An eye for an eye and the whole world should've gone to Specsavers!
Ironically, the whole eye for an eye business dictates proportionate retaliation. An eye for an eye not wiping out the whole village for an eye. Obviously things get more complicated when it comes to decapitated babies.
Thanks to whoever linked to the video about TfL stopping one-day travelcards next year.
With this and the Ulez extension, it really does seem as though Khan wants to stop visitors from those weird places called "out of London".
He thinks he can make more money from people who can’t vote him out.
That's exactly it. Currently, if we go to London (which we do a few times a year), we just get a train ticket plus travelcard - often a family ticket (which is cheapest can vary from which station we travel from). It's really easy.
I've no idea what we do now - especially as our son, who is nine, does not have an Oystercard, mobile, or bank card. Will we have to get him an Oystercard and keep money on it just in case we want to travel to London?
Work be long b4 pensioner bus passes are withdrawn in london
Good riddance.
It's always been absurd that multi-millionaire pensioners travel for free while poor workers pay full price and students only get 30% off. I have some relatives in that category, both of whom admit its ridiculous.
And what about pensioners on the state pension who have very little disposable income. Not all pensioners are multi millionaires.
The point is, it's completely the wrong criterion to choose, since whether you are a pensioner or not is a terrible predictor of your wealth, or the extent to which you travel. Some pensioners need free travel, some don't - some are wealthy, some aren't, some travel every day and some never travel. It is a lousy proxy for those variables. Some blue-eyed people need free travel, some don't, but we don't give blue-eyed people free travel.
Giving specific discounts is a stupid way to help particular groups, because the amount they use the service differs widely. Much better to spend the money on cash handouts directly rather than tie it to specific consumption of a service, which they may or may not use. But it's a popular gimmick for politicians, so of course we're stuck with it for a while.
Free travel and the fuel allowance for pensioners should be taxed. Poor pensioners will pay nothing extra. Wealthy ones will pay up to 45% back. And apply NI to pensioners while you're at it. Again poorer pensioners will pay nothing extra. Simple.
Nothing simple about it , the bent and twisted dreams of rich right wing Tories on here is not a barometer of the country. Starving pensioners to give yourselves even more loot is just what I would expect , just surprised there are not workhouses built yet.
Generous of Israel to give such a clear warning to Gazans, which of course is also a warning to Hamas.
Glad that Israel is seeking to maintain its humanity and do it's level best to minimise civilian casualties as it seeks to eradicate Hamas.
It needs to do the same across every square inch of Gaza until Hamas is destroyed but trying not to kill civilians.
Hopefully the rest of the world, especially the world that claims to support Palestinians, steps up to the plate and offers safe haven for civilians, as happens in other such conflicts, before Israel needs to give the same warning to the Southern half of Gaza.
The last square inch is going to be pretty crowded.
Hence the need for safe havens.
Or its going to get pretty bloody but hopefully somewhere that claims to support Palestinians has seen some humanity and offers refuge by then.
Do you think the UK should provide a safe haven for everyone from the Gaza Strip who say they are civilians, or just other countries?
Other countries.
We stand with Israel.
Let those who stand with Palestine take them.
You're saying that our standing with Israel exempts us from any responsibility for the couple of million refugees that you have been arguing should leave Gaza ?
Interesting argument.
If the Gazans leave Gaza they won't be going back. I think everyone knows this.
Which is why the Neocon tribute acts want them to be gone
Ukraine: that Russian push on Avdiivka is coming at a mighty cost, so far for little gain.
Todays casualty numbers: 1,030 military personnel, 26 tanks, 49 armoured fighting vehicles, 44 artillery. That's 3,000 troops lost in 3 days. If this was being driven by the military - well, it wouldn't have been started as these levels of losses would have been obvious. Somone in the Kremlin - someone running for re-election in March - has said he needs a win before winter closes the campaign. A win to put before the voters. Regardless of cost.
And regardless of the weaknesses it might cause elsewhere along the line, where they have robbed Peter to pay Paul. Especially when the F-16s and ATACMS come out to play to exploit those weaknesses.
It does seem to have been a major attack intending to encircle the Ukranians in the town.
Both sides seem to be finding it impossible to break defensive lines and create a war of movement. The attrition drags on.
Generous of Israel to give such a clear warning to Gazans, which of course is also a warning to Hamas.
Glad that Israel is seeking to maintain its humanity and do it's level best to minimise civilian casualties as it seeks to eradicate Hamas.
It needs to do the same across every square inch of Gaza until Hamas is destroyed but trying not to kill civilians.
Hopefully the rest of the world, especially the world that claims to support Palestinians, steps up to the plate and offers safe haven for civilians, as happens in other such conflicts, before Israel needs to give the same warning to the Southern half of Gaza.
The BBC won’t
Today programme - Palestinian representative listened to in respectful silence. “Medical Aid for Palestinians” charity CEO listened to in respectful silence. IDF representative constantly interrupted with questions like “how easy is it to evacuate someone in an ICU bed”
How come we're not talking about the car that caught fire in Luton any more? For some reason that whole discussion suddenly went dead. Weird.
I'm quite relieved it was a short lived story as I'm flying out from Luton airport tomorrow morning.
There was some idle speculation it was started by an electric car; electric cars were surely involved in the full blaze.
Of course, a tank full of 60 or 70 litres of petrol is hardly a zero fire-risk but I do wonder whether the fire risks from lithium batteries is being fully recognised yet.
The cause was established by the police as a diesel car. The fact lots of people on social media jumped at the opportunity to blame EVs was totally unsurprising, of course. But ICE cars are big fuel tanks on wheels filled with dozens of litres of highly flammable liquid.
It's like when smokers argue the health effects of vapes are unproven so it's not worth the risk in switching.
And when (if) those 1.1 million have left and Israel has occupied Gaza City, will it withdraw and let them go back?
The Palestinians won't believe so, as since 1948 that's not tended to be the case. Which is of course one of the reasons why 'Egypt should just take them all' isn't likely to be an easy solution.
It might seem odd to us to be so passionately attached to somewhere like Gaza, but many are.
There won't be anything much left in Gaza to be attached to. Hamas are not these poor downtrodden innocents imprisoned by the beastly Jew (ssshhhhh don't mention Egypt). The are genocidal terrorist psychopaths.
Like ISIS before them they need to be eradicated. That means killing most of them. Because they aren't going to just give up or reform - like Jake and Ellwood they are on a Mission from God. They have no interest in the innocents in Gaza other than using them as human shields. And as for Egypt and the rest - they have no interest in the civilians either. They are political pawns left to suffer *by them* for regional points scoring.,
This has to end. The status quo can't be sustained, there is no viable status quo ante to wind the clock back to. We need a long-term solution for the diaspora issue and with respect to Egypt and Jordan and Syria their mission of leaving people in multi-generational refugee camps as Someone Else's Problem is also over.
Israel has demonstrated in recent years that it wants diplomatic solutions. Reaching out to make all kinds of previously unlikely alliances. But if diplomacy doesn't work, it will impose a settlement militarily. And as wounded as it is, and as armed as it is, woe betide any of the powers around it who think they still get to disrupt this.
Genuine, not loaded question. Why is your and others’ entirely appropriate horror at the actions of Hamas not matched by a horror of indiscriminate bombing and killing of civilians in Gaza? I can think of a few reasons, and am trying to understand whether my moral equivalence between a civilian Palestinian death and a civilian Israeli one is mistaken. How do you justify this to yourself? (Again, this sounds loaded, it isn’t).
Next you will be asking why no-one, not even you, has any strong views about wars in Yemen, Syria and large parts of Africa, and that way madness lies.
Generous of Israel to give such a clear warning to Gazans, which of course is also a warning to Hamas.
Glad that Israel is seeking to maintain its humanity and do it's level best to minimise civilian casualties as it seeks to eradicate Hamas.
It needs to do the same across every square inch of Gaza until Hamas is destroyed but trying not to kill civilians.
Hopefully the rest of the world, especially the world that claims to support Palestinians, steps up to the plate and offers safe haven for civilians, as happens in other such conflicts, before Israel needs to give the same warning to the Southern half of Gaza.
How do you shift 1.1 million people in 24 hours?
Collateral damage a few 100k out of existence should help things.
How come we're not talking about the car that caught fire in Luton any more? For some reason that whole discussion suddenly went dead. Weird.
An opportunity lost for another revolution in soft furnishings moment.
I've done a video on it (live at 4pm). Here's what happened: Diesel Range Rover catches fire on the way into the car park. Is abandoned in the middle of a floor and burns fiercely. .
This is my partially informed opinion... The RR was stuck in slow moving traffic and got completely heat soaked with mega high EGTs. Oil seal lets go on the hot side of the turbo and engine oil drips onto the exhaust manifold which is glowing redder than Leon's glans in Soi Cowboy. Up she goes...
I've blown up a few diesel engines in my time and engine oil is easier to ignite than the diesel fuel.
Thanks to whoever linked to the video about TfL stopping one-day travelcards next year.
With this and the Ulez extension, it really does seem as though Khan wants to stop visitors from those weird places called "out of London".
He thinks he can make more money from people who can’t vote him out.
That's exactly it. Currently, if we go to London (which we do a few times a year), we just get a train ticket plus travelcard - often a family ticket (which is cheapest can vary from which station we travel from). It's really easy.
I've no idea what we do now - especially as our son, who is nine, does not have an Oystercard, mobile, or bank card. Will we have to get him an Oystercard and keep money on it just in case we want to travel to London?
Work be long b4 pensioner bus passes are withdrawn in london
Good riddance.
It's always been absurd that multi-millionaire pensioners travel for free while poor workers pay full price and students only get 30% off. I have some relatives in that category, both of whom admit its ridiculous.
And what about pensioners on the state pension who have very little disposable income. Not all pensioners are multi millionaires.
The point is, it's completely the wrong criterion to choose, since whether you are a pensioner or not is a terrible predictor of your wealth, or the extent to which you travel. Some pensioners need free travel, some don't - some are wealthy, some aren't, some travel every day and some never travel. It is a lousy proxy for those variables. Some blue-eyed people need free travel, some don't, but we don't give blue-eyed people free travel.
