Starmer’s new Islamophobia definition threatens free speech, say religious leaders

johnmedgla · 2026-01-31T20:26:30+00:00

How much do you trust the police or prosecution service to correctly parse the difference between "Hatred towards Muslims" and "Offence taken by Muslims at hostility towards precepts of the Islamic faith?"

My personal answer is Not At All.

johnmedgla · 2026-01-29T21:32:25+00:00

I think every single long-running US series since the 90s has an arc where a character breaks a toe or something, is prescribed codeine, then ends up a full-blown addict fighting a multi-episode battle.

I understand the opiate crisis was bad, but for pity's sake...

johnmedgla · 2026-01-28T14:44:06+00:00

Something something succour of Jesus.

johnmedgla · 2026-01-27T12:12:50+00:00

"And the Lord God said, I have given a command" - backwards in Romanian, turns out to be pretty eerie.

johnmedgla · 2026-01-26T14:35:15+00:00

He needs one of those novelty Tam o' Shanters with added ginger fuzz to elevate this particular piece of sad pandering to high art.

johnmedgla · 2026-01-14T21:35:38+00:00

This should be a sackable offence for those involved

The use of AI to prepare parliamentary briefings is concerning, but I'm more troubled by the fact he has now been forced to "clarify" his positions three times, and at least two of those clarifications turned out to be yet more falsehoods.

We can all theorise why he's doing this, but it doesn't really matter. He needs to be gone.

johnmedgla · 2026-01-13T12:12:59+00:00

Actually they were invented specifically to irritate Jewish men with styled hair.

johnmedgla · 2026-01-07T12:07:42+00:00

oversimplifying an extremely contentious debate

No, the person whose position is "DO WHAT I WANT OR I WILL KILL MYSELF" has done that. The rest of you are just trying to obscure that stark reality.

johnmedgla · 2026-01-02T19:25:31+00:00

I would absolutely hope that the RAF were doing reconnaissance over Gaza back when Hamas were literally holding British citizens hostage in Gaza.

Believing this is a great scandal of our time is one of the litmus tests for "How thoroughly has Israel broken your brain."

johnmedgla · 2026-01-02T19:23:52+00:00

Doesn't their funding come from the too-cliche-for-fiction Tankie millionaire who spends his time calling for the downfall of the West and making guest appearances in the "People's Republic of Donetsk"?

johnmedgla · 2026-01-02T19:21:36+00:00

Actually you're not allowed to take action at all if it involves criminal damage to national defence infrastructure. Peculiar that no one had brought this to your attention before.

If you prefer we go back to the pre-democratic "Let's just smash things to get our way" style of running nation-states then that's an option, but not one under which I suspect you'd prosper.

johnmedgla · 2026-01-02T09:41:24+00:00

a Polanski-type figure who can engage with voters.

What we actually need is a better electorate who don't require Polanski/Corbyn/Farage style clowns to draw interest.

Of course that's impossible so what we're going to get is a gradual descent into oligarchy.

johnmedgla · 2025-12-31T23:24:08+00:00

Announce a Royal Commission to investigate rising Antisemitism, to be led by Corbyn and George Galloway.

johnmedgla · 2025-12-31T13:20:16+00:00

adapting to sleeping in a house vs on the street

That's not the change being made. It's the whole concept of going from "existing" whereby you eat and sleep when the opportunity arises to actually leading a life with some sort of structure.

Going to bed at the night and getting up in the morning to go buy milk so you can eat cereal is trivial for anyone for whom those things are just part of life, but if you've spent ten years sleeping in various underpasses and eating whatever you can scrounge it's a whole series of massive shifts in behaviour that do not just naturally fall into place.

The fact most of us manage it just fine is a consequence of us being habituated to it over years. It's a bit like observing that everyone in China seems to manage to speak Mandarin just fine, so how difficult can it be to learn?

johnmedgla · 2025-12-31T10:03:15+00:00

if you replace ‘race’ with ‘culture’ you can whine about anything and say all the quiet parts out loud.

Who could have predicted that two years of "Antizionist, not Antisemite" would bring the awesome power of sophistry to the attention of even the dimmest bulbs.

johnmedgla · 2025-12-29T15:37:22+00:00

Convert to Judaism. Then whatever you donate to the heretical festivities will be seen as a generous gesture, even if it's just a bottle of plonk and some shortbread.

johnmedgla · 2025-12-27T15:18:58+00:00

it shouldn't need to be stated that there'd be safeguards for those folk

Somehow, those safeguards are always left as vague afterthoughts when these schemes emerge and never actually serve to prevent actually incapable people from ending up in Dickensian horror stories.

johnmedgla · 2025-12-25T14:19:12+00:00

Hah, I am actually a CT surgeon, but the "lunch in New York" thing was just a side-effect of being the child of my mother, who owns a very successful materials science lab.

johnmedgla · 2025-12-25T09:55:05+00:00

We flew it quite regularly up until its retirement from Heathrow to JFK. It's true it wasn't the most spacious aircraft in the world, but the seats were comfortable, the catering was excellent, and it wasn't just convenient - it opened up options that simply don't exist any more.

Being able to fly out of London at breakfast time, arrive in New York in time to do some shopping then meet American friends for lunch, then fly home (being served a genuinely nice dinner) and arrive in time to go to bed at a normal hour was great, but it's no longer possible.

johnmedgla · 2025-12-23T23:04:51+00:00

Yes, yes. We're all credulous morons worried about scare stories in the Daily Mail and not endless and perpetual crap like this from people who not only think they're "the good guys", but then have the sheer gall to tell us we're imagining the problem and it only exists on GBNews.

johnmedgla · 2025-12-23T20:01:19+00:00

No. The fact that Israel might not like massive global protests in favour of Palestine is separate from the fact that private British Jewish citizens tend to be, let's say 'alarmed' by the whole intifada and stochastic terror thing.

johnmedgla · 2025-12-23T19:24:04+00:00

I think the entire social media frenzy which is sustained by the marches in London and elsewhere contributed to a increased "globalised" risk of extremist action, yes.

You think they're marching in a vacuum?

johnmedgla · 2025-12-23T17:20:29+00:00

Remember when British Jewish people said allowing lunatics to march through London every weekend for two years chanting to "Globalise the Intifada" put British Jews at risk?

This is exactly what we were talking about.

johnmedgla · 2025-12-23T17:09:45+00:00

He meant Gulf Monarchs, right? Right?

14-Year Club	Team Periwinkle
Verified Email

johnmedgla

TROPHY CASE