Could Boris conceivably call a quasi-Khaki Election in 2022?
As with Salisbury's Conservative-Liberal Unionist alliance that won the original Khaki Election in 1900, Boris's Conservative & Unionist Party will almost certain need to time any such electoral gambit this year, to occur BEFORE the end of the War (Boer then, Ukrainian today).
Personally think proper atmosphere AND timing are less propitious and likely harder for Tories this millennium than last. But who knows?
Not unless the Tories get a big poll lead no
If Putin were to fall as a result of the Ukraine invasion on Johnson's watch, Johnson would be insane not to go for a quick win.
Not unless he had over a 12% poll lead, otherwise he still loses seats and as 2017 showed voters dislike snap elections
No good reason to have a GE before 2023. It won't happen.
Spot on. And boundary changes are one bloody good reason to have it late 2023 onwards.
The near-absence of military news on both sides in the last 24 hours (unless it's not being reported) is pretty striking - the Guardian blog doesn't report anything much, and the Russian Interfax is all about the humanitarian corridors. There are multiple reports of the talks continuing to go well, so maybe......???
Unfortunately I think it means that lots of Ukranians are dieing defending their country. I can't quite bring myself to wish Russians to die, but I'm not complaining if they line the streets of their invasion.
Ukraine seem to have no good news to report. Lots of videos of bombing, damage and massacres. The FT are suggesting that China has agreed to provide weapons to Russia. India are buying cheap oil from Russia. The Rouble is stabilising. Presumably Russia is just moving towards its slow encirclement of Kiev, which it is going to starve out and blow to bits.
But, the Chinese economy is heading into serious trouble
"It’s carnage in Chinese markets today. These four charts show just how ugly it’s getting. 🧵 1/5"
"Chinese stocks listed in Hong Kong had their worst day since the global financial crisis. Concerns over Beijing’s close relationship with Russia and renewed regulatory risks sparked panic selling. 2/5"
They might be looking at a Hong Kong style horror-show, and millions dead, because Omicron
This really is not a great time for them to be economically propping up a reviled Fascist state conducting a hated war of aggression, which might mean the West further detaches from China
I suspect they will discreetly give just enough help to make sure Putin doesn't get DEFEATED, but no more
I am not expert, but doesn't China basically have unlimited money? Surely they will be unable to resist the lure of propping up Putin in a distressed state. Fantastic potential long term returns.
Just got my Cost of Living award through the post.
Cheeky £150 just about offsets the higher rate of income tax I pay up here. Not particularly well targeted tbh - there are people much worse off than me.
"In recent days China has locked down tens of millions in several cities, as it braces for a much worse wave than Jan 2020 where the bulk of infection was confined to Hubei province."
The Chinese are expecting the Omicron wave to be MUCH WORSE than Wuhan/Hubei
This story could be as big as Ukraine, in its own way
Some mocked those on pb who said getting lots of infections after the oldies and infirm were double vaccinated was a good thing. They would have kept us locked down (or at least tighter restrictions) for much longer. China will now reap what it has sewn by being so aggressively zero Covid combined with a less effective vaccine programme. At least NZ got the vaccination side right, and I think on the whole their ‘war’ has been pretty good, especially in terms of deaths, and probably in terms of time spent ‘open’ internally over the last two years.
"In recent days China has locked down tens of millions in several cities, as it braces for a much worse wave than Jan 2020 where the bulk of infection was confined to Hubei province."
The Chinese are expecting the Omicron wave to be MUCH WORSE than Wuhan/Hubei
This story could be as big as Ukraine, in its own way
I think has got pretty bad there. Kept quiet during Winter Olympics/Paralympics, but you cannot keep these things hidden for long.
Omicron is going to be pretty bad there, but the question is for how long? It peaked here quickly, but is still significantly about and rising again after 4 months.
Could Boris conceivably call a quasi-Khaki Election in 2022?
As with Salisbury's Conservative-Liberal Unionist alliance that won the original Khaki Election in 1900, Boris's Conservative & Unionist Party will almost certain need to time any such electoral gambit this year, to occur BEFORE the end of the War (Boer then, Ukrainian today).
Personally think proper atmosphere AND timing are less propitious and likely harder for Tories this millennium than last. But who knows?
Not unless the Tories get a big poll lead no
If Putin were to fall as a result of the Ukraine invasion on Johnson's watch, Johnson would be insane not to go for a quick win.
Not unless he had over a 12% poll lead, otherwise he still loses seats and as 2017 showed voters dislike snap elections
But if an early election looks like a small majority and another five years he would take that.
Small majority means 35 MPs losing their seat. They aren't going to go for an early. And anybody remembering 2017 won't go for it either.
It will be May 2024. Any plans for earlier have been dumped.
"In recent days China has locked down tens of millions in several cities, as it braces for a much worse wave than Jan 2020 where the bulk of infection was confined to Hubei province."
The Chinese are expecting the Omicron wave to be MUCH WORSE than Wuhan/Hubei
"In recent days China has locked down tens of millions in several cities, as it braces for a much worse wave than Jan 2020 where the bulk of infection was confined to Hubei province."
The Chinese are expecting the Omicron wave to be MUCH WORSE than Wuhan/Hubei
This story could be as big as Ukraine, in its own way
Some mocked those on pb who said getting lots of infections after the oldies and infirm were double vaccinated was a good thing. They would have kept us locked down (or at least tighter restrictions) for much longer. China will now reap what it has sewn by being so aggressively zero Covid combined with a less effective vaccine programme. At least NZ got the vaccination side right, and I think on the whole their ‘war’ has been pretty good, especially in terms of deaths, and probably in terms of time spent ‘open’ internally over the last two years.
Most people (on here) recognised that Zero Covid was a dumb policy, because - at some point - you need to open up again.
On the other hand, I think you can argue that a "Zero Covid" policy early in the pandemic (assuming you have an island far from anywhere), followed by opening up once people are fully vaccinated is far from a stupid strategy.
It's just that many places (*cough* China) failed to appreciate that at a certain point, you need to let it go.
Could Boris conceivably call a quasi-Khaki Election in 2022?
As with Salisbury's Conservative-Liberal Unionist alliance that won the original Khaki Election in 1900, Boris's Conservative & Unionist Party will almost certain need to time any such electoral gambit this year, to occur BEFORE the end of the War (Boer then, Ukrainian today).
Personally think proper atmosphere AND timing are less propitious and likely harder for Tories this millennium than last. But who knows?
Not unless the Tories get a big poll lead no
If Putin were to fall as a result of the Ukraine invasion on Johnson's watch, Johnson would be insane not to go for a quick win.
Not unless he had over a 12% poll lead, otherwise he still loses seats and as 2017 showed voters dislike snap elections
But if an early election looks like a small majority and another five years he would take that.
Why? Just putting myself in his position - I’d want to get at least a year or two without Covid or thermonuclear war to do something with my 80 seat majority. A year or two as elected dictator is better than five as Theresa May.
Translation of Maria Ovsiannikova’s video message. “Unfortunately, I have been working at Channel One… working on Kremlin propaganda. And now I am very ashamed. I am ashamed that I’ve allowed the lies to be said on the TV screens… that I let the Russian people be zombified.” https://twitter.com/maryilyushina/status/1503458316672020490/photo/1
NEW DELHI, March 14 (Reuters) - India is considering taking up a Russian offer to buy its crude oil and other commodities at discounted prices with payment via a rupee-rouble transaction, two Indian officials said, amid tough Western sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
India, which imports 80% of its oil needs, usually buys about 2% to 3% of its supplies from Russia. But with oil prices up 40% so far this year, the government is looking at increasing this if it can help reduce its rising energy bill.
"Russia is offering oil and other commodities at a heavy discount. We will be happy to take that. We have some issues like tanker, insurance cover and oil blends to be resolved. Once we have that we will take the discount offer," one of the Indian government officials said.
How will the oil get there? (Assuming the west buys up tanker capacity and doesn’t want it to).
Well, there are lots of oil tankers in the world, and many of them are owned by private companies in tax havens who will happily take a premium rate to shift oil from Russia to Delhi.
However... India's behaviour here is pretty appalling. The reality is that Russia will continue to be able to export oil (albeit gas is harder), if the Indians and Chinese say 'discount oil, lovely jubbly'.
Tactless of India to be quite so blatant in their sanctions busting. They are supposed to be a trusted partner, blah blah...
Terrible advert for the symbolic value of the Commonwealth.
Or the Anglosphere. Or is it only white countries that are considered anglosphere?
On the strictest definition, the core Anglosphere is only the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand
How bloody big is Quebec and/or how many First Nations languages are there is only 54.4% of Canadians speak English as a first language?
83% of Canadians speak English on that link
You seem to have missed a critical word in my sentence. Or rather you misread it, and have amended, but that now doesn't make sense as a response to what I posted.
Regardless as I said English language speakers is NOT the key criteria for the Anglosphere.
The key criteria is military, political, diplomatic and cultural ties.
Hence it only includes at its core the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand
"Anglo" refers to the English language. Besides There are plenty of military, political, diplomatic and cultural ties between the UK and Ireland, particularly the last three. On the military front, you will know plenty of Irishmen fought in the UK forces in BOTH World Wars.
Anglophone countries refers primarily to those which mainly speak English.
Anglosphere countries are primarily those united by military, diplomatic, cultural and political ties.
Ireland fought with us in WW1 but was neutral in WW2 and the Cold War unlike the USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. The Republic of Ireland is also not in NATO
Ireland (as a country, obv) didn't exist in WW1.
Indeed, the only reason it fought with us is it was still in the UK.
The Irish Free State was neutral in WW2 and the Republic of Ireland was neutral in the Cold War.
The Republic of Ireland is also not in NATO or the Commonwealth.
Hence it is not a core Anglosphere nation
More Irish men served in the British armed forces during the Second World War than served in the Irish armed forces.
ETA and by “Irish men” I mean from the 26 counties.
You could legitimately also add the number of UK people who were released to join the UK forces because so many Irish people came over to work on such things as airfield construction.
"In recent days China has locked down tens of millions in several cities, as it braces for a much worse wave than Jan 2020 where the bulk of infection was confined to Hubei province."
The Chinese are expecting the Omicron wave to be MUCH WORSE than Wuhan/Hubei
NEW DELHI, March 14 (Reuters) - India is considering taking up a Russian offer to buy its crude oil and other commodities at discounted prices with payment via a rupee-rouble transaction, two Indian officials said, amid tough Western sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
India, which imports 80% of its oil needs, usually buys about 2% to 3% of its supplies from Russia. But with oil prices up 40% so far this year, the government is looking at increasing this if it can help reduce its rising energy bill.
"Russia is offering oil and other commodities at a heavy discount. We will be happy to take that. We have some issues like tanker, insurance cover and oil blends to be resolved. Once we have that we will take the discount offer," one of the Indian government officials said.
How will the oil get there? (Assuming the west buys up tanker capacity and doesn’t want it to).
Well, there are lots of oil tankers in the world, and many of them are owned by private companies in tax havens who will happily take a premium rate to shift oil from Russia to Delhi.
However... India's behaviour here is pretty appalling. The reality is that Russia will continue to be able to export oil (albeit gas is harder), if the Indians and Chinese say 'discount oil, lovely jubbly'.
Tactless of India to be quite so blatant in their sanctions busting. They are supposed to be a trusted partner, blah blah...
Terrible advert for the symbolic value of the Commonwealth.
Or the Anglosphere. Or is it only white countries that are considered anglosphere?
On the strictest definition, the core Anglosphere is only the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand
How bloody big is Quebec and/or how many First Nations languages are there is only 54.4% of Canadians speak English as a first language?
83% of Canadians speak English on that link
You seem to have missed a critical word in my sentence. Or rather you misread it, and have amended, but that now doesn't make sense as a response to what I posted.
Regardless as I said English language speakers is NOT the key criteria for the Anglosphere.
The key criteria is military, political, diplomatic and cultural ties.
Hence it only includes at its core the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand
"Anglo" refers to the English language. Besides There are plenty of military, political, diplomatic and cultural ties between the UK and Ireland, particularly the last three. On the military front, you will know plenty of Irishmen fought in the UK forces in BOTH World Wars.
Anglophone countries refers primarily to those which mainly speak English.
Anglosphere countries are primarily those united by military, diplomatic, cultural and political ties.
Ireland fought with us in WW1 but was neutral in WW2 and the Cold War unlike the USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. The Republic of Ireland is also not in NATO
Ireland (as a country, obv) didn't exist in WW1.
Indeed, the only reason it fought with us is it was still in the UK.
The Irish Free State was neutral in WW2 and the Republic of Ireland was neutral in the Cold War.
The Republic of Ireland is also not in NATO or the Commonwealth.
Hence it is not a core Anglosphere nation
More Irish men served in the British armed forces during the Second World War than served in the Irish armed forces.
ETA and by “Irish men” I mean from the 26 counties.
Still percentage wise far less than in the UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand and Ireland was also still neutral in the Cold War unlike them.
The Republic of Ireland is also still not in NATO unlike most of them either, so remains outside the core Anglosphere
On your logic, Northern Ireland wasn't really in the UK either. There was no conscription in WW2.
"In recent days China has locked down tens of millions in several cities, as it braces for a much worse wave than Jan 2020 where the bulk of infection was confined to Hubei province."
The Chinese are expecting the Omicron wave to be MUCH WORSE than Wuhan/Hubei
NEW DELHI, March 14 (Reuters) - India is considering taking up a Russian offer to buy its crude oil and other commodities at discounted prices with payment via a rupee-rouble transaction, two Indian officials said, amid tough Western sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
India, which imports 80% of its oil needs, usually buys about 2% to 3% of its supplies from Russia. But with oil prices up 40% so far this year, the government is looking at increasing this if it can help reduce its rising energy bill.
"Russia is offering oil and other commodities at a heavy discount. We will be happy to take that. We have some issues like tanker, insurance cover and oil blends to be resolved. Once we have that we will take the discount offer," one of the Indian government officials said.
How will the oil get there? (Assuming the west buys up tanker capacity and doesn’t want it to).
Well, there are lots of oil tankers in the world, and many of them are owned by private companies in tax havens who will happily take a premium rate to shift oil from Russia to Delhi.
However... India's behaviour here is pretty appalling. The reality is that Russia will continue to be able to export oil (albeit gas is harder), if the Indians and Chinese say 'discount oil, lovely jubbly'.
Tactless of India to be quite so blatant in their sanctions busting. They are supposed to be a trusted partner, blah blah...
Terrible advert for the symbolic value of the Commonwealth.
Or the Anglosphere. Or is it only white countries that are considered anglosphere?
On the strictest definition, the core Anglosphere is only the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand
How bloody big is Quebec and/or how many First Nations languages are there is only 54.4% of Canadians speak English as a first language?
83% of Canadians speak English on that link
You seem to have missed a critical word in my sentence. Or rather you misread it, and have amended, but that now doesn't make sense as a response to what I posted.
Regardless as I said English language speakers is NOT the key criteria for the Anglosphere.
The key criteria is military, political, diplomatic and cultural ties.
Hence it only includes at its core the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand
"Anglo" refers to the English language. Besides There are plenty of military, political, diplomatic and cultural ties between the UK and Ireland, particularly the last three. On the military front, you will know plenty of Irishmen fought in the UK forces in BOTH World Wars.
Anglophone countries refers primarily to those which mainly speak English.
Anglosphere countries are primarily those united by military, diplomatic, cultural and political ties.
Ireland fought with us in WW1 but was neutral in WW2 and the Cold War unlike the USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. The Republic of Ireland is also not in NATO
Ireland (as a country, obv) didn't exist in WW1.
Indeed, the only reason it fought with us is it was still in the UK.
The Irish Free State was neutral in WW2 and the Republic of Ireland was neutral in the Cold War.
The Republic of Ireland is also not in NATO or the Commonwealth.
Hence it is not a core Anglosphere nation
More Irish men served in the British armed forces during the Second World War than served in the Irish armed forces.
ETA and by “Irish men” I mean from the 26 counties.
You could legitimately also add the number of UK people who were released to join the UK forces because so many Irish people came over to work on such things as airfield construction.
So what, millions of Indians also fought in WW2, many came over and have contributed to our core services since.
However India is also not in the core Anglosphere either as like Ireland it was neutral in the Cold War and is not in NATO
"In recent days China has locked down tens of millions in several cities, as it braces for a much worse wave than Jan 2020 where the bulk of infection was confined to Hubei province."
The Chinese are expecting the Omicron wave to be MUCH WORSE than Wuhan/Hubei
NEW DELHI, March 14 (Reuters) - India is considering taking up a Russian offer to buy its crude oil and other commodities at discounted prices with payment via a rupee-rouble transaction, two Indian officials said, amid tough Western sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
India, which imports 80% of its oil needs, usually buys about 2% to 3% of its supplies from Russia. But with oil prices up 40% so far this year, the government is looking at increasing this if it can help reduce its rising energy bill.
"Russia is offering oil and other commodities at a heavy discount. We will be happy to take that. We have some issues like tanker, insurance cover and oil blends to be resolved. Once we have that we will take the discount offer," one of the Indian government officials said.
How will the oil get there? (Assuming the west buys up tanker capacity and doesn’t want it to).
Well, there are lots of oil tankers in the world, and many of them are owned by private companies in tax havens who will happily take a premium rate to shift oil from Russia to Delhi.
However... India's behaviour here is pretty appalling. The reality is that Russia will continue to be able to export oil (albeit gas is harder), if the Indians and Chinese say 'discount oil, lovely jubbly'.
Tactless of India to be quite so blatant in their sanctions busting. They are supposed to be a trusted partner, blah blah...
Terrible advert for the symbolic value of the Commonwealth.
Or the Anglosphere. Or is it only white countries that are considered anglosphere?
On the strictest definition, the core Anglosphere is only the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand
How bloody big is Quebec and/or how many First Nations languages are there is only 54.4% of Canadians speak English as a first language?
83% of Canadians speak English on that link
You seem to have missed a critical word in my sentence. Or rather you misread it, and have amended, but that now doesn't make sense as a response to what I posted.
Regardless as I said English language speakers is NOT the key criteria for the Anglosphere.
The key criteria is military, political, diplomatic and cultural ties.
Hence it only includes at its core the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand
"Anglo" refers to the English language. Besides There are plenty of military, political, diplomatic and cultural ties between the UK and Ireland, particularly the last three. On the military front, you will know plenty of Irishmen fought in the UK forces in BOTH World Wars.
Anglophone countries refers primarily to those which mainly speak English.
Anglosphere countries are primarily those united by military, diplomatic, cultural and political ties.
Ireland fought with us in WW1 but was neutral in WW2 and the Cold War unlike the USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. The Republic of Ireland is also not in NATO
Ireland (as a country, obv) didn't exist in WW1.
Indeed, the only reason it fought with us is it was still in the UK.
The Irish Free State was neutral in WW2 and the Republic of Ireland was neutral in the Cold War.
The Republic of Ireland is also not in NATO or the Commonwealth.
Hence it is not a core Anglosphere nation
More Irish men served in the British armed forces during the Second World War than served in the Irish armed forces.
ETA and by “Irish men” I mean from the 26 counties.
Still percentage wise far less than in the UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand and Ireland was also still neutral in the Cold War unlike them.
The Republic of Ireland is also still not in NATO unlike most of them either, so remains outside the core Anglosphere
On your logic, Northern Ireland wasn't really in the UK either. There was no conscription in WW2.
Northern Ireland was and is a part of the UK, it did what the UK government told it to do in defence and foreign policy
NEW DELHI, March 14 (Reuters) - India is considering taking up a Russian offer to buy its crude oil and other commodities at discounted prices with payment via a rupee-rouble transaction, two Indian officials said, amid tough Western sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
India, which imports 80% of its oil needs, usually buys about 2% to 3% of its supplies from Russia. But with oil prices up 40% so far this year, the government is looking at increasing this if it can help reduce its rising energy bill.
"Russia is offering oil and other commodities at a heavy discount. We will be happy to take that. We have some issues like tanker, insurance cover and oil blends to be resolved. Once we have that we will take the discount offer," one of the Indian government officials said.
How will the oil get there? (Assuming the west buys up tanker capacity and doesn’t want it to).
Well, there are lots of oil tankers in the world, and many of them are owned by private companies in tax havens who will happily take a premium rate to shift oil from Russia to Delhi.
However... India's behaviour here is pretty appalling. The reality is that Russia will continue to be able to export oil (albeit gas is harder), if the Indians and Chinese say 'discount oil, lovely jubbly'.
Tactless of India to be quite so blatant in their sanctions busting. They are supposed to be a trusted partner, blah blah...
Terrible advert for the symbolic value of the Commonwealth.
Or the Anglosphere. Or is it only white countries that are considered anglosphere?
On the strictest definition, the core Anglosphere is only the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand
How bloody big is Quebec and/or how many First Nations languages are there is only 54.4% of Canadians speak English as a first language?
