Carl Bildt @carlbildt And now 🇷🇺 state TV talks about “war against Europe and the world” once the operation against 🇺🇦 has been concluded. Without mercy.
Is anyone else concerned that OGH seems to have dropped dead halfway through writing the header, just as he is about to name the murderer increasing political imp?
I'm hoping he's fine and finishing sentences midway is just a bad hobbit he's got into.
Spain has sent a ship with 20 armored vehicles and "200 tons of ammunition and other materials" for🇺🇦Ukraine, Prime Minister of Spain Pedro Sánchez announced during his visit in Kyiv.
If Johnson had just apologised and hadn't lied this would have gone months ago.
Of course his cheerleaders here do him no favours.
As someone said upthread, it was his fake anger about Allegra Stratton sealed his fate.
She didn't do anything wrong. Just mocking the nonsense of it all. One should ask if she could see it as could the spads throwing the questions at her, why couldn't Boris?
I overheard some people discussing Boris this morning in a cafe on the Upper East Side.
Admittedly a rather niche demographic.
They think he’s an idiot, with stupid hair, and that his Churchillian act in Ukraine is pathetic. On the other hand they can’t understand why a “party” could be the end of him.
I’ve heard this before in the USA. Partygate doesn’t travel. The way I’ve tried to explain it before is that he’s lied to the House of Commons which is akin perhaps to lying under oath to a Court of Law.
But for the future history books, the idea of Johnson skulking off in disgrace for lying about some not-very-good parties... that's satisfying. Party because truth matters, but mostly because it would be a stupid end to a stupid premiership.
I feel like the mood has changed again this week. I feel like he’s going to struggle to survive the year.
Which is good, because I don’t want him to be PM in a “London Bridge” event. Call me old fashioned, but he’s not up to it.
Could be worse. If the Minister for Instagram gets the gig...
Obviously it’s batshit insane that, in 2022, the law has no problem with adults assaulting kids, but, you know, there’s shortly gonna be a vacancy and Zahawi knows his audience…
Probably value @ 25/1
He looks like the sort of person who would like smacking children
I hold no brief for Nadhim Zahawi, who has gone native to the drunken idiots of the DfE faster than an anthropologist studying a new tribe, but that's a pretty outrageous thing to say.
NEW: Ukraine has more tanks available in country than Russia, thanks to European deliveries of Soviet-era T-72 tanks: senior defense official
U.S. has NO tanks to give Ukraine because [Ukraine] military is using Soviet-era equipment.
Slovenia is about to send some more T-72s apparently.
What's the betting that various countries in the EU are going to get deliveries of shiny M1 tanks, just out of rebuild at the Lima tank plant.
For those who don't know, providing sufficient work for the Lima tank plant in the US to keep it running continuously has been a political issue. Using the output of the plant to repay allies for sending tanks to Ukraine would be smart politics by Biden.
I overheard some people discussing Boris this morning in a cafe on the Upper East Side.
Admittedly a rather niche demographic.
They think he’s an idiot, with stupid hair, and that his Churchillian act in Ukraine is pathetic. On the other hand they can’t understand why a “party” could be the end of him.
I’ve heard this before in the USA. Partygate doesn’t travel. The way I’ve tried to explain it before is that he’s lied to the House of Commons which is akin perhaps to lying under oath to a Court of Law.
But for the future history books, the idea of Johnson skulking off in disgrace for lying about some not-very-good parties... that's satisfying. Party because truth matters, but mostly because it would be a stupid end to a stupid premiership.
I feel like the mood has changed again this week. I feel like he’s going to struggle to survive the year.
Which is good, because I don’t want him to be PM in a “London Bridge” event. Call me old fashioned, but he’s not up to it.
"The whole House will, I am sure, join me in expressing great sadness at her Majesty's passing and will of course recall that she always said that I was the Prime Minister who most reminded her of Churchill."
I overheard some people discussing Boris this morning in a cafe on the Upper East Side.
Admittedly a rather niche demographic.
They think he’s an idiot, with stupid hair, and that his Churchillian act in Ukraine is pathetic. On the other hand they can’t understand why a “party” could be the end of him.
I’ve heard this before in the USA. Partygate doesn’t travel. The way I’ve tried to explain it before is that he’s lied to the House of Commons which is akin perhaps to lying under oath to a Court of Law.
But for the future history books, the idea of Johnson skulking off in disgrace for lying about some not-very-good parties... that's satisfying. Party because truth matters, but mostly because it would be a stupid end to a stupid premiership.
I feel like the mood has changed again this week. I feel like he’s going to struggle to survive the year.
Which is good, because I don’t want him to be PM in a “London Bridge” event. Call me old fashioned, but he’s not up to it.
Could be worse. If the Minister for Instagram gets the gig...
I have reached the conclusion that even Truss would be an improvement on Johnson.
Obviously it’s batshit insane that, in 2022, the law has no problem with adults assaulting kids, but, you know, there’s shortly gonna be a vacancy and Zahawi knows his audience…
Probably value @ 25/1
He looks like the sort of person who would like smacking children
I hold no brief for Nadhim Zahawi, who has gone native to the drunken idiots of the DfE faster than an anthropologist studying a new tribe, but that's a pretty outrageous thing to say.
A lack of imagination on your part. If you were casting a cruel schoolmaster for Roald Dahl's Matilda for example who liked smacking children Zahawi would get the part without a recall. I appreciate your virtue signalling. I know it's a thing on here. Are you standing in for Big_ G?
So Conservative MPs have to wrestle with the fact there’ll be no end to the matter. Indeed there are now three separate investigations into partygate which involve the PM with room left to run.
By trying to kick everything into the long grass he's ended up stretching the issue out for months.
As an aside I'm beginning to see why the Met's crime clear up rate is so low. Even as a hight priority case it's taking months for them to figure out who attended a couple of parties. I reckon most burglers in London can sleep easily in their beds.
A final thought to those who believe that we can't chuck Johnson out now because of Ukraine. It seems to me that for several months now Johnson's lies and antics have been a huge distraction to the serious issues the government is faced with. The sooner he goes the sooner the government can try to get on with some of things that really matter.
Obviously it’s batshit insane that, in 2022, the law has no problem with adults assaulting kids, but, you know, there’s shortly gonna be a vacancy and Zahawi knows his audience…
Probably value @ 25/1
He looks like the sort of person who would like smacking children
I hold no brief for Nadhim Zahawi, who has gone native to the drunken idiots of the DfE faster than an anthropologist studying a new tribe, but that's a pretty outrageous thing to say.
A lack of imagination on your part. If you were casting a cruel schoolmaster for Roald Dahl's Matilda for example who liked smacking children Zahawi would get the part without a recall. I appreciate your virtue signalling. I know it's a thing on here. Are you standing in for Big_ G?
He does not need to
You make a slur against a politician about children with no evidence, and frankly you should withdraw it
Obviously it’s batshit insane that, in 2022, the law has no problem with adults assaulting kids, but, you know, there’s shortly gonna be a vacancy and Zahawi knows his audience…
Probably value @ 25/1
He looks like the sort of person who would like smacking children
I hold no brief for Nadhim Zahawi, who has gone native to the drunken idiots of the DfE faster than an anthropologist studying a new tribe, but that's a pretty outrageous thing to say.
A lack of imagination on your part. If you were casting a cruel schoolmaster for Roald Dahl's Matilda for example who liked smacking children Zahawi would get the part without a recall. I appreciate your virtue signalling. I know it's a thing on here. Are you standing in for Big_ G?
No, I'm saying that accusing somebody of being a paedarastic sadist is an outrageous thing to say. Moreover, given it's actually libellous it might get the site into trouble.
That's a statement of fact, not virtue signalling. The mere fact you don't like it is your problem.
Is anyone else concerned that OGH seems to have dropped dead halfway through writing the header, just as he is about to name the murderer increasing political imp?
I'm hoping he's fine and finishing sentences midway is just a bad hobbit he's got into.
You are saying that OGH is halfling his sentences?
Obviously it’s batshit insane that, in 2022, the law has no problem with adults assaulting kids, but, you know, there’s shortly gonna be a vacancy and Zahawi knows his audience…
Probably value @ 25/1
He looks like the sort of person who would like smacking children
I hold no brief for Nadhim Zahawi, who has gone native to the drunken idiots of the DfE faster than an anthropologist studying a new tribe, but that's a pretty outrageous thing to say.
A lack of imagination on your part. If you were casting a cruel schoolmaster for Roald Dahl's Matilda for example who liked smacking children Zahawi would get the part without a recall. I appreciate your virtue signalling. I know it's a thing on here. Are you standing in for Big_ G?
No, I'm saying that accusing somebody of being a paedarastic sadist is an outrageous thing to say. Moreover, given it's actually libellous it might get the site into trouble.
That's a statement of fact, not virtue signalling. The mere fact you don't like it is your problem.
