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  • SmarmeronSmarmeron Posts: 5,099
    @Sunil_Prasannan
    (With apologies to the Boomtown Rats)

    "And the Tebbit chip inside his head, gets set to overload...."
  • TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 119,959
    Mike's not happy with ORB

    @MSmithsonPB: @ORB_Int Why are pages 3-11 missing? Under British Polling Council rules ORB should publish full details
    http://t.co/LtDH8vgqsU
  • David_EvershedDavid_Evershed Posts: 6,506
    Daryl Mitchell would be a perfect replacement for Cook.

    He is captain of Worcestershire (top of their Division) and an opening batsman lying second in the County batting averages.

    Time for in-form players to replace those who can only point to a past reputation.
  • taffystaffys Posts: 9,753
    'Activate Kevin'

    He must be p8ssing himself...
  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 43,046
    edited July 2014
    SeanT said:

    SeanT said:

    Done a blog on Gaza, Israel, and the Mystery of the Disappearing Tweets. http://t.co/0fKGXyuEFK

    Broadly speaking, the left is anti-Israeli and the right is pro-Israeli. Is this in truth simply because Communist Russia armed and trained the Arabs, who were utterly thrashed, and the left resents this Communist humiliation because it still thinks Communism a force for good and harmony?
    JackW said:

    taffys said:

    Why is Cameron amongst the vocal world leaders in sticking it to Russia?

    It's cynical I know, but what's in that for us?

    I think you'll find British PM's don't take too kindly to their citizens being blown out of the skies. They're funny that way.

    I've never noticed that "they" give a sh1t to be frank. They didn't exactly cover themselves with glory over Lockerbie.

    We ought by rights to get a Congress-of-Vienna resolution against Putin and declare him, like Napoleon, an outlaw. Not Russia, just him and his associates. Then harass him for the rest of his life.
    It's funny how this has shifted. In the beginning the Left was quite pro-Israel (and the right was perhaps more prone to anti-Semitism). Israel was, it is often forgotten, very socialist in its origins - cf the kibbutz movement, etc

    Now the Left loathes Israel and the Right staunchly defends it - and both sides overdo it.
    Yes very true and very interesting.

    I'm not sure the British Establishment isn't still arabist at heart, although perhaps only from a continued (and outdated) paternalist perspective.

    The left has never forgiven Israel for becoming strong, for not pursuing that socialist ideal longer than they needed to, and for making the same mistakes that many western powers have made down the ages. Criticising Israel is also pretty much repercussionless apart from vituperative and half-hearted responses on CiF.

    There is a very interesting populist article about the attitudes of left and right towards Israel to be written (Jewish and non-Jewish academics have been agonising about little else for decades).

    Sean...your quill awaits...
  • Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 52,118
    Smarmeron said:

    @Sunil_Prasannan
    (With apologies to the Boomtown Rats)

    "And the Tebbit chip inside his head, gets set to overload...."

    [Sunil taps his head]
    My Tebbit Chip is functioning normally again :)
  • MikeKMikeK Posts: 9,053
    Agence France-Presse ‏@AFP 8m
    Russian records show a Ukrainian Su-25 fighter jet was flying close to #MH17 before it crashed, senior Russian military official says

    Russia is now coming up with evidence (fabricated?) that it was the Ukrainians wot dun it.
  • Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 52,118
    edited July 2014
    India = Labour?
    England = Tories?
  • HurstLlamaHurstLlama Posts: 9,098
    "He's been in action for four years of the most difficult world economic conditions since the 1930s and has proved to be a superb Chancellor."

    Hmmmm, wonders, how is that debt pile going? What is going to be the deficit this year compared to last? Is HMG still borrowing close to £100bn a year to pays its bills? What do the nation's trade figures look like? A massive rise in employment but a welfare bill that is still increasing and a tax take that is flat-lining?

    A superb chancellor? I think not, Mr. N, my cat could have achieved the same. In fact if Cameron had left the CotE post empty we would probably be not far off the current position. Debt might have been a bit higher but as your superb chancellor seems to think that £1.5tn is acceptable what is a few hundred billion between friends.
  • TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 119,959

    India = Labour?
    England = Tories?

    Alastair Cook = Ed Miliband
  • TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 119,959
    Ferfuxsake.

    A run out.
  • Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 52,118
    MikeK said:

    Agence France-Presse ‏@AFP 8m
    Russian records show a Ukrainian Su-25 fighter jet was flying close to #MH17 before it crashed, senior Russian military official says

    Russia is now coming up with evidence (fabricated?) that it was the Ukrainians wot dun it.

    What's the evidence the Russians did it?
  • Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 61,950
    Mr. K, surely that sort of evidence would've emerged very rapidly? Why would the Russians withhold it?
  • dyedwooliedyedwoolie Posts: 7,786
    edited July 2014
    taffys said:

    'Activate Kevin'

    He must be p8ssing himself...

    This all started in 2013. The Aussies had Cook sorted over here, despite the result. His capitulation to mediocrity has dragged the whole of English cricket into the mire. Pietersen paid the price, in hindsight, the wrong man was fed to the lions.
  • Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 52,118
    TOPPING said:

    SeanT said:

    SeanT said:

    Done a blog on Gaza, Israel, and the Mystery of the Disappearing Tweets. http://t.co/0fKGXyuEFK

    Broadly speaking, the left is anti-Israeli and the right is pro-Israeli. Is this in truth simply because Communist Russia armed and trained the Arabs, who were utterly thrashed, and the left resents this Communist humiliation because it still thinks Communism a force for good and harmony?
    JackW said:

    taffys said:

    Why is Cameron amongst the vocal world leaders in sticking it to Russia?

    It's cynical I know, but what's in that for us?

    I think you'll find British PM's don't take too kindly to their citizens being blown out of the skies. They're funny that way.

    I've never noticed that "they" give a sh1t to be frank. They didn't exactly cover themselves with glory over Lockerbie.

    We ought by rights to get a Congress-of-Vienna resolution against Putin and declare him, like Napoleon, an outlaw. Not Russia, just him and his associates. Then harass him for the rest of his life.
    It's funny how this has shifted. In the beginning the Left was quite pro-Israel (and the right was perhaps more prone to anti-Semitism). Israel was, it is often forgotten, very socialist in its origins - cf the kibbutz movement, etc

    Now the Left loathes Israel and the Right staunchly defends it - and both sides overdo it.
    Yes very true and very interesting.

    I'm not sure the British Establishment isn't still arabist at heart, although perhaps only from a continued (and outdated) paternalist perspective.

    The left has never forgiven Israel for becoming strong, for not pursuing that socialist ideal longer than they needed to, and for making the same mistakes that many western powers have made down the ages. Criticising Israel is also pretty much repercussionless apart from vituperative and half-hearted responses on CiF.

    There is a very interesting populist article about the attitudes of left and right towards Israel to be written (Jewish and non-Jewish academics have been agonising about little else for decades).

    Sean...your quill awaits...
    The British establishment doesn't recognise an independent Palestine. Only Israel.
  • JackWJackW Posts: 14,787
    Let the recriminations commence ....
  • john_zimsjohn_zims Posts: 3,399
    OllyT

    'You might loathe Blair & Brown politically but vacuous & shallow they were not.'

    Who will ever forget Blair's ethical foreign policy or Brown's trashing the economy.
  • Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 52,118

    India = Labour?
    England = Tories?

