And hpsauce…

So you’re still paying the same price for fuel as you were 20 years ago? In that case, i don’t think you have to worry about global warming at all, since you’re obviously on a different planet

At least I’m on a planet where some basic understanding of economics occurs, possibly unlike your own. Paul F has pre-empted my references to inflation & earnings, but I’d underline the fact that petrol/gasoline is a very cheap commodity, inflated in price only because (like alcohol) it’s viewed as a cash-cow by greedy governments, among which our own stands lamentably tall in this respect.
If you re-read my post more carefully, you’ll see that I don’t disbelieve in global warming per se, simply in the honesty & reliability of most of the loudest drum-bangers.
I’ve been buying petrol rather longer than 20 years – I started when my first car, an ancient VW Beetle, consumed Jet 2-star at IIRC 33p per gallon…
hps

Global warming my ***e…

Pungently expressed, and I have some sympathy with this position, while not entirely agreeing…

Phixer is clearly well read on the subject, and does not rely on the swivel-eyed spouting of junk science that so many other ”global warming” (henceforth “GW”) fans indulge in. Big problem for me is that the entire argument is bedevilled by such themes, eventualities, theories and so on being manna from heaven for those with nasty agendas: I mean, if you’re an authoritarian collectivist, neo-luddite agrarian fantasist, New Age Gaia-worshipping airhead, anti-capitalist one-world fruitcake, etc etc, you are going to espouse the terrible and imminent onset of GW with extreme fervour, employing whatever level of distortion or lying on a grand scale that seems effectual. Far-reaching, abrupt, severe measures to control a “problem” (whether it’s GW, or Uncle Sam in league with Macdonalds, or the Jews…) can only be implemented by bypassing democracy, and of course, the end justifies the means…
Ken Livingstone purports to preach the dangers of GW (though what his true agenda is, only he knows: Livingstone is a pragmatic self-server par excellence) so he inveighs against 4×4 vehicles – but that’s because he hates many of the people who own such things, like the professional middle classes, country people, and so on. FoE and Greenpeace too – but they exemplify eco-fascism, an eagerness to trample upon freedom of choice and individual liberty at the drop of a hat, because their policies are fundamentally authoritarian and could only be implemented if authoritarian rule were in place.
The protesters currently trying to disrupt Heathrow may well include some sincere folk, but AFAICS they’re largely the same brand of “lifestyle protesters” who appear whenever an issue arises to alleviate their boredom with life on the dole – so they break out the tents & teepees, and practice their rock throwing… Parasites, in sum, chucking their toys out of the pram while funded by you & me…
Many of those whinging about fossil fuels are also anti-nuke, which seems perverse: nuclear power is our best option for convenient production of large quantities of power, until such time as fusion power becomes practicable – do away with nukes, and the impetus to develop fusion will decline… Wind-power is a non-starter, occupies & despoils vast areas of real estate while producing only a fraction of the power of a few nukes. And every time someone moans about the coal/oil/gas running out, fresh reserves are discovered, and economic ways to develop those reserves are developed. I don’t understand the whining about “using up” fossil fuels: they’re a resource, there to be used up. It’s what humans do, as part of growing away from living in caves. Next, we can mine the asteroids…
OK, I’m getting carried away here; but with respect for Phixer’s (and others’) concerns/arguments, I believe the whole GW thing to be not only exaggerated, but distorted beyond the ability of many individuals & governments to argue about it rationally. I’d love to see GW discussed openly, fully etc, and whatever genuinely needed measures implemented that are decided upon through rational examination. But I think it’s gone beyond rationality, and is in the hands of too many dangerous wackos peddling crap arguments for sinister or foolish reasons.
hps

This is you isn´t it?

Aaah, the Major, I believe – capital fellow, proper Englishman, bit funny about women though… His most memorable lines were something like, “No no no no no, Fawlty – Indians ain’t niggers! No no, Indians are Wogs!”
Which I haven’t heard for so long that I suspect the Beeb has either censored them, or suppressed the entire episode in which they were spoken – wouldn’t surprise me at all.
hps

Paul wrote:

..The more you speak on this subject, the more I wonder how you can not comprehend the fact that there are some rather nasty people in this world who want others, including you and me, dead. Why do you want to defend them?

Without wishing to be patronising, I’ve read through this thread so far sighing impatiently. Look, the answer to your question is that our Finnish friend is (a) very young, (b) of the Marxist persuasion, and (c) an idealist. He might be other things too, such as naive, contrary, a habitual troll-er of web forums…
Finland is a large country with a tiny population: why would Islamist loonies bother to target it? I’ve been there, and Helsinki airport is the nicest, cleanest, most comfortable airport ever – probably fairly safe from terrorist attack. Until some contemptible towlehead decides it’s an easy target compared with Heathrow or O’Hare, and never mind the peaceloving Finns… They have, by Gollevainen’s admission, the same percentage of Muslims as the rest of too-tolerant Europe (what the hell are we DOING allowing in all these people who despise our values) so it might be only a matter of time before one of them takes offence and decides to blow up a few innocent bystanders. Maybe our liberal Finnish friend will change his tune then – but I won’t hold my breath.
Yours somewhat impatiently, hps
ps I too am quietly satisfied at the death of the Scottish bomber.

..as stated by Phixer, a gentleman whom I have come to respect even though I havent met him [yet] (check his website u might see why), we as human beings are nothing but animals,

I don’t know if you’re speaking for yourself, but most of the people I know are somewhat higher up the food-chain than goats.

