A few noteworthy updates from the weekend The US has avoided a government shutdown for the next month or so with an agreement that sees a halt to additional funding of Ukraine. This is quite symbolic, as it both underlines Republican skepticism of the whole project, and also shows that it's the issu...

Famous for sporting achievement?

Born before the 1800s?

Crazy, isn't it? The politics are was created in order to kill off lively forum debate and clear the way for a focus on Diplomacy discussion. Unfortunately whilst killing off the interesting parts of the forum was largely successful, people overestimated how much there is to say about Diplomacy so t...

Oh, I agree completely that an agreed set of effective international rules would be preferable, but I don't see it happening. Even in the EU, which in international terms is a group of relatively like minded nations, getting an agreed framework typically results in countless loopholes and quirks to ...

As far as international agreements go, I suspect it would be easier than you imagine. If the US and China were to agree on a plan it doesn't really matter what anyone else thinks. China could even act alone if it felt suitably threatened

I disagree with these tactics, fyi, i think we need more technology and confidence in ourselves to build a climate solution which blocks sunlight in a controlled fashion (ie one we can turn on and off easily and cheaply). But we also need an international agreement on how to go about this. The alte...

If you look at recent historic events commonly described as a crisis, such as the Covid pandemic, the 2008 financial crisis, the Syrian civil war, the Haiti earthquake, the Indian Ocean tsunami, then it wouldn't be out of place to consider climate change an issue of comparable magnitude. It is quite...

Perspective is vital and very easily lost in such debates. We have, in the last couple of years, ensured the deaths of hundreds of thousands, the displacement of millions, and risked the deaths of literally billions over a matter of principle regarding a non-aligned and deeply corrupt eastern Europe...

Mrs Oct and I rewatched all of the Bonds back in the unpleasantness, and much to my surprise Pierce Brosnan was the clear winner. This was rather upsetting as the inner child had distinct memories of The Man with the Golden Gun being the greatest film of all time, and the inner university student ha...

Jamiet99uk wrote: ↑

Sat Sep 23, 2023 12:13 pm

We are not currently in an "ice age".

Depends on how you define it. Ora's definition is not wrong, although it's not the definition favoured by the general public

Is she known, at least in part, for being the first woman to do a thing?

So dying an “unnatural death” is kind of up for interpretation. Did she die through the actions of another malicious person, either murder, mansalughter, drunk driving etc? Per item Ⅲ of the guidance, I will answer this question: No. Huzzah! A bit of competitive killer instinct at long last!

The trouble with the Tories is that they fear upsetting too many of their core voters. Boris, to his credit, had no such fear (one of his few good features) but the Tories are now firmly back in the hands of establishment suits terrified of losing the election so badly they'll never recover. The tro...

Executed?

What's also not good are the millions of deaths and many millions more suffering that will result from massive economic pain. What would be even worse are the populist authoritarian governments that would be elected in response to traditional parties imposing unpopular hardships on populations witho...

Some interesting polling on the subject. The Great British public, by an hefty majority, want the government to do more to achieve net zero. Also the Great British public, by a hefty majority, support Sunak's policy changes. So one can safely conclude that what the people demand is a robust set of h...

It's also worth pointing out the most of the "horrific decision making" effectively aligns the UK more closely with the EU. It's not every day a new policy to mirror Europe receives so much support from the more Brexit minded members of the public

Sunak is in a difficult position. Wildfires do indeed seem to a growing problem across the globe, but the local UK situation this year has been pretty average. A hot June, a miserable July and August, and another hot week in September. The news for much of the summer was an exaggerated story about h...

At it's core diplomacy is a board game designed to be played by a group of friends, typically at someone's house. In such a scenario you wouldn't tell you're mate, who has just had his arse kicked as Austria, to bugger off home or sit quietly in the lounge watching telly. They would still be around,...