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.
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.
We should be maximising our own oil and gas production as quickly as possible, and helping to supply the rest of Europe if possible. Time to ignore green squeals for the greater good.
Build a dozen tidal lagoon power stations around our coast and you can have a greater good and non-squealing greens....
Agreed, but until we have that we should maximise our own oil and gas production and screw the green cranks.
Unless we have successful shale, which isn't economical in the UK, new production would take 20 years. There is no advantage over nuclear plants.
Hang on...
Firstly, nuclear is expensive and inflexible. (And takes twenty years to bring on stream.) Plus, nuclear plants typically have lots of unscheduled downtime. Given that the UK electricity grid is going to have increasing amounts of relatively cheap but intermittent power, it's not clear how nuclear fits into the long-term mix.
Secondly, there are lots of things that the UK could do that would help the oil & gas industry, and which would not take twenty years. The reality is that we've had a shockingly poor tax system that has discouraged investment. Most oil companies avoid investing money in the UK, because if prices rise then the government just changes the tax regime.
The Norwegian tax regime, while theoretically tougher than the UK, is much, much more sensible. Yes, they take a lot of profit from each barrel. But they also allow oil companies to earn good returns from projects, and to spend money speculatively, knowing that the government's tax system is stable.
And it's a mistake to think that the only meaningful oil and gas projects are new ones. There are plenty of projects that can improve production and ultimate recovery rates that have much shorter time spans.
Confirmed by Ukrainian authorities. A large air assault operation with Mi-8 helicopters on Antonov International Airport in Hostomel. Interior Ministry says Russia has seized control. Very dangerous; it’s just 15 minutes west of the capital ring road.
That is quite astonishing - how the fuck do you fly you choppers over 100km of hostile terrain and seize an airport. What has the Ukrainian military being doing?
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.
Much of the most incendiary social media surrounding Wokeness, the knee, BLM, identity politics, and all of this dribbling self-hating nonsense, has come from Russian and Chinese bots and trolls, stirring up both sides and eroding western cohesion and self-esteem
Whatever your personal views on Wokeness, our enemies see it as a weakness and are ruthlessly exploiting it
Yes. You can encounter them on Quora, and other social media platforms. People who combine extreme wokeness with support for the foreign policy aims of Russia and China.
A classic example was all the alleged racist abuse by England fans, of the black players who missed penalties at the euro finals
‘Most of the racist trolling of England footballers has come from accounts based overseas, according to expert analysis.
Around 70% of the hateful posts, images and emojis posted after the Euro 2020 defeat are said to have been from social media users outside the UK.
The speed at which they were posted online after England’s defeat to Italy – and the way some of the accounts were set up – has led to suspicions that nefarious motives other than racism are at play.’
So easy to do. Send fake racist tweets ‘by England fans’. Get the left all angry and sneery at thick racist English people, stir the roiling culture wars, sit back and watch a country hate itself
BLM in America is even worse, because there the Russians and Chinese can play on deep rooted and justifiable white guilt
One example I've noticed in recent years, again the political horsehoe, is the argument that there was really nothing to choose between the Allies and Axis in WWII is no longer restricted to Neo-Nazis. It's now quite a woke argument.
What? I've seen people say that about thr cold war, which despite a lot of bad stuff is not true, but thats crazy.
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.
Much of the most incendiary social media surrounding Wokeness, the knee, BLM, identity politics, and all of this dribbling self-hating nonsense, has come from Russian and Chinese bots and trolls, stirring up both sides and eroding western cohesion and self-esteem
Whatever your personal views on Wokeness, our enemies see it as a weakness and are ruthlessly exploiting it
Yes. You can encounter them on Quora, and other social media platforms. People who combine extreme wokeness with support for the foreign policy aims of Russia and China.
A classic example was all the alleged racist abuse by England fans, of the black players who missed penalties at the euro finals
‘Most of the racist trolling of England footballers has come from accounts based overseas, according to expert analysis.
Around 70% of the hateful posts, images and emojis posted after the Euro 2020 defeat are said to have been from social media users outside the UK.
The speed at which they were posted online after England’s defeat to Italy – and the way some of the accounts were set up – has led to suspicions that nefarious motives other than racism are at play.’
So easy to do. Send fake racist tweets ‘by England fans’. Get the left all angry and sneery at thick racist English people, stir the roiling culture wars, sit back and watch a country hate itself
BLM in America is even worse, because there the Russians and Chinese can play on deep rooted and justifiable white guilt
It’s very clear that the goal of Russian social media operations has been to find weak points in the polities of target countries and hammer wedges into them.
Split the people apart into islands of mutual distrust & you can manoevre at leisure against them because they won’t be able to come up with a coherent reponse to anything you do.
This goes for BLM, Brexit, Trans issues, any issue where the population is already or can be divided if sufficient encouragement is applied. In the UK they get to be aided & abetted by a tabloid press who are very happy to profit from the culture wars, regardless of who starts them.
As a nation, we need to wake up & start taking this threat seriously: somehow we need to eject Russian troll farms from the media we consume because they’re poisoning us drop by drop.
Indeed. I do wonder whether Putin has begun to believe a lot of this though. We squabble about those issues on here. But it doesn't mean the condemnation of Russia is any less. We see disagreement as a strength not a weakness. It's an entirely different mindset.
Yes, he believes it. A Greater X Nationalist believes that Unity Is Strength, Dissent Is Weakness
That's why they love the idea of One People, One Culture, One Land, One Leader.
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
I could 100% support this, assuming that the cap for organisations includes bodies like Trade Unions too and they are not excluded.
There is a difference there, though - the Union money comes from many individuals choosing to donate (well pay membership fees) for that union and knowing (or at least being able to very easily find out) whether they in turn fund a political party. For wealthy individuals who got rich from companies, I'm not sure that the purchasers were endorsing the eventual political donation. I helped fund Brexit through buying a Dyson some years back and drinking in Wetherspoons during my student days, but I assure you that was not my intention
I would be up for Union donation reform - for example, make the political part an optional part of the membership: join for the protections and negotiation, pay a bit extra if you want to support the politics - just pointing out that it's not the same thing.
Wasnt it the plan to make political union contributions opt in rather than opt out? I dont recall if it happened. I recall a lot of stink about it, but whatever the motivation it seemed blindingly obvious as being fair. (As with the idea of a low minimum for individuals, not enough choosing to do it would be no argument).
I'd go further. Allow the union's members to vote on which parties the funds go to. If 60% vote Labour, 30% LIb Dem and 10% Conservative, split the political levy that way.
It's a win-win. It makes it more democratic, removes a barrier for many to joining a union, and gives the union power and influence within all the parties. It also makes it worth political parties talking and listening to unions more.
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.
I think it probably is unfair. There's a lot of unfairness about. Such as the huge cost of care, for instance. My family is taking a big hit from both student debt and social care costs. Unfortunately, the money has to be raised somewhere. Someone has to pay the bills for welfare, defence, etc.
Agreed. Should that be the richest cohort of pensioners ever? Or the first generation of young people to end up poorer than their parents in many decades?
I don't know why it is controversial to suggest it is not the young people.
Today's generation of young people will inherit more than their parents or grandparents could ever dream of on average once they reach late middle age.
So it is not all bad for them
Only in cash terms. If you convert to housing they are and always will be paupers.
What are the chances of NATO declaring no fly zone on basis of too many civilians being slaughtered by highly equipped aggressor? More Conservative MPs are calling for this now. The chances of this in the response are not zero, surely?
Yes, he's said if he was in charge this never would have happened and Biden is a poopy pants old man
What Trump would have done I don't know.
