The resistible force meets the movable object – politicalbetting.com

JosiasJessop said:

MattW said:

1st. 2nd. (Bloody Foxes)

But nothing to say. Yet.

No, you were first.

I think government perception in the US - and to a lesser extent the rest of the west - will increasingly be influenced and controlled by the Internet and social media. There's several reasons why Musk and the GOP are attacking 'traditional' media, and control of the narrative is one of them.

williamglenn said:

https://x.com/britainelects/status/1886315431016743171

REF: 27% (+1)
LAB: 23% (+1)
CON: 21% (-2)
LDEM: 11% (-1)
GRN: 10% (-)

via @FindoutnowUK, 29 Jan
Chgs. w/ 22 Jan

Sandpit said:

MattW said:

The USAID (aiui their version of our ODA) website, and their Twitter account, has vanished:

https://www.usaid.gov/

https://www.npr.org/sections/goats-and-soda/2025/02/02/g-s1-46007/usaid-web-site-trump-state-department

There were suggestions over the weekend that the senior management got marched out of the building after refusing to co-operate with anyone in Trump’s team. It sounds like the plan is to merge USAID back into the State Department, starting with a zero-based budget.

kamski said:

Sandpit said:

MattW said:

The USAID (aiui their version of our ODA) website, and their Twitter account, has vanished:

https://www.usaid.gov/

https://www.npr.org/sections/goats-and-soda/2025/02/02/g-s1-46007/usaid-web-site-trump-state-department

There were suggestions over the weekend that the senior management got marched out of the building after refusing to co-operate with anyone in Trump’s team. It sounds like the plan is to merge USAID back into the State Department, starting with a zero-based budget.

'there were suggestions' is another tell from you that what follows is bollocks.

Unless 'refusing to co-operate with anyone in Trump's team' =

Two senior officials at the US Agency for International Development (USAID) have been suspended after they tried to stop members of Elon Musk's efficiency team from accessing secure systems, according to reports.

Sky News' US partner NBC News spoke to three sources who said the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) team wanted to access some files that were beyond their security level.

https://news.sky.com/story/senior-usaid-pair-suspended-after-refusing-elon-musks-doge-staff-access-to-secure-systems-13302165

Also we have the evidence of Musk claiming that working weekends is a superpower because bureaucrats don't work weekends...

TheScreamingEagles said:

williamglenn said:

https://x.com/britainelects/status/1886315431016743171

REF: 27% (+1)
LAB: 23% (+1)
CON: 21% (-2)
LDEM: 11% (-1)
GRN: 10% (-)

via @FindoutnowUK, 29 Jan
Chgs. w/ 22 Jan

Britain Elects are four days behind the curve, that poll was posted on PB on Thursday.

Foxy said:

kamski said:

Sandpit said:

MattW said:

The USAID (aiui their version of our ODA) website, and their Twitter account, has vanished:

https://www.usaid.gov/

https://www.npr.org/sections/goats-and-soda/2025/02/02/g-s1-46007/usaid-web-site-trump-state-department

There were suggestions over the weekend that the senior management got marched out of the building after refusing to co-operate with anyone in Trump’s team. It sounds like the plan is to merge USAID back into the State Department, starting with a zero-based budget.

'there were suggestions' is another tell from you that what follows is bollocks.

Unless 'refusing to co-operate with anyone in Trump's team' =

Two senior officials at the US Agency for International Development (USAID) have been suspended after they tried to stop members of Elon Musk's efficiency team from accessing secure systems, according to reports.

Sky News' US partner NBC News spoke to three sources who said the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) team wanted to access some files that were beyond their security level.

https://news.sky.com/story/senior-usaid-pair-suspended-after-refusing-elon-musks-doge-staff-access-to-secure-systems-13302165

Also we have the evidence of Musk claiming that working weekends is a superpower because bureaucrats don't work weekends...

It seems these are some of the guys involved:

https://www.wired.com/story/elon-musk-government-young-engineers/

MattW said:

kamski said:

Sandpit said:

MattW said:

The USAID (aiui their version of our ODA) website, and their Twitter account, has vanished:

https://www.usaid.gov/

https://www.npr.org/sections/goats-and-soda/2025/02/02/g-s1-46007/usaid-web-site-trump-state-department

There were suggestions over the weekend that the senior management got marched out of the building after refusing to co-operate with anyone in Trump’s team. It sounds like the plan is to merge USAID back into the State Department, starting with a zero-based budget.

'there were suggestions' is another tell from you that what follows is bollocks.

Unless 'refusing to co-operate with anyone in Trump's team' =

Two senior officials at the US Agency for International Development (USAID) have been suspended after they tried to stop members of Elon Musk's efficiency team from accessing secure systems, according to reports.

Sky News' US partner NBC News spoke to three sources who said the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) team wanted to access some files that were beyond their security level.

https://news.sky.com/story/senior-usaid-pair-suspended-after-refusing-elon-musks-doge-staff-access-to-secure-systems-13302165

Also we have the evidence of Musk claiming that working weekends is a superpower because bureaucrats don't work weekends...

It's more lawbreaking by Trump & Co aiui.

DOGE has not been established according to US law, so has no legal authority to carry out the actions attempted.

https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/advocacy-groups-file-four-lawsuits-against-musk-led-doge

MattW said:

kamski said:

Sandpit said:

MattW said:

The USAID (aiui their version of our ODA) website, and their Twitter account, has vanished:

https://www.usaid.gov/

https://www.npr.org/sections/goats-and-soda/2025/02/02/g-s1-46007/usaid-web-site-trump-state-department

There were suggestions over the weekend that the senior management got marched out of the building after refusing to co-operate with anyone in Trump’s team. It sounds like the plan is to merge USAID back into the State Department, starting with a zero-based budget.

'there were suggestions' is another tell from you that what follows is bollocks.

Unless 'refusing to co-operate with anyone in Trump's team' =

Two senior officials at the US Agency for International Development (USAID) have been suspended after they tried to stop members of Elon Musk's efficiency team from accessing secure systems, according to reports.

Sky News' US partner NBC News spoke to three sources who said the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) team wanted to access some files that were beyond their security level.

https://news.sky.com/story/senior-usaid-pair-suspended-after-refusing-elon-musks-doge-staff-access-to-secure-systems-13302165

Also we have the evidence of Musk claiming that working weekends is a superpower because bureaucrats don't work weekends...

It's more lawbreaking by Trump & Co aiui.

