@ MCTD – do you really think that any shift by Labour towards a Swiss style Brexit option will encourage the Red Wall back to Labour? And any said shift won’t be seized upon by the right wing Tory press to bash Labour as an anti Brexit party?

I’ve never met a dog that doesn’t enjoy a bit of (a) Bach….

An anti tory pact on a platform of proper constitutional reform and closer links to the EU would be a massive vote winner

Whilst I’d like to believe this is plausible I fear the second part of the statement might not be the “massive vote winner” you & I hope it might be…..

Middle class muppets

People that define other folk by assuming they belong to a certain ‘class’ or tribe. In fact, all lazy generalisations have no place in a modern society.

Jacob Rees Mogg.

Somebody is having fun with the advertising on the tories ‘Conservative Home’ website.

ConservativeHome

:)

I’ve been using ‘Natural Instinct’ raw food for years and haven’t had any health issues arising from the storage or use of the food.

I buy it from a local outlet, store it in the freezer and allow it to defrost in the fridge. Always feed the dog in the utility room rather than the kitchen. I started using raw food after my dog developed a poorly tummy and a resultant stay at the vets, he’s been good ever since. I also feed him ‘Arden Grange sensitive’ kibble.

Has anyone seen Carrie recently? Asking for a friend……

How? He can’t make himself enjoy wasting money on takeaways…or enjoy the takeaway.

Because having a takeaway as a treat with your lovely wife can be so much more than just eating food. It can actually be social event where not having to prepare food or have lots of clearing up means you can spend quality time together, maybe enjoy a decent bottle of wine afterwards and make an entire evening of it.

Interesting thread.

I’ve got family members & mates that are financially secure but very very careful with their money, to a point where they generally miss out on life’s experiences. No restaurants, no takeaways, no days out unless it is free parking or they can walk to the destination, weekends away are planned around cost rather than experiences etc. and when it’s time for a social event like a bbq or meal together they always bring/order the absolute minimum and thriftiest produce they can find. They put a ‘cost to value’ ratio on everything that they do or want to such a degree it has now become the default setting not to do something, as the cost will never represent ‘value’ in their eyes.

What I have noticed with their value driven lifestyle is that others around them have to adjust and limit their (our) expectations and experiences when we meet up and this can become a bit tiresome after a while. Their partners and children also have to limit what they can or can’t do so they don’t upset their thrifty family members and this can sometimes cause resentment. Being thrifty is a personal choice but one has to be very careful not to impose our own values on those around us.

I often wonder if my thrifty associates will ever regret being so thrifty when they’re too old or ill to actually do anything…. Will they be able to joyfully reflect upon their wonderfully experienced life? Or will they just simply enjoy the fact that they have amassed a considerable amount of money in their portfolio or bank account and gaze at that wealth until they quietly slip away…..

BTW, I’m a spender and not a saver.

Unfortunately the inept buffoon will only go once (or if) he threatens to lose the next G.E for the tories. All the Party is interested in is retaining their power and nothing will alter that.

Tricky question…

I have a lot of my savings in S&S’s but as I don’t need the cash right now, I’m just going to sit it out for now. I think trying to chase returns or safe havens to help negate inflation is difficult, or we’d all be dumping our savings into whatever was offering an easy, safe option.

I’m no expert & IANAIFA, DYOR etc.

I don’t think it’s the best or anything but I’ve got an Alpen glow 500 and I think it’s a great bit of kit. Really bright, really adjustable and lots of daft colours if you feel the need. The battery lasts for hours and I even use it for work or DIY if I need additional light.

“Look, I can drink ten pints of Carling, headbutt a road sign and still have room for a kebab. I win”. Says your average working class Brexie.

Your sneering is most unbecoming and detracts from any message you’re feebly trying to get across. Says this average working class Remainer.

I bought an Igloo IMX24 Heavy duty box a while back and I’ve been pleased with the product.

The build quality isn’t the greatest, the top is slightly bowed compared with the base but this doesn’t seem to effect the performance. A couple of times I haven’t completely filled the box and this has effected performance but when the box is full it has lasted for days. It’s very robust but a bit awkward to carry long distances. Overall I’d recommend it.

In the past I’ve worked away from home a lot, probably 6 years outside the UK and about 3 to 4 years in the UK and I loved it. I had trips away for anything up to 1 year without returning back to the UK and one stint was for 3.5 years but with regular returns to the UK, however it came at a cost namely relationships.

I have no regrets with my time working away and met many good people that I’m still in contact with. It took time to understand that I couldn’t work away forever and why I had been doing it quite so much. The money can be good but it’s very easy to use that extra cash to fund an agreeable working away lifestyle that I wouldn’t necessarily pursue when at home. There can be a negative impact on your health and for me it was the social aspect and the going out to pubs, clubs & restaurants.

When I decided enough was enough I had to focus on pushing work further to distract from the lure of being somewhere new and this generally worked well. The pandemic threw a spanner in the works somewhat and now I have my wanderlust back and work will hopefully be put to one side for a while for a bit of travelling and adventure.

