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Senatorial Choices – politicalbetting.com

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  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 62,900

    HYUFD said:

    Nigelb said:

    Another interference story: Labour linked group plans to “kill Musk’s Twitter”.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/labour-linked-censorship-group-plans-to-kill-musks-twitter/

    Why is that interference ?
    Twitter is the American town square. Foreigners trying to kill it is basically an act of war.

    Twitter is Musk's plaything. Musk is an anti-British Putinist. It's an act of patriotism to seek to destabilise him and reduce his influence.

    Musk is anti woke, anti Democrat, anti over regulation, anti EU but he isn't anti British

    Yes, he is. He thinks we are on the verge of civil war.

    That makes him spectacularly ill-informed rather than anti British per se.

  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 78,244
    viewcode said:

    viewcode said:

    Nigelb said:

    Another interference story: Labour linked group plans to “kill Musk’s Twitter”.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/labour-linked-censorship-group-plans-to-kill-musks-twitter/

    Why is that interference ?
    Twitter is the American public square. Foreigners trying to kill it is basically an act of war.
    I find it difficult to consider policy wonks in Islington as a credible threat to a man who is worth over 400billion dollars and is willing to piss away 30 of those billions for shits and giggles.
    Musk has vowed to “go after them”.

    https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1848875059265605639
    How do you suggest he does that? Full scale invasion, pulling Tesla chargers from MOTO services or ban Labour MPs from a blue tick?
    I think he can afford a medium-quality lawyer in the UK.
    Geoffrey Cox or Lord Pannick ?
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 62,900
    FF43 said:

    Stereodog said:

    MattW said:

    I must say it does irritate me when Britons write letters, take leave and go out to campaign in US elections, on any side.

    It's none of our business. And would piss me off were I an American.

    I agree with you 100% CR.

    There’s something dozy about Starmer’s government, and all the pushy but useless advisers around him and running the party are very naive.

    Why are Labour flooding a foreign election with activists in a time of sensitivity about foreign interference in elections?

    I think Labour have messed up and given Trump a win. Not a technical win, but a broad brush win. But this isn’t a technical election, but a broad brush election.

    Dopey, naive Labour handing Trump easy broad brush win. In a tight election. 🤬
    To me this is straw clutching and making straw men. A non-story.

    Activists crossing the pond in search of experience or technique, whilst helping a sister party, is just standard operating procedure. Tory <> Republican. Labour <> Democrat. With some overlap of categories. Either flying over at the time, or whilst on the other side for work or education.

    Does anyone go back far enough to know the start of this habit? I'd date it perhaps to cheap air travel in the 1960s/1970s.
    Yours is a strong response to what I put. But you are still wrong on two points of reality.

    It HAS allowed Trump campaign to score a broadbrush win here, adding the UK Labour Party to the list of malign foreign actors such as the Putin regime, interfering in US democracy. It matters as malign foreign actors in the election are now seen as not entirely for Trump, but Harris too. And matters as it allows MAGA leadership prominent media time to paint UK Labour Party as extremely left wing and anti American. And for many Americans, this is how they will now know Starmer’s Labour. This is actually happening in front your eyes, so you can’t dismiss it as harmless.

    Also, in reality, there is no such thing as sister parties in other countries.Those sisters parties are patriotic nationalists to their own country, whose interests and values cannot completely be shared with ours. It’s as daft as finding the aliens from the planet Zarg rather cute. They are not cute. Any second they can turn ugly and vicious, and lethal to you.

    What the immature children running the Labour Party done here is simply daft.
    It's not against the rules and there are multiple examples of this kind of campaign volunteering happening both sides of the pond. You could say that having a load of people with foreign accents door knocking isn't likely to be effective but that's up to the local campaign organisation.

    This row is actually about the Trump campaign storing up a bank of grievances to trot out of he loses. It's of the same piece as those dodgy opinion polls showing Trump way in the lead. In 2020 Trump started to make comments about the electoral process early for the same reason
    Out of all the posters moaning today about Labour doing this based on a linkedin tweet have any previously criticised Farage for doing it, expenses paid, in person as a party leader, many times?

    Two tier posting.....
    There is a material difference because Labour is in government and Farage is not. Also, the issue is about reputational damage. Frankly Farage doesn't have a reputation capable of damage. He's a hypocritical dipshit - what's new?

    As far as Labour is concerned, there's a conflict of interest. The government must be neutral in the political affairs of countries; the Labour Party has a reasonable objective of helping the Democrats. In general conflicts of interest should be managed - you don't necessarily eliminate them. You manage conflicts of interest through policy.
    I'll be glad when the clocks go back and we can get on and debate daylight hours rather than this tedious crap about Labour activists and helping Dems. :smile:
  • SouthamObserverSouthamObserver Posts: 39,667
    MaxPB said:

    HYUFD said:

    Nigelb said:

    Another interference story: Labour linked group plans to “kill Musk’s Twitter”.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/labour-linked-censorship-group-plans-to-kill-musks-twitter/

    Why is that interference ?
    Twitter is the American town square. Foreigners trying to kill it is basically an act of war.

    Twitter is Musk's plaything. Musk is an anti-British Putinist. It's an act of patriotism to seek to destabilise him and reduce his influence.

    Musk is anti woke, anti Democrat, anti over regulation, anti EU but he isn't anti British
    He's anti-Labour, he's not anti-British. If he helps to destabilise the Labour party so much the better.

    He's not anti-Labour, he's anti-anyone whose view of the world does not coincide with his, which is pro-Trump, pro-Putinist and anti-democratic.

  • williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 51,889

    MaxPB said:

    HYUFD said:

    Nigelb said:

    Another interference story: Labour linked group plans to “kill Musk’s Twitter”.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/labour-linked-censorship-group-plans-to-kill-musks-twitter/

    Why is that interference ?
    Twitter is the American town square. Foreigners trying to kill it is basically an act of war.

    Twitter is Musk's plaything. Musk is an anti-British Putinist. It's an act of patriotism to seek to destabilise him and reduce his influence.

    Musk is anti woke, anti Democrat, anti over regulation, anti EU but he isn't anti British
    He's anti-Labour, he's not anti-British. If he helps to destabilise the Labour party so much the better.

    He's not anti-Labour, he's anti-anyone whose view of the world does not coincide with his, which is pro-Trump, pro-Putinist and anti-democratic.
    Are you not anti-anyone whose view of the world doesn't coincide with yours?
  • SouthamObserverSouthamObserver Posts: 39,667

    HYUFD said:

    Nigelb said:

    Another interference story: Labour linked group plans to “kill Musk’s Twitter”.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/labour-linked-censorship-group-plans-to-kill-musks-twitter/

    Why is that interference ?
    Twitter is the American town square. Foreigners trying to kill it is basically an act of war.

    Twitter is Musk's plaything. Musk is an anti-British Putinist. It's an act of patriotism to seek to destabilise him and reduce his influence.

    Musk is anti woke, anti Democrat, anti over regulation, anti EU but he isn't anti British

    Yes, he is. He thinks we are on the verge of civil war.

    That makes him spectacularly ill-informed rather than anti British per se.

    Making spectacularly ill-informed comments about the UK, including promotion of the idea that the UK courts are controlled by the UK government is anti-British.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,771
    All Labour had to do was realise “this is a particularly delicate US election on a knife edge, if Trump wins our most important ally will be led by a volatile man, who we need to keep onside. Also, us getting involved will achieve nothing and can only be a negative if it comes to light. Leave well alone”

    A five year old could work that out. Unfortunately the Labour govt has a mental age of four
  • SouthamObserverSouthamObserver Posts: 39,667

    MaxPB said:

    HYUFD said:

    Nigelb said:

    Another interference story: Labour linked group plans to “kill Musk’s Twitter”.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/labour-linked-censorship-group-plans-to-kill-musks-twitter/

    Why is that interference ?
    Twitter is the American town square. Foreigners trying to kill it is basically an act of war.

    Twitter is Musk's plaything. Musk is an anti-British Putinist. It's an act of patriotism to seek to destabilise him and reduce his influence.

    Musk is anti woke, anti Democrat, anti over regulation, anti EU but he isn't anti British
    He's anti-Labour, he's not anti-British. If he helps to destabilise the Labour party so much the better.

    He's not anti-Labour, he's anti-anyone whose view of the world does not coincide with his, which is pro-Trump, pro-Putinist and anti-democratic.
    Are you not anti-anyone whose view of the world doesn't coincide with yours?

    I am pro anyone who believes the rule of law and democracy are non-negotiables. I may disagree with them on plenty, however.

  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 71,524

    The obsession of how horrid twitter and that it censorship policy isn't strong enough against Russian bots I find very strange, while TikTok, literally CCP spyware and many suspect algorithmically designed to push divisive content, is given a totally free ride. The CCP have taken what Russian did with Facebook 10 years ago and turned it into an addictive app.

    Yes, of course.

    But it's hardly been given a free ride:
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-53476117

    The reason middle aged folk like us don't talk about it is because we don't use it.
    It's probably far more effective than Twitter for propaganda purposes, too.
  • Nigelb said:

    Another interference story: Labour linked group plans to “kill Musk’s Twitter”.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/labour-linked-censorship-group-plans-to-kill-musks-twitter/

    Why is that interference ?
    Twitter is the American town square. Foreigners trying to kill it is basically an act of war.

    Twitter is Musk's plaything. Musk is an anti-British Putinist. It's an act of patriotism to seek to destabilise him and reduce his influence.
    How is Musk anti-British?

    He seeks to undermine our courts and our democracy. He thinks we are on the verge of civil war.
    His platform certainly could have helped us to tip us over the edge in August, had not Starmer done a good job at that time.

    His platform is currently crawling with anti-semitic and literally neo-Nazi propaganda and imagery, as I've posted and referenced to several times, and nothing is being done.
  • SouthamObserverSouthamObserver Posts: 39,667
    Leon said:

    HYUFD said:

    Nigelb said:

    Another interference story: Labour linked group plans to “kill Musk’s Twitter”.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/labour-linked-censorship-group-plans-to-kill-musks-twitter/

    Why is that interference ?
    Twitter is the American town square. Foreigners trying to kill it is basically an act of war.

    Twitter is Musk's plaything. Musk is an anti-British Putinist. It's an act of patriotism to seek to destabilise him and reduce his influence.

    Musk is anti woke, anti Democrat, anti over regulation, anti EU but he isn't anti British
    He’s of part British descent and is - I suspect - an instinctive Anglophile. Sunak sensed this and used it

    Starmer and Labour are too fucking dumb and childish to grasp this. They are so desperately bad at EVERYTHING

    What did we get from Sunak's embrace of a white supremacist who does not believe in the rule of law or democracy? Him not telling lies about the UK on Twitter is really not reason enough to indulge such a person.

  • SouthamObserverSouthamObserver Posts: 39,667

    Nigelb said:

    Another interference story: Labour linked group plans to “kill Musk’s Twitter”.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/labour-linked-censorship-group-plans-to-kill-musks-twitter/

    Why is that interference ?
    Twitter is the American town square. Foreigners trying to kill it is basically an act of war.

    Twitter is Musk's plaything. Musk is an anti-British Putinist. It's an act of patriotism to seek to destabilise him and reduce his influence.
    How is Musk anti-British?

    He seeks to undermine our courts and our democracy. He thinks we are on the verge of civil war.
    His platform certainly could have helped us to tip us over the edge in August, had not Starmer done a good job at that time.

    His platform is currently crawling with anti-semitic and literally neo-Nazi propaganda and imagery, as I've posted and referenced to several times, and nothing is being done.

    Apparently we should be licking his arse because he is a great engineer.

  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 71,524
    geoffw said:

    Nigelb said:

    Pulpstar said:

    Nigelb said:

    MattW said:

    I must say it does irritate me when Britons write letters, take leave and go out to campaign in US elections, on any side.

    It's none of our business. And would piss me off were I an American.

    I agree with you 100% CR.

    There’s something dozy about Starmer’s government, and all the pushy but useless advisers around him and running the party are very naive.

    Why are Labour flooding a foreign election with activists in a time of sensitivity about foreign interference in elections?

    I think Labour have messed up and given Trump a win. Not a technical win, but a broad brush win. But this isn’t a technical election, but a broad brush election.

    Dopey, naive Labour handing Trump easy broad brush win. In a tight election. 🤬
    To me this is straw clutching and making straw men. A non-story.

    Activists crossing the pond in search of experience or technique, whilst helping a sister party, is just standard operating procedure. Tory <> Republican. Labour <> Democrat. With some overlap of categories. Either flying over at the time, or whilst on the other side for work or education.

    Does anyone go back far enough to know the start of this habit? I'd date it perhaps to cheap air travel in the 1960s/1970s.
    Yours is a strong response to what I put. But you are still wrong on two points of reality.

    It HAS allowed Trump campaign to score a broadbrush win here, adding the UK Labour Party to the list of malign foreign actors such as the Putin regime, interfering in US democracy. It matters as malign foreign actors in the election are now seen as not entirely for Trump, but Harris too. And matters as it allows MAGA leadership prominent media time to paint UK Labour Party as extremely left wing and anti American. And for many Americans, this is how they will now know Starmer’s Labour. This is actually happening in front your eyes, so you can’t dismiss it as harmless.

    Also, in reality, there is no such thing as sister parties in other countries.Those sisters parties are patriotic nationalists to their own country, whose interests and values cannot completely be shared with ours. It’s as daft as finding the aliens from the planet Zarg rather cute. They are not cute. Any second they can turn ugly and vicious, and lethal to you.

    What the immature children running the Labour Party done here is simply daft.
    Two months out from the election, it wouldn't have mattered a damn.
    Ten days out, it's at least partially cost the Democrats a precious news cycle. Naive nonsense from Labour.
    Naive From Labour activists I think ?

    Starmer/the party can't control what they do in their spare time. Well they could but...
    Indeed. But that's rather beside the point, as is the fact they've done nothing illegal.
    On WatO: Trump's lawyers have written a letter of complaint about Labourites campaigning in the US. Cue hilarious argumentation by Alastair Campbell and ex-Rev Chris Bryant to the effect that everyone does it anyway and Trump's people are "putting chaff out .." etc etc. Much better than standard BBC comedy these days
    Strictly speaking, they're absolutely right about that.
    But again, completely missing the point.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 82,311
    edited October 23
    Nigelb said:

    The obsession of how horrid twitter and that it censorship policy isn't strong enough against Russian bots I find very strange, while TikTok, literally CCP spyware and many suspect algorithmically designed to push divisive content, is given a totally free ride. The CCP have taken what Russian did with Facebook 10 years ago and turned it into an addictive app.

    Yes, of course.

    But it's hardly been given a free ride:
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-53476117

    The reason middle aged folk like us don't talk about it is because we don't use it.
    It's probably far more effective than Twitter for propaganda purposes, too.
    I meant here really. In the US, Trump of course was actually right on his (I am guessing briefed by intelligence community), but was called names and finally after 5+ years to start to take action.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,771

    Nigelb said:

    Another interference story: Labour linked group plans to “kill Musk’s Twitter”.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/labour-linked-censorship-group-plans-to-kill-musks-twitter/

    Why is that interference ?
    Twitter is the American town square. Foreigners trying to kill it is basically an act of war.

