I'm in touch with one of the last defenders of Mariupol. He's wounded. After Bucha massacre, he says, "surrender is not an option." He feels their stand accomplished its mission. They tied up so much Russian firepower it gave other cities a chance to survive. https://twitter.com/shustry/status/1515609442305429512
Love one of the quotes on that thread:
“Out of every one hundred men, ten shouldn’t even be there, eighty are just targets, nine are the real fighters, and we are lucky to have them, for they make the battle. Ah, but the one, one is a warrior, and he will bring the others back.” ― Heraclitus
A question to the lawyers here: Andrew Bridgen MP has been ruled to have lied under oath. Is this automatically a perjury conviction, and if so does this disqualify him from his seat in the House of Commons?
A by election in North West Leics would certainly be an interesting bell weather, would it not?
Lots of reports that Russia is forcibly conscripting Ukrainian citizens in recently occupied territory.
Another war crime.
Lots of photographic evidence they have also been booby trapping civilian homes by putting grenades in things like washing machines or cabinets that house cups / plates.
Lots of reports that Russia is forcibly conscripting Ukrainian citizens in recently occupied territory.
It increasingly appears that Russia's manpower problems are much greater than we thought. It is being posited that instead of having three crew on most of their tanks, they're two-crewing them, which makes combat in them much harder. Also other similar vehicles have been under crewed from the start.
A question to the lawyers here: Andrew Bridgen MP has been ruled to have lied under oath. Is this automatically a perjury conviction, and if so does this disqualify him from his seat in the House of Commons?
A by election in North West Leics would certainly be an interesting bell weather, would it not?
No and no. To be found lying in a civil case is to be disbelieved on the balance of probabilities. In egrigious cases the Judge might report the matter to the Crown to see if they want to prosecute perjury to the requiste standard of beyond a reasonable doubt.
Of course, some people might feel suitably ashamed but many seem to be beyond it.
Lots of reports that Russia is forcibly conscripting Ukrainian citizens in recently occupied territory.
It increasingly appears that Russia's manpower problems are much greater than we thought. It is being posited that instead of having three crew on most of their tanks, they're two-crewing them, which makes combat in them much harder. Also other similar vehicles have been under crewed from the start.
I think its pretty clear the military might is all been found wanting. I presume a fair chunk of it was corruption and some unwilling to tell the Führer things aren't as rosy as planned.
RAF base at Linton I have been by it lots of times, I spent many nights at pyjama party’s at friends at Linton on Ouse. Discussion at dinner table, we in Yorkshire stand together, not in our back yard, we support the protesting residence, 500 migrants staying there for months is 500 too many, will children and women be safe out and about on their own?
Except one voice, ideal place as anywhere for it, fly in and out, house and feed, walk around the grounds, trade in local shops, administrators can be on site processing so better than dumped out in nowhere waiting for a postman or a police van with cages in it.
So you see Farooq, I am a Lib Dem not a Tory! And a good Christian so stick that up your Iron Age twaddle 😇
I do think my family and girlfriend will divorce me any moment 🤭. We have been playing the really nasty horse racing game and they have been ganging up on me. 🫠
Interesting - I hadn't realised.
It's in the North, so well away from the Home Counties. And a runway to deport them. Though this is interesting in the local paper. Mr Hollinrake MP:
"I have been assured the time limit for any asylum seekers to remain the site will be 180 days and I have ensured the Minister is clear this must be stuck to, to ensure those waiting for decisions are not unduly delayed.
"I have spoken to other members of parliament who already have similar facilities in their areas. Initial concerns around disturbance to local communities has not been borne out in practice, so hopefully this will be the case here also.
"I have also asked the Minister if he can consider opening the site up to Ukrainian refugees, given the heartwarming response from Thirsk and Malton constituents to the crisis."
I don't know if it is coincidence, or at his behest, that it carefully omits to mention that Mr Hollinrake is a Tory MP.
Inflation is the absolutely worst thing for any government, as there isn't very much they can do about it without massive other negative knock-on effects. While at the same time, it is visible every day to everybody, food, fuel, etc, rather than for instance the use of fiscal drag in their taxes where most people don't realise a bit more tax has been taken each year in real terms.
Not necessarily.
Go back to the 70s and look at the elections in those inflationary years. It wasn’t inflation per se that determined the result but views on Government competence.
Callaghan’s Government probably would have won an election called in late 1978 even given inflation rates were high. What killed its chances was that the Winter of Discontent showed a Government that had lost control of how to run the country. The same goes for Heath in February 1974.
This also isn’t a 1070s style inflation situation - it’s actually more akin to the 50s US situation, which also saw inflation post WW2/the Korea war but which still managed to post healthy growth and not yet things spiral.
I was quite young in the Seventies, but the Callaghan government had brought inflation down to 10% from a high when Labour took office of near 27%, so in the context of the times was under control.
It was the collapse of his 5% policy after the Ford workers got 17% that led to the Winter of Discontent.
Which goes back to the point - Callaghan was popular when he was deemed to be in control. It is the loss of competence that dooms Governments.
(I’d argue the same with Major in the 1990s - it was his perceived incompetence, than sleaze, that doomed him).
Major was doomed because the very real sacrifices made by ordinary people, some of whom lost their homes, to support the pound in the ERM, were shown to be worthless when the government abandoned that policy on Black Wednesday. And that is the danger of partygate for the current shower. There were other factors too, of course.
Black Wednesday also skewered the Tories' reputation for economic competence. Their reputation remained trashed until the GFC moved the spotlight over to Labour.
The current CoL crisis is going to remind people how crap the Tories are at managing the economy.
Lots of reports that Russia is forcibly conscripting Ukrainian citizens in recently occupied territory.
It increasingly appears that Russia's manpower problems are much greater than we thought. It is being posited that instead of having three crew on most of their tanks, they're two-crewing them, which makes combat in them much harder. Also other similar vehicles have been under crewed from the start.
I think its pretty clear the military might is all been found wanting. I presume a fair chunk of it was corruption and some unwilling to tell the Führer things aren't as rosy as planned.
We'll have to wait for it all to be over (and to see if Russia can reorganise and recover), but there are probably loads of factors. *) Corruption *) Poor communications (these two as you say). *) Stale ideology on how to fight a modern war (the Ukrainians have learnt a great deal from the west after their defeats in 2014). *) Relying on cool, big-ticket kit. The Armata T-14 has been called the best tank in the world. It isn't, because the Russians cannot make enough of them to risk them in battle. Especially after they lost one in Syria. *) Relying on numbers. Numbers have a quality all of their own, but large numbers of outdated kit just leads to large numbers of burning hulks. *) Not going all-out for victory from Day One. They hoped Ukraine would fold, but they did not. It was a Bridge Too Far rather than Shock and Awe. *) Not preparing adequately for the west's reactions.
I’ve managed to get myself a table at a rather fancy restaurant tonight, and I’ve gone for their gastronomic menu, washed down with a delicious local red and volcano water.
I’m going to have to eat all of this..
Snacks:
Oyster La Belle Huître.
Creamy cured sheep cheese Mas Farró with angel hair from our pumpkins.
Starters:
Fresh pea and bean tartare with anchovies and mint.
Farro de la Vall de Bianya with scalded organic egg and black truffle.
Main courses:
Cocotxa of fresh cod with Santa Pau bean and artichokes.
Sea and mount of pork rib, “parmentier” truffled with Valley potato, scallop, mushrooms, Russet ratafía sauce and seafood cream.
Desserts:
Olot tortell toast “Torrija” with ratafia ice cream.
A question to the lawyers here: Andrew Bridgen MP has been ruled to have lied under oath. Is this automatically a perjury conviction, and if so does this disqualify him from his seat in the House of Commons?
A by election in North West Leics would certainly be an interesting bell weather, would it not?
No and no. To be found lying in a civil case is to be disbelieved on the balance of probabilities. In egrigious cases the Judge might report the matter to the Crown to see if they want to prosecute perjury to the requiste standard of beyond a reasonable doubt.
I trust Cicero's bill for seeking your legal advice is in the post. 😀
A preliminary reckoning, of course.
As legal services can be complex and the final cost can depend on many things.
