maybe we would do better as a country if we looked beyond the most privileged schools in the country for our leaders.
Destroying or undermining our best schools isn't the solution to making the country better.
Its not destroying or undermining to suggest that the 99%+ of the rest of our schools might well have some students who better understand the country than the narrow clique of "top" Public Schools.
There's nothing to stop that happening at the moment.
The biggest determinant of whether someone has a successful career in politics us whether they studied PPE at Oxford or not.
That's where politics is networked into, and it's totally non-discriminating between public and state schools, whilst still filtering out anyone who isn't interested in a such an Oxbridge degree.
That's the real problem.
The country would be better governed if we banned anyone who had done Oxford PPE from being a politician. Having so many people go through the same course, having the same mindset inflicted on them, is pernicious.
That's an uncomfortable read, and possibly correct. There are plenty of other scenarios, though.
Note that it also argues against the appeasers' view that Putin wants peace.
To some extent this is Hamas's biggest success.
Together with the Israeli response Gaza has totally distracted the West, which seems to have the capacity to only get exercised by one major foreign policy subject at a time in the public mind - and Ukraine is so very 2022.
You only have to look here. The obsessive Ukraine Ultras like Bart now rarely mention it.
Few people care now. They’ve moved on to Gaza
Fuck off with this 'Ukrainian Ultra' shit.
Yes Dad.
Okay. Let's look at this. 'Ultra' has a few meanings; but in this case 'extremist' seems the most apt. It also produces images of the football 'ultra' groups.
Now, the position of many people is that Ukraine should win the war. I have seen no-one seriously suggest that Ukraine should invade Russia and take Moscow; that would be an extreme position.
Ukraine 'winning' the war seems the best way to have both short-term and long-term peace in the region.
I am suspicious about cost-based arguments: a shell costs x, they have y rubles, they win. There is more to war than that. Unfortunately, the "more" is in Russia's favour, as they (I think) have switched to mass production of crude drones (think shells with wings and a prop). The Russians call artillery "the king of battle" and they've found a way to make it better. Instead of driving tanks thru a minefield, they can just pound cities to dust over time. So now the war switches to attriting the Ukrainians, which Ukraine will eventually lose. So the Ukrainians need to switch to another form of attack whilst they are still alive enough to do so. Any ideas? ☹️
Sadly not. My expertise extends to old British tv and home brewing.
The Ukraine Ultras here seemed to think it would be a case of western aid, Ukraine steamrollers Russia. Putin in The Hague.
The likes of Dura Ace, who knows what he is talking about were regularly shouted down for not being happy clappy about Ukraines progress.
He was right, be interested in his view.
All the time China waits and watches. Taiwan next ?
I don't think I was "right" because I never dreamt that Western support would last this long and didn't expect the SMO to endure into a third season.
I did say that Ukraine was completely overmatched by Russia in every aspect of its military and was correct about that as they woul have folded long ago without regular, massive transfusions of Western tax payers' money.
There is difficulty in discriminating exactly where on the callous self-interest to reckless stupidity axis the Western response lies which makes predictions impossible because the exact motives and goals of the Western governments have never been articulated.
maybe we would do better as a country if we looked beyond the most privileged schools in the country for our leaders.
Destroying or undermining our best schools isn't the solution to making the country better.
Its not destroying or undermining to suggest that the 99%+ of the rest of our schools might well have some students who better understand the country than the narrow clique of "top" Public Schools.
There's nothing to stop that happening at the moment.
The biggest determinant of whether someone has a successful career in politics us whether they studied PPE at Oxford or not.
That's where politics is networked into, and it's totally non-discriminating between public and state schools, whilst still filtering out anyone who isn't interested in a such an Oxbridge degree.
That's the real problem.
Both are a problem. The narrow elitism of the cliques of our political establishment are not serving us well.
maybe we would do better as a country if we looked beyond the most privileged schools in the country for our leaders.
Destroying or undermining our best schools isn't the solution to making the country better.
Its not destroying or undermining to suggest that the 99%+ of the rest of our schools might well have some students who better understand the country than the narrow clique of "top" Public Schools.
There's nothing to stop that happening at the moment.
The biggest determinant of whether someone has a successful career in politics us whether they studied PPE at Oxford or not.
That's where politics is networked into, and it's totally non-discriminating between public and state schools, whilst still filtering out anyone who isn't interested in a such an Oxbridge degree.
That's the real problem.
The country would be better governed if we banned anyone who had done Oxford PPE from being a politician. Having so many people go through the same course, having the same mindset inflicted on them, is pernicious.
It's also not a very good degree. If you look at all three of those subjects with a cold eye you'd be struggling to put Oxford in the top ten unis in the country for any of them.
I am suspicious about cost-based arguments: a shell costs x, they have y rubles, they win. There is more to war than that. Unfortunately, the "more" is in Russia's favour, as they (I think) have switched to mass production of crude drones (think shells with wings and a prop). The Russians call artillery "the king of battle" and they've found a way to make it better. Instead of driving tanks thru a minefield, they can just pound cities to dust over time. So now the war switches to attriting the Ukrainians, which Ukraine will eventually lose. So the Ukrainians need to switch to another form of attack whilst they are still alive enough to do so. Any ideas? ☹️
Sadly not. My expertise extends to old British tv and home brewing.
The Ukraine Ultras here seemed to think it would be a case of western aid, Ukraine steamrollers Russia. Putin in The Hague.
The likes of Dura Ace, who knows what he is talking about were regularly shouted down for not being happy clappy about Ukraines progress.
He was right, be interested in his view.
All the time China waits and watches. Taiwan next ?
I don't think I was "right" because I never dreamt that Western support would last this long and didn't expect the SMO to endure into a third season.
I did say that Ukraine was completely overmatched by Russia in every aspect of its military and was correct about that as they woul have folded long ago without regular, massive transfusions of Western tax payers' money.