83% of Canadians speak English on that link
You seem to have missed a critical word in my sentence. Or rather you misread it, and have amended, but that now doesn't make sense as a response to what I posted.
Regardless as I said English language speakers is NOT the key criteria for the Anglosphere.
The key criteria is military, political, diplomatic and cultural ties.
Hence it only includes at its core the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand
"Anglo" refers to the English language. Besides There are plenty of military, political, diplomatic and cultural ties between the UK and Ireland, particularly the last three. On the military front, you will know plenty of Irishmen fought in the UK forces in BOTH World Wars.
Anglophone countries refers primarily to those which mainly speak English.
Anglosphere countries are primarily those united by military, diplomatic, cultural and political ties.
Ireland fought with us in WW1 but was neutral in WW2 and the Cold War unlike the USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. The Republic of Ireland is also not in NATO
Ireland (as a country, obv) didn't exist in WW1.
Indeed, the only reason it fought with us is it was still in the UK.
The Irish Free State was neutral in WW2 and the Republic of Ireland was neutral in the Cold War.
The Republic of Ireland is also not in NATO or the Commonwealth.
Hence it is not a core Anglosphere nation
More Irish men served in the British armed forces during the Second World War than served in the Irish armed forces.
ETA and by “Irish men” I mean from the 26 counties.
You could legitimately also add the number of UK people who were released to join the UK forces because so many Irish people came over to work on such things as airfield construction.
So what, millions of Indians also fought in WW2, many came over and have contributed to our core services since.
However India is also not in the core Anglosphere either as like Ireland it was neutral in the Cold War and is not in NATO
Doesn't change the basic point.
That reminds me: I've never been able to extract an answer from you as to whether it was right for UKG to give India (as it was then) independence.
Translation of Maria Ovsiannikova’s video message. “Unfortunately, I have been working at Channel One… working on Kremlin propaganda. And now I am very ashamed. I am ashamed that I’ve allowed the lies to be said on the TV screens… that I let the Russian people be zombified.” https://twitter.com/maryilyushina/status/1503458316672020490/photo/1
This talk of "zombification" is an interesting turn of phrase. It's been around since at least the 2014 invasion, and used by both sides. It sometimes comes along with accusations of the administration of mind-altering and mind-numbing drugs. I've no idea whether there's even a grain of truth in those allegations, but I have a vague sense that some people think that opioids are administered to people. Does anyone know more about these allegations/conspiracy theories?
"In recent days China has locked down tens of millions in several cities, as it braces for a much worse wave than Jan 2020 where the bulk of infection was confined to Hubei province."
The Chinese are expecting the Omicron wave to be MUCH WORSE than Wuhan/Hubei
This story could be as big as Ukraine, in its own way
Some mocked those on pb who said getting lots of infections after the oldies and infirm were double vaccinated was a good thing. They would have kept us locked down (or at least tighter restrictions) for much longer. China will now reap what it has sewn by being so aggressively zero Covid combined with a less effective vaccine programme. At least NZ got the vaccination side right, and I think on the whole their ‘war’ has been pretty good, especially in terms of deaths, and probably in terms of time spent ‘open’ internally over the last two years.
Most people (on here) recognised that Zero Covid was a dumb policy, because - at some point - you need to open up again.
On the other hand, I think you can argue that a "Zero Covid" policy early in the pandemic (assuming you have an island far from anywhere), followed by opening up once people are fully vaccinated is far from a stupid strategy.
It's just that many places (*cough* China) failed to appreciate that at a certain point, you need to let it go.
Yes, I think that NZ used it’s natural advantages well. Yes they have restricted access to outsiders, but I suspect for many it’s been a price worth paying. They are now having plenty of cases but not much death, although it might seem like it to them. I would say though, that contrary to some people’s ideas, we could never have adopted a similar strategy in the U.K.
NEW DELHI, March 14 (Reuters) - India is considering taking up a Russian offer to buy its crude oil and other commodities at discounted prices with payment via a rupee-rouble transaction, two Indian officials said, amid tough Western sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
India, which imports 80% of its oil needs, usually buys about 2% to 3% of its supplies from Russia. But with oil prices up 40% so far this year, the government is looking at increasing this if it can help reduce its rising energy bill.
"Russia is offering oil and other commodities at a heavy discount. We will be happy to take that. We have some issues like tanker, insurance cover and oil blends to be resolved. Once we have that we will take the discount offer," one of the Indian government officials said.
How will the oil get there? (Assuming the west buys up tanker capacity and doesn’t want it to).
Well, there are lots of oil tankers in the world, and many of them are owned by private companies in tax havens who will happily take a premium rate to shift oil from Russia to Delhi.
However... India's behaviour here is pretty appalling. The reality is that Russia will continue to be able to export oil (albeit gas is harder), if the Indians and Chinese say 'discount oil, lovely jubbly'.
Tactless of India to be quite so blatant in their sanctions busting. They are supposed to be a trusted partner, blah blah...
Terrible advert for the symbolic value of the Commonwealth.
Or the Anglosphere. Or is it only white countries that are considered anglosphere?
On the strictest definition, the core Anglosphere is only the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand
How bloody big is Quebec and/or how many First Nations languages are there is only 54.4% of Canadians speak English as a first language?
83% of Canadians speak English on that link
You seem to have missed a critical word in my sentence. Or rather you misread it, and have amended, but that now doesn't make sense as a response to what I posted.
Regardless as I said English language speakers is NOT the key criteria for the Anglosphere.
The key criteria is military, political, diplomatic and cultural ties.
Hence it only includes at its core the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand
"Anglo" refers to the English language. Besides There are plenty of military, political, diplomatic and cultural ties between the UK and Ireland, particularly the last three. On the military front, you will know plenty of Irishmen fought in the UK forces in BOTH World Wars.
Anglophone countries refers primarily to those which mainly speak English.
Anglosphere countries are primarily those united by military, diplomatic, cultural and political ties.
Ireland fought with us in WW1 but was neutral in WW2 and the Cold War unlike the USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. The Republic of Ireland is also not in NATO
Ireland (as a country, obv) didn't exist in WW1.
Indeed, the only reason it fought with us is it was still in the UK.
The Irish Free State was neutral in WW2 and the Republic of Ireland was neutral in the Cold War.
The Republic of Ireland is also not in NATO or the Commonwealth.
Hence it is not a core Anglosphere nation
More Irish men served in the British armed forces during the Second World War than served in the Irish armed forces.
ETA and by “Irish men” I mean from the 26 counties.
Still percentage wise far less than in the UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand and Ireland was also still neutral in the Cold War unlike them.
The Republic of Ireland is also still not in NATO unlike most of them either, so remains outside the core Anglosphere
On your logic, Northern Ireland wasn't really in the UK either. There was no conscription in WW2.
Northern Ireland was and is a part of the UK, it did what the UK government told it to do in defence and foreign policy
Doesn't change the fact that it wasn't enough of a part of the UK for the UK government to treat it as a total part of the UK.
Just like the Tory Government today doesn't consider it part of the UK.
The near-absence of military news on both sides in the last 24 hours (unless it's not being reported) is pretty striking - the Guardian blog doesn't report anything much, and the Russian Interfax is all about the humanitarian corridors. There are multiple reports of the talks continuing to go well, so maybe......???
Unfortunately I think it means that lots of Ukranians are dieing defending their country. I can't quite bring myself to wish Russians to die, but I'm not complaining if they line the streets of their invasion.
I've become much more callous. impart because of the similarities to Chechnya. I expect people to start disappearing for good and now the partisans are starting up civilian repression will really kick in.
The faster and sooner Russians die the sooner they will leave. I can't see any other way of displacing them.
I think the Ukrainians are keeping the Molotovs in reserve because of that, it makes civilians a target.
When the Russians get within a certain distance of Kyiv centre they will light up as many of them as they can and then fight on every street corner.
I do wonder if they have thermobaric devices themselves they could drop, for example, on Rostov-na-Donu
NEW DELHI, March 14 (Reuters) - India is considering taking up a Russian offer to buy its crude oil and other commodities at discounted prices with payment via a rupee-rouble transaction, two Indian officials said, amid tough Western sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
India, which imports 80% of its oil needs, usually buys about 2% to 3% of its supplies from Russia. But with oil prices up 40% so far this year, the government is looking at increasing this if it can help reduce its rising energy bill.
"Russia is offering oil and other commodities at a heavy discount. We will be happy to take that. We have some issues like tanker, insurance cover and oil blends to be resolved. Once we have that we will take the discount offer," one of the Indian government officials said.
How will the oil get there? (Assuming the west buys up tanker capacity and doesn’t want it to).
Well, there are lots of oil tankers in the world, and many of them are owned by private companies in tax havens who will happily take a premium rate to shift oil from Russia to Delhi.
However... India's behaviour here is pretty appalling. The reality is that Russia will continue to be able to export oil (albeit gas is harder), if the Indians and Chinese say 'discount oil, lovely jubbly'.
Tactless of India to be quite so blatant in their sanctions busting. They are supposed to be a trusted partner, blah blah...
Terrible advert for the symbolic value of the Commonwealth.
Or the Anglosphere. Or is it only white countries that are considered anglosphere?
On the strictest definition, the core Anglosphere is only the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand
How bloody big is Quebec and/or how many First Nations languages are there is only 54.4% of Canadians speak English as a first language?
83% of Canadians speak English on that link
You seem to have missed a critical word in my sentence. Or rather you misread it, and have amended, but that now doesn't make sense as a response to what I posted.
Regardless as I said English language speakers is NOT the key criteria for the Anglosphere.
The key criteria is military, political, diplomatic and cultural ties.
Hence it only includes at its core the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand
"Anglo" refers to the English language. Besides There are plenty of military, political, diplomatic and cultural ties between the UK and Ireland, particularly the last three. On the military front, you will know plenty of Irishmen fought in the UK forces in BOTH World Wars.
Anglophone countries refers primarily to those which mainly speak English.
Anglosphere countries are primarily those united by military, diplomatic, cultural and political ties.
Ireland fought with us in WW1 but was neutral in WW2 and the Cold War unlike the USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. The Republic of Ireland is also not in NATO
Ireland (as a country, obv) didn't exist in WW1.
Indeed, the only reason it fought with us is it was still in the UK.
The Irish Free State was neutral in WW2 and the Republic of Ireland was neutral in the Cold War.
The Republic of Ireland is also not in NATO or the Commonwealth.
Hence it is not a core Anglosphere nation
More Irish men served in the British armed forces during the Second World War than served in the Irish armed forces.
ETA and by “Irish men” I mean from the 26 counties.
You could legitimately also add the number of UK people who were released to join the UK forces because so many Irish people came over to work on such things as airfield construction.
So what, millions of Indians also fought in WW2, many came over and have contributed to our core services since.
However India is also not in the core Anglosphere either as like Ireland it was neutral in the Cold War and is not in NATO
Doesn't change the basic point.
That reminds me: I've never been able to extract an answer from you as to whether it was right for UKG to give India (as it was then) independence.
Blaming it on Labour Governments does not count.
Oh it does.
The Republic of Ireland is not in NATO, is not in the Commonwealth, does not share our head of state, was neutral in the Cold War and was officially neutral in WW2.
On no grounds whatsoever is the Republic of Ireland a core member of the Anglosphere. It is outer tier at most.
As I said Churchill opposed Indian independence as did most Tories at the time, it was Attlee and Labour who gave then independence. However I am not answering irrelevant hypotheticals as I am a Tory for now and India is independent in the reality of today
NEW DELHI, March 14 (Reuters) - India is considering taking up a Russian offer to buy its crude oil and other commodities at discounted prices with payment via a rupee-rouble transaction, two Indian officials said, amid tough Western sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
India, which imports 80% of its oil needs, usually buys about 2% to 3% of its supplies from Russia. But with oil prices up 40% so far this year, the government is looking at increasing this if it can help reduce its rising energy bill.
"Russia is offering oil and other commodities at a heavy discount. We will be happy to take that. We have some issues like tanker, insurance cover and oil blends to be resolved. Once we have that we will take the discount offer," one of the Indian government officials said.
How will the oil get there? (Assuming the west buys up tanker capacity and doesn’t want it to).
Well, there are lots of oil tankers in the world, and many of them are owned by private companies in tax havens who will happily take a premium rate to shift oil from Russia to Delhi.
However... India's behaviour here is pretty appalling. The reality is that Russia will continue to be able to export oil (albeit gas is harder), if the Indians and Chinese say 'discount oil, lovely jubbly'.
Tactless of India to be quite so blatant in their sanctions busting. They are supposed to be a trusted partner, blah blah...
Terrible advert for the symbolic value of the Commonwealth.
Or the Anglosphere. Or is it only white countries that are considered anglosphere?
On the strictest definition, the core Anglosphere is only the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand
How bloody big is Quebec and/or how many First Nations languages are there is only 54.4% of Canadians speak English as a first language?
83% of Canadians speak English on that link
You seem to have missed a critical word in my sentence. Or rather you misread it, and have amended, but that now doesn't make sense as a response to what I posted.
Regardless as I said English language speakers is NOT the key criteria for the Anglosphere.
The key criteria is military, political, diplomatic and cultural ties.
Hence it only includes at its core the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand
"Anglo" refers to the English language. Besides There are plenty of military, political, diplomatic and cultural ties between the UK and Ireland, particularly the last three. On the military front, you will know plenty of Irishmen fought in the UK forces in BOTH World Wars.
Anglophone countries refers primarily to those which mainly speak English.
Anglosphere countries are primarily those united by military, diplomatic, cultural and political ties.
Ireland fought with us in WW1 but was neutral in WW2 and the Cold War unlike the USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. The Republic of Ireland is also not in NATO
Ireland (as a country, obv) didn't exist in WW1.
Indeed, the only reason it fought with us is it was still in the UK.
The Irish Free State was neutral in WW2 and the Republic of Ireland was neutral in the Cold War.
The Republic of Ireland is also not in NATO or the Commonwealth.
Hence it is not a core Anglosphere nation
More Irish men served in the British armed forces during the Second World War than served in the Irish armed forces.
ETA and by “Irish men” I mean from the 26 counties.
Still percentage wise far less than in the UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand and Ireland was also still neutral in the Cold War unlike them.
The Republic of Ireland is also still not in NATO unlike most of them either, so remains outside the core Anglosphere
On your logic, Northern Ireland wasn't really in the UK either. There was no conscription in WW2.
Northern Ireland was and is a part of the UK, it did what the UK government told it to do in defence and foreign policy
Doesn't change the fact that it wasn't enough of a part of the UK for the UK government to treat it as a total part of the UK.
Just like the Tory Government today doesn't consider it part of the UK.
I wonder if they are doing to put “[do] what the UK government [tells you] to do in defence and foreign policy” on the posters for Indy Ref Two?
"In recent days China has locked down tens of millions in several cities, as it braces for a much worse wave than Jan 2020 where the bulk of infection was confined to Hubei province."
The Chinese are expecting the Omicron wave to be MUCH WORSE than Wuhan/Hubei
Translation of Maria Ovsiannikova’s video message. “Unfortunately, I have been working at Channel One… working on Kremlin propaganda. And now I am very ashamed. I am ashamed that I’ve allowed the lies to be said on the TV screens… that I let the Russian people be zombified.” https://twitter.com/maryilyushina/status/1503458316672020490/photo/1
This talk of "zombification" is an interesting turn of phrase. It's been around since at least the 2014 invasion, and used by both sides. It sometimes comes along with accusations of the administration of mind-altering and mind-numbing drugs. I've no idea whether there's even a grain of truth in those allegations, but I have a vague sense that some people think that opioids are administered to people. Does anyone know more about these allegations/conspiracy theories?
NEW DELHI, March 14 (Reuters) - India is considering taking up a Russian offer to buy its crude oil and other commodities at discounted prices with payment via a rupee-rouble transaction, two Indian officials said, amid tough Western sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
India, which imports 80% of its oil needs, usually buys about 2% to 3% of its supplies from Russia. But with oil prices up 40% so far this year, the government is looking at increasing this if it can help reduce its rising energy bill.
"Russia is offering oil and other commodities at a heavy discount. We will be happy to take that. We have some issues like tanker, insurance cover and oil blends to be resolved. Once we have that we will take the discount offer," one of the Indian government officials said.
How will the oil get there? (Assuming the west buys up tanker capacity and doesn’t want it to).
Well, there are lots of oil tankers in the world, and many of them are owned by private companies in tax havens who will happily take a premium rate to shift oil from Russia to Delhi.
However... India's behaviour here is pretty appalling. The reality is that Russia will continue to be able to export oil (albeit gas is harder), if the Indians and Chinese say 'discount oil, lovely jubbly'.
Tactless of India to be quite so blatant in their sanctions busting. They are supposed to be a trusted partner, blah blah...
Terrible advert for the symbolic value of the Commonwealth.
Or the Anglosphere. Or is it only white countries that are considered anglosphere?
On the strictest definition, the core Anglosphere is only the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand
How bloody big is Quebec and/or how many First Nations languages are there is only 54.4% of Canadians speak English as a first language?
83% of Canadians speak English on that link
You seem to have missed a critical word in my sentence. Or rather you misread it, and have amended, but that now doesn't make sense as a response to what I posted.
Regardless as I said English language speakers is NOT the key criteria for the Anglosphere.
The key criteria is military, political, diplomatic and cultural ties.
Hence it only includes at its core the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand
"Anglo" refers to the English language. Besides There are plenty of military, political, diplomatic and cultural ties between the UK and Ireland, particularly the last three. On the military front, you will know plenty of Irishmen fought in the UK forces in BOTH World Wars.
Anglophone countries refers primarily to those which mainly speak English.
Anglosphere countries are primarily those united by military, diplomatic, cultural and political ties.
Ireland fought with us in WW1 but was neutral in WW2 and the Cold War unlike the USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. The Republic of Ireland is also not in NATO
Ireland (as a country, obv) didn't exist in WW1.
Indeed, the only reason it fought with us is it was still in the UK.
The Irish Free State was neutral in WW2 and the Republic of Ireland was neutral in the Cold War.
The Republic of Ireland is also not in NATO or the Commonwealth.
Hence it is not a core Anglosphere nation
More Irish men served in the British armed forces during the Second World War than served in the Irish armed forces.
ETA and by “Irish men” I mean from the 26 counties.
Still percentage wise far less than in the UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand and Ireland was also still neutral in the Cold War unlike them.
The Republic of Ireland is also still not in NATO unlike most of them either, so remains outside the core Anglosphere
On your logic, Northern Ireland wasn't really in the UK either. There was no conscription in WW2.
Northern Ireland was and is a part of the UK, it did what the UK government told it to do in defence and foreign policy
Doesn't change the fact that it wasn't enough of a part of the UK for the UK government to treat it as a total part of the UK.
Just like the Tory Government today doesn't consider it part of the UK.
Yes it does, Northern Ireland went to war with the Nazis as the UK government decided for it.
NEW DELHI, March 14 (Reuters) - India is considering taking up a Russian offer to buy its crude oil and other commodities at discounted prices with payment via a rupee-rouble transaction, two Indian officials said, amid tough Western sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
India, which imports 80% of its oil needs, usually buys about 2% to 3% of its supplies from Russia. But with oil prices up 40% so far this year, the government is looking at increasing this if it can help reduce its rising energy bill.
"Russia is offering oil and other commodities at a heavy discount. We will be happy to take that. We have some issues like tanker, insurance cover and oil blends to be resolved. Once we have that we will take the discount offer," one of the Indian government officials said.
How will the oil get there? (Assuming the west buys up tanker capacity and doesn’t want it to).
Well, there are lots of oil tankers in the world, and many of them are owned by private companies in tax havens who will happily take a premium rate to shift oil from Russia to Delhi.
However... India's behaviour here is pretty appalling. The reality is that Russia will continue to be able to export oil (albeit gas is harder), if the Indians and Chinese say 'discount oil, lovely jubbly'.
Tactless of India to be quite so blatant in their sanctions busting. They are supposed to be a trusted partner, blah blah...
Terrible advert for the symbolic value of the Commonwealth.
Or the Anglosphere. Or is it only white countries that are considered anglosphere?
On the strictest definition, the core Anglosphere is only the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand
How bloody big is Quebec and/or how many First Nations languages are there is only 54.4% of Canadians speak English as a first language?
83% of Canadians speak English on that link
You seem to have missed a critical word in my sentence. Or rather you misread it, and have amended, but that now doesn't make sense as a response to what I posted.
Regardless as I said English language speakers is NOT the key criteria for the Anglosphere.
The key criteria is military, political, diplomatic and cultural ties.
Hence it only includes at its core the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand
"Anglo" refers to the English language. Besides There are plenty of military, political, diplomatic and cultural ties between the UK and Ireland, particularly the last three. On the military front, you will know plenty of Irishmen fought in the UK forces in BOTH World Wars.
Anglophone countries refers primarily to those which mainly speak English.
