Breaking News Two Explosions At Brussels Airport.

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3503928/Two-explosions-heard-Brussels-Airport.html

Could these have been intended to be set off aboard a US bound aircraft?

[Gromit]

Is there any evidence that torturing the Islamists when we capture them does any good? It doesn't seem to deter anyone, least of all those of the terrorist variety.

[sp1814]

naomi24

I genuinely think that youngmafbog is trying to further his own agenda. His reference to 'apologists' is unfair. Who is it who is not acknowledging this atrocity?

Is there anyone on AB left, or right who is trying to talk this down?

Mamyalynne and JTH have once again hit the nail on the head with their measured and well thought out responses.

This line about the liberal left and 'ooman rights' is a side show. It's a way to take this appalling tragedy and twist it to support an agenda.

If it wasn't this, it would be ANY story...let's focus on what's really important here, and that's solidarity against these murderous filth, and not use it as a Left vs. Right argument.

It's pathetic.

[sp1814]

By the way - can we call time on phrases like 'ooman rights'?

It's up there with 'New Liebore' in the list of online cliches that need to be put to bed.

[Mamyalynne]

I don't want to digress from this tragic event , but I have to agree 'ooman rites/rights' simply puts me in mind of a small child struggling with pronunciation, belittles the topic in my view.

[Gromit]

The European Convention on Human Rights was written under the instruction of Churchill. The Human Rights Act 1998 is based on the original convention, and will not go away if we leave the EU. It will take a new act of Parliament to either replace it with something new or repeal it. But there is no plan to do that.

[mikey4444]

SP for BA ( 14:05 )

[New Judge]

“The Human Rights Act 1998 is based on the original convention, and will not go away if we leave the EU.”

I keep on saying that in response to similar comments. Nobody seems to notice.

“It will take a new act of Parliament to either replace it with something new or repeal it. “

Yes, and we will have to withdraw as signatories to the ECHR.

“But there is no plan to do that.”

There were…:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/the-tory-plan-to-scrap-the-human-rights-act-just-moved-one-step-closer-10491173.html

…but they got quietly ditched (sorry, “delayed”). Initially it was the fault of the LibDems when members of the Coalition. Now they’ve gone, there is no such excuse. But still the plans have been ditched:

http://www.theguardian.com/law/2015/dec/02/plan-to-scrap-human-rights-act-delayed-again

Apparently the problems are complex. Not so. We simply withdraw as signatories, repeal the 1998 Act and allow any alleged transgressions of Human Rights to be dealt with under other existing (and perfectly adequate) legislation. Of course that legislation does not allow people the right to remain here to pursue their “family life” when the only family they have here is a pet cat. So that may be among the the complexities.

[Svejk]

Tony Blair thinks liberals are to blame.

[Gromit]

New Judge
Wasn't Catgate proven to be untrue? Theresa May used it at the Party Conference and got into a bit of trouble.

[Svejk]

It's no good ganging up on ymb, just because you feel guilty.

[sp1814]

Gromit

Yes, it's true. Catgate is one of those nonsense stories which gained traction but wasn't actually true.

A bit like the EU ban on home made jam being sold at village fetes.

[sp1814]

Svejk

If people write things on AB that people disagree with, should we have a system where once someone argues an alternative point, everyone else should withhold?

It could work...but I think it would be difficult to implement.

[mushroom25]

//A bit like the EU ban on home made jam being sold at village fetes.//

well actually there was a grain of truth in that. the EU legislative ban relates not to homemade jam per-se, but the re-use of glass containers for food. the way this was interpreted in the UK led some groups that run fetes, fayres, etc to conclude jam was banned and imposed their own restrictions.

[naomi24]

SP, No one is using this terrible atrocity to further their own political agenda, and you are quite right in saying that we should focus upon what’s really important here. However, you will never get the solidarity you seek unless the errors that western liberal attitudes are responsible for are acknowledged - which is also what’s really important here. If those errors continue to go unrecognised, we will repeat them again and again – and in the meantime our enemies will continue to mock us for our utter stupidity - and who could blame them?

By the way, I agree that the use of deliberately misspelt words is puerile, but I think making an issue of them in a situation like this is also puerile. Best ignored.

[sp1814]

mushroom25

Actually - it was 100% a media construct.

As evidenced by the fact that it was driven by the papers, rather that the Women's Institute.

It was up there with the ban on bent bananas.

The fact is - there has been a rather high number of EU stories which have become common currency, but are in fact,p...cobblers.

If New Judge can be fooled, anyone can.

[mushroom25]

//100% a media construct//

umm, not entirely SP - here's the EC directive that kicked it off....
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A31994L0062

[anotheoldgit]

Lets not bandy words here, Islam should now be classed a banned religion, just as any other organisation which created the same amount of savage terror would be.

[mushroom25]

who sent the crusaders, AOG?

[naomi24]

Mushroom, a thousand years ago. Keep up.

[Svejk]

Who cares what happened 800 years ago?