@TLDRNewsUK 🇦🇷 Argentina has told the UK that it wants to start new talks over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands and has pulled out of a 2016 cooperation pact.
Could a Sunak Falklands moment save his chances of reelection?
Bloody hell not again. The Argentinians need to give this a rest.
Of course national fervour doesn't make sense, we have our own examples of that, but the Argentinian passion on this issue really doesn't seem to make sense to me when it's noted their claim to the islands is a rather technical one based on inheriting rights from former Spanish sovereignty, and talk about natives who don't exist. Yes there are other complexities, but the point being it's actually a rather arcane legal dispute, yet it's talked about in terms of colonialism as if someone seized Buenos Aires 2 years ago.
There is nothing Argentina can do about it anyway. The UK has a veto on any UN decision as a permanent member of the UN Security Council unlike them.
The UK also has a bigger navy and army and airforce than Argentina now
The Argies forces must be minuscule!
Google tells me Arg: 70,600 (2022) vs UK 78,000 (2020). Not sure if this is chalk and apples eg whole of armed forces vs army...but it's a close run thing.
We absolutely couldn't mount another Falklands tomorrow morning that's for sure.
Isn't the argument that the defence is strong enough now that it could not realistically be taken, therefore we would not need the capability to retake it?
Of course, if the first proposition is incorrect we're screwed, but if it is true then the second proposition also being true is less of a concern.
"Why did you sit in Corbyn's Shadow Cabinet for three years when anti-semitism was rife in the Labour Party?"
No answer to that I've heard.....
Why did Rishi vote for a protocol which he says doesn't work?
Painfully weak retort....
It was a painfully weak point that you made.
Why did Johnson serve under May when he hated everything she said and did? If this is the road the Tories want to go down, they will lose. We had this in 1997, it didn't work then and it won't work now.
Try harder next time.
Because he put his career ahead of doing what was right.
Just like Sir Keir did when he twice campaigned for Jeremy Corbyn to become prime minister.
I never expected you of all people to argue that "Sir Keir is just like Boris", so well done!
Try this:
All professional politicians are self-serving liars, and one day everyone will be surprised they were tolerated so long - like witch doctors and absolute monarchs.
Oh, yeah, absolutely. Politicians lie because voters punish those who don't, for a start.
Thing is, do you want to be on medication or a diet for the rest of your life. 153% of people who lose weight on diets alone put the weight back on when they stop. Or they go bonkers (only another 15 miles for my 11am Mars Bar).
It has to be exercise imo of whatever kind suits your lifestyle. For me that's a combination of different sports according to season/weather, and riding Boris all year round*.
"Why did you sit in Corbyn's Shadow Cabinet for three years when anti-semitism was rife in the Labour Party?"
No answer to that I've heard.....
Why did Rishi vote for a protocol which he says doesn't work?
Painfully weak retort....
It was a painfully weak point that you made.
Why did Johnson serve under May when he hated everything she said and did? If this is the road the Tories want to go down, they will lose. We had this in 1997, it didn't work then and it won't work now.
Try harder next time.
Because he put his career ahead of doing what was right.
Just like Sir Keir did when he twice campaigned for Jeremy Corbyn to become prime minister.
I never expected you of all people to argue that "Sir Keir is just like Boris", so well done!
Try this:
All professional politicians are self-serving liars, and one day everyone will be surprised they were tolerated so long - like witch doctors and absolute monarchs.
Oh, yeah, absolutely. Politicians lie because voters punish those who don't, for a start.
@TLDRNewsUK 🇦🇷 Argentina has told the UK that it wants to start new talks over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands and has pulled out of a 2016 cooperation pact.
Could a Sunak Falklands moment save his chances of reelection?
Bloody hell not again. The Argentinians need to give this a rest.
Of course national fervour doesn't make sense, we have our own examples of that, but the Argentinian passion on this issue really doesn't seem to make sense to me when it's noted their claim to the islands is a rather technical one based on inheriting rights from former Spanish sovereignty, and talk about natives who don't exist. Yes there are other complexities, but the point being it's actually a rather arcane legal dispute, yet it's talked about in terms of colonialism as if someone seized Buenos Aires 2 years ago.
There is nothing Argentina can do about it anyway. The UK has a veto on any UN decision as a permanent member of the UN Security Council unlike them.
The UK also has a bigger navy and army and airforce than Argentina now
The Argies forces must be minuscule!
Google tells me Arg: 70,600 (2022) vs UK 78,000 (2020). Not sure if this is chalk and apples eg whole of armed forces vs army...but it's a close run thing.
We absolutely couldn't mount another Falklands tomorrow morning that's for sure.
Isn't the argument that the defence is strong enough now that it could not realistically be taken, therefore we would not need the capability to retake it?
Of course, if the first proposition is incorrect we're screwed, but if it is true then the second proposition also being true is less of a concern.
No idea. It used to be a six-month emergency tour at company strength IIRC but I have no idea who and how many go there now.
"Why did you sit in Corbyn's Shadow Cabinet for three years when anti-semitism was rife in the Labour Party?"
No answer to that I've heard.....
Why did Rishi vote for a protocol which he says doesn't work?
Painfully weak retort....
It was a painfully weak point that you made.
Why did Johnson serve under May when he hated everything she said and did? If this is the road the Tories want to go down, they will lose. We had this in 1997, it didn't work then and it won't work now.
Try harder next time.
Because he put his career ahead of doing what was right.
Just like Sir Keir did when he twice campaigned for Jeremy Corbyn to become prime minister.
I never expected you of all people to argue that "Sir Keir is just like Boris", so well done!
Try this:
All professional politicians are self-serving liars, and one day everyone will be surprised they were tolerated so long - like witch doctors and absolute monarchs.
Oh, yeah, absolutely. Politicians lie because voters punish those who don't, for a start.
I'm pleased that you agree. For a moment back there I feared you might be some kind of Tory cheerleader.
Thing is, do you want to be on medication or a diet for the rest of your life. 153% of people who lose weight on diets alone put the weight back on when they stop. Or they go bonkers (only another 15 miles for my 11am Mars Bar).
It has to be exercise imo of whatever kind suits your lifestyle. For me that's a combination of different sports according to season/weather, and riding Boris all year round*.
*the bikes, obvs.
I don’t give a fuck what you think
Yes you do. Or you would have ignored the post. Go for the dollies I'm sure they will result in a new you.
Yeah let's get the Mail on it, is an MP's son available to help out?
The person asking the question was Joe Pike of Sky news
Oh dear.
I know you are very much into Starmer but you do not seem to be able to engage in sensible dialogue
Why 'oh dear' when Sky are asked your leader pertinent question as are other broadcasters and this position in Labour has been open for 5 months and they had a professional interaction when he was head of the CPS
He says he is honest so why not just confirm it
You didn't get the very obvious joke I was responding to and continuing. That is why I said oh dear
Not a joke - just a silly response and do you support his evasion over this question
Okay I clearly need to explain the joke to you.
Geordie police can investigate = when the Police investigated Starmer for Beergate
Mail on it = Mail pushed the police to investigate Starmer
MP's son = the person who provided the photos
The joke isn't funny when I've had to explain it
You are trying to deflect the tweet which originated from Joe Pike of Sky news who actually tweeted it himself
Yeah let's get the Mail on it, is an MP's son available to help out?
The person asking the question was Joe Pike of Sky news
Oh dear.
I know you are very much into Starmer but you do not seem to be able to engage in sensible dialogue
Why 'oh dear' when Sky are asked your leader pertinent question as are other broadcasters and this position in Labour has been open for 5 months and they had a professional interaction when he was head of the CPS
He says he is honest so why not just confirm it
You didn't get the very obvious joke I was responding to and continuing. That is why I said oh dear
Not a joke - just a silly response and do you support his evasion over this question
Okay I clearly need to explain the joke to you.
Geordie police can investigate = when the Police investigated Starmer for Beergate
Mail on it = Mail pushed the police to investigate Starmer
MP's son = the person who provided the photos
The joke isn't funny when I've had to explain it
You are trying to deflect the tweet which originated from Joe Pike of Sky news who actually tweeted it himself
How am I deflecting when I responded to something somebody else posted, ROFL
Thing is, do you want to be on medication or a diet for the rest of your life. 153% of people who lose weight on diets alone put the weight back on when they stop. Or they go bonkers (only another 15 miles for my 11am Mars Bar).
It has to be exercise imo of whatever kind suits your lifestyle. For me that's a combination of different sports according to season/weather, and riding Boris all year round*.
*the bikes, obvs.
I don’t give a fuck what you think
Yes you do. Or you would have ignored the post. Go for the dollies I'm sure they will result in a new you.
@TLDRNewsUK 🇦🇷 Argentina has told the UK that it wants to start new talks over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands and has pulled out of a 2016 cooperation pact.
Could a Sunak Falklands moment save his chances of reelection?
Bloody hell not again. The Argentinians need to give this a rest.
Of course national fervour doesn't make sense, we have our own examples of that, but the Argentinian passion on this issue really doesn't seem to make sense to me when it's noted their claim to the islands is a rather technical one based on inheriting rights from former Spanish sovereignty, and talk about natives who don't exist. Yes there are other complexities, but the point being it's actually a rather arcane legal dispute, yet it's talked about in terms of colonialism as if someone seized Buenos Aires 2 years ago.
There is nothing Argentina can do about it anyway. The UK has a veto on any UN decision as a permanent member of the UN Security Council unlike them.
The UK also has a bigger navy and army and airforce than Argentina now
Have a look at an atlas. It's not the Persian Gulf.
Since the Falklands War there is also a bigger permanent British garrison on the islands, a Royal Navy ship on patrol there at all times and a Royal Navy nuclear submarine patrols regularly nearby (though the exact times and location of the latter are obviously classified)
"ship" is a posh way to describe a patrol boat. And the forces, at the far end of a long supply line, are very small.
I remember 1981 - you obviously don't.
Yes, Argentina has cut its armed forces back to far fewer than they were in Galtieri's day.
@TLDRNewsUK 🇦🇷 Argentina has told the UK that it wants to start new talks over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands and has pulled out of a 2016 cooperation pact.
Could a Sunak Falklands moment save his chances of reelection?
Bloody hell not again. The Argentinians need to give this a rest.
Of course national fervour doesn't make sense, we have our own examples of that, but the Argentinian passion on this issue really doesn't seem to make sense to me when it's noted their claim to the islands is a rather technical one based on inheriting rights from former Spanish sovereignty, and talk about natives who don't exist. Yes there are other complexities, but the point being it's actually a rather arcane legal dispute, yet it's talked about in terms of colonialism as if someone seized Buenos Aires 2 years ago.
There is nothing Argentina can do about it anyway. The UK has a veto on any UN decision as a permanent member of the UN Security Council unlike them.
The UK also has a bigger navy and army and airforce than Argentina now
Have a look at an atlas. It's not the Persian Gulf.
Since the Falklands War there is also a bigger permanent British garrison on the islands, a Royal Navy ship on patrol there at all times and a Royal Navy nuclear submarine patrols regularly nearby (though the exact times and location of the latter are obviously classified)
"ship" is a posh way to describe a patrol boat. And the forces, at the far end of a long supply line, are very small.
I remember 1981 - you obviously don't.
Yes, Argentina has cut its armed forces back to far fewer than they were in Galtieri's day.
They’re not going to invade the Falklands. Not after seeing what happened to Russia over Ukraine.
There is zero decolonial basis for Argentina claiming any right to the Falklands. Proximity ain’t an argument. If it were the French would be hankering after the Channel Islands and the USA would be sending gunships to the Bahamas. But they don’t, they send Disney cruise ships.
Even the famously territorial Turks aren’t threatening to invade Lesvos or Rhodes (unless there’s something I’ve missed). Lesvos is a few miles off the Turkish coast.
It’s a ludicrous claim. It’s not even revanchism or irredentism. They never meaningfully had the islands to lose, nor is there an oppressed Argentinian minority seeking unification with the homeland.
"Why did you sit in Corbyn's Shadow Cabinet for three years when anti-semitism was rife in the Labour Party?"
No answer to that I've heard.....
Why did Rishi vote for a protocol which he says doesn't work?
Painfully weak retort....
It was a painfully weak point that you made.
Why did Johnson serve under May when he hated everything she said and did? If this is the road the Tories want to go down, they will lose. We had this in 1997, it didn't work then and it won't work now.
Try harder next time.
Because he put his career ahead of doing what was right.
Just like Sir Keir did when he twice campaigned for Jeremy Corbyn to become prime minister.
I never expected you of all people to argue that "Sir Keir is just like Boris", so well done!
Try this:
All professional politicians are self-serving liars, and one day everyone will be surprised they were tolerated so long - like witch doctors and absolute monarchs.
Oh, yeah, absolutely. Politicians lie because voters punish those who don't, for a start.
This is an important point. The most honest general election campaign in the last ten years was TMay in 2017, and it was also the campaign that did its party the most damage - with the possible exception of the LDs that year, whose damage had been baked in when they elected Farron two years prior.
@TLDRNewsUK 🇦🇷 Argentina has told the UK that it wants to start new talks over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands and has pulled out of a 2016 cooperation pact.
Could a Sunak Falklands moment save his chances of reelection?
Bloody hell not again. The Argentinians need to give this a rest.
Of course national fervour doesn't make sense, we have our own examples of that, but the Argentinian passion on this issue really doesn't seem to make sense to me when it's noted their claim to the islands is a rather technical one based on inheriting rights from former Spanish sovereignty, and talk about natives who don't exist. Yes there are other complexities, but the point being it's actually a rather arcane legal dispute, yet it's talked about in terms of colonialism as if someone seized Buenos Aires 2 years ago.
There is nothing Argentina can do about it anyway. The UK has a veto on any UN decision as a permanent member of the UN Security Council unlike them.
The UK also has a bigger navy and army and airforce than Argentina now
The Argies forces must be minuscule!
Google tells me Arg: 70,600 (2022) vs UK 78,000 (2020). Not sure if this is chalk and apples eg whole of armed forces vs army...but it's a close run thing.
We absolutely couldn't mount another Falklands tomorrow morning that's for sure.
Isn't the argument that the defence is strong enough now that it could not realistically be taken, therefore we would not need the capability to retake it?
Of course, if the first proposition is incorrect we're screwed, but if it is true then the second proposition also being true is less of a concern.
Thing is, do you want to be on medication or a diet for the rest of your life. 153% of people who lose weight on diets alone put the weight back on when they stop. Or they go bonkers (only another 15 miles for my 11am Mars Bar).
It has to be exercise imo of whatever kind suits your lifestyle. For me that's a combination of different sports according to season/weather, and riding Boris all year round*.
*the bikes, obvs.
I don’t give a fuck what you think
Yes you do. Or you would have ignored the post. Go for the dollies I'm sure they will result in a new you.
No, I just felt like swearing. TBH
Fair enough. Check out the side effects of the pills would be my advice. Wild mood swings when on an internet chatroom would be one to avoid.
@TLDRNewsUK 🇦🇷 Argentina has told the UK that it wants to start new talks over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands and has pulled out of a 2016 cooperation pact.
Could a Sunak Falklands moment save his chances of reelection?
Bloody hell not again. The Argentinians need to give this a rest.
Of course national fervour doesn't make sense, we have our own examples of that, but the Argentinian passion on this issue really doesn't seem to make sense to me when it's noted their claim to the islands is a rather technical one based on inheriting rights from former Spanish sovereignty, and talk about natives who don't exist. Yes there are other complexities, but the point being it's actually a rather arcane legal dispute, yet it's talked about in terms of colonialism as if someone seized Buenos Aires 2 years ago.
There is nothing Argentina can do about it anyway. The UK has a veto on any UN decision as a permanent member of the UN Security Council unlike them.
The UK also has a bigger navy and army and airforce than Argentina now
Have a look at an atlas. It's not the Persian Gulf.
Since the Falklands War there is also a bigger permanent British garrison on the islands, a Royal Navy ship on patrol there at all times and a Royal Navy nuclear submarine patrols regularly nearby (though the exact times and location of the latter are obviously classified)
"ship" is a posh way to describe a patrol boat. And the forces, at the far end of a long supply line, are very small.
I remember 1981 - you obviously don't.
Yes, Argentina has cut its armed forces back to far fewer than they were in Galtieri's day.
They’re not going to invade the Falklands. Not after seeing what happened to Russia over Ukraine.
There is zero decolonial basis for Argentina claiming any right to the Falklands. Proximity ain’t an argument. If it were the French would be hankering after the Channel Islands and the USA would be sending gunships to the Bahamas. But they don’t, they send Disney cruise ships.
Even the famously territorial Turks aren’t threatening to invade Lesvos or Rhodes (unless there’s something I’ve missed). Lesvos is a few miles off the Turkish coast.
It’s a ludicrous claim. It’s not even revanchism or irredentism. They never meaningfully had the islands to lose, nor is there an oppressed Argentinian minority seeking unification with the homeland.
You are looking for logic in geopolitical shenanigans, I see.
@TLDRNewsUK 🇦🇷 Argentina has told the UK that it wants to start new talks over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands and has pulled out of a 2016 cooperation pact.
Could a Sunak Falklands moment save his chances of reelection?
Bloody hell not again. The Argentinians need to give this a rest.
Of course national fervour doesn't make sense, we have our own examples of that, but the Argentinian passion on this issue really doesn't seem to make sense to me when it's noted their claim to the islands is a rather technical one based on inheriting rights from former Spanish sovereignty, and talk about natives who don't exist. Yes there are other complexities, but the point being it's actually a rather arcane legal dispute, yet it's talked about in terms of colonialism as if someone seized Buenos Aires 2 years ago.
There is nothing Argentina can do about it anyway. The UK has a veto on any UN decision as a permanent member of the UN Security Council unlike them.
The UK also has a bigger navy and army and airforce than Argentina now
The Argies forces must be minuscule!
Google tells me Arg: 70,600 (2022) vs UK 78,000 (2020). Not sure if this is chalk and apples eg whole of HMF vs army...but it's a close run thing.
We absolutely couldn't mount another Falklands tomorrow morning that's for sure.
From what I’ve seen of the Argentine navy in Ushuaia they could barely crew one ship
However all this is replying to the mood music of Britain in retreat. Giving up the Elgin marbles. Handing back Diego Garcia. London shrinking as a world city
I can see why the argies might think now is a time to strike - psychologically - as the Uk seems in perpetual decline and in a funk of self doubt
They can think what they want, the UK on its own could still beat most nations in a war apart from the US and China, France and India would probably be a stalemate, Russia can't even beat Ukraine.
Argentina also has declined well past its peak when it was one of the wealthiest nations in the world, even in the Falklands war it had far bigger armed forces than now
Anybody who thinks that the public are interested in who Starmer appoints as his Chief of Staff is losing the plot. Once the current furore dies down, the only people who will be able to name her are political anoraks like us lot on here. It really is a storm in a teacup, and smacks rather of Tory desperation. I suspect quite a few Tories on here think the same.
Today's SNP leadership poll suggests Yousaf leads but with less than 50% and Regan's preferences will be decisive.
It also found '...the data suggests she is more popular than Mr Yousaf among older SNP members, while those younger than their mid-40s heavily favour the Health Secretary.
Sounds about right. Another way of looking at the division is geographically. I suspect Humza will do very poorly in NE Scotland and rural Scotland, while Kate will struggle in the urban areas, particularly Glasgow and Edinburgh where, I imagine, SNP members will be studenty and radical.
Seen some intriguing references on Twitter to Kate's husband attending Tory leadership hustings. Possible black arts, and feeds into suspicion that she is very much a Tartan Tory.
The "Chief of Staff" role seems to have become nearly ubiquitous in both the public and private sectors. I'm not sure what a Chief of Staff does but everyone of imagined import seems to need one.
On other matters, a small move (2-3%) in the Conservatives' favour - not surprising after the wealth of positive publicity afforded Sunak earlier in the week,
We can directly compare the last two Techne polls as their limited fieldwork is available.
Among all voters, Labour leads 30-19 compared with 32-18 last week. The Don't Knows are up to 24% while the 2019 Conservative vote split 50% Conservative, 20% Labour last week but it's now 55% Conservative and 15% Labour.
Splitting out the Don't Knows, among the 65+ age group, a nine-point Labour lead (43-34) has become a two point Conservative lead (40-38). Among those aged 55-64, a 16-point Labour lead (46-30) has become a 3-point Labour lead (40-37). A Remain Labour lead of 64-15 has been trimmed to 59-17 while among Leavers a 45-28 Conservative lead has become a 48-28 Conservative lead.
The move seems to be therefore a shift of older voters who had indicated a preference for Labour back to the Conservative side - whether this develops or is just temporary is as always only a question more time and polling will answer. I'm sure we'll see the Conservatives back over 30 in polls before long but with the Budget coming, this will be a test of whether this is more than a short term blip.
@TLDRNewsUK 🇦🇷 Argentina has told the UK that it wants to start new talks over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands and has pulled out of a 2016 cooperation pact.
Could a Sunak Falklands moment save his chances of reelection?
Bloody hell not again. The Argentinians need to give this a rest.
Of course national fervour doesn't make sense, we have our own examples of that, but the Argentinian passion on this issue really doesn't seem to make sense to me when it's noted their claim to the islands is a rather technical one based on inheriting rights from former Spanish sovereignty, and talk about natives who don't exist. Yes there are other complexities, but the point being it's actually a rather arcane legal dispute, yet it's talked about in terms of colonialism as if someone seized Buenos Aires 2 years ago.
There is nothing Argentina can do about it anyway. The UK has a veto on any UN decision as a permanent member of the UN Security Council unlike them.
The UK also has a bigger navy and army and airforce than Argentina now
The Argies forces must be minuscule!
Google tells me Arg: 70,600 (2022) vs UK 78,000 (2020). Not sure if this is chalk and apples eg whole of HMF vs army...but it's a close run thing.
We absolutely couldn't mount another Falklands tomorrow morning that's for sure.
From what I’ve seen of the Argentine navy in Ushuaia they could barely crew one ship
However all this is replying to the mood music of Britain in retreat. Giving up the Elgin marbles. Handing back Diego Garcia. London shrinking as a world city
I can see why the argies might think now is a time to strike - psychologically - as the Uk seems in perpetual decline and in a funk of self doubt
They can think what they want, the UK on its own could still beat most nations in a war apart from the US and China, France and India would probably be a stalemate, Russia can't even beat Ukraine.
