The point must be coming when Biden rows back on leaving in his time scale
Will be interesting what he says shortly
There shouldn’t even be a bloody stupid time scale. Biden should have ripped up Trump’s moronic agreement, slowly started moving people out, kept bagram open just in case, put in MORE troops to aid a slow, thorough withdrawal. And right at the end you sabotage all weapons if you do have to get everyone out. Meanwhile start arming potential taliban adversaries
And, also, fuck Pakistan. Frankly. This country is no friend of the West.
I cannot understand why Pakistan has not been put under more pressure by the West. They have been arming the Taliban and giving them sanctuary. The Taliban don't have munitions factories. One has to assume they have got their weapons and materiel from Pakistan.
I don’t get it either
Pakistan is a nation founded expressly as an Islamic state and is nuclear capable.
Do you feel lucky?
We are not obliged to give them aid, or allow migration therefrom, for starters. It’s a hostile power
Exactly what I said the other day. They are not our friends.
The point must be coming when Biden rows back on leaving in his time scale
Will be interesting what he says shortly
There shouldn’t even be a bloody stupid time scale. Biden should have ripped up Trump’s moronic agreement, slowly started moving people out, kept bagram open just in case, put in MORE troops to aid a slow, thorough withdrawal. And right at the end you sabotage all weapons if you do have to get everyone out. Meanwhile start arming potential taliban adversaries
And, also, fuck Pakistan. Frankly. This country is no friend of the West.
I cannot understand why Pakistan has not been put under more pressure by the West. They have been arming the Taliban and giving them sanctuary. The Taliban don't have munitions factories. One has to assume they have got their weapons and materiel from Pakistan.
I don’t get it either
Pakistan is a nation founded expressly as an Islamic state and is nuclear capable.
Do you feel lucky?
We are not obliged to give them aid, or allow migration therefrom, for starters. It’s a hostile power
Exactly what I said the other day. They are not our friends.
They invented the "Taliban" and researched the name to find the best one.....
A welcome reminder - in the face of considerable 'breakthrough infection' anxiety - that SARSCoV2 is transitioning into endemicicity. Those numbers are remarkable, even more so if we remind ourselves that fewer than 10% of people in the UK have no antibodies to SARSCoV2 yet......
A friendly reminder that in England COVID-19 is still spreading mainly among immune naive people:
ENGLAND cases in July: - 98.6% never previously infected - 78.1% were unvaccinated
Another terrible aspect of that presser. This is the biggest US foreign policy humiliation in many years
Biden was late, he was there for about 20 minutes, he took 5 pre-planned questions, then fled
He is not serving American democracy, apart from anything else. Even Trump was more up-front than this
He can never come back from this.
Edit: Others might, but my view of Biden is that he can't.
How can we know? Who knows how this is all being seen in the american heartlands and Trump/Biden swing counties?
Quite true. We can’t. But Biden looks defeated emotionally and psychologically. It all looks painful. He’s a seriously old man. Whatever happens this will now haunt him (and it could get still worse). I can’t see him running again - so to that extent he probably cannot come back from this
I did wonder if that’s why he’s claimed it’s his decision and his decision alone.
Huge story… leaked memo shows Biden promised Boris Johnson and G7 leaders in June that the US would maintain enough of a security presence in Afghanistan that they would keep Kabul safe — then failed to keep that commitment
Jim Callaghan - the classic "in office but not in power" PM, at any rate before John Major and TM.
Still at least he paved the way for Margaret Thatcher. Although I still remember the candles my parents kept for several years afterwards in case the Winter of Discontent was repeated.
I do not recall candles being needed during the Winter of Discontent - the miners, electricity power workers etc were not involved in the industrial chaos which then engulfed the country. Power cuts and the associated need for candles belonged to the 3-Day Week of the 1973/74 Winter - and before that the first Miners Strike in early 1972.In the Winter of 1970/71 there had also been power cuts when Frank Chappell's power workers took industrial action. All of that happened under Ted Heath's Government - not Callaghan.
That is of course true - but I imagine my father's reasoning was that it wasn't predictable which sectors would be hit by widespread industrial discontent in the future, and while the dead going unburied or Ford workers coming out wouldn't affect him directly in the short term, electricity certainly would.
I wonder whether he still had them during the Miner's Strike?
I remember the rotad power cuts vividly. I can't remember which year, 71 or 72. We had candles etc because the power cuts used to last 4hours. Thinking back there must have been a lot of house fires.
Very cheesy film but worth it for the Sean Connery cameo, and the Queen soundtrack - which is superb.
Did they ever write a bad song?
My friend would go into paroxysms of irritation whenever "Friends Will Be Friends" played, but I like it. I'm in the "no bad Queen song" camp.
What I love about Highlander is that in a film about immortal Scottish clansmen, Sean Connery - who famously couldn't do any other accent to save himself - is for some reason playing a guy called Ramirez. In the Highlands. Of Scotland.
President Joe Biden told key allies in June that he would maintain enough of a security presence in Afghanistan to ensure they could continue to operate in the capital following the main U.S. withdrawal, a vow made before the Taliban’s rapid final push across the country, according to a British diplomatic memo seen by Bloomberg.
Biden promised U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson and other leaders at the Group of Seven summit in Cornwall, England, that “critical U.S. enablers” would remain in place to keep Kabul safe following the drawdown of NATO forces, the note said. British officials determined the U.S. would provide enough personnel to ensure that the U.K. embassy in Kabul could continue operating.
So the Taliban are setting women on fire for cooking food wrong, and exporting young women in coffins to neighbouring countries to be used as sex slaves. But that’s ok, because
‘US Government Demands Taliban Respect Women And Girls In Strongly Worded Statement‘
@Leon is flying Athens to London. I didn't think BA had Internet on its European flights yet, but I could be completely wrong.
(Of course, Starlink will provide Internet to pretty much all the world's airlines in a couple of years.)
I don't think the passenger experience of flying BA is any better these days than flying Easyjet or Ryanair, and in some respects it's worse.
That said BA's pilots are bloody good -apart from one incident it hasn't had a single fatality in almost 50 years of operating, and coming back down on the ground in one piece is my primary concern when flying.
A welcome reminder - in the face of considerable 'breakthrough infection' anxiety - that SARSCoV2 is transitioning into endemicicity. Those numbers are remarkable, even more so if we remind ourselves that fewer than 10% of people in the UK have no antibodies to SARSCoV2 yet......
A friendly reminder that in England COVID-19 is still spreading mainly among immune naive people:
ENGLAND cases in July: - 98.6% never previously infected - 78.1% were unvaccinated
In Germany if the Union are largest party it would likely still be a Union and SPD coalition with the Greens or FDP added on.
In Canada, Liberal leakage to the 3rd placed NDP would benefit the 2nd placed Conservatives most under Canadian FPTP of course given the NDP are still 6% behind the Conservatives but the Conservatives now only 2% behind the Liberals.
It looks like Trudeau will scrape home as largest party but fail to get the majority he wanted
We've discussed Germany at length and I don't disagree but the gap between the Union and SPD has closed and is closing. It's not inconceivable the SPD could top the poll for the first time since 2002.
As for Canada, there's a lot going on under the figures I think. There would be a swing from Conservative to NDP as well on these numbers. The NDP were 18 points behind the Conservatives in 2019 - Counsel has the gap at seven so that's a 5.5% swing which is not inconsiderable.
The question is how the votes will shape up in Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia. There's no point the Conservatives piling up votes in Alberta and Saskatchewan if they miss marginals in those other three provinces.
Canadian Conservatives are weird. They manage to be rather wet and Trumpy at the same time.
Meanwhile, you have a Woke idiot leading a Wokey centre-Left Blairite party, and then a radical Left Corbynite style party.
A welcome reminder - in the face of considerable 'breakthrough infection' anxiety - that SARSCoV2 is transitioning into endemicicity. Those numbers are remarkable, even more so if we remind ourselves that fewer than 10% of people in the UK have no antibodies to SARSCoV2 yet......
A friendly reminder that in England COVID-19 is still spreading mainly among immune naive people:
ENGLAND cases in July: - 98.6% never previously infected - 78.1% were unvaccinated
Seems like we just need to burn through the anti-vaxxers.
There's going to be plenty of missing footballers this season.
In a grim way, each day of 30,000 new cases is a ‘good’ thing, it’s 30,000 fewer who are still to get Covid or get jabbed. I believe this is part of the plan tbh. I note that the powers that be seem very relaxed about cases now, as they should be.
Huge story… leaked memo shows Biden promised Boris Johnson and G7 leaders in June that the US would maintain enough of a security presence in Afghanistan that they would keep Kabul safe — then failed to keep that commitment
NEW: Biden assured key allies in June that US security enablers would remain in place in Afghanistan as NATO troops withdrew, so much so that U.K. thought it could maintain its Kabul embassy
Is this worse for US-Ally relationships than everything under Trump combined? Horrendous abdication of responsibility.
Very cheesy film but worth it for the Sean Connery cameo, and the Queen soundtrack - which is superb.
