Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ

An interesting take on Spain and football helping to overcome its fascist past.

As various Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ programmes have shown the wounds of the terrible civil war and its aftermath are still apparent today.

The good thing is that there is nobody who is promoting National Socialism in Spain today as it has been refuted on almost every level.

So hopefully football can help the culture reunite and remove any lingering worry that they may be duped into accepting the absurdities of an ideology that was as Bertrand Russell said no more than replacement monarchists.

On the tragic loss of three soldiers in Afghanistan I have to say that even as somebody who has been steadfast in his support of the war in general morale does not seem to have been lifted by the latest initiatives and this loss hands the Talibs a victory.

I assume that the attacks on the air bases recently were hardly likely to succeed but were intended to impact psychologically in a war of attrition.

Therefore I don't think that anybody can say that things are going well.

There does seem to be better coordination with the Pakistanis but it still sounds a long way from ideal and I gather the CIA and the ISI still remain deeply distrustful of each other - but probably they are supposed to feel like that.

Perhaps as suggested by the Beeb the causes will turn out to be mundane and due to some local grievance or maybe even friendly fire.

Petraeus has his work cut out and the militia's idea of harnessing local groups may be better than training people who could be the enemy. But then is this a toothpaste tube solution where tribalism and warlords are encouraged and the long term stability of the country is reduced making future extremists more likely to be able to prosper in the future?

The border still seems too porous and I may be naive but I would have thought drones and AWAC's and satellites would allow pretty good coverage and interception of insurgents despite the vast and harsh terrain. I have said before if there is a Ho Chi Minh trail of caves and paths where you can be confident the users are insurgents then you don't want to be bloody for the sake of it but these probably are the hard core and could be hit. How many IED trainers come in from Pakistan?

The whole Obama approach was AfPak and its not clear to me that even allowing for the need for low key cooperation that the Pakistan aspect of the strategy really appreciates that if the allies pull out it does not become all sweetness and light for Pakistan.

They are getting regular bombings and assassinations and to a lay outsider who does not appreciate regional tensions Talib influence is growing.

But I seem to recall Clinton and Biden have been there stressing the common goals and the fact that the allies don't want a neo-imperialistic relationship.

A separate query is where do the Talibs get their munitions these days - from our convoys, the Iranian route or Pakistan?

three more brave young men dead....do we care?....obviously not BRING THEM HOME.....all flag waving empire builders can take their place.....

The Silly buoy who's not afloat called Moat has scuppered hiself

AAhh didums

the plod have cost you how much? and now they have 7? people in custody how much is that lot going 2 cost YOU

A friend in Need is A A Pest B A Friend in Need

On Budds views I was hoping that the double dip was a theoretical possibility that was unlikely to kick in.

I assume that any potential sovereign debt crisis is considered separately though liquidity issues could cause an interaction of factors. Perhaps that could be made clear as I wonder whether a deteriorating economy (should that happen) combined with Libor issues over sovereign debt could cause a double dip that would not have happened otherwise.

Also I wonder about the future of housing and whether economists agree that house prices, that have just dipped again and could be on the low side for some time, need to be better controlled in future.

How will that happen?

PWC say "our econometric analysis suggests that an unanticipated future fall in house prices could have a significant impact in dampening the speed of the recovery in consumer spending in the medium term."

At the other pole is the spectre of sub-prime mortgages and excessive lending.

3 more Dead,how many Fronts do our People have 2 Fight.

stupid numptys at home and abroad

I take it the ira's T Brake is over.

ever so glad I dont pay tax (only an idiot would?)

"Newly published election spending figures show Sarah Palin ended the last quarter with a war chest of more than $1m, suggesting gathering momentum for a run at the White House in 2012."

In etrms of objective ability to be President she would not be able to compete with Obama on any level but rhetoric. However with a couple of wars and a ruined economy to rebuild, leaking oil wells, a carbon shortfall, trade imbalances with China and so on and so on losing is feasible.

