My phone conversation today with President Putin of Russia was a very good and productive one. We agreed to an immediate Ceasefire on all Energy and Infrastructure, with an understanding that we will be working quickly to have a Complete Ceasefire and, ultimately, an END to this very horrible War between Russia and Ukraine. This War would have never started if I were President! Many elements of a Contract for Peace were discussed, including the fact that thousands of soldiers are being killed, and both President Putin and President Zelenskyy would like to see it end. That process is now in full force and effect, and we will, hopefully, for the sake of Humanity, get the job done!
Donald Trump Truth Social Post 3/18/25 02:49 PM 6:50 PM · Mar 18, 2025 · 105.1K Views
I am on a train. I have a double seat to myself. On the other side of the aisle is a little old lady who is engrossed in her mobile and is making zero sound. I HAVE WON THE GAME OF TRAIN!
(If yobbos join at later stops I will apprise you)
This is the post-modern opening to the rewrite of the 4.50 from Paddington, isn't it?
To my shame I had to look it up. I used to be quite the fan of Agatha Christie, her novels being just the right length for a long train journey, but change in reading tastes and train WiFi means I haven't read one of hers in over a decade. Damn, things have changed... ☹️
My phone conversation today with President Putin of Russia was a very good and productive one. We agreed to an immediate Ceasefire on all Energy and Infrastructure, with an understanding that we will be working quickly to have a Complete Ceasefire and, ultimately, an END to this very horrible War between Russia and Ukraine. This War would have never started if I were President! Many elements of a Contract for Peace were discussed, including the fact that thousands of soldiers are being killed, and both President Putin and President Zelenskyy would like to see it end. That process is now in full force and effect, and we will, hopefully, for the sake of Humanity, get the job done!
Donald Trump Truth Social Post 3/18/25 02:49 PM 6:50 PM · Mar 18, 2025 · 105.1K Views
My phone conversation today with President Putin of Russia was a very good and productive one. We agreed to an immediate Ceasefire on all Energy and Infrastructure, with an understanding that we will be working quickly to have a Complete Ceasefire and, ultimately, an END to this very horrible War between Russia and Ukraine. This War would have never started if I were President! Many elements of a Contract for Peace were discussed, including the fact that thousands of soldiers are being killed, and both President Putin and President Zelenskyy would like to see it end. That process is now in full force and effect, and we will, hopefully, for the sake of Humanity, get the job done!
Donald Trump Truth Social Post 3/18/25 02:49 PM 6:50 PM · Mar 18, 2025 · 105.1K Views
In other words a total failure. Notice hes had no big press conference today.
He's not even used ALL CAPS TO WRITE IT. Small beer, small hands, small text.
Air raid sirens sounding all over Ukraine right now. Power already knocked out in one city
Putin is laughing at Trump
Glen Grant, a former UK defence attaché to the Baltics, and one-time adviser to Ukraine’s defence ministry, said the agreement for a cessation of infrastructure attacks and hostilities in the Black Sea amounted to “nothing” in terms of concessions from the Kremlin.
”Russia needed a stop on attacks on energy infrastructure, as Kyiv was doing more damage to Russia through that than the other way around,” he said. “Likewise, Russia hasn’t put any ships into the Black Sea for about a year because Ukraine’s naval drones have been messing them up.”
An agreement brokered to exchange 175 prisoners of war, he added, was part of a well-established pattern of prisoner-swaps, and had probably been in the pipeline anyway.
And if you look at people under the age of 25, every single group — white, nonwhite, male or female — is considerably more conservative than their millennial counterparts. And it even seems that Donald Trump narrowly won nonwhite 18-year-old men, which is not something that has ever happened in Democratic politics before.
No wonder Andrew Tate got a holiday in Florida courtesy of POTUS.
So, in amongst all the Ukraine news, what was the PB brains trust thinking on the benefits system changes?
The problem with benefit changes is that the overall savings are tiny and the political cost great.
£5bn is about the sum mentioned. This is tiny; less than half the sum set aside for the infected blood disaster. It's a fifth of the receipts from petrol duty, which has been kept down for years.
But if there are 1 million losers, £5bn is is £5000 each. Which is a lot of money to people who haven't got £50, let alone £5000.
When you are already borrowing £100bn+ a year to fund all these payments, £5bn goes nowhere. It's a sum which is both miniscule and huge at the same time.
Laura Trott was interviewed by Camilla Tominey the other day - she started off pretty ropey but got better during the interview.
I did not hear it but this is what all politicians should be doing. Get out and answer questions so that by the time you land an important job you are a natural. So many in the past 30 years or so have hidden themselves away and when they reach the top cannot cope with a camera and microphone. Theresa May and Gordon Brown to name but one from each side.
So, in amongst all the Ukraine news, what was the PB brains trust thinking on the benefits system changes?
The problem with benefit changes is that the overall savings are tiny and the political cost great.
£5bn is about the sum mentioned. This is tiny; less than half the sum set aside for the infected blood disaster. It's a fifth of the receipts from petrol duty, which has been kept down for years.
But if there are 1 million losers, £5bn is is £5000 each. Which is a lot of money to people who haven't got £50, let alone £5000.
When you are already borrowing £100bn+ a year to fund all these payments, £5bn goes nowhere. It's a sum which is both miniscule and huge at the same time.
I saw a report somewhere this morning that the government saves a fabulous sum in pensions payments withheld from imprisoned pensioners. Maybe it was on PB, otherwise apologies I have no link.
I am on a train. I have a double seat to myself. On the other side of the aisle is a little old lady who is engrossed in her mobile and is making zero sound. I HAVE WON THE GAME OF TRAIN!
(If yobbos join at later stops I will apprise you)
This is the post-modern opening to the rewrite of the 4.50 from Paddington, isn't it?
To my shame I had to look it up. I used to be quite the fan of Agatha Christie, her novels being just the right length for a long train journey, but change in reading tastes and train WiFi means I haven't read one of hers in over a decade. Damn, things have changed... ☹️
Her best are still very good indeed and stand the test of time, and there are a lot of top class ones. And, as always, the books are better than any adaptations, (do I make an exception for the 1974 film of Murder on the Orient Express? Possibly) even though in the case of Christie, so many are first rate.
I am on a train. I have a double seat to myself. On the other side of the aisle is a little old lady who is engrossed in her mobile and is making zero sound. I HAVE WON THE GAME OF TRAIN!
(If yobbos join at later stops I will apprise you)
This is the post-modern opening to the rewrite of the 4.50 from Paddington, isn't it?
To my shame I had to look it up. I used to be quite the fan of Agatha Christie, her novels being just the right length for a long train journey, but change in reading tastes and train WiFi means I haven't read one of hers in over a decade. Damn, things have changed... ☹️
Did you see the BBCs Towards Zero? My goodness, Agatha was racy. F- this, f- that and the killer pleasuring his ex-wife with his head up her dress on the stairs. E L James must have got her ideas from Christie.
And if you look at people under the age of 25, every single group — white, nonwhite, male or female — is considerably more conservative than their millennial counterparts. And it even seems that Donald Trump narrowly won nonwhite 18-year-old men, which is not something that has ever happened in Democratic politics before.
More vulnerable to Putin's social media propaganda perhaps?
No, it's just cyclical pushback from the youth revelling against wokeism. In the 60s it was flower power vs war, in the 90s it was grunge vs capitalism, now it's tradvalues vs wokeism.
The youth will always, always rebel against what is today's normal and for the past 10 years we've had woke and DEI shoved down our throats by liberals so they're doing exactly what the youth of other generations have done and telling their elders to get fucked. I wish millennials had even an ounce of their bravery on this, we are without a doubt the lamest gen with parents that were selfish who made us virtue signallers (largely).
I am on a train. I have a double seat to myself. On the other side of the aisle is a little old lady who is engrossed in her mobile and is making zero sound. I HAVE WON THE GAME OF TRAIN!
(If yobbos join at later stops I will apprise you)
This is the post-modern opening to the rewrite of the 4.50 from Paddington, isn't it?
The idea that two separate trains, on two different days, would coincide at the same point of the line to allow the plot to develop as it does is something that may have worked in the glory days of steam, but there would be no chance these days.
So, in amongst all the Ukraine news, what was the PB brains trust thinking on the benefits system changes?
The problem with benefit changes is that the overall savings are tiny and the political cost great.
£5bn is about the sum mentioned. This is tiny; less than half the sum set aside for the infected blood disaster. It's a fifth of the receipts from petrol duty, which has been kept down for years.
But if there are 1 million losers, £5bn is is £5000 each. Which is a lot of money to people who haven't got £50, let alone £5000.
When you are already borrowing £100bn+ a year to fund all these payments, £5bn goes nowhere. It's a sum which is both miniscule and huge at the same time.
