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Death by a thousand cuts? – politicalbetting.com

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  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 56,022

    To be fair, where else are they to send the money? SLS/Boeing?
    I’m so looking forward to the presentation that Musk does to the American public, explaining in simple language the difference between SpaceX and SLS in terms of capability and cost structure.
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 56,022
    Pulpstar said:

    DOGE is starting to post the receipts

    https://doge.gov/savings

    If Cooper and others are serious about savings, they need to be prepared to send people into Whitehall who are not afraid to make enemies there, and not afraid to break hobby horses.

    European governments should be scared as Hell that this wild experiment in taking a scythe to the apparatus of state, might actually be seen to work over the timespan between elections in the US.
  • MattWMattW Posts: 26,195

    A Cyprus-type situation?
    I think Czechoslovakia 1938 is perhaps far closer, in that Cyprus was more 'peaceful'.

    There will be other WW2 or more recent analogues.
  • kamskikamski Posts: 6,281

    I think people who hate Trump underestimate the fun factor. His campaign was about YMCA and allowing people to lighten up a bit.
    What's more fun than the richest man in the world taking away medicine from HIV-positive pregnant mothers so the babies are born with HIV? you fucking sicko
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 44,617
    edited February 18
    kinabalu said:

    But I bet using that insult for Reeves is largely avoided by women.
    Both Mrs C and I have had occasion to be very grateful to Rachels in Accounts, or at least HR, when things were screwed up by line managers, or some other problem had supervened.

    Top tip: be nice to your colleagues in Accounts, HR and Security. Quite apart from the simple fact that they can be very helpful when you need them, they notice. And everyone else does too. It screams 'rsole' when one isn't nice to them.

    One of my colleagues was originally the chap on the security desk who had become so intrigued by the work we did that he ended up moving sideways and up, and a grand lad he was. But he had some choice expressions about the suits who didn't think he and his fellows in security existed - let alone say good morning when they came in.

  • kamskikamski Posts: 6,281

    I do wonder with the likes of local Post Offices whether there is an obvious business to go and chase. The indentured slave society (DPD, Amazon etc) is unsustainable on so many levels. What makes it worse is that so many of these delivery firms are terrible at last mile delivery.

    I'd be far happier with collecting my Amazon package from my local post office than having to wait around for Evri to hoy it over the gate or lie about me being out or it being delivered to the right door number in the wrong village.

    Won't help WHSmith, but may be something that can be done to reinvent the Post Office.

    Isn't it time to stop using Amazon? Why send money to your enemies?
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 53,836

    Possibly contractual, but also possibly staffing issues. The people who operate the post office counter have to be trained and certified by the PO, the normal staff can't do it. So opening long hours would mean needing more trained staff. And that may not be financially viable, from what I understand these shops make very little money from the PO and Royal Mail - maybe different now, but a few years ago I was told if you send a package with a label bought online from RM the shop makes precisely nothing when you bring it in to send.

    I make a point of buying a bag of sweets from the shop when I send packages so they're at least getting a little money out of the deal.
    Yeah - the parcel return stuff is about footfall. Get people used to coming in the shop…
  • MattWMattW Posts: 26,195
    Pulpstar said:

    DOGE is starting to post the receipts

    https://doge.gov/savings

    If Cooper and others are serious about savings, they need to be prepared to send people into Whitehall who are not afraid to make enemies there, and not afraid to break hobby horses.

    I wonder how it will balance out when they have given restitution for all their illegal actions, breach of contract, summary dismissal of people with Civil Service employment rights etc.


  • state_go_awaystate_go_away Posts: 5,850

    It's a bit of a myth.

    Our trains are actually quite good, and more reliable than most of SNCF or Deutsche Bahn.

    It's just they're bloody expensive.
    wait till Starmer and Raynor get their hands on them in a year or so
  • kjhkjh Posts: 12,392
    edited February 18

    No, the childish post was that by @ydoethur and the ridiculous number of likes it got.

