horsefly

You have made that claim on many occasions as you know full well. As for the pic comparison that offended you so much, you must have a very low "offence threshold" if you were so devastated by a comparison between Laurence Fox and Reinhard Heydrich (the resemblance is very striking). However, since you have pledged not to make such pointless accusations I will happily take you for your word and look forward to posts that focus on the actual issues.

For God sake do stop this ridiculous Billy nonsense. It's plain to see that your playground name calling is a very poorly disguised attempt to distract from the fact you have no answer to the links I have provided. Just grow up you sad child.

And Biden won in the USA. Is there any point to making such claims on this specific thread?

I would love one of you lot to explain to me (and that includes Bill) why you engage in this playground behaviour of accusing other people of masquerading as other posters. It really is name calling of the most childish kind. Firstly, I fail to see how you can have any evidence for such a claim. Secondly, what is supposed to be the benefit of posting under multiple identities? Thirdly, I couldn't give a damn whether any of you lot post under other names, so why does the possibility concern you so much? I am seriously perplexed as to why you would rather indulge in this Bart Simpson like behaviour than discuss the issues at hand. Frankly it is nothing more than an irritation that you want to claim that I am really Bill or any of the other names you wish to cite (although a simple grasp of basic linguistic analysis would quickly disabuse you of such nonsense), the fact is I have only ever posted under this name. What really perplexes me is that grown men (it seems to be exclusively men) actually find something worthwhile in posting this absurd tripe. So do feel free to tell me just why you think it is so important to throw around such meaningless unfounded allegations. I just don't get what you think it achieves.

Thanks to brexit the Dutch seem to be doing nicely at the UK's expense: This was happening two years prior to our departure from the EU https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/feb/09/brexit-uk-companies-discuss-moving-to-netherlands https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/brexit-no-deal-uk-netherlands-company-relocation-a9080666.html Reports from this year: https://www.theneweuropean.co.uk/brexit-news/europe-news/firms-choose-netherlands-over-britain-due-to-brexit-7564056 https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/jan/30/uk-firms-plan-to-shift-across-channel-after-brexit-chaos https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/26/brexit-dutch-warehouse-boom-as-uk-firms-forced-to-invest-abroad Logistics and warehousing companies in the Netherlands are being inundated with requests from British businesses looking to rent warehouse space, as the country experiences a Brexit boom in investment and jobs. Thousands of small businesses have been plunged into crisis by the UK’s departure from the EU, with exports to the continent collapsing because of delays at ports, increased shipping costs, and the sudden addition of VAT, customs duties, and in some cases tariffs, on shipments sent from the UK to customers within the bloc. An absolute killer': small UK firms struggle with Brexit VAT rules Many have been left with no option but to invest in distribution networks within the EU, and the Dutch logistics industry is reaping the rewards.

So that was you was it? I could never quite hear what you were saying.

I suspect that there is no one on this site who would be unhappy with the general support of Enlightenment liberal values that the Omer espouses. He certainly has my support in that respect. Where I differ from him is in his implication that those values have now been effectively overthrown, and we are now in the grip of Stalinistic "woke" authoritarians who have destroyed free speech (I can't help pointing out the irony that all these doomsters claiming the end of free speech seem to find little difficulty in getting their views heard). I have said on many occasions that I am against the so-called "no platforming" of people like Gernaine Greer and Jenny Murray and find it regretful that some students have been naive enough to think this will help promote equality for all. However, let's get real about this; the idea that these fringe activists are posing a threat to the foundational Enlightenment liberal values that underpin Western democracy is at best fanciful, at worse plain lunacy. So let me offer you a personal story of my own in response to the personal story of the author of the linked article. Sometime ago I introduced an interdisciplinary module specifically on the Enlightenment to the curriculum of a strongly multi-cultural UK university. I felt that most young people in this country had reached university level education without explicitly encountering any real discussion of the Enlightenment principles upon which the democracy and culture they encounted was, and continues to be, founded. I made the bold claim to them that there was not any issue of current cultural significance that could be properly understood if one ignored the importance of the inherited Enlightenment values in framing those issues (so, for example, Omer's rejection of fundamentalist ideology is only explicable in terms of those Enlightenment values promoting autonomy and rationality). The module covers a large range of issues including, free speech, religion, fundamentalism, human rights, tolerance, equality etc, etc. From the beginning the module was a roaring success, so much so that the Vice Chancellor happened to be walking by a group of students on a lecture break one evening and overheard them enthusiastically discussing how much they thought the module was fascinating and essential for all students in order to understand their lives and education. The VC was so moved by this she emailed a description of the encounter to the entire university. Each year's module evaluations confirmed this view of the students' attitude towards the module and the importance of understanding Enlightenment values. No doubt I have recounted this story to brag a little and allow a bit of unashamed pride to expose itself. However, more importantly I have recounted it to show that talk of the demise of Western cultural values in the face of authoritarian "wokism" is somewhat premature. My experience is very different from Omar's; the students I encounter continue to be individuals who embrace the core tenets of Enlightenment thinking. No doubt they have to learn to navigate the swelling seas of a social media tsunami of lies that threatens to drown out the true and the valuable, but I retain a faith based on experience that they will prove more than capable of swimming towards the light. Absolutely one should speak out against the very small group of individuals and fundamentalists who attack free speech, but let's not elevate them to a power and influence they clearly do not have.

It will be a unique experience; the only website exclusively consisting of one syllable words.

