12-15-2004, 02:14 PM | #201 |
Lady of Letters
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Well, he's gone. Let's hope ID cards go with him.
(we have up-to-the-minute political comment here, you know )
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And all the time the waves, the waves, the waves Chase, intersect and flatten on the sand As they have done for centuries, as they will For centuries to come, when not a soul Is left to picnic on the blazing rocks, When England is not England, when mankind Has blown himself to pieces. Still the sea, Consolingly disastrous, will return While the strange starfish, hugely magnified, Waits in the jewelled basin of a pool. |
12-20-2004, 01:23 PM | #202 |
Elf Lord
Join Date: Sep 2003
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Now that he's gone I feel a bit sorry for him. He got a good slagging on Have I Got News for You, though, so it was all worthwhile.
What do you reckon to this theatre that's been trashed by a mob of protesters? |
12-20-2004, 07:18 PM | #203 |
The Intermittent One
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haha - blunkett is gone!!
i agrres with you sun-star, ID cards should be a scrapped idea now that 'old davey 4 mistresses' is out of the picture |
12-21-2004, 05:15 AM | #204 |
Elf Lord
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Can you have a mistress if you're not married?
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12-21-2004, 05:20 AM | #205 | |
Elven Warrior
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Quote:
What the media tend to forget is that the Rep was implored to "tweak" the setting of the play (from a Sikh Temple to something like a community centre), not to have it fully cancelled. Sikhs believe in freedom of speech and recognise that "bad" people come from all walks of life. However, with this freedom of speech comes also a responsibility to show sensitivity to people's religious beliefs, including their places of prayer. The sensationalist and deplorable scenes that were portrayed in the play should not have been set in a religious institution. The play showed: rape, homosexuality, murder, abuse and other shannanigans within a religious institution that simply does not happen within a Sikh Temple.
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12-21-2004, 09:29 AM | #206 | ||
Warrior of the House of Hador
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Quote:
Quote:
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Then Huor spoke and said: "Yet if it stands but a little while, then out of your house shall come the hope of Elves and Men. This I say to you, lord, with the eyes of death: though we part here for ever, and I shall not look on your white walls again, from you and me a new star shall arise. Farewell!" The Silmarillion, Nirnaeth Arnoediad, Page 230 |
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12-21-2004, 01:52 PM | #207 | |
Elf Lord
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Quote:
Yes, I suspected as much. The media did report that there had been peaceful protests all week but it wasn't given all that much prominence and you could just tell that they'd exaggerated the violence. Me, I agree that it's a stupid thing to do (i.e. go out of your way to piss off an entire religion), but it's made me think again about this "Incitement to Religious Hatred" thing. Initially I thought it was a good idea, but I'm not so sure now. In the case of this play, would that constitute incitement to religious hatred? I'm sure the Sikhs would argue that it so misrepresented their religion that the effect was to do so. But what about the playwrite's perspective? We aren't overburdened with female views on life as a Sikh; maybe there is an important message about gender inequality that is being kept quiet here. Essentially, it will boil down to a judge's interpretation of the nature of the incitement, and that could be a pedant's charter. Perhaps they should get rid of the existing blasphemy law instead. |
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12-22-2004, 05:30 AM | #208 | |
Elven Warrior
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As for the playwright's perspective, it had nothing to do with gender inequality (where, if people knew about the Sikh religion, they would know that it preaches [and practices] equality of men and women); she deliberately stirred up things to make a name for herself, exploiting naive (or ignorant) and negative perceptions of Asians. She did this with her earlier play set amongst a (cliched) dysfunctional asian family. btw, I refrained from lobbing stones and bricks
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12-22-2004, 02:50 PM | #209 |
Elf Lord
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Good on you sir.
Thanks for this, it's very illuminating. It reeks a bit of the Satanic Verses episode, though in that case I think the offense was bit more tenuous. |
01-14-2005, 08:30 AM | #210 |
Elf Lord
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So, what do people think about Prince Harry getting dressed up like a Nazi?
