Politics Thread 6

[Return_of_the_STAR]

BBC News - China-Taiwan tensions: Xi Jinping says 'reunification' must be fulfilled


https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-58854081

I see the future looks great China are very determined to take Taiwan. The world needs to send a strong message together against this. But no war please that would be horrific.

I'm interested what strong message you'd suggest? Arguably more overt support from Japan, the UK, France etc etc are the very things that are causing escalations from China.

Obviously I'm not saying we should abandon Taiwan, far from it (Taiwan is one of my favourite countries) I'm just not sure what course of action can be taken without escalating the situation.

I kind of wonder what would happen if China did invade. If they could do it quickly I imagine that the US wouldn't want to risk nuclear war so would probably back down.

This is exactly what I expect to happen. The US won’t be able to do much as the invasion would likely be very quick and overwhelming.

The strong message I am referring to is a United voice from the world asap that China should respect the right to the people of Taiwan having self determination. Taiwan should be recognised for what it is, a self governing, independent country. Will it piss off china? You’re damn right it would but their position is currently they want Taiwan ultimately at any cost and it needs to be made as off putting as possible. Maybe ban them from the next Olympics that’s probably as much as you can expect lol:

We have to end our reliance on china to make any of this possible though.

[KK]

The head of Insulate Britain has called himself a "hypocrite" - adding he "doesn’t care" about insulating homes.

Liam Norton is behind the series of road-block protests in recent weeks. One of the main objectives of the protests is calling on the government to insulate all social housing by 2025 - therefore reducing the amount of wasted energy pumped out of people’s homes.

Earlier this week, it was revealed the leader of the environmental group doesn’t insulate his own home.

He uses gas central heating in a single-glazed home and has no insulation in his walls, a report revealed.

Mr Norton, who is an electrician, has now said he is “terrible” for not practicing what he preaches.

Speaking on talkRADIO, presenter Cristo Foufas asked Norton about why he doesn’t insulate his home.

He replied: “Because I’m a hypocrite."

Foufas pressed him further, adding: "Do you understand why people will think, well, this guy doesn’t care about insulation, he only cares about causing disruption and trying to make a name for himself?"

"Yeah, they’re right," Norton said.

"I don’t particularly care about insulation."

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/insu ... 4.html?amp

What an arsehole.

[Vermilion]

The head of Insulate Britain has called himself a "hypocrite" - adding he "doesn’t care" about insulating homes.

Liam Norton is behind the series of road-block protests in recent weeks. One of the main objectives of the protests is calling on the government to insulate all social housing by 2025 - therefore reducing the amount of wasted energy pumped out of people’s homes.

Earlier this week, it was revealed the leader of the environmental group doesn’t insulate his own home.

He uses gas central heating in a single-glazed home and has no insulation in his walls, a report revealed.

Mr Norton, who is an electrician, has now said he is “terrible” for not practicing what he preaches.

Speaking on talkRADIO, presenter Cristo Foufas asked Norton about why he doesn’t insulate his home.

He replied: “Because I’m a hypocrite."

Foufas pressed him further, adding: "Do you understand why people will think, well, this guy doesn’t care about insulation, he only cares about causing disruption and trying to make a name for himself?"

"Yeah, they’re right," Norton said.

"I don’t particularly care about insulation."

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/insu ... 4.html?amp

What an arsehole.

...and then people wonder why the group are so hated.

Their entire operation has been one massive PR disaster.

[Moggy]

What an idiot

The cause is fantastic, the idiot running the group is a disaster.

[Errkal]

What a strawberry floating twerp.

[Skarjo]

Jesus what an own goal.

Almost makes me think he was a plant to get the group discredited.

[Tomous]

Yeah, genuinely starting to think he's a plant

[massimo]

Surely he’s not that much of an idiot.

[Dual]

amazing

[massimo]

I had to look up the video and it’s here, you can probably skip to about 16 minutes in…

I think he’s fed up at that point and just says it to make a point that he doesn’t care about insulation and that it’s about saving lives.
He’s clearly not a media trained professional working in public relations, but he comes across as quite likeable, but out of his depth.

[Outrunner]

This is exactly what I expect to happen. The US won’t be able to do much as the invasion would likely be very quick and overwhelming.

The strong message I am referring to is a United voice from the world asap that China should respect the right to the people of Taiwan having self determination. Taiwan should be recognised for what it is, a self governing, independent country. Will it piss off china? You’re damn right it would but their position is currently they want Taiwan ultimately at any cost and it needs to be made as off putting as possible. Maybe ban them from the next Olympics that’s probably as much as you can expect lol:

We have to end our reliance on china to make any of this possible though.