    Alastair Cook = Ed Miliband
    Chef = Cameron
  • JackWJackW Posts: 14,787

    MikeK said:

    Agence France-Presse ‏@AFP 8m
    Russian records show a Ukrainian Su-25 fighter jet was flying close to #MH17 before it crashed, senior Russian military official says

    Russia is now coming up with evidence (fabricated?) that it was the Ukrainians wot dun it.

    What's the evidence the Russians did it?
    Putin moved his lips ....

  • MikeKMikeK Posts: 9,053
    TOPPING said:

    SeanT said:

    SeanT said:

    Done a blog on Gaza, Israel, and the Mystery of the Disappearing Tweets. http://t.co/0fKGXyuEFK

    Broadly speaking, the left is anti-Israeli and the right is pro-Israeli. Is this in truth simply because Communist Russia armed and trained the Arabs, who were utterly thrashed, and the left resents this Communist humiliation because it still thinks Communism a force for good and harmony?
    JackW said:

    taffys said:

    Why is Cameron amongst the vocal world leaders in sticking it to Russia?

    It's cynical I know, but what's in that for us?

    I think you'll find British PM's don't take too kindly to their citizens being blown out of the skies. They're funny that way.

    I've never noticed that "they" give a sh1t to be frank. They didn't exactly cover themselves with glory over Lockerbie.

    We ought by rights to get a Congress-of-Vienna resolution against Putin and declare him, like Napoleon, an outlaw. Not Russia, just him and his associates. Then harass him for the rest of his life.
    It's funny how this has shifted. In the beginning the Left was quite pro-Israel (and the right was perhaps more prone to anti-Semitism). Israel was, it is often forgotten, very socialist in its origins - cf the kibbutz movement, etc

    Now the Left loathes Israel and the Right staunchly defends it - and both sides overdo it.
    Yes very true and very interesting.

    I'm not sure the British Establishment isn't still arabist at heart, although perhaps only from a continued (and outdated) paternalist perspective.

    The left has never forgiven Israel for becoming strong, for not pursuing that socialist ideal longer than they needed to, and for making the same mistakes that many western powers have made down the ages. Criticising Israel is also pretty much repercussionless apart from vituperative and half-hearted responses on CiF.

    There is a very interesting populist article about the attitudes of left and right towards Israel to be written (Jewish and non-Jewish academics have been agonising about little else for decades).

    Sean...your quill awaits...
    Thats a very fair statement on the current position of Israel and the West. Nice to see TOPPING.

    I might add that some, and not only the left, can never forgive Jews for actually picking up weapons and defending themselves.
  • taffystaffys Posts: 9,753
    Pietersen paid the price, in hindsight, the wrong man was fed to the lions.

    Absolutely. Bet his phone is ringing off the hook for a comment....
  • Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 52,118
    Michael Vaughan, Ex-England captain on BBC Test Match Special
    "It's been absolutely pathetic from England. We've seen some collapses in the last year - against Australia, Sri Lanka and now India - but this is the worst of the lot. Something has got to change."
  • MarkHopkinsMarkHopkins Posts: 5,584

    MikeK said:

    Agence France-Presse ‏@AFP 8m
    Russian records show a Ukrainian Su-25 fighter jet was flying close to #MH17 before it crashed, senior Russian military official says

    Russia is now coming up with evidence (fabricated?) that it was the Ukrainians wot dun it.

    What's the evidence the Russians did it?
    Do you mean the Russian supported rebels?

    1. Russian supplied anti-aircraft missiles in rebel locations.
    2. Missile launched from rebel area.
    3. MH17 was flying East away from Ukraine and no threat to them.
    4. Rebels had already shot down previous planes (similar size and height).
    5. Rebels claimed then withdrew twitter statement that they shot a plane down there.

    Enough?
  • OldKingColeOldKingCole Posts: 33,704
    OllyT said:

    JackW said:

    OllyT said:

    .... I doubt many of us will be terrified at the thought of Ed as PM

    Unfortunately Ed's personal numbers indicate that many others have much greater reservations including a substantial minority of Labour supporters.

    This situation is toxic for Labour, not only because it undermines Ed but because non Labour and swing voters will be more determined to ensure Ed never becomes PM.

    Ed also has to sharply reverse his "weirdo rating". A man that is giving Nigel Farage a run for his money in this area isn't going to occupy Downing Street.

    By "us" I was specifically referring to left of centre voters who are switching from the Lib Dems to Labour. Unless you are claiming that those voters will ultimately not vote Labour because the Mail keeps telling us that Ed M is "weird" then I am not sure of the relevance. There are still significant numbers of voters who will vote on what they think the parties might do in government rather than on the basis of a political version of the X-Factor.

    Although I am voting Labour I think the Tories will probably get the most votes next May and it will be very tight in terms of seats. Can't see either getting a majority. Part of me would be very interested to see Cameron/Osborn grapple with the economy beyond next May because I believe that all they have done is manufacture another housing-led consumer bubble to get themselves reelected and that the underlying economic situation / debt situation is no better than it was when they came into office. Although I may have been at odds with the politics of Tory leaders in the past most were worthy of respect - Cam & Os are probably the 2 most vacuous and shallow politicians that the country has ever had the misfortune to be governed by IMO.
    I don’t think that those like me who switch between LD & Lab give a tinkers cuss/rats backside what the Heil says.
  • HurstLlamaHurstLlama Posts: 9,098

    India = Labour?
    England = Tories?

    Alastair Cook = Ed Miliband
    I say, that's a bit harsh. He was a very good journalist and his letter from America was for many years one of the high spots of my week. Not to mention his magnificent TV series on the history of the USA, surely one of the high points of television and perhaps only rivalled by Jacob Bronowski's "The Ascent of Man".

    Oh, sorry, you meant Alastair Cook not Alistair Cooke. Beg pardon, do carry on.
  • SouthamObserverSouthamObserver Posts: 39,668

    taffys said:

    'Activate Kevin'

    He must be p8ssing himself...

    This all started in 2013. The Aussies had Cook sorted over here, despite the result. His capitulation to mediocrity has dragged the whole of English cricket into the mire. Pietersen paid the price, in hindsight, the wrong man was fed to the lions.

    Our batting has been poor for a while, but over the last nine months the bowlers have lost their mojo too. They can't dig us out of holes in the way they used to. Too much cricket has left them totally knackered. There's a great deal of work needs to be done behind the scenes now and a great deal of patience is going to be needed. It will get worse before it gets better.
  • MikeK said:

    Agence France-Presse ‏@AFP 8m
    Russian records show a Ukrainian Su-25 fighter jet was flying close to #MH17 before it crashed, senior Russian military official says

    Russia is now coming up with evidence (fabricated?) that it was the Ukrainians wot dun it.

    So the russian are suggesting a ground attack jet, with a service ceiling of 22000 ft was next to an airliner at 30000ft ?

    ROFLMAO

  • taffystaffys Posts: 9,753
    ''I might add that some, and not only the left, can never forgive Jews for actually picking up weapons and defending themselves.''

    Against a vast array of foes sworn to destroy their country, and murder all its people??? how dare they!!!
  • HurstLlamaHurstLlama Posts: 9,098
    @MikeK

    "I might add that some, and not only the left, can never forgive Jews for actually picking up weapons and defending themselves."

