It's impossible not to feel a twinge of sympathy for Liz Truss. She will go down in history as the worst British politician of all time. Political science conferences in future years will be devoted to the study of how anyone could be this disastrously bad at politics. Her premiership will likely be so short that book chapters will detail her failings on a minute by minute timeline. And she's not even bad at politics in the kind of hapless harmless way where one day the public will warm to her and people will pay money to hear her self-deprecating raconteurish accounts of the unfolding disaster. Can you imagine being in her shoes now?
Yes. I feel very sorry for her. Even as she has to go
She has a husband and kids. Think of them. Her humiliation is so total and so globally public she might even be a suicide risk
Understandable TBH. The impact of all of this to Truss is going to be significant and unless she is made of exceptionally strong stuff (and I fear she isn't), this is really going to hurt.
Imagine being a politician and getting the top job - the job you've dreamed about for years, all the things you would do. OK, so you've come in mid way through a parliament, but you have a good couple of years to stamp your mark, yours might not be the longest tenure but you might lead your party to victory and even if you don't you've had a bit of time to make a decent fist of it.
But no, everything has turned to dust within weeks. That dream, that vision you had has just crumbled around you. You're going to be turfed out of office for one big unforced error, and you will be the shortest serving Prime Minister of all time. Your reputation in tatters. Very unpopular with the GBP. A figure of pity, or even of ridicule.
On a human level it is absolutely devastating for Truss. She needs a strong support network for the days and months ahead. I hope in time she is able to come to terms with it, but it won't be easy.
also the first failed attempt on Kyiv was in mud season when Putins tanks got bogged down...so i think this time Putin will wait for freezing conditions to start in November
Smart kid that Putin. He's noticed it gets icy in winter.
I wonder if he has learnt that his troops might need winter gear? So far, from what we are seeing (yes, I know...), it seems not.
I watched a YT video the other day saying Russia's winter did not defeat armies (e.g. Hitler 1943, Napoleon 1812); it only hinders unprepared armies (Winter war 1939). I have severe doubts that the Russian army is prepared for a harsh winter.
Reading a suggestion this evening that the Government may square its fiscal circle by hiking VAT - as a means to avoid swingeing spending cuts without having to butcher what remains of the Truss-Kwarteng tax cuts.
Makes sense on one level. If you don't want to ramp income tax, NI, or to impose higher taxation on assets (whacking Tory donors and the core vote,) then it's what's left. OTOH it runs the risk of stoking inflation (providers of goods and services will likely try to hike prices to make good their losses) and will - you've guessed it - disproportionately hammer the poor.
If I wasn’t speeding through rural Colorado I would find my first comments where I suggested Putin was going to invade Ukraine, again, from Belarus, and half of you laughed at me
No. We were laughing at you suggesting Liz Truss would surprise on the upside. Easy mistake to make.
At some point I’m gonna find the original exchanges re Belarus. I suspect they will be richly entertaining
This week I have seen confusion amongst police forces about what constitutes a ‘hate crime’.
The police need to enforce actual laws & fight actual crimes. Freedom of speech must be protected and a proportionate approach must be taken. 1/2
The public need to have confidence in their police forces.
This sort of thing undermines it.
Senior police officers who allow this to happen can expect to have to explain to me why they’re spending vital resources on politically correct campaigns. 2/2
Why get rid of Patel? Braverman is very similar, but less disciplined and experienced, keeps freelancing on policy, and doesn't understand collective cabinet responsibility. However, it is the same pattern of tough rhetoric, but no action. It makes them look powerless and stupid. Even though I am positive about their attempts to deal with the 'woke' problems in the police and public sector, this was a bad example to highlight, because it suggests that it is ok to bully trans people.
Leicester PCC has been controlled by the Tory party since the post was created.
It's impossible not to feel a twinge of sympathy for Liz Truss. She will go down in history as the worst British politician of all time. Political science conferences in future years will be devoted to the study of how anyone could be this disastrously bad at politics. Her premiership will likely be so short that book chapters will detail her failings on a minute by minute timeline. And she's not even bad at politics in the kind of hapless harmless way where one day the public will warm to her and people will pay money to hear her self-deprecating raconteurish accounts of the unfolding disaster. Can you imagine being in her shoes now?
I hope that in time, even a complete car crash horror show like Liz's premiership will be something she'll be able to get over. As I say, it'll take time and a support network. But eventually I think the only thing to do for it is focus on what you achieved in your political career and take it in your stride. Write some books, get a couple of BBC documentaries under your belt on topics you're passionate about. Someone on here a few weeks ago said that she might do well out of the public speech circuit in a sort of cautionary "how not to deal with a new job" slant - assuming she can get to a stage where she is able to have a laugh about it (and to be honest I think that's where you'd have to aim).
It's impossible not to feel a twinge of sympathy for Liz Truss. She will go down in history as the worst British politician of all time. Political science conferences in future years will be devoted to the study of how anyone could be this disastrously bad at politics. Her premiership will likely be so short that book chapters will detail her failings on a minute by minute timeline. And she's not even bad at politics in the kind of hapless harmless way where one day the public will warm to her and people will pay money to hear her self-deprecating raconteurish accounts of the unfolding disaster. Can you imagine being in her shoes now?
Yes. I feel very sorry for her. Even as she has to go
She has a husband and kids. Think of them. Her humiliation is so total and so globally public she might even be a suicide risk
It will, of course, deter intelligent, sensitive people (like almost everyone on here) from ever contemplating a political career. Democracy is impossible when only sociopaths are strong enough to survive.
Seattle Times ($) - Hazardous smoke to remain a threat for Western Washington
The smoke-filled air west of the Cascades is expected to linger Sunday, and pose health risks for people outside, until marine air begins to arrive early next week.
Air will be “mainly unhealthy across much of Puget Sound, and that will continue through Sunday, with east winds billowing,” meteorologist Jacob DeFlitch, of the National Weather Service, said Saturday evening. The high on Sunday is expected to reach 79 degrees.
Conditions were already worsening Saturday afternoon, as east winds pushed the smoke toward populated areas, raising levels to unhealthy throughout the area, and very unhealthy near the mountains, Puget Sound Clean Air Agency said in a 5 p.m. update.
“Everyone should be taking steps to reduce their exposure,” the alert said.
The Bolt Creek fire west of Stevens Pass, one of at least nine blazes in the state, covered 14,000 acres and was 41% contained, authorities said.
Winds will be light in the urban areas at 5 to 10 mph Sunday, but reaching 25 mph in the Cascade foothill valleys for places such as Darrington, said DeFlitch.
The weather service reissued its red flag warning, indicating a high risk of fire spread, through 5 p.m. Sunday.
Residents of Baring and Index, near the Bolt Creek fire, were warned to prepare for evacuation if fire conditions worsen. Highway 2 remained open Saturday evening, but authorities said it could close with little warning.
DeFlitch said that as winds shift to onshore Monday more humidity will reach the mountains and reduce the fire danger. Friday is the soonest that precipitation will arrive, the weather service predicts.
Meanwhile in South Seattle, unhealthy air led organizers of the annual Duwamish Alive! fall cleanup event Saturday to cancel their work to remove waterway trash and plant native species, the West Seattle Blog reported.
In other words, environmental work thwarted by a toxic environment.
SSI - Going outside today (like yesterday) is like taking a stroll in an ashtray.
Reading a suggestion this evening that the Government may square its fiscal circle by hiking VAT - as a means to avoid swingeing spending cuts without having to butcher what remains of the Truss-Kwarteng tax cuts.
Makes sense on one level. If you don't want to ramp income tax, NI, or to impose higher taxation on assets (whacking Tory donors and the core vote,) then it's what's left. OTOH it runs the risk of stoking inflation (providers of goods and services will likely try to hike prices to make good their losses) and will - you've guessed it - disproportionately hammer the poor.
No easy choices.
It is a common talking point in Labour that VAT is regressive. But given rent and most food are zero-rated, and form the majority of a low-income family’s outgoings, is it really true? Can anyone point to some data on the subject?
