Reshuffle talk is in the air but Reeves is safe but not Phillipson – politicalbetting.com
Reshuffle talk is in the air but Reeves is safe but not Phillipson – politicalbetting.com
It is no surprise that Bridget Phillipson and Lord Hermer are llkely to be moved on, the latter for her poor handling of the inevitable consequences of adding VAT to private school fees mid academic year and other assorted problems at the DfE.
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Given I presume population growth is still going gangbusters, per capita GDP not looking good.
Make no mistake, this is a pivotal day in this century. Pulling the plug on Ukraine, US disinvesting in European security, and the big powers redrawing the boundaries of smaller ones. A new reality faces Europe and it’s going to require urgent investment in defence & security.
https://x.com/JSHeappey/status/1889732227069546816
AmIRight?
A vast project is proposed. Billions to be spent. Enormous infrastructure.
Buried at the back of 10 million pages of bullshit, it will actually reveal that nothing, literally nothing, is to happen.
The art will be created by the Enquiry Industrial Complex fighting nothing for decades.
I guess they really are Luddites.
Good interview with General Wesley Clark this morning in the World Service. Clearly agitated about the current US direction re Ukraine. Made the key point that he thinks it would need a peacekeeping force of 150,000 to be effective which requires 500,000 “men at arms” and that Europe just doesn’t have that capacity.
Bear in mind that “Europe” also needs to deploy troops in the arctic north down through the Baltic, Poland etc its even more impossible.
It raises questions about whether EU should be courting Turkey and ignoring concerns about Erdogan - if of course it’s not too late and Turkey are so over them now. Turkey has a huge military and could make it work with the EU.
Maybe China should step up on the world stage and provide a huge number of men for a peacekeeping force - in their interests as they can start flexing and being the new global policeman and get kudos - also no way Russia are going to risk shooting Chinese troops. Maybe offer them the resources in Ukraine instead of the US.
But the fact that the whole of Europe can no longer 500,000 quality troops to provide rotating 150,000 shows how complacent the continent (and us) has become.
Defence Secretary John Healey says there will be no talks about Ukraine without Ukraine involved
Healey adds the UK remains committed to ensuring Kyiv is in the strongest negotiating and fighting position as he says "durable peace" remains the goal
Nato Secretary-General Mark Rutte says any peace agreement reached must ensure Russia will make no further attempts to annexe Ukrainian land in the future
The comments come after Donald Trump said he and Vladimir Putin had agreed to start negotiations on ending the war "immediately"
Also on Wednesday, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth warned Ukraine is "unlikely" to return to its pre-2014 borders
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c4g97971rwnt
Or didn't.
Most predictions still seem on the high side.
On this I think he is correct.
We need to take our defence seriously and stop relying on the US.
Think you're talking about some specific individuals' experiences there.
For others, fully engaged in the parenting, it's what was planned, just have to grit the teeth and wait hopefully for the influence of the NCT to fade ...
Ironically though, isn’t the one who is the safest the one who is the biggest problem - Reeves?
https://x.com/threshedthought/status/1889904666059911610?s=46
Reminding us this is exactly what Trump did when he negotiated the withdrawal from Afghanistan.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c4gx50z4527t
But we also got monthly data this morning, and that shows the UK economy grew by 0.4% in December alone, surpassing pretty poor figures in the previous couple of months.
Something for the government to cling onto.
At least with Bridget we know it’s because she’s just useless and puts ideology over sense.
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1889904666059911610.html
I can't see this being a good move for Reform, the most avid adopters of home batteries I've met are older mortgage-free Reform adjacent peeps. In any case, these will have had to be installed by a qualified electrician and compliant with electrical regs. Assuming their objection is the dangers posed?
I think I was too preoccupied with wondering if Lord Hermer would sue me for calling him the Liz Truss of Attorneys General.
It does have that capacity. It just doesn't want to.
Which is why they need to be destroyed and defeated if they won't lay down their arms.
There's no reason to accord losers more rights or take their atrocities less seriously. If Gaza is destroyed it is because of Hamas and their actions and their refusal to surrender.
22 States and some Universities have taken legal action, and a Judge has granted a preliminary injunction to stop the move wrt the complainants. That is, the Blue states which complained.
The Red, Trumpist, states which did not take action, may still be vulnerable to have their desired policies inflicted on them with the concomitant impacts.
Concern has been expressed even by a couple of Republicans in the Senate, including Katie Britt. Britt's down the Trump rabbithole, but is no MTG.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katie_Britt
Let's see what President Musk says. On past evidence it will be something about illegal actions or decisions by judges. And let's see what Mr Trump says.
The Hill:
https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/5137047-federal-judge-restrains-nih-research/
Text of legal case: https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.mad.280590/gov.uscourts.mad.280590.1.0.pdf
You can't fault Poland.
I can't help it, never mekong typos myself.
The attitude of modern US “conservatives” to international relations is similar to that of the 1960’s anti-war activists - albeit, they’re more willing to bully their neighbours.
In the UK alone the betting markets have the chance of a Russian friendly PM within 5 years at 35%. Within 20 years that would be odds on. Similar in France and Germany too.
I'd suggest the chance of at least one of those big 3 being Russia friendly at some point, and able to quickly dismantle whatever trust and resources gets built up, as Trump has done, is in the 70-80% range.
