The Last Post
Dear reader, We are sad to tell you that Pointman, real name Tony, has passed away and this site is now managed by his family. He was very unwell for a long time, and his passing was sudden but not unexpected. We ask for your understanding at this difficult time. He’ll be sorely missed by … Continue reading
Is Europe actually at war with Russia?
Despite all the propaganda, few ordinary people in Europe have their tongues hanging out eagerly for a full on war with Russia, especially over what’s commonly seen as the most totally corrupt country in Europe. Just ask the Bidens, père et fils. Once you look past all the individual leaders of most of the EU … Continue reading
The end of the one superpower world.
That long interlude between Christmas and New Years affords an opportunity to consider the last year in the rear view mirror and what’s likely to happen in the new one coming at us. Most years are pretty much business as usual with nothing spectacular or Earth shattering occurring, but some ones do have some big … Continue reading
My Christmas present this year.
If you’re a parent, which I am, and are fortunate enough to be a grandparent, which I also am, then you know how life-changing an event having your first child is. Before that your planning horizon stretched to the end of this week’s or this month’s paycheck. Suddenly you’ve got this tiny defenseless morsel of … Continue reading
The realities of nuclear mega death because of the Ukraine.
The noted historian A.J.P. Taylor caused a big stink when he wrote a fascinating book on WWII that instead of attributing its root causes to various cunning schemes of almost Machiavellian complexity, put forward the simple idea that it was all caused by various miscalculations on the part of the many parties involved. In other … Continue reading
Forcing the annihilation of the Ukraine.
Back in the years when Boris Yeltsin was running the remains of the Soviet Union, I noticed a new face who was always in the background of any group shot of the old boozer. As time went by, he kept getting closer to the front row. A little research yielded a name, so I started … Continue reading
For as long as it takes to ruin ourselves.
When it comes to economics, there are more schools of thought, that’s to say radically irreconcilable viewpoints, than there are in similar pseudo-scientific fields such as sociology or psychology. However, there are some guidelines that most practitioners accept. Any economy that has two successive quarters of zero or negative growth is either in a recession … Continue reading
What to make of the mid-terms.
Going into the mid-terms, the accepted wisdom was that there was going to be a red wave and the GOP would retake the House and even had a decent chance of taking the upper house. Nothing like that happened and in common with most political observers I’m still scratching my head trying to come up … Continue reading
Some thoughts on next week’s mid-terms.
If there isn’t a repeat of the widespread electoral cheating of 2020, it looks like the GOP will capture at least the House if not the Senate as well. There are two caveats to be added to that assessment. First, all polls are hopelessly compromised these days. They only exist to manipulate the electorate’s opinion … Continue reading
We’re approaching peak stupidity over the Ukraine.
In the months the war in the Ukraine has ground on, one thing that has become alarmingly obvious to all is how weak and out of touch the leadership of the US is, but even more so that of the EU. The latter has continued to pursue relentlessly an anti-Russian sanctions policy that is obviously … Continue reading
French expediency versus the patience of a Russian endgame.
France is hurriedly trying to get all of its 56 nuclear power plants back up online and generating. It was always a slightly smug Gallic boast that about 70% of their electricity came from nuclear generation. That fact that their power strategy evolved in that totally different direction to all other countries in Europe is … Continue reading
Putting a price cap on Russian oil.
Back in July when the idea of putting a price cap on Russian oil was first floated by the Biden administration, Putin commented quite wittily to some reporters on the effect such a poorly thought out move would have on the world price of oil. If the West block should really go for such a … Continue reading
Blame America for all your troubles.
Having a great defense is always a good idea but if it isn’t backed up by a good offensive capability, then failure becomes inevitable for the oldest of reasons. Your great defense has to succeed every time in stopping every attack, but their offense only needs to succeed once for you to lose. That’s a … Continue reading
Biden does Putin’s job for him.
Two months ago in a piece with the self-explanatory title of Putin begins to pick apart the EU, I outlined Putin’s options to destroy the EU. It essentially came down to starving it, particularly Germany, of resources it couldn’t obtain from anyone else in realistic quantities. The only question for him was whether he just … Continue reading
What’s it actually mean if the new Donbass republics join the Russian Federation?
It’s basically a game changer and one which as usual seems to have been totally unanticipated by the so-called “Kremlin watchers”. Hitherto, Russia has been conducting a Special Military Operation which comes with certain limitations. They’re not responding to an attack on sovereign Russian Federation territory but attacks on ethnic Russians in a neighbouring country. … Continue reading
Rules.
All human activities across all societies no matter how politically arranged operate inside some sort of a framework of consensually agreed parameters. These parameters may be conventions, rules and even codified laws. Without them, building even the most simple society would be impossible since they enable the second most powerful feature of human beings – … Continue reading
The FBI are Joe Biden’s personal Gestapo.
What makes politics an interest thing to watch is that it’s always changing or evolving in some way. When you see an event, like the Berlin Wall coming down, you know you’re not only watching history change this very day in front of your very eyes but also the political landscape has just changed forever … Continue reading
Letting an octogenarian bull wearing high heels loose in a china shop.
Like most people who watched the highly orchestrated psycho-drama of Nancy Pelosi and whether she’d touch down in Taiwan or not on her magical mystery tour of parts oriental, i wondered why risk a war with China by a needless visit that was obviously designed to both provoke China over an issue that had laid … Continue reading
Putin begins to pick apart the EU.
A few weeks back In a piece entitled the winners and losers after the sledgehammer strike, I wrote the following about probably the biggest casualty of the whole sanctions disaster, the EU. “The obvious way for Russia to eliminate the EU as a threat is to destroy Germany. Kill Germany, the EU withers. It’s a … Continue reading
The fighting over the last scraps of the Ukraine begins.
We’re all familiar with with the expression about rats leaving a sinking ship but it has a corollary. Nearly every one of those rats has something of value held between its pointy ratty little teeth that’s been stolen from the sinking hulk as it paddles away. Whether the ship in question is a business enterprise … Continue reading
I found Pointman many years ago on WUWT. He always provided a thoughtful perspective that I valued. Slowly the anchors…
What sorrow is in me. Another stalwart dies too young. Commiserations to all his well loved family. "May you recieve…
RIP Tony, I have over the years loved your blog. Pointmans blog will be missed. Regards to his whole family,…
Discovering Pointman some years ago when he was railing against the AGW madness was a blessing for me. I enjoyed…
Pointman's 
My belated condolences. I always enjoyed reading his posts and will miss his insight and wide ranging views. May hew…