The UK has never been confident in what role HMF should play.
From MARILYN (how to keep the army up to strength) to Options for Change (how to reduce the army after the cold war) in the 80s/90s the UK really hasn't known what it wants its armed forces to be. Even up until now. Do we want to be a nimble, high tech outfit or a force that could retake the Falklands or a country that could provide 200 MBTs to theatre in support of the US.
That's symptomatic of the wider debate about the role and place of the UK in the world. We've never endured the chastening military experience of abject defeat and surrender - even Dunkirk, by any objective measure a disaster, has been turned into a "victory".
I've sat on both sides of the nuclear fence periodically. The problem is or seems to be the only way to guarantee peace is to seem to be prepared to destroy yourselves and your opponents. I've always doubted I would draw any comfort in my terror-filled last minutes of life knowing the citizens of Kharkov or Irkutsk were going to be joining me in oblivion within a few minutes. I've also always suspected Putin now and the Communists then were ever serious about invading western Europe and had no desire to inherit a radioactive wasteland.
So we're stuck with weapons we'll hopefully never use - I do question whether 260 warheads is significantly more a deterrent than 180 - how much mega-death do you need?
As for the Army, the recent Nagorno-Karabakh conflict seems to have been quite the eye-opener. To be fair, anyone who followed the Balkan Wars could have ascertained how World War 1 was going to be fought. If drone-based warfare is in, the thrust of the defence strategy seems reasonable. Perhaps the days of "big" armies are over.
The days of big armies are definitely over. They are expensive, immobile and easy to wipe out with modern tech. Unless the UK has plans to invade and conquer somewhere (we don't) then we need a smaller, well equipped, mobile defence force, with reserves just in case
We probably won't ever use a tank again. Get rid of 90%. Invest all the spare cash in bots, drones, cyber
On the other hand, the new era of tech warfare, done remotely with robots, drones, internet attacks, offers a BETTER argument for the nuclear deterrent.
A rich capable aggressor could take out any country - or demand its surrender - if they had the technological superiority I outline. The one thing that would make them hesitate is a nuke pointing their way. This is why no one will tackle North Korea. They've got nukes. Ditto Israel
But if you are going to rely on nukes in that context, you really need to primitivize them so that their delivery is reliant on as little tech and IT as possible. No satellite guidance, for example.
The UK has never been confident in what role HMF should play.
From MARILYN (how to keep the army up to strength) to Options for Change (how to reduce the army after the cold war) in the 80s/90s the UK really hasn't known what it wants its armed forces to be. Even up until now. Do we want to be a nimble, high tech outfit or a force that could retake the Falklands or a country that could provide 200 MBTs to theatre in support of the US.
That's symptomatic of the wider debate about the role and place of the UK in the world. We've never endured the chastening military experience of abject defeat and surrender - even Dunkirk, by any objective measure a disaster, has been turned into a "victory".
I've sat on both sides of the nuclear fence periodically. The problem is or seems to be the only way to guarantee peace is to seem to be prepared to destroy yourselves and your opponents. I've always doubted I would draw any comfort in my terror-filled last minutes of life knowing the citizens of Kharkov or Irkutsk were going to be joining me in oblivion within a few minutes. I've also always suspected Putin now and the Communists then were ever serious about invading western Europe and had no desire to inherit a radioactive wasteland.
So we're stuck with weapons we'll hopefully never use - I do question whether 260 warheads is significantly more a deterrent than 180 - how much mega-death do you need?
As for the Army, the recent Nagorno-Karabakh conflict seems to have been quite the eye-opener. To be fair, anyone who followed the Balkan Wars could have ascertained how World War 1 was going to be fought. If drone-based warfare is in, the thrust of the defence strategy seems reasonable. Perhaps the days of "big" armies are over.
The days of big armies are definitely over. They are expensive, immobile and easy to wipe out with modern tech. Unless the UK has plans to invade and conquer somewhere (we don't) then we need a smaller, well equipped, mobile defence force, with reserves just in case
We probably won't ever use a tank again. Get rid of 90%. Invest all the spare cash in bots, drones, cyber
On the other hand, the new era of tech warfare, done remotely with robots, drones, internet attacks, offers a BETTER argument for the nuclear deterrent.
A rich capable aggressor could take out any country - or demand its surrender - if they had the technological superiority I outline. The one thing that would make them hesitate is a nuke pointing their way. This is why no one will tackle North Korea. They've got nukes. Ditto Israel
But if you are going to rely on nukes in that context, you really need to primitivize them so that their delivery is reliant on as little tech and IT as possible. No satellite guidance, for example.
Yes, very arguable. Ideally, you'd have a variety of delivery systems, making it even more unpredictable for a potential foe
Why's that Big G? Do you not think Labour are interested in the defence of our country and the armed forces?
Maybe refer you to Jeremy Corbyn and other members of the labour party
That is history Big G.
You think
Most of the rest of the PB Tories have finally stopped going on about Corbyn (belatedly in some cases, but better late than never), given he is NO LONGER LABOUR LEADER.
As predicted, Salmond is not letting sleeping dogs lie. New court case against the Scottish government. He's going to keep going and drag Nicola down by just throwing as much dirt as possible at her.
Hopefully the government will give MSPs parliamentary privilege before the start of this case so that MSPs can speak openly without fear of being targeted by the highly political Lord Advocate.
Strikes me that the single best piece of news this week is the fall in inflation. My no.1 concern is that too much easy money has been pumped into the system (especially in the US; my timeline is awash with people splurging their stimulus checks on luxury goods) and that we'd see lots of inflation (and rising bond prices) causing immense pain for public purses and private households over the coming years.
Avoiding that will make the recovery so much easier.
I wouldn't get too confident.
The real spending "splurge" will come with the lifting of lockdown restrictions and the surge of money into the economy is likely to have some inflationary impact.
British schools are NOT institutionally racist. This shit is poisonous.
Easy rule of thumb: in any lefty tract, just replace the word 'institutionally' with 'not' to translate to reality.
I read somewhere the other day (perhaps here?) that you can build an entire career from saying "xxxxx is institutionally racist". This gets you articles in the Guardian and then a place on worried government quangos who will try and address the alleged issue. Then you just move on to the next "xxxx"
Hence "gardening is institutionally racist" or "the monarchy is institutionally racist" or "mathematics is institutionally racist" or "Georgian houses are institutionally racist". All of these examples are real, and there are a million more
These days I just tend to shrug when I see them, it is so much meaningless dross. But this one angered me. I have daughters. I know British schools. They do their utmost NOT to be racist. They have black history month every week. They are inclusive and welcoming. The kids play together in a non racially aware way, it's not Eden but it is a sign of hope. I see schoolkids walking home through Regents Park in big multiracial groups, happy and laughing, and I think Great: that is the future, It can work. People entirely unaware of or unconcerned by skin colour, people experiencing other people as fellow humans, not as members of "a race".
And then along comes a twat like this (white) Guardian writer trying to stir up all kinds of anxiety and animosity, undoing decades of hard work, and it will end with more bitter division and awareness of skin colour than before. "Racial micro invalidations". Jesus.
Yougov is consistently showing higher Green vote shares than other pollsters - clearly to Labour's detriment. Yesterday's Yougov Wales Westminster poll also had Plaid on 17% - which appears very unlikely. Plaid would do well to reach 12%.
You have no knowledge of Welsh politics to make that statement
With respect I grew up in Wales and most of my family still live in Pembrokeshire. Beyond that , I suspect that your knowledge of the electoral history of the Wrexham ward quoted is far from complete.It has a very quirky history indeed! In 1995 it was the sole Tory gain from Labour across the country when won by Stuart Andrew - now MP for Pudsey. For many years it then became a LibDem stronghold before eventually falling to Labour - largely due to a strong personal vote for the candidate. Reading anything into that result would be a mistake - other than that the personal vote matters a great deal there.
Not interested in history, just the present and Plaid are doing a lot better than your presumed knowledge of Welsh politics and will hurt labour in May
Those who ignore history are doomed....
The trend matters and it is away from labour in Wales and Plaid are in reasonable shape and maybe the Lib Dems will become extinct in Wales in May
The very first Wales Assembly elections held in the late 1990s under Blair were good for Plaid. I recall Llanelly was captured from Labour.2016 saw Plaid win the Rhondda - but it meant very little when it came to the general elections in 2017 and 2019.
Plaid (Geraint Davies) won Rhondda in 1999 as well.
I’m not quite sure what your point is though given we’re talking about Assembly elections. Yes, Plaid will come third but they will probably have around 15 seats. And if, as seems likely, they are the only party apart from the big two to have any members at all they will still be incredibly important.
That’s entirely separate from their irrelevance at Westminster where next time they will almost certainly be reduced to just two seats.
Yougov is consistently showing higher Green vote shares than other pollsters - clearly to Labour's detriment. Yesterday's Yougov Wales Westminster poll also had Plaid on 17% - which appears very unlikely. Plaid would do well to reach 12%.
You have no knowledge of Welsh politics to make that statement
With respect I grew up in Wales and most of my family still live in Pembrokeshire. Beyond that , I suspect that your knowledge of the electoral history of the Wrexham ward quoted is far from complete.It has a very quirky history indeed! In 1995 it was the sole Tory gain from Labour across the country when won by Stuart Andrew - now MP for Pudsey. For many years it then became a LibDem stronghold before eventually falling to Labour - largely due to a strong personal vote for the candidate. Reading anything into that result would be a mistake - other than that the personal vote matters a great deal there.
Not interested in history, just the present and Plaid are doing a lot better than your presumed knowledge of Welsh politics and will hurt labour in May
Those who ignore history are doomed....
The trend matters and it is away from labour in Wales and Plaid are in reasonable shape and maybe the Lib Dems will become extinct in Wales in May
The very first Wales Assembly elections held in the late 1990s under Blair were good for Plaid. I recall Llanelly was captured from Labour.2016 saw Plaid win the Rhondda - but it meant very little when it came to the general elections in 2017 and 2019.
Plaid (Geraint Davies) won Rhondda in 1999 as well.
I’m not quite sure what your point is though given we’re talking about Assembly elections. Yes, Plaid will come third but they will probably have around 15 seats. And if, as seems likely, they are the only party apart from the big two to have any members at all they will still be incredibly important.
That’s entirely separate from their irrelevance at Westminster where next time they will almost certainly be reduced to just two seats.
My original point was different. I was simply expressing scepticism re- yesterday's Yougov poll giving Plaid 17% at Westminster elections. I don't believe that - any more than that the Greens would poll 7% across GB.
British schools are NOT institutionally racist. This shit is poisonous.
Easy rule of thumb: in any lefty tract, just replace the word 'institutionally' with 'not' to translate to reality.
I read somewhere the other day (perhaps here?) that you can build an entire career from saying "xxxxx is institutionally racist". This gets you articles in the Guardian and then a place on worried government quangos who will try and address the alleged issue. Then you just move on to the next "xxxx"
Hence "gardening is institutionally racist" or "the monarchy is institutionally racist" or "mathematics is institutionally racist" or "Georgian houses are institutionally racist". All of these examples are real, and there are a million more
These days I just tend to shrug when I see them, it is so much meaningless dross. But this one angered me. I have daughters. I know British schools. They do their utmost NOT to be racist. They have black history month every week. They are inclusive and welcoming. The kids play together in a non racially aware way, it's not Eden but it is a sign of hope. I see schoolkids walking home through Regents Park in big multiracial groups, happy and laughing, and I think Great: that is the future, It can work. People entirely unaware of or unconcerned by skin colour, people experiencing other people as fellow humans, not as members of "a race".
And then along comes a twat like this (white) Guardian writer trying to stir up all kinds of anxiety and animosity, undoing decades of hard work, and it will end with more bitter division and awareness of skin colour than before. "Racial micro invalidations". Jesus.
Couldn’t we just get them to focus on the DfE as being institutionally racist (it is basically a bunch of thick white poshos so it shouldn’t be that hard) and sit back and smile in the knowledge that any damage the Woke do in that campaign will merely help children’s education?
Why's that Big G? Do you not think Labour are interested in the defence of our country and the armed forces?
Maybe refer you to Jeremy Corbyn and other members of the labour party
That is history Big G.
You think
Most of the rest of the PB Tories have finally stopped going on about Corbyn (belatedly in some cases, but better late than never), given he is NO LONGER LABOUR LEADER.
British schools are NOT institutionally racist. This shit is poisonous.
Easy rule of thumb: in any lefty tract, just replace the word 'institutionally' with 'not' to translate to reality.
I read somewhere the other day (perhaps here?) that you can build an entire career from saying "xxxxx is institutionally racist". This gets you articles in the Guardian and then a place on worried government quangos who will try and address the alleged issue. Then you just move on to the next "xxxx"
Hence "gardening is institutionally racist" or "the monarchy is institutionally racist" or "mathematics is institutionally racist" or "Georgian houses are institutionally racist". All of these examples are real, and there are a million more
These days I just tend to shrug when I see them, it is so much meaningless dross. But this one angered me. I have daughters. I know British schools. They do their utmost NOT to be racist. They have black history month every week. They are inclusive and welcoming. The kids play together in a non racially aware way, it's not Eden but it is a sign of hope. I see schoolkids walking home through Regents Park in big multiracial groups, happy and laughing, and I think Great: that is the future, It can work. People entirely unaware of or unconcerned by skin colour, people experiencing other people as fellow humans, not as members of "a race".