    Shows the deep-seated British anxiety with class, despite me getting Reeves SPOT ON.
    a) @leon's post was childish because it had no content. It was just an insult. Plain and simple. I have no time for Rachel Reeves, particularly as I had some dealings with her and found her office absolutely useless (when in opposition). However I don't throw pointless insults about her. That is why I responded to leon. It just seemed rude and for no rreason.

    b) I think you try an analyse people from their posts (or even just likes) far too much and often get them very wrong. Because people disagree with you (and we all disagree with one another all the time) you are making judgements about their personalities, which you just don't know. With a few notable exceptions most people give very little information about their anxieties and prejudices here.

    c) You posted about Centre Parks complaining that those there were all middle class. Is that showing anxiety about class? Actually I don't think it does. I think your post is interesting and fun. I would do the same, but it does seem odd to post immediately after you comment on others anxiety about class.
  • state_go_awaystate_go_away Posts: 5,850
    any betting yet on the next Archbishop of Canterbury?
  • kamskikamski Posts: 6,281
    A project for sending people to Mars has got to be a bigger waste of money than everything else put together. Still tempting to give Musk a one-way ticket so we can watch him trying to grow potatoes in his own excrement.
  • MattWMattW Posts: 26,195
    Scott_xP said:

    I think they have already tried to sidestep that by saying Musk is not is fact head of DOGE. He is just a Presidential advisor, with no administrative responsibilities.
    Indeed. One relevant section. I somehow think that won't wash.

    https://youtu.be/4lasJRXd1nQ?t=708
  • MattWMattW Posts: 26,195
    kamski said:

    Isn't it time to stop using Amazon? Why send money to your enemies?
    One thing I have not seen noted yet is the use of the technical infra as a weapon.

    How do we cope if the Trump regime make the tech oligarch's turn it off to apply pressure.

    What happens if the known bootlickers turn off Facebook, Amazon, Google and other relevant services in Europe - even if only for a short period or just the apps? Twitter we could cope without.
  • carnforthcarnforth Posts: 5,538

    The Gordon Brown frown was far preferable to that rictus grin somebody convinced him was a vote winner...
    The slack jaw was the worst:

    https://forums.digitalspy.com/discussion/779824/gordon-browns-jaw-or-anyone-whos-jaw-moves-oddly-when-talking
  • viewcodeviewcode Posts: 23,955
    Kemi Badenoch's speech at the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship (ARC) yesterday.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WCQ6-QbTDQ (15 mins)
  • TheuniondivvieTheuniondivvie Posts: 43,127
    'He's a brown Hindu, how can he be English?'

    Prick.

    https://x.com/60sJapanfan/status/1891532608837755051
  • MattW said:

    I think Czechoslovakia 1938 is perhaps far closer, in that Cyprus was more 'peaceful'.

    There will be other WW2 or more recent analogues.
    I mean part of Ukraine being in the EU and part not, hardly relevant in 1938.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 53,836
    kamski said:

    A project for sending people to Mars has got to be a bigger waste of money than everything else put together. Still tempting to give Musk a one-way ticket so we can watch him trying to grow potatoes in his own excrement.

    Why is it a waste of money?

    Given that Mars Sample Return has passed 19 Billion, it might even be cheaper!

    One of the reasons that MSR is disaster already, is the bizarre attempts to shoehorn larger and larger return rockets into a very limited package.
  • kamskikamski Posts: 6,281
    MattW said:

    One thing I have not seen noted yet is the use of the technical infra as a weapon.

    How do we cope if the Trump regime make the tech oligarch's turn it off to apply pressure.

    What happens if the known bootlickers turn off Facebook, Amazon, Google and other relevant services in Europe - even if only for a short period or just the apps? Twitter we could cope without.
    all the more reason to use alternatives already whenever possible. does Facebook provide anything useful?
  • MattWMattW Posts: 26,195

    I mean part of Ukraine being in the EU and part not, hardly relevant in 1938.
    Denmark and Greenland :wink: .
  • WinchyWinchy Posts: 130
    Fishing said:

    The "get the trains run on time" argument that so many on the dodgy right fell for in the 1930s?

    (And also the dodgy left fell for in a much bigger way over Stalin's 5 Year Plans).
    The Soviet five year plans were about going hell for leather for industrial growth - nothing to do with efficiency. Efficiency was never a big selling-point in the USSR.

    Mussolini did sell a "you've never had it so good" line wrt rail travel, though.

    But there's nothing wrong in principle with either a five year plan or the trains running on time.
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 65,088
    MattW said:

    One thing I have not seen noted yet is the use of the technical infra as a weapon.

    How do we cope if the Trump regime make the tech oligarch's turn it off to apply pressure.

    What happens if the known bootlickers turn off Facebook, Amazon, Google and other relevant services in Europe - even if only for a short period or just the apps? Twitter we could cope without.
    If they turn off social media then maybe there'd be chance the whole of europe doesn't end up voting to become a series of neo-nazi states.
  • kamskikamski Posts: 6,281

    Why is it a waste of money?

