US added to human rights watch list
https://youtube.com/shorts/TNaXv37W96w?si=wy5pBIScBN3TJak7
An open Group where anything can be discussed by anybody, as long as you are polite, respect others opinions, and behave !!!
Open Loop 879
Musk offers to pay for a new party!!
https://youtu.be/_2uXGuvyazo?si=pxfnUg2S5M6TXiEC
Vance misrepresents actions in the UK
Saying there is no freedom of speech
but he misses out the important detail of why the man was prosecuted
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZNdeVusQq/
There was an interesting programme on BBC1 this afternoon, the Commonwealth Day service from Westminster Abbey.
Twenty one years ago I was asked if I would give permission to allow my daughter to join with her Brownie pack, to escort the Queen down the aisle of Westminster Abbey, to celebrate Commonwealth Day. Of course it wasn't something you needed to think about, permission was instantaneous. Then there was the thought of how can you get a ticket to attend a Royal event. In reality quite easily, a phone call to the Abbey, a redirection from them and I was talking to the lady organising the event. A quick chat and the ticket was mine.
The Commonwealth remains an important body of nation/people throughout the world and then, as today, there were people from many nations in the Abbey.
That set me wondering! If Trump decides he will attempt a land grab over Canada, will he in fact be taking on a host of other nations as well. And what reaction would he expect from the King as Head of the Commonwealth, especially as he feels slighted by the King meeting Zelensky before meeting him?
Greenland may not want Denmark to help if there is a grab there, but would Canada, hope for, want and expect the rest of the Commonwealth to assist in fighting off the pariah known as Trump?
The uncomfortable truth about solar panels. (Edited)
This was on an Al Jazeera programme called 101 East. So there is no weblink.
In China they are increasing the output of coal fired power stations to meet the demand for producing solar panels for The West; so we can feel good about "saving the planet".
And we all know about the child labour in Congolese lithium and cobalt mines which is needed for EVs.
Is the rush to get to NetZero by a target date really a good thing for the whole world?
History Teaches... (Edited)
There was a rich man who owned a national chain of jewellery shops who announced that his best sellers were c**p.
Gerald Ratner's stupidity is legend. He destroyed his own business.
Elon Musk is an Immensely rich man whose wealth revolves round his company's car sales.
He has away of saluting people's intelligence too.
Would you buy a new or used Tesla car now?
https://futurism.com/numbers-consumers-against-tesla
Ex Bank of England Chief to be next Canadian PM
Mark Carney will replace Justin Trudeau as the next Canadian Prime Minister.
In his acceptance speech, the former head of the UK and Canada's central banks says his nation faces "dark, dark days, brought on by a country we can no longer trust"
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cg4k2l204zqt?post=asset%3A90b8b45d-43e2-4a62-b8f7-909b6ca43e97
https://www.politico.eu/article/european-council-summit-donald-trump-war-in-ukraine-peace-talks/
Is there a war on dogs where you live?
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2025/feb/26/poo-and-punishment-is-there-really-a-war-on-dogs-in-england-and-wales
Gene Hackman and his wife found dead
Developing story 😢
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14442071/amp/Gene-Hackman-wife-Betsy-Arakawa-dead-Santa-Fe-home.html
Overturning the last governments policy
Brings a Ukrainian family together
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqjd78jpqj9o.amp
Here’s a long and very interesting piece on Donald Trump by Sidney Blumenthal https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/mar/09/sycophancy-toadying-trump-self-aggrandizement It could have done with a little copy-editing in places to reconstruct a few sentences to make them clearer, but I dare say the Guardian may have agreed to leave it untouched. It really is a horrifying tale. Would the British electorate vote in such numbers for someone so appallingly unsuitable? I do hope not. And I really, really wish someone would assassinate Trump before more damage is done.
Skype Shutdown - 5 May 2025 (Edited)
No problem. Microsoft Teams Personal is exactly the same in layout, format and operation. There is no difference I can see. Messaging (chat), audio and video.
You will have to download the appropriate app for desktop or mobile. I have a desktop, the Teams app is shown below, it may also cover mobile.
When installing, use the same email address as you have for Skype. It goes quite easy.
Teams searches your email and Skype for those contacts who are on Teams and lists them.
You will have to invite your contacts not listed to join Teams using their email address in the search box. An email will then be sent to them.
I myself and two friends have already done this and Teams is working perfectly, exactly as on Skype.
Try this -
https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/microsoft-teams/teams-for-home?msockid=3a67d2a3fab964d508bdc70bfb8165d0
Land Register search fees may be dropped
https://whoownsengland.org/2025/03/06/huge-win-government-announces-plan-to-open-up-land-registry/
Racist eats in a Mexican restaurant
Then tells them she hopes they get deported!
