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Mon, 19 Jan 2026 19:19:06 GMT

Even Dan Hannan is losing faith with Donald Trump (from X)

A lot of good people are on a hook over Donald Trump. They voted for him for understandable reasons: to stop Hillary of Kamala, to prevent court-packing, to move the embassy to Jerusalem, to reduce regulations.

They rightly applauded his toughening of immigration policy. They began to feel invested in him. Sure, he was boorish and bombastic, but he was delivering most of what he was elected to do. Naturally, they bridled at criticism from people they disliked, some of which was indeed absurd.

But he has plainly now lost his mind. There is no other way of reading “I am going to threaten an ally with invasion because I didn’t get the Nobel Peace Prize”.

It is impossible to exaggerate how high the stakes are. If Putin had put an agent in the White House, what would would be doing differently?

We are talking about the survival of the Western way of life, about the world order of which the United States is the chief exemplar and beneficiary. That, surely, matters more than “liberal tears”. Doesn’t it? Because if it doesn’t, we are all damned.

Mon, 19 Jan 2026 18:53:43 GMT

From Andrew Neil on X:

For all of my life Russia has tried to decouple Europe from America and break the North Atlantic Alliance. It never succeeded. Instead it lost the Cold War, leaving NATO more powerful than ever.

But now success is staring the Kremlin in the face. All thanks to Donald Trump.

Denmark’s Prime Minister says that if Trump tries to take Greenland by force it would destroy NATO. He’s right, of course. The problem is President Trump doesn’t seem to care.

Previous Presidents have toyed with the idea of acquiring Greenland. Harry Truman even made an offer in 1948 — $1.5 billion in today’s money, since you ask. The Danes turned him down.

But Trump is the first President to threaten force if he can’t get what he wants by negotiation.

Nobody should underestimate the catastrophic consequences for NATO if its leading member annexed the territory of a smaller member. It would be the abnegation of everything NATO is meant to stand for.

Nobody denies Greenland is gaining in strategic importance to America. Melting ice is opening up new sea lanes around it of growing geopolitical and economic significance.

It sits almost midway in the Arctic region between Russia’s northern coast, with its intercontinental ballistic missile bases, and the US mainland. It is on the approach route to America should these missiles ever head this way. It’s why America already has a crucial Space Force base in Greenland.

So when it comes to Greenland the US obviously has skin in the game. But the crucial point is that, in security terms, America can have whatever it wants in Greenland without annexing an ally against its will.

After it turned down Truman, Denmark signed up to the 1951 Greenland Defence Agreement (renewed in 2004). It gives the US the right to build as many bases as it wants and station unlimited numbers of military folk there. During the Cold War around 15,000 US person were based in Greenland. It’s now 200.

Trump claims Greenland is under threat from imminent takeover by China and/or Russia. It isn't, of course.

They haven’t seen a Chinese ship up there for 12 years. But if Trump truly believes it, there's nothing to stop him from ramping up US military assets in Greenland back to Cold War levels or more.

Moreover his European Nato allies are on side – the defence of what's being called the 'High North' does need to be bolstered. That's why they sanctioned some extra troop deployments to Greenland last week, a small first step to increase Nato resources in the Arctic.

But instead of welcoming the move, Trump inexplicably saw it as a threat to America, designed to thwart his ambition to grab Greenland.

So he slapped penal tariffs on the UK and seven other NATO allies. He always puts higher tariffs on America’s friends than its enemies

The Trump administration depicts Greenland as a defenceless frozen waste in danger of being picked off by NATO’s enemies. It’s a nonsense.

Greenland is a self-governing Danish protectorate. As such it is fully covered by NATO security guarantees, including the all-important Article 5 — which says an attack on one of us is an attack on all of us.

Yet Trump still wants to grab Greenland, all part of his mission not just to be Imperial President of the USA but Imperial Overlord of the whole Western Hemisphere.

In an almost deranged message to Norway’s prime minister today he even suggests he’s keener than ever because Norway denied him the Nobel Peace Prize.

There is no dealing with such nonsense. Europe and Canada will need to start preparing for a NATO without America, embracing all the extra defence spending that will entail.

Under Trump America is on the brink of becoming the enemy, not our most important ally. As a lifelong supporter of the US it is chilling to write and say such words.

The stakes could not be higher. As I speak there is despair in European capitals and delight in Moscow. That should tell you everything about the dangerous watershed we’ve now reached.

