Long and fascinating thread (for those interested in such stuff).
While a lot of their kit is semi-obsolete, Ukraine appears to have more advanced and far more effective artillery targeting systems than anyone in NATO.
This is nothing like the US Military's Tactical Fire Direction System (TACFIRE)...
That’s really cool, thanks for posting.
And it explains the importance of this, which wasn't entirely clear at the time: A week ago, ~40,000 SATCOM terminals were knocked out in Ukraine and other European countries. I just published a technical analysis of that incident, based on the information publicly available and my experience in that field.
There a hundred better countries in which to live than Britain.
And I intend to do so.
Care to name them?
I know Vladimir Putin hates Britain with a passion now because of our ardent support of Ukraine, but what reason would you have to despise Britain so much that you'd think there are a hundred better countries to live in?
The Nordics and the Netherlands are richer and have a better quality of life than we do. Ireland too. Among the larger European countries Germany certainly does too. I'd say France does too, certainly better work life balance and nicer weather too although the French don't seem very happy with it. Italy is messed up but the food and weather are a lot better. Switzerland has a lot going for it, as does Canada and New Zealand. I'm probably too invested here to move now, and there is still a lot I love about it despite the Tories' best efforts to ruin the place, but the idea that this is objectively the best country in the world to live in is laughable.
I think that I could quite happily live in any European country, bar current war zones, Canada, USA, most of Latin America, a fair chunk of Africa, SE or NE Asia, Australia or NZ, not nessicarily in that order. It must be over 100 countries. I prefer to live here though.
It is because I care about this country so much that I despise its government.
Well move then if you hate this country and its government so much.
The fact you and Heathener think there are 100 countries better than the UK, when the UK is well above global average income, wealth, life expectancy and PISA education ranking says it all!
Foxy didn't say 100 were better. He said he could happily live in that many but preferred to live here. Which if anything is the opposite of Heathener who is keen to live elsewhere.
So @thetimes reporting Liz Truss to scrap Northern Ireland protocol - or at least parts of it - next week. This will trigger retaliation from EU which could make relations v difficult. EU likely to launch legal action against and suspend co-operation with UK on most issues .. https://twitter.com/sima_kotecha/status/1523930984261033985
Of course - got to respond to the drubbing in the locals somehow, time to break out the Brexit greatest hits.
...and in other less serious news. In a bid for post- Johnsonian ownership of the Conservative Party, Liz Truss is preparing to tear up the NI Protocol, putting the UK in a cold-was with Europe and a potentially hotter one on the Streets of Northern Ireland.
...and in other less serious news. In a bid for post- Johnsonian ownership of the Conservative Party, Liz Truss is preparing to tear up the NI Protocol, putting the UK in a cold-was with Europe and a potentially hotter one on the Streets of Northern Ireland.
Well if she does that will at least put the DUP back in the Tory camp if a hung parliament at the next general election
So @thetimes reporting Liz Truss to scrap Northern Ireland protocol - or at least parts of it - next week. This will trigger retaliation from EU which could make relations v difficult. EU likely to launch legal action against and suspend co-operation with UK on most issues .. https://twitter.com/sima_kotecha/status/1523930984261033985
Though if it requires legislation that wasn't in the manifesto (which I think is one version of the story), won't that take ages? Given a chance, the Lords are bound to delay it.
There a hundred better countries in which to live than Britain.
And I intend to do so.
Care to name them?
I know Vladimir Putin hates Britain with a passion now because of our ardent support of Ukraine, but what reason would you have to despise Britain so much that you'd think there are a hundred better countries to live in?
The Nordics and the Netherlands are richer and have a better quality of life than we do. Ireland too. Among the larger European countries Germany certainly does too. I'd say France does too, certainly better work life balance and nicer weather too although the French don't seem very happy with it. Italy is messed up but the food and weather are a lot better. Switzerland has a lot going for it, as does Canada and New Zealand. I'm probably too invested here to move now, and there is still a lot I love about it despite the Tories' best efforts to ruin the place, but the idea that this is objectively the best country in the world to live in is laughable.
I'm not going to get into a pissing contest about ranking countries, which is subjective, but that's not remotely close to a hundred countries, so do you care to keep going or agree that "a hundred countries" better than the UK is ridiculous hyperbolic nonsense?
The UK is up there as one of the best, most developed countries to live in on almost any rational metric. As are most other west European nations, the USA, Canada, Australia, NZ and Japan depending upon what you prefer.
All have their strengths and foibles, some more than others, but to suggest there's a hundred nations better than any of them is just absurd nonsense.
Yes I wouldn't say 100. Maybe 10-20? The UN's Human Development Index ranks the UK at #13 which seems about right although their precise ranking wouldn't be exactly the same as mine.
Personally - I think it's difficult to live in a country where you don't speak the language/can't communicate comfortably with most people. Japan is I am sure lovely, but I can't imagine enjoying moving there and spending probably multiple years unable to speak with most people beyond pointing and gesturing.
...and in other less serious news. In a bid for post- Johnsonian ownership of the Conservative Party, Liz Truss is preparing to tear up the NI Protocol, putting the UK in a cold-was with Europe and a potentially hotter one on the Streets of Northern Ireland.
Well if she does that will at least put the DUP back in the Tory camp if a hung parliament at the next general election
All this stuff about Starmer being “principled” makes me want to be sick in my mouth. This is the guy who more than anyone else tried to overturn a democratic vote because he thought be was better than the voters. When it came to the pandemic, all he wanted to do was make political capital by calling the government reckless for not locking down harder and longer. And all the while he too was floating the rules. He’s a sanctimonious expletive.
...and in other less serious news. In a bid for post- Johnsonian ownership of the Conservative Party, Liz Truss is preparing to tear up the NI Protocol, putting the UK in a cold-was with Europe and a potentially hotter one on the Streets of Northern Ireland.
Well if she does that will at least put the DUP back in the Tory camp if a hung parliament at the next general election
"Truss will argue that the election results in Northern Ireland give the negotiations a fresh sense of urgency because the Democratic Unionist party has said it will boycott any participation in a new government at Stormont until the issue is resolved."
Falling to second and shedding hundreds of thousands of votes means their programme must be implemented.
...and in other less serious news. In a bid for post- Johnsonian ownership of the Conservative Party, Liz Truss is preparing to tear up the NI Protocol, putting the UK in a cold-was with Europe and a potentially hotter one on the Streets of Northern Ireland.
Well if she does that will at least put the DUP back in the Tory camp if a hung parliament at the next general election
Which is, of course, the most important thing.
Ever so much, much more important than anything else, like the UK [sic] economy, future relations with Ireland and Europe, the farmers and fishers sold out to overseas agribusiness ...
All this stuff about Starmer being “principled” makes me want to be sick in my mouth. This is the guy who more than anyone else tried to overturn a democratic vote because he thought be was better than the voters. When it came to the pandemic, all he wanted to do was make political capital by calling the government reckless for not locking down harder and longer. And all the while he too was floating the rules. He’s a sanctimonious expletive.
"Truss will argue that the election results in Northern Ireland give the negotiations a fresh sense of urgency because the Democratic Unionist party has said it will boycott any participation in a new government at Stormont until the issue is resolved."
Falling to second and shedding hundreds of thousands of votes means their programme must be implemented.
There a hundred better countries in which to live than Britain.
And I intend to do so.
Care to name them?
I know Vladimir Putin hates Britain with a passion now because of our ardent support of Ukraine, but what reason would you have to despise Britain so much that you'd think there are a hundred better countries to live in?
The Nordics and the Netherlands are richer and have a better quality of life than we do. Ireland too. Among the larger European countries Germany certainly does too. I'd say France does too, certainly better work life balance and nicer weather too although the French don't seem very happy with it. Italy is messed up but the food and weather are a lot better. Switzerland has a lot going for it, as does Canada and New Zealand. I'm probably too invested here to move now, and there is still a lot I love about it despite the Tories' best efforts to ruin the place, but the idea that this is objectively the best country in the world to live in is laughable.
I think that I could quite happily live in any European country, bar current war zones, Canada, USA, most of Latin America, a fair chunk of Africa, SE or NE Asia, Australia or NZ, not nessicarily in that order. It must be over 100 countries. I prefer to live here though.
It is because I care about this country so much that I despise its government.
Well move then if you hate this country and its government so much.
The fact you and Heathener think there are 100 countries better than the UK, when the UK is well above global average income, wealth, life expectancy and PISA education ranking says it all!
Do you even bother to read the posts you reply to?
No. He can't compute anything that isn't his output. Like his repeated assertions yesterday that the state of Northern Ireland existed pre-1923, even in mediaeval times.
All this stuff about Starmer being “principled” makes me want to be sick in my mouth. This is the guy who more than anyone else tried to overturn a democratic vote because he thought be was better than the voters. When it came to the pandemic, all he wanted to do was make political capital by calling the government reckless for not locking down harder and longer. And all the while he too was floating the rules. He’s a sanctimonious expletive.
Giggles at the "tried to overturn a democratic vote". Ever heard of elections? That "sovereignty" so preciously held by so many leavers is the absolute power of the Commons not to be bound by its predecessors. So the 2017 parliament was free to do whatever it liked and overturn any law or decision it chose.
There a hundred better countries in which to live than Britain.
And I intend to do so.
Care to name them?
I know Vladimir Putin hates Britain with a passion now because of our ardent support of Ukraine, but what reason would you have to despise Britain so much that you'd think there are a hundred better countries to live in?
The Nordics and the Netherlands are richer and have a better quality of life than we do. Ireland too. Among the larger European countries Germany certainly does too. I'd say France does too, certainly better work life balance and nicer weather too although the French don't seem very happy with it. Italy is messed up but the food and weather are a lot better. Switzerland has a lot going for it, as does Canada and New Zealand. I'm probably too invested here to move now, and there is still a lot I love about it despite the Tories' best efforts to ruin the place, but the idea that this is objectively the best country in the world to live in is laughable.
I'm not going to get into a pissing contest about ranking countries, which is subjective, but that's not remotely close to a hundred countries, so do you care to keep going or agree that "a hundred countries" better than the UK is ridiculous hyperbolic nonsense?
The UK is up there as one of the best, most developed countries to live in on almost any rational metric. As are most other west European nations, the USA, Canada, Australia, NZ and Japan depending upon what you prefer.
All have their strengths and foibles, some more than others, but to suggest there's a hundred nations better than any of them is just absurd nonsense.
Yes I wouldn't say 100. Maybe 10-20? The UN's Human Development Index ranks the UK at #13 which seems about right although their precise ranking wouldn't be exactly the same as mine.
Personally - I think it's difficult to live in a country where you don't speak the language/can't communicate comfortably with most people. Japan is I am sure lovely, but I can't imagine enjoying moving there and spending probably multiple years unable to speak with most people beyond pointing and gesturing.
You'd pick it up in much less time with a little effort. Months.
"Truss will argue that the election results in Northern Ireland give the negotiations a fresh sense of urgency because the Democratic Unionist party has said it will boycott any participation in a new government at Stormont until the issue is resolved."
Falling to second and shedding hundreds of thousands of votes means their programme must be implemented.
The only story the papers are going to cover over the next few days is the Wagatha Christie case which starts today.
I hate myself that I am so invested in this story.
Read it is going to cost £3 million in legal fees.
What do you mean "starts today"? I thought we'd been hearing about it for months, if not years. Has it really only just got to court?
The full case starts today, everything else pre case stuff in the hope mediation works.
you would have thought somebody sensible would have in the pre case mediation persuaded the parties to just "you know forget it?"
Sadly you can't make people settle trivial cases. What can and should happen is that the case should be transferred to be heard at a County Court at Scunthorpe or somewhere, and placed in the hands of minor local judge sitting as a judge of the High Court. Courts should act to reflect the real gravity of cases and discourage grandstanding.
