RFK Jr is going for it on the spray tan. Bro is mahogany.
Trying to be more orange than Trump. He’s going for the ‘roids as well, no 70-year-old looks like that from the gym.
The irony, given his AntiCorporatePoison shtick, is that steroid abuse (and other hideous "enhancing" drugs) is becoming an epidemic among young men. Think of it as the complement to the anorexia plague among girls - absurd body images primed in media....
Have either Badenoch or Farage commented on Starmer's announcement the UK is willing to put troops on the ground in Ukraine to help guarantee any peace deal that is agreed? That seems to be pretty consequential and worthy of some remark.
Kemi Badenoch this morning: "A country cannot be successful if its people and intellectual elite don’t believe in it. This means dealing with the poisoning of minds through higher education."
Ukrainian President Zelensky says more than 46,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed since Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022, with "tens of thousands more missing in action or in captivity".
Those missing in action could be dead or in captivity, Zelensky told NBC News on Sunday.
Ten days earlier, on 6 February, Zelensky said 45,100 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed and around 390,000 had been wounded. Military experts in Ukraine and the West believe the number could be far higher.
Russia hasn't released an equivalent figure, but UK Defence Intelligence estimated in December that an average of 1,523 Russian soldiers were being killed and wounded every day.
Zelensky says up to 350,000 Russian soldiers have been killed - other reports suggest that number could be much higher.
That's an extraordinary figure.
To put it in context, 265,000 British combat personnel were killed in the whole of the Second World War.
That's the problem with Russia - Putin doesn't seem to regard it's population as anything other than expendable.
Plus ça change. If a nation continues to fetishise a war that happened 80+ years ago with deaths in the tens of millions, I imagine sacrifice is very much a cultural part of its psyche. Just as they can't comprehend societies that value (up to a point) their citizens and troops, we can't really understand that level of dogged acceptance.
Except for Hitler and Napoleon has anyone actually cared about Russia to the point of invading it..
Edit and the Mongols but they were a unique case..
Napoleon.
And the Poles in 1609 and 1920.
And the Swedes in 1708.
This is the reason the colours of Ukraine are blue and yellow like Sweden (and Boca Juniors). The Hetman of the Zaporizhian Host and Left Bank Ukraine switched sides, abandoning Tsar Peter I and chucking his lot in with Charles XII of Sweden. Then, as now, it didn't really work out.
Does Putin the historian, think Russia includes the Left Bank?
No, especially after the French deployed the 344mm Lepage Creme Brûlée gun in Ukraine.
One hit would turn an entire battalion of Slavic Noble Warriors into Left Bank Existentialists - wearing rollneck black sweaters, drinking very small cups of coffee and arguing against the existence of existence.
Asked AI to find an image of this gun. This is what it came up with? Is it close to what you imagined?
Ukrainian President Zelensky says more than 46,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed since Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022, with "tens of thousands more missing in action or in captivity".
Those missing in action could be dead or in captivity, Zelensky told NBC News on Sunday.
Ten days earlier, on 6 February, Zelensky said 45,100 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed and around 390,000 had been wounded. Military experts in Ukraine and the West believe the number could be far higher.
Russia hasn't released an equivalent figure, but UK Defence Intelligence estimated in December that an average of 1,523 Russian soldiers were being killed and wounded every day.
Zelensky says up to 350,000 Russian soldiers have been killed - other reports suggest that number could be much higher.
That's an extraordinary figure.
To put it in context, 265,000 British combat personnel were killed in the whole of the Second World War.
That's the problem with Russia - Putin doesn't seem to regard it's population as anything other than expendable.
Plus ça change. If a nation continues to fetishise a war that happened 80+ years ago with deaths in the tens of millions, I imagine sacrifice is very much a cultural part of its psyche. Just as they can't comprehend societies that value (up to a point) their citizens and troops, we can't really understand that level of dogged acceptance.
Except for Hitler and Napoleon has anyone actually cared about Russia to the point of invading it..
Edit and the Mongols but they were a unique case..
Napoleon.
And the Poles in 1609 and 1920.
And the Swedes in 1708.
This is the reason the colours of Ukraine are blue and yellow like Sweden (and Boca Juniors). The Hetman of the Zaporizhian Host and Left Bank Ukraine switched sides, abandoning Tsar Peter I and chucking his lot in with Charles XII of Sweden. Then, as now, it didn't really work out.
Does Putin the historian, think Russia includes the Left Bank?
No, especially after the French deployed the 344mm Lepage Creme Brûlée gun in Ukraine.
One hit would turn an entire battalion of Slavic Noble Warriors into Left Bank Existentialists - wearing rollneck black sweaters, drinking very small cups of coffee and arguing against the existence of existence.
Asked AI to find an image of this gun. This is what it came up with? Is it close to what you imagined?
More like this -
Yes, the semiotics of that image upset Putin even more. Things he can't have.
The last civil war widow didn't actually receive her pension - she didn't claim it because her son-in-law threatened her if she did.
A disabled daughter of a veteran was still receiving a pension until 2020, however.
Ah so the last widow actually receiving a pension died only 144 years after the war ended!
Apparently the thinking within US social security is that their primary aim is to minimise complaints, which means minimising false negative flags in the database. No-one receiving money they’re not expecting is making a complaint, and for various reasons this has been happening for decades with no auditing.
The working estimate for Musk’s team is several hundred billion dollars a year paid out incorrectly.
When added to the story from last week of the federal employee retirement process still being done on paper and taking months to complete, It’s quite the insight into just how antequated are all of the systems they’re using. One can imagine that the UK government will also have a number of equally silly stories about systems that hang together by the barest of threads.
US gov't spend is/was ~ 23% of gdp, whereas we're at ~45%. If you allow 11% for health it's still 23/34 as comparable figures to my mind. I think this is a large part of why they've got so much richer than us since 2008. We need to cut a heck of a lot. Some good news on the NHS numbers this morning. If Starmer goes before the election Streeting might be the one to fight 2029.
The reason they’ve got so much richer than us since 2008, in 3 charts and one paragraph:
Exports The top exports of United States are Crude Petroleum ($125B), Refined Petroleum ($107B), Petroleum Gas ($83.2B), Gas Turbines ($69.3B), and Cars ($65.3B), exporting mostly to Canada ($269B), Mexico ($243B), China ($154B), Germany ($94.8B), and Japan ($80.2B).
USA = petrostate. A giant Saudi, but with alcohol.
There are also the tech giants.
The tech markets are well structured in the US, with a liquid ecosystem at all levels from start-up to full listing. However, their model is quite vulnerable because it relies so much on ideas imported with immigration.
Meanwhile Europe, especially the Nordic part of it is developing more liquid pools of finance too. The EU currently has more regulatory control in much of the tech space compared to the United States. Trump and the Tech Bros deeply resent this power, but by taking direct action against it they have done two things- one the EU, China and India are now talking about their mutual interest in AI regulation, and two the US faces regulatory exclusion but also a higher risk premium as the rule of law is permanently damaged by Trump.
After Deep Seek, Alphabet now has wasted $45 billion invested in the wrong AI and has a dead business model with Google, the closed access of Apple is increasingly weaker than the open access of Android, and could hit a tipping point- a product failure, for example- that turns it into Nokia. The enshitification of Facebook is reducing genuine user interaction and Meta is also facing problems with much greater competition for WhatsApp. Musk has already lost $30billion on TwiX and his Tesla sales were already under pressure from cheaper and better Chinese products. The growing boycott of Tesla also leaves its valuation (close to the entire market cap of all the EU auto manufacturers combined) in mid air.
On inauguration day watching the Tech Bros all in a line, I did think that pride goes before a fall. I think we are going to see a rout of these stocks as the chickens start to come home to roost.
As for energy- the attacks on all forms of Green policies, especially net zero are, of course, massively self serving, but the upshot is terrible long term. "The stone age didn´t end, because we ran out of stones", the burning of fossil fuels is not only dangerous for the planet (unless you´re a cretin who failed all your science courses), it also leaves the free world dependent on murderous Petro-states and even China has no interest in that.
The US had global leadership when it collaborated with other states. America First is destroying US soft power right now, but the foundations of US hard power are also under huge pressure. US decline is now the most likely and increasingly unavoidable scenario.
It has taken fifty years for the US to establish its technological lead. It is under pressure now, and could be gone in five years. The impact on global capital flows could be immense. The US currently comprises 60% of global market cap but only 25% of global GDP.
"Pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall" Indeed.
RFK Jr is going for it on the spray tan. Bro is mahogany.
Trying to be more orange than Trump. He’s going for the ‘roids as well, no 70-year-old looks like that from the gym.
The irony, given his AntiCorporatePoison shtick, is that steroid abuse (and other hideous "enhancing" drugs) is becoming an epidemic among young men. Think of it as the complement to the anorexia plague among girls - absurd body images primed in media....
Oh indeed, seems somewhat off for the guy who’s spent his whole career having a go at drug companies and crappy American food.
The latest drug plague over there is of course Ozempic, most of which in celebrity circles is coming from the same friendly supplier as the cocaine rather than more regular routes, and is making people seriously ill while projecting a different type of body image problem to the masses.
Have either Badenoch or Farage commented on Starmer's announcement the UK is willing to put troops on the ground in Ukraine to help guarantee any peace deal that is agreed? That seems to be pretty consequential and worthy of some remark.
🚨 NEW: Badenoch praises Trump and ‘populism’ in speech warning of civilisational threats
In her ARC speech, Badenoch took aim at DEI, mass migration, “taking the knee” and claimed “some cultures are better than others”
Meanwhile there are open goals going begging.
If I were Tory leader I’d be banging on daily about Reeves, WFA, employer NICs, Reeves, inflation, Reeves.
I know it's insane, but having a view on British troops on the ground in the Ukraine might also be something we should expect of the LOTO. Badenoch will get there eventually but what she has chosen to talk about this morning tells you everything. She is not a serious person.
The last civil war widow didn't actually receive her pension - she didn't claim it because her son-in-law threatened her if she did.
A disabled daughter of a veteran was still receiving a pension until 2020, however.
Ah so the last widow actually receiving a pension died only 144 years after the war ended!
Apparently the thinking within US social security is that their primary aim is to minimise complaints, which means minimising false negative flags in the database. No-one receiving money they’re not expecting is making a complaint, and for various reasons this has been happening for decades with no auditing.
The working estimate for Musk’s team is several hundred billion dollars a year paid out incorrectly.
When added to the story from last week of the federal employee retirement process still being done on paper and taking months to complete, It’s quite the insight into just how antequated are all of the systems they’re using. One can imagine that the UK government will also have a number of equally silly stories about systems that hang together by the barest of threads.
US gov't spend is/was ~ 23% of gdp, whereas we're at ~45%. If you allow 11% for health it's still 23/34 as comparable figures to my mind. I think this is a large part of why they've got so much richer than us since 2008. We need to cut a heck of a lot. Some good news on the NHS numbers this morning. If Starmer goes before the election Streeting might be the one to fight 2029.
