Brundle kidding himself about what we've seen so far.
Not a big fan of overtaking then?
It wasn't racing. It isn't driver skill.
I somewhat disagree. Different set of skills this season, and anyway I think it too early to judge just how good poor the racing will be.a
Australia is a fairly extreme track as far as the constraints of energy harvesting are concerned, and we're also right at the beginning of car development.
Brundle kidding himself about what we've seen so far.
Not a big fan of overtaking then?
It wasn't racing. It isn't driver skill.
I somewhat disagree. Different set of skills this season, and anyway I think it too early to judge just how good poor the racing will be.a
Australia is a fairly extreme track as far as the constraints of energy harvesting are concerned, and we're also right at the beginning of car development.
Yes, this might work better on the point and squirt Mickey Mouse circuits. But, Spa? It’s going to be awful (which is probably a feature and not a bug as they want such circuits gone).
Well Ferrari had the best race pace today, and lost the win with strategy. Again.
I think that's a slight exaggeration, the Mercedes looks faster. But certainly they could have been very close if it weren't for the brainless lack of pit stops.
Hamilton is a hugely successful and vastly experienced driver. Why on earth would you not listen to his advice on strategy ahead of somebody who's been consistently wrong for years?
Well Ferrari had the best race pace today, and lost the win with strategy. Again.
I think that's a slight exaggeration, the Mercedes looks faster. But certainly they could have been very close if it weren't for the brainless lack of pit stops.
Hamilton is a hugely successful and vastly experienced driver. Why on earth would you not listen to his advice on strategy ahead of somebody who's been consistently wrong for years?
Because they are Ferrari. The only drivers they ever really listened to were Lauda and Schumacher.
It's been that way since the start. The greatest driver in history left them after one season, despite winning the championship, because of their arrogance.
Sucking up to Trump doesn't get you mich other than an empty peace prize box:
"Venezuela’s opposition leader María Corina Machado held private talks in the White House Friday as she struggles to retain her political voice in the face of the Trump administration’s growing support for her rival in Caracas."
Ref 29% + 1 Lab 21% + 3 Con 16% - 2 Green 14% + 1 LD 10% -2
Fieldwork 4th to 6th March
Badenoch working her magic touch.
She's been too gungho, especially given Trump's latest nonsense. Why send an aircraft carrier with all the cost and risk involved? Let him fight his own war.
Ref 29% + 1 Lab 21% + 3 Con 16% - 2 Green 14% + 1 LD 10% -2
Fieldwork 4th to 6th March
Badenoch working her magic touch.
She's been too gungho, especially given Trump's latest nonsense. Why send an aircraft carrier with all the cost and risk involved? Let him fight his own war.
Yes, what is this aircraft carrier going to do that couldn't be done already from Cyprus?
Ref 29% + 1 Lab 21% + 3 Con 16% - 2 Green 14% + 1 LD 10% -2
Fieldwork 4th to 6th March
Badenoch working her magic touch.
She's been too gungho, especially given Trump's latest nonsense. Why send an aircraft carrier with all the cost and risk involved? Let him fight his own war.
With modern warfare, I cannot think of a bigger sitting duck than an aircraft carrier.
We couldn't completely trust deranged and deluded Trump nor mass murderer Netanyahu not to attack it anyway and claim "unfriendly fire".
We cannot deal with or aid these nutjobs. Any action the UK takes must be purely defensive.
Ref 29% + 1 Lab 21% + 3 Con 16% - 2 Green 14% + 1 LD 10% -2
Fieldwork 4th to 6th March
Badenoch working her magic touch.
She's been too gungho, especially given Trump's latest nonsense. Why send an aircraft carrier with all the cost and risk involved? Let him fight his own war.
Yes, what is this aircraft carrier going to do that couldn't be done already from Cyprus?
The latest Conservative Home Affairs mailshot arrives from Mr Philp. I remain not a fan.
Some of these are PR, kneejerks or issues upon Conservative Governments made decisions to do nothing over a period of years, despite lobbying, including when Chris Philp was Minister of State for Crime, Policing and Justice from 2022 to 2024. In some cases suitable laws were in place, in others they had passed bad laws in the past.
