@georgeeaton: Labour MP on Thornberry: "Would be extraordinary if we ended up with a shadow defence sec who sneers at her own flag."
I have not heard about Thornberry sneering at the Union flag.
Don't tell me we have another England-denier.
Is England a separate country, politically with its own Parliament ? The English flag was made popular only by football fans and that too in the last 25 years. I think the 1990 WC was the first time, I noticed it. If you see films from the 1966 WC, you will see only the Union flag.
I agree wholeheartedly. Some cultures are better than others. I think Western culture is better on the whole than Middle Eastern culture. Those living in the Middle East may disagree. That is their right.
There is very little crime here, as we might think of it in the UK. No-one gets mugged for their phone or their pizza and perpetrators of that sort are quickly dealt with, end up spending time in the slammer followed by a free plane ticket out.
What there is though, is a cultural issue when it comes to young ladies - you have to watch teenage daughters very carefully, who they hang out with and how they get home etc. The punishments for sexual crimes are much less severe than would be expected in the UK, and a woman reporting a rape can be charged with a sexual misdemeanour herself according to Sharia Law. There would certainly be no sympathy at all for a woman who had consumed alcohol.
But the law is the law, when in Rome etc. The local government is clear that if you want to bring your customs here then you do so in private and in an appropriately sensitive manner, so as not to offend the local culture. I got married in the Catholic Church here, it's a lovely building inside but from the outside it could be a warehouse - there's no tower with bells ringing, it's in keeping with the local environment rather than seeking to displace it.
What is indefensible and unacceptable, is those who rush to countries like the UK because it's a liberal democracy with freedom of speech, and then try to close down that democracy and stifle that free speech.
Sex outside of marriage is technically illegal in several Middle Eastern nations including the UAE, Iran and Saudi
Correct I think in all the GCC States. Hotels have been known to ask questions on that subject to tourist visitors booking double rooms.
Yes, in the Gulf states certainly. Though the top hotels may turn a discreet blind eye
They're more interested in preventing prostitution than in stifling tourism, but certain friend couples have been questioned like this several times. Hint: there's no PC nonsense, people are questioned based on appearance.
Sky News showing report that ISIS have discovered a way to re-activate obsolete SAM missiles...
Former Chief of RAF says: "we're now in a different ballpark. There are hundreds of thousands of these things lying around, on scrapheaps..."
Seems a bit unlikely. Getting rockets to work, is well, rocket science. They need exceptional maintenance to keep them in top condition. If they arent in top condition they'll kill more of your own side than the enemy.
Are we to believe that ISIS has the infrastructure and capacity to reactivate and retrofit these on a large scale? The failure rate if experts were doing it would be 75% at best.
How many secretaries of defence have the msm invented today? 2bob journos and twatterers hamstrung, and found out to be totally impotent without someone leaking to them.
Most Muslims [ I am not talking abour American, mainly Black Muslims ] and, in fact, most immigrants from East , South Asia and the Middle East are professional and have stayed back after attaining their college / university degrees. The original immigrants to Europe were working class. In fact, rural working class. Their children, of course, are different having taken advantage of free British education. Most immigrant communities pay a lot of importance to education.
Even superficially similar groups can be very heterogeneous in this respect. Ahmadis from Pakistan (if they count as Muslims... probably the Islamic equivalent of the Mormons) place a huge value on education, including women's education. The girls get shoved by their families into education & careers classes at their British mosques where they are strongly encouraged to pursue a profession, given workshops on university applications, etc.
Painting with a very broad brush, British Pakistanis with origins in Lahore and Karachi generally have a very commercial outlook which those from a Kashmiri background (whose parents or grandparents generally came to Britain to escape grinding rural poverty and who ended up taking some of the most menial jobs) often lack. A Kashmiri friend of mine lamented how his cousins and old school mates just wanted to pursue a life of alcohol, benefits, cash-in-hand jobs and partying, while his more "respectable" or middle-class Pakistani acquaintances had pursued law or medical degrees or accountancy qualifications, and were taking up the British educational offer with both hands.
Three of the worst performing ethnic groups educationally in the UK are Pakistanis, Bangladeshis and Somalis. But other Muslim groups have high educational attainment. Somalis in particular often migrate to the UK midway through compulsory education which puts them at a marked disadvantage (worse still since they were unlikely to know English before coming the UK) but it is hardly as if this problem is entirely absent in Chinese, Indian and West African communities whose educational record in the UK is very good. Clearly there are cultural forces at play, but it isn't as easy as pointing to colour of skin, religious identity or to some extent even country of origin.
@georgeeaton: Labour MP on Thornberry: "Would be extraordinary if we ended up with a shadow defence sec who sneers at her own flag."
I have not heard about Thornberry sneering at the Union flag.
Don't tell me we have another England-denier.
Is England a separate country, politically with its own Parliament ? The English flag was made popular only by football fans and that too in the last 25 years. I think the 1990 WC was the first time, I noticed it. If you see films from the 1966 WC, you will see only the Union flag.
Since when is being a separate country necessary for a flag to be real? My county has a flag. Religions can have flags (Jainism, I believe) even. So even if England were not a real country, which it is, it still has a real flag for people to sneer at, or not.
If anything, perversely, higher numbers at risk shown in the City University series of reports on FGM in the UK actually indicate a reduction in FGM globally, since it reflects migration from areas with high FGM rate and low barriers to FGM to a country, Britain, with low FGM rates and higher barriers to committing FGM. Had their mothers not migrated to Britain and those babies been born in their mothers' home countries instead, they would surely have been more likely to suffer FGM.
As for the issue of FGM being a "Muslim thing", the report's conclusion is clear:
FGM is practised by specific ethnic groups and the rationale for the practice differs from one group to the other. It is also constantly changing. In some societies, the practice is embedded in coming-of-age rituals which are considered necessary for girls to become adult and responsible members of the society. It is believed to be a religious requirement by some Muslim populations who practise FGM although FGM is not mentioned in the Koran and most Muslims in the world do not know about FGM. Moreover, in communities where FGM is a social norm, it is practised by Muslims, Christians and followers of indigenous religions which suggest that the practice is more cultural than a religious practice.
The areas with the highest prevalence are the horn of Africa (including some predominantly Christian countries), Kurdistan, and to some extent West Africa and East Africa.
MaxPB should read this. He repeatedly tries to tar all Muslims with the FGM brush. Dear God, Kurdistan, our favourite Kurdistan. Who would have thunk ? Some Christian countries ? Shurely there is a mishtake !
I agree wholeheartedly. Some cultures are better than others. I think Western culture is better on the whole than Middle Eastern culture. Those living in the Middle East may disagree. That is their right. But if they come to live here they live according to our rules. And if they don't want to, they
What they need to - and don't - understand is that the freedoms which allow women to do what they want, including getting pissed and fall into the gutter after having given blow jobs to the lo
Great post as ever Ms @Cyclefree but okay I'll try and answer from the perspective of someone living in the Middle East, albeit in the most liberal city in the region. This is just my perspective, your mileage may vary, feel free to argue.
There is very little crime here, as we might think of it in the UK. No-one gets mugged for their phone or their pizza and perpetrators of that sort are quickly dealt with, end up spending time in the slammer followed by a free plane ticket out.
Wlace it.
What is indefensible and unacceptable, is those who rush to countries like the UK because it's a liberal democracy with freedom of speech, and then try to close down that democracy and stifle that free speech.
Sex outside of marriage is technically illegal in several Middle Eastern nations including the UAE, Iran and Saudi
Correct I think in all the GCC States. Hotels have been known to ask questions on that subject to tourist visitors booking double rooms.
Yes, in the Gulf states certainly. Though the top hotels may turn a discreet blind eye
I think they largely turn a blind eye to most things that visitors and western ex pats do, just dont take the p*ss about it. Dont brew your own booze!!! FFS, thats an obvious recent one.
Yeah, the Saudi Moonshiners, idiots. As you say, keep your head down and you'll be fine. Don't have sex on the beach and then assault the policeman who tells you to get dressed, that's one from Dubai a couple of years ago - and she was 30, had lived here for 3 years!
Some things just show an utter disrespect for the country and culture you are living in. Brewing that booze was a gigantic FU, and while the twittarati were up in outrage at the punishment, when i spoke to a few about it, even my more liberal people, it was very much "it's their country and their laws". The only sympathy was the scale of brutality of the punishment, but that was always with the caveat that he knew what would happen and he has no one else to blame.
