There has been a massive amount of trans hatred online over the last couple of days.
Anyone who denies trans people exist, or want to make being trans impossible, can fuck right off.
Getting your panties in a bunch Josias, calm down dear.
Nah, not really.
Seriously Malc; you should read some of the stuff that's out there. If this continues another trans person will end up being killed.
This is the new world, where trans people are all just pretending. Hence the very deliberate language in the header about “sad trans identified men”. The sneery dismissal oozing out, which reminds me a little of the Russian attitude to “so called Ukrainians” with their pretend country.
It’s like the olden days when being gay was “just a phase”.
Cyclefree has always been deep inside Gender Crit circles - in case that wasn’t already obvious. This is the language GCs have always used amongst themselves. Now she feels free to use it in public.
You played for high stakes, and lost.
Suck it up.
Good to remind ourselves every now and again why 'Never Kissed a Tory' badges used to go like hot cakes
I always thought that fuckatory* week would be more enjoyable than a "Never Kissed a Tory" badge.
* Was this in The Tick of It?
Not if the only ones available that particular week are Casino and Leon!
Lol.
I suspect Leon and I have had more and better sex with socialist women than almost all their male fellow travellers on this board.
I didn't know you'd had any sex with white male socialist fellow travellers on this board.
Interesting but hardly surprising to see Trump and Meloni apparently getting on well.
Both are strong on "immigration" which is apparently at the root of all Europe's problems.
Yet I hear no practical or coherent solutions - from "stop the boats" to "re-migration", there's a lot of people talking about immigration and saying something needs to be done but I've not heard a syllable of a practical and workable solution.
More "complaints" from Britain's greatest bunch of whingers, GB News, about Sudanese refugees at a 4* hotel - okay, fine. How do you get them out of that hotel? Where do you put them while their asylum cases are being processed? I'm led to believe (it's GB News so I take it with a bucketful of salt) there are thousands more waiting in Northern France to cross the Channel. Right - how do you prevent them crossing if that's the objective?
The whole debate is couched in sensationalist, fear mongering terms - practicality and common sense are noticeable by their absence.
Is this a serious question?
Or is it another 'what are these Brexit freedoms I hear so much about?', and then you list them, and silence, and then a week or so later - 'So who can list me a single Brexit freedom?'
If it is a serious question, you can do a number of things.
If our grant rate is three times that of France, where are you going to apply? We could do that by capping asylum figures. That could be done now.
Secondly, you could stop paying France eye watering millions upfront for what seems like zero assistance, and pay them on results - per boats destroyed, migrants detained, smugglers arrested.
Thirdly, you can detain migrants in basic purpose-built or hired accommodation. Airbases, barges. The hotels have to stop. A warm bed, safety, cleanliness and food is what someone claiming asylum should be entitled to, nothing else.
Fourthly, you can have overseas processing or overseas housing for asylum seekers, a la Rwanda. To make the latter work, you probably need to leave the ECHR. To make the former work, you don't necessarily, because there's no danger of refoulement if the successful claimants are shipped back to the UK.
Fifthly, you can actually go after the people smugglers. It took a massive BBC investigation to get the police to get their finger out of their arse and arrest the last one.
Sixthly, you can do tow backs. This is a cruel to be kind solution, as it does place boat people in a very stressful situation. It does have the upside of being a massive disincentive to ever get on a channel crossing, so in the long run probably save lives.
Want me to continue?
This is unworkable performative crap and I'm sure Lucky knows this. 1. "Cap asylum numbers" - the only point which isn't unreasonable 2. "Stop paying France" - with what is proposed below? 3. "Detain migrants in gulags" - where? Remember that the Tory government proposed this using disused airbases, only to have Tory MPs - some very senior - scream and howl. The proposal is to build fortified open prison camps, so again my question is where? Staffed by whom? Secured by whom? At what cost? 4. "Oversees processing" at which point he comedically refers to Rwanda which was not oversees processing. I have no objection in principle, but again, where? Staffed by whom? And what is the domestic legal process to render people from the UK to wherever when our courts are underfunded and partially functional? 5. "Go after the people smugglers" - the option the Tories endlessly decried. This is a great idea. Many are in France. Ah, we told france to fuck off in point 2 and are about to do worse in point 6. 6. "Do tow backs" - also known as "drowning". Who will be doing the tow backs? Coast Guard and the Navy are not only not equipped but also pointed out that such orders would be illegal last time this was seriously suggested. Even if you manage to only drown a few boats the rest arrive back into France who would need to be cooperative. See point 2.
You don't need to continue. Your proposals are crayon politics, drawn by a small child in red crayon. As always, the key to policy is that it actually has to be deliverable. Actionable. Realistic, not just "can't we tell these foreigners to fuck off".
Its a great insight into the coming Reform manifesto and deserved further commentary.
If my points were 'unworkable performative crap', you wouldn't need to respond with asinine misrepresentations or mealy mouthed acknowledgements disguised as rebukes.
I have not said 'stop paying France' have I? I have said payments should be set up in a different way that is dependent on results. You take the estimated impact on the boats of the current grants under the 'deal'. You translate that into a price per boat destroyed, smuggler arrested etc., and you agree to pay that per evidence of each outcome - you could agree to pay more than the 'going rate' as an incentive. Payment on delivery.
The previous Government already detained asylum seekers in a barge. It was perfectly servicable and comfortable. The current Government ended that - that is performative. As for other facilities, yes nimbys and Tory constituency MPs were against them - since when is that an objection for you?
Rwanda could easily have been used as a processing centre. The Government could have done so - it would have been sufficiently different from the Tories' policy 'more humane, more just' to be do-able politically. Instead they pathetically scrapped the whole scheme to make an infantile party political point, and then went bizarrely to 'learn from Claudia Meloni' on overseas processing.
Nobody EVER decried the concept of going after people smugglers, what a bizarre lie. 'Smash the gangs' was criticised as the sole strategy for solving illegal migration, and that criticism has proven valid in the event. However, even with it being the sole strategy, the police are quite clearly doing a shit job, which is why they got shown up by the BBC. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c6pyyqep831o
I suspect Yvette Cooper is 'not getting involved in operational matters', and if she doesn't have the levers to give the police a rocket over this, she needs to get them.
Towbacks and overseas processing worked in Australia. And they are far more dangerous there. I don't see what objection France could have - they were quite clearly OK with them being in French waters, as they allowed them without hindrance. So yes, they would go back to France. And if boats don't get through, no more boats come.
Morning luv! I'm picking apart specifically to demonstrate that its unworkable crap.
Most amusing is that you're still clinging to Rwanda as something that could have worked.
The depressing thing is that you have zero interest in actually tackling the pan-European migration crisis. You just want to score political points.
No, I want the issue solved and put to bed, as it has been in Australia. Where they put the necessary policies in place (against screaming leftist objections naturally), none of which involved handwringing global summits to discuss the 'pan-pacific migrant crisis'.
If Rwanda was unworkable, why is the Government actively discussed other overseas solutions? Why did they go to Meloni to 'learn' about her policy of processing in Albania? Making it up as they go along, much like you.
The missing piece of the puzzle compared to Australia is the British equivalent of Christmas Island. The logistics of sending refugees abroad is not simple and you need somewhere beyond the reach of the legal-industrial complex to warehouse them while it gets organised.
Rwanda was only one element of the Australian solution and, on its own, probably wouldn't have been workable.
Big Rish and the Gang knew all this of course. The entire policy was just something to distract red wall morons from the fact that 95%+ of the Brexitwave immigration were legal entries that the tories could have reduced any time they wanted.
There has been a massive amount of trans hatred online over the last couple of days.
Anyone who denies trans people exist, or want to make being trans impossible, can fuck right off.
Getting your panties in a bunch Josias, calm down dear.
Nah, not really.
Seriously Malc; you should read some of the stuff that's out there. If this continues another trans person will end up being killed.
This is the new world, where trans people are all just pretending. Hence the very deliberate language in the header about “sad trans identified men”. The sneery dismissal oozing out, which reminds me a little of the Russian attitude to “so called Ukrainians” with their pretend country.
It’s like the olden days when being gay was “just a phase”.
Cyclefree has always been deep inside Gender Crit circles - in case that wasn’t already obvious. This is the language GCs have always used amongst themselves. Now she feels free to use it in public.
You played for high stakes, and lost.
Suck it up.
Good to remind ourselves every now and again why 'Never Kissed a Tory' badges used to go like hot cakes
I always thought that fuckatory* week would be more enjoyable than a "Never Kissed a Tory" badge.
* Was this in The Tick of It?
Not if the only ones available that particular week are Casino and Leon!
Lol.
I suspect Leon and I have had more and better sex with socialist women than almost all their male fellow travellers on this board.
During my three months in NZ over our winter, I got the sense while there's some residual affection for "the mother country" especially among older New Zealanders, the younger population doesn't have the affinity with the UK we seem to imagine.
I'd also point out the growth in "retirement villages" across parts of suburban NZ means if an older UK couple could just sell up and move to NZ, the price they would get for their UK property would likely afford them something very reasonable in NZ. Conversely, I suppose, free movement would offer younger Kiwis an alternative to Australia for work and study.
Though UK is still closer culturally to New Zealand than any other nation on earth, as well as sharing the same King.
Beyond that we already have a trade deal with them anyway despite their relatively small economy
The country to which NZ is closest culturally is without doubt Australia. As for the economy, NZ is an export-driven economy but the key market now is China. Much of NZ's milk and dairy exports got to China and China is the leading export market for NZ beef and lamb.
To an extent but New Zealanders also think themselves culturally and intellectually superior to Australians in my experience even if Australians earn more, rather like the British or Canadians and Americans.
Whether NZ has a trade deal with China or not is irrelevant to the UK but currently it has trade deals with both the UK and China anyway
...I can see a world of difference between people who are seriously and medically altering their bodies to become the gender they believe they really are, and a bloke wearing a frock and a wig...
...Perhaps a certificate to recognise the ressignment of gender would have been useful to distinguish between the two groups. But after the Supreme Court decision it appears such an instrument bestows no rights enforceable in a court...
The GRC was meant to be the State saying “we recognise that you wish to be treated as X”.
That shouldn’t undermine the rights of women.
What has happened here is a small group of trans activists aggressively pushing their agenda (selfID) regardless of the rights of others. It has ended up with a bright line being drawn that is not necessarily to their advantage.
Pre/post op - while I’m sure not 100% perfect in all cases - was always the simplest “test” for determining the right to access women-only spaces
Quite so
How many people have good post op trans friends on here? I do. Julia nee Julian. Met him (then) at uni, he transitioned in his 30s, he went through two years of living as a woman before the NHS would agree to surgery and give him/her a GRC
He is now she and just got married to her female partner. She is happily she
She’s livid about the modern breed of TRAs and the demands for self id without surgery etc. She thinks it’s mad and bad for trans women like her and she says the old system worked fine
So there you go. Take it up with HER
Last time you mentioned her she was a pipe-smoking man in his forties before transition. Try to keep the details consistent (incidentally you add more details over time: I don't know if that means you're making it up or that you are not).
But this brings us back to my question of earlier in the week: does she shit in the Ladies or the Gents? According to the SC ruling she is a biological male whose legal rights are not changed by her GRC and no longer has the right to enter female single-sex spaces. Consequently will you make her poo in the boys' toilets or does she have a "your friend Lauren" exception?
I really did not say this you lying fuck
The story is true and it stayed consistent for that reason
Grrrr
I'm pretty sure you mentioned pipe-smoking, which Is why I remember it: it was such an odd detail. You stated off with a taxi-driver friend who had said something, then mentioned a transitioning grandchild of acquaintances who were distressed, then mentioned a friend, then you said you had driven that friend to the hospital for surgery, and now you have named her both before-and-after Given your prediliction for escalation, I assumed the next iteration is for you to have cut her cock off with a rusty knife and an elastic band, but that's up to you.
But you haven't answered my question: should she shit in the Ladies' or Gents' now? Does she have a "your friend Lauren" exception in your eyes?
Oh do fuck off
1. She (then he) was one of my best friends at uni - still a good friend 2. She supported (still does) Leicester city - her hometown 3. Born Julian now Julia 4. Transitioned in her 30s. Was before quite stereotypically male in some ways, even smoked a pipe at one point, also loved snooker darts etc 5. Did her op at Charing X hospital where I went to see her during the process 6. Did her two years living as woman, then got op on NHS and GRC and has lived as a woman, with relative happiness, and no apparent regrets, ever since 7. Her attitudes to modern TRAs are exactly as I say 8. She recently married her long term female partner (we all guessed they were in an intimate relationship but for some reason they would never talk about it - I’m glad she has now for her/their sake)
There. That’s it. That’s the case. I resent the imputation I’m lying so go fuck yourself with a fossilised baseball bat, twat
I wasn't implying you were lying. I was implying you escalated your anecdotes in a drug filled haze, which you do. You live in a colorful world flitting hither and yon like a drunken butterfly and relate anecdotes similarly embroidered. It is not possible at any given moment to tell whether you are lying, high, or simply relating extraordinary facts.
You absolutely implied I was lying. Any pb-er can read for themselves upthread. Turns out I wasn’t lying, you were, and now you’re lying about your lying
A good days work. Well done
Thank you. But I'm afraid you are incorrect. In fact, you are lying about me lying about your lying about me lying.
In all the kerfuffle he never did answer your question. Method in the madness.
This malodorous fuckmuppet @viewcode was falsely accusing me of lies in a fairly odious way. I wasn’t even aware of a question
The question was as follows:
"...But this brings us back to my question of earlier in the week: does she shit in the Ladies or the Gents? According to the SC ruling she is a biological male whose legal rights are not changed by her GRC and no longer has the right to enter female single-sex spaces. Consequently will you make her poo in the boys' toilets or does she have a "your friend Lauren" exception?..."
And this is the third time I have asked you today, and the fourth time since the ruling. (The "your friend Lauren" refers to RochdalePioneer's insistence that his trans woman friend Lauren should be allowed to use the girls' loos because reasons)
You become more grotesque with each iteration of this debate...But if forced to hazard a guess I’d say 99.99% she uses the ladies because she is a post op trans woman and presents zero threat....
