I've had various friends open up political conversations with me, from various perspectives on the left / right spectrum. All unified in a sense of hopelessness that we continue to circle the plughole with diminishing speed.
Same
It’s like the entire world is in turbo-drive: maximum acceleration into a scary future
Just to add to the calm, I had drinks with my MI5 psychiatrist friend yesterday. He believes Trump has a very specific form of dementia which first attacks the cerebral functions that govern foresight. The ability to think several moves ahead
He cited several symptoms that chime with his theory
The dementia is quickly progressive, so if he’s right Vance may be president before 2028. However, my friend was on his third whacking big martini so DYOR
'He believes Trump has a very specific form of dementia which first attacks the cerebral functions that govern foresight'
I am not at all sure he has dementia, certainly not that I recognise having experienced it with family and friends, but he certainly is narcissistic and simply deranged but that is not the same as dementia
Anyway he is an utter disaster for the world
And yet some people here were, in 2024, saying he was the better choice than Harris.
I have to say that Biden, Harris and the Democrats have to accept some responsibilty for Trump
Biden clearly was suffering from at the very least early stage onset dementia and his wife, if she really wanted the best for him, with others should have him stand down and Harris or someone else takeover
I really liked Joe Biden and was saddened to see his mental health decline, but sadly the rest is history and the narcissistic disaster that is Trump
Harris was fucking useless. They should have had a proper contest and found a more worthy candidate rather than just deciding it was her turn.
Republican Rep. Pat Fallon had this harsh but not completely wrong take on it.
Yes, Biden should have said from the mid-terms that he was not standing again, and the party had a regular primary season.
Republican Rep. Pat Fallon could explain and apologise for the GOP nominating Trump before he opines on other parties choices
As boringly said by me previously, the unwillingness of the new right to take responsibility for just about fucking anything is a startling turn of events.
She's again talked herself in to an awful mess, this time over Nick Timothy.
Claims Starmer didn't attend event Timothy was referring to last year, not this year, last year as he was "sucking up to Jews". What the fuck?
Then claims her objection is because women were segregated at the back,? Despite the fact Timothy never mentioned segregation.
Refuses to admit its racism and Islamaphobia from Timothy.
(As an aside she ignores comments from a leading Jewish cleric who has called for her to sack Timothy, who points out some branches of Jewish faith also segregate men and women at prayer)
Then says her shadow cabinet needs new blood.
Seconds later claims that the majority of her shadow cabinet, who were in Boris, Truss and or Sunak Government Cabinet are OK as they didn't agree with any of the policy
Claims Brexit failure due to anybody but the Tories
When asked if Tories will do better than last year blames Sunak for last time locals held in 2025vand suggests Tories will do better in 2026 and win all the seats.
30 minutes of cluster fuck
Imagine 6 weeks...
You've been insisting for 48 hours that she would sack Timothy. I told you that you were wrong, she won't, and I offered you a bet on it
I've had various friends open up political conversations with me, from various perspectives on the left / right spectrum. All unified in a sense of hopelessness that we continue to circle the plughole with diminishing speed.
Same
It’s like the entire world is in turbo-drive: maximum acceleration into a scary future
Just to add to the calm, I had drinks with my MI5 psychiatrist friend yesterday. He believes Trump has a very specific form of dementia which first attacks the cerebral functions that govern foresight. The ability to think several moves ahead
He cited several symptoms that chime with his theory
The dementia is quickly progressive, so if he’s right Vance may be president before 2028. However, my friend was on his third whacking big martini so DYOR
'He believes Trump has a very specific form of dementia which first attacks the cerebral functions that govern foresight'
I am not at all sure he has dementia, certainly not that I recognise having experienced it with family and friends, but he certainly is narcissistic and simply deranged but that is not the same as dementia
Anyway he is an utter disaster for the world
And yet some people here were, in 2024, saying he was the better choice than Harris.
I have to say that Biden, Harris and the Democrats have to accept some responsibilty for Trump
Biden clearly was suffering from at the very least early stage onset dementia and his wife, if she really wanted the best for him, with others should have him stand down and Harris or someone else takeover
I really liked Joe Biden and was saddened to see his mental health decline, but sadly the rest is history and the narcissistic disaster that is Trump
Harris was fucking useless. They should have had a proper contest and found a more worthy candidate rather than just deciding it was her turn.
Republican Rep. Pat Fallon had this harsh but not completely wrong take on it.
Yes, Biden should have said from the mid-terms that he was not standing again, and the party had a regular primary season.
Republican Rep. Pat Fallon could explain and apologise for the GOP nominating Trump before he opines on other parties choices
As boringly said by me previously, the unwillingness of the new right to take responsibility for just about fucking anything is a startling turn of events.
This is a remarkable statetement from a decades-long supporter of the SNP, whose entire rationale and modus operandus is avoiding responsbility for anything, and blaming it all on "our English overlords"
I've had various friends open up political conversations with me, from various perspectives on the left / right spectrum. All unified in a sense of hopelessness that we continue to circle the plughole with diminishing speed.
Same
It’s like the entire world is in turbo-drive: maximum acceleration into a scary future
Just to add to the calm, I had drinks with my MI5 psychiatrist friend yesterday. He believes Trump has a very specific form of dementia which first attacks the cerebral functions that govern foresight. The ability to think several moves ahead
He cited several symptoms that chime with his theory
The dementia is quickly progressive, so if he’s right Vance may be president before 2028. However, my friend was on his third whacking big martini so DYOR
'He believes Trump has a very specific form of dementia which first attacks the cerebral functions that govern foresight'
I am not at all sure he has dementia, certainly not that I recognise having experienced it with family and friends, but he certainly is narcissistic and simply deranged but that is not the same as dementia
Anyway he is an utter disaster for the world
And yet some people here were, in 2024, saying he was the better choice than Harris.
I have to say that Biden, Harris and the Democrats have to accept some responsibilty for Trump
Biden clearly was suffering from at the very least early stage onset dementia and his wife, if she really wanted the best for him, with others should have him stand down and Harris or someone else takeover
I really liked Joe Biden and was saddened to see his mental health decline, but sadly the rest is history and the narcissistic disaster that is Trump
Harris was fucking useless. They should have had a proper contest and found a more worthy candidate rather than just deciding it was her turn.
Republican Rep. Pat Fallon had this harsh but not completely wrong take on it.
Yes, Biden should have said from the mid-terms that he was not standing again, and the party had a regular primary season.
Republican Rep. Pat Fallon could explain and apologise for the GOP nominating Trump before he opines on other parties choices
As boringly said by me previously, the unwillingness of the new right to take responsibility for just about fucking anything is a startling turn of events.
This is a remarkable statetement from a decades-long supporter of the SNP, whose entire rationale and modus operandus is avoiding responsbility for anything, and blaming it all on "our English overlords"
Not so much a straw man based on no actual evidence in my case, but a pish soaked tissue man.
I condemn in the strongest terms the overnight Iranian strike on a Qatari gas facility.
We are working towards a swift resolution to the situation in the Middle East, in the best interests of the British people – because there is no question that ending the war is the quickest way to reduce the cost of living.
I've had various friends open up political conversations with me, from various perspectives on the left / right spectrum. All unified in a sense of hopelessness that we continue to circle the plughole with diminishing speed.
Same
It’s like the entire world is in turbo-drive: maximum acceleration into a scary future
Just to add to the calm, I had drinks with my MI5 psychiatrist friend yesterday. He believes Trump has a very specific form of dementia which first attacks the cerebral functions that govern foresight. The ability to think several moves ahead
He cited several symptoms that chime with his theory
The dementia is quickly progressive, so if he’s right Vance may be president before 2028. However, my friend was on his third whacking big martini so DYOR
'He believes Trump has a very specific form of dementia which first attacks the cerebral functions that govern foresight'
I am not at all sure he has dementia, certainly not that I recognise having experienced it with family and friends, but he certainly is narcissistic and simply deranged but that is not the same as dementia
Anyway he is an utter disaster for the world
And yet some people here were, in 2024, saying he was the better choice than Harris.
I have to say that Biden, Harris and the Democrats have to accept some responsibilty for Trump
Biden clearly was suffering from at the very least early stage onset dementia and his wife, if she really wanted the best for him, with others should have him stand down and Harris or someone else takeover
I really liked Joe Biden and was saddened to see his mental health decline, but sadly the rest is history and the narcissistic disaster that is Trump
Harris was fucking useless. They should have had a proper contest and found a more worthy candidate rather than just deciding it was her turn.
Republican Rep. Pat Fallon had this harsh but not completely wrong take on it.
Yes, Biden should have said from the mid-terms that he was not standing again, and the party had a regular primary season.
Republican Rep. Pat Fallon could explain and apologise for the GOP nominating Trump before he opines on other parties choices
As boringly said by me previously, the unwillingness of the new right to take responsibility for just about fucking anything is a startling turn of events.
This is a remarkable statetement from a decades-long supporter of the SNP, whose entire rationale and modus operandus is avoiding responsbility for anything, and blaming it all on "our English overlords"
Badenoch is doing a decent job of blaming the previous administration for the errors we can all point to. They happened. They were in office. It was them. But in government stuff happens you don't agree with but have to back via collective responsibility. And they're doing a decent job of pointing out that they disagreed with so many things that were done.
There is also a "we are where we are" reality to all this. You don't get to go back and have another go. You can only start where you find yourself.
So, can't afford to buy heating oil. Tank is half full and we're only running the boiler 2 hours a day now anyway.
And God alone knows what the price of petrol is now for the boy's Mini.
The price of *everything* is about to go shooting up. Have just nailed down a new mortgage deal before the deal got pulled. Cost 20 basis points vs last week, but its only going in one direction.
I read online that the cost food, a reasonable chunk is fertiliser. Well that is going through the roof so expect serious food inflation later in the year too.
I’ve got plenty of dried pasta, flour and rice as well as tins of stuff.
Buy what you can because the price of *everything* is going to shoot up.
Because TACO we can hope for an end to this war in the coming weeks. At which point supplies can start to resume to normal. Which means a hard bump in prices of maybe 3.6 months. Not Great. Not Terrible.
