Ukraine running out of weapons and fears losing more territory - BBC
Ukraine getting upper hand on front line - Al Jazeera
OK think ones about Bakhmut and others about Kherson but looks like a long long War to me
The ammunition situation for Ukraine is getting critical and probably delaying their Spring offensive. The alarm bells were ringing a while ago and there has been some response, especially from the US, but the burn rate in modern warfare is beyond the west’s current capacity.
It’s going to end like Korea. In a muddy, stagnant armistice
Russia will hold on to crimea. Dunno about the Donbas
Both sides are exhausted and running out of energy, money and men
The status quo will then drag on for decades
Probably. If Ukraine can return to 2014 state of play I think western support then dries up, despite strong talk, as going beyond would probably be so much harder given how entrenched it is and it will be seen as time for a 'pause'
Hope to be proven wrong.
I think Ukraine have several major advantages in equipment and intelligence. The Russians have also caused massive damage to their forces with their last offensive which has achieved very little.
The main areas of uncertainty I have are on ammunition supply and the quality of the training for the new Ukrainian units.
There's a pretty good chance that the Ukrainians surprise everyone on the upside - again - and make major gains with their impending counteroffensive, which will hopefully encourage countries to provide further support to Ukraine so that they can finish the job.
But what is “finishing the job” against a nuclear armed power governed by a tyrant? Marching on Moscow?
Putin will not give up Crimea. I suspect that is the red line where he would seriously threaten tactical nukes or do a demo explosion over the Black Sea
That show The Diplomat was good on this. When your enemy has nukes there is a limit to what you can do. Simple as
Ukraine's 1991 borders is finishing the job.
Ukraine's strategy for retaining Crimea will be similar to the one that forced a Russian retreat from annexed Kherson (supposedly sovereign Russian territory in Russian eyes). Nuclear weapons won't help them there, and we've seen that China isn't happy with the nuclear rhetoric - the consequences for their ambitions would be very bad.
If it weren't for nukes then NATO forces might already be in Moscow, so it's not like they're useless, but they're not going to be the determining factor in allowing a territorial conquest to be held onto.
Crimea though - it's all about the Naval Base isnt it? (Ok not all, but a lot). All the rest they want but has been in service of securing that port forever.
The UK is one of the least racist countries in the world, according to a massive new global study, with just 2% of Britons feeling uncomfortable about the idea of living next door to somebody of a different race. Asking whether someone would be happy living next to someone of a different race is one of the traditional ways that researchers measure racism. The data also shows that the British are amongst the most accepting countries in the world. In addition, the nation is among the highest-ranking for tolerance of gay people and immigrants
Polls have shown this for many years. Brits are just about the least racist, most tolerant people on earth. Live and let live. It’s what we do. And it’s one reason foreign people will cross sunny Europe to get to our rainy little island
That’s what makes the stance of the whining remainery guardianista left - ‘racist Brexity Britain’ - so utterly infuriating. It is an outright lie and provably wrong
The idea that some of it wasn't racist is also ridiculous. You might not be and I believe no Brexiteer on here is, but it certainly existed in some numbers. You only had to canvas to find out, which I did. Some of it was bonkers as well. Two I remember well were ' There are too many Albanians here, you only have to see them on the crime programmes' and 'There are enough blacks here already'. Neither of which were going to be reversed by Brexit anyway and trying to explain was futile.
Of course there are racists. On all sides. See the entire career of Diane Abbott
My point is that the characterization of our entire nation as racist - on the basis that we voted Brexit and this annoyed a lot of people - was a repugnant lie. And still people trot it out
Brits aren’t racist. And have not been for a long time
I remember seeing a poll in the 1990s - long before Brexit - that showed exactly this. We are a tolerant people. We have to be because we are a crowded busy island and the only way to get by is to be acceptant, even indifferent
What Brits don’t like is the sense that we are not in control of our borders. That powered the Brexit vote and that powers the anger at the boats. But that is not racism
I don't think anyone claims or characterises the 'entire nation is racist'. Far from it. I don't understand where you get that from. It clearly isn't rational as you are complaining specifically about the 'whining remainery guardianists left'. Unless they are also hypocritically racist then by definition it can't be an 'entire nation' can it? And seeing as remain got 48% and seeing as clearly lots of Brexiteers also aren't racist it sounds like you are just exaggerating like mad. What is true is there was a subset of voters who voted leave because they were racist and for that specific reason. You may also find racist remainers, but they didn't vote remain because they were racist did they because that would be bonkers?
So, we can conclude:
a) The entire nation is not racist, far from it b) Leavers are not all racists, far from it c) Some people did vote leave because they are racists
Let's keep it rational
You must be willfully blind or deaf if you don’t see lefty opinion that slights Britain as a racist hellhole
Eg from that very same Unherd article linked above
“The King’s study comes months after a UN working group claimed that ethnic minorities in Britain are “living in fear” as a result of systemic racism, and just two weeks after a separate report detailed that the UK is “not close to being a racially just society”. This new report provides a dramatic counterpoint, suggesting that Britain is, overall, a more welcoming place than its critics might suggest.“
The thing is you may come out with a valid point on something but then you completely devalue and destroy it by your ridiculous level of exaggeration and hyperbole. Your reply completely ignored everything I actually said. Of course there are nutters who believe anything. I just wonder how different are you in this context, with your exaggerations, to others who believe stuff like 'Britain is a racist hellhole'. You all go to ridiculous extremes.
Now what was wrong with what I said, namely:
a) The entire nation is not racist, far from it b) Leavers are not all racists, far from it c) Some people did vote leave because they are racists
TBF I do tend to skim your comments on the grounds that you’re really quite boring. So I may have misunderstood. Soz
And there you go again. That was completely unnecessary. It happens every time you lose an argument with me, @kinabalu, @ianb2, etc. You have a standard set of insults. There seems to be 3 - Boring, lack of intelligence compared to you, and most bizarrely gay.
I have no idea why you do it because you don't come out very well from it. Continuing the discussion, or just not, is surely the better look.
No, I find you genuinely boring, and sometimes I like to point it out for the lolz. It’s fuck all to do with ‘losing an argument’ - I wasn’t even aware we were having an argument. Which in itself is a measure of how boring you are
I use the word argument in a polite way. Discussion if you want. And if you don't think you were having one what were we doing? You said something, I disagreed, you disagreed with me, I disagreed again, each giving counter arguments (you see it is in the word) etc, etc.
And if I'm boring what does that say about you if you engage in it endlessly.
I'm afraid it does have 'fuck all with losing an argument' because we see it here all the time. You joist with @kinabalu and as usual he gets one over you and you then call him gay, or less intelligent than you, or boring. You do it all the time.
It's a trait. It is pretty transparent. And it is unnecessary.
You do realise I wind you up just to see if you come back with yet another boring, slightly pompous response? And you do, every time, which pleases me
I accept that this is childish and inane on my part but it’s 6pm in Bangkok and soon I can have a gin
Ukraine running out of weapons and fears losing more territory - BBC
Ukraine getting upper hand on front line - Al Jazeera
OK think ones about Bakhmut and others about Kherson but looks like a long long War to me
The ammunition situation for Ukraine is getting critical and probably delaying their Spring offensive. The alarm bells were ringing a while ago and there has been some response, especially from the US, but the burn rate in modern warfare is beyond the west’s current capacity.
It’s going to end like Korea. In a muddy, stagnant armistice
Russia will hold on to crimea. Dunno about the Donbas
Both sides are exhausted and running out of energy, money and men
The status quo will then drag on for decades
Probably. If Ukraine can return to 2014 state of play I think western support then dries up, despite strong talk, as going beyond would probably be so much harder given how entrenched it is and it will be seen as time for a 'pause'
Hope to be proven wrong.
I think Ukraine have several major advantages in equipment and intelligence. The Russians have also caused massive damage to their forces with their last offensive which has achieved very little.
The main areas of uncertainty I have are on ammunition supply and the quality of the training for the new Ukrainian units.
There's a pretty good chance that the Ukrainians surprise everyone on the upside - again - and make major gains with their impending counteroffensive, which will hopefully encourage countries to provide further support to Ukraine so that they can finish the job.
But what is “finishing the job” against a nuclear armed power governed by a tyrant? Marching on Moscow?
Putin will not give up Crimea. I suspect that is the red line where he would seriously threaten tactical nukes or do a demo explosion over the Black Sea
That show The Diplomat was good on this. When your enemy has nukes there is a limit to what you can do. Simple as
Is it time for the two monthly Leon freak out about the Putin nuclear armageddon? Every time before a major Ukrainian offensive it happens. Every time I tell you the same thing: Putin does not have the authority to order a nuclear attack. The Russian elite wasn't willing to have a full mobilization as it puts their sons on the front line too. They blocked him from doing that - how are they going to concede to a nuclear strike that will likely result in the deaths of their whole families? The Russians love their children too.
And Putin is weaker now than he was then. The murmurings against his rule have already started. Crimea was not Russian territory in 2013, they won't care about it not being Russian in 2025.
The bully health Secretary is now bullying his own nurses. 🤮
Why doesn’t he just flipping talk to them. Their pay has been hollowed out since 2010, having the numbers for a quality service is now relying on how committed nurses are to their profession of helping people, they will work till they drop, despite the fact pay and conditions so hollowed out.
What’s stopping Sunak’s government doing the right thing here?
Ukraine running out of weapons and fears losing more territory - BBC
Ukraine getting upper hand on front line - Al Jazeera
OK think ones about Bakhmut and others about Kherson but looks like a long long War to me
The ammunition situation for Ukraine is getting critical and probably delaying their Spring offensive. The alarm bells were ringing a while ago and there has been some response, especially from the US, but the burn rate in modern warfare is beyond the west’s current capacity.
It’s going to end like Korea. In a muddy, stagnant armistice
Russia will hold on to crimea. Dunno about the Donbas
Both sides are exhausted and running out of energy, money and men
The status quo will then drag on for decades
Probably. If Ukraine can return to 2014 state of play I think western support then dries up, despite strong talk, as going beyond would probably be so much harder given how entrenched it is and it will be seen as time for a 'pause'
Hope to be proven wrong.
I think Ukraine have several major advantages in equipment and intelligence. The Russians have also caused massive damage to their forces with their last offensive which has achieved very little.
The main areas of uncertainty I have are on ammunition supply and the quality of the training for the new Ukrainian units.
There's a pretty good chance that the Ukrainians surprise everyone on the upside - again - and make major gains with their impending counteroffensive, which will hopefully encourage countries to provide further support to Ukraine so that they can finish the job.
But what is “finishing the job” against a nuclear armed power governed by a tyrant? Marching on Moscow?
Putin will not give up Crimea. I suspect that is the red line where he would seriously threaten tactical nukes or do a demo explosion over the Black Sea
That show The Diplomat was good on this. When your enemy has nukes there is a limit to what you can do. Simple as
They used nuclear rhetoric so early it was clearly just puffery, and talk of needing to give Putin early offramps or not provide weapons to Ukraine was nonsense masquerading as realpolitik, as events have demonstrsted.
But they do have a red line somewhere, and it could be somewhere crazy. Hence the extreme caution on ramping up involvement and no prospect of mass boots on the ground etc, contrary to lame assertions the West has been reckless.
Blimey, Microsoft are not happy about their deal being scuppered are they? Bit premature to declare the EU a better place to do business when the EU regulator has not ruled yet though.
I do think that companies that throw their toys out of the pram over adverse official decisions are probably fundamentally misunderstanding psychology, particularly within the public sector.
Presumably, the theory is that next time it is confronted with a marginal decision, the decision maker will tend to err towards a favourable decision for fear of a repeat performance. In fact, I strongly suspect the reverse is true. That sort of aggression possibly works with colleagues, suppliers and so on who are dependent on you. But the natural reaction of a public body that isn't is quite likely to be "f*** you".
Yes, even if you can pull investment and hit the country hard. Politicians like businesses but wouldn't go to bat for a company moaning like that.
They might be trying to tap into general political arguments about the EU and the UK not performing well, but I dont think public, regulator or politicians would respond well to that sort of talk.
The "we'll pull investment to make a point" stuff is also almost always baloney.
When big companies make investment decisions, it involves a load of pointy-heads with a massive spreadsheet working out if the expected return is or is not over a threshold level. If it is, the investment happens. If not, it doesn't.
That's not to say that the regulatory environment is irrelevant to the spreadsheet at the margins. But the going on TV to make threats is purely performative and not reflective of the reality of how decisions are taken.
The Court rules in favour of the government in declaring the RCN strike on the 2nd May is unlawful
I don't think this is a good look for the Govt. If they move the strike to (I believe) 1 day earlier it isn't unlawful. It is a pointless victory and just makes them look pedantic. Although why the RCN did this I don't know, because they don't want the cost of re-balloting the members. I assume there is something specific about picking this day.
The Govt should use the courts against a union when the union is abusing its powers and not on a technicality even if they are in the right.
Pat Cullen and her union were in error and should have accepted it before it went to court
She didn't even attend the hearing and the strike would have been illegal, thereby removing all the protections the unions have under strike laws
The RCN now have to seek a new 6 month strike ballot and in view of the closeness of the previous one to reject the pay offer, and with other unions already having accepted it including Unison, the RCN could find the membership rejection of extending the strikes until Christmas
The Court rules in favour of the government in declaring the RCN strike on the 2nd May is unlawful
I don't think this is a good look for the Govt. If they move the strike to (I believe) 1 day earlier it isn't unlawful. It is a pointless victory and just makes them look pedantic. Although why the RCN did this I don't know, because they don't want the cost of re-balloting the members. I assume there is something specific about picking this day.
The Govt should use the courts against a union when the union is abusing its powers and not on a technicality even if they are in the right.
Might be a warning shot to dissuade more radical action later. But it looks petty.
Blimey, Microsoft are not happy about their deal being scuppered are they? Bit premature to declare the EU a better place to do business when the EU regulator has not ruled yet though.
Sony in particular are spending a lot of effort lobbying in the US. Activision are one of the top PlayStation developers, and the Japanese company is somewhat concerned about a vertical monopoly being created, whereby dozens of titles and a lot of IP ends up being exclusive to one platform.
Yes. The CMA is concerned about Microsoft owning two thirds of the cloud gaming market already, but at the moment cloud gaming is tiny compared with games consoles and PC gaming. The hope and fear is that cloud gaming will grow to dominate gaming, and Microsoft will have a de facto monopoly.
The Court rules in favour of the government in declaring the RCN strike on the 2nd May is unlawful
I don't think this is a good look for the Govt. If they move the strike to (I believe) 1 day earlier it isn't unlawful. It is a pointless victory and just makes them look pedantic. Although why the RCN did this I don't know, because they don't want the cost of re-balloting the members. I assume there is something specific about picking this day.
The Govt should use the courts against a union when the union is abusing its powers and not on a technicality even if they are in the right.
Pat Cullen and her union were in error and should have accepted it before it went to court
She didn't even attend the hearing and the strike would have been illegal, thereby removing all the protections the unions have under strike laws
The RCN now have to seek a new 6 month strike ballot and in view of the closeness of the previous one to reject the pay offer, and with other unions already having accepted it including Unison, the RCN could find the membership rejection of extending the strikes until Christmas
On the other hand, this will presumably annoy some nurses enough to make another strike ballot more likely to pass.
The bully health Secretary is now bullying his own nurses. 🤮
Why doesn’t he just flipping talk to them. Their pay has been hollowed out since 2010, having the numbers for a quality service is now relying on how committed nurses are to their profession of helping people, they will work till they drop, despite the fact pay and conditions so hollowed out.
What’s stopping Sunak’s government doing the right thing here?
They did the right thing in preventing the union acting illegally, and why should the government enter further pay talks with the RCN when other health unions have accepted just this pay offer
The UK is one of the least racist countries in the world, according to a massive new global study, with just 2% of Britons feeling uncomfortable about the idea of living next door to somebody of a different race. Asking whether someone would be happy living next to someone of a different race is one of the traditional ways that researchers measure racism. The data also shows that the British are amongst the most accepting countries in the world. In addition, the nation is among the highest-ranking for tolerance of gay people and immigrants
Polls have shown this for many years. Brits are just about the least racist, most tolerant people on earth. Live and let live. It’s what we do. And it’s one reason foreign people will cross sunny Europe to get to our rainy little island
That’s what makes the stance of the whining remainery guardianista left - ‘racist Brexity Britain’ - so utterly infuriating. It is an outright lie and provably wrong
Always reassuring when someone who thinks Tommy Robinson is a patriot and has advocated all Muslims being interned tells us that Brits aren't racist.
I never claimed that I wasn’t racist. I’d expel the ungrateful ginger Scots tomorrow, and drive them back to their smelly, midgy, peaty little hovels, isolating them all on St Kilda, where they can have anal sex with fulmars, as is their time-honored tradition. I’m just pointing out that the polls contradict Guardianista opinion of Bigoted Brexit Britain
Fulmars have a cloaca not an anus. A single aperture through which they piss, shit and get fucked. Like leavers.
That is droll
The St Kildans did some really weird shit with seabirds. eg they used to use dead seabirds as shoes
You’ve got to be quite desperate for decent footwear if you opt to wear a pair of gannets to go hiking
Better off with a pair of Doc Martins.
I am mildly obsessed with the history and culture of St Kilda
Apparently they were sex mad polyamorous hunter gathering heathens until the dour Presbyterian preachers showed up. That doomed them
I thought they were doomed by the lack of trees dooming them as they couldn’t get wood anymore but I suppose Presbyterian preachers would also cause you to lose your ardour.
I believe a prevalent theory is that the soil of St Kilda was poisoned by centuries of waste being dumped in it causing miscarriages and affecting child mortality & general life expectancy.
