"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.
Don't be silly.
It would be interesting to get his account of this -
You do get a notable jump in GDP per capita, after the Black Death, but then, nothing much until towards the end of the 17th century.
Hmmm… the mad increases of the 20th cent make it hard to see, but
Or as a log graph (did we learn nothing during The Sickness?)
Looks like breaks in trend in late 1600s, 1800 or so and 1925.
I studied Seventeenth Century history at A Level, and it always felt like an extraordinary period: it started out with Elizabeth I still on the throne, and ended a (broadly) constitutional monarchy with a modern financial system.
I’m envious; it was a fascinating century. Pretty shit for most of the globe, though. War, famine, revolutions and mass death everywhere.
"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.
Don't be silly.
It would be interesting to get his account of this -
You do get a notable jump in GDP per capita, after the Black Death, but then, nothing much until towards the end of the 17th century.
Hmmm… the mad increases of the 20th cent make it hard to see, but
Or as a log graph (did we learn nothing during The Sickness?)
Looks like breaks in trend in late 1600s, 1800 or so and 1925.
I studied Seventeenth Century history at A Level, and it always felt like an extraordinary period: it started out with Elizabeth I still on the throne, and ended a (broadly) constitutional monarchy with a modern financial system.
It was, in many ways, a horrific century worldwide. The Thirty Years War, The Eighty Years War, The Deluge, The Time of Troubles, The Fronde, The English Civil War, the Hapsburg/Ottoman wars, carried off millions. On top of that, there was famine (caused by global cooling) and plague. And that was just in Europe.
But, if you wanted real excitement, there was plenty to be found elsewhere in the world, as the transatlantic slave trade got it into full swing, and disease ravaged Amerindian tribes. The Manchus were slaughtering tens of millions, in their sixty year conquest of China, and Aurangzeb was matching them in India.
"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.
Don't be silly.
Since 1925, we have gone from being probably the world's second wealthiest and most powerful country, to being the sick man of Europe (again). Don't get me wrong, I have every faith in our country that we can bounce back, but we've had a century of almost constant decline. Doing well is the situation improving, or at least staying the same.
Man, wait until you hear about Italy.
The home of the pizza, sans pineapple. Probably explains their decline.
"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.
Don't be silly.
Since 1925, we have gone from being probably the world's second wealthiest and most powerful country, to being the sick man of Europe (again). Don't get me wrong, I have every faith in our country that we can bounce back, but we've had a century of almost constant decline. Doing well is the situation improving, or at least staying the same.
Man, wait until you hear about Italy.
The home of the pizza, sans pineapple. Probably explains their decline.
They've been in decline since the Romans.
It's all been downhill since they abolished slavery, eh?
I am not an ancient historian, but I think the rot set in long before that happened.
The cynic in me expects this will just see a spike in demand !
I'd not known there was a dark chocolate Toblerone and my reaction to reading about its demise was to wonder what it's like. (Not interested in ordinary Toblerone.)
Same here. Dark Toblerone is leaving before I had a chance to say hello. Feel sad.
You’re not missing much. It’s probably worse than the milk version (which is actually ok if all you want is a hit of mild chocolate sweetness - but the nougat gets in your teeth)
I’m eating 85% cacao Lindt right now. Pretends to be posh chocolate but it’s too bitter and lacks the crucial sensuality
The best mass produced chocolate you can get most places is Ritter dark milk with hazelnuts
85 is a bit too much. In the 70s is (for me) plenty strong enough for very good chocolate.
Yes I agree. But supplies were limited in my Almaty supermarket and I fancied posh chocolate with my Saperavi wine - my minibar only has TwiX. The chocolate not the social medium
I should’ve done for the Ritter. My regular
I've tried a fair bit of chocolate one way or another, and the best one I think I've tried (as unadulterated chocolate) is this one:
From Congo. It just tastes so rich, creamy and unctuous - all just from the origin of the beans. They give money to the gorillas too.
That’s not as pricey as the bar of Dubai Lindt I saw in my local Sainsbury’s, a tenner !!
We are currently working our way through a biz of quality street. A gift at Xmas. Can’t say I’m a fan but I will match her magnificence chocolate for chocolate
I was one of those odd kids who liked the toffee penny.
There’s going to be half a dozen left here by tomorrow morning, all the rest will have gone !
The cynic in me expects this will just see a spike in demand !
I'd not known there was a dark chocolate Toblerone and my reaction to reading about its demise was to wonder what it's like. (Not interested in ordinary Toblerone.)
Same here. Dark Toblerone is leaving before I had a chance to say hello. Feel sad.
You’re not missing much. It’s probably worse than the milk version (which is actually ok if all you want is a hit of mild chocolate sweetness - but the nougat gets in your teeth)
I’m eating 85% cacao Lindt right now. Pretends to be posh chocolate but it’s too bitter and lacks the crucial sensuality
The best mass produced chocolate you can get most places is Ritter dark milk with hazelnuts
85 is a bit too much. In the 70s is (for me) plenty strong enough for very good chocolate.
Yes I agree. But supplies were limited in my Almaty supermarket and I fancied posh chocolate with my Saperavi wine - my minibar only has TwiX. The chocolate not the social medium
I should’ve done for the Ritter. My regular
I've tried a fair bit of chocolate one way or another, and the best one I think I've tried (as unadulterated chocolate) is this one:
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.
I spent a year in Auckland in 98-99 and I couldn’t disagree more on both points. I dated two NZ women and would have married one if things had turned out differently. I’m not claiming 10/10 but both were gorgeous. And the food? In the big cities there was plenty of options for decent dining, along with the same trash all western nations have. I did a couple of tours of the nation and ate very well indeed. I doubt it’s got worse in the last twenty five years.
Melanie Field, who oversaw its drafting and passage through Westminster in 2010, said the legislation was meant to give transgender people with gender recognition certificates (GRCs) the same legal status as biological men or women.
This has the potential to blow up spectacularly and could be very dangerous for Starmer. Keep a close eye on Creasy.
Does it ?
She may say that was the intent of the law but that’s not how the Supreme Court has seen it so perhaps she should have done a better job if that was the intent.
Creasy is a nobody.
Melanie Field is saying that she forgot to write the intent of the law into the actual, written law.
What other laws did she oversea drafting of?
The cynic in me is thinking they deliberately didn’t spell it out in black and white to avoid a meltdown by the MPs.
The Supreme Court reasoning on what the Equality Act means is interesting. Their argument in paragraphs 177-188 is basically. The section on pregnancy as a protected characteristic says "less favourable treatment of a woman because they are pregnant". The SC points out that it would be odd if Parliament's intention was to include trans women but exclude trans men so that when the EA says women it has to be cis women + trans men. Therefore whenever the EA says women it's cis women + trans men.
That leads to what hospitals have to do in the rare cases when they have a pregnant trans man. They cannot treat them in a female-only ward because of their 'masculine appearance' but maternity hospitals doesn't have male-only wards. I guess that'll be a way for women to get a private room for free, claim to be a trans man and you'll get a room on your own.
This is the bit that gets me: “.. DOGE demanded root access. Not auditor access. Not admin.
They were given “tenant owner” privileges in Azure — full control over the NLRB’s cloud, above the CIO himself. This is never supposed to happen…
.. They disabled the logs. Berulis says DOGE demanded account creation with no recordkeeping.
They even ordered security controls bypassed and disabled tools like network watcher so their actions wouldn’t be logged..”
It gets worse; read the whole thread.
If that's true, that is absolutely extraordinary.
The spped of the collapse of the US government into anarchic kleptocracy is remarkable.
It must have been well planned.
What's striking is that the Russian influence is happening in plain view.
Peter Zeihan, in his youtube videos, openly calls Tulsi Gabbard (Director of National Intelligence) a Russian asset. And, even more remarkably, so do the Russians.
Witkoff seems to fit better into the Useful Idiot category, but the effect is much the same.
Quite extraordinary.
Who is Peter Ziehan and why should we care what he 'openly' calls people on his Youtube videos?
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 cynic in me expects this will just see a spike in demand !
I'd not known there was a dark chocolate Toblerone and my reaction to reading about its demise was to wonder what it's like. (Not interested in ordinary Toblerone.)
Same here. Dark Toblerone is leaving before I had a chance to say hello. Feel sad.
You’re not missing much. It’s probably worse than the milk version (which is actually ok if all you want is a hit of mild chocolate sweetness - but the nougat gets in your teeth)
I’m eating 85% cacao Lindt right now. Pretends to be posh chocolate but it’s too bitter and lacks the crucial sensuality
The best mass produced chocolate you can get most places is Ritter dark milk with hazelnuts
I love chocolate and nuts but I don't mix them. I'm either having chocolate or I'm having nuts.
The cynic in me expects this will just see a spike in demand !
I'd not known there was a dark chocolate Toblerone and my reaction to reading about its demise was to wonder what it's like. (Not interested in ordinary Toblerone.)
Same here. Dark Toblerone is leaving before I had a chance to say hello. Feel sad.
You’re not missing much. It’s probably worse than the milk version (which is actually ok if all you want is a hit of mild chocolate sweetness - but the nougat gets in your teeth)
I’m eating 85% cacao Lindt right now. Pretends to be posh chocolate but it’s too bitter and lacks the crucial sensuality
The best mass produced chocolate you can get most places is Ritter dark milk with hazelnuts
85 is a bit too much. In the 70s is (for me) plenty strong enough for very good chocolate.