And then along comes a twat like this (white) Guardian writer trying to stir up all kinds of anxiety and animosity, undoing decades of hard work, and it will end with more bitter division and awareness of skin colour than before. "Racial micro invalidations". Jesus.
Couldn’t we just get them to focus on the DfE as being institutionally racist (it is basically a bunch of thick white poshos so it shouldn’t be that hard) and sit back and smile in the knowledge that any damage the Woke do in that campaign will merely help children’s education?
I think it is time I wrote the ultimate Guardian article, "the Guardian is institutionally racist, and so am I"
Despite the obvious intent, that's a really useful document. I've been asking if there's something similar for a while as a guide to the actual steps that are required. Some of it seems bureaucratic for its own sake, but I think there is scope for a lot of efficiencies at various stages to make the process smoother and quicker.
Can one assume that a similar 23 stage process happens when a chop goes from Paris to London? If so, there are massive multilateral reasons for doing something about it quickly, if not there are massive multilateral reasons for doing something about it quickly.
What are the best books to read about the Hungarian revolution (1956) and the Prague spring?
I'm keen to learn about the Soviet reaction/politics in both.
Raymond Pearson’s The rise and fall of the Soviet empire is a very good introduction, although it would only be an introduction given what you’re looking for.
Cheers, I've always been fascinated by the fact that Yuri Andropov was Ambassador to Hungary at the time of the Hungarian revolution and that it had a profound impact on him.
Yes, it turned him into the hardest of hard men.
Soviet joke. Andropov met the Central Committee after the death of Brezhnev, and he was elected successor. His first words were, ‘Very well, Comrades, now you have voted you may lower your hands and step away from the wall.’
And yet, of course, in other important ways he was a reformer even if he was no Gorbachev. His anti-corruption Drive was important and wouldn’t have happened under Chernenko.
I don’t know of any good biography of him in English, although that doesn’t mean there isn’t one. Johanna Granville has done some work on the Hungarian rising, and Martin McCauley is probably the big expert on Khrushchev in English. Might be worth checking their work out.
"The concept of institutional racism is institutionally racist, and so are you for reading this"
"Until we learn to address the racism in our anti racism, we can never address the racism in our anti racist anti racism, which is itself racist, and so is he"
British schools are NOT institutionally racist. This shit is poisonous.
Easy rule of thumb: in any lefty tract, just replace the word 'institutionally' with 'not' to translate to reality.
I read somewhere the other day (perhaps here?) that you can build an entire career from saying "xxxxx is institutionally racist". This gets you articles in the Guardian and then a place on worried government quangos who will try and address the alleged issue. Then you just move on to the next "xxxx"
Hence "gardening is institutionally racist" or "the monarchy is institutionally racist" or "mathematics is institutionally racist" or "Georgian houses are institutionally racist". All of these examples are real, and there are a million more
These days I just tend to shrug when I see them, it is so much meaningless dross. But this one angered me. I have daughters. I know British schools. They do their utmost NOT to be racist. They have black history month every week. They are inclusive and welcoming. The kids play together in a non racially aware way, it's not Eden but it is a sign of hope. I see schoolkids walking home through Regents Park in big multiracial groups, happy and laughing, and I think Great: that is the future, It can work. People entirely unaware of or unconcerned by skin colour, people experiencing other people as fellow humans, not as members of "a race".
And then along comes a twat like this (white) Guardian writer trying to stir up all kinds of anxiety and animosity, undoing decades of hard work, and it will end with more bitter division and awareness of skin colour than before. "Racial micro invalidations". Jesus.
Couldn’t we just get them to focus on the DfE as being institutionally racist (it is basically a bunch of thick white poshos so it shouldn’t be that hard) and sit back and smile in the knowledge that any damage the Woke do in that campaign will merely help children’s education?
I think it is time I wrote the ultimate Guardian article, "the Guardian is institutionally racist, and so am I"
Is the Guardian aware that in saying that teachers are all racists they are switching off their entire readership, consisting 100% of teachers who believe that everyone in the world is racist except themselves?
So. Do we think the govt will stick to the lockdown timetable? With deaths in double figures and the NHS seemingly protected?
And should they. Or not?
The all out gamble on vaccines paid off. That gave the government the time and headspace to come up with a sensible, cautious plan. (Germany, amingst others, is in full on panic).We haven't seen a surge in positives from schools going back, so on to stage 2. Why potentially chuck the gains away on a reckless gamble just now? They should stick with it. Because it is working. Will they? Not sure. That's my take.
"Why potentially chuck the gains away" - because there's no bloody deaths right now!
It is not "working" it has "worked" the wave is over already.
The government has no right or responsibility to be taking away our civil liberties for a virus that isn't even killing people let alone overwhelming the NHS.
British schools are NOT institutionally racist. This shit is poisonous.
Easy rule of thumb: in any lefty tract, just replace the word 'institutionally' with 'not' to translate to reality.
I read somewhere the other day (perhaps here?) that you can build an entire career from saying "xxxxx is institutionally racist". This gets you articles in the Guardian and then a place on worried government quangos who will try and address the alleged issue. Then you just move on to the next "xxxx"
Hence "gardening is institutionally racist" or "the monarchy is institutionally racist" or "mathematics is institutionally racist" or "Georgian houses are institutionally racist". All of these examples are real, and there are a million more
These days I just tend to shrug when I see them, it is so much meaningless dross. But this one angered me. I have daughters. I know British schools. They do their utmost NOT to be racist. They have black history month every week. They are inclusive and welcoming. The kids play together in a non racially aware way, it's not Eden but it is a sign of hope. I see schoolkids walking home through Regents Park in big multiracial groups, happy and laughing, and I think Great: that is the future, It can work. People entirely unaware of or unconcerned by skin colour, people experiencing other people as fellow humans, not as members of "a race".
And then along comes a twat like this (white) Guardian writer trying to stir up all kinds of anxiety and animosity, undoing decades of hard work, and it will end with more bitter division and awareness of skin colour than before. "Racial micro invalidations". Jesus.
Having black history month every week is quite an achievement.
Yougov is consistently showing higher Green vote shares than other pollsters - clearly to Labour's detriment. Yesterday's Yougov Wales Westminster poll also had Plaid on 17% - which appears very unlikely. Plaid would do well to reach 12%.
You have no knowledge of Welsh politics to make that statement
With respect I grew up in Wales and most of my family still live in Pembrokeshire. Beyond that , I suspect that your knowledge of the electoral history of the Wrexham ward quoted is far from complete.It has a very quirky history indeed! In 1995 it was the sole Tory gain from Labour across the country when won by Stuart Andrew - now MP for Pudsey. For many years it then became a LibDem stronghold before eventually falling to Labour - largely due to a strong personal vote for the candidate. Reading anything into that result would be a mistake - other than that the personal vote matters a great deal there.
Not interested in history, just the present and Plaid are doing a lot better than your presumed knowledge of Welsh politics and will hurt labour in May
Those who ignore history are doomed....
The trend matters and it is away from labour in Wales and Plaid are in reasonable shape and maybe the Lib Dems will become extinct in Wales in May
The very first Wales Assembly elections held in the late 1990s under Blair were good for Plaid. I recall Llanelly was captured from Labour.2016 saw Plaid win the Rhondda - but it meant very little when it came to the general elections in 2017 and 2019.
Plaid (Geraint Davies) won Rhondda in 1999 as well.
I’m not quite sure what your point is though given we’re talking about Assembly elections. Yes, Plaid will come third but they will probably have around 15 seats. And if, as seems likely, they are the only party apart from the big two to have any members at all they will still be incredibly important.
That’s entirely separate from their irrelevance at Westminster where next time they will almost certainly be reduced to just two seats.
Yougov is consistently showing higher Green vote shares than other pollsters - clearly to Labour's detriment. Yesterday's Yougov Wales Westminster poll also had Plaid on 17% - which appears very unlikely. Plaid would do well to reach 12%.
You have no knowledge of Welsh politics to make that statement
With respect I grew up in Wales and most of my family still live in Pembrokeshire. Beyond that , I suspect that your knowledge of the electoral history of the Wrexham ward quoted is far from complete.It has a very quirky history indeed! In 1995 it was the sole Tory gain from Labour across the country when won by Stuart Andrew - now MP for Pudsey. For many years it then became a LibDem stronghold before eventually falling to Labour - largely due to a strong personal vote for the candidate. Reading anything into that result would be a mistake - other than that the personal vote matters a great deal there.
Not interested in history, just the present and Plaid are doing a lot better than your presumed knowledge of Welsh politics and will hurt labour in May
Those who ignore history are doomed....
The trend matters and it is away from labour in Wales and Plaid are in reasonable shape and maybe the Lib Dems will become extinct in Wales in May
The very first Wales Assembly elections held in the late 1990s under Blair were good for Plaid. I recall Llanelly was captured from Labour.2016 saw Plaid win the Rhondda - but it meant very little when it came to the general elections in 2017 and 2019.
Plaid (Geraint Davies) won Rhondda in 1999 as well.
I’m not quite sure what your point is though given we’re talking about Assembly elections. Yes, Plaid will come third but they will probably have around 15 seats. And if, as seems likely, they are the only party apart from the big two to have any members at all they will still be incredibly important.
That’s entirely separate from their irrelevance at Westminster where next time they will almost certainly be reduced to just two seats.
My original point was different. I was simply expressing scepticism re- yesterday's Yougov poll giving Plaid 17% at Westminster elections. I don't believe that - any more than that the Greens would poll 7% across GB.
Then I misunderstood, my apologies.
17% would certainly be a remarkable performance by them - their previous best was 14% in 2001. It would also be against the run of play as at recent elections they have been going backwards.
It may be as simple as Yougov polls a higher proportion of the urban lefties who liked Corbyn and are now looking at the Greens/Plaid instead. But that is a low percentage of people in Wales.
What are the best books to read about the Hungarian revolution (1956) and the Prague spring?
I'm keen to learn about the Soviet reaction/politics in both.
Raymond Pearson’s The rise and fall of the Soviet empire is a very good introduction, although it would only be an introduction given what you’re looking for.
Cheers, I've always been fascinated by the fact that Yuri Andropov was Ambassador to Hungary at the time of the Hungarian revolution and that it had a profound impact on him.
Yes, it turned him into the hardest of hard men.
Soviet joke. Andropov met the Central Committee after the death of Brezhnev, and he was elected successor. His first words were, ‘Very well, Comrades, now you have voted you may lower your hands and step away from the wall.’
And yet, of course, in other important ways he was a reformer even if he was no Gorbachev. His anti-corruption Drive was important and wouldn’t have happened under Chernenko.
I don’t know of any good biography of him in English, although that doesn’t mean there isn’t one. Johanna Granville has done some work on the Hungarian rising, and Martin McCauley is probably the big expert on Khrushchev in English. Might be worth checking their work out.
British schools are NOT institutionally racist. This shit is poisonous.
Easy rule of thumb: in any lefty tract, just replace the word 'institutionally' with 'not' to translate to reality.
I read somewhere the other day (perhaps here?) that you can build an entire career from saying "xxxxx is institutionally racist". This gets you articles in the Guardian and then a place on worried government quangos who will try and address the alleged issue. Then you just move on to the next "xxxx"
Hence "gardening is institutionally racist" or "the monarchy is institutionally racist" or "mathematics is institutionally racist" or "Georgian houses are institutionally racist". All of these examples are real, and there are a million more
These days I just tend to shrug when I see them, it is so much meaningless dross. But this one angered me. I have daughters. I know British schools. They do their utmost NOT to be racist. They have black history month every week. They are inclusive and welcoming. The kids play together in a non racially aware way, it's not Eden but it is a sign of hope. I see schoolkids walking home through Regents Park in big multiracial groups, happy and laughing, and I think Great: that is the future, It can work. People entirely unaware of or unconcerned by skin colour, people experiencing other people as fellow humans, not as members of "a race".
And then along comes a twat like this (white) Guardian writer trying to stir up all kinds of anxiety and animosity, undoing decades of hard work, and it will end with more bitter division and awareness of skin colour than before. "Racial micro invalidations". Jesus.
Couldn’t we just get them to focus on the DfE as being institutionally racist (it is basically a bunch of thick white poshos so it shouldn’t be that hard) and sit back and smile in the knowledge that any damage the Woke do in that campaign will merely help children’s education?
I think it is time I wrote the ultimate Guardian article, "the Guardian is institutionally racist, and so am I"
Is the Guardian aware that in saying that teachers are all racists they are switching off their entire readership, consisting 100% of teachers who believe that everyone in the world is racist except themselves?
The Guardian is now in a very English state of quiet desperation, as their unique way of funding falls apart, as ad spend drops and no one buys folding papers. Their begging letters at the end of each article have got worse, recently they have started hiding the "I don't want to register" button
I reckon the New York Times will devour them, the same way Netflix ate Lovefilm
Wait, Merkel cancelled Germany's Easter lockdown? Did she not see what happened in the UK over Christmas? Are they seriously going to repeat all of our idiotic and life destroying mistakes.
It's actually a very shocking decision from someone who has got huge responsibility. How have they not learned from our mistakes. The Kent variant will result in hospitals being overrun in a very, very short period of time.
I said it was like Chris Grayling and Gavin Williamson being in charge of the EU vaccine rollout.
No, I think VDL had redefined the scale. She has utterly failed in every single job she has been involved into to the point of complete calamity.
If you gave each of them an empty pram, Grayling would lose it, Williamson would break it and VDL would set herself on fire. And burn the building down....
Grayling is something like 8/10 on the VDL scale, Williamson is a 7, I think.