Argentina also has declined well past its peak when it was one of the wealthiest nations in the world, even in the Falklands war it had far bigger armed forces than now
Have a look at the RN and RAF in 1981 vs today - abvoe all the long range stuff.
And the Merchant Navy, when it comes to the critical STUFT ships of 1981
The Army is about as useful as a fart in a hurricane without those two when it comes to the Flaklands.
@TLDRNewsUK 🇦🇷 Argentina has told the UK that it wants to start new talks over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands and has pulled out of a 2016 cooperation pact.
Could a Sunak Falklands moment save his chances of reelection?
Bloody hell not again. The Argentinians need to give this a rest.
Of course national fervour doesn't make sense, we have our own examples of that, but the Argentinian passion on this issue really doesn't seem to make sense to me when it's noted their claim to the islands is a rather technical one based on inheriting rights from former Spanish sovereignty, and talk about natives who don't exist. Yes there are other complexities, but the point being it's actually a rather arcane legal dispute, yet it's talked about in terms of colonialism as if someone seized Buenos Aires 2 years ago.
There is nothing Argentina can do about it anyway. The UK has a veto on any UN decision as a permanent member of the UN Security Council unlike them.
The UK also has a bigger navy and army and airforce than Argentina now
The Argies forces must be minuscule!
Google tells me Arg: 70,600 (2022) vs UK 78,000 (2020). Not sure if this is chalk and apples eg whole of HMF vs army...but it's a close run thing.
We absolutely couldn't mount another Falklands tomorrow morning that's for sure.
From what I’ve seen of the Argentine navy in Ushuaia they could barely crew one ship
However all this is replying to the mood music of Britain in retreat. Giving up the Elgin marbles. Handing back Diego Garcia. London shrinking as a world city
I can see why the argies might think now is a time to strike - psychologically - as the Uk seems in perpetual decline and in a funk of self doubt
They can think what they want, the UK on its own could still beat most nations in a war apart from the US and China, France and India would probably be a stalemate, Russia can't even beat Ukraine.
Argentina also has declined well past its peak when it was one of the wealthiest nations in the world, even in the Falklands war it had far bigger armed forces than now
You are utterly deluded and having been to Ushuaia and the Falklands @Leon is absolutely correct
"Why did you sit in Corbyn's Shadow Cabinet for three years when anti-semitism was rife in the Labour Party?"
No answer to that I've heard.....
Why did Rishi vote for a protocol which he says doesn't work?
Painfully weak retort....
It was a painfully weak point that you made.
Why did Johnson serve under May when he hated everything she said and did? If this is the road the Tories want to go down, they will lose. We had this in 1997, it didn't work then and it won't work now.
Try harder next time.
Because he put his career ahead of doing what was right.
Just like Sir Keir did when he twice campaigned for Jeremy Corbyn to become prime minister.
I never expected you of all people to argue that "Sir Keir is just like Boris", so well done!
Try this:
All professional politicians are self-serving liars, and one day everyone will be surprised they were tolerated so long - like witch doctors and absolute monarchs.
Oh, yeah, absolutely. Politicians lie because voters punish those who don't, for a start.
I'm pleased that you agree. For a moment back there I feared you might be some kind of Tory cheerleader.
Not sure why. Pointing out the absurdities of a Labour cheerleader doesn't require being a cheerleader for any other party...
@TLDRNewsUK 🇦🇷 Argentina has told the UK that it wants to start new talks over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands and has pulled out of a 2016 cooperation pact.
Could a Sunak Falklands moment save his chances of reelection?
Bloody hell not again. The Argentinians need to give this a rest.
Of course national fervour doesn't make sense, we have our own examples of that, but the Argentinian passion on this issue really doesn't seem to make sense to me when it's noted their claim to the islands is a rather technical one based on inheriting rights from former Spanish sovereignty, and talk about natives who don't exist. Yes there are other complexities, but the point being it's actually a rather arcane legal dispute, yet it's talked about in terms of colonialism as if someone seized Buenos Aires 2 years ago.
There is nothing Argentina can do about it anyway. The UK has a veto on any UN decision as a permanent member of the UN Security Council unlike them.
The UK also has a bigger navy and army and airforce than Argentina now
The Argies forces must be minuscule!
Google tells me Arg: 70,600 (2022) vs UK 78,000 (2020). Not sure if this is chalk and apples eg whole of HMF vs army...but it's a close run thing.
We absolutely couldn't mount another Falklands tomorrow morning that's for sure.
From what I’ve seen of the Argentine navy in Ushuaia they could barely crew one ship
However all this is replying to the mood music of Britain in retreat. Giving up the Elgin marbles. Handing back Diego Garcia. London shrinking as a world city
I can see why the argies might think now is a time to strike - psychologically - as the Uk seems in perpetual decline and in a funk of self doubt
They can think what they want, the UK on its own could still beat most nations in a war apart from the US and China, France and India would probably be a stalemate, Russia can't even beat Ukraine.
Argentina also has declined well past its peak when it was one of the wealthiest nations in the world, even in the Falklands war it had far bigger armed forces than now
You are utterly deluded and having been to Ushuaia and the Falklands @Leon is absolutely correct
If anything Leon was supporting what I was saying if you had bothered to read it
@TLDRNewsUK 🇦🇷 Argentina has told the UK that it wants to start new talks over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands and has pulled out of a 2016 cooperation pact.
Could a Sunak Falklands moment save his chances of reelection?
Bloody hell not again. The Argentinians need to give this a rest.
Of course national fervour doesn't make sense, we have our own examples of that, but the Argentinian passion on this issue really doesn't seem to make sense to me when it's noted their claim to the islands is a rather technical one based on inheriting rights from former Spanish sovereignty, and talk about natives who don't exist. Yes there are other complexities, but the point being it's actually a rather arcane legal dispute, yet it's talked about in terms of colonialism as if someone seized Buenos Aires 2 years ago.
There is nothing Argentina can do about it anyway. The UK has a veto on any UN decision as a permanent member of the UN Security Council unlike them.
The UK also has a bigger navy and army and airforce than Argentina now
The Argies forces must be minuscule!
Google tells me Arg: 70,600 (2022) vs UK 78,000 (2020). Not sure if this is chalk and apples eg whole of HMF vs army...but it's a close run thing.
We absolutely couldn't mount another Falklands tomorrow morning that's for sure.
From what I’ve seen of the Argentine navy in Ushuaia they could barely crew one ship
However all this is replying to the mood music of Britain in retreat. Giving up the Elgin marbles. Handing back Diego Garcia. London shrinking as a world city
I can see why the argies might think now is a time to strike - psychologically - as the Uk seems in perpetual decline and in a funk of self doubt
They can think what they want, the UK on its own could still beat most nations in a war apart from the US and China, France and India would probably be a stalemate, Russia can't even beat Ukraine.
Argentina also has declined well past its peak when it was one of the wealthiest nations in the world, even in the Falklands war it had far bigger armed forces than now
Have a look at the RN and RAF in 1981 vs today - abvoe all the long range stuff.
And the Merchant Navy, when it comes to the critical STUFT ships of 1981
The Army is about as useful as a fart in a hurricane without those two when it comes to the Flaklands.
Yes we have enough submarines to sink most of the Argentine navy within a day or 2.
Plus enough aircraft carriers and submarines with Cruise Missiles to bomb the Argentine army into submission too if they ever tried invading the Falklands again even without setting any troops on land beyond the garrison already there
@TLDRNewsUK 🇦🇷 Argentina has told the UK that it wants to start new talks over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands and has pulled out of a 2016 cooperation pact.
Could a Sunak Falklands moment save his chances of reelection?
Bloody hell not again. The Argentinians need to give this a rest.
Of course national fervour doesn't make sense, we have our own examples of that, but the Argentinian passion on this issue really doesn't seem to make sense to me when it's noted their claim to the islands is a rather technical one based on inheriting rights from former Spanish sovereignty, and talk about natives who don't exist. Yes there are other complexities, but the point being it's actually a rather arcane legal dispute, yet it's talked about in terms of colonialism as if someone seized Buenos Aires 2 years ago.
There is nothing Argentina can do about it anyway. The UK has a veto on any UN decision as a permanent member of the UN Security Council unlike them.
The UK also has a bigger navy and army and airforce than Argentina now
The Argies forces must be minuscule!
Google tells me Arg: 70,600 (2022) vs UK 78,000 (2020). Not sure if this is chalk and apples eg whole of HMF vs army...but it's a close run thing.
We absolutely couldn't mount another Falklands tomorrow morning that's for sure.
From what I’ve seen of the Argentine navy in Ushuaia they could barely crew one ship
However all this is replying to the mood music of Britain in retreat. Giving up the Elgin marbles. Handing back Diego Garcia. London shrinking as a world city
I can see why the argies might think now is a time to strike - psychologically - as the Uk seems in perpetual decline and in a funk of self doubt
They can think what they want, the UK on its own could still beat most nations in a war apart from the US and China, France and India would probably be a stalemate, Russia can't even beat Ukraine.
Argentina also has declined well past its peak when it was one of the wealthiest nations in the world, even in the Falklands war it had far bigger armed forces than now
You are utterly deluded and having been to Ushuaia and the Falklands @Leon is absolutely correct
If anything Leon was supporting what I was saying if you had bothered to read it
The geography and logistics of defending the Falklands with our present military strength and commitment is unrealistic by any measure
Has any PB-er tried this miracle weight loss drug Ozempic?
As avowed by Jez Clarkson, most of Hollywood, and now David Aaronovitch in today’s Times?
It sounds amazing. And I’ve just discovered that a chunky female relative of mine has been on it for 5 weeks and has lost 10 pounds (without trying). And she has struggled with weight all of her life
I’ve got 12 pounds of Covid lard that will not shift. I’m gonna try this
I have a colleague who has taken it for a while, he said it's been great for getting the weight down but it has taken all of the enjoyment of food out of life for him. I think for someone like you where going to a great restaurant and enjoying the food it will probably be a big hit to your life quality vs doing a bit of extra exercise.
My relative says this is not her experience
She still really enjoys food, she just eats less
But I hear you: I will do a short term experiment
Given that you are based in Inner London and spend time there - in perhaps the best patch of cycling infrastructure in the entire country - I'd suggest taking a look at getting a Brompton folder for your local travel, which you can fold down in 20s and take anywhere you need to go.
IMO far better than flapping about will pill-rollers.
If you want to have a tryout, see if they will lend you one or hire one for £5 a day for a couple of weeks from a railway station such as St Pancras.
With respect, why the flaming flatulent fuck would I want to do that?
I eat very healthily and well. I walk daily. I go to the gym daily. I am fit. I don’t smoke. I drink too much
But as I’ve aged I find I can’t shift that last 10-15 pounds of chunk like I used to do (with ease)
Maybe god wants me a stone heavier? If so, fair enough
But I am intrigued enough by this medication to give it a go. At the very least it will be interesting
I bought a Brompton just before lockdown. On the days I go into that Leeds I go to a park and ride and cycle the last four miles into the city centre. I love riding that thing. Tons of the things in Leeds but when I ride it in my manor - I’ve got one of the bags that goes in the front so I can nip to the supermarket on it - I do get some funny looks. I do look like a right middle-class wanker like. My right-leaning friend mocks me for betraying my working-class roots. Calls it my bourgeois bike.
Wouldn’t be without it though, it’s a great bit of kit. Helps keep the gut manageable. You do feel like a right smug twat folding it up and putting in a shopping trolley. Went to a pub last night on it, got some funny looks walking in with it all folded up. Love it.
@TLDRNewsUK 🇦🇷 Argentina has told the UK that it wants to start new talks over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands and has pulled out of a 2016 cooperation pact.
Could a Sunak Falklands moment save his chances of reelection?
Bloody hell not again. The Argentinians need to give this a rest.
Of course national fervour doesn't make sense, we have our own examples of that, but the Argentinian passion on this issue really doesn't seem to make sense to me when it's noted their claim to the islands is a rather technical one based on inheriting rights from former Spanish sovereignty, and talk about natives who don't exist. Yes there are other complexities, but the point being it's actually a rather arcane legal dispute, yet it's talked about in terms of colonialism as if someone seized Buenos Aires 2 years ago.
There is nothing Argentina can do about it anyway. The UK has a veto on any UN decision as a permanent member of the UN Security Council unlike them.
The UK also has a bigger navy and army and airforce than Argentina now
The Argies forces must be minuscule!
Google tells me Arg: 70,600 (2022) vs UK 78,000 (2020). Not sure if this is chalk and apples eg whole of HMF vs army...but it's a close run thing.
We absolutely couldn't mount another Falklands tomorrow morning that's for sure.
From what I’ve seen of the Argentine navy in Ushuaia they could barely crew one ship
However all this is replying to the mood music of Britain in retreat. Giving up the Elgin marbles. Handing back Diego Garcia. London shrinking as a world city
I can see why the argies might think now is a time to strike - psychologically - as the Uk seems in perpetual decline and in a funk of self doubt
They can think what they want, the UK on its own could still beat most nations in a war apart from the US and China, France and India would probably be a stalemate, Russia can't even beat Ukraine.
Argentina also has declined well past its peak when it was one of the wealthiest nations in the world, even in the Falklands war it had far bigger armed forces than now
Have a look at the RN and RAF in 1981 vs today - abvoe all the long range stuff.
And the Merchant Navy, when it comes to the critical STUFT ships of 1981
The Army is about as useful as a fart in a hurricane without those two when it comes to the Flaklands.
Yes we have enough submarines to sink most of the Argentine navy within a day or 2.
Plus enough aircraft carriers and submarines with Cruise Missiles to bomb the Argentine army into submission too if they ever tried invading the Falklands again even without setting any troops on land beyond the garrison already there
That's thje most expensive way of shovelling peat I can think of.
How many *working* aircraft carriers? How many submarines with how many cruise missiles - bearing in midn they can't resupply at sea? How mmay needed for more urgent commitments *at home*? Who owns the software for the jets on the carriers? And so on.
@TLDRNewsUK 🇦🇷 Argentina has told the UK that it wants to start new talks over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands and has pulled out of a 2016 cooperation pact.
Could a Sunak Falklands moment save his chances of reelection?
Bloody hell not again. The Argentinians need to give this a rest.
Of course national fervour doesn't make sense, we have our own examples of that, but the Argentinian passion on this issue really doesn't seem to make sense to me when it's noted their claim to the islands is a rather technical one based on inheriting rights from former Spanish sovereignty, and talk about natives who don't exist. Yes there are other complexities, but the point being it's actually a rather arcane legal dispute, yet it's talked about in terms of colonialism as if someone seized Buenos Aires 2 years ago.
There is nothing Argentina can do about it anyway. The UK has a veto on any UN decision as a permanent member of the UN Security Council unlike them.
The UK also has a bigger navy and army and airforce than Argentina now
The Argies forces must be minuscule!
Google tells me Arg: 70,600 (2022) vs UK 78,000 (2020). Not sure if this is chalk and apples eg whole of HMF vs army...but it's a close run thing.
We absolutely couldn't mount another Falklands tomorrow morning that's for sure.
From what I’ve seen of the Argentine navy in Ushuaia they could barely crew one ship
However all this is replying to the mood music of Britain in retreat. Giving up the Elgin marbles. Handing back Diego Garcia. London shrinking as a world city
I can see why the argies might think now is a time to strike - psychologically - as the Uk seems in perpetual decline and in a funk of self doubt
They can think what they want, the UK on its own could still beat most nations in a war apart from the US and China, France and India would probably be a stalemate, Russia can't even beat Ukraine.
Argentina also has declined well past its peak when it was one of the wealthiest nations in the world, even in the Falklands war it had far bigger armed forces than now
Have a look at the RN and RAF in 1981 vs today - abvoe all the long range stuff.
And the Merchant Navy, when it comes to the critical STUFT ships of 1981
The Army is about as useful as a fart in a hurricane without those two when it comes to the Flaklands.
Yes we have enough submarines to sink most of the Argentine navy within a day or 2.
Plus enough aircraft carriers and submarines with Cruise Missiles to bomb the Argentine army into submission too if they ever tried invading the Falklands again even without setting any troops on land beyond the garrison already there
I was glancing at the Mail and Express front pages today.
Is it me or do they still yearn for the return of Boris Johnson? You can almost feel the poor Express journos trying to decide whether they prefer Sunak to Johnson while, as OGH suggests, the Mail already seems desperate in their attempts to vilify Starmer.
The fact is today's events have probably written "Finis" to the political career of Boris Johnson whose choices are either to make money outside politics or to lurk like Churchill on the back benches in the vain hope he will be called to save Party and nation one day.
@TLDRNewsUK 🇦🇷 Argentina has told the UK that it wants to start new talks over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands and has pulled out of a 2016 cooperation pact.
Could a Sunak Falklands moment save his chances of reelection?
Bloody hell not again. The Argentinians need to give this a rest.
Of course national fervour doesn't make sense, we have our own examples of that, but the Argentinian passion on this issue really doesn't seem to make sense to me when it's noted their claim to the islands is a rather technical one based on inheriting rights from former Spanish sovereignty, and talk about natives who don't exist. Yes there are other complexities, but the point being it's actually a rather arcane legal dispute, yet it's talked about in terms of colonialism as if someone seized Buenos Aires 2 years ago.
There is nothing Argentina can do about it anyway. The UK has a veto on any UN decision as a permanent member of the UN Security Council unlike them.
The UK also has a bigger navy and army and airforce than Argentina now
The Argies forces must be minuscule!
Google tells me Arg: 70,600 (2022) vs UK 78,000 (2020). Not sure if this is chalk and apples eg whole of HMF vs army...but it's a close run thing.
We absolutely couldn't mount another Falklands tomorrow morning that's for sure.
From what I’ve seen of the Argentine navy in Ushuaia they could barely crew one ship
However all this is replying to the mood music of Britain in retreat. Giving up the Elgin marbles. Handing back Diego Garcia. London shrinking as a world city
I can see why the argies might think now is a time to strike - psychologically - as the Uk seems in perpetual decline and in a funk of self doubt
They can think what they want, the UK on its own could still beat most nations in a war apart from the US and China, France and India would probably be a stalemate, Russia can't even beat Ukraine.
Argentina also has declined well past its peak when it was one of the wealthiest nations in the world, even in the Falklands war it had far bigger armed forces than now
Have a look at the RN and RAF in 1981 vs today - abvoe all the long range stuff.
And the Merchant Navy, when it comes to the critical STUFT ships of 1981
The Army is about as useful as a fart in a hurricane without those two when it comes to the Flaklands.
Yes we have enough submarines to sink most of the Argentine navy within a day or 2.
Plus enough aircraft carriers and submarines with Cruise Missiles to bomb the Argentine army into submission too if they ever tried invading the Falklands again even without setting any troops on land beyond the garrison already there
That's thje most expensive way of shovelling peat I can think of.
How many *working* aircraft carriers? How many submarines with how many cruise missiles - bearing in midn they can't resupply at sea? How mmay needed for more urgent commitments *at home*? Who owns the software for the jets on the carriers? And so on.
You are really going to have this conversation with @HYUFD??
Has any PB-er tried this miracle weight loss drug Ozempic?
As avowed by Jez Clarkson, most of Hollywood, and now David Aaronovitch in today’s Times?
It sounds amazing. And I’ve just discovered that a chunky female relative of mine has been on it for 5 weeks and has lost 10 pounds (without trying). And she has struggled with weight all of her life
I’ve got 12 pounds of Covid lard that will not shift. I’m gonna try this
I have a colleague who has taken it for a while, he said it's been great for getting the weight down but it has taken all of the enjoyment of food out of life for him. I think for someone like you where going to a great restaurant and enjoying the food it will probably be a big hit to your life quality vs doing a bit of extra exercise.
My relative says this is not her experience
She still really enjoys food, she just eats less
But I hear you: I will do a short term experiment
Given that you are based in Inner London and spend time there - in perhaps the best patch of cycling infrastructure in the entire country - I'd suggest taking a look at getting a Brompton folder for your local travel, which you can fold down in 20s and take anywhere you need to go.
IMO far better than flapping about will pill-rollers.
If you want to have a tryout, see if they will lend you one or hire one for £5 a day for a couple of weeks from a railway station such as St Pancras.
With respect, why the flaming flatulent fuck would I want to do that?
I eat very healthily and well. I walk daily. I go to the gym daily. I am fit. I don’t smoke. I drink too much
But as I’ve aged I find I can’t shift that last 10-15 pounds of chunk like I used to do (with ease)
Maybe god wants me a stone heavier? If so, fair enough
But I am intrigued enough by this medication to give it a go. At the very least it will be interesting
I bought a Brompton just before lockdown. On the days I go into that Leeds I go to a park and ride and cycle the last four miles into the city centre. I love riding that thing. Tons of the things in Leeds but when I ride it in my manor - I’ve got one of the bags that goes in the front so I can nip to the supermarket on it - I do get some funny looks. I do look like a right middle-class wanker like. My right-leaning friend mocks me for betraying my working-class roots. Calls it my bourgeois bike.
Wouldn’t be without it though, it’s a great bit of kit. Helps keep the gut manageable. You do feel like a right smug twat folding it up and putting in a shopping trolley. Went to a pub last night on it, got some funny looks walking in with it all folded up. Love it.
Careful though you can be banned from driving (your car) if you are done for being over the limit on your bike.
Even the famously territorial Turks aren’t threatening to invade Lesvos or Rhodes (unless there’s something I’ve missed). Lesvos is a few miles off the Turkish coast.
I see the Argentine economy has had a disaster. Not surprising given the baked in inflation they already had and the commodity price surges.
Well, at least, I say it's had a disaster. I presume it has because that's when they always start ranting about the Falklands.
Similarly we're probably about to see an upsurge of noise about Venezuela's equally fake claim to Essequibo as the drunken Fascist Maduro tries desperately to cling on to power.
@TLDRNewsUK 🇦🇷 Argentina has told the UK that it wants to start new talks over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands and has pulled out of a 2016 cooperation pact.
Could a Sunak Falklands moment save his chances of reelection?
Bloody hell not again. The Argentinians need to give this a rest.