Did they ever write a bad song?
My friend would go into paroxysms of irritation whenever "Friends Will Be Friends" played, but I like it. I'm in the "no bad Queen song" camp.
What I love about Highlander is that in a film about immortal Scottish clansmen, Sean Connery - who famously couldn't do any other accent to save himself - is for some reason playing a guy called Ramirez. In the Highlands. Of Scotland.
I didn't much enjoy Highlander, but it's worth watching some of the many comedic reviews of the later films (not merely the legendary Highlander II), as the series seems almost indescribably bad.
In Germany if the Union are largest party it would likely still be a Union and SPD coalition with the Greens or FDP added on.
In Canada, Liberal leakage to the 3rd placed NDP would benefit the 2nd placed Conservatives most under Canadian FPTP of course given the NDP are still 6% behind the Conservatives but the Conservatives now only 2% behind the Liberals.
It looks like Trudeau will scrape home as largest party but fail to get the majority he wanted
We've discussed Germany at length and I don't disagree but the gap between the Union and SPD has closed and is closing. It's not inconceivable the SPD could top the poll for the first time since 2002.
As for Canada, there's a lot going on under the figures I think. There would be a swing from Conservative to NDP as well on these numbers. The NDP were 18 points behind the Conservatives in 2019 - Counsel has the gap at seven so that's a 5.5% swing which is not inconsiderable.
The question is how the votes will shape up in Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia. There's no point the Conservatives piling up votes in Alberta and Saskatchewan if they miss marginals in those other three provinces.
Canadian Conservatives are weird. They manage to be rather wet and Trumpy at the same time.
Meanwhile, you have a Woke idiot leading a Wokey centre-Left Blairite party, and then a radical Left Corbynite style party.
Not exactly an inspiring choice.
Who exactly are the radical Left Corbynites in Canada? And Trudeau resembles Cameron rather than Blair to me.
Huge story… leaked memo shows Biden promised Boris Johnson and G7 leaders in June that the US would maintain enough of a security presence in Afghanistan that they would keep Kabul safe — then failed to keep that commitment
NEW: Biden assured key allies in June that US security enablers would remain in place in Afghanistan as NATO troops withdrew, so much so that U.K. thought it could maintain its Kabul embassy
Is this worse for US-Ally relationships than everything under Trump combined? Horrendous abdication of responsibility.
This is shocking and really needs the press to go to town on how Biden betrayed the UK, France, Germany and Nato allies
And by the way explains why none of these countries expected the immediate collapse of Kabul
President Joe Biden told key allies in June that he would maintain enough of a security presence in Afghanistan to ensure they could continue to operate in the capital following the main U.S. withdrawal, a vow made before the Taliban’s rapid final push across the country, according to a British diplomatic memo seen by Bloomberg.
Biden promised U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson and other leaders at the Group of Seven summit in Cornwall, England, that “critical U.S. enablers” would remain in place to keep Kabul safe following the drawdown of NATO forces, the note said. British officials determined the U.S. would provide enough personnel to ensure that the U.K. embassy in Kabul could continue operating.
Huge story… leaked memo shows Biden promised Boris Johnson and G7 leaders in June that the US would maintain enough of a security presence in Afghanistan that they would keep Kabul safe — then failed to keep that commitment
NEW: Biden assured key allies in June that US security enablers would remain in place in Afghanistan as NATO troops withdrew, so much so that U.K. thought it could maintain its Kabul embassy
Is this worse for US-Ally relationships than everything under Trump combined? Horrendous abdication of responsibility.
A welcome reminder - in the face of considerable 'breakthrough infection' anxiety - that SARSCoV2 is transitioning into endemicicity. Those numbers are remarkable, even more so if we remind ourselves that fewer than 10% of people in the UK have no antibodies to SARSCoV2 yet......
A friendly reminder that in England COVID-19 is still spreading mainly among immune naive people:
ENGLAND cases in July: - 98.6% never previously infected - 78.1% were unvaccinated
Seems like we just need to burn through the anti-vaxxers.
There's going to be plenty of missing footballers this season.
In a grim way, each day of 30,000 new cases is a ‘good’ thing, it’s 30,000 fewer who are still to get Covid or get jabbed. I believe this is part of the plan tbh. I note that the powers that be seem very relaxed about cases now, as they should be.
No point trying to delay it either, better now than during winter.
And given the reduction in symptomatic infection from vaccination the total number of infections each day is likely to be several times the reported number.
Huge story… leaked memo shows Biden promised Boris Johnson and G7 leaders in June that the US would maintain enough of a security presence in Afghanistan that they would keep Kabul safe — then failed to keep that commitment
NEW: Biden assured key allies in June that US security enablers would remain in place in Afghanistan as NATO troops withdrew, so much so that U.K. thought it could maintain its Kabul embassy
Is this worse for US-Ally relationships than everything under Trump combined? Horrendous abdication of responsibility.
This is shocking and really needs the press to go to town on how Biden betrayed the UK, France, Germany and Nato allies
And by the way explains why none of these countries expected the immediate collapse of Kabul
Time for this forum to utterly condemn Biden
Its possible that Biden didn't know what he was promising or forgot afterwards.
Very cheesy film but worth it for the Sean Connery cameo, and the Queen soundtrack - which is superb.
Did they ever write a bad song?
My friend would go into paroxysms of irritation whenever "Friends Will Be Friends" played, but I like it. I'm in the "no bad Queen song" camp.
What I love about Highlander is that in a film about immortal Scottish clansmen, Sean Connery - who famously couldn't do any other accent to save himself - is for some reason playing a guy called Ramirez. In the Highlands. Of Scotland.
It's hilarious. Particularly when he asks what haggis is, and then says it sounds revolting.
WRT Afghanistan, the Northern Alliance/ANA (the difference is largely academic) seem to have regrouped in decent numbers in the Panjshir valley, and now are pushing out towards Bagram alongside some of the Tajik communities just north of Panjshir rebelling and now have linked up with the (A)NA, so about 1/3rd of Baglan now is under (A)NA control.
There's videos from even the Pashtun areas of Afghanistan showing some pretty ballsy acts of rebellion.
It seems like it'll largely come down to the Taliban's elite units (i.e. Badri-313, not the vast majority of their forces, who are composed of people who will go with whoever they think will win, and people unused to fighting more than a day away from home) against the Afghan commandos. Credit to Rashid Khan for painting the Afghan Govt. colours on his cheeks today.
So, whose SPAD will have done the leaking I wonder?
Does it matter
It is sensational and at the same time shocking
It matters in the fine details, and regarding why it was done. Be it No.10, Raab or some random official of their own initiative, sure, it's out there, but the motivation is still interesting, as no all of the examples have the same one.
Huge story… leaked memo shows Biden promised Boris Johnson and G7 leaders in June that the US would maintain enough of a security presence in Afghanistan that they would keep Kabul safe — then failed to keep that commitment
NEW: Biden assured key allies in June that US security enablers would remain in place in Afghanistan as NATO troops withdrew, so much so that U.K. thought it could maintain its Kabul embassy
Is this worse for US-Ally relationships than everything under Trump combined? Horrendous abdication of responsibility.
Utter betrayal
'The Administration cannot continue to defend the indefensible: Civilian citizens and our Afghan partners should always leave first—then the military. We cannot abruptly abandon the people who helped us over the past 20 years and leave them to face the Taliban alone.'
In Germany if the Union are largest party it would likely still be a Union and SPD coalition with the Greens or FDP added on.
In Canada, Liberal leakage to the 3rd placed NDP would benefit the 2nd placed Conservatives most under Canadian FPTP of course given the NDP are still 6% behind the Conservatives but the Conservatives now only 2% behind the Liberals.
It looks like Trudeau will scrape home as largest party but fail to get the majority he wanted
We've discussed Germany at length and I don't disagree but the gap between the Union and SPD has closed and is closing. It's not inconceivable the SPD could top the poll for the first time since 2002.
As for Canada, there's a lot going on under the figures I think. There would be a swing from Conservative to NDP as well on these numbers. The NDP were 18 points behind the Conservatives in 2019 - Counsel has the gap at seven so that's a 5.5% swing which is not inconsiderable.
The question is how the votes will shape up in Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia. There's no point the Conservatives piling up votes in Alberta and Saskatchewan if they miss marginals in those other three provinces.
Canadian Conservatives are weird. They manage to be rather wet and Trumpy at the same time.
Meanwhile, you have a Woke idiot leading a Wokey centre-Left Blairite party, and then a radical Left Corbynite style party.
Not exactly an inspiring choice.
Who exactly are the radical Left Corbynites in Canada? And Trudeau resembles Cameron rather than Blair to me.
God, no, he's not Cameron. Not in the slightest. This is a guy who corrects people saying "mankind" to "peoplekind" and says stuff like "shecession". He's an embarrassing Woke millennial twat.
More like a far younger Nick Clegg but with the politics of Chukka Umunna.
In Germany if the Union are largest party it would likely still be a Union and SPD coalition with the Greens or FDP added on.