Sucking up to Trump doesn't get you mich other than an empty peace prize box:
"Venezuela’s opposition leader María Corina Machado held private talks in the White House Friday as she struggles to retain her political voice in the face of the Trump administration’s growing support for her rival in Caracas."
It looks more of an inside job in getting rid of Maduro now.
I don’t think that shows it’s an inside job necessarily. It shows that Delcy Rodríguez isn’t stupid and knows how to make the best of the situation, and that Trump has no interest in democracy or human rights.
Ref 29% + 1 Lab 21% + 3 Con 16% - 2 Green 14% + 1 LD 10% -2
Fieldwork 4th to 6th March
Badenoch working her magic touch.
She's been too gungho, especially given Trump's latest nonsense. Why send an aircraft carrier with all the cost and risk involved? Let him fight his own war.
Yes, what is this aircraft carrier going to do that couldn't be done already from Cyprus?
Pointless willy waving.
It's obviously a case of don't-forget-to-panic and send everything possible after a few days of adverse headlines.
I guarantee that sending all available units except the Army School of Bagpiping will fuck the deployment and training schedule for the next 18 months, making a bad situation worse.
1SL will obviously have to be shuffled away to the chair next to the door as soon as politically expedient. He came into office about 300 days ago trumpeting a 100 day plan to restore the Navy's readiness and effectiveness. Not particularly his fault, but he'll hang for it. Comes with the braid...
Ref 29% + 1 Lab 21% + 3 Con 16% - 2 Green 14% + 1 LD 10% -2
Fieldwork 4th to 6th March
Badenoch working her magic touch.
She's been too gungho, especially given Trump's latest nonsense. Why send an aircraft carrier with all the cost and risk involved? Let him fight his own war.
With modern warfare, I cannot think of a bigger sitting duck than an aircraft carrier.
We couldn't completely trust deranged and deluded Trump nor mass murderer Netanyahu not to attack it anyway and claim "unfriendly fire".
We cannot deal with or aid these nutjobs. Any action the UK takes must be purely defensive.
Trying to get on the right side of Trump is like petting a rabid dog.
WRT the impact of the graph in the header, I suggest a shift in analysis. The constant used to be the fact of the large combined Tory and Labour vote. There was only one competition going on within that unchanging fact.
There may be a 'constant' to identify, relevant to outcomes. The two groups called Left of Centre (Lab, LD, Green, Nats) and Right of Centre (Ref, Tory) inevitably command all the votes, and are very close - nearly half each - in polling.
Which faction is better at voting, gains a % advantage, is better at tactics, and more united in opposing the other faction may decide the outcome of a GE. Bet accordingly. DYOR.
Ref 29% + 1 Lab 21% + 3 Con 16% - 2 Green 14% + 1 LD 10% -2
Fieldwork 4th to 6th March
Badenoch working her magic touch.
She's been too gungho, especially given Trump's latest nonsense. Why send an aircraft carrier with all the cost and risk involved? Let him fight his own war.
Yes, what is this aircraft carrier going to do that couldn't be done already from Cyprus?
Pointless willy waving.
Why can't they just fly its planes to Cyprus this afternoon? Cyprus can't sink.
The latest Conservative Home Affairs mailshot arrives from Mr Philp. I remain not a fan.
Some of these are PR, kneejerks or issues upon Conservative Governments made decisions to do nothing over a period of years, despite lobbying, including when Chris Philp was Minister of State for Crime, Policing and Justice from 2022 to 2024. In some cases suitable laws were in place, in others they had passed bad laws in the past.
Ref 29% + 1 Lab 21% + 3 Con 16% - 2 Green 14% + 1 LD 10% -2
Fieldwork 4th to 6th March
Badenoch working her magic touch.
She's been too gungho, especially given Trump's latest nonsense. Why send an aircraft carrier with all the cost and risk involved? Let him fight his own war.
Yes, what is this aircraft carrier going to do that couldn't be done already from Cyprus?
Pointless willy waving.
