leicsmac

I disagree about the level of importance, but fair enough.

Particularly when such pandering gets the UK nothing other than the contempt of the actually reasonable world.

Hoping he made some of the Repubs squirm with the references to environmental issues being paramount and the importance of checks and balances in government.

*insert sound of incredulous Chinese laughter here*

In the same way the current US administration is careful about what they say to everyone, including the UK, no matter the level of politeness towards them? Sorry, if it's not clear at the present time that additional decorum without telling difficult truth gives absolutely no advantage when dealing with that cabal of sociopaths, then I'm not sure when it will be. Turning the other cheek simply isn't going to work here.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c1l25qd43nro Yeah, every single word of that is correct and if people feel it's more diplomatic to lie in this case, then they're welcome to that point of view, as erroneous as it may be.

Unfortunately I don't think this is either a terribly new problem or one that Russia is uniquely responsible for. There are sadly far too many people, nationality irrelevant, who enjoy the power they have, enjoy abusing the power they have and are both able and willing to spread this kind of misinformation in order to keep doing so. Either it is addressed or everyone but the purveyors (short term) and everyone including the purveyors (long term) pay the price for decision-making based on something less than empirical fact. And that price will be at best very high, and at worst, absolute.

And yet apparently to some it's not enough. That's pretty crazy too.

Well, that's all just... *insert misanthropic comment here*

You would think it will be another Chinese champion now.

Jimmy Kimmel not pulling his punches, then.

And yet it happened at a time when Trump needs a distraction and additional fuel for his ballroom fully, in a place that he has had no interest in visiting before now (he's on record as being too thin skinned for the Correspondents Dinner) in a fashion that created a fuss but little in the way of actual general threat. The tides of coincidence must be very coincidental.

That's probably the most likely outcome, yes. Guess we'll have to wait until the Trump sentiment is neutralised another way before it harms us all much more, then.

King Charles state visit to the US going ahead. Considering he's one of the handful of people that Trump does listen to (probably because he and his position represent everything Trump desperately wants to be) perhaps a few words of advice might be useful this time round too.

That lack of overall actual threat is all the more reason to suspect something, then.

Yep, that seems pretty standard. As well as it being yet another distraction from all the other bad stuff going on. That seems to tally with most other polling right now, and IPSOS tend to be credible. What it does mean though is that any GE done right now would he hung like a blue whale. Which means the fact that it's still three years away is probably a good thing.

Fair points well made. Once again, it's a lament for the state of the world where chains of events end up with something like this happening.

Perhaps "an incident at a protest" would be more accurate framing?

Wow. That's athletics history, right there.

Is it a bit tinfoil hat to suggest that it's rather suspicious that all of these people with an apparent axe to grind who get close enough to Trump have all the marksmanship skill of an Imperial Trooper targeting any one of the main characters in Star Wars?

Just another method by which such people get off on abusing power. The principle may well be simple. The practice, in which every case will be different, I fear is much more complex. Those safeguards need to be iron-clad, because it will only take one person - just one - not "ready" to die, in the same way it takes only one "innocent" person to die under the death penalty, to invalidate the whole system by showing that it relies on the death of undeserving human beings to function.

Herd mentality clearly responsible.

Yep, Matthew 26, 26:52, if any of his nearest and dearest read the Good Book.

Also, Javier Milei leaning full bore into his Bond Villain arc during his visit to the Middle East, apparently.

WRT the assisted dying debate - imo it's an incredibly difficult issue with incredibly complex arguments that have merit on both sides. When dealing with such a thing that involves control over human life, every factor must be considered as scrupulously as possible.