In Canada, Liberal leakage to the 3rd placed NDP would benefit the 2nd placed Conservatives most under Canadian FPTP of course given the NDP are still 6% behind the Conservatives but the Conservatives now only 2% behind the Liberals.
It looks like Trudeau will scrape home as largest party but fail to get the majority he wanted
We've discussed Germany at length and I don't disagree but the gap between the Union and SPD has closed and is closing. It's not inconceivable the SPD could top the poll for the first time since 2002.
As for Canada, there's a lot going on under the figures I think. There would be a swing from Conservative to NDP as well on these numbers. The NDP were 18 points behind the Conservatives in 2019 - Counsel has the gap at seven so that's a 5.5% swing which is not inconsiderable.
The question is how the votes will shape up in Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia. There's no point the Conservatives piling up votes in Alberta and Saskatchewan if they miss marginals in those other three provinces.
Canadian Conservatives are weird. They manage to be rather wet and Trumpy at the same time.
Meanwhile, you have a Woke idiot leading a Wokey centre-Left Blairite party, and then a radical Left Corbynite style party.
Not exactly an inspiring choice.
Who exactly are the radical Left Corbynites in Canada? And Trudeau resembles Cameron rather than Blair to me.
I assume they would be the NDP.
Trudeau is a combination of Cameron, Clegg, Blair, JFK and Macron (and if rumours are to be believed Fidel Castro)
I had heard of The Secret Barrister and the Secret Magistrate, but I had no idea it was a whole genre now Why are there so many ‘secret’ books?...
First there was the “Secret Barrister”, whose mysterious social media avatar of a robed bunny rabbit propelled him/her first to the heights of legal Twitter and then to a multi-book deal. Hot on his/her heels came lid-lifting memoirs from the “Secret Doctor”, “Secret Civil Servant”, “Secret Magistrate” et al; now the genre welcomes a volume from the “Secret Head Teacher” (out on 19 August)...
Through history, signing your name to your testimony was what gave it credibility. Enthusiasts of rhetoric call this the “ethos” appeal: your audience knows who you are and can trust you – or not – based on your public standing.
Now, the opposite seems to hold. We are in an environment where anonymity is not the token of the fink, the weasel, the confidential informer and the nark, but of the brave speaker of truth to power... The suggestion is there are some truths that can only be spoken under a cloak of anonymity.
I did like The Secret Barrister and Fake Law, though Justice on Trial by Chris Daw was good and shows it doesn't need to be anonymous. Secret Magistrate sounds interesting.
In Germany if the Union are largest party it would likely still be a Union and SPD coalition with the Greens or FDP added on.
In Canada, Liberal leakage to the 3rd placed NDP would benefit the 2nd placed Conservatives most under Canadian FPTP of course given the NDP are still 6% behind the Conservatives but the Conservatives now only 2% behind the Liberals.
It looks like Trudeau will scrape home as largest party but fail to get the majority he wanted
We've discussed Germany at length and I don't disagree but the gap between the Union and SPD has closed and is closing. It's not inconceivable the SPD could top the poll for the first time since 2002.
As for Canada, there's a lot going on under the figures I think. There would be a swing from Conservative to NDP as well on these numbers. The NDP were 18 points behind the Conservatives in 2019 - Counsel has the gap at seven so that's a 5.5% swing which is not inconsiderable.
The question is how the votes will shape up in Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia. There's no point the Conservatives piling up votes in Alberta and Saskatchewan if they miss marginals in those other three provinces.
Canadian Conservatives are weird. They manage to be rather wet and Trumpy at the same time.
Meanwhile, you have a Woke idiot leading a Wokey centre-Left Blairite party, and then a radical Left Corbynite style party.
Not exactly an inspiring choice.
That is because the current Canadian Conservative Party is a product of the 2003 merger between the wet Progressive Conservatives, based in Quebec and the Atlantic states and metropolitan Ontario and the UKIP like Canadian Alliance based in more rural Ontario and the West
On Britain being able to "hold the line" by itself - no-one would love that to be true more than myself, but we couldn't hold just half of one province - Helmand - with 10,000 troops before the 2010 SDSR and the large cuts that subsequently befell the army.
As @Sean_F said I think you'd be looking at 1947 as the last time we could have pulled off an operation like that in that part of the world solo, and we didn't exactly have a stellar record in Afghanistan even before then.
In Germany if the Union are largest party it would likely still be a Union and SPD coalition with the Greens or FDP added on.
In Canada, Liberal leakage to the 3rd placed NDP would benefit the 2nd placed Conservatives most under Canadian FPTP of course given the NDP are still 6% behind the Conservatives but the Conservatives now only 2% behind the Liberals.
It looks like Trudeau will scrape home as largest party but fail to get the majority he wanted
We've discussed Germany at length and I don't disagree but the gap between the Union and SPD has closed and is closing. It's not inconceivable the SPD could top the poll for the first time since 2002.
As for Canada, there's a lot going on under the figures I think. There would be a swing from Conservative to NDP as well on these numbers. The NDP were 18 points behind the Conservatives in 2019 - Counsel has the gap at seven so that's a 5.5% swing which is not inconsiderable.
The question is how the votes will shape up in Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia. There's no point the Conservatives piling up votes in Alberta and Saskatchewan if they miss marginals in those other three provinces.
Canadian Conservatives are weird. They manage to be rather wet and Trumpy at the same time.
Meanwhile, you have a Woke idiot leading a Wokey centre-Left Blairite party, and then a radical Left Corbynite style party.
Not exactly an inspiring choice.
That is because the current Canadian Conservative Party is a product of the 2003 merger between the wet Progressive Conservatives, based in Quebec and the Atlantic states and the UKIP like Canadian Alliance based in Ontario and the West
The point must be coming when Biden rows back on leaving in his time scale
Will be interesting what he says shortly
There shouldn’t even be a bloody stupid time scale. Biden should have ripped up Trump’s moronic agreement, slowly started moving people out, kept bagram open just in case, put in MORE troops to aid a slow, thorough withdrawal. And right at the end you sabotage all weapons if you do have to get everyone out. Meanwhile start arming potential taliban adversaries
And, also, fuck Pakistan. Frankly. This country is no friend of the West.
I cannot understand why Pakistan has not been put under more pressure by the West. They have been arming the Taliban and giving them sanctuary. The Taliban don't have munitions factories. One has to assume they have got their weapons and materiel from Pakistan.
I don’t get it either
Pakistan is a nation founded expressly as an Islamic state and is nuclear capable.
Do you feel lucky?
We are not obliged to give them aid, or allow migration therefrom, for starters. It’s a hostile power
Exactly what I said the other day. They are not our friends.
They invented the "Taliban" and researched the name to find the best one.....
Yeah but in collaboration with the CIA because the mujahideen were fighting the Soviets. And of course, in the cold war, Pakistan was closer to us whereas India was seen as pro-Soviet.
So, whose SPAD will have done the leaking I wonder?
Does it matter
It is sensational and at the same time shocking
It matters in the fine details, and regarding why it was done. Be it No.10, Raab or some random official of their own initiative, sure, it's out there, but the motivation is still interesting, as no all of the examples have the same one.
And, even assuming that something like this is true (which is pretty likely), leaking stuff like this isn't what Special Allies Do For Special Allies.
The point must be coming when Biden rows back on leaving in his time scale
Will be interesting what he says shortly
There shouldn’t even be a bloody stupid time scale. Biden should have ripped up Trump’s moronic agreement, slowly started moving people out, kept bagram open just in case, put in MORE troops to aid a slow, thorough withdrawal. And right at the end you sabotage all weapons if you do have to get everyone out. Meanwhile start arming potential taliban adversaries
And, also, fuck Pakistan. Frankly. This country is no friend of the West.
I cannot understand why Pakistan has not been put under more pressure by the West. They have been arming the Taliban and giving them sanctuary. The Taliban don't have munitions factories. One has to assume they have got their weapons and materiel from Pakistan.
I don’t get it either
Pakistan is a nation founded expressly as an Islamic state and is nuclear capable.
Do you feel lucky?
We are not obliged to give them aid, or allow migration therefrom, for starters. It’s a hostile power
Exactly what I said the other day. They are not our friends.
They invented the "Taliban" and researched the name to find the best one.....
Yeah but in collaboration with the CIA because the mujahideen were fighting the Soviets. And of course, in the cold war, Pakistan was closer to us whereas India was seen as pro-Soviet.
That's a pretty bad history meme tbf. When the Mujahideen were fighting the soviets the pre-cursors to the Taliban were cowering over the border in Pakistan getting indoctrinated.
Jim Callaghan - the classic "in office but not in power" PM, at any rate before John Major and TM.
Still at least he paved the way for Margaret Thatcher. Although I still remember the candles my parents kept for several years afterwards in case the Winter of Discontent was repeated.
I do not recall candles being needed during the Winter of Discontent - the miners, electricity power workers etc were not involved in the industrial chaos which then engulfed the country. Power cuts and the associated need for candles belonged to the 3-Day Week of the 1973/74 Winter - and before that the first Miners Strike in early 1972.In the Winter of 1970/71 there had also been power cuts when Frank Chappell's power workers took industrial action. All of that happened under Ted Heath's Government - not Callaghan.