You should go for 90. The more dark it is the more it prolongs your life.
The cynic in me expects this will just see a spike in demand !
I'd not known there was a dark chocolate Toblerone and my reaction to reading about its demise was to wonder what it's like. (Not interested in ordinary Toblerone.)
Same here. Dark Toblerone is leaving before I had a chance to say hello. Feel sad.
You’re not missing much. It’s probably worse than the milk version (which is actually ok if all you want is a hit of mild chocolate sweetness - but the nougat gets in your teeth)
I’m eating 85% cacao Lindt right now. Pretends to be posh chocolate but it’s too bitter and lacks the crucial sensuality
The best mass produced chocolate you can get most places is Ritter dark milk with hazelnuts
85 is a bit too much. In the 70s is (for me) plenty strong enough for very good chocolate.
Yes I agree. But supplies were limited in my Almaty supermarket and I fancied posh chocolate with my Saperavi wine - my minibar only has TwiX. The chocolate not the social medium
I should’ve done for the Ritter. My regular
I had some of this below the other day and was very good. Also had their dark chocolate with sea salt and almonds which was super good.
"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.
Don't be silly.
Since 1925, we have gone from being probably the world's second wealthiest and most powerful country, to being the sick man of Europe (again). Don't get me wrong, I have every faith in our country that we can bounce back, but we've had a century of almost constant decline. Doing well is the situation improving, or at least staying the same.
Man, wait until you hear about Italy.
The home of the pizza, sans pineapple. Probably explains their decline.
They've been in decline since the Romans.
Free fall, really.
But still their silly GDP per capita chart would show exactly the same thing as ours - all it shows is the march of time and technology.
This is the bit that gets me: “.. DOGE demanded root access. Not auditor access. Not admin.
They were given “tenant owner” privileges in Azure — full control over the NLRB’s cloud, above the CIO himself. This is never supposed to happen…
.. They disabled the logs. Berulis says DOGE demanded account creation with no recordkeeping.
They even ordered security controls bypassed and disabled tools like network watcher so their actions wouldn’t be logged..”
It gets worse; read the whole thread.
If that's true, that is absolutely extraordinary.
The spped of the collapse of the US government into anarchic kleptocracy is remarkable.
It must have been well planned.
When you look at what's been done in less than 3 months even a conservative extrapolation says the US is tracking to fascism before this decade is out.
The cynic in me expects this will just see a spike in demand !
I'd not known there was a dark chocolate Toblerone and my reaction to reading about its demise was to wonder what it's like. (Not interested in ordinary Toblerone.)
Same here. Dark Toblerone is leaving before I had a chance to say hello. Feel sad.
You’re not missing much. It’s probably worse than the milk version (which is actually ok if all you want is a hit of mild chocolate sweetness - but the nougat gets in your teeth)
I’m eating 85% cacao Lindt right now. Pretends to be posh chocolate but it’s too bitter and lacks the crucial sensuality
The best mass produced chocolate you can get most places is Ritter dark milk with hazelnuts
85 is a bit too much. In the 70s is (for me) plenty strong enough for very good chocolate.
You should go for 90. The more dark it is the more it prolongs your life.
I think it's too bitter and the texture is affected at that level. I am sure you could get used to it, but I don't like it.
O/T but I thought the Ridley Scott depiction of the Battle of Waterloo, was absolutely dire, especially compared to the 1970 film.
It was only better than the Long Night, in the last season of Game of Thrones, insofar as it was shorter.
Waterloo (1970), as a film, was bloody brilliant.
It's rare we agree on anything but I'm 100% with you on this. Rod Steiger and Christopher Plummer are brilliant as the main protagonists but the star for me is Dan O'Herlihy as Ney. That scene at the end of the battle "do you know who I am? I'm Ney, Marshal of France". Also good to see Charlie Hungerford getting a part (well, until his leg got blown off).
...at which point he presumably had two parts.
"By God, sir, I've lost my leg!" "By God, sir, so you have!"
Careless family by all accounts: “Uxbridge's close family lost several limbs during the Napoleonic Wars..”
Melanie Field, who oversaw its drafting and passage through Westminster in 2010, said the legislation was meant to give transgender people with gender recognition certificates (GRCs) the same legal status as biological men or women.
This has the potential to blow up spectacularly and could be very dangerous for Starmer. Keep a close eye on Creasy.
Well this interpretation of the EA is not compatible with the GRA (s9) and that was in place when it was drafted. So there is a problem.
This might be the biggest sign of the failure of Trump's tariffs yet.
The Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index is probably the best metric to understand if the U.S. is "bringing manufacturing back home".
And it's absolutely cratering: -26.4, one of the lowest readings in memory.
Which makes sense: to manufacture stuff, you need inputs, which often come from imports. In fact according to the US National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) a whopping 56% (!) of goods imported to the U.S. are manufacturing inputs (https://nam.org/issues/trade/). You get rid of those, or tariff them so they dry up, and the result is that you destroy American manufacturing. https://x.com/RnaudBertrand/status/1913073977783963745
MAGA are still saying, yes, but that’s part of the plan…
"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.
Increasingly, free and open global trade is benefitting a small number of multinationals and their executives and not the majority of the population of the countries involved. Free and openglobal trade in the way it is now practiced means exporting jobs to countries with lower labour and material costs and buyng back unwanted and unneeded tat.
There was a time when free and global trade benefitted most people. Not any more.
What I mean by free and open trade is that you can buy and sell goods and services freely worldwide.
That's what we need.
A world where lots of borders shut down and deny access to British ships, professionals and merchants would be really shit.
I agree. And that is what it used to mean. But that is not the case any more. Free trade in the modern sense means the ability of multinationals to operate anywhere in the world to maximise their profit margin and minimise their exposure to local taxes and labour and environmental laws. Backed up where necessary by the more powerful national Governments to ensure no local objection.
It is the British Empire model.
Pay third world wages. Sell at first world prices. Pay tax at Monaco rates.
Melanie Field, who oversaw its drafting and passage through Westminster in 2010, said the legislation was meant to give transgender people with gender recognition certificates (GRCs) the same legal status as biological men or women.
This has the potential to blow up spectacularly and could be very dangerous for Starmer. Keep a close eye on Creasy.
Does it ?
She may say that was the intent of the law but that’s not how the Supreme Court has seen it so perhaps she should have done a better job if that was the intent.
Creasy is a nobody.
Melanie Field is saying that she forgot to write the intent of the law into the actual, written law.
What other laws did she oversea drafting of?
The cynic in me is thinking they deliberately didn’t spell it out in black and white to avoid a meltdown by the MPs.
The Supreme Court reasoning on what the Equality Act means is interesting. Their argument in paragraphs 177-188 is basically. The section on pregnancy as a protected characteristic says "less favourable treatment of a woman because they are pregnant". The SC points out that it would be odd if Parliament's intention was to include trans women but exclude trans men so that when the EA says women it has to be cis women + trans men. Therefore whenever the EA says women it's cis women + trans men.
That leads to what hospitals have to do in the rare cases when they have a pregnant trans man. They cannot treat them in a female-only ward because of their 'masculine appearance' but maternity hospitals doesn't have male-only wards. I guess that'll be a way for women to get a private room for free, claim to be a trans man and you'll get a room on your own.
Would they not need a GRC?
I don't think so, because the protected status of gender reassignment kicks in at the start of transition and getting a GRC is towards the end of transition. The Supreme Court said (paragraph 203) that it cannot have been Parliament's intention to grant trans people with a GRC differently than trans people without a GRC.
It is the sort of thing that could be clarified very easily by Parliament but Labour is too scared to touch it and I don't imagine that even the Tories under Kemi will be eager to fiddle with it. So I think we're left with this mess for about a generation.
The cynic in me expects this will just see a spike in demand !
I'd not known there was a dark chocolate Toblerone and my reaction to reading about its demise was to wonder what it's like. (Not interested in ordinary Toblerone.)
Same here. Dark Toblerone is leaving before I had a chance to say hello. Feel sad.
You’re not missing much. It’s probably worse than the milk version (which is actually ok if all you want is a hit of mild chocolate sweetness - but the nougat gets in your teeth)
I’m eating 85% cacao Lindt right now. Pretends to be posh chocolate but it’s too bitter and lacks the crucial sensuality
The best mass produced chocolate you can get most places is Ritter dark milk with hazelnuts
I love chocolate and nuts but I don't mix them. I'm either having chocolate or I'm having nuts.
What about chocolate with raisins ?
God tier for me
Old Jamaica is heavenly.
Can yo( still get it ? When I worked in Cannock and had to get a bus from Brum as the 9ld jam jar was in dock I used to buy a bar of this joy for the trip from the newsagent in the b8s station.
The cynic in me expects this will just see a spike in demand !
I'd not known there was a dark chocolate Toblerone and my reaction to reading about its demise was to wonder what it's like. (Not interested in ordinary Toblerone.)
Same here. Dark Toblerone is leaving before I had a chance to say hello. Feel sad.
