Mr. Pioneers, aye, the hypocrisy is fantastic in F1.
I'm not a fan of dragging politics into sport, but they collectively dived right into that pool and wallowed in the BLM/kneeling fad. Might still be happening (I've always avoided pre-race nonsense). But calendar regulars still include one red flag country with concentration camps and another that seems to be looking to annihilate a European nation-state.
We'll see what they do.
I don't think its hypocrisy at all.
The calendar including red flag countries is being set by the operators chasing money.
The kneeling etc is being set by players fighting (and themselves victims of) racism.
Incidentally Hamilton quite famously did attack Saudi Arabia's human rights record too. Good on him.
Just because the bosses of F1 are all about the money, does that invalidate the players trying to do the right thing with their platform?
I also read the Alternative History forum, and of course they have a discussion about Ukraine. Seems to me, over there, they think Ukraine is gone (annexed), Belarus will be too (Lukshenko will simply be got rid of) and Moldova as well, before Putin turns back to central Asia and takes/puppets a few of the 'stans.
Quite different from here were the only thing I've seen is Putin will rip off a bit of Eastern Ukraine and puppet the rest.
I'm inclined to agree with Alt-History. I don't think Ukraine will exist even as a puppet IF Putin gets his way.
Do you have a link to that forum? Sounds interesting. Ta
Or they'll go easy on you (you'd better damn well know the US Gallup poll ratings supporting war between June 1940 and October 1940... and you'd better know the placement and OOB of every German and Soviet division day by day between 22nd June 1941 and 8th May 1945 or you'll get absolutely roasted in their main forum).
Mr. Pioneers, aye, the hypocrisy is fantastic in F1.
I'm not a fan of dragging politics into sport, but they collectively dived right into that pool and wallowed in the BLM/kneeling fad. Might still be happening (I've always avoided pre-race nonsense). But calendar regulars still include one red flag country with concentration camps and another that seems to be looking to annihilate a European nation-state.
We'll see what they do.
They announced earlier this month that they were cancelling the show of support for the BLM campaign from this season. Hopefuly the PL/EFL will do the same in the summer.
Wow the Nasty Party Alt-Right are out in force. What a revolting post.
You did, others didn't. Others kept claiming Temerko was Russian and some have even done so today.
1: I agree with going after Russian assets. No disagreement from me.
2: There is a law and procedure to freeze assets from crimes and a "suspicion" is not proof of wrong doing. There are procedures for things like unexplained wealth, but the law must be followed. If you want the law implemented in full, then I agree with that 100%. If you want people to be targeted based on a political vendetta outside of the law, then I couldn't disagree more.
3: Tories AFAIK haven't taken a single penny from Russians, its illegal to do so, they've only accepted money from Britons. Completely and 100% agreed on actual Russians and Russian firms like Gazprom and sport teams, finance etc
Would you agree that a sequence under which a person acquires British nationality through the golden passport scheme and then donates large sums to the party of the government which provided the scheme is not entirely satisfactory?
Indeed, but considering the allegations so far have been regarding people who came to the UK when Tony Blair was Prime Minister and you were sitting in the Commons, then you probably have more expertise on this subject than I do as to how they were allowed into this country.
Very shocked and saddened by this. Bit sick even. Things look bleak now for Ukraine and the people there. I feel no excitement whatsoever nor any need to find a take on events which blames anybody but Vladimir Putin. It looks like the old old story to me - a rancid Big Boy authoritarian seeking to Make "His" Country Great Again. Perhaps one day we'll progress beyond this sort of primitive nonsense but sadly it looks a way off. God knows where it's going, I guess nobody has much of a clue since it depends on Putin's brain chemistry. He's clearly bad - half crime boss, half reactionary blood & soil expansionary nationalist - but is he also mad? Let us hope and pray that he isn't.
Yes, ‘sick’ is a good word. News that actually makes you nauseous
This is a good but paywalled article on Macron’s attempt to mollify Putin. Moderately critical of Macron, says he was vain and foolhardy - but on the other hand at least he tried.
More interesting is the French appraisal of Putin. Macron’s team apparently met a changed, isolated, paranoid man. Clear implications that Putin has gone slightly mad
Our sanctions should be so heavy that we feel pain, let alone Russia. Such an act of unprovoked war in Europe cannot go unpunished and we should be collectively willing to pay some sacrifice to make sure Russia suffers for these actions.
Freeze and start legal action to confiscate assets of anyone linked to Putin. Ban anyone in the West from holding Russian government or Ruble denominated debt. Cut access to Swift. Sanction all Russian banks. Implement a energy plan that makes Europe independent of Russian oil/gas as soon as possible.
Agreed. We need a complete and 100% isolation of Russia akin to and beyond what happened to the Apartheid South Africa. Ban them from finance, from sports, from anything and everything.
On the latter, not to be replaced with "I can't believe it's not Russia" Olympic teams ... Banned full stop. Cut off entirely from the world.
So, about yesterday's debate where you were dead against freezing Russian assets and suspected Russian assets in the UK...
What Russian assets?
Yesterday we were talking about British assets of Britons who are Putin's enemies who have lived in the UK and acquired citizenship for decades?
Are you wanting to revert to Russophobia and racistly seizing the assets of all of Putin's enemies who happened to be born in Russia?
Get a grip!
Yep. "you're all racists if you impose sanctions on russian accounts of russian passport holders and russian property in the UK" is providing succour to Putin.
Well done.
More racism. Calling Britons by their nation of birth, rather than their real nationality, is unadulterated racism.
sanctions on russianBritish accounts of russianBritish passport holders and russianBritish property in the UK.
Sanction Russians by all means. Not Britons.
Yeah. Russians. That's what I am saying by posting "Russians". Read my posts not what you think I am posting.
We all need to be very clear who we are going after. I mistook Temerko for Russian, Big Dog the same for Abramovich. For Russian assets it is simple. For ex-Russian assets we have existing laws which apply to all British passport holders. Either way, we can freeze any and all money and assets from Russia.
You said "what Russian assets".
You may be the only person in this country who doesn't understand that Russia has an awful lot of money and property on our soil.
Indeed but what we were discussing yesterday was the likes of Temerko.
If you're happy to accept that he's British not Russian (which others weren't) then we can move on. Absolutely sanction Russians, no objection from me to that. So long as we're crystal clear we're talking about Russians, not Britons, that we're talking about then we're on the same page and fully agreed.
We could investigate rich ex-Russian Britons for corruption and theft though.
Of course. But in this country, unlike Putin's Russia, we have a system where we don't just confiscate the assets of people without pesky little things like evidence and due process.
If anyone has any evidence of wrong doing, that should go to the relevant authorities.
Who said confiscate? Again don't you read? We can use existing laws to freeze assets. I think we should. I'm not sure you do - a free pass uniquely to Russian ex-pats that doesn't apply to anyone else with a British passport.
I think the law should be followed. If there is evidence of wrongdoing by Russian ex-pats then the assets should be frozen.
But there has to be evidence first. Its not a case of "I don't like that person, lets freeze his assets".
Do you think that Unexplained Wealth Orders shouldn’t be used by UK authorities because that’s what they do - they assume suspicious behaviour and it’s up to the person served to prove otherwise.
The UK gov could issue them like confetti and gum up the system for years for anyone they target as the assets are frozen until the entity proves how they made the funds.
Although the reduction in the interest rate to RPI is certainly a good thing.
I would really recommend that any future students delay university for at least a year so as to get more experience of the world generally and possible careers specifically before accepting such lifetime debt servitude.
The reduction in interest rate is a curious change because it means more high earners will be able to repay the loans and escape the tax, while those on middle incomes still won't be able to, and so some will end up paying more tax than the higher earners.
It's the Tories undoing some of the changes the LibDems achieved in coalition to make it work, in practice, more like a graduate tax. They've shifted it back towards the loan system they always wanted.
I tend to see it as a form of extra income tax which people incur if they opt to go into Higher Education. The alternative is that everyone pays for the costs, including those who go into employment without enjoying the benefits of university. From their POV it must seem eminently fair.
You could argue that there is a greater unfairness for people with bad eyes or teeth who have to contribute to the costs of optometry and dentistry. Likewise folks whose savings are sucked dry by the costs of care. No-one volunteered for that, which is quite different to those who seek to better themselves through education.
So why not apply it to all with a degree rather than just the age groups who don't tend to vote Tory?
You mean retrospectively? Come off it! People who have got this liability signed up for it, like it or not. And I don't much as I have kids with a debt myself.
In any event, the need is because of the expansion of HE which has made it unaffordable to come from general taxation. Didn't apply in the past when far fewer went on to HE.
Mr. Misty, but surely if we just scrunch up our eyes and concentrate really hard on low carbon emissions that'll make everything better?
It's almost as if sacrificing common sense and self-interest on the altar of the Great God Warmor was, and always was, bloody stupid. (Not forgetting Merkel's delinquency on nuclear in Germany, or our own failures on nuclear building).
Interesting What-if - Germany (Green history etc) goes 100% zero emission by 2020.
Nord Stream 2 never happens. Putin desperately needs someone to buy his gas....
EDIT: I always advocated removing gas and oil from the economy as worth it for the strategic implications. The green benefits are there as well, but not sending vast sums of money to nasty people and depending on the products made it worthwhile. All on it's own.
Mr. Pioneers, aye, the hypocrisy is fantastic in F1.
I'm not a fan of dragging politics into sport, but they collectively dived right into that pool and wallowed in the BLM/kneeling fad. Might still be happening (I've always avoided pre-race nonsense). But calendar regulars still include one red flag country with concentration camps and another that seems to be looking to annihilate a European nation-state.
We'll see what they do.
They announced earlier this month that they were cancelling the show of support for the BLM campaign from this season. Hopefuly the PL/EFL will do the same in the summer.
Wow the Nasty Party Alt-Right are out in force. What a revolting post.
I am sure Putin will be quaking in his boots while we take the knee.
It is western obsession with wokeness Putin and Xi see as western weakness and self hate enabling them to take Ukraine and Taiwan with little response.
Yes everyone should be treated equally and fairly regardless of race but taking the knee should be voluntary not imposed
Our sanctions should be so heavy that we feel pain, let alone Russia. Such an act of unprovoked war in Europe cannot go unpunished and we should be collectively willing to pay some sacrifice to make sure Russia suffers for these actions.
Freeze and start legal action to confiscate assets of anyone linked to Putin. Ban anyone in the West from holding Russian government or Ruble denominated debt. Cut access to Swift. Sanction all Russian banks. Implement a energy plan that makes Europe independent of Russian oil/gas as soon as possible.
Agreed. We need a complete and 100% isolation of Russia akin to and beyond what happened to the Apartheid South Africa. Ban them from finance, from sports, from anything and everything.
On the latter, not to be replaced with "I can't believe it's not Russia" Olympic teams ... Banned full stop. Cut off entirely from the world.
So, about yesterday's debate where you were dead against freezing Russian assets and suspected Russian assets in the UK...
What Russian assets?
Yesterday we were talking about British assets of Britons who are Putin's enemies who have lived in the UK and acquired citizenship for decades?
Are you wanting to revert to Russophobia and racistly seizing the assets of all of Putin's enemies who happened to be born in Russia?
Get a grip!
Yep. "you're all racists if you impose sanctions on russian accounts of russian passport holders and russian property in the UK" is providing succour to Putin.
Well done.
More racism. Calling Britons by their nation of birth, rather than their real nationality, is unadulterated racism.
sanctions on russianBritish accounts of russianBritish passport holders and russianBritish property in the UK.
Sanction Russians by all means. Not Britons.
Yeah. Russians. That's what I am saying by posting "Russians". Read my posts not what you think I am posting.
We all need to be very clear who we are going after. I mistook Temerko for Russian, Big Dog the same for Abramovich. For Russian assets it is simple. For ex-Russian assets we have existing laws which apply to all British passport holders. Either way, we can freeze any and all money and assets from Russia.
You said "what Russian assets".
You may be the only person in this country who doesn't understand that Russia has an awful lot of money and property on our soil.
Indeed but what we were discussing yesterday was the likes of Temerko.
If you're happy to accept that he's British not Russian (which others weren't) then we can move on. Absolutely sanction Russians, no objection from me to that. So long as we're crystal clear we're talking about Russians, not Britons, that we're talking about then we're on the same page and fully agreed.
We could investigate rich ex-Russian Britons for corruption and theft though.
Of course. But in this country, unlike Putin's Russia, we have a system where we don't just confiscate the assets of people without pesky little things like evidence and due process.
If anyone has any evidence of wrong doing, that should go to the relevant authorities.
Who said confiscate? Again don't you read? We can use existing laws to freeze assets. I think we should. I'm not sure you do - a free pass uniquely to Russian ex-pats that doesn't apply to anyone else with a British passport.
I think the law should be followed. If there is evidence of wrongdoing by Russian ex-pats then the assets should be frozen.
But there has to be evidence first. Its not a case of "I don't like that person, lets freeze his assets".
Do you think that Unexplained Wealth Orders shouldn’t be used by UK authorities because that’s what they do - they assume suspicious behaviour and it’s up to the person served to prove otherwise.
The UK gov could issue them like confetti and gum up the system for years for anyone they target as the assets are frozen until the entity proves how they made the funds.
I am not an expert on this, but I believe there has to be evidence first of alleged unexplained wealth.
If there's evidence, follow the evidence, but do so based on evidence not political partisanship or targeting people you dislike politically.
The latter should never happen in a free society. Following the evidence, absolutely should.
Very shocked and saddened by this. Bit sick even. Things look bleak now for Ukraine and the people there. I feel no excitement whatsoever nor any need to find a take on events which blames anybody but Vladimir Putin. It looks like the old old story to me - a rancid Big Boy authoritarian seeking to Make "His" Country Great Again. Perhaps one day we'll progress beyond this sort of primitive nonsense but sadly it looks a way off. God knows where it's going, I guess nobody has much of a clue since it depends on Putin's brain chemistry. He's clearly bad - half crime boss, half reactionary blood & soil expansionary nationalist - but is he also mad? Let us hope and pray that he isn't.
More interesting is the French appraisal of Putin. Macron’s team apparently met a changed, isolated, paranoid man. Clear implications that Putin has gone slightly mad
Yes my view shifted a week ago especially after seeing the address. I assumed we were dealing with someone rational who wouldn't be stupid enough to do this. I was wrong.
He is deranged. And that's extremely dangerous. He has threatened, basically, to launch a nuclear attack on us if we 'interfere'. I wouldn't put it past him, at all.
Meanwhile the tory party are awash with Putin's dirty money.
Mr. Pioneers, aye, the hypocrisy is fantastic in F1.
I'm not a fan of dragging politics into sport, but they collectively dived right into that pool and wallowed in the BLM/kneeling fad. Might still be happening (I've always avoided pre-race nonsense). But calendar regulars still include one red flag country with concentration camps and another that seems to be looking to annihilate a European nation-state.