Leave it. Given @Woger's list of "hills to die in defence of" it is probably meritorious to be assailed by him.
I overheard some people discussing Boris this morning in a cafe on the Upper East Side.
Admittedly a rather niche demographic.
They think he’s an idiot, with stupid hair, and that his Churchillian act in Ukraine is pathetic. On the other hand they can’t understand why a “party” could be the end of him.
I’ve heard this before in the USA. Partygate doesn’t travel. The way I’ve tried to explain it before is that he’s lied to the House of Commons which is akin perhaps to lying under oath to a Court of Law.
But for the future history books, the idea of Johnson skulking off in disgrace for lying about some not-very-good parties... that's satisfying. Party because truth matters, but mostly because it would be a stupid end to a stupid premiership.
I feel like the mood has changed again this week. I feel like he’s going to struggle to survive the year.
Which is good, because I don’t want him to be PM in a “London Bridge” event. Call me old fashioned, but he’s not up to it.
Could be worse. If the Minister for Instagram gets the gig...
I have reached the conclusion that even Truss would be an improvement on Johnson.
When was the last time a primeminister surprised on the upside? More beloved on leaving the job than starting it?
I didn't notice this come by earlier, but according to the BBC "Vladimir Putin orders his troops not to storm the Azovstal steel plant, where the last group of Ukrainian fighters in Mariupol is holding out [but to blockade it instead]"
When two "or else" deadlines pass, and then you don't carry through your threat, you'd have to assume that this means they consider that storming it would be unsuccessful - not merely wasteful of Russian troops' lives, as they haven't been too picky about that up to now.
The question is whether there is any hope of resupply of those holding out?
That isn't the only assumption. It has been previously mentioned by the hold outs that they have civilians with them, including (according to some accounts) women and children. Typically the media hasn't had much to say about why civilians might be there, if not as human shields. The Russians can't bomb the place to ashes without killing these people.
"Can work w/ leaders" Starmer +1 "Strong leader" Starmer +3 "Knows how to get things done" Starmer +4 "Stands up 4 UK" Starmer +5 "Build strong economy" Starmer +6 "Represents change" Starmer +10 "Cares 4 ppl like me" Starmer +15 "In good health" Starmer +21
Obviously it’s batshit insane that, in 2022, the law has no problem with adults assaulting kids, but, you know, there’s shortly gonna be a vacancy and Zahawi knows his audience…
Probably value @ 25/1
He looks like the sort of person who would like smacking children
I hold no brief for Nadhim Zahawi, who has gone native to the drunken idiots of the DfE faster than an anthropologist studying a new tribe, but that's a pretty outrageous thing to say.
A lack of imagination on your part. If you were casting a cruel schoolmaster for Roald Dahl's Matilda for example who liked smacking children Zahawi would get the part without a recall. I appreciate your virtue signalling. I know it's a thing on here. Are you standing in for Big_ G?
No, I'm saying that accusing somebody of being a paedarastic sadist is an outrageous thing to say. Moreover, given it's actually libellous it might get the site into trouble.
That's a statement of fact, not virtue signalling. The mere fact you don't like it is your problem.
"Can work w/ leaders" Starmer +1 "Strong leader" Starmer +3 "Knows how to get things done" Starmer +4 "Stands up 4 UK" Starmer +5 "Build strong economy" Starmer +6 "Represents change" Starmer +10 "Cares 4 ppl like me" Starmer +15 "In good health" Starmer +21
Johnson is dead
In which case the lead for "In good health" should be higher.
I overheard some people discussing Boris this morning in a cafe on the Upper East Side.
Admittedly a rather niche demographic.
They think he’s an idiot, with stupid hair, and that his Churchillian act in Ukraine is pathetic. On the other hand they can’t understand why a “party” could be the end of him.
I’ve heard this before in the USA. Partygate doesn’t travel. The way I’ve tried to explain it before is that he’s lied to the House of Commons which is akin perhaps to lying under oath to a Court of Law.
But for the future history books, the idea of Johnson skulking off in disgrace for lying about some not-very-good parties... that's satisfying. Party because truth matters, but mostly because it would be a stupid end to a stupid premiership.
I feel like the mood has changed again this week. I feel like he’s going to struggle to survive the year.
Which is good, because I don’t want him to be PM in a “London Bridge” event. Call me old fashioned, but he’s not up to it.
"The whole House will, I am sure, join me in expressing great sadness at her Majesty's passing and will of course recall that she always said that I was the Prime Minister who most reminded her of Churchill."
"And errr, I hope my right honourable friends will agree that the best way to honour, um, the Queens passing is by stopping the frivolous investigations on the hard working staff at err, number ten, to allow us focus on what she really would have wanted, for me to make Britain truly great again."
I overheard some people discussing Boris this morning in a cafe on the Upper East Side.
Admittedly a rather niche demographic.
They think he’s an idiot, with stupid hair, and that his Churchillian act in Ukraine is pathetic. On the other hand they can’t understand why a “party” could be the end of him.
I’ve heard this before in the USA. Partygate doesn’t travel. The way I’ve tried to explain it before is that he’s lied to the House of Commons which is akin perhaps to lying under oath to a Court of Law.
But for the future history books, the idea of Johnson skulking off in disgrace for lying about some not-very-good parties... that's satisfying. Party because truth matters, but mostly because it would be a stupid end to a stupid premiership.
I feel like the mood has changed again this week. I feel like he’s going to struggle to survive the year.
Which is good, because I don’t want him to be PM in a “London Bridge” event. Call me old fashioned, but he’s not up to it.
Could be worse. If the Minister for Instagram gets the gig...
I have reached the conclusion that even Truss would be an improvement on Johnson.
When was the last time a primeminister surprised on the upside? More beloved on leaving the job than starting it?
Home? Everyone thought he was a complete no-hoper who had no chance at all, he barely even had a public profile, and yet somehow he ran Wilson very close in 1964.
"Can work w/ leaders" Starmer +1 "Strong leader" Starmer +3 "Knows how to get things done" Starmer +4 "Stands up 4 UK" Starmer +5 "Build strong economy" Starmer +6 "Represents change" Starmer +10 "Cares 4 ppl like me" Starmer +15 "In good health" Starmer +21
Johnson is dead
In which case the lead for "In good health" should be higher.
Carl Bildt @carlbildt And now 🇷🇺 state TV talks about “war against Europe and the world” once the operation against 🇺🇦 has been concluded. Without mercy.
Bleak, if this represents Putin's thinking. We are slipping towards all out war in europe I am afraid to say.
Like the drunk oaf in a pub fight who looks up through his bleeding swollen eyes and yells “I’ll take you all on”.
Mate, you can’t even beat up the streak of piss teen you kicked off with.
I have seen this happen and, very embarrassing to say, was that person once (Pub Mont Fort Verbier after [more than] a few sherberts many years ago). Without the bleeding swollen eyes, that said.
I can tell you that people leave you the fuck alone because they think you are mad. And, being off your face drunk, you sort of are.
It may just be the camera angle,, and that a lot more is off to the left, but I'd expect the largest Russian manufacturer of chemical solvents to look rather bigger than that.
Olaf Scholz intervenes in the French election, in English.
@OlafScholz The choice that the French people are facing is critical – for #France and for #Europe. It is the choice between a democratic candidate, who believes that France grows in a powerful #EU. And a far-right candidate, who openly sides with those attacking our freedom and #democracy.
I overheard some people discussing Boris this morning in a cafe on the Upper East Side.
Admittedly a rather niche demographic.
They think he’s an idiot, with stupid hair, and that his Churchillian act in Ukraine is pathetic. On the other hand they can’t understand why a “party” could be the end of him.
I’ve heard this before in the USA. Partygate doesn’t travel. The way I’ve tried to explain it before is that he’s lied to the House of Commons which is akin perhaps to lying under oath to a Court of Law.
But for the future history books, the idea of Johnson skulking off in disgrace for lying about some not-very-good parties... that's satisfying. Party because truth matters, but mostly because it would be a stupid end to a stupid premiership.
I feel like the mood has changed again this week. I feel like he’s going to struggle to survive the year.
Which is good, because I don’t want him to be PM in a “London Bridge” event. Call me old fashioned, but he’s not up to it.
Could be worse. If the Minister for Instagram gets the gig...
I have reached the conclusion that even Truss would be an improvement on Johnson.
Yebbut fuck it do all choices have to be like that?
Appositely, and I am now reading
I nodded. The argument was familiar. I had even made it myself, here and there, but I was beginning to sense something very depressing about it. How many more of these goddamn elections are we going to have to write off as lame but ‘regrettably necessary’ holding actions? And how many more of these stinking, double-downer sideshows will we have to go through before we can get ourselves straight enough to put together some kind of national election that will give me and the at least 20 million people I tend to agree with a chance to vote for something, instead of always being faced with that old familiar choice between the lesser of two evils?
