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politicalbetting.com » Blog Archive » Henry G Manson: Words and the world of workers – how Labour

SystemSystem Posts: 11,700
edited October 2014 in General

imagepoliticalbetting.com » Blog Archive » Henry G Manson: Words and the world of workers – how Labour should respond to UKIP

The debate about UKIP is hotting up in Labour circles. UKIP are demonstrating they can get past Labour’s defences in a lot of traditional working class communities in a way the Tories never could. A few years ago the purple party were dismissed as ‘the BNP in blazers’ and a party with an appeal limited to southern leafy shires. Not now.

Read the full story here


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Comments

  • Options
    audreyanneaudreyanne Posts: 1,376
    edited October 2014
    Seems a trifle indecent to post this thread up on Clegg's speech day?

    (Looks a very good read, mind.)
  • Options
    PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 75,986

    Seems a trifle indecent to post this thread up on Clegg's speech day?

    What's indecent about it ?
  • Options
    SocratesSocrates Posts: 10,322
    If you're talking about avoiding being challenged in northern towns like Rotherham, you could try to stop your councillors actively interfering in the investigation of child abuse cases, when thousands of kids from your supporters families are getting raped.
  • Options
    taffystaffys Posts: 9,753
    Interesting as ever, but the article finishes where it should start.

    You say there are new suggestions to combat UKIP, without saying what those suggestions are.
  • Options

    Seems a trifle indecent to post this thread up on Clegg's speech day?

    (Looks a very good read, mind.)

    Why? The speech of a political zombie who's big shock announcement was that the widespread resignation rumours were wrong.

  • Options
    SocratesSocrates Posts: 10,322
    Pulpstar said:

    Seems a trifle indecent to post this thread up on Clegg's speech day?

    What's indecent about it ?
    Perhaps it's another topic that our betters should ban us from talking about, given audrey's previously stated views on free speech.
  • Options
    taffystaffys Posts: 9,753
    I really hope Labour put Scotsmen like Alexander and Murphy front and centre next year.

    It will be great to hear voters tell them to shut up about matters that do not affect them or the constituents they represent.
  • Options
    PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 75,986
    Socrates said:

    Pulpstar said:

    Seems a trifle indecent to post this thread up on Clegg's speech day?

    What's indecent about it ?
    Perhaps it's another topic that our betters should ban us from talking about, given audrey's previously stated views on free speech.
    The only topics that we can't discuss here are ones that can potentially land Mike with legal bills. That is fair enough.
  • Options
    AnorakAnorak Posts: 6,621
    edited October 2014
    FPT
    TOPPING said:

    Anorak said:

    Floater said:

    Internet reports suggest a second Spanish auxiliary nurse may have been infected with Ebola.

    Imagine if IS sent 20 jihadis to West Africa to rub shoulders with Ebola, then got them to sit on the Tube in London and the Metro in Paris for a week or two. *shudders*
    it's bodily fluid borne not airborne.

    They would have to get onto the tube, cut themselves open, or vomit, and then hope that the people they hit with their innards/vomit had cuts themselves.

    Not impossible but it's prob easier/more efficient to get an AK or two into central London.
    From the WHO website: Ebola then spreads through human-to-human transmission via direct contact (through broken skin or mucous membranes) with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected people, and with surfaces and materials (e.g. bedding, clothing) contaminated with these fluids.

    Looking at the last sentence, then a few pin-pricks on each hand prior to holding the posts and hand rails in a tube train would do the trick. Getting a job at Costa and surreptitiously smearing each takeaway cup (they're red anyway) would also work a treat. The fear and disruption arising from just one or two cases would outweigh a gun attack by an order of magnitude (IMO).
  • Options
    audreyanneaudreyanne Posts: 1,376

    Seems a trifle indecent to post this thread up on Clegg's speech day?

    (Looks a very good read, mind.)

    Why? The speech of a political zombie who's big shock announcement was that the widespread resignation rumours were wrong.

    Pulpstar said:

    Seems a trifle indecent to post this thread up on Clegg's speech day?

    What's indecent about it ?
    I just think during conference season it's right to give decent airplay to the speeches of the respective leaders.

    I'm not a LibDem. You may have noticed. But I do believe in fair play.
  • Options
    JBriskinJBriskin Posts: 2,380
    "Ukip expert" ?
  • Options
    audreyanneaudreyanne Posts: 1,376
    Socrates said:

    Pulpstar said:

    Seems a trifle indecent to post this thread up on Clegg's speech day?

    What's indecent about it ?
    Perhaps it's another topic that our betters should ban us from talking about, given audrey's previously stated views on free speech.
    I have few wishes in life, but one would be that you change your pseudonym. Anyone less worthy of the great thinker of ancient Greece it is hard to imagine.

    No-one said anything about banning topics. I just think we should play out some line for Clegg today. I'm sorry you don't understand courtesy.
  • Options
    PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 75,986
    taffys said:

    I really hope Labour put Scotsmen like Alexander and Murphy front and centre next year.

    It will be great to hear voters tell them to shut up about matters that do not affect them or the constituents they represent.

    Dougie's current role: Foriegn policy is a reserved matter, why I think it is OK to have a Scottish Foreign Sec but perhaps best if the Home Sec is English.

    I expect that level of nuance/subtlety is lost on both sides of that argument though...
  • Options
    PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 75,986
    India falling apart.
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    taffystaffys Posts: 9,753
    I expect that level of nuance/subtlety is lost on both sides of that argument though...

    Somehow I don;t think a pontificating, preachy little chap like dougie will be able to confine himself to Foreign matters.

    But you never know.

  • Options
    SocratesSocrates Posts: 10,322
    edited October 2014

    Socrates said:

    Pulpstar said:

    Seems a trifle indecent to post this thread up on Clegg's speech day?

    What's indecent about it ?
    Perhaps it's another topic that our betters should ban us from talking about, given audrey's previously stated views on free speech.
    I have few wishes in life, but one would be that you change your pseudonym. Anyone less worthy of the great thinker of ancient Greece it is hard to imagine.