There is difficulty in discriminating exactly where on the callous self-interest to reckless stupidity axis the Western response lies which makes predictions impossible because the exact motives and goals of the Western governments have never been articulated.
We have seen how the Russians behave in occupied territory. Bucha was not an isolated incident.
The sufferings of Ukraine by continued fighting are only exceeded by the suffering that will happen if they stop fighting. They have few good choices, and if Ukraine does collapse militarily expect tens of millions of new refugees.
That's an uncomfortable read, and possibly correct. There are plenty of other scenarios, though.
Note that it also argues against the appeasers' view that Putin wants peace.
To some extent this is Hamas's biggest success.
Together with the Israeli response Gaza has totally distracted the West, which seems to have the capacity to only get exercised by one major foreign policy subject at a time in the public mind - and Ukraine is so very 2022.
You only have to look here. The obsessive Ukraine Ultras like Bart now rarely mention it.
Few people care now. They’ve moved on to Gaza
Fuck off with this 'Ukrainian Ultra' shit.
Yes Dad.
I think the social media attention span on any one issue is about 12-18 months. Max.
Gaza is simply the latest big thing. And, if you're on Twitter or TikTok, you'll get it constantly and probably quite a one-sided and emotionally charged view of it too.
I am suspicious about cost-based arguments: a shell costs x, they have y rubles, they win. There is more to war than that. Unfortunately, the "more" is in Russia's favour, as they (I think) have switched to mass production of crude drones (think shells with wings and a prop). The Russians call artillery "the king of battle" and they've found a way to make it better. Instead of driving tanks thru a minefield, they can just pound cities to dust over time. So now the war switches to attriting the Ukrainians, which Ukraine will eventually lose. So the Ukrainians need to switch to another form of attack whilst they are still alive enough to do so. Any ideas? ☹️
Sadly not. My expertise extends to old British tv and home brewing.
The Ukraine Ultras here seemed to think it would be a case of western aid, Ukraine steamrollers Russia. Putin in The Hague.
The likes of Dura Ace, who knows what he is talking about were regularly shouted down for not being happy clappy about Ukraines progress.
He was right, be interested in his view.
All the time China waits and watches. Taiwan next ?
I don't think I was "right" because I never dreamt that Western support would last this long and didn't expect the SMO to endure into a third season.
I did say that Ukraine was completely overmatched by Russia in every aspect of its military and was correct about that as they woul have folded long ago without regular, massive transfusions of Western tax payers' money.
There is difficulty in discriminating exactly where on the callous self-interest to reckless stupidity axis the Western response lies which makes predictions impossible because the exact motives and goals of the Western governments have never been articulated.
What do you think Putin's goals are? I'm sure you're fully gened up on the Russian motivations given your extensive reading.
maybe we would do better as a country if we looked beyond the most privileged schools in the country for our leaders.
Destroying or undermining our best schools isn't the solution to making the country better.
Its not destroying or undermining to suggest that the 99%+ of the rest of our schools might well have some students who better understand the country than the narrow clique of "top" Public Schools.
There's nothing to stop that happening at the moment.
The biggest determinant of whether someone has a successful career in politics us whether they studied PPE at Oxford or not.
That's where politics is networked into, and it's totally non-discriminating between public and state schools, whilst still filtering out anyone who isn't interested in a such an Oxbridge degree.
That's the real problem.
Both are a problem. The narrow elitism of the cliques of our political establishment are not serving us well.
I don't see very good schools as being a "problem".
That's an uncomfortable read, and possibly correct. There are plenty of other scenarios, though.
Note that it also argues against the appeasers' view that Putin wants peace.
To some extent this is Hamas's biggest success.
Together with the Israeli response Gaza has totally distracted the West, which seems to have the capacity to only get exercised by one major foreign policy subject at a time in the public mind - and Ukraine is so very 2022.
You only have to look here. The obsessive Ukraine Ultras like Bart now rarely mention it.
Few people care now. They’ve moved on to Gaza
Fuck off with this 'Ukrainian Ultra' shit.
Yes Dad.
I think the social media attention span on any one issue is about 12-18 months. Max.
Gaza is simply the latest big thing. And, if you're on Twitter or TikTok, you'll get it constantly and probably quite a one-sided and emotionally charged view of it too.
Will be a different story when they are sending UK troops to fight once they get beyond Ukraine, be more interest when it is UK bodies coming home.
I am suspicious about cost-based arguments: a shell costs x, they have y rubles, they win. There is more to war than that. Unfortunately, the "more" is in Russia's favour, as they (I think) have switched to mass production of crude drones (think shells with wings and a prop). The Russians call artillery "the king of battle" and they've found a way to make it better. Instead of driving tanks thru a minefield, they can just pound cities to dust over time. So now the war switches to attriting the Ukrainians, which Ukraine will eventually lose. So the Ukrainians need to switch to another form of attack whilst they are still alive enough to do so. Any ideas? ☹️
Sadly not. My expertise extends to old British tv and home brewing.
The Ukraine Ultras here seemed to think it would be a case of western aid, Ukraine steamrollers Russia. Putin in The Hague.
The likes of Dura Ace, who knows what he is talking about were regularly shouted down for not being happy clappy about Ukraines progress.
He was right, be interested in his view.
All the time China waits and watches. Taiwan next ?
I don't think I was "right" because I never dreamt that Western support would last this long and didn't expect the SMO to endure into a third season.
I did say that Ukraine was completely overmatched by Russia in every aspect of its military and was correct about that as they woul have folded long ago without regular, massive transfusions of Western tax payers' money.
There is difficulty in discriminating exactly where on the callous self-interest to reckless stupidity axis the Western response lies which makes predictions impossible because the exact motives and goals of the Western governments have never been articulated.
We have seen how the Russians behave in occupied territory. Bucha was not an isolated incident.
The sufferings of Ukraine by continued fighting are only exceeded by the suffering that will happen if they stop fighting. They have few good choices, and if Ukraine does collapse militarily expect tens of millions of new refugees.
