12gauge82

We were in a terrible state due to being in a war economy due to the conflict. We couldn't afford to feed our people and were on rations. The USA offered some financial assistance and a loan, while we paid in blood and became a shell of ourselves for world peace. The original point you made was Europe needs to stop relying on the USA and while I agree, some EU countries went 'neutral' while profiting from both sides, they are now some of the wealthiest gdp per capita in the world. The UK chose to do the right thing, despite the terrible consequences it knew it would face, for the benefit of everyone. Fast forwards to now and I and everyone I know is in agreement with Trump, that Europe needs to step up it's military. We should all be spending somewhere in the region of 5-7% gdp on military not 2.5%, or far less in the case of some other EU countries. I totally agree with this. He has impressed me and many others in recent times, he had a lot of support here. But yesterday was a step to far.

Trust me, the UK at the time felt the same, we were still in a terrible state from Ww1, a war that we probably rushed into too soon and the consequences was the UK probably left it too late to do something about Nazi Germany. But the point is, we stood up and were counted. The vast majority of the UK is positive to the USA, most of us here see you guys across the pond as our cousins who share our values of freedom, democracy and view of the world, we see our countries as deeply connected and we have followed and assisted the USA where we could, brave people like Welsh1 and others on here who took up arms to help you guys after the outrageous attacks on your country and it's people, we have no greater friends than the USA and feel more connected than the rest of Europe who are our direct neighbours. It's why we are upset to see a president that represents you all, apparently bully a desperate nation fighting for its survival. I hope Trump rows back from what he's said, I have a feeling it is his blunt attempts to solve a war in the same way he'd close a business deal. He's failed to remember this isn't money he's battering with, it's peoples lives and freedom.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-American_loan A more detailed overview.

Perhaps America should have thought about that before offering assurances for Ukraine if it gave up its nuclear weapons. I'm proud of the UK and our countries forefathers who gave their all and died for honouring our agreement with Poland despite the incredible damage it did to our country. It's sad to watch the USA turn away from that same challenge. 👏👏👏Respect 🙏

With respect, I think you should reconsider. There's something called empathy, something Trump and Vance clearly lack. It is of course up to the USA how much if any aid or assistance they decide to give. But to berate Zelensky for fighting for his country lives and peoples survival for asking for help, help they were promised for giving up their nuclear weapons was a disgrace I've never witnessed on the world stage. You talk of America always picking up the tab. I think you need to look at history. At the start of Ww2, the UK and it's empire went to war against Germany to prevent an evil regime spreading around the globe. Hitler had no intention of invading the UK and saw us as a potential allie. He knew he could never launch a successful invasion against us and yet we stood up and fought for world freedom anyway totally alone. The USA had no intentions of helping until they were attacked by the Japanese at pearl Harbour, they did sell us military equipment for which we paid a war debt that we only finished paying in 2006. The UK helped keep the world free, for no direct benefit to itself, lost its position as the most powerful country in the world (although the USA had obviously caught up), lost its empire, plunged us into debt and diminished our world standing, something we never recovered from. China is watching this and make no mistake they have their eyes on world domination. Just as the UK is a spent force, the USAs military might is projected to be overtaken by China in the not so distant future. A weakened west that is divided is a green light for China in the future. Ukraine is fighting for its own survival, but is by default also fighting for world stability. I posted earlier how much Trump impressed me recently, I hope he rows back from this recent event and offers Ukraine an apology.

Everyone has their faults, but the invasion itself is black and white. Last time I checked it was Russia that twice invaded Ukraine and not the other way around. 🤭

I can not understand your thought process, the death and destruction facing a clearly desperate zelensky and Ukrainians trying to fend off a far superior military force, only to receive further bullying from the supposedly leader of the free world.

Exactly this. I couldn't believe what I was watching. I'm disgusted at Trump and his team. Talking about money and thanking them when they're loosing hundreds of thousands of lives from a Russian invasion.

Do spaniels automatically want to chase sheep because they've been bred to flush pheasants? Mastiffs have been used in the past for fighting all the way back to ancient Rome and yet they are very rarely involved in attacks, generally because it's not idiots that own them. Ultimately all dogs are related to wolves and all dogs are capable of attacks although obviously some are phisicaly more capable and/or more drive to do so. The key however is who owns them. Hypothetically, give me a few weeks and I could turn a Lab aggressive (obviously I would never do that) or bring an XL bully up to be a friendly giant. When I work with dogs I don't see breeds, I see individual personalities to work with to get the best out of them depending on what I'm trying to achieve. You get out what you put in and unfortunately an idiot will create an unstable dog. You will never achieve banning dangerous dogs as any dog has the potential to be dangerous. It's people we need to look at.

