buctootim

Rooney / Vardy and Heard Depp are two of the most read stories and have been for two weeks. I know you didnt miss it because you and Turkish make up 30% of the posts, commenting on every development. Pity you feel the need to fellow travel. Are both your lives really so empty that you get your jollies repeatedly stalking one poster on this site? Turkish even has his own OCD thread. Is that not enough that you have to pollute this one too?

But that is true of every generation. One hundred years before that the best most people could hope for was half a day off per week and to not die before 40.

No idea if that is accurate or not - but I'd never heard of him and had to google. He's been an MP since 2001. How can anybody in such a position make absolutely zero impression in 20 years?

No its not. As you should expect from many Tory MP's it is a highly misleading figure. If you took away the levies bills would actually rise 1. The notional 25% applies only to electricity and counts the costs but not the savings those costs produce. The net overall effect is to reduce bills. 2. The 25% covers the additional costs of all social and environmental measures - so includes things like the Warm Homes discounts for low income pensioners, new boiler discounts and free insulation etc 3. Some of the costs are legacy from 10-15 years ago as early wind turbine installers were promised high guaranteed tariffs for up to 20 years to encourage them to kick start the market. Wind generation of electricity no longer needs subsidies and is now cheaper than oil, coal and nuclear. It used to be be a bit more expensive than gas but probably atm it is also cheaper than gas. I cant find an up to date up to date breakdown but these are the figures for 2014

I posted before about this daily Russian blog I follow. This is the one from this morning, about political dissidents - who as far as Putin is concerned are everybody and anybody from the good Colonel to Nemtsov, Navalny, the Skripals, oligarchs and journalists "It must be understood that Russian President Vladimir Putin considers almost all political prisoners in Russia to be his hostages and regards them, on the one hand, as an "exchange fund", and on the other hand, he uses repressions against political prisoners as a way to get even with the West. Putin is really sure that all independent political opponents of the current Russian government are not independent figures and are under the supervision of foreign, more often Western, intelligence services. Without exception, reports to Vladimir Putin regarding political opponents of the authorities in Russia point to the dependence of any non-systemic opposition in Russia on "Western partners" who manipulate them in their own interests. This is, of course, complete nonsense, but the authors of the reports, mostly from the security forces, are well aware of Putin's mood and needs and give him what he wants to see and hear, despite the obvious inconsistency of what is presented with reality. Putin really believes that any political or public figure in Russia who disagrees with the policies pursued by his regime is a traitor who was "bought" by Western intelligence services. In his sick perception of the world, repression against political opponents is a blow to the positions of the West. The new term and the announced transfer of Alexei Navalny to a strict regime colony is, in Putin's understanding, a kind of response to the West to personal sanctions against him and his entourage. Considering Navalny his number one hostage, Putin, unable to exchange him for something significant, simply mocks Alexei by tightening the conditions for his detention. Moreover, restrictions in the form of possible sanctions if something happens to Navalny in custody have been practically lifted, all heavy sanctions have already been introduced for the invasion of Ukraine, and now there is a real threat to Alexei's life. Recently, Putin has been increasingly referring to Alexei Navalny in conversations with his entourage, calling him "an extra figure" in a political crisis. We are confident that the attention of information resources and civil society to the fate of Alexei with the expression of his position will help him save his life and health. This also applies to the position towards all, without exception, political prisoners who are held hostage by the regime. The implementation of the demand to release political prisoners is the most important step towards the destruction of the Punin regime."

Really? Alongside Baby P's mum and digging up Myra Hindley?

Ha me too I remember fom my psychology degree that there is a negative correlation between job interviews and the best person for the job - ie recruiters tend to go for the person they like rather than the most skilled. You're better off with psychometric testing and CV than interviews

Made even more powerful because he warned in advance the jingoism was misplaced and the invasion would be a disaster. Remarkably accurate foresight https://twitter.com/DmitryOpines/status/1526477856821460993/photo/1

Lots of valid arguments can be made for leaving the EU both left and and right wing. For example restricting flow of labour is arguably better for British workers than companies. But this Brexit is led by not very bright and dishonest right wing idealogues. The ill thought out strategy and execution of it is as sound as Russia's invasion of Ukraine - an all round clusterfuck which is damaging on almost every level.

Duplicate

My missus made me sit through half an hour of the cross examination. Heard had a really odd demeanour and looked very puffy. Depp appears to have lost the ability to look up or at anything apart from a laptop. This is my final judgement. No appeal

Novosti is one of the main online Russian news sites. All comments there are moderated in advance and I registered there about two months ago. At first even the most oblique of posts with slightly ambiguous meanings were not posted and I got banned for 48 hours. Now they are allowing most fact based posts, even if critical. Even TASS seems to have gone slightly subversive - they still publish Government disinformation, but they quite often will leave up an old story which contradicts the new one. Seems like that is more than coincidence or incompetence. Something is definitely going on.

Isn't that how Michael Hutchence died? Never knew she had it in her.

There was a good interview on Sky with the Head of Ukrainian Military intelligence. He basically said they could already see the beginnings of Ukrainian victory, that Russia would start to be in retreat by late August and that the fighting will be over Christmas. Once a tipping point is reached you could see a rapid collpase. If Russia didnt have nukes we could potentially be looking at a situation where Ukraine was annexing parts of Russia. Unless the west loses its nerve, withdraws the weapons supply and forces Ukraine to settle for a bad deal (lead by Scholz and Macron) I reckon Ukraine will take back Donbass and settle for some kind of international deal on access through Azov Sea.

I'm no expert, but I reckon they probably should have used the bridge next to them.

Disagree. Russia has pretty much reached their highpoint. They cant sustain or replace their current losses. Its not just in soldiers killed and injured and war materiel lost but the fact that without war being declared Russian soldiers can just refuse to go to Ukraine (ie serve outside Russia) or resign when their contracts are up - and most contracts are only three years. Interesting reports that LNR militia who have been driven north away from Kharkiv are not being allowed to cross the Russian border. I reckon there is a decent chance the whole enterprise could completely collapse pretty quickly. The other scnerio is a long fight over Donbass only. Cant see any situation where the whole south is involved for a protracted period of time.

There is an anonymous Russian blog I follow. I have no idea whethere it is completely made up BS or informed inside knowledge - but the way it is written, controlled and plausible makes me think there is knowledge behind it. Supposedly Patruschev is advocating for his son to be Putin's long term replacement. He has support in security circles but not amongst the military. Putin has leukaemia (my doc partner reckons chronic lymphocytic) which doesnt kill you quickly but is very debilitating. The main point though is that his illness is leading to peoples mind moving on from Putin and what happens after. He is known in the Kremlin as the living corpse, in charge, but everyone knows, for a limited period.

Russian tactics

Spectacular Russian tank turrent launch captured by Chinese tv. Got to be 250 feet up.

Time to reun this....

Don't think that's true.

They didnt. The Polish police advised against holding it but the Russian Ambassador ignored them and went anyway. Another overlooked point is the Putin is directly implicated in the plane crash which killed the Polish President and 94 other people. The Poles hate the Russians for many many 24 carat reasons. The depth of division this war is opening up between central Europe and the pacifist 'dont interfere with our exports to Russia and cheap gas' Germany / France axis can't be underestimated. https://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/polish-panel-russia-polish-leaders-plane-crash-84011174

No, its correct. The maps above show what Molotov and Ribbentrop agreed and what actually happened on the ground.