    Twitter is Musk's plaything. Musk is an anti-British Putinist. It's an act of patriotism to seek to destabilise him and reduce his influence.
    How is Musk anti-British?

    He seeks to undermine our courts and our democracy. He thinks we are on the verge of civil war.
    His platform certainly could have helped us to tip us over the edge in August, had not Starmer done a good job at that time.

    His platform is currently crawling with anti-semitic and literally neo-Nazi propaganda and imagery, as I've posted and referenced to several times, and nothing is being done.

    Apparently we should be licking his arse because he is a great engineer.

    Are you drunk? This is embarrassing
  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 38,885

    Nigelb said:

    Another interference story: Labour linked group plans to “kill Musk’s Twitter”.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/labour-linked-censorship-group-plans-to-kill-musks-twitter/

    Why is that interference ?
    Twitter is the American town square. Foreigners trying to kill it is basically an act of war.

    Twitter is Musk's plaything. Musk is an anti-British Putinist. It's an act of patriotism to seek to destabilise him and reduce his influence.
    How is Musk anti-British?

    He seeks to undermine our courts and our democracy. He thinks we are on the verge of civil war.
    His platform certainly could have helped us to tip us over the edge in August, had not Starmer done a good job at that time.

    His platform is currently crawling with anti-semitic and literally neo-Nazi propaganda and imagery, as I've posted and referenced to several times, and nothing is being done.

    Apparently we should be licking his arse because he is a great engineer.

    No we should be courting his companies because he's got $400bn to spend. Labour doing the opposite harms the nation.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 71,524

    Nigelb said:

    Another interference story: Labour linked group plans to “kill Musk’s Twitter”.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/labour-linked-censorship-group-plans-to-kill-musks-twitter/

    Why is that interference ?
    Twitter is the American town square. Foreigners trying to kill it is basically an act of war.

    Twitter is Musk's plaything. Musk is an anti-British Putinist. It's an act of patriotism to seek to destabilise him and reduce his influence.
    How is Musk anti-British?

    He seeks to undermine our courts and our democracy. He thinks we are on the verge of civil war.
    His platform certainly could have helped us to tip us over the edge in August, had not Starmer done a good job at that time.

    His platform is currently crawling with anti-semitic and literally neo-Nazi propaganda and imagery, as I've posted and referenced to several times, and nothing is being done.

    Apparently we should be licking his arse because he is a great engineer.

    The idea that that world's richest men should also be running our governments (which is literally what Trump is proposing), is absolute anathema to anyone who believes in democracy.

    As the Republicans also used to do.
  • williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 51,889
    The predicted mental health crisis if Trump wins won't just be confined to America:

    https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/washington-secrets/3191062/mark-halperin-trump-win-result-national-mental-health-crisis-violence-divorce/

    I think it will be the cause of the greatest mental health crisis in the history of the country. I think tens of millions of people will question their connection to the nation, their connection to other human beings, their connection to their vision of what their future for them and their children could be like. And I think that it will require an enormous amount of access to mental health professionals. I think it’ll lead to trauma in the workplace. I think there’ll be some degree of — 100% serious? 100% serious. I think there’ll be alcoholism. There’ll be broken marriages. Yeah, they think he’s the worst person possible to be president. And having won by the hand of Jim Comey and fluke in 2016 and then performed in office for four years and denied who won the election last time and Jan. 6, the fact that under a fair election, America chose, by the rules pre-agreed to, Donald Trump again, I think it will cause the biggest mental health crisis in the history of America. And I don’t think it will be kind of a passing thing, that by the inauguration will be fine. I think it will be sustained and unprecedented and hideous. And I don’t think the country is ready for it.
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 36,039
    Nigelb said:

    Nigelb said:

    Another interference story: Labour linked group plans to “kill Musk’s Twitter”.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/labour-linked-censorship-group-plans-to-kill-musks-twitter/

    Why is that interference ?
    Twitter is the American town square. Foreigners trying to kill it is basically an act of war.

    Twitter is Musk's plaything. Musk is an anti-British Putinist. It's an act of patriotism to seek to destabilise him and reduce his influence.
    How is Musk anti-British?

    He seeks to undermine our courts and our democracy. He thinks we are on the verge of civil war.
    His platform certainly could have helped us to tip us over the edge in August, had not Starmer done a good job at that time.

    His platform is currently crawling with anti-semitic and literally neo-Nazi propaganda and imagery, as I've posted and referenced to several times, and nothing is being done.

    Apparently we should be licking his arse because he is a great engineer.

    The idea that that world's richest men should also be running our governments (which is literally what Trump is proposing), is absolute anathema to anyone who believes in democracy.

    As the Republicans also used to do.
    For a guy who has spent his entire life making “I am very rich” the keystone of his personal brand, there is something quite poignant about watching Donald Trump get financially cucked by Elon Musk on stage every night. Musk is much younger, much richer, and has had a much more successful series of hair transplants. But needs must, it seems.
  • SouthamObserverSouthamObserver Posts: 39,667
    Leon said:

    Nigelb said:

    Another interference story: Labour linked group plans to “kill Musk’s Twitter”.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/labour-linked-censorship-group-plans-to-kill-musks-twitter/

    Why is that interference ?
    Twitter is the American town square. Foreigners trying to kill it is basically an act of war.

    Twitter is Musk's plaything. Musk is an anti-British Putinist. It's an act of patriotism to seek to destabilise him and reduce his influence.
    How is Musk anti-British?

    He seeks to undermine our courts and our democracy. He thinks we are on the verge of civil war.
    His platform certainly could have helped us to tip us over the edge in August, had not Starmer done a good job at that time.

    His platform is currently crawling with anti-semitic and literally neo-Nazi propaganda and imagery, as I've posted and referenced to several times, and nothing is being done.

    Apparently we should be licking his arse because he is a great engineer.

    Are you drunk? This is embarrassing

    You are. I am not.



  • LostPasswordLostPassword Posts: 18,632
    Pulpstar said:

    Nigelb said:

    Sellafield cleanup cost rises to £136bn amid tensions with Treasury
    National Audit Office questions value for money as predicted bill for decommissioning increases by £21bn
    https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/oct/23/sellafield-cleanup-cost-136bn-national-audit-office

    Seeing as the decommissioning cost for nuclear is seemingly so high and we do actually require the power, why not just run indefinitely replacing worn out parts when needed ?
    The decommissioning costs are high for several reasons. One is that the used fuel is extremely radioactive and remains so for a very long time. That gets labelled as a decommissioning cost, but it's not one you save by not decommissioning the plant.

    Another reason is that the entire plant becomes radioactive, so you have a lot of low-level waste where you can't simply demolish the building because you then create a lot of radioactive dust. But the effect of the radiation is to make materials brittle, and so you can't continue using the existing buildings indefinitely.

    It is cheaper to build a new plant and decommission the old one, but ruinously expensive all the same.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,771

    Leon said:

    Nigelb said:

    Another interference story: Labour linked group plans to “kill Musk’s Twitter”.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/labour-linked-censorship-group-plans-to-kill-musks-twitter/

    Why is that interference ?
    Twitter is the American town square. Foreigners trying to kill it is basically an act of war.

    Twitter is Musk's plaything. Musk is an anti-British Putinist. It's an act of patriotism to seek to destabilise him and reduce his influence.
    How is Musk anti-British?

    He seeks to undermine our courts and our democracy. He thinks we are on the verge of civil war.
    His platform certainly could have helped us to tip us over the edge in August, had not Starmer done a good job at that time.

    His platform is currently crawling with anti-semitic and literally neo-Nazi propaganda and imagery, as I've posted and referenced to several times, and nothing is being done.

    Apparently we should be licking his arse because he is a great engineer.

    Are you drunk? This is embarrassing

    You are. I am not.



    Then you are simply embarrassing. Which is worse

    You used to be sane and often quite articulate

    Hopefully this is a temporary aberration
  • SouthamObserverSouthamObserver Posts: 39,667
    MaxPB said:

    Nigelb said:

    Another interference story: Labour linked group plans to “kill Musk’s Twitter”.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/labour-linked-censorship-group-plans-to-kill-musks-twitter/

    Why is that interference ?
    Twitter is the American town square. Foreigners trying to kill it is basically an act of war.

    Twitter is Musk's plaything. Musk is an anti-British Putinist. It's an act of patriotism to seek to destabilise him and reduce his influence.
    How is Musk anti-British?

    He seeks to undermine our courts and our democracy. He thinks we are on the verge of civil war.
    His platform certainly could have helped us to tip us over the edge in August, had not Starmer done a good job at that time.

    His platform is currently crawling with anti-semitic and literally neo-Nazi propaganda and imagery, as I've posted and referenced to several times, and nothing is being done.

    Apparently we should be licking his arse because he is a great engineer.

    No we should be courting his companies because he's got $400bn to spend. Labour doing the opposite harms the nation.

    Lots of people have lots of money to spend. A sensible government makes sure that we are not beholden to despots and tyrants who seek to harm the UK, or their close friends. Rolling out the carpet to Putinists is not a great idea.

  • eekeek Posts: 28,444
    MaxPB said:

    Nigelb said:

    Another interference story: Labour linked group plans to “kill Musk’s Twitter”.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/labour-linked-censorship-group-plans-to-kill-musks-twitter/

    Why is that interference ?
    Twitter is the American town square. Foreigners trying to kill it is basically an act of war.

    Twitter is Musk's plaything. Musk is an anti-British Putinist. It's an act of patriotism to seek to destabilise him and reduce his influence.
    How is Musk anti-British?

    He seeks to undermine our courts and our democracy. He thinks we are on the verge of civil war.
    His platform certainly could have helped us to tip us over the edge in August, had not Starmer done a good job at that time.

    His platform is currently crawling with anti-semitic and literally neo-Nazi propaganda and imagery, as I've posted and referenced to several times, and nothing is being done.

    Apparently we should be licking his arse because he is a great engineer.

    No we should be courting his companies because he's got $400bn to spend. Labour doing the opposite harms the nation.

    So which of Musk's businesses are, at the moment, in a position to invest in a factory or similar large investment in the UK?
  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 38,885

    MaxPB said:

    Nigelb said:

    Another interference story: Labour linked group plans to “kill Musk’s Twitter”.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/labour-linked-censorship-group-plans-to-kill-musks-twitter/

    Why is that interference ?
    Twitter is the American town square. Foreigners trying to kill it is basically an act of war.

    Twitter is Musk's plaything. Musk is an anti-British Putinist. It's an act of patriotism to seek to destabilise him and reduce his influence.
    How is Musk anti-British?

    He seeks to undermine our courts and our democracy. He thinks we are on the verge of civil war.
    His platform certainly could have helped us to tip us over the edge in August, had not Starmer done a good job at that time.

    His platform is currently crawling with anti-semitic and literally neo-Nazi propaganda and imagery, as I've posted and referenced to several times, and nothing is being done.

    Apparently we should be licking his arse because he is a great engineer.

    No we should be courting his companies because he's got $400bn to spend. Labour doing the opposite harms the nation.

    Lots of people have lots of money to spend. A sensible government makes sure that we are not beholden to despots and tyrants who seek to harm the UK, or their close friends. Rolling out the carpet to Putinists is not a great idea.

    And yet we're happy to go the extra mile to court money from the middle east which is covered in blood. Either we're consistent and don't give a fuck about the source of funding, as we do with middle eastern money, or we tell both Elon Musk and middle eastern governments to get fucked.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,771

    The predicted mental health crisis if Trump wins won't just be confined to America:

    https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/washington-secrets/3191062/mark-halperin-trump-win-result-national-mental-health-crisis-violence-divorce/

    I think it will be the cause of the greatest mental health crisis in the history of the country. I think tens of millions of people will question their connection to the nation, their connection to other human beings, their connection to their vision of what their future for them and their children could be like. And I think that it will require an enormous amount of access to mental health professionals. I think it’ll lead to trauma in the workplace. I think there’ll be some degree of — 100% serious? 100% serious. I think there’ll be alcoholism. There’ll be broken marriages. Yeah, they think he’s the worst person possible to be president. And having won by the hand of Jim Comey and fluke in 2016 and then performed in office for four years and denied who won the election last time and Jan. 6, the fact that under a fair election, America chose, by the rules pre-agreed to, Donald Trump again, I think it will cause the biggest mental health crisis in the history of America. And I don’t think it will be kind of a passing thing, that by the inauguration will be fine. I think it will be sustained and unprecedented and hideous. And I don’t think the country is ready for it.

    lol

    A Trump victory will certainly cause a few psychoses on here

    I am stocking up on rice crackers to munch during the spectacle
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 50,581

    Pulpstar said:

    Nigelb said:

    Sellafield cleanup cost rises to £136bn amid tensions with Treasury
    National Audit Office questions value for money as predicted bill for decommissioning increases by £21bn
    https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/oct/23/sellafield-cleanup-cost-136bn-national-audit-office

    Seeing as the decommissioning cost for nuclear is seemingly so high and we do actually require the power, why not just run indefinitely replacing worn out parts when needed ?
    The decommissioning costs are high for several reasons. One is that the used fuel is extremely radioactive and remains so for a very long time. That gets labelled as a decommissioning cost, but it's not one you save by not decommissioning the plant.

    Another reason is that the entire plant becomes radioactive, so you have a lot of low-level waste where you can't simply demolish the building because you then create a lot of radioactive dust. But the effect of the radiation is to make materials brittle, and so you can't continue using the existing buildings indefinitely.

    It is cheaper to build a new plant and decommission the old one, but ruinously expensive all the same.
    That's not quite correct - the embrittlement and radioactivity effects a small proportion of the plant. Which is why very extensive demolition takes place on decommissioning.

    One of the ideas used in some the small nukes schemes is to use sealed, one shot reactors. After 20 years of generating power, the whole small rector vessel, core included, is stored/buried in one piece. Because this includes the primary cooling loop, what is left behind is the non-radioactive secondary loop and the generating turbines etc.
  • SouthamObserverSouthamObserver Posts: 39,667
    MaxPB said:

    MaxPB said:

    Nigelb said:

    Another interference story: Labour linked group plans to “kill Musk’s Twitter”.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/labour-linked-censorship-group-plans-to-kill-musks-twitter/

    Why is that interference ?
    Twitter is the American town square. Foreigners trying to kill it is basically an act of war.

    Twitter is Musk's plaything. Musk is an anti-British Putinist. It's an act of patriotism to seek to destabilise him and reduce his influence.
    How is Musk anti-British?

    He seeks to undermine our courts and our democracy. He thinks we are on the verge of civil war.
    His platform certainly could have helped us to tip us over the edge in August, had not Starmer done a good job at that time.

    His platform is currently crawling with anti-semitic and literally neo-Nazi propaganda and imagery, as I've posted and referenced to several times, and nothing is being done.

    Apparently we should be licking his arse because he is a great engineer.

