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Crisis, what crisis? – politicalbetting.com

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  • Nigel_ForemainNigel_Foremain Posts: 14,792

    You may not have noticed but

    a) Covid is rampant, and

    b) Brexit is not boosting the economy, and

    c) This govt is not overrun with Liberals.

    Covid is not the govts fault, but the poor management of it is. Brexit is wholly the govts fault.
    MaxPB is one of the less loony Brexity posters on here, but he shows by this post that he still wants to blame the fact that Brexit really was a waste of time on those who told him it was, well, a waste of time. You have to see the funny side of it really. Brexit, the most pointless waste of time since The Grand Old Duke of York
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 65,570
    Election in Serbia:

    "President Aleksandar Vucic of Serbia, who is also Moscow-friendly, has governed Serbia since 2012. He was also expected to win re-election after rallying his nationalist and pro-Russian base by refusing to join the European Union in imposing sanctions on Russia. Serbia aspires to become a member of the European bloc, but its application has stalled.

    Mr. Vucic’s Serbian Progressive party, according to opinion polls, should win a majority in the national parliament but could lose control of the capital, Belgrade."

    NY Times blog
  • TheuniondivvieTheuniondivvie Posts: 43,354
    IshmaelZ said:

    We just don't learn. You get the odd clean war, like the Falklands, where there's severely limited opportunities for rape and torture. When there are those opportunities, it's rape and torture every bloody time, no exceptions, no "except for our splendid boys." Look at Goya's Disasters of War and accept that that's what happens, every time. Or point to an army that's had the opportunity and not taken it.
    Otto Dix's Der Krieg, a series of 50 prints depicting his war is right up there (and influenced by of course) with Disasters of War I think. It even depicts a nun being raped by a brutish soldat which I don't think I'll reproduce, so he knew what his splendid boys were up to.
  • CiceroCicero Posts: 3,402

    Cicero - The importance of Kadyrov just sums up the utter incoherence of Putin's Russia. He wants a European, Christian 'true' Russia where nonetheless he relies on a Muslim warload and troops to go and kill slavs on his behalf. I think it is undisputed that a disproportionate number of the Russian frontline forces are from the remoter parts of the country and probably disproportionately Islamic.

    I wonder just how much of a gung ho hero Kadyrov really is though. That video of him praying was shot inside Russia. If he steps one milimetre inside Ukraine I hope someone will be there to take him out.

    Well quite. The key point about Kadyrov is that his thugs are used to keep the rest of the Russian army under control. The death of Toshaev (Kadyrovs "military commander") and the loss of the Chechen tank column eliminated a source of discipline for Russian troops. Personally I think Kadyrov is simply evil and of course he knows that if he did come to Ukraine he would be the number one target. There are Chechen nationalists fighting with the Ukrainians who may try and find him and kill him wherever he is.
  • Daveyboy1961Daveyboy1961 Posts: 4,508

    MaxPB is one of the less loony Brexity posters on here, but he shows by this post that he still wants to blame the fact that Brexit really was a waste of time on those who told him it was, well, a waste of time. You have to see the funny side of it really. Brexit, the most pointless waste of time since The Grand Old Duke of York
    He needs to stop conflating country with the tossers in government who caused the problems. I am as patriotic as the next person but the Tories don't mean Britain to me. I object to being called anti British but not anti tory.
  • First results appearing:

    https://vtr.valasztas.hu/ogy2022/orszagos-listak?tab=parties

    16% counted I think

    Have seen 8-point leads for Opp in Budapest and some 30-40 point leads for Fidesz in more rural areas.

    This feels like a comfortable win for Orban to me, possibly bigger.
  • Beibheirli_CBeibheirli_C Posts: 8,192

    MaxPB is one of the less loony Brexity posters on here, but he shows by this post that he still wants to blame the fact that Brexit really was a waste of time on those who told him it was, well, a waste of time. You have to see the funny side of it really. Brexit, the most pointless waste of time since The Grand Old Duke of York
    The Brexiteers are the worst winners in political history. :smiley:
  • BenpointerBenpointer Posts: 35,302

    He needs to stop conflating country with the tossers in government who caused the problems. I am as patriotic as the next person but the Tories don't mean Britain to me. I object to being called anti British but not anti tory.
    Isn't @MaxPB the one who's showing his patriotism by buggering off to Switzerland soon?
  • AlanbrookeAlanbrooke Posts: 25,788
    HYUFD said:

    I did not say the churches reverted back. However in Ireland and Wales the Roman Catholic Church is now bigger than the Church of Ireland or the Church in Wales. So non evangelicals look to the Pope as their main figurehead on earth, not the monarch and not the Archbishop of Canterbury.

    No church in Scotland or Ireland provides an automatic right to every parishioner to a church wedding or funeral either
    You think Irish protestants look to the pope for moral leadership ?

    Well its a view.
  • BigRichBigRich Posts: 3,492

    Cicero - The importance of Kadyrov just sums up the utter incoherence of Putin's Russia. He wants a European, Christian 'true' Russia where nonetheless he relies on a Muslim warload and troops to go and kill slavs on his behalf. I think it is undisputed that a disproportionate number of the Russian frontline forces are from the remoter parts of the country and probably disproportionately Islamic.

    I wonder just how much of a gung ho hero Kadyrov really is though. That video of him praying was shot inside Russia. If he steps one milimetre inside Ukraine I hope someone will be there to take him out.