Candles. I still recall the smell of burnt hair if you leant too close.
Power cuts were always caused by Labour and the Unions. Trash on the streets was always caused by Labour and the Unions. Nothing good has ever come from Labour and the Unions.
I have voted Tory for most of my adult life, but to state "Nothing good has ever come from Labour and the Unions" suggests you are either so far right you should be wearing jackboots, or you are ignorant of history or perhaps both.
Huge story… leaked memo shows Biden promised Boris Johnson and G7 leaders in June that the US would maintain enough of a security presence in Afghanistan that they would keep Kabul safe — then failed to keep that commitment
NEW: Biden assured key allies in June that US security enablers would remain in place in Afghanistan as NATO troops withdrew, so much so that U.K. thought it could maintain its Kabul embassy
Is this worse for US-Ally relationships than everything under Trump combined? Horrendous abdication of responsibility.
This is shocking and really needs the press to go to town on how Biden betrayed the UK, France, Germany and Nato allies
And by the way explains why none of these countries expected the immediate collapse of Kabul
Time for this forum to utterly condemn Biden
“But, but…he’s not Trump!!!”
I told this forum last year that Biden would be an absolute disaster and, while Trump had huge faults, given the world where we are, he was the better choice in a two horse race.
I had heard of The Secret Barrister and the Secret Magistrate, but I had no idea it was a whole genre now Why are there so many ‘secret’ books?...
First there was the “Secret Barrister”, whose mysterious social media avatar of a robed bunny rabbit propelled him/her first to the heights of legal Twitter and then to a multi-book deal. Hot on his/her heels came lid-lifting memoirs from the “Secret Doctor”, “Secret Civil Servant”, “Secret Magistrate” et al; now the genre welcomes a volume from the “Secret Head Teacher” (out on 19 August)...
Through history, signing your name to your testimony was what gave it credibility. Enthusiasts of rhetoric call this the “ethos” appeal: your audience knows who you are and can trust you – or not – based on your public standing.
Now, the opposite seems to hold. We are in an environment where anonymity is not the token of the fink, the weasel, the confidential informer and the nark, but of the brave speaker of truth to power... The suggestion is there are some truths that can only be spoken under a cloak of anonymity.
I did like The Secret Barrister and Fake Law, though Justice on Trial by Chris Daw was good and shows it doesn't need to be anonymous. Secret Magistrate sounds interesting.
As a Reading fan having Dave Kitson reveal all the going-ons that took us from the brink of Europe to relegation in a season was eye-opening. Which reveals the big issue with the 'secret' genre, all the juicy gossip is rarely best devoured anonymised.
Huge story… leaked memo shows Biden promised Boris Johnson and G7 leaders in June that the US would maintain enough of a security presence in Afghanistan that they would keep Kabul safe — then failed to keep that commitment
NEW: Biden assured key allies in June that US security enablers would remain in place in Afghanistan as NATO troops withdrew, so much so that U.K. thought it could maintain its Kabul embassy
Is this worse for US-Ally relationships than everything under Trump combined? Horrendous abdication of responsibility.
So, whose SPAD will have done the leaking I wonder?
Does it matter
It is sensational and at the same time shocking
It matters in the fine details, and regarding why it was done. Be it No.10, Raab or some random official of their own initiative, sure, it's out there, but the motivation is still interesting, as no all of the examples have the same one.
And, even assuming that something like this is true (which is pretty likely), leaking stuff like this isn't what Special Allies Do For Special Allies.
Which ties into the motivation angle of course. I'd presume the Americans will be a bit cheesed off, and was this a deliberate UK leak to tell them we are cheesed off too, was it a personal move by someone to defflect from their own issues, or was it an angry official doing what they felt right etc.
Covid seems to be going very hard after the anti vaxx people. Weird.
I’d guess there are many reasons why someone might be anti-vax or specifically anti Covid-vax but if they were hoping to use the vaccinated sheep as their shield they’ve got it badly wrong. The ones who think they will just shrug it off might get a shock...
Huge story… leaked memo shows Biden promised Boris Johnson and G7 leaders in June that the US would maintain enough of a security presence in Afghanistan that they would keep Kabul safe — then failed to keep that commitment
NEW: Biden assured key allies in June that US security enablers would remain in place in Afghanistan as NATO troops withdrew, so much so that U.K. thought it could maintain its Kabul embassy
Is this worse for US-Ally relationships than everything under Trump combined? Horrendous abdication of responsibility.
He's a useless fucker so he is.
Sorry David, you wanted Biden, you and your ilk own it
Huge story… leaked memo shows Biden promised Boris Johnson and G7 leaders in June that the US would maintain enough of a security presence in Afghanistan that they would keep Kabul safe — then failed to keep that commitment
NEW: Biden assured key allies in June that US security enablers would remain in place in Afghanistan as NATO troops withdrew, so much so that U.K. thought it could maintain its Kabul embassy
Is this worse for US-Ally relationships than everything under Trump combined? Horrendous abdication of responsibility.
This is shocking and really needs the press to go to town on how Biden betrayed the UK, France, Germany and Nato allies
And by the way explains why none of these countries expected the immediate collapse of Kabul
Time for this forum to utterly condemn Biden
“But, but…he’s not Trump!!!”
I told this forum last year that Biden would be an absolute disaster and, while Trump had huge faults, given the world where we are, he was the better choice in a two horse race.
I hope you Biden Fanboys are happy tonight.
I don't know why you seem to think the only option in disagreement to you is Biden fanboy. Biden or Trump fanboy are not the only option, nor even that they must be equal in horribleness.
Since you took the view that Biden had huge faults but you consider he was the better choice in a two horse race, and presumably still do despite Jan 6th and all the rest, why is it unreasonable someone might look at recent events and still decide Biden was the better choice, particular with the information at that time?
Can people not undertake the same process of weughing things up as you have, reach a different conclusion, and not be a fanboy?
Huge story… leaked memo shows Biden promised Boris Johnson and G7 leaders in June that the US would maintain enough of a security presence in Afghanistan that they would keep Kabul safe — then failed to keep that commitment
NEW: Biden assured key allies in June that US security enablers would remain in place in Afghanistan as NATO troops withdrew, so much so that U.K. thought it could maintain its Kabul embassy
Is this worse for US-Ally relationships than everything under Trump combined? Horrendous abdication of responsibility.
This is shocking and really needs the press to go to town on how Biden betrayed the UK, France, Germany and Nato allies
And by the way explains why none of these countries expected the immediate collapse of Kabul
Time for this forum to utterly condemn Biden
“But, but…he’s not Trump!!!”
I told this forum last year that Biden would be an absolute disaster and, while Trump had huge faults, given the world where we are, he was the better choice in a two horse race.
So, whose SPAD will have done the leaking I wonder?
Does it matter
It is sensational and at the same time shocking
It matters in the fine details, and regarding why it was done. Be it No.10, Raab or some random official of their own initiative, sure, it's out there, but the motivation is still interesting, as no all of the examples have the same one.
And, even assuming that something like this is true (which is pretty likely), leaking stuff like this isn't what Special Allies Do For Special Allies.
Are you suggesting that this should have been concealed from public knowledge when Biden has clearly betrayed his allies
In Germany if the Union are largest party it would likely still be a Union and SPD coalition with the Greens or FDP added on.
In Canada, Liberal leakage to the 3rd placed NDP would benefit the 2nd placed Conservatives most under Canadian FPTP of course given the NDP are still 6% behind the Conservatives but the Conservatives now only 2% behind the Liberals.
It looks like Trudeau will scrape home as largest party but fail to get the majority he wanted
We've discussed Germany at length and I don't disagree but the gap between the Union and SPD has closed and is closing. It's not inconceivable the SPD could top the poll for the first time since 2002.
As for Canada, there's a lot going on under the figures I think. There would be a swing from Conservative to NDP as well on these numbers. The NDP were 18 points behind the Conservatives in 2019 - Counsel has the gap at seven so that's a 5.5% swing which is not inconsiderable.
The question is how the votes will shape up in Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia. There's no point the Conservatives piling up votes in Alberta and Saskatchewan if they miss marginals in those other three provinces.
Canadian Conservatives are weird. They manage to be rather wet and Trumpy at the same time.
Meanwhile, you have a Woke idiot leading a Wokey centre-Left Blairite party, and then a radical Left Corbynite style party.
Not exactly an inspiring choice.
That is because the current Canadian Conservative Party is a product of the 2003 merger between the wet Progressive Conservatives, based in Quebec and the Atlantic states and metropolitan Ontario and the UKIP like Canadian Alliance based in more rural Ontario and the West
Which tension will likely keep them out of power for four more years.