DOGE has not been established according to US law, so has no legal authority to carry out the actions attempted.

https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/advocacy-groups-file-four-lawsuits-against-musk-led-doge

Leon said:

Fpt on Berlin as a travel destination

It’s great if you want Dark Noom. It probably has more Dark Noom than any capital city on earth. This is where Hitler died. This was a stasi torture chamber. This was the Berlin Wall. Those are graffiti by red army soldiers etc

But most people don’t travel to experience the noomy absence of god and the tingle of spiritual despair and bleakness; so hey Ho

Some excellent museums and nice gardens. Definitely better in summer unter den linden

Taz said:

Leon said:

Fpt on Berlin as a travel destination

It’s great if you want Dark Noom. It probably has more Dark Noom than any capital city on earth. This is where Hitler died. This was a stasi torture chamber. This was the Berlin Wall. Those are graffiti by red army soldiers etc

But most people don’t travel to experience the noomy absence of god and the tingle of spiritual despair and bleakness; so hey Ho

Some excellent museums and nice gardens. Definitely better in summer unter den linden

How much of it survived the final onslaught against the Nazi's ?

Is there any of old Berlin left or is it totally rebuilt

williamglenn said:

TheValiant said:

I've woke up this morning to see Trump has moved onto attacking the EU (and UK).

I don't bet, but I wonder if he'll still be president come the end of the year.

I wonder how the US markets are going to react come opening time.

Are you predicting an assassination? Trump has genuine democratic power. He’s not some Liz Truss figure who can be elbowed out by the deep state.

Foxy said:

williamglenn said:

kamski said:

Sandpit said:

MattW said:

The USAID (aiui their version of our ODA) website, and their Twitter account, has vanished:

https://www.usaid.gov/

https://www.npr.org/sections/goats-and-soda/2025/02/02/g-s1-46007/usaid-web-site-trump-state-department

There were suggestions over the weekend that the senior management got marched out of the building after refusing to co-operate with anyone in Trump’s team. It sounds like the plan is to merge USAID back into the State Department, starting with a zero-based budget.

'there were suggestions' is another tell from you that what follows is bollocks.

Unless 'refusing to co-operate with anyone in Trump's team' =

Two senior officials at the US Agency for International Development (USAID) have been suspended after they tried to stop members of Elon Musk's efficiency team from accessing secure systems, according to reports.

Sky News' US partner NBC News spoke to three sources who said the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) team wanted to access some files that were beyond their security level.

https://news.sky.com/story/senior-usaid-pair-suspended-after-refusing-elon-musks-doge-staff-access-to-secure-systems-13302165

Also we have the evidence of Musk claiming that working weekends is a superpower because bureaucrats don't work weekends...

Musk has just been calling USAID a criminal organisation.

https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1886317363953279401

Well, it does mostly aid black and brown
people, so no surprises there.

Taz said:

Leon said:

Fpt on Berlin as a travel destination

It’s great if you want Dark Noom. It probably has more Dark Noom than any capital city on earth. This is where Hitler died. This was a stasi torture chamber. This was the Berlin Wall. Those are graffiti by red army soldiers etc

But most people don’t travel to experience the noomy absence of god and the tingle of spiritual despair and bleakness; so hey Ho

Some excellent museums and nice gardens. Definitely better in summer unter den linden

How much of it survived the final onslaught against the Nazi's ?

Is there any of old Berlin left or is it totally rebuilt

Leon said:

Taz said:

Leon said:

Fpt on Berlin as a travel destination

It’s great if you want Dark Noom. It probably has more Dark Noom than any capital city on earth. This is where Hitler died. This was a stasi torture chamber. This was the Berlin Wall. Those are graffiti by red army soldiers etc

But most people don’t travel to experience the noomy absence of god and the tingle of spiritual despair and bleakness; so hey Ho

Some excellent museums and nice gardens. Definitely better in summer unter den linden

How much of it survived the final onslaught against the Nazi's ?

Is there any of old Berlin left or is it totally rebuilt

There's quite a bit left, all battered and shrapnelled - but that only adds to the Dark Noom

East Berlin probably has more than West because they didn't have the money to demolish and develop

It's not a great world city, nowhere near. I'm not even sure it is in the noble second tier of European cities alongside, say Barcelona or Rome, Vienna or Athens

It's in the crowded third tier - with Lisbon, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Munich, Prague, Edinburgh, Dublin...

Better than Wick, mind you

Leon said:

Taz said:

Leon said:

Fpt on Berlin as a travel destination

It’s great if you want Dark Noom. It probably has more Dark Noom than any capital city on earth. This is where Hitler died. This was a stasi torture chamber. This was the Berlin Wall. Those are graffiti by red army soldiers etc

But most people don’t travel to experience the noomy absence of god and the tingle of spiritual despair and bleakness; so hey Ho

Some excellent museums and nice gardens. Definitely better in summer unter den linden

How much of it survived the final onslaught against the Nazi's ?

Is there any of old Berlin left or is it totally rebuilt

There's quite a bit left, all battered and shrapnelled - but that only adds to the Dark Noom

East Berlin probably has more than West because they didn't have the money to demolish and develop

It's not a great world city, nowhere near. I'm not even sure it is in the noble second tier of European cities alongside, say Barcelona or Rome, Vienna or Athens

It's in the crowded third tier - with Lisbon, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Munich, Prague, Edinburgh, Dublin...

Better than Wick, mind you

Theuniondivvie said:

Taz said:

Leon said:

Fpt on Berlin as a travel destination

It’s great if you want Dark Noom. It probably has more Dark Noom than any capital city on earth. This is where Hitler died. This was a stasi torture chamber. This was the Berlin Wall. Those are graffiti by red army soldiers etc

But most people don’t travel to experience the noomy absence of god and the tingle of spiritual despair and bleakness; so hey Ho

Some excellent museums and nice gardens. Definitely better in summer unter den linden

How much of it survived the final onslaught against the Nazi's ?

Is there any of old Berlin left or is it totally rebuilt

Lots & lots of buildings pockmarked by bullets from 1945, so a fair bit.

Ratters said:

I see various Canadian provinces have already stopped stocking US alcohol.

I can see the 'boycott USA' gaining traction over there. You have a President imposing tariffs on you for no reason, threateningly calling ok you to become the 51st state.

USD strengthening too, which makes US exports even less competitive on top of retaliatory tariffs. Great way to improve a trade deficit.

The Democrats just need to hold steady and call out Trump for making things more expensive for ordinary Americans. Because that is the inevitable result on his trade policy.

rkrkrk said:

Ratters said:

I see various Canadian provinces have already stopped stocking US alcohol.

I can see the 'boycott USA' gaining traction over there. You have a President imposing tariffs on you for no reason, threateningly calling ok you to become the 51st state.

USD strengthening too, which makes US exports even less competitive on top of retaliatory tariffs. Great way to improve a trade deficit.

The Democrats just need to hold steady and call out Trump for making things more expensive for ordinary Americans. Because that is the inevitable result on his trade policy.

I suspect boycott USA might be going a bit far in the UK. Boycott Tesla though I can definitely imagine.

JosiasJessop said:

Sandpit said:

What’s better than a Russian oil refinery on fire?

