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Next PM betting, Farage remains the favourite – politicalbetting.com

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  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 43,353
    edited February 5
    TimS said:

    TOPPING said:

    kjh said:

    TOPPING said:

    kinabalu said:

    TOPPING said:

    TOPPING said:

    Layla Moran says, “Gaza is our land.” If she’s speaking as a British politician then it’s imperialism and if she’s speaking as a Palestinian then it’s blood and soil nationalism.

    https://x.com/laylamoran/status/1887058366960161067

    I suspect she is speaking as a Gazan. Are you gaslighting?
    Interesting. Would you expect Joy Morrissey to talk about "her land" when discussing, say, Greenland.
    If you English were about to invade Wales I would talk about "my land".*

    * And I was born in Solihull.
    I have no doubt that were a British Jewish MP to talk about "their land" (leaving aside current geopolitics), all hell would break loose.

    And as to your point, I have had all the Wales I could possibly want from Brecon, and being attached to a Welsh regiment for that matter. If the English were about to invade I'd send money for shields and lances to the Welsh.
    In the context of a plan to turf all Jews out of Israel, you mean?

    I'm sure they'd be some "our land" outrage amongst Jewish people in Britain in that case and rightly so.
    So in other words no. No British Jewish MP has ever referred to Israel as "my land".

    thx
    I think it is quite normal for someone Jewish to refer to Israel as their homeland and why not, it means a lot to them, even if they don't live there. Similarly for Palestinians to refer to the areas they originate as their homeland and from Americans of Scottish or Irish decent to refer to their homeland, even if several generations ago, and celebrate with kilts, bagpipes etc, etc.

    I think we are making too much of this. It is a perfectly reasonable statement to make of somewhere you don't live, but have strong connections to and I would think it particularly relevant to Jews with their history. I consider myself to be a Londoner, but I haven't lived there for 61 years and my wife thinks of Scotland as her homeland even though she left over 40 years ago.
    Nope I don't think so. Moran was born in the UK (ok, Hammersmith). She is also an elected representative taking her seat in the House of Commons. By any metric when she talks or tweets or whatnot, "her land" is and imo should be the UK.

    By all means talk about land of her fathers, ancestral homeland, or somesuch. But "her land" is Blighty.
    “Our land”. Given her family situation I think that’s perfectly reasonable. Particularly when Donald Trump is cooking up plans yo turn it into docklands
    I still think "our land" is a stretch. I wouldn't expect Joy Morrissey to start spouting about "our land" when talking about the negotiations between the UK and the US and for her to mean the US.
  • noneoftheabovenoneoftheabove Posts: 23,700

    Egypt and Saudi Arabia have poured cold water on the Trump’s “Lebensraum Del Mar” so that’s that, I guess.

    Rwanda should offer to take them but demand payment upfront.......
  • bondegezoubondegezou Posts: 12,732

    Taz said:

    Taz said:

    Taz said:

    Kay Burley has announced, live on air, her departure from the increasingly irrelevant Sky News.

    Retirement or heave-ho? Ian King has been given his P45 in the past week. Talk is plenty more of the high profile ones are going to be also out of a job due to loses of £100 million a year.

    I believe the deal new owners struck with government to ensure Sky News exists runs out in 2-3 years.
    BigG will be devastated.
    However, he’ll still have GBN and Guido for an unbiased take on the news.
    Also Channel4 news and current affairs, a left wing version of GB news.
    Does BigG watch Channel 4, though?
    Does anyone, their ratings are poorer than that of Netflix, Youtube and some Freeview channels
    I do not understand @Gardenwalker obsession with me to be honest
    Take it as a backhanded compliment.
    You are one of the grandees of PB.

    Lesser posters are too forgettable to actually satirise.
    Well I must say I have never seen myself in that way

    Mind you I didn't post yesterday as my wife and I decided to have lunch in Euston so took the morning Avanti service that took just 3 hours, had lunch, and came home on the 3.00pm service back to Colwyn Bay

    And we thoroughly enjoyed it, maybe my wife and I are a wee bit eccentric !!
    Where do you recommend for lunch in Euston?
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 43,911
    TimS said:

    kjh said:

    TOPPING said:

    kinabalu said:

    TOPPING said:

    TOPPING said:

    Layla Moran says, “Gaza is our land.” If she’s speaking as a British politician then it’s imperialism and if she’s speaking as a Palestinian then it’s blood and soil nationalism.

    https://x.com/laylamoran/status/1887058366960161067

    I suspect she is speaking as a Gazan. Are you gaslighting?
    Interesting. Would you expect Joy Morrissey to talk about "her land" when discussing, say, Greenland.
    If you English were about to invade Wales I would talk about "my land".*

    * And I was born in Solihull.
    I have no doubt that were a British Jewish MP to talk about "their land" (leaving aside current geopolitics), all hell would break loose.

    And as to your point, I have had all the Wales I could possibly want from Brecon, and being attached to a Welsh regiment for that matter. If the English were about to invade I'd send money for shields and lances to the Welsh.
    In the context of a plan to turf all Jews out of Israel, you mean?

    I'm sure they'd be some "our land" outrage amongst Jewish people in Britain in that case and rightly so.
    So in other words no. No British Jewish MP has ever referred to Israel as "my land".

    thx
    I think it is quite normal for someone Jewish to refer to Israel as their homeland and why not, it means a lot to them, even if they don't live there. Similarly for Palestinians to refer to the areas they originate as their homeland and from Americans of Scottish or Irish decent to refer to their homeland, even if several generations ago, and celebrate with kilts, bagpipes etc, etc.

    I think we are making too much of this. It is a perfectly reasonable statement to make of somewhere you don't live, but have strong connections to and I would think it particularly relevant to Jews with their history. I consider myself to be a Londoner, but I haven't lived there for 61 years and my wife thinks of Scotland as her homeland even though she left over 40 years ago.
    The very salient point here is that pretty much Layla’s entire family live in Gaza and the West Bank, at least one close relative has been killed in the war, and she has been one of the most articulate, inclusive and grown up commentators on the situation since it began, regularly working with Jewish MPs to put across a common point of view. She’s not some river to the sea flag waver.
    Also the context. President Trump's rhetoric.

    Imagine he sits there next to Putin and muses approvingly about Ukraine being emptied of Ukrainians. The next day a British MP of Ukrainian descent reacts angrily and talks about it being "our land".

    Would people have a problem with that?
  • bigglesbiggles Posts: 6,618
    Seriously, we’ve got top cover now. We can invade France. We can probably also sell Trump all land in Scotland for golf courses, and get him to support the relocation of the French people to Egypt so the Scots and any English that want to can go and live on the new English Mediterranean.
  • IanB2 said:

    IanB2 said:

    Taz said:

    Taz said:

    Kay Burley has announced, live on air, her departure from the increasingly irrelevant Sky News.

    Retirement or heave-ho? Ian King has been given his P45 in the past week. Talk is plenty more of the high profile ones are going to be also out of a job due to loses of £100 million a year.