Huge story… leaked memo shows Biden promised Boris Johnson and G7 leaders in June that the US would maintain enough of a security presence in Afghanistan that they would keep Kabul safe — then failed to keep that commitment
NEW: Biden assured key allies in June that US security enablers would remain in place in Afghanistan as NATO troops withdrew, so much so that U.K. thought it could maintain its Kabul embassy
Is this worse for US-Ally relationships than everything under Trump combined? Horrendous abdication of responsibility.
This is shocking and really needs the press to go to town on how Biden betrayed the UK, France, Germany and Nato allies
And by the way explains why none of these countries expected the immediate collapse of Kabul
Time for this forum to utterly condemn Biden
“But, but…he’s not Trump!!!”
I told this forum last year that Biden would be an absolute disaster and, while Trump had huge faults, given the world where we are, he was the better choice in a two horse race.
I hope you Biden Fanboys are happy tonight.
I have not been a fanboy of Biden or Trump but Biden carries the can for this
NEW: Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in a briefing call with House lawmakers just now said Americans have been beaten by the Taliban in Kabul, according to multiple people on the call. Austin called it “unacceptable.”
Huge story… leaked memo shows Biden promised Boris Johnson and G7 leaders in June that the US would maintain enough of a security presence in Afghanistan that they would keep Kabul safe — then failed to keep that commitment
NEW: Biden assured key allies in June that US security enablers would remain in place in Afghanistan as NATO troops withdrew, so much so that U.K. thought it could maintain its Kabul embassy
Is this worse for US-Ally relationships than everything under Trump combined? Horrendous abdication of responsibility.
He's a useless fucker so he is.
Sorry David, you wanted Biden, you and your ilk own it
Yes, I wanted Biden. Proud to say so.
Because Trump winning a 2nd term would have been either the end of american democracy or a civil war or succession of several states.
As was proved by his attempts to run a coup and claim he won the election.
Jim Callaghan - the classic "in office but not in power" PM, at any rate before John Major and TM.
Still at least he paved the way for Margaret Thatcher. Although I still remember the candles my parents kept for several years afterwards in case the Winter of Discontent was repeated.
I do not recall candles being needed during the Winter of Discontent - the miners, electricity power workers etc were not involved in the industrial chaos which then engulfed the country. Power cuts and the associated need for candles belonged to the 3-Day Week of the 1973/74 Winter - and before that the first Miners Strike in early 1972.In the Winter of 1970/71 there had also been power cuts when Frank Chappell's power workers took industrial action. All of that happened under Ted Heath's Government - not Callaghan.
Candles. I still recall the smell of burnt hair if you leant too close.
Power cuts were always caused by Labour and the Unions. Trash on the streets was always caused by Labour and the Unions. Nothing good has ever come from Labour and the Unions.
I have voted Tory for most of my adult life, but to state "Nothing good has ever come from Labour and the Unions" suggests you are either so far right you should be wearing jackboots, or you are ignorant of history or perhaps both.
You may have a small point
And so what I should have said is 'since 1918'.
I'm depressed to think that you regard anyone that disagrees with you as wearing jackboots. That suggests to me that you're biased in all sorts of bad ways. However I am most certainly ignorant as to much of history. You will be too.
I do not know of a single good thing that Labour or the Unions have done since 1918.
Huge story… leaked memo shows Biden promised Boris Johnson and G7 leaders in June that the US would maintain enough of a security presence in Afghanistan that they would keep Kabul safe — then failed to keep that commitment
NEW: Biden assured key allies in June that US security enablers would remain in place in Afghanistan as NATO troops withdrew, so much so that U.K. thought it could maintain its Kabul embassy
Is this worse for US-Ally relationships than everything under Trump combined? Horrendous abdication of responsibility.
This is shocking and really needs the press to go to town on how Biden betrayed the UK, France, Germany and Nato allies
And by the way explains why none of these countries expected the immediate collapse of Kabul
Time for this forum to utterly condemn Biden
“But, but…he’s not Trump!!!”
I told this forum last year that Biden would be an absolute disaster and, while Trump had huge faults, given the world where we are, he was the better choice in a two horse race.
I hope you Biden Fanboys are happy tonight.
I have not been a fanboy of Biden or Trump but Biden carries the can for this
In Germany if the Union are largest party it would likely still be a Union and SPD coalition with the Greens or FDP added on.
In Canada, Liberal leakage to the 3rd placed NDP would benefit the 2nd placed Conservatives most under Canadian FPTP of course given the NDP are still 6% behind the Conservatives but the Conservatives now only 2% behind the Liberals.
It looks like Trudeau will scrape home as largest party but fail to get the majority he wanted
We've discussed Germany at length and I don't disagree but the gap between the Union and SPD has closed and is closing. It's not inconceivable the SPD could top the poll for the first time since 2002.
As for Canada, there's a lot going on under the figures I think. There would be a swing from Conservative to NDP as well on these numbers. The NDP were 18 points behind the Conservatives in 2019 - Counsel has the gap at seven so that's a 5.5% swing which is not inconsiderable.
The question is how the votes will shape up in Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia. There's no point the Conservatives piling up votes in Alberta and Saskatchewan if they miss marginals in those other three provinces.
Canadian Conservatives are weird. They manage to be rather wet and Trumpy at the same time.
Meanwhile, you have a Woke idiot leading a Wokey centre-Left Blairite party, and then a radical Left Corbynite style party.
Not exactly an inspiring choice.
Who exactly are the radical Left Corbynites in Canada? And Trudeau resembles Cameron rather than Blair to me.
God, no, he's not Cameron. Not in the slightest. This is a guy who corrects people saying "mankind" to "peoplekind" and says stuff like "shecession". He's an embarrassing Woke millennial twat.
More like a far younger Nick Clegg but with the politics of Chukka Umunna.
He puts a smiley, shiny face on the economic status quo. Which sometimes takes on a darker hue.
Huge story… leaked memo shows Biden promised Boris Johnson and G7 leaders in June that the US would maintain enough of a security presence in Afghanistan that they would keep Kabul safe — then failed to keep that commitment
NEW: Biden assured key allies in June that US security enablers would remain in place in Afghanistan as NATO troops withdrew, so much so that U.K. thought it could maintain its Kabul embassy
Is this worse for US-Ally relationships than everything under Trump combined? Horrendous abdication of responsibility.
This is shocking and really needs the press to go to town on how Biden betrayed the UK, France, Germany and Nato allies
And by the way explains why none of these countries expected the immediate collapse of Kabul
Time for this forum to utterly condemn Biden
The misjudgement here is on the part of the allies as much as the US. Why keep a large embassy and support a large number of civilians in the face of an inevitable taliban victory? The deal between the taliban and the US had already been done. Its like people were all sunbathing on a gradually sinking ship, in denial of reality. The impression is of complete chaos everywhere.
Huge story… leaked memo shows Biden promised Boris Johnson and G7 leaders in June that the US would maintain enough of a security presence in Afghanistan that they would keep Kabul safe — then failed to keep that commitment
NEW: Biden assured key allies in June that US security enablers would remain in place in Afghanistan as NATO troops withdrew, so much so that U.K. thought it could maintain its Kabul embassy
Is this worse for US-Ally relationships than everything under Trump combined? Horrendous abdication of responsibility.
This is shocking and really needs the press to go to town on how Biden betrayed the UK, France, Germany and Nato allies
And by the way explains why none of these countries expected the immediate collapse of Kabul
Time for this forum to utterly condemn Biden
A wake up call to European leaders to look to their own defences and re-arm.
Will they? Probably not.
Britain certainly won't. Any limited funds the Treasury can muster will all be earmarked for paying heftier bribes to the elderly.
Huge story… leaked memo shows Biden promised Boris Johnson and G7 leaders in June that the US would maintain enough of a security presence in Afghanistan that they would keep Kabul safe — then failed to keep that commitment
NEW: Biden assured key allies in June that US security enablers would remain in place in Afghanistan as NATO troops withdrew, so much so that U.K. thought it could maintain its Kabul embassy
Is this worse for US-Ally relationships than everything under Trump combined? Horrendous abdication of responsibility.
He's a useless fucker so he is.
Sorry David, you wanted Biden, you and your ilk own it
Yes, I wanted Biden. Proud to say so.
Because Trump winning a 2nd term would have been either the end of american democracy or a civil war or succession of several states.
As was proved by his attempts to run a coup and claim he won the election.
If Trump was running a coup, he did a piss poor imitation of one. My dog could have done better.
And if you think the Democrats won’t try to subvert the democratic process to keep themselves in control, I have a bridge to sell you.
I’ll throw a black / grey swan out there for 2022, namely the mid-terms will be delayed or (maybe more likely) there will be federal intervention that allows blanket voting without ID , plus the allowance of mass postal ballots. Covid will be cited as the reason but the real cause will be that Biden and the Democrats will be scared shitless of getting crushed.
Biden will resign or be removed on medical grounds soon I suspect.
I said this might happen a few days ago.
I said he was unfit a while back ... and got told (by notables on here ) he was fine .....
Still think that people?
At what point does Barack take his old friend for a walk and tell him the game is up? Not while there’s chaos at Kabul airport obvs. But they’ll want him out safely before the mid terms surely.