I have been through three presidential elections, now, but it has been twelve years since I could look at a ballot and see a name I wanted to vote for. In 1964, I refused to vote at all, and in ’68 I spent half a morning in the county courthouse getting an absentee ballot so I could vote, out of spite, for Dick Gregory.
I overheard some people discussing Boris this morning in a cafe on the Upper East Side.
Admittedly a rather niche demographic.
They think he’s an idiot, with stupid hair, and that his Churchillian act in Ukraine is pathetic. On the other hand they can’t understand why a “party” could be the end of him.
I’ve heard this before in the USA. Partygate doesn’t travel. The way I’ve tried to explain it before is that he’s lied to the House of Commons which is akin perhaps to lying under oath to a Court of Law.
But for the future history books, the idea of Johnson skulking off in disgrace for lying about some not-very-good parties... that's satisfying. Party because truth matters, but mostly because it would be a stupid end to a stupid premiership.
I feel like the mood has changed again this week. I feel like he’s going to struggle to survive the year.
Which is good, because I don’t want him to be PM in a “London Bridge” event. Call me old fashioned, but he’s not up to it.
"The whole House will, I am sure, join me in expressing great sadness at her Majesty's passing and will of course recall that she always said that I was the Prime Minister who most reminded her of Churchill."
"And errr, I hope my right honourable friends will agree that the best way to honour, um, the Queens passing is by stopping the frivolous investigations on the hard working staff at err, number ten, to allow us focus on what she really would have wanted, for me to make Britain truly great again."
I mean these are spoofs, but sadly Johnson simply cannot be trusted not to make the Queen’s passing all about him.
Indeed; he can’t be trusted to even dress properly for such a solemn occasion. He has not bothered to previously where some gravity or sobriety is required.
I overheard some people discussing Boris this morning in a cafe on the Upper East Side.
Admittedly a rather niche demographic.
They think he’s an idiot, with stupid hair, and that his Churchillian act in Ukraine is pathetic. On the other hand they can’t understand why a “party” could be the end of him.
I’ve heard this before in the USA. Partygate doesn’t travel. The way I’ve tried to explain it before is that he’s lied to the House of Commons which is akin perhaps to lying under oath to a Court of Law.
But for the future history books, the idea of Johnson skulking off in disgrace for lying about some not-very-good parties... that's satisfying. Party because truth matters, but mostly because it would be a stupid end to a stupid premiership.
I feel like the mood has changed again this week. I feel like he’s going to struggle to survive the year.
Which is good, because I don’t want him to be PM in a “London Bridge” event. Call me old fashioned, but he’s not up to it.
"The whole House will, I am sure, join me in expressing great sadness at her Majesty's passing and will of course recall that she always said that I was the Prime Minister who most reminded her of Churchill."
"And errr, I hope my right honourable friends will agree that the best way to honour, um, the Queens passing is by stopping the frivolous investigations on the hard working staff at err, number ten, to allow us focus on what she really would have wanted, for me to make Britain truly great again."
I mean these are spoofs, but sadly Johnson simply cannot be trusted not to make the Queen’s passing all about him.
Indeed; he can’t be trusted to even dress properly for such a solemn occasion. He has not bothered to previously where some gravity or sobriety is required.
I disagree. Doing something, the protocol for which has been established down to each footstep by each participant, is exactly, perhaps the only thing he is good for. It is when he has to make POLICY DECISIONS, especially tricky ones, that he falls flat.
Spain has sent a ship with 20 armored vehicles and "200 tons of ammunition and other materials" for🇺🇦Ukraine, Prime Minister of Spain Pedro Sánchez announced during his visit in Kyiv.
"Can work w/ leaders" Starmer +1 "Strong leader" Starmer +3 "Knows how to get things done" Starmer +4 "Stands up 4 UK" Starmer +5 "Build strong economy" Starmer +6 "Represents change" Starmer +10 "Cares 4 ppl like me" Starmer +15 "In good health" Starmer +21
Johnson is dead
In which case the lead for "In good health" should be higher.
Jason Groves @JasonGroves1 · 7m Former minister Sir Bob Neill hints he'll withdraw support from Boris Johnson if there are worse revelations about Partygate, telling @BBCPM : 'No-one is indispensable - there will be a Conservative Party before or after any leader'
I overheard some people discussing Boris this morning in a cafe on the Upper East Side.
Admittedly a rather niche demographic.
They think he’s an idiot, with stupid hair, and that his Churchillian act in Ukraine is pathetic. On the other hand they can’t understand why a “party” could be the end of him.
I’ve heard this before in the USA. Partygate doesn’t travel. The way I’ve tried to explain it before is that he’s lied to the House of Commons which is akin perhaps to lying under oath to a Court of Law.
But for the future history books, the idea of Johnson skulking off in disgrace for lying about some not-very-good parties... that's satisfying. Party because truth matters, but mostly because it would be a stupid end to a stupid premiership.
I feel like the mood has changed again this week. I feel like he’s going to struggle to survive the year.
Which is good, because I don’t want him to be PM in a “London Bridge” event. Call me old fashioned, but he’s not up to it.
"The whole House will, I am sure, join me in expressing great sadness at her Majesty's passing and will of course recall that she always said that I was the Prime Minister who most reminded her of Churchill."
"And errr, I hope my right honourable friends will agree that the best way to honour, um, the Queens passing is by stopping the frivolous investigations on the hard working staff at err, number ten, to allow us focus on what she really would have wanted, for me to make Britain truly great again."
I mean these are spoofs, but sadly Johnson simply cannot be trusted not to make the Queen’s passing all about him.
Indeed; he can’t be trusted to even dress properly for such a solemn occasion. He has not bothered to previously where some gravity or sobriety is required.
I disagree. Doing something, the protocol for which has been established down to each footstep by each participant, is exactly, perhaps the only thing he is good for. It is when he has to make POLICY DECISIONS, especially tricky ones, that he falls flat.
No, he can’t do what you think he can. For a start, he can’t represent the country properly, unless Britain really is some kind of tawdry second-rate clown routine.
He’s also a terrible speech-maker, usually substance free and full of semi-comic non-sequiturs.
He is charismatic because he’s essentially a Falstaffian figure of fun, but it’s time the country went Henry IV Part 2 on his ass.
I overheard some people discussing Boris this morning in a cafe on the Upper East Side.
Admittedly a rather niche demographic.
They think he’s an idiot, with stupid hair, and that his Churchillian act in Ukraine is pathetic. On the other hand they can’t understand why a “party” could be the end of him.
I’ve heard this before in the USA. Partygate doesn’t travel. The way I’ve tried to explain it before is that he’s lied to the House of Commons which is akin perhaps to lying under oath to a Court of Law.
But for the future history books, the idea of Johnson skulking off in disgrace for lying about some not-very-good parties... that's satisfying. Party because truth matters, but mostly because it would be a stupid end to a stupid premiership.
I feel like the mood has changed again this week. I feel like he’s going to struggle to survive the year.
Which is good, because I don’t want him to be PM in a “London Bridge” event. Call me old fashioned, but he’s not up to it.
"The whole House will, I am sure, join me in expressing great sadness at her Majesty's passing and will of course recall that she always said that I was the Prime Minister who most reminded her of Churchill."
"And errr, I hope my right honourable friends will agree that the best way to honour, um, the Queens passing is by stopping the frivolous investigations on the hard working staff at err, number ten, to allow us focus on what she really would have wanted, for me to make Britain truly great again."
I mean these are spoofs, but sadly Johnson simply cannot be trusted not to make the Queen’s passing all about him.
Indeed; he can’t be trusted to even dress properly for such a solemn occasion. He has not bothered to previously where some gravity or sobriety is required.
I disagree. Doing something, the protocol for which has been established down to each footstep by each participant, is exactly, perhaps the only thing he is good for. It is when he has to make POLICY DECISIONS, especially tricky ones, that he falls flat.
He does have a tendency to go a tad "off piste" if it enters his head, though. Whatever you think of HMtQ it would be unfortunate if her funeral was marred by a Peppa Pig World ramble
Is anyone else concerned that OGH seems to have dropped dead halfway through writing the header, just as he is about to name the murderer increasing political imp?
I'm hoping he's fine and finishing sentences midway is just a bad hobbit he's got into.
You are saying that OGH is halfling his sentences?
Obviously it’s batshit insane that, in 2022, the law has no problem with adults assaulting kids, but, you know, there’s shortly gonna be a vacancy and Zahawi knows his audience…
Probably value @ 25/1
He looks like the sort of person who would like smacking children
I hold no brief for Nadhim Zahawi, who has gone native to the drunken idiots of the DfE faster than an anthropologist studying a new tribe, but that's a pretty outrageous thing to say.
A lack of imagination on your part. If you were casting a cruel schoolmaster for Roald Dahl's Matilda for example who liked smacking children Zahawi would get the part without a recall. I appreciate your virtue signalling. I know it's a thing on here. Are you standing in for Big_ G?