Russia have made it quite clear what they want; and it is not just Ukraine. By military and political methods, they want control over eastern Europe - even if the populations do not want them. This will inevitably lead to more Bucha-style atrocities.
That's what the appeasers are calling for; as you can only have peace with sides who want peace. Putin does not.
(And the parallels with the appeasers in the late 1930s are startling and worrying. They were wrong then; they are wrong now.)
I am suspicious about cost-based arguments: a shell costs x, they have y rubles, they win. There is more to war than that. Unfortunately, the "more" is in Russia's favour, as they (I think) have switched to mass production of crude drones (think shells with wings and a prop). The Russians call artillery "the king of battle" and they've found a way to make it better. Instead of driving tanks thru a minefield, they can just pound cities to dust over time. So now the war switches to attriting the Ukrainians, which Ukraine will eventually lose. So the Ukrainians need to switch to another form of attack whilst they are still alive enough to do so. Any ideas? ☹️
Sadly not. My expertise extends to old British tv and home brewing.
The Ukraine Ultras here seemed to think it would be a case of western aid, Ukraine steamrollers Russia. Putin in The Hague.
The likes of Dura Ace, who knows what he is talking about were regularly shouted down for not being happy clappy about Ukraines progress.
He was right, be interested in his view.
All the time China waits and watches. Taiwan next ?
"The likes of Dura Ace, who knows what he is talking "
All too often, it's clear that Dura_Ace does *not* know what he's talking about, and is provably wrong.
I am suspicious about cost-based arguments: a shell costs x, they have y rubles, they win. There is more to war than that. Unfortunately, the "more" is in Russia's favour, as they (I think) have switched to mass production of crude drones (think shells with wings and a prop). The Russians call artillery "the king of battle" and they've found a way to make it better. Instead of driving tanks thru a minefield, they can just pound cities to dust over time. So now the war switches to attriting the Ukrainians, which Ukraine will eventually lose. So the Ukrainians need to switch to another form of attack whilst they are still alive enough to do so. Any ideas? ☹️
Sadly not. My expertise extends to old British tv and home brewing.
The Ukraine Ultras here seemed to think it would be a case of western aid, Ukraine steamrollers Russia. Putin in The Hague.
The likes of Dura Ace, who knows what he is talking about were regularly shouted down for not being happy clappy about Ukraines progress.
He was right, be interested in his view.
All the time China waits and watches. Taiwan next ?
"The likes of Dura Ace, who knows what he is talking "
All too often, it's clear that Dura_Ace does *not* know what he's talking about, and is provably wrong.
While we're talking about DA...
The Telegraph has been digging around on Strava and found a KOM on the Embankment with an average speed of 52mph (in a 20mph zone).
I like to believe this isn't some glitch (or a Telegraph journalist in a taxi) and actually a PBer on the way to the MoD.
I am suspicious about cost-based arguments: a shell costs x, they have y rubles, they win. There is more to war than that. Unfortunately, the "more" is in Russia's favour, as they (I think) have switched to mass production of crude drones (think shells with wings and a prop). The Russians call artillery "the king of battle" and they've found a way to make it better. Instead of driving tanks thru a minefield, they can just pound cities to dust over time. So now the war switches to attriting the Ukrainians, which Ukraine will eventually lose. So the Ukrainians need to switch to another form of attack whilst they are still alive enough to do so. Any ideas? ☹️
Sadly not. My expertise extends to old British tv and home brewing.
The Ukraine Ultras here seemed to think it would be a case of western aid, Ukraine steamrollers Russia. Putin in The Hague.
The likes of Dura Ace, who knows what he is talking about were regularly shouted down for not being happy clappy about Ukraines progress.
He was right, be interested in his view.
All the time China waits and watches. Taiwan next ?
"The likes of Dura Ace, who knows what he is talking "
All too often, it's clear that Dura_Ace does *not* know what he's talking about, and is provably wrong.
I object. @Dura_Ace is REALLY good on dull petit bourgeois sitcoms of the 1970s-1990s, because he watches so many in his bungalow in Tewkesbury. Sure he witters on about motorbikes and scary bombs but that’s just his inner fantasist. But get him on to Terry and June and no one can touch him
maybe we would do better as a country if we looked beyond the most privileged schools in the country for our leaders.
Destroying or undermining our best schools isn't the solution to making the country better.
Its not destroying or undermining to suggest that the 99%+ of the rest of our schools might well have some students who better understand the country than the narrow clique of "top" Public Schools.
There's nothing to stop that happening at the moment.
The biggest determinant of whether someone has a successful career in politics us whether they studied PPE at Oxford or not.
That's where politics is networked into, and it's totally non-discriminating between public and state schools, whilst still filtering out anyone who isn't interested in a such an Oxbridge degree.
That's the real problem.
Both are a problem. The narrow elitism of the cliques of our political establishment are not serving us well.
I don't see very good schools as being a "problem".
It's rather sad you do.
Far from it , as Foxy says , just elite schools for rich scumbags to lord it over the plebs and we end up with the useless chinless wonders that are currently wrecking the country as they hoover up all the public cash.
I am suspicious about cost-based arguments: a shell costs x, they have y rubles, they win. There is more to war than that. Unfortunately, the "more" is in Russia's favour, as they (I think) have switched to mass production of crude drones (think shells with wings and a prop). The Russians call artillery "the king of battle" and they've found a way to make it better. Instead of driving tanks thru a minefield, they can just pound cities to dust over time. So now the war switches to attriting the Ukrainians, which Ukraine will eventually lose. So the Ukrainians need to switch to another form of attack whilst they are still alive enough to do so. Any ideas? ☹️
Sadly not. My expertise extends to old British tv and home brewing.
The Ukraine Ultras here seemed to think it would be a case of western aid, Ukraine steamrollers Russia. Putin in The Hague.