I’ve managed to get myself a table at a rather fancy restaurant tonight, and I’ve gone for their gastronomic menu, washed down with a delicious local red and volcano water.
I’m going to have to eat all of this..
Snacks:
Oyster La Belle Huître.
Creamy cured sheep cheese Mas Farró with angel hair from our pumpkins.
Starters:
Fresh pea and bean tartare with anchovies and mint.
Farro de la Vall de Bianya with scalded organic egg and black truffle.
Main courses:
Cocotxa of fresh cod with Santa Pau bean and artichokes.
Sea and mount of pork rib, “parmentier” truffled with Valley potato, scallop, mushrooms, Russet ratafía sauce and seafood cream.
Desserts:
Olot tortell toast “Torrija” with ratafia ice cream.
Little volcanic follies
Ooh.. here’s my first snack!
Are you venturing around on your own? (I've done such a thing myself, and fine dining on your own can be great fun if you're confident that you can drink enough, but not too much.)
I’ve managed to get myself a table at a rather fancy restaurant tonight, and I’ve gone for their gastronomic menu, washed down with a delicious local red and volcano water.
I’m going to have to eat all of this..
Snacks:
Oyster La Belle Huître.
Creamy cured sheep cheese Mas Farró with angel hair from our pumpkins.
Starters:
Fresh pea and bean tartare with anchovies and mint.
Farro de la Vall de Bianya with scalded organic egg and black truffle.
Main courses:
Cocotxa of fresh cod with Santa Pau bean and artichokes.
Sea and mount of pork rib, “parmentier” truffled with Valley potato, scallop, mushrooms, Russet ratafía sauce and seafood cream.
Desserts:
Olot tortell toast “Torrija” with ratafia ice cream.
Little volcanic follies
Ooh.. here’s my first snack!
Are you venturing around on your own? (I've done such a thing myself, and fine dining on your own can be great fun if you're confident that you can drink enough, but not too much.)
I’m very much on my own, and I’ve been in serious training to drink as much as they can pour me.. hic!
The people who are particularly screwed by inflation are of course the elderly, to the extent they are living on non linked pensions (which includes the state pension now the triple kick has gone) or cash savings. The young can earn their way out of trouble, and the well heeled can hope their non cash assets will inflate
That's an interesting piece by Paul Mason but he may be overstating the danger. Phillips O'Brien shared a piece on twitter about the possibility of a tactical nuclear strike. What Mason doesn't seem to account for is the likelihood of a conventional response from Nato and that hopefully the Russians have been made aware of this in advance.
Why would NATO respond conventionally to a Russian nuclear attack ? I think NATO's response would be nuclear.
If we thought the two sides were remotely level pegging in conventional terms that might be so, but why surrender the moral high ground if you don't have to? that's bringing a gun to a knife fight when you have a Gerber mini-magnum and the opposition has a plastic picnic knife.
Spoiler alert! In the last episode of Peaky Blinders, Arthur brought a WWI gas grenade (and gas masks) to a gun fight.
I’ve managed to get myself a table at a rather fancy restaurant tonight, and I’ve gone for their gastronomic menu, washed down with a delicious local red and volcano water.
I’m going to have to eat all of this..
Snacks:
Oyster La Belle Huître.
Creamy cured sheep cheese Mas Farró with angel hair from our pumpkins.
Starters:
Fresh pea and bean tartare with anchovies and mint.
Farro de la Vall de Bianya with scalded organic egg and black truffle.
Main courses:
Cocotxa of fresh cod with Santa Pau bean and artichokes.
Sea and mount of pork rib, “parmentier” truffled with Valley potato, scallop, mushrooms, Russet ratafía sauce and seafood cream.
Desserts:
Olot tortell toast “Torrija” with ratafia ice cream.
I can understand people being fed with Sunak's management of the economy but I find it difficult to see why anyone would think Labour would do any better. Starmer has has put forward no ideas at all in the past two years. He has spoken against tax rises but has indicated that he wants the government to spend more on everything. He and his party have no credibility whatsoever.
That's an interesting piece by Paul Mason but he may be overstating the danger. Phillips O'Brien shared a piece on twitter about the possibility of a tactical nuclear strike. What Mason doesn't seem to account for is the likelihood of a conventional response from Nato and that hopefully the Russians have been made aware of this in advance.
Why would NATO respond conventionally to a Russian nuclear attack ? I think NATO's response would be nuclear.
The link in the Phillips O'Brien tweet is fairly persuasive. The proposal is for a massive conventional response first with nuclear to follow down the line if Russia is mad enough to persist.
That's an interesting piece by Paul Mason but he may be overstating the danger. Phillips O'Brien shared a piece on twitter about the possibility of a tactical nuclear strike. What Mason doesn't seem to account for is the likelihood of a conventional response from Nato and that hopefully the Russians have been made aware of this in advance.
Why would NATO respond conventionally to a Russian nuclear attack ? I think NATO's response would be nuclear.
On a non-Nato member? If it was tactical nukes definitely not. I still think it unlikely if it was a full nuclear attack on Ukraine. What would more likely happen is a huge conventional attack on the Russian military.
I doubt there would be any NATO response unless NATO territory was immediately impacted or NATO forces directly attacked. Putin has so far been scrupulously careful to avoid any direct confrontation with NATO forces and there should be no NATO forces directly alongside Ukrainian forces (weaponry notwithstanding).
Those are, if you like, the rules of the game - Russia has tacitly accepted Ukraine will get NATO equipment but no NATO "advisers". Putin has neither the interest nor the desire to expand the conflict exponentially and put us all at risk and I suspect his advisers are well aware of the consequences of escalation.
I think this analysis is probably correct. Perhaps 75% chance.
There is, however, a chance (25%, imo) that the war metastasises.
I did a module on the Cuban midsole crisis, back in my university days, and imo, the current situation is far more serious with a greater possibility a major Russia/NATO conflict.
Cuban midsole crisis sounds like something @TSE would suffer from. ;-)
Not to be confused with the Cuban Midlife Crisis, where women of a certain age head off to the Caribbean and come back with a husband.
The people who are particularly screwed by inflation are of course the elderly, to the extent they are living on non linked pensions (which includes the state pension now the triple kick has gone) or cash savings. The young can earn their way out of trouble, and the well heeled can hope their non cash assets will inflate
So there goes the core vote
How do you cut inflation? You cut spending and raise interest rates, not exactly a popular combination either and not something Labour will be that keen on. We also need a much wider ranger of energy supplies, not just renewables to reduce energy prices.
Inflation was sky-high in the 1970s under Heath, Wilson and Callaghan until the Thatcher and Major governments did the necessary to get it down
I’ve managed to get myself a table at a rather fancy restaurant tonight, and I’ve gone for their gastronomic menu, washed down with a delicious local red and volcano water.
I’m going to have to eat all of this..
Snacks:
Oyster La Belle Huître.
Creamy cured sheep cheese Mas Farró with angel hair from our pumpkins.
Starters:
Fresh pea and bean tartare with anchovies and mint.
Farro de la Vall de Bianya with scalded organic egg and black truffle.
Main courses:
Cocotxa of fresh cod with Santa Pau bean and artichokes.
Sea and mount of pork rib, “parmentier” truffled with Valley potato, scallop, mushrooms, Russet ratafía sauce and seafood cream.
Desserts:
Olot tortell toast “Torrija” with ratafia ice cream.
Little volcanic follies
Ooh.. here’s my first snack!
Are you venturing around on your own? (I've done such a thing myself, and fine dining on your own can be great fun if you're confident that you can drink enough, but not too much.)
I’m very much on my own, and I’ve been in serious training to drink as much as they can pour me.. hic!
My other snack
Nicely done
So long as you leave on your own two feet then, mission accomplished.
We are looking at headline polls, are we paying attention to size of don’t know, what is a normal size of don’t know? For months I have had this feeling that it breaks late for the anti establishment candidate. Can there be shy Pen supporters, that will vote for her, deny they did, hidden in the don’t knows? Secondly, this article implied general public faith in Russian sanctions at their expense wearing thin in France? because of election is this being monitored more there, is it even true as express claims, is is still holding up here in UK, and would faith in sanctions remain same in a all in it together country as a them and us scenario where working class feel they are the only ones suffering because of it?
