Most people have no more definite idea of liberty than that it consists in being compelled by law to do as they like – Ambrose Bierce
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Tuesday, 18 March 2025
A mere tool
Starmer piles pressure on Trump not to side with Putin over Ukraine ceasefire ahead of US-Russia phone call
Sir Keir Starmer has piled pressure on Donald Trump not to side with Vladimir Putin in a crunch phone call on a Ukraine ceasefire.
The Prime Minister spoke to the US president on Monday night, updating him on plans to deploy thousands of British, French and other troops to Ukraine as peacekeepers if Putin ends his war.
It matters little whether the enlistment is voluntary or extorted; the moment a man becomes a functionary and is enrolled in the hierarchy, he loses the best portion of his independence; once a dignitary and placed at the top of the hierarchy, he gives his entire individuality up, for henceforth he lives under the eye of the master, feels the daily and direct pressure of the terrible hand which grasps him, and he forcibly becomes a mere tool.
Hippolyte Taine - The Modern Regime (1893)
Starmer needs to keep a jar of Vaseline at his desk. He is going to need it; anytime he wants to challenge Trump.
ReplyDeleteBigJymn - Starmer may have some Vaseline left in his bumper value jar, if so he should be fine - for a while.
ReplyDeleteLiving in Portsmouth, I occasionally see a small elderly gunboat making its way in and out of the harbour. Starmer should send it to America, and shell New York. That should sort Trump out. force is the only thing he understands.
ReplyDeleteHahaha Sense when has a British built ship been able to cross the Atlantic; much less make it to NYC? The HMS TITANIC comes to mind.........
DeleteWhere is the idiot going to find thousands of squaddies? He couldn't find his own arse with both hands and a map.
ReplyDeleteSam - yes, the whiff of gunpowder and a few cannonballs will send him scurrying.
ReplyDeleteJannie - at least he know they were his own hands... presumably.
"...he lives under the eye of the master, feels the daily and direct pressure of the terrible hand which grasps him, and he forcibly becomes a mere tool. ..."
ReplyDeleteApart from the obvious Starmer/Tool jokes (beneath us, frankly), various Tolkien quotes spring to mind.
BigJymn - the captain did go down with the ship though, we could revive that tradition.
ReplyDeletePeter - yes they do, Starmer doesn't seem to be aware of the various forces he's tried to tangle with.
Don't think the Titanic was HMS.
ReplyDeleteIt was actually the RMS OLYMPIC; rebadged as the TITANIC. Talk about getting a name wrong. Who cares?
DeleteTammly - no it was RMS.
ReplyDeleteBigJymn - some years ago I watched a video about that, but can't remember how it went.
ReplyDelete