I realise this is missing the point but why is the cabbie recording (let alone posting to X) what sounds like a private phone call?
That’s a road cam - for accidents/incidents. Most of them record sound in the vehicle as well.
Quite a few black cabs have internal security cameras as well.
There is a reason the glass partitions are made of toughened glass…
In a black cab, there is a sort of intercom between driver and passengers (with a red light). I don't know the precise ins and outs but suspect "sources close to" the ranting passenger could put in a complaint to TfL.
Is there an expectation of privacy in a taxi?
I don't know. But I do know every taxi I've been in for at least the past five years has had a camera pointed to the passengers.
In the opinion of columnists I respect, this book explains many US problems. (I'll get to it eventually, but it is not yet in my to-read stack.) https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/T/bo205550079.html "In The Two-Parent Privilege, Melissa S. Kearney makes a provocative, data-driven case for marriage by showing how the institution’s decline has led to a host of economic woes—problems that have fractured American society and rendered vulnerable populations even more vulnerable. Eschewing the religious and values-based arguments that have long dominated this conversation, Kearney shows how the greatest impacts of marriage are, in fact, economic: when two adults marry, their economic and household lives improve, offering a host of benefits not only for the married adults but for their children. Studies show that these effects are today starker, and more unevenly distributed, than ever before. Kearney examines the underlying causes of the marriage decline in the US and draws lessons for how the US can reverse this trend to ensure the country’s future prosperity."
I mention this because I think the argument in it should be considered by anyone thinking about, for example, racial disparities, and increasing economic inequality. Quite possibly in the UK, as well as the US.
I have no doubt that growing up in a household with two happily married or cohabiting parents confers great benefits on children. I'm not sure that anyone disputes this. We should be doing all we can to promote family life, e.g. through labour market policies that allow parents to spend time with their children, access to family planning so people don't start families until they're ready, housing and planning policies to promote affordable housing, and criminal justice and immigration policies that don't split families up unnecessarily.
Talking of laughably bad...it sounds like the final season of the Crown is just that.
Not something I watch, but sounds like the most recent reasons have got further away from just telling the truth, and the worse it got.
I'm sure it is absolute garbage but I love it and will still watch it. Everyone needs an a completely trashy TV programme to watch, and for me it's the Crown, sorry.
Escape to the country for me. Dinner time treat. That or a place in the sun.
I am also super excited for the return of The Traitors.
Did the government actively try and lose the Rwanda case ?
Because they could easily have had a Treaty done with Rwanda . People often berate the HOL but take a look at what they said re this issue .
For those interested try reading David Allen Green where he discusses the ruling , he also includes the stark warnings by the HOL made to the government about not having a Treaty.
I know I keep saying this, but they genuinely don't know what they're doing. They are comfortable with failure provided they can blame somebody. They try to make problems go away by spending money. They thing you can run a state by whining. Oh, aaargh. What can you do... ☹️
Did the government actively try and lose the Rwanda case ?
Because they could easily have had a Treaty done with Rwanda . People often berate the HOL but take a look at what they said re this issue .
For those interested try reading David Allen Green where he discusses the ruling , he also includes the stark warnings by the HOL made to the government about not having a Treaty.
I know I keep saying this, but they genuinely don't know what they're doing.
Stop The War info/template letter for parents to send to their children’s school saying they won’t be in today as they’re marching for Palestine
“ How to organise a school strike:
Gather a group of dedicated parents/teenagers in your area and create a WhatsApp group. Fill out this Google form and we will try and put you in touch with others in your area. Pick a central location in your area to have a rally on Friday morning. Create an announcements WhatsApp group with admin-only posting rights. Add other organisers as admins, and use a join link to share widely so others in the area can join it. Set the group description (template below) with the details of your strike, and use this group to let people know about the details of the strike and to share the resources below. Fill out this Google form to let us know about your school strike so we can help you with a graphic & poster, advertise it nationally including making a Facebook event for you, put you in touch with local activists and help/advise with anything else.”
So from your own link, kids taking unauthorised absence. That does not require the support of headteachers and local leaders as claimed at all, simply parents, or perhaps even just kids.
"We’ve been assured by those working in schools that whilst this would count as an unauthorised absence, a child can have up to four days in a row unauthorised and would need 10 in a short amount of time to be fined. Please do check your own school policy."
Lovely. Viva Multiculture
Look, its important to be accurate when making such claims, regardless of whether the kids should be off school or not or the marches or multiculturalism are good things, otherwise there is no point debating.
The process they suggest is explicitly not getting the support of headteachers as claimed, it is parents informing the school of unauthorised absence.
Well, the parents are obviously supporting it, I don’t doubt the ‘community leaders’ are backing it, and the schools turn a blind eye because it’s more bother than it’s worth trying to tackle it - they know, and don’t try to stop it.
What do you expect the headteacher to do? Go round at 7am to each house and kidnap the kids?
If parents don't send kids to school its on the parents whether the kids are going on a march, skiing or sitting on the sofa watching homes under the hammer. Only if its persistent the schools can get involved.
So no - it is also wrong to claim the schools are turning a blind eye, they have no power here.
Well I didn’t actually claim it myself. I agree, the teachers at the schools generally aren’t Muslims so don’t share the agenda. But parts of Tower Hamlets are a parallel society.
Pro Palestine is an Agenda that Muslims and only Muslims have?
It’s an opinion held more commonly by Muslims I’d say. Let’s not shadowbox, you know what I think and I can tell what you’re lining up
It's just that you said "the teachers are not Muslim and therefore don't share the agenda".
As if that's a given, that if you’re not Muslim you won't care about the oppression of the Palestinians or the carnage in Gaza.
Did the government actively try and lose the Rwanda case ?
Because they could easily have had a Treaty done with Rwanda . People often berate the HOL but take a look at what they said re this issue .
For those interested try reading David Allen Green where he discusses the ruling , he also includes the stark warnings by the HOL made to the government about not having a Treaty.
I know I keep saying this, but they genuinely don't know what they're doing. They are comfortable with failure provided they can blame somebody. They try to make problems go away by spending money. They thing you can run a state by whining. Oh, aaargh. What can you do... ☹️
Don't forget Rwanda was one of the smoke and mirrors wheezes that made up Operation Save Big Dog, so it was never serious. The remarkable thing is Sunak picked up that particular enormous streaming Big Dog turd and claimed it as his own.
Talking of laughably bad...it sounds like the final season of the Crown is just that.
Not something I watch, but sounds like the most recent reasons have got further away from just telling the truth, and the worse it got.
Depress me. What have they done this time?
I just know the Guardian give it 1 star, Telegraph 2 stars....nobody seems to think its any good. I think the criticism is that it is more obsessed with telling tales about Diana than the Daily Express.
The writer - Morgan - was at Leeds University in my year. 1985.
As a fellow graduate of the finest higher educational establishment in western Europe, I wont have a word said against.
So after Leeds, you both did postgrad work at Aber?
IDF says it has retrieved the body of Yehudit Weiss, who was captured by Hamas on October 7, from a building near Shifa Hospital in the Gaza Strip.
Bibi's attempts to save any hostages seems to have been at best sketchy. He has been much better at razing hospitals to the ground.
It's as though he didn't give a **** for hostages, or Gazan civilians.
You do know that Hamas deliberately HQ their bases in hospitals for this very reason, right?
Hamas are an evil death cult. The evidence of what you suggest has yet to be confirmed, although I have no doubt that is the sort of thing they would do.
My point was a justifiable critique of Netanyahu not a celebration of Hamas.
IDF says it has retrieved the body of Yehudit Weiss, who was captured by Hamas on October 7, from a building near Shifa Hospital in the Gaza Strip.
Bibi's attempts to save any hostages seems to have been at best sketchy. He has been much better at razing hospitals to the ground.
It's as though he didn't give a **** for hostages, or Gazan civilians.
As takes go, that's a rather poor one.
Don't blame Israel for the fate of the hostages. Blame Hamas. It's all in their hands.
Christ some people are as dull as dishwater on here.
My point, as I have corrected Casino, was not some Corbynista celebration of Hamas, it was confirming my view that Netanyahu is not only useless but wicked too.
Netanyahu may be Prime Minister, but he represents perhaps a minority of Israelis.
IDF says it has retrieved the body of Yehudit Weiss, who was captured by Hamas on October 7, from a building near Shifa Hospital in the Gaza Strip.
Bibi's attempts to save any hostages seems to have been at best sketchy. He has been much better at razing hospitals to the ground.
It's as though he didn't give a **** for hostages, or Gazan civilians.
As takes go, that's a rather poor one.
Don't blame Israel for the fate of the hostages. Blame Hamas. It's all in their hands.
Christ some people are as dull as dishwater on here.
My point, as I have corrected Casino, was not some Corbynista celebration of Hamas, it was confirming my view that Netanyahu is not only useless but wicked too.
Is there anybody on here who likes, rates or admires Benjamin Netanyahu?
There are some blinkered fools on here who seem to conflate Netanyahu with good Israelis in a similar vein to those Corbynistas who conflated Benjamin Netanyahu with Jewish Labour MPs like Luciana Berger.
And to answer your question he's a ****! Although for Casino and Jessops that analysis is tantamount to being seen as a rousing celebration of Hamas.
Did the government actively try and lose the Rwanda case ?
Because they could easily have had a Treaty done with Rwanda . People often berate the HOL but take a look at what they said re this issue .
For those interested try reading David Allen Green where he discusses the ruling , he also includes the stark warnings by the HOL made to the government about not having a Treaty.
I know I keep saying this, but they genuinely don't know what they're doing. They are comfortable with failure provided they can blame somebody. They try to make problems go away by spending money. They thing you can run a state by whining. Oh, aaargh. What can you do... ☹️
Don't forget Rwanda was one of the smoke and mirrors wheezes that made up Operation Save Big Dog, so it was never serious. The remarkable thing is Sunak picked up that particular enormous streaming Big Dog turd and claimed it as his own.
But that would have meant saying "You know how Daddy promised you a unicorn for your birthday? He did that because he was a very bad man who didn't tell the truth."
if Netanyahu can exploit it to capture Gaza and expel the Palestinian population there I suspect privately he will be very pleased. And whatever he says in public, I doubt if he really cares about the lives of Israeli civilians any more than he does Palestinian ones.
With the news that the IDF plan to advance on Khan Yunus, and the death of a hostage, plus what looks like an Israeli rejection of a pause in the fighting in exchange for the release of a number of hostages, looks like I wasn't far out.
If fresh leadership emerges on both sides after this tragedy then that will be a silver lining, because boy is it needed.
if Netanyahu can exploit it to capture Gaza and expel the Palestinian population there I suspect privately he will be very pleased. And whatever he says in public, I doubt if he really cares about the lives of Israeli civilians any more than he does Palestinian ones.
With the news that the IDF plan to advance on Khan Yunus, and the death of a hostage, plus what looks like an Israeli rejection of a pause in the fighting in exchange for the release of a number of hostages, looks like I wasn't far out.
If fresh leadership emerges on both sides after this tragedy then that will be a silver lining, because boy is it needed.
There was also talk from Israeli government minster today that they didn't see any difference between PA and Hamas.
if Netanyahu can exploit it to capture Gaza and expel the Palestinian population there I suspect privately he will be very pleased. And whatever he says in public, I doubt if he really cares about the lives of Israeli civilians any more than he does Palestinian ones.
With the news that the IDF plan to advance on Khan Yunus, and the death of a hostage, plus what looks like an Israeli rejection of a pause in the fighting in exchange for the release of a number of hostages, looks like I wasn't far out.