Giving specific discounts is a stupid way to help particular groups, because the amount they use the service differs widely. Much better to spend the money on cash handouts directly rather than tie it to specific consumption of a service, which they may or may not use. But it's a popular gimmick for politicians, so of course we're stuck with it for a while.
Free travel and the fuel allowance for pensioners should be taxed. Poor pensioners will pay nothing extra. Wealthy ones will pay up to 45% back. And apply NI to pensioners while you're at it. Again poorer pensioners will pay nothing extra. Simple.
Nothing simple about it , the bent and twisted dreams of rich right wing Tories on here is not a barometer of the country. Starving pensioners to give yourselves even more loot is just what I would expect , just surprised there are not workhouses built yet.
Don't give them ideas. We have the Speenhamland System in the UK already, because employers won't pay people a decent wage, so the taxpayer has to subsidise them. The wotkhouses were the next bit after Speenhamland IIRC.
1,500 Palestinians dead. 1,200 Israelis dead. 1.1 million Palestinians forcibly displaced if Israel’s warning is heeded. 400,000 already displaced. 6000 bombs dropped on Gaza. What is it about the current situation that makes a civilian Israeli life worth more than a civilian Palestinian one to justify such numbers?
Civilian lives are equal. Always have been, always will be.
The problem for Gaza's civilians is that they elected psychopaths as their government and continue to support them and continue to educate their children in the just cause that is genocide against the Jew.
Hamas have done things over the last week that are incomprehensible. And will be crushed as a result. Some of the innocent civilians will be as appalled as the rest of civilisation is - we need to get them out of harms way. Others celebrate.
So what do we do? Say "Free Palestine" where Palestine is a terror state run by elected genocidal psychopaths. Free it to do what? I want to save Palestine. We saved Germany and the free world by bombing it into submission and the nazi leaders into their graves. The same is coming for Gaza. Which is why the innocent civilians should head south.
Here then is the challenge for Egypt and the Arab world. A significant number of people are going to flee to the border, whether voluntarily now or running for their lives shortly. You say "Free Palestine". But are you going to continue to imprison them and leave them to die at the hands of Hamas?
Because that is the truth. The people who want to slaughter the citizens of Gaza are not the IDF. It is Hamas. And I am told to provide succour to psychopaths? No.
Generous of Israel to give such a clear warning to Gazans, which of course is also a warning to Hamas.
Glad that Israel is seeking to maintain its humanity and do it's level best to minimise civilian casualties as it seeks to eradicate Hamas.
It needs to do the same across every square inch of Gaza until Hamas is destroyed but trying not to kill civilians.
Hopefully the rest of the world, especially the world that claims to support Palestinians, steps up to the plate and offers safe haven for civilians, as happens in other such conflicts, before Israel needs to give the same warning to the Southern half of Gaza.
The BBC won’t
Today programme - Palestinian representative listened to in respectful silence. “Medical Aid for Palestinians” charity CEO listened to in respectful silence. IDF representative constantly interrupted with questions like “how easy is it to evacuate someone in an ICU bed”
It was really quite noticeable. They are scared to challenge Palestinians even less than a week after Hamas murdered and mutilated over a thousand Israelis in cold blood.
Thanks to whoever linked to the video about TfL stopping one-day travelcards next year.
With this and the Ulez extension, it really does seem as though Khan wants to stop visitors from those weird places called "out of London".
He thinks he can make more money from people who can’t vote him out.
That's exactly it. Currently, if we go to London (which we do a few times a year), we just get a train ticket plus travelcard - often a family ticket (which is cheapest can vary from which station we travel from). It's really easy.
I've no idea what we do now - especially as our son, who is nine, does not have an Oystercard, mobile, or bank card. Will we have to get him an Oystercard and keep money on it just in case we want to travel to London?
Work be long b4 pensioner bus passes are withdrawn in london
Good riddance.
It's always been absurd that multi-millionaire pensioners travel for free while poor workers pay full price and students only get 30% off. I have some relatives in that category, both of whom admit its ridiculous.
And what about pensioners on the state pension who have very little disposable income. Not all pensioners are multi millionaires.
The point is, it's completely the wrong criterion to choose, since whether you are a pensioner or not is a terrible predictor of your wealth, or the extent to which you travel. Some pensioners need free travel, some don't - some are wealthy, some aren't, some travel every day and some never travel. It is a lousy proxy for those variables. Some blue-eyed people need free travel, some don't, but we don't give blue-eyed people free travel.
Giving specific discounts is a stupid way to help particular groups, because the amount they use the service differs widely. Much better to spend the money on cash handouts directly rather than tie it to specific consumption of a service, which they may or may not use. But it's a popular gimmick for politicians, so of course we're stuck with it for a while.
Free travel and the fuel allowance for pensioners should be taxed. Poor pensioners will pay nothing extra. Wealthy ones will pay up to 45% back. And apply NI to pensioners while you're at it. Again poorer pensioners will pay nothing extra. Simple.
Nothing simple about it , the bent and twisted dreams of rich right wing Tories on here is not a barometer of the country. Starving pensioners to give yourselves even more loot is just what I would expect , just surprised there are not workhouses built yet.
I'm hardly a right wing Tory! And I'm a pensioner in my eighties.
And when (if) those 1.1 million have left and Israel has occupied Gaza City, will it withdraw and let them go back?
The Palestinians won't believe so, as since 1948 that's not tended to be the case. Which is of course one of the reasons why 'Egypt should just take them all' isn't likely to be an easy solution.
It might seem odd to us to be so passionately attached to somewhere like Gaza, but many are.
There won't be anything much left in Gaza to be attached to. Hamas are not these poor downtrodden innocents imprisoned by the beastly Jew (ssshhhhh don't mention Egypt). The are genocidal terrorist psychopaths.
Like ISIS before them they need to be eradicated. That means killing most of them. Because they aren't going to just give up or reform - like Jake and Ellwood they are on a Mission from God. They have no interest in the innocents in Gaza other than using them as human shields. And as for Egypt and the rest - they have no interest in the civilians either. They are political pawns left to suffer *by them* for regional points scoring.,
This has to end. The status quo can't be sustained, there is no viable status quo ante to wind the clock back to. We need a long-term solution for the diaspora issue and with respect to Egypt and Jordan and Syria their mission of leaving people in multi-generational refugee camps as Someone Else's Problem is also over.
Israel has demonstrated in recent years that it wants diplomatic solutions. Reaching out to make all kinds of previously unlikely alliances. But if diplomacy doesn't work, it will impose a settlement militarily. And as wounded as it is, and as armed as it is, woe betide any of the powers around it who think they still get to disrupt this.
Genuine, not loaded question. Why is your and others’ entirely appropriate horror at the actions of Hamas not matched by a horror of indiscriminate bombing and killing of civilians in Gaza? I can think of a few reasons, and am trying to understand whether my moral equivalence between a civilian Palestinian death and a civilian Israeli one is mistaken. How do you justify this to yourself? (Again, this sounds loaded, it isn’t).
Next you will be asking why no-one, not even you, has any strong views about wars in Yemen, Syria and large parts of Africa, and that way madness lies.
Oh but I have an answer to that one John! Just look at the thread header…I can pin that one on the attention span of our media. Unless we go digging (and who has time for that) they’re easily forgotten about because they’re not in the news. This is different - both are equally salient at the moment.
Generous of Israel to give such a clear warning to Gazans, which of course is also a warning to Hamas.
Glad that Israel is seeking to maintain its humanity and do it's level best to minimise civilian casualties as it seeks to eradicate Hamas.
It needs to do the same across every square inch of Gaza until Hamas is destroyed but trying not to kill civilians.
Hopefully the rest of the world, especially the world that claims to support Palestinians, steps up to the plate and offers safe haven for civilians, as happens in other such conflicts, before Israel needs to give the same warning to the Southern half of Gaza.
How do you shift 1.1 million people in 24 hours?
Along destroyed roads, without fuel, food, water, including the hospitalised, and without stopping the bombing and artillery fire.
So would you prefer Israel not to give a warning? Or perhaps to turn the other cheek and let evil flourish?
Ukraine: that Russian push on Avdiivka is coming at a mighty cost, so far for little gain.
Todays casualty numbers: 1,030 military personnel, 26 tanks, 49 armoured fighting vehicles, 44 artillery. That's 3,000 troops lost in 3 days. If this was being driven by the military - well, it wouldn't have been started as these levels of losses would have been obvious. Somone in the Kremlin - someone running for re-election in March - has said he needs a win before winter closes the campaign. A win to put before the voters. Regardless of cost.
And regardless of the weaknesses it might cause elsewhere along the line, where they have robbed Peter to pay Paul. Especially when the F-16s and ATACMS come out to play to exploit those weaknesses.
It does seem to have been a major attack intending to encircle the Ukranians in the town.
Both sides seem to be finding it impossible to break defensive lines and create a war of movement. The attrition drags on.
@PBModerator please can you delete the doxxing post? It's been made explicitly clear that doxxing is against the rules.
Want to have a healthy disagreement, fine, don't doxx.
Mentioning a name that everyone on here associates with you seems a rather mild breach of the rules compared to your advocacy of genocide in Gaza.
You'd think it was positively more polite than using 'Bartholomew Roberts' as a nom de plume - the identity of a mass armed robber, murderer and worse. I know Barty (sic) thinks it's a joke, but I wouldn't call myself Dr_Shipman on PB.
Thanks to whoever linked to the video about TfL stopping one-day travelcards next year.
With this and the Ulez extension, it really does seem as though Khan wants to stop visitors from those weird places called "out of London".
He thinks he can make more money from people who can’t vote him out.
That's exactly it. Currently, if we go to London (which we do a few times a year), we just get a train ticket plus travelcard - often a family ticket (which is cheapest can vary from which station we travel from). It's really easy.
I've no idea what we do now - especially as our son, who is nine, does not have an Oystercard, mobile, or bank card. Will we have to get him an Oystercard and keep money on it just in case we want to travel to London?
Work be long b4 pensioner bus passes are withdrawn in london
Good riddance.
It's always been absurd that multi-millionaire pensioners travel for free while poor workers pay full price and students only get 30% off. I have some relatives in that category, both of whom admit its ridiculous.
