https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jul/22/uk-to-seek-european-maritime-mission-to-counter-irans-piracy
Jeremy, I hate to point it out but this is so ironic it hurts.
You cannot talk radical nonsense about the need to leave Europe with a no deal at the first opportunity while simultaneously pushing for increased cooperation in anti-piracy. You will not get anywhere.
If you want to have a proper say in Europe, you have to be inside its decision making organisation (or at the very least remain on solid terms with it following Brexit rather than pandering to the right wing press).
Other comments about strengthening the Navy to prevent this happening again are similarly insane. If Boris gets in and lowers taxes to please the wealthy at the same time as we ditch our main trading partners we will have far, far more pressing economic concerns.
While my thoughts go out to all those involved (and to all the others mistreated or detained by Iran) this is a direct reaction to our seizure of an Iranian vessel in Gibraltar. Our special forces seized the ship in accordance with US policy in the context of the deliberate American torpedoing of a nuclear arms deal that we are still supposed to support. The fact that EU sanctions were also being broken hardly warranted our sticking out our noses in such a reckless way.
A moment of forethought could have predicted the consequences. Except, oh wait, all of our experienced diplomats are quitting or being forced out by the Brexiteers.
Government ending cock up before the government has even been formed.
Monday 22 July 2019
Monday 15 July 2019
Beggar thy Neighbour
https://www.theguardian.com/business/live/2019/jul/15/china-growth-slow-trade-war-bank-of-england-50-note-business-live
I'm not even going to go into Trump's deliberate insulting of his female professional colleagues in the most public and racist way. The man showed long ago that he lacks any sense of human decency or empathy and this most recent crassness fits the bill.
Instead, how short term must Trump's thinking be if he counts a Chinese slowdown as some sort of victory. The global economy is, get this, interconnected and a problem for one large economy is likely to rapidly become a problem for other countries.
This is even more true of the Sino-American relationship. Economists have long feared such a slowdown could trigger a global recession. The Chinese own a large amount of US debt and despite recent diversification are a primary manufacturer for the consumer goods that Americans enjoy on a massive scale.
Trade wars only 'work' if you draw your margin for victory so widely that it includes risking total economic collapse and great suffering for petty nationalist goals.
I'm not even going to go into Trump's deliberate insulting of his female professional colleagues in the most public and racist way. The man showed long ago that he lacks any sense of human decency or empathy and this most recent crassness fits the bill.
Instead, how short term must Trump's thinking be if he counts a Chinese slowdown as some sort of victory. The global economy is, get this, interconnected and a problem for one large economy is likely to rapidly become a problem for other countries.
This is even more true of the Sino-American relationship. Economists have long feared such a slowdown could trigger a global recession. The Chinese own a large amount of US debt and despite recent diversification are a primary manufacturer for the consumer goods that Americans enjoy on a massive scale.
Trade wars only 'work' if you draw your margin for victory so widely that it includes risking total economic collapse and great suffering for petty nationalist goals.
Wednesday 10 July 2019
Summer Activities
In a bid to stop this blog devolving into a series of angry posts about Trump, Boris and Brexit, here is a round up of what I'm reading, playing and watching at the moment. In no real order, here we go:
PC Gaming
I continued to have a good time with 'Sunless Skies' after my previous post about it. However, having made it to Eleutheria and escaped without dying (brilliant change of pace there as you have to explore the new area unaided by familiar ports), I died a stupid death on my return to the Reach. I've yet to pick it up again but will have to at some point to see what the Blue Kingdom has to offer.
I picked up 'Into the Breach' in the Summer Sale and, while it is good, I think my expectations were a little high after the good press that it has received. On normal difficulty I find it much, much easier than the brilliant FTL and beat it regularly after only a handful of attempts. Will push the difficulty up to hard soon but I'm tempted to unlock and try out all of the Mech squads on normal first unless I get too bored by the lack of challenge first.
Finally, I'm giving 'Massive Chalice' another shot. The uneven difficulty and slightly oblique mechanics have put me off before but so far so good. I'm quite keen on the goofy humour and after finding ItB too easy the potential for characters to die suddenly (and even unfairly) seems refreshing and challenging.
Board Gaming
Out of the blue, a work colleague invited me to play in an eight player 'Game of Thrones' game with dragon expansion.
On top of it being a complex game in itself, I haven't seen the program or read the books so lacked any cultural context for the game. Everybody else was a hard core fan and I raised some eyebrows by calling my faction the 'Tulips' rather than the 'Tyrells' throughout.
Ultimately I had a good time though. Surrounded by other inexperienced players I quietly expanded with minimal conflict as the Starks and Lanisters wiped out the faction between them to the North. The dragon player (my work colleague) eventually won with some air strikes and a couple of canny alliances but since few people had played with the expansion this can possibly be put down to people not knowing what to expect.
Hell of a long game though. We played for nearly 6.5 hours with one short break.
Otherwise, at work I continue to have a very good time with quick lunchtime games of 'Codename Pictures' and slightly less fun with 5-10 player games of Saboteur.
Television
Not much to report here. I'm finishing up the first series of Netflix's 'Seven Deadly Sins', which I'm having an inordinately good time with despite the near constant objectification of the female characters.
Books
My reading list is threatening to bury me again after a number of impulse buys on Amazon. At my parents I'm reading a collection of A.E. Housman's Poetry and Prose which feels very high brow even if gets a bit samey and is highly dated in tone. I've also started Philip Pullman's Shadow in the North which I may drop or continue with based on mood and opportunity.