With witnesses waiting years for jury trials this is a scandal of wasted resource.
There a hundred better countries in which to live than Britain.
And I intend to do so.
Care to name them?
I know Vladimir Putin hates Britain with a passion now because of our ardent support of Ukraine, but what reason would you have to despise Britain so much that you'd think there are a hundred better countries to live in?
The Nordics and the Netherlands are richer and have a better quality of life than we do. Ireland too. Among the larger European countries Germany certainly does too. I'd say France does too, certainly better work life balance and nicer weather too although the French don't seem very happy with it. Italy is messed up but the food and weather are a lot better. Switzerland has a lot going for it, as does Canada and New Zealand. I'm probably too invested here to move now, and there is still a lot I love about it despite the Tories' best efforts to ruin the place, but the idea that this is objectively the best country in the world to live in is laughable.
I'm not going to get into a pissing contest about ranking countries, which is subjective, but that's not remotely close to a hundred countries, so do you care to keep going or agree that "a hundred countries" better than the UK is ridiculous hyperbolic nonsense?
The UK is up there as one of the best, most developed countries to live in on almost any rational metric. As are most other west European nations, the USA, Canada, Australia, NZ and Japan depending upon what you prefer.
All have their strengths and foibles, some more than others, but to suggest there's a hundred nations better than any of them is just absurd nonsense.
Yes I wouldn't say 100. Maybe 10-20? The UN's Human Development Index ranks the UK at #13 which seems about right although their precise ranking wouldn't be exactly the same as mine.
Personally - I think it's difficult to live in a country where you don't speak the language/can't communicate comfortably with most people. Japan is I am sure lovely, but I can't imagine enjoying moving there and spending probably multiple years unable to speak with most people beyond pointing and gesturing.
You'd pick it up in much less time with a little effort. Months.
i lived in France for seven months in my late teens( when brains are supposed to be like sponges) and despite trying struggled to get beyond basic conversation.As an adult you want to converse in language beyond the level of a 6 year old so agree that language is hard to pick up and you will not enjoy living somewhere you cannot speak it really well
"Truss will argue that the election results in Northern Ireland give the negotiations a fresh sense of urgency because the Democratic Unionist party has said it will boycott any participation in a new government at Stormont until the issue is resolved."
Falling to second and shedding hundreds of thousands of votes means their programme must be implemented.
So basically the party which pushed for a hard Brexit is boycotting the assembly and holding NI to ransom because of the impact of that hard Brexit .
There is a clear majority in the assembly which supports the protocol which is being totally ignored by no 10.
There a hundred better countries in which to live than Britain.
And I intend to do so.
Care to name them?
I know Vladimir Putin hates Britain with a passion now because of our ardent support of Ukraine, but what reason would you have to despise Britain so much that you'd think there are a hundred better countries to live in?
The Nordics and the Netherlands are richer and have a better quality of life than we do. Ireland too. Among the larger European countries Germany certainly does too. I'd say France does too, certainly better work life balance and nicer weather too although the French don't seem very happy with it. Italy is messed up but the food and weather are a lot better. Switzerland has a lot going for it, as does Canada and New Zealand. I'm probably too invested here to move now, and there is still a lot I love about it despite the Tories' best efforts to ruin the place, but the idea that this is objectively the best country in the world to live in is laughable.
I'm not going to get into a pissing contest about ranking countries, which is subjective, but that's not remotely close to a hundred countries, so do you care to keep going or agree that "a hundred countries" better than the UK is ridiculous hyperbolic nonsense?
The UK is up there as one of the best, most developed countries to live in on almost any rational metric. As are most other west European nations, the USA, Canada, Australia, NZ and Japan depending upon what you prefer.
All have their strengths and foibles, some more than others, but to suggest there's a hundred nations better than any of them is just absurd nonsense.
Yes I wouldn't say 100. Maybe 10-20? The UN's Human Development Index ranks the UK at #13 which seems about right although their precise ranking wouldn't be exactly the same as mine.
Personally - I think it's difficult to live in a country where you don't speak the language/can't communicate comfortably with most people. Japan is I am sure lovely, but I can't imagine enjoying moving there and spending probably multiple years unable to speak with most people beyond pointing and gesturing.
Yes there is a difference between the list of countries that are objectively better than the UK and the list of countries I personally could imagine moving to and building my life in. And at this stage of my life the second list is a lot shorter than it would have been when I was in my twenties, say. I have lived abroad twice, for three years in my early twenties and for five years in my early thirties, in both cases in pretty nice countries, and in both cases I moved back to the UK. So I suppose there must be something about the place that I like!
"Truss will argue that the election results in Northern Ireland give the negotiations a fresh sense of urgency because the Democratic Unionist party has said it will boycott any participation in a new government at Stormont until the issue is resolved."
Falling to second and shedding hundreds of thousands of votes means their programme must be implemented.
So basically the party which pushed for a hard Brexit is boycotting the assembly and holding NI to ransom because of the impact of that hard Brexit .
There is a clear majority in the assembly which supports the protocol which is being totally ignored by no 10.
The Secret Barrister @BarristerSecret Lots of excitement about “might”.
The reason for this is that the police don’t determine breaches; they form an opinion. If that opinion is disputed, a court will decide.
In this context, “might” means the police concluded it *was*. Hence they say they would have sent him back.
So what ? The police's opinion, given that they took no action, carries no more legal weight than mine or yours.
Well if Starmer ends up in a similar position and rides it out, good luck to him. Quite how much damage it would do to him, I don't know. Here's what Starmer had to say after the Durham statement was issued:
Keir Starmer @Keir_Starmer Boris Johnson should have drawn a line under the Dominic Cummings saga but was too weak to act.
The public have sacrificed so much for the health of our nation - which he's now undermined.
And sent a message that there's one rule for them and another for the British people.
Thats why the video getting so much air time is bad for Starmer. He might not get a FPN on a technicality but in April 2021 people were not having a beer inside with 15 work colleagues at 9pm. There were no work events like that. Even in my office where we were not over zealous on Covid rules, when people got up from their desks they were required to wear masks to walk round the office. In office meetings people sat 2 metres apart and wore masks and we certainly did not have indoor meetings with people from other companies, everything was on Teams and mainly still is.
Its like me going for an afternoon meeting at a Council and at 6pm we stop for food & alcohol and just mingle as if it was 2019.
Labours excuse that someone was sending a Whatsapp message at 1am proves that the work event continued until the early hours so it is perfectly legal is bizarre. In sure the Covid rules were not written to enable you to be able to do anything as long as you were working before and after.
Im sure the police will ask SKS what time he got back to his hotel
There a hundred better countries in which to live than Britain.
And I intend to do so.
Care to name them?
I know Vladimir Putin hates Britain with a passion now because of our ardent support of Ukraine, but what reason would you have to despise Britain so much that you'd think there are a hundred better countries to live in?
The Nordics and the Netherlands are richer and have a better quality of life than we do. Ireland too. Among the larger European countries Germany certainly does too. I'd say France does too, certainly better work life balance and nicer weather too although the French don't seem very happy with it. Italy is messed up but the food and weather are a lot better. Switzerland has a lot going for it, as does Canada and New Zealand. I'm probably too invested here to move now, and there is still a lot I love about it despite the Tories' best efforts to ruin the place, but the idea that this is objectively the best country in the world to live in is laughable.
I think that I could quite happily live in any European country, bar current war zones, Canada, USA, most of Latin America, a fair chunk of Africa, SE or NE Asia, Australia or NZ, not nessicarily in that order. It must be over 100 countries. I prefer to live here though.
It is because I care about this country so much that I despise its government.
Well move then if you hate this country and its government so much.
The fact you and Heathener think there are 100 countries better than the UK, when the UK is well above global average income, wealth, life expectancy and PISA education ranking says it all!
Do you even bother to read the posts you reply to?
No. He can't compute anything that isn't his output. Like his repeated assertions yesterday that the state of Northern Ireland existed pre-1923, even in mediaeval times.
To be fair, it has long been part of the nationalist case that Ulster existed; their complaint was and is that Ulster was carved up 100 years ago.
Having travelled quite a bit, I wouldn’t say the UK is an angrier country than anywhere else. We’re certainly divided and we have our problems, but overall we’re a pretty typical western European country, with additional soft power acquired over a long period if time.
In fact, I’d argue we are maybe a bit too complacent, especially in the face of a government that very clearly has no regard for our established Parliamentary democracy or the rule of law. We are the country of “mustn’t grumble” and “it could be worse”. That gives chancers and rogues like the current PM all the scope they need to do their worst.
It would be nice to think that Starmer and Rayner doing what they’ve done might shine more of a contrasting light on Downing Street, but I doubt it.
how is having a mass work gathering and beer and curry in anyway virtuous given what the law at the time was trying to prevent and Starmer fully supported ?
If they’ve broken the law they’ll be fined and they’ll resign. That’s not particularly virtuous if you’ve helped make the law, but it is an approach that stands in marked contrast to others.
Labour fixating again on the idea that it's the fine that counts not whether SKS is actually guilty of an offence. The fact that SKS refused to say if he would have resign if he is found guilty but didn't receive a fine suggests he knows he probably has done something wrong but is relying on Durham's stated policy of not issuing retrospective fines. It's a typical lawyer's wheeze. Not sure it will go down well with the public.
If he’s guilty of an offence he’ll be fined.
No. A fine is not automatic as we saw with Cummings. He could be found guilty but not fined. In which case he stays.
Cummings wasn’t found guilty.
Why not read the statement from Durham Police. They clearly think that Cummings did break the rules (although, they think driving to Barnard Castle was a fairly minor offence) but weren't going to issue a fine because they didn't want to treat him differently to anyone else.
So now they are treating the Durham 15 (to 30) differently to anyone else. Consistency reigns.
But thats exactly what the met have done. If they had attended the birthday party in person, I suspect they would have said 'on your way chaps, cant do this at the moment'. And that might have been an end to it. As far as I can see the only people being pursued for historic breaches of covid regs are those in No 10 and now those at the Durham campaign event. No students. No old ladies getting a cheeky G and T one night. No companies who crossed a line from work into social. No one.
None of this should be investigated and ALL such fines (including those from the time) should be quashed and repaid.
The laws were bad law. No-one knew at the time what you could and couldn't do. Especially the police. Especially stazi-like Derbyshire police.
There a hundred better countries in which to live than Britain.
And I intend to do so.
Care to name them?
I know Vladimir Putin hates Britain with a passion now because of our ardent support of Ukraine, but what reason would you have to despise Britain so much that you'd think there are a hundred better countries to live in?
The Nordics and the Netherlands are richer and have a better quality of life than we do. Ireland too. Among the larger European countries Germany certainly does too. I'd say France does too, certainly better work life balance and nicer weather too although the French don't seem very happy with it. Italy is messed up but the food and weather are a lot better. Switzerland has a lot going for it, as does Canada and New Zealand. I'm probably too invested here to move now, and there is still a lot I love about it despite the Tories' best efforts to ruin the place, but the idea that this is objectively the best country in the world to live in is laughable.
I think that I could quite happily live in any European country, bar current war zones, Canada, USA, most of Latin America, a fair chunk of Africa, SE or NE Asia, Australia or NZ, not nessicarily in that order. It must be over 100 countries. I prefer to live here though.
It is because I care about this country so much that I despise its government.
Well move then if you hate this country and its government so much.
The fact you and Heathener think there are 100 countries better than the UK, when the UK is well above global average income, wealth, life expectancy and PISA education ranking says it all!
Do you even bother to read the posts you reply to?
No. He can't compute anything that isn't his output. Like his repeated assertions yesterday that the state of Northern Ireland existed pre-1923, even in mediaeval times.
