Ireland runs a budget surplus and has the lowest debt since the financial crisis. They’ve never been better placed to take on this project.

South-East England even

Nobody’s forcing farmers to buy seeds. Seed sellers are asking farmers to pay if they want their seeds.

Farmers could grow their own seeds and use those. It’s just that nobody does because buying highly productive cultivars is more profitable for them, even after they’ve shared that extra income with seed producers.

Russians don’t really use motherland. Rodina, which means birth-land, is translated that way because there’s no simple English term to convey that

It was a very good system. Collecting it’s own fees added a degree of separation between government and public broadcaster and protected it’s independence.

The European model used to be empowering the public broadcaster to collect a TV licensing fee, but is now moving to direct tax payer subsidy because internet streaming made that too easy to circumvent

Western conservative parties were mostly fiscally responsible until the 80s, and outside the USA they’ve tended to come around on many civil liberties. Women’s suffrage was passed with cross-aisle support in many European countries, for instance, as was same-sex marriage. Even today, the conservative parties in Northern Europe mostly stand for fiscal responsibility. In general, conservative parties in systems with Proportional representation seem to be much less exposed to capture by the far right.

I’ll almost certainly never vote conservative, but given how many do, I’m thankful to be living in a country where that means budget cuts and reduced income tax for the upper middle, and not the stripping away of rights and liberties and deficit-funded tax cuts for the rich.

That’s the point. The Republican party isn’t conservative at all, but radical. They’ve abandoned most conservative political positions, including orthodox fiscal management, and exchanged conservative values for a constructed collection of ‘traditional values’, which are derived less from tradition than from the endless grievances that have replaced policy as their political program

Corbyn was the worst thing that could’ve happened to Labour. The man just did not understand the role of Party Leader and could not prioritise party or country over his own nostaligia-tinged ideological pet causes

He’s making light of how twisted the US understanding of the word “conservative” has become.

Finland

Norway, not Finland. Women have a duty to serve but so few are called up that it’s kind of voluntary in practice.

Salads and sandwiches should be served room temperature, never right out of the fridge cold

This is bordering on the conspiratorial. The Russians believed they would defeat Ukraine very quickly. They never expected to be in this situation

Grit your teeth

Stiff upper lip

Sisu

Many ways to articulate this

On the other hand, China had access to those resources already, and are now much more exposed internationally, as evidenced by recent Western efforts to “de-risk” economic relations.

India are making a lot of money but they’ve also lost their main weapons supplier and are now forced to turn to Western countries to fill the gap. A position they most definitely didn’t want to be in.

It isn’t good news for Russia either.

The main quesiton is what you want long term. If you want to eventually move in with a romantic partner, I would advice you to get used to independent living beforehand. Having to cook for and clean up after a partner who never learned to live without mommy and daddy is a huge turn-off for most people and can sour a relationship very fast. I would ask you these questions:

Do you cook dinner for the household at least every week?

Do you clean the kitchen yourself after cooking?

Do you do the grocery shopping for the household?

Do you often tidy up the pots and pans after meals (not just your own plates and cutlery)?

Are you the one who takes a walk around the house putting away stray plates, glasses & clothes and tidying up? Do you do this at least once a day?

When something breaks, are you often the one who repairs or replaces it?

Is it typically tidier & neater when your parents are away than when they are home?

If you want to live with a romantic partner in the future, and the answer to any of these is no, I suggest you have a long hard think about whether you’re preparing for the life you want, or just staying where it’s comfortable.

I predict they will do well. They’ll get sympathy votes from their supporters, and there’s nothing their enemies can do to stop it

https://www.nrk.no/norge/dramatisk-okning-i-andelen-barnlose-i-norge-1.13759502#:~:text=Andelen barnløse er på en,ikke ønsker å få barn.

No. Out of 50 that’s 40 who had kids, 9 who didn’t and regret it, and just 1 who didn’t and are content.