I realise that your misfiring synapses make you think your poo smells of purple violets and is carried away by pixies singing softly, but in real life toilet functions are grotesque.
But I digress. Your answer is indicative and unsurprising: your friend has a "your friend Laurel" exception which excuses her from the SC ruling. You may recall my "history of gambling" article, which I'm sure you got the pixies to read to you. In it I pointed out how the British State resolves issues like this: the rich do as they will, the middle classes get what they can, the poor suffer as they must. Both you and RochdalePioneers' responses reflect this.
Why are you talking about poo?
I wanted to find out whether Leon's friend shat in the girls loos or the boys loos. He said it was grotesque. I said he thought his poo smelt of purple violets and was carried away by pixies. It's been an odd day. Why do you ask?
Because it makes you sound mentally ill.
How do I talk about toilets without mentioning it? I'm not American.
must add discussion of toilets primary use to pineapple on pizzas and bruce willis movies as peculiar pb hang-ups
If Canada and the UK and Oz etc do unite we must surely call it the
Federal Union of Commonwealth Kingdoms
Greater Britain
Empire Redux.
The Making the Globe Pink Again Empire. Perhaps they could even get a float at Pride parades.
Except this new bloc has a strong hetero vibe. It's all the countries Bond would have considered sound minus the USA.
Canada provided for same sex marriage in 2005, the fourth country in the world to do so. The UK in 2014, the fourteenth.
It is not yet legal in India or Nigeria.
Such a union couldn't just be based on friendly liberal pats on the back over gay marriage.
I was responding to the suggestion that such a union carried the unsavoury odour of heterosexuality.
Yes, I didn't really get kinabalu's point there? How are Canada and Australia more heterosexual than other countries? And why is this unsavoury if it's true?
The reason Brits always add Oz and NZ to Canada as a potential political marriage partner is because Brits want to have the option of somewhere warm and sunny to go. Australia
For all its many virtues Canada doesn’t provide that
I really do think it is as simple as that
Or maybe throwback nostalgia for Empire (white bits).
I mean, we had FOM to lots of warm sunny countries in Europe, didn't we? Can't have been that much of a big deal given what happened.
Have you been to Oz? I have many times
Of course I have a daughter there and much family but that kinda proves the point I’m trying to make
Oz is family. Close family. In a way mainland europe can never be. Europe is neighbours, maybe cousins, friends at best
Australia is our blood. I feel more at home in Australia than any other foreign country on earth. Indeed I don’t feel like I’m truly abroad in Australia - it’s a sunny Britain with more money but unfortunately huge distances. It feels more British than Ireland
I’ve never been to kiwi so can’t talk of it. I’ve been to Canada several times - I loved BC - and again it feels quite British but not as much as Oz
New Zealand is fairly British, but their food is awful and a hot woman there is a 3/10.
Honestly, they've got unlucky there with some wrong side of the tracks Presbyterian genetics.
Funny if Liz Truss wins her constituency back at the next election as a Reform candidate.
Not an impossible scenario. That said, I think it is worth noting just how badly she did.
She went from 69% of the vote (stop sniggering at the back) to 26%. There aren't many Conservatives who got quite so badly mullered as she did, which perhaps suggests she has whatever the opposite is to a personal vote.
I seem to recall there was an Ind Con candidate who specifically ran against her because she wasn’t often about in the constituency. Or something like that.
I thought that would help Truss by splitting the 'right-wing but anti-Truss' vote and I still believe that Reform would have won SW Norfolk if the Ind Con hadn't run. As it happened all it did was split the right wing vote three ways and allow Labour to win the seat with barely over a quarter of the vote.
There has been a massive amount of trans hatred online over the last couple of days.
Anyone who denies trans people exist, or want to make being trans impossible, can fuck right off.
Getting your panties in a bunch Josias, calm down dear.
Nah, not really.
Seriously Malc; you should read some of the stuff that's out there. If this continues another trans person will end up being killed.
This is the new world, where trans people are all just pretending. Hence the very deliberate language in the header about “sad trans identified men”. The sneery dismissal oozing out, which reminds me a little of the Russian attitude to “so called Ukrainians” with their pretend country.
It’s like the olden days when being gay was “just a phase”.
Cyclefree has always been deep inside Gender Crit circles - in case that wasn’t already obvious. This is the language GCs have always used amongst themselves. Now she feels free to use it in public.
You played for high stakes, and lost.
Suck it up.
Good to remind ourselves every now and again why 'Never Kissed a Tory' badges used to go like hot cakes
I always thought that fuckatory* week would be more enjoyable than a "Never Kissed a Tory" badge.
* Was this in The Tick of It?
Not if the only ones available that particular week are Casino and Leon!
Lol.
I suspect Leon and I have had more and better sex with socialist women than almost all their male fellow travellers on this board.
I didn't know you'd had any sex with white male socialist fellow travellers on this board.
There has been a massive amount of trans hatred online over the last couple of days.
Anyone who denies trans people exist, or want to make being trans impossible, can fuck right off.
Getting your panties in a bunch Josias, calm down dear.
Nah, not really.
Seriously Malc; you should read some of the stuff that's out there. If this continues another trans person will end up being killed.
This is the new world, where trans people are all just pretending. Hence the very deliberate language in the header about “sad trans identified men”. The sneery dismissal oozing out, which reminds me a little of the Russian attitude to “so called Ukrainians” with their pretend country.
It’s like the olden days when being gay was “just a phase”.
Cyclefree has always been deep inside Gender Crit circles - in case that wasn’t already obvious. This is the language GCs have always used amongst themselves. Now she feels free to use it in public.
You played for high stakes, and lost.
Suck it up.
Good to remind ourselves every now and again why 'Never Kissed a Tory' badges used to go like hot cakes
I always thought that fuckatory* week would be more enjoyable than a "Never Kissed a Tory" badge.
* Was this in The Tick of It?
Not if the only ones available that particular week are Casino and Leon!
Lol.
I suspect Leon and I have had more and better sex with socialist women than almost all their male fellow travellers on this board.
If Canada and the UK and Oz etc do unite we must surely call it the
Federal Union of Commonwealth Kingdoms
Greater Britain
Empire Redux.
The Making the Globe Pink Again Empire. Perhaps they could even get a float at Pride parades.
Except this new bloc has a strong hetero vibe. It's all the countries Bond would have considered sound minus the USA.
Canada provided for same sex marriage in 2005, the fourth country in the world to do so. The UK in 2014, the fourteenth.
It is not yet legal in India or Nigeria.
Such a union couldn't just be based on friendly liberal pats on the back over gay marriage.
I was responding to the suggestion that such a union carried the unsavoury odour of heterosexuality.
Yes, I didn't really get kinabalu's point there? How are Canada and Australia more heterosexual than other countries? And why is this unsavoury if it's true?
The reason Brits always add Oz and NZ to Canada as a potential political marriage partner is because Brits want to have the option of somewhere warm and sunny to go. Australia
For all its many virtues Canada doesn’t provide that
I really do think it is as simple as that
Or maybe throwback nostalgia for Empire (white bits).
I mean, we had FOM to lots of warm sunny countries in Europe, didn't we? Can't have been that much of a big deal given what happened.
Have you been to Oz? I have many times
Of course I have a daughter there and much family but that kinda proves the point I’m trying to make
Oz is family. Close family. In a way mainland europe can never be. Europe is neighbours, maybe cousins, friends at best
Australia is our blood. I feel more at home in Australia than any other foreign country on earth. Indeed I don’t feel like I’m truly abroad in Australia - it’s a sunny Britain with more money but unfortunately huge distances. It feels more British than Ireland
I’ve never been to kiwi so can’t talk of it. I’ve been to Canada several times - I loved BC - and again it feels quite British but not as much as Oz
Canada also has Francophone and French speaking Quebec whereas all Australia and NZ are English speaking
64% of Canadians are first language English-speakers, the figures are 76% for NZ, 77% Australia, 78% for the USA, 83% for Ireland, 91% UK
If Canada and the UK and Oz etc do unite we must surely call it the
Federal Union of Commonwealth Kingdoms
Greater Britain
Empire Redux.
The Making the Globe Pink Again Empire. Perhaps they could even get a float at Pride parades.
Except this new bloc has a strong hetero vibe. It's all the countries Bond would have considered sound minus the USA.
Canada provided for same sex marriage in 2005, the fourth country in the world to do so. The UK in 2014, the fourteenth.
It is not yet legal in India or Nigeria.
Such a union couldn't just be based on friendly liberal pats on the back over gay marriage.
I was responding to the suggestion that such a union carried the unsavoury odour of heterosexuality.
Yes, I didn't really get kinabalu's point there? How are Canada and Australia more heterosexual than other countries? And why is this unsavoury if it's true?
The reason Brits always add Oz and NZ to Canada as a potential political marriage partner is because Brits want to have the option of somewhere warm and sunny to go. Australia
For all its many virtues Canada doesn’t provide that
I really do think it is as simple as that
Or maybe throwback nostalgia for Empire (white bits).
I mean, we had FOM to lots of warm sunny countries in Europe, didn't we? Can't have been that much of a big deal given what happened.
Have you been to Oz? I have many times
Of course I have a daughter there and much family but that kinda proves the point I’m trying to make
Oz is family. Close family. In a way mainland europe can never be. Europe is neighbours, maybe cousins, friends at best
Australia is our blood. I feel more at home in Australia than any other foreign country on earth. Indeed I don’t feel like I’m truly abroad in Australia - it’s a sunny Britain with more money but unfortunately huge distances. It feels more British than Ireland
I’ve never been to kiwi so can’t talk of it. I’ve been to Canada several times - I loved BC - and again it feels quite British but not as much as Oz
I lived there for a couple of years. Sydney. I'm not sure if it felt British. It certainly felt different but at the same time more like the UK than other parts of Australia such as Darwin.
I remember Alice Springs and the aborigine people there, all slumped and listless, while life buzzed on around them. One of the saddest things I've ever seen.
Lots of good memories too. I killed a snake at one point.
Funny if Liz Truss wins her constituency back at the next election as a Reform candidate.
Not an impossible scenario. That said, I think it is worth noting just how badly she did.
She went from 69% of the vote (stop sniggering at the back) to 26%. There aren't many Conservatives who got quite so badly mullered as she did, which perhaps suggests she has whatever the opposite is to a personal vote.
I seem to recall there was an Ind Con candidate who specifically ran against her because she wasn’t often about in the constituency. Or something like that.
A chap called James Bagge. He got over 6,000 votes, and Truss lost by 600.
Worth remembering that Truss was nearly deselected by the "Turnip Taliban" when revelations came out about her private life when she first stood. No doubt exacerbated by her being on Cameron's fast-track list. Suspect those resentments may have persisted.
Think the Labour guy is likely to be a one-termer!
There has been a massive amount of trans hatred online over the last couple of days.
Anyone who denies trans people exist, or want to make being trans impossible, can fuck right off.
Getting your panties in a bunch Josias, calm down dear.
Nah, not really.
Seriously Malc; you should read some of the stuff that's out there. If this continues another trans person will end up being killed.
This is the new world, where trans people are all just pretending. Hence the very deliberate language in the header about “sad trans identified men”. The sneery dismissal oozing out, which reminds me a little of the Russian attitude to “so called Ukrainians” with their pretend country.
It’s like the olden days when being gay was “just a phase”.
Cyclefree has always been deep inside Gender Crit circles - in case that wasn’t already obvious. This is the language GCs have always used amongst themselves. Now she feels free to use it in public.
You played for high stakes, and lost.
Suck it up.
Good to remind ourselves every now and again why 'Never Kissed a Tory' badges used to go like hot cakes
I always thought that fuckatory* week would be more enjoyable than a "Never Kissed a Tory" badge.
* Was this in The Tick of It?
Not if the only ones available that particular week are Casino and Leon!
Lol.
I suspect Leon and I have had more and better sex with socialist women than almost all their male fellow travellers on this board.
What I'm not clear about is how widely the Supreme Court definition applies. Is it, as some claim, merely tidying up the mess left by the GRA's incompatibility with the ERA, or does it cover all laws?
In a way I don't think it matters, organisations will have to play it safe and err on the side of treating trans women as men instead of playing safe and erring on the side of treating trans women as women. So Leon's friend Julia will, next time she's in hospital will be placed in a male-only ward because they fear they would be breaking the law by putting her in a female-only ward.
In practice, yes, everyone will try play it 'safe' but I'm not sure there's actually a safe course of action. In hospitals it does raise the question of what happens if a person refuses to say if they're trans or not. Would the hospital place them in a male ward by default, and what would be the repercussions if they're sexually assaulted on that ward.
Say a patient claims to not be trans, but the hospital suspects they're lying? Can they demand a gynaecological examination? If the patient was telling the truth and they're a cis woman, do they then have grounds for legal action over that examination?
During my three months in NZ over our winter, I got the sense while there's some residual affection for "the mother country" especially among older New Zealanders, the younger population doesn't have the affinity with the UK we seem to imagine.
I'd also point out the growth in "retirement villages" across parts of suburban NZ means if an older UK couple could just sell up and move to NZ, the price they would get for their UK property would likely afford them something very reasonable in NZ. Conversely, I suppose, free movement would offer younger Kiwis an alternative to Australia for work and study.
Though UK is still closer culturally to New Zealand than any other nation on earth, as well as sharing the same King.
Beyond that we already have a trade deal with them anyway despite their relatively small economy
During my three months in NZ over our winter, I got the sense while there's some residual affection for "the mother country" especially among older New Zealanders, the younger population doesn't have the affinity with the UK we seem to imagine.
I'd also point out the growth in "retirement villages" across parts of suburban NZ means if an older UK couple could just sell up and move to NZ, the price they would get for their UK property would likely afford them something very reasonable in NZ. Conversely, I suppose, free movement would offer younger Kiwis an alternative to Australia for work and study.
Though UK is still closer culturally to New Zealand than any other nation on earth, as well as sharing the same King.
Beyond that we already have a trade deal with them anyway despite their relatively small economy
51% of New Zealanders are irreligious.
So are about 40% of Brits now
Of course, it means in NZ we are a majority.
Only China, Korea, Vietnam, Japan and Estonia and the Czech republic are less religious than New Zealand
Question for the legal minds on here: If a cis woman is to be strip-searched by the BTP, how does she prove that she's not trans?