I saw a report somewhere this morning that the government saves a fabulous sum in pensions payments withheld from imprisoned pensioners. Maybe it was on PB, otherwise apologies I have no link.
Good evening, everybody.
Also pensioners who are in hospital. It's one of those rules which would be called cruel if introduced today...
Smartphones should be treated like cigarettes and banned until the age of 16 in the UK, according to the writer of Adolescence, which explores the insidious influence of “incel-culture”.
So, in amongst all the Ukraine news, what was the PB brains trust thinking on the benefits system changes?
The problem with benefit changes is that the overall savings are tiny and the political cost great.
£5bn is about the sum mentioned. This is tiny; less than half the sum set aside for the infected blood disaster. It's a fifth of the receipts from petrol duty, which has been kept down for years.
But if there are 1 million losers, £5bn is is £5000 each. Which is a lot of money to people who haven't got £50, let alone £5000.
When you are already borrowing £100bn+ a year to fund all these payments, £5bn goes nowhere. It's a sum which is both miniscule and huge at the same time.
To put it in some perspective the government is spending just over £800bn a year or £16bn a week. So £5bn gets us funded until breakfast time on Wednesday morning in 1 week of the year.
And if you look at people under the age of 25, every single group — white, nonwhite, male or female — is considerably more conservative than their millennial counterparts. And it even seems that Donald Trump narrowly won nonwhite 18-year-old men, which is not something that has ever happened in Democratic politics before.
More vulnerable to Putin's social media propaganda perhaps?
No, it's just cyclical pushback from the youth revelling against wokeism. In the 60s it was flower power vs war, in the 90s it was grunge vs capitalism, now it's tradvalues vs wokeism.
The youth will always, always rebel against what is today's normal and for the past 10 years we've had woke and DEI shoved down our throats by liberals so they're doing exactly what the youth of other generations have done and telling their elders to get fucked. I wish millennials had even an ounce of their bravery on this, we are without a doubt the lamest gen with parents that were selfish who made us virtue signallers (largely).
"We"? I figured you for Gen X (born 1965 to 1980). If I am wrong, congrats on reaching such a high status so young.
So, in amongst all the Ukraine news, what was the PB brains trust thinking on the benefits system changes?
The problem with benefit changes is that the overall savings are tiny and the political cost great.
£5bn is about the sum mentioned. This is tiny; less than half the sum set aside for the infected blood disaster. It's a fifth of the receipts from petrol duty, which has been kept down for years.
But if there are 1 million losers, £5bn is is £5000 each. Which is a lot of money to people who haven't got £50, let alone £5000.
When you are already borrowing £100bn+ a year to fund all these payments, £5bn goes nowhere. It's a sum which is both miniscule and huge at the same time.
£5bn a year is a hefty sum to save. Its equivalent to a 10% increase in defence budget.
Are these actually happening more frequently, or is it just a media obsession?
Musk sacks a whole bunch of air traffic controllers and the spotlight is focused onto aircraft safety. Correlation or no correlation it doesn't look great.
Smartphones should be treated like cigarettes and banned until the age of 16 in the UK, according to the writer of Adolescence, which explores the insidious influence of “incel-culture”.
Anyway, the real problem with such bans is that adult society is making reliance on a smartphone so incredibly prevalent. It's very weird messaging to say "by the way kids, these things are incredibly dangerous...but if you want to do basic adult shit like banking or paying for some crap car parking you're definitely going to need one of these".
Smartphones should be treated like cigarettes and banned until the age of 16 in the UK, according to the writer of Adolescence, which explores the insidious influence of “incel-culture”.
Anyway, the real problem with such bans is that adult society is making reliance on a smartphone so incredibly prevalent. It's very weird messaging to say "by the way kids, these things are incredibly dangerous...but if you want to do basic adult shit like banking you're definitely going to need one of these".
In a few years, it will be 57 years olds....
I am personally not on board banning mobiles for numerous reasons. It won't fly with the public anyway, because safety of little Johnny etc. Also, its like just like trying to regulate the internet, you really can't do it.
I am on a train. I have a double seat to myself. On the other side of the aisle is a little old lady who is engrossed in her mobile and is making zero sound. I HAVE WON THE GAME OF TRAIN!
(If yobbos join at later stops I will apprise you)
This is the post-modern opening to the rewrite of the 4.50 from Paddington, isn't it?
To my shame I had to look it up. I used to be quite the fan of Agatha Christie, her novels being just the right length for a long train journey, but change in reading tastes and train WiFi means I haven't read one of hers in over a decade. Damn, things have changed... ☹️
Did you see the BBCs Towards Zero? My goodness, Agatha was racy. F- this, f- that and the killer pleasuring his ex-wife with his head up her dress on the stairs. E L James must have got her ideas from Christie.
Thanks for the warning. Maybe the BBC etc could try to work out just why the detective novels, even quite minor ones, of 1930-1950s are enjoying a huge revival and selling millions. Freeman Wills Crofts is as good a break from the horrors of contemporary culture as P G Wodehouse.
And if you look at people under the age of 25, every single group — white, nonwhite, male or female — is considerably more conservative than their millennial counterparts. And it even seems that Donald Trump narrowly won nonwhite 18-year-old men, which is not something that has ever happened in Democratic politics before.
More vulnerable to Putin's social media propaganda perhaps?
No, it's just cyclical pushback from the youth revelling against wokeism. In the 60s it was flower power vs war, in the 90s it was grunge vs capitalism, now it's tradvalues vs wokeism.
The youth will always, always rebel against what is today's normal and for the past 10 years we've had woke and DEI shoved down our throats by liberals so they're doing exactly what the youth of other generations have done and telling their elders to get fucked. I wish millennials had even an ounce of their bravery on this, we are without a doubt the lamest gen with parents that were selfish who made us virtue signallers (largely).
"We"? I figured you for Gen X (born 1965 to 1980). If I am wrong, congrats on reaching such a high status so young.
My GenZ son is fiercely woke, far more than me. So much so that I am constantly in danger of receiving a judgmental look or tut. So if this anti-woke tendency in the young is a universal British phenomenon (as opposed to us over analysing what Americans are up to) then he’s yet to get the memo. Nor are his school friends.
My generation of males at the age of 18 were, from memory, not exactly all mini-Farages but widely casually racist, extremely homophobic and with pervasive “locker room” attitudes to women. I’m kind of glad that’s not becoming the norm again.
And if you look at people under the age of 25, every single group — white, nonwhite, male or female — is considerably more conservative than their millennial counterparts. And it even seems that Donald Trump narrowly won nonwhite 18-year-old men, which is not something that has ever happened in Democratic politics before.
More vulnerable to Putin's social media propaganda perhaps?
No, it's just cyclical pushback from the youth revelling against wokeism. In the 60s it was flower power vs war, in the 90s it was grunge vs capitalism, now it's tradvalues vs wokeism.
The youth will always, always rebel against what is today's normal and for the past 10 years we've had woke and DEI shoved down our throats by liberals so they're doing exactly what the youth of other generations have done and telling their elders to get fucked. I wish millennials had even an ounce of their bravery on this, we are without a doubt the lamest gen with parents that were selfish who made us virtue signallers (largely).
"We"? I figured you for Gen X (born 1965 to 1980). If I am wrong, congrats on reaching such a high status so young.
My GenZ son is fiercely woke, far more than me. So much so that I am constantly in danger of receiving a judgmental look or tut. So if this anti-woke tendency in the young is a universal British phenomenon (as opposed to us over analysing what Americans are up to) then he’s yet to get the memo. Nor are his school friends.
My generation of males at the age of 18 were, from memory, not exactly all mini-Farages but widely casually racist, extremely homophobic and with pervasive “locker room” attitudes to women. I’m kind of glad that’s not becoming the norm again.
There is a slight uptick in the alt right in the young, but it is still very much a minority.
I predicted about a week ago that the Rupert Lowe affair wouldn't affect Reform's poll showing and it looks like that's true with YouGov putting them +1%. (The reason being that most people haven't heard of Rupert Lowe, a rather simple explanation).
I am on a train. I have a double seat to myself. On the other side of the aisle is a little old lady who is engrossed in her mobile and is making zero sound. I HAVE WON THE GAME OF TRAIN!
(If yobbos join at later stops I will apprise you)
This is the post-modern opening to the rewrite of the 4.50 from Paddington, isn't it?
To my shame I had to look it up. I used to be quite the fan of Agatha Christie, her novels being just the right length for a long train journey, but change in reading tastes and train WiFi means I haven't read one of hers in over a decade. Damn, things have changed... ☹️
If you like lightweight but entertaining mysteries, can I recommend the Pentacost and Parker novels. They're set in 1940s New York, and are originally plotted and well paced. I suspect they are not very historically accurate, but I wouldn't let that worry you.
