Just give everyone an A*, it’s not rocket science.

Pregnancy?

A boy once threw up on me during an exam after eating too many chocolate sweeties – I say they should all be on Ramadam.

If I’m ever put on trial for a crime, I hope the jury is made up of Singletrack forum members. I know that 1) they will scrutinise the evidence in great detail and 2) they will never agree (meaning I get off scott-free if I’m guilty) 8)

Then forgive.

No forgiveness without repentance in Christianity, that’s the deal as I understand it.

You can’t convert to Catholicism from Islam without repenting, for example.

JC did not repeal that much of the OT that i recall Lex talionis being one but not a great deal more. He certainly did not get rid of the ten commandments nor the preaching on homosexuality or women folk.

This is really important and a good point to discuss. Jesus said he had come to fulfil the law, not to overturn it.

But he does radically change the law in the sermon on the mount, e.g. “You have heard it said, but…no longer an eye for an eye but love your enemy”.

The so called golden rule is approached in Judaism and Islam but I don’t think it is ever voiced as clearly as it is in the NT.

I agree about the foundational importance of Greek platonic philosophy too to Western civ.

@kimbers and @jimjam, you would be hard pressed to find a respected professionally trained historian who would disagree with the statement that Christianity is foundational to Western civilisation.
And @kimbers you should recall Christianity is based on the New Testament more than it is the Old.

@Junkyard the reason you think Christianity has had periods of injustice is down to the fact that you have a moral ethical system based on Christianity in the first place, e.g. persecution of minorities is wrong, I’d agree with this, but non-Christian cultures would not necessarily subscribe.
“Imperial” Christianity was at root anti-Christian – this is what happens when politics and power structures pollutes religion. It does not in itself disprove the validity of Christian moral ethics, which I think are rather commendable.

Gold miners are looking very attractive. Underpriced and gold is set for a breakout given the global market turmoil.

Can. Of. Worms.

I couldn’t do it. Good luck to ya. See ya around yeh?!

Beep beep.

beep beep

Trying to make out that Christianity has made the west somehow superior is ridiculous, its only since we shed the ridiculous indoctrinations of the church that our society has improved, yet still it holds us back, see sexual equality, gay marriage, abortion etc etc

:roll: (Im sorry, it must be catching).

Christianity laid the bedrock of Western civilisation, such things like human rights and the importance of the individual have not cropped up in other civilisations for that very reason. I’d recommend you read “Inventing the Individual” by Larry Siedentop an Oxford professor to find more clarity on this issue.

well you think “our” culture is superior to other so you must think their way of live/values/attitudes are inferior to “ours”
It follows that you think you are better than them and they are worse than you. If it is not racism then what do your call your western cultural supremacist view?

It doesn’t actually. At no point did I say a certain race was superior. I said western civilisation is superior, and I would put that down to a number of almost accidental historical events (especially the rise of Christianity).

You do realise this country has always been mixed races/tribe. england is from the german, the celts/picts were natives, the vikings settled. American is a nation built on immigration.

Yes I realise that. Americans tended to have one thing in common: religion. The same went for Britain after the conversion to Christianity.

Those of you who oppose it need to wake up as millions of folk will never be sent home – most of them are brin “here” now anyway so multiculturalism cannot be put back int he bx. Its a global community these days and you need to learn to embrace t rather tyhan sjout at the tide Canute style

I’m not arguing for repatriation. I’m arguing for an end to mass immigration so things can settle down (hopefully) over time. And I see no reason why I should just “accept” global neo-liberalism.

Or you could just try and recognise your cognitive biases and not let them control you – rather than just accepting being an illogical racist?

As the saying goes, I have lots of black/indian/muslim/jewish friends. I don’t consider myself to be a racist, but I do think that race matters to many people, hence why races tend to live in the same areas, marry people from the same race etc. I think to ignore this is politically dangerous.

Anyhow, as someone said on another thread, life’s too short, so I’m off on my bike.