But its certainly true that Obama was weak and that Biden doesn't look any better.
Hilary would likely have taken a harder line than either.
You only have to read what Trump has said in the last few days to know what he would have done. He has praised Putin's aggression. Trump would love to be able to behave like Putin if he thought he could get away with it.
My guess is that Putin will wait till his mate is back in the White House in a couple of years before making any move in the Baltic States. It will be a dark day indeed for the west if Trump and his acolytes engineer a win in 2024. He will wait for Trump to destabilise NATO
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.
Much of the most incendiary social media surrounding Wokeness, the knee, BLM, identity politics, and all of this dribbling self-hating nonsense, has come from Russian and Chinese bots and trolls, stirring up both sides and eroding western cohesion and self-esteem
Whatever your personal views on Wokeness, our enemies see it as a weakness and are ruthlessly exploiting it
Yes. You can encounter them on Quora, and other social media platforms. People who combine extreme wokeness with support for the foreign policy aims of Russia and China.
A classic example was all the alleged racist abuse by England fans, of the black players who missed penalties at the euro finals
‘Most of the racist trolling of England footballers has come from accounts based overseas, according to expert analysis.
Around 70% of the hateful posts, images and emojis posted after the Euro 2020 defeat are said to have been from social media users outside the UK.
The speed at which they were posted online after England’s defeat to Italy – and the way some of the accounts were set up – has led to suspicions that nefarious motives other than racism are at play.’
So easy to do. Send fake racist tweets ‘by England fans’. Get the left all angry and sneery at thick racist English people, stir the roiling culture wars, sit back and watch a country hate itself
BLM in America is even worse, because there the Russians and Chinese can play on deep rooted and justifiable white guilt
One example I've noticed in recent years, again the political horsehoe, is the argument that there was really nothing to choose between the Allies and Axis in WWII is no longer restricted to Neo-Nazis. It's now quite a woke argument.
OK, this one I really haven’t seen anywhere. Sounds to me like something that would be restricted to the tankie left - the ones who are so obsessed with (very real) US imperialism that they can’t see it anywhere else.
The tankies are actually qutie sound on WWII, for obvious reasons.
But, increasingly, you encounter the argument that the Allies were just as bad as the Nazis based upon (a) Red Army atrocities (b) the Western Allies had colonial empires and Jim Crow, (c) strategic bombing was just as bad as anything the Nazis did and (d) the Japanese were the victims of Western racism. The allegation is that nuclear weapons would never have been used against white Europeans
Confirmed by Ukrainian authorities. A large air assault operation with Mi-8 helicopters on Antonov International Airport in Hostomel. Interior Ministry says Russia has seized control. Very dangerous; it’s just 15 minutes west of the capital ring road.
That is quite astonishing - how the fuck do you fly you choppers over 100km of hostile terrain and seize an airport. What has the Ukrainian military being doing?
It looks like the Russians shelled / rocketed all their air defense installations first.
It’s difficult to defend yourself against an attacker who can waltz up to your borders with 200,000 troops & all the kit of a modern army + all you can do is just sit there and watch because to attack them in the field would be an act of war.
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.
Much of the most incendiary social media surrounding Wokeness, the knee, BLM, identity politics, and all of this dribbling self-hating nonsense, has come from Russian and Chinese bots and trolls, stirring up both sides and eroding western cohesion and self-esteem
Whatever your personal views on Wokeness, our enemies see it as a weakness and are ruthlessly exploiting it
Yes. You can encounter them on Quora, and other social media platforms. People who combine extreme wokeness with support for the foreign policy aims of Russia and China.
A classic example was all the alleged racist abuse by England fans, of the black players who missed penalties at the euro finals
‘Most of the racist trolling of England footballers has come from accounts based overseas, according to expert analysis.
Around 70% of the hateful posts, images and emojis posted after the Euro 2020 defeat are said to have been from social media users outside the UK.
The speed at which they were posted online after England’s defeat to Italy – and the way some of the accounts were set up – has led to suspicions that nefarious motives other than racism are at play.’
So easy to do. Send fake racist tweets ‘by England fans’. Get the left all angry and sneery at thick racist English people, stir the roiling culture wars, sit back and watch a country hate itself
BLM in America is even worse, because there the Russians and Chinese can play on deep rooted and justifiable white guilt
Agree with all of this, and of course the Russians didn't interfere in any way with the Brexit referendum at all did they?
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.
Much of the most incendiary social media surrounding Wokeness, the knee, BLM, identity politics, and all of this dribbling self-hating nonsense, has come from Russian and Chinese bots and trolls, stirring up both sides and eroding western cohesion and self-esteem
Whatever your personal views on Wokeness, our enemies see it as a weakness and are ruthlessly exploiting it
Yes. You can encounter them on Quora, and other social media platforms. People who combine extreme wokeness with support for the foreign policy aims of Russia and China.
A classic example was all the alleged racist abuse by England fans, of the black players who missed penalties at the euro finals
‘Most of the racist trolling of England footballers has come from accounts based overseas, according to expert analysis.
Around 70% of the hateful posts, images and emojis posted after the Euro 2020 defeat are said to have been from social media users outside the UK.
The speed at which they were posted online after England’s defeat to Italy – and the way some of the accounts were set up – has led to suspicions that nefarious motives other than racism are at play.’
So easy to do. Send fake racist tweets ‘by England fans’. Get the left all angry and sneery at thick racist English people, stir the roiling culture wars, sit back and watch a country hate itself
BLM in America is even worse, because there the Russians and Chinese can play on deep rooted and justifiable white guilt
One example I've noticed in recent years, again the political horsehoe, is the argument that there was really nothing to choose between the Allies and Axis in WWII is no longer restricted to Neo-Nazis. It's now quite a woke argument.
What? I've seen people say that about thr cold war, which despite a lot of bad stuff is not true, but thats crazy.
It's a phenomenally fruitless argument, but throw the conduct of the red army in 1945 and the US pardon of Japan's unit 731 into the mix and nobody comes out looking great.
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 West which the more extreme BLM and woke leaders have which only boosts anti western leaders
Engaging with the past is not the same as trashing it. Questioning the legacy of historical figures is not the same as trashing them. Xi and Putin may perceive wokeness as weakness but that is because they are authoritarian bullies who don't understand what it means to live in a free society. It seems there are plenty in the West who make the same mistake, sadly.
I think that stuff goes too far and at a point should be pushed back, but broadly the sentiment is positive if the more preposterous stuff is resisted. The key is not to ignite concerns at the more extreme nonsense as if it it doesnt matter , but try not to wet one's knickers over every little move, some of which is positive, some of which is petty crap.
Stuff which we might have considered extreme ten years ago - such as that a man can become a woman just by thinking it - has become de rigeur so quickly that by 2018 a judge ruled that not to hold this view was not worthy of respect in a democratic society. https://didlaw.com/the-maya-forstater-decision-what-it-means-in-the-era-of-identity-politics We do need to push back against the extreme nonsense. It has been hugely damaging.
Worth remembering that Ukraine had more nuclear weapons than Britain until they unilaterally disarmed. Had they not unilaterally disarmed, Putin would never have invaded.
Good, short and simple speech by Johnson - and good to have Putin outright called a dictator.
What are the chances of NATO declaring no fly zone on basis of too many civilians being slaughtered by highly equipped aggressor? More Conservative MPs are calling for this now. The chances of this in the response are not zero, surely?
If we’re prepared to shoot down Russian jets, sure.
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
I could 100% support this, assuming that the cap for organisations includes bodies like Trade Unions too and they are not excluded.