    I believe the deal new owners struck with government to ensure Sky News exists runs out in 2-3 years.
    BigG will be devastated.
    However, he’ll still have GBN and Guido for an unbiased take on the news.
    Also Channel4 news and current affairs, a left wing version of GB news.
    Does BigG watch Channel 4, though?
    He reads the Daily Mail, and reacts with *surprise* on those occasions when the world as reported by the Mail doesn’t match up with the real world as it is beyond Llandudno.
    Where did you get that from

    Show me any link I have posted from the mail
    Just last night you struggled to accept that the Mail’s reporting was spin and not fact. Anyone bothered to check can review last evening’s conversation on PB.
    I have no idea what you are talking about

    I was in London yesterday and didn't post last night
  • bigglesbiggles Posts: 6,618
    HYUFD said:

    Egypt and Saudi Arabia have poured cold water on the Trump’s “Lebensraum Del Mar” so that’s that, I guess.

    China, France, Russia, Australia and the UK of course have also reiterated their support for a 2 state solution today. So far only Netanyahu's Israel unsurprisingly in favour of Trump's plan
    Trump wants two states as well doesn’t he? Israel, and Trumpland on sea.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 43,911
    edited February 5

    My raised-in-NY but lives-in-Texas colleague, who is ostensibly “liberal”, told me in the bar last night that he was fed up with all the trans garbage, and that Trump was “getting things done”.

    He cited Mexico’s agreement to post 10,000 troops to the border as a win.

    I demurred modestly, although I agreed that Trump was very entertaining.

    Keep fighting. I know it's not easy when you're on the front line.
  • GIN1138GIN1138 Posts: 22,541

    GIN1138 said:

    So just to get it straight. So far Donald Trump has said he wants to take over:

    Canada
    Greenland
    Mexico
    Panama/Panama Canal
    Gaza/Palastine

    And we're only 15 days in?

    At a country every 3 days we are only about 2 years from the first global Emperor.
    So this how liberty dies... Without thunderous applause...
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 58,481
    Cookie said:

    Phil said:

    Sandpit said:

    Trump lifts restrictions on Ukraine using US missiles to target Russia directly.

    https://x.com/igorsushko/status/1886904855329169857

    This could get fun!

    Amazing. The Russians really thought they had bribed & gained compromat on him (supposedly) & he turns round and does this to them. People just don’t stay bought these days, do they?
    Yes, on the face of it, this seems both surprising and good news for the west and for Ukraine.
    Yes: it is indisputably good news, as is Trump's (floated) plan to swap aid for Ukraine to future access (and profits) from Ukraine's rare earth and other mineral deposits.

    My gut on this says he thinks one of two things:

    (1) The Russians are the ones who are hardest to bring to the negotiating table. Ukraine would settle for the loss of Crimea, and probably the Dombas too. The issue is that such an outcome wouldn't be a victory for Russia. Trump is hoping he can put the pressure on Russia, such that they have to come to the table.

    (2) He no longer thinks Russia can (or will) win.

    Interestingly, apparently the Ukrainians haven't captured any North Koreans since mid January, which suggests they aren't being used in front line operations. (Or, alternatively, that they are being so successful, that they simply aren't being captured.)
  • Cookie said:

    IanB2 said:

    Taz said:

    Taz said:

    Kay Burley has announced, live on air, her departure from the increasingly irrelevant Sky News.

    Retirement or heave-ho? Ian King has been given his P45 in the past week. Talk is plenty more of the high profile ones are going to be also out of a job due to loses of £100 million a year.

    I believe the deal new owners struck with government to ensure Sky News exists runs out in 2-3 years.
    BigG will be devastated.
    However, he’ll still have GBN and Guido for an unbiased take on the news.
    Also Channel4 news and current affairs, a left wing version of GB news.
    Does BigG watch Channel 4, though?
    He reads the Daily Mail, and reacts with *surprise* on those occasions when the world as reported by the Mail doesn’t match up with the real world as it is beyond Llandudno.
    That seems unnecessarily rude.
    It is but not unusual sadly
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 58,481
    @TOPPING

    What were the concessions that the US extracted out of Mexico and Canada?

    And what do you think the impact of Trump's actions has been on demand for US goods in those countries?
  • MattWMattW Posts: 25,220
    edited February 5

    MattW said:

    MattW said:

    Really scummy from Tice at PMQ, using a released Israeli hostage as a prop for a claim that the UK fund Hamas.

    LInk to the question:

    https://parliamentlive.tv/event/index/60aa2714-2b6f-4052-ad2d-7d9c2cf79531?in=12:23:25
    Tbf to Tice, I think he garbled his question and meant to say UNRWA not Hamas.
    I have two issues with that.

    1 - He had already said UNRWA several times, so I think the change is deliberate.

    2 - I have no intention of being fair to a half-time-British twunt like Tice :smile: . In addition to reasoned argument, the occasional brickbat is richly (very richly, in his case) deserved.
  • Taz said:

    Taz said:

    Taz said:

    Kay Burley has announced, live on air, her departure from the increasingly irrelevant Sky News.

    Retirement or heave-ho? Ian King has been given his P45 in the past week. Talk is plenty more of the high profile ones are going to be also out of a job due to loses of £100 million a year.

    I believe the deal new owners struck with government to ensure Sky News exists runs out in 2-3 years.
    BigG will be devastated.
    However, he’ll still have GBN and Guido for an unbiased take on the news.
    Also Channel4 news and current affairs, a left wing version of GB news.
    Does BigG watch Channel 4, though?
    Does anyone, their ratings are poorer than that of Netflix, Youtube and some Freeview channels
    I do not understand @Gardenwalker obsession with me to be honest
    Take it as a backhanded compliment.
    You are one of the grandees of PB.

    Lesser posters are too forgettable to actually satirise.
    Well I must say I have never seen myself in that way

    Mind you I didn't post yesterday as my wife and I decided to have lunch in Euston so took the morning Avanti service that took just 3 hours, had lunch, and came home on the 3.00pm service back to Colwyn Bay

    And we thoroughly enjoyed it, maybe my wife and I are a wee bit eccentric !!
    Where do you recommend for lunch in Euston?
    I struggle with mobility and actually enjoyed a nice lunch in the Signal Box as it is in Euston on the upper level
  • GardenwalkerGardenwalker Posts: 21,914

    Taz said:

    Taz said:

    Taz said:

    Kay Burley has announced, live on air, her departure from the increasingly irrelevant Sky News.

    Retirement or heave-ho? Ian King has been given his P45 in the past week. Talk is plenty more of the high profile ones are going to be also out of a job due to loses of £100 million a year.

    I believe the deal new owners struck with government to ensure Sky News exists runs out in 2-3 years.
    BigG will be devastated.
    However, he’ll still have GBN and Guido for an unbiased take on the news.
    Also Channel4 news and current affairs, a left wing version of GB news.
    Does BigG watch Channel 4, though?
    Does anyone, their ratings are poorer than that of Netflix, Youtube and some Freeview channels
    I do not understand @Gardenwalker obsession with me to be honest
    Take it as a backhanded compliment.
    You are one of the grandees of PB.