    Given that Mars Sample Return has passed 19 Billion, it might even be cheaper!

    One of the reasons that MSR is disaster already, is the bizarre attempts to shoehorn larger and larger return rockets into a very limited package.
    how does sending people to Mars get the 19 billion back?

  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 53,836
    Winchy said:

    The Soviet five year plans were about going hell for leather for industrial growth - nothing to do with efficiency. Efficiency was never a big selling-point in the USSR.

    Mussolini did sell a "you've never had it so good" line wrt rail travel, though.

    But there's nothing wrong in principle with either a five year plan or the trains running on time.
    Actually, productivity was a giant thing in the Soviet Union. Which is why Stalin and Co. fell in love with Fordism.

    They spent a lot of effort suppressing the fact that the Famine was largely caused by exporting grain for hard currency, to pay for whole factories built by Ford and others.
  • MattWMattW Posts: 26,195

    If they turn off social media then maybe there'd be chance the whole of europe doesn't end up voting to become a series of neo-nazi states.
    I'd be hit by Gmail and some of the Amazon infrastructure loss.

    I also wonder how many of our Usonian weapons systems have remote off-switches or Geo-fences, or will run down rapidly maintenance-wise.
  • williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 54,482
    MattW said:

    Denmark and Greenland :wink: .
    One of Putin's gripes about Ukraine moving towards EU membership was that it meant a hard border within what he saw as historical Russian territory. Maybe we need to use the Brexit playbook and ask him to come up with a borderless solution in return for ending the war. All our experts like David Davis could go out and consult on the options.
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 62,090

    Some of the people with a business need to slow this down are saying that. The concepts aren't difficult - franchising is abolished, passenger services are run by an arms length agency for public service metrics rather than contract requirements, open access are free to come in and do what they are good at.

    The structural questions are on the interface between operators and infrastructure but that isn't a reason to delay creating the new structure to put them into and to start going after the absurd rolling stock contracts next. Happily we're already starting to see some movement with an end to assets being left to rot because the private owner refused to lease them at the market rate. Next up needs to be leccy prices which have largely stopped freight services being electrically hauled.
    You don't read "Rail", do you?
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 62,090

    wait till Starmer and Raynor get their hands on them in a year or so
    It's a tragedy. I don't think their thinking goes any further than the deification of the State.
  • FishingFishing Posts: 5,459
    MattW said:

    One thing I have not seen noted yet is the use of the technical infra as a weapon.

    How do we cope if the Trump regime make the tech oligarch's turn it off to apply pressure.

    What happens if the known bootlickers turn off Facebook, Amazon, Google and other relevant services in Europe - even if only for a short period or just the apps? Twitter we could cope without.
    Where would know-nothing loudmouths post their rants?

    Or lazy journalists get their stories?
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 62,090
    kamski said:

    how does sending people to Mars get the 19 billion back?

    Maybe transportation to Mars should be our new penal colony system.
  • bigglesbiggles Posts: 6,735
    Fishing said:

    Where would know-nothing loudmouths post their rants?

    Or lazy journalists get their stories?
    PB will take over the world!
  • MattW said:

    One thing I have not seen noted yet is the use of the technical infra as a weapon.

    How do we cope if the Trump regime make the tech oligarch's turn it off to apply pressure.

    What happens if the known bootlickers turn off Facebook, Amazon, Google and other relevant services in Europe - even if only for a short period or just the apps? Twitter we could cope without.
    Yes, we are critically dependent on services provided by Google, Microsoft and Amazon (AWS) and no doubt many more American tech companies. We desperately need European alternatives to these.
  • bigglesbiggles Posts: 6,735

    Yes, we are critically dependent on services provided by Google, Microsoft and Amazon (AWS) and no doubt many more American tech companies. We desperately need European alternatives to these.
    Protectionism never works.
  • kjhkjh Posts: 12,392

    'He's a brown Hindu, how can he be English?'

    Prick.

    https://x.com/60sJapanfan/status/1891532608837755051

    That was amazing. Good on Fraser Nelson for keeping it cool.
  • 'He's a brown Hindu, how can he be English?'

    Prick.

    https://x.com/60sJapanfan/status/1891532608837755051

    Who are the pricks Fraser Nelson is repudiating ?
  • glwglw Posts: 10,306
    edited February 18
    Sandpit said:

    European governments should be scared as Hell that this wild experiment in taking a scythe to the apparatus of state, might actually be seen to work over the timespan between elections in the US.
    European governments are scared as Hell that this wild experiment in taking a scythe to the rule of law, might actually be seen to work over the timespan between elections in the US.
  • Cornwall Insight final prediction is for a 5% increase in energy costs come April - £85 increase on average.

