leicsmac

For now, certainly. However, don't underestimate the chance that at the next election, they may win enough seats to at the very least act as kingmaker in a hung parliament.

Fair to say. I guess we'll find out as things develop.

I think the terms are steadily becoming more and more redundant as meaning and, yes, viewpoints shift quickly anyway. AFAIC now, as more as things develop, the division that will matter will be the ones who are willing to think and act for the long-term survival of their civilisation, and those who think we're here for a good time rather than a long time and are so willing to condemn the future for the sake of that cause. Left and right don't come into it - you'll find both that share both of those viewpoints.

So the timing is the key element here, then. I'm not going to discount it out of hand, but speaking personally I'd like rather more proof before I would agree.

On topic though, I will happily lay good money that humanity will find simple microbial life even in our own Solar System in the next fifty years.

...the Great Filter? One of a number of possibilities, yes.

...is there any reason to suspect Trump to be the architect of this beyond timing and supposition?

I wonder exactly how those who would endorse the incoming US administration and their policies, would be enthusiastic about doing business with them (as opposed to seeing it as an occasional difficult necessity) and prefer them to the EU would be defined as then - centre or far right? Honestly curious because I find it tricky to really see what way the Overton Window is shifting as it does it so often.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cg52543v6rmo The Nordics leading the way once again.

Agreed. It's newsworthy, but there is far greater loss of life and property in other parts of the world through natural consequences every day. It should, however, be used as context alongside the recent floods in the UK to demonstrate how the world is changing, and why.

Yeah, I can't refute that. Perhaps going forward there might bea better way of rewarding lower league teams when they draw a big name so that this is no longer a question.

I don't disagree. It's just rather saddening that the game exists in any state that a team like Tamworth would prefer to draw to rather than beat a team like Spurs.

...and isn't that a damning indictment.

I can imagine it is a moral argument for a lot of people, but honestly for me it's not - unless one considers the long term survival of both our species and the civilisation it has built and is building as a species a moral question.

...hasn't it come to a pretty pass that there is even discussion about whether or not a lower league team would want the prestige of beating a high level Prem team at their own ground or instead draw with them/get drawn away and get pumped in the match/in the replay for the purpose of money?

Exactly. It's a triumph of marketing, not of any substance, and that's bad news long term for everyone - even those folks that feel disenfranchised.

I think it comes down to ideological similarity, nothing more. These people are also often fans of Orban, the AfD and Marine Le Pen in Europe and they had nothing good to say about the US when Biden has been in charge, after all. If (may the powers that govern the universe forbid) that particular brand of gross, supremacist nationalism gets hold in various places in Europe again, those same talking heads will very likely view Europe in a more positive light (not the EU, of course, because that is inimical to the idea of borders, guns and nationalist supremacy that they espouse).

It's a shame A Serbian Film didn't get a sequel or two tbf.

It's certainly up there. It's a rare trilogy where one film is not noticeably substandard compared tothe others, BTTF has that honour too.

And if anything, my opinion of the standard of writing of the books has gone up over time, too. You have George RR Martin and Robert Jordan, among others, trying to imitate the style of Professor Tolkein, but they seem to think that means being far more overly descriptive and florid than he really was. The first remains the best.

It is a refrain all too familiar to me. It would be amusing but for the consequences were it to run unchecked enough to influence political policy in too many places.

No thanks Dick, I prefer women to have freedom of bodily autonomy, decent anti-discrimination regs, kids to go to school not in danger of being shot, to have an appendectomy without wondering if I'm going to be bankrupted afterwards, and generally not being part of a society mostly based on death-worshipping social Darwinism (often in the name of a deity who actually shares none of those values). Appreciate the offer, though.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cd7575x8yq5o The planet has moved a major step closer to warming more than 1.5C, new data shows, despite world leaders vowing a decade ago they would try to avoid this. The European Copernicus climate service, one of the main global data providers, said on Friday that 2024 was the first calendar year to pass the symbolic threshold, as well as the world's hottest on record. This does not mean the international 1.5C target has been broken, because that refers to a long-term average over decades, but does bring us nearer to doing so as fossil fuel emissions continue to heat the atmosphere. And we're already beginning to get a taste of the consequences. But just a taste. So far.

The (apparent) lack of water for firefighting is a clear problem, as is resource distribution for that same firefighting. Not clearing areas for firebreaks may also be an issue. And yes, those are all policy decisions. But at the same time, the dry and windy conditions that have allowed this to spiral out of control are directly down to climate and need to be factored in as a matter of policy too. All other policies don't mean much otherwise. In any case, my original response was about the short term self interested thinking that Trump personifies having a part to play in this, and that's not just limited to Trump himself - or even his "side" of the aisle. But when he takes the reins again, all of this is going to be his responsibility if it goes sideways, as much as he would like to deflect. That's what having executive power means, and with that power comes responsibility.

And the reason for this particular act of arson (if indeed that is actually proven) growing into a stronger and more intense conflagration than has ever been witnessed is... bad luck, then?