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.

In not supporting Boris`s right to free speech, you are wishing to curtail your own freedoms. Unlike Boris, any article of dress that covers the face in public, should like many other Euopean Countries be banned. Britian should not allow any section of the community to undermine the values of Great Britain, the country should not pander to the left wingers like JC that show support for terrorists either, or the warnings that Enoch Powell gave many years ago, will come to pass.

The supreme function of any decent statesman to to provide against preventable evils, and to cliam special communal rights leads to fragmentation, and is another form of cancer no matter on what basis it is practised. Intergate and resolve the problems.

any article of dress that covers the face in public, should like many other Euopean Countries be banned

is that not just the start of the slippery slope to intolerance of many things and much worse?

Everyone is entitled to feel secure, and if faces are covered it gives rise to fear and intimidation. If every man, women in the country were to wear fabric that covered them head to toe, other than a peephole for their eyes, I am sure you would start to live in fear that fear of who or what is behind the mask.

Would you fancy going into a police station to be confronted with masked officers if you had been raped for example, or would you be more likely not to report serious crimes of that type of nature. Think what fears children must have if every person they saw outside their homes were to be unrecognisable - can you imagine the freedom this would give to child abusers for example.

as i wrote at the outset, there are certainly some situations where the face should be openly visible

my objection to boris's outburst, as i have already posted at some length, is that it was intentionally and unnecessarily offensive

Boris has a right to express what he thinks of anyones or any groups dress sense. How many times was JC criticized for wearing what he used too, and looking like a scruff.

How many times have women been criticized for wearing next to nothing and being called tarts, sluts etc.? Pop stars like Little Mix using their dress code to attract attention?

There is good reason that faces should not be covered but there is no good reason that what you might think of as provocative clothing being worn, and cast your views as to what is decent and what is not but there are very good reasons that all faces should be visable for security reasons.

Great Britian stands for Freedom for Free Speech and expression, including dress sense but should limit face masks - do you know how scary many people, children included find Clown masks for example - Unlike Boris I would ban the burka & niqab in public and any other attire that covered the face in Public, other than that wear what you like, as much or as little as you wish, as long as all genitalia is covered in public.

an interesting debate for a change

time, place and context are all intangibles and subjective, but have a bearing on this and other contentious or provocative issues

thus, comments such as boris's might well be just about acceptable on something like "have i got news for you" or uttered by a muslim comedian such as omid jlali, due to their context etc

i'm not sure how one draws the line, and i suppose that in general, it is society that does so ...... however, at what point or context does something provocative or in bad taste become bullying or incitement?

When it becomes personal and not when it is a general statement, be it serious or humorous - as who are we to judge if it is one or the other.

because we are part of the society that ultimately determines the rules, though of course those change over time

Do other coutries change their rules to accomadate our standards?
Do we change our standards because we have allowed mass imigration of people that will not integrate and seek to rule themselves under their laws and not ours.
Do we continue to allow no go areas in Great Britian, places the Police will not go unless in force?

Another ring that allegedly carried out sex crimes - one wonders what kind of society these people come from: Imagine if they had all been masked and unidentifiable?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-45193514

However, there is another vile case where it only took the hands of the sick perpetrator to obtain a conviction, good job he was not wearing gloves as well.

The sentence was far to light, it should have been life - not less than 30 years.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/stories-45190746/how-a-paedophile-s-hands-led-to-his-conviction

Open the link in a new tab and identify the members of this band?

https://78.media.tumblr.com/b60434f96e4e61de946f2f463fe0cb4b/tumblr_pdapd2bca61r8nhvwo1_1280.jpg

'Black Tie' KKK?

Terrible the bridge collapse in Genoa.....I have crossed that bridge once at least heading to France from northern Italy....mid-September 1975.....can clearly remember now....the Italians and the French, and the Swiss have built some extraordinary motorways crisscrossing their alpine countries.....some of the roads are beyond belief in areas over : valleys/canyons you would think not possible to build a road nevermind a motorway...stunning in their realisation you have to say....there is one leading from Turin to Savona....really unbelievable.....gobsmacking in its conception....so condolences to the victims families....you have to feel really sorry for Italy's road engineers who are fantastic road builders !....

RF.

If you are wandering through France have a drive on the Millau Viaduct. (Béziers and Montpellier.)

Slowed me down and made me concentrate when I drove over it.

A fantastic construction.

There is an Impossible Engineering programme about it that is shown on one of Yesterday/Dave/Quest from time to time. Beautiful.

Cheers,
KidA

Yes Freddy...KidA..the A75 is another road marvel.....been along it once...from south to north.....Norman Foster architects....superb French engineering.....and except for the bridge itself is toll free...worth a slow drive along that part of the world...puy de dome...etc....

gorges du tarn is also well worth a visit in say april/june when the flowers still abound, especially if you drive down

Fred,

The Millau viaduct is about 90 minutes away. Whenever my husband and I reach it heading south, we always smile and say 'nearly home'. It might make you slow down and focus for a couple of minutes while you cross it, but it also saves 45 minutes on the journey time from days gone by when you had to pass through Millau town and cross the Tarn valley.

The best way to see it is actually from a hang glider. About 100 € for a half hour flight - seriously awesome!

Hils,

I was driving a 7 tonner with a moped clinging on to the back of it when I ventured over the viaduct.

Also, I can remember the viaduct being built as I wandered down from the Dordogne in the early 2000s on the way down to Spain and Portugal via Sete.

(I wasn't in a hurry. and I had no real responsibilities.)

But the bridge I miss the most is the bridge crossing the river at Vitrac to a beautiful little village Domme. Use to stay there from April until June and Sept to October. (Starting getting cold then)

(But, perhaps, my favourite was a bridge in Paris near the Eiffel Tower where I slept while hitchhiking 62-63 years ago.) Slept like a log.

As far as hang gliding, I don't think so, but my 92year old brother went for a glider flight this year, to see his daughter's property in Uist Island.

He enjoyed it,

I had hoped to buy a place in the Dordogne, but France as a whole is a beautiful country.

Fond memories.


PS.

There is another beautiful new bridge on the Boulogne to Paris road.

I know Domme ..... there is a seriously vicious hill to cycle up to get into the village
however, once up there, the views are spectacular, and there also happens to be a very fine hotel too