    Follows a 10% in October and 1.2% in January.

    Inflation. That £300 reduction remains a distant memory, a promise from another age.
  • biggles said:

    Protectionism never works.
    I'm all for free trade, but I'm not sure that having an economy that is critically dependent on services provided by one other nation is a good thing.
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 54,222
    MattW said:

    I'd be hit by Gmail and some of the Amazon infrastructure loss.

    I also wonder how many of our Usonian weapons systems have remote off-switches or Geo-fences, or will run down rapidly maintenance-wise.
    Musk turning off Starlink across Ukraine is a worry.
  • WinchyWinchy Posts: 130
    edited February 18

    Actually, productivity was a giant thing in the Soviet Union. Which is why Stalin and Co. fell in love with Fordism.

    They spent a lot of effort suppressing the fact that the Famine was largely caused by exporting grain for hard currency, to pay for whole factories built by Ford and others.
    Take a better look at what kind of targets the plans actually had. Gross output was a real biggie. Productivity was a biggie too, for sure. But keeping waste down (necessary for efficiency, by definition) absolutely wasn't.

    Productivity isn't the same as efficiency. The first five-year plan was declared fulfilled in four. Breakneck. Hell for leather. Fast, fast, fast. Get those peasants off the land and into the factories. Screw efficiency.

    Fordism was about mass consumption as well as mass production. The USSR didn't have much of the former. Car ownership in the USSR was 10% in 1980. For comparison, by 1940 almost half the families in the US owned a car.
  • carnforthcarnforth Posts: 5,538

    I'm all for free trade, but I'm not sure that having an economy that is critically dependent on services provided by one other nation is a good thing.
    Your friendly nativist European Union has your back:

    https://european-alternatives.eu/
  • MattW said:

    I'd be hit by Gmail and some of the Amazon infrastructure loss.

    I also wonder how many of our Usonian weapons systems have remote off-switches or Geo-fences, or will run down rapidly maintenance-wise.
    Indeed. If Google, Microsoft and Amazon switched off their cloud services, most of the internet would collapse, as would anything dependent on online services. Which is almost everything nowadays.
  • Maybe transportation to Mars should be our new penal colony system.
    Elon will turn it into a penile colony :lol:
  • eekeek Posts: 29,534

    Yes, we are critically dependent on services provided by Google, Microsoft and Amazon (AWS) and no doubt many more American tech companies. We desperately need European alternatives to these.
    Zero chance of that AWS / Microsoft are so ahead of the game it's impossible to catch up.

    Worth adding that Azure / MS's biggest market by miles when you look at market share is the UK..
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 54,222

    any betting yet on the next Archbishop of Canterbury?

    I'm proposing TSE.

    He'd be a blast...
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 54,222
    biggles said:

    “We don’t want Europe or Ukraine in the room, but we will discuss bits of Ukraine’s membership of the EU”.

    Piss off Marco/Sergei.

    If America were a relative, you'd look to have it sectioned.
  • bondegezoubondegezou Posts: 13,370
    MattW said:

    That perhaps sets the timescale for a substantive and substantial initial response to emerge from Europe.

    These talks won't end the war - they will just be for half time and oranges, until Putin is ready for the second half.

    The points need to be switched on the railway track to the stitch-up which Trump and Putin are attempting to impose, in some way. The further along it is, the more difficult the direction will be to change.

    Zelensky will have to take the best of the options he is offered, even if it means there will be a renewal of the assault by Russia in 2, 4 or 6 years.
    Presumably one option Zelenskyy can take is to simply say no to whatever deal Trump and Putin offer. The US will then withdraw support, but they're probably going to do that anyway.
  • Um, OK mate.
    Maaaaaaate :lol:
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 44,520

    No, she was a Midlander.
    Defo. We're not taking ownership.
  • TimSTimS Posts: 14,692

    If they turn off social media then maybe there'd be chance the whole of europe doesn't end up voting to become a series of neo-nazi states.
    The thing is, I’d certainly be happier if there were no social media. My children too.

    Impossible to uninvent what’s already here though.

    The one exception from my perspective: WhatsApp.
  • TimSTimS Posts: 14,692

    Presumably one option Zelenskyy can take is to simply say no to whatever deal Trump and Putin offer. The US will then withdraw support, but they're probably going to do that anyway.
    Calling Trump’s bluff feels like the most viable strategy now. Cut the US out of investment and trade opportunities too.
  • any betting yet on the next Archbishop of Canterbury?

