On the electoral significance, I agree with those who think it won't have a significant effect, provided there are no major new developments. It's astonishing that the public broadly seems to think that Russian state-sponsored thugs using one of the most dangerous substances known to mankind in a British town is not a danger to the UK population, but there we go.
The British public has a better idea of how to deal with this than the government has. Russia isn't important enough to treat seriously and it would cause much more damage to the Russian government's amour propre to be treated with contempt rather than fear.
Garry Kasparov tweet: “Every free world leader who congratulates Putin on his ‘election’ is complicit in his global war on democracy. They undermine their own status as freely elected leaders.”
Heiko Maas, the German foreign minister, has described Russia as a "difficult partner", but said the UK poisoning was a "bilateral" issue, indicating that Britain can count on little support from the EU. Maas spoke ahead of a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday (19 March), one day after Russian leader Vladimir Putin secured six more years in power and in the wake of British allegations that Russia poisoned a former spy, Sergei Skripal, in the UK earlier this month using a form of nerve gas.
Reading between the lines: please don't turn our gas off President Putin, Sir, PLEEEEEEASE......
Let's be honest. There's a fuss in Britain because the attack happened in Britain.
Had an ex-Russian spy, who defected to Romania, been poisoned in Romania, I doubt there'd be much interest in Britain in taking serious measures against Moscow.
Except this one used a deadly nerve agent (for the first time in Europe since the war) potentially affecting hundred of british shoppers in the middle of Salisbury.
Sure, other than that, the two are identical.....not.....
“There can be little doubt that the Russian government is behind the attempted assassination of double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter. While there were the typical official denials, the Russian state has ways of communicating its innocence to foreign governments. In this case, it has not done so.”
An interesting piece, apologies if it has been posted before. Contains details on the Russian attitude to the UK that I wasn’t aware of:
It acknowledges the EU has problems, some existential ,and goes onto say:
The EU is not perfect and never can be. It will remain a work in progress forever...
We're not talking about sanitising the EU. We're talking about remembering the strengths of the EU while being aware of its problems and weaknesses. Autocratic powers are causing the EU a lot of difficulties, for sure. But we shouldn't conclude that that the race is already lost or that the EU needs these powers itself [eg dispatch an army].
The Union needs resilience, It will have it when European citizens are convinced of the idea behind it: we commit to cooperation, we set ourselves rules that shape our coexistence. We stick to the rules. We win some; we lose some, but win overall,
Ir is a very simple idea that is difficult to put into practice. It is the idea of a democratic community.
“There can be little doubt that the Russian government is behind the attempted assassination of double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter. While there were the typical official denials, the Russian state has ways of communicating its innocence to foreign governments. In this case, it has not done so.”
An interesting piece, apologies if it has been posted before. Contains details on the Russian attitude to the UK that I wasn’t aware of:
“There can be little doubt that the Russian government is behind the attempted assassination of double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter. While there were the typical official denials, the Russian state has ways of communicating its innocence to foreign governments. In this case, it has not done so.”
An interesting piece, apologies if it has been posted before. Contains details on the Russian attitude to the UK that I wasn’t aware of:
“There can be little doubt that the Russian government is behind the attempted assassination of double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter. While there were the typical official denials, the Russian state has ways of communicating its innocence to foreign governments. In this case, it has not done so.”
An interesting piece, apologies if it has been posted before. Contains details on the Russian attitude to the UK that I wasn’t aware of:
“There can be little doubt that the Russian government is behind the attempted assassination of double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter. While there were the typical official denials, the Russian state has ways of communicating its innocence to foreign governments. In this case, it has not done so.”
An interesting piece, apologies if it has been posted before. Contains details on the Russian attitude to the UK that I wasn’t aware of:
Blimey, are there really grown-up people trying to claim Russia wasn't responsible?
How on earth can anyone maintain that with a straight face? You could argue that it's not proven that Russia was responsible (although that does involve some fairly heroic assumptions), were it not for the Russian government's sneering reaction to the incident, which puts their guilt beyond any doubt. If they were acting in good faith, their reaction would have been completely different.
@MarqueeMark had it right upthread: the curious feature here is why some people are so desperate for there to be an alternative explanation. Those people should take a long hard look at their own motives.
Blimey, are there really grown-up people trying to claim Russia wasn't responsible? Er no. Except for some Russians and possibly Farage and Galloway.
I think the problem is balancing, on the one hand, solidarity and not letting the Russians off the hook when it is obvious they did it, and on the other hand, exploring other remote possibilities.
We know the potential problem caused by jumping to a certain conclusion and refusing to even consider other possibilities. Professional investigators, eg police, engineers, are taught to avoid this trap.
It is possible that the PM has information on how the nerve agent was applied and Mt Stripal's recent activities that put it beyond reasonable doubt. That information has not been shared with us and possibly not with Mr Corbyn.
It acknowledges the EU has problems, some existential ,and goes onto say:
The EU is not perfect and never can be. It will remain a work in progress forever...
We're not talking about sanitising the EU. We're talking about remembering the strengths of the EU while being aware of its problems and weaknesses. Autocratic powers are causing the EU a lot of difficulties, for sure. But we shouldn't conclude that that the race is already lost or that the EU needs these powers itself [eg dispatch an army].
The Union needs resilience, It will have it when European citizens are convinced of the idea behind it: we commit to cooperation, we set ourselves rules that shape our coexistence. We stick to the rules. We win some; we lose some, but win overall,
Ir is a very simple idea that is difficult to put into practice. It is the idea of a democratic community.
That article doesn't offer anything new: the EU will work when all of Europe's citizens agree with its vision of More Europe is an old canard.
Trump is up to his neck in it. You only have to look at the firings and Tweets last week to see he is terrified of being questioned and where Mueller's investigation is going.
He go
To take another example, so did Erdogan in Turkey. Yet he has spent a few years 'moulding' the press, civil service, military and others into a state that favours him. In this, he's learnt lessons from
Beware politicians who want to grab more powers.
I will never forgive Boris Johnson and Michael Gove for the useful idiocy of rhetoric like this. The script may as well have come from the Kremlin.
For Europe, Britain voting to leave will be the beginning
No, there’s nothing bonkers about it at all. It’s perfectly possible for there to be a looser European association of sovereign nation states that do not pursue ever closer union, and respect the wishes of their electorates, but retain regional cooperation.
But, that’s why the EU is so worried about Brexit being seen to be a success.
Just because someone disagrees with you doesn’t make them mad.
You seem to be agreeing with the idea that Brexit may lead to the “democratic liberation of the continent”.
Yes, that’s bonkers.
The fact you aren’t able to respond with anything other than cheap shots shows the paucity of your thinking.
What a shame. I thought you were a better poster than that.
It’s not a cheap shot, it’s an accurate assessment of the argument.
I didn’t even add the line from Johnson and Gove that implicitly likens the EU to Nazi Germany.
The EU could be better. So by all accounts, could Northamptonshire County Council, but my cold analysis of the EU is that it’s about as democratic as I’d want it to be: a parliament, that supports the key roles, but with most power held by the heads of state that derive legitimacy from each respective national demos. With the notable exception of Brexit, the EU enjoys popular consent, too.
Simply claiming that the EU is undemocratic is meaningless. What you actually mean is you don’t agree with the EU’s guiding mission.
True but many wealthy West Londoners are also afraid of the hard Left taxing them to the hilt
The Tories will struggle to play the low tax card in these local elections, given that most councils are putting up council tax by 5% this year, and most councils right now are Tory controlled.
*Genuine question to someone not as biased as HYUFD*
Has there been a discernable difference this year between how much Tory and Labour councils have increased council tax?
After many years of freezes and low increases I find it hard to believe that this won't cause at least some swing against the Tories at the elections.
Blimey, are there really grown-up people trying to claim Russia wasn't responsible?
How on earth can anyone maintain that with a straight face? You could argue that it's not proven that Russia was responsible (although that does involve some fairly heroic assumptions), were it not for the Russian government's sneering reaction to the incident, which puts their guilt beyond any doubt. If they were acting in good faith, their reaction would have been completely different.
@MarqueeMark had it right upthread: the curious feature here is why some people are so desperate for there to be an alternative explanation. Those people should take a long hard look at their own motives.
Blimey, are there really grown-up people trying to claim Russia wasn't responsible? Er no. Except for some Russians and possibly Farage and Galloway.
