Roadsternut

https://joshwho.net/EpsteinList/gov.uscourts.nysd.447706.1320.0-combined.pdf Fairly heavy stuff.

Looks more like the latest in a line of Airfix kits. https://thumbsnap.com/i/1C4qJ3mc.jpg?1223

Unless they are an overweight black TSA agent, then you make sure everyone on the forum know not only was the person who offended you in 2008 was a TSA agent, but also black, a woman and overweight. None of those factors should have any bearing on your assessment of the TSA agent, but you remembered those attributes, and made sure everyone on the forum knew that you remembered. Isn't that hypocrisy, and in fact you are a gun loving cos-playing Buddhist? For you, the fact that she was black was important to you, as you slagged off the unnamed individual for talking too loudly. You have Scots-Irish ancestry. That makes you a descendant likely of the Ulster Plantation, lowland Scots shipped in to displace the indigenous peoples, and to re-engineer society, essentially ethnic cleansing. The Planters laid the basis for the Famine, because of how they change farming. Now you say (as far as you know) your family never profited from slavery (the grandeur of Belfast would question that assumption). But you are Scots and Irish for a very specific reason. And the fact your Scots-Irish ancestors didn't emigrate until the 20th Century would seem to dispel any notion of a romantic link to the Bonnie Prince. When Vance bitched about apologising about his skin colour, he wasn't referring to the ribbing he received from his future father in law. It relates to has enormous chip on his shoulder about how hard done to he was. Hence he wrote a book with graphically describing how his grandmother instructed him to suck a penis to see if he was a homosexual. That's screwed up, and you're supposed to be taking life lessons from him? You are fond of reminding people you are a Buddhist. I don't know if you really are, or you have carefully created an online persona. Buddhists have a very different view of how the acts of their ancestors impact the present. Buddhists have no concept of sin, because they have no god to offend. But they believe in akusala kamma. Slavery is one of the Six Evil Occupations, so you better be sure none of your ancestors engaged in or profited from, slavery. If you have slavic connections, I would say its inevitable. You seem to be an American Buddhist. Thats all I need to pigeonhole you. https://oxfordre.com/religion/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.001.0001/acrefore-9780199340378-e-725?p=emailAGm2I3X66XltU&d=/10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.001.0001/acrefore-9780199340378-e-725 https://religiondispatches.org/reactionary-white-buddhists-have-joined-the-fight-against-critical-race-theory/

Then he needs to legalise the hardest of hard drugs, like crack, so that we can all enjoy Berserkers again. Don't google. They were a bit gay, or at least the 21st Century renditions are.

Not really that surprised. In 1945, you would have struggled to find a German admitting to voting for Hitler. But someone did. 74% of people vote Republican in the 2024 election in Dawson County, Nebraska. Dawson County is pretty much Lexington, population about 11,000. The number 1 employer in town is Tyson; 1 in 3 of the inhabitants works at the plant. Now they are all out of work https://apnews.com/article/tyson-closure-workers-lexington-nebraska-beef-plant-638e615f6225bc7452767d2bc836890c Probably the rest of the town is highly dependant on the plant one way or the other. That city is now finished. Families will move away to seek work. But its ok, because America has made sure Argentinian meat producers are all ok. They could emigrate.

No one will appear on a "stand". It will just be a courtroom full of expensive lawyers. The couet will have no powers to compel non-Americans to do anything. A similar situation occurred when that American woman killed a British motorcylist after she deliberately drove on the wrong side of the road. She fled the country, and refused to attend a British court after repeated requests. British courts had no power to compel an American who had fled justice to attend a court. The Killer got away with it. The US President at the time tried to bribe the biker's family with cash to go away. They refused. Change your avatar. As a result of you using an English Flag, you have now deprived any English person on the forum using that particular avatar, which is one of the default images provided by the forum software, to represent themselves. I find that your use of the English Flag as your avatar to be deceptive and dishonest.

All sorts of opinions can be found. Ultimately, the BBC could just ignore a Florida court's judgement. The BBC has no significant assets in Florida. I suppose the US government could ban the BBC from the US, but that will not stop the BBC reporting on events in the US. Instead you will likely have Gary O'Donoghue reporting from somewhere near Brownsville, on the Mexican side, prefacing reports "due to reporting restrictions, we are unable to....."