Ulster existed as part of Ireland with the English monarch as its head of state and Lord for centuries
There a hundred better countries in which to live than Britain.
And I intend to do so.
Care to name them?
I know Vladimir Putin hates Britain with a passion now because of our ardent support of Ukraine, but what reason would you have to despise Britain so much that you'd think there are a hundred better countries to live in?
The Nordics and the Netherlands are richer and have a better quality of life than we do. Ireland too. Among the larger European countries Germany certainly does too. I'd say France does too, certainly better work life balance and nicer weather too although the French don't seem very happy with it. Italy is messed up but the food and weather are a lot better. Switzerland has a lot going for it, as does Canada and New Zealand. I'm probably too invested here to move now, and there is still a lot I love about it despite the Tories' best efforts to ruin the place, but the idea that this is objectively the best country in the world to live in is laughable.
I think that I could quite happily live in any European country, bar current war zones, Canada, USA, most of Latin America, a fair chunk of Africa, SE or NE Asia, Australia or NZ, not nessicarily in that order. It must be over 100 countries. I prefer to live here though.
It is because I care about this country so much that I despise its government.
Well move then if you hate this country and its government so much.
The fact you and Heathener think there are 100 countries better than the UK, when the UK is well above global average income, wealth, life expectancy and PISA education ranking says it all!
Do you even bother to read the posts you reply to?
No. He can't compute anything that isn't his output. Like his repeated assertions yesterday that the state of Northern Ireland existed pre-1923, even in mediaeval times.
Ooh, I'm sad that I missed that nugget. I imagine he quickly saw his error, backed down, and thanked the people who had pointed out his honest mistake?
In fact, all his assertions that the UK existed pre-1923 and as far back as 1200-ish. As he was clearly implying in its current form (by claiming some sort of peculiary legitimacy through age), this was not on at all. I did let him off ther 1955 date (annexation of Rockall) as I was feeling kind and as it is just as likely to be Irish anyway.
I think this is right Mike and the FT. Having a beer and curry also shows he's not a robot.
It's the principle though, even though the Hate Mail are making a desperate attempt to portray it negatively.
If and when the Sue Gray report appears this will pile pressure on Johnson.
I’m a staunch opponent of the Mail, Express and other propaganda sheets, however, in this situation I think it’s very clear that the initiators of the story were the Labour Party’s own discontented left-wingers. They merely used the Mail as their vehicle. Very few journalists/propagandists turn down a good story. Ethics are as thin on the ground in England’s media as they are in her legislature.
Is that true? The video came from the son of right-wing writer James Delingpole, and doesn't much of the comment from inside the hall come from an independent councillor? Whilst there will be Labour people who would prefer a different leader, I'm not sure they are driving this, unless you mean Lord Mandelson.
Yes I think this line which Leon first proposed on here is probably dubious. The Corbynistas probably helped feed it though.
It's the Mail who are largely responsible. The story was already out there and had circulated for months. The Daily Mail decided that, no, we didn't need to know there's a war on after all. So rather than whingeing about all the nasty attacks on Dear lovable Boris when we should be watching bombs rain down on Donbass, what we really had to get vexed about was a working beer & curry 12 months ago. Starmer was Arch Hypocrite etc. etc.
It's a sign of how nasty things are going to be in the build up to the General Election. The Hate Mail is spilling poison into everything they can lay their hands on, deliberately invoking culture wars and stoking up violence and hatred across the board.
Frankly I can't wait to emigrate from this mean-spirited and angry country.
Whilst the Mail might be a pita, I am not sure this is an angry country. There are no riots on the street. Even the gangs taking it in turns to kill each other have slowed down. I do not know if there is some sort of international index but I'm pretty sure that, on any objective basis, Britain is the best country in the world. Chin up!
I laugh at all this hate for the Mail. Yes, it's not a 'good' newspaper - especially if you are of the left. But many newspapers are absolutely cr@p and utterly biased. But the hate on the Mail is not based on quality: it is based on their political bias. If they were leftist, there would be far fewer complaints...
And evidently the Mail were right: there was enough information for the police to reopen the investigation. Many on here apparently would be perfectly happy for it not to be investigated. Which *might* be fine in this case. But I bet they'd be saying the same about more severe cases as well.
If Labour are in trouble over this, then it's their own fault. Not the Mail's.
The cynicism/hypocrisy of the Mail has always been a thing, but flipping 180 degrees from saying partygate doesn’t matter and is a triviality to currygate being the end of the world is a new low even for them.
The chumocracy / clique of right wing outrider journalists and proprietors blurring with the Johnson administration is also eye opening. Favours for favours. You want channel4 and a weaker BBC, no problem!
The law should apply equally to all. An ill-defined law - one that has even led Starmer, a top lawyer, to be unsure whether he broke it - has 'got' Johnson and the Tories. It is perfectly fair to ask whether the law, not it has been used politically, should apply to the other side in a situation that looks potentially dodgy to anyone who is not utterly biased.
Nah. If the Mail had a consistent investigative campaign they would deserve respect. Instead they flipped 180 on the issue when it suited their partisan agenda. In which case, it’s just an offshoot of cchq and should be treated the same way as any propaganda.
Meanwhile if the law was bad or draconian, the fault lies with the government.
AIUI Starmer voted for the law. Anyone who voted for it in parliament has responsibility for the law - in the same way people who voted for the Iraq war have some responsibility for it.
And the law has to apply equally to all sides. If one sides gets 'done' by the law, it's fine to say : "What about this thing you did?"
That line is particularly weak. Offloading the governments responsibility for their laws onto opposition MPs, is just the sort of nonsense you get from the Johnson administration and its supporters. He takes responsibility for none of his errors. The buck is passed at super sonic speed. Meanwhile he takes the credit for the work of others if something goes right.
I'm not a fan of Johnson, and I agree he doesn't take responsibility for his actions. In fact, I've been making that point since the Garden Bridge debacle.
But your attempt to suggest that Starmer has no 'responsibility' for a law he voted for is laughable. Particularly as LOTO, he has the ability to whip his side *not* to vote for the law, or to get amendments put into it.
And to be fair to both Starmer and the government, we were in a crisis. Things had to be done in a hurry. An interesting question is whether this law was actually needed. Was it an unnecessary stick?
It would be useful to see some actual statistics for people fined under the Covid legislation for socialising.
I’m going to take a guess that it was a few rebellious students, a few weddings that just added the fine to the cost, a handful of high-profile cases such as Kay Burley and the singer who had birthday parties - and the rest are the politically-motivated complaints in the news at the moment.
Yes, with hindsight the law as written was probably not brilliant, but I have a lot of sympathy with those working in the legislature and government departments during the pandemic, who were genuinely trying to do the right thing.
PMSL, especially the ones funnelling public money to their chums via bent contracts and VIP lanes. It was open house on who could grab the most public cash, they thought they were in a gameshow.
"Truss will argue that the election results in Northern Ireland give the negotiations a fresh sense of urgency because the Democratic Unionist party has said it will boycott any participation in a new government at Stormont until the issue is resolved."
Falling to second and shedding hundreds of thousands of votes means their programme must be implemented.
So basically the party which pushed for a hard Brexit is boycotting the assembly and holding NI to ransom because of the impact of that hard Brexit .
There is a clear majority in the assembly which supports the protocol which is being totally ignored by no 10.
No, if it was being totally ignored by No 10 Johnson and Truss would simply move the hard border from the Irish Sea to Ireland and the border with the Republic.
There a hundred better countries in which to live than Britain.
And I intend to do so.
Care to name them?
I know Vladimir Putin hates Britain with a passion now because of our ardent support of Ukraine, but what reason would you have to despise Britain so much that you'd think there are a hundred better countries to live in?
The Nordics and the Netherlands are richer and have a better quality of life than we do. Ireland too. Among the larger European countries Germany certainly does too. I'd say France does too, certainly better work life balance and nicer weather too although the French don't seem very happy with it. Italy is messed up but the food and weather are a lot better. Switzerland has a lot going for it, as does Canada and New Zealand. I'm probably too invested here to move now, and there is still a lot I love about it despite the Tories' best efforts to ruin the place, but the idea that this is objectively the best country in the world to live in is laughable.
I think that I could quite happily live in any European country, bar current war zones, Canada, USA, most of Latin America, a fair chunk of Africa, SE or NE Asia, Australia or NZ, not nessicarily in that order. It must be over 100 countries. I prefer to live here though.
It is because I care about this country so much that I despise its government.
Well move then if you hate this country and its government so much.
The fact you and Heathener think there are 100 countries better than the UK, when the UK is well above global average income, wealth, life expectancy and PISA education ranking says it all!
Do you even bother to read the posts you reply to?
No. He can't compute anything that isn't his output. Like his repeated assertions yesterday that the state of Northern Ireland existed pre-1923, even in mediaeval times.
Ulster existed as part of Ireland with the English monarch as its head of state and Lord for centuries
But Northern Ireland is not Ulster. And you always said "Northern Ireland". You can't say "Persian Gulf" and then turn around and say you were talking about the Bight of Benin.
I think this is right Mike and the FT. Having a beer and curry also shows he's not a robot.
It's the principle though, even though the Hate Mail are making a desperate attempt to portray it negatively.
If and when the Sue Gray report appears this will pile pressure on Johnson.
I’m a staunch opponent of the Mail, Express and other propaganda sheets, however, in this situation I think it’s very clear that the initiators of the story were the Labour Party’s own discontented left-wingers. They merely used the Mail as their vehicle. Very few journalists/propagandists turn down a good story. Ethics are as thin on the ground in England’s media as they are in her legislature.
Is that true? The video came from the son of right-wing writer James Delingpole, and doesn't much of the comment from inside the hall come from an independent councillor? Whilst there will be Labour people who would prefer a different leader, I'm not sure they are driving this, unless you mean Lord Mandelson.
Yes I think this line which Leon first proposed on here is probably dubious. The Corbynistas probably helped feed it though.
It's the Mail who are largely responsible. The story was already out there and had circulated for months. The Daily Mail decided that, no, we didn't need to know there's a war on after all. So rather than whingeing about all the nasty attacks on Dear lovable Boris when we should be watching bombs rain down on Donbass, what we really had to get vexed about was a working beer & curry 12 months ago. Starmer was Arch Hypocrite etc. etc.
It's a sign of how nasty things are going to be in the build up to the General Election. The Hate Mail is spilling poison into everything they can lay their hands on, deliberately invoking culture wars and stoking up violence and hatred across the board.
Frankly I can't wait to emigrate from this mean-spirited and angry country.
Whilst the Mail might be a pita, I am not sure this is an angry country. There are no riots on the street. Even the gangs taking it in turns to kill each other have slowed down. I do not know if there is some sort of international index but I'm pretty sure that, on any objective basis, Britain is the best country in the world. Chin up!
I laugh at all this hate for the Mail. Yes, it's not a 'good' newspaper - especially if you are of the left. But many newspapers are absolutely cr@p and utterly biased. But the hate on the Mail is not based on quality: it is based on their political bias. If they were leftist, there would be far fewer complaints...
And evidently the Mail were right: there was enough information for the police to reopen the investigation. Many on here apparently would be perfectly happy for it not to be investigated. Which *might* be fine in this case. But I bet they'd be saying the same about more severe cases as well.
If Labour are in trouble over this, then it's their own fault. Not the Mail's.
You're about a week behind. Take a look at today's front page and justify it.
As for the allegation itself, Labour's statement about the evidence they'll submit would seem to have shot that down, too.
Today’s Mail front page is magnificent in its hypocrisy. On 30th April, its front page headline was: “Police told to investigate Labour lies” Followed by this opening paragraph: “Cabinet ministers last night joined calls for a new probe into the ‘Beergate’ scandal engulfing Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner.” The Mail believes its readers are easily manipulated, not very bright and devoid of short-term memory. It seems to be a winning formula!