He does not need to
You make a slur against a politician about children with no evidence, and frankly you should withdraw it
....don't worry just dust yourself down and go heavy on the smelling salts and you'll feel better in no time
I didn't notice this come by earlier, but according to the BBC "Vladimir Putin orders his troops not to storm the Azovstal steel plant, where the last group of Ukrainian fighters in Mariupol is holding out [but to blockade it instead]"
When two "or else" deadlines pass, and then you don't carry through your threat, you'd have to assume that this means they consider that storming it would be unsuccessful - not merely wasteful of Russian troops' lives, as they haven't been too picky about that up to now.
The question is whether there is any hope of resupply of those holding out?
That isn't the only assumption. It has been previously mentioned by the hold outs that they have civilians with them, including (according to some accounts) women and children. Typically the media hasn't had much to say about why civilians might be there, if not as human shields. The Russians can't bomb the place to ashes without killing these people.
This particular pro-Russian spin cannot be dismissed completely, though it seems far more likely that, the rest of the town having been bombed to crap, and the port and steel works area having been spared the bombing somewhat, that civilians - who may know the plant well from relatives who worked there, have been displaced there from other parts of Mariupol.
Is anyone else concerned that OGH seems to have dropped dead halfway through writing the header, just as he is about to name the murderer increasing political imp?
I'm hoping he's fine and finishing sentences midway is just a bad hobbit he's got into.
You are saying that OGH is halfling his sentences?
I overheard some people discussing Boris this morning in a cafe on the Upper East Side.
Admittedly a rather niche demographic.
They think he’s an idiot, with stupid hair, and that his Churchillian act in Ukraine is pathetic. On the other hand they can’t understand why a “party” could be the end of him.
I’ve heard this before in the USA. Partygate doesn’t travel. The way I’ve tried to explain it before is that he’s lied to the House of Commons which is akin perhaps to lying under oath to a Court of Law.
But for the future history books, the idea of Johnson skulking off in disgrace for lying about some not-very-good parties... that's satisfying. Party because truth matters, but mostly because it would be a stupid end to a stupid premiership.
I feel like the mood has changed again this week. I feel like he’s going to struggle to survive the year.
Which is good, because I don’t want him to be PM in a “London Bridge” event. Call me old fashioned, but he’s not up to it.
Could be worse. If the Minister for Instagram gets the gig...
I have reached the conclusion that even Truss would be an improvement on Johnson.
When was the last time a primeminister surprised on the upside? More beloved on leaving the job than starting it?
Home? Everyone thought he was a complete no-hoper who had no chance at all, he barely even had a public profile, and yet somehow he ran Wilson very close in 1964.
Tricky to answer, because if a PM is beloved, they tend not to leave.
Related question: how do we regard PMs once the dust has started to settle? Major and Blair feel like they have a better reputation now than they did in 1997 and 2007 respectively. Cameron rather worse, I reckon. Thatcher divides as much as she always did. Brown and May... too early to tell?
"Can work w/ leaders" Starmer +1 "Strong leader" Starmer +3 "Knows how to get things done" Starmer +4 "Stands up 4 UK" Starmer +5 "Build strong economy" Starmer +6 "Represents change" Starmer +10 "Cares 4 ppl like me" Starmer +15 "In good health" Starmer +21
Politico.com - Yellen, other officials bolt G-20 meeting in protest against Russia Treasury officials had said the secretary may skip some meetings if Russia attends.
I overheard some people discussing Boris this morning in a cafe on the Upper East Side.
Admittedly a rather niche demographic.
They think he’s an idiot, with stupid hair, and that his Churchillian act in Ukraine is pathetic. On the other hand they can’t understand why a “party” could be the end of him.
I’ve heard this before in the USA. Partygate doesn’t travel. The way I’ve tried to explain it before is that he’s lied to the House of Commons which is akin perhaps to lying under oath to a Court of Law.
But for the future history books, the idea of Johnson skulking off in disgrace for lying about some not-very-good parties... that's satisfying. Party because truth matters, but mostly because it would be a stupid end to a stupid premiership.
I feel like the mood has changed again this week. I feel like he’s going to struggle to survive the year.
Which is good, because I don’t want him to be PM in a “London Bridge” event. Call me old fashioned, but he’s not up to it.
"The whole House will, I am sure, join me in expressing great sadness at her Majesty's passing and will of course recall that she always said that I was the Prime Minister who most reminded her of Churchill."
"And errr, I hope my right honourable friends will agree that the best way to honour, um, the Queens passing is by stopping the frivolous investigations on the hard working staff at err, number ten, to allow us focus on what she really would have wanted, for me to make Britain truly great again."
I mean these are spoofs, but sadly Johnson simply cannot be trusted not to make the Queen’s passing all about him.
Indeed; he can’t be trusted to even dress properly for such a solemn occasion. He has not bothered to previously where some gravity or sobriety is required.
I disagree. Doing something, the protocol for which has been established down to each footstep by each participant, is exactly, perhaps the only thing he is good for. It is when he has to make POLICY DECISIONS, especially tricky ones, that he falls flat.
He does have a tendency to go a tad "off piste" if it enters his head, though. Whatever you think of HMtQ it would be unfortunate if her funeral was marred by a Peppa Pig World ramble
Mr Johnson does like an impromptu jest to add to the gaiety of any discourse, generally speaking.
Finding pro-Boris Twitter hilarious at the moment, not least because the people they most remind me of are the uber-Corbynistas. “Polls are manipulated by the MSM and can’t be trusted!” - “No one cares if he (ate some cake/held a wreath)”.
"Can work w/ leaders" Starmer +1 "Strong leader" Starmer +3 "Knows how to get things done" Starmer +4 "Stands up 4 UK" Starmer +5 "Build strong economy" Starmer +6 "Represents change" Starmer +10 "Cares 4 ppl like me" Starmer +15 "In good health" Starmer +21
"Can work w/ leaders" Starmer +1 "Strong leader" Starmer +3 "Knows how to get things done" Starmer +4 "Stands up 4 UK" Starmer +5 "Build strong economy" Starmer +6 "Represents change" Starmer +10 "Cares 4 ppl like me" Starmer +15 "In good health" Starmer +21
"Can work w/ leaders" Starmer +1 "Strong leader" Starmer +3 "Knows how to get things done" Starmer +4 "Stands up 4 UK" Starmer +5 "Build strong economy" Starmer +6 "Represents change" Starmer +10 "Cares 4 ppl like me" Starmer +15 "In good health" Starmer +21
"Can work w/ leaders" Starmer +1 "Strong leader" Starmer +3 "Knows how to get things done" Starmer +4 "Stands up 4 UK" Starmer +5 "Build strong economy" Starmer +6 "Represents change" Starmer +10 "Cares 4 ppl like me" Starmer +15 "In good health" Starmer +21
"Can work w/ leaders" Starmer +1 "Strong leader" Starmer +3 "Knows how to get things done" Starmer +4 "Stands up 4 UK" Starmer +5 "Build strong economy" Starmer +6 "Represents change" Starmer +10 "Cares 4 ppl like me" Starmer +15 "In good health" Starmer +21
Carl Bildt @carlbildt And now 🇷🇺 state TV talks about “war against Europe and the world” once the operation against 🇺🇦 has been concluded. Without mercy.
Bleak, if this represents Putin's thinking. We are slipping towards all out war in europe I am afraid to say.
Like the drunk oaf in a pub fight who looks up through his bleeding swollen eyes and yells “I’ll take you all on”.
Mate, you can’t even beat up the streak of piss teen you kicked off with.
I have seen this happen and, very embarrassing to say, was that person once (Pub Mont Fort Verbier after [more than] a few sherberts many years ago). Without the bleeding swollen eyes, that said.
I can tell you that people leave you the fuck alone because they think you are mad. And, being off your face drunk, you sort of are.
Putin-wise that is not a good analogy.
That’s sweet using any pub in Verbier as a measuring stick - having spent a lot of time there there is nobody in there who could wrestle their way out of a paper bag. The Mont Fort especially unless James Blunt is going to attack you with his guitar.
My analogy was based on actually having seen - in pubs from London to Ludlow (on Saturday afternoons weirdly) f-ing idiot wannabe hard men kicking off with someone smaller than them, ending up on the wrong end of a shoeing and still thinking they can take on everyone else in the pub - even the really hard quiet guys sitting in the corner trying to enjoy a pint.
So clearly in your experience it’s not a good analogy - in mine it works fine. Such is life 🤷🏼♂️.
I overheard some people discussing Boris this morning in a cafe on the Upper East Side.
Admittedly a rather niche demographic.
They think he’s an idiot, with stupid hair, and that his Churchillian act in Ukraine is pathetic. On the other hand they can’t understand why a “party” could be the end of him.
