The growth of both Reform and the Greens show that people have simply lost all faith in the mainstream parties. They are simply not delivering and haven't for a long time. People are exasperated and lashing out. That reluctance to make "tough" decisions that @Taz mentioned at the end of the previous thread has caused something approaching a disaster, a State that works for those employed by it and for very few others.
Both Labour and the Tories (the Lib Dems are a lost cause) need to wake up and start to deal with reality or reality will finish with them.
I think there is still a way forward for something I can only really term “radical centrism” and indeed I think it’s the only thing that can really get us out of our current predicament.
I don’t think a majority of the electorate really want the divisive rhetoric of Reform or the Greens but they do want things to be done differently to how they have been - and both parties promise that. They’ve been let down so much by the two main parties that they are looking for an alternative.
What we really need is someone who is unafraid of making big, bold, reforming decisions but who does not subscribe to the divisive viewpoints. I think the public will broadly accept reform of institutions like the NHS, planning and regulatory system, welfare state, asylum and immigration system, relationship with Europe, defence spending etc etc so long as they feel that the person behind it has a bold vision and a plan to make things better - on the centre right or centre left. Of course, such figures are sadly lacking from our politics at the moment. But it’s the emergence of figures like these that are what western economies really need in the next decade.
We need to invest and trade our way out of the mess. So much of the high cost low value nature of so many sectors is because of partisan bickering moving the goalposts. This happens because we have completely lost our way as to who we are and where we want to go.
More trade does not mean selling off everything. We need to get back to actually having British industrial giants capable of building the stuff we need. Start with steel, then car, train and shipbuilding, electronics, consumer goods etc. Harnessing both whats left of the north sea fossils and the growing wind & solar capacity. With turbines built here.
It means that we need to actual educate, train and equip my kids generation to go out and compete with the world. All we equip them with today is debt that is almost impossible to repay. And don't get me started on the NHS bonfire where we can't propose to axe the endless layers of administrators because aren't our nurses marvellous? Not that we train nurses anymore.
The challenge is "where do we get the money". To which my answer remains CAPITALISM. Borrow. Invest. ROI. Today we borrow and throw it on the bonfire. Throw a little less into the flames and buy a fire hose. An increase in cost briefly to greatly decrease it longer term.
It just needs vision, to accept that we're in a mess and a change is needed. I cited 3 great reforms - Liberal, Labour, Tory. We need a 4th, and it won't be from those daft fukers in Reform or the Islamo-Commies in Green... Trade is the solution to the gulf mess, to the American mess, to the refugee mess.
Trade. Free fucking trade. Make stuff. Sell stuff. The Rest Will Flow.
Yep. Trade is good, [cliche] which is why Brexit is and remains a ball and chain around our ankle [hackneyed metaphor] . We are the nation that sanctiond ourselves [hackneyed metaphor], then complain about the lack of trade.
It's always funny reading remoaner arguments. There's never any figures, there's not even a simple explanation of how x has resulted in y. Just a heap of meaningless metaphors and cliches loosely held together by wounded spite. They cannot make a proper argument because there isn't one.
Brexit created barriers to trade. There, that's your simple explanation of how x has resulted in y.
I need to send food samples UK to NL. Parcel Farce would send it to the moon by accident. DHL won't do food to EU because paperwork. USP will - but its faff - for £££
I heard your political journey has moved on apace and you're now a Tory! When did this happen and what was it that attracted you to the the subtle charms of Kemi?
Rochdale is a radical pragmatist, and I share something of that impulse. It hasn't led me to consider voting Tory for decades, and I can't see it next time round either.
I have heard of people 'crossing the floor' but to do it as often and as erratically as Rochdale is quite something! Maybe it's a car thing?
He's explained that he's not crossed the floor. He just has some admiration for Kemi.
That's even weirder!
Why? One can support party A while still having some positive views about aspects of parties B, C and D.
Well, not zero. The video specifically opposes the racism and division that so much of our politics is about. It speaks for our common humanity.
@NickPalmer has observed in the past that people choose their vote much more via vibe than by totting up a balance sheet of policies and cooly comparing to other parties.
They ask themselves "is this a party that matches my values? Is this a party that gets my issues and will speak for me?"
That is how Polanski is doing so well. The message is a very positive one, of hope, and one unafraid to speak for pluralism and modern Britain. This is a unique approach in current politics.
Really?
At the Spring Conference the Greens are voting on a motion opposing the government's proposals to fight racism and anti-semitism in the NHS. Who's that positive and hopeful for? Racists and anti-semites presumably. It's certainly representative of a very unpleasant aspect of modern Britain - the way anti-semitism has become embedded in once respectable organisations and professions.
Polanski has also refused to condemn members of the public going from door to door canvassing for a boycott of Israel and its goods, and noting down those who disagree. He did not understand why this might seem frightening and sinister to Jewish people. And no this is not like normal political canvassing.
Nor has he condemned his deputy, Mothin Ali, who attacked a Jewish university chaplain, forcing him to go into hiding and whose wife received rape threats. Ali recently attended a demonstration protesting against attacks on the Iranian regime which has slaughtered tens of thousands of its citizens, is executing children as young as 14, rapes women prisoners as a matter of course and did this so violently to two nurses who helped those wounded by the regime that they lost part of their intestines and, in one case, their uterus.
Perhaps this is what some have called the Green Party’s “fresh new ideas”. To this jaded eye, they rather resemble some older, very sour ideas, whose impact on ordinary people is well-described in Sally Carson’s novel “Crooked Cross”, written in the 1930’s after her time in Germany. She wrote that as a warning, not a manual to be followed.
As you should know. You recommended it.
It isn't anti-semitic to oppose the Israeli government or boycott Israeli goods.
If someone specifically boycotts Israeli goods but not goods from any other country it would suggest they are anti-semitic.
I think you might have missed the point of what a boycott is for!
I think you might have missed the point about what people who specifically and only boycott Israel might be.
People who have a low tolerance for the mass slaughter. of women children and journalists?
The growth of both Reform and the Greens show that people have simply lost all faith in the mainstream parties. They are simply not delivering and haven't for a long time. People are exasperated and lashing out. That reluctance to make "tough" decisions that @Taz mentioned at the end of the previous thread has caused something approaching a disaster, a State that works for those employed by it and for very few others.
Both Labour and the Tories (the Lib Dems are a lost cause) need to wake up and start to deal with reality or reality will finish with them.
I think there is still a way forward for something I can only really term “radical centrism” and indeed I think it’s the only thing that can really get us out of our current predicament.
I don’t think a majority of the electorate really want the divisive rhetoric of Reform or the Greens but they do want things to be done differently to how they have been - and both parties promise that. They’ve been let down so much by the two main parties that they are looking for an alternative.
What we really need is someone who is unafraid of making big, bold, reforming decisions but who does not subscribe to the divisive viewpoints. I think the public will broadly accept reform of institutions like the NHS, planning and regulatory system, welfare state, asylum and immigration system, relationship with Europe, defence spending etc etc so long as they feel that the person behind it has a bold vision and a plan to make things better - on the centre right or centre left. Of course, such figures are sadly lacking from our politics at the moment. But it’s the emergence of figures like these that are what western economies really need in the next decade.
We need to invest and trade our way out of the mess. So much of the high cost low value nature of so many sectors is because of partisan bickering moving the goalposts. This happens because we have completely lost our way as to who we are and where we want to go.
More trade does not mean selling off everything. We need to get back to actually having British industrial giants capable of building the stuff we need. Start with steel, then car, train and shipbuilding, electronics, consumer goods etc. Harnessing both whats left of the north sea fossils and the growing wind & solar capacity. With turbines built here.
It means that we need to actual educate, train and equip my kids generation to go out and compete with the world. All we equip them with today is debt that is almost impossible to repay. And don't get me started on the NHS bonfire where we can't propose to axe the endless layers of administrators because aren't our nurses marvellous? Not that we train nurses anymore.
The challenge is "where do we get the money". To which my answer remains CAPITALISM. Borrow. Invest. ROI. Today we borrow and throw it on the bonfire. Throw a little less into the flames and buy a fire hose. An increase in cost briefly to greatly decrease it longer term.
It just needs vision, to accept that we're in a mess and a change is needed. I cited 3 great reforms - Liberal, Labour, Tory. We need a 4th, and it won't be from those daft fukers in Reform or the Islamo-Commies in Green... Trade is the solution to the gulf mess, to the American mess, to the refugee mess.
Trade. Free fucking trade. Make stuff. Sell stuff. The Rest Will Flow.
Yep. Trade is good, [cliche] which is why Brexit is and remains a ball and chain around our ankle [hackneyed metaphor] . We are the nation that sanctiond ourselves [hackneyed metaphor], then complain about the lack of trade.
It's always funny reading remoaner arguments. There's never any figures, there's not even a simple explanation of how x has resulted in y. Just a heap of meaningless metaphors and cliches loosely held together by wounded spite. They cannot make a proper argument because there isn't one.
Brexit created barriers to trade. There, that's your simple explanation of how x has resulted in y.
I need to send food samples UK to NL. Parcel Farce would send it to the moon by accident. DHL won't do food to EU because paperwork. USP will - but its faff - for £££
I heard your political journey has moved on apace and you're now a Tory! When did this happen and what was it that attracted you to the the subtle charms of Kemi?
Rochdale is a radical pragmatist, and I share something of that impulse. It hasn't led me to consider voting Tory for decades, and I can't see it next time round either.
I have heard of people 'crossing the floor' but to do it as often and as erratically as Rochdale is quite something! Maybe it's a car thing?
He's explained that he's not crossed the floor. He just has some admiration for Kemi.
That's even weirder!
Why? One can support party A while still having some positive views about aspects of parties B, C and D.
Unless you are a Conservative party member, it is a legal requirement to be a ciraculum of 1980s Ben Elton at all times
The growth of both Reform and the Greens show that people have simply lost all faith in the mainstream parties. They are simply not delivering and haven't for a long time. People are exasperated and lashing out. That reluctance to make "tough" decisions that @Taz mentioned at the end of the previous thread has caused something approaching a disaster, a State that works for those employed by it and for very few others.
Both Labour and the Tories (the Lib Dems are a lost cause) need to wake up and start to deal with reality or reality will finish with them.
I think there is still a way forward for something I can only really term “radical centrism” and indeed I think it’s the only thing that can really get us out of our current predicament.
I don’t think a majority of the electorate really want the divisive rhetoric of Reform or the Greens but they do want things to be done differently to how they have been - and both parties promise that. They’ve been let down so much by the two main parties that they are looking for an alternative.
What we really need is someone who is unafraid of making big, bold, reforming decisions but who does not subscribe to the divisive viewpoints. I think the public will broadly accept reform of institutions like the NHS, planning and regulatory system, welfare state, asylum and immigration system, relationship with Europe, defence spending etc etc so long as they feel that the person behind it has a bold vision and a plan to make things better - on the centre right or centre left. Of course, such figures are sadly lacking from our politics at the moment. But it’s the emergence of figures like these that are what western economies really need in the next decade.
We need to invest and trade our way out of the mess. So much of the high cost low value nature of so many sectors is because of partisan bickering moving the goalposts. This happens because we have completely lost our way as to who we are and where we want to go.
More trade does not mean selling off everything. We need to get back to actually having British industrial giants capable of building the stuff we need. Start with steel, then car, train and shipbuilding, electronics, consumer goods etc. Harnessing both whats left of the north sea fossils and the growing wind & solar capacity. With turbines built here.
It means that we need to actual educate, train and equip my kids generation to go out and compete with the world. All we equip them with today is debt that is almost impossible to repay. And don't get me started on the NHS bonfire where we can't propose to axe the endless layers of administrators because aren't our nurses marvellous? Not that we train nurses anymore.
The challenge is "where do we get the money". To which my answer remains CAPITALISM. Borrow. Invest. ROI. Today we borrow and throw it on the bonfire. Throw a little less into the flames and buy a fire hose. An increase in cost briefly to greatly decrease it longer term.
It just needs vision, to accept that we're in a mess and a change is needed. I cited 3 great reforms - Liberal, Labour, Tory. We need a 4th, and it won't be from those daft fukers in Reform or the Islamo-Commies in Green... Trade is the solution to the gulf mess, to the American mess, to the refugee mess.