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZNderwUaL/
...but I've stopped laughing now!
https://news.stv.tv/west-central/trump-turnberry-golf-courses-dug-up-and-buildings-daubed-with-red-paint-by-protesters
Unlike Trump and the US, Brazil’s tariffs on incoming food is being taken off
https://www.ft.com/content/7605b78d-610e-4dea-b253-e75a3d816cde
Ranked in Order Most Influential Countries in the World
What a surprise - the UK is held in such a high esteem, astronomically higher than Russia.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/other/the-30-most-influential-countries-in-the-world-where-does-the-uk-rank/ss-AA1AoQ29?ocid=msedgntp&pc=U531&cvid=458b277f283b4c8bbe0701bf85b5d832&ei=22
The country no one has heard of according to Trump
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/czdnv6gpezjo
So when will the USA start bombing Ukraine?
They've withdrawn the possibility of defending Ukraine.
They've withdrawn the ability to know when and where attacks will occur, which will undoubtedly cause deaths.
There is only one action the Americans have not done, and that is to attack Ukraine!
Trump is out to get an unconditional surrender to and for the Russians. I presume he has made a rare earth deal with Putin to share whatever is under the sovereign land we know as Ukraine.
I doubt it will be long before there is a name change. The new country could be called Pump!
Free Meat Grinders to Mothers who's Sons have been killed
Very appropriate,, but disgustingly insulting bad taste.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14472623/Fury-Putin-gifts-grieving-war-mothers-MEAT-GRINDERS-1-000-soldiers-die-one-day-Ukrainian-frontline.html
Shifty Shift... (Edited)
US President Donald Trump has decided to give a one-month tariff exemption on vehicles coming into the United States through a trade agreement between the US, Mexico and Canada, the White House spokesperson said Wednesday, a decision meant to support US automakers.
Karoline Leavitt, the spokesperson, made the announcement, after Trump held a call with the leaders of the big three automakers -- General Motors, Ford, and Stellantis.
[ Is it possible Trump needed reminding Ford and GM each donated $1 million and contributed vehicles to Trump's inauguration and Automaker Stellantis NV contributed $1 million to President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration too? ]
Give the man credit, he openly approves of business "facilated by financial inducements".
BlackRock (US Company) to buy Panama ports
https://www.financialexpress.com/world-news/blackrock-to-buy-panama-ports-heres-what-it-means/3767537/
Now Trump gets Transgenic mixed up with Transgender
You couldn’t make this stupidity up
https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/transgender-vs-transgenic-mice-row-over-donald-trumps-animal-experiments-claim-7867258/amp/1
Comfort To The Enemy (Edited)
Trump wants Zelenskyy to agree to a ceasefire with no security guarantees and to “trust” Putin to honor his word. Zelenskyy knows Putin can’t be trusted, because Putin proved it with his 2014 invasion of Crimea and his 2022 invasion of Ukraine, and at all points in between when he murdered critics and disappeared rivals. When Zelenskyy tried to explain this basic history to Trump andVance, they accused him of “being disrespectful” and “trying to relitigate” the morals of the war for the cameras—cameras Trump arranged.
Putin has made his imperial ambitions clear. He is trying to rebuild the Soviet Empire, which includes not only Ukraine but Belarus, and possibly Poland. Any child can understand that a ceasefire with no U.S. security guarantees will give Putin time to replenish his military and attack again, which means a bad deal for Ukraine would be more deadly than no deal.
Instead of discussing these facts in good faith, Trump and Vance tag teamed each other for the cameras, hurling outrageous insults at Zelenskyy based on deliberate disinformation.
Before Friday’s meeting, world leaders were aghast that Trump called Zelenskyy—rather than Putin— a “dictator” and accused Kyiv of starting the war.
During Friday’s meeting when Zelenskyy urged him not to trust Vladimir Putin, Trump flew into a rage.
“You don’t know that. Don’t tell us what we’re going to feel. You’re in no position to dictate that.”
The entire world can see that the main reason Kyiv now has a weak negotiating hand is because of Trump’s dangerous loyalty to Putin.
Meanwhile, leaders of the free world recoil in horror from an America that turned overnight from a beacon of liberty to a mouthpiece for Nazis and the KGB. Ukraine has already lost 100,000 people to Putin’s butchery.
Now they will lose more, because the President of the United States is giving aid and comfort to the enemy.
Last nights attack
https://www.politico.eu/article/volodymyr-zelenskyy-donald-trump-us-stops-intelligence-ukraine-russia/
New part of the immune system discovered
This looks like some good news: a part of the body known to recycle proteins has a secret mode that can spew out an arsenal of bacteria-killing chemicals. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cpv4jww3r4eo
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2025/03/06/russia-ukraine-deal-trump-zelensky-putin-war-latest-news/