There is a difference there, though - the Union money comes from many individuals choosing to donate (well pay membership fees) for that union and knowing (or at least being able to very easily find out) whether they in turn fund a political party. For wealthy individuals who got rich from companies, I'm not sure that the purchasers were endorsing the eventual political donation. I helped fund Brexit through buying a Dyson some years back and drinking in Wetherspoons during my student days, but I assure you that was not my intention
I would be up for Union donation reform - for example, make the political part an optional part of the membership: join for the protections and negotiation, pay a bit extra if you want to support the politics - just pointing out that it's not the same thing.
As long as the political donations are not optional it is exactly the same thing. But I agree if it were made optional (I actually thought they already were) then that would make a difference.
Yep, appears I was out of date on that - but opt out rather than opt in is common? so it comes down to how obvious and easy it is to opt out.
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.
I think it probably is unfair. There's a lot of unfairness about. Such as the huge cost of care, for instance. My family is taking a big hit from both student debt and social care costs. Unfortunately, the money has to be raised somewhere. Someone has to pay the bills for welfare, defence, etc.
Agreed. Should that be the richest cohort of pensioners ever? Or the first generation of young people to end up poorer than their parents in many decades?
I don't know why it is controversial to suggest it is not the young people.
Today's generation of young people will inherit more than their parents or grandparents could ever dream of on average once they reach late middle age.
So it is not all bad for them
Only in cash terms. If you convert to housing they are and always will be paupers.
Most people are still property owners by 39 and if they inherit that money can also be used to buy property or bigger property
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.
Yes, the notion that our efforts, such as they are, towards racial and gender equality is the geopolitical equivalent of Samson letting Delilah at his lustrous locks is some of the softest headed hogwash I have ever heard.
Confirmed by Ukrainian authorities. A large air assault operation with Mi-8 helicopters on Antonov International Airport in Hostomel. Interior Ministry says Russia has seized control. Very dangerous; it’s just 15 minutes west of the capital ring road.
That is quite astonishing - how the fuck do you fly you choppers over 100km of hostile terrain and seize an airport. What has the Ukrainian military being doing?
When you have air superiority it's far from impossible. Russia has ten times Ukraine's air assets, and Ukraine does not have any modern ground to air defence system. Plus the bulk of Ukraine's forces are in the east.
There was extensive bombardment of military assets before this too place, too.
Yes, he's said if he was in charge this never would have happened and Biden is a poopy pants old man
What Trump would have done I don't know.
But its certainly true that Obama was weak and that Biden doesn't look any better.
Hilary would likely have taken a harder line than either.
You only have to read what Trump has said in the last few days to know what he would have done. He has praised Putin's aggression. Trump would love to be able to behave like Putin if he thought he could get away with it.
My guess is that Putin will wait till his mate is back in the White House in a couple of years before making any move in the Baltic States. It will be a dark day indeed for the west if Trump and his acolytes engineer a win in 2024
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.
Much of the most incendiary social media surrounding Wokeness, the knee, BLM, identity politics, and all of this dribbling self-hating nonsense, has come from Russian and Chinese bots and trolls, stirring up both sides and eroding western cohesion and self-esteem
Whatever your personal views on Wokeness, our enemies see it as a weakness and are ruthlessly exploiting it
Yes. You can encounter them on Quora, and other social media platforms. People who combine extreme wokeness with support for the foreign policy aims of Russia and China.
A classic example was all the alleged racist abuse by England fans, of the black players who missed penalties at the euro finals
‘Most of the racist trolling of England footballers has come from accounts based overseas, according to expert analysis.
Around 70% of the hateful posts, images and emojis posted after the Euro 2020 defeat are said to have been from social media users outside the UK.
The speed at which they were posted online after England’s defeat to Italy – and the way some of the accounts were set up – has led to suspicions that nefarious motives other than racism are at play.’
So easy to do. Send fake racist tweets ‘by England fans’. Get the left all angry and sneery at thick racist English people, stir the roiling culture wars, sit back and watch a country hate itself
BLM in America is even worse, because there the Russians and Chinese can play on deep rooted and justifiable white guilt
It’s very clear that the goal of Russian social media operations has been to find weak points in the polities of target countries and hammer wedges into them.
Split the people apart into islands of mutual distrust & you can manoevre at leisure against them because they won’t be able to come up with a coherent reponse to anything you do.
This goes for BLM, Brexit, Trans issues, any issue where the population is already or can be divided if sufficient encouragement is applied. In the UK they get to be aided & abetted by a tabloid press who are very happy to profit from the culture wars, regardless of who starts them.
As a nation, we need to wake up & start taking this threat seriously: somehow we need to eject Russian troll farms from the media we consume because they’re poisoning us drop by drop.
Indeed. I do wonder whether Putin has begun to believe a lot of this though. We squabble about those issues on here. But it doesn't mean the condemnation of Russia is any less. We see disagreement as a strength not a weakness. It's an entirely different mindset.
Yes, he believes it. A Greater X Nationalist believes that Unity Is Strength, Dissent Is Weakness
That's why they love the idea of One People, One Culture, One Land, One Leader.
Its all so... tidy.....
Of course. I was more wondering if he believes we believe that too? That the West has been fundamentally weakened by squabbling over woke, Brexit and BLM. Cos that's an entirely different level of delusion.
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.
Much of the most incendiary social media surrounding Wokeness, the knee, BLM, identity politics, and all of this dribbling self-hating nonsense, has come from Russian and Chinese bots and trolls, stirring up both sides and eroding western cohesion and self-esteem
Whatever your personal views on Wokeness, our enemies see it as a weakness and are ruthlessly exploiting it
Yes. You can encounter them on Quora, and other social media platforms. People who combine extreme wokeness with support for the foreign policy aims of Russia and China.
A classic example was all the alleged racist abuse by England fans, of the black players who missed penalties at the euro finals
‘Most of the racist trolling of England footballers has come from accounts based overseas, according to expert analysis.
Around 70% of the hateful posts, images and emojis posted after the Euro 2020 defeat are said to have been from social media users outside the UK.
The speed at which they were posted online after England’s defeat to Italy – and the way some of the accounts were set up – has led to suspicions that nefarious motives other than racism are at play.’
So easy to do. Send fake racist tweets ‘by England fans’. Get the left all angry and sneery at thick racist English people, stir the roiling culture wars, sit back and watch a country hate itself
BLM in America is even worse, because there the Russians and Chinese can play on deep rooted and justifiable white guilt
One example I've noticed in recent years, again the political horsehoe, is the argument that there was really nothing to choose between the Allies and Axis in WWII is no longer restricted to Neo-Nazis. It's now quite a woke argument.
What? I've seen people say that about thr cold war, which despite a lot of bad stuff is not true, but thats crazy.
It's a phenomenally fruitless argument, but throw the conduct of the red army in 1945 and the US pardon of Japan's unit 731 into the mix and nobody comes out looking great.
Don't forget Dresden, that always gets mentioned.
Nevertheless, whilst war is hell, that one remains easier than most to moralise about.
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
I could 100% support this, assuming that the cap for organisations includes bodies like Trade Unions too and they are not excluded.
There is a difference there, though - the Union money comes from many individuals choosing to donate (well pay membership fees) for that union and knowing (or at least being able to very easily find out) whether they in turn fund a political party. For wealthy individuals who got rich from companies, I'm not sure that the purchasers were endorsing the eventual political donation. I helped fund Brexit through buying a Dyson some years back and drinking in Wetherspoons during my student days, but I assure you that was not my intention
I would be up for Union donation reform - for example, make the political part an optional part of the membership: join for the protections and negotiation, pay a bit extra if you want to support the politics - just pointing out that it's not the same thing.
