navarre

Gordon Brown is doing an admirable job considering people such as yourself are constantly complaining about him, without truly knowing why. With the amount of bad publicity he's had, you'd think he's Hitler or something. Oh yes, the dire poverty level in Scotland is abominable! You guys really need to reclaim the North Sea now, Scotland is looking like third world Africa! I voted for the Liberal Democrats in the European elections. They lost badly. It's called democracy when the majority wins. England supporters hardly ever start trouble abroad, and it isn't just exclusive to England. Football hoolaginism was rife in Northern Ireland recently in a game against Poland, an example that comes to mind. Oh, and you guys aren't all that good at football, and don't take it as seriously. What a load of perennial crap: when the union has existed from 1707, and the idea of a Scottish nation has been around for thousands of years, I find it ironic and slightly amusing how you claim the union to be an outdated concept. Oh yes, totally agree! We should just've let the Taliban continue to whip girls with an education to death, suppress every right that women enjoy in the West, fund terrorism and behead every man, woman and child that even considers breaking their twisted version of Sharia Law. one of the reasons that the Afghanistan invasion is far less controversial to the Iraq war is because it needed to happen for the benefit of the inhabitants of that country. That's because England has ten times the population of Scotland. If London is so out of touch with Scotland, I take you guys didn't really want a seperate education and health system and your own government? Too out of touch, eh? Forgive me if my online etiquette isn't quite up to standards!

What a pathetic argument. Aside from the obvious geographical, political and historical boundaries that would make such a union impossible, you've clearly missed my point. Actually, I refer to myself as 'human', but if not that, it would be British. What? Because I think that all sterling notes should look the same, I somehow endorse the Euro? How does that work? And stop complaining about being controlled by London; it's merely a location. If I were ruled by Edinburgh with an English Prime Minister and English MPs to represent me, I wouldn't mind. No one's insulting you. The only reason you're not getting a 'better response' is because people don't agree with you.

That's why it seems rather pointless as to why you Scots produce your own notes in the first place. So? How does that justify independence? 'We've got our own identity and heritage'? Good for you, but how is that an argument against the union? Does being in the United Kingdom suddenly render that culture and heritage redundant? If so, it's a pretty weak culture you have there. And that's exactly why being independent would be impratical. With around half of Scotlands population having relatives in England, does it really make sense to create a political border to make travel between the two countries harder?

Are you native Cornish (ie were you born there?)? It's always interesting to recieve others opinions. Exactly. I think it was a while back that an advocate for the Falklands Islands independence (or secession to Argentina), on this very forum, was comparing the situation to Tibet. They failed to see why people here complained about Tibet's invasion when we had control over a group of islands that Argentina wanted. They also failed to see that the Falkland Islands were a British overseas territory populated by Brits that enjoy a range of freedoms from religion to democracy whereas Tibet was an unlawful invasion of a province where the population were Tibetans, and are suppressed on issues like religion and democracy. If no one's being suppressed or oppressed, then independence is mostly redundant, especially in the case of Scotland, where most supporters for indepedence are just nationalists with too much pride.

Every county in England has its own flag. The Cornish independence movement has too little support. Most Cornish folk don't even see Cornwall as a country.

Absoloute trash. Christian women aren't prevented from wearing crucifixes at all. You're taking the propaganda bait from the nationalists, who love the story about people being offended by the English flag, subsequently complaining to the council about it, and the owners having to take it down. It's absoloute bollocks. Well actually, it's only really compatible with Catholicism- other denominations choose to just use crosses to represent their faith in a symbol. But that's true- the fish was far more commonly used amongst the early persecuted Christians, and the cross/crucifix only adopted universally in the 3rd/4th centuries.

Well, love should hold no boundaries, least of all something as petty as race. But in my case, I just find black women more attractive in general anyway, so I'm far more likely to love a black woman.

That's because Egypt is surprisingly liberal for a Middle Eastern country, and because of its 15-20% Christian minority, it kinda has to be. But the Egyptian government, despite being an example to Egypt's far more conservative neighbours, still has its problems. The government is all too happy to accept Christian converts to Islam, but makes the lives of people trying to convert from Islam to Christianity very difficult. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apostasy That's where I'm getting this crap from. And, despite having its issues, Wikipedia is the closest thing to an unbiased, reliable online encyclopedia we have. Even in the West, it was only a year ago on BBC radio 4 that they were interviewing a female convert from Islam who fears for her life. The 21st century may look different if it were not for Islam, but it would also look different if it hadn't been for the Romans, or the Greeks, or even the British. Doesn't mean to say that if I travelled to Ancient Greece it would be modern. Personally, I find the 'veil' intimidating, and very few Western Muslim women choose to wear it, for obvious reasons. But each to their own, you've got to respect religions and all that. I know that if I ended up in another country and by some strange turn of events had to permantly settle there, I'd want to keep my (lack of) religious beliefs.

Oh, I see that rule clearly isn't relevant when people convert from Islam (apostacy) and are awarded the death penalty for such an act? Islam is one of those religions that needs to be brought into the 21st century.

Sounds like a nice guy, just the sort of person we need representing us in Europe. It only begs the question as to why he wasn't elected sooner. You have Pakistani, black and Native American relatives? But the inter racial relationships point is true. They believe that it somehow destroys the whole blood lineage of generations. But we were all black to start with, so I don't see what the big deal is.