Wait, Merkel cancelled Germany's Easter lockdown? Did she not see what happened in the UK over Christmas? Are they seriously going to repeat all of our idiotic and life destroying mistakes.
It's actually a very shocking decision from someone who has got huge responsibility. How have they not learned from our mistakes. The Kent variant will result in hospitals being overrun in a very, very short period of time.
And the media used to tell us unlike dum dum Boris she is a scientist so understands covid....they are just repeating lockdown light again.
I presume we've commented on the latest Forsa poll in Germany:
CDU/CSU 26% Greens 22% SPD 16% AfD 10% FDP 10% Linke 8%
Two coalition options - CDU/CSU/Green and Green/SDP/FDP both come up to 48%.
The dominance of Lega in Italy is also ending - latest Winpoll has them on just 22% with the Social Democrats on 20%, the FdL on 19% and M5 on 14%.
OTOH, in Denmark, the governing Social Democrats are on 34%, twenty points ahead of the Conservatives on 14% while Venstre has collapsed to just 12% with the Greens on 8%.
Remarkable polling from Poland as well - the governing PiS is down to 30% with the new PL2050 grouping polling 27%. They've had four defections in the Sejm - one of their interesting policies is the restoration of the Weimar Triangle seeing the future EU axis as between France, Germany and Poland.
Denmark is probably because the Social Democrats have just announced policies that would be described as far-right in most other countries.
Despite the obvious intent, that's a really useful document. I've been asking if there's something similar for a while as a guide to the actual steps that are required. Some of it seems bureaucratic for its own sake, but I think there is scope for a lot of efficiencies at various stages to make the process smoother and quicker.
It actually makes the point that we're right to escape an institution that puts all that pointless red tape on its members. After all, why should it be any more work to send a pork chop to Paris than to Newcastle? Are French stomachs really so much more sensitive?
I always supposed you a leaver but you've neatly made the case for the single market there.
No, I've made the case that the EU is shooting itself in the foot with all the protectionist tariffs as it is their consumers who are suffering, as were ours when we were in the EU.
That's not what you've written
"to escape an institution that puts all that pointless red tape on its members. After all, why should it be any more work to send a pork chop to Paris than to Newcastle?"
This is the entire point of the European single market.
Thinking it through, I should have written:
"to escape an institution that puts all that pointless red tape on its members. After all, WHETHER OR NOT WE'RE EU MEMBERS, why should it be any more work to send a pork chop to Paris than to Newcastle? FRENCH CONSUMERS SUFFER TO KEEP EU BUREAUCRATS IN JOBS"
British schools are NOT institutionally racist. This shit is poisonous.
Easy rule of thumb: in any lefty tract, just replace the word 'institutionally' with 'not' to translate to reality.
I read somewhere the other day (perhaps here?) that you can build an entire career from saying "xxxxx is institutionally racist". This gets you articles in the Guardian and then a place on worried government quangos who will try and address the alleged issue. Then you just move on to the next "xxxx"
Hence "gardening is institutionally racist" or "the monarchy is institutionally racist" or "mathematics is institutionally racist" or "Georgian houses are institutionally racist". All of these examples are real, and there are a million more
These days I just tend to shrug when I see them, it is so much meaningless dross. But this one angered me. I have daughters. I know British schools. They do their utmost NOT to be racist. They have black history month every week. They are inclusive and welcoming. The kids play together in a non racially aware way, it's not Eden but it is a sign of hope. I see schoolkids walking home through Regents Park in big multiracial groups, happy and laughing, and I think Great: that is the future, It can work. People entirely unaware of or unconcerned by skin colour, people experiencing other people as fellow humans, not as members of "a race".
And then along comes a twat like this (white) Guardian writer trying to stir up all kinds of anxiety and animosity, undoing decades of hard work, and it will end with more bitter division and awareness of skin colour than before. "Racial micro invalidations". Jesus.
Couldn’t we just get them to focus on the DfE as being institutionally racist (it is basically a bunch of thick white poshos so it shouldn’t be that hard) and sit back and smile in the knowledge that any damage the Woke do in that campaign will merely help children’s education?
I think it is time I wrote the ultimate Guardian article, "the Guardian is institutionally racist, and so am I"
Is the Guardian aware that in saying that teachers are all racists they are switching off their entire readership, consisting 100% of teachers who believe that everyone in the world is racist except themselves?
The Guardian is now in a very English state of quiet desperation, as their unique way of funding falls apart, as ad spend drops and no one buys folding papers. Their begging letters at the end of each article have got worse, recently they have started hiding the "I don't want to register" button
I reckon the New York Times will devour them, the same way Netflix ate Lovefilm
Unlikely, the Scott Trust which owns the Guardian has an endowment fund of £1.01 billion.
Can anyone explain why Neil Gray was allowed to resign his seat and stand as an MSP, but Joanna Cherry wasn’t?
As I recall Cherry was offered the same option but refused it. I’m not sure why she felt it was such an obstacle.
Ah.
'She said: "It is unprecedented in our party’s history of dual mandates to demand that a parliamentarian make themselves and their constituency staff unemployed in order to be eligible to be a candidate. It is particularly unreasonable to demand this in the middle of a pandemic.'
Supposedly she did not want to have to sack all her staff, she most certainly knew that she was going to be stiffed to let the imposter in anyway so did not agree. She should have gone and stood as an independent. Hopefully Bonnie Prince Bob will take enough votes off Robertson that he gets whipped, would be poetic justice.
Aye, but she faced the same conditions as any other MP wanting to stand for Holyrood, not some special vendetta against her as was implied. She could still have put herself up for the Edinburgh Central SNP candidate election without resigning her Westminster seat as far as I can see.
Don't think so TUD, from what I remember she had to resign to put her name forward.
British schools are NOT institutionally racist. This shit is poisonous.
Easy rule of thumb: in any lefty tract, just replace the word 'institutionally' with 'not' to translate to reality.
I read somewhere the other day (perhaps here?) that you can build an entire career from saying "xxxxx is institutionally racist". This gets you articles in the Guardian and then a place on worried government quangos who will try and address the alleged issue. Then you just move on to the next "xxxx"
Hence "gardening is institutionally racist" or "the monarchy is institutionally racist" or "mathematics is institutionally racist" or "Georgian houses are institutionally racist". All of these examples are real, and there are a million more
These days I just tend to shrug when I see them, it is so much meaningless dross. But this one angered me. I have daughters. I know British schools. They do their utmost NOT to be racist. They have black history month every week. They are inclusive and welcoming. The kids play together in a non racially aware way, it's not Eden but it is a sign of hope. I see schoolkids walking home through Regents Park in big multiracial groups, happy and laughing, and I think Great: that is the future, It can work. People entirely unaware of or unconcerned by skin colour, people experiencing other people as fellow humans, not as members of "a race".
And then along comes a twat like this (white) Guardian writer trying to stir up all kinds of anxiety and animosity, undoing decades of hard work, and it will end with more bitter division and awareness of skin colour than before. "Racial micro invalidations". Jesus.
Couldn’t we just get them to focus on the DfE as being institutionally racist (it is basically a bunch of thick white poshos so it shouldn’t be that hard) and sit back and smile in the knowledge that any damage the Woke do in that campaign will merely help children’s education?
I think it is time I wrote the ultimate Guardian article, "the Guardian is institutionally racist, and so am I"
Is the Guardian aware that in saying that teachers are all racists they are switching off their entire readership, consisting 100% of teachers who believe that everyone in the world is racist except themselves?
The Guardian is now in a very English state of quiet desperation, as their unique way of funding falls apart, as ad spend drops and no one buys folding papers. Their begging letters at the end of each article have got worse, recently they have started hiding the "I don't want to register" button
I reckon the New York Times will devour them, the same way Netflix ate Lovefilm
Their time is gone, their song is over Thought they’d something more to say
British schools are NOT institutionally racist. This shit is poisonous.
Easy rule of thumb: in any lefty tract, just replace the word 'institutionally' with 'not' to translate to reality.
I read somewhere the other day (perhaps here?) that you can build an entire career from saying "xxxxx is institutionally racist". This gets you articles in the Guardian and then a place on worried government quangos who will try and address the alleged issue. Then you just move on to the next "xxxx"
Hence "gardening is institutionally racist" or "the monarchy is institutionally racist" or "mathematics is institutionally racist" or "Georgian houses are institutionally racist". All of these examples are real, and there are a million more
These days I just tend to shrug when I see them, it is so much meaningless dross. But this one angered me. I have daughters. I know British schools. They do their utmost NOT to be racist. They have black history month every week. They are inclusive and welcoming. The kids play together in a non racially aware way, it's not Eden but it is a sign of hope. I see schoolkids walking home through Regents Park in big multiracial groups, happy and laughing, and I think Great: that is the future, It can work. People entirely unaware of or unconcerned by skin colour, people experiencing other people as fellow humans, not as members of "a race".
And then along comes a twat like this (white) Guardian writer trying to stir up all kinds of anxiety and animosity, undoing decades of hard work, and it will end with more bitter division and awareness of skin colour than before. "Racial micro invalidations". Jesus.
Couldn’t we just get them to focus on the DfE as being institutionally racist (it is basically a bunch of thick white poshos so it shouldn’t be that hard) and sit back and smile in the knowledge that any damage the Woke do in that campaign will merely help children’s education?
I think it is time I wrote the ultimate Guardian article, "the Guardian is institutionally racist, and so am I"
Is the Guardian aware that in saying that teachers are all racists they are switching off their entire readership, consisting 100% of teachers who believe that everyone in the world is racist except themselves?
The Guardian is now in a very English state of quiet desperation, as their unique way of funding falls apart, as ad spend drops and no one buys folding papers. Their begging letters at the end of each article have got worse, recently they have started hiding the "I don't want to register" button
I reckon the New York Times will devour them, the same way Netflix ate Lovefilm
I can't stand the Guardian, but if there was some way to slightly support it then I would.
I'd like to support really the old printed newspapers. We've lost something that was great there. The journalism of today is a lesser thing, even at its best. It's a bit baffling that a big budget and a film crew can't outdo a man with a cigarette and a typewriter, but it certainly seems that way.
British schools are NOT institutionally racist. This shit is poisonous.
Easy rule of thumb: in any lefty tract, just replace the word 'institutionally' with 'not' to translate to reality.
I read somewhere the other day (perhaps here?) that you can build an entire career from saying "xxxxx is institutionally racist". This gets you articles in the Guardian and then a place on worried government quangos who will try and address the alleged issue. Then you just move on to the next "xxxx"
Hence "gardening is institutionally racist" or "the monarchy is institutionally racist" or "mathematics is institutionally racist" or "Georgian houses are institutionally racist". All of these examples are real, and there are a million more
These days I just tend to shrug when I see them, it is so much meaningless dross. But this one angered me. I have daughters. I know British schools. They do their utmost NOT to be racist. They have black history month every week. They are inclusive and welcoming. The kids play together in a non racially aware way, it's not Eden but it is a sign of hope. I see schoolkids walking home through Regents Park in big multiracial groups, happy and laughing, and I think Great: that is the future, It can work. People entirely unaware of or unconcerned by skin colour, people experiencing other people as fellow humans, not as members of "a race".
And then along comes a twat like this (white) Guardian writer trying to stir up all kinds of anxiety and animosity, undoing decades of hard work, and it will end with more bitter division and awareness of skin colour than before. "Racial micro invalidations". Jesus.
Couldn’t we just get them to focus on the DfE as being institutionally racist (it is basically a bunch of thick white poshos so it shouldn’t be that hard) and sit back and smile in the knowledge that any damage the Woke do in that campaign will merely help children’s education?
I think it is time I wrote the ultimate Guardian article, "the Guardian is institutionally racist, and so am I"
Is the Guardian aware that in saying that teachers are all racists they are switching off their entire readership, consisting 100% of teachers who believe that everyone in the world is racist except themselves?
The Guardian is now in a very English state of quiet desperation, as their unique way of funding falls apart, as ad spend drops and no one buys folding papers. Their begging letters at the end of each article have got worse, recently they have started hiding the "I don't want to register" button
I reckon the New York Times will devour them, the same way Netflix ate Lovefilm
This is a bit sad, as the Guardian has had its uses. But it's gone very BBC in its complete inability to distinguish between news, press releases, opinion, futurology cum guesswork, discussion/dialogue and lifestyle features.
I sometimes wonder if there could be a little niche for someone trying to do media while clearly recognising those sorts of distinction.
British schools are NOT institutionally racist. This shit is poisonous.
Easy rule of thumb: in any lefty tract, just replace the word 'institutionally' with 'not' to translate to reality.
I read somewhere the other day (perhaps here?) that you can build an entire career from saying "xxxxx is institutionally racist". This gets you articles in the Guardian and then a place on worried government quangos who will try and address the alleged issue. Then you just move on to the next "xxxx"
Hence "gardening is institutionally racist" or "the monarchy is institutionally racist" or "mathematics is institutionally racist" or "Georgian houses are institutionally racist". All of these examples are real, and there are a million more
These days I just tend to shrug when I see them, it is so much meaningless dross. But this one angered me. I have daughters. I know British schools. They do their utmost NOT to be racist. They have black history month every week. They are inclusive and welcoming. The kids play together in a non racially aware way, it's not Eden but it is a sign of hope. I see schoolkids walking home through Regents Park in big multiracial groups, happy and laughing, and I think Great: that is the future, It can work. People entirely unaware of or unconcerned by skin colour, people experiencing other people as fellow humans, not as members of "a race".
