One journey up (then down) the AI(M) does not a conclusive survey make, but I didn't seem to see many Teslas on the motorway when I went to see my dear old mother on Sunday for her 95th birthday.
Presumably people have range anxiety so can't actually travel anywhere meaningful in the things.
It's interesting that Tesla should have brought together the hard right (hating anything eco) and the hard left (hating everything Trumpish) in one joyous band of righteousness.
I doubt a Hard Left boycott would hurt Tesla since few could afford one to start with. Affluent libs otoh could do some damage.
Very true. I trust your Tesla remains unbought.
Not with a bargepole. I'm a petrolhead.
Are you a string-backed or perforated leather glove kind of guy.
And a furry dice? No, fraid not. But I do like petrol cars. The way I figure it is we're coming to the end of all that - the pumps, the smell, the insertion of the nozzle - and I want to enjoy it while I can. I've got a Golf GTI. Vroom vroom.
I can think of another activity where you can enjoy the pumps, the smell and the insertion of the nozzle.
One journey up (then down) the AI(M) does not a conclusive survey make, but I didn't seem to see many Teslas on the motorway when I went to see my dear old mother on Sunday for her 95th birthday.
Presumably people have range anxiety so can't actually travel anywhere meaningful in the things.
It's interesting that Tesla should have brought together the hard right (hating anything eco) and the hard left (hating everything Trumpish) in one joyous band of righteousness.
I doubt a Hard Left boycott would hurt Tesla since few could afford one to start with. Affluent libs otoh could do some damage.
Very true. I trust your Tesla remains unbought.
Not with a bargepole. I'm a petrolhead.
Are you a string-backed or perforated leather glove kind of guy.
Well Alan Partridge is string-backed so I suspect Kinabalu will be too.
Mark Zuckerberg needed to be convinced that Facebook had been used for the first Trump win.
Nick Clegg earned $100 million.
Nice little earner....still not sure what his job at Meta actually was.
Hiding the fact Zucky and co are about the worst people you can imagine
He could have earned that $100m if he had convinced Zuckerberg that the Metaverse is nonsense before they spent how ever many billions of dollars on it.
One journey up (then down) the AI(M) does not a conclusive survey make, but I didn't seem to see many Teslas on the motorway when I went to see my dear old mother on Sunday for her 95th birthday.
Presumably people have range anxiety so can't actually travel anywhere meaningful in the things.
It's interesting that Tesla should have brought together the hard right (hating anything eco) and the hard left (hating everything Trumpish) in one joyous band of righteousness.
I doubt a Hard Left boycott would hurt Tesla since few could afford one to start with. Affluent libs otoh could do some damage.
Very true. I trust your Tesla remains unbought.
Not with a bargepole. I'm a petrolhead.
Are you a string-backed or perforated leather glove kind of guy.
Probably wears a cravat too. He would love to drive a Jaaag, but that would be too interesting so sticks to the Skoda.
Like I said ... Golf GTI.
High performance, well-proportioned exterior. Perfect for me.
Phillips OBrien @phillipspobrien.bsky.social · 3m Putin wants an energy/infrastructure only ceasefire. A sign that these attacks by Ukraine are having real impact and he's worried by then. Ukraine should consider rejecting Putin's selective ceasefire and get something broader than helps Ukraine.
Smash a bunch more hydrocarbon infrastructure while thinking about it....
Then think some more. And smash some more.
Putin is incredibly vulnerable on this.
See if he is vulnerable enough to properly discuss peace.
Phillips OBrien @phillipspobrien.bsky.social · 3m Putin wants an energy/infrastructure only ceasefire. A sign that these attacks by Ukraine are having real impact and he's worried by then. Ukraine should consider rejecting Putin's selective ceasefire and get something broader than helps Ukraine.
Smash a bunch more while thinking about it....
Then think some more. And smash some more.
Putin is incredibly vulnerable on this.
See if he is vulnerable enough to properly discuss peace.
A fortnightly call between Trump and Putin where Putin presents his latest ceasefire plan might be a handy targeting tool for Ukraine.
Betting Post: The WH28 party market has moved a lot recently. The Dems were 2.4 but it's close to 50/50 now. I think the reason is that Trump has surprised (although not me) on the downside since he took office. People were not quite expecting this level of corruption and incompetence.
I want to back Trump to stay in power beyond 2028.
Add him as a runner Betfair!
Yes. I presume some sort of etiquette is preventing a quote there. It'd be a "USA survives as a democracy?" proxy.
What odds would you want btw?
I put it at < 1.4 that there will be a Trump in the Whitehouse in 2029. I think he is too dynastic to hand it to Vance and too tightly bound by the constitution for another bite.
Really? Backing Jnr, Eric, Ivanka is fabulous value then iyo. And you can probably net that down to Jnr.
Just checked. He's 20.
Of course this is predicated on the Russification of the US.
In the court politics I'd think Ivanka might be more favoured and pliable than the others,
I don't see another free election after the midterms.
One journey up (then down) the AI(M) does not a conclusive survey make, but I didn't seem to see many Teslas on the motorway when I went to see my dear old mother on Sunday for her 95th birthday.
Presumably people have range anxiety so can't actually travel anywhere meaningful in the things.
It's interesting that Tesla should have brought together the hard right (hating anything eco) and the hard left (hating everything Trumpish) in one joyous band of righteousness.
I doubt a Hard Left boycott would hurt Tesla since few could afford one to start with. Affluent libs otoh could do some damage.
Very true. I trust your Tesla remains unbought.
Not with a bargepole. I'm a petrolhead.
Are you a string-backed or perforated leather glove kind of guy.
Probably wears a cravat too. He would love to drive a Jaaag, but that would be too interesting so sticks to the Skoda.
Like I said ... Golf GTI.
High performance, well-proportioned exterior. Perfect for me.
Boring and obvious. At least I drove a Mini John Cooper Works
Seven EU countries back Czech plan to fund Radio Free Europe
The Czech Republic initiated talks with EU partners about funding Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, which is headquartered in the Czech capital, following cuts to US support https://x.com/EuromaidanPress/status/1901999034492981468
Meanwhile our government follows the last lot in wanting to chop the BBC World Service.
Bloody ridiculous. I object to the TV licence but there are certain things that the Government (ie the taxpayer) should be paying for. The World Service is a massive benefit to the country as a whole and vital for foreign policy and, increasingly, for defence. We should be maintaining or expanding it, not cutting it and allowing other countries - the Chinesee particularly - to move into the cultural and diplomatic spaces we have created.
One journey up (then down) the AI(M) does not a conclusive survey make, but I didn't seem to see many Teslas on the motorway when I went to see my dear old mother on Sunday for her 95th birthday.
Presumably people have range anxiety so can't actually travel anywhere meaningful in the things.
It's interesting that Tesla should have brought together the hard right (hating anything eco) and the hard left (hating everything Trumpish) in one joyous band of righteousness.
I doubt a Hard Left boycott would hurt Tesla since few could afford one to start with. Affluent libs otoh could do some damage.
Very true. I trust your Tesla remains unbought.
Not with a bargepole. I'm a petrolhead.
Are you a string-backed or perforated leather glove kind of guy.
Probably wears a cravat too. He would love to drive a Jaaag, but that would be too interesting so sticks to the Skoda.
Like I said ... Golf GTI.
High performance, well-proportioned exterior. Perfect for me.
Boring and obvious. At least I drove a Mini John Cooper Works
A relative of mine has just bought a brand-new Ariel Atom. Basically a scaled-up Lego Technics set...
The question is what could turn Tesla’s slide of share price round?
Musk getting banished by Trump and going into rehab?
Musk has 13% of Tesla shares, and the only obvious way out for the company is for him to sell out and the company continue with him cut loose. The question is how long it will take for them to reach the same conclusion?
Meanwhile, their global brand is worse than Ratnered.
They need to get the share price down to double digits, then buy him out cheaply.
Musk can't sell without triggering a huge tax liability (subject to a handy law change). The way squillionaires avoid tax is by borrowing money using their stakes as collateral. No income, no capital gains.
Be interesting to see if putting so much charge into the battery so fast has any long term effects on battery life.
If batteries end up being super cheap (and possible to swap out), then that isn't much of an issue either.
This is super exciting. We've made next to no effort to put in EV infrastructure in the UK (only invested about £3 billion), so this might be the sort of game changer that we need. Much cheaper than retrofitting charge points to houses and lampposts.
Er no.
To charge that fast means delivering electricity in large amounts, very quickly.
To charge to 80%, say, with 10% “in the tank” means delivering 70KWh in 5 minutes.
On an 800 volt system that is *thousands of amps*
That will require infrastructure, all right. Lots of it.
Bet you that's cheaper than fitting EV chargers to every house and lamppost in the land.
Probably not, actually.
To start with, it means investing in infrastructure all the way from the power stations on an epic scale. The equality reports alone would take 10 years.
Put a small nuclear reactor in a container at the back of the charging station?
Though that might not be enough power.
