"we are waiting for the US to set out the legal basis for this action" or something like that would be her response

A gorgeous golden buttermilk pie cooling on a wire rack, just a hint of a dark brown on the right hand side where the filling had slightly overflowed onto the pastry so caught more

Been playing around with buttermilk pie recipes, this time a brown butter and honey version... Just waiting for it to cool down before trying it

My French is limited so all I get is "Meeting with the Pope: Macron at the Vatican making friends with the (papal) hat"

I can guess that the "Mitre" is a (common?) way to refer to the Pope but alas the subtlety is lost...

Personally, I'd be a lot harsher than £200k as the cap, that's still an amount that buys attention and promises. I'd go to £10k and completely ban companies from donating. Only state funding of election campaigns at party and candidate level (Inc social media). Audited with severe penalties

Surely all Catholics in the American government must side with the Pope? Or do they believe only in PayPal infallibility?

The markets fall for it every time, and the papers announce a "ceasefire" as if he won't start bombing on a whim

I was about to reply asking the same thing, surely the controversial ones that have been investigated had doubts about their legality but that's where investigation and due process can provide clarity

When you get to writing songs, poems, and stories then your journey towards the Bard Side will be complete

My issue with being a Bard is that I can easily talk too much, draw attention, giving less room for the others to roleplay

Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next series has the "Commonsense party", believing in "reckless responsibility, unity, fairness etc" and the "Prevailing Wind party" who believe in the "safer ground of uniformed stupidity"

But this is set in an almost identical but parallel universe where an auto-balancing eppendorf has been around for a long enough that no one worries about balancing anymore... Perhaps?

The same "clever analysis" happens on everything he does, giving Trump legitimacy. If they admit it about Iran they are exposing themselves on everything else. If we compare how the media treated Biden then we could conclude that a lot of this "clever analysis" is deliberate and complicit

Every candidate gets funding for their campaign.

Parties get funding for a national campaign if the number of candidates is above a threshold.

The state sets the budget, the money is paid by the state to the vendors never goes through party hands

Oh, and make it a requirement that all donations are auditable, that means that they have to be traceable to an individual

Proper enforcement, including prison sentences, for breaking these laws

Look at state funding of election materials/marketing to each party to ensure you can't outspend opponents
- leaflets
- for parties fielding enough candidates, political broadcasts
- manifesto printing
- candidate and national party social media advertising

Tighter rules on news & 3rd party spend

That's way too high for any political donation. My view:

- Ban corporate donations
- Individuals limited to £10k per year for all donations to political parties/candidates
- If you live abroad, sorry, you have opted out of political donations
- Citizens or people with ILR can donate

So you could say that her policies on her actual brief are nandyscript?

You mean it wasn't just for "conic relief"?

It depends on how it is made and the beans used. At home with freshly ground Rwandan beans, drip filter coffee set, water at ~90C, then I get something so delicious it would be a crime to add anything.

Most other places, I default to a latte (don't add sugar though)

Are you sure it isn't a ruse to get it back to port so they can flush the sanitation system with acid to get the toilets back in working order?

Two succulent pan roasted chicken thighs with crispy skin on top of a pile of spaghetti mixed with roasted and mashed courgette slices slightly covered in a sauce made from black pepper and cheese on a white plate

This is what I'm calling Cacio e Pepe alla Nerano con Pollo...

Sorry Italians for smashing together two of your traditional dishes

It was tasty though

It's time for a radical rethink of parry financing

Independently audited, proper enforcement (including prison sentences). All donations public and traceable to an individual. No corporate donations.

Individuals have an annual political donation limit of say £10k.

Only UK residents

And more...

But for that expense they get:

Constantly being told you don't contribute, that you're doing incalculable damage to the country, that you don't properly integrate, and your rights constantly debated by mainstream media and politicians

Who wouldn't want that life?

Having a nostalgic night... Brassed Off and Pride.

I heard that's the reality of war aboard the USS Gerald R Ford

And it is the job of people at the Think Tanks to be available at the drop of a hat to push their distorted political views. Actual experts are probably busy doing work and less available

It probably says a lot about where he sees himself. Does he feel in a dominant position over the allied leaders and an equal, if not subservient, position with Putin?

It would wreck party finances so we might have to consider transitional & long term central funding

A political party should be a specific legal entity, not a company, independently audited, membership controlled

Of course, we need also better regulation of the media and voting reform

We could change the law. Only citizens can donate to a party/politician, ban corporate donors, annual limit per person

Only allow donations to one party annually & to one candidate per election.

If you declare yourself non-dom you lose the right to donate

All donations traceable

Honestly, this is something you choose to grumble about? It's barely worth mentioning

I've been arguing this, maintenance needs to happen - imagine the stories if it had systems failures in the gulf - but the bigger issue is whether we have diminished our military capacity to a point where we can't get an appropriate response to world events in a timely manner