@georgeeaton: Labour MP on Thornberry: "Would be extraordinary if we ended up with a shadow defence sec who sneers at her own flag."
I have not heard about Thornberry sneering at the Union flag.
Don't tell me we have another England-denier.
Is England a separate country, politically with its own Parliament ? The English flag was made popular only by football fans and that too in the last 25 years. I think the 1990 WC was the first time, I noticed it. If you see films from the 1966 WC, you will see only the Union flag.
Since when is being a separate country necessary for a flag to be real? My county has a flag. Religions can have flags (Jainism, I believe) even. So even if England were not a real country, which it is, it still has a real flag for people to sneer at, or not.
Good night
That's your view. Others may not agree. This is a free country.
I agree wholeheartedly. Some cultures are better than others. I think Western culture is better on the whole than Middle Eastern culture. Those living in the Middle East may disagree. That is their right. But if they come to live here they live according to our rules. And if they don't want to, they
What they need to - and don't - understand is that the freedoms which allow women to do what they want, including getting pissed and fall into the gutter after having given blow jobs to the lo
Great post as ever Ms @Cyclefree but okay I'll try and answer from the perspective of someone living in the Middle East, albeit in the most liberal city in the region. This is just my perspective, your mileage may vary, feel free to argue.
There is very little crime here, as we might think of it in the UK. No-one gets mugged for their phone or their pizza and perpetrators of that sort are quickly dealt with, end up spending time in the slammer followed by a free plane ticket out.
Wlace it.
What is indefensible and unacceptable, is those who rush to countries like the UK because it's a liberal democracy with freedom of speech, and then try to close down that democracy and stifle that free speech.
Sex outside of marriage is technically illegal in several Middle Eastern nations including the UAE, Iran and Saudi
Correct I think in all the GCC States. Hotels have been known to ask questions on that subject to tourist visitors booking double rooms.
Yes, in the Gulf states certainly. Though the top hotels may turn a discreet blind eye
I think they largely turn a blind eye to most things that visitors and western ex pats do, just dont take the p*ss about it. Dont brew your own booze!!! FFS, thats an obvious recent one.
Yeah, the Saudi Moonshiners, idiots. As you say, keep your hea
Some things just show an utter disrespect for the country and culture you are living in. Brewing that booze was a gigantic FU, and while the twittarati were up in outrage at the punishment, when i spoke to a few about it, even my more liberal people, it was very much "it's their country and their laws". The only sympathy was the scale of brutality of the punishment, but that was always with the caveat that he knew what would happen and he has no one else to blame.
To be fair he took it on the chin and served his time without complaint
Those people are not feminists but a some idiots on twitter/tumblr.
Unfortunately because of outrage culture, politicians and journalists react to it. Look at that idiot trying to remove the Rhodes statue and ban the French flag from Oxford campuses, he whipped up some outrage and got 20-30 people retweeting his bullshit and got national coverage. Politicians are so scared to offend people that they will do anything or say anything to avoid that. The same is true for companies. I was quite glad when Dave declined on wearing that stupid feminist T-shirt, it showed he wasn't a completely gelatinous blob like Miliband.
Young black and female Twitter outrage is idiotic, bullshit, scary, stupid, gelatinous, blobby In contrast PB outrage is righteous and sound I could ask why but I'm sure it is too obvious to be explained
Were you around when Mike talked about his "vote swap" with a Labour supporter?
A late Happy New ...m. I'd really love to know how his supporters still think his leadership will bring good things for the Labour party. If there is a time where many people need a strong opposition it's now.
On Merkel, well I'm sure her legacy isn't going to be defined by some people on PB.
Happy New Year!
There are some (to me) very odd views about feminism on this site. It's strange to see people use "feminist" as a negative term or even an insult.
I agree that it's waaaay too early to be writing Merkel's obituary. AfD, who would be the obvious beneficiaries of backlash against her immigration policy, are still polling in single figures.
I think people (especially right-wing people) tend to feel that feminists should be only concerned about certain issues, and don't get that you can be concerned about rape, sexual assault, FGM and some of the 'less serious' issues regarding gender. I also feel there is an image of feminists as old, sex-negative, porn hating 'unattractive' women who want to take away sex and porn from men, and are just jealous of pretty women. I can say that I don't away to take away anyone's porn or sex, although I can't say I've never been critical of porn in my life.
Glad there's one person on here who agree with me on Merkel
It's the hypocrisy - apparently a scientist wearing the wrong t-shirt should lose his job.... Meanwhile over here... well, only a scumbag would mention *that*.....
Those people are not feminists but a some idiots on twitter/tumblr.
The idiots are in Parliament and write for national newspapers. Unfortunately.
Essentially they are people who rather die than be seen suggesting that one culture is better than another culture - if the first culture generally has less of a suntan* than the second.
*Hilariously, the "ethnic trumps" types often don't realise that just because you are not "white", you can actually get a sun tan.
Listening to the R4 BBC news at 6 there was a story about the awful reports from Germany on NYE (which said there was no confirmation of the origin of the attackers) and then a story about Chris Gayle apparently being a bit forward (though came across as a bit of a jest to me) in an interview.
And it wasn't an 'in other news' piece - it really was considered by some BBC editor that both things were news.
Things are seemingly blown out of all proportion when a Western celebrity; and it seems that they are minimised when the accused are a minority, and, seemingly, especially when the accusations are levelled at minorities which the left appear to have adopted as their own cause.
@georgeeaton: Labour MP on Thornberry: "Would be extraordinary if we ended up with a shadow defence sec who sneers at her own flag."
I have not heard about Thornberry sneering at the Union flag.
Don't tell me we have another England-denier.
Is England a separate country, politically with its own Parliament ? The English flag was made popular only by football fans and that too in the last 25 years. I think the 1990 WC was the first time, I noticed it. If you see films from the 1966 WC, you will see only the Union flag.
Yes England is a separate country. It may not be a separate state but that is a different matter. As we had to point out to the remarkably ignorant Dair a few days ago it has its own legal system, its own church and its own culture. It also has its own symbols including the Flag you seem to deride so easily and its own coat of arms.
And of course the language you speak and write is English, not British.
@georgeeaton: Labour MP on Thornberry: "Would be extraordinary if we ended up with a shadow defence sec who sneers at her own flag."
I have not heard about Thornberry sneering at the Union flag.
Don't tell me we have another England-denier.
Is England a separate country, politically with its own Parliament ? The English flag was made popular only by football fans and that too in the last 25 years. I think the 1990 WC was the first time, I noticed it. If you see films from the 1966 WC, you will see only the Union flag.
Since when is being a separate country necessary for a flag to be real? My county has a flag. Religions can have flags (Jainism, I believe) even. So even if England were not a real country, which it is, it still has a real flag for people to sneer at, or not.
Good night
That's your view. Others may not agree. This is a free country.
The point was practically everything has flags, some of them very silly and pointless. England has a flag, whether you think England is a real construct or not, that is not opinion it is fact as even made up languages can have flags(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constructed_language). Whether someone wants to sneer at those flags, and whether that is reasonable to do, and even if England is a real country, is indeed for people to disagree on, but the existence of the flag as real is not, and that was my point.
Great post as ever Ms @Cyclefree but okay I'll try and answer from the perspective of someone living in the Middle East,
There is very little crime here, as we might think of it in the UK. No-one gets mugged for their phone or their pizza and perpetrators of that sort are quickly dealt with, end up spending time in the slammer followed by a free plane ticket
What is indefensible and unacceptable, is those who rush to countries like the UK because it's a liberal democracy with freedom of speech, and then try to close down that democracy and stifle that free speech.
Sex outside of marriage is technically illegal in several Middle Eastern nations including the UAE, Iran and Saudi
Correct I think in all the GCC States. Hotels have been known to ask questions on that subject to tourist visitors booking double rooms.
Yes, in the Gulf states certainly. Though the top hotels may turn a discreet blind eye
I think they largely turn a blind eye to most things that visitors and western ex pats do, just dont take the p*ss about it. Dont brew your own booze!!! FFS, thats an obvious recent one.
Yeah, the Saudi Moonshiners, idiots. As you say, keep your head down and you'll be fine. Don't have sex on the beach and then assault the policeman who tells you to get dressed, that's one from Dubai a couple of years ago - and she was 30, had lived here for 3 years!
