RuamRudy

Yes - the person who I was questioning. Good of you to answer on their behalf, I just never noticed that you chose to use my post as a chance for your early morning rant.

Ok, it was your use of the word 'siphon' that threw me - usually it suggest illegal disbursement rather that the fulfilment of actual government policies, even if you don't approve of them. That is why I mentioned the Tories...

What does Russia export other than natural resources? What value added products does it produce that is in demand in the rest of the world? Life in Peter is relatively nice indeed. But the second largest and most culturally significant city in the country is hardly going to be representative of the nation as a whole.

Is there some long game that he's playing that the majority just doesn't see? It can't simply be that he is doing Putin's bidding and creating a fog of international confusion to deflect from his eastern European disaster? Is he simply trying to gee up Denmark into contributing more to NATO? I have no doubt that there are some hard headed Americans who believe they have a god given right to invade anywhere they choose, much like the Russians who believe they are entitled to take Ukraine as their own, but they must be in the minority. Or maybe the maga proponents will enlighten us on this thread?

What money, specifically? Let's hope that Johnson, Sunak, Hancock and the rest of the tories who facilitated the theft of billions of pounds of taxpayers' money in their crooked covid contracts also face similar retribution.

Politically motivated from day 1, it will continue to be dragged out as long as humanly possible such that the independence movement can be tainted to the maximum. This is especially important now, given that Starmer, that great British hope for unity, has proven himself to be as useless as his predecessors, and that Labour's return to favour in Scotland proved to be as fleeting as the rest of the UK. So my prediction is that Branchform will continue to rumble on in the background with no major developments, only to rise again at the time of future elections.

Rather than constantly harking back to your inner monologue, let's stick to the topic in hand, shall we? Which existing laws should be enforced which will prevent further dog attacks on humans?

If I was working on that door, I am not sure that I would place my life on the line for the benefit of the shareholders of Apple.

I am not sure I agree. Certainly it was a very good response by the Met in this case, but I can't help but wonder why the gang thought it plausible that they might get away with it. Is there a feeling amongst thieves that such acts are easy pickings nowadays? Community policing, regular foot patrols and high visibility policing are all deterrents in my book.

Not even remotely close to being correct; proactive laws can prevent you from doing something which might have undesirable consequences, such as the ban on owning an automatic weapon or laws requiring companies to provide their employees with appropriate PPE to do their job. In the same way that you are not allowed to walk about with a lion or tiger in public - prevent the animal from being in public. This is the list from Wikipedia of dog attacks in the uk since 2020 (I have ordered by breed): Date Victim's age Victim's gender Dog type (Number) 02-Apr-21 85 Female American Bulldog 03-Oct-22 65 Female American Bulldog 22-Jul-24 33 Female American Bulldog 08-Nov-21 10 Male American Bully XL 22-Dec-21 55 Male American Bully XL 21-Mar-22 1 Female American Bully XL 23-May-22 62 Male American Bully XL 10-Aug-22 34 Male American Bully XL 12-Jan-23 28 Female American Bully XL 19-May-23 37 Male American Bully XL 14-Sep-23 52 Male American Bully XL 04-Oct-23 54 Male American Bully XL 03-Feb-24 68 Female American Bully XL 20-May-24 50s Female American Bully XL 20-Aug-24 53 Male American Bully XL 21-Aug-24 32 Male American Bully XL 01-Nov-24 10 Female American Bully XL 07-Dec-24 41 Female American Bully XL 15-Jun-22 43 Female American Bully XL or Italian Mastiff 20-Dec-22 83 Female American Bully XL x Cane Corso cross 04-Dec-24 42 Male American Pit Bull Terrier 16-Jun-24 7 months Female Belgian Shepherd of the variety Malinois 10-Jan-22 68 Male British Bulldog (3) 30-Jul-24 34 Female Bullmastiff 15-May-22 3 Male Cane Corso 22-Apr-23 51 Male Cane Corso cross 13-Sep-20 12 days Male Chow Chow x German Shepherd cross 06-Mar-22 3 months Female Husky 25-Nov-23 77 Male Multiple, including his friend's Bernese Mountain Dog 28-Mar-22 2 Male Rottweiler (1 to 3) 03-Sep-23 40 Female Rottweiler (2) 05-Feb-21 21 Female Staffordshire Bull Terrier cross (1) 29-Jan-20 35 Male Staffordshire Bull Terrier x Mastiff cross (1) 31-Jan-23 4 Female Unknown [179] 02-Jun-23 75 Female Unreported, but not a banned breed[188] Not many labradors there. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fatal_dog_attacks_in_the_United_Kingdom I think it is clear what I propose - a ban on owning dogs which are proven, through experience, to be a threat to society. So I ask again, which laws are already in place but not being enforced, which has led to the alarming rise in dog attacks?