We'll see what they do.
They announced earlier this month that they were cancelling the show of support for the BLM campaign from this season. Hopefuly the PL/EFL will do the same in the summer.
Wow the Nasty Party Alt-Right are out in force. What a revolting post.
1. We already know Boris is not good in a crisis. I do not understand why Tory MPs are keeping him in place.
2. I think we are past the point where sanctions are going to resolve the crisis. I'd rather the government was talking about arming Ukraine, rearmament of UK forces, and NATO expansion. The last defence review can now be binned.
Except taxes are already at the highest in 70 years because of the damage of lockdown. Borrowing skyrocketed and we are soon to be told to give up our boilers and petrol cars and make other privations to achieve net zero.There are already shortages of oil and gas and these are set to get worse because of drilling bans.
Thanks to our government and opposition, we are in no fit state to fight Putin. He knows this. He may be evil personified, but like Trump says, stupid he is not. Know your enemy.
Note to young Misty,
Please replace the word highlighted with the pandemic and resubmit your work.
Although the reduction in the interest rate to RPI is certainly a good thing.
I would really recommend that any future students delay university for at least a year so as to get more experience of the world generally and possible careers specifically before accepting such lifetime debt servitude.
The reduction in interest rate is a curious change because it means more high earners will be able to repay the loans and escape the tax, while those on middle incomes still won't be able to, and so some will end up paying more tax than the higher earners.
It's the Tories undoing some of the changes the LibDems achieved in coalition to make it work, in practice, more like a graduate tax. They've shifted it back towards the loan system they always wanted.
I tend to see it as a form of extra income tax which people incur if they opt to go into Higher Education. The alternative is that everyone pays for the costs, including those who go into employment without enjoying the benefits of university. From their POV it must seem eminently fair.
You could argue that there is a greater unfairness for people with bad eyes or teeth who have to contribute to the costs of optometry and dentistry. Likewise folks whose savings are sucked dry by the costs of care. No-one volunteered for that, which is quite different to those who seek to better themselves through education.
So why not apply it to all with a degree rather than just the age groups who don't tend to vote Tory?
You mean retrospectively? Come off it! People who have got this liability signed up for it, like it or not. And I don't much as I have kids with a debt myself.
In any event, the need is because of the expansion of HE which has made it unaffordable to come from general taxation. Didn't apply in the past when far fewer went on to HE.
The changes are retrospective! It is not what they signed up for at all.....
Putin, as uncomfortable as it is to admit it, has played a long game superbly.
Like a weed gradually cracking concrete, we have allowed Russian influence to fracture us here in the west. We have let Russian money grease our political systems. We have allowed ourselves to become dependent on Russian gas, on their other raw materials.
Putin has been doing this for decades, developing and implementing a long-term plan and using the short-termism of our political and industrial leaders, the inability to see beyond the next election, an unwillingness to invest in energy infrastructure and supply, against us.
They have sowed division. They have used bots and money to feed Trump and Brexit and any other division they can exploit in our societies - to deny that is laughable.
And Putin has waited for the moment when we are too dependent on them, and too divided amongst ourselves, to implement this part of his grand plan. America is gridlocked, the EU is weakened, we’re weakened. We’re coming out of Covid, prices are rising, people are exhausted and demoralised.
They will have watched our experiences in Iraq and Afghan, our unwillingness to take large casualties in far off countries of which we know little.
They have slowly, gradually, developed a plan, been patient, and are implementing it gradually, step-by-step. It’s masterful in a geopolitical sense and morally bankrupt.
Ukraine is probably finished. That’s a tragedy. The western populations won’t accept the deaths of their sons and daughters for Ukraine. What follows Ukraine is genuinely very scary. They seem to be very happy in threatening nuclear war. Hopefully that is just rhetoric.
I don’t know enough about what happened after the fall of the USSR about opportunities to get Russia into NATO. I’ve read that Putin was keen to join. How true that is I don’t know. But if that chance was missed, that could prove to be a high miscalculation.
Not sure where we go from here, but we need to wean ourself of the Russian teat, the gush of dirty money, the gas, as soon as we can. That won’t be quick.
Excellent post.
The seeds of this were sown a long time ago and we were partly complicit.
1. We already know Boris is not good in a crisis. I do not understand why Tory MPs are keeping him in place.
2. I think we are past the point where sanctions are going to resolve the crisis. I'd rather the government was talking about arming Ukraine, rearmament of UK forces, and NATO expansion. The last defence review can now be binned.
Except taxes are already at the highest in 70 years because of the damage of lockdown. Borrowing skyrocketed and we are soon to be told to give up our boilers and petrol cars and make other privations to achieve net zero.There are already shortages of oil and gas and these are set to get worse because of drilling bans.
Thanks to our government and opposition, we are in no fit state to fight Putin. He knows this. He may be evil personified, but like Trump says, stupid he is not. Know your enemy.
Note to young Misty,
Please replace the word highlighted with the pandemic and resubmit your work.
Our sanctions should be so heavy that we feel pain, let alone Russia. Such an act of unprovoked war in Europe cannot go unpunished and we should be collectively willing to pay some sacrifice to make sure Russia suffers for these actions.
Freeze and start legal action to confiscate assets of anyone linked to Putin. Ban anyone in the West from holding Russian government or Ruble denominated debt. Cut access to Swift. Sanction all Russian banks. Implement a energy plan that makes Europe independent of Russian oil/gas as soon as possible.
Agreed. We need a complete and 100% isolation of Russia akin to and beyond what happened to the Apartheid South Africa. Ban them from finance, from sports, from anything and everything.
On the latter, not to be replaced with "I can't believe it's not Russia" Olympic teams ... Banned full stop. Cut off entirely from the world.
So, about yesterday's debate where you were dead against freezing Russian assets and suspected Russian assets in the UK...
What Russian assets?
Yesterday we were talking about British assets of Britons who are Putin's enemies who have lived in the UK and acquired citizenship for decades?
Are you wanting to revert to Russophobia and racistly seizing the assets of all of Putin's enemies who happened to be born in Russia?
Get a grip!
Yep. "you're all racists if you impose sanctions on russian accounts of russian passport holders and russian property in the UK" is providing succour to Putin.
Well done.
More racism. Calling Britons by their nation of birth, rather than their real nationality, is unadulterated racism.
sanctions on russianBritish accounts of russianBritish passport holders and russianBritish property in the UK.
Sanction Russians by all means. Not Britons.
Yeah. Russians. That's what I am saying by posting "Russians". Read my posts not what you think I am posting.
We all need to be very clear who we are going after. I mistook Temerko for Russian, Big Dog the same for Abramovich. For Russian assets it is simple. For ex-Russian assets we have existing laws which apply to all British passport holders. Either way, we can freeze any and all money and assets from Russia.
You said "what Russian assets".
You may be the only person in this country who doesn't understand that Russia has an awful lot of money and property on our soil.
Indeed but what we were discussing yesterday was the likes of Temerko.
If you're happy to accept that he's British not Russian (which others weren't) then we can move on. Absolutely sanction Russians, no objection from me to that. So long as we're crystal clear we're talking about Russians, not Britons, that we're talking about then we're on the same page and fully agreed.
Bollocks, he is a Russian with a UK passport.
Go on, call me racist.
Russian isn't a race. You can be accused of Xenophobia, not Racism. Unless you want to specify which of Russian's 193 national ethnicities you are referring to
Of course you can be accused of Racism.
If someone says that all immigrants should be deported is that racist? Or since its not a specific ethnicity they're referring to then its not racism? 🤦♂️
If you deem those born in other countries to be inferior to true blood and soil Brits, then yes that's racism. And if you want a specific ethnicity then its Brits and not Russians that is the specifier - you're judging Brits and non-Brits differently - though of course Britons aren't a single ethnicity either.
Put a sock in it love. If I took up Cape Verde citizenship and handed in my UK passport I would regards myself as an Englishman abroad
Mr. Pioneers, aye, the hypocrisy is fantastic in F1.
I'm not a fan of dragging politics into sport, but they collectively dived right into that pool and wallowed in the BLM/kneeling fad. Might still be happening (I've always avoided pre-race nonsense). But calendar regulars still include one red flag country with concentration camps and another that seems to be looking to annihilate a European nation-state.
We'll see what they do.
They announced earlier this month that they were cancelling the show of support for the BLM campaign from this season. Hopefuly the PL/EFL will do the same in the summer.
Wow the Nasty Party Alt-Right are out in force. What a revolting post.
Mr. Pioneers, aye, the hypocrisy is fantastic in F1.
I'm not a fan of dragging politics into sport, but they collectively dived right into that pool and wallowed in the BLM/kneeling fad. Might still be happening (I've always avoided pre-race nonsense). But calendar regulars still include one red flag country with concentration camps and another that seems to be looking to annihilate a European nation-state.
We'll see what they do.
They announced earlier this month that they were cancelling the show of support for the BLM campaign from this season. Hopefuly the PL/EFL will do the same in the summer.
Wow the Nasty Party Alt-Right are out in force. What a revolting post.
I am sure Putin will be quaking in his boots while we take the knee.
It is western obsession with wokeness Putin and Xi see as western weakness and self hate enabling them to take Ukraine and Taiwan with little response.
Yes everyone should be treated equally and fairly regardless of race but taking the knee should be voluntary not imposed
1. We already know Boris is not good in a crisis. I do not understand why Tory MPs are keeping him in place.
2. I think we are past the point where sanctions are going to resolve the crisis. I'd rather the government was talking about arming Ukraine, rearmament of UK forces, and NATO expansion. The last defence review can now be binned.
Except taxes are already at the highest in 70 years because of the damage of lockdown. Borrowing skyrocketed and we are soon to be told to give up our boilers and petrol cars and make other privations to achieve net zero.There are already shortages of oil and gas and these are set to get worse because of drilling bans.
Thanks to our government and opposition, we are in no fit state to fight Putin. He knows this. He may be evil personified, but like Trump says, stupid he is not. Know your enemy.
Note to young Misty,
Please replace the word highlighted with the pandemic and resubmit your work.
Cheers, Mr Chips.
Misty's right.
If we'd not had a lockdown, then there'd have been a surge of deaths as the virus ripped through society, but the economic impact would have been vastly reduced. On a cold, unfeeling cash flow analysis it could possibly even perversely the pandemic could have been good for the Treasury had it been left to rip since those it would have killed are a drain on the Exchequer because of pensions and healthcare and the fact they're not working.
You might think the cost of lockdown was worth paying to save lives, that's fair enough, but the cost is lockdown. It is utterly dishonest to say otherwise.
PS there would have been some economic damage either way due to the fact people voluntarily shelter in a pandemic even without lockdown being mandatory, but it would have been greatly reduced.
Very shocked and saddened by this. Bit sick even. Things look bleak now for Ukraine and the people there. I feel no excitement whatsoever nor any need to find a take on events which blames anybody but Vladimir Putin. It looks like the old old story to me - a rancid Big Boy authoritarian seeking to Make "His" Country Great Again. Perhaps one day we'll progress beyond this sort of primitive nonsense but sadly it looks a way off. God knows where it's going, I guess nobody has much of a clue since it depends on Putin's brain chemistry. He's clearly bad - half crime boss, half reactionary blood & soil expansionary nationalist - but is he also mad? Let us hope and pray that he isn't.
Yes, ‘sick’ is a good word. News that actually makes you nauseous
This is a good but paywalled article on Macron’s attempt to mollify Putin. Moderately critical of Macron, says he was vain and foolhardy - but on the other hand at least he tried.
More interesting is the French appraisal of Putin. Macron’s team apparently met a changed, isolated, paranoid man. Clear implications that Putin has gone slightly mad
Although, rather self-serving of the French to claim "we were having an interesting and worthwhile dialogue, right up to the point that he went mad...."
Putin, as uncomfortable as it is to admit it, has played a long game superbly.
Like a weed gradually cracking concrete, we have allowed Russian influence to fracture us here in the west. We have let Russian money grease our political systems. We have allowed ourselves to become dependent on Russian gas, on their other raw materials.
Putin has been doing this for decades, developing and implementing a long-term plan and using the short-termism of our political and industrial leaders, the inability to see beyond the next election, an unwillingness to invest in energy infrastructure and supply, against us.
They have sowed division. They have used bots and money to feed Trump and Brexit and any other division they can exploit in our societies - to deny that is laughable.
And Putin has waited for the moment when we are too dependent on them, and too divided amongst ourselves, to implement this part of his grand plan. America is gridlocked, the EU is weakened, we’re weakened. We’re coming out of Covid, prices are rising, people are exhausted and demoralised.
They will have watched our experiences in Iraq and Afghan, our unwillingness to take large casualties in far off countries of which we know little.
They have slowly, gradually, developed a plan, been patient, and are implementing it gradually, step-by-step. It’s masterful in a geopolitical sense and morally bankrupt.
Ukraine is probably finished. That’s a tragedy. The western populations won’t accept the deaths of their sons and daughters for Ukraine. What follows Ukraine is genuinely very scary. They seem to be very happy in threatening nuclear war. Hopefully that is just rhetoric.
I don’t know enough about what happened after the fall of the USSR about opportunities to get Russia into NATO. I’ve read that Putin was keen to join. How true that is I don’t know. But if that chance was missed, that could prove to be a high miscalculation.
Not sure where we go from here, but we need to wean ourself of the Russian teat, the gush of dirty money, the gas, as soon as we can. That won’t be quick.
Excellent post.
The seeds of this were sown a long time ago and we were partly complicit.
We stood by and did very little or nothing.
Indeed Germany scrapped her nuclear power and sold her energy dependency to Putin
Mr. Pioneers, aye, the hypocrisy is fantastic in F1.
I'm not a fan of dragging politics into sport, but they collectively dived right into that pool and wallowed in the BLM/kneeling fad. Might still be happening (I've always avoided pre-race nonsense). But calendar regulars still include one red flag country with concentration camps and another that seems to be looking to annihilate a European nation-state.
We'll see what they do.
They announced earlier this month that they were cancelling the show of support for the BLM campaign from this season. Hopefuly the PL/EFL will do the same in the summer.
Wow the Nasty Party Alt-Right are out in force. What a revolting post.
In last night's match between Atletico Madrid and Manchester United only the United players took the knee
Good to know. Thanks.
By the way, I'm not for a moment agreeing with Putin and this is a massive smokescreen, but it is correct that we have allowed neo-Nazism to fester in Europe, especially eastern Europe. Football has been riddled with vile neo-Nazism.
The EU has some culpability in this but more especially so does UEFA which is thoroughly corrupt.
Mr. Pioneers, aye, the hypocrisy is fantastic in F1.
I'm not a fan of dragging politics into sport, but they collectively dived right into that pool and wallowed in the BLM/kneeling fad. Might still be happening (I've always avoided pre-race nonsense). But calendar regulars still include one red flag country with concentration camps and another that seems to be looking to annihilate a European nation-state.
We'll see what they do.