As long as the political donations are not optional it is exactly the same thing. But I agree if it were made optional (I actually thought they already were) then that would make a difference.
I believe they are opt-out. They need to be opt-in.
I do wonder if the Russian elite are suffering from the same delusions as the Chinese do wrt Taiwan.
Most Chinese think that the Taiwanese are anxious for reunification, and it's only their evil/duplicitous leaders who are opposed. They think that, if Chinese troops landed in Taipei, they would be welcomed with flowers and open arms.
Does Putin think that - once inside the bosom of Mother Russia - 44 million Ukrainians will finally find happiness?
The reality, of course, is that Russians only outnumber Ukrainians 3-to-1. That means a lot of the resources of the Russian state will be needed to occupy and pacify the country.
I don't see how that ends well for either Ukraine or Russia.
Some people think Russia is much wealthier, and much more powerful than it really is.
The only reason Russia has any significant military is because Putin has been putting as much of its economy as it can into its Military Industrial Complex. The economy itself, besides commodities, is utterly and royally fucked.
The Russian economy is worth less than Italy's. We wouldn't think the whole of the western world should be afraid of Italy.
A hostile occupation of Ukraine will not end well, and Russia is screwed especially as the world moves away from hydrocarbons.
Putin's Russia is as doomed as his beloved USSR.
I broadly agree with this.
Russia is completely dependent on the export of raw materials, and in particular energy. And Russia faces two very serious long-term threats:
The rise of renewables and electric cars means less need for oil.
And the growth of LNG means that there are many more places from which one can buy natural gas.
In the short term, though, Russia actually profits from the war, because it has sent the cost of oil skyrocketing.
What are the chances of NATO declaring no fly zone on basis of too many civilians being slaughtered by highly equipped aggressor? More Conservative MPs are calling for this now. The chances of this in the response are not zero, surely?
The West doesn't want to self-destruct. That won't get through any processes of NATO agreement.
I’m not even sure what point he is trying to make, or why. Or anything
It seems to be a pure example of clueless, irrelevant virtue-signalling. A vain, silly man sees a war and decides to get loads of likes by trotting out vapid anti-nuke sentiment, apparently unaware of how bitterly misguided the statement is, in this situation
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.
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.
We should be maximising our own oil and gas production as quickly as possible, and helping to supply the rest of Europe if possible. Time to ignore green squeals for the greater good.
Build a dozen tidal lagoon power stations around our coast and you can have a greater good and non-squealing greens....
Agreed, but until we have that we should maximise our own oil and gas production and screw the green cranks.
Don't forget, the SNP block further development too....
Enthusiasts for unilateral nuclear disarmament as well.
And for breaking up NATO's second strongest member.
I am Burgessian and I approve this message.
When Scotland becomes the xth republic of the Greater Oceania Co-Prosperity Sphere the author of this is definitely going to the Gulag for crimes against Photoshop.
Yes, he's said if he was in charge this never would have happened and Biden is a poopy pants old man
What Trump would have done I don't know.
But its certainly true that Obama was weak and that Biden doesn't look any better.
Hilary would likely have taken a harder line than either.
You only have to read what Trump has said in the last few days to know what he would have done. He has praised Putin's aggression. Trump would love to be able to behave like Putin if he thought he could get away with it.
My guess is that Putin will wait till his mate is back in the White House in a couple of years before making any move in the Baltic States. It will be a dark day indeed for the west if Trump and his acolytes engineer a win in 2024
Putin had four years to invade on Trump's watch.
He did not.
He had four years to build his military capability without a squeak from the President of the US.
Worth remembering that Ukraine had more nuclear weapons than Britain until they unilaterally disarmed. Had they not unilaterally disarmed, Putin would never have invaded.
Good, short and simple speech by Johnson - and good to have Putin outright called a dictator.
Taking the long view, the most chilling outcome of all of this has to be the proliferation of nuclear weapons. If you have them, why would you give them up? If you don't have them, why would you trust a western nuclear power to go to war on your behalf, or guarantee your territorial integrity? The early conclusion from this horrible attack from Putin is that if you don't have nukes, start building them.
Relentless optimist that I am if Putin succeeds with his invasion of Ukraine then where will he go next?
I think he's playing join the dots. He wants Ukraine to join up to Transdnistria (sp?). So - Lithuania, to join up to Kaliningrad. (I'm inferring everyone now pretty much sees Belarus as part of Putin's empire). It would be very helpful for him strategically to have an ice-free Baltic port (that isn't in an exclave). In reality, all the Baltics, because why not?
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.
I was feeding myself with that one. 🙂
But yes, know what you mean. He is rather.
You just don't like to be confronted with the utter sixth form debating society folly of your intellectual positions of the last few years. But then again, I guess people don't.
I think Putin might, in the long term, be doing the West a favour. Making us realise what's important.
I will give you a clue. It isn't covid variants, and it isn't climate change. Though I suppose living in a Russian prison camp would, ostensibly, reduce your personal carbon footprint.
You are correct about how the situation in Ukraine draws out the futility of how we identify 'threats'. We have catastrophically underestimated the risk of military conflict and nuclear war, whilst overestimating other risks to the point of irrationality.
Yes, he's said if he was in charge this never would have happened and Biden is a poopy pants old man
What Trump would have done I don't know.
But its certainly true that Obama was weak and that Biden doesn't look any better.
Hilary would likely have taken a harder line than either.
You only have to read what Trump has said in the last few days to know what he would have done. He has praised Putin's aggression. Trump would love to be able to behave like Putin if he thought he could get away with it.
My guess is that Putin will wait till his mate is back in the White House in a couple of years before making any move in the Baltic States. It will be a dark day indeed for the west if Trump and his acolytes engineer a win in 2024
Putin had four years to invade on Trump's watch.
He did not.
Are you really telling me with a straight face that the US response to invasion of Ukraine would have been tougher if Trump had been in charge?
Russia has had an amazing 18 months financially because Covid killed oil and gas drilling, particularly in the US. That sent resources prices through the roof, and gave Putin the financial breathing room to invade. If oil prices had been $30 and gas prices $5, then Russia would not have had the financial wherewithal.
It was oil and gas prices, not Trump, that prevented an invasion under his watch.
Yes, he's said if he was in charge this never would have happened and Biden is a poopy pants old man
What Trump would have done I don't know.
But its certainly true that Obama was weak and that Biden doesn't look any better.
Hilary would likely have taken a harder line than either.
You only have to read what Trump has said in the last few days to know what he would have done. He has praised Putin's aggression. Trump would love to be able to behave like Putin if he thought he could get away with it.
My guess is that Putin will wait till his mate is back in the White House in a couple of years before making any move in the Baltic States. It will be a dark day indeed for the west if Trump and his acolytes engineer a win in 2024
Putin had four years to invade on Trump's watch.
He did not.
Yes, fit in that Trump-apologism. That's what we've all been waiting for.
What are the chances of NATO declaring no fly zone on basis of too many civilians being slaughtered by highly equipped aggressor? More Conservative MPs are calling for this now. The chances of this in the response are not zero, surely?
Zero percent chance because that's a shooting war with Russia.
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.
Much of the most incendiary social media surrounding Wokeness, the knee, BLM, identity politics, and all of this dribbling self-hating nonsense, has come from Russian and Chinese bots and trolls, stirring up both sides and eroding western cohesion and self-esteem
Whatever your personal views on Wokeness, our enemies see it as a weakness and are ruthlessly exploiting it
Yes. You can encounter them on Quora, and other social media platforms. People who combine extreme wokeness with support for the foreign policy aims of Russia and China.