    No-one said anything about banning topics. I just think we should play out some line for Clegg today. I'm sorry you don't understand courtesy.
    I will confess to the fact that I am not really intellectually worthy of the name Socrates. However, your posting to date suggests you are not intellectually worthy of the name audrey.
  • Options
    AnorakAnorak Posts: 6,621
    edited October 2014

    Seems a trifle indecent to post this thread up on Clegg's speech day?

    (Looks a very good read, mind.)

    Why? The speech of a political zombie who's big shock announcement was that the widespread resignation rumours were wrong.

    Pulpstar said:

    Seems a trifle indecent to post this thread up on Clegg's speech day?

    What's indecent about it ?
    I just think during conference season it's right to give decent airplay to the speeches of the respective leaders.

    I'm not a LibDem. You may have noticed. But I do believe in fair play.
    They're a minor party polling in single figures. I think they've had airplay enough with the first two threads of the day. They are also just not very interesting to talk about, other than using gallows humour, and that wears out fast.
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    Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 61,002
    Miss Anne, nothing to stop you posting about Clegg's speech, and his forgetting to resign.

    Didn't see Farage's, but I'd consider Clegg's to be better than Miliband's (no great achievement, it must be said) and worse than Cameron's. Quite holier-than-thou, now I come to think of it.
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    AlastairMeeksAlastairMeeks Posts: 30,340
    My estimation of Nick Clegg has gone up today.
  • Options
    PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 75,986
    taffys said:

    I expect that level of nuance/subtlety is lost on both sides of that argument though...

    Somehow I don;t think a pontificating, preachy little chap like dougie will be able to confine himself to Foreign matters.

    But you never know.

    Reckon he'll be shuffled in Mr Miliband's pack of cards ?
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    isamisam Posts: 40,988
    Ah Blue Labour.. a good idea but Ed wet his pants when someone said Maurice Glasman might have said something un PC, so it was scrapped... and with it went a lot of old school Labour voters to UKIP
  • Options
    PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 75,986
    I'll confess I haven't watched any of the leader's speeches - the Daily Mail did seem particularly gushing about Dave's though.
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    SocratesSocrates Posts: 10,322
    antifrank said:

    My estimation of Nick Clegg has gone up today.

    On what basis?
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    john_zimsjohn_zims Posts: 3,399
    'about a six point pledge for workers that’s now doing the rounds which as luck would have it would appeal to both Labour’s core voters and to those considering UKIP.'

    So no mention of immigration or the EU,that's really going to bring UKIP voters back to Labour in droves.
  • Options
    Scott_PScott_P Posts: 51,453
    @GuidoFawkes: And she's gone, Speaker's spokeswoman after our story yesterday http://t.co/g4NzDaI4bH
  • Options
    PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 75,986
    Socrates said:

    antifrank said:

    My estimation of Nick Clegg has gone up today.

    On what basis?
    Cash.
  • Options
    RogerRoger Posts: 18,894
    edited October 2014
    FPT. Socrates

    "I'm coming round to the Sean Fear position that a substantial swathe of our political class are actually evil."

    Grow up for Christ's sake! You don't only embarrass yourself but the site too. You probably ought to get help.
  • Options
    TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 41,403
    Anorak said:

    FPT

    TOPPING said:

    Anorak said:

    Floater said:

    Internet reports suggest a second Spanish auxiliary nurse may have been infected with Ebola.

    Imagine if IS sent 20 jihadis to West Africa to rub shoulders with Ebola, then got them to sit on the Tube in London and the Metro in Paris for a week or two. *shudders*
    it's bodily fluid borne not airborne.

    They would have to get onto the tube, cut themselves open, or vomit, and then hope that the people they hit with their innards/vomit had cuts themselves.

    Not impossible but it's prob easier/more efficient to get an AK or two into central London.
    From the WHO website: Ebola then spreads through human-to-human transmission via direct contact (through broken skin or mucous membranes) with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected people, and with surfaces and materials (e.g. bedding, clothing) contaminated with these fluids.

    Looking at the last sentence, then a few pin-pricks on each hand prior to holding the posts and hand rails in a tube train would do the trick. Getting a job at Costa and surreptitiously smearing each takeaway cup (they're red anyway) would also work a treat. The fear and disruption arising from just one or two cases would outweigh a gun attack by an order of magnitude (IMO).
    Not sure.

    A dastardly tube-borne attack by nasties somehow smacks of "old style" terror. Trying to surreptitiously deliver a lethal blow to the population.

    A Bombay/Brussels Jewish Museum-type nagga-f***ing-nagga stand up full-on armed attack is saying: here are the new rules, bitch.

    IMO the latter is the more "terrifying" option.
  • Options
    Socrates said:

    Socrates said:

    Pulpstar said:

    Seems a trifle indecent to post this thread up on Clegg's speech day?

    What's indecent about it ?
    Perhaps it's another topic that our betters should ban us from talking about, given audrey's previously stated views on free speech.
    I have few wishes in life, but one would be that you change your pseudonym. Anyone less worthy of the great thinker of ancient Greece it is hard to imagine.

    No-one said anything about banning topics. I just think we should play out some line for Clegg today. I'm sorry you don't understand courtesy.
    I will confess to the fact that I am not really intellectually worthy of the name Socrates. However, your posting to date suggests you are not intellectually worthy of the name audrey.
    Lol!

    Socrates - I rarely laugh out loud at posts, but I did at that.

    Audrey - No offence meant, I promise, but you have to admit that was touchee. (Btw, is Plato OK, or are you gunning for her? )
  • Options
    AnorakAnorak Posts: 6,621
    Roger said:

    FPT. Socrates

    "I'm coming round to the Sean Fear position that a substantial swathe of our political class are actually evil."

    Grow up for Christ's sake! You don't only embarrass yourself but the site too. You probably ought to get help.

