That’s settled then. Trip to spec savers for HY tomorrow.
Old age doesn’t come alone 😎
Who cares? It makes zero difference to the main point that Wallace is still ahead of any other senior politician including Sunak and Johnson and Starmer.
I am not retired like BigG who can spend all day double checking every minute detail of everything he posts.
Not that it made the slightest difference to anything anyway.
"Not that it made the slightest difference to anything anyway."
Now then, now then. Posting polling falsehoods on a betting site reliant on accurate polling detail is probably as serious as it gets.
Sod off.
It made no difference whatsoever to the main point I was posting about that Wallace was still ahead which was correct on both figures.
In both cases Starmer was also in negative territory but still ahead of Johnson so again no difference.
It was not intentional and one minor miss as I posted favourable rather than net favourable on Starmer, it made near zero difference to anything, so no I will not be apologising to any of the whingers on here.
Does the H in your name stand for Hebblethwaite?
That reminds me, I've never seen an explanation of what HYUFD stands for.
Russian precision-guided missiles are failing up to 60% of the time in Ukraine, three U.S. officials with knowledge of intelligence on the issue told Reuters, a possible explanation for the poor progress of Russia's invasion.
I am sceptical of weasel words. I win the lottery jackpot up to 60% of the times I enter, for example.
In the 80's a Skip was called a Lada convertable
Time to dust off all of the old Lada / Skoda jokes....
What do you call a Skoda with two exhausts....a wheelbarrow.
How do you double the value of a Lada....fill it up with petrol.
What do you call a Lada in the summer? An oven. What do you call a Lada in the winter? A freezer.
How do you avoid speeding tickets?...Buy a Lada.
What do you call a Lada at the top of a hill?....A miracle.
I did once walk past a Trabant as we were both travelling UP a hil!
My son's Fabia is very well put together.
I drove a two- stroke Wartburg Knight occasionally around London in the early 1980s. It was reminiscent of the Goldfinger DB5 in as much that it could generate a smoke screen and an oil slick in its wake.
Was it the Trabant that could go as fast backwards as it could forwards?
Fed up with West’s diplomatic fence sitting, Zelensky goes on offensive: tells Europe leaders they acted too late to stop RF invasion. Singles out nations for being late or reluctant to take measures - Germany, Portugal & Ireland - then lambasts Hungary for neutrality #Ukraine
The contrast between Macron and Johnson couldn't be more stark. I'd love to see a Brexit poll in the UK. If there are any Leavers still prepared to admit to their stupidity I'd be surprised.
Folk can be very forgetful.
I knew registered voters with two properties, one in the Vale of Glamorgan and one in Cardiff North. A Conservative activist in the Vale, he considered himself and his now ex-wife worthy of their two votes.
Maybe similarly, Andrea had two votes in the EU Ref. Mind you not voting at all would have expended less effort and achieved the same result.
"Why don't you want this country to succeed? No abuse or ridiculous answers."
Russian precision-guided missiles are failing up to 60% of the time in Ukraine, three U.S. officials with knowledge of intelligence on the issue told Reuters, a possible explanation for the poor progress of Russia's invasion.
I am sceptical of weasel words. I win the lottery jackpot up to 60% of the times I enter, for example.
In the 80's a Skip was called a Lada convertable
Time to dust off all of the old Lada / Skoda jokes....
What do you call a Skoda with two exhausts....a wheelbarrow.
How do you double the value of a Lada....fill it up with petrol.
What do you call a Lada in the summer? An oven. What do you call a Lada in the winter? A freezer.
How do you avoid speeding tickets?...Buy a Lada.
What do you call a Lada at the top of a hill?....A miracle.
I did once walk past a Trabant as we were both travelling UP a hil!
My son's Fabia is very well put together.
I drove a two- stroke Wartburg Knight occasionally around London in the early 1980s. It was reminiscent of the Goldfinger DB5 in as much that it could generate a smoke screen and an oil slick in its wake.
Was it the Trabant that could go as fast backwards as it could forwards?
I've never driven a Trabbie, so I am not sure.
A car made of resin impregnated recycled cotton wool strikes me as being unsafe at any speed, forward or reverse.
That’s settled then. Trip to spec savers for HY tomorrow.
Old age doesn’t come alone 😎
Who cares? It makes zero difference to the main point that Wallace is still ahead of any other senior politician including Sunak and Johnson and Starmer.
I am not retired like BigG who can spend all day double checking every minute detail of everything he posts.
Not that it made the slightest difference to anything anyway.
"Not that it made the slightest difference to anything anyway."
Now then, now then. Posting polling falsehoods on a betting site reliant on accurate polling detail is probably as serious as it gets.
Sod off.
It made no difference whatsoever to the main point I was posting about that Wallace was still ahead which was correct on both figures.
In both cases Starmer was also in negative territory but still ahead of Johnson so again no difference.
It was not intentional and one minor miss as I posted favourable rather than net favourable on Starmer, it made near zero difference to anything, so no I will not be apologising to any of the whingers on here.
Does the H in your name stand for Hebblethwaite?
That reminds me, I've never seen an explanation of what HYUFD stands for.
He stands for the Tory party, the Queen, the CofE and England..er..Britain, in that order.
Russian precision-guided missiles are failing up to 60% of the time in Ukraine, three U.S. officials with knowledge of intelligence on the issue told Reuters, a possible explanation for the poor progress of Russia's invasion.
I am sceptical of weasel words. I win the lottery jackpot up to 60% of the times I enter, for example.
In the 80's a Skip was called a Lada convertable
Time to dust off all of the old Lada / Skoda jokes....
What do you call a Skoda with two exhausts....a wheelbarrow.
How do you double the value of a Lada....fill it up with petrol.
What do you call a Lada in the summer? An oven. What do you call a Lada in the winter? A freezer.
How do you avoid speeding tickets?...Buy a Lada.
What do you call a Lada at the top of a hill?....A miracle.
I did once walk past a Trabant as we were both travelling UP a hil!
After the Fall of the Wall, VW rebuilt Skoda as a brand from the ground up.
Pre WWII, Skoda was a heavy engineering concern, famous for the quality and volume of production. Specialities included armour plate and heavy artillery.
Indeed. Part of the reason Hitler wanted the Sudetenland. Access to Pilsen.
ČKD was another reason - they made some fine tanks. Helped to arm the Wehrmacht for the 1940 and 1941 offensives. The design ended up being used for tank hunters and self propelled artillery till 1945 (and after in Sweden and Switzerland).
That’s settled then. Trip to spec savers for HY tomorrow.
Old age doesn’t come alone 😎
Who cares? It makes zero difference to the main point that Wallace is still ahead of any other senior politician including Sunak and Johnson and Starmer.
I am not retired like BigG who can spend all day double checking every minute detail of everything he posts.
Not that it made the slightest difference to anything anyway.
"Not that it made the slightest difference to anything anyway."
Now then, now then. Posting polling falsehoods on a betting site reliant on accurate polling detail is probably as serious as it gets.
Sod off.
It made no difference whatsoever to the main point I was posting about that Wallace was still ahead which was correct on both figures.
In both cases Starmer was also in negative territory but still ahead of Johnson so again no difference.
It was not intentional and one minor miss as I posted favourable rather than net favourable on Starmer, it made near zero difference to anything, so no I will not be apologising to any of the whingers on here.
Does the H in your name stand for Hebblethwaite?
That reminds me, I've never seen an explanation of what HYUFD stands for.
That’s settled then. Trip to spec savers for HY tomorrow.
Old age doesn’t come alone 😎
Who cares? It makes zero difference to the main point that Wallace is still ahead of any other senior politician including Sunak and Johnson and Starmer.
I am not retired like BigG who can spend all day double checking every minute detail of everything he posts.
Not that it made the slightest difference to anything anyway.
"Not that it made the slightest difference to anything anyway."
Now then, now then. Posting polling falsehoods on a betting site reliant on accurate polling detail is probably as serious as it gets.
Sod off.
It made no difference whatsoever to the main point I was posting about that Wallace was still ahead which was correct on both figures.
In both cases Starmer was also in negative territory but still ahead of Johnson so again no difference.
It was not intentional and one minor miss as I posted favourable rather than net favourable on Starmer, it made near zero difference to anything, so no I will not be apologising to any of the whingers on here.
Does the H in your name stand for Hebblethwaite?
That reminds me, I've never seen an explanation of what HYUFD stands for.
Hoist Your Union Flag Defiantly
Ah, thanks. Bit odd as so much of his programme predates 1603, never mind 1707.
The contrast between Macron and Johnson couldn't be more stark. I'd love to see a Brexit poll in the UK. If there are any Leavers still prepared to admit to their stupidity I'd be surprised.
51% of even French voters had a positive view of Johnson last year, more than 10% ahead of Macron.
59% of Le Pen and Les Republicains voters and even 55% of Melenchon voters had a positive view of him.
Can we see the poll? If you ran a Daily Express poll it would tel you that Nadine Dorries is the most lusted after politician in the World! The idea that Johnson's popular in France is GARBAGE!!
It's quoted in the article.
I read it. Those who didn't like Macron and had heard of Johnson preferred him. A poll for any point of view in other words
Err no. A poll which showed that a lot of French people have a more positive view of Boris than Macron. I know that has got to hurt you but it's awfully funny for the rest of us. Also says a lot about your finger on the French pulse.
Then again, plenty of Brits prefer Manu to Johnson.
Who is Manu?
"Manu" Macron - the man who many Brits prefer to Boris Johnson.
Such ratings seem of pretty marginal benefit to me. I probably know more about Macron than the average British person and I cannot say I really know all that much about his domestic record in particular. So if I rated him positively its not much more worthwhile than when a few people were fawning over UvDL on the basis she speaks very good English and dresses smartly, neither of which Boris manages (and it was those reasons mentioned - things about being classy etc).
Russian precision-guided missiles are failing up to 60% of the time in Ukraine, three U.S. officials with knowledge of intelligence on the issue told Reuters, a possible explanation for the poor progress of Russia's invasion.
I am sceptical of weasel words. I win the lottery jackpot up to 60% of the times I enter, for example.
In the 80's a Skip was called a Lada convertable
Time to dust off all of the old Lada / Skoda jokes....
What do you call a Skoda with two exhausts....a wheelbarrow.
How do you double the value of a Lada....fill it up with petrol.
What do you call a Lada in the summer? An oven. What do you call a Lada in the winter? A freezer.
How do you avoid speeding tickets?...Buy a Lada.
What do you call a Lada at the top of a hill?....A miracle.
I did once walk past a Trabant as we were both travelling UP a hil!
My son's Fabia is very well put together.
I drove a two- stroke Wartburg Knight occasionally around London in the early 1980s. It was reminiscent of the Goldfinger DB5 in as much that it could generate a smoke screen and an oil slick in its wake.
Was it the Trabant that could go as fast backwards as it could forwards?
Italian Tanks I believe
Quite a number of UK armoured vehicles used a reversing system that simply reverses all the gears. So you can (in theory) drive a Ferret armoured car backwards as fast as forwards.
That’s settled then. Trip to spec savers for HY tomorrow.
Old age doesn’t come alone 😎
Who cares? It makes zero difference to the main point that Wallace is still ahead of any other senior politician including Sunak and Johnson and Starmer.
I am not retired like BigG who can spend all day double checking every minute detail of everything he posts.
Not that it made the slightest difference to anything anyway.
"Not that it made the slightest difference to anything anyway."
Now then, now then. Posting polling falsehoods on a betting site reliant on accurate polling detail is probably as serious as it gets.