I think the problem is balancing, on the one hand, solidarity and not letting the Russians off the hook when it is obvious they did it, and on the other hand, exploring other remote possibilities.
We know the potential problem caused by jumping to a certain conclusion and refusing to even consider other possibilities. Professional investigators, eg police, engineers, are taught to avoid this trap.
It is possible that the PM has information on how the nerve agent was applied and Mt Stripal's recent activities that put it beyond reasonable doubt. That information has not been shared with us and possibly not with Mr Corbyn.
I think your last paragraph highlights the core of the issue and that Corbyn is considered a security risk at the highest levels. He will have received privvy council briefings but not the detail provided by our security services to the Prime Minister
“There can be little doubt that the Russian government is behind the attempted assassination of double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter. While there were the typical official denials, the Russian state has ways of communicating its innocence to foreign governments. In this case, it has not done so.”
An interesting piece, apologies if it has been posted before. Contains details on the Russian attitude to the UK that I wasn’t aware of:
“There can be little doubt that the Russian government is behind the attempted assassination of double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter. While there were the typical official denials, the Russian state has ways of communicating its innocence to foreign governments. In this case, it has not done so.”
An interesting piece, apologies if it has been posted before. Contains details on the Russian attitude to the UK that I wasn’t aware of:
Trump is up to his neck in it. You only have to look at the firings and Tweets last week to see he is terrified of being questioned and where Mueller's investigation is going.
He go
To take another example, so did Erdogan in Turkey. Yet he has spent a few years 'moulding' the press, civil service, military and others into a state that favours him. In this, he's learnt lessons from
Beware politicians who want to grab more powers.
I will never forgive Boris Johnson and Michael Gove for the useful idiocy of rhetoric like this. The script may as well have come from the Kremlin.
For Europe, Britain voting to leave will be the beginning
But, that’s why the EU is so worried about Brexit being seen to be a success.
Just because someone disagrees with you doesn’t make them mad.
You seem to be agreeing with the idea that Brexit may lead to the “democratic liberation of the continent”.
Yes, that’s bonkers.
The fact you aren’t able to respond with anything other than cheap shots shows the paucity of your thinking.
What a shame. I thought you were a better poster than that.
It’s not a cheap shot, it’s an accurate assessment of the argument.
I didn’t even add the line from Johnson and Gove that implicitly likens the EU to Nazi Germany.
The EU could be better. So by all accounts, could Northamptonshire County Council, but my cold analysis of the EU is that it’s about as democratic as I’d want it to be: a parliament, that supports the key roles, but with most power held by the heads of state that derive legitimacy from each respective national demos. With the notable exception of Brexit, the EU enjoys popular consent, too.
Simply claiming that the EU is undemocratic is meaningless. What you actually mean is you don’t agree with the EU’s guiding mission.
You're happy with both the level of democracy in the EU and its mission; I am not.
True but many wealthy West Londoners are also afraid of the hard Left taxing them to the hilt
The Tories will struggle to play the low tax card in these local elections, given that most councils are putting up council tax by 5% this year, and most councils right now are Tory controlled.
*Genuine question to someone not as biased as HYUFD*
Has there been a discernable difference this year between how much Tory and Labour councils have increased council tax?
After many years of freezes and low increases I find it hard to believe that this won't cause at least some swing against the Tories at the elections.
I'd doubt it.
The passed (Labour) and alternative (rejected - Tory) budgets for Coventry both increased council tax by just under 5%.
Has there been a discernable difference this year between how much Tory and Labour councils have increased council tax?
I haven't seen a full analysis, but I doubt if there is much difference. Most councils seem to be increasing council tax by the maximum 5% (including the Adult Social Care slug), which is unsurprising given how much pressure they are under.
Trump is up to his neck in it. You only have to look at the firings and Tweets last week to see he is terrified of being questioned and where Mueller's investigation is going.
He go
To take another example, so did Erdogan in Turkey. Yet he has spent a few years 'moulding' the press, civil service, military and others into a state that favours him. In this, he's learnt lessons from
Beware politicians who want to grab more powers.
I will never forgive Boris Johnson and Michael Gove for the useful idiocy of rhetoric like this. The script may as well have come from the Kremlin.
For Europe, Britain voting to leave will be the beginning
No, there’s nothing bonkers about it at all. It’s perfectly possible for there to be a looser European association of sovereign nation states that do not pursue ever closer union, and respect the wishes of their electorates, but retain regional cooperation.
But, that’s why the EU is so worried about Brexit being seen to be a success.
Just because someone disagrees with you doesn’t make them mad.
You seem to be agreeing with the idea that Brexit may lead to the “democratic liberation of the continent”.
Yes, that’s bonkers.
The fact you aren’t able to respond with anything other than cheap shots shows the paucity of your thinking.
What a shame. I thought you were a better poster than that.
It’s not a cheap shot, it’s an accurate assessment of the argument.
I didn’t even add the line from Johnson and Gove that implicitly likens the EU to Nazi Germany.
The EU could be better. So by all accounts, could Northamptonshire County Council, but my cold analysis of the EU is that it’s about as democratic as I’d want it to be: a parliament, that supports the key roles, but with most power held by the heads of state that derive legitimacy from each respective national demos. With the notable exception of Brexit, the EU enjoys popular consent, too.
Simply claiming that the EU is undemocratic is meaningless. What you actually mean is you don’t agree with the EU’s guiding mission.</blockquote
Trump is up to his neck in it. You only have to look at the firings and Tweets last week to see he is terrified of being questioned and where Mueller's investigation is going.
He go
To take another example, so did Erdogan in Turkey. Yet he has spent a few years 'moulding' the press, civil service, military and others into a state that favours him. In this, he's learnt lessons from
Beware politicians who want to grab more powers.
I will never forgive Boris Johnson and Michael Gove for the useful idiocy of rhetoric like this. The script may as well have come from the Kremlin.
For Europe, Britain voting to leave will be the beginning
But, that’s why the EU is so worried about Brexit being seen to be a success.
Just because someone disagrees with you doesn’t make them mad.
You seem to be agreeing with the idea that Brexit may lead to the “democratic liberation of the continent”.
Yes, that’s bonkers.
The fact you aren’t able to respond with anything other than cheap shots shows the paucity of your thinking.
What a shame. I thought you were a better poster than that.
It’s not a cheap shot, it’s an accurate assessment of the argument.
I didn’t even add the line from Johnson and Gove that implicitly likens the EU to Nazi Germany.
The EU could be better. So by all accounts, could Northamptonshire County Council, but my cold analysis of the EU is that it’s about as democratic as I’d want it to be: a parliament, that supports the key roles, but with most power held by the heads of state that derive legitimacy from each respective national demos. With the notable exception of Brexit, the EU enjoys popular consent, too.
Simply claiming that the EU is undemocratic is meaningless. What you actually mean is you don’t agree with the EU’s guiding mission.
You're happy with both the level of democracy in the EU and its mission; I am not.
That doesn't make my point of view bonkers.
It does if you then go on to agree that Brexit will liberate the continent just like our boys did in 45.
Has there been a discernable difference this year between how much Tory and Labour councils have increased council tax?
I haven't seen a full analysis, but I doubt if there is much difference. Most councils seem to be increasing council tax by the maximum 5% (including the Adult Social Care slug), which is unsurprising given how much pressure they are under.
Agreed, but the electorate are unforgiving and generally not very well informed about detail. Are we seeing much campaigning from opposition parties on "we would not have increased council tax by 5%"? In particular I'd have thought the Lib Dems would be happy jumping on that kind of bandwagon. In Tory outer London & the home counties you also have extremely unpopular housebuilding developments being forced through at the moment.
Trump is up to his neck in it. You only have to look at the firings and Tweets last week to see he is terrified of being questioned and where Mueller's investigation is going.
He go
To take another example, so did Erdogan in Turkey. Yet he has spent a few years 'moulding' the press, civil service, military and others into a state that favours him. In this, he's learnt lessons from
Beware politicians who want to grab more powers.
For Europe, Britain voting to leave will be the beginning
But, that’s why the EU is so worried about Brexit being seen to be a success.
Just because someone disagrees with you doesn’t make them mad.
You seem to be agreeing with the idea that Brexit may lead to the “democratic liberation of the continent”.
Yes, that’s bonkers.
