I agree with Robert Jenrick (and Kemi Badenoch should take his advice) – politicalbetting.com
I agree with Robert Jenrick (and Kemi Badenoch should take his advice) – politicalbetting.com
“The party has the power to kick her out. I have been one of the few Conservatives to explicitly castigate her mini-Budget, describing it as ‘cack-handed, careless and unconservative’. I would have kicked her out of the party.
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And another thing: that this letter was sent via official channels and not tweeted out. Nobody in State stepped in to soften or tidy it up, or to keep it quiet. Instead they blasted it out to all the other European nations.
https://bsky.app/profile/ariehkovler.com/post/3mcr7sllwqk2i
Good morning, everyone.
Meanwhile, the markets are pretty steady. It's a holiday in the US but you would have thought there might be some serious selling this side of the pond. Instead it's all perfectly normal so far.
Well this is embarrassing! We need to think about a new Labour leader and Prime Minister urgently. He's a decent man but we need an altogether different approach. We need someone who is saying the things Ed Davey is saying.
We're being blown around like a kite in a hurricane. The only Labour figure who has the bottle and the brain to deal with it is Emily Thornberry. Starmer can be reassigned the job of sorting out the detail of the UK rejoining the EU which must happen as soon as possible and without caveats
(Chris Packham. Very good on Radio 4. Definitely one of the good guys)
They will be back rationalising it, in due course.
See also this:
Here's the real tell on the Greenland thing: There was not a single person -- MAGA or neocon or conservative or other -- who was talking about seizing Greenland before Trump got this idea in his head. Not a single one. This wasn't just a non-issue, it was literally inconceivable.
https://x.com/EricBoehm87/status/2013020107270766639
Remember too Jenrick called for Boris to resign and was a loyal Cameroon and backed Sunak over Truss in 2022 (he is the only senior Tory defector to Reform so far who backed Sunak not Truss or Braverman back then) and so Liz is clearly not a fan of BobbyJ any more than he is of her
You watch, King Prince Charles will to go the US for the 250th anniversary, say nothing about Greenland or Canada (of which state he is putatively head) and tongue DJT's hole like the craven weakling he is.
Maybe the Americans will deal with their problem now
@alastairmeeks.bsky.social
The escape for Republicans, if they choose to take it, is to expressly acknowledge he's ill. They can "celebrate his achievements" if they want to make it more politically acceptable. And they probably need to unite around JD Vance.
It'd be of considerable benefit to them if Melania is on board.
https://bsky.app/profile/alastairmeeks.bsky.social/post/3mcrau22wvk25
Agree that Kemi should say Truss has nothing to offer the Conservative Party. Let her go join Reform.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F39M2mqm7og
In 2021, a convicted fraudster named Adriana Camberos was freed from prison when President Trump commuted her sentence.
Camberos returned to crime. She and her brother were convicted in 2024 in an unrelated fraud
This week, Trump pardoned her again
https://x.com/JonLemire/status/2012880186841129058
“We don’t fund them. It will be a merit-based approach.”
Is this the way forward for the country?'
https://x.com/trussliz/status/2013160256621158845?s=20
However, the day may not be far off when something dramatic really is called for. The anger and frustration on this side of the pond can not be kept under wraps for ever. Perhaps questioning Trump's fitness for office might cause a tantrum that demonstrates to the world the truth of the matter and some decisive action is taken in Washington.
In similar vein, if Kemi Badenoch were to quietly abandon her attempts to leave the ECHR and start being positive about future collaboration with the EU, then the removal of the bastards and the nutters might actually help the Tories back into the real world, a place where Donald J Farage can never go.
But is this more Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy or Dad's Army?
I said by the end of this century, China and India would have overtaken the US as an economic force. Quite likely Europe too.
He erupted. It was just inconceivable to him.
He would undoubtedly have voted for Trump, thereby sealing my prediction.
(SFAICS Jenrick, usually adept on social media, has not joined in the chorus of criticism of Trump's desire to obtain Greenland/imposition of tariffs on Greenland's friends. Reform generally have little to say on this.)
My money would be on nothing.
Talk about 'international order' and 'special relationship'. But it's all meaningless.
There is basically nothing the UK can do, and whilst the EU could, it's too slow and too weak.
So nothing.
India is still behind both the US and Europe on gdp, though ahead of Germany, France, Japan and us in PPP terms now
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSSW3YNgzNQ
Shouting at Trump would make us feel good, but it wouldn’t make any difference.
Levying our own tariffs or restricting market access would only damage ourselves.
The right answer is to state calmly and clearly our lines on Denmark, refuse to damage ourselves via tariffs (and say so, to make a point); but have a genuine medium term strategy to diverge militarily from the USA, partnering more closely with are reliable allies.