Why can't they just fly its planes to Cyprus this afternoon? Cyprus can't sink.
An inane comment, but possibly the first on topic.
Good morning, everybody. Glad you enjoyed the race in your various ways.
Some of this is just the maths of having a five party system, rather than two-and-a-bit. In previous generations, Reformers would have been content to be hang 'em and flog 'em populist Tories. I suspect that there's a similar dynamic between Labour and Polanski's version of the Greens.
Quite a bit of the terrible approval ratings of all recent PMs correlates with this.
The harder questions are why centrists and populists can no longer endure cohabitation on the left or the right, and what non-populists should do in response.
Ref 29% + 1 Lab 21% + 3 Con 16% - 2 Green 14% + 1 LD 10% -2
Fieldwork 4th to 6th March
Badenoch working her magic touch.
She's been too gungho, especially given Trump's latest nonsense. Why send an aircraft carrier with all the cost and risk involved? Let him fight his own war.
Yes, what is this aircraft carrier going to do that couldn't be done already from Cyprus?
Pointless willy waving.
Why can't they just fly its planes to Cyprus this afternoon? Cyprus can't sink.
Royal Navy aircraft using an RAF based?
Impossible!
Havd a friendly inter-services rivalry going on.
See who can play catch up with the Yanks and bomb the most girls' schools...
For all those happy to follow the US into another ME war
America’s military has an Iranian drone problem
Pentagon officials this past week reportedly conceded in closed-door briefings with lawmakers that waves of Iranian-launched drones are punching through air defenses, leaving American troops and bases in the Persian Gulf region vulnerable to attacks. Six Americans have already been killed in a drone strike.
To combat Iran’s Shahed 136 drones — a relatively inexpensive weapon that costs around $20,000 to quickly produce — America’s armed forces are bleeding costly Patriot and THAAD interceptors that take years and millions of dollars to build.
President Trump on Friday met with major defense contractors — including Lockheed Martin, the maker of THAAD, and Raytheon, which produces Patriots — during which he claimed they agreed to quadruple production of so-called exquisite class weaponry. But even with a ramped-up building schedule, such weapons can take up to two years to finish, with defense experts warning the Iranian drone attacks could disrupt the Persian Gulf region for weeks into months and drain American munitions stockpiles.
He'll declare the war has been won or even say 'Mission Accomplished' and move onto another stage of the Epstein Wars into Cuba.
I don't usually go in for conspiracy theories but if Blair's intervention wasn't intended as a boost for Starmer what was it? My guess is it'll put at least a couple of points on Starmer's rastings and possibly hold off a leadership challenge which I'd heard was coming in May. Even announcing it was made at a private meeting makes it stronger
If It wasn't a set up it makes no sense. Blair must be the least trusted person on when to go to war and who with in the whole of the UK.
Ref 29% + 1 Lab 21% + 3 Con 16% - 2 Green 14% + 1 LD 10% -2
Fieldwork 4th to 6th March
Badenoch working her magic touch.
She's been too gungho, especially given Trump's latest nonsense. Why send an aircraft carrier with all the cost and risk involved? Let him fight his own war.
Nonsense. We should have sent in our carrier right from the start.
The latest Conservative Home Affairs mailshot arrives from Mr Philp. I remain not a fan.
Some of these are PR, kneejerks or issues upon Conservative Governments made decisions to do nothing over a period of years, despite lobbying, including when Chris Philp was Minister of State for Crime, Policing and Justice from 2022 to 2024. In some cases suitable laws were in place, in others they had passed bad laws in the past.
Ref 29% + 1 Lab 21% + 3 Con 16% - 2 Green 14% + 1 LD 10% -2
Fieldwork 4th to 6th March
Badenoch working her magic touch.
She's been too gungho, especially given Trump's latest nonsense. Why send an aircraft carrier with all the cost and risk involved? Let him fight his own war.
Nonsense. We should have sent in our carrier right from the start.
Why?
We weren't part of the planning, such as objectives, rules of engagement or endgame.
No matter how vile the Iranian regime is, it isn't our war nor in our strategic interrst.