Donald Trump never knew either of his Grandfathers. His paternal Grandfather died in 1918 of Spanish Flu. When he died eh would have been worth, in today's terms, $500k, so the Trumps were fairly well off. There is no evidence he met his Scottish Grandfather who died in the 1950s. His father was raised speaking German as his first language, and later in life, worked hard to eliminate his German accent. Trump's mother, Mary, was raised speaking Gaelic, not English. She arrived in New York in 1930, looking for work as a maid. She would have been very poor, and without any special skills. She arrive in 1930 with $30. By 1934, she had obtained enough money to return to Scotland, and subsequently re-immigrate to the US. A bit before that, she met Fred Trump at a "party". Remarkable social climbing; penniless, semi-literate with a thick accent, within a few years, this 21-22 year old was mixing with the up and coming society of New York.

Look into the Robert Maxwell connection(s). Robert Maxwell was the tycoon owner of the Mirror Group. He was of Czech origin, and fled to Britain during WW2. He reputedly spied for the British intelligence services, Israel and the KGB. He was found dead after apparently asking Israel for more money. He had been plundering the Mirror Group's pension fund of £460m, and was heavily in debt. Overall, £800m went missing. Epstein's business partner Steven Hoffenberg says he introduced Epstein to Robert Maxwell in the late 80s. Epstein apparently consipired to offshore "his" money. Ghislaine Maxwell met Epstein in July 1991. In November 1991, Robert Maxwell "fell" from his yacht, the Lady Ghislaine. Ghislaine Maxwell was on the boat at the time of her father's death, Reports indicate she found papers aboard referring to Epstein, and had them shredded. Coincidently, Donald Trump met Robert Maxwell aboard the Lady Ghislaine in 1989, related to a possible book deal that never went through. Among the recent so-called Epstein files is an email sent by Ghislaine to Epstein saying how whe was apparently speaking with "CIA Agents" about recovering the lost £800m. Captain Bob had long been sympathetic to Israel, having been involved in gun running in 1948 to the new state. By the mid-50s, the FBI suspected he was a Soviet spy. MI6 knew about his Soviet links, and funded his publishing business, because they thought it would give them access to Soviet scientific literature. Mossad recruited him in the 1970s, regarding theft of some US intelligence marketing software, with a "bugged" version being sold back to key US institutions incuding nuclear research labs. https://publish.obsidian.md/watcher/History/US-Israel+Intelligence+Interface That way Mossad could penetrate and steal US defence secrets. Israel spying on the US is not new; eg Jonathan Pollard. Mossad allegedly traded stolen secrets with the KGB in order to secure exit visas for Jewish dissidants in th USSR https://www.merip.org/1990/01/blitzer-territory-of-lies/ https://www.upi.com/Archives/1987/12/14/Soviet-spies-infiltrate-Mossad-sources-say/5861566456400/ https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/jeffrey-epstein-steven-hoffenberg-intelligence-agencies-spy-1197708/ Certainly murky/

"Envoy" has no practical diplomatic meaning. If Landry is not in Greenland, he can't do any influencing. But apparently the Governor thinks he can continue to be the Governor of Louisiana, which I believe is facing significant criminality, health issues and social deprivation, and conduct some sort of job at the same time in the Arctic Circles. The Louisiana Purchase is about 828,000 sq miles and Greenland is 836,000 sq miles. An equitable settlement would be a land swap; Greenlanders can move to the former US territories of Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota (there are some other states that are partially Louisiana Purchase). Residents of those former US states can take over the abandoned whaling factories, uranium processing facilities and igloos of US Greenland.

