Weston Super Saint

Exactly. A meaningful protest would have involved boycotting the world cup. Not one country has suggested doing this as they have accepted the laws of the land in Qatar.

Correct. How is that our problem?

I agree, that's exactly what it's about. Not sure how many times I need to point out it's their country and they can do whatever they like in it! If, as you say, there are people who don't want to live in accordance with Sharia law, then they will figure a way to resolve this. Who made us the world's police force and gave us the right to resolve the world's problems?

In your Western view / opinion, homosexuality is fine. In their Arab view / opinion, homosexuality is abhorrent and against the will of Allah. You're suggesting that everyone in the entire world including (as Soggy would say) the 'savages' should share your views and opinions. It's commendable that you are accepting of homosexuals, if only you could project that understanding to the cultures and laws of other countries. Let's not forget that homosexuality used to be illegal in our own country up until not that long ago. It's not for you (or I) to decide what is / isn't acceptable in other countries according to their faith and beliefs.

By law you need a valid passport to cross from France to England. If you don't have one you are crossing illegally. Ergo, you can cross the channel illegally. Wasn't a tough one was it?

No trouble at all. That's why I've said both protests would be daft.

In their country! Don't like it, don't go to their country, pretty simple concept. Clearly all the countries playing in the world cup have accepted their views a d laws otherwise they wouldn't have gone!

Yeah, too right. Damn her for blaming those illegal immigrants from crossing the channel illegally and putting themselves and their families in danger. Who the fuck does she think she is?

Aren't they instilling their will (AKA enforcing their laws) in their own country? The protests are about countries who live according to strict Sharia law not allowing homosexuality. Seems as daft as me protesting that my local pub refuses to allow 12 year olds to be served alcohol.

That would have been cool though. The first ever money laundering investigation where no money was involved.

Of course, the flipside is that they have adhered to the same 'laws' for over a thousand years, so change is likely to be glacial at best.

Rainbow laces would solve it, haven't seen anyone with the cajones though.

I imagine the Qatari's are re-writing their Sharia Law books as I type.

Which agreements were "signed up to"?

Unlike those other countries that follow strict Sharia laws that are way more welcoming and tolerant?

Add misogyny to Qatar's traits? Still shouldn't come as a surprise in a country that follows strict Sharia laws.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-63710435 I don't get the suprise and indignation that these reports contain. We agreed to play a World Cup in a country whose laws say homosexuality is a crime. We didn't have to agree to play, but by doing so, we've accepted the laws of that country. Now we seem eternally surprised that the country are enforcing their laws.

It's not. It's still stuck in the queue because the ticket app isn't working

It was certainly illegal in 1966 in the UK.

Me too, to be fair.

I bet they didn't wait until the last minute. My guess is that they had zero intention to serve beer. I'll also bet they didn't even put beer pumps into the stadiums - that would have been a big giveaway for anyone having a look!

To be fair, I think the debate about 'how' we got here is credible in terms of understanding how we get out of the mess. Many will blame Brexit because that's the lazy option that doesn't require any real thought, just hatred. Some will overlook the long term impacts of covid and the collapse of the supply chain from the far East driving prices up as they assume that's all gone away now that covid is no longer in the news. Others will focus on the current energy supply crisis, which is what has pushed us over the edge in recent months. Obviously I don't have all the answers but controlling the energy price issues seems the most logical to lessen the impact. The Government gave the OK for energy suppliers to increase the daily charge to every household to cover the cost of the firms that went bust (rightly so), but haven't noticed that the profits this has helped to generate has paid that debt back two or three times over already, so the simple answer would be to reduce the threshold on that charge - the Government wouldn't need to subsidise households and energy supplier's profits would drop back to a more normal level. The Gov't could then focus on the impact of the energy price rises themselves to keep the money flowing in the economy, but look to have ignored this completely after April next year. I suspect the recession is only going to get worse after that point as energy (along with food) is critical for every household.

Isn't that the plan though, take money out of the economy, allow economy to shrink, thus reducing inflation. You can't do all of that and STILL have economic growth.

Have you tried buying them sweets? On second thoughts, I think I know the answer

To be fair, they did send the England team to Qatar in a plane named 'Rain Bow'. That should sort out the issues in a strict Sharia country