Actually, in many Muslim countries, it's illegal for women to be seen without one. In Islamic communities in the West, women without the hijab are frowned upon. It's meant to reflect the modesty of women. And LOL at religious schools... just LOL. Most kids that go to religious schools don't believe half the crap they're taught, it's pointless putting something like religion at the top of the agenda.

I hope he's suffering now. These are the sorts of people we need to eradicate from society, most probably down to better education and harsher prison sentences.

Thank you. I definetly think this should go ahead.

Please could you provide a link to this? I'd love that- a chance to show the world, that *awesome quote* 'out of many, we are one'.

Those aren't parties; they're groups.

I think they mean by interracial sex, but the only real difference between white and black people is melanin. Eventually, even if white people were to become extinct, black people would probably turn white again- that's how the white race came about, anyways. I'm in an interracial relationship and do hope to have mixed race kids. The BNP sees this as the destruction of an entire timeline in the family tree- it's prehistoric views like that which will ensure they never get my vote. Homophobic discrimination isn't, I'm afraid. The Liberal Democrats are pushing for it to be made illegal. They're also vouching for a written British constitution. That is true, including in the Met Police. Postive discrimination is just as bad as any other form of discrimination. I'd like to think that employers see behind skin colour or sexuality or gender, whether that person be in a majority or a minority. At least it was a white egg. It's got Nick Griffins approval.

Oh yes, 'Zionist controlled media' is a popular term by anti-semites when describing the world's media. It's silly. Anti-Jewry is soooo 1940s. Geert Wilders is a hateful figure. He blames Muslims for the problems in the world, and sees its expansion as dangerous. But no party should be based on the grounds on religion:- not a Christian party, an anti-Muslim party or even an atheist party. But the government were wrong in banning him- I'd expect any politician to be allowed access due to their views, whether it be Geert Wilders, or, in complete contrast, a deranged Egyptian iman who preaches hatred towards the West.

They were both brilliant contestants. I wanted Yasmina to win that little bit more because she's less attractive than Kate. Is that wrong?

I'm disgusted that a single vote was cast for the facists this very nation heroicly fought against 60 years ago- ironically, the BNP attracts elderly people who fought in or lived during WW2. What a bloody mess. Thankfully, seeing as people did turn towards the minor parties, UKIP did far better than the BNP, and at least some of their policies make sense. Imagine the chaos if the two parties swapped votes...

Question for all the Christians/Jews/Muslims/Hindus/Sikhs/Bahais on this forum. Could God, if he so chooses, commit suicide? I mean, if he could then he wouldn't be immortal. But if he couldn't, then he isn't omnipotent. I'm just interested to know.

No, that's true. But for the time, they were revolutionary. They're ingrained into society now because of Christendoms expansion ie we were once a Christian nation, therefore those morals became ingrained, so when we became secular those morals were a part of everybodies lives, even if religion wasn't. Correction: there are no known (or proven) contemporary accounts Some may argue that the canonical gospels were contemporary accounts, as tradition would have you believe. Even though I doubt they are, their material is strikingly similar, and they most probably did use contemporary sources, like the (hypothetical) Gospel Q. Paul, although never meeting Jesus, did, on numerous occasions, meet contemporary apostles, such as Peter, upon whose teachings he based his epistles on. Scientology is, in my opinion, a cult. Nevertheless, the point stands; why would people who supposedly knew Jesus or knew people who knew Jesus face the outstanding oppression and persecution in the Roman Empire for someone who never existed? The historicity of Jesus is accepted by almost all Biblical scholars and classical historians. Theologian James Dunn describes the mythical Jesus theory (ie the theory you assumedly believe) a 'thoroughly dead thesis.' For the record, I'm not a Christian. It doesn't matter a great deal, because that does not render those stories any less relevant or morally righteous.

Exactly. Jesus could be fictional or factual, it makes no difference to the underlying morals of his ministry.

The Conservatives have come out bst in the locals, unsurprisingly. Lib Dems have done alright, and Labour has done poor.

The historical accounts of Jesus are overwhelming. To question his existence would be like questioning whether or not Julius Ceasar existed, because they've both got around the same amount of historical sources.

Hate to quote the Bible to you, but hey, any strong argument needs sources: Those three stories led me to respect Jesus, not as the Son of God, but as the greatest moral teacher in history. In my opinion, if we were to consider those stories and to abide by their meaning, the world would be a better place. The Good Samaritan especially is an excellent story for combating racism. I seldom if ever read the Old testament- I understand some of the stories in it are pretty repulsive- and the homophobic tones of the epistles are unattractive. The Gospels, however, are unbeatable in terms of morality. As for history, Luke was an historian ahead of his time- he accurately names tens of historical events, places and people. But the Old testament Books provide any historian a 'reliable' (to all those who did GCSE history) insight as to what life was like in Israel thousands of years ago and helps describe Judaisms early days. I believe Jesus existed. I believe Mohammed existed. I believe the Buddha existed. Why? Because religions don't just start by themselves. To suggest otherwise would be ignorant. I'll reply to the other responses later, can't be arsed right now.