An interesting day in British politics yesterday. I sat through much of the ten and a half hour debate. My thought at the end of it was that if you are a moderate Labour voter, you have reasons to feel encouraged. The best speeches all came from the Labour side, as many of the moderate grown ups reasserted themselves at long last. Of the 66 who supported the motion in favour of bombing, two local MPs Jim Dowd and Heidi Alexander were included. It was also obvious that a number of other fairly sensible Labour MPs wanted to support the air strikes, but couldn't because of their large Muslim vote. I was in there for Corbyn's speech. He is so far out of his depth he makes Karel Fraeye look like a statesman.
Safe to say the seat is nailed on, not sure about him being lazy though. He's often going to parliament with something. He's had quite the influence on the train problems extending from London bridge being developed. I did advise him he should join Twitter though, as he was criticized during the campaign for not being reachable (though he's usually readily on hand at Sunderland road).
I used to drink with him before he became an MP. Since then he contacted me once, and that was when reselection came round. He started by asking if I was still in the same job. I thought "Crafty, eh? You don't remember what my job is!". To be fair, he often shows constituents round The House.
Shades of Iraq for me. He who cannot learn from the past etc etc. There seemed an air that the UK needs to join in so as to be 'part of the process'. Odd that other other European nations don't feel motivated to get involved on a bombing approach. We bombed Iraq, and more recently Libya, and results show that it does'nt really achieve much in the way of results. To be honest, most of what I heard Cameron saying took me back to Tony Blair claiming there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. His comment that those not interested in bombing a country where many activists are billeted among civilians are sympathisers with terrorists really shows a class A moron who would brighten up the current Charlton regime (though not for long). Assad gave arms to Isis to fight his Rebels. Russia is bombing the anti Assad rebels, and the Turkmen. Turkey is bombing the kurds. The Kurds regard all sides as being against tem, and the rebel Syrian forces are attacking Assad and his minions. In the middle of all this, oil from Isis is being bought by the Turks, and funding is still apparently drifting in from Qatar and Saudi Arabia. Quite a brew, and Cameron wants to swagger into the salóon to join in. I hope his intelligence services are better tan those Blair had, but I doubt he plans to use them any more than Bush and Blair did. There is something truely assenine in only listening to your intelligence reports when they tell you what you want them to. Does anyone remember that film Wargames from the eighties, about the computer hacker who hacks into the American military regime's new war game computer simulatro toy. At the end, after trying out various scenarios, the computer reports back that 'the winning move would be not to play the game!' Spot on.
A terrorist attack on Britain is inevitable. Then that ****er Cameron will go on about how the government need access to all your private communications, you Sky planner and your laptop webcam while you masturbate (unlucky Dave, I have a draw full of blu tac)
It was The Golden Lion in Sydenham (The Axe Murder Pub). We were part of the Sydenham West A-team (drinking). You can ask him if he remembers, including the drinking trips to Ostend, there are still 4 of us going, who meet up for a drink now and then. We recently stopped going to The Lion when new owners trashed it.
The gold lion - that rings a bell. Is that towards Bellingham, after savercentre? I'll mention it to my old man when I see him later. Next time I'll see jim is over Christmas.
Hmm, I think I'm thinking of a different one. I know the dolphin though, which has gone through many changes itself.
I protested heavily against the war in Iraq during my student years. Didn't agree with it [war] then, and in general now do not agree with a foreign war at all. The thought of it is abhorrent, used as a last resort. I don't support the bombing in Syria, which I'm glad that others in Parliament are holding a similar view. A bombing will eventually see the death of innocent mothers, fathers and children, which is already occurring and has occurred in past conflicts. What else is more concerning is this could lead the death of young boys, fresh from their mothers teat. It always astounds me that the youth (their entire lives to live and experience the world) are so willing to lay down their lives for the views of the elders, without questioning.
It's a tough one in which I've gone back and forth with inside my head. Sadly, either way the innocent in Syria will be killed - be it bomb sites or from the extremists fighting for power. I'm disappointed in the strategy proposed by Cameron, but think some intervention is necessary.
The case to bomb IS is an emotional one. Our elected representatives have made their decision and let's see how it pans out. That part of the world is so unpredictable I wouldn't like to say. In the ideal world the army of 70,000 Free Syrians will march in, rout IS, of whom we won't hear any more, and elections will be called in Syria, and all the refugees will go back home. The Tornadoes will fly back accompanied by a squadron of flying pigs.