Its happened before. An older, but relevant article analysing appointments since Woodrow Wilson. https://qz.com/1555392/us-ambassadors-are-less-qualified-under-trump https://qz.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=1920,quality=85,format=auto/https://assets.qz.com/media/7287349fb68917b8e916ec62ef8c0771.jpg George Tsunis was just such a political appointment (Obama appointment), trusted to represent the President's policies to the Kingdom of Norway. John McCain had him sussed. Ambassadors not only represent the President, they also represent the United States. Ultimately George Tsunis failed to become Ambassador to Norway, mostly on account of the fact he had never been there in hs like. He became Ambassador to Greece though. But also while a President might nominate someone to be Ambassador, Senate has to confirm the appointment. And the country they are ambassador to has to accept their credentials, without any explanation. With a mass recall of ambassadors and other senior diplomats, that leaves dozens of countries, at a critical moment, without US Ambassadorial representation, with weakened lines of communication, and lessened influence, No doubt the appointees will be contentious, some will be refused, some will withdraw their candidature. As of 1 Jan 2026, the folllowing countries will not have an in place US Ambassador the Middle East and another pair from South and Central Asia. A further two are serving in the western hemisphere. The countries are, according to the AP: Algeria Armenia Burundi Cameroon Cape Verde Egypt Fiji Gabon Guatemala Ivory Coast Laos Macedonia Madagascar The Marshall Islands Mauritius Montenegro Nepal Niger Nigeria Papua New Guinea The Philippines Rwanda Senegal Slovakia Somalia Sri Lanka Suriname Vietnam This adds to the current list of missions with an Ambassadorial vacancy Afghanistan Albania Angola and São Tomé & Príncipe APEC ASEAN Australia Azerbaijan Barbados Belarus Belize Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Brazil Bulgaria Burma Cambodia Central African Republic Chad Colombia Congo (Republic of) Cuba Ecuador El Salvador Eritrea Eswatini (formerly Swaziland) The Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Guinea Haiti Honduras Hungary IAEA ICAO Iceland Indonesia Iraq Jamaica Kenya Kosovo Kuwait Lesotho Liberia Libya Malawi Mauritania Moldova Mozambique New Zealand, Cook Islands and Niue Nicaragua Norway OECD OSCE Pakistan Paraguay Qatar Russia Samoa Saudi Arabia Serbia Seychelles Slovenia Solomon Islands South Korea Sudan Syria Tanzania Timor-Leste Togo Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Ukraine United Arab Emirates UN / Conf. on Disarmament UN / Geneva UN / Human Rights Council UN / Vienna UNESCO Venezuela (Source: https://afsa.org/list-ambassadorial-appointments) The latest announcement means that currently, 57% of US diplomatic missions have no ambassadorial leadership. Among the list are many key allies.

The Kremline apparently possesses tactical nuclear weapons that would neutralise any NATO response, and they would not hesitate to use them. The war would have been over 3 years ago and at least half a million more Russians alive had Putin chosen this option. Why didn't he? Naturally, there are some thinkers who use code like "bankers" to signify dark forces manipulating governments. Its the same old crap. 80 years ago people of the same ilk would blame everything on the Jew. By sheer coincidence the spin off to the video game Fallout is into its second season.