Of course national fervour doesn't make sense, we have our own examples of that, but the Argentinian passion on this issue really doesn't seem to make sense to me when it's noted their claim to the islands is a rather technical one based on inheriting rights from former Spanish sovereignty, and talk about natives who don't exist. Yes there are other complexities, but the point being it's actually a rather arcane legal dispute, yet it's talked about in terms of colonialism as if someone seized Buenos Aires 2 years ago.
There is nothing Argentina can do about it anyway. The UK has a veto on any UN decision as a permanent member of the UN Security Council unlike them.
The UK also has a bigger navy and army and airforce than Argentina now
The Argies forces must be minuscule!
Google tells me Arg: 70,600 (2022) vs UK 78,000 (2020). Not sure if this is chalk and apples eg whole of HMF vs army...but it's a close run thing.
We absolutely couldn't mount another Falklands tomorrow morning that's for sure.
From what I’ve seen of the Argentine navy in Ushuaia they could barely crew one ship
However all this is replying to the mood music of Britain in retreat. Giving up the Elgin marbles. Handing back Diego Garcia. London shrinking as a world city
I can see why the argies might think now is a time to strike - psychologically - as the Uk seems in perpetual decline and in a funk of self doubt
They can think what they want, the UK on its own could still beat most nations in a war apart from the US and China, France and India would probably be a stalemate, Russia can't even beat Ukraine.
Argentina also has declined well past its peak when it was one of the wealthiest nations in the world, even in the Falklands war it had far bigger armed forces than now
Have a look at the RN and RAF in 1981 vs today - abvoe all the long range stuff.
And the Merchant Navy, when it comes to the critical STUFT ships of 1981
The Army is about as useful as a fart in a hurricane without those two when it comes to the Flaklands.
Yes we have enough submarines to sink most of the Argentine navy within a day or 2.
Plus enough aircraft carriers and submarines with Cruise Missiles to bomb the Argentine army into submission too if they ever tried invading the Falklands again even without setting any troops on land beyond the garrison already there
That's thje most expensive way of shovelling peat I can think of.
How many *working* aircraft carriers? How many submarines with how many cruise missiles - bearing in midn they can't resupply at sea? How mmay needed for more urgent commitments *at home*? Who owns the software for the jets on the carriers? And so on.
You are really going to have this conversation with @HYUFD??
No - sufficient to demonstrate his lack of understanding. But also to make a few points more generally that this could be quite serious. And to wonder about the reaction of the USA the next time.
Edit: One further point: the SA commitment is taking an increasing chunk of UK forces, surely, as the latter have shrunk. For instance there are 4 RAF Typhoons, out of 137 or so in all, of which 2-3 dozen are to be retired in a couple of years, and a few will always be in deep maintenance - but not the Falklands ones obviously. And that detachment size can't be reduced eithout making a nonsense of it all, ditto the infantry company and its support detachments of loggies etc.
@TLDRNewsUK 🇦🇷 Argentina has told the UK that it wants to start new talks over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands and has pulled out of a 2016 cooperation pact.
Could a Sunak Falklands moment save his chances of reelection?
Bloody hell not again. The Argentinians need to give this a rest.
Of course national fervour doesn't make sense, we have our own examples of that, but the Argentinian passion on this issue really doesn't seem to make sense to me when it's noted their claim to the islands is a rather technical one based on inheriting rights from former Spanish sovereignty, and talk about natives who don't exist. Yes there are other complexities, but the point being it's actually a rather arcane legal dispute, yet it's talked about in terms of colonialism as if someone seized Buenos Aires 2 years ago.
There is nothing Argentina can do about it anyway. The UK has a veto on any UN decision as a permanent member of the UN Security Council unlike them.
The UK also has a bigger navy and army and airforce than Argentina now
The Argies forces must be minuscule!
Google tells me Arg: 70,600 (2022) vs UK 78,000 (2020). Not sure if this is chalk and apples eg whole of HMF vs army...but it's a close run thing.
We absolutely couldn't mount another Falklands tomorrow morning that's for sure.
From what I’ve seen of the Argentine navy in Ushuaia they could barely crew one ship
However all this is replying to the mood music of Britain in retreat. Giving up the Elgin marbles. Handing back Diego Garcia. London shrinking as a world city
I can see why the argies might think now is a time to strike - psychologically - as the Uk seems in perpetual decline and in a funk of self doubt
They can think what they want, the UK on its own could still beat most nations in a war apart from the US and China, France and India would probably be a stalemate, Russia can't even beat Ukraine.
Argentina also has declined well past its peak when it was one of the wealthiest nations in the world, even in the Falklands war it had far bigger armed forces than now
Have a look at the RN and RAF in 1981 vs today - abvoe all the long range stuff.
And the Merchant Navy, when it comes to the critical STUFT ships of 1981
The Army is about as useful as a fart in a hurricane without those two when it comes to the Flaklands.
Yes we have enough submarines to sink most of the Argentine navy within a day or 2.
Plus enough aircraft carriers and submarines with Cruise Missiles to bomb the Argentine army into submission too if they ever tried invading the Falklands again even without setting any troops on land beyond the garrison already there
What a pathetic post and as so often you just talk codswallop
Indeed having been to the remote Falkland Islands with its rugged terrain and cliff lined coasts with hundreds of Islands and inlets makes it a very difficult place to wage warfare and anyway the whole idea is ridiculous
@francis_scarr In his latest anti-British rant, Igor Korotchenko alleges London’s involvement in the murky incident in Bryansk Region and calls for the UK’s ambassador to be "kicked out of Moscow on camera"
He says the US may have more resources, but that "the Anglo-Saxon brain is in London!"
@TLDRNewsUK 🇦🇷 Argentina has told the UK that it wants to start new talks over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands and has pulled out of a 2016 cooperation pact.
Could a Sunak Falklands moment save his chances of reelection?
Bloody hell not again. The Argentinians need to give this a rest.
Of course national fervour doesn't make sense, we have our own examples of that, but the Argentinian passion on this issue really doesn't seem to make sense to me when it's noted their claim to the islands is a rather technical one based on inheriting rights from former Spanish sovereignty, and talk about natives who don't exist. Yes there are other complexities, but the point being it's actually a rather arcane legal dispute, yet it's talked about in terms of colonialism as if someone seized Buenos Aires 2 years ago.
There is nothing Argentina can do about it anyway. The UK has a veto on any UN decision as a permanent member of the UN Security Council unlike them.
The UK also has a bigger navy and army and airforce than Argentina now
The Argies forces must be minuscule!
Google tells me Arg: 70,600 (2022) vs UK 78,000 (2020). Not sure if this is chalk and apples eg whole of HMF vs army...but it's a close run thing.
We absolutely couldn't mount another Falklands tomorrow morning that's for sure.
From what I’ve seen of the Argentine navy in Ushuaia they could barely crew one ship
However all this is replying to the mood music of Britain in retreat. Giving up the Elgin marbles. Handing back Diego Garcia. London shrinking as a world city
I can see why the argies might think now is a time to strike - psychologically - as the Uk seems in perpetual decline and in a funk of self doubt
They can think what they want, the UK on its own could still beat most nations in a war apart from the US and China, France and India would probably be a stalemate, Russia can't even beat Ukraine.
Argentina also has declined well past its peak when it was one of the wealthiest nations in the world, even in the Falklands war it had far bigger armed forces than now
I’d love to see inside your head, I bet it’s fascinating.
Has any PB-er tried this miracle weight loss drug Ozempic?
As avowed by Jez Clarkson, most of Hollywood, and now David Aaronovitch in today’s Times?
It sounds amazing. And I’ve just discovered that a chunky female relative of mine has been on it for 5 weeks and has lost 10 pounds (without trying). And she has struggled with weight all of her life
I’ve got 12 pounds of Covid lard that will not shift. I’m gonna try this
I have a colleague who has taken it for a while, he said it's been great for getting the weight down but it has taken all of the enjoyment of food out of life for him. I think for someone like you where going to a great restaurant and enjoying the food it will probably be a big hit to your life quality vs doing a bit of extra exercise.
My relative says this is not her experience
She still really enjoys food, she just eats less
But I hear you: I will do a short term experiment
Given that you are based in Inner London and spend time there - in perhaps the best patch of cycling infrastructure in the entire country - I'd suggest taking a look at getting a Brompton folder for your local travel, which you can fold down in 20s and take anywhere you need to go.
IMO far better than flapping about will pill-rollers.
If you want to have a tryout, see if they will lend you one or hire one for £5 a day for a couple of weeks from a railway station such as St Pancras.
With respect, why the flaming flatulent fuck would I want to do that?
I eat very healthily and well. I walk daily. I go to the gym daily. I am fit. I don’t smoke. I drink too much
But as I’ve aged I find I can’t shift that last 10-15 pounds of chunk like I used to do (with ease)
Maybe god wants me a stone heavier? If so, fair enough
But I am intrigued enough by this medication to give it a go. At the very least it will be interesting
1 - It will tip your life balance somewhat in the way you seem to want it to go without massive ructions. 2 - You will quite possibly get places more quickly, and see more of London. 3 - It may improve your temper .
Most people I know who have been Diagnosed Type II diabetic and managed to reset their life balance enough to go into remission / become 'undiagnosed' have usually done it by giving up dodgy food and alcohol, or getting an energetic dog to walk. Those are alternative suggestions.
Even the famously territorial Turks aren’t threatening to invade Lesvos or Rhodes (unless there’s something I’ve missed). Lesvos is a few miles off the Turkish coast.
The Turks already nicked North Cyprus in 1974!
That was classic irredentism though. Very different. The Falklands is more akin to the Greek islands - no local Turkish population.
@TLDRNewsUK 🇦🇷 Argentina has told the UK that it wants to start new talks over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands and has pulled out of a 2016 cooperation pact.
Could a Sunak Falklands moment save his chances of reelection?
Bloody hell not again. The Argentinians need to give this a rest.
Of course national fervour doesn't make sense, we have our own examples of that, but the Argentinian passion on this issue really doesn't seem to make sense to me when it's noted their claim to the islands is a rather technical one based on inheriting rights from former Spanish sovereignty, and talk about natives who don't exist. Yes there are other complexities, but the point being it's actually a rather arcane legal dispute, yet it's talked about in terms of colonialism as if someone seized Buenos Aires 2 years ago.
There is nothing Argentina can do about it anyway. The UK has a veto on any UN decision as a permanent member of the UN Security Council unlike them.
The UK also has a bigger navy and army and airforce than Argentina now
The Argies forces must be minuscule!
Google tells me Arg: 70,600 (2022) vs UK 78,000 (2020). Not sure if this is chalk and apples eg whole of HMF vs army...but it's a close run thing.
We absolutely couldn't mount another Falklands tomorrow morning that's for sure.
From what I’ve seen of the Argentine navy in Ushuaia they could barely crew one ship
However all this is replying to the mood music of Britain in retreat. Giving up the Elgin marbles. Handing back Diego Garcia. London shrinking as a world city
I can see why the argies might think now is a time to strike - psychologically - as the Uk seems in perpetual decline and in a funk of self doubt
They can think what they want, the UK on its own could still beat most nations in a war apart from the US and China, France and India would probably be a stalemate, Russia can't even beat Ukraine.
Argentina also has declined well past its peak when it was one of the wealthiest nations in the world, even in the Falklands war it had far bigger armed forces than now
Have a look at the RN and RAF in 1981 vs today - abvoe all the long range stuff.
And the Merchant Navy, when it comes to the critical STUFT ships of 1981
The Army is about as useful as a fart in a hurricane without those two when it comes to the Flaklands.
Yes we have enough submarines to sink most of the Argentine navy within a day or 2.
Plus enough aircraft carriers and submarines with Cruise Missiles to bomb the Argentine army into submission too if they ever tried invading the Falklands again even without setting any troops on land beyond the garrison already there
What a pathetic post and as so often you just talk codswallop
Indeed having been to the remote Falkland Islands with its rugged terrain and cliff lined coasts with hundreds of Islands and inlets makes it a very difficult place to wage warfare and anyway the whole idea is ridiculous
I would actually have said this is a step forward. Last time we were talking about Argentina he suggested anyone who didn't want to nuke Buenos Aires should be done for treason.
Today's SNP leadership poll suggests Yousaf leads but with less than 50% and Regan's preferences will be decisive.
It also found '...the data suggests she is more popular than Mr Yousaf among older SNP members, while those younger than their mid-40s heavily favour the Health Secretary.
Sounds about right. Another way of looking at the division is geographically. I suspect Humza will do very poorly in NE Scotland and rural Scotland, while Kate will struggle in the urban areas, particularly Glasgow and Edinburgh where, I imagine, SNP members will be studenty and radical.
Seen some intriguing references on Twitter to Kate's husband attending Tory leadership hustings. Possible black arts, and feeds into suspicion that she is very much a Tartan Tory.
Better that than a lying , cheating , thick sockpuppet
@TLDRNewsUK 🇦🇷 Argentina has told the UK that it wants to start new talks over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands and has pulled out of a 2016 cooperation pact.
Could a Sunak Falklands moment save his chances of reelection?
Bloody hell not again. The Argentinians need to give this a rest.
Of course national fervour doesn't make sense, we have our own examples of that, but the Argentinian passion on this issue really doesn't seem to make sense to me when it's noted their claim to the islands is a rather technical one based on inheriting rights from former Spanish sovereignty, and talk about natives who don't exist. Yes there are other complexities, but the point being it's actually a rather arcane legal dispute, yet it's talked about in terms of colonialism as if someone seized Buenos Aires 2 years ago.
There is nothing Argentina can do about it anyway. The UK has a veto on any UN decision as a permanent member of the UN Security Council unlike them.
The UK also has a bigger navy and army and airforce than Argentina now
Have a look at an atlas. It's not the Persian Gulf.
Since the Falklands War there is also a bigger permanent British garrison on the islands, a Royal Navy ship on patrol there at all times and a Royal Navy nuclear submarine patrols regularly nearby (though the exact times and location of the latter are obviously classified)
"ship" is a posh way to describe a patrol boat. And the forces, at the far end of a long supply line, are very small.
I remember 1981 - you obviously don't.
Yes, Argentina has cut its armed forces back to far fewer than they were in Galtieri's day.
The UK does not have an army of 153,000. That is the total size of our armed forces - Army, Navy and Airforce - including reservists. Our regular army is just over 80,000 and there are another 30,000 reservists. And gven our other commitments, not least on the Eastern flank of NATO, how many of those do you seriously think we could deploy?
We are much stronger on the ground in the Falklands than we were in 1982 but at the same time much weaker overall. So I could see our forces putting up a reasonable defence but I am certainly not confident they could hold. And if they did fall then we have no chance at all of reclaiming the islands as we did in 1982.
@TLDRNewsUK 🇦🇷 Argentina has told the UK that it wants to start new talks over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands and has pulled out of a 2016 cooperation pact.
Could a Sunak Falklands moment save his chances of reelection?
Bloody hell not again. The Argentinians need to give this a rest.
Of course national fervour doesn't make sense, we have our own examples of that, but the Argentinian passion on this issue really doesn't seem to make sense to me when it's noted their claim to the islands is a rather technical one based on inheriting rights from former Spanish sovereignty, and talk about natives who don't exist. Yes there are other complexities, but the point being it's actually a rather arcane legal dispute, yet it's talked about in terms of colonialism as if someone seized Buenos Aires 2 years ago.
There is nothing Argentina can do about it anyway. The UK has a veto on any UN decision as a permanent member of the UN Security Council unlike them.
The UK also has a bigger navy and army and airforce than Argentina now
The Argies forces must be minuscule!
Google tells me Arg: 70,600 (2022) vs UK 78,000 (2020). Not sure if this is chalk and apples eg whole of HMF vs army...but it's a close run thing.
We absolutely couldn't mount another Falklands tomorrow morning that's for sure.
From what I’ve seen of the Argentine navy in Ushuaia they could barely crew one ship
However all this is replying to the mood music of Britain in retreat. Giving up the Elgin marbles. Handing back Diego Garcia. London shrinking as a world city
I can see why the argies might think now is a time to strike - psychologically - as the Uk seems in perpetual decline and in a funk of self doubt
They can think what they want, the UK on its own could still beat most nations in a war apart from the US and China, France and India would probably be a stalemate, Russia can't even beat Ukraine.
Argentina also has declined well past its peak when it was one of the wealthiest nations in the world, even in the Falklands war it had far bigger armed forces than now
Have a look at the RN and RAF in 1981 vs today - abvoe all the long range stuff.
And the Merchant Navy, when it comes to the critical STUFT ships of 1981
The Army is about as useful as a fart in a hurricane without those two when it comes to the Flaklands.
Yes we have enough submarines to sink most of the Argentine navy within a day or 2.
Plus enough aircraft carriers and submarines with Cruise Missiles to bomb the Argentine army into submission too if they ever tried invading the Falklands again even without setting any troops on land beyond the garrison already there
That's thje most expensive way of shovelling peat I can think of.
How many *working* aircraft carriers? How many submarines with how many cruise missiles - bearing in midn they can't resupply at sea? How mmay needed for more urgent commitments *at home*? Who owns the software for the jets on the carriers? And so on.
2 working aircraft carriers, Argentina has 0.
We have 11 submarines, Argentina 2. Our submarines can now remain at sea for months on end, more than enough time to sink the entire Argentine fleet.
There is no more urgent commitment than recapturing the Falklands and sinking the Argentine navy if Argentina tried anything.
@TLDRNewsUK 🇦🇷 Argentina has told the UK that it wants to start new talks over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands and has pulled out of a 2016 cooperation pact.
Could a Sunak Falklands moment save his chances of reelection?
Bloody hell not again. The Argentinians need to give this a rest.
Of course national fervour doesn't make sense, we have our own examples of that, but the Argentinian passion on this issue really doesn't seem to make sense to me when it's noted their claim to the islands is a rather technical one based on inheriting rights from former Spanish sovereignty, and talk about natives who don't exist. Yes there are other complexities, but the point being it's actually a rather arcane legal dispute, yet it's talked about in terms of colonialism as if someone seized Buenos Aires 2 years ago.
There is nothing Argentina can do about it anyway. The UK has a veto on any UN decision as a permanent member of the UN Security Council unlike them.
The UK also has a bigger navy and army and airforce than Argentina now
The Argies forces must be minuscule!
Google tells me Arg: 70,600 (2022) vs UK 78,000 (2020). Not sure if this is chalk and apples eg whole of HMF vs army...but it's a close run thing.
We absolutely couldn't mount another Falklands tomorrow morning that's for sure.
From what I’ve seen of the Argentine navy in Ushuaia they could barely crew one ship
However all this is replying to the mood music of Britain in retreat. Giving up the Elgin marbles. Handing back Diego Garcia. London shrinking as a world city
I can see why the argies might think now is a time to strike - psychologically - as the Uk seems in perpetual decline and in a funk of self doubt
They can think what they want, the UK on its own could still beat most nations in a war apart from the US and China, France and India would probably be a stalemate, Russia can't even beat Ukraine.
Argentina also has declined well past its peak when it was one of the wealthiest nations in the world, even in the Falklands war it had far bigger armed forces than now
Have a look at the RN and RAF in 1981 vs today - abvoe all the long range stuff.
And the Merchant Navy, when it comes to the critical STUFT ships of 1981
The Army is about as useful as a fart in a hurricane without those two when it comes to the Flaklands.
Yes we have enough submarines to sink most of the Argentine navy within a day or 2.
Plus enough aircraft carriers and submarines with Cruise Missiles to bomb the Argentine army into submission too if they ever tried invading the Falklands again even without setting any troops on land beyond the garrison already there
That's thje most expensive way of shovelling peat I can think of.
How many *working* aircraft carriers? How many submarines with how many cruise missiles - bearing in midn they can't resupply at sea? How mmay needed for more urgent commitments *at home*? Who owns the software for the jets on the carriers? And so on.
Has any PB-er tried this miracle weight loss drug Ozempic?
As avowed by Jez Clarkson, most of Hollywood, and now David Aaronovitch in today’s Times?
It sounds amazing. And I’ve just discovered that a chunky female relative of mine has been on it for 5 weeks and has lost 10 pounds (without trying). And she has struggled with weight all of her life
I’ve got 12 pounds of Covid lard that will not shift. I’m gonna try this
I have a colleague who has taken it for a while, he said it's been great for getting the weight down but it has taken all of the enjoyment of food out of life for him. I think for someone like you where going to a great restaurant and enjoying the food it will probably be a big hit to your life quality vs doing a bit of extra exercise.
My relative says this is not her experience
She still really enjoys food, she just eats less
But I hear you: I will do a short term experiment
Given that you are based in Inner London and spend time there - in perhaps the best patch of cycling infrastructure in the entire country - I'd suggest taking a look at getting a Brompton folder for your local travel, which you can fold down in 20s and take anywhere you need to go.
IMO far better than flapping about will pill-rollers.
If you want to have a tryout, see if they will lend you one or hire one for £5 a day for a couple of weeks from a railway station such as St Pancras.
With respect, why the flaming flatulent fuck would I want to do that?
I eat very healthily and well. I walk daily. I go to the gym daily. I am fit. I don’t smoke. I drink too much
But as I’ve aged I find I can’t shift that last 10-15 pounds of chunk like I used to do (with ease)
Maybe god wants me a stone heavier? If so, fair enough
But I am intrigued enough by this medication to give it a go. At the very least it will be interesting
I bought a Brompton just before lockdown. On the days I go into that Leeds I go to a park and ride and cycle the last four miles into the city centre. I love riding that thing. Tons of the things in Leeds but when I ride it in my manor - I’ve got one of the bags that goes in the front so I can nip to the supermarket on it - I do get some funny looks. I do look like a right middle-class wanker like. My right-leaning friend mocks me for betraying my working-class roots. Calls it my bourgeois bike.
Wouldn’t be without it though, it’s a great bit of kit. Helps keep the gut manageable. You do feel like a right smug twat folding it up and putting in a shopping trolley. Went to a pub last night on it, got some funny looks walking in with it all folded up. Love it.
Careful though you can be banned from driving (your car) if you are done for being over the limit on your bike.
Edit: you middle class tosser.
Haha yeah cheers, only had two pints, with food, so was fine. Wouldn’t do it if I was having a sesh. They’re skittish enough as it is thanks to the small wheels, wouldn’t want to be on one pissed.