    I think they could tolerate that but the fact that Israel has successfully defended itself is what sticks in the craw. Israel's other great crime is that when they say, "Never again", they mean it and for many Western politicians that is just too much.
  • Richard_NabaviRichard_Nabavi Posts: 30,821
    edited July 2014

    "He's been in action for four years of the most difficult world economic conditions since the 1930s and has proved to be a superb Chancellor."

    Hmmmm, wonders, how is that debt pile going? What is going to be the deficit this year compared to last? Is HMG still borrowing close to £100bn a year to pays its bills? What do the nation's trade figures look like? A massive rise in employment but a welfare bill that is still increasing and a tax take that is flat-lining?

    A superb chancellor? I think not, Mr. N, my cat could have achieved the same. In fact if Cameron had left the CotE post empty we would probably be not far off the current position. Debt might have been a bit higher but as your superb chancellor seems to think that £1.5tn is acceptable what is a few hundred billion between friends.

    He doesn't think it's acceptable, which is why he is reducing the deficit at the fastest possible pace consistent with not damaging employment and growth, whilst at the same time presiding over a major rebalancing of the economy and introducing huge reforms in terms of the OBR, financial regulation, addressing tax avoidance, reducing corporation tax, and improving incentives:

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-28393377

  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 43,046

    TOPPING said:

    SeanT said:

    SeanT said:

    Done a blog on Gaza, Israel, and the Mystery of the Disappearing Tweets. http://t.co/0fKGXyuEFK

    Broadly speaking, the left is anti-Israeli and the right is pro-Israeli. Is this in truth simply because Communist Russia armed and trained the Arabs, who were utterly thrashed, and the left resents this Communist humiliation because it still thinks Communism a force for good and harmony?
    JackW said:

    taffys said:

    Why is Cameron amongst the vocal world leaders in sticking it to Russia?

    It's cynical I know, but what's in that for us?

    I think you'll find British PM's don't take too kindly to their citizens being blown out of the skies. They're funny that way.

    I've never noticed that "they" give a sh1t to be frank. They didn't exactly cover themselves with glory over Lockerbie.

    We ought by rights to get a Congress-of-Vienna resolution against Putin and declare him, like Napoleon, an outlaw. Not Russia, just him and his associates. Then harass him for the rest of his life.
    It's funny how this has shifted. In the beginning the Left was quite pro-Israel (and the right was perhaps more prone to anti-Semitism). Israel was, it is often forgotten, very socialist in its origins - cf the kibbutz movement, etc

    Now the Left loathes Israel and the Right staunchly defends it - and both sides overdo it.
    Yes very true and very interesting.

    I'm not sure the British Establishment isn't still arabist at heart, although perhaps only from a continued (and outdated) paternalist perspective.

    The left has never forgiven Israel for becoming strong, for not pursuing that socialist ideal longer than they needed to, and for making the same mistakes that many western powers have made down the ages. Criticising Israel is also pretty much repercussionless apart from vituperative and half-hearted responses on CiF.

    There is a very interesting populist article about the attitudes of left and right towards Israel to be written (Jewish and non-Jewish academics have been agonising about little else for decades).

    Sean...your quill awaits...
    The British establishment doesn't recognise an independent Palestine. Only Israel.
    Out of interest, Sunil, and I have no idea the answer to this - what/how many countries, including those in the Middle East, recognise an independent Palestine?
  • Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 61,950
    Gerrard's retired from international footballer, BBC ticker.

    Not my market, but I did mention him for SPOTY earlier and this may make it likelier.
  • JackWJackW Posts: 14,787

    Gerrard's retired from international footballer, BBC ticker.

    Not my market, but I did mention him for SPOTY earlier and this may make it likelier.

    On the basis he's won sod all these past years ?

  • CyclefreeCyclefree Posts: 25,326
    taffys said:

    ''I might add that some, and not only the left, can never forgive Jews for actually picking up weapons and defending themselves.''

    Against a vast array of foes sworn to destroy their country, and murder all its people??? how dare they!!!

    The Left abandoned the Jews when there was some other minority they could patronise. Not all the Left of course but that significant part of it which adopts and abandons "causes" in direct proportion to how useful they are to them in order to show how terrible the West, America and capitalism are.

    There has also been a longer tradition of anti-Semitism on the Left; see, for instance,
    Israel and the European Left: Between Solidarity and Delegitimization by Colin Shindler.
  • Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 61,950
    Mr. W, sympathy/long-term sentiment. Can't otherwise work out how Giggs randomly got it in 2009.
  • Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 52,118
    TOPPING said:

    TOPPING said:

    SeanT said:

    SeanT said:

    Done a blog on Gaza, Israel, and the Mystery of the Disappearing Tweets. http://t.co/0fKGXyuEFK

    Broadly speaking, the left is anti-Israeli and the right is pro-Israeli. Is this in truth simply because Communist Russia armed and trained the Arabs, who were utterly thrashed, and the left resents this Communist humiliation because it still thinks Communism a force for good and harmony?
    JackW said:

    taffys said:

    Why is Cameron amongst the vocal world leaders in sticking it to Russia?

    It's cynical I know, but what's in that for us?

    I think you'll find British PM's don't take too kindly to their citizens being blown out of the skies. They're funny that way.

    I've never noticed that "they" give a sh1t to be frank. They didn't exactly cover themselves with glory over Lockerbie.

    We ought by rights to get a Congress-of-Vienna resolution against Putin and declare him, like Napoleon, an outlaw. Not Russia, just him and his associates. Then harass him for the rest of his life.
    It's funny how this has shifted. In the beginning the Left was quite pro-Israel (and the right was perhaps more prone to anti-Semitism). Israel was, it is often forgotten, very socialist in its origins - cf the kibbutz movement, etc

    Now the Left loathes Israel and the Right staunchly defends it - and both sides overdo it.
    Yes very true and very interesting.

    I'm not sure the British Establishment isn't still arabist at heart, although perhaps only from a continued (and outdated) paternalist perspective.

    The left has never forgiven Israel for becoming strong, for not pursuing that socialist ideal longer than they needed to, and for making the same mistakes that many western powers have made down the ages. Criticising Israel is also pretty much repercussionless apart from vituperative and half-hearted responses on CiF.

    There is a very interesting populist article about the attitudes of left and right towards Israel to be written (Jewish and non-Jewish academics have been agonising about little else for decades).

    Sean...your quill awaits...
    The British establishment doesn't recognise an independent Palestine. Only Israel.
    Out of interest, Sunil, and I have no idea the answer to this - what/how many countries, including those in the Middle East, recognise an independent Palestine?
    Seek and ye shall find!

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recognition_of_Palestine
  • RobDRobD Posts: 60,030

    MikeK said:

    Agence France-Presse ‏@AFP 8m
    Russian records show a Ukrainian Su-25 fighter jet was flying close to #MH17 before it crashed, senior Russian military official says

    Russia is now coming up with evidence (fabricated?) that it was the Ukrainians wot dun it.

    So the russian are suggesting a ground attack jet, with a service ceiling of 22000 ft was next to an airliner at 30000ft ?

