definitelynotanagent

Maybe the Russians have resorted to setting fire to it all? Scorched earth?

Thank you @PrincessNutNut tbh that was less than I thought (maybe that’s just because I’ve become accustomed to telephone-number-prices) but sort of explains why they can’t drop the prices too much, and why it’s better for them to add extras for free

I would love to know how much actual profit there is per unit. At some point the cost of land, materials and labour must exceed the point where it’s no longer worth building (then again, that would lead to a rebalancing of costs too I guess).

maybe it was too difficult to hold now that the Ukrainians have reasonable anti-ship missiles, and their S400 and Pantsir air defence was a bit "pants".

"goodwill gesture" indeed

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-europe-61987663?ns_mchannel=social&ns_source=twitter&ns_campaign=bbc_live&ns_linkname=62bd6412b893776ef334276c%26Ukraine confirms Russian withdrawal from Snake Island%262022-06-30T08%3A53%3A59.152Z&ns_fee=0&pinned_post_locator=urn:asset:e2c0f38d-0994-4d58-993f-9db65bba1260&pinned_post_asset_id=62bd6412b893776ef334276c&pinned_post_type=share BREAKINGUkraine confirms Russian withdrawal from Snake Island Ukrainian officials have also confirmed that Russian forces have withdrawn from Snake Island, a strategic outpost in the Black Sea. The head of President Zelensky's office, Andriy Yermak, said: "KABOOM! No Russian troops on the Snake Island anymore. "Our armed forces did a great job," he wrote on Twitter. BREAKINGRussia withdraws troops from Snake Island The Russian Defence Ministry says it has withdrawn its forces from Snake Island, which became a focus of attention in the first few days of the war when a small group of Ukrainian soldiers defending the island were heard in audio recordings telling a Russian warship to "go to hell". "As a goodwill gesture, Russian troops have today completed the performance of tasks on Snake Island and withdrawn the garrison stationed there," the ministry said.

Hmm, we sent one kid to indy for primary from year one (about the same fees + 3k on uniforms, music lessons etc etc etc) on a single 85k salary to begin with (1100pcm mortgage). It was tight, but it can definitely be done. At least in my experience indy is much less keepy-uppy than state. I think the parents in our school ranged from children of staff (50% fee reduction), "struggling" professionals (like myself), to the dual professional incomes to very well off people. Nobody really seems to care about what the family income is, though, where-as in state it was all about showing off about how much money you could spend on stupid sh*t.

It’s interesting, isn’t it, that we have all these trolls on here “debating”, when it’s obvious to anyone that they’re pushing an agenda. @trolls, the game is up, we see through your BS.

Jeremy Hunt seems like a grown up with some gravitas IMO

So if Boris goes, and we get eg Jeremy Hunt, what does that mean for the UK support for Ukraine?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-61685383 Makes it sound like he met African leaders recently, though, and with photo

Tbh I can relate to this. 600k is a huge amount of taxed money, and 300k will be before tax, and they have school fees (at least 1500 per month for 9 months of the year). If one of them lost their job, then that’s maybe 200k loss of earnings in one swoop (unlikely to be earning the same as each other just because that’s the way the world is at the moment), which could mean a drop to 6-7k net a month, and then finding another job that pays 200k isn’t always so easy, especially in a recession. In the meantime you are eating into your savings that you need for other things. I’d also feel nervous at that kind of debt.

But was it the West pushing eastward, or was it Ukraine pushing westward? I think the Ukrainian people basically wanted to enjoy the same freedoms as we do here in the West, with improving living standards and life-options, and the crazies in the Kremlin couldn't tolerate that (+ the Putin-legacy bit...), hence invaded and started all this mess. +1 on the sadness of casualties and need for avoiding them.

In this conflict, there is only one country relentlessly bombing both military and civilian targets in another country, and it isn't Ukraine. The blame for all the dead people, injured people and general misery is squarely at Putin's and Russia's feet, not Ukraine's or the West's.

No, you're absolutely right. Clearly the right choice would have been to roll over and lose all freedoms that the population enjoy. Total capitulation is the only way to deal with a bully such as Putin.