Trade. Free fucking trade. Make stuff. Sell stuff. The Rest Will Flow.
Yep. Trade is good, [cliche] which is why Brexit is and remains a ball and chain around our ankle [hackneyed metaphor] . We are the nation that sanctiond ourselves [hackneyed metaphor], then complain about the lack of trade.
It's always funny reading remoaner arguments. There's never any figures, there's not even a simple explanation of how x has resulted in y. Just a heap of meaningless metaphors and cliches loosely held together by wounded spite. They cannot make a proper argument because there isn't one.
Brexit created barriers to trade. There, that's your simple explanation of how x has resulted in y.
I need to send food samples UK to NL. Parcel Farce would send it to the moon by accident. DHL won't do food to EU because paperwork. USP will - but its faff - for £££
I heard your political journey has moved on apace and you're now a Tory! When did this happen and what was it that attracted you to the the subtle charms of Kemi?
Rochdale is a radical pragmatist, and I share something of that impulse. It hasn't led me to consider voting Tory for decades, and I can't see it next time round either.
I have heard of people 'crossing the floor' but to do it as often and as erratically as Rochdale is quite something! Maybe it's a car thing?
I've changed party once. Is that often? I've drifted rightwards as I have aged. Is that erratically?
The growth of both Reform and the Greens show that people have simply lost all faith in the mainstream parties. They are simply not delivering and haven't for a long time. People are exasperated and lashing out. That reluctance to make "tough" decisions that @Taz mentioned at the end of the previous thread has caused something approaching a disaster, a State that works for those employed by it and for very few others.
Both Labour and the Tories (the Lib Dems are a lost cause) need to wake up and start to deal with reality or reality will finish with them.
I think there is still a way forward for something I can only really term “radical centrism” and indeed I think it’s the only thing that can really get us out of our current predicament.
I don’t think a majority of the electorate really want the divisive rhetoric of Reform or the Greens but they do want things to be done differently to how they have been - and both parties promise that. They’ve been let down so much by the two main parties that they are looking for an alternative.
What we really need is someone who is unafraid of making big, bold, reforming decisions but who does not subscribe to the divisive viewpoints. I think the public will broadly accept reform of institutions like the NHS, planning and regulatory system, welfare state, asylum and immigration system, relationship with Europe, defence spending etc etc so long as they feel that the person behind it has a bold vision and a plan to make things better - on the centre right or centre left. Of course, such figures are sadly lacking from our politics at the moment. But it’s the emergence of figures like these that are what western economies really need in the next decade.
We need to invest and trade our way out of the mess. So much of the high cost low value nature of so many sectors is because of partisan bickering moving the goalposts. This happens because we have completely lost our way as to who we are and where we want to go.
More trade does not mean selling off everything. We need to get back to actually having British industrial giants capable of building the stuff we need. Start with steel, then car, train and shipbuilding, electronics, consumer goods etc. Harnessing both whats left of the north sea fossils and the growing wind & solar capacity. With turbines built here.
It means that we need to actual educate, train and equip my kids generation to go out and compete with the world. All we equip them with today is debt that is almost impossible to repay. And don't get me started on the NHS bonfire where we can't propose to axe the endless layers of administrators because aren't our nurses marvellous? Not that we train nurses anymore.
The challenge is "where do we get the money". To which my answer remains CAPITALISM. Borrow. Invest. ROI. Today we borrow and throw it on the bonfire. Throw a little less into the flames and buy a fire hose. An increase in cost briefly to greatly decrease it longer term.
It just needs vision, to accept that we're in a mess and a change is needed. I cited 3 great reforms - Liberal, Labour, Tory. We need a 4th, and it won't be from those daft fukers in Reform or the Islamo-Commies in Green... Trade is the solution to the gulf mess, to the American mess, to the refugee mess.
Trade. Free fucking trade. Make stuff. Sell stuff. The Rest Will Flow.
Yep. Trade is good, [cliche] which is why Brexit is and remains a ball and chain around our ankle [hackneyed metaphor] . We are the nation that sanctiond ourselves [hackneyed metaphor], then complain about the lack of trade.
It's always funny reading remoaner arguments. There's never any figures, there's not even a simple explanation of how x has resulted in y. Just a heap of meaningless metaphors and cliches loosely held together by wounded spite. They cannot make a proper argument because there isn't one.
Brexit created barriers to trade. There, that's your simple explanation of how x has resulted in y.
I need to send food samples UK to NL. Parcel Farce would send it to the moon by accident. DHL won't do food to EU because paperwork. USP will - but its faff - for £££
Long Weekend away to NL - probably as quick and as cheap as the other options.
Slightly longer weekend when you are in Aberdeen !!!
The best option would be Train-Eurostar, or a Tesla Road Trip.
Samples are going out via UPS on Monday.
If that fails then either one of my Yorkshire-based colleagues does the trip, or I do a bolt-on to my trip to Birmingham in 2 weeks.
Rather scathing report on our submarine production from an Australian perspective. Looks like they are at the back of the queue despite all the hype over AUKUS.
Australia are going to get screwed. They aren't going to get any Virginias and also aren't going to get their money back. LMAO.
They aren't going to see an SSN-AUKUS this side of 2040 and recent premature withdrawal of Anson from HMAS Stirling has shown the worth of British security guarantees.
Should have stuck with the French.
They could well end up back there, particularly now the Dutch and Greek navies are buying the design. A lot of the risk and development will have been paid for by them.
The nuclear waste problem remains politically insoluable for Australia and it could be that which finally fells AUKUS. The logical place for it is Western Australia but the state government there will not entertain it. That issue has been deadlocked for three years.
From the POV of western capacity, they'd be better off joining a S Korean programme to build nuclear subs. The Koreans have already been lobbying the US for approval; Australia's added voice would probably get the go ahead.
AUKUS had nothing to do with military capabilty and any attempt to view it refracted through that prism is doomed and irrelevant.
It was a purely political construct for political aims so it should be no surprise that little military capacity has yet or probably will ever emerge from it. It served its political purpose for the three main actors at the time:
ScoMo: vengeance project on Turnbull and his legacy Johnson: #globalbritain Biden: is it Tuesday again?
The one concrete thing that has been achieved is to make future British SSNs look a lot more like American ones (VLS, General Dynamics Combat Control System) and more dependent on American vendors. Whether that is a net positive or not is another debate.
Manufacturing capacity.
If Australia actually wants its boats before the end of the century, the S Korean option might be the most attractive one.
Well, not zero. The video specifically opposes the racism and division that so much of our politics is about. It speaks for our common humanity.
@NickPalmer has observed in the past that people choose their vote much more via vibe than by totting up a balance sheet of policies and cooly comparing to other parties.
They ask themselves "is this a party that matches my values? Is this a party that gets my issues and will speak for me?"
That is how Polanski is doing so well. The message is a very positive one, of hope, and one unafraid to speak for pluralism and modern Britain. This is a unique approach in current politics.
Really?
At the Spring Conference the Greens are voting on a motion opposing the government's proposals to fight racism and anti-semitism in the NHS. Who's that positive and hopeful for? Racists and anti-semites presumably. It's certainly representative of a very unpleasant aspect of modern Britain - the way anti-semitism has become embedded in once respectable organisations and professions.
Polanski has also refused to condemn members of the public going from door to door canvassing for a boycott of Israel and its goods, and noting down those who disagree. He did not understand why this might seem frightening and sinister to Jewish people. And no this is not like normal political canvassing.
Nor has he condemned his deputy, Mothin Ali, who attacked a Jewish university chaplain, forcing him to go into hiding and whose wife received rape threats. Ali recently attended a demonstration protesting against attacks on the Iranian regime which has slaughtered tens of thousands of its citizens, is executing children as young as 14, rapes women prisoners as a matter of course and did this so violently to two nurses who helped those wounded by the regime that they lost part of their intestines and, in one case, their uterus.
Perhaps this is what some have called the Green Party’s “fresh new ideas”. To this jaded eye, they rather resemble some older, very sour ideas, whose impact on ordinary people is well-described in Sally Carson’s novel “Crooked Cross”, written in the 1930’s after her time in Germany. She wrote that as a warning, not a manual to be followed.
As you should know. You recommended it.
It isn't anti-semitic to oppose the Israeli government or boycott Israeli goods.
If someone specifically boycotts Israeli goods but not goods from any other country it would suggest they are anti-semitic.
I think you might have missed the point of what a boycott is for!
I think you might have missed the point about what people who specifically and only boycott Israel might be.
It is fairly simple really:
Boycotting Israeli goods: not anti-semitic Boycotting Jewish owned businesses: anti-semitic.
Picketing the Israeli embassy: not anti-semitic Picketing synagogues: anti-semitic.
Markets unhappy, 10 year bond rates soaring over 5.0%
Maybe this has something to do with it:-
Three ships 'turned back from Strait of Hormuz' after Iran warning
The Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps says the Strait of Hormuz is closed.
It threatened "harsh measures" against any ships attempting passage through the crucial waterway for the world's oil and gas trade.
Three container ships of various nationalities were turned back from the strait, according to reports.
I listened to Trump's cabinet yesterday as Easter came up as a time of Christian celebrations and shortly after, madman Trump, delayed further action until after the main Easter celebrations
Listening to the obnoxious Hegseth, Jesus must have his head in his hands at such hatred espoused in his name
Jesus said - 'Love they neighbour as thyself' Matthew 22:39
Markets aren't listening to Trump delusions anymore by looks of things.
The growth of both Reform and the Greens show that people have simply lost all faith in the mainstream parties. They are simply not delivering and haven't for a long time. People are exasperated and lashing out. That reluctance to make "tough" decisions that @Taz mentioned at the end of the previous thread has caused something approaching a disaster, a State that works for those employed by it and for very few others.
Both Labour and the Tories (the Lib Dems are a lost cause) need to wake up and start to deal with reality or reality will finish with them.
I think there is still a way forward for something I can only really term “radical centrism” and indeed I think it’s the only thing that can really get us out of our current predicament.
I don’t think a majority of the electorate really want the divisive rhetoric of Reform or the Greens but they do want things to be done differently to how they have been - and both parties promise that. They’ve been let down so much by the two main parties that they are looking for an alternative.
What we really need is someone who is unafraid of making big, bold, reforming decisions but who does not subscribe to the divisive viewpoints. I think the public will broadly accept reform of institutions like the NHS, planning and regulatory system, welfare state, asylum and immigration system, relationship with Europe, defence spending etc etc so long as they feel that the person behind it has a bold vision and a plan to make things better - on the centre right or centre left. Of course, such figures are sadly lacking from our politics at the moment. But it’s the emergence of figures like these that are what western economies really need in the next decade.
We need to invest and trade our way out of the mess. So much of the high cost low value nature of so many sectors is because of partisan bickering moving the goalposts. This happens because we have completely lost our way as to who we are and where we want to go.
More trade does not mean selling off everything. We need to get back to actually having British industrial giants capable of building the stuff we need. Start with steel, then car, train and shipbuilding, electronics, consumer goods etc. Harnessing both whats left of the north sea fossils and the growing wind & solar capacity. With turbines built here.
It means that we need to actual educate, train and equip my kids generation to go out and compete with the world. All we equip them with today is debt that is almost impossible to repay. And don't get me started on the NHS bonfire where we can't propose to axe the endless layers of administrators because aren't our nurses marvellous? Not that we train nurses anymore.
The challenge is "where do we get the money". To which my answer remains CAPITALISM. Borrow. Invest. ROI. Today we borrow and throw it on the bonfire. Throw a little less into the flames and buy a fire hose. An increase in cost briefly to greatly decrease it longer term.
It just needs vision, to accept that we're in a mess and a change is needed. I cited 3 great reforms - Liberal, Labour, Tory. We need a 4th, and it won't be from those daft fukers in Reform or the Islamo-Commies in Green... Trade is the solution to the gulf mess, to the American mess, to the refugee mess.
Trade. Free fucking trade. Make stuff. Sell stuff. The Rest Will Flow.
Yep. Trade is good, [cliche] which is why Brexit is and remains a ball and chain around our ankle [hackneyed metaphor] . We are the nation that sanctiond ourselves [hackneyed metaphor], then complain about the lack of trade.