If fresh leadership emerges on both sides after this tragedy then that will be a silver lining, because boy is it needed.
There was also talk from Israeli government minster today that they didn't see any difference between PA and Hamas.
I'd forgotten that.
TBF, the PA are a bunch of absolute scrotes as well. But they are not as big a bunch of scrotes as Hamas.
IDF says it has retrieved the body of Yehudit Weiss, who was captured by Hamas on October 7, from a building near Shifa Hospital in the Gaza Strip.
Bibi's attempts to save any hostages seems to have been at best sketchy. He has been much better at razing hospitals to the ground.
It's as though he didn't give a **** for hostages, or Gazan civilians.
As takes go, that's a rather poor one.
Don't blame Israel for the fate of the hostages. Blame Hamas. It's all in their hands.
Christ some people are as dull as dishwater on here.
My point, as I have corrected Casino, was not some Corbynista celebration of Hamas, it was confirming my view that Netanyahu is not only useless but wicked too.
Are you assuming that she was killed by the IDF?
Of course not. She was taken and killed by Hamas.
I am adding you to the list of clowns who have commented on my post.
My point was and remains that Netanyahu has personally demonstrated not a jot of empathy with the families of the hostages, which is why they marched on Jerusalem to protest his inaction.
if Netanyahu can exploit it to capture Gaza and expel the Palestinian population there I suspect privately he will be very pleased. And whatever he says in public, I doubt if he really cares about the lives of Israeli civilians any more than he does Palestinian ones.
With the news that the IDF plan to advance on Khan Yunus, and the death of a hostage, plus what looks like an Israeli rejection of a pause in the fighting in exchange for the release of a number of hostages, looks like I wasn't far out.
If fresh leadership emerges on both sides after this tragedy then that will be a silver lining, because boy is it needed.
Is there any reason to believe that the next leadership on either side is going to be more reasonable?
I reckon that they will be more radical on both sides. That is the nature of the conflict.
if Netanyahu can exploit it to capture Gaza and expel the Palestinian population there I suspect privately he will be very pleased. And whatever he says in public, I doubt if he really cares about the lives of Israeli civilians any more than he does Palestinian ones.
With the news that the IDF plan to advance on Khan Yunus, and the death of a hostage, plus what looks like an Israeli rejection of a pause in the fighting in exchange for the release of a number of hostages, looks like I wasn't far out.
If fresh leadership emerges on both sides after this tragedy then that will be a silver lining, because boy is it needed.
Is there any reason to believe that the next leadership on either side is going to be more reasonable?
I reckon that they will be more radical on both sides. That is the nature of the conflict.
The reason to be cheerful on the Palestinian side is that Hamas is thoroughly unpopular and most Palestinians would accept a two state solution (which Hamas oppose, contrary to claims on here) if it would stop the fighting.
For Israel, I'll agree that the whole country appears to be swinging Netanyahu's way. However, his whole idea of annex and contain has just been rather brutally discredited. There must be at least a chance that somebody emerges who points out that the way to secure Israel's future is to accept a two-state solution.
IDF says it has retrieved the body of Yehudit Weiss, who was captured by Hamas on October 7, from a building near Shifa Hospital in the Gaza Strip.
Bibi's attempts to save any hostages seems to have been at best sketchy. He has been much better at razing hospitals to the ground.
It's as though he didn't give a **** for hostages, or Gazan civilians.
As takes go, that's a rather poor one.
Don't blame Israel for the fate of the hostages. Blame Hamas. It's all in their hands.
Christ some people are as dull as dishwater on here.
My point, as I have corrected Casino, was not some Corbynista celebration of Hamas, it was confirming my view that Netanyahu is not only useless but wicked too.
Netanyahu may be Prime Minister, but he represents perhaps a minority of Israelis.
I'm glad you understand quite how dull you are.
Again, blame Hamas. They have taken hostages, and are holding them. They can release them any time they want, with no strings attached. But they choose not to.
if Netanyahu can exploit it to capture Gaza and expel the Palestinian population there I suspect privately he will be very pleased. And whatever he says in public, I doubt if he really cares about the lives of Israeli civilians any more than he does Palestinian ones.
With the news that the IDF plan to advance on Khan Yunus, and the death of a hostage, plus what looks like an Israeli rejection of a pause in the fighting in exchange for the release of a number of hostages, looks like I wasn't far out.
If fresh leadership emerges on both sides after this tragedy then that will be a silver lining, because boy is it needed.
"plus what looks like an Israeli rejection of a pause in the fighting in exchange for the release of a number of hostages,"
Has there been any news on this? A while back it was being mooted that the hostages would be released to Iran, which does not seem like a definition of 'released' most of us would recognise. What are the details of the hostage release - I assume this is the Qatari deal, which is only for 50 or so hostages?
On topic, when I look through social media, including some of the shriller online forums, it is easy to conclude that this country is composed either of vicious racists, homophobes and incel mysogenists or of woke communists tearing each other to pieces.
Then I log off from the shrill echo chamber, go out and look at how people interact with each other every day, and virtually everybody seems reasonable, calm and polite. I see multi-racial and gay couples walking around with nobody batting an eyelid (though the latter still attract the odd curious stare if they kiss each other in public). Twatter still isn't Britain.
IDF says it has retrieved the body of Yehudit Weiss, who was captured by Hamas on October 7, from a building near Shifa Hospital in the Gaza Strip.
Bibi's attempts to save any hostages seems to have been at best sketchy. He has been much better at razing hospitals to the ground.
It's as though he didn't give a **** for hostages, or Gazan civilians.
You do know that Hamas deliberately HQ their bases in hospitals for this very reason, right?
Hamas are an evil death cult. The evidence of what you suggest has yet to be confirmed, although I have no doubt that is the sort of thing they would do.
My point was a justifiable critique of Netanyahu not a celebration of Hamas.
It's well documented. How else do you go after them?
Their greatest victims are civilian Palestinians- you've got to think of them in the same breath as ISIS: two cheeks of the same arse.
IDF says it has retrieved the body of Yehudit Weiss, who was captured by Hamas on October 7, from a building near Shifa Hospital in the Gaza Strip.
Bibi's attempts to save any hostages seems to have been at best sketchy. He has been much better at razing hospitals to the ground.
It's as though he didn't give a **** for hostages, or Gazan civilians.
As takes go, that's a rather poor one.
Don't blame Israel for the fate of the hostages. Blame Hamas. It's all in their hands.
What morons liked your post? Your post is not a realistic reaction to my post because you misunderstood my point. A point I would add was a clear critique of Bibi, without a hint of admiration for Hamas.
OnlyFans is an online vehicle whereby poor people extract money from the rich by pretending to offer sexual services. Sephora is a beauty product line that includes makeup, skincare, stuff like that.
So basically he cleansed his skin to be nice and fresh, and then wanked himself stupid. I assume he also used the funds to pay for the tissues, but that's speculation on my part. And ejaculation on his pa[That's enough - Ed]
I used to work for Sephora (indirectly). Think Boots with just the cosmetics and no drugs. It is a French-owned (part of LVMH) chain with physical shops and a big online presence. They are big in Europe and America, small elsewhere and barely exist in Britain.
Sephora is my 15 year old daughter's favourite store in the whole world.
if Netanyahu can exploit it to capture Gaza and expel the Palestinian population there I suspect privately he will be very pleased. And whatever he says in public, I doubt if he really cares about the lives of Israeli civilians any more than he does Palestinian ones.
With the news that the IDF plan to advance on Khan Yunus, and the death of a hostage, plus what looks like an Israeli rejection of a pause in the fighting in exchange for the release of a number of hostages, looks like I wasn't far out.
If fresh leadership emerges on both sides after this tragedy then that will be a silver lining, because boy is it needed.
"plus what looks like an Israeli rejection of a pause in the fighting in exchange for the release of a number of hostages,"
Has there been any news on this? A while back it was being mooted that the hostages would be released to Iran, which does not seem like a definition of 'released' most of us would recognise. What are the details of the hostage release - I assume this is the Qatari deal, which is only for 50 or so hostages?
Yes.
But 50 hostages is better than no hostages.
They were willing to accept releases of them earlier on.
I hadn't heard they were to be released to Iran, which wouldn't be an effective release as you say, but if that wasn't the case it looks to me as though Netanyahu has decided he can't rescue them and has decided to go for full annihilation of Hamas in Gaza in revenge.
Which most sane people would be quite happy about given what a bunch of scumbags Hamas are if it wasn't for the people of Gaza being in the way. Deliberately so.
And if the Israelis take Khan Yunus, what exactly are they planning to leave untouched?
if Netanyahu can exploit it to capture Gaza and expel the Palestinian population there I suspect privately he will be very pleased. And whatever he says in public, I doubt if he really cares about the lives of Israeli civilians any more than he does Palestinian ones.
With the news that the IDF plan to advance on Khan Yunus, and the death of a hostage, plus what looks like an Israeli rejection of a pause in the fighting in exchange for the release of a number of hostages, looks like I wasn't far out.
If fresh leadership emerges on both sides after this tragedy then that will be a silver lining, because boy is it needed.
There was also talk from Israeli government minster today that they didn't see any difference between PA and Hamas.
The Israelis have totally taken the gloves off, yes.
In some respects that's partly our fault: they don't feel anyone else has their back, or cares much about them, so they have to do an absolutely comprehensive job to be safe.
IDF says it has retrieved the body of Yehudit Weiss, who was captured by Hamas on October 7, from a building near Shifa Hospital in the Gaza Strip.
Bibi's attempts to save any hostages seems to have been at best sketchy. He has been much better at razing hospitals to the ground.
It's as though he didn't give a **** for hostages, or Gazan civilians.
As takes go, that's a rather poor one.
Don't blame Israel for the fate of the hostages. Blame Hamas. It's all in their hands.
Christ some people are as dull as dishwater on here.
My point, as I have corrected Casino, was not some Corbynista celebration of Hamas, it was confirming my view that Netanyahu is not only useless but wicked too.
Netanyahu may be Prime Minister, but he represents perhaps a minority of Israelis.
I'm glad you understand quite how dull you are.
Again, blame Hamas. They have taken hostages, and are holding them. They can release them any time they want, with no strings attached. But they choose not to.
FFS. Where am I exonerating Hamas? Where am I claiming it is not Hamas who have taken and are holding the hostages? Do I have to follow your lead because if I don't blow smoke up. Bibi's ass, I am a Corbynista traitor.
I don't want to go all Leon on you, but you are not very bright tonight. A long day?
IDF says it has retrieved the body of Yehudit Weiss, who was captured by Hamas on October 7, from a building near Shifa Hospital in the Gaza Strip.
Bibi's attempts to save any hostages seems to have been at best sketchy. He has been much better at razing hospitals to the ground.
It's as though he didn't give a **** for hostages, or Gazan civilians.
As takes go, that's a rather poor one.
Don't blame Israel for the fate of the hostages. Blame Hamas. It's all in their hands.
Christ some people are as dull as dishwater on here.
My point, as I have corrected Casino, was not some Corbynista celebration of Hamas, it was confirming my view that Netanyahu is not only useless but wicked too.
Are you assuming that she was killed by the IDF?
Hamas have no agency of their own. As the oppressed, they are marionettes who are only give agency by the existence and actions of their oppressors.
This is the song that some sing. The funny bit is that it leads to two conclusions
1) Since they don't have moral agency, they are not responsible for their actions 2) Since they don't have moral agency, they are... "human animals" as the Netanyahuists put it, and there is no moral objection to slaughtering them.