Waste of what sort? Are you talking about human effluent? Surely, surely, they had managed to master hygienic disposal of human waste? (And over time I would have thought that would have improved soil anyway?)
Manure and food waste. The remains of seabirds (the main part of their diet) are particularly bad for heavy metals & other toxins apparently.
Interesting. And how odd. Who would have thought seabirds would harbour heavy metals?
Talking about seabirds.
Man caught performing sex act with a seagull in alleyway
David Lee, 40, admitted to causing unnecessary suffering to the animal
The bully health Secretary is now bullying his own nurses. 🤮
Why doesn’t he just flipping talk to them. Their pay has been hollowed out since 2010, having the numbers for a quality service is now relying on how committed nurses are to their profession of helping people, they will work till they drop, despite the fact pay and conditions so hollowed out.
What’s stopping Sunak’s government doing the right thing here?
That's easy.
The pre-election tax cut warchest is pretty much empty, and proper pay rises in the public sector would drain the last farthings from it.
And whilst a cut in the headline rate of income tax isn't the only way to win an election, and would be thunderingly dishonest with everything else going on, and insane given the fiscal position, it's all the Conservatives have left to fall back on.
The UK is one of the least racist countries in the world, according to a massive new global study, with just 2% of Britons feeling uncomfortable about the idea of living next door to somebody of a different race. Asking whether someone would be happy living next to someone of a different race is one of the traditional ways that researchers measure racism. The data also shows that the British are amongst the most accepting countries in the world. In addition, the nation is among the highest-ranking for tolerance of gay people and immigrants
Polls have shown this for many years. Brits are just about the least racist, most tolerant people on earth. Live and let live. It’s what we do. And it’s one reason foreign people will cross sunny Europe to get to our rainy little island
That’s what makes the stance of the whining remainery guardianista left - ‘racist Brexity Britain’ - so utterly infuriating. It is an outright lie and provably wrong
Always reassuring when someone who thinks Tommy Robinson is a patriot and has advocated all Muslims being interned tells us that Brits aren't racist.
I never claimed that I wasn’t racist. I’d expel the ungrateful ginger Scots tomorrow, and drive them back to their smelly, midgy, peaty little hovels, isolating them all on St Kilda, where they can have anal sex with fulmars, as is their time-honored tradition. I’m just pointing out that the polls contradict Guardianista opinion of Bigoted Brexit Britain
Fulmars have a cloaca not an anus. A single aperture through which they piss, shit and get fucked. Like leavers.
That is droll
The St Kildans did some really weird shit with seabirds. eg they used to use dead seabirds as shoes
You’ve got to be quite desperate for decent footwear if you opt to wear a pair of gannets to go hiking
Better off with a pair of Doc Martins.
I am mildly obsessed with the history and culture of St Kilda
Apparently they were sex mad polyamorous hunter gathering heathens until the dour Presbyterian preachers showed up. That doomed them
I thought they were doomed by the lack of trees dooming them as they couldn’t get wood anymore but I suppose Presbyterian preachers would also cause you to lose your ardour.
I believe a prevalent theory is that the soil of St Kilda was poisoned by centuries of waste being dumped in it causing miscarriages and affecting child mortality & general life expectancy.
Waste of what sort? Are you talking about human effluent? Surely, surely, they had managed to master hygienic disposal of human waste? (And over time I would have thought that would have improved soil anyway?)
Manure and food waste. The remains of seabirds (the main part of their diet) are particularly bad for heavy metals & other toxins apparently.
Interesting. And how odd. Who would have thought seabirds would harbour heavy metals?
Talking about seabirds.
Man caught performing sex act with a seagull in alleyway
David Lee, 40, admitted to causing unnecessary suffering to the animal
That's true, however this guy was from Sunderland: "CCTV footage played in court showed Mr Lee, of Roker Avenue, Sunderland, kneeling down in an alleyway at around 1am, with the animal between his legs. He is seen pulling his pants off and appearing to masturbate with the bird close to his groin area while watching pornography on his phone before kicking the bird away and walking off."
The bully health Secretary is now bullying his own nurses. 🤮
Why doesn’t he just flipping talk to them. Their pay has been hollowed out since 2010, having the numbers for a quality service is now relying on how committed nurses are to their profession of helping people, they will work till they drop, despite the fact pay and conditions so hollowed out.
What’s stopping Sunak’s government doing the right thing here?
The government think they are doing the right thing. They’re destroying the NHS. They don’t care about the suffering of all the people waiting for treatment, or the drop in nurses’ pay, and the increasingly unpleasant working conditions. This isn’t a government that cares about this country. The aim of this government is to make their paymasters even richer. And they think destroying the NHS will do that.
The UK is one of the least racist countries in the world, according to a massive new global study, with just 2% of Britons feeling uncomfortable about the idea of living next door to somebody of a different race. Asking whether someone would be happy living next to someone of a different race is one of the traditional ways that researchers measure racism. The data also shows that the British are amongst the most accepting countries in the world. In addition, the nation is among the highest-ranking for tolerance of gay people and immigrants
Polls have shown this for many years. Brits are just about the least racist, most tolerant people on earth. Live and let live. It’s what we do. And it’s one reason foreign people will cross sunny Europe to get to our rainy little island
That’s what makes the stance of the whining remainery guardianista left - ‘racist Brexity Britain’ - so utterly infuriating. It is an outright lie and provably wrong
Always reassuring when someone who thinks Tommy Robinson is a patriot and has advocated all Muslims being interned tells us that Brits aren't racist.
I never claimed that I wasn’t racist. I’d expel the ungrateful ginger Scots tomorrow, and drive them back to their smelly, midgy, peaty little hovels, isolating them all on St Kilda, where they can have anal sex with fulmars, as is their time-honored tradition. I’m just pointing out that the polls contradict Guardianista opinion of Bigoted Brexit Britain
Fulmars have a cloaca not an anus. A single aperture through which they piss, shit and get fucked. Like leavers.
That is droll
The St Kildans did some really weird shit with seabirds. eg they used to use dead seabirds as shoes
You’ve got to be quite desperate for decent footwear if you opt to wear a pair of gannets to go hiking
Better off with a pair of Doc Martins.
I am mildly obsessed with the history and culture of St Kilda
Apparently they were sex mad polyamorous hunter gathering heathens until the dour Presbyterian preachers showed up. That doomed them
I thought they were doomed by the lack of trees dooming them as they couldn’t get wood anymore but I suppose Presbyterian preachers would also cause you to lose your ardour.
I believe a prevalent theory is that the soil of St Kilda was poisoned by centuries of waste being dumped in it causing miscarriages and affecting child mortality & general life expectancy.
Waste of what sort? Are you talking about human effluent? Surely, surely, they had managed to master hygienic disposal of human waste? (And over time I would have thought that would have improved soil anyway?)
Manure and food waste. The remains of seabirds (the main part of their diet) are particularly bad for heavy metals & other toxins apparently.
Interesting. And how odd. Who would have thought seabirds would harbour heavy metals?
Talking about seabirds.
Man caught performing sex act with a seagull in alleyway
David Lee, 40, admitted to causing unnecessary suffering to the animal
That's true, however this guy was from Sunderland: "CCTV footage played in court showed Mr Lee, of Roker Avenue, Sunderland, kneeling down in an alleyway at around 1am, with the animal between his legs. He is seen pulling his pants off and appearing to masturbate with the bird close to his groin area while watching pornography on his phone before kicking the bird away and walking off."
The UK is one of the least racist countries in the world, according to a massive new global study, with just 2% of Britons feeling uncomfortable about the idea of living next door to somebody of a different race. Asking whether someone would be happy living next to someone of a different race is one of the traditional ways that researchers measure racism. The data also shows that the British are amongst the most accepting countries in the world. In addition, the nation is among the highest-ranking for tolerance of gay people and immigrants
Blimey, Microsoft are not happy about their deal being scuppered are they? Bit premature to declare the EU a better place to do business when the EU regulator has not ruled yet though.
Sony in particular are spending a lot of effort lobbying in the US. Activision are one of the top PlayStation developers, and the Japanese company is somewhat concerned about a vertical monopoly being created, whereby dozens of titles and a lot of IP ends up being exclusive to one platform.
Yes. The CMA is concerned about Microsoft owning two thirds of the cloud gaming market already, but at the moment cloud gaming is tiny compared with games consoles and PC gaming. The hope and fear is that cloud gaming will grow to dominate gaming, and Microsoft will have a de facto monopoly.
That's very much what they have in mind when talking about stifling innovation.
I think the CMA decision essentially correct - big tech is very fond of establishing effective monopolies on market segments, and doing so when that segment is at early stages of development is the best way to do it.
Of course if the US and EU disagree with us, it's a bit awkward.
The bully health Secretary is now bullying his own nurses. 🤮
Why doesn’t he just flipping talk to them. Their pay has been hollowed out since 2010, having the numbers for a quality service is now relying on how committed nurses are to their profession of helping people, they will work till they drop, despite the fact pay and conditions so hollowed out.
What’s stopping Sunak’s government doing the right thing here?
That's easy.
The pre-election tax cut warchest is pretty much empty, and proper pay rises in the public sector would drain the last farthings from it.
And whilst a cut in the headline rate of income tax isn't the only way to win an election, and would be thunderingly dishonest with everything else going on, and insane given the fiscal position, it's all the Conservatives have left to fall back on.
So the Tory plan is for Sunak to turn into Truss a year or so from now?
The bully health Secretary is now bullying his own nurses. 🤮
Why doesn’t he just flipping talk to them. Their pay has been hollowed out since 2010, having the numbers for a quality service is now relying on how committed nurses are to their profession of helping people, they will work till they drop, despite the fact pay and conditions so hollowed out.
What’s stopping Sunak’s government doing the right thing here?
The government think they are doing the right thing. They’re destroying the NHS. They don’t care about the suffering of all the people waiting for treatment, or the drop in nurses’ pay, and the increasingly unpleasant working conditions. This isn’t a government that cares about this country. The aim of this government is to make their paymasters even richer. And they think destroying the NHS will do that.
Why then have Unison and other health unions accepted this same pay offer
The Court rules in favour of the government in declaring the RCN strike on the 2nd May is unlawful
I don't think this is a good look for the Govt. If they move the strike to (I believe) 1 day earlier it isn't unlawful. It is a pointless victory and just makes them look pedantic. Although why the RCN did this I don't know, because they don't want the cost of re-balloting the members. I assume there is something specific about picking this day.
The Govt should use the courts against a union when the union is abusing its powers and not on a technicality even if they are in the right.
I think the Government are right on this narrow point.
The point of having a defined legal process is that there is a black and white position on whether or not a strike on a particular day is lawful - you don't get into an argument over the merits of the cause, or the individuals involved - process was either followed or not. As soon as you get to saying "well, we'll only enforce if it's irregular ENOUGH" you beg the question as to what that means and are lost in shades of grey.
One thing I would say is I hope the Government bear this in mind the next time they run into legal problems over a policy like immigration and feel tempted to say get annoyed about losing on a "technicality". In many respects, a "technicality" is simply a rule designed for clarity and certainty. They won't bear it in mind, of course, but one can hope.
The UK is one of the least racist countries in the world, according to a massive new global study, with just 2% of Britons feeling uncomfortable about the idea of living next door to somebody of a different race. Asking whether someone would be happy living next to someone of a different race is one of the traditional ways that researchers measure racism. The data also shows that the British are amongst the most accepting countries in the world. In addition, the nation is among the highest-ranking for tolerance of gay people and immigrants
Polls have shown this for many years. Brits are just about the least racist, most tolerant people on earth. Live and let live. It’s what we do. And it’s one reason foreign people will cross sunny Europe to get to our rainy little island
That’s what makes the stance of the whining remainery guardianista left - ‘racist Brexity Britain’ - so utterly infuriating. It is an outright lie and provably wrong
Always reassuring when someone who thinks Tommy Robinson is a patriot and has advocated all Muslims being interned tells us that Brits aren't racist.
I never claimed that I wasn’t racist. I’d expel the ungrateful ginger Scots tomorrow, and drive them back to their smelly, midgy, peaty little hovels, isolating them all on St Kilda, where they can have anal sex with fulmars, as is their time-honored tradition. I’m just pointing out that the polls contradict Guardianista opinion of Bigoted Brexit Britain
Fulmars have a cloaca not an anus. A single aperture through which they piss, shit and get fucked. Like leavers.
That is droll
The St Kildans did some really weird shit with seabirds. eg they used to use dead seabirds as shoes
You’ve got to be quite desperate for decent footwear if you opt to wear a pair of gannets to go hiking
Better off with a pair of Doc Martins.
I am mildly obsessed with the history and culture of St Kilda
Apparently they were sex mad polyamorous hunter gathering heathens until the dour Presbyterian preachers showed up. That doomed them
I thought they were doomed by the lack of trees dooming them as they couldn’t get wood anymore but I suppose Presbyterian preachers would also cause you to lose your ardour.
I believe a prevalent theory is that the soil of St Kilda was poisoned by centuries of waste being dumped in it causing miscarriages and affecting child mortality & general life expectancy.
Waste of what sort? Are you talking about human effluent? Surely, surely, they had managed to master hygienic disposal of human waste? (And over time I would have thought that would have improved soil anyway?)
Manure and food waste. The remains of seabirds (the main part of their diet) are particularly bad for heavy metals & other toxins apparently.
Interesting. And how odd. Who would have thought seabirds would harbour heavy metals?
Came from the birds’ own diet it seems. All about the food chain!
That is properly fascinating. I thought I knew every last weird detail about St Kilda, and here’s another one. Gratitude
I first heard about it on Timewatch or something similar. Being slowly poisoned by the place that cradles you and which you love has a bit of mythic power to it.
It’s extraordinary. And it feels like a horribly apt metaphor for something bigger
St Kilda deserves an amazing novel or movie. Quite hard to work up a plot tho. Hmm
Far right journalist decides to visit St Kilda to see if it can be the new Madagascar for Muslims.
Tsk
But - weirdly - that’s actually not bad. The way you tell the story is by an attempt to resettle the island. Some hippies maybe. Not Muslim hippies. Plain old woowoo hippies going off grid. Then the ghosts of the poisoned pagan past re-emerge
OOOOH. The eco loons end up killing each other and wearing kittiwakes as slippers
Isn't that the plot of The Wicker Man?
Not the proper one, maybe the inferior remake with Nic Cage in the main role - the bees. the bees.
Another angle on Kilda as some of you are interested in the place - a letter I received in my day job, which I found pretty persuasive: Essentially huge numbers of wild sheep are being left to starve every year.
We are vets in the Western Isles and for a number of years we have been trying to persuade the National Trust for Scotland (NTS) to manage the feral sheep on St Kilda to reduce winter starvation due to overpopulation. On Hirta a cull would not be necessary as 60% of the Village Bay flock are captured for research purposes every summer and removal of some animals for sale to Rare Breed flocks would not be difficult. NTS have refused to change their policy of non-management.
The recently published Soay Sheep Project Report for 2022 describes last winter's mortality as "moderately high". No figures are ever given for number of deaths but from the counts, it is easy to calculate that 987 adults died (ie 46% of the adults). The vast majority of these deaths will have occurred in late winter from starvation (exacerbated by parasitism). In addition, 33% of the 2022 lambs died. The average yearly adult mortality over the past two decades is over 600 (35%) with a further 200 lambs dying in spring. High mortality from starvation has been known about since the first study of the sheep 60 years ago.
Physiological traits that are a legacy of domestication leads to rapid overpopulation on islands where there are no predators and no means of dispersal. Scottish Government's position is that the sheep are not protected by the Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006, despite the Guidance to the Act making it clear that feral livestock are protected. We have raised a petition to Scottish Parliament asking that MSP's reconsider this decision. It can be viewed at: https://petitions.parliament.scot/petitions/PE2021
Ukraine running out of weapons and fears losing more territory - BBC
Ukraine getting upper hand on front line - Al Jazeera
OK think ones about Bakhmut and others about Kherson but looks like a long long War to me
The ammunition situation for Ukraine is getting critical and probably delaying their Spring offensive. The alarm bells were ringing a while ago and there has been some response, especially from the US, but the burn rate in modern warfare is beyond the west’s current capacity.
It’s going to end like Korea. In a muddy, stagnant armistice
Russia will hold on to crimea. Dunno about the Donbas
Both sides are exhausted and running out of energy, money and men
The status quo will then drag on for decades
Probably. If Ukraine can return to 2014 state of play I think western support then dries up, despite strong talk, as going beyond would probably be so much harder given how entrenched it is and it will be seen as time for a 'pause'
Hope to be proven wrong.
I think Ukraine have several major advantages in equipment and intelligence. The Russians have also caused massive damage to their forces with their last offensive which has achieved very little.
The main areas of uncertainty I have are on ammunition supply and the quality of the training for the new Ukrainian units.
There's a pretty good chance that the Ukrainians surprise everyone on the upside - again - and make major gains with their impending counteroffensive, which will hopefully encourage countries to provide further support to Ukraine so that they can finish the job.
But what is “finishing the job” against a nuclear armed power governed by a tyrant? Marching on Moscow?
Putin will not give up Crimea. I suspect that is the red line where he would seriously threaten tactical nukes or do a demo explosion over the Black Sea
That show The Diplomat was good on this. When your enemy has nukes there is a limit to what you can do. Simple as
They used nuclear rhetoric so early it was clearly just puffery, and talk of needing to give Putin early offramps or not provide weapons to Ukraine was nonsense masquerading as realpolitik, as events have demonstrsted.
But they do have a red line somewhere, and it could be somewhere crazy. Hence the extreme caution on ramping up involvement and no prospect of mass boots on the ground etc, contrary to lame assertions the West has been reckless.