The likes of Dura Ace, who knows what he is talking about were regularly shouted down for not being happy clappy about Ukraines progress.
He was right, be interested in his view.
All the time China waits and watches. Taiwan next ?
I don't think I was "right" because I never dreamt that Western support would last this long and didn't expect the SMO to endure into a third season.
I did say that Ukraine was completely overmatched by Russia in every aspect of its military and was correct about that as they woul have folded long ago without regular, massive transfusions of Western tax payers' money.
There is difficulty in discriminating exactly where on the callous self-interest to reckless stupidity axis the Western response lies which makes predictions impossible because the exact motives and goals of the Western governments have never been articulated.
We have seen how the Russians behave in occupied territory. Bucha was not an isolated incident.
The sufferings of Ukraine by continued fighting are only exceeded by the suffering that will happen if they stop fighting. They have few good choices, and if Ukraine does collapse militarily expect tens of millions of new refugees.
Russia have made it quite clear what they want; and it is not just Ukraine. By military and political methods, they want control over eastern Europe - even if the populations do not want them. This will inevitably lead to more Bucha-style atrocities.
That's what the appeasers are calling for; as you can only have peace with sides who want peace. Putin does not.
(And the parallels with the appeasers in the late 1930s are startling and worrying. They were wrong then; they are wrong now.)
I’ve been pointing out since I visited Ukraine in June last year that Ukraine SIMPLY DOESN’T HAVE ENOUGH MEN. I was shouted down. I then spotted appalling Ukrainian corruption in Chernivtsi- - and was called “a fucking Russian shill”. I then noted that the Ukrainian counter offensive was going nowhere fast from the get-go - and was angrily reassured they would take the Sea of Azov in weeks and that I was a “fucking appeaser lowering PB morale”
maybe we would do better as a country if we looked beyond the most privileged schools in the country for our leaders.
Destroying or undermining our best schools isn't the solution to making the country better.
Its not destroying or undermining to suggest that the 99%+ of the rest of our schools might well have some students who better understand the country than the narrow clique of "top" Public Schools.
There's nothing to stop that happening at the moment.
The biggest determinant of whether someone has a successful career in politics us whether they studied PPE at Oxford or not.
That's where politics is networked into, and it's totally non-discriminating between public and state schools, whilst still filtering out anyone who isn't interested in a such an Oxbridge degree.
That's the real problem.
Both are a problem. The narrow elitism of the cliques of our political establishment are not serving us well.
I don't see very good schools as being a "problem".
It's rather sad you do.
The problem is not these being "very good schools". It is that such a narrow elite runs so much of our country, not just politics.
I put "very good schools" in quotations as I do not accept the implied set of criteria to define a good education.
I am suspicious about cost-based arguments: a shell costs x, they have y rubles, they win. There is more to war than that. Unfortunately, the "more" is in Russia's favour, as they (I think) have switched to mass production of crude drones (think shells with wings and a prop). The Russians call artillery "the king of battle" and they've found a way to make it better. Instead of driving tanks thru a minefield, they can just pound cities to dust over time. So now the war switches to attriting the Ukrainians, which Ukraine will eventually lose. So the Ukrainians need to switch to another form of attack whilst they are still alive enough to do so. Any ideas? ☹️
Sadly not. My expertise extends to old British tv and home brewing.
The Ukraine Ultras here seemed to think it would be a case of western aid, Ukraine steamrollers Russia. Putin in The Hague.
The likes of Dura Ace, who knows what he is talking about were regularly shouted down for not being happy clappy about Ukraines progress.
He was right, be interested in his view.
All the time China waits and watches. Taiwan next ?
"The likes of Dura Ace, who knows what he is talking "
All too often, it's clear that Dura_Ace does *not* know what he's talking about, and is provably wrong.
While we're talking about DA...
The Telegraph has been digging around on Strava and found a KOM on the Embankment with an average speed of 52mph (in a 20mph zone).
I like to believe this isn't some glitch (or a Telegraph journalist in a taxi) and actually a PBer on the way to the MoD.
If that speed was in any way sustained, my *guess* would be that is logging in a vehicle. I forgot to turn my GPS watch off after a run once, and it recorded me doing 60 MPH for six miles as I drove home. Still speeding though...
Sopel and Maitliss have just eviscerated John Woodcock-government advisor on banning demos- who wants to stop Palestinian Action. They pointed out to him that being a member of 'friends of israel ' didn't mke his government report seem very impartial! He was so bad it turned out to be quite funny. Emily Maitliss is a real loss to the BBC!
60% of Labour MPs - currently 120 - are members of Labour Friends of Israel.
This morning's Guardian have just added this. It turns out the government's advisor (ex Labour MP appointed by Boris Johnson) is also paid by Big Oil. Interesting but not as interesting as Maitliss and Sopel's interview. Slightly interesting was Woodcock pontificating on anti semitism when both Maitliss and Sopel are Jewish and Woodcock wouldn't know a Jew if he was parachuted into a Synagogue.
Keir Starmer’s 4 years as Labour leader: 10 pledges, 5 missions and 6 new pledges later, you still can’t trust a word he says. 10:32 AM · May 16, 2024 · 119.2K Views
I think as predicted by me a couple of years ago will be repeated over and over again by the Tories and their press.
Won't be enough without some extraordinary event to stop him becoming PM.
I am suspicious about cost-based arguments: a shell costs x, they have y rubles, they win. There is more to war than that. Unfortunately, the "more" is in Russia's favour, as they (I think) have switched to mass production of crude drones (think shells with wings and a prop). The Russians call artillery "the king of battle" and they've found a way to make it better. Instead of driving tanks thru a minefield, they can just pound cities to dust over time. So now the war switches to attriting the Ukrainians, which Ukraine will eventually lose. So the Ukrainians need to switch to another form of attack whilst they are still alive enough to do so. Any ideas? ☹️
Sadly not. My expertise extends to old British tv and home brewing.