And then along comes a twat like this (white) Guardian writer trying to stir up all kinds of anxiety and animosity, undoing decades of hard work, and it will end with more bitter division and awareness of skin colour than before. "Racial micro invalidations". Jesus.
Couldn’t we just get them to focus on the DfE as being institutionally racist (it is basically a bunch of thick white poshos so it shouldn’t be that hard) and sit back and smile in the knowledge that any damage the Woke do in that campaign will merely help children’s education?
I think it is time I wrote the ultimate Guardian article, "the Guardian is institutionally racist, and so am I"
Is the Guardian aware that in saying that teachers are all racists they are switching off their entire readership, consisting 100% of teachers who believe that everyone in the world is racist except themselves?
The Guardian is now in a very English state of quiet desperation, as their unique way of funding falls apart, as ad spend drops and no one buys folding papers. Their begging letters at the end of each article have got worse, recently they have started hiding the "I don't want to register" button
I reckon the New York Times will devour them, the same way Netflix ate Lovefilm
I thought all the begging was getting results, well bringing in enough to stop the big losses.
I presume we've commented on the latest Forsa poll in Germany:
CDU/CSU 26% Greens 22% SPD 16% AfD 10% FDP 10% Linke 8%
Two coalition options - CDU/CSU/Green and Green/SDP/FDP both come up to 48%.
The dominance of Lega in Italy is also ending - latest Winpoll has them on just 22% with the Social Democrats on 20%, the FdL on 19% and M5 on 14%.
OTOH, in Denmark, the governing Social Democrats are on 34%, twenty points ahead of the Conservatives on 14% while Venstre has collapsed to just 12% with the Greens on 8%.
Remarkable polling from Poland as well - the governing PiS is down to 30% with the new PL2050 grouping polling 27%. They've had four defections in the Sejm - one of their interesting policies is the restoration of the Weimar Triangle seeing the future EU axis as between France, Germany and Poland.
The main outcome of that is CSU leader Soder will certainly challenge CDU leader Laschet to be chancellor candidate.
In Italy the FdL of course is about the only main party not in government now, so effectively is the sole opposition
British schools are NOT institutionally racist. This shit is poisonous.
Easy rule of thumb: in any lefty tract, just replace the word 'institutionally' with 'not' to translate to reality.
I read somewhere the other day (perhaps here?) that you can build an entire career from saying "xxxxx is institutionally racist". This gets you articles in the Guardian and then a place on worried government quangos who will try and address the alleged issue. Then you just move on to the next "xxxx"
Hence "gardening is institutionally racist" or "the monarchy is institutionally racist" or "mathematics is institutionally racist" or "Georgian houses are institutionally racist". All of these examples are real, and there are a million more
These days I just tend to shrug when I see them, it is so much meaningless dross. But this one angered me. I have daughters. I know British schools. They do their utmost NOT to be racist. They have black history month every week. They are inclusive and welcoming. The kids play together in a non racially aware way, it's not Eden but it is a sign of hope. I see schoolkids walking home through Regents Park in big multiracial groups, happy and laughing, and I think Great: that is the future, It can work. People entirely unaware of or unconcerned by skin colour, people experiencing other people as fellow humans, not as members of "a race".
And then along comes a twat like this (white) Guardian writer trying to stir up all kinds of anxiety and animosity, undoing decades of hard work, and it will end with more bitter division and awareness of skin colour than before. "Racial micro invalidations". Jesus.
Couldn’t we just get them to focus on the DfE as being institutionally racist (it is basically a bunch of thick white poshos so it shouldn’t be that hard) and sit back and smile in the knowledge that any damage the Woke do in that campaign will merely help children’s education?
I think it is time I wrote the ultimate Guardian article, "the Guardian is institutionally racist, and so am I"
Is the Guardian aware that in saying that teachers are all racists they are switching off their entire readership, consisting 100% of teachers who believe that everyone in the world is racist except themselves?
The Guardian is now in a very English state of quiet desperation, as their unique way of funding falls apart, as ad spend drops and no one buys folding papers. Their begging letters at the end of each article have got worse, recently they have started hiding the "I don't want to register" button
I reckon the New York Times will devour them, the same way Netflix ate Lovefilm
This is a bit sad, as the Guardian has had its uses. But it's gone very BBC in its complete inability to distinguish between news, press releases, opinion, futurology cum guesswork, discussion/dialogue and lifestyle features.
I don't read the Guardian, but I assume if you click the "news" tab you get news, and if you click the "opinion" tab you get their guest blogs?
So. Do we think the govt will stick to the lockdown timetable? With deaths in double figures and the NHS seemingly protected?
And should they. Or not?
The all out gamble on vaccines paid off. That gave the government the time and headspace to come up with a sensible, cautious plan. (Germany, amingst others, is in full on panic).We haven't seen a surge in positives from schools going back, so on to stage 2. Why potentially chuck the gains away on a reckless gamble just now? They should stick with it. Because it is working. Will they? Not sure. That's my take.
"Why potentially chuck the gains away" - because there's no bloody deaths right now!
It is not "working" it has "worked" the wave is over already.
The government has no right or responsibility to be taking away our civil liberties for a virus that isn't even killing people let alone overwhelming the NHS.
Must have missed the end of the pandemic. When did that happen? Anyway. Topping asked for our opinions. I gave mine, you gave yours.
British schools are NOT institutionally racist. This shit is poisonous.
Easy rule of thumb: in any lefty tract, just replace the word 'institutionally' with 'not' to translate to reality.
I read somewhere the other day (perhaps here?) that you can build an entire career from saying "xxxxx is institutionally racist". This gets you articles in the Guardian and then a place on worried government quangos who will try and address the alleged issue. Then you just move on to the next "xxxx"
Hence "gardening is institutionally racist" or "the monarchy is institutionally racist" or "mathematics is institutionally racist" or "Georgian houses are institutionally racist". All of these examples are real, and there are a million more
These days I just tend to shrug when I see them, it is so much meaningless dross. But this one angered me. I have daughters. I know British schools. They do their utmost NOT to be racist. They have black history month every week. They are inclusive and welcoming. The kids play together in a non racially aware way, it's not Eden but it is a sign of hope. I see schoolkids walking home through Regents Park in big multiracial groups, happy and laughing, and I think Great: that is the future, It can work. People entirely unaware of or unconcerned by skin colour, people experiencing other people as fellow humans, not as members of "a race".
And then along comes a twat like this (white) Guardian writer trying to stir up all kinds of anxiety and animosity, undoing decades of hard work, and it will end with more bitter division and awareness of skin colour than before. "Racial micro invalidations". Jesus.
Couldn’t we just get them to focus on the DfE as being institutionally racist (it is basically a bunch of thick white poshos so it shouldn’t be that hard) and sit back and smile in the knowledge that any damage the Woke do in that campaign will merely help children’s education?
I think it is time I wrote the ultimate Guardian article, "the Guardian is institutionally racist, and so am I"
Is the Guardian aware that in saying that teachers are all racists they are switching off their entire readership, consisting 100% of teachers who believe that everyone in the world is racist except themselves?
The Guardian is now in a very English state of quiet desperation, as their unique way of funding falls apart, as ad spend drops and no one buys folding papers. Their begging letters at the end of each article have got worse, recently they have started hiding the "I don't want to register" button
I reckon the New York Times will devour them, the same way Netflix ate Lovefilm
Their time is gone, their song is over Thought they’d something more to say
"Just listen, they play my song Ash to ash, dust to dust, fade to black Fortune, fame, mirror vain, gone insane Fortune, fame, mirror vain, gone insane Dance little tin goddess...."
British schools are NOT institutionally racist. This shit is poisonous.
Easy rule of thumb: in any lefty tract, just replace the word 'institutionally' with 'not' to translate to reality.
I read somewhere the other day (perhaps here?) that you can build an entire career from saying "xxxxx is institutionally racist". This gets you articles in the Guardian and then a place on worried government quangos who will try and address the alleged issue. Then you just move on to the next "xxxx"
Hence "gardening is institutionally racist" or "the monarchy is institutionally racist" or "mathematics is institutionally racist" or "Georgian houses are institutionally racist". All of these examples are real, and there are a million more
These days I just tend to shrug when I see them, it is so much meaningless dross. But this one angered me. I have daughters. I know British schools. They do their utmost NOT to be racist. They have black history month every week. They are inclusive and welcoming. The kids play together in a non racially aware way, it's not Eden but it is a sign of hope. I see schoolkids walking home through Regents Park in big multiracial groups, happy and laughing, and I think Great: that is the future, It can work. People entirely unaware of or unconcerned by skin colour, people experiencing other people as fellow humans, not as members of "a race".
And then along comes a twat like this (white) Guardian writer trying to stir up all kinds of anxiety and animosity, undoing decades of hard work, and it will end with more bitter division and awareness of skin colour than before. "Racial micro invalidations". Jesus.
Couldn’t we just get them to focus on the DfE as being institutionally racist (it is basically a bunch of thick white poshos so it shouldn’t be that hard) and sit back and smile in the knowledge that any damage the Woke do in that campaign will merely help children’s education?
I think it is time I wrote the ultimate Guardian article, "the Guardian is institutionally racist, and so am I"
Is the Guardian aware that in saying that teachers are all racists they are switching off their entire readership, consisting 100% of teachers who believe that everyone in the world is racist except themselves?
The Guardian is now in a very English state of quiet desperation, as their unique way of funding falls apart, as ad spend drops and no one buys folding papers. Their begging letters at the end of each article have got worse, recently they have started hiding the "I don't want to register" button
I reckon the New York Times will devour them, the same way Netflix ate Lovefilm
This is a bit sad, as the Guardian has had its uses. But it's gone very BBC in its complete inability to distinguish between news, press releases, opinion, futurology cum guesswork, discussion/dialogue and lifestyle features.
I don't read the Guardian, but I assume if you click the "news" tab you get news, and if you click the "comment is free" tab you get their guest blogs?
So where's the problem?
DYOR! It won't take you long. How is the job hunt going BTW?
The main outcome of that is CSU leader Soder will certainly challenge CDU leader Laschet to be chancellor candidate.
In Italy the FdL of course is about the only main party not in government now, so effectively is the sole opposition
Have you been following events in Denmark? I couldn't believe Venstre had collapsed to just 12% but then I read about the impeachment of Inger Stojberg and it seems former PM Lars Lokke Rasmussen has split from Venstre and is going to form his own party.
With Venstre in turmoil, the Conservatives are now the main centre-right opposition but the Social Democrats have an enormous advantage (20 points) in current polling.
Wait, Merkel cancelled Germany's Easter lockdown? Did she not see what happened in the UK over Christmas? Are they seriously going to repeat all of our idiotic and life destroying mistakes.
It's actually a very shocking decision from someone who has got huge responsibility. How have they not learned from our mistakes. The Kent variant will result in hospitals being overrun in a very, very short period of time.
Wait, Merkel cancelled Germany's Easter lockdown? Did she not see what happened in the UK over Christmas? Are they seriously going to repeat all of our idiotic and life destroying mistakes.
It's actually a very shocking decision from someone who has got huge responsibility. How have they not learned from our mistakes. The Kent variant will result in hospitals being overrun in a very, very short period of time.
Does anyone know why she cancelled it?
Would it be cynical of me to suggest she looked at her party’s standing in the polls?
Wait, Merkel cancelled Germany's Easter lockdown? Did she not see what happened in the UK over Christmas? Are they seriously going to repeat all of our idiotic and life destroying mistakes.
It's actually a very shocking decision from someone who has got huge responsibility. How have they not learned from our mistakes. The Kent variant will result in hospitals being overrun in a very, very short period of time.
Does anyone know why she cancelled it?
Opposition. Churches in particular. The Cs come first in CDU/CSU for a reason.
Wait, Merkel cancelled Germany's Easter lockdown? Did she not see what happened in the UK over Christmas? Are they seriously going to repeat all of our idiotic and life destroying mistakes.
It's actually a very shocking decision from someone who has got huge responsibility. How have they not learned from our mistakes. The Kent variant will result in hospitals being overrun in a very, very short period of time.
Does anyone know why she cancelled it?
Maybe she's listened to renowned virologist Laurence Fox.
So. Do we think the govt will stick to the lockdown timetable? With deaths in double figures and the NHS seemingly protected?
And should they. Or not?
The all out gamble on vaccines paid off. That gave the government the time and headspace to come up with a sensible, cautious plan. (Germany, amingst others, is in full on panic).We haven't seen a surge in positives from schools going back, so on to stage 2. Why potentially chuck the gains away on a reckless gamble just now? They should stick with it. Because it is working. Will they? Not sure. That's my take.
"Why potentially chuck the gains away" - because there's no bloody deaths right now!
It is not "working" it has "worked" the wave is over already.
The government has no right or responsibility to be taking away our civil liberties for a virus that isn't even killing people let alone overwhelming the NHS.
Must have missed the end of the pandemic. When did that happen? Anyway. Topping asked for our opinions. I gave mine, you gave yours.
It happened a week or so ago. It was confirmed yesterday that deaths are now below the five year average.
It is inexcusable to be taking away civil liberties when deaths aren't happening.
NYT - Republicans Fear Flawed Candidates Could Imperil Key Senate Seats Races in Missouri and Alabama, with others to come, reflect the potential risks for a party in which loyalty to Donald Trump is the main criterion for securing nominations.
The entry of two hard-right candidates this week into Senate races in Missouri and Alabama exposed the perils for Republicans of a political landscape in which former President Donald J. Trump is the only true north for grass-roots voters.