The fact you aren’t able to respond with anything other than cheap shots shows the paucity of your thinking.
What a shame. I thought you were a better poster than that.
It’s not a cheap shot, it’s an accurate assessment of the argument.
I didn’t even add the line from Johnson and Gove that implicitly likens the EU to Nazi Germany.
The EU could be better. So by all accounts, could Northamptonshire County Council, but my cold analysis of the EU is that it’s about as democratic as I’d want it to be: a parliament, that supports the key roles, but with most power held by the heads of state that derive legitimacy from each respective national demos. With the notable exception of Brexit, the EU enjoys popular consent, too.
Simply claiming that the EU is undemocratic is meaningless. What you actually mean is you don’t agree with the EU’s guiding mission.
You're happy with both the level of democracy in the EU and its mission; I am not.
That doesn't make my point of view bonkers.
It does if you then go on to agree that Brexit will liberate the continent just like our boys did in 45.
PS: what is undemocratic about the EU and what would you do to make it more democratic?
Trump is up to his neck in it. You only have to look at the firings and Tweets last week to see he is terrified of being questioned and where Mueller's investigation is going.
He go
To take another example, so did Erdogan in Turkey. Yet he has spent a few years 'moulding' the press, civil service, military and others into a state that favours him. In this, he's learnt lessons from
Beware politicians who want to grab more powers.
I will never forgive Boris Johnson and Michael Gove for the useful idiocy of rhetoric like this. The script may as well have come from the Kremlin.
For Europe, Britain voting to leave will be the beginning
But, that’s why the EU is so worried about Brexit being seen to be a success.
Just because someone disagrees with you doesn’t make them mad.
You seem to be agreeing with the idea that Brexit may lead to the “democratic liberation of the continent”.
Yes, that’s bonkers.
The fact you aren’t able to respond with anything other than cheap shots shows the paucity of your thinking.
What a shame. I thought you were a better poster than that.
It’s not a cheap shot, it’s an accurate assessment of the argument.
I didn’t even add the line from Johnson and Gove that implicitly likens the EU to Nazi Germany.
The EU could be better. So by all accounts, could Northamptonshire County Council, but my cold analysis of the EU is that it’s about as democratic as I’d want it to be: a parliament, that supports the key roles, but with most power held by the heads of state that derive legitimacy from each respective national demos. With the notable exception of Brexit, the EU enjoys popular consent, too.
Simply claiming that the EU is undemocratic is meaningless. What you actually mean is you don’t agree with the EU’s guiding mission.
You're happy with both the level of democracy in the EU and its mission; I am not.
Trump is up to his neck in it. You only have to look at the firings and Tweets last week to see he is terrified of being questioned and where Mueller's investigation is going.
He go
To take another example, so did Erdogan in Turkey. Yet he has spent a few years 'moulding' the press, civil service, military and others into a state that favours him. In this, he's learnt lessons from
Beware politicians who want to grab more powers.
I will never forgive Boris Johnson and Michael Gove for the useful idiocy of rhetoric like this. The script may as well have come from the Kremlin.
For Europe, Britain voting to leave will be the beginning
But, that’s why the EU is so worried about Brexit being seen to be a success.
Just because someone disagrees with you doesn’t make them mad.
You seem to be agreeing with the idea that Brexit may lead to the “democratic liberation of the continent”.
Yes, that’s bonkers.
The fact you aren’t able to respond with anything other than cheap shots shows the paucity of your thinking.
What a shame. I thought you were a better poster than that.
It’s not a cheap shot, it’s an accurate assessment of the argument.
I didn’t even add the line from Johnson and Gove that implicitly likens the EU to Nazi Germany.
The
Simply claiming that the EU is undemocratic is meaningless. What you actually mean is you don’t agree with the EU’s guiding mission.
You're happy with both the level of democracy in the EU and its mission; I am not.
That doesn't make my point of view bonkers.
It does if you then go on to agree that Brexit will liberate the continent just like our boys did in 45.
Which I didn't say.
Brexit may well provide the impetus for the EU to reform itself so, in future, it responds to the attitudes of its citizens within its member states rather than imposing treaties on them under a new name when they reject the original proposals through referenda.
Blimey, are there really grown-up people trying to claim Russia wasn't responsible?
How on earth can anyone maintain that with a straight face? You could argue that it's not proven that Russia was responsible (although that does involve some fairly heroic assumptions), were it not for the Russian government's sneering reaction to the incident, which puts their guilt beyond any doubt. If they were acting in good faith, their reaction would have been completely different.
@MarqueeMark had it right upthread: the curious feature here is why some people are so desperate for there to be an alternative explanation. Those people should take a long hard look at their own motives.
Blimey, are there really grown-up people trying to claim Russia wasn't responsible? Er no. Except for some Russians and possibly Farage and Galloway.
I think the problem is balancing, on the one hand, solidarity and not letting the Russians off the hook when it is obvious they did it, and on the other hand, exploring other remote possibilities.
We know the potential problem caused by jumping to a certain conclusion and refusing to even consider other possibilities. Professional investigators, eg police, engineers, are taught to avoid this trap.
It is possible that the PM has information on how the nerve agent was applied and Mt Stripal's recent activities that put it beyond reasonable doubt. That information has not been shared with us and possibly not with Mr Corbyn.
Rather than follow the money - follow the nerve agent.
“There can be little doubt that the Russian government is behind the attempted assassination of double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter. While there were the typical official denials, the Russian state has ways of communicating its innocence to foreign governments. In this case, it has not done so.”
An interesting piece, apologies if it has been posted before. Contains details on the Russian attitude to the UK that I wasn’t aware of:
It does if you then go on to agree that Brexit will liberate the continent just like our boys did in 45.
Which I didn't say.
Brexit may well provide the impetus for the EU to reform itself so, in future, it responds to the attitudes of its citizens within its member states rather than imposing treaties on them under a new name when they reject the original proposals through referenda.
The best thing about the upcoming reversal of Brexit is that it will put an end to smug British sneering at other countries for having the maturity to think again about these issues, as if they are lesser democracies.
It acknowledges the EU has problems, some existential ,and goes onto say:
The EU is not perfect and never can be. It will remain a work in progress forever...
We're not talking about sanitising the EU. We're talking about remembering the strengths of the EU while being aware of its problems and weaknesses. Autocratic powers are causing the EU a lot of difficulties, for sure. But we shouldn't conclude that that the race is already lost or that the EU needs these powers itself [eg dispatch an army].
The Union needs resilience, It will have it when European citizens are convinced of the idea behind it: we commit to cooperation, we set ourselves rules that shape our coexistence. We stick to the rules. We win some; we lose some, but win overall,
Ir is a very simple idea that is difficult to put into practice. It is the idea of a democratic community.
I think the Leave vote was a protest against cooperation and rules. Brexit's biggest contradiction is that the UK needs cooperation and rules. I believe William is correct on the principle. The only way that contradiction can be resolved is by the UK rejoining the European Union. However I don't think it's going to happen. We will need to live with the contradiction.
Off topic, again, I detect a growing sense in the Conservative Party that defence spending must rise. There may also be a party political play there, as it's a clear red-line with Corbyn.
I'd say it was odds-on that Hammond now announces something about this in the Autumn budget, or next year. I'd expect measures on counter-espionage, cyber-security and GCHQ, and possibly even the announcement of a new extraordinary post-Brexit SDSR.
The MoD can soak up extra resources quickly, and the money would have to be spent very carefully, but I'd be looking for a ramp-up to c.2.5% of GDP on Defence by 2025.
I think the Army probably is short of 8-9k soldiers, the Navy about 3-4k sailors with operational funding needed on top. The RAF could use an extra squadron or two, with enhanced logistical and maritime capability. The Navy may also announce an extra couple of surface escorts, either Type 26 or Type 31s.
It does if you then go on to agree that Brexit will liberate the continent just like our boys did in 45.
Which I didn't say.
Brexit may well provide the impetus for the EU to reform itself so, in future, it responds to the attitudes of its citizens within its member states rather than imposing treaties on them under a new name when they reject the original proposals through referenda.
The best thing about the upcoming reversal of Brexit is that it will put an end to smug British sneering at other countries for having the maturity to think again about these issues, as if they are lesser democracies.
Checks calendar....no, not for another 13 days.....
Off topic, again, I detect a growing sense in the Conservative Party that defence spending must rise. There may also be a party political play there, as it's a clear red-line with Corbyn.