    No we should be courting his companies because he's got $400bn to spend. Labour doing the opposite harms the nation.

    Lots of people have lots of money to spend. A sensible government makes sure that we are not beholden to despots and tyrants who seek to harm the UK, or their close friends. Rolling out the carpet to Putinists is not a great idea.

    And yet we're happy to go the extra mile to court money from the middle east which is covered in blood. Either we're consistent and don't give a fuck about the source of funding, as we do with middle eastern money, or we tell both Elon Musk and middle eastern governments to get fucked.

    I like the principle. In practice, though, the Saudis and Qataris are not actively seeking to destabilise us. Musk is.

  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,771
    MaxPB said:

    MaxPB said:

    Nigelb said:

    Another interference story: Labour linked group plans to “kill Musk’s Twitter”.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/labour-linked-censorship-group-plans-to-kill-musks-twitter/

    Why is that interference ?
    Twitter is the American town square. Foreigners trying to kill it is basically an act of war.

    Twitter is Musk's plaything. Musk is an anti-British Putinist. It's an act of patriotism to seek to destabilise him and reduce his influence.
    How is Musk anti-British?

    He seeks to undermine our courts and our democracy. He thinks we are on the verge of civil war.
    His platform certainly could have helped us to tip us over the edge in August, had not Starmer done a good job at that time.

    His platform is currently crawling with anti-semitic and literally neo-Nazi propaganda and imagery, as I've posted and referenced to several times, and nothing is being done.

    Apparently we should be licking his arse because he is a great engineer.

    No we should be courting his companies because he's got $400bn to spend. Labour doing the opposite harms the nation.

    Lots of people have lots of money to spend. A sensible government makes sure that we are not beholden to despots and tyrants who seek to harm the UK, or their close friends. Rolling out the carpet to Putinists is not a great idea.

    And yet we're happy to go the extra mile to court money from the middle east which is covered in blood. Either we're consistent and don't give a fuck about the source of funding, as we do with middle eastern money, or we tell both Elon Musk and middle eastern governments to get fucked.
    Indeed. And see Lammy handing the Chagos to China and now arschlossening in Beijing

    It’s quite absurd hypocrisy and also utterly useless realpolitik
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 50,581

    MaxPB said:

    Nigelb said:

    Another interference story: Labour linked group plans to “kill Musk’s Twitter”.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/labour-linked-censorship-group-plans-to-kill-musks-twitter/

    Why is that interference ?
    Twitter is the American town square. Foreigners trying to kill it is basically an act of war.

    Twitter is Musk's plaything. Musk is an anti-British Putinist. It's an act of patriotism to seek to destabilise him and reduce his influence.
    How is Musk anti-British?

    He seeks to undermine our courts and our democracy. He thinks we are on the verge of civil war.
    His platform certainly could have helped us to tip us over the edge in August, had not Starmer done a good job at that time.

    His platform is currently crawling with anti-semitic and literally neo-Nazi propaganda and imagery, as I've posted and referenced to several times, and nothing is being done.

    Apparently we should be licking his arse because he is a great engineer.

    No we should be courting his companies because he's got $400bn to spend. Labour doing the opposite harms the nation.

    Lots of people have lots of money to spend. A sensible government makes sure that we are not beholden to despots and tyrants who seek to harm the UK, or their close friends. Rolling out the carpet to Putinists is not a great idea.

    We rolled out the red carpet to the Chinese Government, many times.

    To the extent of arresting people for politely holding up signs saying "Remember Tibet", so that they wouldn't offend the Chinese President. By being seen by him.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 71,524
    edited October 23
    MaxPB said:

    MaxPB said:

    Nigelb said:

    Another interference story: Labour linked group plans to “kill Musk’s Twitter”.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/labour-linked-censorship-group-plans-to-kill-musks-twitter/

    Why is that interference ?
    Twitter is the American town square. Foreigners trying to kill it is basically an act of war.

    Twitter is Musk's plaything. Musk is an anti-British Putinist. It's an act of patriotism to seek to destabilise him and reduce his influence.
    How is Musk anti-British?

    He seeks to undermine our courts and our democracy. He thinks we are on the verge of civil war.
    His platform certainly could have helped us to tip us over the edge in August, had not Starmer done a good job at that time.

    His platform is currently crawling with anti-semitic and literally neo-Nazi propaganda and imagery, as I've posted and referenced to several times, and nothing is being done.

    Apparently we should be licking his arse because he is a great engineer.

    No we should be courting his companies because he's got $400bn to spend. Labour doing the opposite harms the nation.

    Lots of people have lots of money to spend. A sensible government makes sure that we are not beholden to despots and tyrants who seek to harm the UK, or their close friends. Rolling out the carpet to Putinists is not a great idea.

    And yet we're happy to go the extra mile to court money from the middle east which is covered in blood. Either we're consistent and don't give a fuck about the source of funding, as we do with middle eastern money, or we tell both Elon Musk and middle eastern governments to get fucked.
    I'd agree with that.

    Still no reason to give him a pass on his political interference in the UK. We have similar spats with the unpleasant regimes in the middle east, for much the same reason, of course.

    Pragmatism is fine; just rolling over is something else.
  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 38,885
    eek said:

    MaxPB said:

    Nigelb said:

    Another interference story: Labour linked group plans to “kill Musk’s Twitter”.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/labour-linked-censorship-group-plans-to-kill-musks-twitter/

    Why is that interference ?
    Twitter is the American town square. Foreigners trying to kill it is basically an act of war.

    Twitter is Musk's plaything. Musk is an anti-British Putinist. It's an act of patriotism to seek to destabilise him and reduce his influence.
    How is Musk anti-British?

    He seeks to undermine our courts and our democracy. He thinks we are on the verge of civil war.
    His platform certainly could have helped us to tip us over the edge in August, had not Starmer done a good job at that time.

    His platform is currently crawling with anti-semitic and literally neo-Nazi propaganda and imagery, as I've posted and referenced to several times, and nothing is being done.

    Apparently we should be licking his arse because he is a great engineer.

    No we should be courting his companies because he's got $400bn to spend. Labour doing the opposite harms the nation.

    So which of Musk's businesses are, at the moment, in a position to invest in a factory or similar large investment in the UK?
    We could easily grab a big share from SpaceX, our space industry is first rate and we have got absolutely world class aeronautical engineers in the UK with plenty of drive to work in a startup style environment. Twitter already has a presence in the UK, we could get a much larger share of future investment with the right policies and even with Tesla we should be trying to get them to partner with Cornish Lithium for battery production, we have got such a low share of the value chain for EVs in the UK and demand will go up eventually so lets get ready with investments now.
  • Stark_DawningStark_Dawning Posts: 9,689
    edited October 23
    Hmm. Not sure the Tories should have got involved in TrumpGate. This has simply allowed Labour to remind everyone that Truss was Salacious Crumb to Trump's Jabba the Hutt. And soon someone will mention that John Major's Tories sent advisors to help Bush Snr against Bill Clinton. A bit of tactical silence would have been advisable.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,771

    MaxPB said:

    MaxPB said:

    Nigelb said:

    Another interference story: Labour linked group plans to “kill Musk’s Twitter”.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/labour-linked-censorship-group-plans-to-kill-musks-twitter/

    Why is that interference ?
    Twitter is the American town square. Foreigners trying to kill it is basically an act of war.

    Twitter is Musk's plaything. Musk is an anti-British Putinist. It's an act of patriotism to seek to destabilise him and reduce his influence.
    How is Musk anti-British?

    He seeks to undermine our courts and our democracy. He thinks we are on the verge of civil war.
    His platform certainly could have helped us to tip us over the edge in August, had not Starmer done a good job at that time.

    His platform is currently crawling with anti-semitic and literally neo-Nazi propaganda and imagery, as I've posted and referenced to several times, and nothing is being done.

    Apparently we should be licking his arse because he is a great engineer.

    No we should be courting his companies because he's got $400bn to spend. Labour doing the opposite harms the nation.

    Lots of people have lots of money to spend. A sensible government makes sure that we are not beholden to despots and tyrants who seek to harm the UK, or their close friends. Rolling out the carpet to Putinists is not a great idea.

    And yet we're happy to go the extra mile to court money from the middle east which is covered in blood. Either we're consistent and don't give a fuck about the source of funding, as we do with middle eastern money, or we tell both Elon Musk and middle eastern governments to get fucked.

    I like the principle. In practice, though, the Saudis and Qataris are not actively seeking to destabilise us. Musk is.

    WTF are you on. Crystal meth? The Saudis and Qataris fund actual islamism and terror in the west and the UK
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 82,311
    edited October 23
    eek said:

    MaxPB said:

    Nigelb said:

    Another interference story: Labour linked group plans to “kill Musk’s Twitter”.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/labour-linked-censorship-group-plans-to-kill-musks-twitter/

    Why is that interference ?
    Twitter is the American town square. Foreigners trying to kill it is basically an act of war.

    Twitter is Musk's plaything. Musk is an anti-British Putinist. It's an act of patriotism to seek to destabilise him and reduce his influence.
    How is Musk anti-British?

    He seeks to undermine our courts and our democracy. He thinks we are on the verge of civil war.
    His platform certainly could have helped us to tip us over the edge in August, had not Starmer done a good job at that time.

    His platform is currently crawling with anti-semitic and literally neo-Nazi propaganda and imagery, as I've posted and referenced to several times, and nothing is being done.

    Apparently we should be licking his arse because he is a great engineer.

    No we should be courting his companies because he's got $400bn to spend. Labour doing the opposite harms the nation.

    So which of Musk's businesses are, at the moment, in a position to invest in a factory or similar large investment in the UK?
    This is the funny thing about being the richest man in the world and serial entrepreneur, you are always on the look out for the next big thing to invest in.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 50,581

    MaxPB said:

    MaxPB said:

    Nigelb said:

    Another interference story: Labour linked group plans to “kill Musk’s Twitter”.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/labour-linked-censorship-group-plans-to-kill-musks-twitter/

    Why is that interference ?
    Twitter is the American town square. Foreigners trying to kill it is basically an act of war.

    Twitter is Musk's plaything. Musk is an anti-British Putinist. It's an act of patriotism to seek to destabilise him and reduce his influence.
    How is Musk anti-British?

    He seeks to undermine our courts and our democracy. He thinks we are on the verge of civil war.
    His platform certainly could have helped us to tip us over the edge in August, had not Starmer done a good job at that time.

    His platform is currently crawling with anti-semitic and literally neo-Nazi propaganda and imagery, as I've posted and referenced to several times, and nothing is being done.

    Apparently we should be licking his arse because he is a great engineer.

    No we should be courting his companies because he's got $400bn to spend. Labour doing the opposite harms the nation.

    Lots of people have lots of money to spend. A sensible government makes sure that we are not beholden to despots and tyrants who seek to harm the UK, or their close friends. Rolling out the carpet to Putinists is not a great idea.

    And yet we're happy to go the extra mile to court money from the middle east which is covered in blood. Either we're consistent and don't give a fuck about the source of funding, as we do with middle eastern money, or we tell both Elon Musk and middle eastern governments to get fucked.

    I like the principle. In practice, though, the Saudis and Qataris are not actively seeking to destabilise us. Musk is.

    The Saudi government, in particular, funds extremists abroad.

    Previously, some attempts to block extremist preachers entering the UK have got scotched by the Foreign Office. On the grounds that the Saudis would be upset.

    Similarly, attempts to bar some really unpleasant people from entering UK prisons to preach were blocked on similar grounds.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 82,311
    MaxPB said:

    eek said:

    MaxPB said:

    Nigelb said:

    Another interference story: Labour linked group plans to “kill Musk’s Twitter”.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/labour-linked-censorship-group-plans-to-kill-musks-twitter/

    Why is that interference ?
    Twitter is the American town square. Foreigners trying to kill it is basically an act of war.

    Twitter is Musk's plaything. Musk is an anti-British Putinist. It's an act of patriotism to seek to destabilise him and reduce his influence.
    How is Musk anti-British?

    He seeks to undermine our courts and our democracy. He thinks we are on the verge of civil war.
    His platform certainly could have helped us to tip us over the edge in August, had not Starmer done a good job at that time.

    His platform is currently crawling with anti-semitic and literally neo-Nazi propaganda and imagery, as I've posted and referenced to several times, and nothing is being done.

    Apparently we should be licking his arse because he is a great engineer.

    No we should be courting his companies because he's got $400bn to spend. Labour doing the opposite harms the nation.

    So which of Musk's businesses are, at the moment, in a position to invest in a factory or similar large investment in the UK?
    We could easily grab a big share from SpaceX, our space industry is first rate and we have got absolutely world class aeronautical engineers in the UK with plenty of drive to work in a startup style environment. Twitter already has a presence in the UK, we could get a much larger share of future investment with the right policies and even with Tesla we should be trying to get them to partner with Cornish Lithium for battery production, we have got such a low share of the value chain for EVs in the UK and demand will go up eventually so lets get ready with investments now.
    Neuralink also plays very much into UK strengths in life sciences and AI.
  • SouthamObserverSouthamObserver Posts: 39,667

    MaxPB said:

    Nigelb said:

    Another interference story: Labour linked group plans to “kill Musk’s Twitter”.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/labour-linked-censorship-group-plans-to-kill-musks-twitter/

    Why is that interference ?
    Twitter is the American town square. Foreigners trying to kill it is basically an act of war.

    Twitter is Musk's plaything. Musk is an anti-British Putinist. It's an act of patriotism to seek to destabilise him and reduce his influence.
    How is Musk anti-British?

    He seeks to undermine our courts and our democracy. He thinks we are on the verge of civil war.
    His platform certainly could have helped us to tip us over the edge in August, had not Starmer done a good job at that time.

    His platform is currently crawling with anti-semitic and literally neo-Nazi propaganda and imagery, as I've posted and referenced to several times, and nothing is being done.

    Apparently we should be licking his arse because he is a great engineer.

    No we should be courting his companies because he's got $400bn to spend. Labour doing the opposite harms the nation.

    Lots of people have lots of money to spend. A sensible government makes sure that we are not beholden to despots and tyrants who seek to harm the UK, or their close friends. Rolling out the carpet to Putinists is not a great idea.

    We rolled out the red carpet to the Chinese Government, many times.

    To the extent of arresting people for politely holding up signs saying "Remember Tibet", so that they wouldn't offend the Chinese President. By being seen by him.

    Yep, I agree. And Musk's attempts to destabilise the UK are far more egregious than anything the Chinese have done.

  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 82,311
    edited October 23

    MaxPB said:

    Nigelb said:

    Another interference story: Labour linked group plans to “kill Musk’s Twitter”.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/labour-linked-censorship-group-plans-to-kill-musks-twitter/

    Why is that interference ?
    Twitter is the American town square. Foreigners trying to kill it is basically an act of war.

    Twitter is Musk's plaything. Musk is an anti-British Putinist. It's an act of patriotism to seek to destabilise him and reduce his influence.
    How is Musk anti-British?