Anglosphere countries are primarily those united by military, diplomatic, cultural and political ties.
Ireland fought with us in WW1 but was neutral in WW2 and the Cold War unlike the USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. The Republic of Ireland is also not in NATO
Ireland (as a country, obv) didn't exist in WW1.
Indeed, the only reason it fought with us is it was still in the UK.
The Irish Free State was neutral in WW2 and the Republic of Ireland was neutral in the Cold War.
The Republic of Ireland is also not in NATO or the Commonwealth.
Hence it is not a core Anglosphere nation
More Irish men served in the British armed forces during the Second World War than served in the Irish armed forces.
ETA and by “Irish men” I mean from the 26 counties.
You could legitimately also add the number of UK people who were released to join the UK forces because so many Irish people came over to work on such things as airfield construction.
So what, millions of Indians also fought in WW2, many came over and have contributed to our core services since.
However India is also not in the core Anglosphere either as like Ireland it was neutral in the Cold War and is not in NATO
Doesn't change the basic point.
That reminds me: I've never been able to extract an answer from you as to whether it was right for UKG to give India (as it was then) independence.
Blaming it on Labour Governments does not count.
Oh it does.
The Republic of Ireland is not in NATO, is not in the Commonwealth, does not share our head of state, was neutral in the Cold War and was officially neutral in WW2.
On no grounds whatsoever is the Republic of Ireland a core member of the Anglosphere. It is outer tier at most.
As I said Churchill opposed Indian independence as did most Tories at the time, it was Attlee and Labour who gave then independence. However I am not answering irrelevant hypotheticals as I am a Tory for now and India is independent in the reality of today
[raises one eyebrow] You're thinking about Plaid Cymru again?
Translation of Maria Ovsiannikova’s video message. “Unfortunately, I have been working at Channel One… working on Kremlin propaganda. And now I am very ashamed. I am ashamed that I’ve allowed the lies to be said on the TV screens… that I let the Russian people be zombified.” https://twitter.com/maryilyushina/status/1503458316672020490/photo/1
This talk of "zombification" is an interesting turn of phrase. It's been around since at least the 2014 invasion, and used by both sides. It sometimes comes along with accusations of the administration of mind-altering and mind-numbing drugs. I've no idea whether there's even a grain of truth in those allegations, but I have a vague sense that some people think that opioids are administered to people. Does anyone know more about these allegations/conspiracy theories?
I don't think it's associated with any conspiracy theory. It just means brainwashed.
NEW DELHI, March 14 (Reuters) - India is considering taking up a Russian offer to buy its crude oil and other commodities at discounted prices with payment via a rupee-rouble transaction, two Indian officials said, amid tough Western sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
India, which imports 80% of its oil needs, usually buys about 2% to 3% of its supplies from Russia. But with oil prices up 40% so far this year, the government is looking at increasing this if it can help reduce its rising energy bill.
"Russia is offering oil and other commodities at a heavy discount. We will be happy to take that. We have some issues like tanker, insurance cover and oil blends to be resolved. Once we have that we will take the discount offer," one of the Indian government officials said.
How will the oil get there? (Assuming the west buys up tanker capacity and doesn’t want it to).
Well, there are lots of oil tankers in the world, and many of them are owned by private companies in tax havens who will happily take a premium rate to shift oil from Russia to Delhi.
However... India's behaviour here is pretty appalling. The reality is that Russia will continue to be able to export oil (albeit gas is harder), if the Indians and Chinese say 'discount oil, lovely jubbly'.
Tactless of India to be quite so blatant in their sanctions busting. They are supposed to be a trusted partner, blah blah...
Terrible advert for the symbolic value of the Commonwealth.
Or the Anglosphere. Or is it only white countries that are considered anglosphere?
On the strictest definition, the core Anglosphere is only the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand
How bloody big is Quebec and/or how many First Nations languages are there is only 54.4% of Canadians speak English as a first language?
83% of Canadians speak English on that link
You seem to have missed a critical word in my sentence. Or rather you misread it, and have amended, but that now doesn't make sense as a response to what I posted.
Regardless as I said English language speakers is NOT the key criteria for the Anglosphere.
The key criteria is military, political, diplomatic and cultural ties.
Hence it only includes at its core the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand
"Anglo" refers to the English language. Besides There are plenty of military, political, diplomatic and cultural ties between the UK and Ireland, particularly the last three. On the military front, you will know plenty of Irishmen fought in the UK forces in BOTH World Wars.
Anglophone countries refers primarily to those which mainly speak English.
Anglosphere countries are primarily those united by military, diplomatic, cultural and political ties.
Ireland fought with us in WW1 but was neutral in WW2 and the Cold War unlike the USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. The Republic of Ireland is also not in NATO
Ireland (as a country, obv) didn't exist in WW1.
Indeed, the only reason it fought with us is it was still in the UK.
The Irish Free State was neutral in WW2 and the Republic of Ireland was neutral in the Cold War.
The Republic of Ireland is also not in NATO or the Commonwealth.
Hence it is not a core Anglosphere nation
More Irish men served in the British armed forces during the Second World War than served in the Irish armed forces.
ETA and by “Irish men” I mean from the 26 counties.
Still percentage wise far less than in the UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand and Ireland was also still neutral in the Cold War unlike them.
The Republic of Ireland is also still not in NATO unlike most of them either, so remains outside the core Anglosphere
On your logic, Northern Ireland wasn't really in the UK either. There was no conscription in WW2.
Northern Ireland was and is a part of the UK, it did what the UK government told it to do in defence and foreign policy
Doesn't change the fact that it wasn't enough of a part of the UK for the UK government to treat it as a total part of the UK.
Just like the Tory Government today doesn't consider it part of the UK.
I wonder if they are doing to put “[do] what the UK government [tells you] to do in defence and foreign policy” on the posters for Indy Ref Two?
This Tory government will not allow indyref2 so that is irrelevant unless Labour get in
Well, signed up for the official Government refugee system today saying we have space in our house for a couple of Ukrainians so we will see what happens next.
A few thoughts on the process.
The introductory pages seem to be unnecessarily convoluted to actually get to the sign up page. I assume this is because they want to make sure everyone has properly absorbed the implications of signing up but it didn't seem immediately obvious where to go to get to the bit where you fill out your details. At one point I did find that clicking buttons which were supposed to get me to the forms put me back to the start again.
Secondly the forms themselves are very straight forward and easy to complete. A good thing and well done.
Thirdly - and my main criticism - is the idiotic decision that initially you will only be able to host someone who is not your relative if you have independently made contact with them through social media. as it stands you have to be able to name the person or persons you are expecting to host. Now I know a couple of people professionally in Ukraine but none of them are interested in being given safe haven. They are too busy trying to kick the Russians out of their country. So for now there seems to be no way to link up ourselves as people wiling to host refugees with Ukrainians who need refuge.
This seems to me to be a particularly daft system and one that - since it relies on social media contacts - seems rife for the less scrupulous including traffickers to take advantage. The Government must have a list of those they have already accepted for entry to the UK so why not just assign people as necessary.
I will keep you informed of developments.
Anyone else signed up yet who can compare notes and thoughts?
Hi Richard (and all other posters). Been a long time since I posted, so most people have probably forgotten I ever existed here.
Anyway, saw your post and wanted to say "good on you" for offering to host some refugees. Contemplating doing the same myself but a bit hesitant for certain practical reasons, but definitely not ruled out the possibility.
If you can't get past the paywall, the relevant bits for someone in your position are the links to sites matching families with refugees looking for a home. The first three sites are specifically for Ukrainian refugees:
Translation of Maria Ovsiannikova’s video message. “Unfortunately, I have been working at Channel One… working on Kremlin propaganda. And now I am very ashamed. I am ashamed that I’ve allowed the lies to be said on the TV screens… that I let the Russian people be zombified.” https://twitter.com/maryilyushina/status/1503458316672020490/photo/1
This talk of "zombification" is an interesting turn of phrase. It's been around since at least the 2014 invasion, and used by both sides. It sometimes comes along with accusations of the administration of mind-altering and mind-numbing drugs. I've no idea whether there's even a grain of truth in those allegations, but I have a vague sense that some people think that opioids are administered to people. Does anyone know more about these allegations/conspiracy theories?
I don't think it's associated with any conspiracy theory. It just means brainwashed.
Yes, I know that it's sometimes used in that sense, perhaps mostly, but I was wondering whether anyone knew about the drugs angle of the accusations, which could well be a conspiracy theory, or not, I don't know.
Translation of Maria Ovsiannikova’s video message. “Unfortunately, I have been working at Channel One… working on Kremlin propaganda. And now I am very ashamed. I am ashamed that I’ve allowed the lies to be said on the TV screens… that I let the Russian people be zombified.” https://twitter.com/maryilyushina/status/1503458316672020490/photo/1
This talk of "zombification" is an interesting turn of phrase. It's been around since at least the 2014 invasion, and used by both sides. It sometimes comes along with accusations of the administration of mind-altering and mind-numbing drugs. I've no idea whether there's even a grain of truth in those allegations, but I have a vague sense that some people think that opioids are administered to people. Does anyone know more about these allegations/conspiracy theories?
Would explain why they wanted Afghanistan....
I believe the US looked into mind altering drugs (uppers and downers) in the 50s/60s and concluded it was bonkers and unethical (sure I’ve read a book with that in). I can easily imagine the Soviets did the same and didn’t care, but I’ve read nothing on it.
The sense of overdue reckoning that English football is now experiencing will intensify this week when senior executives from both the FA and Premier League - along with the Sports Minister - are questioned by MPs on the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport committee about the role of Russian money in both the ownership and sponsorship of clubs.
But as Newcastle United have discovered, the conflict in Ukraine will force questions about the motivation of investors from other countries too, as well as a focus on the source of funds.
Since the UAE joined China and India by refusing to back a US resolution at the UN Security Council condemning Russia's invasion, there has been renewed scrutiny on Manchester City's Abu Dhabi owners.
City are of course majority owned by the investment group of Sheikh Mansour, a member of the Abu Dhabi ruling family and deputy prime minister of the UAE.
Will Pep Guardiola - like Howe - now be asked to comment on the UAE's role in the Saudi-led military operation in Yemen? Or the country's human rights record?
I’m not sure what they can do about it. I’d welcome 50+1% fan ownership ala Germany but that’s never going to happen.
Tracey Crouch is very much on the fans side, and I expect big changes especially post this war as measures were actually in the pipeline before this
Like what?
As I understand it restrictions on ownership, fans having more say, fan based shareholding, and basically a complete overhaul of fair play rules
So, the end of the Premier League as we know it?
Lots of attacks on dirty money but the Premier League of course is exempt from Russian and Saudi dirty money.?
Indeed Chelsea fans chanted Abramovich name yesterday
"In recent days China has locked down tens of millions in several cities, as it braces for a much worse wave than Jan 2020 where the bulk of infection was confined to Hubei province."
The Chinese are expecting the Omicron wave to be MUCH WORSE than Wuhan/Hubei
This story could be as big as Ukraine, in its own way
Some mocked those on pb who said getting lots of infections after the oldies and infirm were double vaccinated was a good thing. They would have kept us locked down (or at least tighter restrictions) for much longer. China will now reap what it has sewn by being so aggressively zero Covid combined with a less effective vaccine programme. At least NZ got the vaccination side right, and I think on the whole their ‘war’ has been pretty good, especially in terms of deaths, and probably in terms of time spent ‘open’ internally over the last two years.
Most people (on here) recognised that Zero Covid was a dumb policy, because - at some point - you need to open up again.
On the other hand, I think you can argue that a "Zero Covid" policy early in the pandemic (assuming you have an island far from anywhere), followed by opening up once people are fully vaccinated is far from a stupid strategy.
It's just that many places (*cough* China) failed to appreciate that at a certain point, you need to let it go.
Yes, I think that NZ used it’s natural advantages well. Yes they have restricted access to outsiders, but I suspect for many it’s been a price worth paying. They are now having plenty of cases but not much death, although it might seem like it to them. I would say though, that contrary to some people’s ideas, we could never have adopted a similar strategy in the U.K.
No, we couldn't. The UK is far too interconnected, and far too reliant on people crossing borders with goods.
NEW DELHI, March 14 (Reuters) - India is considering taking up a Russian offer to buy its crude oil and other commodities at discounted prices with payment via a rupee-rouble transaction, two Indian officials said, amid tough Western sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
India, which imports 80% of its oil needs, usually buys about 2% to 3% of its supplies from Russia. But with oil prices up 40% so far this year, the government is looking at increasing this if it can help reduce its rising energy bill.
"Russia is offering oil and other commodities at a heavy discount. We will be happy to take that. We have some issues like tanker, insurance cover and oil blends to be resolved. Once we have that we will take the discount offer," one of the Indian government officials said.
How will the oil get there? (Assuming the west buys up tanker capacity and doesn’t want it to).
Well, there are lots of oil tankers in the world, and many of them are owned by private companies in tax havens who will happily take a premium rate to shift oil from Russia to Delhi.
However... India's behaviour here is pretty appalling. The reality is that Russia will continue to be able to export oil (albeit gas is harder), if the Indians and Chinese say 'discount oil, lovely jubbly'.
Tactless of India to be quite so blatant in their sanctions busting. They are supposed to be a trusted partner, blah blah...
Terrible advert for the symbolic value of the Commonwealth.
Or the Anglosphere. Or is it only white countries that are considered anglosphere?
On the strictest definition, the core Anglosphere is only the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand
How bloody big is Quebec and/or how many First Nations languages are there is only 54.4% of Canadians speak English as a first language?
83% of Canadians speak English on that link
You seem to have missed a critical word in my sentence. Or rather you misread it, and have amended, but that now doesn't make sense as a response to what I posted.
Regardless as I said English language speakers is NOT the key criteria for the Anglosphere.
The key criteria is military, political, diplomatic and cultural ties.
Hence it only includes at its core the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand
"Anglo" refers to the English language. Besides There are plenty of military, political, diplomatic and cultural ties between the UK and Ireland, particularly the last three. On the military front, you will know plenty of Irishmen fought in the UK forces in BOTH World Wars.
Anglophone countries refers primarily to those which mainly speak English.
Anglosphere countries are primarily those united by military, diplomatic, cultural and political ties.
Ireland fought with us in WW1 but was neutral in WW2 and the Cold War unlike the USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. The Republic of Ireland is also not in NATO
Ireland (as a country, obv) didn't exist in WW1.
Indeed, the only reason it fought with us is it was still in the UK.
The Irish Free State was neutral in WW2 and the Republic of Ireland was neutral in the Cold War.
The Republic of Ireland is also not in NATO or the Commonwealth.
Hence it is not a core Anglosphere nation
More Irish men served in the British armed forces during the Second World War than served in the Irish armed forces.
ETA and by “Irish men” I mean from the 26 counties.
Still percentage wise far less than in the UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand and Ireland was also still neutral in the Cold War unlike them.
The Republic of Ireland is also still not in NATO unlike most of them either, so remains outside the core Anglosphere
On your logic, Northern Ireland wasn't really in the UK either. There was no conscription in WW2.
Northern Ireland was and is a part of the UK, it did what the UK government told it to do in defence and foreign policy
Doesn't change the fact that it wasn't enough of a part of the UK for the UK government to treat it as a total part of the UK.
Just like the Tory Government today doesn't consider it part of the UK.
Yes it does, Northern Ireland went to war with the Nazis as the UK government decided for it.
Could Boris conceivably call a quasi-Khaki Election in 2022?
As with Salisbury's Conservative-Liberal Unionist alliance that won the original Khaki Election in 1900, Boris's Conservative & Unionist Party will almost certain need to time any such electoral gambit this year, to occur BEFORE the end of the War (Boer then, Ukrainian today).
Personally think proper atmosphere AND timing are less propitious and likely harder for Tories this millennium than last. But who knows?
Not unless the Tories get a big poll lead no
If Putin were to fall as a result of the Ukraine invasion on Johnson's watch, Johnson would be insane not to go for a quick win.
Not unless he had over a 12% poll lead, otherwise he still loses seats and as 2017 showed voters dislike snap elections
But if an early election looks like a small majority and another five years he would take that.
Small majority means 35 MPs losing their seat. They aren't going to go for an early. And anybody remembering 2017 won't go for it either.
It will be May 2024. Any plans for earlier have been dumped.
From the perspective of a 2040 history book, that might turn out to be a mistake. A win now would extend the Conservative government to at least 2029, when the waters might be less choppy than they look in 2022-3-4(?). And whilst the Conservatives are behind now, they're close enough to have a reasonable hope of closing the gap in the campaign.
If things go as badly as they reasonably could for the government (big, ongoing tax rises making everyone poorer), Spring 2022 might turn out with hindsight to be the best chance for another Conservative win. But no government can think that without going mad.
So yes. If the Conservatives are in trouble, dump Boris in summer 2023. Feel OK budget in autumn 2023, fluffing up pay packets in April 2024 with an election shortly afterwards. I'm not sure that it will work, but it has to be the best bet.
"In recent days China has locked down tens of millions in several cities, as it braces for a much worse wave than Jan 2020 where the bulk of infection was confined to Hubei province."
The Chinese are expecting the Omicron wave to be MUCH WORSE than Wuhan/Hubei
This story could be as big as Ukraine, in its own way
Some mocked those on pb who said getting lots of infections after the oldies and infirm were double vaccinated was a good thing. They would have kept us locked down (or at least tighter restrictions) for much longer. China will now reap what it has sewn by being so aggressively zero Covid combined with a less effective vaccine programme. At least NZ got the vaccination side right, and I think on the whole their ‘war’ has been pretty good, especially in terms of deaths, and probably in terms of time spent ‘open’ internally over the last two years.
Most people (on here) recognised that Zero Covid was a dumb policy, because - at some point - you need to open up again.
On the other hand, I think you can argue that a "Zero Covid" policy early in the pandemic (assuming you have an island far from anywhere), followed by opening up once people are fully vaccinated is far from a stupid strategy.
It's just that many places (*cough* China) failed to appreciate that at a certain point, you need to let it go.
Yes, I think that NZ used it’s natural advantages well. Yes they have restricted access to outsiders, but I suspect for many it’s been a price worth paying. They are now having plenty of cases but not much death, although it might seem like it to them. I would say though, that contrary to some people’s ideas, we could never have adopted a similar strategy in the U.K.
No, we couldn't. The UK is far too interconnected, and far too reliant on people crossing borders with goods.
I believe that we could have slowed the initial spread with quicker travel restrictions. We could never have prevented it entirely. Over all, I think we've done OK.
Translation of Maria Ovsiannikova’s video message. “Unfortunately, I have been working at Channel One… working on Kremlin propaganda. And now I am very ashamed. I am ashamed that I’ve allowed the lies to be said on the TV screens… that I let the Russian people be zombified.” https://twitter.com/maryilyushina/status/1503458316672020490/photo/1
This talk of "zombification" is an interesting turn of phrase. It's been around since at least the 2014 invasion, and used by both sides. It sometimes comes along with accusations of the administration of mind-altering and mind-numbing drugs. I've no idea whether there's even a grain of truth in those allegations, but I have a vague sense that some people think that opioids are administered to people. Does anyone know more about these allegations/conspiracy theories?
I don't think it's associated with any conspiracy theory. It just means brainwashed.
Yes, that is my impression too.
Mass disinformation is easier than mass medication.
The Republic of Ireland is not in NATO, is not in the Commonwealth, does not share our head of state, was neutral in the Cold War and was officially neutral in WW2.
On no grounds whatsoever is the Republic of Ireland a core member of the Anglosphere. It is outer tier at most.
As I said Churchill opposed Indian independence as did most Tories at the time, it was Attlee and Labour who gave then independence. However I am not answering irrelevant hypotheticals as I am a Tory for now and India is independent in the reality of today
The Cranborne Report Viscount Cranborne, the British Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs, wrote a letter on 21 February 1945 to the British War Cabinet regarding Irish-British collaboration during 1939–1945:
# They [the Irish] agreed to our use of Lough Foyle for naval and air purposes. The ownership of the Lough is disputed, but the Southern Irish authorities are tacitly not pressing their claim in present conditions and are also ignoring any flying by our aircraft over the Donegal shore of the Lough, which is necessary in certain wind conditions to enable flying boats to take off from the Lough.