A classic example was all the alleged racist abuse by England fans, of the black players who missed penalties at the euro finals
‘Most of the racist trolling of England footballers has come from accounts based overseas, according to expert analysis.
Around 70% of the hateful posts, images and emojis posted after the Euro 2020 defeat are said to have been from social media users outside the UK.
The speed at which they were posted online after England’s defeat to Italy – and the way some of the accounts were set up – has led to suspicions that nefarious motives other than racism are at play.’
So easy to do. Send fake racist tweets ‘by England fans’. Get the left all angry and sneery at thick racist English people, stir the roiling culture wars, sit back and watch a country hate itself
BLM in America is even worse, because there the Russians and Chinese can play on deep rooted and justifiable white guilt
It’s very clear that the goal of Russian social media operations has been to find weak points in the polities of target countries and hammer wedges into them.
Split the people apart into islands of mutual distrust & you can manoevre at leisure against them because they won’t be able to come up with a coherent reponse to anything you do.
This goes for BLM, Brexit, Trans issues, any issue where the population is already or can be divided if sufficient encouragement is applied. In the UK they get to be aided & abetted by a tabloid press who are very happy to profit from the culture wars, regardless of who starts them.
As a nation, we need to wake up & start taking this threat seriously: somehow we need to eject Russian troll farms from the media we consume because they’re poisoning us drop by drop.
Indeed. I do wonder whether Putin has begun to believe a lot of this though. We squabble about those issues on here. But it doesn't mean the condemnation of Russia is any less. We see disagreement as a strength not a weakness. It's an entirely different mindset.
Yes, he believes it. A Greater X Nationalist believes that Unity Is Strength, Dissent Is Weakness
That's why they love the idea of One People, One Culture, One Land, One Leader.
Its all so... tidy.....
Of course. I was more wondering if he believes we believe that too? That the West has been fundamentally weakened by squabbling over woke, Brexit and BLM. Cos that's an entirely different level of delusion.
He believes it to be true - it was a standard trope in the Goode Olde Days in the USSR that dissidents need to oppressed, to protect The State (and hence The People) from.... dissent.
This was in his youth. The best days of his life. When he was Young and Strong. And Russia was Strong. And all the muscly Russian men looked at each other in the steam room.....
Yes, he's said if he was in charge this never would have happened and Biden is a poopy pants old man
What Trump would have done I don't know.
But its certainly true that Obama was weak and that Biden doesn't look any better.
Hilary would likely have taken a harder line than either.
You only have to read what Trump has said in the last few days to know what he would have done. He has praised Putin's aggression. Trump would love to be able to behave like Putin if he thought he could get away with it.
My guess is that Putin will wait till his mate is back in the White House in a couple of years before making any move in the Baltic States. It will be a dark day indeed for the west if Trump and his acolytes engineer a win in 2024
Putin had four years to invade on Trump's watch.
He did not.
Are you really telling me with a straight face that the US response to invasion of Ukraine would have been tougher if Trump had been in charge?
Russia has had an amazing 18 months financially because Covid killed oil and gas drilling, particularly in the US. That sent resources prices through the roof, and gave Putin the financial breathing room to invade. If oil prices had been $30 and gas prices $5, then Russia would not have had the financial wherewithal.
Absolutely. This invasion, and the whole lead-up to it, has clearly been long-planned, and it strikes me as very likely therefore that it's been planned with the assumption that Trump would be in place during it. Look at his comments yesterday praising Putin for his "military genius", for instance.
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.
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.
We should be maximising our own oil and gas production as quickly as possible, and helping to supply the rest of Europe if possible. Time to ignore green squeals for the greater good.
Build a dozen tidal lagoon power stations around our coast and you can have a greater good and non-squealing greens....
Spot on. Not starting now, even on an experimental basis is bonkers. It's even predictable. Unlike wind or solar.
Wind and solar power is predictable. Weather forecasts are improving all the time.
Mr. F, Lineker's comment is especially stupid given a nuclear power has just invaded a nation that gave up its nukes, in exchange for borders guaranteed by countries including said invader.
I’m not even sure what point he is trying to make, or why. Or anything
It seems to be a pure example of clueless, irrelevant virtue-signalling. A vain, silly man sees a war and decides to get loads of likes by trotting out vapid anti-nuke sentiment, apparently unaware of how bitterly misguided the statement is, in this situation
He seems to think that our nuclear deterrent is supposed to be universal. I suspect he's just grasping for a way to make it all about us and our irrelevance.
Robert Peston does the same here with this crass tweet where the "grim reality" is not the human suffering, but the idea that Britain might not have a seat at the table:
@Peston Prime minister will soon make an address to the nation on the crisis in Ukraine. But the grim reality is that the important decisions will be taken by Washington and the Berlin/Paris axis https://twitter.com/Peston/status/1496781653347389440
Yes, he's said if he was in charge this never would have happened and Biden is a poopy pants old man
What Trump would have done I don't know.
But its certainly true that Obama was weak and that Biden doesn't look any better.
Hilary would likely have taken a harder line than either.
You only have to read what Trump has said in the last few days to know what he would have done. He has praised Putin's aggression. Trump would love to be able to behave like Putin if he thought he could get away with it.
My guess is that Putin will wait till his mate is back in the White House in a couple of years before making any move in the Baltic States. It will be a dark day indeed for the west if Trump and his acolytes engineer a win in 2024
Putin had four years to invade on Trump's watch.
He did not.
He had three years to invade on May's watch.
He did not.
I conclude that May is a badass and the saviour of the western world.
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.
Much of the West's history and traditions are digusting garbage that should be repudiated.
Yes, well we know you are a Scottish Nationalist fan and the icon of Scottish Nationalism Alex Salmond is a RT paid Putin fan, so no surprise from you. You would happily have an independent Scotland even as a colony of Putin's Russia
My only ever pb.com ban was for insulting Alex Salmond.
You've only had the one ban?! I'm genuinely surprised, and I have to say a little disappointed..
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.
Yes, the notion that our efforts, such as they are, towards racial and gender equality is the geopolitical equivalent of Samson letting Delilah at his lustrous locks is some of the softest headed hogwash I have ever heard.
I'm sure we have more in common in our views than we think here. I think very few people object to honest attempts to ensure race or gender is not a barrier to opportunity. There is much to be applauded there in what we in the west have achieved in the last generation. What we war-on-wokers object to is lunacy like (with apologies for reposting from an earlier comment) this sort of thing, for example, which seems to be rather more in the interests of our enemies than it is of us: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/02/24/britains-spies-told-check-white-privilege-stop-saying-manpower/ "In a section on inclusive language, it says: "In national security, look out for words and phrases, such as 'strong' or 'grip', that reinforce the dominant cultural patterns. Avoid jargon, hierarchy or gender biases."
Another says: "Use gender-neutral language to reflect people's diversity and reduce stereotypes and assumptions, for example about job roles and functions which need not be gender-defined."
A Whitehall spokesman said the guidance would be included in core training. "They are fundamental to the national security of the UK," they added. "
Mr. F, Lineker's comment is especially stupid given a nuclear power has just invaded a nation that gave up its nukes, in exchange for borders guaranteed by countries including said invader.
Exactly. He's just posting crap for likes and retweets and to have his ego stroked.
As a supporter of nuclear deterrent the easy answer is it doesn’t actually cost that much.
Interestingly, Trident is one of the few times military procurement has actually achieved a cost reduction.
