news & politics:discussion

[steviewevie]

4 minutes ago, Neil said:

if sunak goes beyond may he's in trouble cos the tories will get trounced in the locals, that's why it'll be May.

If polls don't narrow I can't see it being May. Hold on for as long as poss and hope something turns up I reckon.

[Neil]

1 minute ago, steviewevie said:

If polls don't narrow I can't see it being May. Hold on for as long as poss and hope something turns up I reckon.

nothing will turn up. if he goes beyond may it'll just look rudderless and things won't improve for the tories.

[steviewevie]

22 minutes ago, Neil said:

nothing will turn up. if he goes beyond may it'll just look rudderless and things won't improve for the tories.

Something might turn up... flights to Rwanda or rapid economic recovery or global chaos and/or war or some top dirt on starmer...

[steviewevie]

Here's a long thread with predictions from someone who actually knows stuff...

 

[cellar]

15 hours ago, steviewevie said:

Anyway this election thing, what are people predicting? I reckon a late autumn or even early winter election, and a small labour win and lefty SCG MPs having a lot of power over govt policy.

BET NOW!

Anything less than a Lab majority would be pretty shocking to be honest - odds are 1/4 for that at the moment (which is lower than last time this came up, I think), while a Minority is at 5/1

[steviewevie]

 

[Guest]

14 minutes ago, steviewevie said:

 

Shockingly, he’s lying here. 

[steviewevie]

2 hours ago, Ozanne said:

Shockingly, he’s lying here. 

nice bit of context has been added to that tweet.

[Skip997]

What have I been saying?
 

Quote

 

The official government position is that Gazans will be able to return to their homes after the fighting. However, this week both the Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrich, and National Security Minister, Itamar Ben Gvir, have been calling for Palestinians to leave the strip.

The two men are part of the security cabinet but not the war cabinet and objected to key decisions being made there in their absence.

"What needs to be done in the Gaza Strip is to encourage emigration," Mr Smotrich told Army Radio on Sunday. He said that Israeli settlers should be allowed to return to “make the desert bloom.”

Such comments stir up fears in the Arab world that Israel intends to displace Palestinians by force from Gaza.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-middle-east-67859135

Edited January 2 by Skip997

[Skip997]

South Africa files ICJ case accusing Israel of 'genocidal acts'

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-67844551

[steviewevie]

34 minutes ago, Skip997 said:

What have I been saying?
 

well..Israeli govt is a coalition made up of likud plus various far right religious Israeli expansionist parties which this Smotrich and that other nutter Ben Gvir are part of. Doesn't mean this is official govt policy...although not sure what the policy or plan is at this stage. Netenyahu is not pro two state solution that's for sure....so god knows how this ends.

Edited January 2 by steviewevie

[Skip997]

2 minutes ago, steviewevie said:

well..Israeli govt is a coalition made up of likud plus various far right religious Israeli expansionist parties which this Smotrich and that other nutter Ben Givir is part of. Doesn't mean this is official govt policy...although not sure what the policy or plan is at this stage. Netenyahu is not pro two state solution that's for sure....so god knows how this ends.

Probably not "official" government policy, but that's kind of irrelevant

[steviewevie]

2 minutes ago, Skip997 said:

Probably not "official" government policy, but that's kind of irrelevant

well official or not, Palestinians can not get out of Gaza at the moment.

[Neil]

5 minutes ago, steviewevie said:

well official or not, Palestinians can not get out of Gaza at the moment.

Thats normal cos Israel always control the access points.

[Neil]

Quite normally Palestinians can't get into Israel to get to their jobs.

[steviewevie]

5 minutes ago, Neil said:

Thats normal cos Israel always control the access points.

Doesn't Egypt control the Rafah crossing?

[Neil]

5 minutes ago, steviewevie said:

Doesn't Egypt control the Rafah crossing?

On the Egyptian side.

[Guest]

23 minutes ago, Skip997 said:

Probably not "official" government policy, but that's kind of irrelevant

How come you are never bothered by any other conflict around the world?

Edited January 2 by Ozanne

[Skip997]

6 minutes ago, Ozanne said:

How come you are never bothered by any other conflict around the world?

Maybe it's me, maybe it's a human nature thing, but I've found I'm far more interested in events taking place in countries/regions I've visited.

I spent 5 months in Israel in 1989

[Neil]

7 minutes ago, Ozanne said:

How come you are never bothered by any other conflict around the world?

I wanna know how much skippy has donated to the UNICEF Gaza appeal 

[steviewevie]

9 minutes ago, Skip997 said:

Maybe it's me, maybe it's a human nature thing, but I've found I'm far more interested in events taking place in countries/regions I've visited.

I spent 5 months in Israel in 1989

what was situation like then? Intifada?

[fred quimby]

9 minutes ago, Skip997 said:

Maybe it's me, maybe it's a human nature thing, but I've found I'm far more interested in events taking place in countries/regions I've visited.

I spent 5 months in Israel in 1989

In a kibbutz?

My wife spent several years in Israel mainly on a kibbutz but also in Tel Aviv so she also has a greater interest in this conflict.

[Skip997]

2 minutes ago, steviewevie said:

what was situation like then? Intifada?

First Intifada

Most shops in the Muslim quarter of Old Jerusalem (one of the best cities I've ever been to) closed. Fortunately hostels still open.

Was quite tense at times, had to be careful talking to some Israeli's. Once they knew you'd been hanging out with Palestinians, all sorts of tricks would be used to gain info that would implicate them in something (anything) illegal.

[Skip997]

3 minutes ago, fred quimby said:

In a kibbutz?

My wife spent several years in Israel mainly on a kibbutz but also in Tel Aviv so she also has a greater interest in this conflict.

2 months on a Moshav (a less friendly version of a kibbutz, where you get paid a pittance) and 3 months on a kibbutz.

[steviewevie]

To be honest I think we should all be concerned about what is happening in the middle east, and in Ukraine.