Has Scholz finally agreed to roll the tanks? Even the famously neutral Swiss, appear to be willing to allow re-export of weapons. Well done everyone, even if some took rather longer to be convinced than others.
A couple of hundred modern Western tanks, if trained on and deployed properly, could make a massive difference to the capability of the Ukranians.
thats a really big `could'. I dont see the current initiative as a gamechanger and if anything the West's hesitancy over the issue, less than a year into the current invasion, doesn't bode well if the Russians start considering a`long war' approach to Ukraine.
As Russia discovered at the start of this war, one can’t just roll tanks through enemy towns without them being sitting ducks.
Successful deployment of tanks requires infrantry, many other maintenance and support vehicles, and hopefully air support too. There’s a lot more to it, at least to doing it properly, than showing a few soldiers which button does what in the tank.
There’s been an awful lot of tank warfare so far in the last year, and by most estimates the enemy doesn’t have a lot of tanks left to deploy. There have already been T-62 tanks, relics of the Soviet-Vietnam war, seen deployed in Ukraine - maybe they dragged them out of a museum and put them on a train heading West? Estimates vary from 1,650 (Oryx), through 2,200 (US DoD), to 3,100 (Ukranian military) as the number of Russian tanks damaged or captured since last February, from a total stock of about 3,500. The Ukranians have captured more Russian tanks, than they had themselves at the start of the war - some of which were perfectly serviceable but simply out of fuel or ammunition, or got surrounded and abandoned in the early stages of the conflict.
The “Long War” approach, requires huge amounts of men and machines. There’s little evidence of either on the Russian side - we are already seeing barely trained ‘mobliks’ with an AK-47 each, little ammo, no winter clothing, no food supplies, and no armoured vehicles. Their morale must be totally shot, and their wives and mothers are noting all the men who went away from their town and didn’t come back. Anyone with skills or money has fled the country to avoid being drafted, many of whom have found a way to get residence elsewhere and have little intention of coming back.
The Ukranians, even after a year, are still very much up for this war. They see it as existential to themselves and their homeland, and want to fight so long as they can get armed and trained. It’s fantastic to see many other countries helping them out, even if some of them have taken rather more persuading than we might have hoped! Suggestions that Biden might consider sending planes - even if they’re older F-16s from the boneyard, without the latest systems - is also commendable, and will make a huge difference to the capability of the defenders.
The slight counter-argument to that is Russia has essentially been performing a 'holding war' for the last four months - using 'cheap' manpower, PMCs and 'old' armour to keep the Ukrainians tied down, and attrit them. Meanwhile, Russia is training and building up a much more capable force using more modern kit and people far behind the lines in Russia. These will then be used for a massive new thrust.
That's certainly plausible, but would require Russia to have done something sensible - not a good bet based on their actions so far in this war. But it's also unwise to think the enemy would always be stupid.
Western intelligence will have a good idea about this, based on satellite and other means, and you can bet Ukraine know through them. And that's a problem Russia has: it is very difficult to keep massed armour and men 'secret' from the enemy nowadays, especially with western capabilities in spy satellites and signals intelligence.
And yes, modern planes are vital for Ukraine, although slightly less so than tanks. Combined with tanks in a sane strategy, they could be a very powerful force. (All IMO, IANAE etc)
The German newspaper Spiegel reports that according to its information, Germany has decided to send at least one company of the Leopard 2A6 main battle tanks to Ukraine, and grant permission to re-export Leopards to Ukraine. https://twitter.com/EuromaidanPress/status/1617952372990349325
It's been reported as fact on Bloomberg too.
So, good news. Would have been better a week ago, and if Germany hadn't had to be shamed into it. But good news all the same.
I must admit that I'd like France to send Leclercs now, if only so we can see a line-up of Leopard 2's, Challenger 2's, Abrams, Leclercs, T72, T84 and PT-91, all fighting on the same side...
So long and tanks for the memories.
On the bright side, we can film Red Storm Rising for free.
Mention of Red Storm Rising reminds me that I fancy reading a good Alt-History novel.
Any recommendations?
The Man in the High Castle by P. K. Dick? Pavane by Keith Roberts? The Alteration by Kingsley Amis? All old but good in their way. Though the latter includes a passing reference to Msgnrs Benn (as Lord Stansgate), Redgrave and Foot of the Holy Inquisition, quite gratuitous [edit]. One can suspect the author's inclinations ...
Has Scholz finally agreed to roll the tanks? Even the famously neutral Swiss, appear to be willing to allow re-export of weapons. Well done everyone, even if some took rather longer to be convinced than others.
A couple of hundred modern Western tanks, if trained on and deployed properly, could make a massive difference to the capability of the Ukranians.
thats a really big `could'. I dont see the current initiative as a gamechanger and if anything the West's hesitancy over the issue, less than a year into the current invasion, doesn't bode well if the Russians start considering a`long war' approach to Ukraine.
As Russia discovered at the start of this war, one can’t just roll tanks through enemy towns without them being sitting ducks.
Successful deployment of tanks requires infrantry, many other maintenance and support vehicles, and hopefully air support too. There’s a lot more to it, at least to doing it properly, than showing a few soldiers which button does what in the tank.
There’s been an awful lot of tank warfare so far in the last year, and by most estimates the enemy doesn’t have a lot of tanks left to deploy. There have already been T-62 tanks, relics of the Soviet-Vietnam war, seen deployed in Ukraine - maybe they dragged them out of a museum and put them on a train heading West? Estimates vary from 1,650 (Oryx), through 2,200 (US DoD), to 3,100 (Ukranian military) as the number of Russian tanks damaged or captured since last February, from a total stock of about 3,500. The Ukranians have captured more Russian tanks, than they had themselves at the start of the war - some of which were perfectly serviceable but simply out of fuel or ammunition, or got surrounded and abandoned in the early stages of the conflict.
The “Long War” approach, requires huge amounts of men and machines. There’s little evidence of either on the Russian side - we are already seeing barely trained ‘mobliks’ with an AK-47 each, little ammo, no winter clothing, no food supplies, and no armoured vehicles. Their morale must be totally shot, and their wives and mothers are noting all the men who went away from their town and didn’t come back. Anyone with skills or money has fled the country to avoid being drafted, many of whom have found a way to get residence elsewhere and have little intention of coming back.
The Ukranians, even after a year, are still very much up for this war. They see it as existential to themselves and their homeland, and want to fight so long as they can get armed and trained. It’s fantastic to see many other countries helping them out, even if some of them have taken rather more persuading than we might have hoped! Suggestions that Biden might consider sending planes - even if they’re older F-16s from the boneyard, without the latest systems - is also commendable, and will make a huge difference to the capability of the defenders.
The slight counter-argument to that is Russia has essentially been performing a 'holding war' for the last four months - using 'cheap' manpower, PMCs and 'old' armour to keep the Ukrainians tied down, and attrit them. Meanwhile, Russia is training and building up a much more capable force using more modern kit and people far behind the lines in Russia. These will then be used for a massive new thrust.
That's certainly plausible, but would require Russia to have done something sensible - not a good bet based on their actions so far in this war. But it's also unwise to think the enemy would always be stupid.
Western intelligence will have a good idea about this, based on satellite and other means, and you can bet Ukraine know through them. And that's a problem Russia has: it is very difficult to keep massed armour and men 'secret' from the enemy nowadays, especially with western capabilities in spy satellites and signals intelligence.
And yes, modern planes are vital for Ukraine, although slightly less so than tanks. Combined with tanks in a sane strategy, they could be a very powerful force. (All IMO, IANAE etc)
Yes, especially a good point about sigint and satellite imagery, which is not even an open secret any more. When the Ukranians blew up that Russian air base in Crimea, the Americans released spysat images of the day before and the day after the attack, showing the damage - the clear implication being, that the day before image was used by the attackers in planning the raid.
We still see a number of NATO country signals and surveillance aircraft in the region every day, a visible reminder to the enemy of the support the Ukranians are getting from the Western Alliance.
It would be very difficult, as you suggest, for the Russians to build up forces unseen and under cover, even with such a massive country to hide in. Reports out of Russia have suggested that their tank factories are not producing new tanks, because they don’t have the electronics and systems to put in them. They’re instead trying to scrape together serviceable vehicles from scrap parts. Let’s hope that’s the case.
Here Stuarts once in glory reign’d, And laws for Scotland’s weal ordain’d; But now unroof’d their palace stands, Their sceptre’s sway’d by other hands.