Some things just show an utter disrespect for the country and culture you are living in. Brewing that booze was a gigantic FU, and while the twittarati were up in outrage at the punishment, when i spoke to a few about it, even my more liberal people, it was very much "it's their country and their laws". The only sympathy was the scale of brutality of the punishment, but that was always with the caveat that he knew what would happen and he has no one else to blame.
Yep, same as the sob stories every summer from some naïve backpacker who took a bag full of drugs into Singapore or Indonesia for a "friend" they'd only known for a week.
The Saudi Moonshiner did get off his lashes after a little diplomatic intervention, so he served a few weeks and got deported.
We all know when we visit somewhere which crimes are aggressively prosecuted in that place. In the East it's generally crimes of possession and consumption (drugs, alcohol etc) whereas in the West it's more crimes against another person (assault, robbery, rape) that get you a long stretch.
Those people are not feminists but a some idiots on twitter/tumblr.
Unfortunately because of outrage culture, politicians and journalists react to it. Look at that idiot trying to remove the Rhodes statue and ban the French flag from Oxford campuses, he whipped up some outrage and got 20-30 people retweeting his bullshit and got national coverage. Politicians are so scared to offend people that they will do anything or say anything to avoid that. The same is true for companies. I was quite glad when Dave declined on wearing that stupid feminist T-shirt, it showed he wasn't a completely gelatinous blob like Miliband.
Young black and female Twitter outrage is idiotic, bullshit, scary, stupid, gelatinous, blobby In contrast PB outrage is righteous and sound I could ask why but I'm sure it is too obvious to be explained
Were you around when Mike talked about his "vote swap" with a Labour supporter?
Monocles were dropping all over the place.
I was busy at the time using Mike Smithson's Political Betting website to learn how to do political betting
MaxPB should read this. He repeatedly tries to tar all Muslims with the FGM brush. Dear God, Kurdistan, our favourite Kurdistan. Who would have thunk ? Some Christian countries ? Shurely there is a mishtake !
Since MaxPB quotes the report, I assume he has read it.
The report does note and give citations that British-born Somalis and Somalis who migrated to the UK at a young age have largely adopted Western attitudes towards FGM (which is one reason I felt confident in my assertion that it would be incorrect to assume British Somalis would apply FGM at a similar rate to in Somalia). There's more evidence for that in this paper, which the report doesn't cite, whose abstract concludes
Living in Britain from a younger age appears to be associated with abandonment of female circumcision and with changes in the underlying beliefs on sexuality, marriage and religion that underpin it. Groups identified with more traditional views towards female circumcision include males, older generations, new arrivals and those who show few signs of social assimilation.
Which is pretty much what you'd expect, but goes to show the importance of integration.
I would add that we need to take the same attitude towards countries that restrict the rights of women, as we did to countries that restricted the rights of people because of their skin colour.
We have a Leader of the Opposition who appears for and was, apparently, paid by the TV propaganda arm of a regime that uses rape as a punishment in prison, orders women what they can wear in public and who, when they first came into power, lowered the age of consent for girls to 9.
And who some think is being principled when he criticises our government for being friendly with an equally revolting regime with equally revolting (indeed, probably more so) laws restricting women and how they live.
Utter non sequitur PB comments are happy to whip up fear of Muslims as rapists, but also for their hero Cameron to prance around hand in glove with the Sauds
Everyone is generally happy to ignore prancing around with the Saudis - it's just a shameful piece of international realpolitik people prefer not to think about. If its not the saudis palled up to, it's some other monsters, that's the world.
r.
The Western interest lies with the Royal families of Saudi Arabia and indeed the whole Gulf.
The West needs them to siphon the ill-gotten gains [ remember the Tony Blair memo which stopped the Al-Yamamah court case in the "national interest" ] back to the west and the Royal families need the West to protect them. The ordinary Saudis, the poor [ there are many ] and the middle classes are the sufferers.
Cause of terrorism: where do you think the initial finance of Isis cam from ? An organisation suddenly cannot capture half of two countries from nowhere.
But we no longer need their oil.... It aint running out, we are awash in the stuff.
@PickardJE: Interestingly Tony Benn was demoted (from industry to energy) straight after 1975 EU referendum for opposing leader. Historic echoes there.
@georgeeaton: Labour MP on Thornberry: "Would be extraordinary if we ended up with a shadow defence sec who sneers at her own flag."
I have not heard about Thornberry sneering at the Union flag.
Don't tell me we have another England-denier.
Is England a separate country, politically with its own Parliament ? The English flag was made popular only by football fans and that too in the last 25 years. I think the 1990 WC was the first time, I noticed it. If you see films from the 1966 WC, you will see only the Union flag.
Since when is being a separate country necessary for a flag to be real? My county has a flag. Religions can have flags (Jainism, I believe) even. So even if England were not a real country, which it is, it still has a real flag for people to sneer at, or not.
Good night
That's your view. Others may not agree. This is a free country.
I agree wholeheartedly. Some cultures are better than others. I think Western culture is better on the whole than Middle Eastern culture. Those living in the Middle East may disagree. That is their right. But if they come to live here they live according to our rules. And if they don't want to, they
What they need to - and don't - understand is that the freedoms which allow women to do what they want, including getting pissed and fall into the gutter after having given blow jobs to the lo
Great post as ever Ms @Cyclefree but okay I'll try and answer from the perspective of someoneee speech.
Sex outside of marriage is technically illegal in several Middle Eastern nations including the UAE, Iran and Saudi
Correct I think in all the GCC States. Hotels have been known to ask questions on that subject to tourist visitors booking double rooms.
Yes, in the Gulf states certainly. Though the top hotels may turn a discreet blind eye
I think they largely turn a blind eye to most things that visitors and western ex pats do, just dont take the p*ss about it. Dont brew your own booze!!! FFS, thats an obvious recent one.
Yeah, the Saudi Moonshiners, idiots. As you say, keep your hea
Some things just show annew what would happen and he has no one else to blame.
To be fair he took it on the chin and served his time without complaint
Are we talking about the same person? His daughter carried out a media campaign in the UK to get the PM to intervene, it involved 230,000 petition, direct appeals to the PM, amnest international, video messages to cameron online from the grandchildren, despite him living in SA for 25 years. He was sentenced to 350 lashes.
The last report i read he had been sent on a plane back to the UK, i dont know if that was him getting removed from the country permanently.
A late Happy New ...m. I'd really love to know how his supporters still think his leadership will bring good things for the Labour party. If there is a time where many people need a strong opposition it's now.
On Merkel, well I'm sure her legacy isn't going to be defined by some people on PB.
Happy New Year!
There are some (to me) very odd views about feminism on this site. It's strange to see people use "feminist" as a negative term or even an insult.
I agree that it's waaaay too early to be writing Merkel's obituary. AfD, who would be the obvious beneficiaries of backlash against her immigration policy, are still polling in single figures.
.......
Glad there's one person on here who agree with me on Merkel
It's the hypocrisy - apparently a scientist wearing the wrong t-shirt should lose his job.... Meanwhile over here... well, only a scumbag would mention *that*.....
Those people are not feminists but a some idiots on twitter/tumblr.
The idiots are in Parliament and write for national newspapers. Unfortunately.
Essentially they are people who rather die than be seen suggesting that one culture is better than another culture - if the first culture generally has less of a suntan* than the second.
*Hilariously, the "ethnic trumps" types often don't realise that just because you are not "white", you can actually get a sun tan.
Listening to the R4 BBC news at 6 there was a story about the awful reports from Germany on NYE (which said there was no confirmation of the origin of the attackers) and then a story about Chris Gayle apparently being a bit forward (though came across as a bit of a jest to me) in an interview.
And it wasn't an 'in other news' piece - it really was considered by some BBC editor that both things were news.
Things are seemingly blown out of all proportion when a Western celebrity; and it seems that they are minimised when the accused are a minority, and, seemingly, especially when the accusations are levelled at minorities which the left appear to have adopted as their own cause.
Mind you, they are making progress. Chris Gayle is being given crap. Give them 50 years and they may treat other ethinc groups as equal. Or would that be racist?
@PickardJE: Interestingly Tony Benn was demoted (from industry to energy) straight after 1975 EU referendum for opposing leader. Historic echoes there.