I'd say it was odds-on that Hammond now announces something about this in the Autumn budget, or next year. I'd expect measures on counter-espionage, cyber-security and GCHQ, and possibly even the announcement of a new extraordinary post-Brexit SDSR.
The MoD can soak up extra resources quickly, and the money would have to be spent very carefully, but I'd be looking for a ramp-up to c.2.5% of GDP on Defence by 2025.
I think the Army probably is short of 8-9k soldiers, the Navy about 3-4k sailors with operational funding needed on top. The RAF could use an extra squadron or two, with enhanced logistical and maritime capability. The Navy may also announce an extra couple of surface escorts, either Type 26 or Type 31s.
Is there an easy to understand explanation of where Defence spending actually goes?
I mean, I couldn't even tell you if MI5 and MI6 are defence or foreign or something else (or one of each) - let alone less high profile efforts
The elephant-in-the-room has been missed: Russia's eastern border. Maybe Chinese mentality sees the Turkic/Mongol lands as part of their sphere (or the map is too cut).
Not really. That wall was there for a reason. Though I think I remember reading that the Chinese are settling parts of Siberia in ways not dissimilar to what's happening in Africa - settlements of Chinese labourers working in mineral extraction for sale back to China. it's something of a dilemma for Moscow, which needs to sell but can't afford China to gain too much of a foothold (unlike in Africa, where the classic process of heavy investment / settlement / military installations is well underway).
Please look at a map: In which countries does the 'Great Wall' exist? Does it follow the Amur river or the borders of Outer-Mongolia?
I'm well aware of where the wall was built. But the thinking for centuries was much the same: the frozen north is a barren wasteland sparsely populated by uncultured nomads, and as such, of little interest apart from the nuisance they cause from time to time. That the border now is further north than it was at a time when the Roman Empire had yet to be born, never mind the Russian one, doesn't change the main point that Siberia has never really been within China's sphere.
Off topic, again, I detect a growing sense in the Conservative Party that defence spending must rise. There may also be a party political play there, as it's a clear red-line with Corbyn.
I'd say it was odds-on that Hammond now announces something about this in the Autumn budget, or next year. I'd expect measures on counter-espionage, cyber-security and GCHQ, and possibly even the announcement of a new extraordinary post-Brexit SDSR.
The MoD can soak up extra resources quickly, and the money would have to be spent very carefully, but I'd be looking for a ramp-up to c.2.5% of GDP on Defence by 2025.
I think the Army probably is short of 8-9k soldiers, the Navy about 3-4k sailors with operational funding needed on top. The RAF could use an extra squadron or two, with enhanced logistical and maritime capability. The Navy may also announce an extra couple of surface escorts, either Type 26 or Type 31s.
Is there an easy to understand explanation of where Defence spending actually goes?
I mean, I couldn't even tell you if MI5 and MI6 are defence or foreign or something else (or one of each) - let alone less high profile efforts
There are plenty of papers out there in the MoD, or you could read the 2015 SDSR.
Short version: the UK spends an awful lot on R&D and cutting edge tech/kit, and then cuts back on personnel and quantity when it becomes unaffordable. Plus, the MoD have historically been piss-poor at contract/procurement management, and worship bureaucracy.
Trump is up to his neck in it. You only have to look at the firings and Tweets last week to see he is terrified of being questioned and where Mueller's investigation is going.
He go
To take another example, so did Erdogan in Turkey. Yet he has spent a few years 'moulding' the press, civil service, military and others into a state that favours him. In this, he's learnt lessons from
Beware politicians who want to grab more powers.
I will never forgive Boris Johnson and Michael Gove for the useful idiocy of rhetoric like this. The script may as well have come from the Kremlin.
For Europe, Britain voting to leave will be the beginning
But, that’s why the EU is so worried about Brexit being seen to be a success.
Just because someone disagrees with you doesn’t make them mad.
You seem to be agreeing with the idea that Brexit may lead to the “democratic liberation of the continent”.
Yes, that’s bonkers.
The fact you aren’t able to respond with anything other than cheap shots shows the paucity of your thinking.
What a shame. I thought you were a better poster than that.
It’s not a cheap shot, it’s an accurate assessment of the argument.
I didn’t even add the line from Johnson and Gove that implicitly likens the EU to Nazi Germany.
The EU c
Simply claiming that the EU is undemocratic is meaningless. What you actually mean is you don’t agree with the EU’s guiding mission.
You're happy with both the level of democracy in the EU and its mission; I am not.
You don't have a better alternative. Nobody does.
The EU: Better than nothing
I must say sometimes leavers do a better job selling the idea of the EU (whether an idealised version of what it could have been, or even the reality) than you, who present it as some kind of depressing, crushing inevitability of history and life.
It does if you then go on to agree that Brexit will liberate the continent just like our boys did in 45.
Which I didn't say.
Brexit may well provide the impetus for the EU to reform itself so, in future, it responds to the attitudes of its citizens within its member states rather than imposing treaties on them under a new name when they reject the original proposals through referenda.
The best thing about the upcoming reversal of Brexit is that it will put an end to smug British sneering at other countries for having the maturity to think again about these issues, as if they are lesser democracies.
Yep. The only legitimate form of democracy is the one that gives the right answer to the European vision and, if it doesn't, is asked to think again until it does.
Heiko Maas, the German foreign minister, has described Russia as a "difficult partner", but said the UK poisoning was a "bilateral" issue, indicating that Britain can count on little support from the EU. Maas spoke ahead of a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday (19 March), one day after Russian leader Vladimir Putin secured six more years in power and in the wake of British allegations that Russia poisoned a former spy, Sergei Skripal, in the UK earlier this month using a form of nerve gas.
Reading between the lines: please don't turn our gas off President Putin, Sir, PLEEEEEEASE......
Let's be honest. There's a fuss in Britain because the attack happened in Britain.
Had an ex-Russian spy, who defected to Romania, been poisoned in Romania, I doubt there'd be much interest in Britain in taking serious measures against Moscow.
I think this one has more purchase because of the use of a nerve agent.
It does. All the same, the point remains: were the attack in Slatina rather than Salisbury, how many of the British politicians and commentators currently being outraged would rationalise it as "what Russia does" against "someone who was a clear target" and leave it at a few condemnatory words?
It's not wholly inconsistent. The Third Reich also took a hard line on Russia.
Eventually!
It was always part of the plan. Indeed, it was always the key to the plan. Those who say that Hitler made a mistake in invading the Soviet Union miss the point that the attack was absolutely intrinsic to the nature of Nazism.
Off topic, again, I detect a growing sense in the Conservative Party that defence spending must rise. There may also be a party political play there, as it's a clear red-line with Corbyn.
I'd say it was odds-on that Hammond now announces something about this in the Autumn budget, or next year. I'd expect measures on counter-espionage, cyber-security and GCHQ, and possibly even the announcement of a new extraordinary post-Brexit SDSR.
The MoD can soak up extra resources quickly, and the money would have to be spent very carefully, but I'd be looking for a ramp-up to c.2.5% of GDP on Defence by 2025.
I think the Army probably is short of 8-9k soldiers, the Navy about 3-4k sailors with operational funding needed on top. The RAF could use an extra squadron or two, with enhanced logistical and maritime capability. The Navy may also announce an extra couple of surface escorts, either Type 26 or Type 31s.
Is there an easy to understand explanation of where Defence spending actually goes?
I mean, I couldn't even tell you if MI5 and MI6 are defence or foreign or something else (or one of each) - let alone less high profile efforts
Oh dear ... PB Tories are getting excited again by guns and bombs.
Neutral Ireland spends 0.6%, admittedly they seem to think it's not quite enough Neutral Sweden spends 1% Neutral Finland spends 1.3% Neutral Switzerland and Austria? No idea, maybe a bit more; the Swiss have always been very thorough in everything.
The UK spends ... what's that, 2%?
Let's have a target for spending on the NHS of 10%. That would have ~1,000x more benefits than inflating what is already ample defence spending (except to the warmongers of NATO, an organisation which lost its purpose in ~1991 and has been struggling to find a role).
The elephant-in-the-room has been missed: Russia's eastern border. Maybe Chinese mentality sees the Turkic/Mongol lands as part of their sphere (or the map is too cut).