1. They have agreed to use by our aircraft based on Lough Erne of a corridor over Southern Irish territory and territorial waters for the purpose of flying out to the Atlantic. 2. They have arranged for the immediate transmission to the United Kingdom Representative's Office in Dublin of reports of submarine activity received from their coast watching service. 3. They arranged for the broadening of reports by their Air observation Corps of aircraft sighted over or approaching Southern Irish territory. (This does not include our aircraft using the corridor referred to in (b) above.) 4. They arranged for the extinction of trade and business lighting in coastal towns where such lighting was alleged to afford a useful landmark for German aircraft. 5. They have continued to supply us with meteorological reports. 6. They have agreed to the use by our ships and aircraft of two wireless direction-finding stations at Malin Head. 7. They have supplied particulars of German crashed aircraft and personnel crashed or washed ashore or arrested on land. 8. They arranged for staff talks on the question of co-operation against a possible German invasion of Southern Ireland, and close contact has since been maintained between the respective military authorities. 9. They continue to intern all German fighting personnel reaching Southern Ireland. On the other hand, though after protracted negotiations, Allied service personnel are now allowed to depart freely and full assistance is given in recovering damaged aircraft. 10. Recently, in connection with the establishment of prisoner of war camps in Northern Ireland, they have agreed to return or at least intern any German prisoners who may escape from Northern Ireland across the border to Southern Ireland. 11. They have throughout offered no objection to the departure from Southern Ireland of persons wishing to serve in the United Kingdom Forces nor to the journey on leave of such persons to and from Southern Ireland (in plain clothes). 12. They have continued to exchange information with our security authorities regarding all aliens (including Germans) in Southern Ireland. 13. They have (within the last few days) agreed to our establishing a radar station in Southern Ireland for use against the latest form of submarine activity.
"In recent days China has locked down tens of millions in several cities, as it braces for a much worse wave than Jan 2020 where the bulk of infection was confined to Hubei province."
The Chinese are expecting the Omicron wave to be MUCH WORSE than Wuhan/Hubei
This story could be as big as Ukraine, in its own way
Is there no end to the misery of the 2020s?
The level of misery now is probably less than at any time in history, but it isn't popular to say so.
Sometimes it’s hard to see the good things. 2012 I had leukaemia. Been in remission and out of treatment since 2013. Thirty years before I’d have died within weeks of diagnosis. We are probably globally still in a pandemic, but in the space of two years we managed to create multiple vaccines, using multiple different technologies, and have vaccinated billions of people. We will use this to solve other health challenges, such as malaria, and probably a fair few cancers, especially those linked to viral infections. Even in Ukraine, which is awful, we are seeing the strength of the democratic nations, working together. We are also seeing once again the weakness of dictatorships. In the end the dictator always stops listening to advice. The Russian military is not the demon we once feared. The only reason the Russians are not being rolled out of Ukraine is the fear of nukes. And that’s a real fear, but it also keeps us safe (sorry Nicola). The world generally gets better, it just may not seem like it at times, and there are always losers.
The Republic of Ireland is not in NATO, is not in the Commonwealth, does not share our head of state, was neutral in the Cold War and was officially neutral in WW2.
On no grounds whatsoever is the Republic of Ireland a core member of the Anglosphere. It is outer tier at most.
As I said Churchill opposed Indian independence as did most Tories at the time, it was Attlee and Labour who gave then independence. However I am not answering irrelevant hypotheticals as I am a Tory for now and India is independent in the reality of today
The Cranborne Report Viscount Cranborne, the British Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs, wrote a letter on 21 February 1945 to the British War Cabinet regarding Irish-British collaboration during 1939–1945:
# They [the Irish] agreed to our use of Lough Foyle for naval and air purposes. The ownership of the Lough is disputed, but the Southern Irish authorities are tacitly not pressing their claim in present conditions and are also ignoring any flying by our aircraft over the Donegal shore of the Lough, which is necessary in certain wind conditions to enable flying boats to take off from the Lough.
1. They have agreed to use by our aircraft based on Lough Erne of a corridor over Southern Irish territory and territorial waters for the purpose of flying out to the Atlantic. 2. They have arranged for the immediate transmission to the United Kingdom Representative's Office in Dublin of reports of submarine activity received from their coast watching service. 3. They arranged for the broadening of reports by their Air observation Corps of aircraft sighted over or approaching Southern Irish territory. (This does not include our aircraft using the corridor referred to in (b) above.) 4. They arranged for the extinction of trade and business lighting in coastal towns where such lighting was alleged to afford a useful landmark for German aircraft. 5. They have continued to supply us with meteorological reports. 6. They have agreed to the use by our ships and aircraft of two wireless direction-finding stations at Malin Head. 7. They have supplied particulars of German crashed aircraft and personnel crashed or washed ashore or arrested on land. 8. They arranged for staff talks on the question of co-operation against a possible German invasion of Southern Ireland, and close contact has since been maintained between the respective military authorities. 9. They continue to intern all German fighting personnel reaching Southern Ireland. On the other hand, though after protracted negotiations, Allied service personnel are now allowed to depart freely and full assistance is given in recovering damaged aircraft. 10. Recently, in connection with the establishment of prisoner of war camps in Northern Ireland, they have agreed to return or at least intern any German prisoners who may escape from Northern Ireland across the border to Southern Ireland. 11. They have throughout offered no objection to the departure from Southern Ireland of persons wishing to serve in the United Kingdom Forces nor to the journey on leave of such persons to and from Southern Ireland (in plain clothes). 12. They have continued to exchange information with our security authorities regarding all aliens (including Germans) in Southern Ireland. 13. They have (within the last few days) agreed to our establishing a radar station in Southern Ireland for use against the latest form of submarine activity.
They were also still officially neutral unlike all the core Anglosphere nations. De Valera also still signed the book of condolence for Hitler
NEW DELHI, March 14 (Reuters) - India is considering taking up a Russian offer to buy its crude oil and other commodities at discounted prices with payment via a rupee-rouble transaction, two Indian officials said, amid tough Western sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
India, which imports 80% of its oil needs, usually buys about 2% to 3% of its supplies from Russia. But with oil prices up 40% so far this year, the government is looking at increasing this if it can help reduce its rising energy bill.
"Russia is offering oil and other commodities at a heavy discount. We will be happy to take that. We have some issues like tanker, insurance cover and oil blends to be resolved. Once we have that we will take the discount offer," one of the Indian government officials said.
How will the oil get there? (Assuming the west buys up tanker capacity and doesn’t want it to).
Well, there are lots of oil tankers in the world, and many of them are owned by private companies in tax havens who will happily take a premium rate to shift oil from Russia to Delhi.
However... India's behaviour here is pretty appalling. The reality is that Russia will continue to be able to export oil (albeit gas is harder), if the Indians and Chinese say 'discount oil, lovely jubbly'.
Tactless of India to be quite so blatant in their sanctions busting. They are supposed to be a trusted partner, blah blah...
Terrible advert for the symbolic value of the Commonwealth.
Or the Anglosphere. Or is it only white countries that are considered anglosphere?
On the strictest definition, the core Anglosphere is only the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand
How bloody big is Quebec and/or how many First Nations languages are there is only 54.4% of Canadians speak English as a first language?
83% of Canadians speak English on that link
You seem to have missed a critical word in my sentence. Or rather you misread it, and have amended, but that now doesn't make sense as a response to what I posted.
Regardless as I said English language speakers is NOT the key criteria for the Anglosphere.
The key criteria is military, political, diplomatic and cultural ties.
Hence it only includes at its core the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand
"Anglo" refers to the English language. Besides There are plenty of military, political, diplomatic and cultural ties between the UK and Ireland, particularly the last three. On the military front, you will know plenty of Irishmen fought in the UK forces in BOTH World Wars.
Anglophone countries refers primarily to those which mainly speak English.
Anglosphere countries are primarily those united by military, diplomatic, cultural and political ties.
Ireland fought with us in WW1 but was neutral in WW2 and the Cold War unlike the USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. The Republic of Ireland is also not in NATO
Ireland (as a country, obv) didn't exist in WW1.
Indeed, the only reason it fought with us is it was still in the UK.
The Irish Free State was neutral in WW2 and the Republic of Ireland was neutral in the Cold War.
The Republic of Ireland is also not in NATO or the Commonwealth.
Hence it is not a core Anglosphere nation
More Irish men served in the British armed forces during the Second World War than served in the Irish armed forces.
ETA and by “Irish men” I mean from the 26 counties.
Still percentage wise far less than in the UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand and Ireland was also still neutral in the Cold War unlike them.
The Republic of Ireland is also still not in NATO unlike most of them either, so remains outside the core Anglosphere
On your logic, Northern Ireland wasn't really in the UK either. There was no conscription in WW2.
Northern Ireland was and is a part of the UK, it did what the UK government told it to do in defence and foreign policy
Doesn't change the fact that it wasn't enough of a part of the UK for the UK government to treat it as a total part of the UK.
Just like the Tory Government today doesn't consider it part of the UK.
Yes it does, Northern Ireland went to war with the Nazis as the UK government decided for it.
This Tory Government will soon invoke Article 16
IN the knowledge that most people in NI oppose it.
I'm surprisingly confident that if Russia and China team up against the West they'll both end up losing, and the West will come out of it stronger than before.
"In recent days China has locked down tens of millions in several cities, as it braces for a much worse wave than Jan 2020 where the bulk of infection was confined to Hubei province."
The Chinese are expecting the Omicron wave to be MUCH WORSE than Wuhan/Hubei
NEW DELHI, March 14 (Reuters) - India is considering taking up a Russian offer to buy its crude oil and other commodities at discounted prices with payment via a rupee-rouble transaction, two Indian officials said, amid tough Western sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
India, which imports 80% of its oil needs, usually buys about 2% to 3% of its supplies from Russia. But with oil prices up 40% so far this year, the government is looking at increasing this if it can help reduce its rising energy bill.
"Russia is offering oil and other commodities at a heavy discount. We will be happy to take that. We have some issues like tanker, insurance cover and oil blends to be resolved. Once we have that we will take the discount offer," one of the Indian government officials said.
How will the oil get there? (Assuming the west buys up tanker capacity and doesn’t want it to).
Well, there are lots of oil tankers in the world, and many of them are owned by private companies in tax havens who will happily take a premium rate to shift oil from Russia to Delhi.
However... India's behaviour here is pretty appalling. The reality is that Russia will continue to be able to export oil (albeit gas is harder), if the Indians and Chinese say 'discount oil, lovely jubbly'.
Tactless of India to be quite so blatant in their sanctions busting. They are supposed to be a trusted partner, blah blah...
Terrible advert for the symbolic value of the Commonwealth.
Or the Anglosphere. Or is it only white countries that are considered anglosphere?
On the strictest definition, the core Anglosphere is only the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand
How bloody big is Quebec and/or how many First Nations languages are there is only 54.4% of Canadians speak English as a first language?
83% of Canadians speak English on that link
You seem to have missed a critical word in my sentence. Or rather you misread it, and have amended, but that now doesn't make sense as a response to what I posted.
Regardless as I said English language speakers is NOT the key criteria for the Anglosphere.
The key criteria is military, political, diplomatic and cultural ties.
Hence it only includes at its core the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand
"Anglo" refers to the English language. Besides There are plenty of military, political, diplomatic and cultural ties between the UK and Ireland, particularly the last three. On the military front, you will know plenty of Irishmen fought in the UK forces in BOTH World Wars.
Anglophone countries refers primarily to those which mainly speak English.
Anglosphere countries are primarily those united by military, diplomatic, cultural and political ties.
Ireland fought with us in WW1 but was neutral in WW2 and the Cold War unlike the USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. The Republic of Ireland is also not in NATO
Ireland (as a country, obv) didn't exist in WW1.
Indeed, the only reason it fought with us is it was still in the UK.
The Irish Free State was neutral in WW2 and the Republic of Ireland was neutral in the Cold War.
The Republic of Ireland is also not in NATO or the Commonwealth.
Hence it is not a core Anglosphere nation
More Irish men served in the British armed forces during the Second World War than served in the Irish armed forces.
ETA and by “Irish men” I mean from the 26 counties.
Still percentage wise far less than in the UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand and Ireland was also still neutral in the Cold War unlike them.
The Republic of Ireland is also still not in NATO unlike most of them either, so remains outside the core Anglosphere
On your logic, Northern Ireland wasn't really in the UK either. There was no conscription in WW2.
Northern Ireland was and is a part of the UK, it did what the UK government told it to do in defence and foreign policy
Doesn't change the fact that it wasn't enough of a part of the UK for the UK government to treat it as a total part of the UK.
Just like the Tory Government today doesn't consider it part of the UK.
Yes it does, Northern Ireland went to war with the Nazis as the UK government decided for it.
This Tory Government will soon invoke Article 16
Doubt it. Glasnost with the EU now.
Quite right. In a couple of weeks we've witnessed the strange death of British euro-scepticism. I'm not sure Boris is particularly bothered either - with Farage and co. discredited as Putin lackeys, he now no longer has to worry about his right flank.
The Republic of Ireland is not in NATO, is not in the Commonwealth, does not share our head of state, was neutral in the Cold War and was officially neutral in WW2.
On no grounds whatsoever is the Republic of Ireland a core member of the Anglosphere. It is outer tier at most.
As I said Churchill opposed Indian independence as did most Tories at the time, it was Attlee and Labour who gave then independence. However I am not answering irrelevant hypotheticals as I am a Tory for now and India is independent in the reality of today
The Cranborne Report Viscount Cranborne, the British Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs, wrote a letter on 21 February 1945 to the British War Cabinet regarding Irish-British collaboration during 1939–1945:
# They [the Irish] agreed to our use of Lough Foyle for naval and air purposes. The ownership of the Lough is disputed, but the Southern Irish authorities are tacitly not pressing their claim in present conditions and are also ignoring any flying by our aircraft over the Donegal shore of the Lough, which is necessary in certain wind conditions to enable flying boats to take off from the Lough.
1. They have agreed to use by our aircraft based on Lough Erne of a corridor over Southern Irish territory and territorial waters for the purpose of flying out to the Atlantic. 2. They have arranged for the immediate transmission to the United Kingdom Representative's Office in Dublin of reports of submarine activity received from their coast watching service. 3. They arranged for the broadening of reports by their Air observation Corps of aircraft sighted over or approaching Southern Irish territory. (This does not include our aircraft using the corridor referred to in (b) above.) 4. They arranged for the extinction of trade and business lighting in coastal towns where such lighting was alleged to afford a useful landmark for German aircraft. 5. They have continued to supply us with meteorological reports. 6. They have agreed to the use by our ships and aircraft of two wireless direction-finding stations at Malin Head. 7. They have supplied particulars of German crashed aircraft and personnel crashed or washed ashore or arrested on land. 8. They arranged for staff talks on the question of co-operation against a possible German invasion of Southern Ireland, and close contact has since been maintained between the respective military authorities. 9. They continue to intern all German fighting personnel reaching Southern Ireland. On the other hand, though after protracted negotiations, Allied service personnel are now allowed to depart freely and full assistance is given in recovering damaged aircraft. 10. Recently, in connection with the establishment of prisoner of war camps in Northern Ireland, they have agreed to return or at least intern any German prisoners who may escape from Northern Ireland across the border to Southern Ireland. 11. They have throughout offered no objection to the departure from Southern Ireland of persons wishing to serve in the United Kingdom Forces nor to the journey on leave of such persons to and from Southern Ireland (in plain clothes). 12. They have continued to exchange information with our security authorities regarding all aliens (including Germans) in Southern Ireland. 13. They have (within the last few days) agreed to our establishing a radar station in Southern Ireland for use against the latest form of submarine activity.
They were also still officially neutral unlike all the core Anglosphere nations. De Valera also still signed the book of condolence for Hitler
Mate, you've expressed your admiration for Franco, more than once.
Could Boris conceivably call a quasi-Khaki Election in 2022?
As with Salisbury's Conservative-Liberal Unionist alliance that won the original Khaki Election in 1900, Boris's Conservative & Unionist Party will almost certain need to time any such electoral gambit this year, to occur BEFORE the end of the War (Boer then, Ukrainian today).
Personally think proper atmosphere AND timing are less propitious and likely harder for Tories this millennium than last. But who knows?
Not unless the Tories get a big poll lead no
If Putin were to fall as a result of the Ukraine invasion on Johnson's watch, Johnson would be insane not to go for a quick win.
Not unless he had over a 12% poll lead, otherwise he still loses seats and as 2017 showed voters dislike snap elections
But if an early election looks like a small majority and another five years he would take that.
Small majority means 35 MPs losing their seat. They aren't going to go for an early. And anybody remembering 2017 won't go for it either.
It will be May 2024. Any plans for earlier have been dumped.
From the perspective of a 2040 history book, that might turn out to be a mistake. A win now would extend the Conservative government to at least 2029, when the waters might be less choppy than they look in 2022-3-4(?). And whilst the Conservatives are behind now, they're close enough to have a reasonable hope of closing the gap in the campaign.
If things go as badly as they reasonably could for the government (big, ongoing tax rises making everyone poorer), Spring 2022 might turn out with hindsight to be the best chance for another Conservative win. But no government can think that without going mad.
So yes. If the Conservatives are in trouble, dump Boris in summer 2023. Feel OK budget in autumn 2023, fluffing up pay packets in April 2024 with an election shortly afterwards. I'm not sure that it will work, but it has to be the best bet.
When you look at the figures - inflation, debt, deficit, tax, % of state managed expenditure, and the eye watering amounts of extra expenditure demanded on every side - there is an argument for saying the next election is a good one to lose.
In which case the sooner you lose it the better. Call one now.
It won't happen - human nature and all that, but there is a Tory case for 2022.
NEW DELHI, March 14 (Reuters) - India is considering taking up a Russian offer to buy its crude oil and other commodities at discounted prices with payment via a rupee-rouble transaction, two Indian officials said, amid tough Western sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
India, which imports 80% of its oil needs, usually buys about 2% to 3% of its supplies from Russia. But with oil prices up 40% so far this year, the government is looking at increasing this if it can help reduce its rising energy bill.
"Russia is offering oil and other commodities at a heavy discount. We will be happy to take that. We have some issues like tanker, insurance cover and oil blends to be resolved. Once we have that we will take the discount offer," one of the Indian government officials said.
How will the oil get there? (Assuming the west buys up tanker capacity and doesn’t want it to).
Well, there are lots of oil tankers in the world, and many of them are owned by private companies in tax havens who will happily take a premium rate to shift oil from Russia to Delhi.
However... India's behaviour here is pretty appalling. The reality is that Russia will continue to be able to export oil (albeit gas is harder), if the Indians and Chinese say 'discount oil, lovely jubbly'.
Tactless of India to be quite so blatant in their sanctions busting. They are supposed to be a trusted partner, blah blah...
Terrible advert for the symbolic value of the Commonwealth.
Or the Anglosphere. Or is it only white countries that are considered anglosphere?
On the strictest definition, the core Anglosphere is only the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand
How bloody big is Quebec and/or how many First Nations languages are there is only 54.4% of Canadians speak English as a first language?
83% of Canadians speak English on that link
You seem to have missed a critical word in my sentence. Or rather you misread it, and have amended, but that now doesn't make sense as a response to what I posted.
Regardless as I said English language speakers is NOT the key criteria for the Anglosphere.
The key criteria is military, political, diplomatic and cultural ties.
Hence it only includes at its core the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand
"Anglo" refers to the English language. Besides There are plenty of military, political, diplomatic and cultural ties between the UK and Ireland, particularly the last three. On the military front, you will know plenty of Irishmen fought in the UK forces in BOTH World Wars.
Anglophone countries refers primarily to those which mainly speak English.
Anglosphere countries are primarily those united by military, diplomatic, cultural and political ties.
Ireland fought with us in WW1 but was neutral in WW2 and the Cold War unlike the USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. The Republic of Ireland is also not in NATO
Ireland (as a country, obv) didn't exist in WW1.
Indeed, the only reason it fought with us is it was still in the UK.
The Irish Free State was neutral in WW2 and the Republic of Ireland was neutral in the Cold War.
The Republic of Ireland is also not in NATO or the Commonwealth.
Hence it is not a core Anglosphere nation
More Irish men served in the British armed forces during the Second World War than served in the Irish armed forces.
ETA and by “Irish men” I mean from the 26 counties.
You could legitimately also add the number of UK people who were released to join the UK forces because so many Irish people came over to work on such things as airfield construction.
So what, millions of Indians also fought in WW2, many came over and have contributed to our core services since.
However India is also not in the core Anglosphere either as like Ireland it was neutral in the Cold War and is not in NATO
Doesn't change the basic point.
That reminds me: I've never been able to extract an answer from you as to whether it was right for UKG to give India (as it was then) independence.
Blaming it on Labour Governments does not count.
Oh it does.
The Republic of Ireland is not in NATO, is not in the Commonwealth, does not share our head of state, was neutral in the Cold War and was officially neutral in WW2.
On no grounds whatsoever is the Republic of Ireland a core member of the Anglosphere. It is outer tier at most.
As I said Churchill opposed Indian independence as did most Tories at the time, it was Attlee and Labour who gave then independence. However I am not answering irrelevant hypotheticals as I am a Tory for now and India is independent in the reality of today
You're the one who insists relentlessly that what suited Henry VIII is absolutely the right way to run the UK today. And claims that the C of E is apolitical. When anyoine who knows any history knows that the very notion of an Established Church was always one of the most explosive political issues in any of the four nations of the so-called United Kingdom.