The reason they’ve got so much richer than us since 2008, in 3 charts and one paragraph:
Exports The top exports of United States are Crude Petroleum ($125B), Refined Petroleum ($107B), Petroleum Gas ($83.2B), Gas Turbines ($69.3B), and Cars ($65.3B), exporting mostly to Canada ($269B), Mexico ($243B), China ($154B), Germany ($94.8B), and Japan ($80.2B).
USA = petrostate. A giant Saudi, but with alcohol.
Meanwhile in the UK we have Ed Miliband.
Even if we squeezed every last drop out of the North Sea and dug up the whole of Lincolnshire for fracking it wouldn’t touch the sides. The US has vast reserves.
Of course another cause of recent US GDP growth has been the investment boom triggered by Biden’s IRA. The UK could learn a thing or two about how to encourage green energy growth from the (pre-Trump) USA.
Not developing UK fields won't stop us using gas, we'll just import it from Qatar instead.
Indeed, the same DESNZ that is blocking new exploration and development has also backed the new build NZT CCGT CCS project, and will likely back further CCGT CCS and Blue Hydrogen projects, locking in demand for imported natural gas for decades to come.
WTAF?
Most of us say WTAF about CCS and "blue hydrogen". Both costly boondoggles, IMO.
So without CCS, how else do we decarbonise cement & line production, and EfW plants?
And please don't say that we don't need to.
However, I agree that there are other means to produce decarbonised leccy and H2, without using Qatari natural gas.
And net-negative emissions are best achieved through reforestation, peat bogs, etc., rather than DAC. But if some billionaire wants to throw piles of cash at you to develop DAC, and then pay you £500/tonne for the negative credits, you'd be daft not to.
RFK Jr is going for it on the spray tan. Bro is mahogany.
Trying to be more orange than Trump. He’s going for the ‘roids as well, no 70-year-old looks like that from the gym.
The irony, given his AntiCorporatePoison shtick, is that steroid abuse (and other hideous "enhancing" drugs) is becoming an epidemic among young men. Think of it as the complement to the anorexia plague among girls - absurd body images primed in media....
Oh indeed, seems somewhat off for the guy who’s spent his whole career having a go at drug companies and crappy American food.
The latest drug plague over there is of course Ozempic, most of which in celebrity circles is coming from the same friendly supplier as the cocaine rather than more regular routes, and is making people seriously ill while projecting a different type of body image problem to the masses.
If I had a pound for all the "My body is a temple" people I've encountered who then ingest the weirdest shit from unknown sources....
Have either Badenoch or Farage commented on Starmer's announcement the UK is willing to put troops on the ground in Ukraine to help guarantee any peace deal that is agreed? That seems to be pretty consequential and worthy of some remark.
The last civil war widow didn't actually receive her pension - she didn't claim it because her son-in-law threatened her if she did.
A disabled daughter of a veteran was still receiving a pension until 2020, however.
Ah so the last widow actually receiving a pension died only 144 years after the war ended!
Apparently the thinking within US social security is that their primary aim is to minimise complaints, which means minimising false negative flags in the database. No-one receiving money they’re not expecting is making a complaint, and for various reasons this has been happening for decades with no auditing.
The working estimate for Musk’s team is several hundred billion dollars a year paid out incorrectly.
When added to the story from last week of the federal employee retirement process still being done on paper and taking months to complete, It’s quite the insight into just how antequated are all of the systems they’re using. One can imagine that the UK government will also have a number of equally silly stories about systems that hang together by the barest of threads.
US gov't spend is/was ~ 23% of gdp, whereas we're at ~45%. If you allow 11% for health it's still 23/34 as comparable figures to my mind. I think this is a large part of why they've got so much richer than us since 2008. We need to cut a heck of a lot. Some good news on the NHS numbers this morning. If Starmer goes before the election Streeting might be the one to fight 2029.
The reason they’ve got so much richer than us since 2008, in 3 charts and one paragraph:
Exports The top exports of United States are Crude Petroleum ($125B), Refined Petroleum ($107B), Petroleum Gas ($83.2B), Gas Turbines ($69.3B), and Cars ($65.3B), exporting mostly to Canada ($269B), Mexico ($243B), China ($154B), Germany ($94.8B), and Japan ($80.2B).
USA = petrostate. A giant Saudi, but with alcohol.
There are also the tech giants.
The tech markets are well structured in the US, with a liquid ecosystem at all levels from start-up to full listing. However, their model is quite vulnerable because it relies so much on ideas imported with immigration.
Meanwhile Europe, especially the Nordic part of it is developing more liquid pools of finance too. The EU currently has more regulatory control in much of the tech space compared to the United States. Trump and the Tech Bros deeply resent this power, but by taking direct action against it they have done two things- one the EU, China and India are now talking about their mutual interest in AI regulation, and two the US faces regulatory exclusion but also a higher risk premium as the rule of law is permanently damaged by Trump.
After Deep Seek, Alphabet now has wasted $45 billion invested in the wrong AI and has a dead business model with Google, the closed access of Apple is increasingly weaker than the open access of Android, and could hit a tipping point- a product failure, for example- that turns it into Nokia. The enshitification of Facebook is reducing genuine user interaction and Meta is also facing problems with much greater competition for WhatsApp. Musk has already lost $30billion on TwiX and his Tesla sales were already under pressure from cheaper and better Chinese products. The growing boycott of Tesla also leaves its valuation (close to the entire market cap of all the EU auto manufacturers combined) in mid air.
On inauguration day watching the Tech Bros all in a line, I did think that pride goes before a fall. I think we are going to see a rout of these stocks as the chickens start to come home to roost.
As for energy- the attacks on all forms of Green policies, especially net zero are, of course, massively self serving, but the upshot is terrible long term. "The stone age didn´t end, because we ran out of stones", the burning of fossil fuels is not only dangerous for the planet (unless you´re a cretin who failed all your science courses), it also leaves the free world dependent on murderous Petro-states and even China has no interest in that.
The US had global leadership when it collaborated with other states. America First is destroying US soft power right now, but the foundations of US hard power are also under huge pressure. US decline is now the most likely and increasingly unavoidable scenario.
It has taken fifty years for the US to establish its technological lead. It is under pressure now, and could be gone in five years. The impact on global capital flows could be immense. The US currently comprises 60% of global market cap but only 25% of global GDP.
"Pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall" Indeed.
I think you are wrong on Apple - they are genuinely innovating and moving forward. Notably everyone I know in dev goes for Apple M series machines. Their walled garden, with well thought out security is part of the pitch.
Have either Badenoch or Farage commented on Starmer's announcement the UK is willing to put troops on the ground in Ukraine to help guarantee any peace deal that is agreed? That seems to be pretty consequential and worthy of some remark.
🚨 NEW: Badenoch praises Trump and ‘populism’ in speech warning of civilisational threats
In her ARC speech, Badenoch took aim at DEI, mass migration, “taking the knee” and claimed “some cultures are better than others”
Meanwhile there are open goals going begging.
If I were Tory leader I’d be banging on daily about Reeves, WFA, employer NICs, Reeves, inflation, Reeves.
I know it's insane, but having a view on British troops on the ground in the Ukraine might also be something we should expect of the LOTO. Badenoch will get there eventually but what she has chosen to talk about this morning tells you everything. She is not a serious person.
The world is on fire and Kemi Badenoch is giving a speech to a Tory think tank in which she says that "as the world becomes more complicated" it is "pronouns and DEI" that are "the real poison in our society".
Sunak has given full support to Starmer on Ukraine. She still has not responded.
There are always times in politics where both sides of the aisle have to come together. Badenoch cannot handle that, she needs to use fictitious "culture wars" battles, because she can't comprehend real world issues which require unity. It is just appalling politics, as much as anything else.
The last civil war widow didn't actually receive her pension - she didn't claim it because her son-in-law threatened her if she did.
A disabled daughter of a veteran was still receiving a pension until 2020, however.
Ah so the last widow actually receiving a pension died only 144 years after the war ended!
Apparently the thinking within US social security is that their primary aim is to minimise complaints, which means minimising false negative flags in the database. No-one receiving money they’re not expecting is making a complaint, and for various reasons this has been happening for decades with no auditing.
The working estimate for Musk’s team is several hundred billion dollars a year paid out incorrectly.
When added to the story from last week of the federal employee retirement process still being done on paper and taking months to complete, It’s quite the insight into just how antequated are all of the systems they’re using. One can imagine that the UK government will also have a number of equally silly stories about systems that hang together by the barest of threads.
US gov't spend is/was ~ 23% of gdp, whereas we're at ~45%. If you allow 11% for health it's still 23/34 as comparable figures to my mind. I think this is a large part of why they've got so much richer than us since 2008. We need to cut a heck of a lot. Some good news on the NHS numbers this morning. If Starmer goes before the election Streeting might be the one to fight 2029.
The reason they’ve got so much richer than us since 2008, in 3 charts and one paragraph:
Exports The top exports of United States are Crude Petroleum ($125B), Refined Petroleum ($107B), Petroleum Gas ($83.2B), Gas Turbines ($69.3B), and Cars ($65.3B), exporting mostly to Canada ($269B), Mexico ($243B), China ($154B), Germany ($94.8B), and Japan ($80.2B).
USA = petrostate. A giant Saudi, but with alcohol.
There are also the tech giants.
The tech markets are well structured in the US, with a liquid ecosystem at all levels from start-up to full listing. However, their model is quite vulnerable because it relies so much on ideas imported with immigration.
Meanwhile Europe, especially the Nordic part of it is developing more liquid pools of finance too. The EU currently has more regulatory control in much of the tech space compared to the United States. Trump and the Tech Bros deeply resent this power, but by taking direct action against it they have done two things- one the EU, China and India are now talking about their mutual interest in AI regulation, and two the US faces regulatory exclusion but also a higher risk premium as the rule of law is permanently damaged by Trump.
After Deep Seek, Alphabet now has wasted $45 billion invested in the wrong AI and has a dead business model with Google, the closed access of Apple is increasingly weaker than the open access of Android, and could hit a tipping point- a product failure, for example- that turns it into Nokia. The enshitification of Facebook is reducing genuine user interaction and Meta is also facing problems with much greater competition for WhatsApp. Musk has already lost $30billion on TwiX and his Tesla sales were already under pressure from cheaper and better Chinese products. The growing boycott of Tesla also leaves its valuation (close to the entire market cap of all the EU auto manufacturers combined) in mid air.
On inauguration day watching the Tech Bros all in a line, I did think that pride goes before a fall. I think we are going to see a rout of these stocks as the chickens start to come home to roost.
As for energy- the attacks on all forms of Green policies, especially net zero are, of course, massively self serving, but the upshot is terrible long term. "The stone age didn´t end, because we ran out of stones", the burning of fossil fuels is not only dangerous for the planet (unless you´re a cretin who failed all your science courses), it also leaves the free world dependent on murderous Petro-states and even China has no interest in that.
