columns round and go back over the border into Russia proper. Now. Politically unpalatable? Tough shit. Plan B is they go home in body bags. And the sanctions stay in place months longer, just to make sure he has got the message.
At any time, Putin can declare "mission succeeded, the Nazis are gone, rule of law back in place" and roll the tanks home. Given that there weren't any Nazis (meaningfully) that is essentially true. That is his get out.
We (the international community) would probably allow him to get away with that.
Quite unexpected to find it is not old Victorian engineering* that was the problem but very modern contractor work.
Indeed. Also note that there were issues with Network Rail not inspecting the upper parts of the drainage system, at all - because it had not been entered onto the system. This is where (in the good old days) linesmen would have known 'their' patrol stretch like the back of their hand, and would have known to look at the state of the drains.
Having said that, these sorts of things were also much more frequent in those days...
The video you cite video is quite the modern equivalent of those engravings in the Sapper Colonels' reports for the Railway Inspectorate in Victorian times. Very substantial report, too; have only dipped into it; look forward to taking a proper look later.
RAIB reports are always excellent; technically, in terms of language, and in developing robust conclusions without screeching: "There's the witch!"
All the Russians I have met REALLY enjoy a western-style consumer society. They LOVE western products, fashions, etc (tho I guess some can be replaced by China), they adore escaping the Russian winter and going on hols to the tropics
And yes, Russians like that will already be cursing Putin. But it won't stop with the kids-of-oligarchs, it will soon be any middle class Russian with any aspirations. Putin has fucked their dreams
Football bod saying on Sky typical spend for EPL club on away travel to other EPL games is £30k. Puts into perspective what a totally different world players live in.
What on Earth does that consist of?
Doesn't strike me as very much. Assuming 30 people travel, spend of £1,000 per person for two night in a five star hotel including meals and other stuff. Easy to see how they reach £30k.
Do premier league players even share rooms these day?
I doubt it. Anything that risks making sleep harder to attain will surely be avoided.
Other than Burley, they more than likely stay in a Travelodge specificly because you can have 4 in a room via those sofa beds....
I've actually met Sean Dyche, he is a top bloke and super grounded. He is really big on players not thinking they are Billy Big Bollocks just because they play in the premier league.
But when he says that our strategy of confronting and defeating Putin, but doing so in a way that doesn't overly upset him, is neither stable nor coherent, he has hit the nail squarely on the head.
Yes. Doesn't make deciding what to do simpler, but he's correct it is not entirely coherent.
Excellent thread on relevant Russian history (esp the Russo-Jap war) and sanctions. Loved this bit:
"Economic sufferings in Russia are now absolutely obvious. Here you see two women fighting over a frying pan in the last day before IKEA closes its business in Russia"
It’s still very much first world problems in Moscow at the moment, but it’s not going to take too long before it’s bread lines and soup kitchens in many Russian cities.
The whole thread is fascinating - check the queues for McDonald's and ATMs in Moscow. And this is after just a couple of weeks of sanctions
As you say, societies can crumble very quickly in situations like this. There will also be a chain reaction, unexpected problems will multiply. The West has basically taken the world's biggest spanner and shoved it in the Russian economy and it is already spitting with sparks, and grinding metal on metal
Dangerous situation, tho. If Putin starts to panic... hmm. We do need to give him some kind of exit route, even if it sticks in the craw. Some face saving shit that he can just about sell to his people
His exit strategy is to turn his columns round and go back over the border into Russia proper. Now. Politically unpalatable? Tough shit. Plan B is they go home in body bags. And the sanctions stay in place months longer, just to make sure he has got the message.
At any time, Putin can declare "mission succeeded, the Nazis are gone, rule of law back in place" and roll the tanks home. Given that there weren't any Nazis (meaningfully) that is essentially true. That is his get out.
We (the international community) would probably allow him to get away with that.
I supposed the one sticking point there is that they'd probably have to leave a heck of a lot of materiel in the field, as it is incapable of being driven back home.
Excellent thread on relevant Russian history (esp the Russo-Jap war) and sanctions. Loved this bit:
"Economic sufferings in Russia are now absolutely obvious. Here you see two women fighting over a frying pan in the last day before IKEA closes its business in Russia"
Regarding the maternity hospital, the Russians claim that the hospital had ceased to function as a hospital several days ago, and had become a base for a Ukrainian military division. This seemed likely to me yesterday, even without the claims - using schools, hospitals, Churches, Mosques etc. as military bases is a very common tactic of urban warfare, because when they're attacked, it's of course considered an atrocity.
