You may have missed my point - Southport was not thought to be terror related until it was (and kept from the public beyond that point too).
There are about 3800 stabbings in the UK per year, going on NHS data. A tiny proportion are associated with terrorism: less than half a percent. (There were, I believe, 11 terrorism stabbings in 2020, 1 in 2021, 0 in 2022, and 2 in 2023. In 2024, there has been one by an extreme racist and there were the 13 in the one incident in Southport, although Rudakubana's motives and whether they constituted terrorism are unclear.)
I'm more worried about the >99.5% of non-terrorism related stabbings. I am unclear why the journalist or the reader should rush to a discussion of terrorism in an article of this nature.
There was a recent fatal collision on Edinburgh's Cowgate between a bus and a pedestrian. The aftermath was almost unbelievably grisly.
A very large proportion of Edinburgh Facebook/Twitter commentariat are absolutely convinced that this was a terrorist attack, hushed up "like Southport". What they don't appreciate is just what can happen when a vehicle hits a person - indeed, something very similar happened on Gorgie Road last year.
The problem is that the authorities have used their credit up. There were previous occasions on which they bent the truth, reducing their credibility.
Astonishing statistic from the Remembrance coverage. If the dead being remembered were to march past the Cenotaph three abreast, the back of the column would be...
...in Edinburgh.
At my school, they used to read out all the ex-pupils who died in wars. The reading of WWI, its just went on and on and on and on...in many cases, what seemed like all male members of families.
One of my cousins collected the obituaries of all the family members who were killed in WWI into a short pamphlet. Very sad reading
It was very powerful experience. The last post followed by 100s of names being read out.
You may have missed my point - Southport was not thought to be terror related until it was (and kept from the public beyond that point too).
There are about 3800 stabbings in the UK per year, going on NHS data. A tiny proportion are associated with terrorism: less than half a percent. (There were, I believe, 11 terrorism stabbings in 2020, 1 in 2021, 0 in 2022, and 2 in 2023. In 2024, there has been one by an extreme racist and there were the 13 in the one incident in Southport, although Rudakubana's motives and whether they constituted terrorism are unclear.)
I'm more worried about the >99.5% of non-terrorism related stabbings. I am unclear why the journalist or the reader should rush to a discussion of terrorism in an article of this nature.
There was a recent fatal collision on Edinburgh's Cowgate between a bus and a pedestrian. The aftermath was almost unbelievably grisly.
A very large proportion of Edinburgh Facebook/Twitter commentariat are absolutely convinced that this was a terrorist attack, hushed up "like Southport". What they don't appreciate is just what can happen when a vehicle hits a person - indeed, something very similar happened on Gorgie Road last year.
The problem is that the authorities have used their credit up. There were previous occasions on which they bent the truth, reducing their credibility.
Did Nigel Fucking Farage really fly back just to bitch about not being at the Cenotaph?
Nigel Farage at the Cenotaph would have been an insult, given the number of Europeans that died, without whom the UK would have been on the losing side. On the other hand, Farage would have been an ideal Obersturmbannführer.
This is an exceptionally stupid post, given that without (I assume you mean continental) Europeans, there wouldn't have been a war in the first place.
You may have missed my point - Southport was not thought to be terror related until it was (and kept from the public beyond that point too).
There are about 3800 stabbings in the UK per year, going on NHS data. A tiny proportion are associated with terrorism: less than half a percent. (There were, I believe, 11 terrorism stabbings in 2020, 1 in 2021, 0 in 2022, and 2 in 2023. In 2024, there has been one by an extreme racist and there were the 13 in the one incident in Southport, although Rudakubana's motives and whether they constituted terrorism are unclear.)
I'm more worried about the >99.5% of non-terrorism related stabbings. I am unclear why the journalist or the reader should rush to a discussion of terrorism in an article of this nature.
There was a recent fatal collision on Edinburgh's Cowgate between a bus and a pedestrian. The aftermath was almost unbelievably grisly.
A very large proportion of Edinburgh Facebook/Twitter commentariat are absolutely convinced that this was a terrorist attack, hushed up "like Southport". What they don't appreciate is just what can happen when a vehicle hits a person - indeed, something very similar happened on Gorgie Road last year.
The problem is that the authorities have used their credit up. There were previous occasions on which they bent the truth, reducing their credibility.
Southport has simply used up the last of it.
Now, why would you believe them?
Different authorities ...
People believe that the same patterns of thought and ideas permeate the structures of government through out the U.K.
Having dealt with the various levels of government I would say that is right.
You may have missed my point - Southport was not thought to be terror related until it was (and kept from the public beyond that point too).
There are about 3800 stabbings in the UK per year, going on NHS data. A tiny proportion are associated with terrorism: less than half a percent. (There were, I believe, 11 terrorism stabbings in 2020, 1 in 2021, 0 in 2022, and 2 in 2023. In 2024, there has been one by an extreme racist and there were the 13 in the one incident in Southport, although Rudakubana's motives and whether they constituted terrorism are unclear.)
I'm more worried about the >99.5% of non-terrorism related stabbings. I am unclear why the journalist or the reader should rush to a discussion of terrorism in an article of this nature.
There was a recent fatal collision on Edinburgh's Cowgate between a bus and a pedestrian. The aftermath was almost unbelievably grisly.
A very large proportion of Edinburgh Facebook/Twitter commentariat are absolutely convinced that this was a terrorist attack, hushed up "like Southport". What they don't appreciate is just what can happen when a vehicle hits a person - indeed, something very similar happened on Gorgie Road last year.
The problem is that the authorities have used their credit up. There were previous occasions on which they bent the truth, reducing their credibility.
Southport has simply used up the last of it.
Now, why would you believe them?
Nah, bondegezou is right. People want these incidents to be terrorist attacks - it's confirmation bias.
Did Nigel Fucking Farage really fly back just to bitch about not being at the Cenotaph?
Nigel Farage at the Cenotaph would have been an insult, given the number of Europeans that died, without whom the UK would have been on the losing side. On the other hand, Farage would have been an ideal Obersturmbannführer.
I don't particularly like Farage but that is a deeply fucking stupid comment.
Did Nigel Fucking Farage really fly back just to bitch about not being at the Cenotaph?
Nigel Farage at the Cenotaph would have been an insult, given the number of Europeans that died, without whom the UK would have been on the losing side. On the other hand, Farage would have been an ideal Obersturmbannführer.
This is an exceptionally stupid post, given that without (I assume you mean continental) Europeans, there wouldn't have been a war in the first place.
You sound as if you’re not European. What are you, African, American, Asian?
Got brexit done though didn't he ? Sometimes you just need to do something brave and different
Brave, different, unconstitutional in hiding the AG's advice from the Cabinet, and unlawful.
Indeed, it's a violation of the ministerial code, it was designed to ensure we didn't get a repeat of the Iraq war legal advice.
yeah maybe not upsetting the status quo is the important thing but then Saddam Hussein may still be in power (or Uday ) and Brexit still not done ( ie ignoring the largest turnout vote in many a year for Brexit)
One of the main obstacles to Brexit getting done during May's premiership was Boris Johnson.
Otoh, Johnson's comprehensive Brexit trade deal with the US will protect us from Trump's tarriffs.
Right?
It looks increasingly likely that Trump and Farage are laying a trap for Sir Keir. The UK will be offered exemptions from the tariffs only if we concede to various unacceptable demands - essentially that Farage will become Trump's viceroy of Britain with Sir Keir as little more than his puppet. When Sir Keir, rightly, refuses the economy will tank and Reform will win the next election anyway. That'll be the plan. And who's going to stop it?
As I posted last thread Starmer's government is already wargaming sanctions on US imports in response to tariffs imposed by Trump's administration.Though China, the EU and Brazil will be doing the same.
The Tories and Farage will want him to push a deal with the US but it seems Starmer will ignore them and take a gamble that with the EU and China alongside him he can resist Maga America First.
Of course the next UK general election will not be until the final year of Trump's administration in 2028 in which case the Democrats might be back in charge of Congress after the 2026 midterms or if 5 years and a full term maybe even after a Democrat has returned to the White House too
These things might have been easier to negotiate if Lammy could keep his gob shut about personal opinions about Trump and 100 labour mps did not go to the US to try and interfere in a foreign election
100 staff not MPs!!!!
And they went as volunteers. That happens all the time.
they did not back the winning side though and that is to the detriment of the UK - idiots for doing it in the first place
At the moment I suspect Trump would more likely do a trade deal with Modi's India or Netanyahu's Israel or Milei's Argentina before Starmer's UK
No I don't think so, the Trump team would very much like to cement Brexit in the UK and a favourable trade deal does that as then rejoining the EU has a very high price attached as we would lose the US trade deal. Starmer doesn't enter into the equation IMO, the US under Trump would very much like to drive a wedge between the UK and EU regardless of who the PM is, it is a very high risk double edged sword because there's potential for a really good trade deal to be done but it's going to be like trying to ride a tiger with Trump in charge and a US/UK trade deal also has great potential to piss off the EU and could make any rapprochement less likely.
