Board Of Piss

Any Board that has Tony Blair, Benjamin Netanyahu, Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump on it is not a great Board and to call it a peace board is a grim joke when one is actively committing genocide and is wanted by the ICJ, one has just invaded and kidnapped the leader of Venezuela to claim its oil and threatening to invade another while another lied his way to a war which resulted in a million dead and the fourth is in the third year of invading its neighbour so hard to think any of them would know what Peace was even if was rolled up into a newspaper and swiped around their warmongering heads.      
Invites went out to most World Leaders and sensibly all the important countries have ran a mile from it so on the board are  Bahrain, Morocco, Argentina, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Hungary, Indonesia, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Pakistan, Paraguay, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, UAE, Uzbekistan and Mongolia with Russia and Israel set to join soon and China yet to reply which isn't a great line up.
It was originally established to oversee the rebuilding of Gaza, but now has a far broader mandate, including promoting global stability and conflict resolution around the world, conflicts which most of the Peace Board are either involved in or are the cause of so good luck with that.
I assume it is seeking to use their 11-page charter to bypass, or even replace, the United Nations  and the chairman is the orange buffoon himself, Donald Trump who serves as the final authority on the interpretation of the charter and holds veto power over key decisions, including membership removal and executive board actions, membership which last three years unless the members contribute more than £1bn.
The United Nations does need to be looked at, its model of some countries able to veto anything is a nonsense but rather that than a board with most of the worst World Leaders on it in charge of peace but i dont think the UN need to worry, everything Trump gets involved with ends up a failure so they just got to wait it out and get the popcorn ready.

Under 16 Social Media Ban Coming To UK Soon

After the House of Lords backed a ban on under-16s using social media, it is now almost inevitable that Britain's teenagers will be joining their Australians counterparts in seeing a 'blocked' message when they try to access their accounts.
An amendment to the government's Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill is currently making its way through parliament and a consultation has been launched on how it worked, and is working in Australia, which they are calling 'highly effective' to make sure no under-16s can become users.
The Prime Minister was initially opposed to such an outright ban but has faced pressure from not only his own backbenchers but parents, celebrities, charities and teachers which has softened his view.  
It has been one month since Australia enforced the social media rules for children by banning such platforms for those under the age of 16, and during that time, social media companies have removed almost five million Australian accounts held by minors with Meta/Facebook, Snapchat and TikTok losing the most accounts and the resulting revenue streams and with Britain and other nations now seriously looking at the same policy, the Social Media companies are not happy.
But it seems almost certain a ban will be coming in some shape or form and a Government spokesman said: 'We will take action to give children a healthier relationship with mobile phones and social media'.
I completely agree that it should be banned for under 16's, i have seen the harm it does to young,. impressionable minds and I have heard the argument that it should be the parents responsibility and not the Governments but if it is backed by Law, then that makes it much easier for the parents to enforce so get on with it Keir, the sooner the better.

Keir Playing The Trump Game

The first rule of the Trump Game, played by politicians around the world, is you do not talk about the rules of the Trump Game. The object of the game is to pretend that the President of the United States is a normal, rational person and on no account are you ever to admit that he’s nasty, vain, venal, unstable and obviously unaware that his own doctors are testing him for signs of dementia.
The 2026 round of the game got off with the US military attacking Venezuela and kidnapping its president while making it clear that it was all about the oil and every British politician  bent over backwards to not say anything bad about it, even gobshite Nigel Farage just pushed his head a little further up Trumps bum  and Keir Starmer mumbled something about not rushing to a decision therefore giving himself time to reflect on whether invading other countries, kidnapping their leaders on made up charges and literally stealing their oil was a bad thing but then we are finding out that is what Starmer does.
Not content with threatening tariffs against the UK and seven EU countries for not just handing him Greenland, the deranged Donald has now sent a letter to the Norwegian prime minister to complain about not winning the Nobel peace prize and to say he was so ticked off he was thinking of starting a war instead.
Up stood Keir, cleared his throat and claimed that Greenland’s sovereignty could only be determined by Greenland and Denmark and our values are resolute and Trump taking Greenland was a line in the sand and we all thought, here we go, Keir has had enough and is going to tell the sex pest where to go, only he never.
Instead Starmer said it was time to take the heat out of the situation and this was not the time for overreaction. What was needed was a cool head. Calm diplomacy. No need to make a drama out of a crisis. Just sit down with the man who thought digesting bleach would sort out Covid and talk things through. Man to man as once Trump had had things explained to him, he would have a rethink. Realise he had acted a bit hastily. A gentle reminder that starting a trade war with the largest single market in the World was a wee bit over the top.
All of which was fine if the other person has an IQ higher than his shoe size and could respond sensibly to reason, a proper grownup and not a man-baby who tries to bully those around him and is surrounded by sycophants and lickspittles and a party who will not dare challenge him.
We can all agree that changing the fat orange lumps mind with persuasion and diplomacy would be a good thing and maybe Keir will prove us all wrong but we all know that isn’t very likely and their isn't anyone in the White House who will whisper in his strangely coloured ear, 'With respect Sir, you are being a real dick over this'.
We keeping hearing Dementia Donny may not have long left, hence his obsession with naming as much as he can after himself but if we are waiting for the Love Actually moment: 'A friend who bullies us is no longer a friend. And since bullies only respond to strength, from now onward, I will be prepared to be much stronger.', this isn't coming from Keir Starmer who is a World Champion master at the Trump game.