A timely boost to global and European demand. Could lead to a mini boom if they properly go for it, because there is so much dry powder there.
Don't you find it a bit weird that the old parliament in Germany in still voting on things even though a new one was elected about 4 weeks ago? I wonder whether any other country does things like this.
Smartphones should be treated like cigarettes and banned until the age of 16 in the UK, according to the writer of Adolescence, which explores the insidious influence of “incel-culture”.
Anyway, the real problem with such bans is that adult society is making reliance on a smartphone so incredibly prevalent. It's very weird messaging to say "by the way kids, these things are incredibly dangerous...but if you want to do basic adult shit like banking you're definitely going to need one of these".
In a few years, it will be 57 years olds....
I am personally not on board banning mobiles for numerous reasons. It won't fly with the public anyway, because safety of little Johnny etc. Also, its like just like trying to regulate the internet, you really can't do it.
When our son was about 8 he was setting up remote servers so that he could play his XBox games at his friends houses when there for a sleepover. When he was 9 he was using the school wifi for accounts that he was interested in but he was using other peoples phones in the class without their knowledge so it would never come back on him. In fact the school never even worked out what he was doing. We thought about parental controls a couple of times and just laughed.
4x increase in support for Donald Trump from LibDem voters in less than two weeks is surely the big story here.
I thought the only story in town was the rumour Radiohead might be producing new music?
Why do you think I'm spending so little time on here these days?
I thought you were too busy trying to drink all that Californian wine in your cellar before your sense of national duty gets the better of you
Wine from blue states get a blue tick. The UK should exempt them from all taxes and duties.
No, all US stuff shouldn’t be bought while they continue on current path
Not drinking Californian Shiraz would be a real hardship. But I get your point. Sigh.
I have a work trip to the USA coming up. It’s weird how it is actually giving me the same sort of frisson of discomfort - of not going to a predictably free place, and feeling the need to watch what I say to officialdom - that I get visiting places like Singapore or UAE.
A timely boost to global and European demand. Could lead to a mini boom if they properly go for it, because there is so much dry powder there.
Don't you find it a bit weird that the old parliament in Germany in still voting on things even though a new one was elected about 4 weeks ago? I wonder whether any other country does things like this.
Zelenskyy should refuse this sham ceasefire but I expect he will have to along with it for the timebeing but this whole process is going nowhere .
Putin is way more intelligent than Trump and can manipulate him easily. Hes playing chess whilst Trump is playing checkers or maybe snakes and ladders.
Trump doesn't trust any of his advisors and ignores them all. He has minimal understanding of geopolitics or of Putin. He is completely outclassed.
The diver was not a paedo. Musk was in the wrong. The prosecution did not prove that Musk defamed him. I find that utterly baffling, but it does not mean that Musk was in the right, or the diver was a paedo.
As I said at the time, the way Musk should have defused the situation was to say something like: "I'm sorry. Everyone wanted to save those kids, and passions were running high. Unsworth is not a paedo. I should not have said that. I will offer a million pounds and a years' time for five SpaceX engineers to the International Underwater Cave Rescue and Recovery to develop technology that they think will be of use in future rescues. Thank God the kids were retrieved safely. And I give a million dollars to the family of the Thai cave diver who died."
That would probably have cost him less than the lawyers cost defending the court case.
The fact the case took place in California is probably the main explanation. Jurors there are apparently a lot more lenient on this sort of thing.
A timely boost to global and European demand. Could lead to a mini boom if they properly go for it, because there is so much dry powder there.
Don't you find it a bit weird that the old parliament in Germany in still voting on things even though a new one was elected about 4 weeks ago? I wonder whether any other country does things like this.
A timely boost to global and European demand. Could lead to a mini boom if they properly go for it, because there is so much dry powder there.
Don't you find it a bit weird that the old parliament in Germany in still voting on things even though a new one was elected about 4 weeks ago? I wonder whether any other country does things like this.
Yes it’s very odd. We’re used to it with presidents or governments, but not the actual MPs.
A timely boost to global and European demand. Could lead to a mini boom if they properly go for it, because there is so much dry powder there.
Don't you find it a bit weird that the old parliament in Germany in still voting on things even though a new one was elected about 4 weeks ago? I wonder whether any other country does things like this.
Have you heard of this insignificant country called the USA?
Smartphones should be treated like cigarettes and banned until the age of 16 in the UK, according to the writer of Adolescence, which explores the insidious influence of “incel-culture”.
Message from wifey: “I keep hearing doors bang downstairs. We’re all upstairs”. OK, in the house or in the shop (same building). “Shop”.
We’ve had this before. Building dates back to 1795 with multiple ghosts observed. Doors banging in what was the bank we’ve all heard, just as I have sat in my office (in the bank) hearing someone walk down the corridor in the house (above my head) when nobody is in…
I am on a train. I have a double seat to myself. On the other side of the aisle is a little old lady who is engrossed in her mobile and is making zero sound. I HAVE WON THE GAME OF TRAIN!
(If yobbos join at later stops I will apprise you)
This is the post-modern opening to the rewrite of the 4.50 from Paddington, isn't it?
To my shame I had to look it up. I used to be quite the fan of Agatha Christie, her novels being just the right length for a long train journey, but change in reading tastes and train WiFi means I haven't read one of hers in over a decade. Damn, things have changed... ☹️
Did you see the BBCs Towards Zero? My goodness, Agatha was racy. F- this, f- that and the killer pleasuring his ex-wife with his head up her dress on the stairs. E L James must have got her ideas from Christie.
Thanks for the warning. Maybe the BBC etc could try to work out just why the detective novels, even quite minor ones, of 1930-1950s are enjoying a huge revival and selling millions. Freeman Wills Crofts is as good a break from the horrors of contemporary culture as P G Wodehouse.
It was genuinely rubbish. Big name cast too, Angelica Huston and Matthew Rhys. I am about as woke as they come and even I raised an eyebrow at the diverse ethnicity of the cast. It genuinely looked like actors had been shoehorned into the show to make up the diversity quota.
A timely boost to global and European demand. Could lead to a mini boom if they properly go for it, because there is so much dry powder there.
Don't you find it a bit weird that the old parliament in Germany in still voting on things even though a new one was elected about 4 weeks ago? I wonder whether any other country does things like this.
Yes it’s very odd. We’re used to it with presidents or governments, but not the actual MPs.
The US Congress operates in the same way, frequently passing legislation in the lame duck session after the election and before the new Congress sits.
Message from wifey: “I keep hearing doors bang downstairs. We’re all upstairs”. OK, in the house or in the shop (same building). “Shop”.
We’ve had this before. Building dates back to 1795 with multiple ghosts observed. Doors banging in what was the bank we’ve all heard, just as I have sat in my office (in the bank) hearing someone walk down the corridor in the house (above my head) when nobody is in…
I remember you mentioning this a year or 2 ago. Has it been continuous or has it come back?
I listened to Kendall's statement and it seems most of the savings will not be realised before the end of the Parliament and she did admit the benefit bill will rise by 18 billion
This is unsustainable and nobody is telling the truth, nor taking action to avoid the consequences of paying benefits we cannot afford
One way to mitigate this is the immediate end to the triple lock, an increase in pension age towards 70, and even possibly means testing the state pension
Of course a wealth tax could also be considered, but our politicians do not have the courage to do the right thing because they are looking to reelection
Sadly, this is a classic dinosaurs mating kind of deal. To properly challenge Starlink, rather than just rehash OneWeb, you need cheap launch and a mega-constellation.
Unfortunately, this is still heresy inside ESA and ArianeSpace. A friend was fired from ESA for being too enthusiastic about the Themis project. Yes, that's right. Being enthusiastic about a 100% European development project is bad politics in Europe. FFS.
See also Macron’s refusal to allow Europe to consider UK defence companies as Europe spends $800bn to rearm
French economic selfishness sometimes reaches such myopic extremes it becomes self-harming. The UK has spent billions on helping Ukraine (more than France); the UK is the natural partner for France and Europe, but it has to be two way or it won’t work; the UK brings intel capabilities significantly in advance of anything in the EU
Yet the French won’t countenance pooling resources with the UK because, of course, European strategic autonomy means, for Paris, lots of German and Italian money being spent in France, and nowhere else
Europe is gonna blow it. All these petty rivalries and divisions. They talk le talk but they don’t walk le fucking walk
Fuck it, fuck Europe, make CANZUK a reality
The combined GDP of the CANZUK nations, under our one king, is about $7.5 TRILLION. Easily the third largest economic power in the world (unless you count the EU which, as proven above, you cannot). With a growing population of 140 million - bigger than Japan and soon overtaking Russia
By geographical size CANZUK would be the largest country on earth: 18,188,325 square kilometers. Absolutely fucking enormous. Twice as big as the USA (in your face, Donald). It would have endless natural resources in all departments, minerals, fisheries, oil, gas, metals, rare earth, everything. It would have a world tier one capital in London, and several tier two super cities like Sydney, Toronto. It would comprise every kind of habitat, from epic rainforest to endless tundra, from temperate meadow to mighty Alps, from fertile prairies to Newent
It would have mulitiple world class universities. It would be an extremely powerful world trader. Its geographical spread would be unrivaled, dominant or significant in three continents, ruling the seas from Scapa Flow to Vancouver, from Auckland to Newfoundland
Let’s do it. Fuck it, CANZUK. Let us bestride the world!!! Scared of no one, not Vlad not Don not Xi and certainly not stupid little Manny Macron
If we made that a reality, it might also be a more natural partner for Scandinavia and Iceland/Greenland than the EU.