In pure economic terms a US trade deal should be out priority as it would exempt us from tariffs and allow for our producers to export to a huge market that's bigger than the EU with favourable terms and where our national reputation is really high so receptiveness to UK exports is higher than in lots of EU countries.
I disagree entirely. We neither need nor should want a trade deal with the US beyond what we already have - which curenlty means a substantial trade surplus with the US. We know from experience (both our own and the experience of others) that a trade deal with the US is a poisoned challice and we should waste no time nor effort in pursuing one.
I think we wait and see what crap he comes out with, before deciding a response.
This isn't just about Trump. A free trade deal with the US is a bad idea under any President.
Deal, and free trade deal,are not the same thing, of course,
Did Nigel Fucking Farage really fly back just to bitch about not being at the Cenotaph?
Nigel Farage at the Cenotaph would have been an insult, given the number of Europeans that died, without whom the UK would have been on the losing side. On the other hand, Farage would have been an ideal Obersturmbannführer.
I don't particularly like Farage but that is a deeply fucking stupid comment.
Who’s side would Farage have been on during WW2? I suspect the Nazi side.
Did Nigel Fucking Farage really fly back just to bitch about not being at the Cenotaph?
Nigel Farage at the Cenotaph would have been an insult, given the number of Europeans that died, without whom the UK would have been on the losing side. On the other hand, Farage would have been an ideal Obersturmbannführer.
I don't particularly like Farage but that is a deeply fucking stupid comment.
Got brexit done though didn't he ? Sometimes you just need to do something brave and different
Brave, different, unconstitutional in hiding the AG's advice from the Cabinet, and unlawful.
Indeed, it's a violation of the ministerial code, it was designed to ensure we didn't get a repeat of the Iraq war legal advice.
yeah maybe not upsetting the status quo is the important thing but then Saddam Hussein may still be in power (or Uday ) and Brexit still not done ( ie ignoring the largest turnout vote in many a year for Brexit)
One of the main obstacles to Brexit getting done during May's premiership was Boris Johnson.
Otoh, Johnson's comprehensive Brexit trade deal with the US will protect us from Trump's tarriffs.
Right?
It looks increasingly likely that Trump and Farage are laying a trap for Sir Keir. The UK will be offered exemptions from the tariffs only if we concede to various unacceptable demands - essentially that Farage will become Trump's viceroy of Britain with Sir Keir as little more than his puppet. When Sir Keir, rightly, refuses the economy will tank and Reform will win the next election anyway. That'll be the plan. And who's going to stop it?
As I posted last thread Starmer's government is already wargaming sanctions on US imports in response to tariffs imposed by Trump's administration.Though China, the EU and Brazil will be doing the same.
The Tories and Farage will want him to push a deal with the US but it seems Starmer will ignore them and take a gamble that with the EU and China alongside him he can resist Maga America First.
Of course the next UK general election will not be until the final year of Trump's administration in 2028 in which case the Democrats might be back in charge of Congress after the 2026 midterms or if 5 years and a full term maybe even after a Democrat has returned to the White House too
These things might have been easier to negotiate if Lammy could keep his gob shut about personal opinions about Trump and 100 labour mps did not go to the US to try and interfere in a foreign election
100 staff not MPs!!!!
And they went as volunteers. That happens all the time.
they did not back the winning side though and that is to the detriment of the UK - idiots for doing it in the first place
At the moment I suspect Trump would more likely do a trade deal with Modi's India or Netanyahu's Israel or Milei's Argentina before Starmer's UK
No I don't think so, the Trump team would very much like to cement Brexit in the UK and a favourable trade deal does that as then rejoining the EU has a very high price attached as we would lose the US trade deal. Starmer doesn't enter into the equation IMO, the US under Trump would very much like to drive a wedge between the UK and EU regardless of who the PM is, it is a very high risk double edged sword because there's potential for a really good trade deal to be done but it's going to be like trying to ride a tiger with Trump in charge and a US/UK trade deal also has great potential to piss off the EU and could make any rapprochement less likely.
In pure economic terms a US trade deal should be out priority as it would exempt us from tariffs and allow for our producers to export to a huge market that's bigger than the EU with favourable terms and where our national reputation is really high so receptiveness to UK exports is higher than in lots of EU countries.
I disagree entirely. We neither need nor should want a trade deal with the US beyond what we already have - which curenlty means a substantial trade surplus with the US. We know from experience (both our own and the experience of others) that a trade deal with the US is a poisoned challice and we should waste no time nor effort in pursuing one.
I think we wait and see what crap he comes out with, before deciding a response.
This isn't just about Trump. A free trade deal with the US is a bad idea under any President.
Deal, and free trade deal,are not the same thing, of course,
Indeed. But we already have a whole series of trade deals with the US. What people are actually talking about is an FTA.
Did Nigel Fucking Farage really fly back just to bitch about not being at the Cenotaph?
Nigel Farage at the Cenotaph would have been an insult, given the number of Europeans that died, without whom the UK would have been on the losing side. On the other hand, Farage would have been an ideal Obersturmbannführer.
I don't particularly like Farage but that is a deeply fucking stupid comment.
Who’s side would Farage have been on during WW2? I suspect the Nazi side.
Given the only party that was known to be sympathetic to the Nazis in WW2 was the SNP, your own bigotries are showing.
Did Nigel Fucking Farage really fly back just to bitch about not being at the Cenotaph?
Nigel Farage at the Cenotaph would have been an insult, given the number of Europeans that died, without whom the UK would have been on the losing side. On the other hand, Farage would have been an ideal Obersturmbannführer.
I don't particularly like Farage but that is a deeply fucking stupid comment.
You may have missed my point - Southport was not thought to be terror related until it was (and kept from the public beyond that point too).
There are about 3800 stabbings in the UK per year, going on NHS data. A tiny proportion are associated with terrorism: less than half a percent. (There were, I believe, 11 terrorism stabbings in 2020, 1 in 2021, 0 in 2022, and 2 in 2023. In 2024, there has been one by an extreme racist and there were the 13 in the one incident in Southport, although Rudakubana's motives and whether they constituted terrorism are unclear.)
I'm more worried about the >99.5% of non-terrorism related stabbings. I am unclear why the journalist or the reader should rush to a discussion of terrorism in an article of this nature.
There was a recent fatal collision on Edinburgh's Cowgate between a bus and a pedestrian. The aftermath was almost unbelievably grisly.
A very large proportion of Edinburgh Facebook/Twitter commentariat are absolutely convinced that this was a terrorist attack, hushed up "like Southport". What they don't appreciate is just what can happen when a vehicle hits a person - indeed, something very similar happened on Gorgie Road last year.
The problem is that the authorities have used their credit up. There were previous occasions on which they bent the truth, reducing their credibility.
Southport has simply used up the last of it.
Now, why would you believe them?
Nah, bondegezou is right. People want these incidents to be terrorist attacks - it's confirmation bias.
You may have missed my point - Southport was not thought to be terror related until it was (and kept from the public beyond that point too).
There are about 3800 stabbings in the UK per year, going on NHS data. A tiny proportion are associated with terrorism: less than half a percent. (There were, I believe, 11 terrorism stabbings in 2020, 1 in 2021, 0 in 2022, and 2 in 2023. In 2024, there has been one by an extreme racist and there were the 13 in the one incident in Southport, although Rudakubana's motives and whether they constituted terrorism are unclear.)
I'm more worried about the >99.5% of non-terrorism related stabbings. I am unclear why the journalist or the reader should rush to a discussion of terrorism in an article of this nature.
There was a recent fatal collision on Edinburgh's Cowgate between a bus and a pedestrian. The aftermath was almost unbelievably grisly.
A very large proportion of Edinburgh Facebook/Twitter commentariat are absolutely convinced that this was a terrorist attack, hushed up "like Southport". What they don't appreciate is just what can happen when a vehicle hits a person - indeed, something very similar happened on Gorgie Road last year.
The problem is that the authorities have used their credit up. There were previous occasions on which they bent the truth, reducing their credibility.
Southport has simply used up the last of it.
Now, why would you believe them?
Because adults are supposed to realise we're all just tumbling through a tombola of chance and circumstance?
Did Nigel Fucking Farage really fly back just to bitch about not being at the Cenotaph?
Nigel Farage at the Cenotaph would have been an insult, given the number of Europeans that died, without whom the UK would have been on the losing side. On the other hand, Farage would have been an ideal Obersturmbannführer.
I don't particularly like Farage but that is a deeply fucking stupid comment.