IDF says it has retrieved the body of Yehudit Weiss, who was captured by Hamas on October 7, from a building near Shifa Hospital in the Gaza Strip.
Bibi's attempts to save any hostages seems to have been at best sketchy. He has been much better at razing hospitals to the ground.
It's as though he didn't give a **** for hostages, or Gazan civilians.
As takes go, that's a rather poor one.
Don't blame Israel for the fate of the hostages. Blame Hamas. It's all in their hands.
Christ some people are as dull as dishwater on here.
My point, as I have corrected Casino, was not some Corbynista celebration of Hamas, it was confirming my view that Netanyahu is not only useless but wicked too.
Netanyahu may be Prime Minister, but he represents perhaps a minority of Israelis.
I'm glad you understand quite how dull you are.
Again, blame Hamas. They have taken hostages, and are holding them. They can release them any time they want, with no strings attached. But they choose not to.
FFS. Where am I exonerating Hamas? Where am I claiming it is not Hamas who have taken and are holding the hostages? Do I have to follow your lead because if I don't blow smoke up. Bibi's ass, I am a Corbynista traitor.
(Snip)
You wrote: "It's as though he (Bibi) didn't give a **** for hostages"
That's essentially blaming him for the death, isn't it?
I realise this is missing the point but why is the cabbie recording (let alone posting to X) what sounds like a private phone call?
That’s a road cam - for accidents/incidents. Most of them record sound in the vehicle as well.
Quite a few black cabs have internal security cameras as well.
There is a reason the glass partitions are made of toughened glass…
In a black cab, there is a sort of intercom between driver and passengers (with a red light). I don't know the precise ins and outs but suspect "sources close to" the ranting passenger could put in a complaint to TfL.
Is there an expectation of privacy in a taxi?
I don't know. But I do know every taxi I've been in for at least the past five years has had a camera pointed to the passengers.
If you are in a cab, you are in someone else's car. There is no expectation of privacy by any sensible person. If you want privacy, go find a private place.
Cab drivers have to put up with a shit ton of nasty behaviour.
The gentleman above seems upset that a cab driver kicked out a racist wanker for being racist.
I realise this is missing the point but why is the cabbie recording (let alone posting to X) what sounds like a private phone call?
That’s a road cam - for accidents/incidents. Most of them record sound in the vehicle as well.
Quite a few black cabs have internal security cameras as well.
There is a reason the glass partitions are made of toughened glass…
In a black cab, there is a sort of intercom between driver and passengers (with a red light). I don't know the precise ins and outs but suspect "sources close to" the ranting passenger could put in a complaint to TfL.
Is there an expectation of privacy in a taxi?
I don't know. But I do know every taxi I've been in for at least the past five years has had a camera pointed to the passengers.
If you are in a cab, you are in someone else's car. There is no expectation of privacy by any sensible person. If you want privacy, go find a private place.
Cab drivers have to put up with a shit ton of nasty behaviour.
The gentleman above seems upset that a cab driver kicked out a racist wanker for being racist.
IDF says it has retrieved the body of Yehudit Weiss, who was captured by Hamas on October 7, from a building near Shifa Hospital in the Gaza Strip.
Bibi's attempts to save any hostages seems to have been at best sketchy. He has been much better at razing hospitals to the ground.
It's as though he didn't give a **** for hostages, or Gazan civilians.
As takes go, that's a rather poor one.
Don't blame Israel for the fate of the hostages. Blame Hamas. It's all in their hands.
Christ some people are as dull as dishwater on here.
My point, as I have corrected Casino, was not some Corbynista celebration of Hamas, it was confirming my view that Netanyahu is not only useless but wicked too.
Netanyahu may be Prime Minister, but he represents perhaps a minority of Israelis.
I'm glad you understand quite how dull you are.
Again, blame Hamas. They have taken hostages, and are holding them. They can release them any time they want, with no strings attached. But they choose not to.
FFS. Where am I exonerating Hamas? Where am I claiming it is not Hamas who have taken and are holding the hostages? Do I have to follow your lead because if I don't blow smoke up. Bibi's ass, I am a Corbynista traitor.
I don't want to go all Leon on you, but you are not very bright tonight. A long day?
if Netanyahu can exploit it to capture Gaza and expel the Palestinian population there I suspect privately he will be very pleased. And whatever he says in public, I doubt if he really cares about the lives of Israeli civilians any more than he does Palestinian ones.
With the news that the IDF plan to advance on Khan Yunus, and the death of a hostage, plus what looks like an Israeli rejection of a pause in the fighting in exchange for the release of a number of hostages, looks like I wasn't far out.
If fresh leadership emerges on both sides after this tragedy then that will be a silver lining, because boy is it needed.
"plus what looks like an Israeli rejection of a pause in the fighting in exchange for the release of a number of hostages,"
Has there been any news on this? A while back it was being mooted that the hostages would be released to Iran, which does not seem like a definition of 'released' most of us would recognise. What are the details of the hostage release - I assume this is the Qatari deal, which is only for 50 or so hostages?
Yes.
But 50 hostages is better than no hostages.
They were willing to accept releases of them earlier on.
I hadn't heard they were to be released to Iran, which wouldn't be an effective release as you say, but if that wasn't the case it looks to me as though Netanyahu has decided he can't rescue them and has decided to go for full annihilation of Hamas in Gaza in revenge.
Which most sane people would be quite happy about given what a bunch of scumbags Hamas are if it wasn't for the people of Gaza being in the way. Deliberately so.
And if the Israelis take Khan Yunus, what exactly are they planning to leave untouched?
"I hadn't heard they were to be released to Iran"
From memory, that was a proposal from Hamas earlier on - I was wondering if that was part of this deal (though I'd expect Iran to be part of the deal if that was the case). AFAIR there were other strings; it was a few hostages, and in return Hamas got a few hundred/thousand of their people back from Israeli prisons.
Note: it is alleged that one of the main organisers of the Oct 7th atrocity was someone released from an Israeli prison in an earlier swap. If true, or if the Israelis think itis true, I can see them being less keen on prisoner exchanges...
IDF says it has retrieved the body of Yehudit Weiss, who was captured by Hamas on October 7, from a building near Shifa Hospital in the Gaza Strip.
Bibi's attempts to save any hostages seems to have been at best sketchy. He has been much better at razing hospitals to the ground.
It's as though he didn't give a **** for hostages, or Gazan civilians.
As takes go, that's a rather poor one.
Don't blame Israel for the fate of the hostages. Blame Hamas. It's all in their hands.
Christ some people are as dull as dishwater on here.
My point, as I have corrected Casino, was not some Corbynista celebration of Hamas, it was confirming my view that Netanyahu is not only useless but wicked too.
Netanyahu may be Prime Minister, but he represents perhaps a minority of Israelis.
I'm glad you understand quite how dull you are.
Again, blame Hamas. They have taken hostages, and are holding them. They can release them any time they want, with no strings attached. But they choose not to.
FFS. Where am I exonerating Hamas? Where am I claiming it is not Hamas who have taken and are holding the hostages? Do I have to follow your lead because if I don't blow smoke up. Bibi's ass, I am a Corbynista traitor.
I don't want to go all Leon on you, but you are not very bright tonight. A long day?
Almost all of us think Bibi is a dick.
That's a disturbing comment, because it implies some people think he isn't.
IDF says it has retrieved the body of Yehudit Weiss, who was captured by Hamas on October 7, from a building near Shifa Hospital in the Gaza Strip.
Bibi's attempts to save any hostages seems to have been at best sketchy. He has been much better at razing hospitals to the ground.
It's as though he didn't give a **** for hostages, or Gazan civilians.
As takes go, that's a rather poor one.
Don't blame Israel for the fate of the hostages. Blame Hamas. It's all in their hands.
Christ some people are as dull as dishwater on here.
My point, as I have corrected Casino, was not some Corbynista celebration of Hamas, it was confirming my view that Netanyahu is not only useless but wicked too.
Netanyahu may be Prime Minister, but he represents perhaps a minority of Israelis.
I'm glad you understand quite how dull you are.
Again, blame Hamas. They have taken hostages, and are holding them. They can release them any time they want, with no strings attached. But they choose not to.
FFS. Where am I exonerating Hamas? Where am I claiming it is not Hamas who have taken and are holding the hostages? Do I have to follow your lead because if I don't blow smoke up. Bibi's ass, I am a Corbynista traitor.
(Snip)
You wrote: "It's as though he (Bibi) didn't give a **** for hostages"
That's essentially blaming him for the death, isn't it?
Not at all. I am blaming Hamas unequivocally for their disgusting bloodlust on 7th of October, their vile hostage taking and their subsequent killing of those hostages.
I am saying Bibi has done nothing, and I mean nothing to recover the hostages. Why has he done nothing? I suspect it is because he doesn't care about their welfare because Bibi's priority is Bibi. I suspect Bibi is a sociopath which is why he will be comfortable if it takes 2.3 million dead to erase Hamas in Gaza and 3million dead in the West Bank just for good measure. In for a penny in for a pound.
My analysis is limited to Netanyahu, it is not a reflection on Israel or the people of Israel. It is not a rallying cry for Hamas. It is my view and I am entitled to it.
Is anyone calling on Zelenskyy to surrender in order to stop the fighting and end the suffering?
Surely they're just delaying the inevitable at this point and heaping further agony onto the people of Ukraine.
No. Ukraine can win, and their victory would make the world better and safer. Hamas cannot, but if they did, it would make the world a worse and more dangerous place.
So take your take equivalence and stick it up your arse.
(And of course, plenty of people are telling the Ukrainians to surrender. Is Orban and Musk really the company you want to keep?)
if Netanyahu can exploit it to capture Gaza and expel the Palestinian population there I suspect privately he will be very pleased. And whatever he says in public, I doubt if he really cares about the lives of Israeli civilians any more than he does Palestinian ones.
With the news that the IDF plan to advance on Khan Yunus, and the death of a hostage, plus what looks like an Israeli rejection of a pause in the fighting in exchange for the release of a number of hostages, looks like I wasn't far out.
If fresh leadership emerges on both sides after this tragedy then that will be a silver lining, because boy is it needed.
There was also talk from Israeli government minster today that they didn't see any difference between PA and Hamas.
The Israelis have totally taken the gloves off, yes.
In some respects that's partly our fault: they don't feel anyone else has their back, or cares much about them, so they have to do an absolutely comprehensive job to be safe.
On the other hand, Israel used to be very concerned about Western public opinion.
They would go out of their way to make it clear that they supported a two states solution; they would reign settlers in if they acted out; and they ensured that (sure) settlement building continued, but that it didn't involve demolishing Palestinian towns.
So, yes, Israel has - to some extent - been abandoned by the world. But some of that is because it has changed and become more insular. It became confident that US support was unconditional and unwavering. And that meant it no longer cared so much about the public relations and the views of the West.
Not so long ago, when I was at University (1992-95), students could sign up to travel to Israel on trips organized by the Israeli government, that - if not all paid for - were very heavily subsidised. OGH met my mother on such a trip in the 1960s. There was an active effort to promote Israel as a democratic, inclusive society that treated Muslims better than they were treated in the Arab nations in the area.
Is anyone calling on Zelenskyy to surrender in order to stop the fighting and end the suffering?
Surely they're just delaying the inevitable at this point and heaping further agony onto the people of Ukraine.
No. Ukraine can win, and their victory would make the world better and safer. Hamas cannot, but if they did, it would make the world a worse and more dangerous place.
So take your take equivalence and stick it up your arse.
(And if course, plenty of people are telling the Ukrainians to surrender. Is Orban and Musk really the company you want to keep?)