Some things just show an utter disrespect for the country and culture you are living in. Brewing that booze was a gigantic FU, and while the twittarati were up in outrage at the punishment, when i spoke to a few about it, even my more liberal people, it was very much "it's their country and their laws". The only sympathy was the scale of brutality of the punishment, but that was always with the caveat that he knew what would happen and he has no one else to blame.
Unfortunately the 'their country, their laws' only works if those laws are consistently applied at all levels of authority. Having worked in the ME I am well aware that, for example, getting anything done without bribery is practically impossible. Thankfully I was low enough on the food chain that I could just sit back and watch my superiors trying to balance staying within the law with actually trying to run any sort of business and get the necessary red tape passed. Personally I got out of there as soon as I could and would never go back. You are basically entirely at the mercy of whichever officials you are having to deal with.
I also regularly saw local officials in dry states visiting western compounds and hotels specifically to drink with the expats. Again if you didn't play the game then your chances of getting anything done at were pretty much zero.
How many secretaries of defence have the msm invented today? 2bob journos and twatterers hamstrung, and found out to be totally impotent without someone leaking to them.
Some things just show an utter disrespect for the country and culture you are living in. Brewing that booze was a gigantic FU, and while the twittarati were up in outrage at the punishment, when i spoke to a few about it, even my more liberal people, it was very much "it's their country and their laws". The only sympathy was the scale of brutality of the punishment, but that was always with the caveat that he knew what would happen and he has no one else to blame.
Unfortunately the 'their country, their laws' only works if those laws are consistently applied at all levels of authority. Having worked in the ME I am well aware that, for example, getting anything done without bribery is practically impossible. Thankfully I was low enough on the food chain that I could just sit back and watch my superiors trying to balance staying within the law with actually trying to run any sort of business and get the necessary red tape passed. Personally I got out of there as soon as I could and would never go back. You are basically entirely at the mercy of whichever officials you are having to deal with.
I also regularly saw local officials in dry states visiting western compounds and hotels specifically to drink with the expats. Again if you didn't play the game then your chances of getting anything done at were pretty much zero.
Thats the downside when you have laws on the books and rely on discretion of law enforcement. The scale of the discretion allows corruption to sneak in.
The mystery why David Cameron announced the lifting of collective Cabinet responsibility over the EU referendum so early seems to have been solved: Cabinet ministers were threatening to resign if he didn't clarify his position.
A leading figure behind the doctors’ strike likened Conservative policies to Nazi propaganda, and is among several supporters of Labour and Jeremy Corbyn on the British Medical Association’s council, it can be disclosed.
Dr Kailash Chand said that Joseph Goebbels, Adolf Hitler’s propaganda chief, would be “proud” of Tory policies on education, health and the economy under the Coalition.
He separately nicknamed Simon Burns, the then health minister, “Goebbels”. Dr Chand is one of two members of the BMA’s council who declare that they are Labour members. But several others are supporters of Mr Corbyn and the Labour Party, a Telegraph investigation reveals.
One senior BMA member, who backed Mr Corbyn’s leadership, wrote in a posting on the website of the doctors’ union that success in their campaign against government proposals to change junior doctors’ contracts would signal “the first real crack in the entire edifice of austerity in the UK”.
@PickardJE: Interestingly Tony Benn was demoted (from industry to energy) straight after 1975 EU referendum for opposing leader. Historic echoes there.
'The white heat of technology'. What memories.
Yeah but not from 1975. It was 1963. As you don't remember the 60s you must have been there!
A leading figure behind the doctors’ strike likened Conservative policies to Nazi propaganda, and is among several supporters of Labour and Jeremy Corbyn on the British Medical Association’s council, it can be disclosed.
Dr Kailash Chand said that Joseph Goebbels, Adolf Hitler’s propaganda chief, would be “proud” of Tory policies on education, health and the economy under the Coalition.
He separately nicknamed Simon Burns, the then health minister, “Goebbels”. Dr Chand is one of two members of the BMA’s council who declare that they are Labour members. But several others are supporters of Mr Corbyn and the Labour Party, a Telegraph investigation reveals.
One senior BMA member, who backed Mr Corbyn’s leadership, wrote in a posting on the website of the doctors’ union that success in their campaign against government proposals to change junior doctors’ contracts would signal “the first real crack in the entire edifice of austerity in the UK”.
@PickardJE: Interestingly Tony Benn was demoted (from industry to energy) straight after 1975 EU referendum for opposing leader. Historic echoes there.
'The white heat of technology'. What memories.
Yeah but not from 1975. It was 1963. As you don't remember the 60s you must have been there!
A leading figure behind the doctors’ strike likened Conservative policies to Nazi propaganda, and is among several supporters of Labour and Jeremy Corbyn on the British Medical Association’s council, it can be disclosed.
Dr Kailash Chand said that Joseph Goebbels, Adolf Hitler’s propaganda chief, would be “proud” of Tory policies on education, health and the economy under the Coalition.
He separately nicknamed Simon Burns, the then health minister, “Goebbels”. Dr Chand is one of two members of the BMA’s council who declare that they are Labour members. But several others are supporters of Mr Corbyn and the Labour Party, a Telegraph investigation reveals.
One senior BMA member, who backed Mr Corbyn’s leadership, wrote in a posting on the website of the doctors’ union that success in their campaign against government proposals to change junior doctors’ contracts would signal “the first real crack in the entire edifice of austerity in the UK”.
A leading figure behind the doctors’ strike likened Conservative policies to Nazi propaganda, and is among several supporters of Labour and Jeremy Corbyn on the British Medical Association’s council, it can be disclosed.
Dr Kailash Chand said that Joseph Goebbels, Adolf Hitler’s propaganda chief, would be “proud” of Tory policies on education, health and the economy under the Coalition.
He separately nicknamed Simon Burns, the then health minister, “Goebbels”. Dr Chand is one of two members of the BMA’s council who declare that they are Labour members. But several others are supporters of Mr Corbyn and the Labour Party, a Telegraph investigation reveals.
One senior BMA member, who backed Mr Corbyn’s leadership, wrote in a posting on the website of the doctors’ union that success in their campaign against government proposals to change junior doctors’ contracts would signal “the first real crack in the entire edifice of austerity in the UK”.
The mystery why David Cameron announced the lifting of collective Cabinet responsibility over the EU referendum so early seems to have been solved: Cabinet ministers were threatening to resign if he didn't clarify his position.
And yet 'The week of the blunt knives' is the Labour comedy act diverting our attention once again.
A leading figure behind the doctors’ strike likened Conservative policies to Nazi propaganda, and is among several supporters of Labour and Jeremy Corbyn on the British Medical Association’s council, it can be disclosed.
Dr Kailash Chand said that Joseph Goebbels, Adolf Hitler’s propaganda chief, would be “proud” of Tory policies on education, health and the economy under the Coalition.
He separately nicknamed Simon Burns, the then health minister, “Goebbels”. Dr Chand is one of two members of the BMA’s council who declare that they are Labour members. But several others are supporters of Mr Corbyn and the Labour Party, a Telegraph investigation reveals.
One senior BMA member, who backed Mr Corbyn’s leadership, wrote in a posting on the website of the doctors’ union that success in their campaign against government proposals to change junior doctors’ contracts would signal “the first real crack in the entire edifice of austerity in the UK”.
98% of junior doctors, some of the most highly educated and numerate people in the country, voted to strike if Hunt imposed his contract. A further 1.5% voted for Industrial action short of strike. This was on a 76% turnout. Junior Doctors of all political stripes voted against the contract. This is not a strike being orchestrated by Trotskyists, this is a highly astute workforce who know when they are being shafted
@PickardJE: Interestingly Tony Benn was demoted (from industry to energy) straight after 1975 EU referendum for opposing leader. Historic echoes there.
'The white heat of technology'. What memories.
Yeah but not from 1975. It was 1963. As you don't remember the 60s you must have been there!
I was in prep school.
Well, junior, I was applying to universities to study "technology". Wilson's white heat got me going. Turned out to be along the wrong track.
I agree wholeheartedly. Some cultures are better than others. I think Western culture is better on the whole than Middle Eastern culture. Those living in the Middle East may disagree. That is their right. But if they come to live here they live according to our rules. And if they don't want to, they
What they need to - and don't - understand is that the freedoms which allow women to do what they want, including getting pissed and fall into the gutter after having given blow jobs to the lo
Great post as ever Ms @Cyclefree but okay I'll try and answer from the perspective of someoneee speech.