    Not that I've seen. Here's a fairly sympathetic overview of the frontrunners- though ABC is one of those roles where being frontrunner is often a disqualification.

    https://www.grahamkings.org/article/22-time-for-a-mary-after-a-martha-the-next-archbishop-of-canterbury/
  • StockyStocky Posts: 10,272
    edited February 18

    Who are the pricks Fraser Nelson is repudiating ?
    For context listen to the whole interview (it is over an hour). Part of it is concerned with differing opinions on this topic, and they toss ideas around. If a English couple move to Japan and have a child is their child Japanese? For that matter, if an English couple moved to Scotland and had a child is the child Scottish? Not everyone will agree on this.
  • bondegezoubondegezou Posts: 13,370
    glw said:

    European governments are scared as Hell that this wild experiment in taking a scythe to the rule of law, might actually be seen to work over the timespan between elections in the US.
    European governments are scared as Hell that this wild experiment in taking a scythe to the rule of law, might be seen to work over the timespan between elections in the US because of industrial levels of disinformation.
  • WinchyWinchy Posts: 130
    edited February 18
    TimS said:

    The thing is, I’d certainly be happier if there were no social media. My children too.

    Impossible to uninvent what’s already here though.
    So ban it, and fuck the cost.

    Go to any town centre or supermarket, see those poor kids with their addiction. Or people in restaurants with their phones on the table. It's like a turd on life. And it will get worse and worse.

    Most reasonable people agree there's a big problem, when it comes down to it. Doesn't matter whether you are left or right, or theist or atheist. Enough of the ostrichism and shoulder shrugging... The image showing man developing from the ape and then going back down to being an ape carrying a smartphone doesn't say the half of it.

    I want you and your children to be happier, Tim.
  • I'm proposing TSE.

    He'd be a blast...
    Well I don’t believe in God that said I would be more Archbishop of Banterbury than Archbishop of Canterbury.

    I couldn’t keep a straight face if I had to deliver a sermon about the second coming for example.
  • TimSTimS Posts: 14,692
    Stocky said:

    For context listen to the whole interview (it is over an hour). Part of it is concerned with differing opinions on this topic, and they toss ideas around. If a English couple move to Japan and have a child is their child Japanese? For that matter, if an English couple moved to Scotland and had a child is the child Scottish? Not everyone will agree on this.
    Nuanced identity is one of the casualties of this era’s absolutism.

    Not long ago we were able to accept that identity is complicated, that it’s possible to be and feel multiple things at the same time. Now politics wants people to choose.

    The cockney accented, bi or trilingual children at our local school with two parents who might be a German father and French mother, or a Bulgarian mother and Black British father, are living examples of how reductive these sorts of arguments become.
  • viewcodeviewcode Posts: 23,955

    Who are the pricks Fraser Nelson is repudiating ?
    Fraser Nelson is Scottish and the former editor of the Spectator. For all those who watch Triggernometry (I try not to but sometimes I have to), the two interviewers are Konstantin Kisin and Francis Foster. Basically Konstantin Kisin does all the talking and Francis Foster just sits there, says nothing, and cashes the cheque. The clip dialogue is:
    • Fraser Nelson. I would say that Rishi Sunak is as English as Tizer and Y-fronts. He is absolutely English, he was born and bred here, and I wouldn't say the colour of his skin makes him any less...
    • Konstantin Kisin (interrupting): He's a brown Hindu, how is he English?
    • Fraser Nelson (shocked): Because he was born and bred here.
    • Konstantin Kisin (incredulous): So by being born here you become English in your opinion?
    • Fraser Nelson: Yeah.
    Source: https://x.com/60sJapanfan/status/1891532608837755051
  • viewcode said:

    Fraser Nelson is Scottish and the former editor of the Spectator. For all those who watch Triggernometry (I try not to but sometimes I have to), the two interviewers are Konstantin Kisin and Francis Foster. Basically Konstantin Kisin does all the talking and Francis Foster just sits there, says nothing, and cashes the cheque. The clip dialogue is:
    • Fraser Nelson. I would say that Rishi Sunak is as English as Tizer and Y-fronts. He is absolutely English, he was born and bred here, and I wouldn't say the colour of his skin makes him any less...
    • Konstantin Kisin (interrupting): He's a brown Hindu, how is he English?
    • Fraser Nelson (shocked): Because he was born and bred here.
    • Konstantin Kisin (incredulous): So by being born here you become English in your opinion?
    • Fraser Nelson: Yeah.
    Source: https://x.com/60sJapanfan/status/1891532608837755051
    Respect to Nelson, no idea who Kisin is but he seems like a ****
  • TimSTimS Posts: 14,692

    And in 200 years we'll be celebrating wildly any time we ever manage to beat the Martian Cricket team.
    The red ball game might be tricky for batsmen and fielders.
  • WinchyWinchy Posts: 130
    Musk, Pichai, Zuckerberg = the super-Sacklers. They make the Sacklers look like small fry.
  • Absolute idiots, they deserve this.