Not really. That wall was there for a reason. Though I think I remember reading that the Chinese are settling parts of Siberia in ways not dissimilar to what's happening in Africa - settlements of Chinese labourers working in mineral extraction for sale back to China. it's something of a dilemma for Moscow, which needs to sell but can't afford China to gain too much of a foothold (unlike in Africa, where the classic process of heavy investment / settlement / military installations is well underway).
Please look at a map: In which countries does the 'Great Wall' exist? Does it follow the Amur river or the borders of Outer-Mongolia?
I'm well aware of where the wall was built. But the thinking for centuries was much the same: the frozen north is a barren wasteland sparsely populated by uncultured nomads, and as such, of little interest apart from the nuisance they cause from time to time. That the border now is further north than it was at a time when the Roman Empire had yet to be born, never mind the Russian one, doesn't change the main point that Siberia has never really been within China's sphere.
The only Chinese issue to their North (and sometimes it was a very significant one) was with Mongols. Otherwise, as Mr Herdson says, the land was only of interest to the people who lived there.
Heiko Maas, the German foreign minister, has described Russia as a "difficult partner", but said the UK poisoning was a "bilateral" issue, indicating that Britain can count on little support from the EU. Maas spoke ahead of a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday (19 March), one day after Russian leader Vladimir Putin secured six more years in power and in the wake of British allegations that Russia poisoned a former spy, Sergei Skripal, in the UK earlier this month using a form of nerve gas.
Reading between the lines: please don't turn our gas off President Putin, Sir, PLEEEEEEASE......
Let's be honest. There's a fuss in Britain because the attack happened in Britain.
Had an ex-Russian spy, who defected to Romania, been poisoned in Romania, I doubt there'd be much interest in Britain in taking serious measures against Moscow.
I think this one has more purchase because of the use of a nerve agent.
It does. All the same, the point remains: were the attack in Slatina rather than Salisbury, how many of the British politicians and commentators currently being outraged would rationalise it as "what Russia does" against "someone who was a clear target" and leave it at a few condemnatory words?
I expect Nigel Farage would be actively praising it as the action of a bold and decisive government.
We also need a modern anti-ship missile to replace the elderly Harpoon.
I don’t think there’s a suitable product on the market, so it would be a nice present for BAE Systems, and we could hopefully sell a few to Australia and Japan.
Heiko Maas, the German foreign minister, has described Russia as a "difficult partner", but said the UK poisoning was a "bilateral" issue, indicating that Britain can count on little support from the EU. Maas spoke ahead of a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday (19 March), one day after Russian leader Vladimir Putin secured six more years in power and in the wake of British allegations that Russia poisoned a former spy, Sergei Skripal, in the UK earlier this month using a form of nerve gas.
Reading between the lines: please don't turn our gas off President Putin, Sir, PLEEEEEEASE......
Let's be honest. There's a fuss in Britain because the attack happened in Britain.
Had an ex-Russian spy, who defected to Romania, been poisoned in Romania, I doubt there'd be much interest in Britain in taking serious measures against Moscow.
I think this one has more purchase because of the use of a nerve agent.
It does. All the same, the point remains: were the attack in Slatina rather than Salisbury, how many of the British politicians and commentators currently being outraged would rationalise it as "what Russia does" against "someone who was a clear target" and leave it at a few condemnatory words?
I expect Nigel Farage would be actively praising it as the action of a bold and decisive government.
But, that’s why the EU is so worried about Brexit being seen to be a success.
Just because someone disagrees with you doesn’t make them mad.
You
Yes.
The fact .
It’s
The
Simply claiming that the EU is undemocratic is meaningless. What you actually mean is you don’t agree with the EU’s guiding mission.
You're happy with both the level of democracy in the EU and its mission; I am not.
You don't have a better alternative. Nobody does.
I do. The EU could have pursued a flexiunion - where different categories and tiers of membership were available to European nations - and where future treaties were amended only to alter voting weights as members and population waxed and waned. I would have focussed on more unanimity, and less QMV, instigated mechanisms to return/increase powers to nation states, rather than always federalise, and focussed the EU on a core objective of being a flexible international alliance, not one seeking to form a new country called Europe.
More broadly, the EEC/EC could have pursued a different path after the fall of the Berlin Wall, from which, and WWII, much of the imperative for federalism derived, and left the goal of economic and political union behind, together with the paranoia of restraining a newly reunified Germany, whilst focussing on an ambitious and flexible free trade zone that was a broad enough church for all to be comfortable with.
It's not wholly inconsistent. The Third Reich also took a hard line on Russia.
Eventually!
It was always part of the plan. Indeed, it was always the key to the plan. Those who say that Hitler made a mistake in invading the Soviet Union miss the point that the attack was absolutely intrinsic to the nature of Nazism.
Quite. but the late Adolf took a while in getting round to it. Though I suspect that if Britain and France hadn’t intervened to ‘help’ Poland the Germas might well have crashed on further East. Is there a counter-factual anywhere where that happened?
Off topic, again, I detect a growing sense in the Conservative Party that defence spending must rise. There may also be a party political play there, as it's a clear red-line with Corbyn.
I'd say it was odds-on that Hammond now announces something about this in the Autumn budget, or next year. I'd expect measures on counter-espionage, cyber-security and GCHQ, and possibly even the announcement of a new extraordinary post-Brexit SDSR.
The MoD can soak up extra resources quickly, and the money would have to be spent very carefully, but I'd be looking for a ramp-up to c.2.5% of GDP on Defence by 2025.
I think the Army probably is short of 8-9k soldiers, the Navy about 3-4k sailors with operational funding needed on top. The RAF could use an extra squadron or two, with enhanced logistical and maritime capability. The Navy may also announce an extra couple of surface escorts, either Type 26 or Type 31s.
Off topic, again, I detect a growing sense in the Conservative Party that defence spending must rise. There may also be a party political play there, as it's a clear red-line with Corbyn.
I'd say it was odds-on that Hammond now announces something about this in the Autumn budget, or next year. I'd expect measures on counter-espionage, cyber-security and GCHQ, and possibly even the announcement of a new extraordinary post-Brexit SDSR.
The MoD can soak up extra resources quickly, and the money would have to be spent very carefully, but I'd be looking for a ramp-up to c.2.5% of GDP on Defence by 2025.
I think the Army probably is short of 8-9k soldiers, the Navy about 3-4k sailors with operational funding needed on top. The RAF could use an extra squadron or two, with enhanced logistical and maritime capability. The Navy may also announce an extra couple of surface escorts, either Type 26 or Type 31s.
Is there an easy to understand explanation of where Defence spending actually goes?
I mean, I couldn't even tell you if MI5 and MI6 are defence or foreign or something else (or one of each) - let alone less high profile efforts
There are plenty of papers out there in the MoD, or you could read the 2015 SDSR.
Short version: the UK spends an awful lot on R&D and cutting edge tech/kit, and then cuts back on personnel and quantity when it becomes unaffordable. Plus, the MoD have historically been piss-poor at contract/procurement management, and worship bureaucracy.
It's not wholly inconsistent. The Third Reich also took a hard line on Russia.
Eventually!
It was always part of the plan. Indeed, it was always the key to the plan. Those who say that Hitler made a mistake in invading the Soviet Union miss the point that the attack was absolutely intrinsic to the nature of Nazism.
And they knew it, which is why the Molotov–Ribbentrop pact should be put in the context of the Munich agreement having already been broken with impunity.
I think the Army probably is short of 8-9k soldiers, the Navy about 3-4k sailors with operational funding needed on top. The RAF could use an extra squadron or two, with enhanced logistical and maritime capability. The Navy may also announce an extra couple of surface escorts, either Type 26 or Type 31s.
Extra squadron or two of what? There's nobody to operate them and no room at Marham, Coningsby or Waddington.
You can gauge the ambit of the RAF's goals by the privatised Military Flying Training Scheme. When I did my BFT int the late 80s they had 140 Tucanos to support the training pipeline. Now under the auspices of MFTS they have 10 Havards to fill the same role! From that you can work out how many FJ pilots they intend to wing for the FAA and RAF combined and it's not a very big number - probably not even enough to do 1:1 replacements for retirees, fatalities and quitters. Scaling this up is going to be eye wateringly expensive thanks to the strictures of the MFTS agreement.
