hTTi

What the official pages don’t quite say explicitly—but what you’ve already sensed—is that the real constraint isn’t the rules, it’s the physics of Berlin rush hour. You can take a bike on both S-Bahn and U-Bahn with a ticket, but only in the designated areas and only if there’s space. There’s no gua...

This debate flares up every few years often driven by concerns about fairness or labour incentives, but actual change tends to be incremental, slow, or blocked altogether. Whilst certain figures in the SPD — notably Lars Klingbeil — have suggested ending the current system “in its present form” for ...

Eric is normally on the money with most subjects! ***hero***

On this we can whole-heartedly agree.

Learn from Eric!

Orbán is bravely defending Hungary by keeping it hooked on Russian energy, blocking help for a country Russia invaded, and repeating the line that everyone else should absorb the strategic cost instead. Very sovereign. Very patriotic. Very conveniently aligned with the Kremlin. Of course leaders sho...

(I apparently support VVP, KJU & the chancer Farage! :D ) but you can't always expect your debating partner to stick to reality. Snidey is as snidey does! The point I was making was that these are the logical consequence of following your "strong patriotic leader" line. I sincerely ho...

Ah yes, the ‘I deleted it because it might sound patronising’ move — a neat way of sounding patronising while claiming moral restraint. Yes, I'm learning so much from you. Just for the record, I wasn’t nominating Macron for sainthood. I was saying that in this one specific area — trying to balance n...

Fair enough — let me actually answer you then. If we’re talking about leaders trying (imperfectly) to balance national interest with wider responsibilities, I’d point to people like Emmanuel Macron, or Donald Tusk — not because they got everything right (far from it), but because they’ve broadly tri...

Ok, I'll bite... Which leaders you do think have promoted stability? Which ones have balanced the interests of their own countries against the wider agenda? Depends what we mean by ‘stability’. If it’s the kind that involves weakening institutions, sidelining independent media, and keeping relation...

So they’re misunderstood champions of stability who just happen to echo Kremlin talking points from time to time...

Yeah. Right.

Strange how ‘not making a mess’ seems to involve cosying up to Putin while undermining Ukraine’s right to exist.

If that’s the benchmark, the bar’s on the floor.

Hmmmmm.

A sober assessment of the first week of the war from the LRB

https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v48/n05 ... n-week-one

Cover of the new Private Eye

Hi again I have just tried with chatGPT but don't arrive at the same results as you john_b. Here is a short copy/paste of my results: Why this works the way it does (EU rules, simplified) Under EU Regulation 883/2004: If you receive pensions from more than one EU country: If your country of residen...

This sounds like a nightmare. Of course the best thing is to seek qualified advice from a professional well versed in this field, but just to get a rough idea I took the liberty of posting the issue to ChatGPT to see what the response looks like. If you decide to proceed, ChatGPT is quite helpful fo...

Irish passport holders may enter the UK without any problems, and indeed may enter the EU just as easily on the way back, making an Irish passport the most convenient option of all...

Another useful website indicating where folks can find a place to sleep

https://www.warmebetten.berlin/

pappnase wrote: ↑Mon Jan 12, 2026 1:33 pm Over already.png
Looks like it might be too late already.

No, that simply means that they have had enough offers of distribution points and don't need any more.

The actual delivery of the potatoes is apparently on the 15/16.01.26!

An initiative of the Berliner Morgenpost...

The website has information about the distribution points

https://www.4000-tonnen.de/

Well, as I have British, Irish and German citizenships then the Irish passport would seem to be the simplest option for me...and I always have my German Ausweis on me in any case...

[FWIW - British since birth; Irish mother/citizenship long before Brexit; German since 2019 (in order to vote)]