    I'd go with amoral, rather than evil.
  • Options
    JBriskinJBriskin Posts: 2,380
    edited October 2014
    Pulpstar said:

    I'll confess I haven't watched any of the leader's speeches - the Daily Mail did seem particularly gushing about Dave's though.

    Clegg was far too passionate - I can't see the activists being overly inspired - as for the other part - 110 mins to go...

    (edited - team casio keeping it real.)

  • Options
    Pulpstar said:

    India falling apart.

    Looking a great call from BigJohn.
  • Options
    MarkHopkinsMarkHopkins Posts: 5,584
    Socrates said:

    antifrank said:

    My estimation of Nick Clegg has gone up today.

    On what basis?
    Couldn't get any lower?
  • Options
    chestnutchestnut Posts: 7,341
    'about a six point pledge for workers that’s now doing the rounds which as luck would have it would appeal to both Labour’s core voters and to those considering UKIP.'
    Maguire doesn't get it, does he?
  • Options
    OblitusSumMeOblitusSumMe Posts: 9,143

    Socrates said:

    Pulpstar said:

    Seems a trifle indecent to post this thread up on Clegg's speech day?

    What's indecent about it ?
    Perhaps it's another topic that our betters should ban us from talking about, given audrey's previously stated views on free speech.
    I have few wishes in life, but one would be that you change your pseudonym. Anyone less worthy of the great thinker of ancient Greece it is hard to imagine.

    No-one said anything about banning topics. I just think we should play out some line for Clegg today. I'm sorry you don't understand courtesy.
    When did it become courteous to insult someone?
  • Options
    AnorakAnorak Posts: 6,621
    TOPPING said:

    Anorak said:

    FPT

    TOPPING said:

    Anorak said:

    Floater said:

    Internet reports suggest a second Spanish auxiliary nurse may have been infected with Ebola.

    Imagine if IS sent 20 jihadis to West Africa to rub shoulders with Ebola, then got them to sit on the Tube in London and the Metro in Paris for a week or two. *shudders*
    it's bodily fluid borne not airborne.

    They would have to get onto the tube, cut themselves open, or vomit, and then hope that the people they hit with their innards/vomit had cuts themselves.

    Not impossible but it's prob easier/more efficient to get an AK or two into central London.
    From the WHO website: Ebola then spreads through human-to-human transmission via direct contact (through broken skin or mucous membranes) with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected people, and with surfaces and materials (e.g. bedding, clothing) contaminated with these fluids.

    Looking at the last sentence, then a few pin-pricks on each hand prior to holding the posts and hand rails in a tube train would do the trick. Getting a job at Costa and surreptitiously smearing each takeaway cup (they're red anyway) would also work a treat. The fear and disruption arising from just one or two cases would outweigh a gun attack by an order of magnitude (IMO).
    Not sure.

    A dastardly tube-borne attack by nasties somehow smacks of "old style" terror. Trying to surreptitiously deliver a lethal blow to the population.

    A Bombay/Brussels Jewish Museum-type nagga-f***ing-nagga stand up full-on armed attack is saying: here are the new rules, bitch.

    IMO the latter is the more "terrifying" option.
    Nah, a good old biological terror works best as EVERY SINGLE PERSON you meet could be a [unknowing] vector. Unless you're actually caught up in a gun fight they are somewhat remote. The tube was almost back to normal within a week of 7/7.
  • Options
    SocratesSocrates Posts: 10,322
    isam said:

    Ah Blue Labour.. a good idea but Ed wet his pants when someone said Maurice Glasman might have said something un PC, so it was scrapped... and with it went a lot of old school Labour voters to UKIP

    Mainstream Labour's issue with the Blue Labour movement goes far deeper than that. Blue Labour actually has a fondness and admiration for the traditional British working class, and thus wants to protect it and maintain its identity. Mainstream Labour looks upon it with the same disdain a policeman might show to a Rochdale school girl with a Pakistani "boyfriend". It thus would rather replace "stale" traditional British identities with "vibrant" multiculturalism through mass immigration. After all, the culture of Somalia or Nigeria is preferable right?
  • Options
    PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 75,986
    Maurice Glasman is far closer to the mark than Kevin Maguire on UKIP-Labour switchers I think.
  • Options
    OldKingColeOldKingCole Posts: 32,047
    JBriskin said:

    "Ukip expert" ?

    I once listened to talks from a man who was a world expert on head lice!
  • Options
    That workers' pledge card is pretty thin if you ask me. Number 1 - really means put up the minimum wage which they have said they will do. Numbers 2-6 - I would say I already have all of these rights under current employment legislation. How is Labour going to change this?

    Nothing at all to address working class fears about being undercut by cheaper labour from overseas.
  • Options
    OldKingColeOldKingCole Posts: 32,047
    Kevin Maguire's prescription looks like what trade union membership is meant to ensure.
  • Options

    I will confess to the fact that I am not really intellectually worthy of the name Socrates. However, your posting to date suggests you are not intellectually worthy of the name audrey.
    Without wishing to take sides, this was a very amusing comment.

  • Options
    PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 75,986
    Anorak said:

    TOPPING said:

    Anorak said:

    FPT

    TOPPING said:

    Anorak said:

    Floater said:

    Internet reports suggest a second Spanish auxiliary nurse may have been infected with Ebola.

    Imagine if IS sent 20 jihadis to West Africa to rub shoulders with Ebola, then got them to sit on the Tube in London and the Metro in Paris for a week or two. *shudders*
    it's bodily fluid borne not airborne.

    They would have to get onto the tube, cut themselves open, or vomit, and then hope that the people they hit with their innards/vomit had cuts themselves.

    Not impossible but it's prob easier/more efficient to get an AK or two into central London.
    From the WHO website: Ebola then spreads through human-to-human transmission via direct contact (through broken skin or mucous membranes) with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected people, and with surfaces and materials (e.g. bedding, clothing) contaminated with these fluids.

