The risk is having a high frequency of partners and anal sex (passive or active) without condoms. That can very well be the case of an heterosexual male. A lucky one, by the way.
Ok so what hostilities have there been toward the UK, or to any NATO member - from Russia and China and these “Various other countries” that suggest we need to grow or military?
Nothing has happened in the baltics, and there is no specific threat, that can be attributed directly to Russia.
As for Taiwan, they are not a member of NATO and we (Britain) have no defence treaty with them. Perhaps because we do not officially recognise them as a state, and follow the One China policy.
Even if none of that were true, I am not convinced increasing the UK defence budget helps them very much.
I think this guy is a revisionist Tankie. Russia and China have a history of expansionism and conduct provocative military exercises near NATO and Southeast Asian country borders.
Best to ignore them and they can sit in the mud of downvotes for others to read and realize they are full of beans.
I am responding to a comment in support of the increase (in the British defence budget) , on the grounds the “the world is more hostile and we need to be prepared”
No one seems to be able to stand up that claim. You helpfully offered the Baltics and Taiwan, which we’ve addressed, and so I’m hoping that someone will show us something new, that demonstrates Britain does indeed need to be prepared to defend itself from increased hostilities.
It is quite important, because the newly elected Chancellor our the Exchequer has every day since taking office, been doing media to tell British people, “we haven’t got any money”
You're joking, right? Russia regularly threatens to nuke the UK, has done several misinformation campaigns in our political system, and even carried out an assassination using fucking chemical weapons on British soil. Sounds pretty hostile to me.
China has spoken at length about intending to take back Taiwan, an ally, and the west can't let that happen, it would be disastrous. They also had a violent crackdown on Hong Kong which the UK has a unique vested interest in for obvious reasons, state-sponsored Chinese hackers have on multiple occasions targeted UK institutions, including hospitals and the Ministry of Defence.
And yes, various other countries. What, you think nowhere is hostile? There's active battle against Houthis who are attacking merchant and military vessels right now, for example.
If you think countries don't need defensive capabilities, you are wrong. You'd think that would be plainly obvious right now, considering a country in Europe is being fucking invaded right now.
I’m not trying to be a prick here, but I am trying to introduce the idea that you might have relied only on News, to inform yourself about these situations.
For example, you’ve said “Russia regularly threatens to Nuke the UK” - so find a few examples and we’ll go over them together.
What we’re looking for, are words from the Russian government, statements, press conferences and such - primary sources and not from a newspaper (unless the newspaper quotes the source.) Its a very serious issue, so it should demand a high standard of proof, but to save time, we can exclude the ones that are threats of retaliation.
As an extension, look up Britains defence obligations towards Taiwan. You’ve said they are an “ally” to Brtiain but in fact Britain doesn’t even recognise them as an independent State .
Lmao you're acting like the press in Russia is free. It isn't. Nuke threats on state TV, large government-backed papers, government staff, and Putin-allied ex-presidents are government sanctioned.
What obligates the UK to defend its allies? Oh I dunno, promises made, morals, and the cold-hearted pragmatist view that losing Taiwan could be a complete disaster for the UK and the world in general. Semiconductors are kind of a big deal. There's this new invention called the microprocessor - they're pretty neat, and used practically everywhere!
I don't know why I'm bothering talking to a tankie. No matter what I say you'll never shift from your position that Russia/China good, west bad.
I can't say I'm especially pro-military, but I think it's worth noting that a simple budget increase like this is definitely going to be vastly more effective at strengthening our armed forces than what Rishi Sunak BASED HIS ENTIRE CAMPAIGN ON, which was mandatory service for young people.
Budget for good weapons, equipment and vehicles is way more important to a modern army than just having a lot of warm bodies to throw at a target- just look at Russia's atrocious waste of lives in Ukraine.
Imo this is the most dangerous part rn. War is bad and everyone can see that, but propaganda on a global scale is very opaque and those who are targeted will usually not know, as it employs various forms of subtlety.
I get the other parts but why is there a target for 75% adoption of cloud and AI? It feels like solutions looking for problems instead of the other way around.
Recognizing that those goals are simply wrong should be one of those "basic digital skills" they talk about. I mean use cloud services and AI if you really need them, but it should not be encouraged.