Does this mean the breakup of Nato - something the old Soviet Union failed to achieve in the Cold War.

If she truly believes that the Europeans with state healthcare are socialists who are pushing on communists then the Bush neo-Cons will seem like well balanced blood brothers and sisters.

The issue I am driving at is she seems to be prepared to say almost anything for the domestic audience and that then may set her, and the US, on a ludicrous diversion that could set back Western diplomatic relationships for decades.

With a weak Euro and new scepticism about the EU as a consequence could all of the positives that come from cooperation be lost in a heartbeat.

But on balance I would guess that the US will remain sensible and Obama will win should Palin emerge as the prime candidate for the Reppublicans.

Still worth a piece on Palins external focus Newsnight?

#7 I take it the ira's T Brake is over. Let's hope not Allan, or it will be bombs to the left of us and bombs to the right.

But then one mans terrorist is another mans freedom fighter.

neun, FreeDom is in the Mind.

Bombing INnoScencs for freedom is not what I would Call Freedom.

2 many sheep = Very Blind Faith?

.

10
FreeDom is in the Mind.

tell that to people in gulags. freedom does not drop out the sky as a natural condition of mankind. it has to be chosen and defended. look at the examples of somalia etc. In India the majority of districts are in maoist hands.

The future for UK?

...California is tightening faster than Greece. State workers have seen a 14pc fall in earnings this year due to forced furloughs. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is cutting pay for 200,000 state workers to the minimum wage of $7.25 an hour to cover his $19bn (Β£15bn) deficit.

Can Illinois be far behind? The state has a deficit of $12bn and is $5bn in arrears to schools, nursing homes, child care centres, and prisons. "It is getting worse every single day," said state comptroller Daniel Hynes. "We are not paying bills for absolutely essential services.

Republicans on Capitol Hill are filibustering a bill to extend the dole for up to 1.2m jobless facing an imminent cut-off. Dean Heller from Nevada called them "hobos". This really is starting to feel like 1932. ..



cue Steinbeck and twangy guitar.

i watched a recent lecture at Yale called 'Is It Over Yet?' that suggests the next sequence of the crisis is the 'political crisis' [after the bank then government debt crises] as politicians look for ways to pay for it.

[if you want to avoid the initial welcome waffle go forward 5 mins or so.]

..the ancient civil liberties that should be synonymous with the name of our country."



bit of myth making there. what ancient civil liberties? Its still illegal to say anyone other than the monarch could be head of state? we are fighting to give afghans a greater level of democratic rights than we have? Are we lesser mortals than afghans to be denied the same scope of democracy? Why are we inferiors to Afghan and Iraqi?

our national oath, flag and anthem have nothing of civil liberties about them. They are about protecting the privilege of one family. Which in effect makes the people who want human rights and democracy for all the enemies of the State?

The history of the uk is the theft of ancient rights a point noted by Sir Thomas Moore in 1516 when he wrote about land being enclosed by the ruling classes for sheep farming that gave rise to vagrancy [becoming homeless] which was a crime. From 1549 agrarian revolts swept all over the nation as people tried to reclaim their 'ancient rights'. In the Newton Rebellion 8 June 1607 40-50 were killed and the ringleaders hanged and quartered.

An anonymous protest poem from the 17th century summed up the anti-enclosure feeling:

They hang the man, and flog the woman,
That steals the goose from off the common;
But let the greater villain loose,
That steals the common from the goose.

The uk need a written constitution and a bill of rights. Not nebulous myth making.

AS PER USUAL, NO DOUBT THERE WILL BE GREAT, IN-DEPTH, OBJECTIVE & INFORMATIVE-COVERAGE BY THE Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ REGARDING THE 'AFGHANISTAN ISSUES' BY Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ NEWSNIGHT, BUT OVER HERE IN NORTH AMERICA, RESIDENTS WILL BE SUBJECTED TO THE SHALLOW, ENTERTAINMENT-FOCUSED TRIPE THAT IS PASSED OFF AS CURRENT-EVENTS/'NEWS'' REPORTING!!!...

