How Can The World Stand By While Trump Sucks Up To Putin?

In the UK there were NO elections between 1935 until 1940 because of WW2. The Election timed for 1940 was postponed for 5 years.

So if Trump agrees with Hitler that Churchill was a Dictator he will surely remove his bust from The Oval Office and replace him with one of his boss, Putin.

Husband just saying to our DS (22) to prepare for conscription, is this how our military is going to be boosted?

Can we afford to lose so many young people? I think it's a cheek to expect young people to fight after the way they have been shafted over the years.

On 25th January, the New York Times reported that he still has the support and trust of Ukrainians but by a very slim majority-52% and that he is increasingly blocking out advisers who think differently to him.

Trump's approval rating is currently 46.5%, unfavourable is at 48.1%

Zelensky at 57% is doing much better with his people than Trump is.

Trump has also showed up how weak Europe are as a world power in any sense. We depend on the U.S for military support and most of the technology we use daily, Boycotting the U.S would be like kicking ourselves in the face. Anyone here fancy never using Apple, Microsoft, Facebook and Twitter ever again (and the list is longer really)?

I agree with this, we don't have a choice

The best we can do is work a lot harder to build up our own military and technological capabilities, but that would mean real sacrifice and hard work. It remains to be seen whether sclerotic Europe (including us) are up for the challenge.

Unfortunately I think we will be arguing over who should make the sacrifice & work harder for some time.

He is completely wrong, he said Ukraine attacked Russia!! He also carried on with total garbage about Ukraine, US aid, gave away all of the 'Wests negotiating levers..... its as if Trump is a deep sleeper Kremlin mole....

The US gains a great deal from Europe, not least in trade, military bases, intelligence sharing, culture... its not a one way street.

If we cannot rely on the Yanks, then quite honestly, what is the point in allowing them access to our territory? why?

Yes agree with your last paragraph, we in Europe have relied on NATO's art 5, thinking it was written in stone, Trump has shown its written on loo roll.

I don't endorse Trump's tactics here at all but the UK is hardly in a position to throw stones.
Our current ruling party when last in power created a dossier of lies to take us into an illegal war that killed 500,000. Just a few months back that same party voted to kill 4,000 old people by removing WFP (their own figures).
Meanwhile you complain about Trump "behaving like a bully"... surely we should start much closer to home with our own Labour party who get away scot free with killing thousands?

@FireandRain23 I haven't moaned about the benefits bill.

We can no longer afford to be an economy that exists to support only the unemployed, disabled or elderly

So now you agree pension spending isn't insignificant 😆

We have other dire needs that require urgent funding and we can’t simply continue to raise the tax burden as it is very high as it is.

The tax burden is high for higher earners vs other European countries. We tax the lower & middle earners less but the problem with raising taxes for them is the distorted housing market & crappy wages.

What would you suggest we do @Wildflowers99 to reduce the benefit spend?

It’s not the elderly driving it. We now spend more on non-pension benefits than pensions. Look up the increase in benefits claims, it’s terrifying

Even if this were true, (and it's not) the vast majority of those who are of working age, who claim benefits, are in work. They are in low wage jobs, or in "zero hours" contracts, meanwhile the companies who employ them are making £billions of profit. The government is subsidising these companies by letting them get away with not paying people enough.

I’m just reacting to the usual moaners about the benefits bill, not you personally.

@Wildflowers99 We devalued salaries, reduced investment and boosted assets after the crash primarily houses which has become the only real growth in our economy. Many people didn't notice their salary was falling behind inflation because their house value increased even though ever increasing house prices don't help the majority. We now have low wages, high taxes, high housing costs and public services needing more money. Is that what you meant @pentangles?

This sounds reasonable, but it isn't. Ukraine wouldn't need millions for military and rebuilding support if Russia hadn't invaded. And I don't just mean their full invasion in 2022, but the start of their invasion in 2014. Why isn't the narrative that RUSSIA is costing the world millions (not to mention lives lost). It is not Ukraine's fault they were invaded and they now stand (almost alone) defending the rest of Europe. Russia could end the war today and pay reparations to Ukraine. We all know they won't, but why isn't there more uproar about what RUSSIA is costing, not statements about how much is being spent on Ukraine, or what Ukraine is costing other nations. Ukraine isn't costing other nations anything. They are saving our freedom at the cost of their lives and their country.

Why does the Western World seem so certain that appeasement will work this time, given their experience last time? It's infuriating.

Trump doesn't want to broker a deal. He will do what Putin tells him to do.

Giving taxes back to who ?

Yep this is close to my view

National insurance is like any other kind of insurance - it pays out when you’re too old or sick to work.

Is anyone debating that? All I have said is that demographics matter.

That post made literally no sense at all. Can anyone elaborate?

Oh and let's all ignore the elephant in the room in the UK, that our housing stock is all we have left, which is why we are so unhealthily obsessed with it and terrified of it dropping a couple of thousand in value.

Yep

@FireandRain23 There is an awful lot of rhetoric around "net takers" which is one of the posts I replied too. There is nothing wrong with pensioners or anyone being a net takers. I was just making the point that the amount of net takers will increase when you have an ageing population. Thats it..

100% this. Unfortunately the world right now is not the place for lofty ideals and falling on your sword for the sake of principle. The only people in the UK Trump admires are the Royals, I feel now is their moment to step up and do some urgent schmoozing so we get a good tariff deal and soften Trump toward our point of view a little. The British public have been woefully self defeating with their pro-Gaza, anti-West, anti-American sentiments because they thought it was a luxury protected from the cold light of day by our military. I fear we are in for a shock as to what would happen to us without American allegiance and a proper military.

Sadly, that is so very true.

Doubtless!

Now, now, don't go repeating the crazy dictator's (Trump in this instance) false statements. Zelensky is not a dictator and hasn't cancelled elections. He was elected for a 5 year term, which was due to end in May 2024. However, Ukraine has been in a state or martial law since Russia's invasion and elections cannot take place under martial law. Zelensky has vowed to hold elections once the war ends. (Which is more than Trump has done. He not only broke the law in an attempt to stay in power the first time, he's threatened to remain in power this time, even though the Constitution prohibits this.)

38% of UC claimants are in work. That’s an awful lot of employers who are being subsidised.

The majority of people claiming UC do not work.