The injur’d Stuart line is gone, A race outlandish fills their throne An idiot race, to honour lost; Who know them best despise them most.
Smells like agenda-driven research to me - insulating your home leads to better health.. how?
I presume they mean it makes them easier to warm/heat and therefore lowers energy costs meaning poorer people can stay warmer for longer and afford other "stuff" but a bit of a stretch and not clear.
Also, I don't want to live an extra 564,345 years if all I can eat is lettuce.
Smells like agenda-driven research to me - insulating your home leads to better health.. how?
I presume they mean it makes them easier to warm/heat and therefore lowers energy costs meaning poorer people can stay warmer for longer and afford other "stuff" but a bit of a stretch and not clear.
Also, I don't want to live an extra 564,345 years if all I can eat is lettuce.
Not just lettuce, there will be bugs and roaches to eat as well.
Here Stuarts once in glory reign’d, And laws for Scotland’s weal ordain’d; But now unroof’d their palace stands, Their sceptre’s sway’d by other hands.
The injur’d Stuart line is gone, A race outlandish fills their throne An idiot race, to honour lost; Who know them best despise them most.
Smells like agenda-driven research to me - insulating your home leads to better health.. how?
I presume they mean it makes them easier to warm/heat and therefore lowers energy costs meaning poorer people can stay warmer for longer and afford other "stuff" but a bit of a stretch and not clear.
Also, I don't want to live an extra 564,345 years if all I can eat is lettuce.
Not just lettuce, there will be bugs and roaches to eat as well.
Our local DPD driver uses his company app which has faulty GPS. I think yesterday's failed parcel drop was was at a door in Germany. Certainly wasn't around here...
Smells like agenda-driven research to me - insulating your home leads to better health.. how?
I presume they mean it makes them easier to warm/heat and therefore lowers energy costs meaning poorer people can stay warmer for longer and afford other "stuff" but a bit of a stretch and not clear.
Also, I don't want to live an extra 564,345 years if all I can eat is lettuce.
Our local DPD driver uses his company app which has faulty GPS. I think yesterday's failed parcel drop was was at a door in Germany. Certainly wasn't around here...
We have a new local DPD driver. So far a major improvement on the previous one.
What a surprise this cesspit governments new Bill of Rights reduces the power of citizens to hold the government to account.
And because the last resort then would be to go to ECHR it’s likely to lose many cases . This will then be couched as an attack on UK sovereignty and the right wing hate rags will then push for removing the UK from that court .
This will then become part of the Tories election manifesto and low information voters will lap up the lies .
Smells like agenda-driven research to me - insulating your home leads to better health.. how?
I presume they mean it makes them easier to warm/heat and therefore lowers energy costs meaning poorer people can stay warmer for longer and afford other "stuff" but a bit of a stretch and not clear.
Also, I don't want to live an extra 564,345 years if all I can eat is lettuce.
Two million years over the entire population integrated over that timeframe? You’ll get another week or so.
Here Stuarts once in glory reign’d, And laws for Scotland’s weal ordain’d; But now unroof’d their palace stands, Their sceptre’s sway’d by other hands.
The injur’d Stuart line is gone, A race outlandish fills their throne An idiot race, to honour lost; Who know them best despise them most.
Best bard. 🏴
Enjoy yer haggis.
Then let us pray that come it may, As come it will for a' that, That sense and worth, o'er a' the earth, May bear the gree, an' a' that. For a' that, an' a' that It's coming yet, for a' that That man to man, the warld o'er, Shall brothers be for a' that.
It's rare I get actively angry but I was so incandescent on the M25 this evening I almost had to pull my car over to compose myself when I heard this story on Radio 4.
There's something about the abuse of vulnerable children - and the way adults lie about it, and get away with it - that provokes a very visceral reaction in me.
The response of OFSTED’s useless Spielman - ‘we need new powers’. Those who doubted the justification for @ydoethur ’s anger and contempt for her with regard to safeguarding should take note.
… The Hesley Group - owned by private equity firm Antin Infrastructure, which is better known for investing in gas pipelines - continues to run a school and placements for adults with learning disabilities. It says it cannot comment further because of the ongoing criminal investigation by South Yorkshire Police…
And note their profit margins at all of their sites were 16% -1% below the figure government deems ‘excessive’ for the ‘industry’.
That only washes if they can show they did highlight serious concerns but were "powerless" to do anything to stop it. Otherwise, it's a standard hand-washing technique - it makes it sort of somebody else's fault.
I suspect they already have the powers they need, but just didn't use them.
That's almost certain, given their record. Why Spielman so consistently escapes any responsibility for every scandal OFSTED has some part in, is beyond me.
Smells like agenda-driven research to me - insulating your home leads to better health.. how?
I presume they mean it makes them easier to warm/heat and therefore lowers energy costs meaning poorer people can stay warmer for longer and afford other "stuff" but a bit of a stretch and not clear.
Also, I don't want to live an extra 564,345 years if all I can eat is lettuce.
You would have no steak in such a society.
If God didn’t want us to eat cows, He wouldn’t have made them out of steak.
To be clear: there isn’t the faintest suggestion that this lacework of facts and inferences adds up to proof that Zahawi is a squirming, brass-necked old tax dodger who has been caught bang to rights and will do anything to avoid admitting it. But he’s in the unenviable position that it does rather look that way to the untrained eye. Come on, Nadhim: let’s see the hard facts that will disabuse us of this unfortunate impression.
Smells like agenda-driven research to me - insulating your home leads to better health.. how?
I presume they mean it makes them easier to warm/heat and therefore lowers energy costs meaning poorer people can stay warmer for longer and afford other "stuff" but a bit of a stretch and not clear.
Also, I don't want to live an extra 564,345 years if all I can eat is lettuce.
It’s a muddled article which seems to make the common category error of some environmentalists in confusing net zero with all the other virtuous things they’d like us to do.
I’m very much a net zero advocate, and the sooner the better. I would also love to see more people travelling by bike and eating more healthily so they end up less fat and a burden on the health service. But these things are separate issues and not dependent on each other. We could quite possibly achieve net zero while eating junk food and living like slobs.
This is the trouble with the politicisation of climate change, another US import. It means some on the puritan Protestant left see it as a trigger for us all to repent our sins and live the austere monkish lives they have been wishing for centuries, while those on the libertarian right interpret any effort to reduce emissions as some fundamental challenge to their right to do what they want.
Net zero should simply be about reducing emissions as quickly as possible.
What a surprise this cesspit governments new Bill of Rights reduces the power of citizens to hold the government to account.
And because the last resort then would be to go to ECHR it’s likely to lose many cases . This will then be couched as an attack on UK sovereignty and the right wing hate rags will then push for removing the UK from that court .
This will then become part of the Tories election manifesto and low information voters will lap up the lies .
Smells like agenda-driven research to me - insulating your home leads to better health.. how?
I presume they mean it makes them easier to warm/heat and therefore lowers energy costs meaning poorer people can stay warmer for longer and afford other "stuff" but a bit of a stretch and not clear.
Also, I don't want to live an extra 564,345 years if all I can eat is lettuce.
Better insulation leads to fewer deaths from hypothermia, and less respiratory disease.
It really isn't surprising as improved housing, better nutrition and improved air pollution were major drivers of improved life expectancy in 20th century Britain, and this is the logical extension of that trend.
It's rare I get actively angry but I was so incandescent on the M25 this evening I almost had to pull my car over to compose myself when I heard this story on Radio 4.
There's something about the abuse of vulnerable children - and the way adults lie about it, and get away with it - that provokes a very visceral reaction in me.
The response of OFSTED’s useless Spielman - ‘we need new powers’. Those who doubted the justification for @ydoethur ’s anger and contempt for her with regard to safeguarding should take note.
… The Hesley Group - owned by private equity firm Antin Infrastructure, which is better known for investing in gas pipelines - continues to run a school and placements for adults with learning disabilities. It says it cannot comment further because of the ongoing criminal investigation by South Yorkshire Police…
And note their profit margins at all of their sites were 16% -1% below the figure government deems ‘excessive’ for the ‘industry’.
Jesus, that story is so awful it's hard to even read. I'm not surprised by your reaction, CR.
The sobering truth is that if you put people in absolute authority over people who are not in a position to complain easily, a significant proportion will abuse that power, and then get used to abusing it and start to joke about it to each other. The same pattern emerges with elderly care, prisons, asylum centres, etc.
What's the answer? Proactive, frequent surprise inspections? CCTV? Where feasible, perhaps "mystery shoppers" - place agents in prisons etc. for short periods to see whether the rules are actually being followed (obviously doesn't work for children).
