Best Of

I had the idea that age shouldn’t be a factor when it comes to voting, and that a better way was to only allow those who had four GCSE’s at C or above (or whatever the equivalent is now, a number?). The downsides would be that it rules out those who are clever but not academically minded, and immigrants who didn’t go to school here , although going to night school or learning at home in order to get the vote might improve assimilation

Sure. As long as the people who don't get to vote don't get to pay taxes.

Or you could turn it around the other way. If you don’t pay Income Tax or NI you don’t get to vote.

Or just go back to 1832 on that basis and only the top 5% of property owners can vote

I’m sure @Malmesbury would agree that restricting the franchise to the NU10K would have no disadvantages at all. No, none whatsoever.

Good morning everyone, and theank-you for the header.

I'll fpt this one:

Post-midnight, so now I have my photo quota back, this is one before/after shot from the actions of Israel in Gaza.

This is comparing March 25 2025 and July 4 2025. Checking the timeline *, the ceasefire was January 19, 2025, which Israel broke on Match 18 2025.

I don't know if anyone else has comparisons, but I'm thinking of cities deliberately demolished to expel their people and prevent return, after occupation has been achieved. I'm not even sure if Mariupol or Warsaw 1944 are in that category. What comparisons can we make?



There's a whole series of Geneva Convention breaches here. Netanyahu will imo have Trump's support, as he wishes to destroy the international rule of law.

BBC piece, with fuller analysis.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-33fccfbe-abcc-4af1-bdd2-632b2787cf59

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_Gaza_war_ceasefire

Did Hamas surrender yet?

The war continues. Bombing during war is legitimate.

In an age where military technology makes precision bombing possible, the kind of carpet-bombing that prevailed in WWII is not.

To be blunt, I think that Netanyahu and his backers want a state of permanent war, because they see political advantage from it. Even if Hamas surrendered unconditionally, they would find a pretext to keep on fighting and bombing.

Precision bombing is great if you are targeting conventional military forces or governments.

Precision bombing is pretty irrelevant if the enemy being bombed is an insurgency, or is willing to shelter amongst civilians. You just use fewer munitions to kill civilians as well as the target.

(Which makes Russia's use of precision weapons to target and destroy civilian infrastructure and civilians much worse. I wish the pro-Hamas shits in the west would do more to acknowledge the evils that Russia are committing.)