Then again, Trump is a demented twat and America is massively exposed to the continuing regime it can't remove, so maybe this grinds on for months. In which case we're fucked. A bigger inflationary spike than we had with the Ukraine war.
I agree, it is going to be brutal and markets have yet to wake up to it.
I did a Costco trip yesterday and the freezer is now full too.
It annoys my wife when I buy extra food but I have hiding places. Better safe than sorry.
I honestly cannot see an end to this anytime soon.
And God alone knows what the price of petrol is now for the boy's Mini.
When I was at the petrol station yesterday the Range Rover driver at the next pump noticed my scooter and asked how much to fill it up. When I told him less than £10 his response was "f-ing hell".
I've had various friends open up political conversations with me, from various perspectives on the left / right spectrum. All unified in a sense of hopelessness that we continue to circle the plughole with diminishing speed.
Same
It’s like the entire world is in turbo-drive: maximum acceleration into a scary future
Just to add to the calm, I had drinks with my MI5 psychiatrist friend yesterday. He believes Trump has a very specific form of dementia which first attacks the cerebral functions that govern foresight. The ability to think several moves ahead
He cited several symptoms that chime with his theory
The dementia is quickly progressive, so if he’s right Vance may be president before 2028. However, my friend was on his third whacking big martini so DYOR
'He believes Trump has a very specific form of dementia which first attacks the cerebral functions that govern foresight'
I am not at all sure he has dementia, certainly not that I recognise having experienced it with family and friends, but he certainly is narcissistic and simply deranged but that is not the same as dementia
Anyway he is an utter disaster for the world
And yet some people here were, in 2024, saying he was the better choice than Harris.
I have to say that Biden, Harris and the Democrats have to accept some responsibilty for Trump
Biden clearly was suffering from at the very least early stage onset dementia and his wife, if she really wanted the best for him, with others should have him stand down and Harris or someone else takeover
I really liked Joe Biden and was saddened to see his mental health decline, but sadly the rest is history and the narcissistic disaster that is Trump
Harris was fucking useless. They should have had a proper contest and found a more worthy candidate rather than just deciding it was her turn.
Republican Rep. Pat Fallon had this harsh but not completely wrong take on it.
Yes, Biden should have said from the mid-terms that he was not standing again, and the party had a regular primary season.
Republican Rep. Pat Fallon could explain and apologise for the GOP nominating Trump before he opines on other parties choices
As boringly said by me previously, the unwillingness of the new right to take responsibility for just about fucking anything is a startling turn of events.
This is a remarkable statetement from a decades-long supporter of the SNP, whose entire rationale and modus operandus is avoiding responsbility for anything, and blaming it all on "our English overlords"
Not so much a straw man based on no actual evidence in my case, but a pish soaked tissue man.
I've had various friends open up political conversations with me, from various perspectives on the left / right spectrum. All unified in a sense of hopelessness that we continue to circle the plughole with diminishing speed.
Same
It’s like the entire world is in turbo-drive: maximum acceleration into a scary future
Just to add to the calm, I had drinks with my MI5 psychiatrist friend yesterday. He believes Trump has a very specific form of dementia which first attacks the cerebral functions that govern foresight. The ability to think several moves ahead
He cited several symptoms that chime with his theory
The dementia is quickly progressive, so if he’s right Vance may be president before 2028. However, my friend was on his third whacking big martini so DYOR
'He believes Trump has a very specific form of dementia which first attacks the cerebral functions that govern foresight'
I am not at all sure he has dementia, certainly not that I recognise having experienced it with family and friends, but he certainly is narcissistic and simply deranged but that is not the same as dementia
Anyway he is an utter disaster for the world
And yet some people here were, in 2024, saying he was the better choice than Harris.
I have to say that Biden, Harris and the Democrats have to accept some responsibilty for Trump
Biden clearly was suffering from at the very least early stage onset dementia and his wife, if she really wanted the best for him, with others should have him stand down and Harris or someone else takeover
I really liked Joe Biden and was saddened to see his mental health decline, but sadly the rest is history and the narcissistic disaster that is Trump
Harris was fucking useless. They should have had a proper contest and found a more worthy candidate rather than just deciding it was her turn.
Harris may not have been the Democrat's best candidate but as he is proving, daily and increasingly, Trump was the worst possible choice regardless. The Democrats put up someone rational, who would have been a steady hand on the tiller geopolitically, the GOP put up Trump, enough of the US electorate voted for him and he's set the world on fire.
You don’t know how good or otherwise she’d be. Some of her policy positions, like wealth taxes, were nuts. She ‘may’ have been better than Trump but it’s a low bar.
So, can't afford to buy heating oil. Tank is half full and we're only running the boiler 2 hours a day now anyway.
And God alone knows what the price of petrol is now for the boy's Mini.
The price of *everything* is about to go shooting up. Have just nailed down a new mortgage deal before the deal got pulled. Cost 20 basis points vs last week, but its only going in one direction.
I read online that the cost food, a reasonable chunk is fertiliser. Well that is going through the roof so expect serious food inflation later in the year too.
I’ve got plenty of dried pasta, flour and rice as well as tins of stuff.
Buy what you can because the price of *everything* is going to shoot up.
Because TACO we can hope for an end to this war in the coming weeks. At which point supplies can start to resume to normal. Which means a hard bump in prices of maybe 3.6 months. Not Great. Not Terrible.
Then again, Trump is a demented twat and America is massively exposed to the continuing regime it can't remove, so maybe this grinds on for months. In which case we're fucked. A bigger inflationary spike than we had with the Ukraine war.
I agree, it is going to be brutal and markets have yet to wake up to it.
I did a Costco trip yesterday and the freezer is now full too.
It annoys my wife when I buy extra food but I have hiding places. Better safe than sorry.
I honestly cannot see an end to this anytime soon.
What do you reckon are the best vegetables to grow at home?
So, can't afford to buy heating oil. Tank is half full and we're only running the boiler 2 hours a day now anyway.
And God alone knows what the price of petrol is now for the boy's Mini.
The price of *everything* is about to go shooting up. Have just nailed down a new mortgage deal before the deal got pulled. Cost 20 basis points vs last week, but its only going in one direction.
I read online that the cost food, a reasonable chunk is fertiliser. Well that is going through the roof so expect serious food inflation later in the year too.
I’ve got plenty of dried pasta, flour and rice as well as tins of stuff.
Buy what you can because the price of *everything* is going to shoot up.
Because TACO we can hope for an end to this war in the coming weeks. At which point supplies can start to resume to normal. Which means a hard bump in prices of maybe 3.6 months. Not Great. Not Terrible.
Then again, Trump is a demented twat and America is massively exposed to the continuing regime it can't remove, so maybe this grinds on for months. In which case we're fucked. A bigger inflationary spike than we had with the Ukraine war.
I agree, it is going to be brutal and markets have yet to wake up to it.
I did a Costco trip yesterday and the freezer is now full too.
It annoys my wife when I buy extra food but I have hiding places. Better safe than sorry.
I honestly cannot see an end to this anytime soon.
What do you reckon are the best vegetables to grow at home?
Certainly Rayner will challenge Starmer from the left if Labour are third or worse in the local and devolved elections in May on a platform of reclaiming votes lost to the Greens (though at the risk of leaking centrist swing voters to the Tories and LDs).She would need to get 81 Labour MPs to nominate her which is not a certainty though as the article suggests but if she gets them membership polls show she would beat Starmer in a Labour members poll.
In 1990 of course Tory rules meant while Heseltine prevented Thatcher winning outright in the first round, Major was able to join a second round to beat Heseltine who would likely have beaten Maggie in round two with Tory MPs. Labour leadership rules though mean that all nominated candidates by Labour MPs go to the members, there is no further round with Labour MPs or later joiners to the contest
This is a very good point. It is a mistake to learn lessons from an election contest in a different party with very different rules. It’s really hard to replace a Labour leader at any time, especially in government, but if you want to do so you have to go full throttle and head on.
In the last election I think Labour relied on a lot of voters fed up with the uselessness of the centre right. Many of those voters will be from that minority who can do add ups and take aways and are aware that the government possesses minus three trillion pounds in its non reserves to fulfil all its plans with.
I have not studied Rayner's output much, but she doesn't give the impression of attracting the fiscally boring voter, just as she may not attract that dull group who don't go out of their way to avoid paying tax and believe that we should all be in this together. This group is quiet but may be quite large. I think Labour may need a few of those voters, as a fair number of the fiscally simplistic will drift both Reform and Green.
Rayner comes across as someone who thinks it is perfectly normal for people to be net recipients of money from the state for all of their lives.
Most people are net recipients of money from the state over the course of their life. That is the logical outcome of having a progressive tax system, decent public services and an unequal distribution of income.
Exactly so. To achieve flatter taxes and more equitable contributions to the State's finances requires that there is a more equitable distribution of income.
That's right. As long as some people are earning more than 10x the median income they have to accept they will be making an outsized contribution to the government coffers. It constantly amazes me that some of these people object to this.
They would be making an outsized contribution even with a flat tax.
That's true, the rich pay more partly because of tax progressivity but also just by dint of being so bloody minted.
1) merge employee NI with It over 5 years. 2) introduce a tax band for lower rate pensioners that keeps the old rate. 3) get rid of all the silly cliffs and fiddles. personal allowance isn’t withdrawn, for example. Just set the rates properly. 4) given the potential tax revenue increase, could even offer a small, headline rate *cut*. While increasing tax take.
Sell it as “Simpler, avoiding the gig economy cheating on not paying NI, everyone pays the same. Basic rate pensioners protected. Only those with £50k+ income pay more”
Bet that would sail through the current HoC
Very sensible reform, I completely agree, which should sail through the HoC, but I would not bet any reform sailing through the current HoC.
It seems MPs today will line up against any reform that has any losers, no matter how valid or sane the reform is.
It is quite incredible that the UK is able to -on a good day in March, and with essentially none of the country covered in solar panels- generate more than 12GW of solar power. On a sunny summer day, around noon, it will probaly be more like 15-16GW. And by the middle of next year, it could be close to 20GW.