Who’s side would Farage have been on during WW2? I suspect the Nazi side.
Did Nigel Fucking Farage really fly back just to bitch about not being at the Cenotaph?
Nigel Farage at the Cenotaph would have been an insult, given the number of Europeans that died, without whom the UK would have been on the losing side. On the other hand, Farage would have been an ideal Obersturmbannführer.
I don't particularly like Farage but that is a deeply fucking stupid comment.
Who’s side would Farage have been on during WW2? I suspect the Nazi side.
Did Nigel Fucking Farage really fly back just to bitch about not being at the Cenotaph?
Nigel Farage at the Cenotaph would have been an insult, given the number of Europeans that died, without whom the UK would have been on the losing side. On the other hand, Farage would have been an ideal Obersturmbannführer.
I don't particularly like Farage but that is a deeply fucking stupid comment.
Who’s side would Farage have been on during WW2? I suspect the Nazi side.
Given the only party that was known to be sympathetic to the Nazis in WW2 was the SNP, your own bigotries are showing.
Did Nigel Fucking Farage really fly back just to bitch about not being at the Cenotaph?
Nigel Farage at the Cenotaph would have been an insult, given the number of Europeans that died, without whom the UK would have been on the losing side. On the other hand, Farage would have been an ideal Obersturmbannführer.
I don't particularly like Farage but that is a deeply fucking stupid comment.
Who’s side would Farage have been on during WW2? I suspect the Nazi side.
Did Nigel Fucking Farage really fly back just to bitch about not being at the Cenotaph?
Nigel Farage at the Cenotaph would have been an insult, given the number of Europeans that died, without whom the UK would have been on the losing side. On the other hand, Farage would have been an ideal Obersturmbannführer.
I don't particularly like Farage but that is a deeply fucking stupid comment.
Who’s side would Farage have been on during WW2? I suspect the Nazi side.
Given the only party that was known to be sympathetic to the Nazis in WW2 was the SNP, your own bigotries are showing.
Errr: Oswald Mosley's lot wave.
Hurrah for the brownblue and white flimsy see-through shirts!
You may have missed my point - Southport was not thought to be terror related until it was (and kept from the public beyond that point too).
There are about 3800 stabbings in the UK per year, going on NHS data. A tiny proportion are associated with terrorism: less than half a percent. (There were, I believe, 11 terrorism stabbings in 2020, 1 in 2021, 0 in 2022, and 2 in 2023. In 2024, there has been one by an extreme racist and there were the 13 in the one incident in Southport, although Rudakubana's motives and whether they constituted terrorism are unclear.)
I'm more worried about the >99.5% of non-terrorism related stabbings. I am unclear why the journalist or the reader should rush to a discussion of terrorism in an article of this nature.
There was a recent fatal collision on Edinburgh's Cowgate between a bus and a pedestrian. The aftermath was almost unbelievably grisly.
A very large proportion of Edinburgh Facebook/Twitter commentariat are absolutely convinced that this was a terrorist attack, hushed up "like Southport". What they don't appreciate is just what can happen when a vehicle hits a person - indeed, something very similar happened on Gorgie Road last year.
The problem is that the authorities have used their credit up. There were previous occasions on which they bent the truth, reducing their credibility.
Southport has simply used up the last of it.
Now, why would you believe them?
Because adults are supposed to realise we're all just tumbling through a tombola of chance and circumstance?
And if people decide that bending the truth is the way forward, they need to be unsurprised when people stop believing them.
There is a reason that accuracy and honesty used to be prized.
The belief that somehow institutions are “owed* respect and trust is not one that resonates in the modern world.
Did Nigel Fucking Farage really fly back just to bitch about not being at the Cenotaph?
Nigel Farage at the Cenotaph would have been an insult, given the number of Europeans that died, without whom the UK would have been on the losing side. On the other hand, Farage would have been an ideal Obersturmbannführer.
I don't particularly like Farage but that is a deeply fucking stupid comment.
Who’s side would Farage have been on during WW2? I suspect the Nazi side.
Given the only party that was known to be sympathetic to the Nazis in WW2 was the SNP, your own bigotries are showing.
Errr: Oswald Mosley's lot wave.
And thank God & Saint George the Royals were on side.
Did Nigel Fucking Farage really fly back just to bitch about not being at the Cenotaph?
Nigel Farage at the Cenotaph would have been an insult, given the number of Europeans that died, without whom the UK would have been on the losing side. On the other hand, Farage would have been an ideal Obersturmbannführer.
I don't particularly like Farage but that is a deeply fucking stupid comment.
Who’s side would Farage have been on during WW2? I suspect the Nazi side.
Given the only party that was known to be sympathetic to the Nazis in WW2 was the SNP, your own bigotries are showing.
Errr: Oswald Mosley's lot wave.
Hurrah for the brownblue and white flimsy see-through shirts!
Did Nigel Fucking Farage really fly back just to bitch about not being at the Cenotaph?
Nigel Farage at the Cenotaph would have been an insult, given the number of Europeans that died, without whom the UK would have been on the losing side. On the other hand, Farage would have been an ideal Obersturmbannführer.
I don't particularly like Farage but that is a deeply fucking stupid comment.
Who’s side would Farage have been on during WW2? I suspect the Nazi side.
Given the only party that was known to be sympathetic to the Nazis in WW2 was the SNP, your own bigotries are showing.
Errr: Oswald Mosley's lot wave.
Who are not in existence today thankfully. Unlike the SNP.
Did Nigel Fucking Farage really fly back just to bitch about not being at the Cenotaph?
Nigel Farage at the Cenotaph would have been an insult, given the number of Europeans that died, without whom the UK would have been on the losing side. On the other hand, Farage would have been an ideal Obersturmbannführer.
I don't particularly like Farage but that is a deeply fucking stupid comment.
Who’s side would Farage have been on during WW2? I suspect the Nazi side.
Given the only party that was known to be sympathetic to the Nazis in WW2 was the SNP, your own bigotries are showing.
Errr: Oswald Mosley's lot wave.
Who are not in existence today thankfully. Unlike the SNP.
Did Nigel Fucking Farage really fly back just to bitch about not being at the Cenotaph?
Nigel Farage at the Cenotaph would have been an insult, given the number of Europeans that died, without whom the UK would have been on the losing side. On the other hand, Farage would have been an ideal Obersturmbannführer.
I don't particularly like Farage but that is a deeply fucking stupid comment.
Who’s side would Farage have been on during WW2? I suspect the Nazi side.
Given the only party that was known to be sympathetic to the Nazis in WW2 was the SNP, your own bigotries are showing.
Did Nigel Fucking Farage really fly back just to bitch about not being at the Cenotaph?
Nigel Farage at the Cenotaph would have been an insult, given the number of Europeans that died, without whom the UK would have been on the losing side. On the other hand, Farage would have been an ideal Obersturmbannführer.
I don't particularly like Farage but that is a deeply fucking stupid comment.
Who’s side would Farage have been on during WW2? I suspect the Nazi side.
Given the only party that was known to be sympathetic to the Nazis in WW2 was the SNP, your own bigotries are showing.
Errr: Oswald Mosley's lot wave.
Who are not in existence today thankfully. Unlike the SNP.
If we’re going for childish reductionism, I believe a couple of the parties that Mosley represented as an mp are in existence. And wait till you hear about the enthusiastic Stalin collaborators.
Did Nigel Fucking Farage really fly back just to bitch about not being at the Cenotaph?
Nigel Farage at the Cenotaph would have been an insult, given the number of Europeans that died, without whom the UK would have been on the losing side. On the other hand, Farage would have been an ideal Obersturmbannführer.
This is an exceptionally stupid post, given that without (I assume you mean continental) Europeans, there wouldn't have been a war in the first place.
You sound as if you’re not European. What are you, African, American, Asian?
If your own definition of Europeans includes Britons, how does your comment about Nigel Farage make any sort of sense?
Did Nigel Fucking Farage really fly back just to bitch about not being at the Cenotaph?
Nigel Farage at the Cenotaph would have been an insult, given the number of Europeans that died, without whom the UK would have been on the losing side. On the other hand, Farage would have been an ideal Obersturmbannführer.
I don't particularly like Farage but that is a deeply fucking stupid comment.
Who’s side would Farage have been on during WW2? I suspect the Nazi side.
Given the only party that was known to be sympathetic to the Nazis in WW2 was the SNP, your own bigotries are showing.
Errr: Oswald Mosley's lot wave.
Who are not in existence today thankfully. Unlike the SNP.
History doesn’t really describe the present day, though. For example, the Democrats used to be the party of racial segregation.
You may have missed my point - Southport was not thought to be terror related until it was (and kept from the public beyond that point too).