Largesse from another angle- the bulk of the 801 SNP politicians who extract £31M+ annually from Scottish taxpayers are sourced from friends, family & LBGTQ+ campaigners. Little wonder independence is off their agenda
Didn’t have you down as an abolitionist, Malc.
These people are parasites
You’re right Malc. Riding the gravy train for all its worth while pretending to want Indy. Surely there will come a time when more and more Indy minded people, like your good self, see them for what they are ?
Taz, they still seem to be getting away with it , worse than Boris and his crew.
Cheer up. Malc. It would appear that Little Miss Crosspatch may get banged to rights for ignoring her own Covid rules...
"Nicola Sturgeon has been reported to police after being filmed apparently breaching Scotland's face mask rules.
"Footage on social media shows the first minister without a mask in an East Kilbride barber shop, which she had visited on the election campaign trail."
I can understand people being fed with Sunak's management of the economy but I find it difficult to see why anyone would think Labour would do any better. Starmer has has put forward no ideas at all in the past two years. He has spoken against tax rises but has indicated that he wants the government to spend more on everything. He and his party have no credibility whatsoever.
If you want to find out the opposition's policies, call an election! No FTPA to stop you now. Chicken?
I’ve managed to get myself a table at a rather fancy restaurant tonight, and I’ve gone for their gastronomic menu, washed down with a delicious local red and volcano water.
I’m going to have to eat all of this..
Snacks:
Oyster La Belle Huître.
Creamy cured sheep cheese Mas Farró with angel hair from our pumpkins.
Starters:
Fresh pea and bean tartare with anchovies and mint.
Farro de la Vall de Bianya with scalded organic egg and black truffle.
Main courses:
Cocotxa of fresh cod with Santa Pau bean and artichokes.
Sea and mount of pork rib, “parmentier” truffled with Valley potato, scallop, mushrooms, Russet ratafía sauce and seafood cream.
Desserts:
Olot tortell toast “Torrija” with ratafia ice cream.
I’ve managed to get myself a table at a rather fancy restaurant tonight, and I’ve gone for their gastronomic menu, washed down with a delicious local red and volcano water.
I’m going to have to eat all of this..
Snacks:
Oyster La Belle Huître.
Creamy cured sheep cheese Mas Farró with angel hair from our pumpkins.
Starters:
Fresh pea and bean tartare with anchovies and mint.
Farro de la Vall de Bianya with scalded organic egg and black truffle.
Main courses:
Cocotxa of fresh cod with Santa Pau bean and artichokes.
Sea and mount of pork rib, “parmentier” truffled with Valley potato, scallop, mushrooms, Russet ratafía sauce and seafood cream.
Desserts:
Olot tortell toast “Torrija” with ratafia ice cream.
Little volcanic follies
Ooh.. here’s my first snack!
Are you venturing around on your own? (I've done such a thing myself, and fine dining on your own can be great fun if you're confident that you can drink enough, but not too much.)
I’m very much on my own, and I’ve been in serious training to drink as much as they can pour me.. hic!
I’ve managed to get myself a table at a rather fancy restaurant tonight, and I’ve gone for their gastronomic menu, washed down with a delicious local red and volcano water.
I’m going to have to eat all of this..
Snacks:
Oyster La Belle Huître.
Creamy cured sheep cheese Mas Farró with angel hair from our pumpkins.
Starters:
Fresh pea and bean tartare with anchovies and mint.
Farro de la Vall de Bianya with scalded organic egg and black truffle.
Main courses:
Cocotxa of fresh cod with Santa Pau bean and artichokes.
Sea and mount of pork rib, “parmentier” truffled with Valley potato, scallop, mushrooms, Russet ratafía sauce and seafood cream.
Desserts:
Olot tortell toast “Torrija” with ratafia ice cream.
I can understand people being fed with Sunak's management of the economy but I find it difficult to see why anyone would think Labour would do any better. Starmer has has put forward no ideas at all in the past two years. He has spoken against tax rises but has indicated that he wants the government to spend more on everything. He and his party have no credibility whatsoever.
Yes, this must all be very frustrating for you. 14 years of Conservative-led Government and people still aren't happy.
Perhaps you should be paying more attention to Rachel Reeves as the Shadow Chancellor.
The people who are particularly screwed by inflation are of course the elderly, to the extent they are living on non linked pensions (which includes the state pension now the triple kick has gone) or cash savings. The young can earn their way out of trouble, and the well heeled can hope their non cash assets will inflate
So there goes the core vote
I can see Sunak being ordered to do something about this once the May elections are over.
I’ve managed to get myself a table at a rather fancy restaurant tonight, and I’ve gone for their gastronomic menu, washed down with a delicious local red and volcano water.
I’m going to have to eat all of this..
Snacks:
Oyster La Belle Huître.
Creamy cured sheep cheese Mas Farró with angel hair from our pumpkins.
Starters:
Fresh pea and bean tartare with anchovies and mint.
Farro de la Vall de Bianya with scalded organic egg and black truffle.
Main courses:
Cocotxa of fresh cod with Santa Pau bean and artichokes.
Sea and mount of pork rib, “parmentier” truffled with Valley potato, scallop, mushrooms, Russet ratafía sauce and seafood cream.
Desserts:
Olot tortell toast “Torrija” with ratafia ice cream.
Little volcanic follies
Ooh.. here’s my first snack!
Are you venturing around on your own? (I've done such a thing myself, and fine dining on your own can be great fun if you're confident that you can drink enough, but not too much.)
I’m very much on my own, and I’ve been in serious training to drink as much as they can pour me.. hic!
Lots of reports that Russia is forcibly conscripting Ukrainian citizens in recently occupied territory.
I think this will be the 2 'independent republics that Russia has recognised, but both of them only held some of the land they clamed before the war, now they are fully occupying the rest, they have been conscripting all male residents, they can get there hands on.
Lots of reports that Russia is forcibly conscripting Ukrainian citizens in recently occupied territory.
It increasingly appears that Russia's manpower problems are much greater than we thought. It is being posited that instead of having three crew on most of their tanks, they're two-crewing them, which makes combat in them much harder. Also other similar vehicles have been under crewed from the start.
How the feck is conscripting Ukr citizens going to work?
Lots of reports that Russia is forcibly conscripting Ukrainian citizens in recently occupied territory.
I think this will be the 2 'independent republics that Russia has recognised, but both of them only held some of the land they clamed before the war, now they are fully occupying the rest, they have been conscripting all male residents, they can get there hands on.
Forcing patriotic Ukrainian speakers to shoot and kill their fellow Ukrainians?
This is going to end up as the most unspeakable war in Europe, since WW2
It might end up as one of the most grotesque wars, ever - if Putin goes totally postal
Largesse from another angle- the bulk of the 801 SNP politicians who extract £31M+ annually from Scottish taxpayers are sourced from friends, family & LBGTQ+ campaigners. Little wonder independence is off their agenda
Didn’t have you down as an abolitionist, Malc.
These people are parasites
You’re right Malc. Riding the gravy train for all its worth while pretending to want Indy. Surely there will come a time when more and more Indy minded people, like your good self, see them for what they are ?
Taz, they still seem to be getting away with it , worse than Boris and his crew.
Cheer up. Malc. It would appear that Little Miss Crosspatch may get banged to rights for ignoring her own Covid rules...
"Nicola Sturgeon has been reported to police after being filmed apparently breaching Scotland's face mask rules.
"Footage on social media shows the first minister without a mask in an East Kilbride barber shop, which she had visited on the election campaign trail."
Interesting comment from Scottish lawyer:
"The more I think about this, I see no reason for Sturgeon’s conduct except that she is looking for an excuse to get out. As she was filmed, she must have known her behaviour would go public and the inevitable Police complaint from one source or another that would follow."
A question to the lawyers here: Andrew Bridgen MP has been ruled to have lied under oath. Is this automatically a perjury conviction, and if so does this disqualify him from his seat in the House of Commons?
A by election in North West Leics would certainly be an interesting bell weather, would it not?
Not a conviction but the CPS would weight it heavily in deciding whether they have a solid case should they decide to prosecute. I doubt they will as (AIUI) it’s a civil dispute about family money
Lots of reports that Russia is forcibly conscripting Ukrainian citizens in recently occupied territory.