    I don't think there is any chance of Kadyrov going to Ukraine, too big a risk to the Russians if they lose him, and he is probably a coward anyway. The Chechen army, his men, might have been a powerful force 20 years ago, but haven't done much real fighting in 20 years and I suspect have become a bit soft/week they seem very keen to get Instagram videos, and no doubt very good at killing unarmed civilians who say the wrong thing, but fighting people armed with guns, that's a lot harder. They have/had a big reputation, so where good for intimidation, and maybe Putin believed they where good, I don't know.

    There are anti Kadyrove Chechens fighting alongside the Ukrainians right now, depending on how this ends, but with Russian army depleted, I wonder if they will 'borrow' a few NLAWs and Stingers, and head home? A civil war in Chechenia, might be the end of Kadyrove, weather his repayment is any better is another question.
  • Haven't seen Opposition leading in any FPTP seats outside Budapest so far. 1.05 still available for Orban on BF
  • IshmaelZIshmaelZ Posts: 21,830

    Isn't @MaxPB the one who's showing his patriotism by buggering off to Switzerland soon?
    And has a deep and abiding hatred for the rich, including his neighbours in Bishop's Avenue, N2.
  • LostPasswordLostPassword Posts: 19,163
    HYUFD said:

    There are still 1.3 billion Roman Catholics worldwide.

    The Pope has under his authority more people than any world leader other than the PM of India and the President of China. That authority would replace that of the UK monarch and Archbishop of Canterbury in England for most non evangelical Christians as soon as the Church of England was disestablished
    Maybe you are right, though I doubt it, but either way hardly anyone would notice.
  • CyclefreeCyclefree Posts: 25,651
    IshmaelZ said:

    Not real time grapes I assume?
    From last September.
  • BigRichBigRich Posts: 3,492

    First results appearing:

    https://vtr.valasztas.hu/ogy2022/orszagos-listak?tab=parties

    16% counted I think

    Have seen 8-point leads for Opp in Budapest and some 30-40 point leads for Fidesz in more rural areas.

    This feels like a comfortable win for Orban to me, possibly bigger.

    :(

    so they are releasing the numbers in increments?
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 127,113

    Maybe you are right, though I doubt it, but either way hardly anyone would notice.
    Mainline Protestants in England would notice, as would Roman Catholics.

    It would effectively reverse the Reformation and replace the Monarch with the Pope again as the head of the main Catholic church in England
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 127,113
    edited April 2022

    You think Irish protestants look to the pope for moral leadership ?

    Well its a view.
    They are Presbyterian evangelicals mainly, not in a Protestant church in the Catholic tradition like the Church of England.

    In Ireland the Roman Catholic Church is now bigger than the non established Anglican Church of Ireland in both north and south
  • SeaShantyIrish2SeaShantyIrish2 Posts: 17,559
    Think source of this is Hungarian government, but for what it's worth:

    https://abouthungary.hu/news-in-brief/hungary-elects-2022-minute-by-minute
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 83,550
    “The worst was in the basement of the dacha.

    ‘We found 18 bodies in there,’ he said. ‘They had been torturing people. Some of them had their ears cut off. Others had teeth pulled out. There were kids like 14, 16 years old, some adults.’”

    https://twitter.com/NatashaBertrand/status/1510587311226032133?t=TppAgx49uIVYcMr0n5zwsw&s=19
  • IshmaelZ said:

    Sounds cocsistent with what I haveread about the NA campaign. Of course fighting in the desert is almost as civilian free as fighting in the Atlantic. But if you read say Beevor or Hastings on the 1944 Normandy fighting, there was atrocity and to spare, from all sides.
    My uncle was badly wounded in the fighting just before Tobruk and missing presumed dead. But in fact it was later discovered he was taken by the Germans to a hospital and died there. I believe Hitler had ordered that wounded enemy be killed so as not to get in the way but that Rommel said that they should be treated like wounded Germans. I have some letters from the time but it is all quite distressing to read.
  • IshmaelZIshmaelZ Posts: 21,830

    “The worst was in the basement of the dacha.

    ‘We found 18 bodies in there,’ he said. ‘They had been torturing people. Some of them had their ears cut off. Others had teeth pulled out. There were kids like 14, 16 years old, some adults.’”

    https://twitter.com/NatashaBertrand/status/1510587311226032133?t=TppAgx49uIVYcMr0n5zwsw&s=19

    That is the worst thing I have ever read.
  • darkagedarkage Posts: 5,398

    How is it possible for so many Russian soldiers to murder innocent Ukrainian civilians?

    Many people in the West have no clue about the contempt and hatred that Russians feel toward Ukrainians.

    This is very widespread.

    Just watch the video below.


    https://twitter.com/visegrad24/status/1510659351261892614

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khokhol

    Pride comes before a fall.
  • Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 53,688

    MaxPB is one of the less loony Brexity posters on here, but he shows by this post that he still wants to blame the fact that Brexit really was a waste of time on those who told him it was, well, a waste of time. You have to see the funny side of it really. Brexit, the most pointless waste of time since The Grand Old Duke of York
    "Brexit is like doing a jigsaw. A pointless way to pass the time until you die."
  • BigRich said:

    :(

    so they are releasing the numbers in increments?
    Yes they are showing results as they emerge so that at least is good, FPTP counted first then list. Fidesz killing it on the FPTP results so far, some leads up to 40pts, only single digit leads for Opp in Budapest.

    Just seen seat proj with Fidesz at 133, 89-17 on FPTP, only 2 Opp FPTP seats outside Budapest projected.

    So Orban is borderline 2/3 majority.

    23% counted, TV projections look at variance with official site fwiw.

