The civil case judgement will hurt Trump financially but whether he is convicted in his criminal charges will probably have the biggest impact on whether he is damaged politically, especially with independents
I was robbed but not mugged and it was in the mildest possible way - it was by a prostitute in Prague (no, I wasn't looking for her or inviting an encouter) who came over to me to 'ask me a question' and then shook me in a "do you want to jiggy jiggy?" manner by putting her leg between my legs.
I was so pissed I did nothing except say, "no thanks", and gently disentangle myself, and I didn't even notice my wallet was gone until I got back to the hostel.
You should have started talking about vegan restaurants, that would have sent her away instantly.
This is actually something the UK can be proud of. We have some of the safest roads in the world. The chances of your British kid getting squashed by an idiot in a SUV tomorrow are lower than in almost any other nation
You're trying to use a general stat to justify a particular interpretation, which doesn't work in basic logic. Unless you have some data to support the particular interpretation,
Specific data on SUVs in Europe is not that common yet; here is one example from a Belgian study showing the danger imposed on vulnerable road users by larger, heavier, more powerful vehicles - which is your "child-being-run-down-by-an-SUV" example. In the UK the crucible is the school run.
Making a road safety comparison Europe vs USA is making a 1st world vs 3rd comparison.
SUVs in the USA, in the Light Trucks category, have much poorer safety regulations than even cars there, and massively poorer than anything in Europe. Things like bumpers not being all at the same height to ensure that crumple zones become active in collisions. It lets the manufacturers pump out dangerous vehicles more cheaply for gullible Usonians to swallow; imo that's a problem of a Third World road culture in the USA.
Consider that the Tesla Cybertruck is not coming to Europe since it can't meet even basic safety standards without a redesign from frame level.
Who are you arguing with? Not me, I don’t think
I’m saying UK roads are much safer than US roads - which they are. And one reason US roads are dangerous, especially for pedestrians, is the prevalence of SUVs. Which is also undisputed
UK roads are not just safer than US roads.
That Malta stat must be due to the low speeds in play. The driving is atrocious.
The Malta one is interesting.
They have high car ownership, and a high density of vehicles per km of road network.
They also drive on the left, and have high drink-drive limits like the UK that make drink-driving legal for many.
I would say also due to low distances driven because the main island is only 17 miles long.
It seems a pretty pointless dispute. What was it? Some edgy journalist trying to spark a row between Britain and Ireland?
It is absolutely NOT pointless, Ireland spends a paltry 0.23% on defence at a time when we are all being asked to pony up. They are essentially a parasite on Britain, in defence, as they parasitise the rest of Europe, in their tax rates
And then they seek to lecture others morally, especially Britain!
Fuck them and their "oh we're peaceful and neutral" bullshit. They boast about how rich they are. Then they can jolly well give us 2% of their massive GDP - several billion quid - seeing as how we defend them, or they can spend it themselves and join NATO. The era of free riding is over
I mean you have a lot of recurring memes, but the Hibernophobia is an odd one. Did your maw get a bad pint of Guinness while with Leon child?
You’re right, it is one of my ‘things’
It’s probably lurked since the IRA, when half my friends were desperate lefties supporting the IRA even as the IRA tried to kill us. I’ve personally witnessed one IRA bomb, and been close to others, I went to Belfast during the Troubles. The dissonance between the facts and my lefty friends’ delusions drove me a bit mad but I recovered
Then it returned cause I started reading Irish media a few years ago, looking for a new perspective. Possibly early in the pandemic?
Their anglophobia is chronic. It’s worse than Nat scotland. It’s a dreadful mix of inferiority complex - understandable perhaps - combined with a contrived sense of moral superiority to the awful racist Brits
Add in their tax policies and now their defence hypocrisy and it irks
I accept most Brits don’t share this. Which is entirely to the credit of easygoing Brits
It seems a pretty pointless dispute. What was it? Some edgy journalist trying to spark a row between Britain and Ireland?
It is absolutely NOT pointless, Ireland spends a paltry 0.23% on defence at a time when we are all being asked to pony up. They are essentially a parasite on Britain, in defence, as they parasitise the rest of Europe, in their tax rates
And then they seek to lecture others morally, especially Britain!
Fuck them and their "oh we're peaceful and neutral" bullshit. They boast about how rich they are. Then they can jolly well give us 2% of their massive GDP - several billion quid - seeing as how we defend them, or they can spend it themselves and join NATO. The era of free riding is over
I mean you have a lot of recurring memes, but the Hibernophobia is an odd one. Did your maw get a bad pint of Guinness while with Leon child?
You’re right, it is one of my ‘things’
It’s probably lurked since the IRA, when half my friends were desperate lefties supporting the IRA even as the IRA tried to kill us. I’ve personally witnessed one IRA bomb, and been close to others, I went to Belfast during the Troubles. The dissonance between the facts and my lefty friends’ delusions drove me a bit mad but I recovered
Then it returned cause I started reading Irish media a few years ago, looking for a new perspective. Possibly early in the pandemic?
Their anglophobia is chronic. It’s worse than Nat scotland. It’s a dreadful mix of inferiority complex - understandable perhaps - combined with a contrived sense of moral superiority to the awful racist Brits
Add in their tax policies and now their defence hypocrisy and it irks
I accept most Brits don’t share this. Which is entirely to the credit of easygoing Brits
I agree with you. Ireland isn’t short of money, they need to step up and play the defence game like everyone else. They have a coastline that they rely on the British navy and Air Force to defend. You never hear of Irish planes chasing away bears in the Atlantic, because it’s the British planes doing it.
Everyone else is starting to look at 3-4% of GDP on defence as being the new standard, until Russia is put firmly back in its box; especially as the US starts to look to the their West at China as the new enemy.
It seems a pretty pointless dispute. What was it? Some edgy journalist trying to spark a row between Britain and Ireland?
It is absolutely NOT pointless, Ireland spends a paltry 0.23% on defence at a time when we are all being asked to pony up. They are essentially a parasite on Britain, in defence, as they parasitise the rest of Europe, in their tax rates
And then they seek to lecture others morally, especially Britain!
Fuck them and their "oh we're peaceful and neutral" bullshit. They boast about how rich they are. Then they can jolly well give us 2% of their massive GDP - several billion quid - seeing as how we defend them, or they can spend it themselves and join NATO. The era of free riding is over
I mean you have a lot of recurring memes, but the Hibernophobia is an odd one. Did your maw get a bad pint of Guinness while with Leon child?
You’re right, it is one of my ‘things’
It’s probably lurked since the IRA, when half my friends were desperate lefties supporting the IRA even as the IRA tried to kill us. I’ve personally witnessed one IRA bomb, and been close to others, I went to Belfast during the Troubles. The dissonance between the facts and my lefty friends’ delusions drove me a bit mad but I recovered
Then it returned cause I started reading Irish media a few years ago, looking for a new perspective. Possibly early in the pandemic?
Their anglophobia is chronic. It’s worse than Nat scotland. It’s a dreadful mix of inferiority complex - understandable perhaps - combined with a contrived sense of moral superiority to the awful racist Brits
Add in their tax policies and now their defence hypocrisy and it irks
I accept most Brits don’t share this. Which is entirely to the credit of easygoing Brits
I agree with you. Ireland isn’t short of money, they need to step up and play the defence game like everyone else. They have a coastline that they rely on the British navy and Air Force to defend. You never hear of Irish planes chasing away bears in the Atlantic, because it’s the British planes doing it.
Everyone else is starting to look at 3-4% of GDP on defence as being the new standard, until Russia is put firmly back in its box; especially as the US starts to look to the their West at China as the new enemy.
Their defense spending is shameful. 0.21%
And it is going DOWN
One of the lowest in the world. It cannot stand. Irish GDP is $500bn. Not trivial. Two percent of that - ten times what they spend now - would be $10bn. Quite useful for NATO right now. Britain spends $60bn
It seems a pretty pointless dispute. What was it? Some edgy journalist trying to spark a row between Britain and Ireland?
It is absolutely NOT pointless, Ireland spends a paltry 0.23% on defence at a time when we are all being asked to pony up. They are essentially a parasite on Britain, in defence, as they parasitise the rest of Europe, in their tax rates
And then they seek to lecture others morally, especially Britain!
Fuck them and their "oh we're peaceful and neutral" bullshit. They boast about how rich they are. Then they can jolly well give us 2% of their massive GDP - several billion quid - seeing as how we defend them, or they can spend it themselves and join NATO. The era of free riding is over
I mean you have a lot of recurring memes, but the Hibernophobia is an odd one. Did your maw get a bad pint of Guinness while with Leon child?
You’re right, it is one of my ‘things’
It’s probably lurked since the IRA, when half my friends were desperate lefties supporting the IRA even as the IRA tried to kill us. I’ve personally witnessed one IRA bomb, and been close to others, I went to Belfast during the Troubles. The dissonance between the facts and my lefty friends’ delusions drove me a bit mad but I recovered
Then it returned cause I started reading Irish media a few years ago, looking for a new perspective. Possibly early in the pandemic?
Their anglophobia is chronic. It’s worse than Nat scotland. It’s a dreadful mix of inferiority complex - understandable perhaps - combined with a contrived sense of moral superiority to the awful racist Brits
Add in their tax policies and now their defence hypocrisy and it irks
I accept most Brits don’t share this. Which is entirely to the credit of easygoing Brits
I agree with you. Ireland isn’t short of money, they need to step up and play the defence game like everyone else. They have a coastline that they rely on the British navy and Air Force to defend. You never hear of Irish planes chasing away bears in the Atlantic, because it’s the British planes doing it.
Everyone else is starting to look at 3-4% of GDP on defence as being the new standard, until Russia is put firmly back in its box; especially as the US starts to look to the their West at China as the new enemy.
Their defense spending is shameful. 0.21%
And it is going DOWN
One of the lowest in the world. It cannot stand. Irish GDP is $500bn. Not trivial. Two percent of that - ten times what they spend now - would be $10bn. Quite useful for NATO right now. Britain spends $60bn
Enough of their Celtic freeloading
Modern Ireland has become something of a parasite nation. They live off other peoples tax income and contribute little to the West's general well being. At one point I thought Trump might try to reclaim lost tax revenues from the big tech cos using Ireland as a tax dodge but he didnt. Biden wont because he's away with the Leprechauns. Oddly the best chance is Macron as the french detest what Ireland is doing.
It would be amusing if it was Macron as Varadkar decided to join La Francophonie rather than the Commonwealth.
The behaviour of his lawyers doesn’t help him though, with a bombastic and aloof attitude to the court that no judge likes.
This is something I really don't understand. Trump isn't even paying his own legal bills but he still seems to employ the worst fucking lawyers in the US. Why doesn't he get somebody good?
Because he is notorious for not paying his lawyers, or other contractors for that matter.
It seems a pretty pointless dispute. What was it? Some edgy journalist trying to spark a row between Britain and Ireland?
It is absolutely NOT pointless, Ireland spends a paltry 0.23% on defence at a time when we are all being asked to pony up. They are essentially a parasite on Britain, in defence, as they parasitise the rest of Europe, in their tax rates
And then they seek to lecture others morally, especially Britain!
Fuck them and their "oh we're peaceful and neutral" bullshit. They boast about how rich they are. Then they can jolly well give us 2% of their massive GDP - several billion quid - seeing as how we defend them, or they can spend it themselves and join NATO. The era of free riding is over
I mean you have a lot of recurring memes, but the Hibernophobia is an odd one. Did your maw get a bad pint of Guinness while with Leon child?
You’re right, it is one of my ‘things’
It’s probably lurked since the IRA, when half my friends were desperate lefties supporting the IRA even as the IRA tried to kill us. I’ve personally witnessed one IRA bomb, and been close to others, I went to Belfast during the Troubles. The dissonance between the facts and my lefty friends’ delusions drove me a bit mad but I recovered
Then it returned cause I started reading Irish media a few years ago, looking for a new perspective. Possibly early in the pandemic?
Their anglophobia is chronic. It’s worse than Nat scotland. It’s a dreadful mix of inferiority complex - understandable perhaps - combined with a contrived sense of moral superiority to the awful racist Brits
Add in their tax policies and now their defence hypocrisy and it irks
I accept most Brits don’t share this. Which is entirely to the credit of easygoing Brits
I agree with you. Ireland isn’t short of money, they need to step up and play the defence game like everyone else. They have a coastline that they rely on the British navy and Air Force to defend. You never hear of Irish planes chasing away bears in the Atlantic, because it’s the British planes doing it.
Everyone else is starting to look at 3-4% of GDP on defence as being the new standard, until Russia is put firmly back in its box; especially as the US starts to look to the their West at China as the new enemy.
Their defense spending is shameful. 0.21%
They aren't permanently scared of everything like the English and don't feel the need to bomb the Middle East every week for 30 years.
What's the threat that the 26C face that warrants more socially destructive defence spending? They don't need to spend any more to be secure.
It seems a pretty pointless dispute. What was it? Some edgy journalist trying to spark a row between Britain and Ireland?
It is absolutely NOT pointless, Ireland spends a paltry 0.23% on defence at a time when we are all being asked to pony up. They are essentially a parasite on Britain, in defence, as they parasitise the rest of Europe, in their tax rates
And then they seek to lecture others morally, especially Britain!
Fuck them and their "oh we're peaceful and neutral" bullshit. They boast about how rich they are. Then they can jolly well give us 2% of their massive GDP - several billion quid - seeing as how we defend them, or they can spend it themselves and join NATO. The era of free riding is over
I mean you have a lot of recurring memes, but the Hibernophobia is an odd one. Did your maw get a bad pint of Guinness while with Leon child?
You’re right, it is one of my ‘things’
It’s probably lurked since the IRA, when half my friends were desperate lefties supporting the IRA even as the IRA tried to kill us. I’ve personally witnessed one IRA bomb, and been close to others, I went to Belfast during the Troubles. The dissonance between the facts and my lefty friends’ delusions drove me a bit mad but I recovered
Then it returned cause I started reading Irish media a few years ago, looking for a new perspective. Possibly early in the pandemic?
Their anglophobia is chronic. It’s worse than Nat scotland. It’s a dreadful mix of inferiority complex - understandable perhaps - combined with a contrived sense of moral superiority to the awful racist Brits
Add in their tax policies and now their defence hypocrisy and it irks
I accept most Brits don’t share this. Which is entirely to the credit of easygoing Brits
I agree with you. Ireland isn’t short of money, they need to step up and play the defence game like everyone else. They have a coastline that they rely on the British navy and Air Force to defend. You never hear of Irish planes chasing away bears in the Atlantic, because it’s the British planes doing it.
Everyone else is starting to look at 3-4% of GDP on defence as being the new standard, until Russia is put firmly back in its box; especially as the US starts to look to the their West at China as the new enemy.
Their defense spending is shameful. 0.21%
They aren't permanently scared of everything like the English and don't feel the need to bomb the Middle East every week for 30 years.
What's the threat that the 26C face that warrants more socially destructive defence spending? They don't need to spend any more to be secure.
Because, you ignorant twat, they are completely dependent on the collective security of the EU and NATO - which, inter alia, guards the sea lanes via which apple (European hq: Ireland) ships its products. Ireland survives and thrives on corporate tax paid by massive companies which desperately need the USA and the UK and others to defend their safe trade routes
Enough. Time for Ireland to cough up, if they want to continue benefiting so hugely from our communal defence
Gunpoint in Vladivostok. He was a big unit and probably bratva so I handed over the decoy wallet.
Knifepoint in Vitebsk. Took the knife off the skinny junkie and punched him repeatedly in the face.
When I was a teenager our car got stopped by machete wielding randoms in Nigeria who relieved my father of all his money and watch while my mother subjected them to a torrent of obscenities that I never heard surpassed in my 20 year naval career. My father gave them a shrug of apology for her outburst and the chief machete wielder gave my father a look that I think was a gesture of sympathy.
Late to this convo but I’ve (well my friend) has a good one.
