RE: Euro nations

Fair question I suppose.

But I reckon the bigger issue is not the day to day practicalities (the Euro is probably quite handy). I am more concerned about the deeper economic and soverignty issues. Have any Euroland economies suffered as a direct result of the Euro?

RE: Pic Of The Day- SAA B747 w

I think airlines used to do that a lot in the bad old days. I remeber lots of pics of Qantas and SAA.

I suppose that being in an inboard position there would not be that much of weight displacement – just some extra deadweight?

RE: He’s trolling for cash donations…

Of course Jews can “forget” what happened. It is nothing to do with modern Europe that persecution arose. The faults lay with a far older generation.

The point about Judaism being an individual mix of religion and ethnicity sounds very theological. To what extent does the same apply to all religions? I would suggest, as has been pointed out, that the word “cultural” is possibly more appropriate than “ethnic”.

Furthermore, I am doubtful that Jews do suffer more than other groups. You included a list of news reports highlighting discrimination against Jews.

But, I could do the same exercise and place the emphasis on blacks, or asians or homosexuals. Indians and Pakistanis could do the same about Hindus and Muslims.

I do not accept that Jews faced more discrimination than blacks. Simple as that. I don’t feel the need to prove this point, as it is defensive. Your counter argument ought to be proven first – what studies can you point to?

So why can’t there be a black homeland?

Well, there isn’t and rightly so. Nor should there be a Jewish one. Or, for that matter, a muslim one either.

Lastly…come on, you can’t compare Israel to the UK. One is a mature state which has heavily influenced the modern world and even gave us the language we use for this debate. Britain is supposedly a Christian (neither Catholic nor Protestant, despite a slightly Protestant emphasis) nation, but other religions abound too.

Israel can claim none of these. If you’re talking pragmatism, the UK is the 4th wealthiest of the industrialised countries.

My point is not to pour scorn on Israel, because some of that countries’ achievements have been remarkable. Rather, I am trying to highlight the absurd notion that the UK could be stripped of soveriegnty; whereas this is maybe a little more feasible with Israel.

RE: What does it mean????

I dimly recall that Luton airport in the UK was sold to/administered by Barclays bank – there was no end of bad feeling over charges and fees!

Merchant bankers!
Oil tankers!

RE: EU-immigration policy, Update

Yeah, but why do they throw up so many legal hurdles to people from civilised countries? And despite their “border security” they don’t seem to notice the hispanic invasion.

The answer is probably that they are scared of educated and civilised people coming – they’ll take all the jobs. The Mexicans can drive taxis, though.

RE: Forbes’ ‘Celebrity 100’ List

Oh come on, Kabir!

You need to have a healthy scepticism when reading anything that is printed…

Imagine if you were in charge of compiling this list. What would your approach be? What problems might you encounter? How would you ensure accuracy?

RE: This is really disgusting …

Why can’t you forget the past?

In pre-WW2 Europe, Jews were no more “gotten at” than lots of other peoples – it’s just unusual that a religion was targeted rather than an ethnic group (like slavs or gipsies). That, as of itself, is no justification to class Jews together ethnically.

If I’m thinking correcrtly, Jews would be of mixed ethnicity, mainly because of the historical expulsion from Israel and subsequent scattering.

The alternative is that Judaism is, as you say, more ethnic than religious. Would this make the “religon” part of Judaism discriminatory – Blacks, Arabs (!) or Asians couldn’t convert?

How about if Israel (and Palestine) were stripped of their sovereignty and administered under an international mandate? Then both sides would have a common enemy and would miracuously get on…

RE: bye bye Spain

I tend to go for the middle ground.

FIFA have deliberately appointed poor or unproven referees and linesmen for games involving the hosts.

That is the extent of the corruption. They didn’t ordain a Spanish exit, they just tipped the scales in the desired direction…

But no doubt, FIFA is very corrupt, especially Sep Blatter. Illuminating that Michel Zen Rufinen called for his resignation because of corruption and mis-management, then “resigned” himself leaving Blatter in the clear!

Do you remember the histrionics with Germany 2006 – envelopes stuffed under hotel doors, the outcry over the FIFA Kiwi chap?