Paul Clarke

Kind of weird when you can watch the global market collectively go "oh shit he is that crazy".

The FTSE 100 dropped 1.4% in the first 2 minutes of trade - investors reacting to the surge in oil prices.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed down by more than 5%. In South Korea, the Kospi index triggered the circuit breaker, a 20-minute halt to trading to curb panic selling.

An executive at a large global hedge fund with a presence in Dubai said: "We have been exploring how to evacuate people but it's not easy." He added: "It's pretty scary - this is going to have implications for some of my guys... The trade was not that you were getting exposed to geopolitics when moving to Dubai. It was not a consideration. People have moved families. This element of concern is new."

so many people in finance who seem to have only just learned that the middle east is a tad spicy

Following Badenoch's "paedo defenders" comment, levelled at Labour at PMQs the other week, I posted this. 👇

This latest revelation about her performance criteria for Tory MPs tracks...

bsky.app/profile/clar...

I think the more fundamental issues for LLMs are yet to come.

AI vendors are massively unprofitable. Only way I see that changing is they ratchet token limits/costs. At what point do LLMs become more expensive than humans? At that point, do only the biggest software vendors continue using LLMs?

*yawn*

You don't dare focus on the points presented, or answer questions posed, do you?

It's all smoke and mirrors, conspiracy and dodging the practicalities.

To answer your question, I have thought about that. The harsh reality is that 200-300k UK citizens are in allied ME nations, far more than Iran.

Tell me, what might prevent those repatriation flights from taking off, and therefore result in UK citizens remaining in harm's way?

Go on, put the pieces together.

It's up there in my list of personal annoyances along with trainers, no socks, and skinny fit suit trousers that are 3 inches too short in the leg.

That, and a baseball cap/suit combo, are instant indicators of bellendery.

We have citizens in the countries being targeted by Iranian missiles and drones. We also have military personnel in bases in those countries too, which are bases shared by US/UK.

We haven't sided with Trump, we've stated the war is illegal. That's why we're not at war with Iran.

Is it lack of reading comprehension skills you lot suffer from, or just a general inability to separate your imagination from reality?

This is not Ok. No politician should have to deal with this, regardless of party or gender.

February 2026:Kherson,Ukraine-a city on the very front line of war.It’s never quiet-the days&nights are punctuated by incessant bombing.’vykhod’,or outgoing -followed swiftly by incoming artillery shells,’prylot’. Sometimes there’s the flatter,elongated boom of a KAB air guided bomb
📹felicityspector

Polanski, once again, refusing to let reality get in the way of coming over as an insufferable prick.

He wouldn't let the US use UK bases for attacking missile launchers and he wouldn't use UK military, so presumably he'd just let drones/missiles target UK citizens and assets without response?

On a macro scale, possibly. However, it depends. For example, if local area population increases/decreases/demographic changes require a change to existing services capability and scale, e.g. no use having school places in aging area A if area B is increasingly young.

In short, planning required.

This reminds me of when lobby journalists tried to start "Is Keir Starmer spending too much time abroad at meetings and summits?" as a supposed criticism of his leadership rather than... a reflection of the world as it is.

hello I'm mental

oh fuck off

You seem determined to argue, however I believe the point being made is it's possible to be pro-immigration, but say that immigration requires planning.

Let's move away from emotive terms. *People* need houses, hospitals, schools, all manner of services. More people, more service planning needed.

Just fascinating to see Blair, a man whose reputation was ruined by the Iraq war, advocate joining a war that is exponentially stupider and more chaotic. How is it possible to learn nothing from the worst mistake of your life?

Graham: “Just wait and see what happens in the next two weeks — truly, the next two weeks.

“We’re going to blow the hell out of these people. This regime is on death row. Now it’s going to be on its knees. It’s going to fall.

“We’re going to have prosperity unlike anything anyone could imagine.”

Black puddles by a gate

Now imagine people’s lungs.

Black rain has fallen over Tehran after strikes on oil facilities, coating streets and rooftops in dark, oily water. “The rain is actually apparently saturated with oil,” CNN reports.

The Sunday shows are about 48 hours behind what’s actually happening on the ground today. All to do with what Trump/Hegseth et al have SAID and very little to do with what is actually HAPPENING.

Just an utterly outdated model.

Absolutely agree. I watched Kuenssberg about a month ago and was left with the same conclusion.

All the Sunday politics shows are utterly irrelevant, discussing out of date events with people who aren't qualified/positioned to answer meaningfully or informatively.

bsky.app/profile/clar...

As much as I'd love to see Charlie's US visit delayed/cancelled, my bet would be the government will avoid the hassle and back Charlie to do what the Royals do with Americans. Trump is particularly susceptible to the pomp and glamour that comes with royal attention.

Whether it works, who knows.

Yes, the UK Government can cancel or postpone Royal visits to other nations.

I doubt it would be presented that way in public, but Charles has had health issues, pressure could be applied behind the scenes, which could require a delay to the US visit.

Iran's regular army has 500k-600k soldiers.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has 150k.

Add in other militias and resistance forces that Iran can call on, close to 1 million total?

If Trump sends ground troops to Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan will look like paintballing in comparison.

Put Trump’s criticism of Starmer and other democratic leaders against his consistent syrupy praise for authoritarian, brutal leaders.
Starmer is in good company. Just remind yourself how Trump praises authoritarian antidemocratic leaders in this thread. It’s an eye opener 🧵 1/

That goes against Democrats' policy of providing any and all support Trump requires.

I look forward to the next round of "when will the world/Europe/anyone other than Americans stand up to Trump?" Maybe a few rounds of "but what can Dems do until November?" 🤣

It's pathetic.

It's extremely clear that the US doesn't really have an objective here except to inflict maximum pain, and attacking water supply is going to end catastrophically for the entire region. It's not just a war crime, it's approaching a crime against humanity.