The Republic of Ireland is not in NATO, is not in the Commonwealth, does not share our head of state, was neutral in the Cold War and was officially neutral in WW2.
On no grounds whatsoever is the Republic of Ireland a core member of the Anglosphere. It is outer tier at most.
As I said Churchill opposed Indian independence as did most Tories at the time, it was Attlee and Labour who gave then independence. However I am not answering irrelevant hypotheticals as I am a Tory for now and India is independent in the reality of today
The Cranborne Report Viscount Cranborne, the British Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs, wrote a letter on 21 February 1945 to the British War Cabinet regarding Irish-British collaboration during 1939–1945:
# They [the Irish] agreed to our use of Lough Foyle for naval and air purposes. The ownership of the Lough is disputed, but the Southern Irish authorities are tacitly not pressing their claim in present conditions and are also ignoring any flying by our aircraft over the Donegal shore of the Lough, which is necessary in certain wind conditions to enable flying boats to take off from the Lough.
1. They have agreed to use by our aircraft based on Lough Erne of a corridor over Southern Irish territory and territorial waters for the purpose of flying out to the Atlantic. 2. They have arranged for the immediate transmission to the United Kingdom Representative's Office in Dublin of reports of submarine activity received from their coast watching service. 3. They arranged for the broadening of reports by their Air observation Corps of aircraft sighted over or approaching Southern Irish territory. (This does not include our aircraft using the corridor referred to in (b) above.) 4. They arranged for the extinction of trade and business lighting in coastal towns where such lighting was alleged to afford a useful landmark for German aircraft. 5. They have continued to supply us with meteorological reports. 6. They have agreed to the use by our ships and aircraft of two wireless direction-finding stations at Malin Head. 7. They have supplied particulars of German crashed aircraft and personnel crashed or washed ashore or arrested on land. 8. They arranged for staff talks on the question of co-operation against a possible German invasion of Southern Ireland, and close contact has since been maintained between the respective military authorities. 9. They continue to intern all German fighting personnel reaching Southern Ireland. On the other hand, though after protracted negotiations, Allied service personnel are now allowed to depart freely and full assistance is given in recovering damaged aircraft. 10. Recently, in connection with the establishment of prisoner of war camps in Northern Ireland, they have agreed to return or at least intern any German prisoners who may escape from Northern Ireland across the border to Southern Ireland. 11. They have throughout offered no objection to the departure from Southern Ireland of persons wishing to serve in the United Kingdom Forces nor to the journey on leave of such persons to and from Southern Ireland (in plain clothes). 12. They have continued to exchange information with our security authorities regarding all aliens (including Germans) in Southern Ireland. 13. They have (within the last few days) agreed to our establishing a radar station in Southern Ireland for use against the latest form of submarine activity.
They were also still officially neutral unlike all the core Anglosphere nations. De Valera also still signed the book of condolence for Hitler
Mate, you've expressed your admiration for Franco, more than once.
TBF, a lot of the Irish were also rather keen on Franco. So HYUFD has far more in common with them than ...
The Republic of Ireland is not in NATO, is not in the Commonwealth, does not share our head of state, was neutral in the Cold War and was officially neutral in WW2.
On no grounds whatsoever is the Republic of Ireland a core member of the Anglosphere. It is outer tier at most.
As I said Churchill opposed Indian independence as did most Tories at the time, it was Attlee and Labour who gave then independence. However I am not answering irrelevant hypotheticals as I am a Tory for now and India is independent in the reality of today
The Cranborne Report Viscount Cranborne, the British Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs, wrote a letter on 21 February 1945 to the British War Cabinet regarding Irish-British collaboration during 1939–1945:
# They [the Irish] agreed to our use of Lough Foyle for naval and air purposes. The ownership of the Lough is disputed, but the Southern Irish authorities are tacitly not pressing their claim in present conditions and are also ignoring any flying by our aircraft over the Donegal shore of the Lough, which is necessary in certain wind conditions to enable flying boats to take off from the Lough.
1. They have agreed to use by our aircraft based on Lough Erne of a corridor over Southern Irish territory and territorial waters for the purpose of flying out to the Atlantic. 2. They have arranged for the immediate transmission to the United Kingdom Representative's Office in Dublin of reports of submarine activity received from their coast watching service. 3. They arranged for the broadening of reports by their Air observation Corps of aircraft sighted over or approaching Southern Irish territory. (This does not include our aircraft using the corridor referred to in (b) above.) 4. They arranged for the extinction of trade and business lighting in coastal towns where such lighting was alleged to afford a useful landmark for German aircraft. 5. They have continued to supply us with meteorological reports. 6. They have agreed to the use by our ships and aircraft of two wireless direction-finding stations at Malin Head. 7. They have supplied particulars of German crashed aircraft and personnel crashed or washed ashore or arrested on land. 8. They arranged for staff talks on the question of co-operation against a possible German invasion of Southern Ireland, and close contact has since been maintained between the respective military authorities. 9. They continue to intern all German fighting personnel reaching Southern Ireland. On the other hand, though after protracted negotiations, Allied service personnel are now allowed to depart freely and full assistance is given in recovering damaged aircraft. 10. Recently, in connection with the establishment of prisoner of war camps in Northern Ireland, they have agreed to return or at least intern any German prisoners who may escape from Northern Ireland across the border to Southern Ireland. 11. They have throughout offered no objection to the departure from Southern Ireland of persons wishing to serve in the United Kingdom Forces nor to the journey on leave of such persons to and from Southern Ireland (in plain clothes). 12. They have continued to exchange information with our security authorities regarding all aliens (including Germans) in Southern Ireland. 13. They have (within the last few days) agreed to our establishing a radar station in Southern Ireland for use against the latest form of submarine activity.
They were also still officially neutral unlike all the core Anglosphere nations. De Valera also still signed the book of condolence for Hitler
Mate, you've expressed your admiration for Franco, more than once.
I have also however never said Spain was in the Anglosphere
The Republic of Ireland is not in NATO, is not in the Commonwealth, does not share our head of state, was neutral in the Cold War and was officially neutral in WW2.
On no grounds whatsoever is the Republic of Ireland a core member of the Anglosphere. It is outer tier at most.
As I said Churchill opposed Indian independence as did most Tories at the time, it was Attlee and Labour who gave then independence. However I am not answering irrelevant hypotheticals as I am a Tory for now and India is independent in the reality of today
The Cranborne Report Viscount Cranborne, the British Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs, wrote a letter on 21 February 1945 to the British War Cabinet regarding Irish-British collaboration during 1939–1945:
# They [the Irish] agreed to our use of Lough Foyle for naval and air purposes. The ownership of the Lough is disputed, but the Southern Irish authorities are tacitly not pressing their claim in present conditions and are also ignoring any flying by our aircraft over the Donegal shore of the Lough, which is necessary in certain wind conditions to enable flying boats to take off from the Lough.
1. They have agreed to use by our aircraft based on Lough Erne of a corridor over Southern Irish territory and territorial waters for the purpose of flying out to the Atlantic. 2. They have arranged for the immediate transmission to the United Kingdom Representative's Office in Dublin of reports of submarine activity received from their coast watching service. 3. They arranged for the broadening of reports by their Air observation Corps of aircraft sighted over or approaching Southern Irish territory. (This does not include our aircraft using the corridor referred to in (b) above.) 4. They arranged for the extinction of trade and business lighting in coastal towns where such lighting was alleged to afford a useful landmark for German aircraft. 5. They have continued to supply us with meteorological reports. 6. They have agreed to the use by our ships and aircraft of two wireless direction-finding stations at Malin Head. 7. They have supplied particulars of German crashed aircraft and personnel crashed or washed ashore or arrested on land. 8. They arranged for staff talks on the question of co-operation against a possible German invasion of Southern Ireland, and close contact has since been maintained between the respective military authorities. 9. They continue to intern all German fighting personnel reaching Southern Ireland. On the other hand, though after protracted negotiations, Allied service personnel are now allowed to depart freely and full assistance is given in recovering damaged aircraft. 10. Recently, in connection with the establishment of prisoner of war camps in Northern Ireland, they have agreed to return or at least intern any German prisoners who may escape from Northern Ireland across the border to Southern Ireland. 11. They have throughout offered no objection to the departure from Southern Ireland of persons wishing to serve in the United Kingdom Forces nor to the journey on leave of such persons to and from Southern Ireland (in plain clothes). 12. They have continued to exchange information with our security authorities regarding all aliens (including Germans) in Southern Ireland. 13. They have (within the last few days) agreed to our establishing a radar station in Southern Ireland for use against the latest form of submarine activity.
They were also still officially neutral unlike all the core Anglosphere nations. De Valera also still signed the book of condolence for Hitler
Mate, you've expressed your admiration for Franco, more than once.
TBF, a lot of the Irish were also rather keen on Franco. So HYUFD has far more in common with them than ...
NEW DELHI, March 14 (Reuters) - India is considering taking up a Russian offer to buy its crude oil and other commodities at discounted prices with payment via a rupee-rouble transaction, two Indian officials said, amid tough Western sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
India, which imports 80% of its oil needs, usually buys about 2% to 3% of its supplies from Russia. But with oil prices up 40% so far this year, the government is looking at increasing this if it can help reduce its rising energy bill.
"Russia is offering oil and other commodities at a heavy discount. We will be happy to take that. We have some issues like tanker, insurance cover and oil blends to be resolved. Once we have that we will take the discount offer," one of the Indian government officials said.
How will the oil get there? (Assuming the west buys up tanker capacity and doesn’t want it to).
Well, there are lots of oil tankers in the world, and many of them are owned by private companies in tax havens who will happily take a premium rate to shift oil from Russia to Delhi.
However... India's behaviour here is pretty appalling. The reality is that Russia will continue to be able to export oil (albeit gas is harder), if the Indians and Chinese say 'discount oil, lovely jubbly'.
Tactless of India to be quite so blatant in their sanctions busting. They are supposed to be a trusted partner, blah blah...
Terrible advert for the symbolic value of the Commonwealth.
Or the Anglosphere. Or is it only white countries that are considered anglosphere?
On the strictest definition, the core Anglosphere is only the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand
How bloody big is Quebec and/or how many First Nations languages are there is only 54.4% of Canadians speak English as a first language?
83% of Canadians speak English on that link
You seem to have missed a critical word in my sentence. Or rather you misread it, and have amended, but that now doesn't make sense as a response to what I posted.
Regardless as I said English language speakers is NOT the key criteria for the Anglosphere.
The key criteria is military, political, diplomatic and cultural ties.
Hence it only includes at its core the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand
"Anglo" refers to the English language. Besides There are plenty of military, political, diplomatic and cultural ties between the UK and Ireland, particularly the last three. On the military front, you will know plenty of Irishmen fought in the UK forces in BOTH World Wars.
Anglophone countries refers primarily to those which mainly speak English.
Anglosphere countries are primarily those united by military, diplomatic, cultural and political ties.
Ireland fought with us in WW1 but was neutral in WW2 and the Cold War unlike the USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. The Republic of Ireland is also not in NATO
Ireland (as a country, obv) didn't exist in WW1.
Indeed, the only reason it fought with us is it was still in the UK.
The Irish Free State was neutral in WW2 and the Republic of Ireland was neutral in the Cold War.
The Republic of Ireland is also not in NATO or the Commonwealth.
Hence it is not a core Anglosphere nation
More Irish men served in the British armed forces during the Second World War than served in the Irish armed forces.
ETA and by “Irish men” I mean from the 26 counties.
Still percentage wise far less than in the UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand and Ireland was also still neutral in the Cold War unlike them.
The Republic of Ireland is also still not in NATO unlike most of them either, so remains outside the core Anglosphere
On your logic, Northern Ireland wasn't really in the UK either. There was no conscription in WW2.
Northern Ireland was and is a part of the UK, it did what the UK government told it to do in defence and foreign policy
Doesn't change the fact that it wasn't enough of a part of the UK for the UK government to treat it as a total part of the UK.
Just like the Tory Government today doesn't consider it part of the UK.
Yes it does, Northern Ireland went to war with the Nazis as the UK government decided for it.
This Tory Government will soon invoke Article 16
IN the knowledge that most people in NI oppose it.
Colonialists. Imperialists.
Most Unionists support it and as long as the UK government does not impose a hard border in Ireland the rest have no grounds to complain
I'm surprisingly confident that if Russia and China team up against the West they'll both end up losing, and the West will come out of it stronger than before.
Unless there is a nuclear holocaust in which case nobody will be stronger than before by my understanding of the term
The Republic of Ireland is not in NATO, is not in the Commonwealth, does not share our head of state, was neutral in the Cold War and was officially neutral in WW2.
On no grounds whatsoever is the Republic of Ireland a core member of the Anglosphere. It is outer tier at most.
As I said Churchill opposed Indian independence as did most Tories at the time, it was Attlee and Labour who gave then independence. However I am not answering irrelevant hypotheticals as I am a Tory for now and India is independent in the reality of today
The Cranborne Report Viscount Cranborne, the British Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs, wrote a letter on 21 February 1945 to the British War Cabinet regarding Irish-British collaboration during 1939–1945:
# They [the Irish] agreed to our use of Lough Foyle for naval and air purposes. The ownership of the Lough is disputed, but the Southern Irish authorities are tacitly not pressing their claim in present conditions and are also ignoring any flying by our aircraft over the Donegal shore of the Lough, which is necessary in certain wind conditions to enable flying boats to take off from the Lough.
1. They have agreed to use by our aircraft based on Lough Erne of a corridor over Southern Irish territory and territorial waters for the purpose of flying out to the Atlantic. 2. They have arranged for the immediate transmission to the United Kingdom Representative's Office in Dublin of reports of submarine activity received from their coast watching service. 3. They arranged for the broadening of reports by their Air observation Corps of aircraft sighted over or approaching Southern Irish territory. (This does not include our aircraft using the corridor referred to in (b) above.) 4. They arranged for the extinction of trade and business lighting in coastal towns where such lighting was alleged to afford a useful landmark for German aircraft. 5. They have continued to supply us with meteorological reports. 6. They have agreed to the use by our ships and aircraft of two wireless direction-finding stations at Malin Head. 7. They have supplied particulars of German crashed aircraft and personnel crashed or washed ashore or arrested on land. 8. They arranged for staff talks on the question of co-operation against a possible German invasion of Southern Ireland, and close contact has since been maintained between the respective military authorities. 9. They continue to intern all German fighting personnel reaching Southern Ireland. On the other hand, though after protracted negotiations, Allied service personnel are now allowed to depart freely and full assistance is given in recovering damaged aircraft. 10. Recently, in connection with the establishment of prisoner of war camps in Northern Ireland, they have agreed to return or at least intern any German prisoners who may escape from Northern Ireland across the border to Southern Ireland. 11. They have throughout offered no objection to the departure from Southern Ireland of persons wishing to serve in the United Kingdom Forces nor to the journey on leave of such persons to and from Southern Ireland (in plain clothes). 12. They have continued to exchange information with our security authorities regarding all aliens (including Germans) in Southern Ireland. 13. They have (within the last few days) agreed to our establishing a radar station in Southern Ireland for use against the latest form of submarine activity.
They were also still officially neutral unlike all the core Anglosphere nations. De Valera also still signed the book of condolence for Hitler
Mate, you've expressed your admiration for Franco, more than once.
I have also however never said Spain was in the Anglosphere
The Republic of Ireland is not in NATO, is not in the Commonwealth, does not share our head of state, was neutral in the Cold War and was officially neutral in WW2.
On no grounds whatsoever is the Republic of Ireland a core member of the Anglosphere. It is outer tier at most.
As I said Churchill opposed Indian independence as did most Tories at the time, it was Attlee and Labour who gave then independence. However I am not answering irrelevant hypotheticals as I am a Tory for now and India is independent in the reality of today
The Cranborne Report Viscount Cranborne, the British Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs, wrote a letter on 21 February 1945 to the British War Cabinet regarding Irish-British collaboration during 1939–1945:
# They [the Irish] agreed to our use of Lough Foyle for naval and air purposes. The ownership of the Lough is disputed, but the Southern Irish authorities are tacitly not pressing their claim in present conditions and are also ignoring any flying by our aircraft over the Donegal shore of the Lough, which is necessary in certain wind conditions to enable flying boats to take off from the Lough.
1. They have agreed to use by our aircraft based on Lough Erne of a corridor over Southern Irish territory and territorial waters for the purpose of flying out to the Atlantic. 2. They have arranged for the immediate transmission to the United Kingdom Representative's Office in Dublin of reports of submarine activity received from their coast watching service. 3. They arranged for the broadening of reports by their Air observation Corps of aircraft sighted over or approaching Southern Irish territory. (This does not include our aircraft using the corridor referred to in (b) above.) 4. They arranged for the extinction of trade and business lighting in coastal towns where such lighting was alleged to afford a useful landmark for German aircraft. 5. They have continued to supply us with meteorological reports. 6. They have agreed to the use by our ships and aircraft of two wireless direction-finding stations at Malin Head. 7. They have supplied particulars of German crashed aircraft and personnel crashed or washed ashore or arrested on land. 8. They arranged for staff talks on the question of co-operation against a possible German invasion of Southern Ireland, and close contact has since been maintained between the respective military authorities. 9. They continue to intern all German fighting personnel reaching Southern Ireland. On the other hand, though after protracted negotiations, Allied service personnel are now allowed to depart freely and full assistance is given in recovering damaged aircraft. 10. Recently, in connection with the establishment of prisoner of war camps in Northern Ireland, they have agreed to return or at least intern any German prisoners who may escape from Northern Ireland across the border to Southern Ireland. 11. They have throughout offered no objection to the departure from Southern Ireland of persons wishing to serve in the United Kingdom Forces nor to the journey on leave of such persons to and from Southern Ireland (in plain clothes). 12. They have continued to exchange information with our security authorities regarding all aliens (including Germans) in Southern Ireland. 13. They have (within the last few days) agreed to our establishing a radar station in Southern Ireland for use against the latest form of submarine activity.
They were also still officially neutral unlike all the core Anglosphere nations. De Valera also still signed the book of condolence for Hitler
Mate, you've expressed your admiration for Franco, more than once.
I have also however never said Spain was in the Anglosphere
Who gives a shit about your racialist theories, anyway?
"In recent days China has locked down tens of millions in several cities, as it braces for a much worse wave than Jan 2020 where the bulk of infection was confined to Hubei province."
The Chinese are expecting the Omicron wave to be MUCH WORSE than Wuhan/Hubei
I can't shake the feeling that he is loving this somehow. Russia against the world, in need of a firm leader who can just sign whatever he feels like law.
NEW DELHI, March 14 (Reuters) - India is considering taking up a Russian offer to buy its crude oil and other commodities at discounted prices with payment via a rupee-rouble transaction, two Indian officials said, amid tough Western sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
India, which imports 80% of its oil needs, usually buys about 2% to 3% of its supplies from Russia. But with oil prices up 40% so far this year, the government is looking at increasing this if it can help reduce its rising energy bill.
"Russia is offering oil and other commodities at a heavy discount. We will be happy to take that. We have some issues like tanker, insurance cover and oil blends to be resolved. Once we have that we will take the discount offer," one of the Indian government officials said.
How will the oil get there? (Assuming the west buys up tanker capacity and doesn’t want it to).
Well, there are lots of oil tankers in the world, and many of them are owned by private companies in tax havens who will happily take a premium rate to shift oil from Russia to Delhi.
However... India's behaviour here is pretty appalling. The reality is that Russia will continue to be able to export oil (albeit gas is harder), if the Indians and Chinese say 'discount oil, lovely jubbly'.
Tactless of India to be quite so blatant in their sanctions busting. They are supposed to be a trusted partner, blah blah...
Terrible advert for the symbolic value of the Commonwealth.
Or the Anglosphere. Or is it only white countries that are considered anglosphere?
On the strictest definition, the core Anglosphere is only the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand
How bloody big is Quebec and/or how many First Nations languages are there is only 54.4% of Canadians speak English as a first language?
83% of Canadians speak English on that link
You seem to have missed a critical word in my sentence. Or rather you misread it, and have amended, but that now doesn't make sense as a response to what I posted.
Regardless as I said English language speakers is NOT the key criteria for the Anglosphere.
The key criteria is military, political, diplomatic and cultural ties.
Hence it only includes at its core the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand
"Anglo" refers to the English language. Besides There are plenty of military, political, diplomatic and cultural ties between the UK and Ireland, particularly the last three. On the military front, you will know plenty of Irishmen fought in the UK forces in BOTH World Wars.
Anglophone countries refers primarily to those which mainly speak English.
Anglosphere countries are primarily those united by military, diplomatic, cultural and political ties.
Ireland fought with us in WW1 but was neutral in WW2 and the Cold War unlike the USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. The Republic of Ireland is also not in NATO
Ireland (as a country, obv) didn't exist in WW1.
Indeed, the only reason it fought with us is it was still in the UK.
