Off Topic Politics Thread

There are three standouts on this board that need putting right from time to time. Thumwood, Jabbo and you.

Thumwood is too far down the road and cannot be saved. There's no point in reasoning, just ridicule.

Jabbo, who doesn't have much original thought, just repeats his latest flame. That seems to be you at the moment.

Although it might be beyond you, I think there is hope for. You're almost always wrong but just occasionally, you make some comments that are not the usual self righteous, utopian and unrealistic tropes that the left wing wokes are known for. It may be misguided loady, but I believe you can reach level headed reality.

Obviously, if you can be saved Jabbo will follow suit.

back at you.

 

.

 

A Blimpian level of pomposity.

 

Getting too personal from all of you.

Stop.

 

But it is a love in!

 

Not for me it isn't . I am worried I cannot be saved.

 

Before IOAG goes all Osvaldorama, I want to record that I would prefer to be called Ian. Always Game For It never uses my title " Mr" whenever he refers to me by my surname. Seeing as i self identify as male , I think I am owed that courtesy if he is not going to call me either Ian , Thummers or Thummy.

To reminiscent of Private Pike being spoken to by Captain Manwaring.

 

Don't forget the famous scene:
German Officer (to Pike): What is your name?
Captain Mainwaring: Don't tell him, Pike

 

Everyone in this country has the right to legal defence. The "legal aid" aspect is pretty much a grey area. For divorces? Petty crimes? yes you might come a cropper. Serious crimes the state is always going to provide a defence in order to be able to keep the semblance of "fair and just" in trials. In these cases here which are pretty high profile I would suggest a defence was provided! And no I cannot say that for sure. Legal Aid in high profile cases is a different mater to someone moaning about slander or my husband/wife is a bore. .lol

 

Unassociated, but my wife's family is over from Portugal and USA atm. They wanted to meet an aging relative in Hounslow who would not stop banging on about how they shouldn't come because her area was incredibly racist. (yes I know age probably means this is more dementia or paranoia or something)

My wife and her sister were astonished to be told they shouldn't go to Hounslow because it was a hotbed of racism, when they live in Lincoln which is 90% or more white British and have next to never* experienced racism in this city (my wife has been here for 21 years) yet in a place in London they are being told it is very racist despite the "white British" being in the minority in that area! (44%.) I asked her who is being racist there? The Indians? The Pakistanis? Who? The Asian demographic shows 37% which is nearly as much as the White Brit but I was of course joking.

Not to ignore her age which could well mean this was more a semblance of an earlier period but someone feeling racism in a white minority area compared to someone in a white dominant area, and of course "racist hotbed of old white, left behind, uneducated people in Lincolnshire, (next to) never having experienced racism is very strange.

I have no idea what Hounslow is like these days but I last visited with my wife this aunt" about 15 years ago and the place was a pretty typical rundown ****hole back then. Didn't see any trouble there though, although we were only there for an afternoon.

*I put next to never because when she said she hasn't experienced racism in Lincoln I suspect she has on occasion and also in comparison to Portugal where it is still very racist!

 

please log in to view this image

 

Picking up in the campaign to fly the St George flag that has prompted the campaign to hang the flag from street lights and paint roundabouts in Birmingham, I really think this flag's meaning has radically changed into something unpalatable. As opposed to being patriotic , it is being used by the far right to divide. It has not undeniably become the Flag of Hate.

Irrespective of the fact of it's Christian heritage and association with Eleanor of Acquitaine who was responsible for it's inclusion from the sw if France, it is now time to move on and choose a new flag that is inclusive and not divisive. I feel the flag has been stolen by thugs who do not represent genuine English values. In my opinion we need to disown this flag and replace it with something that is more appropriate and represents who we are.

 

The funny thing about the flag is the same people who say they can’t fly it then make it the focal point of a campaign against immigration…

 

Funnier still is those who have issues with flags don't seem to have the same aversion to Pride flags, Palestinian flags or European Union flags.
Or absolutely any other country flying their national flag for that matter.

 

I don’t think that is remotely complicated. The Pride Flag and the EU flags are flags of togetherness and unity. The Palestine flag is a flag of a victim, like the Ukraine flag. The British flag and the English flag have both been commandeered by British racist groups.

 

On the topic of flags American podcasts were, yesterday, showing images, released by the Russian propaganda channel, of an armoured vehicle at the front line flying both a Russian and an American flag.

 

Flag by John Agard

What’s that fluttering in a breeze?
Its just a piece of cloth
that brings a nation to its knees.

What’s that unfurling from a pole?
It’s just a piece of cloth
that makes the guts of men grow bold.

What’s that rising over a tent?
It’s just a piece of cloth
that dares the coward to relent.

What’s that flying across a field?
It’s just a piece of cloth
that will outlive the blood you bleed.

How can I possess such a cloth?
Just ask for a flag my friend.
Then blind your conscience to the end.

 

Only because the left have let them. If the countries flag was flown prominently then that would take it out of the hands of racist groups wouldn't it? But even when flown by non racists the left like to sneer at it, as if somehow it's much cooler to be embarrassed of being British/English.

The EU flag I'd agree is a flag of unity, the others certainly aren't.

 

How on Earth is the Pride flag not a flag of unity? You are pushing the boat into some weird territory there. And why are you blaming the left for the radicalisation of our flag?



Blame these guys and the terror they pushed onto people who weren’t white while I was growing up.