That dastardly Starmer is ruining the investigation by fully co-operating with it, and submitting evidence of what went on on the night in question...
Fully cooperating by lying about the presence of Angela Rayner for 4 months?
There a hundred better countries in which to live than Britain.
And I intend to do so.
Care to name them?
I know Vladimir Putin hates Britain with a passion now because of our ardent support of Ukraine, but what reason would you have to despise Britain so much that you'd think there are a hundred better countries to live in?
The Nordics and the Netherlands are richer and have a better quality of life than we do. Ireland too. Among the larger European countries Germany certainly does too. I'd say France does too, certainly better work life balance and nicer weather too although the French don't seem very happy with it. Italy is messed up but the food and weather are a lot better. Switzerland has a lot going for it, as does Canada and New Zealand. I'm probably too invested here to move now, and there is still a lot I love about it despite the Tories' best efforts to ruin the place, but the idea that this is objectively the best country in the world to live in is laughable.
I think that I could quite happily live in any European country, bar current war zones, Canada, USA, most of Latin America, a fair chunk of Africa, SE or NE Asia, Australia or NZ, not nessicarily in that order. It must be over 100 countries. I prefer to live here though.
It is because I care about this country so much that I despise its government.
Well move then if you hate this country and its government so much.
The fact you and Heathener think there are 100 countries better than the UK, when the UK is well above global average income, wealth, life expectancy and PISA education ranking says it all!
Do you even bother to read the posts you reply to?
No. He can't compute anything that isn't his output. Like his repeated assertions yesterday that the state of Northern Ireland existed pre-1923, even in mediaeval times.
To be fair, it has long been part of the nationalist case that Ulster existed; their complaint was and is that Ulster was carved up 100 years ago.
Ulaidh certainly was, but it's not the same thing as NI.
There a hundred better countries in which to live than Britain.
And I intend to do so.
Care to name them?
I know Vladimir Putin hates Britain with a passion now because of our ardent support of Ukraine, but what reason would you have to despise Britain so much that you'd think there are a hundred better countries to live in?
The Nordics and the Netherlands are richer and have a better quality of life than we do. Ireland too. Among the larger European countries Germany certainly does too. I'd say France does too, certainly better work life balance and nicer weather too although the French don't seem very happy with it. Italy is messed up but the food and weather are a lot better. Switzerland has a lot going for it, as does Canada and New Zealand. I'm probably too invested here to move now, and there is still a lot I love about it despite the Tories' best efforts to ruin the place, but the idea that this is objectively the best country in the world to live in is laughable.
I think that I could quite happily live in any European country, bar current war zones, Canada, USA, most of Latin America, a fair chunk of Africa, SE or NE Asia, Australia or NZ, not nessicarily in that order. It must be over 100 countries. I prefer to live here though.
It is because I care about this country so much that I despise its government.
Well move then if you hate this country and its government so much.
The fact you and Heathener think there are 100 countries better than the UK, when the UK is well above global average income, wealth, life expectancy and PISA education ranking says it all!
Do you even bother to read the posts you reply to?
No. He can't compute anything that isn't his output. Like his repeated assertions yesterday that the state of Northern Ireland existed pre-1923, even in mediaeval times.
To be fair, it has long been part of the nationalist case that Ulster existed; their complaint was and is that Ulster was carved up 100 years ago.
Ulaidh certainly was, but it's not the same thing as NI.
Yes, and as I just said, that is part of the nationalist case.
Long and fascinating thread (for those interested in such stuff).
While a lot of their kit is semi-obsolete, Ukraine appears to have more advanced and far more effective artillery targeting systems than anyone in NATO.
This is nothing like the US Military's Tactical Fire Direction System (TACFIRE)...
That’s really cool, thanks for posting.
And it explains the importance of this, which wasn't entirely clear at the time: A week ago, ~40,000 SATCOM terminals were knocked out in Ukraine and other European countries. I just published a technical analysis of that incident, based on the information publicly available and my experience in that field.
And, of course, the importance of Musk's Starlink donations, which have a significance way beyond just PR.
"Truss will argue that the election results in Northern Ireland give the negotiations a fresh sense of urgency because the Democratic Unionist party has said it will boycott any participation in a new government at Stormont until the issue is resolved."
Falling to second and shedding hundreds of thousands of votes means their programme must be implemented.
All this stuff about Starmer being “principled” makes me want to be sick in my mouth. This is the guy who more than anyone else tried to overturn a democratic vote because he thought be was better than the voters. When it came to the pandemic, all he wanted to do was make political capital by calling the government reckless for not locking down harder and longer. And all the while he too was floating the rules. He’s a sanctimonious expletive.
He wanted to rerun what turns out to have been a vote compromised by Russia, and their UK based political partners, which wasn't binding anyway.
There a hundred better countries in which to live than Britain.
And I intend to do so.
Care to name them?
I know Vladimir Putin hates Britain with a passion now because of our ardent support of Ukraine, but what reason would you have to despise Britain so much that you'd think there are a hundred better countries to live in?
The Nordics and the Netherlands are richer and have a better quality of life than we do. Ireland too. Among the larger European countries Germany certainly does too. I'd say France does too, certainly better work life balance and nicer weather too although the French don't seem very happy with it. Italy is messed up but the food and weather are a lot better. Switzerland has a lot going for it, as does Canada and New Zealand. I'm probably too invested here to move now, and there is still a lot I love about it despite the Tories' best efforts to ruin the place, but the idea that this is objectively the best country in the world to live in is laughable.
I think that I could quite happily live in any European country, bar current war zones, Canada, USA, most of Latin America, a fair chunk of Africa, SE or NE Asia, Australia or NZ, not nessicarily in that order. It must be over 100 countries. I prefer to live here though.
It is because I care about this country so much that I despise its government.
Well move then if you hate this country and its government so much.
The fact you and Heathener think there are 100 countries better than the UK, when the UK is well above global average income, wealth, life expectancy and PISA education ranking says it all!
Do you even bother to read the posts you reply to?
No. He can't compute anything that isn't his output. Like his repeated assertions yesterday that the state of Northern Ireland existed pre-1923, even in mediaeval times.
To be fair, it has long been part of the nationalist case that Ulster existed; their complaint was and is that Ulster was carved up 100 years ago.
Ulaidh certainly was, but it's not the same thing as NI.
Yes, and as I just said, that is part of the nationalist case.
Indeed, but it's also elementary geography and history.
There a hundred better countries in which to live than Britain.
And I intend to do so.
Care to name them?
I know Vladimir Putin hates Britain with a passion now because of our ardent support of Ukraine, but what reason would you have to despise Britain so much that you'd think there are a hundred better countries to live in?
The Nordics and the Netherlands are richer and have a better quality of life than we do. Ireland too. Among the larger European countries Germany certainly does too. I'd say France does too, certainly better work life balance and nicer weather too although the French don't seem very happy with it. Italy is messed up but the food and weather are a lot better. Switzerland has a lot going for it, as does Canada and New Zealand. I'm probably too invested here to move now, and there is still a lot I love about it despite the Tories' best efforts to ruin the place, but the idea that this is objectively the best country in the world to live in is laughable.
I'm not going to get into a pissing contest about ranking countries, which is subjective, but that's not remotely close to a hundred countries, so do you care to keep going or agree that "a hundred countries" better than the UK is ridiculous hyperbolic nonsense?
The UK is up there as one of the best, most developed countries to live in on almost any rational metric. As are most other west European nations, the USA, Canada, Australia, NZ and Japan depending upon what you prefer.
All have their strengths and foibles, some more than others, but to suggest there's a hundred nations better than any of them is just absurd nonsense.
Yes I wouldn't say 100. Maybe 10-20? The UN's Human Development Index ranks the UK at #13 which seems about right although their precise ranking wouldn't be exactly the same as mine.
Personally - I think it's difficult to live in a country where you don't speak the language/can't communicate comfortably with most people. Japan is I am sure lovely, but I can't imagine enjoying moving there and spending probably multiple years unable to speak with most people beyond pointing and gesturing.
You'd pick it up in much less time with a little effort. Months.
i lived in France for seven months in my late teens( when brains are supposed to be like sponges) and despite trying struggled to get beyond basic conversation.As an adult you want to converse in language beyond the level of a 6 year old so agree that language is hard to pick up and you will not enjoy living somewhere you cannot speak it really well
Fair enough. I found Chinese much easier to pick up than that. Maybe that's just me. Or perhaps it's just an easier language to reach a baseline of communicative competence. Helps most aren't speaking it as a first language either I suppose.
There a hundred better countries in which to live than Britain.
And I intend to do so.
Care to name them?
I know Vladimir Putin hates Britain with a passion now because of our ardent support of Ukraine, but what reason would you have to despise Britain so much that you'd think there are a hundred better countries to live in?
The Nordics and the Netherlands are richer and have a better quality of life than we do. Ireland too. Among the larger European countries Germany certainly does too. I'd say France does too, certainly better work life balance and nicer weather too although the French don't seem very happy with it. Italy is messed up but the food and weather are a lot better. Switzerland has a lot going for it, as does Canada and New Zealand. I'm probably too invested here to move now, and there is still a lot I love about it despite the Tories' best efforts to ruin the place, but the idea that this is objectively the best country in the world to live in is laughable.
I think that I could quite happily live in any European country, bar current war zones, Canada, USA, most of Latin America, a fair chunk of Africa, SE or NE Asia, Australia or NZ, not nessicarily in that order. It must be over 100 countries. I prefer to live here though.
It is because I care about this country so much that I despise its government.
Well move then if you hate this country and its government so much.
The fact you and Heathener think there are 100 countries better than the UK, when the UK is well above global average income, wealth, life expectancy and PISA education ranking says it all!
Do you even bother to read the posts you reply to?
No. He can't compute anything that isn't his output. Like his repeated assertions yesterday that the state of Northern Ireland existed pre-1923, even in mediaeval times.
Ulster existed as part of Ireland with the English monarch as its head of state and Lord for centuries
But Northern Ireland is not Ulster. And you always said "Northern Ireland". You can't say "Persian Gulf" and then turn around and say you were talking about the Bight of Benin.
It is most of it and the English monarch was head of state of Ulster and Ireland for centuries before Northern Ireland was created too
"Truss will argue that the election results in Northern Ireland give the negotiations a fresh sense of urgency because the Democratic Unionist party has said it will boycott any participation in a new government at Stormont until the issue is resolved."
Falling to second and shedding hundreds of thousands of votes means their programme must be implemented.
40% voted for Unionist parties
Minority. Lost.
More seats than the Nationalists won, 37 to 36
Not a majority. And you have been insisting on going by the rules. Which say that that means zero, silch, nada. If yoru side is losing at soccer you can't suddenly cdecide to play the Wall Game rules instead.
There a hundred better countries in which to live than Britain.
And I intend to do so.
Care to name them?
I know Vladimir Putin hates Britain with a passion now because of our ardent support of Ukraine, but what reason would you have to despise Britain so much that you'd think there are a hundred better countries to live in?
The Nordics and the Netherlands are richer and have a better quality of life than we do. Ireland too. Among the larger European countries Germany certainly does too. I'd say France does too, certainly better work life balance and nicer weather too although the French don't seem very happy with it. Italy is messed up but the food and weather are a lot better. Switzerland has a lot going for it, as does Canada and New Zealand. I'm probably too invested here to move now, and there is still a lot I love about it despite the Tories' best efforts to ruin the place, but the idea that this is objectively the best country in the world to live in is laughable.