Correction! I DON'T want Ukraine to surrender and never have done. Ukraine should win back every square inch of territory taken by Russia.
IDF says it has retrieved the body of Yehudit Weiss, who was captured by Hamas on October 7, from a building near Shifa Hospital in the Gaza Strip.
Bibi's attempts to save any hostages seems to have been at best sketchy. He has been much better at razing hospitals to the ground.
It's as though he didn't give a **** for hostages, or Gazan civilians.
As takes go, that's a rather poor one.
Don't blame Israel for the fate of the hostages. Blame Hamas. It's all in their hands.
Christ some people are as dull as dishwater on here.
My point, as I have corrected Casino, was not some Corbynista celebration of Hamas, it was confirming my view that Netanyahu is not only useless but wicked too.
Netanyahu may be Prime Minister, but he represents perhaps a minority of Israelis.
I'm glad you understand quite how dull you are.
Again, blame Hamas. They have taken hostages, and are holding them. They can release them any time they want, with no strings attached. But they choose not to.
FFS. Where am I exonerating Hamas? Where am I claiming it is not Hamas who have taken and are holding the hostages? Do I have to follow your lead because if I don't blow smoke up. Bibi's ass, I am a Corbynista traitor.
(Snip)
You wrote: "It's as though he (Bibi) didn't give a **** for hostages"
That's essentially blaming him for the death, isn't it?
I don't think that's necessarily true.
During the cold war, long ago, a number of Soviet citizens were kidnapped in the Lebanon. The Soviet Union went in guns blazing, killed the hostage takers, and lost their citizens.
That was a calculated gambit: that this move wouldn't save these hostages but would prevent further ones from being taken.
Noting that is not blaming the Soviet Union for the hostages being taken.
if Netanyahu can exploit it to capture Gaza and expel the Palestinian population there I suspect privately he will be very pleased. And whatever he says in public, I doubt if he really cares about the lives of Israeli civilians any more than he does Palestinian ones.
With the news that the IDF plan to advance on Khan Yunus, and the death of a hostage, plus what looks like an Israeli rejection of a pause in the fighting in exchange for the release of a number of hostages, looks like I wasn't far out.
If fresh leadership emerges on both sides after this tragedy then that will be a silver lining, because boy is it needed.
There was also talk from Israeli government minster today that they didn't see any difference between PA and Hamas.
The Israelis have totally taken the gloves off, yes.
In some respects that's partly our fault: they don't feel anyone else has their back, or cares much about them, so they have to do an absolutely comprehensive job to be safe.
On the other hand, Israel used to be very concerned about Western public opinion.
They would go out of their way to make it clear that they supported a two states solution; they would reign settlers in if they acted out; and they ensured that (sure) settlement building continued, but that it didn't involve demolishing Palestinian towns.
So, yes, Israel has - to some extent - been abandoned by the world. But some of that is because it has changed and become more insular. It became confident that US support was unconditional and unwavering. And that meant it no longer cared so much about the public relations and the views of the West.
Not so long ago, when I was at University (1992-95), students could sign up to travel to Israel on trips organized by the Israeli government, that - if not all paid for - were very heavily subsidised. OGH met my mother on such a trip in the 1960s. There was an active effort to promote Israel as a democratic, inclusive society that treated Muslims better than they were treated in the Arab nations in the area.
This may be incorrect, or even bad of me, but I put a lot of the blame for the mess in Israeli politics (i.e. Bibi) on the Russian Jews who have fled to Israel since 1989. AIUI they also make a large portion of the most troublesome settlers as well, and I think are generally supporters of his party.
IDF says it has retrieved the body of Yehudit Weiss, who was captured by Hamas on October 7, from a building near Shifa Hospital in the Gaza Strip.
Bibi's attempts to save any hostages seems to have been at best sketchy. He has been much better at razing hospitals to the ground.
It's as though he didn't give a **** for hostages, or Gazan civilians.
As takes go, that's a rather poor one.
Don't blame Israel for the fate of the hostages. Blame Hamas. It's all in their hands.
Christ some people are as dull as dishwater on here.
My point, as I have corrected Casino, was not some Corbynista celebration of Hamas, it was confirming my view that Netanyahu is not only useless but wicked too.
Netanyahu may be Prime Minister, but he represents perhaps a minority of Israelis.
I'm glad you understand quite how dull you are.
Again, blame Hamas. They have taken hostages, and are holding them. They can release them any time they want, with no strings attached. But they choose not to.
FFS. Where am I exonerating Hamas? Where am I claiming it is not Hamas who have taken and are holding the hostages? Do I have to follow your lead because if I don't blow smoke up. Bibi's ass, I am a Corbynista traitor.
(Snip)
You wrote: "It's as though he (Bibi) didn't give a **** for hostages"
That's essentially blaming him for the death, isn't it?
Not at all. I am blaming Hamas unequivocally for their disgusting bloodlust on 7th of October, their vile hostage taking and their subsequent killing of those hostages.
I am saying Bibi has done nothing, and I mean nothing to recover the hostages. Why has he done nothing? I suspect it is because he doesn't care about their welfare because Bibi's priority is Bibi. I suspect Bibi is a sociopath which is why he will be comfortable if it takes 2.3 million dead to erase Hamas in Gaza and 3million dead in the West Bank just for good measure. In for a penny in for a pound.
My analysis is limited to Netanyahu, it is not a reflection on Israel or the people of Israel. It is not a rallying cry for Hamas. It is my view and I am entitled to it.
Fair enough; that is not the way it came across in the context of the tragic death of a hostage.
But I also query: "I am saying Bibi has done nothing, and I mean nothing to recover the hostages."
How do you know? There have been negotiations, which sadly have not yet succeeded. How do you know that Bibi is the main (or only) stumbling block to the negotiations, and not conditions put on a deal by Hamas or even a.n.other?
What else do you expect Bibi to do to get the hostages released?
if Netanyahu can exploit it to capture Gaza and expel the Palestinian population there I suspect privately he will be very pleased. And whatever he says in public, I doubt if he really cares about the lives of Israeli civilians any more than he does Palestinian ones.
With the news that the IDF plan to advance on Khan Yunus, and the death of a hostage, plus what looks like an Israeli rejection of a pause in the fighting in exchange for the release of a number of hostages, looks like I wasn't far out.
If fresh leadership emerges on both sides after this tragedy then that will be a silver lining, because boy is it needed.
There was also talk from Israeli government minster today that they didn't see any difference between PA and Hamas.
The Israelis have totally taken the gloves off, yes.
In some respects that's partly our fault: they don't feel anyone else has their back, or cares much about them, so they have to do an absolutely comprehensive job to be safe.
On the other hand, Israel used to be very concerned about Western public opinion.
They would go out of their way to make it clear that they supported a two states solution; they would reign settlers in if they acted out; and they ensured that (sure) settlement building continued, but that it didn't involve demolishing Palestinian towns.
So, yes, Israel has - to some extent - been abandoned by the world. But some of that is because it has changed and become more insular. It became confident that US support was unconditional and unwavering. And that meant it no longer cared so much about the public relations and the views of the West.
Not so long ago, when I was at University (1992-95), students could sign up to travel to Israel on trips organized by the Israeli government, that - if not all paid for - were very heavily subsidised. OGH met my mother on such a trip in the 1960s. There was an active effort to promote Israel as a democratic, inclusive society that treated Muslims better than they were treated in the Arab nations in the area.
This may be incorrect, or even bad of me, but I put a lot of the blame for the mess in Israeli politics (i.e. Bibi) on the Russian Jews who have fled to Israel since 1989. AIUI they also make a large portion of the most troublesome settlers as well, and I think are generally supporters of his party.
I realise this is missing the point but why is the cabbie recording (let alone posting to X) what sounds like a private phone call?
That’s a road cam - for accidents/incidents. Most of them record sound in the vehicle as well.
Quite a few black cabs have internal security cameras as well.
There is a reason the glass partitions are made of toughened glass…
In a black cab, there is a sort of intercom between driver and passengers (with a red light). I don't know the precise ins and outs but suspect "sources close to" the ranting passenger could put in a complaint to TfL.
Is there an expectation of privacy in a taxi?
I don't know. But I do know every taxi I've been in for at least the past five years has had a camera pointed to the passengers.
If you are in a cab, you are in someone else's car. There is no expectation of privacy by any sensible person. If you want privacy, go find a private place.
Cab drivers have to put up with a shit ton of nasty behaviour.
The gentleman above seems upset that a cab driver kicked out a racist wanker for being racist.
No, the gentleman above has not queried that part but is surprised that recording passengers' calls is allowed.
if Netanyahu can exploit it to capture Gaza and expel the Palestinian population there I suspect privately he will be very pleased. And whatever he says in public, I doubt if he really cares about the lives of Israeli civilians any more than he does Palestinian ones.
With the news that the IDF plan to advance on Khan Yunus, and the death of a hostage, plus what looks like an Israeli rejection of a pause in the fighting in exchange for the release of a number of hostages, looks like I wasn't far out.
If fresh leadership emerges on both sides after this tragedy then that will be a silver lining, because boy is it needed.
"plus what looks like an Israeli rejection of a pause in the fighting in exchange for the release of a number of hostages,"
Has there been any news on this? A while back it was being mooted that the hostages would be released to Iran, which does not seem like a definition of 'released' most of us would recognise. What are the details of the hostage release - I assume this is the Qatari deal, which is only for 50 or so hostages?
Yes.
But 50 hostages is better than no hostages.
They were willing to accept releases of them earlier on.
I hadn't heard they were to be released to Iran, which wouldn't be an effective release as you say, but if that wasn't the case it looks to me as though Netanyahu has decided he can't rescue them and has decided to go for full annihilation of Hamas in Gaza in revenge.
Which most sane people would be quite happy about given what a bunch of scumbags Hamas are if it wasn't for the people of Gaza being in the way. Deliberately so.
And if the Israelis take Khan Yunus, what exactly are they planning to leave untouched?
"I hadn't heard they were to be released to Iran"
From memory, that was a proposal from Hamas earlier on - I was wondering if that was part of this deal (though I'd expect Iran to be part of the deal if that was the case). AFAIR there were other strings; it was a few hostages, and in return Hamas got a few hundred/thousand of their people back from Israeli prisons.
Note: it is alleged that one of the main organisers of the Oct 7th atrocity was someone released from an Israeli prison in an earlier swap. If true, or if the Israelis think itis true, I can see them being less keen on prisoner exchanges...
A very large proportion of Palestinians held by the Israeli government are held without trial or charge, currently about 10 000.
I realise this is missing the point but why is the cabbie recording (let alone posting to X) what sounds like a private phone call?
That’s a road cam - for accidents/incidents. Most of them record sound in the vehicle as well.
Quite a few black cabs have internal security cameras as well.
There is a reason the glass partitions are made of toughened glass…
In a black cab, there is a sort of intercom between driver and passengers (with a red light). I don't know the precise ins and outs but suspect "sources close to" the ranting passenger could put in a complaint to TfL.
Is there an expectation of privacy in a taxi?
I don't know. But I do know every taxi I've been in for at least the past five years has had a camera pointed to the passengers.
If you are in a cab, you are in someone else's car. There is no expectation of privacy by any sensible person. If you want privacy, go find a private place.
Cab drivers have to put up with a shit ton of nasty behaviour.
The gentleman above seems upset that a cab driver kicked out a racist wanker for being racist.
No, the gentleman above has not queried that part but is surprised that recording passengers' calls is allowed.