The 160 girls has moved up the scale. They are now demanding Hegseth gives details of the inquiry. It's not very nice to have your leader faced with questions about 160 dead girls at every press conference.
Winning the hearts and minds of Iranian civilians is now moving onto destroying infrastructure like desalination plants.
Who needs drinking water !
Hasn't Iran hit a desal plant in Bahrain?
Highest impact targets going.
Both are unacceptable.
It could be argued that the threat to Iran is existential, therefore Just War Theory goes out the window, and anything goes.
Take out the power and desal in UAE, and they'd be begging the US to end hostilities.
Trump & Hegseth already threw Just War theory out of the window, and implemented lack of such when they started killing people in the Caribbean in boats rather than the standard method of shootign out the engines and arresting, which has been used since iirc the noughties.
If they row back, imo it will be because the Gulf States force them to do so by threatening to pull money from the USA.
They are clear that "might is right" and international law or treaties mean nothing to them.
Ref 29% + 1 Lab 21% + 3 Con 16% - 2 Green 14% + 1 LD 10% -2
Fieldwork 4th to 6th March
Badenoch working her magic touch.
She's been too gungho, especially given Trump's latest nonsense. Why send an aircraft carrier with all the cost and risk involved? Let him fight his own war.
Nonsense. We should have sent in our carrier right from the start.
We'd have a sunker Carrier and Body Bags returning home now if we had and who would YOU have been blaming.
NOT OUR WAR!
Stay Out!
Our ex pats in the region are exactly that ex-pats , many of them there to slag off our Country , how great they are and how crap the UK is, they made their bed, tough shit. The genuine majority should be helped and supported and it;s up to Gulf States to protect them. We should offer support no more. NON aggressive support.
Holidaymakers should and are being helped and slowly getting out!
Lets remind everyone of one FACT!
One drone has fallen on a soverign UK air base. The most accurate reports suggest it was Russian made, fired by Hezbollah probably from remote Labanon area!
RAF and others are now intercepting drone, you CANNOT stop every drone and Badenoch and Farage cannot be allowed to ghoulishly cheer any drone that falls as some sort of sick excuse for their desperation to go to war!
The latest Conservative Home Affairs mailshot arrives from Mr Philp. I remain not a fan.
Some of these are PR, kneejerks or issues upon Conservative Governments made decisions to do nothing over a period of years, despite lobbying, including when Chris Philp was Minister of State for Crime, Policing and Justice from 2022 to 2024. In some cases suitable laws were in place, in others they had passed bad laws in the past.
Ref 29% + 1 Lab 21% + 3 Con 16% - 2 Green 14% + 1 LD 10% -2
Fieldwork 4th to 6th March
Badenoch working her magic touch.
She's been too gungho, especially given Trump's latest nonsense. Why send an aircraft carrier with all the cost and risk involved? Let him fight his own war.
Nonsense. We should have sent in our carrier right from the start.
Why?
We weren't part of the planning, such as objectives, rules of engagement or endgame.
No matter how vile the Iranian regime is, it isn't our war nor in our strategic interrst.
It is in our strategic interest to defeat the Iranian regime - one that has been targetting us and our interests for decades. Pathetically hiding behind others, like Ireland does, is weak, makes us a total irrelevance and undermines our credibility worldwide.
We are about to find out the geopolitical consequences of taking a back seat and putting our fingers in our ears, and it won't be pretty.
Ref 29% + 1 Lab 21% + 3 Con 16% - 2 Green 14% + 1 LD 10% -2
Fieldwork 4th to 6th March
Badenoch working her magic touch.
She's been too gungho, especially given Trump's latest nonsense. Why send an aircraft carrier with all the cost and risk involved? Let him fight his own war.
Nonsense. We should have sent in our carrier right from the start.
We'd have a sunker Carrier and Body Bags returning home now if we had and who would YOU have been blaming.
NOT OUR WAR!
Stay Out!