    Opposition leader Marki-Zay trails by 13 pts in his FPTP seat.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 44,818
    Taz said:

    It’s Baldricks war poem from Blackadder goes forth.
    Ha right!
  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 39,823

    That's a stretch, don't you think? I really doubt if either (a) people who feel there's still a worrying amount of Covid are doing so because of Brexit or (b) whether decisions by French, German or Chhinese tournists about where to go on holiday are based on a study of the foreign media.

    My impression is that inbound tourism is down everywhere, simply because tourism is down for obvious reasons. It's a bit surprising that outbound is back to normal, but I doubt if that's anything to do with Brexit.
    My conversations with actual Europeans are why I'm taking aim at the fifth columnists who revelled in making bogus comparisons to COVID across Europe and labelling their own nation a "plague island". It's those conversations that made me realise the signal boosting from 15% by other 15%ers in the media of the completely false idea that COVID is or was ever any worse here than any other major European country has unnecessarily given the UK a reputation overseas to avoid.

    Honestly, one of the reasons we need to stop testing and actually halt the ONS series is to allow UK tourism to recover. Every country across the world has the same endemic rate of COVID, the only difference is that we waste time and money trying to detect it.

    There's a group of people in the country who take joy from doing down the nation, during COVID they labelled the UK a "plague island" and unsurprisingly the rest of Europe noticed and now our tourist industry is struggling to recover from that label despite it being completely false.

    We still get it now with people claiming that the UK had a less than good response to COVID, the reality is that it was above average. It would have been better if we'd simply stopped wasting money on testing and had lower numbers. It would have made no difference to the actual rate of COVID but we'd have had half the overall number of confirmed infections the same as the rest of Europe that didn't bother testing.
  • Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 53,688
    darkage said:

    Pride comes before a fall.
    "Pride cometh before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall."
  • bigglesbiggles Posts: 6,754

    Yes they are showing results as they emerge so that at least is good, FPTP counted first then list. Fidesz killing it on the FPTP results so far, some leads up to 40pts, only single digit leads for Opp in Budapest.

    Just seen seat proj with Fidesz at 133, 89-17 on FPTP, only 2 Opp FPTP seats outside Budapest projected.

    So Orban is borderline 2/3 majority.

    23% counted, TV projections look at variance with official site fwiw.

    Opposition leader Marki-Zay trails by 13 pts in his FPTP seat.
    So was all the commentary saying it was close overseas based rubbish, or has there potentially been a late swing or a “late swing”?
  • IshmaelZIshmaelZ Posts: 21,830
    HYUFD said:

    Mainline Protestants in England would notice, as would Roman Catholics.

    It would effectively reverse the Reformation and replace the Monarch with the Pope again as the head of the main Catholic church in England
    der Narzissmus der kleinen Differenzen

    Nobody cares.
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 127,113
    edited April 2022

    Yes they are showing results as they emerge so that at least is good, FPTP counted first then list. Fidesz killing it on the FPTP results so far, some leads up to 40pts, only single digit leads for Opp in Budapest.

    Just seen seat proj with Fidesz at 133, 89-17 on FPTP, only 2 Opp FPTP seats outside Budapest projected.

    So Orban is borderline 2/3 majority.

    23% counted, TV projections look at variance with official site fwiw.

    Opposition leader Marki-Zay trails by 13 pts in his FPTP seat.
    Looks like a landslide re election for Orban. Won't please Brussels
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 73,572

    My uncle was badly wounded in the fighting just before Tobruk and missing presumed dead. But in fact it was later discovered he was taken by the Germans to a hospital and died there. I believe Hitler had ordered that wounded enemy be killed so as not to get in the way but that Rommel said that they should be treated like wounded Germans. I have some letters from the time but it is all quite distressing to read.
    Ritter von Thoma was captured at the end of Alamein fighting a rearguard action to cover Rommel's retreat. His captor was a young lieutenant, only 19 or 20.

    The following day, that young lieutenant was killed.

    A few weeks later, his father received a letter from von Thoma expressing his sorrow at hearing the news and his deepest sympathy to the family.

    A very different type of war from what we're seeing in Ukraine.
  • LostPasswordLostPassword Posts: 19,163
    HYUFD said:

    Mainline Protestants in England would notice, as would Roman Catholics.

    It would effectively reverse the Reformation and replace the Monarch with the Pope again as the head of the main Catholic church in England
    Like I said, I doubt all of the CofE churches would suddenly have Catholic Priests arriving to say Mass. Where would they come from anyway? Parishes are being merged in Ireland because they don't have enough priests.

    And if they did, would it make a huge difference in terms of what the average parishioner gets from the experience?

    Whether the church should be established certainly was a big deal in the past, but now it's not just less important than the Herring quota, it's less important than something so unimportant I can't even think of it.
  • CarlottaVanceCarlottaVance Posts: 60,422
    So that’s where German Defence spending goes!

    Germany has refused to supply Ukraine with 100 Marder infantry fighting vehicles that the country requested last week - WELT

    To make this story even worse, it turns out Germany is spending money on dismantling Marder vehicles.


    https://twitter.com/visegrad24/status/1510698458746863618
  • AlanbrookeAlanbrooke Posts: 25,788
    HYUFD said:

    They are Presbyterian evangelicals mainly, not in a Protestant church in the Catholic tradition like the Church of England.

