That’s not what you said. You made a fairly offensive racial slur.

Indeed. The mask is starting to slip.

18 months ago Israel was close to civil war

Nope. People were exercising their rights to protest against the government, as they continue to do in huge numbers although Channel 4 won’t be broadcasting that I guess. But civil war? That’s just a fantasy unless you can provide any evidence.

It is a nation brought up on bigotry which increases with every new generation. It isn’t just hatred against Palestinians but also hatred against each other

This sounds very much like rhetoric used elsewhere to paint an entire group of people as somehow “lesser” than others; “they hate everyone including themselves, that’s not normal, that’s not an acceptable human trait”.

the mass exodus of Israelis to the West

With a net migration rate less than half that of the UK per 1000, totalling around 60000 in 2023, I’m not sure that counts as “mass exodus”. I wonder what drove people to leave last year…?

most of Israel’s energy needs come from coal

Nope. They’ve been more than self sufficient in natural gas for a while now. They’ve got so much gas they’ve been exporting to neighbouring countries for the last 4½ years. That’s half the reason Hamas attacked last year – Israel was becoming useful to neighbouring Arab nations and Iran did not like that one bit.

A dwindling population and a dwindling economy

Average population growth greater than 1.5%, GDP growth 1.6% in first half of 2024.

“Dwindling” – adjective – gradually diminishing in size, amount, or strength.

It’s almost as if you type what you wish were true instead of what is.

You’re right on the religious being deluded and the Middle East exporting oil regardless though. A broken clock, etc.

Everyone posts these things as though Israel is acting on a whim with no external stimuli.

Why are they targeting those places? Because Hamas are using them as staging points for rocket attacks, acts which themselves both constitute a war crime and strip those places of protected status.

Refusing aid? You mention nothing of Hamas confiscating the aid that gets through, or attacking the agencies in Gaza that try to distribute it. There are dozens of trucks delivering aid to the Gaza side of the Kerem Shalom crossing every day but it just sits there rotting.

Why are they moving people? Because Hamas are entrenched within the camps and moving them is better than bombing them.

You’ve made the point that there are awful things happening there, and I absolutely agree. Many of those things could and should be argued as falling under the term “crimes against humanity”. But crimes against humanity and genocide are separate things, and that’s my point. Conflating everything into genocide, as horrific as some of those things are, chips away at the meaning of genocide – the absolute worst crime. And normalising it now means it’ll be easier to say the next conflict is genocide, and the next, and the next. And there’ll come a point where an unfortunate incidence of collateral damage will be labelled genocide, and suddenly everyone will be all “what are the Ugyurs/Rohingyas/Jews/Armenians moaning about – genocide? It was just an accident”.

The actual meaning is “the deliberate killing of a large number of people from a particular nation or ethnic group with the aim of destroying that nation or group.”

Are they deliberately killing people? Yes. Are those people from a particular nation or ethnic group? Yes. Do they want to destroy that nation or ethnic group? They want to destroy Hamas, not Palestinians.

The more important truth is that useful idiots take what’s happening in Gaza and use it to dilute the actual meaning of the word “genocide” to the point where it’ll be used incorrectly to describe every conflict from this point onwards, forevermore diminishing the impact of true genocides, past, present and – god forbid – future. Whether or not this is purposeful is another question.

To be perfectly clear: I believe there are acts being committed by the IDF that are unconscionable – I’m in no way saying they are beyond reproach. But from the broader spectrum of media I’m exposed to than the average Brit, and with direct knowledge of what’s going on over here, I do not believe Israel is actively and purposefully committing genocide against the Palestinians.

Absolutely. I’m fully aware of who the ICC wants to arrest and why, and I think they should all face trial. Granted that ship has sailed for Haniyeh and “Deif” but it’s hardly a controversial opinion.

Hinting that calling a Sinwar a terrorist is unfair as I said it just because I don’t like him on the other hand…

And I heartily approve of the same.

Where “terrorist” is roughly translated as “someone I don’t like”.

I mean you could use it like that, because it’s true: I don’t like people for whom the ICC have requested arrest warrants relating war crimes and crimes against humanity. And have claimed suicide bomb attacks and promised more.

But plain “terrorist” works just as well.

Am I to infer that you wouldn‘t use the term “terrorist” to describe Hamas members?

Poor Hamas, eh? It’s almost like being absolute ratbastard terrorists puts a target on your back.