It seems like the Supreme Court think they have decided the difference between men and women on biology, but as their comments about excluding trans men from female-only spaces shows, they are setting the line on appearance. I fear that many cis women will fall on the wrong side of that dividing line.
This is one of the biggest problems with the law as now clarified. Appearance has never been an even vaguely reliable way to tell trans and cis people apart. Most trans women won't have undergone reassignment surgery to the extent they are physically indistinguishable from a cis woman in a strip search, but it does happen. The only definitive way is a DNA test.
The law puts businesses, public bodies and the Police in an impossible position. They are required to differentiate between trans and cis people, which is damn near impossible in many cases. The practical upshot is trans people will still use the loos they feel safest in, but now they're open to prosecution for doing it.
And, yes, woe betide any cis woman who has a somewhat masculine appearance.
What I'm not clear about is how widely the Supreme Court definition applies. Is it, as some claim, merely tidying up the mess left by the GRA's incompatibility with the ERA, or does it cover all laws?
In a way I don't think it matters, organisations will have to play it safe and err on the side of treating trans women as men instead of playing safe and erring on the side of treating trans women as women. So Leon's friend Julia will, next time she's in hospital will be placed in a male-only ward because they fear they would be breaking the law by putting her in a female-only ward.
Yes, it moves the default for treatment of trans people from inclusion to exclusion.
If Canada and the UK and Oz etc do unite we must surely call it the
Federal Union of Commonwealth Kingdoms
Greater Britain
Empire Redux.
The Making the Globe Pink Again Empire. Perhaps they could even get a float at Pride parades.
Except this new bloc has a strong hetero vibe. It's all the countries Bond would have considered sound minus the USA.
Canada provided for same sex marriage in 2005, the fourth country in the world to do so. The UK in 2014, the fourteenth.
It is not yet legal in India or Nigeria.
Such a union couldn't just be based on friendly liberal pats on the back over gay marriage.
I was responding to the suggestion that such a union carried the unsavoury odour of heterosexuality.
Yes, I didn't really get kinabalu's point there? How are Canada and Australia more heterosexual than other countries? And why is this unsavoury if it's true?
The reason Brits always add Oz and NZ to Canada as a potential political marriage partner is because Brits want to have the option of somewhere warm and sunny to go. Australia
For all its many virtues Canada doesn’t provide that
I really do think it is as simple as that
Or maybe throwback nostalgia for Empire (white bits).
I mean, we had FOM to lots of warm sunny countries in Europe, didn't we? Can't have been that much of a big deal given what happened.
Have you been to Oz? I have many times
Of course I have a daughter there and much family but that kinda proves the point I’m trying to make
Oz is family. Close family. In a way mainland europe can never be. Europe is neighbours, maybe cousins, friends at best
Australia is our blood. I feel more at home in Australia than any other foreign country on earth. Indeed I don’t feel like I’m truly abroad in Australia - it’s a sunny Britain with more money but unfortunately huge distances. It feels more British than Ireland
I’ve never been to kiwi so can’t talk of it. I’ve been to Canada several times - I loved BC - and again it feels quite British but not as much as Oz
I lived there for a couple of years. Sydney. I'm not sure if it felt British. It certainly felt different but at the same time more like the UK than other parts of Australia such as Darwin.
I remember Alice Springs and the aborigine people there, all slumped and listless, while life buzzed on around them. One of the saddest things I've ever seen.
Lots of good memories too. I killed a snake at one point.
Yes. The aboriginals in Alice are indeed a tragic sight
I once described the experience - in an article - as “going to Winchester and meeting Anglo Saxon warlords in Sainsbury’s car park all in battered regalia and sniffing glue”
Australia can be paradisical. But if there is a serpent in the garden it is the aboriginals. Their very presence is reproachful yet they are often a fucking pain - drunk and aggressive - and yet we took their entire continent away from them - no money can ever make up for that
Funny if Liz Truss wins her constituency back at the next election as a Reform candidate.
Not an impossible scenario. That said, I think it is worth noting just how badly she did.
She went from 69% of the vote (stop sniggering at the back) to 26%. There aren't many Conservatives who got quite so badly mullered as she did, which perhaps suggests she has whatever the opposite is to a personal vote.
I seem to recall there was an Ind Con candidate who specifically ran against her because she wasn’t often about in the constituency. Or something like that.
A chap called James Bagge. He got over 6,000 votes, and Truss lost by 600.
Worth remembering that Truss was nearly deselected by the "Turnip Taliban" when revelations came out about her private life when she first stood. No doubt exacerbated by her being on Cameron's fast-track list. Suspect those resentments may have persisted.
Think the Labour guy is likely to be a one-termer!
Indeed, it's hard to envisage any circumstance where Labour hold South West Norfolk. I'm trying to think of any other MP that was more fortunate to be elected as Terry Jermy? Maybe Malcolm St Clair (Bristol South East, 1961 by-election)?
During my three months in NZ over our winter, I got the sense while there's some residual affection for "the mother country" especially among older New Zealanders, the younger population doesn't have the affinity with the UK we seem to imagine.
I'd also point out the growth in "retirement villages" across parts of suburban NZ means if an older UK couple could just sell up and move to NZ, the price they would get for their UK property would likely afford them something very reasonable in NZ. Conversely, I suppose, free movement would offer younger Kiwis an alternative to Australia for work and study.
Though UK is still closer culturally to New Zealand than any other nation on earth, as well as sharing the same King.
Beyond that we already have a trade deal with them anyway despite their relatively small economy
51% of New Zealanders are irreligious.
So are about 40% of Brits now
Of course, it means in NZ we are a majority.
Only China, Korea, Vietnam, Japan and Estonia and the Czech republic are less religious than New Zealand
Japan, Estonia and Czechia are all full democracies.
Funny if Liz Truss wins her constituency back at the next election as a Reform candidate.
Not an impossible scenario. That said, I think it is worth noting just how badly she did.
She went from 69% of the vote (stop sniggering at the back) to 26%. There aren't many Conservatives who got quite so badly mullered as she did, which perhaps suggests she has whatever the opposite is to a personal vote.
I seem to recall there was an Ind Con candidate who specifically ran against her because she wasn’t often about in the constituency. Or something like that.
A chap called James Bagge. He got over 6,000 votes, and Truss lost by 600.
Worth remembering that Truss was nearly deselected by the "Turnip Taliban" when revelations came out about her private life when she first stood. No doubt exacerbated by her being on Cameron's fast-track list. Suspect those resentments may have persisted.
Think the Labour guy is likely to be a one-termer!
Nevertheless, Reform at 22% will be far higher now given the increase in their national polling. So I find it unlikely she'd beat Reform in that seat. So the best thing to do might be to join them.
What the benefit is to Reform is indeed less clear. Sadly she remains a very tarnished figure, though on the right (and among Reform's existing supporters) she has a good following. She also brings political experience and some genuine policy heft (no sniggering at the back). Truss knows the system and knows the challenges a radical PM will face. That is certainly valuable knowledge if they want to set a radical agenda and hit the ground running once they get in.
Funny if Liz Truss wins her constituency back at the next election as a Reform candidate.
Not an impossible scenario. That said, I think it is worth noting just how badly she did.
She went from 69% of the vote (stop sniggering at the back) to 26%. There aren't many Conservatives who got quite so badly mullered as she did, which perhaps suggests she has whatever the opposite is to a personal vote.
I seem to recall there was an Ind Con candidate who specifically ran against her because she wasn’t often about in the constituency. Or something like that.
A chap called James Bagge. He got over 6,000 votes, and Truss lost by 600.
Worth remembering that Truss was nearly deselected by the "Turnip Taliban" when revelations came out about her private life when she first stood. No doubt exacerbated by her being on Cameron's fast-track list. Suspect those resentments may have persisted.
Think the Labour guy is likely to be a one-termer!
I remember that when the Turnip Teliban epsode was going on I was wholeheartedly behind Truss and hoped she beat them off - as of course she did.
It is a shame she squandered that important victory by turning out to be wrong about pretty much everything else.
There has been a massive amount of trans hatred online over the last couple of days.
Anyone who denies trans people exist, or want to make being trans impossible, can fuck right off.
Getting your panties in a bunch Josias, calm down dear.
Nah, not really.
Seriously Malc; you should read some of the stuff that's out there. If this continues another trans person will end up being killed.
This is the new world, where trans people are all just pretending. Hence the very deliberate language in the header about “sad trans identified men”. The sneery dismissal oozing out, which reminds me a little of the Russian attitude to “so called Ukrainians” with their pretend country.
It’s like the olden days when being gay was “just a phase”.
Cyclefree has always been deep inside Gender Crit circles - in case that wasn’t already obvious. This is the language GCs have always used amongst themselves. Now she feels free to use it in public.
You played for high stakes, and lost.
Suck it up.
Good to remind ourselves every now and again why 'Never Kissed a Tory' badges used to go like hot cakes
I always thought that fuckatory* week would be more enjoyable than a "Never Kissed a Tory" badge.
* Was this in The Tick of It?
Not if the only ones available that particular week are Casino and Leon!
Lol.
I suspect Leon and I have had more and better sex with socialist women than almost all their male fellow travellers on this board.
During my three months in NZ over our winter, I got the sense while there's some residual affection for "the mother country" especially among older New Zealanders, the younger population doesn't have the affinity with the UK we seem to imagine.
I'd also point out the growth in "retirement villages" across parts of suburban NZ means if an older UK couple could just sell up and move to NZ, the price they would get for their UK property would likely afford them something very reasonable in NZ. Conversely, I suppose, free movement would offer younger Kiwis an alternative to Australia for work and study.
Though UK is still closer culturally to New Zealand than any other nation on earth, as well as sharing the same King.
Beyond that we already have a trade deal with them anyway despite their relatively small economy
51% of New Zealanders are irreligious.
So are about 40% of Brits now
Of course, it means in NZ we are a majority.
Only China, Korea, Vietnam, Japan and Estonia and the Czech republic are less religious than New Zealand
Japan, Estonia and Czechia are all full democracies.
For what it’s worth @Cyclefree my girlfriend (who is not very politically engaged) is very upset with the Supreme Court decision. A lot of my other women (not trans women) friends are also upset with it.
It isn’t a men vs women issue.
More about age. Younger people in general are more likely to support trans inclusion.
Not true. Younger people are over it.
Judging by my very own kids? - yes. Definitely over it. Indeed already slightly embarrassed by their own madness
My own daughter, who is gay, is very pleased with the judgement. She and her friends don't see this as an issue of Trans-inclusion but rather of protecting women's rights.
Listening to that Mark Carney interview I linked earlier, a couple of notes.
Carney is comparing the impact on the USA of Trump's tariffs to the impact on the UK of Brexit. He is considering how can the impact be minimised if the initial impact is treated as a sun cost (which it is), and the USA recovers a measure of sanity.
He is thinking about a post-USA-going-isolationist trading system, and how it would be created - with the hope that in due course a USA that has regained sanity might disengage.
A couple of things at the base of his thinking that I have not reflected on:
- Canada is in the Francophonie (French 'commonwealth') as well as the British-anchored Commonwealth. - Canada has very significant internal economic inefficiencies due to Balkanisation between provinces - to the extent that Brexit affected the UK economy. Removing those is part of his 'recover from tariffs' plan, linked with internal generation of economic activity. He did not comment on the impact on national debt, which in Canada is 107% of GDP.
As I have said many times, there is a geopolitical logic, and even a geopolitical excitement, to a UK-Canadian alliance that would comprise a single market, freedom of movement, and joint defence and energy strategy. Canada would co-hold the UK’s permanent membership of the UN Security Council.
At a stroke, UK-Canada becomes a clear fourth pole in the global order alongside U.S., China and the EU, with India emerging as a fifth.
There has been a massive amount of trans hatred online over the last couple of days.
Anyone who denies trans people exist, or want to make being trans impossible, can fuck right off.
Getting your panties in a bunch Josias, calm down dear.
Nah, not really.
Seriously Malc; you should read some of the stuff that's out there. If this continues another trans person will end up being killed.
This is the new world, where trans people are all just pretending. Hence the very deliberate language in the header about “sad trans identified men”. The sneery dismissal oozing out, which reminds me a little of the Russian attitude to “so called Ukrainians” with their pretend country.
It’s like the olden days when being gay was “just a phase”.
Cyclefree has always been deep inside Gender Crit circles - in case that wasn’t already obvious. This is the language GCs have always used amongst themselves. Now she feels free to use it in public.
You played for high stakes, and lost.
Suck it up.
Good to remind ourselves every now and again why 'Never Kissed a Tory' badges used to go like hot cakes
I always thought that fuckatory* week would be more enjoyable than a "Never Kissed a Tory" badge.
* Was this in The Tick of It?
Not if the only ones available that particular week are Casino and Leon!
Lol.
I suspect Leon and I have had more and better sex with socialist women than almost all their male fellow travellers on this board.
During my three months in NZ over our winter, I got the sense while there's some residual affection for "the mother country" especially among older New Zealanders, the younger population doesn't have the affinity with the UK we seem to imagine.
I'd also point out the growth in "retirement villages" across parts of suburban NZ means if an older UK couple could just sell up and move to NZ, the price they would get for their UK property would likely afford them something very reasonable in NZ. Conversely, I suppose, free movement would offer younger Kiwis an alternative to Australia for work and study.
Though UK is still closer culturally to New Zealand than any other nation on earth, as well as sharing the same King.
Beyond that we already have a trade deal with them anyway despite their relatively small economy
51% of New Zealanders are irreligious.
So are about 40% of Brits now
Of course, it means in NZ we are a majority.
Only China, Korea, Vietnam, Japan and Estonia and the Czech republic are less religious than New Zealand
Japan, Estonia and Czechia are all full democracies.
Another issue that might pop up is if there's a women-only group that accepts trans women - the example I'm thinking of is UNISON's Women's Member Group. Can UNISON be sued by a cis male under the Equality Act under the grounds that other males are allowed into the group but they are excluded because they are not trans? Does that mean trans women have to be excluded from such groups even if the vast majority of the female members are okay with trans women in their group?