The people who promoted CANZUK at the time of Brexit look visonary now.
It does genuinely make sense now. CANZUK. It makes much more sense geopolitically than the EU. One language, one monarchy, one common law, one parliamentary system - we already have all of that
It would have the economic muscle to build very serious defence capabilities - including nukes, enough to ward off Putin and Donald and Xi
The problem with CANZUK and the free movement involved is that you'd probably get more unbalanced societies in the four countries than you have at the moment. For instance elderly people would tend to congregate in whichever of them was offering the most affordable health care, young people would go where the student loan system was most generous, and so on.
You cannot make this shit up as Tom Wolfe once kind of said:
Tim Miller @Timodc · 1h The Minnesota State Senator who proposed a bill classifying Trump Derangement Syndrome as a mental illness has been arrested for soliciting a 16 year old. That’s a shame!
Message from wifey: “I keep hearing doors bang downstairs. We’re all upstairs”. OK, in the house or in the shop (same building). “Shop”.
We’ve had this before. Building dates back to 1795 with multiple ghosts observed. Doors banging in what was the bank we’ve all heard, just as I have sat in my office (in the bank) hearing someone walk down the corridor in the house (above my head) when nobody is in…
You’d be a great case for Uncanny and they are looking for new cases right now.
I listened to Kendall's statement and it seems most of the savings will not be realised before the end of the Parliament and she did admit the benefit bill will rise by 18 billion
This is unsustainable and nobody is telling the truth, nor taking action to avoid the consequences of paying benefits we cannot afford
One way to mitigate this is the immediate end to the triple lock, an increase in pension age towards 70, and even possibly means testing the state pension
Of course a wealth tax could also be considered, but our politicians do not have the courage to do the right thing because they are looking to reelection
And if you look at people under the age of 25, every single group — white, nonwhite, male or female — is considerably more conservative than their millennial counterparts. And it even seems that Donald Trump narrowly won nonwhite 18-year-old men, which is not something that has ever happened in Democratic politics before.
No wonder Andrew Tate got a holiday in Florida courtesy of POTUS.
I was talking to my 15yo son about Tate etc, as he'd just finished watching Adolescence. He says that everyone he knows views Tate as a joke, boys might ironically mimic his lines but they're just taking the piss - rage bait as he calls it. I said that that might be true in SE London but maybe not elsewhere, and he said yeah maybe in the North (I think he meant Northern England, not North London - although perhaps they're equally exotic to him).
4x increase in support for Donald Trump from LibDem voters in less than two weeks is surely the big story here.
I thought the only story in town was the rumour Radiohead might be producing new music?
Why do you think I'm spending so little time on here these days?
I thought you were too busy trying to drink all that Californian wine in your cellar before your sense of national duty gets the better of you
Wine from blue states get a blue tick. The UK should exempt them from all taxes and duties.
No, all US stuff shouldn’t be bought while they continue on current path
Not drinking Californian Shiraz would be a real hardship. But I get your point. Sigh.
I have a work trip to the USA coming up. It’s weird how it is actually giving me the same sort of frisson of discomfort - of not going to a predictably free place, and feeling the need to watch what I say to officialdom - that I get visiting places like Singapore or UAE.
I would suggest that is a significant over reaction, unless you have recently been on holiday to attend a terrorist funeral or a known member of a violent gang.
A timely boost to global and European demand. Could lead to a mini boom if they properly go for it, because there is so much dry powder there.
Don't you find it a bit weird that the old parliament in Germany in still voting on things even though a new one was elected about 4 weeks ago? I wonder whether any other country does things like this.
Yes it’s very odd. We’re used to it with presidents or governments, but not the actual MPs.
The US Congress operates in the same way, frequently passing legislation in the lame duck session after the election and before the new Congress sits.
Sadly, this is a classic dinosaurs mating kind of deal. To properly challenge Starlink, rather than just rehash OneWeb, you need cheap launch and a mega-constellation.
Unfortunately, this is still heresy inside ESA and ArianeSpace. A friend was fired from ESA for being too enthusiastic about the Themis project. Yes, that's right. Being enthusiastic about a 100% European development project is bad politics in Europe. FFS.
See also Macron’s refusal to allow Europe to consider UK defence companies as Europe spends $800bn to rearm
French economic selfishness sometimes reaches such myopic extremes it becomes self-harming. The UK has spent billions on helping Ukraine (more than France); the UK is the natural partner for France and Europe, but it has to be two way or it won’t work; the UK brings intel capabilities significantly in advance of anything in the EU
Yet the French won’t countenance pooling resources with the UK because, of course, European strategic autonomy means, for Paris, lots of German and Italian money being spent in France, and nowhere else
Europe is gonna blow it. All these petty rivalries and divisions. They talk le talk but they don’t walk le fucking walk
Fuck it, fuck Europe, make CANZUK a reality
The combined GDP of the CANZUK nations, under our one king, is about $7.5 TRILLION. Easily the third largest economic power in the world (unless you count the EU which, as proven above, you cannot). With a growing population of 140 million - bigger than Japan and soon overtaking Russia
By geographical size CANZUK would be the largest country on earth: 18,188,325 square kilometers. Absolutely fucking enormous. Twice as big as the USA (in your face, Donald). It would have endless natural resources in all departments, minerals, fisheries, oil, gas, metals, rare earth, everything. It would have a world tier one capital in London, and several tier two super cities like Sydney, Toronto. It would comprise every kind of habitat, from epic rainforest to endless tundra, from temperate meadow to mighty Alps, from fertile prairies to Newent
It would have mulitiple world class universities. It would be an extremely powerful world trader. Its geographical spread would be unrivaled, dominant or significant in three continents, ruling the seas from Scapa Flow to Vancouver, from Auckland to Newfoundland
Let’s do it. Fuck it, CANZUK. Let us bestride the world!!! Scared of no one, not Vlad not Don not Xi and certainly not stupid little Manny Macron
If we made that a reality, it might also be a more natural partner for Scandinavia and Iceland/Greenland than the EU.
The people who promoted CANZUK at the time of Brexit look visonary now.
It does genuinely make sense now. CANZUK. It makes much more sense geopolitically than the EU. One language, one monarchy, one common law, one parliamentary system - we already have all of that
It would have the economic muscle to build very serious defence capabilities - including nukes, enough to ward off Putin and Donald and Xi
The problem with CANZUK and the free movement involved is that you'd probably get more unbalanced societies in the four countries than you have at the moment. For instance elderly people would tend to congregate in whichever of them was offering the most affordable health care, young people would go where the student loan system was most generous, and so on.
Most people would stay put, surely. They’re all a long way away from each other.
And if you look at people under the age of 25, every single group — white, nonwhite, male or female — is considerably more conservative than their millennial counterparts. And it even seems that Donald Trump narrowly won nonwhite 18-year-old men, which is not something that has ever happened in Democratic politics before.
No wonder Andrew Tate got a holiday in Florida courtesy of POTUS.
I was talking to my 15yo son about Tate etc, as he'd just finished watching Adolescence. He says that everyone he knows views Tate as a joke, boys might ironically mimic his lines but they're just taking the piss - rage bait as he calls it. I said that that might be true in SE London but maybe not elsewhere, and he said yeah maybe in the North (I think he meant Northern England, not North London - although perhaps they're equally exotic to him).
I have always had this feeling that the influence / effect of Tate is somewhat overblown. The way it is often reported it is made to sound like he had every teenager boy hanging on his every word.
4x increase in support for Donald Trump from LibDem voters in less than two weeks is surely the big story here.
I thought the only story in town was the rumour Radiohead might be producing new music?
Why do you think I'm spending so little time on here these days?
I thought you were too busy trying to drink all that Californian wine in your cellar before your sense of national duty gets the better of you
Wine from blue states get a blue tick. The UK should exempt them from all taxes and duties.
No, all US stuff shouldn’t be bought while they continue on current path
Not drinking Californian Shiraz would be a real hardship. But I get your point. Sigh.