We were cycling through Bolivia and having some R&R in La Paz.
Off to the cinema to watch dubbed Davinci Code (yes I know, but there was nothing else on), he forgot his wallet. Hopped in a taxi back to the hostel to pick it up and the taxi driver mugged him.
By the time the driver and his mates worked out my friend genuinely had no wallet on him, they were high up in the hills surrounding the city centre. Not really somewhere you want to find yourself.
The amusing part of the story was that my friend was producing liquid from all orifices at the time so, whilst he didn’t have a wallet he did have a roll of toilet roll in his pocket. His description of the glee morphing into disappointment as the muggers found a suspiciously wallet-shaped bulge in his jacket, only to pull out a roll of toilet paper, still makes me laugh.
Though it may have been the diarrhoea that saved him. By all accounts the stink in the taxi became intolerable and so they choked him until he passed out then dumped him out of the taxi. Luckily a more honest taxi driver saw this, picked him up and returned him to the hostel for a badly needed poo and some refreshments.
It's difficult to blame Irish negativity towards the United Kingdom, given the multiplicity of kickings that England has given Ireland over the past several hundred years
Gunpoint in Vladivostok. He was a big unit and probably bratva so I handed over the decoy wallet.
Knifepoint in Vitebsk. Took the knife off the skinny junkie and punched him repeatedly in the face.
When I was a teenager our car got stopped by machete wielding randoms in Nigeria who relieved my father of all his money and watch while my mother subjected them to a torrent of obscenities that I never heard surpassed in my 20 year naval career. My father gave them a shrug of apology for her outburst and the chief machete wielder gave my father a look that I think was a gesture of sympathy.
Late to this convo but I’ve (well my friend) has a good one.
We were cycling through Bolivia and having some R&R in La Paz.
Off to the cinema to watch dubbed Davinci Code (yes I know, but there was nothing else on), he forgot his wallet. Hopped in a taxi back to the hostel to pick it up and the taxi driver mugged him.
By the time the driver and his mates worked out my friend genuinely had no wallet on him, they were high up in the hills surrounding the city centre. Not really somewhere you want to find yourself.
The amusing part of the story was that my friend was producing liquid from all orifices at the time so, whilst he didn’t have a wallet he did have a roll of toilet roll in his pocket. His description of the glee morphing into disappointment as the muggers found a suspiciously wallet-shaped bulge in his jacket, only to pull out a roll of toilet paper, still makes me laugh.
Though it may have been the diarrhoea that saved him. By all accounts the stink in the taxi became intolerable and so they choked him until he passed out then dumped him out of the taxi. Luckily a more honest taxi driver saw this, picked him up and returned him to the hostel for a badly needed poo and some refreshments.
Good story
The hills on the outskirts of La Paz are freaky. It’s where the drug gangsters live and they build insane houses. I took some photos of a few. Here’s one. It is genuinely a home. They are locally known as ‘chalets’
I was robbed but not mugged and it was in the mildest possible way - it was by a prostitute in Prague (no, I wasn't looking for her or inviting an encouter) who came over to me to 'ask me a question' and then shook me in a "do you want to jiggy jiggy?" manner by putting her leg between my legs.
I was so pissed I did nothing except say, "no thanks", and gently disentangle myself, and I didn't even notice my wallet was gone until I got back to the hostel.
You should have accepted jiggy-jiggy
It's a lesson in life. Always accept jiggy-jiggy. And boom-boom
She was 3/10 and about 45 years old.
As I young twenty-something at the time I was convinced I could do better- and for free.
It is important for a sporting gentleman to be able to demonstrate 'cock range' in order to receive the salutations of his peers.
As a pink cheeked Sub Lt I was peer pressured in to tackling a garlic reeking Sudanese midget with teeth like Shergar in Alexandria. I would have rather fucked the actual Shergar, even if dead, but I got the job done.
It's difficult to blame Irish negativity towards the United Kingdom, given the multiplicity of kickings that England has given Ireland over the past several hundred years
So all those European countries that have reconciled themselves with Germany have got it wrong. Much better to pick at scabs hundreds of year old and top up the bile.
I was robbed but not mugged and it was in the mildest possible way - it was by a prostitute in Prague (no, I wasn't looking for her or inviting an encouter) who came over to me to 'ask me a question' and then shook me in a "do you want to jiggy jiggy?" manner by putting her leg between my legs.
I was so pissed I did nothing except say, "no thanks", and gently disentangle myself, and I didn't even notice my wallet was gone until I got back to the hostel.
You should have started talking about vegan restaurants, that would have sent her away instantly.
This was back in 2002, before anyone knew what that shit even was.
It's difficult to blame Irish negativity towards the United Kingdom, given the multiplicity of kickings that England has given Ireland over the past several hundred years
So all those European countries that have reconciled themselves with Germany have got it wrong. Much better to pick at scabs hundreds of year old and top up the bile.
To some degree I agree, but 'Germany' hasn't been the Germany we know for more than 150 years. Before then what we now know as Germans were quite capable of fighting each other.
It seems a pretty pointless dispute. What was it? Some edgy journalist trying to spark a row between Britain and Ireland?
It is absolutely NOT pointless, Ireland spends a paltry 0.23% on defence at a time when we are all being asked to pony up. They are essentially a parasite on Britain, in defence, as they parasitise the rest of Europe, in their tax rates
And then they seek to lecture others morally, especially Britain!
Fuck them and their "oh we're peaceful and neutral" bullshit. They boast about how rich they are. Then they can jolly well give us 2% of their massive GDP - several billion quid - seeing as how we defend them, or they can spend it themselves and join NATO. The era of free riding is over
I mean you have a lot of recurring memes, but the Hibernophobia is an odd one. Did your maw get a bad pint of Guinness while with Leon child?
You’re right, it is one of my ‘things’
It’s probably lurked since the IRA, when half my friends were desperate lefties supporting the IRA even as the IRA tried to kill us. I’ve personally witnessed one IRA bomb, and been close to others, I went to Belfast during the Troubles. The dissonance between the facts and my lefty friends’ delusions drove me a bit mad but I recovered
Then it returned cause I started reading Irish media a few years ago, looking for a new perspective. Possibly early in the pandemic?
Their anglophobia is chronic. It’s worse than Nat scotland. It’s a dreadful mix of inferiority complex - understandable perhaps - combined with a contrived sense of moral superiority to the awful racist Brits
Add in their tax policies and now their defence hypocrisy and it irks
I accept most Brits don’t share this. Which is entirely to the credit of easygoing Brits
I agree with you. Ireland isn’t short of money, they need to step up and play the defence game like everyone else. They have a coastline that they rely on the British navy and Air Force to defend. You never hear of Irish planes chasing away bears in the Atlantic, because it’s the British planes doing it.
Everyone else is starting to look at 3-4% of GDP on defence as being the new standard, until Russia is put firmly back in its box; especially as the US starts to look to the their West at China as the new enemy.
Their defense spending is shameful. 0.21%
They aren't permanently scared of everything like the English and don't feel the need to bomb the Middle East every week for 30 years.
What's the threat that the 26C face that warrants more socially destructive defence spending? They don't need to spend any more to be secure.
The specific threat is around undersea fibre, I believe. There've been a number of incidents with Russian ships loitering above wet plant sites within Ireland's EEZ.
Ireland's a member of the EU PESCO and NATO PfP (and pays its way for both), but should probably pony up a bit more and fully participate in NATO's Critical Undersea Infra project. I suspect that discussions are already underway about doing just that...
Janen Ganesh has written a playful article about the problems of PB, sorry, Soho house
‘A friend of mine first entertained doubts that Soho House was cool when he saw four alumni of his school there. “Accountant, accountant, solicitor, accountant
It's difficult to blame Irish negativity towards the United Kingdom, given the multiplicity of kickings that England has given Ireland over the past several hundred years
So all those European countries that have reconciled themselves with Germany have got it wrong. Much better to pick at scabs hundreds of year old and top up the bile.
To some degree I agree, but 'Germany' hasn't been the Germany we know for more than 150 years. Before then what we now know as Germans were quite capable of fighting each other.
Nor in the last 100 years has England been the England of old. The Irish just need to grow up and stop living in the past.
It seems a pretty pointless dispute. What was it? Some edgy journalist trying to spark a row between Britain and Ireland?
It is absolutely NOT pointless, Ireland spends a paltry 0.23% on defence at a time when we are all being asked to pony up. They are essentially a parasite on Britain, in defence, as they parasitise the rest of Europe, in their tax rates
And then they seek to lecture others morally, especially Britain!
Fuck them and their "oh we're peaceful and neutral" bullshit. They boast about how rich they are. Then they can jolly well give us 2% of their massive GDP - several billion quid - seeing as how we defend them, or they can spend it themselves and join NATO. The era of free riding is over
I mean you have a lot of recurring memes, but the Hibernophobia is an odd one. Did your maw get a bad pint of Guinness while with Leon child?
You’re right, it is one of my ‘things’
It’s probably lurked since the IRA, when half my friends were desperate lefties supporting the IRA even as the IRA tried to kill us. I’ve personally witnessed one IRA bomb, and been close to others, I went to Belfast during the Troubles. The dissonance between the facts and my lefty friends’ delusions drove me a bit mad but I recovered
Then it returned cause I started reading Irish media a few years ago, looking for a new perspective. Possibly early in the pandemic?
Their anglophobia is chronic. It’s worse than Nat scotland. It’s a dreadful mix of inferiority complex - understandable perhaps - combined with a contrived sense of moral superiority to the awful racist Brits
Add in their tax policies and now their defence hypocrisy and it irks
I accept most Brits don’t share this. Which is entirely to the credit of easygoing Brits
I agree with you. Ireland isn’t short of money, they need to step up and play the defence game like everyone else. They have a coastline that they rely on the British navy and Air Force to defend. You never hear of Irish planes chasing away bears in the Atlantic, because it’s the British planes doing it.
Everyone else is starting to look at 3-4% of GDP on defence as being the new standard, until Russia is put firmly back in its box; especially as the US starts to look to the their West at China as the new enemy.
Their defense spending is shameful. 0.21%
They aren't permanently scared of everything like the English and don't feel the need to bomb the Middle East every week for 30 years.
What's the threat that the 26C face that warrants more socially destructive defence spending? They don't need to spend any more to be secure.
The specific threat is around undersea fibre, I believe. There've been a number of incidents with Russian ships loitering above wet plant sites within Ireland's EEZ.
Ireland's a member of the EU PESCO and NATO PfP (and pays its way for both), but should probably pony up a bit more and fully participate in NATO's Critical Undersea Infra project. I suspect that discussions are already underway about doing just that...
Didn't the Russians threaten the UK with a 'Tsunami bomb' that would explode in the Atlantic and send a massive tidal wave over Britain? Except it wiped out Ireland first...
Let me say very briefly about Avdiivka: no matter what kind of hero you are, it is impossible to fight against air bombs with machine guns. And I would like to wish a happy holiday to the House of Representatives https://twitter.com/AseyevStanislav/status/1758850008109953398
It seems a pretty pointless dispute. What was it? Some edgy journalist trying to spark a row between Britain and Ireland?
It is absolutely NOT pointless, Ireland spends a paltry 0.23% on defence at a time when we are all being asked to pony up. They are essentially a parasite on Britain, in defence, as they parasitise the rest of Europe, in their tax rates
And then they seek to lecture others morally, especially Britain!
Fuck them and their "oh we're peaceful and neutral" bullshit. They boast about how rich they are. Then they can jolly well give us 2% of their massive GDP - several billion quid - seeing as how we defend them, or they can spend it themselves and join NATO. The era of free riding is over
I mean you have a lot of recurring memes, but the Hibernophobia is an odd one. Did your maw get a bad pint of Guinness while with Leon child?
You’re right, it is one of my ‘things’
It’s probably lurked since the IRA, when half my friends were desperate lefties supporting the IRA even as the IRA tried to kill us. I’ve personally witnessed one IRA bomb, and been close to others, I went to Belfast during the Troubles. The dissonance between the facts and my lefty friends’ delusions drove me a bit mad but I recovered
Then it returned cause I started reading Irish media a few years ago, looking for a new perspective. Possibly early in the pandemic?
Their anglophobia is chronic. It’s worse than Nat scotland. It’s a dreadful mix of inferiority complex - understandable perhaps - combined with a contrived sense of moral superiority to the awful racist Brits
Add in their tax policies and now their defence hypocrisy and it irks
I accept most Brits don’t share this. Which is entirely to the credit of easygoing Brits
I agree with you. Ireland isn’t short of money, they need to step up and play the defence game like everyone else. They have a coastline that they rely on the British navy and Air Force to defend. You never hear of Irish planes chasing away bears in the Atlantic, because it’s the British planes doing it.
Everyone else is starting to look at 3-4% of GDP on defence as being the new standard, until Russia is put firmly back in its box; especially as the US starts to look to the their West at China as the new enemy.
Their defense spending is shameful. 0.21%
They aren't permanently scared of everything like the English and don't feel the need to bomb the Middle East every week for 30 years.
What's the threat that the 26C face that warrants more socially destructive defence spending? They don't need to spend any more to be secure.
The specific threat is around undersea fibre, I believe. There've been a number of incidents with Russian ships loitering above wet plant sites within Ireland's EEZ.
Ireland's a member of the EU PESCO and NATO PfP (and pays its way for both), but should probably pony up a bit more and fully participate in NATO's Critical Undersea Infra project. I suspect that discussions are already underway about doing just that...
Ireland doesnt have a meaningful airforce ( not even a single fighter jet ) nor does it have a functioning navy. How this is paying its way escapes me.
It's difficult to blame Irish negativity towards the United Kingdom, given the multiplicity of kickings that England has given Ireland over the past several hundred years
So all those European countries that have reconciled themselves with Germany have got it wrong. Much better to pick at scabs hundreds of year old and top up the bile.
To some degree I agree, but 'Germany' hasn't been the Germany we know for more than 150 years. Before then what we now know as Germans were quite capable of fighting each other.
Nor in the last 100 years has England been the England of old. The Irish just need to grow up and stop living in the past.
The way Tory MPs were talking about Ireland in recent years demonstrates otherwise. In fact, not just talking about Ireland come to think of it.
Gunpoint in Vladivostok. He was a big unit and probably bratva so I handed over the decoy wallet.
Knifepoint in Vitebsk. Took the knife off the skinny junkie and punched him repeatedly in the face.
When I was a teenager our car got stopped by machete wielding randoms in Nigeria who relieved my father of all his money and watch while my mother subjected them to a torrent of obscenities that I never heard surpassed in my 20 year naval career. My father gave them a shrug of apology for her outburst and the chief machete wielder gave my father a look that I think was a gesture of sympathy.
Late to this convo but I’ve (well my friend) has a good one.
We were cycling through Bolivia and having some R&R in La Paz.
Off to the cinema to watch dubbed Davinci Code (yes I know, but there was nothing else on), he forgot his wallet. Hopped in a taxi back to the hostel to pick it up and the taxi driver mugged him.
By the time the driver and his mates worked out my friend genuinely had no wallet on him, they were high up in the hills surrounding the city centre. Not really somewhere you want to find yourself.
The amusing part of the story was that my friend was producing liquid from all orifices at the time so, whilst he didn’t have a wallet he did have a roll of toilet roll in his pocket. His description of the glee morphing into disappointment as the muggers found a suspiciously wallet-shaped bulge in his jacket, only to pull out a roll of toilet paper, still makes me laugh.
Though it may have been the diarrhoea that saved him. By all accounts the stink in the taxi became intolerable and so they choked him until he passed out then dumped him out of the taxi. Luckily a more honest taxi driver saw this, picked him up and returned him to the hostel for a badly needed poo and some refreshments.