I’ve heard this before in the USA. Partygate doesn’t travel. The way I’ve tried to explain it before is that he’s lied to the House of Commons which is akin perhaps to lying under oath to a Court of Law.
But for the future history books, the idea of Johnson skulking off in disgrace for lying about some not-very-good parties... that's satisfying. Party because truth matters, but mostly because it would be a stupid end to a stupid premiership.
I feel like the mood has changed again this week. I feel like he’s going to struggle to survive the year.
Which is good, because I don’t want him to be PM in a “London Bridge” event. Call me old fashioned, but he’s not up to it.
"The whole House will, I am sure, join me in expressing great sadness at her Majesty's passing and will of course recall that she always said that I was the Prime Minister who most reminded her of Churchill."
"And errr, I hope my right honourable friends will agree that the best way to honour, um, the Queens passing is by stopping the frivolous investigations on the hard working staff at err, number ten, to allow us focus on what she really would have wanted, for me to make Britain truly great again."
I mean these are spoofs, but sadly Johnson simply cannot be trusted not to make the Queen’s passing all about him.
Indeed; he can’t be trusted to even dress properly for such a solemn occasion. He has not bothered to previously where some gravity or sobriety is required.
I disagree. Doing something, the protocol for which has been established down to each footstep by each participant, is exactly, perhaps the only thing he is good for. It is when he has to make POLICY DECISIONS, especially tricky ones, that he falls flat.
He does have a tendency to go a tad "off piste" if it enters his head, though. Whatever you think of HMtQ it would be unfortunate if her funeral was marred by a Peppa Pig World ramble
I think she's alive, so any kind of funeral for her would be much more worrying than any particular thing said at it.
Exclusive - Senior Tory MP @SteveBakerHW urges the Cabinet to 'do their duty' and force out Boris Johnson.
Speaking after his Commons intervention against the PM, he tells @MailOnline that it's up to ministers to inform Boris 'it's over'
But (in some better news for the PM) after Baker played a key role in the fall of David Cameron and Theresa May, he says he isn't gunning for a hat-trick of deposed premiers.
He says he's he'd had enough of being 'the lieutenant in the trenches doing all the s*** jobs' and called on Cabinet ministers to instead 'rise to this moment'
"Can work w/ leaders" Starmer +1 "Strong leader" Starmer +3 "Knows how to get things done" Starmer +4 "Stands up 4 UK" Starmer +5 "Build strong economy" Starmer +6 "Represents change" Starmer +10 "Cares 4 ppl like me" Starmer +15 "In good health" Starmer +21
Politico.com - Trump campaign is ordered to pay $1.3 million for Omarosa legal fees The arbitrator's award came after a three-year battle between the former president and his onetime aide over a nondisclosure agreement.
The Trump campaign has been ordered by an arbitrator to pay more than $1.3 million in attorney fees for Omarosa Manigault Newman, the former White House staffer and “Apprentice” star, who wrote a scathing account of her time in the White House, following a yearslong legal battle over a nondisclosure agreement.
A person familiar with Trump’s legal plans told POLITICO, “We are going to challenge the award in court.”
Former President Donald Trump brought a legal action against Manigault Newman over remarks she made while appearing on “Celebrity Big Brother” and accounts from her book, “Unhinged: An Insider’s Account of the Trump White House,” and he contended she was in violation of a nondisclosure agreement she signed during the 2016 campaign.
Manigault Newman made secret recordings of conversations while working at the White House, and in her book detailed behind-the-scenes interactions with the president, the Trump family and senior staff. The first tell-all to come out of the Trump White House, it described Trump as a “racist” and made observations about unseemly behavior behind closed doors.
The arbitrator, T. Andrew Brown, ruled last September that the nondisclosure agreement Trump and his campaign required Manigault Newman to sign was too sweeping to be legally enforceable. Under the language in the agreement, almost any fact about Trump or his family members that he wanted to keep secret was presumptively confidential.
“The information that is supposed to be protected under the Agreement is not spelled out, but is rather left to the subjective determination of one person,” Brown wrote. “Consequently, there would be no way for Respondent to know if she was in breach of the Agreement.”
Brown’s ruling voiding the nondisclosure agreement tracked with a similar decision in March 2021 from a federal judge in New York who concluded that a similar Trump campaign agreement was too vague to apply.
Under the terms of the campaign’s agreement, the prevailing party in any arbitration arising from the agreement would be entitled to his or her attorneys’ fees. Brown concluded that Manigault Newman was the victor in the dispute and, therefore, entitled to recoup her legal fees and litigation costs. . . .
Obviously it’s batshit insane that, in 2022, the law has no problem with adults assaulting kids, but, you know, there’s shortly gonna be a vacancy and Zahawi knows his audience…
Probably value @ 25/1
He looks like the sort of person who would like smacking children
I hold no brief for Nadhim Zahawi, who has gone native to the drunken idiots of the DfE faster than an anthropologist studying a new tribe, but that's a pretty outrageous thing to say.
A lack of imagination on your part. If you were casting a cruel schoolmaster for Roald Dahl's Matilda for example who liked smacking children Zahawi would get the part without a recall. I appreciate your virtue signalling. I know it's a thing on here. Are you standing in for Big_ G?
He does not need to
You make a slur against a politician about children with no evidence, and frankly you should withdraw it
....don't worry just dust yourself down and go heavy on the smelling salts and you'll feel better in no time
On this theme, could I nominate Priti as cabinet member most likely to own a Dalmation puppy skin coat, and Johnson to win the Worzel Gummidge lookalike contest?
"Can work w/ leaders" Starmer +1 "Strong leader" Starmer +3 "Knows how to get things done" Starmer +4 "Stands up 4 UK" Starmer +5 "Build strong economy" Starmer +6 "Represents change" Starmer +10 "Cares 4 ppl like me" Starmer +15 "In good health" Starmer +21
I overheard some people discussing Boris this morning in a cafe on the Upper East Side.
Admittedly a rather niche demographic.
They think he’s an idiot, with stupid hair, and that his Churchillian act in Ukraine is pathetic. On the other hand they can’t understand why a “party” could be the end of him.
I’ve heard this before in the USA. Partygate doesn’t travel. The way I’ve tried to explain it before is that he’s lied to the House of Commons which is akin perhaps to lying under oath to a Court of Law.
But for the future history books, the idea of Johnson skulking off in disgrace for lying about some not-very-good parties... that's satisfying. Party because truth matters, but mostly because it would be a stupid end to a stupid premiership.
I feel like the mood has changed again this week. I feel like he’s going to struggle to survive the year.
Which is good, because I don’t want him to be PM in a “London Bridge” event. Call me old fashioned, but he’s not up to it.
Could be worse. If the Minister for Instagram gets the gig...
I have reached the conclusion that even Truss would be an improvement on Johnson.
When was the last time a primeminister surprised on the upside? More beloved on leaving the job than starting it?
Home? Everyone thought he was a complete no-hoper who had no chance at all, he barely even had a public profile, and yet somehow he ran Wilson very close in 1964.
Tricky to answer, because if a PM is beloved, they tend not to leave.
Related question: how do we regard PMs once the dust has started to settle? Major and Blair feel like they have a better reputation now than they did in 1997 and 2007 respectively. Cameron rather worse, I reckon. Thatcher divides as much as she always did. Brown and May... too early to tell?
Theresa May has risen imo. She often comes across as the voice of sanity questioning Boris from the backbenches, perhaps aided by his having purged most other former ministers or elder statesmen, as well as by the contrast with Boris's own style.
I overheard some people discussing Boris this morning in a cafe on the Upper East Side.
Admittedly a rather niche demographic.
They think he’s an idiot, with stupid hair, and that his Churchillian act in Ukraine is pathetic. On the other hand they can’t understand why a “party” could be the end of him.
I’ve heard this before in the USA. Partygate doesn’t travel. The way I’ve tried to explain it before is that he’s lied to the House of Commons which is akin perhaps to lying under oath to a Court of Law.
But for the future history books, the idea of Johnson skulking off in disgrace for lying about some not-very-good parties... that's satisfying. Party because truth matters, but mostly because it would be a stupid end to a stupid premiership.
I feel like the mood has changed again this week. I feel like he’s going to struggle to survive the year.
Which is good, because I don’t want him to be PM in a “London Bridge” event. Call me old fashioned, but he’s not up to it.
"The whole House will, I am sure, join me in expressing great sadness at her Majesty's passing and will of course recall that she always said that I was the Prime Minister who most reminded her of Churchill."
"And errr, I hope my right honourable friends will agree that the best way to honour, um, the Queens passing is by stopping the frivolous investigations on the hard working staff at err, number ten, to allow us focus on what she really would have wanted, for me to make Britain truly great again."
I mean these are spoofs, but sadly Johnson simply cannot be trusted not to make the Queen’s passing all about him.
