There Is Another England 1079


Given the centuries of economic exploitation, political domination and depopulation, I perfectly understand why many Scots support any team at the World Cup which is playing England. But, with an English mother and two English grandparents who largely brought me up, I do not feel that way and I raised a glass at Harry Kane’s late winner. Let me tell you why.

My grandfather Henry was a lifelong socialist who had no illusions about the British Empire and its role in the World. Yet he was also a patriotic Englishman whose life, like so many of his generation, was largely defined by the struggle against Nazism, in which his only son had been killed. That focus on the Second World War partly explained his fondness for the Soviet Union, in discussing the abuses of which he would always remark “But you have to consider what came before. Given where they started, they are making progress”. He would recite “A man’s a man for a’that” to me as a small child and explain its meaning. Yet Henry would fly his St George’s flag proudly when occasion warranted it. I do not therefore automatically associate that flag with UKIP or with Essex man.

Because there is another England, that from which Henry sprang, the England documented lovingly by E P Thomson and vividly recorded by Robert Tressell, the England of William Hazlitt, Mary Wollstonecraft, the Putney debates and Thomas Paine. Michael Foot embodied the inherited wisdom of that tradition and it has re-emerged with unexpected vigour in the shape of Jeremy Corbyn, a man whose attraction lies in the very fact he encapsulates notions of basic decency that the English political elite had attempted to cast off.

I regard Scottish Independence as part of the continuing process of decolonisation. Ireland’s population will in the next decade overtake Scotland’s for the first time in centuries, and as of today Ireland’s GDP per capita stands 25% higher. Scotland can never achieve its potential without first achieving its Independence. But we can do that without wishing ill to our neighbours; some of them are quite nice.


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1,079 thoughts on “There Is Another England

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  • Malcolm Brown

    I have been a Scottish Nationalist all my life. Like Craig, I have English blood, however i was brought up in a post 2nd World war very “Pro British” , right leaning, if not out and out tory family. I was never encouraged to be a nationalist. I worked it out for myself, at the age of 3, according to my mother. For me I would rather have the English as friendly neighbours rather than have any animosity over the fence. Any animosity around appears not to come from individual English people, but from the Westminster crowd and those who blindly go around confusing English and British, often in the same sentence. Even then if it is explained to those people that we see ourselves as different, not necessarily superior, or indeed inferior, certainly the more enlightened seem to understand what we are about. I never use anti -English language, nor decry our neighbours for being English. We’re ‘a Jock Tampson’s bairns after all. They have the same right to be English as we have to be Scots.

  • Loony

    Ah – It is the famous devotee of fake news.

    Only yesterday you keen to point out that interest rates would rise in August. You did not mention that Mark Carney has re-evaluated his position and yesterday claimed that the lower bound for the UK is no longer 0.5% (where rates are now) but is in fact 0%. Most people may form the conclusion that this could be indicative of interest rate cuts – and not the rises you were so keen to report.

    Also announced yesterday was that the BoE would get a capital injection of up to £5.5 billion. No doubt you will be delighted to know that this could well enable the BoE to take £127 billion of money previously given to private banks onto its balance sheet. This will have the remarkable effect of reducing national debt from 85.4% of GDP to below 80%. This then means that more money can be borrowed to pour into the beloved NHS.

    What is the quid pro quo – why very rich bank executives, more house price rises thus locking ever more young people out of the housing market. But wait there is more – that’s right you get an emerging market currency crisis. It is already happening in Argentina, Pakistan and Ukraine. This will likely spread and thus contribute to the creation of ever more refugees/migrants – all of whom, once they enter Europe, will need somewhere to live. In many cases this will probably be somewhere like Grenfell Tower – which is of course a tragedy, but similar events are likely to recur due to population pressures and the competing demands for resources. Meanwhile people living on fixed incomes will continue to be squeezed and pensions (excluding public sector pensions) will evaporate.

    Of course no one would know any of this if they paid attention to your postings of fake news.

    I presume that you wish to be taken seriously with your many posts on the plight of Palestinians. Do you not think that posting fake news about the economy may cause people to question whether you post fake news on other matters as well?

    If people do ask this question then it is likely that you actually undermine the cause of Palestinians and in fact effectively operate as (I assume) an unpaid agent for Israel. All this of course whilst advocating for polices that will certainly impoverish the young and those on fixed incomes, create more refugees and make it highly likely that those refugees will live in unsuitable and dangerous housing conditions. And all of this because….? Can’t you see it just aint worth it.

    • bj

      Re. the Grenfell Tower tragedy: “similar events are likely to recur due to population pressures

      I’m not an expert, but I thought the cause clearly was criminal malice and corruption on the part of builders and regulators, not “population pressures”, whatever that is.

      Your comment please.

      • Loony

        Why do’n’t you take a look at some of the carnage around the world caused by defective buildings, defective bridges and generally defective infrastructure.

        Why do you this occurs? Do you think that the foreign man has a penchant for building garbage or do you think that they build what they build because it is all they can afford?

        The UK is a busted flush – you are going to transit back to third world standards whether you like it or not or whether you want to or not. What else is there a lot of in the third world? Why rapidly growing populations and corruption and criminals. You should try living in some of these places, then you might understand what is going on.

        • glenn_nl

          Ah, so you’re a fan of regulations obviously!

          Defective infrastructure will occur everywhere capitalists are allowed to put profit before the public good, and only government – big government, if you will – will stop such practices.

          Your rambling about growing populations is rather incoherent, but the first sentences indicate an important step on your _extremely_ long journey to enlightenment – that you are starting to appreciate the importance of regulations, and the disastrous lethality of unregulated capitalism.

          • Loony

            How astute of you to realize that only government – and big government at that can help the people. You must have been reading all about the phenomenal success of Venezuela.

            Venezuela a country with a relatively small population, the worlds largest oil reserves, no capitalism a big government and no toilet paper. On average 60 people a day are murdered in Venezuela, infant mortality rates are through the roof and diseases such as diphtheria are on a rapidly rising trajectory.

            I suppose it is obvious when you think about it only more government can possibly save the Venezuelans. Look for example at the munificence of the Khmer Rouge government in Cambodia – all that effort, and largely unpaid to slaughter one third of the population. How grateful the Cambodians must have been for a large and non capitalist government Or how about the all pervasive government of the USSR – a government so effective that it totally destroyed the USSR. Or maybe you were thinking of the great fortune to befall some 40 million Chinese lucky winners in the Cultural Revolution.

          • glenn_nl

            Your ravings are becoming more incoherent by the day.

            Government is not always bad or always good, so picking a few examples of incompetent or lawless governments as representative of the entire concept of governance, is a simplification beyond parody.

        • Tony_0pmoc

          Loony,

          In 1963, I travelled to Paris. I was disgusted. Compared to even Oldham or Blackpool, I thought Paris, and much of France, was incredibly primative, especially their toilets…Their Tower was bigger, but so what? Blackpool Tower is Magnificent.