Edit: At 1MW needed per charger, a 20MW SMR might just do it, which Last Energy claims to sell...
Nah..
That’s slacker thinking.
Detonate a 20kt nuclear device in a cavern full of salt every 30 minutes. The molten salt reservoir drives a steam system that powers the turbines….
#WhatWouldNealCloudDo
Ha!
Seriously though, nobody is getting a 10-20MW connection to every petrol station, surely?
You'd need local battery storage, though that would probably need as large an exclusion zone as a nuclear device.
I don’t think you’d need anything like that. Most EVs won’t charge at that rate, and won’t for many years. It’s possibly quite useful for commercial vehicles like buses, though.
A 500 kW charger would fully charge a 50kWh battery in ten minutes - which is about the maximum likely need for the next decade - so that’s about five cars an hour.
A 10MW supply implies 100 cars an hour. How many petrol stations do that amount of business ? With local battery storage you could do more at peak hours, or get by with a smaller supply.
And a lot of people will just trickle charge at home.
I should think a lot of busy petrol stations do deal with 100 cars an hour at peak times.
If 50% of vehicles were trickle charged at home then I imagine the peak would be lower, but still, you would potentially need a lot of power.
The main point was that it is very unlikely that you'll get the kind of direct supply needed everywhere (10MW would need a 132kV line - 3MW a 11kV line) so local storage is the only realistic way this is going to work.
Which would, as Malmesbury points out, have other potential benefits.
There are around 8000 petrol stations in the UK, and around 32m cars. That’s 4000 cars per petrol station.
At 5kWh usage per day (on average), if every car was an EV, and none charged at home, then that would require 50kWh of charge for 400 cars per station, per day.
Something like 80% of EV owners charge their cars at home.
There might be a need for a few high capacity service stations, but that ought to be pretty easy to plan for as we upgrade the grid. And a single 20ft container can provide 1MWh of storage (using extremely safe LFP batteries). Four or five would cover the peak times at your highest capacity stations.
It’s not particularly hard.
80% charge at home currently because people with driveways are the ones for whom the whole electric business works.
I'd guess it would be much nearer 50% if electric cars became universal.
5kWh x 4000 x 0.5 = 10MWh. So yes, 5MWh would probably cover morning and evening rush hours at a busy filling station.
You still need to find a 11kV 1MW feed from somewhere, as well as 5 container batteries.
This isn't going to be easy. At all.
Look at the analogous situation with buses - every depot in London over the past few years has had some combination of battery + substation upgrade to sustain the EV fleet (all new buses have been EV since 2021, and the remaining hybrids will be phased out by 2030).
Most depots are in areas with grid capacity constraints, but that's been dealt with by sizing the battery appropriately.
Filling stations are less likely on average to be grid constrained than urban bus depots. Sure, there are probably a few in city centre locations which might be faced with having to shell out for such a huge battery that they may become uneconomic - but most will be fine.
At worst, some urban drivers may have to travel a little further to fill up. It's the grid and generator situation that we need to keep an eye on, not so much the service stations.
A gang has been convicted over the theft of a £4.8m gold toilet from an art exhibition at Blenheim Palace.
The BBC can now reveal the full criminal history of the heist gang's kingpin James Sheen. He has been jailed at least six times since 2005 and has led organised crime groups that made more than £5m from fraud and theft - money authorities have largely failed to recover.
Within days the artwork, called America, had been broken up and sold on, the court heard. None of the gold has been recovered.
And if you look at people under the age of 25, every single group — white, nonwhite, male or female — is considerably more conservative than their millennial counterparts. And it even seems that Donald Trump narrowly won nonwhite 18-year-old men, which is not something that has ever happened in Democratic politics before.
One journey up (then down) the AI(M) does not a conclusive survey make, but I didn't seem to see many Teslas on the motorway when I went to see my dear old mother on Sunday for her 95th birthday.
Presumably people have range anxiety so can't actually travel anywhere meaningful in the things.
It's interesting that Tesla should have brought together the hard right (hating anything eco) and the hard left (hating everything Trumpish) in one joyous band of righteousness.
I doubt a Hard Left boycott would hurt Tesla since few could afford one to start with. Affluent libs otoh could do some damage.
Very true. I trust your Tesla remains unbought.
Not with a bargepole. I'm a petrolhead.
Are you a string-backed or perforated leather glove kind of guy.
Probably wears a cravat too. He would love to drive a Jaaag, but that would be too interesting so sticks to the Skoda.
Like I said ... Golf GTI.
High performance, well-proportioned exterior. Perfect for me.
Boring and obvious. At least I drove a Mini John Cooper Works
A relative of mine has just bought a brand-new Ariel Atom. Basically a scaled-up Lego Technics set...
One journey up (then down) the AI(M) does not a conclusive survey make, but I didn't seem to see many Teslas on the motorway when I went to see my dear old mother on Sunday for her 95th birthday.
Presumably people have range anxiety so can't actually travel anywhere meaningful in the things.
It's interesting that Tesla should have brought together the hard right (hating anything eco) and the hard left (hating everything Trumpish) in one joyous band of righteousness.
I doubt a Hard Left boycott would hurt Tesla since few could afford one to start with. Affluent libs otoh could do some damage.
Very true. I trust your Tesla remains unbought.
Not with a bargepole. I'm a petrolhead.
Are you a string-backed or perforated leather glove kind of guy.
Probably wears a cravat too. He would love to drive a Jaaag, but that would be too interesting so sticks to the Skoda.
Like I said ... Golf GTI.
High performance, well-proportioned exterior. Perfect for me.
Boring and obvious. At least I drove a Mini John Cooper Works
A relative of mine has just bought a brand-new Ariel Atom. Basically a scaled-up Lego Technics set...
And if you look at people under the age of 25, every single group — white, nonwhite, male or female — is considerably more conservative than their millennial counterparts. And it even seems that Donald Trump narrowly won nonwhite 18-year-old men, which is not something that has ever happened in Democratic politics before.
More vulnerable to Putin's social media propaganda perhaps?
And if you look at people under the age of 25, every single group — white, nonwhite, male or female — is considerably more conservative than their millennial counterparts. And it even seems that Donald Trump narrowly won nonwhite 18-year-old men, which is not something that has ever happened in Democratic politics before.
More vulnerable to Putin's social media propaganda perhaps?
Starting from that explanation is a good way to stop yourself understanding what is going on.
Before @rcs1000 jumps in, I need to point out that they are waaaaaay behind. Musk has launched 7,000 of his own satellites (never mind the others) since 2019. SpaceX is responsible IIRC for 90% of rocket launches per year for the entire planet.
So it seems Trump finally got to have an audience with Putin, got played like a fiddle, and has come away having agreed to a series of moves all of which would directly benefit Russia.
And will now put pressure on Ukraine to suck it all up.
Putin bullies Trump, then Trump bullies Zelenskyy.
A gang has been convicted over the theft of a £4.8m gold toilet from an art exhibition at Blenheim Palace.
The BBC can now reveal the full criminal history of the heist gang's kingpin James Sheen. He has been jailed at least six times since 2005 and has led organised crime groups that made more than £5m from fraud and theft - money authorities have largely failed to recover.
Within days the artwork, called America, had been broken up and sold on, the court heard. None of the gold has been recovered.
Despite spending about half of the past 20 years in prison, Sheen has personally made about £2m from his crimes, not including the golden toilet heist.
Some time ago I had a rant about the fitting of regressions to datasets. I eventually had to introduce the Anscombe quartet (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anscombe's_quartet ) to get my point across. I've tried to find that rant in the comments but Bing and Google are useless and I can't find it. Can anybody assist?
In case you have not found it, ow anyone else wishes to look, I think you want this thread:
A gang has been convicted over the theft of a £4.8m gold toilet from an art exhibition at Blenheim Palace.
The BBC can now reveal the full criminal history of the heist gang's kingpin James Sheen. He has been jailed at least six times since 2005 and has led organised crime groups that made more than £5m from fraud and theft - money authorities have largely failed to recover.
Within days the artwork, called America, had been broken up and sold on, the court heard. None of the gold has been recovered.
Despite spending about half of the past 20 years in prison, Sheen has personally made about £2m from his crimes, not including the golden toilet heist.
A gang has been convicted over the theft of a £4.8m gold toilet from an art exhibition at Blenheim Palace.
The BBC can now reveal the full criminal history of the heist gang's kingpin James Sheen. He has been jailed at least six times since 2005 and has led organised crime groups that made more than £5m from fraud and theft - money authorities have largely failed to recover.
Within days the artwork, called America, had been broken up and sold on, the court heard. None of the gold has been recovered.
One journey up (then down) the AI(M) does not a conclusive survey make, but I didn't seem to see many Teslas on the motorway when I went to see my dear old mother on Sunday for her 95th birthday.
Presumably people have range anxiety so can't actually travel anywhere meaningful in the things.
It's interesting that Tesla should have brought together the hard right (hating anything eco) and the hard left (hating everything Trumpish) in one joyous band of righteousness.