They announced earlier this month that they were cancelling the show of support for the BLM campaign from this season. Hopefuly the PL/EFL will do the same in the summer.
Wow the Nasty Party Alt-Right are out in force. What a revolting post.
I am sure Putin will be quaking in his boots while we take the knee.
It is western obsession with wokeness Putin and Xi see as western weakness and self hate enabling them to take Ukraine and Taiwan with little response.
Yes everyone should be treated equally and fairly regardless of race but taking the knee should be voluntary not imposed
What are you foaming on about? "Imposed"? 1. The drivers pushed through the We Race as One thing 2. It remained voluntary with many drivers never taking the knee
And London is a very dirty city. I'm not referring to pollution.
Russian mafia money washes through it but so does Saudi Arabian and Qatari money. And we host Arms Fairs at places like Excel for the very regimes we profess to dislike.
Sadly, on my estimation, the best hope we have is that Ukraine fight hard, the Russians are driven back somehow, and then Putin is overthrown in a palace coup. All of that is going to mean chaos, uncertainty and a lot of deaths.
Mr. Pioneers, aye, the hypocrisy is fantastic in F1.
I'm not a fan of dragging politics into sport, but they collectively dived right into that pool and wallowed in the BLM/kneeling fad. Might still be happening (I've always avoided pre-race nonsense). But calendar regulars still include one red flag country with concentration camps and another that seems to be looking to annihilate a European nation-state.
We'll see what they do.
They announced earlier this month that they were cancelling the show of support for the BLM campaign from this season. Hopefuly the PL/EFL will do the same in the summer.
Wow the Nasty Party Alt-Right are out in force. What a revolting post.
You can support the BLM campaign and all it stands for if you want to. People who want to take a stand against racism should be able to do so without feeling forced into using that campaign's gesture.
And dismissing centrist floating voters as "nasty party alt-right" is nothing but counterproductive...
1. We already know Boris is not good in a crisis. I do not understand why Tory MPs are keeping him in place.
2. I think we are past the point where sanctions are going to resolve the crisis. I'd rather the government was talking about arming Ukraine, rearmament of UK forces, and NATO expansion. The last defence review can now be binned.
Except taxes are already at the highest in 70 years because of the damage of lockdown. Borrowing skyrocketed and we are soon to be told to give up our boilers and petrol cars and make other privations to achieve net zero.There are already shortages of oil and gas and these are set to get worse because of drilling bans.
Thanks to our government and opposition, we are in no fit state to fight Putin. He knows this. He may be evil personified, but like Trump says, stupid he is not. Know your enemy.
Note to young Misty,
Please replace the word highlighted with the pandemic and resubmit your work.
Cheers, Mr Chips.
Misty is a troll. Don't feed it.
Do stop calling regulars 'trolls'.
Just because you don't agree doesn't give you the right to accuse someone of trolling. It's like stepping back into the primary school playground.
Mr. Pioneers, aye, the hypocrisy is fantastic in F1.
I'm not a fan of dragging politics into sport, but they collectively dived right into that pool and wallowed in the BLM/kneeling fad. Might still be happening (I've always avoided pre-race nonsense). But calendar regulars still include one red flag country with concentration camps and another that seems to be looking to annihilate a European nation-state.
We'll see what they do.
They announced earlier this month that they were cancelling the show of support for the BLM campaign from this season. Hopefuly the PL/EFL will do the same in the summer.
Wow the Nasty Party Alt-Right are out in force. What a revolting post.
In last night's match between Atletico Madrid and Manchester United only the United players took the knee
Good to know. Thanks.
By the way, I'm not for a moment agreeing with Putin and this is a massive smokescreen, but it is correct that we have allowed neo-Nazism to fester in Europe, especially eastern Europe. Football has been riddled with vile neo-Nazism.
The EU has some culpability in this but more especially so does UEFA which is thoroughly corrupt.
Putin has allowed far more Neo-nazism to flourish in Russia, than the few putrid idiots in football. He has used them as disposable thugs to attack opponents. They are well funded, confident and insanely violent - see that video of a racist murder they committed and put on the internet.
Our sanctions should be so heavy that we feel pain, let alone Russia. Such an act of unprovoked war in Europe cannot go unpunished and we should be collectively willing to pay some sacrifice to make sure Russia suffers for these actions.
Freeze and start legal action to confiscate assets of anyone linked to Putin. Ban anyone in the West from holding Russian government or Ruble denominated debt. Cut access to Swift. Sanction all Russian banks. Implement a energy plan that makes Europe independent of Russian oil/gas as soon as possible.
Agreed. We need a complete and 100% isolation of Russia akin to and beyond what happened to the Apartheid South Africa. Ban them from finance, from sports, from anything and everything.
On the latter, not to be replaced with "I can't believe it's not Russia" Olympic teams ... Banned full stop. Cut off entirely from the world.
So, about yesterday's debate where you were dead against freezing Russian assets and suspected Russian assets in the UK...
What Russian assets?
Yesterday we were talking about British assets of Britons who are Putin's enemies who have lived in the UK and acquired citizenship for decades?
Are you wanting to revert to Russophobia and racistly seizing the assets of all of Putin's enemies who happened to be born in Russia?
Get a grip!
Yep. "you're all racists if you impose sanctions on russian accounts of russian passport holders and russian property in the UK" is providing succour to Putin.
Well done.
More racism. Calling Britons by their nation of birth, rather than their real nationality, is unadulterated racism.
sanctions on russianBritish accounts of russianBritish passport holders and russianBritish property in the UK.
Sanction Russians by all means. Not Britons.
Yeah. Russians. That's what I am saying by posting "Russians". Read my posts not what you think I am posting.
We all need to be very clear who we are going after. I mistook Temerko for Russian, Big Dog the same for Abramovich. For Russian assets it is simple. For ex-Russian assets we have existing laws which apply to all British passport holders. Either way, we can freeze any and all money and assets from Russia.
You said "what Russian assets".
You may be the only person in this country who doesn't understand that Russia has an awful lot of money and property on our soil.
Indeed but what we were discussing yesterday was the likes of Temerko.
If you're happy to accept that he's British not Russian (which others weren't) then we can move on. Absolutely sanction Russians, no objection from me to that. So long as we're crystal clear we're talking about Russians, not Britons, that we're talking about then we're on the same page and fully agreed.
We could investigate rich ex-Russian Britons for corruption and theft though.
Of course. But in this country, unlike Putin's Russia, we have a system where we don't just confiscate the assets of people without pesky little things like evidence and due process.
If anyone has any evidence of wrong doing, that should go to the relevant authorities.
Who said confiscate? Again don't you read? We can use existing laws to freeze assets. I think we should. I'm not sure you do - a free pass uniquely to Russian ex-pats that doesn't apply to anyone else with a British passport.
I think the law should be followed. If there is evidence of wrongdoing by Russian ex-pats then the assets should be frozen.
But there has to be evidence first. Its not a case of "I don't like that person, lets freeze his assets".
Do you think that Unexplained Wealth Orders shouldn’t be used by UK authorities because that’s what they do - they assume suspicious behaviour and it’s up to the person served to prove otherwise.
The UK gov could issue them like confetti and gum up the system for years for anyone they target as the assets are frozen until the entity proves how they made the funds.
I am not an expert on this, but I believe there has to be evidence first of alleged unexplained wealth.
If there's evidence, follow the evidence, but do so based on evidence not political partisanship or targeting people you dislike politically.
The latter should never happen in a free society. Following the evidence, absolutely should.
It’s a “reverse onus” situation so not a high bar - so if you were a former Russian minister who now owns a £50m house in Hampstead then it’s easy to hit them with one as the career earnings wouldn’t on the face of it explain how you can buy such a property and so up to you to prove you win the euromillions….
Can I ask you what your view was at the time of stripping Shamima Begum of her passport/nationality? Should she be counted and treated as “British” or not?
Very shocked and saddened by this. Bit sick even. Things look bleak now for Ukraine and the people there. I feel no excitement whatsoever nor any need to find a take on events which blames anybody but Vladimir Putin. It looks like the old old story to me - a rancid Big Boy authoritarian seeking to Make "His" Country Great Again. Perhaps one day we'll progress beyond this sort of primitive nonsense but sadly it looks a way off. God knows where it's going, I guess nobody has much of a clue since it depends on Putin's brain chemistry. He's clearly bad - half crime boss, half reactionary blood & soil expansionary nationalist - but is he also mad? Let us hope and pray that he isn't.
Yes, ‘sick’ is a good word. News that actually makes you nauseous
This is a good but paywalled article on Macron’s attempt to mollify Putin. Moderately critical of Macron, says he was vain and foolhardy - but on the other hand at least he tried.
More interesting is the French appraisal of Putin. Macron’s team apparently met a changed, isolated, paranoid man. Clear implications that Putin has gone slightly mad
Fwiw it is hard to see how freezing the assets of a few Russian plutocrats, no matter how corrupt, is likely to influence Putin in the slightest. It is just going through the motions.
Very shocked and saddened by this. Bit sick even. Things look bleak now for Ukraine and the people there. I feel no excitement whatsoever nor any need to find a take on events which blames anybody but Vladimir Putin. It looks like the old old story to me - a rancid Big Boy authoritarian seeking to Make "His" Country Great Again. Perhaps one day we'll progress beyond this sort of primitive nonsense but sadly it looks a way off. God knows where it's going, I guess nobody has much of a clue since it depends on Putin's brain chemistry. He's clearly bad - half crime boss, half reactionary blood & soil expansionary nationalist - but is he also mad? Let us hope and pray that he isn't.
Yes, ‘sick’ is a good word. News that actually makes you nauseous
This is a good but paywalled article on Macron’s attempt to mollify Putin. Moderately critical of Macron, says he was vain and foolhardy - but on the other hand at least he tried.
More interesting is the French appraisal of Putin. Macron’s team apparently met a changed, isolated, paranoid man. Clear implications that Putin has gone slightly mad
Very shocked and saddened by this. Bit sick even. Things look bleak now for Ukraine and the people there. I feel no excitement whatsoever nor any need to find a take on events which blames anybody but Vladimir Putin. It looks like the old old story to me - a rancid Big Boy authoritarian seeking to Make "His" Country Great Again. Perhaps one day we'll progress beyond this sort of primitive nonsense but sadly it looks a way off. God knows where it's going, I guess nobody has much of a clue since it depends on Putin's brain chemistry. He's clearly bad - half crime boss, half reactionary blood & soil expansionary nationalist - but is he also mad? Let us hope and pray that he isn't.
Yes, ‘sick’ is a good word. News that actually makes you nauseous
This is a good but paywalled article on Macron’s attempt to mollify Putin. Moderately critical of Macron, says he was vain and foolhardy - but on the other hand at least he tried.
More interesting is the French appraisal of Putin. Macron’s team apparently met a changed, isolated, paranoid man. Clear implications that Putin has gone slightly mad
Although the reduction in the interest rate to RPI is certainly a good thing.
I would really recommend that any future students delay university for at least a year so as to get more experience of the world generally and possible careers specifically before accepting such lifetime debt servitude.
The reduction in interest rate is a curious change because it means more high earners will be able to repay the loans and escape the tax, while those on middle incomes still won't be able to, and so some will end up paying more tax than the higher earners.
It's the Tories undoing some of the changes the LibDems achieved in coalition to make it work, in practice, more like a graduate tax. They've shifted it back towards the loan system they always wanted.
I tend to see it as a form of extra income tax which people incur if they opt to go into Higher Education. The alternative is that everyone pays for the costs, including those who go into employment without enjoying the benefits of university. From their POV it must seem eminently fair.
You could argue that there is a greater unfairness for people with bad eyes or teeth who have to contribute to the costs of optometry and dentistry. Likewise folks whose savings are sucked dry by the costs of care. No-one volunteered for that, which is quite different to those who seek to better themselves through education.
So why not apply it to all with a degree rather than just the age groups who don't tend to vote Tory?
You mean retrospectively? Come off it! People who have got this liability signed up for it, like it or not. And I don't much as I have kids with a debt myself.
In any event, the need is because of the expansion of HE which has made it unaffordable to come from general taxation. Didn't apply in the past when far fewer went on to HE.
The changes are retrospective! It is not what they signed up for at all.....
That's why I see it, effectively, as an income tax.
Same sort of distinction as with state pension and private pension.
The Treasury decides what the rate is on an annual basis, depending on prevailing economic climate.
Putin, as uncomfortable as it is to admit it, has played a long game superbly.
Like a weed gradually cracking concrete, we have allowed Russian influence to fracture us here in the west. We have let Russian money grease our political systems. We have allowed ourselves to become dependent on Russian gas, on their other raw materials.
Putin has been doing this for decades, developing and implementing a long-term plan and using the short-termism of our political and industrial leaders, the inability to see beyond the next election, an unwillingness to invest in energy infrastructure and supply, against us.
They have sowed division. They have used bots and money to feed Trump and Brexit and any other division they can exploit in our societies - to deny that is laughable.
And Putin has waited for the moment when we are too dependent on them, and too divided amongst ourselves, to implement this part of his grand plan. America is gridlocked, the EU is weakened, we’re weakened. We’re coming out of Covid, prices are rising, people are exhausted and demoralised.
They will have watched our experiences in Iraq and Afghan, our unwillingness to take large casualties in far off countries of which we know little.
They have slowly, gradually, developed a plan, been patient, and are implementing it gradually, step-by-step. It’s masterful in a geopolitical sense and morally bankrupt.
Ukraine is probably finished. That’s a tragedy. The western populations won’t accept the deaths of their sons and daughters for Ukraine. What follows Ukraine is genuinely very scary. They seem to be very happy in threatening nuclear war. Hopefully that is just rhetoric.
I don’t know enough about what happened after the fall of the USSR about opportunities to get Russia into NATO. I’ve read that Putin was keen to join. How true that is I don’t know. But if that chance was missed, that could prove to be a high miscalculation.
Not sure where we go from here, but we need to wean ourself of the Russian teat, the gush of dirty money, the gas, as soon as we can. That won’t be quick.
Time for NATO to disband. A strong non military EU outside of NATO would have been much more effective. It's easier to object to countries bordering Russia being part of NATO than part of the EU or even aspiring partners in the EU.
The Americans objected to Russia sending weapons to Cuba on the threat of war . The Israelis won't let Iran produce a bomb because it's too close for comfort. Why are the West surprised that Russia are similarily concerned about their borders ?
Do the Russians who are on the electoral register because of British citizenship have dual nationality? I think they have to renounce their Russian nationality. Russia only has a dual citizenship agreement with Tajikistan sfaict.
1. We already know Boris is not good in a crisis. I do not understand why Tory MPs are keeping him in place.
2. I think we are past the point where sanctions are going to resolve the crisis. I'd rather the government was talking about arming Ukraine, rearmament of UK forces, and NATO expansion. The last defence review can now be binned.
