leicsmac

https://www.ipsos.com/en/global-opinion-polls/state-special-relationship-between-uk-and-us "Almost half (49%) of those who voted for Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party in the last general election are fans of Trump, while 30% aren’t." https://www.bestforbritain.org/uk_trading_partner "2024 Reform UK Voters stand alone in having not changed their view on the US between November 2024 and September 2025, continuing to see the US as the UK’s most reliable partner and a country we can trust. The declines in Reform Voters’ ‘scores’ for the US on measures of trust and reliability were not statistically significant." Now, this is operating on the assumption that Reform as a party and voting bloc aren't a fan of the EU, but I would have thought that would stand by itself without further backup. (I will provide further proofs of that on request, though.) In any case, it's hardly a stretch to at least hypothesise that folks who harbour anti-EU sentiment tend also to harbour pro-US sentiment given the ideological divide between those two entities.

Perhaps we're actually hitting the point where there is so much proven slop that people do actually start going back to sources with proven track records. I guess we'll find out.

The Venn diagram of people holding anti-EU and pro-US viewpoints in the UK is practically a circle, then and now. The whole idea of independent decision making was a falsehood fed to those who (as you say) don't give the US a thought. The functional intent of those with power wanting to leave the EU (and therefore those directing the campaign) was, however, exactly as stated imo. Edit: and given events both current and previous, and the desire of the current US administration for everyone to pick a side (as it were), then perhaps the UK and folks who don't give it a thought should actually pick one, or have it picked for them. Case in point for the above.

She's a genuine believer in America First, rather than Trump First, in a way a lot of her peers are not. Often that's not good, but sometimes, like here, it is.

Further to this...

As if that was intended any other way. The "vote Leave" wasn't about any high minded ideas of "sovereignty", it was about continuing to be a small part of ongoing maniacal American hegemony. The poodle asking if it can remain in the house rather than outside in the kennel. As for Starmer, he needs to keep taking a leaf from Carneys book regarding international relations. Like you said, he's played this one very well so far. I've said before that Davey perhaps isn't the right fit for the very top job, but I think he would make an excellent Home Secretary. Perhaps an excellent Foreign Secretary too.

https://phys.org/news/2026-02-method-climate-extremes-reveal-europe.html How much will heat, flooding, drought and storms increase as a result of human-induced climate change? In a groundbreaking study, climate researcher Gottfried Kirchengast and his team at the University of Graz have developed a new method for computing the hazards from extreme events: it can compute all relevant hazard metrics for events such as heat waves, floods and droughts in any region worldwide with unprecedented information content. Using it for Europe, the researchers found that anthropogenic climate change has caused a 10-fold increase in extreme heat in recent decades.

Also, the amount of misinformation being spouted practically everywhere on the Web makes it very, very difficult to really parse what's actually going on out there. Especially when all official parties involved have a very good track record as liars too.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy4wgpdllleo A brief summation of current viewpoints between the US and UK at the moment. The Conservatives and Reform UK say the UK should have been much more explicit in its support for allies the US and Israel. The Liberal Democrats, Green Party and Scottish National Party are, to varying degrees, more critical of President Trump. An opinion poll by YouGov, external suggests far more people in Britain oppose the US's actions than support them and far more oppose the UK allowing the US to use British airbases than support that decision. Good to see that most people in the UK aren't dancing to Reforms tune on this one, thankfully.

...which, if true (personally I don't agree), goes to show just how little foresight that "majority" have beyond their own walls spatially and temporally, and how potentially damaging that can be. Perhaps folks should listen to such people less.

That's unfortunate. Only time will tell, but given the history of such events, I'm not sure how much reason there is to come down on the positive side of the ledger for this one.

... who, in all likelihood, won't get anything close to what they are desperate for from this.

Yes, the British definition, not the American one. He and they can think and clutch their own pearls as much as they like imo. If they want to go in for another costly and morally dubious intervention then that's between them and their conscience (what little they have of them), but it's good the UK is having next to no part of it.

Welcome to what passes for political discourse in the year 2026, apparently. Edit: But, in all honesty, I would absolutely love to hear an argument in favour of intervention in this case that can't be dismissed as either hypocritical and/or just plain bloodthirsty. It would be very interesting to hear.

And at most points before or since: "Fighting a war, you say? Well, do check out our rather wonderful selection of weaponry, available at prices and quantity to suit every pocket. Oh, and special deal on the grenades - buy five crates and get the sixth free..."

Which was 100% accurate but only a part of the overall picture, more's the pity.

Certainly. But just because it happened once, it might be the best idea to trust it to happen again. I think that perhaps is the point being made here.

It is perfectly possible for both the US to do something entirely for the sake of their own self interest (and therefore hardly deserving of universal gratitude) and for that to be a dreadful necessity to deal with a worse threat to be true at the same time. This might be subjective, but IMO for an act to be "good", altruism has to be at least the chief motivator and result of it, as opposed to self interest.

Nah, SA will have it in the palm of their hand against NZ and blow it, they've got so much previous for that.

Fair point. Perhaps the only way to objectively judge such things is be the degree of damage such lies cause.

And therein lies (haha) the issue with the system itself, being set up to reward such behaviour. Though, in this case I think perhaps there are liars and liars.

Foreign policy interventions of this type are one of the few areas where there's serious alignment between the two main US parties on policy. As said, the record speaks for itself. That being said, Trump positioning himself on multiple occasions as a candidate that would not engage in such interventions makes him a liar in a way his predecessors were not. Again.

Yeah, WI needed Samson out. England v India semifinal it is, hopefully it will proceed to sound like a library and end with a very good imitation of a fire drill.

Or perhaps not. WI need Samson out immediately here.

This could well be very, very close.