Strong state parties, big donors and G.O.P. national leaders were once able to anoint a candidate, in order to avoid destructive demolition derbies in state primaries.
But in the Trump era, the pursuit of his endorsement is all-consuming, and absent Mr. Trump’s blessing, there is no mechanism for clearing a cluttered primary field. With the former president focused elsewhere — on settling scores against Republicans who advanced his impeachment or showed insufficient loyalty — a combative Senate primary season is in store for the 2022 midterms, when Republicans who hope to regain the majority face a difficult map. They are fighting to hold on to five open seats after a wave of retirements of establishment figures, and even deep-red Missouri and Alabama pose potential headaches.
A scandal-haunted former Missouri governor, Eric Greitens, entered the race on Monday to replace the retiring Senator Roy Blunt. His candidacy set off a four-alarm fire with state party leaders, who fear that Mr. Greitens may squeak through a crowded primary field, only to lose a winnable seat to a Democrat.
In Alabama, the entry of Representative Mo Brooks, a staunch but lackluster Trump supporter, into the race for the seat being vacated by Senator Richard C. Shelby raised a different set of fears with activists: that Mr. Brooks, who badly lost a previous statewide race, would cause waves of Republican voters, especially women, to sit out the off-year election and crack open the door in a ruby red state for a Democrat. . . . .
As I was saying last night, Pat Gelsinger is going to make life very tough for TSMC who have been getting a free ride from America Inc. for a very long time.
I presume we've commented on the latest Forsa poll in Germany:
CDU/CSU 26% Greens 22% SPD 16% AfD 10% FDP 10% Linke 8%
Two coalition options - CDU/CSU/Green and Green/SDP/FDP both come up to 48%.
The dominance of Lega in Italy is also ending - latest Winpoll has them on just 22% with the Social Democrats on 20%, the FdL on 19% and M5 on 14%.
OTOH, in Denmark, the governing Social Democrats are on 34%, twenty points ahead of the Conservatives on 14% while Venstre has collapsed to just 12% with the Greens on 8%.
Remarkable polling from Poland as well - the governing PiS is down to 30% with the new PL2050 grouping polling 27%. They've had four defections in the Sejm - one of their interesting policies is the restoration of the Weimar Triangle seeing the future EU axis as between France, Germany and Poland.
Denmark is probably because the Social Democrats have just announced policies that would be described as far-right in most other countries.
As I keep pointing out - the social democrats in Denmark needed to win their voters back from the Dansk Folkeparti - so they adopted their policies on immigration but those policies are pretty common currency across all the bigger parties and even the some parts of the far left (to protect the social welfare system and the Danish model) - also Venstre the main centre right party is falling to pieces with senior members leaving and a revival of the Konservativ - Magt Mette (Power Mette) the PM is generally credited with handling covid well - which with the vaccine plan excepted I think is true.
Wait, Merkel cancelled Germany's Easter lockdown? Did she not see what happened in the UK over Christmas? Are they seriously going to repeat all of our idiotic and life destroying mistakes.
It's actually a very shocking decision from someone who has got huge responsibility. How have they not learned from our mistakes. The Kent variant will result in hospitals being overrun in a very, very short period of time.
Does anyone know why she cancelled it?
Would it be cynical of me to suggest she looked at her party’s standing in the polls?
She's put out a bizarre kind of hostage video to apologize to the nation:
Wait, Merkel cancelled Germany's Easter lockdown? Did she not see what happened in the UK over Christmas? Are they seriously going to repeat all of our idiotic and life destroying mistakes.
It's actually a very shocking decision from someone who has got huge responsibility. How have they not learned from our mistakes. The Kent variant will result in hospitals being overrun in a very, very short period of time.
Just checking the transport statistics, National Rail passenger numbers remain at 20% of pre-Covid levels, The number of passengers on the Tube remains at 25% of pre-Covid numbers while bus use in London is at half of pre-Covid levels.
Car traffic is 70-75% of pre-Covid levels but lorry traffic is at or just above pre-Covid numbers.
Worth mentioning road haulage has been huge in keeping the country going through all this - also noting fuel prices creeping back up - unleaded at 119.9p per litre in lowland East London.
British schools are NOT institutionally racist. This shit is poisonous.
Easy rule of thumb: in any lefty tract, just replace the word 'institutionally' with 'not' to translate to reality.
I read somewhere the other day (perhaps here?) that you can build an entire career from saying "xxxxx is institutionally racist". This gets you articles in the Guardian and then a place on worried government quangos who will try and address the alleged issue. Then you just move on to the next "xxxx"
Hence "gardening is institutionally racist" or "the monarchy is institutionally racist" or "mathematics is institutionally racist" or "Georgian houses are institutionally racist". All of these examples are real, and there are a million more
These days I just tend to shrug when I see them, it is so much meaningless dross. But this one angered me. I have daughters. I know British schools. They do their utmost NOT to be racist. They have black history month every week. They are inclusive and welcoming. The kids play together in a non racially aware way, it's not Eden but it is a sign of hope. I see schoolkids walking home through Regents Park in big multiracial groups, happy and laughing, and I think Great: that is the future, It can work. People entirely unaware of or unconcerned by skin colour, people experiencing other people as fellow humans, not as members of "a race".
And then along comes a twat like this (white) Guardian writer trying to stir up all kinds of anxiety and animosity, undoing decades of hard work, and it will end with more bitter division and awareness of skin colour than before. "Racial micro invalidations". Jesus.
Having black history month every week is quite an achievement.
Can anyone explain why Neil Gray was allowed to resign his seat and stand as an MSP, but Joanna Cherry wasn’t?
As I recall Cherry was offered the same option but refused it. I’m not sure why she felt it was such an obstacle.
Ah.
'She said: "It is unprecedented in our party’s history of dual mandates to demand that a parliamentarian make themselves and their constituency staff unemployed in order to be eligible to be a candidate. It is particularly unreasonable to demand this in the middle of a pandemic.'
Supposedly she did not want to have to sack all her staff, she most certainly knew that she was going to be stiffed to let the imposter in anyway so did not agree. She should have gone and stood as an independent. Hopefully Bonnie Prince Bob will take enough votes off Robertson that he gets whipped, would be poetic justice.
Aye, but she faced the same conditions as any other MP wanting to stand for Holyrood, not some special vendetta against her as was implied. She could still have put herself up for the Edinburgh Central SNP candidate election without resigning her Westminster seat as far as I can see.
So why wasn’t he made to resign on 10 November last year when he was officially made a candidate?
Can anyone explain why Neil Gray was allowed to resign his seat and stand as an MSP, but Joanna Cherry wasn’t?
As I recall Cherry was offered the same option but refused it. I’m not sure why she felt it was such an obstacle.
Ah.
'She said: "It is unprecedented in our party’s history of dual mandates to demand that a parliamentarian make themselves and their constituency staff unemployed in order to be eligible to be a candidate. It is particularly unreasonable to demand this in the middle of a pandemic.'
Supposedly she did not want to have to sack all her staff, she most certainly knew that she was going to be stiffed to let the imposter in anyway so did not agree. She should have gone and stood as an independent. Hopefully Bonnie Prince Bob will take enough votes off Robertson that he gets whipped, would be poetic justice.
Aye, but she faced the same conditions as any other MP wanting to stand for Holyrood, not some special vendetta against her as was implied. She could still have put herself up for the Edinburgh Central SNP candidate election without resigning her Westminster seat as far as I can see.
Don't think so TUD, from what I remember she had to resign to put her name forward.
And, IIRC, the SNP wanted her to fund (at least part of) any subsequent by-election campaign.
Actually if a President said it then I don't think it would be racist.
Given the importance to chips to the modern economy, having a reliable domestic supply of chips really could be considered an issue of national security.
The amount that gets spent on nuclear weapons and defence etc - a supply of chips probably is worth more to security than a couple of nukes.
Wait, Merkel cancelled Germany's Easter lockdown? Did she not see what happened in the UK over Christmas? Are they seriously going to repeat all of our idiotic and life destroying mistakes.
It's actually a very shocking decision from someone who has got huge responsibility. How have they not learned from our mistakes. The Kent variant will result in hospitals being overrun in a very, very short period of time.
Does anyone know why she cancelled it?
Would it be cynical of me to suggest she looked at her party’s standing in the polls?
She's put out a bizarre kind of hostage video to apologize to the nation:
British schools are NOT institutionally racist. This shit is poisonous.
Easy rule of thumb: in any lefty tract, just replace the word 'institutionally' with 'not' to translate to reality.
I read somewhere the other day (perhaps here?) that you can build an entire career from saying "xxxxx is institutionally racist". This gets you articles in the Guardian and then a place on worried government quangos who will try and address the alleged issue. Then you just move on to the next "xxxx"
Hence "gardening is institutionally racist" or "the monarchy is institutionally racist" or "mathematics is institutionally racist" or "Georgian houses are institutionally racist". All of these examples are real, and there are a million more
These days I just tend to shrug when I see them, it is so much meaningless dross. But this one angered me. I have daughters. I know British schools. They do their utmost NOT to be racist. They have black history month every week. They are inclusive and welcoming. The kids play together in a non racially aware way, it's not Eden but it is a sign of hope. I see schoolkids walking home through Regents Park in big multiracial groups, happy and laughing, and I think Great: that is the future, It can work. People entirely unaware of or unconcerned by skin colour, people experiencing other people as fellow humans, not as members of "a race".
And then along comes a twat like this (white) Guardian writer trying to stir up all kinds of anxiety and animosity, undoing decades of hard work, and it will end with more bitter division and awareness of skin colour than before. "Racial micro invalidations". Jesus.
Couldn’t we just get them to focus on the DfE as being institutionally racist (it is basically a bunch of thick white poshos so it shouldn’t be that hard) and sit back and smile in the knowledge that any damage the Woke do in that campaign will merely help children’s education?
I think it is time I wrote the ultimate Guardian article, "the Guardian is institutionally racist, and so am I"
Is the Guardian aware that in saying that teachers are all racists they are switching off their entire readership, consisting 100% of teachers who believe that everyone in the world is racist except themselves?
The Guardian is now in a very English state of quiet desperation, as their unique way of funding falls apart, as ad spend drops and no one buys folding papers. Their begging letters at the end of each article have got worse, recently they have started hiding the "I don't want to register" button
I reckon the New York Times will devour them, the same way Netflix ate Lovefilm
Unlikely, the Scott Trust which owns the Guardian has an endowment fund of £1.01 billion.
But they are faced with an existential choice (a bit like the BBC), do they want to slowly burn through that money, and then fold, anyway, or do they want to adjust now, and maybe prosper in future?
Until Covid the Guardian was inching its way back to profit, the plague has sent it into another tailspin. On the Scott endowment they could keep going for another decade, or more, but with no long term future.
Meanwhile the detestable NYT is unfortunately thriving. 7 MILLLION paying subscribers. Profits rising
it occupies the exact same place on the liberal spectrum, and it has infinitely greater resources, and they are - noticeably - offering subscriptions to UK readers for 50p a week.
The NYT can afford to open a UK office doing UK news and they will do it better than the Guardian (because they can pay more), with the same political slant. It is the same, as I say, as Netflix devouring Lovefilm
NYT - Republicans Fear Flawed Candidates Could Imperil Key Senate Seats Races in Missouri and Alabama, with others to come, reflect the potential risks for a party in which loyalty to Donald Trump is the main criterion for securing nominations.
The entry of two hard-right candidates this week into Senate races in Missouri and Alabama exposed the perils for Republicans of a political landscape in which former President Donald J. Trump is the only true north for grass-roots voters.
Strong state parties, big donors and G.O.P. national leaders were once able to anoint a candidate, in order to avoid destructive demolition derbies in state primaries.
But in the Trump era, the pursuit of his endorsement is all-consuming, and absent Mr. Trump’s blessing, there is no mechanism for clearing a cluttered primary field. With the former president focused elsewhere — on settling scores against Republicans who advanced his impeachment or showed insufficient loyalty — a combative Senate primary season is in store for the 2022 midterms, when Republicans who hope to regain the majority face a difficult map. They are fighting to hold on to five open seats after a wave of retirements of establishment figures, and even deep-red Missouri and Alabama pose potential headaches.
A scandal-haunted former Missouri governor, Eric Greitens, entered the race on Monday to replace the retiring Senator Roy Blunt. His candidacy set off a four-alarm fire with state party leaders, who fear that Mr. Greitens may squeak through a crowded primary field, only to lose a winnable seat to a Democrat.
In Alabama, the entry of Representative Mo Brooks, a staunch but lackluster Trump supporter, into the race for the seat being vacated by Senator Richard C. Shelby raised a different set of fears with activists: that Mr. Brooks, who badly lost a previous statewide race, would cause waves of Republican voters, especially women, to sit out the off-year election and crack open the door in a ruby red state for a Democrat. . . . .
Actually if a President said it then I don't think it would be racist.
Given the importance to chips to the modern economy, having a reliable domestic supply of chips really could be considered an issue of national security.
The amount that gets spent on nuclear weapons and defence etc - a supply of chips probably is worth more to security than a couple of nukes.
I was being fascious based on Jon Oliver ridiculous piece where he tried to tie Trump calling covid the China virus as racist hate speech which leads to incidents like the killing of workers at Asian Spas.
Nobody is up in arms about calling things like Brazil, South African or British variant / covid.
Wait, Merkel cancelled Germany's Easter lockdown? Did she not see what happened in the UK over Christmas? Are they seriously going to repeat all of our idiotic and life destroying mistakes.