Sex outside of marriage is technically illegal in several Middle Eastern nations including the UAE, Iran and Saudi
Correct I think in all the GCC States. Hotels have been known to ask questions on that subject to tourist visitors booking double rooms.
Yes, in the Gulf states certainly. Though the top hotels may turn a discreet blind eye
I think they largely turn a blind eye to most things that visitors and western ex pats do, just dont take the p*ss about it. Dont brew your own booze!!! FFS, thats an obvious recent one.
Yeah, the Saudi Moonshiners, idiots. As you say, keep your hea
Some things just show annew what would happen and he has no one else to blame.
To be fair he took it on the chin and served his time without complaint
Are we talking about the same person? His daughter carried out a media campaign in the UK to get the PM to intervene, it involved 230,000 petition, direct appeals to the PM, amnest international, video messages to cameron online from the grandchildren, despite him living in SA for 25 years. He was sentenced to 350 lashes.
The last report i read he had been sent on a plane back to the UK, i dont know if that was him getting removed from the country permanently.
That was his daughter, not him and his sentence was commuted to 1 year imprisonment. He himself said he was grateful for the opportunities Saudi had given him which had allowed him to educated his children privately and he was 'embarrassed and ashamed'
A leading figure behind the doctors’ strike likened Conservative policies to Nazi propaganda, and is among several supporters of Labour and Jeremy Corbyn on the British Medical Association’s council, it can be disclosed.
Dr Kailash Chand said that Joseph Goebbels, Adolf Hitler’s propaganda chief, would be “proud” of Tory policies on education, health and the economy under the Coalition.
He separately nicknamed Simon Burns, the then health minister, “Goebbels”. Dr Chand is one of two members of the BMA’s council who declare that they are Labour members. But several others are supporters of Mr Corbyn and the Labour Party, a Telegraph investigation reveals.
One senior BMA member, who backed Mr Corbyn’s leadership, wrote in a posting on the website of the doctors’ union that success in their campaign against government proposals to change junior doctors’ contracts would signal “the first real crack in the entire edifice of austerity in the UK”.
98% of junior doctors, some of the most highly educated and numerate people in the country voted to strike if Hunt imposed his contract. A further 1.5% voted for Industrial action short of strike. This was on a 76% turnout. Junior Doctors of all political stripes voted against the contract. This is not a strike being orchestrated by Trotskyists, this is a highly astute workforce who know when they are being shafted
And a group of people who as recently as Thatcher would have voted Conservative in large numbers.
A leading figure behind the doctors’ strike likened Conservative policies to Nazi propaganda, and is among several supporters of Labour and Jeremy Corbyn on the British Medical Association’s council, it can be disclosed.
Dr Kailash Chand said that Joseph Goebbels, Adolf Hitler’s propaganda chief, would be “proud” of Tory policies on education, health and the economy under the Coalition.
He separately nicknamed Simon Burns, the then health minister, “Goebbels”. Dr Chand is one of two members of the BMA’s council who declare that they are Labour members. But several others are supporters of Mr Corbyn and the Labour Party, a Telegraph investigation reveals.
One senior BMA member, who backed Mr Corbyn’s leadership, wrote in a posting on the website of the doctors’ union that success in their campaign against government proposals to change junior doctors’ contracts would signal “the first real crack in the entire edifice of austerity in the UK”.
@paulwaugh: Thick Of It alive and well. I'm told HBenn last night sought to avoid hacks by walking out of Parl + back in again (Derby Gate) to see Jezza
The mystery why David Cameron announced the lifting of collective Cabinet responsibility over the EU referendum so early seems to have been solved: Cabinet ministers were threatening to resign if he didn't clarify his position.
The fact that it came to this so early says to me this is coming down the track like an express train. Cameron has got his deal and is ready to go. And the cabinet knows it.
Has anyone got the faintest idea what Corbyn is doing? He must be taking the piss.
I've heard from a reliable source, that several shadow cabinet ministers have threatened to resign were Benn to be sacked/demoted.
However Benn doesn't want them to resign, for a variety of reasons, because were Shadow Cabinet ministers to resign, there'd be a load of SPADs etc out of jobs, and Benn doesn't want that.
A leading figure behind the doctors’ strike likened Conservative policies to Nazi propaganda, and is among several supporters of Labour and Jeremy Corbyn on the British Medical Association’s council, it can be disclosed.
Dr Kailash Chand said that Joseph Goebbels, Adolf Hitler’s propaganda chief, would be “proud” of Tory policies on education, health and the economy under the Coalition.
He separately nicknamed Simon Burns, the then health minister, “Goebbels”. Dr Chand is one of two members of the BMA’s council who declare that they are Labour members. But several others are supporters of Mr Corbyn and the Labour Party, a Telegraph investigation reveals.
One senior BMA member, who backed Mr Corbyn’s leadership, wrote in a posting on the website of the doctors’ union that success in their campaign against government proposals to change junior doctors’ contracts would signal “the first real crack in the entire edifice of austerity in the UK”.
98% of junior doctors, some of the most highly educated and numerate people in the country voted to strike if Hunt imposed his contract. A further 1.5% voted for Industrial action short of strike. This was on a 76% turnout. Junior Doctors of all political stripes voted against the contract. This is not a strike being orchestrated by Trotskyists, this is a highly astute workforce who know when they are being shafted
And a group of people who as recently as Thatcher would have voted Conservative in large numbers.
Indeed in 2010 50% of Doctors polled by the GP magazine Pulse were voting Conservative.
Hunt has lots of friends in the media, and isparticularly due a few favours returned by the Murdochs following his role in the BSkyB deal when minister responsible. Hunt will get his views across via the msm.
The Juniors will not be easily cowed though, and social media allows them to spread their views by other means. They can also understand how their pay works, and can recognise a paycut when they see it. Ironically those with the biggest paycut are those who currently work most antisocial hours.
Has anyone got the faintest idea what Corbyn is doing? He must be taking the piss.
I've heard from a reliable source, that several shadow cabinet ministers have threatened to resign were Benn to be sacked/demoted.
However Benn doesn't want them to resign, for a variety of reasons, because were Shadow Cabinet ministers to resign, there'd be a load of SPADs etc out of jobs, and Benn doesn't want that.
But new SPADs would be appointed. The net number of SPADs remains the same.
Has anyone got the faintest idea what Corbyn is doing? He must be taking the piss.
I've heard from a reliable source, that several shadow cabinet ministers have threatened to resign were Benn to be sacked/demoted.
However Benn doesn't want them to resign, for a variety of reasons, because were Shadow Cabinet ministers to resign, there'd be a load of SPADs etc out of jobs, and Benn doesn't want that.
But new SPADs would be appointed. The net number of SPADs remains the same.
What is he on?
I know, but there'd be a load of people out of jobs as their minister quits.
A leading figure behind the doctors’ strike likened Conservative policies to Nazi propaganda, and is among several supporters of Labour and Jeremy Corbyn on the British Medical Association’s council, it can be disclosed.
Dr Kailash Chand said that Joseph Goebbels, Adolf Hitler’s propaganda chief, would be “proud” of Tory policies on education, health and the economy under the Coalition.
He separately nicknamed Simon Burns, the then health minister, “Goebbels”. Dr Chand is one of two members of the BMA’s council who declare that they are Labour members. But several others are supporters of Mr Corbyn and the Labour Party, a Telegraph investigation reveals.
One senior BMA member, who backed Mr Corbyn’s leadership, wrote in a posting on the website of the doctors’ union that success in their campaign against government proposals to change junior doctors’ contracts would signal “the first real crack in the entire edifice of austerity in the UK”.
98% of junior doctors, some of the most highly educated and numerate people in the country voted to strike if Hunt imposed his contract. A further 1.5% voted for Industrial action short of strike. This was on a 76% turnout. Junior Doctors of all political stripes voted against the contract. This is not a strike being orchestrated by Trotskyists, this is a highly astute workforce who know when they are being shafted
And a group of people who as recently as Thatcher would have voted Conservative in large numbers.
Indeed in 2010 50% of Doctors polled by the GP magazine Pulse were voting Conservative.
Hunt has lots of friends in the media, and isparticularly due a few favours returned by the Murdochs following his role in the BSkyB deal when minister responsible. Hunt will get his views across via the msm.