    Lesser posters are too forgettable to actually satirise.
    Well I must say I have never seen myself in that way

    Mind you I didn't post yesterday as my wife and I decided to have lunch in Euston so took the morning Avanti service that took just 3 hours, had lunch, and came home on the 3.00pm service back to Colwyn Bay

    And we thoroughly enjoyed it, maybe my wife and I are a wee bit eccentric !!
    Sounds great, actually.
    I’ve barely left Manhattan in months. I’m getting restless.
  • noneoftheabovenoneoftheabove Posts: 23,700
    rcs1000 said:

    @TOPPING

    What were the concessions that the US extracted out of Mexico and Canada?

    And what do you think the impact of Trump's actions has been on demand for US goods in those countries?

    Not just those countries. Demand for Teslas is going to fall sharply in Europe with a big spike the other direction in East Germany.
  • Sean_FSean_F Posts: 38,066
    Battlebus said:

    IanB2 said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    kinabalu said:

    kinabalu said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    It is possible the combo of Chagos and Voice coach could bring down Starmer

    Each on their own, unlikely. But the combination of him being a lying snake and mind blowing hypocrite at the same time as he tries to give away, to hostile foreigners, billions of pounds we don’t have is quite lethal

    He looks insane

    The voice coach story is dead in the water. No one cares. No one wants to bang on about the pandemic anymore. You yourself picked up on this when taking about the lack of literature of the Black Death and the Spanish Flu.
    I am struck by the Hundred years war being punctuated by the extreme horror of the Black Death but with the combatents seemingly carrying on as if nothing had happened. Crecy (1346) so two years before and then Poitiers (1356) six years later, as if nothing had happened.

    I know that the downstream events of the Black Death in England took a generation or so to come to a head (Peasants Revolt etc) but you do wonder if people just shrugged and got on with stuff in 1350. A bit like now with Covid.
    You are a scientist who until recently was adamant it came from the wet market. Now it has been universally accepted it came from the lab, “oh who cares let’s move on no one wants to think about all that”
    Nonsense on a plate with gravy. There is no consensus on the origin of Covid let alone one that is universally accepted.
    On the contrary, it remains generally accepted by scientists that the most likely source for Covid was the wet market.

    From the 4 January 2025 issue of New Scientist:

    https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg26435242-500-the-big-unanswered-questions-about-the-covid-19-coronavirus/

    There are many reasons to discount a lab leak, says Holmes, and many more pointing to a natural origin. “SARS-CoV-2-like viruses have natural transmission cycles in a region spanning Yunnan province [in China] and southwards into South-East Asia and were most likely imported into Wuhan via the wildlife trade,” he says. “All the scientific evidence points to this. There is no scientific evidence for any other hypothesis.”

    “The lab leak theory remains completely unsupported and, worse, incoherent and inconsistent, frequently requiring complex conspiracies to be a viable hypothesis,” says David Robertson at the University of Glasgow, UK. “Indeed, it seems clear that there’s a political agenda behind much of the proponents of the lab leak theory.”

    We probably won’t ever know for sure. “I honestly can’t see any other new evidence coming to light,” says Holmes. “Research on this matter in China is at a standstill as the official narrative is that the virus is not from China. Besides, it is now far too late to find any intermediate animal species that still has the virus or antibodies to it.”

    Does it even matter at this point? Yes, says Robertson. “The lab leak theory has become part of a wider, anti-science disinformation landscape. This is all very unfortunate, as preparedness to virus threats requires strong international cooperation and evidence-based response.”

    Wet market is favoured but there is a sizeable dissenting minority not all of whom (contrary to evidence on here) are crackpots.
    Yes, the lab leak origin is certainly a possibility, but seems unlikely from what I've read. What I find a bit weird is the desperation for certainty by some people, and to have someone specific to blame. I suppose the human psyche is wired this way. People want to have reasons for events - preferably simple ones - and if none are immediately apparent, then they'll invent them. Hence religion and superstition.
    And yet the “religious certainty” all came from the wet marketeers for the first year

    Remember “lab leak is a racist conspiracy theory”.

    Remember when just talking about it got you banned from Facebook and Twitter

    You didn’t have a problem with “religious certainty” then, did you? Nor did @kinabalu when he was “99% wet market!!” You knew and you were CERTAIN

    Now the overwhelming evidence points the opposite way and suddenly it’s “oh well we will never know” and “it’s too late anyway” and “who cares it’s all long ago only 20 million died let’s talk about Lucy Letby” - @turbotubbs

    It’s putrid, it’s laughable, it’s wrong, it’s immoral - and worst of all it is intellectually feeble
    I'll tell you whats intellectually feeble - picking the more dramatic answer and declaring 100% that it must be right. Not looking at other evidence, just trawling your socials and reddit feed. Why not look at papers proposing the wet market as the source and understand why they come to the conclusions they do?

    The main type of people of who go 100% certainty tend to be religious fanatics. What's your excuse?
    Immovable IQ advantage
    To have a high IQ, you need to have a functioning brain, and you should concentrate on establishing that first base before you go making wild claims.
    Apologies for second pic - but it's quite apt.


    If the Prussian army was correct, there was some truth in that. Claver but lazy people were suited for the highest command, because they knew how to delegate.
  • GardenwalkerGardenwalker Posts: 21,914
    Sean_F said:

    Battlebus said:

    IanB2 said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    kinabalu said:

    kinabalu said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    It is possible the combo of Chagos and Voice coach could bring down Starmer

    Each on their own, unlikely. But the combination of him being a lying snake and mind blowing hypocrite at the same time as he tries to give away, to hostile foreigners, billions of pounds we don’t have is quite lethal

    He looks insane

    The voice coach story is dead in the water. No one cares. No one wants to bang on about the pandemic anymore. You yourself picked up on this when taking about the lack of literature of the Black Death and the Spanish Flu.
    I am struck by the Hundred years war being punctuated by the extreme horror of the Black Death but with the combatents seemingly carrying on as if nothing had happened. Crecy (1346) so two years before and then Poitiers (1356) six years later, as if nothing had happened.

    I know that the downstream events of the Black Death in England took a generation or so to come to a head (Peasants Revolt etc) but you do wonder if people just shrugged and got on with stuff in 1350. A bit like now with Covid.
    You are a scientist who until recently was adamant it came from the wet market. Now it has been universally accepted it came from the lab, “oh who cares let’s move on no one wants to think about all that”
    Nonsense on a plate with gravy. There is no consensus on the origin of Covid let alone one that is universally accepted.
    On the contrary, it remains generally accepted by scientists that the most likely source for Covid was the wet market.