You’re not missing much. It’s probably worse than the milk version (which is actually ok if all you want is a hit of mild chocolate sweetness - but the nougat gets in your teeth)
I’m eating 85% cacao Lindt right now. Pretends to be posh chocolate but it’s too bitter and lacks the crucial sensuality
The best mass produced chocolate you can get most places is Ritter dark milk with hazelnuts
I love chocolate and nuts but I don't mix them. I'm either having chocolate or I'm having nuts.
This might be the biggest sign of the failure of Trump's tariffs yet.
The Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index is probably the best metric to understand if the U.S. is "bringing manufacturing back home".
And it's absolutely cratering: -26.4, one of the lowest readings in memory.
Which makes sense: to manufacture stuff, you need inputs, which often come from imports. In fact according to the US National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) a whopping 56% (!) of goods imported to the U.S. are manufacturing inputs (https://nam.org/issues/trade/). You get rid of those, or tariff them so they dry up, and the result is that you destroy American manufacturing. https://x.com/RnaudBertrand/status/1913073977783963745
MAGA are still saying, yes, but that’s part of the plan…
Its not just the low reading, its the -39 from the March number. A drop equal only to bank crash and covid events.
Its noticeable that its people with no connection to manufacturing who claim that tariffs will lead to an increase in low skilled manufacturing.
The cynic in me expects this will just see a spike in demand !
I'd not known there was a dark chocolate Toblerone and my reaction to reading about its demise was to wonder what it's like. (Not interested in ordinary Toblerone.)
It’s alright, I’ve had it when people brought it in at work from holiday. White, dark and plain.
Wouldn’t go out of my way to buy it but when it’s free I’ll give it a go.
White Toblerone is genuinely disgusting.
Dark Toblerone is fine.
The demise of WH Smith probably spells the end for Toblerone generally.
No
Toblerone is a supreme example of brilliant branding. You find it everywhere. In every minibar and duty free shop in the world. In every 7/11 in Thailand. In supermarkets in Myanmar and Montevideo - and Almaty
It says in its special shape: here is a bit of European chocolate luxury. A bit of glamorous Europe itself! Even if the reality is, for posher Europeans, a bit disappointing
It is to Europe perhaps what Coca Cola is to the USA
This might be the biggest sign of the failure of Trump's tariffs yet.
The Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index is probably the best metric to understand if the U.S. is "bringing manufacturing back home".
And it's absolutely cratering: -26.4, one of the lowest readings in memory.
Which makes sense: to manufacture stuff, you need inputs, which often come from imports. In fact according to the US National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) a whopping 56% (!) of goods imported to the U.S. are manufacturing inputs (https://nam.org/issues/trade/). You get rid of those, or tariff them so they dry up, and the result is that you destroy American manufacturing. https://x.com/RnaudBertrand/status/1913073977783963745
MAGA are still saying, yes, but that’s part of the plan…
Its not just the low reading, its the -39 from the March number. A drop equal only to bank crash and covid events.
Its noticeable that its people with no connection to manufacturing who claim that tariffs will lead to an increase in low skilled manufacturing.
The cynic in me expects this will just see a spike in demand !
I'd not known there was a dark chocolate Toblerone and my reaction to reading about its demise was to wonder what it's like. (Not interested in ordinary Toblerone.)
Same here. Dark Toblerone is leaving before I had a chance to say hello. Feel sad.
You’re not missing much. It’s probably worse than the milk version (which is actually ok if all you want is a hit of mild chocolate sweetness - but the nougat gets in your teeth)
I’m eating 85% cacao Lindt right now. Pretends to be posh chocolate but it’s too bitter and lacks the crucial sensuality
The best mass produced chocolate you can get most places is Ritter dark milk with hazelnuts
85 is a bit too much. In the 70s is (for me) plenty strong enough for very good chocolate.
You should go for 90. The more dark it is the more it prolongs your life.
I think it's too bitter and the texture is affected at that level. I am sure you could get used to it, but I don't like it.
Agrees
And texture is crucial to chocolate. It is designed to melt at it meets your mouth, like a beautiful woman
My favourite form of chocolate is the posh chocolate truffle
But I am also partial to Tony Chocalonely (a Dutch company I believe)
"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.
Don't be silly.
Since 1925, we have gone from being probably the world's second wealthiest and most powerful country, to being the sick man of Europe (again). Don't get me wrong, I have every faith in our country that we can bounce back, but we've had a century of almost constant decline. Doing well is the situation improving, or at least staying the same.
Man, wait until you hear about Italy.
The home of the pizza, sans pineapple. Probably explains their decline.
They've been in decline since the Romans.
Free fall, really.
But still their silly GDP per capita chart would show exactly the same thing as ours - all it shows is the march of time and technology.
The point of the chart is that even the beggars on the street are far better off (and the same in Italy) than people in the same situation at the start of the 20th cent.
Actual progress, with better food, better health care etc.
As Kipling noted, the power and Empire is just fripperies.
"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.
Increasingly, free and open global trade is benefitting a small number of multinationals and their executives and not the majority of the population of the countries involved. Free and openglobal trade in the way it is now practiced means exporting jobs to countries with lower labour and material costs and buyng back unwanted and unneeded tat.
There was a time when free and global trade benefitted most people. Not any more.
What I mean by free and open trade is that you can buy and sell goods and services freely worldwide.
That's what we need.
A world where lots of borders shut down and deny access to British ships, professionals and merchants would be really shit.
I agree. And that is what it used to mean. But that is not the case any more. Free trade in the modern sense means the ability of multinationals to operate anywhere in the world to maximise their profit margin and minimise their exposure to local taxes and labour and environmental laws. Backed up where necessary by the more powerful national Governments to ensure no local objection.
It is the British Empire model.
Pay third world wages. Sell at first world prices. Pay tax at Monaco rates.
The cynic in me expects this will just see a spike in demand !
I'd not known there was a dark chocolate Toblerone and my reaction to reading about its demise was to wonder what it's like. (Not interested in ordinary Toblerone.)
Same here. Dark Toblerone is leaving before I had a chance to say hello. Feel sad.
You’re not missing much. It’s probably worse than the milk version (which is actually ok if all you want is a hit of mild chocolate sweetness - but the nougat gets in your teeth)
I’m eating 85% cacao Lindt right now. Pretends to be posh chocolate but it’s too bitter and lacks the crucial sensuality
The best mass produced chocolate you can get most places is Ritter dark milk with hazelnuts
85 is a bit too much. In the 70s is (for me) plenty strong enough for very good chocolate.
You should go for 90. The more dark it is the more it prolongs your life.
I think it's too bitter and the texture is affected at that level. I am sure you could get used to it, but I don't like it.
Agrees
And texture is crucial to chocolate. It is designed to melt at it meets your mouth, like a beautiful woman
My favourite form of chocolate is the posh chocolate truffle
But I am also partial to Tony Chocaloney (a Dutch company I believe)
On the subject of flavour, I was drinking pints of Guinness with shots of Cointreau in them last night. Surprisingly great taste. A bit like a drinkable chocolate orange but not as cloyingly sweet.
"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.
Don't be silly.
Since 1925, we have gone from being probably the world's second wealthiest and most powerful country, to being the sick man of Europe (again). Don't get me wrong, I have every faith in our country that we can bounce back, but we've had a century of almost constant decline. Doing well is the situation improving, or at least staying the same.
The UK is middling to good in a European context. We rightly focus on the negative things that set us apart - like industrial electricity costs - but on most measures we're not bad at all.
That doesn't suit far-right and far-left political agitators, because it negates the need for a revolution. That's why you get lies about zero steel production or no manufacturing sector, or widespread homelessness or racism or whatever. The UK remains successful, based on strong institutions and a decent and law-abiding populace.
The countries that I, personally, want the UK to look more like are capitalist monarchies like Sweden and Denmark. And I want to us to approach that settlement in a conservative and plodding way. I get my excitement from smashing my jaw while mountain biking or a bad fall from climbing, not my politics.
"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.
Don't be silly.
Since 1925, we have gone from being probably the world's second wealthiest and most powerful country, to being the sick man of Europe (again). Don't get me wrong, I have every faith in our country that we can bounce back, but we've had a century of almost constant decline. Doing well is the situation improving, or at least staying the same.
Man, wait until you hear about Italy.
The home of the pizza, sans pineapple. Probably explains their decline.
They've been in decline since the Romans.
Free fall, really.
But still their silly GDP per capita chart would show exactly the same thing as ours - all it shows is the march of time and technology.
The point of the chart is that even the beggars on the street are far better off (and the same in Italy) than people in the same situation at the start of the 20th cent.
Actual progress, with better food, better health care etc.
As Kipling noted, the power and Empire is just fripperies.
I agree. But we have still been in relative economic decline for the last century, and that is now biting. So we haven't 'done well'.
"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.
Don't be silly.
Since 1925, we have gone from being probably the world's second wealthiest and most powerful country, to being the sick man of Europe (again). Don't get me wrong, I have every faith in our country that we can bounce back, but we've had a century of almost constant decline. Doing well is the situation improving, or at least staying the same.
The UK is middling to good in a European context. The We rightly focus on the negative things that set us apart - like industrial electricity costs - but on most measures we're not bad at all.