THE Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ OUGHT TO DEVELOP A 'NORTH AMERICAN VERSION OF 'MONDAY-FRIDAY', LIVE-BROADCAST NEWSNIGHT FOR ITS ''GLOBAL' TV CHANNELS LIKE Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ NEWS WORLD & Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ PRIME...

FOLLOWING THE SAME FORMATS AND BROADCAST METHODS AS THE UK VERSION,
A 'NEWSNIGHT NORTH AMERICA' COULD COMPETE SUCCESSFULLLY WITH SIMILAR GENERE NORTH AMERICA-PRODUCED PROGRAMMES- AND WOULD AT LEAST PARTIALLY FILL THE HUGE GAP CREATED LAST YEAR BY THE Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ PROGRAMMING IPLAYER SO ITS VIDEO FUNCTIONS DON'T WORK OUTSIDE OF THE UK...
----------------

ON ANOTHER NOTE:

WHY AREN'T Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ WORLD NEWS, Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ PRIME & OTHER Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ 24-HOUR TV CHANNELS THAT ARE BROADCAST WORLD-WIDE AVAILABLE IN 'HIGH DEFINITION' (HD)/ WIDE-SCREEN??

Unlike many of its international competitors, Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World News- the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ's 24-hour news, business, current events and social issue documentary TV channel is not available in High Definition (HD) world-wide.... WHY???

'Wide-screen'/High Definition TV/video is rapidly becoming the defacto TV/video broadcast standard in both developed- and developing- countries, while the obsolescent, letter box 'standard definition' TV broadcast formats are rapidly being phased out world-wide...

How can the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ retain its qualitative lead in TV/video news, current events and social issue documentary programming if its broadcasts world-wide are relegated to obsolescent, NOT CUTTING EDGE standards??

Which cable, satellite (and other) TV service providers (outside of the UK) can be expected to choose the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ's TV offerings if these cable and satellite TV service providers have to choose between the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ's 'Standard Definition' low-tech, obsolescent-quality TV feeds or the high tech, High Definition feeds available in ever increasing amounts from ever increasing numbers of TV/video broadcasters world-wide??

WHY, AT LEAST IN NORTH AMERICA, ARE THE Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ'S GLOBAL TV CHANNELS- LIKE Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ WORLD NEWS NOT AVAILABLE WITH ON-SCREEN, CLOSED CAPTIONING FEEDS SO THAT VIEWERS COULD READ RESPECTIVE PROGRAMMES' DIALOGUE??

U.S., Canadian & other countries' TV media companies- such as CNN, MSNBC, CBS, NBC, ABC, UPN, CTV, CBC, BLOOMBERG- whose broadcasts are widely available in North America- send closed captioning feeds with ALL of their programmes...

Doesn't competent, effective marketing and promotion strategy demand that the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ also does this??



_________________
Roderick V. Louis,
Vancouver, BC, Canada

Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ WORLD NEWS & OTHER Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ 'GLOBAL' TV CHANNELS (& Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ radio) NEED BETTER PROMOTION WORLD-WIDE!!

PART 2:

The news, business, current events and social/human interest programmes offered by the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ's Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World News TV channel and by other Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ 'global' TV channels are sooo good, major newspaper and printed-TV-schedule publishers 'refuse' to review-in-print their individual programmes...

On a daily and weekly basis, upcoming TV programmes are reviewed ad nauseum in hard-copy print, in free and in paid-for newspapers and magazines- across Canada and the U.S.:

- USA Today: ;

- Tribune:

-

- ;

- Canwest Global: ;

- Bell Globe Media: [Unsuitable/Broken URL removed by Moderator]

- Sun Media:

-

- ;

-

- ...)