The Juniors will not be easily cowed though, and social media allows them to spread their views by other means. They can also understand how their pay works, and can recognise a paycut when they see it. Ironically those with the biggest paycut are those who currently work most antisocial hours.
But, but there was one doctor who committed the sin of being a supporter of Labour.
Has anyone got the faintest idea what Corbyn is doing? He must be taking the piss.
I've heard from a reliable source, that several shadow cabinet ministers have threatened to resign were Benn to be sacked/demoted.
However Benn doesn't want them to resign, for a variety of reasons, because were Shadow Cabinet ministers to resign, there'd be a load of SPADs etc out of jobs, and Benn doesn't want that.
Lots more out of jobs when Labour vote falls sub 25%.....
Has anyone got the faintest idea what Corbyn is doing? He must be taking the piss.
I've heard from a reliable source, that several shadow cabinet ministers have threatened to resign were Benn to be sacked/demoted.
However Benn doesn't want them to resign, for a variety of reasons, because were Shadow Cabinet ministers to resign, there'd be a load of SPADs etc out of jobs, and Benn doesn't want that.
But new SPADs would be appointed. The net number of SPADs remains the same.
What is he on?
But presumably the jobs would no longer be taken by mainstream SPADS; they would go to Momentum SPADS.
@PickardJE: Interestingly Tony Benn was demoted (from industry to energy) straight after 1975 EU referendum for opposing leader. Historic echoes there.
'The white heat of technology'. What memories.
Yeah but not from 1975. It was 1963. As you don't remember the 60s you must have been there!
I was in prep school.
Well, junior, I was applying to universities to study "technology". Wilson's white heat got me going. Turned out to be along the wrong track.
well it's not hard to get a deal that amounts to almost nothing
Whatever. That is really not the point. It is time for Leave to stop pissing about like a Labour shadow cabinet on speed and to get the kids out of the playground. The bell has rung and its seconds (yes, that's you Farage) out.
well it's not hard to get a deal that amounts to almost nothing
Whatever. That is really not the point. It is time for Leave to stop pissing about like a Labour shadow cabinet on speed and to get the kids out of the playground. The bell has rung and its seconds (yes, that's you Farage) out.
A leading figure behind the doctors’ strike likened Conservative policies to Nazi propaganda, and is among several supporters of Labour and Jeremy Corbyn on the British Medical Association’s council, it can be disclosed.
Dr Kailash Chand said that Joseph Goebbels, Adolf Hitler’s propaganda chief, would be “proud” of Tory policies on education, health and the economy under the Coalition.
He separately nicknamed Simon Burns, the then health minister, “Goebbels”. Dr Chand is one of two members of the BMA’s council who declare that they are Labour members. But several others are supporters of Mr Corbyn and the Labour Party, a Telegraph investigation reveals.
One senior BMA member, who backed Mr Corbyn’s leadership, wrote in a posting on the website of the doctors’ union that success in their campaign against government proposals to change junior doctors’ contracts would signal “the first real crack in the entire edifice of austerity in the UK”.
98% of junior doctors, some of the most highly educated and numerate people in the country voted to strike if Hunt imposed his contract. A further 1.5% voted for Industrial action short of strike. This was on a 76% turnout. Junior Doctors of all political stripes voted against the contract. This is not a strike being orchestrated by Trotskyists, this is a highly astute workforce who know when they are being shafted
And a group of people who as recently as Thatcher would have voted Conservative in large numbers.
Do the Tories really need Doctors any more? I doubt the party has ever been so unpopular with the educated middle classes. Is that such a problem though? Maybe good headlines in the tabloid media matter more.
Has anyone got the faintest idea what Corbyn is doing? He must be taking the piss.
I've heard from a reliable source, that several shadow cabinet ministers have threatened to resign were Benn to be sacked/demoted.
However Benn doesn't want them to resign, for a variety of reasons, because were Shadow Cabinet ministers to resign, there'd be a load of SPADs etc out of jobs, and Benn doesn't want that.
But new SPADs would be appointed. The net number of SPADs remains the same.
What is he on?
But presumably the jobs would no longer be taken by mainstream SPADS; they would go to Momentum SPADS.
The mystery why David Cameron announced the lifting of collective Cabinet responsibility over the EU referendum so early seems to have been solved: Cabinet ministers were threatening to resign if he didn't clarify his position.
The fact that it came to this so early says to me this is coming down the track like an express train. Cameron has got his deal and is ready to go. And the cabinet knows it.
That was my take. We can also surmise that not all of the cabinet were overwhelmingly impressed.
The mystery why David Cameron announced the lifting of collective Cabinet responsibility over the EU referendum so early seems to have been solved: Cabinet ministers were threatening to resign if he didn't clarify his position.
The fact that it came to this so early says to me this is coming down the track like an express train. Cameron has got his deal and is ready to go. And the cabinet knows it.
Or they are growing increasingly frustrated with the supposed "renegotiation".
A leading figure behind the doctors’ strike likened Conservative policies to Nazi propaganda, and is among several supporters of Labour and Jeremy Corbyn on the British Medical Association’s council, it can be disclosed.
Dr Kailash Chand said that Joseph Goebbels, Adolf Hitler’s propaganda chief, would be “proud” of Tory policies on education, health and the economy under the Coalition.
He separately nicknamed Simon Burns, the then health minister, “Goebbels”. Dr Chand is one of two members of the BMA’s council who declare that they are Labour members. But several others are supporters of Mr Corbyn and the Labour Party, a Telegraph investigation reveals.
One senior BMA member, who backed Mr Corbyn’s leadership, wrote in a posting on the website of the doctors’ union that success in their campaign against government proposals to change junior doctors’ contracts would signal “the first real crack in the entire edifice of austerity in the UK”.
98% of junior doctors, some of the most highly educated and numerate people in the country voted to strike if Hunt imposed his contract. A further 1.5% voted for Industrial action short of strike. This was on a 76% turnout. Junior Doctors of all political stripes voted against the contract. This is not a strike being orchestrated by Trotskyists, this is a highly astute workforce who know when they are being shafted
And a group of people who as recently as Thatcher would have voted Conservative in large numbers.
Do the Tories really need Doctors any more? I doubt the party has ever been so unpopular with the educated middle classes. Is that such a problem though? Maybe good headlines in the tabloid media matter more.
Depends whether they have the ambition of ever topping 40% again and having a comfortable majority. And also whether they want young doctors to emigrate because they get paid better for less gyp and afford a house before they are 40. Clearly in the absence of an opposition they can currently write off huge swathes of the working electorate as long as they fill pensioners mouths with gold. Don't think it's sustainable for our country or the economy though.
Has anyone got the faintest idea what Corbyn is doing? He must be taking the piss.
I've heard from a reliable source, that several shadow cabinet ministers have threatened to resign were Benn to be sacked/demoted.
However Benn doesn't want them to resign, for a variety of reasons, because were Shadow Cabinet ministers to resign, there'd be a load of SPADs etc out of jobs, and Benn doesn't want that.
But new SPADs would be appointed. The net number of SPADs remains the same.
What is he on?
But presumably the jobs would no longer be taken by mainstream SPADS; they would go to Momentum SPADS.
That is what the membership voted for.
I thought the selectorate voted for Leader and Deputy. I must have missed the bit where they voted for SPADS.
Indeed as I recall the make up of Labour Shadow Cabinet used to be elected, I think it was Tony Blair who turned it into a perogative of the Leader to increase his own power.
I only seem to get the chance to post late at night, when everyone's off to bed. But, if I can repeat what I said the other night... keep an eye out for Gove and the Bill of Rights; it's the @EUref game changer.
well it's not hard to get a deal that amounts to almost nothing
Whatever. That is really not the point. It is time for Leave to stop pissing about like a Labour shadow cabinet on speed and to get the kids out of the playground. The bell has rung and its seconds (yes, that's you Farage) out.
You have to love the Eurofanatics like DavidL. One minute they are telling us that no one should be campaigning to leave yet because we don't know what deal Cameron will come back with (of course we do know - it will be bollocks). The next minute they are criticising the Leave campaign for not getting on with things.
Has anyone got the faintest idea what Corbyn is doing? He must be taking the piss.
I've heard from a reliable source, that several shadow cabinet ministers have threatened to resign were Benn to be sacked/demoted.
