Dunge

I think the best thing that could happen to America right now is the economy going down in flames, while the American people still have the power to change course longer term. As for Ukraine, it’s problematic how inactive and reactive Europe is being about it. The UK and the EU are constantly letting someone else control the narrative, and now the EU’s getting pissy because they don’t like it. (Correctly so, but pissy nonetheless.) There are no more excuses; European NATO countries need to stop just looking on in horror and act: Raise their defence spending, probably to around 4% and including investment in nukes.

I mean, that is basically the “Cross your fingers” option.

To be fair, the West aren’t the ones who’ve been slaughtering them. As long as Ukraine exists as a country - and possibly regardless - there will be decades of Ukrainians who hate Russia. The West will just be seen as a disappointment.

I suppose there are alternatives. - Attempt to convince or deal with America that Europe is of value to them. - Attempt to convince or deal with China that Europe is of value to them. - Attempt to convince or deal with Putin that Europe isn’t of value to him. - Cross your fingers and hope Russia don’t keep up their own current level of military spending. - Learn Russian and hope they don’t round you up and send you to their latest meat grinder. - Other possibilities, I’m happy to listen.

That America is no longer there to protect them/us and we need to massively increase military spending.

I think they’re both fairly similar in their respective fields.

I struggle work out what to do with this situation. On the one hand I take your implication of the old adage that all it takes for evil to flourish is for good men to do nothing. But on the other hand, the right has been fuelled by the left for over a decade now. For instance, I voted Brexit. I don’t discuss it much these days, precisely because what followed was years upon years of vitriol, before anyone had even talked it over with me. I perhaps take a different view to many on it, but I can see how that pushed people away. The way I see it, people on the left have argued more and more vehemently about more and more niche things and have essentially at every stage found a reason to push people away, to look down on them for being less ethical in some way. That’s a problem, particularly looking at how Trump essentially got elected by putting together a cross-society alliance of sorts. Not only that, but strategically right has followed left for years, and it’s resulted in double standards. An example is Cambridge Analytica. Obama was praised to the hilt for his team’s campaigning tactics of targeting on social media. When the right did it (successfully), it was reported as a terrible, dangerous thing and an intrusion on people’s rights. That, with both left and centre unable to find solutions to - or even address - concerns on economy, demographics and social change, is creating more and more of a divide. People are turning to the far right not simply because the right are loud. It’s because they don’t see a future in society, they don’t see anything worth protecting so they join the groups that promise to tear it down. The answer to me isn’t to keep arguing with the right. But nor is it to ignore them. I think the answer is to lead, both in terms of personality and on the topics that are in people’s minds. Because this is where the far right see their way in: To jump to the front of the mob and shout “Follow me!” I think we need statesmen, people who can address tough topics, say “yes, we hear the concerns of the public and this is an issue,” then essentially infantilise the one-dimensional comments of the likes of Lee Anderson by continuing “This is our plan to deal with it while not doing harm in other areas.” By all means, mock the far right for being wrong. But make sure to present with it a positive vision of the future. The far right don’t win in the light. They win in the mud. And I fear too many people are being drawn into the mud with them right now.

I feel I can say with great confidence that Kemi Badenoch will never be Prime Minister. From a Conservative perspective, arguably she was worth a gamble but she shows no sign of working. She can’t build up a head of steam on anything and just flails along from week to week. I reckon she’ll be replaced by James Cleverley by the end of 2026. The Conservative MPs will be keen to not make the same mistake again in the next leadership contest.

I think this is a bold statement considering the political landscape of both countries right now.

He strikes me as one of those guys (and it is usually guys) who cracks edgy jokes without any sense of whether it’s the right time or place for them. And someone who is desensitised to rudeness. Or perhaps I’m being generous. Either way, some time for self-reflection is called for.

I don’t know whether this is an unpopular opinion or not, but I find wind turbines aesthetically very pleasing. Solar farms not so much, but wind farms are cool.

I keep on coming back to the thought that this is a big opportunity for the UK. If the American administration is doing down science and removing resources, we should be stepping up to collaborate and potentially profit.

Seems to me there are two possibilities here: 1. Some sort of auto-control technical malfunction that sent the helicopter to that exact spot - perhaps a checkpoint in flying data - and held it there without responding to the pilot. 2. The pilot did it deliberately for reasons as yet unknown. Whatever’s happened, it doesn’t look like Trump knew about it. He apparently asked “why didn’t the helicopter move up or down?” which, while it sounds like a bit of a daft thing to ask, is also an entirely sensible thing to ask.

I think that’s very generous to an EU that’s likely (IMO) to get weaker rather than stronger.

I can easily see a scenario down the line where some sort of disaster like Grenfell happens, and the legal defence will be “It wasn’t anyone’s specific fault, the blame lies in the AI algorithm. We need to learn the lessons from this (adjust the algorithm).” We already know people are willing to defer to a technology they don’t understand over their own responsibilities from the Post Office scandal, and that wasn’t nearly as complex as AI will be.

I sympathise. How about this: You put some nails outside your driveway. Someone runs over them and gets angry. You say sorry, but you’ve recently received anonymous threats about this sort of thing and you have to check every time you go in or out of your driveway. So sorry they got caught up in this.

Has Bentancur stepped on a Lego?

This case is probably about as clear a case as you can have in favour of the death penalty. He unequivocally did it. He has zero remorse about it. He would do it again. He is a danger to life and society. And, at his young age, there could be 60 or 70 years of incarceration ahead of him that the state has to pay for. Regardless, I still believe two arguments hold for why we shouldn’t apply the death penalty: 1. It’s impossible to define a discrete cut-off between definite and non-definite. This would be on the extreme end of the spectrum, but it is still a spectrum, and for something as absolute as death, that’s a problem. 2. More of a moral point, but we shouldn’t lower ourselves to his level.

I like it; it’s a show that always needs curveballs and people having to work out strategy on the fly.

I think early on there were too many opportunities for people to be selfish that they gobbled up. Made a lot of them unlikeable.

He also said taxes apparently. I imagine Putin was at least apprehensive of Trump taking charge because of his unpredictability. He’ll be delighted by this threat because it’s an absolute pile of nothing.

I see Trump has told Putin to stop his silly little war or get tariffed. Putin must be quaking in his Jackboots.

I believe there are a lot of low-profile cases where the defendant changes their plea to guilty just before a trial.

It is. But I think it also instructs how to fight him. Musk is hollow. So are the rest of them. His army can be turned against him because the things they believe aren’t in his interests.

Definitely the right thread for this IMO. I think of him almost like a cartoon villain.