Problem is: Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World News' & other Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ 'global' TV channels' excellent-quality, often incomparably informative news and business programmes along with their leading-edge, thoughtful-discussion generating current affairs/social & human interest programmes such as: World Debate, World Business Report, Doha debates, Intelligence Squared Debate, Earth Report, Dateline London, Newsnight, Reporters, This Week, Click, FastTrack, HardTalk, Our World, Peschardt's People, Peschardt's Business People, Asia Today, My Country, Heritage Heroes, Russia Business Report, Bottom Line, Ethical Man, Middle East Business Report... are not EVER reviewed before or after-broadcast in-print,

AND

IN MOST NEWSPAPERS AND MAGAZINES CONTAINING TV SCHEDULES- THAT ARE MARKETED/GIVEN AWAY FREE ACROSS THE U.S. & CANADA- THE Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ WORLD NEWS TV CHANNEL IS NOT LISTED!!....

Is this by accidental oversight of newspaper and magazine TV schedule publishers' editors and reporters??

How (in U.S. and Canada's newspapers and magazines) could the omission of reviews of individual Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World News'excellent, unrivaled-in-quality-and-depth programmes be accidental??... especially when one considers that- at least in Canada- in ALL major cities and geographic market areas, the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World News's TV channel is offered by cable TV service providers very 'low' in their TV channel line-ups', IE below channel # 40 (out of often well over 400 channels offered)... and usually within two or three channels of CNN and other relatively 'similar' category 'competitor' channels??

Cable TV schedules for ALL medium sized and major cities and geographic market areas are hard-copy published across the U.S. and Canada on a daily and weekly basis.

These schedules typically cover over 100 separate TV channels for each day. The Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ's Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World News TV channel is receivable- and is widely available- in these cities and geographic market areas through cable, satellite and other means...

In the U.S. and to a greater degree, in Canada's major cities- Newspaper & local TV broadcaster newsrooms, as a matter of standard-practise, keep several TVs on at all times- each tuned to separate 24-hour news channels such as Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World News, MSNBC and CNN...

Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World News and other 'global' Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ TV channels and their (often) incomparable for depth and high-quality breaking-news coverage and other types of programmes ARE well known, albeit silently appreciated by journalists and editors across the U.S. and Canada-

Indeed, Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World News's breaking news and business coverage is not infrequently 'surreptitiously' used for tip-off and providing background functions by newspapers and TV news broadcast companies across Canada and the U.S....

What is the solution?

Quitting or trying harder- even if this means spending a little creatively applied money for purposes such as advertising and paying Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ employees/representatives to get the word out to the average resident of Canada and the U.S. about the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ and its pretty much unchallenged-in-quality TV (and radio) programmes??:

WHAT DUTIES COULD Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ EMPLOYEES/REPRESENTATIVES BE ASSIGNED?:

1) DIPLOMATICALLY LOBBY/INFORM U.S. & CANADA NEWSPAPER & MAGAZINE EDITORS, REPORTERS, OWNERS AND PUBLISHERS ABOUT THE Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ AND ITS Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ WORLD NEWS & OTHER 'GLOBAL' TV CHANNELS & THEIR UPCOMING PROGRAMMES; AND

2) PROVIDE FREE, PRE-WRITTEN 'REVIEWS' AND VIDEO COPIES OF UPCOMING Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ WORLD NEWS's PROGRAMMES- IN ADVANCE OF PARTICULAR PROGRAMMES' BROADCAST- TO U.S. & CANADA NEWSPAPER AND MAGAZINE PUBLISHERS, REPORTERS, EDITORS...


______________
Roderick V. Louis,
Vancouver, BC, Canada

So the eco-fascist lobby working in the interest of big pharma have got the pilot badger cull stopped in west Wales on appeal. Eco-fascist leaning rock celebrity Brian May on Ch4 news pushing expensive vaccination, whilst small farmers business plans are crippled by movement restrictions. Its all part of a corporate ethnic cleansing plan to make small farms uneconomic, and force traditional farming families off their land.