Because Thatcher insisted that UK Trident was a completely identical missile to the US ones, the UK buy triggered a clause in the contract that LockMart had negotiated with the US Navy - buy more than X, and get a discount across the whole buy. They'd actually negotiated that to try and get the US Congress and Senate to back a bigger US buy.
In fact they were kind of upset that it was triggered by an export deal.
So the US Navy saved some billions on their missiles. And we got ours a bit cheaper as well.
Is it just me, but I didn’t like that address at all.
“ And I say to the Ukrainians - in this moment of agony we are with you we are praying for you and your families and we are on your side. And if the months ahead are grim, and the flame of freedom burns low, I know that it will blaze bright again in Ukraine because, for all his bombs and tanks and missiles, I don’t believe that the Russian dictator will ever subdue the national feeling of the Ukrainians and their passionate belief that their country should be free.”
Boris own handcrafted Churchillian moment? We shall fight them with our prayers, as we lay on our beaches this summer.
Biggest baddest sanction package ever (yeah right) looks so weak doesn’t it, compared to Putin’s military mission statement “kill all Ukrainian Nazi’s.” And the horrors inflicted on everyday people of Ukraine 😕
What are the chances of NATO declaring no fly zone on basis of too many civilians being slaughtered by highly equipped aggressor? More Conservative MPs are calling for this now. The chances of this in the response are not zero, surely?
Zero percent chance because that's a shooting war with Russia.
The shooting war's already been started.
By Russia.
There is a non-negligible chance that 'incidents' will occur that drag neighbouring countries in. Indeed, Putin might be counting on that.
Yes, he's said if he was in charge this never would have happened and Biden is a poopy pants old man
What Trump would have done I don't know.
But its certainly true that Obama was weak and that Biden doesn't look any better.
Hilary would likely have taken a harder line than either.
You only have to read what Trump has said in the last few days to know what he would have done. He has praised Putin's aggression. Trump would love to be able to behave like Putin if he thought he could get away with it.
My guess is that Putin will wait till his mate is back in the White House in a couple of years before making any move in the Baltic States. It will be a dark day indeed for the west if Trump and his acolytes engineer a win in 2024
Putin had four years to invade on Trump's watch.
He did not.
Are you really telling me with a straight face that the US response to invasion of Ukraine would have been tougher if Trump had been in charge?
Russia has had an amazing 18 months financially because Covid killed oil and gas drilling, particularly in the US. That sent resources prices through the roof, and gave Putin the financial breathing room to invade. If oil prices had been $30 and gas prices $5, then Russia would not have had the financial wherewithal.
It was oil and gas prices, not Trump, that prevented an invasion under his watch.
Putin did not invade whilst Trump was President. He had four years to do it. Much of the American media claimed Trump was in Putin's pocket, surely all he had to do was ask. And in truth oil prices have only spiked very recently, up until the last few months the price has been, meh.
Trump merely pointed out that Putin was clever. Looking at what's gone on, are you seriously claiming he isn't? his assessment of where the West is is pretty spot on. No resources for a fight and no stomach either.
Our governments have fatally underestimated Putin. Trump isn't making that mistake, at least.
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.
Much of the West's history and traditions are digusting garbage that should be repudiated.
Yes, well we know you are a Scottish Nationalist fan and the icon of Scottish Nationalism Alex Salmond is a RT paid Putin fan, so no surprise from you. You would happily have an independent Scotland even as a colony of Putin's Russia
My only ever pb.com ban was for insulting Alex Salmond.
You've only had the one ban?! I'm genuinely surprised, and I have to say a little disappointed..
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.
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.
We should be maximising our own oil and gas production as quickly as possible, and helping to supply the rest of Europe if possible. Time to ignore green squeals for the greater good.
Build a dozen tidal lagoon power stations around our coast and you can have a greater good and non-squealing greens....
Spot on. Not starting now, even on an experimental basis is bonkers. It's even predictable. Unlike wind or solar.
Wind and solar power is predictable. Weather forecasts are improving all the time.
Tidal is more reliable though.
It is perfectly possible, however, to have sustained periods in winter when it's cloudy and the wind isn't blowing. Having better energy storage options (CAES) would help, as would other renewables options like tidal.
Relentless optimist that I am if Putin succeeds with his invasion of Ukraine then where will he go next?
Surely the Baltic States are easy pickings, NATO or not. Then Gotland.
Tobias Elwood had Ukraine right. Our (the West) hand wringing "but Ukraine isn't in NATO" is such an error.
James Cleverly was so hamstrung on 5Live. We have had at least eight years to plan. Have we planned?
We were obsessed with climate change and covid, to the mighty applause of yourself and most people on here.
If anybody had pointed out that we needed to beef up security in the east and maybe not spend quite so much on furlough, you would have sh8t your nappy.
Mr. F, Lineker's comment is especially stupid given a nuclear power has just invaded a nation that gave up its nukes, in exchange for borders guaranteed by countries including said invader.
Exactly. He's just posting crap for likes and retweets and to have his ego stroked.
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.
Much of the most incendiary social media surrounding Wokeness, the knee, BLM, identity politics, and all of this dribbling self-hating nonsense, has come from Russian and Chinese bots and trolls, stirring up both sides and eroding western cohesion and self-esteem
Whatever your personal views on Wokeness, our enemies see it as a weakness and are ruthlessly exploiting it
Yes. You can encounter them on Quora, and other social media platforms. People who combine extreme wokeness with support for the foreign policy aims of Russia and China.
A classic example was all the alleged racist abuse by England fans, of the black players who missed penalties at the euro finals
‘Most of the racist trolling of England footballers has come from accounts based overseas, according to expert analysis.
Around 70% of the hateful posts, images and emojis posted after the Euro 2020 defeat are said to have been from social media users outside the UK.
The speed at which they were posted online after England’s defeat to Italy – and the way some of the accounts were set up – has led to suspicions that nefarious motives other than racism are at play.’
So easy to do. Send fake racist tweets ‘by England fans’. Get the left all angry and sneery at thick racist English people, stir the roiling culture wars, sit back and watch a country hate itself
BLM in America is even worse, because there the Russians and Chinese can play on deep rooted and justifiable white guilt
One example I've noticed in recent years, again the political horsehoe, is the argument that there was really nothing to choose between the Allies and Axis in WWII is no longer restricted to Neo-Nazis. It's now quite a woke argument.
What? I've seen people say that about thr cold war, which despite a lot of bad stuff is not true, but thats crazy.
It's a phenomenally fruitless argument, but throw the conduct of the red army in 1945 and the US pardon of Japan's unit 731 into the mix and nobody comes out looking great.
Don't forget Dresden, that always gets mentioned.
Nevertheless, whilst war is hell, that one remains easier than most to moralise about.
Dresden is a stupid argument. If he could, Harris would have 'done a Dresden' every night until the war was won. He wanted to prove that you could win the war with bombing alone, so that no ground troops would die.
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.
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.
We should be maximising our own oil and gas production as quickly as possible, and helping to supply the rest of Europe if possible. Time to ignore green squeals for the greater good.
Build a dozen tidal lagoon power stations around our coast and you can have a greater good and non-squealing greens....
Spot on. Not starting now, even on an experimental basis is bonkers. It's even predictable. Unlike wind or solar.
Wind and solar power is predictable. Weather forecasts are improving all the time.
Tidal is more reliable though.
Accurately predictable to approximately 48 hours, in other words, unpredictable in practice.
The Fédération internationale de ski (FIS) is allowing the competitions in Russia’s Sunny Valley and Jaroslavl to go ahead. Bunch of shit-for-brains running sport if you ask me.