Huge story… leaked memo shows Biden promised Boris Johnson and G7 leaders in June that the US would maintain enough of a security presence in Afghanistan that they would keep Kabul safe — then failed to keep that commitment
NEW: Biden assured key allies in June that US security enablers would remain in place in Afghanistan as NATO troops withdrew, so much so that U.K. thought it could maintain its Kabul embassy
Is this worse for US-Ally relationships than everything under Trump combined? Horrendous abdication of responsibility.
This is shocking and really needs the press to go to town on how Biden betrayed the UK, France, Germany and Nato allies
And by the way explains why none of these countries expected the immediate collapse of Kabul
Time for this forum to utterly condemn Biden
The misjudgement here is on the part of the allies as much as the US. Why keep a large embassy and support a large number of civilian works in the face of an inevitable taliban victory? The deal between the taliban and the US had already been done. Its like people were all sunbathing on a gradually sinking ship, in denial of reality. The impression is of complete chaos everywhere.
The allies were promised by Biden that security would remain in place in Afghanistan as NATO troops withdrew so much that the UK thought it could maintain its embassy
In all my 77 years I have never thought the US would so betray the UK and Nato, and the shock across the allies must be palpable
So, whose SPAD will have done the leaking I wonder?
Does it matter
It is sensational and at the same time shocking
It matters in the fine details, and regarding why it was done. Be it No.10, Raab or some random official of their own initiative, sure, it's out there, but the motivation is still interesting, as no all of the examples have the same one.
And, even assuming that something like this is true (which is pretty likely), leaking stuff like this isn't what Special Allies Do For Special Allies.
Are you suggesting that this should have been concealed from public knowledge when Biden has clearly betrayed his allies
That seems a curious way of looking at it to me. Most diplomatic and top level governmental information is concealed from public knowledge as a matter of course, particularly the former I'd assume. I'd imagine there are innumerable tales of allies letting each other down or betraying each other in some way which only came to light decades later, in the interests of getting along. Most of the time there's probably little to be gained from exposing the nitty gritty of how international cooperation works, what the internal analysis of one thinks about the other or has been told by the other.
So it's not really a matter of should it have been made public, particularly in this way (rather than, perhaps, 'briefings' from 'unnamed sources' in government), but what the reaction to it on both sides will be, hence the why being interesting.
Biden will resign or be removed on medical grounds soon I suspect.
I said this might happen a few days ago.
I said he was unfit a while back ... and got told (by notables on here ) he was fine .....
Still think that people?
At what point does Barack take his old friend for a walk and tell him the game is up? Not while there’s chaos at Kabul airport obvs. But they’ll want him out safely before the mid terms surely.
When people talk about him running next time ..... come on, very little chance
Huge story… leaked memo shows Biden promised Boris Johnson and G7 leaders in June that the US would maintain enough of a security presence in Afghanistan that they would keep Kabul safe — then failed to keep that commitment
NEW: Biden assured key allies in June that US security enablers would remain in place in Afghanistan as NATO troops withdrew, so much so that U.K. thought it could maintain its Kabul embassy
Is this worse for US-Ally relationships than everything under Trump combined? Horrendous abdication of responsibility.
He's a useless fucker so he is.
Sorry David, you wanted Biden, you and your ilk own it
Yes, I wanted Biden. Proud to say so.
Because Trump winning a 2nd term would have been either the end of american democracy or a civil war or succession of several states.
As was proved by his attempts to run a coup and claim he won the election.
If Trump was running a coup, he did a piss poor imitation of one. My dog could have done better.
And if you think the Democrats won’t try to subvert the democratic process to keep themselves in control, I have a bridge to sell you.
I’ll throw a black / grey swan out there for 2022, namely the mid-terms will be delayed or (maybe more likely) there will be federal intervention that allows blanket voting without ID , plus the allowance of mass postal ballots. Covid will be cited as the reason but the real cause will be that Biden and the Democrats will be scared shitless of getting crushed.
What's wrong with postal ballots? UK uses them more and more each year.
In Germany if the Union are largest party it would likely still be a Union and SPD coalition with the Greens or FDP added on.
In Canada, Liberal leakage to the 3rd placed NDP would benefit the 2nd placed Conservatives most under Canadian FPTP of course given the NDP are still 6% behind the Conservatives but the Conservatives now only 2% behind the Liberals.
It looks like Trudeau will scrape home as largest party but fail to get the majority he wanted
We've discussed Germany at length and I don't disagree but the gap between the Union and SPD has closed and is closing. It's not inconceivable the SPD could top the poll for the first time since 2002.
As for Canada, there's a lot going on under the figures I think. There would be a swing from Conservative to NDP as well on these numbers. The NDP were 18 points behind the Conservatives in 2019 - Counsel has the gap at seven so that's a 5.5% swing which is not inconsiderable.
The question is how the votes will shape up in Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia. There's no point the Conservatives piling up votes in Alberta and Saskatchewan if they miss marginals in those other three provinces.
Canadian Conservatives are weird. They manage to be rather wet and Trumpy at the same time.
Meanwhile, you have a Woke idiot leading a Wokey centre-Left Blairite party, and then a radical Left Corbynite style party.
Not exactly an inspiring choice.
Who exactly are the radical Left Corbynites in Canada? And Trudeau resembles Cameron rather than Blair to me.
I assume they would be the NDP.
Trudeau is a combination of Cameron, Clegg, Blair, JFK and Macron (and if rumours are to be believed Fidel Castro)
I know very little about Canada, but left-wing friends tell me the NDP is at the social democrat/centrist end of the spectrum, and not proper socialists at all. These things tend to be in the eye of the beholder, but what are their key policies?
Jim Callaghan - the classic "in office but not in power" PM, at any rate before John Major and TM.
Still at least he paved the way for Margaret Thatcher. Although I still remember the candles my parents kept for several years afterwards in case the Winter of Discontent was repeated.
I do not recall candles being needed during the Winter of Discontent - the miners, electricity power workers etc were not involved in the industrial chaos which then engulfed the country. Power cuts and the associated need for candles belonged to the 3-Day Week of the 1973/74 Winter - and before that the first Miners Strike in early 1972.In the Winter of 1970/71 there had also been power cuts when Frank Chappell's power workers took industrial action. All of that happened under Ted Heath's Government - not Callaghan.
Candles. I still recall the smell of burnt hair if you leant too close.
Power cuts were always caused by Labour and the Unions. Trash on the streets was always caused by Labour and the Unions. Nothing good has ever come from Labour and the Unions.
I have voted Tory for most of my adult life, but to state "Nothing good has ever come from Labour and the Unions" suggests you are either so far right you should be wearing jackboots, or you are ignorant of history or perhaps both.
You may have a small point
And so what I should have said is 'since 1918'.
I'm depressed to think that you regard anyone that disagrees with you as wearing jackboots. That suggests to me that you're biased in all sorts of bad ways. However I am most certainly ignorant as to much of history. You will be too.
I do not know of a single good thing that Labour or the Unions have done since 1918.
Huge story… leaked memo shows Biden promised Boris Johnson and G7 leaders in June that the US would maintain enough of a security presence in Afghanistan that they would keep Kabul safe — then failed to keep that commitment
NEW: Biden assured key allies in June that US security enablers would remain in place in Afghanistan as NATO troops withdrew, so much so that U.K. thought it could maintain its Kabul embassy
Is this worse for US-Ally relationships than everything under Trump combined? Horrendous abdication of responsibility.
He's a useless fucker so he is.
Sorry David, you wanted Biden, you and your ilk own it
You're like @contrarian who is forever trying to get a "They laughed then/they're not laughing now" narrative off the ground and failing catastrophically. I can promise you, we are still laughing at you so hard we are in danger of fouling ourselves.
Huge story… leaked memo shows Biden promised Boris Johnson and G7 leaders in June that the US would maintain enough of a security presence in Afghanistan that they would keep Kabul safe — then failed to keep that commitment
NEW: Biden assured key allies in June that US security enablers would remain in place in Afghanistan as NATO troops withdrew, so much so that U.K. thought it could maintain its Kabul embassy
Is this worse for US-Ally relationships than everything under Trump combined? Horrendous abdication of responsibility.
He's a useless fucker so he is.
Sorry David, you wanted Biden, you and your ilk own it
Yes, I wanted Biden. Proud to say so.
Because Trump winning a 2nd term would have been either the end of american democracy or a civil war or succession of several states.
As was proved by his attempts to run a coup and claim he won the election.
If Trump was running a coup, he did a piss poor imitation of one. My dog could have done better.
And if you think the Democrats won’t try to subvert the democratic process to keep themselves in control, I have a bridge to sell you.
I’ll throw a black / grey swan out there for 2022, namely the mid-terms will be delayed or (maybe more likely) there will be federal intervention that allows blanket voting without ID , plus the allowance of mass postal ballots. Covid will be cited as the reason but the real cause will be that Biden and the Democrats will be scared shitless of getting crushed.
What's wrong with postal ballots? UK uses them more and more each year.
It provides the wrong sort of voter a means of voting without standing in a queue without water for 14 hours on election day..
