Dave A

Yes, you'd normally assume the sort of outlandish claims he puts out are deliberate lies but, worryingly, he might actually believe them.

Isn't that quite a de-escalation though (assuming it holds)? That would mean the rest of the region could go back about its business again while Iran is left fighting a pretty unequal battle with the US and Israel.

The war is already unpopular, even among some MAGA types. Usually you get the "rally to the flag" first and wars become less popular as reality sets in, so you can only see support for this one continue to drop.

So that's the Mail and the GB News guy failing to buy it. Not sure what Axel's plans are but you'd think they might try to bring the paper slightly closer to planet Earth even though it will no doubt remain right-leaning.

Outside of the Vine pub.

The wonderful Vine aka the Bull and Bladder in Brierley Hill, home of Bathams Brewery. A superb building, great ales and food at very reasonable prices, and absolutely packed on a Wednesday lunchtime. That's how you do it! Cheers 🍻 #beersky

The Brexit tendency seem to be absolutely losing their minds over the government's refusal to get bullied by America into an illegal war.

Quite something from the people who wanted "independence" and to "take back control."

I think he probably would. I never thought I'd make a positive comparison between Johnson and anyone but here we are.

Starmer furious and rightly so. Could you imagine John Major or Theresa May - hell, even David Cameron - behaving like that at a time of national crisis? The Tories have fallen so far so fast.

And Trump's own ranting and raving disproves it.

While at the same time causing an oil price spike which shows why domestic renewable capacity is actually a good thing.

And wars tend to start off more popular and then become less so when reality sets in, so we can only assume opposition will continue to grow.

That hideous bauble from FIFA is now looking, if possible, even more ridiculous than it did before.

That doesn't even make sense. You can't choose your race, but you can choose whether or not to be racist. John Cleese is clearly making his choice.

Extremely bad luck that this happens just as prices were starting to fall - the only plus is it's the end rather than start of winter. It should bolster the case for investing in renewables but those who oppose them for ideological rather than practical reasons won't change their stance.

Oh absolutely, I've not been fortunate enough to visit any of those cities but I imagine they're very much like the coastal ones.

It's easy to miss how significant it is for any UK government to deviate from the US line like this. Probably the biggest divide since Vietnam.

As usual:

Reform voters are a different beast to the rest of the UK.

The Tory leadership is out of step with what remains of its voter base.

The wrong time? I'd imagine in the pre-populist era his more measured approach might have worked domestically as well but people want simple TikTok-friendly solutions to everything now.

Broadly speaking (plenty of exceptions of course) the rural midwest and south are the problem. The coastal cities are a different country.

These are very important, hugely consequential words:
1. The UK government does not believe the US action against Iran is lawful
2. The UK government does not believe the US has a thought-through plan for its actions
My guess is that no-one will hear, but that does not reduce their significance.

This was being demanded and it has been provided. Will any of the demanders notice, let alone acknowledge? Don't bet on it. They'll keep on claiming the UK is supporting the US/Israeli action because that is what they want to be true.

Because she wants to be able to do what she likes.

A big relief to hear a UK PM saying this, no matter how much Trump or RefCon whinge.

Good grief. I’m not sure she’s thought this through. Unless, of course, she actively *wants* allies & enemies to believe that she would happily order the British military to commit war crimes.

The Reform voters she continues to chase even though she can never out-Farage Farage. Meanwhile the Lib Dems continue to hoover up the centre-right voters who she openly says are no longer welcome in her party.

There's no economic justification for their rejection of renewables, it's just inexplicably become another element of their 'culture wars'.

So confirming we were right to hold off permission then.

And RefCon will still oppose that because renewables are woke, or something.

This is cheap and pathetic from Badenoch - concerns about the wisdom of involvement in the Middle East conflict and participation in American wars go well beyond Muslim voters, and it's simplistic to assume all Muslim voters oppose UK involvement

This will really disappoint certain people.