Losing Crimea in the sense that Ukraine militarily defeat the RF forces there would definitely/probably/possibly be the end of Putin. What comes next? Dimon? Who knows other than it definitely wouldn't be Shoigu. The next RF President would immediately have to satiate an enormous sense of greivance and blood lust among the RF population though. So, at the very least, it would be total 100% WW2 style mobilisation and all out war while there was savage internecine conflict at the top of the RF government. If a nuke did pop off in those circumstances it could easily by accident or a freelancing general.
The bully health Secretary is now bullying his own nurses. 🤮
Why doesn’t he just flipping talk to them. Their pay has been hollowed out since 2010, having the numbers for a quality service is now relying on how committed nurses are to their profession of helping people, they will work till they drop, despite the fact pay and conditions so hollowed out.
What’s stopping Sunak’s government doing the right thing here?
The government think they are doing the right thing. They’re destroying the NHS. They don’t care about the suffering of all the people waiting for treatment, or the drop in nurses’ pay, and the increasingly unpleasant working conditions. This isn’t a government that cares about this country. The aim of this government is to make their paymasters even richer. And they think destroying the NHS will do that.
The UK is one of the least racist countries in the world, according to a massive new global study, with just 2% of Britons feeling uncomfortable about the idea of living next door to somebody of a different race. Asking whether someone would be happy living next to someone of a different race is one of the traditional ways that researchers measure racism. The data also shows that the British are amongst the most accepting countries in the world. In addition, the nation is among the highest-ranking for tolerance of gay people and immigrants
Polls have shown this for many years. Brits are just about the least racist, most tolerant people on earth. Live and let live. It’s what we do. And it’s one reason foreign people will cross sunny Europe to get to our rainy little island
That’s what makes the stance of the whining remainery guardianista left - ‘racist Brexity Britain’ - so utterly infuriating. It is an outright lie and provably wrong
Always reassuring when someone who thinks Tommy Robinson is a patriot and has advocated all Muslims being interned tells us that Brits aren't racist.
I never claimed that I wasn’t racist. I’d expel the ungrateful ginger Scots tomorrow, and drive them back to their smelly, midgy, peaty little hovels, isolating them all on St Kilda, where they can have anal sex with fulmars, as is their time-honored tradition. I’m just pointing out that the polls contradict Guardianista opinion of Bigoted Brexit Britain
Fulmars have a cloaca not an anus. A single aperture through which they piss, shit and get fucked. Like leavers.
That is droll
The St Kildans did some really weird shit with seabirds. eg they used to use dead seabirds as shoes
You’ve got to be quite desperate for decent footwear if you opt to wear a pair of gannets to go hiking
Better off with a pair of Doc Martins.
I am mildly obsessed with the history and culture of St Kilda
Apparently they were sex mad polyamorous hunter gathering heathens until the dour Presbyterian preachers showed up. That doomed them
I thought they were doomed by the lack of trees dooming them as they couldn’t get wood anymore but I suppose Presbyterian preachers would also cause you to lose your ardour.
I believe a prevalent theory is that the soil of St Kilda was poisoned by centuries of waste being dumped in it causing miscarriages and affecting child mortality & general life expectancy.
Waste of what sort? Are you talking about human effluent? Surely, surely, they had managed to master hygienic disposal of human waste? (And over time I would have thought that would have improved soil anyway?)
Manure and food waste. The remains of seabirds (the main part of their diet) are particularly bad for heavy metals & other toxins apparently.
Interesting. And how odd. Who would have thought seabirds would harbour heavy metals?
Came from the birds’ own diet it seems. All about the food chain!
From that article: "Radio-carbon dating of one settlement in Village Glen indicates 3850 BC as the earliest settlement on Hirta." - they'd been there for nearly 6,000 years! Surely Britain 6,000 years ago was virtually empty. They could have chosen to live anywhere. And they chose St. Kilda. These were some very odd people indeed.
Worth remembering that, until quite recently, travelling by land was a lot slower than travelling by sea. Islands were less remote than the interior away from the coast. And then you have the wealth of the available seafood.
But - IIRC - they rarely fished. They didn’t eat the fish all around them. Seabirds yes. Fish no
Or so I was told by the guide who took me there. He said that in bad seasons they could get close to famine - despite being surrounded by vast shoals of lovely mackerel and cod and the rest
Interesting, I didn't know that.
I was making a general point about remote islands in general, really.
One of the explanations for why the Greenland Norse died out was that they stopped eating shellfish for some reason, and so when other sources of food failed they didn't have that to fall back on.
In my experience Outer Hebrideans in general were quite uninterested in crustaceans despite its abundance, it was always herring, mackerel, some white fish, and possibly salmon as a treat. The great Hebridean food nostalgia which characterises many diasporas and was felt by my gran and dad revolves around salt herring, mutton and in some cases Guga,
Ukraine running out of weapons and fears losing more territory - BBC
Ukraine getting upper hand on front line - Al Jazeera
OK think ones about Bakhmut and others about Kherson but looks like a long long War to me
The ammunition situation for Ukraine is getting critical and probably delaying their Spring offensive. The alarm bells were ringing a while ago and there has been some response, especially from the US, but the burn rate in modern warfare is beyond the west’s current capacity.
It’s going to end like Korea. In a muddy, stagnant armistice
Russia will hold on to crimea. Dunno about the Donbas
Both sides are exhausted and running out of energy, money and men
The status quo will then drag on for decades
Probably. If Ukraine can return to 2014 state of play I think western support then dries up, despite strong talk, as going beyond would probably be so much harder given how entrenched it is and it will be seen as time for a 'pause'
Hope to be proven wrong.
I think Ukraine have several major advantages in equipment and intelligence. The Russians have also caused massive damage to their forces with their last offensive which has achieved very little.
The main areas of uncertainty I have are on ammunition supply and the quality of the training for the new Ukrainian units.
There's a pretty good chance that the Ukrainians surprise everyone on the upside - again - and make major gains with their impending counteroffensive, which will hopefully encourage countries to provide further support to Ukraine so that they can finish the job.
But what is “finishing the job” against a nuclear armed power governed by a tyrant? Marching on Moscow?
Putin will not give up Crimea. I suspect that is the red line where he would seriously threaten tactical nukes or do a demo explosion over the Black Sea
That show The Diplomat was good on this. When your enemy has nukes there is a limit to what you can do. Simple as
Indeed. The PB Toy Soldiers are fans of tough talk like "finishing the job" and "doing everything it takes" – of course, when you ask them to clearly define what they mean it turns out they mean nothing much at all.
What title would you give Liz Truss’ semi-autobiographical manifesto?
The Story of Oh Shit
“Dear Oh Dear” The True Story of how a Republican Lib Dem Sleeper Agent Assassinated the Queen and was then destroyed by an undercover MI5 trained lettuce
The bully health Secretary is now bullying his own nurses. 🤮
Why doesn’t he just flipping talk to them. Their pay has been hollowed out since 2010, having the numbers for a quality service is now relying on how committed nurses are to their profession of helping people, they will work till they drop, despite the fact pay and conditions so hollowed out.
What’s stopping Sunak’s government doing the right thing here?
That's easy.
The pre-election tax cut warchest is pretty much empty, and proper pay rises in the public sector would drain the last farthings from it.
And whilst a cut in the headline rate of income tax isn't the only way to win an election, and would be thunderingly dishonest with everything else going on, and insane given the fiscal position, it's all the Conservatives have left to fall back on.
So the Tory plan is for Sunak to turn into Truss a year or so from now?
That really would be 'brave'.
Better calculated and calibrated than that, I suspect. But as long as inflation continues, the government's policy of freezing tax thresholds is bringing in a handy windfall, which I am confident is being stored to generate "JEREMY TELLS BRITAIN: 2p OFF!" headlines at the next budget.
But he won't be able to do that if all those awful public sector staff insist on pay rises.
(Remember folks, this isn't just about paying enough to stave off strikes now, it's about paying enough to make the job attractive to people who can go and do other stuff. Here's the latest from the land of teacher training;
DfE has published 2023 ITT targets: expects to need more trainees in subjects that are already struggling to recruit, further compounding teacher supply challenge
Our updated forecast suggests LESS THAN HALF of required secondary trainees will be recruited this year.
How the hell do you spend £300m on the *design* of a building? That should be the cost of the building itself, yet we all wonder why there’s so much opposition to the whole project.
Ukraine running out of weapons and fears losing more territory - BBC
Ukraine getting upper hand on front line - Al Jazeera
OK think ones about Bakhmut and others about Kherson but looks like a long long War to me
The ammunition situation for Ukraine is getting critical and probably delaying their Spring offensive. The alarm bells were ringing a while ago and there has been some response, especially from the US, but the burn rate in modern warfare is beyond the west’s current capacity.
It’s going to end like Korea. In a muddy, stagnant armistice
Russia will hold on to crimea. Dunno about the Donbas
Both sides are exhausted and running out of energy, money and men
The status quo will then drag on for decades
Probably. If Ukraine can return to 2014 state of play I think western support then dries up, despite strong talk, as going beyond would probably be so much harder given how entrenched it is and it will be seen as time for a 'pause'
Hope to be proven wrong.
I think Ukraine have several major advantages in equipment and intelligence. The Russians have also caused massive damage to their forces with their last offensive which has achieved very little.
The main areas of uncertainty I have are on ammunition supply and the quality of the training for the new Ukrainian units.
There's a pretty good chance that the Ukrainians surprise everyone on the upside - again - and make major gains with their impending counteroffensive, which will hopefully encourage countries to provide further support to Ukraine so that they can finish the job.
But what is “finishing the job” against a nuclear armed power governed by a tyrant? Marching on Moscow?
Putin will not give up Crimea. I suspect that is the red line where he would seriously threaten tactical nukes or do a demo explosion over the Black Sea
That show The Diplomat was good on this. When your enemy has nukes there is a limit to what you can do. Simple as
They used nuclear rhetoric so early it was clearly just puffery, and talk of needing to give Putin early offramps or not provide weapons to Ukraine was nonsense masquerading as realpolitik, as events have demonstrsted.
But they do have a red line somewhere, and it could be somewhere crazy. Hence the extreme caution on ramping up involvement and no prospect of mass boots on the ground etc, contrary to lame assertions the West has been reckless.
Losing Crimea in the sense that Ukraine militarily defeat the RF forces there would definitely/probably/possibly be the end of Putin. What comes next? Dimon? Who knows other than it definitely wouldn't be Shoigu. The next RF President would immediately have to satiate an enormous sense of greivance and blood lust among the RF population though. So, at the very least, it would be total 100% WW2 style mobilisation and all out war while there was savage internecine conflict at the top of the RF government. If a nuke did pop off in those circumstances it could easily by accident or a freelancing general.
I think the Ukrainian strategy would be to force a Russian withdrawal from Crimea, rather than to defeat the forces there directly, by making supply of the forces there impossible, as they did for the right-bank of the Dnipro.
It's possible therefore that the withdrawal happens as part of a change of leadership which seeks to draw a line under Putin's failure - putting back a return to war until the Russian military had been rebuilt. Mobilization would be a continuation of Putin's failed policy.
Ukraine running out of weapons and fears losing more territory - BBC
Ukraine getting upper hand on front line - Al Jazeera
OK think ones about Bakhmut and others about Kherson but looks like a long long War to me
The ammunition situation for Ukraine is getting critical and probably delaying their Spring offensive. The alarm bells were ringing a while ago and there has been some response, especially from the US, but the burn rate in modern warfare is beyond the west’s current capacity.
It’s going to end like Korea. In a muddy, stagnant armistice
Russia will hold on to crimea. Dunno about the Donbas
Both sides are exhausted and running out of energy, money and men
The status quo will then drag on for decades
Probably. If Ukraine can return to 2014 state of play I think western support then dries up, despite strong talk, as going beyond would probably be so much harder given how entrenched it is and it will be seen as time for a 'pause'
Hope to be proven wrong.
I think Ukraine have several major advantages in equipment and intelligence. The Russians have also caused massive damage to their forces with their last offensive which has achieved very little.
The main areas of uncertainty I have are on ammunition supply and the quality of the training for the new Ukrainian units.
There's a pretty good chance that the Ukrainians surprise everyone on the upside - again - and make major gains with their impending counteroffensive, which will hopefully encourage countries to provide further support to Ukraine so that they can finish the job.
But what is “finishing the job” against a nuclear armed power governed by a tyrant? Marching on Moscow?
Putin will not give up Crimea. I suspect that is the red line where he would seriously threaten tactical nukes or do a demo explosion over the Black Sea
That show The Diplomat was good on this. When your enemy has nukes there is a limit to what you can do. Simple as
They used nuclear rhetoric so early it was clearly just puffery, and talk of needing to give Putin early offramps or not provide weapons to Ukraine was nonsense masquerading as realpolitik, as events have demonstrsted.
But they do have a red line somewhere, and it could be somewhere crazy. Hence the extreme caution on ramping up involvement and no prospect of mass boots on the ground etc, contrary to lame assertions the West has been reckless.
Losing Crimea in the sense that Ukraine militarily defeat the RF forces there would definitely/probably/possibly be the end of Putin. What comes next? Dimon? Who knows other than it definitely wouldn't be Shoigu. The next RF President would immediately have to satiate an enormous sense of greivance and blood lust among the RF population though. So, at the very least, it would be total 100% WW2 style mobilisation and all out war while there was savage internecine conflict at the top of the RF government. If a nuke did pop off in those circumstances it could easily by accident or a freelancing general.
Yes comrade, that's possible. There are also other, less dramatic and more pro-Ukrainian, possibilities.
Ukraine running out of weapons and fears losing more territory - BBC
Ukraine getting upper hand on front line - Al Jazeera
OK think ones about Bakhmut and others about Kherson but looks like a long long War to me
The ammunition situation for Ukraine is getting critical and probably delaying their Spring offensive. The alarm bells were ringing a while ago and there has been some response, especially from the US, but the burn rate in modern warfare is beyond the west’s current capacity.
It’s going to end like Korea. In a muddy, stagnant armistice
Russia will hold on to crimea. Dunno about the Donbas
Both sides are exhausted and running out of energy, money and men
The status quo will then drag on for decades
Probably. If Ukraine can return to 2014 state of play I think western support then dries up, despite strong talk, as going beyond would probably be so much harder given how entrenched it is and it will be seen as time for a 'pause'
Hope to be proven wrong.
I think Ukraine have several major advantages in equipment and intelligence. The Russians have also caused massive damage to their forces with their last offensive which has achieved very little.
The main areas of uncertainty I have are on ammunition supply and the quality of the training for the new Ukrainian units.
There's a pretty good chance that the Ukrainians surprise everyone on the upside - again - and make major gains with their impending counteroffensive, which will hopefully encourage countries to provide further support to Ukraine so that they can finish the job.
But what is “finishing the job” against a nuclear armed power governed by a tyrant? Marching on Moscow?
Putin will not give up Crimea. I suspect that is the red line where he would seriously threaten tactical nukes or do a demo explosion over the Black Sea
That show The Diplomat was good on this. When your enemy has nukes there is a limit to what you can do. Simple as
They used nuclear rhetoric so early it was clearly just puffery, and talk of needing to give Putin early offramps or not provide weapons to Ukraine was nonsense masquerading as realpolitik, as events have demonstrsted.
But they do have a red line somewhere, and it could be somewhere crazy. Hence the extreme caution on ramping up involvement and no prospect of mass boots on the ground etc, contrary to lame assertions the West has been reckless.
Losing Crimea in the sense that Ukraine militarily defeat the RF forces there would definitely/probably/possibly be the end of Putin. What comes next? Dimon? Who knows other than it definitely wouldn't be Shoigu. The next RF President would immediately have to satiate an enormous sense of greivance and blood lust among the RF population though. So, at the very least, it would be total 100% WW2 style mobilisation and all out war while there was savage internecine conflict at the top of the RF government. If a nuke did pop off in those circumstances it could easily by accident or a freelancing general.
Yes. Losing Crimea would be defeat - for Putin AND Russia. The idea a prickly declining nuclear armed great power with a corrupt elite would just “shrug this off” is delusional. It would convulse the country. 150,000 men dead and a defeat and a humiliation?!
It’s the perfect recipe for an even nastier post-Putin figure to come to power. Hitler came to power after the “humiliation” of Versailles
Yes yes I’m a cowardly appeaser who is absurdly scared of nuclear war blah blah
Ukraine running out of weapons and fears losing more territory - BBC
Ukraine getting upper hand on front line - Al Jazeera
OK think ones about Bakhmut and others about Kherson but looks like a long long War to me
The ammunition situation for Ukraine is getting critical and probably delaying their Spring offensive. The alarm bells were ringing a while ago and there has been some response, especially from the US, but the burn rate in modern warfare is beyond the west’s current capacity.
It’s going to end like Korea. In a muddy, stagnant armistice
Russia will hold on to crimea. Dunno about the Donbas
Both sides are exhausted and running out of energy, money and men
The status quo will then drag on for decades
Probably. If Ukraine can return to 2014 state of play I think western support then dries up, despite strong talk, as going beyond would probably be so much harder given how entrenched it is and it will be seen as time for a 'pause'
Hope to be proven wrong.
I think Ukraine have several major advantages in equipment and intelligence. The Russians have also caused massive damage to their forces with their last offensive which has achieved very little.
The main areas of uncertainty I have are on ammunition supply and the quality of the training for the new Ukrainian units.
There's a pretty good chance that the Ukrainians surprise everyone on the upside - again - and make major gains with their impending counteroffensive, which will hopefully encourage countries to provide further support to Ukraine so that they can finish the job.
But what is “finishing the job” against a nuclear armed power governed by a tyrant? Marching on Moscow?