Amusing Tucano anecdote: I was on one of the first Tucano courses and on a cold Yorkshire morning the staish came out, inspected his flight line and issued a broad spectrum bollocking because all of "his" aircraft weren't parked in a straight line. So we arsed about moving them to get all of the vertical stabs exactly aligned then we noticed that none of the prop spinners lined up. None of the a/c, which had been built with no great precision mainly by ex-shipyard workers in Belfast, were exactly the same size.
It does if you then go on to agree that Brexit will liberate the continent just like our boys did in 45.
Which I didn't say.
Brexit may well provide the impetus for the EU to reform itself so, in future, it responds to the attitudes of its citizens within its member states rather than imposing treaties on them under a new name when they reject the original proposals through referenda.
The best thing about the upcoming reversal of Brexit is that it will put an end to smug British sneering at other countries for having the maturity to think again about these issues, as if they are lesser democracies.
Yep. The only legitimate form of democracy is the one that gives the right answer to the European vision and, if it doesn't, is asked to think again until it does.
It's not wholly inconsistent. The Third Reich also took a hard line on Russia.
Eventually!
It was always part of the plan. Indeed, it was always the key to the plan. Those who say that Hitler made a mistake in invading the Soviet Union miss the point that the attack was absolutely intrinsic to the nature of Nazism.
Quite. but the late Adolf took a while in getting round to it. Though I suspect that if Britain and France hadn’t intervened to ‘help’ Poland the Germas might well have crashed on further East. Is there a counter-factual anywhere where that happened?
In order to win, the Germans really needed to reignite the Russian civil war, by turning the Baltic peoples, Ukranians, White Russians, and those who had suffered at Communist hands against their rulers. The bestial behaviour they meted out to the local populations prevented that from happening.
But, that’s why the EU is so worried about Brexit being seen to be a success.
Just because someone disagrees with you doesn’t make them mad.
You
Yes.
The fact .
It’s
The
Simply claiming that the EU is undemocratic is meaningless. What you actually mean is you don’t agree with the EU’s guiding mission.
You're happy with both the level of democracy in the EU and its mission; I am not.
You don't have a better alternative. Nobody does.
I do. The EU could have pursued a flexiunion - where different categories and tiers of membership were available to European nations - and where future treaties were amended only to alter voting weights as members and population waxed and waned. I would have focussed on more unanimity, and less QMV, instigated mechanisms to return/increase powers to nation states, rather than always federalise, and focussed the EU on a core objective of being a flexible international alliance, not one seeking to form a new country called Europe.
More broadly, the EEC/EC could have pursued a different path after the fall of the Berlin Wall, from which, and WWII, much of the imperative for federalism derived, and left the goal of economic and political union behind, together with the paranoia of restraining a newly reunified Germany, whilst focussing on an ambitious and flexible free trade zone that was a broad enough church for all to be comfortable with.
The perils of imperial nationalism haven't gone away - Brexit and Putin prove it. The EU is more relevant than ever and our inability to come up with an alternative practical way of delivering a frictionless border in Northern Ireland is the most tangible example of this. For all people like you rage against political integration, you're not willing to give up its benefits.
But, that’s why the EU is so worried about Brexit being seen to be a success.
Just because someone disagrees with you doesn’t make them mad.
You
Yes.
The fact .
It’s
The
Simply claiming that the EU is undemocratic is meaningless. What you actually mean is you don’t agree with the EU’s guiding mission.
You're happy with both the level of democracy in the EU and its mission; I am not.
You don't have a better alternative. Nobody does.
s and flexible free trade zone that was a broad enough church for all to be comfortable with.
The perils of imperial nationalism haven't gone away - Brexit and Putin prove it. The EU is more relevant than ever and our inability to come up with an alternative practical way of delivering a border in Northern Ireland is the most tangible example of this. For all people like you rage against political integration, you're not willing to give up its benefits.
You make the EU sound like a kind of unpleasant medicine, which we have to take whether we like it or not.
But, that’s why the EU is so worried about Brexit being seen to be a success.
Just because someone disagrees with you doesn’t make them mad.
You
Yes.
The fact .
It’s
The
Simply claiming that the EU is undemocratic is meaningless. What you actually mean is you don’t agree with the EU’s guiding mission.
You're happy with both the level of democracy in the EU and its mission; I am not.
You don't have a better alternative. Nobody does.
I do. The EU could have pursued a flexiunion - blah blah bloody blah
The perils of imperial nationalism haven't gone away - Brexit and Putin prove it. The EU is more relevant than ever and our inability to come up with an alternative practical way of delivering a border in Northern Ireland is the most tangible example of this. For all people like you rage against political integration, you're not willing to give up its benefits.
Indeed that is the great paradox of Brexit. One can only wonder what the reaction will be when the brexiteers and neobrexiteers find themselves being terribly inconvenienced by queues at airports, seaports and international railway stations – if indeed they are the brand of brexiteer that can tolerate 'that foreign muck' at all.
Has there been a discernable difference this year between how much Tory and Labour councils have increased council tax?
I haven't seen a full analysis, but I doubt if there is much difference. Most councils seem to be increasing council tax by the maximum 5% (including the Adult Social Care slug), which is unsurprising given how much pressure they are under.
Essex is also increasing council tax to pay for more police
It's not wholly inconsistent. The Third Reich also took a hard line on Russia.
Eventually!
It was always part of the plan. Indeed, it was always the key to the plan. Those who say that Hitler made a mistake in invading the Soviet Union miss the point that the attack was absolutely intrinsic to the nature of Nazism.
Quite. but the late Adolf took a while in getting round to it. Though I suspect that if Britain and France hadn’t intervened to ‘help’ Poland the Germas might well have crashed on further East. Is there a counter-factual anywhere where that happened?
In order to win, the Germans really needed to reignite the Russian civil war, by turning the Baltic peoples, Ukranians, White Russians, and those who had suffered at Communist hands against their rulers. The bestial behaviour they meted out to the local populations prevented that from happening.
Indeed; one of the worst decisions in history, to start off treating the Ukranians etc badly. Once the Soviets had been driven back to the Urals would have made more sense. After all, the Ukranians especially were often happy to sign up to back the Germans, and the Lithuanians weren’t a lot better.
It does if you then go on to agree that Brexit will liberate the continent just like our boys did in 45.
Which I didn't say.
Brexit may well provide the impetus for the EU to reform itself so, in future, it responds to the attitudes of its citizens within its member states rather than imposing treaties on them under a new name when they reject the original proposals through referenda.
The best thing about the upcoming reversal of Brexit is that it will put an end to smug British sneering at other countries for having the maturity to think again about these issues, as if they are lesser democracies.
Checks calendar....no, not for another 13 days.....
Every day is 1 April in the deranged world of the sycophantic Mayite neobrexiteers.
Off topic, again, I detect a growing sense in the Conservative Party that defence spending must rise. There may also be a party political play there, as it's a clear red-line with Corbyn.
I'd say it was odds-on that Hammond now announces something about this in the Autumn budget, or next year. I'd expect measures on counter-espionage, cyber-security and GCHQ, and possibly even the announcement of a new extraordinary post-Brexit SDSR.
The MoD can soak up extra resources quickly, and the money would have to be spent very carefully, but I'd be looking for a ramp-up to c.2.5% of GDP on Defence by 2025.
I think the Army probably is short of 8-9k soldiers, the Navy about 3-4k sailors with operational funding needed on top. The RAF could use an extra squadron or two, with enhanced logistical and maritime capability. The Navy may also announce an extra couple of surface escorts, either Type 26 or Type 31s.
Time to raid the magic money tree? What goes?
Paid for from the increased tax take from the Brexit GDP boost.
Off topic, again, I detect a growing sense in the Conservative Party that defence spending must rise. There may also be a party political play there, as it's a clear red-line with Corbyn.
I'd say it was odds-on that Hammond now announces something about this in the Autumn budget, or next year. I'd expect measures on counter-espionage, cyber-security and GCHQ, and possibly even the announcement of a new extraordinary post-Brexit SDSR.
The MoD can soak up extra resources quickly, and the money would have to be spent very carefully, but I'd be looking for a ramp-up to c.2.5% of GDP on Defence by 2025.
I think the Army probably is short of 8-9k soldiers, the Navy about 3-4k sailors with operational funding needed on top. The RAF could use an extra squadron or two, with enhanced logistical and maritime capability. The Navy may also announce an extra couple of surface escorts, either Type 26 or Type 31s.
Time to raid the magic money tree? What goes?