TWO Russian oil refineries on fire!!

https://x.com/tendar/status/1886284349126893782

Matters little unless Trump and the GOP change their minds on fully supporting Ukraine.

kamski said:

Leon said:

Taz said:

Leon said:

Fpt on Berlin as a travel destination

It’s great if you want Dark Noom. It probably has more Dark Noom than any capital city on earth. This is where Hitler died. This was a stasi torture chamber. This was the Berlin Wall. Those are graffiti by red army soldiers etc

But most people don’t travel to experience the noomy absence of god and the tingle of spiritual despair and bleakness; so hey Ho

Some excellent museums and nice gardens. Definitely better in summer unter den linden

How much of it survived the final onslaught against the Nazi's ?

Is there any of old Berlin left or is it totally rebuilt

There's quite a bit left, all battered and shrapnelled - but that only adds to the Dark Noom

East Berlin probably has more than West because they didn't have the money to demolish and develop

It's not a great world city, nowhere near. I'm not even sure it is in the noble second tier of European cities alongside, say Barcelona or Rome, Vienna or Athens

It's in the crowded third tier - with Lisbon, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Munich, Prague, Edinburgh, Dublin...

Better than Wick, mind you

Depends what you want/like. Berlin has an international feel (unlike other German cities) a feeling of space (lots of wide streets), some agreeably grungey neighborhoods, and interesting historical stuff - the various holocaust memorials are worth mentioning. Of course you can't compare it with Rome (and in what crazy world is Rome not a top tier European city?), but I think a comparison with Vienna is interesting - both former imperial capitals (and both much smaller than London), but with very different things to offer.

Foxy said:

Theuniondivvie said:

Taz said:

Leon said:

Fpt on Berlin as a travel destination

It’s great if you want Dark Noom. It probably has more Dark Noom than any capital city on earth. This is where Hitler died. This was a stasi torture chamber. This was the Berlin Wall. Those are graffiti by red army soldiers etc

But most people don’t travel to experience the noomy absence of god and the tingle of spiritual despair and bleakness; so hey Ho

Some excellent museums and nice gardens. Definitely better in summer unter den linden

How much of it survived the final onslaught against the Nazi's ?

Is there any of old Berlin left or is it totally rebuilt

Lots & lots of buildings pockmarked by bullets from 1945, so a fair bit.

And quite a few old buildings with a new corner in a different style from where the original corner got bombed.

I really like Berlin, with all it's lakes, parks, and fascinating history. The Nazi stuff was pretty much eradicated, with not even a marker to show where the bunker was. Some great museums too, especially the Topography of Terror (on the rise of the Nazis in Berlin) and on Museum Island. Great nightlife too, with a fair whiff of the Caberet era.

There's a lot still being constructed but well worth a visit. 250 000 Beliners turned out yesterday to March against AfD. They know where it all leads.

Theuniondivvie said:

Foxy said:

Theuniondivvie said:

Taz said:

Leon said:

Fpt on Berlin as a travel destination

It’s great if you want Dark Noom. It probably has more Dark Noom than any capital city on earth. This is where Hitler died. This was a stasi torture chamber. This was the Berlin Wall. Those are graffiti by red army soldiers etc

But most people don’t travel to experience the noomy absence of god and the tingle of spiritual despair and bleakness; so hey Ho

Some excellent museums and nice gardens. Definitely better in summer unter den linden

How much of it survived the final onslaught against the Nazi's ?

Is there any of old Berlin left or is it totally rebuilt

Lots & lots of buildings pockmarked by bullets from 1945, so a fair bit.

And quite a few old buildings with a new corner in a different style from where the original corner got bombed.

I really like Berlin, with all it's lakes, parks, and fascinating history. The Nazi stuff was pretty much eradicated, with not even a marker to show where the bunker was. Some great museums too, especially the Topography of Terror (on the rise of the Nazis in Berlin) and on Museum Island. Great nightlife too, with a fair whiff of the Caberet era.

There's a lot still being constructed but well worth a visit. 250 000 Beliners turned out yesterday to March against AfD. They know where it all leads.

You’ve got to admire the principled attitude towards the Führerbunker, completely eradicating what would almost certainly be the most visited museum in the world. As it is it must be the world’s most visited car park.
I see Berlin as a tangible, living fable: an aspiring imperial capital until it was shattered by 1918, the vital, exhilarating cultural experiment of Weimar shattered by the Nazis, the dark surrender to the worst of human nature ending in a shattered, divided city. It’s Homeric and puts Berlin right up there in terms of world significance.

Sandpit said:

StillWaters said:

Sandpit said:

What’s better than a Russian oil refinery on fire?

TWO Russian oil refineries on fire!!

https://x.com/tendar/status/1886284349126893782

How’s your bingo card?

This appears to be the latest version - 16 down, 9 to go!

https://x.com/meanwhileinua/status/1885954258299728111

Sandpit said:

What’s better than a Russian oil refinery on fire?

TWO Russian oil refineries on fire!!

https://x.com/tendar/status/1886284349126893782

Eabhal said:

JosiasJessop said:

Sandpit said:

What’s better than a Russian oil refinery on fire?

TWO Russian oil refineries on fire!!

https://x.com/tendar/status/1886284349126893782

Matters little unless Trump and the GOP change their minds on fully supporting Ukraine.

It's already happening, with USAid stopping the supply of humanitarian stuff like prosthetics.

(Imagine the frothing on here if Biden had done the same).

Leon said:

Theuniondivvie said:

Foxy said:

Theuniondivvie said:

Taz said:

Leon said:

Fpt on Berlin as a travel destination

It’s great if you want Dark Noom. It probably has more Dark Noom than any capital city on earth. This is where Hitler died. This was a stasi torture chamber. This was the Berlin Wall. Those are graffiti by red army soldiers etc

But most people don’t travel to experience the noomy absence of god and the tingle of spiritual despair and bleakness; so hey Ho

Some excellent museums and nice gardens. Definitely better in summer unter den linden

How much of it survived the final onslaught against the Nazi's ?

Is there any of old Berlin left or is it totally rebuilt

Lots & lots of buildings pockmarked by bullets from 1945, so a fair bit.

And quite a few old buildings with a new corner in a different style from where the original corner got bombed.

I really like Berlin, with all it's lakes, parks, and fascinating history. The Nazi stuff was pretty much eradicated, with not even a marker to show where the bunker was. Some great museums too, especially the Topography of Terror (on the rise of the Nazis in Berlin) and on Museum Island. Great nightlife too, with a fair whiff of the Caberet era.

There's a lot still being constructed but well worth a visit. 250 000 Beliners turned out yesterday to March against AfD. They know where it all leads.

You’ve got to admire the principled attitude towards the Führerbunker, completely eradicating what would almost certainly be the most visited museum in the world. As it is it must be the world’s most visited car park.
I see Berlin as a tangible, living fable: an aspiring imperial capital until it was shattered by 1918, the vital, exhilarating cultural experiment of Weimar shattered by the Nazis, the dark surrender to the worst of human nature ending in a shattered, divided city. It’s Homeric and puts Berlin right up there in terms of world significance.