It increasingly appears that Russia's manpower problems are much greater than we thought. It is being posited that instead of having three crew on most of their tanks, they're two-crewing them, which makes combat in them much harder. Also other similar vehicles have been under crewed from the start.
How the feck is conscripting Ukr citizens going to work?
Vlad is even madder than we thought.
They don't even understand their history. Zhukov's outrageously bold encirclement of the Sixth Army was predicated on overwhelming the Romanians, Hungarians and other conscripts deployed to the North-West on the (correct) assumption that they would provide only token resistance.
A question to the lawyers here: Andrew Bridgen MP has been ruled to have lied under oath. Is this automatically a perjury conviction, and if so does this disqualify him from his seat in the House of Commons?
A by election in North West Leics would certainly be an interesting bell weather, would it not?
No and no. To be found lying in a civil case is to be disbelieved on the balance of probabilities. In egrigious cases the Judge might report the matter to the Crown to see if they want to prosecute perjury to the requiste standard of beyond a reasonable doubt.
Of course, some people might feel suitably ashamed but many seem to be beyond it.
The more serious risk is that he has apparently been referred to the Committee on Standards, which may decide to suspend him for 2 weeks - which would open the door to a recall petition.
Lots of reports that Russia is forcibly conscripting Ukrainian citizens in recently occupied territory.
It increasingly appears that Russia's manpower problems are much greater than we thought. It is being posited that instead of having three crew on most of their tanks, they're two-crewing them, which makes combat in them much harder. Also other similar vehicles have been under crewed from the start.
How the feck is conscripting Ukr citizens going to work?
Lots of reports that Russia is forcibly conscripting Ukrainian citizens in recently occupied territory.
It increasingly appears that Russia's manpower problems are much greater than we thought. It is being posited that instead of having three crew on most of their tanks, they're two-crewing them, which makes combat in them much harder. Also other similar vehicles have been under crewed from the start.
How the feck is conscripting Ukr citizens going to work?
Vlad is even madder than we thought.
They don't even understand their history. Zhukov's outrageously bold encirclement of the Sixth Army was predicated on overwhelming the Romanians, Hungarians and other conscripts deployed to the North-West on the (correct) assumption that they would provide only token resistance.
Lots of reports that Russia is forcibly conscripting Ukrainian citizens in recently occupied territory.
I think this will be the 2 'independent republics that Russia has recognised, but both of them only held some of the land they clamed before the war, now they are fully occupying the rest, they have been conscripting all male residents, they can get there hands on.
I don't think they are fully occupying the Donbass territories are they. We've seen conscripted soldiers from the Donbass provinces already. I wasn't aware of it from the newly occupied bits. But seriously if they weren't facing enough civil unrest already this will only make it worse.
I can understand people being fed with Sunak's management of the economy but I find it difficult to see why anyone would think Labour would do any better. Starmer has has put forward no ideas at all in the past two years. He has spoken against tax rises but has indicated that he wants the government to spend more on everything. He and his party have no credibility whatsoever.
Its pretty simple really. When the Tories are lying crooks - and they are - all you have to be is honest. You and HY may be happy to be lied to by crooks but increasing numbers of voters are not.
Politico.eu - Russia’s propaganda machine takes another hit In the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Western tech firms have cut off Kremlin-backed news outlets from essential digital services needed to target people with their disinformation.
Kremlin-backed media outlets — crucial to Moscow's disinformation playbook — are learning the hard way that Western companies still control much of the internet's underlying infrastructure. And those services are increasingly off-limits to the likes of RT and Sputnik.
Since Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine in late February, Russian President Vladimir Putin has cranked up his propaganda output and cracked down on Big Tech players like Facebook and Twitter.
But what he's unable to control is how mostly American firms dominate the complex world of third-party services — everything from security plug-ins to online marketing tools — that power the world's websites and apps outside of China.
Those services, which include Google Analytics, Facebook Domain Insights and a slew of obscure online marketing offerings, have pulled the plug on RT, Sputnik, Ruptly, as well as Ria Novosti and Tass, two Russian state news agencies, according to a review of Kremlin-backed media outlets by Digital Bridge, POLITICO's transatlantic tech newsletter.
While the sites can still operate, they have been stripped of their use of a complex web of almost-exclusively Western interconnected advertising, marketing and security services that have become a mainstay for how websites and apps function.
That hamstrings the Kremlin's ability to target and reach a global audience, based on POLITICO's review of Builtwith, an analytics service that scrapes websites to detail which third-party services are running in the background, as well as discussions with four security experts within tech companies, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss these firms' inner workings.
The moves came days or, in some cases hours, after Russia invaded Ukraine, but were not publicly announced at the time. Now, with Western sanctions tightening, tech companies face mounting pressure to isolate Russia even further.
"This is an evolving situation and we are actively monitoring new developments and will take further steps if necessary," Laura Smith-Roberts, a Google spokesperson, said in a statement. . . .
Lots of reports that Russia is forcibly conscripting Ukrainian citizens in recently occupied territory.
I think this will be the 2 'independent republics that Russia has recognised, but both of them only held some of the land they clamed before the war, now they are fully occupying the rest, they have been conscripting all male residents, they can get there hands on.
Forcing patriotic Ukrainian speakers to shoot and kill their fellow Ukrainians?
This is going to end up as the most unspeakable war in Europe, since WW2
It might end up as one of the most grotesque wars, ever - if Putin goes totally postal
I fear it will be sending Ukrainian civilians forward against Ukrainian positions, with Russian soldiers behind. If they do not go forward, the Russians will shoot them. The Ukrainian defenders will then have to shoot their countrymen. If they hesitate, the Russians get much closer. Or put a Ukrainian civilian on top of every tank.
Horrid, but it would not surprise me.
If this was to come to pass, it would not surprise me if the Ukrainians did fire - the 'conscripts' are as good as dead anyway. And the world should judge the Russian regime - and its troops - accordingly.
I’ve managed to get myself a table at a rather fancy restaurant tonight, and I’ve gone for their gastronomic menu, washed down with a delicious local red and volcano water.
I’m going to have to eat all of this..
Snacks:
Oyster La Belle Huître.
Creamy cured sheep cheese Mas Farró with angel hair from our pumpkins.
Starters:
Fresh pea and bean tartare with anchovies and mint.
Farro de la Vall de Bianya with scalded organic egg and black truffle.
Main courses:
Cocotxa of fresh cod with Santa Pau bean and artichokes.
Sea and mount of pork rib, “parmentier” truffled with Valley potato, scallop, mushrooms, Russet ratafía sauce and seafood cream.
Desserts:
Olot tortell toast “Torrija” with ratafia ice cream.
Lots of reports that Russia is forcibly conscripting Ukrainian citizens in recently occupied territory.
I think this will be the 2 'independent republics that Russia has recognised, but both of them only held some of the land they clamed before the war, now they are fully occupying the rest, they have been conscripting all male residents, they can get there hands on.
Forcing patriotic Ukrainian speakers to shoot and kill their fellow Ukrainians?
This is going to end up as the most unspeakable war in Europe, since WW2
It might end up as one of the most grotesque wars, ever - if Putin goes totally postal
I fear it will be sending Ukrainian civilians forward against Ukrainian positions, with Russian soldiers behind. If they do not go forward, the Russians will shoot them. The Ukrainian defenders will then have to shoot their countrymen. If they hesitate, the Russians get much closer. Or put a Ukrainian civilian on top of every tank.
Horrid, but it would not surprise me.
If this was to come to pass, it would not surprise me if the Ukrainians did fire - the 'conscripts' are as good as dead anyway. And the world should judge the Russian regime - and its troops - accordingly.
Yes, agreed.
Seems to me Putin has abandoned any semblance of obedience to the rules of war, Geneva Convention, etc
This suggests he will go chemical or nuclear or both, at some point, if he continues to struggle, conventionally
I can understand people being fed with Sunak's management of the economy but I find it difficult to see why anyone would think Labour would do any better. Starmer has has put forward no ideas at all in the past two years. He has spoken against tax rises but has indicated that he wants the government to spend more on everything. He and his party have no credibility whatsoever.
Why would Labour put up policies? Almost all the most successful (at getting elected) politicians have been those who were blank slates, allowing voters to project onto them.