If what you say is true then ‘multicultural’/cosmopolitan’ London must be an actual war zone today. Unlike racially pure countries such as, er…

Yugoslavia was a peaceful nation. Then all hell broke loose along ethnic/tribal divisions.

Weve had 20 years of mass immigration into the UK now. Immigration is the biggest concern of UK voters. I don’t see why saying “let’s just cool it for a while” is so controversial. 8)

China is the concern no doubt. It was Chinese stimulus which pulled the world economy out of recession/depression in 2008. Consequently they’ve ended up with a massive real estate and stock market bubble.
Other than more QE and negative interest rates, the central banks have used every trick in the book.

People tend to remember negative experiences with people of another race much more than they do those of another race, to quite a massive degree.

Grum I think you’ve hit the nail on the head as to why multiculturalism doesn’t work.

Human nature is inherently tribal and by mixing up the races (multicult) you lay the seeds for ethnic conflict.

Yes, that would definitely stop women being sexually assaulted by men.

A Wow! and a :roll:
If you read my posts above, you will find that I am far from Utopian. My main point remains: there are massive issues with Muslim integration in the West, it would be politically prudent to limit if not stop immigration from Muslim countries. The West also has issues, and they won’t be resolved anytime soon.

It’s a market.

But is it? Does the global stock market actually confirm to basic economic principles anymore, given how much manipulation there has been over the last 20 or so years, especially by central banks.
Anyhow, I second your advice re riding, life’s too short.

NickC writes:

There is very strong genetic evidence to show that many many species (not just homo) understand that co-operation and kindness is an heredity and evolutionary advantage that pretty much all life on earth uses. If we’re using Dawkins then you could (fairly in my opnion) lay a significant amount of blame at his door for his work The Selfish Gene, which espouses the moronic viewpoint that you have opined, that somehow we’re at the mercy of our ancestry. It’s bollocks.

This should probably be for a new thread (people – good or bad?), and I don’t want to derail this one. The funny thing about Dawkins is that his picture of the universe and human dna actually confirms quite nicely with (dare I say it) Christianity, in particular its concept of Original Sin (which I would argue was foundational to Western civilisation – St Paul and St Augustine built its foundations through saying that people are rather selfish overall, and need to repent and think less highly of themselves).

The liberal west has been far far too timid in confronting minorities, islam in particular, about its very engrained, misogynistic and potentially abusive, anti-liberal ideas towards women. That needs to change.

Couldn’t agree more Binners. Glad to hear the Wigan lasses put the boot in for Queen and Country too!

But wouldn’t the simplest way to deal with the problem be to stop immigration from Muslim countries?

What, for example, does being pelted with stones by Neds in a park tell you about multiculturalism or the Cologne incident?

It tells me there is an integration problem. This is along with talking to other people and looking at media reports (although I think a lot of the problems are generally underreported).

Some good points above.
I think one of the the thing which messes up a lot of young muslims is the extremity of the difference between their parents traditionalism and the hedonism of contemporary Western culture.
It’s very hard to reconcile the two.

Two options: mtfu or don’t mtb in the british winter.
I choose option 2 these days.

Drop a few of those guys into an average European city on a Friday or Saturday night and they must think they’ve already arrived in Heaven.

They would do well to find 77 virgins!

Education, education, education. Everyone has different stories when it comes to multiculturalism and integration.
A couple of my experiences:
The day after England beat Pakistan in the cricket a few years ago, I was cycling through a park and suddenly got pelted by stones. It was a bunch of young Muslims who’d been drinking all day (I guess you could call that integration?), when I went to confront them it was lucky I was on a bike and could get away quickly, as I doubt I would have escaped without a serious kicking.
When I was teaching at a university again a few years back, we had to split the students into groups. The white female groups were always hassled by the men from a Pakistani background (“stupid whore”, muttered under the breath). This was not I should point out one of the UK’s top unis.
The latter experience in particular is why I’m not surprised about the sexual assaults in Germany (which apparently happened across the country and not just Cologne).

So you’re effectively saying it’s anti-liberal to stick up for liberal beliefs?

