POSTINGS |
Sell Out #1.2 |
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Today sees the final nails put in the coffin of UK national credability as we have the publication of the UK-Mauritius treaty on the Chagos Archipelago - by the House of Lords Library. As such it is a relatively clear and accurate reflection of the sorry saga. But it makes the whole sell-out deal come across as an academic exercise with little in the way of long-term implications. Given that this is a 99 year treaty the long term really should be assessed. Also lacking is any credible security assessment ... or the suitability of the Mauritian Government as the islands’ new owners. You can read all the details via the above link - but Grandad comes away from the whole shoddy episode with a feeling that our politicians have been out played by a lower ranked team through a combination of incompetence and a loathing of Britain’s historic achievements. However the villas in Mauritius do look lovely for those that escaped the UK tax regime ... Update 3-Jul-2025 It seems like all the puffing and blowing will make no change to the bill - and so it will be passed to the KIng to be rubber-stamped through. And that’s even with the last minute disclosure that the US will not pay anything towards the inflated costs! No wonder The Donald was happy with the deal. And the UK defense will take a hit it can ill afford. History will show just how wrong our useless Prime Minster has been. But then it is looking increasingly likely that the Chagos surrender will be a mere margin note in the Labour Government’s ledger of expensive mistakes ... Will the UK economy even last until 2029? Or be so far run down that no one will care? |
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tags: weak, dishonest, under cover, sell-out, gutless |
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Midsummer Night’s Dreams |
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Sadly today’s mid-point to 2025 is a date when not many in the world are realizing those dreams that we all aspire to - peace, food, shelter and freedom. Instead we hear and see that Russia is still attacking Ukraine, Israel is still punishing Gaza and trying to remove the nuclear threat from Iran while China constantly harasses Taiwan - along with countless other unjust actions that stain the planet.
Meanwhile in the USA we have a president who seems to get personally involved in too many things - from domestic to world-wide. Throwing both world politics and national finances into a new convulsion with each pronouncement. If the world gets through 2025 without a nuclear disaster it will be a good result. Here in Grandad Towers the mood is one of reluctant acceptance that time and tide wait for no man and soon the responsibility for making dreams turn into reality will pass on to the next generations - assuming that none of the current generation blow it all away before they can take over ... How different it was in the 1960s ... |
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tags: war, false peacemakers, debt mountains |
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Mad World |
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World economies have been battered over the past few days - and face the prospect of crashing into bankruptcy under mountains of unsecured debt.
But it’s not just the USA creating trouble for itself. The UK’s big protest vote against the Conservative government has provided the numbers in parliament to push through any bill that the Prime Minister and his team want. True there are more controls than in the US system - but with a big majority that just means they take a little longer to start. And just like the USA the UK is dependent on the honesty and competance of its politicians. Sadly some of the current ministers seem to lack the skills or judgement needed when appointed to high office. Having our national finances controlled by someone who seemingly fails to grasp the implications of her policies and having our energy policies set by a short-sighted fool are just a couple of examples. Throw in the obvious wrong decisions - for example giving away the Chagos Islands - and we will be very lucky to avoid a massive fall in living standards; or worse ... But at least the sun is shining - for now. |
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tags: world trade, power, dictatorship, depression, foolish |
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2 Cents Worth |
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It may now be history - but it’s worth digging up the 1930’s press coverage leading up to World War 2. Just this one page from one newspaper from 31 Aug 1939 shows just how close we are to a repeat of history. 1. Hitler signs a peace pact 2. Cartoon shows European politicians from nations threatened by Hitler kicked out of the USA 3. Appeasement seen as the way to avoid war 4. Poland is urged to send a peace envoy to Berlin Of course history records that the very next day Germany invaded Poland followed by blitzing through a string of other European nations. Now we are expected to believe that Russia will stop its invasion of Ukraine if there are a small number of US civilians (or US corporations) digging for minerals in the country (was already tried in 2022!). Or that the new US friendship with Russia would change if Russia invades the Baltic states. With no US support for Ukraine and/or NATO any peace deal would be a waste of paper ... Update 8-Mar-2025 Just look at some of the current media headlines - “Russia’s neighbours consider leaving weapons treaties as invasion fears grow” “Russian attacks show Putin has no interest in peace, EU says” “Trump considering pulling 35,000 US troops out of Germany” “This is what happens when someone tries to appease the barbarians. More bombs, more aggression, more deaths. Another tragic night for Ukraine,” etc etc. Appeasement did not work in 1939 and won’t work in 2025. Learn from history! |
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tags: weak, dishonest, sell-out, flawed, world war |
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Sell Out #2 |
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In what must rate as one of the greatest sell outs of all time we have the USA’s new leader seeking to impose a draconian peace agreement upon Ukraine.