I doubt a Hard Left boycott would hurt Tesla since few could afford one to start with. Affluent libs otoh could do some damage.
Very true. I trust your Tesla remains unbought.
Not with a bargepole. I'm a petrolhead.
Are you a string-backed or perforated leather glove kind of guy.
Probably wears a cravat too. He would love to drive a Jaaag, but that would be too interesting so sticks to the Skoda.
Like I said ... Golf GTI.
High performance, well-proportioned exterior. Perfect for me.
Boring and obvious. At least I drove a Mini John Cooper Works
Phillips OBrien @phillipspobrien.bsky.social · 3m Putin wants an energy/infrastructure only ceasefire. A sign that these attacks by Ukraine are having real impact and he's worried by then. Ukraine should consider rejecting Putin's selective ceasefire and get something broader than helps Ukraine.
Smash a bunch more while thinking about it....
Then think some more. And smash some more.
Putin is incredibly vulnerable on this.
See if he is vulnerable enough to properly discuss peace.
A fortnightly call between Trump and Putin where Putin presents his latest ceasefire plan might be a handy targeting tool for Ukraine.
Those Ukrainian drones aren't much use during a ceasefire. Send them all off before hand. Watch the ruble plunge. See if Trump is going to buy rubles to prop it up...
Phillips OBrien @phillipspobrien.bsky.social · 3m Putin wants an energy/infrastructure only ceasefire. A sign that these attacks by Ukraine are having real impact and he's worried by then. Ukraine should consider rejecting Putin's selective ceasefire and get something broader than helps Ukraine.
Smash a bunch more while thinking about it....
Then think some more. And smash some more.
Putin is incredibly vulnerable on this.
See if he is vulnerable enough to properly discuss peace.
A fortnightly call between Trump and Putin where Putin presents his latest ceasefire plan might be a handy targeting tool for Ukraine.
Those Ukrainian drones aren't much use during a ceasefire. Send them all off before hand. Watch the ruble plunge. See if Trump is going to buy rubles to prop it up...
Don’t be foolish. Think MAGA
So Zelensky goes on TV to announce a ceasefire on blowing up Russian oil refineries. While quadrupling drone strikes on refineries. Then denying that they are strikes
“Our sight seeing drones were trying to study the world famous spires of Russian cathedrals. But accidentally went of course and exploded.”
Sadly, this is a classic dinosaurs mating kind of deal. To properly challenge Starlink, rather than just rehash OneWeb, you need cheap launch and a mega-constellation.
Unfortunately, this is still heresy inside ESA and ArianeSpace. A friend was fired from ESA for being too enthusiastic about the Themis project. Yes, that's right. Being enthusiastic about a 100% European development project is bad politics in Europe. FFS.
See also Macron’s refusal to allow Europe to consider UK defence companies as Europe spends $800bn to rearm
French economic selfishness sometimes reaches such myopic extremes it becomes self-harming. The UK has spent billions on helping Ukraine (more than France); the UK is the natural partner for France and Europe, but it has to be two way or it won’t work; the UK brings intel capabilities significantly in advance of anything in the EU
Yet the French won’t countenance pooling resources with the UK because, of course, European strategic autonomy means, for Paris, lots of German and Italian money being spent in France, and nowhere else
Europe is gonna blow it. All these petty rivalries and divisions. They talk le talk but they don’t walk le fucking walk
Fuck it, fuck Europe, make CANZUK a reality
The combined GDP of the CANZUK nations, under our one king, is about $7.5 TRILLION. Easily the third largest economic power in the world (unless you count the EU which, as proven above, you cannot). With a growing population of 140 million - bigger than Japan and soon overtaking Russia
By geographical size CANZUK would be the largest country on earth: 18,188,325 square kilometers. Absolutely fucking enormous. Twice as big as the USA (in your face, Donald). It would have endless natural resources in all departments, minerals, fisheries, oil, gas, metals, rare earth, everything. It would have a world tier one capital in London, and several tier two super cities like Sydney, Toronto. It would comprise every kind of habitat, from epic rainforest to endless tundra, from temperate meadow to mighty Alps, from fertile prairies to Newent
It would have mulitiple world class universities. It would be an extremely powerful world trader. Its geographical spread would be unrivaled, dominant or significant in three continents, ruling the seas from Scapa Flow to Vancouver, from Auckland to Newfoundland
Let’s do it. Fuck it, CANZUK. Let us bestride the world!!! Scared of no one, not Vlad not Don not Xi and certainly not stupid little Manny Macron
One journey up (then down) the AI(M) does not a conclusive survey make, but I didn't seem to see many Teslas on the motorway when I went to see my dear old mother on Sunday for her 95th birthday.
Presumably people have range anxiety so can't actually travel anywhere meaningful in the things.
It's interesting that Tesla should have brought together the hard right (hating anything eco) and the hard left (hating everything Trumpish) in one joyous band of righteousness.
I doubt a Hard Left boycott would hurt Tesla since few could afford one to start with. Affluent libs otoh could do some damage.
Very true. I trust your Tesla remains unbought.
Not with a bargepole. I'm a petrolhead.
Are you a string-backed or perforated leather glove kind of guy.
And a furry dice? No, fraid not. But I do like petrol cars. The way I figure it is we're coming to the end of all that - the pumps, the smell, the insertion of the nozzle - and I want to enjoy it while I can. I've got a Golf GTI. Vroom vroom.
I can think of another activity where you can enjoy the pumps, the smell and the insertion of the nozzle.
One journey up (then down) the AI(M) does not a conclusive survey make, but I didn't seem to see many Teslas on the motorway when I went to see my dear old mother on Sunday for her 95th birthday.
Presumably people have range anxiety so can't actually travel anywhere meaningful in the things.
It's interesting that Tesla should have brought together the hard right (hating anything eco) and the hard left (hating everything Trumpish) in one joyous band of righteousness.
I doubt a Hard Left boycott would hurt Tesla since few could afford one to start with. Affluent libs otoh could do some damage.
Very true. I trust your Tesla remains unbought.
Not with a bargepole. I'm a petrolhead.
Are you a string-backed or perforated leather glove kind of guy.
Probably wears a cravat too. He would love to drive a Jaaag, but that would be too interesting so sticks to the Skoda.
Like I said ... Golf GTI.
High performance, well-proportioned exterior. Perfect for me.
Boring and obvious. At least I drove a Mini John Cooper Works
Better get rid. That was Leon's last ride.
I got rid about 20 months ago when the wiring loom decided to corrode resulting in random electrical errors.
Was hoping that the new ones would be good but nope - so I got a boring Seat Leon and Mrs Eek got the “fun” car.
Sadly her definition of fun isn’t horse power but a roof that goes down
Sadly, this is a classic dinosaurs mating kind of deal. To properly challenge Starlink, rather than just rehash OneWeb, you need cheap launch and a mega-constellation.
Unfortunately, this is still heresy inside ESA and ArianeSpace. A friend was fired from ESA for being too enthusiastic about the Themis project. Yes, that's right. Being enthusiastic about a 100% European development project is bad politics in Europe. FFS.
See also Macron’s refusal to allow Europe to consider UK defence companies as Europe spends $800bn to rearm
French economic selfishness sometimes reaches such myopic extremes it becomes self-harming. The UK has spent billions on helping Ukraine (more than France); the UK is the natural partner for France and Europe, but it has to be two way or it won’t work; the UK brings intel capabilities significantly in advance of anything in the EU
Yet the French won’t countenance pooling resources with the UK because, of course, European strategic autonomy means, for Paris, lots of German and Italian money being spent in France, and nowhere else
Europe is gonna blow it. All these petty rivalries and divisions. They talk le talk but they don’t walk le fucking walk
Fuck it, fuck Europe, make CANZUK a reality
The combined GDP of the CANZUK nations, under our one king, is about $7.5 TRILLION. Easily the third largest economic power in the world (unless you count the EU which, as proven above, you cannot). With a growing population of 140 million - bigger than Japan and soon overtaking Russia
By geographical size CANZUK would be the largest country on earth: 18,188,325 square kilometers. Absolutely fucking enormous. Twice as big as the USA (in your face, Donald). It would have endless natural resources in all departments, minerals, fisheries, oil, gas, metals, rare earth, everything. It would have a world tier one capital in London, and several tier two super cities like Sydney, Toronto. It would comprise every kind of habitat, from epic rainforest to endless tundra, from temperate meadow to mighty Alps, from fertile prairies to Newent
It would have mulitiple world class universities. It would be an extremely powerful world trader. Its geographical spread would be unrivaled, dominant or significant in three continents, ruling the seas from Scapa Flow to Vancouver, from Auckland to Newfoundland
Let’s do it. Fuck it, CANZUK. Let us bestride the world!!! Scared of no one, not Vlad not Don not Xi and certainly not stupid little Manny Macron
If we made that a reality, it might also be a more natural partner for Scandinavia and Iceland/Greenland than the EU.
The people who promoted CANZUK at the time of Brexit look visonary now.
So it seems Trump finally got to have an audience with Putin, got played like a fiddle, and has come away having agreed to a series of moves all of which would directly benefit Russia.