And what about pensioners on the state pension who have very little disposable income. Not all pensioners are multi millionaires.
The point is, it's completely the wrong criterion to choose, since whether you are a pensioner or not is a terrible predictor of your wealth, or the extent to which you travel. Some pensioners need free travel, some don't - some are wealthy, some aren't, some travel every day and some never travel. It is a lousy proxy for those variables. Some blue-eyed people need free travel, some don't, but we don't give blue-eyed people free travel.
Giving specific discounts is a stupid way to help particular groups, because the amount they use the service differs widely. Much better to spend the money on cash handouts directly rather than tie it to specific consumption of a service, which they may or may not use. But it's a popular gimmick for politicians, so of course we're stuck with it for a while.
Free travel and the fuel allowance for pensioners should be taxed. Poor pensioners will pay nothing extra. Wealthy ones will pay up to 45% back. And apply NI to pensioners while you're at it. Again poorer pensioners will pay nothing extra. Simple.
Nothing simple about it , the bent and twisted dreams of rich right wing Tories on here is not a barometer of the country. Starving pensioners to give yourselves even more loot is just what I would expect , just surprised there are not workhouses built yet.
I'm hardly a right wing Tory! And I'm a pensioner in my eighties.
A wolf in sheep's clothing then , should be ashamed of yourself supporting the "kill the pensioner" mob on here.
Every single displaced person in Gaza should find and shoot their local Hamas terrorist buddy. There was a fragile peace, Hamas has brought death and destruction to the lives of ordinary people in Israel and Gaza. The deaths, displacements and destruction is all on Hamas. Israel has a right to defend itself and to ensure that Hamas is utterly destroyed and unable to launch another terrorist attack ever again.
My wife's family in Israel were very lucky to not have been effected directly but they know many families who lost loved ones and a few who have people missing, presumed kidnapped. There is a lot of anger at both Hamas and Mosad from what they say, how was such an extensive and devastating terrorist attack able to be carried out without any intelligence picking it up.
Once this is over there's going to be a lot of questions that need answers.
Posting very little on the Israel Palestine situation as I don't have the answers. One thought on human nature though, if I were an Israeli whose friends and family had been attacked I would want revenge, and if I were a Palestinian in Gaza I would also want revenge.
From the outside it is clear that peace is better but not sure how realistic it is to find a path to it. It will take both extraordinary leadership and a favourable situation which are unlikely to align in the next decade or two let alone the immediate aftermath of the attacks.
Somehow comforting that Shapps is as shit at defending the record and actions of the Israeli government as he is of the Tory government. Consistency is a great thing.
How come we're not talking about the car that caught fire in Luton any more? For some reason that whole discussion suddenly went dead. Weird.
I'm quite relieved it was a short lived story as I'm flying out from Luton airport tomorrow morning.
There was some idle speculation it was started by an electric car; electric cars were surely involved in the full blaze.
Of course, a tank full of 60 or 70 litres of petrol is hardly a zero fire-risk but I do wonder whether the fire risks from lithium batteries is being fully recognised yet.
As more and more EVs and Hybrid cars come onto the roads we get more and more data. Statistically it isn't even a question. You see that car fire on the side of the motorway? It isn't an EV. Because whilst EV batteries burn fiercely once they cook off, they don't tend to cook off.
Whereas there is something about Internal Combustion Engines which gives a clue about their likelihood to combust. Which they do fairly regularly. Out in the open they burn hot enough to melt tarmac. Confine them in a car park and you're going to lose the car park.
In the Liverpool fire, the fire brigade report describes rivers of fire as flaming fuels spread the inferno. A "Waterfall of fire" spreading it between floors. Of Combustion engined cars exploding every 30 seconds at the peak.
The issue is not EVs. No matter how hard the right want to howl at the moon, this was as simple as one of those cars with a bang bang engine and a tank of highly flammable liquid going bang. And then the flammable liquid making lots of other cars go bang.
Israel invades Gaza. Unsurprisingly, a LOT of Gazans are killed - as it is quite difficult for 1.1m Gazans to move house in 24 hours
Israel slogs on. Even more die. The West Bank erupts and Hezbollah attacks. Israel is now fighting on 3 fronts, one of them internal
The west funnels aid to Israel. More Gazans die. Now major Arab nations “facilitate” attacks on Israel - Iran, Syria. Perhaps Jordan, even Saudi
It looks like Israel could lose. America steps in. Europe is afire with deadly riots by Muslim populations. Iran attacks American interests. America attacks Iran. Russia takes advantage and sweeps Ukraine
I think it’s pretty clear there can be no peace in Israel and Palestine until Hamas are removed. Equally Netanyahu needs to go as he has put the interests of his own political survival above the needs of the country .
How come we're not talking about the car that caught fire in Luton any more? For some reason that whole discussion suddenly went dead. Weird.
An opportunity lost for another revolution in soft furnishings moment.
I've done a video on it (live at 4pm). Here's what happened: Diesel Range Rover catches fire on the way into the car park. Is abandoned in the middle of a floor and burns fiercely. .
This is my partially informed opinion... The RR was stuck in slow moving traffic and got completely heat soaked with mega high EGTs. Oil seal lets go on the hot side of the turbo and engine oil drips onto the exhaust manifold which is glowing redder than Leon's glans in Soi Cowboy. Up she goes...
I've blown up a few diesel engines in my time and engine oil is easier to ignite than the diesel fuel.
I remember the days when an old Foden or ERF diesel truck wouldn't start so the driver would find an old pallet, smash it up and set fire to it under the diesel tank.
@PBModerator please can you delete the doxxing post? It's been made explicitly clear that doxxing is against the rules.
Want to have a healthy disagreement, fine, don't doxx.
Agree, however no one should be in trouble over this. Leon is doxxed daily and there are no reprisals.
Leon doxes himself.
Yes, people should be free to decide how secret they want their identity to be. At one end we have full transparency with OGH, or Nick Palmer. At the other end a number of posters who are completely anonymous. And in the middle quite a few (myself included) who don't use our full names but are fairly relaxed about our identities being found out.
Israel invades Gaza. Unsurprisingly, a LOT of Gazans are killed - as it is quite difficult for 1.1m Gazans to move house in 24 hours
Israel slogs on. Even more die. The West Bank erupts and Hezbollah attacks. Israel is now fighting on 3 fronts, one of them internal
The west funnels aid to Israel. More Gazans die. Now major Arab nations “facilitate” attacks on Israel - Iran, Syria. Perhaps Jordan, even Saudi
It looks like Israel could lose. America steps in. Europe is afire with deadly riots by Muslim populations. Iran attacks American interests. America attacks Iran. Russia takes advantage and sweeps Ukraine
World War 3
Tbf in Leon years that would actually be World War 17.
How come we're not talking about the car that caught fire in Luton any more? For some reason that whole discussion suddenly went dead. Weird.
We only have finite energy and attention. We've now moved on to a witch-hunt for people and organisations who aren't displaying sufficiently morose or correctly worded expressions of emotion over events in the Levant.
And some baffling shit about London Underground tickets or something.
Yep good point. Can you just quickly run through those mid-Beds predictions again for us including the tactical voting scenarios which might make it closer than otherwise.
Israel invades Gaza. Unsurprisingly, a LOT of Gazans are killed - as it is quite difficult for 1.1m Gazans to move house in 24 hours
Israel slogs on. Even more die. The West Bank erupts and Hezbollah attacks. Israel is now fighting on 3 fronts, one of them internal
The west funnels aid to Israel. More Gazans die. Now major Arab nations “facilitate” attacks on Israel - Iran, Syria. Perhaps Jordan, even Saudi
It looks like Israel could lose. America steps in. Europe is afire with deadly riots by Muslim populations. Iran attacks American interests. America attacks Iran. Russia takes advantage and sweeps Ukraine
Especially when the F-16s and ATACMS come out to play to exploit those weaknesses.
Recent events mean that the MoD is going to have to strike a delicate balance. F-16AMs are going to have to be simultaneously characterised as irrelevant relicts and war winning silver bullets.
Generous of Israel to give such a clear warning to Gazans, which of course is also a warning to Hamas.
Glad that Israel is seeking to maintain its humanity and do it's level best to minimise civilian casualties as it seeks to eradicate Hamas.
It needs to do the same across every square inch of Gaza until Hamas is destroyed but trying not to kill civilians.
Hopefully the rest of the world, especially the world that claims to support Palestinians, steps up to the plate and offers safe haven for civilians, as happens in other such conflicts, before Israel needs to give the same warning to the Southern half of Gaza.
The last square inch is going to be pretty crowded.
Hence the need for safe havens.
Or its going to get pretty bloody but hopefully somewhere that claims to support Palestinians has seen some humanity and offers refuge by then.
Do you think the UK should provide a safe haven for everyone from the Gaza Strip who say they are civilians, or just other countries?
Other countries.
We stand with Israel.
Let those who stand with Palestine take them.
Thanks for clarifying what you meant by "the rest of the world".
I think it’s pretty clear there can be no peace in Israel and Palestine until Hamas are removed. Equally Netanyahu needs to go as he has put the interests of his own political survival above the needs of the country .
The view from Israel right now is that they're glad to have Bibi in charge because despite the corruption he's still someone who will take action against Hamas regardless of international condemnation etc... Israelis don't want a wet in charge at a time like this.
@PBModerator please can you delete the doxxing post? It's been made explicitly clear that doxxing is against the rules.
Want to have a healthy disagreement, fine, don't doxx.
Agree, however no one should be in trouble over this. Leon is doxxed daily and there are no reprisals.
Leon doxes himself.
Yes, people should be free to decide how secret they want their identity to be. At one end we have full transparency with OGH, or Nick Palmer. At the other end a number of posters who are completely anonymous. And in the middle quite a few (myself included) who don't use our full names but are fairly relaxed about our identities being found out.
Hmmm, shouldn't you be focusing on helping NZ win the cricket world cup?
Posting very little on the Israel Palestine situation as I don't have the answers. One thought on human nature though, if I were an Israeli whose friends and family had been attacked I would want revenge, and if I were a Palestinian in Gaza I would also want revenge.
