RoverAndOut

Worth pointing out, as superficial a piece of symbolism as it may be, that among those who have shared the phrase "No War" on Russian language Twitter was the artist who represented Russia in the 2021 Eurovision Song Contest, a Russian-Tajiki singer. There's been a lot of pushback from Russian representatives in the public eye. Tennis world number 7 Andrey Rublev (Russian) used his opportunity to write on the camera after his win in a tournament yesterday to write "No War Please". There's been over 200,000 posts containing the words "No War" on Russian language Twitter and the protests taking place in Russia, albeit small in scale, are significant in a country where protest usually leads to arrest. The Russian people are not behind this war and the longer it goes on, and the more of their husbands, sons and brothers start coming home in body bags, the more the pressure will mount on Putin.

Ok, so back in the real world, let's look at this logically. There's a lot of people saying Putin's lost his head, that the West couldn't imagine this outcome and nobody expected him to launch an all out invasion, and I confess that I also thought the idea was remote and it would be a huge step for him to even attempt to expand the borders of the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics to include all of the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk and not just the land currently held by the rebels. But if we think about this, it was somewhat inevitable that we would reach this point. Vladimir Putin is a former KGB agent. He has always pushed back on criticism of the Soviet Union and played up Russian Nationalism. He has won countless elections through vote irregularities and has circumvented the Russian Constitution which limited him to two terms by switching places with his Prime Minister for a term and then reassuming the Presidency. He has since ensured such restrictions do not apply to him and he can run again for a third and fourth term before needing a further rubber stamping by the state controlled Duma. Opposition at home is ruthlessly controlled and anyone who shows signs of building any sort of movement in opposition to Putin is swiftly dealt with, as we've seen with a succession of Putin critics and leaders of opposition parties. National borders are no protection from his wrath, as seen with Litvinenko and the Salisbury Nerve Gas attack. He is terrified about the democratisation of countries on his borders, has seen how the Baltic States and Poland have become part of the EU and is determined that no further democratisation (and therefore westernisation) will occur in the Russian sphere of influence. Ukraine has been a concern since the Orange Revolution in 2004 which split the country down the middle between pro-Ukraine and pro-Russian movements. Viktor Yanukovych, the Russian-backed candidate was viewed to have won the run-off election fraudulently and a re-run was ordered, which he lost. He then became Prime Minister and caused trouble for 6 years before being elected in an election deemed free and fair by international observers. His refusal to commit to closer links with the EU and the corruption of his government saw further protests and his removal from power in 2014, when he escaped to Russia and also mobilised pro-Russian sentiment in Eastern and Southern Ukraine, which Putin supported. He was allowed to send Russian troops to enter and, eventually, formally annex the Crimea without significant western opposition, and has supported the rebel movements in Donetsk and Luhansk. All the while, the west has continued to do business with Putin, integrated its energy network to have more and more reliance on Russian oil and gas, welcomed Russian oligarchs' money into the City of London and elsewhere and rewarded his actions with the Winter Olympics in 2014, the World Cup in 2018 and a Russian Grand Prix since 2014. So why now? There are certainly a lot of geopolitical considerations at work here. He will be looking at the US's retreat from the world stage and the chaos in its withdrawal from Afghanistan, and is undoubtedly feeling more secure with President Biden's predictable political decisions than the chaos of Trump's decision making. He knows Johnson is a clown and fighting for his future. Merkel has just left the political stage and the leaders of the EU have recently changed. China's relationship with the west is rapidly deteriorating, giving Putin an Asian axis to work with to provide mutual strength in the face of western pressure. I suspect the catalyst for his focus on his western borders came with the Belarus protests in 2020, which threatened to remove Lukashenko, the puppet leader of the country who has ruled with an iron fist, and the support of Moscow, since not long after the end of the Cold War. The fact that both Belarus and Ukraine have shown signs of increasing democratic will and a tilt from Russia to the West is unacceptable to him. Lukashenko has been shored up with brutal suppression of protesters and he has ramped up the rhetoric on Ukraine. He has piled in troops, listened to all the warnings and the visitors from abroad and then done what it appears was his plan all along: to invade Ukraine under whatever pretences he likes, remove the government, reimpose it as a satellite state of the "Russian Federation and call it peacekeeping. The ramifications of this will be wide-ranging, but for all the talk, I'm not sure what else the west can do. Sanctions will seemingly either make little impact or take a while for the effects to be felt. Boots on the ground are not an option and the idea of Russia and NATO in open conflict in Europe is a frightening step. Perhaps he is feeling time is short, perhaps he has designs on the Baltic states and Poland, but I think he simply sees Ukraine as a battle he can win and a warning to the West that he is not messing around and Russia is to be respected as a global power once more. It's a sorry situation all round, and absolutely tragic for the people of Ukraine.