Only a fool would not be worried when his country's main market for exports (circa 50%) is suffering losses because of decisions his own country made. The EU didn't choose brexit you buffoon. Are you really trying to claim that it's ok that brexit has seriously screwed up UK industry because it also screwed up the EU too? Is this some perverse variant on the normal "win-win" aim of a standard trade deal? Are we now pursuing a "lose-lose" strategy?

You have been challenged many, many times to come up with the name of a UK company or industry that claims to have benefited from brexit. We have pointed out the thousands that flood the internet claiming to have lost out because of brexit. For example, you have still said nothing about the £1.1bn lost by the dairy industry since January. So, since you keep banging on about it, I'm looking forward to your "positive" list of companies that have said they have benefited from brexit

Grandmother knitted me a yellow and green scarf that was about 80ft long.

Got to be up there with the top "left-footers" the club has ever had. Paid his transfer fee back in spades.

You just don't get it do you? Growth from an absolutely sh*te position is pretty meaningless. How about you respond at last to the figures I posted some time ago about the 96% decline in sales to the EU suffered by the Dairy Industry, and the loss of £1.1 bn in sales in the 3 months since January.

You got the last part of that clause right, well done!

Why do you decry other people's behaviour on here yet engage in this sort of patronising behaviour and the childish playground nonsense of accusing other people of having multiple identities? Perhaps if you behave like a grown up it would help encourage serious debate.

Really? I can't believe you honestly think that Billy or his "ilk" has any prominent role in the Labour movement, or is the cause for its "downfall". If anything it has been the infiltration of Momentum that has been the root of the current problems for the Labour Party in a way that is very similar to its infiltration by Militant Tendency in the early eighties. In both cases the infiltrating group had/has no desire whatsoever to engage in a pragmatic discourse with the people it was/is claiming to represent. The Labour Party has always tussled with a tension between its "progressive" ideals and the more traditional "prosaic" concerns of its working class constituencies. It is at its most successful when it settles for a set of policies that speak to both concerns (however messy that might be). Thus some might complain that ideologically speaking Blair was rather too "Tory" for their tastes, nonetheless he managed to implement policies that saw a massive amount of money pumped into the NHS, education, and poverty relief (things of everyday concern to the majority). Fabian style gradualism has always proved more productive for the Labour Party's hopes of electoral success rather than the revolutionary instincts of dominant infiltrator groupings. Alan Bleasdale's political parody GBH is a wonderful dramatic takedown of Militant Tendency's corruption of the Labour Party in the early eighties; posh up the voices a bit and it's not without relevance to the Stalinistic tendencies to be found in Momentum's "takeover" of Labour Party constituencies in the Corbyn era. The Labour Party represented by Jim Nelson (the part played by Michael Palin) is precisely what needs to be recovered if Labour is to win again.

Really?? That's precisely what Thatcher claimed (and what the "buy your council home" policy was aimed to convince). And it's precisely what Johnson claimed regarding his support for brexit (time and again in the last election campaign he claimed the Tory Party to be the Party of the working classes). As for your earlier claim that Labour is now divided between a middle-class, metropolitan, university educated group, and an ordinary working class industrial group, that has always been the case throughout its history.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/boris-johnson-accused-of-cover-up-after-refusing-to-deny-he-asked-donor-to-fund-nanny/ar-BB1gkHyu?ocid=msedgntp Boris Johnson's official spokesman has repeatedly refused to deny a Tory donor was asked to fund a nanny for the PM's baby son. Downing Street stonewalled questions in the first official briefing since the bizarre allegations emerged - marking a new twist in the "cash for curtains" saga over the revamp of Mr Johnson's Downing Street flat. The nanny claims were reported by the Sunday Times, which claimed the twice-divorced PM is struggling to survive on his £157,372-a-year salary. An unnamed donor is said to have been approached and asked if they would help fund childcare for Wilfred, Mr Johnson's son with fiancee Carrie Symonds. The benefactor is alleged to have moaned to an MP: "I don't mind paying for leaflets but I resent being asked to pay to literally wipe the Prime Minister's baby's bottom." Yesterday the PM twice refused to deny the claims - and today No10 refused to deny them several more times.

Indeed! People of a certain age should remind themselves of the apocalyptic talk of Labour's impending demise in the early eighties.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-shropshire-56979521 Dalian Atkinson murder trial: Ex-footballer Tasered and kicked A murder-accused PC Tasered an ex-footballer for six times longer than is standard before kicking him twice in the head, a jury has heard. PC Benjamin Monk is charged with the murder of Dalian Atkinson during an altercation in Shropshire in 2016. He appeared at Birmingham Crown Court for the first day of his trial with co-accused PC Mary Ellen Bettley-Smith, who is charged with assault. The former Aston Villa star died after he was Tasered for 33 seconds. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-34514044 Black people 'three times more likely' to be Tasered Black people are three times more likely than white people to be involved in Taser incidents, Home Office figures disclosed to the BBC suggest. The numbers show the electric stun gun was drawn, aimed or fired 38,000 times in England and Wales over five years. In more than 12% of cases Tasers were used against black people, who make up about 4% of the population.

Strange really, Poots doesn't believe in dinosaurs yet all he needs to do is look in a mirror.

Indeed! All "successful" fraudsters have a spark of creative genius that enables them to lie and cheat their way to that "success". Nonetheless fraudsters they remain, and more often than not their fraudulent behaviour eventually leads to their downfall. I look forward to the results of the many inquiries into Johnson's corrupt behaviour.

https://www.edp24.co.uk/sport/norwich-city/norwich-city-in-for-ryan-christie-7944110 Would be happy with this.

And what does Boris stand for? Other than the National Anthem, and the opportunity for someone to slip a few notes in his back pocket.

I wouldn't be so sure, there's a definite family resemblance