@francis_scarr In his latest anti-British rant, Igor Korotchenko alleges London’s involvement in the murky incident in Bryansk Region and calls for the UK’s ambassador to be "kicked out of Moscow on camera"
He says the US may have more resources, but that "the Anglo-Saxon brain is in London!"
I love this classic trope. It seems to live on in a few countries, notably Iran. That the UK is the puppet master behind the scenes controlling the world. It shares a few features with antisemitic tropes but without the history of persecution which makes it more humorous than dangerous.
@TLDRNewsUK 🇦🇷 Argentina has told the UK that it wants to start new talks over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands and has pulled out of a 2016 cooperation pact.
Could a Sunak Falklands moment save his chances of reelection?
Bloody hell not again. The Argentinians need to give this a rest.
Of course national fervour doesn't make sense, we have our own examples of that, but the Argentinian passion on this issue really doesn't seem to make sense to me when it's noted their claim to the islands is a rather technical one based on inheriting rights from former Spanish sovereignty, and talk about natives who don't exist. Yes there are other complexities, but the point being it's actually a rather arcane legal dispute, yet it's talked about in terms of colonialism as if someone seized Buenos Aires 2 years ago.
There is nothing Argentina can do about it anyway. The UK has a veto on any UN decision as a permanent member of the UN Security Council unlike them.
The UK also has a bigger navy and army and airforce than Argentina now
Have a look at an atlas. It's not the Persian Gulf.
Since the Falklands War there is also a bigger permanent British garrison on the islands, a Royal Navy ship on patrol there at all times and a Royal Navy nuclear submarine patrols regularly nearby (though the exact times and location of the latter are obviously classified)
"ship" is a posh way to describe a patrol boat. And the forces, at the far end of a long supply line, are very small.
I remember 1981 - you obviously don't.
Yes, Argentina has cut its armed forces back to far fewer than they were in Galtieri's day.
The UK does not have an army of 153,000. That is the total size of our armed forces - Army, Navy and Airforce - including reservists. Our regular army is just over 80,000 and there are another 30,000 reservists. And gven our other commitments, not least on the Eastern flank of NATO, how many of those do you seriously think we could deploy?
We are much stronger on the ground in the Falklands than we were in 1982 but at the same time much weaker overall. So I could see our forces putting up a reasonable defence but I am certainly not confident they could hold. And if they did fall then we have no chance at all of reclaiming the islands as we did in 1982.
Our commitments on the Eastern flank of NATO would obviously be temporarily abandoned given British sovereign territory had been invaded.
We have a bigger armed forces than Argentina's which are also far weaker than they were in 1982
@TLDRNewsUK 🇦🇷 Argentina has told the UK that it wants to start new talks over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands and has pulled out of a 2016 cooperation pact.
Could a Sunak Falklands moment save his chances of reelection?
Bloody hell not again. The Argentinians need to give this a rest.
Of course national fervour doesn't make sense, we have our own examples of that, but the Argentinian passion on this issue really doesn't seem to make sense to me when it's noted their claim to the islands is a rather technical one based on inheriting rights from former Spanish sovereignty, and talk about natives who don't exist. Yes there are other complexities, but the point being it's actually a rather arcane legal dispute, yet it's talked about in terms of colonialism as if someone seized Buenos Aires 2 years ago.
There is nothing Argentina can do about it anyway. The UK has a veto on any UN decision as a permanent member of the UN Security Council unlike them.
The UK also has a bigger navy and army and airforce than Argentina now
The Argies forces must be minuscule!
Google tells me Arg: 70,600 (2022) vs UK 78,000 (2020). Not sure if this is chalk and apples eg whole of HMF vs army...but it's a close run thing.
We absolutely couldn't mount another Falklands tomorrow morning that's for sure.
From what I’ve seen of the Argentine navy in Ushuaia they could barely crew one ship
However all this is replying to the mood music of Britain in retreat. Giving up the Elgin marbles. Handing back Diego Garcia. London shrinking as a world city
I can see why the argies might think now is a time to strike - psychologically - as the Uk seems in perpetual decline and in a funk of self doubt
They can think what they want, the UK on its own could still beat most nations in a war apart from the US and China, France and India would probably be a stalemate, Russia can't even beat Ukraine.
Argentina also has declined well past its peak when it was one of the wealthiest nations in the world, even in the Falklands war it had far bigger armed forces than now
Have a look at the RN and RAF in 1981 vs today - abvoe all the long range stuff.
And the Merchant Navy, when it comes to the critical STUFT ships of 1981
The Army is about as useful as a fart in a hurricane without those two when it comes to the Flaklands.
Yes we have enough submarines to sink most of the Argentine navy within a day or 2.
Plus enough aircraft carriers and submarines with Cruise Missiles to bomb the Argentine army into submission too if they ever tried invading the Falklands again even without setting any troops on land beyond the garrison already there
That's thje most expensive way of shovelling peat I can think of.
How many *working* aircraft carriers? How many submarines with how many cruise missiles - bearing in midn they can't resupply at sea? How mmay needed for more urgent commitments *at home*? Who owns the software for the jets on the carriers? And so on.
2 working aircraft carriers, Argentina has 0.
For a given value of 'working.'
Do they actually have any aircraft yet?
They have done, but partly only because the US Marines came and provided [edit] some of the planes and pilots for a while. Which would have been interesting if the Falklands had been attacked then.
@TLDRNewsUK 🇦🇷 Argentina has told the UK that it wants to start new talks over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands and has pulled out of a 2016 cooperation pact.
Could a Sunak Falklands moment save his chances of reelection?
Bloody hell not again. The Argentinians need to give this a rest.
Of course national fervour doesn't make sense, we have our own examples of that, but the Argentinian passion on this issue really doesn't seem to make sense to me when it's noted their claim to the islands is a rather technical one based on inheriting rights from former Spanish sovereignty, and talk about natives who don't exist. Yes there are other complexities, but the point being it's actually a rather arcane legal dispute, yet it's talked about in terms of colonialism as if someone seized Buenos Aires 2 years ago.
There is nothing Argentina can do about it anyway. The UK has a veto on any UN decision as a permanent member of the UN Security Council unlike them.
The UK also has a bigger navy and army and airforce than Argentina now
Have a look at an atlas. It's not the Persian Gulf.
Since the Falklands War there is also a bigger permanent British garrison on the islands, a Royal Navy ship on patrol there at all times and a Royal Navy nuclear submarine patrols regularly nearby (though the exact times and location of the latter are obviously classified)
"ship" is a posh way to describe a patrol boat. And the forces, at the far end of a long supply line, are very small.
I remember 1981 - you obviously don't.
Yes, Argentina has cut its armed forces back to far fewer than they were in Galtieri's day.
The UK does not have an army of 153,000. That is the total size of our armed forces - Army, Navy and Airforce - including reservists. Our regular army is just over 80,000 and there are another 30,000 reservists. And gven our other commitments, not least on the Eastern flank of NATO, how many of those do you seriously think we could deploy?
We are much stronger on the ground in the Falklands than we were in 1982 but at the same time much weaker overall. So I could see our forces putting up a reasonable defence but I am certainly not confident they could hold. And if they did fall then we have no chance at all of reclaiming the islands as we did in 1982.
The scales have fallen from my eyes. Of course we need two aircraft carriers - it's the only way we can give ourselves a reasonable chance of retaking the Falklands in Falklands fuck-up Mk2.
@TLDRNewsUK 🇦🇷 Argentina has told the UK that it wants to start new talks over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands and has pulled out of a 2016 cooperation pact.
Could a Sunak Falklands moment save his chances of reelection?
Bloody hell not again. The Argentinians need to give this a rest.
Of course national fervour doesn't make sense, we have our own examples of that, but the Argentinian passion on this issue really doesn't seem to make sense to me when it's noted their claim to the islands is a rather technical one based on inheriting rights from former Spanish sovereignty, and talk about natives who don't exist. Yes there are other complexities, but the point being it's actually a rather arcane legal dispute, yet it's talked about in terms of colonialism as if someone seized Buenos Aires 2 years ago.
There is nothing Argentina can do about it anyway. The UK has a veto on any UN decision as a permanent member of the UN Security Council unlike them.
The UK also has a bigger navy and army and airforce than Argentina now
The Argies forces must be minuscule!
Google tells me Arg: 70,600 (2022) vs UK 78,000 (2020). Not sure if this is chalk and apples eg whole of HMF vs army...but it's a close run thing.
We absolutely couldn't mount another Falklands tomorrow morning that's for sure.
From what I’ve seen of the Argentine navy in Ushuaia they could barely crew one ship
However all this is replying to the mood music of Britain in retreat. Giving up the Elgin marbles. Handing back Diego Garcia. London shrinking as a world city
I can see why the argies might think now is a time to strike - psychologically - as the Uk seems in perpetual decline and in a funk of self doubt
They can think what they want, the UK on its own could still beat most nations in a war apart from the US and China, France and India would probably be a stalemate, Russia can't even beat Ukraine.
Argentina also has declined well past its peak when it was one of the wealthiest nations in the world, even in the Falklands war it had far bigger armed forces than now
Have a look at the RN and RAF in 1981 vs today - abvoe all the long range stuff.
And the Merchant Navy, when it comes to the critical STUFT ships of 1981
The Army is about as useful as a fart in a hurricane without those two when it comes to the Flaklands.
Yes we have enough submarines to sink most of the Argentine navy within a day or 2.
Plus enough aircraft carriers and submarines with Cruise Missiles to bomb the Argentine army into submission too if they ever tried invading the Falklands again even without setting any troops on land beyond the garrison already there
What a pathetic post and as so often you just talk codswallop
Indeed having been to the remote Falkland Islands with its rugged terrain and cliff lined coasts with hundreds of Islands and inlets makes it a very difficult place to wage warfare and anyway the whole idea is ridiculous
Weak, wet, pathetic, useless. If Thatcher had had your defeatist attitude in 1982 we would never have recaptured the Falklands then
@TLDRNewsUK 🇦🇷 Argentina has told the UK that it wants to start new talks over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands and has pulled out of a 2016 cooperation pact.
Could a Sunak Falklands moment save his chances of reelection?
Bloody hell not again. The Argentinians need to give this a rest.
Of course national fervour doesn't make sense, we have our own examples of that, but the Argentinian passion on this issue really doesn't seem to make sense to me when it's noted their claim to the islands is a rather technical one based on inheriting rights from former Spanish sovereignty, and talk about natives who don't exist. Yes there are other complexities, but the point being it's actually a rather arcane legal dispute, yet it's talked about in terms of colonialism as if someone seized Buenos Aires 2 years ago.
There is nothing Argentina can do about it anyway. The UK has a veto on any UN decision as a permanent member of the UN Security Council unlike them.
The UK also has a bigger navy and army and airforce than Argentina now
The Argies forces must be minuscule!
Google tells me Arg: 70,600 (2022) vs UK 78,000 (2020). Not sure if this is chalk and apples eg whole of HMF vs army...but it's a close run thing.
We absolutely couldn't mount another Falklands tomorrow morning that's for sure.
From what I’ve seen of the Argentine navy in Ushuaia they could barely crew one ship
However all this is replying to the mood music of Britain in retreat. Giving up the Elgin marbles. Handing back Diego Garcia. London shrinking as a world city
I can see why the argies might think now is a time to strike - psychologically - as the Uk seems in perpetual decline and in a funk of self doubt
They can think what they want, the UK on its own could still beat most nations in a war apart from the US and China, France and India would probably be a stalemate, Russia can't even beat Ukraine.
Argentina also has declined well past its peak when it was one of the wealthiest nations in the world, even in the Falklands war it had far bigger armed forces than now
Have a look at the RN and RAF in 1981 vs today - abvoe all the long range stuff.
And the Merchant Navy, when it comes to the critical STUFT ships of 1981
The Army is about as useful as a fart in a hurricane without those two when it comes to the Flaklands.
Yes we have enough submarines to sink most of the Argentine navy within a day or 2.
Plus enough aircraft carriers and submarines with Cruise Missiles to bomb the Argentine army into submission too if they ever tried invading the Falklands again even without setting any troops on land beyond the garrison already there
What a pathetic post and as so often you just talk codswallop
Indeed having been to the remote Falkland Islands with its rugged terrain and cliff lined coasts with hundreds of Islands and inlets makes it a very difficult place to wage warfare and anyway the whole idea is ridiculous
I would actually have said this is a step forward. Last time we were talking about Argentina he suggested anyone who didn't want to nuke Buenos Aires should be done for treason.
At the moment he's ratcheting up the Defcon scale, though, so not long now.
And of course, in October Fernandez faces the electorate, with his government including his Vice President mired in legal tangles even as his infamous predecessor Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner displays a Trump-like denial of legal reality.
No wonder he needs some respite by bullshitting about the Falklands. Would be more surprising if he wasn't.
@TLDRNewsUK 🇦🇷 Argentina has told the UK that it wants to start new talks over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands and has pulled out of a 2016 cooperation pact.
Could a Sunak Falklands moment save his chances of reelection?
Bloody hell not again. The Argentinians need to give this a rest.
Of course national fervour doesn't make sense, we have our own examples of that, but the Argentinian passion on this issue really doesn't seem to make sense to me when it's noted their claim to the islands is a rather technical one based on inheriting rights from former Spanish sovereignty, and talk about natives who don't exist. Yes there are other complexities, but the point being it's actually a rather arcane legal dispute, yet it's talked about in terms of colonialism as if someone seized Buenos Aires 2 years ago.
There is nothing Argentina can do about it anyway. The UK has a veto on any UN decision as a permanent member of the UN Security Council unlike them.
The UK also has a bigger navy and army and airforce than Argentina now
The Argies forces must be minuscule!
Google tells me Arg: 70,600 (2022) vs UK 78,000 (2020). Not sure if this is chalk and apples eg whole of HMF vs army...but it's a close run thing.
We absolutely couldn't mount another Falklands tomorrow morning that's for sure.
From what I’ve seen of the Argentine navy in Ushuaia they could barely crew one ship
However all this is replying to the mood music of Britain in retreat. Giving up the Elgin marbles. Handing back Diego Garcia. London shrinking as a world city
I can see why the argies might think now is a time to strike - psychologically - as the Uk seems in perpetual decline and in a funk of self doubt
They can think what they want, the UK on its own could still beat most nations in a war apart from the US and China, France and India would probably be a stalemate, Russia can't even beat Ukraine.
Argentina also has declined well past its peak when it was one of the wealthiest nations in the world, even in the Falklands war it had far bigger armed forces than now
Have a look at the RN and RAF in 1981 vs today - abvoe all the long range stuff.
And the Merchant Navy, when it comes to the critical STUFT ships of 1981
The Army is about as useful as a fart in a hurricane without those two when it comes to the Flaklands.
Yes we have enough submarines to sink most of the Argentine navy within a day or 2.
Plus enough aircraft carriers and submarines with Cruise Missiles to bomb the Argentine army into submission too if they ever tried invading the Falklands again even without setting any troops on land beyond the garrison already there
That's thje most expensive way of shovelling peat I can think of.
How many *working* aircraft carriers? How many submarines with how many cruise missiles - bearing in midn they can't resupply at sea? How mmay needed for more urgent commitments *at home*? Who owns the software for the jets on the carriers? And so on.
2 working aircraft carriers, Argentina has 0.
We have 11 submarines, Argentina 2. Our submarines can now remain at sea for months on end, more than enough time to sink the entire Argentine fleet.
There is no more urgent commitment than recapturing the Falklands and sinking the Argentine navy if Argentina tried anything.
How long do you think it takes to get a battle fleet with logistics to the Falklands
I see the Argentine economy has had a disaster. Not surprising given the baked in inflation they already had and the commodity price surges.
Well, at least, I say it's had a disaster. I presume it has because that's when they always start ranting about the Falklands.
Similarly we're probably about to see an upsurge of noise about Venezuela's equally fake claim to Essequibo as the drunken Fascist Maduro tries desperately to cling on to power.
Maduro is the new friend of the US - at least behind the scenes. He realised the oil industry in Venezuela was a disaster because of his predecessor's actions and so has quietly done a deal with the US. He has given Chevron exclusive rights to operate in Venezuela and in return the US are basically leaving him alone.
@TLDRNewsUK 🇦🇷 Argentina has told the UK that it wants to start new talks over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands and has pulled out of a 2016 cooperation pact.
Could a Sunak Falklands moment save his chances of reelection?
Bloody hell not again. The Argentinians need to give this a rest.
Of course national fervour doesn't make sense, we have our own examples of that, but the Argentinian passion on this issue really doesn't seem to make sense to me when it's noted their claim to the islands is a rather technical one based on inheriting rights from former Spanish sovereignty, and talk about natives who don't exist. Yes there are other complexities, but the point being it's actually a rather arcane legal dispute, yet it's talked about in terms of colonialism as if someone seized Buenos Aires 2 years ago.
There is nothing Argentina can do about it anyway. The UK has a veto on any UN decision as a permanent member of the UN Security Council unlike them.
The UK also has a bigger navy and army and airforce than Argentina now
The Argies forces must be minuscule!
Google tells me Arg: 70,600 (2022) vs UK 78,000 (2020). Not sure if this is chalk and apples eg whole of HMF vs army...but it's a close run thing.
We absolutely couldn't mount another Falklands tomorrow morning that's for sure.
From what I’ve seen of the Argentine navy in Ushuaia they could barely crew one ship
However all this is replying to the mood music of Britain in retreat. Giving up the Elgin marbles. Handing back Diego Garcia. London shrinking as a world city
I can see why the argies might think now is a time to strike - psychologically - as the Uk seems in perpetual decline and in a funk of self doubt
They can think what they want, the UK on its own could still beat most nations in a war apart from the US and China, France and India would probably be a stalemate, Russia can't even beat Ukraine.
Argentina also has declined well past its peak when it was one of the wealthiest nations in the world, even in the Falklands war it had far bigger armed forces than now
Have a look at the RN and RAF in 1981 vs today - abvoe all the long range stuff.
And the Merchant Navy, when it comes to the critical STUFT ships of 1981
The Army is about as useful as a fart in a hurricane without those two when it comes to the Flaklands.
Yes we have enough submarines to sink most of the Argentine navy within a day or 2.
Plus enough aircraft carriers and submarines with Cruise Missiles to bomb the Argentine army into submission too if they ever tried invading the Falklands again even without setting any troops on land beyond the garrison already there
What a pathetic post and as so often you just talk codswallop
Indeed having been to the remote Falkland Islands with its rugged terrain and cliff lined coasts with hundreds of Islands and inlets makes it a very difficult place to wage warfare and anyway the whole idea is ridiculous
Weak, wet, pathetic, useless. If Thatcher had had your defeatist attitude in 1982 we would never have recaptured the Falklands then
Mrs T was very lucky she didn't cause the worst British military disaster in the Southern Hemisphere since the Boer War. Very, very lucky.
@TLDRNewsUK 🇦🇷 Argentina has told the UK that it wants to start new talks over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands and has pulled out of a 2016 cooperation pact.
Could a Sunak Falklands moment save his chances of reelection?
Bloody hell not again. The Argentinians need to give this a rest.
Of course national fervour doesn't make sense, we have our own examples of that, but the Argentinian passion on this issue really doesn't seem to make sense to me when it's noted their claim to the islands is a rather technical one based on inheriting rights from former Spanish sovereignty, and talk about natives who don't exist. Yes there are other complexities, but the point being it's actually a rather arcane legal dispute, yet it's talked about in terms of colonialism as if someone seized Buenos Aires 2 years ago.
There is nothing Argentina can do about it anyway. The UK has a veto on any UN decision as a permanent member of the UN Security Council unlike them.
The UK also has a bigger navy and army and airforce than Argentina now
The Argies forces must be minuscule!
Google tells me Arg: 70,600 (2022) vs UK 78,000 (2020). Not sure if this is chalk and apples eg whole of HMF vs army...but it's a close run thing.
We absolutely couldn't mount another Falklands tomorrow morning that's for sure.
From what I’ve seen of the Argentine navy in Ushuaia they could barely crew one ship
However all this is replying to the mood music of Britain in retreat. Giving up the Elgin marbles. Handing back Diego Garcia. London shrinking as a world city
I can see why the argies might think now is a time to strike - psychologically - as the Uk seems in perpetual decline and in a funk of self doubt
They can think what they want, the UK on its own could still beat most nations in a war apart from the US and China, France and India would probably be a stalemate, Russia can't even beat Ukraine.
Argentina also has declined well past its peak when it was one of the wealthiest nations in the world, even in the Falklands war it had far bigger armed forces than now
Have a look at the RN and RAF in 1981 vs today - abvoe all the long range stuff.
And the Merchant Navy, when it comes to the critical STUFT ships of 1981
The Army is about as useful as a fart in a hurricane without those two when it comes to the Flaklands.
Yes we have enough submarines to sink most of the Argentine navy within a day or 2.
Plus enough aircraft carriers and submarines with Cruise Missiles to bomb the Argentine army into submission too if they ever tried invading the Falklands again even without setting any troops on land beyond the garrison already there
What a pathetic post and as so often you just talk codswallop
Indeed having been to the remote Falkland Islands with its rugged terrain and cliff lined coasts with hundreds of Islands and inlets makes it a very difficult place to wage warfare and anyway the whole idea is ridiculous
Weak, wet, pathetic, useless. If Thatcher had had your defeatist attitude in 1982 we would never have recaptured the Falklands then
Mrs T was very lucky she didn't cause the worst British military disaster in the Southern Hemisphere since the Boer War. Very, very lucky.
She didn't because she correctly went for victory at all costs and that was against an Argentine armed forces which were far stronger then than they are now
@TLDRNewsUK 🇦🇷 Argentina has told the UK that it wants to start new talks over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands and has pulled out of a 2016 cooperation pact.
Could a Sunak Falklands moment save his chances of reelection?
Bloody hell not again. The Argentinians need to give this a rest.
Of course national fervour doesn't make sense, we have our own examples of that, but the Argentinian passion on this issue really doesn't seem to make sense to me when it's noted their claim to the islands is a rather technical one based on inheriting rights from former Spanish sovereignty, and talk about natives who don't exist. Yes there are other complexities, but the point being it's actually a rather arcane legal dispute, yet it's talked about in terms of colonialism as if someone seized Buenos Aires 2 years ago.