It's actually a very shocking decision from someone who has got huge responsibility. How have they not learned from our mistakes. The Kent variant will result in hospitals being overrun in a very, very short period of time.
German exceptionalism at work?
Maybe, they're starting in an even worst position than we are as they're already clocking in 20k cases per day anything like the R1.6 we had here will result in 100k cases per day in a very short period of time.
What are the best books to read about the Hungarian revolution (1956) and the Prague spring?
I'm keen to learn about the Soviet reaction/politics in both.
Czech out "Czech Black Book" edited by Robert Littell
For 1956, "Seven Days of Freedom" by Noel Barber.
Both are oldies, but goodies.
I have a more recent work on Hungary 1956 but cannot locate it at the moment!
Ta.
"Czech Black Book" gives day-by-day, hour-by-hour account of the Soviet invasion, the original complied by local journos & dissidents.
Have not read "The 1956 Hungarian Revolution: A History in Documents" which is based on archival sources, published in 2002, but would like to.
Years ago, when I was a student at Indiana University, met a fellow who had fought in the streets of Budapest versus the Russians in 1956, fled to the West, and ended up, as a temporary measure, enlisted in the US Army. Despite the fact that (at the time) he spoke virtually no English.
Told me that he was given a bunk in a barracks, and a uniform. And that anytime an officer or soldier said anything to him (presumably "who the hell are you?") he would take out a paper he'd been given, explaining (the Readers Digest version) of his situation, and hand it to whomever was trying to talk with him.
He said the reaction was pretty much universal; they'd read it, scratch their heads, give him back his papers, then wander off muttering to themselves
Eventually he learned just enough English to figure out what they were saying: "God damn Army!"
Actually if a President said it then I don't think it would be racist.
Given the importance to chips to the modern economy, having a reliable domestic supply of chips really could be considered an issue of national security.
The amount that gets spent on nuclear weapons and defence etc - a supply of chips probably is worth more to security than a couple of nukes.
I was being fascious based on Jon Oliver ridiculous piece where he tried to tie Trump calling covid the China virus as racist hate speech which leads to incidents like the killing of workers at Asian Spas.
Ah, I get it.
I think Trump was being racist, trying to shift the blame on to Chy-na.
We talk about the South Africa variant, the Brazil variant and the rest of the world talks about the British variant but that's because there's so many not suddenly that it enables people to keep track of what's being talked about.
That wasn't the case when Trump was saying Chy-na, Chy-na, Chy-na for everything.
Can anyone explain why Neil Gray was allowed to resign his seat and stand as an MSP, but Joanna Cherry wasn’t?
As I recall Cherry was offered the same option but refused it. I’m not sure why she felt it was such an obstacle.
Ah.
'She said: "It is unprecedented in our party’s history of dual mandates to demand that a parliamentarian make themselves and their constituency staff unemployed in order to be eligible to be a candidate. It is particularly unreasonable to demand this in the middle of a pandemic.'
Supposedly she did not want to have to sack all her staff, she most certainly knew that she was going to be stiffed to let the imposter in anyway so did not agree. She should have gone and stood as an independent. Hopefully Bonnie Prince Bob will take enough votes off Robertson that he gets whipped, would be poetic justice.
Aye, but she faced the same conditions as any other MP wanting to stand for Holyrood, not some special vendetta against her as was implied. She could still have put herself up for the Edinburgh Central SNP candidate election without resigning her Westminster seat as far as I can see.
So why wasn’t he made to resign on 10 November last year when he was officially made a candidate?
You think the Westminster by election should have been called then (at the start of the second Covid wave) rather wait until the Holyrood election? Not sure his constituency staff would appreciate being made unemployed 6 months early.
Wait, Merkel cancelled Germany's Easter lockdown? Did she not see what happened in the UK over Christmas? Are they seriously going to repeat all of our idiotic and life destroying mistakes.
It's actually a very shocking decision from someone who has got huge responsibility. How have they not learned from our mistakes. The Kent variant will result in hospitals being overrun in a very, very short period of time.
Does anyone know why she cancelled it?
Would it be cynical of me to suggest she looked at her party’s standing in the polls?
She's put out a bizarre kind of hostage video to apologize to the nation:
Actually if a President said it then I don't think it would be racist.
Given the importance to chips to the modern economy, having a reliable domestic supply of chips really could be considered an issue of national security.
The amount that gets spent on nuclear weapons and defence etc - a supply of chips probably is worth more to security than a couple of nukes.
I was being fascious based on Jon Oliver ridiculous piece where he tried to tie Trump calling covid the China virus as racist hate speech which leads to incidents like the killing of workers at Asian Spas.
Ah, I get it.
I think Trump was being racist, trying to shift the blame on to Chy-na.
We talk about the South Africa variant, the Brazil variant and the rest of the world talks about the British variant but that's because there's so many not suddenly that it enables people to keep track of what's being talked about.
That wasn't the case when Trump was saying Chy-na, Chy-na, Chy-na for everything.
China is absolutely to blame for this. They lied and covered up the severity of this for months.
Wait, Merkel cancelled Germany's Easter lockdown? Did she not see what happened in the UK over Christmas? Are they seriously going to repeat all of our idiotic and life destroying mistakes.
It's actually a very shocking decision from someone who has got huge responsibility. How have they not learned from our mistakes. The Kent variant will result in hospitals being overrun in a very, very short period of time.
Does anyone know why she cancelled it?
Would it be cynical of me to suggest she looked at her party’s standing in the polls?
She's put out a bizarre kind of hostage video to apologize to the nation:
Actually if a President said it then I don't think it would be racist.
Given the importance to chips to the modern economy, having a reliable domestic supply of chips really could be considered an issue of national security.
The amount that gets spent on nuclear weapons and defence etc - a supply of chips probably is worth more to security than a couple of nukes.
I was being fascious based on Jon Oliver ridiculous piece where he tried to tie Trump calling covid the China virus as racist hate speech which leads to incidents like the killing of workers at Asian Spas.
Nobody is up in arms about calling things like Brazil, South African or British variant / covid.
I think there's a big difference here. The Brazilian/SA/GB variants are described in such a way as a pure statement of fact/identification. It may be factually correct that Covid started in China, but there are clearly ulterior motives at play when the likes of Trump describes it as "China Flu". It is done deliberately to demonise and deflect criticism from himself. So no it is not unreasonable to potentially link it with anti-Asian violence/prejudice IMO. That doesn't mean it was the cause of what happened it Atlanta. But it is possible that there is a link.
NYT - Republicans Fear Flawed Candidates Could Imperil Key Senate Seats Races in Missouri and Alabama, with others to come, reflect the potential risks for a party in which loyalty to Donald Trump is the main criterion for securing nominations.
The entry of two hard-right candidates this week into Senate races in Missouri and Alabama exposed the perils for Republicans of a political landscape in which former President Donald J. Trump is the only true north for grass-roots voters.
Strong state parties, big donors and G.O.P. national leaders were once able to anoint a candidate, in order to avoid destructive demolition derbies in state primaries.
But in the Trump era, the pursuit of his endorsement is all-consuming, and absent Mr. Trump’s blessing, there is no mechanism for clearing a cluttered primary field. With the former president focused elsewhere — on settling scores against Republicans who advanced his impeachment or showed insufficient loyalty — a combative Senate primary season is in store for the 2022 midterms, when Republicans who hope to regain the majority face a difficult map. They are fighting to hold on to five open seats after a wave of retirements of establishment figures, and even deep-red Missouri and Alabama pose potential headaches.
A scandal-haunted former Missouri governor, Eric Greitens, entered the race on Monday to replace the retiring Senator Roy Blunt. His candidacy set off a four-alarm fire with state party leaders, who fear that Mr. Greitens may squeak through a crowded primary field, only to lose a winnable seat to a Democrat.
In Alabama, the entry of Representative Mo Brooks, a staunch but lackluster Trump supporter, into the race for the seat being vacated by Senator Richard C. Shelby raised a different set of fears with activists: that Mr. Brooks, who badly lost a previous statewide race, would cause waves of Republican voters, especially women, to sit out the off-year election and crack open the door in a ruby red state for a Democrat. . . . .
Actually if a President said it then I don't think it would be racist.
Given the importance to chips to the modern economy, having a reliable domestic supply of chips really could be considered an issue of national security.
The amount that gets spent on nuclear weapons and defence etc - a supply of chips probably is worth more to security than a couple of nukes.
I was being fascious based on Jon Oliver ridiculous piece where he tried to tie Trump calling covid the China virus as racist hate speech which leads to incidents like the killing of workers at Asian Spas.
Ah, I get it.
I think Trump was being racist, trying to shift the blame on to Chy-na.
We talk about the South Africa variant, the Brazil variant and the rest of the world talks about the British variant but that's because there's so many not suddenly that it enables people to keep track of what's being talked about.
That wasn't the case when Trump was saying Chy-na, Chy-na, Chy-na for everything.
China is absolutely to blame for this. They lied and covered up the severity of this for months.
And yet, if you say "the Chinese virus" you are a racist, but it is perfectly acceptable to say "the British variant" or "the Brazilian variant"
Again, it is clear: China and Russia have weaponised our ludicrous obsession with race, and turned it against us, so we beat ourselves up and they are exonerated. It is painful to watch
Actually if a President said it then I don't think it would be racist.
Given the importance to chips to the modern economy, having a reliable domestic supply of chips really could be considered an issue of national security.
The amount that gets spent on nuclear weapons and defence etc - a supply of chips probably is worth more to security than a couple of nukes.
I was being fascious based on Jon Oliver ridiculous piece where he tried to tie Trump calling covid the China virus as racist hate speech which leads to incidents like the killing of workers at Asian Spas.
Ah, I get it.
I think Trump was being racist, trying to shift the blame on to Chy-na.
We talk about the South Africa variant, the Brazil variant and the rest of the world talks about the British variant but that's because there's so many not suddenly that it enables people to keep track of what's being talked about.
That wasn't the case when Trump was saying Chy-na, Chy-na, Chy-na for everything.
China is absolutely to blame for this. They lied and covered up the severity of this for months.
Sorry but no, I don't think China were very aware of what was going on for months. China lied but not for months and months, not in the same way as Trump did. Just like the UK with the Kent variant, it may have started in October but it wasn't until December we knew what it meant.
Trump lied and covered up the severity of this for months after it was known about.
Wait, Merkel cancelled Germany's Easter lockdown? Did she not see what happened in the UK over Christmas? Are they seriously going to repeat all of our idiotic and life destroying mistakes.
It's actually a very shocking decision from someone who has got huge responsibility. How have they not learned from our mistakes. The Kent variant will result in hospitals being overrun in a very, very short period of time.
Does anyone know why she cancelled it?
Would it be cynical of me to suggest she looked at her party’s standing in the polls?
She's put out a bizarre kind of hostage video to apologize to the nation:
It's as if her authority has already drained away.
I think this, and a lot of the current EU action on vaccines, is an effort to keep Söder out. He would be a wrecking ball to the EU as it currently operates. It's like having a Mrs Thatcher but in Germany rather than irritating and easy to buy off with a rebate Britain.
I think Söder would get rid of UvdL within days of becoming chancellor.
Actually if a President said it then I don't think it would be racist.
Given the importance to chips to the modern economy, having a reliable domestic supply of chips really could be considered an issue of national security.
The amount that gets spent on nuclear weapons and defence etc - a supply of chips probably is worth more to security than a couple of nukes.
I was being fascious based on Jon Oliver ridiculous piece where he tried to tie Trump calling covid the China virus as racist hate speech which leads to incidents like the killing of workers at Asian Spas.
Ah, I get it.
I think Trump was being racist, trying to shift the blame on to Chy-na.
We talk about the South Africa variant, the Brazil variant and the rest of the world talks about the British variant but that's because there's so many not suddenly that it enables people to keep track of what's being talked about.
That wasn't the case when Trump was saying Chy-na, Chy-na, Chy-na for everything.
China is absolutely to blame for this. They lied and covered up the severity of this for months.
And yet, if you say "the Chinese virus" you are a racist, but it is perfectly acceptable to say "the British variant" or "the Brazilian variant"
Again, it is clear: China and Russia have weaponised our ludicrous obsession with race, and turned it against us, so we beat ourselves up and they are exonerated. It is painful to watch
The protestors in Portland and Bristol are the Useful Idiots in this.
Actually if a President said it then I don't think it would be racist.
Given the importance to chips to the modern economy, having a reliable domestic supply of chips really could be considered an issue of national security.
The amount that gets spent on nuclear weapons and defence etc - a supply of chips probably is worth more to security than a couple of nukes.
I was being fascious based on Jon Oliver ridiculous piece where he tried to tie Trump calling covid the China virus as racist hate speech which leads to incidents like the killing of workers at Asian Spas.
Ah, I get it.
I think Trump was being racist, trying to shift the blame on to Chy-na.
We talk about the South Africa variant, the Brazil variant and the rest of the world talks about the British variant but that's because there's so many not suddenly that it enables people to keep track of what's being talked about.
That wasn't the case when Trump was saying Chy-na, Chy-na, Chy-na for everything.
China is absolutely to blame for this. They lied and covered up the severity of this for months.
Sorry but no, I don't think China were very aware of what was going on for months. China lied but not for months and months, not in the same way as Trump did. Just like the UK with the Kent variant, it may have started in October but it wasn't until December we knew what it meant.
Trump lied and covered up the severity of this for months after it was known about.
