A Political Thread pt. 2

[ncurd]

Sounding like the Queen was just holding on so Johnson didn't speak at her funeral.

Queen under medical supervision at Balmoral

Prince Charles is there with his son Prince William and other senior royals.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Bada-Bing!]

Sounding like the Queen was just holding on so Johnson didn't speak at her funeral.

Queen under medical supervision at Balmoral

Prince Charles is there with his son Prince William and other senior royals.

www.bbc.co.uk

Yeh not a fan of the royal family, but sounds like she is near the end. Momentous moment in British culture and history seeing how long she has been sovereign.

 

[ncurd]

Yeh not a fan of the royal family, but sounds like she is near the end. Momentous moment in British culture and history seeing how long she has been sovereign.

Yeah I'm finding myself strangely moved by the news despite being essentially a republican. William and Charles both heading to Balmoral and it sound like both Truss and Starmer have had serious notes passed to them in the commons.

If she hasn't already passed the chess pieces are certainly moving and they wouldn't be doing this so publicly if it wasn't preparing us.

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

What is the energy price cap and how much are gas and electricity bills going up?

Typical gas and electricity prices are rising by 10% in England, Scotland and Wales on 1 October.

www.bbc.co.uk

So bills capped, but the British people will pay for it later either in increased taxes or cuts to services to lower debt.
It's also blanket for all so the wealthy benefit just as much as the poor.
There is also no new support for those on lower incomes as far as I can see, so those already struggling or those who will need to use more electricity such as pensioners will be worse off.

Yay!

Plus it now establishes the precedent that private utilities can rip off the British public, create a crisis and the government will protect their profits over protecting the people. The energy companies will still be making the same obscene amount and the British people will still foot the bill, it's just been kicked down the road. Yet again the country being sold out in favour of private profits.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Will we get a bank holiday?

 

[ncurd]

Will we get a bank holiday?

National Day of Mourning.....yes, real question is how many and when.

 

[Bada-Bing!]

More like rest of the year mourning if media have anything to do with it.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

National Day of Mourning.....yes, real question is how many and when.

Just googled and we don't get a bank holiday!

A committal service would be held at St George's Chapel before the burial. As agreed by the Queen and the prime minister, the day of the funeral will be declared a day of national mourning, although a bank holiday will not be granted.

 

[Gavin]

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

Kinda tasteless.

 

[ncurd]

BBC suspended all regular programming to 6pm

 

[TRF_Olyy]

BBC suspended all regular programming to 6pm

This better not impact Celebrity Masterchef at 8

 

[Which Tyler]

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

A slightly over enthusiastic take on recapturing what is essentially a bunch of fields, but it is undeniably positive for Ukraine and the strategy of knocking out bridges in the northeast Kharkiv region will hopefully slow down a Russian response to this offensive and allow Ukraine to reclaim more.

Ukrainian general says huge gains made in lightning counteroffensive

Ukraine has recaptured more than 700 sq km (270 sq miles) of its territory in the east and south during a lightning counteroffensive, a Ukrainian general said on Thursday, offering the first official assessment of the operation.

www.reuters.com

The main prize is that Ukraine is on the cusp of retaking a town of around 25k people (and might have already done so). If they could take the city if Izyum (the next main place eastwards in Kharkiv) back in the next few weeks, i think that would be very significant. Russia fought hard for weeks if not months to gain control of that city whereas most of the places Russia has withdrawn from or lost so far they haven't seemed to be particularly invested in and they mainly captured during the chaos of that first fortnight or so of the war. Actions this month could still go anywhere between abject failure and glorious liberation it seems, but it does seem confidence is growing that Ukraine will continue to gain more territory than they lose.

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

More like rest of the year mourning if media have anything to do with it.

Its the way it is all cynically laid out in advance to maximum PR gain for the Royals, big up King Charles and manufacture a sense of loss in people by shutting down coverage of alternative news and/or entertainment. With a state broadcaster like the BBC this is to be expected. The awful OTT coverage around Phil Andreou was just a foretaste of what is to come with Liz Sax-Coburg-Gotha.

For those wanting an itinerary of the disruption to normal life (luckily no global or domestic issues needing the urgent attention of parliament).

What will happen when Queen dies - 10 day plan for United Kingdom

Operation Unicorn is a finely detailed plan that has everything in place from the very moment the Queen passes away.

www.dailyrecord.co.uk

Reports it'll be 11 solid days before a return to even a semblance of normal media coverage in the UK.

I've already offered to work any day off that is offered/imposed. I'm not a hypocrite, so they can ram it as far as I'm concerned.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Shutting down parliament for 10 days is jokes,
I know they do **** all most of the time anyway but we're barrelling into a real crisis that will affect real people - performative mourning for a week and a half (and then the first day back everyone taking turns to say how sad they are) shouldn't take precedence over trying to actually run the country

I've already offered to work any day off that is offered/imposed. I'm not a hypocrite, so they can ram it as far as I'm concerned.

I don't go that far
Any bank holiday they want to chuck our way I will happily take - though I won't be weeping next to my collection of commemorative royals plates or anything

 

[Which Tyler]

If they could take the city if Izyum (the next main place eastwards in Kharkiv) back in the next few weeks, i think that would be very significant.

Izyum would be a statement; but I think they're aiming for Kup'yans'k - which would be huge (seems to be the train hub for most of Eastern Ukraine - and we know how much the Russians are relying on the train lines!

Not that I'm a military expert, by any stretch of the imagination; it just seems to be the big prize in the area, and from what I can tell (very little) exactly on the path the Ukrainians are taking.

and

and

operationa_map_ukraine

Operational Map Ukraine

www.scribblemaps.com

and

Interactive Map: Russia's Invasion of Ukraine

This interactive map complements the static control-of-terrain maps that ISW daily produces with high-fidelity.

storymaps.arcgis.com

The first 2, obviously posted yesterday (morning, no less), the 3rd a little more recently, whilst the 4th is pretty conservative in not updating things until confirmed

 

[Which Tyler]

Fairly generous helping of salt, but...
If Ukraine forces have reach Senkove, then they're up to the bank of the Oskil (and a major bridge), about 15 miles S of Kupyansk.
From the maps, that means they've cut Izyum off to the North - by train or (halfway decent) road

Further "reports" that they've reached Starovirivka - 10 miles West of Kupyansk.

Hopefully these are full on, supported maneuvoures, not sneeking in, taking a pic, and buggering off again; or civi.s in cosplay (ETA: scratch that, it's Russians "reporting" it on Telegram.

 

[McTallshort]

Fairly generous helping of salt, but...
If Ukraine forces have reach Senkove, then they're up to the bank of the Oskil, about 15 miles S of Kupyansk

Impressive that they are carrying out several counter attacks now. Seems they have taken the initiative off the Russians. Fingers crossed

 

[Which Tyler]

Impressive that they are carrying out several counter attacks now. Seems they have taken the initiative off the Russians. Fingers crossed

It looks like maybe, just maybe, sucking all of your best troops out of Kharkiv area, to put them into a pseudo-seige in Kherson might have left Kharkiv vulnerable.

Presumably, once through the first line of defence, there wasn't a huge amount left there for Russia - it was never really frontline territory in the other direction to be fortified and/or mined. So the Ukrainians could just.. keep on going, and rely on not outrunning their own logistics (can't believe they'd do so, given the war so far).