There are about 3800 stabbings in the UK per year, going on NHS data. A tiny proportion are associated with terrorism: less than half a percent. (There were, I believe, 11 terrorism stabbings in 2020, 1 in 2021, 0 in 2022, and 2 in 2023. In 2024, there has been one by an extreme racist and there were the 13 in the one incident in Southport, although Rudakubana's motives and whether they constituted terrorism are unclear.)
I'm more worried about the >99.5% of non-terrorism related stabbings. I am unclear why the journalist or the reader should rush to a discussion of terrorism in an article of this nature.
There was a recent fatal collision on Edinburgh's Cowgate between a bus and a pedestrian. The aftermath was almost unbelievably grisly.
A very large proportion of Edinburgh Facebook/Twitter commentariat are absolutely convinced that this was a terrorist attack, hushed up "like Southport". What they don't appreciate is just what can happen when a vehicle hits a person - indeed, something very similar happened on Gorgie Road last year.
The problem is that the authorities have used their credit up. There were previous occasions on which they bent the truth, reducing their credibility.
Southport has simply used up the last of it.
Now, why would you believe them?
Nah, bondegezou is right. People want these incidents to be terrorist attacks - it's confirmation bias.
I think with Edinburgh it's more the physics of it. How does being struck by a bus decapitate someone cleanly like that. And the bus not stop? Even running over a pheasant is an enormous commotion on a bus. It needs investigating hella thoroughly, and the bus and driver found (it's not a major bus route - must have been a tour bus of some description) and the facts established beyond doubt. Otherwise of course people will believe there's a head chopper about - which is not great regardless of any terrorist motivation.
You may have missed my point - Southport was not thought to be terror related until it was (and kept from the public beyond that point too).
There are about 3800 stabbings in the UK per year, going on NHS data. A tiny proportion are associated with terrorism: less than half a percent. (There were, I believe, 11 terrorism stabbings in 2020, 1 in 2021, 0 in 2022, and 2 in 2023. In 2024, there has been one by an extreme racist and there were the 13 in the one incident in Southport, although Rudakubana's motives and whether they constituted terrorism are unclear.)
I'm more worried about the >99.5% of non-terrorism related stabbings. I am unclear why the journalist or the reader should rush to a discussion of terrorism in an article of this nature.
There was a recent fatal collision on Edinburgh's Cowgate between a bus and a pedestrian. The aftermath was almost unbelievably grisly.
A very large proportion of Edinburgh Facebook/Twitter commentariat are absolutely convinced that this was a terrorist attack, hushed up "like Southport". What they don't appreciate is just what can happen when a vehicle hits a person - indeed, something very similar happened on Gorgie Road last year.
The problem is that the authorities have used their credit up. There were previous occasions on which they bent the truth, reducing their credibility.
Southport has simply used up the last of it.
Now, why would you believe them?
Nah, bondegezou is right. People want these incidents to be terrorist attacks - it's confirmation bias.
I think with Edinburgh it's more the physics of it. How does being struck by a bus decapitate someone cleanly like that. And the bus not stop? Even running over a pheasant is an enormous commotion on a bus. It needs investigating hella thoroughly, and the bus and driver found (it's not a major bus route - must have been a tour bus of some description) and the facts established beyond doubt. Otherwise of course people will believe there's a head chopper about - which is not great regardless of any terrorist motivation.
Don't worry, they've brought some of the MH17 investigators in.
Here's a thought for you (assuming you don't hate the US and/or the UK): Last month,James Stavridis argued for equipping new warships with lasers to defend against drones: "The immediate answer is likely going to be lasers. If a ship has sufficient electric generation, there is plenty of power to knock down incoming weapons with lasers. When those lasers are guided by advanced phased array radars, they will tip the balance away from the drones and back toward the defenders." source$: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/10/18/drones-ships-navy-ukraine-china/
It occurs to me that one way to power all those lasers would be with a small module reactor. And I would be happy to see the US pay for research not such reactors -- including, of course, one to Rolls Royce.
Sorry for the garbled second paragraph, but I think you could grasp my main points: The US should investigate building SMRs to power laser defense for warships. I think we should include UK firms, for example, Rolls Royce, in the research grants.
(And if that leads to commercial applications in both nations, so much the better.)
Did Nigel Fucking Farage really fly back just to bitch about not being at the Cenotaph?
Nigel Farage at the Cenotaph would have been an insult, given the number of Europeans that died, without whom the UK would have been on the losing side. On the other hand, Farage would have been an ideal Obersturmbannführer.
I don't particularly like Farage but that is a deeply fucking stupid comment.
Who’s side would Farage have been on during WW2? I suspect the Nazi side.
Given the only party that was known to be sympathetic to the Nazis in WW2 was the SNP, your own bigotries are showing.
Errr: Oswald Mosley's lot wave.
Who are not in existence today thankfully. Unlike the SNP.
If we’re going for childish reductionism, I believe a couple of the parties that Mosley represented as an mp are in existence. And wait till you hear about the enthusiastic Stalin collaborators.
Simply pointing out the childish idiocy of Fairliered's comments. Direct your complaints towards him.
Got brexit done though didn't he ? Sometimes you just need to do something brave and different
Brave, different, unconstitutional in hiding the AG's advice from the Cabinet, and unlawful.
Indeed, it's a violation of the ministerial code, it was designed to ensure we didn't get a repeat of the Iraq war legal advice.
yeah maybe not upsetting the status quo is the important thing but then Saddam Hussein may still be in power (or Uday ) and Brexit still not done ( ie ignoring the largest turnout vote in many a year for Brexit)
One of the main obstacles to Brexit getting done during May's premiership was Boris Johnson.
Otoh, Johnson's comprehensive Brexit trade deal with the US will protect us from Trump's tarriffs.
Right?
It looks increasingly likely that Trump and Farage are laying a trap for Sir Keir. The UK will be offered exemptions from the tariffs only if we concede to various unacceptable demands - essentially that Farage will become Trump's viceroy of Britain with Sir Keir as little more than his puppet. When Sir Keir, rightly, refuses the economy will tank and Reform will win the next election anyway. That'll be the plan. And who's going to stop it?
As I posted last thread Starmer's government is already wargaming sanctions on US imports in response to tariffs imposed by Trump's administration.Though China, the EU and Brazil will be doing the same.
The Tories and Farage will want him to push a deal with the US but it seems Starmer will ignore them and take a gamble that with the EU and China alongside him he can resist Maga America First.
Of course the next UK general election will not be until the final year of Trump's administration in 2028 in which case the Democrats might be back in charge of Congress after the 2026 midterms or if 5 years and a full term maybe even after a Democrat has returned to the White House too
These things might have been easier to negotiate if Lammy could keep his gob shut about personal opinions about Trump and 100 labour mps did not go to the US to try and interfere in a foreign election
Do you have a list of these 100 Labour MPs?
By all accounts, Lammy is doing a pretty good job so far.
Donald Trump has the attention span of a fruit fly, and the knowledge of an amoeba. He's only there to make sure he could keep himself out of prison.
I've just listened to an account by John Bolton (Trump's former Nat Sec Advisor for part of his first term) of how, in a meeting with Theresa May at Chequers in the middle of his first term, she remarked that the Salisbury attack was a chemical attack on a nuclear power. Trump's comment - "Oh, does the UK have nuclear weapons?".
The main problem with the Lammy comment is that Kemi Badenoch was willing to risk undermining UK international relationships for an unnecessary partisan attack. She needs to give her head a wobble.
Arizona Senate. Estimated 88 percent of votes have been counted.
Votes received and percentages of total vote Candidate Votes Pct. Ruben Gallego DEM 1,484,205 49.7 Kari Lake GOP 1,436,045 48.1 Eduardo Quintana GRN 63,582 2.1
Lead: 48,160
Arizona Senate. Estimated 88.9 percent of votes have been counted.
Votes received and percentages of total vote Candidate Votes Pct. Ruben Gallego DEM 1,500,850 49.8 Kari Lake GOP 1,449,464 48.1 Eduardo Quintana GRN 64,552 2.1
Here's a thought for you (assuming you don't hate the US and/or the UK): Last month,James Stavridis argued for equipping new warships with lasers to defend against drones: "The immediate answer is likely going to be lasers. If a ship has sufficient electric generation, there is plenty of power to knock down incoming weapons with lasers. When those lasers are guided by advanced phased array radars, they will tip the balance away from the drones and back toward the defenders." source$: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/10/18/drones-ships-navy-ukraine-china/
It occurs to me that one way to power all those lasers would be with a small module reactor. And I would be happy to see the US pay for research not such reactors -- including, of course, one to Rolls Royce.
I'm not sure which ones would require a nuclear reactor to power them. Unless you are going after the really big stuff or very big distances that seems to me to be overkill.