And will now put pressure on Ukraine to suck it all up.
Putin bullies Trump, then Trump bullies Zelenskyy.
And if you look at people under the age of 25, every single group — white, nonwhite, male or female — is considerably more conservative than their millennial counterparts. And it even seems that Donald Trump narrowly won nonwhite 18-year-old men, which is not something that has ever happened in Democratic politics before.
More vulnerable to Putin's social media propaganda perhaps?
Starting from that explanation is a good way to stop yourself understanding what is going on.
More than one thing can be true at once. See for instance my earlier post about how Zuckerberg initially did not believe that Facebook had been used to influence users to vote for Trump. (See also Brexit, of course.)
One journey up (then down) the AI(M) does not a conclusive survey make, but I didn't seem to see many Teslas on the motorway when I went to see my dear old mother on Sunday for her 95th birthday.
Presumably people have range anxiety so can't actually travel anywhere meaningful in the things.
It's interesting that Tesla should have brought together the hard right (hating anything eco) and the hard left (hating everything Trumpish) in one joyous band of righteousness.
I doubt a Hard Left boycott would hurt Tesla since few could afford one to start with. Affluent libs otoh could do some damage.
Very true. I trust your Tesla remains unbought.
Not with a bargepole. I'm a petrolhead.
Are you a string-backed or perforated leather glove kind of guy.
Probably wears a cravat too. He would love to drive a Jaaag, but that would be too interesting so sticks to the Skoda.
Like I said ... Golf GTI.
High performance, well-proportioned exterior. Perfect for me.
Boring and obvious. At least I drove a Mini John Cooper Works
I'd have felt too exposed in that. But if you can handle all the attention, fine. It's a car alright.
Sadly, this is a classic dinosaurs mating kind of deal. To properly challenge Starlink, rather than just rehash OneWeb, you need cheap launch and a mega-constellation.
Unfortunately, this is still heresy inside ESA and ArianeSpace. A friend was fired from ESA for being too enthusiastic about the Themis project. Yes, that's right. Being enthusiastic about a 100% European development project is bad politics in Europe. FFS.
See also Macron’s refusal to allow Europe to consider UK defence companies as Europe spends $800bn to rearm
French economic selfishness sometimes reaches such myopic extremes it becomes self-harming. The UK has spent billions on helping Ukraine (more than France); the UK is the natural partner for France and Europe, but it has to be two way or it won’t work; the UK brings intel capabilities significantly in advance of anything in the EU
Yet the French won’t countenance pooling resources with the UK because, of course, European strategic autonomy means, for Paris, lots of German and Italian money being spent in France, and nowhere else
Europe is gonna blow it. All these petty rivalries and divisions. They talk le talk but they don’t walk le fucking walk
Fuck it, fuck Europe, make CANZUK a reality
The combined GDP of the CANZUK nations, under our one king, is about $7.5 TRILLION. Easily the third largest economic power in the world (unless you count the EU which, as proven above, you cannot). With a growing population of 140 million - bigger than Japan and soon overtaking Russia
By geographical size CANZUK would be the largest country on earth: 18,188,325 square kilometers. Absolutely fucking enormous. Twice as big as the USA (in your face, Donald). It would have endless natural resources in all departments, minerals, fisheries, oil, gas, metals, rare earth, everything. It would have a world tier one capital in London, and several tier two super cities like Sydney, Toronto. It would comprise every kind of habitat, from epic rainforest to endless tundra, from temperate meadow to mighty Alps, from fertile prairies to Newent
It would have mulitiple world class universities. It would be an extremely powerful world trader. Its geographical spread would be unrivaled, dominant or significant in three continents, ruling the seas from Scapa Flow to Vancouver, from Auckland to Newfoundland
Let’s do it. Fuck it, CANZUK. Let us bestride the world!!! Scared of no one, not Vlad not Don not Xi and certainly not stupid little Manny Macron
If we made that a reality, it might also be a more natural partner for Scandinavia and Iceland/Greenland than the EU.
The people who promoted CANZUK at the time of Brexit look visonary now.
It does genuinely make sense now. CANZUK. It makes much more sense geopolitically than the EU. One language, one monarchy, one common law, one parliamentary system - we already have all of that
It would have the economic muscle to build very serious defence capabilities - including nukes, enough to ward off Putin and Donald and Xi
One journey up (then down) the AI(M) does not a conclusive survey make, but I didn't seem to see many Teslas on the motorway when I went to see my dear old mother on Sunday for her 95th birthday.
Presumably people have range anxiety so can't actually travel anywhere meaningful in the things.
It's interesting that Tesla should have brought together the hard right (hating anything eco) and the hard left (hating everything Trumpish) in one joyous band of righteousness.
I doubt a Hard Left boycott would hurt Tesla since few could afford one to start with. Affluent libs otoh could do some damage.
Very true. I trust your Tesla remains unbought.
Not with a bargepole. I'm a petrolhead.
Are you a string-backed or perforated leather glove kind of guy.
Well Alan Partridge is string-backed so I suspect Kinabalu will be too.
That is extremely insulting, Taz, and if you have a decent bone in your body you'll retract and apologise.
I think Montevideo might be the most boring capital city I have ever visited. It’s so…. innocuously pleasant in a totally low profile boring who cares way
I rather like it
That said, I have never visited Ottawa or Canberra
I think Montevideo might be the most boring capital city I have ever visited. It’s so…. innocuously pleasant in a totally low profile boring who cares way
I rather like it
That said, I have never visited Ottawa or Canberra
I have had the misfortune to visit Ottawa....it was so unbelievably boring I spent every day getting shit faced.
Sadly, this is a classic dinosaurs mating kind of deal. To properly challenge Starlink, rather than just rehash OneWeb, you need cheap launch and a mega-constellation.
Unfortunately, this is still heresy inside ESA and ArianeSpace. A friend was fired from ESA for being too enthusiastic about the Themis project. Yes, that's right. Being enthusiastic about a 100% European development project is bad politics in Europe. FFS.
See also Macron’s refusal to allow Europe to consider UK defence companies as Europe spends $800bn to rearm
French economic selfishness sometimes reaches such myopic extremes it becomes self-harming. The UK has spent billions on helping Ukraine (more than France); the UK is the natural partner for France and Europe, but it has to be two way or it won’t work; the UK brings intel capabilities significantly in advance of anything in the EU
Yet the French won’t countenance pooling resources with the UK because, of course, European strategic autonomy means, for Paris, lots of German and Italian money being spent in France, and nowhere else
Europe is gonna blow it. All these petty rivalries and divisions. They talk le talk but they don’t walk le fucking walk
Fuck it, fuck Europe, make CANZUK a reality
The combined GDP of the CANZUK nations, under our one king, is about $7.5 TRILLION. Easily the third largest economic power in the world (unless you count the EU which, as proven above, you cannot). With a growing population of 140 million - bigger than Japan and soon overtaking Russia
By geographical size CANZUK would be the largest country on earth: 18,188,325 square kilometers. Absolutely fucking enormous. Twice as big as the USA (in your face, Donald). It would have endless natural resources in all departments, minerals, fisheries, oil, gas, metals, rare earth, everything. It would have a world tier one capital in London, and several tier two super cities like Sydney, Toronto. It would comprise every kind of habitat, from epic rainforest to endless tundra, from temperate meadow to mighty Alps, from fertile prairies to Newent
It would have mulitiple world class universities. It would be an extremely powerful world trader. Its geographical spread would be unrivaled, dominant or significant in three continents, ruling the seas from Scapa Flow to Vancouver, from Auckland to Newfoundland
Let’s do it. Fuck it, CANZUK. Let us bestride the world!!! Scared of no one, not Vlad not Don not Xi and certainly not stupid little Manny Macron
If we made that a reality, it might also be a more natural partner for Scandinavia and Iceland/Greenland than the EU.
The people who promoted CANZUK at the time of Brexit look visonary now.
Although not as much as those who at the time of Brexit opposed Brexit.
Sadly, this is a classic dinosaurs mating kind of deal. To properly challenge Starlink, rather than just rehash OneWeb, you need cheap launch and a mega-constellation.
Unfortunately, this is still heresy inside ESA and ArianeSpace. A friend was fired from ESA for being too enthusiastic about the Themis project. Yes, that's right. Being enthusiastic about a 100% European development project is bad politics in Europe. FFS.