That doesn't suit far-right and far-left political agitators, because it negates the need for a revolution. That's why you get lies about zero steel production or no manufacturing sector, or widespread homelessness or racism or whatever. The UK remains incredibly successful, based on strong institutions and a decent and law-abiding populace.
The countries that I, personally, want the UK to look more like are capitalist monarchies like Sweden and Denmark. And I want to us to approach that settlement in a conservative and plodding way. I get my excitement from smashing my jaw while mountain biking or a bad fall from climbing, not my politics.
You mean Sweden which has a far right Nazi party in its coalition government? And is encouraging remigration? Or Denmark which is literally bulldozing ethnic ghettoes and has the harshest asylum policies in Europe?
"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.
Don't be silly.
Since 1925, we have gone from being probably the world's second wealthiest and most powerful country, to being the sick man of Europe (again). Don't get me wrong, I have every faith in our country that we can bounce back, but we've had a century of almost constant decline. Doing well is the situation improving, or at least staying the same.
The UK is middling to good in a European context. The We rightly focus on the negative things that set us apart - like industrial electricity costs - but on most measures we're not bad at all.
That doesn't suit far-right and far-left political agitators, because it negates the need for a revolution. That's why you get lies about zero steel production or no manufacturing sector, or widespread homelessness or racism or whatever. The UK remains incredibly successful, based on strong institutions and a decent and law-abiding populace.
The countries that I, personally, want the UK to look more like are capitalist monarchies like Sweden and Denmark. And I want to us to approach that settlement in a conservative and plodding way. I get my excitement from smashing my jaw while mountain biking or a bad fall from climbing, not my politics.
You mean Sweden which has a far right Nazi party in its coalition government? And is encouraging remigration? Or Denmark which is literally bulldozing ethnic ghettoes and has the harshest asylum policies in Europe?
One of those?
I thought you quite liked the Danish system of dealing with that problem? I suspect Labour are going for a Danish-lite strategy - lower immigration which deliver consistent real terms wage growth in the face of lots of whining from minimum-wage employers.
The cynic in me expects this will just see a spike in demand !
I'd not known there was a dark chocolate Toblerone and my reaction to reading about its demise was to wonder what it's like. (Not interested in ordinary Toblerone.)
It’s alright, I’ve had it when people brought it in at work from holiday. White, dark and plain.
Wouldn’t go out of my way to buy it but when it’s free I’ll give it a go.
White Toblerone is genuinely disgusting.
Dark Toblerone is fine.
The demise of WH Smith probably spells the end for Toblerone generally.
No
Toblerone is a supreme example of brilliant branding. You find it everywhere. In every minibar and duty free shop in the world. In every 7/11 in Thailand. In supermarkets in Myanmar and Montevideo - and Almaty
It says in its special shape: here is a bit of European chocolate luxury. A bit of glamorous Europe itself! Even if the reality is, for posher Europeans, a bit disappointing
It is to Europe perhaps what Coca Cola is to the USA
My surgeon - a prof who travelled the world for his job - told me he drunk Glenmorangie. I asked him why, as there are better whiskies out there. He replied something like: "If I go into a bar virtually anywhere in the world, I'll find Gelnmorangie. It's a decent whisky. It's quicker going in and asking for a Glenmorangie, than asking a clueless barman what whiskies they have, then having them wheel off a list of foreign rubbish."
It’s got everything. The pathos of the young officers dancing at the Duchess of Richmond’s ball, most of whom will be dead in 48 hours. The ball itself being interrupted by the news of Napoleon driving a wedge between the two armies. The crawling terror of watching columns of French infantry relentlessly advancing, to the sound of drums. The charge of the Union Brigade. The wonderful shots of Ney’s cavalry fruitlessly trying to break squares of infantry. The horror of being in those squares as French artillery tearing them apart. The struggle for Hougomont. The inspired lunacy of Blucher. And finally, the Imperial Guard almost, but not quite, breaking through.
"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.
Don't be silly.
Since 1925, we have gone from being probably the world's second wealthiest and most powerful country, to being the sick man of Europe (again). Don't get me wrong, I have every faith in our country that we can bounce back, but we've had a century of almost constant decline. Doing well is the situation improving, or at least staying the same.
Man, wait until you hear about Italy.
The home of the pizza, sans pineapple. Probably explains their decline.
They've been in decline since the Romans.
Free fall, really.
But still their silly GDP per capita chart would show exactly the same thing as ours - all it shows is the march of time and technology.
The point of the chart is that even the beggars on the street are far better off (and the same in Italy) than people in the same situation at the start of the 20th cent.
Actual progress, with better food, better health care etc.
As Kipling noted, the power and Empire is just fripperies.
I agree. But we have still been in relative economic decline for the last century, and that is now biting. So we haven't 'done well'.
Would you be happier if we'd stayed the same as we were 100 years ago?
It's hardly surprising that the improvements driven by the Enlightenment and subsequent scientific and industrial revolutions are being adopted by other countries. That inevitably leads to them catching up.
The cynic in me expects this will just see a spike in demand !
I'd not known there was a dark chocolate Toblerone and my reaction to reading about its demise was to wonder what it's like. (Not interested in ordinary Toblerone.)
It’s alright, I’ve had it when people brought it in at work from holiday. White, dark and plain.
Wouldn’t go out of my way to buy it but when it’s free I’ll give it a go.
White Toblerone is genuinely disgusting.
Dark Toblerone is fine.
The demise of WH Smith probably spells the end for Toblerone generally.
No
Toblerone is a supreme example of brilliant branding. You find it everywhere. In every minibar and duty free shop in the world. In every 7/11 in Thailand. In supermarkets in Myanmar and Montevideo - and Almaty
It says in its special shape: here is a bit of European chocolate luxury. A bit of glamorous Europe itself! Even if the reality is, for posher Europeans, a bit disappointing
It is to Europe perhaps what Coca Cola is to the USA
My surgeon - a prof who travelled the world for his job - told me he drunk Glenmorangie. I asked him why, as there are better whiskies out there. He replied something like: "If I go into a bar virtually anywhere in the world, I'll find Gelnmorangie. It's a decent whisky. It's quicker going in and asking for a Glenmorangie, than asking a clueless barman what whiskies they have, then having them wheel off a list of foreign rubbish."
Glenmorangie is now my favourite whisky.
I was actually thinking of glenmorangie as I wrote that. They’ve kinda done the same thing for “posh European hard liquor”. Become the default worldwide even if it’s not that interesting a drink - but not that bad either. Tolerable. Like toblerone
"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.
Don't be silly.
Since 1925, we have gone from being probably the world's second wealthiest and most powerful country, to being the sick man of Europe (again). Don't get me wrong, I have every faith in our country that we can bounce back, but we've had a century of almost constant decline. Doing well is the situation improving, or at least staying the same.
Man, wait until you hear about Italy.
The home of the pizza, sans pineapple. Probably explains their decline.
They've been in decline since the Romans.
Free fall, really.
But still their silly GDP per capita chart would show exactly the same thing as ours - all it shows is the march of time and technology.
The point of the chart is that even the beggars on the street are far better off (and the same in Italy) than people in the same situation at the start of the 20th cent.
Actual progress, with better food, better health care etc.
As Kipling noted, the power and Empire is just fripperies.
I agree. But we have still been in relative economic decline for the last century, and that is now biting. So we haven't 'done well'.
I’d far rather be alive now, than when the UK was indisputably the wealthiest nation on the planet - with a standard of living similar to modern Haiti.
"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.
Don't be silly.
Since 1925, we have gone from being probably the world's second wealthiest and most powerful country, to being the sick man of Europe (again). Don't get me wrong, I have every faith in our country that we can bounce back, but we've had a century of almost constant decline. Doing well is the situation improving, or at least staying the same.
Man, wait until you hear about Italy.
The home of the pizza, sans pineapple. Probably explains their decline.
They've been in decline since the Romans.
Free fall, really.
But still their silly GDP per capita chart would show exactly the same thing as ours - all it shows is the march of time and technology.
The point of the chart is that even the beggars on the street are far better off (and the same in Italy) than people in the same situation at the start of the 20th cent.
Actual progress, with better food, better health care etc.
As Kipling noted, the power and Empire is just fripperies.
The mistake you make is in equating GDP/Capita with the indicvidual wealth and wellbeing of the majority of the population. The US from 1970 onwards is a classic example. WHilst GDP and GDP/Capita both shot up, vast numbers of Americans - particularly the Middle Classes - got poorer whilst a much smaller number at the top got richer.
Using GDP fgures - either overal or per capita - to claim that globalisation has improved our lot is a false argument.
However I would admit that it has been a useful tool to improve the lot of many in the Third world and places like China. The argument all hinges on how much you are willing to sacrifice your own future to allow others less well of than you to improve their lot.
What’s the point of dark chocolate ? Only pretentious people who look down on others eat dark chocolate.
It’s like Masterchef when they serve up an almost blue steak and the guest judges go to their stock reply .
In effect it might be too rare for the plebs but we’re above all that and are happy to eat it !
Good riddance to dark Toblerone !
Dark chocolate beats 'milk' hands down. It is not only tastier, it is better for you as well.
Milk chocolate is the infantalisation of food.
Milk chocolate tends to have too much sugar and not enough cocoa content but the best milk chocolate easily holds its own with the best dark chocolate, albeit it's a different product. It scores on texture, melting point and balanced flavour.
