Excellent.
Excellent.
I come in here and it's like Stone Cold stunnering the McMahon family one after another.
What?
I had no problem with the initial response, if anything we shut things down too late, but by the time we were 2 vaccines in and we had it relatively under control anyone calling for another lockdown (safe in the knowledge by this point of the damage those things were doing in an of themselves) wasn't remotely looking at it holistically and was suggesting something that was going to do far more damage than just asking the vulnerable to shield.Originally Posted by randomlegend
The BBC's political editor Chris Mason points out that Trump previously referred to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as a "dictator". Does he still believe that?
"Did I say that, I can't believe I would say that", Trump replies.
I see Sir K duly turned up with a letter from the king.
You're looking at it with the benefit of hindsight and saying nothing went wrong therefore it was mad to suggest a lockdown. I know you said the same at the time and have been "proved right", but that doesn't mean a risk didn't exist.
If that variant had arrived here and it turned out the vaccine wasn't particularly effective against it and it was more virulent, we'd have very quickly been back in the big shit. I don't know how likely an outcome that was - I have no expertise in that field of medicine. But if the people who are experts in that field are spooked, I think it's wise to listen and not just label them as mental. Nobody becomes a virologist because they have a fetish for calling for lockdowns.
I can't explain why they seemed to have such a hard on for us to go back inside, particularly against the backdrop of South Africa telling them it was fine, but they did and I can't see how someone can weigh up a potential risk to an increasingly small number of people against an actual one caused by lockdowns to everyone (suicide, depression, domestic violence, creating a generation of socially retarded children etc.) and decide we should prioritise the former.
Now I know virologists are only concerned with the virus side of things and I'd struggle to call them mental as a result, but what I would call mental is the amplified voice those who were in charge of everything continued to give them against the well established backdrop of the damage lockdowns were causing.
Last edited by Yevrah; 27-02-2025 at 06:47 PM.
Anyway, how's Kier getting on? He's going to look like Ed Miliband eating a sandwich next to Trump, isn't he?
You spout some nonsense.
Catching up on events at the Whitehouse, Kier seems to have done ok during the intro bit. Seeing David Lammy there strikers fear into my heart though.
It's ok, it's so Sir Keir can lament him as a DEI hire behind closed doors to bond with the Donald.
Because that's probably not the risk they were concerned about; it's absolutely possible a variant could've become dangerous to everyone, including young people.
Why they still had that concern (or possibly a different but equally serious concern) despite it seemingly not being borne out in South Africa I don't know, as I said I think that's a question you'd need to pose to someone with more expertise. I postulated a theory above but it's really out of my wheelhouse. I would imagine they had some fairly solid reasoning behind their concern, but yeah they are also probably a relatively risk averse bunch.
You're right that the scientists are primarily only able to give advice from the perspective of their own expertise. Would it be a good idea to put virologists and public health doctors in sole charge of relevant policy? Probably not, and the role politicians are meant to play is to balance up the various factors and make pragmatic decisions. Maybe they did exactly that. Maybe we got extremely lucky. I don't think that's really a knowable thing.
Have to go to the US next week. Between the plane crashes and near misses and the measles outbreaks, I'm not sure I'm gonna make it home.
It's probably too early for their civil war to start yet, isn't it? Hopefully I won't have to go next year at least.
Who are you flying with?
Hopefully no dead people.
https://www.theverge.com/news/620777...unication-musk
Don't worry mate, SpaceX are taking it over and Musk's companies have stellar safety records.
Spinzone: If you fill out that immigration form and tick the box asking if you were ever a member of the Nazi party between 1933 and 1945 there's a 50/50 chance that you could be made head of a federal department by the time you land.
Unfortunately I've already filled it in so it's too late to try that.
In which case let’s hope your plane is super woke because it seems that DEI was the only thing keeping Boeing in business.
Or get lucky on plane roulette with a couple of Airbuses. Although transatlantic usually means you're in a 787 Dreamliner.
Grope a stewardess on the way over as well and they'll put you in the cabinet.
Detransatlantic.
Looks like Starmer did well. Pragmatism for the win. Bit of a moment when JD popped up with his free speech grenades, but he's probably right (to some degree at least) and I suspect we'll get there in the end.
A hearty lol will be had if the EU gets whacked with tariffs for the next four years and we don't.
It's going to be hilarious if Trump gets his minerals deal and then says to Putin something along the lines of no more gainz for you Vlad and if you want to be part of the big boy digging club then you're going to have age to give some back. Fire and fury or whatever the term was if US contractors get nuked on the ground, although maybe that would be the first time Trump would have ever cared about contractors.
Say what you want about Starmer, but pulling that letter out from Charles was a brilliant move to stroke Trump's ego.
Macron seething at home with his shitty republic.
Yep, that was a masterstroke.
Quite the skill to do that while not looking like you've gone full gun arse kiss.
The royal seal of approval getting a lot more traction here than it did for the world cup bid, anyway.
Chuck Blazer is not so easily bought.
Imagine the insane places the world cup would have been held had FIFA been this cartoonishly easily to manipulate.
I'm not really sure what Zelensky thinks he's doing, given he has no legs to stand on.
Zelensky should drop the 'dress like in the frontlines' schtick.
I can't blame him for being mad. If the yanks saved anything, why are Ukraine's borders going to look very different in this deal?
Surely the leg to stand on is “does the world want good or bad to prevail”.
Clear that trump gives zero shit about that illusion and has kicked him out.
Americas reputation in tatters.
How do you take away from that video Zelensky is at fault?
Trumps deal amount to "Fuck you and your country, give me all your stuff" with no guarantees, why would any sane leader act differently in his situation?
Because he literally has no other option.
This is just classic Donald J Trump really. Treating geopolitics like he's taking over a failing hotel. Screw the old owners and humiliate them to keep lowering the price.
They’re not his legs.
The confederacy of dunces being surprised Zelensky doesn't roll over to have his tummy tickled after they've told him to give up 20% of his country and them a load of money. Unless they've managed to fire them all and replace them with same tier spastics, which I wouldn't rule out entirely, there must be some serious diplomatic heads in hands behind the scenes.
Still think Europe should step in with the seized Russian stuff to do this deal under Trump's nose for maximum bants.
He's not going to let Ukraine be ransacked by a different burglar. Trump is only like this because he's intimidated by an actual strong leader.
Fault is neither here nor there. He needs the US’ support and he’s been there 5 minutes before an argument broke out. If that was the plan, why did he bother going?
I know everyone is on his side at the minute and it’s only Lewis and I with an opinion that differs at all from the one behind that stance but public opinion will change eventually the longer this waste of life and money continues.
Why has he bothered going then? He’s got delusions of grandeur if he thinks he can change Trump’s stance or the Americans that voted for him with this approach.
Absolutely mental. Lol the news conference cancelled.
Everything's coming up Milhouse (with an e, natch) for Britain though. We'll soon be the great intermediaries of the world.
Has he actually kicked him out?
You think he had choices about this? They only invited him so they could immediately humiliate him in the most theatrical way possible.
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