    In Ireland the Roman Catholic Church is now bigger than the Anglican Church of Ireland in both north and south
    The catholic church has always been the biggest church in both north and south. But it is a spent force, it has no moral leadership due to sex scandals, mother and baby homes and corrupt bishops. It is running short of priests as hardly any new ones are being trained. The RoI has caught up the rest of Europe and looks for secular leadership.
  • Richard_TyndallRichard_Tyndall Posts: 33,255
    Carnyx said:

    And I have news for you, but better now than when you are writing your funeral wishes in your will. It's been illegal to be buried "in" a church, C of E or not, since the mid-C19. (Apart from CHurchill etc.).
    Churchill isn't buried in a church. His grave is outside in the graveyard of Bladon Church from which you can see Blenheim Palace where he was born. It is an incredibly moving grave as well. A massive plain white marble with his name inscribed on it.
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 127,113
    IshmaelZ said:

    der Narzissmus der kleinen Differenzen

    Nobody cares.
    Well they should care, as it would greatly increase the Pope's authority in England in the religious sphere at the expense of our monarch
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 83,550
    edited April 2022

    So that’s where German Defence spending goes!

    Germany has refused to supply Ukraine with 100 Marder infantry fighting vehicles that the country requested last week - WELT

    To make this story even worse, it turns out Germany is spending money on dismantling Marder vehicles.


    https://twitter.com/visegrad24/status/1510698458746863618

    Bit late for April Fools story.
  • Richard_TyndallRichard_Tyndall Posts: 33,255
    HYUFD said:

    Well they should care, as it would greatly increase the Pope's authority in England in the religious sphere at the expense of our monarch
    No it really wouldn't. This is just another of your delusions.
  • williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 54,859
    Stand by for some grotesque lying:

    @KevinRothrock
    Moscow is demanding an emergency session of the UN Security Council tomorrow to discuss “Ukrainian radicals’ provocation” in Bucha (the town outside Kyiv where Russian troops slaughtered hundreds of civilians but deny it).


    https://twitter.com/KevinRothrock/status/1510698438102597641
  • IshmaelZIshmaelZ Posts: 21,830
    HYUFD said:

    Well they should care, as it would greatly increase the Pope's authority in England in the religious sphere at the expense of our monarch
    My worst nightmare.
  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 39,823
    edited April 2022

    MaxPB is one of the less loony Brexity posters on here, but he shows by this post that he still wants to blame the fact that Brexit really was a waste of time on those who told him it was, well, a waste of time. You have to see the funny side of it really. Brexit, the most pointless waste of time since The Grand Old Duke of York
    Nah, there was a revelry in the "plague island" narrative from certain people in the UK (not including you) and the idiots in our media and international media signal boosted them and now it's hurt our tourism industry.

    I work with a lot of Europeans, the stories from Europe are all the same - people don't want to come here because they think COVID is still happening and that life in the UK is still really bad with restrictions and everything being closed. They see the stupid ONS reporting with stuff like "5m infections in England" which is dutifully retwatted all over the internet by the same "plague island" arseholes without any context and stay away.

    Yet if I took a random sample of swabs in France we'd probably see the same 1/10-1/15 rate of COVID across the country. They just don't bother testing for it.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 83,550

    Stand by for some grotesque lying:

    @KevinRothrock
    Moscow is demanding an emergency session of the UN Security Council tomorrow to discuss “Ukrainian radicals’ provocation” in Bucha (the town outside Kyiv where Russian troops slaughtered hundreds of civilians but deny it).


    https://twitter.com/KevinRothrock/status/1510698438102597641

    All the Nazis fault I presume.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 73,572

    Stand by for some grotesque lying:

    @KevinRothrock
    Moscow is demanding an emergency session of the UN Security Council tomorrow to discuss “Ukrainian radicals’ provocation” in Bucha (the town outside Kyiv where Russian troops slaughtered hundreds of civilians but deny it).


    https://twitter.com/KevinRothrock/status/1510698438102597641

    Do even the Russians buy this bullshit now? Even those who were posting Russian propaganda on here recently have gone into embarrassed silence.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 73,572
    IshmaelZ said:

    My worst nightmare.
    Really? I always thought that was when I out-punned you,
  • SeaShantyIrish2SeaShantyIrish2 Posts: 17,559
    via Budapest Business Journal

    https://bbj.hu/politics/domestic/elections/2022-hungarian-parliamentary-election-live-updates

    9:12 p.m. - NVI updates results
    With 23.03% of party-list votes processed:

    Fidesz-KDNP still leads with 59.99%.

    United for Hungary has 28.89%.

    Our Home has 6.58%.

    According to the election office's seat projections, this would mean that Viktor Orbán's Fidesz-KDNP would be able to retain his supermajority with 134 seats. United for Hungary would get 57 seats, and Our Home would get eight seats.
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 127,113
    edited April 2022

    Like I said, I doubt all of the CofE churches would suddenly have Catholic Priests arriving to say Mass. Where would they come from anyway? Parishes are being merged in Ireland because they don't have enough priests.

    And if they did, would it make a huge difference in terms of what the average parishioner gets from the experience?

    Whether the church should be established certainly was a big deal in the past, but now it's not just less important than the Herring quota, it's less important than something so unimportant I can't even think of it.
    Worldwide there is a shortage of Roman Catholic priests yes, while there is no shortage of Anglican priests. Since 1980 the size of Roman Catholic congregation per priest worldwide has near trebled due to clerical celibacy rules and fewer working class Catholic families prizing having a priest in the family as the pinnacle of success.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priest_shortage_in_the_Catholic_Church

    So there is likely little effect in terms of who conducts services in the buildings.