The Dragonfire system which is 'expected' to be in service with the RN around 2027 works off the existing ships power - and the newer classes have had that upgraded by several times as part of the design. That is for drones and probably fast attack boats, so in the "CIWS and perhaps a bit more" class.
Arizona Senate. Estimated 88 percent of votes have been counted.
Votes received and percentages of total vote Candidate Votes Pct. Ruben Gallego DEM 1,484,205 49.7 Kari Lake GOP 1,436,045 48.1 Eduardo Quintana GRN 63,582 2.1
Lead: 48,160
Arizona Senate. Estimated 88.9 percent of votes have been counted.
Votes received and percentages of total vote Candidate Votes Pct. Ruben Gallego DEM 1,500,850 49.8 Kari Lake GOP 1,449,464 48.1 Eduardo Quintana GRN 64,552 2.1
Lead: 51,386
Arizona Senate. Estimated 91.8 percent of votes have been counted.
Votes received and percentages of total vote Candidate Votes Pct. Ruben Gallego DEM 1,555,426 50.0 Kari Lake GOP 1,488,733 47.8 Eduardo Quintana GRN 67,961 2.2
MPs and people with a political platform have been complaining about the inability to build anything for what seems forever. However they soon get trapped into the knot of overhauling the system will often mean weakening / removing things they also value, while also of course being sucked into the vortex of NIMBYs in their seat and labyrinthian planning system officials.
NYT: How Trump Won, and How Harris Lost He made one essential bet: that his grievances would become the grievances of the MAGA movement, and then the G.O.P., and then more than half the country. It paid off.
NYT: How Trump Won, and How Harris Lost He made one essential bet: that his grievances would become the grievances of the MAGA movement, and then the G.O.P., and then more than half the country. It paid off.
For almost any other politician, Mr. Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts related to hush-money payments to a porn star would have been the worst day of his candidacy. Instead, it gave him financial rocket fuel.
Small donors poured $50 million into his coffers in 24 hours. And his main super PAC was informed by its bank of a $50 million wire transfer the day after the conviction — but needed first to confirm who had sent it to make sure it wasn’t fraudulent. The problem was they didn’t know because one of the biggest contributions in American history had been sent without any heads up. Eventually, they determined the amount and its source: the reclusive billionaire Timothy Mellon.
The $100 million day helped narrow the financial chasm Mr. Trump had been facing.
I look forward to the "it wasn't an attempted coup" crowd weighing in on this one.
What the hell is going on in the US Senate? Hours after Donald Trump wins the most conclusive mandate in 40 years, Mitch McConnell engineers a coup against his agenda by calling early leadership elections in the senate... https://x.com/TuckerCarlson/status/1855344652422951054
Here's a thought for you (assuming you don't hate the US and/or the UK): Last month,James Stavridis argued for equipping new warships with lasers to defend against drones: "The immediate answer is likely going to be lasers. If a ship has sufficient electric generation, there is plenty of power to knock down incoming weapons with lasers. When those lasers are guided by advanced phased array radars, they will tip the balance away from the drones and back toward the defenders." source$: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/10/18/drones-ships-navy-ukraine-china/
It occurs to me that one way to power all those lasers would be with a small module reactor. And I would be happy to see the US pay for research not such reactors -- including, of course, one to Rolls Royce.
I'm not sure which ones would require a nuclear reactor to power them. Unless you are going after the really big stuff or very big distances that seems to me to be overkill.
The Dragonfire system which is 'expected' to be in service with the RN around 2027 works off the existing ships power - and the newer classes have had that upgraded by several times as part of the design. That is for drones and probably fast attack boats, so in the "CIWS and perhaps a bit more" class.
MPs and people with a political platform have been complaining about the inability to build anything for what seems forever. However they soon get trapped into the knot of overhauling the system will often mean weakening / removing things they also value, while also of course being sucked into the vortex of NIMBYs in their seat and labyrinthian planning system officials.
I agree. It's interesting how there didn't seem to be anyone overseeing things who could state the obvious and say that spending £100m on a bat tunnel just wasn't an appropriate use of money.
Getting on a plane. My 7th plane ride in 4 weeks, taking me to my -- checks notes — 18th hotel in that same time
😶🫡
Is Flint Knappers weekly trying to get enough content to fill out its pages for the whole of the forthcoming year?
Indeed. Quite knackering
This is the longest continuous press assignment I’ve ever done - as in: one trip after another with no breaks
Hopefully this last leg will be tropically relaxed. A few beers by a pool. Maybe some paddle boarding
What I find with these intense trips is that at the time I find them gruelling if entertaining, but when I get home and I’ve slept for 3 days I then miss the intensity, immediately. And also I look back and think: wow, that was a rich experience
I mean, when I think about all the stuff I’ve seen on this trip - from the Japanese imperial shamaness at Ise shrine to the DMZ and a look into north Korea to the mad fish markets of Busan to the gigolo bars of Tokyo to the fisherwomen of Jeju to the samurai sword makers of Kyotango to the beautiful courtesans of lost Osaka to the hairy blood on that Filipino menu last night
Fabulously rich. And I’ve met such a wild variety of people
And now I’m off to the “fifteenth best hotel in the world”. But I fear it is going to rain. Hah
Haitian Prime Minister Garry Conille has been fired by the country's ruling council less than six months after he took office.
An executive order, signed by eight of the council's nine members, named businessman and former Haiti Senate candidate Alix Didier Fils-Aime as Conille's replacement.
Conille, a former United Nations official, was brought in to lead Haiti through an ongoing, gang-led security crisis and had been expected to help pave the way for the country's first presidential elections since 2016.
He described his ousting as illegal, saying in a letter - seen by Reuters news agency - that it raised "serious concerns" about Haiti's future.
Any Republican Senator seeking the coveted LEADERSHIP position in the United States Senate must agree to Recess Appointments (in the Senate!), without which we will not be able to get people confirmed in a timely manner. Sometimes the votes can take two years, or more. This is what they did four years ago, and we cannot let it happen again. We need positions filled IMMEDIATELY! Additionally, no Judges should be approved during this period of time because the Democrats are looking to ram through their Judges as the Republicans fight over Leadership. THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE. THANK YOU! https://x.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1855692242981155259
As for the judiciary, we could in time have a Supreme Court with two thirds of its members appointed by Trump.
NYT: How Trump Won, and How Harris Lost He made one essential bet: that his grievances would become the grievances of the MAGA movement, and then the G.O.P., and then more than half the country. It paid off.
Those saying Harris was a bad candidate and her campaign was terrible:
Yes she was a bad candidate, but was her campaign terrible?
It looks like the swing to Trump (2020 to 2024) in the swing states where both Harris and Trump campaigned and advertised and GOTV a lot was generally less than the swing to Trump in the states where they didn't campaign.
Yrump has indeed picked Homan to be in charge off deportation. It looks as though it will be full steam ahead, and it's likely to get very ugly. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Homan
Here's a thought for you (assuming you don't hate the US and/or the UK): Last month,James Stavridis argued for equipping new warships with lasers to defend against drones: "The immediate answer is likely going to be lasers. If a ship has sufficient electric generation, there is plenty of power to knock down incoming weapons with lasers. When those lasers are guided by advanced phased array radars, they will tip the balance away from the drones and back toward the defenders." source$: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/10/18/drones-ships-navy-ukraine-china/
It occurs to me that one way to power all those lasers would be with a small module reactor. And I would be happy to see the US pay for research not such reactors -- including, of course, one to Rolls Royce.
I'm not sure which ones would require a nuclear reactor to power them. Unless you are going after the really big stuff or very big distances that seems to me to be overkill.
The Dragonfire system which is 'expected' to be in service with the RN around 2027 works off the existing ships power - and the newer classes have had that upgraded by several times as part of the design. That is for drones and probably fast attack boats, so in the "CIWS and perhaps a bit more" class.
Isn't the laser buggered if its raining? (I'm sure I read that somewhere...)
Most direct-energy weapons have a problem with water, for a number of reasons. Water can absorb the energy, reducing its effectiveness and range. It can also dissipate or spread the beam. There are coping strategies for this, but none are perfect. Frequency matters, though the frequencies that are 'invisible' to water also annoyingly tend to be those that are less efficient as a weapon.
DEW are going to be a really useful part of the future battlefield; but there will always be a place for the good old kinetics.
You may have missed my point - Southport was not thought to be terror related until it was (and kept from the public beyond that point too).
There are about 3800 stabbings in the UK per year, going on NHS data. A tiny proportion are associated with terrorism: less than half a percent. (There were, I believe, 11 terrorism stabbings in 2020, 1 in 2021, 0 in 2022, and 2 in 2023. In 2024, there has been one by an extreme racist and there were the 13 in the one incident in Southport, although Rudakubana's motives and whether they constituted terrorism are unclear.)
