A wilding

The Russians are well known for doing dangerous violent aggressive stuff that makes little sense. It is designed to intimidate people, make them think that the Russians are capable of anything and must be placated.

You may not have heard, but Truss sacked the most senior treasury civil servant a couple of weeks ago in a widely condemned move. While complaining about "treasury orthodoxy". So I would tend towards thinking that she and Kwarteng got good advice from treasury officials but that they really did not want to listen to it https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-62869880.

At the risk of being Godwined this sounds distinctly reminiscent of German military strategy in the second half of WW2. Ironic really. A case of convergent behaviour of desperate dictators I suppose. Edit: this was in response to

Duplicate post (bloody edit function)

I have started, so I will continue for a bit ... Sorry, but your mother, in your words, "went on a rampage, smashing everything in sight for more than an hour, threatening to kill the cat when it came looking what was going on and kept threatening to destroy everything I own when at school and unable to stop her". And she kept up this behaviour until you had apologised and promised to do what she wanted. Even taking into account that this was your version of events, that is unquestionably abusive, however much she felt that you had insulted her. Probably hypochondria then. But listen to her claiming credit for "not complaining" while saying that you must stay with her until she dies because of this vague unspecified illness that she refuses to see a doctor about. Of course she has her self justifications, and of course she wants to sell those self justifications to you as well. But read what you have said! She denies that she's trying to talk you out of your ideas when clearly she is trying to talk (and rage and guilt) you out of them, and explicitly insisting that you must stay with her whatever your ideas are. Of course mothers worry endlessly about their offspring, but only dysfunctional ones try to keep them tied to their apron strings instead of letting them make their own mistakes and learn to fly by themselves. And her labelling your wish to do your own thing as "selfish" gives the lie to her claim to only be wanting what is best for you. As for her being "aghast that you are not more thankful" for all she has done for you - I can only give you my stance on that. Which is that we don't ask to be born and so are not in debt to our parents for birthing us and (hopefully) bringing us up. What debt we incur is one to be paid forward to our own children. We owe our parents honour, as the biblical commandment has it, and we should support them in their old age where possible and necessary, but once we get to adulthood we do not owe them obedience and we have the right to chose our own path.

You do realise that that is outright abusive behaviour on her part? I imagine that you know that her "illness" is hypochondria at best and completely fictitious at worst, and that she is using it as a weapon to control you. The bit about not wanting to see a doctor is telling. You are absolutely not being selfish. Getting some distance between you is the obvious sensible thing to do. What is more, it will probably be good for her too - without you there she will be forced to work out some sort of life for herself that does not revolve round her dysfunctional relationship with you. Good luck with your application. (Bad practice to give online advice I know, but your situation is just so clear I can't resist.)

Easy to say, but what symbol would get chosen? All too likely we would end up with a President Boris Johnson or the like.

So a failure of overhead lines means that no trains are running into or out of London Paddington railway station today. Messing up the travel plans of numerous people who wanted to be in London for the funeral or Windsor for the procession. There is something rather symbolic about that. Especially as the newly created "Elizabeth Line" is one of those affected.

I do get the feeling that Charles will never be able to win though. The board has been complaining about the cost of the royals. But when he tries to slim things down a bit he gets flack for that too. I suppose that the timing could be faulted, but it is never a good time to make people redundant.

He was sent to Gordonstoun school, which he hated and that arguably screwed him up quite badly. Though to be fair that decision seems to have been made by Phillip more than Elizabeth.

I agree. Whatever you think of constitutional monarchy, (and personally I think she did an exemplary job of being a ceremonial head of state) the Queen always did what she considered her duty. She clearly made mistakes (noticeably Charles' education and forced first marriage) but she had an impressive work ethic. She literally got off of her deathbed to carry out her last ceremonial change over of PM! (And poor woman, going from PM Churchill to PMs Johnson and Truss.) So while I find the obsequies a bit overdone, I am not going to begrudge them. It is the end of an era. And I consider notional dancing on her grave a bit uncouth, in the way that dancing on, for example, Boris Johnson's would not be.

As another recent retiree, it seems pretty good so far, Advice: There is lots of volunteer work out there, even if much of it needs some specialist skills. I recommend easing in gently and not taking on too many things too quickly. If your garden is not big enough for veg, try looking into getting an allotment. Though they are also a lot of work, perhaps consider getting a half or quarter sized one. Do make sure you get your wills, lasting powers of attorney, living wills, etc sorted out now. Don't wait until someone gets ill. (Though perhaps at only 44 you can wait a bit longer!)

Tell us about it. Haven't you noticed the contempt that many of us hold him in? The key to understanding Johnson is the quote in one of his childhood school reports to the effect that he gets upset at the very idea that he should be expected to follow the rules that every one else has to. To his mind he has done no wrong because it is impossible for him to do wrong. Complaints about his actions are to be resented, met with a charm offensive, or ignored, and to be forgotten as soon as possible.

In the UK libraries are run by the state at the taxpayer's expense. So the taxpayer pays. (However, as with most public services in the UK, the funding has been drying up and many libraries have been downsized or closed. Another stupid ideology driven economy.)

I would not want to swear to that, Though Mrs W apparently had no idea that she was a lesbian until I mentioned it shortly after she quit, for whatever that is worth. However her actions over the last year or so of her reign more than justified her defenestration. She probably hung on for as long as she did only because Patel found it useful to keep someone in the role who knew that one word from Patel would finish her off. Not to mention that the Jean Charles de Menezes fiasco should have prevented her ever being given the job in the first place.