    He seeks to undermine our courts and our democracy. He thinks we are on the verge of civil war.
    His platform certainly could have helped us to tip us over the edge in August, had not Starmer done a good job at that time.

    His platform is currently crawling with anti-semitic and literally neo-Nazi propaganda and imagery, as I've posted and referenced to several times, and nothing is being done.

    Apparently we should be licking his arse because he is a great engineer.

    No we should be courting his companies because he's got $400bn to spend. Labour doing the opposite harms the nation.

    Lots of people have lots of money to spend. A sensible government makes sure that we are not beholden to despots and tyrants who seek to harm the UK, or their close friends. Rolling out the carpet to Putinists is not a great idea.

    We rolled out the red carpet to the Chinese Government, many times.

    To the extent of arresting people for politely holding up signs saying "Remember Tibet", so that they wouldn't offend the Chinese President. By being seen by him.

    Yep, I agree. And Musk's attempts to destabilise the UK are far more egregious than anything the Chinese have done.

    Come on, you are now starting to sounds more unhinged that Donald Trump....The Chinese have literally stolen IP from across the West, then undercut 1000s of companies putting out of business. They regularly hack state organisations and businesses, going way beyond the usual international norms of spying. They put countries into debt into order to control their crucial assets to leverage power over the world. They make their own companies insert backdoor and spyware to spy on the west. They regularly steal territory in the South China see they have no rights over. They restricted crucial supplies during COVID when they didn't need them. They want to invade Taiwan and take over the semi-conductor industry...

    And you think Musk and his dickish tweets are worse than that.
  • MaxPB said:

    MaxPB said:

    Nigelb said:

    Another interference story: Labour linked group plans to “kill Musk’s Twitter”.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/labour-linked-censorship-group-plans-to-kill-musks-twitter/

    Why is that interference ?
    Twitter is the American town square. Foreigners trying to kill it is basically an act of war.

    Twitter is Musk's plaything. Musk is an anti-British Putinist. It's an act of patriotism to seek to destabilise him and reduce his influence.
    How is Musk anti-British?

    He seeks to undermine our courts and our democracy. He thinks we are on the verge of civil war.
    His platform certainly could have helped us to tip us over the edge in August, had not Starmer done a good job at that time.

    His platform is currently crawling with anti-semitic and literally neo-Nazi propaganda and imagery, as I've posted and referenced to several times, and nothing is being done.

    Apparently we should be licking his arse because he is a great engineer.

    No we should be courting his companies because he's got $400bn to spend. Labour doing the opposite harms the nation.

    Lots of people have lots of money to spend. A sensible government makes sure that we are not beholden to despots and tyrants who seek to harm the UK, or their close friends. Rolling out the carpet to Putinists is not a great idea.

    And yet we're happy to go the extra mile to court money from the middle east which is covered in blood. Either we're consistent and don't give a fuck about the source of funding, as we do with middle eastern money, or we tell both Elon Musk and middle eastern governments to get fucked.
    A key difference is that states such as Saudi Arabia have scaled back their destabilisation efforts via Islamist funding, though.

    Musk's statements and his platform very nearly assisted a total breakdown of order in the U.K. in the summer, and he's currently hosting increasing numbers of Neo-Nazis, as well as, I've increasingly seen more and more of, extreme islamist posters.
  • SouthamObserverSouthamObserver Posts: 39,667
    MaxPB said:

    eek said:

    MaxPB said:

    Nigelb said:

    Another interference story: Labour linked group plans to “kill Musk’s Twitter”.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/labour-linked-censorship-group-plans-to-kill-musks-twitter/

    Why is that interference ?
    Twitter is the American town square. Foreigners trying to kill it is basically an act of war.

    Twitter is Musk's plaything. Musk is an anti-British Putinist. It's an act of patriotism to seek to destabilise him and reduce his influence.
    How is Musk anti-British?

    He seeks to undermine our courts and our democracy. He thinks we are on the verge of civil war.
    His platform certainly could have helped us to tip us over the edge in August, had not Starmer done a good job at that time.

    His platform is currently crawling with anti-semitic and literally neo-Nazi propaganda and imagery, as I've posted and referenced to several times, and nothing is being done.

    Apparently we should be licking his arse because he is a great engineer.

    No we should be courting his companies because he's got $400bn to spend. Labour doing the opposite harms the nation.

    So which of Musk's businesses are, at the moment, in a position to invest in a factory or similar large investment in the UK?
    We could easily grab a big share from SpaceX, our space industry is first rate and we have got absolutely world class aeronautical engineers in the UK with plenty of drive to work in a startup style environment. Twitter already has a presence in the UK, we could get a much larger share of future investment with the right policies and even with Tesla we should be trying to get them to partner with Cornish Lithium for battery production, we have got such a low share of the value chain for EVs in the UK and demand will go up eventually so lets get ready with investments now.

    Not sure it's a great idea to give a Putinist a massive say in any UK industry related to any kind of energy or infrastructure project.

  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 71,524
    On topic.

    Senate Polling Today:

    InsiderAdvantage (R):
    AZ: D +4
    NV: D +4

    Fabrizio/Impact:
    NV: D +5

    Research & Polling:
    NM: D +11

    Siena College:
    NY: D +26

    https://x.com/USA_Polling/status/1848884623327301981
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,771

    MaxPB said:

    Nigelb said:

    Another interference story: Labour linked group plans to “kill Musk’s Twitter”.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/labour-linked-censorship-group-plans-to-kill-musks-twitter/

    Why is that interference ?
    Twitter is the American town square. Foreigners trying to kill it is basically an act of war.

    Twitter is Musk's plaything. Musk is an anti-British Putinist. It's an act of patriotism to seek to destabilise him and reduce his influence.
    How is Musk anti-British?

    He seeks to undermine our courts and our democracy. He thinks we are on the verge of civil war.
    His platform certainly could have helped us to tip us over the edge in August, had not Starmer done a good job at that time.

    His platform is currently crawling with anti-semitic and literally neo-Nazi propaganda and imagery, as I've posted and referenced to several times, and nothing is being done.

    Apparently we should be licking his arse because he is a great engineer.

    No we should be courting his companies because he's got $400bn to spend. Labour doing the opposite harms the nation.

    Lots of people have lots of money to spend. A sensible government makes sure that we are not beholden to despots and tyrants who seek to harm the UK, or their close friends. Rolling out the carpet to Putinists is not a great idea.

    We rolled out the red carpet to the Chinese Government, many times.

    To the extent of arresting people for politely holding up signs saying "Remember Tibet", so that they wouldn't offend the Chinese President. By being seen by him.

    Yep, I agree. And Musk's attempts to destabilise the UK are far more egregious than anything the Chinese have done.

    Come on, you are now starting to sounds more unhinged that Donald Trump....The Chinese have literally stolen IP from across the West, then undercut 1000s of companies putting out of business.
    I have never witnessed @SouthamObserver spewing such bizarre bilge hitherto. Quite a sight

    I diagnose Musk Derangement Syndrome, Tertiary Stage. A sad case
  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 38,885

    MaxPB said:

    eek said:

    MaxPB said:

    Nigelb said:

    Another interference story: Labour linked group plans to “kill Musk’s Twitter”.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/labour-linked-censorship-group-plans-to-kill-musks-twitter/

    Why is that interference ?
    Twitter is the American town square. Foreigners trying to kill it is basically an act of war.

    Twitter is Musk's plaything. Musk is an anti-British Putinist. It's an act of patriotism to seek to destabilise him and reduce his influence.
    How is Musk anti-British?

    He seeks to undermine our courts and our democracy. He thinks we are on the verge of civil war.
    His platform certainly could have helped us to tip us over the edge in August, had not Starmer done a good job at that time.

    His platform is currently crawling with anti-semitic and literally neo-Nazi propaganda and imagery, as I've posted and referenced to several times, and nothing is being done.

    Apparently we should be licking his arse because he is a great engineer.

    No we should be courting his companies because he's got $400bn to spend. Labour doing the opposite harms the nation.

    So which of Musk's businesses are, at the moment, in a position to invest in a factory or similar large investment in the UK?
    We could easily grab a big share from SpaceX, our space industry is first rate and we have got absolutely world class aeronautical engineers in the UK with plenty of drive to work in a startup style environment. Twitter already has a presence in the UK, we could get a much larger share of future investment with the right policies and even with Tesla we should be trying to get them to partner with Cornish Lithium for battery production, we have got such a low share of the value chain for EVs in the UK and demand will go up eventually so lets get ready with investments now.

    Not sure it's a great idea to give a Putinist a massive say in any UK industry related to any kind of energy or infrastructure project.

    And yet we're happy with actual Russian oligarch money pumping through the City because of the jobs it supports?

    I don't much like it either but if we're going to do a deal with the devil then lets at least maximise our returns and not get picky about it.
  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 38,885

    MaxPB said:

    Nigelb said:

    Another interference story: Labour linked group plans to “kill Musk’s Twitter”.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/labour-linked-censorship-group-plans-to-kill-musks-twitter/

    Why is that interference ?
    Twitter is the American town square. Foreigners trying to kill it is basically an act of war.

    Twitter is Musk's plaything. Musk is an anti-British Putinist. It's an act of patriotism to seek to destabilise him and reduce his influence.
    How is Musk anti-British?

    He seeks to undermine our courts and our democracy. He thinks we are on the verge of civil war.
    His platform certainly could have helped us to tip us over the edge in August, had not Starmer done a good job at that time.

    His platform is currently crawling with anti-semitic and literally neo-Nazi propaganda and imagery, as I've posted and referenced to several times, and nothing is being done.

    Apparently we should be licking his arse because he is a great engineer.

    No we should be courting his companies because he's got $400bn to spend. Labour doing the opposite harms the nation.

    Lots of people have lots of money to spend. A sensible government makes sure that we are not beholden to despots and tyrants who seek to harm the UK, or their close friends. Rolling out the carpet to Putinists is not a great idea.

    We rolled out the red carpet to the Chinese Government, many times.

    To the extent of arresting people for politely holding up signs saying "Remember Tibet", so that they wouldn't offend the Chinese President. By being seen by him.

    Yep, I agree. And Musk's attempts to destabilise the UK are far more egregious than anything the Chinese have done.

    Are you actually insane? China has continually actually tried to spy on the UK through various means and has recently been caught attempting to infiltrate UK defence companies with spies.
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 42,975

    Pulpstar said:

    Nigelb said:

    Sellafield cleanup cost rises to £136bn amid tensions with Treasury
    National Audit Office questions value for money as predicted bill for decommissioning increases by £21bn
    https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/oct/23/sellafield-cleanup-cost-136bn-national-audit-office

    Seeing as the decommissioning cost for nuclear is seemingly so high and we do actually require the power, why not just run indefinitely replacing worn out parts when needed ?
    The decommissioning costs are high for several reasons. One is that the used fuel is extremely radioactive and remains so for a very long time. That gets labelled as a decommissioning cost, but it's not one you save by not decommissioning the plant.

    Another reason is that the entire plant becomes radioactive, so you have a lot of low-level waste where you can't simply demolish the building because you then create a lot of radioactive dust. But the effect of the radiation is to make materials brittle, and so you can't continue using the existing buildings indefinitely.

    It is cheaper to build a new plant and decommission the old one, but ruinously expensive all the same.
    There are also other complications: many nuclear reactors, especially the old ones, were designed to build and work; no consideration was given to decommissioning. Ditto nuclear submarine reactors, as recently discussed. (*)

    In Sellafield's case, it's probably more complex because much of the stuff done there was experimental and somewhat chaotic. Lots of stuff was dumped in a tower after the Windscale incident AFAICR.

    (*) I also recently read that we are the first country to actually try to fully decommission a submarine reactor, as opposed to cutting the compartment out and dump it. HMS Swiftsure, I think.
  • SouthamObserverSouthamObserver Posts: 39,667

    MaxPB said:

    Nigelb said:

    Another interference story: Labour linked group plans to “kill Musk’s Twitter”.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/labour-linked-censorship-group-plans-to-kill-musks-twitter/

    Why is that interference ?
    Twitter is the American town square. Foreigners trying to kill it is basically an act of war.

    Twitter is Musk's plaything. Musk is an anti-British Putinist. It's an act of patriotism to seek to destabilise him and reduce his influence.
    How is Musk anti-British?

    He seeks to undermine our courts and our democracy. He thinks we are on the verge of civil war.
    His platform certainly could have helped us to tip us over the edge in August, had not Starmer done a good job at that time.

    His platform is currently crawling with anti-semitic and literally neo-Nazi propaganda and imagery, as I've posted and referenced to several times, and nothing is being done.

    Apparently we should be licking his arse because he is a great engineer.

    No we should be courting his companies because he's got $400bn to spend. Labour doing the opposite harms the nation.

    Lots of people have lots of money to spend. A sensible government makes sure that we are not beholden to despots and tyrants who seek to harm the UK, or their close friends. Rolling out the carpet to Putinists is not a great idea.

    We rolled out the red carpet to the Chinese Government, many times.

    To the extent of arresting people for politely holding up signs saying "Remember Tibet", so that they wouldn't offend the Chinese President. By being seen by him.

    Yep, I agree. And Musk's attempts to destabilise the UK are far more egregious than anything the Chinese have done.

    Come on, you are now starting to sounds more unhinged that Donald Trump....The Chinese have literally stolen IP from across the West, then undercut 1000s of companies putting out of business. They regularly hack state organisations and businesses, going way beyond the usual international norms of spying. They put countries into debt into order to control their crucial assets to leverage power over the world. They regularly steal territory in the South China see they have no rights over. They restricted crucial supplies during COVID when they didn't need them. They want to invade Taiwan and take over the semi-conductor industry...

    And you think Musk and his dickish tweets are worse than that.

    I don't think Musk or Trump would have a huge problem with a Chinese invasion of Taiwan - and as for IP theft, Musk is all for it.

  • SouthamObserverSouthamObserver Posts: 39,667
    MaxPB said:

    MaxPB said:

    eek said:

    MaxPB said:

    Nigelb said:

    Another interference story: Labour linked group plans to “kill Musk’s Twitter”.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/labour-linked-censorship-group-plans-to-kill-musks-twitter/

    Why is that interference ?
    Twitter is the American town square. Foreigners trying to kill it is basically an act of war.

    Twitter is Musk's plaything. Musk is an anti-British Putinist. It's an act of patriotism to seek to destabilise him and reduce his influence.
    How is Musk anti-British?

    He seeks to undermine our courts and our democracy. He thinks we are on the verge of civil war.
    His platform certainly could have helped us to tip us over the edge in August, had not Starmer done a good job at that time.

    His platform is currently crawling with anti-semitic and literally neo-Nazi propaganda and imagery, as I've posted and referenced to several times, and nothing is being done.

    Apparently we should be licking his arse because he is a great engineer.

    No we should be courting his companies because he's got $400bn to spend. Labour doing the opposite harms the nation.