A combination of batteries for time shifting energy within a day, plus CCGTs and gas storage for the winter, offers a remarkable degree of energy security for a pretty low cost.
SKS speaks. I must have missed him condemning the initial US/Israeli/Saudi act of wilful aggression that precipitated it.
‘ I condemn in the strongest terms the overnight Iranian strike on a Qatari gas facility.
We are working towards a swift resolution to the situation in the Middle East, in the best interests of the British people – because there is no question that ending the war is the quickest way to reduce the cost of living.’
If you want an entertaining reminder that free speech is still well entrenched in the US, check out the Afroman case.
The Adams County Sheriff's Office has received a flood of social media comments, DMs, and phone calls about the #Afroman defamation trial. It’s clear this is important to a lot of people. There's just one small issue: that's the ACSO in Ohio. We are the ACSO in #Colorado. Different states, same name. https://x.com/AdamsCoSheriff/status/2034357996868813263
The reality is that if Biden had stuck to his original plan to only fight one election, they could have groomed a proper successor in 2022/2023 and gone onto win in 2024.
They really only have themselves to blame for the mess.
Biden even in his reduced state though was clearly better than Trump. Who is also clearly suffering from dementia. Compare 2016 Trump or earlier to today Trump.
FWIW, I really don't think Trump is suffering from dementia. He's "just" clinically narcissistic and seems to believe his second election win gives him carte blanche to do anything that slips into his brain because "Trump is right about everything". He really believes that, and his compromised courtiers are there to do his bidding. Simples.
It is quite incredible that the UK is able to -on a good day in March, and with essentially none of the country covered in solar panels- generate more than 12GW of solar power. On a sunny summer day, around noon, it will probaly be more like 15-16GW. And by the middle of next year, it could be close to 20GW.
A combination of batteries for time shifting energy within a day, plus CCGTs and gas storage for the winter, offers a remarkable degree of energy security for a pretty low cost.
I note you specified in summer.
The problem we have is that we are not California with heavy summer air conditioning requirements.
Our energy demand troughs out at the summer, when the solar supply peaks.
Our energy demand peaks in the winter, when the solar supply troughs.
Batteries will get you through a day, but not a year.
It is quite incredible that the UK is able to -on a good day in March, and with essentially none of the country covered in solar panels- generate more than 12GW of solar power. On a sunny summer day, around noon, it will probaly be more like 15-16GW. And by the middle of next year, it could be close to 20GW.
A combination of batteries for time shifting energy within a day, plus CCGTs and gas storage for the winter, offers a remarkable degree of energy security for a pretty low cost.
But solar + batteries fails to meet the requirements for decades long planing enquiries.
Without Proper Infrastructure projects, the Planning Industrial Complex might collapse!
Another vital British Industry let down by government.
I've had various friends open up political conversations with me, from various perspectives on the left / right spectrum. All unified in a sense of hopelessness that we continue to circle the plughole with diminishing speed.
Same
It’s like the entire world is in turbo-drive: maximum acceleration into a scary future
Just to add to the calm, I had drinks with my MI5 psychiatrist friend yesterday. He believes Trump has a very specific form of dementia which first attacks the cerebral functions that govern foresight. The ability to think several moves ahead
He cited several symptoms that chime with his theory
The dementia is quickly progressive, so if he’s right Vance may be president before 2028. However, my friend was on his third whacking big martini so DYOR
'He believes Trump has a very specific form of dementia which first attacks the cerebral functions that govern foresight'
I am not at all sure he has dementia, certainly not that I recognise having experienced it with family and friends, but he certainly is narcissistic and simply deranged but that is not the same as dementia
Anyway he is an utter disaster for the world
And yet some people here were, in 2024, saying he was the better choice than Harris.
I have to say that Biden, Harris and the Democrats have to accept some responsibilty for Trump
Biden clearly was suffering from at the very least early stage onset dementia and his wife, if she really wanted the best for him, with others should have him stand down and Harris or someone else takeover
I really liked Joe Biden and was saddened to see his mental health decline, but sadly the rest is history and the narcissistic disaster that is Trump
Harris was fucking useless. They should have had a proper contest and found a more worthy candidate rather than just deciding it was her turn.
Republican Rep. Pat Fallon had this harsh but not completely wrong take on it.
And God alone knows what the price of petrol is now for the boy's Mini.
When I was at the petrol station yesterday the Range Rover driver at the next pump noticed my scooter and asked how much to fill it up. When I told him less than £10 his response was "f-ing hell".
I am feeling indescribably smug right now.
My wife said she saw a TikTok where someone was asking what the big deal about the petrol price changes is.
Apparently today getting £20 of petrol still costs £20, just as getting £20 of petrol cost £20 a few weeks ago.
I've had various friends open up political conversations with me, from various perspectives on the left / right spectrum. All unified in a sense of hopelessness that we continue to circle the plughole with diminishing speed.
Same
It’s like the entire world is in turbo-drive: maximum acceleration into a scary future
Just to add to the calm, I had drinks with my MI5 psychiatrist friend yesterday. He believes Trump has a very specific form of dementia which first attacks the cerebral functions that govern foresight. The ability to think several moves ahead
He cited several symptoms that chime with his theory
The dementia is quickly progressive, so if he’s right Vance may be president before 2028. However, my friend was on his third whacking big martini so DYOR
'He believes Trump has a very specific form of dementia which first attacks the cerebral functions that govern foresight'
I am not at all sure he has dementia, certainly not that I recognise having experienced it with family and friends, but he certainly is narcissistic and simply deranged but that is not the same as dementia
Anyway he is an utter disaster for the world
And yet some people here were, in 2024, saying he was the better choice than Harris.
I have to say that Biden, Harris and the Democrats have to accept some responsibilty for Trump
Biden clearly was suffering from at the very least early stage onset dementia and his wife, if she really wanted the best for him, with others should have him stand down and Harris or someone else takeover
I really liked Joe Biden and was saddened to see his mental health decline, but sadly the rest is history and the narcissistic disaster that is Trump
Harris was fucking useless. They should have had a proper contest and found a more worthy candidate rather than just deciding it was her turn.
Republican Rep. Pat Fallon had this harsh but not completely wrong take on it.
Yes, Biden should have said from the mid-terms that he was not standing again, and the party had a regular primary season.
Republican Rep. Pat Fallon could explain and apologise for the GOP nominating Trump before he opines on other parties choices
As boringly said by me previously, the unwillingness of the new right to take responsibility for just about fucking anything is a startling turn of events.
This is a remarkable statetement from a decades-long supporter of the SNP, whose entire rationale and modus operandus is avoiding responsbility for anything, and blaming it all on "our English overlords"
Not so much a straw man based on no actual evidence in my case, but a pish soaked tissue man.
Are you honestly claiming
1. You don't vote for the SNP
and
2. The SNP doesn't blame anything bad on London?
They certainly blame ‘London’ for 14 years of Tory austerity, Brexit, Boris, Truss, and the ascendancy of old yellow fingers. For me I’ll also add the people who voted for them.
Anyway, when do we get a mea culpa from you for Starmer? Istr at one point you were pitifully claiming that you hadn’t backed him and it was all bantz.
It is quite incredible that the UK is able to -on a good day in March, and with essentially none of the country covered in solar panels- generate more than 12GW of solar power. On a sunny summer day, around noon, it will probaly be more like 15-16GW. And by the middle of next year, it could be close to 20GW.
A combination of batteries for time shifting energy within a day, plus CCGTs and gas storage for the winter, offers a remarkable degree of energy security for a pretty low cost.
I note you specified in summer.
The problem we have is that we are not California with heavy summer air conditioning requirements.
Our energy demand troughs out at the summer, when the solar supply peaks.
Our energy demand peaks in the winter, when the solar supply troughs.
Batteries will get you through a day, but not a year.
Winter gives you less output from panels.
But they are the cheapest bit of the system. It’s often the case, now, that you can buy a panel for less cost than good plywood.
The expensive bits are the power electronics to convert to mains voltages/AC and controllers.
So you can simply add more panels at very little cost.
This is one reason why some of the international connector projects (such as the one to Morocco) have stalled - cheaper to add panels.
It is quite incredible that the UK is able to -on a good day in March, and with essentially none of the country covered in solar panels- generate more than 12GW of solar power. On a sunny summer day, around noon, it will probaly be more like 15-16GW. And by the middle of next year, it could be close to 20GW.
A combination of batteries for time shifting energy within a day, plus CCGTs and gas storage for the winter, offers a remarkable degree of energy security for a pretty low cost.
I note you specified in summer.
The problem we have is that we are not California with heavy summer air conditioning requirements.
Our energy demand troughs out at the summer, when the solar supply peaks.
Our energy demand peaks in the winter, when the solar supply troughs.
Batteries will get you through a day, but not a year.
Winter gives you less output from panels.
But they are the cheapest bit of the system. It’s often the case, now, that you can buy a panel for less cost than good plywood.
The expensive bits are the power electronics to convert to mains voltages/AC and controllers.
So you can simply add more panels at very little cost.
This is one reason why some of the international connector projects (such as the one to Morocco) have stalled - cheaper to add panels.
Absolutely agreed, but then you still have the seasonality problem.
Either we are going to have magnitudes more energy than we need in the summer, and we should be finding a way to put that to productive good use which can be switched off in the winter.
Or we are not solving our security issues, which are primarily the winter.
Batteries will get you through a day, they help immensely, but over a 12 month period we need to be coping with our demand peaking in midwinter when the night is longest and solar is weakest.
And God alone knows what the price of petrol is now for the boy's Mini.
When I was at the petrol station yesterday the Range Rover driver at the next pump noticed my scooter and asked how much to fill it up. When I told him less than £10 his response was "f-ing hell".
I am feeling indescribably smug right now.
My wife said she saw a TikTok where someone was asking what the big deal about the petrol price changes is.
Apparently today getting £20 of petrol still costs £20, just as getting £20 of petrol cost £20 a few weeks ago.