    Looking at the last sentence, then a few pin-pricks on each hand prior to holding the posts and hand rails in a tube train would do the trick. Getting a job at Costa and surreptitiously smearing each takeaway cup (they're red anyway) would also work a treat. The fear and disruption arising from just one or two cases would outweigh a gun attack by an order of magnitude (IMO).
    Not sure.

    A dastardly tube-borne attack by nasties somehow smacks of "old style" terror. Trying to surreptitiously deliver a lethal blow to the population.

    A Bombay/Brussels Jewish Museum-type nagga-f***ing-nagga stand up full-on armed attack is saying: here are the new rules, bitch.

    IMO the latter is the more "terrifying" option.
    Nah, a good old biological terror works best as EVERY SINGLE PERSON you meet could be a [unknowing] vector. Unless you're actually caught up in a gun fight they are somewhat remote. The tube was almost back to normal within a week of 7/7.
    An full scale Ebola outbreak in the UK would actually be terrifying, terror is a word oft bandied about and does have the political meaning but I tend to think of ISIS, AL Qaeda as a (very)
    minor worry in so far as they may affect me personally.

    Ebola outbreak is a completely different kettle of fish.
  • Options
    OldKingColeOldKingCole Posts: 32,047


    I will confess to the fact that I am not really intellectually worthy of the name Socrates. However, your posting to date suggests you are not intellectually worthy of the name audrey.
    Without wishing to take sides, this was a very amusing comment.



    Well, Little Audrey was known for her laughing!
  • Options
    SocratesSocrates Posts: 10,322
    Roger said:

    FPT. Socrates

    "I'm coming round to the Sean Fear position that a substantial swathe of our political class are actually evil."

    Grow up for Christ's sake! You don't only embarrass yourself but the site too. You probably ought to get help.

    Most of us decent-minded people would regard the sexual slavery of thousands of children an unspeakable crime, and that people that let it happen when they can do something about it as immoral. However, given that you have been an apologist for the child abuse of the paedophile Roman Polanski in the past, you are clearly an example of the utter lack of moral scruples I am talking about.
  • Options
    JBriskinJBriskin Posts: 2,380

    Kevin Maguire's prescription looks like what trade union membership is meant to ensure.

    If this is true trade unions should grow up a bit.

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    PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 75,986
    Looks like India are choosing death by scoring 3 or 4 runs an over when 5 or 6 minimum are needed.
  • Options
    RogerRoger Posts: 18,894
    Anorak

    'I'd go with amoral, rather than evil."

    I don't know or care but if Socrates can't curb his repulsive and obvious prurience for more than a few minutes then he'll probably clear the site which is a shame because there are some interesting contributions not least Henry's.
  • Options
    PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 75,986
    @Socrates That looks like a serious allegation regarding @Roger to me...
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    AnorakAnorak Posts: 6,621
    Dhoni gone. India f**ked.
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    OldKingColeOldKingCole Posts: 32,047
    Pulpstar said:

    Looks like India are choosing death by scoring 3 or 4 runs an over when 5 or 6 minimum are needed.

    Yup, Dhoni out now. 114-5. Required Run Rate 8.37
  • Options
    taffystaffys Posts: 9,753
    Most of us decent-minded people would regard the sexual slavery of thousands of children an unspeakable crime, and that people that let it happen when they can do something about it as immoral.

    If this is as widespread as reported, there must be hundreds of thousands, maybe millions, who have a relative/friend/neighbour/acquaintance caught up in it somehow.

    It must have touched the lives of very many...???
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    PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 75,986
    Anorak said:

    Dhoni gone. India f**ked.

    :O)
  • Options
    TheWatcherTheWatcher Posts: 5,262
    edited October 2014
    Roger said:

    Anorak

    'I'd go with amoral, rather than evil."

    I don't know or care but if Socrates can't curb his repulsive and obvious prurience for more than a few minutes then he'll probably clear the site which is a shame because there are some interesting contributions not least Henry's.

    Socrate's obsession with that topic is actually turning sensible posters away from discussing the issue.

  • Options
    FloaterFloater Posts: 14,195
    Socrates said:

    Socrates said:

    Pulpstar said:

    Seems a trifle indecent to post this thread up on Clegg's speech day?

    What's indecent about it ?
    Perhaps it's another topic that our betters should ban us from talking about, given audrey's previously stated views on free speech.
    I have few wishes in life, but one would be that you change your pseudonym. Anyone less worthy of the great thinker of ancient Greece it is hard to imagine.

    No-one said anything about banning topics. I just think we should play out some line for Clegg today. I'm sorry you don't understand courtesy.
    I will confess to the fact that I am not really intellectually worthy of the name Socrates. However, your posting to date suggests you are not intellectually worthy of the name audrey.
    Harsh, but did make me laugh.

    Incidentally via Laura K at Beeb - the speakers spokesperson has resigned - seems she was less than impartial.
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    Scott_PScott_P Posts: 51,453
    @steve_hawkes: MPs score victory over John Bercow - his spinner Justine McGuinness resigns over yesterday's rant at the Lib Dem conference
  • Options
    SocratesSocrates Posts: 10,322
    Roger said:

    Anorak

    'I'd go with amoral, rather than evil."

    I don't know or care but if Socrates can't curb his repulsive and obvious prurience for more than a few minutes then he'll probably clear the site which is a shame because there are some interesting contributions not least Henry's.