Reading a suggestion this evening that the Government may square its fiscal circle by hiking VAT - as a means to avoid swingeing spending cuts without having to butcher what remains of the Truss-Kwarteng tax cuts.
Makes sense on one level. If you don't want to ramp income tax, NI, or to impose higher taxation on assets (whacking Tory donors and the core vote,) then it's what's left. OTOH it runs the risk of stoking inflation (providers of goods and services will likely try to hike prices to make good their losses) and will - you've guessed it - disproportionately hammer the poor.
No easy choices.
A VAT rise will definitely stoke inflation, impossible for it not to.
also the first failed attempt on Kyiv was in mud season when Putins tanks got bogged down...so i think this time Putin will wait for freezing conditions to start in November
Smart kid that Putin. He's noticed it gets icy in winter.
I wonder if he has learnt that his troops might need winter gear? So far, from what we are seeing (yes, I know...), it seems not.
I watched a YT video the other day saying Russia's winter did not defeat armies (e.g. Hitler 1943, Napoleon 1812); it only hinders unprepared armies (Winter war 1939). I have severe doubts that the Russian army is prepared for a harsh winter.
I suspect thar the movements in Belarus are a diversion. Indeed it isn't clear whether the movements are into or out of Belarus. Indeed they could be both, in order to rotate troops.
I think a further Russian attack on Kyiv is likely to go even worse than the first, as Ukraine is now better prepared and equipped. They also have several brigades just returned from the UK having completed training.
Got to say I was quite shocked going to Tesco this afternoon. Butter up from about £2.20 to £2.70. Eggs gone from £2.10 to £3.00. £5 for some pecan nuts. Prices do seem very volatile at the minute perhaps they'll settle down a little.
Funnily enough apples (France) and tomatoes (Morocco) were decently priced.
Apples are in season. There's really no need to buy French apples in season - British ones are cheap and of much better quality.
FYI (and BTW) about 70% of US apple crop comes from WA State. Know this, because of story on local TV news about expected shortfall in WA apple harvest due to wet spring & summer drought.
ConHome: Regardless of what happens next, Trussonomics, and the Truss programme on which she fought and now the leadership election, is over.
That hostage you see waving at the window is Truss. The unsmiling figures you see behind her are her leadership rivals, Treasury civil servants, big business bigwigs, Bank of England board members, visitors from the Palace – in the words, those that her strongest supporters revile as “the enemies of growth”.
The day will come on which to pin down why – after winning the leadership election less convincingly among the members than was expected. and not among her fellow Conservative MPs at all – she played a hand of twos and threes as though all of them were aces.
According to John Wakeham, the plain-speaking [Denis] Thatcher told his wife that ‘you’ve done enough, old girl. You’ve done your share. For God’s sake, don’t go on any longer’.” Truss’s family and friends may not yet have spoken to her in similar terms, but they must be wondering for how long they can put it off.
Reading a suggestion this evening that the Government may square its fiscal circle by hiking VAT - as a means to avoid swingeing spending cuts without having to butcher what remains of the Truss-Kwarteng tax cuts.
Makes sense on one level. If you don't want to ramp income tax, NI, or to impose higher taxation on assets (whacking Tory donors and the core vote,) then it's what's left. OTOH it runs the risk of stoking inflation (providers of goods and services will likely try to hike prices to make good their losses) and will - you've guessed it - disproportionately hammer the poor.
Reading a suggestion this evening that the Government may square its fiscal circle by hiking VAT - as a means to avoid swingeing spending cuts without having to butcher what remains of the Truss-Kwarteng tax cuts.
Makes sense on one level. If you don't want to ramp income tax, NI, or to impose higher taxation on assets (whacking Tory donors and the core vote,) then it's what's left. OTOH it runs the risk of stoking inflation (providers of goods and services will likely try to hike prices to make good their losses) and will - you've guessed it - disproportionately hammer the poor.
No easy choices.
A VAT rise will definitely stoke inflation, impossible for it not to.
Back in the 1960s there was an enhanced level of purchase tax on fripperies the government deemed unnecessary. It could be reintroduced through VAT, leaving the great unwashed ... err ... unwashed.
Reading a suggestion this evening that the Government may square its fiscal circle by hiking VAT - as a means to avoid swingeing spending cuts without having to butcher what remains of the Truss-Kwarteng tax cuts.
Makes sense on one level. If you don't want to ramp income tax, NI, or to impose higher taxation on assets (whacking Tory donors and the core vote,) then it's what's left. OTOH it runs the risk of stoking inflation (providers of goods and services will likely try to hike prices to make good their losses) and will - you've guessed it - disproportionately hammer the poor.
No easy choices.
Tories increasing VAT?
How many times will that be?
They really love regressive taxation.
Putting up the sticker price of nearly everything by (presumably) 2.5% overnight is a courageous way to fight the cost of living crisis.
It's like fighting a fire by pouring petrol on it.
It's impossible not to feel a twinge of sympathy for Liz Truss. She will go down in history as the worst British politician of all time. Political science conferences in future years will be devoted to the study of how anyone could be this disastrously bad at politics. Her premiership will likely be so short that book chapters will detail her failings on a minute by minute timeline. And she's not even bad at politics in the kind of hapless harmless way where one day the public will warm to her and people will pay money to hear her self-deprecating raconteurish accounts of the unfolding disaster. Can you imagine being in her shoes now?
Yes. I feel very sorry for her. Even as she has to go
She has a husband and kids. Think of them. Her humiliation is so total and so globally public she might even be a suicide risk
It will, of course, deter intelligent, sensitive people (like almost everyone on here) from ever contemplating a political career. Democracy is impossible when only sociopaths are strong enough to survive.
No Intelligent, sensitive person would have got into such a situation.
also the first failed attempt on Kyiv was in mud season when Putins tanks got bogged down...so i think this time Putin will wait for freezing conditions to start in November
Smart kid that Putin. He's noticed it gets icy in winter.
I wonder if he has learnt that his troops might need winter gear? So far, from what we are seeing (yes, I know...), it seems not.
I watched a YT video the other day saying Russia's winter did not defeat armies (e.g. Hitler 1943, Napoleon 1812); it only hinders unprepared armies (Winter war 1939). I have severe doubts that the Russian army is prepared for a harsh winter.
I suspect thar the movements in Belarus are a diversion. Indeed it isn't clear whether the movements are into or out of Belarus. Indeed they could be both, in order to rotate troops.
I think a further Russian attack on Kyiv is likely to go even worse than the first, as Ukraine is now better prepared and equipped. They also have several brigades just returned from the UK having completed training.
Whatever happens, given that we know they are preparing it won't be a surprise for Ukraine. I'd wager that Ukraine has been preparing some surprises for any invading force from Belarus.
Reading a suggestion this evening that the Government may square its fiscal circle by hiking VAT - as a means to avoid swingeing spending cuts without having to butcher what remains of the Truss-Kwarteng tax cuts.
Makes sense on one level. If you don't want to ramp income tax, NI, or to impose higher taxation on assets (whacking Tory donors and the core vote,) then it's what's left. OTOH it runs the risk of stoking inflation (providers of goods and services will likely try to hike prices to make good their losses) and will - you've guessed it - disproportionately hammer the poor.
No easy choices.
Tories increasing VAT?
How many times will that be?
They really love regressive taxation.
It was yet another part of my plan for economic stability about 3 weeks ago but I wanted to zero rate things like fuel to reduce the regression element
That would be convicted criminal Jamie Wallis n’est pas? No wonder he’s desperate to keep his seat.
Yes. Never mind the fact that the points made were perfectly valid - far better to use his conviction for killing lampposts whilst wearing a skirt to prove that no one should listen.
I mean, lampposts!!!!!!! Standard are slipping. Tories are supposed to be done for sex gaffes and offences are they not? Pincher by name, pincher by nature sort of thing.
Whacking street furniture just lets the side down...
also the first failed attempt on Kyiv was in mud season when Putins tanks got bogged down...so i think this time Putin will wait for freezing conditions to start in November
Smart kid that Putin. He's noticed it gets icy in winter.