Netanyahu and his goon squad of thugs have zero intention of negotiating in good faith

In stark contrast to the good faith Hamas have shown in refusing to attend, rejecting the US deal, then claiming a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv and saying more are on the way.

The eldest has one, and the youngest plays too. The must-haves based on a 11yo and 7yo (and 45yo dad…) are Super Mario Odyssey (honestly one of the best games ever made), Mario Kart 8, Mario Party Superstars, Mario Wonder, Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Human Fall Flat and Luigi’s Mansion.

Is that a rusty Mazda joke ?

No, it’s because a year ago submariner was concerned that a seasucker might open up the roof like a can opener.

Glad to see the fear subsided :D

Roof not peeled open like a tin can then?

E – nothing now but had some buffalo wings and salad for tea

D – some kind of peach flavoured iced tea

L – Pokey Lafarge

As far as I understand it the insurance should put you in the position you were in before the loss. That position was owning a used bike.

If I had a 1990 Ford Fiesta and it got nicked, should the insurers be obliged to provide me with a brand new 2024 Fiesta?

Not true, most obviously in the case of the Law of Return.

Why would a member of of Israel’s 26+% non-Jewish population need to invoke the Right To Return? They’re already citizens.

And Arab residents of Jerusalem are not even allowed citizenship.

Not true, the 1952 Citizenship Law allows them to.

I’m sure you can find plenty of things to bash Israel with that are true. You don’t have to make shit up.

And if you like hard French techno, pretty much anything by KAS:ST is accompanied by amazing video

Sugar Water by Cibo Matto. The video is truly ace, with the added bonus of the song being a stone cold 90s chillout classic

For an artistically beautiful one, Lilac Wine by The Cinematic Orchestra is pretty good

There’s no sane reading of != that says “well they wrote the shorthand for ‘not equal to’ so it’s crystal clear they mean ‘is definitely equal to’ ”

This is why I can only stomach this thread once every few weeks. You’re off your rockers, some of you

I think you need to review the meaning of the != symbol Ernie…

And yes, no one here actually said anything anti-semitic but surely you can see how comments like that are pushing it and could be taken badly by anyone

The term you’re looking for is dog whistle.

Oh here we go again :yawn:

Quite easily to be honest.

In contrast I’m guessing by the above you must have held the entire British population accountable for the Conservative government’s many, many forays into cruel performative politics, such as the Rwanda bill, the Bibby Stockholm refugee barge, and every other disastrous policy enactment they made?

I’d be interested to know the precise thinking and meaning behind “obvious reasons”.

And yes, I’m pro-Israeli. Just as I’m pro-Palestinian, pro-Lebanese, etc. because I’m capable of separating a people from the actions of its government/defence force/militias. I think you’ll struggle to find anything I’ve said on this thread that suggests the opposite, at least without presenting any of my posts sans the context in which they were made.

You can try as much as you want to paint Haniyeh as some poor unfortunate “negotiator” caught in the crossfire, but had he still been alive the ICC would have an arrest warrant out for him, for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Would I prefer him to have been tried in a court and punished accordingly? Yes. Am I losing any sleep over him no longer being around? No.

You’re completely misreading what I’m saying Ernie.

I’m not saying any particular news should be silenced, I haven’t advocated for concentrating instead on Tommy Robinson and his ilk, and you’re very much mistaken in thinking I would prefer this thread to be closed or inactive – for “obvious reasons”* or otherwise. I just said that if your train of thought is sending you down the nuclear war route then given the anxiety that will likely follow it might be an idea to take a step back and think about nicer things.

*You seem to think I’m either Jewish, Israeli , supportive of what’s happening in Gaza in particular and Israel/Palestine as a whole, or some other combination of traits that means I’m pro-IDF/anti-Palestinian. I’m none of those things. I’m just an ordinary Yorkshireman that happens to work in an industry where my current worksite places me very, very, very close to what’s happening over here.

No playing down of the severity from me – I’m sat on an official Hezbollah/Hamas/Houthis target as we speak so the reality of the situation is very much front and centre.

But for folk back in the UK I guess it’s less immediate and constantly flitting between threads like this and all the war porn “BREAKING!” news stories probably doesn’t put anyone in a good headspace.

It seems an attack is inevitable now, but at least sections of the Israeli government are starting impress on others the need for de-escalation and accepting ceasefire proposals. Whether or not Bibi takes that advice is another matter. Highly unlikely unfortunately.