Indeed; he can’t be trusted to even dress properly for such a solemn occasion. He has not bothered to previously where some gravity or sobriety is required.
I disagree. Doing something, the protocol for which has been established down to each footstep by each participant, is exactly, perhaps the only thing he is good for. It is when he has to make POLICY DECISIONS, especially tricky ones, that he falls flat.
He does have a tendency to go a tad "off piste" if it enters his head, though. Whatever you think of HMtQ it would be unfortunate if her funeral was marred by a Peppa Pig World ramble
I think she's alive, so any kind of funeral for her would be much more worrying than any particular thing said at it.
At least she has achieved the ultimate accolade. Just the present for a Queen who has everything.
'Queen Elizabeth II joins the line-up of Barbie’s Tribute Collection, which was launched last year in celebration of “visionary individuals with an outstanding impact and legacy within society”. The Barbie Queen is presented in a box inspired by the styles of Buckingham Palace, made from a 3D ornate die-cut border framing the figure, and an inner panel showing the throne and the red carpet of the throne room.'
Obviously it’s batshit insane that, in 2022, the law has no problem with adults assaulting kids, but, you know, there’s shortly gonna be a vacancy and Zahawi knows his audience…
Probably value @ 25/1
He looks like the sort of person who would like smacking children
I hold no brief for Nadhim Zahawi, who has gone native to the drunken idiots of the DfE faster than an anthropologist studying a new tribe, but that's a pretty outrageous thing to say.
A lack of imagination on your part. If you were casting a cruel schoolmaster for Roald Dahl's Matilda for example who liked smacking children Zahawi would get the part without a recall. I appreciate your virtue signalling. I know it's a thing on here. Are you standing in for Big_ G?
He does not need to
You make a slur against a politician about children with no evidence, and frankly you should withdraw it
....don't worry just dust yourself down and go heavy on the smelling salts and you'll feel better in no time
On this theme, could I nominate Priti as cabinet member most likely to own a Dalmation puppy skin coat, and Johnson to win the Worzel Gummidge lookalike contest?
Happy memories of Michael Foot and his smart pilot jacket which QEtQM no less liked. Mr Foot would definitely lose that competition by comparison with Mr J.
Carl Bildt @carlbildt And now 🇷🇺 state TV talks about “war against Europe and the world” once the operation against 🇺🇦 has been concluded. Without mercy.
Bleak, if this represents Putin's thinking. We are slipping towards all out war in europe I am afraid to say.
Like the drunk oaf in a pub fight who looks up through his bleeding swollen eyes and yells “I’ll take you all on”.
Mate, you can’t even beat up the streak of piss teen you kicked off with.
I have seen this happen and, very embarrassing to say, was that person once (Pub Mont Fort Verbier after [more than] a few sherberts many years ago). Without the bleeding swollen eyes, that said.
I can tell you that people leave you the fuck alone because they think you are mad. And, being off your face drunk, you sort of are.
Putin-wise that is not a good analogy.
That’s sweet using any pub in Verbier as a measuring stick - having spent a lot of time there there is nobody in there who could wrestle their way out of a paper bag. The Mont Fort especially unless James Blunt is going to attack you with his guitar.
My analogy was based on actually having seen - in pubs from London to Ludlow (on Saturday afternoons weirdly) f-ing idiot wannabe hard men kicking off with someone smaller than them, ending up on the wrong end of a shoeing and still thinking they can take on everyone else in the pub - even the really hard quiet guys sitting in the corner trying to enjoy a pint.
So clearly in your experience it’s not a good analogy - in mine it works fine. Such is life 🤷🏼♂️.
Guys having a quiet pint in the corner are usually really hard?
Greetings from a weary but determined Estonia. The official outlook is that we are likely to have a pretty "challenging" summer, and the latest expulsion of all Baltic diplomats in St. Petersburg and Pskov underlines the total collapse of relations with Russia. It is quite probable that the border will be closed soon. The entry of Finland into NATO before the end of May will cast the spotlight on this region, and there are concerns about provocations and attacks against the Baltic. But then the performance of the Russian armed forces so far does not inspire the fear it once did.
Estonia is rushing to collect as much help for Ukraine as it can, and many Estonians are individually sending help to the humanitarian effort. Despite the far right EKRE suggesting that "Estonia has passed the capacity for Ukrainian refugees", places are still being found- eg, one of the large ferries that has space for 3000. I may add that there has been something of a backlash against EKRE. They, like Le Pen, are now seen as close to Putin and as a result their support is fading.
The inability to take the final redoubt in Mariupol underlines the challenges the Russians face. Ukraine is beginning to acquire an advantage in tanks(!) and with more NATO kit and training, the defenders are gaining strength. The great question is is that growing fast enough. We still do not know. Yet there are growing signs of serious trouble in Russia. We hear of mutinies and a total collapse of morale.
Putins appearance has been much commented on, and a medical friend of mine does seem to think that he is in some considerable discomfort, so rumours of terminal illness may be real, when you see how he looked. Likewise the mysterious fires in various Russian defence research facilities may be an inside job. Certainly the economic situation in Russia is getting very bad, and the likely forced default will weaken the brittle Russian economy still more. Yet they continue to double down in every aspect of the war: the savagery, the despicable propaganda and the utter hate now being poured over the entire civilised world. I said in a previous post that it feels like Russia is having a massive nervous breakdown, and honestly this fever dream of nuclear nightmares is a profound sickness.
The turning point of the war may be drawing close, and I now wonder what the impact of a clear defeat of the Russia might be. Without a functioning army, would Putin press the button? Will anyone stop him? No one knows. There are rumours of a tactical nuclear strike in Ukraine or even a planned strategic strike, with the UK or the USA mentioned as targets. My own feeling is that although Western intelligence still thinks that the war will go on for some time (and to be fair they also said that Mariupol could hold out for a considerable time which even Putin now concedes), I now think that the Russians may seek to reduce intensity of the war if they can not win in May. Another frozen conflict?
Carl Bildt @carlbildt And now 🇷🇺 state TV talks about “war against Europe and the world” once the operation against 🇺🇦 has been concluded. Without mercy.
Bleak, if this represents Putin's thinking. We are slipping towards all out war in europe I am afraid to say.
Like the drunk oaf in a pub fight who looks up through his bleeding swollen eyes and yells “I’ll take you all on”.
Mate, you can’t even beat up the streak of piss teen you kicked off with.
I have seen this happen and, very embarrassing to say, was that person once (Pub Mont Fort Verbier after [more than] a few sherberts many years ago). Without the bleeding swollen eyes, that said.
I can tell you that people leave you the fuck alone because they think you are mad. And, being off your face drunk, you sort of are.
Putin-wise that is not a good analogy.
That’s sweet using any pub in Verbier as a measuring stick - having spent a lot of time there there is nobody in there who could wrestle their way out of a paper bag. The Mont Fort especially unless James Blunt is going to attack you with his guitar.
My analogy was based on actually having seen - in pubs from London to Ludlow (on Saturday afternoons weirdly) f-ing idiot wannabe hard men kicking off with someone smaller than them, ending up on the wrong end of a shoeing and still thinking they can take on everyone else in the pub - even the really hard quiet guys sitting in the corner trying to enjoy a pint.
So clearly in your experience it’s not a good analogy - in mine it works fine. Such is life 🤷🏼♂️.
Guys having a quiet pint in the corner are usually really hard?
via Politico.com - DEMS RETHINK THEIR ‘CULTURE WAR’ STRATEGY — Whether it’s pandemic restrictions and schools, or critical race theory and political correctness, when it comes to the culture wars raging across America, the right often dances circles around the left. And because of that, many Democrats — particularly those in vulnerable seats — either avoid engaging on those topics altogether or privately beg their colleagues to avoid overly “woke” rhetoric or policy prescriptions they believe could hurt the party politically.
Enter MALLORY MCMORROW, who is turning that conventional wisdom on its head this week.
On Tuesday, the little-known Democratic state senator from suburban Michigan took on a GOP colleague who accused her in a fundraising email of wanting to “groom and sexualize kindergarteners” and teach “that 8-year-olds are responsible for slavery" — just because McMorrow criticized the “Don’t Say Gay”-style proposals gaining steam with the GOP, and backs a robust curriculum on the history of slavery in America.
McMorrow was (understandably) deeply offended by suggestions that she was a “groomer.” (“Groomer,” for those of you who don’t speak 2022, is an adult who befriends children and abuses them sexually.) Her takedown on the chamber floor dripped with righteous indignation as she — speaking as a mother, a Christian and a woman who cares about the mental health of children — defended discussing the history of slavery in schools and ensuring LGBTQ kids don’t feel more marginalized than they already do. . . .
Back in D.C., McMorrow’s speech has triggered a conversation among Democratic strategists about whether it’s a model for how the party can hit back on “culture war” issues. There’s a sense that the right has overreached on issues like abortion and LGBTQ rights, and that in doing so, they’ve provided Dems with an opening in an otherwise grim midterm cycle. Even Democrats who have long argued that the party should avoid hotly partisan culture issues altogether — or focus its energy on pocketbook issues — are starting to see the outlines of a new approach using McMorrow’s playbook.