Bullshit. China knew exactly what was happening. They closed all domestic flights out of Wuhan province and didn't close international flights. They purposefully spread the virus to the rest of the world.
Actually if a President said it then I don't think it would be racist.
Given the importance to chips to the modern economy, having a reliable domestic supply of chips really could be considered an issue of national security.
The amount that gets spent on nuclear weapons and defence etc - a supply of chips probably is worth more to security than a couple of nukes.
I was being fascious based on Jon Oliver ridiculous piece where he tried to tie Trump calling covid the China virus as racist hate speech which leads to incidents like the killing of workers at Asian Spas.
Nobody is up in arms about calling things like Brazil, South African or British variant / covid.
I think there's a big difference here. The Brazilian/SA/GB variants are described in such a way as a pure statement of fact/identification. It may be factually correct that Covid started in China, but there are clearly ulterior motives at play when the likes of Trump describes it as "China Flu". It is done deliberately to demonise and deflect criticism from himself. So no it is not unreasonable to potentially link it with anti-Asian violence/prejudice IMO. That doesn't mean it was the cause of what happened it Atlanta. But it is possible that there is a link.
The virus was born in China, in Chinese people, either from a Chinese lab or a Chinese market, it probably spread because the Chinese like to eat weird animals. It was then allowed to explode in China because the Chinese government tried to suppress whistle-blowing Chinese doctors warning the Chinese people about this Chinese virus. Which started in China.
Pointing out the Chinese origin of the virus is not "racism", it is sanity
Actually if a President said it then I don't think it would be racist.
Given the importance to chips to the modern economy, having a reliable domestic supply of chips really could be considered an issue of national security.
The amount that gets spent on nuclear weapons and defence etc - a supply of chips probably is worth more to security than a couple of nukes.
I was being fascious based on Jon Oliver ridiculous piece where he tried to tie Trump calling covid the China virus as racist hate speech which leads to incidents like the killing of workers at Asian Spas.
Ah, I get it.
I think Trump was being racist, trying to shift the blame on to Chy-na.
We talk about the South Africa variant, the Brazil variant and the rest of the world talks about the British variant but that's because there's so many not suddenly that it enables people to keep track of what's being talked about.
That wasn't the case when Trump was saying Chy-na, Chy-na, Chy-na for everything.
China is absolutely to blame for this. They lied and covered up the severity of this for months.
Sorry but no, I don't think China were very aware of what was going on for months. China lied but not for months and months, not in the same way as Trump did. Just like the UK with the Kent variant, it may have started in October but it wasn't until December we knew what it meant.
Trump lied and covered up the severity of this for months after it was known about.
The Chinese produced the RNA sequence surprisingly quickly after the wider world became aware of the virus.
Can anyone explain why Neil Gray was allowed to resign his seat and stand as an MSP, but Joanna Cherry wasn’t?
As I recall Cherry was offered the same option but refused it. I’m not sure why she felt it was such an obstacle.
Ah.
'She said: "It is unprecedented in our party’s history of dual mandates to demand that a parliamentarian make themselves and their constituency staff unemployed in order to be eligible to be a candidate. It is particularly unreasonable to demand this in the middle of a pandemic.'
Supposedly she did not want to have to sack all her staff, she most certainly knew that she was going to be stiffed to let the imposter in anyway so did not agree. She should have gone and stood as an independent. Hopefully Bonnie Prince Bob will take enough votes off Robertson that he gets whipped, would be poetic justice.
Aye, but she faced the same conditions as any other MP wanting to stand for Holyrood, not some special vendetta against her as was implied. She could still have put herself up for the Edinburgh Central SNP candidate election without resigning her Westminster seat as far as I can see.
Don't think so TUD, from what I remember she had to resign to put her name forward.
Did the SNP not change the rules to prevent her standing, then change them back again afterwards?
Actually if a President said it then I don't think it would be racist.
Given the importance to chips to the modern economy, having a reliable domestic supply of chips really could be considered an issue of national security.
The amount that gets spent on nuclear weapons and defence etc - a supply of chips probably is worth more to security than a couple of nukes.
I was being fascious based on Jon Oliver ridiculous piece where he tried to tie Trump calling covid the China virus as racist hate speech which leads to incidents like the killing of workers at Asian Spas.
Ah, I get it.
I think Trump was being racist, trying to shift the blame on to Chy-na.
We talk about the South Africa variant, the Brazil variant and the rest of the world talks about the British variant but that's because there's so many not suddenly that it enables people to keep track of what's being talked about.
That wasn't the case when Trump was saying Chy-na, Chy-na, Chy-na for everything.
China is absolutely to blame for this. They lied and covered up the severity of this for months.
Sorry but no, I don't think China were very aware of what was going on for months. China lied but not for months and months, not in the same way as Trump did. Just like the UK with the Kent variant, it may have started in October but it wasn't until December we knew what it meant.
Trump lied and covered up the severity of this for months after it was known about.
Its provably false... paperwork has been released that shows they were aware well before they informed the world. And then they went on to cover up the extent of wuhan, which gave false indications to the rest of the world about severity....yes they released a paper that said fatality rate is about x, which was about right, but the gross numbers backing it up made it appear that even in a massive city like wuhan you were only talking a few 1000 cases. Everybody knows at the start of an unknown disease R / CFR / IFR can be well off, so scientist would weight that against the gross numbers they were being told were actually getting infected, in order to estimate how it spreads.
Actually if a President said it then I don't think it would be racist.
Given the importance to chips to the modern economy, having a reliable domestic supply of chips really could be considered an issue of national security.
The amount that gets spent on nuclear weapons and defence etc - a supply of chips probably is worth more to security than a couple of nukes.
I was being fascious based on Jon Oliver ridiculous piece where he tried to tie Trump calling covid the China virus as racist hate speech which leads to incidents like the killing of workers at Asian Spas.
Ah, I get it.
I think Trump was being racist, trying to shift the blame on to Chy-na.
We talk about the South Africa variant, the Brazil variant and the rest of the world talks about the British variant but that's because there's so many not suddenly that it enables people to keep track of what's being talked about.
That wasn't the case when Trump was saying Chy-na, Chy-na, Chy-na for everything.
China is absolutely to blame for this. They lied and covered up the severity of this for months.
Sorry but no, I don't think China were very aware of what was going on for months. China lied but not for months and months, not in the same way as Trump did. Just like the UK with the Kent variant, it may have started in October but it wasn't until December we knew what it meant.
Trump lied and covered up the severity of this for months after it was known about.
The Chinese produced the RNA sequence surprisingly quickly after the wider world became aware of the virus.
Indeed. It's almost as if they had already known about it for weeks but tried to cover it up.
Actually if a President said it then I don't think it would be racist.
Given the importance to chips to the modern economy, having a reliable domestic supply of chips really could be considered an issue of national security.
The amount that gets spent on nuclear weapons and defence etc - a supply of chips probably is worth more to security than a couple of nukes.
I was being fascious based on Jon Oliver ridiculous piece where he tried to tie Trump calling covid the China virus as racist hate speech which leads to incidents like the killing of workers at Asian Spas.
Ah, I get it.
I think Trump was being racist, trying to shift the blame on to Chy-na.
We talk about the South Africa variant, the Brazil variant and the rest of the world talks about the British variant but that's because there's so many not suddenly that it enables people to keep track of what's being talked about.
That wasn't the case when Trump was saying Chy-na, Chy-na, Chy-na for everything.
China is absolutely to blame for this. They lied and covered up the severity of this for months.
Sorry but no, I don't think China were very aware of what was going on for months. China lied but not for months and months, not in the same way as Trump did. Just like the UK with the Kent variant, it may have started in October but it wasn't until December we knew what it meant.
Trump lied and covered up the severity of this for months after it was known about.
What are you fucking talking about? The Chinese were arresting doctors for telling the truth about the Chinese virus back in December 2019
Actually if a President said it then I don't think it would be racist.
Given the importance to chips to the modern economy, having a reliable domestic supply of chips really could be considered an issue of national security.
The amount that gets spent on nuclear weapons and defence etc - a supply of chips probably is worth more to security than a couple of nukes.
I was being fascious based on Jon Oliver ridiculous piece where he tried to tie Trump calling covid the China virus as racist hate speech which leads to incidents like the killing of workers at Asian Spas.
Ah, I get it.
I think Trump was being racist, trying to shift the blame on to Chy-na.
We talk about the South Africa variant, the Brazil variant and the rest of the world talks about the British variant but that's because there's so many not suddenly that it enables people to keep track of what's being talked about.
That wasn't the case when Trump was saying Chy-na, Chy-na, Chy-na for everything.
China is absolutely to blame for this. They lied and covered up the severity of this for months.
Which does NOTHING to excuse Trumpsky's racism in particular using it for his (supposed) political benefit.
Racist demagoguery that has gotten many Asian people physically attacked, and some killed, here in the USA.
On the other hand, it was also a KEY reason why he lost Georgia.
British schools are NOT institutionally racist. This shit is poisonous.
Easy rule of thumb: in any lefty tract, just replace the word 'institutionally' with 'not' to translate to reality.
I read somewhere the other day (perhaps here?) that you can build an entire career from saying "xxxxx is institutionally racist". This gets you articles in the Guardian and then a place on worried government quangos who will try and address the alleged issue. Then you just move on to the next "xxxx"
Hence "gardening is institutionally racist" or "the monarchy is institutionally racist" or "mathematics is institutionally racist" or "Georgian houses are institutionally racist". All of these examples are real, and there are a million more
These days I just tend to shrug when I see them, it is so much meaningless dross. But this one angered me. I have daughters. I know British schools. They do their utmost NOT to be racist. They have black history month every week. They are inclusive and welcoming. The kids play together in a non racially aware way, it's not Eden but it is a sign of hope. I see schoolkids walking home through Regents Park in big multiracial groups, happy and laughing, and I think Great: that is the future, It can work. People entirely unaware of or unconcerned by skin colour, people experiencing other people as fellow humans, not as members of "a race".
And then along comes a twat like this (white) Guardian writer trying to stir up all kinds of anxiety and animosity, undoing decades of hard work, and it will end with more bitter division and awareness of skin colour than before. "Racial micro invalidations". Jesus.
Couldn’t we just get them to focus on the DfE as being institutionally racist (it is basically a bunch of thick white poshos so it shouldn’t be that hard) and sit back and smile in the knowledge that any damage the Woke do in that campaign will merely help children’s education?
I think it is time I wrote the ultimate Guardian article, "the Guardian is institutionally racist, and so am I"
Is the Guardian aware that in saying that teachers are all racists they are switching off their entire readership, consisting 100% of teachers who believe that everyone in the world is racist except themselves?
The Guardian is now in a very English state of quiet desperation, as their unique way of funding falls apart, as ad spend drops and no one buys folding papers. Their begging letters at the end of each article have got worse, recently they have started hiding the "I don't want to register" button
I reckon the New York Times will devour them, the same way Netflix ate Lovefilm
Unlikely, the Scott Trust which owns the Guardian has an endowment fund of £1.01 billion.
But they are faced with an existential choice (a bit like the BBC), do they want to slowly burn through that money, and then fold, anyway, or do they want to adjust now, and maybe prosper in future?
Until Covid the Guardian was inching its way back to profit, the plague has sent it into another tailspin. On the Scott endowment they could keep going for another decade, or more, but with no long term future.
Meanwhile the detestable NYT is unfortunately thriving. 7 MILLLION paying subscribers. Profits rising
it occupies the exact same place on the liberal spectrum, and it has infinitely greater resources, and they are - noticeably - offering subscriptions to UK readers for 50p a week.
The NYT can afford to open a UK office doing UK news and they will do it better than the Guardian (because they can pay more), with the same political slant. It is the same, as I say, as Netflix devouring Lovefilm
The Guardian approaches nemesis
7 million in a country of 330 million isn't that impressive. It's the equivalent of about 1.4 million in the UK.
Actually if a President said it then I don't think it would be racist.
Given the importance to chips to the modern economy, having a reliable domestic supply of chips really could be considered an issue of national security.
The amount that gets spent on nuclear weapons and defence etc - a supply of chips probably is worth more to security than a couple of nukes.
I was being fascious based on Jon Oliver ridiculous piece where he tried to tie Trump calling covid the China virus as racist hate speech which leads to incidents like the killing of workers at Asian Spas.
Ah, I get it.
I think Trump was being racist, trying to shift the blame on to Chy-na.
We talk about the South Africa variant, the Brazil variant and the rest of the world talks about the British variant but that's because there's so many not suddenly that it enables people to keep track of what's being talked about.
That wasn't the case when Trump was saying Chy-na, Chy-na, Chy-na for everything.
China is absolutely to blame for this. They lied and covered up the severity of this for months.
And yet, if you say "the Chinese virus" you are a racist, but it is perfectly acceptable to say "the British variant" or "the Brazilian variant"
Again, it is clear: China and Russia have weaponised our ludicrous obsession with race, and turned it against us, so we beat ourselves up and they are exonerated. It is painful to watch
Bollocks.
China/Brazil/South Africa is the identifying name people have. The only other name is codes like B117 that people don't understand or use.
"Coronavirus" or "Covid" or "Covid19" is what this was called before Trump started renaming it China virus.
Actually if a President said it then I don't think it would be racist.
Given the importance to chips to the modern economy, having a reliable domestic supply of chips really could be considered an issue of national security.
The amount that gets spent on nuclear weapons and defence etc - a supply of chips probably is worth more to security than a couple of nukes.