Which is the GOP's preferred voting method for none supporting areas...
In Germany if the Union are largest party it would likely still be a Union and SPD coalition with the Greens or FDP added on.
In Canada, Liberal leakage to the 3rd placed NDP would benefit the 2nd placed Conservatives most under Canadian FPTP of course given the NDP are still 6% behind the Conservatives but the Conservatives now only 2% behind the Liberals.
It looks like Trudeau will scrape home as largest party but fail to get the majority he wanted
We've discussed Germany at length and I don't disagree but the gap between the Union and SPD has closed and is closing. It's not inconceivable the SPD could top the poll for the first time since 2002.
As for Canada, there's a lot going on under the figures I think. There would be a swing from Conservative to NDP as well on these numbers. The NDP were 18 points behind the Conservatives in 2019 - Counsel has the gap at seven so that's a 5.5% swing which is not inconsiderable.
The question is how the votes will shape up in Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia. There's no point the Conservatives piling up votes in Alberta and Saskatchewan if they miss marginals in those other three provinces.
Canadian Conservatives are weird. They manage to be rather wet and Trumpy at the same time.
Meanwhile, you have a Woke idiot leading a Wokey centre-Left Blairite party, and then a radical Left Corbynite style party.
Not exactly an inspiring choice.
Who exactly are the radical Left Corbynites in Canada? And Trudeau resembles Cameron rather than Blair to me.
I assume they would be the NDP.
Trudeau is a combination of Cameron, Clegg, Blair, JFK and Macron (and if rumours are to be believed Fidel Castro)
I know very little about Canada, but left-wing friends tell me the NDP is at the social democrat/centrist end of the spectrum, and not proper socialists at all.
This is actually one reason I also get wary of people being too gung ho about supporting or opposing political parties in other countries (though we hear so much about the american ones it is too tempting to resist much of the time). Conservative or socialist parties of one country don't necessarily align that well with their counterparts in another country, even if they have some kind of formal interactions assuming they align. It's just far too easy to assume similarities, and while some basic assumptions might work, it cannot be taken too far.
Huge story… leaked memo shows Biden promised Boris Johnson and G7 leaders in June that the US would maintain enough of a security presence in Afghanistan that they would keep Kabul safe — then failed to keep that commitment
NEW: Biden assured key allies in June that US security enablers would remain in place in Afghanistan as NATO troops withdrew, so much so that U.K. thought it could maintain its Kabul embassy
Is this worse for US-Ally relationships than everything under Trump combined? Horrendous abdication of responsibility.
He's a useless fucker so he is.
Sorry David, you wanted Biden, you and your ilk own it
Yes, I wanted Biden. Proud to say so.
Because Trump winning a 2nd term would have been either the end of american democracy or a civil war or succession of several states.
As was proved by his attempts to run a coup and claim he won the election.
If Trump was running a coup, he did a piss poor imitation of one. My dog could have done better.
And if you think the Democrats won’t try to subvert the democratic process to keep themselves in control, I have a bridge to sell you.
I’ll throw a black / grey swan out there for 2022, namely the mid-terms will be delayed or (maybe more likely) there will be federal intervention that allows blanket voting without ID , plus the allowance of mass postal ballots. Covid will be cited as the reason but the real cause will be that Biden and the Democrats will be scared shitless of getting crushed.
How much do you want to bet that the mid terms will not be delayed and nor will a federal law be passed allowing voting without ID in all states? Because I think this is almost impossible to happen. Either would require GOP support in the Senate to break the filibuster and that ain't happening.
Huge story… leaked memo shows Biden promised Boris Johnson and G7 leaders in June that the US would maintain enough of a security presence in Afghanistan that they would keep Kabul safe — then failed to keep that commitment
NEW: Biden assured key allies in June that US security enablers would remain in place in Afghanistan as NATO troops withdrew, so much so that U.K. thought it could maintain its Kabul embassy
Is this worse for US-Ally relationships than everything under Trump combined? Horrendous abdication of responsibility.
He's a useless fucker so he is.
Sorry David, you wanted Biden, you and your ilk own it
Yes, I wanted Biden. Proud to say so.
Because Trump winning a 2nd term would have been either the end of american democracy or a civil war or succession of several states.
As was proved by his attempts to run a coup and claim he won the election.
If Trump was running a coup, he did a piss poor imitation of one. My dog could have done better.
And if you think the Democrats won’t try to subvert the democratic process to keep themselves in control, I have a bridge to sell you.
I’ll throw a black / grey swan out there for 2022, namely the mid-terms will be delayed or (maybe more likely) there will be federal intervention that allows blanket voting without ID , plus the allowance of mass postal ballots. Covid will be cited as the reason but the real cause will be that Biden and the Democrats will be scared shitless of getting crushed.
What's wrong with postal ballots? UK uses them more and more each year.
Because in the US, the potential for fraud is much higher. The U.K. has very tight rules - sometimes violated but generally kept in place - about what you can do with postal ballots. In the States, as happens in eg California, you get activists collecting ballots. Jeez, I wonder what happens there?
Huge story… leaked memo shows Biden promised Boris Johnson and G7 leaders in June that the US would maintain enough of a security presence in Afghanistan that they would keep Kabul safe — then failed to keep that commitment
NEW: Biden assured key allies in June that US security enablers would remain in place in Afghanistan as NATO troops withdrew, so much so that U.K. thought it could maintain its Kabul embassy
Is this worse for US-Ally relationships than everything under Trump combined? Horrendous abdication of responsibility.
He's a useless fucker so he is.
Sorry David, you wanted Biden, you and your ilk own it
Yes, I wanted Biden. Proud to say so.
Because Trump winning a 2nd term would have been either the end of american democracy or a civil war or succession of several states.
As was proved by his attempts to run a coup and claim he won the election.
If Trump was running a coup, he did a piss poor imitation of one. My dog could have done better.
And if you think the Democrats won’t try to subvert the democratic process to keep themselves in control, I have a bridge to sell you.
I’ll throw a black / grey swan out there for 2022, namely the mid-terms will be delayed or (maybe more likely) there will be federal intervention that allows blanket voting without ID , plus the allowance of mass postal ballots. Covid will be cited as the reason but the real cause will be that Biden and the Democrats will be scared shitless of getting crushed.
What's wrong with postal ballots? UK uses them more and more each year.
The american rule of accepting ones that come in so long as they were posted on election day is pretty annoying for those of us who want the counts done quicker, but it was a rule (at least in some states I think) and could hardly be challenged halfway throught the process.
Huge story… leaked memo shows Biden promised Boris Johnson and G7 leaders in June that the US would maintain enough of a security presence in Afghanistan that they would keep Kabul safe — then failed to keep that commitment
NEW: Biden assured key allies in June that US security enablers would remain in place in Afghanistan as NATO troops withdrew, so much so that U.K. thought it could maintain its Kabul embassy
Is this worse for US-Ally relationships than everything under Trump combined? Horrendous abdication of responsibility.
This is shocking and really needs the press to go to town on how Biden betrayed the UK, France, Germany and Nato allies
And by the way explains why none of these countries expected the immediate collapse of Kabul
Time for this forum to utterly condemn Biden
A wake up call to European leaders to look to their own defences and re-arm.
Will they? Probably not.
Britain certainly won't. Any limited funds the Treasury can muster will all be earmarked for paying heftier bribes to the elderly.
Don't be so glum, some middled aged red wallers might get some too.
Huge story… leaked memo shows Biden promised Boris Johnson and G7 leaders in June that the US would maintain enough of a security presence in Afghanistan that they would keep Kabul safe — then failed to keep that commitment
NEW: Biden assured key allies in June that US security enablers would remain in place in Afghanistan as NATO troops withdrew, so much so that U.K. thought it could maintain its Kabul embassy
Is this worse for US-Ally relationships than everything under Trump combined? Horrendous abdication of responsibility.
He's a useless fucker so he is.
That level of concision must serve you well in court.
Huge story… leaked memo shows Biden promised Boris Johnson and G7 leaders in June that the US would maintain enough of a security presence in Afghanistan that they would keep Kabul safe — then failed to keep that commitment
NEW: Biden assured key allies in June that US security enablers would remain in place in Afghanistan as NATO troops withdrew, so much so that U.K. thought it could maintain its Kabul embassy
Is this worse for US-Ally relationships than everything under Trump combined? Horrendous abdication of responsibility.
He's a useless fucker so he is.
Sorry David, you wanted Biden, you and your ilk own it
Yes, I wanted Biden. Proud to say so.
Because Trump winning a 2nd term would have been either the end of american democracy or a civil war or succession of several states.
As was proved by his attempts to run a coup and claim he won the election.
If Trump was running a coup, he did a piss poor imitation of one. My dog could have done better.
And if you think the Democrats won’t try to subvert the democratic process to keep themselves in control, I have a bridge to sell you.
I’ll throw a black / grey swan out there for 2022, namely the mid-terms will be delayed or (maybe more likely) there will be federal intervention that allows blanket voting without ID , plus the allowance of mass postal ballots. Covid will be cited as the reason but the real cause will be that Biden and the Democrats will be scared shitless of getting crushed.