Taxi drivers are b*******. Back in 1988 I took a pre ordered taxi, a black 1968 Toyota Corona, from the Nairobi Club to the Lilian Towers hotel in Central Nairobi. The driver midway through the journey decided he didn't know his way, despite the hotel being one of the most notable at the time. He said he was going to stop and ask a dodgy looking f***** for directions. As he slowed down I slid across the rear vinyl seat leaned forward and grabbed the b****** by the throat ( no head restraints back in a 1968 car) and told him to drive me to my hotel. I held him round the neck until we arrived at my hotel. I paid the correct fare in Naira and retired to my room.
Janen Ganesh has written a playful article about the problems of PB, sorry, Soho house
‘A friend of mine first entertained doubts that Soho House was cool when he saw four alumni of his school there. “Accountant, accountant, solicitor, accountant
It's difficult to blame Irish negativity towards the United Kingdom, given the multiplicity of kickings that England has given Ireland over the past several hundred years
So all those European countries that have reconciled themselves with Germany have got it wrong. Much better to pick at scabs hundreds of year old and top up the bile.
To some degree I agree, but 'Germany' hasn't been the Germany we know for more than 150 years. Before then what we now know as Germans were quite capable of fighting each other.
Nor in the last 100 years has England been the England of old. The Irish just need to grow up and stop living in the past.
The way Tory MPs were talking about Ireland in recent years demonstrates otherwise. In fact, not just talking about Ireland come to think of it.
Mostly because Varadkar decided to use Brexit as his political CV for a job in Brussels. Anglo Irish relations were improving prior to that but Varadkar decide to drag us all back to the 1900s.
Janen Ganesh has written a playful article about the problems of PB, sorry, Soho house
‘A friend of mine first entertained doubts that Soho House was cool when he saw four alumni of his school there. “Accountant, accountant, solicitor, accountant
It seems a pretty pointless dispute. What was it? Some edgy journalist trying to spark a row between Britain and Ireland?
It is absolutely NOT pointless, Ireland spends a paltry 0.23% on defence at a time when we are all being asked to pony up. They are essentially a parasite on Britain, in defence, as they parasitise the rest of Europe, in their tax rates
And then they seek to lecture others morally, especially Britain!
Fuck them and their "oh we're peaceful and neutral" bullshit. They boast about how rich they are. Then they can jolly well give us 2% of their massive GDP - several billion quid - seeing as how we defend them, or they can spend it themselves and join NATO. The era of free riding is over
I mean you have a lot of recurring memes, but the Hibernophobia is an odd one. Did your maw get a bad pint of Guinness while with Leon child?
You’re right, it is one of my ‘things’
It’s probably lurked since the IRA, when half my friends were desperate lefties supporting the IRA even as the IRA tried to kill us. I’ve personally witnessed one IRA bomb, and been close to others, I went to Belfast during the Troubles. The dissonance between the facts and my lefty friends’ delusions drove me a bit mad but I recovered
Then it returned cause I started reading Irish media a few years ago, looking for a new perspective. Possibly early in the pandemic?
Their anglophobia is chronic. It’s worse than Nat scotland. It’s a dreadful mix of inferiority complex - understandable perhaps - combined with a contrived sense of moral superiority to the awful racist Brits
Add in their tax policies and now their defence hypocrisy and it irks
I accept most Brits don’t share this. Which is entirely to the credit of easygoing Brits
I agree with you. Ireland isn’t short of money, they need to step up and play the defence game like everyone else. They have a coastline that they rely on the British navy and Air Force to defend. You never hear of Irish planes chasing away bears in the Atlantic, because it’s the British planes doing it.
Everyone else is starting to look at 3-4% of GDP on defence as being the new standard, until Russia is put firmly back in its box; especially as the US starts to look to the their West at China as the new enemy.
Their defense spending is shameful. 0.21%
They aren't permanently scared of everything like the English and don't feel the need to bomb the Middle East every week for 30 years.
What's the threat that the 26C face that warrants more socially destructive defence spending? They don't need to spend any more to be secure.
The specific threat is around undersea fibre, I believe. There've been a number of incidents with Russian ships loitering above wet plant sites within Ireland's EEZ.
Ireland's a member of the EU PESCO and NATO PfP (and pays its way for both), but should probably pony up a bit more and fully participate in NATO's Critical Undersea Infra project. I suspect that discussions are already underway about doing just that...
Didn't the Russians threaten the UK with a 'Tsunami bomb' that would explode in the Atlantic and send a massive tidal wave over Britain? Except it wiped out Ireland first...
Of course the UK could then send nuclear missiles from its submarines on Moscow and St Petersburg and other major Russian cities so still not a good idea
It's difficult to blame Irish negativity towards the United Kingdom, given the multiplicity of kickings that England has given Ireland over the past several hundred years
So all those European countries that have reconciled themselves with Germany have got it wrong. Much better to pick at scabs hundreds of year old and top up the bile.
To some degree I agree, but 'Germany' hasn't been the Germany we know for more than 150 years. Before then what we now know as Germans were quite capable of fighting each other.
Nor in the last 100 years has England been the England of old. The Irish just need to grow up and stop living in the past.
The way Tory MPs were talking about Ireland in recent years demonstrates otherwise. In fact, not just talking about Ireland come to think of it.
Mostly because Varadkar decided to use Brexit as his political CV for a job in Brussels. Anglo Irish relations were improving prior to that but Varadkar decide to drag us all back to the 1900s.
It was the way in which the MPs were shocked that the Irish might not do what the UK wanted automatically. And some expected, personally, to get Irish citizenship just like that when the Irish were told to provide it.
It's difficult to blame Irish negativity towards the United Kingdom, given the multiplicity of kickings that England has given Ireland over the past several hundred years
So all those European countries that have reconciled themselves with Germany have got it wrong. Much better to pick at scabs hundreds of year old and top up the bile.
To some degree I agree, but 'Germany' hasn't been the Germany we know for more than 150 years. Before then what we now know as Germans were quite capable of fighting each other.
Nor in the last 100 years has England been the England of old. The Irish just need to grow up and stop living in the past.
The way Tory MPs were talking about Ireland in recent years demonstrates otherwise. In fact, not just talking about Ireland come to think of it.
Mostly because Varadkar decided to use Brexit as his political CV for a job in Brussels. Anglo Irish relations were improving prior to that but Varadkar decide to drag us all back to the 1900s.
It was the way in which the MPs were shocked that the Irish might not do what the UK wanted automatically. And some expected, personally, to get Irish citizenship just like that when the Irish were told to provide it.
Drivel. Whiny Tory MPs is a given. Varadkar had to set the tone for Ireland and has called it badly wrong imo. He;s a careerist who cares little for the country.
Janen Ganesh has written a playful article about the problems of PB, sorry, Soho house
‘A friend of mine first entertained doubts that Soho House was cool when he saw four alumni of his school there. “Accountant, accountant, solicitor, accountant
It seems a pretty pointless dispute. What was it? Some edgy journalist trying to spark a row between Britain and Ireland?
It is absolutely NOT pointless, Ireland spends a paltry 0.23% on defence at a time when we are all being asked to pony up. They are essentially a parasite on Britain, in defence, as they parasitise the rest of Europe, in their tax rates
And then they seek to lecture others morally, especially Britain!
Fuck them and their "oh we're peaceful and neutral" bullshit. They boast about how rich they are. Then they can jolly well give us 2% of their massive GDP - several billion quid - seeing as how we defend them, or they can spend it themselves and join NATO. The era of free riding is over
I mean you have a lot of recurring memes, but the Hibernophobia is an odd one. Did your maw get a bad pint of Guinness while with Leon child?
You’re right, it is one of my ‘things’
It’s probably lurked since the IRA, when half my friends were desperate lefties supporting the IRA even as the IRA tried to kill us. I’ve personally witnessed one IRA bomb, and been close to others, I went to Belfast during the Troubles. The dissonance between the facts and my lefty friends’ delusions drove me a bit mad but I recovered
Then it returned cause I started reading Irish media a few years ago, looking for a new perspective. Possibly early in the pandemic?
Their anglophobia is chronic. It’s worse than Nat scotland. It’s a dreadful mix of inferiority complex - understandable perhaps - combined with a contrived sense of moral superiority to the awful racist Brits
Add in their tax policies and now their defence hypocrisy and it irks
I accept most Brits don’t share this. Which is entirely to the credit of easygoing Brits
I agree with you. Ireland isn’t short of money, they need to step up and play the defence game like everyone else. They have a coastline that they rely on the British navy and Air Force to defend. You never hear of Irish planes chasing away bears in the Atlantic, because it’s the British planes doing it.
Everyone else is starting to look at 3-4% of GDP on defence as being the new standard, until Russia is put firmly back in its box; especially as the US starts to look to the their West at China as the new enemy.
Their defense spending is shameful. 0.21%
They aren't permanently scared of everything like the English and don't feel the need to bomb the Middle East every week for 30 years.
What's the threat that the 26C face that warrants more socially destructive defence spending? They don't need to spend any more to be secure.
The specific threat is around undersea fibre, I believe. There've been a number of incidents with Russian ships loitering above wet plant sites within Ireland's EEZ.
Ireland's a member of the EU PESCO and NATO PfP (and pays its way for both), but should probably pony up a bit more and fully participate in NATO's Critical Undersea Infra project. I suspect that discussions are already underway about doing just that...
Ireland doesnt have a meaningful airforce ( not even a single fighter jet ) nor does it have a functioning navy. How this is paying its way escapes me.
PfP is mostly about mutual interoperability. Since signing up in 1999, Ireland has participated in KFOR and ISAF (for whatever little that was worth), so it seems to be working as intended.
PESCO is also primarily concerned with interoperability. Ireland's primary concern there is with Cyber Resilience and Disaster Relief.
Not sure why you think either of those requires fighter jets...?
Ireland's defence budget is being increased by 50% over the pre-2022 level by 2028. Current priorities for investment are primary radar, communications systems, and INS fleet renewal.
Sure, they're not exactly a major military power - but they don't claim to be.
It's difficult to blame Irish negativity towards the United Kingdom, given the multiplicity of kickings that England has given Ireland over the past several hundred years
So all those European countries that have reconciled themselves with Germany have got it wrong. Much better to pick at scabs hundreds of year old and top up the bile.
To some degree I agree, but 'Germany' hasn't been the Germany we know for more than 150 years. Before then what we now know as Germans were quite capable of fighting each other.
Nor in the last 100 years has England been the England of old. The Irish just need to grow up and stop living in the past.
The way Tory MPs were talking about Ireland in recent years demonstrates otherwise. In fact, not just talking about Ireland come to think of it.
Mostly because Varadkar decided to use Brexit as his political CV for a job in Brussels. Anglo Irish relations were improving prior to that but Varadkar decide to drag us all back to the 1900s.
The existence of Northern Ireland doesn't help! Relationships will get better, I'm quite sure, but it will take a while yet! On a personal level, of course, things are often excellent. One of the most hospitable countries I've ever been through is the Republic. Although on one visit, while cruising the Shannon, I was invited for drinks in the local pub by the family on the next boat. My wife didn't want to take the children, who were quite young at the time, so I went for an hour or so on my own. I was not allowed to buy drinks for the family in the next boat; as 'only one of you and there's six of us', but we were then asked to sing. I sang West Ham's song Bubbles, but my host then followed with an IRA song 'My Little Armalite'!
It's difficult to blame Irish negativity towards the United Kingdom, given the multiplicity of kickings that England has given Ireland over the past several hundred years
So all those European countries that have reconciled themselves with Germany have got it wrong. Much better to pick at scabs hundreds of year old and top up the bile.
To some degree I agree, but 'Germany' hasn't been the Germany we know for more than 150 years. Before then what we now know as Germans were quite capable of fighting each other.
Nor in the last 100 years has England been the England of old. The Irish just need to grow up and stop living in the past.
The way Tory MPs were talking about Ireland in recent years demonstrates otherwise. In fact, not just talking about Ireland come to think of it.
Mostly because Varadkar decided to use Brexit as his political CV for a job in Brussels. Anglo Irish relations were improving prior to that but Varadkar decide to drag us all back to the 1900s.
It was the way in which the MPs were shocked that the Irish might not do what the UK wanted automatically. And some expected, personally, to get Irish citizenship just like that when the Irish were told to provide it.
Drivel. Whiny Tory MPs is a given. Varadkar had to set the tone for Ireland and has called it badly wrong imo. He;s a careerist who cares little for the country.
Drivel yourself. It was a very telling example at the time of how much of England/Britain is stuck in the past. Even if you don't like it and dismiss it.
It seems a pretty pointless dispute. What was it? Some edgy journalist trying to spark a row between Britain and Ireland?
It is absolutely NOT pointless, Ireland spends a paltry 0.23% on defence at a time when we are all being asked to pony up. They are essentially a parasite on Britain, in defence, as they parasitise the rest of Europe, in their tax rates
And then they seek to lecture others morally, especially Britain!
Fuck them and their "oh we're peaceful and neutral" bullshit. They boast about how rich they are. Then they can jolly well give us 2% of their massive GDP - several billion quid - seeing as how we defend them, or they can spend it themselves and join NATO. The era of free riding is over
I mean you have a lot of recurring memes, but the Hibernophobia is an odd one. Did your maw get a bad pint of Guinness while with Leon child?
You’re right, it is one of my ‘things’
It’s probably lurked since the IRA, when half my friends were desperate lefties supporting the IRA even as the IRA tried to kill us. I’ve personally witnessed one IRA bomb, and been close to others, I went to Belfast during the Troubles. The dissonance between the facts and my lefty friends’ delusions drove me a bit mad but I recovered
Then it returned cause I started reading Irish media a few years ago, looking for a new perspective. Possibly early in the pandemic?
Their anglophobia is chronic. It’s worse than Nat scotland. It’s a dreadful mix of inferiority complex - understandable perhaps - combined with a contrived sense of moral superiority to the awful racist Brits
Add in their tax policies and now their defence hypocrisy and it irks
I accept most Brits don’t share this. Which is entirely to the credit of easygoing Brits
I agree with you. Ireland isn’t short of money, they need to step up and play the defence game like everyone else. They have a coastline that they rely on the British navy and Air Force to defend. You never hear of Irish planes chasing away bears in the Atlantic, because it’s the British planes doing it.
Everyone else is starting to look at 3-4% of GDP on defence as being the new standard, until Russia is put firmly back in its box; especially as the US starts to look to the their West at China as the new enemy.
Their defense spending is shameful. 0.21%
They aren't permanently scared of everything like the English and don't feel the need to bomb the Middle East every week for 30 years.
What's the threat that the 26C face that warrants more socially destructive defence spending? They don't need to spend any more to be secure.
The specific threat is around undersea fibre, I believe. There've been a number of incidents with Russian ships loitering above wet plant sites within Ireland's EEZ.
Ireland's a member of the EU PESCO and NATO PfP (and pays its way for both), but should probably pony up a bit more and fully participate in NATO's Critical Undersea Infra project. I suspect that discussions are already underway about doing just that...
Ireland doesnt have a meaningful airforce ( not even a single fighter jet ) nor does it have a functioning navy. How this is paying its way escapes me.
PfP is mostly about mutual interoperability. Since signing up in 1999, Ireland has participated in KFOR and ISAF (for whatever little that was worth), so it seems to be working as intended.
PESCO is also primarily concerned with interoperability. Ireland's primary concern there is with Cyber Resilience and Disaster Relief.
Not sure why you think either of those requires fighter jets...?
Ireland's defence budget is being increased by 50% over the pre-2022 level by 2028. Current priorities for investment are primary radar, communications systems, and INS fleet renewal.
Sure, they're not exactly a major military power - but they don't claim to be.
They arent even a minor power.Two of my acquaintances are in the Irish Navy. Their main duties include showing the flag (tourism ) the last trip was a nice week in London and sending the band to social functions
As for airforces if you cant attack a ship off your coast, then you cant defend it.
The behaviour of his lawyers doesn’t help him though, with a bombastic and aloof attitude to the court that no judge likes.