The Irish Free State was neutral in WW2 and the Republic of Ireland was neutral in the Cold War.
The Republic of Ireland is also not in NATO or the Commonwealth.
Hence it is not a core Anglosphere nation
More Irish men served in the British armed forces during the Second World War than served in the Irish armed forces.
ETA and by “Irish men” I mean from the 26 counties.
Still percentage wise far less than in the UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand and Ireland was also still neutral in the Cold War unlike them.
The Republic of Ireland is also still not in NATO unlike most of them either, so remains outside the core Anglosphere
On your logic, Northern Ireland wasn't really in the UK either. There was no conscription in WW2.
Northern Ireland was and is a part of the UK, it did what the UK government told it to do in defence and foreign policy
Doesn't change the fact that it wasn't enough of a part of the UK for the UK government to treat it as a total part of the UK.
Just like the Tory Government today doesn't consider it part of the UK.
Yes it does, Northern Ireland went to war with the Nazis as the UK government decided for it.
This Tory Government will soon invoke Article 16
IN the knowledge that most people in NI oppose it.
Colonialists. Imperialists.
Most Unionists support it and as long as the UK government does not impose a hard border in Ireland the rest have no grounds to complain
But Article 16 is all about invoking a hard border.
NEW DELHI, March 14 (Reuters) - India is considering taking up a Russian offer to buy its crude oil and other commodities at discounted prices with payment via a rupee-rouble transaction, two Indian officials said, amid tough Western sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
India, which imports 80% of its oil needs, usually buys about 2% to 3% of its supplies from Russia. But with oil prices up 40% so far this year, the government is looking at increasing this if it can help reduce its rising energy bill.
"Russia is offering oil and other commodities at a heavy discount. We will be happy to take that. We have some issues like tanker, insurance cover and oil blends to be resolved. Once we have that we will take the discount offer," one of the Indian government officials said.
How will the oil get there? (Assuming the west buys up tanker capacity and doesn’t want it to).
Well, there are lots of oil tankers in the world, and many of them are owned by private companies in tax havens who will happily take a premium rate to shift oil from Russia to Delhi.
However... India's behaviour here is pretty appalling. The reality is that Russia will continue to be able to export oil (albeit gas is harder), if the Indians and Chinese say 'discount oil, lovely jubbly'.
Tactless of India to be quite so blatant in their sanctions busting. They are supposed to be a trusted partner, blah blah...
Terrible advert for the symbolic value of the Commonwealth.
Or the Anglosphere. Or is it only white countries that are considered anglosphere?
On the strictest definition, the core Anglosphere is only the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand
How bloody big is Quebec and/or how many First Nations languages are there is only 54.4% of Canadians speak English as a first language?
83% of Canadians speak English on that link
You seem to have missed a critical word in my sentence. Or rather you misread it, and have amended, but that now doesn't make sense as a response to what I posted.
Regardless as I said English language speakers is NOT the key criteria for the Anglosphere.
The key criteria is military, political, diplomatic and cultural ties.
Hence it only includes at its core the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand
"Anglo" refers to the English language. Besides There are plenty of military, political, diplomatic and cultural ties between the UK and Ireland, particularly the last three. On the military front, you will know plenty of Irishmen fought in the UK forces in BOTH World Wars.
Anglophone countries refers primarily to those which mainly speak English.
Anglosphere countries are primarily those united by military, diplomatic, cultural and political ties.
Ireland fought with us in WW1 but was neutral in WW2 and the Cold War unlike the USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. The Republic of Ireland is also not in NATO
Ireland (as a country, obv) didn't exist in WW1.
Indeed, the only reason it fought with us is it was still in the UK.
The Irish Free State was neutral in WW2 and the Republic of Ireland was neutral in the Cold War.
The Republic of Ireland is also not in NATO or the Commonwealth.
Hence it is not a core Anglosphere nation
More Irish men served in the British armed forces during the Second World War than served in the Irish armed forces.
ETA and by “Irish men” I mean from the 26 counties.
You could legitimately also add the number of UK people who were released to join the UK forces because so many Irish people came over to work on such things as airfield construction.
So what, millions of Indians also fought in WW2, many came over and have contributed to our core services since.
However India is also not in the core Anglosphere either as like Ireland it was neutral in the Cold War and is not in NATO
Doesn't change the basic point.
That reminds me: I've never been able to extract an answer from you as to whether it was right for UKG to give India (as it was then) independence.
Blaming it on Labour Governments does not count.
Oh it does.
The Republic of Ireland is not in NATO, is not in the Commonwealth, does not share our head of state, was neutral in the Cold War and was officially neutral in WW2.
On no grounds whatsoever is the Republic of Ireland a core member of the Anglosphere. It is outer tier at most.
As I said Churchill opposed Indian independence as did most Tories at the time, it was Attlee and Labour who gave then independence. However I am not answering irrelevant hypotheticals as I am a Tory for now and India is independent in the reality of today
You're the one who insists relentlessly that what suited Henry VIII is absolutely the right way to run the UK today. And claims that the C of E is apolitical. When anyoine who knows any history knows that the very notion of an Established Church was always one of the most explosive political issues in any of the four nations of the so-called United Kingdom.
Nope, the Church of England was created as the established church precisely to ensure the effective established church was not Roman Catholic Popery
NEW DELHI, March 14 (Reuters) - India is considering taking up a Russian offer to buy its crude oil and other commodities at discounted prices with payment via a rupee-rouble transaction, two Indian officials said, amid tough Western sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
India, which imports 80% of its oil needs, usually buys about 2% to 3% of its supplies from Russia. But with oil prices up 40% so far this year, the government is looking at increasing this if it can help reduce its rising energy bill.
"Russia is offering oil and other commodities at a heavy discount. We will be happy to take that. We have some issues like tanker, insurance cover and oil blends to be resolved. Once we have that we will take the discount offer," one of the Indian government officials said.
How will the oil get there? (Assuming the west buys up tanker capacity and doesn’t want it to).
Well, there are lots of oil tankers in the world, and many of them are owned by private companies in tax havens who will happily take a premium rate to shift oil from Russia to Delhi.
However... India's behaviour here is pretty appalling. The reality is that Russia will continue to be able to export oil (albeit gas is harder), if the Indians and Chinese say 'discount oil, lovely jubbly'.
Tactless of India to be quite so blatant in their sanctions busting. They are supposed to be a trusted partner, blah blah...
Terrible advert for the symbolic value of the Commonwealth.
Or the Anglosphere. Or is it only white countries that are considered anglosphere?
On the strictest definition, the core Anglosphere is only the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand
How bloody big is Quebec and/or how many First Nations languages are there is only 54.4% of Canadians speak English as a first language?
83% of Canadians speak English on that link
You seem to have missed a critical word in my sentence. Or rather you misread it, and have amended, but that now doesn't make sense as a response to what I posted.
Regardless as I said English language speakers is NOT the key criteria for the Anglosphere.
The key criteria is military, political, diplomatic and cultural ties.
Hence it only includes at its core the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand
"Anglo" refers to the English language. Besides There are plenty of military, political, diplomatic and cultural ties between the UK and Ireland, particularly the last three. On the military front, you will know plenty of Irishmen fought in the UK forces in BOTH World Wars.
Anglophone countries refers primarily to those which mainly speak English.
Anglosphere countries are primarily those united by military, diplomatic, cultural and political ties.
Ireland fought with us in WW1 but was neutral in WW2 and the Cold War unlike the USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. The Republic of Ireland is also not in NATO
Ireland (as a country, obv) didn't exist in WW1.
Indeed, the only reason it fought with us is it was still in the UK.
The Irish Free State was neutral in WW2 and the Republic of Ireland was neutral in the Cold War.
The Republic of Ireland is also not in NATO or the Commonwealth.
Hence it is not a core Anglosphere nation
More Irish men served in the British armed forces during the Second World War than served in the Irish armed forces.
ETA and by “Irish men” I mean from the 26 counties.
Still percentage wise far less than in the UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand and Ireland was also still neutral in the Cold War unlike them.
The Republic of Ireland is also still not in NATO unlike most of them either, so remains outside the core Anglosphere
On your logic, Northern Ireland wasn't really in the UK either. There was no conscription in WW2.
Northern Ireland was and is a part of the UK, it did what the UK government told it to do in defence and foreign policy
Doesn't change the fact that it wasn't enough of a part of the UK for the UK government to treat it as a total part of the UK.
Just like the Tory Government today doesn't consider it part of the UK.
Yes it does, Northern Ireland went to war with the Nazis as the UK government decided for it.
This Tory Government will soon invoke Article 16
IN the knowledge that most people in NI oppose it.
Colonialists. Imperialists.
Most Unionists support it and as long as the UK government does not impose a hard border in Ireland the rest have no grounds to complain
But Article 16 is all about invoking a hard border.
No it isn't, a technical solution can be used in Ireland
NEW DELHI, March 14 (Reuters) - India is considering taking up a Russian offer to buy its crude oil and other commodities at discounted prices with payment via a rupee-rouble transaction, two Indian officials said, amid tough Western sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
India, which imports 80% of its oil needs, usually buys about 2% to 3% of its supplies from Russia. But with oil prices up 40% so far this year, the government is looking at increasing this if it can help reduce its rising energy bill.
"Russia is offering oil and other commodities at a heavy discount. We will be happy to take that. We have some issues like tanker, insurance cover and oil blends to be resolved. Once we have that we will take the discount offer," one of the Indian government officials said.
How will the oil get there? (Assuming the west buys up tanker capacity and doesn’t want it to).
Well, there are lots of oil tankers in the world, and many of them are owned by private companies in tax havens who will happily take a premium rate to shift oil from Russia to Delhi.
However... India's behaviour here is pretty appalling. The reality is that Russia will continue to be able to export oil (albeit gas is harder), if the Indians and Chinese say 'discount oil, lovely jubbly'.
Tactless of India to be quite so blatant in their sanctions busting. They are supposed to be a trusted partner, blah blah...
Terrible advert for the symbolic value of the Commonwealth.
Or the Anglosphere. Or is it only white countries that are considered anglosphere?
On the strictest definition, the core Anglosphere is only the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand
How bloody big is Quebec and/or how many First Nations languages are there is only 54.4% of Canadians speak English as a first language?
83% of Canadians speak English on that link
You seem to have missed a critical word in my sentence. Or rather you misread it, and have amended, but that now doesn't make sense as a response to what I posted.
Regardless as I said English language speakers is NOT the key criteria for the Anglosphere.
The key criteria is military, political, diplomatic and cultural ties.
Hence it only includes at its core the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand
"Anglo" refers to the English language. Besides There are plenty of military, political, diplomatic and cultural ties between the UK and Ireland, particularly the last three. On the military front, you will know plenty of Irishmen fought in the UK forces in BOTH World Wars.
Anglophone countries refers primarily to those which mainly speak English.
Anglosphere countries are primarily those united by military, diplomatic, cultural and political ties.
Ireland fought with us in WW1 but was neutral in WW2 and the Cold War unlike the USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. The Republic of Ireland is also not in NATO
Ireland (as a country, obv) didn't exist in WW1.
Indeed, the only reason it fought with us is it was still in the UK.
The Irish Free State was neutral in WW2 and the Republic of Ireland was neutral in the Cold War.
The Republic of Ireland is also not in NATO or the Commonwealth.
Hence it is not a core Anglosphere nation
More Irish men served in the British armed forces during the Second World War than served in the Irish armed forces.
ETA and by “Irish men” I mean from the 26 counties.
Still percentage wise far less than in the UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand and Ireland was also still neutral in the Cold War unlike them.
The Republic of Ireland is also still not in NATO unlike most of them either, so remains outside the core Anglosphere
On your logic, Northern Ireland wasn't really in the UK either. There was no conscription in WW2.
Northern Ireland was and is a part of the UK, it did what the UK government told it to do in defence and foreign policy
Doesn't change the fact that it wasn't enough of a part of the UK for the UK government to treat it as a total part of the UK.
Just like the Tory Government today doesn't consider it part of the UK.
Yes it does, Northern Ireland went to war with the Nazis as the UK government decided for it.
This Tory Government will soon invoke Article 16
Doubt it. Glasnost with the EU now.
Quite right. In a couple of weeks we've witnessed the strange death of British euro-scepticism. I'm not sure Boris is particularly bothered either - with Farage and co. discredited as Putin lackeys, he now no longer has to worry about his right flank.
I’ll use myself as an example. I’m a euro-sceptic and in the end concluded we needed a “hard Brexit” and was ok with it. But we and the EU need to come to an agreement on NI and move on, because there’s bigger (Russian) fish to fry. We’re not in the EU and cooperation is by choice, but we will choose it.
All that being said I was never a normal eurosceptic in the Baker/Farage mould because I want completely open borders (just for that to be our call). So what do I know about the views of the zealots?
I'm not sure Boris is particularly bothered either - with Farage and co. discredited as Putin lackeys, he now no longer has to worry about his right flank.
The headbangers just killed his latest bill tonight. They haven't gone anywhere
I'm surprisingly confident that if Russia and China team up against the West they'll both end up losing, and the West will come out of it stronger than before.
Unless there is a nuclear holocaust in which case nobody will be stronger than before by my understanding of the term
The Republic of Ireland is not in NATO, is not in the Commonwealth, does not share our head of state, was neutral in the Cold War and was officially neutral in WW2.
On no grounds whatsoever is the Republic of Ireland a core member of the Anglosphere. It is outer tier at most.
As I said Churchill opposed Indian independence as did most Tories at the time, it was Attlee and Labour who gave then independence. However I am not answering irrelevant hypotheticals as I am a Tory for now and India is independent in the reality of today
The Cranborne Report Viscount Cranborne, the British Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs, wrote a letter on 21 February 1945 to the British War Cabinet regarding Irish-British collaboration during 1939–1945:
# They [the Irish] agreed to our use of Lough Foyle for naval and air purposes. The ownership of the Lough is disputed, but the Southern Irish authorities are tacitly not pressing their claim in present conditions and are also ignoring any flying by our aircraft over the Donegal shore of the Lough, which is necessary in certain wind conditions to enable flying boats to take off from the Lough.
1. They have agreed to use by our aircraft based on Lough Erne of a corridor over Southern Irish territory and territorial waters for the purpose of flying out to the Atlantic. 2. They have arranged for the immediate transmission to the United Kingdom Representative's Office in Dublin of reports of submarine activity received from their coast watching service. 3. They arranged for the broadening of reports by their Air observation Corps of aircraft sighted over or approaching Southern Irish territory. (This does not include our aircraft using the corridor referred to in (b) above.) 4. They arranged for the extinction of trade and business lighting in coastal towns where such lighting was alleged to afford a useful landmark for German aircraft. 5. They have continued to supply us with meteorological reports. 6. They have agreed to the use by our ships and aircraft of two wireless direction-finding stations at Malin Head. 7. They have supplied particulars of German crashed aircraft and personnel crashed or washed ashore or arrested on land. 8. They arranged for staff talks on the question of co-operation against a possible German invasion of Southern Ireland, and close contact has since been maintained between the respective military authorities. 9. They continue to intern all German fighting personnel reaching Southern Ireland. On the other hand, though after protracted negotiations, Allied service personnel are now allowed to depart freely and full assistance is given in recovering damaged aircraft. 10. Recently, in connection with the establishment of prisoner of war camps in Northern Ireland, they have agreed to return or at least intern any German prisoners who may escape from Northern Ireland across the border to Southern Ireland. 11. They have throughout offered no objection to the departure from Southern Ireland of persons wishing to serve in the United Kingdom Forces nor to the journey on leave of such persons to and from Southern Ireland (in plain clothes). 12. They have continued to exchange information with our security authorities regarding all aliens (including Germans) in Southern Ireland. 13. They have (within the last few days) agreed to our establishing a radar station in Southern Ireland for use against the latest form of submarine activity.
They were also still officially neutral unlike all the core Anglosphere nations. De Valera also still signed the book of condolence for Hitler
Mate, you've expressed your admiration for Franco, more than once.
TBF, a lot of the Irish were also rather keen on Franco. So HYUFD has far more in common with them than ...
English blood, Irish heart!
It is actually quite a surprise to read of some of the stuff being said in Dublin in the 1930s (and that's even before one gets to Eamonn Duffy's Blueshirts - were the tailors out of green material, one wonders?). But the same is true of Establishment circles in the UK.
Well, signed up for the official Government refugee system today saying we have space in our house for a couple of Ukrainians so we will see what happens next.
A few thoughts on the process.
The introductory pages seem to be unnecessarily convoluted to actually get to the sign up page. I assume this is because they want to make sure everyone has properly absorbed the implications of signing up but it didn't seem immediately obvious where to go to get to the bit where you fill out your details. At one point I did find that clicking buttons which were supposed to get me to the forms put me back to the start again.
Secondly the forms themselves are very straight forward and easy to complete. A good thing and well done.
Thirdly - and my main criticism - is the idiotic decision that initially you will only be able to host someone who is not your relative if you have independently made contact with them through social media. as it stands you have to be able to name the person or persons you are expecting to host. Now I know a couple of people professionally in Ukraine but none of them are interested in being given safe haven. They are too busy trying to kick the Russians out of their country. So for now there seems to be no way to link up ourselves as people wiling to host refugees with Ukrainians who need refuge.
This seems to me to be a particularly daft system and one that - since it relies on social media contacts - seems rife for the less scrupulous including traffickers to take advantage. The Government must have a list of those they have already accepted for entry to the UK so why not just assign people as necessary.
I will keep you informed of developments.
Anyone else signed up yet who can compare notes and thoughts?
Well done Richard, and good luck!
Mrs P and I have had a long talk about it but we have decided not to sign up at the moment for a number of personal reasons.
The Republic of Ireland is not in NATO, is not in the Commonwealth, does not share our head of state, was neutral in the Cold War and was officially neutral in WW2.
On no grounds whatsoever is the Republic of Ireland a core member of the Anglosphere. It is outer tier at most.
As I said Churchill opposed Indian independence as did most Tories at the time, it was Attlee and Labour who gave then independence. However I am not answering irrelevant hypotheticals as I am a Tory for now and India is independent in the reality of today
The Cranborne Report Viscount Cranborne, the British Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs, wrote a letter on 21 February 1945 to the British War Cabinet regarding Irish-British collaboration during 1939–1945:
# They [the Irish] agreed to our use of Lough Foyle for naval and air purposes. The ownership of the Lough is disputed, but the Southern Irish authorities are tacitly not pressing their claim in present conditions and are also ignoring any flying by our aircraft over the Donegal shore of the Lough, which is necessary in certain wind conditions to enable flying boats to take off from the Lough.
1. They have agreed to use by our aircraft based on Lough Erne of a corridor over Southern Irish territory and territorial waters for the purpose of flying out to the Atlantic. 2. They have arranged for the immediate transmission to the United Kingdom Representative's Office in Dublin of reports of submarine activity received from their coast watching service. 3. They arranged for the broadening of reports by their Air observation Corps of aircraft sighted over or approaching Southern Irish territory. (This does not include our aircraft using the corridor referred to in (b) above.) 4. They arranged for the extinction of trade and business lighting in coastal towns where such lighting was alleged to afford a useful landmark for German aircraft. 5. They have continued to supply us with meteorological reports. 6. They have agreed to the use by our ships and aircraft of two wireless direction-finding stations at Malin Head. 7. They have supplied particulars of German crashed aircraft and personnel crashed or washed ashore or arrested on land. 8. They arranged for staff talks on the question of co-operation against a possible German invasion of Southern Ireland, and close contact has since been maintained between the respective military authorities. 9. They continue to intern all German fighting personnel reaching Southern Ireland. On the other hand, though after protracted negotiations, Allied service personnel are now allowed to depart freely and full assistance is given in recovering damaged aircraft. 10. Recently, in connection with the establishment of prisoner of war camps in Northern Ireland, they have agreed to return or at least intern any German prisoners who may escape from Northern Ireland across the border to Southern Ireland. 11. They have throughout offered no objection to the departure from Southern Ireland of persons wishing to serve in the United Kingdom Forces nor to the journey on leave of such persons to and from Southern Ireland (in plain clothes). 12. They have continued to exchange information with our security authorities regarding all aliens (including Germans) in Southern Ireland. 13. They have (within the last few days) agreed to our establishing a radar station in Southern Ireland for use against the latest form of submarine activity.
They were also still officially neutral unlike all the core Anglosphere nations. De Valera also still signed the book of condolence for Hitler
Mate, you've expressed your admiration for Franco, more than once.
I have also however never said Spain was in the Anglosphere
"In recent days China has locked down tens of millions in several cities, as it braces for a much worse wave than Jan 2020 where the bulk of infection was confined to Hubei province."
The Chinese are expecting the Omicron wave to be MUCH WORSE than Wuhan/Hubei
NEW DELHI, March 14 (Reuters) - India is considering taking up a Russian offer to buy its crude oil and other commodities at discounted prices with payment via a rupee-rouble transaction, two Indian officials said, amid tough Western sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
India, which imports 80% of its oil needs, usually buys about 2% to 3% of its supplies from Russia. But with oil prices up 40% so far this year, the government is looking at increasing this if it can help reduce its rising energy bill.