Over 1 million Russians, mostly men, have left Russia since Feb 2022. Why are you not saying Russians have deserted en masse. In both cases, these are NOT deserters. Deserters are people who leave the battlefield in uniform. On neither side are these people who deserted the army. They might have left to avoid military service, but that is a different matter. Estimates of Russian desertion rates https://frontelligence.substack.com/p/silent-exodus-rising-desertions-in https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidaxe/2025/03/08/50000-russian-troops-have-deserted/ Ukrainian prosecutors give some idea of the scale of desertion on the Ukraine side. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/12/9/record-numbers-of-ukrainians-desert-army-amid-losses-to-russia Ukrainian army forces; 900,000 in active service, 4 million in reserve. Assume 30,000 desert per year; 3.33% annual desertion rate. Being AWOL doesn't mean you have deserted. Russian army; 1,500,000 in active service (looking to expand to 2.4 million), 2 million in reserve. But only contractors, not conscripts fight. The estimates for the number of Army contractors vary from 37% of active servicemen. to around 750,000 having signed contracts (https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2023/12/22/how-russian-officials-plan-to-recruit-400k-new-contract-soldiers-in-2024-a83509, https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/some-450000-russians-signed-contracts-serve-army-2024-says-medvedev-2025-01-24/, https://tass.com/politics/2031653, https://www.statista.com/statistics/1334413/military-personnel-in-russia-by-type/#:~:text=The Russian Armed Forces had,and 250%2C000 were paramilitary forces.,) Russian law prohibits conscripts from being on the front line. The last time Moscow used conscript troops in war was in the First Chechen War, were they were essentially routed by trained and committed, but ill equipped mountain men. Assume the lower desertion estimate of 50,000, and the upper number of contractors, then there is a 6.7% annual desertion rate. The Russian army is not fully committed in Ukraine. It has to bolster defences against Norway, Finland, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, on the grounds that NATO is a threat. It has to maintain forces in a defensive stature in the Bering Straits, because of the US. It has to maintain a presence in Chechenya, because of a civil war. It continues to be wary of Chinese claims to territories. It provides peacekeeping forces to some former Soviet Republics. It has limited forces deployed elsewhere. On the contrary, the Ukrainian military is fully committed in Ukraine. Conscripts are part of that fighting force. To put these numbers in an historical context. WW2: British Army Desertion Rate 1/10/39-30/9/40: army strength (average) 1,538,675; deserters 6,889; incidence per thousand soldiers 4.48 1/10/40-30/9/41: army strength (average) 2,211,547; deserters 22,248; incidence per thousand soldiers 10.05 1/10/41-30/9/42: army strength (average) 2,455,720; deserters 20,834; incidence per thousand soldiers 8.49 1/10/42-30/9/43: army strength (average) 2,681,697; deserters 15,824; incidence per thousand soldiers 5.9 1/10/43-30/9/44: army strength (average) 2,729,480; deserters 16,892; incidence per thousand soldiers 6.19 1/10/44-30/9/45: army strength (average) 2,830,831; deserters 17,663; incidence per thousand soldiers 6.24. https://www.historynet.com/breaking-point-why-do-soldiers-desert/ https://sk.sagepub.com/ency/edvol/encyclopedia-of-military-science/chpt/desertion US Army reported an annual desertion rate from the European theatre of 6.3%. The difficulty in considering total deserters and those going AWOL is you don't know the numbers caught and returned to service. Most AWOL soldiers actually go back to service. Most acts of AWOL are administrative; the soldier is late returning to duty, and they do go back, with a fine or extra duties. And many deserters are also caught, and eventually persuaded back. The annual rate is more useful. Russian annual desertion rates are double Ukraine's, a fair reflection that the average Russian squaddie is actually less committed to dying in a field in the Donbas than his government thinks. But desertion rates on both side seem to be within entirely "normal" limits. There is no absolute measure of the tipping point of desertion affecting combat effectiveness. A 1971 article written by an American colonel used apocalyptic language to describe the state of the US forces in Vietnam. https://msuweb.montclair.edu/~furrg/Vietnam/heinl.html