You will get recorded in many cabs, because the number of assaults on cab drivers and the allegations that relate to them.
Think about the seat belt exemption and what that means.
if Netanyahu can exploit it to capture Gaza and expel the Palestinian population there I suspect privately he will be very pleased. And whatever he says in public, I doubt if he really cares about the lives of Israeli civilians any more than he does Palestinian ones.
With the news that the IDF plan to advance on Khan Yunus, and the death of a hostage, plus what looks like an Israeli rejection of a pause in the fighting in exchange for the release of a number of hostages, looks like I wasn't far out.
If fresh leadership emerges on both sides after this tragedy then that will be a silver lining, because boy is it needed.
There was also talk from Israeli government minster today that they didn't see any difference between PA and Hamas.
The Israelis have totally taken the gloves off, yes.
In some respects that's partly our fault: they don't feel anyone else has their back, or cares much about them, so they have to do an absolutely comprehensive job to be safe.
That's rubbish. If no-one has their back what are two US Navy carrier groups floating around for? Travel writing? Flint knapping? If anything the opposite is true, and the Israeli government feels no restraint because it is confident America, and the West generally, has its back.
if Netanyahu can exploit it to capture Gaza and expel the Palestinian population there I suspect privately he will be very pleased. And whatever he says in public, I doubt if he really cares about the lives of Israeli civilians any more than he does Palestinian ones.
With the news that the IDF plan to advance on Khan Yunus, and the death of a hostage, plus what looks like an Israeli rejection of a pause in the fighting in exchange for the release of a number of hostages, looks like I wasn't far out.
If fresh leadership emerges on both sides after this tragedy then that will be a silver lining, because boy is it needed.
"plus what looks like an Israeli rejection of a pause in the fighting in exchange for the release of a number of hostages,"
Has there been any news on this? A while back it was being mooted that the hostages would be released to Iran, which does not seem like a definition of 'released' most of us would recognise. What are the details of the hostage release - I assume this is the Qatari deal, which is only for 50 or so hostages?
Yes.
But 50 hostages is better than no hostages.
They were willing to accept releases of them earlier on.
I hadn't heard they were to be released to Iran, which wouldn't be an effective release as you say, but if that wasn't the case it looks to me as though Netanyahu has decided he can't rescue them and has decided to go for full annihilation of Hamas in Gaza in revenge.
Which most sane people would be quite happy about given what a bunch of scumbags Hamas are if it wasn't for the people of Gaza being in the way. Deliberately so.
And if the Israelis take Khan Yunus, what exactly are they planning to leave untouched?
"I hadn't heard they were to be released to Iran"
From memory, that was a proposal from Hamas earlier on - I was wondering if that was part of this deal (though I'd expect Iran to be part of the deal if that was the case). AFAIR there were other strings; it was a few hostages, and in return Hamas got a few hundred/thousand of their people back from Israeli prisons.
Note: it is alleged that one of the main organisers of the Oct 7th atrocity was someone released from an Israeli prison in an earlier swap. If true, or if the Israelis think itis true, I can see them being less keen on prisoner exchanges...
A very large proportion of Palestinians held by the Israeli government are held without trial or charge, currently about 10 000.
I realise this is missing the point but why is the cabbie recording (let alone posting to X) what sounds like a private phone call?
That’s a road cam - for accidents/incidents. Most of them record sound in the vehicle as well.
Quite a few black cabs have internal security cameras as well.
There is a reason the glass partitions are made of toughened glass…
In a black cab, there is a sort of intercom between driver and passengers (with a red light). I don't know the precise ins and outs but suspect "sources close to" the ranting passenger could put in a complaint to TfL.
Is there an expectation of privacy in a taxi?
I don't know. But I do know every taxi I've been in for at least the past five years has had a camera pointed to the passengers.
If you are in a cab, you are in someone else's car. There is no expectation of privacy by any sensible person. If you want privacy, go find a private place.
Cab drivers have to put up with a shit ton of nasty behaviour.
The gentleman above seems upset that a cab driver kicked out a racist wanker for being racist.
No, the gentleman above has not queried that part but is surprised that recording passengers' calls is allowed.
You will get recorded in many cabs, because the number of assaults on cab drivers and the allegations that relate to them.
Think about the seat belt exemption and what that means.
There is a Youtuber called Tom the Taxi Driver whose videos were called in by TfL for breaching passenger confidentiality and now all faces are blurred. Black cabs are not like Ubers or minicabs where everyone shares the same space; there is a glassed-off drivers' compartment, with a notice that he or she cannot hear you if the intercom is off. Surely that is enough to create an expectation of privacy.
if Netanyahu can exploit it to capture Gaza and expel the Palestinian population there I suspect privately he will be very pleased. And whatever he says in public, I doubt if he really cares about the lives of Israeli civilians any more than he does Palestinian ones.
With the news that the IDF plan to advance on Khan Yunus, and the death of a hostage, plus what looks like an Israeli rejection of a pause in the fighting in exchange for the release of a number of hostages, looks like I wasn't far out.
If fresh leadership emerges on both sides after this tragedy then that will be a silver lining, because boy is it needed.
There was also talk from Israeli government minster today that they didn't see any difference between PA and Hamas.
The Israelis have totally taken the gloves off, yes.
In some respects that's partly our fault: they don't feel anyone else has their back, or cares much about them, so they have to do an absolutely comprehensive job to be safe.
That's rubbish. If no-one has their back what are two US Navy carrier groups floating around for? Travel writing? Flint knapping? If anything the opposite is true, and the Israeli government feels no restraint because it is confident America, and the West generally, has its back.
"That's rubbish. If no-one has their back what are two US Navy carrier groups floating around for?"
A large part of it will be to keep Iran in its place wrt Hezbollah, and to dissuade other actors from getting involved. In other words, to stop the mess getting any bigger.
I realise this is missing the point but why is the cabbie recording (let alone posting to X) what sounds like a private phone call?
That’s a road cam - for accidents/incidents. Most of them record sound in the vehicle as well.
Quite a few black cabs have internal security cameras as well.
There is a reason the glass partitions are made of toughened glass…
In a black cab, there is a sort of intercom between driver and passengers (with a red light). I don't know the precise ins and outs but suspect "sources close to" the ranting passenger could put in a complaint to TfL.
Is there an expectation of privacy in a taxi?
I don't know. But I do know every taxi I've been in for at least the past five years has had a camera pointed to the passengers.
If you are in a cab, you are in someone else's car. There is no expectation of privacy by any sensible person. If you want privacy, go find a private place.
Cab drivers have to put up with a shit ton of nasty behaviour.
The gentleman above seems upset that a cab driver kicked out a racist wanker for being racist.
No, the gentleman above has not queried that part but is surprised that recording passengers' calls is allowed.
You will get recorded in many cabs, because the number of assaults on cab drivers and the allegations that relate to them.
Think about the seat belt exemption and what that means.
if Netanyahu can exploit it to capture Gaza and expel the Palestinian population there I suspect privately he will be very pleased. And whatever he says in public, I doubt if he really cares about the lives of Israeli civilians any more than he does Palestinian ones.
With the news that the IDF plan to advance on Khan Yunus, and the death of a hostage, plus what looks like an Israeli rejection of a pause in the fighting in exchange for the release of a number of hostages, looks like I wasn't far out.
If fresh leadership emerges on both sides after this tragedy then that will be a silver lining, because boy is it needed.
Is there any reason to believe that the next leadership on either side is going to be more reasonable?
I reckon that they will be more radical on both sides. That is the nature of the conflict.
In the end won't it come down to what the US will permit? Which in the event of POTUS Trump II, would probably consist of egging on Bibi.
if Netanyahu can exploit it to capture Gaza and expel the Palestinian population there I suspect privately he will be very pleased. And whatever he says in public, I doubt if he really cares about the lives of Israeli civilians any more than he does Palestinian ones.
With the news that the IDF plan to advance on Khan Yunus, and the death of a hostage, plus what looks like an Israeli rejection of a pause in the fighting in exchange for the release of a number of hostages, looks like I wasn't far out.
If fresh leadership emerges on both sides after this tragedy then that will be a silver lining, because boy is it needed.
There was also talk from Israeli government minster today that they didn't see any difference between PA and Hamas.
The Israelis have totally taken the gloves off, yes.
In some respects that's partly our fault: they don't feel anyone else has their back, or cares much about them, so they have to do an absolutely comprehensive job to be safe.
On the other hand, Israel used to be very concerned about Western public opinion.
They would go out of their way to make it clear that they supported a two states solution; they would reign settlers in if they acted out; and they ensured that (sure) settlement building continued, but that it didn't involve demolishing Palestinian towns.
So, yes, Israel has - to some extent - been abandoned by the world. But some of that is because it has changed and become more insular. It became confident that US support was unconditional and unwavering. And that meant it no longer cared so much about the public relations and the views of the West.
Not so long ago, when I was at University (1992-95), students could sign up to travel to Israel on trips organized by the Israeli government, that - if not all paid for - were very heavily subsidised. OGH met my mother on such a trip in the 1960s. There was an active effort to promote Israel as a democratic, inclusive society that treated Muslims better than they were treated in the Arab nations in the area.
This may be incorrect, or even bad of me, but I put a lot of the blame for the mess in Israeli politics (i.e. Bibi) on the Russian Jews who have fled to Israel since 1989. AIUI they also make a large portion of the most troublesome settlers as well, and I think are generally supporters of his party.
To a degree. A lot of the Russian Jews that arrived after the USSR collapsed were fairly secular, and indeed often even minority Jewish. The rule is that one Jewish grandparent is enough, the same as the Nazis.
The Israeli government has an explicit education policy that prioritises Orthodox and Haredi ideas over more secular and Reform Judaism. So 35 years later the descendents of these Russians are now more Orthodox and right wing.
Over the last 30 years, and combined with the higher birthrates of the ultra-orthodox, this educational policy has shifted Israelis into a more religious and less secular society. These then see the settlements and land seizures as a religious duty, rather than anything more secular objectives.
A parallel is allowing Saudi funding of Salafist teachings in Madrassas in Europe*, and as time goes on each generation becomes more fanatical, and less interested on compromise.
*and yes we do allow this in the UK. Astonishingly
if Netanyahu can exploit it to capture Gaza and expel the Palestinian population there I suspect privately he will be very pleased. And whatever he says in public, I doubt if he really cares about the lives of Israeli civilians any more than he does Palestinian ones.
With the news that the IDF plan to advance on Khan Yunus, and the death of a hostage, plus what looks like an Israeli rejection of a pause in the fighting in exchange for the release of a number of hostages, looks like I wasn't far out.
If fresh leadership emerges on both sides after this tragedy then that will be a silver lining, because boy is it needed.
"plus what looks like an Israeli rejection of a pause in the fighting in exchange for the release of a number of hostages,"
Has there been any news on this? A while back it was being mooted that the hostages would be released to Iran, which does not seem like a definition of 'released' most of us would recognise. What are the details of the hostage release - I assume this is the Qatari deal, which is only for 50 or so hostages?
Yes.
But 50 hostages is better than no hostages.
They were willing to accept releases of them earlier on.
I hadn't heard they were to be released to Iran, which wouldn't be an effective release as you say, but if that wasn't the case it looks to me as though Netanyahu has decided he can't rescue them and has decided to go for full annihilation of Hamas in Gaza in revenge.
Which most sane people would be quite happy about given what a bunch of scumbags Hamas are if it wasn't for the people of Gaza being in the way. Deliberately so.
And if the Israelis take Khan Yunus, what exactly are they planning to leave untouched?