    From the 4 January 2025 issue of New Scientist:

    https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg26435242-500-the-big-unanswered-questions-about-the-covid-19-coronavirus/

    There are many reasons to discount a lab leak, says Holmes, and many more pointing to a natural origin. “SARS-CoV-2-like viruses have natural transmission cycles in a region spanning Yunnan province [in China] and southwards into South-East Asia and were most likely imported into Wuhan via the wildlife trade,” he says. “All the scientific evidence points to this. There is no scientific evidence for any other hypothesis.”

    “The lab leak theory remains completely unsupported and, worse, incoherent and inconsistent, frequently requiring complex conspiracies to be a viable hypothesis,” says David Robertson at the University of Glasgow, UK. “Indeed, it seems clear that there’s a political agenda behind much of the proponents of the lab leak theory.”

    We probably won’t ever know for sure. “I honestly can’t see any other new evidence coming to light,” says Holmes. “Research on this matter in China is at a standstill as the official narrative is that the virus is not from China. Besides, it is now far too late to find any intermediate animal species that still has the virus or antibodies to it.”

    Does it even matter at this point? Yes, says Robertson. “The lab leak theory has become part of a wider, anti-science disinformation landscape. This is all very unfortunate, as preparedness to virus threats requires strong international cooperation and evidence-based response.”

    Wet market is favoured but there is a sizeable dissenting minority not all of whom (contrary to evidence on here) are crackpots.
    Yes, the lab leak origin is certainly a possibility, but seems unlikely from what I've read. What I find a bit weird is the desperation for certainty by some people, and to have someone specific to blame. I suppose the human psyche is wired this way. People want to have reasons for events - preferably simple ones - and if none are immediately apparent, then they'll invent them. Hence religion and superstition.
    And yet the “religious certainty” all came from the wet marketeers for the first year

    Remember “lab leak is a racist conspiracy theory”.

    Remember when just talking about it got you banned from Facebook and Twitter

    You didn’t have a problem with “religious certainty” then, did you? Nor did @kinabalu when he was “99% wet market!!” You knew and you were CERTAIN

    Now the overwhelming evidence points the opposite way and suddenly it’s “oh well we will never know” and “it’s too late anyway” and “who cares it’s all long ago only 20 million died let’s talk about Lucy Letby” - @turbotubbs

    It’s putrid, it’s laughable, it’s wrong, it’s immoral - and worst of all it is intellectually feeble
    I'll tell you whats intellectually feeble - picking the more dramatic answer and declaring 100% that it must be right. Not looking at other evidence, just trawling your socials and reddit feed. Why not look at papers proposing the wet market as the source and understand why they come to the conclusions they do?

    The main type of people of who go 100% certainty tend to be religious fanatics. What's your excuse?
    Immovable IQ advantage
    To have a high IQ, you need to have a functioning brain, and you should concentrate on establishing that first base before you go making wild claims.
    Apologies for second pic - but it's quite apt.


    If the Prussian army was correct, there was some truth in that. Claver but lazy people were suited for the highest command, because they knew how to delegate.
    This is what I try to tell my boss.
  • PhilPhil Posts: 2,452
    edited February 5
    rcs1000 said:

    Cookie said:

    Phil said:

    Sandpit said:

    Trump lifts restrictions on Ukraine using US missiles to target Russia directly.

    https://x.com/igorsushko/status/1886904855329169857

    This could get fun!

    Amazing. The Russians really thought they had bribed & gained compromat on him (supposedly) & he turns round and does this to them. People just don’t stay bought these days, do they?
    Yes, on the face of it, this seems both surprising and good news for the west and for Ukraine.
    Yes: it is indisputably good news, as is Trump's (floated) plan to swap aid for Ukraine to future access (and profits) from Ukraine's rare earth and other mineral deposits.

    My gut on this says he thinks one of two things:

    (1) The Russians are the ones who are hardest to bring to the negotiating table. Ukraine would settle for the loss of Crimea, and probably the Dombas too. The issue is that such an outcome wouldn't be a victory for Russia. Trump is hoping he can put the pressure on Russia, such that they have to come to the table.

    (2) He no longer thinks Russia can (or will) win.

    Interestingly, apparently the Ukrainians haven't captured any North Koreans since mid January, which suggests they aren't being used in front line operations. (Or, alternatively, that they are being so successful, that they simply aren't being captured.)
    I wonder if the internal reports suggest that Russia is in a much worse state internally than they appear from the outside?

    Trump has been noticeably more negative about Russia ever since he won the election.

    On the Koreans: the news I’ve seen is that Kim has been horrified by the scale of their losses in such a short time (due to the Russians throwing them into the meatgrinder just as they do with everyone else) and has ordered them to pull out of the immediate fight. He sent some of his best troops supposedly - the Ukranians have described them as well trained & reasonably well equipped. I guess he wasn’t expecting them to be used as cannon fodder.
  • algarkirkalgarkirk Posts: 13,431

    HYUFD said:

    Egypt and Saudi Arabia have poured cold water on the Trump’s “Lebensraum Del Mar” so that’s that, I guess.

    China, France, Russia, Australia and the UK of course have also reiterated their support for a 2 state solution today. So far only Netanyahu's Israel unsurprisingly in favour of Trump's plan
    Egypt and Saudi are more relevant because they’re the only states (along with Jordan) who might conceivably offer a home for 2M displaced Gazans.
    Well of course, they would wouldn't they; what on earth would anyone expect.

    With Trump unless actual accomplished deeds show otherwise, you take his announcements and policies seriously but not literally. It saves vast amounts of time and effort.

    So in place of giving him extra attention, move as fast as possible towards what he is actually trying to do, and what the options are for everyone else, and what the outcome might be.

    FWIW my assumption at the moment is that Trump and his oligarch mates would like to move things along a bit, especially the bits where little progress has been made since 1948. The chance has arisen to push a one (non Palestinian) state solution, no-one has been able to progress any decent ideas for decades, that Gaza is rubble is a fact however regrettable.

    What Trump's move forces is for other parties to find ways of making progress better than Trump's wheeze (denunciations won't do, you have to have a better and possible plan) and makes it harder to return to status quo ante.
  • MattWMattW Posts: 25,220
    rcs1000 said:

    Cookie said:

    Phil said:

    Sandpit said:

    Trump lifts restrictions on Ukraine using US missiles to target Russia directly.

    https://x.com/igorsushko/status/1886904855329169857

    This could get fun!

    Amazing. The Russians really thought they had bribed & gained compromat on him (supposedly) & he turns round and does this to them. People just don’t stay bought these days, do they?
    Yes, on the face of it, this seems both surprising and good news for the west and for Ukraine.
    Yes: it is indisputably good news, as is Trump's (floated) plan to swap aid for Ukraine to future access (and profits) from Ukraine's rare earth and other mineral deposits.

    My gut on this says he thinks one of two things:

    (1) The Russians are the ones who are hardest to bring to the negotiating table. Ukraine would settle for the loss of Crimea, and probably the Dombas too. The issue is that such an outcome wouldn't be a victory for Russia. Trump is hoping he can put the pressure on Russia, such that they have to come to the table.

    (2) He no longer thinks Russia can (or will) win.

