The Israeli Government folks are such idiots that they've managed to get the entire world to unite around a ceasefire. Truly breathtaking skill.
Still waiting to here your intelligent alternative to what they've done that is both more humane and successfully eliminates Hamas?
We need to break the cycle of violence. A ceasefire that leads to Hamas regrouping then the violence resuming once more doesn't do so.
I'm not really prepared to debate with you anymore until you stop calling me anti-Semitic for saying that the Israeli Government is shit. If this is how you plan to get people over to your cause, I am going to tell you you're losing.
I never said that.
If that's how you took it, then I'm sorry and I withdraw the comment, that is not what I meant at all.
It is perfectly reasonable to say the Israeli Government is shit.
Israel is the good guy, it is a free democracy that has been attacked.
Hamas are the bad guys. They are evil, authoritarian terrorists.
The refusal to acknowledge Israel as the good guy here stems from antisemitism in my eyes. Anyone else would absolutely be acknowledged unequivocally as the good guy.
Don't you dare imply that I am being anti-Semitic. You really are in the pits.
If the shoe fits. 🤷♂️
Why else do you deny Israel the right to self-defence and to destroy Hamas wherever they may be?
Every other nation has that right, why don't Israel?
Yes, I never said that saying that the Israeli Government is shit is antisemitic.
Democracies have good and shit governments, but the point of democracy is we can replace the shit ones and elect better ones.
Israel remains the good guys, they were the ones attacked not the aggressors both last October and repeatedly in the past, they have tried for peace both with their neighbours and with the Palestinians time and again.
The only reason there's no state of Palestine today is that Arafat rejected one when he had the chance, and before then the nascent state of Palestine in 1948 was snuffed out not by Israel but by Egypt and Jordan.
Despite history, despite Hamas, despite the Holocaust, despite being surrounded by nations that hate them, Israel has kept their soul. For that, they are undoubtedly the good guys and they have the right to defeat Hamas.
If you have a better way of defeating Hamas than what they're doing, I'd love to know what it is. If it is better, I'll support it.
But a ceasefire that returns Gaza to Hamas control and misery behind a blockade etc is not a better alternative.
Yes, I never said that saying that the Israeli Government is shit is antisemitic.
Democracies have good and shit governments, but the point of democracy is we can replace the shit ones and elect better ones.
Israel remains the good guys, they were the ones attacked not the aggressors both last October and repeatedly in the past, they have tried for peace both with their neighbours and with the Palestinians time and again.
The only reason there's no state of Palestine today is that Arafat rejected one when he had the chance, and before then the nascent state of Palestine in 1948 was snuffed out not by Israel but by Egypt and Jordan.
Despite history, despite Hamas, despite the Holocaust, despite being surrounded by nations that hate them, Israel has kept their soul. For that, they are undoubtedly the good guys and they have the right to defeat Hamas.
If you have a better way of defeating Hamas than what they're doing, I'd love to know what it is. If it is better, I'll support it.
But a ceasefire that returns Gaza to Hamas control and misery behind a blockade etc is not a better alternative.
I never said Israel couldn't defend itself. Saying that they should total a settlement and kill thousands of women and children is not denying Israel's right to exist and just makes you look silly throwing around the anti-Semitism accusation.
It's fine to disagree with what I am saying but there is nothing I have said that is vaguely anti-Semitic. I don't know how many times you need to be told that if you oppose what a government is doing, it doesn't mean you automatically support the enemy or the worst case. But you have form for doing this when you accused Horse of being a stooge for Russia when he said that the Ukraine war would not end quickly.
Horse may have been a lot of things, misguided, supporting bad political candidates, having gone into his own past anti-Semitism around Corbyn but being a stooge for Russia is and was mad. And is as mad as you calling me anti-Semitic now.
I must confess to some confusion about this. Unlike the famous pictures of Truss, it's not inherently ridiculous. If this is the worst that can be thrown at Labour, they are home and hosed.
It's definitely comparable with the ludicrous Truss posing like she's on the loo in her trouser suit pictures, not because it's the same, but because it's awful in a different way. This one looks genuinely sinister. The casually crossed legs make it all the worse. You could do a top 5 terrible recent lady politician pics.
Male politicians are lucky that nobody cares how they look or tries to do anything more ambitious than shoot them sitting on the edge of a desk.
I think the shot of Theresa May is fine. She sits on the sofa you would expect her to sit on, wearing a dress that suits her, with a pose that seems in character. Degrees more informal than most Vogue shoots.
The question for Rachel Reeves is why is she doing the shoot in a public toilet? Also the light's horribly unflattering. She should get a new photographer.
It's not fine because Liebowitz is meant to be one of the world's greatest portrait photographers. You don't shoot someone looming over them like that, it looks like a test shot or something.