Sod off.
It made no difference whatsoever to the main point I was posting about that Wallace was still ahead which was correct on both figures.
In both cases Starmer was also in negative territory but still ahead of Johnson so again no difference.
It was not intentional and one minor miss as I posted favourable rather than net favourable on Starmer, it made near zero difference to anything, so no I will not be apologising to any of the whingers on here.
Does the H in your name stand for Hebblethwaite?
That reminds me, I've never seen an explanation of what HYUFD stands for.
He stands for the Tory party, the Queen, the CofE and England..er..Britain, in that order.
March 25 (Reuters) - Russia's defence ministry said on Friday that the first phase of its military operation in Ukraine was mostly complete and that it would focus on completely "liberating" eastern Ukraine's Donbass region.
The announcement appeared to indicate that Russia may be switching to more limited goals after running into fierce Ukrainian resistance in the first month of the war.
That's pretty massive, if true. That would suggest that the Russian army was returning to the East and the South.
Of course, it makes things harder for Ukraine in many ways. It means that the Russian army is defending, which it will find easier. And it potentially makes it harder for Ukraine to garner the same amount of international support.
I also suspect that Russia will want to maintain the Southern coastline between the Crimea and the Donbass, which the Ukrainians can never accept.
The danger for Ukraine is that the Russians dig in, and the Ukrainians don't have the strength to dislodge them.
On the other hand, it does suggest that the danger of global nuclear war is receding somewhat.
Sadly I think if the Ukrainians think the West will aid them in trying to regain Donbas they will be surprised. New line of ceasefire would be pushed i reckon.
Which might have made sense as a limited russian aim from the start except they've clearly sought a lot more than that.
While that may be true of the Donbas, I think the real question is the coastline and Mauripol.
True (though more tricky on the issue of bits claimed by the 'republics' which they were not holding prior to this phase, which includes Mauripol). I think the question of the coast is where NATO and allies will split - some will not have stomach to see Ukrainians inflicting the damage as they seek to dig out Russian defenders, and will suggest perhaps now is the time to stop and talk as the Russian demands lessen (even if felt to be still unacceptable).
But as you say there's surely no way the Ukrainians stop trying to take back such a large expanse of coast.
The simplest way to deal with it is to view them as "occupied territories"; legally Ukrainian under illegal occupation by Russia. Sanctions can be applied to the region so that they become as pleasant to live in as East Berlin before the wall came down. There are ways that the international community can deal with it without Putin getting a genuine victory for his barbarity.
Sure, but what about the Ukrainians? It was one thing to have no choice but to accept the original separatist regions (and de facto secession of Crimea), another to have a Russian corridor blocking their access to the sea across much of the country, which they would be expected to just accept while the international community continues economic punishment.
Of course, it may well be if the Russians are going on the defensive or focusing only on those areas that Ukraine wont have the capability to try to take back those areas.
Putting my cynical hat on, I can see several reasons why the West is not going to be in a rush to push Ukraine into talks and will continue the rearmament:
1. The longer this goes on, the longer Russia military capability is degraded, potentially permanently and significantly. It is also diminishing Russia's use of military exports to win friends;
2. The Russia conflict is a boon for those who want to push ESG and / or energy security, particularly the case in Europe;
3. It can be used by politicians to deflect attention away from their own actions (look at Biden claiming the gas price surge is down to the crisis);
4. The West has got its hands on a significantly large proportion of Russia's sovereign wealth and / or possibly private assets.
For the US, in particular, the conflict is a big plus:
1. It has got the Europeans spending more on defence and taking NATO seriously - Germany the big win here;
2. It is taking Europe away from dependence on Russian energy (and, helpfully, likely to make Europe more dependent on US LNG long-term);
3. It has probably weakened Russia permanently in power and status (the latter in particular);
4. It has sent a very powerful signal to China as to the risks involved in an invasion of Taiwan and / or the likely limitations of Chinese military forces (given the state of Russian technology etc in Ukraine);
5. It has accelerated reshoring / the bringing back home of supply chains
Some reasonable arguments. I suppose my cynicism comes down to a general feeling that people, and politicians, in the West really don't want to upset our humdrum boring domestic politics, and so they will grasp at any opportunity to kick things into the long grass.
Russian precision-guided missiles are failing up to 60% of the time in Ukraine, three U.S. officials with knowledge of intelligence on the issue told Reuters, a possible explanation for the poor progress of Russia's invasion.
I am sceptical of weasel words. I win the lottery jackpot up to 60% of the times I enter, for example.
In the 80's a Skip was called a Lada convertable
Time to dust off all of the old Lada / Skoda jokes....
What do you call a Skoda with two exhausts....a wheelbarrow.
How do you double the value of a Lada....fill it up with petrol.
What do you call a Lada in the summer? An oven. What do you call a Lada in the winter? A freezer.
How do you avoid speeding tickets?...Buy a Lada.
What do you call a Lada at the top of a hill?....A miracle.
I did once walk past a Trabant as we were both travelling UP a hil!
My son's Fabia is very well put together.
I drove a two- stroke Wartburg Knight occasionally around London in the early 1980s. It was reminiscent of the Goldfinger DB5 in as much that it could generate a smoke screen and an oil slick in its wake.
Was it the Trabant that could go as fast backwards as it could forwards?
Italian Tanks I believe
Quite a number of UK armoured vehicles used a reversing system that simply reverses all the gears. So you can (in theory) drive a Ferret armoured car backwards as fast as forwards.
If I am right in my memory of reading a rather good book on the Italian tanks in North Africa (by two Italian chaps), they did sometimes drive the tank backwards - but in the direction of the enemy, contrary to myth. That was because the armour of the basically mid-1930s design was so crap by then that the engine provided some useful protection: a Merkava avant la lettre.
The contrast between Macron and Johnson couldn't be more stark. I'd love to see a Brexit poll in the UK. If there are any Leavers still prepared to admit to their stupidity I'd be surprised.
Folk can be very forgetful.
I knew registered voters with two properties, one in the Vale of Glamorgan and one in Cardiff North. A Conservative activist in the Vale, he considered himself and his now ex-wife worthy of their two votes.
Maybe similarly, Andrea had two votes in the EU Ref. Mind you not voting at all would have expended less effort and achieved the same result.
"Why don't you want this country to succeed? No abuse or ridiculous answers."
Quite a cute debating style!
It is the last refuge of a Brexiteer scoundrel accusing former Remainers that they are revelling in "the I told you so" shortcomings of Brexit. I have moved on, but I do feel more disappointed than relieved that I was right.
Growing up a neighbour used to have a Lada, not because of lack of money or poorly informed view that they were technically superior, but because of his life long support of very left wing views. My father regularly used to have to and pick him up when it broke down or help him try and fix the latest thing that had gone wrong.
Russian precision-guided missiles are failing up to 60% of the time in Ukraine, three U.S. officials with knowledge of intelligence on the issue told Reuters, a possible explanation for the poor progress of Russia's invasion.
I am sceptical of weasel words. I win the lottery jackpot up to 60% of the times I enter, for example.
In the 80's a Skip was called a Lada convertable
Time to dust off all of the old Lada / Skoda jokes....
What do you call a Skoda with two exhausts....a wheelbarrow.
How do you double the value of a Lada....fill it up with petrol.
What do you call a Lada in the summer? An oven. What do you call a Lada in the winter? A freezer.
How do you avoid speeding tickets?...Buy a Lada.
What do you call a Lada at the top of a hill?....A miracle.
I did once walk past a Trabant as we were both travelling UP a hil!
After the Fall of the Wall, VW rebuilt Skoda as a brand from the ground up.
Pre WWII, Skoda was a heavy engineering concern, famous for the quality and volume of production. Specialities included armour plate and heavy artillery.
Indeed. Part of the reason Hitler wanted the Sudetenland. Access to Pilsen.
That’s settled then. Trip to spec savers for HY tomorrow.
Old age doesn’t come alone 😎
Who cares? It makes zero difference to the main point that Wallace is still ahead of any other senior politician including Sunak and Johnson and Starmer.
I am not retired like BigG who can spend all day double checking every minute detail of everything he posts.
Not that it made the slightest difference to anything anyway.
"Not that it made the slightest difference to anything anyway."
Now then, now then. Posting polling falsehoods on a betting site reliant on accurate polling detail is probably as serious as it gets.
Sod off.
It made no difference whatsoever to the main point I was posting about that Wallace was still ahead which was correct on both figures.
In both cases Starmer was also in negative territory but still ahead of Johnson so again no difference.
It was not intentional and one minor miss as I posted favourable rather than net favourable on Starmer, it made near zero difference to anything, so no I will not be apologising to any of the whingers on here.
Does the H in your name stand for Hebblethwaite?
That reminds me, I've never seen an explanation of what HYUFD stands for.
Hoist Your Union Flag Defiantly
Ah, thanks. Bit odd as so much of his programme predates 1603, never mind 1707.
Not seriously, that's my own speculation - what they call a backronym. I believe. His own explanation is it's just random keys.
Russian precision-guided missiles are failing up to 60% of the time in Ukraine, three U.S. officials with knowledge of intelligence on the issue told Reuters, a possible explanation for the poor progress of Russia's invasion.
I am sceptical of weasel words. I win the lottery jackpot up to 60% of the times I enter, for example.
In the 80's a Skip was called a Lada convertable
Time to dust off all of the old Lada / Skoda jokes....
What do you call a Skoda with two exhausts....a wheelbarrow.
How do you double the value of a Lada....fill it up with petrol.
What do you call a Lada in the summer? An oven. What do you call a Lada in the winter? A freezer.
How do you avoid speeding tickets?...Buy a Lada.
What do you call a Lada at the top of a hill?....A miracle.
I did once walk past a Trabant as we were both travelling UP a hil!
My son's Fabia is very well put together.
I drove a two- stroke Wartburg Knight occasionally around London in the early 1980s. It was reminiscent of the Goldfinger DB5 in as much that it could generate a smoke screen and an oil slick in its wake.
Was it the Trabant that could go as fast backwards as it could forwards?
I've never driven a Trabbie, so I am not sure.
A car made of resin impregnated recycled cotton wool strikes me as being unsafe at any speed, forward or reverse.
But at least it's biodegradable.
Allegedly, but perhaps more than one might expect from a phenolic resin?
Russian precision-guided missiles are failing up to 60% of the time in Ukraine, three U.S. officials with knowledge of intelligence on the issue told Reuters, a possible explanation for the poor progress of Russia's invasion.
I am sceptical of weasel words. I win the lottery jackpot up to 60% of the times I enter, for example.
In the 80's a Skip was called a Lada convertable
Time to dust off all of the old Lada / Skoda jokes....
What do you call a Skoda with two exhausts....a wheelbarrow.
How do you double the value of a Lada....fill it up with petrol.
What do you call a Lada in the summer? An oven. What do you call a Lada in the winter? A freezer.
How do you avoid speeding tickets?...Buy a Lada.
What do you call a Lada at the top of a hill?....A miracle.
I did once walk past a Trabant as we were both travelling UP a hil!
My son's Fabia is very well put together.
I drove a two- stroke Wartburg Knight occasionally around London in the early 1980s. It was reminiscent of the Goldfinger DB5 in as much that it could generate a smoke screen and an oil slick in its wake.
Was it the Trabant that could go as fast backwards as it could forwards?
I've never driven a Trabbie, so I am not sure.
A car made of resin impregnated recycled cotton wool strikes me as being unsafe at any speed, forward or reverse.
But at least it's biodegradable.
