The squeaky voice can be addressed. George Osborne was squeaky early in his career but cured it with voice training; now he more or less bestrides British politics and political commentary. The choice of rhetoric is more of a worry. Why 'shut up'? Russia's silence might be welcome but it's hardly our principal concern right now.
I've just realised who he sounds like. Frank Spencer.
The squeaky voice can be addressed. George Osborne was squeaky early in his career but cured it with voice training; now he more or less bestrides British politics and political commentary. The choice of rhetoric is more of a worry. Why 'shut up'? Russia's silence might be welcome but it's hardly our principal concern right now.
I've just realised who he sounds like. Frank Spencer.
QT has turned into a total joke. Last week it was the kid off Blue Peter FFS.
How did he do?
Well he broke plenty of BBC impartiality rules - by coming out pretty much as a Corbynite. Hardly a surprise - but he should never have been allowed on air given his role within the BBC
The squeaky voice can be addressed. George Osborne was squeaky early in his career but cured it with voice training; now he more or less bestrides British politics and political commentary. The choice of rhetoric is more of a worry. Why 'shut up'? Russia's silence might be welcome but it's hardly our principal concern right now.
I've just realised who he sounds like. Frank Spencer.
QT has turned into a total joke. Last week it was the kid off Blue Peter FFS.
How did he do?
Well he broke plenty of BBC impartiality rules - by coming out pretty much as a Corbynite. Hardly a surprise - but he should never have been allowed on air given his role within the BBC
Do they exist? Or are they just selectively enforced out of work hours? Cos on twitter it seems they are free to say all sorts of stuff that isn't impartial, despite supposedly the rules saying they can't.
QT has turned into a total joke. Last week it was the kid off Blue Peter FFS.
How did he do?
Well he broke plenty of BBC impartiality rules - by coming out pretty much as a Corbynite. Hardly a surprise - but he should never have been allowed on air given his role within the BBC
Because the BBC really care about impartiality right
I never heard Williamson speak before. Sounds like his voice has yet to break. What on earth makes him even vaguely qualified to be defence secretary?
While Rory The Tory, a bloke who was a governor of a region of a war torn country, never gets the call.
Yeah well, look at the fucking state of the country he was governing. I don't think that's a tick in the plus column on his CV.
By all accounts, the region under his control was well run.
Are you kidding? His glorious reign ended when his gubernatorial compound was besieged by the extravagantly bearded hordes of al-Sadr's militia. It's entirely possible or even likely that nobody could have done a good job there but RS is very wise to keep a lid on his involvement in The Iraq Project.
You can't trust him, if he can betray his wife he can betray his country.
The bloke's a honeytrap in the making.
Evidence? The most he did was a kiss with a woman he worked for as far as I can see.
Adultery is not something to be encouraged of course but if that was a bar to high office it would have ruled out Major, Wilson, Eden, Lloyd George, maybe even Churchill judging by a recent documentary.
You can't trust him, if he can betray his wife he can betray his country.
The bloke's a honeytrap in the making.
Evidence? The most he did was a kiss with a woman he worked for as far as I can see.
Adultery is not something to be encouraged of course but if that was a bar to high office it would have ruled out Major, Wilson, Eden, Lloyd George, maybe even Churchill judging by a recent documentary.
As we found out last week, in certain US states, it can only be between a man and a woman and only after insertion ...censored for family viewing...
Who the hell thinks that is acceptable? I get that in the pubs and clubs on a Friday night, people flirting and it can be a bit less clear cut, but pregnant lady live on air in front of a crowd of people...ohhh I know what I think it is totally ok, I will grab her arse.
You can't trust him, if he can betray his wife he can betray his country.
The bloke's a honeytrap in the making.
Evidence? The most he did was a kiss with a woman he worked for as far as I can see.
Adultery is not something to be encouraged of course but if that was a bar to high office it would have ruled out Major, Wilson, Eden, Lloyd George, maybe even Churchill judging by a recent documentary.
As we found out last week, in certain US states, it can only be between a man and a woman and only after insertion ...censored for family viewing...
And in certain US states, it used to only be between a man and a woman and a woman and a woman...
So I presume the usual grand opening sequence will see Bond jumping out of a helicopter and as he parachutes down the viewer will be greeted by the amazing views of a spectacular vista...with giant "Save the NHS", "Tory Scum", etc signs plastered all over it...
It could have been a massive engineering error that never got picked up or a manufacturing fault. Or it could have been sabotage.
It is one of those incidents that you can hardly imagine happening. We take our infrastructure for granted. The idea of a bridge collapsing on you is not something you would ever have countenanced - until now.
I was just discussing this today. The daughter had just arrived from Russia. Therefore there's a possibility that she's the one who brought the stuff into the country, either unwittingly or on purpose. If unwittingly, that does rather point towards Russian state involvement, though I assume the substance must've been packaged somehow so that it was not a risk to the general public.
That still leaves the question of motive. It wouldn't be surprising if the Russians wanted to bump Skripal off. But to do so in this way, knowing what the response of the UK would be, seems self-defeating. Unless they're so cavalier these days that they think they can get away with anything.
It could have been a massive engineering error that never got picked up or a manufacturing fault. Or it could have been sabotage.
