The whole of the UK, even Farage, is furious with Trump over his remarks about the rest of NATO:
"We've never needed them, we have never really asked anything of them. They'll say they sent some troops to Afghanistan and they did, they stayed a little back, a little off the front lines"
457 British soldiers were killed in Afghanistan, and many more were injured.
This is the only time NATO's Article five collective defence provisions have been invoked.
Trump stayed 9000 miles away from the front lines in Vietnam, having persuaded a friendly podiatrist to diagnose him with bone spurs in his heels.
I've always thought that Plato's arguments by analogy are tosh. But it never occurred to me that they could be censored for not being sufficiently fascist.
The second point looks implausible, given that he walked round her car and stood in front of it. But it would be a tiny lie compared with all the others.
Are there any instances in which Denmark has refused to co-operate with the USA over collective security in Greenland? Other than by declining to hand over the whole island.
I just watched a video of an ICE agent shooting dead a woman in her car, in Minnesota.
Then I read a statement about the shooting from President Trump, who claims that he's watched the video and it shows that she "violently, willfully, and viciously ran over the ICE Officer who seems to have shot her in self defense".
The video is readily available online. It clearly shows that the Officer was in no danger of being hit by her slow-moving vehicle. He fires three shots, one of them through the very corner of her windscreen - the bullet-hole is on video - the others through the side window, which appears to have been open.
Who are the Rs going to believe? Their president, or their eyes?
Controlling Venezuela is aimed at making money - he hopes to be paid to bestow oil rights. Kidnapping Maduro is to encourage foreign presidents to toady to him and to bribe him.
Greenland is a greatness project - he wants his legacy to include expanding the territory of the United States
In reality, Venezuela doesn't traffic significant amounts of illegal drugs to the USA - look at the map. The US doesn't need to own Greenland to meet its security needs: Denmark has always co-operated with the US. But facts about his purported justifications are irrelevant to him, because those justifications are not his real reasons.
Yes, the summary conveys the import but not the tone of the article, which was in some ways positive about Truss, with obvious reservations. Stears will have chosen his words carefully.
This podcast appears to be an attempt to monetize the extraordinary political appeal of her spectacularly short premiership. I wouldn't say she's less deserving than all of the people who've got rich out of right-wing politics.
I could easily draw you up a list of prime ministers in my living memory, i.e. Thatcher onwards, that proves how each one of them was incompetent, with the exception of Gordon Brown maybe...
That's unexpected. I'd say that from Thatcher to Cameron inclusive, Brown was clearly the worst prime minister in terms of managerial competence.
There's a test, originating in the Labour party in the late 19th century - is he competent to run a whelk stall?
Anyone who's worked with Corbyn knows that he isn't.
He shares this disability with BoJo, Dubya, Trump, and sundry other politicians. I don't hate him for it; I just don't want him to be in charge of anything I care about.
I had quite a lot to say about Corbyn when he was Labour leader, little of it good.
Zarah Sultana: I know I'm older and I think I'm wiser than she is. She could do a lot of good in the future.
Zack Polanski: Rory Stewart's gotcha about debt interest didn't prove much: few could have answered it accurately (it's the other side of the coin from asking a politician if they know the price of a pint of milk). . But when it comes to economics Polanski doesn't actually seem to know what he's talking about. I may well vote Green at some point anyway.
There are people in the UK well to the left of me whom I respect. They ought to have a party to represent their views. But Your Party seems to me to represent almost no one apart from its activists.
Meanwhile, perhaps the only good thing about Trump is his willingness to fall asleep during utterly pointless meetings.
The Deputy Speakers' reprimand was mostly about the pre-budget briefings the government had been indulging in, and was justified. Precedent, not perfectly observed in recent times, is that the budget is kept as secret as possible until the Chancellor's budget speech.
Badenoch's style is ferociously to oppose anything the government does, without necessarily bothering to offer alternatives. It's not been successful.
Sunak called a general election when he did because he didn't want face the coming budget problems. Unlike the USA, the UK cannot run ever-increasing deficits with impunity.
My recollection is that it's usual for the Shadow Chancellor, not the Leader of the Opposition, to deliver the response to the Chancellor's budget. Few could name him.
On “Moral insanity”
What GftNC said.
On “Carney’s speech”
The whole of the UK, even Farage, is furious with Trump over his remarks about the rest of NATO:
"We've never needed them, we have never really asked anything of them. They'll say they sent some troops to Afghanistan and they did, they stayed a little back, a little off the front lines"
457 British soldiers were killed in Afghanistan, and many more were injured.
This is the only time NATO's Article five collective defence provisions have been invoked.
Trump stayed 9000 miles away from the front lines in Vietnam, having persuaded a friendly podiatrist to diagnose him with bone spurs in his heels.
On “An open thread”
I've always thought that Plato's arguments by analogy are tosh. But it never occurred to me that they could be censored for not being sufficiently fascist.
On “2026, as f**ked up as 2025”
The second point looks implausible, given that he walked round her car and stood in front of it. But it would be a tiny lie compared with all the others.
"
Are there any instances in which Denmark has refused to co-operate with the USA over collective security in Greenland? Other than by declining to hand over the whole island.
"
I just watched a video of an ICE agent shooting dead a woman in her car, in Minnesota.