“phixer” wrote:

Consider that, especially in the light of your police state concern, you may one day be swept up in some draconian net and incarcerated, being guarded by those with a similar mindset to those in the video.

IME people who play practical jokes with improvised explosives (e.g. me and most of my boyhood friends), and hunt (yes, hunt!) the creatures of the wild with firearms, are not the readiest to engage in sadistic brutality against their fellow humans. Like most sensible people, they distinguish between robust fun, and dangerous violence – and between people and animals… Hitler is said to have been a vegetarian and fond of animals.
Come on! You’re sounding like wacky suburban animal-lib types.
Yours amazingly tolerantly – hps

What does anyone think of this video? Is this harmless fun or is this something serious?

Traditionally most people would have described this as harmless fun AFAICS – the video clip (not the sort of thing I’d normally bother watching except like now, when I’m knackered after a day’s boring chores, with a 5.00am start tomorrow) isn’t amazingly graphic. It’s trivial. Country boys like me grew up with this sort of thing. It’s symptomatic of the pitiful conditon of “Great” Britain that even people here, participants in a website geared to things military, should come across like some kind of vegetarian pacifist maiden aunt, all shock and alarm. Christ! get a grip. It’s an animal for Gawd’s sake. Haven’t you anything more serious to concern yourselves with? Like the UK turning into a police state, and/or Islamic medievalists trying to turn the social clock back 600 years – ?
Yours, only slightly tongue in cheek – hps

1. What, if anything, will you will remember Tony Blair for?
Ramping up the 1997 Firearms Act beyond the oppressive level of added controls initiated by the Tories; allowing that dreadful Ann-something woman to preach on the subject at the pre-election Labour conference.
Presiding over the biggest wave of largely-uncontrolled immigration the UK has ever seen, averaging 300,000 a year in recent years, with dire consequences for cultural tradition and social cohesion.
Presiding similarly over the UK’s becoming the most surveillance-intensive country on earth, and aggravating this assault on liberty by supporting ID cards.
Managing to persuade bafflingly large numbers of people that he’s an impressive speaker – I just don’t get it…

2. a) Do you approve of Gordon Browns succession to No. 10?
No – it’s like the succession of medieval monarchs, rigged up without reference to anyone except a handful of cronies. Brown is an arrogant Stalinist authoritarian trying to kid everyone that he’s something more cuddly. Be very worried about this man. And he’s Scottish – too many of his compatriots in the English government already – roll on devolution.

b) Do you think the Labour party should be in control now?
Not sure what is meant by this: do you mean, Should its confidence & vigour be rejuvenated following the Brown “succession”? I hope not.

3. Bearing in mind their success at the recent local elections, do you think the Conservative party has any chance of winning the next general election?
Yes, I suppose so, though it’s difficult to find any enthusiasm for this prospect. We suffer from a social-democratic tyranny with virtually nothing separating the three main parties but small percentages on or off this tax or the other. Blair got into power by dumping Socialism proper, and Cameron hopes to emulate him by dumping Conservatism in favour of Blair-Lite; the LibDems are as ever a conundrum, but not to be trusted on political liberty. Anyone recommend a respectable destination for emigration?
hps

Stupid thing is that the handouts these farmers thrive on (you probably know that French countryside roads make for the best car-driving you can imagine) aren’t coming from Paris, but from Brussels.

True of course, though this is because the French government has decades of experience in working the system: if an EU directive suits France implement it, if not – ignore it. Yes, French roads make for great driving; while cruising relaxedly along them, one can gaze at farmers in blue overalls milking a solitary cow, a photogenic spotted one perhaps – a sight otherwise impossible anywhere west of (say) Vienna because it makes economic nonsense! I don’t know if France is still the biggest net beneficiary of the CAP but it always used to be, thereby maintaining its picturesque but hugely subsidised agricultural system at fellow Europeans’ expense…

As for getting the banlieus back on track: it’s probably way too socialist for Sarko, but using the unemployed in those areas as a workforce to get those areas back on track would be a good thing…….. a sort of Arbeitseinsatz (“no chomage pay if you don’t work at least a bit in your area”) should make them grasp concepts like ‘responsibility’ and possibly even ‘labour ethos’…

Sadly, I think you are too optimistic! And I can imagine the shuffling of feet, embarrassed failure to meet others’ eyes, etc, if the word “Arbeitseinsatz” were employed in public discussion of the issue… A bit close to the bone. I think Frank van W (?) has it exactly right:

many teenagers who drop out of school, dress like gangsters, and can’t even spek properly (note that I’m not referring here to cutural and national origins, but to the fact that, to give themselves a “style”, their language is riddeled with obscenities, slang, and they take a fake North African accent).
If you were the employer of a small company (I’m not referring to a multinational company that is paying minimum wages for unqualified workers), would you hire such people, knowing they’ll have contacts with your customers, and that the survival of your small company relies on them ? I wouldn’t. So they are left with those minimum wage jobs, if any.
Now, if they learnt something, they could apply for better jobs. But they have to be willing. Some do.

Frank, you could be writing about large tracts of English cities, especially London: substitute “West Indian” for “North African” in terms of the mode of speech affected by huge numbers of young black males, who inhabit exactly the same disaffected social niche as the kids of the bainlieus. There is no conspiracy, racist or otherwise, to deprive them of education and employment: they disqualify themselves wilfully, by adopting anti-social values. I hear them on the radio or TV and can hardly understand what they say. When in Rome, do as the Romans, and learn to speak their language – in advance of your arrival…
Regards, hps