From the outside it is clear that peace is better but not sure how realistic it is to find a path to it. It will take both extraordinary leadership and a favourable situation which are unlikely to align in the next decade or two let alone the immediate aftermath of the attacks.
It can be done, see South Africa dismantling apartheid, Spain dismantling Francoism, or the way the western allies treated Germany after World War 2.
But the stars have to align; you mostly need a Mandela and a de Klerk at the same moment. And that's hard, and there's no sign at all of it in the Holy (ha!) Lands.
How come we're not talking about the car that caught fire in Luton any more? For some reason that whole discussion suddenly went dead. Weird.
I'm quite relieved it was a short lived story as I'm flying out from Luton airport tomorrow morning.
There was some idle speculation it was started by an electric car; electric cars were surely involved in the full blaze.
Of course, a tank full of 60 or 70 litres of petrol is hardly a zero fire-risk but I do wonder whether the fire risks from lithium batteries is being fully recognised yet.
Good morning
The fire chief stated the fire started with a diesel suv which quickly spread and involved evs and charging points
He went on to say the car park had no sprinklers
This fire will be subject to a review and recommendations including mandatory sprinkler systems is likely to follow
Israel invades Gaza. Unsurprisingly, a LOT of Gazans are killed - as it is quite difficult for 1.1m Gazans to move house in 24 hours
Israel slogs on. Even more die. The West Bank erupts and Hezbollah attacks. Israel is now fighting on 3 fronts, one of them internal
The west funnels aid to Israel. More Gazans die. Now major Arab nations “facilitate” attacks on Israel - Iran, Syria. Perhaps Jordan, even Saudi
It looks like Israel could lose. America steps in. Europe is afire with deadly riots by Muslim populations. Iran attacks American interests. America attacks Iran. Russia takes advantage and sweeps Ukraine
World War 3
Equally (more?) plausible scenario
Israel invades and occupies at least part of Gaza. Establishes a permanent military presence. Hundreds of thousands are displaced, but the main fighting is over quite quickly and they return home.
There are reprisal attacks in the West Bank and some isolated outbreaks in Western cities. The IDF face regular ambushes in Gaza. But the world's attention moves on. Perhaps there's a catastrophic flood somewhere, or a big change in the Ukraine war, or (quite feasible) a massive US bond market rout and yet another global recession.
And another chapter in the sad ancestral story of the Arabs and Israelis draws to an unsatisfactory close.
How come we're not talking about the car that caught fire in Luton any more? For some reason that whole discussion suddenly went dead. Weird.
I'm quite relieved it was a short lived story as I'm flying out from Luton airport tomorrow morning.
There was some idle speculation it was started by an electric car; electric cars were surely involved in the full blaze.
Of course, a tank full of 60 or 70 litres of petrol is hardly a zero fire-risk but I do wonder whether the fire risks from lithium batteries is being fully recognised yet.
Good morning
The fire chief stated the fire started with a diesel suv which quickly spread and involved evs and charging points
He went on to say the car park had no sprinklers
This fire will be subject to a review and recommendations including mandatory sprinkler systems is likely to follow
Israel invades Gaza. Unsurprisingly, a LOT of Gazans are killed - as it is quite difficult for 1.1m Gazans to move house in 24 hours
Israel slogs on. Even more die. The West Bank erupts and Hezbollah attacks. Israel is now fighting on 3 fronts, one of them internal
The west funnels aid to Israel. More Gazans die. Now major Arab nations “facilitate” attacks on Israel - Iran, Syria. Perhaps Jordan, even Saudi
It looks like Israel could lose. America steps in. Europe is afire with deadly riots by Muslim populations. Iran attacks American interests. America attacks Iran. Russia takes advantage and sweeps Ukraine
Israel invades Gaza. Unsurprisingly, a LOT of Gazans are killed - as it is quite difficult for 1.1m Gazans to move house in 24 hours
Israel slogs on. Even more die. The West Bank erupts and Hezbollah attacks. Israel is now fighting on 3 fronts, one of them internal
The west funnels aid to Israel. More Gazans die. Now major Arab nations “facilitate” attacks on Israel - Iran, Syria. Perhaps Jordan, even Saudi
It looks like Israel could lose. America steps in. Europe is afire with deadly riots by Muslim populations. Iran attacks American interests. America attacks Iran. Russia takes advantage and sweeps Ukraine
World War 3
Is this the same World War 3 you predicted when Russia invaded Ukraine? Brace, brace!
And when (if) those 1.1 million have left and Israel has occupied Gaza City, will it withdraw and let them go back?
The Palestinians won't believe so, as since 1948 that's not tended to be the case. Which is of course one of the reasons why 'Egypt should just take them all' isn't likely to be an easy solution.
It might seem odd to us to be so passionately attached to somewhere like Gaza, but many are.
Short term I think I can see the Israeli tactic as being to create a buffer zone, like the Golan heights, to push any military activity far enough away from the Israeli border that they can't launch rockets or stage future incursions. Presumably the plan is to occupy Gaza city, not necessarily bother with the more rural bits to the South, and station a permanent military presence there. Frankly speaking I can't see any alternative strategy that would ensure security in the South.
Yes I expect Gazans may see this as a precursor to settlers moving in. Hopefully not. Pretty risky business if you're one of those settlers too.
If they do occupy half of Gaza then the question is do we see a flow of Gazans from North to South, to get out of the way of the occupiers, or a flow in the opposite direction if living conditions are better in the occupied zone.
I’m thinking along the lines of a buffer zone too but I think it would make more sense from Israel’s perspective (regardless of the rights or wrongs) to level everything from the border to Wadi Gaza (the line they’re told everyone to move to) and make the levelled area uninhabitable so that there is a very clear “dead zone” they can keep an eye on so that surprise attacks in the future will be very very unlikely as they will have miles of clear space where any activity will be noticed immediately and can be acted on if necessary.
It’s not nice but if it gives them the feeling of more security from this happening again then they will do it.
I think it’s pretty clear there can be no peace in Israel and Palestine until Hamas are removed. Equally Netanyahu needs to go as he has put the interests of his own political survival above the needs of the country .
The view from Israel right now is that they're glad to have Bibi in charge because despite the corruption he's still someone who will take action against Hamas regardless of international condemnation etc... Israelis don't want a wet in charge at a time like this.
Actually the view from Israel seems pretty unforgiving towards Netanyahu for failing to prepare for or anticipate this, and one thing Labour leaders in Israel have not been historically is wet in how they support and fund the IDF and Mossad.
I think it’s pretty clear there can be no peace in Israel and Palestine until Hamas are removed. Equally Netanyahu needs to go as he has put the interests of his own political survival above the needs of the country .
The view from Israel right now is that they're glad to have Bibi in charge because despite the corruption he's still someone who will take action against Hamas regardless of international condemnation etc... Israelis don't want a wet in charge at a time like this.
I doubt you’d see much difference in response regardless of who you had in charge . Many of those classed as moderates think the Hamas action has crossed a red line .
Netanyahu is part of the problem not the solution in the longer term .
So we are finally at the knockout stages of the RWC - and my predictions below are in order of predictability.....
The most predictable game is Wales Argentina. While Argentina started the tournament poorly, they have gradually improved and should provide Wales with stiff competion. But Wales have had a strong performance so far, and apart from their traditional 60 minute wobble have generally been dominant in their matches. Wales by +10.
France v South Africa. This was my original prediction for the final, but Ireland spoilt that, and this game will be very close. France looked very good in their New Zealand match but have not been tested since. South Africa have had two tough games and will be fully prepared for this match. Home advantage will help and I predict France by +6
Ireland v New Zealand. Ireland are fully deserving of their #1 world ranking, and are almost perfect in every aspect of the game. New Zealand have had a couple of poor games (by their standards) but will have done their homework on Ireland. New Zealand could continue Ireland's quarter final curse, but I predict Ireland to win by +3.
England v Fiji. This game is very difficult to predict, and very dependent on which teams turn up. England have not impressed but seem to have developed a simple game plan - this worked well against Argentina but not so much against Samoa. Fiji played well against Wales and Australia but were poor against Portugal. I predict this game will follow a similar pattern to the Wales Fiji game - with England cruising to an early lead based on their kicking, but with Fiji countering with some punching tries. My prediction is Fiji by +6 but this could equally be England by +6.
I have South Africans over on Sunday to watch the game, so I hope your prediction for that game is wrong
1,500 Palestinians dead. 1,200 Israelis dead. 1.1 million Palestinians forcibly displaced if Israel’s warning is heeded. 400,000 already displaced. 6000 bombs dropped on Gaza. What is it about the current situation that makes a civilian Israeli life worth more than a civilian Palestinian one to justify such numbers?
Because the Israeli Minister of Homeland Security Ben Gvir declared it to be so?
And when (if) those 1.1 million have left and Israel has occupied Gaza City, will it withdraw and let them go back?
The Palestinians won't believe so, as since 1948 that's not tended to be the case. Which is of course one of the reasons why 'Egypt should just take them all' isn't likely to be an easy solution.
It might seem odd to us to be so passionately attached to somewhere like Gaza, but many are.
Short term I think I can see the Israeli tactic as being to create a buffer zone, like the Golan heights, to push any military activity far enough away from the Israeli border that they can't launch rockets or stage future incursions. Presumably the plan is to occupy Gaza city, not necessarily bother with the more rural bits to the South, and station a permanent military presence there. Frankly speaking I can't see any alternative strategy that would ensure security in the South.
Yes I expect Gazans may see this as a precursor to settlers moving in. Hopefully not. Pretty risky business if you're one of those settlers too.
If they do occupy half of Gaza then the question is do we see a flow of Gazans from North to South, to get out of the way of the occupiers, or a flow in the opposite direction if living conditions are better in the occupied zone.
I’m thinking along the lines of a buffer zone too but I think it would make more sense from Israel’s perspective (regardless of the rights or wrongs) to level everything from the border to Wadi Gaza (the line they’re told everyone to move to) and make the levelled area uninhabitable so that there is a very clear “dead zone” they can keep an eye on so that surprise attacks in the future will be very very unlikely as they will have miles of clear space where any activity will be noticed immediately and can be acted on if necessary.