          Travelling to France in 1963 was like going to The Third World. In fact I much prefer travelling to India (thought admittedly their airports are the worst I Have ever found anywhere in the world)

          And Paris, unlike many English Towns and Cities, was not bombed to hell.

          You wrote “The UK is a busted flush – you are going to transit back to third world standards whether you like it or not or whether you want to or not.”

          Have you been to France recently?

          Have you noticed, all these extremely large numbers of people wanting to get the hell out of France and come to the UK?

          If the UK is such a Third World sh1thole, how come everyone wants to come here.

          Is it because we are so nice and friendly?

          Where do you live?

          Not the USA surely?

          Tony

          • Loony

            Everyone wants to come to the UK because if you are rich then the UK will not bother you for taxes, and will actively assist you to launder large amounts of money. If you are poor then the UK will provide you with benefits and a way of living which means that you do not face the same cost base as the natives.

            The UK also has a lot of low paid, unskilled jobs – ideal for Southern Europeans who have essentially been evicted from their homelands.

            There is something for everyone in the UK -slaves and slave owners alike are left largely unmolested by the authorities. No-one can be bothered to ascertain exactly how many slaves there are in the UK – but many 10’s of thousands is the best estimate.

            The British wont bother you if you fancy making a living out of shoplifting. They are quite relaxed about things like polygamy – but not so relaxed about bigamy.

            As for the French – who are these people looking to move to the UK? Surely not people seeking to evade French taxes knowing that the British will actively assist them. Surely not French criminals? Well who would know? Certainly not the British as they are too idle to be bothered to find out.

            Take a look at how Castro emptied all the prisons in Cuba and sent all Cuban criminals to the US. You really think that was a one off move.? Do you think Africans are so stupid that they cannot pull the same trick.

            Yeah everyone wants to come to the UK, and for the most part they couldn’t give a shit about the locals – they don’t care whether they are friendly or unfriendly.

            I am currently in the UK and as the British obviously don’t care about themselves why should I care about them?

          • Radar O’Reilly

            I’ve heard it said that UK is unique amongst nearby countries for having NO POPULATION REGISTER hence how come everyone wants to come here is because UK is a softer touch than the others? Perhaps the attempts to punitively make landlords/doctors into a virtual ‘register’ will stop the hundreds of millions of future migrant kids who dream of making good in UK. No chance, basically.

            On a recent trip to Lyon by bus I saw the French enhanced economic-migrant management plan develop into a street-fight. The serious war-officers entered the bus, checked everyone’s passport/ID, but then asked a few [obvious] passengers further detailed questions such as ‘what is your name’, ‘how old are you.’ 3 travelers , 2 of them female, erupted when they were unable to ‘remember’ the details on their stolen passports. Shocking violence briefly ensued against the French. The bus carried on eventually with the Schengen-legal passengers.

            The demonstrators in London today might be reassured when we eventually remain in the newest, weakest of Schengen protocol alignments – not EFTA[IS,LI,NO,CH], not EUcc[ME,MK,AL,RS,TR], neither EUpc[XK,BA], nor ENP-East[AM,AZ,BY,MD,GE,UA], nor ENP-South[!], but presumably the soon needed European Neighbourhood Policy ENP-North[UK or SCO/EN/NI/WA]

          • Andyoldlabour

            Tony, whilst I agree with you mostly, people wish to come here because they are given everything – more than people who were born here.
            They are given house/flats, food clothing, and they are often barred from doing any work for a while.
            What is there not too like?

        • bj

          rapidly growing populations and corruption and criminals.

          You are clearly frightened by this.
          Fear is not a good advisor.

          Keep your mind clean, be true to yourself.
          Try not to see problems, abusive situations and injustices as a collection of frightening symptoms, but try to get to the core and cause of them as much as you can.

          You are enraged about injustices.
          Savor that rage to work with others, including victims of injustices, towards solutions.

        • Paul Barbara

          @ Loony June 22, 2018 at 19:53
          ‘Thus Sayeth Zaranetanyahu’s sayanim’.
          Zarathustra, already!
          In Na*i Germany, the Germans on the whole claimed ignorance of what was being perpetrated in the Concentration/Death Camps. Now, certain commenters refuse to respond to what other commenters say about the War Criminal atrocities being meted out to Palestinian demonstrators in Gaza, while it is still ongoing.
          Hmmm……such a thing…..

  • Tatyana

    Good summer evening to everyone! I hope you missed me a little 🙂

    Last weekend I’ve visitted my sister in Moscow, long journey by car, about 1300 km, some 13-15 hours driving.
    You leave your house early in the morning and the whole way is ahead of you and you imagine visiting new places and meeting new people. The sun was slowly rising and I’ve met 2 big white birds crossing my way in the sky above the road. Good sign! I think they were herons, because of the smell of frogs from the window, I was crossing a bridge.
    Long way among the hills, when you see a lot of space from the top and just a narrow path at the bottom of your way. I imagined I’m a diesel-driven cyber snail, slowly making my way through the clear ocean and there are the routes on the surface of the ocean too, see what I got for you!
    https://www.instagram.com/p/BkVfCnrlU9T/
    At the gas-filling station “lukoil” a girl at the counter was learning english phrases! They learn to commumicate with foreigners during the World Cup 🙂

    Now I believe that the most important job in the world is – road construction. It is connecting people, whether you build a bridge, or bring cargo from point A to point B, or learn languages, or share your ideas at a forum 🙂
    Build roads, not walls.

    • Republicofscotland

      Tatyana.

      Nice to hear from you again, on the bridge thing, didn’t Putin open a new bridge recently between Russia and Crimea?

      • Tony_0pmoc

        Republicofscotland,

        Crimea has been a part of Russia, for at least most of the last few hundred years, if not very much longer.

        The people in Crimea speak Russian, think they are Russian, and have done for an exceedingly long time.

        They are much closer than us English to you Scottish…

        How’s your new Bridge going.

        I hope us English didn’t pay for it, but suspect that we did.

        They haven’t got a toll on it have they?

        When we go to Wales, we have got to pay to get there….yet we can come back for free, and so can the Welsh…but even they have to pay to go back to Wales.

        I reckon that is the reason, why South East England is one of the most densely populated places in the World.

        If you don’t believe me, try using the M25 car park. Once you get in, it takes many hours to escape.

        It’s often quicker walking.

        The lunatics in Westminster, want to make Heathrow Airport even bigger, by building a New runway

        Why not build it at Glasgow airport or Newcastle…or both.

        I’ve been to both of them, but much prefer the Geordies, probably because my Dad came from near there. The accent is slightly different in Stockton-on-Tees, but they are really friendly too.

        Tony

        • JOML

          Tony, the UK is in big debt. I strongly suspect the English tax payer paid fuck all for the award winning Queensferry Crossing. Funny that you mention the M25. Who paid for that, the English tax payer or the UK tax payer or revenue from the North Sea? ?