Putin will not give up Crimea. I suspect that is the red line where he would seriously threaten tactical nukes or do a demo explosion over the Black Sea
That show The Diplomat was good on this. When your enemy has nukes there is a limit to what you can do. Simple as
Indeed. The PB Toy Soldiers are fans of tough talk like "finishing the job" and "doing everything it takes" – of course, when you ask them to clearly define what they mean it turns out they mean nothing much at all.
I was half surprised that Baldy Ben put the UK's C-130J fleet (plus simulators plus support equipment plus the entire spares inventory) on FB Marketplace instead of giving them to Ukraine. It's not a combat type so it's not escalatory and Ukraine could sorely use them.
The UK is one of the least racist countries in the world, according to a massive new global study, with just 2% of Britons feeling uncomfortable about the idea of living next door to somebody of a different race. Asking whether someone would be happy living next to someone of a different race is one of the traditional ways that researchers measure racism. The data also shows that the British are amongst the most accepting countries in the world. In addition, the nation is among the highest-ranking for tolerance of gay people and immigrants
Polls have shown this for many years. Brits are just about the least racist, most tolerant people on earth. Live and let live. It’s what we do. And it’s one reason foreign people will cross sunny Europe to get to our rainy little island
That’s what makes the stance of the whining remainery guardianista left - ‘racist Brexity Britain’ - so utterly infuriating. It is an outright lie and provably wrong
Always reassuring when someone who thinks Tommy Robinson is a patriot and has advocated all Muslims being interned tells us that Brits aren't racist.
I never claimed that I wasn’t racist. I’d expel the ungrateful ginger Scots tomorrow, and drive them back to their smelly, midgy, peaty little hovels, isolating them all on St Kilda, where they can have anal sex with fulmars, as is their time-honored tradition. I’m just pointing out that the polls contradict Guardianista opinion of Bigoted Brexit Britain
Fulmars have a cloaca not an anus. A single aperture through which they piss, shit and get fucked. Like leavers.
That is droll
The St Kildans did some really weird shit with seabirds. eg they used to use dead seabirds as shoes
You’ve got to be quite desperate for decent footwear if you opt to wear a pair of gannets to go hiking
Better off with a pair of Doc Martins.
I am mildly obsessed with the history and culture of St Kilda
Apparently they were sex mad polyamorous hunter gathering heathens until the dour Presbyterian preachers showed up. That doomed them
I thought they were doomed by the lack of trees dooming them as they couldn’t get wood anymore but I suppose Presbyterian preachers would also cause you to lose your ardour.
I believe a prevalent theory is that the soil of St Kilda was poisoned by centuries of waste being dumped in it causing miscarriages and affecting child mortality & general life expectancy.
Waste of what sort? Are you talking about human effluent? Surely, surely, they had managed to master hygienic disposal of human waste? (And over time I would have thought that would have improved soil anyway?)
Manure and food waste. The remains of seabirds (the main part of their diet) are particularly bad for heavy metals & other toxins apparently.
Interesting. And how odd. Who would have thought seabirds would harbour heavy metals?
Talking about seabirds.
Man caught performing sex act with a seagull in alleyway
David Lee, 40, admitted to causing unnecessary suffering to the animal
Another angle on Kilda as some of you are interested in the place - a letter I received in my day job, which I found pretty persuasive: Essentially huge numbers of wild sheep are being left to starve every year.
We are vets in the Western Isles and for a number of years we have been trying to persuade the National Trust for Scotland (NTS) to manage the feral sheep on St Kilda to reduce winter starvation due to overpopulation. On Hirta a cull would not be necessary as 60% of the Village Bay flock are captured for research purposes every summer and removal of some animals for sale to Rare Breed flocks would not be difficult. NTS have refused to change their policy of non-management.
The recently published Soay Sheep Project Report for 2022 describes last winter's mortality as "moderately high". No figures are ever given for number of deaths but from the counts, it is easy to calculate that 987 adults died (ie 46% of the adults). The vast majority of these deaths will have occurred in late winter from starvation (exacerbated by parasitism). In addition, 33% of the 2022 lambs died. The average yearly adult mortality over the past two decades is over 600 (35%) with a further 200 lambs dying in spring. High mortality from starvation has been known about since the first study of the sheep 60 years ago.
Physiological traits that are a legacy of domestication leads to rapid overpopulation on islands where there are no predators and no means of dispersal. Scottish Government's position is that the sheep are not protected by the Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006, despite the Guidance to the Act making it clear that feral livestock are protected. We have raised a petition to Scottish Parliament asking that MSP's reconsider this decision. It can be viewed at: https://petitions.parliament.scot/petitions/PE2021
David Buckland and Graham Charlesworth
Sounds like a highly unethical, and pretty batshit experiment in Darwinian evolution.
The UK is one of the least racist countries in the world, according to a massive new global study, with just 2% of Britons feeling uncomfortable about the idea of living next door to somebody of a different race. Asking whether someone would be happy living next to someone of a different race is one of the traditional ways that researchers measure racism. The data also shows that the British are amongst the most accepting countries in the world. In addition, the nation is among the highest-ranking for tolerance of gay people and immigrants
Polls have shown this for many years. Brits are just about the least racist, most tolerant people on earth. Live and let live. It’s what we do. And it’s one reason foreign people will cross sunny Europe to get to our rainy little island
That’s what makes the stance of the whining remainery guardianista left - ‘racist Brexity Britain’ - so utterly infuriating. It is an outright lie and provably wrong
Always reassuring when someone who thinks Tommy Robinson is a patriot and has advocated all Muslims being interned tells us that Brits aren't racist.
I never claimed that I wasn’t racist. I’d expel the ungrateful ginger Scots tomorrow, and drive them back to their smelly, midgy, peaty little hovels, isolating them all on St Kilda, where they can have anal sex with fulmars, as is their time-honored tradition. I’m just pointing out that the polls contradict Guardianista opinion of Bigoted Brexit Britain
Fulmars have a cloaca not an anus. A single aperture through which they piss, shit and get fucked. Like leavers.
That is droll
The St Kildans did some really weird shit with seabirds. eg they used to use dead seabirds as shoes
You’ve got to be quite desperate for decent footwear if you opt to wear a pair of gannets to go hiking
Better off with a pair of Doc Martins.
I am mildly obsessed with the history and culture of St Kilda
Apparently they were sex mad polyamorous hunter gathering heathens until the dour Presbyterian preachers showed up. That doomed them
I thought they were doomed by the lack of trees dooming them as they couldn’t get wood anymore but I suppose Presbyterian preachers would also cause you to lose your ardour.
I believe a prevalent theory is that the soil of St Kilda was poisoned by centuries of waste being dumped in it causing miscarriages and affecting child mortality & general life expectancy.
Waste of what sort? Are you talking about human effluent? Surely, surely, they had managed to master hygienic disposal of human waste? (And over time I would have thought that would have improved soil anyway?)
Manure and food waste. The remains of seabirds (the main part of their diet) are particularly bad for heavy metals & other toxins apparently.
Interesting. And how odd. Who would have thought seabirds would harbour heavy metals?
Talking about seabirds.
Man caught performing sex act with a seagull in alleyway
David Lee, 40, admitted to causing unnecessary suffering to the animal
That's true, however this guy was from Sunderland: "CCTV footage played in court showed Mr Lee, of Roker Avenue, Sunderland, kneeling down in an alleyway at around 1am, with the animal between his legs. He is seen pulling his pants off and appearing to masturbate with the bird close to his groin area while watching pornography on his phone before kicking the bird away and walking off."
That we have a law against this and are able to enforce it shows just how far we've come - but there is much still to do.
The UK is one of the least racist countries in the world, according to a massive new global study, with just 2% of Britons feeling uncomfortable about the idea of living next door to somebody of a different race. Asking whether someone would be happy living next to someone of a different race is one of the traditional ways that researchers measure racism. The data also shows that the British are amongst the most accepting countries in the world. In addition, the nation is among the highest-ranking for tolerance of gay people and immigrants
Polls have shown this for many years. Brits are just about the least racist, most tolerant people on earth. Live and let live. It’s what we do. And it’s one reason foreign people will cross sunny Europe to get to our rainy little island
That’s what makes the stance of the whining remainery guardianista left - ‘racist Brexity Britain’ - so utterly infuriating. It is an outright lie and provably wrong
Always reassuring when someone who thinks Tommy Robinson is a patriot and has advocated all Muslims being interned tells us that Brits aren't racist.
I never claimed that I wasn’t racist. I’d expel the ungrateful ginger Scots tomorrow, and drive them back to their smelly, midgy, peaty little hovels, isolating them all on St Kilda, where they can have anal sex with fulmars, as is their time-honored tradition. I’m just pointing out that the polls contradict Guardianista opinion of Bigoted Brexit Britain
Fulmars have a cloaca not an anus. A single aperture through which they piss, shit and get fucked. Like leavers.
That is droll
The St Kildans did some really weird shit with seabirds. eg they used to use dead seabirds as shoes
You’ve got to be quite desperate for decent footwear if you opt to wear a pair of gannets to go hiking
Better off with a pair of Doc Martins.
I am mildly obsessed with the history and culture of St Kilda
Apparently they were sex mad polyamorous hunter gathering heathens until the dour Presbyterian preachers showed up. That doomed them
I thought they were doomed by the lack of trees dooming them as they couldn’t get wood anymore but I suppose Presbyterian preachers would also cause you to lose your ardour.
I believe a prevalent theory is that the soil of St Kilda was poisoned by centuries of waste being dumped in it causing miscarriages and affecting child mortality & general life expectancy.
Waste of what sort? Are you talking about human effluent? Surely, surely, they had managed to master hygienic disposal of human waste? (And over time I would have thought that would have improved soil anyway?)
Manure and food waste. The remains of seabirds (the main part of their diet) are particularly bad for heavy metals & other toxins apparently.
Interesting. And how odd. Who would have thought seabirds would harbour heavy metals?
Talking about seabirds.
Man caught performing sex act with a seagull in alleyway
David Lee, 40, admitted to causing unnecessary suffering to the animal
That's true, however this guy was from Sunderland: "CCTV footage played in court showed Mr Lee, of Roker Avenue, Sunderland, kneeling down in an alleyway at around 1am, with the animal between his legs. He is seen pulling his pants off and appearing to masturbate with the bird close to his groin area while watching pornography on his phone before kicking the bird away and walking off."
An astonishing £289 million has already been spent on design fees for HS2’s problematic – and now temporarily shelved – Euston station plans.
Fake news you are peddling there I think. How do actually spend £289M of tax payers money on design fees you then binned? In contrast the SNP are all over the media over 600k alleged misuse of donations
The UK is one of the least racist countries in the world, according to a massive new global study, with just 2% of Britons feeling uncomfortable about the idea of living next door to somebody of a different race. Asking whether someone would be happy living next to someone of a different race is one of the traditional ways that researchers measure racism. The data also shows that the British are amongst the most accepting countries in the world. In addition, the nation is among the highest-ranking for tolerance of gay people and immigrants
Polls have shown this for many years. Brits are just about the least racist, most tolerant people on earth. Live and let live. It’s what we do. And it’s one reason foreign people will cross sunny Europe to get to our rainy little island
That’s what makes the stance of the whining remainery guardianista left - ‘racist Brexity Britain’ - so utterly infuriating. It is an outright lie and provably wrong
Always reassuring when someone who thinks Tommy Robinson is a patriot and has advocated all Muslims being interned tells us that Brits aren't racist.
I never claimed that I wasn’t racist. I’d expel the ungrateful ginger Scots tomorrow, and drive them back to their smelly, midgy, peaty little hovels, isolating them all on St Kilda, where they can have anal sex with fulmars, as is their time-honored tradition. I’m just pointing out that the polls contradict Guardianista opinion of Bigoted Brexit Britain
Fulmars have a cloaca not an anus. A single aperture through which they piss, shit and get fucked. Like leavers.
That is droll
The St Kildans did some really weird shit with seabirds. eg they used to use dead seabirds as shoes
You’ve got to be quite desperate for decent footwear if you opt to wear a pair of gannets to go hiking
Better off with a pair of Doc Martins.
I am mildly obsessed with the history and culture of St Kilda
Apparently they were sex mad polyamorous hunter gathering heathens until the dour Presbyterian preachers showed up. That doomed them
I thought they were doomed by the lack of trees dooming them as they couldn’t get wood anymore but I suppose Presbyterian preachers would also cause you to lose your ardour.
I believe a prevalent theory is that the soil of St Kilda was poisoned by centuries of waste being dumped in it causing miscarriages and affecting child mortality & general life expectancy.
Waste of what sort? Are you talking about human effluent? Surely, surely, they had managed to master hygienic disposal of human waste? (And over time I would have thought that would have improved soil anyway?)
Manure and food waste. The remains of seabirds (the main part of their diet) are particularly bad for heavy metals & other toxins apparently.
Interesting. And how odd. Who would have thought seabirds would harbour heavy metals?
Talking about seabirds.
Man caught performing sex act with a seagull in alleyway
David Lee, 40, admitted to causing unnecessary suffering to the animal
That's true, however this guy was from Sunderland: "CCTV footage played in court showed Mr Lee, of Roker Avenue, Sunderland, kneeling down in an alleyway at around 1am, with the animal between his legs. He is seen pulling his pants off and appearing to masturbate with the bird close to his groin area while watching pornography on his phone before kicking the bird away and walking off."
Typical mackem behaviour.
The only surprise is the Seagull is not a relative.
Ukraine running out of weapons and fears losing more territory - BBC
Ukraine getting upper hand on front line - Al Jazeera
OK think ones about Bakhmut and others about Kherson but looks like a long long War to me
The ammunition situation for Ukraine is getting critical and probably delaying their Spring offensive. The alarm bells were ringing a while ago and there has been some response, especially from the US, but the burn rate in modern warfare is beyond the west’s current capacity.
It’s going to end like Korea. In a muddy, stagnant armistice
Russia will hold on to crimea. Dunno about the Donbas
Both sides are exhausted and running out of energy, money and men
The status quo will then drag on for decades
Probably. If Ukraine can return to 2014 state of play I think western support then dries up, despite strong talk, as going beyond would probably be so much harder given how entrenched it is and it will be seen as time for a 'pause'
Hope to be proven wrong.
I think Ukraine have several major advantages in equipment and intelligence. The Russians have also caused massive damage to their forces with their last offensive which has achieved very little.
The main areas of uncertainty I have are on ammunition supply and the quality of the training for the new Ukrainian units.
There's a pretty good chance that the Ukrainians surprise everyone on the upside - again - and make major gains with their impending counteroffensive, which will hopefully encourage countries to provide further support to Ukraine so that they can finish the job.
But what is “finishing the job” against a nuclear armed power governed by a tyrant? Marching on Moscow?
Putin will not give up Crimea. I suspect that is the red line where he would seriously threaten tactical nukes or do a demo explosion over the Black Sea
That show The Diplomat was good on this. When your enemy has nukes there is a limit to what you can do. Simple as
Is it time for the two monthly Leon freak out about the Putin nuclear armageddon? Every time before a major Ukrainian offensive it happens. Every time I tell you the same thing: Putin does not have the authority to order a nuclear attack. The Russian elite wasn't willing to have a full mobilization as it puts their sons on the front line too. They blocked him from doing that - how are they going to concede to a nuclear strike that will likely result in the deaths of their whole families? The Russians love their children too.
And Putin is weaker now than he was then. The murmurings against his rule have already started. Crimea was not Russian territory in 2013, they won't care about it not being Russian in 2025.
It’s great that @WillG off of PB has this personal reassuring hotline to the Kremlin. I presume you are liaising with GCHQ
Ukraine running out of weapons and fears losing more territory - BBC
Ukraine getting upper hand on front line - Al Jazeera
OK think ones about Bakhmut and others about Kherson but looks like a long long War to me
The ammunition situation for Ukraine is getting critical and probably delaying their Spring offensive. The alarm bells were ringing a while ago and there has been some response, especially from the US, but the burn rate in modern warfare is beyond the west’s current capacity.
It’s going to end like Korea. In a muddy, stagnant armistice
Russia will hold on to crimea. Dunno about the Donbas
Both sides are exhausted and running out of energy, money and men
The status quo will then drag on for decades
Probably. If Ukraine can return to 2014 state of play I think western support then dries up, despite strong talk, as going beyond would probably be so much harder given how entrenched it is and it will be seen as time for a 'pause'
Hope to be proven wrong.
I think Ukraine have several major advantages in equipment and intelligence. The Russians have also caused massive damage to their forces with their last offensive which has achieved very little.
The main areas of uncertainty I have are on ammunition supply and the quality of the training for the new Ukrainian units.
There's a pretty good chance that the Ukrainians surprise everyone on the upside - again - and make major gains with their impending counteroffensive, which will hopefully encourage countries to provide further support to Ukraine so that they can finish the job.
But what is “finishing the job” against a nuclear armed power governed by a tyrant? Marching on Moscow?
Putin will not give up Crimea. I suspect that is the red line where he would seriously threaten tactical nukes or do a demo explosion over the Black Sea
That show The Diplomat was good on this. When your enemy has nukes there is a limit to what you can do. Simple as
Indeed. The PB Toy Soldiers are fans of tough talk like "finishing the job" and "doing everything it takes" – of course, when you ask them to clearly define what they mean it turns out they mean nothing much at all.