I'm more worried about the >99.5% of non-terrorism related stabbings. I am unclear why the journalist or the reader should rush to a discussion of terrorism in an article of this nature.
There was a recent fatal collision on Edinburgh's Cowgate between a bus and a pedestrian. The aftermath was almost unbelievably grisly.
A very large proportion of Edinburgh Facebook/Twitter commentariat are absolutely convinced that this was a terrorist attack, hushed up "like Southport". What they don't appreciate is just what can happen when a vehicle hits a person - indeed, something very similar happened on Gorgie Road last year.
The problem is that the authorities have used their credit up. There were previous occasions on which they bent the truth, reducing their credibility.
Southport has simply used up the last of it.
Now, why would you believe them?
Nah, bondegezou is right. People want these incidents to be terrorist attacks - it's confirmation bias.
Sadly, there's a lot of truth in this.
Maybe it's just me but I don't think the authorities should ever cover anything up.
NYT: How Trump Won, and How Harris Lost He made one essential bet: that his grievances would become the grievances of the MAGA movement, and then the G.O.P., and then more than half the country. It paid off.
For almost any other politician, Mr. Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts related to hush-money payments to a porn star would have been the worst day of his candidacy. Instead, it gave him financial rocket fuel.
Small donors poured $50 million into his coffers in 24 hours. And his main super PAC was informed by its bank of a $50 million wire transfer the day after the conviction — but needed first to confirm who had sent it to make sure it wasn’t fraudulent. The problem was they didn’t know because one of the biggest contributions in American history had been sent without any heads up. Eventually, they determined the amount and its source: the reclusive billionaire Timothy Mellon.
The $100 million day helped narrow the financial chasm Mr. Trump had been facing.
It is a great shame that by far the weakest of the four cases Trump faced was the first and only one where he was tried and convicted before the election. It was a nakedly political prosecution of a misdemeanour bootstrapped into a felony to dodge the statute of limitations and then charged 34 times. Had the much more serious classified documents or January 6th cases been concluded before the election, the result could have been different.
But his legal strategy of delay delay delay till after the election has been a spectacular success.
Any Republican Senator seeking the coveted LEADERSHIP position in the United States Senate must agree to Recess Appointments (in the Senate!), without which we will not be able to get people confirmed in a timely manner. Sometimes the votes can take two years, or more. This is what they did four years ago, and we cannot let it happen again. We need positions filled IMMEDIATELY! Additionally, no Judges should be approved during this period of time because the Democrats are looking to ram through their Judges as the Republicans fight over Leadership. THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE. THANK YOU! https://x.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1855692242981155259
As for the judiciary, we could in time have a Supreme Court with two thirds of its members appointed by Trump.
Aileen Cannon, of course, was a recess appointment.
Well done,the Green Brigade. Fuck Remembrance Day. Fuck poppy fascism. Fuck the UK thinking it is not a nation of warmongering scumbags. PS. Like the new avatar, @TSE.
It’s almost ninety years. It’s time, surely, to get over the fact that your side lost WWII.
Well done,the Green Brigade. Fuck Remembrance Day. Fuck poppy fascism. Fuck the UK thinking it is not a nation of warmongering scumbags. PS. Like the new avatar, @TSE.
There were two sides during WW2. Those on the side of the fascists, and those working against the fascists. The Irish state was not on the side working against them. Unlike many Irish people who came over and joined the fight against the fascists.
NYT: How Trump Won, and How Harris Lost He made one essential bet: that his grievances would become the grievances of the MAGA movement, and then the G.O.P., and then more than half the country. It paid off.
For almost any other politician, Mr. Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts related to hush-money payments to a porn star would have been the worst day of his candidacy. Instead, it gave him financial rocket fuel.
Small donors poured $50 million into his coffers in 24 hours. And his main super PAC was informed by its bank of a $50 million wire transfer the day after the conviction — but needed first to confirm who had sent it to make sure it wasn’t fraudulent. The problem was they didn’t know because one of the biggest contributions in American history had been sent without any heads up. Eventually, they determined the amount and its source: the reclusive billionaire Timothy Mellon.
The $100 million day helped narrow the financial chasm Mr. Trump had been facing.
It is a great shame that by far the weakest of the four cases Trump faced was the first and only one where he was tried and convicted before the election. It was a nakedly political prosecution of a misdemeanour bootstrapped into a felony to dodge the statute of limitations and then charged 34 times. Had the much more serious classified documents or January 6th cases been concluded before the election, the result could have been different.
But his legal strategy of delay delay delay till after the election has been a spectacular success.
NYT: How Trump Won, and How Harris Lost He made one essential bet: that his grievances would become the grievances of the MAGA movement, and then the G.O.P., and then more than half the country. It paid off.
For almost any other politician, Mr. Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts related to hush-money payments to a porn star would have been the worst day of his candidacy. Instead, it gave him financial rocket fuel.
Small donors poured $50 million into his coffers in 24 hours. And his main super PAC was informed by its bank of a $50 million wire transfer the day after the conviction — but needed first to confirm who had sent it to make sure it wasn’t fraudulent. The problem was they didn’t know because one of the biggest contributions in American history had been sent without any heads up. Eventually, they determined the amount and its source: the reclusive billionaire Timothy Mellon.
The $100 million day helped narrow the financial chasm Mr. Trump had been facing.
It is a great shame that by far the weakest of the four cases Trump faced was the first and only one where he was tried and convicted before the election. It was a nakedly political prosecution of a misdemeanour bootstrapped into a felony to dodge the statute of limitations and then charged 34 times. Had the much more serious classified documents or January 6th cases been concluded before the election, the result could have been different.
But his legal strategy of delay delay delay till after the election has been a spectacular success.
Aided by his packed Supreme Court.
Packed? Had he appointed its membership in some kind of improper way?
NYT: How Trump Won, and How Harris Lost He made one essential bet: that his grievances would become the grievances of the MAGA movement, and then the G.O.P., and then more than half the country. It paid off.
For almost any other politician, Mr. Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts related to hush-money payments to a porn star would have been the worst day of his candidacy. Instead, it gave him financial rocket fuel.
Small donors poured $50 million into his coffers in 24 hours. And his main super PAC was informed by its bank of a $50 million wire transfer the day after the conviction — but needed first to confirm who had sent it to make sure it wasn’t fraudulent. The problem was they didn’t know because one of the biggest contributions in American history had been sent without any heads up. Eventually, they determined the amount and its source: the reclusive billionaire Timothy Mellon.
The $100 million day helped narrow the financial chasm Mr. Trump had been facing.
It is a great shame that by far the weakest of the four cases Trump faced was the first and only one where he was tried and convicted before the election. It was a nakedly political prosecution of a misdemeanour bootstrapped into a felony to dodge the statute of limitations and then charged 34 times. Had the much more serious classified documents or January 6th cases been concluded before the election, the result could have been different.
But his legal strategy of delay delay delay till after the election has been a spectacular success.
Aided by his packed Supreme Court.
The Republicans have enjoyed an incredible lucky streak, over the past 8 years.
Blocking Merrick Garland’s (far from a particularly liberal justice), appointment to SCOTUS, could have resulted in a far more left wing appointment, had Clinton won.
But, Trump pulled off a surprise.
Trump ought to have been unelectable. But, he won parts of the electorate that mainstream Republicans could not reach.
His scandalous conduct ought to have ruled him out from being re-nominated. Once he was re-nominated, he ought to have dragged down the Republicans.
You may have missed my point - Southport was not thought to be terror related until it was (and kept from the public beyond that point too).
There are about 3800 stabbings in the UK per year, going on NHS data. A tiny proportion are associated with terrorism: less than half a percent. (There were, I believe, 11 terrorism stabbings in 2020, 1 in 2021, 0 in 2022, and 2 in 2023. In 2024, there has been one by an extreme racist and there were the 13 in the one incident in Southport, although Rudakubana's motives and whether they constituted terrorism are unclear.)
I'm more worried about the >99.5% of non-terrorism related stabbings. I am unclear why the journalist or the reader should rush to a discussion of terrorism in an article of this nature.
It's about the honesty of the authorities. Lying to the public has big consequences. Of course we cannot say more at this stage.
No-one has yet demonstrated any lying to the public. Those who definitely did spread misinformation have been desperately trying to construct that narrative, however.
I look forward to the "it wasn't an attempted coup" crowd weighing in on this one.
What the hell is going on in the US Senate? Hours after Donald Trump wins the most conclusive mandate in 40 years, Mitch McConnell engineers a coup against his agenda by calling early leadership elections in the senate... https://x.com/TuckerCarlson/status/1855344652422951054
Ironically the same Mitch McConnell who blocked Obama and saved Trump.
You may have missed my point - Southport was not thought to be terror related until it was (and kept from the public beyond that point too).
