Angela from Housing

Backpedalling much. That may explain why Starmer's gone quiet. What a pair of idiots they are.
I thought Macron was trying to arrange another meeting of European leaders because he didn't like the answer given at the first one?

And...now Macron is qualifying his position by making clear that he won't be sending soldiers to the frontline. Now it's all about experts and a 'limited number' of troops to help the Ukraine's do all the heavy lifting.

I like Boris Johnsons's take on the current situation. I know hes not popular on MN. He calls out Trump on his latest bullshit without insulting him. He says Europe needs to step up fast. Trump bashing is not the way to get Ukraine the help and support they need.

www.politico.eu/article/boris-johnson-europe-donald-trump-shock/

See @Upstartled 's post on Page 34 (17th at 18.59).
According to some media, Sholz actually stormed out of the meeting in Paris. He spoke to the press afterwards and had nothing good to say about Starmer's proposals.

@TheNuthatch what did scholtz say to him ? I missed it there cd not be a more out of depth government

@TheNuthatch please dear god he has permanently. As a side note my great uncles were one of 5 children my grandma was the only one of the three remaining women to be married there were no men left they had all been killed my grandfather was police hence he wasn’t conscripted. These bloody clowns 🤡 need to be in the front can you imagine 🤦‍♀️🤣

Starmer's gone very quiet since his bollocking from Sholz hasn't he?

@Parsley1234 this is awful, I'm sorry and I agree

I'm sorry to hear about your son's Russian friends. Thats truly awful.
I often think it's a shame that our so called leaders no longer have to go into battle themselves. There would be far less war if they did. I also think that if women ruled the planet, Putin would have received a bullet between the eyes a long time ago.

Has there ever been a more out of their depth government Just putting on army fatigues doesn’t make you a war hero Starmer. I’m so angry with them all such liars and incompetence is truly breathtaking. Thinking of my two great uncles killed in WW1 18/19 years old for bloody what ! Now someone else’s son will be killed as have Russians and Ukrainians. My sons best friend at school was Russian he was at boarding school here his two friends at home one shot then selves in the leg to not be conscripted and last year when the age of conscription dropped to 18 his other friend killed himself. Just fuck off Starmer no ones going to defend this toxic ness you go first

Sky news are reporting that the big increase in inflation is also due to the VAT on private schools.
They are also reporting that unprotected government departments are being asked to model an 11% cut with a view to increase defense spending. I'm not sure I trust this particular government to improve our armed forces. Starmer has made it very clear how little he thinks of them.

@Upstartled yes I agree re the US rhetoric. There's a thread on here by a poster who wanted advice re moving to the US. The responses speak volumes. It's the ultimate in CFery to complain when the big boys take their ball home. Yet the saintly EU can do no wrong, despite their utter failure to defend their own people.

@Clavinova thank you for that info, no I wasn't aware of either of those stories. Lies, lies and more lies! They couldn't lay straight in bed could they!

Yes. Agreed. I'm not sure what that leaves us with though. Obviously we'll need to put more into defence spending well beyond 2.5%, but how do we begin to expand our resources and capacity to secure this country when so few people now willing to fight?

I see inflation is up by 3% today - down to increases in food and transport. It seems particularly mean when people are having to pay more for essentials that they then have the hope of reduced mortgage costs whipped away.

There has been an increase in anti US rhetoric

I mean over the last few years, it's on here.

I recall a US spokesperson saying well they'll miss us when we're gone.

Too late to panic now. The mandate is there to withdraw

Are you kidding? We have posters up and down the boards telling people not to buy American products whilst at the same time acting affronted that the US won't continue to put more than their fair share of money on the table to bolster Europe's impoverished armies.

They are expected to play the part of benevolent allies and world police while we call them Nazis.

Of course, neither is true. But it's a black and white narrative that is increasingly typical.

I don’t think it’s that people want to snub American support, it’s that America have announced that they will be vastly reducing their input into NATO and Trump’s rhetoric has been echoing that of the Kremlin, so European nations have no real choice but to consider and explore their options on how they try to step-up, fill that gap, defend Europe from potential Russia attacks, etc. Starmer stated that any peace process would need the US as a backstop / security guarantee. However, given the current US administration, who knows what approach they will take and they cannot be forced to do this.

Has anyone posted these yet?

Further questions are being raised over alleged exaggerations of Rachel Reeves’s credentials, after the chancellor was reported to have incorrectly claimed some of her work was published in one of the world’s leading economics journals.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/rachel-reeves-cv-whos-who-b2699979.html

Jonathan Reynolds has been accused of fabricating his CV after it emerged he repeatedly described himself as a solicitor despite never qualifying.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/02/18/jonathan-reynolds-business-secretary-solicitor-claims/

The NFU aren't happy after their meeting with the treasury! Our incompetent government seem to have made them even angrier.

Starmer will need his rescue helicopter again next time he's out and about.

Apologies, I was trying to be fair and give labour some credit.
I shall revert to type :-)

So win and win, for the former and the latter lol

So much for the House being united eh!

The Starmer fans seem to have gone a little quieter since Starmer received his lesson in statesmanship from the Europeans.

Not sure about this. He could do anything and they'd be pro

I find the loyalty at all costs odd

It’s not really though is it? Because as far as I understand it, the comparative period had 15 strike days according to the BMA. And inpatient appointments are around 120 million a year - 10 million a month. So in a 5 month period (152 days) in 2024 the NHS delivered 2.2 million more appointments than in the same period in 2023, which is 4%. But it delivered them with 10% more working days by resident doctors…

Good news for the British public. Another huge headache for the incompetent Reeves.

Germany is key surely.

I mean apart from the US who is key decider

If the new German gov can't get it passed then it'll be moot. I don't think they'll have enough support going by party positions