I wonder if he has learnt that his troops might need winter gear? So far, from what we are seeing (yes, I know...), it seems not.
I watched a YT video the other day saying Russia's winter did not defeat armies (e.g. Hitler 1943, Napoleon 1812); it only hinders unprepared armies (Winter war 1939). I have severe doubts that the Russian army is prepared for a harsh winter.
I suspect thar the movements in Belarus are a diversion. Indeed it isn't clear whether the movements are into or out of Belarus. Indeed they could be both, in order to rotate troops.
I think a further Russian attack on Kyiv is likely to go even worse than the first, as Ukraine is now better prepared and equipped. They also have several brigades just returned from the UK having completed training.
Whatever happens, given that we know they are preparing it won't be a surprise for Ukraine. I'd wager that Ukraine has been preparing some surprises for any invading force from Belarus.
Because the crap shoot of tanks on the Chernobyl Road went so well for the Russians back in February, they’re going to have another go in late October?
What could possibly go wrong second time around, with a few dozen of the old T-62 tanks, and an army with no winter gear?
Time to break out the NLAWs and Stingers again, probably with a few more mines in the road this time, and an Air Force not afraid to hit them over the border in Belarus once the invasion starts.
also the first failed attempt on Kyiv was in mud season when Putins tanks got bogged down...so i think this time Putin will wait for freezing conditions to start in November
Smart kid that Putin. He's noticed it gets icy in winter.
I wonder if he has learnt that his troops might need winter gear? So far, from what we are seeing (yes, I know...), it seems not.
I watched a YT video the other day saying Russia's winter did not defeat armies (e.g. Hitler 1943, Napoleon 1812); it only hinders unprepared armies (Winter war 1939). I have severe doubts that the Russian army is prepared for a harsh winter.
I suspect thar the movements in Belarus are a diversion. Indeed it isn't clear whether the movements are into or out of Belarus. Indeed they could be both, in order to rotate troops.
I think a further Russian attack on Kyiv is likely to go even worse than the first, as Ukraine is now better prepared and equipped. They also have several brigades just returned from the UK having completed training.
Whatever happens, given that we know they are preparing it won't be a surprise for Ukraine. I'd wager that Ukraine has been preparing some surprises for any invading force from Belarus.
If an invasion is imminent expect some Belarusian reporting of alleged Ukrainian incursions or provocations over the next week. There have been one or two attempts already.
Russia's actions very much look like a last roll of the dice: throwing new conscripts and all remaining reserves into the front.
Essentially, the goal is to defeat Ukraine before Russia runs out of both the will and the resources to fight.
If Russia could get to Kyiv, and force a peace, the war might yet be saved.
But it's a massive gamble. It's a poker player, on tilt, going all in on a pair of sixes
It reminds me rather of the Battle of the Bulge, where the Germans hoped to win a battle, inflict grievous losses, and force the West out the war.
The most likely outcome is that Ukraine repulses the attacks. But anything is possible. Russia may well have learnt from its mistakes. The Ukrainians may be stretched too thin.
If Putin fails, then it's hard to think his army will be in any position for further offensive operations. And attackers normally suffer much worse casualties than defenders. The Ukrainians are now better supplied, more numerous and experienced.
The next few weeks will be crucial, but it seems far from impossible that - if the attack fails - then the end will be near for the invasion.
That would be convicted criminal Jamie Wallis n’est pas? No wonder he’s desperate to keep his seat.
Yes. Never mind the fact that the points made were perfectly valid - far better to use his conviction for killing lampposts whilst wearing a skirt to prove that no one should listen.
I mean, lampposts!!!!!!! Standard are slipping. Tories are supposed to be done for sex gaffes and offences are they not? Pincher by name, pincher by nature sort of thing.
Whacking street furniture just lets the side down...
Reading a suggestion this evening that the Government may square its fiscal circle by hiking VAT - as a means to avoid swingeing spending cuts without having to butcher what remains of the Truss-Kwarteng tax cuts.
Makes sense on one level. If you don't want to ramp income tax, NI, or to impose higher taxation on assets (whacking Tory donors and the core vote,) then it's what's left. OTOH it runs the risk of stoking inflation (providers of goods and services will likely try to hike prices to make good their losses) and will - you've guessed it - disproportionately hammer the poor.
No easy choices.
Tories increasing VAT?
How many times will that be?
They really love regressive taxation.
Putting up the sticker price of nearly everything by (presumably) 2.5% overnight is a courageous way to fight the cost of living crisis.
It's like fighting a fire by pouring petrol on it.
That does actually work. It accelerates the consumption of fuel and makes it burn out quicker
I think if I were Liz I’d probably pre-empt the inevitable and have my resignation statement ready to go for the early part of this week. It’s either doing that or waiting for the horrible death-of-a-thousand-cuts inevitability. What is the point of delaying it? I guess the only reason would be a desperate clinging on to try and surpass Canning in tenure - but that’s weeks away and surely unattainable.
Reading a suggestion this evening that the Government may square its fiscal circle by hiking VAT - as a means to avoid swingeing spending cuts without having to butcher what remains of the Truss-Kwarteng tax cuts.
Makes sense on one level. If you don't want to ramp income tax, NI, or to impose higher taxation on assets (whacking Tory donors and the core vote,) then it's what's left. OTOH it runs the risk of stoking inflation (providers of goods and services will likely try to hike prices to make good their losses) and will - you've guessed it - disproportionately hammer the poor.
No easy choices.
A VAT rise will definitely stoke inflation, impossible for it not to.
Back in the 1960s there was an enhanced level of purchase tax on fripperies the government deemed unnecessary. It could be reintroduced through VAT, leaving the great unwashed ... err ... unwashed.
VAT itself used to have basic and luxury rates. Basic was 8 per cent until Mrs Thatcher's government, having denied its intention to double VAT, increased it to 15 per cent. Come to think of it, VAT might have been 10 per cent under Heath until Labour cut it to 8 per cent and introduced the luxury rate. There's an idea for Reeves and Starmer: slash VAT rates.
Not hanging around after a serious late night motoring accident during the Christmas season and thus avoiding an at the scene breathalyser smacks of dishonesty, to someone who has NEVER indulged in drink- driving. He/she may well have not touched a drop, but sticking around to prove that to be the case seems only polite. Everyone including South Wales Police gave Mr/ Ms Wallis the benefit of the doubt, perhaps he/ she should extend that good will to the PM. One Liz can file under "ignore".
That would be convicted criminal Jamie Wallis n’est pas? No wonder he’s desperate to keep his seat.
Yes. Never mind the fact that the points made were perfectly valid - far better to use his conviction for killing lampposts whilst wearing a skirt to prove that no one should listen.
I mean, lampposts!!!!!!! Standard are slipping. Tories are supposed to be done for sex gaffes and offences are they not? Pincher by name, pincher by nature sort of thing.
Whacking street furniture just lets the side down...
"In 1996 the New Mexico State Legislature passed a House Joint Memorial declaring “Red or Green?” as the official state question. This refers to the question always asked whether one prefers red or green chile when ordering New Mexican cuisine. This measure was passed to signify the importance that the chile industry has on the economy of the state. New Mexico produced 99,000 tons of chile in 2000, valued at nearly 49 million dollars, the number one cash crop in terms of sales in the state. With the adoption of this state question, New Mexico is acknowledging the financial gain and national recognition that chile generates for the state."
That would be convicted criminal Jamie Wallis n’est pas? No wonder he’s desperate to keep his seat.
Yes. Never mind the fact that the points made were perfectly valid - far better to use his conviction for killing lampposts whilst wearing a skirt to prove that no one should listen.
I mean, lampposts!!!!!!! Standard are slipping. Tories are supposed to be done for sex gaffes and offences are they not? Pincher by name, pincher by nature sort of thing.
Whacking street furniture just lets the side down...
It could have been a child, not a lamppost.