May looks powerless - like someone dressed up as PM and sat on a brocade sofa with all the gear and no idea. Many would argue that's what she was, and perhaps that's what Liebowitz decided to capture, but it was unfair to May - it seems like an ambush.
It’s interesting how personalities come across in photographs. The setup is ludicrous - a lady dressed in somewhat formal clothes in the commanders position in a tank.
No one laughed.
There’s another photo (can’t find it) of her in an AFV, with a full box of live 7.62 for the machinegun. Wonder what ‘elf and safety would make of that these days.
There's a well-regarded photographer, whom I shan't name for legal reasons, whose trademark is to shoot dozens of photos of an individual in the hope of finding an 'honest' image of them picking their nose or scratching their backside, which will in the fullness of time become the money shot.
Plenty of that these days - with digital you can shoot continuously. Easy to pick a shot that makes your subject look wonderful or gross.
Yes, I never said that saying that the Israeli Government is shit is antisemitic.
Democracies have good and shit governments, but the point of democracy is we can replace the shit ones and elect better ones.
Israel remains the good guys, they were the ones attacked not the aggressors both last October and repeatedly in the past, they have tried for peace both with their neighbours and with the Palestinians time and again.
The only reason there's no state of Palestine today is that Arafat rejected one when he had the chance, and before then the nascent state of Palestine in 1948 was snuffed out not by Israel but by Egypt and Jordan.
Despite history, despite Hamas, despite the Holocaust, despite being surrounded by nations that hate them, Israel has kept their soul. For that, they are undoubtedly the good guys and they have the right to defeat Hamas.
If you have a better way of defeating Hamas than what they're doing, I'd love to know what it is. If it is better, I'll support it.
But a ceasefire that returns Gaza to Hamas control and misery behind a blockade etc is not a better alternative.
I never said Israel couldn't defend itself. Saying that they should total a settlement and kill thousands of women and children is not denying Israel's right to exist and just makes you look silly throwing around the anti-Semitism accusation.
Name a significant war that doesn't kill thousands of people please.
The idea that they can't fight a war because thousands of people might die is preposterous. People die in war, its why wars are tragic and should only be a last resort, but when you're attacked you have the right to defend yourself in war.
I never said you were antisemitic, I said those saying Israel uniquely doesn't have a right to defend itself when attacked are and you identified with that comment.
Yes, I never said that saying that the Israeli Government is shit is antisemitic.
Democracies have good and shit governments, but the point of democracy is we can replace the shit ones and elect better ones.
Israel remains the good guys, they were the ones attacked not the aggressors both last October and repeatedly in the past, they have tried for peace both with their neighbours and with the Palestinians time and again.
The only reason there's no state of Palestine today is that Arafat rejected one when he had the chance, and before then the nascent state of Palestine in 1948 was snuffed out not by Israel but by Egypt and Jordan.
Despite history, despite Hamas, despite the Holocaust, despite being surrounded by nations that hate them, Israel has kept their soul. For that, they are undoubtedly the good guys and they have the right to defeat Hamas.
If you have a better way of defeating Hamas than what they're doing, I'd love to know what it is. If it is better, I'll support it.
But a ceasefire that returns Gaza to Hamas control and misery behind a blockade etc is not a better alternative.
I never said Israel couldn't defend itself. Saying that they should total a settlement and kill thousands of women and children is not denying Israel's right to exist and just makes you look silly throwing around the anti-Semitism accusation.
Name a significant war that doesn't kill thousands of people please.
The idea that they can't fight a war because thousands of people might die is preposterous. People die in war, its why wars are tragic and should only be a last resort, but when you're attacked you have the right to defend yourself in war.
This debate is becoming rather pointless when you keep mis-interpreting everything I say.
Questioning if flattening an entire settlement is a good idea is not saying that people shouldn't die in wars. Again, I am not being some SWP nutjob, I'm literally agreeing with the US.
I never said you were antisemitic, I said those saying Israel uniquely doesn't have a right to defend itself when attacked are and you identified with that comment.
In that case the entirety of the EU is anti-Semitic and so is the UN. You are being silly now.
I never said you were antisemitic, I said those saying Israel uniquely doesn't have a right to defend itself when attacked are and you identified with that comment.
No I didn't. In that case the entirety of the EU is anti-Semitic and so is the UN. You are being silly now.
Are they calling for a unilateral ceasefire or do they want Hamas to accept the terms on the table?
I never said you were antisemitic, I said those saying Israel uniquely doesn't have a right to defend itself when attacked are and you identified with that comment.
In that case the entirety of the EU is anti-Semitic and so is the UN. You are being silly now.
If they're saying that Israel uniquely doesn't have the right to defend themselves, then yes they are, but actually back on the real world they're not actually saying that.
Calling for a ceasefire != that. Its pissweak gesture politics. No more significant than calling for peace, it doesn't mean diddly squat and costs nothing.
