No offence mate. I'm really not that arsed about anti semitism in labour or islamaphobia in the Tories or smoking green in the Green party
Anti Semitism is defined as being hostile actions or discrimination against Jews as a religious or ethnic group. Can anyone give me a concrete example of something which comes under this description coming from the Labour Party ?
Ambassador JohnsonVerified account@USAmbUK 4h4 hours ago More Ambassador Johnson Retweeted Dr Liam Fox MP Teams from the U.S. & UK are working hard laying the groundwork for a future free trade agreement. Our aim? To boost jobs and prosperity on both sides of the Atlantic
I see Andrew Neil gave BoJo and Hunt a proper grilling, perhaps he should have negotiated Brexit instead of the half-wits that did...
christianophobia The global persecution of Christians Most persecuted believers are Christian, but their plight has been ignored. please log in to view this image Paul Coleman 12th July 2019 This week, the UK foreign secretary and Tory leadership contender Jeremy Hunt suggested that a new term equivalent to ‘Islamophobia’ might be needed to describe the scale of global Christian persecution outlined in a newly released report. The report into UK responses to Christian persecution concludes that ‘the overwhelming majority (estimated at 80 per cent) of persecuted religious believers [worldwide] are Christians’, and that the UK has failed to respond adequately. Hunt has promised to act on the findings, and has pledged to enact the report’s recommendations if he becomes prime minister. Hunt’s desire to address the issue head-on is welcome. But the reality that the report exposes is that one of the biggest human-rights issues of our time has been largely ignored by his own department in recent years. The scale of the persecution noted is staggering. In Iraq alone, the report notes the exodus of over a million people following attacks, kidnappings, threats, enslavement, rape, displacement, and executions at the hands of ISIS. In Nigeria, the report tells of similar atrocities by Boko Haram, which, like ISIS, has perpetrated self-declared genocide that is yet to be recognised as such because of political cowardice. At a time when the UK has prioritised its economic relationship with the Chinese government, the report notes that Chinese authorities wage a war against their own Christian population through harassment, church demolitions and forced disappearances. In Pakistan, draconian blasphemy laws prevents free speech in a country that tops the charts for UK aid payments each year. And if not withholding aid money because of such systematic persecution proved to be beyond the UK, so did meaningful action to assist Pakistan’s most recent high-profile victim, Asia Bibi. The question is: why was there such relative inaction for so long? The Bishop of Truro, the report’s author, suggests it is bound up in a view that to address Christian persecution would be some sort of ‘expression of white Western privilege’ or a ‘special pleading for Christians’. In fact, as the bishop notes, this report is the recognition of a ‘significant deficit’ of the institutional focus that the UK could have given to some of the poorest and most vulnerable people in the world. According to the bishop, institutional failures are more than just the product of imperial-era hang-ups — they are the result of officials lacking effective target frameworks or the requisite religious literacy required to notice and address persecution when it arises. While there are departmental commitments to freedom of religion or belief, there are few working procedures to ensure that government officials prioritise religion in the same way as other issues. Such a lack of institutional priority translates into a culture that the report calls a ‘certain post-Christian bewilderment’ that leads to ‘failure to grasp how for the vast majority of the world’s inhabitants faith is not only a primary marker of identity, but also a primary motivation for action (both for good or ill)’. While the recommendations of the report are relevant and welcome, their effective implementation will be a fresh test of our institutions’ commitment to freedom of religion or belief. Will the Foreign Office be willing to review the implementation of the recommendations in three years’ time as suggested? Or will this report collect dust under a new foreign secretary, unwilling to drag their department along with them? Clearly, there is a need for direct action, the first step of which is accepting that the persecution of Christians is a genuine issue. Ending it should be a primary goal of British foreign policy, and Foreign and Commonwealth Office staff need to be trained and equipped in monitoring, recognising and countering religious persecution at their respective posts. But whatever happens next, Hunt should forget pushing for terms like ‘Christophobia’, which are neither needed nor helpful. Christian persecution, as we see it all over the world today, is systematic violence and destruction aimed at minorities, which ends in genocide if not addressed properly. If anything, the West has a ‘phobia’ of talking about it openly, realistically, and with genuine concern for those suffering for their faith. Paul Coleman is a British solicitor and executive director of ADF International, a human rights organization defending the right of people to freely live out their faith.