    The sexual abuse and exploitation of children is the modern day equivalent of the Transatlantic slave trade. It wrecks lives and many of the victims will never feel safe or be able to hold down a healthy romantic relationship again. When we have an epidemic of this on our own shores - to the tune of thousands of victims - and the authorities refuse to take action it is an absolute scandal. The fact that you think alarm over this is "prurience" shows what a despicable person you are. Although not as despicable as your previous defence of a paedophile.
  • Options
    ItajaiItajai Posts: 721
    Socrates said:

    isam said:

    Ah Blue Labour.. a good idea but Ed wet his pants when someone said Maurice Glasman might have said something un PC, so it was scrapped... and with it went a lot of old school Labour voters to UKIP

    Mainstream Labour's issue with the Blue Labour movement goes far deeper than that. Blue Labour actually has a fondness and admiration for the traditional British working class, and thus wants to protect it and maintain its identity. Mainstream Labour looks upon it with the same disdain a policeman might show to a Rochdale school girl with a Pakistani "boyfriend". It thus would rather replace "stale" traditional British identities with "vibrant" multiculturalism through mass immigration. After all, the culture of Somalia or Nigeria is preferable right?

    DId NPXMP ever come back and say why he was in favour of mass immigration?
    Perhaps some of the other fellow travellers can answer Socrates´s question above.
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    Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 61,002
    Mr. P, what rant is this?

    Bercow's a sanctimonious little empire-builder. To hear him suffer a setback is good news.
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    FrankBoothFrankBooth Posts: 9,052
    Clegg went on about vested interests but no mention of proportional representation. Has he become one of them himself?

    It would be really interesting to wonder what the House of Lords would now look like if Clegg had got his way. Given his plan was for a proportional system I assume wed have had an army of Ukip lords being ennobled. Maybe some greens too.
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    Scott_PScott_P Posts: 51,453

    Mr. P, what rant is this?

    Bercow's a sanctimonious little empire-builder. To hear him suffer a setback is good news.

    http://order-order.com/2014/10/07/speakers-spokesperson-the-tories-will-aim-to-buy-the-election-bercows-spinner-abandons-impartiality-in-extraordinary-rant/
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    audreyanneaudreyanne Posts: 1,376
    edited October 2014
    Anorak said:

    Seems a trifle indecent to post this thread up on Clegg's speech day?

    (Looks a very good read, mind.)

    Why? The speech of a political zombie who's big shock announcement was that the widespread resignation rumours were wrong.

    Pulpstar said:

    Seems a trifle indecent to post this thread up on Clegg's speech day?

    What's indecent about it ?
    I just think during conference season it's right to give decent airplay to the speeches of the respective leaders.

    I'm not a LibDem. You may have noticed. But I do believe in fair play.
    They're a minor party polling in single figures. I think they've had airplay enough with the first two threads of the day. They are also just not very interesting to talk about, other than using gallows humour, and that wears out fast.
    A couple of good reasons would be that the LibDems punch above their weight, not only because they are in Government, but also their effective use of voter distribution. There are others, including their potency at local level. They have also historically provided an alternative raft of policy ideas to the more treadmill variety on offer from the two main parties. And I haven't even mentioned the 'firewall' ;)

    PtP. I'll leave Socrates to hang himself on here, which he is doing without any assistance from me. As I said, no-one mentioned banning topics, simply about what seemed a bit of decency on the day of the LibDem leader's speech 'tis all.
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    RogerRoger Posts: 18,894
    Socrates

    "The sexual abuse and exploitation of children is the modern day equivalent of the Transatlantic slave trade."

    Go find yourself a psychiatrist.
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    Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 61,002
    Mr. P, glad she's gone. Bloody appalling thing for a supposedly neutral person to say. Let's hope her erstwhile boss follows her before too long.

    Mr. Booth, it's his own fault the reform didn't happen. He refused time to debate it and threw his toys out of the pram. Perhaps if his plan hadn't been so bloody daft (one off 15 year terms magically combine the worst aspects of systems of appointment and election) they might not have been so derided.
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    CD13CD13 Posts: 6,351
    Socrates,

    I believe you are doing Roger an injustice by taking what he says seriously. He is clearly playing Devil's Advocate for his own enjoyment.

    Anyone who isn't disgusted by the Rotherham episode is clearly not normal.
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    SocratesSocrates Posts: 10,322
    Pulpstar said:

    @Socrates That looks like a serious allegation regarding @Roger to me...

    He's not even denying it because he doesn't think there was anything wrong with it - either defending Polanski or sex with underage girls.
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    Scott_PScott_P Posts: 51,453
    @steve_hawkes: Official statement from the Speaker's Office... Justine McGuinness "wishes to pursue other interests"
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    TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 41,403
    Socrates said:

    Roger said:

    Anorak

    'I'd go with amoral, rather than evil."

    I don't know or care but if Socrates can't curb his repulsive and obvious prurience for more than a few minutes then he'll probably clear the site which is a shame because there are some interesting contributions not least Henry's.

    The sexual abuse and exploitation of children is the modern day equivalent of the Transatlantic slave trade. It wrecks lives and many of the victims will never feel safe or be able to hold down a healthy romantic relationship again. When we have an epidemic of this on our own shores - to the tune of thousands of victims - and the authorities refuse to take action it is an absolute scandal. The fact that you think alarm over this is "prurience" shows what a despicable person you are. Although not as despicable as your previous defence of a paedophile.
    Jeez we get it; there was a failure whether because of PC-gone-mad hesitation to act or wilful turning of a blind eye or something. It was a group of men, often from the same demographic/culture/religion who abused children. Lots of them.

    But does it tar all people from the same culture/religion/demographic? Of course not. It is absurd to say it does and the more you bang on about it the worse you look, I'm afraid. You are not the lone brave voice speaking out against injustice on behalf of the powerless, it is more sinister than that.

    If you look for patterns hard enough in the river currents you will find all kinds of monsters.

    Why even the leader of these people, the Pope himself, has acknowledged the problem which still doesn't mean that every Catholic is a child abuser.