Is it just me, but I didn’t like that address at all.
“ And I say to the Ukrainians - in this moment of agony we are with you we are praying for you and your families and we are on your side. And if the months ahead are grim, and the flame of freedom burns low, I know that it will blaze bright again in Ukraine because, for all his bombs and tanks and missiles, I don’t believe that the Russian dictator will ever subdue the national feeling of the Ukrainians and their passionate belief that their country should be free.”
Boris own handcrafted Churchillian moment? We shall fight them with our prayers, as we lay on our beaches this summer.
Biggest baddest sanction package ever (yeah right) looks so weak doesn’t it, compared to Putin’s military mission statement “kill all Ukrainian Nazi’s.” And the horrors inflicted on everyday people of Ukraine 😕
Sounds like you object more to the messenger than the message?
Relentless optimist that I am if Putin succeeds with his invasion of Ukraine then where will he go next?
Surely the Baltic States are easy pickings, NATO or not. Then Gotland.
Tobias Elwood had Ukraine right. Our (the West) hand wringing "but Ukraine isn't in NATO" is such an error.
James Cleverly was so hamstrung on 5Live. We have had at least eight years to plan. Have we planned?
We were obsessed with climate change and covid, to the mighty applause of yourself and most people on here.
If anybody had pointed out that we needed to beef up security in the east and maybe not spend quite so much on furlough, you would have sh8t your nappy.
When have I been guilty of anything you have accused me of in your post?
I have agreed with Tobias Elwood, only to be told, "but Ukraine are not a NATO member state, we have to abide by the Minsk Accord".
Yes, he's said if he was in charge this never would have happened and Biden is a poopy pants old man
What Trump would have done I don't know.
But its certainly true that Obama was weak and that Biden doesn't look any better.
Hilary would likely have taken a harder line than either.
You only have to read what Trump has said in the last few days to know what he would have done. He has praised Putin's aggression. Trump would love to be able to behave like Putin if he thought he could get away with it.
My guess is that Putin will wait till his mate is back in the White House in a couple of years before making any move in the Baltic States. It will be a dark day indeed for the west if Trump and his acolytes engineer a win in 2024
Putin had four years to invade on Trump's watch.
He did not.
Are you really telling me with a straight face that the US response to invasion of Ukraine would have been tougher if Trump had been in charge?
Russia has had an amazing 18 months financially because Covid killed oil and gas drilling, particularly in the US. That sent resources prices through the roof, and gave Putin the financial breathing room to invade. If oil prices had been $30 and gas prices $5, then Russia would not have had the financial wherewithal.
It was oil and gas prices, not Trump, that prevented an invasion under his watch.
Putin did not invade whilst Trump was President. He had four years to do it. Much of the American media claimed Trump was in Putin's pocket, surely all he had to do was ask. And in truth oil prices have only spiked very recently, up until the last few months the price has been, meh.
Trump merely pointed out that Putin was clever. Looking at what's gone on, are you seriously claiming he isn't? his assessment of where the West is is pretty spot on. No resources for a fight and no stomach either.
Our governments have fatally underestimated Putin. Trump isn't making that mistake, at least.
You literally just repeated yourself, while addressing exactly none of my point.
For most of Trump's time as President, Putin couldn't invade. He needed a time when the Russian foreign reserves were strong, debt was low and the trade balance wide. He needed to be in a position where he could afford to sit out sanctions.
Russia's break even price on oil is about $55. Between 2016 and 2020 the price of oil was... ooohhh... between $50 and $60. The price of gas was even lower.
Now, Russia's wasn't starving with those prices, but nor could it afford a major adventure.
In the last 18 months, the price of oil & gas has gone through the roof. This meant that the Russian exports increased from about $280bn to $400bn, and meant Russia now has the reserves to weather sanctions.
This has literally nothing at all to do with Trump, and everything to do with financial reality.
Yes, he's said if he was in charge this never would have happened and Biden is a poopy pants old man
What Trump would have done I don't know.
But its certainly true that Obama was weak and that Biden doesn't look any better.
Hilary would likely have taken a harder line than either.
You only have to read what Trump has said in the last few days to know what he would have done. He has praised Putin's aggression. Trump would love to be able to behave like Putin if he thought he could get away with it.
My guess is that Putin will wait till his mate is back in the White House in a couple of years before making any move in the Baltic States. It will be a dark day indeed for the west if Trump and his acolytes engineer a win in 2024
Putin had four years to invade on Trump's watch.
He did not.
Signifies nothing. The rise of Trump has divided and weakened the US significantly. Putin will be very keen on him continuing his work, preferably from the position of President again.
Comments
Firstly, nuclear is expensive and inflexible. (And takes twenty years to bring on stream.) Plus, nuclear plants typically have lots of unscheduled downtime. Given that the UK electricity grid is going to have increasing amounts of relatively cheap but intermittent power, it's not clear how nuclear fits into the long-term mix.
Secondly, there are lots of things that the UK could do that would help the oil & gas industry, and which would not take twenty years. The reality is that we've had a shockingly poor tax system that has discouraged investment. Most oil companies avoid investing money in the UK, because if prices rise then the government just changes the tax regime.
The Norwegian tax regime, while theoretically tougher than the UK, is much, much more sensible. Yes, they take a lot of profit from each barrel. But they also allow oil companies to earn good returns from projects, and to spend money speculatively, knowing that the government's tax system is stable.
And it's a mistake to think that the only meaningful oil and gas projects are new ones. There are plenty of projects that can improve production and ultimate recovery rates that have much shorter time spans.
LAB: 38% (-)
CON: 32% (+2)
LDEM: 13% (+3)
GRN: 7% (-3)
REFUK: 3% (-4)
via
@FindoutnowUK
, 14 - 18 Feb
Chgs. w/ 15 Feb
https://twitter.com/BritainElects/status/1496817085237846017?s=20&t=xxqXuyWBvoC5JgFg20uBog
and
LAB: 40% (-2)
CON: 33% (-)
LDEM: 11% (+2)
GRN: 5% (-)
via
@SavantaComRes
, 18 - 20 Feb
Chgs. w/ 05 Feb
https://twitter.com/BritainElects/status/1496817122315579395?s=20&t=xxqXuyWBvoC5JgFg20uBog
L-L-G share 58% and 56% respectively. At upper end of recent polls.
‘All those trillions spent on a so called nuclear deterrent. Madness.’
https://twitter.com/garylineker/status/1496811715950002176?s=21
That's why they love the idea of One People, One Culture, One Land, One Leader.
Its all so... tidy.....
It's a win-win. It makes it more democratic, removes a barrier for many to joining a union, and gives the union power and influence within all the parties. It also makes it worth political parties talking and listening to unions more.
Especially calling Putin a dictator.
My guess is that Putin will wait till his mate is back in the White House in a couple of years before making any move in the Baltic States. It will be a dark day indeed for the west if Trump and his acolytes engineer a win in 2024. He will wait for Trump to destabilise NATO
But, increasingly, you encounter the argument that the Allies were just as bad as the Nazis based upon (a) Red Army atrocities (b) the Western Allies had colonial empires and Jim Crow, (c) strategic bombing was just as bad as anything the Nazis did and (d) the Japanese were the victims of Western racism. The allegation is that nuclear weapons would never have been used against white Europeans
https://twitter.com/lewis_goodall/status/1496818466032132097?s=20&t=abxO4fGsvnAAMXy66zEF6g
It’s difficult to defend yourself against an attacker who can waltz up to your borders with 200,000 troops & all the kit of a modern army + all you can do is just sit there and watch because to attack them in the field would be an act of war.
https://didlaw.com/the-maya-forstater-decision-what-it-means-in-the-era-of-identity-politics
We do need to push back against the extreme nonsense. It has been hugely damaging.
