@Steven_Swinford Steve, reform have 5 seats. Getting 123 at the next election would not be a dramatic reversal of fortunes; it would surely be a massive success?
Even matching the Lib Dems would be extraordinary.
Rolling commentary on polls is reducing your intellectual capacity.
This will only work and be respected if it addresses ALL disinfo and misinfo operations, including the government's own attempts to deceive the public.
Any attempt to make this a partisan quango is going to end very badly.
States including Russia run disinformation operations against the UK and our allies.
The Prime Minister has announced that we’re setting up the new National Centre for Information Defence to detect, disrupt and defeat those seeking to do us harm.
@redrumlisa There is undoubtedly a Russian influence in our social media and maybe even an element of amplifying right wing issues, but the assumption that all non-compliant views are right wing or russian disinfo, is itself disinfo!
Perhaps the government should be more truthful itself!
@J_Bloodworth@PaulEmbery@btharris93 They really aren't, Paul is wrong.
The very last thing military chiefs need right now is a war.
We would get pasted.
@Irishgirlbragh_ So do I, well done.
I think that they deserve respect and the chance to live their lives as the men and women they were born unmolested by bigots regardless of their clothing or sexual preference
However, trans women are not women and trans men are not men. 🤷
@Irishgirlbragh_ Every single trans identified male, that enters a competition for women knows that they are not female and is therefore a cheat, a liar, or mentally ill.
@Steviejdavies This is a straw man. There's never been a time where the EU wasn't an issue and there was a consistent 40 to 50% polling in favour of a referendum for 2 decades.
From the start of the single market to Maastricht to the referendum, it was a top 5 issue.
@opinion_black What point are you making here? these events were bad, no one is arguing otherwise.
Invading Ukraine is also bad, as is the hybrid warfare Russia is waging.
However, only one of those 2 things is happening now, in our current paradigm.
Realpolitik does not excuse any of it.
A quick reality check on the recurring “the Baltics are next – we’re doomed” narrative.
🔹 Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia are not bystanders waiting to see what others do. Any Russian incursion would first face Baltic forces. “Limited incursion” scenarios often intentionally overlook this basic point.
🔹 We have spent years preparing - and learning from Ukraine - for exactly these threats. Little green men, border incidents, sabotage – none of this would come as a surprise.
🔹 Article 3 comes before Article 5. We have to be able to defend ourselves, and we are building that capacity. If we fight, we will not fight alone. I have no doubt about that.
🔹 Allied commitments are very real. Germany is deploying a full brigade to Lithuania. Canada leads NATO forces in Latvia, the UK in Estonia. Allied jets patrol Baltic airspace. And shoot Russian drones.
🔹 This does not mean everything is fine. There are capability gaps, and European governments have good reasons to warn about a higher risk of escalation.
But there is a big difference between taking the threat seriously and declaring the Baltics doomed.
Anonymous social-media accounts and emotion-driven headlines predicting inevitable defeat do not improve deterrence. They play into the aggressor’s hands.
@mhmck I've spent the day defending Ukraine against Putin bot farms, now you come along and confirm their worst conspiracy theories.
No. We really do not need to get into Ukraine any more than we already are.
It's their fight, and we should support them in that fight, not join them.
@TomHoefling Same here! I'm sure it's just the algorithm algorithming, but it's noticeable.
Bot farms and shills are on it today.
Something big coming from Putin maybe?
'peace offer' that forces Ukraine into being a compliant state?
@BO3673 If the propaganda and the people swallowing it in here is anything to go by, Putin's plan is working.
The sock puppets are making people very nervous. The EU and UK governments should be going the other way and showing how there is no threat to Russia and that it's all BS.
Russia truth pills people still need to swallow:
1. Russia has no legitimite security concerns.
2. Russian aggression predates NATO expansion.
3. The West tried to integrate Russia into a cooperative European security order. Putin chose chauvinism, militarism, irridentism etc.
If you stand with Russia, you are a traitor to Europe, to the freedom of the European civilisation, to Ukraine's right to self-determination, and to the rejection of expansionist wars since WWII. Shame on you.
Russia is winning the social media battle.
The number of trusted accounts, tired of war and scared of conflict, that think Ukraine should just give Russia what it wants, is growing every day.
Everyone wants peace, but it's for Ukraine to decide what that looks like not Russia.
@lascapigliata8 Ok, tell me what justifies invasion. Anything that you would except for your own country?
What it comes down to is Russia is bigger and gets what it wants or more people will die and Ukrainians should suck up anything offered.
That's basically your argument