    I mean you were talking about Catholics, weren't you?
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    JBriskinJBriskin Posts: 2,380
    Itajai said:

    Socrates said:

    isam said:

    Ah Blue Labour.. a good idea but Ed wet his pants when someone said Maurice Glasman might have said something un PC, so it was scrapped... and with it went a lot of old school Labour voters to UKIP

    Mainstream Labour's issue with the Blue Labour movement goes far deeper than that. Blue Labour actually has a fondness and admiration for the traditional British working class, and thus wants to protect it and maintain its identity. Mainstream Labour looks upon it with the same disdain a policeman might show to a Rochdale school girl with a Pakistani "boyfriend". It thus would rather replace "stale" traditional British identities with "vibrant" multiculturalism through mass immigration. After all, the culture of Somalia or Nigeria is preferable right?

    DId NPXMP ever come back and say why he was in favour of mass immigration?
    Perhaps some of the other fellow travellers can answer Socrates´s question above.
    Fairly sure he didn't come from the multicultural angle.

    I must admit when Nick was posting as an MP the mass immigration wasn't as big an issue on my radar. But that can make logical sense since there has been more of an inflow since then and Ukip's vote share has gone up.
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    SocratesSocrates Posts: 10,322
    Roger said:

    Socrates

    "The sexual abuse and exploitation of children is the modern day equivalent of the Transatlantic slave trade."

    Go find yourself a psychiatrist.

    How is the former not as bad as the latter?
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    Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 61,002
    Mr. Roger, the numbers involved appear to thousands of children sexually abused, over a prolonged period, with various government agencies failing by neglect and incompetence to do even a shadow of their duty towards the most vulnerable in society.

    It's a national disgrace, and we have yet to uncover the true scale of it. There should be more media attention following up the Rotherham revelations.
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    FloaterFloater Posts: 14,195
    Roger said:

    FPT. Socrates

    "I'm coming round to the Sean Fear position that a substantial swathe of our political class are actually evil."

    Grow up for Christ's sake! You don't only embarrass yourself but the site too. You probably ought to get help.

    Only Tories are evil eh Rog??
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    Socrates said:

    Pulpstar said:

    Seems a trifle indecent to post this thread up on Clegg's speech day?

    What's indecent about it ?
    Perhaps it's another topic that our betters should ban us from talking about, given audrey's previously stated views on free speech.
    I have few wishes in life, but one would be that you change your pseudonym. Anyone less worthy of the great thinker of ancient Greece it is hard to imagine.

    No-one said anything about banning topics. I just think we should play out some line for Clegg today. I'm sorry you don't understand courtesy.
    You really are sanctimonious. Give it a rest.

    I noted your chastising of me earlier for challenging Moniker to back up his oft advanced forecasts with cash. Had you read the amount of trolling drivel from him over the years, no doubt you would so similarly. And this is a betting site.
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    isamisam Posts: 40,988
    edited October 2014
    If Labour really cared they wouldn't have allowed the mass immigration from Eastern Europe when they were in power. What did they think would happen to the job prospects and wages of unskilled workers and tradesmen, when millions of people with more experience, hunger & drive were imported en masse to compete with them?

    Instead we have the usual Big government kindergarten politics of making a huge error of judgement that wrecks the lives of the most vulnerable in the country, then flailing around for years after trying to put a plaster on a broken leg and wondering why it doesn't work

    Kevin Maguire's plan is the usual Labour over beauracratic con job. If they had any decency they'd offer an EU referendum too... too little too late but at least a step in the right direction
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    AlastairMeeksAlastairMeeks Posts: 30,340
    What has mass immigration ever done for us?

    1) Built our infrastructure.
    2) Given us vastly better cuisine.
    3) Given us vastly better music.
    4) Made us an outward-looking confident nation.

    It has also met our demands for labour when we have needed them and provided us with untold numbers of hardworking highly motivated workers, many of whom have fulfilled their roles far more effectively than the available native employees would have done.
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    isamisam Posts: 40,988
    WI 1.01

    Aye Aye I got back in!
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    manofkent2014manofkent2014 Posts: 1,543
    edited October 2014
    It would be easy to land this at the feet of Labour’s general election co-ordinator of 2010 and today, Douglas Alexander. Schooled in the era of New Labour where it was privately proclaimed that disaffected Labour supporters would ‘have nowhere else to go’. The party is paying the price for excessively focusing on a narrow strip of Tory-Labour swing voters in southern marginal at the expense of the new ‘swing voters’ for Labour to appeal to swinging from either voting for Labour, to UKIP or to not voting for anyone at all.

    It is UKIP who are sweeping up those votes as well all down the eastern coastal region (where they previously mainly benefitted Labour)

    Kevin Maguire has written.....

    The same sort of left-wing empty buzz phrase driven gobbledegook that will drive these voters into UKIP's arms. 'Pledge cards" are just another accessory of the insincere New Labour years

    with UKIP expert Rob Ford

    Expert? When they categorise Boston & Skegness, which polled over 50% for UKIP at the Euros, has UKIP 20 points ahead in a poll a few weeks back, delivered all UKIP County Councillors in 2013 and where the incumbent Tory MP is standing down, as being of the most minor risk when arguably it should be categorised alongside Thanet South (which Ford and Goodwin originally categorised only the 142nd most likely seat), then he's hardly an expert. Frankly their assessments seem all over the place and I suspect that their model is wrong.

    The reality is Ford and Goodwin wrote the first and only book on the subject. That just puts them in the right place at the right time. It doesn't make them experts in anything and I imagine after the next election they will disown their own work and write a new tome that is far better informed.
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    AndyJSAndyJS Posts: 29,395
    Does Henry post comments on PB? I can't recall having seen any.
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    AndyJS said:

    Does Henry post comments on PB? I can't recall having seen any.

    Andy - he's posted hundreds!
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    JBriskinJBriskin Posts: 2,380
    Better Music?

    You'll have to explain that one to me.
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    isamisam Posts: 40,988

    It would be easy to land this at the feet of Labour’s general election co-ordinator of 2010 and today, Douglas Alexander. Schooled in the era of New Labour where it was privately proclaimed that disaffected Labour supporters would ‘have nowhere else to go’. The party is paying the price for excessively focusing on a narrow strip of Tory-Labour swing voters in southern marginal at the expense of the new ‘swing voters’ for Labour to appeal to swinging from either voting for Labour, to UKIP or to not voting for anyone at all.