Actually I believe Trabants were pretty much at the bottom of the waste hierarchy. The bodies couldn't be recycled, couldn't be burned as a calorific fuel source, so they had to be landfilled.
Russian precision-guided missiles are failing up to 60% of the time in Ukraine, three U.S. officials with knowledge of intelligence on the issue told Reuters, a possible explanation for the poor progress of Russia's invasion.
I am sceptical of weasel words. I win the lottery jackpot up to 60% of the times I enter, for example.
In the 80's a Skip was called a Lada convertable
Time to dust off all of the old Lada / Skoda jokes....
What do you call a Skoda with two exhausts....a wheelbarrow.
How do you double the value of a Lada....fill it up with petrol.
What do you call a Lada in the summer? An oven. What do you call a Lada in the winter? A freezer.
How do you avoid speeding tickets?...Buy a Lada.
What do you call a Lada at the top of a hill?....A miracle.
I did once walk past a Trabant as we were both travelling UP a hil!
My son's Fabia is very well put together.
I drove a two- stroke Wartburg Knight occasionally around London in the early 1980s. It was reminiscent of the Goldfinger DB5 in as much that it could generate a smoke screen and an oil slick in its wake.
Was it the Trabant that could go as fast backwards as it could forwards?
Italian Tanks I believe
Daf, later Volvos, with continuously variable transmission (CVT). All electric cars. I think in all cases they govern it so you can't actually do it.
Because the system does not have separate gears, but one (continuously shifting) gear and a separate 'reverse mode' (as opposed to reverse gear), the transmission works in reverse as well, giving it the interesting side effect that one can drive back as fast as forwards. As a result, in the former Dutch annual backward driving world championship, the DAFs had to be put in a separate competition because no other car could keep up. Thus, these very cheap and simple cars were the 'formula one' in this competition.
Russian precision-guided missiles are failing up to 60% of the time in Ukraine, three U.S. officials with knowledge of intelligence on the issue told Reuters, a possible explanation for the poor progress of Russia's invasion.
I am sceptical of weasel words. I win the lottery jackpot up to 60% of the times I enter, for example.
In the 80's a Skip was called a Lada convertable
Time to dust off all of the old Lada / Skoda jokes....
What do you call a Skoda with two exhausts....a wheelbarrow.
How do you double the value of a Lada....fill it up with petrol.
What do you call a Lada in the summer? An oven. What do you call a Lada in the winter? A freezer.
How do you avoid speeding tickets?...Buy a Lada.
What do you call a Lada at the top of a hill?....A miracle.
I did once walk past a Trabant as we were both travelling UP a hil!
After the Fall of the Wall, VW rebuilt Skoda as a brand from the ground up.
Pre WWII, Skoda was a heavy engineering concern, famous for the quality and volume of production. Specialities included armour plate and heavy artillery.
Indeed. Part of the reason Hitler wanted the Sudetenland. Access to Pilsen.
The contrast between Macron and Johnson couldn't be more stark. I'd love to see a Brexit poll in the UK. If there are any Leavers still prepared to admit to their stupidity I'd be surprised.
51% of even French voters had a positive view of Johnson last year, more than 10% ahead of Macron.
59% of Le Pen and Les Republicains voters and even 55% of Melenchon voters had a positive view of him.
Can we see the poll? If you ran a Daily Express poll it would tel you that Nadine Dorries is the most lusted after politician in the World! The idea that Johnson's popular in France is GARBAGE!!
It's quoted in the article.
I read it. Those who didn't like Macron and had heard of Johnson preferred him. A poll for any point of view in other words
Err no. A poll which showed that a lot of French people have a more positive view of Boris than Macron. I know that has got to hurt you but it's awfully funny for the rest of us. Also says a lot about your finger on the French pulse.
Then again, plenty of Brits prefer Manu to Johnson.
Familiarity breeds contempt.
No familiarity required for someone so contemptuous.
Russian precision-guided missiles are failing up to 60% of the time in Ukraine, three U.S. officials with knowledge of intelligence on the issue told Reuters, a possible explanation for the poor progress of Russia's invasion.
I am sceptical of weasel words. I win the lottery jackpot up to 60% of the times I enter, for example.
In the 80's a Skip was called a Lada convertable
Time to dust off all of the old Lada / Skoda jokes....
What do you call a Skoda with two exhausts....a wheelbarrow.
How do you double the value of a Lada....fill it up with petrol.
What do you call a Lada in the summer? An oven. What do you call a Lada in the winter? A freezer.
How do you avoid speeding tickets?...Buy a Lada.
What do you call a Lada at the top of a hill?....A miracle.
I did once walk past a Trabant as we were both travelling UP a hil!
After the Fall of the Wall, VW rebuilt Skoda as a brand from the ground up.
Pre WWII, Skoda was a heavy engineering concern, famous for the quality and volume of production. Specialities included armour plate and heavy artillery.
Indeed. Part of the reason Hitler wanted the Sudetenland. Access to Pilsen.
Was he fond of Skodas?
Extremely. Also Tatras, etc.
The Skoda tank turned out a bit shit in the Russian winter - the compressed air system froze up when the moisture in the air condensed.
- Cases - UP. But R is down in all regions and ages - seems to be heading back to 1 - In Hospital - UP - Admissions - UP. R is falling a bit, though. - MV beds - UP - Deaths - UP
Looks like we are reaching the peak for BA.2
The week on week increase in cases is coming down quite swiftly, 2 weeks ago it was in the regen of 60% increase 59.7% IIRC, a week ago it was about 40% 3 days ago it dropped below 20% and is now below 10% (8.5%) week on week increase and will surely peek and start falling in the next few days. in fact given the delay between sampling and repotting, and the 3 day typical incubation period before symptoms arrive, its possible that we are at peek infection today.
how quickly if falls and what the equilibrium level of infection is, we have yet to find out, and weather there will be a new variant....
Simply by looking at the trend line, it looks as if this wavelet or whatever it is has peaked, as you suggest.
I’ve actually been quite heartened by how most people have lost interest and just got on with their lives: there was a distinct lack of hysteria on the way up, hopefully to be mirrored by an equal lack of triumphalism on the way down.
This is with us forever. Those who allow themselves to be moved either way by the trend line are missing that key point.
I can only cope with one existential crisis at a time. Covid's boring now; the risk of the Ukraine war becoming a nuclear armageddon is a much more 'interesting' crisis...
My radar has switched back to Covid on account of seeing some visceral in-the-flesh virus action. No substitute for personal experience at the end of the day.
Russian precision-guided missiles are failing up to 60% of the time in Ukraine, three U.S. officials with knowledge of intelligence on the issue told Reuters, a possible explanation for the poor progress of Russia's invasion.
I am sceptical of weasel words. I win the lottery jackpot up to 60% of the times I enter, for example.
In the 80's a Skip was called a Lada convertable
Time to dust off all of the old Lada / Skoda jokes....
What do you call a Skoda with two exhausts....a wheelbarrow.
How do you double the value of a Lada....fill it up with petrol.
What do you call a Lada in the summer? An oven. What do you call a Lada in the winter? A freezer.
How do you avoid speeding tickets?...Buy a Lada.
What do you call a Lada at the top of a hill?....A miracle.
I did once walk past a Trabant as we were both travelling UP a hil!
My son's Fabia is very well put together.
I drove a two- stroke Wartburg Knight occasionally around London in the early 1980s. It was reminiscent of the Goldfinger DB5 in as much that it could generate a smoke screen and an oil slick in its wake.
Was it the Trabant that could go as fast backwards as it could forwards?
I've never driven a Trabbie, so I am not sure.
A car made of resin impregnated recycled cotton wool strikes me as being unsafe at any speed, forward or reverse.
But at least it's biodegradable.
Actually I believe Trabants were pretty much at the bottom of the waste hierarchy. The bodies couldn't be recycled, couldn't be burned as a calorific fuel source, so they had to be landfilled.
I think they were pretty well at the bottom of every hierarchy!
Fed up with West’s diplomatic fence sitting, Zelensky goes on offensive: tells Europe leaders they acted too late to stop RF invasion. Singles out nations for being late or reluctant to take measures - Germany, Portugal & Ireland - then lambasts Hungary for neutrality #Ukraine
The contrast between Macron and Johnson couldn't be more stark. I'd love to see a Brexit poll in the UK. If there are any Leavers still prepared to admit to their stupidity I'd be surprised.
51% of even French voters had a positive view of Johnson last year, more than 10% ahead of Macron.
59% of Le Pen and Les Republicains voters and even 55% of Melenchon voters had a positive view of him.
Can we see the poll? If you ran a Daily Express poll it would tel you that Nadine Dorries is the most lusted after politician in the World! The idea that Johnson's popular in France is GARBAGE!!
It's quoted in the article.
I read it. Those who didn't like Macron and had heard of Johnson preferred him. A poll for any point of view in other words
Err no. A poll which showed that a lot of French people have a more positive view of Boris than Macron. I know that has got to hurt you but it's awfully funny for the rest of us. Also says a lot about your finger on the French pulse.
Then again, plenty of Brits prefer Manu to Johnson.
Who is Manu?
"Manu" Macron - the man who many Brits prefer to Boris Johnson.
Such ratings seem of pretty marginal benefit to me. I probably know more about Macron than the average British person and I cannot say I really know all that much about his domestic record in particular. So if I rated him positively its not much more worthwhile than when a few people were fawning over UvDL on the basis she speaks very good English and dresses smartly, neither of which Boris manages (and it was those reasons mentioned - things about being classy etc).
You can get a sense of the person, I think, although more with some than others.
Sadly, the sanctions, most of them anyway will be lifted very quickly, Germany and others need Russian gas, and other commodity's in significant quantity's to stop price rises and reception, France and a few others don't what sanctions to get it the way of there business, and will largely ignore or work around them, and fairly quickly other companies and contrary's will be saying why are we missing out on business. Some sanctions e.g. on top grade computer chips might remain but china and black market middle men will get enough to Russia. some of the big Yauts might stay frozen as symbols that we are still sanctioning but not much more than that.
Germany and others will spend a touch more on military this year and maybe next, but the 100 million will be delayed and then forgotten, not that it would have done much anyway, Germany has now after 3 weeks run out of kit they can send to Ukraine, apparently, because they have very lintel usable spare kit.
Ukraine will largely feel abandoned by the west, sad that after being so brave they still had to concede so much to Russia, traumatised by the fighting and all the death. and still have shattered infastucher,
Russia will still have been able to expand its territory in an unprovoked war, yes his men did not do well, but his people at home don't know/believe that, to them he looks like a hero. his army will learn lessons, and be able to make better weapons have better combat based tuning. and will be stronger next time. He has lost a lot of men, but Putin does not care, most of the equipment he has lost was old or not very good. Putin now has stronger control of Russia than he has ever had, with his control over the media, 15,000 of his opponents in prison, and many 100,000s more who have self exiled.
And today he has still proved Putin can still stock internal division in the West by mentioning JK Rolling. and he still has a big bargaining chip in the form of the 402,000 civilians he has deported form Mariupol and other places.
I hope I am wrong, and we still don't know, But I think Putin/authoritarian strongmen have won, and the west/freedom/democracy has lost. outside Europe North America, NZ, Australia South Korea and Japan. support has been thin on the ground for Ukraine, yes most nations voted one way in the UN, but not all and many abstained, others only did so with prodding and because they know it amounted to nothing. there does not seem even a willingness to explode Russia from the next G20 meeting.
all very sad, we as in the west had a window of opportunity to arm Ukraine to the max in the first week, MiG 29s, from Poland, S-300 from Slovakia, anti ship missiles for Odesa, or maybe land lunched torpedo's. and we could have sent enough uniforms, guns mortars, and so on for a 2 million army.