Its also the wrong thing to do, but its cheap politics towards the naive in their own nation, rather than actual international relations.
Wake me up when there's some actual concrete policies rather than meaningless gestures.
Hunts search for ways to pay for his election bribes looks unedifying . Flailing around in some mad panic and willing to cut funding for pubic services which are already in crisis .
Yes, I never said that saying that the Israeli Government is shit is antisemitic.
Democracies have good and shit governments, but the point of democracy is we can replace the shit ones and elect better ones.
Israel remains the good guys, they were the ones attacked not the aggressors both last October and repeatedly in the past, they have tried for peace both with their neighbours and with the Palestinians time and again.
The only reason there's no state of Palestine today is that Arafat rejected one when he had the chance, and before then the nascent state of Palestine in 1948 was snuffed out not by Israel but by Egypt and Jordan.
Despite history, despite Hamas, despite the Holocaust, despite being surrounded by nations that hate them, Israel has kept their soul. For that, they are undoubtedly the good guys and they have the right to defeat Hamas.
If you have a better way of defeating Hamas than what they're doing, I'd love to know what it is. If it is better, I'll support it.
But a ceasefire that returns Gaza to Hamas control and misery behind a blockade etc is not a better alternative.
I never said Israel couldn't defend itself. Saying that they should total a settlement and kill thousands of women and children is not denying Israel's right to exist and just makes you look silly throwing around the anti-Semitism accusation.
Name a significant war that doesn't kill thousands of people please.
The idea that they can't fight a war because thousands of people might die is preposterous. People die in war, its why wars are tragic and should only be a last resort, but when you're attacked you have the right to defend yourself in war.
I never said you were antisemitic, I said those saying Israel uniquely doesn't have a right to defend itself when attacked are and you identified with that comment.
Does the same apply to the Palestinians attacked by Jewish settlers in the West Bank?
Hunts search for ways to pay for his election bribes looks unedifying . Flailing around in some mad panic and willing to cut funding for pubic services which are already in crisis .
The Tories are in a desperate situation. The one thing they have left, because it still resides in folk memory, is the old trope 'Conservatives keep your taxes lower'. Hunt has to major on this. There's nothing else.
Hunts search for ways to pay for his election bribes looks unedifying . Flailing around in some mad panic and willing to cut funding for pubic services which are already in crisis .
The Tories are in a desperate situation. The one thing they have left, because it still resides in folk memory, is the old trope 'Conservatives keep your taxes lower'. Hunt has to major on this. There's nothing else.
I just tried to look up the famous 'double whammy' poster, and it turns out the the Conservative Party will even sell you a framed print of it to hang at home:
Hunts search for ways to pay for his election bribes looks unedifying . Flailing around in some mad panic and willing to cut funding for pubic services which are already in crisis .
The Tories are in a desperate situation. The one thing they have left, because it still resides in folk memory, is the old trope 'Conservatives keep your taxes lower'. Hunt has to major on this. There's nothing else.
I just tried to look up the famous 'double whammy' poster, and it turns out the the Conservative Party will even sell you a framed print of it to hang at home:
I predicted this on Jan 24, the average republican DC voter is likely to be some policy wonk on about $300k USD a year or some such - absolutely miles from a typical GOP voter.
I predicted this on Jan 24, the average republican DC voter is likely to be some policy wonk on about $300k USD a year or some such - absolutely miles from a typical GOP voter.
I must confess to some confusion about this. Unlike the famous pictures of Truss, it's not inherently ridiculous. If this is the worst that can be thrown at Labour, they are home and hosed.
It's definitely comparable with the ludicrous Truss posing like she's on the loo in her trouser suit pictures, not because it's the same, but because it's awful in a different way. This one looks genuinely sinister. The casually crossed legs make it all the worse. You could do a top 5 terrible recent lady politician pics.
Male politicians are lucky that nobody cares how they look or tries to do anything more ambitious than shoot them sitting on the edge of a desk.
Thanks. I had not seen that Dorries one before. That really is surreal.
It made her look silly, vain and ephemeral. She was being spoken of as a future leader at the time - not a hot favourite or anything but it was being mentioned.
Women politicians are very vulnerable to this. They need to be super careful of image control - you can't just put your trust in a photographer and styling team, even if they're supposed to be the best in the business.
I love the Mad Nad one. She looks like the Pippa doll my sister used to play with.
I'm not sure about "women politicians are very vulnerable to this" - it requires the pol concerned to opt-in to a silly decision.
Sunk has been pointed out. We have Mandelbrot with his Eames chair, Kinnock with his Sheffield Stalin rally, Prezza with various things, and so on.
I predicted this on Jan 24, the average republican DC voter is likely to be some policy wonk on about $300k USD a year or some such - absolutely miles from a typical GOP voter.