Why has the topic been hijacked by people who haven't moved on in a decade. The discussion should be about the advantages of Erasmus versus the Turing Fund, which is the cost of Erasmus. I'm in favour of both, because I was part of a similar scheme in the 1980s, not in Europe, which literally changed my life. The UK needs all the Soft Power it can get, because it spaffed so much away over the last 10 years. I honestly think there were some who supported Brexit, because they support the destruction of the United Kingdom. Brexit made that much more likely. Soft Power has been the main argument in favour of a UK (ie. Scotland part of the UK, has more influence globally than alone, has been the argument).

More goldie bits https://www.irishtimes.com/world/us/2025/12/18/presidential-walk-of-fame-offers-trumps-skewed-take-on-us-history/

What's the best in the world now? Babestation? Blaze? You obviously have an idea, at various points in time who is the "best" TV broadcaster in the world. There is a hint that you think that in the 60s the BBC might not have been the best; so who was your alternate? From the sounds of it, you have first hand experience of the BBC from its early days, indicating that you're in maybe your 90s?

What has "He" done? The story is about what other people have done.

After 4 years, Russia has not conquered 20% of Ukrainian territory. It might currently hold 20%, but in February 2022, before invasion, Russia held about 10% of Ukrainian territory. At one point, when Ukraine was on its heels rocking, and were literally loading up the Molotovs, Russia held 27%. They were pushed back. The reason Putin doesn't enable mass conscription is not out of concern for the young Russian. Those contractors are not young. The average age of a contract soldier by the end of 2024 was nearly 50 years old, according to the Moscow Mayor's office. Russian law prevents mass conscription. He calls it a Special Military Operation because to call it a War is to admit he broke Russian domestic law. There are numerous cases of conscripts essentially being tricked into becoming contract soldiers. Moreover, the conscript soldiers who find themselves on the front line and i injured are being denied the compensation payments promised to contract soldiers. Surgeons are even refusing to diagnose such injuries as battle injuries, because to do so would implicate them in an illegal act. https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-ukraine-conscripts-war-combat/33415104.html As for the sign on bonuses, and compensation. This is mostly paid by the regions, not the federal government. The bonuses promised vary by region. Moreover, they have been recently cut. https://www.euronews.com/2025/12/02/russia-cuts-troop-bonuses-and-delays-death-benefits-amid-budget-shortfalls Not only are the sign on bonuses and death in service compensation being reduced, often they are not even getting paid out. Most regions are in deficit now. This bonus scheme has cost the Russian state an enormous amount. Yet you suggest it will be easy for Putin to enact mass conscription and "scare" the West. He doesn't because he knows he can't. Regions like Dagestan, a traditional source of non-Slavic cannon fodder, have seen recruitment offices burnt down and protests erupt. About a million Russians, mostly men, have left Russia, out of fear of conscription. He has resorted to recruiting militarily suspect African and South Asian troops, likely had to give up much diplomatic power to get a few thousand North Korean troops, and transferred shed loads of tribute to Chechenya in return for some Tiktok troop. He might yearn to be a knew Peter the Great, but he knows he doesn't wield anywhere the near domestic power; don't forget the mutiny that nearly reached Moscow. Conscripted soldiers in WW1 helped bring down the Tsar. Mothers of conscript Soviet soldiers sent to Afghanistan are credited with contributing to the collapse of the Soviet Union. The first Chechen War was conducted with a conscript army. It was an utter disaster for the Russians. Russian losses were 2:1 against basically a rag tag army of guerillas. When Russia retook Grozny, the Chechens laid siege to it, and retook it. The fall of Grozny forced Moscow to sue for peace (Khasavyurt Accord). After that, Russian law was changed to prevent conscript soldiers from being used in combat. He is sensitive to public opinion, hence attempts to sanitise the costs of the war, a war that he started. Russia is suffering chronic labour shortages; its been attempting to plug the gaps by importing workers from South Africa and India, again, at enormous cost. He cannot afford to strip workers from functioning businesses. If he does that, he starts to affect the financial interests of his close supporters (Russia is a kleptocracy). The qualitiy of contract soldiers is falling. Early on, many of the contract soldiers were mean with recent military experience extending their service, or returning to service. With the increasing age of contractors, their fitness as well as relevant skills are diminishing. Ukraine also has manning issues but it doesn't carry out mass conscription. Men under 25 are exempted. Like Britain in WW2, Ukraine has an exempted service scheme; what the British called protected occupations that men could not be taken away from for strategic reasons. https://kyivindependent.com/ukraine-offers-defense-industry-jobs-mobilization-exemptions-for-citizens-abroad-minister-says/

Russia's historical lands being all of Ukraine, Belarus, the Baltic states, Eastern Poland, much of Finland, Kazakhstan. And of course Alaska.

Those housing costs can't be right. https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MORTGAGE30US AI said the average 30 year rate in December 2025 was 6.19%, which apparently was 12% lower than January 2025, when the current Administration assumed office. So AI thinks the rate was 18.19% in January 2025. Yo'd have to go back to 1980 to see such rates. Using AI is fine, but be aware of its propensity for hallucinations. Hallucinations are when AI presents a statement that sounds credible, but is actually completely wrong. Most of the time the issue i because AI has confused the sources. It might have confused the January rate with some other number, relating to a different product or even country. AI might also draw from unreliable sources. I've noticed some are using Reddit as a source, where you could have some nitwit claiming mortgage rates were 20%. He's wrong, but AI doesn't "know" that. AI responses can be manipulated. That's not really a problem if you review the sources cited; did it understand the source, was the source relevant, was the source reliable. For understanding consumer inflation, there are official tools that use standardised "baskets of goods", based on large scale surveys. You don't need to use the AI. AI has its uses to aid research, but its made us lazy. And some numbers need contextualising. The 44% fall in the price of eggs was because of a spike in prices due to a widespread avian flu virus wiping out flocks. The fall in prices is basically down to the good work of vets, and farmers in managing their businesses. When chickens get the flu, we don't hang around waiting for them to get better. The entire flock is either gased with CO2, or more commonly in the US, ventilation is shut down (suffocate them). There is an 18 week delay from hatching a chicken to egg production. Prices peaking in March is inline with maximal decimation of the national flock, due to an epidemic. Supply fully recovered by September, sounds reasonable. Sometimes these monthly numbers mean nothing; there are events going on completely out of the control of the politicians. An animal disease outbreak, a shipping delay due to a typhoon, unususally hot or cold or wet or dry weather etc. Whats more useful is YoY shifts. Quarterlies are useful as directional signals, but the annual numbers are more indicative of the impacts of policy.

Oh

I think we know where David Starkey and Niall Ferguson are on the spectrum. And who can forget David Irving.