It's always funny reading remoaner arguments. There's never any figures, there's not even a simple explanation of how x has resulted in y. Just a heap of meaningless metaphors and cliches loosely held together by wounded spite. They cannot make a proper argument because there isn't one.
Brexit created barriers to trade. There, that's your simple explanation of how x has resulted in y.
The EU created barriers to tade as well. Why are some barriers to trade bad and others good?
The EU is a protected market by design. They prioritise there own countries. There is no problem with doing that - that's their choice. I am someone who believes in free trade. I was/am naive as I did not understand the difference between free trade and frictionless trade. More fool me.
The growth of both Reform and the Greens show that people have simply lost all faith in the mainstream parties. They are simply not delivering and haven't for a long time. People are exasperated and lashing out. That reluctance to make "tough" decisions that @Taz mentioned at the end of the previous thread has caused something approaching a disaster, a State that works for those employed by it and for very few others.
Both Labour and the Tories (the Lib Dems are a lost cause) need to wake up and start to deal with reality or reality will finish with them.
I think there is still a way forward for something I can only really term “radical centrism” and indeed I think it’s the only thing that can really get us out of our current predicament.
I don’t think a majority of the electorate really want the divisive rhetoric of Reform or the Greens but they do want things to be done differently to how they have been - and both parties promise that. They’ve been let down so much by the two main parties that they are looking for an alternative.
What we really need is someone who is unafraid of making big, bold, reforming decisions but who does not subscribe to the divisive viewpoints. I think the public will broadly accept reform of institutions like the NHS, planning and regulatory system, welfare state, asylum and immigration system, relationship with Europe, defence spending etc etc so long as they feel that the person behind it has a bold vision and a plan to make things better - on the centre right or centre left. Of course, such figures are sadly lacking from our politics at the moment. But it’s the emergence of figures like these that are what western economies really need in the next decade.
We need to invest and trade our way out of the mess. So much of the high cost low value nature of so many sectors is because of partisan bickering moving the goalposts. This happens because we have completely lost our way as to who we are and where we want to go.
More trade does not mean selling off everything. We need to get back to actually having British industrial giants capable of building the stuff we need. Start with steel, then car, train and shipbuilding, electronics, consumer goods etc. Harnessing both whats left of the north sea fossils and the growing wind & solar capacity. With turbines built here.
It means that we need to actual educate, train and equip my kids generation to go out and compete with the world. All we equip them with today is debt that is almost impossible to repay. And don't get me started on the NHS bonfire where we can't propose to axe the endless layers of administrators because aren't our nurses marvellous? Not that we train nurses anymore.
The challenge is "where do we get the money". To which my answer remains CAPITALISM. Borrow. Invest. ROI. Today we borrow and throw it on the bonfire. Throw a little less into the flames and buy a fire hose. An increase in cost briefly to greatly decrease it longer term.
It just needs vision, to accept that we're in a mess and a change is needed. I cited 3 great reforms - Liberal, Labour, Tory. We need a 4th, and it won't be from those daft fukers in Reform or the Islamo-Commies in Green... Trade is the solution to the gulf mess, to the American mess, to the refugee mess.
Trade. Free fucking trade. Make stuff. Sell stuff. The Rest Will Flow.
Yep. Trade is good, [cliche] which is why Brexit is and remains a ball and chain around our ankle [hackneyed metaphor] . We are the nation that sanctiond ourselves [hackneyed metaphor], then complain about the lack of trade.
It's always funny reading remoaner arguments. There's never any figures, there's not even a simple explanation of how x has resulted in y. Just a heap of meaningless metaphors and cliches loosely held together by wounded spite. They cannot make a proper argument because there isn't one.
Brexit created barriers to trade. There, that's your simple explanation of how x has resulted in y.
I need to send food samples UK to NL. Parcel Farce would send it to the moon by accident. DHL won't do food to EU because paperwork. USP will - but its faff - for £££
I'm looking at an opportunity to re-use electronic waste material from the UK and EU. Similar nightmare. Political zealots on either side of the Brexit debate do my head in.
Markets unhappy, 10 year bond rates soaring over 5.0%
Maybe this has something to do with it:-
Three ships 'turned back from Strait of Hormuz' after Iran warning
The Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps says the Strait of Hormuz is closed.
It threatened "harsh measures" against any ships attempting passage through the crucial waterway for the world's oil and gas trade.
Three container ships of various nationalities were turned back from the strait, according to reports.
I listened to Trump's cabinet yesterday as Easter came up as a time of Christian celebrations and shortly after, madman Trump, delayed further action until after the main Easter celebrations
Listening to the obnoxious Hegseth, Jesus must have his head in his hands at such hatred espoused in his name
Jesus said - 'Love they neighbour as thyself' Matthew 22:39
Markets aren't listening to Trump delusions anymore by looks of things.
But they are. S+P is down just 6% in a month. That's bonkers given events.
Rather scathing report on our submarine production from an Australian perspective. Looks like they are at the back of the queue despite all the hype over AUKUS.
Australia are going to get screwed. They aren't going to get any Virginias and also aren't going to get their money back. LMAO.
They aren't going to see an SSN-AUKUS this side of 2040 and recent premature withdrawal of Anson from HMAS Stirling has shown the worth of British security guarantees.
Should have stuck with the French.
They could well end up back there, particularly now the Dutch and Greek navies are buying the design. A lot of the risk and development will have been paid for by them.
The nuclear waste problem remains politically insoluable for Australia and it could be that which finally fells AUKUS. The logical place for it is Western Australia but the state government there will not entertain it. That issue has been deadlocked for three years.
From the POV of western capacity, they'd be better off joining a S Korean programme to build nuclear subs. The Koreans have already been lobbying the US for approval; Australia's added voice would probably get the go ahead.
AUKUS had nothing to do with military capabilty and any attempt to view it refracted through that prism is doomed and irrelevant.
It was a purely political construct for political aims so it should be no surprise that little military capacity has yet or probably will ever emerge from it. It served its political purpose for the three main actors at the time:
ScoMo: vengeance project on Turnbull and his legacy Johnson: #globalbritain Biden: is it Tuesday again?
The one concrete thing that has been achieved is to make future British SSNs look a lot more like American ones (VLS, General Dynamics Combat Control System) and more dependent on American vendors. Whether that is a net positive or not is another debate.
Manufacturing capacity.
If Australia actually wants its boats before the end of the century, the S Korean option might be the most attractive one.
Canada has gone for the Korean KS-III AIP boats. Australia could, and probably will, do a lot worse.
Well, not zero. The video specifically opposes the racism and division that so much of our politics is about. It speaks for our common humanity.
@NickPalmer has observed in the past that people choose their vote much more via vibe than by totting up a balance sheet of policies and cooly comparing to other parties.
They ask themselves "is this a party that matches my values? Is this a party that gets my issues and will speak for me?"
That is how Polanski is doing so well. The message is a very positive one, of hope, and one unafraid to speak for pluralism and modern Britain. This is a unique approach in current politics.
Really?
At the Spring Conference the Greens are voting on a motion opposing the government's proposals to fight racism and anti-semitism in the NHS. Who's that positive and hopeful for? Racists and anti-semites presumably. It's certainly representative of a very unpleasant aspect of modern Britain - the way anti-semitism has become embedded in once respectable organisations and professions.
Polanski has also refused to condemn members of the public going from door to door canvassing for a boycott of Israel and its goods, and noting down those who disagree. He did not understand why this might seem frightening and sinister to Jewish people. And no this is not like normal political canvassing.
Nor has he condemned his deputy, Mothin Ali, who attacked a Jewish university chaplain, forcing him to go into hiding and whose wife received rape threats. Ali recently attended a demonstration protesting against attacks on the Iranian regime which has slaughtered tens of thousands of its citizens, is executing children as young as 14, rapes women prisoners as a matter of course and did this so violently to two nurses who helped those wounded by the regime that they lost part of their intestines and, in one case, their uterus.
Perhaps this is what some have called the Green Party’s “fresh new ideas”. To this jaded eye, they rather resemble some older, very sour ideas, whose impact on ordinary people is well-described in Sally Carson’s novel “Crooked Cross”, written in the 1930’s after her time in Germany. She wrote that as a warning, not a manual to be followed.
As you should know. You recommended it.
I concur entirely. I'm afraid you are wasting your time with the pb blokes however. They just don't wanna know.
There’s going to be a shortage of helium critical for hospital MRI machines and for manufacturing advanced chips like those from NVIDIA Corp after damage to a major gas facility in Qatar, Bloomberg reports.
Fees will also rise. Suppliers are prioritising healthcare.
There’s going to be a shortage of helium critical for hospital MRI machines and for manufacturing advanced chips like those from NVIDIA Corp after damage to a major gas facility in Qatar, Bloomberg reports.
Fees will also rise. Suppliers are prioritising healthcare.
How are we not involved when we permit B52s to fly to bomb Iran from Fairford and Diego Garcia, have active RAF missions in the theatre taking down missiles, sending warships to the area, and in discussions over the straights of Hormuz
Italy and Spain however can claim they are not involved as they have banned all use of their bases and air space by the US
There’s going to be a shortage of helium critical for hospital MRI machines and for manufacturing advanced chips like those from NVIDIA Corp after damage to a major gas facility in Qatar, Bloomberg reports.
Fees will also rise. Suppliers are prioritising healthcare.
AEP does the fertiliser situation in Telegraph today.
Well, not zero. The video specifically opposes the racism and division that so much of our politics is about. It speaks for our common humanity.
@NickPalmer has observed in the past that people choose their vote much more via vibe than by totting up a balance sheet of policies and cooly comparing to other parties.
They ask themselves "is this a party that matches my values? Is this a party that gets my issues and will speak for me?"
That is how Polanski is doing so well. The message is a very positive one, of hope, and one unafraid to speak for pluralism and modern Britain. This is a unique approach in current politics.
Really?
At the Spring Conference the Greens are voting on a motion opposing the government's proposals to fight racism and anti-semitism in the NHS. Who's that positive and hopeful for? Racists and anti-semites presumably. It's certainly representative of a very unpleasant aspect of modern Britain - the way anti-semitism has become embedded in once respectable organisations and professions.
Polanski has also refused to condemn members of the public going from door to door canvassing for a boycott of Israel and its goods, and noting down those who disagree. He did not understand why this might seem frightening and sinister to Jewish people. And no this is not like normal political canvassing.
Nor has he condemned his deputy, Mothin Ali, who attacked a Jewish university chaplain, forcing him to go into hiding and whose wife received rape threats. Ali recently attended a demonstration protesting against attacks on the Iranian regime which has slaughtered tens of thousands of its citizens, is executing children as young as 14, rapes women prisoners as a matter of course and did this so violently to two nurses who helped those wounded by the regime that they lost part of their intestines and, in one case, their uterus.
Perhaps this is what some have called the Green Party’s “fresh new ideas”. To this jaded eye, they rather resemble some older, very sour ideas, whose impact on ordinary people is well-described in Sally Carson’s novel “Crooked Cross”, written in the 1930’s after her time in Germany. She wrote that as a warning, not a manual to be followed.
As you should know. You recommended it.
I concur entirely. I'm afraid you are wasting your time with the pb blokes however. They just don't wanna know.
It is of course possible that "the government's proposals to fight racism and anti-semitism in the NHS" are actually shit, won't work and will have unintended consequences. Cyclefree hasn't said what they are. Nor what Mothin Ali said about the chaplain.
Well, not zero. The video specifically opposes the racism and division that so much of our politics is about. It speaks for our common humanity.
@NickPalmer has observed in the past that people choose their vote much more via vibe than by totting up a balance sheet of policies and cooly comparing to other parties.
They ask themselves "is this a party that matches my values? Is this a party that gets my issues and will speak for me?"
That is how Polanski is doing so well. The message is a very positive one, of hope, and one unafraid to speak for pluralism and modern Britain. This is a unique approach in current politics.
Really?
At the Spring Conference the Greens are voting on a motion opposing the government's proposals to fight racism and anti-semitism in the NHS. Who's that positive and hopeful for? Racists and anti-semites presumably. It's certainly representative of a very unpleasant aspect of modern Britain - the way anti-semitism has become embedded in once respectable organisations and professions.
Polanski has also refused to condemn members of the public going from door to door canvassing for a boycott of Israel and its goods, and noting down those who disagree. He did not understand why this might seem frightening and sinister to Jewish people. And no this is not like normal political canvassing.