I think that I could quite happily live in any European country, bar current war zones, Canada, USA, most of Latin America, a fair chunk of Africa, SE or NE Asia, Australia or NZ, not nessicarily in that order. It must be over 100 countries. I prefer to live here though.
It is because I care about this country so much that I despise its government.
Well move then if you hate this country and its government so much.
The fact you and Heathener think there are 100 countries better than the UK, when the UK is well above global average income, wealth, life expectancy and PISA education ranking says it all!
Do you even bother to read the posts you reply to?
No. He can't compute anything that isn't his output. Like his repeated assertions yesterday that the state of Northern Ireland existed pre-1923, even in mediaeval times.
Ulster existed as part of Ireland with the English monarch as its head of state and Lord for centuries
But Northern Ireland is not Ulster. And you always said "Northern Ireland". You can't say "Persian Gulf" and then turn around and say you were talking about the Bight of Benin.
It is most of it and the English monarch was head of state of Ulster and Ireland for centuries before Northern Ireland was created too
But you weren't talking about Ulster. That sort of error is like saying that England is the UK because it's sort of most of it. Incredibly sloppy particularly in historical discussion.
Re Northern Ireland. I cannot share what seems to be the popular anxiety, or excitement, depending on your view, that Sinn Fein taking over in Stormont will lead to the reunification of Ireland and the breakup of the United Kingdom. I suspect Michelle O'Neill will not go near a border poll until she is confident of winning. Probably also the big prize for Sinn Fein is the government of Ireland.
"Truss will argue that the election results in Northern Ireland give the negotiations a fresh sense of urgency because the Democratic Unionist party has said it will boycott any participation in a new government at Stormont until the issue is resolved."
Falling to second and shedding hundreds of thousands of votes means their programme must be implemented.
40% voted for Unionist parties
Minority. Lost.
More seats than the Nationalists won, 37 to 36
Not a majority. And you have been insisting on going by the rules. Which say that that means zero, silch, nada. If yoru side is losing at soccer you can't suddenly cdecide to play the Wall Game rules instead.
More than the Nationalists which is enough.
There is no majority for imposing a hard border in Ireland which the government could have tried. There certainly is enough support to try and remove the Irish Sea border which the UK government will do.
"Truss will argue that the election results in Northern Ireland give the negotiations a fresh sense of urgency because the Democratic Unionist party has said it will boycott any participation in a new government at Stormont until the issue is resolved."
Falling to second and shedding hundreds of thousands of votes means their programme must be implemented.
40% voted for Unionist parties
Minority. Lost.
More seats than the Nationalists won, 37 to 36
Not a majority. And you have been insisting on going by the rules. Which say that that means zero, silch, nada. If yoru side is losing at soccer you can't suddenly cdecide to play the Wall Game rules instead.
More than the Nationalists which is enough.
There is no majority for imposing a hard border in Ireland which the government could have tried. Their certainly is enough support to try and remove the Irish Sea border which the UK government will do.
Not according to the rules, which suddenly you reject becauyse they've produced a result you don't like.
Long and fascinating thread (for those interested in such stuff).
While a lot of their kit is semi-obsolete, Ukraine appears to have more advanced and far more effective artillery targeting systems than anyone in NATO.
This is nothing like the US Military's Tactical Fire Direction System (TACFIRE)...
That’s really cool, thanks for posting.
And it explains the importance of this, which wasn't entirely clear at the time: A week ago, ~40,000 SATCOM terminals were knocked out in Ukraine and other European countries. I just published a technical analysis of that incident, based on the information publicly available and my experience in that field.
And, of course, the importance of Musk's Starlink donations, which have a significance way beyond just PR.
A significance, the magnitude of which wasn’t readily apparent at the time.
There a hundred better countries in which to live than Britain.
And I intend to do so.
Care to name them?
I know Vladimir Putin hates Britain with a passion now because of our ardent support of Ukraine, but what reason would you have to despise Britain so much that you'd think there are a hundred better countries to live in?
The Nordics and the Netherlands are richer and have a better quality of life than we do. Ireland too. Among the larger European countries Germany certainly does too. I'd say France does too, certainly better work life balance and nicer weather too although the French don't seem very happy with it. Italy is messed up but the food and weather are a lot better. Switzerland has a lot going for it, as does Canada and New Zealand. I'm probably too invested here to move now, and there is still a lot I love about it despite the Tories' best efforts to ruin the place, but the idea that this is objectively the best country in the world to live in is laughable.
I think that I could quite happily live in any European country, bar current war zones, Canada, USA, most of Latin America, a fair chunk of Africa, SE or NE Asia, Australia or NZ, not nessicarily in that order. It must be over 100 countries. I prefer to live here though.
It is because I care about this country so much that I despise its government.
Well move then if you hate this country and its government so much.
The fact you and Heathener think there are 100 countries better than the UK, when the UK is well above global average income, wealth, life expectancy and PISA education ranking says it all!
Do you even bother to read the posts you reply to?
No. He can't compute anything that isn't his output. Like his repeated assertions yesterday that the state of Northern Ireland existed pre-1923, even in mediaeval times.
Ulster existed as part of Ireland with the English monarch as its head of state and Lord for centuries
But Northern Ireland is not Ulster. And you always said "Northern Ireland". You can't say "Persian Gulf" and then turn around and say you were talking about the Bight of Benin.
It is most of it and the English monarch was head of state of Ulster and Ireland for centuries before Northern Ireland was created too
But you weren't talking about Ulster. That sort of error is like saying that England is the UK because it's sort of most of it. Incredibly sloppy particularly in historical discussion.
Nope you wrongly suggested that Northern Ireland suddenly got the UK head of state in 1923 yesterday, when it had had the UK and English monarch as head of state for centuries
There a hundred better countries in which to live than Britain.
And I intend to do so.
Care to name them?
I know Vladimir Putin hates Britain with a passion now because of our ardent support of Ukraine, but what reason would you have to despise Britain so much that you'd think there are a hundred better countries to live in?
The Nordics and the Netherlands are richer and have a better quality of life than we do. Ireland too. Among the larger European countries Germany certainly does too. I'd say France does too, certainly better work life balance and nicer weather too although the French don't seem very happy with it. Italy is messed up but the food and weather are a lot better. Switzerland has a lot going for it, as does Canada and New Zealand. I'm probably too invested here to move now, and there is still a lot I love about it despite the Tories' best efforts to ruin the place, but the idea that this is objectively the best country in the world to live in is laughable.
I'm not going to get into a pissing contest about ranking countries, which is subjective, but that's not remotely close to a hundred countries, so do you care to keep going or agree that "a hundred countries" better than the UK is ridiculous hyperbolic nonsense?
The UK is up there as one of the best, most developed countries to live in on almost any rational metric. As are most other west European nations, the USA, Canada, Australia, NZ and Japan depending upon what you prefer.
All have their strengths and foibles, some more than others, but to suggest there's a hundred nations better than any of them is just absurd nonsense.
Yes I wouldn't say 100. Maybe 10-20? The UN's Human Development Index ranks the UK at #13 which seems about right although their precise ranking wouldn't be exactly the same as mine.
Personally - I think it's difficult to live in a country where you don't speak the language/can't communicate comfortably with most people. Japan is I am sure lovely, but I can't imagine enjoying moving there and spending probably multiple years unable to speak with most people beyond pointing and gesturing.
You'd pick it up in much less time with a little effort. Months.
I think that's right. I lived abroad for 30 years (mostly Denmark and Switzerland, with a bit of US and Austria). Some expats determinedly set out not to integrate and spent their evenings in English pubs watching videos of football and playing snooker together. some went the whole hog and eventually took local nationality. But most compromised, gathering local friends who spoke English (possible almost everywhere in the world now) and gradually picking up the local language and venturing into areas of common interests - walking, playing bridge - where fluency in the language wasn't too important.
With that background, I'm inclined to feel that the country we live in isn't really as important as we think. There are strong ties to the home country, both habit and common frames of reference, as well as (usually) existing family and friends. But you're an interesting addition to any other country and local people with generally welcome you if you're willing to make the effort. In the end the key factor is your own personality and open-mindedness. Objectively, Scandianiavia is IMO a nicer place (higher standard of living and on the whole fewer social strains), but I can imagine being happy anywhere if the conditions weren't too desperate (i.e. not Libya, Chad, Ukraine...).
There a hundred better countries in which to live than Britain.
And I intend to do so.
Care to name them?
I know Vladimir Putin hates Britain with a passion now because of our ardent support of Ukraine, but what reason would you have to despise Britain so much that you'd think there are a hundred better countries to live in?
The Nordics and the Netherlands are richer and have a better quality of life than we do. Ireland too. Among the larger European countries Germany certainly does too. I'd say France does too, certainly better work life balance and nicer weather too although the French don't seem very happy with it. Italy is messed up but the food and weather are a lot better. Switzerland has a lot going for it, as does Canada and New Zealand. I'm probably too invested here to move now, and there is still a lot I love about it despite the Tories' best efforts to ruin the place, but the idea that this is objectively the best country in the world to live in is laughable.
I think that I could quite happily live in any European country, bar current war zones, Canada, USA, most of Latin America, a fair chunk of Africa, SE or NE Asia, Australia or NZ, not nessicarily in that order. It must be over 100 countries. I prefer to live here though.
It is because I care about this country so much that I despise its government.
Well move then if you hate this country and its government so much.
The fact you and Heathener think there are 100 countries better than the UK, when the UK is well above global average income, wealth, life expectancy and PISA education ranking says it all!
Do you even bother to read the posts you reply to?
No. He can't compute anything that isn't his output. Like his repeated assertions yesterday that the state of Northern Ireland existed pre-1923, even in mediaeval times.
To be fair, it has long been part of the nationalist case that Ulster existed; their complaint was and is that Ulster was carved up 100 years ago.
Ulaidh certainly was, but it's not the same thing as NI.
Yes, and as I just said, that is part of the nationalist case.
Indeed, but it's also elementary geography and history.
In London it turns out there was a small swing from Labour to the Conservatives in a surprising number of boroughs (in terms of the popular vote compared to 2018). For example, Merton, Brent, Hounslow, in addition to Harrow and Croydon.
Re Northern Ireland. I cannot share what seems to be the popular anxiety, or excitement, depending on your view, that Sinn Fein taking over in Stormont will lead to the reunification of Ireland and the breakup of the United Kingdom. I suspect Michelle O'Neill will not go near a border poll until she is confident of winning. Probably also the big prize for Sinn Fein is the government of Ireland.
Plus the Northern Ireland Secretary has made clear there are no grounds for a border poll either
So @thetimes reporting Liz Truss to scrap Northern Ireland protocol - or at least parts of it - next week. This will trigger retaliation from EU which could make relations v difficult. EU likely to launch legal action against and suspend co-operation with UK on most issues .. https://twitter.com/sima_kotecha/status/1523930984261033985
My solution to solve the Northern Ireland protocol.
A plebiscite in Britain on whether we want to keep Northern Ireland or not.
I mean what has Northern Ireland ever given us except bigotry and terrorism?
#WillOfThePeople
Taking away instinctive unionists like HYFUD and those with family links to Northern Ireland, it’s not clear that anyone in England would much care either way if it stayed in the union or not. More complex in Scotland I guess, a 52-48 outcome in such a vote there?
There a hundred better countries in which to live than Britain.
And I intend to do so.
Care to name them?
I know Vladimir Putin hates Britain with a passion now because of our ardent support of Ukraine, but what reason would you have to despise Britain so much that you'd think there are a hundred better countries to live in?
The Nordics and the Netherlands are richer and have a better quality of life than we do. Ireland too. Among the larger European countries Germany certainly does too. I'd say France does too, certainly better work life balance and nicer weather too although the French don't seem very happy with it. Italy is messed up but the food and weather are a lot better. Switzerland has a lot going for it, as does Canada and New Zealand. I'm probably too invested here to move now, and there is still a lot I love about it despite the Tories' best efforts to ruin the place, but the idea that this is objectively the best country in the world to live in is laughable.