It’s not nice but if it gives them the feeling of more security from this happening again then they will do it.
I don't think that's going to happen. It would place them on a par with Assad (father and son).
@PBModerator please can you delete the doxxing post? It's been made explicitly clear that doxxing is against the rules.
Want to have a healthy disagreement, fine, don't doxx.
Agree, however no one should be in trouble over this. Leon is doxxed daily and there are no reprisals.
Leon doxes himself.
Yes, people should be free to decide how secret they want their identity to be. At one end we have full transparency with OGH, or Nick Palmer. At the other end a number of posters who are completely anonymous. And in the middle quite a few (myself included) who don't use our full names but are fairly relaxed about our identities being found out.
@PBModerator please can you delete the doxxing post? It's been made explicitly clear that doxxing is against the rules.
Want to have a healthy disagreement, fine, don't doxx.
Agree, however no one should be in trouble over this. Leon is doxxed daily and there are no reprisals.
Leon doxes himself.
Yes, people should be free to decide how secret they want their identity to be. At one end we have full transparency with OGH, or Nick Palmer. At the other end a number of posters who are completely anonymous. And in the middle quite a few (myself included) who don't use our full names but are fairly relaxed about our identities being found out.
Israel invades Gaza. Unsurprisingly, a LOT of Gazans are killed - as it is quite difficult for 1.1m Gazans to move house in 24 hours
Israel slogs on. Even more die. The West Bank erupts and Hezbollah attacks. Israel is now fighting on 3 fronts, one of them internal
The west funnels aid to Israel. More Gazans die. Now major Arab nations “facilitate” attacks on Israel - Iran, Syria. Perhaps Jordan, even Saudi
It looks like Israel could lose. America steps in. Europe is afire with deadly riots by Muslim populations. Iran attacks American interests. America attacks Iran. Russia takes advantage and sweeps Ukraine
Israel invades Gaza. Unsurprisingly, a LOT of Gazans are killed - as it is quite difficult for 1.1m Gazans to move house in 24 hours
Israel slogs on. Even more die. The West Bank erupts and Hezbollah attacks. Israel is now fighting on 3 fronts, one of them internal
The west funnels aid to Israel. More Gazans die. Now major Arab nations “facilitate” attacks on Israel - Iran, Syria. Perhaps Jordan, even Saudi
It looks like Israel could lose. America steps in. Europe is afire with deadly riots by Muslim populations. Iran attacks American interests. America attacks Iran. Russia takes advantage and sweeps Ukraine
World War 3
Equally (more?) plausible scenario
Israel invades and occupies at least part of Gaza. Establishes a permanent military presence. Hundreds of thousands are displaced, but the main fighting is over quite quickly and they return home.
There are reprisal attacks in the West Bank and some isolated outbreaks in Western cities. The IDF face regular ambushes in Gaza. But the world's attention moves on. Perhaps there's a catastrophic flood somewhere, or a big change in the Ukraine war, or (quite feasible) a massive US bond market rout and yet another global recession.
And another chapter in the sad ancestral story of the Arabs and Israelis draws to an unsatisfactory close.
I’d say yours is more likely. But not massively so
I reckon the chances of your scenario - basically same old same old - is about 30%. Chances of mine - major global escalation - more like 20%
50% some mix of the two
What worries me is that the 2020s feels like one of those cursed decades where everything surprises on the downside. The Wuhan flu turned out to be a global plague. Putin really DID invade Ukraine. Liz Truss
The ancestral conflict in the Levant finally turning into a massive international war would be in keeping with the leitmotifs of the 2020s, so far
I think it’s pretty clear there can be no peace in Israel and Palestine until Hamas are removed. Equally Netanyahu needs to go as he has put the interests of his own political survival above the needs of the country .
The view from Israel right now is that they're glad to have Bibi in charge because despite the corruption he's still someone who will take action against Hamas regardless of international condemnation etc... Israelis don't want a wet in charge at a time like this.
I doubt you’d see much difference in response regardless of who you had in charge . Many of those classed as moderates think the Hamas action has crossed a red line .
Netanyahu is part of the problem not the solution in the longer term .
Indeed his support of Hamas as a way to divide Palestinians and undermine any possibility of a Palestinian state is one of the most idiotic bits of politics in the modern age.
Israel invades Gaza. Unsurprisingly, a LOT of Gazans are killed - as it is quite difficult for 1.1m Gazans to move house in 24 hours
Israel slogs on. Even more die. The West Bank erupts and Hezbollah attacks. Israel is now fighting on 3 fronts, one of them internal
The west funnels aid to Israel. More Gazans die. Now major Arab nations “facilitate” attacks on Israel - Iran, Syria. Perhaps Jordan, even Saudi
It looks like Israel could lose. America steps in. Europe is afire with deadly riots by Muslim populations. Iran attacks American interests. America attacks Iran. Russia takes advantage and sweeps Ukraine
Israel invades Gaza. Unsurprisingly, a LOT of Gazans are killed - as it is quite difficult for 1.1m Gazans to move house in 24 hours
Israel slogs on. Even more die. The West Bank erupts and Hezbollah attacks. Israel is now fighting on 3 fronts, one of them internal
The west funnels aid to Israel. More Gazans die. Now major Arab nations “facilitate” attacks on Israel - Iran, Syria. Perhaps Jordan, even Saudi
It looks like Israel could lose. America steps in. Europe is afire with deadly riots by Muslim populations. Iran attacks American interests. America attacks Iran. Russia takes advantage and sweeps Ukraine
I think it’s pretty clear there can be no peace in Israel and Palestine until Hamas are removed. Equally Netanyahu needs to go as he has put the interests of his own political survival above the needs of the country .
The view from Israel right now is that they're glad to have Bibi in charge because despite the corruption he's still someone who will take action against Hamas regardless of international condemnation etc... Israelis don't want a wet in charge at a time like this.
Actually the view from Israel seems pretty unforgiving towards Netanyahu for failing to prepare for or anticipate this, and one thing Labour leaders in Israel have not been historically is wet in how they support and fund the IDF and Mossad.
I think that's the view going forwards, at least from speaking to my wife's family. In the here and now they know Bibi is unlikely to halt the campaign against Hamas when the IDF is striking civilian infrastructure and the civilians that Hamas has placed within these schools, hospitals and mosques they use as terrorist bases are killed by IDF strikes he will simply shrug and keep going. I'm not sure that other politicians are trusted to do so, at least from what they were saying last night when we finally got through.
No conference bounce for Labour according to Techne .
The same poll numbers from their last poll.
Labour 45 Tories 26 .
Domestic issues not taking centre stage and Sunak being able to channel the Great Wartime Leader routine might have some effect on the by-elections .
Too early for conference bounce, I would wait until polls from early-mid next week onwards.
I agree and now we have the war in the middle east and who knows what the political fallout may be
We all talk about events but nobody could have predicted brexit, covid, war in Ukraine, the death of the Queen and now a terrible middle east war all in just 4 years since the last election
How come we're not talking about the car that caught fire in Luton any more? For some reason that whole discussion suddenly went dead. Weird.
I'm quite relieved it was a short lived story as I'm flying out from Luton airport tomorrow morning.
There was some idle speculation it was started by an electric car; electric cars were surely involved in the full blaze.
Of course, a tank full of 60 or 70 litres of petrol is hardly a zero fire-risk but I do wonder whether the fire risks from lithium batteries is being fully recognised yet.
Good morning
The fire chief stated the fire started with a diesel suv which quickly spread and involved evs and charging points
He went on to say the car park had no sprinklers
This fire will be subject to a review and recommendations including mandatory sprinkler systems is likely to follow
@PBModerator please can you delete the doxxing post? It's been made explicitly clear that doxxing is against the rules.
Want to have a healthy disagreement, fine, don't doxx.
Agree, however no one should be in trouble over this. Leon is doxxed daily and there are no reprisals.
Leon doxes himself.
Yes, people should be free to decide how secret they want their identity to be. At one end we have full transparency with OGH, or Nick Palmer. At the other end a number of posters who are completely anonymous. And in the middle quite a few (myself included) who don't use our full names but are fairly relaxed about our identities being found out.
I imagine one day I will run into a guy called Tim at an SE4 soiree and figure out who you are. If so we can drink a toast to PB.
Your Tischgespräche is plausible up to this bit. If the RF were capable of sweeping Ukraine they'd do it today.
I also don't think that the US would directly engage the RF forces to save the Green T-Shirt Regime if it all went to fuck in Kiev. Other sources of fanciful conjecture are available. DYO-Wikipedia-R.
Israel invades Gaza. Unsurprisingly, a LOT of Gazans are killed - as it is quite difficult for 1.1m Gazans to move house in 24 hours
Israel slogs on. Even more die. The West Bank erupts and Hezbollah attacks. Israel is now fighting on 3 fronts, one of them internal
The west funnels aid to Israel. More Gazans die. Now major Arab nations “facilitate” attacks on Israel - Iran, Syria. Perhaps Jordan, even Saudi
It looks like Israel could lose. America steps in. Europe is afire with deadly riots by Muslim populations. Iran attacks American interests. America attacks Iran. Russia takes advantage and sweeps Ukraine
World War 3
Is this the same World War 3 you predicted when Russia invaded Ukraine? Brace, brace!
In case you hadn’t noticed, the Ukraine war is not over
How come we're not talking about the car that caught fire in Luton any more? For some reason that whole discussion suddenly went dead. Weird.
I'm quite relieved it was a short lived story as I'm flying out from Luton airport tomorrow morning.
There was some idle speculation it was started by an electric car; electric cars were surely involved in the full blaze.
Of course, a tank full of 60 or 70 litres of petrol is hardly a zero fire-risk but I do wonder whether the fire risks from lithium batteries is being fully recognised yet.
Good morning
The fire chief stated the fire started with a diesel suv which quickly spread and involved evs and charging points
He went on to say the car park had no sprinklers
This fire will be subject to a review and recommendations including mandatory sprinkler systems is likely to follow
That's like suggesting "an overheating chip pan on a gas hob started the fire that burned my house down, but do you know what? It would have been manageable had the house not been wired into mains electricity".