The US had global leadership when it collaborated with other states. America First is destroying US soft power right now, but the foundations of US hard power are also under huge pressure. US decline is now the most likely and increasingly unavoidable scenario.
It has taken fifty years for the US to establish its technological lead. It is under pressure now, and could be gone in five years. The impact on global capital flows could be immense. The US currently comprises 60% of global market cap but only 25% of global GDP.
"Pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall" Indeed.
It doesn't seem to be going well for Musk.
"Several GOP senators worry that having an unelected billionaire crow about slashing federal jobs, which happen to employ many people in their home states, is not a good look when inflation remains a major problem and many Americans are having trouble making ends meet."
The last civil war widow didn't actually receive her pension - she didn't claim it because her son-in-law threatened her if she did.
A disabled daughter of a veteran was still receiving a pension until 2020, however.
Ah so the last widow actually receiving a pension died only 144 years after the war ended!
Apparently the thinking within US social security is that their primary aim is to minimise complaints, which means minimising false negative flags in the database. No-one receiving money they’re not expecting is making a complaint, and for various reasons this has been happening for decades with no auditing.
The working estimate for Musk’s team is several hundred billion dollars a year paid out incorrectly.
When added to the story from last week of the federal employee retirement process still being done on paper and taking months to complete, It’s quite the insight into just how antequated are all of the systems they’re using. One can imagine that the UK government will also have a number of equally silly stories about systems that hang together by the barest of threads.
US gov't spend is/was ~ 23% of gdp, whereas we're at ~45%. If you allow 11% for health it's still 23/34 as comparable figures to my mind. I think this is a large part of why they've got so much richer than us since 2008. We need to cut a heck of a lot. Some good news on the NHS numbers this morning. If Starmer goes before the election Streeting might be the one to fight 2029.
The reason they’ve got so much richer than us since 2008, in 3 charts and one paragraph:
Exports The top exports of United States are Crude Petroleum ($125B), Refined Petroleum ($107B), Petroleum Gas ($83.2B), Gas Turbines ($69.3B), and Cars ($65.3B), exporting mostly to Canada ($269B), Mexico ($243B), China ($154B), Germany ($94.8B), and Japan ($80.2B).
USA = petrostate. A giant Saudi, but with alcohol.
Meanwhile in the UK we have Ed Miliband.
Even if we squeezed every last drop out of the North Sea and dug up the whole of Lincolnshire for fracking it wouldn’t touch the sides. The US has vast reserves.
Of course another cause of recent US GDP growth has been the investment boom triggered by Biden’s IRA. The UK could learn a thing or two about how to encourage green energy growth from the (pre-Trump) USA.
Not developing UK fields won't stop us using gas, we'll just import it from Qatar instead.
Indeed, the same DESNZ that is blocking new exploration and development has also backed the new build NZT CCGT CCS project, and will likely back further CCGT CCS and Blue Hydrogen projects, locking in demand for imported natural gas for decades to come.
WTAF?
Most of us say WTAF about CCS and "blue hydrogen". Both costly boondoggles, IMO.
So without CCS, how else do we decarbonise cement & line production, and EfW plants?
And please don't say that we don't need to.
However, I agree that there are other means to produce decarbonised leccy and H2, without using Qatari natural gas.
And net-negative emissions are best achieved through reforestation, peat bogs, etc., rather than DAC. But if some billionaire wants to throw piles of cash at you to develop DAC, and then pay you £500/tonne for the negative credits, you'd be daft not to.
Right now the plan is for the UK energy consumers to foot that bill via an additional levy.
Ukrainian President Zelensky says more than 46,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed since Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022, with "tens of thousands more missing in action or in captivity".
Those missing in action could be dead or in captivity, Zelensky told NBC News on Sunday.
Ten days earlier, on 6 February, Zelensky said 45,100 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed and around 390,000 had been wounded. Military experts in Ukraine and the West believe the number could be far higher.
Russia hasn't released an equivalent figure, but UK Defence Intelligence estimated in December that an average of 1,523 Russian soldiers were being killed and wounded every day.
Zelensky says up to 350,000 Russian soldiers have been killed - other reports suggest that number could be much higher.
That's an extraordinary figure.
To put it in context, 265,000 British combat personnel were killed in the whole of the Second World War.
The 2021 census suggests about 50m Russians between 18 and 44. Assume half male and knock a few off at each end and, based on the U.S. estimate of 700k dead or wounded, that’s devastating.
Further context: UK casualty figures in WW1 were around 2.5 million from the "UK and colonies", but not including major colonies such as Canada, Oz, SAfrica etc.
That is 1/3 killed, 2/3 wounded, at a run rate of 1750 per day average from a population which was 45 million.
Or pro-rata, around 3x more than Russia is suffering currently - as the Russian population is around 140 million.
And we know the impact that had here through most of our family histories, and through eg the numbers of single women eg teachers, and the surge in spiritualism, amongst others.
I think my known tally from my dad's side is one who was killed or committed suicide later, and one who got shell-shock and not proper treatment which in my view came out in him later being something of a wife-beater, which then fed through to my dad being sent away to boarding school to be safe, and (speculating) him being emotionally distant with his own children.
So the Russian casualties in UKR are about 0.5% of the total population. Their casualties in WW1 were about 1.5% of the total population - and last time that happened there was a revolution. [Other circumstances may need to be taken into account - Ed.]
Have either Badenoch or Farage commented on Starmer's announcement the UK is willing to put troops on the ground in Ukraine to help guarantee any peace deal that is agreed? That seems to be pretty consequential and worthy of some remark.
🚨 NEW: Badenoch praises Trump and ‘populism’ in speech warning of civilisational threats
In her ARC speech, Badenoch took aim at DEI, mass migration, “taking the knee” and claimed “some cultures are better than others”
So nothing on Ukraine and the threat Putin poses to Europe. She is deep in her comfort zone. The parallels with Jeremy Corbyn are so striking.
Yeah. She´s done. However, it´ll still take another six months before the Tories screw up another leadership contest.
She gives a speech on the big threats facing Western civilisation, praises a man who rejects the rule of law and fails to mention the one who is dropping bombs on a European country and killings its people by the tens of thousands. Jenrick would give exactly the same speech, of course.
I'm not so sure on Reform. To me their coalition looks fragile.
How will they resolve their tensions:
- Patriotism vs Trumpism when the USA turns its back on allies and the rest of the world. - Between Rich men based in Dubai or the US or wherever feathering their nests vs grass roots who want to be loyal British. - The enormous black holes in their Manifesto between declared intention to shrink the state and policies that require much more public investment. - The contribution their MPs actually make to doing their jobs vs their second jobs in media. - The tensions between various shades of Right in their internal coalition, and the supporters they need to attract from the mainstream.
I don't see it holding together.
If you think Reform's MPs aren't making a contribution outside of their media appearances, you're pretty ill-researched. Rupert Lowe alone has submitted 624 parliamentary questions according to an AI summary. I doubt it's far off. Frankly it's the Reform five making the other parties' MPs look lazy, not the other way around, much as you might wish otherwise.
RFK Jr is going for it on the spray tan. Bro is mahogany.
Trying to be more orange than Trump. He’s going for the ‘roids as well, no 70-year-old looks like that from the gym.
The irony, given his AntiCorporatePoison shtick, is that steroid abuse (and other hideous "enhancing" drugs) is becoming an epidemic among young men. Think of it as the complement to the anorexia plague among girls - absurd body images primed in media....
Oh indeed, seems somewhat off for the guy who’s spent his whole career having a go at drug companies and crappy American food.
The latest drug plague over there is of course Ozempic, most of which in celebrity circles is coming from the same friendly supplier as the cocaine rather than more regular routes, and is making people seriously ill while projecting a different type of body image problem to the masses.
If I had a pound for all the "My body is a temple" people I've encountered who then ingest the weirdest shit from unknown sources....
Last year I lost 20kg. This year I'm managing to stick at that level despite the depression kicking back in and eating / drinking too much. My body is a temple which had too many additional wings which I am slowly dismantling. More dismantling will come once the weather gets nicer and the days longer. The idea of taking wonder supplements or some all natural lunatic diet just baffles me - eat less, exercise more. That's it.
Kemi Badenoch this morning: "A country cannot be successful if its people and intellectual elite don’t believe in it. This means dealing with the poisoning of minds through higher education."
Sounds like panic has set in.
It's just her brain has been melted online. The really odd thing about her is that she should have quite an interesting story to tell about how conservatism may serve minority communities and everyone better than left-wing ideas. Talk about how she is more representative of the personal views of those who have come to Britain over the last 50 years, but that politics hasn't caught up.
That she is a conservative because it is rational to her because of the values that came from parents and community who wanted to make their way in Britain and didn't want pity or handouts. Who are more socially conservative than a blue haired student who claims to speak for them. One might disagree with the conclusions, but it would be authentic and compelling.
But instead she chooses to parrot the same insane clash of civilisations, end of Rome online brain rot of a statue Twitter account run by some trust fund kid experimenting with neo-Nazism as it's 'edgy'.
The last civil war widow didn't actually receive her pension - she didn't claim it because her son-in-law threatened her if she did.
A disabled daughter of a veteran was still receiving a pension until 2020, however.
Ah so the last widow actually receiving a pension died only 144 years after the war ended!
Apparently the thinking within US social security is that their primary aim is to minimise complaints, which means minimising false negative flags in the database. No-one receiving money they’re not expecting is making a complaint, and for various reasons this has been happening for decades with no auditing.
The working estimate for Musk’s team is several hundred billion dollars a year paid out incorrectly.
When added to the story from last week of the federal employee retirement process still being done on paper and taking months to complete, It’s quite the insight into just how antequated are all of the systems they’re using. One can imagine that the UK government will also have a number of equally silly stories about systems that hang together by the barest of threads.
US gov't spend is/was ~ 23% of gdp, whereas we're at ~45%. If you allow 11% for health it's still 23/34 as comparable figures to my mind. I think this is a large part of why they've got so much richer than us since 2008. We need to cut a heck of a lot. Some good news on the NHS numbers this morning. If Starmer goes before the election Streeting might be the one to fight 2029.
The reason they’ve got so much richer than us since 2008, in 3 charts and one paragraph:
Exports The top exports of United States are Crude Petroleum ($125B), Refined Petroleum ($107B), Petroleum Gas ($83.2B), Gas Turbines ($69.3B), and Cars ($65.3B), exporting mostly to Canada ($269B), Mexico ($243B), China ($154B), Germany ($94.8B), and Japan ($80.2B).
USA = petrostate. A giant Saudi, but with alcohol.
There are also the tech giants.
The tech markets are well structured in the US, with a liquid ecosystem at all levels from start-up to full listing. However, their model is quite vulnerable because it relies so much on ideas imported with immigration.