"I hadn't heard they were to be released to Iran"
From memory, that was a proposal from Hamas earlier on - I was wondering if that was part of this deal (though I'd expect Iran to be part of the deal if that was the case). AFAIR there were other strings; it was a few hostages, and in return Hamas got a few hundred/thousand of their people back from Israeli prisons.
Note: it is alleged that one of the main organisers of the Oct 7th atrocity was someone released from an Israeli prison in an earlier swap. If true, or if the Israelis think itis true, I can see them being less keen on prisoner exchanges...
A very large proportion of Palestinians held by the Israeli government are held without trial or charge, currently about 10 000.
if Netanyahu can exploit it to capture Gaza and expel the Palestinian population there I suspect privately he will be very pleased. And whatever he says in public, I doubt if he really cares about the lives of Israeli civilians any more than he does Palestinian ones.
With the news that the IDF plan to advance on Khan Yunus, and the death of a hostage, plus what looks like an Israeli rejection of a pause in the fighting in exchange for the release of a number of hostages, looks like I wasn't far out.
If fresh leadership emerges on both sides after this tragedy then that will be a silver lining, because boy is it needed.
"plus what looks like an Israeli rejection of a pause in the fighting in exchange for the release of a number of hostages,"
Has there been any news on this? A while back it was being mooted that the hostages would be released to Iran, which does not seem like a definition of 'released' most of us would recognise. What are the details of the hostage release - I assume this is the Qatari deal, which is only for 50 or so hostages?
"Netanyahu rejected ceasefire-for-hostages deal in Gaza, sources say Israeli PM said to have turned down proposal in early talks and continues to take tough line [...] According to three sources familiar with the talks, the original deal on the table involved freeing children, women and elderly and sick people in exchange for a five-day ceasefire, but the Israeli government turned this down and demonstrated its rejection with the launch of the ground offensive."
if Netanyahu can exploit it to capture Gaza and expel the Palestinian population there I suspect privately he will be very pleased. And whatever he says in public, I doubt if he really cares about the lives of Israeli civilians any more than he does Palestinian ones.
With the news that the IDF plan to advance on Khan Yunus, and the death of a hostage, plus what looks like an Israeli rejection of a pause in the fighting in exchange for the release of a number of hostages, looks like I wasn't far out.
If fresh leadership emerges on both sides after this tragedy then that will be a silver lining, because boy is it needed.
There was also talk from Israeli government minster today that they didn't see any difference between PA and Hamas.
The Israelis have totally taken the gloves off, yes.
In some respects that's partly our fault: they don't feel anyone else has their back, or cares much about them, so they have to do an absolutely comprehensive job to be safe.
That's rubbish. If no-one has their back what are two US Navy carrier groups floating around for? Travel writing? Flint knapping? If anything the opposite is true, and the Israeli government feels no restraint because it is confident America, and the West generally, has its back.
"That's rubbish. If no-one has their back what are two US Navy carrier groups floating around for?"
A large part of it will be to keep Iran in its place wrt Hezbollah, and to dissuade other actors from getting involved. In other words, to stop the mess getting any bigger.
The evidence seems to be that my (and others') initial take was right and that Iran, and therefore also Hezbollah, were completely blindsided by Hamas. Probably this is one of the factors in Israel being caught unawares because their spies in Iran and Lebanon were reporting nothing back to Tel Aviv.
Has anybody been watching "The Newsreader" on BBC2? I just sat thru an episode in weekday digs and it's OK. Australian drama set in the 80's.
I have been watching "The Australian Wars" on iplayer.
The Australian Wars, Series 1: Episode 1: www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p0gjfgjh via @bbciplayer
Pretty uncomfortable viewing. My paternal ancestors went to Victoria in the 1840s, as farmers, miners and ministers. That was when these events were happening, having been cleared themselves from the Scottish Highlands.
History is pretty unpleasant when looked at this closely and no one has clean hands.
if Netanyahu can exploit it to capture Gaza and expel the Palestinian population there I suspect privately he will be very pleased. And whatever he says in public, I doubt if he really cares about the lives of Israeli civilians any more than he does Palestinian ones.
With the news that the IDF plan to advance on Khan Yunus, and the death of a hostage, plus what looks like an Israeli rejection of a pause in the fighting in exchange for the release of a number of hostages, looks like I wasn't far out.
If fresh leadership emerges on both sides after this tragedy then that will be a silver lining, because boy is it needed.
There was also talk from Israeli government minster today that they didn't see any difference between PA and Hamas.
The Israelis have totally taken the gloves off, yes.
In some respects that's partly our fault: they don't feel anyone else has their back, or cares much about them, so they have to do an absolutely comprehensive job to be safe.
On the other hand, Israel used to be very concerned about Western public opinion.
They would go out of their way to make it clear that they supported a two states solution; they would reign settlers in if they acted out; and they ensured that (sure) settlement building continued, but that it didn't involve demolishing Palestinian towns.
So, yes, Israel has - to some extent - been abandoned by the world. But some of that is because it has changed and become more insular. It became confident that US support was unconditional and unwavering. And that meant it no longer cared so much about the public relations and the views of the West.
Not so long ago, when I was at University (1992-95), students could sign up to travel to Israel on trips organized by the Israeli government, that - if not all paid for - were very heavily subsidised. OGH met my mother on such a trip in the 1960s. There was an active effort to promote Israel as a democratic, inclusive society that treated Muslims better than they were treated in the Arab nations in the area.
This may be incorrect, or even bad of me, but I put a lot of the blame for the mess in Israeli politics (i.e. Bibi) on the Russian Jews who have fled to Israel since 1989. AIUI they also make a large portion of the most troublesome settlers as well, and I think are generally supporters of his party.
To a degree. A lot of the Russian Jews that arrived after the USSR collapsed were fairly secular, and indeed often even minority Jewish. The rule is that one Jewish grandparent is enough, the same as the Nazis.
The Israeli government has an explicit education policy that prioritises Orthodox and Haredi ideas over more secular and Reform Judaism. So 35 years later the descendents of these Russians are now more Orthodox and right wing.
Over the last 30 years, and combined with the higher birthrates of the ultra-orthodox, this educational policy has shifted Israelis into a more religious and less secular society. These then see the settlements and land seizures as a religious duty, rather than anything more secular objectives.
A parallel is allowing Saudi funding of Salafist teachings in Madrassas in Europe*, and as time goes on each generation becomes more fanatical, and less interested on compromise.
*and yes we do allow this in the UK. Astonishingly
Hilariously, we allow this in the prisons - Saudi funded loonies of the most extreme sort, going in to preach there.
if Netanyahu can exploit it to capture Gaza and expel the Palestinian population there I suspect privately he will be very pleased. And whatever he says in public, I doubt if he really cares about the lives of Israeli civilians any more than he does Palestinian ones.
With the news that the IDF plan to advance on Khan Yunus, and the death of a hostage, plus what looks like an Israeli rejection of a pause in the fighting in exchange for the release of a number of hostages, looks like I wasn't far out.
If fresh leadership emerges on both sides after this tragedy then that will be a silver lining, because boy is it needed.
There was also talk from Israeli government minster today that they didn't see any difference between PA and Hamas.
The Israelis have totally taken the gloves off, yes.
In some respects that's partly our fault: they don't feel anyone else has their back, or cares much about them, so they have to do an absolutely comprehensive job to be safe.
On the other hand, Israel used to be very concerned about Western public opinion.
They would go out of their way to make it clear that they supported a two states solution; they would reign settlers in if they acted out; and they ensured that (sure) settlement building continued, but that it didn't involve demolishing Palestinian towns.
So, yes, Israel has - to some extent - been abandoned by the world. But some of that is because it has changed and become more insular. It became confident that US support was unconditional and unwavering. And that meant it no longer cared so much about the public relations and the views of the West.
Not so long ago, when I was at University (1992-95), students could sign up to travel to Israel on trips organized by the Israeli government, that - if not all paid for - were very heavily subsidised. OGH met my mother on such a trip in the 1960s. There was an active effort to promote Israel as a democratic, inclusive society that treated Muslims better than they were treated in the Arab nations in the area.
This may be incorrect, or even bad of me, but I put a lot of the blame for the mess in Israeli politics (i.e. Bibi) on the Russian Jews who have fled to Israel since 1989. AIUI they also make a large portion of the most troublesome settlers as well, and I think are generally supporters of his party.
I think there is a lot of truth in that.
A major pivot in Israel's history that I've not seen mentioned this last month was Rabin's assassination. It showed quite how far the Israeli far right would go to prevent peace being made. The lead up to that event and Netanyahu's part in that are quite something and not something I remember from the time:
Now, I support the idea that quite extensive Israeli action against Hamas in Gaza to reassert the security within Israel itself, but I mistrust Netanyahu even more intensely than usual here. It was his security failure to allow Hamas over the border and the results of that failure, however horrible.... if you'd asked PB to predict in advance how such a scenario would play out, I think it would have got pretty close.
Politically, a few years ago, I said post-COVID BAU politics would be very tricky for Johnson. How much more so for Netanyahu with that failure hanging over him. Whilst the military campaign continues that scrutiny is left for another day.
IDF says it has retrieved the body of Yehudit Weiss, who was captured by Hamas on October 7, from a building near Shifa Hospital in the Gaza Strip.
Bibi's attempts to save any hostages seems to have been at best sketchy. He has been much better at razing hospitals to the ground.
It's as though he didn't give a **** for hostages, or Gazan civilians.
As takes go, that's a rather poor one.
Don't blame Israel for the fate of the hostages. Blame Hamas. It's all in their hands.
Christ some people are as dull as dishwater on here.
My point, as I have corrected Casino, was not some Corbynista celebration of Hamas, it was confirming my view that Netanyahu is not only useless but wicked too.
Netanyahu may be Prime Minister, but he represents perhaps a minority of Israelis.
I'm glad you understand quite how dull you are.
Again, blame Hamas. They have taken hostages, and are holding them. They can release them any time they want, with no strings attached. But they choose not to.
FFS. Where am I exonerating Hamas? Where am I claiming it is not Hamas who have taken and are holding the hostages? Do I have to follow your lead because if I don't blow smoke up. Bibi's ass, I am a Corbynista traitor.
(Snip)
You wrote: "It's as though he (Bibi) didn't give a **** for hostages"
That's essentially blaming him for the death, isn't it?
Not at all. I am blaming Hamas unequivocally for their disgusting bloodlust on 7th of October, their vile hostage taking and their subsequent killing of those hostages.
I am saying Bibi has done nothing, and I mean nothing to recover the hostages. Why has he done nothing? I suspect it is because he doesn't care about their welfare because Bibi's priority is Bibi. I suspect Bibi is a sociopath which is why he will be comfortable if it takes 2.3 million dead to erase Hamas in Gaza and 3million dead in the West Bank just for good measure. In for a penny in for a pound.
My analysis is limited to Netanyahu, it is not a reflection on Israel or the people of Israel. It is not a rallying cry for Hamas. It is my view and I am entitled to it.
Fair enough; that is not the way it came across in the context of the tragic death of a hostage.
But I also query: "I am saying Bibi has done nothing, and I mean nothing to recover the hostages."
How do you know? There have been negotiations, which sadly have not yet succeeded. How do you know that Bibi is the main (or only) stumbling block to the negotiations, and not conditions put on a deal by Hamas or even a.n.other?
What else do you expect Bibi to do to get the hostages released?
If you read my first post again you cannot possibly interpret my intention as pro Hamas, but as you are aware I am a non-Conservative so auto suggestion made you believe that I must also be Corbynista pro-Hamas scum.
