Election Year or Fear!

[ramAnag]

I bow to your greater experience

Touche (staying with the French theme).

[Andy_Faber]

Touche (staying with the French theme).

All good clean fun (definitely referring only to our forum banter with this post)

[ramAnag]

All good clean fun (definitely referring only to our forum banter with this post)

Indeed…and all I’m watching is the cricket I’ll have you know!

[SithHappens]

Rumours Farage has 2 super injunctions issues.

Probably just crap talk but id bet he has more skeletons than most.

[swaledale]

A further illustration of the complex nature of issues involving Jews and antisemtism, comes from this piece in todays Guardian. About Reform's attempt to from a "Jewish section of Reform.

"Jewish activists have heckled Nigel Farage at the launch of a Jewish members’ organisation for Reform UK and accused the party of planning to use the new group as cover for persecuting other minorities.

Farage spoke at the inaugural event on Tuesday night of the Reform Jewish Alliance (RJA), which he said would help the party target up to 15 parliamentary seats.

Activists stood up in the middle of Farage’s speech and accused him of advocating policies under which past Jewish refugees would have been barred from the UK.

They included Carla Bloom, who recalled her own family’s history of facing persecution and of fighting the far right in the 1930s. She said: “My mother didn’t fight the Mosley fascists in Cable Street for this.”

It does highlight the danger of assumng or even alluding to the actions or words of a specific ethnic or religous group as being reflective of that group as a whole I think.

ewish activists have heckled Nigel Farage at the launch of a Jewish members’ organisation for Reform UK and accused the party of planning to use the new group as cover for persecuting other minorities.

Farage spoke at the inaugural event on Tuesday night of the Reform Jewish Alliance (RJA), which he said would help the party target up to 15 parliamentary seats.

Activists stood up in the middle of Farage’s speech and accused him of advocating policies under which past Jewish refugees would have been barred from the UK.

They included Carla Bloom, who recalled her own family’s history of facing persecution and of fighting the far right in the 1930s. She said: “My mother didn’t fight the Mosley fascists in Cable Street for this.”

[macstheman]

Indeed…and all I’m watching is the cricket I’ll have you know!

What crickets that then, don't include any reference to England in any reply🤬

[ramAnag]

What crickets that then, don't include any reference to England in any reply��

Hmmm. Wasn’t good was it? Better than Andy’s suggestion though.

More seriously, we’ll beat Scotland and Italy - even we can manage that, can’t we? - and make out we’re contenders again.

[ramAnag]

Sorry, cross threading. Returning to the thread. Nice to see flag waving/wearing for positive purposes, rather than intimidatory ones, at the T20WC.

As regards Palestinian flags. Generally speaking I think the display of Palestinian flags is to demonstrate support for the downtrodden in Gaza rather than as an overtly anti semitic gesture. It is perfectly possible to be entirely opposed to the Israeli government’s recent actions without having any feelings of anti Semitism.

[Andy_Faber]

Sorry, cross threading. Returning to the thread. Nice to see flag waving/wearing for positive purposes, rather than intimidatory ones, at the T20WC.

As regards Palestinian flags. Generally speaking I think the display of Palestinian flags is to demonstrate support for the downtrodden in Gaza rather than as an overtly anti semitic gesture. It is perfectly possible to be entirely opposed to the Israeli government?s recent actions without having any feelings of anti Semitism.

We?ll have to totally disagree on that one

[swaledale]

We?ll have to totally disagree on that one

Now this genuinely puzzles me. Are you of the view that the Palestinians don't/shouldn't have their own state?

Are you in agreement with what Israel has done in Gaza? That the killing of 70,000, predominantly civilians is justified?

Are you supportive of Israel's illegal settlements in the West bank where Palestinians have been forcibly evicted from their land and subject to violence where they have not been hostile to Israel?

I appreciate that the israeli/Palestinian issue is complex, but what I'm asking is do you not consider at least some of Israel's actions to be abhorent in a civilised society?

[Ram Pant]

In my cricketing days, I played for VRA, over here. Orignally a jewish club and still has a fair amount of Jewish members on both the playing and organisational side. I went to watch a game las summer and the one I spoke to, former teammates from my playing days, were unhappy with how far Israel's government had gone. Does that make them antisemitic?

I don't believe it does. They have the same thoughts on it as I do, retalitaion was right, right up to the point where it crossed the line of being proprttional. Does that make me antisemitic? I've been against Settler exoansionism for a long time.

The UN condemns the settlers for breaking international law. Does that make the UN antisemitic?

[ramAnag]

We?ll have to totally disagree on that one

I’m surprised. I thought it was a balanced and inoffensive comment. Maybe you could explain.

[Andy_Faber]

Now this genuinely puzzles me. Are you of the view that the Palestinians don't/shouldn't have their own state?

Are you in agreement with what Israel has done in Gaza? That the killing of 70,000, predominantly civilians is justified?

Are you supportive of Israel's illegal settlements in the West bank where Palestinians have been forcibly evicted from their land and subject to violence where they have not been hostile to Israel?

I appreciate that the israeli/Palestinian issue is complex, but what I'm asking is do you not consider at least some of Israel's actions to be abhorent in a civilised society?

I don’t know enough about the creation of states or the detail behind Palestine’s existence to know. I do know that I’d be disinclined to give statehood as I do understand it to an entity which has a governing group and who’s prominent religion has an objective to destroy another state in its entirety

Totally against what Israel has done in Gaza, but it does have the right to defend itself and retaliate for the Oct 7 attacks. IMO it’s gone about things in the wrong way to the multiple of 70,000 if that number is civilians not HAMAS agents

Against any illegal annexing of land so if and when Israel do that I’m against it.

My brief response to rA wasn’t about any of the above issues though

[ramAnag]

I don?’t know enough about the creation of states or the detail behind Palestine?’s existence to know. I do know that I?’d be disinclined to give statehood as I do understand it to an entity which has a governing group and who?’s prominent religion has an objective to destroy another state in its entirety

Totally against what Israel has done in Gaza, but it does have the right to defend itself and retaliate for the Oct 7 attacks. IMO it?’s gone about things in the wrong way to the multiple of 70,000 if that number is civilians not HAMAS agents

Against any illegal annexing of land so if and when Israel do that I?’m against it.

My brief response to rA wasn?’t about any of the above issues though

I remain puzzled but I can’t really debate over a stance you haven’t explained.

[ramAnag]

In other news…Dino Trump revokes landmark climate change legislation and declares that the world is flat. Honestly, how much more damage can the deluded oaf manage before the mid terms?

The Chinese now lead the way. Who’da thunk?