Meanwhile Europe, especially the Nordic part of it is developing more liquid pools of finance too. The EU currently has more regulatory control in much of the tech space compared to the United States. Trump and the Tech Bros deeply resent this power, but by taking direct action against it they have done two things- one the EU, China and India are now talking about their mutual interest in AI regulation, and two the US faces regulatory exclusion but also a higher risk premium as the rule of law is permanently damaged by Trump.
After Deep Seek, Alphabet now has wasted $45 billion invested in the wrong AI and has a dead business model with Google, the closed access of Apple is increasingly weaker than the open access of Android, and could hit a tipping point- a product failure, for example- that turns it into Nokia. The enshitification of Facebook is reducing genuine user interaction and Meta is also facing problems with much greater competition for WhatsApp. Musk has already lost $30billion on TwiX and his Tesla sales were already under pressure from cheaper and better Chinese products. The growing boycott of Tesla also leaves its valuation (close to the entire market cap of all the EU auto manufacturers combined) in mid air.
On inauguration day watching the Tech Bros all in a line, I did think that pride goes before a fall. I think we are going to see a rout of these stocks as the chickens start to come home to roost.
As for energy- the attacks on all forms of Green policies, especially net zero are, of course, massively self serving, but the upshot is terrible long term. "The stone age didn´t end, because we ran out of stones", the burning of fossil fuels is not only dangerous for the planet (unless you´re a cretin who failed all your science courses), it also leaves the free world dependent on murderous Petro-states and even China has no interest in that.
The US had global leadership when it collaborated with other states. America First is destroying US soft power right now, but the foundations of US hard power are also under huge pressure. US decline is now the most likely and increasingly unavoidable scenario.
It has taken fifty years for the US to establish its technological lead. It is under pressure now, and could be gone in five years. The impact on global capital flows could be immense. The US currently comprises 60% of global market cap but only 25% of global GDP.
"Pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall" Indeed.
It doesn't seem to be going well for Musk.
"Several GOP senators worry that having an unelected billionaire crow about slashing federal jobs, which happen to employ many people in their home states, is not a good look when inflation remains a major problem and many Americans are having trouble making ends meet."
Unfortunately you can tell who is winning these type of battles. The Senators backing him are doing it publicly. The Senators moaning are remaining private. The confirmation votes went smoothly.
The "sane" Republicans are just going to moan in the background and let it all happen as they don't have a scooby what to do.
Have either Badenoch or Farage commented on Starmer's announcement the UK is willing to put troops on the ground in Ukraine to help guarantee any peace deal that is agreed? That seems to be pretty consequential and worthy of some remark.
🚨 NEW: Badenoch praises Trump and ‘populism’ in speech warning of civilisational threats
In her ARC speech, Badenoch took aim at DEI, mass migration, “taking the knee” and claimed “some cultures are better than others”
Meanwhile there are open goals going begging.
If I were Tory leader I’d be banging on daily about Reeves, WFA, employer NICs, Reeves, inflation, Reeves.
I know it's insane, but having a view on British troops on the ground in the Ukraine might also be something we should expect of the LOTO. Badenoch will get there eventually but what she has chosen to talk about this morning tells you everything. She is not a serious person.
Is Ukraine salient to normal people in the UK? Centrist fuckwits on here are positively haunted by it but I don't feel like normal people care much about it now the supply of memes from the front has dried up. Farage is probably positioning himself perfectly on it with sphinx-like indifference.
SKS is going on about a British presence because it makes him look prime ministerial which is one of the many aspects of the role with which he struggles. Also, the likelihood of him actually having to do it is pretty slim so he might as well try to be the big man.
Badenoch is a fucking joke at this point. And not a funny one like the one about the toilet door on a prawn trawler.
The last civil war widow didn't actually receive her pension - she didn't claim it because her son-in-law threatened her if she did.
A disabled daughter of a veteran was still receiving a pension until 2020, however.
Ah so the last widow actually receiving a pension died only 144 years after the war ended!
Apparently the thinking within US social security is that their primary aim is to minimise complaints, which means minimising false negative flags in the database. No-one receiving money they’re not expecting is making a complaint, and for various reasons this has been happening for decades with no auditing.
The working estimate for Musk’s team is several hundred billion dollars a year paid out incorrectly.
When added to the story from last week of the federal employee retirement process still being done on paper and taking months to complete, It’s quite the insight into just how antequated are all of the systems they’re using. One can imagine that the UK government will also have a number of equally silly stories about systems that hang together by the barest of threads.
US gov't spend is/was ~ 23% of gdp, whereas we're at ~45%. If you allow 11% for health it's still 23/34 as comparable figures to my mind. I think this is a large part of why they've got so much richer than us since 2008. We need to cut a heck of a lot. Some good news on the NHS numbers this morning. If Starmer goes before the election Streeting might be the one to fight 2029.
You can't compare UK government spending with US federal spending because the US is highly decentralized with a large share of government spending funded and spent at the state and local level. If you compare general government spending (which combines central and local government spending) the UK is at 44% with the US at 36%, and if you then allow for the different ways healthcare is funded then the numbers are not so different at all.
I believe the American healthcare system is so corrupt and broken that the Americans actually spend as much per capital on healthcare as we do? Via the taxpayer alone, not even counting their private expenditure.
So you can't erase the difference by saying "but healthcare".
You can because the US spends similar to us in terms of public spending and then spends the same again via private health insurance, which is effectively paid for by workers out of their wages. By contrast workers in the UK pay for their healthcare via taxes out of their wages. So you can add a portion of that private US spending back on to the US total, as the UK workers' health spending falls under government spending while the US workers' doesn't. US public spending on health only covers retirees and the poor via Medicare and Medicaid.
Have either Badenoch or Farage commented on Starmer's announcement the UK is willing to put troops on the ground in Ukraine to help guarantee any peace deal that is agreed? That seems to be pretty consequential and worthy of some remark.
🚨 NEW: Badenoch praises Trump and ‘populism’ in speech warning of civilisational threats
In her ARC speech, Badenoch took aim at DEI, mass migration, “taking the knee” and claimed “some cultures are better than others”
Meanwhile there are open goals going begging.
If I were Tory leader I’d be banging on daily about Reeves, WFA, employer NICs, Reeves, inflation, Reeves.
I know it's insane, but having a view on British troops on the ground in the Ukraine might also be something we should expect of the LOTO. Badenoch will get there eventually but what she has chosen to talk about this morning tells you everything. She is not a serious person.
Is Ukraine salient to normal people in the UK? Centrist fuckwits on here are positively haunted by it but I don't feel like normal people care much about it now the supply of memes from the front has dried up. Farage is probably positioning himself perfectly on it with sphinx-like indifference.
SKS is going on about a British presence because it makes him look prime ministerial which is one of the many aspects of the role with which he struggles. Also, the likelihood of him actually having to do it is pretty slim so he might as well try to be the big man.
Badenoch is a fucking joke at this point. And not a funny one like the one about the toilet door on a prawn trawler.
Yes, Ukraine is salient to normal people. If Putin wins it will affect every single one of us in multiple ways, from the cost of living to a refugee crisis the likes of which Europe has not seen since 1945. Farage is no more trustworthy on UK defence and security than Jeremy Corbyn.
The last civil war widow didn't actually receive her pension - she didn't claim it because her son-in-law threatened her if she did.
A disabled daughter of a veteran was still receiving a pension until 2020, however.
Ah so the last widow actually receiving a pension died only 144 years after the war ended!
Apparently the thinking within US social security is that their primary aim is to minimise complaints, which means minimising false negative flags in the database. No-one receiving money they’re not expecting is making a complaint, and for various reasons this has been happening for decades with no auditing.
The working estimate for Musk’s team is several hundred billion dollars a year paid out incorrectly.
When added to the story from last week of the federal employee retirement process still being done on paper and taking months to complete, It’s quite the insight into just how antequated are all of the systems they’re using. One can imagine that the UK government will also have a number of equally silly stories about systems that hang together by the barest of threads.
US gov't spend is/was ~ 23% of gdp, whereas we're at ~45%. If you allow 11% for health it's still 23/34 as comparable figures to my mind. I think this is a large part of why they've got so much richer than us since 2008. We need to cut a heck of a lot. Some good news on the NHS numbers this morning. If Starmer goes before the election Streeting might be the one to fight 2029.
The reason they’ve got so much richer than us since 2008, in 3 charts and one paragraph:
Exports The top exports of United States are Crude Petroleum ($125B), Refined Petroleum ($107B), Petroleum Gas ($83.2B), Gas Turbines ($69.3B), and Cars ($65.3B), exporting mostly to Canada ($269B), Mexico ($243B), China ($154B), Germany ($94.8B), and Japan ($80.2B).
USA = petrostate. A giant Saudi, but with alcohol.
There are also the tech giants.
The tech markets are well structured in the US, with a liquid ecosystem at all levels from start-up to full listing. However, their model is quite vulnerable because it relies so much on ideas imported with immigration.
Meanwhile Europe, especially the Nordic part of it is developing more liquid pools of finance too. The EU currently has more regulatory control in much of the tech space compared to the United States. Trump and the Tech Bros deeply resent this power, but by taking direct action against it they have done two things- one the EU, China and India are now talking about their mutual interest in AI regulation, and two the US faces regulatory exclusion but also a higher risk premium as the rule of law is permanently damaged by Trump.
After Deep Seek, Alphabet now has wasted $45 billion invested in the wrong AI and has a dead business model with Google, the closed access of Apple is increasingly weaker than the open access of Android, and could hit a tipping point- a product failure, for example- that turns it into Nokia. The enshitification of Facebook is reducing genuine user interaction and Meta is also facing problems with much greater competition for WhatsApp. Musk has already lost $30billion on TwiX and his Tesla sales were already under pressure from cheaper and better Chinese products. The growing boycott of Tesla also leaves its valuation (close to the entire market cap of all the EU auto manufacturers combined) in mid air.
On inauguration day watching the Tech Bros all in a line, I did think that pride goes before a fall. I think we are going to see a rout of these stocks as the chickens start to come home to roost.
As for energy- the attacks on all forms of Green policies, especially net zero are, of course, massively self serving, but the upshot is terrible long term. "The stone age didn´t end, because we ran out of stones", the burning of fossil fuels is not only dangerous for the planet (unless you´re a cretin who failed all your science courses), it also leaves the free world dependent on murderous Petro-states and even China has no interest in that.
The US had global leadership when it collaborated with other states. America First is destroying US soft power right now, but the foundations of US hard power are also under huge pressure. US decline is now the most likely and increasingly unavoidable scenario.
It has taken fifty years for the US to establish its technological lead. It is under pressure now, and could be gone in five years. The impact on global capital flows could be immense. The US currently comprises 60% of global market cap but only 25% of global GDP.
"Pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall" Indeed.
It doesn't seem to be going well for Musk.