How come we're not talking about the car that caught fire in Luton any more? For some reason that whole discussion suddenly went dead. Weird.
I'm quite relieved it was a short lived story as I'm flying out from Luton airport tomorrow morning.
There was some idle speculation it was started by an electric car; electric cars were surely involved in the full blaze.
Of course, a tank full of 60 or 70 litres of petrol is hardly a zero fire-risk but I do wonder whether the fire risks from lithium batteries is being fully recognised yet.
Good morning
The fire chief stated the fire started with a diesel suv which quickly spread and involved evs and charging points
He went on to say the car park had no sprinklers
This fire will be subject to a review and recommendations including mandatory sprinkler systems is likely to follow
Israel invades Gaza. Unsurprisingly, a LOT of Gazans are killed - as it is quite difficult for 1.1m Gazans to move house in 24 hours
Israel slogs on. Even more die. The West Bank erupts and Hezbollah attacks. Israel is now fighting on 3 fronts, one of them internal
The west funnels aid to Israel. More Gazans die. Now major Arab nations “facilitate” attacks on Israel - Iran, Syria. Perhaps Jordan, even Saudi
It looks like Israel could lose. America steps in. Europe is afire with deadly riots by Muslim populations. Iran attacks American interests. America attacks Iran. Russia takes advantage and sweeps Ukraine
World War 3
Equally (more?) plausible scenario
Israel invades and occupies at least part of Gaza. Establishes a permanent military presence. Hundreds of thousands are displaced, but the main fighting is over quite quickly and they return home.
There are reprisal attacks in the West Bank and some isolated outbreaks in Western cities. The IDF face regular ambushes in Gaza. But the world's attention moves on. Perhaps there's a catastrophic flood somewhere, or a big change in the Ukraine war, or (quite feasible) a massive US bond market rout and yet another global recession.
And another chapter in the sad ancestral story of the Arabs and Israelis draws to an unsatisfactory close.
I’d say yours is more likely. But not massively so
I reckon the chances of your scenario - basically same old same old - is about 30%. Chances of mine - major global escalation - more like 20%
50% some mix of the two
What worries me is that the 2020s feels like one of those cursed decades where everything surprises on the downside. The Wuhan flu turned out to be a global plague. Putin really DID invade Ukraine. Liz Truss
The ancestral conflict in the Levant finally turning into a massive international war would be in keeping with the leitmotifs of the 2020s, so far
It's been a decade of variety in its disasters though. More war would be a bit samey. And to be honest financial collapses have been a bit two a penny in recent years, as have climate related disasters. So what's missing so far? What pretty obvious event are the 2020s yet to be blessed with?
1,500 Palestinians dead. 1,200 Israelis dead. 1.1 million Palestinians forcibly displaced if Israel’s warning is heeded. 400,000 already displaced. 6000 bombs dropped on Gaza. What is it about the current situation that makes a civilian Israeli life worth more than a civilian Palestinian one to justify such numbers?
Civilian lives are equal. Always have been, always will be.
The problem for Gaza's civilians is that they elected psychopaths as their government and continue to support them and continue to educate their children in the just cause that is genocide against the Jew.
Hamas have done things over the last week that are incomprehensible. And will be crushed as a result. Some of the innocent civilians will be as appalled as the rest of civilisation is - we need to get them out of harms way. Others celebrate.
So what do we do? Say "Free Palestine" where Palestine is a terror state run by elected genocidal psychopaths. Free it to do what? I want to save Palestine. We saved Germany and the free world by bombing it into submission and the nazi leaders into their graves. The same is coming for Gaza. Which is why the innocent civilians should head south.
Here then is the challenge for Egypt and the Arab world. A significant number of people are going to flee to the border, whether voluntarily now or running for their lives shortly. You say "Free Palestine". But are you going to continue to imprison them and leave them to die at the hands of Hamas?
Because that is the truth. The people who want to slaughter the citizens of Gaza are not the IDF. It is Hamas. And I am told to provide succour to psychopaths? No.
Thanks for a thoughtful answer even though it is clear from your posts that you feel passionately about this.
The problem for Gaza's civilians is that they elected psychopaths In 2007 or so, yes. And I can see that the nation/state of Gaza bears responsibility for this. I find it hard to ascribe responsibility for this situation to the current population of Gaza, especially given the median age and proportion of the country too young to have voted in 2007.
continue to educate their children in the just cause that is genocide against the Jew. Whereas this statement indicates much more current responsibility for the extremism of Hamas amongst the population as a whole. I haven’t heard this claim before and can’t immediately verify it. Do you have a reliable source?
You say "Free Palestine" Sadly, it has been a good few years since I have been idealistic enough to sign up to pithy slogans. My view is basically that civilians are rarely to blame for the actions of their governments, and this is more true for Palestinians in Gaza than it is for Israelis because of the relative recency of elections. I can see the intractable problem Israel currently faces and don’t see another route for them to take than the current one. At the same time I feel an instinctive sense of horror at the casual way in which innocent Palestinian lives are being discussed on here and elsewhere, by comparison with the (in my view much more appropriate) outrage at the way in which innocent Israeli civilians have been murdered.
are you going to continue to imprison them and leave them to die at the hands of Hamas I don’t really understand how a civilian in Gaza can be both responsible for the Hamas government and yet imprisoned by them. This reads like doublethink to me.
No conference bounce for Labour according to Techne .
The same poll numbers from their last poll.
Labour 45 Tories 26 .
Domestic issues not taking centre stage and Sunak being able to channel the Great Wartime Leader routine might have some effect on the by-elections .
Too early for conference bounce, I would wait until polls from early-mid next week onwards.
I agree and now we have the war in the middle east and who knows what the political fallout may be
We all talk about events but nobody could have predicted brexit, covid, war in Ukraine, the death of the Queen and now a terrible middle east war all in just 4 years since the last election
Err, both Brexit and the death of a 96 year old woman were not unexpected, just a matter of timing.
Re kids on the Tube - it is still kind of confusing to know how to get through the gates for people who don’t have great English (E.g. tourists) or for people who aren’t used to using public transport (E.g. people from lots of the rest of the uk where public transport is either bobbins or non-existent).
I'm all for different ways of doing things like Oystercard or contactless. But they are also more complex until you know the system, esp. compared to ticketed systems, which pretty much anyone who has used public transport worldwide knows. Buy a ticket, get on.
Khan has mucked up TfL's finances, and he's trying to make anyone but Londoners pay.
Take a step back. Kids travel free, even your 9-year-old from outside London. As a matter of interest, how much are child fares round your way? As an adult, you can use any contactless payment card or phone. The important point is always to use the same contactless card to benefit from daily fare capping and also free travel if you change buses quickly. You do have that where you live? Thought not.
No; but then we are not blessed with the marvellous public transport system London has.
But what you're talking about is more complex. Buying a ticket means the job is jobbed; if you don't know the arcane system in London then it's blooming confusing.
I fear the problem is that people who live in London and use the system regularly are used to it. The problem occurs with us plebs who only go into London a few times a year.
If I were you, I'd get Oyster cards for your child and yourself. It will make your son feel more grown-up to have his own ticket; you can use the normal gates rather than having to look for the special ones at the side; if you drop your card, there is not the risk of a thief making off with your credit card or phone.
Except AIUI you need to keep it topped up, meaning that TFL have all the money on it until you spend it. And you say their website is 'excellent'; I'd argue it isn't for occasional travellers such as ourselves.
As I keep on saying: one day travelcards, especially when combined with rail tickets, are a totally hassle-free way of doing things.
No conference bounce for Labour according to Techne .
The same poll numbers from their last poll.
Labour 45 Tories 26 .
Domestic issues not taking centre stage and Sunak being able to channel the Great Wartime Leader routine might have some effect on the by-elections .
I'm relaxed about that poll - following the polls showing a Tory bounce after their conference, this suggests it's evened out. A lead of 19 will do nicely, if confirmed by other polls.
How come we're not talking about the car that caught fire in Luton any more? For some reason that whole discussion suddenly went dead. Weird.
I'm quite relieved it was a short lived story as I'm flying out from Luton airport tomorrow morning.
There was some idle speculation it was started by an electric car; electric cars were surely involved in the full blaze.
Of course, a tank full of 60 or 70 litres of petrol is hardly a zero fire-risk but I do wonder whether the fire risks from lithium batteries is being fully recognised yet.
Good morning
The fire chief stated the fire started with a diesel suv which quickly spread and involved evs and charging points
He went on to say the car park had no sprinklers
This fire will be subject to a review and recommendations including mandatory sprinkler systems is likely to follow
Have to say that last night's thread was an absolute classic: HYUFD extolling the relative merits of the Nuremburg Rallies and then Leon proclaiming him a 'genius' before denouncing booze and porn.
How come we're not talking about the car that caught fire in Luton any more? For some reason that whole discussion suddenly went dead. Weird.
I'm quite relieved it was a short lived story as I'm flying out from Luton airport tomorrow morning.
There was some idle speculation it was started by an electric car; electric cars were surely involved in the full blaze.
Of course, a tank full of 60 or 70 litres of petrol is hardly a zero fire-risk but I do wonder whether the fire risks from lithium batteries is being fully recognised yet.
Good morning
The fire chief stated the fire started with a diesel suv which quickly spread and involved evs and charging points
He went on to say the car park had no sprinklers
This fire will be subject to a review and recommendations including mandatory sprinkler systems is likely to follow
That's like suggesting "an overheating chip pan on a gas hob started the fire that burned my house down, but do you know what? It would have been manageable had the house not been wired into mains electricity".
The point is that EV fires burn hotter and longer, and are a devil to put out.
As it happens, the real scandal is perhaps that the car park did not have a sprinkler system. I wouldn't expect one to put out a fire, but it would buy the fire brigade more time.
Your Tischgespräche is plausible up to this bit. If the RF were capable of sweeping Ukraine they'd do it today.
I also don't think that the US would directly engage the RF forces to save the Green T-Shirt Regime if it all went to fuck in Kiev. Other sources of fanciful conjecture are available. DYO-Wikipedia-R.