There is nothing Argentina can do about it anyway. The UK has a veto on any UN decision as a permanent member of the UN Security Council unlike them.
The UK also has a bigger navy and army and airforce than Argentina now
The Argies forces must be minuscule!
Google tells me Arg: 70,600 (2022) vs UK 78,000 (2020). Not sure if this is chalk and apples eg whole of HMF vs army...but it's a close run thing.
We absolutely couldn't mount another Falklands tomorrow morning that's for sure.
From what I’ve seen of the Argentine navy in Ushuaia they could barely crew one ship
However all this is replying to the mood music of Britain in retreat. Giving up the Elgin marbles. Handing back Diego Garcia. London shrinking as a world city
I can see why the argies might think now is a time to strike - psychologically - as the Uk seems in perpetual decline and in a funk of self doubt
They can think what they want, the UK on its own could still beat most nations in a war apart from the US and China, France and India would probably be a stalemate, Russia can't even beat Ukraine.
Argentina also has declined well past its peak when it was one of the wealthiest nations in the world, even in the Falklands war it had far bigger armed forces than now
Have a look at the RN and RAF in 1981 vs today - abvoe all the long range stuff.
And the Merchant Navy, when it comes to the critical STUFT ships of 1981
The Army is about as useful as a fart in a hurricane without those two when it comes to the Flaklands.
Yes we have enough submarines to sink most of the Argentine navy within a day or 2.
Plus enough aircraft carriers and submarines with Cruise Missiles to bomb the Argentine army into submission too if they ever tried invading the Falklands again even without setting any troops on land beyond the garrison already there
What a pathetic post and as so often you just talk codswallop
Indeed having been to the remote Falkland Islands with its rugged terrain and cliff lined coasts with hundreds of Islands and inlets makes it a very difficult place to wage warfare and anyway the whole idea is ridiculous
I would actually have said this is a step forward. Last time we were talking about Argentina he suggested anyone who didn't want to nuke Buenos Aires should be done for treason.
At the moment he's ratcheting up the Defcon scale, though, so not long now.
@TLDRNewsUK 🇦🇷 Argentina has told the UK that it wants to start new talks over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands and has pulled out of a 2016 cooperation pact.
Could a Sunak Falklands moment save his chances of reelection?
Bloody hell not again. The Argentinians need to give this a rest.
Of course national fervour doesn't make sense, we have our own examples of that, but the Argentinian passion on this issue really doesn't seem to make sense to me when it's noted their claim to the islands is a rather technical one based on inheriting rights from former Spanish sovereignty, and talk about natives who don't exist. Yes there are other complexities, but the point being it's actually a rather arcane legal dispute, yet it's talked about in terms of colonialism as if someone seized Buenos Aires 2 years ago.
There is nothing Argentina can do about it anyway. The UK has a veto on any UN decision as a permanent member of the UN Security Council unlike them.
The UK also has a bigger navy and army and airforce than Argentina now
The Argies forces must be minuscule!
Google tells me Arg: 70,600 (2022) vs UK 78,000 (2020). Not sure if this is chalk and apples eg whole of HMF vs army...but it's a close run thing.
We absolutely couldn't mount another Falklands tomorrow morning that's for sure.
From what I’ve seen of the Argentine navy in Ushuaia they could barely crew one ship
However all this is replying to the mood music of Britain in retreat. Giving up the Elgin marbles. Handing back Diego Garcia. London shrinking as a world city
I can see why the argies might think now is a time to strike - psychologically - as the Uk seems in perpetual decline and in a funk of self doubt
They can think what they want, the UK on its own could still beat most nations in a war apart from the US and China, France and India would probably be a stalemate, Russia can't even beat Ukraine.
Argentina also has declined well past its peak when it was one of the wealthiest nations in the world, even in the Falklands war it had far bigger armed forces than now
Have a look at the RN and RAF in 1981 vs today - abvoe all the long range stuff.
And the Merchant Navy, when it comes to the critical STUFT ships of 1981
The Army is about as useful as a fart in a hurricane without those two when it comes to the Flaklands.
Yes we have enough submarines to sink most of the Argentine navy within a day or 2.
Plus enough aircraft carriers and submarines with Cruise Missiles to bomb the Argentine army into submission too if they ever tried invading the Falklands again even without setting any troops on land beyond the garrison already there
What a pathetic post and as so often you just talk codswallop
Indeed having been to the remote Falkland Islands with its rugged terrain and cliff lined coasts with hundreds of Islands and inlets makes it a very difficult place to wage warfare and anyway the whole idea is ridiculous
Weak, wet, pathetic, useless. If Thatcher had had your defeatist attitude in 1982 we would never have recaptured the Falklands then
Mrs T was very lucky she didn't cause the worst British military disaster in the Southern Hemisphere since the Boer War. Very, very lucky.
She didn't because she correctly went for victory at all costs and that was against an Argentine armed forces which were far stronger then than they are now
That is *precisely* why she very nearly caused a disaster.
@TLDRNewsUK 🇦🇷 Argentina has told the UK that it wants to start new talks over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands and has pulled out of a 2016 cooperation pact.
Could a Sunak Falklands moment save his chances of reelection?
Bloody hell not again. The Argentinians need to give this a rest.
Of course national fervour doesn't make sense, we have our own examples of that, but the Argentinian passion on this issue really doesn't seem to make sense to me when it's noted their claim to the islands is a rather technical one based on inheriting rights from former Spanish sovereignty, and talk about natives who don't exist. Yes there are other complexities, but the point being it's actually a rather arcane legal dispute, yet it's talked about in terms of colonialism as if someone seized Buenos Aires 2 years ago.
There is nothing Argentina can do about it anyway. The UK has a veto on any UN decision as a permanent member of the UN Security Council unlike them.
The UK also has a bigger navy and army and airforce than Argentina now
The Argies forces must be minuscule!
Google tells me Arg: 70,600 (2022) vs UK 78,000 (2020). Not sure if this is chalk and apples eg whole of HMF vs army...but it's a close run thing.
We absolutely couldn't mount another Falklands tomorrow morning that's for sure.
From what I’ve seen of the Argentine navy in Ushuaia they could barely crew one ship
However all this is replying to the mood music of Britain in retreat. Giving up the Elgin marbles. Handing back Diego Garcia. London shrinking as a world city
I can see why the argies might think now is a time to strike - psychologically - as the Uk seems in perpetual decline and in a funk of self doubt
They can think what they want, the UK on its own could still beat most nations in a war apart from the US and China, France and India would probably be a stalemate, Russia can't even beat Ukraine.
Argentina also has declined well past its peak when it was one of the wealthiest nations in the world, even in the Falklands war it had far bigger armed forces than now
Have a look at the RN and RAF in 1981 vs today - abvoe all the long range stuff.
And the Merchant Navy, when it comes to the critical STUFT ships of 1981
The Army is about as useful as a fart in a hurricane without those two when it comes to the Flaklands.
Yes we have enough submarines to sink most of the Argentine navy within a day or 2.
Plus enough aircraft carriers and submarines with Cruise Missiles to bomb the Argentine army into submission too if they ever tried invading the Falklands again even without setting any troops on land beyond the garrison already there
What a pathetic post and as so often you just talk codswallop
Indeed having been to the remote Falkland Islands with its rugged terrain and cliff lined coasts with hundreds of Islands and inlets makes it a very difficult place to wage warfare and anyway the whole idea is ridiculous
Weak, wet, pathetic, useless. If Thatcher had had your defeatist attitude in 1982 we would never have recaptured the Falklands then
Mrs T was very lucky she didn't cause the worst British military disaster in the Southern Hemisphere since the Boer War. Very, very lucky.
She didn't because she correctly went for victory at all costs and that was against an Argentine armed forces which were far stronger then than they are now
That is *precisely* why she very nearly caused a disaster.
But she didn't. Although some think her premiership was a miner tragedy.
@TLDRNewsUK 🇦🇷 Argentina has told the UK that it wants to start new talks over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands and has pulled out of a 2016 cooperation pact.
Could a Sunak Falklands moment save his chances of reelection?
Bloody hell not again. The Argentinians need to give this a rest.
Of course national fervour doesn't make sense, we have our own examples of that, but the Argentinian passion on this issue really doesn't seem to make sense to me when it's noted their claim to the islands is a rather technical one based on inheriting rights from former Spanish sovereignty, and talk about natives who don't exist. Yes there are other complexities, but the point being it's actually a rather arcane legal dispute, yet it's talked about in terms of colonialism as if someone seized Buenos Aires 2 years ago.
There is nothing Argentina can do about it anyway. The UK has a veto on any UN decision as a permanent member of the UN Security Council unlike them.
The UK also has a bigger navy and army and airforce than Argentina now
The Argies forces must be minuscule!
Google tells me Arg: 70,600 (2022) vs UK 78,000 (2020). Not sure if this is chalk and apples eg whole of HMF vs army...but it's a close run thing.
We absolutely couldn't mount another Falklands tomorrow morning that's for sure.
From what I’ve seen of the Argentine navy in Ushuaia they could barely crew one ship
However all this is replying to the mood music of Britain in retreat. Giving up the Elgin marbles. Handing back Diego Garcia. London shrinking as a world city
I can see why the argies might think now is a time to strike - psychologically - as the Uk seems in perpetual decline and in a funk of self doubt
They can think what they want, the UK on its own could still beat most nations in a war apart from the US and China, France and India would probably be a stalemate, Russia can't even beat Ukraine.
Argentina also has declined well past its peak when it was one of the wealthiest nations in the world, even in the Falklands war it had far bigger armed forces than now
Have a look at the RN and RAF in 1981 vs today - abvoe all the long range stuff.
And the Merchant Navy, when it comes to the critical STUFT ships of 1981
The Army is about as useful as a fart in a hurricane without those two when it comes to the Flaklands.
Yes we have enough submarines to sink most of the Argentine navy within a day or 2.
Plus enough aircraft carriers and submarines with Cruise Missiles to bomb the Argentine army into submission too if they ever tried invading the Falklands again even without setting any troops on land beyond the garrison already there
That's thje most expensive way of shovelling peat I can think of.
How many *working* aircraft carriers? How many submarines with how many cruise missiles - bearing in midn they can't resupply at sea? How mmay needed for more urgent commitments *at home*? Who owns the software for the jets on the carriers? And so on.
2 working aircraft carriers, Argentina has 0.
We have 11 submarines, Argentina 2. Our submarines can now remain at sea for months on end, more than enough time to sink the entire Argentine fleet.
There is no more urgent commitment than recapturing the Falklands and sinking the Argentine navy if Argentina tried anything.
How long do you think it takes to get a battle fleet with logistics to the Falklands
There are normally 1 or 2 nuclear RN submarines on patrol nearby, they would sink any Argentine ship in Falklands waters and be soon joined by other RN submarines with orders to sink the entire Argentine fleet, including those in Argentine ports
Has any PB-er tried this miracle weight loss drug Ozempic?
As avowed by Jez Clarkson, most of Hollywood, and now David Aaronovitch in today’s Times?
It sounds amazing. And I’ve just discovered that a chunky female relative of mine has been on it for 5 weeks and has lost 10 pounds (without trying). And she has struggled with weight all of her life
I’ve got 12 pounds of Covid lard that will not shift. I’m gonna try this
I have a colleague who has taken it for a while, he said it's been great for getting the weight down but it has taken all of the enjoyment of food out of life for him. I think for someone like you where going to a great restaurant and enjoying the food it will probably be a big hit to your life quality vs doing a bit of extra exercise.
My relative says this is not her experience
She still really enjoys food, she just eats less
But I hear you: I will do a short term experiment
Given that you are based in Inner London and spend time there - in perhaps the best patch of cycling infrastructure in the entire country - I'd suggest taking a look at getting a Brompton folder for your local travel, which you can fold down in 20s and take anywhere you need to go.
IMO far better than flapping about will pill-rollers.
If you want to have a tryout, see if they will lend you one or hire one for £5 a day for a couple of weeks from a railway station such as St Pancras.
With respect, why the flaming flatulent fuck would I want to do that?
I eat very healthily and well. I walk daily. I go to the gym daily. I am fit. I don’t smoke. I drink too much
But as I’ve aged I find I can’t shift that last 10-15 pounds of chunk like I used to do (with ease)
Maybe god wants me a stone heavier? If so, fair enough
But I am intrigued enough by this medication to give it a go. At the very least it will be interesting
I bought a Brompton just before lockdown. On the days I go into that Leeds I go to a park and ride and cycle the last four miles into the city centre. I love riding that thing. Tons of the things in Leeds but when I ride it in my manor - I’ve got one of the bags that goes in the front so I can nip to the supermarket on it - I do get some funny looks. I do look like a right middle-class wanker like. My right-leaning friend mocks me for betraying my working-class roots. Calls it my bourgeois bike.
Wouldn’t be without it though, it’s a great bit of kit. Helps keep the gut manageable. You do feel like a right smug twat folding it up and putting in a shopping trolley. Went to a pub last night on it, got some funny looks walking in with it all folded up. Love it.
Given the price I would constantly worry about it getting nicked. Do you always carry it round in the bag when not riding it?
@TLDRNewsUK 🇦🇷 Argentina has told the UK that it wants to start new talks over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands and has pulled out of a 2016 cooperation pact.
Could a Sunak Falklands moment save his chances of reelection?
Bloody hell not again. The Argentinians need to give this a rest.
Of course national fervour doesn't make sense, we have our own examples of that, but the Argentinian passion on this issue really doesn't seem to make sense to me when it's noted their claim to the islands is a rather technical one based on inheriting rights from former Spanish sovereignty, and talk about natives who don't exist. Yes there are other complexities, but the point being it's actually a rather arcane legal dispute, yet it's talked about in terms of colonialism as if someone seized Buenos Aires 2 years ago.
There is nothing Argentina can do about it anyway. The UK has a veto on any UN decision as a permanent member of the UN Security Council unlike them.
The UK also has a bigger navy and army and airforce than Argentina now
The Argies forces must be minuscule!
Google tells me Arg: 70,600 (2022) vs UK 78,000 (2020). Not sure if this is chalk and apples eg whole of HMF vs army...but it's a close run thing.
We absolutely couldn't mount another Falklands tomorrow morning that's for sure.
From what I’ve seen of the Argentine navy in Ushuaia they could barely crew one ship
However all this is replying to the mood music of Britain in retreat. Giving up the Elgin marbles. Handing back Diego Garcia. London shrinking as a world city
I can see why the argies might think now is a time to strike - psychologically - as the Uk seems in perpetual decline and in a funk of self doubt
They can think what they want, the UK on its own could still beat most nations in a war apart from the US and China, France and India would probably be a stalemate, Russia can't even beat Ukraine.
Argentina also has declined well past its peak when it was one of the wealthiest nations in the world, even in the Falklands war it had far bigger armed forces than now
Have a look at the RN and RAF in 1981 vs today - abvoe all the long range stuff.
And the Merchant Navy, when it comes to the critical STUFT ships of 1981
The Army is about as useful as a fart in a hurricane without those two when it comes to the Flaklands.
Yes we have enough submarines to sink most of the Argentine navy within a day or 2.
Plus enough aircraft carriers and submarines with Cruise Missiles to bomb the Argentine army into submission too if they ever tried invading the Falklands again even without setting any troops on land beyond the garrison already there
That's thje most expensive way of shovelling peat I can think of.
How many *working* aircraft carriers? How many submarines with how many cruise missiles - bearing in midn they can't resupply at sea? How mmay needed for more urgent commitments *at home*? Who owns the software for the jets on the carriers? And so on.
2 working aircraft carriers, Argentina has 0.
We have 11 submarines, Argentina 2. Our submarines can now remain at sea for months on end, more than enough time to sink the entire Argentine fleet.
There is no more urgent commitment than recapturing the Falklands and sinking the Argentine navy if Argentina tried anything.
How long do you think it takes to get a battle fleet with logistics to the Falklands
There are normally 1 or 2 nuclear RN submarines on patrol nearby, they would sink any Argentine ship in Falklands waters and be soon joined by other RN submarines with orders to sink the entire Argentine fleet, including those in Argentine ports
@TLDRNewsUK 🇦🇷 Argentina has told the UK that it wants to start new talks over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands and has pulled out of a 2016 cooperation pact.
Could a Sunak Falklands moment save his chances of reelection?
Bloody hell not again. The Argentinians need to give this a rest.
Of course national fervour doesn't make sense, we have our own examples of that, but the Argentinian passion on this issue really doesn't seem to make sense to me when it's noted their claim to the islands is a rather technical one based on inheriting rights from former Spanish sovereignty, and talk about natives who don't exist. Yes there are other complexities, but the point being it's actually a rather arcane legal dispute, yet it's talked about in terms of colonialism as if someone seized Buenos Aires 2 years ago.
There is nothing Argentina can do about it anyway. The UK has a veto on any UN decision as a permanent member of the UN Security Council unlike them.
The UK also has a bigger navy and army and airforce than Argentina now
Have a look at an atlas. It's not the Persian Gulf.
Since the Falklands War there is also a bigger permanent British garrison on the islands, a Royal Navy ship on patrol there at all times and a Royal Navy nuclear submarine patrols regularly nearby (though the exact times and location of the latter are obviously classified)
"ship" is a posh way to describe a patrol boat. And the forces, at the far end of a long supply line, are very small.
I remember 1981 - you obviously don't.
Yes, Argentina has cut its armed forces back to far fewer than they were in Galtieri's day.
The UK does not have an army of 153,000. That is the total size of our armed forces - Army, Navy and Airforce - including reservists. Our regular army is just over 80,000 and there are another 30,000 reservists. And gven our other commitments, not least on the Eastern flank of NATO, how many of those do you seriously think we could deploy?
We are much stronger on the ground in the Falklands than we were in 1982 but at the same time much weaker overall. So I could see our forces putting up a reasonable defence but I am certainly not confident they could hold. And if they did fall then we have no chance at all of reclaiming the islands as we did in 1982.
Our commitments on the Eastern flank of NATO would obviously be temporarily abandoned given British sovereign territory had been invaded.
We have a bigger armed forces than Argentina's which are also far weaker than they were in 1982
Unless something happens at the Budget, that 80k army is headed for 75k, is it not?
There's been a lot of "moaning at the bar" wrt no significant new plans for Defence Spending, even someone in the Army recruiting the customary US General to tell the world how awful the British Army has become.
I was glancing at the Mail and Express front pages today.
Is it me or do they still yearn for the return of Boris Johnson? You can almost feel the poor Express journos trying to decide whether they prefer Sunak to Johnson while, as OGH suggests, the Mail already seems desperate in their attempts to vilify Starmer.
The fact is today's events have probably written "Finis" to the political career of Boris Johnson whose choices are either to make money outside politics or to lurk like Churchill on the back benches in the vain hope he will be called to save Party and nation one day.
@TLDRNewsUK 🇦🇷 Argentina has told the UK that it wants to start new talks over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands and has pulled out of a 2016 cooperation pact.
Could a Sunak Falklands moment save his chances of reelection?
Bloody hell not again. The Argentinians need to give this a rest.
Of course national fervour doesn't make sense, we have our own examples of that, but the Argentinian passion on this issue really doesn't seem to make sense to me when it's noted their claim to the islands is a rather technical one based on inheriting rights from former Spanish sovereignty, and talk about natives who don't exist. Yes there are other complexities, but the point being it's actually a rather arcane legal dispute, yet it's talked about in terms of colonialism as if someone seized Buenos Aires 2 years ago.
There is nothing Argentina can do about it anyway. The UK has a veto on any UN decision as a permanent member of the UN Security Council unlike them.
The UK also has a bigger navy and army and airforce than Argentina now
The Argies forces must be minuscule!
Google tells me Arg: 70,600 (2022) vs UK 78,000 (2020). Not sure if this is chalk and apples eg whole of HMF vs army...but it's a close run thing.
We absolutely couldn't mount another Falklands tomorrow morning that's for sure.
From what I’ve seen of the Argentine navy in Ushuaia they could barely crew one ship
However all this is replying to the mood music of Britain in retreat. Giving up the Elgin marbles. Handing back Diego Garcia. London shrinking as a world city
I can see why the argies might think now is a time to strike - psychologically - as the Uk seems in perpetual decline and in a funk of self doubt
They can think what they want, the UK on its own could still beat most nations in a war apart from the US and China, France and India would probably be a stalemate, Russia can't even beat Ukraine.
Argentina also has declined well past its peak when it was one of the wealthiest nations in the world, even in the Falklands war it had far bigger armed forces than now
Have a look at the RN and RAF in 1981 vs today - abvoe all the long range stuff.
And the Merchant Navy, when it comes to the critical STUFT ships of 1981
The Army is about as useful as a fart in a hurricane without those two when it comes to the Flaklands.
Yes we have enough submarines to sink most of the Argentine navy within a day or 2.
Plus enough aircraft carriers and submarines with Cruise Missiles to bomb the Argentine army into submission too if they ever tried invading the Falklands again even without setting any troops on land beyond the garrison already there
What a pathetic post and as so often you just talk codswallop
Indeed having been to the remote Falkland Islands with its rugged terrain and cliff lined coasts with hundreds of Islands and inlets makes it a very difficult place to wage warfare and anyway the whole idea is ridiculous
Weak, wet, pathetic, useless. If Thatcher had had your defeatist attitude in 1982 we would never have recaptured the Falklands then
Sadly you are being utterly ridiculous
You have no knowledge of the territory, our present capabilities, and the fact is we nearly didn't capture them in 1982
Indeed the loss of the Welsh guards at Bluff Cove was shocking as was the sinking of the Sheffield
@TLDRNewsUK 🇦🇷 Argentina has told the UK that it wants to start new talks over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands and has pulled out of a 2016 cooperation pact.
Could a Sunak Falklands moment save his chances of reelection?
Bloody hell not again. The Argentinians need to give this a rest.
Of course national fervour doesn't make sense, we have our own examples of that, but the Argentinian passion on this issue really doesn't seem to make sense to me when it's noted their claim to the islands is a rather technical one based on inheriting rights from former Spanish sovereignty, and talk about natives who don't exist. Yes there are other complexities, but the point being it's actually a rather arcane legal dispute, yet it's talked about in terms of colonialism as if someone seized Buenos Aires 2 years ago.