See also Macron’s refusal to allow Europe to consider UK defence companies as Europe spends $800bn to rearm
French economic selfishness sometimes reaches such myopic extremes it becomes self-harming. The UK has spent billions on helping Ukraine (more than France); the UK is the natural partner for France and Europe, but it has to be two way or it won’t work; the UK brings intel capabilities significantly in advance of anything in the EU
Yet the French won’t countenance pooling resources with the UK because, of course, European strategic autonomy means, for Paris, lots of German and Italian money being spent in France, and nowhere else
Europe is gonna blow it. All these petty rivalries and divisions. They talk le talk but they don’t walk le fucking walk
Fuck it, fuck Europe, make CANZUK a reality
The combined GDP of the CANZUK nations, under our one king, is about $7.5 TRILLION. Easily the third largest economic power in the world (unless you count the EU which, as proven above, you cannot). With a growing population of 140 million - bigger than Japan and soon overtaking Russia
By geographical size CANZUK would be the largest country on earth: 18,188,325 square kilometers. Absolutely fucking enormous. Twice as big as the USA (in your face, Donald). It would have endless natural resources in all departments, minerals, fisheries, oil, gas, metals, rare earth, everything. It would have a world tier one capital in London, and several tier two super cities like Sydney, Toronto. It would comprise every kind of habitat, from epic rainforest to endless tundra, from temperate meadow to mighty Alps, from fertile prairies to Newent
It would have mulitiple world class universities. It would be an extremely powerful world trader. Its geographical spread would be unrivaled, dominant or significant in three continents, ruling the seas from Scapa Flow to Vancouver, from Auckland to Newfoundland
Let’s do it. Fuck it, CANZUK. Let us bestride the world!!! Scared of no one, not Vlad not Don not Xi and certainly not stupid little Manny Macron
If we made that a reality, it might also be a more natural partner for Scandinavia and Iceland/Greenland than the EU.
The people who promoted CANZUK at the time of Brexit look visonary now.
It does genuinely make sense now. CANZUK. It makes much more sense geopolitically than the EU. One language, one monarchy, one common law, one parliamentary system - we already have all of that
It would have the economic muscle to build very serious defence capabilities - including nukes, enough to ward off Putin and Donald and Xi
From a PB perspective, the betting opportunities of CANZUK elections would be an additional bonus, and it would encourage more cross-pollination of politicians between the King's realms. Instead of just employing Australian consultants, the Tories could get an Australian leader.
So it seems Trump finally got to have an audience with Putin, got played like a fiddle, and has come away having agreed to a series of moves all of which would directly benefit Russia.
And will now put pressure on Ukraine to suck it all up.
Putin bullies Trump, then Trump bullies Zelenskyy.
Pathetic, isn't it.
Art of the deal isnt it. Trump is either a russian asset or a blundering fool.
Before @rcs1000 jumps in, I need to point out that they are waaaaaay behind. Musk has launched 7,000 of his own satellites (never mind the others) since 2019. SpaceX is responsible IIRC for 90% of rocket launches per year for the entire planet.
I think Montevideo might be the most boring capital city I have ever visited. It’s so…. innocuously pleasant in a totally low profile boring who cares way
I rather like it
That said, I have never visited Ottawa or Canberra
I have had the misfortune to visit Ottawa....it was so unbelievably boring I spent every day getting shit faced.
I can imagine
I’ve been told Canberra is actually ok. Boring but green and sunny
Isn’t Berne the proper capital of Switzerland? That sounds quite yawn
One thing that isn't talked about so much with Chinese cars, they are pretty far along with competing with Tesla FSD (yes yes we know it isn't FSD, its smart driver assist). Chinese have 3-4 companies who have systems that aren't far off what Tesla FSD can do*, while again legacy Western car companies are miles behind. Waymo is better than FSD, but it is slightly different problem being solved / different limitations.
* Again like so much with China there are throwing everything different thing at it, some have LiDAR, some don't, etc.
My phone conversation today with President Putin of Russia was a very good and productive one. We agreed to an immediate Ceasefire on all Energy and Infrastructure, with an understanding that we will be working quickly to have a Complete Ceasefire and, ultimately, an END to this very horrible War between Russia and Ukraine. This War would have never started if I were President! Many elements of a Contract for Peace were discussed, including the fact that thousands of soldiers are being killed, and both President Putin and President Zelenskyy would like to see it end. That process is now in full force and effect, and we will, hopefully, for the sake of Humanity, get the job done!
Donald Trump Truth Social Post 3/18/25 02:49 PM 6:50 PM · Mar 18, 2025 · 105.1K Views
Zelenskyy should refuse this sham ceasefire but I expect he will have to along with it for the timebeing but this whole process is going nowhere .
Putin is way more intelligent than Trump and can manipulate him easily. Hes playing chess whilst Trump is playing checkers or maybe snakes and ladders.
Zelenskyy should refuse this sham ceasefire but I expect he will have to along with it for the timebeing but this whole process is going nowhere .
Explosions rang out and air raid sirens sounded over the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on Tuesday night after Vladimir Putin ordered a 30-day halt to strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure.
Kyiv authorities urged residents of the capital to take cover in shelters, citing the threat of a Russian aerial attack, while blasts sounding over the city.
I think Montevideo might be the most boring capital city I have ever visited. It’s so…. innocuously pleasant in a totally low profile boring who cares way
I rather like it
That said, I have never visited Ottawa or Canberra
I have had the misfortune to visit Ottawa....it was so unbelievably boring I spent every day getting shit faced.
I liked Ottawa. Interesting museums - OK I know some people find museums boring but I don't. We did an interesting trip along the Rideau canal and surrounding area in an amphibian vehicle called the Lady Diver! We had a certain frisson when we told afterwards that it sank a few years ago killing all on board.
One journey up (then down) the AI(M) does not a conclusive survey make, but I didn't seem to see many Teslas on the motorway when I went to see my dear old mother on Sunday for her 95th birthday.
Presumably people have range anxiety so can't actually travel anywhere meaningful in the things.
It's interesting that Tesla should have brought together the hard right (hating anything eco) and the hard left (hating everything Trumpish) in one joyous band of righteousness.
I doubt a Hard Left boycott would hurt Tesla since few could afford one to start with. Affluent libs otoh could do some damage.
Very true. I trust your Tesla remains unbought.
Not with a bargepole. I'm a petrolhead.
Are you a string-backed or perforated leather glove kind of guy.
Well Alan Partridge is string-backed so I suspect Kinabalu will be too.
That is extremely insulting, Taz, and if you have a decent bone in your body you'll retract and apologise.
Partridge is a Tory.
Well he did cause a Tory Minister to resign due to her sleeping with rent boys (Sandy Peaks) and cost the Tories one of the safest seats in the country in a by election when he hosted a discussion panel, a chap called Adrian Finch after he swore at another candidate, Lt Col Kojak Slaphead the third.
We are at war. People just need to decide whose side they are on: the side of Russia (and China...), or the side of democracy and civilisation.
The US is making its decision. Sadly, it is for the former, not the latter.
Sadly if the US, Russia and China are on the same side thats a formidable force. That basically leaves Europe and Canada and Australia to hold the fort on the other side.
Before @rcs1000 jumps in, I need to point out that they are waaaaaay behind. Musk has launched 7,000 of his own satellites (never mind the others) since 2019. SpaceX is responsible IIRC for 90% of rocket launches per year for the entire planet.
Sadly, this is a classic dinosaurs mating kind of deal. To properly challenge Starlink, rather than just rehash OneWeb, you need cheap launch and a mega-constellation.
Unfortunately, this is still heresy inside ESA and ArianeSpace. A friend was fired from ESA for being too enthusiastic about the Themis project. Yes, that's right. Being enthusiastic about a 100% European development project is bad politics in Europe. FFS.
See also Macron’s refusal to allow Europe to consider UK defence companies as Europe spends $800bn to rearm
French economic selfishness sometimes reaches such myopic extremes it becomes self-harming. The UK has spent billions on helping Ukraine (more than France); the UK is the natural partner for France and Europe, but it has to be two way or it won’t work; the UK brings intel capabilities significantly in advance of anything in the EU
Yet the French won’t countenance pooling resources with the UK because, of course, European strategic autonomy means, for Paris, lots of German and Italian money being spent in France, and nowhere else
Europe is gonna blow it. All these petty rivalries and divisions. They talk le talk but they don’t walk le fucking walk...
You don't have the resolution to vote for the same party twice in a row these days.
Organising a cross-continents multinational hookup is probably beyond your attention span.
Sadly, this is a classic dinosaurs mating kind of deal. To properly challenge Starlink, rather than just rehash OneWeb, you need cheap launch and a mega-constellation.
Unfortunately, this is still heresy inside ESA and ArianeSpace. A friend was fired from ESA for being too enthusiastic about the Themis project. Yes, that's right. Being enthusiastic about a 100% European development project is bad politics in Europe. FFS.
See also Macron’s refusal to allow Europe to consider UK defence companies as Europe spends $800bn to rearm
French economic selfishness sometimes reaches such myopic extremes it becomes self-harming. The UK has spent billions on helping Ukraine (more than France); the UK is the natural partner for France and Europe, but it has to be two way or it won’t work; the UK brings intel capabilities significantly in advance of anything in the EU
Yet the French won’t countenance pooling resources with the UK because, of course, European strategic autonomy means, for Paris, lots of German and Italian money being spent in France, and nowhere else
Europe is gonna blow it. All these petty rivalries and divisions. They talk le talk but they don’t walk le fucking walk...
You don't have the resolution to vote for the same party twice in a row these days.