I wanted to keep it pithy. I agree Russia as things stand cannot sweep Ukraine. But how long will America keep funding Kyiv if it is ALSO desperately trying to aid Israel. There are many ways it could stop
Without that aid Ukraine is fucked. Also, other nations might see this chaotic moment as a good time to help Russia. China? They want the west dethroned. Helping Putin win in Ukraine would really aid that. As Israel fights for its life
Alternatively or additionally, China might see the coming 18 months as the ideal moment to take on Taiwan, as two mad old men fight for the White House
Have to say that last night's thread was an absolute classic: HYUFD extolling the relative merits of the Nuremburg Rallies and then Leon proclaiming him a 'genius' before denouncing booze and porn.
Oh? What was so great about the rallies? The catering? The visual design?
How come we're not talking about the car that caught fire in Luton any more? For some reason that whole discussion suddenly went dead. Weird.
I'm quite relieved it was a short lived story as I'm flying out from Luton airport tomorrow morning.
There was some idle speculation it was started by an electric car; electric cars were surely involved in the full blaze.
Of course, a tank full of 60 or 70 litres of petrol is hardly a zero fire-risk but I do wonder whether the fire risks from lithium batteries is being fully recognised yet.
Good morning
The fire chief stated the fire started with a diesel suv which quickly spread and involved evs and charging points
He went on to say the car park had no sprinklers
This fire will be subject to a review and recommendations including mandatory sprinkler systems is likely to follow
Israel invades Gaza. Unsurprisingly, a LOT of Gazans are killed - as it is quite difficult for 1.1m Gazans to move house in 24 hours
Israel slogs on. Even more die. The West Bank erupts and Hezbollah attacks. Israel is now fighting on 3 fronts, one of them internal
The west funnels aid to Israel. More Gazans die. Now major Arab nations “facilitate” attacks on Israel - Iran, Syria. Perhaps Jordan, even Saudi
It looks like Israel could lose. America steps in. Europe is afire with deadly riots by Muslim populations. Iran attacks American interests. America attacks Iran. Russia takes advantage and sweeps Ukraine
World War 3
You have an absolute boner for World War Three
Major Arab nations already facilitate terrorist activity against Israel, as they have been doing for many decades (since the 1940s, and well before that?).
Remember that Hezbollah - far ore formidable than Hamas, is in many ways simply the terrorist wing of the Iranian armed forces.
I think the situation in Western Europe, including here, is a concern.
How come we're not talking about the car that caught fire in Luton any more? For some reason that whole discussion suddenly went dead. Weird.
I'm quite relieved it was a short lived story as I'm flying out from Luton airport tomorrow morning.
There was some idle speculation it was started by an electric car; electric cars were surely involved in the full blaze.
Of course, a tank full of 60 or 70 litres of petrol is hardly a zero fire-risk but I do wonder whether the fire risks from lithium batteries is being fully recognised yet.
Good morning
The fire chief stated the fire started with a diesel suv which quickly spread and involved evs and charging points
He went on to say the car park had no sprinklers
This fire will be subject to a review and recommendations including mandatory sprinkler systems is likely to follow
That's like suggesting "an overheating chip pan on a gas hob started the fire that burned my house down, but do you know what? It would have been manageable had the house not been wired into mains electricity".
The point is that EV fires burn hotter and longer, and are a devil to put out.
As it happens, the real scandal is perhaps that the car park did not have a sprinkler system. I wouldn't expect one to put out a fire, but it would buy the fire brigade more time.
I must say on a political forum , I cannot be that bothered by this - its a fire , they happen ,always have no matter who is in charge
No conference bounce for Labour according to Techne .
The same poll numbers from their last poll.
Labour 45 Tories 26 .
Domestic issues not taking centre stage and Sunak being able to channel the Great Wartime Leader routine might have some effect on the by-elections .
I'm relaxed about that poll - following the polls showing a Tory bounce after their conference, this suggests it's evened out. A lead of 19 will do nicely, if confirmed by other polls.
Are you concerned with the reports from the focus group that said they preferred Sunak to Starmer but still planned to vote labour ? We know the labour lead is soft. What needs to be done to firm it up.
This is the one in three seats Labour needs to win. It was mentioned here in the last few days.
And when (if) those 1.1 million have left and Israel has occupied Gaza City, will it withdraw and let them go back?
The Palestinians won't believe so, as since 1948 that's not tended to be the case. Which is of course one of the reasons why 'Egypt should just take them all' isn't likely to be an easy solution.
It might seem odd to us to be so passionately attached to somewhere like Gaza, but many are.
There won't be anything much left in Gaza to be attached to. Hamas are not these poor downtrodden innocents imprisoned by the beastly Jew (ssshhhhh don't mention Egypt). The are genocidal terrorist psychopaths.
Like ISIS before them they need to be eradicated. That means killing most of them. Because they aren't going to just give up or reform - like Jake and Ellwood they are on a Mission from God. They have no interest in the innocents in Gaza other than using them as human shields. And as for Egypt and the rest - they have no interest in the civilians either. They are political pawns left to suffer *by them* for regional points scoring.,
This has to end. The status quo can't be sustained, there is no viable status quo ante to wind the clock back to. We need a long-term solution for the diaspora issue and with respect to Egypt and Jordan and Syria their mission of leaving people in multi-generational refugee camps as Someone Else's Problem is also over.
Israel has demonstrated in recent years that it wants diplomatic solutions. Reaching out to make all kinds of previously unlikely alliances. But if diplomacy doesn't work, it will impose a settlement militarily. And as wounded as it is, and as armed as it is, woe betide any of the powers around it who think they still get to disrupt this.
Genuine, not loaded question. Why is your and others’ entirely appropriate horror at the actions of Hamas not matched by a horror of indiscriminate bombing and killing of civilians in Gaza? I can think of a few reasons, and am trying to understand whether my moral equivalence between a civilian Palestinian death and a civilian Israeli one is mistaken. How do you justify this to yourself? (Again, this sounds loaded, it isn’t).
I think the short answer is that evil bastards who behead babies in their cribs deserve everything that is coming to them.
Have to say that last night's thread was an absolute classic: HYUFD extolling the relative merits of the Nuremburg Rallies and then Leon proclaiming him a 'genius' before denouncing booze and porn.
Oh? What was so great about the rallies? The catering? The visual design?
The way PB has been recent days probably the political speeches.
Have to say that last night's thread was an absolute classic: HYUFD extolling the relative merits of the Nuremburg Rallies and then Leon proclaiming him a 'genius' before denouncing booze and porn.
Oh? What was so great about the rallies? The catering? The visual design?
Leon denouncing booze and porn? We truly are at the end of times. Time to load up our campervan and head off grid.
are you going to continue to imprison them and leave them to die at the hands of Hamas I don’t really understand how a civilian in Gaza can be both responsible for the Hamas government and yet imprisoned by them. This reads like doublethink to me.
We'd be here all day so lets just skip to the last part. I was referring to the government of Egypt. Israel gets grief for Gaza being a prison - yet rarely a word against Egypt for doing the same.
A wave of refugees is coming. Either they voluntarily head south as the IDF advises, or they flee when the IDF advances. They are coming. So what will Egypt do? Because the Rafah border crossing remains closed - there is no free transit out of Gaza into Egypt.
My question was to Egypt. Will you say "Free Palestine" whilst continuing to imprison them? Will you blame Israel whilst pushing the fleeing civilians back into the hands of Hamas and the path of the invading army?
How come we're not talking about the car that caught fire in Luton any more? For some reason that whole discussion suddenly went dead. Weird.
I'm quite relieved it was a short lived story as I'm flying out from Luton airport tomorrow morning.
There was some idle speculation it was started by an electric car; electric cars were surely involved in the full blaze.
Of course, a tank full of 60 or 70 litres of petrol is hardly a zero fire-risk but I do wonder whether the fire risks from lithium batteries is being fully recognised yet.
Good morning
The fire chief stated the fire started with a diesel suv which quickly spread and involved evs and charging points
He went on to say the car park had no sprinklers
This fire will be subject to a review and recommendations including mandatory sprinkler systems is likely to follow
That's like suggesting "an overheating chip pan on a gas hob started the fire that burned my house down, but do you know what? It would have been manageable had the house not been wired into mains electricity".
Maybe I am a bit slow this morning as not I am sure about your point but the longer term issue will be car park sprinklers and changing fire regulations accordingly, ironically as I originally highlighted was the result of the fire 1979 fire in Woolworths in Manchester which in 1988 changed the regulations on combustible material used in the manufacture of furniture
No conference bounce for Labour according to Techne .
The same poll numbers from their last poll.
Labour 45 Tories 26 .
Domestic issues not taking centre stage and Sunak being able to channel the Great Wartime Leader routine might have some effect on the by-elections .
Techne is the ying to Deltapoll's Yang; it's incredibly stable.
I don't think any poll they've released all year has been beyond MoE away from of C27L45. Meanwhile pages are ripped from the calendar like a "time passed" sequence in an old movie.
How come we're not talking about the car that caught fire in Luton any more? For some reason that whole discussion suddenly went dead. Weird.
I'm quite relieved it was a short lived story as I'm flying out from Luton airport tomorrow morning.
There was some idle speculation it was started by an electric car; electric cars were surely involved in the full blaze.
Of course, a tank full of 60 or 70 litres of petrol is hardly a zero fire-risk but I do wonder whether the fire risks from lithium batteries is being fully recognised yet.
Good morning
The fire chief stated the fire started with a diesel suv which quickly spread and involved evs and charging points
He went on to say the car park had no sprinklers
This fire will be subject to a review and recommendations including mandatory sprinkler systems is likely to follow
And when (if) those 1.1 million have left and Israel has occupied Gaza City, will it withdraw and let them go back?
The Palestinians won't believe so, as since 1948 that's not tended to be the case. Which is of course one of the reasons why 'Egypt should just take them all' isn't likely to be an easy solution.
It might seem odd to us to be so passionately attached to somewhere like Gaza, but many are.
There won't be anything much left in Gaza to be attached to. Hamas are not these poor downtrodden innocents imprisoned by the beastly Jew (ssshhhhh don't mention Egypt). The are genocidal terrorist psychopaths.