        • Rhys Jaggar

          Tony – you can get back into Wales happily on the A40, from which there are good roads down to Newport, Cardiff and Swansea.

          It is only if you insist on using the M4 that you have to pay.

        • Republicofscotland

          “Crimea has been a part of Russia, for at least most of the last few hundred years, if not very much longer.”

          Yes Tony, but I think the majority of the Crimea became the Autonomus Republic of Crimea under Ukraine until 2014. It was then annexed by Russia. Following a western orchestrated ousting of Ukranian president Viktor Yanukovych.

          • Tatyana

            Crimea was an independent republic during USSR and Sevastopol was a special status independent city, too. They have their own parliament. While it was in Ukraine, Russia paid good rent money for crimean seaport for russian fleet and everything was like peace and commerce.

            Since aout 2008 strange news appeared – ukrainians no longer see russians as brotherhood nation. Nationalism, suppressing russian language, discrimination – this type of news. My aunt (RIP) visited Ukraine and saw it with her oun eyes, young head-shaved men in military style clothes asking passengers at rus-ukr border : “can you speak Ukrainian? If no, you’d better return to Russia”.

            When Ukraine declared Russia is hostile country and they no longer want our joint projects (we had a lot of engineering, agricultural and military ones) the reaction here was like “hello?”
            When they declared they will not continue crimean seaport rent, the reaction was like “oh, my God!”
            But the last bit was open hatred with “moscowites must be hanged”, “ukraine above all”, “russians take your bags and go to russia”. This attitude is not tolerated, the reaction is like “who are you to tell me to go away from my land?”

            The fact is – ukrainian current government is not designed to keep all people of Ukraine together, not only russians, but hungarians too are not happy. All they want is land and resources, people and their opinions are neglected, do they think 2 millions of russians in Crimea are just a heard of slaves? They are talking of law broken by Crimean rejoining, I think it is a bad law. They bomb Donbass, they cut Crimea off fresh water and electricity. How do they think to return these territories to Ukraine? By writing another stupid law and just forcing live people follow it? Nonsence.

          • Tatyana

            Charls Bostick will definitely comment about my vast interests 🙂
            I live in Kuban region, it is part of Russia first populated with Ukrainian cossaks under Katerine the Great. My grandfa was cossak, so my far ancestors are ukrainians, I believe. I understand mova, because my both grannies spoke mixed russian-ukrainian dialect. I love ukrainian culture and Gogol is one of my favourite authors, he wrote colorful novels based on ukrainian folklore.

          • Charles Bostock

            How independent if fact were all those “independent republics” of the Soviet Union and the current Russian Federation?

            Although Scotland is not an independent country, I’d wager that it has, in practice, rather more “independence” than any of those “independent republics” of the USSR and Russian Federation.

            In the latter, the local crooks were entirely subservient to the Moscow crooks, their “Parliaments” notwithstanding.

          • Tatyana

            Charles, good evening, I missed you 🙂
            I think that independance in USSR was the same as of any country in the EU. They may have their own wishes and desires, but they have to follow EU politics, because of united economics, united military defence, united borders-free territory, united inner law.

          • oah

            Crimea was ‘given’ to Ukraine by Kruschev ( a Ukrainian himself) in 1954 in a drunken fit. For the rest of history it was Russian or part of the Soviet Union. The people voted reasonably fairly to rejoin Russia and that’s where it will stay!

          • Tatyana

            Oah, given or not given, drunk or not drunk – who cares? It was long ago and we didn’t see any rallies, so I suppose it is just doesn’t matter for population what is written in papers until they live in peace and have dignity life.
            Historic documents and legal papers – all these have any significance when a problem occures. Exactly what happened with new ukrainan government.
            It is like a divorce 🙂 you live with your woman and just enjoy your life, and suddenly she says you’re an evil man, and you family is hostile, and you’ve ruined her life, and she is going to another more handsome and rich man and you are still owe her your money and house 🙂
            And all the neighbours are agree you’re an evil man and you can’t take care of your children, because your marriage was not registered in church, so it is illegal and your kids are bastards.
            What I mean is – laws are written by humans for humans, it’s not a Holy Bible, we can make ammendments to reach peace.
            Those who say Crimea rejoining is illegal, do they propose any other option? What was the best correct and legal way in their opinion?

          • Andyoldlabour

            That is quite correct RoS, any other “story” is disingenuous to say the least.
            Our press are lying to us.

          • Paul Barbara

            @ Tatyana June 23, 2018 at 12:39
            The best way I can respond to your post(s) is ‘God bless’, I (for what it’s worth, or for what I’m worth!), agree with you.
            ‘The dogs bark, but the caravan moves on’. !A luta continua!

          • Iain Stewart

            “I think that independance in USSR was the same as of any country in the EU.”
            I do so enjoy your mirthful Russian jokes, Tatyana.

      • Tatyana

        Hi, Republic of proud Scotland! Hi, Tony!
        Yes, we opened the bridge, people’s desire was to name it The Crimean Bridge. It’s toll-free by now.
        I have no well grounded opinion on Crimean rejoining, but I feel it is rather OK. You know, it is russian region for about 200 years, populated with russian people. After USSR dissolved, Crimea decided to go by Ukraine and we all lived in peace for about 25 years, untill ukrainian change in government with the USA help. The people they put in power are not tolerated by russians.
        By the way, yesterday I’ve seen in the news that the Scottish parliament welcomed an Ukrainian official, ex-nazi. Some scottish parliamentary later commented, that he hopes to know in advance such type of info, to make decisions whom to welcome.

        • Tony_0pmoc

          Tatyana,

          I wish I could write Russian, as well as you can write and express yourself in English.

          Спасибо, Татьяна, поцелуй поцелуй

          Tony

          • Tatyana

            It’s ok, thank you all, I’m just having a vacation and thus rarely turn on my laptop 🙂

            My father keeps bees and we get fresh honey this time of the year.
            Berries are ready for picking in my mom’s garden.
            My son has school vacations and expects going to the cinema and parks.

            I’m happy to help with honey and cherries and cinema 🙂 Blessed summertime!

            My favourite song for summer mornings is –
            https://youtu.be/OhLOOdI23bE

            And for summer evenings – I hope you love blues, Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong
            https://youtu.be/lnXLVTi_m_M

      • Kerch'ee Kerch'ee Coup

        Kerch is the name of the bridge and its construction is a stroke/coup that firmly liks the Crimea to Russia and will bring down prices in the peninsula

    • Brianfujisan

      Thanks for the Wee Tour Tatyana..and as RoS say’s good to hear from you again..

      On another Note ..Stirling Council being a bunch of arseholes For the Big Banockburn March / Rally tomorrow .Dicks, I spent two hours today making sure My Palestine flag will fly higher on this March ( total Genius ) But Stirling council antics of Bias –

      The council say the route for AUOB Bannockburn will remain as it stands which is discriminatory towards the Independence movement and which puts our disabled supporters and others at a disadvantage.