Within all that, leverage this moment to strike a fair and equitable deal with the EU where we coexist and help each other militarily and economically. E.g. Yes we might as well follow most of their manufacturing rules, as the companies will anyway, but we want different animal welfare standards and more GM. Yes we can align our data standards but we take a more liberal view on AI. The common sense stuff close friends ought to be able to agree quickly to give some mutual economic support to each other while Donald has a tantrum.
Tories as expressed by TSE hated it, Farage loved it!
Roses are redish
Violets are bluish
If it wasn't for Christmas
We could all be Jewish
We continue to treat the world as we thought it once was, not how it is now
It’s a real shame that Nigel Farage is too unwell to do interviews the morning after Donald Trump threatens us with sanctions.
Here he is with “the bravest man he ever met”. He campaigned to make Trump President, and has spent the last year enjoying all the chaos he has caused.
https://x.com/EdwardJDavey/status/2012839122172334374
I do not envy Starmer and did not like his fawning over Trump but he has little choice and I agree with his approach
Anyone thinking Ed Davey 's antagonism to Trump would be helpful is just wanting to kick Trump [ as we all do] but would only have one result in making Trump more extreme
I fear that Trump is not going to back down and his letter to Norway is alarming
He can take devastating action against NATO, Europe and others including hugh tariffs, end US NATO membership, and withdraw support for Ukraine and withdraw his military from Europe
Furthermore, has anyone considered that even if Trump goes others in the US will continue their demand to control Greenland
The fact is Trump has all the cards and Europe is left powerless in a frightening change in security
I wish Starmer well, but I really doubt that he, or indeed anyone, will change Trumps ambition to own Greenland
Even most Republicans only want to buy Greenland, they oppose invading it
He forgot to mention what his Father used to do as a living.
More seriously we should, of course, keeping saying no on Greenland and leave a “trip wire” deployment in place, but we can do that quietly and avoid the temptation to shout.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, António Guterres said Washington's "clear conviction" was that multilateral solutions were irrelevant.
What mattered, he continued, was the "exercise of the power and influence of the United States and sometimes in this respect by the norms of international law".
His comments come weeks after the US struck Venezuela and seized its president - and in the context of Donald Trump's repeated threats to annex Greenland.
Guterres said he believed the founding principles of the UN - including the equality of member states - were now under threat.
President Trump has previously been scathing in his criticism of the United Nations.
He used his address at last September's General Assembly to question its very purpose, claiming he had "ended seven unendable wars" on his own and the UN "did not even try to help in any of them".
"Later I realised that the UN wasn't there for us," he said.
Presented with this damning assessment, Guterres admitted his organisation was struggling to make members abide by the international laws laid out in the UN Charter.
The UN was "extremely engaged" in solving major global conflicts, he insisted. "But the UN has no leverage - the big powers have stronger leverage....He suggested the UN Security Council - designed to maintain international peace and security - no longer represented the world and was "ineffective".
Any one of the council's permanent members - France, China, Russia, the UK or US - can currently veto resolutions. Both Russia and the US have used this power to frustrate global efforts to end the wars in Ukraine and Gaza.
Guterres claimed vetoes were being used to further individual members' interests, and criticised the fact that "three European countries" were permanent members.'
He called for changes to the council's composition - to "regain legitimacy" and "give voice to the whole world" - and to limit veto powers to avoid unacceptable "blockages".
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4g0zx0llpzo
He could have at least floated or hinted at some options for retaliation.
He’s just about the only man to whom Trump will show deference.
Look at the history of US and Greenland, and there is no doubt due to climate change the Artic region is at the front of US, Russia and China interests
The world is changing and US does not need military action to acquire Greenland as we are seeing now
It'll be Trump's political concerns that could potentially prevent an annexation of Greenland rather than anything Denmark and it's european allies might do.
But I fear he's only doing one half of that.
That’s the minimum NESV the Tories need to get in May or Badenoch’s in trouble.
You know those "struggle sessions" under Mao where people had to stand up and apologise for being counter-revolutionaries? I think anyone who accused another of "Trump derangement syndrome" needs to do one of those.
And all the existing evidence is that pandering to Trump is completely futile, while standing up to him works... sometimes.
If the Tories come third in May behind Reform and Labour in NEV then Kemi may well face a VONC and replacement by Cleverly (who now Jenrick has gone is her main leadership rival, even if more loyal to her than BobbyJ ever was)
There's absolutely no sign of that kind of thinking here.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Edward,_Duke_of_Kent_and_Strathearn
(Unless you don't count Victoria in the order of greatness.)
Not a single Democratic Congressman or Senator has said the US needs to take Greenland and 79% of Democrat voters oppose even trying to buy Greenland.
Neither China nor Russia have said they want to acquire Greenland either
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/just-one-five-americans-support-trumps-efforts-acquire-greenland-reutersipsos-2026-01-14/
The crisis shows up the inadequacy of both Davey and Farage in their different ways.