Currently in the UK…

15-Year-Olds are not allowed to be on Social Media because The Government says so.

5-Year-Old Children are now permitted to take Puberty Blockers because The Government says so.

This is pure evil. pic.twitter.com/hs87E82U0p

— Valerie Anne Smith (@ValerieAnne1970) November 14, 2026

Poland and the Baltic States would never voluntarily agree to any military-security compromises with Russia, they’d have to be coerced into them, and a European envoy present at the talks where such Russian-US compromises on the post-war security architecture are agreed to could legitimize that.

Trump’s Special Envoy to Russia Jared Kushner declared after the newly resumed trilateral talks on Ukraine in Abu Dhabi that “If Europe could identify one person to speak on their behalf, that would be a bigger achievement than getting the Russians to include them in the negotiation.” He had earlier met separately with representatives from the EU, France, Germany, Italy, and the UK who traveled to the premises but didn’t participate in the trilateral talks that the US mediated between Russia and Ukraine.

Zelensky echoed Kushner’s call by demanding that Europe appoint a representative before the month is over. In his words, “I think that in November, not later, we need to accept who will represent Europe in negotiations. It will be better because they will get [a] mandate for negotiations and they will get a mandate from all Europe, all this coalition.” For as hopeful as he is that someone will receive such a mandate, no European envoy can realistically represent the entire bloc’s interests vis-à-vis Russia.

Its several dozen states are much too divided over Russia for them all to agree on the post-war European security architecture that Kushner has been tasked to negotiate and the likely parameters of which were detailed in the preceding hyperlinked analysis for those who aren’t already aware of them. In particular, anything that even remotely complies with Russia’s security guarantee requests from December 2021 that were rejected by the US and NATO at the time would be objected to by Poland and the Baltic States.

The only way to get them to comply is for the US to “creatively coerce” them, ideally together with the rest of European NATO (E-NATO), most of whose members would probably have to be “creatively coerced” first in order to go along with whatever the US agrees to with Russia about this. For example, one scenario is mutual military pullbacks by E-NATO and Russia from their shared frontier, which could also include the one between E-NATO and Russian ally Belarus.

The participation of a European representative in any talks that result in any compromises on the post-war European security architecture between Russia and the US would therefore only be to superficially legitimize the US’ consequent coercion of E-NATO into compliance. Poland and the Baltic States, which perceive Russia to be an existential threat no matter what others’ views on the subject may be, would never voluntarily agree to any military-security compromises. They can only be coerced into them.

If a European representative at the talks where such compromises are agreed to presented themselves as having “a mandate from all of Europe”, was presented that way by others, or was perceived to have such a mandate, however, then it would make it relatively easier to coerce them into compliance. That’s because they’d be presented by that representative and whichever (likely supranational) body appointed them to their role as being responsible for “dividing” E-NATO and “threatening the bloc from within”.

While that might not suffice for coercing them into compliance, it could legitimize coercion by other (likely Western) E-NATO members, not to mention the US. Their grounds would be that such a compromise, such as E-NATO pulling back its forces from the border with Russia and Belarus if those two do so too, would be for the “greater good” that Poland and the Baltic States are “selfishly obstructing”. That would veritably be true in that case and is a plausible reason to coerce them into compliance.

Hillary Clinton declares she is living 'rent free' in Trump's head…
Okay Hillary let's take a peek inside your noggin….👀

I thought so….🕷️🕷️🕷️
Classic Ben Garrison Cartoon
Animated (Before AI)
Always a 'head' of the curve at @GrrrGraphics pic.twitter.com/ahJCimdppQ

— GrrrGraphics 🇺🇸- Ben & Tina Garrison Cartoons (@GrrrGraphics) November 13, 2026

Not Waikanae, but central Otago. A nice Carol Sawyer pic.

By Roger Childs

…you’re bound to enjoy a fantastic trip to the cinema regardless of what you see! –Festival Patron, Francesca Rudkin

2026 Intrepid British and Irish Film Festival

It’s one of the highlights of the year for serious film goers. There are twenty-five movies in all and fortunately many will return to cinemas like Shoreline in Waikanae. We saw two impressive films from Ireland last week and both displayed the diversity and beauty of the Irish countryside.

Three Urns is full of humour and fun as Mr O’Connor (Ciaran Hinds) carries one of the urns bearing his wife’ ashes and is headed cross-country to Donegal. However Whitetail is a serious psychological drama set in the haunted, wooded country of southern Ireland. Both are four star movies showing in different dimensions the diverse skills of Irish film makers, production staff and actors.

Travelling in whatever is available

O’Connor starts with a car but the wheels are taken after one stop! Then the rest of the vehicle disappears. There is one delightful scene when O’Connor is talking to some locals and you see in the background a middle-aged couple moving the wheels in a wheelbarrow! A Breakers Yard features a lot as the whimsical O’Connor is happy to travel in anything that reliably moves including a milk-float and an open wagon. His final means of travel features a wonderful draught horse!

There is a range of characters who keep on cropping up including a whiskey priest, an older woman who takes on different jobs, a couple of students who are very fond of each other, a, slim young French woman usually wearing black, musicians and more. The music is a delightful element of the film and covers the range of Gaelic styles.

The acting is superb and Hinds in the lead role is excellent.

Cinematographer Richard Kendrick makes a meal of the various landscapes and the impact people have had on the land over many centuries. Highly recommended.

The troubled Jen

Whitetail centres on a forest in the south of Eire and the small town nearby. Jen (superbly played by Natasha O’Keeffe) is a key figure in the village where she works as a park ranger often changing the batteries on tree cameras in an effort to catch poachers in the woods. The first scene features a teenage Jen with her boyfriend and the two of them are taking pot shots at cans. But then they mistake her sister for a deer.

Most of the film centres on Jen some years later. She lives with her father and has a mixed relationship with the Garda who are not very cooperative in trying to catch a poacher especially when she dumps the corpse of a deer on the road outside the police station. She gets satisfaction from her conservation work but emotionally Jen is a mess and this is not helped when the former boyfriend turns up in the town.

This is a dark, simmering drama, however there is one delightful scene late in the piece, Jen is out to it in the woods she loves and as she wakes she realizes her face is being licked by a whitetail deer!

Irish quality

The Three Urns (96 minutes) and Whitetail (103 minutes) are two very different Irish films, but both are well worth seeing if they feature in a cinema near you.

Tutere Street is parallel to the beach; Ngapaki Street is at the bottom left.

Nearly all public servants support Leftist parties, their ideology and their policies.