Off Topic Political Debate

The best thing about this was the clowns who organised it expected outrage from the non right wing. There was none

 

Still worth doing - very funny!!

 

The Mayor seemed to think so.

 

Yes. I'm sorry. I apologise. Unreservedly. To ducks everywhere.

 

I think he was laughing at them. Obviously it's in response to his allowing the, altogether more funny, drumpf nappy blimp. Not sure of the reasoning behind the yellow bikini... anyone? SH, you've got your finger on the pulse no doubt, so what's the joke I'm missing? Nappy, orange hue, small hands... we all see that.
Khan is obnoxious, imho, but struck me that this was merely offensive (unless I've missed something) and not just to him, but as a double edged sword to cut muslims everywhere.
Nobody has the right not to be offended (I stand full square with Charlie Hebdo, DM2525 and other satirists) but, come on, let's give it some substance like they do.

 

The police have named two Russian suspects wanted in connection to the Salisbury poisoning.

 

I wonder how they got visas to enter the country.

 

forged

 

Doesn't say a lot for the countries systems if people can wander in and out with forged documents. Surely the Home Office would put some security feature on a visa to say they had issued it.

 

Since January 2017 there has been no functional Northern Ireland Assembly, yet the politicians have continued to receive full pay of £49,500. It has been announced that this is to be cut to £35,888 in November. I wonder why they should be paid anything more than a retainer.

 

"Of course we went there to see Stonehenge, Old Sarum, but we couldn't do it because there was muddy slush everywhere," Mr Petrov told RT.

Muddy slush?? We need to invade Russia immediately ..... on a rainy day. Will be a push over.

"Maybe we did [approach] Skripal's house, but we don't know where is it located," Mr Boshirov said.

Two/three day visit and Salisbury is their focus because the church has a funny spire. If you're into churches why not visit Westminster, Winchester, Bath, ..............................................

Clearly they are guilty but the surprise to me is just how stupid can Russians be? Are they really so thick they expect us to swallow any of this?

Or is Putin just laughing and these guys are just muppits?

The russian regime makes me sick.

 

To be fair KC. It is all circumstantial at the moment. They were of Russian nationality, and they were close to Skrypal's house - neither of which are criminal offences. Many other people would have been close to Skrypal's house without realizing it and, bearing in mind that Salisbury is a tourist location, some of them would have been foreign. We need more evidence than this, and we also need to share that evidence with the Russian authorities.

 

Cologne, two russian men arriving in the UK as tourists for less than 53 hours, who are interested in the Salisbury church spire but no other churches. Who do two return journeys, London Salibury in such a short time rather than stay in Salisbury. The first trip they spent 2 to 3 hours at most there. Next day they arrive in Salibury at 11:45. They leave at 13:50. 2 hours 5 minutes in Salisbury!!

How many travelling russian pairs of tourists do you think meet that profile?

If they were tourists would they not explain their personal circumstances? If they had an interest in churches (they claim friends had recommended Salisbury for ages) would they have not visited others? And how did they aim to visit Stonehenge in the timescale even if it wasn't wet.

Sorry but these guys are guilty beyond any reasonable doubt. Yes they are only dummies sent to do others dirty work. But guilty as hell.

 

And those Russians are fazed by a bit of slushy snow - why did they not visit the cathederal and get in the warm then? I suppose Russians are not used to such hazardous weather conditions as some slushy snow that seems to be missing from all the CCTV shots. Not doubt was Photoshoped out by MI5...

 

Nobody is guilty until proven so KC. That is the basis of our entire legal system. I don't think that if I wanted to visit the cathedral in Salisbury that I would feel the necessity to make more than a days journey from London to do it. I am not necessarily saying that they are innocent - just that we do not have anything other than circumstantial evidence. What I do know is that the whole thing has become a 'political show case' - the British Government has pointed the finger at Putin, has expelled Russian diplomats, and now desparately needs to find some justification for that - and two 'passing' Russians fits the bill admirably. The other question is - if it all fitted so well why has it taken so long to produce such video evidence ?

 

I have no problem with a fair trial. And our legal system is based on strong cases being bought to court.

So why do it twice? (see wear-yellows post)

When attacked by a state - killings on your territory - should we ignore it?

Because detectives don't just close their eyes, count to 3, and all the evidence and information from hundreds of sources and thousands of hours of video drop into a prosecution report? If it had been quicker some would accuse them of not being thorough.

If these guys are not guilty Russia could give supporting evidence easily. They haven't even bothered to do that.

 

''When attacked by a state-killings on your territory''. KC. there is not a shread of real evidence to accuse the Russian state of being behind this. Where was the motive to kill somebody who they had previously held in prison for 8 years and then released ? The last places which produced these Novichok agents were not in Russia itself - but rather in states which became independent after the collapse of the USSR. such as Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and the Ukraine, and it was the Americans who dismantled them. The recipe for producing this stuff has also been published in English, and also in the USA. The assumption that this must come from Russia because they were the first to make it is very misleading - any chemical laboratory which produces pesticides can produce it. Does it not strike you as absurd how the British Government has built up the deadly potential of this stuff - yet nobody, apparently, dies from it ? I have never thought that the Russian state had sufficient motive for this act - and do not believe they would have botched the attempt had they actually been behind it. This is not to say that I do not believe Putin to be capable of such a thing - he is, and many others are to. Just as it is quite possible that in the confusion surrounding the disintegration of the USSR, this poison would have passed into criminal hands. The government is determined to find a link to Putin on this because anything else would now be a massive loss of face.

 

Cologne, yes you're right of course on the state level.

But we'll agree to disagree on the two guys.

 

I'm in the middle of Cologne and KC. I have to agree that the evidence thus far is circumstantial but I think it is more than reasonable to assuage guilt - they have a case to answer but more evidence is required to obtain a conviction for sure.

The problem is that jury's, in my personal experience, do not have the slightest clue in differentiating between "reasonable" doubt and absolutely no doubt whatsoever. Consequently I've seen people as guilty as f*****g hell walk away because their lawyers had a better acumen than the QC and a lily livered judge, having caught the defendant in a crucial lie relevant to his defence, still summed up towards acquittal.

 

We now find out that failed Labour leader windbag Michael Foot was not only grossly boring but a Soviet paid informant.

Not surprised at all.