🤦♂️
To be fair, 90%+ of drivers could probably still drive the same mileage for £20 as they did a month ago, simply by driving more efficiently. But that involves a bit of thought and its more fun to moan.
And God alone knows what the price of petrol is now for the boy's Mini.
When I was at the petrol station yesterday the Range Rover driver at the next pump noticed my scooter and asked how much to fill it up. When I told him less than £10 his response was "f-ing hell".
I am feeling indescribably smug right now.
My wife said she saw a TikTok where someone was asking what the big deal about the petrol price changes is.
Apparently today getting £20 of petrol still costs £20, just as getting £20 of petrol cost £20 a few weeks ago.
If that happens, it might actually output an actual plane. The Poles are not known for fucking around, whereas these days UK's known for nothing else.
Poland will expect a lot of workshare, with some justification as it will be the cheapest location of all of the consortium members. The UK might be able to fuck them over because they don't have any institutional experience of this type of multinational caper and we've been at it constantly since the 70s. The arguing about it will move the whole schedule 2-3 years to the right at least which suits all the parties except Japan who can fucking whistle if they don't like it. They aren't going to get F-47 and probably don't want it so it's GCAP or nothing.
There seems to be no mention of all of an uncrewed element which seems strange. You would have thought they'd bust a gut to get Boeing Australia in with the MQ-28 as something that actually exists and works. That would have derisked and accelerated a huge part of the program. Maybe the Aussies have more fucking sense than to get involved.
And God alone knows what the price of petrol is now for the boy's Mini.
When I was at the petrol station yesterday the Range Rover driver at the next pump noticed my scooter and asked how much to fill it up. When I told him less than £10 his response was "f-ing hell".
I am feeling indescribably smug right now.
My wife said she saw a TikTok where someone was asking what the big deal about the petrol price changes is.
Apparently today getting £20 of petrol still costs £20, just as getting £20 of petrol cost £20 a few weeks ago.
🤦♂️
To be fair, 90%+ of drivers could probably still drive the same mileage for £20 as they did a month ago, simply by driving more efficiently. But that involves a bit of thought and its more fun to moan.
I could, but would give up more than the cash saved when I smash straight into the back of the lorry I'd have to be tailgating.
With the current hike in gas prices likely to increase our energy bills, now is the time for the government to decouple electricity prices from gas prices. If they do that they will reduce the slump in popularity with the voting public that they will otherwise suffer. Of course, there will be those on the extreme right who will criticise the risk to energy company profits. Anyone other than Starmer will ignore them. Starmer may be too feart.
Can you explain how the government would decouple electricity prices from gas prices?
I don't know all the details, so my simplistic understanding is that you can only do so by not using gas to generate the marginal unit of electricity needed to supply the grid. Now, if you had regional pricing, that happy state of affairs would sometimes exist in the north of the country, and instead electricity would become more expensive in the south, where gas is a greater part of the mix.
The market can be differently organised (eg split gas off into a fixed return pool - which sets our marginal price nearly 100% of the time), or wait for the increase in renewables to drive the more expensive gas powered sources out. That should have happened substantially by the next election.)
That is a good explainer. TLDR: about the only way to decouple electricity prices from gas prices is to build lots of non-gas electricity generation. We’re doing that and it’s already brought down electricity bills.
It is quite incredible that the UK is able to -on a good day in March, and with essentially none of the country covered in solar panels- generate more than 12GW of solar power. On a sunny summer day, around noon, it will probaly be more like 15-16GW. And by the middle of next year, it could be close to 20GW.
A combination of batteries for time shifting energy within a day, plus CCGTs and gas storage for the winter, offers a remarkable degree of energy security for a pretty low cost.
I've been pretty impressed by the panels we had fitted on our house last year. I raised eyebrows when they weren't put on the south east facing roof, but it gets to this time of year (spring equinox) and you can see the gains in electric savings increase quickly.
With the rate of panels going onto new housing, it won't be long before solar is generating the 20GW you refer to
If you want an entertaining reminder that free speech is still well entrenched in the US, check out the Afroman case.
The Adams County Sheriff's Office has received a flood of social media comments, DMs, and phone calls about the #Afroman defamation trial. It’s clear this is important to a lot of people. There's just one small issue: that's the ACSO in Ohio. We are the ACSO in #Colorado. Different states, same name. https://x.com/AdamsCoSheriff/status/2034357996868813263
It is quite incredible that the UK is able to -on a good day in March, and with essentially none of the country covered in solar panels- generate more than 12GW of solar power. On a sunny summer day, around noon, it will probaly be more like 15-16GW. And by the middle of next year, it could be close to 20GW.
A combination of batteries for time shifting energy within a day, plus CCGTs and gas storage for the winter, offers a remarkable degree of energy security for a pretty low cost.
I've been pretty impressed by the panels we had fitted on our house last year. I raised eyebrows when they weren't put on the south east facing roof, but it gets to this time of year (spring equinox) and you can see the gains in electric savings increase quickly.
With the rate of panels going onto new housing, it won't be long before solar is generating the 20GW you refer to
Great, as long as it’s not rent-a-roof and the home owner owns the panels.
With the current hike in gas prices likely to increase our energy bills, now is the time for the government to decouple electricity prices from gas prices. If they do that they will reduce the slump in popularity with the voting public that they will otherwise suffer. Of course, there will be those on the extreme right who will criticise the risk to energy company profits. Anyone other than Starmer will ignore them. Starmer may be too feart.
Can you explain how the government would decouple electricity prices from gas prices?
I don't know all the details, so my simplistic understanding is that you can only do so by not using gas to generate the marginal unit of electricity needed to supply the grid. Now, if you had regional pricing, that happy state of affairs would sometimes exist in the north of the country, and instead electricity would become more expensive in the south, where gas is a greater part of the mix.
The market can be differently organised (eg split gas off into a fixed return pool - which sets our marginal price nearly 100% of the time), or wait for the increase in renewables to drive the more expensive gas powered sources out. That should have happened substantially by the next election.)
In summary the effective way to decouple electricity prices from gas is to have more non-gas energy sources, which most of the time will be less expensive than gas. Which is happening over time.
Suggested interim is to take gas out of the bidding and pay a fixed fee for when it's required. Other sources compete to be the second most expensive energy source.
The inquiry predates Kent’s departure on Tuesday from his post as director of the national counterterrorism center, where he had overseen the analysis of terrorist threats, according to Semafor and CBS News. The FBI declined to comment on the existence of any such investigation...
Kent insisted that there was no evidence that Iran was close to gaining a nuclear weapon or posed an imminent threat to the US. “There was no intelligence that said, ‘Hey, on whatever day it was, March 1st, the Iranians are going to launch this big sneak attack – they’re going to do some kind of a 9/11, Pearl Harbor, et cetera, they are going to attack one of our bases.’ There was none of that intelligence.”
Instead, Kent alleged, Trump’s hand was effectively forced by Israel. “The Israelis drove the decision to take this action,” he said, claiming that prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials lobbied the president with claims that did not align with established intelligence channels.
Kent added: “I know how this works. I know the Israeli officials - some in intelligence, some in government – will come to US government officials and they will say all kinds of things that we know from our intelligence just simply isn’t true. They’ll say, hey, I’m giving you a preview, it’s not in intelligence channels yet, but here’s what’s gonna happen, and that doesn’t usually come to fruition.”....
Kent’s work at the National Counterterrorism Center was overseen by director of national intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, who on Wednesday said it was up to Trump — and Trump alone — to decide whether Iran posed a threat.
Gabbard, a veteran and former congresswoman from Hawaii, previously criticized talk of military strikes in Iran. She has not said what she thinks of the current strikes and a spokesperson has declined to respond to questions.
The White House pushed back forcefully when Kent resigned. Trump dismissed him as “weak on security”, insisting that Iran represented “a tremendous threat” and suggesting that those who disagreed lacked judgement. “If somebody didn’t think it was a threat, we don’t want those people,” he said.
Basically the US has decided to replace the product of a $100 billion a year intelligence system with whatever Trump feels when he wakes up in the morning after another poor night's sleep. I've read novels and seen films where this sort of thing happens, the outcome is never anything good.
It is quite incredible that the UK is able to -on a good day in March, and with essentially none of the country covered in solar panels- generate more than 12GW of solar power. On a sunny summer day, around noon, it will probaly be more like 15-16GW. And by the middle of next year, it could be close to 20GW.
A combination of batteries for time shifting energy within a day, plus CCGTs and gas storage for the winter, offers a remarkable degree of energy security for a pretty low cost.
But solar + batteries fails to meet the requirements for decades long planing enquiries.
Without Proper Infrastructure projects, the Planning Industrial Complex might collapse!
Another vital British Industry let down by government.
When you sit and look at the length of time some wind farms go through planning, the system is a complete joke. There's offshore wind farms which have taken 8-9 years development so far and still aren't generating power. By the time they come online, technology has moved on, and we are onto bigger bladed turbines or a different generating idea. And the length of time needed for Hinckley point is laughable
I wonder about the guys who have to transcribe this stuff for him (he clearly couldn't type this many words). What does it do to them ?
This is unhinged.
The President of the United States went on a late-night rant, making clear he believes the Supreme Court justices he appointed owe him their loyalty and should always rule in his favor.
The President of the United States is openly attacking the independence of the judiciary, the very institution that stands between every American and unchecked executive power.
Courts don’t work for the President. They work for the Constitution. And a president attacking the judiciary for doing its job is telling you he believes he is above the law. https://x.com/RepMikeLevin/status/2034438168196317266
Well to be fair he is above the law. The SC has accepted that for the vast majority of scenarios. And even when his government is persistently found to be breaking the law in court decisions, the courts let the government obfuscate, delay and lie in order to keep acting illegally without significant consequence. Why not streamline the process and ignore the charade of an independent judiciary.....
I've had various friends open up political conversations with me, from various perspectives on the left / right spectrum. All unified in a sense of hopelessness that we continue to circle the plughole with diminishing speed.