Except taxes are already at the highest in 70 years because of the damage of lockdown. Borrowing skyrocketed and we are soon to be told to give up our boilers and petrol cars and make other privations to achieve net zero.There are already shortages of oil and gas and these are set to get worse because of drilling bans.
Thanks to our government and opposition, we are in no fit state to fight Putin. He knows this. He may be evil personified, but like Trump says, stupid he is not. Know your enemy.
Note to young Misty,
Please replace the word highlighted with the pandemic and resubmit your work.
Cheers, Mr Chips.
Misty is a troll. Don't feed it.
Do stop calling regulars 'trolls'.
Just because you don't agree doesn't give you the right to accuse someone of trolling. It's like stepping back into the primary school playground.
What are these “regulars” you have referred to a number of times?
How long do you have to have been a member of the site to qualify? Or is it number of posts?
I’m assuming that from July last year qualifies?
Just want everyone to know when you will bestow them with the title of “regular” so they are immune from any criticism.
Maybe it’s like the fat idiot with their own seat at the bar with their usual special glass who insists on shouting bollocks to anyone who will listen.
The sort who really gets Russian sensibilities so knows they won’t invade Ukraine perhaps. Who knows…..
Very shocked and saddened by this. Bit sick even. Things look bleak now for Ukraine and the people there. I feel no excitement whatsoever nor any need to find a take on events which blames anybody but Vladimir Putin. It looks like the old old story to me - a rancid Big Boy authoritarian seeking to Make "His" Country Great Again. Perhaps one day we'll progress beyond this sort of primitive nonsense but sadly it looks a way off. God knows where it's going, I guess nobody has much of a clue since it depends on Putin's brain chemistry. He's clearly bad - half crime boss, half reactionary blood & soil expansionary nationalist - but is he also mad? Let us hope and pray that he isn't.
Yes, ‘sick’ is a good word. News that actually makes you nauseous
This is a good but paywalled article on Macron’s attempt to mollify Putin. Moderately critical of Macron, says he was vain and foolhardy - but on the other hand at least he tried.
More interesting is the French appraisal of Putin. Macron’s team apparently met a changed, isolated, paranoid man. Clear implications that Putin has gone slightly mad
Covid has affected Putin in a similar way to those people who have been afraid to leave their homes for two years.
Isolation, paranoia, bitterness with the outside world.
Dunno - he seemed to be nice and sociable with his muckers in China last week.
Comfort zone.
"Awesome to see you again? How's murdering your dissidents going? Did you get the package of polonium I sent you for your birthday? No, no thanks required - it was the least I could do for a mate".
Putin, as uncomfortable as it is to admit it, has played a long game superbly.
Like a weed gradually cracking concrete, we have allowed Russian influence to fracture us here in the west. We have let Russian money grease our political systems. We have allowed ourselves to become dependent on Russian gas, on their other raw materials.
Putin has been doing this for decades, developing and implementing a long-term plan and using the short-termism of our political and industrial leaders, the inability to see beyond the next election, an unwillingness to invest in energy infrastructure and supply, against us.
They have sowed division. They have used bots and money to feed Trump and Brexit and any other division they can exploit in our societies - to deny that is laughable.
And Putin has waited for the moment when we are too dependent on them, and too divided amongst ourselves, to implement this part of his grand plan. America is gridlocked, the EU is weakened, we’re weakened. We’re coming out of Covid, prices are rising, people are exhausted and demoralised.
They will have watched our experiences in Iraq and Afghan, our unwillingness to take large casualties in far off countries of which we know little.
They have slowly, gradually, developed a plan, been patient, and are implementing it gradually, step-by-step. It’s masterful in a geopolitical sense and morally bankrupt.
Ukraine is probably finished. That’s a tragedy. The western populations won’t accept the deaths of their sons and daughters for Ukraine. What follows Ukraine is genuinely very scary. They seem to be very happy in threatening nuclear war. Hopefully that is just rhetoric.
I don’t know enough about what happened after the fall of the USSR about opportunities to get Russia into NATO. I’ve read that Putin was keen to join. How true that is I don’t know. But if that chance was missed, that could prove to be a high miscalculation.
Not sure where we go from here, but we need to wean ourself of the Russian teat, the gush of dirty money, the gas, as soon as we can. That won’t be quick.
Time for NATO to disband. A strong non military EU outside of NATO would have been much more effective. It's easier to object to countries bordering Russia being part of NATO than part of the EU or even aspiring partners in the EU.
The Americans objected to Russia sending weapons to Cuba on the threat of war . The Israelis won't let Iran produce a bomb because it's too close for comfort. Why are the West surprised that Russia are similarily concerned about their borders ?
Mr. Pioneers, aye, the hypocrisy is fantastic in F1.
I'm not a fan of dragging politics into sport, but they collectively dived right into that pool and wallowed in the BLM/kneeling fad. Might still be happening (I've always avoided pre-race nonsense). But calendar regulars still include one red flag country with concentration camps and another that seems to be looking to annihilate a European nation-state.
We'll see what they do.
They announced earlier this month that they were cancelling the show of support for the BLM campaign from this season. Hopefuly the PL/EFL will do the same in the summer.
Wow the Nasty Party Alt-Right are out in force. What a revolting post.
I am sure Putin will be quaking in his boots while we take the knee.
It is western obsession with wokeness Putin and Xi see as western weakness and self hate enabling them to take Ukraine and Taiwan with little response.
Yes everyone should be treated equally and fairly regardless of race but taking the knee should be voluntary not imposed
What are you foaming on about? "Imposed"? 1. The drivers pushed through the We Race as One thing 2. It remained voluntary with many drivers never taking the knee
Yes, and when before one race the drivers agreed to wear T-shirts with a general anti-racism message, Hamilton refused.
Fwiw it is hard to see how freezing the assets of a few Russian plutocrats, no matter how corrupt, is likely to influence Putin in the slightest. It is just going through the motions.
Exactly. We need to hammer the pillars of the Russian economy: oil and gas exports, financial flows, foreign accounts and real estate.
1. We already know Boris is not good in a crisis. I do not understand why Tory MPs are keeping him in place.
2. I think we are past the point where sanctions are going to resolve the crisis. I'd rather the government was talking about arming Ukraine, rearmament of UK forces, and NATO expansion. The last defence review can now be binned.
Except taxes are already at the highest in 70 years because of the damage of lockdown. Borrowing skyrocketed and we are soon to be told to give up our boilers and petrol cars and make other privations to achieve net zero.There are already shortages of oil and gas and these are set to get worse because of drilling bans.
Thanks to our government and opposition, we are in no fit state to fight Putin. He knows this. He may be evil personified, but like Trump says, stupid he is not. Know your enemy.
The UK's increase in government debt is not typical.
Take Germany. Yes, they ran a deficit in 2020 (4.3%), but it was by no means a crazy one.
Denmark (which had a lockdown) barely ran one at all (0.2%). While Sweden, which didn't, was only slightly better than Germany (3.2%).
The UK's deficit (14.9%) was exceptionally large. But this was a consequence of policy decisions (and the government's need to compensate for low levels of household savings), not just lockdown.
Otherwise, you'd see a clear correlation between lockdowns and deficits. And, frankly, you don't.
1. We already know Boris is not good in a crisis. I do not understand why Tory MPs are keeping him in place.
2. I think we are past the point where sanctions are going to resolve the crisis. I'd rather the government was talking about arming Ukraine, rearmament of UK forces, and NATO expansion. The last defence review can now be binned.
Except taxes are already at the highest in 70 years because of the damage of lockdown. Borrowing skyrocketed and we are soon to be told to give up our boilers and petrol cars and make other privations to achieve net zero.There are already shortages of oil and gas and these are set to get worse because of drilling bans.
Thanks to our government and opposition, we are in no fit state to fight Putin. He knows this. He may be evil personified, but like Trump says, stupid he is not. Know your enemy.
Note to young Misty,
Please replace the word highlighted with the pandemic and resubmit your work.
Cheers, Mr Chips.
Misty is a troll. Don't feed it.
Do stop calling regulars 'trolls'.
Just because you don't agree doesn't give you the right to accuse someone of trolling. It's like stepping back into the primary school playground.
You'll notice almost every time I disagree with people I do not call them a troll. But Misty is trolling today. Very obviously. I mean unless you think that Ukraine's predicament is really the fault of Extinction Rebellion. If you don't call that kind of deliberate silliness trolling, perhaps you think there's no such thing as trolling?
Very shocked and saddened by this. Bit sick even. Things look bleak now for Ukraine and the people there. I feel no excitement whatsoever nor any need to find a take on events which blames anybody but Vladimir Putin. It looks like the old old story to me - a rancid Big Boy authoritarian seeking to Make "His" Country Great Again. Perhaps one day we'll progress beyond this sort of primitive nonsense but sadly it looks a way off. God knows where it's going, I guess nobody has much of a clue since it depends on Putin's brain chemistry. He's clearly bad - half crime boss, half reactionary blood & soil expansionary nationalist - but is he also mad? Let us hope and pray that he isn't.
Yes, ‘sick’ is a good word. News that actually makes you nauseous
This is a good but paywalled article on Macron’s attempt to mollify Putin. Moderately critical of Macron, says he was vain and foolhardy - but on the other hand at least he tried.
More interesting is the French appraisal of Putin. Macron’s team apparently met a changed, isolated, paranoid man. Clear implications that Putin has gone slightly mad
Mr. Pioneers, aye, the hypocrisy is fantastic in F1.
I'm not a fan of dragging politics into sport, but they collectively dived right into that pool and wallowed in the BLM/kneeling fad. Might still be happening (I've always avoided pre-race nonsense). But calendar regulars still include one red flag country with concentration camps and another that seems to be looking to annihilate a European nation-state.
We'll see what they do.
They announced earlier this month that they were cancelling the show of support for the BLM campaign from this season. Hopefuly the PL/EFL will do the same in the summer.
Wow the Nasty Party Alt-Right are out in force. What a revolting post.
I am sure Putin will be quaking in his boots while we take the knee.
It is western obsession with wokeness Putin and Xi see as western weakness and self hate enabling them to take Ukraine and Taiwan with little response.
Yes everyone should be treated equally and fairly regardless of race but taking the knee should be voluntary not imposed
Wokeness is not a sign of weakness but of a society that has the self-confidence to examine and attempt to correct its flaws. You won't see Wokeness in Russia and China not because they are strong but because they are weak - countries ruled by fear whose leaders are brittle power-hungry despots terrified of free debate and the noisy mess of democratic self-government. The day that Western societies stop having thses kind of debates is the day that Putin wins.
Putin, as uncomfortable as it is to admit it, has played a long game superbly.
Like a weed gradually cracking concrete, we have allowed Russian influence to fracture us here in the west. We have let Russian money grease our political systems. We have allowed ourselves to become dependent on Russian gas, on their other raw materials.
Putin has been doing this for decades, developing and implementing a long-term plan and using the short-termism of our political and industrial leaders, the inability to see beyond the next election, an unwillingness to invest in energy infrastructure and supply, against us.
They have sowed division. They have used bots and money to feed Trump and Brexit and any other division they can exploit in our societies - to deny that is laughable.
And Putin has waited for the moment when we are too dependent on them, and too divided amongst ourselves, to implement this part of his grand plan. America is gridlocked, the EU is weakened, we’re weakened. We’re coming out of Covid, prices are rising, people are exhausted and demoralised.
They will have watched our experiences in Iraq and Afghan, our unwillingness to take large casualties in far off countries of which we know little.
They have slowly, gradually, developed a plan, been patient, and are implementing it gradually, step-by-step. It’s masterful in a geopolitical sense and morally bankrupt.
Ukraine is probably finished. That’s a tragedy. The western populations won’t accept the deaths of their sons and daughters for Ukraine. What follows Ukraine is genuinely very scary. They seem to be very happy in threatening nuclear war. Hopefully that is just rhetoric.
I don’t know enough about what happened after the fall of the USSR about opportunities to get Russia into NATO. I’ve read that Putin was keen to join. How true that is I don’t know. But if that chance was missed, that could prove to be a high miscalculation.
Not sure where we go from here, but we need to wean ourself of the Russian teat, the gush of dirty money, the gas, as soon as we can. That won’t be quick.
Excellent post.
The seeds of this were sown a long time ago and we were partly complicit.
We stood by and did very little or nothing.
Indeed Germany scrapped her nuclear power and sold her energy dependency to Putin
That really was a misjudgement of historic magnitude, wasn't it? Schroder and Merkel. What a relay team...
Mr. Pioneers, aye, the hypocrisy is fantastic in F1.
I'm not a fan of dragging politics into sport, but they collectively dived right into that pool and wallowed in the BLM/kneeling fad. Might still be happening (I've always avoided pre-race nonsense). But calendar regulars still include one red flag country with concentration camps and another that seems to be looking to annihilate a European nation-state.
We'll see what they do.
They announced earlier this month that they were cancelling the show of support for the BLM campaign from this season. Hopefuly the PL/EFL will do the same in the summer.
Wow the Nasty Party Alt-Right are out in force. What a revolting post.
In last night's match between Atletico Madrid and Manchester United only the United players took the knee
Good to know. Thanks.
By the way, I'm not for a moment agreeing with Putin and this is a massive smokescreen, but it is correct that we have allowed neo-Nazism to fester in Europe, especially eastern Europe. Football has been riddled with vile neo-Nazism.
The EU has some culpability in this but more especially so does UEFA which is thoroughly corrupt.
Putin has allowed far more Neo-nazism to flourish in Russia, than the few putrid idiots in football. He has used them as disposable thugs to attack opponents. They are well funded, confident and insanely violent - see that video of a racist murder they committed and put on the internet.
Russian cops have stood by watching while neo-Nazis beat the shit out of gay pride protesters. We are dealing with fascism.
Gosh - that's uncharacteristically assertive of football.
Not yet announced by UEFA. I guess they want to make an announcement on everything in one go. Do they really want Zenit playing in one of their competitions tonight?
Putin, as uncomfortable as it is to admit it, has played a long game superbly.
Like a weed gradually cracking concrete, we have allowed Russian influence to fracture us here in the west. We have let Russian money grease our political systems. We have allowed ourselves to become dependent on Russian gas, on their other raw materials.
Putin has been doing this for decades, developing and implementing a long-term plan and using the short-termism of our political and industrial leaders, the inability to see beyond the next election, an unwillingness to invest in energy infrastructure and supply, against us.
They have sowed division. They have used bots and money to feed Trump and Brexit and any other division they can exploit in our societies - to deny that is laughable.
And Putin has waited for the moment when we are too dependent on them, and too divided amongst ourselves, to implement this part of his grand plan. America is gridlocked, the EU is weakened, we’re weakened. We’re coming out of Covid, prices are rising, people are exhausted and demoralised.
They will have watched our experiences in Iraq and Afghan, our unwillingness to take large casualties in far off countries of which we know little.
They have slowly, gradually, developed a plan, been patient, and are implementing it gradually, step-by-step. It’s masterful in a geopolitical sense and morally bankrupt.