Largesse from another angle- the bulk of the 801 SNP politicians who extract £31M+ annually from Scottish taxpayers are sourced from friends, family & LBGTQ+ campaigners. Little wonder independence is off their agenda
Didn’t have you down as an abolitionist, Malc.
These people are parasites
You’re right Malc. Riding the gravy train for all its worth while pretending to want Indy. Surely there will come a time when more and more Indy minded people, like your good self, see them for what they are ?
Taz, they still seem to be getting away with it , worse than Boris and his crew.
Cheer up. Malc. It would appear that Little Miss Crosspatch may get banged to rights for ignoring her own Covid rules...
"Nicola Sturgeon has been reported to police after being filmed apparently breaching Scotland's face mask rules.
"Footage on social media shows the first minister without a mask in an East Kilbride barber shop, which she had visited on the election campaign trail."
Interesting comment from Scottish lawyer:
"The more I think about this, I see no reason for Sturgeon’s conduct except that she is looking for an excuse to get out. As she was filmed, she must have known her behaviour would go public and the inevitable Police complaint from one source or another that would follow."
Ian Smart is hardly your typical Scottish lawyer. Unless a prosecution advcocate trying to make the best of a case the Procurator Fiscal should never have allowed to proceed for lack of evidence.
Edit: an interesting take on him - using primary sources only,
Lots of reports that Russia is forcibly conscripting Ukrainian citizens in recently occupied territory.
I think this will be the 2 'independent republics that Russia has recognised, but both of them only held some of the land they clamed before the war, now they are fully occupying the rest, they have been conscripting all male residents, they can get there hands on.
Forcing patriotic Ukrainian speakers to shoot and kill their fellow Ukrainians?
This is going to end up as the most unspeakable war in Europe, since WW2
It might end up as one of the most grotesque wars, ever - if Putin goes totally postal
I fear it will be sending Ukrainian civilians forward against Ukrainian positions, with Russian soldiers behind. If they do not go forward, the Russians will shoot them. The Ukrainian defenders will then have to shoot their countrymen. If they hesitate, the Russians get much closer. Or put a Ukrainian civilian on top of every tank.
Horrid, but it would not surprise me.
If this was to come to pass, it would not surprise me if the Ukrainians did fire - the 'conscripts' are as good as dead anyway. And the world should judge the Russian regime - and its troops - accordingly.
Yes, agreed.
Seems to me Putin has abandoned any semblance of obedience to the rules of war, Geneva Convention, etc
This suggests he will go chemical or nuclear or both, at some point, if he continues to struggle, conventionally
It doesn’t get him closer to a “victory” though. It probably just accelerates his demise. I reckon it more likely he goes for an easier target that wouldn’t benefit from Nato support.
A really good thread with multiple contributions from various sources, on the possibilities and implications of Putin dropping a "small" nuke on Ukraine
Quite ominous, seems a real chance he will do this. Others say No, it is still highly unlikely. But they appear to be relying on Putin as a rational actor. Not sure he is that any more
Its pretty simple really. When the Tories are lying crooks - and they are - all you have to be is honest. You and HY may be happy to be lied to by crooks but increasing numbers of voters are not.
Are you suggesting that Starmer's castigating the government for not spending enough on everything but opposing any means of paying for it is honest? And you have the gall to call me naive? I'd take a look in the mirror if I were you.
Largesse from another angle- the bulk of the 801 SNP politicians who extract £31M+ annually from Scottish taxpayers are sourced from friends, family & LBGTQ+ campaigners. Little wonder independence is off their agenda
Didn’t have you down as an abolitionist, Malc.
These people are parasites
You’re right Malc. Riding the gravy train for all its worth while pretending to want Indy. Surely there will come a time when more and more Indy minded people, like your good self, see them for what they are ?
Taz, they still seem to be getting away with it , worse than Boris and his crew.
Cheer up. Malc. It would appear that Little Miss Crosspatch may get banged to rights for ignoring her own Covid rules...
"Nicola Sturgeon has been reported to police after being filmed apparently breaching Scotland's face mask rules.
"Footage on social media shows the first minister without a mask in an East Kilbride barber shop, which she had visited on the election campaign trail."
Interesting comment from Scottish lawyer:
"The more I think about this, I see no reason for Sturgeon’s conduct except that she is looking for an excuse to get out. As she was filmed, she must have known her behaviour would go public and the inevitable Police complaint from one source or another that would follow."
Ian Smart is hardly your typical Scottish lawyer. Unless a prosecution advcocate trying to make the best of a case the Procurator Fiscal should never have allowed to proceed for lack of evidence.
Edit: an interesting take on him - using primary sources only,
Lots of reports that Russia is forcibly conscripting Ukrainian citizens in recently occupied territory.
I think this will be the 2 'independent republics that Russia has recognised, but both of them only held some of the land they clamed before the war, now they are fully occupying the rest, they have been conscripting all male residents, they can get there hands on.
Forcing patriotic Ukrainian speakers to shoot and kill their fellow Ukrainians?
This is going to end up as the most unspeakable war in Europe, since WW2
It might end up as one of the most grotesque wars, ever - if Putin goes totally postal
I fear it will be sending Ukrainian civilians forward against Ukrainian positions, with Russian soldiers behind. If they do not go forward, the Russians will shoot them. The Ukrainian defenders will then have to shoot their countrymen. If they hesitate, the Russians get much closer. Or put a Ukrainian civilian on top of every tank.
Horrid, but it would not surprise me.
If this was to come to pass, it would not surprise me if the Ukrainians did fire - the 'conscripts' are as good as dead anyway. And the world should judge the Russian regime - and its troops - accordingly.
Yes, agreed.
Seems to me Putin has abandoned any semblance of obedience to the rules of war, Geneva Convention, etc
This suggests he will go chemical or nuclear or both, at some point, if he continues to struggle, conventionally
It doesn’t get him closer to a “victory” though. It probably just accelerates his demise. I reckon it more likely he goes for an easier target that wouldn’t benefit from Nato support.
I just wonder what I'll make of a world when I wake up and NATO has simply obliterated Russia in a first strike. Most likely I won't wake up, and even if I did I'd be the living dead. Civilisation though? Was it saved? Was the loss of 250m people worth it?
What price Putin?
The only answer is that the Russian people have to get rid of him. Soonish.
rcs1000.Why would Labour put up policies? Almost all the most successful (at getting elected) politicians have been those who were blank slates, allowing voters to project onto them.
The last Labour opposition to win promised to abide by Conservative spending plans during the 1997 election. Hardly a blank slate.
A question to the lawyers here: Andrew Bridgen MP has been ruled to have lied under oath. Is this automatically a perjury conviction, and if so does this disqualify him from his seat in the House of Commons?
A by election in North West Leics would certainly be an interesting bell weather, would it not?
No and no. To be found lying in a civil case is to be disbelieved on the balance of probabilities. In egrigious cases the Judge might report the matter to the Crown to see if they want to prosecute perjury to the requiste standard of beyond a reasonable doubt.
Of course, some people might feel suitably ashamed but many seem to be beyond it.
The more serious risk is that he has apparently been referred to the Committee on Standards, which may decide to suspend him for 2 weeks - which would open the door to a recall petition.
"Two SNP MPs accused of sexual harassment have had complaints against them upheld by a parliamentary body, according to newspaper reports.
"Patrick Grady and Patricia Gibson are believed to have received the findings of an independent probe and asked to respond after claims that first emerged in the Daily Record."
Lots of reports that Russia is forcibly conscripting Ukrainian citizens in recently occupied territory.
It increasingly appears that Russia's manpower problems are much greater than we thought. It is being posited that instead of having three crew on most of their tanks, they're two-crewing them, which makes combat in them much harder. Also other similar vehicles have been under crewed from the start.
How the feck is conscripting Ukr citizens going to work?
Vlad is even madder than we thought.
They don't even understand their history. Zhukov's outrageously bold encirclement of the Sixth Army was predicated on overwhelming the Romanians, Hungarians and other conscripts deployed to the North-West on the (correct) assumption that they would provide only token resistance.