Same
It’s like the entire world is in turbo-drive: maximum acceleration into a scary future
Just to add to the calm, I had drinks with my MI5 psychiatrist friend yesterday. He believes Trump has a very specific form of dementia which first attacks the cerebral functions that govern foresight. The ability to think several moves ahead
He cited several symptoms that chime with his theory
The dementia is quickly progressive, so if he’s right Vance may be president before 2028. However, my friend was on his third whacking big martini so DYOR
'He believes Trump has a very specific form of dementia which first attacks the cerebral functions that govern foresight'
I am not at all sure he has dementia, certainly not that I recognise having experienced it with family and friends, but he certainly is narcissistic and simply deranged but that is not the same as dementia
Anyway he is an utter disaster for the world
And yet some people here were, in 2024, saying he was the better choice than Harris.
I have to say that Biden, Harris and the Democrats have to accept some responsibilty for Trump
Biden clearly was suffering from at the very least early stage onset dementia and his wife, if she really wanted the best for him, with others should have him stand down and Harris or someone else takeover
I really liked Joe Biden and was saddened to see his mental health decline, but sadly the rest is history and the narcissistic disaster that is Trump
Harris was fucking useless. They should have had a proper contest and found a more worthy candidate rather than just deciding it was her turn.
Republican Rep. Pat Fallon had this harsh but not completely wrong take on it.
Yes, Biden should have said from the mid-terms that he was not standing again, and the party had a regular primary season.
Republican Rep. Pat Fallon could explain and apologise for the GOP nominating Trump before he opines on other parties choices
As boringly said by me previously, the unwillingness of the new right to take responsibility for just about fucking anything is a startling turn of events.
This is a remarkable statetement from a decades-long supporter of the SNP, whose entire rationale and modus operandus is avoiding responsbility for anything, and blaming it all on "our English overlords"
Not so much a straw man based on no actual evidence in my case, but a pish soaked tissue man.
Are you honestly claiming
1. You don't vote for the SNP
and
2. The SNP doesn't blame anything bad on London?
They certainly blame ‘London’ for 14 years of Tory austerity, Brexit, Boris, Truss, and the ascendancy of old yellow fingers. For me I’ll also add the people who voted for them.
Anyway, when do we get a mea culpa from you for Starmer? Istr at one point you were pitifully claiming that you hadn’t backed him and it was all bantz.
It is quite incredible that the UK is able to -on a good day in March, and with essentially none of the country covered in solar panels- generate more than 12GW of solar power. On a sunny summer day, around noon, it will probaly be more like 15-16GW. And by the middle of next year, it could be close to 20GW.
A combination of batteries for time shifting energy within a day, plus CCGTs and gas storage for the winter, offers a remarkable degree of energy security for a pretty low cost.
I've been pretty impressed by the panels we had fitted on our house last year. I raised eyebrows when they weren't put on the south east facing roof, but it gets to this time of year (spring equinox) and you can see the gains in electric savings increase quickly.
With the rate of panels going onto new housing, it won't be long before solar is generating the 20GW you refer to
Great, as long as it’s not rent-a-roof and the home owner owns the panels.
Modern housing is packed in so tightly you may as well share a panel with your neighbour. Of course developers and government want houses rammed in tight, its far cheaper to build
The inquiry predates Kent’s departure on Tuesday from his post as director of the national counterterrorism center, where he had overseen the analysis of terrorist threats, according to Semafor and CBS News. The FBI declined to comment on the existence of any such investigation...
Kent insisted that there was no evidence that Iran was close to gaining a nuclear weapon or posed an imminent threat to the US. “There was no intelligence that said, ‘Hey, on whatever day it was, March 1st, the Iranians are going to launch this big sneak attack – they’re going to do some kind of a 9/11, Pearl Harbor, et cetera, they are going to attack one of our bases.’ There was none of that intelligence.”
Instead, Kent alleged, Trump’s hand was effectively forced by Israel. “The Israelis drove the decision to take this action,” he said, claiming that prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials lobbied the president with claims that did not align with established intelligence channels.
Kent added: “I know how this works. I know the Israeli officials - some in intelligence, some in government – will come to US government officials and they will say all kinds of things that we know from our intelligence just simply isn’t true. They’ll say, hey, I’m giving you a preview, it’s not in intelligence channels yet, but here’s what’s gonna happen, and that doesn’t usually come to fruition.”....
Kent’s work at the National Counterterrorism Center was overseen by director of national intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, who on Wednesday said it was up to Trump — and Trump alone — to decide whether Iran posed a threat.
Gabbard, a veteran and former congresswoman from Hawaii, previously criticized talk of military strikes in Iran. She has not said what she thinks of the current strikes and a spokesperson has declined to respond to questions.
The White House pushed back forcefully when Kent resigned. Trump dismissed him as “weak on security”, insisting that Iran represented “a tremendous threat” and suggesting that those who disagreed lacked judgement. “If somebody didn’t think it was a threat, we don’t want those people,” he said.
Basically the US has decided to replace the product of a $100 billion a year intelligence system with whatever Trump feels when he wakes up in the morning after another poor night's sleep. I've read novels and seen films where this sort of thing happens, the outcome is never anything good.
So you are saying that process is very much due a win?
@Amena__Bakr U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the U.S. may lift sanctions on Iranian oil that is already “on the water”…. WOW! They will do anything to keep the price down #OOTT
It is quite incredible that the UK is able to -on a good day in March, and with essentially none of the country covered in solar panels- generate more than 12GW of solar power. On a sunny summer day, around noon, it will probaly be more like 15-16GW. And by the middle of next year, it could be close to 20GW.
A combination of batteries for time shifting energy within a day, plus CCGTs and gas storage for the winter, offers a remarkable degree of energy security for a pretty low cost.
I've been pretty impressed by the panels we had fitted on our house last year. I raised eyebrows when they weren't put on the south east facing roof, but it gets to this time of year (spring equinox) and you can see the gains in electric savings increase quickly.
With the rate of panels going onto new housing, it won't be long before solar is generating the 20GW you refer to
Great, as long as it’s not rent-a-roof and the home owner owns the panels.
Modern housing is packed in so tightly you may as well share a panel with your neighbour. Of course developers and government want houses rammed in tight, its far cheaper to build
I’m referring to the process where the home owner ends up with an onerous contract as the panels have been provided by a solar company.
@Amena__Bakr U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the U.S. may lift sanctions on Iranian oil that is already “on the water”…. WOW! They will do anything to keep the price down #OOTT
Apart, that is, from not bombing the oilfields, causing retaliation on other countries' oil, of course.
She's again talked herself in to an awful mess, this time over Nick Timothy.
Claims Starmer didn't attend event Timothy was referring to last year, not this year, last year as he was "sucking up to Jews". What the fuck?
Then claims her objection is because women were segregated at the back,? Despite the fact Timothy never mentioned segregation.
Refuses to admit its racism and Islamaphobia from Timothy.
(As an aside she ignores comments from a leading Jewish cleric who has called for her to sack Timothy, who points out some branches of Jewish faith also segregate men and women at prayer)
Then says her shadow cabinet needs new blood.
Seconds later claims that the majority of her shadow cabinet, who were in Boris, Truss and or Sunak Government Cabinet are OK as they didn't agree with any of the policy
Claims Brexit failure due to anybody but the Tories
When asked if Tories will do better than last year blames Sunak for last time locals held in 2025vand suggests Tories will do better in 2026 and win all the seats.
30 minutes of cluster fuck
Imagine 6 weeks...
You've been insisting for 48 hours that she would sack Timothy. I told you that you were wrong, she won't, and I offered you a bet on it
I note that you didn't take the bet
I didn't see the bet
I wouldn't have taken it
If Timothy dropped his trousers and ran bollock naked round London she still wouldn't sack him
The inquiry predates Kent’s departure on Tuesday from his post as director of the national counterterrorism center, where he had overseen the analysis of terrorist threats, according to Semafor and CBS News. The FBI declined to comment on the existence of any such investigation...
Kent insisted that there was no evidence that Iran was close to gaining a nuclear weapon or posed an imminent threat to the US. “There was no intelligence that said, ‘Hey, on whatever day it was, March 1st, the Iranians are going to launch this big sneak attack – they’re going to do some kind of a 9/11, Pearl Harbor, et cetera, they are going to attack one of our bases.’ There was none of that intelligence.”
Instead, Kent alleged, Trump’s hand was effectively forced by Israel. “The Israelis drove the decision to take this action,” he said, claiming that prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials lobbied the president with claims that did not align with established intelligence channels.
Kent added: “I know how this works. I know the Israeli officials - some in intelligence, some in government – will come to US government officials and they will say all kinds of things that we know from our intelligence just simply isn’t true. They’ll say, hey, I’m giving you a preview, it’s not in intelligence channels yet, but here’s what’s gonna happen, and that doesn’t usually come to fruition.”....
Kent’s work at the National Counterterrorism Center was overseen by director of national intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, who on Wednesday said it was up to Trump — and Trump alone — to decide whether Iran posed a threat.
Gabbard, a veteran and former congresswoman from Hawaii, previously criticized talk of military strikes in Iran. She has not said what she thinks of the current strikes and a spokesperson has declined to respond to questions.
The White House pushed back forcefully when Kent resigned. Trump dismissed him as “weak on security”, insisting that Iran represented “a tremendous threat” and suggesting that those who disagreed lacked judgement. “If somebody didn’t think it was a threat, we don’t want those people,” he said.
The US left have been calling Kent out as anti-Semite for a long time. If you look at his resignation letter he is not actually blaming Trump for the war, but blaming a shadowy conspiracy of Jews {that may not even exist in reality} as reason US went to war on Iran. He might not be the white knight of sanity he’s being used as.
@Amena__Bakr U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the U.S. may lift sanctions on Iranian oil that is already “on the water”…. WOW! They will do anything to keep the price down #OOTT
Yet pisshead Pete is promising even bigger strikes. Today
If you want an entertaining reminder that free speech is still well entrenched in the US, check out the Afroman case.
