The problem is you and the rest of the clique do not allow political posts which do not conform to your narrow viewpoints. You only have to look at the insults brb was subjected to last week by daring to disagree. There are many previous occasions where posters have been put off by the bullying tactics of several regulars that are hell bent on dictating all discussions. The forum is much poorer as a result. One of the worse insults recently was by you, aimed at another poster. You really are a hypocritical bore.[/QUOTE] We are all boring old hypocrits of course - we are a bunch of old men (who were doing knees up mother brown on the Rookery all those years ago - and who are miffed that they can't still do that, so it doesn't take much to irritate us). We are (mostly) old men trying to keep the brain cells active holding virtual debates with people we have never met and probably never will do - all in all, nothing to get up tight about. The UK does not give a huge amount to the EH. The GDP of the UK. is around 16% of the EU. total yet it contributes around 12% of the EU. budget. Britain has been paying 'too little' for too long.
As I said before, there is no clique on here, just a bunch of people who have taken the trouble to read available information, and come to conclusions. It is far more interesting to read those conclusions than the same old stuff that political parties or newspapers spew out, especially when you take into account the different backgrounds and political views that the people here have. To come out with the discredited line on the bus message is hardly ingenious. That line has been discredited by all and sundry. When you see Brexit supporting papers starting to be gently critical of the government, you know that they are trying to re-position themselves without it being too obvious, and that times are changing. The idea of debate is to put forward views of your own, not those of a party leaflet.
The problem is you and the rest of the clique do not allow political posts which do not conform to your narrow viewpoints. You only have to look at the insults brb was subjected to last week by daring to disagree. There are many previous occasions where posters have been put off by the bullying tactics of several regulars that are hell bent on dictating all discussions. The forum is much poorer as a result. One of the worse insults recently was by you, aimed at another poster. You really are a hypocritical bore.[/QUOTE] Well I would rather be me with a mind of my own than spout some party line rhetoric... Seeking to position myself as some 'expert' in all things political. Get your own opinion.. Free your thinking..
Just read about one of the few, perhaps even only, benefits of Brexit - Nigel Garage is facing a five year jail sentence for lying on his German passport application, lodged the day after the referendum. Hard Brexit may hold a new meaning for him...
It was a link on Twitter that I clicked - and, Twitter being Twitter, I now can't find the original tweet...
It is not a new rumour. At the end of last year it surfaced and was said to be an ongoing case. You can read about it here. How much truth there is in it is hard to say. https://skwawkbox.org/2016/12/30/pr...ip-and-hes-under-police-investigation-for-it/
You know this is humbug. w-y was probably first to identify the clique at work. Apart from my attempts to balance things up a bit nearly 100% of posts are either anti brexit or against the UK's chosen government. Leo previously called for a more balanced debate but anyone daring to oppose the narrow views expressed by the dominant group are immediately exposed to abuse and insults. I have had several PM's from posters offering moral support but wondering why I bother facing regular insults. The clique have reduced this supposedly open forum to something Putin would undoubtably have approved of.
Can we put an end to this paranoia ? To suggest that we have a left wing clique on here = a clique against Brexit is ludicrous because the issue of Brexit was never a straightforward left vs. right issue. If you remember back the Labour Manifesto of Michael Foot wanted to leave the EEC. whereas Thatcher wanted to stay in. Both Arthur Scargill and George Galloway were Brexiters and, my feeling is, that Corbyn is also a sleeping Brexiter. In reality a future Labour programme involving heavy nationalization of key industries such as energy and the railways could have been difficult in the context of the EU. Even on here it was not a straight left vs. right issue - Hornette is normally a Labour supporter but wanted Brexit, just as Aberdeen (normally right wing) wanted to remain. I can also imagine conditions under which I would support a certain type of Brexit (but those conditions are very different from yours SH.) The majority of posters on here are probably to the left of what you regard as the middle SH. This is coincidence - other boards have a different slant. But we accept all views as long as they are not personally abusive, or of a racist nature. Maybe we should simply establish a list of rules which we can all refer to in future.
You really should ask yourself why there are so few posts supporting brexit or politics to the right of centre. The few posters that have dared post ideas outside of the narrow band of 'permitted views' have simply given up and left the forum due to insults. Carry on telling each other within the clique how wonderful you are.
You would be surprised at what I get in the way of PMs. There is no way that in an open forum, which unlike others is very tolerant of posters, you can tell people what comments they wish to make. If posters choose to be anti Brexit and anti government, what is to happen? Are they supposed to change their views so that you get some help?
None of the clique have attempted or managed to explain why the prevalent views of the UK electorate on politics and brexit have not been expressed by many posters on this forum over the last couple of years. Several that have tried, including many that have left, have blamed abuse from anti-brexiteers and extreme left wingers. I would never want to tell people how to think, equally I expect views different from the controlling clique to also be tolerated.
There is nobody on this forum who has dished out more abuse than you have during your time on here - and that is the only - and I repeat THE ONLY reason why you occasionally get the same back. When you are not insulting then you are needling hoping for a response for someone, or trying to belittle others in some way - this has nothing to do with your political ideas. Start to debate like an adult and we will treat you like one and debate back in the same manner.
Nonsense Only last week brb, a long term poster was subjected to insults, called paranoid and pathetic, by you I believe, because he supported Brexit. You really should remember when you are dishing out insults to all and sundry. I'm still waiting for an explanation for the strange extreme bias of views on this board.
His text was referred to as paranoid and pathetic - not him....I referred to it in this way because it compared the European flag to the Swastika and I have no reason to go back on that.
I wouldn't say he is a 'sleeping' Brexiteer - he most definitely in favour of it. He has angered many of the remaining Scottish Labour voters by saying so, many of whom at the very least wanted Scotland to remain in the single market. Of course, the upside of that is that many of those have swapped from No to Yes on the issue of Independence.
You really just don't get it SH. brb is one of the people who help to keep the site running, so yes he has been around a long time and unlikely to take himself off anytime soon. I was having a discussion with him in a perfectly reasonable way, and although I disagree with him we didn't try to wind each other up. He agreed that I made some fair points, and he also admitted that he said things that were designed to deliberately wind people up. His view of Brexit is not even the same as yours, something that only became clear as he enlarged on his views. Why doesn't this forum represent the views of the nation you ask. Maybe it is because it is limited to some extent by the fact that firstly it is about a football club, and is not therefore going to get many visitors from some parts of the country. One forum that I know bars comment on anything that is not WFC. You have people here who want to be here, they come and go, but compared to some sites it does keep going. Debate gives people a chance to say what they want about subjects and why they believe in one side or other of the topic. It is far too easy at present to see the debate going on within the government about how to get out of the mess they are currently in, and it must be difficult for those who don't know how that debate will work out. The PM like you thought that she knew what the country was thinking when she called the election, but my how wrong she was.
You are not making sense. Firstly you state brb didn't try to wind you up then you claimed he admitted that he deliberately wound people up. duh!! Even if this was true did he deserve to be insulted? Despite your waffle you still have not explained why the overwhelming posts are anti brexit and anti UK government. Several posters have given the reason, i.e. bullying. I'm still waiting for an alternative explanation that makes sense.