But it was not a child. It was a lamppost
Whataboutery++;
Boris Johnson MIGHT have injured a small child IF he'd sat on the tyke.
Instead, all he did was set a VERY bad example for Brit kiddies
It's frankly amazing how quickly Boris has departed from the consciousness. A year ago he sat in the centre of politics like a corpulent, horny roadblock. No one is mentioning him now to come and sort things out.
It's impossible not to feel a twinge of sympathy for Liz Truss. She will go down in history as the worst British politician of all time. Political science conferences in future years will be devoted to the study of how anyone could be this disastrously bad at politics. Her premiership will likely be so short that book chapters will detail her failings on a minute by minute timeline. And she's not even bad at politics in the kind of hapless harmless way where one day the public will warm to her and people will pay money to hear her self-deprecating raconteurish accounts of the unfolding disaster. Can you imagine being in her shoes now?
Yes. I feel very sorry for her. Even as she has to go
She has a husband and kids. Think of them. Her humiliation is so total and so globally public she might even be a suicide risk
On a personal level, one feels very sorry for her. She is a pitiful sight.
On the other hand, she does not have to be there. It continues to be her choice.
If I wasn’t speeding through rural Colorado I would find my first comments where I suggested Putin was going to invade Ukraine, again, from Belarus, and half of you laughed at me
No. We were laughing at you suggesting Liz Truss would surprise on the upside. Easy mistake to make.
It’s possible her performance to date *is* a surprise on the upside
It's frankly amazing how quickly Boris has departed from the consciousness. A year ago he sat in the centre of politics like a corpulent, horny roadblock. No one is mentioning him now to come and sort things out.
To a large extent he is the architect of this mess. Truss & Co just added a bit of decoration to the disaster.
Understandable TBH. The impact of all of this to Truss is going to be significant and unless she is made of exceptionally strong stuff (and I fear she isn't), this is really going to hurt.
Imagine being a politician and getting the top job - the job you've dreamed about for years, all the things you would do. OK, so you've come in mid way through a parliament, but you have a good couple of years to stamp your mark, yours might not be the longest tenure but you might lead your party to victory and even if you don't you've had a bit of time to make a decent fist of it.
But no, everything has turned to dust within weeks. That dream, that vision you had has just crumbled around you. You're going to be turfed out of office for one big unforced error, and you will be the shortest serving Prime Minister of all time. Your reputation in tatters. Very unpopular with the GBP. A figure of pity, or even of ridicule.
On a human level it is absolutely devastating for Truss. She needs a strong support network for the days and months ahead. I hope in time she is able to come to terms with it, but it won't be easy.
Your last paragraph is well expressed
Sympathies, but I would have more concern for those families who are having their homes repossessed after the unnecessary half-wittery of the Budget event.
Addendum - And, indeed, one way to Americanize, is by becoming a fan of Mexican food.
Which when I was a lad back in the 1960s was virtually unknown in USA outside of areas with significant Mexican American population. BUT it soon became very popular, indeed ubiquitous, from sea to shining sea (included here in SEA).
also the first failed attempt on Kyiv was in mud season when Putins tanks got bogged down...so i think this time Putin will wait for freezing conditions to start in November
Smart kid that Putin. He's noticed it gets icy in winter.
I wonder if he has learnt that his troops might need winter gear? So far, from what we are seeing (yes, I know...), it seems not.
I watched a YT video the other day saying Russia's winter did not defeat armies (e.g. Hitler 1943, Napoleon 1812); it only hinders unprepared armies (Winter war 1939). I have severe doubts that the Russian army is prepared for a harsh winter.
I suspect thar the movements in Belarus are a diversion. Indeed it isn't clear whether the movements are into or out of Belarus. Indeed they could be both, in order to rotate troops.
I think a further Russian attack on Kyiv is likely to go even worse than the first, as Ukraine is now better prepared and equipped. They also have several brigades just returned from the UK having completed training.
One of the reasons I think they're really going for it (again) is the messages from countries like China and Serbia for their citizens to leave Ukraine. They've been told that it's happening.
At the end of March Putin accepted that the initial invasion had failed, and he accepted the advice to narrow the focus on the Donbas and the Black Sea coast. After the recent defeats he's acknowledged that strategy has also failed. The question then is: what does he do in response to that failure?
Looks like he's not going for unilateral ceasefire, or tactical nuclear weapons, or a withdrawal to a shorter defensive line. Instead he forces Lukashenko to paylback all the support he's ever received, and he goes for Kyiv again. If he takes Kyiv (& Zelenskyy) he wins.
Quite how he's convinced himself that it will be a success this time I don't know. Perhaps he's been told that Ukraine committed all its reserves to the Kherson and Kharkiv offensive? Perhaps he believes the missiles and drones from Iran will tip the balance?
It looks less likely to succeed this time than last, but I now think he's going to try anyway.
Not hanging around after a serious late night motoring accident during the Christmas season and thus avoiding an at the scene breathalyser smacks of dishonesty, to someone who has NEVER indulged in drink- driving. He/she may well have not touched a drop, but sticking around to prove that to be the case seems only polite. Everyone including South Wales Police gave Mr/ Ms Wallis the benefit of the doubt, perhaps he/ she should extend that good will to the PM. One Liz can file under "ignore".
If the letter has gone to Brady it will not be ignored.
Don’t know if any of you follow Kamil Galeev on Twitter. Writer of lengthy down-the-rabbit-hole threads about Russian and Eurasian history from a Tatar perspective who gets the backs up of lots of historians and area experts.
It's frankly amazing how quickly Boris has departed from the consciousness. A year ago he sat in the centre of politics like a corpulent, horny roadblock. No one is mentioning him now to come and sort things out.
Nadine, of course. But she has form for parading her sexual fantasies in public.
Re: Colorado vs New Mexico green chili, should be noted that southern Colorado has a substantial Hispanic population, whose ancestors started heading north from northern NM long before US conquest of today's Southwest US.
That would be convicted criminal Jamie Wallis n’est pas? No wonder he’s desperate to keep his seat.
Yes. Never mind the fact that the points made were perfectly valid - far better to use his conviction for killing lampposts whilst wearing a skirt to prove that no one should listen.
I mean, lampposts!!!!!!! Standard are slipping. Tories are supposed to be done for sex gaffes and offences are they not? Pincher by name, pincher by nature sort of thing.
Whacking street furniture just lets the side down...
It could have been a child, not a lamppost.
But it was not a child. It was a lamppost
Whataboutery++;
It could have been one of my son's driving home through Llanblethian in the opposite direction in significantly smaller cars than Jamie's Mercedes Benz. I have no time for him and his unusually florid mitigation story. A disgrace to the Conservative Party.
That would be convicted criminal Jamie Wallis n’est pas? No wonder he’s desperate to keep his seat.
Yes. Never mind the fact that the points made were perfectly valid - far better to use his conviction for killing lampposts whilst wearing a skirt to prove that no one should listen.
I mean, lampposts!!!!!!! Standard are slipping. Tories are supposed to be done for sex gaffes and offences are they not? Pincher by name, pincher by nature sort of thing.
Whacking street furniture just lets the side down...
It could have been a child, not a lamppost.
But it was not a child. It was a lamppost
Whataboutery++;
It could have been one of my son's driving home through Llanblethian in the opposite direction in significantly smaller cars than Jamie's Mercedes Benz. I have no time for him and his unusually florid mitigation story. A disgrace to the Conservative Party.
It’s not possible to disgrace the Conservative Party.
also the first failed attempt on Kyiv was in mud season when Putins tanks got bogged down...so i think this time Putin will wait for freezing conditions to start in November
Smart kid that Putin. He's noticed it gets icy in winter.
I wonder if he has learnt that his troops might need winter gear? So far, from what we are seeing (yes, I know...), it seems not.
I watched a YT video the other day saying Russia's winter did not defeat armies (e.g. Hitler 1943, Napoleon 1812); it only hinders unprepared armies (Winter war 1939). I have severe doubts that the Russian army is prepared for a harsh winter.