The contrast between Macron and Johnson couldn't be more stark. I'd love to see a Brexit poll in the UK. If there are any Leavers still prepared to admit to their stupidity I'd be surprised.
Folk can be very forgetful.
I knew registered voters with two properties, one in the Vale of Glamorgan and one in Cardiff North. A Conservative activist in the Vale, he considered himself and his now ex-wife worthy of their two votes.
Maybe similarly, Andrea had two votes in the EU Ref. Mind you not voting at all would have expended less effort and achieved the same result.
"Why don't you want this country to succeed? No abuse or ridiculous answers."
Quite a cute debating style!
It is the last refuge of a Brexiteer scoundrel accusing former Remainers that they are revelling in "the I told you so" shortcomings of Brexit. I have moved on, but I do feel more disappointed than relieved that I was right.
Indeed. It's the pits.
God, we really got some 'Benny Hill' from our man at the leaders summit, didn't we? He still has it. Utter shambles and impossible to take your eyes off him.
That’s settled then. Trip to spec savers for HY tomorrow.
Old age doesn’t come alone 😎
Who cares? It makes zero difference to the main point that Wallace is still ahead of any other senior politician including Sunak and Johnson and Starmer.
I am not retired like BigG who can spend all day double checking every minute detail of everything he posts.
Not that it made the slightest difference to anything anyway.
Good try but I was challenged on my post and checked the source which was yours which was quoting fake news
Fed up with West’s diplomatic fence sitting, Zelensky goes on offensive: tells Europe leaders they acted too late to stop RF invasion. Singles out nations for being late or reluctant to take measures - Germany, Portugal & Ireland - then lambasts Hungary for neutrality #Ukraine
But! But! But! Boris was embarrassed in a selectively edited clip of a NATO photo-op! Don’t you get what’s important?
The usual suspects are pissed that Boris gets the glory from Zelensky for being right and being ready. And in fact, getting in the way of the "it'll all be over in 48 hours" brigade.
"If it weren't for you pesky kids, we'd still be building Renaults...and opening NordStream2" You can see why they are being pissy.
Sadly, the sanctions, most of them anyway will be lifted very quickly, Germany and others need Russian gas, and other commodity's in significant quantity's to stop price rises and reception, France and a few others don't what sanctions to get it the way of there business, and will largely ignore or work around them, and fairly quickly other companies and contrary's will be saying why are we missing out on business. Some sanctions e.g. on top grade computer chips might remain but china and black market middle men will get enough to Russia. some of the big Yauts might stay frozen as symbols that we are still sanctioning but not much more than that.
Germany and others will spend a touch more on military this year and maybe next, but the 100 million will be delayed and then forgotten, not that it would have done much anyway, Germany has now after 3 weeks run out of kit they can send to Ukraine, apparently, because they have very lintel usable spare kit.
Ukraine will largely feel abandoned by the west, sad that after being so brave they still had to concede so much to Russia, traumatised by the fighting and all the death. and still have shattered infastucher,
Russia will still have been able to expand its territory in an unprovoked war, yes his men did not do well, but his people at home don't know/believe that, to them he looks like a hero. his army will learn lessons, and be able to make better weapons have better combat based tuning. and will be stronger next time. He has lost a lot of men, but Putin does not care, most of the equipment he has lost was old or not very good. Putin now has stronger control of Russia than he has ever had, with his control over the media, 15,000 of his opponents in prison, and many 100,000s more who have self exiled.
And today he has still proved Putin can still stock internal division in the West by mentioning JK Rolling. and he still has a big bargaining chip in the form of the 402,000 civilians he has deported form Mariupol and other places.
I hope I am wrong, and we still don't know, But I think Putin/authoritarian strongmen have won, and the west/freedom/democracy has lost. outside Europe North America, NZ, Australia South Korea and Japan. support has been thin on the ground for Ukraine, yes most nations voted one way in the UN, but not all and many abstained, others only did so with prodding and because they know it amounted to nothing. there does not seem even a willingness to explode Russia from the next G20 meeting.
all very sad, we as in the west had a window of opportunity to arm Ukraine to the max in the first week, MiG 29s, from Poland, S-300 from Slovakia, anti ship missiles for Odesa, or maybe land lunched torpedo's. and we could have sent enough uniforms, guns mortars, and so on for a 2 million army.
Fed up with West’s diplomatic fence sitting, Zelensky goes on offensive: tells Europe leaders they acted too late to stop RF invasion. Singles out nations for being late or reluctant to take measures - Germany, Portugal & Ireland - then lambasts Hungary for neutrality #Ukraine
But! But! But! Boris was embarrassed in a selectively edited clip of a NATO photo-op! Don’t you get what’s important?
The usual suspects are pissed that Boris gets the glory from Zelensky for being right and being ready. And in fact, getting in the way of the "it'll all be over in 48 hours" brigade.
"If it weren't for you pesky kids, we'd still be building Renaults...and opening NordStream2" You can see why they are being pissy.
Typical of the modern Conservative. Chucking money and weapons about but when it comes to helping people......
"Finland's national railway operator will suspend services between Helsinki and Saint Petersburg in Russia on Monday, closing one of the last public transport routes to the European Union for Russians." (Reuters) Putin's tyranny becomes ever more isolated.
"Finland's national railway operator will suspend services between Helsinki and Saint Petersburg in Russia on Monday, closing one of the last public transport routes to the European Union for Russians." (Reuters) Putin's tyranny becomes ever more isolated.
The contrast between Macron and Johnson couldn't be more stark. I'd love to see a Brexit poll in the UK. If there are any Leavers still prepared to admit to their stupidity I'd be surprised.
51% of even French voters had a positive view of Johnson last year, more than 10% ahead of Macron.
59% of Le Pen and Les Republicains voters and even 55% of Melenchon voters had a positive view of him.
Can we see the poll? If you ran a Daily Express poll it would tel you that Nadine Dorries is the most lusted after politician in the World! The idea that Johnson's popular in France is GARBAGE!!
It's quoted in the article.
I read it. Those who didn't like Macron and had heard of Johnson preferred him. A poll for any point of view in other words
Err no. A poll which showed that a lot of French people have a more positive view of Boris than Macron. I know that has got to hurt you but it's awfully funny for the rest of us. Also says a lot about your finger on the French pulse.
Then again, plenty of Brits prefer Manu to Johnson.
Familiarity breeds contempt.
To a large extent, yes. This graph is really quite poignant;
The contrast between Macron and Johnson couldn't be more stark. I'd love to see a Brexit poll in the UK. If there are any Leavers still prepared to admit to their stupidity I'd be surprised.
Folk can be very forgetful.
I knew registered voters with two properties, one in the Vale of Glamorgan and one in Cardiff North. A Conservative activist in the Vale, he considered himself and his now ex-wife worthy of their two votes.
Maybe similarly, Andrea had two votes in the EU Ref. Mind you not voting at all would have expended less effort and achieved the same result.
"Why don't you want this country to succeed? No abuse or ridiculous answers."
Quite a cute debating style!
It is the last refuge of a Brexiteer scoundrel accusing former Remainers that they are revelling in "the I told you so" shortcomings of Brexit. I have moved on, but I do feel more disappointed than relieved that I was right.
Indeed. It's the pits.
God, we really got some 'Benny Hill' from our man at the leaders summit, didn't we? He still has it. Utter shambles and impossible to take your eyes off him.
I know, it's embarrassing watching grown up leaders from across the world meeting, and shambling about amongst them is the fat dishevelled buffoon we send to represent us.
Sadly, the sanctions, most of them anyway will be lifted very quickly, Germany and others need Russian gas, and other commodity's in significant quantity's to stop price rises and reception, France and a few others don't what sanctions to get it the way of there business, and will largely ignore or work around them, and fairly quickly other companies and contrary's will be saying why are we missing out on business. Some sanctions e.g. on top grade computer chips might remain but china and black market middle men will get enough to Russia. some of the big Yauts might stay frozen as symbols that we are still sanctioning but not much more than that.
Germany and others will spend a touch more on military this year and maybe next, but the 100 million will be delayed and then forgotten, not that it would have done much anyway, Germany has now after 3 weeks run out of kit they can send to Ukraine, apparently, because they have very lintel usable spare kit.
Ukraine will largely feel abandoned by the west, sad that after being so brave they still had to concede so much to Russia, traumatised by the fighting and all the death. and still have shattered infastucher,
Russia will still have been able to expand its territory in an unprovoked war, yes his men did not do well, but his people at home don't know/believe that, to them he looks like a hero. his army will learn lessons, and be able to make better weapons have better combat based tuning. and will be stronger next time. He has lost a lot of men, but Putin does not care, most of the equipment he has lost was old or not very good. Putin now has stronger control of Russia than he has ever had, with his control over the media, 15,000 of his opponents in prison, and many 100,000s more who have self exiled.
And today he has still proved Putin can still stock internal division in the West by mentioning JK Rolling. and he still has a big bargaining chip in the form of the 402,000 civilians he has deported form Mariupol and other places.
I hope I am wrong, and we still don't know, But I think Putin/authoritarian strongmen have won, and the west/freedom/democracy has lost. outside Europe North America, NZ, Australia South Korea and Japan. support has been thin on the ground for Ukraine, yes most nations voted one way in the UN, but not all and many abstained, others only did so with prodding and because they know it amounted to nothing. there does not seem even a willingness to explode Russia from the next G20 meeting.
all very sad, we as in the west had a window of opportunity to arm Ukraine to the max in the first week, MiG 29s, from Poland, S-300 from Slovakia, anti ship missiles for Odesa, or maybe land lunched torpedo's. and we could have sent enough uniforms, guns mortars, and so on for a 2 million army.
This may turn out to be correct, but is a bit on the pessimistic side. It is only a day on since Renualt were forced in to a U turn and quit Russia. Inevitably after a month attention will diminish, but the public interest and support for Ukraine has been spectacular. The contrast with other conflicts we have become involved in, in faraway lands, is enormous. The west will undoubtedly rediscover its cowardly decadence to a point, but I think something has changed.
The contrast between Macron and Johnson couldn't be more stark. I'd love to see a Brexit poll in the UK. If there are any Leavers still prepared to admit to their stupidity I'd be surprised.
51% of even French voters had a positive view of Johnson last year, more than 10% ahead of Macron.
59% of Le Pen and Les Republicains voters and even 55% of Melenchon voters had a positive view of him.
Can we see the poll? If you ran a Daily Express poll it would tel you that Nadine Dorries is the most lusted after politician in the World! The idea that Johnson's popular in France is GARBAGE!!
It's quoted in the article.
I read it. Those who didn't like Macron and had heard of Johnson preferred him. A poll for any point of view in other words
Err no. A poll which showed that a lot of French people have a more positive view of Boris than Macron. I know that has got to hurt you but it's awfully funny for the rest of us. Also says a lot about your finger on the French pulse.
Then again, plenty of Brits prefer Manu to Johnson.
Familiarity breeds contempt.
To a large extent, yes. This graph is really quite poignant;
This graph is why the Tories will probably go into the next election with a new leader.
The contrast between Macron and Johnson couldn't be more stark. I'd love to see a Brexit poll in the UK. If there are any Leavers still prepared to admit to their stupidity I'd be surprised.
51% of even French voters had a positive view of Johnson last year, more than 10% ahead of Macron.