It is one of those incidents that you can hardly imagine happening. We take our infrastructure for granted. The idea of a bridge collapsing on you is not something you would ever have countenanced - until now.
The bridge was unfinished (and not open to pedestrians). It should probably have been supported until complete. I don't know why it wasn't. Perhaps the engineering calculations suggested that it would be fine until the tower and suspension chains were added. If the calculations were correct, then either there was a problem with the materials, or with the positioning on Saturday.
As a non-engineer, I can't see how they expected 1,000 tons of concrete to just sit there, supported only by a few feet of pedestal on either end. I dare say there are plenty of bridges around that do just that, but the concrete canopy on this one must have made it more unstable (as well as heavier).
I was just discussing this today. The daughter had just arrived from Russia. Therefore there's a possibility that she's the one who brought the stuff into the country, either unwittingly or on purpose. If unwittingly, that does rather point towards Russian state involvement, though I assume the substance must've been packaged somehow so that it was not a risk to the general public.
That still leaves the question of motive. It wouldn't be surprising if the Russians wanted to bump Skripal off. But to do so in this way, knowing what the response of the UK would be, seems self-defeating. Unless they're so cavalier these days that they think they can get away with anything.
Why can't Russia get away with it? They got away with Litvinenko, and Syria, Crimea and South Ossetia/Georgia. Here they face a country which cannot count on the EU thanks to Brexit (possibly helped by Russia) or on America whose president is tainted by his own links, and which has been decimating its defences since 2010. So why not?
Who the hell thinks that is acceptable? I get that in the pubs and clubs on a Friday night, people flirting and it can be a bit less clear cut, but pregnant lady live on air in front of a crowd of people...ohhh I know what I think it is totally ok, I will grab her arse.
It could have been a massive engineering error that never got picked up or a manufacturing fault. Or it could have been sabotage.
It is one of those incidents that you can hardly imagine happening. We take our infrastructure for granted. The idea of a bridge collapsing on you is not something you would ever have countenanced - until now.
Interesting (unsubstantiated) comment on BBC QT last night that Gavin Williamson's election campaign (along with B Johnson) had received £20k from Russians.......
It could have been a massive engineering error that never got picked up or a manufacturing fault. Or it could have been sabotage.
It is one of those incidents that you can hardly imagine happening. We take our infrastructure for granted. The idea of a bridge collapsing on you is not something you would ever have countenanced - until now.
The bridge was unfinished (and not open to pedestrians). It should probably have been supported until complete. I don't know why it wasn't. Perhaps the engineering calculations suggested that it would be fine until the tower and suspension chains were added. If the calculations were correct, then either there was a problem with the materials, or with the positioning on Saturday.
As a non-engineer, I can't see how they expected 1,000 tons of concrete to just sit there, supported only by a few feet of pedestal on either end. I dare say there are plenty of bridges around that do just that, but the concrete canopy on this one must have made it more unstable (as well as heavier).
Bridges (in fact most structures) are at their least stable during construction, and there have been numerous failures. As you say, it's odd that apparently the pylons have not been constructed, yet alone the cables added.
But one point to note: apparently there has been a trend for bridges to have 'fake' cables, because a cable-stayed bridge is aesthetically pleasing. In such cases, the structure itself is self-supporting and no., or minimal, dead and lie loads are taken by the cables. The HappyPontist blog has had some ridiculous examples in the past.
Another minor possibility: overloading. Someone placed a point load (e.g.heavy machinery, materials) on the bridge. Again, this has happened before.
There is no doubt that Theresa May has upped her game considerably.
From being all over the place she now has a quiet authority. At the beginning she was badly advised. 'Maggie mk2' was never the way to go and it didn't suit her. Mrs Merkel was a much better model and that's where she now is.
Whether by accident or design her cabinet is made up of nonentities. They look like a grey mass of plankton. There isn't a single one who shines.
Having Corbyn facing her is a bonus. His musty maleness and his Solzhenitsyn gait isn't an attractive look at the moment and she's making the most of it. Zeitgeist in politics is much underrated.
It could have been a massive engineering error that never got picked up or a manufacturing fault. Or it could have been sabotage.
It is one of those incidents that you can hardly imagine happening. We take our infrastructure for granted. The idea of a bridge collapsing on you is not something you would ever have countenanced - until now.
American civil engineering is in a terrible state.
Our Institution for Civil Engineers has been worried about it for years.
Ah, that makes sense, as the main structure was in place but not the cables that would take the load in operation. Supports your original theory that a temporary brace either wasn’t there or wasn’t adequate.
Perhaps the target was really the daughter, and for her to die in Russia like the son. No investigation then.
If the nerve gas was borne in the daughters suitcase what are the logistics of both daughter and father being taken ill at the same time on the park bench?
Perhaps the target was really the daughter, and for her to die in Russia like the son. No investigation then.
If the nerve gas was borne in the daughters suitcase what are the logistics of both daughter and father being taken ill at the same time on the park bench?
Perhaps the target was really the daughter, and for her to die in Russia like the son. No investigation then.
No investigation as to why a deadly nerve agent ended up in the UK? Hm, okay.
If Foxy's speculation is correct she would have died in Russia and the deadly nerve agent would never have come to the UK. So no investigation. I don't think he is right but that is what he said.