There is nothing Argentina can do about it anyway. The UK has a veto on any UN decision as a permanent member of the UN Security Council unlike them.
The UK also has a bigger navy and army and airforce than Argentina now
The Argies forces must be minuscule!
Google tells me Arg: 70,600 (2022) vs UK 78,000 (2020). Not sure if this is chalk and apples eg whole of HMF vs army...but it's a close run thing.
We absolutely couldn't mount another Falklands tomorrow morning that's for sure.
From what I’ve seen of the Argentine navy in Ushuaia they could barely crew one ship
However all this is replying to the mood music of Britain in retreat. Giving up the Elgin marbles. Handing back Diego Garcia. London shrinking as a world city
I can see why the argies might think now is a time to strike - psychologically - as the Uk seems in perpetual decline and in a funk of self doubt
They can think what they want, the UK on its own could still beat most nations in a war apart from the US and China, France and India would probably be a stalemate, Russia can't even beat Ukraine.
Argentina also has declined well past its peak when it was one of the wealthiest nations in the world, even in the Falklands war it had far bigger armed forces than now
Have a look at the RN and RAF in 1981 vs today - abvoe all the long range stuff.
And the Merchant Navy, when it comes to the critical STUFT ships of 1981
The Army is about as useful as a fart in a hurricane without those two when it comes to the Flaklands.
Yes we have enough submarines to sink most of the Argentine navy within a day or 2.
Plus enough aircraft carriers and submarines with Cruise Missiles to bomb the Argentine army into submission too if they ever tried invading the Falklands again even without setting any troops on land beyond the garrison already there
What a pathetic post and as so often you just talk codswallop
Indeed having been to the remote Falkland Islands with its rugged terrain and cliff lined coasts with hundreds of Islands and inlets makes it a very difficult place to wage warfare and anyway the whole idea is ridiculous
Weak, wet, pathetic, useless. If Thatcher had had your defeatist attitude in 1982 we would never have recaptured the Falklands then
Mrs T was very lucky she didn't cause the worst British military disaster in the Southern Hemisphere since the Boer War. Very, very lucky.
She didn't because she correctly went for victory at all costs and that was against an Argentine armed forces which were far stronger then than they are now
That is *precisely* why she very nearly caused a disaster.
But she didn't. Although some think her premiership was a miner tragedy.
No, but HYUFD doesn't seem to understand the concept of probability, never mind averages. Anyway I'm off to find my Protest and Survive leaflet and hide under the staircase.
In all seriousness, this is genuinely bringing back memories of how hideously risky the Falklands Campaign was, and how awful it was to see the news, in several ways, even with *much* larger forces and a dockyard system - and where would we get the mercantile ships to convert? I don't think I've ever seen my dad so shaken as by the news then. He had b een in the Navy and knew what was going on, unlike the prats who saw it solely as Thatcher's khaki election.
@TLDRNewsUK 🇦🇷 Argentina has told the UK that it wants to start new talks over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands and has pulled out of a 2016 cooperation pact.
Could a Sunak Falklands moment save his chances of reelection?
Bloody hell not again. The Argentinians need to give this a rest.
Of course national fervour doesn't make sense, we have our own examples of that, but the Argentinian passion on this issue really doesn't seem to make sense to me when it's noted their claim to the islands is a rather technical one based on inheriting rights from former Spanish sovereignty, and talk about natives who don't exist. Yes there are other complexities, but the point being it's actually a rather arcane legal dispute, yet it's talked about in terms of colonialism as if someone seized Buenos Aires 2 years ago.
There is nothing Argentina can do about it anyway. The UK has a veto on any UN decision as a permanent member of the UN Security Council unlike them.
The UK also has a bigger navy and army and airforce than Argentina now
The Argies forces must be minuscule!
Google tells me Arg: 70,600 (2022) vs UK 78,000 (2020). Not sure if this is chalk and apples eg whole of HMF vs army...but it's a close run thing.
We absolutely couldn't mount another Falklands tomorrow morning that's for sure.
From what I’ve seen of the Argentine navy in Ushuaia they could barely crew one ship
However all this is replying to the mood music of Britain in retreat. Giving up the Elgin marbles. Handing back Diego Garcia. London shrinking as a world city
I can see why the argies might think now is a time to strike - psychologically - as the Uk seems in perpetual decline and in a funk of self doubt
They can think what they want, the UK on its own could still beat most nations in a war apart from the US and China, France and India would probably be a stalemate, Russia can't even beat Ukraine.
Argentina also has declined well past its peak when it was one of the wealthiest nations in the world, even in the Falklands war it had far bigger armed forces than now
Have a look at the RN and RAF in 1981 vs today - abvoe all the long range stuff.
And the Merchant Navy, when it comes to the critical STUFT ships of 1981
The Army is about as useful as a fart in a hurricane without those two when it comes to the Flaklands.
Yes we have enough submarines to sink most of the Argentine navy within a day or 2.
Plus enough aircraft carriers and submarines with Cruise Missiles to bomb the Argentine army into submission too if they ever tried invading the Falklands again even without setting any troops on land beyond the garrison already there
What a pathetic post and as so often you just talk codswallop
Indeed having been to the remote Falkland Islands with its rugged terrain and cliff lined coasts with hundreds of Islands and inlets makes it a very difficult place to wage warfare and anyway the whole idea is ridiculous
Weak, wet, pathetic, useless. If Thatcher had had your defeatist attitude in 1982 we would never have recaptured the Falklands then
Mrs T was very lucky she didn't cause the worst British military disaster in the Southern Hemisphere since the Boer War. Very, very lucky.
She didn't because she correctly went for victory at all costs and that was against an Argentine armed forces which were far stronger then than they are now
That is *precisely* why she very nearly caused a disaster.
However its very clear that she went to war on a principle. And why would you have armed forces if you didn't want to use them at such times.
The risk was substantial, but there was no great risk to the greater UK. It was a bit of a UK military planner's dream war. Didn't quite work out that well though.
@TLDRNewsUK 🇦🇷 Argentina has told the UK that it wants to start new talks over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands and has pulled out of a 2016 cooperation pact.
Could a Sunak Falklands moment save his chances of reelection?
Bloody hell not again. The Argentinians need to give this a rest.
Of course national fervour doesn't make sense, we have our own examples of that, but the Argentinian passion on this issue really doesn't seem to make sense to me when it's noted their claim to the islands is a rather technical one based on inheriting rights from former Spanish sovereignty, and talk about natives who don't exist. Yes there are other complexities, but the point being it's actually a rather arcane legal dispute, yet it's talked about in terms of colonialism as if someone seized Buenos Aires 2 years ago.
There is nothing Argentina can do about it anyway. The UK has a veto on any UN decision as a permanent member of the UN Security Council unlike them.
The UK also has a bigger navy and army and airforce than Argentina now
The Argies forces must be minuscule!
Google tells me Arg: 70,600 (2022) vs UK 78,000 (2020). Not sure if this is chalk and apples eg whole of HMF vs army...but it's a close run thing.
We absolutely couldn't mount another Falklands tomorrow morning that's for sure.
From what I’ve seen of the Argentine navy in Ushuaia they could barely crew one ship
However all this is replying to the mood music of Britain in retreat. Giving up the Elgin marbles. Handing back Diego Garcia. London shrinking as a world city
I can see why the argies might think now is a time to strike - psychologically - as the Uk seems in perpetual decline and in a funk of self doubt
They can think what they want, the UK on its own could still beat most nations in a war apart from the US and China, France and India would probably be a stalemate, Russia can't even beat Ukraine.
Argentina also has declined well past its peak when it was one of the wealthiest nations in the world, even in the Falklands war it had far bigger armed forces than now
Have a look at the RN and RAF in 1981 vs today - abvoe all the long range stuff.
And the Merchant Navy, when it comes to the critical STUFT ships of 1981
The Army is about as useful as a fart in a hurricane without those two when it comes to the Flaklands.
Yes we have enough submarines to sink most of the Argentine navy within a day or 2.
Plus enough aircraft carriers and submarines with Cruise Missiles to bomb the Argentine army into submission too if they ever tried invading the Falklands again even without setting any troops on land beyond the garrison already there
What a pathetic post and as so often you just talk codswallop
Indeed having been to the remote Falkland Islands with its rugged terrain and cliff lined coasts with hundreds of Islands and inlets makes it a very difficult place to wage warfare and anyway the whole idea is ridiculous
Weak, wet, pathetic, useless. If Thatcher had had your defeatist attitude in 1982 we would never have recaptured the Falklands then
Sadly you are being utterly ridiculous
You have no knowledge of the territory, our present capabilities, and the fact is we nearly didn't capture them in 1982
Indeed the loss of the Welsh guards at Bluff Cove was shocking as was the sinking of the Sheffield
1982 was very different to today
No, you are being a pathetic, defeatist wet lettuce.
The Argentine forces have also been so cut back since 1982 they are far weaker than they were then. Our submarines could sink the entire Argentine navy within a week
Looking at the headlines the New Statesman seems to have one article stating that this is bad for Labour, one article stating that attempting weaponise this is a mistake by the Tories and one article saying it is a coup for Starmer. Whatever the outcome I think that they have it covered!
Looking at the headlines the New Statesman seems to have one article stating that this is bad for Labour, one article stating that attempting weaponise this is a mistake by the Tories and one article saying it is a coup for Starmer. Whatever the outcome I think that they have it covered!
@TLDRNewsUK 🇦🇷 Argentina has told the UK that it wants to start new talks over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands and has pulled out of a 2016 cooperation pact.
Could a Sunak Falklands moment save his chances of reelection?
Bloody hell not again. The Argentinians need to give this a rest.
Of course national fervour doesn't make sense, we have our own examples of that, but the Argentinian passion on this issue really doesn't seem to make sense to me when it's noted their claim to the islands is a rather technical one based on inheriting rights from former Spanish sovereignty, and talk about natives who don't exist. Yes there are other complexities, but the point being it's actually a rather arcane legal dispute, yet it's talked about in terms of colonialism as if someone seized Buenos Aires 2 years ago.
There is nothing Argentina can do about it anyway. The UK has a veto on any UN decision as a permanent member of the UN Security Council unlike them.
The UK also has a bigger navy and army and airforce than Argentina now
The Argies forces must be minuscule!
Google tells me Arg: 70,600 (2022) vs UK 78,000 (2020). Not sure if this is chalk and apples eg whole of HMF vs army...but it's a close run thing.
We absolutely couldn't mount another Falklands tomorrow morning that's for sure.
From what I’ve seen of the Argentine navy in Ushuaia they could barely crew one ship
However all this is replying to the mood music of Britain in retreat. Giving up the Elgin marbles. Handing back Diego Garcia. London shrinking as a world city
I can see why the argies might think now is a time to strike - psychologically - as the Uk seems in perpetual decline and in a funk of self doubt
They can think what they want, the UK on its own could still beat most nations in a war apart from the US and China, France and India would probably be a stalemate, Russia can't even beat Ukraine.
Argentina also has declined well past its peak when it was one of the wealthiest nations in the world, even in the Falklands war it had far bigger armed forces than now
Have a look at the RN and RAF in 1981 vs today - abvoe all the long range stuff.
And the Merchant Navy, when it comes to the critical STUFT ships of 1981
The Army is about as useful as a fart in a hurricane without those two when it comes to the Flaklands.
Yes we have enough submarines to sink most of the Argentine navy within a day or 2.
Plus enough aircraft carriers and submarines with Cruise Missiles to bomb the Argentine army into submission too if they ever tried invading the Falklands again even without setting any troops on land beyond the garrison already there
What a pathetic post and as so often you just talk codswallop
Indeed having been to the remote Falkland Islands with its rugged terrain and cliff lined coasts with hundreds of Islands and inlets makes it a very difficult place to wage warfare and anyway the whole idea is ridiculous
Weak, wet, pathetic, useless. If Thatcher had had your defeatist attitude in 1982 we would never have recaptured the Falklands then
Mrs T was very lucky she didn't cause the worst British military disaster in the Southern Hemisphere since the Boer War. Very, very lucky.
She didn't because she correctly went for victory at all costs and that was against an Argentine armed forces which were far stronger then than they are now
That is *precisely* why she very nearly caused a disaster.
However its very clear that she went to war on a principle. And why would you have armed forces if you didn't want to use them at such times.
The risk was substantial, but there was no great risk to the greater UK. It was a bit of a UK military planner's dream war. Didn't quite work out that well though.
Beg to differ, the Cold War was very much on at the time (as I recall well, living not far from a couple of major targets at the time). The UK forces were professionals and quite small and some of the losses would have been very damaging.
@TLDRNewsUK 🇦🇷 Argentina has told the UK that it wants to start new talks over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands and has pulled out of a 2016 cooperation pact.
Could a Sunak Falklands moment save his chances of reelection?
Bloody hell not again. The Argentinians need to give this a rest.
Of course national fervour doesn't make sense, we have our own examples of that, but the Argentinian passion on this issue really doesn't seem to make sense to me when it's noted their claim to the islands is a rather technical one based on inheriting rights from former Spanish sovereignty, and talk about natives who don't exist. Yes there are other complexities, but the point being it's actually a rather arcane legal dispute, yet it's talked about in terms of colonialism as if someone seized Buenos Aires 2 years ago.
There is nothing Argentina can do about it anyway. The UK has a veto on any UN decision as a permanent member of the UN Security Council unlike them.
The UK also has a bigger navy and army and airforce than Argentina now
The Argies forces must be minuscule!
Google tells me Arg: 70,600 (2022) vs UK 78,000 (2020). Not sure if this is chalk and apples eg whole of HMF vs army...but it's a close run thing.
We absolutely couldn't mount another Falklands tomorrow morning that's for sure.
From what I’ve seen of the Argentine navy in Ushuaia they could barely crew one ship
However all this is replying to the mood music of Britain in retreat. Giving up the Elgin marbles. Handing back Diego Garcia. London shrinking as a world city
I can see why the argies might think now is a time to strike - psychologically - as the Uk seems in perpetual decline and in a funk of self doubt
They can think what they want, the UK on its own could still beat most nations in a war apart from the US and China, France and India would probably be a stalemate, Russia can't even beat Ukraine.
Argentina also has declined well past its peak when it was one of the wealthiest nations in the world, even in the Falklands war it had far bigger armed forces than now
Have a look at the RN and RAF in 1981 vs today - abvoe all the long range stuff.
And the Merchant Navy, when it comes to the critical STUFT ships of 1981
The Army is about as useful as a fart in a hurricane without those two when it comes to the Flaklands.
Yes we have enough submarines to sink most of the Argentine navy within a day or 2.
Plus enough aircraft carriers and submarines with Cruise Missiles to bomb the Argentine army into submission too if they ever tried invading the Falklands again even without setting any troops on land beyond the garrison already there
What a pathetic post and as so often you just talk codswallop
Indeed having been to the remote Falkland Islands with its rugged terrain and cliff lined coasts with hundreds of Islands and inlets makes it a very difficult place to wage warfare and anyway the whole idea is ridiculous
Weak, wet, pathetic, useless. If Thatcher had had your defeatist attitude in 1982 we would never have recaptured the Falklands then
Mrs T was very lucky she didn't cause the worst British military disaster in the Southern Hemisphere since the Boer War. Very, very lucky.
She didn't because she correctly went for victory at all costs and that was against an Argentine armed forces which were far stronger then than they are now
That is *precisely* why she very nearly caused a disaster.
But she didn't. Although some think her premiership was a miner tragedy.
No, but HYUFD doesn't seem to understand the concept of probability, never mind averages. Anyway I'm off to find my Protest and Survive leaflet and hide under the staircase.
In all seriousness, this is genuinely bringing back memories of how hideously risky the Falklands Campaign was, and how awful it was to see the news, in several ways, even with *much* larger forces and a dockyard system - and where would we get the mercantile ships to convert? I don't think I've ever seen my dad so shaken as by the news then. He had b een in the Navy and knew what was going on, unlike the prats who saw it solely as Thatcher's khaki election.
The problem with my puns, unlike (most of) TSE's, is that they are so subtle they are sometimes not noticed.
@TLDRNewsUK 🇦🇷 Argentina has told the UK that it wants to start new talks over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands and has pulled out of a 2016 cooperation pact.
Could a Sunak Falklands moment save his chances of reelection?
Bloody hell not again. The Argentinians need to give this a rest.
Of course national fervour doesn't make sense, we have our own examples of that, but the Argentinian passion on this issue really doesn't seem to make sense to me when it's noted their claim to the islands is a rather technical one based on inheriting rights from former Spanish sovereignty, and talk about natives who don't exist. Yes there are other complexities, but the point being it's actually a rather arcane legal dispute, yet it's talked about in terms of colonialism as if someone seized Buenos Aires 2 years ago.
There is nothing Argentina can do about it anyway. The UK has a veto on any UN decision as a permanent member of the UN Security Council unlike them.
The UK also has a bigger navy and army and airforce than Argentina now
The Argies forces must be minuscule!
Google tells me Arg: 70,600 (2022) vs UK 78,000 (2020). Not sure if this is chalk and apples eg whole of HMF vs army...but it's a close run thing.
We absolutely couldn't mount another Falklands tomorrow morning that's for sure.
From what I’ve seen of the Argentine navy in Ushuaia they could barely crew one ship
However all this is replying to the mood music of Britain in retreat. Giving up the Elgin marbles. Handing back Diego Garcia. London shrinking as a world city
I can see why the argies might think now is a time to strike - psychologically - as the Uk seems in perpetual decline and in a funk of self doubt
They can think what they want, the UK on its own could still beat most nations in a war apart from the US and China, France and India would probably be a stalemate, Russia can't even beat Ukraine.
Argentina also has declined well past its peak when it was one of the wealthiest nations in the world, even in the Falklands war it had far bigger armed forces than now
Have a look at the RN and RAF in 1981 vs today - abvoe all the long range stuff.
And the Merchant Navy, when it comes to the critical STUFT ships of 1981
The Army is about as useful as a fart in a hurricane without those two when it comes to the Flaklands.
Yes we have enough submarines to sink most of the Argentine navy within a day or 2.
Plus enough aircraft carriers and submarines with Cruise Missiles to bomb the Argentine army into submission too if they ever tried invading the Falklands again even without setting any troops on land beyond the garrison already there
What a pathetic post and as so often you just talk codswallop
Indeed having been to the remote Falkland Islands with its rugged terrain and cliff lined coasts with hundreds of Islands and inlets makes it a very difficult place to wage warfare and anyway the whole idea is ridiculous
Weak, wet, pathetic, useless. If Thatcher had had your defeatist attitude in 1982 we would never have recaptured the Falklands then
Sadly you are being utterly ridiculous
You have no knowledge of the territory, our present capabilities, and the fact is we nearly didn't capture them in 1982
Indeed the loss of the Welsh guards at Bluff Cove was shocking as was the sinking of the Sheffield
1982 was very different to today
No, you are being a pathetic, defeatist wet lettuce.
The Argentine forces have also been so cut back since 1982 they are far weaker than they were then. Our submarines could sink the entire Argentine navy within a week
Couldn’t they weaponise Messi against us though 😟
Edit. Wait. Did someone mention they’ve seen Lettuce today?
@TLDRNewsUK 🇦🇷 Argentina has told the UK that it wants to start new talks over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands and has pulled out of a 2016 cooperation pact.
Could a Sunak Falklands moment save his chances of reelection?
Bloody hell not again. The Argentinians need to give this a rest.
Of course national fervour doesn't make sense, we have our own examples of that, but the Argentinian passion on this issue really doesn't seem to make sense to me when it's noted their claim to the islands is a rather technical one based on inheriting rights from former Spanish sovereignty, and talk about natives who don't exist. Yes there are other complexities, but the point being it's actually a rather arcane legal dispute, yet it's talked about in terms of colonialism as if someone seized Buenos Aires 2 years ago.
There is nothing Argentina can do about it anyway. The UK has a veto on any UN decision as a permanent member of the UN Security Council unlike them.
The UK also has a bigger navy and army and airforce than Argentina now
The Argies forces must be minuscule!
Google tells me Arg: 70,600 (2022) vs UK 78,000 (2020). Not sure if this is chalk and apples eg whole of HMF vs army...but it's a close run thing.
We absolutely couldn't mount another Falklands tomorrow morning that's for sure.
From what I’ve seen of the Argentine navy in Ushuaia they could barely crew one ship
However all this is replying to the mood music of Britain in retreat. Giving up the Elgin marbles. Handing back Diego Garcia. London shrinking as a world city
I can see why the argies might think now is a time to strike - psychologically - as the Uk seems in perpetual decline and in a funk of self doubt
They can think what they want, the UK on its own could still beat most nations in a war apart from the US and China, France and India would probably be a stalemate, Russia can't even beat Ukraine.
Argentina also has declined well past its peak when it was one of the wealthiest nations in the world, even in the Falklands war it had far bigger armed forces than now
Have a look at the RN and RAF in 1981 vs today - abvoe all the long range stuff.
And the Merchant Navy, when it comes to the critical STUFT ships of 1981
The Army is about as useful as a fart in a hurricane without those two when it comes to the Flaklands.
Yes we have enough submarines to sink most of the Argentine navy within a day or 2.
Plus enough aircraft carriers and submarines with Cruise Missiles to bomb the Argentine army into submission too if they ever tried invading the Falklands again even without setting any troops on land beyond the garrison already there
What a pathetic post and as so often you just talk codswallop
Indeed having been to the remote Falkland Islands with its rugged terrain and cliff lined coasts with hundreds of Islands and inlets makes it a very difficult place to wage warfare and anyway the whole idea is ridiculous
Weak, wet, pathetic, useless. If Thatcher had had your defeatist attitude in 1982 we would never have recaptured the Falklands then
Mrs T was very lucky she didn't cause the worst British military disaster in the Southern Hemisphere since the Boer War. Very, very lucky.
She didn't because she correctly went for victory at all costs and that was against an Argentine armed forces which were far stronger then than they are now
That is *precisely* why she very nearly caused a disaster.
However its very clear that she went to war on a principle. And why would you have armed forces if you didn't want to use them at such times.
The risk was substantial, but there was no great risk to the greater UK. It was a bit of a UK military planner's dream war. Didn't quite work out that well though.
Beg to differ, the Cold War was very much on at the time (as I recall well, living not far from a couple of major targets at the time). The UK forces were professionals and quite small and some of the losses would have been very damaging.