I think as I’ve outlined there it would be affordable over a phased period to 2025.
I hope you’d at least credit me with not being naive about public finances. I appreciate you might chose to make alternative spending decisions with the money.
Heiko Maas, the German foreign minister, has described Russia as a "difficult partner", but said the UK poisoning was a "bilateral" issue, indicating that Britain can count on little support from the EU. Maas spoke ahead of a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday (19 March), one day after Russian leader Vladimir Putin secured six more years in power and in the wake of British allegations that Russia poisoned a former spy, Sergei Skripal, in the UK earlier this month using a form of nerve gas.
Reading between the lines: please don't turn our gas off President Putin, Sir, PLEEEEEEASE......
Let's be honest. There's a fuss in Britain because the attack happened in Britain.
Had an ex-Russian spy, who defected to Romania, been poisoned in Romania, I doubt there'd be much interest in Britain in taking serious measures against Moscow.
I think this one has more purchase because of the use of a nerve agent.
It does. All the same, the point remains: were the attack in Slatina rather than Salisbury, how many of the British politicians and commentators currently being outraged would rationalise it as "what Russia does" against "someone who was a clear target" and leave it at a few condemnatory words?
It seems Russia regards the UK as a kind of guinea pig to test how far they can go. First polonium, then body in zipped bag, then falls from balconies, then self-strangulation suicides and now a nerve agent. There is a catalogue that would also alarm us if these things happened in France or Germany.
But, that’s why the EU is so worried about Brexit being seen to be a success.
Just because someone disagrees with you doesn’t make them mad.
You
Yes.
The fact .
It’s
The
Simply claiming that the EU is undemocratic is meaningless. What you actually mean is you don’t agree with the EU’s guiding mission.
You're happy with both the level of democracy in the EU and its mission; I am not.
You don't have a better alternative. Nobody does.
I do. The EU could have pursued a flexiunion - blah blah bloody blah
The perils of imperial nationalism haven't gone away - Brexit and Putin prove it. The EU is more relevant than ever and our inability to come up with an alternative practical way of delivering a border in Northern Ireland is the most tangible example of this. For all people like you rage against political integration, you're not willing to give up its benefits.
Indeed that is the great paradox of Brexit. One can only wonder what the reaction will be when the brexiteers and neobrexiteers find themselves being terribly inconvenienced by queues at airports, seaports and international railway stations – if indeed they are the brand of brexiteer that can tolerate 'that foreign muck' at all.
No problem. We all go on holiday to Clacton and Skegness.
True but many wealthy West Londoners are also afraid of the hard Left taxing them to the hilt
The Tories will struggle to play the low tax card in these local elections, given that most councils are putting up council tax by 5% this year, and most councils right now are Tory controlled.
*Genuine question to someone not as biased as HYUFD*
Has there been a discernable difference this year between how much Tory and Labour councils have increased council tax?
After many years of freezes and low increases I find it hard to believe that this won't cause at least some swing against the Tories at the elections.
Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea and Wandsworth though have notoriously low levels of council tax, substantial surpluses and less need to raise council tax to fund social care and the police etc. If they went Labour council tax would almost certainly go up
But, that’s why the EU is so worried about Brexit being seen to be a success.
Just because someone disagrees with you doesn’t make them mad.
You
Yes.
The fact .
It’s
The
Simply.
You're happy with both the level of democracy in the EU and its mission; I am not.
You don't have a better alternative. Nobody does.
I do. The EU could have pursued a flexiunion - where different categories and tiers of membership were available to European nations - and where future treaties were amended only to alter voting weights as members and population waxed and waned. I would have focussed on more unanimity, and less QMV, instigated mechanisms to return/increase powers to nation states, rather than always federalise, and focussed the EU on a core objective of being a flexible international alliance, not one seeking to form a new country called Europe.
More broadly, the EEC/EC could have pursued a different path after the fall of the Berlin Wall, from which, and WWII, much of the imperative for federalism derived, and left the goal of economic and political union behind, together with the paranoia of restraining a newly reunified Germany, whilst focussing on an ambitious and flexible free trade zone that was a broad enough church for all to be comfortable with.
The perils of imperial nationalism haven't gone away - Brexit and Putin prove it. The EU is more relevant than ever and our inability to come up with an alternative practical way of delivering a frictionless border in Northern Ireland is the most tangible example of this. For all people like you rage against political integration, you're not willing to give up its benefits.
It's not wholly inconsistent. The Third Reich also took a hard line on Russia.
Eventually!
It was always part of the plan. Indeed, it was always the key to the plan. Those who say that Hitler made a mistake in invading the Soviet Union miss the point that the attack was absolutely intrinsic to the nature of Nazism.
Quite. but the late Adolf took a while in getting round to it. Though I suspect that if Britain and France hadn’t intervened to ‘help’ Poland the Germas might well have crashed on further East. Is there a counter-factual anywhere where that happened?
I recall that there's a Russian historian, Suvorov, whose thesis is that Barbarossa was a preemptive strike by Hitler to prevent Stalin attacking Germany after being weakened by war with the Western allies.
On checking Wiki, I see Suvorov was formerly GRU and defected to the UK in 1978. Watch how you go, comrade.
It does if you then go on to agree that Brexit will liberate the continent just like our boys did in 45.
Which I didn't say.
Brexit may well provide the impetus for the EU to reform itself so, in future, it responds to the attitudes of its citizens within its member states rather than imposing treaties on them under a new name when they reject the original proposals through referenda.
The best thing about the upcoming reversal of Brexit is that it will put an end to smug British sneering at other countries for having the maturity to think again about these issues, as if they are lesser democracies.
Yep. The only legitimate form of democracy is the one that gives the right answer to the European vision and, if it doesn't, is asked to think again until it does.
You can still back Britain leaving the EU before the 29/03/2019 - 23:59:59 at odds against on Betfair. Quite what is supporting this price now, I have no idea.
It's not wholly inconsistent. The Third Reich also took a hard line on Russia.
Eventually!
It was always part of the plan. Indeed, it was always the key to the plan. Those who say that Hitler made a mistake in invading the Soviet Union miss the point that the attack was absolutely intrinsic to the nature of Nazism.
Quite. but the late Adolf took a while in getting round to it. Though I suspect that if Britain and France hadn’t intervened to ‘help’ Poland the Germas might well have crashed on further East. Is there a counter-factual anywhere where that happened?
I recall that there's a Russian historian, Suvorov, whose thesis is that Barbarossa was a preemptive strike by Hitler to prevent Stalin attacking Germany after being weakened by war with the Western allies.
On checking Wiki, I see Suvorov was formerly GRU and defected to the UK in 1978. Watch how you go, comrade.
My understanding is that Stalin certainly expected war with Germany, but not till about 1943-44.
Has there been a discernable difference this year between how much Tory and Labour councils have increased council tax?
I haven't seen a full analysis, but I doubt if there is much difference. Most councils seem to be increasing council tax by the maximum 5% (including the Adult Social Care slug), which is unsurprising given how much pressure they are under.
Essex is also increasing council tax to pay for more police
Is this the same council that removed street lighting in Epping Forest and environs to save on council tax? Does more darkness lead to more crime?
Off topic, again, I detect a growing sense in the Conservative Party that defence spending must rise. There may also be a party political play there, as it's a clear red-line with Corbyn.
I'd say it was odds-on that Hammond now announces something about this in the Autumn budget, or next year. I'd expect measures on counter-espionage, cyber-security and GCHQ, and possibly even the announcement of a new extraordinary post-Brexit SDSR.
The MoD can soak up extra resources quickly, and the money would have to be spent very carefully, but I'd be looking for a ramp-up to c.2.5% of GDP on Defence by 2025.
I think the Army probably is short of 8-9k soldiers, the Navy about 3-4k sailors with operational funding needed on top. The RAF could use an extra squadron or two, with enhanced logistical and maritime capability. The Navy may also announce an extra couple of surface escorts, either Type 26 or Type 31s.
Time to raid the magic money tree? What goes?
I think as I’ve outlined there it would be affordable over a phased period to 2025.
I hope you’d at least credit me with not being naive about public finances. I appreciate you might chose to make alternative spending decisions with the money.
Important to set out the choice. If we are spending more on defence to counter a Russian threat, something has to give. Higher taxes, lower domestic spending.
Has there been a discernable difference this year between how much Tory and Labour councils have increased council tax?