The UK is one of the least racist countries in the world, according to a massive new global study, with just 2% of Britons feeling uncomfortable about the idea of living next door to somebody of a different race. Asking whether someone would be happy living next to someone of a different race is one of the traditional ways that researchers measure racism. The data also shows that the British are amongst the most accepting countries in the world. In addition, the nation is among the highest-ranking for tolerance of gay people and immigrants
Polls have shown this for many years. Brits are just about the least racist, most tolerant people on earth. Live and let live. It’s what we do. And it’s one reason foreign people will cross sunny Europe to get to our rainy little island
That’s what makes the stance of the whining remainery guardianista left - ‘racist Brexity Britain’ - so utterly infuriating. It is an outright lie and provably wrong
Always reassuring when someone who thinks Tommy Robinson is a patriot and has advocated all Muslims being interned tells us that Brits aren't racist.
I never claimed that I wasn’t racist. I’d expel the ungrateful ginger Scots tomorrow, and drive them back to their smelly, midgy, peaty little hovels, isolating them all on St Kilda, where they can have anal sex with fulmars, as is their time-honored tradition. I’m just pointing out that the polls contradict Guardianista opinion of Bigoted Brexit Britain
Fulmars have a cloaca not an anus. A single aperture through which they piss, shit and get fucked. Like leavers.
That is droll
The St Kildans did some really weird shit with seabirds. eg they used to use dead seabirds as shoes
You’ve got to be quite desperate for decent footwear if you opt to wear a pair of gannets to go hiking
Better off with a pair of Doc Martins.
I am mildly obsessed with the history and culture of St Kilda
Apparently they were sex mad polyamorous hunter gathering heathens until the dour Presbyterian preachers showed up. That doomed them
I thought they were doomed by the lack of trees dooming them as they couldn’t get wood anymore but I suppose Presbyterian preachers would also cause you to lose your ardour.
I believe a prevalent theory is that the soil of St Kilda was poisoned by centuries of waste being dumped in it causing miscarriages and affecting child mortality & general life expectancy.
Waste of what sort? Are you talking about human effluent? Surely, surely, they had managed to master hygienic disposal of human waste? (And over time I would have thought that would have improved soil anyway?)
Manure and food waste. The remains of seabirds (the main part of their diet) are particularly bad for heavy metals & other toxins apparently.
Interesting. And how odd. Who would have thought seabirds would harbour heavy metals?
Talking about seabirds.
Man caught performing sex act with a seagull in alleyway
David Lee, 40, admitted to causing unnecessary suffering to the animal
What title would you give Liz Truss’ semi-autobiographical manifesto?
The Story of Oh Shit
“Dear Oh Dear” The True Story of how a Republican Lib Dem Sleeper Agent Assassinated the Queen and was then destroyed by an undercover MI5 trained lettuce
Brenda held on long enough to see off Boris. Shakes hands with Lizz, will you form a government? Yes? Good.
Lizz departs. HM sits down, a wave of relief quickly becomes crushing fatigue and she drifts away.
Seriously though. The last month of SNP-geddon demonstrates neatly why we should always consider status quo bias when prognosticating and especially when staking money. Being seen to be ‘as bad as the rest of them’ will mortally wound the SNP, for a while at least. A parcel of rogues, indeed.
Just wishful thinking on here by Little Englanders.
I thought you agreed about them being rogues, malcolm ?
I do indeed but some people will hold their noses, lots of stupid ones and others will go for another independence party
An astonishing £289 million has already been spent on design fees for HS2’s problematic – and now temporarily shelved – Euston station plans.
Fake news you are peddling there I think. How do actually spend £289M of tax payers money on design fees you then binned? In contrast the SNP are all over the media over 600k alleged misuse of donations
Wish it was but so far £289m has been spent on Euston for HS2 although that does include some actual preparation work.
The bully health Secretary is now bullying his own nurses. 🤮
Bullying them, by making sure their strike action is in accordance with the law.
That's an interest definition of bullying by any stretch.
Oh, and he has talked to them. They got a deal. The union accepted it. The members didn't and the Unions first response was not to ask for further discussions but set new dates for strikes.
Ukraine running out of weapons and fears losing more territory - BBC
Ukraine getting upper hand on front line - Al Jazeera
OK think ones about Bakhmut and others about Kherson but looks like a long long War to me
The ammunition situation for Ukraine is getting critical and probably delaying their Spring offensive. The alarm bells were ringing a while ago and there has been some response, especially from the US, but the burn rate in modern warfare is beyond the west’s current capacity.
It’s going to end like Korea. In a muddy, stagnant armistice
Russia will hold on to crimea. Dunno about the Donbas
Both sides are exhausted and running out of energy, money and men
The status quo will then drag on for decades
Probably. If Ukraine can return to 2014 state of play I think western support then dries up, despite strong talk, as going beyond would probably be so much harder given how entrenched it is and it will be seen as time for a 'pause'
Hope to be proven wrong.
I think Ukraine have several major advantages in equipment and intelligence. The Russians have also caused massive damage to their forces with their last offensive which has achieved very little.
The main areas of uncertainty I have are on ammunition supply and the quality of the training for the new Ukrainian units.
There's a pretty good chance that the Ukrainians surprise everyone on the upside - again - and make major gains with their impending counteroffensive, which will hopefully encourage countries to provide further support to Ukraine so that they can finish the job.
But what is “finishing the job” against a nuclear armed power governed by a tyrant? Marching on Moscow?
Putin will not give up Crimea. I suspect that is the red line where he would seriously threaten tactical nukes or do a demo explosion over the Black Sea
That show The Diplomat was good on this. When your enemy has nukes there is a limit to what you can do. Simple as
They used nuclear rhetoric so early it was clearly just puffery, and talk of needing to give Putin early offramps or not provide weapons to Ukraine was nonsense masquerading as realpolitik, as events have demonstrsted.
But they do have a red line somewhere, and it could be somewhere crazy. Hence the extreme caution on ramping up involvement and no prospect of mass boots on the ground etc, contrary to lame assertions the West has been reckless.
Losing Crimea in the sense that Ukraine militarily defeat the RF forces there would definitely/probably/possibly be the end of Putin. What comes next? Dimon? Who knows other than it definitely wouldn't be Shoigu. The next RF President would immediately have to satiate an enormous sense of greivance and blood lust among the RF population though. So, at the very least, it would be total 100% WW2 style mobilisation and all out war while there was savage internecine conflict at the top of the RF government. If a nuke did pop off in those circumstances it could easily by accident or a freelancing general.
Yes comrade, that's possible. There are also other, less dramatic and more pro-Ukrainian, possibilities.
There are, but whilst I think sarky comments and similar are unfair, and people clearly have overestimated the point at which Russia's rulers might go even more barmy, particularly re Crimea it's a scenario still quite possible to bear in mind.
A long squeeze on Crimea seemed to be the plan before, and if the bridge were hit further and land bridge separated theres a lot of leverage.
How the hell do you spend £300m on the *design* of a building? That should be the cost of the building itself, yet we all wonder why there’s so much opposition to the whole project.
Yes these kinds of costs racked up before a single foundation is dug are bewildering to me. Surely all you have to do is survey the site, do some architectural drawings, maybe a bit of public consultation. How can that cost more than a few million pounds? Perhaps someone with a project management background like Casino can provide an explanation.
Support for Indy might - and probably will - ebb away, once it becomes clear there is no obvious political route to Indy. And that is now becoming clear, with an obdurate Westminster and a collapsing SNP
It used to be thought support for Quebecois independence was solid and growing and bound to win in the end. Look at what actually happened after they lost their referendum
Ukraine running out of weapons and fears losing more territory - BBC
Ukraine getting upper hand on front line - Al Jazeera
OK think ones about Bakhmut and others about Kherson but looks like a long long War to me
The ammunition situation for Ukraine is getting critical and probably delaying their Spring offensive. The alarm bells were ringing a while ago and there has been some response, especially from the US, but the burn rate in modern warfare is beyond the west’s current capacity.
It’s going to end like Korea. In a muddy, stagnant armistice
Russia will hold on to crimea. Dunno about the Donbas
Both sides are exhausted and running out of energy, money and men
The status quo will then drag on for decades
Probably. If Ukraine can return to 2014 state of play I think western support then dries up, despite strong talk, as going beyond would probably be so much harder given how entrenched it is and it will be seen as time for a 'pause'
Hope to be proven wrong.
I think Ukraine have several major advantages in equipment and intelligence. The Russians have also caused massive damage to their forces with their last offensive which has achieved very little.
The main areas of uncertainty I have are on ammunition supply and the quality of the training for the new Ukrainian units.
There's a pretty good chance that the Ukrainians surprise everyone on the upside - again - and make major gains with their impending counteroffensive, which will hopefully encourage countries to provide further support to Ukraine so that they can finish the job.
But what is “finishing the job” against a nuclear armed power governed by a tyrant? Marching on Moscow?
Putin will not give up Crimea. I suspect that is the red line where he would seriously threaten tactical nukes or do a demo explosion over the Black Sea
That show The Diplomat was good on this. When your enemy has nukes there is a limit to what you can do. Simple as
They used nuclear rhetoric so early it was clearly just puffery, and talk of needing to give Putin early offramps or not provide weapons to Ukraine was nonsense masquerading as realpolitik, as events have demonstrsted.
But they do have a red line somewhere, and it could be somewhere crazy. Hence the extreme caution on ramping up involvement and no prospect of mass boots on the ground etc, contrary to lame assertions the West has been reckless.
Losing Crimea in the sense that Ukraine militarily defeat the RF forces there would definitely/probably/possibly be the end of Putin. What comes next? Dimon? Who knows other than it definitely wouldn't be Shoigu. The next RF President would immediately have to satiate an enormous sense of greivance and blood lust among the RF population though. So, at the very least, it would be total 100% WW2 style mobilisation and all out war while there was savage internecine conflict at the top of the RF government. If a nuke did pop off in those circumstances it could easily by accident or a freelancing general.
Yes. Losing Crimea would be defeat - for Putin AND Russia. The idea a prickly declining nuclear armed great power with a corrupt elite would just “shrug this off” is delusional. It would convulse the country. 150,000 men dead and a defeat and a humiliation?!
It’s the perfect recipe for an even nastier post-Putin figure to come to power. Hitler came to power after the “humiliation” of Versailles
Yes yes I’m a cowardly appeaser who is absurdly scared of nuclear war blah blah
Highly likely that Putin is followed by A N Other who is "worse" in some way, and that this leads to a future conflict, but I think there is more likely to be a gap between the change of leadership and any future conflict, and the use of nuclear weapons is unlikely, unless the territorial integrity of internationally-recognised Russia is threatened.
Support for Indy might - and probably will - ebb away, once it becomes clear there is no obvious political route to Indy. And that is now becoming clear, with an obdurate Westminster and a collapsing SNP
It used to be thought support for Quebecois independence was solid and growing and bound to win in the end. Look at what actually happened after they lost their referendum
If indy is gone for a couple of decades, then perhaps the dial moves towards parties offering devo maximus? As long as the Union is secured, what is there for Rishi to lose by offering the biggest and boldest freedom for Scots? Wrong foot the others.
Because he doesn’t need to? And nor will Starmer
Scotland has one of the most powerful devolved governments in any western nation. Westminster should say to Holyrood: try governing yourselves properly first, try making a success of the powers you HAVE
Once it is accepted Indy is off the menu for the foreseeable future the next Holyrood government will HAVE to focus on actually delivering better governance for scots
Total and Utter Bollocks of the Highest Order. You are awarded a 5 star Golden Turd.
The UK is one of the least racist countries in the world, according to a massive new global study, with just 2% of Britons feeling uncomfortable about the idea of living next door to somebody of a different race. Asking whether someone would be happy living next to someone of a different race is one of the traditional ways that researchers measure racism. The data also shows that the British are amongst the most accepting countries in the world. In addition, the nation is among the highest-ranking for tolerance of gay people and immigrants
Polls have shown this for many years. Brits are just about the least racist, most tolerant people on earth. Live and let live. It’s what we do. And it’s one reason foreign people will cross sunny Europe to get to our rainy little island
That’s what makes the stance of the whining remainery guardianista left - ‘racist Brexity Britain’ - so utterly infuriating. It is an outright lie and provably wrong
Always reassuring when someone who thinks Tommy Robinson is a patriot and has advocated all Muslims being interned tells us that Brits aren't racist.
I never claimed that I wasn’t racist. I’d expel the ungrateful ginger Scots tomorrow, and drive them back to their smelly, midgy, peaty little hovels, isolating them all on St Kilda, where they can have anal sex with fulmars, as is their time-honored tradition. I’m just pointing out that the polls contradict Guardianista opinion of Bigoted Brexit Britain
Fulmars have a cloaca not an anus. A single aperture through which they piss, shit and get fucked. Like leavers.
That is droll
The St Kildans did some really weird shit with seabirds. eg they used to use dead seabirds as shoes
You’ve got to be quite desperate for decent footwear if you opt to wear a pair of gannets to go hiking
Better off with a pair of Doc Martins.
I am mildly obsessed with the history and culture of St Kilda
Apparently they were sex mad polyamorous hunter gathering heathens until the dour Presbyterian preachers showed up. That doomed them
I thought they were doomed by the lack of trees dooming them as they couldn’t get wood anymore but I suppose Presbyterian preachers would also cause you to lose your ardour.
I believe a prevalent theory is that the soil of St Kilda was poisoned by centuries of waste being dumped in it causing miscarriages and affecting child mortality & general life expectancy.
Waste of what sort? Are you talking about human effluent? Surely, surely, they had managed to master hygienic disposal of human waste? (And over time I would have thought that would have improved soil anyway?)
Manure and food waste. The remains of seabirds (the main part of their diet) are particularly bad for heavy metals & other toxins apparently.
Interesting. And how odd. Who would have thought seabirds would harbour heavy metals?
Talking about seabirds.
Man caught performing sex act with a seagull in alleyway
David Lee, 40, admitted to causing unnecessary suffering to the animal
That's true, however this guy was from Sunderland: "CCTV footage played in court showed Mr Lee, of Roker Avenue, Sunderland, kneeling down in an alleyway at around 1am, with the animal between his legs. He is seen pulling his pants off and appearing to masturbate with the bird close to his groin area while watching pornography on his phone before kicking the bird away and walking off."
That we have a law against this and are able to enforce it shows just how far we've come - but there is much still to do.
Eh? How far we've come from those dark days when every alley on a Friday night was full of drunkards buggering seagulls?
In all seriousness, what does Dave Lee of Roker Avenue do with his life now? If Nicola Sturgeon is having a dark time of it at the moment, she can at least console herself that her reputation has not sunk as low as that of Dave Lee of Roker Avenue, Sunderland.
The UK is one of the least racist countries in the world, according to a massive new global study, with just 2% of Britons feeling uncomfortable about the idea of living next door to somebody of a different race. Asking whether someone would be happy living next to someone of a different race is one of the traditional ways that researchers measure racism. The data also shows that the British are amongst the most accepting countries in the world. In addition, the nation is among the highest-ranking for tolerance of gay people and immigrants
Polls have shown this for many years. Brits are just about the least racist, most tolerant people on earth. Live and let live. It’s what we do. And it’s one reason foreign people will cross sunny Europe to get to our rainy little island
That’s what makes the stance of the whining remainery guardianista left - ‘racist Brexity Britain’ - so utterly infuriating. It is an outright lie and provably wrong
Always reassuring when someone who thinks Tommy Robinson is a patriot and has advocated all Muslims being interned tells us that Brits aren't racist.
I never claimed that I wasn’t racist. I’d expel the ungrateful ginger Scots tomorrow, and drive them back to their smelly, midgy, peaty little hovels, isolating them all on St Kilda, where they can have anal sex with fulmars, as is their time-honored tradition. I’m just pointing out that the polls contradict Guardianista opinion of Bigoted Brexit Britain
Fulmars have a cloaca not an anus. A single aperture through which they piss, shit and get fucked. Like leavers.
That is droll
The St Kildans did some really weird shit with seabirds. eg they used to use dead seabirds as shoes
You’ve got to be quite desperate for decent footwear if you opt to wear a pair of gannets to go hiking
Better off with a pair of Doc Martins.
I am mildly obsessed with the history and culture of St Kilda
Apparently they were sex mad polyamorous hunter gathering heathens until the dour Presbyterian preachers showed up. That doomed them
I thought they were doomed by the lack of trees dooming them as they couldn’t get wood anymore but I suppose Presbyterian preachers would also cause you to lose your ardour.
I believe a prevalent theory is that the soil of St Kilda was poisoned by centuries of waste being dumped in it causing miscarriages and affecting child mortality & general life expectancy.
Waste of what sort? Are you talking about human effluent? Surely, surely, they had managed to master hygienic disposal of human waste? (And over time I would have thought that would have improved soil anyway?)
Manure and food waste. The remains of seabirds (the main part of their diet) are particularly bad for heavy metals & other toxins apparently.
Interesting. And how odd. Who would have thought seabirds would harbour heavy metals?
Talking about seabirds.
Man caught performing sex act with a seagull in alleyway
David Lee, 40, admitted to causing unnecessary suffering to the animal
That's true, however this guy was from Sunderland: "CCTV footage played in court showed Mr Lee, of Roker Avenue, Sunderland, kneeling down in an alleyway at around 1am, with the animal between his legs. He is seen pulling his pants off and appearing to masturbate with the bird close to his groin area while watching pornography on his phone before kicking the bird away and walking off."
That we have a law against this and are able to enforce it shows just how far we've come - but there is much still to do.
I'd ask if there was another charge, less embarrassing, I could plead guilty to instead.
The bully health Secretary is now bullying his own nurses. 🤮
Why doesn’t he just flipping talk to them. Their pay has been hollowed out since 2010, having the numbers for a quality service is now relying on how committed nurses are to their profession of helping people, they will work till they drop, despite the fact pay and conditions so hollowed out.
What’s stopping Sunak’s government doing the right thing here?
