General News Thread

[leicsmac]

8 minutes ago, danny. said:

Also the left, especially the far left loves Islam, which is ironic as Islamic ideology is closer to hard-right.

The fundie nut job parts of it, certainly. 

 

It's been said before that it's odd that the Wahabists and the Scripture-thumping Southern fundies have such a dislike of each other seeing as they agree on quite a few things, especially their treatment of women. Guess it comes down to thinking only their brand of oppression should be the prevalent one?

[leicsmac]

3 minutes ago, danny. said:

I love reading your posts and learning new words, top vocabulary, sir.

Much appreciated, but I know I talk as much shite as anyone else terminally online. 

[bovril]

23 minutes ago, danny. said:

Also the left, especially the far left loves Islam, which is ironic as Islamic ideology is closer to hard-right.

If we're talking Iran, the Middle East and Central Asia then more right wing governments, the US in particular, tacitly and sometimes openly supported Islamist elements because they were anti Soviet, who were ideologically atheist of course. Afghanistan is a good example of a country that was much better in the hands of the "far left" in your words. 

[leicsmac]

16 minutes ago, bovril said:

If we're talking Iran, the Middle East and Central Asia then more right wing governments, the US in particular, tacitly and sometimes openly supported Islamist elements because they were anti Soviet, who were ideologically atheist of course. Afghanistan is a good example of a country that was much better in the hands of the "far left" in your words. 

The Reagan administration started bin Laden out with weapons and funding just so he could give the USSR a headache in Afghanistan. 

[bovril]

2 minutes ago, leicsmac said:

The Reagan administration started bin Laden out with weapons and funding just so he could give the USSR a headache in Afghanistan. 

You're telling me it wasn't Jeremy Corbyn?

[bovril]

The Iranian regime has also mass murdered socialists and communists. Not sure how the 'far left and radical Islam are in bed together' trope has really come about unless it's again just people over generalizing based on a few cranks they're exposed to by mass media.

[Voll Blau]

10 minutes ago, bovril said:

The Iranian regime has also mass murdered socialists and communists. Not sure how the 'far left and radical Islam are in bed together' trope has really come about unless it's again just people over generalizing based on a few cranks they're exposed to by mass media.

They tend to put aside their differences on the single issue of Palestine. That's about it.

 

And, let's face it, the level we're really talking about here is largely people who occupy lecture theatres, not anyone ever likely to get close to influence or power.

[danny.]

1 hour ago, bovril said:

If we're talking Iran, the Middle East and Central Asia then more right wing governments, the US in particular, tacitly and sometimes openly supported Islamist elements because they were anti Soviet, who were ideologically atheist of course. Afghanistan is a good example of a country that was much better in the hands of the "far left" in your words. 

 wasn't talking about any countries, I was talking about Islam ideology driven by the contents of the Quran and Hadiths. So not sure what the reply is to. "Far left" I would describe as the Sultanas/Corbyns etc who very much like Islam

[danny.]

Anyone else having issues saying this page of the thread cannot be found?

[fox_up_north]

1 hour ago, leicsmac said:

The Reagan administration started bin Laden out with weapons and funding just so he could give the USSR a headache in Afghanistan. 

I believe both Rambo 3 and one of the Dalton Bonds refer to the brave fighters of the Mujahedeen

[leicsmac]

1 minute ago, fox_up_north said:

I believe both Rambo 3 and one of the Dalton Bonds refer to the brave fighters of the Mujahedeen

The Living Daylights, yes. 

[Innovindil]

However, in a letter to the Home Affairs Select Committee released today, he admits the mistake was the "result of a use of Microsoft Co Pilot" - an AI tool

 

Imagine being this crap at your job. 

[bovril]

55 minutes ago, danny. said:

 wasn't talking about any countries, I was talking about Islam ideology driven by the contents of the Quran and Hadiths. So not sure what the reply is to. "Far left" I would describe as the Sultanas/Corbyns etc who very much like Islam

It was in reply to "the far left love Islam" which is obviously false in the context of Iran and the Middle East which is what was being discussed. Not sure there are words in the English language to adequately describe how irrelevant Zara Sultana is in this context. 

[danny.]

5 minutes ago, bovril said:

It was in reply to "the far left love Islam" which is obviously false in the context of Iran and the Middle East which is what was being discussed. Not sure there are words in the English language to adequately describe how irrelevant Zara Sultana is in this context. 

I wasn't discussing it in that context, see above. Just a side note on the perceived irony.

[PAULCFC]

13 minutes ago, Innovindil said:

However, in a letter to the Home Affairs Select Committee released today, he admits the mistake was the "result of a use of Microsoft Co Pilot" - an AI tool

 

Imagine being this crap at your job. 

The West Ham match that wasn't should surely raised alarm bells?

[ClaphamFox]

16 minutes ago, PAULCFC said:

The West Ham match that wasn't should surely raised alarm bells?

You might think, eh?

 

The details emerging about the way the West Midlands police handled this issue are staggering to behold. They basically just caved into local extremists who didn't want Jews in the area,  then blamed the decision on the Jews using fabricated evidence. Very curious to see what Shabana Mahmood has to say about it in her statement...

[leicsmac]

4 minutes ago, ClaphamFox said:

You might think, eh?