@TLDRNewsUK 🇦🇷 Argentina has told the UK that it wants to start new talks over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands and has pulled out of a 2016 cooperation pact.
Could a Sunak Falklands moment save his chances of reelection?
Bloody hell not again. The Argentinians need to give this a rest.
Of course national fervour doesn't make sense, we have our own examples of that, but the Argentinian passion on this issue really doesn't seem to make sense to me when it's noted their claim to the islands is a rather technical one based on inheriting rights from former Spanish sovereignty, and talk about natives who don't exist. Yes there are other complexities, but the point being it's actually a rather arcane legal dispute, yet it's talked about in terms of colonialism as if someone seized Buenos Aires 2 years ago.
There is nothing Argentina can do about it anyway. The UK has a veto on any UN decision as a permanent member of the UN Security Council unlike them.
The UK also has a bigger navy and army and airforce than Argentina now
Have a look at an atlas. It's not the Persian Gulf.
Since the Falklands War there is also a bigger permanent British garrison on the islands, a Royal Navy ship on patrol there at all times and a Royal Navy nuclear submarine patrols regularly nearby (though the exact times and location of the latter are obviously classified)
"ship" is a posh way to describe a patrol boat. And the forces, at the far end of a long supply line, are very small.
I remember 1981 - you obviously don't.
Yes, Argentina has cut its armed forces back to far fewer than they were in Galtieri's day.
The UK does not have an army of 153,000. That is the total size of our armed forces - Army, Navy and Airforce - including reservists. Our regular army is just over 80,000 and there are another 30,000 reservists. And gven our other commitments, not least on the Eastern flank of NATO, how many of those do you seriously think we could deploy?
We are much stronger on the ground in the Falklands than we were in 1982 but at the same time much weaker overall. So I could see our forces putting up a reasonable defence but I am certainly not confident they could hold. And if they did fall then we have no chance at all of reclaiming the islands as we did in 1982.
Our commitments on the Eastern flank of NATO would obviously be temporarily abandoned given British sovereign territory had been invaded.
We have a bigger armed forces than Argentina's which are also far weaker than they were in 1982
I am sorry but you really are deluded. What we did in 1982 was extraordinary but we could do it now. We simply don't have the ships.
As an example in 1982 we sent 8 destroyers and 16 frigates as part of the task force (and that was not our entire contingent of those vessel types in the navy). The entire Royal Navy only has 6 destroyers and 12 frigates. And we don't have the crews even for all of those.
@TLDRNewsUK 🇦🇷 Argentina has told the UK that it wants to start new talks over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands and has pulled out of a 2016 cooperation pact.
Could a Sunak Falklands moment save his chances of reelection?
Bloody hell not again. The Argentinians need to give this a rest.
Of course national fervour doesn't make sense, we have our own examples of that, but the Argentinian passion on this issue really doesn't seem to make sense to me when it's noted their claim to the islands is a rather technical one based on inheriting rights from former Spanish sovereignty, and talk about natives who don't exist. Yes there are other complexities, but the point being it's actually a rather arcane legal dispute, yet it's talked about in terms of colonialism as if someone seized Buenos Aires 2 years ago.
There is nothing Argentina can do about it anyway. The UK has a veto on any UN decision as a permanent member of the UN Security Council unlike them.
The UK also has a bigger navy and army and airforce than Argentina now
The Argies forces must be minuscule!
Google tells me Arg: 70,600 (2022) vs UK 78,000 (2020). Not sure if this is chalk and apples eg whole of HMF vs army...but it's a close run thing.
We absolutely couldn't mount another Falklands tomorrow morning that's for sure.
From what I’ve seen of the Argentine navy in Ushuaia they could barely crew one ship
However all this is replying to the mood music of Britain in retreat. Giving up the Elgin marbles. Handing back Diego Garcia. London shrinking as a world city
I can see why the argies might think now is a time to strike - psychologically - as the Uk seems in perpetual decline and in a funk of self doubt
They can think what they want, the UK on its own could still beat most nations in a war apart from the US and China, France and India would probably be a stalemate, Russia can't even beat Ukraine.
Argentina also has declined well past its peak when it was one of the wealthiest nations in the world, even in the Falklands war it had far bigger armed forces than now
Have a look at the RN and RAF in 1981 vs today - abvoe all the long range stuff.
And the Merchant Navy, when it comes to the critical STUFT ships of 1981
The Army is about as useful as a fart in a hurricane without those two when it comes to the Flaklands.
Yes we have enough submarines to sink most of the Argentine navy within a day or 2.
Plus enough aircraft carriers and submarines with Cruise Missiles to bomb the Argentine army into submission too if they ever tried invading the Falklands again even without setting any troops on land beyond the garrison already there
What a pathetic post and as so often you just talk codswallop
Indeed having been to the remote Falkland Islands with its rugged terrain and cliff lined coasts with hundreds of Islands and inlets makes it a very difficult place to wage warfare and anyway the whole idea is ridiculous
Weak, wet, pathetic, useless. If Thatcher had had your defeatist attitude in 1982 we would never have recaptured the Falklands then
Sadly you are being utterly ridiculous
You have no knowledge of the territory, our present capabilities, and the fact is we nearly didn't capture them in 1982
Indeed the loss of the Welsh guards at Bluff Cove was shocking as was the sinking of the Sheffield
1982 was very different to today
No, you are being a pathetic, defeatist wet lettuce.
The Argentine forces have also been so cut back since 1982 they are far weaker than they were then. Our submarines could sink the entire Argentine navy within a week
I’m afraid you’ll not get to witness another glorious recapture of the Falklands, because they’re not going to invade in the first place.
In any case times are very different from the early 1980s, before the internet. The invasion caught everyone by surprise. If it happened again it would be picked up by intelligence before the ships even set sail. There would probably be Argentinian sailers posting about it on Instagram.
@TLDRNewsUK 🇦🇷 Argentina has told the UK that it wants to start new talks over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands and has pulled out of a 2016 cooperation pact.
Could a Sunak Falklands moment save his chances of reelection?
Bloody hell not again. The Argentinians need to give this a rest.
Of course national fervour doesn't make sense, we have our own examples of that, but the Argentinian passion on this issue really doesn't seem to make sense to me when it's noted their claim to the islands is a rather technical one based on inheriting rights from former Spanish sovereignty, and talk about natives who don't exist. Yes there are other complexities, but the point being it's actually a rather arcane legal dispute, yet it's talked about in terms of colonialism as if someone seized Buenos Aires 2 years ago.
There is nothing Argentina can do about it anyway. The UK has a veto on any UN decision as a permanent member of the UN Security Council unlike them.
The UK also has a bigger navy and army and airforce than Argentina now
The Argies forces must be minuscule!
Google tells me Arg: 70,600 (2022) vs UK 78,000 (2020). Not sure if this is chalk and apples eg whole of HMF vs army...but it's a close run thing.
We absolutely couldn't mount another Falklands tomorrow morning that's for sure.
From what I’ve seen of the Argentine navy in Ushuaia they could barely crew one ship
However all this is replying to the mood music of Britain in retreat. Giving up the Elgin marbles. Handing back Diego Garcia. London shrinking as a world city
I can see why the argies might think now is a time to strike - psychologically - as the Uk seems in perpetual decline and in a funk of self doubt
They can think what they want, the UK on its own could still beat most nations in a war apart from the US and China, France and India would probably be a stalemate, Russia can't even beat Ukraine.
Argentina also has declined well past its peak when it was one of the wealthiest nations in the world, even in the Falklands war it had far bigger armed forces than now
Have a look at the RN and RAF in 1981 vs today - abvoe all the long range stuff.
And the Merchant Navy, when it comes to the critical STUFT ships of 1981
The Army is about as useful as a fart in a hurricane without those two when it comes to the Flaklands.
Yes we have enough submarines to sink most of the Argentine navy within a day or 2.
Plus enough aircraft carriers and submarines with Cruise Missiles to bomb the Argentine army into submission too if they ever tried invading the Falklands again even without setting any troops on land beyond the garrison already there
What a pathetic post and as so often you just talk codswallop
Indeed having been to the remote Falkland Islands with its rugged terrain and cliff lined coasts with hundreds of Islands and inlets makes it a very difficult place to wage warfare and anyway the whole idea is ridiculous
Weak, wet, pathetic, useless. If Thatcher had had your defeatist attitude in 1982 we would never have recaptured the Falklands then
Mrs T was very lucky she didn't cause the worst British military disaster in the Southern Hemisphere since the Boer War. Very, very lucky.
She didn't because she correctly went for victory at all costs and that was against an Argentine armed forces which were far stronger then than they are now
That is *precisely* why she very nearly caused a disaster.
But she didn't. Although some think her premiership was a miner tragedy.
No, but HYUFD doesn't seem to understand the concept of probability, never mind averages. Anyway I'm off to find my Protest and Survive leaflet and hide under the staircase.
In all seriousness, this is genuinely bringing back memories of how hideously risky the Falklands Campaign was, and how awful it was to see the news, in several ways, even with *much* larger forces and a dockyard system - and where would we get the mercantile ships to convert? I don't think I've ever seen my dad so shaken as by the news then. He had b een in the Navy and knew what was going on, unlike the prats who saw it solely as Thatcher's khaki election.
My recollection - may be wrong - is that the Royal Navy chiefs were pretty robust about wanting to engage. And were certainly fully behind Mrs T. I guess they had a fair idea of the implications and the risks.
@TLDRNewsUK 🇦🇷 Argentina has told the UK that it wants to start new talks over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands and has pulled out of a 2016 cooperation pact.
Could a Sunak Falklands moment save his chances of reelection?
Bloody hell not again. The Argentinians need to give this a rest.
Of course national fervour doesn't make sense, we have our own examples of that, but the Argentinian passion on this issue really doesn't seem to make sense to me when it's noted their claim to the islands is a rather technical one based on inheriting rights from former Spanish sovereignty, and talk about natives who don't exist. Yes there are other complexities, but the point being it's actually a rather arcane legal dispute, yet it's talked about in terms of colonialism as if someone seized Buenos Aires 2 years ago.
There is nothing Argentina can do about it anyway. The UK has a veto on any UN decision as a permanent member of the UN Security Council unlike them.
The UK also has a bigger navy and army and airforce than Argentina now
Have a look at an atlas. It's not the Persian Gulf.
Since the Falklands War there is also a bigger permanent British garrison on the islands, a Royal Navy ship on patrol there at all times and a Royal Navy nuclear submarine patrols regularly nearby (though the exact times and location of the latter are obviously classified)
"ship" is a posh way to describe a patrol boat. And the forces, at the far end of a long supply line, are very small.
I remember 1981 - you obviously don't.
Yes, Argentina has cut its armed forces back to far fewer than they were in Galtieri's day.
The UK does not have an army of 153,000. That is the total size of our armed forces - Army, Navy and Airforce - including reservists. Our regular army is just over 80,000 and there are another 30,000 reservists. And gven our other commitments, not least on the Eastern flank of NATO, how many of those do you seriously think we could deploy?
We are much stronger on the ground in the Falklands than we were in 1982 but at the same time much weaker overall. So I could see our forces putting up a reasonable defence but I am certainly not confident they could hold. And if they did fall then we have no chance at all of reclaiming the islands as we did in 1982.
Our commitments on the Eastern flank of NATO would obviously be temporarily abandoned given British sovereign territory had been invaded.
We have a bigger armed forces than Argentina's which are also far weaker than they were in 1982
I am sorry but you really are deluded. What we did in 1982 was extraordinary but we could do it now. We simply don't have the ships.
As an example in 1982 we sent 8 destroyers and 16 frigates as part of the task force (and that was not our entire contingent of those vessel types in the navy). The entire Royal Navy only has 6 destroyers and 12 frigates. And we don't have the crews even for all of those.
Yes we do, we have 10 times the submarines Argentina do, enough to sink most of the Argentine navy alone for starters.
We also have more surface ships too, Argentina now literally has just 1 destroyer and not a single frigate!
@TLDRNewsUK 🇦🇷 Argentina has told the UK that it wants to start new talks over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands and has pulled out of a 2016 cooperation pact.
Could a Sunak Falklands moment save his chances of reelection?
Bloody hell not again. The Argentinians need to give this a rest.
Of course national fervour doesn't make sense, we have our own examples of that, but the Argentinian passion on this issue really doesn't seem to make sense to me when it's noted their claim to the islands is a rather technical one based on inheriting rights from former Spanish sovereignty, and talk about natives who don't exist. Yes there are other complexities, but the point being it's actually a rather arcane legal dispute, yet it's talked about in terms of colonialism as if someone seized Buenos Aires 2 years ago.
There is nothing Argentina can do about it anyway. The UK has a veto on any UN decision as a permanent member of the UN Security Council unlike them.
The UK also has a bigger navy and army and airforce than Argentina now
The Argies forces must be minuscule!
Google tells me Arg: 70,600 (2022) vs UK 78,000 (2020). Not sure if this is chalk and apples eg whole of HMF vs army...but it's a close run thing.
We absolutely couldn't mount another Falklands tomorrow morning that's for sure.
From what I’ve seen of the Argentine navy in Ushuaia they could barely crew one ship
However all this is replying to the mood music of Britain in retreat. Giving up the Elgin marbles. Handing back Diego Garcia. London shrinking as a world city
I can see why the argies might think now is a time to strike - psychologically - as the Uk seems in perpetual decline and in a funk of self doubt
They can think what they want, the UK on its own could still beat most nations in a war apart from the US and China, France and India would probably be a stalemate, Russia can't even beat Ukraine.
Argentina also has declined well past its peak when it was one of the wealthiest nations in the world, even in the Falklands war it had far bigger armed forces than now
Have a look at the RN and RAF in 1981 vs today - abvoe all the long range stuff.
And the Merchant Navy, when it comes to the critical STUFT ships of 1981
The Army is about as useful as a fart in a hurricane without those two when it comes to the Flaklands.
Yes we have enough submarines to sink most of the Argentine navy within a day or 2.
Plus enough aircraft carriers and submarines with Cruise Missiles to bomb the Argentine army into submission too if they ever tried invading the Falklands again even without setting any troops on land beyond the garrison already there
What a pathetic post and as so often you just talk codswallop
Indeed having been to the remote Falkland Islands with its rugged terrain and cliff lined coasts with hundreds of Islands and inlets makes it a very difficult place to wage warfare and anyway the whole idea is ridiculous
Weak, wet, pathetic, useless. If Thatcher had had your defeatist attitude in 1982 we would never have recaptured the Falklands then
Mrs T was very lucky she didn't cause the worst British military disaster in the Southern Hemisphere since the Boer War. Very, very lucky.
She didn't because she correctly went for victory at all costs and that was against an Argentine armed forces which were far stronger then than they are now
That is *precisely* why she very nearly caused a disaster.
But she didn't. Although some think her premiership was a miner tragedy.
No, but HYUFD doesn't seem to understand the concept of probability, never mind averages. Anyway I'm off to find my Protest and Survive leaflet and hide under the staircase.
In all seriousness, this is genuinely bringing back memories of how hideously risky the Falklands Campaign was, and how awful it was to see the news, in several ways, even with *much* larger forces and a dockyard system - and where would we get the mercantile ships to convert? I don't think I've ever seen my dad so shaken as by the news then. He had b een in the Navy and knew what was going on, unlike the prats who saw it solely as Thatcher's khaki election.
I suppose the younger people here have never heard on the news that a British naval ship has been sunk.
@TLDRNewsUK 🇦🇷 Argentina has told the UK that it wants to start new talks over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands and has pulled out of a 2016 cooperation pact.
Could a Sunak Falklands moment save his chances of reelection?
Bloody hell not again. The Argentinians need to give this a rest.
Of course national fervour doesn't make sense, we have our own examples of that, but the Argentinian passion on this issue really doesn't seem to make sense to me when it's noted their claim to the islands is a rather technical one based on inheriting rights from former Spanish sovereignty, and talk about natives who don't exist. Yes there are other complexities, but the point being it's actually a rather arcane legal dispute, yet it's talked about in terms of colonialism as if someone seized Buenos Aires 2 years ago.
There is nothing Argentina can do about it anyway. The UK has a veto on any UN decision as a permanent member of the UN Security Council unlike them.
The UK also has a bigger navy and army and airforce than Argentina now
The Argies forces must be minuscule!
Google tells me Arg: 70,600 (2022) vs UK 78,000 (2020). Not sure if this is chalk and apples eg whole of HMF vs army...but it's a close run thing.
We absolutely couldn't mount another Falklands tomorrow morning that's for sure.
From what I’ve seen of the Argentine navy in Ushuaia they could barely crew one ship
However all this is replying to the mood music of Britain in retreat. Giving up the Elgin marbles. Handing back Diego Garcia. London shrinking as a world city
I can see why the argies might think now is a time to strike - psychologically - as the Uk seems in perpetual decline and in a funk of self doubt
They can think what they want, the UK on its own could still beat most nations in a war apart from the US and China, France and India would probably be a stalemate, Russia can't even beat Ukraine.
Argentina also has declined well past its peak when it was one of the wealthiest nations in the world, even in the Falklands war it had far bigger armed forces than now
Have a look at the RN and RAF in 1981 vs today - abvoe all the long range stuff.
And the Merchant Navy, when it comes to the critical STUFT ships of 1981
The Army is about as useful as a fart in a hurricane without those two when it comes to the Flaklands.
Yes we have enough submarines to sink most of the Argentine navy within a day or 2.
Plus enough aircraft carriers and submarines with Cruise Missiles to bomb the Argentine army into submission too if they ever tried invading the Falklands again even without setting any troops on land beyond the garrison already there
What a pathetic post and as so often you just talk codswallop
Indeed having been to the remote Falkland Islands with its rugged terrain and cliff lined coasts with hundreds of Islands and inlets makes it a very difficult place to wage warfare and anyway the whole idea is ridiculous
Weak, wet, pathetic, useless. If Thatcher had had your defeatist attitude in 1982 we would never have recaptured the Falklands then
Sadly you are being utterly ridiculous
You have no knowledge of the territory, our present capabilities, and the fact is we nearly didn't capture them in 1982
Indeed the loss of the Welsh guards at Bluff Cove was shocking as was the sinking of the Sheffield
1982 was very different to today
No, you are being a pathetic, defeatist wet lettuce.
The Argentine forces have also been so cut back since 1982 they are far weaker than they were then. Our submarines could sink the entire Argentine navy within a week
Couldn’t they weaponise Messi against us though 😟
Edit. Wait. Did someone mention they’ve seen Lettuce today?
Did they also have tomatoes and cucumber?
Lidl yesterday was well stocked with Tomatoes, cucumbers and lettuce. I didn't buy any as I don't eat imported fruit and veg that can be grown here. So I eat seasonally (apart from the occasional treat of hothouse tomatoes from the IoW).
Has any PB-er tried this miracle weight loss drug Ozempic?
As avowed by Jez Clarkson, most of Hollywood, and now David Aaronovitch in today’s Times?
It sounds amazing. And I’ve just discovered that a chunky female relative of mine has been on it for 5 weeks and has lost 10 pounds (without trying). And she has struggled with weight all of her life
I’ve got 12 pounds of Covid lard that will not shift. I’m gonna try this
I have a colleague who has taken it for a while, he said it's been great for getting the weight down but it has taken all of the enjoyment of food out of life for him. I think for someone like you where going to a great restaurant and enjoying the food it will probably be a big hit to your life quality vs doing a bit of extra exercise.
My relative says this is not her experience
She still really enjoys food, she just eats less
But I hear you: I will do a short term experiment
Given that you are based in Inner London and spend time there - in perhaps the best patch of cycling infrastructure in the entire country - I'd suggest taking a look at getting a Brompton folder for your local travel, which you can fold down in 20s and take anywhere you need to go.
IMO far better than flapping about will pill-rollers.
If you want to have a tryout, see if they will lend you one or hire one for £5 a day for a couple of weeks from a railway station such as St Pancras.
With respect, why the flaming flatulent fuck would I want to do that?
I eat very healthily and well. I walk daily. I go to the gym daily. I am fit. I don’t smoke. I drink too much
But as I’ve aged I find I can’t shift that last 10-15 pounds of chunk like I used to do (with ease)
Maybe god wants me a stone heavier? If so, fair enough
But I am intrigued enough by this medication to give it a go. At the very least it will be interesting
I bought a Brompton just before lockdown. On the days I go into that Leeds I go to a park and ride and cycle the last four miles into the city centre. I love riding that thing. Tons of the things in Leeds but when I ride it in my manor - I’ve got one of the bags that goes in the front so I can nip to the supermarket on it - I do get some funny looks. I do look like a right middle-class wanker like. My right-leaning friend mocks me for betraying my working-class roots. Calls it my bourgeois bike.
Wouldn’t be without it though, it’s a great bit of kit. Helps keep the gut manageable. You do feel like a right smug twat folding it up and putting in a shopping trolley. Went to a pub last night on it, got some funny looks walking in with it all folded up. Love it.
Given the price I would constantly worry about it getting nicked. Do you always carry it round in the bag when not riding it?
Essentially, yes - but no absolute need for the bag. You probably get free theft and liability insurance with your House Policy.
With prices from £900 (steel) to £5k (titanium), including E-Bromptons and others somewhere in the middle, that seems pretty good value to me. They sell 70k a year, so the prices seem competitive.
That £900 is just over half the price of a 1 year Zone 1-2 season ticket, and not much more than my new not-top-end bike from Halfords cost in 2015.
@TLDRNewsUK 🇦🇷 Argentina has told the UK that it wants to start new talks over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands and has pulled out of a 2016 cooperation pact.
Could a Sunak Falklands moment save his chances of reelection?
Bloody hell not again. The Argentinians need to give this a rest.
Of course national fervour doesn't make sense, we have our own examples of that, but the Argentinian passion on this issue really doesn't seem to make sense to me when it's noted their claim to the islands is a rather technical one based on inheriting rights from former Spanish sovereignty, and talk about natives who don't exist. Yes there are other complexities, but the point being it's actually a rather arcane legal dispute, yet it's talked about in terms of colonialism as if someone seized Buenos Aires 2 years ago.
There is nothing Argentina can do about it anyway. The UK has a veto on any UN decision as a permanent member of the UN Security Council unlike them.