I think that I could quite happily live in any European country, bar current war zones, Canada, USA, most of Latin America, a fair chunk of Africa, SE or NE Asia, Australia or NZ, not nessicarily in that order. It must be over 100 countries. I prefer to live here though.
It is because I care about this country so much that I despise its government.
Well move then if you hate this country and its government so much.
The fact you and Heathener think there are 100 countries better than the UK, when the UK is well above global average income, wealth, life expectancy and PISA education ranking says it all!
Do you even bother to read the posts you reply to?
No. He can't compute anything that isn't his output. Like his repeated assertions yesterday that the state of Northern Ireland existed pre-1923, even in mediaeval times.
Ulster existed as part of Ireland with the English monarch as its head of state and Lord for centuries
But Northern Ireland is not Ulster. And you always said "Northern Ireland". You can't say "Persian Gulf" and then turn around and say you were talking about the Bight of Benin.
It is most of it and the English monarch was head of state of Ulster and Ireland for centuries before Northern Ireland was created too
But you weren't talking about Ulster. That sort of error is like saying that England is the UK because it's sort of most of it. Incredibly sloppy particularly in historical discussion.
Nope you wrongly suggested that Northern Ireland suddenly got the UK head of state in 1923 yesterday, when it had had the UK and English monarch as head of state for centuries
No, yfou suggested that the NI border existed before that. Which is utter nonsense that anyone with a history o level would be able to spot. Think about what you are saying when you talk about the UK - it is date contingent.
In London it turns out there was a small swing from Labour to the Conservatives in a surprising number of boroughs (in terms of the popular vote compared to 2018). For example, Merton, Brent, Hounslow, in addition to Harrow and Croydon.
Yes but apart from Harrow unfortunately Labour still won most of them. The biggest swing to Labour was in posh parts of Central London though certainly
Re Northern Ireland. I cannot share what seems to be the popular anxiety, or excitement, depending on your view, that Sinn Fein taking over in Stormont will lead to the reunification of Ireland and the breakup of the United Kingdom. I suspect Michelle O'Neill will not go near a border poll until she is confident of winning. Probably also the big prize for Sinn Fein is the government of Ireland.
Plus the Northern Ireland Secretary has made clear there are no grounds for a border poll either
In his opinion, which has nothing to do with fact, or will for a very long time even if there a majority to have a vote as you and the Tories show very well with Scotland.
So @thetimes reporting Liz Truss to scrap Northern Ireland protocol - or at least parts of it - next week. This will trigger retaliation from EU which could make relations v difficult. EU likely to launch legal action against and suspend co-operation with UK on most issues .. https://twitter.com/sima_kotecha/status/1523930984261033985
In Truss we Trust.
Liz for PM. 👍
Liz for PM might be advised to do her own thinking on the Northern Ireland protocol rather than slavishly follow a Prime Minister not known for rigorous analysis. If she wants to be PM herself.
There a hundred better countries in which to live than Britain.
And I intend to do so.
Care to name them?
I know Vladimir Putin hates Britain with a passion now because of our ardent support of Ukraine, but what reason would you have to despise Britain so much that you'd think there are a hundred better countries to live in?
The Nordics and the Netherlands are richer and have a better quality of life than we do. Ireland too. Among the larger European countries Germany certainly does too. I'd say France does too, certainly better work life balance and nicer weather too although the French don't seem very happy with it. Italy is messed up but the food and weather are a lot better. Switzerland has a lot going for it, as does Canada and New Zealand. I'm probably too invested here to move now, and there is still a lot I love about it despite the Tories' best efforts to ruin the place, but the idea that this is objectively the best country in the world to live in is laughable.
I'm not going to get into a pissing contest about ranking countries, which is subjective, but that's not remotely close to a hundred countries, so do you care to keep going or agree that "a hundred countries" better than the UK is ridiculous hyperbolic nonsense?
The UK is up there as one of the best, most developed countries to live in on almost any rational metric. As are most other west European nations, the USA, Canada, Australia, NZ and Japan depending upon what you prefer.
All have their strengths and foibles, some more than others, but to suggest there's a hundred nations better than any of them is just absurd nonsense.
Yes I wouldn't say 100. Maybe 10-20? The UN's Human Development Index ranks the UK at #13 which seems about right although their precise ranking wouldn't be exactly the same as mine.
Personally - I think it's difficult to live in a country where you don't speak the language/can't communicate comfortably with most people. Japan is I am sure lovely, but I can't imagine enjoying moving there and spending probably multiple years unable to speak with most people beyond pointing and gesturing.
You'd pick it up in much less time with a little effort. Months.
i lived in France for seven months in my late teens( when brains are supposed to be like sponges) and despite trying struggled to get beyond basic conversation.As an adult you want to converse in language beyond the level of a 6 year old so agree that language is hard to pick up and you will not enjoy living somewhere you cannot speak it really well
Fair enough. I found Chinese much easier to pick up than that. Maybe that's just me. Or perhaps it's just an easier language to reach a baseline of communicative competence. Helps most aren't speaking it as a first language either I suppose.
Luckily when I was "lost in France" it was Italia 90 time so did not really need to understand much when watching football on the tele Canal 1 although French commentary kept referring to Gary Line-e-ker . The only other thing I could understand was Benny Hill which they had on Sunday evenings and which I and this old french lady used to gather to watch and chuckle (I lived in a hostel for young workers which shared a communal television room with a old peoples home)
"Truss will argue that the election results in Northern Ireland give the negotiations a fresh sense of urgency because the Democratic Unionist party has said it will boycott any participation in a new government at Stormont until the issue is resolved."
Falling to second and shedding hundreds of thousands of votes means their programme must be implemented.
40% voted for Unionist parties
Minority. Lost.
They have a stupid PR based power sharing system, so no they didn't lose. They won the Deputy First Minister's job and a role in the government.
If you want to argue that PR is stupid and that the election winners ought to be able to ignore secondary parties then please be my guest.
My solution to solve the Northern Ireland protocol.
A plebiscite in Britain on whether we want to keep Northern Ireland or not.
I mean what has Northern Ireland ever given us except bigotry and terrorism?
#WillOfThePeople
Taking away instinctive unionists like HYFUD and those with family links to Northern Ireland, it’s not clear that anyone in England would much care either way if it stayed in the union or not. More complex in Scotland I guess, a 52-48 outcome in such a vote there?
2019
Nothing is sacred now as the Conservative Party membership seeks to secure Brexit – except keeping Jeremy Corbyn out of Number 10
Over the last three years Brexit has turned British politics upside down, and perhaps no institution has been hit harder than the Conservative Party. The issue has forced two successive Tory Prime Ministers out of office and spurred the creation of a new party of the right which is currently beating the Conservatives in the polls.
Now a new YouGov survey of Conservative Party members reveals just how much Brexit has changed the mood of the membership, subverting traditional loyalties and reshaping political priorities.
So dedicated to accomplishing Brexit are Tory members that a majority (54%) would be willing to countenance the destruction of their own party if necessary. Only a third (36%) put the party’s preservation above steering Britain out of the EU.
Party members are also willing to sacrifice another fundamental tenet of Conservative belief in order to bring about Brexit: unionism.* Asked whether they would rather avert Brexit if it would lead to Scotland or Northern Ireland breaking away from the UK, respectively 63% and 59% of party members would be willing to pay for Brexit with the breakup of the United Kingdom.
There a hundred better countries in which to live than Britain.
And I intend to do so.
Care to name them?
I know Vladimir Putin hates Britain with a passion now because of our ardent support of Ukraine, but what reason would you have to despise Britain so much that you'd think there are a hundred better countries to live in?
The Nordics and the Netherlands are richer and have a better quality of life than we do. Ireland too. Among the larger European countries Germany certainly does too. I'd say France does too, certainly better work life balance and nicer weather too although the French don't seem very happy with it. Italy is messed up but the food and weather are a lot better. Switzerland has a lot going for it, as does Canada and New Zealand. I'm probably too invested here to move now, and there is still a lot I love about it despite the Tories' best efforts to ruin the place, but the idea that this is objectively the best country in the world to live in is laughable.
I think that I could quite happily live in any European country, bar current war zones, Canada, USA, most of Latin America, a fair chunk of Africa, SE or NE Asia, Australia or NZ, not nessicarily in that order. It must be over 100 countries. I prefer to live here though.
It is because I care about this country so much that I despise its government.
Well move then if you hate this country and its government so much.
The fact you and Heathener think there are 100 countries better than the UK, when the UK is well above global average income, wealth, life expectancy and PISA education ranking says it all!
Yes, but for how much longer with you in charge?
Considerably longer, unemployment is still half the level Labour left in 2010 and the number of good schools is also up.
Plus if Foxy and Heathener left that would be 2 less non Tory voters to worry about too
The dynamic of full employment is somewhat different to ten years ago. The "white heat of technology" has given way to "would you like a shot of caramel in your coffee" and " don't bother coming in today you are not needed, you are needed Friday, so don't be late".
Re Northern Ireland. I cannot share what seems to be the popular anxiety, or excitement, depending on your view, that Sinn Fein taking over in Stormont will lead to the reunification of Ireland and the breakup of the United Kingdom. I suspect Michelle O'Neill will not go near a border poll until she is confident of winning. Probably also the big prize for Sinn Fein is the government of Ireland.
Plus the Northern Ireland Secretary has made clear there are no grounds for a border poll either
In his opinion, which has nothing to do with fact, or will for a very long time even if there a majority to have a vote as you and the Tories show very well with Scotland.
The final say is down to the Northern Ireland Secretary so tough and we will continue to refuse indyref2 as long as we are in power too
Long and fascinating thread (for those interested in such stuff).
While a lot of their kit is semi-obsolete, Ukraine appears to have more advanced and far more effective artillery targeting systems than anyone in NATO.
This is nothing like the US Military's Tactical Fire Direction System (TACFIRE)...
That’s really cool, thanks for posting.
And it explains the importance of this, which wasn't entirely clear at the time: A week ago, ~40,000 SATCOM terminals were knocked out in Ukraine and other European countries. I just published a technical analysis of that incident, based on the information publicly available and my experience in that field.
And, of course, the importance of Musk's Starlink donations, which have a significance way beyond just PR.
A significance, the magnitude of which wasn’t readily apparent at the time.
Interesting - the idea of a system that generates a target list, and then works backwards to "book" assets for a TOT attack has been around for a while. As power point presentations. The Ukrainians will be selling that to a few people....
Sound like they really learnt their lesson in 2014 about static batteries.
Can the UK please buy something like Archer? rather than piddling around with "upgrades" for AS90...
In London it turns out there was a small swing from Labour to the Conservatives in a surprising number of boroughs (in terms of the popular vote compared to 2018). For example, Merton, Brent, Hounslow, in addition to Harrow and Croydon.
In yesterdays GE poll Labour were on 39% yet they only got 35% at the LE last week. Its pretty unusual for an oppostion party to do worse in a LE than their GE polling position.
In London it turns out there was a small swing from Labour to the Conservatives in a surprising number of boroughs (in terms of the popular vote compared to 2018). For example, Merton, Brent, Hounslow, in addition to Harrow and Croydon.
In yesterdays GE poll Labour were on 39% yet they only got 35% at the LE last week. Its pretty unusual for an oppostion party to do worse in a LE than their GE polling position.
Long and fascinating thread (for those interested in such stuff).
While a lot of their kit is semi-obsolete, Ukraine appears to have more advanced and far more effective artillery targeting systems than anyone in NATO.