    However if the church is disestablished the Pope would replace the monarch as the main head of the Catholic Church on earth in England for the first time since the Reformation. As well as the loss of the automatic right to Parish marriages and funerals etc
  • IshmaelZIshmaelZ Posts: 21,830
    ydoethur said:

    Really? I always thought that was when I out-punned you,
    That's more a feature of your dreams.
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 65,570

    “The worst was in the basement of the dacha.

    ‘We found 18 bodies in there,’ he said. ‘They had been torturing people. Some of them had their ears cut off. Others had teeth pulled out. There were kids like 14, 16 years old, some adults.’”

    https://twitter.com/NatashaBertrand/status/1510587311226032133?t=TppAgx49uIVYcMr0n5zwsw&s=19

    In Putin's sick head he is saving these people from the Nazi.


  • Richard_TyndallRichard_Tyndall Posts: 33,255
    Leon said:

    Unfortunately Biden did make several other huge gaffes which imply he should just not speak ever, and delegate his entire job to younger underlings, and retire in 2024
    You are probably right in that but this was not one of them in spite of all the criticism directed against him.
  • HYUFD said:

    Looks like a landslide re election for Orban. Won't please Brussels
    133 needed for 2/3 supermajority, Fidesz won 133 in 2014, 133 in 2018, current projection is 133 in 2022.
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 127,113

    The catholic church has always been the biggest church in both north and south. But it is a spent force, it has no moral leadership due to sex scandals, mother and baby homes and corrupt bishops. It is running short of priests as hardly any new ones are being trained. The RoI has caught up the rest of Europe and looks for secular leadership.
    The Pope is still the main religious guide on earth in Ireland, not the monarch as is the case in England.

  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 65,570
    ydoethur said:

    Do even the Russians buy this bullshit now? Even those who were posting Russian propaganda on here recently have gone into embarrassed silence.
    To be honest, I don't see how the UN survives the Russo-Ukrainian war.

    I mean what is the actual fucking point of it?
  • PaulDPaulD Posts: 51

    Stand by for some grotesque lying:

    @KevinRothrock
    Moscow is demanding an emergency session of the UN Security Council tomorrow to discuss “Ukrainian radicals’ provocation” in Bucha (the town outside Kyiv where Russian troops slaughtered hundreds of civilians but deny it).


    https://twitter.com/KevinRothrock/status/1510698438102597641

    Well I suppose there are 2 sides to every story...let them say their piece even if its rubbish
  • glwglw Posts: 10,367

    An investigative journalist has claimed that doomed media tycoon Robert Maxwell didn't have any loyalties in an eye-opening new documentary, which delves into the last few years of his life at the helm of his financially struggling publishing empire.

    The first episode of BBC's House of Maxwell, which airs on BBC2 tomorrow at 9pm, reveals that Robert Maxwell had ties to Russia's KGB and MI6, even wanting Britain's intelligence agency to fund his publishing company.

    Errr, did they forget about his funeral?
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 73,572

    133 needed for 2/3 supermajority, Fidesz won 133 in 2014, 133 in 2018, current projection is 133 in 2022.
    How very mathematical.
  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 39,823

    133 needed for 2/3 supermajority, Fidesz won 133 in 2014, 133 in 2018, current projection is 133 in 2022.
    Must be very lucky, that friend if Putin.
  • PaulDPaulD Posts: 51
    Interestingly Hitchens in the most today says the USA is using the Ukraine war as a proxy war to drive Russia back to the stone age....
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 54,572

    Stand by for some grotesque lying:

    @KevinRothrock
    Moscow is demanding an emergency session of the UN Security Council tomorrow to discuss “Ukrainian radicals’ provocation” in Bucha (the town outside Kyiv where Russian troops slaughtered hundreds of civilians but deny it).


    https://twitter.com/KevinRothrock/status/1510698438102597641

    The UN need to move to a position where no one nation can veto a peace-keeping force.
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 127,113

    To be honest, I don't see how the UN survives the Russo-Ukrainian war.

    I mean what is the actual fucking point of it?
    Development work, aid and action against non P5 members if needed eg the Gulf War.

    Although it can do sod all against the P5 agreed as they would veto it
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 73,572
    edited April 2022
    PaulD said:

    Well I suppose there are 2 sides to every story...let them say their piece even if its rubbish
    It can't be anything but rubbish. Even if every Ukrainian in Bucha had shouted 'your brains are even smaller than your dicks' at the Russians while spraying them with polonium pellets, anything the Russians did in response would still only be a further war crime because they were committing a war crime by being there to start with.

    Whatever they try to claim, there is no 'two sides' to this one. I only hope somebody makes that point to the Russian Ambassador in language so blunt even Lavrov can't weasel his way out of it.
  • FairlieredFairliered Posts: 5,609
    MaxPB said:

    My conversations with actual Europeans are why I'm taking aim at the fifth columnists who revelled in making bogus comparisons to COVID across Europe and labelling their own nation a "plague island". It's those conversations that made me realise the signal boosting from 15% by other 15%ers in the media of the completely false idea that COVID is or was ever any worse here than any other major European country has unnecessarily given the UK a reputation overseas to avoid.

    Honestly, one of the reasons we need to stop testing and actually halt the ONS series is to allow UK tourism to recover. Every country across the world has the same endemic rate of COVID, the only difference is that we waste time and money trying to detect it.

    There's a group of people in the country who take joy from doing down the nation, during COVID they labelled the UK a "plague island" and unsurprisingly the rest of Europe noticed and now our tourist industry is struggling to recover from that label despite it being completely false.