    ROFLMAO

    Hm, I assume you can fire a missile up.
  • SmarmeronSmarmeron Posts: 5,099
    Beeb breaking

    "Serious Fraud Office opens a criminal investigation into allegations of fraud in the foreign exchange market"

    I repeat again, it's just as well we don't live in a corrupt country.....
  • CyclefreeCyclefree Posts: 25,326
    TOPPING said:

    TOPPING said:

    SeanT said:

    SeanT said:

    Done a blog on Gaza, Israel, and the Mystery of the Disappearing Tweets. http://t.co/0fKGXyuEFK

    JackW said:

    taffys said:

    I think you'll find British PM's don't take too kindly to their citizens being blown out of the skies. They're funny that way.

    I've never noticed that "they" give a sh1t to be frank. They didn't exactly cover themselves with glory over Lockerbie.

    We ought by rights to get a Congress-of-Vienna resolution against Putin and declare him, like Napoleon, an outlaw. Not Russia, just him and his associates. Then harass him for the rest of his life.
    It's funny how this has shifted. In the beginning the Left was quite pro-Israel (and the right was perhaps more prone to anti-Semitism). Israel was, it is often forgotten, very socialist in its origins - cf the kibbutz movement, etc

    Now the Left loathes Israel and the Right staunchly defends it - and both sides overdo it.
    Yes very true and very interesting.

    I'm not sure the British Establishment isn't still arabist at heart, although perhaps only from a continued (and outdated) paternalist perspective.

    The left has never forgiven Israel for becoming strong, for not pursuing that socialist ideal longer than they needed to, and for making the same mistakes that many western powers have made down the ages. Criticising Israel is also pretty much repercussionless apart from vituperative and half-hearted responses on CiF.

    There is a very interesting populist article about the attitudes of left and right towards Israel to be written (Jewish and non-Jewish academics have been agonising about little else for decades).

    Sean...your quill awaits...
    The British establishment doesn't recognise an independent Palestine. Only Israel.
    Out of interest, Sunil, and I have no idea the answer to this - what/how many countries, including those in the Middle East, recognise an independent Palestine?
    As a matter of historical fact, there never has been a Palestinian state. There was a province of the Roman Empire which the Romans called "Palestine" in order, principally, to erase mention of the Jews following the Jewish rebellions against Roman rule. The Ottomans did not give that area any sort of autonomous or other separate status. Then there was the British mandate.

    I'm not clear how, as a matter of international law, you can have a "state" without any recognised borders.

    (PS I am making no comment as to whether such a state is desirable and, if so, where it should be and who should live in it.)

  • JackWJackW Posts: 14,787

    Mr. W, sympathy/long-term sentiment. Can't otherwise work out how Giggs randomly got it in 2009.

    Is there much sympathy for a serial loser of a national and club side ?

    In contrast Giggs won a hat full of trophies.

  • taffystaffys Posts: 9,753
    I repeat again, it's just as well we don't live in a corrupt country.....

    Or one in which people jump to conclusions and find those they dislike guilty of crimes before due process has taken effect.
  • TGOHFTGOHF Posts: 21,633

    Gerrard's retired from international footballer, BBC ticker.

    Not my market, but I did mention him for SPOTY earlier and this may make it likelier.

    Lifetime achievement maybe - but not SPOTY - will be the deathknell of the the award if he gets this after the Giggs debacle.
  • SmarmeronSmarmeron Posts: 5,099
    @taffys
    I am sure they will be found not guilty, and that the Americans have fabricated the case just to make the "City" look bad.
    Pardon me if I don't offer a bet on it though?
  • Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 52,118
    Honestly I am a bit torn by the Israel-Gaza stuff.

    Consider:

    In virtually all the recent wars (since Oslo 1993) involving Israel, Israel has caused far more death and destruction than Hamas/Hezbollah. Simple maths.

    But then I'm thinking also:

    The Arab people already have more than 20 states in their Arab League (though not all are actually Arab, such as Somalia), stretching in an arc from Morocco to Muscat, and from the Euphrates to the Equator. Whereas the Israeli "empire", to paraphrase Blackadder, "consists of nothing more than a Falafel factory in Tel Aviv". But you know what I mean
  • Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 61,950
    Mr. Flashman (deceased), no worse than Obama and the EU getting the Nobel Peace Prize.
  • JackWJackW Posts: 14,787
    The PM's Commons statement shortly.
  • Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 52,118
    Cyclefree said:


    As a matter of historical fact, there never has been a Palestinian state. There was a province of the Roman Empire which the Romans called "Palestine" in order, principally, to erase mention of the Jews following the Jewish rebellions against Roman rule. The Ottomans did not give that area any sort of autonomous or other separate status. Then there was the British mandate.

    I'm not clear how, as a matter of international law, you can have a "state" without any recognised borders.

    (PS I am making no comment as to whether such a state is desirable and, if so, where it should be and who should live in it.)

    Well, I have posted a map on Wiki up-thread showing precisely where that recognition presently exists.

    Anyway:

    We have two entities in a territorial dispute. But we in the West only recognise one entity as a state (Israel), and not the other (Palestine).

    It would be a bit like only recognising the state of India in its dispute with Pakistan over Kashmir, or only recognising the UK in the former dispute with Ireland over the North.
  • taffystaffys Posts: 9,753
    But you know what I mean

    That's what really irks Arabs and the wider islamic world. All that oil, all that money, all those people, all that rhetoric, and they can't even push over a piddly little country not much bigger than Wales.

  • RobDRobD Posts: 60,030
    SeanT said:

    @MikeK

    "I might add that some, and not only the left, can never forgive Jews for actually picking up weapons and defending themselves."

    I think they could tolerate that but the fact that Israel has successfully defended itself is what sticks in the craw. Israel's other great crime is that when they say, "Never again", they mean it and for many Western politicians that is just too much.

    Bullshit. Israel is now borderline psychotic.

    My blog on the Telegraph has brought some raving Zionist nutters to the surface. One has proposed this as a sensible solution to the Palestinian problem.

    http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/15326#.U80jSDRdWSr

    Basically: drive all the Gazans into Sinai (even though the border is closed), brutally slaughter any that remain behind, seize all their property, repopulate the entire territory with Jews, and then make Gaza a part of the Jewish state for the rest of time.

    Clearly insane, right? Just Nazi.

    Except, the Man with the Plan is the Deputy Speaker of the Knesset.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moshe_Feiglin
    His staffers have clearly been at his page, the intro paragraph reads like a PPB.
  • JonathanDJonathanD Posts: 2,400
    RobD said:

    MikeK said:

    Agence France-Presse ‏@AFP 8m
    Russian records show a Ukrainian Su-25 fighter jet was flying close to #MH17 before it crashed, senior Russian military official says

    Russia is now coming up with evidence (fabricated?) that it was the Ukrainians wot dun it.

    So the russian are suggesting a ground attack jet, with a service ceiling of 22000 ft was next to an airliner at 30000ft ?

    ROFLMAO

    Hm, I assume you can fire a missile up.
    It would be fairly easy to differentiate between a surface to air missile and an air to air missile if you had access to the wreckage, so there is no need for Russian media to speculate on what the SU-25 was doing in the area; they just need to let experts onto the crash site and the truth will out. Of course, the reluctance to allow access and the frantic cleansing of the site by rebels suggest there is not much official belief in this theory.
  • taffystaffys Posts: 9,753
    I see its all kicking off in France.

    Bet Marine is loving it.
  • MikeKMikeK Posts: 9,053
    SeanT said:

    @MikeK

    "I might add that some, and not only the left, can never forgive Jews for actually picking up weapons and defending themselves."