"Several GOP senators worry that having an unelected billionaire crow about slashing federal jobs, which happen to employ many people in their home states, is not a good look when inflation remains a major problem and many Americans are having trouble making ends meet."
Unfortunately you can tell who is winning these type of battles. The Senators backing him are doing it publicly. The Senators moaning are remaining private. The confirmation votes went smoothly.
The "sane" Republicans are just going to moan in the background and let it all happen as they don't have a scooby what to do.
Congress are not defending their authority and therefore they have none. Submission becomes habit and the coup is complete.
Pro-Kremlin media celebrate resumption of US-Russia dialogue Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the talks would focus “primarily on restoring the whole spectre of Russia-US relations.” In other words, bilateral ties are top of the agenda. Then comes “preparations for possible negotiations on Ukraine” and for a meeting of the two presidents. Russia’s delegation will include the Kremlin’s foreign policy advisor, Yuri Ushakov, and foreign minister Sergei Lavrov. Today, Lavrov appeared to suggest that Europe had no role to play at future peace talks. In Russia, pro-Kremlin media have been celebrating the resumption of dialogue between Russia and America, as well as the Trump administration’s biting criticism of Europe. Today’s edition of the newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets declared: "Dumbfounded Europe has been kneed by America just below the belt and is still struggling to get its breath back.”..
"...This site may be associated with malicious activity or malware. Access to this site has been blocked by the Protective DNS Service Site: doge.gov Please contact your local Network Administrator or IT support if you require further assistance..."
Have either Badenoch or Farage commented on Starmer's announcement the UK is willing to put troops on the ground in Ukraine to help guarantee any peace deal that is agreed? That seems to be pretty consequential and worthy of some remark.
🚨 NEW: Badenoch praises Trump and ‘populism’ in speech warning of civilisational threats
In her ARC speech, Badenoch took aim at DEI, mass migration, “taking the knee” and claimed “some cultures are better than others”
Meanwhile there are open goals going begging.
If I were Tory leader I’d be banging on daily about Reeves, WFA, employer NICs, Reeves, inflation, Reeves.
I know it's insane, but having a view on British troops on the ground in the Ukraine might also be something we should expect of the LOTO. Badenoch will get there eventually but what she has chosen to talk about this morning tells you everything. She is not a serious person.
Is Ukraine salient to normal people in the UK? Centrist fuckwits on here are positively haunted by it but I don't feel like normal people care much about it now the supply of memes from the front has dried up. Farage is probably positioning himself perfectly on it with sphinx-like indifference.
SKS is going on about a British presence because it makes him look prime ministerial which is one of the many aspects of the role with which he struggles. Also, the likelihood of him actually having to do it is pretty slim so he might as well try to be the big man.
Badenoch is a fucking joke at this point. And not a funny one like the one about the toilet door on a prawn trawler.
Shorter DA - "Nothing to see here, please move on".
Have either Badenoch or Farage commented on Starmer's announcement the UK is willing to put troops on the ground in Ukraine to help guarantee any peace deal that is agreed? That seems to be pretty consequential and worthy of some remark.
🚨 NEW: Badenoch praises Trump and ‘populism’ in speech warning of civilisational threats
In her ARC speech, Badenoch took aim at DEI, mass migration, “taking the knee” and claimed “some cultures are better than others”
Meanwhile there are open goals going begging.
If I were Tory leader I’d be banging on daily about Reeves, WFA, employer NICs, Reeves, inflation, Reeves.
I know it's insane, but having a view on British troops on the ground in the Ukraine might also be something we should expect of the LOTO. Badenoch will get there eventually but what she has chosen to talk about this morning tells you everything. She is not a serious person.
Is Ukraine salient to normal people in the UK? Centrist fuckwits on here are positively haunted by it but I don't feel like normal people care much about it now the supply of memes from the front has dried up. Farage is probably positioning himself perfectly on it with sphinx-like indifference.
SKS is going on about a British presence because it makes him look prime ministerial which is one of the many aspects of the role with which he struggles. Also, the likelihood of him actually having to do it is pretty slim so he might as well try to be the big man.
Badenoch is a fucking joke at this point. And not a funny one like the one about the toilet door on a prawn trawler.
Yes, Ukraine is salient to normal people. If Putin wins it will affect every single one of us in multiple ways, from the cost of living to a refugee crisis the likes of which Europe has not seen since 1945.
Ukraine is salient in the sense that people don't notice if you have the correct position on it - as most politicians do - unequivocal opposition to Russian tyrrany. But they really do notice if you have a weirdly sympathetic to Putin or indifferent position on either left or right.
The point where Corbyn's faults became utterly apparent to the public and he dived in the polls, never to recover, was after his risible response to Salisbury. Ukraine is similar. Won't win you popularity supporting them, but you'll tank the moment you look like you're selling those brave people out.
Kemi Badenoch says “our country and all of Western civilisation will be lost” if we don't defend Ukraine against Russian aggression the Conservatives don’t return to government.
Sikorski also said Poland would not put troops on the ground in Ukraine. "Poland's duty to NATO is to protect the eastern flank, i.e. its own territory."
Can't see this happening if Poland isn't prepared to commit troops to it tbh. One of Europe's largest armies in terms of infantry iirc and right on the edge of it all.
Have either Badenoch or Farage commented on Starmer's announcement the UK is willing to put troops on the ground in Ukraine to help guarantee any peace deal that is agreed? That seems to be pretty consequential and worthy of some remark.
Badenoch is complaining about pronouns today; yesterday it was threats to free speech. Farage is promoting a narrative conflating criminal gangs with immigration.
Starmer may not be the most inspiring political leader but we should be grateful it's him, not the alternatives, who is in charge at this critical time.
Ukrainian President Zelensky says more than 46,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed since Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022, with "tens of thousands more missing in action or in captivity".
Those missing in action could be dead or in captivity, Zelensky told NBC News on Sunday.
Ten days earlier, on 6 February, Zelensky said 45,100 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed and around 390,000 had been wounded. Military experts in Ukraine and the West believe the number could be far higher.
Russia hasn't released an equivalent figure, but UK Defence Intelligence estimated in December that an average of 1,523 Russian soldiers were being killed and wounded every day.
Zelensky says up to 350,000 Russian soldiers have been killed - other reports suggest that number could be much higher.
That's an extraordinary figure.
To put it in context, 265,000 British combat personnel were killed in the whole of the Second World War.
The 2021 census suggests about 50m Russians between 18 and 44. Assume half male and knock a few off at each end and, based on the U.S. estimate of 700k dead or wounded, that’s devastating.
Further context: UK casualty figures in WW1 were around 2.5 million from the "UK and colonies", but not including major colonies such as Canada, Oz, SAfrica etc.
That is 1/3 killed, 2/3 wounded, at a run rate of 1750 per day average from a population which was 45 million.
Or pro-rata, around 3x more than Russia is suffering currently - as the Russian population is around 140 million.
And we know the impact that had here through most of our family histories, and through eg the numbers of single women eg teachers, and the surge in spiritualism, amongst others.
I think my known tally from my dad's side is one who was killed or committed suicide later, and one who got shell-shock and not proper treatment which in my view came out in him later being something of a wife-beater, which then fed through to my dad being sent away to boarding school to be safe, and (speculating) him being emotionally distant with his own children.
So the Russian casualties in UKR are about 0.5% of the total population. Their casualties in WW1 were about 1.5% of the total population - and last time that happened there was a revolution. [Other circumstances may need to be taken into account - Ed.]
What are the Russian population losses if you add in the number lost by emigration to avoid the chance of conscription? Those who fled are also 'lost' to the Russian population.
Have either Badenoch or Farage commented on Starmer's announcement the UK is willing to put troops on the ground in Ukraine to help guarantee any peace deal that is agreed? That seems to be pretty consequential and worthy of some remark.
🚨 NEW: Badenoch praises Trump and ‘populism’ in speech warning of civilisational threats
In her ARC speech, Badenoch took aim at DEI, mass migration, “taking the knee” and claimed “some cultures are better than others”
So nothing on Ukraine and the threat Putin poses to Europe. She is deep in her comfort zone. The parallels with Jeremy Corbyn are so striking.
Yeah. She´s done. However, it´ll still take another six months before the Tories screw up another leadership contest.
She gives a speech on the big threats facing Western civilisation, praises a man who rejects the rule of law and fails to mention the one who is dropping bombs on a European country and killings its people by the tens of thousands. Jenrick would give exactly the same speech, of course.
Jenrick wouldn't. Not because he's any more pleasant, but because he's not a naive fool.
Kemi Badenoch this morning: "A country cannot be successful if its people and intellectual elite don’t believe in it. This means dealing with the poisoning of minds through higher education."
Most of the right-wing intellectual elite believe in Britain so little they live outside of it (eg Douglas Murray in New York, Andrew Neil in France)
Sikorski also said Poland would not put troops on the ground in Ukraine. "Poland's duty to NATO is to protect the eastern flank, i.e. its own territory."
Can't see this happening if Poland isn't prepared to commit troops to it tbh. One of Europe's largest armies in terms of infantry iirc and right on the edge of it all.
Poland is running a proper defence policy though, not a tokenistic joke that can be deployed anywhere in a split second to make the useless lardbucket in blagged designer specs get a round of applause around the conference table.
Have either Badenoch or Farage commented on Starmer's announcement the UK is willing to put troops on the ground in Ukraine to help guarantee any peace deal that is agreed? That seems to be pretty consequential and worthy of some remark.
🚨 NEW: Badenoch praises Trump and ‘populism’ in speech warning of civilisational threats
In her ARC speech, Badenoch took aim at DEI, mass migration, “taking the knee” and claimed “some cultures are better than others”
Meanwhile there are open goals going begging.
If I were Tory leader I’d be banging on daily about Reeves, WFA, employer NICs, Reeves, inflation, Reeves.
I know it's insane, but having a view on British troops on the ground in the Ukraine might also be something we should expect of the LOTO. Badenoch will get there eventually but what she has chosen to talk about this morning tells you everything. She is not a serious person.
Yep. You say you support the PM in the national interest and he should do more of x, y, z. [You can say this because, not being in government, you don't need to make the trade offs]
OK Kemi. You passionately feel that to be the case. So how are you going to win over the voters to make that happen?
I have to assume that her strategy has three components: 1) Labour are shit and I need to keep calling them out 2) Reform are a sideshow and we need to head them off 3) The Tories are hugely popular deep down and we can reconnect with the voters who protested last time by engaging on their issues
Her problem is, that 1) Labour aren't that shit, objectively speaking. The Tories were far worse 2) Reform have evolved past a sideshow and have captured hearts, minds and money which used to either be Tory by right or were winnable by Tories. No more. And 3) The denial shown by the last few PB Tories is breathtaking and I know that there are people in the party even more deluded
She may well believe that the Tories are the Last Best Hope. But she can't show any demonstrable reason why that is. And is pushing the party further away from voters every time she opens her mouth to complain about it.