 

The details emerging about the way the West Midlands police handled this issue are staggering to behold. They basically just caved into local extremists who didn't want Jews in the area,  then blamed the decision on the Jews using fabricated evidence. Very curious to see what Shabana Mahmood has to say about it in her statement...

What a bloody mess.

 

That being said, should the response instead have been typical of away fans where there might be an element of trouble ala Napoli etc, given that Maccabi fans causing bother is still a matter of record?

[Foxdiamond]

6 minutes ago, ClaphamFox said:

You might think, eh?

 

The details emerging about the way the West Midlands police handled this issue are staggering to behold. They basically just caved into local extremists who didn't want Jews in the area,  then blamed the decision on the Jews using fabricated evidence. Very curious to see what Shabana Mahmood has to say about it in her statement...

A quick phone call to the Met asking about the West Ham match would have quickly confirmed that the club was playing a Greek side that day.

[ClaphamFox]

4 minutes ago, leicsmac said:

What a bloody mess.

 

That being said, should the response instead have been typical of away fans where there might be an element of trouble ala Napoli etc, given that Maccabi fans causing bother is still a matter of record?

It turns out the record of their previous behaviour is also unclear. West Midlands police cited trouble in Amsterdam between Ajax and Maccabi fans as a reason for banning the latter, but the BBC is now reporting that Dutch police are contradicting the claims from West Midlands about Maccabi fans' behaviour. So it seems even the stuff about them having 'caused bother' in the past has been deliberately exaggerated—possibly even fabricated—by West Midlands police.

[leicsmac]

8 minutes ago, ClaphamFox said:

It turns out the record of their previous behaviour is also unclear. West Midlands police cited trouble in Amsterdam between Ajax and Maccabi fans as a reason for banning the latter, but the BBC is now reporting that Dutch police are contradicting the claims from West Midlands about Maccabi fans' behaviour. So it seems even the stuff about them having 'caused bother' in the past has been deliberately exaggerated—possibly even fabricated—by West Midlands police.

A more than cursory glance shows the reporting of what the Maccabi fans got up to in Amsterdam. I mean, all of the sources talking about it could be lying or exaggerating, but...

 

Add to that the local derby incident with Hapoel last November, and I'm not sure it's a massive stretch to say there might be an issue there. 

[CornwallFox]

2 hours ago, danny. said:

 wasn't talking about any countries, I was talking about Islam ideology driven by the contents of the Quran and Hadiths. So not sure what the reply is to. "Far left" I would describe as the Sultanas/Corbyns etc who very much like Islam

As a leftie, we don't remotely love Islam. We don't have a view on it at all. I couldn't give a toss what religion people are. The point of the left is to let people get on with believing whatever they want, and not trying to create laws that focus on specific groups just because they're different to us. Why would we love Islam? I don't love any religion. I'd suggest there's much more pro-religious rhetoric on the right where we're apparently a Christian country despite churches up and down the country being empty.

Edited 14 January by CornwallFox

[Trav Le Bleu]

FIFA could take a leaf out of the IOC's book.

 

LA to open ticket draw for 2028 Olympics - with seats starting at $28 -

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5y47pyp906o

 

[leicsmac]

2 minutes ago, CornwallFox said:

As a leftie, we don't remotely love Islam. We don't have a view on it at all. I couldn't give a toss what religion people are. The point of the left is to let people get on with believing whatever they want, and not trying to create laws that focus on specific groups just because they're different to us. Why would we love Islam? I don't love any religion. I'd suggest there's much more pro-religious rhetoric on the right where we're apparently a Christian country despite churches up and down the country being empty.

I'd actually disagree with this to a degree, I reckon comparatively to a lot of places the UK is actually pretty sensible in terms of organised religion and its place in political policymaking in a way a lot of other places aren't. At least at the present time. 

 

Sure, there's a certain amount of bark, but thankfully precious little bite.

[ClaphamFox]

17 minutes ago, leicsmac said:

A more than cursory glance shows the reporting of what the Maccabi fans got up to in Amsterdam. I mean, all of the sources talking about it could be lying or exaggerating, but...

 

Add to that the local derby incident with Hapoel last November, and I'm not sure it's a massive stretch to say there might be an issue there. 

Well Mahmood has spoken and her comments are pretty damning. She says the police "overstated the threat posed by the Maccabi Tel Aviv fans, while understating the risk that was posed to the Israeli fans if they travelled to the area". She's also called the decision to ban Maccabi fans "grossly misguided" and said she no longer has confidence in Chief Constable Guildford. She also reckons she's going to restore the power of the home secretary to sack chief constables. 

[kenny]

16 minutes ago, CornwallFox said:

As a leftie, we don't remotely love Islam. We don't have a view on it at all. I couldn't give a toss what religion people are. The point of the left is to let people get on with believing whatever they want, and not trying to create laws that focus on specific groups just because they're different to us. Why would we love Islam? I don't love any religion. I'd suggest there's much more pro-religious rhetoric on the right where we're apparently a Christian country despite churches up and down the country being empty.

The more traditional demoninations are empty. I work with a lot of churches that are full and expanding.

 

These are more DJ booths, AV tech and rock bands rather than hard pews so appeal to a wider audience.

 

I suspect a lot of the reason for the popularity in churches remaining will be immigration of course, particularly immigrants from Africa and even China.