    The British couple detained in Iran have been charged with espionage, according to the Iranian judiciary news agency.

    https://news.sky.com/story/british-couple-detained-in-iran-charged-with-espionage-13311789
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 54,934

    Well I don’t believe in God that said I would be more Archbishop of Banterbury than Archbishop of Canterbury.

    I couldn’t keep a straight face if I had to deliver a sermon about the second coming for example.
    "What, you're getting all excited about this happening once?"
  • TimSTimS Posts: 14,692

    Respect to Nelson, no idea who Kisin is but he seems like a ****
    One of those erstwhile “liberals” who has been on a journey. A journey which continues.
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 62,090

    Absolute idiots, they deserve this.

    The British couple detained in Iran have been charged with espionage, according to the Iranian judiciary news agency.

    https://news.sky.com/story/british-couple-detained-in-iran-charged-with-espionage-13311789

    No-one deserves it, but they have been stupidly naive.
  • Absolute idiots, they deserve this.

    The British couple detained in Iran have been charged with espionage, according to the Iranian judiciary news agency.

    https://news.sky.com/story/british-couple-detained-in-iran-charged-with-espionage-13311789

    I hope that when a Government spokesperson is asked what they're doing to ensure the release of this couple the response is "nothing" and if followed up "we don't negotiate with terrorists".

    Shame on the last Government for paying a ransom to release the last woman they kidnapped/charged with espionage. Should never have been done and made it only a matter of time before they did the same again.
  • rkrkrkrkrkrk Posts: 8,612
    Pulpstar said:

    DOGE is starting to post the receipts

    https://doge.gov/savings

    If Cooper and others are serious about savings, they need to be prepared to send people into Whitehall who are not afraid to make enemies there, and not afraid to break hobby horses.

    At this point, you should assume everything they say is a lie unless there's independent corroboration.
    There's probably a statistical calculation you could do, but given that most people don't generally lie, and they have been caught repeatedly, I think we are well past the point of no belief.
  • boulayboulay Posts: 6,051
    Winchy said:

    Musk, Pichai, Zuckerberg = the super-Sacklers. They make the Sacklers look like small fry.

    The ball-sacklers maybe.
  • bondegezoubondegezou Posts: 13,370
    Pulpstar said:

    One thing the EU (And others incl us in it's orbit) need to agree is "Where is the front line of Europe".

    Britain and France say it's beyond the Dneiper, Poland and Germany seem to indicate it's west of Lviv.

    Any attempt to wrest the initiative from the Russia/USA talks was lost as that fundamental point didn't seem to be agreed between European leaders in Paris yesterday.

    I think it's more complicated than that. Poland is very aware of the threat from Putin and they are pro-Ukraine. I imagine their concern was more tactical.
  • RandallFlaggRandallFlagg Posts: 1,378
    TimS said:

    One of those erstwhile “liberals” who has been on a journey. A journey which continues.
    Kisin: I didn't leave the left, the left left me
    .......
    Kisin: I also believe in massive public spending cuts to reduce taxes for the rich and we should bring the death penalty back!
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 34,135
    edited February 18

    No, she was a Midlander.
    It would be interesting to go to Grantham and ask people whether they regard themselves more as Midlanders or Northerners.
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 54,934

    Absolute idiots, they deserve this.

    The British couple detained in Iran have been charged with espionage, according to the Iranian judiciary news agency.

    https://news.sky.com/story/british-couple-detained-in-iran-charged-with-espionage-13311789

    With a cover story that they were driving a motorbike from Armenia through Iran to Pakistan the accusation is hardly surprising. Who’d believe that?
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 53,836

    Elon will turn it into a penile colony :lol:
    19 Billion hasn’t been spent yet on MSR. It’s the estimated budget to completion.

    Which is rising continuously and the estimated dates are moving away faster than time passes - so every year, the estimated return date is going *further* into the future.