Organising a cross-continents multinational hookup is probably beyond your attention span.
My god. What a devastating barb
“You probably don’t have the attention span to organise a cross-continents multinational hookup”
Not only is it brutally true, the way the prose sings makes it even more piercing
One thing that isn't talked about so much with Chinese cars, they are pretty far along with competing with Tesla FSD (yes yes we know it isn't FSD, its smart driver assist). Chinese have 3-4 companies who have systems that aren't far off what Tesla FSD can do*, while again legacy Western car companies are miles behind. Waymo is better than FSD, but it is slightly different problem being solved / different limitations.
* Again like so much with China there are throwing everything different thing at it, some have LiDAR, some don't, etc.
OK, shoot me here.
I've had a Tesla with FSD. It was great. But I also barely used it. Because driving when you're not driving is really boring. And you can't actually do anything else, because it expects you to take over at any moment.
And Tesla also wanted something insane from me each month: like hundreds of dollars. My wife's Fiat 500e costs less to lease than Tesla wanted monthly for a feature I only ever use in slow moving traffic to avoid having to concentrate on stopping and starting every 10 seconds. (Which, candidly, pretty much any modern cruise control can do.)
FSD on cars is a little bit like speech recognition on PCs in the late 1990s. Both amazingly impressive, and completely useless.
One journey up (then down) the AI(M) does not a conclusive survey make, but I didn't seem to see many Teslas on the motorway when I went to see my dear old mother on Sunday for her 95th birthday.
Presumably people have range anxiety so can't actually travel anywhere meaningful in the things.
It's interesting that Tesla should have brought together the hard right (hating anything eco) and the hard left (hating everything Trumpish) in one joyous band of righteousness.
I doubt a Hard Left boycott would hurt Tesla since few could afford one to start with. Affluent libs otoh could do some damage.
Very true. I trust your Tesla remains unbought.
Not with a bargepole. I'm a petrolhead.
Are you a string-backed or perforated leather glove kind of guy.
Probably wears a cravat too. He would love to drive a Jaaag, but that would be too interesting so sticks to the Skoda.
Like I said ... Golf GTI.
High performance, well-proportioned exterior. Perfect for me.
Boring and obvious. At least I drove a Mini John Cooper Works
I'd have felt too exposed in that. But if you can handle all the attention, fine. It's a car alright.
I had. Golf GTi in the 90s. Didn't like it. Swapped for an Audi Quattro. I now have 3 cars. A very basic Kia Picanto as a run around, a top of the range Kia Sportage for journeys. It more or less drives itself. It is really nice. And finally a recently bought Cobra for fun and posing. In the summer I will try it out on a track day.
Looks like another judge just hit Musk, right in his DOGEbags...
A federal judge on Tuesday said Elon Musk and DOGE likely violated the U.S Constitution with it's "accelerated" shutdown of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
The big picture: The shutdown harmed public interest and deprived Congress of using its constitutional authority as the public's elected representatives to decide what to do with an agency it created, the judge said in his written opinion.
U.S. District Judge Theodore D. Chuang ordered DOGE to restore USAID emails, payments, security notifications, electronic systems and more within seven days of his order.
Chuang also barred the federal government from terminating employees or placing them on leave, closing USAID buildings and shutting down USAID information technology systems.
➡️ More than 24,000 workers at 18 federal agencies who were fired as part of Trump's efforts to shrink size of the govt are now in the process of being rehired following a federal judge's order last week, @MelissaQuinn97 reports
It’s not boring at all. It’s fascinating (and charmingly full of trees)
Why is it fascinating? I’ve just realised it’s the first large Latin American city I’ve ever visited which doesn’t have that “edge”. That be-on-your-guard vibe
I’m sure there is crime here. Some windows have cages to stop burglars. But it’s not edgy and sketchy at all
It’s less edgy than VANCOUVER - which it somewhat resembles albeit much poorer
It’s not boring at all. It’s fascinating (and charmingly full of trees)
Why is it fascinating? I’ve just realised it’s the first large Latin American city I’ve ever visited which doesn’t have that “edge”. That be-on-your-guard vibe
I’m sure there is crime here. Some windows have cages to stop burglars. But it’s not edgy and sketchy at all
It’s less edgy than VANCOUVER - which it somewhat resembles albeit much poorer
Are the Flint Knappers Weekly just sending you to Uruguay or are you off to nearby Argentina e.g. Buenos Aires
Sadly, this is a classic dinosaurs mating kind of deal. To properly challenge Starlink, rather than just rehash OneWeb, you need cheap launch and a mega-constellation.
Unfortunately, this is still heresy inside ESA and ArianeSpace. A friend was fired from ESA for being too enthusiastic about the Themis project. Yes, that's right. Being enthusiastic about a 100% European development project is bad politics in Europe. FFS.
See also Macron’s refusal to allow Europe to consider UK defence companies as Europe spends $800bn to rearm
French economic selfishness sometimes reaches such myopic extremes it becomes self-harming. The UK has spent billions on helping Ukraine (more than France); the UK is the natural partner for France and Europe, but it has to be two way or it won’t work; the UK brings intel capabilities significantly in advance of anything in the EU
Yet the French won’t countenance pooling resources with the UK because, of course, European strategic autonomy means, for Paris, lots of German and Italian money being spent in France, and nowhere else
Europe is gonna blow it. All these petty rivalries and divisions. They talk le talk but they don’t walk le fucking walk
Fuck it, fuck Europe, make CANZUK a reality
The combined GDP of the CANZUK nations, under our one king, is about $7.5 TRILLION. Easily the third largest economic power in the world (unless you count the EU which, as proven above, you cannot). With a growing population of 140 million - bigger than Japan and soon overtaking Russia
By geographical size CANZUK would be the largest country on earth: 18,188,325 square kilometers. Absolutely fucking enormous. Twice as big as the USA (in your face, Donald). It would have endless natural resources in all departments, minerals, fisheries, oil, gas, metals, rare earth, everything. It would have a world tier one capital in London, and several tier two super cities like Sydney, Toronto. It would comprise every kind of habitat, from epic rainforest to endless tundra, from temperate meadow to mighty Alps, from fertile prairies to Newent
It would have mulitiple world class universities. It would be an extremely powerful world trader. Its geographical spread would be unrivaled, dominant or significant in three continents, ruling the seas from Scapa Flow to Vancouver, from Auckland to Newfoundland
Let’s do it. Fuck it, CANZUK. Let us bestride the world!!! Scared of no one, not Vlad not Don not Xi and certainly not stupid little Manny Macron
If we made that a reality, it might also be a more natural partner for Scandinavia and Iceland/Greenland than the EU.
The people who promoted CANZUK at the time of Brexit look visonary now.
It does genuinely make sense now. CANZUK. It makes much more sense geopolitically than the EU. One language, one monarchy, one common law, one parliamentary system - we already have all of that
It would have the economic muscle to build very serious defence capabilities - including nukes, enough to ward off Putin and Donald and Xi
si vous pensez que le Canada est monolingue, j'ai un pont au Québec à vous vendre
One thing that isn't talked about so much with Chinese cars, they are pretty far along with competing with Tesla FSD (yes yes we know it isn't FSD, its smart driver assist). Chinese have 3-4 companies who have systems that aren't far off what Tesla FSD can do*, while again legacy Western car companies are miles behind. Waymo is better than FSD, but it is slightly different problem being solved / different limitations.
* Again like so much with China there are throwing everything different thing at it, some have LiDAR, some don't, etc.
OK, shoot me here.
I've had a Tesla with FSD. It was great. But I also barely used it. Because driving when you're not driving is really boring. And you can't actually do anything else, because it expects you to take over at any moment.
And Tesla also wanted something insane from me each month: like hundreds of dollars. My wife's Fiat 500e costs less to lease than Tesla wanted monthly for a feature I only ever use in slow moving traffic to avoid having to concentrate on stopping and starting every 10 seconds. (Which, candidly, pretty much any modern cruise control can do.)
FSD on cars is a little bit like speech recognition on PCs in the late 1990s. Both amazingly impressive, and completely useless.
I have a feeling the Chinese cars won't be charging $100s per month for their FSD equivalent.
One thing that isn't talked about so much with Chinese cars, they are pretty far along with competing with Tesla FSD (yes yes we know it isn't FSD, its smart driver assist). Chinese have 3-4 companies who have systems that aren't far off what Tesla FSD can do*, while again legacy Western car companies are miles behind. Waymo is better than FSD, but it is slightly different problem being solved / different limitations.
* Again like so much with China there are throwing everything different thing at it, some have LiDAR, some don't, etc.
OK, shoot me here.
I've had a Tesla with FSD. It was great. But I also barely used it. Because driving when you're not driving is really boring. And you can't actually do anything else, because it expects you to take over at any moment.
And Tesla also wanted something insane from me each month: like hundreds of dollars. My wife's Fiat 500e costs less to lease than Tesla wanted monthly for a feature I only ever use in slow moving traffic to avoid having to concentrate on stopping and starting every 10 seconds. (Which, candidly, pretty much any modern cruise control can do.)