Yes, essentially liberalism poisens itself over time; it contains the seeds of its own destruction.

But it is our right to defend our largely liberal beliefs inside the UK (or Germany, France etc) when this appears unduly threatened by outside influence.

There is a great essay by a Polish philosopher called “The Self Poisening of the Open Society”. It argues that liberalism lacks the defense mechanisms to defend itself, particularly on issues such as tolerance and free speech.

Liberalism is the West’s problem. It is based on a false view of human nature (that people are basically good) and results in utopian thinking, such as multiculturalism, which doesn’t actually work. And by culture I mainly mean religion, having a French wife (as suggested above) does not make one a participant in multiculturalism, as the culture of the UK and France are very similar as opposed to the culture of the UK and the Arab world.

However, making massive generalisations and assuming that our culture is always better in every way is hardly very helpful.

OK, now I recognise I am going way off-piste for the socialist republic of singletrackworld, but here goes: our culture is better. I wouldn’t care to live outside of Western civilisation.

I had one at uni from where I ate pizza and drank beer, watched snooker, and lived the life of a slob.
It didn’t improve my core for some reason!

Also, wasn’t it in Cologne where the cathedral turned out its lights in disgust at the Pegida marches?
I’ve no idea what’s happened to Protestantism, it seems to be the same thing as liberalism.
Islam and Christianity have not been the best of friends over the years after all.
But nature abhors a vacuum, and I expect Islam to fill the religious void in Europe in a hundred years time, as its people, institutions, and Christianity dies.
I will end with perhaps the most defeatist statement possible: at least I won’t be around to see it.

If you hadn’t noticed, I never mentioned Britain Continental Europe is the main worry – politically speaking.

There is a temptation for us Brits to think, hard luck Europe.

But I wouldn’t rule out the possibility of Germany or France deciding to give all their troublemakers EU passports, meaning many will be able to enter the UK.

If we vote to get out the EU we might be able to save ourselves, but I don’t see if happening unfortunately.

The problem is no-one will recognise there is a problem. Or they will mislabel it as our problem (we are all racists after all).
Malmo in Sweden has had this problem for years but nobody cares to talk about it.
And does anyone remember Rochdale?
Nothing will happen, I’m afraid. And the most vulnerable in our society will be the ones who suffer.

Do you guys think that the dream of an integrated, socially stable and progressive Europe can survive the next decade?

I think Europe is facing some dark days. The fertility rate among its native populations has been below replacement levels for a long time. The economy seems permanently stuck in recession in the south. The migration crisis will most likely lead to a return to politically left or right extreme parties, resulting in the rise of ethno-nationalism and the collapse of the union.

Anyone rememver the euphoria of 1989 and the collapse of the Berlin Wall? Seems a different age now.

If you are going for four nights and want to do and see a lot of attractions, then Rome would be top of my list.
Seville is great but a lot smaller. I would find the other cities too cold at this time of year but each to their own.
Lisbon is massively overrated IMO.

Just taken a look at Jedi’s twitter account – if there was ever a man with lots of motivation, it’s him!

Motivation, Motivation, Motivation – the three Ms!
I had it in spades when at school as I had a dream of going to uni.
My problem is, I don’t have any dreams left to pursue. I’ve done pretty much all I wanted to do, so the next forty or so years are going to go very slowly indeed.

I agree with Big Dave. Office jobs are the pits.

Last night I had a dream about turning up to school and being told I’d already missed one A-level exam and another one was just about to start – but I’d done no work and no revision.

I have the same dream on a regular basis, except I’m also a grown adult in the dream (my school clothes hardly fit me).
Maybe you need to look for a new job.

Survive.
Ride more.
Get cash coming in.

Six months ago I was in a very good place, a job I enjoyed, good set of friends, money coming in.
That has all collapsed in the last two months and I’m not looking forward to 2016.
So what do I want? I guess a change in fortunes.

Not gone out on xmas or new years eve for many years now. Just stay in with some beers and junk food, happy enough with that.