I suspect thar the movements in Belarus are a diversion. Indeed it isn't clear whether the movements are into or out of Belarus. Indeed they could be both, in order to rotate troops.
I think a further Russian attack on Kyiv is likely to go even worse than the first, as Ukraine is now better prepared and equipped. They also have several brigades just returned from the UK having completed training.
One of the reasons I think they're really going for it (again) is the messages from countries like China and Serbia for their citizens to leave Ukraine. They've been told that it's happening.
At the end of March Putin accepted that the initial invasion had failed, and he accepted the advice to narrow the focus on the Donbas and the Black Sea coast. After the recent defeats he's acknowledged that strategy has also failed. The question then is: what does he do in response to that failure?
Looks like he's not going for unilateral ceasefire, or tactical nuclear weapons, or a withdrawal to a shorter defensive line. Instead he forces Lukashenko to paylback all the support he's ever received, and he goes for Kyiv again. If he takes Kyiv (& Zelenskyy) he wins.
Quite how he's convinced himself that it will be a success this time I don't know. Perhaps he's been told that Ukraine committed all its reserves to the Kherson and Kharkiv offensive? Perhaps he believes the missiles and drones from Iran will tip the balance?
It looks less likely to succeed this time than last, but I now think he's going to try anyway.
I don't think he'd ever capture Zelensky - we would evacuate him before the city fell.
I also don't know what he'd do once in control of Ukraine. He'd have to give it back, and get very little thanks for doing so.
It's impossible not to feel a twinge of sympathy for Liz Truss. She will go down in history as the worst British politician of all time. Political science conferences in future years will be devoted to the study of how anyone could be this disastrously bad at politics. Her premiership will likely be so short that book chapters will detail her failings on a minute by minute timeline. And she's not even bad at politics in the kind of hapless harmless way where one day the public will warm to her and people will pay money to hear her self-deprecating raconteurish accounts of the unfolding disaster. Can you imagine being in her shoes now?
Yes. I feel very sorry for her. Even as she has to go
She has a husband and kids. Think of them. Her humiliation is so total and so globally public she might even be a suicide risk
On a personal level, one feels very sorry for her. She is a pitiful sight.
On the other hand, she does not have to be there. It continues to be her choice.
Zero sympathy here in Rotten Towers.
She flew way too high but she was constantly told of the risks and she believed her own hype.
also the first failed attempt on Kyiv was in mud season when Putins tanks got bogged down...so i think this time Putin will wait for freezing conditions to start in November
Smart kid that Putin. He's noticed it gets icy in winter.
I wonder if he has learnt that his troops might need winter gear? So far, from what we are seeing (yes, I know...), it seems not.
I watched a YT video the other day saying Russia's winter did not defeat armies (e.g. Hitler 1943, Napoleon 1812); it only hinders unprepared armies (Winter war 1939). I have severe doubts that the Russian army is prepared for a harsh winter.
I suspect thar the movements in Belarus are a diversion. Indeed it isn't clear whether the movements are into or out of Belarus. Indeed they could be both, in order to rotate troops.
I think a further Russian attack on Kyiv is likely to go even worse than the first, as Ukraine is now better prepared and equipped. They also have several brigades just returned from the UK having completed training.
One of the reasons I think they're really going for it (again) is the messages from countries like China and Serbia for their citizens to leave Ukraine. They've been told that it's happening.
At the end of March Putin accepted that the initial invasion had failed, and he accepted the advice to narrow the focus on the Donbas and the Black Sea coast. After the recent defeats he's acknowledged that strategy has also failed. The question then is: what does he do in response to that failure?
Looks like he's not going for unilateral ceasefire, or tactical nuclear weapons, or a withdrawal to a shorter defensive line. Instead he forces Lukashenko to paylback all the support he's ever received, and he goes for Kyiv again. If he takes Kyiv (& Zelenskyy) he wins.
Quite how he's convinced himself that it will be a success this time I don't know. Perhaps he's been told that Ukraine committed all its reserves to the Kherson and Kharkiv offensive? Perhaps he believes the missiles and drones from Iran will tip the balance?
It looks less likely to succeed this time than last, but I now think he's going to try anyway.
I don't think he'd ever capture Zelensky - we would evacuate him before the city fell.
I also don't know what he'd do once in control of Ukraine. He'd have to give it back, and get very little thanks for doing so.
" we would evacuate him before the city fell."
Zelensky has that option before in late February, and he rejected it. At what was a critical time.
I can understand why a pro-Russian shill such as yourself might want to make Zelensky out to be a coward who would run away - but the only coward seen so far is Putin.
Zelensky might well believe that being a martyr is *exactly* what a defeated Ukraine needs.
It's very Adrian Mole. I wonder what grade he got in English Language GCSE. He wishes to ensure the "stability" of the people. Well I'm quite stable. Dunno about him, though, given that he was born a man, wants to become a lady, and prefers to be called "he" for the time being.
FYI (also BTW) check out this link re: longstanding member of the Liechtenstein Landtag, representing most conservative (rightwing populist) faction in THAT parliament:
also the first failed attempt on Kyiv was in mud season when Putins tanks got bogged down...so i think this time Putin will wait for freezing conditions to start in November
Smart kid that Putin. He's noticed it gets icy in winter.
I wonder if he has learnt that his troops might need winter gear? So far, from what we are seeing (yes, I know...), it seems not.
I watched a YT video the other day saying Russia's winter did not defeat armies (e.g. Hitler 1943, Napoleon 1812); it only hinders unprepared armies (Winter war 1939). I have severe doubts that the Russian army is prepared for a harsh winter.
I suspect thar the movements in Belarus are a diversion. Indeed it isn't clear whether the movements are into or out of Belarus. Indeed they could be both, in order to rotate troops.
I think a further Russian attack on Kyiv is likely to go even worse than the first, as Ukraine is now better prepared and equipped. They also have several brigades just returned from the UK having completed training.
One of the reasons I think they're really going for it (again) is the messages from countries like China and Serbia for their citizens to leave Ukraine. They've been told that it's happening.
At the end of March Putin accepted that the initial invasion had failed, and he accepted the advice to narrow the focus on the Donbas and the Black Sea coast. After the recent defeats he's acknowledged that strategy has also failed. The question then is: what does he do in response to that failure?
Looks like he's not going for unilateral ceasefire, or tactical nuclear weapons, or a withdrawal to a shorter defensive line. Instead he forces Lukashenko to paylback all the support he's ever received, and he goes for Kyiv again. If he takes Kyiv (& Zelenskyy) he wins.
Quite how he's convinced himself that it will be a success this time I don't know. Perhaps he's been told that Ukraine committed all its reserves to the Kherson and Kharkiv offensive? Perhaps he believes the missiles and drones from Iran will tip the balance?
It looks less likely to succeed this time than last, but I now think he's going to try anyway.
I don't think he'd ever capture Zelensky - we would evacuate him before the city fell.
I also don't know what he'd do once in control of Ukraine. He'd have to give it back, and get very little thanks for doing so.
From the leaked plans before the invasion it was fairly clear that the plan was brutal repression and a Russification campaign.
also the first failed attempt on Kyiv was in mud season when Putins tanks got bogged down...so i think this time Putin will wait for freezing conditions to start in November
Smart kid that Putin. He's noticed it gets icy in winter.
I wonder if he has learnt that his troops might need winter gear? So far, from what we are seeing (yes, I know...), it seems not.
I watched a YT video the other day saying Russia's winter did not defeat armies (e.g. Hitler 1943, Napoleon 1812); it only hinders unprepared armies (Winter war 1939). I have severe doubts that the Russian army is prepared for a harsh winter.
There some some concern from *Russian sources*, the other day, about 1.5 million winter uniforms having an existence failure.
also the first failed attempt on Kyiv was in mud season when Putins tanks got bogged down...so i think this time Putin will wait for freezing conditions to start in November
Smart kid that Putin. He's noticed it gets icy in winter.
I wonder if he has learnt that his troops might need winter gear? So far, from what we are seeing (yes, I know...), it seems not.