      If you are unhappy with this then please call
      01786404040 to complain TODAY
      Or email the discriminators on:

      [email protected]

      Regardless AUOB and the Independence movement will march as one and in total unity regardless of the route, but the blatent discrimination that AUOB has had to face from Stirling council is beyond belief.
      So if you are, as we are, unhappy with the politcally biased ‘approved’ route then we request that you call and email the council today to let them know that we know what they are all about- politically biased against the Independence movement and in favour of the Orange order who they sanction main thoroughfare routes through Stirling year on year.
      We requested a route change some time ago but this has been denied on ficticous grounds that do not stand up to the arguments that we have put to them,

      • Tony_0pmoc

        Brian,

        I was brought up in ordinary Catholic schools in Oldham, though both my Mum and Dad, eventually went to posh boarding schools – my Dad at Dumfries (Catholic), My Mum various English, after the first world war, where she grew up in France as a peasant girl, with her Dad and grandmother (both of who’m came from Scotland)

        I have never got this Orange thing.

        I have never got nor understood the diference between Catholics and Protestants…O.K. – even in Oldham we did our marches – I was an altar boy…so far as I am aware, the protestants saved their marches for Oldham Carnival, which at the time was the biggest in the UK, and us Catholics – well we ran like hell, and climbed over the fence, because we didn’t have any money to pay to get in to Oldham park…but once there no one could tell the difference, and when you get older, and meet a girl, you are hardly going to ask her religion are you?

        Tony

        • Kerch'ee Kerch'ee Coup

          @Tony_Opmoc,
          No but you might just ask her name? Not many Benadettes in the Orange Order . The accent or school they go to just makes it certain(and has been enough for killing in the worst cases)

      • laguerre

        It’s a rather ridiculous article. A railway from Belgrade to Budapest is supposed to advance insidious Chinese interests? Pull the other one. It’s just a commercial operation by the Chinese.

    • Jo Dominich

      Tatyana, it is nice to see you back posting. Enjoying what looks like the lovely weather. Probably not enjoying the immensely long car ride to Moscow!

  • Sharp Ears

    Dozens of Palestinians injured by Israeli forces during protest at Gaza border (PHOTOS)
    Dozens of Palestinian protesters have been injured by Israeli forces gathered at the Gaza border for the Great Return March, according to the Ministry of Health.

    ‘Friday’s demonstration saw 206 cases of injury and gas asphyxiation, the Palestinian Health Ministry’s spokesman wrote on Twitter. Of those injuries, 44 were live bullet wounds.’

    ‘Israel has been condemned for using violent actions to quell the demonstrations, on one occasion calling on the Air Force to target a single Palestinian. In another incident, the military deployed tank fire against three Palestinians.

    Earlier this month, Human Rights Watch said it believes the deaths and injuries of Palestinians by Israeli soldiers may amount to war crimes. It is calling for a probe into the military’s behavior, and it believes that officials responsible should face trial and sanctions.’
    https://www.rt.com/news/430609-palestinians-injured-gaza-border/

    • Brianfujisan

      Don’t ya just hate it when Organizations like HRW say ” May have commited War Crimes ” MAY HAVE

      Anyway My Palestine Flag will Fly a Wee bit Higher at Banockburn tomorrow, ( thanks to my Ingenius Gesign )

      Was Sickend to see the Video of hateful crowd singing about the baby burned to death with parents in Settler arson attack…celebrating such a thing

  • Brianfujisan

    Ye Know, Just sometimes an Expliniaton would be nice.. was it mention of tool o the trade..truley baffled at my reply to Tony vanishing.

    • bj

      “Just sometimes an Expliniaton would be nice.”

      I agree.

      I see some of my comments removed and can’t for the life of me, in sickness and in health, see what could possibly be wrong in any way with them.

  • Tony_0pmoc

    Look it is quite simple.

    If you can’t learn or understand lesson number 101…re Geopolitical events (The Muslims didn’t do it, but they sure as hell want to now
    ) a bit like UNIX for Dummies – but when I got the job, knowing almost nothing about UNIX, the contracting staff -said – well you better start on this. In theory I was their boss, but I didn’t have a clue – I just faked it to get the job, but now I had it, I thought shit, I better learn UNIX pretty quick. I was a professionally certfified UNIX Professional in just over a year.

    The Muslims did not do 9/11

    If you can’t understand that, then you are not that bright.

    Tony

  • Tony_0pmoc

    When you go camping at festivals, there are various unwritten rules re how loud the music is and how loud the coversation is at 3:00 am in the morning…I have to admit, at the two camping festivals, we have so far been to this year, I have at both of them, played this rather loudly more than once. However no one complained..The only response I got was who’s that -Turn it Up.

    “The Heavy – How You Like Me Now? (Official Video)”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVzvRsl4rEM

    Tony

  • Isobel McAllister

    I agree with all you say, but I’m beginning to hae ma doots about Corbyn. The suit’s gone to his head.

    • Sharp Ears

      He sounds fine to me.

      Corbyn on trip to Jordan: Labour government would quickly recognize Palestine
      Ahead of visit to Palestinian refugee camp, Israel-bashing British opposition leader slams Trump moves on Jerusalem as a ‘catastrophic mistake’
      Today, 12:52 am

      ‘ZAATARI REFUGEE CAMP, Jordan — British opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn said Friday that a government under his leadership would recognize a Palestinian state “very early on” and push hard for a political solution to the Syrian civil war.

      Corbyn spoke during his first international trip outside Europe since he was elected Labour Party leader in 2015. On Friday, he toured Zaatari, Jordan’s largest camp for Syrian refugees. On Saturday, he is to visit a decades-old camp for Palestinians uprooted during Arab-Israeli wars.’

      Or if you would like an impartial report where he is not described as ‘Israel bashing’:

      Jeremy Corbyn calls for Syria peace talks to be merged ‘without preconditions.
      Jeremy Corbyn has called on Theresa May to ditch a “bomb first, talk later” approach to the Syrian conflict and merge two sets of peace talks …
      https://www.politicshome.com/news/uk/foreign-affairs/news/96236/jeremy-corbyn-calls-syria-peace-talks-be-merged-without.

      https://www.timesofisrael.com/corbyn-labour-government-would-quickly-recognize-palestine/

      • Charles Bostock

        “On Saturday, he is to visit a decades-old camp for Palestinians uprooted during Arab-Israeli wars.’”

        Just in case anyone thinks that that camp (“decades-old) has only been around since 1967 (or even more recently), it might be worth pointing out that it has existed since the 1948/49 war.

        As I have pointed out occasionally, the neighbourng Arab states have deliberately kept Palestinian refugees and leavers in such camps for political reasons, rather than absorbing them into their states. The fact that those neighbouring states refuse citizenship to Palestinans no matter how long they have lived is, by the way, another manifestation of that evil and destabilising political purpose.

        That is unarguable no matter for how long some Westerners remain in denial.