I have a work trip to the USA coming up. It’s weird how it is actually giving me the same sort of frisson of discomfort - of not going to a predictably free place, and feeling the need to watch what I say to officialdom - that I get visiting places like Singapore or UAE.
Yeah I'm heading there too in a month. Mind you, you've always needed to be careful what you say to immigration and law enforcement in the US.
A timely boost to global and European demand. Could lead to a mini boom if they properly go for it, because there is so much dry powder there.
Don't you find it a bit weird that the old parliament in Germany in still voting on things even though a new one was elected about 4 weeks ago? I wonder whether any other country does things like this.
Yes it’s very odd. We’re used to it with presidents or governments, but not the actual MPs.
The US Congress operates in the same way, frequently passing legislation in the lame duck session after the election and before the new Congress sits.
tbf the Bundestag very rarely operates that way, and the "old" parliament usually doesn't sit again after an election, though it has happened before.
4x increase in support for Donald Trump from LibDem voters in less than two weeks is surely the big story here.
I thought the only story in town was the rumour Radiohead might be producing new music?
Why do you think I'm spending so little time on here these days?
I thought you were too busy trying to drink all that Californian wine in your cellar before your sense of national duty gets the better of you
Wine from blue states get a blue tick. The UK should exempt them from all taxes and duties.
No, all US stuff shouldn’t be bought while they continue on current path
Not drinking Californian Shiraz would be a real hardship. But I get your point. Sigh.
I have a work trip to the USA coming up. It’s weird how it is actually giving me the same sort of frisson of discomfort - of not going to a predictably free place, and feeling the need to watch what I say to officialdom - that I get visiting places like Singapore or UAE.
Yeah I'm heading there too in a month. Mind you, you've always needed to be careful what you say to immigration and law enforcement in the US.
You never dick around with immigration officers. You answer the questions clearly and honestly. This has been true for as long as I have been going to the US.
4x increase in support for Donald Trump from LibDem voters in less than two weeks is surely the big story here.
I thought the only story in town was the rumour Radiohead might be producing new music?
Why do you think I'm spending so little time on here these days?
I thought you were too busy trying to drink all that Californian wine in your cellar before your sense of national duty gets the better of you
Wine from blue states get a blue tick. The UK should exempt them from all taxes and duties.
No, all US stuff shouldn’t be bought while they continue on current path
Not drinking Californian Shiraz would be a real hardship. But I get your point. Sigh.
I have a work trip to the USA coming up. It’s weird how it is actually giving me the same sort of frisson of discomfort - of not going to a predictably free place, and feeling the need to watch what I say to officialdom - that I get visiting places like Singapore or UAE.
I would suggest that is a significant over reaction, unless you have recently been on holiday to attend a terrorist funeral or a known member of a violent gang.
I don’t generally expect to be arrested on a trip to UAE either. But it’s not quite as comfortable walking through airport security or seeing a police car as it would be in say Madrid or Lyon. Same now with the USA.
4x increase in support for Donald Trump from LibDem voters in less than two weeks is surely the big story here.
I thought the only story in town was the rumour Radiohead might be producing new music?
Why do you think I'm spending so little time on here these days?
I thought you were too busy trying to drink all that Californian wine in your cellar before your sense of national duty gets the better of you
Wine from blue states get a blue tick. The UK should exempt them from all taxes and duties.
No, all US stuff shouldn’t be bought while they continue on current path
Not drinking Californian Shiraz would be a real hardship. But I get your point. Sigh.
I have a work trip to the USA coming up. It’s weird how it is actually giving me the same sort of frisson of discomfort - of not going to a predictably free place, and feeling the need to watch what I say to officialdom - that I get visiting places like Singapore or UAE.
Yeah I'm heading there too in a month. Mind you, you've always needed to be careful what you say to immigration and law enforcement in the US.
You never dick around with immigration officers. You answer the questions clearly and honestly. This has been true for as long as I have been going to the US.
By the way I had to give details of my social media handles in the latest ESTA application - can’t remember if that was always there or a new thing (last visit was a few years ago)?
4x increase in support for Donald Trump from LibDem voters in less than two weeks is surely the big story here.
I thought the only story in town was the rumour Radiohead might be producing new music?
Why do you think I'm spending so little time on here these days?
I thought you were too busy trying to drink all that Californian wine in your cellar before your sense of national duty gets the better of you
Wine from blue states get a blue tick. The UK should exempt them from all taxes and duties.
No, all US stuff shouldn’t be bought while they continue on current path
Not drinking Californian Shiraz would be a real hardship. But I get your point. Sigh.
I have a work trip to the USA coming up. It’s weird how it is actually giving me the same sort of frisson of discomfort - of not going to a predictably free place, and feeling the need to watch what I say to officialdom - that I get visiting places like Singapore or UAE.
Yeah I'm heading there too in a month. Mind you, you've always needed to be careful what you say to immigration and law enforcement in the US.
You never dick around with immigration officers. You answer the questions clearly and honestly. This has been true for as long as I have been going to the US.
By the way I had to give details of my social media handles in the latest ESTA application - can’t remember if that was always there or a new thing (last visit was a few years ago)?
Which GP is not already doing this for the people with these "common" conditions that they see??
yet another example of NHS madness.
Good Morning Britain @GMB · 15h Millions of people will be summoned for annual weigh-ins at GP surgeries under NHS guidelines to tackle obesity. Everyone with common conditions including arthritis, heart failure and diabetes will be weighed and measured under a proposal
4x increase in support for Donald Trump from LibDem voters in less than two weeks is surely the big story here.
I thought the only story in town was the rumour Radiohead might be producing new music?
Why do you think I'm spending so little time on here these days?
I thought you were too busy trying to drink all that Californian wine in your cellar before your sense of national duty gets the better of you
Wine from blue states get a blue tick. The UK should exempt them from all taxes and duties.
No, all US stuff shouldn’t be bought while they continue on current path
Not drinking Californian Shiraz would be a real hardship. But I get your point. Sigh.
I have a work trip to the USA coming up. It’s weird how it is actually giving me the same sort of frisson of discomfort - of not going to a predictably free place, and feeling the need to watch what I say to officialdom - that I get visiting places like Singapore or UAE.
I would suggest that is a significant over reaction, unless you have recently been on holiday to attend a terrorist funeral or a known member of a violent gang.
I don’t generally expect to be arrested on a trip to UAE either. But it’s not quite as comfortable walking through airport security or seeing a police car as it would be in say Madrid or Lyon. Same now with the USA.
Nor are trans people who now officially don’t exist for immigration and visa purposes.
I said this yesterday, these detentions happen all the time. 3 detentions from one a major nation in several weeks I would say it probably extremely normal rate. 2 have been resolved quickly.
Now for this case,
"she added that he had faced misdemeanour charges about 10 years ago."
So there is the potential issue. There again could be more. We don't know, but do no commit crimes in the US as an immigrant. Its always been the case that the immigration officials can be extremely harsh takes when it comes to people on visas not abiding by all the rules.
Mrs U have been detained before. Somebody with the same name, basically the same DoB had over stayed their visa. She was detained for several hours as they went through questioning because she happens to work in the US so often, but also on to other countries. US have always had the reputation of acting on the much stricter side of things when it comes to what a lot of countries wouldn't even bother to raise an eyebrow.
As for the mistreatment. Perhaps its true, perhaps it isn't.
Which GP is not already doing this for the people with these "common" conditions that they see??
yet another example of NHS madness.
Good Morning Britain @GMB · 15h Millions of people will be summoned for annual weigh-ins at GP surgeries under NHS guidelines to tackle obesity. Everyone with common conditions including arthritis, heart failure and diabetes will be weighed and measured under a proposal
My GP has a new (accurate, not the hand-held one) blood pressure monitor in reception. Everyone is encouraged to try it as often as they like and give the reading to the receptionist.
And if you look at people under the age of 25, every single group — white, nonwhite, male or female — is considerably more conservative than their millennial counterparts. And it even seems that Donald Trump narrowly won nonwhite 18-year-old men, which is not something that has ever happened in Democratic politics before.
No wonder Andrew Tate got a holiday in Florida courtesy of POTUS.
I was talking to my 15yo son about Tate etc, as he'd just finished watching Adolescence. He says that everyone he knows views Tate as a joke, boys might ironically mimic his lines but they're just taking the piss - rage bait as he calls it. I said that that might be true in SE London but maybe not elsewhere, and he said yeah maybe in the North (I think he meant Northern England, not North London - although perhaps they're equally exotic to him).
Interestingly, I have just been speaking to parents of teenagers at a middlingly rough school in the north - and they painted a similar picture to OLB's son (apart from about the North).
4x increase in support for Donald Trump from LibDem voters in less than two weeks is surely the big story here.