    It is UKIP who are sweeping up those votes as well all down the eastern coastal region (where they previously mainly benefitted Labour)

    Kevin Maguire has written.....

    The same sort of left-wing empty buzz phrase driven gobbledegook that will drive these voters into UKIP's arms. 'Pledge cards" are just another accessory of the insincere New Labour years

    with UKIP expert Rob Ford

    Expert? When they categorise Boston & Skegness, which polled over 50% for UKIP at the Euros, has UKIP 20 points ahead in a poll a few weeks back, delivered all UKIP County Councillors in 2013 and where the incumbent Tory MP is standing down, as being of the most minor risk when arguably it should be categorised alongside Thanet South (which Ford and Goodwin originally categorised only the 142nd most likely seat), then he's hardly an expert. Frankly their assessments seem all over the place and I suspect that their model is wrong.

    The reality is Ford and Goodwin wrote the first and only book on the subject. That just puts them in the right place at the right time. It doesn't make them experts in anything and I imagine after the next election they will disown their own work and write a new tome that is far better informed.

    Mike Smithson tweeted a link to a scathing review of their book earlier
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    Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 61,002
    Mr. Antifrank: "1) Built our infrastructure.
    2) Given us vastly better cuisine.
    3) Given us vastly better music.
    4) Made us an outward-looking confident nation."

    1) Have they? Are you referring to Irish navvies making canals?
    2) Bah. I prefer fish and chips. Also, letting in a quarter of a million people every year because you like curry is not the most rational argument in the world.
    3) ?
    4) Bollocks. We're now in the interminable midst of constitutional haggling as our sovereignty is eroded by the EU. Confident? There's a de facto censorship law against pictures of Mohammed.
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    Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 61,002
    Mr. JS, Mr. Manson rarely posts now, but has offered many tips and made many posts over the years.
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    PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 75,986
    AndyJS said:

    Does Henry post comments on PB? I can't recall having seen any.

    Yes, he tipped up Andy Burnham at 14-1 in the comments section for next Labour leader. He seldom comments but they are worth reading when he does.
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    ItajaiItajai Posts: 721
    antifrank said:

    What has mass immigration ever done for us?

    1) Built our infrastructure.
    2) Given us vastly better cuisine.
    3) Given us vastly better music.
    4) Made us an outward-looking confident nation.

    It has also met our demands for labour when we have needed them and provided us with untold numbers of hardworking highly motivated workers, many of whom have fulfilled their roles far more effectively than the available native employees would have done.

    It´s a shame the politicos cannot come up with such a list.
    Of course, this would have to be balanced out by the negatives:
    pressure on schools, housing, health
    pressure on wages
    ghettoisation
    increased risk of terrorism and crime, etc

    With all the pros and cons an informed decision could be made. Much more honest than hiding behind the r-word which has been the policy (mainly but not exclusively of the Lbaour party).
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    taffystaffys Posts: 9,753
    What has mass immigration ever done for us?

    The question you need to be asking is what has mass immigration ever done for you?

    As a wealthy professional, I'm sure the answer is plenty. You listen to the music, love the food, hire the cheap hard working labour and bask, all the while, in your own self-righteousness at being an open minded non-racist person.

    For many blue collar people the situation, I suspect, is far more complex.
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    RogerRoger Posts: 18,894
    edited October 2014
    Floater

    "Only Tories are evil eh Rog??"

    Some of my best friends are Tories....(Joke)

    I'm thinking of setting up a paedo website for Socrates. I'm looking for a suitable picture of a panting dog with his tongue hanging out. I thought I'd try Gray Jolliffe
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    PlatoPlato Posts: 15,724
    Pulpstar said:

    taffys said:

    I expect that level of nuance/subtlety is lost on both sides of that argument though...

    Somehow I don;t think a pontificating, preachy little chap like dougie will be able to confine himself to Foreign matters.

    But you never know.

    Reckon he'll be shuffled in Mr Miliband's pack of cards ?
    Did Dougie get the blame for the No campaign for Labour - IIRC he was supposedly in charge of electioneering for EdM. I may be totally out of date here. TBH, it's all a bit of blur.
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    RogerRoger Posts: 18,894
    edited October 2014
    Antifrank

    1) Built our infrastructure.
    2) Given us vastly better cuisine.
    3) Given us vastly better music.
    4) Made us an outward-looking confident nation.

    5. Made us better looking........
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    AnorakAnorak Posts: 6,621
    Roger said:

    Antifrank

    1) Built our infrastructure.
    2) Given us vastly better cuisine.
    3) Given us vastly better music.
    4) Made us an outward-looking confident nation.

    5. Made us better looking........

    Speak for yourself. I have 100% anglo-saxon genes and I'm a .... er.... minger? As you were.
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    PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 75,986
    edited October 2014
    Hutch is going to take 4 weeks! to arrive - going to bring our mini-rex inside the house till it does tbh.

    Didn't realise it would be so long ^^;
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    PlatoPlato Posts: 15,724
    I thought Blue Labour was the best set of ideas to come out of all that navel gazing, EdM even gave Mr Glasman a peerage - before running screaming from the room in fright.

    A totally wasted opportunity to connect with a large chuck of the Kipper defectors... before they defected. Now, even if EdM tried to adopt them, it'd be much harder to convince them to return. A very silly chappy.
    isam said:

    Ah Blue Labour.. a good idea but Ed wet his pants when someone said Maurice Glasman might have said something un PC, so it was scrapped... and with it went a lot of old school Labour voters to UKIP

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    Scott_PScott_P Posts: 51,453
    Plato said:

    Did Dougie get the blame for the No campaign for Labour - IIRC he was supposedly in charge of electioneering for EdM. I may be totally out of date here. TBH, it's all a bit of blur.

    http://order-order.com/2014/10/08/exclusive-douglas-alexander-orders-gagging-of-internal-miliband-critics/
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    Roger said:

    Antifrank

    1) Built our infrastructure.
    2) Given us vastly better cuisine.
    3) Given us vastly better music.
    4) Made us an outward-looking confident nation.