The government think they are doing the right thing. They’re destroying the NHS. They don’t care about the suffering of all the people waiting for treatment, or the drop in nurses’ pay, and the increasingly unpleasant working conditions. This isn’t a government that cares about this country. The aim of this government is to make their paymasters even richer. And they think destroying the NHS will do that.
Why then have Unison and other health unions accepted this same pay offer
Nurses say they are striking not just for the wages that have unarguably been hollowed out since 2010, but for the quality of service, with so many experienced people leaving, not getting replaced, staff shortages undermining the care they are desperate to give. Other people working in hospitals represented by other unions might be in a different place than that, and liked how their very low pay for their jobs jumped up a bit. In a cost of living crisis any little bit more right now would seem very dry tempting, so you take the short termist decision and not look at the bigger picture longer picture of a settlement. Nurses haven’t strikes for a long time, who among them want to do this all again next year?
It's a bizarre list but if you choose other Labour politicians, eg Dennis Skinner, you get a pretty similar list, which makes me wonder a bit about their algorithm.
The UK is one of the least racist countries in the world, according to a massive new global study, with just 2% of Britons feeling uncomfortable about the idea of living next door to somebody of a different race. Asking whether someone would be happy living next to someone of a different race is one of the traditional ways that researchers measure racism. The data also shows that the British are amongst the most accepting countries in the world. In addition, the nation is among the highest-ranking for tolerance of gay people and immigrants
Polls have shown this for many years. Brits are just about the least racist, most tolerant people on earth. Live and let live. It’s what we do. And it’s one reason foreign people will cross sunny Europe to get to our rainy little island
That’s what makes the stance of the whining remainery guardianista left - ‘racist Brexity Britain’ - so utterly infuriating. It is an outright lie and provably wrong
Always reassuring when someone who thinks Tommy Robinson is a patriot and has advocated all Muslims being interned tells us that Brits aren't racist.
I never claimed that I wasn’t racist. I’d expel the ungrateful ginger Scots tomorrow, and drive them back to their smelly, midgy, peaty little hovels, isolating them all on St Kilda, where they can have anal sex with fulmars, as is their time-honored tradition. I’m just pointing out that the polls contradict Guardianista opinion of Bigoted Brexit Britain
Fulmars have a cloaca not an anus. A single aperture through which they piss, shit and get fucked. Like leavers.
That is droll
The St Kildans did some really weird shit with seabirds. eg they used to use dead seabirds as shoes
You’ve got to be quite desperate for decent footwear if you opt to wear a pair of gannets to go hiking
Better off with a pair of Doc Martins.
I am mildly obsessed with the history and culture of St Kilda
Apparently they were sex mad polyamorous hunter gathering heathens until the dour Presbyterian preachers showed up. That doomed them
I thought they were doomed by the lack of trees dooming them as they couldn’t get wood anymore but I suppose Presbyterian preachers would also cause you to lose your ardour.
I believe a prevalent theory is that the soil of St Kilda was poisoned by centuries of waste being dumped in it causing miscarriages and affecting child mortality & general life expectancy.
Waste of what sort? Are you talking about human effluent? Surely, surely, they had managed to master hygienic disposal of human waste? (And over time I would have thought that would have improved soil anyway?)
Manure and food waste. The remains of seabirds (the main part of their diet) are particularly bad for heavy metals & other toxins apparently.
Interesting. And how odd. Who would have thought seabirds would harbour heavy metals?
Talking about seabirds.
Man caught performing sex act with a seagull in alleyway
David Lee, 40, admitted to causing unnecessary suffering to the animal
That's true, however this guy was from Sunderland: "CCTV footage played in court showed Mr Lee, of Roker Avenue, Sunderland, kneeling down in an alleyway at around 1am, with the animal between his legs. He is seen pulling his pants off and appearing to masturbate with the bird close to his groin area while watching pornography on his phone before kicking the bird away and walking off."
That we have a law against this and are able to enforce it shows just how far we've come - but there is much still to do.
Eh? How far we've come from those dark days when every alley on a Friday night was full of drunkards buggering seagulls?
In all seriousness, what does Dave Lee of Roker Avenue do with his life now? If Nicola Sturgeon is having a dark time of it at the moment, she can at least console herself that her reputation has not sunk as low as that of Dave Lee of Roker Avenue, Sunderland.
He becomes the new variation of that joke about the bloke talking about all his varied and grand accomplishments - bridge building, song writing etc - only to be known for a single peverse act.
How the hell do you spend £300m on the *design* of a building? That should be the cost of the building itself, yet we all wonder why there’s so much opposition to the whole project.
Yes these kinds of costs racked up before a single foundation is dug are bewildering to me. Surely all you have to do is survey the site, do some architectural drawings, maybe a bit of public consultation. How can that cost more than a few million pounds? Perhaps someone with a project management background like Casino can provide an explanation.
I suspect it's in part a desire to de-risk the implementation part of the project by putting an exhaustive amount of effort into the planning phase, and then when the implementation is delayed it's an invitation for people to review the plan and nit-pick on details and that leads to the whole thing being rewritten, in exhaustive detail.
I know that for Euston they cut one of the platforms in an effort to save some money, and presumably that cost money in having to redo all the plans. Plus the delays due to the tunneling protestors might have been quite costly.
Ukraine running out of weapons and fears losing more territory - BBC
Ukraine getting upper hand on front line - Al Jazeera
OK think ones about Bakhmut and others about Kherson but looks like a long long War to me
The ammunition situation for Ukraine is getting critical and probably delaying their Spring offensive. The alarm bells were ringing a while ago and there has been some response, especially from the US, but the burn rate in modern warfare is beyond the west’s current capacity.
It’s going to end like Korea. In a muddy, stagnant armistice
Russia will hold on to crimea. Dunno about the Donbas
Both sides are exhausted and running out of energy, money and men
The status quo will then drag on for decades
Probably. If Ukraine can return to 2014 state of play I think western support then dries up, despite strong talk, as going beyond would probably be so much harder given how entrenched it is and it will be seen as time for a 'pause'
Hope to be proven wrong.
I think Ukraine have several major advantages in equipment and intelligence. The Russians have also caused massive damage to their forces with their last offensive which has achieved very little.
The main areas of uncertainty I have are on ammunition supply and the quality of the training for the new Ukrainian units.
There's a pretty good chance that the Ukrainians surprise everyone on the upside - again - and make major gains with their impending counteroffensive, which will hopefully encourage countries to provide further support to Ukraine so that they can finish the job.
But what is “finishing the job” against a nuclear armed power governed by a tyrant? Marching on Moscow?
Putin will not give up Crimea. I suspect that is the red line where he would seriously threaten tactical nukes or do a demo explosion over the Black Sea
That show The Diplomat was good on this. When your enemy has nukes there is a limit to what you can do. Simple as
Indeed. The PB Toy Soldiers are fans of tough talk like "finishing the job" and "doing everything it takes" – of course, when you ask them to clearly define what they mean it turns out they mean nothing much at all.
Ukraine's 1991 borders. Very clearly defined.
I don't know anything about Russia but every single person I've listened to who does tells me that it ain't giving up Crimea. Just not happening. Now of course it's great to want world peace and an end to hunger but at some point reality must surely kick in.
The bully health Secretary is now bullying his own nurses. 🤮
Bullying them, by making sure their strike action is in accordance with the law.
That's an interest definition of bullying by any stretch.
Oh, and he has talked to them. They got a deal. The union accepted it. The members didn't and the Unions first response was not to ask for further discussions but set new dates for strikes.
Prediction: Ukraine offering to surrender Crimea to Russia after a referendum will be one of the key bargaining chips in peace negotiations.
The UK is one of the least racist countries in the world, according to a massive new global study, with just 2% of Britons feeling uncomfortable about the idea of living next door to somebody of a different race. Asking whether someone would be happy living next to someone of a different race is one of the traditional ways that researchers measure racism. The data also shows that the British are amongst the most accepting countries in the world. In addition, the nation is among the highest-ranking for tolerance of gay people and immigrants
Polls have shown this for many years. Brits are just about the least racist, most tolerant people on earth. Live and let live. It’s what we do. And it’s one reason foreign people will cross sunny Europe to get to our rainy little island
That’s what makes the stance of the whining remainery guardianista left - ‘racist Brexity Britain’ - so utterly infuriating. It is an outright lie and provably wrong
Always reassuring when someone who thinks Tommy Robinson is a patriot and has advocated all Muslims being interned tells us that Brits aren't racist.
I never claimed that I wasn’t racist. I’d expel the ungrateful ginger Scots tomorrow, and drive them back to their smelly, midgy, peaty little hovels, isolating them all on St Kilda, where they can have anal sex with fulmars, as is their time-honored tradition. I’m just pointing out that the polls contradict Guardianista opinion of Bigoted Brexit Britain
Fulmars have a cloaca not an anus. A single aperture through which they piss, shit and get fucked. Like leavers.
That is droll
The St Kildans did some really weird shit with seabirds. eg they used to use dead seabirds as shoes
You’ve got to be quite desperate for decent footwear if you opt to wear a pair of gannets to go hiking
Better off with a pair of Doc Martins.
I am mildly obsessed with the history and culture of St Kilda
Apparently they were sex mad polyamorous hunter gathering heathens until the dour Presbyterian preachers showed up. That doomed them
I thought they were doomed by the lack of trees dooming them as they couldn’t get wood anymore but I suppose Presbyterian preachers would also cause you to lose your ardour.
I believe a prevalent theory is that the soil of St Kilda was poisoned by centuries of waste being dumped in it causing miscarriages and affecting child mortality & general life expectancy.
Waste of what sort? Are you talking about human effluent? Surely, surely, they had managed to master hygienic disposal of human waste? (And over time I would have thought that would have improved soil anyway?)
Manure and food waste. The remains of seabirds (the main part of their diet) are particularly bad for heavy metals & other toxins apparently.
Interesting. And how odd. Who would have thought seabirds would harbour heavy metals?
Talking about seabirds.
Man caught performing sex act with a seagull in alleyway
David Lee, 40, admitted to causing unnecessary suffering to the animal
That's true, however this guy was from Sunderland: "CCTV footage played in court showed Mr Lee, of Roker Avenue, Sunderland, kneeling down in an alleyway at around 1am, with the animal between his legs. He is seen pulling his pants off and appearing to masturbate with the bird close to his groin area while watching pornography on his phone before kicking the bird away and walking off."
That we have a law against this and are able to enforce it shows just how far we've come - but there is much still to do.
Eh? How far we've come from those dark days when every alley on a Friday night was full of drunkards buggering seagulls?
In all seriousness, what does Dave Lee of Roker Avenue do with his life now? If Nicola Sturgeon is having a dark time of it at the moment, she can at least console herself that her reputation has not sunk as low as that of Dave Lee of Roker Avenue, Sunderland.
Support for Indy might - and probably will - ebb away, once it becomes clear there is no obvious political route to Indy. And that is now becoming clear, with an obdurate Westminster and a collapsing SNP
It used to be thought support for Quebecois independence was solid and growing and bound to win in the end. Look at what actually happened after they lost their referendum
Independence support ain't going away
Not yet, but hope springs eternal. If you could let us know what would turn you Unionist thatd be tremendously helpful.
The UK is one of the least racist countries in the world, according to a massive new global study, with just 2% of Britons feeling uncomfortable about the idea of living next door to somebody of a different race. Asking whether someone would be happy living next to someone of a different race is one of the traditional ways that researchers measure racism. The data also shows that the British are amongst the most accepting countries in the world. In addition, the nation is among the highest-ranking for tolerance of gay people and immigrants
Polls have shown this for many years. Brits are just about the least racist, most tolerant people on earth. Live and let live. It’s what we do. And it’s one reason foreign people will cross sunny Europe to get to our rainy little island
That’s what makes the stance of the whining remainery guardianista left - ‘racist Brexity Britain’ - so utterly infuriating. It is an outright lie and provably wrong
Always reassuring when someone who thinks Tommy Robinson is a patriot and has advocated all Muslims being interned tells us that Brits aren't racist.
I never claimed that I wasn’t racist. I’d expel the ungrateful ginger Scots tomorrow, and drive them back to their smelly, midgy, peaty little hovels, isolating them all on St Kilda, where they can have anal sex with fulmars, as is their time-honored tradition. I’m just pointing out that the polls contradict Guardianista opinion of Bigoted Brexit Britain
Fulmars have a cloaca not an anus. A single aperture through which they piss, shit and get fucked. Like leavers.
That is droll
The St Kildans did some really weird shit with seabirds. eg they used to use dead seabirds as shoes
You’ve got to be quite desperate for decent footwear if you opt to wear a pair of gannets to go hiking
Better off with a pair of Doc Martins.
I am mildly obsessed with the history and culture of St Kilda
Apparently they were sex mad polyamorous hunter gathering heathens until the dour Presbyterian preachers showed up. That doomed them
I thought they were doomed by the lack of trees dooming them as they couldn’t get wood anymore but I suppose Presbyterian preachers would also cause you to lose your ardour.
I believe a prevalent theory is that the soil of St Kilda was poisoned by centuries of waste being dumped in it causing miscarriages and affecting child mortality & general life expectancy.
Waste of what sort? Are you talking about human effluent? Surely, surely, they had managed to master hygienic disposal of human waste? (And over time I would have thought that would have improved soil anyway?)
Manure and food waste. The remains of seabirds (the main part of their diet) are particularly bad for heavy metals & other toxins apparently.
Interesting. And how odd. Who would have thought seabirds would harbour heavy metals?
Talking about seabirds.
Man caught performing sex act with a seagull in alleyway
David Lee, 40, admitted to causing unnecessary suffering to the animal
That's true, however this guy was from Sunderland: "CCTV footage played in court showed Mr Lee, of Roker Avenue, Sunderland, kneeling down in an alleyway at around 1am, with the animal between his legs. He is seen pulling his pants off and appearing to masturbate with the bird close to his groin area while watching pornography on his phone before kicking the bird away and walking off."
That we have a law against this and are able to enforce it shows just how far we've come - but there is much still to do.
Eh? How far we've come from those dark days when every alley on a Friday night was full of drunkards buggering seagulls?
In all seriousness, what does Dave Lee of Roker Avenue do with his life now? If Nicola Sturgeon is having a dark time of it at the moment, she can at least console herself that her reputation has not sunk as low as that of Dave Lee of Roker Avenue, Sunderland.
This is a vile slander against Dave Lee of Roker Avenue, Sunderland. It might have been vaginal
Ukraine running out of weapons and fears losing more territory - BBC
Ukraine getting upper hand on front line - Al Jazeera
OK think ones about Bakhmut and others about Kherson but looks like a long long War to me
The ammunition situation for Ukraine is getting critical and probably delaying their Spring offensive. The alarm bells were ringing a while ago and there has been some response, especially from the US, but the burn rate in modern warfare is beyond the west’s current capacity.
It’s going to end like Korea. In a muddy, stagnant armistice
Russia will hold on to crimea. Dunno about the Donbas
Both sides are exhausted and running out of energy, money and men
The status quo will then drag on for decades
Probably. If Ukraine can return to 2014 state of play I think western support then dries up, despite strong talk, as going beyond would probably be so much harder given how entrenched it is and it will be seen as time for a 'pause'
Hope to be proven wrong.
I think Ukraine have several major advantages in equipment and intelligence. The Russians have also caused massive damage to their forces with their last offensive which has achieved very little.
The main areas of uncertainty I have are on ammunition supply and the quality of the training for the new Ukrainian units.
There's a pretty good chance that the Ukrainians surprise everyone on the upside - again - and make major gains with their impending counteroffensive, which will hopefully encourage countries to provide further support to Ukraine so that they can finish the job.
But what is “finishing the job” against a nuclear armed power governed by a tyrant? Marching on Moscow?
Putin will not give up Crimea. I suspect that is the red line where he would seriously threaten tactical nukes or do a demo explosion over the Black Sea
That show The Diplomat was good on this. When your enemy has nukes there is a limit to what you can do. Simple as
They used nuclear rhetoric so early it was clearly just puffery, and talk of needing to give Putin early offramps or not provide weapons to Ukraine was nonsense masquerading as realpolitik, as events have demonstrsted.
But they do have a red line somewhere, and it could be somewhere crazy. Hence the extreme caution on ramping up involvement and no prospect of mass boots on the ground etc, contrary to lame assertions the West has been reckless.
Losing Crimea in the sense that Ukraine militarily defeat the RF forces there would definitely/probably/possibly be the end of Putin. What comes next? Dimon? Who knows other than it definitely wouldn't be Shoigu. The next RF President would immediately have to satiate an enormous sense of greivance and blood lust among the RF population though. So, at the very least, it would be total 100% WW2 style mobilisation and all out war while there was savage internecine conflict at the top of the RF government. If a nuke did pop off in those circumstances it could easily by accident or a freelancing general.
Yes. Losing Crimea would be defeat - for Putin AND Russia. The idea a prickly declining nuclear armed great power with a corrupt elite would just “shrug this off” is delusional. It would convulse the country. 150,000 men dead and a defeat and a humiliation?!
It’s the perfect recipe for an even nastier post-Putin figure to come to power. Hitler came to power after the “humiliation” of Versailles
Yes yes I’m a cowardly appeaser who is absurdly scared of nuclear war blah blah
I don't think we want "keep Putin in power" as a war aim though. What's best is to just keep supporting Ukraine (but short of escalating into a NATO v Russia affair) and see where the chips fall, managing the situation appropriately as it develops. What's absolutely essential is that Joe again beats off Trump/MAGA. Putin's best chance for his abomination to pay off is if god forbid he doesn't.
