@CanadianLori I don't think 'blackmailed' is too strong a term for what Trump is doing to Ukraine. Hand over rights to much of their mineral wealth or you will lose military hardware and we will switch off satellite access. Trump is in a 'win-win' situation. He has access to both the mineral wealth within Ukraine and seemingly will also have agreement with Putin to access to that in the occupied Ukrainian territory. He makes the US gangsters of the '30s seem like followers of Mother Teresa!
The love of money is the root of all evil. Who said that? Oh yes, that book which Turnip held upside down once for a photo shoot and which he apparently avoided touching while being sworn in as president for the second time, leaving it literally in the hands of his wife. And here… Once upon a time, politicians wrestled with the role of religion in politics - Roll Call
It does seem a bit nasty expecting someone to sit next to a dead body, it seems not enough thought was put in from the point they put the body in the seat regarding letting the other passenger to get out first.
Trumps wants repayment for the money they have put into Ukraine, if you saw him with the French president you could see that is the way he sees it. Rightly or wrongly, its cost us a lot of money as well, and will in the next 100 years thanks to Starmer and his big ambitions The alternative seems to be not to even talk to Putin and just carry on as usual when we all know it needs to end. If America gets a commercial stake in Ukraine then he is saying they are prepared to provide some security against another Russian invasion. I think as it stands we or America or Europe have no obligation to be even involved in this, Trump just needs a reason.
@CanadianLori, hasn’t US foreign policy always been about financial gain? Is there any conflict the US has engaged in, either overtly or covertly, that has been about anything else? What’s new here is the super-wealthy are so emboldened they don’t need to dress stuff up any more. They can come right out and say “We are thugs and you will do what we want, whether that be eating food that will make you obese whilst swelling our fortunes, taking drugs that are pointless (or actively harmful) but highly profitable, or just giving us stuff we demand with menaces”.
Taken from that point of view, it does seem a little less harsh sounding. Perhaps it is a good move. The U.S. is here and continuing war, will be then warring with the U.S. ? Certainly worth thinking about.
I sometimes find it strange that everyone is totally fed up with career politicians who sit on fences, mostly because they are out for looking good and dont want any bad press. The way that works is nothing ever gets done we fudge all big issues and just lurch from one financial disaster to the other, and then we try the other lot who are basically the same. When you get someone who actually wants to change things and make a difference then that is not right either. The world is not a nice place, fact. It never has been.
True, @pete, because whichever party is in, it is serving Big Wealth. On the Daily Politics this morning, they were banging on again about how we must all eat less meat, install a heat pump, drive an EV, etc. Never does anyone suggest that actually it is the wealthy who need to adjust. Private jets, luxury hotels, profligate use of scarce water, etc - not a word spoken about it. It’s like WW2 rationing. Barely impacted the wealthy at all, but everyone else was stuck with it for yrs.
One would assume most corpses would be placed in the hold rather than the body of the aircraft ? Perhaps they weren't sure she was actually dead and so parked her in a warmer spot with the hope that and the pressure within the aircraft would do the trick. Sounds a rather unlikely story .
She died while the plane was in flight. A bit tricky getting her into the hold…. Came out of the loo, collapsed, resuscitation was attempted, failed, and they couldn’t shift her from where she had fallen due to her girth and weight.
I can't be bothered commenting on the Trump debacle but as this is a Gardening forum, what do you make of Elon Musk waving a chainsaw about at some photo op recently ?? Wouldn't want to let him loose in my garden ( or anywhere else come to that ). America has lost the plot IMO.
I too think it was a matter of the fact that she was huge. The attendants are not supposed to be big strong first responders who can shift a tank! Certainly it emphasizes how important it is not to get too big. A coffin the size of a piano box and the process to be put in it is certainly not in any way dignified.
Perhaps the storyline may have been more factual and less sensational if it had read "woman dies during flight" . If she was so huge that the crew couldn't handle her, she shouldn't have been allowed on the plane in the first instance - in an emergency/crash or WHY, the same issue would apply.