Worth remembering that Ukraine had more nuclear weapons than Britain until they unilaterally disarmed. Had they not unilaterally disarmed, Putin would never have invaded.
Good, short and simple speech by Johnson - and good to have Putin outright called a dictator.
Are there any sanctions that can be announced that won’t look extremely weak now? 🤷♀️
(I'm not a union member)
Russia has ten times Ukraine's air assets, and Ukraine does not have any modern ground to air defence system.
Plus the bulk of Ukraine's forces are in the east.
There was extensive bombardment of military assets before this too place, too.
He did not.
That the West has been fundamentally weakened by squabbling over woke, Brexit and BLM.
Cos that's an entirely different level of delusion.
Nevertheless, whilst war is hell, that one remains easier than most to moralise about.
Russia is completely dependent on the export of raw materials, and in particular energy. And Russia faces two very serious long-term threats:
The rise of renewables and electric cars means less need for oil.
And the growth of LNG means that there are many more places from which one can buy natural gas.
In the short term, though, Russia actually profits from the war, because it has sent the cost of oil skyrocketing.
It seems to be a pure example of clueless, irrelevant virtue-signalling. A vain, silly man sees a war and decides to get loads of likes by trotting out vapid anti-nuke sentiment, apparently unaware of how bitterly misguided the statement is, in this situation
When Scotland becomes the xth republic of the Greater Oceania Co-Prosperity Sphere the author of this is definitely going to the Gulag for crimes against Photoshop.
Toss up whether the country or the US state - I'm sure Kemp would be happy to invite him in.
So - Lithuania, to join up to Kaliningrad. (I'm inferring everyone now pretty much sees Belarus as part of Putin's empire).
It would be very helpful for him strategically to have an ice-free Baltic port (that isn't in an exclave).
In reality, all the Baltics, because why not?
You are correct about how the situation in Ukraine draws out the futility of how we identify 'threats'. We have catastrophically underestimated the risk of military conflict and nuclear war, whilst overestimating other risks to the point of irrationality.
Russia has had an amazing 18 months financially because Covid killed oil and gas drilling, particularly in the US. That sent resources prices through the roof, and gave Putin the financial breathing room to invade. If oil prices had been $30 and gas prices $5, then Russia would not have had the financial wherewithal.
It was oil and gas prices, not Trump, that prevented an invasion under his watch.
At least we will know if he’s mad or just an evil prick.
https://twitter.com/BorisJohnson/status/1496818439222087684
As my granny would opine “fine words butter no parsnips”
Let’s see what gets done.
This was in his youth. The best days of his life. When he was Young and Strong. And Russia was Strong. And all the muscly Russian men looked at each other in the steam room.....
Tidal is more reliable though.
Tobias Elwood had Ukraine right. Our (the West) hand wringing "but Ukraine isn't in NATO" is such an error.
James Cleverly was so hamstrung on 5Live. We have had at least eight years to plan. Have we planned?
Time to fast track those nations in to NATO.
Send in a few armoured and mechanised infantry divisions there.
Robert Peston does the same here with this crass tweet where the "grim reality" is not the human suffering, but the idea that Britain might not have a seat at the table:
@Peston
Prime minister will soon make an address to the nation on the crisis in Ukraine. But the grim reality is that the important decisions will be taken by Washington and the Berlin/Paris axis
https://twitter.com/Peston/status/1496781653347389440
He did not.
I conclude that May is a badass and the saviour of the western world.
I'm genuinely surprised, and I have to say a little disappointed..
I think very few people object to honest attempts to ensure race or gender is not a barrier to opportunity. There is much to be applauded there in what we in the west have achieved in the last generation.
What we war-on-wokers object to is lunacy like (with apologies for reposting from an earlier comment) this sort of thing, for example, which seems to be rather more in the interests of our enemies than it is of us:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/02/24/britains-spies-told-check-white-privilege-stop-saying-manpower/
"In a section on inclusive language, it says: "In national security, look out for words and phrases, such as 'strong' or 'grip', that reinforce the dominant cultural patterns. Avoid jargon, hierarchy or gender biases."
Another says: "Use gender-neutral language to reflect people's diversity and reduce stereotypes and assumptions, for example about job roles and functions which need not be gender-defined."
A Whitehall spokesman said the guidance would be included in core training. "They are fundamental to the national security of the UK," they added. "
Because Thatcher insisted that UK Trident was a completely identical missile to the US ones, the UK buy triggered a clause in the contract that LockMart had negotiated with the US Navy - buy more than X, and get a discount across the whole buy. They'd actually negotiated that to try and get the US Congress and Senate to back a bigger US buy.
In fact they were kind of upset that it was triggered by an export deal.
So the US Navy saved some billions on their missiles. And we got ours a bit cheaper as well.
https://twitter.com/GaryLineker/with_replies
“ And I say to the Ukrainians - in this moment of agony we are with you we are praying for you and your families and we are on your side. And if the months ahead are grim, and the flame of freedom burns low, I know that it will blaze bright again in Ukraine because, for all his bombs and tanks and missiles, I don’t believe that the Russian dictator will ever subdue the national feeling of the Ukrainians and their passionate belief that their country should be free.”
Boris own handcrafted Churchillian moment? We shall fight them with our prayers, as we lay on our beaches this summer.
Biggest baddest sanction package ever (yeah right) looks so weak doesn’t it, compared to Putin’s military mission statement “kill all Ukrainian Nazi’s.” And the horrors inflicted on everyday people of Ukraine 😕
By Russia.
There is a non-negligible chance that 'incidents' will occur that drag neighbouring countries in. Indeed, Putin might be counting on that.
Trump merely pointed out that Putin was clever. Looking at what's gone on, are you seriously claiming he isn't? his assessment of where the West is is pretty spot on. No resources for a fight and no stomach either.
Our governments have fatally underestimated Putin. Trump isn't making that mistake, at least.
If anybody had pointed out that we needed to beef up security in the east and maybe not spend quite so much on furlough, you would have sh8t your nappy.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/02/ukraine-identity-russia-patriotism/622902/
Ukraine is not going to go away even if it is completely overrun by the fascist in Moscow.
“It started with a kiss. Never imagined it would come to this.”
So is it political failure? Intelligence failure? Capitalism failure?
https://twitter.com/juliaskripkaser/status/1496820688770027527
https://www.fis-ski.com/DB/general/event-details.html?sectorcode=FS&eventid=47058&seasoncode=2021
I have agreed with Tobias Elwood, only to be told, "but Ukraine are not a NATO member state, we have to abide by the Minsk Accord".
For most of Trump's time as President, Putin couldn't invade. He needed a time when the Russian foreign reserves were strong, debt was low and the trade balance wide. He needed to be in a position where he could afford to sit out sanctions.
Russia's break even price on oil is about $55. Between 2016 and 2020 the price of oil was... ooohhh... between $50 and $60. The price of gas was even lower.
Now, Russia's wasn't starving with those prices, but nor could it afford a major adventure.
In the last 18 months, the price of oil & gas has gone through the roof. This meant that the Russian exports increased from about $280bn to $400bn, and meant Russia now has the reserves to weather sanctions.
This has literally nothing at all to do with Trump, and everything to do with financial reality.
Is it possible to do the same with Russia?
Obviously not via the UNSC but via other means?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sporting_boycott_of_South_Africa_during_the_apartheid_era
Now lock Vince in a wardrobe before he ruins this surge.