"Russia is offering oil and other commodities at a heavy discount. We will be happy to take that. We have some issues like tanker, insurance cover and oil blends to be resolved. Once we have that we will take the discount offer," one of the Indian government officials said.
How will the oil get there? (Assuming the west buys up tanker capacity and doesn’t want it to).
Well, there are lots of oil tankers in the world, and many of them are owned by private companies in tax havens who will happily take a premium rate to shift oil from Russia to Delhi.
However... India's behaviour here is pretty appalling. The reality is that Russia will continue to be able to export oil (albeit gas is harder), if the Indians and Chinese say 'discount oil, lovely jubbly'.
Tactless of India to be quite so blatant in their sanctions busting. They are supposed to be a trusted partner, blah blah...
Terrible advert for the symbolic value of the Commonwealth.
Or the Anglosphere. Or is it only white countries that are considered anglosphere?
On the strictest definition, the core Anglosphere is only the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand
How bloody big is Quebec and/or how many First Nations languages are there is only 54.4% of Canadians speak English as a first language?
83% of Canadians speak English on that link
You seem to have missed a critical word in my sentence. Or rather you misread it, and have amended, but that now doesn't make sense as a response to what I posted.
Regardless as I said English language speakers is NOT the key criteria for the Anglosphere.
The key criteria is military, political, diplomatic and cultural ties.
Hence it only includes at its core the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand
"Anglo" refers to the English language. Besides There are plenty of military, political, diplomatic and cultural ties between the UK and Ireland, particularly the last three. On the military front, you will know plenty of Irishmen fought in the UK forces in BOTH World Wars.
Anglophone countries refers primarily to those which mainly speak English.
Anglosphere countries are primarily those united by military, diplomatic, cultural and political ties.
Ireland fought with us in WW1 but was neutral in WW2 and the Cold War unlike the USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. The Republic of Ireland is also not in NATO
Ireland (as a country, obv) didn't exist in WW1.
Indeed, the only reason it fought with us is it was still in the UK.
The Irish Free State was neutral in WW2 and the Republic of Ireland was neutral in the Cold War.
The Republic of Ireland is also not in NATO or the Commonwealth.
Hence it is not a core Anglosphere nation
More Irish men served in the British armed forces during the Second World War than served in the Irish armed forces.
ETA and by “Irish men” I mean from the 26 counties.
Still percentage wise far less than in the UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand and Ireland was also still neutral in the Cold War unlike them.
The Republic of Ireland is also still not in NATO unlike most of them either, so remains outside the core Anglosphere
On your logic, Northern Ireland wasn't really in the UK either. There was no conscription in WW2.
Northern Ireland was and is a part of the UK, it did what the UK government told it to do in defence and foreign policy
Doesn't change the fact that it wasn't enough of a part of the UK for the UK government to treat it as a total part of the UK.
Just like the Tory Government today doesn't consider it part of the UK.
Yes it does, Northern Ireland went to war with the Nazis as the UK government decided for it.
This Tory Government will soon invoke Article 16
IN the knowledge that most people in NI oppose it.
Colonialists. Imperialists.
Most Unionists support it and as long as the UK government does not impose a hard border in Ireland the rest have no grounds to complain
But Article 16 is all about invoking a hard border.
No it isn't, a technical solution can be used in Ireland
I have a bridge to sell you. It's big and red and takes trains from Edinburgh to Dundee.
I'm surprisingly confident that if Russia and China team up against the West they'll both end up losing, and the West will come out of it stronger than before.
China and Russia being bossom buddies wouldn't be amazing news for the UK, but still less positive would be China and America being best buddies - the rest of the world wouldn't stand a chance. Balance of powers has always been the aim of British foreign policy, and unsurprisingly we have not prospered during the period of US hegemony. To the extent that most here (and probably in the wider country) are dribblingly terrified of a world with competing powers, where we have to find our way independently.
NEW DELHI, March 14 (Reuters) - India is considering taking up a Russian offer to buy its crude oil and other commodities at discounted prices with payment via a rupee-rouble transaction, two Indian officials said, amid tough Western sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
India, which imports 80% of its oil needs, usually buys about 2% to 3% of its supplies from Russia. But with oil prices up 40% so far this year, the government is looking at increasing this if it can help reduce its rising energy bill.
"Russia is offering oil and other commodities at a heavy discount. We will be happy to take that. We have some issues like tanker, insurance cover and oil blends to be resolved. Once we have that we will take the discount offer," one of the Indian government officials said.
How will the oil get there? (Assuming the west buys up tanker capacity and doesn’t want it to).
Well, there are lots of oil tankers in the world, and many of them are owned by private companies in tax havens who will happily take a premium rate to shift oil from Russia to Delhi.
However... India's behaviour here is pretty appalling. The reality is that Russia will continue to be able to export oil (albeit gas is harder), if the Indians and Chinese say 'discount oil, lovely jubbly'.
Tactless of India to be quite so blatant in their sanctions busting. They are supposed to be a trusted partner, blah blah...
Terrible advert for the symbolic value of the Commonwealth.
Or the Anglosphere. Or is it only white countries that are considered anglosphere?
On the strictest definition, the core Anglosphere is only the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand
How bloody big is Quebec and/or how many First Nations languages are there is only 54.4% of Canadians speak English as a first language?
83% of Canadians speak English on that link
You seem to have missed a critical word in my sentence. Or rather you misread it, and have amended, but that now doesn't make sense as a response to what I posted.
Regardless as I said English language speakers is NOT the key criteria for the Anglosphere.
The key criteria is military, political, diplomatic and cultural ties.
Hence it only includes at its core the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand
"Anglo" refers to the English language. Besides There are plenty of military, political, diplomatic and cultural ties between the UK and Ireland, particularly the last three. On the military front, you will know plenty of Irishmen fought in the UK forces in BOTH World Wars.
Anglophone countries refers primarily to those which mainly speak English.
Anglosphere countries are primarily those united by military, diplomatic, cultural and political ties.
Ireland fought with us in WW1 but was neutral in WW2 and the Cold War unlike the USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. The Republic of Ireland is also not in NATO
Ireland (as a country, obv) didn't exist in WW1.
Indeed, the only reason it fought with us is it was still in the UK.
The Irish Free State was neutral in WW2 and the Republic of Ireland was neutral in the Cold War.
The Republic of Ireland is also not in NATO or the Commonwealth.
Hence it is not a core Anglosphere nation
More Irish men served in the British armed forces during the Second World War than served in the Irish armed forces.
ETA and by “Irish men” I mean from the 26 counties.
Still percentage wise far less than in the UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand and Ireland was also still neutral in the Cold War unlike them.
The Republic of Ireland is also still not in NATO unlike most of them either, so remains outside the core Anglosphere
On your logic, Northern Ireland wasn't really in the UK either. There was no conscription in WW2.
Northern Ireland was and is a part of the UK, it did what the UK government told it to do in defence and foreign policy
Doesn't change the fact that it wasn't enough of a part of the UK for the UK government to treat it as a total part of the UK.
Just like the Tory Government today doesn't consider it part of the UK.
Yes it does, Northern Ireland went to war with the Nazis as the UK government decided for it.
This Tory Government will soon invoke Article 16
IN the knowledge that most people in NI oppose it.
Colonialists. Imperialists.
Most Unionists support it and as long as the UK government does not impose a hard border in Ireland the rest have no grounds to complain
56% of NI voters voted to Remain. HYUFD also voted to Remain.
The Republic of Ireland is not in NATO, is not in the Commonwealth, does not share our head of state, was neutral in the Cold War and was officially neutral in WW2.
On no grounds whatsoever is the Republic of Ireland a core member of the Anglosphere. It is outer tier at most.
As I said Churchill opposed Indian independence as did most Tories at the time, it was Attlee and Labour who gave then independence. However I am not answering irrelevant hypotheticals as I am a Tory for now and India is independent in the reality of today
The Cranborne Report Viscount Cranborne, the British Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs, wrote a letter on 21 February 1945 to the British War Cabinet regarding Irish-British collaboration during 1939–1945:
# They [the Irish] agreed to our use of Lough Foyle for naval and air purposes. The ownership of the Lough is disputed, but the Southern Irish authorities are tacitly not pressing their claim in present conditions and are also ignoring any flying by our aircraft over the Donegal shore of the Lough, which is necessary in certain wind conditions to enable flying boats to take off from the Lough.
1. They have agreed to use by our aircraft based on Lough Erne of a corridor over Southern Irish territory and territorial waters for the purpose of flying out to the Atlantic. 2. They have arranged for the immediate transmission to the United Kingdom Representative's Office in Dublin of reports of submarine activity received from their coast watching service. 3. They arranged for the broadening of reports by their Air observation Corps of aircraft sighted over or approaching Southern Irish territory. (This does not include our aircraft using the corridor referred to in (b) above.) 4. They arranged for the extinction of trade and business lighting in coastal towns where such lighting was alleged to afford a useful landmark for German aircraft. 5. They have continued to supply us with meteorological reports. 6. They have agreed to the use by our ships and aircraft of two wireless direction-finding stations at Malin Head. 7. They have supplied particulars of German crashed aircraft and personnel crashed or washed ashore or arrested on land. 8. They arranged for staff talks on the question of co-operation against a possible German invasion of Southern Ireland, and close contact has since been maintained between the respective military authorities. 9. They continue to intern all German fighting personnel reaching Southern Ireland. On the other hand, though after protracted negotiations, Allied service personnel are now allowed to depart freely and full assistance is given in recovering damaged aircraft. 10. Recently, in connection with the establishment of prisoner of war camps in Northern Ireland, they have agreed to return or at least intern any German prisoners who may escape from Northern Ireland across the border to Southern Ireland. 11. They have throughout offered no objection to the departure from Southern Ireland of persons wishing to serve in the United Kingdom Forces nor to the journey on leave of such persons to and from Southern Ireland (in plain clothes). 12. They have continued to exchange information with our security authorities regarding all aliens (including Germans) in Southern Ireland. 13. They have (within the last few days) agreed to our establishing a radar station in Southern Ireland for use against the latest form of submarine activity.
They were also still officially neutral unlike all the core Anglosphere nations. De Valera also still signed the book of condolence for Hitler
Mate, you've expressed your admiration for Franco, more than once.
I have also however never said Spain was in the Anglosphere
Philip II was briefly "King" of England.
So he was; so England was in the Hispanosphere. More than once, come to think of it, though my memory gets a bit shaky in the later C17 and C18 when it gets to the wars with, or against, Spain, against, or with, France.
Well, signed up for the official Government refugee system today saying we have space in our house for a couple of Ukrainians so we will see what happens next.
A few thoughts on the process.
The introductory pages seem to be unnecessarily convoluted to actually get to the sign up page. I assume this is because they want to make sure everyone has properly absorbed the implications of signing up but it didn't seem immediately obvious where to go to get to the bit where you fill out your details. At one point I did find that clicking buttons which were supposed to get me to the forms put me back to the start again.
Secondly the forms themselves are very straight forward and easy to complete. A good thing and well done.
Thirdly - and my main criticism - is the idiotic decision that initially you will only be able to host someone who is not your relative if you have independently made contact with them through social media. as it stands you have to be able to name the person or persons you are expecting to host. Now I know a couple of people professionally in Ukraine but none of them are interested in being given safe haven. They are too busy trying to kick the Russians out of their country. So for now there seems to be no way to link up ourselves as people wiling to host refugees with Ukrainians who need refuge.
This seems to me to be a particularly daft system and one that - since it relies on social media contacts - seems rife for the less scrupulous including traffickers to take advantage. The Government must have a list of those they have already accepted for entry to the UK so why not just assign people as necessary.
I will keep you informed of developments.
Anyone else signed up yet who can compare notes and thoughts?
Well done Richard, and good luck!
Mrs P and I have had a long talk about it but we have decided not to sign up at the moment for a number of personal reasons.
Yep I get that. The majority of people will simply not be in a position to do this for a million different and very valid reasons. We are very lucky in where we are right now so it seems churlish not to help out, particularly given how outspoken I have been about the failings of the UK refugee support to date.
Second, I’ve just been doing a quick ratio of Russia / Ukrainian losses on Oryx. It’s a very rough measure and doesn’t take into account the types of losses but there has been a noticeable tick-up in the ratio of Russian / Ukrainian losses - it was around 3.5-3.6x yesterday as a whole and now it’s approaching 3.8x. It probably reflects lumpiness but it does look like the Ukrainians had a good day.
NEW DELHI, March 14 (Reuters) - India is considering taking up a Russian offer to buy its crude oil and other commodities at discounted prices with payment via a rupee-rouble transaction, two Indian officials said, amid tough Western sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
India, which imports 80% of its oil needs, usually buys about 2% to 3% of its supplies from Russia. But with oil prices up 40% so far this year, the government is looking at increasing this if it can help reduce its rising energy bill.
"Russia is offering oil and other commodities at a heavy discount. We will be happy to take that. We have some issues like tanker, insurance cover and oil blends to be resolved. Once we have that we will take the discount offer," one of the Indian government officials said.
How will the oil get there? (Assuming the west buys up tanker capacity and doesn’t want it to).
Well, there are lots of oil tankers in the world, and many of them are owned by private companies in tax havens who will happily take a premium rate to shift oil from Russia to Delhi.
However... India's behaviour here is pretty appalling. The reality is that Russia will continue to be able to export oil (albeit gas is harder), if the Indians and Chinese say 'discount oil, lovely jubbly'.
Tactless of India to be quite so blatant in their sanctions busting. They are supposed to be a trusted partner, blah blah...
Terrible advert for the symbolic value of the Commonwealth.
Or the Anglosphere. Or is it only white countries that are considered anglosphere?
On the strictest definition, the core Anglosphere is only the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand
How bloody big is Quebec and/or how many First Nations languages are there is only 54.4% of Canadians speak English as a first language?
83% of Canadians speak English on that link
You seem to have missed a critical word in my sentence. Or rather you misread it, and have amended, but that now doesn't make sense as a response to what I posted.
Regardless as I said English language speakers is NOT the key criteria for the Anglosphere.
The key criteria is military, political, diplomatic and cultural ties.
Hence it only includes at its core the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand
"Anglo" refers to the English language. Besides There are plenty of military, political, diplomatic and cultural ties between the UK and Ireland, particularly the last three. On the military front, you will know plenty of Irishmen fought in the UK forces in BOTH World Wars.
Anglophone countries refers primarily to those which mainly speak English.
Anglosphere countries are primarily those united by military, diplomatic, cultural and political ties.
Ireland fought with us in WW1 but was neutral in WW2 and the Cold War unlike the USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. The Republic of Ireland is also not in NATO
Ireland (as a country, obv) didn't exist in WW1.
Indeed, the only reason it fought with us is it was still in the UK.
The Irish Free State was neutral in WW2 and the Republic of Ireland was neutral in the Cold War.
The Republic of Ireland is also not in NATO or the Commonwealth.
Hence it is not a core Anglosphere nation
More Irish men served in the British armed forces during the Second World War than served in the Irish armed forces.
ETA and by “Irish men” I mean from the 26 counties.
You could legitimately also add the number of UK people who were released to join the UK forces because so many Irish people came over to work on such things as airfield construction.
So what, millions of Indians also fought in WW2, many came over and have contributed to our core services since.
However India is also not in the core Anglosphere either as like Ireland it was neutral in the Cold War and is not in NATO
Doesn't change the basic point.
That reminds me: I've never been able to extract an answer from you as to whether it was right for UKG to give India (as it was then) independence.
Blaming it on Labour Governments does not count.
Oh it does.
The Republic of Ireland is not in NATO, is not in the Commonwealth, does not share our head of state, was neutral in the Cold War and was officially neutral in WW2.
On no grounds whatsoever is the Republic of Ireland a core member of the Anglosphere. It is outer tier at most.
As I said Churchill opposed Indian independence as did most Tories at the time, it was Attlee and Labour who gave then independence. However I am not answering irrelevant hypotheticals as I am a Tory for now and India is independent in the reality of today
You're the one who insists relentlessly that what suited Henry VIII is absolutely the right way to run the UK today. And claims that the C of E is apolitical. When anyoine who knows any history knows that the very notion of an Established Church was always one of the most explosive political issues in any of the four nations of the so-called United Kingdom.
Nope, the Church of England was created as the established church precisely to ensure the effective established church was not Roman Catholic Popery
And, pray, why did Henry VIII not want Popery? YOu have a history degree ...
I'm surprisingly confident that if Russia and China team up against the West they'll both end up losing, and the West will come out of it stronger than before.
Unless there is a nuclear holocaust in which case nobody will be stronger than before by my understanding of the term
South Africa?
This, ladies and gentlemen, is an excellent example of HYUFD's thought: That the destruction of Western and Eastern countries "strengthens" those not directly destroyed because they would power on up the ranks. Never mind the fact that the biosphere would be a fucking state and the world economy would head backwards a number of centuries. Rank is what matters in HYUFD's Trumpist view, and a negative sum game makes sense if only the others get hurt much more than you do.
HYUFD would cut his leg off if he knew everybody else would lose both legs.
Well, signed up for the official Government refugee system today saying we have space in our house for a couple of Ukrainians so we will see what happens next.
A few thoughts on the process.
The introductory pages seem to be unnecessarily convoluted to actually get to the sign up page. I assume this is because they want to make sure everyone has properly absorbed the implications of signing up but it didn't seem immediately obvious where to go to get to the bit where you fill out your details. At one point I did find that clicking buttons which were supposed to get me to the forms put me back to the start again.
Secondly the forms themselves are very straight forward and easy to complete. A good thing and well done.
Thirdly - and my main criticism - is the idiotic decision that initially you will only be able to host someone who is not your relative if you have independently made contact with them through social media. as it stands you have to be able to name the person or persons you are expecting to host. Now I know a couple of people professionally in Ukraine but none of them are interested in being given safe haven. They are too busy trying to kick the Russians out of their country. So for now there seems to be no way to link up ourselves as people wiling to host refugees with Ukrainians who need refuge.
This seems to me to be a particularly daft system and one that - since it relies on social media contacts - seems rife for the less scrupulous including traffickers to take advantage. The Government must have a list of those they have already accepted for entry to the UK so why not just assign people as necessary.
I will keep you informed of developments.
Anyone else signed up yet who can compare notes and thoughts?
Hi Richard (and all other posters). Been a long time since I posted, so most people have probably forgotten I ever existed here.
Anyway, saw your post and wanted to say "good on you" for offering to host some refugees. Contemplating doing the same myself but a bit hesitant for certain practical reasons, but definitely not ruled out the possibility.
If you can't get past the paywall, the relevant bits for someone in your position are the links to sites matching families with refugees looking for a home. The first three sites are specifically for Ukrainian refugees:
NEW DELHI, March 14 (Reuters) - India is considering taking up a Russian offer to buy its crude oil and other commodities at discounted prices with payment via a rupee-rouble transaction, two Indian officials said, amid tough Western sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
India, which imports 80% of its oil needs, usually buys about 2% to 3% of its supplies from Russia. But with oil prices up 40% so far this year, the government is looking at increasing this if it can help reduce its rising energy bill.
"Russia is offering oil and other commodities at a heavy discount. We will be happy to take that. We have some issues like tanker, insurance cover and oil blends to be resolved. Once we have that we will take the discount offer," one of the Indian government officials said.
I'm not sure Boris is particularly bothered either - with Farage and co. discredited as Putin lackeys, he now no longer has to worry about his right flank.
The headbangers just killed his latest bill tonight. They haven't gone anywhere
On the subject of @Heathener, I think everyone missed their greatest comment last night.
In my response to why they were using an IP that appears on a number of blacklists (basically compromised PCs), they said it was because they were close to the intelligence services, and needed to hide their identity.
Even if you believe that is true, there are easier ways to do that:
One could, for example, use a commercial VPN service that does not keep logs. Or buy a prepaid SIM card for a data connection.
What one does not typically do is to use a compromised PC to post to politiclbetting. What with that basically being illegal, and all.
Isn't it possible that Heathener is just a walter mitty fantasist with a virus on their PC?
I'm not ruling out the possibility that they're a filthy commie spy, but as others have said, what's the agenda? Why dedicate so much of their time to other random stuff, like misogyny, or getting in fights with people for not social distancing?
Compare and contrast to PJohnson, you could smell the Kremlin on his breath from a mile away.
Also. Having lived some time in Thailand and being interested in, and knowledgeable of, Buddhism, is a pretty strange cover quirk for the FSB. Not buying it tbh.
It's just Mystic Rose back with a new name, isn't it?
Good shout, both early morning, quite long posters that came across as trying that bit too hard to be contrarian (as in the word, not the poster).
It's my absolute specialty, picking up them 'back with a new name' posters.