Feeling Ill In Space

Space . . . is big. Really big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. You may think it's a long way down the road to the shops but that's just peanuts compared to space, our nearest neighbour is about 240,000 miles away and takes 3 days to get there so it was lucky the recent medical emergency happened aboard the International Space Station which is is 250 miles above our heads and only 24 hours away.
To protect the crew member’s privacy, Nasa hasn’t disclosed details about what happened but medical evacuations in Space are rare, this is the first time in 25 years, but the evacuation raises the question if we are looking for manned missions further out from the Earth?
A trip to Mars typically takes 6 to 9 months and coming back home if you are suffering a medical issue wouldn't be easy but Astronauts do undergo rigorous medical screening before selection for conditions that might worsen in microgravity of Space which could explain why the emergencies are so rare but what health issues occur in Space?  
The scientists at the European Space Agency have always been very helpful when I have Space type questions so I emailed them and asked the question to them and they were very quick to reply with an answer.
According to them skin irritation is the most frequently reported medical issue during spaceflight ranging from dry skin, rashes, hypersensitivity reactions and impaired wound healing  as the  cold, dry, low-humidity spacecraft environment exacerbates these problems.
Congestion and headaches affect most astronauts, particularly early in a mission as without gravity pulling fluids downward, blood shifts toward the head, causing a puffy face and 'space sniffles' as well as many Astronauts suffering from changes pressure in the eye, leading to optic nerve flattening and vision changes.
Sleep disruption is a thing as circadian rhythms are disrupted and musculoskeletal injuries are common, generally from the exercise designed to protect astronauts’ bones and muscles.
Watching returning Astronauts being carried away on stretchers after being on the ISS only reinforces my belief that if we do make it to Mars,  after 6-9 months of travelling, the astronauts would be in no fit state to do anything once they got there and nobody wil be waiting for them with a stretcher and a hospital to check them over.
Obviously if the boffins could come up with a Spaceship that duplicates the Earth's gravity then that would solve many of the problems but until then the sick astronaut has my sympathies because when you are not feeling at your best at work, there really is no place like home, shame it was whizzing 250 miles below them at 17,500 mph, 16 times a day. 

EU's Anti-Coercion Instrument Option

I had never heard of the EU's Anti-Coercion Instrument until today but suddenly it is all we are hearing as EU countries meet to decide how to respond to Donald Trump imposing Tariffs on essentially all the EU nations over Greenland.
From what I am hearing, their are 3 options up for discussion with the first being holding fire and waiting to see if the man who is famously called TACO, does indeed chicken out over the next few days as Trump has repeatedly threatened tariffs against countries only to then delay, reduce or quietly scrap them and with US markets Nasdaq pre-market trading showing a fall of 1.5%, that is a possibility.
The second option is to do nothing as this weekend the EU signed a major free trade agreement with five South American countries known as the Mercosur bloc which they think will soften the blow of what they lose in the US market, leaving the American consumers the only losers.
Thirdly is the Anti-Coercion Instrument which is being pushed hard by the French President Emmanuel Macron and involves imposing retaliatory tariffs on the US, limiting US investment and trade with Europe and restrict access to the Worlds largest single market.
There is unanimous agreement in European capitals that a forced seizure of Greenland cannot be allowed but there as yet, is no agreement in yet on how to respond and the discussion  is being assessed by each leader with the fear that the ACI would almost certainly prompt a backlash from Trump and deepen the looming trade war.
Almost everyone has already agreed to delay the ratification of the EU-US trade deal that was agreed last summer but as the new tariffs won't kick in until 1 February, the EU feel the time  gives the EU a window to decide and act.