This is something I really don't understand. Trump isn't even paying his own legal bills but he still seems to employ the worst fucking lawyers in the US. Why doesn't he get somebody good?
Because he is notorious for not paying his lawyers, or other contractors for that matter.
Debts allegedly owed to him by Trump for a lot of legal work are listed as a potential asset in Giuliani's bankruptcy filing.
It's all quite like a shoal of Humboldt Squid, eating each other.
Janen Ganesh has written a playful article about the problems of PB, sorry, Soho house
‘A friend of mine first entertained doubts that Soho House was cool when he saw four alumni of his school there. “Accountant, accountant, solicitor, accountant
Basically, they are letting anyone in - accountants and lawyers etc. But the plonkers are still angry. He sees this as a societal issue
The creative types want their own space, and quite like the idea that you have to crawl around and shake the right hands to get in.
But at the end of the day it’s a business, and they need people with money through the door.
Is the Frontline Club still going?
I believe so
I am happy to say that the Groucho remains firm and will not allow in accountants, lawyers and business types, thank Fuck
Never been to the Groucho, but I know the Frontline as I worked on the fitout there for the IT supplier, back in 2005 or so when they opened. The boss (Vaughan Smith?) was a thoroughly nice bloke with a lot of good stories.
It seems a pretty pointless dispute. What was it? Some edgy journalist trying to spark a row between Britain and Ireland?
It is absolutely NOT pointless, Ireland spends a paltry 0.23% on defence at a time when we are all being asked to pony up. They are essentially a parasite on Britain, in defence, as they parasitise the rest of Europe, in their tax rates
And then they seek to lecture others morally, especially Britain!
Fuck them and their "oh we're peaceful and neutral" bullshit. They boast about how rich they are. Then they can jolly well give us 2% of their massive GDP - several billion quid - seeing as how we defend them, or they can spend it themselves and join NATO. The era of free riding is over
I mean you have a lot of recurring memes, but the Hibernophobia is an odd one. Did your maw get a bad pint of Guinness while with Leon child?
You’re right, it is one of my ‘things’
It’s probably lurked since the IRA, when half my friends were desperate lefties supporting the IRA even as the IRA tried to kill us. I’ve personally witnessed one IRA bomb, and been close to others, I went to Belfast during the Troubles. The dissonance between the facts and my lefty friends’ delusions drove me a bit mad but I recovered
Then it returned cause I started reading Irish media a few years ago, looking for a new perspective. Possibly early in the pandemic?
Their anglophobia is chronic. It’s worse than Nat scotland. It’s a dreadful mix of inferiority complex - understandable perhaps - combined with a contrived sense of moral superiority to the awful racist Brits
Add in their tax policies and now their defence hypocrisy and it irks
I accept most Brits don’t share this. Which is entirely to the credit of easygoing Brits
I agree with you. Ireland isn’t short of money, they need to step up and play the defence game like everyone else. They have a coastline that they rely on the British navy and Air Force to defend. You never hear of Irish planes chasing away bears in the Atlantic, because it’s the British planes doing it.
Everyone else is starting to look at 3-4% of GDP on defence as being the new standard, until Russia is put firmly back in its box; especially as the US starts to look to the their West at China as the new enemy.
Their defense spending is shameful. 0.21%
They aren't permanently scared of everything like the English and don't feel the need to bomb the Middle East every week for 30 years.
What's the threat that the 26C face that warrants more socially destructive defence spending? They don't need to spend any more to be secure.
The specific threat is around undersea fibre, I believe. There've been a number of incidents with Russian ships loitering above wet plant sites within Ireland's EEZ.
Ireland's a member of the EU PESCO and NATO PfP (and pays its way for both), but should probably pony up a bit more and fully participate in NATO's Critical Undersea Infra project. I suspect that discussions are already underway about doing just that...
Didn't the Russians threaten the UK with a 'Tsunami bomb' that would explode in the Atlantic and send a massive tidal wave over Britain? Except it wiped out Ireland first...
Of course the UK could then send nuclear missiles from its submarines on Moscow and St Petersburg and other major Russian cities so still not a good idea
It's difficult to blame Irish negativity towards the United Kingdom, given the multiplicity of kickings that England has given Ireland over the past several hundred years
So all those European countries that have reconciled themselves with Germany have got it wrong. Much better to pick at scabs hundreds of year old and top up the bile.
To some degree I agree, but 'Germany' hasn't been the Germany we know for more than 150 years. Before then what we now know as Germans were quite capable of fighting each other.
Nor in the last 100 years has England been the England of old. The Irish just need to grow up and stop living in the past.
The way Tory MPs were talking about Ireland in recent years demonstrates otherwise. In fact, not just talking about Ireland come to think of it.
Mostly because Varadkar decided to use Brexit as his political CV for a job in Brussels. Anglo Irish relations were improving prior to that but Varadkar decide to drag us all back to the 1900s.
It was the way in which the MPs were shocked that the Irish might not do what the UK wanted automatically. And some expected, personally, to get Irish citizenship just like that when the Irish were told to provide it.
Drivel. Whiny Tory MPs is a given. Varadkar had to set the tone for Ireland and has called it badly wrong imo. He;s a careerist who cares little for the country.
Drivel yourself. It was a very telling example at the time of how much of England/Britain is stuck in the past. Even if you don't like it and dismiss it.
Nothing telling about it you really do like to drivel on about the English. Try travel.
It's difficult to blame Irish negativity towards the United Kingdom, given the multiplicity of kickings that England has given Ireland over the past several hundred years
So all those European countries that have reconciled themselves with Germany have got it wrong. Much better to pick at scabs hundreds of year old and top up the bile.
To some degree I agree, but 'Germany' hasn't been the Germany we know for more than 150 years. Before then what we now know as Germans were quite capable of fighting each other.
Nor in the last 100 years has England been the England of old. The Irish just need to grow up and stop living in the past.
The way Tory MPs were talking about Ireland in recent years demonstrates otherwise. In fact, not just talking about Ireland come to think of it.
Mostly because Varadkar decided to use Brexit as his political CV for a job in Brussels. Anglo Irish relations were improving prior to that but Varadkar decide to drag us all back to the 1900s.
The existence of Northern Ireland doesn't help! Relationships will get better, I'm quite sure, but it will take a while yet! On a personal level, of course, things are often excellent. One of the most hospitable countries I've ever been through is the Republic. Although on one visit, while cruising the Shannon, I was invited for drinks in the local pub by the family on the next boat. My wife didn't want to take the children, who were quite young at the time, so I went for an hour or so on my own. I was not allowed to buy drinks for the family in the next boat; as 'only one of you and there's six of us', but we were then asked to sing. I sang West Ham's song Bubbles, but my host then followed with an IRA song 'My Little Armalite'!
Ulster was overwhelmingly Protestant, well-armed, and prepared to fight - hard
The only alternative to Partition was a FAR more brutal irish Civil War which Eire might easily have lost, as the might of the British Empire was brought to bear, supporting the loyal Prods
In the end this should surely be co-sovereignty, it is the only long term solution. Britain AND Ireland share Norn, its glories and its heavy problems. But the Irish are still atavistically determined to reunite in quite a belligerent way, unwilling to compromise. which explains why Unification polling has barely budged, despite major demographic and economic change supposedly favouring Dublin
CNN claiming the NYC Trump case will play well for Trump, it is too obviously politicised
Trump's first criminal case starts next month and the verdicts in his criminal cases will be far more significant for Independent voters than what his civil verdicts will be, the main effect on him of which will be financial
It's difficult to blame Irish negativity towards the United Kingdom, given the multiplicity of kickings that England has given Ireland over the past several hundred years
So all those European countries that have reconciled themselves with Germany have got it wrong. Much better to pick at scabs hundreds of year old and top up the bile.
To some degree I agree, but 'Germany' hasn't been the Germany we know for more than 150 years. Before then what we now know as Germans were quite capable of fighting each other.
Nor in the last 100 years has England been the England of old. The Irish just need to grow up and stop living in the past.
The way Tory MPs were talking about Ireland in recent years demonstrates otherwise. In fact, not just talking about Ireland come to think of it.
Mostly because Varadkar decided to use Brexit as his political CV for a job in Brussels. Anglo Irish relations were improving prior to that but Varadkar decide to drag us all back to the 1900s.
The existence of Northern Ireland doesn't help! Relationships will get better, I'm quite sure, but it will take a while yet! On a personal level, of course, things are often excellent. One of the most hospitable countries I've ever been through is the Republic. Although on one visit, while cruising the Shannon, I was invited for drinks in the local pub by the family on the next boat. My wife didn't want to take the children, who were quite young at the time, so I went for an hour or so on my own. I was not allowed to buy drinks for the family in the next boat; as 'only one of you and there's six of us', but we were then asked to sing. I sang West Ham's song Bubbles, but my host then followed with an IRA song 'My Little Armalite'!
Ulster was overwhelmingly Protestant, well-armed, and prepared to fight - hard
It's difficult to blame Irish negativity towards the United Kingdom, given the multiplicity of kickings that England has given Ireland over the past several hundred years
So all those European countries that have reconciled themselves with Germany have got it wrong. Much better to pick at scabs hundreds of year old and top up the bile.
To some degree I agree, but 'Germany' hasn't been the Germany we know for more than 150 years. Before then what we now know as Germans were quite capable of fighting each other.
Nor in the last 100 years has England been the England of old. The Irish just need to grow up and stop living in the past.
The way Tory MPs were talking about Ireland in recent years demonstrates otherwise. In fact, not just talking about Ireland come to think of it.
Mostly because Varadkar decided to use Brexit as his political CV for a job in Brussels. Anglo Irish relations were improving prior to that but Varadkar decide to drag us all back to the 1900s.
The existence of Northern Ireland doesn't help! Relationships will get better, I'm quite sure, but it will take a while yet! On a personal level, of course, things are often excellent. One of the most hospitable countries I've ever been through is the Republic. Although on one visit, while cruising the Shannon, I was invited for drinks in the local pub by the family on the next boat. My wife didn't want to take the children, who were quite young at the time, so I went for an hour or so on my own. I was not allowed to buy drinks for the family in the next boat; as 'only one of you and there's six of us', but we were then asked to sing. I sang West Ham's song Bubbles, but my host then followed with an IRA song 'My Little Armalite'!
I remain intrigued as to what RoI is going to do with NI should it ever get it. They no more understand the place than the english.
It's difficult to blame Irish negativity towards the United Kingdom, given the multiplicity of kickings that England has given Ireland over the past several hundred years
So all those European countries that have reconciled themselves with Germany have got it wrong. Much better to pick at scabs hundreds of year old and top up the bile.
To some degree I agree, but 'Germany' hasn't been the Germany we know for more than 150 years. Before then what we now know as Germans were quite capable of fighting each other.
Nor in the last 100 years has England been the England of old. The Irish just need to grow up and stop living in the past.
The way Tory MPs were talking about Ireland in recent years demonstrates otherwise. In fact, not just talking about Ireland come to think of it.
Mostly because Varadkar decided to use Brexit as his political CV for a job in Brussels. Anglo Irish relations were improving prior to that but Varadkar decide to drag us all back to the 1900s.
The existence of Northern Ireland doesn't help! Relationships will get better, I'm quite sure, but it will take a while yet! On a personal level, of course, things are often excellent. One of the most hospitable countries I've ever been through is the Republic. Although on one visit, while cruising the Shannon, I was invited for drinks in the local pub by the family on the next boat. My wife didn't want to take the children, who were quite young at the time, so I went for an hour or so on my own. I was not allowed to buy drinks for the family in the next boat; as 'only one of you and there's six of us', but we were then asked to sing. I sang West Ham's song Bubbles, but my host then followed with an IRA song 'My Little Armalite'!
It's difficult to blame Irish negativity towards the United Kingdom, given the multiplicity of kickings that England has given Ireland over the past several hundred years
So all those European countries that have reconciled themselves with Germany have got it wrong. Much better to pick at scabs hundreds of year old and top up the bile.
To some degree I agree, but 'Germany' hasn't been the Germany we know for more than 150 years. Before then what we now know as Germans were quite capable of fighting each other.
Nor in the last 100 years has England been the England of old. The Irish just need to grow up and stop living in the past.
The way Tory MPs were talking about Ireland in recent years demonstrates otherwise. In fact, not just talking about Ireland come to think of it.
Mostly because Varadkar decided to use Brexit as his political CV for a job in Brussels. Anglo Irish relations were improving prior to that but Varadkar decide to drag us all back to the 1900s.
The existence of Northern Ireland doesn't help! Relationships will get better, I'm quite sure, but it will take a while yet! On a personal level, of course, things are often excellent. One of the most hospitable countries I've ever been through is the Republic. Although on one visit, while cruising the Shannon, I was invited for drinks in the local pub by the family on the next boat. My wife didn't want to take the children, who were quite young at the time, so I went for an hour or so on my own. I was not allowed to buy drinks for the family in the next boat; as 'only one of you and there's six of us', but we were then asked to sing. I sang West Ham's song Bubbles, but my host then followed with an IRA song 'My Little Armalite'!
Ulster was overwhelmingly Protestant, well-armed, and prepared to fight - hard
It's difficult to blame Irish negativity towards the United Kingdom, given the multiplicity of kickings that England has given Ireland over the past several hundred years
So all those European countries that have reconciled themselves with Germany have got it wrong. Much better to pick at scabs hundreds of year old and top up the bile.
To some degree I agree, but 'Germany' hasn't been the Germany we know for more than 150 years. Before then what we now know as Germans were quite capable of fighting each other.
Nor in the last 100 years has England been the England of old. The Irish just need to grow up and stop living in the past.
The way Tory MPs were talking about Ireland in recent years demonstrates otherwise. In fact, not just talking about Ireland come to think of it.
Mostly because Varadkar decided to use Brexit as his political CV for a job in Brussels. Anglo Irish relations were improving prior to that but Varadkar decide to drag us all back to the 1900s.
Janen Ganesh has written a playful article about the problems of PB, sorry, Soho house
‘A friend of mine first entertained doubts that Soho House was cool when he saw four alumni of his school there. “Accountant, accountant, solicitor, accountant
Basically, they are letting anyone in - accountants and lawyers etc. But the plonkers are still angry. He sees this as a societal issue
The creative types want their own space, and quite like the idea that you have to crawl around and shake the right hands to get in.
But at the end of the day it’s a business, and they need people with money through the door.
Is the Frontline Club still going?
I believe so
I am happy to say that the Groucho remains firm and will not allow in accountants, lawyers and business types, thank Fuck
Never been to the Groucho, but I know the Frontline as I worked on the fitout there for the IT supplier, back in 2005 or so when they opened. The boss (Vaughan Smith?) was a thoroughly nice bloke with a lot of good stories.
The Frontline quite recently did a small showcase of some of my photos from Ethiopia, the Danakil Depression, which was gratifying
It's difficult to blame Irish negativity towards the United Kingdom, given the multiplicity of kickings that England has given Ireland over the past several hundred years
So all those European countries that have reconciled themselves with Germany have got it wrong. Much better to pick at scabs hundreds of year old and top up the bile.
To some degree I agree, but 'Germany' hasn't been the Germany we know for more than 150 years. Before then what we now know as Germans were quite capable of fighting each other.
Nor in the last 100 years has England been the England of old. The Irish just need to grow up and stop living in the past.
The way Tory MPs were talking about Ireland in recent years demonstrates otherwise. In fact, not just talking about Ireland come to think of it.
Mostly because Varadkar decided to use Brexit as his political CV for a job in Brussels. Anglo Irish relations were improving prior to that but Varadkar decide to drag us all back to the 1900s.
The existence of Northern Ireland doesn't help! Relationships will get better, I'm quite sure, but it will take a while yet! On a personal level, of course, things are often excellent. One of the most hospitable countries I've ever been through is the Republic. Although on one visit, while cruising the Shannon, I was invited for drinks in the local pub by the family on the next boat. My wife didn't want to take the children, who were quite young at the time, so I went for an hour or so on my own. I was not allowed to buy drinks for the family in the next boat; as 'only one of you and there's six of us', but we were then asked to sing. I sang West Ham's song Bubbles, but my host then followed with an IRA song 'My Little Armalite'!