Ignoring all the other questions that have been asked about his relevance/importance/fame, how about something more useful: is he ill? Or is he just a healthy 84-year-old man with a load of money and - apparently - the entirety of the world's resources at his disposal?

Really? Only 2?! Thought it was more than that. Well, it will be soon enough...

It never ceases to amaze me how many hits we can still achieve in this when 4 or 5 people are only waiting for one to finish the game.

Problem is, when you've been shown to have lied time and time again, who's going to believe you when you are actually telling the truth? And that, at the heart of it, is the problem.

Another really sad one that feels like the end of an era. The last real link to that golden age of comedy: Hancock, Morecambe and Wise, the Two Ronnie's. At his age, it can never be classed as a shock but I agree he felt like someone who had potentially another decade plus in him. Recent picture on Gyles Brandreth's tweet on the BBC article and he looks fine really. RIP, Barry.

The issue with the police investigation isn't so much the idea they'll find these parties broke the regulations, if they did there'll be Fixed Penalty Notices - it was fines, not prison for breaking Covid rules. Where they could get in more trouble is if there's proof they've tried to cover up the truth or destroy evidence. That becomes Perverting the Course of Justice and is definitely a potential prison offence. It was what did for Chris Huhne and his speeding fine. On another note, proof he lied in Parliament would break the Ministerial Code and require his resignation (but since nothing else seems to matter, I'm not sure why breaking the Ministerial Code would change his mind). I wouldn't be so sure just yet. I know it feels like the threshold would've been crossed by now if it was going to be but that may not be the case. The whispers are lots of backbenchers are reserving judgement until the Sue Gray report, while others are apparently just waiting for the formality of the report being published (regardless of its contents) to submit their letters. The Met's investigation and the possibility Johnson has officially broken the Ministerial Code would also, conventionally speaking, make his position untenable. But this is Boris Johnson. Who knows what the brazen charlatan will choose to do.

Well, I'm sure it will be a comfort to Her Majesty when the nuke kills her before her Stage IV cancer does...

Pa Larkin Blanco

I also agree with moving on, my post was already on its way before I saw Ulitzer's last night. Just to say, there's no evidence that exposure to Covid-19 means lifelong immunity, which is why the jabs and the booster have been important. Anyway, RIP Mr Loaf. A one-of-a-kind performer and a fairly big death, in every sense. My mum was particularly sad yesterday.

UK figures: 2021 peak: Cases: January 6th - 62,322 Hospitalisations: January 12th - 4,583 Deaths: January 23rd - 1,348 2022 peak: Cases: January 5th - 193,814 Hospitalisations: December 28th - 2,291 Deaths: January 18th - 438 3 times the cases. Half the hospitalisations. A third the deaths. That didn't happen by accident. If the Omicron variant had been the first wave of Covid-19, it would have spread further and faster and there would have been even more deaths than there have been. The vaccine protects against severe disease (in most cases), reducing deaths and improving outcomes. By all means, you do you, but I'll never understand why people spend so much time telling scientists - who've spent their life's works researching these subjects and preparing for these challenges - that they don't know what they're talking about.