I haven't seen a full analysis, but I doubt if there is much difference. Most councils seem to be increasing council tax by the maximum 5% (including the Adult Social Care slug), which is unsurprising given how much pressure they are under.
Essex is also increasing council tax to pay for more police
Is this the same council that removed street lighting in Epping Forest and environs to save on council tax? Does more darkness lead to more crime?
No as a report has shown switching off street lights in the area has had no increase in crime, the main increase has come in the day hence the funds for extra police, while saving the council millions
It acknowledges the EU has problems, some existential ,and goes onto say:
The EU is not perfect and never can be. It will remain a work in progress forever...
We're not talking about sanitising the EU. We're talking about remembering the strengths of the EU while being aware of its problems and weaknesses. Autocratic powers are causing the EU a lot of difficulties, for sure. But we shouldn't conclude that that the race is already lost or that the EU needs these powers itself [eg dispatch an army].
The Union needs resilience, It will have it when European citizens are convinced of the idea behind it: we commit to cooperation, we set ourselves rules that shape our coexistence. We stick to the rules. We win some; we lose some, but win overall,
Ir is a very simple idea that is difficult to put into practice. It is the idea of a democratic community.
"Autocratic powers are causing the EU a lot of difficulties..."
Comments
Sure, other than that, the two are identical.....not.....
Look carefully for where both the UK and EU have moved, not just one or the other.
An interesting piece, apologies if it has been posted before. Contains details on the Russian attitude to the UK that I wasn’t aware of:
https://www.chathamhouse.org/expert/comment/skripal-attack-test-uk
Edit to add quote.
'You might not be interested in war, but war is interested in you.’
I think the problem is balancing, on the one hand, solidarity and not letting the Russians off the hook when it is obvious they did it, and on the other hand, exploring other remote possibilities.
We know the potential problem caused by jumping to a certain conclusion and refusing to even consider other possibilities. Professional investigators, eg police, engineers, are taught to avoid this trap.
It is possible that the PM has information on how the nerve agent was applied and Mt Stripal's recent activities that put it beyond reasonable doubt. That information has not been shared with us and possibly not with Mr Corbyn.
I didn’t even add the line from Johnson and Gove that implicitly likens the EU to Nazi Germany.
The EU could be better. So by all accounts, could Northamptonshire County Council, but my cold analysis of the EU is that it’s about as democratic as I’d want it to be: a parliament, that supports the key roles, but with most power held by the heads of state that derive legitimacy from each respective national demos. With the notable exception of Brexit, the EU enjoys popular consent, too.
Simply claiming that the EU is undemocratic is meaningless. What you actually mean is you don’t agree with the EU’s guiding mission.
*Genuine question to someone not as biased as HYUFD*
Has there been a discernable difference this year between how much Tory and Labour councils have increased council tax?
After many years of freezes and low increases I find it hard to believe that this won't cause at least some swing against the Tories at the elections.
That doesn't make my point of view bonkers.
The passed (Labour) and alternative (rejected - Tory) budgets for Coventry both increased council tax by just under 5%.
https://twitter.com/MarkDiStef/status/975690189208281088
Take a bow Theresa, take a bow.
Brexit may well provide the impetus for the EU to reform itself so, in future, it responds to the attitudes of its citizens within its member states rather than imposing treaties on them under a new name when they reject the original proposals through referenda.
Important moment if true - fingers crossed
Just noticed strong upward movement in the pound against both the dollar and euro
I'd say it was odds-on that Hammond now announces something about this in the Autumn budget, or next year. I'd expect measures on counter-espionage, cyber-security and GCHQ, and possibly even the announcement of a new extraordinary post-Brexit SDSR.
The MoD can soak up extra resources quickly, and the money would have to be spent very carefully, but I'd be looking for a ramp-up to c.2.5% of GDP on Defence by 2025.
I think the Army probably is short of 8-9k soldiers, the Navy about 3-4k sailors with operational funding needed on top. The RAF could use an extra squadron or two, with enhanced logistical and maritime capability. The Navy may also announce an extra couple of surface escorts, either Type 26 or Type 31s.
I mean, I couldn't even tell you if MI5 and MI6 are defence or foreign or something else (or one of each) - let alone less high profile efforts
Short version: the UK spends an awful lot on R&D and cutting edge tech/kit, and then cuts back on personnel and quantity when it becomes unaffordable. Plus, the MoD have historically been piss-poor at contract/procurement management, and worship bureaucracy.
I must say sometimes leavers do a better job selling the idea of the EU (whether an idealised version of what it could have been, or even the reality) than you, who present it as some kind of depressing, crushing inevitability of history and life.
Neutral Ireland spends 0.6%, admittedly they seem to think it's not quite enough
Neutral Sweden spends 1%
Neutral Finland spends 1.3%
Neutral Switzerland and Austria? No idea, maybe a bit more; the Swiss have always been very thorough in everything.
The UK spends ... what's that, 2%?
Let's have a target for spending on the NHS of 10%. That would have ~1,000x more benefits than inflating what is already ample defence spending (except to the warmongers of NATO, an organisation which lost its purpose in ~1991 and has been struggling to find a role).
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tupolev_Tu-22M
We also need a modern anti-ship missile to replace the elderly Harpoon.
I don’t think there’s a suitable product on the market, so it would be a nice present for BAE Systems, and we could hopefully sell a few to Australia and Japan.
https://twitter.com/Nigel_Farage/status/973916212060188673
More broadly, the EEC/EC could have pursued a different path after the fall of the Berlin Wall, from which, and WWII, much of the imperative for federalism derived, and left the goal of economic and political union behind, together with the paranoia of restraining a newly reunified Germany, whilst focussing on an ambitious and flexible free trade zone that was a broad enough church for all to be comfortable with.
http://www.corbynjug.co.uk/product/jeremy-corbyn-toby-jug-limited-edition-brown-jacket-red-tie/
Is there a counter-factual anywhere where that happened?
seems like the best
You can gauge the ambit of the RAF's goals by the privatised Military Flying Training Scheme. When I did my BFT int the late 80s they had 140 Tucanos to support the training pipeline. Now under the auspices of MFTS they have 10 Havards to fill the same role! From that you can work out how many FJ pilots they intend to wing for the FAA and RAF combined and it's not a very big number - probably not even enough to do 1:1 replacements for retirees, fatalities and quitters. Scaling this up is going to be eye wateringly expensive thanks to the strictures of the MFTS agreement.
Amusing Tucano anecdote: I was on one of the first Tucano courses and on a cold Yorkshire morning the staish came out, inspected his flight line and issued a broad spectrum bollocking because all of "his" aircraft weren't parked in a straight line. So we arsed about moving them to get all of the vertical stabs exactly aligned then we noticed that none of the prop spinners lined up. None of the a/c, which had been built with no great precision mainly by ex-shipyard workers in Belfast, were exactly the same size.
http://www.corbynjug.co.uk/about/
I hope you’d at least credit me with not being naive about public finances. I appreciate you might chose to make alternative spending decisions with the money.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trumps-nondisclosure-agreements-came-with-him-to-the-white-house/2018/03/18/226f4522-29ee-11e8-b79d-f3d931db7f68_story.html?
...Every president inveighs against leakers and bemoans the kiss-and-tell books; no president, to my knowledge, has attempted to impose such a pledge. And while White House staffers have various confidentiality obligations — maintaining the secrecy of classified information or attorney-client privilege, for instance — the notion of imposing a side agreement, supposedly enforceable even after the president leaves office, is not only oppressive but constitutionally repugnant...
https://twitter.com/NatashaC/status/975702637244018688
On checking Wiki, I see Suvorov was formerly GRU and defected to the UK in 1978.
Watch how you go, comrade.
It's easy to see why.
No Surrender etc.
"'Flawed' probe into Army instructors' abuse halted"
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-york-north-yorkshire-43458416
"It emerged the RMP officer leading the investigation, Capt Teresa Spanton, did not question eyewitnesses because she thought they would lie."
http://www.eppingforestguardian.co.uk/news/16070763.essex-police-found-no-link-between-switch-street-lamps-off-and-rising-crime-rates/
Back up plan to keep NI in SM indefinitely.
EU nationals arriving in so-called transition period have same rights as those arriving before end March 2019.
Decent package so far.
No hard Brexit
Indeed. These autocrats reside in Brussels.