If Canada and the UK and Oz etc do unite we must surely call it the
Federal Union of Commonwealth Kingdoms
Greater Britain
Empire Redux.
The Making the Globe Pink Again Empire. Perhaps they could even get a float at Pride parades.
Except this new bloc has a strong hetero vibe. It's all the countries Bond would have considered sound minus the USA.
Canada provided for same sex marriage in 2005, the fourth country in the world to do so. The UK in 2014, the fourteenth.
It is not yet legal in India or Nigeria.
Such a union couldn't just be based on friendly liberal pats on the back over gay marriage.
I was responding to the suggestion that such a union carried the unsavoury odour of heterosexuality.
Yes, I didn't really get kinabalu's point there? How are Canada and Australia more heterosexual than other countries? And why is this unsavoury if it's true?
The reason Brits always add Oz and NZ to Canada as a potential political marriage partner is because Brits want to have the option of somewhere warm and sunny to go. Australia
For all its many virtues Canada doesn’t provide that
I really do think it is as simple as that
Or maybe throwback nostalgia for Empire (white bits).
I mean, we had FOM to lots of warm sunny countries in Europe, didn't we? Can't have been that much of a big deal given what happened.
Have you been to Oz? I have many times
Of course I have a daughter there and much family but that kinda proves the point I’m trying to make
Oz is family. Close family. In a way mainland europe can never be. Europe is neighbours, maybe cousins, friends at best
Australia is our blood. I feel more at home in Australia than any other foreign country on earth. Indeed I don’t feel like I’m truly abroad in Australia - it’s a sunny Britain with more money but unfortunately huge distances. It feels more British than Ireland
I’ve never been to kiwi so can’t talk of it. I’ve been to Canada several times - I loved BC - and again it feels quite British but not as much as Oz
I lived there for a couple of years. Sydney. I'm not sure if it felt British. It certainly felt different but at the same time more like the UK than other parts of Australia such as Darwin.
I remember Alice Springs and the aborigine people there, all slumped and listless, while life buzzed on around them. One of the saddest things I've ever seen.
Lots of good memories too. I killed a snake at one point.
Yes. The aboriginals in Alice are indeed a tragic sight
I once described the experience - in an article - as “going to Winchester and meeting Anglo Saxon warlords in Sainsbury’s car park all in battered regalia and sniffing glue”
Australia can be paradisical. But if there is a serpent in the garden it is the aboriginals. Their very presence is reproachful yet they are often a fucking pain - drunk and aggressive - and yet we took their entire continent away from them - no money can ever make up for that
Well with all this "we" business it seems you feel some shame about it. Which is healthy. Often it's as if people with your brain chemistry reject all that whilst still feeling pride about "our" achievements. That's cheating.
I had a nice time there but two years was enough. The place I've felt most foreign in was Japan. Now there's a country where you know straightaway and all the time that you're not in England.
There has been a massive amount of trans hatred online over the last couple of days.
Anyone who denies trans people exist, or want to make being trans impossible, can fuck right off.
Getting your panties in a bunch Josias, calm down dear.
Nah, not really.
Seriously Malc; you should read some of the stuff that's out there. If this continues another trans person will end up being killed.
This is the new world, where trans people are all just pretending. Hence the very deliberate language in the header about “sad trans identified men”. The sneery dismissal oozing out, which reminds me a little of the Russian attitude to “so called Ukrainians” with their pretend country.
It’s like the olden days when being gay was “just a phase”.
Cyclefree has always been deep inside Gender Crit circles - in case that wasn’t already obvious. This is the language GCs have always used amongst themselves. Now she feels free to use it in public.
You played for high stakes, and lost.
Suck it up.
Good to remind ourselves every now and again why 'Never Kissed a Tory' badges used to go like hot cakes
I always thought that fuckatory* week would be more enjoyable than a "Never Kissed a Tory" badge.
* Was this in The Tick of It?
Not if the only ones available that particular week are Casino and Leon!
Lol.
I suspect Leon and I have had more and better sex with socialist women than almost all their male fellow travellers on this board.
Funny if Liz Truss wins her constituency back at the next election as a Reform candidate.
Not an impossible scenario. That said, I think it is worth noting just how badly she did.
She went from 69% of the vote (stop sniggering at the back) to 26%. There aren't many Conservatives who got quite so badly mullered as she did, which perhaps suggests she has whatever the opposite is to a personal vote.
I seem to recall there was an Ind Con candidate who specifically ran against her because she wasn’t often about in the constituency. Or something like that.
A chap called James Bagge. He got over 6,000 votes, and Truss lost by 600.
Worth remembering that Truss was nearly deselected by the "Turnip Taliban" when revelations came out about her private life when she first stood. No doubt exacerbated by her being on Cameron's fast-track list. Suspect those resentments may have persisted.
Think the Labour guy is likely to be a one-termer!
I remember that when the Turnip Teliban epsode was going on I was wholeheartedly behind Truss and hoped she beat them off - as of course she did.
It is a shame she squandered that important victory by turning out to be wrong about pretty much everything else.
If Canada and the UK and Oz etc do unite we must surely call it the
Federal Union of Commonwealth Kingdoms
Greater Britain
Empire Redux.
The Making the Globe Pink Again Empire. Perhaps they could even get a float at Pride parades.
Except this new bloc has a strong hetero vibe. It's all the countries Bond would have considered sound minus the USA.
Canada provided for same sex marriage in 2005, the fourth country in the world to do so. The UK in 2014, the fourteenth.
It is not yet legal in India or Nigeria.
Such a union couldn't just be based on friendly liberal pats on the back over gay marriage.
I was responding to the suggestion that such a union carried the unsavoury odour of heterosexuality.
Yes, I didn't really get kinabalu's point there? How are Canada and Australia more heterosexual than other countries? And why is this unsavoury if it's true?
The reason Brits always add Oz and NZ to Canada as a potential political marriage partner is because Brits want to have the option of somewhere warm and sunny to go. Australia
For all its many virtues Canada doesn’t provide that
I really do think it is as simple as that
Or maybe throwback nostalgia for Empire (white bits).
I mean, we had FOM to lots of warm sunny countries in Europe, didn't we? Can't have been that much of a big deal given what happened.
Have you been to Oz? I have many times
Of course I have a daughter there and much family but that kinda proves the point I’m trying to make
Oz is family. Close family. In a way mainland europe can never be. Europe is neighbours, maybe cousins, friends at best
Australia is our blood. I feel more at home in Australia than any other foreign country on earth. Indeed I don’t feel like I’m truly abroad in Australia - it’s a sunny Britain with more money but unfortunately huge distances. It feels more British than Ireland
I’ve never been to kiwi so can’t talk of it. I’ve been to Canada several times - I loved BC - and again it feels quite British but not as much as Oz
I lived there for a couple of years. Sydney. I'm not sure if it felt British. It certainly felt different but at the same time more like the UK than other parts of Australia such as Darwin.
I remember Alice Springs and the aborigine people there, all slumped and listless, while life buzzed on around them. One of the saddest things I've ever seen.
Lots of good memories too. I killed a snake at one point.
Funny if Liz Truss wins her constituency back at the next election as a Reform candidate.
Not an impossible scenario. That said, I think it is worth noting just how badly she did.
She went from 69% of the vote (stop sniggering at the back) to 26%. There aren't many Conservatives who got quite so badly mullered as she did, which perhaps suggests she has whatever the opposite is to a personal vote.
I seem to recall there was an Ind Con candidate who specifically ran against her because she wasn’t often about in the constituency. Or something like that.
A chap called James Bagge. He got over 6,000 votes, and Truss lost by 600.
Worth remembering that Truss was nearly deselected by the "Turnip Taliban" when revelations came out about her private life when she first stood. No doubt exacerbated by her being on Cameron's fast-track list. Suspect those resentments may have persisted.
Think the Labour guy is likely to be a one-termer!
They've been vindicated.
What was brushed off as misogyny at the time actually turned out to be bloody good judgement.
The A-list was proto-Wokery and contained some of the worst candidates the Tories ever selected.
If Canada and the UK and Oz etc do unite we must surely call it the
Federal Union of Commonwealth Kingdoms
Greater Britain
Empire Redux.
The Making the Globe Pink Again Empire. Perhaps they could even get a float at Pride parades.
Except this new bloc has a strong hetero vibe. It's all the countries Bond would have considered sound minus the USA.
Canada provided for same sex marriage in 2005, the fourth country in the world to do so. The UK in 2014, the fourteenth.
It is not yet legal in India or Nigeria.
Such a union couldn't just be based on friendly liberal pats on the back over gay marriage.
I was responding to the suggestion that such a union carried the unsavoury odour of heterosexuality.
Yes, I didn't really get kinabalu's point there? How are Canada and Australia more heterosexual than other countries? And why is this unsavoury if it's true?
The reason Brits always add Oz and NZ to Canada as a potential political marriage partner is because Brits want to have the option of somewhere warm and sunny to go. Australia
For all its many virtues Canada doesn’t provide that
I really do think it is as simple as that
Or maybe throwback nostalgia for Empire (white bits).
I mean, we had FOM to lots of warm sunny countries in Europe, didn't we? Can't have been that much of a big deal given what happened.
Have you been to Oz? I have many times
Of course I have a daughter there and much family but that kinda proves the point I’m trying to make
Oz is family. Close family. In a way mainland europe can never be. Europe is neighbours, maybe cousins, friends at best
Australia is our blood. I feel more at home in Australia than any other foreign country on earth. Indeed I don’t feel like I’m truly abroad in Australia - it’s a sunny Britain with more money but unfortunately huge distances. It feels more British than Ireland
I’ve never been to kiwi so can’t talk of it. I’ve been to Canada several times - I loved BC - and again it feels quite British but not as much as Oz
I lived there for a couple of years. Sydney. I'm not sure if it felt British. It certainly felt different but at the same time more like the UK than other parts of Australia such as Darwin.
I remember Alice Springs and the aborigine people there, all slumped and listless, while life buzzed on around them. One of the saddest things I've ever seen.
Lots of good memories too. I killed a snake at one point.
Yes. The aboriginals in Alice are indeed a tragic sight
I once described the experience - in an article - as “going to Winchester and meeting Anglo Saxon warlords in Sainsbury’s car park all in battered regalia and sniffing glue”
Australia can be paradisical. But if there is a serpent in the garden it is the aboriginals. Their very presence is reproachful yet they are often a fucking pain - drunk and aggressive - and yet we took their entire continent away from them - no money can ever make up for that
Well with all this "we" business it seems you feel some shame about it. Which is healthy. Often it's as if people with your brain chemistry reject all that whilst still feeling pride about "our" achievements. That's cheating.
I had a nice time there but two years was enough. The place I've felt most foreign in was Japan. Now there's a country where you know straightaway and all the time that you're not in England.
Er, no. No shame
Sadness and empathy, yes
Also what is this “people with your brain chemistry” shit? Who are these “people”?
If Canada and the UK and Oz etc do unite we must surely call it the
Federal Union of Commonwealth Kingdoms
Greater Britain
Empire Redux.
The Making the Globe Pink Again Empire. Perhaps they could even get a float at Pride parades.
Except this new bloc has a strong hetero vibe. It's all the countries Bond would have considered sound minus the USA.
Canada provided for same sex marriage in 2005, the fourth country in the world to do so. The UK in 2014, the fourteenth.
It is not yet legal in India or Nigeria.
Such a union couldn't just be based on friendly liberal pats on the back over gay marriage.
I was responding to the suggestion that such a union carried the unsavoury odour of heterosexuality.
Yes, I didn't really get kinabalu's point there? How are Canada and Australia more heterosexual than other countries? And why is this unsavoury if it's true?
The reason Brits always add Oz and NZ to Canada as a potential political marriage partner is because Brits want to have the option of somewhere warm and sunny to go. Australia
For all its many virtues Canada doesn’t provide that
I really do think it is as simple as that
Or maybe throwback nostalgia for Empire (white bits).
I mean, we had FOM to lots of warm sunny countries in Europe, didn't we? Can't have been that much of a big deal given what happened.
Have you been to Oz? I have many times
Of course I have a daughter there and much family but that kinda proves the point I’m trying to make
Oz is family. Close family. In a way mainland europe can never be. Europe is neighbours, maybe cousins, friends at best
Australia is our blood. I feel more at home in Australia than any other foreign country on earth. Indeed I don’t feel like I’m truly abroad in Australia - it’s a sunny Britain with more money but unfortunately huge distances. It feels more British than Ireland
I’ve never been to kiwi so can’t talk of it. I’ve been to Canada several times - I loved BC - and again it feels quite British but not as much as Oz
I lived there for a couple of years. Sydney. I'm not sure if it felt British. It certainly felt different but at the same time more like the UK than other parts of Australia such as Darwin.
I remember Alice Springs and the aborigine people there, all slumped and listless, while life buzzed on around them. One of the saddest things I've ever seen.
Lots of good memories too. I killed a snake at one point.
You are Jolyon Maugham KC and I claim my £5.
Lol, I should clarify. It wasn't in combat. I ran it over in the car. Didn't realise until I parked up and the remnants were wrapped round one of the tyres. Not great.
Another issue that might pop up is if there's a women-only group that accepts trans women - the example I'm thinking of is UNISON's Women's Member Group. Can UNISON be sued by a cis male under the Equality Act under the grounds that other males are allowed into the group but they are excluded because they are not trans? Does that mean trans women have to be excluded from such groups even if the vast majority of the female members are okay with trans women in their group?
"Women only. Trans women as guests".
Gay clubs operated for years on "Men only. Women as guests" or "Women only. Men as guests" depending. It worked then and I assume it'd work now. But PB is full of lawyers who may know better.
If Canada and the UK and Oz etc do unite we must surely call it the
Federal Union of Commonwealth Kingdoms
Greater Britain
Empire Redux.
The Making the Globe Pink Again Empire. Perhaps they could even get a float at Pride parades.
Except this new bloc has a strong hetero vibe. It's all the countries Bond would have considered sound minus the USA.
Canada provided for same sex marriage in 2005, the fourth country in the world to do so. The UK in 2014, the fourteenth.
It is not yet legal in India or Nigeria.
Such a union couldn't just be based on friendly liberal pats on the back over gay marriage.