It's rare I get actively angry but I was so incandescent on the M25 this evening I almost had to pull my car over to compose myself when I heard this story on Radio 4.
There's something about the abuse of vulnerable children - and the way adults lie about it, and get away with it - that provokes a very visceral reaction in me.
The response of OFSTED’s useless Spielman - ‘we need new powers’. Those who doubted the justification for @ydoethur ’s anger and contempt for her with regard to safeguarding should take note.
… The Hesley Group - owned by private equity firm Antin Infrastructure, which is better known for investing in gas pipelines - continues to run a school and placements for adults with learning disabilities. It says it cannot comment further because of the ongoing criminal investigation by South Yorkshire Police…
And note their profit margins at all of their sites were 16% -1% below the figure government deems ‘excessive’ for the ‘industry’.
That only washes if they can show they did highlight serious concerns but were "powerless" to do anything to stop it. Otherwise, it's a standard hand-washing technique - it makes it sort of somebody else's fault.
I suspect they already have the powers they need, but just didn't use them.
That's almost certain, given their record. Why Spielman so consistently escapes any responsibility for every scandal OFSTED has some part in, is beyond me.
It's almost as baffling as the fact she was ever appointed in the first place.
Although, as I said last night, OFSTED is a bit of a disaster area anyway. Breaking it up into smaller, more focused agencies would help, albeit you would want them controlled by specialists and not by numpties like Spielman if they are to do any good.
It's rare I get actively angry but I was so incandescent on the M25 this evening I almost had to pull my car over to compose myself when I heard this story on Radio 4.
There's something about the abuse of vulnerable children - and the way adults lie about it, and get away with it - that provokes a very visceral reaction in me.
The response of OFSTED’s useless Spielman - ‘we need new powers’. Those who doubted the justification for @ydoethur ’s anger and contempt for her with regard to safeguarding should take note.
… The Hesley Group - owned by private equity firm Antin Infrastructure, which is better known for investing in gas pipelines - continues to run a school and placements for adults with learning disabilities. It says it cannot comment further because of the ongoing criminal investigation by South Yorkshire Police…
And note their profit margins at all of their sites were 16% -1% below the figure government deems ‘excessive’ for the ‘industry’.
Jesus, that story is so awful it's hard to even read. I'm not surprised by your reaction, CR.
The sobering truth is that if you put people in absolute authority over people who are not in a position to complain easily, a significant proportion will abuse that power, and then get used to abusing it and start to joke about it to each other. The same pattern emerges with elderly care, prisons, asylum centres, etc.
What's the answer? Proactive, frequent surprise inspections? CCTV? Where feasible, perhaps "mystery shoppers" - place agents in prisons etc. for short periods to see whether the rules are actually being followed (obviously doesn't work for children).
You could easily put agents in as temporary staff, however. Given the staffing shortages it would be easy as falling off the proverbial log.
Has Scholz finally agreed to roll the tanks? Even the famously neutral Swiss, appear to be willing to allow re-export of weapons. Well done everyone, even if some took rather longer to be convinced than others.
A couple of hundred modern Western tanks, if trained on and deployed properly, could make a massive difference to the capability of the Ukranians.
Bloomberg reports that he has both promised both German Leopard 2s, and also to approve the re-export of Polish tanks.
In fact, I was not 100% correct about Ofsted's lack of response.
It was 40 warnings, not 42, that they ignored.
That doesn't include the 66 additional warnings that they received about another home run by the same group.
And I would add on all of these 106 occasions this was the local authority requesting an inspection, not some random person who didn't like what they saw.
Frankly I am wondering if Spielman and the local HMI should be in the dock with the company directors when charges of negligence are pursued.
What a surprise this cesspit governments new Bill of Rights reduces the power of citizens to hold the government to account.
And because the last resort then would be to go to ECHR it’s likely to lose many cases . This will then be couched as an attack on UK sovereignty and the right wing hate rags will then push for removing the UK from that court .
This will then become part of the Tories election manifesto and low information voters will lap up the lies .
Don't worry. The left wing hate rags will be able to counter any propaganda and we will be in equilibrium.
Here Stuarts once in glory reign’d, And laws for Scotland’s weal ordain’d; But now unroof’d their palace stands, Their sceptre’s sway’d by other hands.
The injur’d Stuart line is gone, A race outlandish fills their throne An idiot race, to honour lost; Who know them best despise them most.
Here Stuarts once in glory reign’d, And laws for Scotland’s weal ordain’d; But now unroof’d their palace stands, Their sceptre’s sway’d by other hands.
The injur’d Stuart line is gone, A race outlandish fills their throne An idiot race, to honour lost; Who know them best despise them most.
Best bard. 🏴
Enjoy yer haggis.
To all the Scots here, enjoy Burns’ Nicht!
thank you
Do you enjoy it with haggis, or pure turnips Malc?
It's rare I get actively angry but I was so incandescent on the M25 this evening I almost had to pull my car over to compose myself when I heard this story on Radio 4.
There's something about the abuse of vulnerable children - and the way adults lie about it, and get away with it - that provokes a very visceral reaction in me.
The response of OFSTED’s useless Spielman - ‘we need new powers’. Those who doubted the justification for @ydoethur ’s anger and contempt for her with regard to safeguarding should take note.
… The Hesley Group - owned by private equity firm Antin Infrastructure, which is better known for investing in gas pipelines - continues to run a school and placements for adults with learning disabilities. It says it cannot comment further because of the ongoing criminal investigation by South Yorkshire Police…
And note their profit margins at all of their sites were 16% -1% below the figure government deems ‘excessive’ for the ‘industry’.
Jesus, that story is so awful it's hard to even read. I'm not surprised by your reaction, CR.
The sobering truth is that if you put people in absolute authority over people who are not in a position to complain easily, a significant proportion will abuse that power, and then get used to abusing it and start to joke about it to each other. The same pattern emerges with elderly care, prisons, asylum centres, etc.
What's the answer? Proactive, frequent surprise inspections? CCTV? Where feasible, perhaps "mystery shoppers" - place agents in prisons etc. for short periods to see whether the rules are actually being followed (obviously doesn't work for children).
The Stanford Prison Experiment was in 1971, 53 years ago.
It does appear that the lessons of what unchecked power can do to humans, have yet to be learned.
The sobering truth is that if you put people in absolute authority over people who are not in a position to complain easily, a significant proportion will abuse that power, and then get used to abusing it and start to joke about it to each other. The same pattern emerges with elderly care, prisons, asylum centres, etc.
Our local DPD driver uses his company app which has faulty GPS. I think yesterday's failed parcel drop was was at a door in Germany. Certainly wasn't around here...
We have a new local DPD driver. So far a major improvement on the previous one.
Someone worked out that every Evri parcel from the last few weeks in my area was being delivered to a random stairwell, piled up to the ceiling. Local councillor is trying to get all the parcels to the right place themselves (re-election nailed on).
It's rare I get actively angry but I was so incandescent on the M25 this evening I almost had to pull my car over to compose myself when I heard this story on Radio 4.
There's something about the abuse of vulnerable children - and the way adults lie about it, and get away with it - that provokes a very visceral reaction in me.
The response of OFSTED’s useless Spielman - ‘we need new powers’. Those who doubted the justification for @ydoethur ’s anger and contempt for her with regard to safeguarding should take note.
… The Hesley Group - owned by private equity firm Antin Infrastructure, which is better known for investing in gas pipelines - continues to run a school and placements for adults with learning disabilities. It says it cannot comment further because of the ongoing criminal investigation by South Yorkshire Police…
And note their profit margins at all of their sites were 16% -1% below the figure government deems ‘excessive’ for the ‘industry’.
Jesus, that story is so awful it's hard to even read. I'm not surprised by your reaction, CR.
The sobering truth is that if you put people in absolute authority over people who are not in a position to complain easily, a significant proportion will abuse that power, and then get used to abusing it and start to joke about it to each other. The same pattern emerges with elderly care, prisons, asylum centres, etc.
What's the answer? Proactive, frequent surprise inspections? CCTV? Where feasible, perhaps "mystery shoppers" - place agents in prisons etc. for short periods to see whether the rules are actually being followed (obviously doesn't work for children).
Proper inspection and enforcement is necessary, but only a small part of the answer, I think. It's a long and hard road to running such facilities that are actually good at what they do. It probably doesn't best start with a private equity infrastructure fund.