Ukrainian President Zelensky says more than 46,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed since Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022, with "tens of thousands more missing in action or in captivity".
Those missing in action could be dead or in captivity, Zelensky told NBC News on Sunday.
Ten days earlier, on 6 February, Zelensky said 45,100 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed and around 390,000 had been wounded. Military experts in Ukraine and the West believe the number could be far higher.
Russia hasn't released an equivalent figure, but UK Defence Intelligence estimated in December that an average of 1,523 Russian soldiers were being killed and wounded every day.
Zelensky says up to 350,000 Russian soldiers have been killed - other reports suggest that number could be much higher.
That's an extraordinary figure.
To put it in context, 265,000 British combat personnel were killed in the whole of the Second World War.
The 2021 census suggests about 50m Russians between 18 and 44. Assume half male and knock a few off at each end and, based on the U.S. estimate of 700k dead or wounded, that’s devastating.
Further context: UK casualty figures in WW1 were around 2.5 million from the "UK and colonies", but not including major colonies such as Canada, Oz, SAfrica etc.
That is 1/3 killed, 2/3 wounded, at a run rate of 1750 per day average from a population which was 45 million.
Or pro-rata, around 3x more than Russia is suffering currently - as the Russian population is around 140 million.
And we know the impact that had here through most of our family histories, and through eg the numbers of single women eg teachers, and the surge in spiritualism, amongst others.
I think my known tally from my dad's side is one who was killed or committed suicide later, and one who got shell-shock and not proper treatment which in my view came out in him later being something of a wife-beater, which then fed through to my dad being sent away to boarding school to be safe, and (speculating) him being emotionally distant with his own children.
The big difference between then and now was that high birthrates meant that countries could bounce back swiftly, from war losses.
I often wonder about the impact on following generations of the loss of all those genes. The loss of all those fit young men must have had some effect in lowering the quality of the remaining available genes.
Ukrainian President Zelensky says more than 46,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed since Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022, with "tens of thousands more missing in action or in captivity".
Those missing in action could be dead or in captivity, Zelensky told NBC News on Sunday.
Ten days earlier, on 6 February, Zelensky said 45,100 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed and around 390,000 had been wounded. Military experts in Ukraine and the West believe the number could be far higher.
Russia hasn't released an equivalent figure, but UK Defence Intelligence estimated in December that an average of 1,523 Russian soldiers were being killed and wounded every day.
Zelensky says up to 350,000 Russian soldiers have been killed - other reports suggest that number could be much higher.
That's an extraordinary figure.
To put it in context, 265,000 British combat personnel were killed in the whole of the Second World War.
The 2021 census suggests about 50m Russians between 18 and 44. Assume half male and knock a few off at each end and, based on the U.S. estimate of 700k dead or wounded, that’s devastating.
Further context: UK casualty figures in WW1 were around 2.5 million from the "UK and colonies", but not including major colonies such as Canada, Oz, SAfrica etc.
That is 1/3 killed, 2/3 wounded, at a run rate of 1750 per day average from a population which was 45 million.
Or pro-rata, around 3x more than Russia is suffering currently - as the Russian population is around 140 million.
And we know the impact that had here through most of our family histories, and through eg the numbers of single women eg teachers, and the surge in spiritualism, amongst others.
I think my known tally from my dad's side is one who was killed or committed suicide later, and one who got shell-shock and not proper treatment which in my view came out in him later being something of a wife-beater, which then fed through to my dad being sent away to boarding school to be safe, and (speculating) him being emotionally distant with his own children.
So the Russian casualties in UKR are about 0.5% of the total population. Their casualties in WW1 were about 1.5% of the total population - and last time that happened there was a revolution. [Other circumstances may need to be taken into account - Ed.]
What are the Russian population losses if you add in the number lost by emigration to avoid the chance of conscription? Those who fled are also 'lost' to the Russian population.
The MOD suggests it is about 1m, so we would be up to about 1% in total. However, the impact of someone having left Russia "voluntarily" is not the same as the impact of someone returning in a cofffin, or with serious injuries, so I'm not sure you can quite measure it like that.
Sikorski also said Poland would not put troops on the ground in Ukraine. "Poland's duty to NATO is to protect the eastern flank, i.e. its own territory."
Can't see this happening if Poland isn't prepared to commit troops to it tbh. One of Europe's largest armies in terms of infantry iirc and right on the edge of it all.
Poland also has a 400km border with Belarus, of course. But it has a longer one with Ukraine...
When Starmer was opposition leader, he set aside party politics at times like this and gave Johnson his full support in his steps to support Ukraine. Asking constructive questions only, not seeking political point scoring.
Badenoch is losing a lot of respect not doing the same today. It's even striking given Sunak has done what responsible opposition should do.
Even Ed Davey has taken the right approach, 2 hours ago on twitter:
"The PM is absolutely right when it comes to the deployment of British troops in Ukraine to uphold any peace deal and deter Putin."
Have either Badenoch or Farage commented on Starmer's announcement the UK is willing to put troops on the ground in Ukraine to help guarantee any peace deal that is agreed? That seems to be pretty consequential and worthy of some remark.
🚨 NEW: Badenoch praises Trump and ‘populism’ in speech warning of civilisational threats
In her ARC speech, Badenoch took aim at DEI, mass migration, “taking the knee” and claimed “some cultures are better than others”
Alliance for Responsible Citizenship, founded by Jordan Peterson and Philippa Stroud.
What? Badenoch instructed attendees to ignore the “media class complaints about populism”, which she appeared to describe as the “very essence of democracy”.
RFK Jr is going for it on the spray tan. Bro is mahogany.
Trying to be more orange than Trump. He’s going for the ‘roids as well, no 70-year-old looks like that from the gym.
The irony, given his AntiCorporatePoison shtick, is that steroid abuse (and other hideous "enhancing" drugs) is becoming an epidemic among young men. Think of it as the complement to the anorexia plague among girls - absurd body images primed in media....
When Starmer was opposition leader, he set aside party politics at times like this and gave Johnson his full support in his steps to support Ukraine. Asking constructive questions only, not seeking political point scoring.
Badenoch is losing a lot of respect not doing the same today. It's even striking given Sunak has done what responsible opposition should do.
Even Ed Davey has taken the right approach, 2 hours ago on twitter:
"The PM is absolutely right when it comes to the deployment of British troops in Ukraine to uphold any peace deal and deter Putin."
Have either Badenoch or Farage commented on Starmer's announcement the UK is willing to put troops on the ground in Ukraine to help guarantee any peace deal that is agreed? That seems to be pretty consequential and worthy of some remark.
You can't just summon focus groups out of thin air.
RFK Jr is going for it on the spray tan. Bro is mahogany.
Trying to be more orange than Trump. He’s going for the ‘roids as well, no 70-year-old looks like that from the gym.
The irony, given his AntiCorporatePoison shtick, is that steroid abuse (and other hideous "enhancing" drugs) is becoming an epidemic among young men. Think of it as the complement to the anorexia plague among girls - absurd body images primed in media....
Oh indeed, seems somewhat off for the guy who’s spent his whole career having a go at drug companies and crappy American food.
The latest drug plague over there is of course Ozempic, most of which in celebrity circles is coming from the same friendly supplier as the cocaine rather than more regular routes, and is making people seriously ill while projecting a different type of body image problem to the masses.
If I had a pound for all the "My body is a temple" people I've encountered who then ingest the weirdest shit from unknown sources....
That's another bit nicked from the New Testament, rewritten and repurposed.
Have either Badenoch or Farage commented on Starmer's announcement the UK is willing to put troops on the ground in Ukraine to help guarantee any peace deal that is agreed? That seems to be pretty consequential and worthy of some remark.
🚨 NEW: Badenoch praises Trump and ‘populism’ in speech warning of civilisational threats
In her ARC speech, Badenoch took aim at DEI, mass migration, “taking the knee” and claimed “some cultures are better than others”
Meanwhile there are open goals going begging.
If I were Tory leader I’d be banging on daily about Reeves, WFA, employer NICs, Reeves, inflation, Reeves.
I know it's insane, but having a view on British troops on the ground in the Ukraine might also be something we should expect of the LOTO. Badenoch will get there eventually but what she has chosen to talk about this morning tells you everything. She is not a serious person.
Is Ukraine salient to normal people in the UK? Centrist fuckwits on here are positively haunted by it but I don't feel like normal people care much about it now the supply of memes from the front has dried up. Farage is probably positioning himself perfectly on it with sphinx-like indifference.
SKS is going on about a British presence because it makes him look prime ministerial which is one of the many aspects of the role with which he struggles. Also, the likelihood of him actually having to do it is pretty slim so he might as well try to be the big man.
Badenoch is a fucking joke at this point. And not a funny one like the one about the toilet door on a prawn trawler.
So speaks our resident Putin Apologist. Look at the recent opinion poll that was on here fuckwit. Thankfully a large portion of the British public are less keen on sucking up and appeasing the child stealing mass-murdering c*nt than you seem to be.
When Starmer was opposition leader, he set aside party politics at times like this and gave Johnson his full support in his steps to support Ukraine. Asking constructive questions only, not seeking political point scoring.
Badenoch is losing a lot of respect not doing the same today. It's even striking given Sunak has done what responsible opposition should do.
Even Ed Davey has taken the right approach, 2 hours ago on twitter:
"The PM is absolutely right when it comes to the deployment of British troops in Ukraine to uphold any peace deal and deter Putin."
As has Rishi Sunak.
There is zero danger of either Rishi Sunak or Ed Davey being Prime Minister, ever (thank the Lord). I am relieved that Kemi and Nigel have been somewhat more cautious in their approach.
I'm not so sure on Reform. To me their coalition looks fragile.
How will they resolve their tensions:
- Patriotism vs Trumpism when the USA turns its back on allies and the rest of the world. - Between Rich men based in Dubai or the US or wherever feathering their nests vs grass roots who want to be loyal British. - The enormous black holes in their Manifesto between declared intention to shrink the state and policies that require much more public investment. - The contribution their MPs actually make to doing their jobs vs their second jobs in media. - The tensions between various shades of Right in their internal coalition, and the supporters they need to attract from the mainstream.
I don't see it holding together.
If you think Reform's MPs aren't making a contribution outside of their media appearances, you're pretty ill-researched. Rupert Lowe alone has submitted 624 parliamentary questions according to an AI summary. I doubt it's far off. Frankly it's the Reform five making the other parties' MPs look lazy, not the other way around, much as you might wish otherwise.
If you can point me to some data eg debate attendances, that would be great.
Have either Badenoch or Farage commented on Starmer's announcement the UK is willing to put troops on the ground in Ukraine to help guarantee any peace deal that is agreed? That seems to be pretty consequential and worthy of some remark.
You can't just summon focus groups out of thin air.
..but polling companies have standing online panels and can do a poll and produce an output in 1-2 days...