59% of Le Pen and Les Republicains voters and even 55% of Melenchon voters had a positive view of him.
Can we see the poll? If you ran a Daily Express poll it would tel you that Nadine Dorries is the most lusted after politician in the World! The idea that Johnson's popular in France is GARBAGE!!
It's quoted in the article.
I read it. Those who didn't like Macron and had heard of Johnson preferred him. A poll for any point of view in other words
Err no. A poll which showed that a lot of French people have a more positive view of Boris than Macron. I know that has got to hurt you but it's awfully funny for the rest of us. Also says a lot about your finger on the French pulse.
Then again, plenty of Brits prefer Manu to Johnson.
Familiarity breeds contempt.
To a large extent, yes. This graph is really quite poignant;
Indeed. Most of the time, a popular leader is elected, then makes decisions which inevitably lose popularity - and then an election comes along and the electorate sometimes decides "actually, they aren't that bad really".
Fed up with West’s diplomatic fence sitting, Zelensky goes on offensive: tells Europe leaders they acted too late to stop RF invasion. Singles out nations for being late or reluctant to take measures - Germany, Portugal & Ireland - then lambasts Hungary for neutrality #Ukraine
But! But! But! Boris was embarrassed in a selectively edited clip of a NATO photo-op! Don’t you get what’s important?
The usual suspects are pissed that Boris gets the glory from Zelensky for being right and being ready. And in fact, getting in the way of the "it'll all be over in 48 hours" brigade.
"If it weren't for you pesky kids, we'd still be building Renaults...and opening NordStream2" You can see why they are being pissy.
Discriminating voters seem to have clocked that this is rien a faire avec le sac a jiz and everything to do with baldy wallace.
The contrast between Macron and Johnson couldn't be more stark. I'd love to see a Brexit poll in the UK. If there are any Leavers still prepared to admit to their stupidity I'd be surprised.
51% of even French voters had a positive view of Johnson last year, more than 10% ahead of Macron.
59% of Le Pen and Les Republicains voters and even 55% of Melenchon voters had a positive view of him.
Can we see the poll? If you ran a Daily Express poll it would tel you that Nadine Dorries is the most lusted after politician in the World! The idea that Johnson's popular in France is GARBAGE!!
It's quoted in the article.
I read it. Those who didn't like Macron and had heard of Johnson preferred him. A poll for any point of view in other words
Err no. A poll which showed that a lot of French people have a more positive view of Boris than Macron. I know that has got to hurt you but it's awfully funny for the rest of us. Also says a lot about your finger on the French pulse.
Then again, plenty of Brits prefer Manu to Johnson.
Familiarity breeds contempt.
To a large extent, yes. This graph is really quite poignant;
This graph is why the Tories will probably go into the next election with a new leader.
Ukr has benefited FLSOJ not only by distracting from domestic issues but also cutting the competition off at the knees. Trussy n Rishi have had a bloody disastrous war.
Sadly, the sanctions, most of them anyway will be lifted very quickly, Germany and others need Russian gas, and other commodity's in significant quantity's to stop price rises and reception, France and a few others don't what sanctions to get it the way of there business, and will largely ignore or work around them, and fairly quickly other companies and contrary's will be saying why are we missing out on business. Some sanctions e.g. on top grade computer chips might remain but china and black market middle men will get enough to Russia. some of the big Yauts might stay frozen as symbols that we are still sanctioning but not much more than that.
Germany and others will spend a touch more on military this year and maybe next, but the 100 million will be delayed and then forgotten, not that it would have done much anyway, Germany has now after 3 weeks run out of kit they can send to Ukraine, apparently, because they have very lintel usable spare kit.
Ukraine will largely feel abandoned by the west, sad that after being so brave they still had to concede so much to Russia, traumatised by the fighting and all the death. and still have shattered infastucher,
Russia will still have been able to expand its territory in an unprovoked war, yes his men did not do well, but his people at home don't know/believe that, to them he looks like a hero. his army will learn lessons, and be able to make better weapons have better combat based tuning. and will be stronger next time. He has lost a lot of men, but Putin does not care, most of the equipment he has lost was old or not very good. Putin now has stronger control of Russia than he has ever had, with his control over the media, 15,000 of his opponents in prison, and many 100,000s more who have self exiled.
And today he has still proved Putin can still stock internal division in the West by mentioning JK Rolling. and he still has a big bargaining chip in the form of the 402,000 civilians he has deported form Mariupol and other places.
I hope I am wrong, and we still don't know, But I think Putin/authoritarian strongmen have won, and the west/freedom/democracy has lost. outside Europe North America, NZ, Australia South Korea and Japan. support has been thin on the ground for Ukraine, yes most nations voted one way in the UN, but not all and many abstained, others only did so with prodding and because they know it amounted to nothing. there does not seem even a willingness to explode Russia from the next G20 meeting.
all very sad, we as in the west had a window of opportunity to arm Ukraine to the max in the first week, MiG 29s, from Poland, S-300 from Slovakia, anti ship missiles for Odesa, or maybe land lunched torpedo's. and we could have sent enough uniforms, guns mortars, and so on for a 2 million army.
Putin also was relying on the West getting bored of this war. That pretty much has happened now after the early virtue signalling with flags on FB profiles has worn off. The war may get bogged down in Eastern Ukraine and most people in the west will cease to care much
No he wasn't, because he was expecting it to be all over in a couple of weeks.
That’s settled then. Trip to spec savers for HY tomorrow.
Old age doesn’t come alone 😎
Who cares? It makes zero difference to the main point that Wallace is still ahead of any other senior politician including Sunak and Johnson and Starmer.
I am not retired like BigG who can spend all day double checking every minute detail of everything he posts.
Not that it made the slightest difference to anything anyway.
"Not that it made the slightest difference to anything anyway."
Now then, now then. Posting polling falsehoods on a betting site reliant on accurate polling detail is probably as serious as it gets.
Sod off.
It made no difference whatsoever to the main point I was posting about that Wallace was still ahead which was correct on both figures.
In both cases Starmer was also in negative territory but still ahead of Johnson so again no difference.
It was not intentional and one minor miss as I posted favourable rather than net favourable on Starmer, it made near zero difference to anything, so no I will not be apologising to any of the whingers on here.
Does the H in your name stand for Hebblethwaite?
That reminds me, I've never seen an explanation of what HYUFD stands for.
Hoist Your Union Flag Defiantly
Ah, thanks. Bit odd as so much of his programme predates 1603, never mind 1707.
Not seriously, that's my own speculation - what they call a backronym. I believe. His own explanation is it's just random keys.
Hitler Youth, Up For Devilry.
On a QWERTY layout keyboard it starts on the centre-right, veers up and round to the right, before looping rapidly to the left. A clue to HYUFD's future political development?
There’s an interesting distinction that’s developed between Poland (populist regime, but sound on Putin; basically pro-Western) and Hungary (populist regime; Putin apologists).
There was some rumour that Orban had his eye on a sliver of Ukraine (Transcarpathia) in the event of any carve-up, although the chance of that looks slim now.
Regarding Kelensky’s tweet above, I’m surprised he didn’t mention Italy. And I’m not sure what Ireland have done or not done to earn his ire.
Sadly, the sanctions, most of them anyway will be lifted very quickly, Germany and others need Russian gas, and other commodity's in significant quantity's to stop price rises and reception, France and a few others don't what sanctions to get it the way of there business, and will largely ignore or work around them, and fairly quickly other companies and contrary's will be saying why are we missing out on business. Some sanctions e.g. on top grade computer chips might remain but china and black market middle men will get enough to Russia. some of the big Yauts might stay frozen as symbols that we are still sanctioning but not much more than that.
Germany and others will spend a touch more on military this year and maybe next, but the 100 million will be delayed and then forgotten, not that it would have done much anyway, Germany has now after 3 weeks run out of kit they can send to Ukraine, apparently, because they have very lintel usable spare kit.
Ukraine will largely feel abandoned by the west, sad that after being so brave they still had to concede so much to Russia, traumatised by the fighting and all the death. and still have shattered infastucher,
Russia will still have been able to expand its territory in an unprovoked war, yes his men did not do well, but his people at home don't know/believe that, to them he looks like a hero. his army will learn lessons, and be able to make better weapons have better combat based tuning. and will be stronger next time. He has lost a lot of men, but Putin does not care, most of the equipment he has lost was old or not very good. Putin now has stronger control of Russia than he has ever had, with his control over the media, 15,000 of his opponents in prison, and many 100,000s more who have self exiled.
And today he has still proved Putin can still stock internal division in the West by mentioning JK Rolling. and he still has a big bargaining chip in the form of the 402,000 civilians he has deported form Mariupol and other places.
I hope I am wrong, and we still don't know, But I think Putin/authoritarian strongmen have won, and the west/freedom/democracy has lost. outside Europe North America, NZ, Australia South Korea and Japan. support has been thin on the ground for Ukraine, yes most nations voted one way in the UN, but not all and many abstained, others only did so with prodding and because they know it amounted to nothing. there does not seem even a willingness to explode Russia from the next G20 meeting.
all very sad, we as in the west had a window of opportunity to arm Ukraine to the max in the first week, MiG 29s, from Poland, S-300 from Slovakia, anti ship missiles for Odesa, or maybe land lunched torpedo's. and we could have sent enough uniforms, guns mortars, and so on for a 2 million army.
Putin also was relying on the West getting bored of this war. That pretty much has happened now after the early virtue signalling with flags on FB profiles has worn off. The war may get bogged down in Eastern Ukraine and most people in the west will cease to care much
Sadly, That's probably right, Finland did amazingly in the Winter war of 1939-40. but sadly had to then agree to a peace treaty with USSR losing a big chunk of Finland largely because not enough ammunition was arriving to keep going. we are letting that happen again.
- Cases - UP. But R is down in all regions and ages - seems to be heading back to 1 - In Hospital - UP - Admissions - UP. R is falling a bit, though. - MV beds - UP - Deaths - UP
Looks like we are reaching the peak for BA.2
The week on week increase in cases is coming down quite swiftly, 2 weeks ago it was in the regen of 60% increase 59.7% IIRC, a week ago it was about 40% 3 days ago it dropped below 20% and is now below 10% (8.5%) week on week increase and will surely peek and start falling in the next few days. in fact given the delay between sampling and repotting, and the 3 day typical incubation period before symptoms arrive, its possible that we are at peek infection today.
how quickly if falls and what the equilibrium level of infection is, we have yet to find out, and weather there will be a new variant....
Simply by looking at the trend line, it looks as if this wavelet or whatever it is has peaked, as you suggest.
I’ve actually been quite heartened by how most people have lost interest and just got on with their lives: there was a distinct lack of hysteria on the way up, hopefully to be mirrored by an equal lack of triumphalism on the way down.
This is with us forever. Those who allow themselves to be moved either way by the trend line are missing that key point.
I can only cope with one existential crisis at a time. Covid's boring now; the risk of the Ukraine war becoming a nuclear armageddon is a much more 'interesting' crisis...
My radar has switched back to Covid on account of seeing some visceral in-the-flesh virus action. No substitute for personal experience at the end of the day.
Hope the personal experience does not end up too badly. (same for Nick Palmer).
The contrast between Macron and Johnson couldn't be more stark. I'd love to see a Brexit poll in the UK. If there are any Leavers still prepared to admit to their stupidity I'd be surprised.
51% of even French voters had a positive view of Johnson last year, more than 10% ahead of Macron.
59% of Le Pen and Les Republicains voters and even 55% of Melenchon voters had a positive view of him.