Lockdowns and the associated restrictions gave me a lot of extra time to think about what I really enjoyed. It allowed me to do more of what I wanted, this included getting up at 8:00 and walking the dog, exploring new places but closer to home. Money is tight but the fear of not being able to do stuff or buy stuff is unfounded, I just adjust what I want to what I actually need. I’m a couple of years older than the O.P and I can no longer justify working away or working nights or working massive amounts of hours and truthfully attempt to justify why I do so when there are alternatives.

Tricky one.

I work in construction and the price rises over the last year or so have been mind boggling, some items I require have gone up between 20 & 55% this year alone. At the moment I wouldn’t give a fixed cost unless I already had the materials in stock, if I was buying them in I would guarantee my costs for no more than a month.

As a customer, I’d be wary of someone offering a fixed cost quote for the reasons you state, they might be looking to profit on the uncertainty. One option is for you to pay for the materials now and wait for the builder to become available, if the builder is prepared to work like that.

I’m sure this action is more to do with electioneering and the probable re-emergence of faarange and his far right ideologies. Tory HQ can’t afford to lose that legions of tory voters that are likely to give their vote to the arch-grifter faarange. The announcement is also helpful to Bozza and his tory chums as it helps deflect away some of the criticism the hateful tories are getting at the moment.

Rob Lee is worth following and gives a good assessment of what’s happening in Ukraine.

His current Moskva assessment…..

The Russian MoD is claiming that ammunition exploded on the Black Sea Fleet's flagship, the Moskva Project 1164 missile cruiser, and that it has sustained serious damage. https://t.co/oILnqUmdXf pic.twitter.com/ISQfGGFQ7I

— Rob Lee (@RALee85) April 13, 2022

A truly heartless action by our inept tory Gov but I never underestimate the depths Bozza, Patel & the rest of the tories will sink to, just to maintain their popularity at the polls and their grip on power.

Fast forward 10 years and we’ll see countless cases and claims from wronged asylum seekers in the Courts against this action if it ever comes to fruition.

How will the potential sinking of the ship help those on land?

It could potentially stop the other 20 or so Russian ships sitting just off the coast from attacking Ukraine.

In particular the ones firing missiles at Ukrainian civilians and the landing ships that contain enough troops and hardware to destroy Ukrainian civilian targets. Have you noticed the damage Russian missiles and bombs are inflicting on Ukrainian cities?

This is shocking. Not one newspaper? How does he do it?

I guess the fact that a number of newspaper owners are based ‘offshore’ yet enjoy all the trampings of being a British citizen go some way in ensuring that Bozza isn’t criticised in the populist rightwing press helps greatly. Additionally, the thought of anyone other than Bozza and the tories being in charge, plus the benefits that bring the rich and powerful means the newspapers that are sympathetic to Bozza and his tory chums will continue to tell their gullible readers what to think.

The question still stands though. If we happily let someone continue in power who freely lies to the people and parliament and has demonstrated he has no respect for the law then we are already on a route to a very dark place.

We don’t allow it, the tory Party allow and the will continue to allow Bozza to get away with his abysmal performance, lawbreaking and general ineptness because he wins elections. Bozza has proven time after time that he can win elections and the tories main goal is to stay in power at any cost. The only time we will see a new leader of the tories is when Bozza gets bored and finds a new plaything or someone emerges that can convince the Party faithful they are better at winning elections than the current buffoon.

I think we are unfortunately stuck with the hapless, lawbreaking Bozza for quite a while.

He’ll be moved on in the next reshuffle then he’ll quietly step aside before popping up a few months later in the States as part of a US-led “healthcare” buyout of the NHS.

This ^^

There does seem to be a bit of a power struggle going on in the tory Party right now, the inept, bumbling Bozza and his crooked allies must be feeling confident that they can scupper anyone that might emerge to challenge the Leadership in the Party.

Interesting…….

BREAKING – European Parliament want immediate and full fossil fuel embargo !

No gas, no oil, no coal…

NO European money for Putin’s army !

? pic.twitter.com/sh46e1ehiS

— Guy Verhofstadt (@guyverhofstadt) April 7, 2022

LOL’s @ wee Frankie lad….

It’s pointless posting to this thread now as it’s become an echo echo chamber and over-run by ‘free members’.

Anyways,

To add to the Russian tank vulnerability question, there is a very good thread on Twitter from a ex military type (not a member though!) and they claimed that the western tanks have been designed to direct hot explosive gases out of the tank as crew member survivability is an important factor for western tanks at the design stage. For Russian tank designers, they have focussed on amount of rounds they can quickly fire and keeping weight down, not crew member survivability. I’ll try to find the thread.

Another interesting article from Kamil Galeev, this time on the ethnic makeup of the invading Russian army. Interesting to see Kamil’s comments on the willingness of ethnic minorities appetite for fighting.

N.B. – Some of the images within the thread are very graphic & distressing.