Perhaps the target was really the daughter, and for her to die in Russia like the son. No investigation then.
If the nerve gas was borne in the daughters suitcase what are the logistics of both daughter and father being taken ill at the same time on the park bench?
Doesn't make sense, does it?
Watson, I shall have to channel my inner 221b Baker Street.
Ah, that makes sense, as the main structure was in place but not the cables that would take the load in operation. Supports your original theory that a temporary brace either wasn’t there or wasn’t adequate.
IANAE, but in the renderings the point where the cables meet the 'roof' of the structure, and the internal load bracings from roof to floor, do not appear to be in line. That may mean that the roof distributes the load to the bracings, but it would make more sense for them to be in line.
As they are not I do wonder if the pylon and cables are mostly for show, and the structure was meant to be self-supporting without them. If not, it's hard to see why they didn't build the pylon first.
Perhaps the target was really the daughter, and for her to die in Russia like the son. No investigation then.
If the nerve gas was borne in the daughters suitcase what are the logistics of both daughter and father being taken ill at the same time on the park bench?
Doesn't make sense, does it?
It’s a bit difficult to speculate either way, without actually knowing how nerve agents work. Could, for example, she be taken ill, and then he be affected very rapidly as a result of whatever actions he might have taken to respond to that? How the events actually unfolded could have been as much down to circumstance as planning.
Perhaps the target was really the daughter, and for her to die in Russia like the son. No investigation then.
If the nerve gas was borne in the daughters suitcase what are the logistics of both daughter and father being taken ill at the same time on the park bench?
Doesn't make sense, does it?
It’s a bit difficult to speculate either way, without actually knowing how nerve agents work. Could, for example, she be taken ill, and then he be affected very rapidly as a result of whatever actions he might have taken to respond to that? How the events actually unfolded could have been as much down to circumstance as planning.
That is possible but nerve agents work in a narrow time scale once the victim is contaminated. Was the daughter carrying the suitcase to the park? Not from the evidence n the public domain.
Perhaps the target was really the daughter, and for her to die in Russia like the son. No investigation then.
No investigation as to why a deadly nerve agent ended up in the UK? Hm, okay.
If Foxy's speculation is correct she would have died in Russia and the deadly nerve agent would never have come to the UK. So no investigation. I don't think he is right but that is what he said.
But if they wanted her dead, they could have done it with a lot less fuss. The whole point of this method, I thought, was to make sure everyone would point the finger at Russia.
Perhaps the target was really the daughter, and for her to die in Russia like the son. No investigation then.
If the nerve gas was borne in the daughters suitcase what are the logistics of both daughter and father being taken ill at the same time on the park bench?
Doesn't make sense, does it?
It’s a bit difficult to speculate either way, without actually knowing how nerve agents work. Could, for example, she be taken ill, and then he be affected very rapidly as a result of whatever actions he might have taken to respond to that? How the events actually unfolded could have been as much down to circumstance as planning.
That is possible but nerve agents work in a narrow time scale once the victim is contaminated. Was the daughter carrying the suitcase to the park? Not from the evidence n the public domain.
Pulls out magnifying glass ....
There are loads of potential scenarios. for instance, would the following fit? Russian emigre misses a local delicacy / object from his home. His daughter orders some, and it is delivered wrapped to her. She brings it over, hands it to him on the park bench, and they both touch the contents.
But if that's the case, the object that was infected should be close to the bench.
It'll be interesting to know how long she'd been in the UK on this trip; the shorter the time, the more likely it is that she brought it over with her.
Perhaps the target was really the daughter, and for her to die in Russia like the son. No investigation then.
No investigation as to why a deadly nerve agent ended up in the UK? Hm, okay.
If Foxy's speculation is correct she would have died in Russia and the deadly nerve agent would never have come to the UK. So no investigation. I don't think he is right but that is what he said.
But if they wanted her dead, they could have done it with a lot less fuss. The whole point of this method, I thought, was to make sure everyone would point the finger at Russia.
Precisely.
The Russian rogue state calculated that, after our lame Litvinenko response, they would be able to effectively get away with this action to little cost and as a show of strength and warning "pour encourager les autres".
Perhaps the target was really the daughter, and for her to die in Russia like the son. No investigation then.
If the nerve gas was borne in the daughters suitcase what are the logistics of both daughter and father being taken ill at the same time on the park bench?
Doesn't make sense, does it?
It’s a bit difficult to speculate either way, without actually knowing how nerve agents work. Could, for example, she be taken ill, and then he be affected very rapidly as a result of whatever actions he might have taken to respond to that? How the events actually unfolded could have been as much down to circumstance as planning.
That is possible but nerve agents work in a narrow time scale once the victim is contaminated. Was the daughter carrying the suitcase to the park? Not from the evidence n the public domain.
Pulls out magnifying glass ....
There are loads of potential scenarios. for instance, would the following fit? Russian emigre misses a local delicacy / object from his home. His daughter orders some, and it is delivered wrapped to her. She brings it over, hands it to him on the park bench, and they both touch the contents.
But if that's the case, the object that was infected should be close to the bench.
It'll be interesting to know how long she'd been in the UK on this trip; the shorter the time, the more likely it is that she brought it over with her.