I thought the only story in town was the rumour Radiohead might be producing new music?
Why do you think I'm spending so little time on here these days?
I thought you were too busy trying to drink all that Californian wine in your cellar before your sense of national duty gets the better of you
Wine from blue states get a blue tick. The UK should exempt them from all taxes and duties.
No, all US stuff shouldn’t be bought while they continue on current path
Not drinking Californian Shiraz would be a real hardship. But I get your point. Sigh.
I have a work trip to the USA coming up. It’s weird how it is actually giving me the same sort of frisson of discomfort - of not going to a predictably free place, and feeling the need to watch what I say to officialdom - that I get visiting places like Singapore or UAE.
I would suggest that is a significant over reaction, unless you have recently been on holiday to attend a terrorist funeral or a known member of a violent gang.
I don’t generally expect to be arrested on a trip to UAE either. But it’s not quite as comfortable walking through airport security or seeing a police car as it would be in say Madrid or Lyon. Same now with the USA.
Nor are trans people who now officially don’t exist for immigration and visa purposes.
I said this yesterday, these detentions happen all the time. 3 detentions from one a major nation in several weeks I would say it probably extremely normal rate. 2 have been resolved quickly.
Now for this case,
"she added that he had faced misdemeanour charges about 10 years ago."
So there is the potential issue. There again could be more. We don't know, but do no commit crimes in the US as an immigrant. Its always been the case that the immigration officials can be extremely harsh takes when it comes to people on visas.
Mrs U have been detained before. Somebody with the same name, basically the same DoB had over stayed their visa. She was detained for several hours as they went through questioning because she happens to work in the US so often, but also on to other countries.
As for the mistreatment. Perhaps its true, perhaps it isn't.
So nothing to see here? No frisson at all for you?
I got some pointed questioning last time I visited about the migration status of the person I was staying with, but I wasn’t at the time knowingly visiting a country that was planning mass deportations or waving away the rule of law. So the frisson wasn’t there.
4x increase in support for Donald Trump from LibDem voters in less than two weeks is surely the big story here.
I thought the only story in town was the rumour Radiohead might be producing new music?
Why do you think I'm spending so little time on here these days?
I thought you were too busy trying to drink all that Californian wine in your cellar before your sense of national duty gets the better of you
Wine from blue states get a blue tick. The UK should exempt them from all taxes and duties.
No, all US stuff shouldn’t be bought while they continue on current path
Not drinking Californian Shiraz would be a real hardship. But I get your point. Sigh.
I have a work trip to the USA coming up. It’s weird how it is actually giving me the same sort of frisson of discomfort - of not going to a predictably free place, and feeling the need to watch what I say to officialdom - that I get visiting places like Singapore or UAE.
Yeah I'm heading there too in a month. Mind you, you've always needed to be careful what you say to immigration and law enforcement in the US.
You never dick around with immigration officers. You answer the questions clearly and honestly. This has been true for as long as I have been going to the US.
By the way I had to give details of my social media handles in the latest ESTA application - can’t remember if that was always there or a new thing (last visit was a few years ago)?
They have always taken a lot of personal information. Its been on the ESTA form for ages but I believe it was marked as optional, but changed a couple of years ago to mandatory. Just another example of how the US really go OTT about these things regardless of Trump.
And if you look at people under the age of 25, every single group — white, nonwhite, male or female — is considerably more conservative than their millennial counterparts. And it even seems that Donald Trump narrowly won nonwhite 18-year-old men, which is not something that has ever happened in Democratic politics before.
No wonder Andrew Tate got a holiday in Florida courtesy of POTUS.
I was talking to my 15yo son about Tate etc, as he'd just finished watching Adolescence. He says that everyone he knows views Tate as a joke, boys might ironically mimic his lines but they're just taking the piss - rage bait as he calls it. I said that that might be true in SE London but maybe not elsewhere, and he said yeah maybe in the North (I think he meant Northern England, not North London - although perhaps they're equally exotic to him).
I have always had this feeling that the influence / effect of Tate is somewhat overblown. The way it is often reported it is made to sound like he had every teenager boy hanging on his every word.
Just watched the first episode of Adolescence and boy does it drag.
4x increase in support for Donald Trump from LibDem voters in less than two weeks is surely the big story here.
I thought the only story in town was the rumour Radiohead might be producing new music?
Why do you think I'm spending so little time on here these days?
I thought you were too busy trying to drink all that Californian wine in your cellar before your sense of national duty gets the better of you
Wine from blue states get a blue tick. The UK should exempt them from all taxes and duties.
No, all US stuff shouldn’t be bought while they continue on current path
Not drinking Californian Shiraz would be a real hardship. But I get your point. Sigh.
I have a work trip to the USA coming up. It’s weird how it is actually giving me the same sort of frisson of discomfort - of not going to a predictably free place, and feeling the need to watch what I say to officialdom - that I get visiting places like Singapore or UAE.
I would suggest that is a significant over reaction, unless you have recently been on holiday to attend a terrorist funeral or a known member of a violent gang.
I don’t generally expect to be arrested on a trip to UAE either. But it’s not quite as comfortable walking through airport security or seeing a police car as it would be in say Madrid or Lyon. Same now with the USA.
Nor are trans people who now officially don’t exist for immigration and visa purposes.
I said this yesterday, these detentions happen all the time. 3 detentions from one a major nation in several weeks I would say it probably extremely normal rate. 2 have been resolved quickly.
Now for this case,
"she added that he had faced misdemeanour charges about 10 years ago."
So there is the potential issue. There again could be more. We don't know, but do no commit crimes in the US as an immigrant. Its always been the case that the immigration officials can be extremely harsh takes when it comes to people on visas.
Mrs U have been detained before. Somebody with the same name, basically the same DoB had over stayed their visa. She was detained for several hours as they went through questioning because she happens to work in the US so often, but also on to other countries.
As for the mistreatment. Perhaps its true, perhaps it isn't.
So nothing to see here? No frisson at all for you?
I got some pointed questioning last time I visited about the migration status of the person I was staying with, but I wasn’t at the time knowingly visiting a country that was planning mass deportations or waving away the rule of law. So the frisson wasn’t there.
No, I am saying I would wait for more information on this case. As I said with the surgeon case that the media jumped on. These cases happen all the time with the US, they can be incredibly strict. As I say, Mrs U has been detained, I know people who have been turned around for an absolute minor infraction of a minor rule to do with how long between certain visa being awarded being out by a few days.
When I worked in academia, there was constant uncertainty if people are certain nationalities would be given visas to visit for conferences. It really isn't anything new that border officials have a lot of power of discretion and really seem to like using it, particularly if you arrive by plane.
Which GP is not already doing this for the people with these "common" conditions that they see??
yet another example of NHS madness.
Good Morning Britain @GMB · 15h Millions of people will be summoned for annual weigh-ins at GP surgeries under NHS guidelines to tackle obesity. Everyone with common conditions including arthritis, heart failure and diabetes will be weighed and measured under a proposal
I have undergone my annual health review today including blood pressure, height, weight, oxygen plus bloods to check my blood thinners, cholesterol, diabetes, and thyroid
This is not new, certainty in our practice and seems common sense
4x increase in support for Donald Trump from LibDem voters in less than two weeks is surely the big story here.
I thought the only story in town was the rumour Radiohead might be producing new music?
Why do you think I'm spending so little time on here these days?
I thought you were too busy trying to drink all that Californian wine in your cellar before your sense of national duty gets the better of you
Wine from blue states get a blue tick. The UK should exempt them from all taxes and duties.
No, all US stuff shouldn’t be bought while they continue on current path
Not drinking Californian Shiraz would be a real hardship. But I get your point. Sigh.
I have a work trip to the USA coming up. It’s weird how it is actually giving me the same sort of frisson of discomfort - of not going to a predictably free place, and feeling the need to watch what I say to officialdom - that I get visiting places like Singapore or UAE.
Yeah I'm heading there too in a month. Mind you, you've always needed to be careful what you say to immigration and law enforcement in the US.
You never dick around with immigration officers. You answer the questions clearly and honestly. This has been true for as long as I have been going to the US.
By the way I had to give details of my social media handles in the latest ESTA application - can’t remember if that was always there or a new thing (last visit was a few years ago)?
They have always taken a lot of personal information. Its been on the ESTA form for ages but I believe it was marked as optional, but changed a couple of years ago to mandatory. Just another example of how the US really go OTT about these things regardless of Trump.
The Russian one was the most elaborately suspicious I’ve had to do. Where educated, name and contact details of former university tutor, parents’ employers etc etc.
And if you look at people under the age of 25, every single group — white, nonwhite, male or female — is considerably more conservative than their millennial counterparts. And it even seems that Donald Trump narrowly won nonwhite 18-year-old men, which is not something that has ever happened in Democratic politics before.