Suddenly the USA shifts from guardian of democracy to a partner in crime with Russia. The terms and conditions of the USA plan are totally stacked in favour of the guilty party in this illegal war. Ts&Cs that could have been (were?) drafted by Putin himself. The demands for Ukraine to be a dis-armed neutral state blocked from joining NATO and forced to give up its key mineral resources - as well as compensation for the military aid it already has had would be harsh if Ukraine was the invader. In contrast the penalities for Russia - are none and it gets to keep the land it has taken by force. Not only that it would pay nothing towards reparations for the three years of deliberate destruction It’s time the USA administration checked back on the peace agreement that the UK Prime Minister waved on his return from Berlin in 1939. This new peace deal will be no barrier to Putin taking control of the whole of Ukraine. The citizens of Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia now face a NATO that is likely to lack US support for fighting Russia. The North Atlantic part of the alliance will be limited to the nations of the eastern Atlantic! And the US president telling the Ukrainian president to flee to France while he can ... just stinks! Don’t expect much good to come from our PM’s visit to the US this week - and we might be next to be targetted by an aggressive US regime. No more special relationship ... 1-Mar-2025 In the event the world’s media witnessed a total breakdown of US-Ukraine relations, no deal signed and an early end to the Ukrainian President’s US visit. Hard to predict what will happen next - but the US parties were upping the risk of World War III ... Update 1-May-2025 |
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tags: weak, dishonest, under cover, sell-out |
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AI has corrected the image ... |
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Sell Out #1.1 |
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Now there is a chance that so many concerned parties might be less concerned if the British government was more open about the costs and strategic consequences. No chance. Their behind closed doors meetings and refusals to inform MPs of any meaningful details can only point to one conclusion - it’s bad news for British tax payers. It may even be bad news for the UK military in that the whole cost of the surrender will come out of the existing defense budget. Not good when they are already short of men, materials and funding. There is so much wrong with the Chagos Sell Out that anyone reading the sparse facts for the first time would think it was some sort of sick joke. Even more incredible is that Grandad and the media has to resort to reading the online Mauritian parliament reports to find anything at all. Even the people who used to live on the islands know little about the intended deal - or exactly who will benefit from the £90 million per year the UK tax payer will have to stump up - for the next 99 years. So that’s a financial drain on the next 20 parliaments irrespective of which party is in power. As pointed out back in October the £90 million per year could be small change if the other UK costs are as reported in Mauritius. If you look at the islands via Google Earth you see that the only current infra-structure - roads, air strip, dock, power grid, housing, etc - is on the Diego Garcia support facility built by the US Navy. Any resettlement on the other islands will require everything to be built - docks, housing, schools, hospitals, water treatment, power generation ... And all funded by that generous pair; Starmer & Lammy. But there are more issues that none of the leaks or objections seem to have addressed. First the existing US lease with the UK only runs to 2036. So the US military have 11 years to come up with an alternaive location - and leave the UK tax payers with a liability for some 88 years more! However the global warming predictions could end all that as these low-lying islands are predicted to get swamped by 2100 - 25 years before the lease expires! Update 7-Feb-2025 Update 17-Feb-2025 This news has further complicated the next round of negotiations - as Starmer & Lammy seem concerned at US representatives being dropped in by the Trump regime. Don’t be surprised if there is a total change of direction on the shady Chagos deal - perhaps even some free common sense! Update 1-Mar-2025 Update 1-Apr-2025 Update 1-May-2025 Update 16-May-2025 Update 19-May-2025 Update 22-May-2025 Later the same day ... Keir Starmer surrenders the Chagos Islands: PM confirms he will hand UK territory to Mauritius - and taxpayers will pay £101m a YEAR for the privilege. Update 23-May-2025 |
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tags: weak, dishonest, under cover, sell-out, gutless |
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The Madness Spreads |
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Today the nation’s new technology expert, Sir Keir, announced that Britain is to become the world leader in AI (artificial intelligence not insemination). A big ask when the country is also going to be the world leader in Carbon Reduction technology and legislation. Now there was a government paper on this in 2021 - so not new - and the UK ranks third in AI research world wide. However applying AI to public and private sector processes is lacking - and will be difficult to scale up from the research level. Sir K’s idea seems to be that a big spender like the NHS can use AI to make major savings and efficiency improvements. The trouble is no one seems to have any specific processes in mind - or even the most vague idea of how and where AI could help on that scale. The NHS is using machine learning to improve assessment of x-ray images for example. But that’s a process not far removed from its role in editing smart phone images. Currently even domestic computers can use AI to quickly produce a scene like this from just a text description - saving hours of drawing, cutting and pasting. And even though this picture was produced without direct costs - it relied on a vast library of royalty free images, some serious computing power at the server end - and lots of electricity. Like crypto-currency the AI servers will need major data centres consuming thousands of watts of energy to keep them running. Even if the AI engines are only churning out phone pics of cats in funny outfits. So the AI data centres will need constant, power station sized electricity supplies and for it to be generated at the lowest possible cost. Data centres being the equivalents of our struggling steel making plants in their need for cheap energy to compete in world markets. And this is where the UK (and others) faces the conflict between carbon reduction targets and AI energy consumption. The obvious risk being that the UK falls short all round ... and China and the USA retain control. |
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tags: weak, dishonest, gutless, clueless |
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Government Madness |
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The first six months of the new Labour government have seen some classic blunders and miscalculations - many of which can only be put down to prioritizing political dogma over common sense. Grandad does not need to repeat the long list of stuff-ups - but there are many. And some are going to prove very expensive millstones weighing down the vast majority of tax payers for years.