Has Scholz finally agreed to roll the tanks? Even the famously neutral Swiss, appear to be willing to allow re-export of weapons. Well done everyone, even if some took rather longer to be convinced than others.
A couple of hundred modern Western tanks, if trained on and deployed properly, could make a massive difference to the capability of the Ukranians.
Bloomberg reports that he has both promised both German Leopard 2s, and also to approve the re-export of Polish tanks.
Solovyov’s not happy. Direct attack and annexation of Germany now apparently.
What a surprise this cesspit governments new Bill of Rights reduces the power of citizens to hold the government to account.
And because the last resort then would be to go to ECHR it’s likely to lose many cases . This will then be couched as an attack on UK sovereignty and the right wing hate rags will then push for removing the UK from that court .
This will then become part of the Tories election manifesto and low information voters will lap up the lies .
Don't worry. The left wing hate rags will be able to counter any propaganda and we will be in equilibrium.
There is no equilibrium. The UK press is disproportionately right wing .
It's rare I get actively angry but I was so incandescent on the M25 this evening I almost had to pull my car over to compose myself when I heard this story on Radio 4.
There's something about the abuse of vulnerable children - and the way adults lie about it, and get away with it - that provokes a very visceral reaction in me.
The response of OFSTED’s useless Spielman - ‘we need new powers’. Those who doubted the justification for @ydoethur ’s anger and contempt for her with regard to safeguarding should take note.
… The Hesley Group - owned by private equity firm Antin Infrastructure, which is better known for investing in gas pipelines - continues to run a school and placements for adults with learning disabilities. It says it cannot comment further because of the ongoing criminal investigation by South Yorkshire Police…
And note their profit margins at all of their sites were 16% -1% below the figure government deems ‘excessive’ for the ‘industry’.
Yes, Spielman's response to news that OFSTED had rated "good" an institution accused of the summary beating and alleged torture of autistic children, one of " I royally f***** up, give me more powers" was a remarkable demand. I was reminded as I listened to it on the news of @ydoethur regular critique of this odious banker. It would seem, irrespective of the role, the only qualification to run any ( Conservative) government body is the ability to scan a double entry balance sheet.
Another interesting story squirrelled away behind Johnson's Churchillian action in Ukraine and Zahawi's tax "mistake" is the revelation that 80 children have been "removed" from government run asylum hotels by organised criminals, and with little interest or apparent action from the authorities.
The dystopian nightmare we were promised with a Corbyn Government has arrived.
What a surprise this cesspit governments new Bill of Rights reduces the power of citizens to hold the government to account.
And because the last resort then would be to go to ECHR it’s likely to lose many cases . This will then be couched as an attack on UK sovereignty and the right wing hate rags will then push for removing the UK from that court .
This will then become part of the Tories election manifesto and low information voters will lap up the lies .
Don't worry. The left wing hate rags will be able to counter any propaganda and we will be in equilibrium.
There is no equilibrium. The UK press is disproportionately right wing .
The sobering truth is that if you put people in absolute authority over people who are not in a position to complain easily, a significant proportion will abuse that power, and then get used to abusing it and start to joke about it to each other. The same pattern emerges with elderly care, prisons, asylum centres, etc.
Same applies to the NHS, right?
Yes, though the issue tends to be at its worst in long term institutions, such as mental health and learning disability than in short term care. Stafford shows that it can happen even in shorter stay environments.
This scandal does show that privatising such services is not a panacea for either value or quality.
Smells like agenda-driven research to me - insulating your home leads to better health.. how?
I presume they mean it makes them easier to warm/heat and therefore lowers energy costs meaning poorer people can stay warmer for longer and afford other "stuff" but a bit of a stretch and not clear.
Also, I don't want to live an extra 564,345 years if all I can eat is lettuce.
Better insulation leads to fewer deaths from hypothermia, and less respiratory disease.
It really isn't surprising as improved housing, better nutrition and improved air pollution were major drivers of improved life expectancy in 20th century Britain, and this is the logical extension of that trend.
There was an bit of research reported yesterday (on R4's PM, so apologies for no link) that suggested poorer households tend not to save on heating bills over time when given better insulated homes: they just don't freeze in the winter.
Here Stuarts once in glory reign’d, And laws for Scotland’s weal ordain’d; But now unroof’d their palace stands, Their sceptre’s sway’d by other hands.
The injur’d Stuart line is gone, A race outlandish fills their throne An idiot race, to honour lost; Who know them best despise them most.
Best bard. 🏴
Enjoy yer haggis.
To all the Scots here, enjoy Burns’ Nicht!
thank you
Do you enjoy it with haggis, or pure turnips Malc?
It's rare I get actively angry but I was so incandescent on the M25 this evening I almost had to pull my car over to compose myself when I heard this story on Radio 4.
There's something about the abuse of vulnerable children - and the way adults lie about it, and get away with it - that provokes a very visceral reaction in me.
The response of OFSTED’s useless Spielman - ‘we need new powers’. Those who doubted the justification for @ydoethur ’s anger and contempt for her with regard to safeguarding should take note.
… The Hesley Group - owned by private equity firm Antin Infrastructure, which is better known for investing in gas pipelines - continues to run a school and placements for adults with learning disabilities. It says it cannot comment further because of the ongoing criminal investigation by South Yorkshire Police…
And note their profit margins at all of their sites were 16% -1% below the figure government deems ‘excessive’ for the ‘industry’.
That only washes if they can show they did highlight serious concerns but were "powerless" to do anything to stop it. Otherwise, it's a standard hand-washing technique - it makes it sort of somebody else's fault.
I suspect they already have the powers they need, but just didn't use them.
That's almost certain, given their record. Why Spielman so consistently escapes any responsibility for every scandal OFSTED has some part in, is beyond me.
It's almost as baffling as the fact she was ever appointed in the first place.
Although, as I said last night, OFSTED is a bit of a disaster area anyway. Breaking it up into smaller, more focused agencies would help, albeit you would want them controlled by specialists and not by numpties like Spielman if they are to do any good.
Give the kids (or the agents) power. At present they seem pawns in a dystopian hybrid of the worst of the private monopolistic provision and underfunded state services.
It's rare I get actively angry but I was so incandescent on the M25 this evening I almost had to pull my car over to compose myself when I heard this story on Radio 4.
There's something about the abuse of vulnerable children - and the way adults lie about it, and get away with it - that provokes a very visceral reaction in me.
The response of OFSTED’s useless Spielman - ‘we need new powers’. Those who doubted the justification for @ydoethur ’s anger and contempt for her with regard to safeguarding should take note.
… The Hesley Group - owned by private equity firm Antin Infrastructure, which is better known for investing in gas pipelines - continues to run a school and placements for adults with learning disabilities. It says it cannot comment further because of the ongoing criminal investigation by South Yorkshire Police…
And note their profit margins at all of their sites were 16% -1% below the figure government deems ‘excessive’ for the ‘industry’.
Jesus, that story is so awful it's hard to even read. I'm not surprised by your reaction, CR.
The sobering truth is that if you put people in absolute authority over people who are not in a position to complain easily, a significant proportion will abuse that power, and then get used to abusing it and start to joke about it to each other. The same pattern emerges with elderly care, prisons, asylum centres, etc.
What's the answer? Proactive, frequent surprise inspections? CCTV? Where feasible, perhaps "mystery shoppers" - place agents in prisons etc. for short periods to see whether the rules are actually being followed (obviously doesn't work for children).
As ever (as, say with the Stafford scandal), the major issue isn't that abuse occurred. It will always occur, as a certain proportion of people are either incompetent or just plain bad, and it's really hard / impossible to weed them out in advance.
What matters is the reaction. When a claim is made, is it ignored, is it filed away in a 'too difficult' pile; is lip-service paid to it, then filed away? Is it ignored because management see it as to their advantage to ignore it? Are concerns from staff ignored? Are staff complaining moved or sacked?
You will never fully stop wrongdoing; all you can do is that you detect when it happens and stop it happening again.
It's worse when it's in the care system, with children who may have additional difficulties, and might be prone to make false claims, or exaggerate. But that's why you do *more* safeguarding, not less.
Funding might be part of the story; but it goes way beyond that.
What a surprise this cesspit governments new Bill of Rights reduces the power of citizens to hold the government to account.
And because the last resort then would be to go to ECHR it’s likely to lose many cases . This will then be couched as an attack on UK sovereignty and the right wing hate rags will then push for removing the UK from that court .
This will then become part of the Tories election manifesto and low information voters will lap up the lies .