State Pension Conundrum

The UK has something called the Triple lock when it comes to State Pensions which means that each year it is raised by whichever is the highest, average earnings growth, inflation or 2.5% and at the last Budget in November the highest was inflation so the State Pension increased by 4.8% which means the full State Pension is now £240.25 a week or £12,493 per year.   
The Triple Lock is one of those rare moments where all parties have a cross party agreement to keep so regardless of which party is in charge, they go with it but as there is a gap of approximately £5bn between what is received by the Treasury in National Insurance Contributions and what the treasury pay out, the wisdom of the Triple Lock is being questioned especially as it is dangerously close to the tax free Personal Allowance figure of £12,570 at which point, even if the State Pension is your only income, you will be receiving a letter from HM Revenue & Customs with a tax demand.  
Out of the 44 European countries, the UK has the 11th most generous pension with Luxembourg the best and Armenia the worst and YouGov have a very confusing survey conducted across the nations of Europe with regards to their own State Pension.
The survey found that most Europeans believe their country’s state pension system is not generous enough and although most are concerned that state pensions will become unaffordable, do not support the given options for overhauling it.

Reduce the amount all pensioners receive in state pension payments? No.
Tax state pensions? No
Increase immigration levels to generate tax revenue? No
Raise the minimum age for state pension? No
Increase tax levels on working-age people? No

Probably not surprisingly, when pensioners were asked if their pension amount was too low they agreed it was but when asked what measures they would support to make state pension schemes more affordable, the reply was a firm 'No' to everything so not sure what the answer is but whatever they do, don't ask the opinion of Pensioners first!

Woohoo...Free Onions

It is amazing what you can find walking along the beach such as shells, pebbles and bags of onions.
A few weeks ago 16 containers fell off a ship round by the Isle of Wight and after bobbing around in the English Channel for a few weeks, they are starting to wash up alongside the Southern coast, and for Brighton we got the container full of onions.
Last week in West Sussex hundreds of thousands of bananas washed up and thousands of bags of chips had washed up near Eastbourne and with our thousands of bags of Onions, that's a decent meal although after what our Water Companies have been dumping into the Sea, it might be prudent to leave them for the Seagulls and the Local Council have been urging people not to take the Onions home as they 'may not be fit for human consumption'.   
Apparently, items washed up from ships must, by law, be reported to the Receiver of the Wreck within 28 days, or it may be considered theft.
Here's the legalese bit: 'Any item washed ashore from a ship, whether wrecked or not, constitutes ‘wreck’ under the law. Such goods belong to whoever had title to them before they fell into the sea. Where the goods are washed up as the result of a shipwreck, they must be declared to the receiver of the wreck, by the person finding them, within 28 days. The receiver may subsequently pass them back to the finder (if the owner cannot be found). Otherwise, a payment for the salvage of the goods may be payable by the receiver to the finder.
Failure to report items of wreck found is a criminal offence and the retention of goods ‘unofficially salvaged’ could lead to a prosecution for theft.'
So reading that, just finding thousands of bags of Onions on the beach must be reported else it is considered theft and face a possible fine so to everyone i spoke to today on the beach, Onions? What Onions? We didn't see any Onions? 