At home, I'm finishing off Kim Stanley's Robinson's Blue Mars which seems a little pointless after the energy of Red Mars and the interesting political machinations of Green Mars. As the author explores the realisation of what seems like his personal utopia the preachiness and superficiality of certain characters becomes ever more apparent. I'm also reading through Winston Churchill's The Gathering Storm for something a bit more weighty.
Finally, a work colleague has lent me three recent-ish National Geographics which are my current lunchtime reading when I'm not socialising or drinking. They are definitely growing on me and I like the reasonable length of the longer articles although, as I generally read British publications, the editorial style is very unfamiliar.
PC Gaming
I continued to have a good time with 'Sunless Skies' after my previous post about it. However, having made it to Eleutheria and escaped without dying (brilliant change of pace there as you have to explore the new area unaided by familiar ports), I died a stupid death on my return to the Reach. I've yet to pick it up again but will have to at some point to see what the Blue Kingdom has to offer.
I picked up 'Into the Breach' in the Summer Sale and, while it is good, I think my expectations were a little high after the good press that it has received. On normal difficulty I find it much, much easier than the brilliant FTL and beat it regularly after only a handful of attempts. Will push the difficulty up to hard soon but I'm tempted to unlock and try out all of the Mech squads on normal first unless I get too bored by the lack of challenge first.
Finally, I'm giving 'Massive Chalice' another shot. The uneven difficulty and slightly oblique mechanics have put me off before but so far so good. I'm quite keen on the goofy humour and after finding ItB too easy the potential for characters to die suddenly (and even unfairly) seems refreshing and challenging.
Board Gaming
Out of the blue, a work colleague invited me to play in an eight player 'Game of Thrones' game with dragon expansion.
On top of it being a complex game in itself, I haven't seen the program or read the books so lacked any cultural context for the game. Everybody else was a hard core fan and I raised some eyebrows by calling my faction the 'Tulips' rather than the 'Tyrells' throughout.
Ultimately I had a good time though. Surrounded by other inexperienced players I quietly expanded with minimal conflict as the Starks and Lanisters wiped out the faction between them to the North. The dragon player (my work colleague) eventually won with some air strikes and a couple of canny alliances but since few people had played with the expansion this can possibly be put down to people not knowing what to expect.
Hell of a long game though. We played for nearly 6.5 hours with one short break.
Otherwise, at work I continue to have a very good time with quick lunchtime games of 'Codename Pictures' and slightly less fun with 5-10 player games of Saboteur.
Television
Not much to report here. I'm finishing up the first series of Netflix's 'Seven Deadly Sins', which I'm having an inordinately good time with despite the near constant objectification of the female characters.
Books
My reading list is threatening to bury me again after a number of impulse buys on Amazon. At my parents I'm reading a collection of A.E. Housman's Poetry and Prose which feels very high brow even if gets a bit samey and is highly dated in tone. I've also started Philip Pullman's Shadow in the North which I may drop or continue with based on mood and opportunity.
At home, I'm finishing off Kim Stanley's Robinson's Blue Mars which seems a little pointless after the energy of Red Mars and the interesting political machinations of Green Mars. As the author explores the realisation of what seems like his personal utopia the preachiness and superficiality of certain characters becomes ever more apparent. I'm also reading through Winston Churchill's The Gathering Storm for something a bit more weighty.
Finally, a work colleague has lent me three recent-ish National Geographics which are my current lunchtime reading when I'm not socialising or drinking. They are definitely growing on me and I like the reasonable length of the longer articles although, as I generally read British publications, the editorial style is very unfamiliar.
Johnson's bow to Trump
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/jul/10/kim-darroch-resigns-as-uk-ambassador-to-us-after-leaked-trump-comment
Good to see that Boris Johnson is showing his signature spinelessness before he even becomes prime minister.
The heir apparent of the Conservatives has been loudly trumpeting a US trade deal as a solution for the self-inflicted economic catastrophe that his Brexit policy will cause. How we can trust him to negotiate with the US when he lacks the self esteem to even back experienced British diplomats in a meaningless spat with Trump.
Bet you anything that, if he gets in, he'll be willing to show the same callous attitude towards the rest of the British population in any future trade negotiations. Get ready to say goodbye to competitive NHS bargaining with private company suppliers and hello to chlorinated battery chicken imports.
It would be unfair to blame this entirely on Boris though. The 2017 resignation of Sir Ivan Rogers illustrated that this whole Tory administration is incapable of working with its own experts as it is tugged by its lunatic fringe towards a no deal Brexit.
Good to see that Boris Johnson is showing his signature spinelessness before he even becomes prime minister.
The heir apparent of the Conservatives has been loudly trumpeting a US trade deal as a solution for the self-inflicted economic catastrophe that his Brexit policy will cause. How we can trust him to negotiate with the US when he lacks the self esteem to even back experienced British diplomats in a meaningless spat with Trump.
Bet you anything that, if he gets in, he'll be willing to show the same callous attitude towards the rest of the British population in any future trade negotiations. Get ready to say goodbye to competitive NHS bargaining with private company suppliers and hello to chlorinated battery chicken imports.
It would be unfair to blame this entirely on Boris though. The 2017 resignation of Sir Ivan Rogers illustrated that this whole Tory administration is incapable of working with its own experts as it is tugged by its lunatic fringe towards a no deal Brexit.
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