I was responding to the suggestion that such a union carried the unsavoury odour of heterosexuality.
Yes, I didn't really get kinabalu's point there? How are Canada and Australia more heterosexual than other countries? And why is this unsavoury if it's true?
The reason Brits always add Oz and NZ to Canada as a potential political marriage partner is because Brits want to have the option of somewhere warm and sunny to go. Australia
For all its many virtues Canada doesn’t provide that
I really do think it is as simple as that
Nah. Even simpler. A mother never admits to preferring one child over another
If Canada and the UK and Oz etc do unite we must surely call it the
Federal Union of Commonwealth Kingdoms
Greater Britain
Empire Redux.
The Making the Globe Pink Again Empire. Perhaps they could even get a float at Pride parades.
Except this new bloc has a strong hetero vibe. It's all the countries Bond would have considered sound minus the USA.
Canada provided for same sex marriage in 2005, the fourth country in the world to do so. The UK in 2014, the fourteenth.
It is not yet legal in India or Nigeria.
Such a union couldn't just be based on friendly liberal pats on the back over gay marriage.
I was responding to the suggestion that such a union carried the unsavoury odour of heterosexuality.
Yes, I didn't really get kinabalu's point there? How are Canada and Australia more heterosexual than other countries? And why is this unsavoury if it's true?
The reason Brits always add Oz and NZ to Canada as a potential political marriage partner is because Brits want to have the option of somewhere warm and sunny to go. Australia
For all its many virtues Canada doesn’t provide that
I really do think it is as simple as that
Or maybe throwback nostalgia for Empire (white bits).
I mean, we had FOM to lots of warm sunny countries in Europe, didn't we? Can't have been that much of a big deal given what happened.
Have you been to Oz? I have many times
Of course I have a daughter there and much family but that kinda proves the point I’m trying to make
Oz is family. Close family. In a way mainland europe can never be. Europe is neighbours, maybe cousins, friends at best
Australia is our blood. I feel more at home in Australia than any other foreign country on earth. Indeed I don’t feel like I’m truly abroad in Australia - it’s a sunny Britain with more money but unfortunately huge distances. It feels more British than Ireland
I’ve never been to kiwi so can’t talk of it. I’ve been to Canada several times - I loved BC - and again it feels quite British but not as much as Oz
I lived there for a couple of years. Sydney. I'm not sure if it felt British. It certainly felt different but at the same time more like the UK than other parts of Australia such as Darwin.
I remember Alice Springs and the aborigine people there, all slumped and listless, while life buzzed on around them. One of the saddest things I've ever seen.
Lots of good memories too. I killed a snake at one point.
Yes. The aboriginals in Alice are indeed a tragic sight
I once described the experience - in an article - as “going to Winchester and meeting Anglo Saxon warlords in Sainsbury’s car park all in battered regalia and sniffing glue”
Australia can be paradisical. But if there is a serpent in the garden it is the aboriginals. Their very presence is reproachful yet they are often a fucking pain - drunk and aggressive - and yet we took their entire continent away from them - no money can ever make up for that
Well with all this "we" business it seems you feel some shame about it. Which is healthy. Often it's as if people with your brain chemistry reject all that whilst still feeling pride about "our" achievements. That's cheating.
I had a nice time there but two years was enough. The place I've felt most foreign in was Japan. Now there's a country where you know straightaway and all the time that you're not in England.
Er, no. No shame
Sadness and empathy, yes
Also what is this “people with your brain chemistry” shit? Who are these “people”?
Get tae fuck, retired accountant
People like you. We don't need a label. That just puts backs up.
So you feel pride in our achievements but no shame for our crimes?
That's a clever trick. I can't manage it. It's both or neither for me, depending on context.
For what it's worth, I would choose Canada over Australia as a marriage partner for the UK. For a start, the skiing is much better. It's also not such a crazy hassle to get to, and there's far less jet lag.
Ottawa is nicer than Canberra too, albeit in the same way that syphilis is nicer than herpes.
Are you lot not ignoring the inverse with this ruling? That trans men are forced back to women's spaces.
Lets take the most awkward situation: there is a man somewhere a man should not be. Who is going to check if they are really trans or simply pretending?
Seems Schroedinger's pervs win wither way.
They aren't. The Supreme Court judgement makes that clear in paragraph 221. Note the judgement uses women living in the male gender for trans men and men living in the female gender for trans women.
Moreover, women living in the male gender could also be excluded under paragraph 28 without this amounting to gender reassignment discrimination. This might be considered proportionate where reasonable objection is taken to their presence, for example, because the gender reassignment process has given them a masculine appearance or attributes to which reasonable objection might be taken in the context of the women-only service being provided. Their exclusion would amount to unlawful gender reassignment discrimination not sex discrimination absent this exception.
"The share of Americans who consider Russia an “enemy” has fallen to its lowest point since it began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, according to a poll published Thursday by Pew Research Center. The shift owes largely to evolving views among Republicans amid stark changes in U.S. policy and diplomacy toward Russia and Ukraine under President Donald Trump.
The survey found the share of Americans who said Russia was an “enemy” had fallen to 50 percent, from 61 percent in April 2024 and 70 percent in March 2022, just after the invasion began.
The softening in attitudes toward Russia was far sharper among Republican voters, with 40 percent saying Russia was an enemy, down from 58 percent last year and 69 percent in March 2022. Thirty-four percent of Americans overall now describe Russia as a competitor of the United States, while just 9 percent said it was a partner."
Funny if Liz Truss wins her constituency back at the next election as a Reform candidate.
Not an impossible scenario. That said, I think it is worth noting just how badly she did.
She went from 69% of the vote (stop sniggering at the back) to 26%. There aren't many Conservatives who got quite so badly mullered as she did, which perhaps suggests she has whatever the opposite is to a personal vote.
I seem to recall there was an Ind Con candidate who specifically ran against her because she wasn’t often about in the constituency. Or something like that.
A chap called James Bagge. He got over 6,000 votes, and Truss lost by 600.
Worth remembering that Truss was nearly deselected by the "Turnip Taliban" when revelations came out about her private life when she first stood. No doubt exacerbated by her being on Cameron's fast-track list. Suspect those resentments may have persisted.
Think the Labour guy is likely to be a one-termer!
I remember that when the Turnip Teliban epsode was going on I was wholeheartedly behind Truss and hoped she beat them off - as of course she did.
It is a shame she squandered that important victory by turning out to be wrong about pretty much everything else.
For what it's worth, I would choose Canada over Australia as a marriage partner for the UK. For a start, the skiing is much better. It's also not such a crazy hassle to get to, and there's far less jet lag.
Ottawa is nicer than Canberra too, albeit in the same way that syphilis is nicer than herpes.
I’d choose the EU, but ho-hum. Maybe the long sought outer circle comprising UK, Canada, Iceland etc will one day be realised. I’d be pretty happy with that. It could include Ukraine too.
Are you lot not ignoring the inverse with this ruling? That trans men are forced back to women's spaces.
Lets take the most awkward situation: there is a man somewhere a man should not be. Who is going to check if they are really trans or simply pretending?
Seems Schroedinger's pervs win wither way.
Yes, indeed. Someone who looks like a man can now enter a women-only space with impunity - they can just claim to be a trans man. It's not really practical to check that claim in most circumstances.
The group who brought this case do not seem to have spent even a nanosecond considering it may have negative repercussions for the women they were claiming to represent. But given the motivation of their major financial backer that's not wholly surprising.
For what it's worth, I would choose Canada over Australia as a marriage partner for the UK. For a start, the skiing is much better. It's also not such a crazy hassle to get to, and there's far less jet lag.
Ottawa is nicer than Canberra too, albeit in the same way that syphilis is nicer than herpes.
Watch your step, Robert. Getting a little close to home....
Funny if Liz Truss wins her constituency back at the next election as a Reform candidate.
Would they make her the Reform Shadow Chancellor, or put her in charge of Fundraising?
("Nigel, I cut the fees by 53% so that they would have more money in their pockets. The bank just put our overdraft rate up by half as the income went down, by the way.")
Are you lot not ignoring the inverse with this ruling? That trans men are forced back to women's spaces.
Lets take the most awkward situation: there is a man somewhere a man should not be. Who is going to check if they are really trans or simply pretending?
Seems Schroedinger's pervs win wither way.
Yes, indeed. Someone who looks like a man can now enter a women-only space with impunity - they can just claim to be a trans man. It's not really practical to check that claim in most circumstances.
The group who brought this case do not seem to have spent even a nanosecond considering it may have negative repercussions for the women they were claiming to represent. But given the motivation of their major financial backer that's not wholly surprising.
What I'm not clear about is how widely the Supreme Court definition applies. Is it, as some claim, merely tidying up the mess left by the GRA's incompatibility with the ERA, or does it cover all laws?
In a way I don't think it matters, organisations will have to play it safe and err on the side of treating trans women as men instead of playing safe and erring on the side of treating trans women as women. So Leon's friend Julia will, next time she's in hospital will be placed in a male-only ward because they fear they would be breaking the law by putting her in a female-only ward.
In practice, yes, everyone will try play it 'safe' but I'm not sure there's actually a safe course of action. In hospitals it does raise the question of what happens if a person refuses to say if they're trans or not. Would the hospital place them in a male ward by default, and what would be the repercussions if they're sexually assaulted on that ward.
Say a patient claims to not be trans, but the hospital suspects they're lying? Can they demand a gynaecological examination? If the patient was telling the truth and they're a cis woman, do they then have grounds for legal action over that examination?
It's a colossal mess.
I understand that sports bodies manage with a mouth swab.
For what it's worth, I would choose Canada over Australia as a marriage partner for the UK. For a start, the skiing is much better. It's also not such a crazy hassle to get to, and there's far less jet lag.
Ottawa is nicer than Canberra too, albeit in the same way that syphilis is nicer than herpes.
Canada wins this one easily. We should have nothing to do with any country that has dinner-plate size spiders.
For what it's worth, I would choose Canada over Australia as a marriage partner for the UK. For a start, the skiing is much better. It's also not such a crazy hassle to get to, and there's far less jet lag.
Ottawa is nicer than Canberra too, albeit in the same way that syphilis is nicer than herpes.
Watch your step, Robert. Getting a little close to home....
I'm so sorry, but I believe there are drugs that can help.
Funny if Liz Truss wins her constituency back at the next election as a Reform candidate.
Would they make her the Reform Shadow Chancellor, or put her in charge of Fundraising?
("Nigel, I cut the fees by 53% so that they would have more money in their pockets. The bank just put our overdraft rate up by half as the income went down, by the way.")
Truss in Reform would be a gift to the Tories. It would make voters think seriously about Reform economic policy.
Every step she takes into the MAGA universe must make Kwasi Kwarteng pause. He seems to have softened a little since the 2022 Truss autumn, while she’s hardened. Might he be going on one of those journeys, like a political Dorian Gray to her attic painting (or vice versa selon ton goût)?
Funny if Liz Truss wins her constituency back at the next election as a Reform candidate.
Not an impossible scenario. That said, I think it is worth noting just how badly she did.
She went from 69% of the vote (stop sniggering at the back) to 26%. There aren't many Conservatives who got quite so badly mullered as she did, which perhaps suggests she has whatever the opposite is to a personal vote.
I seem to recall there was an Ind Con candidate who specifically ran against her because she wasn’t often about in the constituency. Or something like that.
A chap called James Bagge. He got over 6,000 votes, and Truss lost by 600.
Worth remembering that Truss was nearly deselected by the "Turnip Taliban" when revelations came out about her private life when she first stood. No doubt exacerbated by her being on Cameron's fast-track list. Suspect those resentments may have persisted.
Think the Labour guy is likely to be a one-termer!
I remember that when the Turnip Teliban epsode was going on I was wholeheartedly behind Truss and hoped she beat them off - as of course she did.
It is a shame she squandered that important victory by turning out to be wrong about pretty much everything else.
During my three months in NZ over our winter, I got the sense while there's some residual affection for "the mother country" especially among older New Zealanders, the younger population doesn't have the affinity with the UK we seem to imagine.
I'd also point out the growth in "retirement villages" across parts of suburban NZ means if an older UK couple could just sell up and move to NZ, the price they would get for their UK property would likely afford them something very reasonable in NZ. Conversely, I suppose, free movement would offer younger Kiwis an alternative to Australia for work and study.
Though UK is still closer culturally to New Zealand than any other nation on earth, as well as sharing the same King.
Beyond that we already have a trade deal with them anyway despite their relatively small economy
The country to which NZ is closest culturally is without doubt Australia. As for the economy, NZ is an export-driven economy but the key market now is China. Much of NZ's milk and dairy exports got to China and China is the leading export market for NZ beef and lamb.
But is Australia culturally close to New Zealand?
England is very culturally close to Scotland, but a fairly chunky proportion of Scotland would go to the gallows rather than admit it .
England is so culturally close to NZ that that is where the Conservatives are aiming for when digging their hole.
If Canada and the UK and Oz etc do unite we must surely call it the
Federal Union of Commonwealth Kingdoms
Greater Britain
Empire Redux.
The Making the Globe Pink Again Empire. Perhaps they could even get a float at Pride parades.
Except this new bloc has a strong hetero vibe. It's all the countries Bond would have considered sound minus the USA.
Canada provided for same sex marriage in 2005, the fourth country in the world to do so. The UK in 2014, the fourteenth.
It is not yet legal in India or Nigeria.
Such a union couldn't just be based on friendly liberal pats on the back over gay marriage.
I was responding to the suggestion that such a union carried the unsavoury odour of heterosexuality.
Yes, I didn't really get kinabalu's point there? How are Canada and Australia more heterosexual than other countries? And why is this unsavoury if it's true?
The reason Brits always add Oz and NZ to Canada as a potential political marriage partner is because Brits want to have the option of somewhere warm and sunny to go. Australia
For all its many virtues Canada doesn’t provide that
I really do think it is as simple as that
Nah. Even simpler. A mother never admits to preferring one child over another
During my three months in NZ over our winter, I got the sense while there's some residual affection for "the mother country" especially among older New Zealanders, the younger population doesn't have the affinity with the UK we seem to imagine.