    Interestingly, apparently the Ukrainians haven't captured any North Koreans since mid January, which suggests they aren't being used in front line operations. (Or, alternatively, that they are being so successful, that they simply aren't being captured.)
    Here is a video reporting North Koreans having been withdrawn for their units to be reconstituted after 40% losses. It is from the Reporting from Ukraine channel, which has been one of my occasional regulars for about 18 months.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gtslRrXBQs


  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 43,353

    Taz said:

    Taz said:

    Taz said:

    Kay Burley has announced, live on air, her departure from the increasingly irrelevant Sky News.

    Retirement or heave-ho? Ian King has been given his P45 in the past week. Talk is plenty more of the high profile ones are going to be also out of a job due to loses of £100 million a year.

    I believe the deal new owners struck with government to ensure Sky News exists runs out in 2-3 years.
    BigG will be devastated.
    However, he’ll still have GBN and Guido for an unbiased take on the news.
    Also Channel4 news and current affairs, a left wing version of GB news.
    Does BigG watch Channel 4, though?
    Does anyone, their ratings are poorer than that of Netflix, Youtube and some Freeview channels
    I do not understand @Gardenwalker obsession with me to be honest
    Take it as a backhanded compliment.
    You are one of the grandees of PB.

    Lesser posters are too forgettable to actually satirise.
    Well I must say I have never seen myself in that way

    Mind you I didn't post yesterday as my wife and I decided to have lunch in Euston so took the morning Avanti service that took just 3 hours, had lunch, and came home on the 3.00pm service back to Colwyn Bay

    And we thoroughly enjoyed it, maybe my wife and I are a wee bit eccentric !!
    Where do you recommend for lunch in Euston?
    The Burger King is compelling. Albeit quite spenny vs MickeyDs.
  • GardenwalkerGardenwalker Posts: 21,914
    rcs1000 said:

    Cookie said:

    Phil said:

    Sandpit said:

    Trump lifts restrictions on Ukraine using US missiles to target Russia directly.

    https://x.com/igorsushko/status/1886904855329169857

    This could get fun!

    Amazing. The Russians really thought they had bribed & gained compromat on him (supposedly) & he turns round and does this to them. People just don’t stay bought these days, do they?
    Yes, on the face of it, this seems both surprising and good news for the west and for Ukraine.
    Yes: it is indisputably good news, as is Trump's (floated) plan to swap aid for Ukraine to future access (and profits) from Ukraine's rare earth and other mineral deposits.

    My gut on this says he thinks one of two things:

    (1) The Russians are the ones who are hardest to bring to the negotiating table. Ukraine would settle for the loss of Crimea, and probably the Dombas too. The issue is that such an outcome wouldn't be a victory for Russia. Trump is hoping he can put the pressure on Russia, such that they have to come to the table.

    (2) He no longer thinks Russia can (or will) win.

    Interestingly, apparently the Ukrainians haven't captured any North Koreans since mid January, which suggests they aren't being used in front line operations. (Or, alternatively, that they are being so successful, that they simply aren't being captured.)
    I thought I read the other day that the North Koreans had pulled out (perhaps just from front line operations) as they were frankly horrified at the level of carnage.
  • MattWMattW Posts: 25,220

    Taz said:

    Taz said:

    Taz said:

    Kay Burley has announced, live on air, her departure from the increasingly irrelevant Sky News.

    Retirement or heave-ho? Ian King has been given his P45 in the past week. Talk is plenty more of the high profile ones are going to be also out of a job due to loses of £100 million a year.

    I believe the deal new owners struck with government to ensure Sky News exists runs out in 2-3 years.
    BigG will be devastated.
    However, he’ll still have GBN and Guido for an unbiased take on the news.
    Also Channel4 news and current affairs, a left wing version of GB news.
    Does BigG watch Channel 4, though?
    Does anyone, their ratings are poorer than that of Netflix, Youtube and some Freeview channels
    I do not understand @Gardenwalker obsession with me to be honest
    Take it as a backhanded compliment.
    You are one of the grandees of PB.

    Lesser posters are too forgettable to actually satirise.
    Well I must say I have never seen myself in that way

    Mind you I didn't post yesterday as my wife and I decided to have lunch in Euston so took the morning Avanti service that took just 3 hours, had lunch, and came home on the 3.00pm service back to Colwyn Bay

    And we thoroughly enjoyed it, maybe my wife and I are a wee bit eccentric !!
    Where do you recommend for lunch in Euston?
    I struggle with mobility and actually enjoyed a nice lunch in the Signal Box as it is in Euston on the upper level
    @Big_G_NorthWales is the Ken Clarke of PB :wink: .
  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 43,353
    rcs1000 said:

    @TOPPING

    What were the concessions that the US extracted out of Mexico and Canada?

    And what do you think the impact of Trump's actions has been on demand for US goods in those countries?

    Didn't Mexico agree to send 10,000 troops to the border (which politically I believe is important for Trump and his supporters); and as for Canada there is now going to be a US-Canada trade summit wherein presumably Trump/the US will agitate for whatever terms they deem favourable to them.
  • TazTaz Posts: 16,604
    Phil said:

    Taz said:

    Taz said:

    Taz said:

    Kay Burley has announced, live on air, her departure from the increasingly irrelevant Sky News.

    Retirement or heave-ho? Ian King has been given his P45 in the past week. Talk is plenty more of the high profile ones are going to be also out of a job due to loses of £100 million a year.

    I believe the deal new owners struck with government to ensure Sky News exists runs out in 2-3 years.
    BigG will be devastated.
    However, he’ll still have GBN and Guido for an unbiased take on the news.
    Also Channel4 news and current affairs, a left wing version of GB news.
    Does BigG watch Channel 4, though?
    Does anyone, their ratings are poorer than that of Netflix, Youtube and some Freeview channels
    They have all of The West Wing on catchup which you can get ad-free for £4 / month tho. Yes, it can be teeth-grindingly soft-left in it’s politics but it’s still a joy to watch.

    (Niche audience, but I bet some on here are part of that subset of humanity.)

    (Also, Derry Girls!)
    Never got into that. C4 used to do some first class comedy though and drama. Will give them that, but not for a while. We watch Bake Off. Cannot think of any other C4 show we watch. I have caught Ramsays Kitchen Nightmares on More 4 while working from home. I am amazed he has not had someone wallop him.
  • TazTaz Posts: 16,604

    Taz said:

    Taz said:

    Taz said:

    Kay Burley has announced, live on air, her departure from the increasingly irrelevant Sky News.

    Retirement or heave-ho? Ian King has been given his P45 in the past week. Talk is plenty more of the high profile ones are going to be also out of a job due to loses of £100 million a year.

    I believe the deal new owners struck with government to ensure Sky News exists runs out in 2-3 years.
    BigG will be devastated.
    However, he’ll still have GBN and Guido for an unbiased take on the news.
    Also Channel4 news and current affairs, a left wing version of GB news.
    Does BigG watch Channel 4, though?
    Does anyone, their ratings are poorer than that of Netflix, Youtube and some Freeview channels
    I do not understand @Gardenwalker obsession with me to be honest
    Take it as a backhanded compliment.
    You are one of the grandees of PB.