There are about 3800 stabbings in the UK per year, going on NHS data. A tiny proportion are associated with terrorism: less than half a percent. (There were, I believe, 11 terrorism stabbings in 2020, 1 in 2021, 0 in 2022, and 2 in 2023. In 2024, there has been one by an extreme racist and there were the 13 in the one incident in Southport, although Rudakubana's motives and whether they constituted terrorism are unclear.)
I'm more worried about the >99.5% of non-terrorism related stabbings. I am unclear why the journalist or the reader should rush to a discussion of terrorism in an article of this nature.
There was a recent fatal collision on Edinburgh's Cowgate between a bus and a pedestrian. The aftermath was almost unbelievably grisly.
A very large proportion of Edinburgh Facebook/Twitter commentariat are absolutely convinced that this was a terrorist attack, hushed up "like Southport". What they don't appreciate is just what can happen when a vehicle hits a person - indeed, something very similar happened on Gorgie Road last year.
The problem is that the authorities have used their credit up. There were previous occasions on which they bent the truth, reducing their credibility.
Southport has simply used up the last of it.
Now, why would you believe them?
Because they didn’t bend the truth about Southport. They thought one thing. Evidence was then found which produced a more complicated picture.
You may have missed my point - Southport was not thought to be terror related until it was (and kept from the public beyond that point too).
There are about 3800 stabbings in the UK per year, going on NHS data. A tiny proportion are associated with terrorism: less than half a percent. (There were, I believe, 11 terrorism stabbings in 2020, 1 in 2021, 0 in 2022, and 2 in 2023. In 2024, there has been one by an extreme racist and there were the 13 in the one incident in Southport, although Rudakubana's motives and whether they constituted terrorism are unclear.)
I'm more worried about the >99.5% of non-terrorism related stabbings. I am unclear why the journalist or the reader should rush to a discussion of terrorism in an article of this nature.
There was a recent fatal collision on Edinburgh's Cowgate between a bus and a pedestrian. The aftermath was almost unbelievably grisly.
A very large proportion of Edinburgh Facebook/Twitter commentariat are absolutely convinced that this was a terrorist attack, hushed up "like Southport". What they don't appreciate is just what can happen when a vehicle hits a person - indeed, something very similar happened on Gorgie Road last year.
The problem is that the authorities have used their credit up. There were previous occasions on which they bent the truth, reducing their credibility.
Southport has simply used up the last of it.
Now, why would you believe them?
Because they didn’t bend the truth about Southport. They thought one thing. Evidence was then found which produced a more complicated picture.
The Madrid bombings in 2004 showed the obvious issues for the authorities: people want you to release information early, but if you do and that information is wrong, or even just a belief and not solid intelligence, then you can end up in great trouble.
There is no 'right' answer to this in fast-moving and unclear situations.
NYT: How Trump Won, and How Harris Lost He made one essential bet: that his grievances would become the grievances of the MAGA movement, and then the G.O.P., and then more than half the country. It paid off.
For almost any other politician, Mr. Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts related to hush-money payments to a porn star would have been the worst day of his candidacy. Instead, it gave him financial rocket fuel.
Small donors poured $50 million into his coffers in 24 hours. And his main super PAC was informed by its bank of a $50 million wire transfer the day after the conviction — but needed first to confirm who had sent it to make sure it wasn’t fraudulent. The problem was they didn’t know because one of the biggest contributions in American history had been sent without any heads up. Eventually, they determined the amount and its source: the reclusive billionaire Timothy Mellon.
The $100 million day helped narrow the financial chasm Mr. Trump had been facing.
It is a great shame that by far the weakest of the four cases Trump faced was the first and only one where he was tried and convicted before the election. It was a nakedly political prosecution of a misdemeanour bootstrapped into a felony to dodge the statute of limitations and then charged 34 times. Had the much more serious classified documents or January 6th cases been concluded before the election, the result could have been different.
But his legal strategy of delay delay delay till after the election has been a spectacular success.
Aided by his packed Supreme Court.
The Republicans have enjoyed an incredible lucky streak, over the past 8 years.
Blocking Merrick Garland’s (far from a particularly liberal justice), appointment to SCOTUS, could have resulted in a far more left wing appointment, had Clinton won.
But, Trump pulled off a surprise.
Trump ought to have been unelectable. But, he won parts of the electorate that mainstream Republicans could not reach.
His scandalous conduct ought to have ruled him out from being re-nominated. Once he was re-nominated, he ought to have dragged down the Republicans.
But he won, mainly due to price rises.
Furthermore, the price rises included a couple of decisions. One was responding to the Covid/Ukraine price pressures with inflation rather than unemployment. The other was increasing the minimum wage, which helped the staff at the Cheesecake Factory at the expense of the customers. Both arguably the right things to do, but annoying Trump's core vote bigtime.
And the bottom line is that Trump did drag the Reps down- look how small the swing was compared with other elections this year. But the tide was strong enough to bring him in anyway.
Starmer to join Macron for Armistice Day events in Paris
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer will join French President Emmanuel Macron for Armistice Day events in Paris on Monday morning, with the two men set to hold talks on European security and the likely impact of a second Trump presidency in the US.
There is uncertainty about Donald Trump's support for Ukraine after he said he could end the war with Russia "in one day".
Ahead of attending a ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Macron and Starmer are expected to discuss Russia's ongoing invasion and the humanitarian situation in Gaza, Downing Street said.
You may have missed my point - Southport was not thought to be terror related until it was (and kept from the public beyond that point too).
There are about 3800 stabbings in the UK per year, going on NHS data. A tiny proportion are associated with terrorism: less than half a percent. (There were, I believe, 11 terrorism stabbings in 2020, 1 in 2021, 0 in 2022, and 2 in 2023. In 2024, there has been one by an extreme racist and there were the 13 in the one incident in Southport, although Rudakubana's motives and whether they constituted terrorism are unclear.)
I'm more worried about the >99.5% of non-terrorism related stabbings. I am unclear why the journalist or the reader should rush to a discussion of terrorism in an article of this nature.
There was a recent fatal collision on Edinburgh's Cowgate between a bus and a pedestrian. The aftermath was almost unbelievably grisly.
A very large proportion of Edinburgh Facebook/Twitter commentariat are absolutely convinced that this was a terrorist attack, hushed up "like Southport". What they don't appreciate is just what can happen when a vehicle hits a person - indeed, something very similar happened on Gorgie Road last year.
The problem is that the authorities have used their credit up. There were previous occasions on which they bent the truth, reducing their credibility.
Southport has simply used up the last of it.
Now, why would you believe them?
Nah, bondegezou is right. People want these incidents to be terrorist attacks - it's confirmation bias.
I think with Edinburgh it's more the physics of it. How does being struck by a bus decapitate someone cleanly like that. And the bus not stop? Even running over a pheasant is an enormous commotion on a bus. It needs investigating hella thoroughly, and the bus and driver found (it's not a major bus route - must have been a tour bus of some description) and the facts established beyond doubt. Otherwise of course people will believe there's a head chopper about - which is not great regardless of any terrorist motivation.
Accidents can be freakish though. One of my earliest memories (in Edinburgh coincidentally) was a car accident outside the West End Hotel in Palmerston Place, my father’s favourite watering hole. The driver had had a heart attack and slumped with his head through the open driver-side window. The car drove through the t junction and into the open front basement of the hotel, decapitating him. A bloody affair.
Who are the various "families" in the Trump proto-government? The conventional Republicans, the techbro fanboys, the Project 2025ers? What does each lot want, and what's their power base?
I'm thinking something like an analysis of Franco's governments as a shifting mix of catholics, monarchists, military, businessmen and actual fascists.
What happens next depends on who DJT decides to please, who gets palmed off with trinkets and who gets shunned, because they can't all get what they want.
MPs and people with a political platform have been complaining about the inability to build anything for what seems forever. However they soon get trapped into the knot of overhauling the system will often mean weakening / removing things they also value, while also of course being sucked into the vortex of NIMBYs in their seat and labyrinthian planning system officials.
I agree. It's interesting how there didn't seem to be anyone overseeing things who could state the obvious and say that spending £100m on a bat tunnel just wasn't an appropriate use of money.
Note that according to the MP the requirement was that “not one bat would be killed”
Which is an insane and incompetent requirement.
HS2 isn’t *human” death proof. No platform doors at every station, for a start. Why? Because making it 100% safe for humans in basically impossible. Trying would take infinite money.
Comments
Southport has simply used up the last of it.
Now, why would you believe them?
Having dealt with the various levels of government I would say that is right.
Personally, I loathe the bloke.
Do you even want to be against the grammar nazis?
Bill Kristol
@BillKristol
·
4h
May I say a word for the Democratic Party for all its faults?