She arrived only the day before. Contaminatition was also found at his house, his car, in the pub and restaurant. The sick policeman was believed to have attended the house rather than the park. There’s also the graveyard, a mile away from anywhere else.
We clearly haven’t been told a whole load of things, but there’s more questions than answers at the moment with regard to a potential timeline of events.
Perhaps the target was really the daughter, and for her to die in Russia like the son. No investigation then.
If the nerve gas was borne in the daughters suitcase what are the logistics of both daughter and father being taken ill at the same time on the park bench?
Doesn't make sense, does it?
It’s a bit difficult to speculate either way, without actually knowing how nerve agents work. Could, for example, she be taken ill, and then he be affected very rapidly as a result of whatever actions he might have taken to respond to that? How the events actually unfolded could have been as much down to circumstance as planning.
That is possible but nerve agents work in a narrow time scale once the victim is contaminated. Was the daughter carrying the suitcase to the park? Not from the evidence n the public domain.
Pulls out magnifying glass ....
There are loads of potential scenarios. for instance, would the following fit? Russian emigre misses a local delicacy / object from his home. His daughter orders some, and it is delivered wrapped to her. She brings it over, hands it to him on the park bench, and they both touch the contents.
But if that's the case, the object that was infected should be close to the bench.
It'll be interesting to know how long she'd been in the UK on this trip; the shorter the time, the more likely it is that she brought it over with her.
She arrived only the day before. Contaminatition was also found at his house, his car, in the pub and restaurant. The sick policeman was believed to have attended the house rather than the park. There’s also the graveyard, a mile away from anywhere else.
We clearly haven’t been told a whole load of things, but there’s more questions than answers at the moment with regard to a potential timeline of events.
Perhaps the target was really the daughter, and for her to die in Russia like the son. No investigation then.
If the nerve gas was borne in the daughters suitcase what are the logistics of both daughter and father being taken ill at the same time on the park bench?
Doesn't make sense, does it?
It’s a bit difficult to speculate either way, without actually knowing how nerve agents work. Could, for example, she be taken ill, and then he be affected very rapidly as a result of whatever actions he might have taken to respond to that? How the events actually unfolded could have been as much down to circumstance as planning.
That is possible but nerve agents work in a narrow time scale once the victim is contaminated. Was the daughter carrying the suitcase to the park? Not from the evidence n the public domain.
Pulls out magnifying glass ....
There are loads of potential scenarios. for instance, would the following fit? Russian emigre misses a local delicacy / object from his home. His daughter orders some, and it is delivered wrapped to her. She brings it over, hands it to him on the park bench, and they both touch the contents.
But if that's the case, the object that was infected should be close to the bench.
It'll be interesting to know how long she'd been in the UK on this trip; the shorter the time, the more likely it is that she brought it over with her.
She arrived only the day before. Contaminatition was also found at his house, his car, in the pub and restaurant. The sick policeman was believed to have attended the house rather than the park. There’s also the graveyard, a mile away from anywhere else.
We clearly haven’t been told a whole load of things, but there’s more questions than answers at the moment with regard to a potential timeline of events.
The bit I don’t understand is, if they were contaminated some hours before they were found, how two different people became so clearly sick within a couple of minutes of each other. Maybe they opened another present on the park bench, which added to their exposure of the nerve agent?
Sky News - Sergei Lavrov, Russia's Foreign Minister, has said that Russia has stopped paying attention to allegations from the UK about the Skripal poisoning.
The bit I don’t understand is, if they were contaminated some hours before they were found, how two different people became so clearly sick within a couple of minutes of each other. Maybe they opened another present on the park bench, which added to their exposure of the nerve agent?
I've no idea. They seem to have found traces of contamination in many places; a question is how sensitive their kit is - does it pick up minute, sub-lethal traces?
It'd be interesting to know how this investigation is handled procedurally - if they preform some kind of root cause analysis, or do it the other way around.
Perhaps the target was really the daughter, and for her to die in Russia like the son. No investigation then.
If the nerve gas was borne in the daughters suitcase what are the logistics of both daughter and father being taken ill at the same time on the park bench?
Doesn't make sense, does it?
It’s a bit difficult to speculate either way, without actually knowing how nerve agents work. Could, for example, she be taken ill, and then he be affected very rapidly as a result of whatever actions he might have taken to respond to that? How the events actually unfolded could have been as much down to circumstance as planning.
That is possible but nerve agents work in a narrow time scale once the victim is contaminated. Was the daughter carrying the suitcase to the park? Not from the evidence n the public domain.
Pulls out magnifying glass ....
I assume that what you say is based on some degree of knowledge, but report are that they appear to have been wandering all over the place infecting places, and medical reports claim that the effects can last a long time (dependent obviously on level of contamination). Also there is a difference between "carried over in her suitcase" and "her suitcase was the source of the investigation".
Perhaps the target was really the daughter, and for her to die in Russia like the son. No investigation then.
If the nerve gas was borne in the daughters suitcase what are the logistics of both daughter and father being taken ill at the same time on the park bench?
Probably not a gas, if it's a Novichok agent, but rather an ultra fine powder.
They are much more persistent than conventional nerve gases - which is why the decontamination effort has become so extensive.
If the assassination had been successful immediately, would the cause of death have been identifiable? Maybe the Russians have used this method in the past but this time something went wrong?