    Lesser posters are too forgettable to actually satirise.
    Well I must say I have never seen myself in that way

    Mind you I didn't post yesterday as my wife and I decided to have lunch in Euston so took the morning Avanti service that took just 3 hours, had lunch, and came home on the 3.00pm service back to Colwyn Bay

    And we thoroughly enjoyed it, maybe my wife and I are a wee bit eccentric !!
    Did you pop into the Doric Arch for a frothing pint of Summer lightning. A true joy.
  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 43,353
    biggles said:

    Seriously, we’ve got top cover now. We can invade France. We can probably also sell Trump all land in Scotland for golf courses, and get him to support the relocation of the French people to Egypt so the Scots and any English that want to can go and live on the new English Mediterranean.

    Oh that one's easy, deport the French people who live in the land across the Channel to Overseas France and any one of the 13 territories that it comprises.

    Vive les Colonisers!
  • FairlieredFairliered Posts: 5,342
    biggles said:

    Seriously, we’ve got top cover now. We can invade France. We can probably also sell Trump all land in Scotland for golf courses, and get him to support the relocation of the French people to Egypt so the Scots and any English that want to can go and live on the new English Mediterranean.

    I know that Gaza looks like hell on earth, but that pales in comparison with turning an entire country into golf courses. 😳
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 125,613

    HYUFD said:

    Egypt and Saudi Arabia have poured cold water on the Trump’s “Lebensraum Del Mar” so that’s that, I guess.

    China, France, Russia, Australia and the UK of course have also reiterated their support for a 2 state solution today. So far only Netanyahu's Israel unsurprisingly in favour of Trump's plan
    Egypt and Saudi are more relevant because they’re the only states (along with Jordan) who might conceivably offer a home for 2M displaced Gazans.
    True though would also need UN Security Council support and every permanent member bar US now opposed
  • noneoftheabovenoneoftheabove Posts: 23,700
    GIN1138 said:

    GIN1138 said:

    So just to get it straight. So far Donald Trump has said he wants to take over:

    Canada
    Greenland
    Mexico
    Panama/Panama Canal
    Gaza/Palastine

    And we're only 15 days in?

    At a country every 3 days we are only about 2 years from the first global Emperor.
    So this how liberty dies... Without thunderous applause...
    Its alright, it all ends up with 60 years of prosperity and growth, we just have to get through the trade wars and depression in the 20s first, some world wars in the 30s and 40s til we get to the 50s where we start to feel lucky to be eating spam.
  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 43,353
    Sean_F said:

    Battlebus said:

    IanB2 said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    kinabalu said:

    kinabalu said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    It is possible the combo of Chagos and Voice coach could bring down Starmer

    Each on their own, unlikely. But the combination of him being a lying snake and mind blowing hypocrite at the same time as he tries to give away, to hostile foreigners, billions of pounds we don’t have is quite lethal

    He looks insane

    The voice coach story is dead in the water. No one cares. No one wants to bang on about the pandemic anymore. You yourself picked up on this when taking about the lack of literature of the Black Death and the Spanish Flu.
    I am struck by the Hundred years war being punctuated by the extreme horror of the Black Death but with the combatents seemingly carrying on as if nothing had happened. Crecy (1346) so two years before and then Poitiers (1356) six years later, as if nothing had happened.

    I know that the downstream events of the Black Death in England took a generation or so to come to a head (Peasants Revolt etc) but you do wonder if people just shrugged and got on with stuff in 1350. A bit like now with Covid.
    You are a scientist who until recently was adamant it came from the wet market. Now it has been universally accepted it came from the lab, “oh who cares let’s move on no one wants to think about all that”
    Nonsense on a plate with gravy. There is no consensus on the origin of Covid let alone one that is universally accepted.
    On the contrary, it remains generally accepted by scientists that the most likely source for Covid was the wet market.

    From the 4 January 2025 issue of New Scientist:

    https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg26435242-500-the-big-unanswered-questions-about-the-covid-19-coronavirus/

    There are many reasons to discount a lab leak, says Holmes, and many more pointing to a natural origin. “SARS-CoV-2-like viruses have natural transmission cycles in a region spanning Yunnan province [in China] and southwards into South-East Asia and were most likely imported into Wuhan via the wildlife trade,” he says. “All the scientific evidence points to this. There is no scientific evidence for any other hypothesis.”

    “The lab leak theory remains completely unsupported and, worse, incoherent and inconsistent, frequently requiring complex conspiracies to be a viable hypothesis,” says David Robertson at the University of Glasgow, UK. “Indeed, it seems clear that there’s a political agenda behind much of the proponents of the lab leak theory.”

    We probably won’t ever know for sure. “I honestly can’t see any other new evidence coming to light,” says Holmes. “Research on this matter in China is at a standstill as the official narrative is that the virus is not from China. Besides, it is now far too late to find any intermediate animal species that still has the virus or antibodies to it.”

    Does it even matter at this point? Yes, says Robertson. “The lab leak theory has become part of a wider, anti-science disinformation landscape. This is all very unfortunate, as preparedness to virus threats requires strong international cooperation and evidence-based response.”

    Wet market is favoured but there is a sizeable dissenting minority not all of whom (contrary to evidence on here) are crackpots.
    Yes, the lab leak origin is certainly a possibility, but seems unlikely from what I've read. What I find a bit weird is the desperation for certainty by some people, and to have someone specific to blame. I suppose the human psyche is wired this way. People want to have reasons for events - preferably simple ones - and if none are immediately apparent, then they'll invent them. Hence religion and superstition.
    And yet the “religious certainty” all came from the wet marketeers for the first year

    Remember “lab leak is a racist conspiracy theory”.

    Remember when just talking about it got you banned from Facebook and Twitter

    You didn’t have a problem with “religious certainty” then, did you? Nor did @kinabalu when he was “99% wet market!!” You knew and you were CERTAIN

    Now the overwhelming evidence points the opposite way and suddenly it’s “oh well we will never know” and “it’s too late anyway” and “who cares it’s all long ago only 20 million died let’s talk about Lucy Letby” - @turbotubbs

    It’s putrid, it’s laughable, it’s wrong, it’s immoral - and worst of all it is intellectually feeble
    I'll tell you whats intellectually feeble - picking the more dramatic answer and declaring 100% that it must be right. Not looking at other evidence, just trawling your socials and reddit feed. Why not look at papers proposing the wet market as the source and understand why they come to the conclusions they do?

    The main type of people of who go 100% certainty tend to be religious fanatics. What's your excuse?
    Immovable IQ advantage
    To have a high IQ, you need to have a functioning brain, and you should concentrate on establishing that first base before you go making wild claims.
    Apologies for second pic - but it's quite apt.