Ulster was overwhelmingly Protestant, well-armed, and prepared to fight - hard
It's difficult to blame Irish negativity towards the United Kingdom, given the multiplicity of kickings that England has given Ireland over the past several hundred years
So all those European countries that have reconciled themselves with Germany have got it wrong. Much better to pick at scabs hundreds of year old and top up the bile.
To some degree I agree, but 'Germany' hasn't been the Germany we know for more than 150 years. Before then what we now know as Germans were quite capable of fighting each other.
Nor in the last 100 years has England been the England of old. The Irish just need to grow up and stop living in the past.
The way Tory MPs were talking about Ireland in recent years demonstrates otherwise. In fact, not just talking about Ireland come to think of it.
Mostly because Varadkar decided to use Brexit as his political CV for a job in Brussels. Anglo Irish relations were improving prior to that but Varadkar decide to drag us all back to the 1900s.
It's difficult to blame Irish negativity towards the United Kingdom, given the multiplicity of kickings that England has given Ireland over the past several hundred years
So all those European countries that have reconciled themselves with Germany have got it wrong. Much better to pick at scabs hundreds of year old and top up the bile.
To some degree I agree, but 'Germany' hasn't been the Germany we know for more than 150 years. Before then what we now know as Germans were quite capable of fighting each other.
Nor in the last 100 years has England been the England of old. The Irish just need to grow up and stop living in the past.
The way Tory MPs were talking about Ireland in recent years demonstrates otherwise. In fact, not just talking about Ireland come to think of it.
Mostly because Varadkar decided to use Brexit as his political CV for a job in Brussels. Anglo Irish relations were improving prior to that but Varadkar decide to drag us all back to the 1900s.
The existence of Northern Ireland doesn't help! Relationships will get better, I'm quite sure, but it will take a while yet! On a personal level, of course, things are often excellent. One of the most hospitable countries I've ever been through is the Republic. Although on one visit, while cruising the Shannon, I was invited for drinks in the local pub by the family on the next boat. My wife didn't want to take the children, who were quite young at the time, so I went for an hour or so on my own. I was not allowed to buy drinks for the family in the next boat; as 'only one of you and there's six of us', but we were then asked to sing. I sang West Ham's song Bubbles, but my host then followed with an IRA song 'My Little Armalite'!
Ulster was overwhelmingly Protestant, well-armed, and prepared to fight - hard
CNN claiming the NYC Trump case will play well for Trump, it is too obviously politicised
Trump's first criminal case starts next month and the verdicts in his criminal cases will be far more significant for Independent voters than what his civil verdicts will be, the main effect on him of which will be financial
It depends what the verdict and, if guilty, punishment are. While the NY criminal case could attract a jail sentence, commentators suggest that it’s more likely to be another fine.
The two election interference cases and the classified documents case are more risky, as they do entail a significant risk of jail time. Well, the classified docs case would were the judge not so obviously completely biased towards Trump.
It's difficult to blame Irish negativity towards the United Kingdom, given the multiplicity of kickings that England has given Ireland over the past several hundred years
So all those European countries that have reconciled themselves with Germany have got it wrong. Much better to pick at scabs hundreds of year old and top up the bile.
To some degree I agree, but 'Germany' hasn't been the Germany we know for more than 150 years. Before then what we now know as Germans were quite capable of fighting each other.
Nor in the last 100 years has England been the England of old. The Irish just need to grow up and stop living in the past.
The way Tory MPs were talking about Ireland in recent years demonstrates otherwise. In fact, not just talking about Ireland come to think of it.
Mostly because Varadkar decided to use Brexit as his political CV for a job in Brussels. Anglo Irish relations were improving prior to that but Varadkar decide to drag us all back to the 1900s.
Brexit Referendum in NI, 2016:
To REMAIN 56% To LEAVE 44%
Your point being ?
A majority in British-Administered Ireland expressed a preference to stay in the EU. Something the DUP haven't quite grasped.
The Ukrainian have a desperate shortage of ammunition. There is apparently a decent amount available on the open market but inside the EU the French plus Greece and Cyprus are insisting on it being domestically produced. Why don't we just frigging buy it ourselves? How much does half a million rounds of ammunition actually cost?
$4.5 to $5bn at current market rates.
But it wouldn't be a simple purchase as there isn't that much supply around.
I thought the Czechs were claiming there was?
There’s a shortage of stock of ammunition in NATO countries, and there’s I think three new plants currently under construction to manufacture them.
Ukraine is apparently using 7,000-9,000 shells per day, mostly of the NATO-spec 155mm or the Soviet-spec 152mm. There’s even an American factory making 152mm, for existing Ukranian kit from before this war.
Yeah but I think the Czechs were talking about outside Nato.
If they know of anyone stockpiling ammo that Ukraine might find useful, it would be kind of them to say where we can find it. I suspect there’s quite a bit in Africa and South America, but they won’t be too interested in selling as they have their own perpetual wars to fight.
Increasing production seems to be the way forward, but these things unfortunately take time and should have started when the war did.
theres supposedly 22,000 tons of munitions 2 km within the border of Transnistria next to the Ukranian border. Varying states of quality no doubt. But its there and would piss Putin off if he lost it.
Interesting. Would be a shame if a bunch of special forces managed to sneak in there and blow it halfway to the moon.
I think the problem there is that in international law Transnistria is part of Moldova. And Moldova does not have a lot of army.
The Ukraine war is a good opportunity to solve the Transnistria issue. Without the Black Sea fleet the boys there are up a creek without a paddle. Does Europe have the ruthlessness for it? I'm sure Putin would love to create a civil war in Moldova so it would be prudent to make sure Russia's support for separatism is ended.
It's difficult to blame Irish negativity towards the United Kingdom, given the multiplicity of kickings that England has given Ireland over the past several hundred years
So all those European countries that have reconciled themselves with Germany have got it wrong. Much better to pick at scabs hundreds of year old and top up the bile.
To some degree I agree, but 'Germany' hasn't been the Germany we know for more than 150 years. Before then what we now know as Germans were quite capable of fighting each other.
Nor in the last 100 years has England been the England of old. The Irish just need to grow up and stop living in the past.
The way Tory MPs were talking about Ireland in recent years demonstrates otherwise. In fact, not just talking about Ireland come to think of it.
Mostly because Varadkar decided to use Brexit as his political CV for a job in Brussels. Anglo Irish relations were improving prior to that but Varadkar decide to drag us all back to the 1900s.
Brexit Referendum in NI, 2016:
To REMAIN 56% To LEAVE 44%
Your point being ?
A majority in British-Administered Ireland expressed a preference to stay in the EU. Something the DUP haven't quite grasped.
There’s a new NI Assembly poll, the first since the restoration of powersharing. It has the DUP down 4 on the previous poll by the same pollsters. SF no change, APNI -2, UUP +2, SDLP +1, TUV +2.
It's difficult to blame Irish negativity towards the United Kingdom, given the multiplicity of kickings that England has given Ireland over the past several hundred years
So all those European countries that have reconciled themselves with Germany have got it wrong. Much better to pick at scabs hundreds of year old and top up the bile.
To some degree I agree, but 'Germany' hasn't been the Germany we know for more than 150 years. Before then what we now know as Germans were quite capable of fighting each other.
Nor in the last 100 years has England been the England of old. The Irish just need to grow up and stop living in the past.
The way Tory MPs were talking about Ireland in recent years demonstrates otherwise. In fact, not just talking about Ireland come to think of it.
Mostly because Varadkar decided to use Brexit as his political CV for a job in Brussels. Anglo Irish relations were improving prior to that but Varadkar decide to drag us all back to the 1900s.
Brexit Referendum in NI, 2016:
To REMAIN 56% To LEAVE 44%
Your point being ?
A majority in British-Administered Ireland expressed a preference to stay in the EU. Something the DUP haven't quite grasped.
...which is especially weird, given how dedicated to grasping the DUP are otherwise - especially when it comes to handouts.
'“We block up to 10 people a day on social media,” said Anderson. “All we are is a restaurant that serves a type of cuisine. But for some reason, that word – the V-word – seems to cause people to go crazy, so we’ve dropped it.”
It may sound odd that anyone would be offended by chilli fried tofu or lightly battered cauliflower, but Anderson said the online abuse was relentless.
He said vegan restaurants had become a punching bag for culture war trolls who see them as a “threat to their way of life, like transgender rights and Black Lives Matter”.'
Obviously opposed to any abuse and recognise all restaurants are suffering in the current economic environment. But I do think a lot of the food served at plant based restaurants is not very nice. If people are only dining there because of their dietary scruples, and not because they enjoy what they are eating, it's not surprising if they choose to eat at home because it's cheaper.
I've only been to one vegan restaurant but the food was great. As a vegetarian I am generally pissed off at the growth of veganism because it often means what was once the one vegetarian menu option is a less tasty vegan option. But I couldn't fault the food in the place in Peckham we went to.
2 years ago I went to a vegan restaurant with a group of friends for christmas, because 1 in the group is vegan. We had totally underwhelming fake meat burgers and chips, which were full of fat. This year our vegan friend had moved overseas and we went to a proper restaurant and had steak - it was a lot times better and we all commented as such. I don't have anything against vegan food but a lot of the processed stuff is rubbish.
It's difficult to blame Irish negativity towards the United Kingdom, given the multiplicity of kickings that England has given Ireland over the past several hundred years
So all those European countries that have reconciled themselves with Germany have got it wrong. Much better to pick at scabs hundreds of year old and top up the bile.
To some degree I agree, but 'Germany' hasn't been the Germany we know for more than 150 years. Before then what we now know as Germans were quite capable of fighting each other.
Nor in the last 100 years has England been the England of old. The Irish just need to grow up and stop living in the past.
The way Tory MPs were talking about Ireland in recent years demonstrates otherwise. In fact, not just talking about Ireland come to think of it.
Mostly because Varadkar decided to use Brexit as his political CV for a job in Brussels. Anglo Irish relations were improving prior to that but Varadkar decide to drag us all back to the 1900s.
The existence of Northern Ireland doesn't help! Relationships will get better, I'm quite sure, but it will take a while yet! On a personal level, of course, things are often excellent. One of the most hospitable countries I've ever been through is the Republic. Although on one visit, while cruising the Shannon, I was invited for drinks in the local pub by the family on the next boat. My wife didn't want to take the children, who were quite young at the time, so I went for an hour or so on my own. I was not allowed to buy drinks for the family in the next boat; as 'only one of you and there's six of us', but we were then asked to sing. I sang West Ham's song Bubbles, but my host then followed with an IRA song 'My Little Armalite'!
We cruised the Shannon in the early 80s and as the lock gates closed, my daughter who was about 10 at the time fell and I had no idea where she had landed as I couldn't see her from the flying bridge. All panic let lose but fortunately the stern gunwale had caught her before she fell into the lock
I asked the lock keeper what time it was and he responded 'no idea - we do not have watches here - just let time gently pass by'
A heart stopping moment ( topical for me at this time !!!!!)
It seems a pretty pointless dispute. What was it? Some edgy journalist trying to spark a row between Britain and Ireland?
It is absolutely NOT pointless, Ireland spends a paltry 0.23% on defence at a time when we are all being asked to pony up. They are essentially a parasite on Britain, in defence, as they parasitise the rest of Europe, in their tax rates
And then they seek to lecture others morally, especially Britain!
Fuck them and their "oh we're peaceful and neutral" bullshit. They boast about how rich they are. Then they can jolly well give us 2% of their massive GDP - several billion quid - seeing as how we defend them, or they can spend it themselves and join NATO. The era of free riding is over
I mean you have a lot of recurring memes, but the Hibernophobia is an odd one. Did your maw get a bad pint of Guinness while with Leon child?
You’re right, it is one of my ‘things’
It’s probably lurked since the IRA, when half my friends were desperate lefties supporting the IRA even as the IRA tried to kill us. I’ve personally witnessed one IRA bomb, and been close to others, I went to Belfast during the Troubles. The dissonance between the facts and my lefty friends’ delusions drove me a bit mad but I recovered
Then it returned cause I started reading Irish media a few years ago, looking for a new perspective. Possibly early in the pandemic?
Their anglophobia is chronic. It’s worse than Nat scotland. It’s a dreadful mix of inferiority complex - understandable perhaps - combined with a contrived sense of moral superiority to the awful racist Brits
Add in their tax policies and now their defence hypocrisy and it irks
I accept most Brits don’t share this. Which is entirely to the credit of easygoing Brits
I agree with you. Ireland isn’t short of money, they need to step up and play the defence game like everyone else. They have a coastline that they rely on the British navy and Air Force to defend. You never hear of Irish planes chasing away bears in the Atlantic, because it’s the British planes doing it.
Everyone else is starting to look at 3-4% of GDP on defence as being the new standard, until Russia is put firmly back in its box; especially as the US starts to look to the their West at China as the new enemy.
Their defense spending is shameful. 0.21%
They aren't permanently scared of everything like the English and don't feel the need to bomb the Middle East every week for 30 years.
What's the threat that the 26C face that warrants more socially destructive defence spending? They don't need to spend any more to be secure.
The specific threat is around undersea fibre, I believe. There've been a number of incidents with Russian ships loitering above wet plant sites within Ireland's EEZ.
Ireland's a member of the EU PESCO and NATO PfP (and pays its way for both), but should probably pony up a bit more and fully participate in NATO's Critical Undersea Infra project. I suspect that discussions are already underway about doing just that...
Ireland doesnt have a meaningful airforce ( not even a single fighter jet ) nor does it have a functioning navy. How this is paying its way escapes me.
PfP is mostly about mutual interoperability. Since signing up in 1999, Ireland has participated in KFOR and ISAF (for whatever little that was worth), so it seems to be working as intended.
PESCO is also primarily concerned with interoperability. Ireland's primary concern there is with Cyber Resilience and Disaster Relief.
Not sure why you think either of those requires fighter jets...?
Ireland's defence budget is being increased by 50% over the pre-2022 level by 2028. Current priorities for investment are primary radar, communications systems, and INS fleet renewal.
Sure, they're not exactly a major military power - but they don't claim to be.
They need to spend 2% minimum. So five times what your optimistic estimates claim
Enough. We are all in this shit together, or we are not. If Ireland wants to host major European corporations (with a parasitic tax regime) then it needs to contribute, meaningfully, to the joint western security that allows these giant companies to trade
Right now Ireland is like some pathetic boomerang 23 year old going out every night on the lash because Mummy Britain still does all her laundry, and Daddy America pays for her dinners, and Auntie EU buys her clothes. Time for Ireland to grow up
It's difficult to blame Irish negativity towards the United Kingdom, given the multiplicity of kickings that England has given Ireland over the past several hundred years
So all those European countries that have reconciled themselves with Germany have got it wrong. Much better to pick at scabs hundreds of year old and top up the bile.
To some degree I agree, but 'Germany' hasn't been the Germany we know for more than 150 years. Before then what we now know as Germans were quite capable of fighting each other.
Nor in the last 100 years has England been the England of old. The Irish just need to grow up and stop living in the past.
The way Tory MPs were talking about Ireland in recent years demonstrates otherwise. In fact, not just talking about Ireland come to think of it.
Mostly because Varadkar decided to use Brexit as his political CV for a job in Brussels. Anglo Irish relations were improving prior to that but Varadkar decide to drag us all back to the 1900s.
It was the way in which the MPs were shocked that the Irish might not do what the UK wanted automatically. And some expected, personally, to get Irish citizenship just like that when the Irish were told to provide it.
Drivel. Whiny Tory MPs is a given. Varadkar had to set the tone for Ireland and has called it badly wrong imo. He;s a careerist who cares little for the country.