Pretty sure I’ve got one wriggling in the catch net at the moment.
Oh right. So don't tell me but give me a clue. See if I already have it or not.
Hmm. This is a manifestation of another poster rather than a returnee.
Highest point, from which a saint can be seen.
Is that too crosswordy?
No, I'm a bit 'coffeetime' on that front but let's see if I can get it.
I'm surprisingly confident that if Russia and China team up against the West they'll both end up losing, and the West will come out of it stronger than before.
Unless there is a nuclear holocaust in which case nobody will be stronger than before by my understanding of the term
South Africa?
This, ladies and gentlemen, is an excellent example of HYUFD's thought: That the destruction of Western and Eastern countries "strengthens" those not directly destroyed because they would power on up the ranks. Never mind the fact that the biosphere would be a fucking state and the world economy would head backwards a number of centuries. Rank is what matters in HYUFD's Trumpist view, and a negative sum game makes sense if only the others get hurt much more than you do.
HYUFD would cut his leg off if he knew everybody else would lose both legs.
Well the South African President has taken a neutral stance between Russia and NATO not wholly without self interest.
I would prefer him to be in the NATO camp but that is the reality
NEW DELHI, March 14 (Reuters) - India is considering taking up a Russian offer to buy its crude oil and other commodities at discounted prices with payment via a rupee-rouble transaction, two Indian officials said, amid tough Western sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
India, which imports 80% of its oil needs, usually buys about 2% to 3% of its supplies from Russia. But with oil prices up 40% so far this year, the government is looking at increasing this if it can help reduce its rising energy bill.
"Russia is offering oil and other commodities at a heavy discount. We will be happy to take that. We have some issues like tanker, insurance cover and oil blends to be resolved. Once we have that we will take the discount offer," one of the Indian government officials said.
How will the oil get there? (Assuming the west buys up tanker capacity and doesn’t want it to).
Well, there are lots of oil tankers in the world, and many of them are owned by private companies in tax havens who will happily take a premium rate to shift oil from Russia to Delhi.
However... India's behaviour here is pretty appalling. The reality is that Russia will continue to be able to export oil (albeit gas is harder), if the Indians and Chinese say 'discount oil, lovely jubbly'.
Tactless of India to be quite so blatant in their sanctions busting. They are supposed to be a trusted partner, blah blah...
Terrible advert for the symbolic value of the Commonwealth.
Or the Anglosphere. Or is it only white countries that are considered anglosphere?
On the strictest definition, the core Anglosphere is only the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand
How bloody big is Quebec and/or how many First Nations languages are there is only 54.4% of Canadians speak English as a first language?
83% of Canadians speak English on that link
You seem to have missed a critical word in my sentence. Or rather you misread it, and have amended, but that now doesn't make sense as a response to what I posted.
Regardless as I said English language speakers is NOT the key criteria for the Anglosphere.
The key criteria is military, political, diplomatic and cultural ties.
Hence it only includes at its core the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand
"Anglo" refers to the English language. Besides There are plenty of military, political, diplomatic and cultural ties between the UK and Ireland, particularly the last three. On the military front, you will know plenty of Irishmen fought in the UK forces in BOTH World Wars.
Anglophone countries refers primarily to those which mainly speak English.
Anglosphere countries are primarily those united by military, diplomatic, cultural and political ties.
Ireland fought with us in WW1 but was neutral in WW2 and the Cold War unlike the USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. The Republic of Ireland is also not in NATO
Ireland (as a country, obv) didn't exist in WW1.
Indeed, the only reason it fought with us is it was still in the UK.
The Irish Free State was neutral in WW2 and the Republic of Ireland was neutral in the Cold War.
The Republic of Ireland is also not in NATO or the Commonwealth.
Hence it is not a core Anglosphere nation
More Irish men served in the British armed forces during the Second World War than served in the Irish armed forces.
ETA and by “Irish men” I mean from the 26 counties.
You could legitimately also add the number of UK people who were released to join the UK forces because so many Irish people came over to work on such things as airfield construction.
So what, millions of Indians also fought in WW2, many came over and have contributed to our core services since.
However India is also not in the core Anglosphere either as like Ireland it was neutral in the Cold War and is not in NATO
Doesn't change the basic point.
That reminds me: I've never been able to extract an answer from you as to whether it was right for UKG to give India (as it was then) independence.
Blaming it on Labour Governments does not count.
Oh it does.
The Republic of Ireland is not in NATO, is not in the Commonwealth, does not share our head of state, was neutral in the Cold War and was officially neutral in WW2.
On no grounds whatsoever is the Republic of Ireland a core member of the Anglosphere. It is outer tier at most.
As I said Churchill opposed Indian independence as did most Tories at the time, it was Attlee and Labour who gave then independence. However I am not answering irrelevant hypotheticals as I am a Tory for now and India is independent in the reality of today
You're the one who insists relentlessly that what suited Henry VIII is absolutely the right way to run the UK today. And claims that the C of E is apolitical. When anyoine who knows any history knows that the very notion of an Established Church was always one of the most explosive political issues in any of the four nations of the so-called United Kingdom.
Nope, the Church of England was created as the established church precisely to ensure the effective established church was not Roman Catholic Popery
And, pray, why did Henry VIII not want Popery? YOu have a history degree ...
Because he preferred fresh flowers, none of that dried stuff.
The Republic of Ireland is not in NATO, is not in the Commonwealth, does not share our head of state, was neutral in the Cold War and was officially neutral in WW2.
On no grounds whatsoever is the Republic of Ireland a core member of the Anglosphere. It is outer tier at most.
As I said Churchill opposed Indian independence as did most Tories at the time, it was Attlee and Labour who gave then independence. However I am not answering irrelevant hypotheticals as I am a Tory for now and India is independent in the reality of today
The Cranborne Report Viscount Cranborne, the British Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs, wrote a letter on 21 February 1945 to the British War Cabinet regarding Irish-British collaboration during 1939–1945:
# They [the Irish] agreed to our use of Lough Foyle for naval and air purposes. The ownership of the Lough is disputed, but the Southern Irish authorities are tacitly not pressing their claim in present conditions and are also ignoring any flying by our aircraft over the Donegal shore of the Lough, which is necessary in certain wind conditions to enable flying boats to take off from the Lough.
1. They have agreed to use by our aircraft based on Lough Erne of a corridor over Southern Irish territory and territorial waters for the purpose of flying out to the Atlantic. 2. They have arranged for the immediate transmission to the United Kingdom Representative's Office in Dublin of reports of submarine activity received from their coast watching service. 3. They arranged for the broadening of reports by their Air observation Corps of aircraft sighted over or approaching Southern Irish territory. (This does not include our aircraft using the corridor referred to in (b) above.) 4. They arranged for the extinction of trade and business lighting in coastal towns where such lighting was alleged to afford a useful landmark for German aircraft. 5. They have continued to supply us with meteorological reports. 6. They have agreed to the use by our ships and aircraft of two wireless direction-finding stations at Malin Head. 7. They have supplied particulars of German crashed aircraft and personnel crashed or washed ashore or arrested on land. 8. They arranged for staff talks on the question of co-operation against a possible German invasion of Southern Ireland, and close contact has since been maintained between the respective military authorities. 9. They continue to intern all German fighting personnel reaching Southern Ireland. On the other hand, though after protracted negotiations, Allied service personnel are now allowed to depart freely and full assistance is given in recovering damaged aircraft. 10. Recently, in connection with the establishment of prisoner of war camps in Northern Ireland, they have agreed to return or at least intern any German prisoners who may escape from Northern Ireland across the border to Southern Ireland. 11. They have throughout offered no objection to the departure from Southern Ireland of persons wishing to serve in the United Kingdom Forces nor to the journey on leave of such persons to and from Southern Ireland (in plain clothes). 12. They have continued to exchange information with our security authorities regarding all aliens (including Germans) in Southern Ireland. 13. They have (within the last few days) agreed to our establishing a radar station in Southern Ireland for use against the latest form of submarine activity.
They were also still officially neutral unlike all the core Anglosphere nations. De Valera also still signed the book of condolence for Hitler
Mate, you've expressed your admiration for Franco, more than once.
I have also however never said Spain was in the Anglosphere
Philip II was briefly "King" of England.
So what, we also fought more wars with Spain than any other foreign nation after France.
Spain was neutral in WW2 and much of the Cold War and they are hardly close allies over Gibraltar either
I'm surprisingly confident that if Russia and China team up against the West they'll both end up losing, and the West will come out of it stronger than before.
Unless there is a nuclear holocaust in which case nobody will be stronger than before by my understanding of the term
South Africa?
This, ladies and gentlemen, is an excellent example of HYUFD's thought: That the destruction of Western and Eastern countries "strengthens" those not directly destroyed because they would power on up the ranks. Never mind the fact that the biosphere would be a fucking state and the world economy would head backwards a number of centuries. Rank is what matters in HYUFD's Trumpist view, and a negative sum game makes sense if only the others get hurt much more than you do.
HYUFD would cut his leg off if he knew everybody else would lose both legs.
Well the South African President has taken a neutral stance between Russia and NATO not wholly without self interest.
I would prefer him to be in the NATO camp but that is the reality
Given you don't think some countries already in it should have been allowed to join NATO I am surprised you would advocate for others to either join or be allied to it.
Could Boris conceivably call a quasi-Khaki Election in 2022?
As with Salisbury's Conservative-Liberal Unionist alliance that won the original Khaki Election in 1900, Boris's Conservative & Unionist Party will almost certain need to time any such electoral gambit this year, to occur BEFORE the end of the War (Boer then, Ukrainian today).
Personally think proper atmosphere AND timing are less propitious and likely harder for Tories this millennium than last. But who knows?
Not unless the Tories get a big poll lead no
If Putin were to fall as a result of the Ukraine invasion on Johnson's watch, Johnson would be insane not to go for a quick win.
Not unless he had over a 12% poll lead, otherwise he still loses seats and as 2017 showed voters dislike snap elections
But if an early election looks like a small majority and another five years he would take that.
Why? Just putting myself in his position - I’d want to get at least a year or two without Covid or thermonuclear war to do something with my 80 seat majority. A year or two as elected dictator is better than five as Theresa May.
He retains his reputation as a winner and gives himself a guaranteed extra 3 and a half years for Carrie and Johnson to enjoy the wallpaper.
I'm surprisingly confident that if Russia and China team up against the West they'll both end up losing, and the West will come out of it stronger than before.
Unless there is a nuclear holocaust in which case nobody will be stronger than before by my understanding of the term
South Africa?
This, ladies and gentlemen, is an excellent example of HYUFD's thought: That the destruction of Western and Eastern countries "strengthens" those not directly destroyed because they would power on up the ranks. Never mind the fact that the biosphere would be a fucking state and the world economy would head backwards a number of centuries. Rank is what matters in HYUFD's Trumpist view, and a negative sum game makes sense if only the others get hurt much more than you do.
HYUFD would cut his leg off if he knew everybody else would lose both legs.
Well the South African President has taken a neutral stance between Russia and NATO not wholly without self interest.
I would prefer him to be in the NATO camp but that is the reality
Given you don't think some countries already in it should have been allowed to join NATO I am surprised you would advocate for others to either join or be allied to it.
I refer you to my earlier post. HYUFD would be happy for South Africa to join because he fancies our chances of beating Eswatini in a war. Russia's a big boy, so we shouldn't meddle. Rank rank rank. Hit the little guy, give your lunch money to the big guy. No need to mess around with principles or whatever.
Comments
And boundary changes are one bloody good reason to have it late 2023 onwards.
Cheeky £150 just about offsets the higher rate of income tax I pay up here. Not particularly well targeted tbh - there are people much worse off than me.
Omicron is going to be pretty bad there, but the question is for how long? It peaked here quickly, but is still significantly about and rising again after 4 months.
It will be May 2024. Any plans for earlier have been dumped.
Putin Signs Law to Seize Foreign Aircraft, Redeploy for Domestic Use
https://twitter.com/crampell/status/1503458523874828289
On the other hand, I think you can argue that a "Zero Covid" policy early in the pandemic (assuming you have an island far from anywhere), followed by opening up once people are fully vaccinated is far from a stupid strategy.
It's just that many places (*cough* China) failed to appreciate that at a certain point, you need to let it go.
Translation of Maria Ovsiannikova’s video message. “Unfortunately, I have been working at Channel One… working on Kremlin propaganda. And now I am very ashamed. I am ashamed that I’ve allowed the lies to be said on the TV screens… that I let the Russian people be zombified.” https://twitter.com/maryilyushina/status/1503458316672020490/photo/1
Christ...
John Burn-Murdoch
@jburnmurdoch
·
2h
Around 15 million over-80s in mainland China are still unvaccinated. An astonishing number
Hall was newsgathering outside Kyiv, as Russian forces approach the city"
https://www.foxnews.com/world/fox-news-journalist-benjamin-hall-injured-covering-ukraine-war
However India is also not in the core Anglosphere either as like Ireland it was neutral in the Cold War and is not in NATO
That reminds me: I've never been able to extract an answer from you as to whether it was right for UKG to give India (as it was then) independence.
Blaming it on Labour Governments does not count.
I've no idea whether there's even a grain of truth in those allegations, but I have a vague sense that some people think that opioids are administered to people. Does anyone know more about these allegations/conspiracy theories?
I would say though, that contrary to some people’s ideas, we could never have adopted a similar strategy in the U.K.
Just like the Tory Government today doesn't consider it part of the UK.
When the Russians get within a certain distance of Kyiv centre they will light up as many of them as they can and then fight on every street corner.
I do wonder if they have thermobaric devices themselves they could drop, for example, on Rostov-na-Donu
The Republic of Ireland is not in NATO, is not in the Commonwealth, does not share our head of state, was neutral in the Cold War and was officially neutral in WW2.
On no grounds whatsoever is the Republic of Ireland a core member of the Anglosphere. It is outer tier at most.
As I said Churchill opposed Indian independence as did most Tories at the time, it was Attlee and Labour who gave then independence. However I am not answering irrelevant hypotheticals as I am a Tory for now and India is independent in the reality of today
This Tory Government will soon invoke Article 16
You're thinking about Plaid Cymru again?
Anyway, saw your post and wanted to say "good on you" for offering to host some refugees. Contemplating doing the same myself but a bit hesitant for certain practical reasons, but definitely not ruled out the possibility.
There was an article in yesterday's Times about hosting a refugee family. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/housing-ukrainian-refugees-can-i-offer-a-room-0b03q28lv
If you can't get past the paywall, the relevant bits for someone in your position are the links to sites matching families with refugees looking for a home. The first three sites are specifically for Ukrainian refugees:
The Facebook page Accommodation, Help and Shelter for Ukraine: https://www.facebook.com/groups/699929631375624
set up to match Ukrainian refugees with hosts across Europe and the US.
https://shelter4ua.com/ua
https://www.ukrainetakeshelter.com/
Room for Refugees Network
https://www.paih.org/get-involved/host-a-refugee-in-your-home
https://www.refugeesathome.org/
Hope at least one of these sites will be useful for you.
If things go as badly as they reasonably could for the government (big, ongoing tax rises making everyone poorer), Spring 2022 might turn out with hindsight to be the best chance for another Conservative win. But no government can think that without going mad.
So yes. If the Conservatives are in trouble, dump Boris in summer 2023. Feel OK budget in autumn 2023, fluffing up pay packets in April 2024 with an election shortly afterwards. I'm not sure that it will work, but it has to be the best bet.
Most people (on here) recognised that Zero Covid was a dumb policy, because - at some point - you need to open up again.
On the other hand, I think you can argue that a "Zero Covid" policy early in the pandemic (assuming you have an island far from anywhere), followed by opening up once people are fully vaccinated is far from a stupid strategy.
It's just that many places (*cough* China) failed to appreciate that at a certain point, you need to let it go.
Yes, I think that NZ used it’s natural advantages well. Yes they have restricted access to outsiders, but I suspect for many it’s been a price worth paying. They are now having plenty of cases but not much death, although it might seem like it to them.
I would say though, that contrary to some people’s ideas, we could never have adopted a similar strategy in the U.K.
No, we couldn't. The UK is far too interconnected, and far too reliant on people crossing borders with goods.
I believe that we could have slowed the initial spread with quicker travel restrictions. We could never have prevented it entirely. Over all, I think we've done OK.
I would say Tory win in 2024 is by far the most likely outcome
Mass disinformation is easier than mass medication.
Viscount Cranborne, the British Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs, wrote a letter on 21 February 1945 to the British War Cabinet regarding Irish-British collaboration during 1939–1945:
# They [the Irish] agreed to our use of Lough Foyle for naval and air purposes. The ownership of the Lough is disputed, but the Southern Irish authorities are tacitly not pressing their claim in present conditions and are also ignoring any flying by our aircraft over the Donegal shore of the Lough, which is necessary in certain wind conditions to enable flying boats to take off from the Lough.
1. They have agreed to use by our aircraft based on Lough Erne of a corridor over Southern Irish territory and territorial waters for the purpose of flying out to the Atlantic.
2. They have arranged for the immediate transmission to the United Kingdom Representative's Office in Dublin of reports of submarine activity received from their coast watching service.
3. They arranged for the broadening of reports by their Air observation Corps of aircraft sighted over or approaching Southern Irish territory. (This does not include our aircraft using the corridor referred to in (b) above.)
4. They arranged for the extinction of trade and business lighting in coastal towns where such lighting was alleged to afford a useful landmark for German aircraft.
5. They have continued to supply us with meteorological reports.
6. They have agreed to the use by our ships and aircraft of two wireless direction-finding stations at Malin Head.
7. They have supplied particulars of German crashed aircraft and personnel crashed or washed ashore or arrested on land.
8. They arranged for staff talks on the question of co-operation against a possible German invasion of Southern Ireland, and close contact has since been maintained between the respective military authorities.
9. They continue to intern all German fighting personnel reaching Southern Ireland. On the other hand, though after protracted negotiations, Allied service personnel are now allowed to depart freely and full assistance is given in recovering damaged aircraft.
10. Recently, in connection with the establishment of prisoner of war camps in Northern Ireland, they have agreed to return or at least intern any German prisoners who may escape from Northern Ireland across the border to Southern Ireland.
11. They have throughout offered no objection to the departure from Southern Ireland of persons wishing to serve in the United Kingdom Forces nor to the journey on leave of such persons to and from Southern Ireland (in plain clothes).
12. They have continued to exchange information with our security authorities regarding all aliens (including Germans) in Southern Ireland.
13. They have (within the last few days) agreed to our establishing a radar station in Southern Ireland for use against the latest form of submarine activity.
We are probably globally still in a pandemic, but in the space of two years we managed to create multiple vaccines, using multiple different technologies, and have vaccinated billions of people. We will use this to solve other health challenges, such as malaria, and probably a fair few cancers, especially those linked to viral infections.
Even in Ukraine, which is awful, we are seeing the strength of the democratic nations, working together. We are also seeing once again the weakness of dictatorships. In the end the dictator always stops listening to advice. The Russian military is not the demon we once feared. The only reason the Russians are not being rolled out of Ukraine is the fear of nukes. And that’s a real fear, but it also keeps us safe (sorry Nicola).
The world generally gets better, it just may not seem like it at times, and there are always losers.
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quordle.com
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Colonialists. Imperialists.
In which case the sooner you lose it the better. Call one now.
It won't happen - human nature and all that, but there is a Tory case for 2022.
https://missing11.com/who-are-ya/
All that being said I was never a normal eurosceptic in the Baker/Farage mould because I want completely open borders (just for that to be our call). So what do I know about the views of the zealots?
Mrs P and I have had a long talk about it but we have decided not to sign up at the moment for a number of personal reasons.
Second, I’ve just been doing a quick ratio of Russia / Ukrainian losses on Oryx. It’s a very rough measure and doesn’t take into account the types of losses but there has been a noticeable tick-up in the ratio of Russian / Ukrainian losses - it was around 3.5-3.6x yesterday as a whole and now it’s approaching 3.8x. It probably reflects lumpiness but it does look like the Ukrainians had a good day.
That the destruction of Western and Eastern countries "strengthens" those not directly destroyed because they would power on up the ranks. Never mind the fact that the biosphere would be a fucking state and the world economy would head backwards a number of centuries. Rank is what matters in HYUFD's Trumpist view, and a negative sum game makes sense if only the others get hurt much more than you do.
HYUFD would cut his leg off if he knew everybody else would lose both legs.
I would prefer him to be in the NATO camp but that is the reality
Spain was neutral in WW2 and much of the Cold War and they are hardly close allies over Gibraltar either
Welcome back, Lucy. I for one remember you and hope you will resume posting as avidly as you once did.
HYUFD would be happy for South Africa to join because he fancies our chances of beating Eswatini in a war.
Russia's a big boy, so we shouldn't meddle. Rank rank rank. Hit the little guy, give your lunch money to the big guy. No need to mess around with principles or whatever.