Recommend Waitrose Dark Milk, if they still sell it.
What’s the point of dark chocolate ? Only pretentious people who look down on others eat dark chocolate.
It’s like Masterchef when they serve up an almost blue steak and the guest judges go to their stock reply .
In effect it might be too rare for the plebs but we’re above all that and are happy to eat it !
Good riddance to dark Toblerone !
Dark chocolate beats 'milk' hands down. It is not only tastier, it is better for you as well.
Milk chocolate is the infantalisation of food.
Milk chocolate tends to have too much sugar and not enough cocoa content but the best milk chocolate easily holds its own with the best dark chocolate, albeit it's a different product. It scores on texture, melting point and balanced flavour.
Recommend Waitrose Dark Milk, if they still sell it.
The cynic in me expects this will just see a spike in demand !
I'd not known there was a dark chocolate Toblerone and my reaction to reading about its demise was to wonder what it's like. (Not interested in ordinary Toblerone.)
It’s alright, I’ve had it when people brought it in at work from holiday. White, dark and plain.
Wouldn’t go out of my way to buy it but when it’s free I’ll give it a go.
White Toblerone is genuinely disgusting.
Dark Toblerone is fine.
The demise of WH Smith probably spells the end for Toblerone generally.
No
Toblerone is a supreme example of brilliant branding. You find it everywhere. In every minibar and duty free shop in the world. In every 7/11 in Thailand. In supermarkets in Myanmar and Montevideo - and Almaty
It says in its special shape: here is a bit of European chocolate luxury. A bit of glamorous Europe itself! Even if the reality is, for posher Europeans, a bit disappointing
It is to Europe perhaps what Coca Cola is to the USA
My surgeon - a prof who travelled the world for his job - told me he drunk Glenmorangie. I asked him why, as there are better whiskies out there. He replied something like: "If I go into a bar virtually anywhere in the world, I'll find Gelnmorangie. It's a decent whisky. It's quicker going in and asking for a Glenmorangie, than asking a clueless barman what whiskies they have, then having them wheel off a list of foreign rubbish."
Glenmorangie is now my favourite whisky.
I was actually thinking of glenmorangie as I wrote that. They’ve kinda done the same thing for “posh European hard liquor”. Become the default worldwide even if it’s not that interesting a drink - but not that bad either. Tolerable. Like toblerone
Are you still stuck in the arse end of Central Asia?
We off on a cruise round the Med from Sunday - a bit like your travel jaunts but slightly edgier.
The cynic in me expects this will just see a spike in demand !
I'd not known there was a dark chocolate Toblerone and my reaction to reading about its demise was to wonder what it's like. (Not interested in ordinary Toblerone.)
It’s alright, I’ve had it when people brought it in at work from holiday. White, dark and plain.
Wouldn’t go out of my way to buy it but when it’s free I’ll give it a go.
White Toblerone is genuinely disgusting.
Dark Toblerone is fine.
The demise of WH Smith probably spells the end for Toblerone generally.
No
Toblerone is a supreme example of brilliant branding. You find it everywhere. In every minibar and duty free shop in the world. In every 7/11 in Thailand. In supermarkets in Myanmar and Montevideo - and Almaty
It says in its special shape: here is a bit of European chocolate luxury. A bit of glamorous Europe itself! Even if the reality is, for posher Europeans, a bit disappointing
It is to Europe perhaps what Coca Cola is to the USA
My surgeon - a prof who travelled the world for his job - told me he drunk Glenmorangie. I asked him why, as there are better whiskies out there. He replied something like: "If I go into a bar virtually anywhere in the world, I'll find Gelnmorangie. It's a decent whisky. It's quicker going in and asking for a Glenmorangie, than asking a clueless barman what whiskies they have, then having them wheel off a list of foreign rubbish."
I see that the US continues its spiral towards being a Putinist hellhole, good only for an in crowd to loot money from the rest.
Can the remaining democracies in the world survive without the US?
Not really. One or two small ones might hold out as curious museum pieces but I fear we are headed for a world where a closed-shop elite really does control everyone's lives.
China is probably the model that will dominate.
We have lived through a golden age and sadly trashed it for our descendants.
The cynic in me expects this will just see a spike in demand !
I'd not known there was a dark chocolate Toblerone and my reaction to reading about its demise was to wonder what it's like. (Not interested in ordinary Toblerone.)
Same here. Dark Toblerone is leaving before I had a chance to say hello. Feel sad.
You’re not missing much. It’s probably worse than the milk version (which is actually ok if all you want is a hit of mild chocolate sweetness - but the nougat gets in your teeth)
I’m eating 85% cacao Lindt right now. Pretends to be posh chocolate but it’s too bitter and lacks the crucial sensuality
The best mass produced chocolate you can get most places is Ritter dark milk with hazelnuts
85 is a bit too much. In the 70s is (for me) plenty strong enough for very good chocolate.
You should go for 90. The more dark it is the more it prolongs your life.
I think it's too bitter and the texture is affected at that level. I am sure you could get used to it, but I don't like it.
Agrees
And texture is crucial to chocolate. It is designed to melt at it meets your mouth, like a beautiful woman
My favourite form of chocolate is the posh chocolate truffle
But I am also partial to Tony Chocalonely (a Dutch company I believe)
Booja-Booja "Around Midnight Espresso" truffles are very nice and relatively easy to buy. You might have the shakes for a minute or two after eating one, but nice all the same.
The cynic in me expects this will just see a spike in demand !
I'd not known there was a dark chocolate Toblerone and my reaction to reading about its demise was to wonder what it's like. (Not interested in ordinary Toblerone.)
Same here. Dark Toblerone is leaving before I had a chance to say hello. Feel sad.
You’re not missing much. It’s probably worse than the milk version (which is actually ok if all you want is a hit of mild chocolate sweetness - but the nougat gets in your teeth)
I’m eating 85% cacao Lindt right now. Pretends to be posh chocolate but it’s too bitter and lacks the crucial sensuality
The best mass produced chocolate you can get most places is Ritter dark milk with hazelnuts
85 is a bit too much. In the 70s is (for me) plenty strong enough for very good chocolate.
You should go for 90. The more dark it is the more it prolongs your life.
I think it's too bitter and the texture is affected at that level. I am sure you could get used to it, but I don't like it.
Agrees
And texture is crucial to chocolate. It is designed to melt at it meets your mouth, like a beautiful woman
My favourite form of chocolate is the posh chocolate truffle
But I am also partial to Tony Chocalonely (a Dutch company I believe)
Booja-Booja "Around Midnight Espresso" truffles are very nice and relatively easy to buy. You might have the shakes for a minute or two after eating one, but nice all the same.
What’s the point of dark chocolate ? Only pretentious people who look down on others eat dark chocolate.
It’s like Masterchef when they serve up an almost blue steak and the guest judges go to their stock reply .
In effect it might be too rare for the plebs but we’re above all that and are happy to eat it !
Good riddance to dark Toblerone !
Dark chocolate beats 'milk' hands down. It is not only tastier, it is better for you as well.
Milk chocolate is the infantalisation of food.
Milk chocolate tends to have too much sugar and not enough cocoa content but the best milk chocolate easily holds its own with the best dark chocolate, albeit it's a different product. It scores on texture, melting point and balanced flavour.
Recommend Waitrose Dark Milk, if they still sell it.
Milk chocolate is also arguably a major reason why Swiss chocolate has its worldwide reputation. They worked out the process before anyone else and thus could produce their sweeter, easier on the general palate chocolate, before British and American firms could work out the process and make their own brands that then went mass market (e.g. Dairy Milk and Hershey's).
I see that the US continues its spiral towards being a Putinist hellhole, good only for an in crowd to loot money from the rest.
Can the remaining democracies in the world survive without the US?
Not really. One or two small ones might hold out as curious museum pieces but I fear we are headed for a world where a closed-shop elite really does control everyone's lives.
China is probably the model that will dominate.
We have lived through a golden age and sadly trashed it for our descendants.
"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.
Don't be silly.
Since 1925, we have gone from being probably the world's second wealthiest and most powerful country, to being the sick man of Europe (again). Don't get me wrong, I have every faith in our country that we can bounce back, but we've had a century of almost constant decline. Doing well is the situation improving, or at least staying the same.
Man, wait until you hear about Italy.
The home of the pizza, sans pineapple. Probably explains their decline.
They've been in decline since the Romans.
Free fall, really.
But still their silly GDP per capita chart would show exactly the same thing as ours - all it shows is the march of time and technology.
The point of the chart is that even the beggars on the street are far better off (and the same in Italy) than people in the same situation at the start of the 20th cent.
Actual progress, with better food, better health care etc.
As Kipling noted, the power and Empire is just fripperies.
The mistake you make is in equating GDP/Capita with the indicvidual wealth and wellbeing of the majority of the population. The US from 1970 onwards is a classic example. WHilst GDP and GDP/Capita both shot up, vast numbers of Americans - particularly the Middle Classes - got poorer whilst a much smaller number at the top got richer.
That's simply not true.
Real household income change by quintile since 1967 (near enough to 1970):
In fact, the changes may have been higher because there are some reasons, which I won't go into here but they are well covered in the economic literature (see e.g. here https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/jep.10.4.159 from the AEA), for thinking that American inflation indices bias those numbers downwards, so real income growth may be higher than indicated.