Drivel yourself. It was a very telling example at the time of how much of England/Britain is stuck in the past. Even if you don't like it and dismiss it.
I think that increasingly pressure will come from other EU countries on their "special status" non-NATO partners. Which are (I think) Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Austria, Ireland, Malta. Tectonic plates are shifting.
Sweden and Finland are now in, or almost in, NATO. Denmark is only special due to a referendum-driven opt-out from EU Defence structures.
Ireland's reported 50% defence expenditure increase by 2028 (?) will take it from 1/8 of NATO average to something like 1/6 of NATO average.
That won't hack it, and their EU colleagues will shake them awake. I suggest that in around 15 years IE defence spending will need to be more like 1% of GDP as a lower bound if they are to maintain credibility.
In addition to the basics, I suggest that they should look to be overweight in eg fisheries protection.
It's difficult to blame Irish negativity towards the United Kingdom, given the multiplicity of kickings that England has given Ireland over the past several hundred years
So all those European countries that have reconciled themselves with Germany have got it wrong. Much better to pick at scabs hundreds of year old and top up the bile.
To some degree I agree, but 'Germany' hasn't been the Germany we know for more than 150 years. Before then what we now know as Germans were quite capable of fighting each other.
Nor in the last 100 years has England been the England of old. The Irish just need to grow up and stop living in the past.
The way Tory MPs were talking about Ireland in recent years demonstrates otherwise. In fact, not just talking about Ireland come to think of it.
Mostly because Varadkar decided to use Brexit as his political CV for a job in Brussels. Anglo Irish relations were improving prior to that but Varadkar decide to drag us all back to the 1900s.
Brexit Referendum in NI, 2016:
To REMAIN 56% To LEAVE 44%
Your point being ?
A majority in British-Administered Ireland expressed a preference to stay in the EU. Something the DUP haven't quite grasped.
There’s a new NI Assembly poll, the first since the restoration of powersharing. It has the DUP down 4 on the previous poll by the same pollsters. SF no change, APNI -2, UUP +2, SDLP +1, TUV +2.
The DUP on 24% in that poll still 3% up on the 21% they got in the the 2022 Assembly election.
It seems a pretty pointless dispute. What was it? Some edgy journalist trying to spark a row between Britain and Ireland?
It is absolutely NOT pointless, Ireland spends a paltry 0.23% on defence at a time when we are all being asked to pony up. They are essentially a parasite on Britain, in defence, as they parasitise the rest of Europe, in their tax rates
And then they seek to lecture others morally, especially Britain!
Fuck them and their "oh we're peaceful and neutral" bullshit. They boast about how rich they are. Then they can jolly well give us 2% of their massive GDP - several billion quid - seeing as how we defend them, or they can spend it themselves and join NATO. The era of free riding is over
I mean you have a lot of recurring memes, but the Hibernophobia is an odd one. Did your maw get a bad pint of Guinness while with Leon child?
You’re right, it is one of my ‘things’
It’s probably lurked since the IRA, when half my friends were desperate lefties supporting the IRA even as the IRA tried to kill us. I’ve personally witnessed one IRA bomb, and been close to others, I went to Belfast during the Troubles. The dissonance between the facts and my lefty friends’ delusions drove me a bit mad but I recovered
Then it returned cause I started reading Irish media a few years ago, looking for a new perspective. Possibly early in the pandemic?
Their anglophobia is chronic. It’s worse than Nat scotland. It’s a dreadful mix of inferiority complex - understandable perhaps - combined with a contrived sense of moral superiority to the awful racist Brits
Add in their tax policies and now their defence hypocrisy and it irks
I accept most Brits don’t share this. Which is entirely to the credit of easygoing Brits
I agree with you. Ireland isn’t short of money, they need to step up and play the defence game like everyone else. They have a coastline that they rely on the British navy and Air Force to defend. You never hear of Irish planes chasing away bears in the Atlantic, because it’s the British planes doing it.
Everyone else is starting to look at 3-4% of GDP on defence as being the new standard, until Russia is put firmly back in its box; especially as the US starts to look to the their West at China as the new enemy.
We need to stop fetishising expenditure numbers. Anybody can throw money at a problem. It's far more difficult, but critically important, to make sure you get £1's worth of defence for every £1 you spend. I'd much rather we spent 2% of GDP well than piss 4% away on procurement disasters.
It's difficult to blame Irish negativity towards the United Kingdom, given the multiplicity of kickings that England has given Ireland over the past several hundred years
So all those European countries that have reconciled themselves with Germany have got it wrong. Much better to pick at scabs hundreds of year old and top up the bile.
To some degree I agree, but 'Germany' hasn't been the Germany we know for more than 150 years. Before then what we now know as Germans were quite capable of fighting each other.
Nor in the last 100 years has England been the England of old. The Irish just need to grow up and stop living in the past.
The way Tory MPs were talking about Ireland in recent years demonstrates otherwise. In fact, not just talking about Ireland come to think of it.
Mostly because Varadkar decided to use Brexit as his political CV for a job in Brussels. Anglo Irish relations were improving prior to that but Varadkar decide to drag us all back to the 1900s.
Brexit Referendum in NI, 2016:
To REMAIN 56% To LEAVE 44%
Your point being ?
A majority in British-Administered Ireland expressed a preference to stay in the EU. Something the DUP haven't quite grasped.
And what ? People have different opinions. The referendum was nationwide and London and Scotland voted remain but everywhere else voted leave. It was a national vote. The DUP didnt call the shots.
'“We block up to 10 people a day on social media,” said Anderson. “All we are is a restaurant that serves a type of cuisine. But for some reason, that word – the V-word – seems to cause people to go crazy, so we’ve dropped it.”
It may sound odd that anyone would be offended by chilli fried tofu or lightly battered cauliflower, but Anderson said the online abuse was relentless.
He said vegan restaurants had become a punching bag for culture war trolls who see them as a “threat to their way of life, like transgender rights and Black Lives Matter”.'
Obviously opposed to any abuse and recognise all restaurants are suffering in the current economic environment. But I do think a lot of the food served at plant based restaurants is not very nice. If people are only dining there because of their dietary scruples, and not because they enjoy what they are eating, it's not surprising if they choose to eat at home because it's cheaper.
I've only been to one vegan restaurant but the food was great. As a vegetarian I am generally pissed off at the growth of veganism because it often means what was once the one vegetarian menu option is a less tasty vegan option. But I couldn't fault the food in the place in Peckham we went to.
2 years ago I went to a vegan restaurant with a group of friends for christmas, because 1 in the group is vegan. We had totally underwhelming fake meat burgers and chips, which were full of fat. This year our vegan friend had moved overseas and we went to a proper restaurant and had steak - it was a lot times better and we all commented as such. I don't have anything against vegan food but a lot of the processed stuff is rubbish.
Yes I wouldn't go to some place serving ultra processed garbage. The place we went was just loads of vegetables, pulses and grains cooked in tasty and imaginative ways, it was a good meal.
It seems a pretty pointless dispute. What was it? Some edgy journalist trying to spark a row between Britain and Ireland?
It is absolutely NOT pointless, Ireland spends a paltry 0.23% on defence at a time when we are all being asked to pony up. They are essentially a parasite on Britain, in defence, as they parasitise the rest of Europe, in their tax rates
And then they seek to lecture others morally, especially Britain!
Fuck them and their "oh we're peaceful and neutral" bullshit. They boast about how rich they are. Then they can jolly well give us 2% of their massive GDP - several billion quid - seeing as how we defend them, or they can spend it themselves and join NATO. The era of free riding is over
I mean you have a lot of recurring memes, but the Hibernophobia is an odd one. Did your maw get a bad pint of Guinness while with Leon child?
You’re right, it is one of my ‘things’
It’s probably lurked since the IRA, when half my friends were desperate lefties supporting the IRA even as the IRA tried to kill us. I’ve personally witnessed one IRA bomb, and been close to others, I went to Belfast during the Troubles. The dissonance between the facts and my lefty friends’ delusions drove me a bit mad but I recovered
Then it returned cause I started reading Irish media a few years ago, looking for a new perspective. Possibly early in the pandemic?
Their anglophobia is chronic. It’s worse than Nat scotland. It’s a dreadful mix of inferiority complex - understandable perhaps - combined with a contrived sense of moral superiority to the awful racist Brits
Add in their tax policies and now their defence hypocrisy and it irks
I accept most Brits don’t share this. Which is entirely to the credit of easygoing Brits
I agree with you. Ireland isn’t short of money, they need to step up and play the defence game like everyone else. They have a coastline that they rely on the British navy and Air Force to defend. You never hear of Irish planes chasing away bears in the Atlantic, because it’s the British planes doing it.
Everyone else is starting to look at 3-4% of GDP on defence as being the new standard, until Russia is put firmly back in its box; especially as the US starts to look to the their West at China as the new enemy.
Their defense spending is shameful. 0.21%
They aren't permanently scared of everything like the English and don't feel the need to bomb the Middle East every week for 30 years.
What's the threat that the 26C face that warrants more socially destructive defence spending? They don't need to spend any more to be secure.
The specific threat is around undersea fibre, I believe. There've been a number of incidents with Russian ships loitering above wet plant sites within Ireland's EEZ.
Ireland's a member of the EU PESCO and NATO PfP (and pays its way for both), but should probably pony up a bit more and fully participate in NATO's Critical Undersea Infra project. I suspect that discussions are already underway about doing just that...
Ireland doesnt have a meaningful airforce ( not even a single fighter jet ) nor does it have a functioning navy. How this is paying its way escapes me.
PfP is mostly about mutual interoperability. Since signing up in 1999, Ireland has participated in KFOR and ISAF (for whatever little that was worth), so it seems to be working as intended.
PESCO is also primarily concerned with interoperability. Ireland's primary concern there is with Cyber Resilience and Disaster Relief.
Not sure why you think either of those requires fighter jets...?
Ireland's defence budget is being increased by 50% over the pre-2022 level by 2028. Current priorities for investment are primary radar, communications systems, and INS fleet renewal.
Sure, they're not exactly a major military power - but they don't claim to be.
They need to spend 2% minimum. So five times what your optimistic estimates claim
Enough. We are all in this shit together, or we are not. If Ireland wants to host major European corporations (with a parasitic tax regime) then it needs to contribute, meaningfully, to the joint western security that allows these giant companies to trade
Right now Ireland is like some pathetic boomerang 23 year old going out every night on the lash because Mummy Britain still does all her laundry, and Daddy America pays for her dinners, and Auntie EU buys her clothes. Time for Ireland to grow up
Sounds a bit more like Celtic beauty has the temerity to dump old English fatty and subsequently has the cheek to have a high old time.
It seems a pretty pointless dispute. What was it? Some edgy journalist trying to spark a row between Britain and Ireland?
It is absolutely NOT pointless, Ireland spends a paltry 0.23% on defence at a time when we are all being asked to pony up. They are essentially a parasite on Britain, in defence, as they parasitise the rest of Europe, in their tax rates
And then they seek to lecture others morally, especially Britain!
Fuck them and their "oh we're peaceful and neutral" bullshit. They boast about how rich they are. Then they can jolly well give us 2% of their massive GDP - several billion quid - seeing as how we defend them, or they can spend it themselves and join NATO. The era of free riding is over
I mean you have a lot of recurring memes, but the Hibernophobia is an odd one. Did your maw get a bad pint of Guinness while with Leon child?
You’re right, it is one of my ‘things’
It’s probably lurked since the IRA, when half my friends were desperate lefties supporting the IRA even as the IRA tried to kill us. I’ve personally witnessed one IRA bomb, and been close to others, I went to Belfast during the Troubles. The dissonance between the facts and my lefty friends’ delusions drove me a bit mad but I recovered
Then it returned cause I started reading Irish media a few years ago, looking for a new perspective. Possibly early in the pandemic?
Their anglophobia is chronic. It’s worse than Nat scotland. It’s a dreadful mix of inferiority complex - understandable perhaps - combined with a contrived sense of moral superiority to the awful racist Brits
Add in their tax policies and now their defence hypocrisy and it irks
I accept most Brits don’t share this. Which is entirely to the credit of easygoing Brits
I agree with you. Ireland isn’t short of money, they need to step up and play the defence game like everyone else. They have a coastline that they rely on the British navy and Air Force to defend. You never hear of Irish planes chasing away bears in the Atlantic, because it’s the British planes doing it.
Everyone else is starting to look at 3-4% of GDP on defence as being the new standard, until Russia is put firmly back in its box; especially as the US starts to look to the their West at China as the new enemy.
We need to stop fetishising expenditure numbers. Anybody can throw money at a problem. It's far more difficult, but critically important, to make sure you get £1's worth of defence for every £1 you spend. I'd much rather we spent 2% of GDP well than piss 4% away on procurement disasters.
No one is fetishising anything
But numbers are numbers. Ireland has one of the highest GDP per capitas in the world, much of that may be statistical mirage but they are undeniably a wealthy nation of 5m people benefitting hugely from joint western security, indeed entirely reliant on it (esp the UK which they constantly lecture!)
And they spend 0.21% on their defence. It is risible, pathetic and embarrassing. 2% please. £10bn a year. Now.
It seems a pretty pointless dispute. What was it? Some edgy journalist trying to spark a row between Britain and Ireland?
It is absolutely NOT pointless, Ireland spends a paltry 0.23% on defence at a time when we are all being asked to pony up. They are essentially a parasite on Britain, in defence, as they parasitise the rest of Europe, in their tax rates
And then they seek to lecture others morally, especially Britain!
Fuck them and their "oh we're peaceful and neutral" bullshit. They boast about how rich they are. Then they can jolly well give us 2% of their massive GDP - several billion quid - seeing as how we defend them, or they can spend it themselves and join NATO. The era of free riding is over
I mean you have a lot of recurring memes, but the Hibernophobia is an odd one. Did your maw get a bad pint of Guinness while with Leon child?
You’re right, it is one of my ‘things’
It’s probably lurked since the IRA, when half my friends were desperate lefties supporting the IRA even as the IRA tried to kill us. I’ve personally witnessed one IRA bomb, and been close to others, I went to Belfast during the Troubles. The dissonance between the facts and my lefty friends’ delusions drove me a bit mad but I recovered
Then it returned cause I started reading Irish media a few years ago, looking for a new perspective. Possibly early in the pandemic?
Their anglophobia is chronic. It’s worse than Nat scotland. It’s a dreadful mix of inferiority complex - understandable perhaps - combined with a contrived sense of moral superiority to the awful racist Brits
Add in their tax policies and now their defence hypocrisy and it irks
I accept most Brits don’t share this. Which is entirely to the credit of easygoing Brits
I agree with you. Ireland isn’t short of money, they need to step up and play the defence game like everyone else. They have a coastline that they rely on the British navy and Air Force to defend. You never hear of Irish planes chasing away bears in the Atlantic, because it’s the British planes doing it.
Everyone else is starting to look at 3-4% of GDP on defence as being the new standard, until Russia is put firmly back in its box; especially as the US starts to look to the their West at China as the new enemy.
Their defense spending is shameful. 0.21%
They aren't permanently scared of everything like the English and don't feel the need to bomb the Middle East every week for 30 years.
What's the threat that the 26C face that warrants more socially destructive defence spending? They don't need to spend any more to be secure.
The specific threat is around undersea fibre, I believe. There've been a number of incidents with Russian ships loitering above wet plant sites within Ireland's EEZ.
Ireland's a member of the EU PESCO and NATO PfP (and pays its way for both), but should probably pony up a bit more and fully participate in NATO's Critical Undersea Infra project. I suspect that discussions are already underway about doing just that...
Ireland doesnt have a meaningful airforce ( not even a single fighter jet ) nor does it have a functioning navy. How this is paying its way escapes me.
PfP is mostly about mutual interoperability. Since signing up in 1999, Ireland has participated in KFOR and ISAF (for whatever little that was worth), so it seems to be working as intended.
PESCO is also primarily concerned with interoperability. Ireland's primary concern there is with Cyber Resilience and Disaster Relief.