The Ukraine Ultras here seemed to think it would be a case of western aid, Ukraine steamrollers Russia. Putin in The Hague.
The likes of Dura Ace, who knows what he is talking about were regularly shouted down for not being happy clappy about Ukraines progress.
He was right, be interested in his view.
All the time China waits and watches. Taiwan next ?
I don't think I was "right" because I never dreamt that Western support would last this long and didn't expect the SMO to endure into a third season.
I did say that Ukraine was completely overmatched by Russia in every aspect of its military and was correct about that as they woul have folded long ago without regular, massive transfusions of Western tax payers' money.
There is difficulty in discriminating exactly where on the callous self-interest to reckless stupidity axis the Western response lies which makes predictions impossible because the exact motives and goals of the Western governments have never been articulated.
We have seen how the Russians behave in occupied territory. Bucha was not an isolated incident.
The sufferings of Ukraine by continued fighting are only exceeded by the suffering that will happen if they stop fighting. They have few good choices, and if Ukraine does collapse militarily expect tens of millions of new refugees.
Russia have made it quite clear what they want; and it is not just Ukraine. By military and political methods, they want control over eastern Europe - even if the populations do not want them. This will inevitably lead to more Bucha-style atrocities.
That's what the appeasers are calling for; as you can only have peace with sides who want peace. Putin does not.
(And the parallels with the appeasers in the late 1930s are startling and worrying. They were wrong then; they are wrong now.)
I’ve been pointing out since I visited Ukraine in June last year that Ukraine SIMPLY DOESN’T HAVE ENOUGH MEN. I was shouted down. I then spotted appalling Ukrainian corruption in Chernivtsi- - and was called “a fucking Russian shill”. I then noted that the Ukrainian counter offensive was going nowhere fast from the get-go - and was angrily reassured they would take the Sea of Azov in weeks and that I was a “fucking appeaser lowering PB morale”
Hey ho
*If* that's true (and I have my doubts), then neither will the Baltic states. Or Lithuania. Or Romania. Or Moldova.
And we will get dragged in with boots on the ground. Which is why we need to help Ukraine now.
I am suspicious about cost-based arguments: a shell costs x, they have y rubles, they win. There is more to war than that. Unfortunately, the "more" is in Russia's favour, as they (I think) have switched to mass production of crude drones (think shells with wings and a prop). The Russians call artillery "the king of battle" and they've found a way to make it better. Instead of driving tanks thru a minefield, they can just pound cities to dust over time. So now the war switches to attriting the Ukrainians, which Ukraine will eventually lose. So the Ukrainians need to switch to another form of attack whilst they are still alive enough to do so. Any ideas? ☹️
Sadly not. My expertise extends to old British tv and home brewing.
The Ukraine Ultras here seemed to think it would be a case of western aid, Ukraine steamrollers Russia. Putin in The Hague.
The likes of Dura Ace, who knows what he is talking about were regularly shouted down for not being happy clappy about Ukraines progress.
He was right, be interested in his view.
All the time China waits and watches. Taiwan next ?
"The likes of Dura Ace, who knows what he is talking "
All too often, it's clear that Dura_Ace does *not* know what he's talking about, and is provably wrong.
While we're talking about DA...
The Telegraph has been digging around on Strava and found a KOM on the Embankment with an average speed of 52mph (in a 20mph zone).
I like to believe this isn't some glitch (or a Telegraph journalist in a taxi) and actually a PBer on the way to the MoD.
If that speed was in any way sustained, my *guess* would be that is logging in a vehicle. I forgot to turn my GPS watch off after a run once, and it recorded me doing 60 MPH for six miles as I drove home. Still speeding though...
I reckon a glitch. 52mph is improbably fast down that stretch, unless on blue lights.
I still think there will (and probably should) be a messy peace, but as Ukraine loses territory it becomes harder to negotiate credibly. It would be good for the West to threaten to give Ukraine a doomsday weapon to focus Russian minds, but short of giving them nukes (which won't happen) I'm not sure what that weapon would be. An iron dome system would be good, but that would want to go in after the talks anyway, so couldn't be a negotiating chip.
maybe we would do better as a country if we looked beyond the most privileged schools in the country for our leaders.
Destroying or undermining our best schools isn't the solution to making the country better.
Its not destroying or undermining to suggest that the 99%+ of the rest of our schools might well have some students who better understand the country than the narrow clique of "top" Public Schools.
There's nothing to stop that happening at the moment.
The biggest determinant of whether someone has a successful career in politics us whether they studied PPE at Oxford or not.
That's where politics is networked into, and it's totally non-discriminating between public and state schools, whilst still filtering out anyone who isn't interested in a such an Oxbridge degree.
That's the real problem.
Both are a problem. The narrow elitism of the cliques of our political establishment are not serving us well.
I don't see very good schools as being a "problem".
It's rather sad you do.
The problem is not these being "very good schools". It is that such a narrow elite runs so much of our country, not just politics.
I put "very good schools" in quotations as I do not accept the implied set of criteria to define a good education.
Easy to buy your way up the greasy pole for sure, for those and such as those of course
I still think there will (and probably should) be a messy peace, but as Ukraine loses territory it becomes harder to negotiate credibly. It would be good for the West to threaten to give Ukraine a doomsday weapon to focus Russian minds, but short of giving them nukes (which won't happen) I'm not sure what that weapon would be. An iron dome system would be good, but that would want to go in after the talks anyway, so couldn't be a negotiating chip.
Why would Ukraine giving up territory guarantee peace?
I still think there will (and probably should) be a messy peace, but as Ukraine loses territory it becomes harder to negotiate credibly. It would be good for the West to threaten to give Ukraine a doomsday weapon to focus Russian minds, but short of giving them nukes (which won't happen) I'm not sure what that weapon would be. An iron dome system would be good, but that would want to go in after the talks anyway, so couldn't be a negotiating chip.
just let them bomb Russia with anything they have, that would make a big difference, instead teh weaselly cowardly west put restrictions on them. They will change their tune when the beasts are in their backyard.