Can we see the poll? If you ran a Daily Express poll it would tel you that Nadine Dorries is the most lusted after politician in the World! The idea that Johnson's popular in France is GARBAGE!!
It's quoted in the article.
I read it. Those who didn't like Macron and had heard of Johnson preferred him. A poll for any point of view in other words
Err no. A poll which showed that a lot of French people have a more positive view of Boris than Macron. I know that has got to hurt you but it's awfully funny for the rest of us. Also says a lot about your finger on the French pulse.
Then again, plenty of Brits prefer Manu to Johnson.
Who is Manu?
"Manu" Macron - the man who many Brits prefer to Boris Johnson.
Such ratings seem of pretty marginal benefit to me. I probably know more about Macron than the average British person and I cannot say I really know all that much about his domestic record in particular. So if I rated him positively its not much more worthwhile than when a few people were fawning over UvDL on the basis she speaks very good English and dresses smartly, neither of which Boris manages (and it was those reasons mentioned - things about being classy etc).
You can get a sense of the person, I think, although more with some than others.
To an extent. I don't feel I could not judge Trump's general qualities sufficient for my purposes, whatever his domestic record might be.
Sadly, the sanctions, most of them anyway will be lifted very quickly, Germany and others need Russian gas, and other commodity's in significant quantity's to stop price rises and reception, France and a few others don't what sanctions to get it the way of there business, and will largely ignore or work around them, and fairly quickly other companies and contrary's will be saying why are we missing out on business. Some sanctions e.g. on top grade computer chips might remain but china and black market middle men will get enough to Russia. some of the big Yauts might stay frozen as symbols that we are still sanctioning but not much more than that.
Germany and others will spend a touch more on military this year and maybe next, but the 100 million will be delayed and then forgotten, not that it would have done much anyway, Germany has now after 3 weeks run out of kit they can send to Ukraine, apparently, because they have very lintel usable spare kit.
Ukraine will largely feel abandoned by the west, sad that after being so brave they still had to concede so much to Russia, traumatised by the fighting and all the death. and still have shattered infastucher,
Russia will still have been able to expand its territory in an unprovoked war, yes his men did not do well, but his people at home don't know/believe that, to them he looks like a hero. his army will learn lessons, and be able to make better weapons have better combat based tuning. and will be stronger next time. He has lost a lot of men, but Putin does not care, most of the equipment he has lost was old or not very good. Putin now has stronger control of Russia than he has ever had, with his control over the media, 15,000 of his opponents in prison, and many 100,000s more who have self exiled.
And today he has still proved Putin can still stock internal division in the West by mentioning JK Rolling. and he still has a big bargaining chip in the form of the 402,000 civilians he has deported form Mariupol and other places.
I hope I am wrong, and we still don't know, But I think Putin/authoritarian strongmen have won, and the west/freedom/democracy has lost. outside Europe North America, NZ, Australia South Korea and Japan. support has been thin on the ground for Ukraine, yes most nations voted one way in the UN, but not all and many abstained, others only did so with prodding and because they know it amounted to nothing. there does not seem even a willingness to explode Russia from the next G20 meeting.
all very sad, we as in the west had a window of opportunity to arm Ukraine to the max in the first week, MiG 29s, from Poland, S-300 from Slovakia, anti ship missiles for Odesa, or maybe land lunched torpedo's. and we could have sent enough uniforms, guns mortars, and so on for a 2 million army.
Putin also was relying on the West getting bored of this war. That pretty much has happened now after the early virtue signalling with flags on FB profiles has worn off. The war may get bogged down in Eastern Ukraine and most people in the west will cease to care much
Sadly, That's probably right, Finland did amazingly in the Winter war of 1939-40. but sadly had to then agree to a peace treaty with USSR losing a big chunk of Finland largely because not enough ammunition was arriving to keep going. we are letting that happen again.
UN supervised plebiscites in the disputed regions might be an off-ramp for Putin and acceptable to Zelinsky. But I'm not holding my breath.
Sadly, the sanctions, most of them anyway will be lifted very quickly, Germany and others need Russian gas, and other commodity's in significant quantity's to stop price rises and reception, France and a few others don't what sanctions to get it the way of there business, and will largely ignore or work around them, and fairly quickly other companies and contrary's will be saying why are we missing out on business. Some sanctions e.g. on top grade computer chips might remain but china and black market middle men will get enough to Russia. some of the big Yauts might stay frozen as symbols that we are still sanctioning but not much more than that.
Germany and others will spend a touch more on military this year and maybe next, but the 100 million will be delayed and then forgotten, not that it would have done much anyway, Germany has now after 3 weeks run out of kit they can send to Ukraine, apparently, because they have very lintel usable spare kit.
Ukraine will largely feel abandoned by the west, sad that after being so brave they still had to concede so much to Russia, traumatised by the fighting and all the death. and still have shattered infastucher,
Russia will still have been able to expand its territory in an unprovoked war, yes his men did not do well, but his people at home don't know/believe that, to them he looks like a hero. his army will learn lessons, and be able to make better weapons have better combat based tuning. and will be stronger next time. He has lost a lot of men, but Putin does not care, most of the equipment he has lost was old or not very good. Putin now has stronger control of Russia than he has ever had, with his control over the media, 15,000 of his opponents in prison, and many 100,000s more who have self exiled.
And today he has still proved Putin can still stock internal division in the West by mentioning JK Rolling. and he still has a big bargaining chip in the form of the 402,000 civilians he has deported form Mariupol and other places.
I hope I am wrong, and we still don't know, But I think Putin/authoritarian strongmen have won, and the west/freedom/democracy has lost. outside Europe North America, NZ, Australia South Korea and Japan. support has been thin on the ground for Ukraine, yes most nations voted one way in the UN, but not all and many abstained, others only did so with prodding and because they know it amounted to nothing. there does not seem even a willingness to explode Russia from the next G20 meeting.
all very sad, we as in the west had a window of opportunity to arm Ukraine to the max in the first week, MiG 29s, from Poland, S-300 from Slovakia, anti ship missiles for Odesa, or maybe land lunched torpedo's. and we could have sent enough uniforms, guns mortars, and so on for a 2 million army.
Putin also was relying on the West getting bored of this war. That pretty much has happened now after the early virtue signalling with flags on FB profiles has worn off. The war may get bogged down in Eastern Ukraine and most people in the west will cease to care much
This war has changed everything from defending an innocent European country from the slaughter of its people by a tyrant who threatens nuclear weapons strikes, to the threat to the Baltic countries, to the change in European defence and security spending, and the need to wean off Russian gas supply
I would respectively suggest you are either naive or just want to wish away the new reality the consequences of which will last decades
Sadly, the sanctions, most of them anyway will be lifted very quickly, Germany and others need Russian gas, and other commodity's in significant quantity's to stop price rises and reception, France and a few others don't what sanctions to get it the way of there business, and will largely ignore or work around them, and fairly quickly other companies and contrary's will be saying why are we missing out on business. Some sanctions e.g. on top grade computer chips might remain but china and black market middle men will get enough to Russia. some of the big Yauts might stay frozen as symbols that we are still sanctioning but not much more than that.
Germany and others will spend a touch more on military this year and maybe next, but the 100 million will be delayed and then forgotten, not that it would have done much anyway, Germany has now after 3 weeks run out of kit they can send to Ukraine, apparently, because they have very lintel usable spare kit.
Ukraine will largely feel abandoned by the west, sad that after being so brave they still had to concede so much to Russia, traumatised by the fighting and all the death. and still have shattered infastucher,
Russia will still have been able to expand its territory in an unprovoked war, yes his men did not do well, but his people at home don't know/believe that, to them he looks like a hero. his army will learn lessons, and be able to make better weapons have better combat based tuning. and will be stronger next time. He has lost a lot of men, but Putin does not care, most of the equipment he has lost was old or not very good. Putin now has stronger control of Russia than he has ever had, with his control over the media, 15,000 of his opponents in prison, and many 100,000s more who have self exiled.
And today he has still proved Putin can still stock internal division in the West by mentioning JK Rolling. and he still has a big bargaining chip in the form of the 402,000 civilians he has deported form Mariupol and other places.
I hope I am wrong, and we still don't know, But I think Putin/authoritarian strongmen have won, and the west/freedom/democracy has lost. outside Europe North America, NZ, Australia South Korea and Japan. support has been thin on the ground for Ukraine, yes most nations voted one way in the UN, but not all and many abstained, others only did so with prodding and because they know it amounted to nothing. there does not seem even a willingness to explode Russia from the next G20 meeting.
all very sad, we as in the west had a window of opportunity to arm Ukraine to the max in the first week, MiG 29s, from Poland, S-300 from Slovakia, anti ship missiles for Odesa, or maybe land lunched torpedo's. and we could have sent enough uniforms, guns mortars, and so on for a 2 million army.
This may turn out to be correct, but is a bit on the pessimistic side. It is only a day on since Renualt were forced in to a U turn and quit Russia. Inevitably after a month attention will diminish, but the public interest and support for Ukraine has been spectacular. The contrast with other conflicts we have become involved in, in faraway lands, is enormous. The west will undoubtedly rediscover its cowardly decadence to a point, but I think something has changed.
It is up to all of us to put the pressure on governments, politicians and companies. In free societies, our words can count.
Sadly serious divisions becoming apparent in the EU
I don’t think it’s sudden news that Orban is a problem.
No, but it was perhaps hoped that a Russian invasion might provoke a sea change in attitudes across the continent. And end to complacency, and cosying up. It does not seem so.
There’s an interesting distinction that’s developed between Poland (populist regime, but sound on Putin; basically pro-Western) and Hungary (populist regime; Putin apologists).
There was some rumour that Orban had his eye on a sliver of Ukraine (Transcarpathia) in the event of any carve-up, although the chance of that looks slim now.
Regarding Kelensky’s tweet above, I’m surprised he didn’t mention Italy. And I’m not sure what Ireland have done or not done to earn his ire.
I didn't understand his criticism of Ireland either
Sadly serious divisions becoming apparent in the EU
I don’t think it’s sudden news that Orban is a problem.
No, but it was perhaps hoped that a Russian invasion might provoke a sea change in attitudes across the continent. And end to complacency, and cosying up. It does not seem so.
I think that analysis is rather premature, even if it is the instinctive view of armchair generals in Britain to sniff out continental treachery.
There’s an interesting distinction that’s developed between Poland (populist regime, but sound on Putin; basically pro-Western) and Hungary (populist regime; Putin apologists).
There was some rumour that Orban had his eye on a sliver of Ukraine (Transcarpathia) in the event of any carve-up, although the chance of that looks slim now.
Regarding Kelensky’s tweet above, I’m surprised he didn’t mention Italy. And I’m not sure what Ireland have done or not done to earn his ire.
I didn't understand his criticism of Ireland either
Perhaps Boris has turned him into a passionate Article 16 sceptic.
Sadly, the sanctions, most of them anyway will be lifted very quickly, Germany and others need Russian gas, and other commodity's in significant quantity's to stop price rises and reception, France and a few others don't what sanctions to get it the way of there business, and will largely ignore or work around them, and fairly quickly other companies and contrary's will be saying why are we missing out on business. Some sanctions e.g. on top grade computer chips might remain but china and black market middle men will get enough to Russia. some of the big Yauts might stay frozen as symbols that we are still sanctioning but not much more than that.
Germany and others will spend a touch more on military this year and maybe next, but the 100 million will be delayed and then forgotten, not that it would have done much anyway, Germany has now after 3 weeks run out of kit they can send to Ukraine, apparently, because they have very lintel usable spare kit.