    So which of Musk's businesses are, at the moment, in a position to invest in a factory or similar large investment in the UK?
    We could easily grab a big share from SpaceX, our space industry is first rate and we have got absolutely world class aeronautical engineers in the UK with plenty of drive to work in a startup style environment. Twitter already has a presence in the UK, we could get a much larger share of future investment with the right policies and even with Tesla we should be trying to get them to partner with Cornish Lithium for battery production, we have got such a low share of the value chain for EVs in the UK and demand will go up eventually so lets get ready with investments now.

    Not sure it's a great idea to give a Putinist a massive say in any UK industry related to any kind of energy or infrastructure project.

    And yet we're happy with actual Russian oligarch money pumping through the City because of the jobs it supports?

    I don't much like it either but if we're going to do a deal with the devil then lets at least maximise our returns and not get picky about it.

    The problem with doing a deal with the devil is that he is the devil.

  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 71,524
    MaxPB said:

    MaxPB said:

    eek said:

    MaxPB said:

    Nigelb said:

    Another interference story: Labour linked group plans to “kill Musk’s Twitter”.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/labour-linked-censorship-group-plans-to-kill-musks-twitter/

    Why is that interference ?
    Twitter is the American town square. Foreigners trying to kill it is basically an act of war.

    Twitter is Musk's plaything. Musk is an anti-British Putinist. It's an act of patriotism to seek to destabilise him and reduce his influence.
    How is Musk anti-British?

    He seeks to undermine our courts and our democracy. He thinks we are on the verge of civil war.
    His platform certainly could have helped us to tip us over the edge in August, had not Starmer done a good job at that time.

    His platform is currently crawling with anti-semitic and literally neo-Nazi propaganda and imagery, as I've posted and referenced to several times, and nothing is being done.

    Apparently we should be licking his arse because he is a great engineer.

    No we should be courting his companies because he's got $400bn to spend. Labour doing the opposite harms the nation.

    So which of Musk's businesses are, at the moment, in a position to invest in a factory or similar large investment in the UK?
    We could easily grab a big share from SpaceX, our space industry is first rate and we have got absolutely world class aeronautical engineers in the UK with plenty of drive to work in a startup style environment. Twitter already has a presence in the UK, we could get a much larger share of future investment with the right policies and even with Tesla we should be trying to get them to partner with Cornish Lithium for battery production, we have got such a low share of the value chain for EVs in the UK and demand will go up eventually so lets get ready with investments now.

    Not sure it's a great idea to give a Putinist a massive say in any UK industry related to any kind of energy or infrastructure project.

    And yet we're happy with actual Russian oligarch money pumping through the City because of the jobs it supports?

    I don't much like it either but if we're going to do a deal with the devil then lets at least maximise our returns and not get picky about it.
    I'm entirely agnostic on who we deal with for (for example) a battery manufacturing investment. Just do the best deal.

    That might equally mean the S Koreans, or even the Chinese.
    It's not as though the latter have any battery secrets they wish to steal from us.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 82,311
    edited October 23

    MaxPB said:

    Nigelb said:

    Another interference story: Labour linked group plans to “kill Musk’s Twitter”.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/labour-linked-censorship-group-plans-to-kill-musks-twitter/

    Why is that interference ?
    Twitter is the American town square. Foreigners trying to kill it is basically an act of war.

    Twitter is Musk's plaything. Musk is an anti-British Putinist. It's an act of patriotism to seek to destabilise him and reduce his influence.
    How is Musk anti-British?

    He seeks to undermine our courts and our democracy. He thinks we are on the verge of civil war.
    His platform certainly could have helped us to tip us over the edge in August, had not Starmer done a good job at that time.

    His platform is currently crawling with anti-semitic and literally neo-Nazi propaganda and imagery, as I've posted and referenced to several times, and nothing is being done.

    Apparently we should be licking his arse because he is a great engineer.

    No we should be courting his companies because he's got $400bn to spend. Labour doing the opposite harms the nation.

    Lots of people have lots of money to spend. A sensible government makes sure that we are not beholden to despots and tyrants who seek to harm the UK, or their close friends. Rolling out the carpet to Putinists is not a great idea.

    We rolled out the red carpet to the Chinese Government, many times.

    To the extent of arresting people for politely holding up signs saying "Remember Tibet", so that they wouldn't offend the Chinese President. By being seen by him.

    Yep, I agree. And Musk's attempts to destabilise the UK are far more egregious than anything the Chinese have done.

    Come on, you are now starting to sounds more unhinged that Donald Trump....The Chinese have literally stolen IP from across the West, then undercut 1000s of companies putting out of business. They regularly hack state organisations and businesses, going way beyond the usual international norms of spying. They put countries into debt into order to control their crucial assets to leverage power over the world. They regularly steal territory in the South China see they have no rights over. They restricted crucial supplies during COVID when they didn't need them. They want to invade Taiwan and take over the semi-conductor industry...

    And you think Musk and his dickish tweets are worse than that.

    I don't think Musk or Trump would have a huge problem with a Chinese invasion of Taiwan - and as for IP theft, Musk is all for it.

    I am sorry but you sound proper mental.
  • SouthamObserverSouthamObserver Posts: 39,667
    Leon said:

    MaxPB said:

    Nigelb said:

    Another interference story: Labour linked group plans to “kill Musk’s Twitter”.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/labour-linked-censorship-group-plans-to-kill-musks-twitter/

    Why is that interference ?
    Twitter is the American town square. Foreigners trying to kill it is basically an act of war.

    Twitter is Musk's plaything. Musk is an anti-British Putinist. It's an act of patriotism to seek to destabilise him and reduce his influence.
    How is Musk anti-British?

    He seeks to undermine our courts and our democracy. He thinks we are on the verge of civil war.
    His platform certainly could have helped us to tip us over the edge in August, had not Starmer done a good job at that time.

    His platform is currently crawling with anti-semitic and literally neo-Nazi propaganda and imagery, as I've posted and referenced to several times, and nothing is being done.

    Apparently we should be licking his arse because he is a great engineer.

    No we should be courting his companies because he's got $400bn to spend. Labour doing the opposite harms the nation.

    Lots of people have lots of money to spend. A sensible government makes sure that we are not beholden to despots and tyrants who seek to harm the UK, or their close friends. Rolling out the carpet to Putinists is not a great idea.

    We rolled out the red carpet to the Chinese Government, many times.

    To the extent of arresting people for politely holding up signs saying "Remember Tibet", so that they wouldn't offend the Chinese President. By being seen by him.

    Yep, I agree. And Musk's attempts to destabilise the UK are far more egregious than anything the Chinese have done.

    Come on, you are now starting to sounds more unhinged that Donald Trump....The Chinese have literally stolen IP from across the West, then undercut 1000s of companies putting out of business.
    I have never witnessed @SouthamObserver spewing such bizarre bilge hitherto. Quite a sight

    I diagnose Musk Derangement Syndrome, Tertiary Stage. A sad case

    Very happy to put my hand up to holding Musk in absolute and total contempt.

  • MaxPB said:

    MaxPB said:

    Nigelb said:

    Another interference story: Labour linked group plans to “kill Musk’s Twitter”.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/labour-linked-censorship-group-plans-to-kill-musks-twitter/

    Why is that interference ?
    Twitter is the American town square. Foreigners trying to kill it is basically an act of war.

    Twitter is Musk's plaything. Musk is an anti-British Putinist. It's an act of patriotism to seek to destabilise him and reduce his influence.
    How is Musk anti-British?

    He seeks to undermine our courts and our democracy. He thinks we are on the verge of civil war.
    His platform certainly could have helped us to tip us over the edge in August, had not Starmer done a good job at that time.

    His platform is currently crawling with anti-semitic and literally neo-Nazi propaganda and imagery, as I've posted and referenced to several times, and nothing is being done.

    Apparently we should be licking his arse because he is a great engineer.

    No we should be courting his companies because he's got $400bn to spend. Labour doing the opposite harms the nation.

    Lots of people have lots of money to spend. A sensible government makes sure that we are not beholden to despots and tyrants who seek to harm the UK, or their close friends. Rolling out the carpet to Putinists is not a great idea.

    We rolled out the red carpet to the Chinese Government, many times.

    To the extent of arresting people for politely holding up signs saying "Remember Tibet", so that they wouldn't offend the Chinese President. By being seen by him.

    Yep, I agree. And Musk's attempts to destabilise the UK are far more egregious than anything the Chinese have done.

    Are you actually insane? China has continually actually tried to spy on the UK through various means and has recently been caught attempting to infiltrate UK defence companies with spies.
    Southam is in fact right, here.

    China has not so far used TikTok to increase the chances of civil war in the U.K.

  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 38,885

    MaxPB said:

    Nigelb said:

    Another interference story: Labour linked group plans to “kill Musk’s Twitter”.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/labour-linked-censorship-group-plans-to-kill-musks-twitter/

    Why is that interference ?
    Twitter is the American town square. Foreigners trying to kill it is basically an act of war.

    Twitter is Musk's plaything. Musk is an anti-British Putinist. It's an act of patriotism to seek to destabilise him and reduce his influence.
    How is Musk anti-British?

    He seeks to undermine our courts and our democracy. He thinks we are on the verge of civil war.
    His platform certainly could have helped us to tip us over the edge in August, had not Starmer done a good job at that time.

    His platform is currently crawling with anti-semitic and literally neo-Nazi propaganda and imagery, as I've posted and referenced to several times, and nothing is being done.

    Apparently we should be licking his arse because he is a great engineer.

    No we should be courting his companies because he's got $400bn to spend. Labour doing the opposite harms the nation.

    Lots of people have lots of money to spend. A sensible government makes sure that we are not beholden to despots and tyrants who seek to harm the UK, or their close friends. Rolling out the carpet to Putinists is not a great idea.

    We rolled out the red carpet to the Chinese Government, many times.

    To the extent of arresting people for politely holding up signs saying "Remember Tibet", so that they wouldn't offend the Chinese President. By being seen by him.

    Yep, I agree. And Musk's attempts to destabilise the UK are far more egregious than anything the Chinese have done.

    Come on, you are now starting to sounds more unhinged that Donald Trump....The Chinese have literally stolen IP from across the West, then undercut 1000s of companies putting out of business. They regularly hack state organisations and businesses, going way beyond the usual international norms of spying. They put countries into debt into order to control their crucial assets to leverage power over the world. They regularly steal territory in the South China see they have no rights over. They restricted crucial supplies during COVID when they didn't need them. They want to invade Taiwan and take over the semi-conductor industry...

    And you think Musk and his dickish tweets are worse than that.

    I don't think Musk or Trump would have a huge problem with a Chinese invasion of Taiwan - and as for IP theft, Musk is all for it.

    Musk absolutely would because all of his companies rely on TSMC for semiconductors. His business all go bankrupt when China blockades Taiwan. You need to take a step back and think about what you're saying. Right now your position is that money from terrorist supports is all good but money from someone who said mean stuff on twitter should be rejected. I'm not sure if this is intentional but it makes you seem like you belong in a mental institution.
  • SouthamObserverSouthamObserver Posts: 39,667
    MaxPB said:

    MaxPB said:

    Nigelb said:

    Another interference story: Labour linked group plans to “kill Musk’s Twitter”.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/labour-linked-censorship-group-plans-to-kill-musks-twitter/

    Why is that interference ?
    Twitter is the American town square. Foreigners trying to kill it is basically an act of war.

    Twitter is Musk's plaything. Musk is an anti-British Putinist. It's an act of patriotism to seek to destabilise him and reduce his influence.
    How is Musk anti-British?

    He seeks to undermine our courts and our democracy. He thinks we are on the verge of civil war.
    His platform certainly could have helped us to tip us over the edge in August, had not Starmer done a good job at that time.

    His platform is currently crawling with anti-semitic and literally neo-Nazi propaganda and imagery, as I've posted and referenced to several times, and nothing is being done.

    Apparently we should be licking his arse because he is a great engineer.

    No we should be courting his companies because he's got $400bn to spend. Labour doing the opposite harms the nation.

    Lots of people have lots of money to spend. A sensible government makes sure that we are not beholden to despots and tyrants who seek to harm the UK, or their close friends. Rolling out the carpet to Putinists is not a great idea.

    We rolled out the red carpet to the Chinese Government, many times.

    To the extent of arresting people for politely holding up signs saying "Remember Tibet", so that they wouldn't offend the Chinese President. By being seen by him.

    Yep, I agree. And Musk's attempts to destabilise the UK are far more egregious than anything the Chinese have done.

    Are you actually insane? China has continually actually tried to spy on the UK through various means and has recently been caught attempting to infiltrate UK defence companies with spies.

    I'll let you into a secret here - the US spies on the UK too. And we spy on the US.

  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,771
    RIP the once respected PB commenter @SouthamObserver

    Flowers/donations can be sent to the Musk Derangement Syndrome Research Institute, which does vital work helping those afflicted with this sad mental virus, albeit too late for our esteemed friend from Devon
  • CookieCookie Posts: 13,913

    Leon said:

    MaxPB said:

    Nigelb said:

    Another interference story: Labour linked group plans to “kill Musk’s Twitter”.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/labour-linked-censorship-group-plans-to-kill-musks-twitter/

    Why is that interference ?
    Twitter is the American town square. Foreigners trying to kill it is basically an act of war.

    Twitter is Musk's plaything. Musk is an anti-British Putinist. It's an act of patriotism to seek to destabilise him and reduce his influence.
    How is Musk anti-British?

    He seeks to undermine our courts and our democracy. He thinks we are on the verge of civil war.
    His platform certainly could have helped us to tip us over the edge in August, had not Starmer done a good job at that time.

    His platform is currently crawling with anti-semitic and literally neo-Nazi propaganda and imagery, as I've posted and referenced to several times, and nothing is being done.

    Apparently we should be licking his arse because he is a great engineer.

    No we should be courting his companies because he's got $400bn to spend. Labour doing the opposite harms the nation.

    Lots of people have lots of money to spend. A sensible government makes sure that we are not beholden to despots and tyrants who seek to harm the UK, or their close friends. Rolling out the carpet to Putinists is not a great idea.

    We rolled out the red carpet to the Chinese Government, many times.

    To the extent of arresting people for politely holding up signs saying "Remember Tibet", so that they wouldn't offend the Chinese President. By being seen by him.

    Yep, I agree. And Musk's attempts to destabilise the UK are far more egregious than anything the Chinese have done.

    Come on, you are now starting to sounds more unhinged that Donald Trump....The Chinese have literally stolen IP from across the West, then undercut 1000s of companies putting out of business.
    I have never witnessed @SouthamObserver spewing such bizarre bilge hitherto. Quite a sight

    I diagnose Musk Derangement Syndrome, Tertiary Stage. A sad case

    Very happy to put my hand up to holding Musk in absolute and total contempt.

    That's fine. But worse than Xi?
    I think you are (quite understandably) rating Trump lower than he actually is because you're scoring Trump against other American presidents and scoring Xi against other Chinese dictators. Trump is a worse option than any other American president I can think of, and Xi is a considerably better option than, say, Mao. But that doesn't make Trump worse than Xi.
  • williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 51,889

    MaxPB said:

    MaxPB said:

    Nigelb said:

    Another interference story: Labour linked group plans to “kill Musk’s Twitter”.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/labour-linked-censorship-group-plans-to-kill-musks-twitter/

    Why is that interference ?
    Twitter is the American town square. Foreigners trying to kill it is basically an act of war.

