tegs07

Im not so sure. I don’t think anyone, anywhere, ever said I really fancy getting a plumber round tonight. It’s something people pay for only when they really have to. Similarly I can’t imagine there are many plumbers who do the work for the creative joy of installing radiators. I think there are ways for musicians to make money but many of them would involve thinking more like a plumber than a creative. Edit: Going to expand on this. Most of us if we practice enough can learn to play an instrument. A few of us can get very good at playing an instrument. In my experience far fewer of us can write songs that people want to hear. Even fewer can write really catchy songs that many people want to hear. This is a big part of why musicians don’t always make money. If you can’t write songs you need a top notch songwriter, or you need to play other peoples music. If you’re excellent this can be jazz, classical etc where the audience is often older and more affluent. There is an established (but limited audience) out there, Mass market is a little more tricky. There is a lot of competition and shrinking venues. Other avenues are function bands, tribute bands, musicals, cruises etc. I’ve seen some shocking musicians with some decent tunes get better and get a decent following. I’ve seen plenty of decent musician’s with plenty of integrity but no songs go nowhere.

Having not played in a band since I was a teenager I can’t offer many pearls of wisdom other than when I ran a small business I sold stuff that other people would want to buy rather than what I loved. I expect that there is still money to be made in playing live following this philosophy. Whether it would be rewarding or creatively appealing is another matter. My first bass teacher played in a buddy holly tribute band (he loathed buddy holly) but it paid the large part of his mortgage. His originals band never made much cash but was a creatively rewarding experience.

and iran and yemen and denmark and france and germany and canada and the judiciary and the media and biden and and and 😂 Edit: Breaking news. Apparently it’s been revealed that Mr Fred Hamilton of 5 Arcacia Avenue is one of the few people not to have upset Trump. When interviewed Fred reportedly said this was unexpected news as he has always thought the man to be a massive orange bell end.

Edit: Stupid glasses, intelligent analysis.

Should help clarify things:

Also depending upon whatever whim he has tomorrow or who has slighted him or kissed his ring I suspect.

Your not missing anything. Ford and GM have already flagged this with Trump. In public he is saying he doesn’t care if car prices increase, in private he is telling automakers not to increase prices (even though they point out that they will have no choice)!

In terms of European security Trump publicly stating that the US might not honour Article 5 and slating NATOs effectiveness is the most irresponsible thing I have ever heard from a senior politician let alone a president. He has kick started an arms race which will most likely be nuclear. A country can’t double its army overnight but if it has nuclear knowledge and arms manufacturing capacity it can go nuclear very quickly. Focusing on China and berating Europe for its military contribution behind closed doors would have been entirely justified. Personally I think he has weakened Ukraine and emboldened Russian. They will continue their advance having been handed an opportunity. If they succeed Moldova will be next followed by false flag operations in Estonia IMO. 20000 missing Ukrainian children is no coincidence for a country facing a demographic crisis. Europe will be continually subjected to cyberattacks, infrastructure sabotage and disinformation. Romania are likely to go down the Hungary route and be a thorn in the EU side. Disinformation and electoral interference will continue as a highly effective strategy of destabilising democracy. Rather than focusing on China (which is Trump’s stated aim) he is waging economic war on Europe and Canada and dragging US into an expensive and potentially protracted middle east conflict. Geopolitically he is a disaster. Economically he is a disaster. In terms of disease prevention, global hunger, climate change he is a disaster. Edit: Having a showboating media savvy idiot in charge is not necessarily a bad thing. Having an idiot in charge who surrounds himself with unqualified yes men, doesn’t listen to anyone and even worse disbands the agencies that actually know how to run a country and military, Now that is dangerous.

Indeed. At various points in history the US has been isolationist. It’s withdrawn from its ‘global policeman’ role, cut foreign spending and focused on internal issues. Trump has actually strengthened the hand of US adversaries and made its economic and military allies question US intentions. There is a difference between isolationist and being isolated.

Do you mean on the ground in the US or in Europe/South China seas?

In terms of geopolitics this is buying China and Russia time. Both countries have a brewing demographic crisis that will severely impact their economies. For Europe it’s an opportunity but the EU moves very slowly. I can’t see any benefits for the UK (other than improving relations with the EU). We keep dithering about where our economic loyalties lie and are getting poorer by the year. For the US. Most likely stagflation and a weakened global position.

f*ck me Musk is now taking aim at the hit Netflix series Adolescence claiming it’s anti-white and spreading his usual unfounded narrative that the story is actually based on real life crime committed by black teenagers. Meanwhile Trump has actually refused to comply with the law regarding deportations of Venezuelan alleged gang members. Another day in Trumpland.

Im sure he will want to. From the things I have read many predict the deficit is increasing due to cock ups and rehiring by DOGE, deportations are hugely expensive and are causing real damage to the cheap labour pool and tariffs are going to increase the cost of living. It’s becoming fairly clear that Putin is taking him for a ride, the middle east is not getting fixed any time soon, yemen and iran are going to cost a fortune. He has made enemies of his allies, us veterans are not happy, big business is getting sick of him, the judiciary are running out of patience, his inner circle are being shown as incompetent and it’s only been a couple of months. Move fast and break things might work for a startup company. A country is a little more complex.