        • SA

          Why do those who already have lived in homes in the west for several centuries want to go and take over the land of Palestinians. Charles Bostock you are the master of diversion. Remember the original problem is that these people were made refugees by people of European descent. You want to solve the problem of the original expropriation of thier land by blaming the Arabs. The original problem is that these people were made homeless so do not practice your diversions here.

          • SA

            Like blaming the neighbors for not taking you in and not the squatters that have taken over your home.

        • Sharp Ears

          I see it took five hours for Bostock to come up with that twisted response.

        • Iain Stewart

          “As I have pointed out occasionally, the neighbourng Arab states have deliberately kept Palestinian refugees and leavers in such camps for political reasons, rather than absorbing them into their states.”
          I find that a very illuminating point which I would be interested to learn more about. The Palestinians would appear to have been manipulated and ill-treated by pretty well everyone in a position to do so for at least the last 70 years.

    • Anon1

      Twas ever thus. One of the reasons you really do not want a socialist in charge.

      • Doug Scorgie

        So Anon1 you are not a believer in democracy.

        Like some others on here you pay lip service to democracy but if a future election puts Jeremy Corbyn into No 10 you, your friends and the MSM will stop at nothing to bring his government down.

        Why not be honest and admit you hate democracy.

    • Sharp Ears

      Not flogging her book I see.

      ‘Clinton gave a speech at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, as she received a honorary degree from the institution Friday’

      What’s the matter with Trinity College?. No protests from the students? She is a war criminal like Bush, Blair and Obama.

      A different report. ‘Protests

      The award of the degree came against the backdrop of two protests outside the college against Clinton receiving the honour. Councillor Éilis Ryan of The Workers’ Party said that Clinton’s role in “promoting war should be reason enough to deny her this honour”.

      “She advocated a war in Iraq which cost half a million lives**, led the bombing of Libya which left a chaotic vacuum behind that has been filled by a return to human slavery, and promoted and facilitated a coup in Honduras which led to the murder of many progressive, female political activists.”

      The Irish Anti-War Movement also held a protest with TCD Students for Justice in Palestine.’

      ‘Warmongers not welcome’: Hillary Clinton heckled as she’s given honorary doctorate by Trinity College
      http://www.thejournal.ie/hillary-clinton-5-4085954-Jun2018/

      For her ‘contribution to society’. ‘We came. We saw. He died. Ha Ha Ha’. Evil creature.

      ** and the rest.

        • Sharp Ears

          Once Sanders had been disposed of, the Americans had no choice. There should have been a mass abstention.

          • Anon1

            Bernie “no refunds” Sanders? LOL He capitulated for Clinton knowing she’d screwed him over. Still, he got a lot of nice property out if it.

          • Paul Barbara

            @ Anon1 June 23, 2018 at 10:42
            I don’t understand your reference to ‘no refunds’, or ‘he got a lot of nice property out of it’ – any links?
            By the way, I suppose a possible reason you haven’t commented on Sharp Ears June 22, 2018 at 09:21 comment:
            ‘This is unbearable and almost unreadable. Such hate in their hearts.

            ‘Ali is on the grill!’ Israeli settlers celebrate burning of Palestinian baby
            June 21, 2018
            http://mondoweiss.net/2018/06/settlers-celebrate-palestinian/
            is perhaps that you hadn’t noticed it; so I’ve reproduced it. A few others, like Charles Bostock, also appear to have missed it.

          • glenn_nl

            Excellent point, S.E. And one far too obvious and true for the likes of Anon1 to understand. One doesn’t have to be a fan of Clinton to prefer her to Trump.

            *

            Paul – odd they haven’t noticed that, nor have the Israel apologists found time to comment on the use of “Butterfly bullets”, which cause extreme injury if not death, and have been used against unarmed protesters :

            https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/palestinians-face-explosive-bullets-dangerous-gas-bombs-180501091514736.html

            I wonder what they would say if Venezuela’s government were using them on protesters. Or the government of any country they don’t like, for that matter. Utter hypocrites.

          • Paul Barbara

            @ glenn_nl June 23, 2018 at 13:06
            Thanks for your response to my comment. Pity some decent IDF guy/gal (many have refused to serve, or resigned) doesn’t whistleblow orders or samples of bullets for international examination. They may just be ‘self-altered’ bullets (cutting a cross in the bullet tip), but that would be surprising given the numbers involved. But the wounds should be proof enough if examined by experts.

            However, re ‘One doesn’t have to be a fan of Clinton to prefer her to Trump’, I believe you are misunderstanding SE’s comment. I believe it meant that they believed Trump was the lesser of two evils, but that SE would have preferred mass abstention.
            Sanders is certainly no saint, but he’s miles better than either of the other two.
            What I believe he should have done was take up Jill Stein’s offer to stand down and let him campaign under the Green banner. I don’t believe he even had the courtesy to reply to her offer.

          • joeblogs

            Sharp:
            One of your best comments yet – but, they should still turn up at their polling station (or whatever they call it in the US) on election day, and, in full view of the world’s press and TV cameras, light a match and burn their voting cards. Publicly boycotting this sham ‘democracy’, and all the warmongering spawned in it’s name.

      • Paul Barbara

        @ Sharp Ears June 23, 2018 at 09:10
        Useful breakdown of UK Universities re Freedom of Speech:
        ‘Free Speech University Rankings’: http://www.spiked-online.com/free-speech-university-rankings#.Wy2G3BwnbVM

        ‘..The Free Speech University Rankings (FSUR) is back. spiked’s groundbreaking analysis of free speech in the UK academy has published its fourth annual report, and it shows that campus censorship isn’t going away. Our survey, ranking 115 UK universities using our traffic-light system, shows that 54 per cent of universities now actively censor speech, 40 per cent stifle speech through excessive regulation, and just six per cent are truly free, open places….’

        And getting worse!
        I could think of other issues to have brought out at anti-Clinton protests! But good on those who did protest.
        Universities are almost all now firmly under the thumb of the Corporations, Banksters and Establishment.

        When Mark Purdey approached the University he had graduated from to set up a University Section which would be totally funded by a multimillionaire, he was peremptorily told ‘never to content them again’. Half a dozen others also refused his offer, and the Open University said it was ‘too political’. The unit he wanted to set up was to investigate and study the ‘Mad Cow Disease’.
        Here is an interview with him (as it happens, filmed by an acquaintance of mine) before he died of (I very seriously suspect) ‘contracted’ brain disease. He also wrote an excellent book, ‘Animal Pharm: One Man’s Struggle to Discover the Truth About Mad Cow Disease and Variant CJD’, which I highly recommend. He died before he could finish it, but it was completed by his brother (like Penny Lernoux, who died, again, of ‘contracted’ rapid-spread cancer, before she could finish her book ‘Hearts on Fire: Story of the Maryknoll Sisters’, which was completed by a Maryknoll sister who was a close friend of hers. She wrote books very critical of the US’s Latin America policies, and of the Vatican support of these same policies. Her best known book was probably ‘Cry of the People: The Struggle For Human Rights in Latin America – the Catholic Church in Conflict with U.S. Policy’ (which was my introduction to her list of brilliant expose’s).
        ‘What causes BSE, CJD & MS? Organic Farmer Mark Purdey on Organophosphates (2001)’:
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MheeiX2w8JU

        Universities get a good deal of money from government and corporate ‘contracts’, and they don’t want these to dry up due to embarrassing non politically correct studies exposing lies and dangerous policies by governments or dangerous products sold by corporations.