If you think Netanyahu a decent guy, I haven't got the time to debate that with you. The evidence is to the contrary.
Hamas are a death cult. What more can I say about them?
I realise this is missing the point but why is the cabbie recording (let alone posting to X) what sounds like a private phone call?
That’s a road cam - for accidents/incidents. Most of them record sound in the vehicle as well.
Quite a few black cabs have internal security cameras as well.
There is a reason the glass partitions are made of toughened glass…
In a black cab, there is a sort of intercom between driver and passengers (with a red light). I don't know the precise ins and outs but suspect "sources close to" the ranting passenger could put in a complaint to TfL.
Is there an expectation of privacy in a taxi?
I don't know. But I do know every taxi I've been in for at least the past five years has had a camera pointed to the passengers.
If you are in a cab, you are in someone else's car. There is no expectation of privacy by any sensible person. If you want privacy, go find a private place.
Cab drivers have to put up with a shit ton of nasty behaviour.
The gentleman above seems upset that a cab driver kicked out a racist wanker for being racist.
No, the gentleman above has not queried that part but is surprised that recording passengers' calls is allowed.
You will get recorded in many cabs, because the number of assaults on cab drivers and the allegations that relate to them.
Think about the seat belt exemption and what that means.
if Netanyahu can exploit it to capture Gaza and expel the Palestinian population there I suspect privately he will be very pleased. And whatever he says in public, I doubt if he really cares about the lives of Israeli civilians any more than he does Palestinian ones.
With the news that the IDF plan to advance on Khan Yunus, and the death of a hostage, plus what looks like an Israeli rejection of a pause in the fighting in exchange for the release of a number of hostages, looks like I wasn't far out.
If fresh leadership emerges on both sides after this tragedy then that will be a silver lining, because boy is it needed.
There was also talk from Israeli government minster today that they didn't see any difference between PA and Hamas.
The Israelis have totally taken the gloves off, yes.
In some respects that's partly our fault: they don't feel anyone else has their back, or cares much about them, so they have to do an absolutely comprehensive job to be safe.
On the other hand, Israel used to be very concerned about Western public opinion.
They would go out of their way to make it clear that they supported a two states solution; they would reign settlers in if they acted out; and they ensured that (sure) settlement building continued, but that it didn't involve demolishing Palestinian towns.
So, yes, Israel has - to some extent - been abandoned by the world. But some of that is because it has changed and become more insular. It became confident that US support was unconditional and unwavering. And that meant it no longer cared so much about the public relations and the views of the West.
Not so long ago, when I was at University (1992-95), students could sign up to travel to Israel on trips organized by the Israeli government, that - if not all paid for - were very heavily subsidised. OGH met my mother on such a trip in the 1960s. There was an active effort to promote Israel as a democratic, inclusive society that treated Muslims better than they were treated in the Arab nations in the area.
This may be incorrect, or even bad of me, but I put a lot of the blame for the mess in Israeli politics (i.e. Bibi) on the Russian Jews who have fled to Israel since 1989. AIUI they also make a large portion of the most troublesome settlers as well, and I think are generally supporters of his party.
To a degree. A lot of the Russian Jews that arrived after the USSR collapsed were fairly secular, and indeed often even minority Jewish. The rule is that one Jewish grandparent is enough, the same as the Nazis.
The Israeli government has an explicit education policy that prioritises Orthodox and Haredi ideas over more secular and Reform Judaism. So 35 years later the descendents of these Russians are now more Orthodox and right wing.
Over the last 30 years, and combined with the higher birthrates of the ultra-orthodox, this educational policy has shifted Israelis into a more religious and less secular society. These then see the settlements and land seizures as a religious duty, rather than anything more secular objectives.
A parallel is allowing Saudi funding of Salafist teachings in Madrassas in Europe*, and as time goes on each generation becomes more fanatical, and less interested on compromise.
*and yes we do allow this in the UK. Astonishingly
Hilariously, we allow this in the prisons - Saudi funded loonies of the most extreme sort, going in to preach there.
It is a tricky issue, as I wouldn't want to see government control over religious teaching, something that we took centuries of conflict to get away from.
Getting religion can be a major step towards going straight for criminals, but many Islamist terrorists were petty criminals converted this way.
The situation is made much worse by the staffing crisis in prisons meaning that other sources of pastoral and spiritual care just don't happen.
if Netanyahu can exploit it to capture Gaza and expel the Palestinian population there I suspect privately he will be very pleased. And whatever he says in public, I doubt if he really cares about the lives of Israeli civilians any more than he does Palestinian ones.
With the news that the IDF plan to advance on Khan Yunus, and the death of a hostage, plus what looks like an Israeli rejection of a pause in the fighting in exchange for the release of a number of hostages, looks like I wasn't far out.
If fresh leadership emerges on both sides after this tragedy then that will be a silver lining, because boy is it needed.
There was also talk from Israeli government minster today that they didn't see any difference between PA and Hamas.
The Israelis have totally taken the gloves off, yes.
In some respects that's partly our fault: they don't feel anyone else has their back, or cares much about them, so they have to do an absolutely comprehensive job to be safe.
On the other hand, Israel used to be very concerned about Western public opinion.
They would go out of their way to make it clear that they supported a two states solution; they would reign settlers in if they acted out; and they ensured that (sure) settlement building continued, but that it didn't involve demolishing Palestinian towns.
So, yes, Israel has - to some extent - been abandoned by the world. But some of that is because it has changed and become more insular. It became confident that US support was unconditional and unwavering. And that meant it no longer cared so much about the public relations and the views of the West.
Not so long ago, when I was at University (1992-95), students could sign up to travel to Israel on trips organized by the Israeli government, that - if not all paid for - were very heavily subsidised. OGH met my mother on such a trip in the 1960s. There was an active effort to promote Israel as a democratic, inclusive society that treated Muslims better than they were treated in the Arab nations in the area.
This may be incorrect, or even bad of me, but I put a lot of the blame for the mess in Israeli politics (i.e. Bibi) on the Russian Jews who have fled to Israel since 1989. AIUI they also make a large portion of the most troublesome settlers as well, and I think are generally supporters of his party.
To a degree. A lot of the Russian Jews that arrived after the USSR collapsed were fairly secular, and indeed often even minority Jewish. The rule is that one Jewish grandparent is enough, the same as the Nazis.
The Israeli government has an explicit education policy that prioritises Orthodox and Haredi ideas over more secular and Reform Judaism. So 35 years later the descendents of these Russians are now more Orthodox and right wing.
Over the last 30 years, and combined with the higher birthrates of the ultra-orthodox, this educational policy has shifted Israelis into a more religious and less secular society. These then see the settlements and land seizures as a religious duty, rather than anything more secular objectives.
A parallel is allowing Saudi funding of Salafist teachings in Madrassas in Europe*, and as time goes on each generation becomes more fanatical, and less interested on compromise.
*and yes we do allow this in the UK. Astonishingly
Hilariously, we allow this in the prisons - Saudi funded loonies of the most extreme sort, going in to preach there.
It is a tricky issue, as I wouldn't want to see government control over religious teaching, something that we took centuries of conflict to get away from.
Getting religion can be a major step towards going straight for criminals, but many Islamist terrorists were petty criminals converted this way.
I think that saying that aggressively racist, sexiest, homophobic thugs, preaching death to everyone else, should have to wait outside the prisons.
If the Church of The Creator rocked up and asked permission to go into the prisons, should we let them in?
Oh, god, Michael Matheson has just shoved his kids under a bus...
Contemptible. And frankly raises far more questions than it answers, such as why the hell did you ever think that was something you could charge to the tax payer and why did you lie about it being constituency work?
So his kids had access to his constituency work?
Shocking.
Many more WFH scandals to come around kids' and spouses' access to confidential information imo.
Mind you, round about the turn of the century, it was common to overhear confidential information while commuting. Doctors, lawyers and social workers would openly discuss cases on mobile phones as if surrounded by a cone of silence.
Oh, the British Airways business class lounge at Heathrow would have been amazing for any potential insider trader. One would just need to wander round with ones ears open to hear people hard at work on acquisitions.
Is that technically insider trading? I'm not sure overheard information from strangers counts, both because an airport lounge is a public setting (even if it is restricted to ticket holders) and there's not an obligation on me not to disclose information that I received simply by standing within earshot of an indiscreet stranger. Not totally sure on this and it may differ by country.
I believe that if you traded off that information or passed it on to others then that would constitute insider trading. As long as it is material nonpublic information then you cannot trade off it. If you become aware of any such information you should inform your compliance team immediately. I guess if it's just a stranger saying something and you have no idea if it is correct then you could argue the information isn't material. But that would be harder to argue of you trade off it. Yes, I have done a lot of training on this stuff.
I did a long and complicated investigation involving regulators, defendants and witnesses in 3 countries on just this factual scenario: inside information revealed in a public place, what use (if any) could be made of it etc.,. A most interesting and challenging case.
if Netanyahu can exploit it to capture Gaza and expel the Palestinian population there I suspect privately he will be very pleased. And whatever he says in public, I doubt if he really cares about the lives of Israeli civilians any more than he does Palestinian ones.
With the news that the IDF plan to advance on Khan Yunus, and the death of a hostage, plus what looks like an Israeli rejection of a pause in the fighting in exchange for the release of a number of hostages, looks like I wasn't far out.
If fresh leadership emerges on both sides after this tragedy then that will be a silver lining, because boy is it needed.
There was also talk from Israeli government minster today that they didn't see any difference between PA and Hamas.
The Israelis have totally taken the gloves off, yes.
In some respects that's partly our fault: they don't feel anyone else has their back, or cares much about them, so they have to do an absolutely comprehensive job to be safe.
On the other hand, Israel used to be very concerned about Western public opinion.
They would go out of their way to make it clear that they supported a two states solution; they would reign settlers in if they acted out; and they ensured that (sure) settlement building continued, but that it didn't involve demolishing Palestinian towns.
So, yes, Israel has - to some extent - been abandoned by the world. But some of that is because it has changed and become more insular. It became confident that US support was unconditional and unwavering. And that meant it no longer cared so much about the public relations and the views of the West.
Not so long ago, when I was at University (1992-95), students could sign up to travel to Israel on trips organized by the Israeli government, that - if not all paid for - were very heavily subsidised. OGH met my mother on such a trip in the 1960s. There was an active effort to promote Israel as a democratic, inclusive society that treated Muslims better than they were treated in the Arab nations in the area.
This may be incorrect, or even bad of me, but I put a lot of the blame for the mess in Israeli politics (i.e. Bibi) on the Russian Jews who have fled to Israel since 1989. AIUI they also make a large portion of the most troublesome settlers as well, and I think are generally supporters of his party.
To a degree. A lot of the Russian Jews that arrived after the USSR collapsed were fairly secular, and indeed often even minority Jewish. The rule is that one Jewish grandparent is enough, the same as the Nazis.
The Israeli government has an explicit education policy that prioritises Orthodox and Haredi ideas over more secular and Reform Judaism. So 35 years later the descendents of these Russians are now more Orthodox and right wing.
Over the last 30 years, and combined with the higher birthrates of the ultra-orthodox, this educational policy has shifted Israelis into a more religious and less secular society. These then see the settlements and land seizures as a religious duty, rather than anything more secular objectives.
A parallel is allowing Saudi funding of Salafist teachings in Madrassas in Europe*, and as time goes on each generation becomes more fanatical, and less interested on compromise.
*and yes we do allow this in the UK. Astonishingly
Hilariously, we allow this in the prisons - Saudi funded loonies of the most extreme sort, going in to preach there.