I really don't believe it would help in the long run. I posed above of two other breeds currently in the process of being bred in the UK as status dogs. Give it a few years and we might well see them as the next 'problem' dogs. Ban them and it'll be a different breed. We're looking at the wrong end of the problem, the biggest issue is the people that own them.

Kind of like what would happen in America if they tried registering and banning firearms. They'd all go under the bed and end up god knows where.

I guess the same analogy could be used for firearms. Why do you need a centre fire for shooting paper targets. Why do you need a 300 win mag in the uk. Generally it's not the dog alone that's an issue, it's a combination of a bad owner and a powerful dog. Personally I have no interest in owning an XL bully, but I know I could handle one safely without issue. I work with and around some very special and powerful dogs that are trained to do some very specific tasks. If you gave me a choice between being attacked by an XL Bully and one of these trained dogs, I'd pick the XL Bully everytime and yet I can work around these dogs safely without issue. In short where does that suggest the issue lies, with the dogs themselves or the owners. Not at all, fighting dogs were bred to fight dogs, not people, guardian breeds like mastiff were bred to guard against people and yet you hear little issue with them, mostly because the Scrotes don't see them as status dogs.

Very true, or many other ways. While any injury or death caused by a dog, or as is often the case, an idiotic owner, is one too many. The hysteria around dog attacks is similar to the bad press firearms ownership gets. For the amount of dogs owned in the UK there are not that many issues.

To be honest it's really not something I'd worry about. The odds of being seriously attacked by a powerful dog is still relatively low. Your probably far more likely to be injured or killed on the road.

As much as I'm against restrictions on freedom as much as possible, I believe licensing dogs might be the way forwards.

And just like firearms licensing the ban is ineffective. The Scrotes are already onto other dogs. Two of which the Pakistani Bully Kutta and the Turkish Kangal.

I agree the leaders should be held to account. But there is also a responsibility on individual officers to ensure what they do is for a lawful policing purpose. It's not good enough to hide behind the excuse I was just following orders. On the extreme end I know, but many Nazis tried that after the war and many hung, for it.

I don't know enough about Tommy Robinson to make an assessment other than I know he's been involved in some appalling organisations, the BNP for instance. For that reason alone, I'm very glad Nigel Farage has distanced himself from TR and has made it very clear he wouldn't be welcome in Reform.

But what they're being told to do must also be lawful. Going to peoples homes and intimidating them for something that isn't a crime is neither lawful or upholding the values they swear when taking their attestation.

I disagree. While certainly not all police, many these days are fully indoctrinated into the cause and I'm sure will blindly follow orders regardless if it's the right or wrong thing to do. If I was a police officer and was sent out to harass a grandmother for something that wasn't even a crime I'd refuse.

The only way to change the system is to vote for a party that intends to make radical change to it. That's what's at the heart of Farage party and literally why they've called themselves reform. Your right. I'm sure every PM and party in power have had numerous whether uncovered or not. True or not. Does that not also apply to starmer and most of the rest before him. I don't think I've ever heard a less sincere person speak.

It's gone on since the dawn of time. Blair with his cronies in Brussels, Cameron and his off shore money, Starmer being given vast amounts of money by Lord Ali. I'd trust Farage over any of the political class any day.

It was unfortunately too late for Poland and beyond our capability to do anything for them at that stage, the important thing is that the UK stood up and was counted, God only knows what the world would look like now if we hadn't. I believe we made our own luck. Back to Ukraine, I'm glad they stood up and have fought like hell, with a huge amount of help in weapons and money. I honestly didn't think they would last a week in the beginning. The loss of life has been horrendous on both sides, but like with all bullies, if you don't make them pay, they will not stop.

I'm not sure that your statement is correct. While going to war in unfavourable circumstances is a long way from ideal, sometimes there's no choice, or sometimes it's the right thing to do. Should the UK have allowed Nazis Germany to invade Poland unanswered at the start of WW2, or stayed out entirely? Our odds were certainly not good then, the UK basically stood alone against the Nazis war machine.

Again I agree. Life certainly is far from fair and history is often written by the Victor!