Not many parts of the UK more attractive than west Wales for those who wish the live the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ dream to " Escape to the Country ". The property speculators must be hovering frothing at the mouth on the prospect of small country eco-units to do up and sell. The large landowners wont care either, a chance to cash in on their building assets whilst renting out the rest of the land as ranches. The whole point is that if nobody allows even a pilot cull we may never find out whether a cull actually works for cutting TB in Cattle, but then these were probably the same ilk of judges who let convicted foreign criminals remain in the UK ?

PERHAPS THAT SOLDIER HAD READ CHURCHILL ON THE SUBJECT OF INVASION?

"we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender"

The 9/11 lie is exposed but not admitted. Dave only supports the invasion because he cannot (politically) do otherwise and HONOUR IS NOT AN OPTION.
Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practise to deceive.

#13: good one for may - and another good one for the Tories.

lets hope though it won't end up in a similar stitch-up as the "electoral reform" package has so obviously been, and the Health reforms have the potential to be.

and the disastrous Education reforms.


will she also be reviewing the Criminal justice Act, that legally prevents more than 3 people enjoying music in public that has "repetitive beats"? Along with the rest of the Civil Liberties removals that were in the CJA, brought in under the last Tory Govt (and part written by B'Liar)?

is the guest Mandela? I'd be interested to hear *his* opinions on what can be done in Afghanistan.

2 of the ones

Its/Tis in/on my Mind............don't get caught

perhaps you have 2 catch it, I have caught quite A lot, V.D. very distressing...for some

join the British Army Fight for other peoples Freedoms, thats what THEY do you no

ONE 'RENEGADE' AND THE REST QUISLINGS - WHAT AN ARMY.

When we leave, the peace will be deafening.

Now we know the identity of a certain lonely poster on here...

Jon Gaunt loses legal battle over 'Nazi' jibe


It is no less than one Jon Gaunt of TalkSport fame...you know...the sort of person that resorts to calling a person a Nazi, without any foundation...though who has on this occasion, foolishly surfaced from their cowardly anonymity...

It must surely take a lot of guts, to accuse person(s), who post under their real name, of being a Nazi...or sympathasing with their ilk, whilst cowardly posting under a psuedonym.

"You should also know that we have a very important and influential guest lined up to give his reaction."

I thought McCain lost the election ..... 'influential'? I think not!
He's still his father's son and this is what William Shawcross said
about McCain Senior in Vietnam and Cambodia:

'In the Pentagon McCaine was known, beccause of his maps, as the 'Big
Red Arrow Man' and both generals and journalists spoke with mingled awe and amusement of 'McCain's claws'. Nixon apparently was impressed when McCain unfurled for him a map of Cambodia with half the country already stained red and the dreaded claw reaching south and west beyond Phnom Penhn and on toward Thailand. Cambodia must be saved, cried the Admiral, the President must act decisively.' 'Sideshow: Kissinger, Nixon and the Destruction of Cambodia' William Shawcross 1979.

33 years later - different country - different generation - same message?
I would much rather trust Mark Urban's instinct that with withdrawal of
foreign troops, levels of violence might drop dramatically as happened after the Russians withdrew ....

Thanks, Kirsty, for giving us a snippet of Mandelson's book. Some more of the headlines would have been preferable.

Interesting choice of interview guests for the foreign affairs items broadcast tonight.

There was:

a former British Army officer

a former CIA agent
& John McCain!

Truth be told an awfully narrow spectrum of opinion.

WILL WESTMINSTER EVER GET BEYOND OUR KEN AND HIS ILK?

Kenneth Clarke - the man who put the "bleh bleh bleh" into 'blether' - has declared prison-number-rise and reduction in crime, unconnected.
Tobacco Baron Ken, also saw no connection between the number of tobacco addicts - sick and dying from their entrapment - as unconnected with BAT advertising and sale of cigarettes. (Like criminals, smokers made a simple choice to ruin their lives - apparently.)