However Benn doesn't want them to resign, for a variety of reasons, because were Shadow Cabinet ministers to resign, there'd be a load of SPADs etc out of jobs, and Benn doesn't want that.
But new SPADs would be appointed. The net number of SPADs remains the same.
What is he on?
But presumably the jobs would no longer be taken by mainstream SPADS; they would go to Momentum SPADS.
That is what the membership voted for.
I thought the selectorate voted for Leader and Deputy. I must have missed the bit where they voted for SPADS.
Indeed as I recall the make up of Labour Shadow Cabinet used to be elected, I think it was Tony Blair who turned it into a perogative of the Leader to increase his own power.
They gave Corbyn his 'mandate' - and we keep being told how big it is. Surely the membership has a reasonable expectation of seeing their views reflected in the SPADs.
@Tim_B You're the only golf expert on here that I'm aware of. May I please ask your opinion? For the Tournament of Champions I've gone Snedeker and Reed for top 10 I would have gone top 4 or 5 if Hills had that available. For the SA Open I've got Fisher to win Group C. Anyone else that you like the look of? Thanks in advance
Has anyone got the faintest idea what Corbyn is doing? He must be taking the piss.
I've heard from a reliable source, that several shadow cabinet ministers have threatened to resign were Benn to be sacked/demoted.
However Benn doesn't want them to resign, for a variety of reasons, because were Shadow Cabinet ministers to resign, there'd be a load of SPADs etc out of jobs, and Benn doesn't want that.
But new SPADs would be appointed. The net number of SPADs remains the same.
What is he on?
But not moderates, who would need to find jobs outside the direct political world and would have less time to support the Loyal loyal opposition
A leading figure behind the doctors’ strike likened Conservative policies to Nazi propaganda, and is among several supporters of Labour and Jeremy Corbyn on the British Medical Association’s council, it can be disclosed.
Dr Kailash Chand said that Joseph Goebbels, Adolf Hitler’s propaganda chief, would be “proud” of Tory policies on education, health and the economy under the Coalition.
He separately nicknamed Simon Burns, the then health minister, “Goebbels”. Dr Chand is one of two members of the BMA’s council who declare that they are Labour members. But several others are supporters of Mr Corbyn and the Labour Party, a Telegraph investigation reveals.
One senior BMA member, who backed Mr Corbyn’s leadership, wrote in a posting on the website of the doctors’ union that success in their campaign against government proposals to change junior doctors’ contracts would signal “the first real crack in the entire edifice of austerity in the UK”.
well it's not hard to get a deal that amounts to almost nothing
Whatever. That is really not the point. It is time for Leave to stop pissing about like a Labour shadow cabinet on speed and to get the kids out of the playground. The bell has rung and its seconds (yes, that's you Farage) out.
You have to love the Eurofanatics like DavidL. One minute they are telling us that no one should be campaigning to leave yet because we don't know what deal Cameron will come back with (of course we do know - it will be bollocks). The next minute they are criticising the Leave campaign for not getting on with things.
Um. DavidL has said on here he's now leaning Leave.
I agree with his post and I'm as strong a Leaver as you are. Honestly, our side really must stop this.
As an aside, a few posters were mentioning the effects of oil on the Middle East. Here's the thing: I've spent a lot of time in places like Midland, Texas and Edmonton, Alberta and I've come to a conclusion.
well it's not hard to get a deal that amounts to almost nothing
Whatever. That is really not the point. It is time for Leave to stop pissing about like a Labour shadow cabinet on speed and to get the kids out of the playground. The bell has rung and its seconds (yes, that's you Farage) out.
You have to love the Eurofanatics like DavidL. One minute they are telling us that no one should be campaigning to leave yet because we don't know what deal Cameron will come back with (of course we do know - it will be bollocks). The next minute they are criticising the Leave campaign for not getting on with things.
I am not a eurofanatic. I am minded to vote out, particularly if there is a consensus that out means the EEA.
My fear is that far too many like minded individuals are more interested in moaning about Cameron or just moaning in general than making the case that is there to be made. If this blog is in any way typical Out have almost no chance. That's unfortunate because this is it for 30 years plus.
@Sandpit: re your post. I think that what you bring out is that there is a tension - a balance, if you will - between security and freedom. There are lots of reasons why crime may be low in a country but one of them will be the social taboos against certain types of behaviour, strict punishments etc that we may find relatively illiberal.
When I was growing up in Italy, people knew who you were and your family and so if you misbehaved in public, if you were less than polite or even not very well dressed and letting the side down (fare bella figura is important) it would get back to your parents and there was some tut-tutting. It had its pluses - it's one of the things that makes Italian life so attractive, you were and felt part of a wider network and community etc - but also its minuses. Rebellion was harder; it could be stifling; there was an expectation of a "received life" etc and a continuity and conformism which can make it harder to extend yourself and try new experiences.
There is a cost to relative freedom as well as many advantages. More conservative societies often value security and conformity and the advantages they bring more highly than we do. The cost is often borne by women in a narrowing of the boundaries of their lives or rather no attempt at widening what they might do beyond the expectations of motherhood and family life. Equally, freedom has its costs and those too can often be born by women - being a single or divorced parent is not easy, for instance.
Whatever we choose as a society - and the balance between the two is always shifting - we have to, I think, accept that there are benefits and costs. What those from very conservative societies/cultures often fail to understand I think is that what they see as licence and licentiousness is the obverse or a necessary part of the creativity which gave us Hogarth and Dickens and punk and Queen and that women being educated and not just being traditional wives/mothers gave us Thatcher and Mary Beard and Germaine Greer and that people questioning religion gave us Locke and Paine and Milton and Rushdie and Mill and Orwell and so on. And that the advances in science and maths and engineering and medicine and thought and art and pretty much every damn thing was because someone somewhere said "I wonder" and "Why" and "Why not?" and "Let's try this" and it is harder to do this in a more conformist society, where curiosity and scepticism are not valued because they would upset the established order.
We have that too but about different things. (Part 2 to follow - sorry).
But you cannot, on the whole, have the many advantages of our society without understanding that they come as a package. The ability, the freedom, the sheer insolence of drawing Mohammed like a chamber pot or whatever is on the same spectrum as the person who dreams up a robot to do repetitive tasks in a factory previously done by humans or the idea of a card to pay for services by waving it at a machine. It's the same insolence which demanded votes for all men and then votes for women, for instance. I think that many Muslims from very conservative, relatively unchanging societies want all the benefits of the new while still holding onto the customs and unchanging certainties of the old and the dissonance between the two and their belief that somehow Islamic society is greater than ours or ought to be greater, in the teeth of all the evidence to the contrary is driving much of the anger and fury. It's like a person choosing to do a part-time job because they want more time to learn the guitar and then being permanently furious because they're not earning millions and living in a mansion. The humiliation and anger is entirely self-inflicted if you are not content with your choices, whatever they are. It is a great shame. It need not be like this. But while it is like this then we have to be much much more cautious than we have been about letting into our countries people with a different mindset without making it clear that that mindset needs to adapt and change in line with us.
To be fair I think David is a bit confused- caught between party loyalty, a slightly muddled understanding of economics and I suspect a gut feeling that the UK's EU membership can only end badly. Plus of course the Scottish dimension.
He is not I think being deliberately disingenuous unlike some other posters.
Comments
Painting with a very broad brush, British Pakistanis with origins in Lahore and Karachi generally have a very commercial outlook which those from a Kashmiri background (whose parents or grandparents generally came to Britain to escape grinding rural poverty and who ended up taking some of the most menial jobs) often lack. A Kashmiri friend of mine lamented how his cousins and old school mates just wanted to pursue a life of alcohol, benefits, cash-in-hand jobs and partying, while his more "respectable" or middle-class Pakistani acquaintances had pursued law or medical degrees or accountancy qualifications, and were taking up the British educational offer with both hands.
Three of the worst performing ethnic groups educationally in the UK are Pakistanis, Bangladeshis and Somalis. But other Muslim groups have high educational attainment. Somalis in particular often migrate to the UK midway through compulsory education which puts them at a marked disadvantage (worse still since they were unlikely to know English before coming the UK) but it is hardly as if this problem is entirely absent in Chinese, Indian and West African communities whose educational record in the UK is very good. Clearly there are cultural forces at play, but it isn't as easy as pointing to colour of skin, religious identity or to some extent even country of origin.