Don't worry. The left wing hate rags will be able to counter any propaganda and we will be in equilibrium.
There is no equilibrium. The UK press is disproportionately right wing .
Not really.
Of the broadsheets the Guardian, the Independent and probably now the Times will endorse Starmer at the next election (though the Times does prefer Sunak to Boris), only the Telegraph is loyal to the Tories.
The Mirror and Star and FT will also back Starmer though the Mail and Express should stick with the Tories. The Sun if it thinks Labour will win will likely switch too as it did to back New Labour in 1997.
The broadcast media is mainly liberal, soft left with the exception of the rightwing GB News
Here Stuarts once in glory reign’d, And laws for Scotland’s weal ordain’d; But now unroof’d their palace stands, Their sceptre’s sway’d by other hands.
The injur’d Stuart line is gone, A race outlandish fills their throne An idiot race, to honour lost; Who know them best despise them most.
Best bard. 🏴
Enjoy yer haggis.
To all the Scots here, enjoy Burns’ Nicht!
thank you
I’ll be breaking off from Dry January, for the virtual sharing of a wee dram of the 18-year-old Glenmorangie with my (Glaswegian) father this evening. 🥃
Here Stuarts once in glory reign’d, And laws for Scotland’s weal ordain’d; But now unroof’d their palace stands, Their sceptre’s sway’d by other hands.
The injur’d Stuart line is gone, A race outlandish fills their throne An idiot race, to honour lost; Who know them best despise them most.
Best bard. 🏴
Enjoy yer haggis.
Given James I was George I great grandfather through his mother not completely true
It's rare I get actively angry but I was so incandescent on the M25 this evening I almost had to pull my car over to compose myself when I heard this story on Radio 4.
There's something about the abuse of vulnerable children - and the way adults lie about it, and get away with it - that provokes a very visceral reaction in me.
The response of OFSTED’s useless Spielman - ‘we need new powers’. Those who doubted the justification for @ydoethur ’s anger and contempt for her with regard to safeguarding should take note.
… The Hesley Group - owned by private equity firm Antin Infrastructure, which is better known for investing in gas pipelines - continues to run a school and placements for adults with learning disabilities. It says it cannot comment further because of the ongoing criminal investigation by South Yorkshire Police…
And note their profit margins at all of their sites were 16% -1% below the figure government deems ‘excessive’ for the ‘industry’.
Yes, Spielman's response to news that OFSTED had rated "good" an institution accused of the summary beating and alleged torture of autistic children, one of " I royally f***** up, give me more powers" was a remarkable demand. I was reminded as I listened to it on the news of @ydoethur regular critique of this odious banker. It would seem, irrespective of the role, the only qualification to run any ( Conservative) government body is the ability to scan a double entry balance sheet.
I assume you mean scan a balance sheet in connection with facilitating a six-figure loan to a Tory prime minister!
The sobering truth is that if you put people in absolute authority over people who are not in a position to complain easily, a significant proportion will abuse that power, and then get used to abusing it and start to joke about it to each other. The same pattern emerges with elderly care, prisons, asylum centres, etc.
Same applies to the NHS, right?
It applies to anywhere, though rather less in mainstream healthcare (not just the NHS - not sure if you're making a political point), since a significant proportion of the patients will be people like most of us who won't tolerate maltreatment for long. It's the sense that a potential victim is powerless that brings out the sadist.
We seem to have a surfeit of people in "public service" who have limpet DNA, determined to remain in power, seemingly oblivious of the damage they are doing to their Party. It is not exclusive to the Conservative Party, but because they have power to lose, it is generally more applicable to them right now (although the SNP need to have a Paddington stare i the mirror at themselves too).
Zahawi is damaging the Party he says he loves. I rather suspect that love is secondary to his love of self.
The sobering truth is that if you put people in absolute authority over people who are not in a position to complain easily, a significant proportion will abuse that power, and then get used to abusing it and start to joke about it to each other. The same pattern emerges with elderly care, prisons, asylum centres, etc.
Same applies to the NHS, right?
Decades ago, I knew someone who in their youth had worked at a large chicken farm, including their dispatch. He quit after a few months, saying he had gone in as a 'normal' teenager, and soon found he was flinging chicken carcasses around with the other lads and men, and doing things to dead and live chickens he would not have dreamed of before.
He still liked KFC, though.
If everybody's doing it; if the culture has been allowed to devolve to allow it, then even 'good' people will get dragged in.
What a surprise this cesspit governments new Bill of Rights reduces the power of citizens to hold the government to account.
And because the last resort then would be to go to ECHR it’s likely to lose many cases . This will then be couched as an attack on UK sovereignty and the right wing hate rags will then push for removing the UK from that court .
This will then become part of the Tories election manifesto and low information voters will lap up the lies .
Don't worry. The left wing hate rags will be able to counter any propaganda and we will be in equilibrium.
There is no equilibrium. The UK press is disproportionately right wing .
If the UK press is disproportionately right wing then the UK press-buying public must also be disproportionately right wing.
Or is there a law against buying Socialist Worker?
“A school liaison officer for the Met Police yesterday admitted having sex with a 14-year-old girl and possessing indecent images of children as young as two.
“Some of paedophile PC Hussain Chehab's shocking offences took place when he was a serving officer whose duties included meeting parents and children at school gates in north London.
“The 22-year-old is facing jail after pleading guilty to four counts of sexual activity with a child, one of sexual communication with a child and three counts of making indecent photographs of children.”
The sobering truth is that if you put people in absolute authority over people who are not in a position to complain easily, a significant proportion will abuse that power, and then get used to abusing it and start to joke about it to each other. The same pattern emerges with elderly care, prisons, asylum centres, etc.
Same applies to the NHS, right?
Yes, though the issue tends to be at its worst in long term institutions, such as mental health and learning disability than in short term care. Stafford shows that it can happen even in shorter stay environments.
This scandal does show that privatising such services is not a panacea for either value or quality.
Absolutely. I would expect more acquiescence on the geriatric ward than the orthopaedic ward, indeed I have seen it myself. I would be interested to know what measures are in place to address this and whether one is indeed allowed to say that systemically there is (also) an issue in the NHS in this regard.
...Although the machine itself will not generate power, it will be used to develop technology needed for future inertial confinement fusion energy powerplants... ...Construction is anticipated to begin in 2024 with operations likely to commence in 2027.
We seem to have a surfeit of people in "public service" who have limpet DNA, determined to remain in power, seemingly oblivious of the damage they are doing to their Party. It is not exclusive to the Conservative Party, but because they have power to lose, it is generally more applicable to them right now (although the SNP need to have a Paddington stare i the mirror at themselves too).
Zahawi is damaging the Party he says he loves. I rather suspect that love is secondary to his love of self.
Just fuck off, mate.
What I don’t understand is why Sunak doesn’t just sack him? It really, really isn’t in his interests to drag this out. Or does NZ have something on him?
The sobering truth is that if you put people in absolute authority over people who are not in a position to complain easily, a significant proportion will abuse that power, and then get used to abusing it and start to joke about it to each other. The same pattern emerges with elderly care, prisons, asylum centres, etc.
Same applies to the NHS, right?
It applies to anywhere, though rather less in mainstream healthcare (not just the NHS - not sure if you're making a political point), since a significant proportion of the patients will be people like most of us who won't tolerate maltreatment for long. It's the sense that a potential victim is powerless that brings out the sadist.
I wasn't making a political point I was making an NHS point. And yes, as I mentioned to @Foxy, geriatric wards with no active (and I mean active) relatives or friends is not where you want to be.
My problem is that we don't seem to be allowed to say that the NHS should be added to your list - why did you miss it out, as a matter of interest - as having a systemic problem in this regard.
Mate I am as big a fan of your posting tweets on here as anyone. But can you somehow post the entire thing because as it stands it is frustrating to read the fi....
Our local DPD driver uses his company app which has faulty GPS. I think yesterday's failed parcel drop was was at a door in Germany. Certainly wasn't around here...
We have a new local DPD driver. So far a major improvement on the previous one.
Someone worked out that every Evri parcel from the last few weeks in my area was being delivered to a random stairwell, piled up to the ceiling. Local councillor is trying to get all the parcels to the right place themselves (re-election nailed on).
We seem to have a surfeit of people in "public service" who have limpet DNA, determined to remain in power, seemingly oblivious of the damage they are doing to their Party. It is not exclusive to the Conservative Party, but because they have power to lose, it is generally more applicable to them right now (although the SNP need to have a Paddington stare i the mirror at themselves too).