Fair points. The problem is though, this takes out of the equation what Taiwan actually wants. Broadly speaking the the KMT are labelled pro-reunification and the DPP pro-independence. In actuality both are very much pro-status quo. The DPP argues that they are already am independent soverign state and don't need to formally declare independence, they know if they do that will instigate a war so policy remains: keep the status quo.

When the Taiwanese public are surveyed, the top 3 responses are to maintain the status quo. Only 5% want to declare independence ASAP. 80% want to keep the the status quo in some degree (25% do want to to move towards independence eventually but want to maintain the status quo for the time being, 27% want to maintain indefinitely, 28% want to maintain but decide on independence at a later date).

Clearly things are changing, younger Taiwanese are increasingly identifying as Taiwanese as opposed to Chinese or both Taiwanese and Chinese and the situation has to come to a head at some point. I'm just reluctant for the international community to state that Taiwan is an independent country when both major Taiwanese parties go to great lengths to avoid saying that to avoid a flashpoint that would lead to war and 80% of the Taiwanese public don't support that statement either.

So what is the answer? I really don't know. Maybe ask me again in a couple of years if I decide to write my dissertation on the situation

[Moggy]

I see today's outrage from the gammons is because British Airways are no longer going to use "ladies and gentlemen" in their announcements.

[Tomous]

I see today's outrage from the gammons is because British Airways are no longer going to use "ladies and gentlemen" in their announcements.

Laurence Fox described it as an attack on everything we are


It's incredible how sensitive that gammon generation is. Bunch of snowflakes.

[Benzin]

We WoNt Be AlLoWeD tO tAlK aNyMoRe!!!!

Amazing how worked up they get about it. When all it'll be is the use of words such as "passengers" and the like.

[Hesk]

If it was never pointed out, literally no-one would notice.

[Moggy]

twitter.com/justinbaragona/status/1447190123666419718

Clegg wasn't content with helping Cameron strawberry float up the UK, he's now helping Zuckerberg strawberry float up the world.

[Grumpy David]

BBC News - China-Taiwan tensions: Xi Jinping says 'reunification' must be fulfilled


https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-58854081

I see the future looks great China are very determined to take Taiwan. The world needs to send a strong message together against this. But no war please that would be horrific.

We're already in a war against the Chinese Communist Party. The only good thing about it is that it's a Cold War rather than a Hot War.

Taiwan's the most dangerous / explosive place in the world today and has the greatest likelihood of turning a Cold war Hot. Taiwan is very unlucky to have the world's worst neighbour just over the Strait.

Taiwan's geographical features means that a land based invasion is highly limited in terms of suitable months of the year to invade (October is pretty much the best month for it) and it couldn't be a surprise attack since the build up of a million troops would be very obvious. The CCP could successfully invade but not without getting a bloody nose for it and without taking a massive gamble on whether the USA will actually defend Taiwan.

Taiwan's value to the USA and the West isn't just symbolic either, TSMC being fully beholden to the CCP gives far too much power to the 21st century resource equivalent of Coal and Steel.

[Lex-Man]

twitter.com/justinbaragona/status/1447190123666419718

Clegg wasn't content with helping Cameron strawberry float up the UK, he's now helping Zuckerberg strawberry float up the world.

The guys found his place in the world.

[Tomous]

Rishi Sunak is poised to usher in cuts worth £2bn for government departments tasked with meeting the Tories’ flagship “levelling up” agenda, despite planning for the biggest tax raid in a generation.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said the chancellor was on track to lift the UK’s tax burden to the highest sustained level in peacetime with a package of manifesto-busting tax increases at this month’s budget and spending review.

Rishi Sunak is poised to usher in cuts worth £2bn for government departments tasked with meeting the Tories’ flagship “levelling up” agenda, despite planning for the biggest tax raid in a generation.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said the chancellor was on track to lift the UK’s tax burden to the highest sustained level in peacetime with a package of manifesto-busting tax increases at this month’s budget and spending review.

While the tax raid would help fund an expansion in the state to the highest level of government spending since 1985, the leading independent thinktank for the public finances said several Whitehall departments would still face budget cuts.

Advertisement
In an intervention ahead of Sunak’s landmark post-lockdown budget due later this month, the IFS said perennially squeezed areas such as local government, further education, prisons and courts could have their budgets cut by more than £2bn next year.

“These budgets were cut substantially in the 2010s, and a further round of cuts would be difficult to reconcile with the government’s stated objectives – particularly around ‘levelling up’,” it said.

In its “green budget” assessment of the public finances, issued with economic forecasts from the investment bank Citi, the thinktank said overall government spending was on track to settle at 42% of national income, about 2% higher than before the pandemic.

However, it warned the pressures from an ageing population meant a growing share was going towards health, while less was being left over for other areas of Whitehall spending despite voluble Tory promises about levelling up and ending austerity.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/202 ... e-tax-rate

[<]:^D]

ah so the money is going to the rich, good to see