The Adams County Sheriff's Office has received a flood of social media comments, DMs, and phone calls about the #Afroman defamation trial. It’s clear this is important to a lot of people. There's just one small issue: that's the ACSO in Ohio. We are the ACSO in #Colorado. Different states, same name. https://x.com/AdamsCoSheriff/status/2034357996868813263
Don't worry, I won't be sobbing about any strikes.
The Americans are being utterly incompetent though. "We're going to strike, but don't actually strike at the infrastructure as that might cripple the regime" . . . WTAF!?
Either do it properly, enact regime change, or what are you even bothering for.
@Amena__Bakr U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the U.S. may lift sanctions on Iranian oil that is already “on the water”…. WOW! They will do anything to keep the price down #OOTT
Fools!
So you're going to war, but you're allowing the people you're attacking to profiteer of the war you chose to have!?
Taraf al-Ghar meaning ‘cape of the cave/laurel’ or Taraf al-Gharb meaning ‘ cape of the west’.
We need to rename Trafalgar Square to something less Arabic.
Similar to Gibraltar, Jabal Ṭāriq "mountain of Tariq".
It's actually a lot more interesting than "Arabic"
I'm on an etymology subreddit. I love Extreme Etymology - going back as far as you can. Trafalgar is a great example and is being discussed today. Viz, and I quote:
"Taraf (طرف) - "edge, extremity, cape"
This traces back to the Proto-Semitic root ṭ-r-p or ṭ-r-f, carrying a core sense of "edge, end, extremity." You can see cognates across the Semitic family - Hebrew ṭaraf carries senses of "to tear, to seize" (something at the edge, the outermost point of reach), and there's an Akkadian kinship in words for boundary and limit. The semantic logic is consistent: the furthest point, where something ends or is torn away. A cape is exactly that - land at its extremity, tearing into the sea
Some comparative Semiticists have tried to push further, connecting ṭ-r-f to Afro-Asiatic roots, linking it to ancient Egyptian and Berber words for edges and boundaries, though this gets speculative quickly. The Afro-Asiatic macrofamily reconstruction is notoriously contested
Gharb (غرب) - "west, setting, strange"
This is the richer seam. The root gh-r-b (غ-ر-ب) in Proto-Semitic means "to go away, to set (of the sun), to be distant, foreign." It's magnificent how much conceptual freight this root carries. The sun goes away - that's the west. What comes from far away is gharīb - strange, foreign. The Maghreb itself is simply "the West, the place of sunset." A ghurba is exile. To be western is to be remote, alien, and departed
Hebrew has ma'arav (west) from a related but distinct root, though 'erev (evening) shares the same Proto-Semitic sunset logic. In Akkadian, erēbu means "to enter, to set" (of the sun) - and here's where it gets extraordinary, because many etymologists believe this is where we get the word *Europe*. The Akkadian erebu (sunset, the western lands) may have been borrowed by the Greeks as Eurōpē - "the land where the sun sets," in contrast to Asu (sunrise), which possibly became *Asia*
Push past Proto-Semitic into Proto-Afro-Asiatic (perhaps 15,000–18,000 years ago) and you're in brilliantly compelling but speculative territory. Some historical linguists working on Afro-Asiatic reconstruction - Ehret, Orel, Stolbova - have proposed root connections that would link gh-r-b to ancient Cushitic words for departure and distance"
So, Trafalgar goes back at least to the Akkadian language - in Mesopotamia in 3000BC, and possibly back to the Biblical Land of Kush, the "realm south of Egypt" - ie impossibly ancient Ethiopia - 18 fucking thousand years ago
If Tories lose more than 300 seats as main. Opposition in mid term when historically sitting incumbent loses seats and main opposition wins seats, surely she has to be toast.
Many of the elections in Tory heartlands.
Labour will lose 1000 seats minimum
Tories should be winning net seats not losing
150 losses poor 300 losses terminal for Kemi
So why are you so terrified ? If you can't convince yourself then why are you being paid to write this guff, day after day after day ? Your employer is not getting value for money and you should be replaced by someone who can at least convince himself. Time for a new Troll, this one is wearing very, very thin.
Fuck wit alert
Dear God
I’m sure nobody needs you to preface your posts with a fuckwit alert; it’s readily apparent
The inquiry predates Kent’s departure on Tuesday from his post as director of the national counterterrorism center, where he had overseen the analysis of terrorist threats, according to Semafor and CBS News. The FBI declined to comment on the existence of any such investigation...
Kent insisted that there was no evidence that Iran was close to gaining a nuclear weapon or posed an imminent threat to the US. “There was no intelligence that said, ‘Hey, on whatever day it was, March 1st, the Iranians are going to launch this big sneak attack – they’re going to do some kind of a 9/11, Pearl Harbor, et cetera, they are going to attack one of our bases.’ There was none of that intelligence.”
Instead, Kent alleged, Trump’s hand was effectively forced by Israel. “The Israelis drove the decision to take this action,” he said, claiming that prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials lobbied the president with claims that did not align with established intelligence channels.
Kent added: “I know how this works. I know the Israeli officials - some in intelligence, some in government – will come to US government officials and they will say all kinds of things that we know from our intelligence just simply isn’t true. They’ll say, hey, I’m giving you a preview, it’s not in intelligence channels yet, but here’s what’s gonna happen, and that doesn’t usually come to fruition.”....
Kent’s work at the National Counterterrorism Center was overseen by director of national intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, who on Wednesday said it was up to Trump — and Trump alone — to decide whether Iran posed a threat.
Gabbard, a veteran and former congresswoman from Hawaii, previously criticized talk of military strikes in Iran. She has not said what she thinks of the current strikes and a spokesperson has declined to respond to questions.
The White House pushed back forcefully when Kent resigned. Trump dismissed him as “weak on security”, insisting that Iran represented “a tremendous threat” and suggesting that those who disagreed lacked judgement. “If somebody didn’t think it was a threat, we don’t want those people,” he said.
The US left have been calling Kent out as anti-Semite for a long time. If you look at his resignation letter he is not actually blaming Trump for the war, but blaming a shadowy conspiracy of Jews {that may not even exist in reality} as reason US went to war on Iran. He might not be the white knight of sanity he’s being used as.
He's certainly not a white knight; another MAGA loon. (He's also repeating a conspiracy theory that Charlie Kirk was murdered at the behest of Israel.)
But the administration is arguing that they were crazy to appoint this guy, when it was quite clear what kind of person he was when Trump chose him.
Along with making the argument that any intelligence assessment which doesn't agree with Trump's vibes can be dismissed.
I hosted a guest speaker this morning. For some reason the hdmi set up on the rostum just would not work. I mean its a cable from a laptop to a docking port and then click on the screen to choose hdmi.
Am I am idiot because I didn't check it (when?) Or do these things sometimes just happen.
Rishi was an idiot and should have delayed or done it inside.
I condemn in the strongest terms the overnight Iranian strike on a Qatari gas facility.
We are working towards a swift resolution to the situation in the Middle East, in the best interests of the British people – because there is no question that ending the war is the quickest way to reduce the cost of living.
Would Starmer be willing to be involved in a just war if it affected the cost of living? We should be told...
She's again talked herself in to an awful mess, this time over Nick Timothy.
Claims Starmer didn't attend event Timothy was referring to last year, not this year, last year as he was "sucking up to Jews". What the fuck?
Then claims her objection is because women were segregated at the back,? Despite the fact Timothy never mentioned segregation.
Refuses to admit its racism and Islamaphobia from Timothy.
(As an aside she ignores comments from a leading Jewish cleric who has called for her to sack Timothy, who points out some branches of Jewish faith also segregate men and women at prayer)
Then says her shadow cabinet needs new blood.
Seconds later claims that the majority of her shadow cabinet, who were in Boris, Truss and or Sunak Government Cabinet are OK as they didn't agree with any of the policy
Claims Brexit failure due to anybody but the Tories
When asked if Tories will do better than last year blames Sunak for last time locals held in 2025vand suggests Tories will do better in 2026 and win all the seats.
30 minutes of cluster fuck
Imagine 6 weeks...
You've been insisting for 48 hours that she would sack Timothy. I told you that you were wrong, she won't, and I offered you a bet on it
I note that you didn't take the bet
Political betting is a weird site where lots of the biggest posters show little or no interest in betting.
The inquiry predates Kent’s departure on Tuesday from his post as director of the national counterterrorism center, where he had overseen the analysis of terrorist threats, according to Semafor and CBS News. The FBI declined to comment on the existence of any such investigation...
Kent insisted that there was no evidence that Iran was close to gaining a nuclear weapon or posed an imminent threat to the US. “There was no intelligence that said, ‘Hey, on whatever day it was, March 1st, the Iranians are going to launch this big sneak attack – they’re going to do some kind of a 9/11, Pearl Harbor, et cetera, they are going to attack one of our bases.’ There was none of that intelligence.”
Instead, Kent alleged, Trump’s hand was effectively forced by Israel. “The Israelis drove the decision to take this action,” he said, claiming that prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials lobbied the president with claims that did not align with established intelligence channels.
Kent added: “I know how this works. I know the Israeli officials - some in intelligence, some in government – will come to US government officials and they will say all kinds of things that we know from our intelligence just simply isn’t true. They’ll say, hey, I’m giving you a preview, it’s not in intelligence channels yet, but here’s what’s gonna happen, and that doesn’t usually come to fruition.”....
Kent’s work at the National Counterterrorism Center was overseen by director of national intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, who on Wednesday said it was up to Trump — and Trump alone — to decide whether Iran posed a threat.
Gabbard, a veteran and former congresswoman from Hawaii, previously criticized talk of military strikes in Iran. She has not said what she thinks of the current strikes and a spokesperson has declined to respond to questions.
The White House pushed back forcefully when Kent resigned. Trump dismissed him as “weak on security”, insisting that Iran represented “a tremendous threat” and suggesting that those who disagreed lacked judgement. “If somebody didn’t think it was a threat, we don’t want those people,” he said.
The US left have been calling Kent out as anti-Semite for a long time. If you look at his resignation letter he is not actually blaming Trump for the war, but blaming a shadowy conspiracy of Jews {that may not even exist in reality} as reason US went to war on Iran. He might not be the white knight of sanity he’s being used as.