Our ex pats in the region are exactly that ex-pats , many of them there to slag off our Country , how great they are and how crap the UK is, they made their bed, tough shit. The genuine majority should be helped and supported and it;s up to Gulf States to protect them. We should offer support no more. NON aggressive support.
Holidaymakers should and are being helped and slowly getting out!
Lets remind everyone of one FACT!
One drone has fallen on a soverign UK air base. The most accurate reports suggest it was Russian made, fired by Hezbollah probably from remote Labanon area!
RAF and others are now intercepting drone, you CANNOT stop every drone and Badenoch and Farage cannot be allowed to ghoulishly cheer any drone that falls as some sort of sick excuse for their desperation to go to war!
Every drone that stops another Kuwait City tower from burning is a win - that will be appreciated in the region.
We didn't start the war. But we shouldn't sit on our hands either if we can help prevent damage.
Personally, I'd extend that to hunting down the launch sites within Iran too. But I appreciate that is further than some would go. Happy for that subject to be debated in Parliament.
Ref 29% + 1 Lab 21% + 3 Con 16% - 2 Green 14% + 1 LD 10% -2
Fieldwork 4th to 6th March
Badenoch working her magic touch.
She's been too gungho, especially given Trump's latest nonsense. Why send an aircraft carrier with all the cost and risk involved? Let him fight his own war.
Nonsense. We should have sent in our carrier right from the start.
We'd have a sunker Carrier and Body Bags returning home now if we had and who would YOU have been blaming.
NOT OUR WAR!
Stay Out!
Our ex pats in the region are exactly that ex-pats , many of them there to slag off our Country , how great they are and how crap the UK is, they made their bed, tough shit. The genuine majority should be helped and supported and it;s up to Gulf States to protect them. We should offer support no more. NON aggressive support.
Holidaymakers should and are being helped and slowly getting out!
Lets remind everyone of one FACT!
One drone has fallen on a soverign UK air base. The most accurate reports suggest it was Russian made, fired by Hezbollah probably from remote Labanon area!
RAF and others are now intercepting drone, you CANNOT stop every drone and Badenoch and Farage cannot be allowed to ghoulishly cheer any drone that falls as some sort of sick excuse for their desperation to go to war!
I saw your name. And then instantly skipped over your shite and didn't read it.
The 160 girls has moved up the scale. They are now demanding Hegseth gives details of the inquiry. It's not very nice to have your leader faced with questions about 160 dead girls at every press conference.
Everything is allowed because the Iranians are evil people who chop the heads off babies.
‘ Asked if the US attacked a desalination plant in Iran, Pres. Trump says Iranians are "among the most evil people ever on earth."
"They cut babies' heads off—they chop women in half..."
"I know nothing about a desalinization plant, other than to say, if they're complaining about a desalinization plant, we complain about the fact they shouldn't be chopping babies' heads off."
Trump envoy Steve Witkoff and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth can be seen nodding in agreement.’
I don't usually go in for conspiracy theories but if Blair's intervention wasn't intended as a boost for Starmer what was it? My guess is it'll put at least a couple of points on Starmer's rastings and possibly hold off a leadership challenge which I'd heard was coming in May. Even announcing it was made at a private meeting makes it stronger
If It wasn't a set up it makes no sense. Blair must be the least trusted person on when to go to war and who with in the whole of the UK.
The simplest explanation is twofold:
1 Like many other residents of Dunruling, Blair craves the attention and importance. See Maggie after 1990 for the template.
2 An American war in the Middle East destroyed his premiership, but he's never acknowledged his screwup there. And now he sees his successor (and in most ways, inferior) ignore him and take a different path... That can't be easy.
Comments
I'm still struggling with the concept of a Cadillac that can go round corners.
Just watch this Leclerc/Russell battle.
Edit - Hamilton not too happy. Not a big Hamilton fan but given the choice between his instincts and Ferrari's - I'd back Hamilton's. Every time.
Speaking of fascinating new challenges, Alonso had a good start but his race is now run.
Slowest learners in F1.
That's like talking about Trump's mind, Mandelson's integrity or British Gas' customer service.
We have a VSC but no Ferrari stop because the pit lane closed before they could stop!