I read Anthony Beevor's BERLIN on my first visit to Berlin

Fuck me, quite an experience. Reading of those intense horrors in the final days, then you look up and see the streets and parks described

MarqueeMark said:

Sandpit said:

What’s better than a Russian oil refinery on fire?

TWO Russian oil refineries on fire!!

https://x.com/tendar/status/1886284349126893782

The Ukrainians made a mess of one refinery the other day that supplies 5% of Russia's refined oil. All for the cost of a couple of million quid in basic drones. Not even their good stuff. Just ex-sports planes. As warfare goes, losing a significant part of your economy in exchange for some (heavily mined) fields and the remains of half a concrete factory is indeed a very special military operation.

Putin can't stop. But the price of not stopping is smashing about the only thing that creates value in the Russian economy. Russia will run out of money. The war economy is making products that have proven to be useless in Ukraine, so no-one will pay more than a string of sea-shells for them.

Then the only thing it will have is vodka.

numbertwelve said:

Leon said:

Taz said:

Leon said:

Fpt on Berlin as a travel destination

It’s great if you want Dark Noom. It probably has more Dark Noom than any capital city on earth. This is where Hitler died. This was a stasi torture chamber. This was the Berlin Wall. Those are graffiti by red army soldiers etc

But most people don’t travel to experience the noomy absence of god and the tingle of spiritual despair and bleakness; so hey Ho

Some excellent museums and nice gardens. Definitely better in summer unter den linden

How much of it survived the final onslaught against the Nazi's ?

Is there any of old Berlin left or is it totally rebuilt

There's quite a bit left, all battered and shrapnelled - but that only adds to the Dark Noom

East Berlin probably has more than West because they didn't have the money to demolish and develop

It's not a great world city, nowhere near. I'm not even sure it is in the noble second tier of European cities alongside, say Barcelona or Rome, Vienna or Athens

It's in the crowded third tier - with Lisbon, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Munich, Prague, Edinburgh, Dublin...

Better than Wick, mind you

I have a very soft spot for Berlin. It embodies the history of the 20th Century, all in one place. All the faultlines, the ideologies, the hope and despair.

I do think it was perhaps at its most compelling around the mid noughties, funnily enough around the time that Merkel was taking office or had just bedded in. Some of the past was even more present (e.g the ugly East German parliament building was still standing, though I think was already slated for demolition) but there was perhaps a dynamism and energy in the air with the new architecture of government, the rebuilt Reichstag building etc, which gave it the feeling of a city in optimistic transition - moving from the shadows of the past into the exciting new European future where Germany would take the lead. The city is still great, but perhaps seeing it in that optimistic, transitional moment was the most special

Leon said:

kamski said:

Leon said:

Taz said:

Leon said:

Fpt on Berlin as a travel destination

It’s great if you want Dark Noom. It probably has more Dark Noom than any capital city on earth. This is where Hitler died. This was a stasi torture chamber. This was the Berlin Wall. Those are graffiti by red army soldiers etc

But most people don’t travel to experience the noomy absence of god and the tingle of spiritual despair and bleakness; so hey Ho

Some excellent museums and nice gardens. Definitely better in summer unter den linden

How much of it survived the final onslaught against the Nazi's ?

Is there any of old Berlin left or is it totally rebuilt

There's quite a bit left, all battered and shrapnelled - but that only adds to the Dark Noom

East Berlin probably has more than West because they didn't have the money to demolish and develop

It's not a great world city, nowhere near. I'm not even sure it is in the noble second tier of European cities alongside, say Barcelona or Rome, Vienna or Athens

It's in the crowded third tier - with Lisbon, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Munich, Prague, Edinburgh, Dublin...

Better than Wick, mind you

Depends what you want/like. Berlin has an international feel (unlike other German cities) a feeling of space (lots of wide streets), some agreeably grungey neighborhoods, and interesting historical stuff - the various holocaust memorials are worth mentioning. Of course you can't compare it with Rome (and in what crazy world is Rome not a top tier European city?), but I think a comparison with Vienna is interesting - both former imperial capitals (and both much smaller than London), but with very different things to offer.

There's a top tier of world cities, but it is tiny. New York, London, Paris.... and then any others? Not sure. Singapore? Dubai? Nope. Not enough culture. Tokyo a bit too Japanese. Sydney nah. Hong Kong was getting there, not now. Rome isn't in this tier because to be a world city you need power, size and tech/financial heft

Rome is at the top of the second tier

Shanghai is probably the likeliest to make the grade to world city, and maybe soon

But to be in the rarefied second tier you need a lot of history (hence Rome, Athens), amazing culture and architecture (Vienna, Barcelona). I'd put Moscow and St Petersburg in this second tier, as well, and Istanbul

Berlin doesn't quite match those cities, to my mind

Top of the third tier is about right for the Prussian capital

Phil said:

MarqueeMark said:

Sandpit said:

What’s better than a Russian oil refinery on fire?

TWO Russian oil refineries on fire!!

https://x.com/tendar/status/1886284349126893782

The Ukrainians made a mess of one refinery the other day that supplies 5% of Russia's refined oil. All for the cost of a couple of million quid in basic drones. Not even their good stuff. Just ex-sports planes. As warfare goes, losing a significant part of your economy in exchange for some (heavily mined) fields and the remains of half a concrete factory is indeed a very special military operation.

Putin can't stop. But the price of not stopping is smashing about the only thing that creates value in the Russian economy. Russia will run out of money. The war economy is making products that have proven to be useless in Ukraine, so no-one will pay more than a string of sea-shells for them.

Then the only thing it will have is vodka.

It looks increasingly as if Russia no longer has enough air defence to prevent Ukraine from striking inside Russia at will.

Ukraine claims to be manufacturing 30,000 of these “Cessna with a 250kg bomb” drones a year. What happens to the Russian economy when every major oil refinery and storage facility is being hit multiple times a month?

MarqueeMark said:

Sandpit said:

What’s better than a Russian oil refinery on fire?

TWO Russian oil refineries on fire!!

https://x.com/tendar/status/1886284349126893782

The Ukrainians made a mess of one refinery the other day that supplies 5% of Russia's refined oil. All for the cost of a couple of million quid in basic drones. Not even their good stuff. Just ex-sports planes. As warfare goes, losing a significant part of your economy in exchange for some (heavily mined) fields and the remains of half a concrete factory is indeed a very special military operation.

Putin can't stop. But the price of not stopping is smashing about the only thing that creates value in the Russian economy. Russia will run out of money. The war economy is making products that have proven to be useless in Ukraine, so no-one will pay more than a string of sea-shells for them.

Then the only thing it will have is vodka.

kamski said:

numbertwelve said:

Leon said:

Taz said:

Leon said:

Fpt on Berlin as a travel destination

It’s great if you want Dark Noom. It probably has more Dark Noom than any capital city on earth. This is where Hitler died. This was a stasi torture chamber. This was the Berlin Wall. Those are graffiti by red army soldiers etc

But most people don’t travel to experience the noomy absence of god and the tingle of spiritual despair and bleakness; so hey Ho

Some excellent museums and nice gardens. Definitely better in summer unter den linden

How much of it survived the final onslaught against the Nazi's ?