And, having resigned to get ahead of an investigation into him, he goes running to discuss with Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens, neither of whom can think of any current problem in America that isn’t the fault of the “Zionists”.
Taraf al-Ghar meaning ‘cape of the cave/laurel’ or Taraf al-Gharb meaning ‘ cape of the west’.
We need to rename Trafalgar Square to something less Arabic.
Never mind. We shall still have good old English things like Gibraltar, algebra and alcohol.
Alcohol is one of the oldest words in the English language
It dates to the Sumerian, perhaps 4,000–5,000 years ago - where it was the word for the fine dark powder women ground and applied to their eyes (cf "kohl"). That word travelled into Akkadian, then into Aramaic, then into Arabic, where it was repurposed by medieval alchemists to mean a purified essence. It was then borrowed by European scholars in Andalusia, was thereafter narrowed by Paracelsus to mean distilled spirit, and is now what I call for in the bar of the Groucho, of a Wednesday night, when I want to get drunk
And God alone knows what the price of petrol is now for the boy's Mini.
When I was at the petrol station yesterday the Range Rover driver at the next pump noticed my scooter and asked how much to fill it up. When I told him less than £10 his response was "f-ing hell".
She's again talked herself in to an awful mess, this time over Nick Timothy.
Claims Starmer didn't attend event Timothy was referring to last year, not this year, last year as he was "sucking up to Jews". What the fuck?
Then claims her objection is because women were segregated at the back,? Despite the fact Timothy never mentioned segregation.
Refuses to admit its racism and Islamaphobia from Timothy.
(As an aside she ignores comments from a leading Jewish cleric who has called for her to sack Timothy, who points out some branches of Jewish faith also segregate men and women at prayer)
Then says her shadow cabinet needs new blood.
Seconds later claims that the majority of her shadow cabinet, who were in Boris, Truss and or Sunak Government Cabinet are OK as they didn't agree with any of the policy
Claims Brexit failure due to anybody but the Tories
When asked if Tories will do better than last year blames Sunak for last time locals held in 2025vand suggests Tories will do better in 2026 and win all the seats.
30 minutes of cluster fuck
Imagine 6 weeks...
You've been insisting for 48 hours that she would sack Timothy. I told you that you were wrong, she won't, and I offered you a bet on it
I note that you didn't take the bet
Political betting is a weird site where lots of the biggest posters show little or no interest in betting.
I’ve had a fiver, sorry @Foxy, on Leicester to go down.
If you want an entertaining reminder that free speech is still well entrenched in the US, check out the Afroman case.
The Adams County Sheriff's Office has received a flood of social media comments, DMs, and phone calls about the #Afroman defamation trial. It’s clear this is important to a lot of people. There's just one small issue: that's the ACSO in Ohio. We are the ACSO in #Colorado. Different states, same name. https://x.com/AdamsCoSheriff/status/2034357996868813263
In one of Isaac Asimov's joke collections, there is (from memory) this joke:
A young Jewish man sees an advertisement for a radio announcer and goes to the station to apply for the job. When he comes back his parents asks him if he got the job. He says no, and they ask him why not.
He says, stuttering, "Because they are p p p p prejudiced."
As it happens, before I read Asimov's version I had heard the same joke from a black teacher, when I was working in a black school on the west side of Chicago. Except, of course, that the young man in the joke was black.
Now, would I tell either version of the joke? No, because I am neither Jewish nor black. (I can -- and do -- joke about old guys.)
So, can't afford to buy heating oil. Tank is half full and we're only running the boiler 2 hours a day now anyway.
And God alone knows what the price of petrol is now for the boy's Mini.
The price of *everything* is about to go shooting up. Have just nailed down a new mortgage deal before the deal got pulled. Cost 20 basis points vs last week, but its only going in one direction.
I read online that the cost food, a reasonable chunk is fertiliser. Well that is going through the roof so expect serious food inflation later in the year too.
I’ve got plenty of dried pasta, flour and rice as well as tins of stuff.
Buy what you can because the price of *everything* is going to shoot up.
Because TACO we can hope for an end to this war in the coming weeks. At which point supplies can start to resume to normal. Which means a hard bump in prices of maybe 3.6 months. Not Great. Not Terrible.
Then again, Trump is a demented twat and America is massively exposed to the continuing regime it can't remove, so maybe this grinds on for months. In which case we're fucked. A bigger inflationary spike than we had with the Ukraine war.
I agree, it is going to be brutal and markets have yet to wake up to it.
I did a Costco trip yesterday and the freezer is now full too.
It annoys my wife when I buy extra food but I have hiding places. Better safe than sorry.
I honestly cannot see an end to this anytime soon.
What do you reckon are the best vegetables to grow at home?
New potatoes. Carrots too, chantenay are great fresh. You want things that are not in the ground a long time and are better really fresh. Sweetcorn can be good, but tends to go over quickly too. Broad beans are a good shout.
But the all time favourite is asparagus. As soon as you can plant a bed of asparagus (min 20 plants) and you will rejoice every year for about 8 weeks from 23rd April.
It is quite incredible that the UK is able to -on a good day in March, and with essentially none of the country covered in solar panels- generate more than 12GW of solar power. On a sunny summer day, around noon, it will probaly be more like 15-16GW. And by the middle of next year, it could be close to 20GW.
A combination of batteries for time shifting energy within a day, plus CCGTs and gas storage for the winter, offers a remarkable degree of energy security for a pretty low cost.
I note you specified in summer.
The problem we have is that we are not California with heavy summer air conditioning requirements.
Our energy demand troughs out at the summer, when the solar supply peaks.
Our energy demand peaks in the winter, when the solar supply troughs.
Batteries will get you through a day, but not a year.
And this is the problem with solar for the UK.
My inlaws have a fairly decent rooftop + battery setup. March to September, it produces more electricity than their consumption. Bottom of curve in December, it makes 15% of their consumption.
Obviously, you could overbuild more (Aug production is 2-3x consumption already!), but there are limits to this. They've probably only got enough roof to double the quantity of panels, there certainly isn't room for 6x the present install.
When you look at the day by day December production, it's very lumpy, so you'd need a massive battery to smooth out the variability, as well as an inverter sized to handle the full output off all the panels in order to benefit from the moments in December when the sun does come out.
They are on gas heating, and ICE cars, I dread to think what they'd need to install to support a heat pump.
So, can't afford to buy heating oil. Tank is half full and we're only running the boiler 2 hours a day now anyway.
And God alone knows what the price of petrol is now for the boy's Mini.
The price of *everything* is about to go shooting up. Have just nailed down a new mortgage deal before the deal got pulled. Cost 20 basis points vs last week, but its only going in one direction.
I read online that the cost food, a reasonable chunk is fertiliser. Well that is going through the roof so expect serious food inflation later in the year too.
I’ve got plenty of dried pasta, flour and rice as well as tins of stuff.
Buy what you can because the price of *everything* is going to shoot up.
Because TACO we can hope for an end to this war in the coming weeks. At which point supplies can start to resume to normal. Which means a hard bump in prices of maybe 3.6 months. Not Great. Not Terrible.
Then again, Trump is a demented twat and America is massively exposed to the continuing regime it can't remove, so maybe this grinds on for months. In which case we're fucked. A bigger inflationary spike than we had with the Ukraine war.
I agree, it is going to be brutal and markets have yet to wake up to it.
I did a Costco trip yesterday and the freezer is now full too.
It annoys my wife when I buy extra food but I have hiding places. Better safe than sorry.
I honestly cannot see an end to this anytime soon.
What do you reckon are the best vegetables to grow at home?
Celeriac
Wrong. I know you've just discovered this veg that the rest of the world has known for decades (I'm still stunned that a gourmand such as yourself didn't know of it). Its to cheap to buy and no real different if fresh from the garden or from the shop.
@Amena__Bakr U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the U.S. may lift sanctions on Iranian oil that is already “on the water”…. WOW! They will do anything to keep the price down #OOTT
Fools!
So you're going to war, but you're allowing the people you're attacking to profiteer of the war you chose to have!?
Corrupt and incompetent fools.
I’m glad you’ve caught up with what everyone else was saying a week ago.
She's again talked herself in to an awful mess, this time over Nick Timothy.
Claims Starmer didn't attend event Timothy was referring to last year, not this year, last year as he was "sucking up to Jews". What the fuck?
Then claims her objection is because women were segregated at the back,? Despite the fact Timothy never mentioned segregation.
Refuses to admit its racism and Islamaphobia from Timothy.
(As an aside she ignores comments from a leading Jewish cleric who has called for her to sack Timothy, who points out some branches of Jewish faith also segregate men and women at prayer)
Then says her shadow cabinet needs new blood.
Seconds later claims that the majority of her shadow cabinet, who were in Boris, Truss and or Sunak Government Cabinet are OK as they didn't agree with any of the policy
Claims Brexit failure due to anybody but the Tories
When asked if Tories will do better than last year blames Sunak for last time locals held in 2025vand suggests Tories will do better in 2026 and win all the seats.
30 minutes of cluster fuck
Imagine 6 weeks...
You've been insisting for 48 hours that she would sack Timothy. I told you that you were wrong, she won't, and I offered you a bet on it
I note that you didn't take the bet
Political betting is a weird site where lots of the biggest posters show little or no interest in betting.
I’ve had a fiver, sorry @Foxy, on Leicester to go down.
Hegseth thinks we should be grateful for our 100% rise in the gas price.
"The world, the Middle East, our ungrateful allies in Europe, even segments of our own press, should be saying one thing to President Trump: Thank You!" .. https://x.com/Daractenus/status/2034611691485282671
On topic: I am no expert on German politics but, at the time, I thought Angela Merkel timed her criticism of the donation scandal correctly, not too early, and not too late. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CDU_donations_scandal
Which made her later blunders surprising, at least to me.
Comments
I note that you didn't take the bet
Nigel was the future once
https://x.com/keir_starmer/status/2034599907462377960
I condemn in the strongest terms the overnight Iranian strike on a Qatari gas facility.
