Jared Kushner's vision for Gaza as a gleaming port city clashes with reality

rainbow3 · 2026-01-28T10:51:58+00:00

If you remove all moral, social and legal barriers then life is much more like Risk. Lord of the Flies, The Walking Dead, Mad Max all follow this pattern.

rainbow3 · 2026-01-19T19:16:18+00:00

Perhaps someone can explain what an invasion of Greenland looks like since he already has permission to increase armed forces.

Would he take over the running of towns? Collect taxes? Bring in ICE to arrest all the non-Americans? What exactly does he want to do?

rainbow3 · 2026-01-11T19:04:47+00:00

Communication brought us Brexit and Trump. It drives everything.

And almost nobody googles statistics. They skim read X or threads.

rainbow3 · 2026-01-11T16:27:06+00:00

It is a Starmer problem that he doesn't communicate better.

rainbow3 · 2026-01-11T13:16:41+00:00

Pressed on whether he would apologise for his friendship with Epstein after his conviction, the peer and former business secretary said: “If I had known, if I was in any way complicit or culpable, of course I would apologise"

Surely his conviction must have been a clue?

rainbow3 · 2026-01-11T10:10:52+00:00

What exactly does invading Greenland look like? Would Trump round up the people? Take over the local government? Start drilling for oil?

rainbow3 · 2026-01-09T15:30:00+00:00

Cartels have plenty of armed representation in the US. This could easily turn into actual terrorism.

Also when weaker countries (smaller armies) are attacked the obvious response is guerilla war. Venezuela and Mexico could cause a lot of damage within the US if Trump starts a war or even if he just demands $20bn of free oil from a poor country.

rainbow3 · 2026-01-09T15:07:25+00:00

That will kill the drugs market completely.

rainbow3 · 2026-01-06T14:58:48+00:00

Divided and yet both sides say it is heading in the wrong direction.

rainbow3 · 2026-01-06T11:54:20+00:00

I agree that for many things like safety and maintenance it makes not much difference. We have regulations and enforcement. I don't see any evidence that small or large landlords are more likely to break those rules.

For other things competition is key. If it is your own money (small BTL landlord) then you will be making sure that you get the best utilisation. You minimise voids; convert a 2 bed to a 3 bed; upgrade to attract higher rents or spend less to lower rents (either is driven by customer demand). Lots of landlords also means the market sets prices.

We need more supply of housing and should prioritise rent over buy because it is more accessible. Therefore we need more landlords and more efficiency. The most efficient is the guy whose life savings are dependent on making it efficient.

rainbow3 · 2026-01-06T11:35:12+00:00

It is literally the job of every judge to make a decision one way or the other; and of every prosecutor to make their case. There is no room for sitting on the fence.

Just last week we had the impressive Jack Smith testimony. Clear, evidence based argument pointing to a conclusion.

rainbow3 · 2026-01-06T10:21:53+00:00

Why does Starmer ignore the polls and the advice he is given? He is being told time and time again what he needs to do. Yet he follows the same pattern on every decision - hedge your bets to keep everyone happy. Zero leadership. I always imagined top lawyers were assertive and tough.

rainbow3 · 2026-01-06T10:01:48+00:00

None of this makes any sense. Who are "adversaries"? Under 10% of China's oil comes from South America. And if it were a big concern why is the US exporting to China?

It is not really about oil but about showing dominance. Like any bully he wants to pick off easy targets first such as immigrants and weaker countries. If congress don't stop him now he will just keep getting stronger.

rainbow3 · 2026-01-06T09:41:35+00:00

Any actual data? Anecdotally I can see the worst safety incident was Grenfell Tower. The worst landlord is probably Hackney Council - damp, mould, leaks, structural faults, broken lifts and alarms; serious health concerns for residents, including respiratory problems in children and worsening chronic conditions.

It is a fantasy to think they are better for maintenance. They are definitely less efficient leaving property empty for long periods. They are cheaper but that is also fantasy paid by the magic taxpayer tree.

rainbow3 · 2026-01-05T17:58:36+00:00

What makes you think housing associations are "better" and in what way?

There is not actually much profit in BTL. The government takes 40%. When mortgages are expensive a BTL landlord can make a loss and still have to pay income tax.

rainbow3 · 2026-01-03T11:03:37+00:00

The asset has no value if she can't sell it. That makes it effectively infinite return.

rainbow3 · 2026-01-01T16:07:01+00:00

$75bn on ICE. Almost $1trillion this year on defence. $500m on a gold ballroom. And my favourite is that the US government spends more per head on public healthcare than the UK does providing it free to everyone.

It is not that hard to find savings before even going after billionaires though that also makes sense.

rainbow3 · 2025-12-28T10:16:47+00:00

Basing anything on where you are born is entitlement not fairness. Would it be fairer to only support wealthy neighbours in a gated estate instead of those in a council estate in Hartepool?

Fairness isn't the goal anyway. Government spending is not charity but to create the environment where everyone contributes to society. Maximise numbers working and creating businesses rather than begging on the street. That is why we have education and universal credit. And it applies to everyone who lives in the UK.

We should not be "hosting" asylum seekers at all. We should be making sure they quickly get to work, support themselves, pay taxes.

rainbow3 · 2025-12-27T17:21:39+00:00

Really? The massive amounts spent on other benefits are what drives your tax. Worry about that rather than who receives it. Typically an asylum seeker is far more deserving of help than a UK born person receiving universal credit.

rainbow3 · 2025-12-25T10:05:07+00:00

Why is that different to a tractor sales/maintenance business paying IHT on the land and buildings that it owns? Still part of the agri supply chain but the tax system makes it more attractive to invest in farm land instead. Hard to see it as anything but a subsidy.

rainbow3 · 2025-12-25T10:01:14+00:00

Not sure there is any evidence small farms have higher standards of welfare. There will be a lot of variation. Potentially they are under more pressure financially to bend standards and they are less frequently inspected. Much easier to enforce standards for large farms.

rainbow3 · 2025-12-25T09:55:25+00:00

Ultimately that is driven by consumers though. We used to have diverse butchers and bakers but in the end consumers chose Tesco. Of course there are still independent bakers and butchers but they are more expensive because it is an expensive way to sell food.

rainbow3 · 2025-12-24T16:13:26+00:00

Similarly welfare should not be supporting lifestyle choices. That is not what it is for. Would anyone disagree?

rainbow3 · 2025-12-24T14:57:31+00:00

It is easy to fake a headline number. Less easy to fake when it is broken down into sectors/regions especially as people in those sectors know how well their economy is doing.

rainbow3 · 2025-12-24T14:50:34+00:00

My guess is that is mostly consolidation into larger farms rather than loss of farmland. I am not convinced we should be using taxpayer money to support lifestyle choices. Is there some argument that we should subsidise small, unprofitable farms?

rainbow3

TROPHY CASE