I'd also point out the growth in "retirement villages" across parts of suburban NZ means if an older UK couple could just sell up and move to NZ, the price they would get for their UK property would likely afford them something very reasonable in NZ. Conversely, I suppose, free movement would offer younger Kiwis an alternative to Australia for work and study.
Though UK is still closer culturally to New Zealand than any other nation on earth, as well as sharing the same King.
Beyond that we already have a trade deal with them anyway despite their relatively small economy
51% of New Zealanders are irreligious.
So are about 40% of Brits now
Of course, it means in NZ we are a majority.
Only China, Korea, Vietnam, Japan and Estonia and the Czech republic are less religious than New Zealand
Japan, Estonia and Czechia are all full democracies.
China isn't
According to Freedom House, Taiwan is amongst the top 10 most free countries in the world.
For what it's worth, I would choose Canada over Australia as a marriage partner for the UK. For a start, the skiing is much better. It's also not such a crazy hassle to get to, and there's far less jet lag.
Ottawa is nicer than Canberra too, albeit in the same way that syphilis is nicer than herpes.
Canada wins this one easily. We should have nothing to do with any country that has dinner-plate size spiders.
Funny if Liz Truss wins her constituency back at the next election as a Reform candidate.
Would they make her the Reform Shadow Chancellor, or put her in charge of Fundraising?
("Nigel, I cut the fees by 53% so that they would have more money in their pockets. The bank just put our overdraft rate up by half as the income went down, by the way.")
Truss in Reform would be a gift to the Tories. It would make voters think seriously about Reform economic policy.
Every step she takes into the MAGA universe must make Kwasi Kwarteng pause. He seems to have softened a little since the 2022 Truss autumn, while she’s hardened. Might he be going on one of those journeys, like a political Dorian Gray to her attic painting (or vice versa selon ton goût)?
Logical fit. As I recall Nige was beyond praise when Liz and KK delivered their one and only budget.
Are you lot not ignoring the inverse with this ruling? That trans men are forced back to women's spaces.
Lets take the most awkward situation: there is a man somewhere a man should not be. Who is going to check if they are really trans or simply pretending?
Seems Schroedinger's pervs win wither way.
They aren't. The Supreme Court judgement makes that clear in paragraph 221. Note the judgement uses women living in the male gender for trans men and men living in the female gender for trans women.
Moreover, women living in the male gender could also be excluded under paragraph 28 without this amounting to gender reassignment discrimination. This might be considered proportionate where reasonable objection is taken to their presence, for example, because the gender reassignment process has given them a masculine appearance or attributes to which reasonable objection might be taken in the context of the women-only service being provided. Their exclusion would amount to unlawful gender reassignment discrimination not sex discrimination absent this exception.
Sex at birth is paramount except for trans men? The Supreme Court judgment is looking less like a principled statement of law than a series of hacks to enforce the Justice's prejudices. Maybe that is inevitable but it doesn't smell right.
"The share of Americans who consider Russia an “enemy” has fallen to its lowest point since it began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, according to a poll published Thursday by Pew Research Center. The shift owes largely to evolving views among Republicans amid stark changes in U.S. policy and diplomacy toward Russia and Ukraine under President Donald Trump.
The survey found the share of Americans who said Russia was an “enemy” had fallen to 50 percent, from 61 percent in April 2024 and 70 percent in March 2022, just after the invasion began.
The softening in attitudes toward Russia was far sharper among Republican voters, with 40 percent saying Russia was an enemy, down from 58 percent last year and 69 percent in March 2022. Thirty-four percent of Americans overall now describe Russia as a competitor of the United States, while just 9 percent said it was a partner."
When the USA gets attacked again - and they will (*) - there will not be a coalition of the willing to help them. And this time, more people will just shrug their shoulders and say; "You see, that's what it feels like!"
(*) They will get attacked, because MAGA still see the USA as the most important world power. As Russia sees itself. And as China sees itself. That will lead to conflicts between them, probably proxy, but maybe worse. Also, to be the most important power, you need to throw your weight around - witness all Trump's Gaza nonsense. And that creates enemies who will want to fight you asymmetrically - as happened on 9/11 and before.
For what it's worth, I would choose Canada over Australia as a marriage partner for the UK. For a start, the skiing is much better. It's also not such a crazy hassle to get to, and there's far less jet lag.
Ottawa is nicer than Canberra too, albeit in the same way that syphilis is nicer than herpes.
Canada wins this one easily. We should have nothing to do with any country that has dinner-plate size spiders.
Funny if Liz Truss wins her constituency back at the next election as a Reform candidate.
Would they make her the Reform Shadow Chancellor, or put her in charge of Fundraising?
("Nigel, I cut the fees by 53% so that they would have more money in their pockets. The bank just put our overdraft rate up by half as the income went down, by the way.")
Truss in Reform would be a gift to the Tories. It would make voters think seriously about Reform economic policy.
Every step she takes into the MAGA universe must make Kwasi Kwarteng pause. He seems to have softened a little since the 2022 Truss autumn, while she’s hardened. Might he be going on one of those journeys, like a political Dorian Gray to her attic painting (or vice versa selon ton goût)?
Logical fit. As I recall Nige was beyond praise when Liz and KK delivered their one and only budget.
Are you lot not ignoring the inverse with this ruling? That trans men are forced back to women's spaces.
Lets take the most awkward situation: there is a man somewhere a man should not be. Who is going to check if they are really trans or simply pretending?
Seems Schroedinger's pervs win wither way.
They aren't. The Supreme Court judgement makes that clear in paragraph 221. Note the judgement uses women living in the male gender for trans men and men living in the female gender for trans women.
Moreover, women living in the male gender could also be excluded under paragraph 28 without this amounting to gender reassignment discrimination. This might be considered proportionate where reasonable objection is taken to their presence, for example, because the gender reassignment process has given them a masculine appearance or attributes to which reasonable objection might be taken in the context of the women-only service being provided. Their exclusion would amount to unlawful gender reassignment discrimination not sex discrimination absent this exception.
Not being a lawyer.... Does adding these kind of exclusions not make their judgment inconsistent? And won't trans men be excluded from both single-sex spaces?
There has been a massive amount of trans hatred online over the last couple of days.
Anyone who denies trans people exist, or want to make being trans impossible, can fuck right off.
Getting your panties in a bunch Josias, calm down dear.
Nah, not really.
Seriously Malc; you should read some of the stuff that's out there. If this continues another trans person will end up being killed.
This is the new world, where trans people are all just pretending. Hence the very deliberate language in the header about “sad trans identified men”. The sneery dismissal oozing out, which reminds me a little of the Russian attitude to “so called Ukrainians” with their pretend country.
It’s like the olden days when being gay was “just a phase”.
Cyclefree has always been deep inside Gender Crit circles - in case that wasn’t already obvious. This is the language GCs have always used amongst themselves. Now she feels free to use it in public.
You played for high stakes, and lost.
Suck it up.
Good to remind ourselves every now and again why 'Never Kissed a Tory' badges used to go like hot cakes
I always thought that fuckatory* week would be more enjoyable than a "Never Kissed a Tory" badge.
* Was this in The Tick of It?
Not if the only ones available that particular week are Casino and Leon!
Lol.
I suspect Leon and I have had more and better sex with socialist women than almost all their male fellow travellers on this board.
During my three months in NZ over our winter, I got the sense while there's some residual affection for "the mother country" especially among older New Zealanders, the younger population doesn't have the affinity with the UK we seem to imagine.
I'd also point out the growth in "retirement villages" across parts of suburban NZ means if an older UK couple could just sell up and move to NZ, the price they would get for their UK property would likely afford them something very reasonable in NZ. Conversely, I suppose, free movement would offer younger Kiwis an alternative to Australia for work and study.
Though UK is still closer culturally to New Zealand than any other nation on earth, as well as sharing the same King.
Beyond that we already have a trade deal with them anyway despite their relatively small economy
51% of New Zealanders are irreligious.
So are about 40% of Brits now
Of course, it means in NZ we are a majority.
Only China, Korea, Vietnam, Japan and Estonia and the Czech republic are less religious than New Zealand
Japan, Estonia and Czechia are all full democracies.
China isn't
According to Freedom House, Taiwan is amongst the top 10 most free countries in the world.
For how much longer, you wonder?
If I were Xi, I would completely wrong-foot the world by entering into a 50 year Economic and Cultural Zone with Taiwan. There's no rush...
(Plus, with the advances in drone technology, crossing over from the mainland is going to be horrifically expensive in terms of men and materiel.)
"The share of Americans who consider Russia an “enemy” has fallen to its lowest point since it began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, according to a poll published Thursday by Pew Research Center. The shift owes largely to evolving views among Republicans amid stark changes in U.S. policy and diplomacy toward Russia and Ukraine under President Donald Trump.
The survey found the share of Americans who said Russia was an “enemy” had fallen to 50 percent, from 61 percent in April 2024 and 70 percent in March 2022, just after the invasion began.
The softening in attitudes toward Russia was far sharper among Republican voters, with 40 percent saying Russia was an enemy, down from 58 percent last year and 69 percent in March 2022. Thirty-four percent of Americans overall now describe Russia as a competitor of the United States, while just 9 percent said it was a partner."
When the USA gets attacked again - and they will (*) - there will not be a coalition of the willing to help them. And this time, more people will just shrug their shoulders and say; "You see, that's what it feels like!"
(*) They will get attacked, because MAGA still see the USA as the most important world power. As Russia sees itself. And as China sees itself. That will lead to conflicts between them, probably proxy, but maybe worse. Also, to be the most important power, you need to throw your weight around - witness all Trump's Gaza nonsense. And that creates enemies who will want to fight you asymmetrically - as happened on 9/11 and before.
Russia does not see itself as “the most important world power”. They’re not delusional to that extent
They know America and China are much stronger and likely always will be
But they want to be seen as top of the next tier. A truly great power albeit not a superpower. It’s the potential demotion to the third tier - “economy the size of Spain” and all that - that really exercises them
For what it's worth, I would choose Canada over Australia as a marriage partner for the UK. For a start, the skiing is much better. It's also not such a crazy hassle to get to, and there's far less jet lag.
Ottawa is nicer than Canberra too, albeit in the same way that syphilis is nicer than herpes.
Canada wins this one easily. We should have nothing to do with any country that has dinner-plate size spiders.
This happened in The Sweeney episode with the Scottish rugby-playing copper down from Glasgow, which takes us neatly back to John Thaw, Britain's greatest ever television actor, as per last night's thread.
"The share of Americans who consider Russia an “enemy” has fallen to its lowest point since it began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, according to a poll published Thursday by Pew Research Center. The shift owes largely to evolving views among Republicans amid stark changes in U.S. policy and diplomacy toward Russia and Ukraine under President Donald Trump.
The survey found the share of Americans who said Russia was an “enemy” had fallen to 50 percent, from 61 percent in April 2024 and 70 percent in March 2022, just after the invasion began.
The softening in attitudes toward Russia was far sharper among Republican voters, with 40 percent saying Russia was an enemy, down from 58 percent last year and 69 percent in March 2022. Thirty-four percent of Americans overall now describe Russia as a competitor of the United States, while just 9 percent said it was a partner."
When the USA gets attacked again - and they will (*) - there will not be a coalition of the willing to help them. And this time, more people will just shrug their shoulders and say; "You see, that's what it feels like!"
(*) They will get attacked, because MAGA still see the USA as the most important world power. As Russia sees itself. And as China sees itself. That will lead to conflicts between them, probably proxy, but maybe worse. Also, to be the most important power, you need to throw your weight around - witness all Trump's Gaza nonsense. And that creates enemies who will want to fight you asymmetrically - as happened on 9/11 and before.
Russia does not see itself as “the most important world power”. They’re not delusional to that extent
They know America and China are much stronger and likely always will be
But they want to be seen as top of the next tier. A truly great power albeit not a superpower. It’s the potential demotion to the third tier - “economy the size of Spain” and all that - that really exercises them
Have you seen all the rubbish Russian media post about their world-beating superweapons? Like the tsunami bomb and the nuclear-powered missile? They're not the words and threats of a country that see themselves as the top of the next tier.
"The share of Americans who consider Russia an “enemy” has fallen to its lowest point since it began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, according to a poll published Thursday by Pew Research Center. The shift owes largely to evolving views among Republicans amid stark changes in U.S. policy and diplomacy toward Russia and Ukraine under President Donald Trump.
The survey found the share of Americans who said Russia was an “enemy” had fallen to 50 percent, from 61 percent in April 2024 and 70 percent in March 2022, just after the invasion began.
The softening in attitudes toward Russia was far sharper among Republican voters, with 40 percent saying Russia was an enemy, down from 58 percent last year and 69 percent in March 2022. Thirty-four percent of Americans overall now describe Russia as a competitor of the United States, while just 9 percent said it was a partner."
When the USA gets attacked again - and they will (*) - there will not be a coalition of the willing to help them. And this time, more people will just shrug their shoulders and say; "You see, that's what it feels like!"
(*) They will get attacked, because MAGA still see the USA as the most important world power. As Russia sees itself. And as China sees itself. That will lead to conflicts between them, probably proxy, but maybe worse. Also, to be the most important power, you need to throw your weight around - witness all Trump's Gaza nonsense. And that creates enemies who will want to fight you asymmetrically - as happened on 9/11 and before.
Russia does not see itself as “the most important world power”. They’re not delusional to that extent
They know America and China are much stronger and likely always will be
But they want to be seen as top of the next tier. A truly great power albeit not a superpower. It’s the potential demotion to the third tier - “economy the size of Spain” and all that - that really exercises them
What Putin wants is the resurrection of the old "spheres of influence" polity. Xi would probably be happy with that, as would the America First zealots.
The "End of History" as posited by Fukuyama would be well and truly up-ended. As would Western liberal democracy.
Funny if Liz Truss wins her constituency back at the next election as a Reform candidate.
Would they make her the Reform Shadow Chancellor, or put her in charge of Fundraising?
("Nigel, I cut the fees by 53% so that they would have more money in their pockets. The bank just put our overdraft rate up by half as the income went down, by the way.")
Truss in Reform would be a gift to the Tories. It would make voters think seriously about Reform economic policy.