Ferrari continue to behave like muppets.
Different set of skills this season, and anyway I think it too early to judge just how good poor the racing will be.a
Australia is a fairly extreme track as far as the constraints of energy harvesting are concerned, and we're also right at the beginning of car development.
As if we needed confirmation.
Yes, that Oliver North.
But Ferrari are total nutters.
https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/comments/cy0kxu/eau_rougeraidillon_had_a_chicane_in_1994_after/
What wank.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=lFV1uT-ihDo
Hamilton is a hugely successful and vastly experienced driver. Why on earth would you not listen to his advice on strategy ahead of somebody who's been consistently wrong for years?
They were slower than Mercedes, but would have finished a lot closer if the team had the faintest clue of how to run a race.
Russel was cruising at the end, so likely had time in hand.
The Ferrari looks reasonably promising, though.
They might win some races.
The only drivers they ever really listened to were Lauda and Schumacher.
It's been that way since the start.
The greatest driver in history left them after one season, despite winning the championship, because of their arrogance.
And Hamilton seems a lot happier with this car than the ground effect ones. Nearly had Leclerc at the end there.
But Ferrari strategy remains the same.
Good morning, everyone.
Antonelli was closing on Russell too. Given the poor start, he also can't be ruled out.
"Venezuela’s opposition leader María Corina Machado held private talks in the White House Friday as she struggles to retain her political voice in the face of the Trump administration’s growing support for her rival in Caracas."
https://bsky.app/profile/bloomberg.com/post/3mgiyatvnur2r
It looks more of an inside job in getting rid of Maduro now.
Ref 29% + 1
Lab 21% + 3
Con 16% - 2
Green 14% + 1
LD 10% -2
Fieldwork 4th to 6th March
Pointless willy waving.
We couldn't completely trust deranged and deluded Trump nor mass murderer Netanyahu not to attack it anyway and claim "unfriendly fire".
We cannot deal with or aid these nutjobs. Any action the UK takes must be purely defensive.
Some of these are PR, kneejerks or issues upon Conservative Governments made decisions to do nothing over a period of years, despite lobbying, including when Chris Philp was Minister of State for Crime, Policing and Justice from 2022 to 2024. In some cases suitable laws were in place, in others they had passed bad laws in the past.
Link: https://public.conservatives.com/publicweb/Take_Back_our_Streets.pdf.pdf?dm_i=7XP6,2KLWK,4YTGZ5,5OYAZ,1,0,0,0
I guarantee that sending all available units except the Army School of Bagpiping will fuck the deployment and training schedule for the next 18 months, making a bad situation worse.
1SL will obviously have to be shuffled away to the chair next to the door as soon as politically expedient. He came into office about 300 days ago trumpeting a 100 day plan to restore the Navy's readiness and effectiveness. Not particularly his fault, but he'll hang for it. Comes with the braid...
There may be a 'constant' to identify, relevant to outcomes. The two groups called Left of Centre (Lab, LD, Green, Nats) and Right of Centre (Ref, Tory) inevitably command all the votes, and are very close - nearly half each - in polling.
Which faction is better at voting, gains a % advantage, is better at tactics, and more united in opposing the other faction may decide the outcome of a GE. Bet accordingly. DYOR.
The usual comfort pillow is to blame the civilians for not rising up against their evil government.
An inane comment, but possibly the first on topic.
Good morning, everybody. Glad you enjoyed the race in your various ways.
(Nobel Committee, look away now...)
Impossible!
Who needs drinking water !
Highest impact targets going.
Quite a bit of the terrible approval ratings of all recent PMs correlates with this.
The harder questions are why centrists and populists can no longer endure cohabitation on the left or the right, and what non-populists should do in response.
Netanyahu risks taking moral defeat from the jaws of victory again.
https://www.psypost.org/a-psychological-need-for-certainty-is-associated-with-radical-right-voting/
I had a look at that website site that is forecasting the result in every ward in May. It reckons I'll get 5%.
See who can play catch up with the Yanks and bomb the most girls' schools...
Points mean prizes.
