Dunge

And Lugaboruga.

That and Groby are the way of identifying whether someone’s truly from Leicester/shire.

I’ve tuned in a few times, hoping for some sort of analysis of why we’re poor, or what we’d need to do to improve. Absolute zilch.

I don’t think it’s exactly that, more that there are a lot of people in London who do want to hear someone in a position of power bashing Trump. And Khan can do that because he doesn’t have to get on with Trump directly and nor does he represent the provinces.

Pretty much all the information in human history is now available to us, as you say at our fingertips. Unfortunately, so is all the misinformation. Such is social media and the anarchy of the internet. Ultimately, it comes down to whether people accept the responsibility to find the truth - the choice between what’s right and what’s convenient.

I don’t see a lot of point in a Conservative vote right now. They don’t know who they are, they don’t know what they stand for and they failed miserably in their recent attempt to elect a half-decent leader (their second choice was even worse). The only thing they might have going for them is defence spending, but even that feels like guesswork right now. Instead of trying to fight Reform on Reform’s territory (and doing such a bad and half-hearted job of it that they hand Farage legitimacy on a plate), they should be trying to lead the conversation away from them. The lack of leadership in a once-proud party is astounding.

I think it’s very likely we’re the most intelligent/technologically advanced lifeform in our galaxy. I believe there would be some kind of evidence if we weren’t. Besides, the combination of Earth size, Earth density, Earth atmosphere, Earth magnetic field, plentiful presence of water, long-living sun, Jupiter as a guard, moon just the right size to gently stir the pot and general good fortune might well make us very rare indeed - at least as intelligent life.

I understand why the right like Trump, Trumpism, Musk, etc. These are groups and individuals who are convinced that their greatest enemy is The Left. People who support feminism, which goes against their sexual and societal desires and instincts. People who support immigration, which worries them for reasons of safety, societal change and - sometimes - race. People who support social policies that they find perverse for whatever reason. You name a traditionally conservative aspect of society, someone on the left is trying to tear it down. These are people who are repeatedly slapped in the face with morality. The idea from the people who do that is to persuade them to their viewpoint. But that’s not what’s happening: What’s happening is that these people, insistent upon not losing, are turning their backs on truth. They’re turning to leaders like Trump and Musk, who are amoral, who don’t stand for anything. They don’t represent the goodness or hope in the human heart. They represent a fightback against “the liberal elite”, the moralising do-gooders who constantly pop up to tell them “you can’t do/say/think that”. And yes, you could argue people are being manipulated to thinking that through big money donations and easy answers. But I believe these are people who are ready and willing to be seduced because they’re not happy with modern, liberal life and are rebelling against it. What I struggle with far more is why people, particularly in Europe, are willing to consider The Left as a greater threat than Russia, who would quite clearly happily enslave them given the chance.

Yeah, you have to answer the question “What stops Russia coming back in the future?” Or alternatively Trump doesn’t bother answering that question because it’s too hard, too cold and there’s golf to be played.

Can I call you back?

Because you only get all the information you need once you’re in a position to demand it. Take the social care plan that should probably be more descriptive than it is - on the other hand Labour haven’t had the public servants available to collate all the info they needed until now. At least that’s the theory. What you have when you come in is generally a vision. There are certain things like those who want to scrap our involvement in the European human right act who have a responsibility to detail exactly what would replace it because that’s a specific piece of legislation. But for most policies we’re talking having an overview vision for how they should go then flesh out that vision with the help of the civil service once in office. Incidentally it’s an area where Boris struggled - he had grand visions but never bothered to get people to do the planning because he had contempt for the civil service so ultimately little happened beyond grand gestures.

I think it’s too early to say with Labour so far. They have a strategy: Plan, Do, Present. It’s a sound strategy. The key thing will be how quickly and efficiently they move to the Do phase or whether they get forever bogged down in the Plan phase. It’s a difficult balance between overthink and underthink. We’ll see how well they do in the coming years. Their problem right now looks like they could be most judged on things they’re not prioritising, and moreover things that would play into a right wing narrative.

His angle is to pressure Denmark and Panama into selling. I doubt it crossed his mind regarding congress approval in the process. I find the best way to think of Trump is that he’s simultaneously not as stupid as you think and also stupider than you think.

Incidentally, has anyone owned up to this? ie. Stated on social media “This was me and/or my group”? Obviously someone’s done it; I just wondered whether it had been claimed, if so by whom, and if not then does that mean they’re hiding?

I think there’s an argument to say that the Conservatives are somehow going to come out of this Musk stuff worst. Starmer gets sympathy, plus some defence from the British public simply because he’s our democratically elected PM, regardless of whether he’s popular. Farage can say he won’t bend to the far right, although he looks silly for chasing Musk’s approval in the first place. The Conservatives had a whole attack line on Starmer planned, Musk blundered all over it and now they have no idea how to react, looking pathetically weak in the process.

Like anyone’s going to bother to vote No.

I don’t think you necessarily want them to be great athletes. You just want them to look like it.

Legend is great entertainment.

As for Musk, it really is time people started ignoring him.

This is a big problem generally these days, across most countries. Finding proper statesmen in the age of social media is a global issue.

Nobody other than Farage has shown any sign of moving the needle on the right of British politics.

That’s probably because Ted Faro was based on Elon Musk tbf.

Unfortunately, if you don’t then it’s fuel for the conspiracy theorists.

If you want to talk about the left holding the right to higher standards than they do themselves (and vice-versa) then there’s a decent point to make. But the self-pity doesn’t do your argument any favours.

Unfortunately apparently not, last I heard. Unless both lanes are moving slowly like in a traffic jam.