I can't really see what sort of task these types of dogs could be used for - they are owned solely for show, to project an image that the owner wants others to have of him/her.

Bonnie Prince Billy - West Palm Beach

Indeed, the UK is lacking a credible answer to their policing policies and a credible alternative to the rancid options for government.

Maybe this has something to do with the shocking state of affairs across all countries in the UK? Shock figures reveal 23,500 police staff cut under the Tories The Conservatives talk tough on crime but they are failing to keep the public safe, says GMB 23,500 police staff jobs have been lost in England and Wales since 2010, figures from GMB, the union for police staff, reveal. ... The most affected region is London, which has lost almost half (47 per cent or 9,000 jobs) of its police staff since 2010, including 72 per cent of PCSOs. The worst of the cuts were inflicted in the Metropolitan Police during Boris Johnson’s term as Mayor of London. https://www.gmb.org.uk/news/shock-figures-reveal-23500-police-staff-cut-under-tories

To which laws are you referring? This one? It is illegal for a dog to be dangerously out of control in public or private spaces. This includes injuring someone, making someone fear injury, or attacking someone’s animal. Owners can face an unlimited fine, up to six months in prison, or both, and may be banned from owning a dog in the future. That is a reactive law that requires the animal to be out of control before it can be acted upon. Would you not agree that it is better to remove the possibility of a potentially volatile animal from doing harm rather than addressing the end result of it doing harm? That is the reason that certain breeds are banned - these represent a level of danger that most dog breeds do not present.

Killing Commendatore by Haruki Murakami - I always find I need to push myself to get through his books and this one is no different, but for all its lack of pazazz or page-turning intrigue, there is a constant warmth and humanity in his writing that makes the effort worthwhile.

How sour and dull life must be if you see everything within the prism of right-wing umbrage. Why not just say that you have no other ideas? It would have been easier on your blood pressure and on your keyboard.

So what are your proposals?

Sabre rattling at its finest. Apache operates Forties and Beryl, both fields which have been in production since the 70s; the fields are massively depleted and the very out of date infrastructure requires increasing amounts of maintenance. Back In the 90s I worked for a company which held a 0.15% stake in Forties. Being young and naïve, I could not understand why we would bother with such a small shareholding in such a minor producer, given the administrative and regulatory costs of doing so. I discussed it with one of the senior analysts and he explained to me that it was used as a write-off location for expenditure carried out on other facilities, because the Forties, being so old, gave massive tax benefits to its owners. It has been operating as a tax sink for decades. Interestingly. Apache's own website says this: "During the second quarter of 2023, as part of the Company’s focus on capital allocation to optimize investment returns, it suspended all new drilling activity in the North Sea. The Company’s investment program there is now directed toward safety, base production management, and asset maintenance and integrity." So that means no infill drilling and no reserves replacement - just produce as is until it can produce no more. I guess it has reached that point already.

Indeed, but nobody wins in this situation, all because of one small dictator.

Further bad news for the Russian economy - 4 out of 5 main gas export routes to Europe now closed.

A patriot? If he is considered to be a patriot of my flag I would denounce it immediately. Thankfully most British people see him for what he is. That's why decent British people despise him and his followers.

Not only were the tories turning a blind eye to rapists Muslims, they were actively protecting the child abusers among their own ranks. From Thatcher to May, they did their damndest to protect tory child abusers. Just like Yaxley Lennon protects his own favourite child molesters. The sad fact is that child abuse is rampant in every area of society, but these right wing nuts pretend it's an imported horror whilst ignoring the fact that the very people they lionise are every bit as bad.

Traditional values such as beating up women, bank fraud, drug use and racism?

You could do, but I can also help you. His name isn't actually Tommy Robinson. It's Steven Yaxley Lennon. He has convictions for assault (he attacked a policeman who was trying to stop him from beating up his then girlfriend), mortgage fraud, perverting the course of justice (he refused to obey a reporting ban put in place to prevent risk of mistrial). He also lied on social media about a schoolboy, putting the boy at real risk of harm from the nazi thugs Yaxley Lennon grifts off. Thankfully the boy had the courage to stand up to the cocaine addled bully and took him to court and won substantial damages. Oh and he isn't the champion of children he tries to paint himself as. While he creates outrage at Muslim grooming gangs, he is remarkably supportive of the pedos who surround and support him. I guess they are the right coloured pedos.