The bully health Secretary is now bullying his own nurses. 🤮
Why doesn’t he just flipping talk to them. Their pay has been hollowed out since 2010, having the numbers for a quality service is now relying on how committed nurses are to their profession of helping people, they will work till they drop, despite the fact pay and conditions so hollowed out.
What’s stopping Sunak’s government doing the right thing here?
The government think they are doing the right thing. They’re destroying the NHS. They don’t care about the suffering of all the people waiting for treatment, or the drop in nurses’ pay, and the increasingly unpleasant working conditions. This isn’t a government that cares about this country. The aim of this government is to make their paymasters even richer. And they think destroying the NHS will do that.
Why then have Unison and other health unions accepted this same pay offer
Nurses say they are striking not just for the wages that have unarguably been hollowed out since 2010, but for the quality of service, with so many experienced people leaving, not getting replaced, staff shortages undermining the care they are desperate to give. Other people working in hospitals represented by other unions might be in a different place than that, and liked how their very low pay for their jobs jumped up a bit. In a cost of living crisis any little bit more right now would seem very dry tempting, so you take the short termist decision and not look at the bigger picture longer picture of a settlement. Nurses haven’t strikes for a long time, who among them want to do this all again next year?
Does that answer your question?
Yeah, that's what they say but if that really is the case why did the Union leaders accept the offer without any of the other stuff attached that they claim to be striking for,
In the case of the RMT I have no doubt they are striking not just for pay, but also terms.
In the case of the nurses that claim is just for PR purposes. The rail unions state explicitly what they expect in the case of the terms. The nurses unions it is all vague pie in the sky.
Ukraine running out of weapons and fears losing more territory - BBC
Ukraine getting upper hand on front line - Al Jazeera
OK think ones about Bakhmut and others about Kherson but looks like a long long War to me
The ammunition situation for Ukraine is getting critical and probably delaying their Spring offensive. The alarm bells were ringing a while ago and there has been some response, especially from the US, but the burn rate in modern warfare is beyond the west’s current capacity.
It’s going to end like Korea. In a muddy, stagnant armistice
Russia will hold on to crimea. Dunno about the Donbas
Both sides are exhausted and running out of energy, money and men
The status quo will then drag on for decades
Probably. If Ukraine can return to 2014 state of play I think western support then dries up, despite strong talk, as going beyond would probably be so much harder given how entrenched it is and it will be seen as time for a 'pause'
Hope to be proven wrong.
I think Ukraine have several major advantages in equipment and intelligence. The Russians have also caused massive damage to their forces with their last offensive which has achieved very little.
The main areas of uncertainty I have are on ammunition supply and the quality of the training for the new Ukrainian units.
There's a pretty good chance that the Ukrainians surprise everyone on the upside - again - and make major gains with their impending counteroffensive, which will hopefully encourage countries to provide further support to Ukraine so that they can finish the job.
But what is “finishing the job” against a nuclear armed power governed by a tyrant? Marching on Moscow?
Putin will not give up Crimea. I suspect that is the red line where he would seriously threaten tactical nukes or do a demo explosion over the Black Sea
That show The Diplomat was good on this. When your enemy has nukes there is a limit to what you can do. Simple as
Indeed. The PB Toy Soldiers are fans of tough talk like "finishing the job" and "doing everything it takes" – of course, when you ask them to clearly define what they mean it turns out they mean nothing much at all.
Ukraine's 1991 borders. Very clearly defined.
I don't know anything about Russia but every single person I've listened to who does tells me that it ain't giving up Crimea. Just not happening. Now of course it's great to want world peace and an end to hunger but at some point reality must surely kick in.
Okay. The Ukrainians disagree, so this will be tested on the [conventional] battlefield.
The Ukrainians might succeed, and they might not. They might accept any failure and come to terms, and they might not.
I don't think we risk nuclear war to let them fight for their land and their people, and I think Ukraine have done a lot better than the pessimists have expected at every stage.
The UK is one of the least racist countries in the world, according to a massive new global study, with just 2% of Britons feeling uncomfortable about the idea of living next door to somebody of a different race. Asking whether someone would be happy living next to someone of a different race is one of the traditional ways that researchers measure racism. The data also shows that the British are amongst the most accepting countries in the world. In addition, the nation is among the highest-ranking for tolerance of gay people and immigrants
Polls have shown this for many years. Brits are just about the least racist, most tolerant people on earth. Live and let live. It’s what we do. And it’s one reason foreign people will cross sunny Europe to get to our rainy little island
That’s what makes the stance of the whining remainery guardianista left - ‘racist Brexity Britain’ - so utterly infuriating. It is an outright lie and provably wrong
Always reassuring when someone who thinks Tommy Robinson is a patriot and has advocated all Muslims being interned tells us that Brits aren't racist.
I never claimed that I wasn’t racist. I’d expel the ungrateful ginger Scots tomorrow, and drive them back to their smelly, midgy, peaty little hovels, isolating them all on St Kilda, where they can have anal sex with fulmars, as is their time-honored tradition. I’m just pointing out that the polls contradict Guardianista opinion of Bigoted Brexit Britain
Fulmars have a cloaca not an anus. A single aperture through which they piss, shit and get fucked. Like leavers.
That is droll
The St Kildans did some really weird shit with seabirds. eg they used to use dead seabirds as shoes
You’ve got to be quite desperate for decent footwear if you opt to wear a pair of gannets to go hiking
Better off with a pair of Doc Martins.
I am mildly obsessed with the history and culture of St Kilda
Apparently they were sex mad polyamorous hunter gathering heathens until the dour Presbyterian preachers showed up. That doomed them
I thought they were doomed by the lack of trees dooming them as they couldn’t get wood anymore but I suppose Presbyterian preachers would also cause you to lose your ardour.
I believe a prevalent theory is that the soil of St Kilda was poisoned by centuries of waste being dumped in it causing miscarriages and affecting child mortality & general life expectancy.
Waste of what sort? Are you talking about human effluent? Surely, surely, they had managed to master hygienic disposal of human waste? (And over time I would have thought that would have improved soil anyway?)
Manure and food waste. The remains of seabirds (the main part of their diet) are particularly bad for heavy metals & other toxins apparently.
Interesting. And how odd. Who would have thought seabirds would harbour heavy metals?
Talking about seabirds.
Man caught performing sex act with a seagull in alleyway
David Lee, 40, admitted to causing unnecessary suffering to the animal
That's true, however this guy was from Sunderland: "CCTV footage played in court showed Mr Lee, of Roker Avenue, Sunderland, kneeling down in an alleyway at around 1am, with the animal between his legs. He is seen pulling his pants off and appearing to masturbate with the bird close to his groin area while watching pornography on his phone before kicking the bird away and walking off."
That we have a law against this and are able to enforce it shows just how far we've come - but there is much still to do.
Eh? How far we've come from those dark days when every alley on a Friday night was full of drunkards buggering seagulls?
In all seriousness, what does Dave Lee of Roker Avenue do with his life now? If Nicola Sturgeon is having a dark time of it at the moment, she can at least console herself that her reputation has not sunk as low as that of Dave Lee of Roker Avenue, Sunderland.
He becomes the new variation of that joke about the bloke talking about all his varied and grand accomplishments - bridge building, song writing etc - only to be known for a single peverse act.
There’s actually an easy out for him. He should say it was a drunken bet and he had to fuck a seagull if he lost. Suddenly he’s a local laddish hero. What larks. Fooling the gullible. It won’t be an albatross he’ll carry for ever
Ukraine running out of weapons and fears losing more territory - BBC
Ukraine getting upper hand on front line - Al Jazeera
OK think ones about Bakhmut and others about Kherson but looks like a long long War to me
The ammunition situation for Ukraine is getting critical and probably delaying their Spring offensive. The alarm bells were ringing a while ago and there has been some response, especially from the US, but the burn rate in modern warfare is beyond the west’s current capacity.
It’s going to end like Korea. In a muddy, stagnant armistice
Russia will hold on to crimea. Dunno about the Donbas
Both sides are exhausted and running out of energy, money and men
The status quo will then drag on for decades
Probably. If Ukraine can return to 2014 state of play I think western support then dries up, despite strong talk, as going beyond would probably be so much harder given how entrenched it is and it will be seen as time for a 'pause'
Hope to be proven wrong.
I think Ukraine have several major advantages in equipment and intelligence. The Russians have also caused massive damage to their forces with their last offensive which has achieved very little.
The main areas of uncertainty I have are on ammunition supply and the quality of the training for the new Ukrainian units.
There's a pretty good chance that the Ukrainians surprise everyone on the upside - again - and make major gains with their impending counteroffensive, which will hopefully encourage countries to provide further support to Ukraine so that they can finish the job.
But what is “finishing the job” against a nuclear armed power governed by a tyrant? Marching on Moscow?
Putin will not give up Crimea. I suspect that is the red line where he would seriously threaten tactical nukes or do a demo explosion over the Black Sea
That show The Diplomat was good on this. When your enemy has nukes there is a limit to what you can do. Simple as
Indeed. The PB Toy Soldiers are fans of tough talk like "finishing the job" and "doing everything it takes" – of course, when you ask them to clearly define what they mean it turns out they mean nothing much at all.
Ukraine's 1991 borders. Very clearly defined.
I don't know anything about Russia but every single person I've listened to who does tells me that it ain't giving up Crimea. Just not happening. Now of course it's great to want world peace and an end to hunger but at some point reality must surely kick in.
Ukraine has no incentive to admit to some kind of deal over Crimea now, but that doesn't mean they wouldn't if it came to that of course. Likewise at the moment Russia doesn't see an incentive to 'concede' the other territiry its conquered.
Thst a deal or uneasy truce occurs at some point is probably true, it's just the ones whi argue capitulation or unilateral offerings who overegg that possibility.
It's a bizarre list but if you choose other Labour politicians, eg Dennis Skinner, you get a pretty similar list, which makes me wonder a bit about their algorithm.
Oh yes the Jeremy Corbyn one has got Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos hardly bedfellows so it does look a bit naff.
His things people like has Gambling Drinking and Frys Turkish Delight - What a night out that would make!!
Well aye there is also a section called "OTHER THINGS LIKED BY KEIR STARMER'S FANS"
A Ford Galaxy tops the list of most correlated & also contains knitting, dominoes and cross stitch.
Knight of the people clearly
SKS in with a shout with Mondeo man, or his close cousin who prefers a larger boot space and the option of seven seats. Although personally I favour the S-Max, which combines a capacity similar to the Galaxy with a sportier trim and more agile handling.
Ukraine running out of weapons and fears losing more territory - BBC
Ukraine getting upper hand on front line - Al Jazeera
OK think ones about Bakhmut and others about Kherson but looks like a long long War to me
The ammunition situation for Ukraine is getting critical and probably delaying their Spring offensive. The alarm bells were ringing a while ago and there has been some response, especially from the US, but the burn rate in modern warfare is beyond the west’s current capacity.
It’s going to end like Korea. In a muddy, stagnant armistice
Russia will hold on to crimea. Dunno about the Donbas
Both sides are exhausted and running out of energy, money and men
The status quo will then drag on for decades
Probably. If Ukraine can return to 2014 state of play I think western support then dries up, despite strong talk, as going beyond would probably be so much harder given how entrenched it is and it will be seen as time for a 'pause'
Hope to be proven wrong.
I think Ukraine have several major advantages in equipment and intelligence. The Russians have also caused massive damage to their forces with their last offensive which has achieved very little.
The main areas of uncertainty I have are on ammunition supply and the quality of the training for the new Ukrainian units.
There's a pretty good chance that the Ukrainians surprise everyone on the upside - again - and make major gains with their impending counteroffensive, which will hopefully encourage countries to provide further support to Ukraine so that they can finish the job.
But what is “finishing the job” against a nuclear armed power governed by a tyrant? Marching on Moscow?
Putin will not give up Crimea. I suspect that is the red line where he would seriously threaten tactical nukes or do a demo explosion over the Black Sea
That show The Diplomat was good on this. When your enemy has nukes there is a limit to what you can do. Simple as
Indeed. The PB Toy Soldiers are fans of tough talk like "finishing the job" and "doing everything it takes" – of course, when you ask them to clearly define what they mean it turns out they mean nothing much at all.
It's a bizarre list but if you choose other Labour politicians, eg Dennis Skinner, you get a pretty similar list, which makes me wonder a bit about their algorithm.
Oh yes the Jeremy Corbyn one has got Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos hardly bedfellows so it does look a bit naff.
His things people like has Gambling Drinking and Frys Turkish Delight - What a night out that would make!!
Ukraine running out of weapons and fears losing more territory - BBC
Ukraine getting upper hand on front line - Al Jazeera
OK think ones about Bakhmut and others about Kherson but looks like a long long War to me
The ammunition situation for Ukraine is getting critical and probably delaying their Spring offensive. The alarm bells were ringing a while ago and there has been some response, especially from the US, but the burn rate in modern warfare is beyond the west’s current capacity.
It’s going to end like Korea. In a muddy, stagnant armistice
Russia will hold on to crimea. Dunno about the Donbas
Both sides are exhausted and running out of energy, money and men
The status quo will then drag on for decades
Probably. If Ukraine can return to 2014 state of play I think western support then dries up, despite strong talk, as going beyond would probably be so much harder given how entrenched it is and it will be seen as time for a 'pause'
Hope to be proven wrong.
I think Ukraine have several major advantages in equipment and intelligence. The Russians have also caused massive damage to their forces with their last offensive which has achieved very little.
The main areas of uncertainty I have are on ammunition supply and the quality of the training for the new Ukrainian units.
There's a pretty good chance that the Ukrainians surprise everyone on the upside - again - and make major gains with their impending counteroffensive, which will hopefully encourage countries to provide further support to Ukraine so that they can finish the job.
But what is “finishing the job” against a nuclear armed power governed by a tyrant? Marching on Moscow?
Putin will not give up Crimea. I suspect that is the red line where he would seriously threaten tactical nukes or do a demo explosion over the Black Sea
That show The Diplomat was good on this. When your enemy has nukes there is a limit to what you can do. Simple as
Indeed. The PB Toy Soldiers are fans of tough talk like "finishing the job" and "doing everything it takes" – of course, when you ask them to clearly define what they mean it turns out they mean nothing much at all.
Ukraine's 1991 borders. Very clearly defined.
I don't know anything about Russia but every single person I've listened to who does tells me that it ain't giving up Crimea. Just not happening. Now of course it's great to want world peace and an end to hunger but at some point reality must surely kick in.
Okay. The Ukrainians disagree, so this will be tested on the [conventional] battlefield.
The Ukrainians might succeed, and they might not. They might accept any failure and come to terms, and they might not.
I don't think we risk nuclear war to let them fight for their land and their people, and I think Ukraine have done a lot better than the pessimists have expected at every stage.
Not knowing anything about Russia means that I am unsure of the implications of Ukraine succeeding "on the battlefield" and reclaiming Crimea militarily. It was put to me recently (at a conference, by a former UK ambassador to Russia) that Russia believes the Crimea is as Russian as we believe Cornwall is part of the UK. And hence it is to them simply non-negotiable. If it is non-negotiable then that means it will need to be settled on the battlefield if Ukraine wants to reclaim it.
Will we as a global community support that aim? Difficult to say - logic says no because either it succeeds and then we need to be aware of Russia's response, or it fails in which case why start in the first place.
Ukraine running out of weapons and fears losing more territory - BBC
Ukraine getting upper hand on front line - Al Jazeera
OK think ones about Bakhmut and others about Kherson but looks like a long long War to me
The ammunition situation for Ukraine is getting critical and probably delaying their Spring offensive. The alarm bells were ringing a while ago and there has been some response, especially from the US, but the burn rate in modern warfare is beyond the west’s current capacity.
It’s going to end like Korea. In a muddy, stagnant armistice
Russia will hold on to crimea. Dunno about the Donbas
Both sides are exhausted and running out of energy, money and men
The status quo will then drag on for decades
Probably. If Ukraine can return to 2014 state of play I think western support then dries up, despite strong talk, as going beyond would probably be so much harder given how entrenched it is and it will be seen as time for a 'pause'
Hope to be proven wrong.
I think Ukraine have several major advantages in equipment and intelligence. The Russians have also caused massive damage to their forces with their last offensive which has achieved very little.
The main areas of uncertainty I have are on ammunition supply and the quality of the training for the new Ukrainian units.
There's a pretty good chance that the Ukrainians surprise everyone on the upside - again - and make major gains with their impending counteroffensive, which will hopefully encourage countries to provide further support to Ukraine so that they can finish the job.
But what is “finishing the job” against a nuclear armed power governed by a tyrant? Marching on Moscow?
Putin will not give up Crimea. I suspect that is the red line where he would seriously threaten tactical nukes or do a demo explosion over the Black Sea
That show The Diplomat was good on this. When your enemy has nukes there is a limit to what you can do. Simple as
Indeed. The PB Toy Soldiers are fans of tough talk like "finishing the job" and "doing everything it takes" – of course, when you ask them to clearly define what they mean it turns out they mean nothing much at all.
Support for Indy might - and probably will - ebb away, once it becomes clear there is no obvious political route to Indy. And that is now becoming clear, with an obdurate Westminster and a collapsing SNP
It used to be thought support for Quebecois independence was solid and growing and bound to win in the end. Look at what actually happened after they lost their referendum
Independence support ain't going away
It won't go away, it's always likely to ebb and flow, but at a level around 35-45% (as a ball park under current circumstances). Not enough to settle any arguments one way or another.
Ukraine running out of weapons and fears losing more territory - BBC
Ukraine getting upper hand on front line - Al Jazeera
OK think ones about Bakhmut and others about Kherson but looks like a long long War to me
The ammunition situation for Ukraine is getting critical and probably delaying their Spring offensive. The alarm bells were ringing a while ago and there has been some response, especially from the US, but the burn rate in modern warfare is beyond the west’s current capacity.
