Sim-O

BBC:

Britain’s curry houses are suffering a staffing crisis as immigration officials tighten up on issuing work visas.

Friday nights may never be the same again.

The beer industry will take a big knock, with all the lager that washes those vindaloos down, and then there’s all the loo roll that’s used on a Saturday morning too…

Labels: Odds and Sods

…for help.
Not the sort of help Tim was after, of which, the half time report (with Nick & Elroy) updates on what’s going on and who the players are (the half-time show looks promising too), but for some techie help.

I’ve bought a domain name from 123reg.co.uk (ok, ok, I know *now*) and can’t get it working properly with blogger and am hacked off waiting for 123regs’ support to reply. If you a regular reader (I can dream, can’t I?) you might’ve noticed me struggling already.
So if you can help drop us a line and I’ll let you know the problem. There may be an honourable mention and a link in my blogroll in it for you. If you’re already in my blogroll, then there’s not a lot else I can offer really.

Labels: Odds and Sods

Now, I don’t profess to know a lot about Sharia, or in fact anything, but I d believe that it is not going to cause a problem for the British legal system or British society at large.

I confess I didn’t read or listen to what the Archbishop said or didn’t say, but then I don’t need to.
Why?

Well, Sharia is described as archaic, prejudices against women, brutal as well as having all sorts of other crimes levelled against it by people who know as much as I do about it.
These accusations may well be true in certain countries that use it as a form of control or because it is misinterpreted. Or it may well be brutal and prejudiced against women. I don’t know. And to be honest when it comes to Sharia in Britian, I don’t give a shit.

I don’t give a shit because it’s not going to happen. Not like the scaremongers reckon, anyway.

To pick a couple of points that are brought up so readily, because being lazy, I’m not going to do a long post (do I ever?) and go through everything piece by piece.

With that in mind, one of the obvious protests is the two tier legal system.
There, apparently already is, for example Jewish Beth Din Courts. Although these can only be used in civil dispute and not only must both sides be Jewish, both sides must accept the authority of the court. Even then as the example in the link says about divorce

And in the case of divorce, the parties must still obtain a civil divorce alongside the religious one

So the Beth Din is in addition to, not in stead of the legal system. It is no different to any other type of arbitration, religious or not (although making sure that each party is there under their own free will is another matter that, again, is not exclusive to Muslims).
There is nothing, in principle, to Muslims doing this now, and I suspect they already do.
As far as the other scary stories about oppression of women and chopping off hands,I cannot see any law being enacted in this day and age that would exempt certain groups of people from receiving various human rights and handing control of those rights to various non-government controlled bodies (Government controlled bodies, yes, I can see that happening, and not to certain groups, unless you count the UK population asa whole) that would enable the male population to dictate what the women wear and when they can go out etc.

And brutal punishments like stoneings and chopping off hands? C’mon get real.

Don’t worry, it ain’t gonna happen, not in a scary ‘Muslims want to impose Islam on us all’ Daily Mail type of way.

Update:
Bugger. I forgot to include related posts:
Chicken Yoghurt
Mike Power
Sticks & Carrots
Lenin
Septicle Isle has done several posts

Another update:
Via PDF: mmm. very interesting.

FFS!! Fucking computers!!

Labels: Odds and Sods

FFS!! Fucking computers!!

Labels: Odds and Sods

Well, George W. Bushs’ time in office is coming to an end, so like Our tone a couple of months ago, has had to dust off his CV ready for his next appointment.

Desertpeace has posted it, and what a fascinating read it is too.
As someone in the comments says, it beggars belief that he got a second term (I nearly said elected a second time, but he wasn’t elected the first time).

Labels: Bush

Iain Dales’ Diary may seem intelligible enough, but if you want to know what he’s really trying to say, John Hirst has set up Ians’ Daily Diary to cut through the shit.

And very helpful it is too.

Oh, some people, including me, can have trouble with the written word, so I should just make this clear, it’s satire.

Via Tim

Labels: Blogging, Twats That Talk Bollox

Ian Dale:

…there’s no doubt about it – if you mention the words Ronald and Reagan in the same sentence you’re guaranteed a huge cheer.

Perhaps it will one day be the same in Britain for Margaret Thatcher. Such a shame politicians have to die first for their legacy to be truly appreciated.

Maggies’ legacy is truly appreciated already, Iain.

Labels: Odds and Sods

Lenin:

Let me see if I can get this straight. In Palestine, there is a state that was created out of the murder and ethnic cleansing of hundreds of thousands of the original inhabitants, which is fuelled by racism and religious fanaticism, and which has consistently murdered Palestinians and imposed forms of segregation on them in lieu of a just settlement. If you criticise this from any prominent position, you’re likely to be called an anti-Jewish racist – and there’s no Israel Lobby? Conversely, there is in the United States a powerful coalition of energy interests and finance-capital, interlocked with a state which has been engaged in the serious business of empire for over a century. It has built a coalition of popular support involving hard right Christians, racist crackers and militaristic gun nuts, behind a hard-right administration. But if it attacks an oil-rich country in the Middle East, it needs the permission of a small country in the Levant?

The Rest

Labels: Israel, USA

Q: What happens when a ‘libertarian‘ who steals images and bandwidth gets called a thief?

A: Out come the laywers. Amusingly, a tax laywer.

Tim Ireland:

Recently, I wrote an article about Paul Staines (you know him better as ‘Guido Fawkes’) stealing images and bandwidth. Now I’m getting threatening emails from his lawyer, Donal Blaney (you can’t see those, but you can see my replies).

To put it bluntly, I suspect that I am being targeted not because of what I said, but because of who I am.

Blaney appears to be very closely aligned to Staines personally, professionally and politically. He also appears to be an odd choice of lawyer for a libel case (if indeed one is truly in the offing), as his specialty/background is tax law.

Via Donal Blaney, Paul Staines has been badgering me to reveal my home address or retain the services of a lawyer in an effort to bully me into silence without true recourse to law.

It’s The Alisher Usmanov Affair all over again…. and I’d appreciate your support. Again.

After all, if some jumped-up blogger with a lawyer for a mate came after you, I’d be in your corner and slugging it out without hesitation.

Damn right I’d want Tim in my corner. For what it’s worth, I’m with you, Tim.

Labels: Blogging, Freedom of Speech, Law/Legal