Zahawi is damaging the Party he says he loves. I rather suspect that love is secondary to his love of self.
Just fuck off, mate.
You would have thought by now they might have noticed the script. It never ends well.
I guess perhaps the longer he hangs around, the longer it delays the next story, which might be this Russia stuff.
We seem to have a surfeit of people in "public service" who have limpet DNA, determined to remain in power, seemingly oblivious of the damage they are doing to their Party. It is not exclusive to the Conservative Party, but because they have power to lose, it is generally more applicable to them right now (although the SNP need to have a Paddington stare i the mirror at themselves too).
Zahawi is damaging the Party he says he loves. I rather suspect that love is secondary to his love of self.
Just fuck off, mate.
What I don’t understand is why Sunak doesn’t just sack him? It really, really isn’t in his interests to drag this out. Or does NZ have something on him?
Sunak learned how to be PM by watching Johnson.
He's more numerate and has better trouser control, but otherwise he's playing a similar game with the same deck of cards.
Scotland should offer to buy it. You'll need it, when you have a hard border with England....
Are you Dominic Raab?
The geography of using a purpose built border post in Kent to filter trade activity between Carlisle and Dumfries might be another example of Conservative "outside the box" thinking.
We seem to have a surfeit of people in "public service" who have limpet DNA, determined to remain in power, seemingly oblivious of the damage they are doing to their Party. It is not exclusive to the Conservative Party, but because they have power to lose, it is generally more applicable to them right now (although the SNP need to have a Paddington stare i the mirror at themselves too).
Zahawi is damaging the Party he says he loves. I rather suspect that love is secondary to his love of self.
Just fuck off, mate.
What I don’t understand is why Sunak doesn’t just sack him? It really, really isn’t in his interests to drag this out. Or does NZ have something on him?
Sunak learned how to be PM by watching Johnson.
He's more numerate and has better trouser control, but otherwise he's playing a similar game with the same deck of cards.
Bozo's trousers were round his ankles. Rishi Rich's trousers don't reach his ankles.
Scotland should offer to buy it. You'll need it, when you have a hard border with England....
Brexiteers’ loose appreciation of distance and geography on display again.
Quite. It's the mental block that comes from having London so far from the centre of the UK and waaay out on the fringes, roughly equivalent to Kirkwall but in the other direction.
...Although the machine itself will not generate power, it will be used to develop technology needed for future inertial confinement fusion energy powerplants... ...Construction is anticipated to begin in 2024 with operations likely to commence in 2027.
That's the same site that housed/houses if not yet decommisioned JET? (I went to JET once, think it was Culham - also went to Diamond - also Culham? - and AWE, Aldermarston in the same short period os might misremember). Good news for all concerned if so and a chance to retain expertise there - different design to JET, of course, but similar skills and interests in the needed workforce, I should think.
The German newspaper Spiegel reports that according to its information, Germany has decided to send at least one company of the Leopard 2A6 main battle tanks to Ukraine, and grant permission to re-export Leopards to Ukraine. https://twitter.com/EuromaidanPress/status/1617952372990349325
It's been reported as fact on Bloomberg too.
So, good news. Would have been better a week ago, and if Germany hadn't had to be shamed into it. But good news all the same.
I must admit that I'd like France to send Leclercs now, if only so we can see a line-up of Leopard 2's, Challenger 2's, Abrams, Leclercs, T72, T84 and PT-91, all fighting on the same side...
So long and tanks for the memories.
On the bright side, we can film Red Storm Rising for free.
Mention of Red Storm Rising reminds me that I fancy reading a good Alt-History novel.
Any recommendations?
The Man in the High Castle by P. K. Dick? Pavane by Keith Roberts? The Alteration by Kingsley Amis? All old but good in their way. Though the latter includes a passing reference to Msgnrs Benn (as Lord Stansgate), Redgrave and Foot of the Holy Inquisition, quite gratuitous [edit]. One can suspect the author's inclinations ...
Ash, by Mary Gentle. Nothing is what it seems
Mm, have noted that one down, ta.
This one has had some notices of late - haven't tried it.
We seem to have a surfeit of people in "public service" who have limpet DNA, determined to remain in power, seemingly oblivious of the damage they are doing to their Party. It is not exclusive to the Conservative Party, but because they have power to lose, it is generally more applicable to them right now (although the SNP need to have a Paddington stare i the mirror at themselves too).
Zahawi is damaging the Party he says he loves. I rather suspect that love is secondary to his love of self.
Just fuck off, mate.
What I don’t understand is why Sunak doesn’t just sack him? It really, really isn’t in his interests to drag this out. Or does NZ have something on him?
Sunak learned how to be PM by watching Johnson.
He's more numerate and has better trouser control, but otherwise he's playing a similar game with the same deck of cards.
Bozo's trousers were round his ankles. Rishi Rich's trousers don't reach his ankles.
That doesn't work. Surely if you are making the joke that he is short then his trousers would reach his ankles and beyond.
Scotland should offer to buy it. You'll need it, when you have a hard border with England....
Brexiteers’ loose appreciation of distance and geography on display again.
Quite. It's the mental block that comes from having London so far from the centre of the UK and waaay out on the fringes, roughly equivalent to Kirkwall but in the other direction.
Too be fair, it's all 'oop north' to MM, isn't it?
Mate I am as big a fan of your posting tweets on here as anyone. But can you somehow post the entire thing because as it stands it is frustrating to read the fi....
Presumably it's a feature of the copy app Scott's using.
On the upside, it does lead to such gems as "Rishi Sunak struggles to turn the page on the John"
Has Scholz finally agreed to roll the tanks? Even the famously neutral Swiss, appear to be willing to allow re-export of weapons. Well done everyone, even if some took rather longer to be convinced than others.
A couple of hundred modern Western tanks, if trained on and deployed properly, could make a massive difference to the capability of the Ukranians.
thats a really big `could'. I dont see the current initiative as a gamechanger and if anything the West's hesitancy over the issue, less than a year into the current invasion, doesn't bode well if the Russians start considering a`long war' approach to Ukraine.
As Russia discovered at the start of this war, one can’t just roll tanks through enemy towns without them being sitting ducks.
Successful deployment of tanks requires infrantry, many other maintenance and support vehicles, and hopefully air support too. There’s a lot more to it, at least to doing it properly, than showing a few soldiers which button does what in the tank.
There’s been an awful lot of tank warfare so far in the last year, and by most estimates the enemy doesn’t have a lot of tanks left to deploy. There have already been T-62 tanks, relics of the Soviet-Vietnam war, seen deployed in Ukraine - maybe they dragged them out of a museum and put them on a train heading West? Estimates vary from 1,650 (Oryx), through 2,200 (US DoD), to 3,100 (Ukranian military) as the number of Russian tanks damaged or captured since last February, from a total stock of about 3,500. The Ukranians have captured more Russian tanks, than they had themselves at the start of the war - some of which were perfectly serviceable but simply out of fuel or ammunition, or got surrounded and abandoned in the early stages of the conflict.
The “Long War” approach, requires huge amounts of men and machines. There’s little evidence of either on the Russian side - we are already seeing barely trained ‘mobliks’ with an AK-47 each, little ammo, no winter clothing, no food supplies, and no armoured vehicles. Their morale must be totally shot, and their wives and mothers are noting all the men who went away from their town and didn’t come back. Anyone with skills or money has fled the country to avoid being drafted, many of whom have found a way to get residence elsewhere and have little intention of coming back.
The Ukranians, even after a year, are still very much up for this war. They see it as existential to themselves and their homeland, and want to fight so long as they can get armed and trained. It’s fantastic to see many other countries helping them out, even if some of them have taken rather more persuading than we might have hoped! Suggestions that Biden might consider sending planes - even if they’re older F-16s from the boneyard, without the latest systems - is also commendable, and will make a huge difference to the capability of the defenders.
The slight counter-argument to that is Russia has essentially been performing a 'holding war' for the last four months - using 'cheap' manpower, PMCs and 'old' armour to keep the Ukrainians tied down, and attrit them. Meanwhile, Russia is training and building up a much more capable force using more modern kit and people far behind the lines in Russia. These will then be used for a massive new thrust.
That's certainly plausible, but would require Russia to have done something sensible - not a good bet based on their actions so far in this war. But it's also unwise to think the enemy would always be stupid.
Western intelligence will have a good idea about this, based on satellite and other means, and you can bet Ukraine know through them. And that's a problem Russia has: it is very difficult to keep massed armour and men 'secret' from the enemy nowadays, especially with western capabilities in spy satellites and signals intelligence.