Nor has he condemned his deputy, Mothin Ali, who attacked a Jewish university chaplain, forcing him to go into hiding and whose wife received rape threats. Ali recently attended a demonstration protesting against attacks on the Iranian regime which has slaughtered tens of thousands of its citizens, is executing children as young as 14, rapes women prisoners as a matter of course and did this so violently to two nurses who helped those wounded by the regime that they lost part of their intestines and, in one case, their uterus.
Perhaps this is what some have called the Green Party’s “fresh new ideas”. To this jaded eye, they rather resemble some older, very sour ideas, whose impact on ordinary people is well-described in Sally Carson’s novel “Crooked Cross”, written in the 1930’s after her time in Germany. She wrote that as a warning, not a manual to be followed.
As you should know. You recommended it.
I concur entirely. I'm afraid you are wasting your time with the pb blokes however. They just don't wanna know.
It's a deliberate misrepresentation. Which is shameful for the OP given their profession. Mothin Ali attended a Stop the war rally, that is not a rally in support of the Iranian regime.
Are you Paul Mason? You’re almost as fruitlessly repetitive and have been on a similar journey from Jezzaism to whatever jellyfish entity Starmer embodies. Don”t think he’s ever said he’d vote Reform to stymy the Greens yet, but who knows how the kaleidoscope will shake out.
There’s going to be a shortage of helium critical for hospital MRI machines and for manufacturing advanced chips like those from NVIDIA Corp after damage to a major gas facility in Qatar, Bloomberg reports.
Fees will also rise. Suppliers are prioritising healthcare.
AEP does the fertiliser situation in Telegraph today.
There will be one bunch of people pleased by this truly hideous wart of a building - the architects of the jobbie building in Edinburgh. They are no longer responsible for the the most egregious eyesore of the 21st century
In much more important news Civilisation, otherwise known as Wendys has arrived at the Dundee frontier. They apparently have special treats like loaded baconator fries and the double baconator burger, the latter being 2 square burger patties, cheese slices and loads of bacon (sounds like a heart attack on a plate to me). People also apparently partake of something called a vanilla Frosty and, incredibly, despite this being a dessert, dip their chips in it.
On the plus side we may see the cost of pensions falling sharply but the short term consequences for the NHS are alarming. Do people really eat this stuff?
Wendys opened in Whitby last year and closed last month due to lack of customers..
Were they all dead?
In Whitby, having the dead as your customer base might be a viable business plan.
The Romford branch limps on, and is probably has a healthier menu than you-know-who. But my daughters are creeped out by their mascot.
The living are just the dead on holiday
Who would want a shitburger over a nice fish supper, simple.
Yeah, when we go to Whitby we never think ‘I’ll get a mass produced crap burger from a US franchise’
Last time I was in Whitby I walked into the Magpie Cafe and got a table instantly - the place is not as busy as it used to be
Same here, but it was about 3PM in the afternoon and we got a seat upstairs. Cracking fish and chips too. Certainly a step up from the M&S meal deal last night.
Whitby is one of those places I find the Park and Ride is excellent.
We need to plan our next visit.
N Yorks Moors Railway starts at Whitby. V nice day out
We plan to do it in April.
For my birthday last year one of the treats was the Pullan dining car from Grosmont into Pickering North.
It was fantastic.
A fair few people were dressed in twenties clothing as there was an event on on Pickering.
There’s going to be a shortage of helium critical for hospital MRI machines and for manufacturing advanced chips like those from NVIDIA Corp after damage to a major gas facility in Qatar, Bloomberg reports.
Fees will also rise. Suppliers are prioritising healthcare.
AEP does the fertiliser situation in Telegraph today.
There’s going to be a shortage of helium critical for hospital MRI machines and for manufacturing advanced chips like those from NVIDIA Corp after damage to a major gas facility in Qatar, Bloomberg reports.
Fees will also rise. Suppliers are prioritising healthcare.
I'm told the chip/disk shortage, partly due to a buy up by cloud providers, partly due to the helium shortage has put up disk array costs by around 50% in the last month, with 80% expected to be incoming shortly.
Well, not zero. The video specifically opposes the racism and division that so much of our politics is about. It speaks for our common humanity.
@NickPalmer has observed in the past that people choose their vote much more via vibe than by totting up a balance sheet of policies and cooly comparing to other parties.
They ask themselves "is this a party that matches my values? Is this a party that gets my issues and will speak for me?"
That is how Polanski is doing so well. The message is a very positive one, of hope, and one unafraid to speak for pluralism and modern Britain. This is a unique approach in current politics.
Really?
At the Spring Conference the Greens are voting on a motion opposing the government's proposals to fight racism and anti-semitism in the NHS. Who's that positive and hopeful for? Racists and anti-semites presumably. It's certainly representative of a very unpleasant aspect of modern Britain - the way anti-semitism has become embedded in once respectable organisations and professions.
Polanski has also refused to condemn members of the public going from door to door canvassing for a boycott of Israel and its goods, and noting down those who disagree. He did not understand why this might seem frightening and sinister to Jewish people. And no this is not like normal political canvassing.
Nor has he condemned his deputy, Mothin Ali, who attacked a Jewish university chaplain, forcing him to go into hiding and whose wife received rape threats. Ali recently attended a demonstration protesting against attacks on the Iranian regime which has slaughtered tens of thousands of its citizens, is executing children as young as 14, rapes women prisoners as a matter of course and did this so violently to two nurses who helped those wounded by the regime that they lost part of their intestines and, in one case, their uterus.
Perhaps this is what some have called the Green Party’s “fresh new ideas”. To this jaded eye, they rather resemble some older, very sour ideas, whose impact on ordinary people is well-described in Sally Carson’s novel “Crooked Cross”, written in the 1930’s after her time in Germany. She wrote that as a warning, not a manual to be followed.
As you should know. You recommended it.
I concur entirely. I'm afraid you are wasting your time with the pb blokes however. They just don't wanna know.
Not all here. I agree too. They are a very dangerous party.
There’s going to be a shortage of helium critical for hospital MRI machines and for manufacturing advanced chips like those from NVIDIA Corp after damage to a major gas facility in Qatar, Bloomberg reports.
Fees will also rise. Suppliers are prioritising healthcare.
AEP does the fertiliser situation in Telegraph today.
The growth of both Reform and the Greens show that people have simply lost all faith in the mainstream parties. They are simply not delivering and haven't for a long time. People are exasperated and lashing out. That reluctance to make "tough" decisions that @Taz mentioned at the end of the previous thread has caused something approaching a disaster, a State that works for those employed by it and for very few others.
Both Labour and the Tories (the Lib Dems are a lost cause) need to wake up and start to deal with reality or reality will finish with them.
I think there is still a way forward for something I can only really term “radical centrism” and indeed I think it’s the only thing that can really get us out of our current predicament.
I don’t think a majority of the electorate really want the divisive rhetoric of Reform or the Greens but they do want things to be done differently to how they have been - and both parties promise that. They’ve been let down so much by the two main parties that they are looking for an alternative.
What we really need is someone who is unafraid of making big, bold, reforming decisions but who does not subscribe to the divisive viewpoints. I think the public will broadly accept reform of institutions like the NHS, planning and regulatory system, welfare state, asylum and immigration system, relationship with Europe, defence spending etc etc so long as they feel that the person behind it has a bold vision and a plan to make things better - on the centre right or centre left. Of course, such figures are sadly lacking from our politics at the moment. But it’s the emergence of figures like these that are what western economies really need in the next decade.
We need to invest and trade our way out of the mess. So much of the high cost low value nature of so many sectors is because of partisan bickering moving the goalposts. This happens because we have completely lost our way as to who we are and where we want to go.
More trade does not mean selling off everything. We need to get back to actually having British industrial giants capable of building the stuff we need. Start with steel, then car, train and shipbuilding, electronics, consumer goods etc. Harnessing both whats left of the north sea fossils and the growing wind & solar capacity. With turbines built here.
It means that we need to actual educate, train and equip my kids generation to go out and compete with the world. All we equip them with today is debt that is almost impossible to repay. And don't get me started on the NHS bonfire where we can't propose to axe the endless layers of administrators because aren't our nurses marvellous? Not that we train nurses anymore.
The challenge is "where do we get the money". To which my answer remains CAPITALISM. Borrow. Invest. ROI. Today we borrow and throw it on the bonfire. Throw a little less into the flames and buy a fire hose. An increase in cost briefly to greatly decrease it longer term.
It just needs vision, to accept that we're in a mess and a change is needed. I cited 3 great reforms - Liberal, Labour, Tory. We need a 4th, and it won't be from those daft fukers in Reform or the Islamo-Commies in Green... Trade is the solution to the gulf mess, to the American mess, to the refugee mess.
Trade. Free fucking trade. Make stuff. Sell stuff. The Rest Will Flow.
Yep. Trade is good, [cliche] which is why Brexit is and remains a ball and chain around our ankle [hackneyed metaphor] . We are the nation that sanctiond ourselves [hackneyed metaphor], then complain about the lack of trade.
It's always funny reading remoaner arguments. There's never any figures, there's not even a simple explanation of how x has resulted in y. Just a heap of meaningless metaphors and cliches loosely held together by wounded spite. They cannot make a proper argument because there isn't one.
Brexit created barriers to trade. There, that's your simple explanation of how x has resulted in y.
I need to send food samples UK to NL. Parcel Farce would send it to the moon by accident. DHL won't do food to EU because paperwork. USP will - but its faff - for £££
I heard your political journey has moved on apace and you're now a Tory! When did this happen and what was it that attracted you to the the subtle charms of Kemi?
Rochdale is a radical pragmatist, and I share something of that impulse. It hasn't led me to consider voting Tory for decades, and I can't see it next time round either.
I have heard of people 'crossing the floor' but to do it as often and as erratically as Rochdale is quite something! Maybe it's a car thing?
Really, the odder thing would be to remain tribally wedded to one party or point of view for years, refusing to consider any others. All mainstream parties have something to recommend them, and the world changes, and our points of view change too. Parties aren't teams that we support or oppose like brainless football supporters - they're articulations of a certain fluid set of points of view.
The growth of both Reform and the Greens show that people have simply lost all faith in the mainstream parties. They are simply not delivering and haven't for a long time. People are exasperated and lashing out. That reluctance to make "tough" decisions that @Taz mentioned at the end of the previous thread has caused something approaching a disaster, a State that works for those employed by it and for very few others.
Both Labour and the Tories (the Lib Dems are a lost cause) need to wake up and start to deal with reality or reality will finish with them.
I think there is still a way forward for something I can only really term “radical centrism” and indeed I think it’s the only thing that can really get us out of our current predicament.
I don’t think a majority of the electorate really want the divisive rhetoric of Reform or the Greens but they do want things to be done differently to how they have been - and both parties promise that. They’ve been let down so much by the two main parties that they are looking for an alternative.
What we really need is someone who is unafraid of making big, bold, reforming decisions but who does not subscribe to the divisive viewpoints. I think the public will broadly accept reform of institutions like the NHS, planning and regulatory system, welfare state, asylum and immigration system, relationship with Europe, defence spending etc etc so long as they feel that the person behind it has a bold vision and a plan to make things better - on the centre right or centre left. Of course, such figures are sadly lacking from our politics at the moment. But it’s the emergence of figures like these that are what western economies really need in the next decade.
We need to invest and trade our way out of the mess. So much of the high cost low value nature of so many sectors is because of partisan bickering moving the goalposts. This happens because we have completely lost our way as to who we are and where we want to go.
More trade does not mean selling off everything. We need to get back to actually having British industrial giants capable of building the stuff we need. Start with steel, then car, train and shipbuilding, electronics, consumer goods etc. Harnessing both whats left of the north sea fossils and the growing wind & solar capacity. With turbines built here.
It means that we need to actual educate, train and equip my kids generation to go out and compete with the world. All we equip them with today is debt that is almost impossible to repay. And don't get me started on the NHS bonfire where we can't propose to axe the endless layers of administrators because aren't our nurses marvellous? Not that we train nurses anymore.
The challenge is "where do we get the money". To which my answer remains CAPITALISM. Borrow. Invest. ROI. Today we borrow and throw it on the bonfire. Throw a little less into the flames and buy a fire hose. An increase in cost briefly to greatly decrease it longer term.