This is nothing like the US Military's Tactical Fire Direction System (TACFIRE)...
That’s really cool, thanks for posting.
And it explains the importance of this, which wasn't entirely clear at the time: A week ago, ~40,000 SATCOM terminals were knocked out in Ukraine and other European countries. I just published a technical analysis of that incident, based on the information publicly available and my experience in that field.
And, of course, the importance of Musk's Starlink donations, which have a significance way beyond just PR.
A significance, the magnitude of which wasn’t readily apparent at the time.
Interesting - the idea of a system that generates a target list, and then works backwards to "book" assets for a TOT attack has been around for a while. As power point presentations. The Ukrainians will be selling that to a few people....
Sound like they really learnt their lesson in 2014 about static batteries.
Can the UK please buy something like Archer? rather than piddling around with "upgrades" for AS90...
Indeed, it does seem to be rather a good system. Maybe the Ukrainians will licence it to us, in exchange for a few more NLAWs and Stingers?
There a hundred better countries in which to live than Britain.
And I intend to do so.
Care to name them?
I know Vladimir Putin hates Britain with a passion now because of our ardent support of Ukraine, but what reason would you have to despise Britain so much that you'd think there are a hundred better countries to live in?
The Nordics and the Netherlands are richer and have a better quality of life than we do. Ireland too. Among the larger European countries Germany certainly does too. I'd say France does too, certainly better work life balance and nicer weather too although the French don't seem very happy with it. Italy is messed up but the food and weather are a lot better. Switzerland has a lot going for it, as does Canada and New Zealand. I'm probably too invested here to move now, and there is still a lot I love about it despite the Tories' best efforts to ruin the place, but the idea that this is objectively the best country in the world to live in is laughable.
I think that I could quite happily live in any European country, bar current war zones, Canada, USA, most of Latin America, a fair chunk of Africa, SE or NE Asia, Australia or NZ, not nessicarily in that order. It must be over 100 countries. I prefer to live here though.
It is because I care about this country so much that I despise its government.
Well move then if you hate this country and its government so much.
The fact you and Heathener think there are 100 countries better than the UK, when the UK is well above global average income, wealth, life expectancy and PISA education ranking says it all!
Yes, but for how much longer with you in charge?
Considerably longer, unemployment is still half the level Labour left in 2010 and the number of good schools is also up.
Plus if Foxy and Heathener left that would be 2 less non Tory voters to worry about too
...mine too, if you hadn't Brexited and ruined my retirement plans.
In my case, the weather and the litter are the clinchers. Serious events and issues being trivialised by Boris Johnson are problematic, but I guess I am lumbered with that now until I shuffle off the perch.
There a hundred better countries in which to live than Britain.
And I intend to do so.
Care to name them?
I know Vladimir Putin hates Britain with a passion now because of our ardent support of Ukraine, but what reason would you have to despise Britain so much that you'd think there are a hundred better countries to live in?
The Nordics and the Netherlands are richer and have a better quality of life than we do. Ireland too. Among the larger European countries Germany certainly does too. I'd say France does too, certainly better work life balance and nicer weather too although the French don't seem very happy with it. Italy is messed up but the food and weather are a lot better. Switzerland has a lot going for it, as does Canada and New Zealand. I'm probably too invested here to move now, and there is still a lot I love about it despite the Tories' best efforts to ruin the place, but the idea that this is objectively the best country in the world to live in is laughable.
I'm not going to get into a pissing contest about ranking countries, which is subjective, but that's not remotely close to a hundred countries, so do you care to keep going or agree that "a hundred countries" better than the UK is ridiculous hyperbolic nonsense?
The UK is up there as one of the best, most developed countries to live in on almost any rational metric. As are most other west European nations, the USA, Canada, Australia, NZ and Japan depending upon what you prefer.
All have their strengths and foibles, some more than others, but to suggest there's a hundred nations better than any of them is just absurd nonsense.
Yes I wouldn't say 100. Maybe 10-20? The UN's Human Development Index ranks the UK at #13 which seems about right although their precise ranking wouldn't be exactly the same as mine.
Personally - I think it's difficult to live in a country where you don't speak the language/can't communicate comfortably with most people. Japan is I am sure lovely, but I can't imagine enjoying moving there and spending probably multiple years unable to speak with most people beyond pointing and gesturing.
You'd pick it up in much less time with a little effort. Months.
I think that's right. I lived abroad for 30 years (mostly Denmark and Switzerland, with a bit of US and Austria). Some expats determinedly set out not to integrate and spent their evenings in English pubs watching videos of football and playing snooker together. some went the whole hog and eventually took local nationality. But most compromised, gathering local friends who spoke English (possible almost everywhere in the world now) and gradually picking up the local language and venturing into areas of common interests - walking, playing bridge - where fluency in the language wasn't too important.
With that background, I'm inclined to feel that the country we live in isn't really as important as we think. There are strong ties to the home country, both habit and common frames of reference, as well as (usually) existing family and friends. But you're an interesting addition to any other country and local people with generally welcome you if you're willing to make the effort. In the end the key factor is your own personality and open-mindedness. Objectively, Scandianiavia is IMO a nicer place (higher standard of living and on the whole fewer social strains), but I can imagine being happy anywhere if the conditions weren't too desperate (i.e. not Libya, Chad, Ukraine...).
you are obviously really good and natural at languages though. Language learning is a skill and some people have it and some people dont really. Its like saying oh you know if you just practice keepy uppy with a ball you can do it as well as Ronaldo or if you learn enough chess openings you can mix it with Magnus Carlson .
Long and fascinating thread (for those interested in such stuff).
While a lot of their kit is semi-obsolete, Ukraine appears to have more advanced and far more effective artillery targeting systems than anyone in NATO.
This is nothing like the US Military's Tactical Fire Direction System (TACFIRE)...
That’s really cool, thanks for posting.
And it explains the importance of this, which wasn't entirely clear at the time: A week ago, ~40,000 SATCOM terminals were knocked out in Ukraine and other European countries. I just published a technical analysis of that incident, based on the information publicly available and my experience in that field.
And, of course, the importance of Musk's Starlink donations, which have a significance way beyond just PR.
A significance, the magnitude of which wasn’t readily apparent at the time.
Interesting - the idea of a system that generates a target list, and then works backwards to "book" assets for a TOT attack has been around for a while. As power point presentations. The Ukrainians will be selling that to a few people....
Sound like they really learnt their lesson in 2014 about static batteries.
Can the UK please buy something like Archer? rather than piddling around with "upgrades" for AS90...
Indeed, it does seem to be rather a good system. Maybe the Ukrainians will licence it to us, in exchange for a few more NLAWs and Stingers?
t would be unusable in UK & US militaries - think of all the middle management that wouldn't be consulted, if automation of targeting got to that level.
All this stuff about Starmer being “principled” makes me want to be sick in my mouth. This is the guy who more than anyone else tried to overturn a democratic vote because he thought be was better than the voters. When it came to the pandemic, all he wanted to do was make political capital by calling the government reckless for not locking down harder and longer. And all the while he too was floating the rules. He’s a sanctimonious expletive.
Well said. I can see why Boris hates him
The awful sanctimony is unbearable. Yuk
And I say that as someone who thinks Boris is a lying fool who should resign this afternoon
My solution to solve the Northern Ireland protocol.
A plebiscite in Britain on whether we want to keep Northern Ireland or not.
I mean what has Northern Ireland ever given us except bigotry and terrorism?
#WillOfThePeople
Rory McIlroy, James Nesbitt, Kenneth Branagh, Jamie Dornan. Plus plenty of UK patriots and a Tory government to keep out Corbyn in 2017 via the DUP
Your last one is categorically wrong.
Had it not been for Northern Ireland, then Theresa May would have won an outright majority at the election.
On current polling now the SNP has retaken most SCon seats, without DUP support again the Tories would have near zero chance of forming the next government given the projected hung parliament
My solution to solve the Northern Ireland protocol.
A plebiscite in Britain on whether we want to keep Northern Ireland or not.
I mean what has Northern Ireland ever given us except bigotry and terrorism?
#WillOfThePeople
Rory McIlroy, James Nesbitt, Kenneth Branagh, Jamie Dornan. Plus plenty of UK patriots and a Tory government to keep out Corbyn in 2017 via the DUP
Are you suggesting Rory, Jimmy, Kenny and Jamie are not UK patriots?
Tbf various loyalists (including on here) had prolapses when Rory said he’d represent Ireland at the Olympics. Might as well have been smuggling Semtex in his golf bag.
I haven’t! Quite keen to go, actually (despite mixed reports from well traveled friends)
The last big holes on my global travel bucket list are Central Asia, Central America, and the pacific islands. And several big chunks of Africa like this
My solution to solve the Northern Ireland protocol.
A plebiscite in Britain on whether we want to keep Northern Ireland or not.
I mean what has Northern Ireland ever given us except bigotry and terrorism?
#WillOfThePeople
Taking away instinctive unionists like HYFUD and those with family links to Northern Ireland, it’s not clear that anyone in England would much care either way if it stayed in the union or not. More complex in Scotland I guess, a 52-48 outcome in such a vote there?
2019
Nothing is sacred now as the Conservative Party membership seeks to secure Brexit – except keeping Jeremy Corbyn out of Number 10
Over the last three years Brexit has turned British politics upside down, and perhaps no institution has been hit harder than the Conservative Party. The issue has forced two successive Tory Prime Ministers out of office and spurred the creation of a new party of the right which is currently beating the Conservatives in the polls.
Now a new YouGov survey of Conservative Party members reveals just how much Brexit has changed the mood of the membership, subverting traditional loyalties and reshaping political priorities.
So dedicated to accomplishing Brexit are Tory members that a majority (54%) would be willing to countenance the destruction of their own party if necessary. Only a third (36%) put the party’s preservation above steering Britain out of the EU.
Party members are also willing to sacrifice another fundamental tenet of Conservative belief in order to bring about Brexit: unionism.* Asked whether they would rather avert Brexit if it would lead to Scotland or Northern Ireland breaking away from the UK, respectively 63% and 59% of party members would be willing to pay for Brexit with the breakup of the United Kingdom.
My solution to solve the Northern Ireland protocol.
A plebiscite in Britain on whether we want to keep Northern Ireland or not.
I mean what has Northern Ireland ever given us except bigotry and terrorism?
#WillOfThePeople
Taking away instinctive unionists like HYFUD and those with family links to Northern Ireland, it’s not clear that anyone in England would much care either way if it stayed in the union or not. More complex in Scotland I guess, a 52-48 outcome in such a vote there?
2019
Nothing is sacred now as the Conservative Party membership seeks to secure Brexit – except keeping Jeremy Corbyn out of Number 10
Over the last three years Brexit has turned British politics upside down, and perhaps no institution has been hit harder than the Conservative Party. The issue has forced two successive Tory Prime Ministers out of office and spurred the creation of a new party of the right which is currently beating the Conservatives in the polls.
Now a new YouGov survey of Conservative Party members reveals just how much Brexit has changed the mood of the membership, subverting traditional loyalties and reshaping political priorities.
So dedicated to accomplishing Brexit are Tory members that a majority (54%) would be willing to countenance the destruction of their own party if necessary. Only a third (36%) put the party’s preservation above steering Britain out of the EU.
Party members are also willing to sacrifice another fundamental tenet of Conservative belief in order to bring about Brexit: unionism.* Asked whether they would rather avert Brexit if it would lead to Scotland or Northern Ireland breaking away from the UK, respectively 63% and 59% of party members would be willing to pay for Brexit with the breakup of the United Kingdom.
I remember in the 80s after another atrocity, my Irishphile dad saying to the effect of, bugger to Northern Ireland… give it back to Ireland and let them see how they like the bombs going off in Dublin.
