I'm not sure that Western Europe, willing or not to replace the Americans, will be that decisive. The real Russian position appears to be reabsorption of the eastern provinces and Crimea - Putin… (View Post)

I'm glad Cyclefree raised the issue, since the worst thing we can do is simply shrug and ignore it. Not against a sporting boycott but we need to be clear that it doesn't change anything. Q… (View Post)

That sounds actually reasonable. Withholding judgment on the new regime still seems the right course. (View Post)

Interesting question. But Boulay's response seems perfectly reasonable - you're not a good use of the vicar's time, and you and your wife absolutely have a right to different views - i… (View Post)

To some extent I think that the problem is that the penalties for mistakes are too great - we all make them, only 5% come to light, and 0.1% result in disaster and general horror that they happened. … (View Post)