I watched a YT video the other day saying Russia's winter did not defeat armies (e.g. Hitler 1943, Napoleon 1812); it only hinders unprepared armies (Winter war 1939). I have severe doubts that the Russian army is prepared for a harsh winter.
I suspect thar the movements in Belarus are a diversion. Indeed it isn't clear whether the movements are into or out of Belarus. Indeed they could be both, in order to rotate troops.
I think a further Russian attack on Kyiv is likely to go even worse than the first, as Ukraine is now better prepared and equipped. They also have several brigades just returned from the UK having completed training.
One of the reasons I think they're really going for it (again) is the messages from countries like China and Serbia for their citizens to leave Ukraine. They've been told that it's happening.
At the end of March Putin accepted that the initial invasion had failed, and he accepted the advice to narrow the focus on the Donbas and the Black Sea coast. After the recent defeats he's acknowledged that strategy has also failed. The question then is: what does he do in response to that failure?
Looks like he's not going for unilateral ceasefire, or tactical nuclear weapons, or a withdrawal to a shorter defensive line. Instead he forces Lukashenko to paylback all the support he's ever received, and he goes for Kyiv again. If he takes Kyiv (& Zelenskyy) he wins.
Quite how he's convinced himself that it will be a success this time I don't know. Perhaps he's been told that Ukraine committed all its reserves to the Kherson and Kharkiv offensive? Perhaps he believes the missiles and drones from Iran will tip the balance?
It looks less likely to succeed this time than last, but I now think he's going to try anyway.
I don't think he'd ever capture Zelensky - we would evacuate him before the city fell.
I also don't know what he'd do once in control of Ukraine. He'd have to give it back, and get very little thanks for doing so.
Like i say last time he failed as he advanced in mud season By mid Nov kyiv will start to freeze again and will remain frozen to mid march. Perfect time to advance
also the first failed attempt on Kyiv was in mud season when Putins tanks got bogged down...so i think this time Putin will wait for freezing conditions to start in November
Smart kid that Putin. He's noticed it gets icy in winter.
I wonder if he has learnt that his troops might need winter gear? So far, from what we are seeing (yes, I know...), it seems not.
I watched a YT video the other day saying Russia's winter did not defeat armies (e.g. Hitler 1943, Napoleon 1812); it only hinders unprepared armies (Winter war 1939). I have severe doubts that the Russian army is prepared for a harsh winter.
I suspect thar the movements in Belarus are a diversion. Indeed it isn't clear whether the movements are into or out of Belarus. Indeed they could be both, in order to rotate troops.
I think a further Russian attack on Kyiv is likely to go even worse than the first, as Ukraine is now better prepared and equipped. They also have several brigades just returned from the UK having completed training.
One of the reasons I think they're really going for it (again) is the messages from countries like China and Serbia for their citizens to leave Ukraine. They've been told that it's happening.
At the end of March Putin accepted that the initial invasion had failed, and he accepted the advice to narrow the focus on the Donbas and the Black Sea coast. After the recent defeats he's acknowledged that strategy has also failed. The question then is: what does he do in response to that failure?
Looks like he's not going for unilateral ceasefire, or tactical nuclear weapons, or a withdrawal to a shorter defensive line. Instead he forces Lukashenko to paylback all the support he's ever received, and he goes for Kyiv again. If he takes Kyiv (& Zelenskyy) he wins.
Quite how he's convinced himself that it will be a success this time I don't know. Perhaps he's been told that Ukraine committed all its reserves to the Kherson and Kharkiv offensive? Perhaps he believes the missiles and drones from Iran will tip the balance?
It looks less likely to succeed this time than last, but I now think he's going to try anyway.
I don't think he'd ever capture Zelensky - we would evacuate him before the city fell.
I also don't know what he'd do once in control of Ukraine. He'd have to give it back, and get very little thanks for doing so.
" we would evacuate him before the city fell."
Zelensky has that option before in late February, and he rejected it. At what was a critical time.
I can understand why a pro-Russian shill such as yourself might want to make Zelensky out to be a coward who would run away - but the only coward seen so far is Putin.
Zelensky might well believe that being a martyr is *exactly* what a defeated Ukraine needs.
The bit that doesn't make sense is that the missiles from Iran haven't arrived yet - and it takes time for new weapons to be integrated into a military.
Similarly, while some of the conscripts have already been dying on the frontline, most are still undergoing some petty stupid training - shooting past people's ears is bad movie stuff.
Going for it now suggest Putin is really desperate.
Russia's actions very much look like a last roll of the dice: throwing new conscripts and all remaining reserves into the front.
Essentially, the goal is to defeat Ukraine before Russia runs out of both the will and the resources to fight.
If Russia could get to Kyiv, and force a peace, the war might yet be saved.
But it's a massive gamble. It's a poker player, on tilt, going all in on a pair of sixes
It reminds me rather of the Battle of the Bulge, where the Germans hoped to win a battle, inflict grievous losses, and force the West out the war.
The most likely outcome is that Ukraine repulses the attacks. But anything is possible. Russia may well have learnt from its mistakes. The Ukrainians may be stretched too thin.
If Putin fails, then it's hard to think his army will be in any position for further offensive operations. And attackers normally suffer much worse casualties than defenders. The Ukrainians are now better supplied, more numerous and experienced.
The next few weeks will be crucial, but it seems far from impossible that - if the attack fails - then the end will be near for the invasion.
Putin still has tactical nukes as a last resort. He is by nature a cautious man though so will not act impulsively and im pretty sure if he used nukes he would clear it with china first
Who should replace her? Kemi Penny Rishi Hunt in that order. A good reason to keep the membership away from the decision.
It may just have been meaningless campaign rhetoric, but Kemi did give the impression she wanted genuine cabinet government including all wings of the party. If she had the backing of heavyweights like Hunt, Rishi and Penny, it could work.
If the Cons went from Truss to Badenoch then that really might be the end. To make that mistake once is bad enough but to repreat it would be unforgivable.
also the first failed attempt on Kyiv was in mud season when Putins tanks got bogged down...so i think this time Putin will wait for freezing conditions to start in November
Smart kid that Putin. He's noticed it gets icy in winter.
I wonder if he has learnt that his troops might need winter gear? So far, from what we are seeing (yes, I know...), it seems not.
I watched a YT video the other day saying Russia's winter did not defeat armies (e.g. Hitler 1943, Napoleon 1812); it only hinders unprepared armies (Winter war 1939). I have severe doubts that the Russian army is prepared for a harsh winter.
I suspect thar the movements in Belarus are a diversion. Indeed it isn't clear whether the movements are into or out of Belarus. Indeed they could be both, in order to rotate troops.
I think a further Russian attack on Kyiv is likely to go even worse than the first, as Ukraine is now better prepared and equipped. They also have several brigades just returned from the UK having completed training.
Whatever happens, given that we know they are preparing it won't be a surprise for Ukraine. I'd wager that Ukraine has been preparing some surprises for any invading force from Belarus.
Because the crap shoot of tanks on the Chernobyl Road went so well for the Russians back in February, they’re going to have another go in late October?
What could possibly go wrong second time around, with a few dozen of the old T-62 tanks, and an army with no winter gear?
Time to break out the NLAWs and Stingers again, probably with a few more mines in the road this time, and an Air Force not afraid to hit them over the border in Belarus once the invasion starts.
I can't find it now, but there was some analysis that showed a much greater proportion of T-62 tanks were captured by Ukraine, instead of being destroyed, compared to all other tanks. The theory being that the Russians couldn't keep them running long enough for them to see combat. Though I suppose it's also possible few tank crews fancied seeing how they'd fare in combat.
Russia's actions very much look like a last roll of the dice: throwing new conscripts and all remaining reserves into the front.
Essentially, the goal is to defeat Ukraine before Russia runs out of both the will and the resources to fight.
If Russia could get to Kyiv, and force a peace, the war might yet be saved.
