That is how it would operate, more or less. The likelihood of successful immigration for you/your family wouldn't be based upon how remote or backward your country of origin but rather on your own ability to meet the entry criteria (as well you know, Pete). It should be noted that someone from a remote, backward village in Portugal is unlikely to meet the criteria - hell, there's villages in the UK, not far from where I am sitting, that may fall foul of this Immigration policy can be based upon choices that the host nation makes, if it so desires. The UK can decide that it doesn't want unemployed/unemployable people moving into the country, or people who won't integrate, or people who want to replace the current secular nature of the country into something more, ah, religion-based. It's a choice - do you want to continue the process of dismantling the fabric of UK society as we've always known it and replace it with something new? Is that a fair question, or does current immigration policy pose no such threat?
ST - I must be missing something as I saw now reference to "White supremacist slogans" on the website article? Instead, the factual: Mr Defilaux, who first erected the sign on Saturday, said he started to become a little frightened a few minutes after the man arrived at his shop at 9.30am on Tuesday. He said: "When he came in, he was not actually aggressive but very strict. He said: 'You have to remove your sign outside.' "I gently asked him why. He told me he and his community were offended by it. He said: 'You will remove your sign because we cannot accept having a sign like this here. It is opposite a mosque and it is a Muslim area.' "I said I was French and Muslim myself. I said Islam was a religion of peace and I know about Islam, and he then became very aggressive. "He said: 'The people in Paris deserved to die. If you don't remove the sign, something is going to happen,' and then he left." I think the Independent's coverage has been some of the best I've seen and I tend to be pretty neutral in my paper preference.
Well done to the Belgiums for possibly preventing another atrocity. I suspect we'll be seeing a flurry of activity in the UK over the coming months. Let's hope some of the radicals like their new life in the wonderful Islamic State!
It must have been re-edited by the time you saw it, Kirky. Some of the quotes you reproduce, above, were added later. I thought the white supremacist slogans line was odd at the time, so perhaps it was a mistake in earlier versions. The print version im the Metro I posted may also have got the Muslim fanatic line later, too, because it's hard to imagine the Independent editing that out. Though anything is possible in a on deadline in a busy newsroom. Mistakes are made, not often but sometimes, nevertheless. I've worked on the website editions of newspapers and one of their advantages of the over the print editions that you get more than one chance to get it right - not that all websites take advantage of it in their haste to get stories online to score hits, though (mentioning no names!) The Indy is OK and tries to attract readers by refusing to support a particular political party. However, it sells fewer copies than other publications that do support one party, so it seems that readers prefer their newspapers to be partisan. I worked for the Indy occasionally between 1998 and 2001 and in 2009.
Journalist Nabila Ramdani's appearance on tonight's BBC This Week tonight was quite awful. Look it up on Iplayer, Youtube, wherever if you can. It'll be 10 mins or so well spent, particularly if you've been impassioned enough to post here about the CH atrocity. Suzi Perry is on the at the end so I'm glad to say there's a happy ending.
I couldn't agree more. The trouble with apologists for Islam is that they cannot understand our desire to maintain the freedom to offend, despite the fact that by their actions they regularly offend us. Nabila Ramadani was quite appalling tonight, but so were the Muslims chosen to explain the murderous actions of their co-religionists on Minday's Panorama and Sunday's The Big Questions.
The Indy is my paper of choice, precisely because it doesn't seem to support anyone much, is not rabidly Tory, or absurdly left-wing. Pretty much how I see the world. When I'm in the UK and getting a train, it's the paper I buy.
Of course, but all those Muslims in Syria were killed by other Muslims for being the wrong type of Muslim. Catholics burned Protestants at the stake four hundred years ago. But Islam is a younger religion so has yet to go undergo its own Reformation into a more reasonable one so is still perpetrating violence on its different shades of believers. It's not all the West's fault. I'm amazed, in the 21st century, that Muslim states cannot learn from the mistakes of Christian Europe and are instead intent in making them all over again. You'd think they would have become aware by now of the economic and social advantages of social democracy and tolerance. But man's inhumanity to man continues ...
yip and we aint helping. the more i think about this the more depressed i become, i am with the pope, the Muslim fella and jurno on this one. i guess in your world if some one offends you offend them back, in my world if you offend it often leads to getting your teeth kicked in. so nope, why do it?. no amount of cleaver arguments will change my mind on this one. it's wrong. i probably wont comment on this again, it's put me on a right downer.
As I have said I'm a pacifist and I abhor violence. But you can't appease a bully and some Islamists are huge bullies who respect no one's opinion's but their own. You must have seen how they talk over people and shout them down on Panorama and The Big Question. And were you not impressed by the calm rationality in the face of such bullying of that Muslim former jihadi founder of the Quillam Foundation and the Humanist on TBQ? I was depressed only by the utter stupidity of the Muslim who utterly REFUSED to allow anyone to have a different opinion. Voltaire and the West's tradition of The Enlightenment will always win for me. Fascism must be confronted as it feeds on the weakness of anyone who fears offending those who would close down open debate.
mate i hear ya, and i am not joking this hole thing has put me it a pit of dispare, and not just my dumb ass responses on it.my understanding of the human condition says it's all going to end badly. bit mellow dramatic. i know.
I don't think, ultimately, that the bullies will win as too many people love freedom and love itself too much. But sadly there is always collateral damage when one is forced to take a stand on that front, as history tells us. The best that we can hope for as we defend our way of life from the fascists that believe their god backs them to kill and maim innocent people in his name is that we and our loved ones are lucky enough to stay out of the firing line. And most of us will be.
I have to say there are many non Muslims who do the same things like shouting over people People of power always use it against the vulnerable who can't stand up for themselves or try but get shouted down Bullies only win if you let them Together a united front is hard to knock down but if one of those decides to walk away then your defence crumbles
Fin I'm with you on being offended and retaliating it only leads to more violence and solves nothing Why do it in the first place I also think if your going to print and cartoon another religions deity then at some point it's going to offend and lead to what we are seeing now
I also think that while this is going on it keeps Islam in the spotlight and gives an opening for the good Muslims to tell everyone how nice Islam is really Bit of a soapbox for them Just a thought
A little story About 7 years ago I was in a place I didn't like I became friends with a lovely Muslim guy who talked to me about Islam I had the usual questions about how women were treated abut working if I changed to the religion would I still be able to work would I be able to wear my own clothes make up etc I have a couple of tattoos and they are a no no but I was told I would be forgiven for them He then sent me a book called Islam beliefs and teaching by Ghulan Sarwar to read which would answer all my questions I still have it I read it through and I nearly bought it as I thought it gave me something to believe in My mind at the time told me it couldn't be any worse than how I felt at that time While I liked the concept of it alarm bells did start ringing and new people coming into my life made me see that I didn't need this religion But someone that could be in a low place may just have converted and this maybe is how people are enticed to the religion through nice Muslims Maybe?!