These days in the absence of bombs going off in Britain, the default position of most will be apathy. If and when Ulster goes independent or reunites with the south, there will be miles of column inches about it being a historic humiliation for the English, the final end of empire etc… but in real life no one will care either way.
Having travelled quite a bit, I wouldn’t say the UK is an angrier country than anywhere else. We’re certainly divided and we have our problems, but overall we’re a pretty typical western European country, with additional soft power acquired over a long period if time.
In fact, I’d argue we are maybe a bit too complacent, especially in the face of a government that very clearly has no regard for our established Parliamentary democracy or the rule of law. We are the country of “mustn’t grumble” and “it could be worse”. That gives chancers and rogues like the current PM all the scope they need to do their worst.
It would be nice to think that Starmer and Rayner doing what they’ve done might shine more of a contrasting light on Downing Street, but I doubt it.
how is having a mass work gathering and beer and curry in anyway virtuous given what the law at the time was trying to prevent and Starmer fully supported ?
If they’ve broken the law they’ll be fined and they’ll resign. That’s not particularly virtuous if you’ve helped make the law, but it is an approach that stands in marked contrast to others.
Labour fixating again on the idea that it's the fine that counts not whether SKS is actually guilty of an offence. The fact that SKS refused to say if he would have resign if he is found guilty but didn't receive a fine suggests he knows he probably has done something wrong but is relying on Durham's stated policy of not issuing retrospective fines. It's a typical lawyer's wheeze. Not sure it will go down well with the public.
If he’s guilty of an offence he’ll be fined.
No. A fine is not automatic as we saw with Cummings. He could be found guilty but not fined. In which case he stays.
Cummings wasn’t found guilty.
Why not read the statement from Durham Police. They clearly think that Cummings did break the rules (although, they think driving to Barnard Castle was a fairly minor offence) but weren't going to issue a fine because they didn't want to treat him differently to anyone else.
So now they are treating the Durham 15 (to 30) differently to anyone else. Consistency reigns.
But thats exactly what the met have done. If they had attended the birthday party in person, I suspect they would have said 'on your way chaps, cant do this at the moment'. And that might have been an end to it. As far as I can see the only people being pursued for historic breaches of covid regs are those in No 10 and now those at the Durham campaign event. No students. No old ladies getting a cheeky G and T one night. No companies who crossed a line from work into social. No one.
None of this should be investigated and ALL such fines (including those from the time) should be quashed and repaid.
The laws were bad law. No-one knew at the time what you could and couldn't do. Especially the police. Especially stazi-like Derbyshire police.
That Derbyshire police had a shiny new drone seemed to go to their heads.....
I haven’t! Quite keen to go, actually (despite mixed reports from well traveled friends)
The last big holes on my global travel bucket list are Central Asia, Central America, and the pacific islands. And several big chunks of Africa like this
At the time of this dinner England was under restrictions which limited meetings with people inside (other than members of your household bubble) other than for exceptions, one of which was meetings reasonably necessary for work.
What the police will have to decide, I think, is whether all the meetings Starmer and others were having on that day in Durham were all reasonably necessary for work, including dinner in the evening. Work matters can after all be discussed over dinner. And even if they are not, if you are working in a long meeting and then stop to have something to eat, it would be curious to say that a meeting where you open your mouth to speak is legal but the moment you open it to eat a sandwich it becomes illegal.
Note: it could be curious but might still be the correct legal interpretation. That might be the legal basis on which the Met issued the FPN against the PM re the cake he ate in his office. We just don't know. The fact that we still don't know is itself pretty worrying and unacceptable.
Or is the proper analysis to look at each individual meeting during the day and assess whether each of them was reasonably necessary for work. So all the work meetings before dinner were OK and work meetings after the dinner were also OK but the actual dinner was not because it was not reasonably necessary for work.
Also a curious interpretation. Starmer's team - judging by what they are saying today - seem to be taking the view that you should look at the totality of the day as a whole not chop it up into bite- sized events (sorry!).
Also what does "reasonably" mean?
Conclusions:-
1. Those regulations were a mess. 2. Who is giving legal advice to the Met and the Durham police? 3. Are they getting the same legal advice on how to interpret the regulations and apply it to the facts they gather? 4. Are they going to publish what that legal advice is? 5. Is that legal advice correct?
You see, if Durham police do not fine Starmer on the basis that it was reasonable of him to eat with people he had been working with all day, especially if he continued to work afterwards, then I find it hard to see how the PM and Sunak were fined for working in the Cabinet Office and stopping briefly to have a cake. They could have argued that they were there to work for a number of hours and a brief pause to eat or drink did not undermine the fact that they were at a work meeting during those hours.
The irony, in what is turning out to be the 2020s version of Jarndyce v Jarndyce, would be if Starmer avoids an FPN on legal grounds which could have helped Johnson and Sunak avoid theirs.
Comments
A week ago, ~40,000 SATCOM terminals were knocked out in Ukraine and other European countries. I just published a technical analysis of that incident, based on the information publicly available and my experience in that field.
Can you imagine the unlucky judge having to listen to "so she said----" "so i tweeted that she was a f****** b****" and then she said ------"
Boris Johnson fits the Daniel Cleaver playbook.
Falling to second and shedding hundreds of thousands of votes means their programme must be implemented.
With witnesses waiting years for jury trials this is a scandal of wasted resource.
There is a clear majority in the assembly which supports the protocol which is being totally ignored by no 10.
Its like me going for an afternoon meeting at a Council and at 6pm we stop for food & alcohol and just mingle as if it was 2019.
Labours excuse that someone was sending a Whatsapp message at 1am proves that the work event continued until the early hours so it is perfectly legal is bizarre. In sure the Covid rules were not written to enable you to be able to do anything as long as you were working before and after.
Im sure the police will ask SKS what time he got back to his hotel
While I'm sorry for the judge, as someone else said, but it's blocking off a court which could be used for several criminal trials.
No one.
None of this should be investigated and ALL such fines (including those from the time) should be quashed and repaid.
The laws were bad law. No-one knew at the time what you could and couldn't do. Especially the police. Especially stazi-like Derbyshire police.
Instead they want to minimise the border for both
@susie_dent
Word of the day is ‘ipsedixitism’ (19th century): the insistence that something is ‘fact’ because someone else said so.
I could never make a mistake, that is simply unpossible.
Helps most aren't speaking it as a first language either I suppose.
There is no majority for imposing a hard border in Ireland which the government could have tried. There certainly is enough support to try and remove the Irish Sea border which the UK government will do.
A plebiscite in Britain on whether we want to keep Northern Ireland or not.
I mean what has Northern Ireland ever given us except bigotry and terrorism?
#WillOfThePeople
Yes kids - Northern Ireland is *exporting* weapons.
With that background, I'm inclined to feel that the country we live in isn't really as important as we think. There are strong ties to the home country, both habit and common frames of reference, as well as (usually) existing family and friends. But you're an interesting addition to any other country and local people with generally welcome you if you're willing to make the effort. In the end the key factor is your own personality and open-mindedness. Objectively, Scandianiavia is IMO a nicer place (higher standard of living and on the whole fewer social strains), but I can imagine being happy anywhere if the conditions weren't too desperate (i.e. not Libya, Chad, Ukraine...).
Liz for PM. 👍
Meh!
If you want to argue that PR is stupid and that the election winners ought to be able to ignore secondary parties then please be my guest.
Nothing is sacred now as the Conservative Party membership seeks to secure Brexit – except keeping Jeremy Corbyn out of Number 10
Over the last three years Brexit has turned British politics upside down, and perhaps no institution has been hit harder than the Conservative Party. The issue has forced two successive Tory Prime Ministers out of office and spurred the creation of a new party of the right which is currently beating the Conservatives in the polls.
Now a new YouGov survey of Conservative Party members reveals just how much Brexit has changed the mood of the membership, subverting traditional loyalties and reshaping political priorities.
So dedicated to accomplishing Brexit are Tory members that a majority (54%) would be willing to countenance the destruction of their own party if necessary. Only a third (36%) put the party’s preservation above steering Britain out of the EU.
Party members are also willing to sacrifice another fundamental tenet of Conservative belief in order to bring about Brexit: unionism.* Asked whether they would rather avert Brexit if it would lead to Scotland or Northern Ireland breaking away from the UK, respectively 63% and 59% of party members would be willing to pay for Brexit with the breakup of the United Kingdom.
https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/articles-reports/2019/06/18/most-conservative-members-would-see-party-destroye
2020
Brits increasingly don’t care whether Northern Ireland remains in UK
https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/articles-reports/2020/04/22/brits-increasingly-dont-care-whether-northern-irel
Had it not been for Northern Ireland, then Theresa May would have won an outright majority at the election.
Sound like they really learnt their lesson in 2014 about static batteries.
Can the UK please buy something like Archer? rather than piddling around with "upgrades" for AS90...
In my case, the weather and the litter are the clinchers. Serious events and issues being trivialised by Boris Johnson are problematic, but I guess I am lumbered with that now until I shuffle off the perch.
The awful sanctimony is unbearable. Yuk
And I say that as someone who thinks Boris is a lying fool who should resign this afternoon
Tbf various loyalists (including on here) had prolapses when Rory said he’d represent Ireland at the Olympics. Might as well have been smuggling Semtex in his golf bag.
The last big holes on my global travel bucket list are Central Asia, Central America, and the pacific islands. And several big chunks of Africa like this
Been almost everywhere else
Brexit has been delivered but the government continues to ban indyref2 and is refusing a border poll, so no such choice arises
These days in the absence of bombs going off in Britain, the default position of most will be apathy. If and when Ulster goes independent or reunites with the south, there will be miles of column inches about it being a historic humiliation for the English, the final end of empire etc… but in real life no one will care either way.
At the time of this dinner England was under restrictions which limited meetings with people inside (other than members of your household bubble) other than for exceptions, one of which was meetings reasonably necessary for work.
What the police will have to decide, I think, is whether all the meetings Starmer and others were having on that day in Durham were all reasonably necessary for work, including dinner in the evening. Work matters can after all be discussed over dinner. And even if they are not, if you are working in a long meeting and then stop to have something to eat, it would be curious to say that a meeting where you open your mouth to speak is legal but the moment you open it to eat a sandwich it becomes illegal.
Note: it could be curious but might still be the correct legal interpretation. That might be the legal basis on which the Met issued the FPN against the PM re the cake he ate in his office. We just don't know. The fact that we still don't know is itself pretty worrying and unacceptable.
Or is the proper analysis to look at each individual meeting during the day and assess whether each of them was reasonably necessary for work. So all the work meetings before dinner were OK and work meetings after the dinner were also OK but the actual dinner was not because it was not reasonably necessary for work.
Also a curious interpretation. Starmer's team - judging by what they are saying today - seem to be taking the view that you should look at the totality of the day as a whole not chop it up into bite- sized events (sorry!).
Also what does "reasonably" mean?
Conclusions:-
1. Those regulations were a mess.
2. Who is giving legal advice to the Met and the Durham police?
3. Are they getting the same legal advice on how to interpret the regulations and apply it to the facts they gather?
4. Are they going to publish what that legal advice is?
5. Is that legal advice correct?
You see, if Durham police do not fine Starmer on the basis that it was reasonable of him to eat with people he had been working with all day, especially if he continued to work afterwards, then I find it hard to see how the PM and Sunak were fined for working in the Cabinet Office and stopping briefly to have a cake. They could have argued that they were there to work for a number of hours and a brief pause to eat or drink did not undermine the fact that they were at a work meeting during those hours.
The irony, in what is turning out to be the 2020s version of Jarndyce v Jarndyce, would be if Starmer avoids an FPN on legal grounds which could have helped Johnson and Sunak avoid theirs.
I will now go and get a life .....