And what about the response? Me, I think it's great to see the younger generation continuing the traditions of the Royal Family i.e. being a complete embarrassment to the nation. |
01-14-2005, 08:49 AM | #211 | |
I am Freddie/UNDERCOVER/ Founder of The Great Continent of Entmoot
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As for the Nazi uniform - I think it was completely wrong. It's one thing to dress up in one of those rubber Adolf Hitler or bin Ladin masks - it's another to dress up in a nazi uniform. It would be similar to if a president's children dressed up in a KKK outfit. Having said that - I personally don't think he supports the Nazi movement or anything like that. It was Queen Elizabeth herself that used to do the radio addresses when she was little to calm the nation - so I'm sure she's sitting down with him and having a serious talk with him.
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01-14-2005, 01:35 PM | #212 | |
Warrior of the House of Hador
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And he could be a role model to younger people of society so dressing up as a Nazi isn't the best ever thing to do.
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Then Huor spoke and said: "Yet if it stands but a little while, then out of your house shall come the hope of Elves and Men. This I say to you, lord, with the eyes of death: though we part here for ever, and I shall not look on your white walls again, from you and me a new star shall arise. Farewell!" The Silmarillion, Nirnaeth Arnoediad, Page 230 Last edited by Telcontar_Dunedain : 01-14-2005 at 01:37 PM. |
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01-14-2005, 05:50 PM | #213 |
The Blobbit
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While it is certainly not acceptable, I do feel sympathy. I have heard and seen, and will hear and see much worse at school.
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Janny's Songs Janny's lyrics and random photographs Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead. Tradition refuses to submit to the small and arrogant oligarchy of those who happen to be walking about. ~ Mercutio... erm, GK Chesterton. |
01-15-2005, 04:30 AM | #214 | |
Elven Warrior
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btw, I see Prince Charles is arranging that both his sons go to Auschswitz - good for him! (Though I see also that the 'Duchess of York' is speaking up to defend Harry ... heavens, now he is truly doomed! (There was a wonderfully acid comment from one of the tv newspeople yesterday about her ... 'when she was royal ...' )) what kind of school do you go to, Janny? |
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01-15-2005, 08:53 AM | #215 |
The Blobbit
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Grammar school, like Michael Howard. Don't expect the 'most intelligent' 25% to be intellegent.
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Janny's Songs Janny's lyrics and random photographs Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead. Tradition refuses to submit to the small and arrogant oligarchy of those who happen to be walking about. ~ Mercutio... erm, GK Chesterton. |
01-15-2005, 01:35 PM | #216 | |
Lady of Letters
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I think Harry was totally wrong to do it because he should have some sense of his position and everything, but I actually don't see how it's different to dressing up as Osama bin Laden at Halloween. Where is the difference? Last edited by sun-star : 01-15-2005 at 01:36 PM. |
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01-15-2005, 04:31 PM | #217 |
The Blobbit
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Well, Sunny, you must be aware of the British apathetic view of harmless old Ozzie. Where's the old evil roll eyes when you need him?
I think it has be... well... useful that no-one has let William take the share of the blame for this that he wanted to take. Just as well for the throne really. And shut up. I can't spell.
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Janny's Songs Janny's lyrics and random photographs Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead. Tradition refuses to submit to the small and arrogant oligarchy of those who happen to be walking about. ~ Mercutio... erm, GK Chesterton. |
01-17-2005, 05:24 AM | #218 |
Elf Lord
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I think the difference is what the swastika means to Jews (and gays, gypsies etc, but mostly Jews). A person could only wear a swastika who was completely unaware or indifferent to how Jewish people would feel about it.
I've got another question: on PFI. Bit of a hot potato in the public sector at the moment. (PFI = Private Finance Initiative; getting private investment into public sector building projects [schools, hospitals, roads and the like]). On the plus side, we've got NHS treatment centres, some of them PFI-funded, slashing the waiting lists and putting the screws on the private health sector. On the minus side, it seems to cost more in the long term. Take the Skye Bridge: one of the first ever PFI projects. It cost £39m to build, they got a £12m government grant for it, the consortium took £27m in tolls since 1995 (making it the most expensive road trip in the world), and it's just been bought out by the government for another £27m. I make that a cost of £66m to us for a 39m project, while the consortium invested (39-12=) £27m in 1994 and got £54m back in 2005. What do you think? |
01-17-2005, 08:58 AM | #219 |
The Intermittent One
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have you seen michael howerd/oliver letwin's crazy plan to reduce taxes?
someone ought to give them a calculator!! |
01-17-2005, 10:19 AM | #220 |
Elf Lord
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No, just seen the headlines anticipating it. Hilariously, not even their own MPs are going to vote for them.
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