Ukraine will largely feel abandoned by the west, sad that after being so brave they still had to concede so much to Russia, traumatised by the fighting and all the death. and still have shattered infastucher,
Russia will still have been able to expand its territory in an unprovoked war, yes his men did not do well, but his people at home don't know/believe that, to them he looks like a hero. his army will learn lessons, and be able to make better weapons have better combat based tuning. and will be stronger next time. He has lost a lot of men, but Putin does not care, most of the equipment he has lost was old or not very good. Putin now has stronger control of Russia than he has ever had, with his control over the media, 15,000 of his opponents in prison, and many 100,000s more who have self exiled.
And today he has still proved Putin can still stock internal division in the West by mentioning JK Rolling. and he still has a big bargaining chip in the form of the 402,000 civilians he has deported form Mariupol and other places.
I hope I am wrong, and we still don't know, But I think Putin/authoritarian strongmen have won, and the west/freedom/democracy has lost. outside Europe North America, NZ, Australia South Korea and Japan. support has been thin on the ground for Ukraine, yes most nations voted one way in the UN, but not all and many abstained, others only did so with prodding and because they know it amounted to nothing. there does not seem even a willingness to explode Russia from the next G20 meeting.
all very sad, we as in the west had a window of opportunity to arm Ukraine to the max in the first week, MiG 29s, from Poland, S-300 from Slovakia, anti ship missiles for Odesa, or maybe land lunched torpedo's. and we could have sent enough uniforms, guns mortars, and so on for a 2 million army.
Putin also was relying on the West getting bored of this war. That pretty much has happened now after the early virtue signalling with flags on FB profiles has worn off. The war may get bogged down in Eastern Ukraine and most people in the west will cease to care much
Yes, probably. Once it becomes a grinding, little moving struggle people will switch off. Hence why Zekelsny has been moving so desperately to try to get the West to one up each other with support. I think Big Rich is right about how swiftly some sanctions will be relaxed, and Putin would pay any price to expand territory, he seems very old fashioned in that regard.
I've been reading about King John, who I had not realised reigned for 17 years - you really need military losses to fatally weaken even a bad king, and so if Putin can sell any victory he is safe.
Sadly serious divisions becoming apparent in the EU
I don’t think it’s sudden news that Orban is a problem.
No, but it was perhaps hoped that a Russian invasion might provoke a sea change in attitudes across the continent. And end to complacency, and cosying up. It does not seem so.
I think that analysis is rather premature, even if it is the instinctive view of armchair generals in Britain to sniff out continental treachery.
I'd give that more credence without the 'armchair general' crack which still makes no sense to me. Anyone commenting who is not there on the ground is an armchair general. And my point wasn't about continental treachery, is was about everyone, us included, not necessarily making as long term singificant a change re Russia as we might currently think we are.
Sadly serious divisions becoming apparent in the EU
I don’t think it’s sudden news that Orban is a problem.
According to Zelensky it is Germany, Portugal and Ireland that he is unhappy with
There are tensions in Europe and they are unsurprising
You responded to a piece about Orban.
What is notable, in my view, is not “tensions” - which can be found in every organisation, even the Llandrindod Wells Bowls Team - but rather the resoluteness of Western actions so far.
Such actions have costs, and a recession is already starting to look baked in.
Although I think we should all halt energy imports from Russia, it surprises me not at all that Germany should be reluctant.
In other news, Germany have taken c.250k refugees to the UK’s 20k.
There’s an interesting distinction that’s developed between Poland (populist regime, but sound on Putin; basically pro-Western) and Hungary (populist regime; Putin apologists).
There was some rumour that Orban had his eye on a sliver of Ukraine (Transcarpathia) in the event of any carve-up, although the chance of that looks slim now.
Regarding Kelensky’s tweet above, I’m surprised he didn’t mention Italy. And I’m not sure what Ireland have done or not done to earn his ire.
With respect to Ireland the possibility I can think of is that they "constructively abstained" on the funding for EU military assistance to Ukraine. This means that their contribution can only be spent on helmets, ration packs, etc, and not weaponry or ammunition.
They are also currently one of the non-permanent members of the Security Council, and perhaps they went too far in his view in compromising with China on the UN resolutions.
Sadly serious divisions becoming apparent in the EU
I don’t think it’s sudden news that Orban is a problem.
No, but it was perhaps hoped that a Russian invasion might provoke a sea change in attitudes across the continent. And end to complacency, and cosying up. It does not seem so.
I think that analysis is rather premature, even if it is the instinctive view of armchair generals in Britain to sniff out continental treachery.
Maybe you need to accept the difficulties rather than try to deflect them
There’s an interesting distinction that’s developed between Poland (populist regime, but sound on Putin; basically pro-Western) and Hungary (populist regime; Putin apologists).
There was some rumour that Orban had his eye on a sliver of Ukraine (Transcarpathia) in the event of any carve-up, although the chance of that looks slim now.
Regarding Kelensky’s tweet above, I’m surprised he didn’t mention Italy. And I’m not sure what Ireland have done or not done to earn his ire.
I didn't understand his criticism of Ireland either
Perhaps Boris has turned him into a passionate Article 16 sceptic.
They've been workshopping slogans? Ukraine exiting Russia's orbit...
Sadly serious divisions becoming apparent in the EU
I don’t think it’s sudden news that Orban is a problem.
No, but it was perhaps hoped that a Russian invasion might provoke a sea change in attitudes across the continent. And end to complacency, and cosying up. It does not seem so.
I think that analysis is rather premature, even if it is the instinctive view of armchair generals in Britain to sniff out continental treachery.
I'd give that more credence without the 'armchair general' crack which still makes no sense to me. Anyone commenting who is not there on the ground is an armchair general. And my point wasn't about continental treachery, is was about everyone, us included, not necessarily making as long term singificant a change re Russia as we might currently think we are.
I'll have you know I'm an armchair lance corporal. I know my place.
Fed up with West’s diplomatic fence sitting, Zelensky goes on offensive: tells Europe leaders they acted too late to stop RF invasion. Singles out nations for being late or reluctant to take measures - Germany, Portugal & Ireland - then lambasts Hungary for neutrality #Ukraine
But! But! But! Boris was embarrassed in a selectively edited clip of a NATO photo-op! Don’t you get what’s important?
The usual suspects are pissed that Boris gets the glory from Zelensky for being right and being ready. And in fact, getting in the way of the "it'll all be over in 48 hours" brigade.
"If it weren't for you pesky kids, we'd still be building Renaults...and opening NordStream2" You can see why they are being pissy.
Typical of the modern Conservative. Chucking money and weapons about but when it comes to helping people......
Hmm. "Chucking" money and weapons evidently is helping people. At least, that's what the Ukrainians seem to think. Perhaps they are mistaken?
Sadly serious divisions becoming apparent in the EU
I don’t think it’s sudden news that Orban is a problem.
No, but it was perhaps hoped that a Russian invasion might provoke a sea change in attitudes across the continent. And end to complacency, and cosying up. It does not seem so.
I think that analysis is rather premature, even if it is the instinctive view of armchair generals in Britain to sniff out continental treachery.
Maybe you need to accept the difficulties rather than try to deflect them
Maybe you should try looking at analysis beyond the Daily Mail leader columns.
The truth is that there are differences of approach across the Western Alliance, even NZ’s initial response was disappointingly lukewarm (to the extent that matters).
I think it is just superficial and uninformative to play the “oooh tensions within the EU” melody again.
There’s an interesting distinction that’s developed between Poland (populist regime, but sound on Putin; basically pro-Western) and Hungary (populist regime; Putin apologists).
There was some rumour that Orban had his eye on a sliver of Ukraine (Transcarpathia) in the event of any carve-up, although the chance of that looks slim now.
Regarding Kelensky’s tweet above, I’m surprised he didn’t mention Italy. And I’m not sure what Ireland have done or not done to earn his ire.
I didn't understand his criticism of Ireland either
Perhaps Boris has turned him into a passionate Article 16 sceptic.
They've been workshopping slogans? Ukraine exiting Russia's orbit...
Sadly serious divisions becoming apparent in the EU
I don’t think it’s sudden news that Orban is a problem.
No, but it was perhaps hoped that a Russian invasion might provoke a sea change in attitudes across the continent. And end to complacency, and cosying up. It does not seem so.
I think that analysis is rather premature, even if it is the instinctive view of armchair generals in Britain to sniff out continental treachery.
I'd give that more credence without the 'armchair general' crack which still makes no sense to me. Anyone commenting who is not there on the ground is an armchair general. And my point wasn't about continental treachery, is was about everyone, us included, not necessarily making as long term singificant a change re Russia as we might currently think we are.
I'll have you know I'm an armchair lance corporal. I know my place.
You've always kept your feet on the ground, lance corporal, I respect that.
Sadly serious divisions becoming apparent in the EU
I don’t think it’s sudden news that Orban is a problem.
No, but it was perhaps hoped that a Russian invasion might provoke a sea change in attitudes across the continent. And end to complacency, and cosying up. It does not seem so.
I think that analysis is rather premature, even if it is the instinctive view of armchair generals in Britain to sniff out continental treachery.
Maybe you need to accept the difficulties rather than try to deflect them
Maybe you should try looking at analysis beyond the Daily Mail leader columns.
The truth is that there are differences of approach across the Western Alliance, even NZ’s initial response was disappointingly lukewarm (to the extent that matters).
I think it is just superficial and uninformative to play the “oooh tensions within the EU” melody again.
Can’t see it as that account blocked me after I pointed out their dodgy re weighting of polls
It's today's Yougov poll
Isn't it from the YouGov bit which is weighted differently as I pointed out?
Maybe just accept Boris has poor ratings but Starmer is not that much better
I didn't say that, I was saying I thought it came from the differently weighted YouGov tracker.
My point is that you can't use it to compare ratings, just as you can't use it for Johnson's.
As I pointed out to you, Starmer hit +0 with Redfield, how do you explain such a disparity? He's higher with IPSOS as well.
This has been the same since he became leader and I have said so since then, I do not believe the YouGov tracker is useful.
(again, same for Johnson).
And no need to be so condescending, I only asked a question.
The polls do vary but the point is that Starmer is not inspiring
What is the point in conversing with you when you don't address the point I actually made?
By your own definition, Johnson isn't inspiring yet I've never heard you say that. Didn't you vote for him?
Starmer doesn't need to be inspiring, he just needs to be better than Johnson, which he is. And to lead on the economy as an opposition is how you win an election.
Since Rishi is off the table, who do you want to take over?
If you don't feel like you can answer these questions, I'll leave our chat here.
Sadly serious divisions becoming apparent in the EU
I don’t think it’s sudden news that Orban is a problem.
No, but it was perhaps hoped that a Russian invasion might provoke a sea change in attitudes across the continent. And end to complacency, and cosying up. It does not seem so.
I think that analysis is rather premature, even if it is the instinctive view of armchair generals in Britain to sniff out continental treachery.
Maybe you need to accept the difficulties rather than try to deflect them
Maybe you should try looking at analysis beyond the Daily Mail leader columns.
The truth is that there are differences of approach across the Western Alliance, even NZ’s initial response was disappointingly lukewarm (to the extent that matters).
I think it is just superficial and uninformative to play the “oooh tensions within the EU” melody again.
Just admit it just cannot take any criticism of the EU and I do not read the daily mail
Can’t see it as that account blocked me after I pointed out their dodgy re weighting of polls
It's today's Yougov poll
Isn't it from the YouGov bit which is weighted differently as I pointed out?