The few UK ministers in the know are desparately trying to keep the Chagos Islands madness out of the public eye - and out of the media. But even the tiny bits that have leaked out spell out a massive financial black hole - that will apparently be filled by major cuts to the part of the defense budget actually spent on defense. Not ideal with Russia seemingly prepared to divert its entire economic output to invading Europe. When the UK is lacking any meaningful missile defense system and sufficient troops, spending of a large chunk of the military’s budget on a base for the US airforce is madness. The cost of keeping a US base on Chagos is apparently a British responsibility - even after sovereignty passes to Mauitius. Why? The normal situation would be UK cedes control to the new owners - then they lease the base to the US government. Britain has no involvement when its sovereignty ends. The actual figures for this deal are being withheld from everyone - including members of parliament. But the new Mauritian government have leaked that they now want £800,000,000 per year for a lease on just the airbase. Just to give some sense of scale to this figure - that equates to over £2 million per day! One financial fact actually released is that the lease will have a 99 year term. A point highlighted by ministers as good news (at least for the US). But the devil is in the detail. It’s not uncommon for any lease to have a factor to alow for inflation. If we use the Bank of England target of 2% then it’s easy to calculate the total cost of such a long term committment. And Grandad had to double check here because the total payments came to £244,103,000,000 - that’s £244 billion! [Since then it has been rumored that there is a UK counter offer of £90,000,000 per year - which with compound interest totals some £27,461,000,000. A big saving but still money-for-nothing and much more than we can afford!] But that’s not all. As pointed out some weeks ago the official statement from the Mauritian government says the UK will collaborate with Mauritius to organise visits to the Chagos Archipelago, including Diego Garcia, in addition to working together for the protection of the ocean and maritime security. ... the UK also recognises the tragedy experienced by the Chagossians and has consequently agreed to set up a trust fund for their welfare. This, of course, is potentially an enormous cost - with no leaks to provide some figures. But the real question is why the UK has any need to pay anything at all ... After transfer of ownership that is the new owner’s problem. Why is Mauritius so desperate to take control of a string of tiny islands lacking any resources or inhabitants? But then if some one is prepared to pay billions for you to take it - then who could refuse? But who in their right mind would be so crazy as to pay to leave a valuable asset? Now we know who! Finally the Starmer-Lammy combine are attempting to get some legally binding agreement in place before Biden leaves office. Since there are only eight working days left that’s going to be difficult - especially if the full terms and costs get released. So expect secrecy and dishonesty in Westminster - again! [15-Jan-2025 Starmer-Lammy overtaken by events elsewhere - no sensible deal agreed] Update 13-Jan-2025 |
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tags: weak, dishonest, under cover, sell-out, gutless |
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Back in the UK any similar dreams are tempered by the knowledge that we voted in the wrong politicians last year and still have four more years of poor management still ahead. Even though the management of the nation’s finances is so clumsy and misdirected that events may stop the government reaching its full term.
The instigators being chiefly the US president and his hit squad - the Capital Hill-Billies. They have gained so much power so quickly through the excessive use of presidential executive orders. A method allowed under the constitution to get a bill passed without going through any checks or debates by elected politicians. When used to bypass all the checks and balances of a democratic system it means that the US president becomes a de-facto dictator. And given that over 100 orders have already been issued by our golfing buddy don’t be surprised if some massive unintended consequences appear shortly.
Some reward for three years of fighting for their lives against a super-power driven by a psychopathic dictator.
The Starmer-Lammy pairing are still pressing on with secretive attempts to reach a shady deal with Mauritius and donate to them our sovereignty over the Chagos Islands.
One particularly naive decision is hiding well down the disaster list - but could well prove to be up there in the premier league of goverment waste.
FOOTNOTES |
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