Ukraine is probably finished. That’s a tragedy. The western populations won’t accept the deaths of their sons and daughters for Ukraine. What follows Ukraine is genuinely very scary. They seem to be very happy in threatening nuclear war. Hopefully that is just rhetoric.
I don’t know enough about what happened after the fall of the USSR about opportunities to get Russia into NATO. I’ve read that Putin was keen to join. How true that is I don’t know. But if that chance was missed, that could prove to be a high miscalculation.
Not sure where we go from here, but we need to wean ourself of the Russian teat, the gush of dirty money, the gas, as soon as we can. That won’t be quick.
Time for NATO to disband. A strong non military EU outside of NATO would have been much more effective. It's easier to object to countries bordering Russia being part of NATO than part of the EU or even aspiring partners in the EU.
The Americans objected to Russia sending weapons to Cuba on the threat of war . The Israelis won't let Iran produce a bomb because it's too close for comfort. Why are the West surprised that Russia are similarily concerned about their borders ?
What utter rubbish. It is NATO that has kept the security in Europe since WW2 not the EU and only NATO which can bring the UK, Turkey and the USA into alliance against Russia not the EU too.
The Baltic States and Poland are already in the EU alongside NATO anyway. The EU is an economic block primarily, not a military defence block like NATO. The idea Putin would be any happier that Ukraine joined the EU than NATO is also absurd
Presumably if Ukraine put up a tough fight (which they will) and Russia starts to incur losses (I think it has already), doesn’t Russia become more desperate? I.e chuck a load of Nukes at Ukraine…
I don’t think anyone - even Putin - knows where this goes
Sadly, on my estimation, the best hope we have is that Ukraine fight hard, the Russians are driven back somehow, and then Putin is overthrown in a palace coup. All of that is going to mean chaos, uncertainty and a lot of deaths.
It is very uncomfortable to wish death on innocent young Russian soldiers but heavy Russian losses would be a good thing in the long term
Mr. Pioneers, aye, the hypocrisy is fantastic in F1.
I'm not a fan of dragging politics into sport, but they collectively dived right into that pool and wallowed in the BLM/kneeling fad. Might still be happening (I've always avoided pre-race nonsense). But calendar regulars still include one red flag country with concentration camps and another that seems to be looking to annihilate a European nation-state.
We'll see what they do.
They announced earlier this month that they were cancelling the show of support for the BLM campaign from this season. Hopefuly the PL/EFL will do the same in the summer.
Wow the Nasty Party Alt-Right are out in force. What a revolting post.
In last night's match between Atletico Madrid and Manchester United only the United players took the knee
Good to know. Thanks.
By the way, I'm not for a moment agreeing with Putin and this is a massive smokescreen, but it is correct that we have allowed neo-Nazism to fester in Europe, especially eastern Europe. Football has been riddled with vile neo-Nazism.
The EU has some culpability in this but more especially so does UEFA which is thoroughly corrupt.
Putin has allowed far more Neo-nazism to flourish in Russia, than the few putrid idiots in football. He has used them as disposable thugs to attack opponents. They are well funded, confident and insanely violent - see that video of a racist murder they committed and put on the internet.
Russian cops have stood by watching while neo-Nazis beat the shit out of gay pride protesters. We are dealing with fascism.
The Nazis in question boasted that they had received money from the State to do that. The police standing by was only a part of the arrangement.
The Russian Nazis are quite immune to police interference, it seems. In a despotic state, they manage to have club houses, complete with pictures of Hitler and all the other symbology. And openly meet there and sing their songs as they plan more murder and thuggery.
Our sanctions should be so heavy that we feel pain, let alone Russia. Such an act of unprovoked war in Europe cannot go unpunished and we should be collectively willing to pay some sacrifice to make sure Russia suffers for these actions.
Freeze and start legal action to confiscate assets of anyone linked to Putin. Ban anyone in the West from holding Russian government or Ruble denominated debt. Cut access to Swift. Sanction all Russian banks. Implement a energy plan that makes Europe independent of Russian oil/gas as soon as possible.
Agreed. We need a complete and 100% isolation of Russia akin to and beyond what happened to the Apartheid South Africa. Ban them from finance, from sports, from anything and everything.
On the latter, not to be replaced with "I can't believe it's not Russia" Olympic teams ... Banned full stop. Cut off entirely from the world.
So, about yesterday's debate where you were dead against freezing Russian assets and suspected Russian assets in the UK...
What Russian assets?
Yesterday we were talking about British assets of Britons who are Putin's enemies who have lived in the UK and acquired citizenship for decades?
Are you wanting to revert to Russophobia and racistly seizing the assets of all of Putin's enemies who happened to be born in Russia?
Get a grip!
Yep. "you're all racists if you impose sanctions on russian accounts of russian passport holders and russian property in the UK" is providing succour to Putin.
Well done.
More racism. Calling Britons by their nation of birth, rather than their real nationality, is unadulterated racism.
sanctions on russianBritish accounts of russianBritish passport holders and russianBritish property in the UK.
Sanction Russians by all means. Not Britons.
Yeah. Russians. That's what I am saying by posting "Russians". Read my posts not what you think I am posting.
We all need to be very clear who we are going after. I mistook Temerko for Russian, Big Dog the same for Abramovich. For Russian assets it is simple. For ex-Russian assets we have existing laws which apply to all British passport holders. Either way, we can freeze any and all money and assets from Russia.
You said "what Russian assets".
You may be the only person in this country who doesn't understand that Russia has an awful lot of money and property on our soil.
Indeed but what we were discussing yesterday was the likes of Temerko.
If you're happy to accept that he's British not Russian (which others weren't) then we can move on. Absolutely sanction Russians, no objection from me to that. So long as we're crystal clear we're talking about Russians, not Britons, that we're talking about then we're on the same page and fully agreed.
We could investigate rich ex-Russian Britons for corruption and theft though.
Of course. But in this country, unlike Putin's Russia, we have a system where we don't just confiscate the assets of people without pesky little things like evidence and due process.
If anyone has any evidence of wrong doing, that should go to the relevant authorities.
Who said confiscate? Again don't you read? We can use existing laws to freeze assets. I think we should. I'm not sure you do - a free pass uniquely to Russian ex-pats that doesn't apply to anyone else with a British passport.
I think the law should be followed. If there is evidence of wrongdoing by Russian ex-pats then the assets should be frozen.
But there has to be evidence first. Its not a case of "I don't like that person, lets freeze his assets".
Do you think that Unexplained Wealth Orders shouldn’t be used by UK authorities because that’s what they do - they assume suspicious behaviour and it’s up to the person served to prove otherwise.
The UK gov could issue them like confetti and gum up the system for years for anyone they target as the assets are frozen until the entity proves how they made the funds.
I am not an expert on this, but I believe there has to be evidence first of alleged unexplained wealth.
If there's evidence, follow the evidence, but do so based on evidence not political partisanship or targeting people you dislike politically.
The latter should never happen in a free society. Following the evidence, absolutely should.
It’s a “reverse onus” situation so not a high bar - so if you were a former Russian minister who now owns a £50m house in Hampstead then it’s easy to hit them with one as the career earnings wouldn’t on the face of it explain how you can buy such a property and so up to you to prove you win the euromillions….
Can I ask you what your view was at the time of stripping Shamima Begum of her passport/nationality? Should she be counted and treated as “British” or not?
Absolutely for anyone for whom there is unexplained wealth, then that should be dealt with, but it is a high bar for the people who've been used as examples so far.
For instance the allegation has been made about Temerko who has a decades-long senior career in business including as an executive in the former oil and gas giant Yukos, which Putin subsequently targeted and destroyed.
If an American-born Briton with decades in business including executive roles in Esso owned a £50m house in Hampstead would that be suspect?
While not unexpected, still rather horrible to wake up to a new war in Europe.
Did you ever expect to write that post?
I did.
David Cameron (pbuh) did warn us all that if Brexit happened the peace we've known in Europe after WWII was at risk.
(I mean he didn't say that but the reaction of Brexiteers was hilarious to the spin Gove put on the speech before it happened.)
If you think that no Brexit would have prevented this then you are more of a fucking lunatic than I already took you for.
Like all hypothetical pasts it's impossible to know, but the idea is entirely plausible. Russian tactics on dividing the EU and ruining America's trust in government fail, so Russia abandons the more physically aggressive parts of its strategy, and Ukraine remains merely in a frozen conflict instead of subject to a wider invasion.
It doesn't make Brexit wrong, but the above is an entirely believable timeline.
All of which ignores the fact that this all started at least as early as 2014 with the annexation of Crimea. Well before Brexit was a serious possibility. Putin saw the reaction of the West then (nothing) and knew he could do this when he was ready. This was confirmed to him when he saw the way the West scuttled out of Afghanistan and lots of us on here were saying that Russia and China would be taking clear lessons from that debacle as well.
Not saying you're wrong but what do you think would have been an appropriate reaction to Crimea? Like it seems like the threat of sanctions was credibly made this time, so it's not that. Take Crimea back by force? US/UK troops in the rest of Ukraine?
What they should have done was fast tracked Ukraine into NATO and yes put European/US troops into Ukraine. It would not have delivered Crimea back to Ukraine but it would have shown Putin that for every step forward he thought he was making he was actually going to end up a step back.
And far more resolute sanctions of the sort now being proposed far too late. Cancellation of Nordstream II and turning Russia into a pariah state.
It was and is a risky business but by not doing it we have ended up where we are now which is arguably far more risky.
Of course it was never going to happen because far too many Western leaders were misreading Putin's intentions.
Very shocked and saddened by this. Bit sick even. Things look bleak now for Ukraine and the people there. I feel no excitement whatsoever nor any need to find a take on events which blames anybody but Vladimir Putin. It looks like the old old story to me - a rancid Big Boy authoritarian seeking to Make "His" Country Great Again. Perhaps one day we'll progress beyond this sort of primitive nonsense but sadly it looks a way off. God knows where it's going, I guess nobody has much of a clue since it depends on Putin's brain chemistry. He's clearly bad - half crime boss, half reactionary blood & soil expansionary nationalist - but is he also mad? Let us hope and pray that he isn't.
Yes, ‘sick’ is a good word. News that actually makes you nauseous
This is a good but paywalled article on Macron’s attempt to mollify Putin. Moderately critical of Macron, says he was vain and foolhardy - but on the other hand at least he tried.
More interesting is the French appraisal of Putin. Macron’s team apparently met a changed, isolated, paranoid man. Clear implications that Putin has gone slightly mad
Covid has affected Putin in a similar way to those people who have been afraid to leave their homes for two years.
Isolation, paranoia, bitterness with the outside world.
His ranting, conspiracy-laden, revanchist speech was very reminiscent of some of Hitler's.
Worth noting that Hitlers views on Czechoslovakia and Poland were that -
- They were made up states - They were oppressing ethnic Germans - The existence of these states was a threat to Germany - The land they were on was historically German... soil...
Although the reduction in the interest rate to RPI is certainly a good thing.
I would really recommend that any future students delay university for at least a year so as to get more experience of the world generally and possible careers specifically before accepting such lifetime debt servitude.
The reduction in interest rate is a curious change because it means more high earners will be able to repay the loans and escape the tax, while those on middle incomes still won't be able to, and so some will end up paying more tax than the higher earners.
It's the Tories undoing some of the changes the LibDems achieved in coalition to make it work, in practice, more like a graduate tax. They've shifted it back towards the loan system they always wanted.
I tend to see it as a form of extra income tax which people incur if they opt to go into Higher Education. The alternative is that everyone pays for the costs, including those who go into employment without enjoying the benefits of university. From their POV it must seem eminently fair.
You could argue that there is a greater unfairness for people with bad eyes or teeth who have to contribute to the costs of optometry and dentistry. Likewise folks whose savings are sucked dry by the costs of care. No-one volunteered for that, which is quite different to those who seek to better themselves through education.
So why not apply it to all with a degree rather than just the age groups who don't tend to vote Tory?
You mean retrospectively? Come off it! People who have got this liability signed up for it, like it or not. And I don't much as I have kids with a debt myself.
In any event, the need is because of the expansion of HE which has made it unaffordable to come from general taxation. Didn't apply in the past when far fewer went on to HE.
The changes are retrospective! It is not what they signed up for at all.....
That's why I see it, effectively, as an income tax.
Same sort of distinction as with state pension and private pension.
The Treasury decides what the rate is on an annual basis, depending on prevailing economic climate.
Your reason for not taxing older graduates was because it would be retrospective and not what they signed up for.
Yet you don't think it is unfair on younger graduates when it is retrospective and not what they signed up for because, err, it is effectively an income tax.
Presumably if Ukraine put up a tough fight (which they will) and Russia starts to incur losses (I think it has already), doesn’t Russia become more desperate? I.e chuck a load of Nukes at Ukraine…
I don’t think anyone - even Putin - knows where this goes
It would be sadly ironic if Putin ends up nuking what he considers to be his own country.
1. We already know Boris is not good in a crisis. I do not understand why Tory MPs are keeping him in place.
2. I think we are past the point where sanctions are going to resolve the crisis. I'd rather the government was talking about arming Ukraine, rearmament of UK forces, and NATO expansion. The last defence review can now be binned.
Except taxes are already at the highest in 70 years because of the damage of lockdown. Borrowing skyrocketed and we are soon to be told to give up our boilers and petrol cars and make other privations to achieve net zero.There are already shortages of oil and gas and these are set to get worse because of drilling bans.
Thanks to our government and opposition, we are in no fit state to fight Putin. He knows this. He may be evil personified, but like Trump says, stupid he is not. Know your enemy.
Note to young Misty,
Please replace the word highlighted with the pandemic and resubmit your work.
Cheers, Mr Chips.
Misty is a troll. Don't feed it.
Do stop calling regulars 'trolls'.
Just because you don't agree doesn't give you the right to accuse someone of trolling. It's like stepping back into the primary school playground.
You'll notice almost every time I disagree with people I do not call them a troll. But Misty is trolling today. Very obviously. I mean unless you think that Ukraine's predicament is really the fault of Extinction Rebellion. If you don't call that kind of deliberate silliness trolling, perhaps you think there's no such thing as trolling?
Like the avatar, Farooq.
I don't think Misty is claiming Ukraine's predicament is the fault of ER. I think he is, in his own idiolect, making, the point that we have been focusing on the wrong threats over this last decade.
Which I think is correct.
I am a great believer in democracy: democracy, and its associated principles like free speech, freedom of association, etc - it's what I believe in above all else. But democracy does have its drawbacks; it's slow and unresponsive. We have known for years that exactly what is happening now was moderately likely, but doing something about it was unattractive compared to other things, like whatever cause was fashionable at any one moment, or having a nice holiday, or cheap stuff from China, or cheap gas from Russia.
I do think democracy will prevail in the end. But we tend not to be quick out of the blocks.
Although the reduction in the interest rate to RPI is certainly a good thing.