To be fair, the Romanians and to some extent Hungarians did fight hard and die in big numbers, (amongst their) biggest problem was that they did not have any effective anti-tank guns of there own and the Germans would not give them any, which matters when the enemy are spearheading there attack with a mass of Tanks.
Largesse from another angle- the bulk of the 801 SNP politicians who extract £31M+ annually from Scottish taxpayers are sourced from friends, family & LBGTQ+ campaigners. Little wonder independence is off their agenda
Didn’t have you down as an abolitionist, Malc.
These people are parasites
You’re right Malc. Riding the gravy train for all its worth while pretending to want Indy. Surely there will come a time when more and more Indy minded people, like your good self, see them for what they are ?
Taz, they still seem to be getting away with it , worse than Boris and his crew.
Cheer up. Malc. It would appear that Little Miss Crosspatch may get banged to rights for ignoring her own Covid rules...
"Nicola Sturgeon has been reported to police after being filmed apparently breaching Scotland's face mask rules.
"Footage on social media shows the first minister without a mask in an East Kilbride barber shop, which she had visited on the election campaign trail."
Interesting comment from Scottish lawyer:
"The more I think about this, I see no reason for Sturgeon’s conduct except that she is looking for an excuse to get out. As she was filmed, she must have known her behaviour would go public and the inevitable Police complaint from one source or another that would follow."
Largesse from another angle- the bulk of the 801 SNP politicians who extract £31M+ annually from Scottish taxpayers are sourced from friends, family & LBGTQ+ campaigners. Little wonder independence is off their agenda
Didn’t have you down as an abolitionist, Malc.
These people are parasites
You’re right Malc. Riding the gravy train for all its worth while pretending to want Indy. Surely there will come a time when more and more Indy minded people, like your good self, see them for what they are ?
Taz, they still seem to be getting away with it , worse than Boris and his crew.
Cheer up. Malc. It would appear that Little Miss Crosspatch may get banged to rights for ignoring her own Covid rules...
"Nicola Sturgeon has been reported to police after being filmed apparently breaching Scotland's face mask rules.
"Footage on social media shows the first minister without a mask in an East Kilbride barber shop, which she had visited on the election campaign trail."
Interesting comment from Scottish lawyer:
"The more I think about this, I see no reason for Sturgeon’s conduct except that she is looking for an excuse to get out. As she was filmed, she must have known her behaviour would go public and the inevitable Police complaint from one source or another that would follow."
Ian Smart is hardly your typical Scottish lawyer. Unless a prosecution advcocate trying to make the best of a case the Procurator Fiscal should never have allowed to proceed for lack of evidence.
Edit: an interesting take on him - using primary sources only,
Not sure your point. He's not commenting on the seriousness of the breach. Rather, he's speculating about the very unusual disregard for the optics.
He'll talk any amount of partisan shite, as documented in that webpage. He's been doing it for many years. But most PBers wouldn't recognise his name.
As foir the actual event, it was a brief absence of mind, surely, though an unhelpful one. We had that before at that funeral when Ms S spoke to the hard of hearing person.
Largesse from another angle- the bulk of the 801 SNP politicians who extract £31M+ annually from Scottish taxpayers are sourced from friends, family & LBGTQ+ campaigners. Little wonder independence is off their agenda
Didn’t have you down as an abolitionist, Malc.
These people are parasites
You’re right Malc. Riding the gravy train for all its worth while pretending to want Indy. Surely there will come a time when more and more Indy minded people, like your good self, see them for what they are ?
Taz, they still seem to be getting away with it , worse than Boris and his crew.
Cheer up. Malc. It would appear that Little Miss Crosspatch may get banged to rights for ignoring her own Covid rules...
"Nicola Sturgeon has been reported to police after being filmed apparently breaching Scotland's face mask rules.
"Footage on social media shows the first minister without a mask in an East Kilbride barber shop, which she had visited on the election campaign trail."
Interesting comment from Scottish lawyer:
"The more I think about this, I see no reason for Sturgeon’s conduct except that she is looking for an excuse to get out. As she was filmed, she must have known her behaviour would go public and the inevitable Police complaint from one source or another that would follow."
'Rees-Mogg, the minister for Brexit opportunities, said the Church of England’s most senior clergyman “misunderstands” the policy and that it was in fact “almost an Easter story of redemption” for Rwanda.
The former Commons leader said the UK was “providing an opportunity to Rwanda” and that the policy therefore “must be a good thing”.'
Lots of reports that Russia is forcibly conscripting Ukrainian citizens in recently occupied territory.
Another war crime.
Lots of photographic evidence they have also been booby trapping civilian homes by putting grenades in things like washing machines or cabinets that house cups / plates.
I had a boozy picnic with friends in Green Park yesterday
People who would not normally EVER discuss UFOs calmly debated whether the UAPs in all the footage and evidence of the last four years are: alien drones, actual aliens, a mass hallucination etc
'Rees-Mogg, the minister for Brexit opportunities, said the Church of England’s most senior clergyman “misunderstands” the policy and that it was in fact “almost an Easter story of redemption” for Rwanda.
The former Commons leader said the UK was “providing an opportunity to Rwanda” and that the policy therefore “must be a good thing”.'
Rees-Mogg is of course a Roman Catholic not C of E, no surprise he is not that bothered by what the Archbishop of Canterbury thinks (albeit the Pope is also relatively liberal on refugees if a bit harder line on abortion and gay marriage).
Boris is Roman Catholic too, as I believe is Liz Truss by heritage if not practice. Sunak and Patel are Hindus. Javid is Muslim heritage as is Zahawi. In fact the only senior member of the Cabinet who is Church of England now is Raab but even he is half Jewish.
Quite a change from the May years when she Hunt and Hammond were all C of E. Indeed more Anglicans on the Opposition frontbench like Lammy and Ed Davey, albeit Starmer is an atheist
Its pretty simple really. When the Tories are lying crooks - and they are - all you have to be is honest. You and HY may be happy to be lied to by crooks but increasing numbers of voters are not.
Are you suggesting that Starmer's castigating the government for not spending enough on everything but opposing any means of paying for it is honest? And you have the gall to call me naive? I'd take a look in the mirror if I were you.
Set policy aside - all of it. We cannot have a system of government where the Prime Minister lies to parliament and breaks the law. If the Tories rediscover morality and remove him then sure, policy becomes more relevant.
Otherwise it is the same as 2019. To win the election you have to not be the other person. Same as Macron right now who will win however crap he is because the alternative is Le Pen.
If you personally like being lied to, that's up to you.
Largesse from another angle- the bulk of the 801 SNP politicians who extract £31M+ annually from Scottish taxpayers are sourced from friends, family & LBGTQ+ campaigners. Little wonder independence is off their agenda
Didn’t have you down as an abolitionist, Malc.
These people are parasites
You’re right Malc. Riding the gravy train for all its worth while pretending to want Indy. Surely there will come a time when more and more Indy minded people, like your good self, see them for what they are ?
Taz, they still seem to be getting away with it , worse than Boris and his crew.
Cheer up. Malc. It would appear that Little Miss Crosspatch may get banged to rights for ignoring her own Covid rules...
"Nicola Sturgeon has been reported to police after being filmed apparently breaching Scotland's face mask rules.
"Footage on social media shows the first minister without a mask in an East Kilbride barber shop, which she had visited on the election campaign trail."
Interesting comment from Scottish lawyer:
"The more I think about this, I see no reason for Sturgeon’s conduct except that she is looking for an excuse to get out. As she was filmed, she must have known her behaviour would go public and the inevitable Police complaint from one source or another that would follow."
A question to the lawyers here: Andrew Bridgen MP has been ruled to have lied under oath. Is this automatically a perjury conviction, and if so does this disqualify him from his seat in the House of Commons?
A by election in North West Leics would certainly be an interesting bell weather, would it not?
No and no. To be found lying in a civil case is to be disbelieved on the balance of probabilities. In egrigious cases the Judge might report the matter to the Crown to see if they want to prosecute perjury to the requiste standard of beyond a reasonable doubt.
Of course, some people might feel suitably ashamed but many seem to be beyond it.
The more serious risk is that he has apparently been referred to the Committee on Standards, which may decide to suspend him for 2 weeks - which would open the door to a recall petition.
"Two SNP MPs accused of sexual harassment have had complaints against them upheld by a parliamentary body, according to newspaper reports.
