Sir Gareth Jones

Gavin Williamson gets a knighthood for doing less than sod all, so I get one for my 25-yard swimming cert (aged 10). At least I achieved something for mine.

[Sir Gareth Jones @PortisheadGar]

@badbingoboogie @einartn @Mylovanov Horseshit. The annual cost to the US of keeping forces in Europe is about $40 billion. The US federal deficit is $1.8 trillion annually, which is over 40 times the cost of keeping US forces in Europe.

Your claim that it “all came from defending Europe” is cretinous nonsense.

[Gandalv @Microinteracti1]

Exxon Says We’re Two Weeks From Petrol Armageddon

Right. So it turns out closing the world’s most important oil chokepoint has consequences. Who knew.

Exxon’s Senior VP Neil Chapman stood up at a Bernstein conference this week and said what everyone in the industry is thinking but politely avoiding at dinner parties: global oil inventories are approaching “truly unprecedented” lows. His words. And when a Senior VP at Exxon starts using phrases like “truly unprecedented,” you should probably pay attention.

The IEA has already called Iran’s Strait of Hormuz blockade the largest oil supply disruption in recorded history. Over a billion barrels lost since late February. A billion. That’s not a rounding error. That’s a civilisational inconvenience.

Chapman’s estimate: Brent crude hits $150 to $160 per barrel once stockpiles reach critical levels. Two to three weeks away. Wood Mackenzie, never a firm known for cheerful forecasts, went further and suggested $200 by year-end if the strait stays shut. With a global recession as a bonus prize.

So there we have it. The world spent decades building an energy system with a single point of failure, handed Iran the keys to it, and is now surprised that the keys are being used.

Genius, really.

https://t.co/H49cKLnCTQ

[Gandalv @Microinteracti1]

Canada’s Aluminium Is Going to Europe. Brilliant Work, Donald.

A 50% tariff on Canadian aluminium, the one country on Earth that was happily selling the stuff at sensible prices, right next door, through an integrated supply chain that took decades to build. And now that aluminium is sailing across the Atlantic to Europe instead.

Canadian exports to the EU went from near zero to between 6% and 40% of monthly totals in the space of a year. Just vanished eastward. Extraordinary result.

US consumers are now paying $6,200 a ton for aluminium. Europeans are paying $4,300.  American manufacturers taxed nearly two thousand dollars a ton more than their competitors. For beer cans. And car parts. And buildings. Tremendous. Nobody could have seen that coming, except everyone.

Meanwhile Europe, which was already scrambling after losing its Middle Eastern supply to the Iran war, now faces a 5.6 million-ton aluminium deficit in 2026. And Canada just filled it. With metal that used to go to America.

The head of the Aluminium Association of Canada put it with admirable restraint: the EU option “remains attractive,” adding pressure on the US market. What he meant was: Washington handed Europe a competitive advantage in manufacturing while American industry pays the bill.

This is what happens when a trade guru who has spent his career slapping his name on buildings in gold letters decides he understands global commodity flows. No leverage materialises. Just an empty dock in Ohio and a very pleased purchasing manager in Rotterdam.

Well done, Donald.

Gandalv / @Microinteracti1

[David__Osland @David__Osland]

Fortunately, Britain has a Bermuda-registered mass circulation newspaper owned by a French-domiciled billionaire, a television station owned by a Dubai hedge fund and a political party backed by a Thailand-based crypto tycoon to remind us of the importance of patriotism

[Sir Gareth Jones @PortisheadGar]

@OutOfPlaceAudio @kelvmackenzie @RupertLowe10 But that is not correct. Ukraine didn’t join NATO. Even if you take your line on the 2014 revolution (which I don’t) there’s been democratic elections since then. It’s not any of Russia’s business what organisations Ukraine joins.

[The Rev. Anton Mittens 🌹👮🎓 @MittensOff]

Raise The Flags Shrewsbury holding a “peaceful walk” in Shrewsbury today with a handful of simpletons. Pity their intimidating and violent mates weren't peaceful in Stirtchley or Lichfield recently. Respect our flags, don't use them to intimidate others, go home you're embarrassing yourselves.