I was just discussing this today. The daughter had just arrived from Russia. Therefore there's a possibility that she's the one who brought the stuff into the country, either unwittingly or on purpose. If unwittingly, that does rather point towards Russian state involvement, though I assume the substance must've been packaged somehow so that it was not a risk to the general public.
That still leaves the question of motive. It wouldn't be surprising if the Russians wanted to bump Skripal off. But to do so in this way, knowing what the response of the UK would be, seems self-defeating. Unless they're so cavalier these days that they think they can get away with anything.
Why can't Russia get away with it? They got away with Litvinenko, and Syria, Crimea and South Ossetia/Georgia. Here they face a country which cannot count on the EU thanks to Brexit (possibly helped by Russia) or on America whose president is tainted by his own links, and which has been decimating its defences since 2010. So why not?
And you still have enough brain-cells to remember how to breathe? Amazing!
Perhaps the target was really the daughter, and for her to die in Russia like the son. No investigation then.
If the nerve gas was borne in the daughters suitcase what are the logistics of both daughter and father being taken ill at the same time on the park bench?
Doesn't make sense, does it?
It’s a bit difficult to speculate either way, without actually knowing how nerve agents work. Could, for example, she be taken ill, and then he be affected very rapidly as a result of whatever actions he might have taken to respond to that? How the events actually unfolded could have been as much down to circumstance as planning.
That is possible but nerve agents work in a narrow time scale once the victim is contaminated. Was the daughter carrying the suitcase to the park? Not from the evidence n the public domain.
Pulls out magnifying glass ....
I assume that what you say is based on some degree of knowledge, but report are that they appear to have been wandering all over the place infecting places, and medical reports claim that the effects can last a long time (dependent obviously on level of contamination). Also there is a difference between "carried over in her suitcase" and "her suitcase was the source of the investigation".
Perhaps the target was really the daughter, and for her to die in Russia like the son. No investigation then.
If the nerve gas was borne in the daughters suitcase what are the logistics of both daughter and father being taken ill at the same time on the park bench?
Probably not a gas, if it's a Novichok agent, but rather an ultra fine powder.
They are much more persistent than conventional nerve gases - which is why the decontamination effort has become so extensive.
Extraordinary story in the Times this morning of art dealer released after three years' detention in Germany after his trial collapsed, and the state declared his collection of Russian Suprematist paintings not forgeries after all... and probably worth £3bn
IANAE but were we not told that nerve agents can be transported relatively safely because the components can be kept separately and only become active when mixed? If that is the case here then it is possible that traces of one or more of the components have been found but those would not make the daughter or anyone else ill. It would also make the point of mixing the trigger for illness however that was accomplished. So, for example, if the daughter’s clothes were impregnated with one part she would leave traces wherever she went but it would only be when she opened that treat from home with the other that they would become ill. If there is anything in this speculation then the quantity of the first agent would have to be considerable to ensure contact but the quantity of the second might be very small.
"Hardly seems the sort of language you would expect"... That's the point. You wouldn't normally expect a POTUS to threaten a country with "Fire and Fury"; but you wouldn't normally expect the President of a foreign country to order the murder of a dissident in another country using chemical weapons with the risk of substantial civilian collateral damage.
The response of the U.K. has to be in a language which Putin's régime of corrupt criminal gangsters and murderers will understand. Half of me thinks that it's a pity we can't just use a magic ray-gun to mysteriously obliterate a few hundred peasants in a random town in the middle of Siberia, by way of revenge.
IANAE but were we not told that nerve agents can be transported relatively safely because the components can be kept separately and only become active when mixed?
According to Twitter (yes, I know) even the binary components are highly toxic substances. Mixing them in a hotel bathroom is apparently not feasible
IANAE but were we not told that nerve agents can be transported relatively safely because the components can be kept separately and only become active when mixed?
According to Twitter (yes, I know) even the binary components are highly toxic substances. Mixing them in a hotel bathroom is apparently not feasible
IANAE but were we not told that nerve agents can be transported relatively safely because the components can be kept separately and only become active when mixed?
According to Twitter (yes, I know) even the binary components are highly toxic substances. Mixing them in a hotel bathroom is apparently not feasible
There may be a difference between undesirable components where exposure has long term effects ( hence the clean up) and the active combination which causes very rapid severe illness/death. As I understand it the daughter would be very unlikely to be carrying around the active agent in its complete form without becoming ill very quickly.
Perhaps the target was really the daughter, and for her to die in Russia like the son. No investigation then.
If the nerve gas was borne in the daughters suitcase what are the logistics of both daughter and father being taken ill at the same time on the park bench?
Pure speculation on my part. Perhaps the contaminated item was meant to expose in Moscow, but unexpectedly travelled to the UK.
I think the victims may well be conscious but paralysed. These agents work that way, and there may be some permanent damage due to anoxia before help arrived.
I suspect @JackW is right though, and this was meant pour encourager les autres.
IANAE but were we not told that nerve agents can be transported relatively safely because the components can be kept separately and only become active when mixed?
According to Twitter (yes, I know) even the binary components are highly toxic substances. Mixing them in a hotel bathroom is apparently not feasible
The diagrams in 3 are lifted straight from wikipedia, (page on Novichok agent) without credit which pretty much puts to bed any claim of genuine expertise.