"Patrick Grady and Patricia Gibson are believed to have received the findings of an independent probe and asked to respond after claims that first emerged in the Daily Record."
Potentially, yes. We discussed Grady's case on yesterday's thread - a conceivable Labour gain (Glasgow N). Gibson's seat looks safe SNP (Con 2nd, would need a 9% swing to Cons),
I had a boozy picnic with friends in Green Park yesterday
People who would not normally EVER discuss UFOs calmly debated whether the UAPs in all the footage and evidence of the last four years are: alien drones, actual aliens, a mass hallucination etc
The people who are particularly screwed by inflation are of course the elderly, to the extent they are living on non linked pensions (which includes the state pension now the triple kick has gone) or cash savings. The young can earn their way out of trouble, and the well heeled can hope their non cash assets will inflate
So there goes the core vote
How do you cut inflation? You cut spending and raise interest rates, not exactly a popular combination either and not something Labour will be that keen on. We also need a much wider ranger of energy supplies, not just renewables to reduce energy prices.
Inflation was sky-high in the 1970s under Heath, Wilson and Callaghan until the Thatcher and Major governments did the necessary to get it down
Neither cutting spending, nor raising interest rates will have much of an impact on the kind of external inflation we’re facing. This inflation is profoundly different from the 70’s, at least for now. See the conversation upthread.
We’re in the shit, @HYUFD with no levers left to pull, i’m afraid. It’s a case of knuckling down, cutting our cloth and being damn glad we’re not a low income country cf; Sri Lanka.
I can understand people being fed with Sunak's management of the economy but I find it difficult to see why anyone would think Labour would do any better. Starmer has has put forward no ideas at all in the past two years. He has spoken against tax rises but has indicated that he wants the government to spend more on everything. He and his party have no credibility whatsoever.
Have you never heard the saying that you should never interrupt your opponents whilst they in the process of destroying themselves?
Largesse from another angle- the bulk of the 801 SNP politicians who extract £31M+ annually from Scottish taxpayers are sourced from friends, family & LBGTQ+ campaigners. Little wonder independence is off their agenda
Didn’t have you down as an abolitionist, Malc.
These people are parasites
You’re right Malc. Riding the gravy train for all its worth while pretending to want Indy. Surely there will come a time when more and more Indy minded people, like your good self, see them for what they are ?
Taz, they still seem to be getting away with it , worse than Boris and his crew.
Cheer up. Malc. It would appear that Little Miss Crosspatch may get banged to rights for ignoring her own Covid rules...
"Nicola Sturgeon has been reported to police after being filmed apparently breaching Scotland's face mask rules.
"Footage on social media shows the first minister without a mask in an East Kilbride barber shop, which she had visited on the election campaign trail."
Interesting comment from Scottish lawyer:
"The more I think about this, I see no reason for Sturgeon’s conduct except that she is looking for an excuse to get out. As she was filmed, she must have known her behaviour would go public and the inevitable Police complaint from one source or another that would follow."
Largesse from another angle- the bulk of the 801 SNP politicians who extract £31M+ annually from Scottish taxpayers are sourced from friends, family & LBGTQ+ campaigners. Little wonder independence is off their agenda
Didn’t have you down as an abolitionist, Malc.
These people are parasites
You’re right Malc. Riding the gravy train for all its worth while pretending to want Indy. Surely there will come a time when more and more Indy minded people, like your good self, see them for what they are ?
Taz, they still seem to be getting away with it , worse than Boris and his crew.
Cheer up. Malc. It would appear that Little Miss Crosspatch may get banged to rights for ignoring her own Covid rules...
"Nicola Sturgeon has been reported to police after being filmed apparently breaching Scotland's face mask rules.
"Footage on social media shows the first minister without a mask in an East Kilbride barber shop, which she had visited on the election campaign trail."
Interesting comment from Scottish lawyer:
"The more I think about this, I see no reason for Sturgeon’s conduct except that she is looking for an excuse to get out. As she was filmed, she must have known her behaviour would go public and the inevitable Police complaint from one source or another that would follow."
Ian Smart is hardly your typical Scottish lawyer. Unless a prosecution advcocate trying to make the best of a case the Procurator Fiscal should never have allowed to proceed for lack of evidence.
Edit: an interesting take on him - using primary sources only,
Not sure your point. He's not commenting on the seriousness of the breach. Rather, he's speculating about the very unusual disregard for the optics.
He'll talk any amount of partisan shite, as documented in that webpage. He's been doing it for many years. But most PBers wouldn't recognise his name.
As foir the actual event, it was a brief absence of mind, surely, though an unhelpful one. We had that before at that funeral when Ms S spoke to the hard of hearing person.
Nope, it seems that claim - "just a few seconds" - is SNP spin and won't stack up. Not saying it's the end of the world or anything, but does put her attacks on Boris in a different perspective.
I had a boozy picnic with friends in Green Park yesterday
People who would not normally EVER discuss UFOs calmly debated whether the UAPs in all the footage and evidence of the last four years are: alien drones, actual aliens, a mass hallucination etc
It is going mainstream
I doubt that'll help the debate.
It might, inasmuch as a lot of people now feel emboldened to discuss the subject, without the fear of being labelled a lunatic
A senior Turkish culture guy I met when I was in eastern Turkey, two weeks ago, told me HIS UFO story. As a 12 year old he saw a huge spacecraft hovering over his house. "Definitely not of human origin"
The story is not exceptional, the fact he felt able to chat about it, and wanted to talk about it - unprompted - WAS notable.
Comments
“Out of every one hundred men, ten shouldn’t even be there, eighty are just targets, nine are the real fighters, and we are lucky to have them, for they make the battle. Ah, but the one, one is a warrior, and he will bring the others back.” ― Heraclitus
2,500 years and nothing changes.
I had to give her credit for that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5ycZ4Plooo
A by election in North West Leics would certainly be an interesting bell weather, would it not?
Of course, some people might feel suitably ashamed but many seem to be beyond it.
It's in the North, so well away from the Home Counties. And a runway to deport them. Though this is interesting in the local paper. Mr Hollinrake MP:
"I have been assured the time limit for any asylum seekers to remain the site will be 180 days and I have ensured the Minister is clear this must be stuck to, to ensure those waiting for decisions are not unduly delayed.
"I have spoken to other members of parliament who already have similar facilities in their areas. Initial concerns around disturbance to local communities has not been borne out in practice, so hopefully this will be the case here also.
"I have also asked the Minister if he can consider opening the site up to Ukrainian refugees, given the heartwarming response from Thirsk and Malton constituents to the crisis."
I don't know if it is coincidence, or at his behest, that it carefully omits to mention that Mr Hollinrake is a Tory MP.
https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/20070190.linton-ouse-asylum-centre-key-controversial-rwanda-plan/
sardines will be thrown into the seaits rammed full of coke.https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10726443/Spanish-police-seize-2-9-tonnes-cocaine-carried-fishing-trawler-Canary-Islands-Video.html
The current CoL crisis is going to remind people how crap the Tories are at managing the economy.
*) Corruption
*) Poor communications (these two as you say).
*) Stale ideology on how to fight a modern war (the Ukrainians have learnt a great deal from the west after their defeats in 2014).
*) Relying on cool, big-ticket kit. The Armata T-14 has been called the best tank in the world. It isn't, because the Russians cannot make enough of them to risk them in battle. Especially after they lost one in Syria.
*) Relying on numbers. Numbers have a quality all of their own, but large numbers of outdated kit just leads to large numbers of burning hulks.
*) Not going all-out for victory from Day One. They hoped Ukraine would fold, but they did not. It was a Bridge Too Far rather than Shock and Awe.
*) Not preparing adequately for the west's reactions.
I’m going to have to eat all of this..
Snacks:
Oyster La Belle Huître.
Creamy cured sheep cheese Mas Farró with angel hair from our pumpkins.
Starters:
Fresh pea and bean tartare with anchovies and mint.
Farro de la Vall de Bianya with scalded organic egg and black truffle.
Main courses:
Cocotxa of fresh cod with Santa Pau bean and artichokes.
Sea and mount of pork rib, “parmentier” truffled with Valley potato, scallop, mushrooms, Russet ratafía sauce and seafood cream.