Not sure why you think either of those requires fighter jets...?
Ireland's defence budget is being increased by 50% over the pre-2022 level by 2028. Current priorities for investment are primary radar, communications systems, and INS fleet renewal.
Sthey're not exactly a major military power - but they don't claim to be.
They need to spend 2% minimum. So five times what your optimistic estimates claim
Enough. We are all in this shit together, or we are not. If Ireland wants to host major European corporations (with a parasitic tax regime) then it needs to contribute, meaningfully, to the joint western security that allows these giant companies to trade
Right now Ireland is like some pathetic boomerang 23 year old going out every night on the lash because Mummy Britain still does all her laundry, and Daddy America pays for her dinners, and Auntie EU buys her clothes. Time for Ireland to grow up
Sounds a bit more like Celtic beauty has the temerity to dump old English fatty and subsequently has the cheek to have a high old time.
lol. About as beautiful as the average Glaswegian lass on the piss, but whatever
It seems a pretty pointless dispute. What was it? Some edgy journalist trying to spark a row between Britain and Ireland?
It is absolutely NOT pointless, Ireland spends a paltry 0.23% on defence at a time when we are all being asked to pony up. They are essentially a parasite on Britain, in defence, as they parasitise the rest of Europe, in their tax rates
And then they seek to lecture others morally, especially Britain!
Fuck them and their "oh we're peaceful and neutral" bullshit. They boast about how rich they are. Then they can jolly well give us 2% of their massive GDP - several billion quid - seeing as how we defend them, or they can spend it themselves and join NATO. The era of free riding is over
I mean you have a lot of recurring memes, but the Hibernophobia is an odd one. Did your maw get a bad pint of Guinness while with Leon child?
You’re right, it is one of my ‘things’
It’s probably lurked since the IRA, when half my friends were desperate lefties supporting the IRA even as the IRA tried to kill us. I’ve personally witnessed one IRA bomb, and been close to others, I went to Belfast during the Troubles. The dissonance between the facts and my lefty friends’ delusions drove me a bit mad but I recovered
Then it returned cause I started reading Irish media a few years ago, looking for a new perspective. Possibly early in the pandemic?
Their anglophobia is chronic. It’s worse than Nat scotland. It’s a dreadful mix of inferiority complex - understandable perhaps - combined with a contrived sense of moral superiority to the awful racist Brits
Add in their tax policies and now their defence hypocrisy and it irks
I accept most Brits don’t share this. Which is entirely to the credit of easygoing Brits
I agree with you. Ireland isn’t short of money, they need to step up and play the defence game like everyone else. They have a coastline that they rely on the British navy and Air Force to defend. You never hear of Irish planes chasing away bears in the Atlantic, because it’s the British planes doing it.
Everyone else is starting to look at 3-4% of GDP on defence as being the new standard, until Russia is put firmly back in its box; especially as the US starts to look to the their West at China as the new enemy.
Their defense spending is shameful. 0.21%
They aren't permanently scared of everything like the English and don't feel the need to bomb the Middle East every week for 30 years.
What's the threat that the 26C face that warrants more socially destructive defence spending? They don't need to spend any more to be secure.
The specific threat is around undersea fibre, I believe. There've been a number of incidents with Russian ships loitering above wet plant sites within Ireland's EEZ.
Ireland's a member of the EU PESCO and NATO PfP (and pays its way for both), but should probably pony up a bit more and fully participate in NATO's Critical Undersea Infra project. I suspect that discussions are already underway about doing just that...
Ireland doesnt have a meaningful airforce ( not even a single fighter jet ) nor does it have a functioning navy. How this is paying its way escapes me.
PfP is mostly about mutual interoperability. Since signing up in 1999, Ireland has participated in KFOR and ISAF (for whatever little that was worth), so it seems to be working as intended.
PESCO is also primarily concerned with interoperability. Ireland's primary concern there is with Cyber Resilience and Disaster Relief.
Not sure why you think either of those requires fighter jets...?
Ireland's defence budget is being increased by 50% over the pre-2022 level by 2028. Current priorities for investment are primary radar, communications systems, and INS fleet renewal.
Sure, they're not exactly a major military power - but they don't claim to be.
They need to spend 2% minimum. So five times what your optimistic estimates claim
Enough. We are all in this shit together, or we are not. If Ireland wants to host major European corporations (with a parasitic tax regime) then it needs to contribute, meaningfully, to the joint western security that allows these giant companies to trade
Right now Ireland is like some pathetic boomerang 23 year old going out every night on the lash because Mummy Britain still does all her laundry, and Daddy America pays for her dinners, and Auntie EU buys her clothes. Time for Ireland to grow up
Sounds a bit more like Celtic beauty has the temerity to dump old English fatty and subsequently has the cheek to have a high old time.
Which is fine as long as Putin doesn't decide to send some ships and subs to the Irish coast
The premise behind the case is that Trump is a serial liar (true) who (and this is the tricky bit) continually mislead some poor innocent bankers into believing that he was much richer than he claimed, that his properties were worth much more than they were and thus got highly favourable lending opportunities which allowed him to make money , whilst further misleading the State of New York about the value of these same properties, thus reducing his taxes.
We are talking about a guy whose businesses have utilised Chapter 11 no less than 6 times. The merest trace of due diligence would have disclosed many other dodgy schemes, such as his University. Any banker who dealt with him who thought that they could rely on Trump’s word as to compliance with his covenants was foolish in the extreme.
Did these self serving certifications amount in a course of fraudulent conduct? Probably. Were banks and other institutions actually misled? Surely not. Even Deutsch Bank are not that stupid. It’s possible that NY State were conned out of some taxes in which case they should sue. The current proceedings do seem to me to be partisan, politically motivated and ill judged. I can’t see this nonsense surviving appeal.
So your defence is (to summarise) "They were smart enough to know he was cheating them so it's their fault really. Plus they're probably Democrats"
If I am ever arrested for a crime of which I was guilty, I will come to you and throw money at you to get me off.
It seems a pretty pointless dispute. What was it? Some edgy journalist trying to spark a row between Britain and Ireland?
It is absolutely NOT pointless, Ireland spends a paltry 0.23% on defence at a time when we are all being asked to pony up. They are essentially a parasite on Britain, in defence, as they parasitise the rest of Europe, in their tax rates
And then they seek to lecture others morally, especially Britain!
Fuck them and their "oh we're peaceful and neutral" bullshit. They boast about how rich they are. Then they can jolly well give us 2% of their massive GDP - several billion quid - seeing as how we defend them, or they can spend it themselves and join NATO. The era of free riding is over
I mean you have a lot of recurring memes, but the Hibernophobia is an odd one. Did your maw get a bad pint of Guinness while with Leon child?
You’re right, it is one of my ‘things’
It’s probably lurked since the IRA, when half my friends were desperate lefties supporting the IRA even as the IRA tried to kill us. I’ve personally witnessed one IRA bomb, and been close to others, I went to Belfast during the Troubles. The dissonance between the facts and my lefty friends’ delusions drove me a bit mad but I recovered
Then it returned cause I started reading Irish media a few years ago, looking for a new perspective. Possibly early in the pandemic?
Their anglophobia is chronic. It’s worse than Nat scotland. It’s a dreadful mix of inferiority complex - understandable perhaps - combined with a contrived sense of moral superiority to the awful racist Brits
Add in their tax policies and now their defence hypocrisy and it irks
I accept most Brits don’t share this. Which is entirely to the credit of easygoing Brits
I agree with you. Ireland isn’t short of money, they need to step up and play the defence game like everyone else. They have a coastline that they rely on the British navy and Air Force to defend. You never hear of Irish planes chasing away bears in the Atlantic, because it’s the British planes doing it.
Everyone else is starting to look at 3-4% of GDP on defence as being the new standard, until Russia is put firmly back in its box; especially as the US starts to look to the their West at China as the new enemy.
We need to stop fetishising expenditure numbers. Anybody can throw money at a problem. It's far more difficult, but critically important, to make sure you get £1's worth of defence for every £1 you spend. I'd much rather we spent 2% of GDP well than piss 4% away on procurement disasters.
No one is fetishising anything
But numbers are numbers. Ireland has one of the highest GDP per capitas in the world, much of that may be statistical mirage but they are undeniably a wealthy nation of 5m people benefitting hugely from joint western security, indeed entirely reliant on it (esp the UK which they constantly lecture!)
And they spend 0.21% on their defence. It is risible, pathetic and embarrassing. 2% please. £10bn a year. Now.
Possibly quite a nifty wedge issue for the Dems to get Trump to walk into though. Get some friendly journalists to start asking Trump what he thinks of Ireland freeloading on defence knowing the US (and others) will have their back whilst also denying the US tax revenues - both issues Trump is noisy about.
Trump will either have to ignore it which makes him a hypocrite re NATO comments or attack (obviously verbally) Ireland which will cause him problems with all those “Irish” American voters.
It seems a pretty pointless dispute. What was it? Some edgy journalist trying to spark a row between Britain and Ireland?
It is absolutely NOT pointless, Ireland spends a paltry 0.23% on defence at a time when we are all being asked to pony up. They are essentially a parasite on Britain, in defence, as they parasitise the rest of Europe, in their tax rates
And then they seek to lecture others morally, especially Britain!
Fuck them and their "oh we're peaceful and neutral" bullshit. They boast about how rich they are. Then they can jolly well give us 2% of their massive GDP - several billion quid - seeing as how we defend them, or they can spend it themselves and join NATO. The era of free riding is over
I mean you have a lot of recurring memes, but the Hibernophobia is an odd one. Did your maw get a bad pint of Guinness while with Leon child?
You’re right, it is one of my ‘things’
It’s probably lurked since the IRA, when half my friends were desperate lefties supporting the IRA even as the IRA tried to kill us. I’ve personally witnessed one IRA bomb, and been close to others, I went to Belfast during the Troubles. The dissonance between the facts and my lefty friends’ delusions drove me a bit mad but I recovered
Then it returned cause I started reading Irish media a few years ago, looking for a new perspective. Possibly early in the pandemic?
Their anglophobia is chronic. It’s worse than Nat scotland. It’s a dreadful mix of inferiority complex - understandable perhaps - combined with a contrived sense of moral superiority to the awful racist Brits
Add in their tax policies and now their defence hypocrisy and it irks
I accept most Brits don’t share this. Which is entirely to the credit of easygoing Brits
I agree with you. Ireland isn’t short of money, they need to step up and play the defence game like everyone else. They have a coastline that they rely on the British navy and Air Force to defend. You never hear of Irish planes chasing away bears in the Atlantic, because it’s the British planes doing it.
Everyone else is starting to look at 3-4% of GDP on defence as being the new standard, until Russia is put firmly back in its box; especially as the US starts to look to the their West at China as the new enemy.
Their defense spending is shameful. 0.21%
They aren't permanently scared of everything like the English and don't feel the need to bomb the Middle East every week for 30 years.
What's the threat that the 26C face that warrants more socially destructive defence spending? They don't need to spend any more to be secure.
The specific threat is around undersea fibre, I believe. There've been a number of incidents with Russian ships loitering above wet plant sites within Ireland's EEZ.
Ireland's a member of the EU PESCO and NATO PfP (and pays its way for both), but should probably pony up a bit more and fully participate in NATO's Critical Undersea Infra project. I suspect that discussions are already underway about doing just that...
Ireland doesnt have a meaningful airforce ( not even a single fighter jet ) nor does it have a functioning navy. How this is paying its way escapes me.
PfP is mostly about mutual interoperability. Since signing up in 1999, Ireland has participated in KFOR and ISAF (for whatever little that was worth), so it seems to be working as intended.
PESCO is also primarily concerned with interoperability. Ireland's primary concern there is with Cyber Resilience and Disaster Relief.
Not sure why you think either of those requires fighter jets...?
Ireland's defence budget is being increased by 50% over the pre-2022 level by 2028. Current priorities for investment are primary radar, communications systems, and INS fleet renewal.
Sthey're not exactly a major military power - but they don't claim to be.
They need to spend 2% minimum. So five times what your optimistic estimates claim
Enough. We are all in this shit together, or we are not. If Ireland wants to host major European corporations (with a parasitic tax regime) then it needs to contribute, meaningfully, to the joint western security that allows these giant companies to trade
Right now Ireland is like some pathetic boomerang 23 year old going out every night on the lash because Mummy Britain still does all her laundry, and Daddy America pays for her dinners, and Auntie EU buys her clothes. Time for Ireland to grow up
Sounds a bit more like Celtic beauty has the temerity to dump old English fatty and subsequently has the cheek to have a high old time.
lol. About as beautiful as the average Glaswegian lass on the piss, but whatever
Janen Ganesh has written a playful article about the problems of PB, sorry, Soho house
‘A friend of mine first entertained doubts that Soho House was cool when he saw four alumni of his school there. “Accountant, accountant, solicitor, accountant
Basically, they are letting anyone in - accountants and lawyers etc. But the plonkers are still angry. He sees this as a societal issue
It's funny that the fact that four of his school alumni were there didn't raise any alarm bells,and isn't the subject of the piece. The only place I'd expect to run into four people from my school would be Tescos in St Andrews. It's extraordinary to think there are people (other than those who live in a small town they grew up in) for whom it is utterly normal to live in a professional world already densely populated with people they know.
It's difficult to blame Irish negativity towards the United Kingdom, given the multiplicity of kickings that England has given Ireland over the past several hundred years
So all those European countries that have reconciled themselves with Germany have got it wrong. Much better to pick at scabs hundreds of year old and top up the bile.
To some degree I agree, but 'Germany' hasn't been the Germany we know for more than 150 years. Before then what we now know as Germans were quite capable of fighting each other.
Nor in the last 100 years has England been the England of old. The Irish just need to grow up and stop living in the past.
The way Tory MPs were talking about Ireland in recent years demonstrates otherwise. In fact, not just talking about Ireland come to think of it.
Mostly because Varadkar decided to use Brexit as his political CV for a job in Brussels. Anglo Irish relations were improving prior to that but Varadkar decide to drag us all back to the 1900s.
Brexit Referendum in NI, 2016:
To REMAIN 56% To LEAVE 44%
Your point being ?
A majority in British-Administered Ireland expressed a preference to stay in the EU. Something the DUP haven't quite grasped.
There’s a new NI Assembly poll, the first since the restoration of powersharing. It has the DUP down 4 on the previous poll by the same pollsters. SF no change, APNI -2, UUP +2, SDLP +1, TUV +2.
The DUP on 24% in that poll still 3% up on the 21% they got in the the 2022 Assembly election.
The food in Phnom Penh is some of the best in the world. How can it be? It is so poor. But it is so
I think it is better than Thailand and possibly better than Vietnam. A collision of China, India, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, and an obsession with flavours and a passion for seafood but also a young, food-driven populace
Take one tiny example, my local bar does great gin-and-tonics with Hendricks or Tanqueray 10 with loads of ice and long thin slices of cucumber. Perfect
But they also serve them with these tiny saucers of slender flash fried sliced banana dipped in a piquant chili and nut powder. ie a perfect bar snack - satly but more-ish and quite healthy. Made there and then
Cambodia: the next foodie destination. You read it here first
It seems a pretty pointless dispute. What was it? Some edgy journalist trying to spark a row between Britain and Ireland?
It is absolutely NOT pointless, Ireland spends a paltry 0.23% on defence at a time when we are all being asked to pony up. They are essentially a parasite on Britain, in defence, as they parasitise the rest of Europe, in their tax rates
And then they seek to lecture others morally, especially Britain!
Fuck them and their "oh we're peaceful and neutral" bullshit. They boast about how rich they are. Then they can jolly well give us 2% of their massive GDP - several billion quid - seeing as how we defend them, or they can spend it themselves and join NATO. The era of free riding is over
I mean you have a lot of recurring memes, but the Hibernophobia is an odd one. Did your maw get a bad pint of Guinness while with Leon child?