Why isn’t their god sticking up for them? Perhaps it could chuck a few plagues at their persecutors, or kill all their first born. That’s what he used to do in the good old days. Apparently.
List of the ten plagues Blood Frogs Lice or gnats Flies Livestock Boils Hail Locust Darkness Death of firstborn
No-deal Brexit is not a big risk, says Aston Martin boss as he brands the Government's negotiations 'laughable' By Francesca Washtell For The Daily Mail Published: 06:51 AEST, 11 July 2019 | Updated: 20:25 AEST, 11 July 2019 14kshares 652 View comments The boss of Aston Martin Lagonda has attacked ministers' Brexit strategy – and said a No Deal departure is better than more uncertainty. Andy Palmer blasted the Government's attempt at negotiations, and broke with other car bosses by calling for the country to leave the European Union in October even if no agreement has been reached. Palmer is bored of Brexit and told a crowd of car industry insiders in London: 'We think we know how we would cope with No Deal. We've planned for that. It's not great, we'd prefer it wasn't a No Deal.' please log in to view this image Aston Martin boss Andy Palmer broke with other car bosses by calling for the country to leave the European Union in October even if no deal has been reached" Palmer slammed the Government for debating its negotiation strategy in public, which he said 'is not very bright', and said he was full of admiration for the way the EU has handled the negotiations. He also poured scorn on hopes that driverless cars will be widely available in his lifetime, saying the expectation was 'absurd'. When asked if we will ever have autonomous cars that do not need humans on stand-by to operate, the 56-year-old said: 'Not in the way that is described - at least, not in my lifetime.' He explained this is because it would require huge amounts of internet infrastructure to enable cars to receive instructions from the world around them, especially outside big cities. The likes of Ford, General Motors, Tesla, Google and even Uber have been testing self-driving vehicle technology, the holy grail for the transport market. Palmer also said a version of driverless technology that is currently in trial stages at a number of companies is 'reckless'. This technology sees a car take over most driving but needs a passenger to intervene if the car requests it. Aston Martin is working on an opulent electric vehicle – the Lagonda Vision Concept – which it hopes will incorporate lots of new driverless technologies Palmer said: 'When it can't cope any more it hands back control to the driver. The problem is that the driver may well be distracted or asleep.' At the same meeting, Aston Martin's chief planning officer Nikki Rimmington said it and Lagonda are prepared for the possibility that shared, driverless vehicles could be popular in future in cities. The luxury car maker is working on an opulent electric vehicle – the Lagonda Vision Concept – which it hopes will incorporate lots of new driverless technologies. A former Nissan executive, Palmer became chief executive of the James Bond car maker in October 2014. please log in to view this image He took the company on to the London Stock Exchange last year in a disastrous public float. Its shares have tanked since they listed at 1900p – and now stand at almost half that level, at around 967p. Separately, Palmer launched a damning attack on the way the Government picks and chooses new technologies to back. He said it 'p****s him off' when ministers pick a new technology to champion. Palmer said: 'I don't know how a politician that probably went to journalism school would have the faintest idea what the technology is going to be in 20 or 30 years - because I'm an engineer and I don't know.' He also slammed the Government's regularly touted goal of becoming a leader in battery technology, which is crucial to electric cars and renewable energy. Palmer described this vision as 'nonsensical' when the Government has pledged to put much less money to fund research and development than other countries have.
Tom Watson now under attack from Corbynistas, including McDonnell and Abbott, for talking about information withheld from him by the Labour Party General Secretary Jennie Formby ‘in the media’, because Formby is being treated for breast cancer. Formby herself has said, in public, that it’s unfair to ask her questions when she is ill, though she can apparently respond to being asked questions. Of course she deserves sympathy and best wishes for her treatment. But if I was ill to the extent that I couldn’t do my job I would be on sick leave (paid) and someone else would be covering my responsibilities. Doesn’t the Labour Party provide this basic worker’s right? Poor Jennie, what a **** employer she has. I’m sure she would answer all Tom Watson’s questions were she not sick.
The UK is holding an Iranian oil tanker in Gibraltar. Hunt has said we will release it if we get promises that it’s not headed to Syria. Here’s an idea let it go if Iran let’s Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe go free. Might even get Hunt a boost in his attempt to stop Johnson, who did this poor lady no favours, becoming PM.