    I think they could tolerate that but the fact that Israel has successfully defended itself is what sticks in the craw. Israel's other great crime is that when they say, "Never again", they mean it and for many Western politicians that is just too much.

    Bullshit. Israel is now borderline psychotic.

    My blog on the Telegraph has brought some raving Zionist nutters to the surface. One has proposed this as a sensible solution to the Palestinian problem.

    http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/15326#.U80jSDRdWSr

    Basically: drive all the Gazans into Sinai (even though the border is closed), brutally slaughter any that remain behind, seize all their property, repopulate the entire territory with Jews, and then make Gaza a part of the Jewish state for the rest of time.

    Clearly insane, right? Just Nazi.

    Except, the Man with the Plan is the Deputy Speaker of the Knesset.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moshe_Feiglin
    I think you'll find that the Moshe_Feiglin diatribe is a set up, and meant to fool border line anti-semites like you to the edge. And talking about edge you are getting there fast. Time to ease up on the travelling binges.
  • Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 61,950
    Mr. Taffys, riots?
  • Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 52,118
    As of 27 September 2013, 134 (69.4%) of the 193 member states of the United Nations have recognised the State of Palestine.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recognition_of_Palestine
  • taffystaffys Posts: 9,753
    Mr. Taffys, riots?

    Mr Morris Police had to prevent two Paris synagogues from being damaged, apparently.

    I'm sure for Le Pen's lot are concerned these are all just unwelcome immigrants causing trouble.
  • RobDRobD Posts: 60,030
    edited July 2014
    JonathanD said:

    RobD said:

    MikeK said:

    Agence France-Presse ‏@AFP 8m
    Russian records show a Ukrainian Su-25 fighter jet was flying close to #MH17 before it crashed, senior Russian military official says

    Russia is now coming up with evidence (fabricated?) that it was the Ukrainians wot dun it.

    So the russian are suggesting a ground attack jet, with a service ceiling of 22000 ft was next to an airliner at 30000ft ?

    ROFLMAO

    Hm, I assume you can fire a missile up.
    It would be fairly easy to differentiate between a surface to air missile and an air to air missile if you had access to the wreckage, so there is no need for Russian media to speculate on what the SU-25 was doing in the area; they just need to let experts onto the crash site and the truth will out. Of course, the reluctance to allow access and the frantic cleansing of the site by rebels suggest there is not much official belief in this theory.
    Not that I believe them, but how can you differentiate the two? Wreckage from the missile itself?
  • SouthamObserverSouthamObserver Posts: 39,668
    Cyclefree said:

    taffys said:

    ''I might add that some, and not only the left, can never forgive Jews for actually picking up weapons and defending themselves.''

    Against a vast array of foes sworn to destroy their country, and murder all its people??? how dare they!!!

    The Left abandoned the Jews when there was some other minority they could patronise. Not all the Left of course but that significant part of it which adopts and abandons "causes" in direct proportion to how useful they are to them in order to show how terrible the West, America and capitalism are.

    There has also been a longer tradition of anti-Semitism on the Left; see, for instance,
    Israel and the European Left: Between Solidarity and Delegitimization by Colin Shindler.

    Can you elucidate a little more on what you mean by "the Left"? Do you mean the Labour party, for example? If so, can you let us know at what stage it abandoned the Jews?

    Of course, anti-Semitism existed long before Israel existed and long before anything that could be described as "the Left" existed. It was entrenched among ruling elites throughout Europe, almost all of which could easily be described as being on "the Right". Indeed, Jews were often associated with communism and treason by the "the Right". But let's not let that get in the way of your prejudices.

  • MikeKMikeK Posts: 9,053
    SeanT said:

    MikeK said:

    SeanT said:

    @MikeK

    "I might add that some, and not only the left, can never forgive Jews for actually picking up weapons and defending themselves."

    I think they could tolerate that but the fact that Israel has successfully defended itself is what sticks in the craw. Israel's other great crime is that when they say, "Never again", they mean it and for many Western politicians that is just too much.

    Bullshit. Israel is now borderline psychotic.

    My blog on the Telegraph has brought some raving Zionist nutters to the surface. One has proposed this as a sensible solution to the Palestinian problem.

    http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/15326#.U80jSDRdWSr

    Basically: drive all the Gazans into Sinai (even though the border is closed), brutally slaughter any that remain behind, seize all their property, repopulate the entire territory with Jews, and then make Gaza a part of the Jewish state for the rest of time.

    Clearly insane, right? Just Nazi.

    Except, the Man with the Plan is the Deputy Speaker of the Knesset.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moshe_Feiglin
    I think you'll find that the Moshe_Feiglin diatribe is a set up, and meant to fool border line anti-semites like you to the edge. And talking about edge you are getting there fast. Time to ease up on the travelling binges.
    Are you saying this entire Wikipedia page - and all the other references on many other sites - are an anti-Semitic hoax, and this man either does not exist, or has not said any of the hundreds of things attributed to him?

    Is that your claim?
    No I'm not saying that. Unfortunately Moshe_Feiglin is a nut case; he once praised Hitler as a military genius and the Hitler Youth as model to be copied. He deserves all the opprobrium heaped on him.

    All I'm saying is that the letter in Feiglins name was not sent by him in this case; but by others seeking to damage the Jews and Israel.
  • Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 61,950
    Mr. Taffys, ah. In response to the recent invasion of Gaza, I take it?
  • GIN1138GIN1138 Posts: 22,376
    T+7 minutes until The Good Lord gives us the latest!
  • SouthamObserverSouthamObserver Posts: 39,668
    SeanT said:

    MikeK said:

    SeanT said:

    @MikeK

    "I might add that some, and not only the left, can never forgive Jews for actually picking up weapons and defending themselves."

    I think they could tolerate that but the fact that Israel has successfully defended itself is what sticks in the craw. Israel's other great crime is that when they say, "Never again", they mean it and for many Western politicians that is just too much.

    Bullshit. Israel is now borderline psychotic.

    My blog on the Telegraph has brought some raving Zionist nutters to the surface. One has proposed this as a sensible solution to the Palestinian problem.

    http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/15326#.U80jSDRdWSr

    Basically: drive all the Gazans into Sinai (even though the border is closed), brutally slaughter any that remain behind, seize all their property, repopulate the entire territory with Jews, and then make Gaza a part of the Jewish state for the rest of time.

    Clearly insane, right? Just Nazi.

    Except, the Man with the Plan is the Deputy Speaker of the Knesset.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moshe_Feiglin
    I think you'll find that the Moshe_Feiglin diatribe is a set up, and meant to fool border line anti-semites like you to the edge. And talking about edge you are getting there fast. Time to ease up on the travelling binges.
    Are you saying this entire Wikipedia page - and all the other references on many other sites - are an anti-Semitic hoax, and this man either does not exist, or has not said any of the hundreds of things attributed to him?

    Is that your claim?

    His claim seems to be that unless you support the Israeli government and its actions in Gaza and the West Bank you are an anti-Semite who hates Israel.

    MikeK, of course, hates the UK as he does not support its government.
  • JonathanDJonathanD Posts: 2,400
    RobD said:

    JonathanD said:

    RobD said:

    MikeK said:

    Agence France-Presse ‏@AFP 8m
    Russian records show a Ukrainian Su-25 fighter jet was flying close to #MH17 before it crashed, senior Russian military official says

    Russia is now coming up with evidence (fabricated?) that it was the Ukrainians wot dun it.