You’re right, it is one of my ‘things’
It’s probably lurked since the IRA, when half my friends were desperate lefties supporting the IRA even as the IRA tried to kill us. I’ve personally witnessed one IRA bomb, and been close to others, I went to Belfast during the Troubles. The dissonance between the facts and my lefty friends’ delusions drove me a bit mad but I recovered
Then it returned cause I started reading Irish media a few years ago, looking for a new perspective. Possibly early in the pandemic?
Their anglophobia is chronic. It’s worse than Nat scotland. It’s a dreadful mix of inferiority complex - understandable perhaps - combined with a contrived sense of moral superiority to the awful racist Brits
Add in their tax policies and now their defence hypocrisy and it irks
I accept most Brits don’t share this. Which is entirely to the credit of easygoing Brits
I agree with you. Ireland isn’t short of money, they need to step up and play the defence game like everyone else. They have a coastline that they rely on the British navy and Air Force to defend. You never hear of Irish planes chasing away bears in the Atlantic, because it’s the British planes doing it.
Everyone else is starting to look at 3-4% of GDP on defence as being the new standard, until Russia is put firmly back in its box; especially as the US starts to look to the their West at China as the new enemy.
We need to stop fetishising expenditure numbers. Anybody can throw money at a problem. It's far more difficult, but critically important, to make sure you get £1's worth of defence for every £1 you spend. I'd much rather we spent 2% of GDP well than piss 4% away on procurement disasters.
Yes, getting value for money is massively important. Defence procurement is a right mess, but it does appear that an actual hot war makes many of the problems disappear quite quickly!
The food in Phnom penh is some of the best in the world. How can it be? It is so poor. But it is so
I think it is better than Thailand and possibly better than Vietnam. A collision of China, India, Vietnam, Thailand, Malyasia, and an obsession with flavours and a passion for seafood but also a young, food-obsessed populace
Take one tiny example, my local bar does great gin and tonics with Hendricks or Tanqueray 10 with loads of ice and long thin slices of cucumber. Perfect
But they also serve them with these tiny saucers of slender flash fried sliced banana dipped in a piqaunt chili and nut powder. ie a perfect bar snack - satly but more-ish and quite healthy. Made there and then
Cambodia: the next foodie destination. You read it here first
What proportion of the food has chilli in it ? (I can't eat it.)
Janen Ganesh has written a playful article about the problems of PB, sorry, Soho house
‘A friend of mine first entertained doubts that Soho House was cool when he saw four alumni of his school there. “Accountant, accountant, solicitor, accountant
Basically, they are letting anyone in - accountants and lawyers etc. But the plonkers are still angry. He sees this as a societal issue
It's funny that the fact that four of his school alumni were there didn't raise any alarm bells,and isn't the subject of the piece. The only place I'd expect to run into four people from my school would be Tescos in St Andrews. It's extraordinary to think there are people (other than those who live in a small town they grew up in) for whom it is utterly normal to live in a professional world already densely populated with people they know.
I presume we are talking a fairly posh London public school, here
The food in Phnom penh is some of the best in the world. How can it be? It is so poor. But it is so
I think it is better than Thailand and possibly better than Vietnam. A collision of China, India, Vietnam, Thailand, Malyasia, and an obsession with flavours and a passion for seafood but also a young, food-obsessed populace
Take one tiny example, my local bar does great gin and tonics with Hendricks or Tanqueray 10 with loads of ice and long thin slices of cucumber. Perfect
But they also serve them with these tiny saucers of slender flash fried sliced banana dipped in a piqaunt chili and nut powder. ie a perfect bar snack - satly but more-ish and quite healthy. Made there and then
Cambodia: the next foodie destination. You read it here first
What proportion of the food has chilli in it ? (I can't eat it.)
Nothing like Thailand (eg they don't have prik nam pla, that ubiquitous Thai condiment of chili and fish sauce). They have prahok, which is fermented fish sauce, pungent but delish
Janen Ganesh has written a playful article about the problems of PB, sorry, Soho house
‘A friend of mine first entertained doubts that Soho House was cool when he saw four alumni of his school there. “Accountant, accountant, solicitor, accountant
Basically, they are letting anyone in - accountants and lawyers etc. But the plonkers are still angry. He sees this as a societal issue
It's funny that the fact that four of his school alumni were there didn't raise any alarm bells,and isn't the subject of the piece. The only place I'd expect to run into four people from my school would be Tescos in St Andrews. It's extraordinary to think there are people (other than those who live in a small town they grew up in) for whom it is utterly normal to live in a professional world already densely populated with people they know.
I presume we are talking a fairly posh London public school, here
Yes presumably. It's just nuts to me that there are people for whom that is an unremarkable fact, running into people you went to school with everywhere you go - but not because you still live in some small town where you grew up.
Janen Ganesh has written a playful article about the problems of PB, sorry, Soho house
‘A friend of mine first entertained doubts that Soho House was cool when he saw four alumni of his school there. “Accountant, accountant, solicitor, accountant
Basically, they are letting anyone in - accountants and lawyers etc. But the plonkers are still angry. He sees this as a societal issue
It's funny that the fact that four of his school alumni were there didn't raise any alarm bells,and isn't the subject of the piece. The only place I'd expect to run into four people from my school would be Tescos in St Andrews. It's extraordinary to think there are people (other than those who live in a small town they grew up in) for whom it is utterly normal to live in a professional world already densely populated with people they know.
I presume we are talking a fairly posh London public school, here
Yes presumably. It's just nuts to me that there are people for whom that is an unremarkable fact, running into people you went to school with everywhere you go - but not because you still live in some small town where you grew up.
I agree. It is alien to me too, but I have witnessed it
The food in Phnom Penh is some of the best in the world. How can it be? It is so poor. But it is so
I think it is better than Thailand and possibly better than Vietnam. A collision of China, India, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, and an obsession with flavours and a passion for seafood but also a young, food-driven populace
Take one tiny example, my local bar does great gin-and-tonics with Hendricks or Tanqueray 10 with loads of ice and long thin slices of cucumber. Perfect
But they also serve them with these tiny saucers of slender flash fried sliced banana dipped in a piquant chili and nut powder. ie a perfect bar snack - satly but more-ish and quite healthy. Made there and then
Cambodia: the next foodie destination. You read it here first
My wife went to Cambodia about five or six years ago for work and raved about the food.
Comments
Plonkeriness is a different thing entirely. A mix of gaucherie, naffness, geekosity and neurodivergent desire to never admit wrongness
A lot of it on PB
They have high car ownership, and a high density of vehicles per km of road network.
They also drive on the left, and have high drink-drive limits like the UK that make drink-driving legal for many.
I would say also due to low distances driven because the main island is only 17 miles long.
A good example of context being needed for stats.
It’s probably lurked since the IRA, when half my friends were desperate lefties supporting the IRA even as the IRA tried to kill us. I’ve personally witnessed one IRA bomb, and been close to others, I went to Belfast during the Troubles. The dissonance between the facts and my lefty friends’ delusions drove me a bit mad but I recovered
Then it returned cause I started reading Irish media a few years ago, looking for a new perspective. Possibly early in the pandemic?
Their anglophobia is chronic. It’s worse than Nat scotland. It’s a dreadful mix of inferiority complex - understandable perhaps - combined with a contrived sense of moral superiority to the awful racist Brits
Add in their tax policies and now their defence hypocrisy and it irks
I accept most Brits don’t share this. Which is entirely to the credit of easygoing Brits
Everyone else is starting to look at 3-4% of GDP on defence as being the new standard, until Russia is put firmly back in its box; especially as the US starts to look to the their West at China as the new enemy.
And it is going DOWN
One of the lowest in the world. It cannot stand. Irish GDP is $500bn. Not trivial. Two percent of that - ten times what they spend now - would be $10bn. Quite useful for NATO right now. Britain spends $60bn
Enough of their Celtic freeloading
It would be amusing if it was Macron as Varadkar decided to join La Francophonie rather than the Commonwealth.
What's the threat that the 26C face that warrants more socially destructive defence spending? They don't need to spend any more to be secure.
Explain, using both sides of the paper, why this statement is different for [X=US/Y=Ukraine] and [X=UK/Y=Ireland], and justify your answer.
Enough. Time for Ireland to cough up, if they want to continue benefiting so hugely from our communal defence
We were cycling through Bolivia and having some R&R in La Paz.
Off to the cinema to watch dubbed Davinci Code (yes I know, but there was nothing else on), he forgot his wallet. Hopped in a taxi back to the hostel to pick it up and the taxi driver mugged him.
By the time the driver and his mates worked out my friend genuinely had no wallet on him, they were high up in the hills surrounding the city centre. Not really somewhere you want to find yourself.
The amusing part of the story was that my friend was producing liquid from all orifices at the time so, whilst he didn’t have a wallet he did have a roll of toilet roll in his pocket. His description of the glee morphing into disappointment as the muggers found a suspiciously wallet-shaped bulge in his jacket, only to pull out a roll of toilet paper, still makes me laugh.
Though it may have been the diarrhoea that saved him. By all accounts the stink in the taxi became intolerable and so they choked him until he passed out then dumped him out of the taxi. Luckily a more honest taxi driver saw this, picked him up and returned him to the hostel for a badly needed poo and some refreshments.
The hills on the outskirts of La Paz are freaky. It’s where the drug gangsters live and they build insane houses. I took some photos of a few. Here’s one. It is genuinely a home. They are locally known as ‘chalets’
And you're strangely easy to wind up.
Few things genuinely wind me up, these days. International rugby is one
Ireland's a member of the EU PESCO and NATO PfP (and pays its way for both), but should probably pony up a bit more and fully participate in NATO's Critical Undersea Infra project. I suspect that discussions are already underway about doing just that...
‘A friend of mine first entertained doubts that Soho House was cool when he saw four alumni of his school there. “Accountant, accountant, solicitor, accountant
https://www.ft.com/content/348b9e16-344f-4699-8419-f7e82a5ef17b
Basically, they are letting anyone in - accountants and lawyers etc. But the plonkers are still angry. He sees this as a societal issue
And I would like to wish a happy holiday to the House of Representatives
https://twitter.com/AseyevStanislav/status/1758850008109953398
Touch wood, I have never been mugged to date.
Nobody knows what happened to #Navalny. He could have had a heart attack for all we know. 🤷🏻♀️
So do you find it bizarre that every political leader came out immediately to accuse #Putin of murder? (those bloody conspiracy theorists...)
https://twitter.com/beverleyturner/status/1758586644557336970
But at the end of the day it’s a business, and they need people with money through the door.
Is the Frontline Club still going?
He looks bloody terrified the whole way through. Utterly intimidated by Putin.
I think Carlson's main concern was getting out alive in one piece.
I am happy to say that the Groucho remains firm and will not allow in accountants, lawyers and business types, thank Fuck
PESCO is also primarily concerned with interoperability. Ireland's primary concern there is with Cyber Resilience and Disaster Relief.
Not sure why you think either of those requires fighter jets...?
Ireland's defence budget is being increased by 50% over the pre-2022 level by 2028. Current priorities for investment are primary radar, communications systems, and INS fleet renewal.
Sure, they're not exactly a major military power - but they don't claim to be.
On a personal level, of course, things are often excellent. One of the most hospitable countries I've ever been through is the Republic. Although on one visit, while cruising the Shannon, I was invited for drinks in the local pub by the family on the next boat. My wife didn't want to take the children, who were quite young at the time, so I went for an hour or so on my own.
I was not allowed to buy drinks for the family in the next boat; as 'only one of you and there's six of us', but we were then asked to sing. I sang West Ham's song Bubbles, but my host then followed with an IRA song 'My Little Armalite'!
As for airforces if you cant attack a ship off your coast, then you cant defend it.
The defence budget is just a joke.
It's all quite like a shoal of Humboldt Squid, eating each other.
The only alternative to Partition was a FAR more brutal irish Civil War which Eire might easily have lost, as the might of the British Empire was brought to bear, supporting the loyal Prods
In the end this should surely be co-sovereignty, it is the only long term solution. Britain AND Ireland share Norn, its glories and its heavy problems. But the Irish are still atavistically determined to reunite in quite a belligerent way, unwilling to compromise. which explains why Unification polling has barely budged, despite major demographic and economic change supposedly favouring Dublin
https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/ni-voters-would-decisively-reject-irish-unity-in-border-poll-new-survey-suggests/a952153417.html
To REMAIN 56%
To LEAVE 44%
Still seems to be functional
https://www.frontlineclub.com/
I always find his posts put Idi Amin in a good light.
The two election interference cases and the classified documents case are more risky, as they do entail a significant risk of jail time. Well, the classified docs case would were the judge not so obviously completely biased towards Trump.
I don't have anything against vegan food but a lot of the processed stuff is rubbish.
Lovely story
We cruised the Shannon in the early 80s and as the lock gates closed, my daughter who was about 10 at the time fell and I had no idea where she had landed as I couldn't see her from the flying bridge. All panic let lose but fortunately the stern gunwale had caught her before she fell into the lock
I asked the lock keeper what time it was and he responded 'no idea - we do not have watches here - just let time gently pass by'
A heart stopping moment ( topical for me at this time !!!!!)
Enough. We are all in this shit together, or we are not. If Ireland wants to host major European corporations (with a parasitic tax regime) then it needs to contribute, meaningfully, to the joint western security that allows these giant companies to trade
Right now Ireland is like some pathetic boomerang 23 year old going out every night on the lash because Mummy Britain still does all her laundry, and Daddy America pays for her dinners, and Auntie EU buys her clothes. Time for Ireland to grow up
Sweden and Finland are now in, or almost in, NATO. Denmark is only special due to a referendum-driven opt-out from EU Defence structures.
Ireland's reported 50% defence expenditure increase by 2028 (?) will take it from 1/8 of NATO average to something like 1/6 of NATO average.
That won't hack it, and their EU colleagues will shake them awake. I suggest that in around 15 years IE defence spending will need to be more like 1% of GDP as a lower bound if they are to maintain credibility.
In addition to the basics, I suggest that they should look to be overweight in eg fisheries protection.
https://ecfr.eu/publication/ambiguous-alliance-neutrality-opt-outs-and-european-defence/
https://m.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/politics/dup-support-falls-after-partys-return-to-stormont-as-uup-and-tuv-gain-ground/a2080283141.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Next_Northern_Ireland_Assembly_election#Opinion_polling
But numbers are numbers. Ireland has one of the highest GDP per capitas in the world, much of that may be statistical mirage but they are undeniably a wealthy nation of 5m people benefitting hugely from joint western security, indeed entirely reliant on it (esp the UK which they constantly lecture!)
And they spend 0.21% on their defence. It is risible, pathetic and embarrassing. 2% please. £10bn a year. Now.
If I am ever arrested for a crime of which I was guilty, I will come to you and throw money at you to get me off.
Trump will either have to ignore it which makes him a hypocrite re NATO comments or attack (obviously verbally) Ireland which will cause him problems with all those “Irish” American voters.
The food in Phnom Penh is some of the best in the world. How can it be? It is so poor. But it is so
I think it is better than Thailand and possibly better than Vietnam. A collision of China, India, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, and an obsession with flavours and a passion for seafood but also a young, food-driven populace
Take one tiny example, my local bar does great gin-and-tonics with Hendricks or Tanqueray 10 with loads of ice and long thin slices of cucumber. Perfect
But they also serve them with these tiny saucers of slender flash fried sliced banana dipped in a piquant chili and nut powder. ie a perfect bar snack - satly but more-ish and quite healthy. Made there and then
Cambodia: the next foodie destination. You read it here first
https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/1758831886208561339
(I can't eat it.)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prahok
They do eat chilis and they like them, but not on the same scale as Thailand. It is all much more.... subtle
I think it is the Chinese influence. The Khmer are basically Chinese people who moved south
You shouldn’t be doing that. Exclude the white European Russians from the numbers. They’re not the ones being conscripted