Stumpy

I've pulled all my business out of the US, and will no longer visit for the time being at least. I know many in the same boat.

Respect. I'm not terribly familiar with Russian or Turkish but I know Japanese is HARD. At least french, spanish and italian are all kind of related!

We've needed them many times in the past. I think the UK actually does a great job of respecting the special forces without the slightly weird idolisation and hero worship that seems to happen in the US.

Agreed. Elon might be a gigantic ego on legs, but at least he has an IQ that breaks into 3 figures.

And yet he's orders of magnitude more coherent and accurate than his predecessor. I'm not a biden fan. I'm somewhat bemused that despite holding Congress, Senate and the Presidency he still seems to be "losing". You are clearly however buying into the narrative from the right that has him simultaneously losing his marbles, but also masterminding some grand plan to kill fossil fuels, or tax the rich, or allow illegal immigration, or whatever Fox places in your head each evening.

What does that have to do with ANYTHING?

Because of the magic caravan of course!!! You know - the one that appears every time fox and friends want something to rile up their less well educated base about!

Its a literal neck restraint. Even the symbology is awful. I hate them with a passion

Although had he tried to hang on in there they were talking about changing the rules to allow it.

I think you are over selling them a wee bit.

Withdraw privileges (or threaten to - which in the case of my kids is often enough). In terms of my 8 year old (close enough) that would generally mean device time. My little one (4yo) is my challenge - he resorts to punching (usually his brother) when he's frustrated. His brother is usually winding him up. This issue is actually pretty much hero worship - he actually wants to be his brother and is frustrated when he can't compete/ keep up. It leads to some fairly reprehensible behaviour at times but I can't envisage hitting either of them ever being of any benefit. Gratuitous kid pic. Sorry!

Honestly, why does anyone still wear a tie. They are such a nonsense item of clothing and make no sense whatoever.

French A-level (highest UK school exams taken at 18 years old) - can function socially in french, spanish, italian given a couple of weeks in the various countries. Regret not doing more languages at school because I really enjoy it now.

The alternative is 9 unelected wizards who try to commune with long dead presidents and read their minds. (sarcasm font thoroughly on - all the systems are nonsense, the British one just has extra history as well)

No one does, which basically means there isn't one, so its best not to do it. I was spanked a couple times as a kid, and it never did me any harm, HOWEVER was i a less emotionally stable/ adjusted kid, that might have caused me real problems. These days we understand this stuff much better and there are a myriad of ways to discipline children without beating them.

Yeah but you lot use it as a compliment and an insult all at the same time. "He's a funny C*** isn't he!?"

At this point, from the outside, the US is looking more and more irredeemably broken. What is so mystifying is that at least half the country doesn't seem to be aware that they are throwing a lot of the principles the country was founded upon away. What REALLY worries me is that other governments in places where I DO live or spend time (or oppositions, depending on the country) are starting to use the activities in the US as a template to strangle democracy.

So many words to demonstrate how staggeringly little understanding you have of the entire subject.

It's painful watching how much you have to twist or misrepresent the facts to fit your narrative. Really not sure what you hope to achieve by it. For those intellectually less challenged individuals wondering what BS Brent is spouting this time, it's a very short term response to impending russian gas shortages. From the same article: "Germany, a long-time heavy user of Russian gas, began cutting down on imports after the latest invasion Ukraine. Its climate target to phase out coal by 2030 remains in place, as does its policy to shut down its three remaining nuclear power plants by 2023. Berlin also plans to expand its renewable energy generation - already one of the most ambitious countries - and improve gas storage and energy efficiency measures."

I know I know!!!!! Pick me!

No angst here - you are the one who can't help himself from responding. You clearly subsist on a diet of right wing UK media nonsense and haven't quite yet realised you are the mark in the BoJo con.

Yet here you are. Pop off back to 'spoons now.

He doesn't make a scientific argument. He makes a bunch of assertions with no real evidence behind them. If you don't understand this I can't help you.

Even oil and gas companies are now admitting that human driven climate change is a thing. He is in a very small population that hasn't even evolved that far yet.

Ah yes. From Wikipedia: "He is a member of the academic advisory council for climate change denialist pressure group The Global Warming Policy Foundation,[25] " "He is currently the non-executive deputy chairman of KEFI Minerals since 2006,[31] independent non-executive director of Ivanhoe Australia Limited since 2007,[32] chairman of TNT Mines Limited since 2010,[24][33] non-executive director of Niuminco Group Limited (formerly DSF International Holdings Limited) since 2011,[34][35] and non-executive director of Silver City Minerals Limited since 2011.[3][30][36][37][38] Plimer was appointed director of Roy Hill Holdings and Queensland Coal Investments in 2012.[39] According to a columnist in The Age, Plimer earned over $400,000 (AUD) from several of these companies, and he has mining shares and options worth hundreds of thousands of Australian dollars.[40] Plimer has stated that his business interests do not affect the independence of his beliefs.[36] He has also warned that the proposed Australian carbon-trading scheme could decimate the Australian mining industry.[19][41]" I wouldn't place too much weight on anything he says. His income is literally dependent on saying this sort of stuff.