  • Sharp Ears

    The media, including the BBC, is still eulogizing Anthony Bourdain, the US celebrity chef who committed suicide in France on 8th June..

    viz on the BBC’s US & Canada front page
    Anthony Bourdain: Chef’s mother plans memorial tattoo
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-44584952

    Having just read this on Dissident Voice, one can only feel great disgust at his cruelty to animals. A sicko.

    Eulogizing Anthony Bourdain
    by Anteneh Roba / June 22nd, 2018
    https://dissidentvoice.org/2018/06/eulogizing-anthony-bourdain/

    ‘Bourdain once chewed on the head of a live octopus while it thrashed and struggled to get away from him. Mr. Bourdain was trying to eat his/her brain, thus killing the defenseless animal in a cruel act of torture. While with a fellow chef, who stuck his hands up a duck’s inside and ripped out the bird’s intestine, he once said “this gives them their fresh taste.” On another occasion, Bourdain sliced open the throat of a live goat and then proceeded to drink the goat’s blood, He participated in cutting out the beating heart of a live snake. One time, he was filmed shooting a deer and stated that he could do this all day. In another video Bourdain is heard saying: “first you have to kill these things and collect their blood;” soon after, someone smeared his face with the blood of a newly killed deer, while laughing. Here, one can view footage of Bourdain stabbing a tied-up, screaming pig:

    Most of these cruel and unnecessary actions were filmed live.’

  • Philip Maughan

    I’m English but have lived over half my life in Scotland (nearly 40 years). While echoing much of what you say, I also find the constant diet of Anglocentricity, from the BBC in particular, very tiresome. Just this morning I was told that the weather is set to be scorchio – except perhaps the North of Scotland. The presenters on BBC Breakfast then chimed in with what great weather we are ‘all’ in for. Meanwhile there is wall to wall coverage of Engerland’s World Cup exploits – particularly irritating to those of us who just are’nt that interested. Finally up popped Nick Eardley, our ‘Westminster’ correspondent, which really sums up what the UK is all about. Scotland, as with other non-English parts of the UK appears to be merely a hot-house for up and coming talent, which is then head hunted down to London. I’ve just read ‘The Quiet American’ which I believe you recommended in an earlier post. Even the main character Thomas Fowler speaks about England, when he really means Britain and so it goes on, constantly. I firmly believe that only with independence will we gain a sense of our own worth.

    • Anon1

      40 years is more than enough time to pick up the Scottish grievance culture and you appear to have taken to it like a duck to water. The forecast always starts with Scotland and usually some remote part where no one lives because it is hardwired into the BBC these days to give equal focus to the “reejuns”. Fact is most of us are getting a heatwave and that is of more interest than drizzle in the highlands. Likewise England are in the World Cup but, I’m afraid, Scotland just aren’t there, meaning there isn t much interest in Scotland’s progression. Sorry.

      • JOML

        Anon1, I think the point is that you’d be pretty pissed off if England hadn’t qualified and your TV was full of clips about the French team, supplemented by the weather from France. Can you see another’s perspective! ?

        • Anon1

          Yes I would be pissed off because France isn’t part of Britain. If England hadn’t qualified but Scotland had and my TV was full of clips about the Scotland team then I wouldn’t be pissed off in the slightest.

          • JOML

            Yes, but when Scotland qualified in ‘74 & ‘78, the presenters and panelist’s were mainly English, with prominence given to the English perspective, despite their team failing to qualify. So, Anon1, your TV will never be dominated by another country’s perspective. Can you not see why people in Scotland are fed up with the English perspective? I suspect not.

          • JOML

            MJ, doesn’t change the fact that Scotland is subjected to broadcasting from a neighbouring country’s perspective. For example, Glasgow hosted the 2014 Commonwealth Games, while England hosted the TV coverage.

          • MJ

            The belief that England is a neighbouring country, rather than part of the same country, is clearly a minority view.

          • JOML

            Odd then, MJ, that they compete as separate countries at the Commonwealth Games.

          • Charles Bostock

            JOML

            Yes, very odd.

            Almost as odd as the fact that Ukraine and Bielorussia did not field separate teams for the Olympic Games (despite having individual votes in the UN)

    • Doug Scorgie

      An Italian tutor once told me that most Europeans think that Scotland is in the north of England.

      • Iain Stewart

        Your Italian tutor must have been a busy man interviewing all those Europeans, (perhaps in their native tongues). In my more limited experience, those who live in small countries tend to be perfectly familiar with the existance of Scotland. Whereas the inhabitants of large countries (France for example) “know” or have been taught that Scotland is part of England, which is for them the real name of the UK and has more historical resonance. A fair proportion of the English believe the same thing, and that Scotland was “absorbed” by Anglo-Britain in the manner of a small river into a big river.

  • Vivian O'Blivion

    More ultimately self defeating insanity from that beacon of democracy in the Middle East. “Public Security” minister Gilad Erdan says kids flying burning kites from Gaza should be shot. “Justice” minister Ayelet Shaked says “age doesn’t matter, they’re terrorists”.

    https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/we-may-have-no-choice-but-to-launch-gaza-op-minister-says-1.6197619

    In the Kafkaesque world of Tel Aviv an army is a “Defence Force” and a “Justice” minister and “Public Security” minister advocate the murder of children for flying a kite that maybe, at a push, might set a field of crops on fire.

    • Charles Bostock

      But why are “children” (I myself would, based on the photos, use the words “teenagers and young men”) attempting to send burning kites into the territory of a neighbouring state? What is the objective?

  • Trowbridge H. Ford

    Interestoing to note that the West so hates Serbia over Kossvo that it joins the Swiss in gloating over its win by supporting bad sportsmanship in the victory when the bad refereeing gave it to them.

    This is just the kindd of football I despise.

  • Paul Barbara

    ‘Gang raped and set on fire: ICC pushes to investigate Myanmar Rohingya atrocities’:
    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jun/23/myanmar-icc-pushes-to-investigate-rohingya-atrocities-rape-fire?

    I believe it was giyane who believed the Rohingya business was hyped up, and caused by Saudi interference, with their Jihadis sent in to stir the pot.
    Whilst I agree it may well be true that these Jihadis may well play a part, I believe the basic problem is the brutality of the Burmese/Myanmar Armed Forces against minorities, and any opposition.
    This was apparent years before the US started using Jihadis as a proxy force (against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan).
    I know Human Rights groups are all too often infiltrated and even taken over by the CIA etc these days, but the reports coming out, such as the one I have linked to above, seem to me to ring true (unlike the horror stories these same groups pour out about Assad).