Wed, 24 Jan 2024 12:51:57 GMT

From Guardian:

PMQs: Turning to party politics, Starmer says the PM has had quite a week. He collapsed in laughter when asked about NHS waiting lists.

Tory MPs shout withdraw; they believe Sunak was misrepresented in the video circulating online.

Starmer says he loves the way, the more Tory MPs criticise him in private, the more they support him in public.

So was he surprised to hear one of his MPs (Simon Clarke) say Sunak does not get what people want?

Sunak says Starmer takes the knee, wants to abolish the monarchy, and does not know what a woman is.

Starmer says Sunak is a “one-man Pollyanna show”. He asks again if Sunak knows why people think he does not get it.

Sunak doubles down on what he said before. He says Starmer “chose to represent a now proscribed terrorist group”, he “chose to campaign against the deportation of foreign nationals” and he chose to serve Jeremy Corbyn.

Starmer says, when he was DPP, Sunak was making millions “betting on the misery of millions”.

Sunak says Starmer does not have a plan. He quotes the Labour MP Jon Cruddas and Steve Coogan. Starmer is a human weathervane, he says

Rishi Sunak is being bullied by his own party, Keir Starmer says

Starmer says he has changed his party, while Sunak is being bullied by his. He asks when thousands of parents will get the childcare they were promised.

Sunak says Labour are meant to be having a crunch meeting on how they will pay for their £28bn green pledge. But we all know how, he says. By raising taxes.

Starmer says Sunak did not answer the childcare question. Eight weeks before it is due to start, parents cannot plan. This is another example of Sunak not understanding how life works for people.

Sunak says the Tories are delivering childcare. Starmer does not have a plan for his £28bn pledge. He says he will not do extra borrowing. So taxes will go up, he says.

Starmer says parents cannot plan their childcare. He says Sunak calls this a technical issue. But Starmer says he prefers the words of the Tory who briefed the Times this was a “complete shitshow”. He goes on:

When will the prime minister finally realise that the biggest practical issue facing Britain is the constant farcical incompetence of the government that he leads?

Sunak says his plan is working. Labour’s “£28bn tax grab” will take Britain back to square one, he says.

Wed, 25 Oct 2023 16:03:47 GMT

Rassemblement National Jordan Bardella has accused France of being responsible for the rocket attack on Israel, this because France gave money to Gaza so they could build a water supply network. Bardella claims Hamas removed pipes and used them to make rockets with.

Bardella claimed the story was confirmed by a fact checker from the French public broadcaster Radio France. Except he's wrong.

It is true Hamas used water pipes to make rockets with but they didn't use those from the water network France helped pay for. They used pipes from an old and abandoned former Israeli colony in Gaza.

https://www.francetvinfo.fr/replay-radio/le-vrai-du-faux/vrai-ou-faux-est-ce-que-le-hamas-fabrique-des-roquettes-a-partir-de-canalisations-souterraines\_6095577.html

Sat, 21 Oct 2023 12:21:15 GMT

I work in the insurance industry. Yesterday we had our usual Noon Teams meeting. A colleague seems to have absorbed all the propaganda against EVs. Apparently, the car I drive will definitely burst into flames and if it does not, will accelerate any fire it may be exposed to.

He claimed the Luton fire was definitely causes by an EV. When I said no, it was a diesel, he said it must have been a hybrid. When I said no, I wasn't (see article https://cleantechnica.com/2023/10/15/land-rovers-keep-catching-fire-but-evs-get-blamed-for-luton-carpark-fire/ ) he countered the fire must have spread because an electric car was set on fire by the initial fire and is responsible for the fire spread.

Now there are problems with EVs. He claimed you can only put an EV fire out by submerging the EV in water. Seems a bit extreme but there are indeed issues with putting out such fires. On the other hand they are very rare. EV cars less likely to catch fire than Hybrids or ICE. https://cleantechnica.com/2022/01/16/gas-car-fires-far-more-common-than-electric-car-fires/

I wish people were less receptive to propaganda. The Telegraph demanded via columnist Allison Pearson, that EV be banned due to the immense dangers of lithium batteries.

Article debunked here https://www.theautopian.com/this-column-demanding-we-stop-making-evs-is-the-stupidest-kind-of-fearmongering-crap/ .

I wouldn't be surprised if the government, so keen on getting rid of "green crap" went ahead and demanded I surrender my MG5.

Thu, 12 Oct 2023 07:34:37 GMT

This is a test.

Thu, 12 Oct 2023 07:33:52 GMT

This is a test.