Clarke sees a link between prosperity and criminality, but fails to see the link between BAT profit and hospital admissions.

This is just the sort of clear, conducive-to-the-good, thinking that we need in governance. And Clarke is yet another example of the (un)kind of person that is attracted to (and thrives in) the unhealthy Palace of Westminster.

Oh - it's all going awfully well.

HHhhmmmm does this /news/10611398 mean that all the veil wearing women will now move to Britain?

They have every right to as they are european.

HOW IS THAT EU PARAMILITARY FORCE DOING? (#26)

When chaos breaks out in UK, because we have nurtured every possible difference-based tension, does the EU have the right (under 'Lisbon') to turn up here and take charge?

I wonder if we would turn on them - as invaders?

PART 3:

Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio buisiness and other catagories of Podcasts: why don't newsreaders and programme hosts on the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ's 'Global' TV channels- such as 'Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World News' and 'Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Prime' - refer to them??

Re Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio Podcasts and their promotion:

What could possibly be detrimental for the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ, its customers or the UK's global profile for, for exampleΒι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World News's newsreaders and its (business, technology and other topic) programme hosts to mention Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio Podcasts regularly??

For example, putting a plug in for Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio Podcasts that focus on business issues such as:

- 'Business Daily': /worldservice/business/2009/03/000000_business_daily.shtml or

- 'World Business News' or

- 'The Bottom Line' or

- 'Peter Day's World of Business' and 'Business Weekly'

... would sync well with Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World News's 'World Business Report', 'Asia Business Report', 'Middle East Business Report', 'Russia Business Report' and other business-focused TV programmes with a tag line like:

"if you miss an edition of Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World News's 'World Business Report' (Asia Business Report, etc), or perhaps need to catch up on the day's business news, but haven't the time to sit down in front of a TV- why not try downloading one of Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio's business-topic Podcasts and listening to this on your morning run or on the exercise bike? Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio Business and other Podcasts can be found at:

/podcasts/ ..."

or:

"... need to catch up on the week's most important business news?? Try downloading one of Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio's Podcasts like 'Business Weekly' and listening on your weekend bike-ride, at the beach or watching your children's football matches..."

Why could the same approach/promotional-angle not be used for Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio news-topic Podcasts like 'Global News', and 'NewsPod' by having these Podcasts mentioned/referred to during or at the end of Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World News TVs hourly news bulletins??

Similarly, why could the same approach/promotional-angle not be used for Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio science/technology/environment-topic Podcasts like: 'One Planet', 'Science in Action', 'Discovery' and 'Digital Planet' and have these Podcasts mentioned/ referred to during and at the end of Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World News TVs 'Click', 'Earth Report', 'One Planet' and similar programmes??


_________________
Roderick V. Louis,
Vancouver, BC, Canada

I want our boys and girls back home

Peace when they leave mmm sort of

They (the turdsuban) would take women in 2 footie stadiums and BANG
Are you listening to Music..BANG
You dont do as we tell you BANG
You not wearing the veil Bang
What you doing outside Bang
You girl are you going to School Bang
Are you shopping Bang
did you just Fart BANG
Are you arguing with me BANG
You will let me rape you and then BANG
You will grow heroin so we can poison the infidel or Bang
BANG BANG BANG
Nice Init

Brain Dead Morons in this country Support the above..Aye Dont Support Them.

AH YOU Pay Tax So YOU Support Them

D.S.Solution grow your own Poppys.

@ Ecolizzy #26 - it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest.

#25: there has been a fall in crime across Europe during the same period (why, who knows?), and our European neighbours have NOT enormously expanded their prison populations.

i read recently that a survivor from one of the more brutal Public schools said of his time in the worst Iranian prison in the 30s, that compared to his schooling it was childs-play.

the same is somewhat true of today's youths from bad estates - compared to their normal lives, prison really isn't much of a scare, and they never expected to get jobs anyway. Wasting money on imprisoning these people, instead of investing to give them a choice for a better future, seems silly. Ken, and i have some REALLY ungnawed bones to chew with him, made the good call on this one.

as for tobacco - so you want to expand the 'War on Drugs' even further? Being something in favour of Liberty myself, i would rather say the Govt should butt its nose out of what Adults freely do, even if it causes them harm.

i certainly support the ban on advertising the disgusting products though!