The Board Of Peace

As the Peace Process in Gaza has seen Israel continuing to bomb Gazan's and almost 500 have been killed since the agreement, the Board of Peace which is being set up will have their work cut out on many fronts.
As if disarming Hamas isn't going to be a job in itself, it also has Israel moving it's Yellow Lines to claim even more of Gaza for itself as well as the less then inept aid delivery Israel delivers and the continued slaughter of Palestinians in the territory so good luck with it.   
On the confusingly multi layered board, sits Tony Blair who it is being said 'gets the region' after his time as the Middle East Envoy and due to his 'achievements in pushing through the Good Friday Agreement'.
Leading the UK into five major conflicts within his first six years, Iraq (1998), Kosovo (1999), Sierra Leone (2000) Afghanistan (2001) and the infamous 2003 invasion of Iraq so it's fair to say he does get the region, he was part of the disastrous Chuckle Brother duo who bought so much death and destruction to it and as for his achievements in Northern Ireland, John Major and Mo Mowlam did all the years of negotiating and hard yards to be removed from power and the newly elected Tony Blair swoop in to sign the agreement, stand there smiling at for the photographers in Stormont and taking all the plaudits for ending the troubles.
What Gazan's think of having such people as the ever more fascist and Israel loving Donald Trump, and warmongery Tony Blair deciding their future is no surprise but Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has also been asked to join the Board and as he is pretty much the only one who has spoken out about the Israeli genocide and it is no surprise that the Israeli's are objecting to his inclusion because he is 'contrary to its policy' which is obvious includes packing off the Palestinians from their land and claiming it for their own.
The Board of Peace are tasked with not only running the administration of Gaza, but also its reconstruction as most of the strip was destroyed by Israeli bombs and bulldozers which killed more than 71,000 Palestinians and includes, at some point, an international security force but the biggest problem they will face is stopping Israel from continuing to murder, ethnically cleanse, grab the land and continue the genocide which they have been conducting against Palestinians for over 7 decades.

Trump's Latest Toddler Tantrum Backfires

The Orange faced best friend of various pedophiles in the White House must have been very angry when he found the remote control in his stomach folds and turned to the News on to see that European countries had sent some of their military to Greenland after his latest attempt to bully the Arctic Island into becoming American failed spectacularly, so angry with us Europeans in fact that he is going to make Americans pay more for things to show that he is not to be messed with.
The Marmalade Mussolini wannabe has announced that from February 1st he will impose 10% tariffs on Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Finland and these will rise to 25% from June 1st and will be: 'due and payable until such time as a Deal is reached for the Complete and Total purchase of Greenland'.
Seems a bit like holding a gun to your own head and threatening to blow your own brains out unless you get your own way and Europe responded by saying, 'Want us to hold your coat?' because Epstein's sex pest mate might not be the brightest, and his multiple bankruptcies prove that when it comes to economics he is not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but even he must realise that it's a massive act of self harm.
I called one Economist to explain it and taking out the swearing and insults, the bits I can use are: 'What the....EU...Single...Market....idiot....pedophile protector....Lee Harvey Oswald....the fat Dickhead'.
Luckily less sweary Economist's were lining up to explain that you can’t impose tariffs on individual EU countries because of the European single market so imposing tariffs on one is imposing tariffs on all 27 of them because tariffs are the same across all EU countries.
A report i read said that Trumps tariffs have cost each American 16% more than they would otherwise be paying so go ahead Fat Boy, make us give you Greenland by punishing your own people.
What a moron, tried to bully little Denmark but it's 450.4 million friends in the EU stood up and said 'Something you want to say you little handed sex offender?'  

Americans Rise Up Finally

I have often wondered why Americans are not protesting and demonstrating in the street as Trump goes more and more Fascist and it seems that finally they are with news of clashes between the hired thugs of ICE and protesters in Minneapolis.
On the back of one of Trumps blackshirt goons shooting a woman in the face three times last week, and the lies the Government then said to try and discredit her, protesters have been clashing with the brave federal agents who hide their faces who fired tear gas into the crowd.
The Tangerine Tyrant went onto Social Media to spout nonsense about professional agitators and insurrectionists attacking the Patriots of I.C.E., who are only trying to do their job which unfortunately seems to include murdering and kidnapping American citizens and the Mango Moron is now threatening to invoke the Insurrection Act, which would allow him to deploy troops to Minnesota.
Maybe it will all die down or maybe it will snowball to other cities and states but as Trump tired to persuade troops to shoot protesters when they protested outside the White House in 2020, he won't be giving the orders to speak nicely to then so to the protesters, keep going and maybe take over institutions and take names as he suggested the Iranian protesters do.