I would really recommend that any future students delay university for at least a year so as to get more experience of the world generally and possible careers specifically before accepting such lifetime debt servitude.
The reduction in interest rate is a curious change because it means more high earners will be able to repay the loans and escape the tax, while those on middle incomes still won't be able to, and so some will end up paying more tax than the higher earners.
It's the Tories undoing some of the changes the LibDems achieved in coalition to make it work, in practice, more like a graduate tax. They've shifted it back towards the loan system they always wanted.
I tend to see it as a form of extra income tax which people incur if they opt to go into Higher Education. The alternative is that everyone pays for the costs, including those who go into employment without enjoying the benefits of university. From their POV it must seem eminently fair.
You could argue that there is a greater unfairness for people with bad eyes or teeth who have to contribute to the costs of optometry and dentistry. Likewise folks whose savings are sucked dry by the costs of care. No-one volunteered for that, which is quite different to those who seek to better themselves through education.
So why not apply it to all with a degree rather than just the age groups who don't tend to vote Tory?
You mean retrospectively? Come off it! People who have got this liability signed up for it, like it or not. And I don't much as I have kids with a debt myself.
In any event, the need is because of the expansion of HE which has made it unaffordable to come from general taxation. Didn't apply in the past when far fewer went on to HE.
The changes are retrospective! It is not what they signed up for at all.....
That's why I see it, effectively, as an income tax.
Same sort of distinction as with state pension and private pension.
The Treasury decides what the rate is on an annual basis, depending on prevailing economic climate.
Your reason for not taxing older graduates was because it would be retrospective and not what they signed up for.
Yet you don't think it is unfair on younger graduates when it is retrospective and not what they signed up for because, err, it is effectively an income tax.
Only 10% of over 65s are university graduates, over 40% of 18 to 35 year olds are now graduates
Presumably if Ukraine put up a tough fight (which they will) and Russia starts to incur losses (I think it has already), doesn’t Russia become more desperate? I.e chuck a load of Nukes at Ukraine…
I don’t think anyone - even Putin - knows where this goes
No-one does.
Which is why the sane people weren't keen on a war involving Russia.
The problem was that too many people used the fact that getting involved with a war with Russia is bad, to create a mental block that it could happen.
Very shocked and saddened by this. Bit sick even. Things look bleak now for Ukraine and the people there. I feel no excitement whatsoever nor any need to find a take on events which blames anybody but Vladimir Putin. It looks like the old old story to me - a rancid Big Boy authoritarian seeking to Make "His" Country Great Again. Perhaps one day we'll progress beyond this sort of primitive nonsense but sadly it looks a way off. God knows where it's going, I guess nobody has much of a clue since it depends on Putin's brain chemistry. He's clearly bad - half crime boss, half reactionary blood & soil expansionary nationalist - but is he also mad? Let us hope and pray that he isn't.
Yes, ‘sick’ is a good word. News that actually makes you nauseous
This is a good but paywalled article on Macron’s attempt to mollify Putin. Moderately critical of Macron, says he was vain and foolhardy - but on the other hand at least he tried.
More interesting is the French appraisal of Putin. Macron’s team apparently met a changed, isolated, paranoid man. Clear implications that Putin has gone slightly mad
Covid has affected Putin in a similar way to those people who have been afraid to leave their homes for two years.
Isolation, paranoia, bitterness with the outside world.
His ranting, conspiracy-laden, revanchist speech was very reminiscent of some of Hitler's.
Worth noting that Hitlers views on Czechoslovakia and Poland were that -
- They were made up states - They were oppressing ethnic Germans - The existence of these states was a threat to Germany - The land they were on was historically German... soil...
etc etc
Godwin's Law needs suspending for the time being.
There are indeed too many parallels for any bar on mentioning Hitler.
While not unexpected, still rather horrible to wake up to a new war in Europe.
Did you ever expect to write that post?
I did.
David Cameron (pbuh) did warn us all that if Brexit happened the peace we've known in Europe after WWII was at risk.
(I mean he didn't say that but the reaction of Brexiteers was hilarious to the spin Gove put on the speech before it happened.)
If you think that no Brexit would have prevented this then you are more of a fucking lunatic than I already took you for.
Like all hypothetical pasts it's impossible to know, but the idea is entirely plausible. Russian tactics on dividing the EU and ruining America's trust in government fail, so Russia abandons the more physically aggressive parts of its strategy, and Ukraine remains merely in a frozen conflict instead of subject to a wider invasion.
It doesn't make Brexit wrong, but the above is an entirely believable timeline.
All of which ignores the fact that this all started at least as early as 2014 with the annexation of Crimea. Well before Brexit was a serious possibility. Putin saw the reaction of the West then (nothing) and knew he could do this when he was ready. This was confirmed to him when he saw the way the West scuttled out of Afghanistan and lots of us on here were saying that Russia and China would be taking clear lessons from that debacle as well.
Not saying you're wrong but what do you think would have been an appropriate reaction to Crimea? Like it seems like the threat of sanctions was credibly made this time, so it's not that. Take Crimea back by force? US/UK troops in the rest of Ukraine?
What they should have done was fast tracked Ukraine into NATO and yes put European/US troops into Ukraine. It would not have delivered Crimea back to Ukraine but it would have shown Putin that for every step forward he thought he was making he was actually going to end up a step back.
And far more resolute sanctions of the sort now being proposed far too late. Cancellation of Nordstream II and turning Russia into a pariah state.
It was and is a risky business but by not doing it we have ended up where we are now which is arguably far more risky.
Of course it was never going to happen because far too many Western leaders were misreading Putin's intentions.
Yes. The end result of appeasement is a bloodier war than if you'd taken a stand at the outset.
Very shocked and saddened by this. Bit sick even. Things look bleak now for Ukraine and the people there. I feel no excitement whatsoever nor any need to find a take on events which blames anybody but Vladimir Putin. It looks like the old old story to me - a rancid Big Boy authoritarian seeking to Make "His" Country Great Again. Perhaps one day we'll progress beyond this sort of primitive nonsense but sadly it looks a way off. God knows where it's going, I guess nobody has much of a clue since it depends on Putin's brain chemistry. He's clearly bad - half crime boss, half reactionary blood & soil expansionary nationalist - but is he also mad? Let us hope and pray that he isn't.
Yes, ‘sick’ is a good word. News that actually makes you nauseous
This is a good but paywalled article on Macron’s attempt to mollify Putin. Moderately critical of Macron, says he was vain and foolhardy - but on the other hand at least he tried.
More interesting is the French appraisal of Putin. Macron’s team apparently met a changed, isolated, paranoid man. Clear implications that Putin has gone slightly mad
Covid has affected Putin in a similar way to those people who have been afraid to leave their homes for two years.
Isolation, paranoia, bitterness with the outside world.
His ranting, conspiracy-laden, revanchist speech was very reminiscent of some of Hitler's.
Worth noting that Hitlers views on Czechoslovakia and Poland were that -
- They were made up states - They were oppressing ethnic Germans - The existence of these states was a threat to Germany - The land they were on was historically German... soil...
etc etc
He said the other day that "an anti-Russian state is being built on our historic lands". Chilling Nazi style language that could equally apply to Lithuania and Poland. He will not stop with the conquest of Belarus and Ukraine.
Those claiming he will not go further are as naive or dishonest as those claiming an invasion of Ukraine was "hysteria". Georgia was the Rhineland. Crimea was the Sudetenland. Ukraine is Czechoslovakia. Let us act sufficiently before the Baltics are his Poland.
Putin, as uncomfortable as it is to admit it, has played a long game superbly.
Like a weed gradually cracking concrete, we have allowed Russian influence to fracture us here in the west. We have let Russian money grease our political systems. We have allowed ourselves to become dependent on Russian gas, on their other raw materials.
Putin has been doing this for decades, developing and implementing a long-term plan and using the short-termism of our political and industrial leaders, the inability to see beyond the next election, an unwillingness to invest in energy infrastructure and supply, against us.
They have sowed division. They have used bots and money to feed Trump and Brexit and any other division they can exploit in our societies - to deny that is laughable.
And Putin has waited for the moment when we are too dependent on them, and too divided amongst ourselves, to implement this part of his grand plan. America is gridlocked, the EU is weakened, we’re weakened. We’re coming out of Covid, prices are rising, people are exhausted and demoralised.
They will have watched our experiences in Iraq and Afghan, our unwillingness to take large casualties in far off countries of which we know little.
They have slowly, gradually, developed a plan, been patient, and are implementing it gradually, step-by-step. It’s masterful in a geopolitical sense and morally bankrupt.
Ukraine is probably finished. That’s a tragedy. The western populations won’t accept the deaths of their sons and daughters for Ukraine. What follows Ukraine is genuinely very scary. They seem to be very happy in threatening nuclear war. Hopefully that is just rhetoric.
I don’t know enough about what happened after the fall of the USSR about opportunities to get Russia into NATO. I’ve read that Putin was keen to join. How true that is I don’t know. But if that chance was missed, that could prove to be a high miscalculation.
Not sure where we go from here, but we need to wean ourself of the Russian teat, the gush of dirty money, the gas, as soon as we can. That won’t be quick.
Time for NATO to disband. A strong non military EU outside of NATO would have been much more effective. It's easier to object to countries bordering Russia being part of NATO than part of the EU or even aspiring partners in the EU.
The Americans objected to Russia sending weapons to Cuba on the threat of war . The Israelis won't let Iran produce a bomb because it's too close for comfort. Why are the West surprised that Russia are similarily concerned about their borders ?
Stop the War manifesto
It's the political horsehoe. The further to the left you go, just as the further to the right you go, the more likely you are to find people who are actually quite keen on imperialism, so long as it's Russian/Chinese/Iranian etc. imperialism.
Very shocked and saddened by this. Bit sick even. Things look bleak now for Ukraine and the people there. I feel no excitement whatsoever nor any need to find a take on events which blames anybody but Vladimir Putin. It looks like the old old story to me - a rancid Big Boy authoritarian seeking to Make "His" Country Great Again. Perhaps one day we'll progress beyond this sort of primitive nonsense but sadly it looks a way off. God knows where it's going, I guess nobody has much of a clue since it depends on Putin's brain chemistry. He's clearly bad - half crime boss, half reactionary blood & soil expansionary nationalist - but is he also mad? Let us hope and pray that he isn't.
Yes, ‘sick’ is a good word. News that actually makes you nauseous
This is a good but paywalled article on Macron’s attempt to mollify Putin. Moderately critical of Macron, says he was vain and foolhardy - but on the other hand at least he tried.
More interesting is the French appraisal of Putin. Macron’s team apparently met a changed, isolated, paranoid man. Clear implications that Putin has gone slightly mad
Covid has affected Putin in a similar way to those people who have been afraid to leave their homes for two years.
Isolation, paranoia, bitterness with the outside world.
His ranting, conspiracy-laden, revanchist speech was very reminiscent of some of Hitler's.
Worth noting that Hitlers views on Czechoslovakia and Poland were that -
- They were made up states - They were oppressing ethnic Germans - The existence of these states was a threat to Germany - The land they were on was historically German... soil...
etc etc
Godwin's Law needs suspending for the time being.
There are indeed too many parallels for any bar on mentioning Hitler.
It's not Godwinisng to point point that Putin is literally copy & pasta'ing the statements of Hitler with respect to his enemies.
It's not very surprising really - Hitler was a Greater German Nationalist. Just the most extreme example of a Greater X Nationalist that we have had. To date.
Putin is a Greater Russian Nationalist, using war to expand the empire. So it is logical that he should sound similar to that nice Mr Adolph....
While not unexpected, still rather horrible to wake up to a new war in Europe.
Did you ever expect to write that post?
I did.
David Cameron (pbuh) did warn us all that if Brexit happened the peace we've known in Europe after WWII was at risk.
(I mean he didn't say that but the reaction of Brexiteers was hilarious to the spin Gove put on the speech before it happened.)
If you think that no Brexit would have prevented this then you are more of a fucking lunatic than I already took you for.
Like all hypothetical pasts it's impossible to know, but the idea is entirely plausible. Russian tactics on dividing the EU and ruining America's trust in government fail, so Russia abandons the more physically aggressive parts of its strategy, and Ukraine remains merely in a frozen conflict instead of subject to a wider invasion.
It doesn't make Brexit wrong, but the above is an entirely believable timeline.
All of which ignores the fact that this all started at least as early as 2014 with the annexation of Crimea. Well before Brexit was a serious possibility. Putin saw the reaction of the West then (nothing) and knew he could do this when he was ready. This was confirmed to him when he saw the way the West scuttled out of Afghanistan and lots of us on here were saying that Russia and China would be taking clear lessons from that debacle as well.
Not saying you're wrong but what do you think would have been an appropriate reaction to Crimea? Like it seems like the threat of sanctions was credibly made this time, so it's not that. Take Crimea back by force? US/UK troops in the rest of Ukraine?
What they should have done was fast tracked Ukraine into NATO and yes put European/US troops into Ukraine. It would not have delivered Crimea back to Ukraine but it would have shown Putin that for every step forward he thought he was making he was actually going to end up a step back.
And far more resolute sanctions of the sort now being proposed far too late. Cancellation of Nordstream II and turning Russia into a pariah state.
It was and is a risky business but by not doing it we have ended up where we are now which is arguably far more risky.
Of course it was never going to happen because far too many Western leaders were misreading Putin's intentions.
Yes. The end result of appeasement is a bloodier war than if you'd taken a stand at the outset.
Whilst I agree with this, imagine if the West had taken a stand in 2014. Would one Ed Miliband have given unconditional support to David Cameron? I'm not certain...
Anybody who's genuinely* concerned with dirty money being funnelled into politics and who is also genuinely* concerned with anti-racism could support lowering the maximum donations any individual or organisation is allowed to give a political party. Make it wayyy more difficult for small numbers of people to disproportionately influence our politics.
Now I know that would probably hurt some parties more than others, but I'm sure that with a little time to adapt they are capable of generating a large base of small subscribers.
Putin, as uncomfortable as it is to admit it, has played a long game superbly.
Like a weed gradually cracking concrete, we have allowed Russian influence to fracture us here in the west. We have let Russian money grease our political systems. We have allowed ourselves to become dependent on Russian gas, on their other raw materials.
Putin has been doing this for decades, developing and implementing a long-term plan and using the short-termism of our political and industrial leaders, the inability to see beyond the next election, an unwillingness to invest in energy infrastructure and supply, against us.
They have sowed division. They have used bots and money to feed Trump and Brexit and any other division they can exploit in our societies - to deny that is laughable.
And Putin has waited for the moment when we are too dependent on them, and too divided amongst ourselves, to implement this part of his grand plan. America is gridlocked, the EU is weakened, we’re weakened. We’re coming out of Covid, prices are rising, people are exhausted and demoralised.
They will have watched our experiences in Iraq and Afghan, our unwillingness to take large casualties in far off countries of which we know little.