    But don’t worry. Everyone is getting performance bonuses.
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 34,135
    TimS said:

    The thing is, I’d certainly be happier if there were no social media. My children too.

    Impossible to uninvent what’s already here though.

    The one exception from my perspective: WhatsApp.
    It isn't compulsory to use social media just because it exists.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 44,520
    TimS said:

    Calling Trump’s bluff feels like the most viable strategy now. Cut the US out of investment and trade opportunities too.
    Yep. What we don't want is everybody flapping around trying to give him "wins" to ward off his threats. If bullying is seen to pay off you'll get more of it.
  • RandallFlaggRandallFlagg Posts: 1,378
    Andy_JS said:

    It would be interesting to go to Grantham and ask people whether they regard themselves more as Midlanders or Northerners.
    The North begins in Chesterfield IMHO.
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 54,934

    I think it's more complicated than that. Poland is very aware of the threat from Putin and they are pro-Ukraine. I imagine their concern was more tactical.
    A good friend of mine who is Polish indicated that it was a bit more complicated than that. There is considerable ill feeling in Poland about Ukrainian soldiers having played more than their fair share in various massacres and atrocities in Poland during WW2. But no one doubts that Russia is the main culprit and threat.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 53,836

    I think it's more complicated than that. Poland is very aware of the threat from Putin and they are pro-Ukraine. I imagine their concern was more tactical.
    Poland is very worried about Poland, first of all.

    They are supporting Ukraine heavily, but are worried about tying down all their shiny new kit, before they feel they can defend Poland itself.

    Given the history, it is hard to blame them.

    Reassurance that the U.K., France and Germany will support them get a polite skepticism. For some reason…
  • carnforthcarnforth Posts: 5,538

    Absolute idiots, they deserve this.

    The British couple detained in Iran have been charged with espionage, according to the Iranian judiciary news agency.

    https://news.sky.com/story/british-couple-detained-in-iran-charged-with-espionage-13311789

    Didn't we pay Iran that $400m for Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe? What do they want now?
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 53,836
    Andy_JS said:

    It isn't compulsory to use social media just because it exists.
    A few months back, I mentioned that a relative who runs a building company provides free WiFi on his sites. Officially for phone calls, plan updates via email etc - but everyone uses it for whatever. Some guys stay late to video call family for free etc.

    I also mentioned he blocked all the social media IP addresses. A number of people here thought that was nasty and practically a breach of human rights.
  • JonathanJonathan Posts: 22,100

    The North begins in Chesterfield IMHO.
    The M4 surely.
  • TheuniondivvieTheuniondivvie Posts: 43,127
    DavidL said:

    With a cover story that they were driving a motorbike from Armenia through Iran to Pakistan the accusation is hardly surprising. Who’d believe that?
    It's a reasonably recognised part of off-grid motorbiking though not partaken of by many obviously. Perhaps not wise in the current climate though.
  • FF43FF43 Posts: 17,813
    viewcode said:

    Fraser Nelson is Scottish and the former editor of the Spectator. For all those who watch Triggernometry (I try not to but sometimes I have to), the two interviewers are Konstantin Kisin and Francis Foster. Basically Konstantin Kisin does all the talking and Francis Foster just sits there, says nothing, and cashes the cheque. The clip dialogue is:
    • Fraser Nelson. I would say that Rishi Sunak is as English as Tizer and Y-fronts. He is absolutely English, he was born and bred here, and I wouldn't say the colour of his skin makes him any less...
    • Konstantin Kisin (interrupting): He's a brown Hindu, how is he English?
    • Fraser Nelson (shocked): Because he was born and bred here.
    • Konstantin Kisin (incredulous): So by being born here you become English in your opinion?
    • Fraser Nelson: Yeah.
    Source: https://x.com/60sJapanfan/status/1891532608837755051
    Nitpicking a bit but why should anyone care whether Konstantin Kison, not born here, thinks Rishi Sunak who is a native to this country, is British?
  • TimSTimS Posts: 14,692
    edited February 18
    kinabalu said:

    Yep. What we don't want is everybody flapping around trying to give him "wins" to ward off his threats. If bullying is seen to pay off you'll get more of it.
    On the Russia detente I’m alternating between seeing the US as naive or complicit. Perhaps they are both, like Stalin in 1939.

    The latest leaks from the Trump team are that the parties will agree a deal involving 1. Ceasefire, 2. Ukrainian elections, 3. Final signing.