    5. Made us better looking........

    Bloody immigrant plastic surgeons, coming over here..
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    TGOHFTGOHF Posts: 21,633
    Burnham will be a shoo in if Labour lose - they will then rebrand as the NHS Party and continue to fight on a single issue.
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    Mr. Antifrank: "1) Built our infrastructure.
    2) Given us vastly better cuisine.
    3) Given us vastly better music.
    4) Made us an outward-looking confident nation."

    1) Have they? Are you referring to Irish navvies making canals?
    2) Bah. I prefer fish and chips. Also, letting in a quarter of a million people every year because you like curry is not the most rational argument in the world.
    3) ?
    4) Bollocks. We're now in the interminable midst of constitutional haggling as our sovereignty is eroded by the EU. Confident? There's a de facto censorship law against pictures of Mohammed.


    Morris, I'm shocked.

    You haven't joined UKIP by any chance?
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    TheWatcherTheWatcher Posts: 5,262
    TGOHF said:

    Burnham will be a shoo in if Labour lose - they will then rebrand as the NHS Party and continue to fight on a single issue.

    Andy Stafford's NHS Party. Has a certain ring to it.
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    isam said:


    It would be easy to land this at the feet of Labour’s general election co-ordinator of 2010 and today, Douglas Alexander. Schooled in the era of New Labour where it was privately proclaimed that disaffected Labour supporters would ‘have nowhere else to go’. The party is paying the price for excessively focusing on a narrow strip of Tory-Labour swing voters in southern marginal at the expense of the new ‘swing voters’ for Labour to appeal to swinging from either voting for Labour, to UKIP or to not voting for anyone at all.

    It is UKIP who are sweeping up those votes as well all down the eastern coastal region (where they previously mainly benefitted Labour)

    Kevin Maguire has written.....

    The same sort of left-wing empty buzz phrase driven gobbledegook that will drive these voters into UKIP's arms. 'Pledge cards" are just another accessory of the insincere New Labour years

    with UKIP expert Rob Ford

    Expert? When they categorise Boston & Skegness, which polled over 50% for UKIP at the Euros, has UKIP 20 points ahead in a poll a few weeks back, delivered all UKIP County Councillors in 2013 and where the incumbent Tory MP is standing down, as being of the most minor risk when arguably it should be categorised alongside Thanet South (which Ford and Goodwin originally categorised only the 142nd most likely seat), then he's hardly an expert. Frankly their assessments seem all over the place and I suspect that their model is wrong.

    The reality is Ford and Goodwin wrote the first and only book on the subject. That just puts them in the right place at the right time. It doesn't make them experts in anything and I imagine after the next election they will disown their own work and write a new tome that is far better informed.

    Mike Smithson tweeted a link to a scathing review of their book earlier
    Have you got the link?

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    PlatoPlato Posts: 15,724
    Sarin gas on the Japanese tube worked a treat as a terror weapon... We've had anthrax through the post, and ricin.

    Ebola doesn't seem much of a stretch for the determined. It's got a 21 day incubation period IIRC - plenty of time to get infected and come back/wait for symptoms to show and spend the day sneezing/touching everything you can.

    An awful prospect, but certainly not unimaginable.
    Anorak said:

    TOPPING said:

    Anorak said:

    FPT

    TOPPING said:

    Anorak said:

    Floater said:

    Internet reports suggest a second Spanish auxiliary nurse may have been infected with Ebola.

    Imagine if IS sent 20 jihadis to West Africa to rub shoulders with Ebola, then got them to sit on the Tube in London and the Metro in Paris for a week or two. *shudders*
    it's bodily fluid borne not airborne.

    They would have to get onto the tube, cut themselves open, or vomit, and then hope that the people they hit with their innards/vomit had cuts themselves.

    Not impossible but it's prob easier/more efficient to get an AK or two into central London.
    From the WHO website: Ebola then spreads through human-to-human transmission via direct contact (through broken skin or mucous membranes) with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected people, and with surfaces and materials (e.g. bedding, clothing) contaminated with these fluids.

    Looking at the last sentence, then a few pin-pricks on each hand prior to holding the posts and hand rails in a tube train would do the trick. Getting a job at Costa and surreptitiously smearing each takeaway cup (they're red anyway) would also work a treat. The fear and disruption arising from just one or two cases would outweigh a gun attack by an order of magnitude (IMO).
    Not sure.

    A dastardly tube-borne attack by nasties somehow smacks of "old style" terror. Trying to surreptitiously deliver a lethal blow to the population.

    A Bombay/Brussels Jewish Museum-type nagga-f***ing-nagga stand up full-on armed attack is saying: here are the new rules, bitch.

    IMO the latter is the more "terrifying" option.
    Nah, a good old biological terror works best as EVERY SINGLE PERSON you meet could be a [unknowing] vector. Unless you're actually caught up in a gun fight they are somewhat remote. The tube was almost back to normal within a week of 7/7.
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    SocratesSocrates Posts: 10,322
    edited October 2014
    Roger said:

    Floater

    "Only Tories are evil eh Rog??"

    Some of my best friends are Tories....(Joke)

    I'm thinking of setting up a paedo website for Socrates. I'm looking for a suitable picture of a panting dog with his tongue hanging out. I thought I'd try Gray Jolliffe

    You just hate the fact that someone is calling attention to the sort of sick torture and abuse that has gone on in media circles. I'm sure this is entirely coincidental to the fact that you've hung out in media circles your whole life.

    There's an obvious question here, which I won't ask for the sake of Mike's legal concerns, but your views when you were defending Roman Polanski were telling. Why don't you tell us whether you think relations with underage teenagers is wrong or not?
This discussion has been closed.