GDP is not always a perfect proxy for welfare for a number of reasons, but inequality in the US over the last fifty years isn't one of them.
As another anxious person I totally get what he's saying. At the moment I've got one of my close friends bouncing around like an excited puppy on WhatsApp wanting attention. Robbie describes how strangers can be exhausting and cause anxiety. I have *friends* who do that to me when they catch me at the wrong time.
Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 1h Going away for a fortnight is great, properly restful, but boy, does that first glass of London tap water hit differently when you’ve got used to something that hasn’t passed through the bones of the dead.
I occasionally read criticism of NZ food on here, which I find unfathomable.
Perhaps this was true before the 90s. I recall, as a child, being taken to dreary lineoleum cafes for a sausage roll and an instant coffee.
But starting the 90s, NZ benefited hugely from a new cafe culture, partly imported from Melbourne, resulting among other things in the invention of the flat white. NZ cafes are now well designed, urbane affairs where you can get a delicious “eggs benny” or your morning bircher museli as early as 6am. All British flat whites style cafes, owe homage in some way to their NZ templates.
The broader cuisine has been hugely improved by the infusion of Japanese, Korean, and Chinese migrants. When I first came to London in 2000 my love of sushi was considered a perversity by colleagues in my Mayfair based consultancy. Modern NZ food is “pan-Asian”.
It’s not perfect but I dare say it beats the fare on offer in Coventry or Hull.
"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.
Don't be silly.
It would be interesting to get his account of this -
You do get a notable jump in GDP per capita, after the Black Death, but then, nothing much until towards the end of the 17th century.
Hmmm… the mad increases of the 20th cent make it hard to see, but
Or as a log graph (did we learn nothing during The Sickness?)
Looks like breaks in trend in late 1600s, 1800 or so and 1925.
I studied Seventeenth Century history at A Level, and it always felt like an extraordinary period: it started out with Elizabeth I still on the throne, and ended a (broadly) constitutional monarchy with a modern financial system.
I’m envious; it was a fascinating century. Pretty shit for most of the globe, though. War, famine, revolutions and mass death everywhere.
Read Parker's Global Crisis: he attributes the revolutions and famine to the mini ice age.
"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.
Don't be silly.
Since 1925, we have gone from being probably the world's second wealthiest and most powerful country, to being the sick man of Europe (again). Don't get me wrong, I have every faith in our country that we can bounce back, but we've had a century of almost constant decline. Doing well is the situation improving, or at least staying the same.
Man, wait until you hear about Italy.
The home of the pizza, sans pineapple. Probably explains their decline.
They've been in decline since the Romans.
Free fall, really.
But still their silly GDP per capita chart would show exactly the same thing as ours - all it shows is the march of time and technology.
The point of the chart is that even the beggars on the street are far better off (and the same in Italy) than people in the same situation at the start of the 20th cent.
Actual progress, with better food, better health care etc.
As Kipling noted, the power and Empire is just fripperies.
The mistake you make is in equating GDP/Capita with the indicvidual wealth and wellbeing of the majority of the population. The US from 1970 onwards is a classic example. WHilst GDP and GDP/Capita both shot up, vast numbers of Americans - particularly the Middle Classes - got poorer whilst a much smaller number at the top got richer.
That's simply not true.
Real household income change by quintile since 1967 (near enough to 1970):
In fact, the changes may have been higher because there are some reasons, which I won't go into here but they are well covered in the economic literature (see e.g. here https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/jep.10.4.159 from the AEA), for thinking that American inflation indices bias those numbers downwards, so real income growth may be higher than indicated.
GDP is not always a perfect proxy for welfare for a number of reasons, but inequality in the US over the last fifty years isn't one of them.
Simply untrue. I refer you to the article I wrote on this just over 4 years ago based on the work by Stephen Rose at the Brookings Institute.
I see that the US continues its spiral towards being a Putinist hellhole, good only for an in crowd to loot money from the rest.
Can the remaining democracies in the world survive without the US?
Though there are judges in the USA we can be proud of. Currently top of the pile is the appellate bench discussed here by the excellent Glenn Kirschner. I have never seen words like it from judges about a government. Not even close. Worth following this ongoing battle:
"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.
Don't be silly.
Since 1925, we have gone from being probably the world's second wealthiest and most powerful country, to being the sick man of Europe (again). Don't get me wrong, I have every faith in our country that we can bounce back, but we've had a century of almost constant decline. Doing well is the situation improving, or at least staying the same.
The UK is middling to good in a European context. The We rightly focus on the negative things that set us apart - like industrial electricity costs - but on most measures we're not bad at all.
That doesn't suit far-right and far-left political agitators, because it negates the need for a revolution. That's why you get lies about zero steel production or no manufacturing sector, or widespread homelessness or racism or whatever. The UK remains incredibly successful, based on strong institutions and a decent and law-abiding populace.
The countries that I, personally, want the UK to look more like are capitalist monarchies like Sweden and Denmark. And I want to us to approach that settlement in a conservative and plodding way. I get my excitement from smashing my jaw while mountain biking or a bad fall from climbing, not my politics.
You mean Sweden which has a far right Nazi party in its coalition government? And is encouraging remigration? Or Denmark which is literally bulldozing ethnic ghettoes and has the harshest asylum policies in Europe?
One of those?
I thought you quite liked the Danish system of dealing with that problem? I suspect Labour are going for a Danish-lite strategy - lower immigration which deliver consistent real terms wage growth in the face of lots of whining from minimum-wage employers.
I'd be very happy if Labour took that approach. My expectation - based on their approach last time they were in government, their opposition to almost any measure to restrict immigratiom while they were in opposition, and the everything-is-racist tenor of many of their activists and backbenchers - is that they will do almost exactly the opppsite.
"This should be the next battle: making it a legal obligation on service providers (as for employers and schools) to provide single sex loos and changing rooms (including as needed a safe private space for trans people)."
Agreed, except
1. "Trans" people are either male or female and when there are single-sex toilets they should use the appropriate one, i.e. according to their biological sex. Of course they should be safe, but issues regarding their safety can be dealt with under existing law against abuse, assault, harassment, etc. Nobody should assume that as a non-trans male under no illusion that I'm a woman I'm going to want to abuse or beat up a guy using the urinal next to mine who is wearing a frock.
2. Other next battles should include banning the use of terms such as "birth parent" in the state health system (literally sack any medic or nurse who uses it) and banning the trans cult from operating in schools.
This is such a huge example of petty officials "only following orders" - but so is most of the culture including especially internet culture. More insanity is coming.
"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.
Don't be silly.
It would be interesting to get his account of this -
You do get a notable jump in GDP per capita, after the Black Death, but then, nothing much until towards the end of the 17th century.
Hmmm… the mad increases of the 20th cent make it hard to see, but
Or as a log graph (did we learn nothing during The Sickness?)
Looks like breaks in trend in late 1600s, 1800 or so and 1925.
I studied Seventeenth Century history at A Level, and it always felt like an extraordinary period: it started out with Elizabeth I still on the throne, and ended a (broadly) constitutional monarchy with a modern financial system.
I’m envious; it was a fascinating century. Pretty shit for most of the globe, though. War, famine, revolutions and mass death everywhere.
Read Parker's Global Crisis: he attributes the revolutions and famine to the mini ice age.
It's a heck of a heavy read, not always easy going, very wide ranging, long, fascinating, and pushes a thesis a bit further than it will go, I think.
"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.
Don't be silly.
Since 1925, we have gone from being probably the world's second wealthiest and most powerful country, to being the sick man of Europe (again). Don't get me wrong, I have every faith in our country that we can bounce back, but we've had a century of almost constant decline. Doing well is the situation improving, or at least staying the same.
Man, wait until you hear about Italy.
The home of the pizza, sans pineapple. Probably explains their decline.
They've been in decline since the Romans.
Free fall, really.
But still their silly GDP per capita chart would show exactly the same thing as ours - all it shows is the march of time and technology.
The point of the chart is that even the beggars on the street are far better off (and the same in Italy) than people in the same situation at the start of the 20th cent.
Actual progress, with better food, better health care etc.
As Kipling noted, the power and Empire is just fripperies.
The mistake you make is in equating GDP/Capita with the indicvidual wealth and wellbeing of the majority of the population. The US from 1970 onwards is a classic example. WHilst GDP and GDP/Capita both shot up, vast numbers of Americans - particularly the Middle Classes - got poorer whilst a much smaller number at the top got richer.
That's simply not true.
Real household income change by quintile since 1967 (near enough to 1970):
In fact, the changes may have been higher because there are some reasons, which I won't go into here but they are well covered in the economic literature (see e.g. here https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/jep.10.4.159 from the AEA), for thinking that American inflation indices bias those numbers downwards, so real income growth may be higher than indicated.
GDP is not always a perfect proxy for welfare for a number of reasons, but inequality in the US over the last fifty years isn't one of them.
Otoh, from your source which relates to @Richard_Tyndall 's point: "vast numbers of Americans - particularly the Middle Classes - got poorer whilst a much smaller number at the top got richer. " Richer Americans have indeed done much better than middle income Americans who have in turn done better than poor Americans. However none got poorer (absolutely)
The cynic in me expects this will just see a spike in demand !