Is there any of old Berlin left or is it totally rebuilt

There's quite a bit left, all battered and shrapnelled - but that only adds to the Dark Noom

East Berlin probably has more than West because they didn't have the money to demolish and develop

It's not a great world city, nowhere near. I'm not even sure it is in the noble second tier of European cities alongside, say Barcelona or Rome, Vienna or Athens

It's in the crowded third tier - with Lisbon, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Munich, Prague, Edinburgh, Dublin...

Better than Wick, mind you

I have a very soft spot for Berlin. It embodies the history of the 20th Century, all in one place. All the faultlines, the ideologies, the hope and despair.

I do think it was perhaps at its most compelling around the mid noughties, funnily enough around the time that Merkel was taking office or had just bedded in. Some of the past was even more present (e.g the ugly East German parliament building was still standing, though I think was already slated for demolition) but there was perhaps a dynamism and energy in the air with the new architecture of government, the rebuilt Reichstag building etc, which gave it the feeling of a city in optimistic transition - moving from the shadows of the past into the exciting new European future where Germany would take the lead. The city is still great, but perhaps seeing it in that optimistic, transitional moment was the most special

I guess that's right

Leon said:

kamski said:

Leon said:

Taz said:

Leon said:

Fpt on Berlin as a travel destination

It’s great if you want Dark Noom. It probably has more Dark Noom than any capital city on earth. This is where Hitler died. This was a stasi torture chamber. This was the Berlin Wall. Those are graffiti by red army soldiers etc

But most people don’t travel to experience the noomy absence of god and the tingle of spiritual despair and bleakness; so hey Ho

Some excellent museums and nice gardens. Definitely better in summer unter den linden

How much of it survived the final onslaught against the Nazi's ?

Is there any of old Berlin left or is it totally rebuilt

There's quite a bit left, all battered and shrapnelled - but that only adds to the Dark Noom

East Berlin probably has more than West because they didn't have the money to demolish and develop

It's not a great world city, nowhere near. I'm not even sure it is in the noble second tier of European cities alongside, say Barcelona or Rome, Vienna or Athens

It's in the crowded third tier - with Lisbon, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Munich, Prague, Edinburgh, Dublin...

Better than Wick, mind you

Depends what you want/like. Berlin has an international feel (unlike other German cities) a feeling of space (lots of wide streets), some agreeably grungey neighborhoods, and interesting historical stuff - the various holocaust memorials are worth mentioning. Of course you can't compare it with Rome (and in what crazy world is Rome not a top tier European city?), but I think a comparison with Vienna is interesting - both former imperial capitals (and both much smaller than London), but with very different things to offer.

There's a top tier of world cities, but it is tiny. New York, London, Paris.... and then any others? Not sure. Singapore? Dubai? Nope. Not enough culture. Tokyo a bit too Japanese. Sydney nah. Hong Kong was getting there, not now. Rome isn't in this tier because to be a world city you need power, size and tech/financial heft

Rome is at the top of the second tier

Shanghai is probably the likeliest to make the grade to world city, and maybe soon

But to be in the rarefied second tier you need a lot of history (hence Rome, Athens), amazing culture and architecture (Vienna, Barcelona). I'd put Moscow and St Petersburg in this second tier, as well, and Istanbul

Berlin doesn't quite match those cities, to my mind

Top of the third tier is about right for the Prussian capital

"Berlin as a travel destination" was what you wrote at the top of this thread. It's a rare pervert who needs "power, size and tech/financial heft" to enjoy their city break.

Rome is absolutely a top tier city as a travel destination for anyone who isn't a weirdo.

Theuniondivvie said:

kamski said:

numbertwelve said:

Leon said:

Taz said:

Leon said:

Fpt on Berlin as a travel destination

It’s great if you want Dark Noom. It probably has more Dark Noom than any capital city on earth. This is where Hitler died. This was a stasi torture chamber. This was the Berlin Wall. Those are graffiti by red army soldiers etc

But most people don’t travel to experience the noomy absence of god and the tingle of spiritual despair and bleakness; so hey Ho

Some excellent museums and nice gardens. Definitely better in summer unter den linden

How much of it survived the final onslaught against the Nazi's ?

Is there any of old Berlin left or is it totally rebuilt

There's quite a bit left, all battered and shrapnelled - but that only adds to the Dark Noom

East Berlin probably has more than West because they didn't have the money to demolish and develop

It's not a great world city, nowhere near. I'm not even sure it is in the noble second tier of European cities alongside, say Barcelona or Rome, Vienna or Athens

It's in the crowded third tier - with Lisbon, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Munich, Prague, Edinburgh, Dublin...

Better than Wick, mind you

I have a very soft spot for Berlin. It embodies the history of the 20th Century, all in one place. All the faultlines, the ideologies, the hope and despair.

I do think it was perhaps at its most compelling around the mid noughties, funnily enough around the time that Merkel was taking office or had just bedded in. Some of the past was even more present (e.g the ugly East German parliament building was still standing, though I think was already slated for demolition) but there was perhaps a dynamism and energy in the air with the new architecture of government, the rebuilt Reichstag building etc, which gave it the feeling of a city in optimistic transition - moving from the shadows of the past into the exciting new European future where Germany would take the lead. The city is still great, but perhaps seeing it in that optimistic, transitional moment was the most special

I guess that's right

Leon said:

kamski said:

Leon said:

Taz said:

Leon said:

Fpt on Berlin as a travel destination

It’s great if you want Dark Noom. It probably has more Dark Noom than any capital city on earth. This is where Hitler died. This was a stasi torture chamber. This was the Berlin Wall. Those are graffiti by red army soldiers etc

But most people don’t travel to experience the noomy absence of god and the tingle of spiritual despair and bleakness; so hey Ho

Some excellent museums and nice gardens. Definitely better in summer unter den linden

How much of it survived the final onslaught against the Nazi's ?

Is there any of old Berlin left or is it totally rebuilt

There's quite a bit left, all battered and shrapnelled - but that only adds to the Dark Noom

East Berlin probably has more than West because they didn't have the money to demolish and develop

It's not a great world city, nowhere near. I'm not even sure it is in the noble second tier of European cities alongside, say Barcelona or Rome, Vienna or Athens

It's in the crowded third tier - with Lisbon, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Munich, Prague, Edinburgh, Dublin...

Better than Wick, mind you

Depends what you want/like. Berlin has an international feel (unlike other German cities) a feeling of space (lots of wide streets), some agreeably grungey neighborhoods, and interesting historical stuff - the various holocaust memorials are worth mentioning. Of course you can't compare it with Rome (and in what crazy world is Rome not a top tier European city?), but I think a comparison with Vienna is interesting - both former imperial capitals (and both much smaller than London), but with very different things to offer.