    If the Prussian army was correct, there was some truth in that. Claver but lazy people were suited for the highest command, because they knew how to delegate.
    You mean the von Hammerstein-Equord dynamic.

    https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/acref/9780191826719.001.0001/q-oro-ed4-00012327
  • carnforthcarnforth Posts: 5,237
    Taz said:

    Taz said:

    Taz said:

    Taz said:

    Kay Burley has announced, live on air, her departure from the increasingly irrelevant Sky News.

    Retirement or heave-ho? Ian King has been given his P45 in the past week. Talk is plenty more of the high profile ones are going to be also out of a job due to loses of £100 million a year.

    I believe the deal new owners struck with government to ensure Sky News exists runs out in 2-3 years.
    BigG will be devastated.
    However, he’ll still have GBN and Guido for an unbiased take on the news.
    Also Channel4 news and current affairs, a left wing version of GB news.
    Does BigG watch Channel 4, though?
    Does anyone, their ratings are poorer than that of Netflix, Youtube and some Freeview channels
    I do not understand @Gardenwalker obsession with me to be honest
    Take it as a backhanded compliment.
    You are one of the grandees of PB.

    Lesser posters are too forgettable to actually satirise.
    Well I must say I have never seen myself in that way

    Mind you I didn't post yesterday as my wife and I decided to have lunch in Euston so took the morning Avanti service that took just 3 hours, had lunch, and came home on the 3.00pm service back to Colwyn Bay

    And we thoroughly enjoyed it, maybe my wife and I are a wee bit eccentric !!
    Did you pop into the Doric Arch for a frothing pint of Summer lightning. A true joy.
    The cancel HS2 types hang out in the Bree Louise.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 58,436
    Despite all the hysteria, Trump is the only world leader offering the Palestinians even a halfway plausible route to a better life
  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 43,353
    If we're talking about Euston, no one should not spare a moment for this:


  • NEW THREAD

  • MattWMattW Posts: 25,220
    edited February 5
    rcs1000 said:

    TOPPING said:

    GIN1138 said:

    So just to get it straight. So far Donald Trump has said he wants to take over:

    Canada
    Greenland
    Mexico
    Panama/Panama Canal
    Gaza/Palastine

    And we're only 15 days in?

    Having only vaguely caught up on some of this, didn't he exact concessions from Canada and Mexico, thereby, um, putting *m*r*c* first?
    What concessions did he extract?
    https://youtu.be/mSpKUl98mSw?t=3
  • Taz said:

    Taz said:

    Taz said:

    Taz said:

    Kay Burley has announced, live on air, her departure from the increasingly irrelevant Sky News.

    Retirement or heave-ho? Ian King has been given his P45 in the past week. Talk is plenty more of the high profile ones are going to be also out of a job due to loses of £100 million a year.

    I believe the deal new owners struck with government to ensure Sky News exists runs out in 2-3 years.
    BigG will be devastated.
    However, he’ll still have GBN and Guido for an unbiased take on the news.
    Also Channel4 news and current affairs, a left wing version of GB news.
    Does BigG watch Channel 4, though?
    Does anyone, their ratings are poorer than that of Netflix, Youtube and some Freeview channels
    I do not understand @Gardenwalker obsession with me to be honest
    Take it as a backhanded compliment.
    You are one of the grandees of PB.

    Lesser posters are too forgettable to actually satirise.
    Well I must say I have never seen myself in that way

    Mind you I didn't post yesterday as my wife and I decided to have lunch in Euston so took the morning Avanti service that took just 3 hours, had lunch, and came home on the 3.00pm service back to Colwyn Bay

    And we thoroughly enjoyed it, maybe my wife and I are a wee bit eccentric !!
    Did you pop into the Doric Arch for a frothing pint of Summer lightning. A true joy.
    I did walk past it but I am not really a drinker so settled for the Signsl Box

    Though it did look a fascinating venue even from outside
  • TazTaz Posts: 16,604
    carnforth said:

    Taz said:

    Taz said:

    Taz said:

    Taz said:

    Kay Burley has announced, live on air, her departure from the increasingly irrelevant Sky News.

    Retirement or heave-ho? Ian King has been given his P45 in the past week. Talk is plenty more of the high profile ones are going to be also out of a job due to loses of £100 million a year.

    I believe the deal new owners struck with government to ensure Sky News exists runs out in 2-3 years.
    BigG will be devastated.
    However, he’ll still have GBN and Guido for an unbiased take on the news.
    Also Channel4 news and current affairs, a left wing version of GB news.
    Does BigG watch Channel 4, though?
    Does anyone, their ratings are poorer than that of Netflix, Youtube and some Freeview channels
    I do not understand @Gardenwalker obsession with me to be honest
    Take it as a backhanded compliment.
    You are one of the grandees of PB.

    Lesser posters are too forgettable to actually satirise.
    Well I must say I have never seen myself in that way

    Mind you I didn't post yesterday as my wife and I decided to have lunch in Euston so took the morning Avanti service that took just 3 hours, had lunch, and came home on the 3.00pm service back to Colwyn Bay

    And we thoroughly enjoyed it, maybe my wife and I are a wee bit eccentric !!
    Did you pop into the Doric Arch for a frothing pint of Summer lightning. A true joy.
    The cancel HS2 types hang out in the Bree Louise.
    Does it do Summer Lightning ?
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 43,911
    Sean_F said:

    Battlebus said:

    IanB2 said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    kinabalu said:

    kinabalu said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    It is possible the combo of Chagos and Voice coach could bring down Starmer

    Each on their own, unlikely. But the combination of him being a lying snake and mind blowing hypocrite at the same time as he tries to give away, to hostile foreigners, billions of pounds we don’t have is quite lethal

    He looks insane

    The voice coach story is dead in the water. No one cares. No one wants to bang on about the pandemic anymore. You yourself picked up on this when taking about the lack of literature of the Black Death and the Spanish Flu.
    I am struck by the Hundred years war being punctuated by the extreme horror of the Black Death but with the combatents seemingly carrying on as if nothing had happened. Crecy (1346) so two years before and then Poitiers (1356) six years later, as if nothing had happened.

    I know that the downstream events of the Black Death in England took a generation or so to come to a head (Peasants Revolt etc) but you do wonder if people just shrugged and got on with stuff in 1350. A bit like now with Covid.
    You are a scientist who until recently was adamant it came from the wet market. Now it has been universally accepted it came from the lab, “oh who cares let’s move on no one wants to think about all that”
    Nonsense on a plate with gravy. There is no consensus on the origin of Covid let alone one that is universally accepted.
    On the contrary, it remains generally accepted by scientists that the most likely source for Covid was the wet market.

    From the 4 January 2025 issue of New Scientist:

    https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg26435242-500-the-big-unanswered-questions-about-the-covid-19-coronavirus/

    There are many reasons to discount a lab leak, says Holmes, and many more pointing to a natural origin. “SARS-CoV-2-like viruses have natural transmission cycles in a region spanning Yunnan province [in China] and southwards into South-East Asia and were most likely imported into Wuhan via the wildlife trade,” he says. “All the scientific evidence points to this. There is no scientific evidence for any other hypothesis.”