The diagrams in 3 are lifted straight from wikipedia, (page on Novichok agent) without credit which pretty much puts to bed any claim of genuine expertise.
Why? Did he have to 'draw his own' to be 'an expert'?
The diagrams in 3 are lifted straight from wikipedia, (page on Novichok agent) without credit which pretty much puts to bed any claim of genuine expertise.
Why? Did he have to 'draw his own' to be 'an expert'?
And for all we know he may have written the Wikipedia page! Suspect that a background as a research chemist gives him some level of expertise in the area...
There is no doubt that Theresa May has upped her game considerably.
From being all over the place she now has a quiet authority. At the beginning she was badly advised. 'Maggie mk2' was never the way to go and it didn't suit her. Mrs Merkel was a much better model and that's where she now is.
Whether by accident or design her cabinet is made up of nonentities. They look like a grey mass of plankton. There isn't a single one who shines.
Having Corbyn facing her is a bonus. His musty maleness and his Solzhenitsyn gait isn't an attractive look at the moment and she's making the most of it. Zeitgeist in politics is much underrated.
Indeed and of course Merkel underperformed on her first general election too failing to get the majority for her centre right coalition with the FDP most polls predicted and forced to go into coalition with the SPD.
4 years later she did get that majority with the FDP and after 13 years she is still Chancellor albeit again without a majority and back in coalition with the SPD
The new yougov also gives her a slightly bigger lead than she got at the general election
This whole frothing nonsense will have blown over shortly, and the wishful thinking amongst the balding buffoons here and in the Westminster bubble that this will have any ongoing impact on Corbyn and his ongoing demolition of everything the Tories stand for will be shown up to be just what delusion it was. Quite fun to watch though.
The diagrams in 3 are lifted straight from wikipedia, (page on Novichok agent) without credit which pretty much puts to bed any claim of genuine expertise.
Why? Did he have to 'draw his own' to be 'an expert'?
It's the "without credit" bit which is the killer.
A strikingly bad point, when you look at the tergiversations the Labour government went through to avoid an Iraq inquiry: when you suppress evidence there is a legitimate presumption that it's against you. And anyway, Chilcot looks like evidence to me.
The diagrams in 3 are lifted straight from wikipedia, (page on Novichok agent) without credit which pretty much puts to bed any claim of genuine expertise.
Why? Did he have to 'draw his own' to be 'an expert'?
It's the "without credit" bit which is the killer.
You’ve “had enough of experts” who don’t attach a list of references to every tweet?
This whole frothing nonsense will have blown over shortly, and the wishful thinking amongst the balding buffoons here and in the Westminster bubble that this will have any ongoing impact on Corbyn and his ongoing demolition of everything the Tories stand for will be shown up to be just what delusion it was. Quite fun to watch though.
Corbyn has to look prime ministerial at these moments to stand a chance of winning. He has not inspired confidence this week . He made two mistakes. Firstly making party political points at a moment of national crisis. Secondly taking a position helpful to the Kremlin at a time when the government's diplomatic position was fragile.
We need him to hold the government to account, but timing and tone is important . He could have done it without the two big errors above.
The diagrams in 3 are lifted straight from wikipedia, (page on Novichok agent) without credit which pretty much puts to bed any claim of genuine expertise.
Why? Did he have to 'draw his own' to be 'an expert'?
It's the "without credit" bit which is the killer.
You’ve “had enough of experts” who don’t attach a list of references to every tweet?
A proper scientist would give the credit (needn't be a full reference); and it does raise the question how much else of his material is lifted off the internet.
This whole frothing nonsense will have blown over shortly, and the wishful thinking amongst the balding buffoons here and in the Westminster bubble that this will have any ongoing impact on Corbyn and his ongoing demolition of everything the Tories stand for will be shown up to be just what delusion it was. Quite fun to watch though.
Corbyn has to look prime ministerial at these moments to stand a chance of winning. He has not inspired confidence this week . He made two mistakes. Firstly making party political points at a moment of national crisis. Secondly taking a position helpful to the Kremlin at a time when the government's diplomatic position was fragile.
We need him to hold the government to account, but timing and tone is important . He could have done it without the two big errors above.
Key point - if he has (genuine) doubts, get friendly backbenchers to raise them. That is what backbenchers are for. There are times when it is necessary for the Opposition to back the Govt publicly (and raise doubts in private)
Corbyn is terrible at 'day to day' politics and he will continue to make these sorts of mistakes and foul-ups. Maybe he doesn't care for it. Maybe he is just as talentless as he sometimes appears.
But, in the absence of an election, it will be a slow, but steady, drift downwards.
The diagrams in 3 are lifted straight from wikipedia, (page on Novichok agent) without credit which pretty much puts to bed any claim of genuine expertise.
Why? Did he have to 'draw his own' to be 'an expert'?
It's the "without credit" bit which is the killer.
You’ve “had enough of experts” who don’t attach a list of references to every tweet?
A proper scientist would give the credit (needn't be a full reference); and it does raise the question how much else of his material is lifted off the internet.
I don’t think academia views Wikipedia as a legitimate “source”. And facts are facts, they don’t require accreditation. Anyway he does reference one of the sources for the diagram elsewhere in his tweets.