Spiceworld, right?

Yes, but not the ones you're talking about. Practice what you preach and lead by example. Boris said in the House of Commons he takes full responsibility for what goes on in his government. On that measure alone, he should resign.

Could easily go in the Ironic Deaths thread, but since this seems to have become the place for Covidiots, Czech folk singer Hana Horka, 57, has died after purposely catching Covid from her husband and son who caught it over Christmas. While husband and son were vaccinated, Hana was not, and hoped to take advantage of the "recent infection" pass in the Czech restrictions (aka "the Djokovic loophole") to allow her to live a less restricted life. The virus had other plans, and she died on Sunday, two days after posting on social media that she was recovering... https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-60050996

A nobody from a Red Wall seat. The Tories will paint him as opportunist, "never a real Conservative" (see Heidi Allen and Anna Soubry) and I'll be interested to see how voters in Bury South react. I don't think this defection will scare rank-and-file Tory MPs into submitting letters or tempt Boris into doing the "honourable thing". But it might not matter if the mass letters rumours are true.

Gone according to the Beeb, which is a bit stupid at this moment as now his letter counts for diddly squat. It's one more the plotters need.

I'm not sure all that anti-God stuff will go down well with the Tory members...

I just can't see past the Tories choosing Liz "Cracking cheese Gromit!' Truss to replace him. I think Sunak is too ambitious for Tory tastes and his gloss has been lost with the impending cost of living crisis. The wildcard is Priti Patel, who policy-wise is right up the streets of many Tory members but has proved herself incompetent as International Development Secretary, then (having inexplicably been promoted) as Home Secretary. The thought of her as PM is chilling. I don't think anyone else has the necessary cut through with the public to provide the 'change of narrative' bump the Tories will be looking for.

Mercilessly mocked by Rovers fans during the dark days, his death has actually been met with some sadness round these parts. He was seen as the one who ended the first "basket case" phase of the Venkys ownership (played a big part in Steve Kean's belated removal) though it took a few more years and another relegation before our recovery could really begin. Probably doesn't hurt the reappraisal that he's died at just 61, no age really. The Lancashire Telegraph reports he's believed to have suffered a heart attack while out cycling.

My first topic! Was watching this the other day and I'm slightly surprised this hasn't already got a thread as it's 20 years old now and the cast weren't exactly spring chickens when it started. Despite this, of the main cast we've impressively only lost Roger Lloyd-Pack, but most of the rest are primed to go in the next few years. Anyway, I had a search and turned very little up but if someone knows something I don't then feel free to move this. In order of age (or death) the main cast is as follows: Roger Lloyd-Pack (Owen Newitt) - b. February 1944, d. January 2014 Liz Smith (Letitia Cropley) - b. December 1921, d. December 2016 John Bluthal (Frank Pickle) - b. March 1929, d. November 2018 Trevor Peacock (Jim Trott) - b. May 1931, d. March 2021 Gary Waldhorn (David Horton) - b. July 1943 (aged 77) James Fleet (Hugo Horton) - b. March 1954 (aged 68) Dawn French (Geraldine Granger) - b. October 1957 (aged 62) Emma Chambers (Alice Horton nee Tinker) - March 1964, d. February 2018 John Bluthal randomly turned up in the latest Coen Brothers film Hail, Caesar! last month, seemed in fine fettle there, but otherwise I have very little recent information about any of them. James Fleet was in Mr Turner last year playing Constable but it was a small part. Nice range of ages, should keep us interested for a fair while yet and the first three will surely go within the decade. Thoughts? EDIT: Updated March 2021

Mad to think there are 7 Best Actress winners from pre-1971 still alive, when all the men are dead. And every 70s Best Actress winner is still going, compared to just half the men.

Bloody hell, does the Dibley Massacre know no (no no no no) end? Thought we'd probably have a few years respite after Trevor died, but no! Still a cracking watch whenever it's on.

One of those rare occasions where the youngest member is the last one standing.