    We still get it now with people claiming that the UK had a less than good response to COVID, the reality is that it was above average. It would have been better if we'd simply stopped wasting money on testing and had lower numbers. It would have made no difference to the actual rate of COVID but we'd have had half the overall number of confirmed infections the same as the rest of Europe that didn't bother testing.
    Ironically, it seems that most of the people who run the UK down are remainers, but the effect of discouraging foreigners suits brexiteers.
  • SeaShantyIrish2SeaShantyIrish2 Posts: 17,559

    133 needed for 2/3 supermajority, Fidesz won 133 in 2014, 133 in 2018, current projection is 133 in 2022.
    Who wants to bet against Orban getting his super-majority?

    BTW, wonder if Steve Bannon is sitting by his side tonight? OR is S(o)B in Belgrade instead?
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 83,550
    Do we have visitors from Moscow again .....
  • BigRichBigRich Posts: 3,492

    133 needed for 2/3 supermajority, Fidesz won 133 in 2014, 133 in 2018, current projection is 133 in 2022.
    err, is it just me or is that suspisiass?
  • glwglw Posts: 10,367
    PaulD said:

    Interestingly Hitchens in the most today says the USA is using the Ukraine war as a proxy war to drive Russia back to the stone age....

    Good.
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 98,601

    Stand by for some grotesque lying:

    @KevinRothrock
    Moscow is demanding an emergency session of the UN Security Council tomorrow to discuss “Ukrainian radicals’ provocation” in Bucha (the town outside Kyiv where Russian troops slaughtered hundreds of civilians but deny it).


    https://twitter.com/KevinRothrock/status/1510698438102597641

    How does one provoke another country whilst still within their own country?

    We shall find out, but I suspect it will be incredibly stupid. Like, your will feel youw IQ decreasing just from hearing it.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 73,572
    BigRich said:

    err, is it just me or is that suspisiass?
    It's just you. Because it's not suspicious, it's stone certain.
  • williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 54,859
    PaulD said:

    Well I suppose there are 2 sides to every story...let them say their piece even if its rubbish
    Hmm, I see you think it's very important to have a "ceasefire now by any means possible and end this war" and a "negotiated settlement which gives Putin a win he can sell to the Russians".

    You've got a tough gig, but you need to be more subtle...
  • Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 53,688

    133 needed for 2/3 supermajority, Fidesz won 133 in 2014, 133 in 2018, current projection is 133 in 2022.
    Most boring election in the world?
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 98,601
    edited April 2022
    ydoethur said:

    It can't be anything but rubbish. Even if every Ukrainian in Bucha had shouted 'your brains are even smaller than your dicks' at the Russians while spraying them with polonium pellets, anything the Russians did in response would still only be a further war crime because they were committing a war crime by being there to start with.

    Whatever they try to claim, there is no 'two sides' to this one. I only hope somebody makes that point to the Russian Ambassador in language so blunt even Lavrov can't weasel his way out of it.
    They genuinely advance the claim - and their supporters here do too - that deaths of Ukrainians is the fault of Ukrainians for fighting back rather than just surrendering. Nothing prevents a weasel from weaselling.

    We see this with the periodic 'war is terrible, so they should accept anything to stop' dodge. Fact it, some things in this world are worth fighting for, and if the Ukrainians want to fight we should do nothing to hold them back, but instead facilitate it.
  • BigRichBigRich Posts: 3,492

    Stand by for some grotesque lying:

    @KevinRothrock
    Moscow is demanding an emergency session of the UN Security Council tomorrow to discuss “Ukrainian radicals’ provocation” in Bucha (the town outside Kyiv where Russian troops slaughtered hundreds of civilians but deny it).


    https://twitter.com/KevinRothrock/status/1510698438102597641

    :(

    They are trying to get there accusations in first to muddy the waters.

    I don't know what to do, but sending more help to Ukraine has to be a good start.
  • PaulDPaulD Posts: 51
    glw said:

    Good.
    Maybe good for the USA but not good for the people of Ukraine as the Russians kill and torture their men and lay waste to much of the country...
  • AnabobazinaAnabobazina Posts: 23,795
    MaxPB said:

    My conversations with actual Europeans are why I'm taking aim at the fifth columnists who revelled in making bogus comparisons to COVID across Europe and labelling their own nation a "plague island". It's those conversations that made me realise the signal boosting from 15% by other 15%ers in the media of the completely false idea that COVID is or was ever any worse here than any other major European country has unnecessarily given the UK a reputation overseas to avoid.

    Honestly, one of the reasons we need to stop testing and actually halt the ONS series is to allow UK tourism to recover. Every country across the world has the same endemic rate of COVID, the only difference is that we waste time and money trying to detect it.

    There's a group of people in the country who take joy from doing down the nation, during COVID they labelled the UK a "plague island" and unsurprisingly the rest of Europe noticed and now our tourist industry is struggling to recover from that label despite it being completely false.

    We still get it now with people claiming that the UK had a less than good response to COVID, the reality is that it was above average. It would have been better if we'd simply stopped wasting money on testing and had lower numbers. It would have made no difference to the actual rate of COVID but we'd have had half the overall number of confirmed infections the same as the rest of Europe that didn't bother testing.
    I’m not sure what (if any) relevance Brexit has but there are certainly shreds of truth is some parts of that post.

    We are in an Age of Irrationality here in the UK: people generally know that covid has been defanged (it’s now less risky than influenza) yet continue to behave otherwise. It has a stigma all of its own.

    It’s hard to conclude that years of self-flagellation have been helpful to the cause.

