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Thread | Today's report from Guardian world.....The E.U.
at 07:52 14 May 2024
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/may/14/europe-power-fear-
'Fear goes a long way in explaining Europe’s approach to north Africa and the Middle East. Whereas in Ukraine, fear has translated as excessive caution and restraint, when it comes to countries in the southern Mediterranean and Africa, fear equals abdicating on foreign policy altogether. Europe is not just scared of these countries, it is literally terrified. Europe’s ageing population should lead to a rational and self-interested debate on fostering legal migration, but instead fear explains the current scramble for unethical deals that pay cash to countries in the region in return for their pledges to stop migration to Europe. The EU’s recent deals with regimes in Tunisia, Egypt, Mauritania and Lebanon are testament to this. To be clear: the past was not perfect. As Democratic Republic of the Congo president Félix Tshisekedi bluntly put it in a recent interview, African leaders have long tired of western democracies’ lecturing and arrogance and are happier to work with Russia and China.
Moreover, behind Europe’s talk of justice and honesty always lay crude material interests. The obsession with stopping migration while negotiating unfair trade and natural resource extraction deals is not new. And with every crisis, Europe’s selfishness and double standards have been confirmed: just think about the west’s vaccine-hoarding during the pandemic or the vastly insufficient climate finance channelled to Africa.
But at least in the past, even though it was insufficient and incoherent, there was an ambition to exert influence and to help the continent through foreign and development policies. Now policy boils down to a crude transactionalism, where European countries and EU institutions engage with African counterparts as if they were CEOs signing business deals. The “money for (no) migrants” approach is not foreign policy. It’s the abdication of foreign policy.
Fear is even more striking in the Middle East, and especially in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. No single reason explains why European governments choose not to exert influence, while potentially having plenty. The EU has long been a major trade partner for Israel, and after the US, Germany is Israel’s largest military supplier. The EU is also the Palestinians’ biggest aid donor. Yet never has there been the slightest hint at using these levers. Once again, fear steps in. Fear, in this case, of Israel’s accusations of antisemitism plays a huge role. These accusations have now been distorted and expanded in many cases to include any criticism of Israel or expression of anti-Zionism.'
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Thread | Really boring domestic question...
at 21:05 12 May 2024
Does anybody have any idea how the running costs compare between running central heating on electricity or oil and would it offset the lower installation cost. For when the wood burner goes out. |
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Thread | Things can only get worse.
at 07:23 10 May 2024
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/may/10/britain-mental-hea
'Neoliberalism’s greatest triumph is to persuade us that, in Margaret Thatcher’s words, “there is no alternative”. In reality, the doctrine is an alternative to the much better lives we might have led. In the new book I’ve written with the film-maker Peter Hutchison, The Invisible Doctrine, we seek to drag this ideology and its disastrous impacts into the light and show how it can be overthrown to fulfil the promise of a better world.
The doctrine reached its apogee in Liz Truss’s 49-day meltdown, when she tried to apply neoliberalism to the ideological letter. But this was just the most extreme manifestation of what we have suffered since 1979. Labour softened some aspects but accepted privatised public services, brutally curtailed protest, deregulated commerce even further and allowed the financial sector to pursue reckless get-rich-quick schemes. It added a disastrous twist of its own, extending the private finance initiative to vast tracts of government provision – one reason for the crises suffered by hospitals, schools, prisons and other services today.
Amazingly, neoliberalism, despite all the breakdowns it has caused, continues to dominate. Labour, as the shadow chancellor, Rachel Reeves, demonstrates through her irrational commitment to austerity and her stated intention to deregulate capital even further, seems determined to ensure there is no alternative.'
'How have successive governments got away with it? Through the endless promise of jam tomorrow. If we keep working harder, one day we’ll pay for the public services we need; one day we’ll earn the economic security we crave; one day we’ll have more leisure time. Will this magic day ever arrive? Of course not. Strong public services and economic security were never part of the plan. But to have us working ever-longer hours on behalf of capital? That is very much part of the plan.'
Arbeit macht frei.
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Thread | So what are we all doing today...
at 15:18 5 May 2024
Obviously Dubbers is whizzing around his estate on his mower with a Town flag fluttering behind him, but what about the rest of you lovely folk, even the elite ones? |
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Thread | Hey Leitrim...
at 17:55 4 May 2024
How was/is it at Kieran's folks' place? |
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Thread | Sam has spoken now just enjoy it!
at 19:30 3 May 2024
Morsy said: “We’ve had a couple of amazing ones to be honest – Exeter and Norwich – and I’m sure it will be the same again. It’s an absolute privilege for us because one day we’ll all retire and we’ll look back at days like these and go ‘Wow’.
“It doesn’t guarantee we’re going to win the game but it’s just amazing that the fans love us that much and are willing to do all of this for us. It’s just so special and it’s there to be enjoyed.”
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Thread | Skybet each way title pay outs....
at 15:25 3 May 2024
Just checked my account and have been paid out on a each way title acca including Southampton and Bolton.
Might be worth checking and cashing out. |
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Thread | Hope I didn't go too soon.
at 11:19 1 May 2024
Brought a bottle of Yorkshire Bitter back from Leeds at the weekend and couldn't help but upen it last night....seemed appropriate! |
| | BanksterDebtSlave
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