The Political Thread

[Jim_Campbell]

The issue, for me, is whether or not he was acting in self-defence or at least thought he was. That depends on the facts

He claimed he believed he was. Given that the only other person in the room at the time is dead, I don't see how the prosecution ever thought they were going to disprove that...

Cheers

Jim

[The Legendary Shark]

Just attended another of these stupid CPC courses so I can continue driving for a living (they really are crap - today we learned not to drive if you're tired and how to park without blocking the road, which most of us kinda' already knew).
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One of the topics we discussed was Scottish independence - all those Scottish truck drivers who have already taken these courses; have they just wasted their time and money because it's an EU requirement? Will Scottish truck & bus drivers have to pay the £10 other foreign drivers have to cough up to drive in England? Is there going to be a toll booth at Gretna Green? Will English trucks have to pay to drive into Scotland?
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[Frank]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-29151026

Would they normally bring the armed unit out to deal with a knife?

It happened within hours of the guy with the machete who beheaded a granny because cats had stolen his lighter. If you're going to come the cunt, best not to do so immediately after an incident that made the Met SWAT unit look tardy. Pistorious is obviously guilty as sin, as any reasonable test of common sense demonstrates, but - like everyone says - proving that beyond doubt is difficult.

Fans of unlikely excuses offered by obvious murderers will love this one. Young black guy is stopped by cops investigating an affray he had nothing to do with. They pat him down TWICE, finding just some dope and a little coke, arrest him, cuff him with his hands behind his back, and put him in the rear seat of their car. By the time they show up at the station, young black guy is dead from a gun shot wound to the chest. Cops say he shot himself.

Do I need to tell you where this happened?

[Proudhuff]

Former Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, has indicated that he could return to front-line politics in Scotland to lock horns with Alex Salmond. During a speech in Kilmarnock, he accused the Scottish First Minister of deceiving voters about his current powers to improve the health service.Mr Brown said if Mr Salmond continued with this theme he would join the Scottish Labour Party leader in challenging the SNP. "I say this to Mr Salmond himself - until today I'm outside front-line politics," said Mr Brown."If he continues to peddle this deception that the Scottish Parliament, under his leadership, cannot do anything to improve the health service until he has a separate state, then I will want to join Johann Lamont in fighting him in securing the return of a Labour government as quickly as possible."




ooooooh!

[Grugz]

The issue, for me, is whether or not he was acting in self-defence or at least thought he was. That depends on the facts

He claimed he believed he was. Given that the only other person in the room at the time is dead, I don't see how the prosecution ever thought they were going to disprove that...

Cheers

Jim

I always thought it far fetched the whole self defence thing .if I heard a noise and knew someone was in my bathroom I would assume it was my wife which would be easily confirmed by looking to my right or my daughter who would come and wake us up to tell us she was going . I'm assuming he would have had to put a light on to put his legs on? and find the cricket bat and gun and I woulda thunk the wife would've shouted something to him as he was bashing the door with a bat  before shooting???
but I aint a legal eagle...

[The Legendary Shark]

If Gordon Brown gets into Scottish politics, for Christ's sake keep him away from your gold reserves (you do have gold reserves, don't you?). Actually, any Scottish gold is probably held in London; so you'll be wanting to get that back. (Mind you, Germany asked for its gold back and the BoE basically told it to swivel, because the gold's been sold and/or leased out.)

[Jim_Campbell]

I always thought it far fetched the whole self defence thing.

What you think is completely irrelevant. What anyone thinks is irrelevant; all that matters is what can be proven beyond reasonable doubt, and I don't see how the prosecution thought they would prove what the accused did or didn't believe at a given moment without any convincing physical evidence to contradict their version of events.

Also: you don't live in South Africa which, by all accounts, is a substantially more violent society than here — having spoken to some people who've lived there quite recently, a 'shoot first, ask questions later' approach to people breaking into your home is widely considered to be a sensible policy.

Cheers

Jim

[Frank]

Yeah, Gordon Brown would be a big vote winner, wouldn't he. Brown's just the last tenuous link to what older voters remember the Labour party once to have been. If this campaign has proven anything, it's that Labour are a spent force in Scotland. They're a sorry lot; characterised by their utter incompetence, fractiousness, hypocrisy, and desire for power at any cost. They have even less strength in depth than the SNP, and the thought of those two lots of jumped up wee pricks taking turns to rule over us fills me with despair.

They're the modern day equivalents of the idiots who got us into the mess that necessitated the union in 1707. I can see why the citizens of MC1 were so easily swayed by the idea of bypassing the serial fuck-up ruling elite which has brought their state to its knees, and contracting out government to evil alien overlords who at least know what they're doing.

[Modern Panther]

Gordon's power grab of the No campaign has been a bit odd.  A backbench opposition MP, with little respect in his own party never mind the electorate, he makes a sudden statement about what he calls "my plan" to push through unwritten legislation without any clear idea about what it might say.

The BBC, reporting live on the announcement, then apparently calls round the three man parties - none of whom appear to have any idea what he's taking about.

...Then suddenly, it's been the plan all along, and the three stoogies are in full agreement about how much they effin-love the Scots.

[Professor Bear]

Just attended another of these stupid CPC courses so I can continue driving for a living (they really are crap - today we learned not to drive if you're tired and how to park without blocking the road, which most of us kinda' already knew).

Everyone knew that smoking was toxic to human health, but that didn't stop them lighting up in bars and nightclubs until legislation forced them to stop doing this thing (making a toxic cloud in a closed environment) that you would assume anybody would know not to do.  Likewise it's well and good to say anyone with a driving licence would know not to park a car in the middle of a road and block traffic both ways, but that didn't stop someone doing it outside our local shop on Monday evening on the basis that they'd "only be a minute."  See also: traffic wardens and speed cameras - if nobody was doing things wrong, we wouldn't have either.

[The Legendary Shark]

In theory the CPC is indeed a good thing. However, it's being run by the government and is therefore badly organised, poorly implemented and, above all, expected to make a profit.
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Anything + Government = Travesty

[Modern Panther]

Are you calling for the privatization of a government service, Sharky?

[The Legendary Shark]

Ha ha ha! As if!
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No, what I'm actually calling for is the de-Nazification of all government services.
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And more beer.
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[ZenArcade]

Yep Sauchie, but the Law Lords annoyed Dredd by the lack of gravity they displayed in their dealings with him! Z

[Hoagy]

Gordon Brown was the best Prime Minister England had for a long time. He was never given his due clemency. No matter how you look at it. Since Thatcher to Cameron, he was the best. Oh go on say John grey face pea eater was by comparison. John the the revisionist ideal of a Chamberlain.