I was being fascious based on Jon Oliver ridiculous piece where he tried to tie Trump calling covid the China virus as racist hate speech which leads to incidents like the killing of workers at Asian Spas.
Ah, I get it.
I think Trump was being racist, trying to shift the blame on to Chy-na.
We talk about the South Africa variant, the Brazil variant and the rest of the world talks about the British variant but that's because there's so many not suddenly that it enables people to keep track of what's being talked about.
That wasn't the case when Trump was saying Chy-na, Chy-na, Chy-na for everything.
China is absolutely to blame for this. They lied and covered up the severity of this for months.
Which does NOTHING to excuse Trumpsky's racism in particular using it for his (supposed) political benefit.
Racist demagoguery that has gotten many Asian people physically attacked, and some killed, here in the USA.
On the other hand, it was also a KEY reason why he lost Georgia.
Trump being a racist c*** doesn't absolve China of inflicting this on the world.
British schools are NOT institutionally racist. This shit is poisonous.
Easy rule of thumb: in any lefty tract, just replace the word 'institutionally' with 'not' to translate to reality.
I read somewhere the other day (perhaps here?) that you can build an entire career from saying "xxxxx is institutionally racist". This gets you articles in the Guardian and then a place on worried government quangos who will try and address the alleged issue. Then you just move on to the next "xxxx"
Hence "gardening is institutionally racist" or "the monarchy is institutionally racist" or "mathematics is institutionally racist" or "Georgian houses are institutionally racist". All of these examples are real, and there are a million more
These days I just tend to shrug when I see them, it is so much meaningless dross. But this one angered me. I have daughters. I know British schools. They do their utmost NOT to be racist. They have black history month every week. They are inclusive and welcoming. The kids play together in a non racially aware way, it's not Eden but it is a sign of hope. I see schoolkids walking home through Regents Park in big multiracial groups, happy and laughing, and I think Great: that is the future, It can work. People entirely unaware of or unconcerned by skin colour, people experiencing other people as fellow humans, not as members of "a race".
And then along comes a twat like this (white) Guardian writer trying to stir up all kinds of anxiety and animosity, undoing decades of hard work, and it will end with more bitter division and awareness of skin colour than before. "Racial micro invalidations". Jesus.
Couldn’t we just get them to focus on the DfE as being institutionally racist (it is basically a bunch of thick white poshos so it shouldn’t be that hard) and sit back and smile in the knowledge that any damage the Woke do in that campaign will merely help children’s education?
I think it is time I wrote the ultimate Guardian article, "the Guardian is institutionally racist, and so am I"
Is the Guardian aware that in saying that teachers are all racists they are switching off their entire readership, consisting 100% of teachers who believe that everyone in the world is racist except themselves?
The Guardian is now in a very English state of quiet desperation, as their unique way of funding falls apart, as ad spend drops and no one buys folding papers. Their begging letters at the end of each article have got worse, recently they have started hiding the "I don't want to register" button
I reckon the New York Times will devour them, the same way Netflix ate Lovefilm
Unlikely, the Scott Trust which owns the Guardian has an endowment fund of £1.01 billion.
But they are faced with an existential choice (a bit like the BBC), do they want to slowly burn through that money, and then fold, anyway, or do they want to adjust now, and maybe prosper in future?
Until Covid the Guardian was inching its way back to profit, the plague has sent it into another tailspin. On the Scott endowment they could keep going for another decade, or more, but with no long term future.
Meanwhile the detestable NYT is unfortunately thriving. 7 MILLLION paying subscribers. Profits rising
it occupies the exact same place on the liberal spectrum, and it has infinitely greater resources, and they are - noticeably - offering subscriptions to UK readers for 50p a week.
The NYT can afford to open a UK office doing UK news and they will do it better than the Guardian (because they can pay more), with the same political slant. It is the same, as I say, as Netflix devouring Lovefilm
The Guardian approaches nemesis
7 million in a country of 330 million isn't that impressive. It's the equivalent of about 1.4 million in the UK.
Sure, but it is 7 million more than the Guardian, which is kinda my point
Comments
Crikey!
*Yes, I’m aware he’s not there in person.
Hopefully the government will give MSPs parliamentary privilege before the start of this case so that MSPs can speak openly without fear of being targeted by the highly political Lord Advocate.
The real spending "splurge" will come with the lifting of lockdown restrictions and the surge of money into the economy is likely to have some inflationary impact.
Hence "gardening is institutionally racist" or "the monarchy is institutionally racist" or "mathematics is institutionally racist" or "Georgian houses are institutionally racist". All of these examples are real, and there are a million more
These days I just tend to shrug when I see them, it is so much meaningless dross. But this one angered me. I have daughters. I know British schools. They do their utmost NOT to be racist. They have black history month every week. They are inclusive and welcoming. The kids play together in a non racially aware way, it's not Eden but it is a sign of hope. I see schoolkids walking home through Regents Park in big multiracial groups, happy and laughing, and I think Great: that is the future, It can work. People entirely unaware of or unconcerned by skin colour, people experiencing other people as fellow humans, not as members of "a race".
And then along comes a twat like this (white) Guardian writer trying to stir up all kinds of anxiety and animosity, undoing decades of hard work, and it will end with more bitter division and awareness of skin colour than before. "Racial micro invalidations". Jesus.
Soviet joke. Andropov met the Central Committee after the death of Brezhnev, and he was elected successor. His first words were, ‘Very well, Comrades, now you have voted you may lower your hands and step away from the wall.’
And yet, of course, in other important ways he was a reformer even if he was no Gorbachev. His anti-corruption Drive was important and wouldn’t have happened under Chernenko.
I don’t know of any good biography of him in English, although that doesn’t mean there isn’t one. Johanna Granville has done some work on the Hungarian rising, and Martin McCauley is probably the big expert on Khrushchev in English. Might be worth checking their work out.
"The concept of institutional racism is institutionally racist, and so are you for reading this"
"Until we learn to address the racism in our anti racism, we can never address the racism in our anti racist anti racism, which is itself racist, and so is he"
2-1
Boo!
It is not "working" it has "worked" the wave is over already.
The government has no right or responsibility to be taking away our civil liberties for a virus that isn't even killing people let alone overwhelming the NHS.
17% would certainly be a remarkable performance by them - their previous best was 14% in 2001. It would also be against the run of play as at recent elections they have been going backwards.
It may be as simple as Yougov polls a higher proportion of the urban lefties who liked Corbyn and are now looking at the Greens/Plaid instead. But that is a low percentage of people in Wales.
I reckon the New York Times will devour them, the same way Netflix ate Lovefilm
It's actually a very shocking decision from someone who has got huge responsibility. How have they not learned from our mistakes. The Kent variant will result in hospitals being overrun in a very, very short period of time.
If you gave each of them an empty pram, Grayling would lose it, Williamson would break it and VDL would set herself on fire. And burn the building down....
Grayling is something like 8/10 on the VDL scale, Williamson is a 7, I think.
For 1956, "Seven Days of Freedom" by Noel Barber.
Both are oldies, but goodies.
I have a more recent work on Hungary 1956 but cannot locate it at the moment!
"to escape an institution that puts all that pointless red tape on its members. After all, WHETHER OR NOT WE'RE EU MEMBERS, why should it be any more work to send a pork chop to Paris than to Newcastle? FRENCH CONSUMERS SUFFER TO KEEP EU BUREAUCRATS IN JOBS"
Thought they’d something more to say
I'd like to support really the old printed newspapers. We've lost something that was great there. The journalism of today is a lesser thing, even at its best. It's a bit baffling that a big budget and a film crew can't outdo a man with a cigarette and a typewriter, but it certainly seems that way.
I sometimes wonder if there could be a little niche for someone trying to do media while clearly recognising those sorts of distinction.
In Italy the FdL of course is about the only main party not in government now, so effectively is the sole opposition
So where's the problem?
When did that happen?
Anyway. Topping asked for our opinions. I gave mine, you gave yours.
Ash to ash, dust to dust, fade to black
Fortune, fame, mirror vain, gone insane
Fortune, fame, mirror vain, gone insane
Dance little tin goddess...."
With Venstre in turmoil, the Conservatives are now the main centre-right opposition but the Social Democrats have an enormous advantage (20 points) in current polling.
The Cs come first in CDU/CSU for a reason.
It is inexcusable to be taking away civil liberties when deaths aren't happening.
Races in Missouri and Alabama, with others to come, reflect the potential risks for a party in which loyalty to Donald Trump is the main criterion for securing nominations.
The entry of two hard-right candidates this week into Senate races in Missouri and Alabama exposed the perils for Republicans of a political landscape in which former President Donald J. Trump is the only true north for grass-roots voters.
Strong state parties, big donors and G.O.P. national leaders were once able to anoint a candidate, in order to avoid destructive demolition derbies in state primaries.
But in the Trump era, the pursuit of his endorsement is all-consuming, and absent Mr. Trump’s blessing, there is no mechanism for clearing a cluttered primary field. With the former president focused elsewhere — on settling scores against Republicans who advanced his impeachment or showed insufficient loyalty — a combative Senate primary season is in store for the 2022 midterms, when Republicans who hope to regain the majority face a difficult map. They are fighting to hold on to five open seats after a wave of retirements of establishment figures, and even deep-red Missouri and Alabama pose potential headaches.
A scandal-haunted former Missouri governor, Eric Greitens, entered the race on Monday to replace the retiring Senator Roy Blunt. His candidacy set off a four-alarm fire with state party leaders, who fear that Mr. Greitens may squeak through a crowded primary field, only to lose a winnable seat to a Democrat.
In Alabama, the entry of Representative Mo Brooks, a staunch but lackluster Trump supporter, into the race for the seat being vacated by Senator Richard C. Shelby raised a different set of fears with activists: that Mr. Brooks, who badly lost a previous statewide race, would cause waves of Republican voters, especially women, to sit out the off-year election and crack open the door in a ruby red state for a Democrat. . . . .
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/24/us/politics/senate-races-missouri-alabama.html?action=click&module=News&pgtype=Homepage
Intel's new chief executive has told the BBC it is not "palatable" that so many computer chips are made in Asia.
BBC News - Intel chief Pat Gelsinger: Too many chips made in Asia
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-56512430
https://twitter.com/dwnews/status/1374719398355689475
Car traffic is 70-75% of pre-Covid levels but lorry traffic is at or just above pre-Covid numbers.
Worth mentioning road haulage has been huge in keeping the country going through all this - also noting fuel prices creeping back up - unleaded at 119.9p per litre in lowland East London.
Given the importance to chips to the modern economy, having a reliable domestic supply of chips really could be considered an issue of national security.
The amount that gets spent on nuclear weapons and defence etc - a supply of chips probably is worth more to security than a couple of nukes.
Until Covid the Guardian was inching its way back to profit, the plague has sent it into another tailspin. On the Scott endowment they could keep going for another decade, or more, but with no long term future.
Meanwhile the detestable NYT is unfortunately thriving. 7 MILLLION paying subscribers. Profits rising
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/05/business/media/new-york-times-q3-2020-earnings-nyt.html
it occupies the exact same place on the liberal spectrum, and it has infinitely greater resources, and they are - noticeably - offering subscriptions to UK readers for 50p a week.
The NYT can afford to open a UK office doing UK news and they will do it better than the Guardian (because they can pay more), with the same political slant. It is the same, as I say, as Netflix devouring Lovefilm
The Guardian approaches nemesis
Nobody is up in arms about calling things like Brazil, South African or British variant / covid.
Have not read "The 1956 Hungarian Revolution: A History in Documents" which is based on archival sources, published in 2002, but would like to.
Years ago, when I was a student at Indiana University, met a fellow who had fought in the streets of Budapest versus the Russians in 1956, fled to the West, and ended up, as a temporary measure, enlisted in the US Army. Despite the fact that (at the time) he spoke virtually no English.
Told me that he was given a bunk in a barracks, and a uniform. And that anytime an officer or soldier said anything to him (presumably "who the hell are you?") he would take out a paper he'd been given, explaining (the Readers Digest version) of his situation, and hand it to whomever was trying to talk with him.
He said the reaction was pretty much universal; they'd read it, scratch their heads, give him back his papers, then wander off muttering to themselves
Eventually he learned just enough English to figure out what they were saying: "God damn Army!"
I think Trump was being racist, trying to shift the blame on to Chy-na.
We talk about the South Africa variant, the Brazil variant and the rest of the world talks about the British variant but that's because there's so many not suddenly that it enables people to keep track of what's being talked about.
That wasn't the case when Trump was saying Chy-na, Chy-na, Chy-na for everything.
Public apologies are often necessary, but that's like a grovelling struggle session during the Cultural Revolution
Color me doubtful, that lightening will strike twice for the Dems in an AL US Sen race.
Again, it is clear: China and Russia have weaponised our ludicrous obsession with race, and turned it against us, so we beat ourselves up and they are exonerated. It is painful to watch
Trump lied and covered up the severity of this for months after it was known about.
I think Söder would get rid of UvdL within days of becoming chancellor.
Pointing out the Chinese origin of the virus is not "racism", it is sanity
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-51364382
Racist demagoguery that has gotten many Asian people physically attacked, and some killed, here in the USA.
On the other hand, it was also a KEY reason why he lost Georgia.
https://twitter.com/JamesKelly/status/1374822720265916421?s=20
China/Brazil/South Africa is the identifying name people have. The only other name is codes like B117 that people don't understand or use.
"Coronavirus" or "Covid" or "Covid19" is what this was called before Trump started renaming it China virus.