    Twitter is Musk's plaything. Musk is an anti-British Putinist. It's an act of patriotism to seek to destabilise him and reduce his influence.
    How is Musk anti-British?

    He seeks to undermine our courts and our democracy. He thinks we are on the verge of civil war.
    His platform certainly could have helped us to tip us over the edge in August, had not Starmer done a good job at that time.

    His platform is currently crawling with anti-semitic and literally neo-Nazi propaganda and imagery, as I've posted and referenced to several times, and nothing is being done.

    Apparently we should be licking his arse because he is a great engineer.

    No we should be courting his companies because he's got $400bn to spend. Labour doing the opposite harms the nation.

    Lots of people have lots of money to spend. A sensible government makes sure that we are not beholden to despots and tyrants who seek to harm the UK, or their close friends. Rolling out the carpet to Putinists is not a great idea.

    We rolled out the red carpet to the Chinese Government, many times.

    To the extent of arresting people for politely holding up signs saying "Remember Tibet", so that they wouldn't offend the Chinese President. By being seen by him.

    Yep, I agree. And Musk's attempts to destabilise the UK are far more egregious than anything the Chinese have done.

    Are you actually insane? China has continually actually tried to spy on the UK through various means and has recently been caught attempting to infiltrate UK defence companies with spies.
    Southam is in fact right, here.

    China has not so far used TikTok to increase the chances of civil war in the U.K.
    If someone had control of the levers of power in the UK, and they were secretly aiming to increase the chances of civil war, what kind of things would they do?
  • SouthamObserverSouthamObserver Posts: 39,667
    MaxPB said:

    MaxPB said:

    Nigelb said:

    Another interference story: Labour linked group plans to “kill Musk’s Twitter”.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/labour-linked-censorship-group-plans-to-kill-musks-twitter/

    Why is that interference ?
    Twitter is the American town square. Foreigners trying to kill it is basically an act of war.

    Twitter is Musk's plaything. Musk is an anti-British Putinist. It's an act of patriotism to seek to destabilise him and reduce his influence.
    How is Musk anti-British?

    He seeks to undermine our courts and our democracy. He thinks we are on the verge of civil war.
    His platform certainly could have helped us to tip us over the edge in August, had not Starmer done a good job at that time.

    His platform is currently crawling with anti-semitic and literally neo-Nazi propaganda and imagery, as I've posted and referenced to several times, and nothing is being done.

    Apparently we should be licking his arse because he is a great engineer.

    No we should be courting his companies because he's got $400bn to spend. Labour doing the opposite harms the nation.

    Lots of people have lots of money to spend. A sensible government makes sure that we are not beholden to despots and tyrants who seek to harm the UK, or their close friends. Rolling out the carpet to Putinists is not a great idea.

    We rolled out the red carpet to the Chinese Government, many times.

    To the extent of arresting people for politely holding up signs saying "Remember Tibet", so that they wouldn't offend the Chinese President. By being seen by him.

    Yep, I agree. And Musk's attempts to destabilise the UK are far more egregious than anything the Chinese have done.

    Come on, you are now starting to sounds more unhinged that Donald Trump....The Chinese have literally stolen IP from across the West, then undercut 1000s of companies putting out of business. They regularly hack state organisations and businesses, going way beyond the usual international norms of spying. They put countries into debt into order to control their crucial assets to leverage power over the world. They regularly steal territory in the South China see they have no rights over. They restricted crucial supplies during COVID when they didn't need them. They want to invade Taiwan and take over the semi-conductor industry...

    And you think Musk and his dickish tweets are worse than that.

    I don't think Musk or Trump would have a huge problem with a Chinese invasion of Taiwan - and as for IP theft, Musk is all for it.

    Musk absolutely would because all of his companies rely on TSMC for semiconductors. His business all go bankrupt when China blockades Taiwan. You need to take a step back and think about what you're saying. Right now your position is that money from terrorist supports is all good but money from someone who said mean stuff on twitter should be rejected. I'm not sure if this is intentional but it makes you seem like you belong in a mental institution.

    Musk is in the pocket of Beijing already. He will assume that a PRC-controlled Taiwan will supply him with what he needs. He may well be wrong, as you point out.

    https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/apr/28/elon-musk-makes-unannounced-visit-to-china

    My position is that Elon Musk does not like democracy or the rule of law, and would sell us out to either Putin or Xi if it was worth his while.



  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 38,885

    MaxPB said:

    MaxPB said:

    Nigelb said:

    Another interference story: Labour linked group plans to “kill Musk’s Twitter”.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/labour-linked-censorship-group-plans-to-kill-musks-twitter/

    Why is that interference ?
    Twitter is the American town square. Foreigners trying to kill it is basically an act of war.

    Twitter is Musk's plaything. Musk is an anti-British Putinist. It's an act of patriotism to seek to destabilise him and reduce his influence.
    How is Musk anti-British?

    He seeks to undermine our courts and our democracy. He thinks we are on the verge of civil war.
    His platform certainly could have helped us to tip us over the edge in August, had not Starmer done a good job at that time.

    His platform is currently crawling with anti-semitic and literally neo-Nazi propaganda and imagery, as I've posted and referenced to several times, and nothing is being done.

    Apparently we should be licking his arse because he is a great engineer.

    No we should be courting his companies because he's got $400bn to spend. Labour doing the opposite harms the nation.

    Lots of people have lots of money to spend. A sensible government makes sure that we are not beholden to despots and tyrants who seek to harm the UK, or their close friends. Rolling out the carpet to Putinists is not a great idea.

    We rolled out the red carpet to the Chinese Government, many times.

    To the extent of arresting people for politely holding up signs saying "Remember Tibet", so that they wouldn't offend the Chinese President. By being seen by him.

    Yep, I agree. And Musk's attempts to destabilise the UK are far more egregious than anything the Chinese have done.

    Are you actually insane? China has continually actually tried to spy on the UK through various means and has recently been caught attempting to infiltrate UK defence companies with spies.
    Southam is in fact right, here.

    China has not so far used TikTok to increase the chances of civil war in the U.K.

    Lol you know absolutely nothing about how the TikTok algorithm works then. It exists to make people more extreme by feeding them with small consistent amounts of dopamine every time they see something that affirms their worldview. So someone who might merely dislike immigrants goes onto TikTok and gets fed a diet of how immigrants are all evil rapists who are after their wives and daughters because it keeps that user engaged. There are precisely zero guardrails and there is basically no content moderation, it's completely full of fake news and AI videos masquerading as reality. TikTok was a huge source of what drove people out to riot after the Southport attack, that you don't realise it shows how little you know about social media.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 50,581
    Cookie said:

    Leon said:

    MaxPB said:

    Nigelb said:

    Another interference story: Labour linked group plans to “kill Musk’s Twitter”.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/labour-linked-censorship-group-plans-to-kill-musks-twitter/

    Why is that interference ?
    Twitter is the American town square. Foreigners trying to kill it is basically an act of war.

    Twitter is Musk's plaything. Musk is an anti-British Putinist. It's an act of patriotism to seek to destabilise him and reduce his influence.
    How is Musk anti-British?

    He seeks to undermine our courts and our democracy. He thinks we are on the verge of civil war.
    His platform certainly could have helped us to tip us over the edge in August, had not Starmer done a good job at that time.

    His platform is currently crawling with anti-semitic and literally neo-Nazi propaganda and imagery, as I've posted and referenced to several times, and nothing is being done.

    Apparently we should be licking his arse because he is a great engineer.

    No we should be courting his companies because he's got $400bn to spend. Labour doing the opposite harms the nation.

    Lots of people have lots of money to spend. A sensible government makes sure that we are not beholden to despots and tyrants who seek to harm the UK, or their close friends. Rolling out the carpet to Putinists is not a great idea.

    We rolled out the red carpet to the Chinese Government, many times.

    To the extent of arresting people for politely holding up signs saying "Remember Tibet", so that they wouldn't offend the Chinese President. By being seen by him.

    Yep, I agree. And Musk's attempts to destabilise the UK are far more egregious than anything the Chinese have done.

    Come on, you are now starting to sounds more unhinged that Donald Trump....The Chinese have literally stolen IP from across the West, then undercut 1000s of companies putting out of business.
    I have never witnessed @SouthamObserver spewing such bizarre bilge hitherto. Quite a sight

    I diagnose Musk Derangement Syndrome, Tertiary Stage. A sad case

    Very happy to put my hand up to holding Musk in absolute and total contempt.

    That's fine. But worse than Xi?
    I think you are (quite understandably) rating Trump lower than he actually is because you're scoring Trump against other American presidents and scoring Xi against other Chinese dictators. Trump is a worse option than any other American president I can think of, and Xi is a considerably better option than, say, Mao. But that doesn't make Trump worse than Xi.
    Xi is currently, and quite explicitly, wiping out the culture, language etc of Tibet and doing the same for the Uyghurs
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 82,311
    Has somebody laced SO coffee with some of that pink coke?
  • SouthamObserverSouthamObserver Posts: 39,667
    Cookie said:

    Leon said:

    MaxPB said:

    Nigelb said:

    Another interference story: Labour linked group plans to “kill Musk’s Twitter”.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/labour-linked-censorship-group-plans-to-kill-musks-twitter/

    Why is that interference ?
    Twitter is the American town square. Foreigners trying to kill it is basically an act of war.

    Twitter is Musk's plaything. Musk is an anti-British Putinist. It's an act of patriotism to seek to destabilise him and reduce his influence.
    How is Musk anti-British?

    He seeks to undermine our courts and our democracy. He thinks we are on the verge of civil war.
    His platform certainly could have helped us to tip us over the edge in August, had not Starmer done a good job at that time.

    His platform is currently crawling with anti-semitic and literally neo-Nazi propaganda and imagery, as I've posted and referenced to several times, and nothing is being done.

    Apparently we should be licking his arse because he is a great engineer.

    No we should be courting his companies because he's got $400bn to spend. Labour doing the opposite harms the nation.

    Lots of people have lots of money to spend. A sensible government makes sure that we are not beholden to despots and tyrants who seek to harm the UK, or their close friends. Rolling out the carpet to Putinists is not a great idea.

    We rolled out the red carpet to the Chinese Government, many times.

    To the extent of arresting people for politely holding up signs saying "Remember Tibet", so that they wouldn't offend the Chinese President. By being seen by him.

    Yep, I agree. And Musk's attempts to destabilise the UK are far more egregious than anything the Chinese have done.

    Come on, you are now starting to sounds more unhinged that Donald Trump....The Chinese have literally stolen IP from across the West, then undercut 1000s of companies putting out of business.
    I have never witnessed @SouthamObserver spewing such bizarre bilge hitherto. Quite a sight

    I diagnose Musk Derangement Syndrome, Tertiary Stage. A sad case

    Very happy to put my hand up to holding Musk in absolute and total contempt.

    That's fine. But worse than Xi?
    I think you are (quite understandably) rating Trump lower than he actually is because you're scoring Trump against other American presidents and scoring Xi against other Chinese dictators. Trump is a worse option than any other American president I can think of, and Xi is a considerably better option than, say, Mao. But that doesn't make Trump worse than Xi.

    I think Trump would do everything Xi does if he felt he could and would prefer him not to be given the opportunity.

  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 82,311
    edited October 23

    Cookie said:

    Leon said:

    MaxPB said:

    Nigelb said:

    Another interference story: Labour linked group plans to “kill Musk’s Twitter”.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/labour-linked-censorship-group-plans-to-kill-musks-twitter/

    Why is that interference ?
    Twitter is the American town square. Foreigners trying to kill it is basically an act of war.

    Twitter is Musk's plaything. Musk is an anti-British Putinist. It's an act of patriotism to seek to destabilise him and reduce his influence.
    How is Musk anti-British?

    He seeks to undermine our courts and our democracy. He thinks we are on the verge of civil war.
    His platform certainly could have helped us to tip us over the edge in August, had not Starmer done a good job at that time.

    His platform is currently crawling with anti-semitic and literally neo-Nazi propaganda and imagery, as I've posted and referenced to several times, and nothing is being done.

    Apparently we should be licking his arse because he is a great engineer.

    No we should be courting his companies because he's got $400bn to spend. Labour doing the opposite harms the nation.

    Lots of people have lots of money to spend. A sensible government makes sure that we are not beholden to despots and tyrants who seek to harm the UK, or their close friends. Rolling out the carpet to Putinists is not a great idea.

    We rolled out the red carpet to the Chinese Government, many times.

    To the extent of arresting people for politely holding up signs saying "Remember Tibet", so that they wouldn't offend the Chinese President. By being seen by him.

    Yep, I agree. And Musk's attempts to destabilise the UK are far more egregious than anything the Chinese have done.

    Come on, you are now starting to sounds more unhinged that Donald Trump....The Chinese have literally stolen IP from across the West, then undercut 1000s of companies putting out of business.
    I have never witnessed @SouthamObserver spewing such bizarre bilge hitherto. Quite a sight

    I diagnose Musk Derangement Syndrome, Tertiary Stage. A sad case

    Very happy to put my hand up to holding Musk in absolute and total contempt.

    That's fine. But worse than Xi?
    I think you are (quite understandably) rating Trump lower than he actually is because you're scoring Trump against other American presidents and scoring Xi against other Chinese dictators. Trump is a worse option than any other American president I can think of, and Xi is a considerably better option than, say, Mao. But that doesn't make Trump worse than Xi.
    Xi is currently, and quite explicitly, wiping out the culture, language etc of Tibet and doing the same for the Uyghurs
    Yeah but Elon Musk sent some nasty tweets....

    Those Uyghurs who survive are of course sent into slavery in for instance the cotton fields, which is then used to make Shein products...and which country looks like they will let them list on the stock market, US, no they banned them, oh, the UK.
  • bondegezoubondegezou Posts: 11,231

    Scott_xP said:

    Anyone who votes for Trump knows who he is. They have agency and they are happy to overlook his racism, his criminality, his opposition to democracy and the rule of law, his support for Putin and so on. But the Democrats messed up by failing to understand just how many Americans really don't mind voting for such a candidate if they do not like the alternative. If it wasn't for the harm a Trump presidency will do the UK, I would be watching all this with detached interest. But the forthcoming betrayal of Ukraine and trans-Atlantic trade war are going to be very bad for us. It's worrying.

    People vote for fascists, again and again, despite the lessons from history.

    We assume that Hitler was an aberration, but it appears a lot of Americans don't see it that way.
    Trump isn't Hitler. He is more like Peron, or Boulanger.
    Trump is Trump. But the pattern of dehumanising an “enemy within” and the proposed ‘strong man’ approach to fix a supposed security risk is too familiar and very concerning, whether the better model is Hitler, Perón or Boulanger.
    People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. We live in a country where the deputy Prime Minister calls political opponents 'scum'.
    That’s not remotely comparable. Calling your political opponents “scum” once and apologising for it does not compare with repeatedly calling immigrants “animals” and less than human, and when challenged on the matter, doubling down on the comments. Or indeed threatening using the military against your political opponents.

