Sir Harry Paget Flashman 🔰

It'll be hard to explain to future generations how utterly unthinkable a Trump presidency was, until it actually happened. Right up to election day 2016, the possibility Clinton might lose had barely occurred to me, because I thought American public life was basically functional.

A thought I have, is Francis may have had a better response to the economic dislocation of AI, than Leo has provided. A Universal Basic Income, & adopting an old fashion aristocratic vision of dignity as freedom from work, might be a better base to build an effective response.

The UK has successfully de-coupled carbon emissions and GDP.

Trump needs to seriously consider both his legacy, and current standing, with Republicans if he continues his post-ceasefire pattern of bold red-line threats followed by repeated retreats and extensions vis-à-vis Iran Conservatives are a voting base forged in the aftermath of the lessons of WW2 and the Cold War, and one of the fundamental principles they believe in is peace through strength But what Trump has been doing lately with his repeated threats without follow through are not all that different than Obama and his red line...although this conflict isn't over yet so he can still salvage this Currently, I don't see any prospect of Iran agreeing to any deal that is anything other than another JCPOA...and no, Trump is not going to be able to sell that to Republicans I concede that geopolitics are infinitely complicated and there are lots of things to consider behind the scenes regarding energy security, US interests, etc...but these were all calculations that needed to be taken into consideration before he began this war It's also something he needed to consider before agreeing (and repeatedly extending) a ceasefire because when he did that, he moved his own goalposts. He now needs to get a good deal (that accomplished his stated objectives) or regime collapse...and neither is possible without maximum pressure on the regime Trump’s first-term maximum-pressure campaign cratered Iran’s economy, forced the IRGC to slash proxy budgets, triggered Hezbollah layoffs and Syrian drawdowns, and paved the way for the Abraham Accords. By contrast, Obama’s JCPOA and Biden’s sanctions relief only enabled more of Tehran’s funding of terror groups and its sprint toward nuclear breakout. Only sustained strength has ever made the regime blink...anything less is simply repeating the same failed playbook And that will mean escalation, which is not desirable, but neither is allowing the status quo to persist No, Iran is not winning the war...but Trump sure does seem to be doing everything possible to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory And if he doesn't get this right, then he'll pay dearly politically just like Joe Biden did with Afghanistan

Americans think states having different grocery stores is culture

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has called for a ‘new partnership’ with the United States to ‘help make America great again’

Britain's average economic growth in the 1970s was 2.66%. In the 2010s, it was 1.98%. So far in the 2020s, it's 1.07%. That lower economic growth is a lot less equitably distributed than it was in the 1970s. Average real wages growth in the 70s? 3.2%. In the 2020s? 0.9%.

Since Dan asks... I think it's either 1) The UK really is a basket case 2) The official ONS methodology struggles to capture things like customer switching, discounts and improvements in quality and, as a result, overstates the ‘true’ rate of inflation 3) Both of the above

Countries that cut emissions the most grow more slowly. Net Zero is a big reason why our economy has stagnated.