There's a top tier of world cities, but it is tiny. New York, London, Paris.... and then any others? Not sure. Singapore? Dubai? Nope. Not enough culture. Tokyo a bit too Japanese. Sydney nah. Hong Kong was getting there, not now. Rome isn't in this tier because to be a world city you need power, size and tech/financial heft

Rome is at the top of the second tier

Shanghai is probably the likeliest to make the grade to world city, and maybe soon

But to be in the rarefied second tier you need a lot of history (hence Rome, Athens), amazing culture and architecture (Vienna, Barcelona). I'd put Moscow and St Petersburg in this second tier, as well, and Istanbul

Berlin doesn't quite match those cities, to my mind

Top of the third tier is about right for the Prussian capital

"Berlin as a travel destination" was what you wrote at the top of this thread. It's a rare pervert who needs "power, size and tech/financial heft" to enjoy their city break.

Rome is absolutely a top tier city as a travel destination for anyone who isn't a weirdo.

‘A Rare Pervert’ will be on the blurb on the back of Leon’s next book.

Nigelb said:

kamski said:

a

Foxy said:

kamski said:

Sandpit said:

MattW said:

The USAID (aiui their version of our ODA) website, and their Twitter account, has vanished:

https://www.usaid.gov/

https://www.npr.org/sections/goats-and-soda/2025/02/02/g-s1-46007/usaid-web-site-trump-state-department

There were suggestions over the weekend that the senior management got marched out of the building after refusing to co-operate with anyone in Trump’s team. It sounds like the plan is to merge USAID back into the State Department, starting with a zero-based budget.

'there were suggestions' is another tell from you that what follows is bollocks.

Unless 'refusing to co-operate with anyone in Trump's team' =

Two senior officials at the US Agency for International Development (USAID) have been suspended after they tried to stop members of Elon Musk's efficiency team from accessing secure systems, according to reports.

Sky News' US partner NBC News spoke to three sources who said the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) team wanted to access some files that were beyond their security level.

https://news.sky.com/story/senior-usaid-pair-suspended-after-refusing-elon-musks-doge-staff-access-to-secure-systems-13302165

Also we have the evidence of Musk claiming that working weekends is a superpower because bureaucrats don't work weekends...

It seems these are some of the guys involved:

https://www.wired.com/story/elon-musk-government-young-engineers/

“What we're seeing is unprecedented in that you have these actors who are not really public officials gaining access to the most sensitive data in government,” says Don Moynihan, a professor of public policy at the University of Michigan. “We really have very little eyes on what's going on. Congress has no ability to really intervene and monitor what's happening because these aren't really accountable public officials. So this feels like a hostile takeover of the machinery of governments by the richest man in the world.”

Congress does have powers to intervene.
The GOP are simply choosing not to exercise them.

Similarly on tariffs: Congress has the power to immediately overturn tariffs imposed by the executive on "national security" grounds, if they so choose.

kamski said:

numbertwelve said:

Leon said:

Taz said:

Leon said:

Fpt on Berlin as a travel destination

It’s great if you want Dark Noom. It probably has more Dark Noom than any capital city on earth. This is where Hitler died. This was a stasi torture chamber. This was the Berlin Wall. Those are graffiti by red army soldiers etc

But most people don’t travel to experience the noomy absence of god and the tingle of spiritual despair and bleakness; so hey Ho

Some excellent museums and nice gardens. Definitely better in summer unter den linden

How much of it survived the final onslaught against the Nazi's ?

Is there any of old Berlin left or is it totally rebuilt

There's quite a bit left, all battered and shrapnelled - but that only adds to the Dark Noom

East Berlin probably has more than West because they didn't have the money to demolish and develop

It's not a great world city, nowhere near. I'm not even sure it is in the noble second tier of European cities alongside, say Barcelona or Rome, Vienna or Athens

It's in the crowded third tier - with Lisbon, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Munich, Prague, Edinburgh, Dublin...

Better than Wick, mind you

I have a very soft spot for Berlin. It embodies the history of the 20th Century, all in one place. All the faultlines, the ideologies, the hope and despair.

I do think it was perhaps at its most compelling around the mid noughties, funnily enough around the time that Merkel was taking office or had just bedded in. Some of the past was even more present (e.g the ugly East German parliament building was still standing, though I think was already slated for demolition) but there was perhaps a dynamism and energy in the air with the new architecture of government, the rebuilt Reichstag building etc, which gave it the feeling of a city in optimistic transition - moving from the shadows of the past into the exciting new European future where Germany would take the lead. The city is still great, but perhaps seeing it in that optimistic, transitional moment was the most special

I guess that's right

Leon said:

kamski said:

Leon said:

Taz said:

Leon said:

Fpt on Berlin as a travel destination

It’s great if you want Dark Noom. It probably has more Dark Noom than any capital city on earth. This is where Hitler died. This was a stasi torture chamber. This was the Berlin Wall. Those are graffiti by red army soldiers etc

But most people don’t travel to experience the noomy absence of god and the tingle of spiritual despair and bleakness; so hey Ho

Some excellent museums and nice gardens. Definitely better in summer unter den linden

How much of it survived the final onslaught against the Nazi's ?

Is there any of old Berlin left or is it totally rebuilt

There's quite a bit left, all battered and shrapnelled - but that only adds to the Dark Noom

East Berlin probably has more than West because they didn't have the money to demolish and develop

It's not a great world city, nowhere near. I'm not even sure it is in the noble second tier of European cities alongside, say Barcelona or Rome, Vienna or Athens

It's in the crowded third tier - with Lisbon, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Munich, Prague, Edinburgh, Dublin...

Better than Wick, mind you

Depends what you want/like. Berlin has an international feel (unlike other German cities) a feeling of space (lots of wide streets), some agreeably grungey neighborhoods, and interesting historical stuff - the various holocaust memorials are worth mentioning. Of course you can't compare it with Rome (and in what crazy world is Rome not a top tier European city?), but I think a comparison with Vienna is interesting - both former imperial capitals (and both much smaller than London), but with very different things to offer.

There's a top tier of world cities, but it is tiny. New York, London, Paris.... and then any others? Not sure. Singapore? Dubai? Nope. Not enough culture. Tokyo a bit too Japanese. Sydney nah. Hong Kong was getting there, not now. Rome isn't in this tier because to be a world city you need power, size and tech/financial heft

Rome is at the top of the second tier

Shanghai is probably the likeliest to make the grade to world city, and maybe soon

But to be in the rarefied second tier you need a lot of history (hence Rome, Athens), amazing culture and architecture (Vienna, Barcelona). I'd put Moscow and St Petersburg in this second tier, as well, and Istanbul

Berlin doesn't quite match those cities, to my mind

Top of the third tier is about right for the Prussian capital

"Berlin as a travel destination" was what you wrote at the top of this thread. It's a rare pervert who needs "power, size and tech/financial heft" to enjoy their city break.

Rome is absolutely a top tier city as a travel destination for anyone who isn't a weirdo.