Maybe just accept Boris has poor ratings but Starmer is not that much better
I didn't say that, I was saying I thought it came from the differently weighted YouGov tracker.
My point is that you can't use it to compare ratings, just as you can't use it for Johnson's.
As I pointed out to you, Starmer hit +0 with Redfield, how do you explain such a disparity? He's higher with IPSOS as well.
This has been the same since he became leader and I have said so since then, I do not believe the YouGov tracker is useful.
(again, same for Johnson).
And no need to be so condescending, I only asked a question.
The polls do vary but the point is that Starmer is not inspiring
His ratings are I think a fairly direct mirror of Boris's. When Boris is doing badly, Starmer does better by default and when Boris recovers somewhat, Starmer falls back.
As I've said many times before, being non-Boris may be enough if the real Boris messes up sufficiently. But it's not enough, and it suggests that any Starmer government would likely be troubled and short-lived.
Sadly serious divisions becoming apparent in the EU
I don’t think it’s sudden news that Orban is a problem.
No, but it was perhaps hoped that a Russian invasion might provoke a sea change in attitudes across the continent. And end to complacency, and cosying up. It does not seem so.
I think that analysis is rather premature, even if it is the instinctive view of armchair generals in Britain to sniff out continental treachery.
I'd give that more credence without the 'armchair general' crack which still makes no sense to me. Anyone commenting who is not there on the ground is an armchair general. And my point wasn't about continental treachery, is was about everyone, us included, not necessarily making as long term singificant a change re Russia as we might currently think we are.
I'll have you know I'm an armchair lance corporal. I know my place.
Sadly serious divisions becoming apparent in the EU
I don’t think it’s sudden news that Orban is a problem.
No, but it was perhaps hoped that a Russian invasion might provoke a sea change in attitudes across the continent. And end to complacency, and cosying up. It does not seem so.
I think that analysis is rather premature, even if it is the instinctive view of armchair generals in Britain to sniff out continental treachery.
Maybe you need to accept the difficulties rather than try to deflect them
Maybe you should try looking at analysis beyond the Daily Mail leader columns.
The truth is that there are differences of approach across the Western Alliance, even NZ’s initial response was disappointingly lukewarm (to the extent that matters).
I think it is just superficial and uninformative to play the “oooh tensions within the EU” melody again.
Just admit it just cannot take any criticism of the EU and I do not read the daily mail
I often criticise the EU, but I try not to simply regurgitate talking points from Tory Party HQ or it’s various organs (Mail, Express, Telegraph).
There’s an interesting distinction that’s developed between Poland (populist regime, but sound on Putin; basically pro-Western) and Hungary (populist regime; Putin apologists).
There was some rumour that Orban had his eye on a sliver of Ukraine (Transcarpathia) in the event of any carve-up, although the chance of that looks slim now.
Regarding Kelensky’s tweet above, I’m surprised he didn’t mention Italy. And I’m not sure what Ireland have done or not done to earn his ire.
For historical reasons, Polish nationalists and Russian nationalists have always disliked each other. Hungarian nationalism has basically come down to whatever Orban thinks. There's a good summary of Hungarian politics here:
Can’t see it as that account blocked me after I pointed out their dodgy re weighting of polls
It's today's Yougov poll
Isn't it from the YouGov bit which is weighted differently as I pointed out?
Maybe just accept Boris has poor ratings but Starmer is not that much better
I didn't say that, I was saying I thought it came from the differently weighted YouGov tracker.
My point is that you can't use it to compare ratings, just as you can't use it for Johnson's.
As I pointed out to you, Starmer hit +0 with Redfield, how do you explain such a disparity? He's higher with IPSOS as well.
This has been the same since he became leader and I have said so since then, I do not believe the YouGov tracker is useful.
(again, same for Johnson).
And no need to be so condescending, I only asked a question.
The polls do vary but the point is that Starmer is not inspiring
His ratings are I think a fairly direct mirror of Boris's. When Boris is doing badly, Starmer does better by default and when Boris recovers somewhat, Starmer falls back.
As I've said many times before, being non-Boris may be enough if the real Boris messes up sufficiently. But it's not enough, and it suggests that any Starmer government would likely be troubled and short-lived.
Is this true though?
The only time Starmer was ever genuinely unpopular was just after the local elections.
Since then he's been at worst "irrelevant" and at best neutral.
It's been two years now and the worst people have on him is "dull". I like those odds.
Comments
Fed up with West’s diplomatic fence sitting, Zelensky goes on offensive: tells Europe leaders they acted too late to stop RF invasion. Singles out nations for being late or reluctant to take measures - Germany, Portugal & Ireland - then lambasts Hungary for neutrality #Ukraine
https://twitter.com/WorldAffairsPro/status/1507217902436593698
Quite a cute debating style!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panzer_38(t)
Of course what was a Czech and what was a German factory got a bit confusing ...
@spireitelviv
Sacked in the morning...
I received an email with confirmation that I (and all my colleagues) were relieved from our duties.
Comrades together and all that.
Hitler Youth, Up For Devilry.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duroplast
ETA LOL @wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variomatic
Because the system does not have separate gears, but one (continuously shifting) gear and a separate 'reverse mode' (as opposed to reverse gear), the transmission works in reverse as well, giving it the interesting side effect that one can drive back as fast as forwards. As a result, in the former Dutch annual backward driving world championship, the DAFs had to be put in a separate competition because no other car could keep up. Thus, these very cheap and simple cars were the 'formula one' in this competition.
The Skoda tank turned out a bit shit in the Russian winter - the compressed air system froze up when the moisture in the air condensed.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panzer_35(t)
http://www.kfzderwehrmacht.de/Homepage_english/Motor_Vehicles/Czechoslovakia/Skoda/skoda.html
http://www.kfzderwehrmacht.de/Homepage_english/Motor_Vehicles/Czechoslovakia/Tatra/tatra.html
http://www.kfzderwehrmacht.de/Homepage_english/Motor_Vehicles/Czechoslovakia/Praga/praga.html
(and more)
https://yougov.co.uk/ratings/politics/popularity/foreign-politicians/all
Germany and others will spend a touch more on military this year and maybe next, but the 100 million will be delayed and then forgotten, not that it would have done much anyway, Germany has now after 3 weeks run out of kit they can send to Ukraine, apparently, because they have very lintel usable spare kit.
Ukraine will largely feel abandoned by the west, sad that after being so brave they still had to concede so much to Russia, traumatised by the fighting and all the death. and still have shattered infastucher,
Russia will still have been able to expand its territory in an unprovoked war, yes his men did not do well, but his people at home don't know/believe that, to them he looks like a hero. his army will learn lessons, and be able to make better weapons have better combat based tuning. and will be stronger next time. He has lost a lot of men, but Putin does not care, most of the equipment he has lost was old or not very good. Putin now has stronger control of Russia than he has ever had, with his control over the media, 15,000 of his opponents in prison, and many 100,000s more who have self exiled.
And today he has still proved Putin can still stock internal division in the West by mentioning JK Rolling. and he still has a big bargaining chip in the form of the 402,000 civilians he has deported form Mariupol and other places.
I hope I am wrong, and we still don't know, But I think Putin/authoritarian strongmen have won, and the west/freedom/democracy has lost. outside Europe North America, NZ, Australia South Korea and Japan. support has been thin on the ground for Ukraine, yes most nations voted one way in the UN, but not all and many abstained, others only did so with prodding and because they know it amounted to nothing. there does not seem even a willingness to explode Russia from the next G20 meeting.
all very sad, we as in the west had a window of opportunity to arm Ukraine to the max in the first week, MiG 29s, from Poland, S-300 from Slovakia, anti ship missiles for Odesa, or maybe land lunched torpedo's. and we could have sent enough uniforms, guns mortars, and so on for a 2 million army.
God, we really got some 'Benny Hill' from our man at the leaders summit, didn't we? He still has it. Utter shambles and impossible to take your eyes off him.
And I have been out most of the day anyway
Maybe hold your hand up would be honest
"If it weren't for you pesky kids, we'd still be building Renaults...and opening NordStream2" You can see why they are being pissy.
Putin's tyranny becomes ever more isolated.
https://twitter.com/anders_aslund/status/1507409680057917448
Czech Defense Minister @jana_cernochova
refuses to join Visegrad Group Meeting in Budapest because:
- she refuses to "take part in electoral campaign (of Viktor Orbán)"
- feels sad that "cheaper Russian oil is more important to Hungarian politicians than Ukrainian blood"
https://twitter.com/_JakubJanda/status/1507411435940642818
It's why midterm polling is a thing.
There was some rumour that Orban had his eye on a sliver of Ukraine (Transcarpathia) in the event of any carve-up, although the chance of that looks slim now.
Regarding Kelensky’s tweet above, I’m surprised he didn’t mention Italy. And I’m not sure what Ireland have done or not done to earn his ire.
Orban is pro-Putin that's all.
Sadly it looks like he'll be re-elected by controlling the media.
I would respectively suggest you are either naive or just want to wish away the new reality the consequences of which will last decades
I heard about the missile strike on the Ukrainian military at Dnipro, but not any other developments today.
I've been reading about King John, who I had not realised reigned for 17 years - you really need military losses to fatally weaken even a bad king, and so if Putin can sell any victory he is safe.
There are tensions in Europe and they are unsurprising
What is notable, in my view, is not “tensions” - which can be found in every organisation, even the Llandrindod Wells Bowls Team - but rather the resoluteness of Western actions so far.
Such actions have costs, and a recession is already starting to look baked in.
Although I think we should all halt energy imports from Russia, it surprises me not at all that Germany should be reluctant.
In other news, Germany have taken c.250k refugees to the UK’s 20k.
My point is that you can't use it to compare ratings, just as you can't use it for Johnson's.
As I pointed out to you, Starmer hit +0 with Redfield, how do you explain such a disparity? He's higher with IPSOS as well.
This has been the same since he became leader and I have said so since then, I do not believe the YouGov tracker is useful.
(again, same for Johnson).
And no need to be so condescending, I only asked a question.
They are also currently one of the non-permanent members of the Security Council, and perhaps they went too far in his view in compromising with China on the UN resolutions.
UkRuXit means UkRuXit?
The truth is that there are differences of approach across the Western Alliance, even NZ’s initial response was disappointingly lukewarm (to the extent that matters).
I think it is just superficial and uninformative to play the “oooh tensions within the EU” melody again.
By your own definition, Johnson isn't inspiring yet I've never heard you say that. Didn't you vote for him?
Starmer doesn't need to be inspiring, he just needs to be better than Johnson, which he is. And to lead on the economy as an opposition is how you win an election.
Since Rishi is off the table, who do you want to take over?
If you don't feel like you can answer these questions, I'll leave our chat here.
We could do a lot worse than a serious and sober, if a little introverted, PM.
As I've said many times before, being non-Boris may be enough if the real Boris messes up sufficiently. But it's not enough, and it suggests that any Starmer government would likely be troubled and short-lived.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-why-should-you-care-about-the-hungarian-elections-because-the-future/
though the polls are not as close as she implies:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion_polling_for_the_2022_Hungarian_parliamentary_election?msclkid=ee115cbfac6811ec934cdcba2e504fe4
The Two-Tailed Dog Party sounds quite fun.
The only time Starmer was ever genuinely unpopular was just after the local elections.
Since then he's been at worst "irrelevant" and at best neutral.
It's been two years now and the worst people have on him is "dull". I like those odds.