I still think there will (and probably should) be a messy peace, but as Ukraine loses territory it becomes harder to negotiate credibly. It would be good for the West to threaten to give Ukraine a doomsday weapon to focus Russian minds, but short of giving them nukes (which won't happen) I'm not sure what that weapon would be. An iron dome system would be good, but that would want to go in after the talks anyway, so couldn't be a negotiating chip.
just let them bomb Russia with anything they have, that would make a big difference, instead teh weaselly cowardly west put restrictions on them. They will change their tune when the beasts are in their backyard.
I think the US have removed those restrictions now.
I am suspicious about cost-based arguments: a shell costs x, they have y rubles, they win. There is more to war than that. Unfortunately, the "more" is in Russia's favour, as they (I think) have switched to mass production of crude drones (think shells with wings and a prop). The Russians call artillery "the king of battle" and they've found a way to make it better. Instead of driving tanks thru a minefield, they can just pound cities to dust over time. So now the war switches to attriting the Ukrainians, which Ukraine will eventually lose. So the Ukrainians need to switch to another form of attack whilst they are still alive enough to do so. Any ideas? ☹️
Sadly not. My expertise extends to old British tv and home brewing.
The Ukraine Ultras here seemed to think it would be a case of western aid, Ukraine steamrollers Russia. Putin in The Hague.
The likes of Dura Ace, who knows what he is talking about were regularly shouted down for not being happy clappy about Ukraines progress.
He was right, be interested in his view.
All the time China waits and watches. Taiwan next ?
I don't think I was "right" because I never dreamt that Western support would last this long and didn't expect the SMO to endure into a third season.
I did say that Ukraine was completely overmatched by Russia in every aspect of its military and was correct about that as they woul have folded long ago without regular, massive transfusions of Western tax payers' money.
There is difficulty in discriminating exactly where on the callous self-interest to reckless stupidity axis the Western response lies which makes predictions impossible because the exact motives and goals of the Western governments have never been articulated.
We have seen how the Russians behave in occupied territory. Bucha was not an isolated incident.
The sufferings of Ukraine by continued fighting are only exceeded by the suffering that will happen if they stop fighting. They have few good choices, and if Ukraine does collapse militarily expect tens of millions of new refugees.
What is particularly striking is the number of Rolls Bentleys and Lambourginis in Cap Ferrat with Ukrainian number plates. Whether they're Russians under false flags I don't know but if they're the real thing the South of France is full of draft dodgers.
I am suspicious about cost-based arguments: a shell costs x, they have y rubles, they win. There is more to war than that. Unfortunately, the "more" is in Russia's favour, as they (I think) have switched to mass production of crude drones (think shells with wings and a prop). The Russians call artillery "the king of battle" and they've found a way to make it better. Instead of driving tanks thru a minefield, they can just pound cities to dust over time. So now the war switches to attriting the Ukrainians, which Ukraine will eventually lose. So the Ukrainians need to switch to another form of attack whilst they are still alive enough to do so. Any ideas? ☹️
Sadly not. My expertise extends to old British tv and home brewing.
The Ukraine Ultras here seemed to think it would be a case of western aid, Ukraine steamrollers Russia. Putin in The Hague.
The likes of Dura Ace, who knows what he is talking about were regularly shouted down for not being happy clappy about Ukraines progress.
He was right, be interested in his view.
All the time China waits and watches. Taiwan next ?
I don't think I was "right" because I never dreamt that Western support would last this long and didn't expect the SMO to endure into a third season.
I did say that Ukraine was completely overmatched by Russia in every aspect of its military and was correct about that as they woul have folded long ago without regular, massive transfusions of Western tax payers' money.
There is difficulty in discriminating exactly where on the callous self-interest to reckless stupidity axis the Western response lies which makes predictions impossible because the exact motives and goals of the Western governments have never been articulated.
We have seen how the Russians behave in occupied territory. Bucha was not an isolated incident.
The sufferings of Ukraine by continued fighting are only exceeded by the suffering that will happen if they stop fighting. They have few good choices, and if Ukraine does collapse militarily expect tens of millions of new refugees.
Russia have made it quite clear what they want; and it is not just Ukraine. By military and political methods, they want control over eastern Europe - even if the populations do not want them. This will inevitably lead to more Bucha-style atrocities.
That's what the appeasers are calling for; as you can only have peace with sides who want peace. Putin does not.
(And the parallels with the appeasers in the late 1930s are startling and worrying. They were wrong then; they are wrong now.)
I’ve been pointing out since I visited Ukraine in June last year that Ukraine SIMPLY DOESN’T HAVE ENOUGH MEN. I was shouted down. I then spotted appalling Ukrainian corruption in Chernivtsi- - and was called “a fucking Russian shill”. I then noted that the Ukrainian counter offensive was going nowhere fast from the get-go - and was angrily reassured they would take the Sea of Azov in weeks and that I was a “fucking appeaser lowering PB morale”
Hey ho
True and people like you, Dura Ace and LuckyGuy, wittily nicknamed Putinguy, have been roundly chastised by the Ukraine Ultras for this.
I am suspicious about cost-based arguments: a shell costs x, they have y rubles, they win. There is more to war than that. Unfortunately, the "more" is in Russia's favour, as they (I think) have switched to mass production of crude drones (think shells with wings and a prop). The Russians call artillery "the king of battle" and they've found a way to make it better. Instead of driving tanks thru a minefield, they can just pound cities to dust over time. So now the war switches to attriting the Ukrainians, which Ukraine will eventually lose. So the Ukrainians need to switch to another form of attack whilst they are still alive enough to do so. Any ideas? ☹️
Sadly not. My expertise extends to old British tv and home brewing.
The Ukraine Ultras here seemed to think it would be a case of western aid, Ukraine steamrollers Russia. Putin in The Hague.