[Angry Staffer @Angry_Staffer]

MAGA: Biden is suing to block the release of his transcripts! He’s hiding something!

Me: Trump sued to block the release of his financials, the Jack Smith report, and dozens of subpoenas.

MAGA: that’s different!

This is why I no longer debate them in good faith. It’s a cult.

[Muthukrishnan Dhandapani @dmuthuk]

During his campaign for first term, Donald Trump was asked how he showed $916 million net operating losses in 1995 and setting it off for next 18 years without paying any federal taxes.

Not knowing what to answer, Trump said:

​"I absolutely used it, and so did Warren Buffett. Warren Buffett took a massive deduction."

We've to learn from Buffett as to how to deal with facts and data without being emotional or vindictive.

The very next day Buffett shared his income tax returns and said:

​"I have paid federal income tax every year since 1944, when I was 13. Though, being a slow starter, I owed only $7 in tax that year. I have copies of all 72 of my returns and none uses a carryforward."

He further noted that while he made $2.85 billion in charitable contributions in 2015, tax laws properly limited his deductions, meaning more than $2.85 billion of his donations were not taken as deductions and never would be.

He asked Trump to share his tax returns in public. Not knowing what to do, Trump said he is under IRS audit and cannot publicly share his returns.

For which Buffett responsded:

"I have been audited by the IRS multiple times and am currently being audited. I have no problem in releasing my tax information while under audit. Neither would Mr. Trump -at least he would have no legal problem."

Buffett then invited Trump to any place, any time before the election so they could both bring their tax returns, sit down, and let the public ask them questions.

Trump never accepted the invitation.

From then on Trump never once even uttered the name Warren Buffett.

Looks like Trump no longer even eat buffets.

[Sir Gareth Jones @PortisheadGar]

@Chimpin82 @CollinsMikeyc @MatthewStadlen So, let’s be very very clear about this: you think going to war with France is a sensible policy position?

[LBC @LBC]

EXCLUSIVE: Seven newly elected Reform councillors miss first council meeting for wedding in Türkiye https://t.co/mxB1j53M65

[UAVoyager🇺🇦 @NAFOvoyager]

Two Tu-142s in Taganrog — destroyed.

The night of May 30 went well in the swamps.

Glory to the Armed Forces of Ukraine!

[Parody Nigel Farage @Parody_PM]

Idea for a GB News programme - Neil Oliver snogs six ebola patients to prove it's all a hoax.

[Socialist Opera Singer @OperaSocialist]

Tommy Robinson was sent to prison for contempt of court so why hasn't Nigel Farage?

Talk about two tier justice...

[Matthew Stadlen @MatthewStadlen]

I’ve met @Nigel_Farage a number of times. I’ve debated him. Interviewed him. Talked about cricket with him. I disagree with a very great deal that he says and represents. However, I don’t believe he agrees with this sort of dangerous rhetoric from his right-hand man. He’s going to have to make a choice. Reject Yusuf or stand with him and be weakened by association.

[Parody Nigel Farage @Parody_PM]

Today I will mostly be pretending that two juries of twelve people reaching the same conclusion means that the judge is in the government's pocket.

[Sir Gareth Jones @PortisheadGar]

@anchoredso37497 Absolutely nothing in science points to gods. Science points only to nature.

[Sir Gareth Jones @PortisheadGar]

@Chimpin82 @CollinsMikeyc @MatthewStadlen 2/ legal - its Parliament that makes the laws, not government, and right now in the absence of war, killing is murder.

[Sir Gareth Jones @PortisheadGar]

@Chimpin82 @CollinsMikeyc @MatthewStadlen When you send troops into another country without their permission that’s an act of war. If you think a sensible policy is to commit an act of war against France then you’re a complete fuckwit. And it might surprise you that governments sanction doesn’t make things 1/