The diagrams in 3 are lifted straight from wikipedia, (page on Novichok agent) without credit which pretty much puts to bed any claim of genuine expertise.
Why? Did he have to 'draw his own' to be 'an expert'?
It's the "without credit" bit which is the killer.
You’ve “had enough of experts” who don’t attach a list of references to every tweet?
A proper scientist would give the credit (needn't be a full reference); and it does raise the question how much else of his material is lifted off the internet.
Not sure how much this is a valid concern - if I had to get a quick structure of a compound, I'd probably go internet first before firing up ChemDraw.
This whole frothing nonsense will have blown over shortly, and the wishful thinking amongst the balding buffoons here and in the Westminster bubble that this will have any ongoing impact on Corbyn and his ongoing demolition of everything the Tories stand for will be shown up to be just what delusion it was. Quite fun to watch though.
Corbyn has to look prime ministerial at these moments to stand a chance of winning. He has not inspired confidence this week . He made two mistakes. Firstly making party political points at a moment of national crisis. Secondly taking a position helpful to the Kremlin at a time when the government's diplomatic position was fragile.
We need him to hold the government to account, but timing and tone is important . He could have done it without the two big errors above.
Key point - if he has (genuine) doubts, get friendly backbenchers to raise them. That is what backbenchers are for. There are times when it is necessary for the Opposition to back the Govt publicly (and raise doubts in private)
True enough. It's like playing chess with only the Queen.
Nevertheless there are definitely important questions to be asked of the government. At moments like this you need a strong probing opposition.
His position has been wilfully misrepresented by the tory party’s many Pravdas in displays of sickening faux-nationalism dozens of times in the past and it got him the biggest increase in the labour vote in over fifty years.
The last thing anyone wants or expects from Corbyn is to disingenuously wrap his political fortunes in the flag.
I dont think this will be any different, given I cant imagine the whole event features very highly on many normal peoples radars. Much though the senile Big Gs of this world would love it to be otherwise, this is no Falklands, just a murky little assassination attempt of a former spy from another country (with lots of actors other than the Russian government who would potentially benefit).
The diagrams in 3 are lifted straight from wikipedia, (page on Novichok agent) without credit which pretty much puts to bed any claim of genuine expertise.
Why? Did he have to 'draw his own' to be 'an expert'?
It's the "without credit" bit which is the killer.
You’ve “had enough of experts” who don’t attach a list of references to every tweet?
A proper scientist would give the credit (needn't be a full reference); and it does raise the question how much else of his material is lifted off the internet.
Are you ruling out use of anything that is "lifted off the Internet"?
This whole frothing nonsense will have blown over shortly, and the wishful thinking amongst the balding buffoons here and in the Westminster bubble that this will have any ongoing impact on Corbyn and his ongoing demolition of everything the Tories stand for will be shown up to be just what delusion it was. Quite fun to watch though.
This whole frothing nonsense will have blown over shortly, and the wishful thinking amongst the balding buffoons here and in the Westminster bubble that this will have any ongoing impact on Corbyn and his ongoing demolition of everything the Tories stand for will be shown up to be just what delusion it was. Quite fun to watch though.
The "frothing" that has been going on has been by the three victims of Russian state aggression and has simply confirmed the "useful idiot" status of Corbyn
Whether the electorate determines that a potential Prime Minister Jezza is fit for office is a whole different matter.
Comments
BetttttyyVladimir...https://twitter.com/AllieHBNews/status/974405674582138880
Adultery is not something to be encouraged of course but if that was a bar to high office it would have ruled out Major, Wilson, Eden, Lloyd George, maybe even Churchill judging by a recent documentary.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/life/helen-skelton-groped-live-air-pregnant/
Who the hell thinks that is acceptable? I get that in the pubs and clubs on a Friday night, people flirting and it can be a bit less clear cut, but pregnant lady live on air in front of a crowd of people...ohhh I know what I think it is totally ok, I will grab her arse.
So I presume the usual grand opening sequence will see Bond jumping out of a helicopter and as he parachutes down the viewer will be greeted by the amazing views of a spectacular vista...with giant "Save the NHS", "Tory Scum", etc signs plastered all over it...
Difficult to believe this bridge collapsed just a few days after being constructed. What can have gone wrong? Bewildering.
https://news.fiu.edu/2018/03/first-of-its-kind-pedestrian-bridge-swings-into-place/120385
It is one of those incidents that you can hardly imagine happening. We take our infrastructure for granted. The idea of a bridge collapsing on you is not something you would ever have countenanced - until now.
That still leaves the question of motive. It wouldn't be surprising if the Russians wanted to bump Skripal off. But to do so in this way, knowing what the response of the UK would be, seems self-defeating. Unless they're so cavalier these days that they think they can get away with anything.
As a non-engineer, I can't see how they expected 1,000 tons of concrete to just sit there, supported only by a few feet of pedestal on either end. I dare say there are plenty of bridges around that do just that, but the concrete canopy on this one must have made it more unstable (as well as heavier).
But one point to note: apparently there has been a trend for bridges to have 'fake' cables, because a cable-stayed bridge is aesthetically pleasing. In such cases, the structure itself is self-supporting and no., or minimal, dead and lie loads are taken by the cables. The HappyPontist blog has had some ridiculous examples in the past.