Phil said:

once inside a belief system people tend to double down on their past decisions rather than reverse them when faced with new contradictory information.

Cookie said:

kamski said:

numbertwelve said:

Leon said:

Taz said:

Leon said:

Fpt on Berlin as a travel destination

It’s great if you want Dark Noom. It probably has more Dark Noom than any capital city on earth. This is where Hitler died. This was a stasi torture chamber. This was the Berlin Wall. Those are graffiti by red army soldiers etc

But most people don’t travel to experience the noomy absence of god and the tingle of spiritual despair and bleakness; so hey Ho

Some excellent museums and nice gardens. Definitely better in summer unter den linden

How much of it survived the final onslaught against the Nazi's ?

Is there any of old Berlin left or is it totally rebuilt

There's quite a bit left, all battered and shrapnelled - but that only adds to the Dark Noom

East Berlin probably has more than West because they didn't have the money to demolish and develop

It's not a great world city, nowhere near. I'm not even sure it is in the noble second tier of European cities alongside, say Barcelona or Rome, Vienna or Athens

It's in the crowded third tier - with Lisbon, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Munich, Prague, Edinburgh, Dublin...

Better than Wick, mind you

I have a very soft spot for Berlin. It embodies the history of the 20th Century, all in one place. All the faultlines, the ideologies, the hope and despair.

I do think it was perhaps at its most compelling around the mid noughties, funnily enough around the time that Merkel was taking office or had just bedded in. Some of the past was even more present (e.g the ugly East German parliament building was still standing, though I think was already slated for demolition) but there was perhaps a dynamism and energy in the air with the new architecture of government, the rebuilt Reichstag building etc, which gave it the feeling of a city in optimistic transition - moving from the shadows of the past into the exciting new European future where Germany would take the lead. The city is still great, but perhaps seeing it in that optimistic, transitional moment was the most special

I guess that's right

Leon said:

kamski said:

Leon said:

Taz said:

Leon said:

Fpt on Berlin as a travel destination

It’s great if you want Dark Noom. It probably has more Dark Noom than any capital city on earth. This is where Hitler died. This was a stasi torture chamber. This was the Berlin Wall. Those are graffiti by red army soldiers etc

But most people don’t travel to experience the noomy absence of god and the tingle of spiritual despair and bleakness; so hey Ho

Some excellent museums and nice gardens. Definitely better in summer unter den linden

How much of it survived the final onslaught against the Nazi's ?

Is there any of old Berlin left or is it totally rebuilt

There's quite a bit left, all battered and shrapnelled - but that only adds to the Dark Noom

East Berlin probably has more than West because they didn't have the money to demolish and develop

It's not a great world city, nowhere near. I'm not even sure it is in the noble second tier of European cities alongside, say Barcelona or Rome, Vienna or Athens

It's in the crowded third tier - with Lisbon, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Munich, Prague, Edinburgh, Dublin...

Better than Wick, mind you

Depends what you want/like. Berlin has an international feel (unlike other German cities) a feeling of space (lots of wide streets), some agreeably grungey neighborhoods, and interesting historical stuff - the various holocaust memorials are worth mentioning. Of course you can't compare it with Rome (and in what crazy world is Rome not a top tier European city?), but I think a comparison with Vienna is interesting - both former imperial capitals (and both much smaller than London), but with very different things to offer.

There's a top tier of world cities, but it is tiny. New York, London, Paris.... and then any others? Not sure. Singapore? Dubai? Nope. Not enough culture. Tokyo a bit too Japanese. Sydney nah. Hong Kong was getting there, not now. Rome isn't in this tier because to be a world city you need power, size and tech/financial heft

Rome is at the top of the second tier

Shanghai is probably the likeliest to make the grade to world city, and maybe soon

But to be in the rarefied second tier you need a lot of history (hence Rome, Athens), amazing culture and architecture (Vienna, Barcelona). I'd put Moscow and St Petersburg in this second tier, as well, and Istanbul

Berlin doesn't quite match those cities, to my mind

Top of the third tier is about right for the Prussian capital

"Berlin as a travel destination" was what you wrote at the top of this thread. It's a rare pervert who needs "power, size and tech/financial heft" to enjoy their city break.

Rome is absolutely a top tier city as a travel destination for anyone who isn't a weirdo.

Well the way he sets it out, Rome is the fourth best city to travel to in the world. Hard for Rome's backers to quibble to much with that. He's drawn an abitrary line after No. 3 but said Rome comes next. London, Paris, New York, Rome - with the first three perhaps in a different order - doesn't seem unreasonable to me.

Phil said:

DecrepiterJohnL said:

From header: Once the reality of tariffs hits the Americam average voter then I expect Trump and the Republican party will be rather unpopular by November 2026.

Prices in America will go up a bit owing to tariffs. Prices go up all the time, and went up a lot during Covid and the associated cost of living crisis.

Inflation in food prices was identified as one of the major motivating factors in voter‘s decision to vote for Trump pre-election. Are they going to stay loyal to Trump when food prices go up another 20% for reasons that are directly linked to Trump policy?

Hard to say: once inside a belief system people tend to double down on their past decisions rather than reverse them when faced with new contradictory information. But that only applies to the true Maga believers. Those who lent Trump their vote may feel very differently.

The problem, obviously, is that we are no longer in normal times: Musk has taken direct control of the expenditure of the federal government, giving him unprecedented power over every aspect of the US. In six month’s time, if you want federal money it seems plausible that you’re going to need Musk’s personal approval, which he will be able to revert at any time. “Can US democracy survive this take-over by the oligarchs?” is not a question I expected to be asking, but it’s one we’re going to find out the answer to I guess.

eek said:

Malmesbury said:

kamski said:

numbertwelve said:

Leon said:

Taz said:

Leon said:

Fpt on Berlin as a travel destination

It’s great if you want Dark Noom. It probably has more Dark Noom than any capital city on earth. This is where Hitler died. This was a stasi torture chamber. This was the Berlin Wall. Those are graffiti by red army soldiers etc

But most people don’t travel to experience the noomy absence of god and the tingle of spiritual despair and bleakness; so hey Ho

Some excellent museums and nice gardens. Definitely better in summer unter den linden

How much of it survived the final onslaught against the Nazi's ?

Is there any of old Berlin left or is it totally rebuilt

There's quite a bit left, all battered and shrapnelled - but that only adds to the Dark Noom

East Berlin probably has more than West because they didn't have the money to demolish and develop

It's not a great world city, nowhere near. I'm not even sure it is in the noble second tier of European cities alongside, say Barcelona or Rome, Vienna or Athens

It's in the crowded third tier - with Lisbon, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Munich, Prague, Edinburgh, Dublin...

Better than Wick, mind you

I have a very soft spot for Berlin. It embodies the history of the 20th Century, all in one place. All the faultlines, the ideologies, the hope and despair.