    • Kerch'ee Kerch'ee Coup

      As you,Paul, point out the Burmese army,despite the shame and reluctance felt by many conscripts, for man y years employed annihilation tactics against most of the ethnic minorities that made up the original’Federation’.I have heard many stories of their brutality.A certain Middle- Eastern country competing in Eurovision has long been a supplier of military hardware.
      Britain also bears no little responsibility for the encouragement originally given to groups such as the Karen to fight against the Japanese and the then puppet Burmese with the implied promise’ of freedom and autonomous rule.
      Although things have improved somewhat with the present tie-ups between senior military and Chinese interests that merely steal land , mineral wealth and lumber,the Rohingya seem to have suffered the same treatment over the past few years.Indeed anyone wanting to be a refugee in Bangladesh would have to be desperate.

    • Kempe

      Yes it’s been quite obvious for some time that the likes of Amnesty and HRW are extensions of the CIA when they dare to be critical of Putin or Assad but a 100% independent reliable source when Israel or the US are involved.

      The current round of oppression against the Rohingya can be traced back to 2012, sure, they’ve not been entirely passive but they’ve been subjected to a campaign of rape, murder and expulsion by government forces that makes the Israeli action in Palestine appear amateurish by comparison. During all this the left in the western world have been almost silent. Why? Because during her lengthy house arrest they made a heroine out of the current leader of Myanmar and can’t admit they backed a “wrong ‘un”.

  • N_

    Is Lloyds Bank about to go bust or get clamped? Or is a lot of the money in accounts about to get half-inched? There are a several reports of clients being unable to log in to their accounts, right now.

    • MJ

      I was able to log in and my overdraft is safe. Unfortunately however my credit card balance has been set to zero.

  • N_

    A report on a huge fraud perpetrated by Lloyds Bank got leaked a few days ago by Neil Mitchell.

  • N_

    It took me a while to find the report that Neil Mitchell leaked. You can download it from here:

    http://www.eamonnblaney.com/project-lord-turnbull-operation-hornet/.

    Lloyds Bank covered up a £40bn “hole in their finances”.

    The report is four years old, but it was leaked earlier this week. Senior Lloyds officials and their flunkeys on the All Party Parliamentary Group on Fair Business Banking don’t seem to like this one bit. Well, except for those who’ll steal more billions when Lloyds goes down, Kaupthing style.

  • N_

    @Anon 1 – “The forecast always starts with Scotland and usually some remote part where no one lives because it is hardwired into the BBC these days to give equal focus to the ‘reejuns’.

    Not to “Lunnduhn” then?
    ^ That’s how your rhetorical device looks.

    If you don’t like what’s coming out of your TV set, switch it off.

    • Anon1

      “If you don’t like what’s coming out of your TV set, switch it off.”

      That was rather my point. Or more precisely for JOML, vote for your independence.

    • Kerch'ee Kerch'ee Coup

      I only listen to the shipping forecast. Just enjoy the clockwise tour of these islands and gives a better idea of conditions an what’s looming. Mind youmy string of seaweed does just as well

  • Sharp Ears

    Stories that Shaped the World

    I came upon this interesting discussion on the BBC News Channel, from the Hay Literary Festival. Clemency Burton-Hill (daughter of the late Humphrey Burton) is speaking with Kamila Shamsie, Colm Toibin and Sarah Churchwell.

    A few minutes in the list of stories that were nominated internationally is shown.
    They are listed here.
    http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20180521-the-top-10-stories-that-shaped-the-world

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/live/bbcnews 13.34 for 25 minutes. 23.6.2018.
    __

    Some years back, I used to attend concerts given at Kings Place in the concert hall under the Guardian offices near Kings Cross.. Clemency Burton-Hill set up a charity which brought young Palestinian musicians over to this country to perform. They were excellent.

    ‘Getting involved in international humanitarian issues has led Clemency Burton-Hill to work primarily in the Middle East and Africa for various causes. She has been an active member of the Choir of London and their work in the West Bank and Occupied Palestinian Territories since 2004. She has worked on music and education projects in South Africa, Rwanda, Kenya and Sierra Leone. She is a Trustee of the charity Dramatic Need, which enables volunteers from the arts to work in impoverished rural communities in Africa. Since 2009 she has been involved with The Amnesty International Media Awards and is also on the advisory board of the organisation Index on Censorship.’ https://thespeakersagency.com/speaker/clemency-burton-hill/

  • Republicofscotland

    As the PM Theresa May comes under pressure as to why she did not attend the British Irish Council summit.

    Two Welsh MP’s received a email from Sajid Javid, explaining how they could apply for settled status in the UK after Brexit.

    Labour MP Jo Stevens and her colleague Carolyn Harris, asked is it because were are Welsh?

  • Republicofscotland

    Well Jacob Rees-Mogg, actually said that June 23rd 2016, will be remembered as a moment of change in British history, as big as the Great Reform act of 1832, or the Glorious Revolution of 1688, or the victory at Waterloo in 1815.

    However especially with regards to Waterloo, if I recall correctly von Blücher, a foreigner (German born in Rostock) played a significant roll in the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo.

    I’m sure Mr Rees-Mogg’s omission on the matter, is an accidental one.

  • Republicofscotland

    Victoria Atkins, a minister in the Home Office has said criminals should have council houses taken away from their families to deter them from crime.

    Why am I not surprised a Tory minister is advocating collective punishment. They’re an absolute disgrace, from the Bedroom tax, to Universal Credit, to outright xenophobia, and countless other heartless policies and comments the British government, are always thinking of ways to hurt people, and line their own pockets.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2018/06/22/taking-council-homes-criminals-families-will-help-cut-offending/amp/?utm_campaign=Echobox&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter&__twitter_impression=true

    • Jo Dominich

      RoS – They are not just everything you say in your post – but they are also very selective about who the call criminals. So exactly which type of criminal are they targetting?

  • Charles Bostock

    French transport infrastructure – including, of course, road infrastructure – is much vaunted and often cited as much superior to that of the UK.

    It is curious, therefore, that French road traffic deaths are twice those in the UK…..although the populations are similar.

    • glenn_nl

      An interesting question, certainly. It might be something to do with the density of traffic. Deaths in urban and particularly country areas through road accidents are much higher than in the cities, simply because vehicles travel a lot slower in built up areas. One is lucky to get up to a dangerous speed on the M25 at any time of day or night, but it is quite possible to seriously test your motorbike’s engine on the western-most parts of the M4, for example.

    • Republicofscotland

      Charles.

      Haussmann’s renovation of Paris was a great idea backed by Napoleon III, and even though Napoleon eventually turned against Haussmann, whilst he also had to deal with stiff opposition to the renovation. We can see that it was certainly worth it, even with the great upheaval that Parisians had to endure.

      Reflecting on your point though, I’d say that the French are more rash and hot headed on the roads, than British drivers. I wonder what the figutres are for the Italians, who are also volatile in nature.

