Putin is less likely to escalate the conflict with the prospect of a more sympathetic president about to take charge. This is the perfect time for Ukraine to step up their counterattack.
Yeah, this. In fairness, it's not a call I would have made, because the chances of Ukraine being able to take any significant territory back before Trump gets in are minimal. As you say though, I'm sure Trump would have been briefed on the course of action (he might bluster about and say he wasn't and isn't he so clever stopping this etc, but yeah, he will have done).
Just noticed you've pretty much quoted Donald Trump Jnr in the second sentence. Not sure he's who is best to be going to for information, but that's probably just me.
Suddenly you forget to care about the climate and world peace and start cheering on a war? At least you’re consistent in your inconsistency
I've not been impressed by Starmer so far, to put it mildly, but glad to see two things that are definite positives this morning - he's told police to start dealing with crime that impacts the communities rather than worrying about a nasty Tweet. Also the move toward getting people back to work through training and apprenticeships, and stopping young people taking long term sickness through spurious mental health issues.
I think young people are growing up in a different world to us, where constant 24/7 access to social media makes them anxious and depressed. They are the generation that was born into this and knew nothing different, and cannot see the self-harm it is inflicting. Hence, I think spurious is a bit harsh. Not that I disagree that being off sick is a bad thing. They need to be with real humans and disconnect from the machine. Anxiety in particular is something of a circular thought process. I feel anxious. Internet says anxiety normal. Social media algorithms all about anxiety. I am more anxious. I just don’t like the word spurious as we have dumped these people in this world without understanding the consequences.
https://x.com/rupertlowe10/status/1858446344211304450?s=46 Rupert Lowe was a terrible owner for us, but he’s turning out to be a good politician. This post sums up exactly why the attack on farmers is so cruel
Surely 'market forces' make it difficult? People demand lower prices and pick the vendor with the prices to suit, supermarkets compete to do that and bring in food from the cheapest places. People buy it because it's cheap. British farmers have higher costs for various reasons (like controls over chemicals and trying to keep soil viable for longer terms etc). The problem surely is people and not government. Government steps in to help farmers be more competitive with subsidies, but put controls on that - not perfect, but never will be. Yes, definitely issues with governance, but the nub of the problem lies in consumer demand for goods at unrealistically low prices - made more difficult by leaving the EU of course.
It may be a bit harsh, but not unwarranted in a lot of cases, I fear. We’ve made it too easy to use ‘anxiety’ or ‘stress’ as a way of getting out of work and being supported by disability benefits. Over a third of disability benefits are now mental health claims. Okay, it’s a different world now to grow up in, but every study will tell you that the best way to get out of an anxiety spiral is to get out and do stuff, not to sit in it. Any push in that direction should be applauded. When I was working solely in music, I was around a lot of 17 - 30 year olds, and a lot of them/their friends weren’t working for what I would absolutely term as spurious issues. They were gaming the system, and at some level they knew it.
I agree about getting out and living (and I believe said so in my post). The issue with mental health is it is exactly that: mental. If you believe you are suffering, you probably will be. I've known a lot of people with mental health issues, and they may start off spurious, but they soon become quite entrenched patterns of thought and very hard to get out of. I also think it is not really any wonder 1/3 of disability is mental health. We live in a really depressing time, with depressing messaging everywhere, where the pressure to look good 24/7 is reinforced by social media, and where many, many people are working purely to survive - and spunking most of that on ridiculous rents. It is healthy that many people now go to the gym, but I actually think far less healthy that socialising in places like pubs is becoming less common.
Unfortunately the fact that community is foremost a gym thing is a problem - gyms are inherently narcissistic and play into the comparison thing which is a one way road to anxiety. As you say, pubs where your focus is outward is far more mentally beneficial.