And yes, modern planes are vital for Ukraine, although slightly less so than tanks. Combined with tanks in a sane strategy, they could be a very powerful force. (All IMO, IANAE etc)
Russia doesn’t really have the equipment or the training capacity to do that. Agree they’ve been using cheap manpower (particularly Wagner at Bakhtmut) but the Ukrainians have been pinning them in place.
What has surprised me is the Ukrainians haven’t taken the initiative - but I think this is game playing to get MBTs from the west - if they were taking territory they wouldn’t be able to argue they needed the extra kit
We seem to have a surfeit of people in "public service" who have limpet DNA, determined to remain in power, seemingly oblivious of the damage they are doing to their Party. It is not exclusive to the Conservative Party, but because they have power to lose, it is generally more applicable to them right now (although the SNP need to have a Paddington stare i the mirror at themselves too).
Zahawi is damaging the Party he says he loves. I rather suspect that love is secondary to his love of self.
Just fuck off, mate.
What I don’t understand is why Sunak doesn’t just sack him? It really, really isn’t in his interests to drag this out. Or does NZ have something on him?
Sunak learned how to be PM by watching Johnson.
He's more numerate and has better trouser control, but otherwise he's playing a similar game with the same deck of cards.
Bozo's trousers were round his ankles. Rishi Rich's trousers don't reach his ankles.
That doesn't work. Surely if you are making the joke that he is short then his trousers would reach his ankles and beyond.
Here Stuarts once in glory reign’d, And laws for Scotland’s weal ordain’d; But now unroof’d their palace stands, Their sceptre’s sway’d by other hands.
The injur’d Stuart line is gone, A race outlandish fills their throne An idiot race, to honour lost; Who know them best despise them most.
Best bard. 🏴
Enjoy yer haggis.
To all the Scots here, enjoy Burns’ Nicht!
thank you
I’ll be breaking off from Dry January, for the virtual sharing of a wee dram of the 18-year-old Glenmorangie with my (Glaswegian) father this evening. 🥃
Okay, maybe a large dram. Or two, or three…
Enjoy it!
A prince can mak a belted knight, A marquis, duke, an a that; But an honest man’s abon his might, Gude faith, he maunna fa that! For a that, an a that, Their dignities an a that; The pith o sense, an pride o worth, Are higher rank than a that.
We seem to have a surfeit of people in "public service" who have limpet DNA, determined to remain in power, seemingly oblivious of the damage they are doing to their Party. It is not exclusive to the Conservative Party, but because they have power to lose, it is generally more applicable to them right now (although the SNP need to have a Paddington stare i the mirror at themselves too).
Zahawi is damaging the Party he says he loves. I rather suspect that love is secondary to his love of self.
Just fuck off, mate.
What I don’t understand is why Sunak doesn’t just sack him? It really, really isn’t in his interests to drag this out. Or does NZ have something on him?
Sunak learned how to be PM by watching Johnson.
He's more numerate and has better trouser control, but otherwise he's playing a similar game with the same deck of cards.
Bozo's trousers were round his ankles. Rishi Rich's trousers don't reach his ankles.
That doesn't work. Surely if you are making the joke that he is short then his trousers would reach his ankles and beyond.
“Half-term ski holidays in France are facing disruption after lift operators announced "unlimited" strikes in resorts next month over Emmanuel Macron's pension reforms.
“Just weeks after skiers endured record-low snow cover over Christmas, their biggest obstacle to hitting the slopes in the next holiday period could now prove to be industrial action.
“The two main French unions representing lift and tow operators and seasonal workers filed for open-ended strikes starting next Tuesday to coincide with the second day of mass protests against President Emmanuel Macron’s unpopular plan to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64.”
Smells like agenda-driven research to me - insulating your home leads to better health.. how?
I presume they mean it makes them easier to warm/heat and therefore lowers energy costs meaning poorer people can stay warmer for longer and afford other "stuff" but a bit of a stretch and not clear.
Also, I don't want to live an extra 564,345 years if all I can eat is lettuce.
Wad t it Mark Twain who said “teetotallers don’t actually live longer - it just seems that way”
Smells like agenda-driven research to me - insulating your home leads to better health.. how?
I presume they mean it makes them easier to warm/heat and therefore lowers energy costs meaning poorer people can stay warmer for longer and afford other "stuff" but a bit of a stretch and not clear.
Also, I don't want to live an extra 564,345 years if all I can eat is lettuce.
Two million years over the entire population integrated over that timeframe? You’ll get another week or so.
It's rare I get actively angry but I was so incandescent on the M25 this evening I almost had to pull my car over to compose myself when I heard this story on Radio 4.
There's something about the abuse of vulnerable children - and the way adults lie about it, and get away with it - that provokes a very visceral reaction in me.
The response of OFSTED’s useless Spielman - ‘we need new powers’. Those who doubted the justification for @ydoethur ’s anger and contempt for her with regard to safeguarding should take note.
… The Hesley Group - owned by private equity firm Antin Infrastructure, which is better known for investing in gas pipelines - continues to run a school and placements for adults with learning disabilities. It says it cannot comment further because of the ongoing criminal investigation by South Yorkshire Police…
And note their profit margins at all of their sites were 16% -1% below the figure government deems ‘excessive’ for the ‘industry’.
That only washes if they can show they did highlight serious concerns but were "powerless" to do anything to stop it. Otherwise, it's a standard hand-washing technique - it makes it sort of somebody else's fault.
I suspect they already have the powers they need, but just didn't use them.
That's almost certain, given their record. Why Spielman so consistently escapes any responsibility for every scandal OFSTED has some part in, is beyond me.
The involvement of infra funds in the high acuity space has been deeply worrying me for a couple of years. It’s the wrong structure both for the residents and for the investors (infra funds don’t have the capacity to manage operational risk)
Comments
That's certainly plausible, but would require Russia to have done something sensible - not a good bet based on their actions so far in this war. But it's also unwise to think the enemy would always be stupid.
Western intelligence will have a good idea about this, based on satellite and other means, and you can bet Ukraine know through them. And that's a problem Russia has: it is very difficult to keep massed armour and men 'secret' from the enemy nowadays, especially with western capabilities in spy satellites and signals intelligence.
And yes, modern planes are vital for Ukraine, although slightly less so than tanks. Combined with tanks in a sane strategy, they could be a very powerful force. (All IMO, IANAE etc)
"I think he sh… https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1618148720369074176
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jan/24/net-zero-by-2050-in-england-and-wales-equals-extra-2m-years-of-life
We still see a number of NATO country signals and surveillance aircraft in the region every day, a visible reminder to the enemy of the support the Ukranians are getting from the Western Alliance.
It would be very difficult, as you suggest, for the Russians to build up forces unseen and under cover, even with such a massive country to hide in. Reports out of Russia have suggested that their tank factories are not producing new tanks, because they don’t have the electronics and systems to put in them. They’re instead trying to scrape together serviceable vehicles from scrap parts. Let’s hope that’s the case.
And laws for Scotland’s weal ordain’d;
But now unroof’d their palace stands,
Their sceptre’s sway’d by other hands.
The injur’d Stuart line is gone,
A race outlandish fills their throne
An idiot race, to honour lost;
Who know them best despise them most.
Best bard. 🏴
Enjoy yer haggis.
I presume they mean it makes them easier to warm/heat and therefore lowers energy costs meaning poorer people can stay warmer for longer and afford other "stuff" but a bit of a stretch and not clear.
Also, I don't want to live an extra 564,345 years if all I can eat is lettuce.
And because the last resort then would be to go to ECHR it’s likely to lose many cases . This will then be couched as an attack on UK sovereignty and the right wing hate rags will then push for removing the UK from that court .
This will then become part of the Tories election manifesto and low information voters will lap up the lies .
As come it will for a' that,
That sense and worth, o'er a' the earth,
May bear the gree, an' a' that.
For a' that, an' a' that
It's coming yet, for a' that
That man to man, the warld o'er,
Shall brothers be for a' that.
🏴🥃
Why Spielman so consistently escapes any responsibility for every scandal OFSTED has some part in, is beyond me.
https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-curious-carefulness-of-nadhim-zahawis-carelessness-2/
To see oursels as others see us!
It wad frae monie a blunder free us,
An' foolish notion.
Well, quite.
I’m very much a net zero advocate, and the sooner the better. I would also love to see more people travelling by bike and eating more healthily so they end up less fat and a burden on the health service. But these things are separate issues and not dependent on each other. We could quite possibly achieve net zero while eating junk food and living like slobs.