You're arguing the toss. I literally threw you a bone by giving you the name of another barrister (a Trump supporter), who incidently is a favourite of Tommy Robinson's following the Southport murders, who offers up another opinion you so crave and depend on from Youtube (if not smashing the heck out of ChatGPT/Claud/Gemini etc) to tell you what to think. And then you don't even bother to properl;y read properly what I wrote, because you are too busy cosplaying John Wick. You are intolerant of other opinions basically. People like you are too fond of stating what Influencers think rather than what you think. But again, more copy pasting I note from maybe 85% of this latest response. You don't even read your own "reply", because your original points that you plagiarised from the AI actually pretty much supported all the comments I made. And we can throw up random names of British jurists. Rinder, incidently, is also an experienced barrister. Moreover, Judy Sheindlin; 10 year prosecutor, 11 years a Judge. You (or that the AI) then claimed I compared his opinions to Judge Judy. I did not. But your replies on this thread are typical of why the West is crumbling. You depend too much on social media to tell you what to think. On Youtube, millions of views means he has cracked the algorithm, that's all. You're another old man who doesn't understand social meeja. All you do is go to the AI and it tells you what to think. It stands out a Mile away. To save you googling: https://www.youtube.com/@sbarrettBar

There is a reason two posts look very similar. He's used an AI tool to prepare a retort, but there are tells in the reply. And, as shown, by others, hallucinations.

When you used an AI tool to generate that response, you didn't check the sources, did you? Always double check for the hallucinations. The comment about the OU is basically lifted from the OU's prospectus. Yes, OU degrees are as rigorous as any other UK university degree (all UK degrees are equivalent). But the AI because it doesn't understand UK academia has wrongly conflated the size of the programme with the barristers in court. The OU is the largest university in the UK, with 200,000 students. But that doesn't mean its got some monster campus in Milton Keynes; that reflects its effectively a distance learning university. Before the internet, the BBC used to show Open University modules; lectures on the telly. Of course night school doesn't really exist anymore, but that's effectively what existed before c.1995 (Birkbeck College is rather similar), but the point is the same. OU Graduates typically take 5-6 to complete a degree compared to 3-4 years fulltime study. QCs (KCs) have traditionally been dominated by Oxbridge. Pupil Barristers are those barristers who completed their degree training, and then essentially have to apprentice in Chambers for 12 months, before becoming a fully fledged Barrister. According to various sources, ShenSmith did his stint in Holborn Chambers. According to his LinkedIn, he qualified in 2017, and he says he has spent 20 years before university in business, without divulging what kind of business. A 2025 survey of Pupil Barristers show 53% are still Oxbridge, 23% are other Russell Group, 12% are overseas universities, and 11% are other UK universities. 77% of them has a first class degree. https://www.legalfutures.co.uk/latest-news/most-pupil-barristers-still-coming-from-oxbridge#:~:text=A majority of pupil barristers (53%) have,exceeding those from other UK universities (11%). There are only 600-700 pupil barrister vacancies a year (https://www.legalcheek.com/2024/10/pupillage-numbers-rise-sharply-regulator-reports/) https://www.lawcareers.net/Explore/News/Law-graduate-numbers-hit-record-high-while-number-of-firms-hit-record-low-03102 In total, there are 180 UK universities offering undergraduate degrees So only 77 graduates from the 156 third tier universities get a spot. The OU produces about 940-1000 law graduates a year (https://about.open.ac.uk/sites/about.open.ac.uk/files/files/Facts-and-figures/facts-and-figures-2022.pdf) Oxford and Cambridge each aim for about 250 law graduates a year. Each of the London schools offering law degrees aim for about 200-250 each year. The Russell group accounts for 24 universities, collectively churning out about 250,000 graduates across all disciplines. Its pretty clear that as a collective, the Russell group produces a lot more law graduates than thr OU, which you are trying to make out is a premier league law school in the UK. No degree in the UK is second rate (unlike the US), but where you studied does affect where you work. If you want to be a barrister, you don't go to the OU. You might if you have something else in mind as a career. Black Belt barrister got his law degree in 2017. He founded BarristerDIRECT in 2012. He offers an opinion on various matter, not invalid, and not unqualified. But he doesn't offer a learned opinion. Steven Barrett is another Youtube barrister (or former one (controversial reasons), with an Oxford BA no less) who offers an opinion, but no more than that. Maybe Judge Rinder should be consulted for an opinion. Or even Judge Judy, as she is a genuinely experienced and qualified jurist.