Like ISIS before them they need to be eradicated. That means killing most of them. Because they aren't going to just give up or reform - like Jake and Ellwood they are on a Mission from God. They have no interest in the innocents in Gaza other than using them as human shields. And as for Egypt and the rest - they have no interest in the civilians either. They are political pawns left to suffer *by them* for regional points scoring.,
This has to end. The status quo can't be sustained, there is no viable status quo ante to wind the clock back to. We need a long-term solution for the diaspora issue and with respect to Egypt and Jordan and Syria their mission of leaving people in multi-generational refugee camps as Someone Else's Problem is also over.
Israel has demonstrated in recent years that it wants diplomatic solutions. Reaching out to make all kinds of previously unlikely alliances. But if diplomacy doesn't work, it will impose a settlement militarily. And as wounded as it is, and as armed as it is, woe betide any of the powers around it who think they still get to disrupt this.
Genuine, not loaded question. Why is your and others’ entirely appropriate horror at the actions of Hamas not matched by a horror of indiscriminate bombing and killing of civilians in Gaza? I can think of a few reasons, and am trying to understand whether my moral equivalence between a civilian Palestinian death and a civilian Israeli one is mistaken. How do you justify this to yourself? (Again, this sounds loaded, it isn’t).
I think the short answer is that evil bastards who behead babies in their cribs deserve everything that is coming to them.
I don't think there is much sympathy for the Hamas dead. The civilians they hide amongst though are a different matter.
We should not encourage evil that good may come of it.
Comments
Have you enjoyed your stop in Newcastle ?
Both sides seem to be finding it impossible to break defensive lines and create a war of movement. The attrition drags on.
Today programme - Palestinian representative listened to in respectful silence. “Medical Aid for Palestinians” charity CEO listened to in respectful silence. IDF representative constantly interrupted with questions like “how easy is it to evacuate someone in an ICU bed”
It's like when smokers argue the health effects of vapes are unproven so it's not worth the risk in switching.
I've blown up a few diesel engines in my time and engine oil is easier to ignite than the diesel fuel.
The problem for Gaza's civilians is that they elected psychopaths as their government and continue to support them and continue to educate their children in the just cause that is genocide against the Jew.
Hamas have done things over the last week that are incomprehensible. And will be crushed as a result. Some of the innocent civilians will be as appalled as the rest of civilisation is - we need to get them out of harms way. Others celebrate.
So what do we do? Say "Free Palestine" where Palestine is a terror state run by elected genocidal psychopaths. Free it to do what? I want to save Palestine. We saved Germany and the free world by bombing it into submission and the nazi leaders into their graves. The same is coming for Gaza. Which is why the innocent civilians should head south.
Here then is the challenge for Egypt and the Arab world. A significant number of people are going to flee to the border, whether voluntarily now or running for their lives shortly. You say "Free Palestine". But are you going to continue to imprison them and leave them to die at the hands of Hamas?
Because that is the truth. The people who want to slaughter the citizens of Gaza are not the IDF. It is Hamas. And I am told to provide succour to psychopaths? No.
The same poll numbers from their last poll.
Labour 45 Tories 26 .
Domestic issues not taking centre stage and Sunak being able to channel the Great Wartime Leader routine might have some effect on the by-elections .
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/09/28/world/europe/russia-ukraine-war-map-front-line.html
My wife's family in Israel were very lucky to not have been effected directly but they know many families who lost loved ones and a few who have people missing, presumed kidnapped. There is a lot of anger at both Hamas and Mosad from what they say, how was such an extensive and devastating terrorist attack able to be carried out without any intelligence picking it up.
Once this is over there's going to be a lot of questions that need answers.
From the outside it is clear that peace is better but not sure how realistic it is to find a path to it. It will take both extraordinary leadership and a favourable situation which are unlikely to align in the next decade or two let alone the immediate aftermath of the attacks.
Whereas there is something about Internal Combustion Engines which gives a clue about their likelihood to combust. Which they do fairly regularly. Out in the open they burn hot enough to melt tarmac. Confine them in a car park and you're going to lose the car park.
In the Liverpool fire, the fire brigade report describes rivers of fire as flaming fuels spread the inferno. A "Waterfall of fire" spreading it between floors. Of Combustion engined cars exploding every 30 seconds at the peak.
The issue is not EVs. No matter how hard the right want to howl at the moon, this was as simple as one of those cars with a bang bang engine and a tank of highly flammable liquid going bang. And then the flammable liquid making lots of other cars go bang.
I think EVs threaten the manhood of some people.
Israel invades Gaza. Unsurprisingly, a LOT of Gazans are killed - as it is quite difficult for 1.1m Gazans to move house in 24 hours
Israel slogs on. Even more die. The West Bank erupts and Hezbollah attacks. Israel is now fighting on 3 fronts, one of them internal
The west funnels aid to Israel. More Gazans die. Now major Arab nations “facilitate” attacks on Israel
- Iran, Syria. Perhaps Jordan, even Saudi
It looks like Israel could lose. America steps in. Europe is afire with deadly riots by Muslim populations. Iran attacks American interests. America attacks Iran. Russia takes advantage and sweeps Ukraine
World War 3
Innocent, happy times!
https://twitter.com/StateDeptPM/status/1712215248034267616
But the stars have to align; you mostly need a Mandela and a de Klerk at the same moment. And that's hard, and there's no sign at all of it in the Holy (ha!) Lands.
The fire chief stated the fire started with a diesel suv which quickly spread and involved evs and charging points
He went on to say the car park had no sprinklers
This fire will be subject to a review and recommendations including mandatory sprinkler systems is likely to follow
https://www.itv.com/news/anglia/2023-10-12/airport-defends-lack-of-sprinklers-but-vows-to-learn-lessons-from-fire
Israel invades and occupies at least part of Gaza. Establishes a permanent military presence. Hundreds of thousands are displaced, but the main fighting is over quite quickly and they return home.
There are reprisal attacks in the West Bank and some isolated outbreaks in Western cities. The IDF face regular ambushes in Gaza. But the world's attention moves on. Perhaps there's a catastrophic flood somewhere, or a big change in the Ukraine war, or (quite feasible) a massive US bond market rout and yet another global recession.
And another chapter in the sad ancestral story of the Arabs and Israelis draws to an unsatisfactory close.
It’s not nice but if it gives them the feeling of more security from this happening again then they will do it.
Netanyahu is part of the problem not the solution in the longer term .
I reckon the chances of your scenario - basically same old same old - is about 30%. Chances of
mine - major global escalation - more like 20%
50% some mix of the two
What worries me is that the 2020s feels like one of those cursed decades where everything surprises on the downside. The Wuhan flu turned out to be a global plague. Putin really DID invade Ukraine. Liz Truss
The ancestral conflict in the Levant finally turning into a massive international war would be in keeping with the leitmotifs of the 2020s, so far
We all talk about events but nobody could have predicted brexit, covid, war in Ukraine, the death of the Queen and now a terrible middle east war all in just 4 years since the last election
I also don't think that the US would directly engage the RF forces to save the Green T-Shirt Regime if it all went to fuck in Kiev. Other sources of fanciful conjecture are available. DYO-Wikipedia-R.
The eruption of a supervolcano.
The problem for Gaza's civilians is that they elected psychopaths In 2007 or so, yes. And I can see that the nation/state of Gaza bears responsibility for this. I find it hard to ascribe responsibility for this situation to the current population of Gaza, especially given the median age and proportion of the country too young to have voted in 2007.
continue to educate their children in the just cause that is genocide against the Jew. Whereas this statement indicates much more current responsibility for the extremism of Hamas amongst the population as a whole. I haven’t heard this claim before and can’t immediately verify it. Do you have a reliable source?
You say "Free Palestine" Sadly, it has been a good few years since I have been idealistic enough to sign up to pithy slogans. My view is basically that civilians are rarely to blame for the actions of their governments, and this is more true for Palestinians in Gaza than it is for Israelis because of the relative recency of elections. I can see the intractable problem Israel currently faces and don’t see another route for them to take than the current one. At the same time I feel an instinctive sense of horror at the casual way in which innocent Palestinian lives are being discussed on here and elsewhere, by comparison with the (in my view much more appropriate) outrage at the way in which innocent Israeli civilians have been murdered.
are you going to continue to imprison them and leave them to die at the hands of Hamas I don’t really understand how a civilian in Gaza can be both responsible for the Hamas government and yet imprisoned by them. This reads like doublethink to me.
Instead of being snarkey, it might have been good for you to provide a link such as this:
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/what-caused-the-luton-airport-fire-b2429048.html
As I keep on saying: one day travelcards, especially when combined with rail tickets, are a totally hassle-free way of doing things.
As it happens, the real scandal is perhaps that the car park did not have a sprinkler system. I wouldn't expect one to put out a fire, but it would buy the fire brigade more time.
Without that aid Ukraine is fucked. Also, other nations might see this chaotic moment as a good time to help Russia. China? They want the west dethroned. Helping Putin win in Ukraine would really aid that. As Israel fights for its life
Alternatively or additionally, China might see the coming 18 months as the ideal moment to take on Taiwan, as two mad old men fight for the White House
Fancy a gin?
https://thomasleonardross.wordpress.com/2023/10/12/the-case-of-sean-hogg-what-went-wrong/
Remember that Hezbollah - far ore formidable than Hamas, is in many ways simply the terrorist wing of the Iranian armed forces.
I think the situation in Western Europe, including here, is a concern.
For example, a video of Palestine-supporting activists ripping down in memoriam posters put up by Jewish people in memory of children murdered by Hamas.
https://twitter.com/StopAntisemites/status/1712527878774997234
This is the one in three seats Labour needs to win. It was mentioned here in the last few days.
A wave of refugees is coming. Either they voluntarily head south as the IDF advises, or they flee when the IDF advances. They are coming. So what will Egypt do? Because the Rafah border crossing remains closed - there is no free transit out of Gaza into Egypt.
My question was to Egypt. Will you say "Free Palestine" whilst continuing to imprison them? Will you blame Israel whilst pushing the fleeing civilians back into the hands of Hamas and the path of the invading army?
I don't think any poll they've released all year has been beyond MoE away from of C27L45. Meanwhile pages are ripped from the calendar like a "time passed" sequence in an old movie.
We should not encourage evil that good may come of it.