One side of this conflict is in the right, one side is in the wrong, but that doesn't stop the Ukrainians from fighting a propaganda war. As Western countries, we need to be extremely conscious of this, because the Ukrainians are desperate for Western nations to attack Russia, and will use every lever possible to make this a reality.
It seems "likely" to you based on no evidence at all except Russia claims it.
No, it seemed likely to me BEFORE I read the Russians' claims. As I said, basing themselves in a building like a hospital is a common and logical tactic for a military defending urban territory. It also seemed unlikely that Russia would actively bomb a hospital full of expectant mothers and newborns, even if they were the embodiment of evil, because it would hand a propaganda coup to the other side. The other alternative was that it was a cock up, which was highly possible.
Russia has spent the last week completely leveling a Russian speaking city to the ground. After their Plan A has fallen apart, and they know they can't win militarily so hope to force Ukraine to give some concessions to avoid the sort of destruction seen in Chechnya. They have deliberately switched to a policy of terror so don't care about PR value any more. It serves their purposes that stuff is as brutal as possible.
I've seen the argument that the Russians just don't care because they now just want to kill, and the alternative riff, which is that they are attempting actively to provoke a NATO response. I really don't buy either of these. I think they're determined to plow on and are prepared to kill some civilians in the process (which is bad) but I don't think they benefit from bombing normal hospitals. Qui Bono is a sound principle, and the benefit in this to me is all the Ukrainians'.
That doesn't make any sense. Faking a hospital bombing or rather lying about military use of it which would make it a legitimate target would not benefit the Ukrainians in the slightes since it would come out and would prevent an international response to a future event as it would be doubted.
If it doesnt benefit Russia to do it it makes even less sense and doesn't benefit Ukraine to lie about provoking it.
This seems on the same lines as 'X wouldn't do Y because theyd know it would hinder them, therefore it must be Z' yet people do counterproductive things all the time - the invasion itself being a case in point.
You have to commend the Ukrainians commitment to the deception - getting a pregnant women in to be stretchered across the blast zone
Excellent thread on relevant Russian history (esp the Russo-Jap war) and sanctions. Loved this bit:
"Economic sufferings in Russia are now absolutely obvious. Here you see two women fighting over a frying pan in the last day before IKEA closes its business in Russia"
It’s still very much first world problems in Moscow at the moment, but it’s not going to take too long before it’s bread lines and soup kitchens in many Russian cities.
The whole thread is fascinating - check the queues for McDonald's and ATMs in Moscow. And this is after just a couple of weeks of sanctions
As you say, societies can crumble very quickly in situations like this. There will also be a chain reaction, unexpected problems will multiply. The West has basically taken the world's biggest spanner and shoved it in the Russian economy and it is already spitting with sparks, and grinding metal on metal
Dangerous situation, tho. If Putin starts to panic... hmm. We do need to give him some kind of exit route, even if it sticks in the craw. Some face saving shit that he can just about sell to his people
His exit strategy is to turn his columns round and go back over the border into Russia proper. Now. Politically unpalatable? Tough shit. Plan B is they go home in body bags. And the sanctions stay in place months longer, just to make sure he has got the message.
The sanctions are going to stay in place for years - it's the final kick in the arse to get a Net Zero policy implemented.
Probably right in your first point, unfortunately I don't think accelerating renewables will solve the short-fall of a boycott, other fossil fuel resources will have to be substituted at least for a while. Cost will be a critical factor as well as technology, wea re riding through the biggest economic storm since WW2, COVID and now this war.
Chelsea to seek changes to the licence so it can operate normally
It does not get it does it
Actually i don't blame them. Not being able to sell match day tickets is really silly. That's totally different from you can't spend £100 million on a new player. I imagine they don't think they will get total free nornal operation, but get some concessions to the licence.
Excellent thread on relevant Russian history (esp the Russo-Jap war) and sanctions. Loved this bit:
"Economic sufferings in Russia are now absolutely obvious. Here you see two women fighting over a frying pan in the last day before IKEA closes its business in Russia"
It’s still very much first world problems in Moscow at the moment, but it’s not going to take too long before it’s bread lines and soup kitchens in many Russian cities.