    “The lab leak theory remains completely unsupported and, worse, incoherent and inconsistent, frequently requiring complex conspiracies to be a viable hypothesis,” says David Robertson at the University of Glasgow, UK. “Indeed, it seems clear that there’s a political agenda behind much of the proponents of the lab leak theory.”

    We probably won’t ever know for sure. “I honestly can’t see any other new evidence coming to light,” says Holmes. “Research on this matter in China is at a standstill as the official narrative is that the virus is not from China. Besides, it is now far too late to find any intermediate animal species that still has the virus or antibodies to it.”

    Does it even matter at this point? Yes, says Robertson. “The lab leak theory has become part of a wider, anti-science disinformation landscape. This is all very unfortunate, as preparedness to virus threats requires strong international cooperation and evidence-based response.”

    Wet market is favoured but there is a sizeable dissenting minority not all of whom (contrary to evidence on here) are crackpots.
    Yes, the lab leak origin is certainly a possibility, but seems unlikely from what I've read. What I find a bit weird is the desperation for certainty by some people, and to have someone specific to blame. I suppose the human psyche is wired this way. People want to have reasons for events - preferably simple ones - and if none are immediately apparent, then they'll invent them. Hence religion and superstition.
    And yet the “religious certainty” all came from the wet marketeers for the first year

    Remember “lab leak is a racist conspiracy theory”.

    Remember when just talking about it got you banned from Facebook and Twitter

    You didn’t have a problem with “religious certainty” then, did you? Nor did @kinabalu when he was “99% wet market!!” You knew and you were CERTAIN

    Now the overwhelming evidence points the opposite way and suddenly it’s “oh well we will never know” and “it’s too late anyway” and “who cares it’s all long ago only 20 million died let’s talk about Lucy Letby” - @turbotubbs

    It’s putrid, it’s laughable, it’s wrong, it’s immoral - and worst of all it is intellectually feeble
    I'll tell you whats intellectually feeble - picking the more dramatic answer and declaring 100% that it must be right. Not looking at other evidence, just trawling your socials and reddit feed. Why not look at papers proposing the wet market as the source and understand why they come to the conclusions they do?

    The main type of people of who go 100% certainty tend to be religious fanatics. What's your excuse?
    Immovable IQ advantage
    To have a high IQ, you need to have a functioning brain, and you should concentrate on establishing that first base before you go making wild claims.
    Apologies for second pic - but it's quite apt.


    If the Prussian army was correct, there was some truth in that. Claver but lazy people were suited for the highest command, because they knew how to delegate.
    That's what we all strived for on our school report. A for attainment, C for effort. It beat a double A hands down.
  • TazTaz Posts: 16,604

    Taz said:

    Taz said:

    Taz said:

    Taz said:

    Kay Burley has announced, live on air, her departure from the increasingly irrelevant Sky News.

    Retirement or heave-ho? Ian King has been given his P45 in the past week. Talk is plenty more of the high profile ones are going to be also out of a job due to loses of £100 million a year.

    I believe the deal new owners struck with government to ensure Sky News exists runs out in 2-3 years.
    BigG will be devastated.
    However, he’ll still have GBN and Guido for an unbiased take on the news.
    Also Channel4 news and current affairs, a left wing version of GB news.
    Does BigG watch Channel 4, though?
    Does anyone, their ratings are poorer than that of Netflix, Youtube and some Freeview channels
    I do not understand @Gardenwalker obsession with me to be honest
    Take it as a backhanded compliment.
    You are one of the grandees of PB.

    Lesser posters are too forgettable to actually satirise.
    Well I must say I have never seen myself in that way

    Mind you I didn't post yesterday as my wife and I decided to have lunch in Euston so took the morning Avanti service that took just 3 hours, had lunch, and came home on the 3.00pm service back to Colwyn Bay

    And we thoroughly enjoyed it, maybe my wife and I are a wee bit eccentric !!
    Did you pop into the Doric Arch for a frothing pint of Summer lightning. A true joy.
    I did walk past it but I am not really a drinker so settled for the Signsl Box

    Though it did look a fascinating venue even from outside
    It is, I used to like a seat by the window watching the buses come and go and the people going by.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 74,117

    Taz said:

    Taz said:

    Taz said:

    Kay Burley has announced, live on air, her departure from the increasingly irrelevant Sky News.

    Retirement or heave-ho? Ian King has been given his P45 in the past week. Talk is plenty more of the high profile ones are going to be also out of a job due to loses of £100 million a year.

    I believe the deal new owners struck with government to ensure Sky News exists runs out in 2-3 years.
    BigG will be devastated.
    However, he’ll still have GBN and Guido for an unbiased take on the news.
    Also Channel4 news and current affairs, a left wing version of GB news.
    Does BigG watch Channel 4, though?
    Does anyone, their ratings are poorer than that of Netflix, Youtube and some Freeview channels
    I do not understand @Gardenwalker obsession with me to be honest
    There's only one thing worse than being talked about, Big_G.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 74,117
    Cookie said:

    Phil said:

    Sandpit said:

    Trump lifts restrictions on Ukraine using US missiles to target Russia directly.

    https://x.com/igorsushko/status/1886904855329169857

    This could get fun!

    Amazing. The Russians really thought they had bribed & gained compromat on him (supposedly) & he turns round and does this to them. People just don’t stay bought these days, do they?
    Yes, on the face of it, this seems both surprising and good news for the west and for Ukraine.
    Someone has perhaps told him that two thirds of Ukraine's mineral reserves, which he wants to get US hands on, are in east Ukraine.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 74,117
    edited February 5
    rcs1000 said:

    Cookie said:

    Phil said:

    Sandpit said:

    Trump lifts restrictions on Ukraine using US missiles to target Russia directly.

    https://x.com/igorsushko/status/1886904855329169857

    This could get fun!

    Amazing. The Russians really thought they had bribed & gained compromat on him (supposedly) & he turns round and does this to them. People just don’t stay bought these days, do they?
    Yes, on the face of it, this seems both surprising and good news for the west and for Ukraine.
    Yes: it is indisputably good news, as is Trump's (floated) plan to swap aid for Ukraine to future access (and profits) from Ukraine's rare earth and other mineral deposits.

    My gut on this says he thinks one of two things:

    (1) The Russians are the ones who are hardest to bring to the negotiating table. Ukraine would settle for the loss of Crimea, and probably the Dombas too. The issue is that such an outcome wouldn't be a victory for Russia. Trump is hoping he can put the pressure on Russia, such that they have to come to the table.

    (2) He no longer thinks Russia can (or will) win.

    Interestingly, apparently the Ukrainians haven't captured any North Koreans since mid January, which suggests they aren't being used in front line operations. (Or, alternatively, that they are being so successful, that they simply aren't being captured.)
    They've been withdrawn from the front after taking 30% casualties*.

    (*Of the entire contingent.)
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