Sorry for my ignorance, but what would the Model T be here? And why does it make this rocket obsolete? I don't know much more about the subject than I see in the press.
That's fine, but is that so essential right now that it can be compared to going from a horse-drawn carriage to a car? I mean, do you think there won't be room for disposable launchers anymore?
One can argue about having a disposable second stage (like Falcon-9) vs. full re-usability (like the upcoming Starship), as the latter is not very efficient fuel wise. But not having a reusable first stage just makes it way too expensive to be able to compete in the currently market dominated by the Falcon-9.
Shit. I noticed too late that the English version is paywalled (the German translation isn't). :(
DeepL re-translation into English
After weeks of silence regarding revelations about the Fratelli d'Italia (FdI) youth group, which praised Mussolini and far-right terrorists, Senate President Ignazio La Russa condemned the acts. Pressure is mounting on Giorgia Meloni, who remains silent on the matter.
In a Facebook post, La Russa, President of the Senate and co-founder of the Fratelli d'Italia, strongly condemned all forms of racism and anti-Semitism, adding that the incidents were contrary to the party's values.
The Italian news agency Fanpage carried out investigative research into the youth wing of the Fratelli d'Italia (FdI) and published undercover footage showing the Roman salute, young people praising Mussolini and chanting fascist slogans.
La Russa's statement came after a leading representative of the Gioventù Nazionale (Nationalist Youth) made anti-Semitic remarks about the Fratelli d'Italia senator and former spokesperson for Rome's Jewish community, Ester Mieli, in front of a hidden camera in the second part of the report.
"My sincere and warm-hearted solidarity goes to the senator and friend Ester Mieli, who has been the victim of unacceptable statements by some members of the Gioventù Nazionale," he wrote.
FdI changes position within a few hours
On Wednesday, Giovanni Donzelli, the head of the FdI organization, also changed his tone.
In the afternoon, he initially declared that he did not believe "the one-sided research of the radical left-wing press". The attempt to portray the Fratelli d'Italia as an extremist and nostalgic movement was pathetic, Donzelli said.
But in the evening, after the publication of the second part of the investigation, there was a U-turn and disciplinary measures were even announced.
"We repeat: There is no place for racists, extremists and anti-Semites at Fratelli d'Italia. The statements heard in the videos published today, regardless of the way they were recorded and published, are unacceptable and incompatible with the values of our political movement [...] Fratelli d'Italia will act with great determination against those responsible".
Meloni and public broadcaster in the spotlight
In light of the second video, which shows homophobia, racism, nostalgia for Benito Mussolini, sympathy for Adolf Hitler and National Socialism within the FdI youth group, the opposition continues to demand a statement from Giorgia Meloni on the fan page investigation.
Many are also calling for the public broadcaster Rai to broadcast the investigation, as it has been reported on all channels and in all newspapers except Rai.
In response, several associations and parties organized a demonstration in front of the Rai headquarters in Turin on Wednesday evening to show solidarity with the editorial team of RaiNews24. The latter had recently complained about the public broadcaster's lack of coverage of the investigation.
"If we can't watch it on Rai, then we'll watch it on Rai," was the slogan of the initiative, which showed the second part of the investigation on a big screen.
Oh the usual: Youth orgs of parties being a little more radical than their parent parties. Fratelli is a right-wing, self described "post-Fascist" party that, when behind closed doors, is celebrating Mussolini. Interior politics have included taking away adoption rights from LGBTQ parents,rolling back trans rights, and re-organizing state broadcasters.
Unfortunately, since Meloni is pro-Ukrainian and apparently charming, a lot of conservatives all over Europe (and in fact Biden too) have acted is if everything is A-OK.
Honestly, I think going down to city level is a brilliant idea. In my experience local politicians are much more likely to work together to achieve such a goal.
Yeah, it also allows to test different things as different cities have different challenges. And local solutions also make sense. Like heating homes using the waste heat from other locations, mini grids etc.
@poVoq our socialists and liberals also defeated* the far-right in EU Elections, but they are just a bunch of corrupt entitled fuckers, holding some conservative views themselves as well. Hope this is not also the case with Portugal.
the far right literally has more than one party in the parliament, with more MEPs than in the previous legislature!!!
euractiv.com
Heiß