In Germany if the Union are largest party it would likely still be a Union and SPD coalition with the Greens or FDP added on.
In Canada, Liberal leakage to the 3rd placed NDP would benefit the 2nd placed Conservatives most under Canadian FPTP of course given the NDP are still 6% behind the Conservatives but the Conservatives now only 2% behind the Liberals.
It looks like Trudeau will scrape home as largest party but fail to get the majority he wanted
We've discussed Germany at length and I don't disagree but the gap between the Union and SPD has closed and is closing. It's not inconceivable the SPD could top the poll for the first time since 2002.
As for Canada, there's a lot going on under the figures I think. There would be a swing from Conservative to NDP as well on these numbers. The NDP were 18 points behind the Conservatives in 2019 - Counsel has the gap at seven so that's a 5.5% swing which is not inconsiderable.
The question is how the votes will shape up in Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia. There's no point the Conservatives piling up votes in Alberta and Saskatchewan if they miss marginals in those other three provinces.
Canadian Conservatives are weird. They manage to be rather wet and Trumpy at the same time.
Meanwhile, you have a Woke idiot leading a Wokey centre-Left Blairite party, and then a radical Left Corbynite style party.
Not exactly an inspiring choice.
Who exactly are the radical Left Corbynites in Canada? And Trudeau resembles Cameron rather than Blair to me.
I assume they would be the NDP.
Trudeau is a combination of Cameron, Clegg, Blair, JFK and Macron (and if rumours are to be believed Fidel Castro)
I know very little about Canada, but left-wing friends tell me the NDP is at the social democrat/centrist end of the spectrum, and not proper socialists at all. These things tend to be in the eye of the beholder, but what are their key policies?
I don't know for myself, but their Wiki page says they are social democrats and to the left of the Liberals. I was reading it a couple of days ago and it didn't make them sound 'hard left' by our standards.
Comments
Very cheesy film but worth it for the Sean Connery cameo, and the Queen soundtrack - which is superb.
Did they ever write a bad song?
Edit to add: there aren't many people that Harris would beat. But Ms Greene is one of them.
A friendly reminder that in England COVID-19 is still spreading mainly among immune naive people:
ENGLAND cases in July:
- 98.6% never previously infected
- 78.1% were unvaccinated
https://twitter.com/BallouxFrancois/status/1428803009711157257?s=20
This changes the narrative
Alex Wickham
@alexwickham
·
14m
Huge story… leaked memo shows Biden promised Boris Johnson and G7 leaders in June that the US would maintain enough of a security presence in Afghanistan that they would keep Kabul safe — then failed to keep that commitment
Alberto Nardelli
@AlbertoNardelli
· 14m
NEW: Biden assured key allies in June that US security enablers would remain in place in Afghanistan as NATO troops withdrew, so much so that U.K. thought it could maintain its Kabul embassy https://bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-08-20/biden-assured-allies-in-june-u-s-would-ensure-kabul-s-stability
Show this thread
Alex Wickham
@alexwickham
·
12m
Goes some way to explaining why UK/EU are so angry with Biden and why other Nato countries were caught short
What I love about Highlander is that in a film about immortal Scottish clansmen, Sean Connery - who famously couldn't do any other accent to save himself - is for some reason playing a guy called Ramirez. In the Highlands. Of Scotland.
Biden promised U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson and other leaders at the Group of Seven summit in Cornwall, England, that “critical U.S. enablers” would remain in place to keep Kabul safe following the drawdown of NATO forces, the note said. British officials determined the U.S. would provide enough personnel to ensure that the U.K. embassy in Kabul could continue operating.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-08-20/biden-assured-allies-in-june-u-s-would-ensure-kabul-s-stability
That said BA's pilots are bloody good -apart from one incident it hasn't had a single fatality in almost 50 years of operating, and coming back down on the ground in one piece is my primary concern when flying.
There's going to be plenty of missing footballers this season.
Meanwhile, you have a Woke idiot leading a Wokey centre-Left Blairite party, and then a radical Left Corbynite style party.
Not exactly an inspiring choice.
Get well soon but stop being a twat.
https://twitter.com/marcusjdl/status/1428778597062483974?s=21
https://twitter.com/AlbertoNardelli/status/1428804909449846797
Huge story… leaked memo shows Biden promised Boris Johnson and G7 leaders in June that the US would maintain enough of a security presence in Afghanistan that they would keep Kabul safe — then failed to keep that commitment
NEW: Biden assured key allies in June that US security enablers would remain in place in Afghanistan as NATO troops withdrew, so much so that U.K. thought it could maintain its Kabul embassy
Is this worse for US-Ally relationships than everything under Trump combined? Horrendous abdication of responsibility.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVIbCvfkO3E
might soon be appropriate.
And Trudeau resembles Cameron rather than Blair to me.
And by the way explains why none of these countries expected the immediate collapse of Kabul
Time for this forum to utterly condemn Biden
And given the reduction in symptomatic infection from vaccination the total number of infections each day is likely to be several times the reported number.
I wonder if Blinkin knew.
It is sensational and at the same time shocking
https://twitter.com/darrengrimes_/status/1428803503191994370?s=21
There's videos from even the Pashtun areas of Afghanistan showing some pretty ballsy acts of rebellion.
It seems like it'll largely come down to the Taliban's elite units (i.e. Badri-313, not the vast majority of their forces, who are composed of people who will go with whoever they think will win, and people unused to fighting more than a day away from home) against the Afghan commandos. Credit to Rashid Khan for painting the Afghan Govt. colours on his cheeks today.
https://abcnews.go.com/Health/sick-covid-patients-lie-floor-antibody-treatment-site/story?id=79551329
https://twitter.com/MittRomney/status/1428360298109423627?s=20
More like a far younger Nick Clegg but with the politics of Chukka Umunna.
Trudeau is a combination of Cameron, Clegg, Blair, JFK and Macron (and if rumours are to be believed Fidel Castro)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Secret_Footballer
As @Sean_F said I think you'd be looking at 1947 as the last time we could have pulled off an operation like that in that part of the world solo, and we didn't exactly have a stellar record in Afghanistan even before then.
I told this forum last year that Biden would be an absolute disaster and, while Trump had huge faults, given the world where we are, he was the better choice in a two horse race.
I hope you Biden Fanboys are happy tonight.
What a shit show
Since you took the view that Biden had huge faults but you consider he was the better choice in a two horse race, and presumably still do despite Jan 6th and all the rest, why is it unreasonable someone might look at recent events and still decide Biden was the better choice, particular with the information at that time?
Can people not undertake the same process of weughing things up as you have, reach a different conclusion, and not be a fanboy?
Why do you think Pelosi mentioned this last year?
https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/pelosi-unveils-25th-amendment-bid-questions-trumps-fitness-donald-trump-congress-washington-president-white-house-b913095.html?amp
I think there is a question to be asked here whether Pelosi et al were preparing the ground here for Biden to be removed at some point
NEW: Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in a briefing call with House lawmakers just now said Americans have been beaten by the Taliban in Kabul, according to multiple people on the call. Austin called it “unacceptable.”
Because Trump winning a 2nd term would have been either the end of american democracy or a civil war or succession of several states.
As was proved by his attempts to run a coup and claim he won the election.
I'm depressed to think that you regard anyone that disagrees with you as wearing jackboots. That suggests to me that you're biased in all sorts of bad ways. However I am most certainly ignorant as to much of history. You will be too.
I do not know of a single good thing that Labour or the Unions have done since 1918.
@Nigel_Foremain
Biden was pretty ineffectual at the height of his powers, about 20 years ago.
He was a reasonable Veep. He should have left it there.
But, he always wanted to be President.
He now has unmistakable signs of early stage dementia.
Poor old Joe Biden.
Still think that people?
Will they? Probably not.
Britain certainly won't. Any limited funds the Treasury can muster will all be earmarked for paying heftier bribes to the elderly.
And if you think the Democrats won’t try to subvert the democratic process to keep themselves in control, I have a bridge to sell you.
I’ll throw a black / grey swan out there for 2022, namely the mid-terms will be delayed or (maybe more likely) there will be federal intervention that allows blanket voting without ID , plus the allowance of mass postal ballots. Covid will be cited as the reason but the real cause will be that Biden and the Democrats will be scared shitless of getting crushed.
In all my 77 years I have never thought the US would so betray the UK and Nato, and the shock across the allies must be palpable
We will see in a few days.
So it's not really a matter of should it have been made public, particularly in this way (rather than, perhaps, 'briefings' from 'unnamed sources' in government), but what the reaction to it on both sides will be, hence the why being interesting.
The NHS
The Equal Pay Act 1970
The Sex Discrimination Act 1975
The Race Relations Act 1976
The Good Friday Agreement
The repeal of Section 28
Which is the GOP's preferred voting method for none supporting areas...
Every great songwriter has written lots of poor material.
She also makes Hillary look like a good people person judging by accounts of her dealings with staff