The minority factor in Russian army is vastly underrated when discussing the course of Ukrainian war. Firstly, ethnic minorities are not so much a minority there. Judging from the casualty lists, minorities are wildly overrepresented on the battlefields as the cannon fodder? pic.twitter.com/PgsN89ZbvY

— Kamil Galeev (@kamilkazani) March 23, 2022

One thing people don’t consider when having children is some of them grow up to become dog owners.

This ^^

Therefore the only logical solution is to ban children. Dogs are ace and the world would be a much better place if everyone had a friendly, waggy tailed pooch!

Typical Johnson, say something to get tory core support gleefully frapping and at the same time ‘poke the woke’. Making sure he uses fairly vague language so that when he gets called out, he can simply say his critics are misinterpreting his words.

He is an utterly deplorable populist that appeals to far too many voters in the UK, his only interest is winning elections to massage his own bloated ego…

Apart from all those countries that they’ve already invaded regardless; Georgia, Abkahzia, Transnistria, North Ossetia (twice), Tajikistan, Chechnya (Twice), Dagestan, Crimea. which are all countries in Russia backyard who aren’t looking to join NATO or the EU.

If we assume that Wagner are a front for the Russian government then we should include the countries Wagner have interfered with too.

These include – Venezuela, Mali, Libya, Syria, Central African Republic, Sudan, Madagascar, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Angola, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, and possibly the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Are we to assume that the above countries are all trying to join NATO & the EU, and therefore cross Putins red lines too?

I don’t know if this Twitter account has been posted before – Kamil Gallen

Kamil seems to cover a lot of relevant Russian & Ukrainian subjects and seems well informed.

There are reports on Twitter of a large Russian navy flotilla nearing Odessa. I’m not able to link atm.

If the Ukrainian people prefer to live under Russian domination, they will decide that at the next election.

Well, only if the people of Ukraine are allowed free and fair elections, and foreign interference is stopped.

The bit many including yourself seem to be missing here is that as far as many in Russia (and Ukraine) are concerned – and certainly Putin – Ukraine is part of Russia and not independent.

I don’t believe that anything was agreed in 1991 between Ukraine, Russia & Europe that any future Russian political thinking would permit Russia to invade their newly independent neighbour.

I have a fair few Ukrainian friends, most of them Russian speakers from the east of Ukraine and they tell me that very few people back home want to be part of Russia. I’m not sure if the Russian publics view of Ukraine is based on independent analysis or Russian gov controlled media?

Of course you’ll need to look at it from the Russian perspective. Do you feel Russia was nervous about having NATO military directly on their border, with missiles pointed their way.

I agree that we also need to look at this from a Russian perspective as if we don’t understand them we will struggle to limit the damage done to Ukraine. Whether those Russian concerns are realistic or warranted is another thing.

What I can’t see (from the Russian perspective) is why they didn’t go down the sanctions route first. The Russians could have put NATO countries under tremendous pressure by limiting gas supply and other exports (wheat, metals etc.) but instead decided to invade Ukraine. The same question could be asked about Russia’s annexation of Crimea and continued support for the separatists in Donbass & Luhansk. And lets not forget Georgia and Transnistria.

I think NATO have been prodding Russia but Russia have been constantly prodding NATO, it’s what both sides do unfortunately. Let’s not forget though that Russia have invaded Georgia, launched a chemical attack on British soil, supported Transnistria separatists, propped up Lukashenko, supplied a missile system that shot down a passenger airline and lots of other nefarious actions without NATO invading a smaller neighbour.

Realistically? No chance.

We have an inept Gov that only thinks short term and unless they’re led by the hand by our international partners they flounder at the first obstacle. Just look how they are handling the refugee crisis.

Starting tomorrow, if we were to start investing and constructing in other forms of energy sources, how long before we could claim to be self sufficient? I would guess a lifetime would be the correct answer.

Would nuclear be the obvious choice of our main energy source?

My dog suffers with the same.

Lots of good ideas above but for my dog the only thing that has worked is managing his feeding times to tie in with any car journey. I try not to feed him for about 10 hours before any car journey and that’s the only way he won’t be sick. He has got use to missing the odd meal (he’s gone a whole day without food due to a long trip) but he doesn’t seem bothered by it and he gets excited about going in the vehicle.

I still have to cover the seats with towels and blankets as he will be sick if somebody gives him any food when we’re out. My dog is 10 yrs old now and he has always been the same, he is a Rescue and his last owners tried everything to help with travel sickness but nothing worked.

He’s still a very good boy though.

Turkey have agreed to blockage the Black Sea. I’m very surprised by this.

It appears the French have stopped and impounded a Russian cargo vessel that was sailing through the Channel.

Maybe something to consider is whether there are opportunities to progress in the current job or the potential new job. At the end of the day, cash is king and having a work/life balance is great but not having enough money to enjoy that life kinda defeats the object a bit. If neither job presents any potential increase in earnings then maybe neither job is sustainable for the longer term.