    So the russian are suggesting a ground attack jet, with a service ceiling of 22000 ft was next to an airliner at 30000ft ?

    ROFLMAO

    Hm, I assume you can fire a missile up.
    It would be fairly easy to differentiate between a surface to air missile and an air to air missile if you had access to the wreckage, so there is no need for Russian media to speculate on what the SU-25 was doing in the area; they just need to let experts onto the crash site and the truth will out. Of course, the reluctance to allow access and the frantic cleansing of the site by rebels suggest there is not much official belief in this theory.
    Not that I believe them, but how can you differentiate the two? Wreckage from the missile itself?

    Wreckage from the missile and the blast size and damage itself.
  • CyclefreeCyclefree Posts: 25,326

    Cyclefree said:


    As a matter of historical fact, there never has been a Palestinian state. There was a province of the Roman Empire which the Romans called "Palestine" in order, principally, to erase mention of the Jews following the Jewish rebellions against Roman rule. The Ottomans did not give that area any sort of autonomous or other separate status. Then there was the British mandate.

    I'm not clear how, as a matter of international law, you can have a "state" without any recognised borders.

    (PS I am making no comment as to whether such a state is desirable and, if so, where it should be and who should live in it.)

    Well, I have posted a map on Wiki up-thread showing precisely where that recognition presently exists.

    Anyway:

    We have two entities in a territorial dispute. But we in the West only recognise one entity as a state (Israel), and not the other (Palestine).

    It would be a bit like only recognising the state of India in its dispute with Pakistan over Kashmir, or only recognising the UK in the former dispute with Ireland over the North.
    I am not an international lawyer. But isn't it the case that the occupied lands i.e. those lands which the Palestinians want to make up the Palestinian state were formerly the lands which had been allocated by the UN, had then been seized by Jordan and were lost in the 1967 war? Legally, I believe that their status is that of "Occupied Territories".

    Israel was created as a state long before 1967 and its status as a state does not depend on the Occupied Territory so the issue is not the recognition of Israel but whether that Occupied Land should be part of Israel - as some in Israel think - or, as originally intended, the basis for a Palestinian state.

    (Of course, some of those who are in favour of a Palestinian state are at least as interested in the destruction of Israel in order to get it.)

    I would have thought it better - personally - to get agreement on the creation of the state and what its borders should be. But this has been a fool's errand for these past 40 years or more, alas.
  • taffystaffys Posts: 9,753
    Mr. Taffys, ah. In response to the recent invasion of Gaza, I take it?

    Yes. As if Jews in Paris could do anything about it...
  • Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 61,950
    Mr. Taffys, vaguely reminds me of the 2005 cartoon insanity, and (in particular) the Somalian nun who was shot over it.
  • Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 52,118
    Cyclefree said:

    Cyclefree said:


    As a matter of historical fact, there never has been a Palestinian state. There was a province of the Roman Empire which the Romans called "Palestine" in order, principally, to erase mention of the Jews following the Jewish rebellions against Roman rule. The Ottomans did not give that area any sort of autonomous or other separate status. Then there was the British mandate.

    I'm not clear how, as a matter of international law, you can have a "state" without any recognised borders.

    (PS I am making no comment as to whether such a state is desirable and, if so, where it should be and who should live in it.)

    Well, I have posted a map on Wiki up-thread showing precisely where that recognition presently exists.

    Anyway:

    We have two entities in a territorial dispute. But we in the West only recognise one entity as a state (Israel), and not the other (Palestine).

    It would be a bit like only recognising the state of India in its dispute with Pakistan over Kashmir, or only recognising the UK in the former dispute with Ireland over the North.
    I am not an international lawyer. But isn't it the case that the occupied lands i.e. those lands which the Palestinians want to make up the Palestinian state were formerly the lands which had been allocated by the UN, had then been seized by Jordan and were lost in the 1967 war? Legally, I believe that their status is that of "Occupied Territories".

    Israel was created as a state long before 1967 and its status as a state does not depend on the Occupied Territory so the issue is not the recognition of Israel but whether that Occupied Land should be part of Israel - as some in Israel think - or, as originally intended, the basis for a Palestinian state.

    (Of course, some of those who are in favour of a Palestinian state are at least as interested in the destruction of Israel in order to get it.)

    I would have thought it better - personally - to get agreement on the creation of the state and what its borders should be. But this has been a fool's errand for these past 40 years or more, alas.
    Two questions:
    Wasn't Israel's own 1948 declaration of independence unilateral, or at least kind of?
    And didn't the UN partition plan involve creation of an Arab state in Palestine alongside Israel?
  • FalseFlagFalseFlag Posts: 1,801
    RobD said:

    MikeK said:

    Agence France-Presse ‏@AFP 8m
    Russian records show a Ukrainian Su-25 fighter jet was flying close to #MH17 before it crashed, senior Russian military official says

    Russia is now coming up with evidence (fabricated?) that it was the Ukrainians wot dun it.

    So the russian are suggesting a ground attack jet, with a service ceiling of 22000 ft was next to an airliner at 30000ft ?

    ROFLMAO

    Hm, I assume you can fire a missile up.
    The SU 25 was apparently at 10km height, 5km from flight and missiles can fire up to 12km. Asking important question regarding the failure of Kiev and the US to release information.

    Most importantly China has condemned the rush to judgement on the air crash before facts are established.
  • BobaFettBobaFett Posts: 2,789
    Today's Ashcroft is hilarious.

    Shred away.
  • felixfelix Posts: 15,173

    Cyclefree said:

    Cyclefree said:


    As a matter of historical fact, there never has been a Palestinian state. There was a province of the Roman Empire which the Romans called "Palestine" in order, principally, to erase mention of the Jews following the Jewish rebellions against Roman rule. The Ottomans did not give that area any sort of autonomous or other separate status. Then there was the British mandate.

    I'm not clear how, as a matter of international law, you can have a "state" without any recognised borders.

    (PS I am making no comment as to whether such a state is desirable and, if so, where it should be and who should live in it.)



    I am not an international lawyer. But isn't it the case that the occupied lands i.e. those lands which the Palestinians want to make up the Palestinian state were formerly the lands which had been allocated by the UN, had then been seized by Jordan and were lost in the 1967 war? Legally, I believe that their status is that of "Occupied Territories".

    Israel was created as a state long before 1967 and its status as a state does not depend on the Occupied Territory so the issue is not the recognition of Israel but whether that Occupied Land should be part of Israel - as some in Israel think - or, as originally intended, the basis for a Palestinian state.

    (Of course, some of those who are in favour of a Palestinian state are at least as interested in the destruction of Israel in order to get it.)

    I would have thought it better - personally - to get agreement on the creation of the state and what its borders should be. But this has been a fool's errand for these past 40 years or more, alas.
    Two questions:
    Wasn't Israel's own 1948 declaration of independence unilateral, or at least kind of?
    And didn't the UN partition plan involve creation of an Arab state in Palestine alongside Israel?
    The answer to both questions is yes and it is clear that a 2 state solution is the only way out of the impasses. It is so easy to say it but both sides have entrenched positions which allow the other no quarter. No doubt it will happen in some form eventually - however I do not believe the actions of the extremists nor the rather silly journalists within and without the area who are continually trying to demonize the whole Israeli nation are helping us get any nearer to that solution.
  • taffystaffys Posts: 9,753
    ''But this has been a fool's errand for these past 40 years or more, alas.''