— Case in point: JAMES CARVILLE, the longtime Democratic strategist who famously said “wokeness is a problem” for Democrats and has blasted his own party for messaging that he described as “faculty lounge bullshit,” told WaPo’s Greg Sargent that McMorrow’s speech was an “enormously effective piece of communication.”
“I’d show this clip as an instructional video,” he quipped. . . .
Estonia is rushing to collect as much help for Ukraine as it can, and many Estonians are individually sending help to the humanitarian effort. Despite the far right EKRE suggesting that "Estonia has passed the capacity for Ukrainian refugees", places are still being found- eg, one of the large ferries that has space for 3000. I may add that there has been something of a backlash against EKRE. They, like Le Pen, are now seen as close to Putin and as a result their support is fading.
Apologies for snipping large parts of @Cicero's excellent post, I thought I'd add the latest opinion poll from Estonia which is due to vote next March:
With changes from the 2019 election to the Riigikogu:
Reform Party: 25% (-4) Estonia 200: 21% (+17) Conservative People's Party 18% (nc) Centre Party 16% (-7) Social Democrats 9% (-1) Pro Patria (Isamaa): 7% (-4) Greens: 4% (+2)
The two governing parties (Reform and Centre) polled 52% last time but they are down to 41% in the wake of the advance of Estonia 200. That said, I can't obviously see why Estonia 200 couldn't join the coalition but I suspect it's not that simple.
Appropriate for a man who was a bit of a shit when he was alive.
So teams, what can we rename in Boris Johnson's memory?
Lots of options...
The Boris Johnson Garden Bridge
Boris Johnson Thames Estuary Airport
The Boris Johnson Scotland-Northern Ireland Bridge
The Garden Bridge, to reflect his role as Mayor of London as well as PM. The posh architectural drawings were all done, so it will not be expensive (!) to have some cheap panels knocked up to put on the river bank at Southwark to commemorate the Bridge.
Obviously it’s batshit insane that, in 2022, the law has no problem with adults assaulting kids, but, you know, there’s shortly gonna be a vacancy and Zahawi knows his audience…
Probably value @ 25/1
He looks like the sort of person who would like smacking children
I hold no brief for Nadhim Zahawi, who has gone native to the drunken idiots of the DfE faster than an anthropologist studying a new tribe, but that's a pretty outrageous thing to say.
A lack of imagination on your part. If you were casting a cruel schoolmaster for Roald Dahl's Matilda for example who liked smacking children Zahawi would get the part without a recall. I appreciate your virtue signalling. I know it's a thing on here. Are you standing in for Big_ G?
He does not need to
You make a slur against a politician about children with no evidence, and frankly you should withdraw it
....don't worry just dust yourself down and go heavy on the smelling salts and you'll feel better in no time
On this theme, could I nominate Priti as cabinet member most likely to own a Dalmation puppy skin coat, and Johnson to win the Worzel Gummidge lookalike contest?
Priti would certainly win my least likely to be a vegetarian.....
Comments
Mate, you can’t even beat up the streak of piss teen you kicked off with.
@DPAQreport
·
5h
People are rallying for Putin in West Africa, where Moscow-friendly propaganda and disinfo are exploding.
We traced the social media diet of one Burkinabe man who made an outfit with Russian flags. On his phone: Putin is "the Jesus of modern times."
https://twitter.com/DPAQreport/status/1517097016865832960
NEW: Ukraine has more tanks available in country than Russia, thanks to European deliveries of Soviet-era T-72 tanks: senior defense official
U.S. has NO tanks to give Ukraine because [Ukraine] military is using Soviet-era equipment.
For those who don't know, providing sufficient work for the Lima tank plant in the US to keep it running continuously has been a political issue. Using the output of the plant to repay allies for sending tanks to Ukraine would be smart politics by Biden.
It is the largest Russian manufacturer of chemical solvents. Kineshma is located 950 km from the Ukrainian border. https://twitter.com/TpyxaNews/status/1517158013815074820/video/1
As an aside I'm beginning to see why the Met's crime clear up rate is so low. Even as a hight priority case it's taking months for them to figure out who attended a couple of parties. I reckon most burglers in London can sleep easily in their beds.
A final thought to those who believe that we can't chuck Johnson out now because of Ukraine. It seems to me that for several months now Johnson's lies and antics have been a huge distraction to the serious issues the government is faced with. The sooner he goes the sooner the government can try to get on with some of things that really matter.
You make a slur against a politician about children with no evidence, and frankly you should withdraw it
That's a statement of fact, not virtue signalling. The mere fact you don't like it is your problem.
"Can work w/ leaders" Starmer +1
"Strong leader" Starmer +3
"Knows how to get things done" Starmer +4
"Stands up 4 UK" Starmer +5
"Build strong economy" Starmer +6
"Represents change" Starmer +10
"Cares 4 ppl like me" Starmer +15
"In good health" Starmer +21
Johnson is dead
Seems that Oz PM is taking the gaffe competition VERY seriously:
ABC.net.au - Scott Morrison apologises for offence from comment about being 'blessed' not to have children with disability
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-04-21/scott-morrison-criticised-disability-comments-leaders-debate/101004108
I can tell you that people leave you the fuck alone because they think you are mad. And, being off your face drunk, you sort of are.
Putin-wise that is not a good analogy.
@OlafScholz
The choice that the French people are facing is critical – for #France and for #Europe.
It is the choice between a democratic candidate, who believes that France grows in a powerful #EU. And a far-right candidate, who openly sides with those attacking our freedom and #democracy.
https://twitter.com/OlafScholz/status/1517172518712446977
Appositely, and I am now reading
I nodded. The argument was familiar. I had even made it myself, here and there, but I was beginning to sense something very depressing about it. How many more of these goddamn elections are we going to have to write off as lame but ‘regrettably necessary’ holding actions? And how many more of these stinking, double-downer sideshows will we have to go through before we can get ourselves straight enough to put together some kind of national election that will give me and the at least 20 million people I tend to agree with a chance to vote for something, instead of always being faced with that old familiar choice between the lesser of two evils?
I have been through three presidential elections, now, but it has been twelve years since I could look at a ballot and see a name I wanted to vote for. In 1964, I refused to vote at all, and in ’68 I spent half a morning in the county courthouse getting an absentee ballot so I could vote, out of spite, for Dick Gregory.
Hunter S Thompson 1972
Indeed; he can’t be trusted to even dress properly for such a solemn occasion. He has not bothered to previously where some gravity or sobriety is required.
@JasonGroves1
·
7m
Former minister Sir Bob Neill hints he'll withdraw support from Boris Johnson if there are worse revelations about Partygate, telling
@BBCPM
: 'No-one is indispensable - there will be a Conservative Party before or after any leader'
"Russian military research facility in Tver, Russia is on fire. Multiple are dead and injured. This facility develops SAMs and ballistic missiles."
https://twitter.com/spook_info/status/1517150043190427650
Bit of a coincidence. They are possible. Makes you wonder though.
For a start, he can’t represent the country properly, unless Britain really is some kind of tawdry second-rate clown routine.
He’s also a terrible speech-maker, usually substance free and full of semi-comic non-sequiturs.
He is charismatic because he’s essentially a Falstaffian figure of fun, but it’s time the country went Henry IV Part 2 on his ass.
I'm hoping to be at the Smarkets event - excellent hospitality and a very enjoyable evening last time.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-61179640
I look forward to the Daily Mail urging civil servants to work at home where apparently they are doing nothing as a way of stopping Putin.
Related question: how do we regard PMs once the dust has started to settle? Major and Blair feel like they have a better reputation now than they did in 1997 and 2007 respectively. Cameron rather worse, I reckon. Thatcher divides as much as she always did. Brown and May... too early to tell?
Treasury officials had said the secretary may skip some meetings if Russia attends.
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/04/20/yellen-g20-meeting-russian-minister-speaks-00026592
Are you okay?
My analogy was based on actually having seen - in pubs from London to Ludlow (on Saturday afternoons weirdly) f-ing idiot wannabe hard men kicking off with someone smaller than them, ending up on the wrong end of a shoeing and still thinking they can take on everyone else in the pub - even the really hard quiet guys sitting in the corner trying to enjoy a pint.
So clearly in your experience it’s not a good analogy - in mine it works fine. Such is life 🤷🏼♂️.
Exclusive - Senior Tory MP @SteveBakerHW urges the Cabinet to 'do their duty' and force out Boris Johnson.
Speaking after his Commons intervention against the PM, he tells @MailOnline that it's up to ministers to inform Boris 'it's over'
But (in some better news for the PM) after Baker played a key role in the fall of David Cameron and Theresa May, he says he isn't gunning for a hat-trick of deposed premiers.