As good a way to break a nation as any - if they are dying of thirst. And can't flush their typhoid-friendly shit.
America’s military has an Iranian drone problem
To combat Iran’s Shahed 136 drones — a relatively inexpensive weapon that costs around $20,000 to quickly produce — America’s armed forces are bleeding costly Patriot and THAAD interceptors that take years and millions of dollars to build.
President Trump on Friday met with major defense contractors — including Lockheed Martin, the maker of THAAD, and Raytheon, which produces Patriots — during which he claimed they agreed to quadruple production of so-called exquisite class weaponry. But even with a ramped-up building schedule, such weapons can take up to two years to finish, with defense experts warning the Iranian drone attacks could disrupt the Persian Gulf region for weeks into months and drain American munitions stockpiles.
He'll declare the war has been won or even say 'Mission Accomplished' and move onto another stage of the Epstein Wars into Cuba.
https://thehill.com/policy/defense/5772379-iran-drone-threat-us-allies/
https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/us-investigation-points-likely-us-responsibility-iran-school-strike-sources-say-2026-03-06/
Take out the power and desal in UAE, and they'd be begging the US to end hostilities.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news
If It wasn't a set up it makes no sense. Blair must be the least trusted person on when to go to war and who with in the whole of the UK.
I'm aware of action on the last two, which I think are under consultation.
The Mental Health Act does not, aiui, contain specific targets, but does have an assessment of risk to the public - rather than Philps "lock 'em up".
Starmer's extra police are due (it is claimed) to feed through from this year.
I'm not sure on the others. I will give them 2 years from the election on these, too, before I start making judgements on Starmer & Co.
We weren't part of the planning, such as objectives, rules of engagement or endgame.
No matter how vile the Iranian regime is, it isn't our war nor in our strategic interrst.
If they row back, imo it will be because the Gulf States force them to do so by threatening to pull money from the USA.
They are clear that "might is right" and international law or treaties mean nothing to them.
NOT OUR WAR!
Stay Out!
Our ex pats in the region are exactly that ex-pats , many of them there to slag off our Country , how great they are and how crap the UK is, they made their bed, tough shit. The genuine majority should be helped and supported and it;s up to Gulf States to protect them. We should offer support no more. NON aggressive support.
Holidaymakers should and are being helped and slowly getting out!
Lets remind everyone of one FACT!
One drone has fallen on a soverign UK air base. The most accurate reports suggest it was Russian made, fired by Hezbollah probably from remote Labanon area!
RAF and others are now intercepting drone, you CANNOT stop every drone and Badenoch and Farage cannot be allowed to ghoulishly cheer any drone that falls as some sort of sick excuse for their desperation to go to war!
https://x.com/vittorioangelon/status/2030322031254757805?s=61&t=LYVEHh2mqFy1oUJAdCfe-Q
We are about to find out the geopolitical consequences of taking a back seat and putting our fingers in our ears, and it won't be pretty.
We won't be taken seriously again.
We didn't start the war. But we shouldn't sit on our hands either if we can help prevent damage.
Personally, I'd extend that to hunting down the launch sites within Iran too. But I appreciate that is further than some would go. Happy for that subject to be debated in Parliament.
As usual.
‘ Asked if the US attacked a desalination plant in Iran, Pres. Trump says Iranians are "among the most evil people ever on earth."
"They cut babies' heads off—they chop women in half..."
"I know nothing about a desalinization plant, other than to say, if they're complaining about a desalinization plant, we complain about the fact they shouldn't be chopping babies' heads off."
Trump envoy Steve Witkoff and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth can be seen nodding in agreement.’
https://x.com/infolibnews/status/2030434514288140516?s=61&t=LYVEHh2mqFy1oUJAdCfe-Q
We are about to find out the consequences of not doing that, which will play out over years - not just months.
1 Like many other residents of Dunruling, Blair craves the attention and importance. See Maggie after 1990 for the template.
2 An American war in the Middle East destroyed his premiership, but he's never acknowledged his screwup there. And now he sees his successor (and in most ways, inferior) ignore him and take a different path... That can't be easy.