The UK also has a bigger navy and army and airforce than Argentina now
The Argies forces must be minuscule!
Google tells me Arg: 70,600 (2022) vs UK 78,000 (2020). Not sure if this is chalk and apples eg whole of HMF vs army...but it's a close run thing.
We absolutely couldn't mount another Falklands tomorrow morning that's for sure.
From what I’ve seen of the Argentine navy in Ushuaia they could barely crew one ship
However all this is replying to the mood music of Britain in retreat. Giving up the Elgin marbles. Handing back Diego Garcia. London shrinking as a world city
I can see why the argies might think now is a time to strike - psychologically - as the Uk seems in perpetual decline and in a funk of self doubt
They can think what they want, the UK on its own could still beat most nations in a war apart from the US and China, France and India would probably be a stalemate, Russia can't even beat Ukraine.
Argentina also has declined well past its peak when it was one of the wealthiest nations in the world, even in the Falklands war it had far bigger armed forces than now
Have a look at the RN and RAF in 1981 vs today - abvoe all the long range stuff.
And the Merchant Navy, when it comes to the critical STUFT ships of 1981
The Army is about as useful as a fart in a hurricane without those two when it comes to the Flaklands.
Yes we have enough submarines to sink most of the Argentine navy within a day or 2.
Plus enough aircraft carriers and submarines with Cruise Missiles to bomb the Argentine army into submission too if they ever tried invading the Falklands again even without setting any troops on land beyond the garrison already there
That's thje most expensive way of shovelling peat I can think of.
How many *working* aircraft carriers? How many submarines with how many cruise missiles - bearing in midn they can't resupply at sea? How mmay needed for more urgent commitments *at home*? Who owns the software for the jets on the carriers? And so on.
2 working aircraft carriers, Argentina has 0.
We have 11 submarines, Argentina 2. Our submarines can now remain at sea for months on end, more than enough time to sink the entire Argentine fleet.
There is no more urgent commitment than recapturing the Falklands and sinking the Argentine navy if Argentina tried anything.
How long do you think it takes to get a battle fleet with logistics to the Falklands
There are normally 1 or 2 nuclear RN submarines on patrol nearby, they would sink any Argentine ship in Falklands waters and be soon joined by other RN submarines with orders to sink the entire Argentine fleet, including those in Argentine ports
Ok, this is one of the very few things I have inside info on apart from the dodgy practices of various banks.
I have a friend/acquaintance who was a relatively senior military bod, amongst a circle who would have called him out of bullshit, who was on the very bright end of the army.
Cutting a long story short he got given a job for two years with the army where he had to work. With the navy and RAF to come up with a falklands defence plan - this was about 14 years ago.
He was absolutely confident, and not one to be a John Bull, that they had the plans and materiel that ensured that retaking wasn’t an issue because the plans and kit and strategies were such that a surprise attack would be firstly not surprise and secondly so ridiculously costly that it wouldn’t work.
I can understand why Argentina might want to be opportunistic but they most likely know that their only chance is creating diplomatic opprobrium against the UK because the military option is completely a non-starter however depleted our military is.
@TLDRNewsUK 🇦🇷 Argentina has told the UK that it wants to start new talks over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands and has pulled out of a 2016 cooperation pact.
Could a Sunak Falklands moment save his chances of reelection?
Bloody hell not again. The Argentinians need to give this a rest.
Of course national fervour doesn't make sense, we have our own examples of that, but the Argentinian passion on this issue really doesn't seem to make sense to me when it's noted their claim to the islands is a rather technical one based on inheriting rights from former Spanish sovereignty, and talk about natives who don't exist. Yes there are other complexities, but the point being it's actually a rather arcane legal dispute, yet it's talked about in terms of colonialism as if someone seized Buenos Aires 2 years ago.
There is nothing Argentina can do about it anyway. The UK has a veto on any UN decision as a permanent member of the UN Security Council unlike them.
The UK also has a bigger navy and army and airforce than Argentina now
Have a look at an atlas. It's not the Persian Gulf.
Since the Falklands War there is also a bigger permanent British garrison on the islands, a Royal Navy ship on patrol there at all times and a Royal Navy nuclear submarine patrols regularly nearby (though the exact times and location of the latter are obviously classified)
"ship" is a posh way to describe a patrol boat. And the forces, at the far end of a long supply line, are very small.
I remember 1981 - you obviously don't.
Yes, Argentina has cut its armed forces back to far fewer than they were in Galtieri's day.
The UK does not have an army of 153,000. That is the total size of our armed forces - Army, Navy and Airforce - including reservists. Our regular army is just over 80,000 and there are another 30,000 reservists. And gven our other commitments, not least on the Eastern flank of NATO, how many of those do you seriously think we could deploy?
We are much stronger on the ground in the Falklands than we were in 1982 but at the same time much weaker overall. So I could see our forces putting up a reasonable defence but I am certainly not confident they could hold. And if they did fall then we have no chance at all of reclaiming the islands as we did in 1982.
Our commitments on the Eastern flank of NATO would obviously be temporarily abandoned given British sovereign territory had been invaded.
We have a bigger armed forces than Argentina's which are also far weaker than they were in 1982
I am sorry but you really are deluded. What we did in 1982 was extraordinary but we could do it now. We simply don't have the ships.
As an example in 1982 we sent 8 destroyers and 16 frigates as part of the task force (and that was not our entire contingent of those vessel types in the navy). The entire Royal Navy only has 6 destroyers and 12 frigates. And we don't have the crews even for all of those.
Yes we do. we have 10 times the submarines Argentina do, enough to sink most of the Argentine navy alone for starters.
We also have more surface ships too, Argentina now literally has just 1 destroyer and not a single frigate!
You do realise that the size of their navy is pretty much immaterial given they wouldn't be the ones trying to mount a recapture 8000 miles away? What mattered in 1982 was our ability to get men to the South Atlantic and retake the islands. We no longer have the capability to do that. As I said you are deluded. I will add remarkably ignorant as well.
@TLDRNewsUK 🇦🇷 Argentina has told the UK that it wants to start new talks over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands and has pulled out of a 2016 cooperation pact.
Could a Sunak Falklands moment save his chances of reelection?
Bloody hell not again. The Argentinians need to give this a rest.
Of course national fervour doesn't make sense, we have our own examples of that, but the Argentinian passion on this issue really doesn't seem to make sense to me when it's noted their claim to the islands is a rather technical one based on inheriting rights from former Spanish sovereignty, and talk about natives who don't exist. Yes there are other complexities, but the point being it's actually a rather arcane legal dispute, yet it's talked about in terms of colonialism as if someone seized Buenos Aires 2 years ago.
There is nothing Argentina can do about it anyway. The UK has a veto on any UN decision as a permanent member of the UN Security Council unlike them.
The UK also has a bigger navy and army and airforce than Argentina now
Have a look at an atlas. It's not the Persian Gulf.
Since the Falklands War there is also a bigger permanent British garrison on the islands, a Royal Navy ship on patrol there at all times and a Royal Navy nuclear submarine patrols regularly nearby (though the exact times and location of the latter are obviously classified)
"ship" is a posh way to describe a patrol boat. And the forces, at the far end of a long supply line, are very small.
I remember 1981 - you obviously don't.
Yes, Argentina has cut its armed forces back to far fewer than they were in Galtieri's day.
The UK does not have an army of 153,000. That is the total size of our armed forces - Army, Navy and Airforce - including reservists. Our regular army is just over 80,000 and there are another 30,000 reservists. And gven our other commitments, not least on the Eastern flank of NATO, how many of those do you seriously think we could deploy?
We are much stronger on the ground in the Falklands than we were in 1982 but at the same time much weaker overall. So I could see our forces putting up a reasonable defence but I am certainly not confident they could hold. And if they did fall then we have no chance at all of reclaiming the islands as we did in 1982.
Our commitments on the Eastern flank of NATO would obviously be temporarily abandoned given British sovereign territory had been invaded.
We have a bigger armed forces than Argentina's which are also far weaker than they were in 1982
I am sorry but you really are deluded. What we did in 1982 was extraordinary but we could do it now. We simply don't have the ships.
As an example in 1982 we sent 8 destroyers and 16 frigates as part of the task force (and that was not our entire contingent of those vessel types in the navy). The entire Royal Navy only has 6 destroyers and 12 frigates. And we don't have the crews even for all of those.
Yes we do. we have 10 times the submarines Argentina do, enough to sink most of the Argentine navy alone for starters.
We also have more surface ships too, Argentina now literally has just 1 destroyer and not a single frigate!
You do realise that the size of their navy is pretty much immaterial given they wouldn't be the ones trying to mount a recapture 8000 miles away? What mattered in 1982 was our ability to get men to the South Atlantic and retake the islands. We no longer have the capability to do that. As I said you are deluded. I will add remarkably ignorant as well.
Yes it is, we could sink their entire fleet whether in port in Buenos Aires or Falklands waters within a week.
Once that is done we then send the aircraft carriers to quickly support the Islands, using submarines to send missiles on any Argentine troops who have got on the islands in the meantime
Has any PB-er tried this miracle weight loss drug Ozempic?
As avowed by Jez Clarkson, most of Hollywood, and now David Aaronovitch in today’s Times?
It sounds amazing. And I’ve just discovered that a chunky female relative of mine has been on it for 5 weeks and has lost 10 pounds (without trying). And she has struggled with weight all of her life
I’ve got 12 pounds of Covid lard that will not shift. I’m gonna try this
I have a colleague who has taken it for a while, he said it's been great for getting the weight down but it has taken all of the enjoyment of food out of life for him. I think for someone like you where going to a great restaurant and enjoying the food it will probably be a big hit to your life quality vs doing a bit of extra exercise.
My relative says this is not her experience
She still really enjoys food, she just eats less
But I hear you: I will do a short term experiment
Given that you are based in Inner London and spend time there - in perhaps the best patch of cycling infrastructure in the entire country - I'd suggest taking a look at getting a Brompton folder for your local travel, which you can fold down in 20s and take anywhere you need to go.
IMO far better than flapping about will pill-rollers.
If you want to have a tryout, see if they will lend you one or hire one for £5 a day for a couple of weeks from a railway station such as St Pancras.
With respect, why the flaming flatulent fuck would I want to do that?
I eat very healthily and well. I walk daily. I go to the gym daily. I am fit. I don’t smoke. I drink too much
But as I’ve aged I find I can’t shift that last 10-15 pounds of chunk like I used to do (with ease)
Maybe god wants me a stone heavier? If so, fair enough
But I am intrigued enough by this medication to give it a go. At the very least it will be interesting
I bought a Brompton just before lockdown. On the days I go into that Leeds I go to a park and ride and cycle the last four miles into the city centre. I love riding that thing. Tons of the things in Leeds but when I ride it in my manor - I’ve got one of the bags that goes in the front so I can nip to the supermarket on it - I do get some funny looks. I do look like a right middle-class wanker like. My right-leaning friend mocks me for betraying my working-class roots. Calls it my bourgeois bike.
Wouldn’t be without it though, it’s a great bit of kit. Helps keep the gut manageable. You do feel like a right smug twat folding it up and putting in a shopping trolley. Went to a pub last night on it, got some funny looks walking in with it all folded up. Love it.
Given the price I would constantly worry about it getting nicked. Do you always carry it round in the bag when not riding it?
The good thing with it is that you don’t need to leave it, so there’s no chance for it to be nicked.
You can leave the seat post extended and push it along on tiny wheels attached to the frame when it’s folded, which is quite nifty but I wouldn’t want to do it for too long because it is a bit unwieldy.
The only time I leave it unattended is at work, where it’s tucked under a desk, and no-one will nick it there. If I go to a supermarket it goes in a trolley. I don’t have a bag to carry it in but I’d get one if I wanted to take it on a flight, but I can’t see me doing that. The bag I have clips on the front for carrying stuff like your laptop and a bit of shopping.
But you’re right, I wouldn’t like to leave it locked up somewhere. But you don’t have to.
Comments
Of course, if the first proposition is incorrect we're screwed, but if it is true then the second proposition also being true is less of a concern.
https://enormo-haddock.blogspot.com/2023/03/bahrain-pre-qualifying-2023.html
Consider
(a) distances
(b) other commitments.
There is zero decolonial basis for Argentina claiming any right to the Falklands. Proximity ain’t an argument. If it were the French would be hankering after the Channel Islands and the USA would be sending gunships to the Bahamas. But they don’t, they send Disney cruise ships.
Even the famously territorial Turks aren’t threatening to invade Lesvos or Rhodes (unless there’s something I’ve missed). Lesvos is a few miles off the Turkish coast.
It’s a ludicrous claim. It’s not even revanchism or irredentism. They never meaningfully had the islands to lose, nor is there an oppressed Argentinian minority seeking unification with the homeland.
Argentina also has declined well past its peak when it was one of the wealthiest nations in the world, even in the Falklands war it had far bigger armed forces than now
Seriously, that seems to be counting the TA or whatever the name is now. Not full time professionals.
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/quarterly-service-personnel-statistics-2022/quarterly-service-personnel-statistics-1-july-2022
Seen some intriguing references on Twitter to Kate's husband attending Tory leadership hustings. Possible black arts, and feeds into suspicion that she is very much a Tartan Tory.
The "Chief of Staff" role seems to have become nearly ubiquitous in both the public and private sectors. I'm not sure what a Chief of Staff does but everyone of imagined import seems to need one.
On other matters, a small move (2-3%) in the Conservatives' favour - not surprising after the wealth of positive publicity afforded Sunak earlier in the week,
We can directly compare the last two Techne polls as their limited fieldwork is available.
Among all voters, Labour leads 30-19 compared with 32-18 last week. The Don't Knows are up to 24% while the 2019 Conservative vote split 50% Conservative, 20% Labour last week but it's now 55% Conservative and 15% Labour.
Splitting out the Don't Knows, among the 65+ age group, a nine-point Labour lead (43-34) has become a two point Conservative lead (40-38). Among those aged 55-64, a 16-point Labour lead (46-30) has become a 3-point Labour lead (40-37). A Remain Labour lead of 64-15 has been trimmed to 59-17 while among Leavers a 45-28 Conservative lead has become a 48-28 Conservative lead.
The move seems to be therefore a shift of older voters who had indicated a preference for Labour back to the Conservative side - whether this develops or is just temporary is as always only a question more time and polling will answer. I'm sure we'll see the Conservatives back over 30 in polls before long but with the Budget coming, this will be a test of whether this is more than a short term blip.
And the Merchant Navy, when it comes to the critical STUFT ships of 1981
The Army is about as useful as a fart in a hurricane without those two when it comes to the Flaklands.
Plus enough aircraft carriers and submarines with Cruise Missiles to bomb the Argentine army into submission too if they ever tried invading the Falklands again even without setting any troops on land beyond the garrison already there
Wouldn’t be without it though, it’s a great bit of kit. Helps keep the gut manageable. You do feel like a right smug twat folding it up and putting in a shopping trolley. Went to a pub last night on it, got some funny looks walking in with it all folded up. Love it.
How many *working* aircraft carriers?
How many submarines with how many cruise missiles - bearing in midn they can't resupply at sea?
How mmay needed for more urgent commitments *at home*?
Who owns the software for the jets on the carriers?
And so on.
Is it me or do they still yearn for the return of Boris Johnson? You can almost feel the poor Express journos trying to decide whether they prefer Sunak to Johnson while, as OGH suggests, the Mail already seems desperate in their attempts to vilify Starmer.
The fact is today's events have probably written "Finis" to the political career of Boris Johnson whose choices are either to make money outside politics or to lurk like Churchill on the back benches in the vain hope he will be called to save Party and nation one day.
Edit: you middle class tosser.
Well, at least, I say it's had a disaster. I presume it has because that's when they always start ranting about the Falklands.
Similarly we're probably about to see an upsurge of noise about Venezuela's equally fake claim to Essequibo as the drunken Fascist Maduro tries desperately to cling on to power.
Edit: One further point: the SA commitment is taking an increasing chunk of UK forces, surely, as the latter have shrunk. For instance there are 4 RAF Typhoons, out of 137 or so in all, of which 2-3 dozen are to be retired in a couple of years, and a few will always be in deep maintenance - but not the Falklands ones obviously. And that detachment size can't be reduced eithout making a nonsense of it all, ditto the infantry company and its support detachments of loggies etc.
Indeed having been to the remote Falkland Islands with its rugged terrain and cliff lined coasts with hundreds of Islands and inlets makes it a very difficult place to wage warfare and anyway the whole idea is ridiculous
In his latest anti-British rant, Igor Korotchenko alleges London’s involvement in the murky incident in Bryansk Region and calls for the UK’s ambassador to be "kicked out of Moscow on camera"
He says the US may have more resources, but that "the Anglo-Saxon brain is in London!"
https://twitter.com/francis_scarr/status/1631677721385267201
2 - You will quite possibly get places more quickly, and see more of London.
3 - It may improve your temper
Most people I know who have been Diagnosed Type II diabetic and managed to reset their life balance enough to go into remission / become 'undiagnosed' have usually done it by giving up dodgy food and alcohol, or getting an energetic dog to walk. Those are alternative suggestions.
We are much stronger on the ground in the Falklands than we were in 1982 but at the same time much weaker overall. So I could see our forces putting up a reasonable defence but I am certainly not confident they could hold. And if they did fall then we have no chance at all of reclaiming the islands as we did in 1982.
We have 11 submarines, Argentina 2. Our submarines can now remain at sea for months on end, more than enough time to sink the entire Argentine fleet.
There is no more urgent commitment than recapturing the Falklands and sinking the Argentine navy if Argentina tried anything.
Do they actually have any aircraft yet?
We have a bigger armed forces than Argentina's which are also far weaker than they were in 1982
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-64507085
They're actually considering a currency Union with Brazil to try and get it out fo their system.
On top of that, there's a serious drought which, coupled with an outbreak of bird flu is devastating their vital agricultural sector.
And on top of that, their infrastructure is in such a poor state there are frequent widespread power cuts, including this one yesterday:
https://batimes.com.ar/news/argentina/calls-for-investigation-after-massive-power-cut-in-argentina-plunges-millions-into-darkness.phtml
And of course, in October Fernandez faces the electorate, with his government including his Vice President mired in legal tangles even as his infamous predecessor Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner displays a Trump-like denial of legal reality.
No wonder he needs some respite by bullshitting about the Falklands. Would be more surprising if he wasn't.
You'll never guess who was responsible for Sue Gray leaving the Civil Service and taking up a job with Labour. That's right, Simon Case....
Whomp whomp
There's been a lot of "moaning at the bar" wrt no significant new plans for Defence Spending, even someone in the Army recruiting the customary US General to tell the world how awful the British Army has become.
1.20: DAHEEER
4.16: TOPLIGHT
4.51: TIMESTAMP
Well, I hope they'll win but given the way my selections usually run laying them all day might be a wiser move.
You have no knowledge of the territory, our present capabilities, and the fact is we nearly didn't capture them in 1982
Indeed the loss of the Welsh guards at Bluff Cove was shocking as was the sinking of the Sheffield
1982 was very different to today
PODHWAS
In all seriousness, this is genuinely bringing back memories of how hideously risky the Falklands Campaign was, and how awful it was to see the news, in several ways, even with *much* larger forces and a dockyard system - and where would we get the mercantile ships to convert? I don't think I've ever seen my dad so shaken as by the news then. He had b een in the Navy and knew what was going on, unlike the prats who saw it solely as Thatcher's khaki election.
The risk was substantial, but there was no great risk to the greater UK. It was a bit of a UK military planner's dream war. Didn't quite work out that well though.
The Argentine forces have also been so cut back since 1982 they are far weaker than they were then. Our submarines could sink the entire Argentine navy within a week
Edit. Wait. Did someone mention they’ve seen Lettuce today?
Did they also have tomatoes and cucumber?
As an example in 1982 we sent 8 destroyers and 16 frigates as part of the task force (and that was not our entire contingent of those vessel types in the navy). The entire Royal Navy only has 6 destroyers and 12 frigates. And we don't have the crews even for all of those.
In any case times are very different from the early 1980s, before the internet. The invasion caught everyone by surprise. If it happened again it would be picked up by intelligence before the ships even set sail. There would probably be Argentinian sailers posting about it on Instagram.
You sure it’s still going to happen then? I’m pretty confident it won’t. Labour are already backtracking on the possible appointment.
We also have more surface ships too, Argentina now literally has just 1 destroyer and not a single frigate!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_active_Argentine_Navy_ships
With prices from £900 (steel) to £5k (titanium), including E-Bromptons and others somewhere in the middle, that seems pretty good value to me. They sell 70k a year, so the prices seem competitive.
That £900 is just over half the price of a 1 year Zone 1-2 season ticket, and not much more than my new not-top-end bike from Halfords cost in 2015.
I'm quite impressed.
Have a good evening, all.
I have a friend/acquaintance who was a relatively senior military bod, amongst a circle who would have called him out of bullshit, who was on the very bright end of the army.
Cutting a long story short he got given a job for two years with the army where he had to work. With the navy and RAF to come up with a falklands defence plan - this was about 14 years ago.
He was absolutely confident, and not one to be a John Bull, that they had the plans and materiel that ensured that retaking wasn’t an issue because the plans and kit and strategies were such that a surprise attack would be firstly not surprise and secondly so ridiculously costly that it wouldn’t work.
I can understand why Argentina might want to be opportunistic but they most likely know that their only chance is creating diplomatic opprobrium against the UK because the military option is completely a non-starter however depleted our military is.
Isobel is a complete prat, it is astonishing she's trusted by literally anyone
Once that is done we then send the aircraft carriers to quickly support the Islands, using submarines to send missiles on any Argentine troops who have got on the islands in the meantime
You can leave the seat post extended and push it along on tiny wheels attached to the frame when it’s folded, which is quite nifty but I wouldn’t want to do it for too long because it is a bit unwieldy.
The only time I leave it unattended is at work, where it’s tucked under a desk, and no-one will nick it there. If I go to a supermarket it goes in a trolley. I don’t have a bag to carry it in but I’d get one if I wanted to take it on a flight, but I can’t see me doing that. The bag I have clips on the front for carrying stuff like your laptop and a bit of shopping.
But you’re right, I wouldn’t like to leave it locked up somewhere. But you don’t have to.