I do think it was perhaps at its most compelling around the mid noughties, funnily enough around the time that Merkel was taking office or had just bedded in. Some of the past was even more present (e.g the ugly East German parliament building was still standing, though I think was already slated for demolition) but there was perhaps a dynamism and energy in the air with the new architecture of government, the rebuilt Reichstag building etc, which gave it the feeling of a city in optimistic transition - moving from the shadows of the past into the exciting new European future where Germany would take the lead. The city is still great, but perhaps seeing it in that optimistic, transitional moment was the most special

I guess that's right

Leon said:

kamski said:

Leon said:

Taz said:

Leon said:

Fpt on Berlin as a travel destination

It’s great if you want Dark Noom. It probably has more Dark Noom than any capital city on earth. This is where Hitler died. This was a stasi torture chamber. This was the Berlin Wall. Those are graffiti by red army soldiers etc

But most people don’t travel to experience the noomy absence of god and the tingle of spiritual despair and bleakness; so hey Ho

Some excellent museums and nice gardens. Definitely better in summer unter den linden

How much of it survived the final onslaught against the Nazi's ?

Is there any of old Berlin left or is it totally rebuilt

There's quite a bit left, all battered and shrapnelled - but that only adds to the Dark Noom

East Berlin probably has more than West because they didn't have the money to demolish and develop

It's not a great world city, nowhere near. I'm not even sure it is in the noble second tier of European cities alongside, say Barcelona or Rome, Vienna or Athens

It's in the crowded third tier - with Lisbon, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Munich, Prague, Edinburgh, Dublin...

Better than Wick, mind you

Depends what you want/like. Berlin has an international feel (unlike other German cities) a feeling of space (lots of wide streets), some agreeably grungey neighborhoods, and interesting historical stuff - the various holocaust memorials are worth mentioning. Of course you can't compare it with Rome (and in what crazy world is Rome not a top tier European city?), but I think a comparison with Vienna is interesting - both former imperial capitals (and both much smaller than London), but with very different things to offer.

There's a top tier of world cities, but it is tiny. New York, London, Paris.... and then any others? Not sure. Singapore? Dubai? Nope. Not enough culture. Tokyo a bit too Japanese. Sydney nah. Hong Kong was getting there, not now. Rome isn't in this tier because to be a world city you need power, size and tech/financial heft

Rome is at the top of the second tier

Shanghai is probably the likeliest to make the grade to world city, and maybe soon

But to be in the rarefied second tier you need a lot of history (hence Rome, Athens), amazing culture and architecture (Vienna, Barcelona). I'd put Moscow and St Petersburg in this second tier, as well, and Istanbul

Berlin doesn't quite match those cities, to my mind

Top of the third tier is about right for the Prussian capital

"Berlin as a travel destination" was what you wrote at the top of this thread. It's a rare pervert who needs "power, size and tech/financial heft" to enjoy their city break.

Rome is absolutely a top tier city as a travel destination for anyone who isn't a weirdo.

The problem with Rome is how it treats its history. Some is in great condition - Pantheon for example. The Colosseum is much improved, for the visitor. But a lot is simply fenced off and let to decay.

I need to find the article I read over the weekend but the problem Rome has is that it has so much architecture that building a new underground line is basically a 40 year archeology dig with a railway attached at the very end - if they can find a route that doesn’t destroy things

Leon said:

Theuniondivvie said:

Foxy said:

Theuniondivvie said:

Taz said:

Leon said:

Fpt on Berlin as a travel destination

It’s great if you want Dark Noom. It probably has more Dark Noom than any capital city on earth. This is where Hitler died. This was a stasi torture chamber. This was the Berlin Wall. Those are graffiti by red army soldiers etc

But most people don’t travel to experience the noomy absence of god and the tingle of spiritual despair and bleakness; so hey Ho

Some excellent museums and nice gardens. Definitely better in summer unter den linden

How much of it survived the final onslaught against the Nazi's ?

Is there any of old Berlin left or is it totally rebuilt

Lots & lots of buildings pockmarked by bullets from 1945, so a fair bit.

And quite a few old buildings with a new corner in a different style from where the original corner got bombed.

I really like Berlin, with all it's lakes, parks, and fascinating history. The Nazi stuff was pretty much eradicated, with not even a marker to show where the bunker was. Some great museums too, especially the Topography of Terror (on the rise of the Nazis in Berlin) and on Museum Island. Great nightlife too, with a fair whiff of the Caberet era.

There's a lot still being constructed but well worth a visit. 250 000 Beliners turned out yesterday to March against AfD. They know where it all leads.

You’ve got to admire the principled attitude towards the Führerbunker, completely eradicating what would almost certainly be the most visited museum in the world. As it is it must be the world’s most visited car park.
I see Berlin as a tangible, living fable: an aspiring imperial capital until it was shattered by 1918, the vital, exhilarating cultural experiment of Weimar shattered by the Nazis, the dark surrender to the worst of human nature ending in a shattered, divided city. It’s Homeric and puts Berlin right up there in terms of world significance.

I read Anthony Beevor's BERLIN on my first visit to Berlin

Fuck me, quite an experience. Reading of those intense horrors in the final days, then you look up and see the streets and parks described

eek said:

Nigelb said:

kamski said:

a

Foxy said:

kamski said:

Sandpit said:

MattW said:

The USAID (aiui their version of our ODA) website, and their Twitter account, has vanished:

https://www.usaid.gov/

https://www.npr.org/sections/goats-and-soda/2025/02/02/g-s1-46007/usaid-web-site-trump-state-department

There were suggestions over the weekend that the senior management got marched out of the building after refusing to co-operate with anyone in Trump’s team. It sounds like the plan is to merge USAID back into the State Department, starting with a zero-based budget.

'there were suggestions' is another tell from you that what follows is bollocks.

Unless 'refusing to co-operate with anyone in Trump's team' =

Two senior officials at the US Agency for International Development (USAID) have been suspended after they tried to stop members of Elon Musk's efficiency team from accessing secure systems, according to reports.

Sky News' US partner NBC News spoke to three sources who said the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) team wanted to access some files that were beyond their security level.

https://news.sky.com/story/senior-usaid-pair-suspended-after-refusing-elon-musks-doge-staff-access-to-secure-systems-13302165

Also we have the evidence of Musk claiming that working weekends is a superpower because bureaucrats don't work weekends...

It seems these are some of the guys involved:

https://www.wired.com/story/elon-musk-government-young-engineers/

“What we're seeing is unprecedented in that you have these actors who are not really public officials gaining access to the most sensitive data in government,” says Don Moynihan, a professor of public policy at the University of Michigan. “We really have very little eyes on what's going on. Congress has no ability to really intervene and monitor what's happening because these aren't really accountable public officials. So this feels like a hostile takeover of the machinery of governments by the richest man in the world.”

Congress does have powers to intervene.
The GOP are simply choosing not to exercise them.

Similarly on tariffs: Congress has the power to immediately overturn tariffs imposed by the executive on "national security" grounds, if they so choose.

Trump is doing so many things at the same time it would be umpossible to block everything and I think that’s the point here