    You can guess what goodies Russia has planned for those elections. As I’m sure can the US. So I’m erring on the side of complicit, not naive.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 53,836
    DavidL said:

    A good friend of mine who is Polish indicated that it was a bit more complicated than that. There is considerable ill feeling in Poland about Ukrainian soldiers having played more than their fair share in various massacres and atrocities in Poland during WW2. But no one doubts that Russia is the main culprit and threat.
    There’s an element of that. But both sides have been trying to address the issue. Even the Ultra Nationalists in Poland have realised that they need all the allies the my can find against Russia. Hence acceptance of the borders etc - irredentism is pretty much dead in Poland.
  • Pagan2Pagan2 Posts: 10,656
    Andy_JS said:

    It isn't compulsory to use social media just because it exists.
    Indeed the closest I get to social media is here............ no x, no facebook, no linked in etc
  • EabhalEabhal Posts: 9,973
    Jonathan said:

    The M4 surely.
    Highland Boundary Fault.
  • TimSTimS Posts: 14,692
    carnforth said:

    Didn't we pay Iran that $400m for Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe? What do they want now?
    That payment was a bit of an oddity, because when you look at the historical facts and ignore geopolitics, you’d have to conclude Iran had a good to demand payment.

    The pre-revolutionary regime had paid the UK for weapons which were never delivered, because of the revolution. So Iran demanded a refund.
  • viewcodeviewcode Posts: 23,955
    FF43 said:

    Nitpicking a bit but why should anyone care whether Konstantin Kison, not born here, thinks Rishi Sunak who is a native to this country, is British?
    You need to address that question to Theuniondivvie. I was providing follow-up information, as is my wont.
  • MortimerMortimer Posts: 14,183
    Jonathan said:

    The M4 surely.
    Midlands at Banbury, the north at Chesterfield is something I could very much sign up to.
  • boulayboulay Posts: 6,051
    carnforth said:

    Didn't we pay Iran that $400m for Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe? What do they want now?
    They saw the amount we are giving Mauritius and thought as we are in a generous mood and have endless cash at the moment they would go for it.
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 50,962

    If America were a relative, you'd look to have it sectioned.
    The long view question is whether, after Trump, we get Vance or worse, or whether Americans return to their historical path and elect somebody sane. Right now I haven’t a clue which way it will go.
  • Daveyboy1961Daveyboy1961 Posts: 4,429
    Jonathan said:

    The M4 surely.
    Watford gap?
  • carnforthcarnforth Posts: 5,538
    TimS said:

    That payment was a bit of an oddity, because when you look at the historical facts and ignore geopolitics, you’d have to conclude Iran had a good to demand payment.

    The pre-revolutionary regime had paid the UK for weapons which were never delivered, because of the revolution. So Iran demanded a refund.
    True. But we have recently refused to return Gold from our vaults to Venezuela due to their leader not being democratically elected. So it seems time passed and remaining leverage are factors too.
  • TheuniondivvieTheuniondivvie Posts: 43,127
    viewcode said:

    Fraser Nelson is Scottish and the former editor of the Spectator. For all those who watch Triggernometry (I try not to but sometimes I have to), the two interviewers are Konstantin Kisin and Francis Foster. Basically Konstantin Kisin does all the talking and Francis Foster just sits there, says nothing, and cashes the cheque. The clip dialogue is:
    • Fraser Nelson. I would say that Rishi Sunak is as English as Tizer and Y-fronts. He is absolutely English, he was born and bred here, and I wouldn't say the colour of his skin makes him any less...
    • Konstantin Kisin (interrupting): He's a brown Hindu, how is he English?
    • Fraser Nelson (shocked): Because he was born and bred here.
    • Konstantin Kisin (incredulous): So by being born here you become English in your opinion?
    • Fraser Nelson: Yeah.
    Source: https://x.com/60sJapanfan/status/1891532608837755051
    To complicate matters Nelson was actually born in Cornwall and has a Scottish accent never before heard except from Miss Jean Brodie being strangled with a James Gillespie school tie.
    Good for Nelson for pushing back, but he should have told them to fck off with the interview. Now the question is Rishi English has been made a semi respectable part of the 'debate'.
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 50,962
    DavidL said:

    A good friend of mine who is Polish indicated that it was a bit more complicated than that. There is considerable ill feeling in Poland about Ukrainian soldiers having played more than their fair share in various massacres and atrocities in Poland during WW2. But no one doubts that Russia is the main culprit and threat.
    Also, the Ukrainians are the Poles’ Irish; the poorer country next door who are always the butt of their jokes.
This discussion has been closed.