Another minor possibility: overloading. Someone placed a point load (e.g.heavy machinery, materials) on the bridge. Again, this has happened before.
Oh, and for a laugh, here are some terrible bridges:
http://happypontist.blogspot.co.uk/2017/10/shortlist-announced-for-bridge-awards.html
(Just to make it clear, I am not a bridge designer either).
https://www.local10.com/news/fiu-city-of-sweetwater-break-ground-on-pedestrian-bridge-over-sw-8th-street
From being all over the place she now has a quiet authority. At the beginning she was badly advised. 'Maggie mk2' was never the way to go and it didn't suit her. Mrs Merkel was a much better model and that's where she now is.
Whether by accident or design her cabinet is made up of nonentities. They look like a grey mass of plankton. There isn't a single one who shines.
Having Corbyn facing her is a bonus. His musty maleness and his Solzhenitsyn gait isn't an attractive look at the moment and she's making the most of it. Zeitgeist in politics is much underrated.
Our Institution for Civil Engineers has been worried about it for years.
http://www.southkesteven.gov.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=22692&p=0 - St John's Ward
http://www.southkesteven.gov.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=22692&p=0 - St. George's Ward
As they are not I do wonder if the pylon and cables are mostly for show, and the structure was meant to be self-supporting without them. If not, it's hard to see why they didn't build the pylon first.
Pulls out magnifying glass ....
But if that's the case, the object that was infected should be close to the bench.
It'll be interesting to know how long she'd been in the UK on this trip; the shorter the time, the more likely it is that she brought it over with her.
The Russian rogue state calculated that, after our lame Litvinenko response, they would be able to effectively get away with this action to little cost and as a show of strength and warning "pour encourager les autres".
We clearly haven’t been told a whole load of things, but there’s more questions than answers at the moment with regard to a potential timeline of events.
The Mail have been keeping track of the theories
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5507959/Thirteen-days-detectives-know-spy-poisoned.html
Maybe they opened another present on the park bench, which added to their exposure of the nerve agent?
Fingers in ears time at the Kremlin ....
It'd be interesting to know how this investigation is handled procedurally - if they preform some kind of root cause analysis, or do it the other way around.
1:30 Redicean
2:10 Bleu et Rouge
2:50 Dortmund Park
3:30 Our Duke
4:10 Wonderful Charm
4:50 Deal D'estruval
5:30 Bouvreull
They are much more persistent than conventional nerve gases - which is why the decontamination effort has become so extensive.
Funny if true.
Or are there two Lavrovs ?
Incidentally this article by the New Yorker's film critic is also surprisingly interesting;
https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/sergei-skripal-russia-and-the-salisbury-conundrum
It would also make the point of mixing the trigger for illness however that was accomplished. So, for example, if the daughter’s clothes were impregnated with one part she would leave traces wherever she went but it would only be when she opened that treat from home with the other that they would become ill.
If there is anything in this speculation then the quantity of the first agent would have to be considerable to ensure contact but the quantity of the second might be very small.
Penny Mordaunt should be promoted.
Mr. P, thanks for those tips, and those of yesterday.
Mr. B, blimey. That's horrendous. Three years in the clink for no good reason doesn't fill one with confidence.
The response of the U.K. has to be in a language which Putin's régime of corrupt criminal gangsters and murderers will understand. Half of me thinks that it's a pity we can't just use a magic ray-gun to mysteriously obliterate a few hundred peasants in a random town in the middle of Siberia, by way of revenge.
https://twitter.com/deadlyvices/status/974171484787822592
https://twitter.com/deadlyvices/status/974181496272642054
I think the victims may well be conscious but paralysed. These agents work that way, and there may be some permanent damage due to anoxia before help arrived.
I suspect @JackW is right though, and this was meant pour encourager les autres.
http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/northern-ireland-affairs-committee/news-parliament-2017/ni-land-border-report-publication-17-19/
It seems that the plan for us to "take back control of our borders" is to have unchecked borders. Some mistake shurely?
4 years later she did get that majority with the FDP and after 13 years she is still Chancellor albeit again without a majority and back in coalition with the SPD
The new yougov also gives her a slightly bigger lead than she got at the general election
https://twitter.com/awmurrison/status/729580315178602496?s=21
We need him to hold the government to account, but timing and tone is important . He could have done it without the two big errors above.
Corbyn is terrible at 'day to day' politics and he will continue to make these sorts of mistakes and foul-ups. Maybe he doesn't care for it. Maybe he is just as talentless as he sometimes appears.
But, in the absence of an election, it will be a slow, but steady, drift downwards.
Anyway he does reference one of the sources for the diagram elsewhere in his tweets.
Nevertheless there are definitely important questions to be asked of the government. At moments like this you need a strong probing opposition.
The last thing anyone wants or expects from Corbyn is to disingenuously wrap his political fortunes in the flag.
I dont think this will be any different, given I cant imagine the whole event features very highly on many normal peoples radars. Much though the senile Big Gs of this world would love it to be otherwise, this is no Falklands, just a murky little assassination attempt of a former spy from another country (with lots of actors other than the Russian government who would potentially benefit).
Whether the electorate determines that a potential Prime Minister Jezza is fit for office is a whole different matter.