Then I read a statement about the shooting from President Trump, who claims that he's watched the video and it shows that she "violently, willfully, and viciously ran over the ICE Officer who seems to have shot her in self defense".
The video is readily available online. It clearly shows that the Officer was in no danger of being hit by her slow-moving vehicle. He fires three shots, one of them through the very corner of her windscreen - the bullet-hole is on video - the others through the side window, which appears to have been open.
Who are the Rs going to believe? Their president, or their eyes?
"
Trump wants four things:
Controlling Venezuela is aimed at making money - he hopes to be paid to bestow oil rights. Kidnapping Maduro is to encourage foreign presidents to toady to him and to bribe him.
Greenland is a greatness project - he wants his legacy to include expanding the territory of the United States
In reality, Venezuela doesn't traffic significant amounts of illegal drugs to the USA - look at the map. The US doesn't need to own Greenland to meet its security needs: Denmark has always co-operated with the US. But facts about his purported justifications are irrelevant to him, because those justifications are not his real reasons.
On “An inscrutable Merry Christmas”
I'm having a delightful day with my children and my father. It's warm for the time of year here also. Merry Christmas all.
On “Weekend Music Thread music thread #09 In Russia, Christmas music sings you!”
A comment I made yesterday has got lost. Too much Cyrillic, perhaps.
"
I've tried to follow what she says (at 9-11 seconds). It's
"Цифры на термометре, Оксана, говорят на улицу не ногой"
"The numbers on the thermometer, Oksana, say 'don't step outside'"
However, she's speaking fast and there's no pause where I've put the second comma. "Оксана" could be something else.
"
Оксана is a common female name in Ukraine. The diminutive Оксанка is used to refer pejoratively to a generic Ukrainian woman.
Wiktionary says it derives from the Greek ξενία, meaning 'hospitality', from ξένος, 'foreign', c.f. English 'xeno-'.
I can't speak authoritatively, but I've found no support online for an association with 'thermometer'.
On ““We’re now poorer than Mississippi. It’s like Huckleberry Finn without the steamboats.””
Degree classifications went private decades ago. But I suppose she would have let it be known if hers were creditable.
Getting into Oxbridge is an achievement in itself,
"
Yes, the summary conveys the import but not the tone of the article, which was in some ways positive about Truss, with obvious reservations. Stears will have chosen his words carefully.
"
I think that's an AI summary of commentary on what Stears wrote, which was phrased more academically than that.
"
Truss was against Brexit before she was for it.
This podcast appears to be an attempt to monetize the extraordinary political appeal of her spectacularly short premiership. I wouldn't say she's less deserving than all of the people who've got rich out of right-wing politics.
On “Open Thread”
We shouldn't forget or forgive what was done by our side at Abu Ghraib.
But now I'm triggered by "palpably abstract".
On “How are you sleeping?”
Grenada. They even made a propaganda film about it.
"
If your opinion-poll numbers are tanking, start a war you can win.
On “It’s Your Party, you can cry if…”
I could easily draw you up a list of prime ministers in my living memory, i.e. Thatcher onwards, that proves how each one of them was incompetent, with the exception of Gordon Brown maybe...
That's unexpected. I'd say that from Thatcher to Cameron inclusive, Brown was clearly the worst prime minister in terms of managerial competence.
"
I don’t get the Corbyn hate/dismissiveness
There's a test, originating in the Labour party in the late 19th century - is he competent to run a whelk stall?
Anyone who's worked with Corbyn knows that he isn't.
He shares this disability with BoJo, Dubya, Trump, and sundry other politicians. I don't hate him for it; I just don't want him to be in charge of anything I care about.
On “Open Thread”
I've noticed that the archive site has nothing June-December 2017. Is it lost, or did it not exist for some reason I've forgotten?
On “It’s Your Party, you can cry if…”
I had quite a lot to say about Corbyn when he was Labour leader, little of it good.
Zarah Sultana: I know I'm older and I think I'm wiser than she is. She could do a lot of good in the future.
Zack Polanski: Rory Stewart's gotcha about debt interest didn't prove much: few could have answered it accurately (it's the other side of the coin from asking a politician if they know the price of a pint of milk). . But when it comes to economics Polanski doesn't actually seem to know what he's talking about. I may well vote Green at some point anyway.
"
There are people in the UK well to the left of me whom I respect. They ought to have a party to represent their views. But Your Party seems to me to represent almost no one apart from its activists.
Meanwhile, perhaps the only good thing about Trump is his willingness to fall asleep during utterly pointless meetings.
On “Am I missing something?”
The Deputy Speakers' reprimand was mostly about the pre-budget briefings the government had been indulging in, and was justified. Precedent, not perfectly observed in recent times, is that the budget is kept as secret as possible until the Chancellor's budget speech.
Badenoch's style is ferociously to oppose anything the government does, without necessarily bothering to offer alternatives. It's not been successful.
Sunak called a general election when he did because he didn't want face the coming budget problems. Unlike the USA, the UK cannot run ever-increasing deficits with impunity.
My recollection is that it's usual for the Shadow Chancellor, not the Leader of the Opposition, to deliver the response to the Chancellor's budget. Few could name him.
On “Shabana burns the cakes”
There was a ten-year period during the Blair government England had more immigration than during the previous thousand years.
How do you know? Before the 1905 Aliens Act there were effectively no restrictions on immigration.
*Comment archive for non-registered commenters assembled by email address as provided.