Without doubt

Haha! The king of the backhanded compliment.

Just to add to my point above what I was trying to get across is it's wrong/dangerous for Corbyn supporters to just totally dismiss the language used by the other side.

Really interesting discussion on Corbyn and his views on, let's call it, "foreign policy".

I'm reasonably old and I can remember when there were collections for "the troubles" and people who passionately supported that side of the conflict. Likewise there were and are still now passionate supporters of Palestine. Not neutrals, supporters. They don't want a resolution, they want Israel to lose.

That's not saying it's not a valid position, but it's not the same as being neutral and trying to find a resolution.

I'm not saying Corbyn or any of his cabinet are in either of these camps, but that is what is being suggested by many in the right (and left) wing media. And while the language is inflammatory I don't think it's totally unreasonable to call someone who is an active supporter of an organisation designated as a terrorist organisation as a terrorist sympathiser.

Again, not saying that's my view (or his) but it's not all spin and smear.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0390wnv

I did prefer it when artistes required talent, rather than good Management, though.

You presumably never saw Doris Day? Proper talent, her. Course, once Cilla Black arrived, talent was no longer a prerequisite.  

I did not. She was a good singer that had her songs written for her and her image controlled by management right? So exactly like Little Mix.

Done well for themselves, fair play to them.

Oh yes, I have great admiration for people with zero talent who somehow succeed in life.

Presumably what first attracted you to poker?

Not sure winning a talent contest counts as having no talent. It's a bit counterintuitive at any rate.

They seem (for pop stars) like nice people with great voices who work hard. I don't begrudge them success. Not many British bands break America.

The CEO of SB&G is a chap named Richard Flint, very smart guy (intellectually) with good solid traditional values, but he wears jeans & a jumper most days.

Knowing Richard pretty well this made me laugh a lot. I can't really explain why. I think it's the indignant tone

Tikay didn't mention, but he doesn't have an office either. He hot desks as do all the senior staff at SB&G. It's all part of the removal of Tayloristic structures in the workplace that is just awesome as far as I'm concerned.

Wearing a suit to the wrong meeting can make you look as ridiculous as wearing jeans to a different one.

You will very very rarely look out of place with smart office casual these days in most industries.

Personally I think it's great. For a whole number of reasons,.

The irony overload in that message from Trump might actually destroy the universe

[Blair was OOL for pushing for war using knowingly false information]

The problem with politics "Which suggests he does have a guiding conservative principle after all: to conserve his job, if not his country."

There's no incentive to do the best job, just to please most people who don't really understand.

Blair was OOL for pushing for war using knowingly false information to misle those he believed he must 'know best'. His attitude since leaving office has been harrowing to say the least, at least he's very well off and has armed guards on every single one of his many properties and can prance about the world talking about peace and democracy and giving his genius insight about how to achieve that.... Justice for all yo.

We were all spending money that didn't actually exist.

1. Has that ever been proven? That he knew it was false? Genuine question.
2. Doesn't every PM have that? Pretty sure Thatcher did as her place in London was round the corner from where I used to live and were always guards outside.
3. We still are. That's what money is these days

[His leadership was a disaster for our country, certainly when it comes to foreign policy.]

Tony Blair rues ‘tragedy’ of Labour under Jeremy Corbyn: http://bit.ly/1R9u0FJ  

sure to go down well...

Blair has an almost evangelical Christian like view of his time in power - he is blinkered by self belief. Totally delusional for me.

His leadership was a disaster for our country, certainly when it comes to foreign policy.

Why? I think he was broadly a successful PM with one horrendous stain on his record as opposed to a PM who got everything wrong. Why do you think he was a disaster? If it's just the Iraq war then fair enough no need to elaborate, just wondering if it was more than that.

My judgement is coloured to a point by my natural tendency to be more right wing than left wing when it comes to politics.

I think Iraq was a monumental mistake that has haunted us ever since and will continue to do so.

It created more problems that it solved, killed thousands of innocent people, cost fortunes which could have been spent more wisely, left the region more unstable than before and helped the cause of the likes of Bin Laden and the groups that have followed enormously. They couldn't have asked for a better recruitment sergeant.

What is troubling is Blair's unwillingness to accept that Iraq was a shambles and has cost us dearly. He really is like one of those religious zealots that believe their own narrative even when the truth and reality is staring them in the face.

This is true.

Although I don't agree with your religious analogy. To the point of finding it borderline offensive. But I do get where you're coming from with it. To some people the religious person seem misguided and stupid. That doesn't mean they are.

Back to the original point. Blair gets a very bad rap, and quite rightly so for the reasons you said above. But he did have some fairly considerable successes during his tenure. Not least Northern Ireland.

I wasn't meaning to offend. I agree that a lot of people with strong religious views are very intelligent. To be honest, my mother was one of them. She was very smart and had what was almost blind faith in her Roman Catholic beliefs.

Blair has a similar blind belief that his actions were right. Nothing that is said or other people's views/the way history views his actions will change his belief.

I hope you understand my point.

I do yes. And appreciate you taking the time to make it.

Oooooh

Aldi vouchers

We are cancelling the four $1m freerolls scheduled for SN players in 2016.

In totally unrelated news we are proud to announce FOUR $1M FREEROLLS FOR 2016

Really interesting discussion though. Exactly what I hoped might happen. Always interesting to hear how other people view stuff, even those who I strongly disagree with. Doesn't mean you're wrong and I'm right.

[he whole banking crisis was made easier by Blair & Brown's deregulation]

Yes indeed, that Iraq war is a horrendous stain. It's difficult to overstate the scale of his lying and manipulation of parliament & the public in order to take us into war alongside the US. I can't reconcile his actions with his professed religious beliefs, since they are responsible for hundreds of thousands of lives - and still counting.

However, in addition, the whole banking crisis was made easier by Blair & Brown's deregulation of city practises. Leaving the economy on the brink of collapse, and a note reading 'all the money's gone'. He also allowed Gordon Brown to carry out his own personal economic & welfare policies - Working Tax Credits was an absolute shambles for several years, with £billions in overpaid benefits written off, whilst there were £billions owed to legitimate claimants that may never have ended up being paid. Even now it's a complicated and cumbersome (& prob inefficient) method of redistributing wealth.

Finally, the Labour Party during Blair's premiership were also guilty of cynically opening the UK's doors to uncontrolled immigration - simply as a means to increase their own vote. Gerrymandering on a national scale. The price for that folly is going to be paid for the rest of our lives and beyond.

Great game of Cameron election bullshit bingo here.

That letter was an obvious joke btw and it was a complete scandal that Cameron was allowed to use it as fact when he quite clearly knew it was a joke. David Mitchell wrote a very funny column about it.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/may/17/david-mitchell-cameron-cynical-art-pretending-not-to-understand-joke
[/quote]