It just needs vision, to accept that we're in a mess and a change is needed. I cited 3 great reforms - Liberal, Labour, Tory. We need a 4th, and it won't be from those daft fukers in Reform or the Islamo-Commies in Green... Trade is the solution to the gulf mess, to the American mess, to the refugee mess.
Trade. Free fucking trade. Make stuff. Sell stuff. The Rest Will Flow.
Yep. Trade is good, [cliche] which is why Brexit is and remains a ball and chain around our ankle [hackneyed metaphor] . We are the nation that sanctiond ourselves [hackneyed metaphor], then complain about the lack of trade.
It's always funny reading remoaner arguments. There's never any figures, there's not even a simple explanation of how x has resulted in y. Just a heap of meaningless metaphors and cliches loosely held together by wounded spite. They cannot make a proper argument because there isn't one.
Brexit created barriers to trade. There, that's your simple explanation of how x has resulted in y.
I need to send food samples UK to NL. Parcel Farce would send it to the moon by accident. DHL won't do food to EU because paperwork. USP will - but its faff - for £££
I heard your political journey has moved on apace and you're now a Tory! When did this happen and what was it that attracted you to the the subtle charms of Kemi?
Rochdale is a radical pragmatist, and I share something of that impulse. It hasn't led me to consider voting Tory for decades, and I can't see it next time round either.
I have heard of people 'crossing the floor' but to do it as often and as erratically as Rochdale is quite something! Maybe it's a car thing?
Really, the odder thing would be to remain tribally wedded to one party or point of view for years, refusing to consider any others. All mainstream parties have something to recommend them, and the world changes, and our points of view change too. Parties aren't teams that we support or oppose like brainless football supporters - they're articulations of a certain fluid set of points of view.
Also, parties change in themselves. I eagerly supported the confident determined Thatcherite Tory party of the 80s. I grudgingly respected aspects of their performance in the 90s
But when the pathetic wet lying Lib Dem Cameron took office I went right off them, and it’s only got worse ever since. I now actively loathe them and believe they need to die, and be replaced by a proper right wing party
Which is a bit unfair on Kemi, I quite like her and she’s doing OK. But the brand is Ratnered
There’s going to be a shortage of helium critical for hospital MRI machines and for manufacturing advanced chips like those from NVIDIA Corp after damage to a major gas facility in Qatar, Bloomberg reports.
Fees will also rise. Suppliers are prioritising healthcare.
I'm told the chip/disk shortage, partly due to a buy up by cloud providers, partly due to the helium shortage has put up disk array costs by around 50% in the last month, with 80% expected to be incoming shortly.
And for those that don't know, the helium shortage relates to the reduction in the production of natural gas. Helium occurs as the result of radiative decay n the earth and gets trapped in the natural gas formations as it makes its way up. So nearly all Helium used is captured from natural gas.
This will affect a range of industries. Not just party balloons.
Oxford Instruments was doing some good work with high temperature (liquid nitrogen temperature) superconductors. I wonder where they have got to, by now?
Are you Paul Mason? You’re almost as fruitlessly repetitive and have been on a similar journey from Jezzaism to whatever jellyfish entity Starmer embodies. Don”t think he’s ever said he’d vote Reform to stymy the Greens yet, but who knows how the kaleidoscope will shake out.
That's a bit unfair. I don't think Horse was ever Jezzaist. He's always favoured Labour overall but has always been willing to criticise them and/or praise other parties. I'd say he'd been pretty consistent.
There’s going to be a shortage of helium critical for hospital MRI machines and for manufacturing advanced chips like those from NVIDIA Corp after damage to a major gas facility in Qatar, Bloomberg reports.
Fees will also rise. Suppliers are prioritising healthcare.
AEP does the fertiliser situation in Telegraph today.
Why isn't the crude oil market substantially higher ($150+), like many are asking? I would argue that the market believes the military can open the Strait . But it will be "messy."
Are you Paul Mason? You’re almost as fruitlessly repetitive and have been on a similar journey from Jezzaism to whatever jellyfish entity Starmer embodies. Don”t think he’s ever said he’d vote Reform to stymy the Greens yet, but who knows how the kaleidoscope will shake out.
That's a bit unfair. I don't think Horse was ever Jezzaist. He's always favoured Labour overall but has always been willing to criticise them and/or praise other parties. I'd say he'd been pretty consistent.
Dunno, Istr him referring to his past Corbyn enthusiasm regretfully. In any case my main point is that repeatedly bleating about the Greens and NATO is about as much use as all the other Labour strategies to ‘get their voters back’, ie fuck all.
The outcomes from the Gulf blockade are starting to look very bad - oil and gas shortages, fertilizer and so food shortages, computer chip shortages, high inflation in the next two years. This could mean that eventually a military solution will have to be considered, with a ground occupation of Iran.
This might not necessarily be US led, as India, China, and many other countries will have their own reasons to be concerned. We appear to be heading into World War III, in the sense that if the blockage continues it will have worldwide effects and it could lead to a world war.
Are you Paul Mason? You’re almost as fruitlessly repetitive and have been on a similar journey from Jezzaism to whatever jellyfish entity Starmer embodies. Don”t think he’s ever said he’d vote Reform to stymy the Greens yet, but who knows how the kaleidoscope will shake out.
That's a bit unfair. I don't think Horse was ever Jezzaist. He's always favoured Labour overall but has always been willing to criticise them and/or praise other parties. I'd say he'd been pretty consistent.
Dunno, Istr him referring to his past Corbyn enthusiasm regretfully. In any case my main point is that repeatedly bleating about the Greens and NATO is about as much use as all the other Labour strategies to ‘get their voters back’, ie fuck all.
I regretted supporting Labour in 2019 over anti-Semitism and in hindsight their position over defence (although they weren’t openly against NATO although I accept Corbyn was).
But I have consistently said I didn’t like that manifesto and thought it was too extreme for my own politics. 2017 was closer to that.
I’m pretty solidly centre/centre left. But I’d be minded to vote for a Tory party aimed at my age group. And certainly I’d vote against any Rayner-led Labour.
@NickPalmer has observed in the past that people choose their vote much more via vibe than by totting up a balance sheet of policies and cooly comparing to other parties.
Indeed. Two points to support that
The recent movement by @RochdalePioneers from the LDs, based on the personalities of Cons
The frequently-noted failure of "deliverism": the belief that if a set of popular policies is enacted successfully then the voter will reward them. Biden thought that and it didn't work. Starmer (well, those who write his thoughts for him: I've just given up totally) also "thinks" that and given the polls that isn't working either.
There’s going to be a shortage of helium critical for hospital MRI machines and for manufacturing advanced chips like those from NVIDIA Corp after damage to a major gas facility in Qatar, Bloomberg reports.
Fees will also rise. Suppliers are prioritising healthcare.
I'm told the chip/disk shortage, partly due to a buy up by cloud providers, partly due to the helium shortage has put up disk array costs by around 50% in the last month, with 80% expected to be incoming shortly.
And for those that don't know, the helium shortage relates to the reduction in the production of natural gas. Helium occurs as the result of radiative decay n the earth and gets trapped in the natural gas formations as it makes its way up. So nearly all Helium used is captured from natural gas.
This will affect a range of industries. Not just party balloons.
Oxford Instruments was doing some good work with high temperature (liquid nitrogen temperature) superconductors. I wonder where they have got to, by now?
NMR world is very aware of the helium challenges too.
The outcomes from the Gulf blockade are starting to look very bad - oil and gas shortages, fertilizer and so food shortages, computer chip shortages, high inflation in the next two years. This could mean that eventually a military solution will have to be considered, with a ground occupation of Iran.
This might not necessarily be US led, as India, China, and many other countries will have their own reasons to be concerned. We appear to be heading into World War III, in the sense that if the blockage continues it will have worldwide effects and it could lead to a world war.
Let’s put this in small words everyone can understand - we can’t invade Iran successfully, so we just need to find a way for them to step back and think of the money.
To say Trump screwed up would be a slight understatement
The outcomes from the Gulf blockade are starting to look very bad - oil and gas shortages, fertilizer and so food shortages, computer chip shortages, high inflation in the next two years. This could mean that eventually a military solution will have to be considered, with a ground occupation of Iran.
This might not necessarily be US led, as India, China, and many other countries will have their own reasons to be concerned. We appear to be heading into World War III, in the sense that if the blockage continues it will have worldwide effects and it could lead to a world war.
Or - it could unite the world into pounding Iran into a thick paste.
How are we not involved when we permit B52s to fly to bomb Iran from Fairford and Diego Garcia, have active RAF missions in the theatre taking down missiles, sending warships to the area, and in discussions over the straights of Hormuz
Italy and Spain however can claim they are not involved as they have banned all use of their bases and air space by the US
You've been told why a zillion times.
The definition between bombing civilian areas and clearly defined military installations.
If you can't grasp that you have a limited iq.
You clearly have an advanced iq.
You are just spinning political crap therefore to deliberately mislead
The modern day political right.
Tell a lie often enough to con the intellectually challenged.
The outcomes from the Gulf blockade are starting to look very bad - oil and gas shortages, fertilizer and so food shortages, computer chip shortages, high inflation in the next two years. This could mean that eventually a military solution will have to be considered, with a ground occupation of Iran.
This might not necessarily be US led, as India, China, and many other countries will have their own reasons to be concerned. We appear to be heading into World War III, in the sense that if the blockage continues it will have worldwide effects and it could lead to a world war.
Or - it could unite the world into pounding Iran into a thick paste.
@NickPalmer has observed in the past that people choose their vote much more via vibe than by totting up a balance sheet of policies and cooly comparing to other parties.
Indeed. Two points to support that
The recent movement by @RochdalePioneers from the LDs, based on the personalities of Cons
The frequently-noted failure of "deliverism": the belief that if a set of popular policies is enacted successfully then the voter will reward them. Biden thought that and it didn't work. Starmer (well, those who write his thoughts for him: I've just given up totally) also "thinks" that and given the polls that isn't working either.
Not sure that Rochdale has moved from the libdems at all.
The outcomes from the Gulf blockade are starting to look very bad - oil and gas shortages, fertilizer and so food shortages, computer chip shortages, high inflation in the next two years. This could mean that eventually a military solution will have to be considered, with a ground occupation of Iran.
This might not necessarily be US led, as India, China, and many other countries will have their own reasons to be concerned. We appear to be heading into World War III, in the sense that if the blockage continues it will have worldwide effects and it could lead to a world war.
I am reliably informed there are fuel issues in Thailand, eg shortage of diesel. Not serious, but concerning (as opposed to alarming!)
@NickPalmer has observed in the past that people choose their vote much more via vibe than by totting up a balance sheet of policies and cooly comparing to other parties.
Indeed. Two points to support that
The recent movement by @RochdalePioneers from the LDs, based on the personalities of Cons
The frequently-noted failure of "deliverism": the belief that if a set of popular policies is enacted successfully then the voter will reward them. Biden thought that and it didn't work. Starmer (well, those who write his thoughts for him: I've just given up totally) also "thinks" that and given the polls that isn't working either.
I would argue that you actually have to do the "enacted successfully" part to be able to say "deliverism failed", and I don't feel like Starmer has done that...
There’s going to be a shortage of helium critical for hospital MRI machines and for manufacturing advanced chips like those from NVIDIA Corp after damage to a major gas facility in Qatar, Bloomberg reports.
Fees will also rise. Suppliers are prioritising healthcare.
I'm told the chip/disk shortage, partly due to a buy up by cloud providers, partly due to the helium shortage has put up disk array costs by around 50% in the last month, with 80% expected to be incoming shortly.
And for those that don't know, the helium shortage relates to the reduction in the production of natural gas. Helium occurs as the result of radiative decay n the earth and gets trapped in the natural gas formations as it makes its way up. So nearly all Helium used is captured from natural gas.
This will affect a range of industries. Not just party balloons.
Oxford Instruments was doing some good work with high temperature (liquid nitrogen temperature) superconductors. I wonder where they have got to, by now?
NMR world is very aware of the helium challenges too.
Hence my mention of Oxford instruments. I seem to recall they've done very good work with room temperature *non-superconducting* systems for science purposes. Is that right?