It’s going to end like Korea. In a muddy, stagnant armistice
Russia will hold on to crimea. Dunno about the Donbas
Both sides are exhausted and running out of energy, money and men
The status quo will then drag on for decades
Probably. If Ukraine can return to 2014 state of play I think western support then dries up, despite strong talk, as going beyond would probably be so much harder given how entrenched it is and it will be seen as time for a 'pause'
Hope to be proven wrong.
I think Ukraine have several major advantages in equipment and intelligence. The Russians have also caused massive damage to their forces with their last offensive which has achieved very little.
The main areas of uncertainty I have are on ammunition supply and the quality of the training for the new Ukrainian units.
There's a pretty good chance that the Ukrainians surprise everyone on the upside - again - and make major gains with their impending counteroffensive, which will hopefully encourage countries to provide further support to Ukraine so that they can finish the job.
But what is “finishing the job” against a nuclear armed power governed by a tyrant? Marching on Moscow?
Putin will not give up Crimea. I suspect that is the red line where he would seriously threaten tactical nukes or do a demo explosion over the Black Sea
That show The Diplomat was good on this. When your enemy has nukes there is a limit to what you can do. Simple as
Indeed. The PB Toy Soldiers are fans of tough talk like "finishing the job" and "doing everything it takes" – of course, when you ask them to clearly define what they mean it turns out they mean nothing much at all.
Ukraine's 1991 borders. Very clearly defined.
I don't know anything about Russia but every single person I've listened to who does tells me that it ain't giving up Crimea. Just not happening. Now of course it's great to want world peace and an end to hunger but at some point reality must surely kick in.
Okay. The Ukrainians disagree, so this will be tested on the [conventional] battlefield.
The Ukrainians might succeed, and they might not. They might accept any failure and come to terms, and they might not.
I don't think we risk nuclear war to let them fight for their land and their people, and I think Ukraine have done a lot better than the pessimists have expected at every stage.
Not knowing anything about Russia means that I am unsure of the implications of Ukraine succeeding "on the battlefield" and reclaiming Crimea militarily. It was put to me recently (at a conference, by a former UK ambassador to Russia) that Russia believes the Crimea is as Russian as we believe Cornwall is part of the UK. And hence it is to them simply non-negotiable. If it is non-negotiable then that means it will need to be settled on the battlefield if Ukraine wants to reclaim it.
Will we as a global community support that aim? Difficult to say - logic says no because either it succeeds and then we need to be aware of Russia's response, or it fails in which case why start in the first place.
That’s my understanding too. Crimea is Russia. It is also Putin’s one outstanding legacy - even more precious after the debacle of this latest war
So if Ukraine takes Crimea Putin would very likely fall with his regime OR to forestall that nightmare (for him) Putin would plunge the whole country into total war to prevent the surrender of crimea
FWIW my guess is that President Biden would tell the Ukes to stop before it got to that point anyway. As he showed in Afghanistan he’s not afraid of quite brutal realpolitik
Well aye there is also a section called "OTHER THINGS LIKED BY KEIR STARMER'S FANS"
A Ford Galaxy tops the list of most correlated & also contains knitting, dominoes and cross stitch.
Knight of the people clearly
The generic floating voter in other words. Worcester woman, Mondeo man, "Deano", etc etc. Loads of titles, same concept. You distil England down into the form of a single individual so uncannily representative of what England is that whoever they vote for come polling day wins the general election - then you pitch your rhetoric and policies (your 'offer') at this person. This is what the old chestnut "elections are won from the centre ground" really means in practice.
The bully health Secretary is now bullying his own nurses. 🤮
Why doesn’t he just flipping talk to them. Their pay has been hollowed out since 2010, having the numbers for a quality service is now relying on how committed nurses are to their profession of helping people, they will work till they drop, despite the fact pay and conditions so hollowed out.
What’s stopping Sunak’s government doing the right thing here?
The government think they are doing the right thing. They’re destroying the NHS. They don’t care about the suffering of all the people waiting for treatment, or the drop in nurses’ pay, and the increasingly unpleasant working conditions. This isn’t a government that cares about this country. The aim of this government is to make their paymasters even richer. And they think destroying the NHS will do that.
Why then have Unison and other health unions accepted this same pay offer
Nurses say they are striking not just for the wages that have unarguably been hollowed out since 2010, but for the quality of service, with so many experienced people leaving, not getting replaced, staff shortages undermining the care they are desperate to give. Other people working in hospitals represented by other unions might be in a different place than that, and liked how their very low pay for their jobs jumped up a bit. In a cost of living crisis any little bit more right now would seem very dry tempting, so you take the short termist decision and not look at the bigger picture longer picture of a settlement. Nurses haven’t strikes for a long time, who among them want to do this all again next year?
Does that answer your question?
That does answer the question. Now for my question. Is it the fact inflation isn’t coming down as forecast why the government have started shitting themselves about the poll boosting wage settlements they were dolling out?
The politics My understanding is, since start of the year the Tory Party have been on a “Save Rishi” approach to next Thursdays locals - fact is not so long ago there was talk of get rid of Rishi after bad locals - so much short termist gifts and over promising, they havn’t planned long term, just see off threat of Boris and Liz.
The economics my understanding is Because food and energy prices can make markets more volatile, underlying inflation with these stripped out proves a more stable indicator - the one PB should be watching, not posting energy prices, as we have probably moved into a new ball game on inflation now. And by all accounts underlying was still high when last announced, whats been buoying that? Top economists at Bank of England said this week (amongst other things the front of Daily Mail had tantrum about) underlying inflation so stubbornly high, overall inflation might not now drop quickly to low point as promised.
So my question, is it wage increases holding underlying inflation high, explaining why the government gone all hard ball on wage settlements again, rather take nurses to court than ACAS?
Ukraine running out of weapons and fears losing more territory - BBC
Ukraine getting upper hand on front line - Al Jazeera
OK think ones about Bakhmut and others about Kherson but looks like a long long War to me
The ammunition situation for Ukraine is getting critical and probably delaying their Spring offensive. The alarm bells were ringing a while ago and there has been some response, especially from the US, but the burn rate in modern warfare is beyond the west’s current capacity.
It’s going to end like Korea. In a muddy, stagnant armistice
Russia will hold on to crimea. Dunno about the Donbas
Both sides are exhausted and running out of energy, money and men
The status quo will then drag on for decades
Probably. If Ukraine can return to 2014 state of play I think western support then dries up, despite strong talk, as going beyond would probably be so much harder given how entrenched it is and it will be seen as time for a 'pause'
Hope to be proven wrong.
I think Ukraine have several major advantages in equipment and intelligence. The Russians have also caused massive damage to their forces with their last offensive which has achieved very little.
The main areas of uncertainty I have are on ammunition supply and the quality of the training for the new Ukrainian units.
There's a pretty good chance that the Ukrainians surprise everyone on the upside - again - and make major gains with their impending counteroffensive, which will hopefully encourage countries to provide further support to Ukraine so that they can finish the job.
But what is “finishing the job” against a nuclear armed power governed by a tyrant? Marching on Moscow?
Putin will not give up Crimea. I suspect that is the red line where he would seriously threaten tactical nukes or do a demo explosion over the Black Sea
That show The Diplomat was good on this. When your enemy has nukes there is a limit to what you can do. Simple as
Indeed. The PB Toy Soldiers are fans of tough talk like "finishing the job" and "doing everything it takes" – of course, when you ask them to clearly define what they mean it turns out they mean nothing much at all.
Ukraine's 1991 borders. Very clearly defined.
Including Crimea? Do you think that's realistic?
Crimea could be easier than the Donbas, because it's easier to isolate Crimea, making it impossible to supply, and consequently untenable for Russia to hold.
It's also more important for Ukraine's future security than the Donbas.
Comments
I accept that this is childish and inane on my part
but it’s 6pm in Bangkok and soon I can have a gin
And Putin is weaker now than he was then. The murmurings against his rule have already started. Crimea was not Russian territory in 2013, they won't care about it not being Russian in 2025.
Why doesn’t he just flipping talk to them. Their pay has been hollowed out since 2010, having the numbers for a quality service is now relying on how committed nurses are to their profession of helping people, they will work till they drop, despite the fact pay and conditions so hollowed out.
What’s stopping Sunak’s government doing the right thing here?
But they do have a red line somewhere, and it could be somewhere crazy. Hence the extreme caution on ramping up involvement and no prospect of mass boots on the ground etc, contrary to lame assertions the West has been reckless.
When big companies make investment decisions, it involves a load of pointy-heads with a massive spreadsheet working out if the expected return is or is not over a threshold level. If it is, the investment happens. If not, it doesn't.
That's not to say that the regulatory environment is irrelevant to the spreadsheet at the margins. But the going on TV to make threats is purely performative and not reflective of the reality of how decisions are taken.
She didn't even attend the hearing and the strike would have been illegal, thereby removing all the protections the unions have under strike laws
The RCN now have to seek a new 6 month strike ballot and in view of the closeness of the previous one to reject the pay offer, and with other unions already having accepted it including Unison, the RCN could find the membership rejection of extending the strikes until Christmas
The pre-election tax cut warchest is pretty much empty, and proper pay rises in the public sector would drain the last farthings from it.
And whilst a cut in the headline rate of income tax isn't the only way to win an election, and would be thunderingly dishonest with everything else going on, and insane given the fiscal position, it's all the Conservatives have left to fall back on.
"CCTV footage played in court showed Mr Lee, of Roker Avenue, Sunderland, kneeling down in an alleyway at around 1am, with the animal between his legs. He is seen pulling his pants off and appearing to masturbate with the bird close to his groin area while watching pornography on his phone before kicking the bird away and walking off."
It’s all over now though.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/high-stakes-gambling-reform-for-the-digital-age/high-stakes-gambling-reform-for-the-digital-age
Debate now in the Commons can be followed on
https://www.parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/fbdaaf52-c1f9-4a50-9459-3c2eb4811f50
I think the CMA decision essentially correct - big tech is very fond of establishing effective monopolies on market segments, and doing so when that segment is at early stages of development is the best way to do it.
Of course if the US and EU disagree with us, it's a bit awkward.
That really would be 'brave'.
https://enormo-haddock.blogspot.com/2023/04/epl-ligue-1-and-serie-27-april-2023.html
Backed Bournemouth to win at home versus Leeds at 2.76.
The point of having a defined legal process is that there is a black and white position on whether or not a strike on a particular day is lawful - you don't get into an argument over the merits of the cause, or the individuals involved - process was either followed or not. As soon as you get to saying "well, we'll only enforce if it's irregular ENOUGH" you beg the question as to what that means and are lost in shades of grey.
One thing I would say is I hope the Government bear this in mind the next time they run into legal problems over a policy like immigration and feel tempted to say get annoyed about losing on a "technicality". In many respects, a "technicality" is simply a rule designed for clarity and certainty. They won't bear it in mind, of course, but one can hope.
We are vets in the Western Isles and for a number of years we have been trying to persuade the National Trust for Scotland (NTS) to manage the feral sheep on St Kilda to reduce winter starvation due to overpopulation. On Hirta a cull would not be necessary as 60% of the Village Bay flock are captured for research purposes every summer and removal of some animals for sale to Rare Breed flocks would not be difficult. NTS have refused to change their policy of non-management.
The recently published Soay Sheep Project Report for 2022 describes last winter's mortality as "moderately high". No figures are ever given for number of deaths but from the counts, it is easy to calculate that 987 adults died (ie 46% of the adults). The vast majority of these deaths will have occurred in late winter from starvation (exacerbated by parasitism). In addition, 33% of the 2022 lambs died. The average yearly adult mortality over the past two decades is over 600 (35%) with a further 200 lambs dying in spring. High mortality from starvation has been known about since the first study of the sheep 60 years ago.
Physiological traits that are a legacy of domestication leads to rapid overpopulation on islands where there are no predators and no means of dispersal. Scottish Government's position is that the sheep are not protected by the Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006, despite the Guidance to the Act making it clear that feral livestock are protected. We have raised a petition to Scottish Parliament asking that MSP's reconsider this decision. It can be viewed at: https://petitions.parliament.scot/petitions/PE2021
David Buckland and Graham Charlesworth
An astonishing £289 million has already been spent on design fees for HS2’s problematic – and now temporarily shelved – Euston station plans.
Scores wrongly accused of theft are ‘timed out’ as compensation talks drag on" (£)
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/post-office-horizon-it-scandal-compensation-l2f6xtdmd
The True Story of how a Republican Lib Dem Sleeper Agent Assassinated the Queen and was then destroyed by an undercover MI5 trained lettuce
But he won't be able to do that if all those awful public sector staff insist on pay rises.
(Remember folks, this isn't just about paying enough to stave off strikes now, it's about paying enough to make the job attractive to people who can go and do other stuff. Here's the latest from the land of teacher training;
DfE has published 2023 ITT targets: expects to need more trainees in subjects that are already struggling to recruit, further compounding teacher supply challenge
Our updated forecast suggests LESS THAN HALF of required secondary trainees will be recruited this year.
https://twitter.com/JackWorthNFER/status/1651532575557427200?s=20)
The St. Pancras refurbishment cost £800m, to restore a stunning listed building to its former glory - including the 250 room, 5* hotel.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7079915.stm
It's possible therefore that the withdrawal happens as part of a change of leadership which seeks to draw a line under Putin's failure - putting back a return to war until the Russian military had been rebuilt. Mobilization would be a continuation of Putin's failed policy.
It’s the perfect recipe for an even nastier post-Putin figure to come to power. Hitler came to power after the “humiliation” of Versailles
Yes yes I’m a cowardly appeaser who is absurdly scared of nuclear war blah blah
Lizz departs. HM sits down, a wave of relief quickly becomes crushing fatigue and she drifts away.
The power of Boris Johnson.
"OTHER POLITICIANS & POLITICAL FIGURES LIKED BY KEIR STARMER'S FANS":
Karren Brady
Vladimir Tenev
Alun Cairns
Anne Milton
Rupert Murdoch
Deborah Meaden
Bernard Jenkin
Bowen Wells
Caroline Nokes
Anne Main
Caroline Dinenage
Alister Jack
Sarah Willingham
Apoorva Mehta
James Dyson
https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/explore/public_figure/Keir_Starmer
That's an interest definition of bullying by any stretch.
Oh, and he has talked to them. They got a deal. The union accepted it. The members didn't and the Unions first response was not to ask for further discussions but set new dates for strikes.
A long squeeze on Crimea seemed to be the plan before, and if the bridge were hit further and land bridge separated theres a lot of leverage.
In all seriousness, what does Dave Lee of Roker Avenue do with his life now? If Nicola Sturgeon is having a dark time of it at the moment, she can at least console herself that her reputation has not sunk as low as that of Dave Lee of Roker Avenue, Sunderland.
Does that answer your question?
I know that for Euston they cut one of the platforms in an effort to save some money, and presumably that cost money in having to redo all the plans. Plus the delays due to the tunneling protestors might have been quite costly.
A Ford Galaxy tops the list of most correlated & also contains knitting, dominoes and cross stitch.
Knight of the people clearly
In the case of the RMT I have no doubt they are striking not just for pay, but also terms.
In the case of the nurses that claim is just for PR purposes. The rail unions state explicitly what they expect in the case of the terms. The nurses unions it is all vague pie in the sky.
The Ukrainians might succeed, and they might not. They might accept any failure and come to terms, and they might not.
I don't think we risk nuclear war to let them fight for their land and their people, and I think Ukraine have done a lot better than the pessimists have expected at every stage.
Etc
Thst a deal or uneasy truce occurs at some point is probably true, it's just the ones whi argue capitulation or unilateral offerings who overegg that possibility.
His things people like has Gambling Drinking and Frys Turkish Delight - What a night out that would make!!
Jeremy Corbyn
Richard Burgon
Boris Johnson
BJO fans please explain
Will we as a global community support that aim? Difficult to say - logic says no because either it succeeds and then we need to be aware of Russia's response, or it fails in which case why start in the first place.
There were loads in Nottingham last night
Lost 3-1 though
Which is not good for Scotland.
With huge regret. I have decided to resign from the Labour Party.
I'm not leaving the party. The party has left me.
Fascinating findings in the World Values Survey from @KingsCollegeLon The UK appears to be among the most tolerant countries.
https://twitter.com/bbcmarkeaston/status/1651547334663184387
So if Ukraine takes Crimea Putin would very likely fall with his regime OR to forestall that nightmare (for him) Putin would plunge the whole country into total war to prevent the surrender of crimea
FWIW my guess is that President Biden would tell the Ukes to stop before it got to that point anyway. As he showed in Afghanistan he’s not afraid of quite brutal realpolitik
Fuck knows what president Trump would do
The politics My understanding is, since start of the year the Tory Party have been on a “Save Rishi” approach to next Thursdays locals - fact is not so long ago there was talk of get rid of Rishi after bad locals - so much short termist gifts and over promising, they havn’t planned long term, just see off threat of Boris and Liz.
The economics my understanding is Because food and energy prices can make markets more volatile, underlying inflation with these stripped out proves a more stable indicator - the one PB should be watching, not posting energy prices, as we have probably moved into a new ball game on inflation now. And by all accounts underlying was still high when last announced, whats been buoying that? Top economists at Bank of England said this week (amongst other things the front of Daily Mail had tantrum about) underlying inflation so stubbornly high, overall inflation might not now drop quickly to low point as promised.
So my question, is it wage increases holding underlying inflation high, explaining why the government gone all hard ball on wage settlements again, rather take nurses to court than ACAS?
I am right arn’t I.
It's also more important for Ukraine's future security than the Donbas.
So, yes.