He says he's he'd had enough of being 'the lieutenant in the trenches doing all the s*** jobs' and called on Cabinet ministers to instead 'rise to this moment'
https://twitter.com/GregHeffer/status/1517186427582398466
https://t.co/lFzDlDBTDk
Politico.com - Trump campaign is ordered to pay $1.3 million for Omarosa legal fees
The arbitrator's award came after a three-year battle between the former president and his onetime aide over a nondisclosure agreement.
The Trump campaign has been ordered by an arbitrator to pay more than $1.3 million in attorney fees for Omarosa Manigault Newman, the former White House staffer and “Apprentice” star, who wrote a scathing account of her time in the White House, following a yearslong legal battle over a nondisclosure agreement.
A person familiar with Trump’s legal plans told POLITICO, “We are going to challenge the award in court.”
Former President Donald Trump brought a legal action against Manigault Newman over remarks she made while appearing on “Celebrity Big Brother” and accounts from her book, “Unhinged: An Insider’s Account of the Trump White House,” and he contended she was in violation of a nondisclosure agreement she signed during the 2016 campaign.
Manigault Newman made secret recordings of conversations while working at the White House, and in her book detailed behind-the-scenes interactions with the president, the Trump family and senior staff. The first tell-all to come out of the Trump White House, it described Trump as a “racist” and made observations about unseemly behavior behind closed doors.
The arbitrator, T. Andrew Brown, ruled last September that the nondisclosure agreement Trump and his campaign required Manigault Newman to sign was too sweeping to be legally enforceable. Under the language in the agreement, almost any fact about Trump or his family members that he wanted to keep secret was presumptively confidential.
“The information that is supposed to be protected under the Agreement is not spelled out, but is rather left to the subjective determination of one person,” Brown wrote. “Consequently, there would be no way for Respondent to know if she was in breach of the Agreement.”
Brown’s ruling voiding the nondisclosure agreement tracked with a similar decision in March 2021 from a federal judge in New York who concluded that a similar Trump campaign agreement was too vague to apply.
Under the terms of the campaign’s agreement, the prevailing party in any arbitration arising from the agreement would be entitled to his or her attorneys’ fees. Brown concluded that Manigault Newman was the victor in the dispute and, therefore, entitled to recoup her legal fees and litigation costs. . . .
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/04/20/trump-campaign-is-ordered-to-pay-1-3-million-for-omarosa-legal-fees-00026727
https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/uk-news/queen-been-transformed-barbie-doll-23742658
'Queen Elizabeth II joins the line-up of Barbie’s Tribute Collection, which was launched last year in celebration of “visionary individuals with an outstanding impact and legacy within society”. The Barbie Queen is presented in a box inspired by the styles of Buckingham Palace, made from a 3D ornate die-cut border framing the figure, and an inner panel showing the throne and the red carpet of the throne room.'
Presidential run-off election
Macron (EC-RE): 57.5% (+1)
Le Pen (RN-ID): 42.5% (-1)
(+/- vs. 18-20 April 2022)
Fieldwork: 21 April 2022
Sample size: 1,600
I expect Macron to win by 59-41 now but I still agree that 60%+ is a value bet even now.
Sad that JFK and LGA were allegedly named in honor of martyred president and best mayor NYC ever had.
Note the Little Flower was a pioneer aviator who fought with US Army Air Force (or whatever they were called then) in Italy during WW1.
He once observed (I paraphrase) that he was great re: take-offs and actual flying. But landings? Not so good!
Luckily the Italian's detailed a highly-skilled pilot to fly his plane, with FLaG as observer.
I’m not surprised he looks like a toilet.
This sounds like the famous Gary Cooper Fallacy.
Estonia is rushing to collect as much help for Ukraine as it can, and many Estonians are individually sending help to the humanitarian effort. Despite the far right EKRE suggesting that "Estonia has passed the capacity for Ukrainian refugees", places are still being found- eg, one of the large ferries that has space for 3000. I may add that there has been something of a backlash against EKRE. They, like Le Pen, are now seen as close to Putin and as a result their support is fading.
The inability to take the final redoubt in Mariupol underlines the challenges the Russians face. Ukraine is beginning to acquire an advantage in tanks(!) and with more NATO kit and training, the defenders are gaining strength. The great question is is that growing fast enough. We still do not know. Yet there are growing signs of serious trouble in Russia. We hear of mutinies and a total collapse of morale.
Putins appearance has been much commented on, and a medical friend of mine does seem to think that he is in some considerable discomfort, so rumours of terminal illness may be real, when you see how he looked. Likewise the mysterious fires in various Russian defence research facilities may be an inside job. Certainly the economic situation in Russia is getting very bad, and the likely forced default will weaken the brittle Russian economy still more. Yet they continue to double down in every aspect of the war: the savagery, the despicable propaganda and the utter hate now being poured over the entire civilised world. I said in a previous post that it feels like Russia is having a massive nervous breakdown, and honestly this fever dream of nuclear nightmares is a profound sickness.
The turning point of the war may be drawing close, and I now wonder what the impact of a clear defeat of the Russia might be. Without a functioning army, would Putin press the button? Will anyone stop him? No one knows. There are rumours of a tactical nuclear strike in Ukraine or even a planned strategic strike, with the UK or the USA mentioned as targets. My own feeling is that although Western intelligence still thinks that the war will go on for some time (and to be fair they also said that Mariupol could hold out for a considerable time which even Putin now concedes), I now think that the Russians may seek to reduce intensity of the war if they can not win in May. Another frozen conflict?
It makes Gatwick look like Singapore Changi
Don’t Americans *like* nice bars with good wine?
https://twitter.com/MalloryMcMorrow/status/1516453738403143681?ref_src=twsrc^google|twcamp^serp|twgr^tweet
via Politico.com - DEMS RETHINK THEIR ‘CULTURE WAR’ STRATEGY — Whether it’s pandemic restrictions and schools, or critical race theory and political correctness, when it comes to the culture wars raging across America, the right often dances circles around the left. And because of that, many Democrats — particularly those in vulnerable seats — either avoid engaging on those topics altogether or privately beg their colleagues to avoid overly “woke” rhetoric or policy prescriptions they believe could hurt the party politically.
Enter MALLORY MCMORROW, who is turning that conventional wisdom on its head this week.
On Tuesday, the little-known Democratic state senator from suburban Michigan took on a GOP colleague who accused her in a fundraising email of wanting to “groom and sexualize kindergarteners” and teach “that 8-year-olds are responsible for slavery" — just because McMorrow criticized the “Don’t Say Gay”-style proposals gaining steam with the GOP, and backs a robust curriculum on the history of slavery in America.
McMorrow was (understandably) deeply offended by suggestions that she was a “groomer.” (“Groomer,” for those of you who don’t speak 2022, is an adult who befriends children and abuses them sexually.) Her takedown on the chamber floor dripped with righteous indignation as she — speaking as a mother, a Christian and a woman who cares about the mental health of children — defended discussing the history of slavery in schools and ensuring LGBTQ kids don’t feel more marginalized than they already do. . . .
Back in D.C., McMorrow’s speech has triggered a conversation among Democratic strategists about whether it’s a model for how the party can hit back on “culture war” issues. There’s a sense that the right has overreached on issues like abortion and LGBTQ rights, and that in doing so, they’ve provided Dems with an opening in an otherwise grim midterm cycle. Even Democrats who have long argued that the party should avoid hotly partisan culture issues altogether — or focus its energy on pocketbook issues — are starting to see the outlines of a new approach using McMorrow’s playbook.
— Case in point: JAMES CARVILLE, the longtime Democratic strategist who famously said “wokeness is a problem” for Democrats and has blasted his own party for messaging that he described as “faculty lounge bullshit,” told WaPo’s Greg Sargent that McMorrow’s speech was an “enormously effective piece of communication.”
“I’d show this clip as an instructional video,” he quipped. . . .
https://www.politico.com/newsletters/playbook/2022/04/21/the-democrats-are-going-to-take-care-of-the-son-of-a-bitch-for-us-00026822?cid=hptb_primary_0
Well, maybe not good. Perhaps, shall we say, acceptable.
The Boris Johnson Garden Bridge
Boris Johnson Thames Estuary Airport
The Boris Johnson Scotland-Northern Ireland Bridge
With changes from the 2019 election to the Riigikogu:
Reform Party: 25% (-4)
Estonia 200: 21% (+17)
Conservative People's Party 18% (nc)
Centre Party 16% (-7)
Social Democrats 9% (-1)
Pro Patria (Isamaa): 7% (-4)
Greens: 4% (+2)
The two governing parties (Reform and Centre) polled 52% last time but they are down to 41% in the wake of the advance of Estonia 200. That said, I can't obviously see why Estonia 200 couldn't join the coalition but I suspect it's not that simple.