FSD on cars is a little bit like speech recognition on PCs in the late 1990s. Both amazingly impressive, and completely useless.
Agree. Self-driving cars that need babysitting are entirely useless. It's as easy to drive as it is to passenge. Unless and until this technology drives me home drunk, I'm not interested.
One journey up (then down) the AI(M) does not a conclusive survey make, but I didn't seem to see many Teslas on the motorway when I went to see my dear old mother on Sunday for her 95th birthday.
Presumably people have range anxiety so can't actually travel anywhere meaningful in the things.
It's interesting that Tesla should have brought together the hard right (hating anything eco) and the hard left (hating everything Trumpish) in one joyous band of righteousness.
I doubt a Hard Left boycott would hurt Tesla since few could afford one to start with. Affluent libs otoh could do some damage.
Very true. I trust your Tesla remains unbought.
Not with a bargepole. I'm a petrolhead.
Are you a string-backed or perforated leather glove kind of guy.
Well Alan Partridge is string-backed so I suspect Kinabalu will be too.
That is extremely insulting, Taz, and if you have a decent bone in your body you'll retract and apologise.
Partridge is a Tory.
Well he did cause a Tory Minister to resign due to her sleeping with rent boys (Sandy Peaks) and cost the Tories one of the safest seats in the country in a by election when he hosted a discussion panel, a chap called Adrian Finch after he swore at another candidate, Lt Col Kojak Slaphead the third.
So perhaps not all bad !!
Yes, I recall. But still, Tory through and through. And I think you knew that.
We are at war. People just need to decide whose side they are on: the side of Russia (and China...), or the side of democracy and civilisation.
The US is making its decision. Sadly, it is for the former, not the latter.
Sadly if the US, Russia and China are on the same side thats a formidable force. That basically leaves Europe and Canada and Australia to hold the fort on the other side.
One thing that isn't talked about so much with Chinese cars, they are pretty far along with competing with Tesla FSD (yes yes we know it isn't FSD, its smart driver assist). Chinese have 3-4 companies who have systems that aren't far off what Tesla FSD can do*, while again legacy Western car companies are miles behind. Waymo is better than FSD, but it is slightly different problem being solved / different limitations.
* Again like so much with China there are throwing everything different thing at it, some have LiDAR, some don't, etc.
OK, shoot me here.
I've had a Tesla with FSD. It was great. But I also barely used it. Because driving when you're not driving is really boring. And you can't actually do anything else, because it expects you to take over at any moment.
And Tesla also wanted something insane from me each month: like hundreds of dollars. My wife's Fiat 500e costs less to lease than Tesla wanted monthly for a feature I only ever use in slow moving traffic to avoid having to concentrate on stopping and starting every 10 seconds. (Which, candidly, pretty much any modern cruise control can do.)
FSD on cars is a little bit like speech recognition on PCs in the late 1990s. Both amazingly impressive, and completely useless.
Agree. Self-driving cars that need babysitting are entirely useless. It's as easy to drive as it is to passenge. Unless and until this technology drives me home drunk, I'm not interested.
Quite: it needs to be able to replace an Uber, otherwise what's the point?
I am on a train. I have a double seat to myself. On the other side of the aisle is a little old lady who is engrossed in her mobile and is making zero sound. I HAVE WON THE GAME OF TRAIN!
(If yobbos join at later stops I will apprise you)
I’ve just finished watching Adolescence. It’s one of the most emotional 4 hours of TV I can recall watching. To say nothing of the “that’s impossible” reaction to some of the cinematography of its single take nature.
It’s going to win everything. And I do mean *everything*. They need to invent new categories to do it justice.
It’s not boring at all. It’s fascinating (and charmingly full of trees)
Why is it fascinating? I’ve just realised it’s the first large Latin American city I’ve ever visited which doesn’t have that “edge”. That be-on-your-guard vibe
I’m sure there is crime here. Some windows have cages to stop burglars. But it’s not edgy and sketchy at all
It’s less edgy than VANCOUVER - which it somewhat resembles albeit much poorer
Are the Flint Knappers Weekly just sending you to Uruguay or are you off to nearby Argentina e.g. Buenos Aires
Just Uruguay. Tight schedule too
I have travelled quite widely in Argentina and I can confirm that Montevideo is 300 times nicer than Buenos Aires (tho they apparently share the same crap cuisine (unless you adore steaks and only steaks))
It’s hard to capture Montevideo’s charm in one photo. You need a load to give the sense of its seaside wateriness. And the clever way they hide all the ugly modern buildings with trees. So many trees. So his will have to do. But this doesn’t give the sense of life. The streets are full of kids and families and men siting at cafes drinking espresso in the sun
Sadly, this is a classic dinosaurs mating kind of deal. To properly challenge Starlink, rather than just rehash OneWeb, you need cheap launch and a mega-constellation.
Unfortunately, this is still heresy inside ESA and ArianeSpace. A friend was fired from ESA for being too enthusiastic about the Themis project. Yes, that's right. Being enthusiastic about a 100% European development project is bad politics in Europe. FFS.
See also Macron’s refusal to allow Europe to consider UK defence companies as Europe spends $800bn to rearm
French economic selfishness sometimes reaches such myopic extremes it becomes self-harming. The UK has spent billions on helping Ukraine (more than France); the UK is the natural partner for France and Europe, but it has to be two way or it won’t work; the UK brings intel capabilities significantly in advance of anything in the EU
Yet the French won’t countenance pooling resources with the UK because, of course, European strategic autonomy means, for Paris, lots of German and Italian money being spent in France, and nowhere else
Europe is gonna blow it. All these petty rivalries and divisions. They talk le talk but they don’t walk le fucking walk
Fuck it, fuck Europe, make CANZUK a reality
The combined GDP of the CANZUK nations, under our one king, is about $7.5 TRILLION. Easily the third largest economic power in the world (unless you count the EU which, as proven above, you cannot). With a growing population of 140 million - bigger than Japan and soon overtaking Russia
By geographical size CANZUK would be the largest country on earth: 18,188,325 square kilometers. Absolutely fucking enormous. Twice as big as the USA (in your face, Donald). It would have endless natural resources in all departments, minerals, fisheries, oil, gas, metals, rare earth, everything. It would have a world tier one capital in London, and several tier two super cities like Sydney, Toronto. It would comprise every kind of habitat, from epic rainforest to endless tundra, from temperate meadow to mighty Alps, from fertile prairies to Newent
It would have mulitiple world class universities. It would be an extremely powerful world trader. Its geographical spread would be unrivaled, dominant or significant in three continents, ruling the seas from Scapa Flow to Vancouver, from Auckland to Newfoundland
Let’s do it. Fuck it, CANZUK. Let us bestride the world!!! Scared of no one, not Vlad not Don not Xi and certainly not stupid little Manny Macron
If we made that a reality, it might also be a more natural partner for Scandinavia and Iceland/Greenland than the EU.
The people who promoted CANZUK at the time of Brexit look visonary now.
It does genuinely make sense now. CANZUK. It makes much more sense geopolitically than the EU. One language, one monarchy, one common law, one parliamentary system - we already have all of that
It would have the economic muscle to build very serious defence capabilities - including nukes, enough to ward off Putin and Donald and Xi
si vous pensez que le Canada est monolingue, j'ai un pont au Québec à vous vendre
Furthermore, we couldn't have joint nuclear weapons (if that was what Leon meant) because blowing up the world isn't something you can decide as a group. Nobody would be worried about the 'CANZUK' nuclear deterrent. That's why we need UK ones that are only UK ones.
I am on a train. I have a double seat to myself. On the other side of the aisle is a little old lady who is engrossed in her mobile and is making zero sound. I HAVE WON THE GAME OF TRAIN!
(If yobbos join at later stops I will apprise you)
This is the post-modern opening to the rewrite of the 4.50 from Paddington, isn't it?
I think Montevideo might be the most boring capital city I have ever visited. It’s so…. innocuously pleasant in a totally low profile boring who cares way
I rather like it
That said, I have never visited Ottawa or Canberra
I have had the misfortune to visit Ottawa....it was so unbelievably boring I spent every day getting shit faced.
I liked Ottawa. Interesting museums - OK I know some people find museums boring but I don't. We did an interesting trip along the Rideau canal and surrounding area in an amphibian vehicle called the Lady Diver! We had a certain frisson when we told afterwards that it sank a few years ago killing all on board.
I went on a party trip on the Marchioness in about 1987, for an engagement party. We were all smashed and thinking about it it was an obvious deathtrap.
I think Montevideo might be the most boring capital city I have ever visited. It’s so…. innocuously pleasant in a totally low profile boring who cares way
I rather like it
That said, I have never visited Ottawa or Canberra
I have had the misfortune to visit Ottawa....it was so unbelievably boring I spent every day getting shit faced.
I liked Ottawa. Interesting museums - OK I know some people find museums boring but I don't. We did an interesting trip along the Rideau canal and surrounding area in an amphibian vehicle called the Lady Diver! We had a certain frisson when we told afterwards that it sank a few years ago killing all on board.