I'd not known there was a dark chocolate Toblerone and my reaction to reading about its demise was to wonder what it's like. (Not interested in ordinary Toblerone.)
It’s alright, I’ve had it when people brought it in at work from holiday. White, dark and plain.
Wouldn’t go out of my way to buy it but when it’s free I’ll give it a go.
White Toblerone is genuinely disgusting.
Dark Toblerone is fine.
The demise of WH Smith probably spells the end for Toblerone generally.
No
Toblerone is a supreme example of brilliant branding. You find it everywhere. In every minibar and duty free shop in the world. In every 7/11 in Thailand. In supermarkets in Myanmar and Montevideo - and Almaty
It says in its special shape: here is a bit of European chocolate luxury. A bit of glamorous Europe itself! Even if the reality is, for posher Europeans, a bit disappointing
It is to Europe perhaps what Coca Cola is to the USA
My surgeon - a prof who travelled the world for his job - told me he drunk Glenmorangie. I asked him why, as there are better whiskies out there. He replied something like: "If I go into a bar virtually anywhere in the world, I'll find Gelnmorangie. It's a decent whisky. It's quicker going in and asking for a Glenmorangie, than asking a clueless barman what whiskies they have, then having them wheel off a list of foreign rubbish."
Glenmorangie is now my favourite whisky.
I'd argue there aren't particularly 'better whiskies out there' objectively speaking - if it's possible to class all the products from one distillery as one whisky. Glenmorangie is a classic distillery and their Master Blender is very creative and extremely well-regarded amongst his peers.
"This should be the next battle: making it a legal obligation on service providers (as for employers and schools) to provide single sex loos and changing rooms (including as needed a safe private space for trans people)."
Agreed, except
1. "Trans" people are either male or female and when there are single-sex toilets they should use the appropriate one, i.e. according to their biological sex. Of course they should be safe, but issues regarding their safety can be dealt with under existing law against abuse, assault, harassment, etc. Nobody should assume that as a non-trans male under no illusion that I'm a woman I'm going to want to abuse or beat up a guy using the urinal next to mine who is wearing a frock.
2. Other next battles should include banning the use of terms such as "birth parent" in the state health system, and banning the trans cult from operating in schools.
This is such a huge example of petty officials "only following orders" - but so is most of the culture including especially internet culture.
"This should be the next battle: making it a legal obligation on service providers (as for employers and schools) to provide single sex loos and changing rooms (including as needed a safe private space for trans people)."
Agreed, except
1. "Trans" people are either male or female and when there are single-sex toilets they should use the appropriate one, i.e. according to their biological sex. Issues regarding their safety can be dealt with under existing law against abuse, assault, harassment, etc.
2. Other next battles should include banning the use of terms such as "birth parent" in the state health system, and banning the trans cult from operating in schools.
This is such a huge example of petty officials "only following orders" - but so is most of the culture including especially internet culture.
Deltic is not a cult. It’s the one true engine cycle.
"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.
Don't be silly.
Since 1925, we have gone from being probably the world's second wealthiest and most powerful country, to being the sick man of Europe (again). Don't get me wrong, I have every faith in our country that we can bounce back, but we've had a century of almost constant decline. Doing well is the situation improving, or at least staying the same.
Man, wait until you hear about Italy.
The home of the pizza, sans pineapple. Probably explains their decline.
They've been in decline since the Romans.
Free fall, really.
But still their silly GDP per capita chart would show exactly the same thing as ours - all it shows is the march of time and technology.
The point of the chart is that even the beggars on the street are far better off (and the same in Italy) than people in the same situation at the start of the 20th cent.
Actual progress, with better food, better health care etc.
As Kipling noted, the power and Empire is just fripperies.
The mistake you make is in equating GDP/Capita with the indicvidual wealth and wellbeing of the majority of the population. The US from 1970 onwards is a classic example. WHilst GDP and GDP/Capita both shot up, vast numbers of Americans - particularly the Middle Classes - got poorer whilst a much smaller number at the top got richer.
That's simply not true.
Real household income change by quintile since 1967 (near enough to 1970):
In fact, the changes may have been higher because there are some reasons, which I won't go into here but they are well covered in the economic literature (see e.g. here https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/jep.10.4.159 from the AEA), for thinking that American inflation indices bias those numbers downwards, so real income growth may be higher than indicated.
GDP is not always a perfect proxy for welfare for a number of reasons, but inequality in the US over the last fifty years isn't one of them.
Otoh, from your source which relatese to @Richard_Tyndall 's point: "vast numbers of Americans - particularly the Middle Classes - got poorer whilst a much smaller number at the top got richer. " Richer Americans have done much better than middle income Americans who have in turn done better than poor Americans
Point of order - I'm as anti widening inequality as anyone but none of the groups actually got poorer did they?
"This should be the next battle: making it a legal obligation on service providers (as for employers and schools) to provide single sex loos and changing rooms (including as needed a safe private space for trans people)."
Agreed, except
1. "Trans" people are either male or female and when there are single-sex toilets they should use the appropriate one, i.e. according to their biological sex. Of course they should be safe, but issues regarding their safety can be dealt with under existing law against abuse, assault, harassment, etc. Nobody should assume that as a non-trans male under no illusion that I'm a woman I'm going to want to abuse or beat up a guy using the urinal next to mine who is wearing a frock.
2. Other next battles should include banning the use of terms such as "birth parent" in the state health system, and banning the trans cult from operating in schools.
This is such a huge example of petty officials "only following orders" - but so is most of the culture including especially internet culture.
Jesus get a life
Jesus has had two already. A third life seems greedy.
"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.
Don't be silly.
Since 1925, we have gone from being probably the world's second wealthiest and most powerful country, to being the sick man of Europe (again). Don't get me wrong, I have every faith in our country that we can bounce back, but we've had a century of almost constant decline. Doing well is the situation improving, or at least staying the same.
Man, wait until you hear about Italy.
The home of the pizza, sans pineapple. Probably explains their decline.
They've been in decline since the Romans.
Free fall, really.
But still their silly GDP per capita chart would show exactly the same thing as ours - all it shows is the march of time and technology.
The point of the chart is that even the beggars on the street are far better off (and the same in Italy) than people in the same situation at the start of the 20th cent.
Actual progress, with better food, better health care etc.
As Kipling noted, the power and Empire is just fripperies.
The mistake you make is in equating GDP/Capita with the indicvidual wealth and wellbeing of the majority of the population. The US from 1970 onwards is a classic example. WHilst GDP and GDP/Capita both shot up, vast numbers of Americans - particularly the Middle Classes - got poorer whilst a much smaller number at the top got richer.
That's simply not true.
Real household income change by quintile since 1967 (near enough to 1970):
In fact, the changes may have been higher because there are some reasons, which I won't go into here but they are well covered in the economic literature (see e.g. here https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/jep.10.4.159 from the AEA), for thinking that American inflation indices bias those numbers downwards, so real income growth may be higher than indicated.
GDP is not always a perfect proxy for welfare for a number of reasons, but inequality in the US over the last fifty years isn't one of them.
Otoh, from your source which relatese to @Richard_Tyndall 's point: "vast numbers of Americans - particularly the Middle Classes - got poorer whilst a much smaller number at the top got richer. " Richer Americans have done much better than middle income Americans who have in turn done better than poor Americans
Point of order - I'm as anti widening inequality as anyone but none of the groups actually got poorer did they?
"This should be the next battle: making it a legal obligation on service providers (as for employers and schools) to provide single sex loos and changing rooms (including as needed a safe private space for trans people)."
Agreed, except
1. "Trans" people are either male or female and when there are single-sex toilets they should use the appropriate one, i.e. according to their biological sex. Of course they should be safe, but issues regarding their safety can be dealt with under existing law against abuse, assault, harassment, etc. Nobody should assume that as a non-trans male under no illusion that I'm a woman I'm going to want to abuse or beat up a guy using the urinal next to mine who is wearing a frock.
2. Other next battles should include banning the use of terms such as "birth parent" in the state health system, and banning the trans cult from operating in schools.
This is such a huge example of petty officials "only following orders" - but so is most of the culture including especially internet culture.
"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.
Don't be silly.
Since 1925, we have gone from being probably the world's second wealthiest and most powerful country, to being the sick man of Europe (again). Don't get me wrong, I have every faith in our country that we can bounce back, but we've had a century of almost constant decline. Doing well is the situation improving, or at least staying the same.
Man, wait until you hear about Italy.
The home of the pizza, sans pineapple. Probably explains their decline.
They've been in decline since the Romans.
Free fall, really.
But still their silly GDP per capita chart would show exactly the same thing as ours - all it shows is the march of time and technology.
The point of the chart is that even the beggars on the street are far better off (and the same in Italy) than people in the same situation at the start of the 20th cent.
Actual progress, with better food, better health care etc.
As Kipling noted, the power and Empire is just fripperies.
The mistake you make is in equating GDP/Capita with the indicvidual wealth and wellbeing of the majority of the population. The US from 1970 onwards is a classic example. WHilst GDP and GDP/Capita both shot up, vast numbers of Americans - particularly the Middle Classes - got poorer whilst a much smaller number at the top got richer.