Good night
MaxPB should read this. He repeatedly tries to tar all Muslims with the FGM brush. Dear God, Kurdistan, our favourite Kurdistan. Who would have thunk ? Some Christian countries ? Shurely there is a mishtake !
Were you around when Mike talked about his "vote swap" with a Labour supporter?
Monocles were dropping all over the place.
Further evidence of racism etc?
And it wasn't an 'in other news' piece - it really was considered by some BBC editor that both things were news.
Things are seemingly blown out of all proportion when a Western celebrity; and it seems that they are minimised when the accused are a minority, and, seemingly, especially when the accusations are levelled at minorities which the left appear to have adopted as their own cause.
And of course the language you speak and write is English, not British.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Naval_Ensign_of_India.svg
The Saudi Moonshiner did get off his lashes after a little diplomatic intervention, so he served a few weeks and got deported.
We all know when we visit somewhere which crimes are aggressively prosecuted in that place. In the East it's generally crimes of possession and consumption (drugs, alcohol etc) whereas in the West it's more crimes against another person (assault, robbery, rape) that get you a long stretch.
The report does note and give citations that British-born Somalis and Somalis who migrated to the UK at a young age have largely adopted Western attitudes towards FGM (which is one reason I felt confident in my assertion that it would be incorrect to assume British Somalis would apply FGM at a similar rate to in Somalia). There's more evidence for that in this paper, which the report doesn't cite, whose abstract concludes Which is pretty much what you'd expect, but goes to show the importance of integration.
Are we talking about the same person? His daughter carried out a media campaign in the UK to get the PM to intervene, it involved 230,000 petition, direct appeals to the PM, amnest international, video messages to cameron online from the grandchildren, despite him living in SA for 25 years. He was sentenced to 350 lashes.
The last report i read he had been sent on a plane back to the UK, i dont know if that was him getting removed from the country permanently.
I also regularly saw local officials in dry states visiting western compounds and hotels specifically to drink with the expats. Again if you didn't play the game then your chances of getting anything done at were pretty much zero.
A leading figure behind the doctors’ strike likened Conservative policies to Nazi propaganda, and is among several supporters of Labour and Jeremy Corbyn on the British Medical Association’s council, it can be disclosed.
Dr Kailash Chand said that Joseph Goebbels, Adolf Hitler’s propaganda chief, would be “proud” of Tory policies on education, health and the economy under the Coalition.
He separately nicknamed Simon Burns, the then health minister, “Goebbels”. Dr Chand is one of two members of the BMA’s council who declare that they are Labour members. But several others are supporters of Mr Corbyn and the Labour Party, a Telegraph investigation reveals.
One senior BMA member, who backed Mr Corbyn’s leadership, wrote in a posting on the website of the doctors’ union that success in their campaign against government proposals to change junior doctors’ contracts would signal “the first real crack in the entire edifice of austerity in the UK”.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/nhs/12083717/Junior-doctors-strike-Leading-BMA-figure-likened-Tory-policies-to-Nazi-propaganda.html
As you don't remember the 60s you must have been there!
Time to have the 100 years war - several times.
Or 1 shadow cabinet reshuffle.
"There'll be updates on the Labour reshuffle - if there are any updates - on the BBC News Channel"
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/matt/?cartoon=12083572&cc=12083568
Wilson's white heat got me going. Turned out to be along the wrong track.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/11994368/Karl-Andree-I-feel-ashamed-and-embarrassed-about-breaking-Saudi-Arabian-drinking-laws.html
Has he thought how bad he is for the environment???
However Benn doesn't want them to resign, for a variety of reasons, because were Shadow Cabinet ministers to resign, there'd be a load of SPADs etc out of jobs, and Benn doesn't want that.
well it's not hard to get a deal that amounts to almost nothing
Hunt has lots of friends in the media, and isparticularly due a few favours returned by the Murdochs following his role in the BSkyB deal when minister responsible. Hunt will get his views across via the msm.
The Juniors will not be easily cowed though, and social media allows them to spread their views by other means. They can also understand how their pay works, and can recognise a paycut when they see it. Ironically those with the biggest paycut are those who currently work most antisocial hours.
What is he on?
And there's more!
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Flags_based_on_British_ensigns
How long before Corbyn gives Dugher his job back and just goes home?
Indeed as I recall the make up of Labour Shadow Cabinet used to be elected, I think it was Tony Blair who turned it into a perogative of the Leader to increase his own power.
Edit: it was another triumph of Ed Miliband!
But, if I can repeat what I said the other night... keep an eye out for Gove and the Bill of Rights; it's the @EUref game changer.
If she does, she's running, and I would very much fancy her chances.
You're the only golf expert on here that I'm aware of. May I please ask your opinion?
For the Tournament of Champions I've gone Snedeker and Reed for top 10
I would have gone top 4 or 5 if Hills had that available.
For the SA Open I've got Fisher to win Group C.
Anyone else that you like the look of?
Thanks in advance
962–1806
1871–1918
1933-1945
2015-?
I agree with his post and I'm as strong a Leaver as you are. Honestly, our side really must stop this.
Oil is not very good for people.
My fear is that far too many like minded individuals are more interested in moaning about Cameron or just moaning in general than making the case that is there to be made. If this blog is in any way typical Out have almost no chance. That's unfortunate because this is it for 30 years plus.
When I was growing up in Italy, people knew who you were and your family and so if you misbehaved in public, if you were less than polite or even not very well dressed and letting the side down (fare bella figura is important) it would get back to your parents and there was some tut-tutting. It had its pluses - it's one of the things that makes Italian life so attractive, you were and felt part of a wider network and community etc - but also its minuses. Rebellion was harder; it could be stifling; there was an expectation of a "received life" etc and a continuity and conformism which can make it harder to extend yourself and try new experiences.
There is a cost to relative freedom as well as many advantages. More conservative societies often value security and conformity and the advantages they bring more highly than we do. The cost is often borne by women in a narrowing of the boundaries of their lives or rather no attempt at widening what they might do beyond the expectations of motherhood and family life. Equally, freedom has its costs and those too can often be born by women - being a single or divorced parent is not easy, for instance.
Whatever we choose as a society - and the balance between the two is always shifting - we have to, I think, accept that there are benefits and costs. What those from very conservative societies/cultures often fail to understand I think is that what they see as licence and licentiousness is the obverse or a necessary part of the creativity which gave us Hogarth and Dickens and punk and Queen and that women being educated and not just being traditional wives/mothers gave us Thatcher and Mary Beard and Germaine Greer and that people questioning religion gave us Locke and Paine and Milton and Rushdie and Mill and Orwell and so on. And that the advances in science and maths and engineering and medicine and thought and art and pretty much every damn thing was because someone somewhere said "I wonder" and "Why" and "Why not?" and "Let's try this" and it is harder to do this in a more conformist society, where curiosity and scepticism are not valued because they would upset the established order.
We have that too but about different things. (Part 2 to follow - sorry).
But you cannot, on the whole, have the many advantages of our society without understanding that they come as a package. The ability, the freedom, the sheer insolence of drawing Mohammed like a chamber pot or whatever is on the same spectrum as the person who dreams up a robot to do repetitive tasks in a factory previously done by humans or the idea of a card to pay for services by waving it at a machine. It's the same insolence which demanded votes for all men and then votes for women, for instance. I think that many Muslims from very conservative, relatively unchanging societies want all the benefits of the new while still holding onto the customs and unchanging certainties of the old and the dissonance between the two and their belief that somehow Islamic society is greater than ours or ought to be greater, in the teeth of all the evidence to the contrary is driving much of the anger and fury. It's like a person choosing to do a part-time job because they want more time to learn the guitar and then being permanently furious because they're not earning millions and living in a mansion. The humiliation and anger is entirely self-inflicted if you are not content with your choices, whatever they are. It is a great shame. It need not be like this. But while it is like this then we have to be much much more cautious than we have been about letting into our countries people with a different mindset without making it clear that that mindset needs to adapt and change in line with us.
To be fair I think David is a bit confused- caught between party loyalty, a slightly muddled understanding of economics and I suspect a gut feeling that the UK's EU membership can only end badly. Plus of course the Scottish dimension.
He is not I think being deliberately disingenuous unlike some other posters.
I think we learned that from Dallas.