The likes of Dura Ace, who knows what he is talking about were regularly shouted down for not being happy clappy about Ukraines progress.
He was right, be interested in his view.
All the time China waits and watches. Taiwan next ?
I don't think I was "right" because I never dreamt that Western support would last this long and didn't expect the SMO to endure into a third season.
I did say that Ukraine was completely overmatched by Russia in every aspect of its military and was correct about that as they woul have folded long ago without regular, massive transfusions of Western tax payers' money.
There is difficulty in discriminating exactly where on the callous self-interest to reckless stupidity axis the Western response lies which makes predictions impossible because the exact motives and goals of the Western governments have never been articulated.
We have seen how the Russians behave in occupied territory. Bucha was not an isolated incident.
The sufferings of Ukraine by continued fighting are only exceeded by the suffering that will happen if they stop fighting. They have few good choices, and if Ukraine does collapse militarily expect tens of millions of new refugees.
Russia have made it quite clear what they want; and it is not just Ukraine. By military and political methods, they want control over eastern Europe - even if the populations do not want them. This will inevitably lead to more Bucha-style atrocities.
That's what the appeasers are calling for; as you can only have peace with sides who want peace. Putin does not.
(And the parallels with the appeasers in the late 1930s are startling and worrying. They were wrong then; they are wrong now.)
I’ve been pointing out since I visited Ukraine in June last year that Ukraine SIMPLY DOESN’T HAVE ENOUGH MEN. I was shouted down. I then spotted appalling Ukrainian corruption in Chernivtsi- - and was called “a fucking Russian shill”. I then noted that the Ukrainian counter offensive was going nowhere fast from the get-go - and was angrily reassured they would take the Sea of Azov in weeks and that I was a “fucking appeaser lowering PB morale”
Hey ho
True and people like you, Dura Ace and LuckyGuy, wittily nicknamed Putinguy, have been roundly chastised by the Ukraine Ultras for this.
So it's clear what side you're on then. And it's not the side of peace.
Doubtless there will be as many comments on here about Sunak's enunciation failure as there were about Starmer's stumble at PMQ's yesterday.
LOL!
Would be even funnier if there had been an enunciation failure from Sunak!
I think the point is that it's an incredibly trivial matter – he slipped up on a word. People do it all the time; you do it; I do it. We all do. I present for a living. It doesn't matter as long as you KBO.
I think the fact that Sir Keir gets flustered and mangles his words under pressure is not trivial, if you consider the public's opinion of a politician as important. The likes of Brown, Miliband and May all faltered in part due to their awkward personalities and manner of speech
Most politicians mangle their words if they are on the front lines, listen to some of early Thatcher as leader phase. She was nothing like the Prime Minister she became.
Like Thatcher, Starmer is an eminent barrister who rose to the very top job for a barrister in England & Wales.
If he was frequently getting flustered and mangled he wouldn't have won so many cases and helped so many terrorists win their cases (copyright The Sun.)
I am one of life's gobby bastards, even I occasionally mangle a word in front of an audience.
I don't particularly like Starmer but the accusation being made about Starmer's tongue slip today is the exclusive narrative of Isam. What I find remarkable is Johnson fanboi Isam never noticed any of Johnson's excruciatingly embarrassing public relations fiascos. I will start with Peppa Pig. I wonder how many more stops PBets can recall before we reach Mornington Crescent?
Why don’t you just leave me alone you fucking oddball???
Please feel free to flag me again. Apologies.
So weird
I wasn't insulting you, I was explaining why I feel Johnson is a worse public speaker than Starmer. I don't understand why you are crying hurt, unless you are actually Boris Johnson.
I think it's the aurora borealis. I got the weirdest post from cyclefree yesterday calling me a misogynist because I said she had missed out a very crucial detail in the strange case of the Leeds University Chaplain who doubled as an IDF soldier.
maybe we would do better as a country if we looked beyond the most privileged schools in the country for our leaders.
Destroying or undermining our best schools isn't the solution to making the country better.
Its not destroying or undermining to suggest that the 99%+ of the rest of our schools might well have some students who better understand the country than the narrow clique of "top" Public Schools.
There's nothing to stop that happening at the moment.
The biggest determinant of whether someone has a successful career in politics us whether they studied PPE at Oxford or not.
That's where politics is networked into, and it's totally non-discriminating between public and state schools, whilst still filtering out anyone who isn't interested in a such an Oxbridge degree.
That's the real problem.
Boris did classics not PPE. Blair did law. Starmer did law at Leeds with a Masters at Oxford
I find it very bizarre how Sunak ended up in politics. He’s a young guy who has made a fortune, he’s married extremely well, he’s ridiculously well educated. He could have skipped politics and possibly had more influence on the world than being UKPM.
He’s, purely on an insider view, the sort of wykehamist who was ragged at school mercilessly, shiort for sports maths geek, would have likely never played major team sports, not a Royal Marine CCF chap but done RAF geekery, a bit of a nice meh person who must have been a genuinely caring person to be made his Head of House - because he couldn’t have been joint head boy otherwise - because you had to be a bastard like I was to be a Co Prae or just seriously great. I’d been done at school for drugs and girls in rooms and so - unless Rishi is a dark horse - he’s a really caring, nice, intelligent, cooperative, organised chap.
He’s not ideological because most ideological Wykehamists are left wing so I would love to talk to him to understand what he wanted to do with being PM.
I find it very bizarre how Sunak ended up in politics. He’s a young guy who has made a fortune, he’s married extremely well, he’s ridiculously well educated. He could have skipped politics and possibly had more influence on the world than being UKPM.
He’s, purely on an insider view, the sort of wykehamist who was ragged at school mercilessly, shiort for sports maths geek, would have likely never played major team sports, not a Royal Marine CCF chap but done RAF geekery, a bit of a nice meh person who must have been a genuinely caring person to be made his Head of House - because he couldn’t have been joint head boy otherwise - because you had to be a bastard like I was to be a Co Prae or just seriously great. I’d been done at school for drugs and girls in rooms and so - unless Rishi is a dark horse - he’s a really caring, nice, intelligent, cooperative, organised chap.