    Arafat and Palestine were offered a good deal by Ehud Barak in 2000. Arafat stunned everybody by rejecting it.
  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 43,046
    edited July 2014
    SeanT said:

    MikeK said:

    SeanT said:

    MikeK said:

    SeanT said:

    @MikeK

    nding themselves."

    , they mean it and for many Western politicians that is just too much.

    Bullshit. Israel is now borderline psychotic.

    has proposed this as a sensible solution to the Palestinian problem.

    http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/15326#.U80jSDRdWSr

    e Jewish state for the rest of time.

    Clearly insane, right? Just Nazi.

    Except, the Man with the Plan is the Deputy Speaker of the Knesset.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moshe_Feiglin
    I think you'll find that the Moshe_Feiglin diatribe is a set up, and meant to fool border line anti-semites like you to the edge. And talking about edge you are getting there fast. Time to ease up on the travelling binges.
    Is that your claim?
    ase; but by others seeking to damage the Jews and Israel.
    I'm genuinely curious. What letter? There is no letter: there is a newspaper column which, as far as I can see, reiterates Feiglin's oft-expressed views on Gaza, and proposes a more *vigorous* way to end the war.

    The fact that his views are quasi-Fascist is not surprising, I've always known there is a Fascist tinge to Zionism. What does surprise me is the fact he is so senior: the Deputy Speaker of the Knesset, not some Nick Griffin-esque outsider.

    It's actually quite shocking, how Israel's political culture is being infected with the most abhorrent views. It also proves one of the arguments in my article.
    Sean your residency in Primrose Hill has got to you.

    This bloke is an evident nutter judging by what you and MikeK (two unlikely bedfellows, only on PB, etc) say. I haven't read anything by or about him.

    Israel, meanwhile, is a pluralist democracy which adheres to the rule or law although I appreciate the rule of law and the Law of War can be made to mean different things, seemingly incompatible (cf. Afghanistan, Iraq, Panama, etc, etc).

    You have fallen into the trap of thinking that Israel should adhere to a far, far higher, almost unattainable standard than anyone else on the planet. And when they stray from that, you excoriate them. Now of course I have never adhered to the argument "well look at what Al Shabab would do ..." but your line of argument shows that you believe that the Israelis are inherently decent people, the sort you can see yourself having a drink with in the Lansdowne.

    I think that what the Israelis might say, however, is that they are trying to live up to your expectations but that they believe they are in a fight for their lives. It is not an academic exercise to be rounded off by a designer beer and some nibbles. And hence in that environment the rules is different.
  • Edin_RokzEdin_Rokz Posts: 516
    Ashcroft National Poll: Con 27%, Lab 35%, Lib Dem 7%, UKIP 17%, Green 7%

    Jul 21, 2014 03:59 pm
  • OllyTOllyT Posts: 5,006

    OllyT said:

    Maybe, Financier, but had Osborn had been Chancellor when the international financial crisis hit in 2008 I think we would have seen the meaning of the word "incompetent" taken to a completely new level. We may yet get to see him in action in a major crisis and when we do I for one will be running for cover.

    He's been in action for four years of the most difficult world economic conditions since the 1930s and has proved to be a superb Chancellor.

    If you want to know the meaning of the word 'incompetent' in this context, you only have to look at Gordon Brown, starting with his eye-wateringly incompetent 1997 decision to dismantle the supervisory framework of the UK banking system, leaving literally no-one in charge - with exactly the consequences Peter Lilley warned of at the time.
    I think you might look more productively back to the Thatcher /Reagan era of deregulation if you want to locate the seeds of the banking crisis.
  • MikeKMikeK Posts: 9,053

    Cyclefree said:

    Cyclefree said:


    As a matter of historical fact, there never has been a Palestinian state. There was a province of the Roman Empire which the Romans called "Palestine" in order, principally, to erase mention of the Jews following the Jewish rebellions against Roman rule. The Ottomans did not give that area any sort of autonomous or other separate status. Then there was the British mandate.

    I'm not clear how, as a matter of international law, you can have a "state" without any recognised borders.

    (PS I am making no comment as to whether such a state is desirable and, if so, where it should be and who should live in it.)

    Well, I have posted a map on Wiki up-thread showing precisely where that recognition presently exists.

    Anyway:

    We have two entities in a territorial dispute. But we in the West only recognise one entity as a state (Israel), and not the other (Palestine).

    It would be a bit like only recognising the state of India in its dispute with Pakistan over Kashmir, or only recognising the UK in the former dispute with Ireland over the North.
    I am not an international lawyer. But isn't it the case that the occupied lands i.e. those lands which the Palestinians want to make up the Palestinian state were formerly the lands which had been allocated by the UN, had then been seized by Jordan and were lost in the 1967 war? Legally, I believe that their status is that of "Occupied Territories".

    Israel was created as a state long before 1967 and its status as a state does not depend on the Occupied Territory so the issue is not the recognition of Israel but whether that Occupied Land should be part of Israel - as some in Israel think - or, as originally intended, the basis for a Palestinian state.

    (Of course, some of those who are in favour of a Palestinian state are at least as interested in the destruction of Israel in order to get it.)

    I would have thought it better - personally - to get agreement on the creation of the state and what its borders should be. But this has been a fool's errand for these past 40 years or more, alas.
    Two questions:
    Wasn't Israel's own 1948 declaration of independence unilateral, or at least kind of?
    And didn't the UN partition plan involve creation of an Arab state in Palestine alongside Israel?
    All true Sunnil. The facts on the ground were different though; all the arab states rejected the UN partition plan which "The Yishuv" (the Jews of Palestine) accepted. 5 arab states including Egypt, Syria and Trans-Jordon invaded the country and eventually a cease fire was proclaimed in 1949. That Israel was established and won her war of independence was a fact.

    Ever since the Muslim world has tried rub Israel out of existence and from the map.
  • QuincelQuincel Posts: 4,042
    edited July 2014


    Two questions:
    Wasn't Israel's own 1948 declaration of independence unilateral, or at least kind of?
    And didn't the UN partition plan involve creation of an Arab state in Palestine alongside Israel?
    The UN partition plan did have two states, but it's worth noting that the Israeli Declaration was only of 'their half', they didn't declare a state over the whole area. They got that during the ensuing 1948 war. Initially the pre-67 borders were just armistice lines to stop the '48 war, but as the Arab nations and Israel couldn't reach any peace settlements and no Palestinian state/government emerged to run 'their half' independently things became semi-permanent over time.

    EDIT: So to answer the first question, it was slightly unilateral but only really a declaration of the UN plan a few weeks (months? can't remember) ahead of 'schedule'.
  • CyclefreeCyclefree Posts: 25,326

    Cyclefree said:

    taffys said:

    The Left abandoned the Jews when there was some other minority they could patronise. Not all the Left of course but that significant part of it which adopts and abandons "causes" in direct proportion to how useful they are to them in order to show how terrible the West, America and capitalism are.


    Can you elucidate a little more on what you mean by "the Left"? Do you mean the Labour party, for example? If so, can you let us know at what stage it abandoned the Jews?

