Quote from: Slim on March 08, 2022, 02:59:37 PMI hadn't heard that one before - in all honesty I don't think even Neil Oliver would buy that one.

I remember reading an analysis in the '80s that suggested she would have won the '83 election either way. I wouldn't quite say the 'Falklands Factor' was a myth, but I do think it's overstated.

It was slightly tongue in cheek until I read this...

It states that the Conservative Government were looking to hand South Atlantic Islands over to Argentina. When this plan stalled in Parliament Argentina thought if they attacked the UK would hand them over as they were looking to anyway!

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/apr/09/margaret-thatcher-falklands-gamble#_=_

The decision to attack in this light could be seen as a political gambit, realising how poorly she was perceived at the time and knowing that the general population reacts well to the stirring up a bit of national sovereignty and pride.  Islands that were otherwise a burden, suddenly became more attractive

You have to wonder whether Thatcher put the Argentinians up to this.  Certainly saved her bacon domestically.  If no prompting was carried out it was serendipitous; I bet she thanked them to herself

Perhaps this is fake news and hopefully it won't be the case for much longer but apparently, at the moment, there are more Russian Oligarchs living in the UK than Ukranian refugees.

Quote from: Slim on March 07, 2022, 09:59:58 AMHere's one that annoys me. People crawling behind you in a car when they have plenty of time to overtake. What's that about? I had a woman stalk me in a Mini for about a mile along Heather Lane once.

Timid drivers are almost as bad as overly aggressive ones.  If I can see that there is ample room to overtake, especially when coming round a corner I do signal to cars behind to overtake. It's nice when you get an acknowledgement from the driver when they have overtaken you.

Quote from: Fishy on March 07, 2022, 09:53:34 AMYep I'm all for plenty of room from cars but some folks are right over onto the other side even on upcoming bends and hills.. madness

Yes drivers who think they can see round corners is another one

On this morning's spin, 2 motorcyclists close passed us, (probably because we were cycling 2 abreast) then slowed and over-revved their engines, causing me to wobble the bike with the noise. A couple of minutes later 4 of their colleagues flew past us a bit too close to comfort at what seemed like over 100mph. Gobshites. I always thought there was a bit of comraderie between cyclists and their petrol laden cousins. Obviously not!

Beautiful day in Ireland too. Bright sunshine not much wind to begin with although it did pick up a little later. Met up with 3 other Trim wheelers and a newcomer. We did a gentle 20k loop not to scare her off and then the same loop again without her in reverse with a slightly quicker pace.  Wind had picked up again by then but nothing like it had been on every other time I've been out this year

I tend to avoid paths for that reason. I stick to the roads where there's less chance of meeting foolish pedestrians and their dogs

The economic sanctions appear to be having an effect. Putin has declared them an act of war.

Huge shock!  Probably the best spinner in my life time

Quote from: Slim on March 04, 2022, 11:07:27 AMNot only on paper, but not all of them are implicated in the Kremlin's nefarious activities.

Not many who didn't make their money incredibly quickly capitalising (see what I did there) from the fall of communism based almost entirely on their position they held at the time of its fall. 

Dodgy as feck to a man!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_oligarch#:~:text=During%20the%201990s%2C%20once%20Boris,the%20state's%20transition%20to%20a

Quote from: Slim on March 03, 2022, 11:13:12 PM

Quote from: dom on March 03, 2022, 11:07:11 PMThis article (from 2019) doesn't seem to suggest that the UKs contributions are anything special compared to others...?

https://www.csis.org/analysis/not-contributing-enough-summary-european-military-and-development-assistance-ukraine-2014

A2 in that piece, an answer to "How much military aid does Ukraine receive from European countries and Canada?" seems to suggest otherwise to me.

I think the entire article suggests that the EUs overall contribution has been just as valuable if not more so.

Quote from: Slim on March 03, 2022, 10:49:07 PM

Quote from: dom on March 03, 2022, 10:26:29 PM

Quote from: dom on March 03, 2022, 08:13:16 PMNumber of companies or individuals sanctioned for links to Putin:

🇪🇺 EU 446
🇨🇭 Switzerland 351
🇺🇸 USA 148
🇬🇧 UK 24

Come on Johnson! Get your finger out! Any reason for the stalling?

Still think this question needs answering. With so many Russian oligarchs having made their homes here and invested so much of their ill gotten gains in the UK why has its response been so poor compared to the likes of the US and the EU?

I honestly don't know what the real figures are; my own information was that over 100 people and entities had had their assets frozen by Feb 24th. So this notion of a poor response sounds a bit like spin to me. There's no doubt in any case that we've been pushing for harder sanctions on the international stage. Worth remembering also that the EU is a collection of countries so aggregating their effort, welcome though it may be, into a single score is not really helpful.

It might well be something like wanting to ensure that proper culpability is established, rather than just targeting people for being Russian.

Just read that two Kremlin associates were sanctioned this evening. It's a work in progress, as it must be.

Agreed re the EU if individuals are counted more than once across countries. Is the figure derived from the EU as an organisation or the contributions from individual countries. I'll concede that the data is vague enough to cast doubt on it.

This article (from 2019) doesn't seem to suggest that the UKs contributions are anything special compared to others...?

https://www.csis.org/analysis/not-contributing-enough-summary-european-military-and-development-assistance-ukraine-2014

Quote from: dom on March 03, 2022, 08:13:16 PMNumber of companies or individuals sanctioned for links to Putin:

🇪🇺 EU 446
🇨🇭 Switzerland 351
🇺🇸 USA 148
🇬🇧 UK 24

Come on Johnson! Get your finger out! Any reason for the stalling?

Still think this question needs answering. With so many Russian oligarchs having made their homes here and invested so much of their ill gotten gains in the UK why has its response been so poor compared to the likes of the US and the EU?