Thought Id start this one going because its rather dead on this board at the moment and I suppose all my usual muckers are either at the Stella tennis event watching Dim Tim (lose again) or at Henly Regatta eating cucumber sandwiches (they wish,...NOT).

Anyway please feel free to just talk to yourself blast away and let it go on any company or subject you wish. Just wish Id thought of this one before.

cheers GF.

today's ST - main section - #1/2
a good article by robert harris on the current state and future of the labour party

Story of my life = Wrong decisions .

Vic.

I think this cartoon sums up the present situation and reminds me of my father reminding me of the old adage "when in doubt, sit back and observe and think".

I suspect there are plenty of plans, but none of them addressing the real problem.

Manuel,

P 65511

From memory voting on Capital Punishment for the last 50-60 years has always been on a "vote of conscience".

I think that is acceptable.

Although, there are quite a few individuals who I would have like seen dispatched of, I think the abolishment was correct.

PS.

I met the man who arrested Timothy Evans. Even 10years after the execution
of Evans the policeman remained "certain" of Evans' guilt.

UMMMH

-=-=-=-=

fred - as i wrote yesterday, i am sure (and i hope that i am right) there is already much high-level discussion going on behind the scenes and in secret - as indeed it must be

your father may have been right in everyday situations, though procrastination is the thief of time, but we now have an extraordinary situation where a strong lead and decisions are necessary .....

for myself, i think (with some reluctance) that an extension of the bombing is correct, but i certainly accept that there is a counter-argument - it just happens that i do not agree with it though some of my children might (lively dinner-table debate last night)

fred - 65517 - exactly so and that is the point i thought i had made

Who do you want to bomb?

I think we should send murderers to Australia or somewhere .

The Thames Valley!

I have a feeling that if Hilary Benn feels there is a need to take action then we should . He feels the danger is these people returning pose a great threat to us .

I think that people are missing the point over the Syrian crisis : it should be about disposing /destroying the ISIS/ISIL cult (never sure if it's isis or isil)....or whatever they are and just bombing is not enough...by the time our lot get out there I presume most of the work will have been done by the USA, Russians and French....all this debate/nonsense about whether we join in or not ; labour are a pain in the arse actually...(sorry to put it like that)...and the Saudis/Iranians should be at the forefront of getting rid of these monsters as they are mainly muslims and know how to deal with these people.....troops on the ground is what is needed.....anyway apart from that JC is doing an excellent job remaining Labour leader......(please don't topple him)....might even get Boris sporting a T-shirt with the slogan :"labour left is good for Britain"....(just to keep things going)...

The Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell is facing a coup at the hands of his own Labour MPs.

Backbench rebels are gathering signatures for a letter to be sent to John Cryer, chairman of the Parliamentary Labour Party, calling on McDonnell to resign.

The extraordinary letter, which is being circulated among moderate MPs, states: “We have no confidence in John McDonnell to continue as Shadow Chancellor due to his incompetent response to the Autumn Statement and ongoing issues”.

They want him gone by Christmas

Bravo the GB Davis cup team.....fantastic achievement !...

This isn't a just war – it’s 'recreational bombing' by our Churchill wannabe

Columnist Peter Hitchens expresses his concerns over war
Admits he is no pacifist and supported the retaking of the Falklands
However he says that we can do no 'conceivable good' in the conflict

By Peter Hitchens for The Mail on Sunday

Published: 03:03, 29 November 2015


Once again, as a patriotic Englishman from a Naval family, I stand amazed to find myself so lonely in my doubts about a foolish war.

I am no pacifist. I supported the retaking of the Falklands, national territory illegally seized by foreign invaders. I was thrilled to see that the Royal Navy could still do the hard tasks for which it is paid too little. Could it now?

Yet, on the basis of an emotional spasm and a speech that was illogical and factually weak, we are rushing towards yet another swamp, from which we will struggle to extract ourselves and where we can do no conceivable good.



Coincidence? David Cameron managed to have his portrait taken next to a very macho-looking Typhoon fighter jet at Northolt RAF base on his way back from Paris earlier this week



Heaven forbid that it will lead (as other such adventures have) to more melancholy processions, bearing flag-wrapped coffins, from RAF Brize Norton; or to quieter convoys, carrying terribly injured men to special hospitals.

Why must good, brave, dutiful men and women die or be maimed for life because our politicians are vain and ignorant?

But there is no knowing the end of this, especially given the Prime Minister’s absurd belief that we have 70,000 ‘moderate’ allies just waiting to help us in Syria. Among these scattered ‘moderates’ are those who last week murdered a Russian pilot as he parachuted to earth, and mauled his corpse.

When this phantom army turns out to be non-existent, or hostile, how long will it take Mr Cameron to return to the House of Commons, pleading oh-so-reasonably for ground troops to follow?


More:http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-3337618/PETER-HITCHENS-isn-t-just-war-s-recreational-bombing-Churchill-wannabe.html

Haze,

You remind me of a cuckoo without a nest!


Why, if your and Cameron are so sure that his decision is correct is he trying to avoid a vote.

=-==-=

Interesting to see commentators swinging against him more and more.

You don't just bomb people.....there are enough planes already I would think but the extremists are a serious threat to everybody....something has to be done without doing what they did in Iraq during the invasion....

.

simple(ton) fred ..... because even if sure that you are right, no point and indeed marginally suicidal going for a vote unless you are at least 95% certain of winning it

A cutting from The Observer.


They see hypocrisy from an international community that ignored the deaths of tens of thousands of Syrians at the hands of their own government for years, then was apparently spurred into action by Isis killings of Europeans and Americans.

“Why is this just in response to Isis? Why was no one moved when the regime was bombing us in Syria? Is it just because [terror] came to western countries? For us, it doesn’t matter which bombs are killing us,” said Mona, a teacher and activist who fled from Isis James Bond-style over the rooftops of her neighbourhood.

Most of all, the Raqqa exiles worry that western and Russian definitions of victory will mean removing one tormentor to give free rein to another, President Bashar al-Assad. Many of Raqqa’s exiles spent time in his prisons as well as in Isis jails, and see him as the main cause of their misery.

“If I went to the UK parliament to make a speech, the first thing I would say is ask them to remove the cause [of our problems], which is Assad, not the symptom which is Isis,” said Abu Ahmad. “Hundreds of thousands of people died in the last few years, and no one came to bomb Damascus.”