No wonder Andrew Tate got a holiday in Florida courtesy of POTUS.
I was talking to my 15yo son about Tate etc, as he'd just finished watching Adolescence. He says that everyone he knows views Tate as a joke, boys might ironically mimic his lines but they're just taking the piss - rage bait as he calls it. I said that that might be true in SE London but maybe not elsewhere, and he said yeah maybe in the North (I think he meant Northern England, not North London - although perhaps they're equally exotic to him).
I have always had this feeling that the influence / effect of Tate is somewhat overblown. The way it is often reported it is made to sound like he had every teenager boy hanging on his every word.
Just watched the first episode of Adolescence and boy does it drag.
And if you look at people under the age of 25, every single group — white, nonwhite, male or female — is considerably more conservative than their millennial counterparts. And it even seems that Donald Trump narrowly won nonwhite 18-year-old men, which is not something that has ever happened in Democratic politics before.
More vulnerable to Putin's social media propaganda perhaps?
No, it's just cyclical pushback from the youth revelling against wokeism. In the 60s it was flower power vs war, in the 90s it was grunge vs capitalism, now it's tradvalues vs wokeism.
The youth will always, always rebel against what is today's normal and for the past 10 years we've had woke and DEI shoved down our throats by liberals so they're doing exactly what the youth of other generations have done and telling their elders to get fucked. I wish millennials had even an ounce of their bravery on this, we are without a doubt the lamest gen with parents that were selfish who made us virtue signallers (largely).
"We"? I figured you for Gen X (born 1965 to 1980). If I am wrong, congrats on reaching such a high status so young.
My GenZ son is fiercely woke, far more than me. So much so that I am constantly in danger of receiving a judgmental look or tut. So if this anti-woke tendency in the young is a universal British phenomenon (as opposed to us over analysing what Americans are up to) then he’s yet to get the memo. Nor are his school friends.
My generation of males at the age of 18 were, from memory, not exactly all mini-Farages but widely casually racist, extremely homophobic and with pervasive “locker room” attitudes to women. I’m kind of glad that’s not becoming the norm again.
Its a class thing as well though. Upper middle classes woke working classes anti woke.
Where I think the difference with Trump is re immigration. Everybody knows there are 10s millions of illegal immigrants in US. Most of just let be for a very long time and form part of the unseen economy which drives lots of important sectors.
If I was one of those people, now I would be really worried that I break some minor law (and the US really love having lots of laws on the books) and before I know it I get shipped out with the gang bangers without ever being able to explain that you have absolutely no connection to that world.
And if you look at people under the age of 25, every single group — white, nonwhite, male or female — is considerably more conservative than their millennial counterparts. And it even seems that Donald Trump narrowly won nonwhite 18-year-old men, which is not something that has ever happened in Democratic politics before.
More vulnerable to Putin's social media propaganda perhaps?
No, it's just cyclical pushback from the youth revelling against wokeism. In the 60s it was flower power vs war, in the 90s it was grunge vs capitalism, now it's tradvalues vs wokeism.
The youth will always, always rebel against what is today's normal and for the past 10 years we've had woke and DEI shoved down our throats by liberals so they're doing exactly what the youth of other generations have done and telling their elders to get fucked. I wish millennials had even an ounce of their bravery on this, we are without a doubt the lamest gen with parents that were selfish who made us virtue signallers (largely).
"We"? I figured you for Gen X (born 1965 to 1980). If I am wrong, congrats on reaching such a high status so young.
My GenZ son is fiercely woke, far more than me. So much so that I am constantly in danger of receiving a judgmental look or tut. So if this anti-woke tendency in the young is a universal British phenomenon (as opposed to us over analysing what Americans are up to) then he’s yet to get the memo. Nor are his school friends.
My generation of males at the age of 18 were, from memory, not exactly all mini-Farages but widely casually racist, extremely homophobic and with pervasive “locker room” attitudes to women. I’m kind of glad that’s not becoming the norm again.
It’s a class thing as well though. Upper middle classes woke working classes anti woke.
I don’t get the sense that’s true at all, certainly not in working class London. It just plays to the stereotype of the rough uneducated thug with his unenlightened views.
I think we’re just looking at American society and assuming it reflects our own. It’s another very different culture with different history around race, sex, and religion. We have the class system, they have a load of other shit.
Smartphones should be treated like cigarettes and banned until the age of 16 in the UK, according to the writer of Adolescence, which explores the insidious influence of “incel-culture”.
This incel culture thing is a classic moral panic. Much of it is just a reaction against the excesses of feminism. I dont think its helpful to make out guys of 18 without girlfriends are potential terrorists.
Just so we’re all clear, the Supreme Court *expressly ruled* that the president cannot fire FTC commissioners without cause in 1935’s Humphrey’s Executor. Trump’s action here is brazenly illegal under any interpretation of the law as it stands
Message from wifey: “I keep hearing doors bang downstairs. We’re all upstairs”. OK, in the house or in the shop (same building). “Shop”.
We’ve had this before. Building dates back to 1795 with multiple ghosts observed. Doors banging in what was the bank we’ve all heard, just as I have sat in my office (in the bank) hearing someone walk down the corridor in the house (above my head) when nobody is in…
I remember you mentioning this a year or 2 ago. Has it been continuous or has it come back?
Just so we’re all clear, the Supreme Court *expressly ruled* that the president cannot fire FTC commissioners without cause in 1935’s Humphrey’s Executor. Trump’s action here is brazenly illegal under any interpretation of the law as it stands
He seems to be trying to reenact Erdogan’s first 10 years of power in 10 weeks.
And if you look at people under the age of 25, every single group — white, nonwhite, male or female — is considerably more conservative than their millennial counterparts. And it even seems that Donald Trump narrowly won nonwhite 18-year-old men, which is not something that has ever happened in Democratic politics before.
No wonder Andrew Tate got a holiday in Florida courtesy of POTUS.
I was talking to my 15yo son about Tate etc, as he'd just finished watching Adolescence. He says that everyone he knows views Tate as a joke, boys might ironically mimic his lines but they're just taking the piss - rage bait as he calls it. I said that that might be true in SE London but maybe not elsewhere, and he said yeah maybe in the North (I think he meant Northern England, not North London - although perhaps they're equally exotic to him).
I have always had this feeling that the influence / effect of Tate is somewhat overblown. The way it is often reported it is made to sound like he had every teenager boy hanging on his every word.
Just watched the first episode of Adolescence and boy does it drag.
Excellent drama overall though and it does make good points about alienated boys on social media
Just so we’re all clear, the Supreme Court *expressly ruled* that the president cannot fire FTC commissioners without cause in 1935’s Humphrey’s Executor. Trump’s action here is brazenly illegal under any interpretation of the law as it stands
He seems to be trying to reenact Erdogan’s first 10 years of power in 10 weeks.
Things are going to go truely craycray going into the midterms... i wonder if the wheels will stay on for the usa these next years...
Message from wifey: “I keep hearing doors bang downstairs. We’re all upstairs”. OK, in the house or in the shop (same building). “Shop”.
We’ve had this before. Building dates back to 1795 with multiple ghosts observed. Doors banging in what was the bank we’ve all heard, just as I have sat in my office (in the bank) hearing someone walk down the corridor in the house (above my head) when nobody is in…
I remember you mentioning this a year or 2 ago. Has it been continuous or has it come back?
And if you look at people under the age of 25, every single group — white, nonwhite, male or female — is considerably more conservative than their millennial counterparts. And it even seems that Donald Trump narrowly won nonwhite 18-year-old men, which is not something that has ever happened in Democratic politics before.
No wonder Andrew Tate got a holiday in Florida courtesy of POTUS.
I was talking to my 15yo son about Tate etc, as he'd just finished watching Adolescence. He says that everyone he knows views Tate as a joke, boys might ironically mimic his lines but they're just taking the piss - rage bait as he calls it. I said that that might be true in SE London but maybe not elsewhere, and he said yeah maybe in the North (I think he meant Northern England, not North London - although perhaps they're equally exotic to him).
Why do you think it wouldn't be the same everywhere? I don't see why people would view him differently in different places.
Just so we’re all clear, the Supreme Court *expressly ruled* that the president cannot fire FTC commissioners without cause in 1935’s Humphrey’s Executor. Trump’s action here is brazenly illegal under any interpretation of the law as it stands
He seems to be trying to reenact Erdogan’s first 10 years of power in 10 weeks.
It's now or never. If the Supreme Court roll over, it's over...
And if you look at people under the age of 25, every single group — white, nonwhite, male or female — is considerably more conservative than their millennial counterparts. And it even seems that Donald Trump narrowly won nonwhite 18-year-old men, which is not something that has ever happened in Democratic politics before.