The growth of both Reform and the Greens show that people have simply lost all faith in the mainstream parties. They are simply not delivering and haven't for a long time. People are exasperated and lashing out. That reluctance to make "tough" decisions that @Taz mentioned at the end of the previous thread has caused something approaching a disaster, a State that works for those employed by it and for very few others.
Both Labour and the Tories (the Lib Dems are a lost cause) need to wake up and start to deal with reality or reality will finish with them.
I think there is still a way forward for something I can only really term “radical centrism” and indeed I think it’s the only thing that can really get us out of our current predicament.
I don’t think a majority of the electorate really want the divisive rhetoric of Reform or the Greens but they do want things to be done differently to how they have been - and both parties promise that. They’ve been let down so much by the two main parties that they are looking for an alternative.
What we really need is someone who is unafraid of making big, bold, reforming decisions but who does not subscribe to the divisive viewpoints. I think the public will broadly accept reform of institutions like the NHS, planning and regulatory system, welfare state, asylum and immigration system, relationship with Europe, defence spending etc etc so long as they feel that the person behind it has a bold vision and a plan to make things better - on the centre right or centre left. Of course, such figures are sadly lacking from our politics at the moment. But it’s the emergence of figures like these that are what western economies really need in the next decade.
We need to invest and trade our way out of the mess. So much of the high cost low value nature of so many sectors is because of partisan bickering moving the goalposts. This happens because we have completely lost our way as to who we are and where we want to go.
More trade does not mean selling off everything. We need to get back to actually having British industrial giants capable of building the stuff we need. Start with steel, then car, train and shipbuilding, electronics, consumer goods etc. Harnessing both whats left of the north sea fossils and the growing wind & solar capacity. With turbines built here.
It means that we need to actual educate, train and equip my kids generation to go out and compete with the world. All we equip them with today is debt that is almost impossible to repay. And don't get me started on the NHS bonfire where we can't propose to axe the endless layers of administrators because aren't our nurses marvellous? Not that we train nurses anymore.
The challenge is "where do we get the money". To which my answer remains CAPITALISM. Borrow. Invest. ROI. Today we borrow and throw it on the bonfire. Throw a little less into the flames and buy a fire hose. An increase in cost briefly to greatly decrease it longer term.
It just needs vision, to accept that we're in a mess and a change is needed. I cited 3 great reforms - Liberal, Labour, Tory. We need a 4th, and it won't be from those daft fukers in Reform or the Islamo-Commies in Green... Trade is the solution to the gulf mess, to the American mess, to the refugee mess.
Trade. Free fucking trade. Make stuff. Sell stuff. The Rest Will Flow.
Yep. Trade is good, [cliche] which is why Brexit is and remains a ball and chain around our ankle [hackneyed metaphor] . We are the nation that sanctiond ourselves [hackneyed metaphor], then complain about the lack of trade.
It's always funny reading remoaner arguments. There's never any figures, there's not even a simple explanation of how x has resulted in y. Just a heap of meaningless metaphors and cliches loosely held together by wounded spite. They cannot make a proper argument because there isn't one.
Brexit created barriers to trade. There, that's your simple explanation of how x has resulted in y.
I need to send food samples UK to NL. Parcel Farce would send it to the moon by accident. DHL won't do food to EU because paperwork. USP will - but its faff - for £££
I heard your political journey has moved on apace and you're now a Tory! When did this happen and what was it that attracted you to the the subtle charms of Kemi?
Rochdale is a radical pragmatist, and I share something of that impulse. It hasn't led me to consider voting Tory for decades, and I can't see it next time round either.
I have heard of people 'crossing the floor' but to do it as often and as erratically as Rochdale is quite something! Maybe it's a car thing?
Really, the odder thing would be to remain tribally wedded to one party or point of view for years, refusing to consider any others. All mainstream parties have something to recommend them, and the world changes, and our points of view change too. Parties aren't teams that we support or oppose like brainless football supporters - they're articulations of a certain fluid set of points of view.
I don't think that's how it works. We have essential values and we attribute those to the Party we vote for. I believe that you could ask five questions not connected with party politics and you could guess which party the person would vote for. And I think they would more or less stay the same throughout the person's life. The same goes for Remain and Leave. It's slightly more complicated than it used to be but within a ballpark
How are we not involved when we permit B52s to fly to bomb Iran from Fairford and Diego Garcia, have active RAF missions in the theatre taking down missiles, sending warships to the area, and in discussions over the straights of Hormuz
Italy and Spain however can claim they are not involved as they have banned all use of their bases and air space by the US
You've been told why a zillion times.
The definition between bombing civilian areas and clearly defined military installations.
If you can't grasp that you have a limited iq.
You clearly have an advanced iq.
You are just spinning political crap therefore to deliberately mislead
The modern day political right.
Tell a lie often enough to con the intellectually challenged.
As opposed to your lies about North Sea oil, eh?
The Iranians will not notice the difference between
@NickPalmer has observed in the past that people choose their vote much more via vibe than by totting up a balance sheet of policies and cooly comparing to other parties.
Indeed. Two points to support that
The recent movement by @RochdalePioneers from the LDs, based on the personalities of Cons
The frequently-noted failure of "deliverism": the belief that if a set of popular policies is enacted successfully then the voter will reward them. Biden thought that and it didn't work. Starmer (well, those who write his thoughts for him: I've just given up totally) also "thinks" that and given the polls that isn't working either.
Not sure that Rochdale has moved from the libdems at all.
The outcomes from the Gulf blockade are starting to look very bad - oil and gas shortages, fertilizer and so food shortages, computer chip shortages, high inflation in the next two years. This could mean that eventually a military solution will have to be considered, with a ground occupation of Iran.
This might not necessarily be US led, as India, China, and many other countries will have their own reasons to be concerned. We appear to be heading into World War III, in the sense that if the blockage continues it will have worldwide effects and it could lead to a world war.
I am reliably informed there are fuel issues in Thailand, eg shortage of diesel. Not serious, but concerning (as opposed to alarming!)
Given nothing is getting through the Strait I would be making sure you family has got what it needs now. Best to have a full tank then discovering an issue later
How are we not involved when we permit B52s to fly to bomb Iran from Fairford and Diego Garcia, have active RAF missions in the theatre taking down missiles, sending warships to the area, and in discussions over the straights of Hormuz
Italy and Spain however can claim they are not involved as they have banned all use of their bases and air space by the US
You've been told why a zillion times.
The definition between bombing civilian areas and clearly defined military installations.
If you can't grasp that you have a limited iq.
You clearly have an advanced iq.
You are just spinning political crap therefore to deliberately mislead
The modern day political right.
Tell a lie often enough to con the intellectually challenged.
I am definitely not of the political right and you are quite the most outstanding poster on here for spinning political c..p
The outcomes from the Gulf blockade are starting to look very bad - oil and gas shortages, fertilizer and so food shortages, computer chip shortages, high inflation in the next two years. This could mean that eventually a military solution will have to be considered, with a ground occupation of Iran.
This might not necessarily be US led, as India, China, and many other countries will have their own reasons to be concerned. We appear to be heading into World War III, in the sense that if the blockage continues it will have worldwide effects and it could lead to a world war.
I am reliably informed there are fuel issues in Thailand, eg shortage of diesel. Not serious, but concerning (as opposed to alarming!)
The outcomes from the Gulf blockade are starting to look very bad - oil and gas shortages, fertilizer and so food shortages, computer chip shortages, high inflation in the next two years. This could mean that eventually a military solution will have to be considered, with a ground occupation of Iran.
This might not necessarily be US led, as India, China, and many other countries will have their own reasons to be concerned. We appear to be heading into World War III, in the sense that if the blockage continues it will have worldwide effects and it could lead to a world war.
Bad News, Good news (ho ho).
If it is WWIII then the red heifers the some US evangelists have been breeding will come in useful. But if there is no Third Coming, we can eat them instead.
The growth of both Reform and the Greens show that people have simply lost all faith in the mainstream parties. They are simply not delivering and haven't for a long time. People are exasperated and lashing out. That reluctance to make "tough" decisions that @Taz mentioned at the end of the previous thread has caused something approaching a disaster, a State that works for those employed by it and for very few others.
Both Labour and the Tories (the Lib Dems are a lost cause) need to wake up and start to deal with reality or reality will finish with them.
I think there is still a way forward for something I can only really term “radical centrism” and indeed I think it’s the only thing that can really get us out of our current predicament.
I don’t think a majority of the electorate really want the divisive rhetoric of Reform or the Greens but they do want things to be done differently to how they have been - and both parties promise that. They’ve been let down so much by the two main parties that they are looking for an alternative.
What we really need is someone who is unafraid of making big, bold, reforming decisions but who does not subscribe to the divisive viewpoints. I think the public will broadly accept reform of institutions like the NHS, planning and regulatory system, welfare state, asylum and immigration system, relationship with Europe, defence spending etc etc so long as they feel that the person behind it has a bold vision and a plan to make things better - on the centre right or centre left. Of course, such figures are sadly lacking from our politics at the moment. But it’s the emergence of figures like these that are what western economies really need in the next decade.
We need to invest and trade our way out of the mess. So much of the high cost low value nature of so many sectors is because of partisan bickering moving the goalposts. This happens because we have completely lost our way as to who we are and where we want to go.
More trade does not mean selling off everything. We need to get back to actually having British industrial giants capable of building the stuff we need. Start with steel, then car, train and shipbuilding, electronics, consumer goods etc. Harnessing both whats left of the north sea fossils and the growing wind & solar capacity. With turbines built here.
It means that we need to actual educate, train and equip my kids generation to go out and compete with the world. All we equip them with today is debt that is almost impossible to repay. And don't get me started on the NHS bonfire where we can't propose to axe the endless layers of administrators because aren't our nurses marvellous? Not that we train nurses anymore.
The challenge is "where do we get the money". To which my answer remains CAPITALISM. Borrow. Invest. ROI. Today we borrow and throw it on the bonfire. Throw a little less into the flames and buy a fire hose. An increase in cost briefly to greatly decrease it longer term.
It just needs vision, to accept that we're in a mess and a change is needed. I cited 3 great reforms - Liberal, Labour, Tory. We need a 4th, and it won't be from those daft fukers in Reform or the Islamo-Commies in Green... Trade is the solution to the gulf mess, to the American mess, to the refugee mess.
Trade. Free fucking trade. Make stuff. Sell stuff. The Rest Will Flow.
Yep. Trade is good, [cliche] which is why Brexit is and remains a ball and chain around our ankle [hackneyed metaphor] . We are the nation that sanctiond ourselves [hackneyed metaphor], then complain about the lack of trade.
It's always funny reading remoaner arguments. There's never any figures, there's not even a simple explanation of how x has resulted in y. Just a heap of meaningless metaphors and cliches loosely held together by wounded spite. They cannot make a proper argument because there isn't one.
Brexit created barriers to trade. There, that's your simple explanation of how x has resulted in y.
I need to send food samples UK to NL. Parcel Farce would send it to the moon by accident. DHL won't do food to EU because paperwork. USP will - but its faff - for £££
I heard your political journey has moved on apace and you're now a Tory! When did this happen and what was it that attracted you to the the subtle charms of Kemi?
Rochdale is a radical pragmatist, and I share something of that impulse. It hasn't led me to consider voting Tory for decades, and I can't see it next time round either.
I have heard of people 'crossing the floor' but to do it as often and as erratically as Rochdale is quite something! Maybe it's a car thing?
Really, the odder thing would be to remain tribally wedded to one party or point of view for years, refusing to consider any others. All mainstream parties have something to recommend them, and the world changes, and our points of view change too. Parties aren't teams that we support or oppose like brainless football supporters - they're articulations of a certain fluid set of points of view.
I don't think that's how it works. We have essential values and we attribute those to the Party we vote for. I believe that you could ask five questions not connected with party politics and you could guess which party the person would vote for. And I think they would more or less stay the same throughout the person's life. The same goes for Remain and Leave. It's slightly more complicated than it used to be but within a ballpark
With respect, I think you might be generalising from yourself a bit. You are pretty firmly and instinctively left wing, and also (and this is not the same thing) pretty firmly and instinctively anti-right-wing. This is not in itself a bad thing - but I think people who do that tend not to hear contrary views so much IRL because people are naturally conciliatory and don't like to spring instinctively to an argument. You tend to favour Labour, apart from the times when the Labour Party is insufficiently left wing for you. But I don't think most people are anything like so firmly entrenched. I think the majority of people view politics issue by issue rather than through the prism of party politics, and come to their views gradually rather than instinctively. Even when they habitually vote for one party, it is not out of that-party-good-other-parties-bad but more an on-balance-still-that-one view. A good friend of mine - an intelligent and thoughtful woman - has voted for six different parties at the last six GEs.