    You see it even on PB, among people who really ought to know better. Why not just roll back the data to a weekly/monthly update and move on rather than obsessing over numbers to the detriment of many more important matters?
  • IshmaelZIshmaelZ Posts: 21,830
    PaulD said:

    Interestingly Hitchens in the most today says the USA is using the Ukraine war as a proxy war to drive Russia back to the stone age....

    Oh look, you joined the site at 5.21 pm today.

    Normally you people are quite entertaining, but we are talking about children being tortured to death here. Please feel free to douse yourself with petrol and strike a match.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 73,572
    edited April 2022
    PaulD said:

    Maybe good for the USA but not good for the people of Ukraine as the Russians kill and torture their men and lay waste to much of the country...
    So the correct strategy is for Putin to withdraw, as that lets the Ukrainians off and deprives the Yanks of a major strategic victory.

    Or, indeed, he could just not have invaded in the first place and therefore not handed the US their greatest strategic advance since the fall of the Berlin Wall on a plate all by his little fat self.
  • PaulDPaulD Posts: 51

    Hmm, I see you think it's very important to have a "ceasefire now by any means possible and end this war" and a "negotiated settlement which gives Putin a win he can sell to the Russians".

    You've got a tough gig, but you need to be more subtle...
    The slaughter of innocents in Ukraine is horrifying...we can't just stand by and let it happen...the Russians are going to torture brutally and kill many people trust me
  • Beibheirli_CBeibheirli_C Posts: 8,192
    HYUFD said:

    The Pope is still the main religious guide on earth in Ireland, not the monarch as is the case in England.

    If the Queen is the Anglican's "main religious guide on earth" then what is the point of the Archbishop of Canterbury?

    Royal families are an obscene anachronism that should be abolished.
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 54,572

    Most boring election in the world?
    No - just the most boring "count".....
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 65,570

    You are probably right in that but this was not one of them in spite of all the criticism directed against him.
    It has been widely reported as a gaffe. But maybe it wasn't? Maybe Biden knows what he is doing. Keep Vlad guessing.

    It is a bit ironic for the GOP, as one example, to say it was a gaffe, when Trump would say whatever came into his head every five minutes for the four years he was in WH.
  • AnabobazinaAnabobazina Posts: 23,795
    edited April 2022
    MaxPB said:

    Nah, there was a revelry in the "plague island" narrative from certain people in the UK (not including you) and the idiots in our media and international media signal boosted them and now it's hurt our tourism industry.

    I work with a lot of Europeans, the stories from Europe are all the same - people don't want to come here because they think COVID is still happening and that life in the UK is still really bad with restrictions and everything being closed. They see the stupid ONS reporting with stuff like "5m infections in England" which is dutifully retwatted all over the internet by the same "plague island" arseholes without any context and stay away.

    Yet if I took a random sample of swabs in France we'd probably see the same 1/10-1/15 rate of COVID across the country. They just don't bother testing for it.
    That’s probably a fair point, about the ONS survey. There are two worlds: one the world on the internet where everything is either doom and gloom now or doom and gloom tomorrow. Then there is the real world, where people have binned the masks, are going out, having fun, and getting on with their lives.

    The problem comes when World 1 bleeds into World 2: “people are riddled with it around here; I’ll see you at the weekend provided I don’t catch it!”
  • SeaShantyIrish2SeaShantyIrish2 Posts: 17,559
    So "true" significance of another rigged Orban victory in Hungary, is that'll piss off EU? Really?
  • MattWMattW Posts: 26,680

    I've done *alot* of walking around this country. And whilst I know what you mean, scenery becomes a little boring after a while. The great thing about London is the sheer variety, both in views and the people. This can be seen in (say) a seven-mile walk along the Regents Canal from Mile End to Paddington, seven miles along the Thames Path, or seven miles south from Greenwich.

    If you want boring, try walking around Loch Long. Three days just to end up a couple of kilometres from where you began ...
    My favourite walks in London have perhaps been along the routes of subterranean rivers, with a commentary relating it to the city development.
  • williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 54,859
    PaulD said:

    The slaughter of innocents in Ukraine is horrifying...we can't just stand by and let it happen...the Russians are going to torture brutally and kill many people trust me
    So you'd be in favour of sending heavy weapons so that the Ukrainians can drive them out?
  • AnabobazinaAnabobazina Posts: 23,795
    edited April 2022

    So "true" significance of another rigged Orban victory in Hungary, is that'll piss off EU? Really?

    Ha! Quite. And it’s hardly unexpected. Wasn’t Orban widely expected to ‘win’?
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 76,782
    .

    Cicero - The importance of Kadyrov just sums up the utter incoherence of Putin's Russia. He wants a European, Christian 'true' Russia where nonetheless he relies on a Muslim warload and troops to go and kill slavs on his behalf. I think it is undisputed that a disproportionate number of the Russian frontline forces are from the remoter parts of the country and probably disproportionately Islamic.

    I wonder just how much of a gung ho hero Kadyrov really is though. That video of him praying was shot inside Russia. If he steps one milimetre inside Ukraine I hope someone will be there to take him out.

    Putin doesn't give a damn about a 'Christian true Russia' beyond its propaganda value.

    And Kadyrov being a Muslim is irrelevant next to his value as a brutal warlord. Russia has copied the Chechnya model in occupied Donbas - all employment is by state enterprises or the militia, and dissidence is punishable by death.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 73,572
    edited April 2022

    So "true" significance of another rigged Orban victory in Hungary, is that'll piss off EU? Really?