Have either Badenoch or Farage commented on Starmer's announcement the UK is willing to put troops on the ground in Ukraine to help guarantee any peace deal that is agreed? That seems to be pretty consequential and worthy of some remark.
🚨 NEW: Badenoch praises Trump and ‘populism’ in speech warning of civilisational threats
In her ARC speech, Badenoch took aim at DEI, mass migration, “taking the knee” and claimed “some cultures are better than others”
Meanwhile there are open goals going begging.
If I were Tory leader I’d be banging on daily about Reeves, WFA, employer NICs, Reeves, inflation, Reeves.
I know it's insane, but having a view on British troops on the ground in the Ukraine might also be something we should expect of the LOTO. Badenoch will get there eventually but what she has chosen to talk about this morning tells you everything. She is not a serious person.
Is Ukraine salient to normal people in the UK? Centrist fuckwits on here are positively haunted by it but I don't feel like normal people care much about it now the supply of memes from the front has dried up. Farage is probably positioning himself perfectly on it with sphinx-like indifference.
SKS is going on about a British presence because it makes him look prime ministerial which is one of the many aspects of the role with which he struggles. Also, the likelihood of him actually having to do it is pretty slim so he might as well try to be the big man.
Badenoch is a fucking joke at this point. And not a funny one like the one about the toilet door on a prawn trawler.
Kemi Badenoch this morning: "A country cannot be successful if its people and intellectual elite don’t believe in it. This means dealing with the poisoning of minds through higher education."
Most of the right-wing intellectual elite believe in Britain so little they live outside of it (eg Douglas Murray in New York, Andrew Neil in France)
Kemi Badenoch this morning: "A country cannot be successful if its people and intellectual elite don’t believe in it. This means dealing with the poisoning of minds through higher education."
Most of the right-wing intellectual elite believe in Britain so little they live outside of it (eg Douglas Murray in New York, Andrew Neil in France)
RFK Jr is going for it on the spray tan. Bro is mahogany.
Trying to be more orange than Trump. He’s going for the ‘roids as well, no 70-year-old looks like that from the gym.
The irony, given his AntiCorporatePoison shtick, is that steroid abuse (and other hideous "enhancing" drugs) is becoming an epidemic among young men. Think of it as the complement to the anorexia plague among girls - absurd body images primed in media....
Kemi Badenoch this morning: "A country cannot be successful if its people and intellectual elite don’t believe in it. This means dealing with the poisoning of minds through higher education."
Most of the right-wing intellectual elite believe in Britain so little they live outside of it (eg Douglas Murray in New York, Andrew Neil in France)
How do they become elite? Is it a matter of shouting loudest with most confidence?
RFK Jr is going for it on the spray tan. Bro is mahogany.
Trying to be more orange than Trump. He’s going for the ‘roids as well, no 70-year-old looks like that from the gym.
The irony, given his AntiCorporatePoison shtick, is that steroid abuse (and other hideous "enhancing" drugs) is becoming an epidemic among young men. Think of it as the complement to the anorexia plague among girls - absurd body images primed in media....
When Starmer was opposition leader, he set aside party politics at times like this and gave Johnson his full support in his steps to support Ukraine. Asking constructive questions only, not seeking political point scoring.
Badenoch is losing a lot of respect not doing the same today. It's even striking given Sunak has done what responsible opposition should do.
Even Ed Davey has taken the right approach, 2 hours ago on twitter:
"The PM is absolutely right when it comes to the deployment of British troops in Ukraine to uphold any peace deal and deter Putin."
As has Rishi Sunak.
There is zero danger of either Rishi Sunak or Ed Davey being Prime Minister, ever (thank the Lord). I am relieved that Kemi and Nigel have been somewhat more cautious in their approach.
Zero danger of PM, yes. If the winds are in the Lib Dems' favour then they are likely to be for Labour too, at least enough to keep a majority.
But it's far from outlandish in a three and four way weird scrap he could become LoTO given how well Lib Dem votes are concentrated and the opportunities for moderate growth from that. Given you may only need 120 odd MPs to get there.
When Starmer was opposition leader, he set aside party politics at times like this and gave Johnson his full support in his steps to support Ukraine. Asking constructive questions only, not seeking political point scoring.
Badenoch is losing a lot of respect not doing the same today. It's even striking given Sunak has done what responsible opposition should do.
Even Ed Davey has taken the right approach, 2 hours ago on twitter:
"The PM is absolutely right when it comes to the deployment of British troops in Ukraine to uphold any peace deal and deter Putin."
As has Rishi Sunak.
There is zero danger of either Rishi Sunak or Ed Davey being Prime Minister, ever (thank the Lord). I am relieved that Kemi and Nigel have been somewhat more cautious in their approach.
The only way a peacekeeping force in Ukraine is going to work is if it has massive numbers and considerable firepower and a mandate to fight if there is a territorial infringement. We all remember the powerlessness of the so-called UN peacekeepers in Srebrenica. I suspect the Russians do too. This is going to cost serious money and if the US isn't prepared to do it, European governments need to agree on how they can deliver.
Additionally it is about time these MAGA bellends are reminded how many non-Americans sacrificed their blood in what were essentially US wars of revenge after 9/11. Perhaps we should send Trump the bill.
When Starmer was opposition leader, he set aside party politics at times like this and gave Johnson his full support in his steps to support Ukraine. Asking constructive questions only, not seeking political point scoring.
Badenoch is losing a lot of respect not doing the same today. It's even striking given Sunak has done what responsible opposition should do.
Even Ed Davey has taken the right approach, 2 hours ago on twitter:
"The PM is absolutely right when it comes to the deployment of British troops in Ukraine to uphold any peace deal and deter Putin."
Badenoch is fundamentally an unserious politician. The Tories will die if they continue with people like her in charge. And, frankly, if they do I don't care. They gave up being serious when they put Johnson in charge and it has been downhill ever since then.
David Frum @davidfrum · 1h When FDR struck an over-the-heads-of-eastern-Europe deal at Yalta in Feb 1945, Stalin had 300+ divisions in the field vs Nazi Germany. The impending unilateral Trump sellout of Ukraine occurs when Putin is battered and almost broke.
If it's left to Trump, they'll be bought and sold before Zelensky is invited along to participate.
The big question is whether the reception Kellogg will give Ukraine is more frosty or flaky. Netflix might even turn this debate into a serial. Or Musk could turn up on Special K perhaps.
Kemi Badenoch this morning: "A country cannot be successful if its people and intellectual elite don’t believe in it. This means dealing with the poisoning of minds through higher education."
Most of the right-wing intellectual elite believe in Britain so little they live outside of it (eg Douglas Murray in New York, Andrew Neil in France)
Poor old SeanT, not even included in that motley crew.
Kemi Badenoch this morning: "A country cannot be successful if its people and intellectual elite don’t believe in it. This means dealing with the poisoning of minds through higher education."
Most of the right-wing intellectual elite believe in Britain so little they live outside of it (eg Douglas Murray in New York, Andrew Neil in France)
Because they are affluent and the Left has turned Britain into a toilet at a 3rd rate zoo
What are we meant to do, hang around pretending it’s lovely with fixed, rictus grins as we stare at the litter and the machetes?
If it's left to Trump, they'll be bought and sold before Zelensky is invited along to participate.
The big question is whether the reception Kellogg will give Ukraine is more frosty or flaky. Netflix might even turn this debate into a serial. Or Musk could turn up on Special K perhaps.
Kemi Badenoch this morning: "A country cannot be successful if its people and intellectual elite don’t believe in it. This means dealing with the poisoning of minds through higher education."
I'm not so sure on Reform. To me their coalition looks fragile.
How will they resolve their tensions:
- Patriotism vs Trumpism when the USA turns its back on allies and the rest of the world. - Between Rich men based in Dubai or the US or wherever feathering their nests vs grass roots who want to be loyal British. - The enormous black holes in their Manifesto between declared intention to shrink the state and policies that require much more public investment. - The contribution their MPs actually make to doing their jobs vs their second jobs in media. - The tensions between various shades of Right in their internal coalition, and the supporters they need to attract from the mainstream.
I don't see it holding together.
If you think Reform's MPs aren't making a contribution outside of their media appearances, you're pretty ill-researched. Rupert Lowe alone has submitted 624 parliamentary questions according to an AI summary. I doubt it's far off. Frankly it's the Reform five making the other parties' MPs look lazy, not the other way around, much as you might wish otherwise.
If you can point me to some data eg debate attendances, that would be great.
Lowe does appear to be Reform's hardest working MP - in a bit of a tallest dwarf contest. I'm surprised though that anyone who saw Southampton's demise in the mid-2000s thinks he's fit to run a bath.
Kemi Badenoch this morning: "A country cannot be successful if its people and intellectual elite don’t believe in it. This means dealing with the poisoning of minds through higher education."
Most of the right-wing intellectual elite believe in Britain so little they live outside of it (eg Douglas Murray in New York, Andrew Neil in France)
Poor old SeanT, not even included in that motley crew.
I think he seriously fails on "intellectual" aspect, before we even get to the residency test.
"...In her speech, Badenoch articulated concerns regarding the perceived decline of Western civilization, emphasizing that this is not merely a crisis of values but rather a crisis of confidence. She highlighted a growing self-doubt about Western history and culture, which she believes is contributing to cultural and economic decline. Badenoch criticized leftwing progressivism and its influence on various societal issues, including Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion practices, climate activism, and the European Convention on Human Rights.
She contrasted the courage of individuals like Katharine Birbalsingh with the perceived weakness of political leaders such as UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, whom she accused of succumbing to public pressure. Badenoch raised concerns about mass migration, suggesting that some newcomers may bring cultural practices that undermine Western values. She asserted that while many desire to live in the West for its benefits, there is a need to prioritize the interests of the British people.
Badenoch expressed admiration for Donald Trump, suggesting that his leadership style exemplifies the need for decisive action to address national issues. She called for a renewed commitment to the principles of liberalism, emphasizing the importance of belief in the nation’s potential for success. Furthermore, she criticized current immigration levels and advocated for a more selective approach.
The speech concluded with a call to action for conservatives to reclaim their values and fight for the future of the UK and Western civilization. Badenoch urged her party to engage in a significant renewal of policies and ideas, framing this moment as an opportunity for a new conservative era. She warned against the dangers of inaction driven by anger or self-doubt, asserting that the next generation of conservatives must lead decisively to prevent the loss of their country and civilization..."
Comments
Yes, the semiotics of that image upset Putin even more. Things he can't have.
Meanwhile Europe, especially the Nordic part of it is developing more liquid pools of finance too. The EU currently has more regulatory control in much of the tech space compared to the United States. Trump and the Tech Bros deeply resent this power, but by taking direct action against it they have done two things- one the EU, China and India are now talking about their mutual interest in AI regulation, and two the US faces regulatory exclusion but also a higher risk premium as the rule of law is permanently damaged by Trump.