This is the trouble with the politicisation of climate change, another US import. It means some on the puritan Protestant left see it as a trigger for us all to repent our sins and live the austere monkish lives they have been wishing for centuries, while those on the libertarian right interpret any effort to reduce emissions as some fundamental challenge to their right to do what they want.
Net zero should simply be about reducing emissions as quickly as possible.
It really isn't surprising as improved housing, better nutrition and improved air pollution were major drivers of improved life expectancy in 20th century Britain, and this is the logical extension of that trend.
Con 38%
Lab 37%
LD 16%
Ref 6%
Grn 2%
London
Lab 47%
Con 26%
LD 12%
Grn 6%
Ref 6%
South West
Lab 54%
Con 26%
Ref 10%
LD 7%
Grn 1%
West Midlands
Lab 50%
Con 27%
LD 11%
Ref 9%
Grn 1%
East Midlands
Lab 57%
Con 22%
LD 11%
Ref 5%
Grn 2%
Eastern
Lab 57%
Con 22%
Ref 10%
LD 9%
Grn 3%
North East
Lab 67%
Con 24%
Ref 5%
LD 4%
North West
Lab 56%
Con 25%
LD 8%
Grn 6%
Ref 4%
Yorkshire & the Humber
Lab 58%
Con 22%
LD 8%
Ref 7%
Grn 4%
Scotland
SNP 47%
Lab 23%
Con 18%
Grn 8%
LD 3%
Wales
Lab 51%
Con 34%
PC 6%
Ref 5%
LD 3%
(Redfield & Wilton; 22 January)
The sobering truth is that if you put people in absolute authority over people who are not in a position to complain easily, a significant proportion will abuse that power, and then get used to abusing it and start to joke about it to each other. The same pattern emerges with elderly care, prisons, asylum centres, etc.
What's the answer? Proactive, frequent surprise inspections? CCTV? Where feasible, perhaps "mystery shoppers" - place agents in prisons etc. for short periods to see whether the rules are actually being followed (obviously doesn't work for children).
Although, as I said last night, OFSTED is a bit of a disaster area anyway. Breaking it up into smaller, more focused agencies would help, albeit you would want them controlled by specialists and not by numpties like Spielman if they are to do any good.
It was 40 warnings, not 42, that they ignored.
That doesn't include the 66 additional warnings that they received about another home run by the same group.
And I would add on all of these 106 occasions this was the local authority requesting an inspection, not some random person who didn't like what they saw.
Frankly I am wondering if Spielman and the local HMI should be in the dock with the company directors when charges of negligence are pursued.
Either way, have a good one.
It does appear that the lessons of what unchecked power can do to humans, have yet to be learned.
“It’s hard to see how this ultimatel… https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1618161805091803142
The sobering truth is that if you put people in absolute authority over people who are not in a position to complain easily, a significant proportion will abuse that power, and then get used to abusing it and start to joke about it to each other. The same pattern emerges with elderly care, prisons, asylum centres, etc.
Same applies to the NHS, right?
It's a long and hard road to running such facilities that are actually good at what they do. It probably doesn't best start with a private equity infrastructure fund.
Another interesting story squirrelled away behind Johnson's Churchillian action in Ukraine and Zahawi's tax "mistake" is the revelation that 80 children have been "removed" from government run asylum hotels by organised criminals, and with little interest or apparent action from the authorities.
The dystopian nightmare we were promised with a Corbyn Government has arrived.
This scandal does show that privatising such services is not a panacea for either value or quality.
‘We need to build a large arms factory in the east of Poland for Ukraine to manufacture all the weapons on licence it needs.’
Barking.
What matters is the reaction. When a claim is made, is it ignored, is it filed away in a 'too difficult' pile; is lip-service paid to it, then filed away? Is it ignored because management see it as to their advantage to ignore it? Are concerns from staff ignored? Are staff complaining moved or sacked?
You will never fully stop wrongdoing; all you can do is that you detect when it happens and stop it happening again.
It's worse when it's in the care system, with children who may have additional difficulties, and might be prone to make false claims, or exaggerate. But that's why you do *more* safeguarding, not less.
Funding might be part of the story; but it goes way beyond that.
Of the broadsheets the Guardian, the Independent and probably now the Times will endorse Starmer at the next election (though the Times does prefer Sunak to Boris), only the Telegraph is loyal to the Tories.
The Mirror and Star and FT will also back Starmer though the Mail and Express should stick with the Tories. The Sun if it thinks Labour will win will likely switch too as it did to back New Labour in 1997.
The broadcast media is mainly liberal, soft left with the exception of the rightwing GB News
Okay, maybe a large dram. Or two, or three…
It's not an altogether bad approximation of Poland's medium term defence plans.
Zahawi is damaging the Party he says he loves. I rather suspect that love is secondary to his love of self.
Just fuck off, mate.
He still liked KFC, though.
If everybody's doing it; if the culture has been allowed to devolve to allow it, then even 'good' people will get dragged in.
Or is there a law against buying Socialist Worker?
A fitting symbol of brexit, costing huge amounts, ill-conceived and of no use whatsoever
#BrexitReality #BrexitDisaster
https://twitter.com/europeanunity1/status/1618145344667418628?s=46&t=Un26eQKZGqKg02imPNVqmQ
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11672611/New-shame-Met-Police-schools-officer-22-admitted-having-sex-girl-14.html
“A school liaison officer for the Met Police yesterday admitted having sex with a 14-year-old girl and possessing indecent images of children as young as two.
“Some of paedophile PC Hussain Chehab's shocking offences took place when he was a serving officer whose duties included meeting parents and children at school gates in north London.
“The 22-year-old is facing jail after pleading guilty to four counts of sexual activity with a child, one of sexual communication with a child and three counts of making indecent photographs of children.”
Wales now the Tories second best region after the South East seems a bit odd though
"If you were another cabinet min… https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1618167331234140160
‘Here we have the mobile latrine production line and over there is the infra red sight section..’
https://firstlightfusion.com/media/first-light-fusion-signs-agreement-with-uk-atomic-energy-authoritygratulates-nif-on-its-maiden-gain-result-2
...Although the machine itself will not generate power, it will be used to develop technology needed for future inertial confinement fusion energy powerplants...
...Construction is anticipated to begin in 2024 with operations likely to commence in 2027.
My problem is that we don't seem to be allowed to say that the NHS should be added to your list - why did you miss it out, as a matter of interest - as having a systemic problem in this regard.
I guess perhaps the longer he hangs around, the longer it delays the next story, which might be this Russia stuff.
He's more numerate and has better trouser control, but otherwise he's playing a similar game with the same deck of cards.
The geography of using a purpose built border post in Kent to filter trade activity between Carlisle and Dumfries might be another example of Conservative "outside the box" thinking.
If the Lib Dems are really sub-10% in this key region for them, with Labour above 50%, then Davey is in for a dreadful GE.
This one has had some notices of late - haven't tried it.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/jun/21/malorie-blackman-wins-pen-pinter-prize
Show again.
On the upside, it does lead to such gems as "Rishi Sunak struggles to turn the page on the John"
What has surprised me is the Ukrainians haven’t taken the initiative - but I think this is game playing to get MBTs from the west - if they were taking territory they wouldn’t be able to argue they needed the extra kit
As others have commented how on earth can politicians cling onto office when they are clearly damaging not only themselves but their party
For goodness sake Zahawi, stand down whilst the enquiry into your tax affairs is establishing the facts
A prince can mak a belted knight,
A marquis, duke, an a that;
But an honest man’s abon his might,
Gude faith, he maunna fa that!
For a that, an a that,
Their dignities an a that;
The pith o sense, an pride o worth,
Are higher rank than a that.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/mens-style-how-to-look-taller-slimmer-and-younger-zrt3kxthj
(you can get enough of it via 12ft.io if paywalled)
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/01/24/french-strikers-vow-to-half-bakers-electricity-bills/
“Half-term ski holidays in France are facing disruption after lift operators announced "unlimited" strikes in resorts next month over Emmanuel Macron's pension reforms.
“Just weeks after skiers endured record-low snow cover over Christmas, their biggest obstacle to hitting the slopes in the next holiday period could now prove to be industrial action.
“The two main French unions representing lift and tow operators and seasonal workers filed for open-ended strikes starting next Tuesday to coincide with the second day of mass protests against President Emmanuel Macron’s unpopular plan to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64.”