I must confess to some confusion about this. Unlike the famous pictures of Truss, it's not inherently ridiculous. If this is the worst that can be thrown at Labour, they are home and hosed.
It's definitely comparable with the ludicrous Truss posing like she's on the loo in her trouser suit pictures, not because it's the same, but because it's awful in a different way. This one looks genuinely sinister. The casually crossed legs make it all the worse. You could do a top 5 terrible recent lady politician pics.
Male politicians are lucky that nobody cares how they look or tries to do anything more ambitious than shoot them sitting on the edge of a desk.
Thanks. I had not seen that Dorries one before. That really is surreal.
It made her look silly, vain and ephemeral. She was being spoken of as a future leader at the time - not a hot favourite or anything but it was being mentioned.
Women politicians are very vulnerable to this. They need to be super careful of image control - you can't just put your trust in a photographer and styling team, even if they're supposed to be the best in the business.
I love the Mad Nad one. She looks like the Pippa doll my sister used to play with.
I'm not sure about "women politicians are very vulnerable to this" - it requires the pol concerned to opt-in to a silly decision.
Sunk has been pointed out. We have Mandelbrot with his Eames chair, Kinnock with his Sheffield Stalin rally, Prezza with various things, and so on.
Comments
https://twitter.com/ARD_BaB/status/1764243289576730689
Democracies have good and shit governments, but the point of democracy is we can replace the shit ones and elect better ones.
Israel remains the good guys, they were the ones attacked not the aggressors both last October and repeatedly in the past, they have tried for peace both with their neighbours and with the Palestinians time and again.
The only reason there's no state of Palestine today is that Arafat rejected one when he had the chance, and before then the nascent state of Palestine in 1948 was snuffed out not by Israel but by Egypt and Jordan.
Despite history, despite Hamas, despite the Holocaust, despite being surrounded by nations that hate them, Israel has kept their soul. For that, they are undoubtedly the good guys and they have the right to defeat Hamas.
If you have a better way of defeating Hamas than what they're doing, I'd love to know what it is. If it is better, I'll support it.
But a ceasefire that returns Gaza to Hamas control and misery behind a blockade etc is not a better alternative.
It's fine to disagree with what I am saying but there is nothing I have said that is vaguely anti-Semitic. I don't know how many times you need to be told that if you oppose what a government is doing, it doesn't mean you automatically support the enemy or the worst case. But you have form for doing this when you accused Horse of being a stooge for Russia when he said that the Ukraine war would not end quickly.
Horse may have been a lot of things, misguided, supporting bad political candidates, having gone into his own past anti-Semitism around Corbyn but being a stooge for Russia is and was mad. And is as mad as you calling me anti-Semitic now.
The idea that they can't fight a war because thousands of people might die is preposterous. People die in war, its why wars are tragic and should only be a last resort, but when you're attacked you have the right to defend yourself in war.
I never said you were antisemitic, I said those saying Israel uniquely doesn't have a right to defend itself when attacked are and you identified with that comment.
Questioning if flattening an entire settlement is a good idea is not saying that people shouldn't die in wars. Again, I am not being some SWP nutjob, I'm literally agreeing with the US.
Calling for a ceasefire != that. Its pissweak gesture politics. No more significant than calling for peace, it doesn't mean diddly squat and costs nothing.
Its also the wrong thing to do, but its cheap politics towards the naive in their own nation, rather than actual international relations.
Wake me up when there's some actual concrete policies rather than meaningless gestures.
https://shop.conservatives.com/vintage-poster-labours-double-whammy-1992.html
- Bans the state from buying ads as it’s used to buy journalists
- Closes state news agency TELAM
- Disbands the State Institute against Discrimination, Xenophobia & Racism (INADI)
https://twitter.com/visegrad24/status/1764425588352131366
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIBZ1QXi610
Possibly the greatest electoral campaigning in British political history.
https://x.com/toothfairyblog/status/1763633230631100647#m
Dental implants in Argentina: approx £500!
Flights to UK: £0
Dental implants in UK: approx £2500
Crossover point: one trip: 2teeth. If you can get 4teeth done in one trip that's a saving of around £7K.
As a result, people who don’t dig deeper think there’s been a significant shift from the White House….there hasn’t been.
https://x.com/yashar/status/1764403493262299269
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/mar/03/ministers-consider-ban-mps-engaging-pro-palestine-climate-protesters
https://x.com/iapolls2022/status/1764463990166405153
🟥 Trump 52%
🟦 Biden 48%
Independents
🟥 Trump 57%
🟦 Biden 42%
https://twitter.com/IAPolls2022/status/1764300605764288533
Jan 24:
I'm not sure about "women politicians are very vulnerable to this" - it requires the pol concerned to opt-in to a silly decision.
Sunk has been pointed out. We have Mandelbrot with his Eames chair, Kinnock with his Sheffield Stalin rally, Prezza with various things, and so on.