A toddler returned to his mother with burns on each leg after being held by Israeli forces - with a doctor describing them as marks of "torture" likely caused by deliberate cigarette burns.
Jawad Abu Nassar was detained alongside his father in central Gaza a week ago and returned to his family alone, 10 hours later.
The outcomes from the Gulf blockade are starting to look very bad - oil and gas shortages, fertilizer and so food shortages, computer chip shortages, high inflation in the next two years. This could mean that eventually a military solution will have to be considered, with a ground occupation of Iran.
This might not necessarily be US led, as India, China, and many other countries will have their own reasons to be concerned. We appear to be heading into World War III, in the sense that if the blockage continues it will have worldwide effects and it could lead to a world war.
Bad News, Good news (ho ho).
If it is WWIII then the red heifers the some US evangelists have been breeding will come in useful. But if there is no Third Coming, we can eat them instead.
As you know I had a family emergency last week and spent time in hotels and visiting hospital. When this happens I habitually buy books to while away the time between visiting hours or in hotels. One of them was the latest paperback of "Get In", by Maguire and Pogrund.
The latest version of "Get In" has an addendum entitled "The Passive Premiership", detailing Labour's first year in power. They make disquieting conclusions: Starmer is intellectually incurious, reads conscienciously but does not react to the content, does not generate ideas of his own and simply cannot[1] make a decision even when important.
If you think I am wrong in believing that there is something wrong internally with Starmer that renders him unfit to be PM, you may want to read that addendum. It's not just me at this point and it's becoming obvious.
[1] An example not in the book was during the US/Iran war, when he literally could not decide until Miliband et al told him what to decide, and then Brits had to advise the Americans what to get Trump to say to him to change his mind.
How are we not involved when we permit B52s to fly to bomb Iran from Fairford and Diego Garcia, have active RAF missions in the theatre taking down missiles, sending warships to the area, and in discussions over the straights of Hormuz
Italy and Spain however can claim they are not involved as they have banned all use of their bases and air space by the US
You are being being especially disingenuous here for your own political partisan purposes.
You would be quite comfortable for Fairford and Diego Garcia to be used were Kemi Badenoch Prime Minister (ludicrous whataboutery, I know). And you would be waving Kemi's flag for her idea of joining in the successful first strikes on the conclave of Mullahs, and that means the collateral fall out from the missile hit on the girls school.
It is one thing to call out Starmer for his undoubted errors whilst PM, but calling him out for doing too much when your team would have done far more is frankly ridiculous.
The growth of both Reform and the Greens show that people have simply lost all faith in the mainstream parties. They are simply not delivering and haven't for a long time. People are exasperated and lashing out. That reluctance to make "tough" decisions that @Taz mentioned at the end of the previous thread has caused something approaching a disaster, a State that works for those employed by it and for very few others.
Both Labour and the Tories (the Lib Dems are a lost cause) need to wake up and start to deal with reality or reality will finish with them.
I think there is still a way forward for something I can only really term “radical centrism” and indeed I think it’s the only thing that can really get us out of our current predicament.
I don’t think a majority of the electorate really want the divisive rhetoric of Reform or the Greens but they do want things to be done differently to how they have been - and both parties promise that. They’ve been let down so much by the two main parties that they are looking for an alternative.
What we really need is someone who is unafraid of making big, bold, reforming decisions but who does not subscribe to the divisive viewpoints. I think the public will broadly accept reform of institutions like the NHS, planning and regulatory system, welfare state, asylum and immigration system, relationship with Europe, defence spending etc etc so long as they feel that the person behind it has a bold vision and a plan to make things better - on the centre right or centre left. Of course, such figures are sadly lacking from our politics at the moment. But it’s the emergence of figures like these that are what western economies really need in the next decade.
We need to invest and trade our way out of the mess. So much of the high cost low value nature of so many sectors is because of partisan bickering moving the goalposts. This happens because we have completely lost our way as to who we are and where we want to go.
More trade does not mean selling off everything. We need to get back to actually having British industrial giants capable of building the stuff we need. Start with steel, then car, train and shipbuilding, electronics, consumer goods etc. Harnessing both whats left of the north sea fossils and the growing wind & solar capacity. With turbines built here.
It means that we need to actual educate, train and equip my kids generation to go out and compete with the world. All we equip them with today is debt that is almost impossible to repay. And don't get me started on the NHS bonfire where we can't propose to axe the endless layers of administrators because aren't our nurses marvellous? Not that we train nurses anymore.
The challenge is "where do we get the money". To which my answer remains CAPITALISM. Borrow. Invest. ROI. Today we borrow and throw it on the bonfire. Throw a little less into the flames and buy a fire hose. An increase in cost briefly to greatly decrease it longer term.
It just needs vision, to accept that we're in a mess and a change is needed. I cited 3 great reforms - Liberal, Labour, Tory. We need a 4th, and it won't be from those daft fukers in Reform or the Islamo-Commies in Green... Trade is the solution to the gulf mess, to the American mess, to the refugee mess.
Trade. Free fucking trade. Make stuff. Sell stuff. The Rest Will Flow.
Yep. Trade is good, [cliche] which is why Brexit is and remains a ball and chain around our ankle [hackneyed metaphor] . We are the nation that sanctiond ourselves [hackneyed metaphor], then complain about the lack of trade.
It's always funny reading remoaner arguments. There's never any figures, there's not even a simple explanation of how x has resulted in y. Just a heap of meaningless metaphors and cliches loosely held together by wounded spite. They cannot make a proper argument because there isn't one.
Brexit created barriers to trade. There, that's your simple explanation of how x has resulted in y.
I need to send food samples UK to NL. Parcel Farce would send it to the moon by accident. DHL won't do food to EU because paperwork. USP will - but its faff - for £££
I heard your political journey has moved on apace and you're now a Tory! When did this happen and what was it that attracted you to the the subtle charms of Kemi?
Rochdale is a radical pragmatist, and I share something of that impulse. It hasn't led me to consider voting Tory for decades, and I can't see it next time round either.
I have heard of people 'crossing the floor' but to do it as often and as erratically as Rochdale is quite something! Maybe it's a car thing?
Really, the odder thing would be to remain tribally wedded to one party or point of view for years, refusing to consider any others. All mainstream parties have something to recommend them, and the world changes, and our points of view change too. Parties aren't teams that we support or oppose like brainless football supporters - they're articulations of a certain fluid set of points of view.
I don't think that's how it works. We have essential values and we attribute those to the Party we vote for. I believe that you could ask five questions not connected with party politics and you could guess which party the person would vote for. And I think they would more or less stay the same throughout the person's life. The same goes for Remain and Leave. It's slightly more complicated than it used to be but within a ballpark
My belief system has remaind the same for the past fifty odd years since I was a Young Socialist. The Labour Party has gone from being a Democraric Socialist Party 10 year ago to being Reform Lite. Manhood is well to the Right of the Tories. SkS & Austerity Reeves are and always have been Thatcherite Tories. Starmer has no Lab tradition and only joined the Party for the first time 11 years ago.
@NickPalmer has observed in the past that people choose their vote much more via vibe than by totting up a balance sheet of policies and cooly comparing to other parties.
Indeed. Two points to support that
The recent movement by @RochdalePioneers from the LDs, based on the personalities of Cons
The frequently-noted failure of "deliverism": the belief that if a set of popular policies is enacted successfully then the voter will reward them. Biden thought that and it didn't work. Starmer (well, those who write his thoughts for him: I've just given up totally) also "thinks" that and given the polls that isn't working either.
Not sure that Rochdale has moved from the libdems at all.
I haven't.
Fair enough. It's too late to change the text, but consider it changed from this: "from the LDs, based on the personalities of Cons" to this: "towards the Cons, based on their personalities"
How are we not involved when we permit B52s to fly to bomb Iran from Fairford and Diego Garcia, have active RAF missions in the theatre taking down missiles, sending warships to the area, and in discussions over the straights of Hormuz
Italy and Spain however can claim they are not involved as they have banned all use of their bases and air space by the US
You are being being especially disingenuous here for your own political partisan purposes.
You would be quite comfortable for Fairford and Diego Garcia to be used were Kemi Badenoch Prime Minister (ludicrous whataboutery, I know). And you would be waving Kemi's flag for her idea of joining in the successful first strikes on the conclave of Mullahs, and that means the collateral fall out from the missile hit on the girls school.
It is one thing to call out Starmer for his undoubted errors whilst PM, but calling him out for doing too much when your team would have done far more is frankly ridiculous.
I am not calling him out for allowing the use of our bases but the idea we are not involved is an absurd concept
Kemi would have allowed the use of our bases immediately
She did not and never has said the UK would be active in the strikes on Iran but would attack launch sites to protect our interests if they came under attack
The outcomes from the Gulf blockade are starting to look very bad - oil and gas shortages, fertilizer and so food shortages, computer chip shortages, high inflation in the next two years. This could mean that eventually a military solution will have to be considered, with a ground occupation of Iran.
This might not necessarily be US led, as India, China, and many other countries will have their own reasons to be concerned. We appear to be heading into World War III, in the sense that if the blockage continues it will have worldwide effects and it could lead to a world war.
I am reliably informed there are fuel issues in Thailand, eg shortage of diesel. Not serious, but concerning (as opposed to alarming!)
Given nothing is getting through the Strait I would be making sure you family has got what it needs now. Best to have a full tank then discovering an issue later
My sister bought a BMW i3 yesterday - she was going to get something like it sometime this year as a runaround for nursery/shops etc and ended up just finding and getting one this week in case there are restrictions on petrol at some stage. Made sense to move it up, if nothing bad happens then it’s not a problem as she would be doing it at some point this year and if fuel is short then she will be laughing. So prepared for the worst but without having to do anything silly.
The outcomes from the Gulf blockade are starting to look very bad - oil and gas shortages, fertilizer and so food shortages, computer chip shortages, high inflation in the next two years. This could mean that eventually a military solution will have to be considered, with a ground occupation of Iran.
This might not necessarily be US led, as India, China, and many other countries will have their own reasons to be concerned. We appear to be heading into World War III, in the sense that if the blockage continues it will have worldwide effects and it could lead to a world war.
I am reliably informed there are fuel issues in Thailand, eg shortage of diesel. Not serious, but concerning (as opposed to alarming!)
They are talking about using coal
Coal liquefaction is an old technology. In the original Opec crisis in the 70s the Royal Navy considered converting ships to running on coal slurry - which led to a funny cartoon in the Constructors office of a Type 42 with four thin funnels and a ram bow. In the end, they realised it was cheaper and simpler to build a coal-to-liquid plant on shore.
And yet here we are, lurching toward a new version of a familiar catastrophe, suffering from some national form of neurotic repetition compulsion.
“This is like the horrible, lame-dad cover band version of the worst of American foreign policy,” said Matt Duss, executive vice president of the Center for International Policy.
@NickPalmer has observed in the past that people choose their vote much more via vibe than by totting up a balance sheet of policies and cooly comparing to other parties.
Indeed. Two points to support that
The recent movement by @RochdalePioneers from the LDs, based on the personalities of Cons
The frequently-noted failure of "deliverism": the belief that if a set of popular policies is enacted successfully then the voter will reward them. Biden thought that and it didn't work. Starmer (well, those who write his thoughts for him: I've just given up totally) also "thinks" that and given the polls that isn't working either.
Not sure that Rochdale has moved from the libdems at all.
I haven't.
Fair enough. It's too late to change the text, but consider it changed from this: "from the LDs, based on the personalities of Cons" to this: "towards the Cons, based on their personalities"
It's also worth pointing out that the current government isn't doing "deliverism" - Starmer, himself, made a speech about how he can't get things done because of systemic inertia.
Well, not zero. The video specifically opposes the racism and division that so much of our politics is about. It speaks for our common humanity.
