Trump & Putin again

[Mups]

So Trump is interfering in the Ukraine/Russia war again.
It seems he is going to tell Zalensky  if he doesn't surrender to Putin,  all American help will cease.

Now he it looks like he is aiding Russia again by handing over Crimea to Russia.
How can Trump do this?  Its not his to hand to anyone, is it?

Russia jubilant as Donald Trump plans to hand Crimea and eastern Ukraine to Putin

[Ruthio]

Bloody man, he's little more than a two faced criminal 

[klondike]

Zalenskyy will reject any peace deal that involves surrendering Ukrainian territory. The US have stopped sending weapons anyway since those authorised by Biden have all been handed over. I'm shocked by Trumps actions on Ukraine and his ludicrous tarriffs which sent US stock markets into freefall until he put them on hold.

[dextrous63]

I think we should tell Russia it can have Texas if it likes.

Or, they can take control of Panama.

[klondike]

As it looks like Trump will just be walking away from this Europe will either have to dig deep to stop Russia now or a lot deeper later should Ukraine lose because Putin or his successor will just catch his breath and rearm and start again going further into Europe.

[dextrous63]

Trump has spent around a quarter of the time he's been in office playing golf, at a security cost of around $20 million.

[klondike]

I wish Starmer and Reeves had - we'd be better off. If the whole sodding government had we'd be better off still.

[dextrous63]

Just been reading an article in the Express about how Reeves has created her own blackhole.
What I did find interesting/amusing was this comment made by a reader:

Kevin Gillett, now retired, who was Director of Banking at Lloyd's HBOS wrote on social media recently. 'In 2009 Rachel Reeves was 3 levels below me. She was a Complaints Support Manager NOT an Economist. She nearly got sacked due to an expenses scandal when Managers were found to have been signing off each others expenses. She then had lots of doctor and dental appointments and so was followed. It turned out she was doing Labour Party business. When confronted, she resigned'. Mr Gillett asked for this to be shared with as many people as possible.

[klondike]

I didn't see that specifically but I had heard the story. That's when I stopped calling her Rachel from Accounts and went with Rachel from Complaints instead.

Her ridiculous budget that increased the cost of employment so much will lead to many job losses so losing the NI and tax being collected from those people and instead paying them benefits.

The VAT on public schools is already causing more costs from those no longer attending them and paying the schools themselves VAT back on their past spending than it raises as VAT.

Despite tax rates rising to new highs tax revenues have fallen with a huge exodus of millionaires from the country to places with lower tax rates (pretty much everywhere). Ably assisted by Milliband with his net zero nonsense leading to us paying the highest energy prices in the world.

[dextrous63]

It's a complete mystery to me why the bleeding obvious is so obviously beyond the wit of those who have (on paper) high qualifications from top universities.

I saw it on a far too regular basis as a teacher, with headteachers being appointed on the basis they had oxbridge degrees.  

I digress.  

Who would have thought that keeping to the populist pledge on not increasing employee's NI contributions while simultaneously bankrupting employers or forcing them into reducing pay and/or staff numbers would lead not only to  a decrease in revenue for HMRC but also an increase in benefit claims from the newly unemployed?

Who'd have thought that introducing 20% vat to private schools would lead to so many people removing their children from private education and dumping into mainstream schools due to increase of fees, as well as lead to a closure of a fair few independent schools which will lead to a further influx of ( now very unhappy) pupils into the state sector, coupled with a fair few teachers out of a job and requiring dole money?

How I chuckled when I read how a pupil who had to be removed from a private school as the parents couldn't afford the VAT now has to be taxi'd to a state school at a cost of circa £10pa in addition to the burden of the approx £4.5k that the school will be allocated to accommodate him. Ie, the state now has to fork out nigh on £15k pa.  Beforehand, it'd have forked out £0 pa.  What a bargain.

[klondike]

Some of those in private special needs schools can't be catered for in state schools so the councils gave had to put them back in the schools the parents were funding but now don't so the rate payer picks up the fees and the VAT.

Regarding qualifications - Reeves lied. She has no qualifications or senior work experience in economics. It is possible that she was the tea girl for some economists once but that's as close as it gets