That's simply not true.
Real household income change by quintile since 1967 (near enough to 1970):
In fact, the changes may have been higher because there are some reasons, which I won't go into here but they are well covered in the economic literature (see e.g. here https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/jep.10.4.159 from the AEA), for thinking that American inflation indices bias those numbers downwards, so real income growth may be higher than indicated.
GDP is not always a perfect proxy for welfare for a number of reasons, but inequality in the US over the last fifty years isn't one of them.
Otoh, from your source which relatese to @Richard_Tyndall 's point: "vast numbers of Americans - particularly the Middle Classes - got poorer whilst a much smaller number at the top got richer. " Richer Americans have done much better than middle income Americans who have in turn done better than poor Americans
Point of order - I'm as anti widening inequality as anyone but none of the groups actually got poorer did they?
Comments
Probably shows my age.
I don’t eat it, I don’t like the triangles poking at the inside of my cheeks.
Pretty shit for most of the globe, though. War, famine, revolutions and mass death everywhere.
But, if you wanted real excitement, there was plenty to be found elsewhere in the world, as the transatlantic slave trade got it into full swing, and disease ravaged Amerindian tribes. The Manchus were slaughtering tens of millions, in their sixty year conquest of China, and Aurangzeb was matching them in India.
“The Congo in Africa. Many, many people come from the Congo. I don’t know what that is, but they came from the Congo.”
https://x.com/Out5p0ken/status/1912963468941992244
Video embedded in tweet.
https://tonyschocolonely.com/products/extra-dark-chocolate-70-180g
A Dutch company by the look of things - didn’t know Dutch chocolate was a thing and assumed they left it to their neighbours in Belgium.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRaY2wsFJFw
The Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index is probably the best metric to understand if the U.S. is "bringing manufacturing back home".
And it's absolutely cratering: -26.4, one of the lowest readings in memory.
Which makes sense: to manufacture stuff, you need inputs, which often come from imports. In fact according to the US National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) a whopping 56% (!) of goods imported to the U.S. are manufacturing inputs (https://nam.org/issues/trade/). You get rid of those, or tariff them so they dry up, and the result is that you destroy American manufacturing.
https://x.com/RnaudBertrand/status/1913073977783963745
MAGA are still saying, yes, but that’s part of the plan…
It’s like Masterchef when they serve up an almost blue steak and the guest judges go to their stock reply .
In effect it might be too rare for the plebs but we’re above all that and are happy to eat it !
Good riddance to dark Toblerone !
Sell at first world prices.
Pay tax at Monaco rates.
It is the sort of thing that could be clarified very easily by Parliament but Labour is too scared to touch it and I don't imagine that even the Tories under Kemi will be eager to fiddle with it. So I think we're left with this mess for about a generation.
I usually ate it all before the bus came.
Its noticeable that its people with no connection to manufacturing who claim that tariffs will lead to an increase in low skilled manufacturing.
Toblerone is a supreme example of brilliant branding. You find it everywhere. In every minibar and duty free shop in the world. In every 7/11 in Thailand. In supermarkets in Myanmar and Montevideo - and Almaty
It says in its special shape: here is a bit of European chocolate luxury. A bit of glamorous Europe itself! Even if the reality is, for posher Europeans, a bit disappointing
It is to Europe perhaps what Coca Cola is to the USA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYok-YUJkwA
And texture is crucial to chocolate. It is designed to melt at it meets your mouth, like a beautiful woman
My favourite form of chocolate is the posh chocolate truffle
But I am also partial to Tony Chocalonely (a Dutch company I believe)
Actual progress, with better food, better health care etc.
As Kipling noted, the power and Empire is just fripperies.
That doesn't suit far-right and far-left political agitators, because it negates the need for a revolution. That's why you get lies about zero steel production or no manufacturing sector, or widespread homelessness or racism or whatever. The UK remains successful, based on strong institutions and a decent and law-abiding populace.
The countries that I, personally, want the UK to look more like are capitalist monarchies like Sweden and Denmark. And I want to us to approach that settlement in a conservative and plodding way. I get my excitement from smashing my jaw while mountain biking or a bad fall from climbing, not my politics.
Milk chocolate is the infantalisation of food.
https://x.com/thesundaysport/status/1913272785079566350
The Bar exam has got some wild questions this year
One of those?
Milk chocolate is the adolescentisation of chocolate and I for one like to remain in touch with my inner adolescent.
Glenmorangie is now my favourite whisky.
relentlessly advancing, to the sound of drums. The charge of the Union Brigade. The wonderful shots of Ney’s cavalry fruitlessly trying to break squares of infantry. The horror of being in those squares as French artillery tearing them apart. The struggle for Hougomont. The inspired lunacy of Blucher. And finally, the Imperial Guard almost, but not quite, breaking through.
It's hardly surprising that the improvements driven by the Enlightenment and subsequent scientific and industrial revolutions are being adopted by other countries. That inevitably leads to them catching up.
not that bad either. Tolerable. Like toblerone
Using GDP fgures - either overal or per capita - to claim that globalisation has improved our lot is a false argument.
However I would admit that it has been a useful tool to improve the lot of many in the Third world and places like China. The argument all hinges on how much you are willing to sacrifice your own future to allow others less well of than you to improve their lot.
Recommend Waitrose Dark Milk, if they still sell it.
We off on a cruise round the Med from Sunday - a bit like your travel jaunts but slightly edgier.
Good chocolate comes in many forms - dark, milk and white. Confusingly, so also does bad chocolate.
Distinguishing the two is only achievable by direct personal experimentation.
Is that the Angel Inn at Hetton? Stayed there 20 years ago and it was lovely but I guess it has had a reincarnation since then.
https://www.ocelotchocolate.com/
https://bareboneschocolate.co.uk/
Can the remaining democracies in the world survive without the US?
China is probably the model that will dominate.
We have lived through a golden age and sadly trashed it for our descendants.
https://www.whittard.co.uk/gifts-and-confectionery/gift-type/coffee-gifts/dark-chocolate-coated-espresso-beans-360594.html
Fight, fight, fight.
Real household income change by quintile since 1967 (near enough to 1970):
Middle quintile: +52.2%
Bottom quintile +47.2%
https://www.advisorperspectives.com/dshort/updates/2025/01/09/u-s-household-incomes-a-50-year-perspective
In fact, the changes may have been higher because there are some reasons, which I won't go into here but they are well covered in the economic literature (see e.g. here https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/jep.10.4.159 from the AEA), for thinking that American inflation indices bias those numbers downwards, so real income growth may be higher than indicated.
GDP is not always a perfect proxy for welfare for a number of reasons, but inequality in the US over the last fifty years isn't one of them.
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/apr/18/robbie-williams-fans-photos-autographs-instagram-post
As another anxious person I totally get what he's saying. At the moment I've got one of my close friends bouncing around like an excited puppy on WhatsApp wanting attention. Robbie describes how strangers can be exhausting and cause anxiety. I have *friends* who do that to me when they catch me at the wrong time.
Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social
·
1h
Going away for a fortnight is great, properly restful, but boy, does that first glass of London tap water hit differently when you’ve got used to something that hasn’t passed through the bones of the dead.
Perhaps this was true before the 90s.
I recall, as a child, being taken to dreary lineoleum cafes for a sausage roll and an instant coffee.
But starting the 90s, NZ benefited hugely from a new cafe culture, partly imported from Melbourne, resulting among other things in the invention of the flat white.
NZ cafes are now well designed, urbane affairs where you can get a delicious “eggs benny” or your morning bircher museli as early as 6am. All British flat whites style cafes, owe homage in some way to their NZ templates.
The broader cuisine has been hugely improved by the infusion of Japanese, Korean, and Chinese migrants. When I first came to London in 2000 my love of sushi was considered a perversity by colleagues in my Mayfair based consultancy. Modern NZ food is “pan-Asian”.
It’s not perfect but I dare say it beats the fare on offer in Coventry or Hull.
Edit: I didn’t even mention NZ wine.
https://www1.politicalbetting.com/index.php/archives/2021/01/09/this-is-not-about-trump-except-of-course-it-is/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqhB5kl2wLQ
"This should be the next battle: making it a legal obligation on service providers (as for employers and schools) to provide single sex loos and changing rooms (including as needed a safe private space for trans people)."
Agreed, except
1. "Trans" people are either male or female and when there are single-sex toilets they should use the appropriate one, i.e. according to their biological sex. Of course they should be safe, but issues regarding their safety can be dealt with under existing law against abuse, assault, harassment, etc. Nobody should assume that as a non-trans male under no illusion that I'm a woman I'm going to want to abuse or beat up a guy using the urinal next to mine who is wearing a frock.
2. Other next battles should include banning the use of terms such as "birth parent" in the state health system (literally sack any medic or nurse who uses it) and banning the trans cult from operating in schools.
This is such a huge example of petty officials "only following orders" - but so is most of the culture including especially internet culture. More insanity is coming.
100 years ago most nations weren't democracies even if the US was
which relates to @Richard_Tyndall 's point: "vast numbers of Americans - particularly the Middle Classes - got poorer whilst a much smaller number at the top got richer. "
Richer Americans have indeed done much better than middle income Americans who have in turn done better than poor Americans. However none got poorer (absolutely)