More vulnerable to Putin's social media propaganda perhaps?
No, it's just cyclical pushback from the youth revelling against wokeism. In the 60s it was flower power vs war, in the 90s it was grunge vs capitalism, now it's tradvalues vs wokeism.
The youth will always, always rebel against what is today's normal and for the past 10 years we've had woke and DEI shoved down our throats by liberals so they're doing exactly what the youth of other generations have done and telling their elders to get fucked. I wish millennials had even an ounce of their bravery on this, we are without a doubt the lamest gen with parents that were selfish who made us virtue signallers (largely).
"We"? I figured you for Gen X (born 1965 to 1980). If I am wrong, congrats on reaching such a high status so young.
Millennial, pretty much in the middle of the generation too I think.
And if you look at people under the age of 25, every single group — white, nonwhite, male or female — is considerably more conservative than their millennial counterparts. And it even seems that Donald Trump narrowly won nonwhite 18-year-old men, which is not something that has ever happened in Democratic politics before.
More vulnerable to Putin's social media propaganda perhaps?
No, it's just cyclical pushback from the youth revelling against wokeism. In the 60s it was flower power vs war, in the 90s it was grunge vs capitalism, now it's tradvalues vs wokeism.
The youth will always, always rebel against what is today's normal and for the past 10 years we've had woke and DEI shoved down our throats by liberals so they're doing exactly what the youth of other generations have done and telling their elders to get fucked. I wish millennials had even an ounce of their bravery on this, we are without a doubt the lamest gen with parents that were selfish who made us virtue signallers (largely).
"We"? I figured you for Gen X (born 1965 to 1980). If I am wrong, congrats on reaching such a high status so young.
Millennial, pretty much in the middle of the generation too I think.
Congrats on reaching such a high status so young. Am well jell.
What a surprise - Putin rejects an unconditional ceasefire. He wants to keep bombing and killing innocent Ukrainians. He wants Ukraine disarmed. He wants Ukraine neutralised. He wants to make Ukraine a vassal state of Russia. He isn’t negotiating. He’s laughing at us.
Comments
To my shame I had to look it up. I used to be quite the fan of Agatha Christie, her novels being just the right length for a long train journey, but change in reading tastes and train WiFi means I haven't read one of hers in over a decade. Damn, things have changed... ☹️
Putin is laughing at Trump
”Russia needed a stop on attacks on energy infrastructure, as Kyiv was doing more damage to Russia through that than the other way around,” he said. “Likewise, Russia hasn’t put any ships into the Black Sea for about a year because Ukraine’s naval drones have been messing them up.”
An agreement brokered to exchange 175 prisoners of war, he added, was part of a well-established pattern of prisoner-swaps, and had probably been in the pipeline anyway.
£5bn is about the sum mentioned. This is tiny; less than half the sum set aside for the infected blood disaster. It's a fifth of the receipts from petrol duty, which has been kept down for years.
But if there are 1 million losers, £5bn is is £5000 each. Which is a lot of money to people who haven't got £50, let alone £5000.
When you are already borrowing £100bn+ a year to fund all these payments, £5bn goes nowhere. It's a sum which is both miniscule and huge at the same time.
Good evening, everybody.
Waste no time on the second rate Christie works.
The youth will always, always rebel against what is today's normal and for the past 10 years we've had woke and DEI shoved down our throats by liberals so they're doing exactly what the youth of other generations have done and telling their elders to get fucked. I wish millennials had even an ounce of their bravery on this, we are without a doubt the lamest gen with parents that were selfish who made us virtue signallers (largely).
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/mar/18/ban-smartphones-for-uk-under-16s-urges-adolescence-writer-jack-thorne
https://abcnews.go.com/WNT/video/wing-delta-plane-strikes-runway-landing-attempt-nyc-119892583
Anyway, the real problem with such bans is that adult society is making reliance on a smartphone so incredibly prevalent. It's very weird messaging to say "by the way kids, these things are incredibly dangerous...but if you want to do basic adult shit like banking or paying for some crap car parking you're definitely going to need one of these".
I am personally not on board banning mobiles for numerous reasons. It won't fly with the public anyway, because safety of little Johnny etc. Also, its like just like trying to regulate the internet, you really can't do it.
My generation of males at the age of 18 were, from memory, not exactly all mini-Farages but widely casually racist, extremely homophobic and with pervasive “locker room” attitudes to women. I’m kind of glad that’s not becoming the norm again.
https://bsky.app/profile/foxinsoxuk.bsky.social/post/3livrecbjtk2b
We’ve had this before. Building dates back to 1795 with multiple ghosts observed. Doors banging in what was the bank we’ve all heard, just as I have sat in my office (in the bank) hearing someone walk down the corridor in the house (above my head) when nobody is in…
I listened to Kendall's statement and it seems most of the savings will not be realised before the end of the Parliament and she did admit the benefit bill will rise by 18 billion
This is unsustainable and nobody is telling the truth, nor taking action to avoid the consequences of paying benefits we cannot afford
One way to mitigate this is the immediate end to the triple lock, an increase in pension age towards 70, and even possibly means testing the state pension
Of course a wealth tax could also be considered, but our politicians do not have the courage to do the right thing because they are looking to reelection
Tim Miller
@Timodc
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1h
The Minnesota State Senator who proposed a bill classifying Trump Derangement Syndrome as a mental illness has been arrested for soliciting a 16 year old. That’s a shame!
https://x.com/Timodc/status/1902089245621411894
John Cleese on the benefits of extremism. Sorry for he poor quality.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLNhPMQnWu4
This man is not noticeably a terrorism or gang member https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/18/germany-investigates-after-national-with-green-card-arrested-at-us-border
Nor are trans people who now officially don’t exist for immigration and visa purposes.
yet another example of NHS madness.
Good Morning Britain
@GMB
·
15h
Millions of people will be summoned for annual weigh-ins at GP surgeries under NHS guidelines to tackle obesity. Everyone with common conditions including arthritis, heart failure and diabetes will be weighed and measured under a proposal
https://x.com/GMB/status/1901881433834029532
Now for this case,
"she added that he had faced misdemeanour charges about 10 years ago."
So there is the potential issue. There again could be more. We don't know, but do no commit crimes in the US as an immigrant. Its always been the case that the immigration officials can be extremely harsh takes when it comes to people on visas not abiding by all the rules.
Mrs U have been detained before. Somebody with the same name, basically the same DoB had over stayed their visa. She was detained for several hours as they went through questioning because she happens to work in the US so often, but also on to other countries. US have always had the reputation of acting on the much stricter side of things when it comes to what a lot of countries wouldn't even bother to raise an eyebrow.
As for the mistreatment. Perhaps its true, perhaps it isn't.
I got some pointed questioning last time I visited about the migration status of the person I was staying with, but I wasn’t at the time knowingly visiting a country that was planning mass deportations or waving away the rule of law. So the frisson wasn’t there.
When I worked in academia, there was constant uncertainty if people are certain nationalities would be given visas to visit for conferences. It really isn't anything new that border officials have a lot of power of discretion and really seem to like using it, particularly if you arrive by plane.
This is not new, certainty in our practice and seems common sense
If I was one of those people, now I would be really worried that I break some minor law (and the US really love having lots of laws on the books) and before I know it I get shipped out with the gang bangers without ever being able to explain that you have absolutely no connection to that world.
I think we’re just looking at American society and assuming it reflects our own. It’s another very different culture with different history around race, sex, and religion. We have the class system, they have a load of other shit.
President Trump has taken an extraordinary and dangerous step of firing two FTC Commissioners.
This is a dramatic ratcheting up of the politicization of the agency--the opposite of the direction it should be going in.
@mjsdc.bsky.social
Just so we’re all clear, the Supreme Court *expressly ruled* that the president cannot fire FTC commissioners without cause in 1935’s Humphrey’s Executor. Trump’s action here is brazenly illegal under any interpretation of the law as it stands
Putin proceeds to bomb a power station directly after promising Trump he wouldn't.... Trump is going to get schooled in the Russian art of the deal.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2025/03/18/russia-ukraine-zelensky-putin-peace-talks-war-latest-news/
https://x.com/rsbnetwork/status/1902118636233359442
"Before taking office, Mr. Trump told top aides to think of each presidential day as an episode in a television show in which he vanquishes rivals."
Stelter wrote: “I think about this quote a lot.” "
Trump just got bitch slapped, on live TV...
https://unherd.com/newsroom/keir-starmers-welfare-u-turn-would-be-a-fatal-error/
https://news.sky.com/story/tesla-investor-calls-for-elon-musk-to-step-down-as-boss-13331499
https://x.com/USA_Polling/status/1902026176417202589
https://x.com/BorisJohnson/status/1902117437018903037