They have slowly, gradually, developed a plan, been patient, and are implementing it gradually, step-by-step. It’s masterful in a geopolitical sense and morally bankrupt.
Ukraine is probably finished. That’s a tragedy. The western populations won’t accept the deaths of their sons and daughters for Ukraine. What follows Ukraine is genuinely very scary. They seem to be very happy in threatening nuclear war. Hopefully that is just rhetoric.
I don’t know enough about what happened after the fall of the USSR about opportunities to get Russia into NATO. I’ve read that Putin was keen to join. How true that is I don’t know. But if that chance was missed, that could prove to be a high miscalculation.
Not sure where we go from here, but we need to wean ourself of the Russian teat, the gush of dirty money, the gas, as soon as we can. That won’t be quick.
Time for NATO to disband. A strong non military EU outside of NATO would have been much more effective. It's easier to object to countries bordering Russia being part of NATO than part of the EU or even aspiring partners in the EU.
The Americans objected to Russia sending weapons to Cuba on the threat of war . The Israelis won't let Iran produce a bomb because it's too close for comfort. Why are the West surprised that Russia are similarily concerned about their borders ?
Stop the War manifesto
It's the political horsehoe. The further to the left you go, just as the further to the right you go, the more likely you are to find people who are actually quite keen on imperialism, so long as it's Russian/Chinese/Iranian etc. imperialism.
The real division in politics is not between left and right, it is between democrats and autocrats. Always has been.
Presumably if Ukraine put up a tough fight (which they will) and Russia starts to incur losses (I think it has already), doesn’t Russia become more desperate? I.e chuck a load of Nukes at Ukraine…
I don’t think anyone - even Putin - knows where this goes
It would be sadly ironic if Putin ends up nuking what he considers to be his own country.
Mr. Pioneers, aye, the hypocrisy is fantastic in F1.
I'm not a fan of dragging politics into sport, but they collectively dived right into that pool and wallowed in the BLM/kneeling fad. Might still be happening (I've always avoided pre-race nonsense). But calendar regulars still include one red flag country with concentration camps and another that seems to be looking to annihilate a European nation-state.
We'll see what they do.
They announced earlier this month that they were cancelling the show of support for the BLM campaign from this season. Hopefuly the PL/EFL will do the same in the summer.
Wow the Nasty Party Alt-Right are out in force. What a revolting post.
I am sure Putin will be quaking in his boots while we take the knee.
It is western obsession with wokeness Putin and Xi see as western weakness and self hate enabling them to take Ukraine and Taiwan with little response.
Yes everyone should be treated equally and fairly regardless of race but taking the knee should be voluntary not imposed
Wokeness is not a sign of weakness but of a society that has the self-confidence to examine and attempt to correct its flaws. You won't see Wokeness in Russia and China not because they are strong but because they are weak - countries ruled by fear whose leaders are brittle power-hungry despots terrified of free debate and the noisy mess of democratic self-government. The day that Western societies stop having thses kind of debates is the day that Putin wins.
I think HYUFD's point is that it doesn't matter how you or I see wokeness but how these rulers of other adversarial countries see it. But given they also see democracy as a weakness I think there comes a point where you have to say that you cannot decide your social and moral positions based on how they are viewed by potential enemies.
For the record I do not agree with either 'wokeness' nor BLM but those should be decisions made within our own societies not ones dictated by fear of adverse external impressions of us.
Although the reduction in the interest rate to RPI is certainly a good thing.
I would really recommend that any future students delay university for at least a year so as to get more experience of the world generally and possible careers specifically before accepting such lifetime debt servitude.
The reduction in interest rate is a curious change because it means more high earners will be able to repay the loans and escape the tax, while those on middle incomes still won't be able to, and so some will end up paying more tax than the higher earners.
It's the Tories undoing some of the changes the LibDems achieved in coalition to make it work, in practice, more like a graduate tax. They've shifted it back towards the loan system they always wanted.
I tend to see it as a form of extra income tax which people incur if they opt to go into Higher Education. The alternative is that everyone pays for the costs, including those who go into employment without enjoying the benefits of university. From their POV it must seem eminently fair.
You could argue that there is a greater unfairness for people with bad eyes or teeth who have to contribute to the costs of optometry and dentistry. Likewise folks whose savings are sucked dry by the costs of care. No-one volunteered for that, which is quite different to those who seek to better themselves through education.
So why not apply it to all with a degree rather than just the age groups who don't tend to vote Tory?
You mean retrospectively? Come off it! People who have got this liability signed up for it, like it or not. And I don't much as I have kids with a debt myself.
In any event, the need is because of the expansion of HE which has made it unaffordable to come from general taxation. Didn't apply in the past when far fewer went on to HE.
The changes are retrospective! It is not what they signed up for at all.....
That's why I see it, effectively, as an income tax.
Same sort of distinction as with state pension and private pension.
The Treasury decides what the rate is on an annual basis, depending on prevailing economic climate.
Your reason for not taxing older graduates was because it would be retrospective and not what they signed up for.
Yet you don't think it is unfair on younger graduates when it is retrospective and not what they signed up for because, err, it is effectively an income tax.
Only 10% of over 65s are university graduates, over 40% of 18 to 35 year olds are now graduates
Then they are even more privileged and really should not mind paying a bit more then....
Ursula von der Leyen: “We’re facing an unprecedented act of aggression by the Russian leadership against a sovereign, independent country. Russia’s target is not only Donbas. It’s not only Ukraine. The target is the stability of Europe and whole of the international peace order.” https://twitter.com/lewis_goodall/status/1496805817504382979?s=20&t=tIhlaMelY-lJSUs4mtxzqQ
'Tomorrow, I will be meeting with the Leaders of the G7, and the United States and our Allies and partners will be imposing severe sanctions on Russia.
Anybody who's genuinely* concerned with dirty money being funnelled into politics and who is also genuinely* concerned with anti-racism could support lowering the maximum donations any individual or organisation is allowed to give a political party. Make is wayyy more difficult for small numbers of people to disproportionately influence our politics.
Now I know that would probably hurt some parties more than others, but I'm sure that with a little time to adapt they are capable of generating a large base of small subscribers.
*I'm making no assumptions though
Completely agree. And only eligible British voters should be able to donate anyway.
Also, dual national British-Russians should be treated as terrorism suspects if they are collaborate with the criminal Russian regime.
Mr. Pioneers, aye, the hypocrisy is fantastic in F1.
I'm not a fan of dragging politics into sport, but they collectively dived right into that pool and wallowed in the BLM/kneeling fad. Might still be happening (I've always avoided pre-race nonsense). But calendar regulars still include one red flag country with concentration camps and another that seems to be looking to annihilate a European nation-state.
We'll see what they do.
They announced earlier this month that they were cancelling the show of support for the BLM campaign from this season. Hopefuly the PL/EFL will do the same in the summer.
Wow the Nasty Party Alt-Right are out in force. What a revolting post.
I am sure Putin will be quaking in his boots while we take the knee.
It is western obsession with wokeness Putin and Xi see as western weakness and self hate enabling them to take Ukraine and Taiwan with little response.
Yes everyone should be treated equally and fairly regardless of race but taking the knee should be voluntary not imposed
Wokeness is not a sign of weakness but of a society that has the self-confidence to examine and attempt to correct its flaws. You won't see Wokeness in Russia and China not because they are strong but because they are weak - countries ruled by fear whose leaders are brittle power-hungry despots terrified of free debate and the noisy mess of democratic self-government. The day that Western societies stop having thses kind of debates is the day that Putin wins.
Forcing people to take the knee or engage in other politicised gestures is the opposite of healthy and free debate. It is actually quite authoritarian, and would have been a laughable and alien idea to the British until very recently. That it has happened actually represents a failing of our system, and is something that actually drives people towards Putin and Trump - it is no coincidence that this is where Farage and Banks are at. The question becomes 'what type of tyranny would you rather live in', and it is easy to conclude that the Trump version doesn't look so bad.
I don't know about other PBers but I am struggling to cope with this news this morning.
It is just incredible. Like a terrible black nightmare you hope you are about to wake up from.
Seventy years of peace in europe is over.
You’re not alone. I’m struggling to maintain my normal blackly comical view of it all. ie Cynicism as a defence mechanism against bad news
It’s difficult not to give into despair. After the epochal horrors of Covid, a new Cold War looms, with the very real possibility that it will spiral into hot war across Eastern Europe, not just poor Ukraine
Meanwhile, a truly sinister superpower rises in Asia. One prone to casual genocides. And engineering killer viruses.
I guess this is what living in the 1930s felt like? Except we have plague and climate change as well
On the plus side, thanks to Brexit, British HGV drivers have had a pay rise, which is better than the Jarrow March re-enacment predicted by Osbourne. And there isn't yet a Russian threat to tea imports.
Presumably if Ukraine put up a tough fight (which they will) and Russia starts to incur losses (I think it has already), doesn’t Russia become more desperate? I.e chuck a load of Nukes at Ukraine…
I don’t think anyone - even Putin - knows where this goes
It would be sadly ironic if Putin ends up nuking what he considers to be his own country.
Putin will not bring about the nuking of his own country, and he knows he would if he used nukes first.
Mr. Pioneers, aye, the hypocrisy is fantastic in F1.
I'm not a fan of dragging politics into sport, but they collectively dived right into that pool and wallowed in the BLM/kneeling fad. Might still be happening (I've always avoided pre-race nonsense). But calendar regulars still include one red flag country with concentration camps and another that seems to be looking to annihilate a European nation-state.
We'll see what they do.
They announced earlier this month that they were cancelling the show of support for the BLM campaign from this season. Hopefuly the PL/EFL will do the same in the summer.
Wow the Nasty Party Alt-Right are out in force. What a revolting post.
I am sure Putin will be quaking in his boots while we take the knee.
It is western obsession with wokeness Putin and Xi see as western weakness and self hate enabling them to take Ukraine and Taiwan with little response.
Yes everyone should be treated equally and fairly regardless of race but taking the knee should be voluntary not imposed
Wokeness is not a sign of weakness but of a society that has the self-confidence to examine and attempt to correct its flaws. You won't see Wokeness in Russia and China not because they are strong but because they are weak - countries ruled by fear whose leaders are brittle power-hungry despots terrified of free debate and the noisy mess of democratic self-government. The day that Western societies stop having thses kind of debates is the day that Putin wins.
Forcing people to take the knee or engage in other politicised gestures is the opposite of healthy and free debate. It is actually quite authoritarian, and would have been a laughable and alien idea to the British until very recently. That it has happened actually represents a failing of our system, and is something that actually drives people towards Putin and Trump - it is no coincidence that this is where Farage and Banks are at. The question becomes 'what type of tyranny would you rather live in', and it is easy to conclude that the Trump version doesn't look so bad.
The FT says US intel is estimating that 50,000 Ukrainians could die in the first week. It seems so hard to believe, but, my god. Dark dark times.
There's many more videos like that. Russia is quite clearly bombarding some civilian areas with heavy non-precision artillery.
Dn't be surprised. This is what was done to Grozny - which is regarded by the Greater Russian Nationalists as a brilliant achievement and the rebirth of Russia.
Very shocked and saddened by this. Bit sick even. Things look bleak now for Ukraine and the people there. I feel no excitement whatsoever nor any need to find a take on events which blames anybody but Vladimir Putin. It looks like the old old story to me - a rancid Big Boy authoritarian seeking to Make "His" Country Great Again. Perhaps one day we'll progress beyond this sort of primitive nonsense but sadly it looks a way off. God knows where it's going, I guess nobody has much of a clue since it depends on Putin's brain chemistry. He's clearly bad - half crime boss, half reactionary blood & soil expansionary nationalist - but is he also mad? Let us hope and pray that he isn't.
Yes, ‘sick’ is a good word. News that actually makes you nauseous
This is a good but paywalled article on Macron’s attempt to mollify Putin. Moderately critical of Macron, says he was vain and foolhardy - but on the other hand at least he tried.
More interesting is the French appraisal of Putin. Macron’s team apparently met a changed, isolated, paranoid man. Clear implications that Putin has gone slightly mad
Covid has affected Putin in a similar way to those people who have been afraid to leave their homes for two years.
Isolation, paranoia, bitterness with the outside world.
His ranting, conspiracy-laden, revanchist speech was very reminiscent of some of Hitler's.
Worth noting that Hitlers views on Czechoslovakia and Poland were that -
- They were made up states - They were oppressing ethnic Germans - The existence of these states was a threat to Germany - The land they were on was historically German... soil...
etc etc
Godwin's Law needs suspending for the time being.
There are indeed too many parallels for any bar on mentioning Hitler.
It's not Godwinisng to point point that Putin is literally copy & pasta'ing the statements of Hitler with respect to his enemies.
It's not very surprising really - Hitler was a Greater German Nationalist. Just the most extreme example of a Greater X Nationalist that we have had. To date.
Putin is a Greater Russian Nationalist, using war to expand the empire. So it is logical that he should sound similar to that nice Mr Adolph....
No, I know. It is literally copy and paste. That's my point. Nobody should feel restrained in saying so.
Anybody who's genuinely* concerned with dirty money being funnelled into politics and who is also genuinely* concerned with anti-racism could support lowering the maximum donations any individual or organisation is allowed to give a political party. Make it wayyy more difficult for small numbers of people to disproportionately influence our politics.
Now I know that would probably hurt some parties more than others, but I'm sure that with a little time to adapt they are capable of generating a large base of small subscribers.
*I'm making no assumptions though
"Any organisation" is unacceptable to the Labour Party, of course.
Mr. Pioneers, aye, the hypocrisy is fantastic in F1.
I'm not a fan of dragging politics into sport, but they collectively dived right into that pool and wallowed in the BLM/kneeling fad. Might still be happening (I've always avoided pre-race nonsense). But calendar regulars still include one red flag country with concentration camps and another that seems to be looking to annihilate a European nation-state.
We'll see what they do.
They announced earlier this month that they were cancelling the show of support for the BLM campaign from this season. Hopefuly the PL/EFL will do the same in the summer.
Wow the Nasty Party Alt-Right are out in force. What a revolting post.
I am sure Putin will be quaking in his boots while we take the knee.
It is western obsession with wokeness Putin and Xi see as western weakness and self hate enabling them to take Ukraine and Taiwan with little response.
Yes everyone should be treated equally and fairly regardless of race but taking the knee should be voluntary not imposed
Wokeness is not a sign of weakness but of a society that has the self-confidence to examine and attempt to correct its flaws. You won't see Wokeness in Russia and China not because they are strong but because they are weak - countries ruled by fear whose leaders are brittle power-hungry despots terrified of free debate and the noisy mess of democratic self-government. The day that Western societies stop having thses kind of debates is the day that Putin wins.
It isn't when many of the most radical Woke leaders want to tear down statues of all the nation's historical figures, trash its past, trash capitalism etc.