There’s absolutely no possibility of that barring one single exception: Israel has a doctrine called “The Samson Option”, in which they’ll only consider a nuclear launch if much of the country has already fallen and they are facing total defeat. There’s enough US/EU/Israeli military capacity in the immediate vicinity to deter anyone from seriously trying.

Yes, it’s pretty **** spicy here in the Middle East at the moment but there’s no need to go down an anxiety rabbit hole imagining WW3 is about to start. Take some time away from the news and focus on something closer to home. Maybe not the morons and their race riots though.

I did something similar, although it was about 6 months in when I paid it off outright.

Not sure it was all that much cheaper than buying outright, if it all, but I wanted a cheap-ish way of running the car for a while before fully committing so it worked for me.

I’m guessing the seller gets extra commission for you taking out credit?

https://x.com/Acyn/status/1817007890496102490

Yikes!

Can you imagine a candidate in any other (sensible) country saying this and not being immediately binned?

Given the high school here finishes at 1pm on a Wednesday and Friday and the youngest kids there will be 11, I reckon that’s round about the age where it is socially acceptable for a kid to be in the house on their own.

Accordingly my 11yo has started being left on his own, occasionally, for half an hour or so beginning a couple of months ago.

Back off to work tomorrow for a few weeks of enforced rehab, only seems right to have a shandy or two today.

Unable to upload a picture, I’m thinking OP has bittern off more than he can chew starting this thread

there must have been a reasonable number of normal people who had their holiday plans thoroughly messed up that day. Astonishingly selfish

But isn’t that the whole point though? When the effects of climate change are finally front and centre and cannot be ignored, nobody will be able to go on holiday. Same as the “destruction” of art they get up to – who’s going to give two hoots about a painting of some sunflowers when the central third of the planet is practically uninhabitable and the rest of the world needs to make room for another ~4 billion people.

They’re giving us a tiny glimpse of the least consequential effects of climate change over the next couple of decades to come and it’s going over 99.9% of everyone’s head.

Another recommendation for Language Transfer. Learning Spanish with the app is very easy although it is spoken only, no written. I switched from the Bola Di Niege program which was ok but I was progressing slowly with that.

I also have Duolingo which is ok for what it is but as said above it’s pretty much a flash card app with a few bells and whistles.

Gavin Newsom might be a decent replacement. Seems well regarded as California governor and he’s about as moderate as it gets in US politics so shouldn’t be as polarising for the democratic voters as someone like Bernie Sanders.

Also young enough to switch the “he’s too old” arguement squarely back on Trump, not that Trump’s worshippers bother themselves with such trivialities as consistency in their opinions.

Just like they did with the e-Mustang. Pure rage-bait for petrolheads.

I could be mistaken but I was under the impression the Mustang Mach E was made to halve the emissions of the “Mustang” model range, thus allowing the sale of the V8 in Europe. Also helps that it’s a pretty good car in its own right.

So with this Polestar wannabe is there potentially a “warm” Capri coming in the near future?

Not typical scenic mountaineous Scotland but how about the East Neuk or NE Fife? Plenty to do round us, our village has a fantastic pub/restaurant, a few nice countryside walks from the door and plenty more within 15 mins drive. Kingsbarns, Eden Mill and Lindores Abbey distilleries all within 1/2 hour.

Stop wallowing in self pity, get off your arse and go and vote. There are many countries where people can’t vote, use your vote.

Agreed. The correct thing to do, if you’re so disheartened, is to spoil your ballot. Not voting when you have the ability to means you can’t rightfully be annoyed about anything that happens under the next parliament.

Get out there TJ and make your voice heard.

People queuing out the door at our little village voting station. Never seen it that busy.

I was one of those who didn’t get their postal vote and I had to drive 20 miles and wait an hour to get a replacement voting pack. The place was only open until 5pm – what about the (I’m assuming) thousands that can’t get out of work or don’t have the means to get to the single place in our county to pick up their vote pack?

I guess it depends on what deal you get on the day. I’m now driving a car I always wanted but never thought I’d own purely on the back of a stupidly cheap PCP deal. Still no idea how it made sense to the finance company and I certainly don’t feel conned. I guess it depends on your idea of what constitutes a good deal, for me that was Toyota in Warrington giving me a Mustang for £308/month over 4 years when everyone else was quoting £800+/month. List price was £34k, I paid £4k up front, final payment was to be ~£20k.

Ended up buying it outright after a year once I’d figured out it was a keeper, but PCP was still a comparatively cheap route into a relatively fancy car.