    Also, I made those attacks on Trumps. I am not Angela Rayner. I did not vote for and do no support Rayner’s party. Rayner does not speak for me. So, this is a pretty desperate attempt at whataboutery to bring Rayner’s comments into the discussion.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,771

    Has somebody laced SO coffee with some of that pink coke?

    @SouthamObserver actually said this:

    “Musk's attempts to destabilise the UK are far more egregious than anything the Chinese have done.”

    I propose this is preserved in Lithuanian amber, so that young PBers in the far future can marvel at such things, and feel a bit better if they ever say similarly twattish things, themselves
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 50,581

    Has somebody laced SO coffee with some of that pink coke?

    No, it is simpler than that - culturally calibrated expectations

    Elon Musk is a white guy who probably has a vaguely Christian background. So he is held to one standard.
    Xi is Chinese and not Christian and comes from a country of furiners. So they are expected to be a bit genocidal.
    The Saudis are further down the tree and anything they manage above not chopping up journalists is to be applauded.
  • SouthamObserverSouthamObserver Posts: 39,667

    MaxPB said:

    Nigelb said:

    Another interference story: Labour linked group plans to “kill Musk’s Twitter”.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/labour-linked-censorship-group-plans-to-kill-musks-twitter/

    Why is that interference ?
    Twitter is the American town square. Foreigners trying to kill it is basically an act of war.

    Twitter is Musk's plaything. Musk is an anti-British Putinist. It's an act of patriotism to seek to destabilise him and reduce his influence.
    How is Musk anti-British?

    He seeks to undermine our courts and our democracy. He thinks we are on the verge of civil war.
    His platform certainly could have helped us to tip us over the edge in August, had not Starmer done a good job at that time.

    His platform is currently crawling with anti-semitic and literally neo-Nazi propaganda and imagery, as I've posted and referenced to several times, and nothing is being done.

    Apparently we should be licking his arse because he is a great engineer.

    No we should be courting his companies because he's got $400bn to spend. Labour doing the opposite harms the nation.

    Lots of people have lots of money to spend. A sensible government makes sure that we are not beholden to despots and tyrants who seek to harm the UK, or their close friends. Rolling out the carpet to Putinists is not a great idea.

    We rolled out the red carpet to the Chinese Government, many times.

    To the extent of arresting people for politely holding up signs saying "Remember Tibet", so that they wouldn't offend the Chinese President. By being seen by him.

    Yep, I agree. And Musk's attempts to destabilise the UK are far more egregious than anything the Chinese have done.

    Come on, you are now starting to sounds more unhinged that Donald Trump....The Chinese have literally stolen IP from across the West, then undercut 1000s of companies putting out of business. They regularly hack state organisations and businesses, going way beyond the usual international norms of spying. They put countries into debt into order to control their crucial assets to leverage power over the world. They regularly steal territory in the South China see they have no rights over. They restricted crucial supplies during COVID when they didn't need them. They want to invade Taiwan and take over the semi-conductor industry...

    And you think Musk and his dickish tweets are worse than that.

    I don't think Musk or Trump would have a huge problem with a Chinese invasion of Taiwan - and as for IP theft, Musk is all for it.

    I am sorry but you sound proper mental.

    And you sound immensely complacent. Having spent the last 30 years building and then selling quite a successful business focused on IP I think I am pretty well informed on how it all works.

    That said, I hope very much that you are right and I am wrong. I guess we will find out over the next few years.

  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 42,975
    On TSMC:

    Industry scuttlebutt has it that they have plans to destroy the Taiwanese plants in the event of a Chinese invasion. Fabs are very big and would be quite hard to destroy; but there are machines that would be much simpler to sabotage.

    I've no idea if the rumours are true, but they would make sense.
  • SouthamObserverSouthamObserver Posts: 39,667

    Has somebody laced SO coffee with some of that pink coke?

    No, it is simpler than that - culturally calibrated expectations

    Elon Musk is a white guy who probably has a vaguely Christian background. So he is held to one standard.
    Xi is Chinese and not Christian and comes from a country of furiners. So they are expected to be a bit genocidal.
    The Saudis are further down the tree and anything they manage above not chopping up journalists is to be applauded.

    Just because you want it to be true does not mean that it is true.

  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 71,524
    Model that.

    North Carolina 🌄
    Mail: 110,613 ballots
    Early In-Person: 1,595,486 ballots

    Ballots by party registration:
    🔵 Democratic 34.5% | 589,084 votes
    🔴 Republican 33.9% | 578,528 votes
    ⚪️ Other 31.6% | 538,487 votes

    https://x.com/VoteHubUS/status/1849093639265284546
  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 38,885

    Has somebody laced SO coffee with some of that pink coke?

    No, it is simpler than that - culturally calibrated expectations

    Elon Musk is a white guy who probably has a vaguely Christian background. So he is held to one standard.
    Xi is Chinese and not Christian and comes from a country of furiners. So they are expected to be a bit genocidal.
    The Saudis are further down the tree and anything they manage above not chopping up journalists is to be applauded.

    Just because you want it to be true does not mean that it is true.

    You've literally espoused exactly this kind of judgement though.
  • SouthamObserverSouthamObserver Posts: 39,667
    MaxPB said:

    Has somebody laced SO coffee with some of that pink coke?

    No, it is simpler than that - culturally calibrated expectations

    Elon Musk is a white guy who probably has a vaguely Christian background. So he is held to one standard.
    Xi is Chinese and not Christian and comes from a country of furiners. So they are expected to be a bit genocidal.
    The Saudis are further down the tree and anything they manage above not chopping up journalists is to be applauded.

    Just because you want it to be true does not mean that it is true.

    You've literally espoused exactly this kind of judgement though.

    No, I literally haven't.

  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,771
    edited October 23

    On TSMC:

    Industry scuttlebutt has it that they have plans to destroy the Taiwanese plants in the event of a Chinese invasion. Fabs are very big and would be quite hard to destroy; but there are machines that would be much simpler to sabotage.

    I've no idea if the rumours are true, but they would make sense.

    This is fascinating. But it would help if you say who “they” are??!
  • williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 51,889
    Leon said:

    Has somebody laced SO coffee with some of that pink coke?

    @SouthamObserver actually said this:

    “Musk's attempts to destabilise the UK are far more egregious than anything the Chinese have done.”

    I propose this is preserved in Lithuanian amber, so that young PBers in the far future can marvel at such things, and feel a bit better if they ever say similarly twattish things, themselves
    Southam's comments make perfect sense if you replace "the UK" with "my sense of equilibrium". Financing terrorism or conducting economic war against us is fine because it doesn't affect his mental state, but people like Trump or Musk are evil because they make him feel bad and force him to question his assumptions about the march of progress.
  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 38,885
    Leon said:

    On TSMC:

    Industry scuttlebutt has it that they have plans to destroy the Taiwanese plants in the event of a Chinese invasion. Fabs are very big and would be quite hard to destroy; but there are machines that would be much simpler to sabotage.

    I've no idea if the rumours are true, but they would make sense.

    This is fascinating. But it would help if you say who “they” are??!
    America, I presume.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,771

    Leon said:

    Has somebody laced SO coffee with some of that pink coke?

    @SouthamObserver actually said this:

    “Musk's attempts to destabilise the UK are far more egregious than anything the Chinese have done.”

    I propose this is preserved in Lithuanian amber, so that young PBers in the far future can marvel at such things, and feel a bit better if they ever say similarly twattish things, themselves
    Southam's comments make perfect sense if you replace "the UK" with "my sense of equilibrium". Financing terrorism or conducting economic war against us is fine because it doesn't affect his mental state, but people like Trump or Musk are evil because they make him feel bad and force him to question his assumptions about the march of progress.
    Astute
  • MattWMattW Posts: 23,476
    edited October 23

    MattW said:

    I must say it does irritate me when Britons write letters, take leave and go out to campaign in US elections, on any side.

    It's none of our business. And would piss me off were I an American.

    I agree with you 100% CR.

    There’s something dozy about Starmer’s government, and all the pushy but useless advisers around him and running the party are very naive.

    Why are Labour flooding a foreign election with activists in a time of sensitivity about foreign interference in elections?

    I think Labour have messed up and given Trump a win. Not a technical win, but a broad brush win. But this isn’t a technical election, but a broad brush election.

    Dopey, naive Labour handing Trump easy broad brush win. In a tight election. 🤬
    To me this is straw clutching and making straw men. A non-story.

    Activists crossing the pond in search of experience or technique, whilst helping a sister party, is just standard operating procedure. Tory <> Republican. Labour <> Democrat. With some overlap of categories. Either flying over at the time, or whilst on the other side for work or education.

    Does anyone go back far enough to know the start of this habit? I'd date it perhaps to cheap air travel in the 1960s/1970s.
    Yours is a strong response to what I put. But you are still wrong on two points of reality.

    It HAS allowed Trump campaign to score a broadbrush win here, adding the UK Labour Party to the list of malign foreign actors such as the Putin regime, interfering in US democracy. It matters as malign foreign actors in the election are now seen as not entirely for Trump, but Harris too. And matters as it allows MAGA leadership prominent media time to paint UK Labour Party as extremely left wing and anti American. And for many Americans, this is how they will now know Starmer’s Labour. This is actually happening in front your eyes, so you can’t dismiss it as harmless.

    Also, in reality, there is no such thing as sister parties in other countries.Those sisters parties are patriotic nationalists to their own country, whose interests and values cannot completely be shared with ours. It’s as daft as finding the aliens from the planet Zarg rather cute. They are not cute. Any second they can turn ugly and vicious, and lethal to you.

    What the immature children running the Labour Party done here is simply daft.
    I think you are some way off on both.

    IMO it's really just Trump's people desperate to triangulate on his Election Interference, for which a huge amount of evidence has come into the public domain in the last fortnight - another straw to clutch at. I'm not sure what marginal effects will be, as the polling on the numbers who have made their mind up have been high for some time.

    It *may* have given Trump a PR stunt. But how many Usonians know about it? How many have flagged it as changing their perceptions? How many speeches has he mentioned it in? How many extra votes has he got because of it? How many votes has he lost? Where? From whom? How does the line play alongside his paymaster Elon Musk's interventions in UK politics?

    "Sister parties" is imo simply a reality what exists of long lasting relationships between parties in different countries, either at an institutional level or at a more relationship level. The Lib Dems, for example, have been in the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE), which has existed since the mid-1970s, across scores of countries; that's sister parties. At a cross-Atlantic level it has been happening forever, and it will continue to happen.
  • SelebianSelebian Posts: 8,806
    "Number of people dead and injured after attack at Ankara aviation firm, minister says"
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c4ngqldqg8pt
    TAI
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 50,581

    On TSMC:

    Industry scuttlebutt has it that they have plans to destroy the Taiwanese plants in the event of a Chinese invasion. Fabs are very big and would be quite hard to destroy; but there are machines that would be much simpler to sabotage.

    I've no idea if the rumours are true, but they would make sense.

    That's long been disseminated. So the story goes, the Taiwanese told the Chinese that this is what would happen in the event of an invasion.

    Given the fun chemicals available, destruction would be quite simple.
  • bondegezoubondegezou Posts: 11,231
    HYUFD said:

    Nigelb said:

    Another interference story: Labour linked group plans to “kill Musk’s Twitter”.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/labour-linked-censorship-group-plans-to-kill-musks-twitter/

    Why is that interference ?
    Twitter is the American town square. Foreigners trying to kill it is basically an act of war.

    Twitter is Musk's plaything. Musk is an anti-British Putinist. It's an act of patriotism to seek to destabilise him and reduce his influence.

    Musk is anti woke, anti Democrat, anti over regulation, anti EU but he isn't anti British
    He claimed we were on the brink of civil war, when we weren’t. That’s at best extremely stupid and ill-informed about Britain.
  • MaxPB said:

    MaxPB said:

    MaxPB said:

    Nigelb said:

    Another interference story: Labour linked group plans to “kill Musk’s Twitter”.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/labour-linked-censorship-group-plans-to-kill-musks-twitter/

    Why is that interference ?
    Twitter is the American town square. Foreigners trying to kill it is basically an act of war.

    Twitter is Musk's plaything. Musk is an anti-British Putinist. It's an act of patriotism to seek to destabilise him and reduce his influence.
    How is Musk anti-British?

    He seeks to undermine our courts and our democracy. He thinks we are on the verge of civil war.
    His platform certainly could have helped us to tip us over the edge in August, had not Starmer done a good job at that time.

    His platform is currently crawling with anti-semitic and literally neo-Nazi propaganda and imagery, as I've posted and referenced to several times, and nothing is being done.

    Apparently we should be licking his arse because he is a great engineer.

    No we should be courting his companies because he's got $400bn to spend. Labour doing the opposite harms the nation.

    Lots of people have lots of money to spend. A sensible government makes sure that we are not beholden to despots and tyrants who seek to harm the UK, or their close friends. Rolling out the carpet to Putinists is not a great idea.

    We rolled out the red carpet to the Chinese Government, many times.

    To the extent of arresting people for politely holding up signs saying "Remember Tibet", so that they wouldn't offend the Chinese President. By being seen by him.

    Yep, I agree. And Musk's attempts to destabilise the UK are far more egregious than anything the Chinese have done.

    Are you actually insane? China has continually actually tried to spy on the UK through various means and has recently been caught attempting to infiltrate UK defence companies with spies.
    Southam is in fact right, here.

    China has not so far used TikTok to increase the chances of civil war in the U.K.

    Lol you know absolutely nothing about how the TikTok algorithm works then. It exists to make people more extreme by feeding them with small consistent amounts of dopamine every time they see something that affirms their worldview. So someone who might merely dislike immigrants goes onto TikTok and gets fed a diet of how immigrants are all evil rapists who are after their wives and daughters because it keeps that user engaged. There are precisely zero guardrails and there is basically no content moderation, it's completely full of fake news and AI videos masquerading as reality. TikTok was a huge source of what drove people out to riot after the Southport attack, that you don't realise it shows how little you know about social media.
    This also how roughly
    Facebook, and X work.

    But neither Xi or Zuckerberg have explicitly interfered in UK daily life and culture, essentially from what is the digital street-level, at a moment when civil order nearly broke down altogether in the U.K.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,771
    Selebian said:

    "Number of people dead and injured after attack at Ankara aviation firm, minister says"
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c4ngqldqg8pt
    TAI

    Cui bono? Armenia?
  • turbotubbsturbotubbs Posts: 17,515

    Scott_xP said:

    Anyone who votes for Trump knows who he is. They have agency and they are happy to overlook his racism, his criminality, his opposition to democracy and the rule of law, his support for Putin and so on. But the Democrats messed up by failing to understand just how many Americans really don't mind voting for such a candidate if they do not like the alternative. If it wasn't for the harm a Trump presidency will do the UK, I would be watching all this with detached interest. But the forthcoming betrayal of Ukraine and trans-Atlantic trade war are going to be very bad for us. It's worrying.