We may have already lost.
He knew the US benefitted from stability and opposing Soviet/Russian aggression.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_British_cabinet_reshuffle
I think the scales have fallen from a lot of peoples’ eyes.
descended from Ancient Greek, Latin, Anglo-Saxon and proto-Indo-European
So your effete French pluralisation is incorrect
The deepest origins of the plural of “attorney general” can be traced back to Proto-Indo-European (PIE) lawgivers, who were known as “ǵhértōm-wégos” (literally, “one who grunts in matters of dispute”). The root ǵhért- (meaning “to growl while asserting dominance”) and wégos (meaning “one who goes forth shouting”) eventually gave rise to Proto-Germanic ward-knutaz (“guardian of words”), which then evolved into Old English “Þēod-weardcniht”, meaning “knight-protector of the people’s law.”
By the time of the Anglo-Saxons, legal advocates were known as “ġe-hēafodmanas”, a compound meaning “foremost loud-headed men”- a direct reference to their tendency to bellow loudly in the moot court while flailing their arms to reinforce their legal arguments. This term was later absorbed into Norman legal vernacular, where it fused with the Latinate “attorniones generalissimi” in a linguistic catastrophe precipitated by the 11th-century Norman Conquest
By the time of Henry II, medieval scribes, in an effort to standardize legal terms, decided to retain the “ġe-hēafodmanas” prefix for ceremonial purposes, while attorniones generalissimi procuratores superlativae jurisprudentiales extraordinariaeque became the standard in state documents (though rarely used in casual conversation due to its tendency to cause loss of breath before completion)
Linguistic chaos peaked in the 14th century, when a poorly translated legal scroll in Middle English rendered the entire phrase as “Þēod-weardcnihtas ġe-hēafodmanas and attorniones generalissimissimi procuratores superlativae jurisprudentiales extraordinariaeque.” This was subsequently deemed completely unusable, but - pivotally - survived in the archives and flourished at the Inns of Court, as it does to this day
Conclusion
Thus, while “attorneys general” remains the watered-down, pedestrian plural used by the common rabble such as @TheScreamingEagles who lives in “Sheffield”, the true, unabridged, and exalted plural - “Þēod-weardcnihtas ġe-hēafodmanas et attorniones generalissimissimi procuratores superlativae jurisprudentiales extraordinariaeque”- remains very much in use in the most rarefied and arcane corridors of high English legal ritual
Current polls have the opposition Liberal-National coalition well ahead on the first vote but on two party preference only just ahead of Labor.
I wonder what they are not proud of. It's a thread exploring the question.
https://bsky.app/profile/sundersays.bsky.social/post/3lhssmrnnik2t
This needs to include, at a minimum, the UK, France, Poland, Ukraine and the Baltic states.
Other nations to be invited contingent on meeting minimum defence spending and not having a veto on military action.
Europe has the economic and military capacity to be vastly superior to Russia. We don't need the US to do that, not so we need to cede any further land.
https://x.com/implausibleblog/status/1889837202034795002?s=61&t=LYVEHh2mqFy1oUJAdCfe-Q
Although the farmers think they started that in July.
We should get on apace with the job before talks begin.
How many people know this? -
Moreover, at Oxford’s Bodleian Library, scholars insist that the phrase - “Þēod-weardcnihtas ġe-hēafodmanas et attorniones generalissimissimi procuratores superlativae jurisprudentiales extraordinariaeque” - is still invoked during legal convocations immediately preceding Martinmas and between the hours of elevenses and “biscuit”, such rituals only to take place within five furlongs of The House
The Order of the Garter itself is said to have a parchment containing the phrase, inscribed in Cornish gold leaf, bound in Hebridean vellum, and buried in a miniature vault under the tombstone of a weasel that once belonged to Lord Byron, in the grounds of Windsor Castle. The vault can only be opened if England have successfully forced the follow on against Australia
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/special_report/1998/07/98/cabinet_reshuffle/140331.stm
Why should other countries be “invited” - every EU country should be mandated as part of continued membership that they must spend over 3 and maybe 5% gdp on defence. Why should countries like Ireland freeload knowing that everyone else would have to step in to cover their backsides.
Countries that can’t or won’t provide acceptable and useful ships or planes or troops should have to offset with extra financial contributions.
We have always lived in this reality—we just didn’t want to admit it. The difference between Biden and Trump is that Trump says out loud what Biden was thinking and doing about Ukraine.
Biden was against NATO expansion, against providing Ukraine with enough support to retake occupied territories when it was still possible, and against strong sanctions on Russia. Trump is just making it explicit.
Trump: "Like on tractors that can handle anything from hurricanes to lightning to anything. They use magnets. It's a new theory -- magnets. They're gonna lift the planes up. And it doesn't work."
https://x.com/atrupar/status/1889794323920601500?s=61&t=c6bcp0cjChLfQN5Tc8A_6g
Splendid city as it is, shouldn't we just stop having international peace conferences there?
Think it was the ex head of MI5.
Germany or Ireland would try to veto any action.
We need a coalition of the willing and not setting the terms based on the lowest common denominator. Other countries will likely want to join over time, but will have much less influence than it they were founding members.
5p on basic rate tax and 10p on higher rate tax? I’m sure everyone will support it as a way of keeping the country safe in an uncertain world.