We are working towards a swift resolution to the situation in the Middle East, in the best interests of the British people – because there is no question that ending the war is the quickest way to reduce the cost of living.
There is also a "we are where we are" reality to all this. You don't get to go back and have another go. You can only start where you find yourself.
https://www.youtube.com/live/8dC9QoY4qzw?si=A0ud_DKzHc_iJU25
I did a Costco trip yesterday and the freezer is now full too.
It annoys my wife when I buy extra food but I have hiding places. Better safe than sorry.
I honestly cannot see an end to this anytime soon.
I am feeling indescribably smug right now.
1. You don't vote for the SNP
and
2. The SNP doesn't blame anything bad on London?
That Trump is awful is not in doubt.
It seems MPs today will line up against any reform that has any losers, no matter how valid or sane the reform is.
A combination of batteries for time shifting energy within a day, plus CCGTs and gas storage for the winter, offers a remarkable degree of energy security for a pretty low cost.
SKS speaks. I must have missed him condemning the initial US/Israeli/Saudi act of wilful aggression that precipitated it.
‘ I condemn in the strongest terms the overnight Iranian strike on a Qatari gas facility.
We are working towards a swift resolution to the situation in the Middle East, in the best interests of the British people – because there is no question that ending the war is the quickest way to reduce the cost of living.’
https://x.com/keir_starmer/status/2034599907462377960?s=61
The Adams County Sheriff's Office has received a flood of social media comments, DMs, and phone calls about the #Afroman defamation trial. It’s clear this is important to a lot of people. There's just one small issue: that's the ACSO in Ohio. We are the ACSO in #Colorado. Different states, same name.
https://x.com/AdamsCoSheriff/status/2034357996868813263
Part of the cross examination here:
https://x.com/AaronRDay/status/2034266509434925417
Taraf al-Ghar meaning ‘cape of the cave/laurel’ or Taraf al-Gharb meaning ‘ cape of the west’.
We need to rename Trafalgar Square to something less Arabic.
The problem we have is that we are not California with heavy summer air conditioning requirements.
Our energy demand troughs out at the summer, when the solar supply peaks.
Our energy demand peaks in the winter, when the solar supply troughs.
Batteries will get you through a day, but not a year.
Without Proper Infrastructure projects, the Planning Industrial Complex might collapse!
Another vital British Industry let down by government.
Ok, he’s a genocidal, fascist lickspittle. But he’s at least 800% more competent than Trump. And less dangerous.
Apparently today getting £20 of petrol still costs £20, just as getting £20 of petrol cost £20 a few weeks ago.
🤦♂️
Anyway, when do we get a mea culpa from you for Starmer? Istr at one point you were pitifully claiming that you hadn’t backed him and it was all bantz.
But they are the cheapest bit of the system. It’s often the case, now, that you can buy a panel for less cost than good plywood.
The expensive bits are the power electronics to convert to mains voltages/AC and controllers.
So you can simply add more panels at very little cost.
This is one reason why some of the international connector projects (such as the one to Morocco) have stalled - cheaper to add panels.
Either we are going to have magnitudes more energy than we need in the summer, and we should be finding a way to put that to productive good use which can be switched off in the winter.
Or we are not solving our security issues, which are primarily the winter.
Batteries will get you through a day, they help immensely, but over a 12 month period we need to be coping with our demand peaking in midwinter when the night is longest and solar is weakest.
There seems to be no mention of all of an uncrewed element which seems strange. You would have thought they'd bust a gut to get Boeing Australia in with the MQ-28 as something that actually exists and works. That would have derisked and accelerated a huge part of the program. Maybe the Aussies have more fucking sense than to get involved.
With the rate of panels going onto new housing, it won't be long before solar is generating the 20GW you refer to
Police who raided the guy's home were suing him for mocking them for the failed raid.
Closing argument from the cops’ attorney in the Afroman trial:
“Mr. Forman didn’t say it was opinion. He didn’t say, ‘In my opinion, I f*cked his wife doggy-style’”..
Judgment for the defendant.
Suggested interim is to take gas out of the bidding and pay a fixed fee for when it's required. Other sources compete to be the second most expensive energy source.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/mar/11/renewable-energy-oil-shocks-lower-bills-uk
Pisshead Pete ‘ Hegseth: "Today will be the largest strike package yet .…. death and destruction from above"’
https://x.com/osint613/status/2034608904877797613?s=61
Her problem is she's never wrong
Once she starts digging holes, it just completely fall apart.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the U.S. may lift sanctions on Iranian oil that is already “on the water”…. WOW! They will do anything to keep the price down #OOTT
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2018/nov/25/homeowners-trapped-solar-panels
Shared panels would be a nightmare. Who owns them when things go wrong and who resolves the issues.
I wouldn't have taken it
If Timothy dropped his trousers and ran bollock naked round London she still wouldn't sack him
She islamaohibic to her core
He might not be the white knight of sanity he’s being used as.
https://x.com/ogafroman/status/2034297479902929199
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/mar/19/uk-cut-climate-aid-budget-developing-countries-refocus
The Americans are being utterly incompetent though. "We're going to strike, but don't actually strike at the infrastructure as that might cripple the regime" . . . WTAF!?
Either do it properly, enact regime change, or what are you even bothering for.
Utterly incompetent fools.
So you're going to war, but you're allowing the people you're attacking to profiteer of the war you chose to have!?
Corrupt and incompetent fools.
I'm on an etymology subreddit. I love Extreme Etymology - going back as far as you can. Trafalgar is a great example and is being discussed today. Viz, and I quote:
"Taraf (طرف) - "edge, extremity, cape"
This traces back to the Proto-Semitic root ṭ-r-p or ṭ-r-f, carrying a core sense of "edge, end, extremity." You can see cognates across the Semitic family - Hebrew ṭaraf carries senses of "to tear, to seize" (something at the edge, the outermost point of reach), and there's an Akkadian kinship in words for boundary and limit. The semantic logic is consistent: the furthest point, where something ends or is torn away. A cape is exactly that - land at its extremity, tearing into the sea
Some comparative Semiticists have tried to push further, connecting ṭ-r-f to Afro-Asiatic roots, linking it to ancient Egyptian and Berber words for edges and boundaries, though this gets speculative quickly. The Afro-Asiatic macrofamily reconstruction is notoriously contested
Gharb (غرب) - "west, setting, strange"
This is the richer seam. The root gh-r-b (غ-ر-ب) in Proto-Semitic means "to go away, to set (of the sun), to be distant, foreign." It's magnificent how much conceptual freight this root carries. The sun goes away - that's the west. What comes from far away is gharīb - strange, foreign. The Maghreb itself is simply "the West, the place of sunset." A ghurba is exile. To be western is to be remote, alien, and departed
Hebrew has ma'arav (west) from a related but distinct root, though 'erev (evening) shares the same Proto-Semitic sunset logic. In Akkadian, erēbu means "to enter, to set" (of the sun) - and here's where it gets extraordinary, because many etymologists believe this is where we get the word *Europe*. The Akkadian erebu (sunset, the western lands) may have been borrowed by the Greeks as Eurōpē - "the land where the sun sets," in contrast to Asu (sunrise), which possibly became *Asia*
Push past Proto-Semitic into Proto-Afro-Asiatic (perhaps 15,000–18,000 years ago) and you're in brilliantly compelling but speculative territory. Some historical linguists working on Afro-Asiatic reconstruction - Ehret, Orel, Stolbova - have proposed root connections that would link gh-r-b to ancient Cushitic words for departure and distance"
So, Trafalgar goes back at least to the Akkadian language - in Mesopotamia in 3000BC, and possibly back to the Biblical Land of Kush, the "realm south of Egypt" - ie impossibly ancient Ethiopia - 18 fucking thousand years ago
A noble name for our noble square, indeed
Katya Adler
Europe Editor"
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c24de9e97vno
(He's also repeating a conspiracy theory that Charlie Kirk was murdered at the behest of Israel.)
But the administration is arguing that they were crazy to appoint this guy, when it was quite clear what kind of person he was when Trump chose him.
Along with making the argument that any intelligence assessment which doesn't agree with Trump's vibes can be dismissed.
It's just a tower of nonsense.
Am I am idiot because I didn't check it (when?) Or do these things sometimes just happen.
Rishi was an idiot and should have delayed or done it inside.
https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/bond/tmbmkgb-10y?countrycode=bx
It dates to the Sumerian, perhaps 4,000–5,000 years ago - where it was the word for the fine dark powder women ground and applied to their eyes (cf "kohl"). That word travelled into Akkadian, then into Aramaic, then into Arabic, where it was repurposed by medieval alchemists to mean a purified essence. It was then borrowed by European scholars in Andalusia, was thereafter narrowed by Paracelsus to mean distilled spirit, and is now what I call for in the bar of the Groucho, of a Wednesday night, when I want to get drunk
I hope he at least once managed to get in the phrase "because I got high".
Now, would I tell either version of the joke? No, because I am neither Jewish nor black. (I can -- and do -- joke about old guys.)
But the all time favourite is asparagus. As soon as you can plant a bed of asparagus (min 20 plants) and you will rejoice every year for about 8 weeks from 23rd April.
My inlaws have a fairly decent rooftop + battery setup. March to September, it produces more electricity than their consumption. Bottom of curve in December, it makes 15% of their consumption.
Obviously, you could overbuild more (Aug production is 2-3x consumption already!), but there are limits to this. They've probably only got enough roof to double the quantity of panels, there certainly isn't room for 6x the present install.
When you look at the day by day December production, it's very lumpy, so you'd need a massive battery to smooth out the variability, as well as an inverter sized to handle the full output off all the panels in order to benefit from the moments in December when the sun does come out.
They are on gas heating, and ICE cars, I dread to think what they'd need to install to support a heat pump.
"The world, the Middle East, our ungrateful allies in Europe, even segments of our own press, should be saying one thing to President Trump: Thank You!"
..
https://x.com/Daractenus/status/2034611691485282671
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CDU_donations_scandal
Which made her later blunders surprising, at least to me.