It is the Republican Party that nominated Trump three times, that gave way to Trump, that supports and enables Trump.
The Democratic Party in opposition could have done better. But at least they were in opposition.
https://x.com/BillKristol/status/1855670404469370893
There is a reason that accuracy and honesty used to be prized.
The belief that somehow institutions are “owed* respect and trust is not one that resonates in the modern world.
She sounded proper on the telly today. No talkin against improvin workin conditions
She seems to have learnt the g
A side.
Probably, for the most part, not the Nazi's.
Actually, she started off saying "morning" but a few minutes later was back to saying "spendin'".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gU-f1MgmeNI
51 mins 30 secs.
She sounds so different now
And wait till you hear about the enthusiastic Stalin collaborators.
For example, the Democrats used to be the party of racial segregation.
It’s distinctive, slightly ‘posh’, but I can’t quite place it
source$: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/10/18/drones-ships-navy-ukraine-china/
It occurs to me that one way to power all those lasers would be with a small module reactor. And I would be happy to see the US pay for research not such reactors -- including, of course, one to Rolls Royce.
(And if that leads to commercial applications in both nations, so much the better.)
By all accounts, Lammy is doing a pretty good job so far.
Donald Trump has the attention span of a fruit fly, and the knowledge of an amoeba. He's only there to make sure he could keep himself out of prison.
I've just listened to an account by John Bolton (Trump's former Nat Sec Advisor for part of his first term) of how, in a meeting with Theresa May at Chequers in the middle of his first term, she remarked that the Salisbury attack was a chemical attack on a nuclear power. Trump's comment - "Oh, does the UK have nuclear weapons?".
The main problem with the Lammy comment is that Kemi Badenoch was willing to risk undermining UK international relationships for an unnecessary partisan attack. She needs to give her head a wobble.
Votes received and percentages of total vote
Candidate Votes Pct.
Ruben Gallego DEM 1,500,850 49.8
Kari Lake GOP 1,449,464 48.1
Eduardo Quintana GRN 64,552 2.1
Lead: 51,386
The Dragonfire system which is 'expected' to be in service with the RN around 2027 works off the existing ships power - and the newer classes have had that upgraded by several times as part of the design. That is for drones and probably fast attack boats, so in the "CIWS and perhaps a bit more" class.
The Ozzies have been playing with something called Fractl 2, which is land based and lighter.
https://www.australiandefence.com.au/news/news/aim-defence-lands-adf-contract-for-laser-based-counter-drone-system
As ever, one remains sceptical.
"Dan Tomlinson MP
@Dan4Barnet
Why can’t Britain build anything anymore?
The news this week of the £100m ‘bat tunnel’ gave us some clues.
Here’s the story of this tunnel, which has been 12 years in the making, and some thoughts on what it tells us"
https://x.com/Dan4Barnet/status/1855680716169740375
Votes received and percentages of total vote
Candidate Votes Pct.
Ruben Gallego DEM 1,555,426 50.0
Kari Lake GOP 1,488,733 47.8
Eduardo Quintana GRN 67,961 2.2
Lead: 66,693
He made one essential bet: that his grievances would become the grievances of the MAGA movement, and then the G.O.P., and then more than half the country. It paid off.
https://archive.ph/dhdxk
For almost any other politician, Mr. Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts related to hush-money payments to a porn star would have been the worst day of his candidacy. Instead, it gave him financial rocket fuel.
Small donors poured $50 million into his coffers in 24 hours. And his main super PAC was informed by its bank of a $50 million wire transfer the day after the conviction — but needed first to confirm who had sent it to make sure it wasn’t fraudulent. The problem was they didn’t know because one of the biggest contributions in American history had been sent without any heads up. Eventually, they determined the amount and its source: the reclusive billionaire Timothy Mellon.
The $100 million day helped narrow the financial chasm Mr. Trump had been facing.
What the hell is going on in the US Senate? Hours after Donald Trump wins the most conclusive mandate in 40 years, Mitch McConnell engineers a coup against his agenda by calling early leadership elections in the senate...
https://x.com/TuckerCarlson/status/1855344652422951054
😶🫡
This is the longest continuous press assignment I’ve ever done - as in: one trip after another with no breaks
Hopefully this last leg will be tropically relaxed. A few beers by a pool. Maybe some paddle boarding
What I find with these intense trips is that at the time I find them gruelling if entertaining, but when I get home and I’ve slept for 3 days I then miss the intensity, immediately. And also I look back and think: wow, that was a rich experience
I mean, when I think about all the stuff I’ve seen on this trip - from the Japanese imperial shamaness at Ise shrine to the DMZ and a look into north Korea to the mad fish markets of Busan to the gigolo bars of Tokyo to the fisherwomen of Jeju to the samurai sword makers of Kyotango to the beautiful courtesans of lost Osaka to the hairy
blood on that Filipino menu last night
Fabulously rich. And I’ve met such a wild variety of people
And now I’m off to the “fifteenth best hotel in the world”. But I fear it is going to rain. Hah
I'd never really put all the bits together before Wikipedia.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/6th_century_BC
An executive order, signed by eight of the council's nine members, named businessman and former Haiti Senate candidate Alix Didier Fils-Aime as Conille's replacement.
Conille, a former United Nations official, was brought in to lead Haiti through an ongoing, gang-led security crisis and had been expected to help pave the way for the country's first presidential elections since 2016.
He described his ousting as illegal, saying in a letter - seen by Reuters news agency - that it raised "serious concerns" about Haiti's future.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gx7gjv22po
Any Republican Senator seeking the coveted LEADERSHIP position in the United States Senate must agree to Recess Appointments (in the Senate!), without which we will not be able to get people confirmed in a timely manner. Sometimes the votes can take two years, or more. This is what they did four years ago, and we cannot let it happen again. We need positions filled IMMEDIATELY! Additionally, no Judges should be approved during this period of time because the Democrats are looking to ram through their Judges as the Republicans fight over Leadership. THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE. THANK YOU!
https://x.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1855692242981155259
As for the judiciary, we could in time have a Supreme Court with two thirds of its members appointed by Trump.
Yes she was a bad candidate, but was her campaign terrible?
It looks like the swing to Trump (2020 to 2024) in the swing states where both Harris and Trump campaigned and advertised and GOTV a lot was generally less than the swing to Trump in the states where they didn't campaign.
It looks as though it will be full steam ahead, and it's likely to get very ugly.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Homan
DEW are going to be a really useful part of the future battlefield; but there will always be a place for the good old kinetics.
This article is a brief summary:
https://www.c4isrnet.com/opinion/2018/02/26/cloudy-and-a-chance-of-rain-need-not-sideline-high-energy-lasers/
But his legal strategy of delay delay delay till after the election has been a spectacular success.
https://www.theworlds50best.com/hotels/list/1-50
Blocking Merrick Garland’s (far from a particularly liberal justice), appointment to SCOTUS, could have resulted in a far more left wing appointment, had Clinton won.
But, Trump pulled off a surprise.
Trump ought to have been unelectable. But, he won parts of the electorate that mainstream Republicans could not reach.
His scandalous conduct ought to have ruled him out from being re-nominated. Once he was re-nominated, he ought to have dragged down the Republicans.
But he won, mainly due to price rises.
There is no 'right' answer to this in fast-moving and unclear situations.
Jockeying kicks off to fill Vance vacancy in Senate
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/4981631-senate-vacancy-vance-ohio-dewine/
NEW THREAD
And the bottom line is that Trump did drag the Reps down- look how small the swing was compared with other elections this year. But the tide was strong enough to bring him in anyway.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer will join French President Emmanuel Macron for Armistice Day events in Paris on Monday morning, with the two men set to hold talks on European security and the likely impact of a second Trump presidency in the US.
There is uncertainty about Donald Trump's support for Ukraine after he said he could end the war with Russia "in one day".
Ahead of attending a ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Macron and Starmer are expected to discuss Russia's ongoing invasion and the humanitarian situation in Gaza, Downing Street said.
Sir Keir ... is believed to be the first British leader to attend the ceremony on the Champs Elysee since Winston Churchill in 1944.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce8dz0n8xldo
And it turns out Leon will be PB's man on the spot.
Who are the various "families" in the Trump proto-government? The conventional Republicans, the techbro fanboys, the Project 2025ers? What does each lot want, and what's their power base?
I'm thinking something like an analysis of Franco's governments as a shifting mix of catholics, monarchists, military, businessmen and actual fascists.
What happens next depends on who DJT decides to please, who gets palmed off with trinkets and who gets shunned, because they can't all get what they want.
Which is an insane and incompetent requirement.
HS2 isn’t *human” death proof. No platform doors at every station, for a start. Why? Because making it 100% safe for humans in basically impossible. Trying would take infinite money.
The same goes for bats.
https://archive.is/3uULy