    Of course, anti-Semitism existed long before Israel existed and long before anything that could be described as "the Left" existed. It was entrenched among ruling elites throughout Europe, almost all of which could easily be described as being on "the Right". Indeed, Jews were often associated with communism and treason by the "the Right". But let's not let that get in the way of your prejudices.

    I do not believe that only the Left are anti-Semitic. Far from it. It has been entrenched in too many societies for far too long and is making an unwelcome reappearance, alas. Since my own mother is partly Jewish (according to the racial laws then in force in Italy) and had to hide in a convent during the war when she was a child, I'm well aware of the long and dishonourable tradition of anti-Semitism on the right.

    I was merely responding to a comment made about the Left's recent attitude. And, as is clear, I did not make the accusation against all on the Left.

    Certainly the Labour Party I knew when I was growing up had a number of prominent Jewish MPs who were vocal in their support of Israel. I do not see that now. There are some Labour MPs (a v small number, such as Jeremy Corbyn) who seem very willing to associate themselves with Hamas and others like then who are undoubtedly anti-Semitic and anti-Israel and this troubles me. Just as it troubled me that Ken Livingstone, who associated with people who proudly boasted of their anti-Semitism, was the Labour Party's official candidate for Mayor. I do not see a Labour Party which is outspoken on the issue of anti-Semitism and that it is all too often a default way of thinking within too many in the Muslim community here (as elsewhere in Europe) and willing to challenge this and say that it is wrong. Kenan Malik has been particularly good on this.

    The book I referenced is quite interesting on the Left - if you like the Hard Left's - attitude to anti-Semitism. It is a fact though that this virus which people thought had been killed following WW2 has not, has mutated and been reintroduced and it behoves all of us to do what we can to challenge it wherever we find it.

  • MrJonesMrJones Posts: 3,523

    MikeK said:

    Agence France-Presse ‏@AFP 8m
    Russian records show a Ukrainian Su-25 fighter jet was flying close to #MH17 before it crashed, senior Russian military official says

    Russia is now coming up with evidence (fabricated?) that it was the Ukrainians wot dun it.

    What's the evidence the Russians did it?
    Do you mean the Russian supported rebels?

    1. Russian supplied anti-aircraft missiles in rebel locations.
    2. Missile launched from rebel area.
    3. MH17 was flying East away from Ukraine and no threat to them.
    4. Rebels had already shot down previous planes (similar size and height).
    5. Rebels claimed then withdrew twitter statement that they shot a plane down there.

    Enough?
    Point (3). There's a Ukrainian army formation stuck in a pocket near the eastern border with Russia that is (was) being supplied by air. The Antonov transport plane that was shot down recently was flying to that pocket so point (3) doesn't necessarily apply (although it would depend on whether or not MH17's course was in the direction of that pocket).

    http://www.jacdec.de/2014/07/14/2014-07-14-ukraine-air-force-antonov-an-26-shot-down-in-eastern-ukraine/
  • HurstLlamaHurstLlama Posts: 9,098
    OllyT said:

    OllyT said:

    Maybe, Financier, but had Osborn had been Chancellor when the international financial crisis hit in 2008 I think we would have seen the meaning of the word "incompetent" taken to a completely new level. We may yet get to see him in action in a major crisis and when we do I for one will be running for cover.

    He's been in action for four years of the most difficult world economic conditions since the 1930s and has proved to be a superb Chancellor.

    If you want to know the meaning of the word 'incompetent' in this context, you only have to look at Gordon Brown, starting with his eye-wateringly incompetent 1997 decision to dismantle the supervisory framework of the UK banking system, leaving literally no-one in charge - with exactly the consequences Peter Lilley warned of at the time.
    I think you might look more productively back to the Thatcher /Reagan era of deregulation if you want to locate the seeds of the banking crisis.
    We know what Brown's removal of a competent supervisory framework led to. Specifically what measures did you have in mind that were put in place by the Thatcher administration that the led to the banking crisis nearly 20 years after she left office?

    In the USA was the Glass-Stegall Act abolished by Regan? In the back of my mind, I have a feeling that it was long after he left office that the Financial Services Modernization Act was passed. It was that Act of course that enable the US Banks run wild.

    Still do tell.
  • MikeKMikeK Posts: 9,053

    Ashcroft National Poll: Con 27%, Lab 35%, Lib Dem 7%, UKIP 17%, Green 7%
    Jul 21, 2014 03:59 pm

    UKIP, steady as she goes. Cammo needs to be worried. Cleggover supports assisted suicide. Red Ed can do no wrong, he also can't do right. Greens offering tributes to their gods.
  • OllyTOllyT Posts: 5,006
    Sorry, Morris Dancer, we shall have to agree to differ. No leader in my lifetime has come anywhere close to Cameron in being totally devoid of any substance. Ideal leader for the times in which we find ourselves living through.
  • Ishmael_XIshmael_X Posts: 3,664
    BobaFett said:

    Today's Ashcroft is hilarious.

    Shred away.

    Like a clock striking thirteen, not only incredible in itself but also casting the gravest doubt on its predecessors.

  • QuincelQuincel Posts: 4,042
    edited July 2014
    The Greens deserve an article I reckon. Not only are they reaching new heights of national support, but they are doing it without any media presence from their leader. Crossover (as a one-off, granted) with the LDs is practically inevitable at some point.
  • Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 52,118
    edited July 2014
    NEW THREAD - Ashcroft/Populus
  • OllyTOllyT Posts: 5,006

    OllyT said:

    OllyT said:

    Maybe, Financier, but had Osborn had been Chancellor when the international financial crisis hit in 2008 I think we would have seen the meaning of the word "incompetent" taken to a completely new level. We may yet get to see him in action in a major crisis and when we do I for one will be running for cover.

    He's been in action for four years of the most difficult world economic conditions since the 1930s and has proved to be a superb Chancellor.

    If you want to know the meaning of the word 'incompetent' in this context, you only have to look at Gordon Brown, starting with his eye-wateringly incompetent 1997 decision to dismantle the supervisory framework of the UK banking system, leaving literally no-one in charge - with exactly the consequences Peter Lilley warned of at the time.
    I think you might look more productively back to the Thatcher /Reagan era of deregulation if you want to locate the seeds of the banking crisis.
    We know what Brown's removal of a competent supervisory framework led to. Specifically what measures did you have in mind that were put in place by the Thatcher administration that the led to the banking crisis nearly 20 years after she left office?

    In the USA was the Glass-Stegall Act abolished by Regan? In the back of my mind, I have a feeling that it was long after he left office that the Financial Services Modernization Act was passed. It was that Act of course that enable the US Banks run wild.

    Still do tell.
    I was primarily referring t Thatcher's "Big Bang" which Wiki accurately describes as her cornerstone financial policy.
    Quoting again from Wiki:

    "Although the "Big Bang" eased stock market transactions there is a debate in the UK about how far it affected the 2007–2012 global financial crisis. In 2010, Nigel Lawson, Thatcher's Chancellor at the time, appeared on the Analysis program to discuss banking reform, explaining that the 2007–2012 global financial crisis was an unintended consequence of the "Big Bang".[4] He said that UK investment banks, previously very cautious with what was their own money, had merged with high street banks putting depositors' savings at risk and ...according to the program leading US banks to follow suit".

    Far more significant than anything Brown did, though his actions hardly improved matters.
This discussion has been closed.