    People vote for fascists, again and again, despite the lessons from history.

    We assume that Hitler was an aberration, but it appears a lot of Americans don't see it that way.
    Trump isn't Hitler. He is more like Peron, or Boulanger.
    Trump is Trump. But the pattern of dehumanising an “enemy within” and the proposed ‘strong man’ approach to fix a supposed security risk is too familiar and very concerning, whether the better model is Hitler, Perón or Boulanger.
    People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. We live in a country where the deputy Prime Minister calls political opponents 'scum'.
    That’s not remotely comparable. Calling your political opponents “scum” once and apologising for it does not compare with repeatedly calling immigrants “animals” and less than human, and when challenged on the matter, doubling down on the comments. Or indeed threatening using the military against your political opponents.

    Also, I made those attacks on Trumps. I am not Angela Rayner. I did not vote for and do no support Rayner’s party. Rayner does not speak for me. So, this is a pretty desperate attempt at whataboutery to bring Rayner’s comments into the discussion.
    "Calling your political opponents “scum” once and apologising for it"

    Point 1 - I doubt she's only done it once.
    Point 2 - she almost certainly believes it (and that's up to her)
    Point 3 - the apology was rather dragged out of her, like you get from a five year old. I don't believe she meant it
  • SouthamObserverSouthamObserver Posts: 39,667

    Leon said:

    Has somebody laced SO coffee with some of that pink coke?

    @SouthamObserver actually said this:

    “Musk's attempts to destabilise the UK are far more egregious than anything the Chinese have done.”

    I propose this is preserved in Lithuanian amber, so that young PBers in the far future can marvel at such things, and feel a bit better if they ever say similarly twattish things, themselves
    Southam's comments make perfect sense if you replace "the UK" with "my sense of equilibrium". Financing terrorism or conducting economic war against us is fine because it doesn't affect his mental state, but people like Trump or Musk are evil because they make him feel bad and force him to question his assumptions about the march of progress.

    I see Trump and Musk as far more pressing concerns as there is a US Presidential election in two weeks and if Trump wins - which seems very likely - vital UK security, defence and economic interests will be put at immediate and very significant risk.

  • williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 51,889
    Jon Ralston thinks the Democrats are in trouble in Nevada:

    https://x.com/ralstonreports/status/1848955983223226621
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 82,311
    edited October 23

    On TSMC:

    Industry scuttlebutt has it that they have plans to destroy the Taiwanese plants in the event of a Chinese invasion. Fabs are very big and would be quite hard to destroy; but there are machines that would be much simpler to sabotage.

    I've no idea if the rumours are true, but they would make sense.

    That's long been disseminated. So the story goes, the Taiwanese told the Chinese that this is what would happen in the event of an invasion.

    Given the fun chemicals available, destruction would be quite simple.
    I presume you also only really need to destroy a parts of the fab e.g. the ASML photolithography machines, are the big thing the Chinese don't have and can't do to the same level.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,771

    Leon said:

    Has somebody laced SO coffee with some of that pink coke?

    @SouthamObserver actually said this:

    “Musk's attempts to destabilise the UK are far more egregious than anything the Chinese have done.”

    I propose this is preserved in Lithuanian amber, so that young PBers in the far future can marvel at such things, and feel a bit better if they ever say similarly twattish things, themselves
    Southam's comments make perfect sense if you replace "the UK" with "my sense of equilibrium". Financing terrorism or conducting economic war against us is fine because it doesn't affect his mental state, but people like Trump or Musk are evil because they make him feel bad and force him to question his assumptions about the march of progress.

    I see Trump and Musk as far more pressing concerns as there is a US Presidential election in two weeks and if Trump wins - which seems very likely - vital UK security, defence and economic interests will be put at immediate and very significant risk.

    I think it’s best if you go quiet for a while. Have a chocolate Hobnob. Consider some of the lunatic remarks you’ve made today. Repine

    Then return, refreshed, and ready for the jousting, once again
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 50,581

    On TSMC:

    Industry scuttlebutt has it that they have plans to destroy the Taiwanese plants in the event of a Chinese invasion. Fabs are very big and would be quite hard to destroy; but there are machines that would be much simpler to sabotage.

    I've no idea if the rumours are true, but they would make sense.

    That's long been disseminated. So the story goes, the Taiwanese told the Chinese that this is what would happen in the event of an invasion.

    Given the fun chemicals available, destruction would be quite simple.
    I presume you also only really need to destroy a parts of the fab e.g. the ASML photolithography machines, are the big thing the Chinese don't have and can't do to the same level.
    Pretty much. And when you have metric tons of the funkier Flourine compounds on site.,.....
  • bondegezoubondegezou Posts: 11,231

    Leon said:

    Nigelb said:

    Another interference story: Labour linked group plans to “kill Musk’s Twitter”.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/labour-linked-censorship-group-plans-to-kill-musks-twitter/

    Why is that interference ?
    Twitter is the American town square. Foreigners trying to kill it is basically an act of war.

    Twitter is Musk's plaything. Musk is an anti-British Putinist. It's an act of patriotism to seek to destabilise him and reduce his influence.

    Oh shut the fuck up

    When you land a rocket into a giant pair of metal chopsticks thereby paving the way to mankind living on Mars do get back to us

    Being a brilliant engineer does not give you carte blanche to do whatever you like to subvert democracy and destabilise other countries.

    It doesn’t. However, we’re talking about Musk. He isn’t even a brilliant engineer. He didn’t design the engineering at SpaceX. People at SpaceX even talked about how great it was that he was distracted by Twitter and they could get on with doing better work! https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-employees-elon-musk-focus-twitter-ceo-2023-1
  • JonathanJonathan Posts: 21,685
    If Musk wanted to do business in the U.K. he probably wouldn’t have spent the summer slagging the UK off on the internet.

    Someone who thinks we are embarking on civil war is not exactly the hottest investment prospect.
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 32,712
    edited October 23
    I think the whole Trump phenomenon could have been dealt with successfully almost as soon as it arose. But that was always unlikely given the American attitude of never admitting you might be wrong about anything.
  • SelebianSelebian Posts: 8,806
    edited October 23
    Leon said:

    Selebian said:

    "Number of people dead and injured after attack at Ankara aviation firm, minister says"
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c4ngqldqg8pt
    TAI

    Cui bono? Armenia?
    PKK or another Kurdish group would be a possibility, I guess - although, to UK news at least, that particular conflict seems to have cooled a bit in recent years.

    ETA: I guess we'll know soon enough.
  • bondegezoubondegezou Posts: 11,231

    MaxPB said:

    HYUFD said:

    Nigelb said:

    Another interference story: Labour linked group plans to “kill Musk’s Twitter”.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/labour-linked-censorship-group-plans-to-kill-musks-twitter/

    Why is that interference ?
    Twitter is the American town square. Foreigners trying to kill it is basically an act of war.

    Twitter is Musk's plaything. Musk is an anti-British Putinist. It's an act of patriotism to seek to destabilise him and reduce his influence.

    Musk is anti woke, anti Democrat, anti over regulation, anti EU but he isn't anti British
    He's anti-Labour, he's not anti-British. If he helps to destabilise the Labour party so much the better.

    He's not anti-Labour, he's anti-anyone whose view of the world does not coincide with his, which is pro-Trump, pro-Putinist and anti-democratic.
    Are you not anti-anyone whose view of the world doesn't coincide with yours?
    I’m not. Some people’s view of the world is that motor racing, vinyl records and celery are a good thing. These views don’t coincide with my own. But I don’t wish ill on such people. I relish living in a world of different opinions. Because I’m not a nutty fascist.
  • turbotubbsturbotubbs Posts: 17,515

    Leon said:

    Nigelb said:

    Another interference story: Labour linked group plans to “kill Musk’s Twitter”.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/labour-linked-censorship-group-plans-to-kill-musks-twitter/

    Why is that interference ?
    Twitter is the American town square. Foreigners trying to kill it is basically an act of war.

    Twitter is Musk's plaything. Musk is an anti-British Putinist. It's an act of patriotism to seek to destabilise him and reduce his influence.

    Oh shut the fuck up

    When you land a rocket into a giant pair of metal chopsticks thereby paving the way to mankind living on Mars do get back to us

    Being a brilliant engineer does not give you carte blanche to do whatever you like to subvert democracy and destabilise other countries.

    It doesn’t. However, we’re talking about Musk. He isn’t even a brilliant engineer. He didn’t design the engineering at SpaceX. People at SpaceX even talked about how great it was that he was distracted by Twitter and they could get on with doing better work! https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-employees-elon-musk-focus-twitter-ceo-2023-1
    I don't know much about Musk but it strikes me that he must be good at something - he has made himself phenomenally wealthy somehow.

    I recall my engineering colleagues appraisal of Dyson. Dyson made many many intermediate designs when trying to make his bagless vacuum cleaner. To an engineer this is poor practice - a better approach would be to learn from the mistakes and get there in far fewer iterations.

    And yet Dyson is fabulously wealthy.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 71,524
    Leon said:

    Selebian said:

    "Number of people dead and injured after attack at Ankara aviation firm, minister says"
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c4ngqldqg8pt
    TAI

    Cui bono? Armenia?
    Russia.
  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 38,885

    MaxPB said:

    MaxPB said:

    MaxPB said:

    Nigelb said:

    Another interference story: Labour linked group plans to “kill Musk’s Twitter”.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/labour-linked-censorship-group-plans-to-kill-musks-twitter/

    Why is that interference ?
    Twitter is the American town square. Foreigners trying to kill it is basically an act of war.

    Twitter is Musk's plaything. Musk is an anti-British Putinist. It's an act of patriotism to seek to destabilise him and reduce his influence.
    How is Musk anti-British?

    He seeks to undermine our courts and our democracy. He thinks we are on the verge of civil war.
    His platform certainly could have helped us to tip us over the edge in August, had not Starmer done a good job at that time.

    His platform is currently crawling with anti-semitic and literally neo-Nazi propaganda and imagery, as I've posted and referenced to several times, and nothing is being done.

    Apparently we should be licking his arse because he is a great engineer.

    No we should be courting his companies because he's got $400bn to spend. Labour doing the opposite harms the nation.

    Lots of people have lots of money to spend. A sensible government makes sure that we are not beholden to despots and tyrants who seek to harm the UK, or their close friends. Rolling out the carpet to Putinists is not a great idea.

    We rolled out the red carpet to the Chinese Government, many times.

    To the extent of arresting people for politely holding up signs saying "Remember Tibet", so that they wouldn't offend the Chinese President. By being seen by him.

    Yep, I agree. And Musk's attempts to destabilise the UK are far more egregious than anything the Chinese have done.

    Are you actually insane? China has continually actually tried to spy on the UK through various means and has recently been caught attempting to infiltrate UK defence companies with spies.
    Southam is in fact right, here.

    China has not so far used TikTok to increase the chances of civil war in the U.K.

    Lol you know absolutely nothing about how the TikTok algorithm works then. It exists to make people more extreme by feeding them with small consistent amounts of dopamine every time they see something that affirms their worldview. So someone who might merely dislike immigrants goes onto TikTok and gets fed a diet of how immigrants are all evil rapists who are after their wives and daughters because it keeps that user engaged. There are precisely zero guardrails and there is basically no content moderation, it's completely full of fake news and AI videos masquerading as reality. TikTok was a huge source of what drove people out to riot after the Southport attack, that you don't realise it shows how little you know about social media.
    This also how roughly
    Facebook, and X work.

    But neither Xi or Zuckerberg have explicitly interfered in UK daily life and culture, essentially from what is the digital street-level, at a moment when civil order nearly broke down altogether in the U.K.
    Twitter for sure, Facebook is a little bit different because they've introduced a lot of guard rails on what people can see and they quite heavily moderate content compared to just a couple of years ago. They have made it much more difficult to doom scroll on Instagram than it used to be because they were being implicated in suicides among teenage girls and boys.

    However, TikTok is at a completely different level, I've had eyes on their data operations, it's a zero morality algorithm. Twitter and Meta still have to abide by US regulations on data, TikTok has no such trouble and is directed by the Chinese government. The local version of Tiktok in China has got loads more regulation applied to it on data gathering and processing, there are strict guardrails around how much "negatively reinforcing" content can be shown to users etc... which China of course doesn't apply to TikTok.

    This is basically what I do for a living these days, I don't think you grasp just how much worse TikTok is and how much brain rot it is responsible for across the US and UK. If the government actually understood they'd have banned it yesterday. Just as an example, you can chart the rise of TikTok with the rise of younger men in the US becoming much more right wing, it was a much slower process with just Twitter and Facebook, when TikTok arrived the movement got rocket boosters attached to it.
  • bondegezoubondegezou Posts: 11,231

    MaxPB said:

    MaxPB said:

    Nigelb said:

    Another interference story: Labour linked group plans to “kill Musk’s Twitter”.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/labour-linked-censorship-group-plans-to-kill-musks-twitter/

    Why is that interference ?
    Twitter is the American town square. Foreigners trying to kill it is basically an act of war.

    Twitter is Musk's plaything. Musk is an anti-British Putinist. It's an act of patriotism to seek to destabilise him and reduce his influence.
    How is Musk anti-British?

    He seeks to undermine our courts and our democracy. He thinks we are on the verge of civil war.
    His platform certainly could have helped us to tip us over the edge in August, had not Starmer done a good job at that time.

    His platform is currently crawling with anti-semitic and literally neo-Nazi propaganda and imagery, as I've posted and referenced to several times, and nothing is being done.

    Apparently we should be licking his arse because he is a great engineer.

    No we should be courting his companies because he's got $400bn to spend. Labour doing the opposite harms the nation.

    Lots of people have lots of money to spend. A sensible government makes sure that we are not beholden to despots and tyrants who seek to harm the UK, or their close friends. Rolling out the carpet to Putinists is not a great idea.

    And yet we're happy to go the extra mile to court money from the middle east which is covered in blood. Either we're consistent and don't give a fuck about the source of funding, as we do with middle eastern money, or we tell both Elon Musk and middle eastern governments to get fucked.

    I like the principle. In practice, though, the Saudis and Qataris are not actively seeking to destabilise us. Musk is.

    Also, we haven’t banned or blocked Musk. We just didn’t invite him to one event.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 71,524

    On TSMC:

    Industry scuttlebutt has it that they have plans to destroy the Taiwanese plants in the event of a Chinese invasion. Fabs are very big and would be quite hard to destroy; but there are machines that would be much simpler to sabotage.

    I've no idea if the rumours are true, but they would make sense.

    That's long been disseminated. So the story goes, the Taiwanese told the Chinese that this is what would happen in the event of an invasion.

    Given the fun chemicals available, destruction would be quite simple.
    You'll be long since aware of these details, but new to me.

    Centrifuge technology poses special challenges for nonproliferation efforts (Feiveson, Glaser, Mian and Von Hippel, 2014)
    https://x.com/curiouswavefn/status/1848858807533011063
This discussion has been closed.