But it's a massive gamble. It's a poker player, on tilt, going all in on a pair of sixes
It reminds me rather of the Battle of the Bulge, where the Germans hoped to win a battle, inflict grievous losses, and force the West out the war.
The most likely outcome is that Ukraine repulses the attacks. But anything is possible. Russia may well have learnt from its mistakes. The Ukrainians may be stretched too thin.
If Putin fails, then it's hard to think his army will be in any position for further offensive operations. And attackers normally suffer much worse casualties than defenders. The Ukrainians are now better supplied, more numerous and experienced.
The next few weeks will be crucial, but it seems far from impossible that - if the attack fails - then the end will be near for the invasion.
What would they do if they get to Kyiv? Ukraine isn't going to surrender. Even if they get into the city they'll just be chewed up.
Russia's actions very much look like a last roll of the dice: throwing new conscripts and all remaining reserves into the front.
Essentially, the goal is to defeat Ukraine before Russia runs out of both the will and the resources to fight.
If Russia could get to Kyiv, and force a peace, the war might yet be saved.
But it's a massive gamble. It's a poker player, on tilt, going all in on a pair of sixes
It reminds me rather of the Battle of the Bulge, where the Germans hoped to win a battle, inflict grievous losses, and force the West out the war.
The most likely outcome is that Ukraine repulses the attacks. But anything is possible. Russia may well have learnt from its mistakes. The Ukrainians may be stretched too thin.
If Putin fails, then it's hard to think his army will be in any position for further offensive operations. And attackers normally suffer much worse casualties than defenders. The Ukrainians are now better supplied, more numerous and experienced.
The next few weeks will be crucial, but it seems far from impossible that - if the attack fails - then the end will be near for the invasion.
Putin still has tactical nukes as a last resort. He is by nature a cautious man though so will not act impulsively and im pretty sure if he used nukes he would clear it with china first
To what end?
The military analysts can see no strategic purpose to dropping a couple of battlefield nukes.
also the first failed attempt on Kyiv was in mud season when Putins tanks got bogged down...so i think this time Putin will wait for freezing conditions to start in November
Smart kid that Putin. He's noticed it gets icy in winter.
I wonder if he has learnt that his troops might need winter gear? So far, from what we are seeing (yes, I know...), it seems not.
I watched a YT video the other day saying Russia's winter did not defeat armies (e.g. Hitler 1943, Napoleon 1812); it only hinders unprepared armies (Winter war 1939). I have severe doubts that the Russian army is prepared for a harsh winter.
There some some concern from *Russian sources*, the other day, about 1.5 million winter uniforms having an existence failure.
It's possible that Belarus actually has stocks of winter equipment.
Boris's face is in agony from all the laughing he is currently doing at the situation since he left.
Mine will be in agony from all the laughing when Boris has his Portillo moment!
"Were you up for Boris?"
Will he even stand again?
Boris made £150k for a 30 minute speech in the US last week, if he is not back as PM before the next general election I doubt he will bother to stand again given the likely heavy Tory defeat and loss of his seat.
I think if I were Liz I’d probably pre-empt the inevitable and have my resignation statement ready to go for the early part of this week. It’s either doing that or waiting for the horrible death-of-a-thousand-cuts inevitability. What is the point of delaying it? I guess the only reason would be a desperate clinging on to try and surpass Canning in tenure - but that’s weeks away and surely unattainable.
She might just be waiting to discover who her successor is before resigning.
The last thing Mr Market wants is her deputy holding the fort for more than a picosecond.
also the first failed attempt on Kyiv was in mud season when Putins tanks got bogged down...so i think this time Putin will wait for freezing conditions to start in November
Smart kid that Putin. He's noticed it gets icy in winter.
I wonder if he has learnt that his troops might need winter gear? So far, from what we are seeing (yes, I know...), it seems not.
I watched a YT video the other day saying Russia's winter did not defeat armies (e.g. Hitler 1943, Napoleon 1812); it only hinders unprepared armies (Winter war 1939). I have severe doubts that the Russian army is prepared for a harsh winter.
I suspect thar the movements in Belarus are a diversion. Indeed it isn't clear whether the movements are into or out of Belarus. Indeed they could be both, in order to rotate troops.
I think a further Russian attack on Kyiv is likely to go even worse than the first, as Ukraine is now better prepared and equipped. They also have several brigades just returned from the UK having completed training.
One of the reasons I think they're really going for it (again) is the messages from countries like China and Serbia for their citizens to leave Ukraine. They've been told that it's happening.
At the end of March Putin accepted that the initial invasion had failed, and he accepted the advice to narrow the focus on the Donbas and the Black Sea coast. After the recent defeats he's acknowledged that strategy has also failed. The question then is: what does he do in response to that failure?
Looks like he's not going for unilateral ceasefire, or tactical nuclear weapons, or a withdrawal to a shorter defensive line. Instead he forces Lukashenko to paylback all the support he's ever received, and he goes for Kyiv again. If he takes Kyiv (& Zelenskyy) he wins.
Quite how he's convinced himself that it will be a success this time I don't know. Perhaps he's been told that Ukraine committed all its reserves to the Kherson and Kharkiv offensive? Perhaps he believes the missiles and drones from Iran will tip the balance?
It looks less likely to succeed this time than last, but I now think he's going to try anyway.
I don't think he'd ever capture Zelensky - we would evacuate him before the city fell.
I also don't know what he'd do once in control of Ukraine. He'd have to give it back, and get very little thanks for doing so.
From the leaked plans before the invasion it was fairly clear that the plan was brutal repression and a Russification campaign.
That doesn't really provide a buffer of client states around Russia; it just moves the Russian border closer to NATO and that part a resentful and non-cooperative part of Russia too. I don't think hanging on to Ukraine is a serious option.
Comments
Enough is enough.
I have written to the Prime Minister to ask her to stand down as she no longer holds the confidence of this country.
https://twitter.com/JamieWallisMP/status/1581700889102123009
Yes. I feel very sorry for her. Even as she has to go
She has a husband and kids. Think of them. Her humiliation is so total and so globally public she might even be a suicide risk
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-60806151
Of course, this is preferable to a fiscal crisis.
I watched a YT video the other day saying Russia's winter did not defeat armies (e.g. Hitler 1943, Napoleon 1812); it only hinders unprepared armies (Winter war 1939). I have severe doubts that the Russian army is prepared for a harsh winter.
Makes sense on one level. If you don't want to ramp income tax, NI, or to impose higher taxation on assets (whacking Tory donors and the core vote,) then it's what's left. OTOH it runs the risk of stoking inflation (providers of goods and services will likely try to hike prices to make good their losses) and will - you've guessed it - disproportionately hammer the poor.
No easy choices.
Wasn't Brexit supposed to stop this kind of thing?
Seattle Times ($) - Hazardous smoke to remain a threat for Western Washington
The smoke-filled air west of the Cascades is expected to linger Sunday, and pose health risks for people outside, until marine air begins to arrive early next week.
Air will be “mainly unhealthy across much of Puget Sound, and that will continue through Sunday, with east winds billowing,” meteorologist Jacob DeFlitch, of the National Weather Service, said Saturday evening. The high on Sunday is expected to reach 79 degrees.
Conditions were already worsening Saturday afternoon, as east winds pushed the smoke toward populated areas, raising levels to unhealthy throughout the area, and very unhealthy near the mountains, Puget Sound Clean Air Agency said in a 5 p.m. update.
“Everyone should be taking steps to reduce their exposure,” the alert said.
The Bolt Creek fire west of Stevens Pass, one of at least nine blazes in the state, covered 14,000 acres and was 41% contained, authorities said.
Winds will be light in the urban areas at 5 to 10 mph Sunday, but reaching 25 mph in the Cascade foothill valleys for places such as Darrington, said DeFlitch.
The weather service reissued its red flag warning, indicating a high risk of fire spread, through 5 p.m. Sunday.
Residents of Baring and Index, near the Bolt Creek fire, were warned to prepare for evacuation if fire conditions worsen. Highway 2 remained open Saturday evening, but authorities said it could close with little warning.