The whole thread is fascinating - check the queues for McDonald's and ATMs in Moscow. And this is after just a couple of weeks of sanctions
As you say, societies can crumble very quickly in situations like this. There will also be a chain reaction, unexpected problems will multiply. The West has basically taken the world's biggest spanner and shoved it in the Russian economy and it is already spitting with sparks, and grinding metal on metal
Dangerous situation, tho. If Putin starts to panic... hmm. We do need to give him some kind of exit route, even if it sticks in the craw. Some face saving shit that he can just about sell to his people
His exit strategy is to turn his columns round and go back over the border into Russia proper. Now. Politically unpalatable? Tough shit. Plan B is they go home in body bags. And the sanctions stay in place months longer, just to make sure he has got the message.
The sanctions are going to stay in place for years - it's the final kick in the arse to get a Net Zero policy implemented.
Well, I'm not sure. As I have said before, I can see Putin demanding the lifting of all sanctions before they stop levelling Ukrainian cities, even if the Ukrainians conceded to all their demands.
"These deaths in Ukraine, they could stop - if only you lift all sanctions...."
Invidious choice for us. But even so, no western companies are going to be investing in Russia for twenty years because of the extreme risk they will have to do a BP or a Shell and walk away from it as a total loss. China will fill the gap, people say. Not if that puts at risk people buying their products. "Until they stop supporting Russia, buy China last." Not worth siding with Russia to have that spring up.
Comments
I think and hope that the first is correct. Time for a change. Time for Starmer to build a team and a plan to make Britain better. Time for the Conservatives to remember that politics isn't just about trousering cash, and getting lucrative side jobs.
And they ain't staying in a Travelodge.
or what?
Or we will be really, really annoyed.
Seriously - hope you are ok.
If you go and watch Ben Foster on Youtube you can see the hotel they stay in before home games, its very nice. And of course they have their own chefs make all the food for them. For a Saturday game, they go straight after training on a Friday lunchtime and stay there until midday on th3 Saturday.
Footballers are cheapskates compared to F1 team travel expenses!
When did that happen?
I see wiki says 190 cubic miles of ash. That equates to 3.6m square miles at 4 inches deep.
The whole of the USA (excluding Alaska and Hawaii) is some 8.1m square miles. So maybe half of the US would be uninhabitable/unfit for growing crops.
Oh, and bees dying out wouldn't be great, but moths do a surprising amount of the heavy lifting on pollination. And travel much further distances than bees, so are better for broadening the gene pool.
Cannot wait to see it with Chelsea and Neverton.
We aren't even Russian owned.
Incompetently owned I'll grant you.
I lean to the former.
For example they can't play attacking right / left back strategies because Shaw can, Wan-Bassika can't and vice versa, Shaw loves his England role of being attacking rather than solely defensive.
"Economic sufferings in Russia are now absolutely obvious. Here you see two women fighting over a frying pan in the last day before IKEA closes its business in Russia"
https://twitter.com/kamilkazani/status/1501684994502443009?s=20&t=IZT62Q7JIFEYGCv1678XSg
4 ins of ash would be a lot to plough in. The problem really is lack of sun for 10 years tho
You are effectively claiming that Russia is not bombarding cities with unguided munitions.
The conclusion was they don't have a team. They have a collection of mismatching players and too many who play the same role.
Forget the quadruple, this would be the double.
FWIW - I think Chelsea are screwed, they lost close to £150 million last season, and net losses of over a £1.5 billion over the last decade or two.
If Roman cannot pump money into the club, they are buggered.
I reckon they could get deducted points this season which might knock them out the CL places and more likely points deduction next season.
It was also reported yesterday that Everton might also get points deduction next season.
Looking at the rest of what is going on, they have a rather uncoordinated military capability, with emphasis on lower tech - very little use of guided munitions, planes dropping vintage dumb bombs etc.
They are using more and more indiscriminate firepower, because that is what they have.
Oh.....
HYUFD does show occasional signs of having a soh but he only lets it escape on one out of every five blue moons, and when polling supports its release.
https://mobile.twitter.com/oryxspioenkop/status/1501900574241046531
Their success since 2003 is built on dirty money.
Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.
Whilst it's amusing to think that Labour wanted to screw over Pidcock, my guess is they want to radically change the seats in the North East so as to reduce the incumbency bonus that the Tories may get.
As you say, societies can crumble very quickly in situations like this. There will also be a chain reaction, unexpected problems will multiply. The West has basically taken the world's biggest spanner and shoved it in the Russian economy and it is already spitting with sparks, and grinding metal on metal
Dangerous situation, tho. If Putin starts to panic... hmm. We do need to give him some kind of exit route, even if it sticks in the craw. Some face saving shit that he can just about sell to his people
Putin and poisoning - they go together like mustard and cress. We know for sure that in 2004/2005, Victor Yushchenko was poisoned by a mixture of dioxins, the most potent of the 75 congeners being the 2,3,7,8 congener. They cause a disorder called chloracne which give facial skin an ugly appearance somewhat like acne and he suffered from a massve dose. An unfortunate happening if you're in a battle for the Presidency of the Ukraine with a gentlemen called Victor Yanukovych.
There was no way this was accidental poisoning, he can only have been deliberately poisoned because of the doses and congener pattern involved.
Cui Bono? A gentleman sat in the Kremiln called Valdimir. He has form with using any method he can to achieve his aim and poisoning is one of his favourites.
Life in Russia is very, very soon going to be very, very unpleasant. But hey, nobody is bombing the shit out of their apartment blocks, or their maternity hospitals, so it could be worse....
Anyway, glad to see the great Seasons Dates debate continuing on PB. A classic.
But when he says that our strategy of confronting and defeating Putin, but doing so in a way that doesn't overly upset him, is neither stable nor coherent, he has hit the nail squarely on the head.
When he stopped playing it was a massive shock that all of a sudden every meal wasn't just there, that he had to think about making sure had clean clothes etc...
Doesn't strike me as very much. Assuming 30 people travel, spend of £1,000 per person for two night in a five star hotel including meals and other stuff. Easy to see how they reach £30k.
Putin has taken all of that away, for the next ten years Russians will be holidaying in Crimea, if they can get there over the landmines. Their roubles are now worthless so they will be eating parsnips
Putin could become wildly unpopular in a short space of time. And for what? Russia was not threatened. Such madness
The Overton window has shifted. I can see us, in the future, being much more assertive in using these kind of severe sanctions to achieve foreign policy goals. We’ve entered a “dodgy money be damned” era.
It’ll be fascinating to watch how this plays out over the next few years.
I heard some military guy on iirc, times radio a few days ago who thought we’re probably entering a new phase of globalisation, with different economic spheres which don’t interact much with each other. We’re seeing disinvestment on a huge scale.
Out in rural Russia though where voters are less wealth off, less likely to travel abroad and less educated voters are more nationalist and more pro Putin
However that is less true of evangelical churches, Mosques, synagogues, temples etc and also obviously less true for more elderly worshippers in the Church of England and Roman Catholic church
If it doesnt benefit Russia to do it it makes even less sense and doesn't benefit Ukraine to lie about provoking it.
This seems on the same lines as 'X wouldn't do Y because theyd know it would hinder them, therefore it must be Z' yet people do counterproductive things all the time - the invasion itself being a case in point.
To protect their lifestyles. Well, how did that pan out?
1.5% is just the number who attend weekly Church of England services and members of the Church of England are only a minority of Christians and Christians are only a minority of religions as a whole
We (the international community) would probably allow him to get away with that.
And yes, Russians like that will already be cursing Putin. But it won't stop with the kids-of-oligarchs, it will soon be any middle class Russian with any aspirations. Putin has fucked their dreams
I've actually met Sean Dyche, he is a top bloke and super grounded. He is really big on players not thinking they are Billy Big Bollocks just because they play in the premier league.
The blues blew it.
It does not get it does it
"These deaths in Ukraine, they could stop - if only you lift all sanctions...."
Invidious choice for us. But even so, no western companies are going to be investing in Russia for twenty years because of the extreme risk they will have to do a BP or a Shell and walk away from it as a total loss. China will fill the gap, people say. Not if that puts at risk people buying their products. "Until they stop supporting Russia, buy China last." Not worth siding with Russia to have that spring up.