    Serious question, from a Remain voter:

    Doesn't everything piss off the EU? Due process, elections, referendums, bendy bananas, different weights and measures, vaccine contracts, prawn cocktail crisps...

    It's always been quite a negative organisation from that point of view. Lofty ideals mixing with silly nit picking.

    That said, it will piss off the EU and on this occasion with good reason because Orban's a twat.
  • PaulDPaulD Posts: 51
    ydoethur said:

    So the correct strategy is for Putin to withdraw, as that lets the Ukrainians off and deprives the Yanks of a major strategic victory.

    Or, indeed, he could just not have invaded in the first place and therefore not handed the US their greatest strategic advance since the fall of the Berlin Wall on a plate all by his little fat self.
    Realpolitik my friend...Putin can't withdraw it will be the end of him thus we have to look towards a ceasefire....give Putin a small win he can sell...then strangle the Russian economy with sanctions
  • solarflaresolarflare Posts: 3,932

    Most boring election in the world?
    Doesn't sound too bad for betting purposes though!
  • PaulDPaulD Posts: 51

    So you'd be in favour of sending heavy weapons so that the Ukrainians can drive them out?
    I would be if that would end the war...but all I think would happen then is Putin gets more aggressive and we could see hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian lives lost
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 127,113
    Charles Moore documentary on the relationship between Reagan and Thatcher at 9pm on BBC2
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 76,782
    ydoethur said:

    It can't be anything but rubbish. Even if every Ukrainian in Bucha had shouted 'your brains are even smaller than your dicks' at the Russians while spraying them with polonium pellets, anything the Russians did in response would still only be a further war crime because they were committing a war crime by being there to start with.

    Whatever they try to claim, there is no 'two sides' to this one. I only hope somebody makes that point to the Russian Ambassador in language so blunt even Lavrov can't weasel his way out of it.
    “The worst was in the basement of the dacha.

    ‘We found 18 bodies in there,’ he said. ‘They had been torturing people. Some of them had their ears cut off. Others had teeth pulled out. There were kids like 14, 16 years old, some adults.’”

    https://mobile.twitter.com/NatashaBertrand/status/1510587311226032133
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 73,572
    PaulD said:

    Realpolitik my friend...Putin can't withdraw it will be the end of him thus we have to look towards a ceasefire....give Putin a small win he can sell...then strangle the Russian economy with sanctions
    So what you're saying is a withdrawal is a win/win/win? Deprives Ukraine of a bunch of Nazi occupiers, America of a strategic victory and the world of Vladimir Vladimirovich? Hopefully along with Bortnikov, Medvedev, Lavrov and Shoigu.

    I mean, that's an exquisite scenario. What's not to like?

    Putin must withdraw now!
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 127,113
    PaulD said:

    The slaughter of innocents in Ukraine is horrifying...we can't just stand by and let it happen...the Russians are going to torture brutally and kill many people trust me
    The alternative is that or WW3 unfortunately.

    Unless a NATO nation is invaded or NATO forces attacked we are not getting directly involved militarily
  • PaulDPaulD Posts: 51
    ydoethur said:

    So what you're saying is a withdrawal is a win/win/win? Deprives Ukraine of a bunch of Nazi occupiers, America of a strategic victory and the world of Vladimir Vladimirovich? Hopefully along with Bortnikov, Medvedev, Lavrov and Shoigu.

    I mean, that's an exquisite scenario. What's not to like?

    Putin must withdraw now!
    Well why don't you tell him that...I'm sure he would oblige...unfortunately the real world doesn't work like that...
  • BigRichBigRich Posts: 3,492

    The UN need to move to a position where no one nation can veto a peace-keeping force.
    I like the idea but Putin has enough allies, to stop even if 15 could not stop a peacekeeping force, Putin got 16 votes in last assembly, and many more abstaining.

    incidentally, I hope we stop giving any 'aid' to nations that voted with Putin in the UK last time, maybe the abstainers as well.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 83,550
    edited April 2022
    The quality of the russian trolls are about as good as their tanks. Even a Leon powered by Nyetimber Rose and a flint dildo can take them down with ease.
  • IshmaelZIshmaelZ Posts: 21,830

    You really think that Biden calling Putin a war criminal was a gaffe? Really?

    Personally think he means it AND wants Putin & Co to know it.

    With any clucking to the contrary from Foggy Bottom, etc in DC just for semi-plausible deniability.

    You need to rethink (again) the whole Joe Biden = demented vegetable theme. Which you seem as fond of, as HYUFD is of his caesaro-papist junk theology.
    Just by his age he has a 5% chance of being demented, rising to 10% in 5 years time

    This puts it up at 100%. Can't tell Syria from Libya.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsIxP-c83ok&ab_channel=SkyNewsAustralia
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 127,113
    Nigelb said:

    .

    Putin doesn't give a damn about a 'Christian true Russia' beyond its propaganda value.

    And Kadyrov being a Muslim is irrelevant next to his value as a brutal warlord. Russia has copied the Chechnya model in occupied Donbas - all employment is by state enterprises or the militia, and dissidence is punishable by death.
    Part of the reason Putin invaded Ukraine though is Ukraine is overwhelmingly white, as is most of Eastern Europe.

    While Russia is increasingly seeing low birth rates but high immigration from central Asia
  • PaulDPaulD Posts: 51
    We must not let our hatred of Putin blind us to what can realistically be done about him
    And remember in the meantime the Ukrainians are suffering beyond our comprehension
This discussion has been closed.