Desserts:
Olot tortell toast “Torrija” with ratafia ice cream.
Little volcanic follies
Ooh.. here’s my first snack!
A preliminary reckoning, of course.
As legal services can be complex and the final cost can depend on many things.
My other snack
So there goes the core vote
In the last episode of Peaky Blinders, Arthur brought a WWI gas grenade (and gas masks) to a gun fight.
Enjoy it mate.
(I know one who did.)
Inflation was sky-high in the 1970s under Heath, Wilson and Callaghan until the Thatcher and Major governments did the necessary to get it down
So long as you leave on your own two feet then, mission accomplished.
https://www.express.co.uk/comment/expresscomment/1596916/Macron-latest-frech-election-polls
Makes me think of a couple of things.
We are looking at headline polls, are we paying attention to size of don’t know, what is a normal size of don’t know? For months I have had this feeling that it breaks late for the anti establishment candidate. Can there be shy Pen supporters, that will vote for her, deny they did, hidden in the don’t knows? Secondly, this article implied general public faith in Russian sanctions at their expense wearing thin in France? because of election is this being monitored more there, is it even true as express claims, is is still holding up here in UK, and would faith in sanctions remain same in a all in it together country as a them and us scenario where working class feel they are the only ones suffering because of it?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-61135232
"Nicola Sturgeon has been reported to police after being filmed apparently breaching Scotland's face mask rules.
"Footage on social media shows the first minister without a mask in an East Kilbride barber shop, which she had visited on the election campaign trail."
First starter was delicious..
@Parody_PM
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23s
I will be visiting India this week on the vital and urgent business of escaping criticism about Partygate.
I'm curious...
Perhaps you should be paying more attention to Rachel Reeves as the Shadow Chancellor.
The core vote must be kept onside.
EDIT: only kidding!
Vlad is even madder than we thought.
This is going to end up as the most unspeakable war in Europe, since WW2
It might end up as one of the most grotesque wars, ever - if Putin goes totally postal
"The more I think about this, I see no reason for Sturgeon’s conduct except that she is looking for an excuse to get out. As she was filmed, she must have known her behaviour would go public and the inevitable Police complaint from one source or another that would follow."
https://twitter.com/ianssmart/status/1515767998119829506
In the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Western tech firms have cut off Kremlin-backed news outlets from essential digital services needed to target people with their disinformation.
https://www.politico.eu/article/russia-splinternet-google-facebook/
Kremlin-backed media outlets — crucial to Moscow's disinformation playbook — are learning the hard way that Western companies still control much of the internet's underlying infrastructure. And those services are increasingly off-limits to the likes of RT and Sputnik.
Since Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine in late February, Russian President Vladimir Putin has cranked up his propaganda output and cracked down on Big Tech players like Facebook and Twitter.
But what he's unable to control is how mostly American firms dominate the complex world of third-party services — everything from security plug-ins to online marketing tools — that power the world's websites and apps outside of China.
Those services, which include Google Analytics, Facebook Domain Insights and a slew of obscure online marketing offerings, have pulled the plug on RT, Sputnik, Ruptly, as well as Ria Novosti and Tass, two Russian state news agencies, according to a review of Kremlin-backed media outlets by Digital Bridge, POLITICO's transatlantic tech newsletter.
While the sites can still operate, they have been stripped of their use of a complex web of almost-exclusively Western interconnected advertising, marketing and security services that have become a mainstay for how websites and apps function.
That hamstrings the Kremlin's ability to target and reach a global audience, based on POLITICO's review of Builtwith, an analytics service that scrapes websites to detail which third-party services are running in the background, as well as discussions with four security experts within tech companies, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss these firms' inner workings.
The moves came days or, in some cases hours, after Russia invaded Ukraine, but were not publicly announced at the time. Now, with Western sanctions tightening, tech companies face mounting pressure to isolate Russia even further.
"This is an evolving situation and we are actively monitoring new developments and will take further steps if necessary," Laura Smith-Roberts, a Google spokesperson, said in a statement. . . .
Horrid, but it would not surprise me.
If this was to come to pass, it would not surprise me if the Ukrainians did fire - the 'conscripts' are as good as dead anyway. And the world should judge the Russian regime - and its troops - accordingly.
Seems to me Putin has abandoned any semblance of obedience to the rules of war, Geneva Convention, etc
This suggests he will go chemical or nuclear or both, at some point, if he continues to struggle, conventionally
Edit: an interesting take on him - using primary sources only,
https://wingsoverscotland.com/ian-smart-is-a-liar/#more-46295
https://twitter.com/PhillipsPOBrien/status/1515667033421135882?s=20&t=mzHihKqADvZiiABkzCUI0g
Quite ominous, seems a real chance he will do this. Others say No, it is still highly unlikely. But they appear to be relying on Putin as a rational actor. Not sure he is that any more
Its pretty simple really. When the Tories are lying crooks - and they are - all you have to be is honest. You and HY may be happy to be lied to by crooks but increasing numbers of voters are not.
Are you suggesting that Starmer's castigating the government for not spending enough on everything but opposing any means of paying for it is honest? And you have the gall to call me naive? I'd take a look in the mirror if I were you.
What price Putin?
The only answer is that the Russian people have to get rid of him. Soonish.
rcs1000.Why would Labour put up policies? Almost all the most successful (at getting elected) politicians have been those who were blank slates, allowing voters to project onto them.
The last Labour opposition to win promised to abide by Conservative spending plans during the 1997 election. Hardly a blank slate.
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/snp-mps-sexual-harassment-complaints-26730900
"Two SNP MPs accused of sexual harassment have had complaints against them upheld by a parliamentary body, according to newspaper reports.
"Patrick Grady and Patricia Gibson are believed to have received the findings of an independent probe and asked to respond after claims that first emerged in the Daily Record."
As foir the actual event, it was a brief absence of mind, surely, though an unhelpful one. We had that before at that funeral when Ms S spoke to the hard of hearing person.
🗳NEW: Westminster Voting Intention
🌹LAB: 43% (+3)
🌳CON: 32% (-2)
🔶LDM: 9% (-1)
via,
@DeltapollUK
• Changes w/08-11/03
Things can only get better
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/apr/17/uk-asylum-seekers-plan-rwanda-jacob-rees-mogg
'Rees-Mogg, the minister for Brexit opportunities, said the Church of England’s most senior clergyman “misunderstands” the policy and that it was in fact “almost an Easter story of redemption” for Rwanda.
The former Commons leader said the UK was “providing an opportunity to Rwanda” and that the policy therefore “must be a good thing”.'
Labour have an entrenched lead in the vote now. I don't think it can be shifted until we see a week or two of a Labour government.
Sub-human fuckers.
I had a boozy picnic with friends in Green Park yesterday
People who would not normally EVER discuss UFOs calmly debated whether the UAPs in all the footage and evidence of the last four years are: alien drones, actual aliens, a mass hallucination etc
It is going mainstream
Boris is Roman Catholic too, as I believe is Liz Truss by heritage if not practice. Sunak and Patel are Hindus. Javid is Muslim heritage as is Zahawi. In fact the only senior member of the Cabinet who is Church of England now is Raab but even he is half Jewish.
Quite a change from the May years when she Hunt and Hammond were all C of E. Indeed more Anglicans on the Opposition frontbench like Lammy and Ed Davey, albeit Starmer is an atheist
Otherwise it is the same as 2019. To win the election you have to not be the other person. Same as Macron right now who will win however crap he is because the alternative is Le Pen.
If you personally like being lied to, that's up to you.
But...
The mask rules end at midnight. So not having one on briefly a few hours ahead matters to anyone because...?
We’re in the shit, @HYUFD with no levers left to pull, i’m afraid. It’s a case of knuckling down, cutting our cloth and being damn glad we’re not a low income country cf; Sri Lanka.
What's the timescale for that? If the law is due to sunset in a few days/weeks/months?
A senior Turkish culture guy I met when I was in eastern Turkey, two weeks ago, told me HIS UFO story. As a 12 year old he saw a huge spacecraft hovering over his house. "Definitely not of human origin"
The story is not exceptional, the fact he felt able to chat about it, and wanted to talk about it - unprompted - WAS notable.