After Deep Seek, Alphabet now has wasted $45 billion invested in the wrong AI and has a dead business model with Google, the closed access of Apple is increasingly weaker than the open access of Android, and could hit a tipping point- a product failure, for example- that turns it into Nokia. The enshitification of Facebook is reducing genuine user interaction and Meta is also facing problems with much greater competition for WhatsApp. Musk has already lost $30billion on TwiX and his Tesla sales were already under pressure from cheaper and better Chinese products. The growing boycott of Tesla also leaves its valuation (close to the entire market cap of all the EU auto manufacturers combined) in mid air.
On inauguration day watching the Tech Bros all in a line, I did think that pride goes before a fall. I think we are going to see a rout of these stocks as the chickens start to come home to roost.
As for energy- the attacks on all forms of Green policies, especially net zero are, of course, massively self serving, but the upshot is terrible long term. "The stone age didn´t end, because we ran out of stones", the burning of fossil fuels is not only dangerous for the planet (unless you´re a cretin who failed all your science courses), it also leaves the free world dependent on murderous Petro-states and even China has no interest in that.
The US had global leadership when it collaborated with other states. America First is destroying US soft power right now, but the foundations of US hard power are also under huge pressure. US decline is now the most likely and increasingly unavoidable scenario.
It has taken fifty years for the US to establish its technological lead. It is under pressure now, and could be gone in five years. The impact on global capital flows could be immense. The US currently comprises 60% of global market cap but only 25% of global GDP.
"Pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall" Indeed.
The latest drug plague over there is of course Ozempic, most of which in celebrity circles is coming from the same friendly supplier as the cocaine rather than more regular routes, and is making people seriously ill while projecting a different type of body image problem to the masses.
And please don't say that we don't need to.
However, I agree that there are other means to produce decarbonised leccy and H2, without using Qatari natural gas.
And net-negative emissions are best achieved through reforestation, peat bogs, etc., rather than DAC. But if some billionaire wants to throw piles of cash at you to develop DAC, and then pay you £500/tonne for the negative credits, you'd be daft not to.
The world is on fire and Kemi Badenoch is giving a speech to a Tory think tank in which she says that "as the world becomes more complicated" it is "pronouns and DEI" that are "the real poison in our society".
Sunak has given full support to Starmer on Ukraine. She still has not responded.
@danielsohege.bsky.social
There are always times in politics where both sides of the aisle have to come together. Badenoch cannot handle that, she needs to use fictitious "culture wars" battles, because she can't comprehend real world issues which require unity. It is just appalling politics, as much as anything else.
"Several GOP senators worry that having an unelected billionaire crow about slashing federal jobs, which happen to employ many people in their home states, is not a good look when inflation remains a major problem and many Americans are having trouble making ends meet."
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5146881-elon-musk-senate-republicans/
If Labour had been in power in 1939, would Churchill have been giving speeches about pronouns?
Can Europe and UK persuade Trump they're relevant to Ukraine's future?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9qjq4z0xw8o
It should be can Trump persuade us that he's relevant ?
Trying to negotiate with Putin via Trump offers the worst of all worlds.
That she is a conservative because it is rational to her because of the values that came from parents and community who wanted to make their way in Britain and didn't want pity or handouts. Who are more socially conservative than a blue haired student who claims to speak for them. One might disagree with the conclusions, but it would be authentic and compelling.
But instead she chooses to parrot the same insane clash of civilisations, end of Rome online brain rot of a statue Twitter account run by some trust fund kid experimenting with neo-Nazism as it's 'edgy'.
The "sane" Republicans are just going to moan in the background and let it all happen as they don't have a scooby what to do.
SKS is going on about a British presence because it makes him look prime ministerial which is one of the many aspects of the role with which he struggles. Also, the likelihood of him actually having to do it is pretty slim so he might as well try to be the big man.
Badenoch is a fucking joke at this point. And not a funny one like the one about the toilet door on a prawn trawler.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/crr0gngkjrvt
Pro-Kremlin media celebrate resumption of US-Russia dialogue
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the talks would focus “primarily on restoring the whole spectre of Russia-US relations.”
In other words, bilateral ties are top of the agenda. Then comes “preparations for possible negotiations on Ukraine” and for a meeting of the two presidents.
Russia’s delegation will include the Kremlin’s foreign policy advisor, Yuri Ushakov, and foreign minister Sergei Lavrov. Today, Lavrov appeared to suggest that Europe had no role to play at future peace talks.
In Russia, pro-Kremlin media have been celebrating the resumption of dialogue between Russia and America, as well as the Trump administration’s biting criticism of Europe.
Today’s edition of the newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets declared: "Dumbfounded Europe has been kneed by America just below the belt and is still struggling to get its breath back.”..
Access to this site has been blocked by the Protective DNS Service
Site: doge.gov
Please contact your local Network Administrator or IT support if you require further assistance..."
https://bsky.app/profile/adamjschwarz.bsky.social/post/3lienzihai222
The point where Corbyn's faults became utterly apparent to the public and he dived in the polls, never to recover, was after his risible response to Salisbury. Ukraine is similar. Won't win you popularity supporting them, but you'll tank the moment you look like you're selling those brave people out.
we don't defend Ukraine against Russian aggressionthe Conservatives don’t return to government.Sikorski also said Poland would not put troops on the ground in Ukraine. "Poland's duty to NATO is to protect the eastern flank, i.e. its own territory."
Can't see this happening if Poland isn't prepared to commit troops to it tbh. One of Europe's largest armies in terms of infantry iirc and right on the edge of it all.
Starmer may not be the most inspiring political leader but we should be grateful it's him, not the alternatives, who is in charge at this critical time.
https://x.com/zelenskyyua/status/1891447775407284492
It's really easy.
https://x.com/rupertlowe10/status/1891392998513991917
Doesn’t he want to see all those refugees go home?
I have to assume that her strategy has three components:
1) Labour are shit and I need to keep calling them out
2) Reform are a sideshow and we need to head them off
3) The Tories are hugely popular deep down and we can reconnect with the voters who protested last time by engaging on their issues
Her problem is, that
1) Labour aren't that shit, objectively speaking. The Tories were far worse
2) Reform have evolved past a sideshow and have captured hearts, minds and money which used to either be Tory by right or were winnable by Tories. No more. And
3) The denial shown by the last few PB Tories is breathtaking and I know that there are people in the party even more deluded
She may well believe that the Tories are the Last Best Hope. But she can't show any demonstrable reason why that is. And is pushing the party further away from voters every time she opens her mouth to complain about it.
Good afternoon, everybody.
But it has a longer one with Ukraine...
Honestly, Badenoch could be party political and hammer Reeves. Or she could be sensible and focus on Ukraine.
Instead she's studiously avoiding looking either politically Machiavellian or statesmanlike.
https://nitter.poast.org/arc_forum/status/1891426902163763524#m
Badenoch is losing a lot of respect not doing the same today. It's even striking given Sunak has done what responsible opposition should do.
Even Ed Davey has taken the right approach, 2 hours ago on twitter:
"The PM is absolutely right when it comes to the deployment of British troops in Ukraine to uphold any peace deal and deter Putin."
What?
Badenoch instructed attendees to ignore the “media class complaints about populism”, which she appeared to describe as the “very essence of democracy”.
Imagine if in the 90s Blair and Ashdown were taking a platform at a conference run by the Moonies.
ARC's website: https://www.arcforum.com/
@UAPJedi
If our troops are out in Ukraine Starmer can use the excuse we can't use them here to protect us from the Islamist army already in the UK.
Leaving us defenceless.
https://x.com/UAPJedi/status/1891403502829588734
https://x.com/maks_nafo_fella/status/1891418324942152063
Russia to withdraw to 24/2/2022 border before the start of negotiations. US will discuss with Russia at their meeting in Saudi Arabia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mehmet_Oz#Electoral_history
·
11m
This is madness. Is Farage paying her or something?
https://bsky.app/profile/gsoh31.bsky.social/post/3lieqeizsss2i
Need to let the main parties know the disatisfaction is real.
But it's far from outlandish in a three and four way weird scrap he could become LoTO given how well Lib Dem votes are concentrated and the opportunities for moderate growth from that. Given you may only need 120 odd MPs to get there.
Additionally it is about time these MAGA bellends are reminded how many non-Americans sacrificed their blood in what were essentially US wars of revenge after 9/11. Perhaps we should send Trump the bill.
They'll get to chat with the Kellogg guy instead.
https://thehill.com/newsletters/morning-report/5148844-morning-report-trump-is-starting-ukraine-peace-talks-without-ukraine/
If it's left to Trump, they'll be bought and sold before Zelensky is invited along to participate.
@davidfrum
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1h
When FDR struck an over-the-heads-of-eastern-Europe deal at Yalta in Feb 1945, Stalin had 300+ divisions in the field vs Nazi Germany. The impending unilateral Trump sellout of Ukraine occurs when Putin is battered and almost broke.
https://x.com/davidfrum/status/1891448669880168604
https://x.com/Osinttechnical/status/1891204744389001599
Insulting someone is not a crime, and criminalizing speech is going to put real strain on European-US relationships.
This is Orwellian, and everyone in Europe and the US must reject this lunacy.
What are we meant to do, hang around pretending it’s lovely with fixed, rictus grins as we stare at the litter and the machetes?
"...In her speech, Badenoch articulated concerns regarding the perceived decline of Western civilization, emphasizing that this is not merely a crisis of values but rather a crisis of confidence. She highlighted a growing self-doubt about Western history and culture, which she believes is contributing to cultural and economic decline. Badenoch criticized leftwing progressivism and its influence on various societal issues, including Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion practices, climate activism, and the European Convention on Human Rights.
She contrasted the courage of individuals like Katharine Birbalsingh with the perceived weakness of political leaders such as UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, whom she accused of succumbing to public pressure. Badenoch raised concerns about mass migration, suggesting that some newcomers may bring cultural practices that undermine Western values. She asserted that while many desire to live in the West for its benefits, there is a need to prioritize the interests of the British people.
Badenoch expressed admiration for Donald Trump, suggesting that his leadership style exemplifies the need for decisive action to address national issues. She called for a renewed commitment to the principles of liberalism, emphasizing the importance of belief in the nation’s potential for success. Furthermore, she criticized current immigration levels and advocated for a more selective approach.
The speech concluded with a call to action for conservatives to reclaim their values and fight for the future of the UK and Western civilization. Badenoch urged her party to engage in a significant renewal of policies and ideas, framing this moment as an opportunity for a new conservative era. She warned against the dangers of inaction driven by anger or self-doubt, asserting that the next generation of conservatives must lead decisively to prevent the loss of their country and civilization..."
https://ahrefs.com/writing-tools/summarizer
Impending tax rises from autumn budget fuel collapse in sentiment and rising redundancy intentions, surveys show
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/feb/17/uk-firms-mull-biggest-layoffs-in-a-decade-as-business-confidence-slumps
If not, how does he cope with the shame?!