Every step she takes into the MAGA universe must make Kwasi Kwarteng pause. He seems to have softened a little since the 2022 Truss autumn, while she’s hardened. Might he be going on one of those journeys, like a political Dorian Gray to her attic painting (or vice versa selon ton goût)?
Logical fit. As I recall Nige was beyond praise when Liz and KK delivered their one and only budget.
Nigel interviewed Truss sometime afterwards on his programme and was what I would describe as 'jovially dismissive', saying that Truss had 'played all the right notes but sort of in the wrong order'. She put him straight, as she did in an interview with Fraser Nelson around the same time, arguing that the PM didn't matter, the Blob would have prevailed in any case. I am not sure that's true if the PM was a political genius, but I do know that Truss was really the first to bring the Blob and its impact on Britain's stagnation to a wide audience, and she has been proven correct, given the difficulties that even 'Blob-positive' Labour have got into.
"The share of Americans who consider Russia an “enemy” has fallen to its lowest point since it began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, according to a poll published Thursday by Pew Research Center. The shift owes largely to evolving views among Republicans amid stark changes in U.S. policy and diplomacy toward Russia and Ukraine under President Donald Trump.
The survey found the share of Americans who said Russia was an “enemy” had fallen to 50 percent, from 61 percent in April 2024 and 70 percent in March 2022, just after the invasion began.
The softening in attitudes toward Russia was far sharper among Republican voters, with 40 percent saying Russia was an enemy, down from 58 percent last year and 69 percent in March 2022. Thirty-four percent of Americans overall now describe Russia as a competitor of the United States, while just 9 percent said it was a partner."
When the USA gets attacked again - and they will (*) - there will not be a coalition of the willing to help them. And this time, more people will just shrug their shoulders and say; "You see, that's what it feels like!"
(*) They will get attacked, because MAGA still see the USA as the most important world power. As Russia sees itself. And as China sees itself. That will lead to conflicts between them, probably proxy, but maybe worse. Also, to be the most important power, you need to throw your weight around - witness all Trump's Gaza nonsense. And that creates enemies who will want to fight you asymmetrically - as happened on 9/11 and before.
Russia does not see itself as “the most important world power”. They’re not delusional to that extent
They know America and China are much stronger and likely always will be
But they want to be seen as top of the next tier. A truly great power albeit not a superpower. It’s the potential demotion to the third tier - “economy the size of Spain” and all that - that really exercises them
This person was killed prior to the clarification by the excellent Supreme Court.
What makes you think this will happen more and more simply because the Supreme Court has ruled to protect women’s spaces ?
You do not think all the hatred and lack of understanding towards trans people we are seeing, coupled with the "They're a threat!!!!" shite, will not cause problems for them?
I don’t see any of that, I don’t see any hatred at all and there is a lack of wanting to understand on their side too.
"The share of Americans who consider Russia an “enemy” has fallen to its lowest point since it began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, according to a poll published Thursday by Pew Research Center. The shift owes largely to evolving views among Republicans amid stark changes in U.S. policy and diplomacy toward Russia and Ukraine under President Donald Trump.
The survey found the share of Americans who said Russia was an “enemy” had fallen to 50 percent, from 61 percent in April 2024 and 70 percent in March 2022, just after the invasion began.
The softening in attitudes toward Russia was far sharper among Republican voters, with 40 percent saying Russia was an enemy, down from 58 percent last year and 69 percent in March 2022. Thirty-four percent of Americans overall now describe Russia as a competitor of the United States, while just 9 percent said it was a partner."
When the USA gets attacked again - and they will (*) - there will not be a coalition of the willing to help them. And this time, more people will just shrug their shoulders and say; "You see, that's what it feels like!"
(*) They will get attacked, because MAGA still see the USA as the most important world power. As Russia sees itself. And as China sees itself. That will lead to conflicts between them, probably proxy, but maybe worse. Also, to be the most important power, you need to throw your weight around - witness all Trump's Gaza nonsense. And that creates enemies who will want to fight you asymmetrically - as happened on 9/11 and before.
Russia does not see itself as “the most important world power”. They’re not delusional to that extent
They know America and China are much stronger and likely always will be
But they want to be seen as top of the next tier. A truly great power albeit not a superpower. It’s the potential demotion to the third tier - “economy the size of Spain” and all that - that really exercises them
Have you seen all the rubbish Russian media post about their world-beating superweapons? Like the tsunami bomb and the nuclear-powered missile? They're not the words and threats of a country that see themselves as the top of the next tier.
Russians seem to be ghastly awful people. Putin seems to be the great puppeteer of the ghastly awful people.
If I was Russian I might contemplate trying to address these issues.
(Incidentally they can say all they like about it's not them and blah blah - but every Russian is in part responsible for the nasty little toad that is Putin)
"The share of Americans who consider Russia an “enemy” has fallen to its lowest point since it began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, according to a poll published Thursday by Pew Research Center. The shift owes largely to evolving views among Republicans amid stark changes in U.S. policy and diplomacy toward Russia and Ukraine under President Donald Trump.
The survey found the share of Americans who said Russia was an “enemy” had fallen to 50 percent, from 61 percent in April 2024 and 70 percent in March 2022, just after the invasion began.
The softening in attitudes toward Russia was far sharper among Republican voters, with 40 percent saying Russia was an enemy, down from 58 percent last year and 69 percent in March 2022. Thirty-four percent of Americans overall now describe Russia as a competitor of the United States, while just 9 percent said it was a partner."
When the USA gets attacked again - and they will (*) - there will not be a coalition of the willing to help them. And this time, more people will just shrug their shoulders and say; "You see, that's what it feels like!"
(*) They will get attacked, because MAGA still see the USA as the most important world power. As Russia sees itself. And as China sees itself. That will lead to conflicts between them, probably proxy, but maybe worse. Also, to be the most important power, you need to throw your weight around - witness all Trump's Gaza nonsense. And that creates enemies who will want to fight you asymmetrically - as happened on 9/11 and before.
Russia does not see itself as “the most important world power”. They’re not delusional to that extent
They know America and China are much stronger and likely always will be
But they want to be seen as top of the next tier. A truly great power albeit not a superpower. It’s the potential demotion to the third tier - “economy the size of Spain” and all that - that really exercises them
What Putin wants is the resurrection of the old "spheres of influence" polity. Xi would probably be happy with that, as would the America First zealots.
The "End of History" as posited by Fukuyama would be well and truly up-ended. As would Western liberal democracy.
"The share of Americans who consider Russia an “enemy” has fallen to its lowest point since it began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, according to a poll published Thursday by Pew Research Center. The shift owes largely to evolving views among Republicans amid stark changes in U.S. policy and diplomacy toward Russia and Ukraine under President Donald Trump.
The survey found the share of Americans who said Russia was an “enemy” had fallen to 50 percent, from 61 percent in April 2024 and 70 percent in March 2022, just after the invasion began.
The softening in attitudes toward Russia was far sharper among Republican voters, with 40 percent saying Russia was an enemy, down from 58 percent last year and 69 percent in March 2022. Thirty-four percent of Americans overall now describe Russia as a competitor of the United States, while just 9 percent said it was a partner."
When the USA gets attacked again - and they will (*) - there will not be a coalition of the willing to help them. And this time, more people will just shrug their shoulders and say; "You see, that's what it feels like!"
(*) They will get attacked, because MAGA still see the USA as the most important world power. As Russia sees itself. And as China sees itself. That will lead to conflicts between them, probably proxy, but maybe worse. Also, to be the most important power, you need to throw your weight around - witness all Trump's Gaza nonsense. And that creates enemies who will want to fight you asymmetrically - as happened on 9/11 and before.
Russia does not see itself as “the most important world power”. They’re not delusional to that extent
They know America and China are much stronger and likely always will be
But they want to be seen as top of the next tier. A truly great power albeit not a superpower. It’s the potential demotion to the third tier - “economy the size of Spain” and all that - that really exercises them
Everytime I post about UK-Canada, people want to add Australia-NZ.
There is probably a case for stronger links of some sort, but there is no geopolitical logic. The South Pacific is too far from the North Atlantic, as New Zealanders learned with the fall of Singapore.
The UK's future lies in good links with Nigeria and India, populous countries where English is widely spoken and with large growing educated middle classes.
The Indians appear to hate the British, as rising Indian (or Hindi) nationalism seems to go hand-in-hand with revisionist accounts of the Raj.
Modhi, like so many nationalists, believes in a golden age that never was, before the British, the Sikh kingdoms, the Moghuls, and the Sultans of Delhi.
For what it's worth, I would choose Canada over Australia as a marriage partner for the UK. For a start, the skiing is much better. It's also not such a crazy hassle to get to, and there's far less jet lag.
Ottawa is nicer than Canberra too, albeit in the same way that syphilis is nicer than herpes.
Canada wins this one easily. We should have nothing to do with any country that has dinner-plate size spiders.
Ever met a hungry grizzly?
Grizzlys are just hungry and bad tempered. Spiders are the embodiment of all evil, creatures from a universe where there is only darkness, pain and despair.
🇺🇸→🇺🇦 Agree to peace NOW! 🇺🇦→🇺🇸 OK. Unconditional ceasefire, negotiated in a day
🇺🇸→🇷🇺 Dear russia, please 🙏 agree to peace 🇷🇺→🇺🇸 NO. We want to wage a criminal war. To be clear, we’ll murder children every week
🇺🇸→🇷🇺 Oh, that’s how you are? Well then, we walk away 🤦🏻♂️
Who will ever take us seriously? Russia invaded Ukraine to kill Ukrainians for being Ukrainian. The bravest nation on earth is defending itself, and we can’t choose a side?
"The share of Americans who consider Russia an “enemy” has fallen to its lowest point since it began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, according to a poll published Thursday by Pew Research Center. The shift owes largely to evolving views among Republicans amid stark changes in U.S. policy and diplomacy toward Russia and Ukraine under President Donald Trump.
The survey found the share of Americans who said Russia was an “enemy” had fallen to 50 percent, from 61 percent in April 2024 and 70 percent in March 2022, just after the invasion began.
The softening in attitudes toward Russia was far sharper among Republican voters, with 40 percent saying Russia was an enemy, down from 58 percent last year and 69 percent in March 2022. Thirty-four percent of Americans overall now describe Russia as a competitor of the United States, while just 9 percent said it was a partner."
When the USA gets attacked again - and they will (*) - there will not be a coalition of the willing to help them. And this time, more people will just shrug their shoulders and say; "You see, that's what it feels like!"
(*) They will get attacked, because MAGA still see the USA as the most important world power. As Russia sees itself. And as China sees itself. That will lead to conflicts between them, probably proxy, but maybe worse. Also, to be the most important power, you need to throw your weight around - witness all Trump's Gaza nonsense. And that creates enemies who will want to fight you asymmetrically - as happened on 9/11 and before.
Russia does not see itself as “the most important world power”. They’re not delusional to that extent
They know America and China are much stronger and likely always will be
But they want to be seen as top of the next tier. A truly great power albeit not a superpower. It’s the potential demotion to the third tier - “economy the size of Spain” and all that - that really exercises them
What Putin wants is the resurrection of the old "spheres of influence" polity. Xi would probably be happy with that, as would the America First zealots.
The "End of History" as posited by Fukuyama would be well and truly up-ended. As would Western liberal democracy.
Yes that’s a sharp analysis
We'd be quite fucked. Our prosperity depends on free and open global trade.
The reason we've done well the last century is that at first we policed it and then the Americans took over.
For what it's worth, I would choose Canada over Australia as a marriage partner for the UK. For a start, the skiing is much better. It's also not such a crazy hassle to get to, and there's far less jet lag.
Ottawa is nicer than Canberra too, albeit in the same way that syphilis is nicer than herpes.
Is syphilis nicer than herpes? I thought herpes gives you coldsores but syphilis means you go blind and have to have mercury injected up your willy?
This happened in The Sweeney episode with the Scottish rugby-playing copper down from Glasgow, which takes us neatly back to John Thaw, Britain's greatest ever television actor, as per last night's thread.
The episode was ‘Hard Men’, from series 4, with the wonderful James Cosmo playing Davey Freeth, the copper you refer to and you’re absolutely right he was a rugby player. Number 8 for Hawick.
Loved the shot when he got off the train and was walking to meet Regan and Carter and dropped an empty bottle of ‘electric soup’ in the bin.
God, I’m such a Sweeney anorak. I used to call my first manager in the world of work Guv.
"The share of Americans who consider Russia an “enemy” has fallen to its lowest point since it began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, according to a poll published Thursday by Pew Research Center. The shift owes largely to evolving views among Republicans amid stark changes in U.S. policy and diplomacy toward Russia and Ukraine under President Donald Trump.
The survey found the share of Americans who said Russia was an “enemy” had fallen to 50 percent, from 61 percent in April 2024 and 70 percent in March 2022, just after the invasion began.
The softening in attitudes toward Russia was far sharper among Republican voters, with 40 percent saying Russia was an enemy, down from 58 percent last year and 69 percent in March 2022. Thirty-four percent of Americans overall now describe Russia as a competitor of the United States, while just 9 percent said it was a partner."
When the USA gets attacked again - and they will (*) - there will not be a coalition of the willing to help them. And this time, more people will just shrug their shoulders and say; "You see, that's what it feels like!"
(*) They will get attacked, because MAGA still see the USA as the most important world power. As Russia sees itself. And as China sees itself. That will lead to conflicts between them, probably proxy, but maybe worse. Also, to be the most important power, you need to throw your weight around - witness all Trump's Gaza nonsense. And that creates enemies who will want to fight you asymmetrically - as happened on 9/11 and before.
Russia does not see itself as “the most important world power”. They’re not delusional to that extent
They know America and China are much stronger and likely always will be
But they want to be seen as top of the next tier. A truly great power albeit not a superpower. It’s the potential demotion to the third tier - “economy the size of Spain” and all that - that really exercises them
What Putin wants is the resurrection of the old "spheres of influence" polity. Xi would probably be happy with that, as would the America First zealots.
The "End of History" as posited by Fukuyama would be well and truly up-ended. As would Western liberal democracy.
Yes that’s a sharp analysis
We'd be quite fucked. Our prosperity depends on free and open global trade.
The reason we've done well the last century is that at first we policed it and then the Americans took over.
If no-one does then, well, we're in trouble.