DeFlitch said that as winds shift to onshore Monday more humidity will reach the mountains and reduce the fire danger. Friday is the soonest that precipitation will arrive, the weather service predicts.
Meanwhile in South Seattle, unhealthy air led organizers of the annual Duwamish Alive! fall cleanup event Saturday to cancel their work to remove waterway trash and plant native species, the West Seattle Blog reported.
In other words, environmental work thwarted by a toxic environment.
SSI - Going outside today (like yesterday) is like taking a stroll in an ashtray.
Nonetheless looks pretty ominous
“Both russian & belarussian troops in #Gomel have the same new insignia.
Looks more & more likely that they are really going for #Kyiv.”
https://twitter.com/tallbarfin/status/1581679972086710272?s=46&t=3Z0LIUS98jbqyswTqNGKig
I think a further Russian attack on Kyiv is likely to go even worse than the first, as Ukraine is now better prepared and equipped. They also have several brigades just returned from the UK having completed training.
That is, global warming.
https://www.foxbusiness.com/features/wet-spring-summer-drought-limiting-apple-production-northwest
That hostage you see waving at the window is Truss. The unsmiling figures you see behind her are her leadership rivals, Treasury civil servants, big business bigwigs, Bank of England board members, visitors from the Palace – in the words, those that her strongest supporters revile as “the enemies of growth”.
The day will come on which to pin down why – after winning the leadership election less convincingly among the members than was expected. and not among her fellow Conservative MPs at all – she played a hand of twos and threes as though all of them were aces.
According to John Wakeham, the plain-speaking [Denis] Thatcher told his wife that ‘you’ve done enough, old girl. You’ve done your share. For God’s sake, don’t go on any longer’.” Truss’s family and friends may not yet have spoken to her in similar terms, but they must be wondering for how long they can put it off.
How many times will that be?
They really love regressive taxation.
It's like fighting a fire by pouring petrol on it.
I mean, lampposts!!!!!!! Standard are slipping. Tories are supposed to be done for sex gaffes and offences are they not? Pincher by name, pincher by nature sort of thing.
Whacking street furniture just lets the side down...
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2022/10/16/mps-want-tory-members-barred-leadership-election-party-power/
What could possibly go wrong second time around, with a few dozen of the old T-62 tanks, and an army with no winter gear?
Time to break out the NLAWs and Stingers again, probably with a few more mines in the road this time, and an Air Force not afraid to hit them over the border in Belarus once the invasion starts.
Essentially, the goal is to defeat Ukraine before Russia runs out of both the will and the resources to fight.
If Russia could get to Kyiv, and force a peace, the war might yet be saved.
But it's a massive gamble. It's a poker player, on tilt, going all in on a pair of sixes
It reminds me rather of the Battle of the Bulge, where the Germans hoped to win a battle, inflict grievous losses, and force the West out the war.
The most likely outcome is that Ukraine repulses the attacks. But anything is possible. Russia may well have learnt from its mistakes. The Ukrainians may be stretched too thin.
If Putin fails, then it's hard to think his army will be in any position for further offensive operations. And attackers normally suffer much worse casualties than defenders. The Ukrainians are now better supplied, more numerous and experienced.
The next few weeks will be crucial, but it seems far from impossible that - if the attack fails - then the end will be near for the invasion.
I have become American
Ah Jamie, our transitioning friend.
Not hanging around after a serious late night motoring accident during the Christmas season and thus avoiding an at the scene breathalyser smacks of dishonesty, to someone who has NEVER indulged in drink- driving. He/she may well have not touched a drop, but sticking around to prove that to be the case seems only polite. Everyone including South Wales Police gave Mr/ Ms Wallis the benefit of the doubt, perhaps he/ she should extend that good will to the PM. One Liz can file under "ignore".
Whataboutery++;
"Were you up for Boris?"
https://www.sos.state.nm.us/about-new-mexico/state-question/
"In 1996 the New Mexico State Legislature passed a House Joint Memorial declaring “Red or Green?” as the official state question. This refers to the question always asked whether one prefers red or green chile when ordering New Mexican cuisine. This measure was passed to signify the importance that the chile industry has on the economy of the state. New Mexico produced 99,000 tons of chile in 2000, valued at nearly 49 million dollars, the number one cash crop in terms of sales in the state. With the adoption of this state question, New Mexico is acknowledging the financial gain and national recognition that chile generates for the state."
Instead, all he did was set a VERY bad example for Brit kiddies
https://twitter.com/ukr_report/status/1581711744312803328?s=21&t=VsdMffefoW0SSS77IlEO8g
How long till the first Belarus mutiny.
A year ago he sat in the centre of politics like a corpulent, horny roadblock.
No one is mentioning him now to come and sort things out.
On the other hand, she does not have to be there. It continues to be her choice.
Addendum - And, indeed, one way to Americanize, is by becoming a fan of Mexican food.
Which when I was a lad back in the 1960s was virtually unknown in USA outside of areas with significant Mexican American population. BUT it soon became very popular, indeed ubiquitous, from sea to shining sea (included here in SEA).
At the end of March Putin accepted that the initial invasion had failed, and he accepted the advice to narrow the focus on the Donbas and the Black Sea coast. After the recent defeats he's acknowledged that strategy has also failed. The question then is: what does he do in response to that failure?
Looks like he's not going for unilateral ceasefire, or tactical nuclear weapons, or a withdrawal to a shorter defensive line. Instead he forces Lukashenko to paylback all the support he's ever received, and he goes for Kyiv again. If he takes Kyiv (& Zelenskyy) he wins.
Quite how he's convinced himself that it will be a success this time I don't know. Perhaps he's been told that Ukraine committed all its reserves to the Kherson and Kharkiv offensive? Perhaps he believes the missiles and drones from Iran will tip the balance?
It looks less likely to succeed this time than last, but I now think he's going to try anyway.
He’s at it again and this is yet another very interesting thread: https://twitter.com/kamilkazani/status/1581695772503863296?s=21&t=VsdMffefoW0SSS77IlEO8g
But she has form for parading her sexual fantasies in public.
Jamie's Mercedes Benz. I have no time for him and his unusually florid mitigation story. A disgrace to the Conservative Party.
I also don't know what he'd do once in control of Ukraine. He'd have to give it back, and get very little thanks for doing so.
She flew way too high but she was constantly told of the risks and she believed her own hype.
Zelensky has that option before in late February, and he rejected it. At what was a critical time.
I can understand why a pro-Russian shill such as yourself might want to make Zelensky out to be a coward who would run away - but the only coward seen so far is Putin.
Zelensky might well believe that being a martyr is *exactly* what a defeated Ukraine needs.
I wonder what grade he got in English Language GCSE.
He wishes to ensure the "stability" of the people. Well I'm quite stable. Dunno about him, though, given that he was born a man, wants to become a lady, and prefers to be called "he" for the time being.
https://www.landtagswahlen.li/kandidat/1442/Herbert-Elkuch
Do they ever learn.
Only Sunak or Hunt can be the replacement. Them's the breaks.
https://twitter.com/Tsihanouskaya/status/1581554809097768960?t=rfkahfQNirJWn-DgnT_znA&s=19
Similarly, while some of the conscripts have already been dying on the frontline, most are still undergoing some petty stupid training - shooting past people's ears is bad movie stuff.
Going for it now suggest Putin is really desperate.
Seriously, this is an effing farce.
'Truss should resign as PM & tell the King to send for Starmer.'
To coin a Rachel Reeves phrase, “a last, desperate throw of the dice by a government out of ideas and out of time”.
The military analysts can see no strategic purpose to dropping a couple of battlefield nukes.
https://www.cityam.com/boris-johnson-pockets-150k-in-30-mins-as-former-pm-skips-crucial-commons-vote-to-jet-off-to-colorado/
He will make serious money and like Thatcher still influence the party by ensuring only those he sees as loyalist his get his endorsement
The last thing Mr Market wants is her deputy holding the fort for more than a picosecond.