He’s not ideological because most ideological Wykehamists are left wing so I would love to talk to him to understand what he wanted to do with being PM.
Maybe he just continually makes epically bad decisions?
It’s really quite weird, in the way where you realise you haven’t done all in life you could do, so when he was in his first year at school in the spring term he would have been taught Winchester Football. It was a grim compulsory thing on a Wednesday afternoon and unfortunately he was in the other half of school so I didn’t get to mold him into being a fine man like myself. I can see him though, tiny little scared chap being brutalised weekly and knowing that maths and hard work was the future rather than being a boozy complicated person on PB. He’s everyone from school I thought would be - lawyer/city not army, politics. I would just love to know what made him decide, I’m going for this. There are so many people I knew who would have been better PMs, more charismatic than him but equally intelligent. Alex Chalk, the soon to be lost Simon Boas who should have been PM.
Sorry but Simon’s articles on his upcoming death, google them, are fantastic.
Are you sure Sunak was C ladder? I'd have guessed B.
-1 for "mold", a foreign spelling. But saying "the other half of school" is worse. That's the other half of the 1860s+ part, the commoner part.
(Note for the uninitiated: Winchester Football is all about the conversion of behinds.)
Did you get firked for the drugs? Or stripped of Co Praeship, or what?
Certainly true that Sunak would not have been appointed Sen Co Prae without being generally viewed as a nice guy. Those who think it would have been because he was super-strong academically or in sports don't have a clue.
I am suspicious about cost-based arguments: a shell costs x, they have y rubles, they win. There is more to war than that. Unfortunately, the "more" is in Russia's favour, as they (I think) have switched to mass production of crude drones (think shells with wings and a prop). The Russians call artillery "the king of battle" and they've found a way to make it better. Instead of driving tanks thru a minefield, they can just pound cities to dust over time. So now the war switches to attriting the Ukrainians, which Ukraine will eventually lose. So the Ukrainians need to switch to another form of attack whilst they are still alive enough to do so. Any ideas? ☹️
Sadly not. My expertise extends to old British tv and home brewing.
The Ukraine Ultras here seemed to think it would be a case of western aid, Ukraine steamrollers Russia. Putin in The Hague.
The likes of Dura Ace, who knows what he is talking about were regularly shouted down for not being happy clappy about Ukraines progress.
He was right, be interested in his view.
All the time China waits and watches. Taiwan next ?
"The likes of Dura Ace, who knows what he is talking "
All too often, it's clear that Dura_Ace does *not* know what he's talking about, and is provably wrong.
While we're talking about DA...
The Telegraph has been digging around on Strava and found a KOM on the Embankment with an average speed of 52mph (in a 20mph zone).
I like to believe this isn't some glitch (or a Telegraph journalist in a taxi) and actually a PBer on the way to the MoD.
If that speed was in any way sustained, my *guess* would be that is logging in a vehicle. I forgot to turn my GPS watch off after a run once, and it recorded me doing 60 MPH for six miles as I drove home. Still speeding though...
I reckon a glitch. 52mph is improbably fast down that stretch, unless on blue lights.
Comments
Now, the position of many people is that Ukraine should win the war. I have seen no-one seriously suggest that Ukraine should invade Russia and take Moscow; that would be an extreme position.
Ukraine 'winning' the war seems the best way to have both short-term and long-term peace in the region.
That's not an extreme position.
I did say that Ukraine was completely overmatched by Russia in every aspect of its military and was correct about that as they woul have folded long ago without regular, massive transfusions of Western tax payers' money.
There is difficulty in discriminating exactly where on the callous self-interest to reckless stupidity axis the Western response lies which makes predictions impossible because the exact motives and goals of the Western governments have never been articulated.
The sufferings of Ukraine by continued fighting are only exceeded by the suffering that will happen if they stop fighting. They have few good choices, and if Ukraine does collapse militarily expect tens of millions of new refugees.
Gaza is simply the latest big thing. And, if you're on Twitter or TikTok, you'll get it constantly and probably quite a one-sided and emotionally charged view of it too.
It's rather sad you do.
That's what the appeasers are calling for; as you can only have peace with sides who want peace. Putin does not.
(And the parallels with the appeasers in the late 1930s are startling and worrying. They were wrong then; they are wrong now.)
All too often, it's clear that Dura_Ace does *not* know what he's talking about, and is provably wrong.
The Telegraph has been digging around on Strava and found a KOM on the Embankment with an average speed of 52mph (in a 20mph zone).
I like to believe this isn't some glitch (or a Telegraph journalist in a taxi) and actually a PBer on the way to the MoD.
Hey ho
Mr. Leon, on the counter-offensive: it was clear (sadly) early on that in 2023 that didn't really go anywhere.
I put "very good schools" in quotations as I do not accept the implied set of criteria to define a good education.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/may/17/government-adviser-on-disruptive-protest-accused-of-conflict-of-interest
https://www.globalplayer.com/podcasts/episodes/7DriTxo/
10:32 AM · May 16, 2024
·
119.2K
Views
I think as predicted by me a couple of years ago will be repeated over and over again by the Tories and their press.
Won't be enough without some extraordinary event to stop him becoming PM.
Tories are toast.
And we will get dragged in with boots on the ground. Which is why we need to help Ukraine now.
NEW THREAD
-1 for "mold", a foreign spelling. But saying "the other half of school" is worse. That's the other half of the 1860s+ part, the commoner part.
(Note for the uninitiated: Winchester Football is all about the conversion of behinds.)
Did you get firked for the drugs? Or stripped of Co Praeship, or what?
Certainly true that Sunak would not have been appointed Sen Co Prae without being generally viewed as a nice guy. Those who think it would have been because he was super-strong academically or in sports don't have a clue.