For communist leaders like Xi and Russian nationalist leaders like Putin they can smell weakness and watch the West tearing itself apart with self hate and know they can invade Ukraine, Taiwan etc with minimal response as the West has lost confidence in itself, its heritage and its values.
There is a difference between saying Black Lives Matter, which obviously they do and a radical anti Western agenda which the more extreme BLM and woke leaders have which only boosts anti western leaders
Mr. Pioneers, aye, the hypocrisy is fantastic in F1.
I'm not a fan of dragging politics into sport, but they collectively dived right into that pool and wallowed in the BLM/kneeling fad. Might still be happening (I've always avoided pre-race nonsense). But calendar regulars still include one red flag country with concentration camps and another that seems to be looking to annihilate a European nation-state.
We'll see what they do.
They announced earlier this month that they were cancelling the show of support for the BLM campaign from this season. Hopefuly the PL/EFL will do the same in the summer.
Wow the Nasty Party Alt-Right are out in force. What a revolting post.
I am sure Putin will be quaking in his boots while we take the knee.
It is western obsession with wokeness Putin and Xi see as western weakness and self hate enabling them to take Ukraine and Taiwan with little response.
Yes everyone should be treated equally and fairly regardless of race but taking the knee should be voluntary not imposed
Wokeness is not a sign of weakness but of a society that has the self-confidence to examine and attempt to correct its flaws. You won't see Wokeness in Russia and China not because they are strong but because they are weak - countries ruled by fear whose leaders are brittle power-hungry despots terrified of free debate and the noisy mess of democratic self-government. The day that Western societies stop having thses kind of debates is the day that Putin wins.
Forcing people to take the knee or engage in other politicised gestures is the opposite of healthy and free debate. It is actually quite authoritarian, and would have been a laughable and alien idea to the British until very recently. That it has happened actually represents a failing of our system, and is something that actually drives people towards Putin and Trump - it is no coincidence that this is where Farage and Banks are at. The question becomes 'what type of tyranny would you rather live in', and it is easy to conclude that the Trump version doesn't look so bad.
Nobody should be forced to do it and as far as I know nobody has been. The England football team take the knee because they have chosen to. Whereas Colin Kaepernick was forced out of American football for taking the knee. And plenty of people have sought to ban it. So the tyranny and authoritarianism seems to lie more on the other side of the debate.
Putin, as uncomfortable as it is to admit it, has played a long game superbly.
Like a weed gradually cracking concrete, we have allowed Russian influence to fracture us here in the west. We have let Russian money grease our political systems. We have allowed ourselves to become dependent on Russian gas, on their other raw materials.
Putin has been doing this for decades, developing and implementing a long-term plan and using the short-termism of our political and industrial leaders, the inability to see beyond the next election, an unwillingness to invest in energy infrastructure and supply, against us.
They have sowed division. They have used bots and money to feed Trump and Brexit and any other division they can exploit in our societies - to deny that is laughable.
And Putin has waited for the moment when we are too dependent on them, and too divided amongst ourselves, to implement this part of his grand plan. America is gridlocked, the EU is weakened, we’re weakened. We’re coming out of Covid, prices are rising, people are exhausted and demoralised.
They will have watched our experiences in Iraq and Afghan, our unwillingness to take large casualties in far off countries of which we know little.
They have slowly, gradually, developed a plan, been patient, and are implementing it gradually, step-by-step. It’s masterful in a geopolitical sense and morally bankrupt.
Ukraine is probably finished. That’s a tragedy. The western populations won’t accept the deaths of their sons and daughters for Ukraine. What follows Ukraine is genuinely very scary. They seem to be very happy in threatening nuclear war. Hopefully that is just rhetoric.
I don’t know enough about what happened after the fall of the USSR about opportunities to get Russia into NATO. I’ve read that Putin was keen to join. How true that is I don’t know. But if that chance was missed, that could prove to be a high miscalculation.
Not sure where we go from here, but we need to wean ourself of the Russian teat, the gush of dirty money, the gas, as soon as we can. That won’t be quick.
To paraphrase Bob Monkhouse, people use to laugh at Vlad when he said he wanted to make Russia great again, they’re not laughing now.
Putin’s certainly played a blinder within the parameters of his dystopian ambitions. Perhaps his greatest achievement is to get a large number of people to vehemently deny that he has influenced politics in the west while they disseminate rumours about Hilary being a satanist paedo or that the EU was going to ban pork pies tweeted by Whitechick8665901463 from a basement in St Petersburg.
Comments
The calendar including red flag countries is being set by the operators chasing money.
The kneeling etc is being set by players fighting (and themselves victims of) racism.
Incidentally Hamilton quite famously did attack Saudi Arabia's human rights record too. Good on him.
Just because the bosses of F1 are all about the money, does that invalidate the players trying to do the right thing with their platform?
Go easy on us: https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/
Or they'll go easy on you (you'd better damn well know the US Gallup poll ratings supporting war between June 1940 and October 1940... and you'd better know the placement and OOB of every German and Soviet division day by day between 22nd June 1941 and 8th May 1945 or you'll get absolutely roasted in their main forum).
It's great that we take the knee and we should.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Why-We-Kneel-How-Rise/dp/1398503231
This is a good but paywalled article on Macron’s attempt to mollify Putin. Moderately critical of Macron, says he was vain and foolhardy - but on the other hand at least he tried.
More interesting is the French appraisal of Putin. Macron’s team apparently met a changed, isolated, paranoid man. Clear implications that Putin has gone slightly mad
https://www.ft.com/content/878727ab-c97d-4f4d-8493-9a472962749a
The UK gov could issue them like confetti and gum up the system for years for anyone they target as the assets are frozen until the entity proves how they made the funds.
In any event, the need is because of the expansion of HE which has made it unaffordable to come from general taxation. Didn't apply in the past when far fewer went on to HE.
Nord Stream 2 never happens. Putin desperately needs someone to buy his gas....
EDIT: I always advocated removing gas and oil from the economy as worth it for the strategic implications. The green benefits are there as well, but not sending vast sums of money to nasty people and depending on the products made it worthwhile. All on it's own.
It is western obsession with wokeness Putin and Xi see as western weakness and self hate enabling them to take Ukraine and Taiwan with little response.
Yes everyone should be treated equally and fairly regardless of race but taking the knee should be voluntary not imposed
If there's evidence, follow the evidence, but do so based on evidence not political partisanship or targeting people you dislike politically.
The latter should never happen in a free society. Following the evidence, absolutely should.
He is deranged. And that's extremely dangerous. He has threatened, basically, to launch a nuclear attack on us if we 'interfere'. I wouldn't put it past him, at all.
Meanwhile the tory party are awash with Putin's dirty money.
Please replace the word highlighted with the pandemic and resubmit your work.
Cheers, Mr Chips.
The seeds of this were sown a long time ago and we were partly complicit.
We stood by and did very little or nothing.
https://ukraine.ua/news/stand-with-ukraine/
purpose seems to be veteran support
If we'd not had a lockdown, then there'd have been a surge of deaths as the virus ripped through society, but the economic impact would have been vastly reduced. On a cold, unfeeling cash flow analysis it could possibly even perversely the pandemic could have been good for the Treasury had it been left to rip since those it would have killed are a drain on the Exchequer because of pensions and healthcare and the fact they're not working.
You might think the cost of lockdown was worth paying to save lives, that's fair enough, but the cost is lockdown. It is utterly dishonest to say otherwise.
PS there would have been some economic damage either way due to the fact people voluntarily shelter in a pandemic even without lockdown being mandatory, but it would have been greatly reduced.
The EU has some culpability in this but more especially so does UEFA which is thoroughly corrupt.
1. The drivers pushed through the We Race as One thing
2. It remained voluntary with many drivers never taking the knee
Russian mafia money washes through it but so does Saudi Arabian and Qatari money. And we host Arms Fairs at places like Excel for the very regimes we profess to dislike.
https://caat.org.uk/challenges/arms-fairs/dsei/
And dismissing centrist floating voters as "nasty party alt-right" is nothing but counterproductive...
Just because you don't agree doesn't give you the right to accuse someone of trolling. It's like stepping back into the primary school playground.
Can I ask you what your view was at the time of stripping Shamima Begum of her passport/nationality? Should she be counted and treated as “British” or not?
Covid has affected Putin in a similar way to those people who have been afraid to leave their homes for two years.
Isolation, paranoia, bitterness with the outside world.
https://twitter.com/Independent/status/1496770962188304389
Same sort of distinction as with state pension and private pension.
The Treasury decides what the rate is on an annual basis, depending on prevailing economic climate.
The Americans objected to Russia sending weapons to Cuba on the threat of war . The Israelis won't let Iran produce a bomb because it's too close for comfort. Why are the West surprised that Russia are similarily concerned about their borders ?
How long do you have to have been a member of the site to qualify? Or is it number of posts?
I’m assuming that from July last year qualifies?
Just want everyone to know when you will bestow them with the title of “regular” so they are immune from any criticism.
Maybe it’s like the fat idiot with their own seat at the bar with their usual special glass who insists on shouting bollocks to anyone who will listen.
The sort who really gets Russian sensibilities so knows they won’t invade Ukraine perhaps. Who knows…..
"Awesome to see you again? How's murdering your dissidents going? Did you get the package of polonium I sent you for your birthday? No, no thanks required - it was the least I could do for a mate".
Take Germany. Yes, they ran a deficit in 2020 (4.3%), but it was by no means a crazy one.
Denmark (which had a lockdown) barely ran one at all (0.2%). While Sweden, which didn't, was only slightly better than Germany (3.2%).
The UK's deficit (14.9%) was exceptionally large. But this was a consequence of policy decisions (and the government's need to compensate for low levels of household savings), not just lockdown.
Otherwise, you'd see a clear correlation between lockdowns and deficits. And, frankly, you don't.
But Misty is trolling today. Very obviously. I mean unless you think that Ukraine's predicament is really the fault of Extinction Rebellion. If you don't call that kind of deliberate silliness trolling, perhaps you think there's no such thing as trolling?
The Baltic States and Poland are already in the EU alongside NATO anyway. The EU is an economic block primarily, not a military defence block like NATO. The idea Putin would be any happier that Ukraine joined the EU than NATO is also absurd
I don’t think anyone - even Putin - knows where this goes
The Russian Nazis are quite immune to police interference, it seems. In a despotic state, they manage to have club houses, complete with pictures of Hitler and all the other symbology. And openly meet there and sing their songs as they plan more murder and thuggery.
For instance the allegation has been made about Temerko who has a decades-long senior career in business including as an executive in the former oil and gas giant Yukos, which Putin subsequently targeted and destroyed.
If an American-born Briton with decades in business including executive roles in Esso owned a £50m house in Hampstead would that be suspect?
And far more resolute sanctions of the sort now being proposed far too late. Cancellation of Nordstream II and turning Russia into a pariah state.
It was and is a risky business but by not doing it we have ended up where we are now which is arguably far more risky.
Of course it was never going to happen because far too many Western leaders were misreading Putin's intentions.
- They were made up states
- They were oppressing ethnic Germans
- The existence of these states was a threat to Germany
- The land they were on was historically German... soil...
etc etc
‘"They're bombing homes," say the women in this video.’
https://twitter.com/idvck/status/1496802519292551172?s=21
The FT says US intel is estimating that 50,000 Ukrainians could die in the first week. It seems so hard to believe, but, my god. Dark dark times.
Yet you don't think it is unfair on younger graduates when it is retrospective and not what they signed up for because, err, it is effectively an income tax.
I don't think Misty is claiming Ukraine's predicament is the fault of ER. I think he is, in his own idiolect, making, the point that we have been focusing on the wrong threats over this last decade.
Which I think is correct.
I am a great believer in democracy: democracy, and its associated principles like free speech, freedom of association, etc - it's what I believe in above all else. But democracy does have its drawbacks; it's slow and unresponsive. We have known for years that exactly what is happening now was moderately likely, but doing something about it was unattractive compared to other things, like whatever cause was fashionable at any one moment, or having a nice holiday, or cheap stuff from China, or cheap gas from Russia.
I do think democracy will prevail in the end. But we tend not to be quick out of the blocks.
Which is why the sane people weren't keen on a war involving Russia.
The problem was that too many people used the fact that getting involved with a war with Russia is bad, to create a mental block that it could happen.
Which in fact made it more likely.
See good old Herman Kahn....
There are indeed too many parallels for any bar on mentioning Hitler.
Those claiming he will not go further are as naive or dishonest as those claiming an invasion of Ukraine was "hysteria". Georgia was the Rhineland. Crimea was the Sudetenland. Ukraine is Czechoslovakia. Let us act sufficiently before the Baltics are his Poland.
It's the political horsehoe. The further to the left you go, just as the further to the right you go, the more likely you are to find people who are actually quite keen on imperialism, so long as it's Russian/Chinese/Iranian etc. imperialism.
It's not very surprising really - Hitler was a Greater German Nationalist. Just the most extreme example of a Greater X Nationalist that we have had. To date.
Putin is a Greater Russian Nationalist, using war to expand the empire. So it is logical that he should sound similar to that nice Mr Adolph....
Now I know that would probably hurt some parties more than others, but I'm sure that with a little time to adapt they are capable of generating a large base of small subscribers.
*I'm making no assumptions though
For the record I do not agree with either 'wokeness' nor BLM but those should be decisions made within our own societies not ones dictated by fear of adverse external impressions of us.
https://twitter.com/lewis_goodall/status/1496805817504382979?s=20&t=tIhlaMelY-lJSUs4mtxzqQ
'Tomorrow, I will be meeting with the Leaders of the G7, and the United States and our Allies and partners will be imposing severe sanctions on Russia.
We will continue to provide support and assistance to Ukraine and the Ukrainian people.'
https://twitter.com/POTUS/status/1496716484906819589?s=20&t=tIhlaMelY-lJSUs4mtxzqQ
Also, dual national British-Russians should be treated as terrorism suspects if they are collaborate with the criminal Russian regime.
Russia is quite clearly bombarding some civilian areas with heavy non-precision artillery.
Hi all,
I am feeling very destressed today with all what's happening today... I am not sure how I will be able to focus on work today... I am sorry.
I am sorry for what’s happening… I do not support this regime and did not vote for it.
I am sorry… it is all awful…
For communist leaders like Xi and Russian nationalist leaders like Putin they can smell weakness and watch the West tearing itself apart with self hate and know they can invade Ukraine, Taiwan etc with minimal response as the West has lost confidence in itself, its heritage and its values.
There is a difference between saying Black Lives Matter, which obviously they do and a radical anti Western agenda which the more extreme BLM and woke leaders have which only boosts anti western leaders
Putin’s certainly played a blinder within the parameters of his dystopian ambitions. Perhaps his greatest achievement is to get a large number of people to vehemently deny that he has influenced politics in the west while they disseminate rumours about Hilary being a satanist paedo or that the EU was going to ban pork pies tweeted by Whitechick8665901463 from a basement in St Petersburg.