@RnaudBertrand Economic failure weakens liberal democracies. It happened to the new democracies after WW1. After WW2, they adopted the mixed economy which greatly helped in winning the Cold War. Now, neo-liberalism is failing in the traditional heartlands of Europe & North America.
A good piece from Reuters which notes NI’s recent relatively good performance is primarily a services story & that there have been spillovers from the strongly performing Irish economy, helped by Sterling depreciation
A US maritime training vessel which was supposed to bring 500 cadets to Belfast this week has cancelled because of last week’s violence & will instead dock in Southampton. The decision was taken at the peak of the trouble.
83% of British people are white
87% of MPs are white
92% of Police officers are white
94% of the House of Lords are white
85% of Britains richest families are white
The notion that Britain experiences systemic anti-white racism is absurd
It’s a far-right conspiracy
Northern Ireland remaining in the EU single market for goods means we have an entire region running as a counterfactual on how much wealthier we’d have been had we stayed. It’s actually outperformed London.
In the USA in 1943 they produced a film 'Don't be a Sucker' about fascism.
It perfectly explains Nigel Farage, Donald Trump, Elon Musk and the entire Right.
There’s a clear pattern here: removing trial by jury for a whole layer of cases; blocking Cenk Uyghur and Hasan Piker from entering the country; the Filton 4 being sentenced as terrorists but not charged as terrorists (yes, really); a British citizen in Russia having his citizenship removed without being charged with anything; stuff like this - constantly.
It’s becoming so normal now. There’s a great phrase ‘turnkey tyranny’: you might like the people doing this today, or despise those on the receiving end, but tomorrow it WILL be different. The end point is very obvious. And these tools, and this trajectory, in the wrong hands, is quite a terrifying thought.
The Tartan Army are a credit to Scotland. Here they are in full voice singing ‘Loch Lomond’ in Boston Stadium last night for the World Cup match between Scotland and Haiti. Absolutely glorious.
What has Elon Musk taken from you? So ask many including Andrew Neil.
Here's the answer:
He has taken our peace of mind.
He has purposefully pushed us apart, divided us further and profited from our loss of community.
And that is hard to ever forgive.
Belfast ranks 32nd per capita for asylum seekers in the UK.
Northern Ireland hosts 2,379 in total. That’s 0.1% of its population.
NI is 97% white.
Asylum seekers are not “illegal migrants”; they’re going through a legal government process.
https://t.co/JPdeJFLpVv
Arsène Wenger:
🗣️ “There was a time we had £90 million turnover and we had to pay back £22 million per year for the stadium. I couldn’t sleep because we had to qualify for the Champions League to pay back the money.”
🗣️ “We had to sell our best players. Other clubs came in with lots of money but we were on the same level from 2007 to 2016.”
This is why so many Arsenal fans will forever defend Wenger.
While rivals were spending freely, Arsenal were carrying the weight of the Emirates project on their backs. Every summer felt like survival. Every top-four finish felt like a trophy. Every season, Wenger had to replace world-class players while keeping Arsenal competitive enough to secure Champions League football.
🔴 Sold stars. 🔴 Balanced the books. 🔴 Built a world-class stadium. 🔴 Kept Arsenal among Europe's elite.
Many managers would've walked away. Wenger stayed and carried the club through its most difficult financial era.
The trophies are part of his legacy. The fact Arsenal emerged from that period stronger, richer, and ready to compete again is the other part.
Without Wenger's sacrifices, there is no Arsenal of today.