We haven't done well in the last century.
Personally I don't think spheres of influence ever went away. It's just that the US stepped well beyond its traditional sphere of influence because it rose to become an unchallenged world hegemon.
"The share of Americans who consider Russia an “enemy” has fallen to its lowest point since it began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, according to a poll published Thursday by Pew Research Center. The shift owes largely to evolving views among Republicans amid stark changes in U.S. policy and diplomacy toward Russia and Ukraine under President Donald Trump.
The survey found the share of Americans who said Russia was an “enemy” had fallen to 50 percent, from 61 percent in April 2024 and 70 percent in March 2022, just after the invasion began.
The softening in attitudes toward Russia was far sharper among Republican voters, with 40 percent saying Russia was an enemy, down from 58 percent last year and 69 percent in March 2022. Thirty-four percent of Americans overall now describe Russia as a competitor of the United States, while just 9 percent said it was a partner."
When the USA gets attacked again - and they will (*) - there will not be a coalition of the willing to help them. And this time, more people will just shrug their shoulders and say; "You see, that's what it feels like!"
(*) They will get attacked, because MAGA still see the USA as the most important world power. As Russia sees itself. And as China sees itself. That will lead to conflicts between them, probably proxy, but maybe worse. Also, to be the most important power, you need to throw your weight around - witness all Trump's Gaza nonsense. And that creates enemies who will want to fight you asymmetrically - as happened on 9/11 and before.
Russia does not see itself as “the most important world power”. They’re not delusional to that extent
They know America and China are much stronger and likely always will be
But they want to be seen as top of the next tier. A truly great power albeit not a superpower. It’s the potential demotion to the third tier - “economy the size of Spain” and all that - that really exercises them
What Putin wants is the resurrection of the old "spheres of influence" polity. Xi would probably be happy with that, as would the America First zealots.
The "End of History" as posited by Fukuyama would be well and truly up-ended. As would Western liberal democracy.
Yes that’s a sharp analysis
We'd be quite fucked. Our prosperity depends on free and open global trade.
The reason we've done well the last century is that at first we policed it and then the Americans took over.
If no-one does then, well, we're in trouble.
We haven't done well in the last century.
Personally I don't think spheres of influence ever went away. It's just that the US stepped well beyond its traditional sphere of influence because it rose to become an unchallenged world hegemon.
There have not been many successful wars of conquest, post 1945. I don't know if that is due to right of conquest being repudiated, or the simple fact that military technology usually favours the defender, and most people find it cheaper to buy products from other countries, rather than install an army of occupation, to fight an insurgency.
The thing about Russia's ruling class is that they appear to be pretty stupid, as well as violent and drunken.
For what it's worth, I would choose Canada over Australia as a marriage partner for the UK. For a start, the skiing is much better. It's also not such a crazy hassle to get to, and there's far less jet lag.
Ottawa is nicer than Canberra too, albeit in the same way that syphilis is nicer than herpes.
Is syphilis nicer than herpes? I thought herpes gives you coldsores but syphilis means you go blind and have to have mercury injected up your willy?
Syph is totally treatable now, herpes stays with you forever so whilst manageable it’s always there and highly transferable so you are likely to have to have some uncomfortable conversations once in a relationship and they want to stop having unprotected sex.
"The share of Americans who consider Russia an “enemy” has fallen to its lowest point since it began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, according to a poll published Thursday by Pew Research Center. The shift owes largely to evolving views among Republicans amid stark changes in U.S. policy and diplomacy toward Russia and Ukraine under President Donald Trump.
The survey found the share of Americans who said Russia was an “enemy” had fallen to 50 percent, from 61 percent in April 2024 and 70 percent in March 2022, just after the invasion began.
The softening in attitudes toward Russia was far sharper among Republican voters, with 40 percent saying Russia was an enemy, down from 58 percent last year and 69 percent in March 2022. Thirty-four percent of Americans overall now describe Russia as a competitor of the United States, while just 9 percent said it was a partner."
When the USA gets attacked again - and they will (*) - there will not be a coalition of the willing to help them. And this time, more people will just shrug their shoulders and say; "You see, that's what it feels like!"
(*) They will get attacked, because MAGA still see the USA as the most important world power. As Russia sees itself. And as China sees itself. That will lead to conflicts between them, probably proxy, but maybe worse. Also, to be the most important power, you need to throw your weight around - witness all Trump's Gaza nonsense. And that creates enemies who will want to fight you asymmetrically - as happened on 9/11 and before.
Russia does not see itself as “the most important world power”. They’re not delusional to that extent
They know America and China are much stronger and likely always will be
But they want to be seen as top of the next tier. A truly great power albeit not a superpower. It’s the potential demotion to the third tier - “economy the size of Spain” and all that - that really exercises them
What Putin wants is the resurrection of the old "spheres of influence" polity. Xi would probably be happy with that, as would the America First zealots.
The "End of History" as posited by Fukuyama would be well and truly up-ended. As would Western liberal democracy.
Yes that’s a sharp analysis
We'd be quite fucked. Our prosperity depends on free and open global trade.
The reason we've done well the last century is that at first we policed it and then the Americans took over.
If no-one does then, well, we're in trouble.
We haven't done well in the last century.
Personally I don't think spheres of influence ever went away. It's just that the US stepped well beyond its traditional sphere of influence because it rose to become an unchallenged world hegemon.
There have not been many successful wars of conquest, post 1945. I don't know if that is due to right of conquest being repudiated, or the simple fact that military technology usually favours the defender, and most people find it cheaper to buy products from other countries, rather than install an army of occupation, to fight an insurgency.
My understanding is that a sphere of influence is the opposite of a war of conquest. If a place is within your sphere of influence, you don't need to conquer it. You get all the goodies and don't need to put a ring on that finger. It's only when someone else starts making eyes at somewhere in your sphere of influence that you need to conquer it.
Comments
Nuffence.
Whether NZ has a trade deal with China or not is irrelevant to the UK but currently it has trade deals with both the UK and China anyway
Honestly, they've got unlucky there with some wrong side of the tracks Presbyterian genetics.
I remember Alice Springs and the aborigine people there, all slumped and listless, while life buzzed on around them. One of the saddest things I've ever seen.
Lots of good memories too. I killed a snake at one point.
Worth remembering that Truss was nearly deselected by the "Turnip Taliban" when revelations came out about her private life when she first stood. No doubt exacerbated by her being on Cameron's fast-track list. Suspect those resentments may have persisted.
Think the Labour guy is likely to be a one-termer!
Say a patient claims to not be trans, but the hospital suspects they're lying? Can they demand a gynaecological examination? If the patient was telling the truth and they're a cis woman, do they then have grounds for legal action over that examination?
It's a colossal mess.
I once described the experience - in an article - as “going to Winchester and meeting Anglo Saxon warlords in Sainsbury’s car park all in battered regalia and sniffing glue”
Australia can be paradisical. But if there is a serpent in the garden it is the aboriginals. Their very presence is reproachful yet they are often a fucking pain - drunk and aggressive - and yet we took their entire continent away from them - no money can ever make up for that
What the benefit is to Reform is indeed less clear. Sadly she remains a very tarnished figure, though on the right (and among Reform's existing supporters) she has a good following. She also brings political experience and some genuine policy heft (no sniggering at the back). Truss knows the system and knows the challenges a radical PM will face. That is certainly valuable knowledge if they want to set a radical agenda and hit the ground running once they get in.
It is a shame she squandered that important victory by turning out to be wrong about pretty much everything else.
Yes! U-Kan
I had a nice time there but two years was enough. The place I've felt most foreign in was Japan. Now there's a country where you know straightaway and all the time that you're not in England.
Or so I've been told.
What was brushed off as misogyny at the time actually turned out to be bloody good judgement.
The A-list was proto-Wokery and contained some of the worst candidates the Tories ever selected.
Sadness and empathy, yes
Also what is this “people with your brain chemistry” shit? Who are these “people”?
Get tae fuck, retired accountant
Gay clubs operated for years on "Men only. Women as guests" or "Women only. Men as guests" depending. It worked then and I assume it'd work now. But PB is full of lawyers who may know better.
Take the most awkward situation: there is a man somewhere a man should not be. Who is going to check if they are really trans or simply pretending?
Seems Schroedinger's pervs win either way.
'.... lawyers who may know better. '
Not words often seen together, Viewcode.
So you feel pride in our achievements but no shame for our crimes?
That's a clever trick. I can't manage it. It's both or neither for me, depending on context.
Ottawa is nicer than Canberra too, albeit in the same way that syphilis is nicer than herpes.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/04/17/russia-ukraine-trump-poll-enemy/
"The share of Americans who consider Russia an “enemy” has fallen to its lowest point since it began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, according to a poll published Thursday by Pew Research Center. The shift owes largely to evolving views among Republicans amid stark changes in U.S. policy and diplomacy toward Russia and Ukraine under President Donald Trump.
The survey found the share of Americans who said Russia was an “enemy” had fallen to 50 percent, from 61 percent in April 2024 and 70 percent in March 2022, just after the invasion began.
The softening in attitudes toward Russia was far sharper among Republican voters, with 40 percent saying Russia was an enemy, down from 58 percent last year and 69 percent in March 2022. Thirty-four percent of Americans overall now describe Russia as a competitor of the United States, while just 9 percent said it was a partner."
The group who brought this case do not seem to have spent even a nanosecond considering it may have negative repercussions for the women they were claiming to represent. But given the motivation of their major financial backer that's not wholly surprising.
("Nigel, I cut the fees by 53% so that they would have more money in their pockets. The bank just put our overdraft rate up by half as the income went down, by the way.")
The cities are clean and safe. They are not overrun with non-Kazakhs. They are themselves
Never thought I’d end up envying nations in Central Asia
Every step she takes into the MAGA universe must make Kwasi Kwarteng pause. He seems to have softened a little since the 2022 Truss autumn, while she’s hardened. Might he be going on one of those journeys, like a political Dorian Gray to her attic painting (or vice versa selon ton goût)?
England is very culturally close to Scotland, but a fairly chunky proportion of Scotland would go to the gallows rather than admit it
England is so culturally close to NZ that that is where the Conservatives are aiming for when digging their hole.
We have weekly child rankings.
I’ve been given a dainty box of local matches. Curious and rather lovely. Can’t take them with me
It’s like a metaphor for dying rich
(*) They will get attacked, because MAGA still see the USA as the most important world power. As Russia sees itself. And as China sees itself. That will lead to conflicts between them, probably proxy, but maybe worse. Also, to be the most important power, you need to throw your weight around - witness all Trump's Gaza nonsense. And that creates enemies who will want to fight you asymmetrically - as happened on 9/11 and before.
If Truss defects to Reform then Reform should shrug and say “up to her”. No song and dance. She’s a liability at the moment
In future it might be handy to have an ex minister and PM in the reform ranks but for now they should play it very cool
All other countries are run by little girls
Kazakhstan, number one exporter of potassium
All other countries have inferior potassium
Kazakhstan, home of Tinshein swimming pool
It's length thirty meter, width six meter
Filtration system a marvel to behold
It remove 80% of human solid waste
Kazakhstan, Kazakhstan, you very nice place
From plains of Tarashek to northern fence of Jewtown
Kazakhstan friend of all except Uzbekistan
They very nosey people, with bone in their brain
Kazakhstan, industry best in world
We invented toffee and trouser belt
Kazakhstan's prostitutes, cleanest in the region
Except of course for Turkmenistan's
Kazakhstan, Kazakhstan, you very nice place
From plains of Tarashek to northern fence of Jewtown
Come grasp mighty penis of our leader
From junction with the testes to tip of its face!
If I were Xi, I would completely wrong-foot the world by entering into a 50 year Economic and Cultural Zone with Taiwan. There's no rush...
(Plus, with the advances in drone technology, crossing over from the mainland is going to be horrifically expensive in terms of men and materiel.)
They know America and China are much stronger and likely always will be
But they want to be seen as top of the next tier. A truly great power albeit not a superpower. It’s the potential demotion to the third tier - “economy the size of Spain” and all that - that really exercises them
https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/greater-manchester-police-broke-down-31431124
This happened in The Sweeney episode with the Scottish rugby-playing copper down from Glasgow, which takes us neatly back to John Thaw, Britain's greatest ever television actor, as per last night's thread.
The "End of History" as posited by Fukuyama would be well and truly up-ended. As would Western liberal democracy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B39cenrIQW0
If I was Russian I might contemplate trying to address these issues.
(Incidentally they can say all they like about it's not them and blah blah - but every Russian is in part responsible for the nasty little toad that is Putin)
(spot the arachnophobe...)
East Germany, East Germany,
Land of Sauerkraut and lederhosen,
Don't try to escape,
If the border guards don't get you,
The electric fences will.
🇺🇸→🇺🇦 Agree to peace NOW!
🇺🇦→🇺🇸 OK. Unconditional ceasefire, negotiated in a day
🇺🇸→🇷🇺 Dear russia, please 🙏 agree to peace
🇷🇺→🇺🇸 NO. We want to wage a criminal war. To be clear, we’ll murder children every week
🇺🇸→🇷🇺 Oh, that’s how you are? Well then, we walk away 🤦🏻♂️
Who will ever take us seriously?
Russia invaded Ukraine to kill Ukrainians for being Ukrainian. The bravest nation on earth is defending itself, and we can’t choose a side?
How to project weakness, destroy American credibility on a world stage in less than 100 days, a masterclass
https://x.com/ChakhoyanAndrew/status/1913160946576433600
Time for Europe to plan for the US completely abandoning Ukraine, as that now seems a fairly likely outcome.
The reason we've done well the last century is that at first we policed it and then the Americans took over.
If no-one does then, well, we're in trouble.
Loved the shot when he got off the train and was walking to meet Regan and Carter and dropped an empty bottle of ‘electric soup’ in the bin.
God, I’m such a Sweeney anorak. I used to call my first manager in the world of work Guv.
It was only better than the Long Night, in the last season of Game of Thrones, insofar as it was shorter.
Personally I don't think spheres of influence ever went away. It's just that the US stepped well beyond its traditional sphere of influence because it rose to become an unchallenged world hegemon.
The thing about Russia's ruling class is that they appear to be pretty stupid, as well as violent and drunken.