It is a tricky issue, as I wouldn't want to see government control over religious teaching, something that we took centuries of conflict to get away from.
Getting religion can be a major step towards going straight for criminals, but many Islamist terrorists were petty criminals converted this way.
I think that saying that aggressively racist, sexiest, homophobic thugs, preaching death to everyone else, should have to wait outside the prisons.
If the Church of The Creator rocked up and asked permission to go into the prisons, should we let them in?
Though chaplains do not say racist, homophobic and misogynist things to the prison authorities, just to the prisoners themselves.
Comments
It's as though he didn't give a **** for hostages, or Gazan civilians.
The rest of the failure stems from there...
As if that's a given, that if you’re not Muslim you won't care about the oppression of the Palestinians or the carnage in Gaza.
That's far from the case.
My point was a justifiable critique of Netanyahu not a celebration of Hamas.
Don't blame Israel for the fate of the hostages. Blame Hamas. It's all in their hands.
My point, as I have corrected Casino, was not some Corbynista celebration of Hamas, it was confirming my view that Netanyahu is not only useless but wicked too.
Netanyahu may be Prime Minister, but he represents perhaps a minority of Israelis.
Is there anybody on here who likes, rates or admires Benjamin Netanyahu?
Lab 29.5%, Con 20.5%, Neither 37%
On whether current non-supporters would consider voting for the following parties
Con - Yes 21.5%, No 66.5%
Lab - Yes 32%, No 53%
LD - Yes 31%, No 52.5%
Green - Yes 32.5%, No 53%
And to answer your question he's a ****! Although for Casino and Jessops that analysis is tantamount to being seen as a rousing celebration of Hamas.
And Sunak's audience isn't ready for that yet.
if Netanyahu can exploit it to capture Gaza and expel the Palestinian population there I suspect privately he will be very pleased. And whatever he says in public, I doubt if he really cares about the lives of Israeli civilians any more than he does Palestinian ones.
https://vf.politicalbetting.com/discussion/comment/4561062/#Comment_4561062
With the news that the IDF plan to advance on Khan Yunus, and the death of a hostage, plus what looks like an Israeli rejection of a pause in the fighting in exchange for the release of a number of hostages, looks like I wasn't far out.
If fresh leadership emerges on both sides after this tragedy then that will be a silver lining, because boy is it needed.
TBF, the PA are a bunch of absolute scrotes as well. But they are not as big a bunch of scrotes as Hamas.
Or indeed Netanyahu.
I am adding you to the list of clowns who have commented on my post.
My point was and remains that Netanyahu has personally demonstrated not a jot of empathy with the families of the hostages, which is why they marched on Jerusalem to protest his inaction.
I reckon that they will be more radical on both sides. That is the nature of the conflict.
https://twitter.com/looknorthBBC/status/1725141920832213362?t=UVOLeLTqYZNEyc3FA219mw&s=19
For Israel, I'll agree that the whole country appears to be swinging Netanyahu's way. However, his whole idea of annex and contain has just been rather brutally discredited. There must be at least a chance that somebody emerges who points out that the way to secure Israel's future is to accept a two-state solution.
Again, blame Hamas. They have taken hostages, and are holding them. They can release them any time they want, with no strings attached. But they choose not to.
Has there been any news on this? A while back it was being mooted that the hostages would be released to Iran, which does not seem like a definition of 'released' most of us would recognise. What are the details of the hostage release - I assume this is the Qatari deal, which is only for 50 or so hostages?
Then I log off from the shrill echo chamber, go out and look at how people interact with each other every day, and virtually everybody seems reasonable, calm and polite. I see multi-racial and gay couples walking around with nobody batting an eyelid (though the latter still attract the odd curious stare if they kiss each other in public). Twatter still isn't Britain.
Thank God.
Their greatest victims are civilian Palestinians- you've got to think of them in the same breath as ISIS: two cheeks of the same arse.
You really are a melon this subject, Sunil.
But 50 hostages is better than no hostages.
They were willing to accept releases of them earlier on.
I hadn't heard they were to be released to Iran, which wouldn't be an effective release as you say, but if that wasn't the case it looks to me as though Netanyahu has decided he can't rescue them and has decided to go for full annihilation of Hamas in Gaza in revenge.
Which most sane people would be quite happy about given what a bunch of scumbags Hamas are if it wasn't for the people of Gaza being in the way. Deliberately so.
And if the Israelis take Khan Yunus, what exactly are they planning to leave untouched?
https://twitter.com/ca75638289/status/1725143208961745070/photo/1
In some respects that's partly our fault: they don't feel anyone else has their back, or cares much about them, so they have to do an absolutely comprehensive job to be safe.
You really are a right-wing nut-job, CR!
I don't want to go all Leon on you, but you are not very bright tonight. A long day?
But - while the DfE are c***s, they've never so far as I know been accused of giving money to Hamas (the DfID, now...)
So - yep, calling it. Worse than the DfE.
I think that they taste of fart
I love to bake beans
This is the song that some sing. The funny bit is that it leads to two conclusions
1) Since they don't have moral agency, they are not responsible for their actions
2) Since they don't have moral agency, they are... "human animals" as the Netanyahuists put it, and there is no moral objection to slaughtering them.
That's essentially blaming him for the death, isn't it?
Cab drivers have to put up with a shit ton of nasty behaviour.
The gentleman above seems upset that a cab driver kicked out a racist wanker for being racist.
Maybe.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otzma_Yehudit
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_fascism
Surely not more than five years.
From memory, that was a proposal from Hamas earlier on - I was wondering if that was part of this deal (though I'd expect Iran to be part of the deal if that was the case). AFAIR there were other strings; it was a few hostages, and in return Hamas got a few hundred/thousand of their people back from Israeli prisons.
Note: it is alleged that one of the main organisers of the Oct 7th atrocity was someone released from an Israeli prison in an earlier swap. If true, or if the Israelis think itis true, I can see them being less keen on prisoner exchanges...
Defence in Depth
The Telegraph"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PVeApDCzUA
Surely they're just delaying the inevitable at this point and heaping further agony onto the people of Gaza.
I am saying Bibi has done nothing, and I mean nothing to recover the hostages. Why has he done nothing? I suspect it is because he doesn't care about their welfare because Bibi's priority is Bibi. I suspect Bibi is a sociopath which is why he will be comfortable if it takes 2.3 million dead to erase Hamas in Gaza and 3million dead in the West Bank just for good measure. In for a penny in for a pound.
My analysis is limited to Netanyahu, it is not a reflection on Israel or the people of Israel. It is not a rallying cry for Hamas. It is my view and I am entitled to it.
So take your take equivalence and stick it up your arse.
(And of course, plenty of people are telling the Ukrainians to surrender. Is Orban and Musk really the company you want to keep?)
They would go out of their way to make it clear that they supported a two states solution; they would reign settlers in if they acted out; and they ensured that (sure) settlement building continued, but that it didn't involve demolishing Palestinian towns.
And then, under the governments of Bibi, that all changed. The coalition stretches from the center right to the far right. And not only have there been no government ministers promoting the two states solution, you've had three or four who have called for Israel to extend from the river to the sea, and for the Palestinians to be expelled from the West Bank.
So, yes, Israel has - to some extent - been abandoned by the world. But some of that is because it has changed and become more insular. It became confident that US support was unconditional and unwavering. And that meant it no longer cared so much about the public relations and the views of the West.
Not so long ago, when I was at University (1992-95), students could sign up to travel to Israel on trips organized by the Israeli government, that - if not all paid for - were very heavily subsidised. OGH met my mother on such a trip in the 1960s. There was an active effort to promote Israel as a democratic, inclusive society that treated Muslims better than they were treated in the Arab nations in the area.
Israel chose to abandon that path.
During the cold war, long ago, a number of Soviet citizens were kidnapped in the Lebanon. The Soviet Union went in guns blazing, killed the hostage takers, and lost their citizens.
That was a calculated gambit: that this move wouldn't save these hostages but would prevent further ones from being taken.
Noting that is not blaming the Soviet Union for the hostages being taken.
But I also query: "I am saying Bibi has done nothing, and I mean nothing to recover the hostages."
How do you know? There have been negotiations, which sadly have not yet succeeded. How do you know that Bibi is the main (or only) stumbling block to the negotiations, and not conditions put on a deal by Hamas or even a.n.other?
What else do you expect Bibi to do to get the hostages released?
https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2023/10/21/number-of-palestinian-prisoners-in-israel-doubles-to-10000-in-two-weeks
Do you consider these hostages?
Think about the seat belt exemption and what that means.
A large part of it will be to keep Iran in its place wrt Hezbollah, and to dissuade other actors from getting involved. In other words, to stop the mess getting any bigger.
That wouldn’t give them access to any data on the device itself.
The Israeli government has an explicit education policy that prioritises Orthodox and Haredi ideas over more secular and Reform Judaism. So 35 years later the descendents of these Russians are now more Orthodox and right wing.
Over the last 30 years, and combined with the higher birthrates of the ultra-orthodox, this educational policy has shifted Israelis into a more religious and less secular society. These then see the settlements and land seizures as a religious duty, rather than anything more secular objectives.
https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-jerusalem/how-the-religious-right-transformed-israeli-education
A parallel is allowing Saudi funding of Salafist teachings in Madrassas in Europe*, and as time goes on each generation becomes more fanatical, and less interested on compromise.
*and yes we do allow this in the UK. Astonishingly
And when these prisoners get released do you think they will feel more or less willing to co-exist with Israel?
"Netanyahu rejected ceasefire-for-hostages deal in Gaza, sources say Israeli PM said to have turned down proposal in early talks and continues to take tough line [...] According to three sources familiar with the talks, the original deal on the table involved freeing children, women and elderly and sick people in exchange for a five-day ceasefire, but the Israeli government turned this down and demonstrated its rejection with the launch of the ground offensive."
The Australian Wars, Series 1: Episode 1: www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p0gjfgjh via @bbciplayer
Pretty uncomfortable viewing. My paternal ancestors went to Victoria in the 1840s, as farmers, miners and ministers. That was when these events were happening, having been cleared themselves from the Scottish Highlands.
History is pretty unpleasant when looked at this closely and no one has clean hands.
A major pivot in Israel's history that I've not
seen mentioned this last month was Rabin's
assassination. It showed quite how far the
Israeli far right would go to prevent peace being made. The lead up to that event and
Netanyahu's part in that are quite something and not something I remember from the time:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Yitzhak_Rabin?wprov=sfla1
Now, I support the idea that quite extensive Israeli action against Hamas in Gaza to reassert the security within Israel itself, but I mistrust Netanyahu even more intensely than usual here. It was his security failure to allow Hamas over the border and the results of that failure, however horrible.... if you'd asked PB to predict in advance how such a scenario would play out, I think it would have got pretty close.
Politically, a few years ago, I said post-COVID BAU politics would be very tricky for Johnson. How much more so for Netanyahu with that failure hanging over him. Whilst the military campaign continues that scrutiny is left for another day.
If you think Netanyahu a decent guy, I haven't got the time to debate that with you. The evidence is to the contrary.
Hamas are a death cult. What more can I say about them?
Getting religion can be a major step towards going straight for criminals, but many Islamist terrorists were petty criminals converted this way.
The situation is made much worse by the staffing crisis in prisons meaning that other sources of pastoral and spiritual care just don't happen.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2023/11/16/tinkering-boats-suella-braverman-illegal-migrants-rwanda-uk/
If the Church of The Creator rocked up and asked permission to go into the prisons, should we let them in?