      I’d add that British roads signage etc, are in my opinion very good. Though madcap drivers do exist up and down the British isles, who flaunt the laws without concern for other road users.

    • Iain Stewart

      At least things have improved a little since the French record of 16 545 road deaths in 1972.

      • Kerch'ee Kerch'ee Coup

        A flea-bite compared to China’s current 500 or more a day,some 240,000 traffuc deaths a year.I believe UK road deaths peaked in the early 1930s before the introduction of driving tests and Belisha beacons.When you gets lots of inexperienced and newly rich drivers taking the wheel, traffic deaths typically surge.

  • shugsrug

    OT but Trump is really making a mockery of us all.
    How a man who is too stupid to realise he is stupid, can come with policies that are not really his, and then explain them as some messianic sort of deliverance for Americans is obtuse. Only recently, last century, another monster did much the same. Kept blaming everything on someone else, kept telling the same old story that even Churchill thought he might be on the right track. So the USA and the lied to seem to be going the same way. Even some people on here think he is a marvel.
    Is Hilary better, maybe not, but I’m not certain that she is a nazi: I am in no doubt however that T is an evolutionary humanist, and if you think that is good, somebody needs to help us.

    • Jo Dominich

      Shugsrug, he really is. However, my view is his making a mockery of himself and the USA and leading the USA down a disastrous path internationally and internally. I am waiting for him to pull the USA out of NATO and other international forums. It will come. I think the Trade war against China is seriously going to backfire on him as well – he hasn’t thought it through at all – but it is going to prove to be costly and seriously damaging to the US economy. Fascists such as Trump, Bibi and the Presidents of Hungary and Poland, are on the brink of taking one step too far into extreme right wing fascism – there will be consequences to them sooner rather than later.

  • Anon1

    I thought the kraut was out, the hun was done. The Russians knew that you can’t give Fritz the chance to rear his ugly head. You must hold him down and drive him all the way back to Berlin.

  • Anon1

    Kites can be dangerous, especially in the hands of Muslim children. In the final year of the (now banned) Pakistani kite flying festival of ‘Basant’, 11 people were killed and hundreds injured by the graceful but lethal aerial killers. Known as combat kite flying, the aim is ostensibly to bring down your enemy’s kite by fitting yours with an array of weapons, including glass and razor wire. What resulted were horrific injuries to contestants, electrocutions and even garroting of passing motorcyclists. Some 700 illegal firearms were also seized during the event.

    Now obviously what the Israeli minister said was pretty extreme, but make no mistake these combat kites are fitted with all manner of weaponry designed to kill and maim.

      • Anon1

        Yes it’s incredibly stupid to attack heavily armed troops with primitive weapons, but you have to wonder about the parents. Are they merely failing to prevent their children going out and potentially getting shot or are they encouraging them?

        • Kerch'ee Kerch'ee Coup

          @Anon1
          Thee parents of that kid who used a slingshot against Goliath should really have known better

    • bj

      say Onan1, how many Israeli’s have actually been killed, or — forget that — have actually been maimed, as you say, over, take the past two or three months?

      Don’t break your delicate Kopf — just a ballpark figure will do.

      Not a rhetorical question, I expect you to come back with an answer.

      • Anon1

        Not many. It’s almost impossible these days for Gazans to launch any serious attack on Israeli forces, hence the stupid kite idea. Whatever will they try next? Attaching bombs to homing pigeons? Time to give up, go home. Stop sending your children to die in order to make headlines in Europe.

  • Anon1

    We all love an underdog but isn’t it all over for the Palestinians, realistically speaking? They always had the butress of the Arab states to fall back on but even they seem to have deserted them now, preferring to accept and make peace with an Israel they can never hope to defeat militarily and concentrate on an alliance against Iran. The Palestinians really are all on their own now. There wont be any two state solution. Their only choice is to be absorbed into an Israeli state with full citizen rights.

    What is the point of all this bloodshed? They’re waging a rubber tyre and kite jihad against a nuclear armed state. I mean just give up for fucks sake. It’s over. Their last remaining hope is the sympathy vote in Europe – the propaganda war – which is why they keep sending their young to be killed by the Israelis. But we’re all sick of it. Trump is going to come along any day now and offer them a shit deal and they’re going to have to take it.

    • bj

      They’re winning the propaganda war, while Israel (cap in hand notwithstanding) is losing the game against Iran.
      Yes the times, they are a changing. ♫

      • Anon1

        You are seriously deluded, bj. It’s never been worse for the Palestinians. And it’s not going to get any better. They should seriously consider cutting a deal while they still can.

        • bj

          It is Israel that better seriously consider cutting a deal while they still can.

          Daddy greenback isn’t going to be around much longer in any significant way.
          After all, we’re talking in the longer term than the short acting life of the corrupt clown Netanyahu.

          But not that long. The empire is losing, i.e. dying in impotence.

          And so there you are.
          Surrounded by all these Arab countries.
          Israel’s only alternative is to wish for a massive Arab amnesia.

          • Anon1

            US military aid to Israel is about $3.8 billion per year.

            Israel’s defence spending is around $22 billion per year.

            It’s really not over for Israel even in the unlikely event the US were to withdraw all its military aid to Israel.

          • bj

            You see, you’re only taking about ‘defense’, and its intimidations.

            I was talking about trust and peace.

          • Jo Dominich

            BJ you are right. I recall that Yasser Arafat made quite significant concessions in the peace talks – the Israelis though, never changed anything hence they broke down. It is Israel who do not want peace and never have. Israel just want the complete destruction and annihilation of the Palestinian Nation – no more no less. So, there is no deal to be cut Anon1 – at least not one in which the Palestinians will survive.

    • lysias

      The Israelis won’t give the Palestinians full citizen rights. They are determined to maintain the Jewish state status of Israel. So the Palestinians within Israel proper, while citizens on paper, are very much second-class citizens, and the Palestinians in the Occupied Territories will never be allowed to become citizens of Israel. If they were allowed, there would very soon be a Palestinian majority within such an expanded Israel.

      • SA

        Lydia’s
        Anon 1is either being deliberately naive or just plain ignorant if he believes that the only ‘democracy in the ME ‘ would like so many Palestinians to become active voting participants in this selective democracy.

    • Sharp Ears

      I didn’t know that Anon 1 was also an advocate for Zionist Israel as well as a racist.

        • Anon1

          No the two that most often go together on here are obsession with Israel and anti-Semitism . Just ask Sharp Ears.

          • bj

            I was beginning to wonder already when you were going to play the anti-semitism card.

            Isn’t it devinely convenient they are “the two that most often together”?

      • Anon1

        “He also hates the environment, likes cruelty to animals”

        Oh dear you really have no idea. I’ve literally just finished a 5 hour voluntary shift that i do every Sunday as a warden at a local nature reserve, log on here and told I’m cruel to animals and hate the environment. Pitiful. Absolutely pitiful Glenn. You’ve got to stop making things up about me.

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