I went on a party trip on the Marchioness in about 1987, for an engagement party. We were all smashed and thinking about it it was an obvious deathtrap.
Comments
Then think some more. And smash some more.
Putin is incredibly vulnerable on this.
See if he is vulnerable enough to properly discuss peace.
In the court politics I'd think Ivanka might be more favoured and pliable than the others,
I don't see another free election after the midterms.
https://www.arielmotor.co.uk/ariel-vehicles/ariel-atom/
Most depots are in areas with grid capacity constraints, but that's been dealt with by sizing the battery appropriately.
Filling stations are less likely on average to be grid constrained than urban bus depots. Sure, there are probably a few in city centre locations which might be faced with having to shell out for such a huge battery that they may become uneconomic - but most will be fine.
At worst, some urban drivers may have to travel a little further to fill up. It's the grid and generator situation that we need to keep an eye on, not so much the service stations.
And if you look at people under the age of 25, every single group — white, nonwhite, male or female — is considerably more conservative than their millennial counterparts. And it even seems that Donald Trump narrowly won nonwhite 18-year-old men, which is not something that has ever happened in Democratic politics before.
Here's a pretty picture:
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ByPk9bUD6Ro
And will now put pressure on Ukraine to suck it all up.
Putin bullies Trump, then Trump bullies Zelenskyy.
Nick Clegg made $100m
We're jailing the wrong people.
https://www.lbc.co.uk/politics/uk-politics/laura-trott-bans-children-phone/
1) don’t set fire to immigrants
2) don’t advocate setting fire to immigrants
3) not even small ones
4) especially not small ones.
So Zelensky goes on TV to announce a ceasefire on blowing up Russian oil refineries. While quadrupling drone strikes on refineries. Then denying that they are strikes
“Our sight seeing drones were trying to study the world famous spires of Russian cathedrals. But accidentally went of course and exploded.”
French economic selfishness sometimes reaches such myopic extremes it becomes self-harming. The UK has spent billions on helping Ukraine (more than France); the UK is the natural partner for France and Europe, but it has to be two way or it won’t work; the UK brings intel capabilities significantly in advance of anything in the EU
Yet the French won’t countenance pooling resources with the UK because, of course, European strategic autonomy means, for Paris, lots of German and Italian money being spent in France, and nowhere else
Europe is gonna blow it. All these petty rivalries and divisions. They talk le talk but they don’t walk le fucking walk
Fuck it, fuck Europe, make CANZUK a reality
The combined GDP of the CANZUK nations, under our one king, is about $7.5 TRILLION. Easily the third largest economic power in the world (unless you count the EU which, as proven above, you cannot). With a growing population of 140 million - bigger than Japan and soon overtaking Russia
By geographical size CANZUK would be the largest country on earth: 18,188,325 square kilometers. Absolutely fucking enormous. Twice as big as the USA (in your face, Donald). It would have endless natural resources in all departments, minerals, fisheries, oil, gas, metals, rare earth, everything. It would have a world tier one capital in London, and several tier two super cities like Sydney, Toronto. It would comprise every kind of habitat, from epic rainforest to endless tundra, from temperate meadow to mighty Alps, from fertile prairies to Newent
It would have mulitiple world class universities. It would be an extremely powerful world trader. Its geographical spread would be unrivaled, dominant or significant in three continents, ruling the seas from Scapa Flow to Vancouver, from Auckland to Newfoundland
Let’s do it. Fuck it, CANZUK. Let us bestride the world!!! Scared of no one, not Vlad not Don not Xi and certainly not stupid little Manny Macron
Was hoping that the new ones would be good but nope - so I got a boring Seat Leon and Mrs Eek got the “fun” car.
Sadly her definition of fun isn’t horse power but a roof that goes down
The people who promoted CANZUK at the time of Brexit look visonary now.
It's policy, economics, zeitgeist, propaganda and, yes, foreign interference.
And Merz has got his 'exempt defence spending from debt brake' policy through parliament in Germany.
I suspect both will join Starmer and Macron at the summit of the non-US NATO alliance through most of Trump's term.
It would have the economic muscle to build very
serious defence capabilities - including nukes, enough to ward off Putin and Donald and Xi
Partridge is a Tory.
Proxies deploying tactics including migrant smuggling in destabilisation efforts across EU, enforcement agency finds
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/mar/18/russia-criminal-networks-drive-increase-sabotage-europol
This Putin chap might be a bit of a wrong'un.
I rather like it
That said, I have never visited Ottawa or Canberra
We are at war. People just need to decide whose side they are on: the side of Russia (and China...), or the side of democracy and civilisation.
The US is making its decision. Sadly, it is for the former, not the latter.
Europe in particular can't afford not to try.
I’ve been told Canberra is actually ok. Boring but green and sunny
Isn’t Berne the proper capital of Switzerland? That sounds quite yawn
* Again like so much with China there are throwing everything different thing at it, some have LiDAR, some don't, etc.
Donald Trump Truth Social Post 3/18/25 02:49 PM
6:50 PM · Mar 18, 2025
·
105.1K
Views
https://x.com/TrumpDailyPosts/status/1902070224649678873
In other words a total failure. Notice hes had no big press conference today.
Kyiv authorities urged residents of the capital to take cover in shelters, citing the threat of a Russian aerial attack, while blasts sounding over the city.
So perhaps not all bad !!
Organising a cross-continents multinational hookup is probably beyond your attention span.
“You probably don’t have the attention span to
organise a cross-continents multinational hookup”
Not only is it brutally true, the way the prose sings makes it even more piercing
Lithuania, Poland, Latvia and Estonia have announced their withdrawal from the Ottawa Convention on Anti-Personnel Mines.
I've had a Tesla with FSD. It was great. But I also barely used it. Because driving when you're not driving is really boring. And you can't actually do anything else, because it expects you to take over at any moment.
And Tesla also wanted something insane from me each month: like hundreds of dollars. My wife's Fiat 500e costs less to lease than Tesla wanted monthly for a feature I only ever use in slow moving traffic to avoid having to concentrate on stopping and starting every 10 seconds. (Which, candidly, pretty much any modern cruise control can do.)
FSD on cars is a little bit like speech recognition on PCs in the late 1990s. Both amazingly impressive, and completely useless.
"@BritainElects
📊 Lab lead of 2pts
LAB: 26% (+2)
REF: 24% (+1)
CON: 22% (-)
LDEM: 14% (-1)
GRN: 9% (-)
via @YouGov, 16 - 17 Mar"
https://x.com/BritainElects/status/1901957673618166213
A federal judge on Tuesday said Elon Musk and DOGE likely violated the U.S Constitution with it's "accelerated" shutdown of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
The big picture: The shutdown harmed public interest and deprived Congress of using its constitutional authority as the public's elected representatives to decide what to do with an agency it created, the judge said in his written opinion.
U.S. District Judge Theodore D. Chuang ordered DOGE to restore USAID emails, payments, security notifications, electronic systems and more within seven days of his order.
Chuang also barred the federal government from terminating employees or placing them on leave, closing USAID buildings and shutting down USAID information technology systems.
https://www.axios.com/2025/03/18/usaid-shutdown-unconstitutional-federal-judge-doge
➡️ More than 24,000 workers at 18 federal agencies who were fired as part of Trump's efforts to shrink size of the govt are now in the process of being rehired following a federal judge's order last week,
@MelissaQuinn97
reports
It’s not boring at all. It’s fascinating (and charmingly full of trees)
Why is it fascinating? I’ve just realised it’s the first large Latin American city I’ve ever visited which doesn’t have that “edge”. That be-on-your-guard vibe
I’m sure there is crime here. Some windows have cages to stop burglars. But it’s not edgy and sketchy at all
It’s less edgy than VANCOUVER - which it somewhat resembles albeit much poorer
https://www.reformparty.uk/counter
Unless and until this technology drives me home drunk, I'm not interested.
https://x.com/reviewjournal/status/1902010578903941330
(If yobbos join at later stops I will apprise you)
Tesla's Q1 results will be fun to watch.
It’s going to win everything. And I do mean *everything*. They need to invent new categories to do it justice.
Wow. Just Wow.
I have travelled quite widely in Argentina and I can confirm that Montevideo is 300 times nicer than Buenos Aires (tho they apparently share the same crap cuisine (unless you adore steaks and only steaks))
It’s hard to capture Montevideo’s charm in one photo. You need a load to give the sense of its seaside wateriness. And the clever way they hide all the ugly modern buildings with trees. So many trees. So his will have to do. But this doesn’t give the sense of life. The streets are full of kids and families and men siting at cafes drinking espresso in the sun
A number of sites are being considered for the new factory, including one in the northwest of England and another in the Oxford-Cambridge arc.
https://x.com/AscendedYield/status/1901943641561547091
Interesting.
But unlike most of the billionaires, he's genuinely self-made.
His sister, Ginger Luckey Gaetz, the wife of Rep. Matt Gaetz...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marchioness_disaster