#26: UK muslims did not move to France when the UK Govt decided it could lock up Muslims without giving any causes or legal rights to them - i suspect the possibility of being deported to face torture, or locked up almost indefinitely without access to lawyers, are worse than not being allowed to wear the veil.

the French are just imbeciles - what have they GAINED from this ban? All they have done is isolate and alienate their Muslim minority religion. Plus, they have now written into Law that the Govt has the right to decide what a French citizen can wear in their daily lives. But then, the French never really grasped the basic tenets of Liberalism, too busy with their coffee-culture dialectics, reactionary/revolutionary fervours.

could it be possible the French adore rioting so much, there is a hidden consensus amongst the entire French Society that they should inspire it as much as possible?? Its hard to come to any other conclusions sometimes...

#27: if Belgium fell into severe civil disorder, wouldn't you want to send UK troops to help with the situation? As to whether we would oppose them - no.1 Its very hard to oppose armed troops when there is no access to weapons, no.2, it would probably depend how they behaved, and why they specifically came.

lets imagine the EU sent troops to remove the Blair Govt, under the pretext that the Blair Govt was engaging in war crimes, as well as unfairly persecuting much of the UK's home population. AND was intentionally destroying the UKs financial sector through deregulation. The troops were well-mannered, and behaved like proper liberators, not occupiers, supporting local business in the reconstruction, and also local REAL democracy. They'd probably be OK. If they came and bombed everything in sight, flattening wedding parties, firing missiles apparently indiscriminately, blatantly supporting corrupt elections and Govts, and branding anyone who opposed them as "terrorists" - well, their reception would probably be quite different.

if nothing else, i would expect the Chav Resistance Movement to give them some headaches! ;)

#29: yes.

although i would say the solution is to FairTrade with Afghan coop farms. The Taliban are a hideous 'solution' to Afghanistan. Even Shia control from Iran (-*EVEN* under Ahmadinadjad!!!) would be preferable to the Taliban returning.

how can the West have so mucked up the situation that even the GodForsaken Taliban can seem preferable to us????

does Jon Gaunt ever draw breath? as he is very litigeous I will offend House rules and be banned ....again...

Tirty 1 Dirty one

MMM Yes And NO I could Argue with you, Pubic School Try J.P.C.
ChinEaze Water Torture.. YAWN

The Youth of 2day.. A reasonAble boot..(male not for Female)

Ssschh dont tell anyone.. Collected at 1730 2Day The Chineese Watch MOTHER/Contrebanned/Baccy carefull MUM's the word FilThy HabIT I am filthy..A quarter of the cost, (sumthing has got 2 thrill/Kill you.

The Veil, Just Popping out 2 mugg some 1, CCTV Eye shall wear the veil

The french can they fight for Freedom..somme can

how can the Vest have mucked up..they are called politicians

Dearest/very deer Auntie what have you done now

C Brinkly I love her I do, The Jewel in the crown and you have let her slip
threw your slippy hands. (lefTie Hands(

A Real Trooper, I am broken hearted, sob boo who?

Skidding across the Channel (no 2) I dont think I could Do that

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

We watched the debate on "the Big Society" this evening and noted that the role and significance of social enterprises was not featured in the film or discussion. We are a social enterprise working with other social firms across Greater Manchester to support their economic growth and replication.

If social firms are supported the people they are set up to help will see real differences. I am meeting Lord Nat Wei- Chief Advisor on "the Big Society" on Friday and will certainly make a case for social enterprises. Meaningful partnerships across all sectors of society is what is going to make a difference in the end.