JAG

How long will it take to implement? Is it "inclusive" of 20? Daughter turns 20 in July! Mind you, she would only spend it on cats! Back in the floods she would only leave her flooded apartment block when the Army agreed she could take her cats on leashes!

Thinking back to my years in West Germany, the only things I ever had dry cleaned was my No2 dress ( brown drinking suit with the brass buttons) and my mess kit - so 6 visits a year? Combat Kit was laundered by the system, and normal working dress was done in a washing machine. Anyway truth be told the garrisons had very little to do with the local economy, The British and Dutch did the bulk of their shopping in their respective NAAFIs, the Americans in their PX. The Dutch, Belgians and French had very little money to spend as they were conscripts. The Americans were payed in Dollars, and their sprawling bases were renowned for having every US "shopping facility" one could need "on base". The US bases in Europe have not existed to defend Europe for decades; rather they, and the couple of airbases in the UK, exist as logistical establishments, forward bases and medical facilities to support their (the US's) various foreign interventions in the Near and Middle East. Back in the "Cold War" when fighting troops were maintained in West Germany a significant part of the costs were met by the. West German government. Complaints about our presence were usually settled by the argument " uns oder die Russkis"!

Nor did Big Nok, or Susan Lee. Funny that...

Exactly as the businesses in all the other one time garrison towns throughout what was once West Germany felt. They will shrug and get on with things. The "girlie bars" and dodgy second hand car lots will take a hit, but everyone else will cope.

Does rather sound like the way a significant part of the poorer population of the USA are headed...

Presumably that is what the tugboat is for, not very "stealthy" though if it needs a tugboat chugging around behind it!

Serco has upped their game from contract catering in British Army messes and cookhouses. Mind you they were spectacularly crap at that, so the boat will probably, 1) be never ready on time, 2) fail to deliver in terms of quality and quantity, 3) be heartily detested by anyone who has anything to do with it!

I feel sure that there is BBC or Channel 4 documentary in this story of the travails of this innocent young man. Public funding should be made available.

Hitler was not a Marxist in the 1920s . He wrote "Mein Kampf" in the 1920s (published in 1925). It is a turgid, chaotic rambling, narcissistic ( ring any bells?) account of his political beliefs but certainly does not espouse Marxism. That he used and redefined the term "socialist" does not make him one. Still, never mind, you and the usual suspects repeat the big lie loud and often enough, eventually the weaker minded will believe it. I can't remember, just now, who first developed that concept but I am sure, in time, it will come to me!

Absolutely - just imagine, speaking their own language in their own country! Why can't they "bastardise" somebody else's, like any decent country?

Year round now and for the next three years and nine months I would imagine! Don't want any embarrassments now do we "Comrade Donald", after all you had such a good time in Moscow!

What, is it suggested that Trump and Mrs Musk's troubled son's combined knowledge of, experience and expertise in irrigation practices and the management of water resources in California were not up to the task? But Trump had a "massive landslide" and Musk paid an awful lot of money for his job! That alone should make them the bigliest experts!

You can live on as much or as little as you want, if the truth be told. When my job disappeared for several months when COVID struck, I managed on ThB 12, 000 a month. That included providing for a teenage daughter. It was a struggle, I ate Mama noodles a couple of times a week, but I managed. By contrast, I should imagine if your wife has a 20K pension, and you have your US Social Security, then as a couple you would be, I would say, quite comfortably off. On the other hand, others will be along shortly no doubt to claim that one cannot live on less than 100K a month. It is, as they say here: "up to you!"

Phone battery went flat!

@xylophone, come now, please stop introducing truth, and facts into the debate! You surely must acknowledge that President Trump is the wisest, most honest, most respected domestically and internationally of Presidents since records began. His performance, intellectually, as a businessman, as a paragon of truth, honesty and undeniably fair business practices stand as a testament to his personality. His performance in the Oval Office, in the Civil Courts, the Criminal Courts, and (no doubt once the records are put straight in the Appeal Courts) assorted hotel rooms in both New York and Moscow will stand as a new high in American political, economic, social, diplomatic and yes sexual history!

They simply should be ignored, they will die out soon enough - it is not as if they are going to breed or anything! And, much as it pains me to say so, I rather agree with you on "Tommy Robinson".

No, most emphatically not. During my long, if not particularly glorious service in the army I served in a number of wars and conflicts. ( two of them American led, and both of which were essentially a waste of blood and treasure). Unlike many here I am aware of the horrors of war, and have seen it's effects upon soldiers and civilians. I come from a society (Europe), which has twice been ripped apart by the bloody horrors of war. I am also, as a former soldier and a student of history aware that there are times, terrible as it is, when one has to fight to prevent an even greater evil. Ukraine is one of those, simply because if Putin gets what he wants in Ukraine he will go on to unleash still greater horrors on the Baltic and Eastern Europe. To reduce the whole arguement to such glib political sloganeering as "Are you not a pro war guy" with a silly little emoji is silly, demeaning to the victims of war, demeaning to those who have fought, and deeply offensive. You should be ashamed of yourself.

I for one think it's rather simpler; Trump is a narcissist. He thrives on being the center of attention - the poses with a resolute jaw, ( reminds me irresistibly of newsreel footage of Mussolini), the cameras, the staged events, the charades of signing the executive orders. His view and understanding of the political process is simplified to himself versus the rest,their opposition to him is seen as victimisation. It is all about Donald Trump. He is amoral and feels no empathy.The.impact of his actions and their consequences are of no interest to him. It is all about Donald Trump. He is backed and manipulated by an oligarchy which don't really care what he wants, what he does, what happens, as long as they have the power to enrich themselves even more. They have a plan, to cement themselves in power and make themselves richer. Trump? I don't think he has a plan beyond being the center of attention. For him, it is all about Donald Trump.

He would, but his phone battery is (jolly inconveniently) flat!

That is what I said.

Well he certainly knows what one costs - $130,000 and 32 felony convictions!

He was suffering from advanced Alzheimer's Disease.

8 days at least. Did no one even pick up the phone?

As were the Czech Republic, Slovakia, large tracts of Poland, Hungary, Bosnia, Slovenia, Croatia and parts of Romania. The Austro Hungarian Empire, which included all these countries, came spectacularly unstuck over a hundred years ago, at the end of the First World War ( which they rather foolishly started), and to the general satisfaction of most of the people's of those countries. Are you suggesting that the Czech Republic, Slovakia, large tracts of Poland, Hungary, Bosnia, Slovenia, Croatia and parts of Romania are also "made up countries" after all most of them were identifiable countries well before they were unwillingly incorporated into the unwieldy "made up" Austro Hungarian Empire, and long before the United States was "made up", I do apologise, formed. Incidentally, Germany, Norway, Belgium and Italy have all been "made up" in the last couple of centuries, largely to the general satisfaction of their people's. Now I do realise that we/they ( even my foggy Island off the coast of France) are effete Euro socialists, but, we do have certain "takeaways" from the last few hundred years, one of which is that " made up empires" rarely fare well, and should in general avoid picking fights with their smaller neighbours. A point which was ignored (or not recognised) by your mascara smeared Vice President and his dissolute piss head sidekick during their recent European lecture tour!

And if you had read my post, before you had started bellowing like some outraged mastadon (magadon?) you would have seen that I was neither commenting on inflation nor currency, rather remarking on the suggestion that the original poster is the "person who holds the records for the most lies, hate and invective on this Forum". As so often you have totally missed the point!