Quote from DavidFullard on February 16, 2024, 7:23 pm

1. Putin has publicly declared he would prefer Biden to win the POTUS race as he feels he could “work better’ with Sleepy Joe. Either he is trying some thinly veiled reverse psychology to harm Biden’s re-election, as he really wants Trump to win, OR he genuinely wants the looming octogenarian Biden in office calculating Biden’s clear to see age related senility will only worsen over the next 5 years or so. Both scenarios are frightening prospects. Trump’s recent rant that, if elected, he would encourage Putin to invade any NATO country failing to spend the agreed annual 2% of GDP on defence must be music to Putin’s ears. Currently 11 of the 31 NATO  member states meet the 2%  of GDP defence spending target.  Apropos Russia invading NATO countries, Putin would do well to give Poland a miss, it has been quietly building a formidable land and air defence capability.

2. Grant Schapps, SOS Defence, has publicly complained that the Army should be less concerned with Wokeism and diversity programmes and concentrate more on training for war. I thought as THE man in charge of Defence he would do something about it himself rather than bleating in the press! Meanwhile I read today, at a time recruitment is in the doldrums, the army has turned down the applications of a whole brigade’s worth of soldiers for their tattoos and/or piercings. I stupidly thought thousands of serving troops were tattooed and piercings were removable.

3. Gaza. The Israelis are doing themselves no favours. Having ‘coralled’ 1.5 million Gazans into the southern region of the country they announce the onset of  a ground offensive in that same hitherto declared “safe area”. Where can this huge mass of civil population go to escape the war now?  The Red Sea lies on the eastern border and the crossing into Egypt is firmly blocked.
It is estimated circa 1/3rd of the Palestinian tunnel network and 1/3rd of the HAMAS fighting numbers have been destroyed or captured. Israeli intel clearly thinks the rest of HAMAS are in the Rafah region. I can’t imagine HAMAS hasn’t some escape plan for its fighters before they become cornered.
The West has pretty much lost its stomach for unmitigated support of Israel now, truth be told. None of that bothers Netanyahu who ploughs on regardless probably knowing he is finished either way once the war ends.
I want Israel to eradicate HAMAS I just find it increasingly difficult to reconcile that justifiable goal with the almost 30,000 civilian deaths and the blocking of water, energy and medical aide supplies to the civilian population. Meanwhile media interest in the fate of the 100 or so Israeli hostages seems to have waned somewhat.

4. It would seem The PM and Chancellor are seriously considering pre election tax cuts. Not only will that measure [ if it happens] not allay the political rout the Tories certainly face at the next GE, the money would be better spent sorting the NHS out. Many folk wait a month before gaining a GP appointment, the last remnants of NHS dentistry will likely be abandoned within the next 3 years, most hospital waiting time targets go unmet, the overall hospital waiting list increases exponentially with time and the junior doctors’’ strikes show no signs of abating. A few £s extra in our pockets from tax cuts would mean little if we needed NHS treatment and couldn’t get it or had to wait months or even years!

5. Alexei Navalny. The assassination of this incredibly  brave opponent of Putin surely comes as no shock. Navalny’s imprisonment on trumped up charges following the first assassination attempt on him was inevitable. He nonetheless left the safety of German sanctuary to return to Russia and was duly  tried and incarcerated. Putin wanted Navalny to suffer. After a time in a ‘normal’ prison he was moved to a far more extreme prison where he died yesterday from a ‘detached blood clot’. Putin makes only a half hearted attempt to pretend Navalny’s death wasn’t an assassination. Blood clots can be the result of beatings!

6. Finally. WhatHas Happened?
To the PO Inquiry? To the SAS Inquiry? To the Rwanda Migrant Plan? To the £billions spent on the ‘new’ army armoured troop carriers, given the delivery of only a handful thus far? To the rusty propeller shafts of our aircraft carrier? To cause and perpetuate the stabbing mania prevalent amongst our young schoolboys and teens?