@NickPalmer has observed in the past that people choose their vote much more via vibe than by totting up a balance sheet of policies and cooly comparing to other parties.
They ask themselves "is this a party that matches my values? Is this a party that gets my issues and will speak for me?"
That is how Polanski is doing so well. The message is a very positive one, of hope, and one unafraid to speak for pluralism and modern Britain. This is a unique approach in current politics.
Really?
At the Spring Conference the Greens are voting on a motion opposing the government's proposals to fight racism and anti-semitism in the NHS. Who's that positive and hopeful for? Racists and anti-semites presumably. It's certainly representative of a very unpleasant aspect of modern Britain - the way anti-semitism has become embedded in once respectable organisations and professions.
Polanski has also refused to condemn members of the public going from door to door canvassing for a boycott of Israel and its goods, and noting down those who disagree. He did not understand why this might seem frightening and sinister to Jewish people. And no this is not like normal political canvassing.
Nor has he condemned his deputy, Mothin Ali, who attacked a Jewish university chaplain, forcing him to go into hiding and whose wife received rape threats. Ali recently attended a demonstration protesting against attacks on the Iranian regime which has slaughtered tens of thousands of its citizens, is executing children as young as 14, rapes women prisoners as a matter of course and did this so violently to two nurses who helped those wounded by the regime that they lost part of their intestines and, in one case, their uterus.
Perhaps this is what some have called the Green Party’s “fresh new ideas”. To this jaded eye, they rather resemble some older, very sour ideas, whose impact on ordinary people is well-described in Sally Carson’s novel “Crooked Cross”, written in the 1930’s after her time in Germany. She wrote that as a warning, not a manual to be followed.
As you should know. You recommended it.
It isn't anti-semitic to oppose the Israeli government or boycott Israeli goods.
If someone specifically boycotts Israeli goods but not goods from any other country it would suggest they are anti-semitic.
I'm still unclear as to whether it's antisemitic to conflate all Jews with the state of Israel, or antisemitic to draw attention to Jews who are citizens of other countries strongly identifying with the state of Israel. All very confusing.
It's definitely anti-semitic to attack Jews who oppose the policies of the Israeli govt because they are Jews people opposed to the policies of the Israeli govt. Which renders most supporters of the current Israeli govt anti-semitic.
The rest needs a bit more clarification. We could start with some non-edge cases... 1) Settlers who attack and murder Palestinians and Bedouins because they want their land (with the excuse that their God granted it to them). Is there unanimity that it's OK to criticise them without being classed anti-semitic?
I think the safe thing to do is to avert one’s eyes from the settler movement and pretend you haven’t noticed it. Even noticing can be antisemitic nowadays.
The settler movement is the main thing puts Israel in the dock for me. I get that Israelis feel under constant threat, surrounded by enemies on all sides. But this isn't their land.
Parents of a 2 and 5 year old trialling social media hour limits for a major trial.
Mother commented along the lines of.
Kids were OK for a day itr so but then we could not control the tantrums and unruly behaviour.
WTAF
Have these fuckwits no idea if parenting, of discipline of tough love.
Have they not heard of a simple 2 letter word.
NO
Grounding
Taking away of perks
Sending to Riim
Dare I say it, an occasional Smack
Or should we insist every teenager has to have a formal grounding in Parenting Skills to be allowed to procreate.
This is a creeping incidiius move to ANARCHY
God your parenting sounds more deluded than your politics.
I have a 3 year old and a 6 year old that are well behaved for their age. No need for any smacking, grounding or the like. You just need to enforce boundaries calmly and consistently. And not lose your temper.
The government guidance to minimise screen time and avoid addictive apps or games is a good one. For various reasons parents can find it hard in practice but it's a worthy goal and will improve development and behaviour at a societal level.
There’s going to be a shortage of helium critical for hospital MRI machines and for manufacturing advanced chips like those from NVIDIA Corp after damage to a major gas facility in Qatar, Bloomberg reports.
Fees will also rise. Suppliers are prioritising healthcare.
I'm told the chip/disk shortage, partly due to a buy up by cloud providers, partly due to the helium shortage has put up disk array costs by around 50% in the last month, with 80% expected to be incoming shortly.
And for those that don't know, the helium shortage relates to the reduction in the production of natural gas. Helium occurs as the result of radiative decay n the earth and gets trapped in the natural gas formations as it makes its way up. So nearly all Helium used is captured from natural gas.
This will affect a range of industries. Not just party balloons.
Oxford Instruments was doing some good work with high temperature (liquid nitrogen temperature) superconductors. I wonder where they have got to, by now?
Not to market yet. Its the dream really - N2 you can grab from the air. Helium not so much.
Let’s hope for your sake you don’t come to resemble old green teeth d’Annunzio. That Speccie portrait of your stalker shows signs of him going that way.
Comments
I've drifted rightwards as I have aged. Is that erratically?
If that fails then either one of my Yorkshire-based colleagues does the trip, or I do a bolt-on to my trip to Birmingham in 2 weeks.
If Australia actually wants its boats before the end of the century, the S Korean option might be the most attractive one.
The military show Trump videos of stuff exploding. In his head that equals winning.
Meanwhile the stock market tanks so Trump lies about peace.
Boycotting Israeli goods: not anti-semitic
Boycotting Jewish owned businesses: anti-semitic.
Picketing the Israeli embassy: not anti-semitic
Picketing synagogues: anti-semitic.
https://phillipspobrien.substack.com/p/ukraine-is-starting-to-wage-systems
We've reached the point where Danny Dyer is talking more sense than almost anybody ...
https://x.com/jdpoc/status/2037427861544436146
I am someone who believes in free trade. I was/am naive as I did not understand the difference between free trade and frictionless trade. More fool me.
S+P is down just 6% in a month.
That's bonkers given events.
@gbrew24
Nearly a month into the war, Iran is still managing to fire missiles from the Yazd mountain missile bases, despite those bases being heavily bombed.
https://x.com/gbrew24/status/2037358660922278340
I don’t believe it looked good, even in the renders. Perhaps it’s meant to capture his presidency: promising much, but lamentable in execution
https://x.com/blairkamin/status/2037189825577587044?s=46
The good Islamic fundamentalists.
There’s going to be a shortage of helium critical for hospital MRI machines and for manufacturing advanced chips like those from NVIDIA Corp after damage to a major gas facility in Qatar, Bloomberg reports.
Fees will also rise. Suppliers are prioritising healthcare.
They hate NATO.
Italy and Spain however can claim they are not involved as they have banned all use of their bases and air space by the US
https://www.thefarside.com/
AEP does the fertiliser situation in Telegraph today.
Bleak. Bleak. Bleak.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2026/03/27/longer-trump-war-drags-on-worse-coming-global-food-crisis/
Mothin Ali attended a Stop the war rally, that is not a rally in support of the Iranian regime.
We need to move to a post-NATO world where the threats are autocrats - US and Russia primarily.
My problem with the Green policy isn't them calling NATO out, its that they won't want to be part of its evolving successor.
For my birthday last year one of the treats was the Pullan dining car from Grosmont into Pickering North.
It was fantastic.
A fair few people were dressed in twenties clothing as there was an event on on Pickering.
"If you have a garden, start planting now."
But when the pathetic wet lying Lib Dem Cameron took office I went right off them, and it’s only got worse ever since. I now actively loathe them and believe they need to die, and be replaced by a proper right wing party
Which is a bit unfair on Kemi, I quite like her and she’s doing OK. But the brand is Ratnered
This will affect a range of industries. Not just party balloons.
Oxford Instruments was doing some good work with high temperature (liquid nitrogen temperature) superconductors. I wonder where they have got to, by now?
Jim Bianco
@biancoresearch
Why isn't the crude oil market substantially higher ($150+), like many are asking? I would argue that the market believes the military can open the Strait . But it will be "messy."
https://x.com/biancoresearch/status/2037491290657710573
===
How will markets react when they find out how extremely difficult a military opening of the Straits will be?
How odd
Is this like the way pets and pet owners come to resemble each other?
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/mar/27/billy-bragg-together-alliance-london-march-against-far-right
In any case my main point is that repeatedly bleating about the Greens and NATO is about as much use as all the other Labour strategies to ‘get their voters back’, ie fuck all.
This might not necessarily be US led, as India, China, and many other countries will have their own reasons to be concerned. We appear to be heading into World War III, in the sense that if the blockage continues it will have worldwide effects and it could lead to a world war.
But I have consistently said I didn’t like that manifesto and thought it was too extreme for my own politics. 2017 was closer to that.
I’m pretty solidly centre/centre left. But I’d be minded to vote for a Tory party aimed at my age group. And certainly I’d vote against any Rayner-led Labour.
In bleakness.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/mar/27/how-trump-bombed-us-into-worse-position-iran-strategic-failure
To say Trump screwed up would be a slight understatement
The definition between bombing civilian areas and clearly defined military installations.
If you can't grasp that you have a limited iq.
You clearly have an advanced iq.
You are just spinning political crap therefore to deliberately mislead
The modern day political right.
Tell a lie often enough to con the intellectually challenged.
Parents of a 2 and 5 year old trialling social media hour limits for a major trial.
Mother commented along the lines of.
Kids were OK for a day itr so but then we could not control the tantrums and unruly behaviour.
WTAF
Have these fuckwits no idea if parenting, of discipline of tough love.
Have they not heard of a simple 2 letter word.
NO
Grounding
Taking away of perks
Sending to Riim
Dare I say it, an occasional Smack
Or should we insist every teenager has to have a formal grounding in Parenting Skills to be allowed to procreate.
This is a creeping incidiius move to ANARCHY
Have you considered a career at the DfE?
PS Where is Riim? Any good for holidays?
The Iranians will not notice the difference between
- Offensive bombing
- Defensive bombing
- Slightly impolite bombing
- Jerkass bombing
- Really, Really uncivil bombing
They will see it as bombing.
If it is WWIII then the red heifers the some US evangelists have been breeding will come in useful. But if there is no Third Coming, we can eat them instead.
https://www.messianicbible.com/feature/the-red-heifer-and-the-third-temple-in-end-time-prophecy/
And Arsenal will be pretty pissed it it happens before they win the Premiership.
A toddler returned to his mother with burns on each leg after being held by Israeli forces - with a doctor describing them as marks of "torture" likely caused by deliberate cigarette burns.
Jawad Abu Nassar was detained alongside his father in central Gaza a week ago and returned to his family alone, 10 hours later.
https://news.sky.com/story/gaza-toddler-released-from-israeli-custody-with-suspected-torture-wounds-13525011
The latest version of "Get In" has an addendum entitled "The Passive Premiership", detailing Labour's first year in power. They make disquieting conclusions: Starmer is intellectually incurious, reads conscienciously but does not react to the content, does not generate ideas of his own and simply cannot[1] make a decision even when important.
If you think I am wrong in believing that there is something wrong internally with Starmer that renders him unfit to be PM, you may want to read that addendum. It's not just me at this point and it's becoming obvious.
[1] An example not in the book was during the US/Iran war, when he literally could not decide until Miliband et al told him what to decide, and then Brits had to advise the Americans what to get Trump to say to him to change his mind.
You would be quite comfortable for Fairford and Diego Garcia to be used were Kemi Badenoch Prime Minister (ludicrous whataboutery, I know). And you would be waving Kemi's flag for her idea of joining in the successful first strikes on the conclave of Mullahs, and that means the collateral fall out from the missile hit on the girls school.
It is one thing to call out Starmer for his undoubted errors whilst PM, but calling him out for doing too much when your team would have done far more is frankly ridiculous.
Kemi would have allowed the use of our bases immediately
She did not and never has said the UK would be active in the strikes on Iran but would attack launch sites to protect our interests if they came under attack
“This is like the horrible, lame-dad cover band version of the worst of American foreign policy,” said Matt Duss, executive vice president of the Center for International Policy.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/27/opinion/republicans-iran-war.html
I have a 3 year old and a 6 year old that are well behaved for their age. No need for any smacking, grounding or the like. You just need to enforce boundaries calmly and consistently. And not lose your temper.
The government guidance to minimise screen time and avoid addictive apps or games is a good one. For various reasons parents can find it hard in practice but it's a worthy goal and will improve development and behaviour at a societal level.