holepuncture

I was talking to a loud and proud Glaswegian recently who boasted that the Scots contribute more than they take out of the public purse, no idea if thats correct, though what does seem pretty clear is that they can splash out a little more when it comes to their free education, prescriptions, transport, benefits etc. If they lost UK funding and saw those perks come to an end I wonder if they wil be so keen to stick two fingers up at Westminster? He wanted independence of course. Another friend who is English but lives in Glasgow visited recently, he seemed pretty sure the Scots will vote for independence, he was also highly critical of Nicola Sturgeon. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

You and I can wear the burka too Barry, there is nothing to stop us, it is not about religion or law as we have seen on this thread. If everyone who is concerned (of all cultures) started wearing burkas in an ironic campaign im sure it will will be nipped in the bud in no time at all. I was thinking the same, all people at courts who are about to get papped outside try and cover themselves with something. However Mr Sanchez has a point with the 'cloak of convenience', this is my issue with full face and body covering in public, it can be cherry picked for convenience. The people (English men IIRC) who concealed sledgehammers under burkas and raided a shopping centre used the clothing as a 'cloak of convenience'. Whilst I feel the UK allowing the full face covering burka is wrong as it is explicitly endorsing the oppression of women and that legitimacy (given by the Governments stance) is actually now making these oppressed women victims of hate in society, my main concern still lies with community safety and I believe the burka provides a significant security risk. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-24158041 The debate grows stronger with the NHS needing to review their policy, I agree with Hunt, I would want to be able to communicate with a medic properly.

MPs are calling for a debate on it in parliament, so it is clearly an issue.. Read the comments above too from the Imam Dr Taj Hargey, it is not about law or religion, in fact the burka goes against islamic law for a pilgrimage to Mecca. Nobody other than Bridge Too Far has answered the OP questions: How would you all feel in the following scenarios: Fully veiled person walks into a capacity SMS and sits next to you. Fully veiled person walks into a busy bar you are in. Fully veiled person knocks on your front door and you are alone. What are your views? This thread shows how opinion is split on this issue In my opinion it isnt about tolerance, I believe there is a security risk with the burka. It has been used as a disguise to commit crime in our capital city, there have been acid attacks on innocent women by people disguised in the burka. My fear is that it is the perfect tool for concealing weapons, and I am well aware the instances of crime are low in numbers at present. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2271921/Naomi-Oni-Victorias-Secret-worker-scarred-life-niqab-wearing-attacker-threw-acid-face.html http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-22811466 People are told to remove motorcycle helmets when entering petrol stations etc, yet the burka isnt, even though you could conceal some pretty horriffic things inside them as seen in the links above (acid, sledgehammers etc). My fear is that the liberal elite will continue to embelish mock outrage on behalf of muslims whilst not actually understanding the wider issue at all. I fear that the liberal elite will not change their position on this matter until some poor soul has been killed, unfortunately. Which, with a heavy heart leads me with little choice but to say: Ban the burka, and any other item of clothing used to completely conceal ones identity (in public places).

LOL, this is what I meant, poor show from the viscious liberal elite and total disrespect to the M.E culture. Im not sure why you keep going on about religion and law, the burka issue is a cultural one, nothing at all to do with religion and law.

Of all the crimes committed by the skates, the outrageous tax evasion tops it all for me. How they managed to be such a high profile company yet blow off tens of tens of tens of millions of tax is unbelievable. This is the basic stuff too, VAT, NI, PAYE FFS, even our finest tax avoiders such as Starbucks manage to pay that lot.

Nobody at all, no-one and I agree. I make it up as I go along.

Its like backing a rat into a corner, once there is nowhere to go... they get deperate and lose all reasonable grasp of rationality and reality.. hence they 'attack' you with aggresive words and personal insults, always failing to notice the irony of it all. They are a danger to us all.

Barack Obama said he mourned "yet another mass shooting"

Its interesting you say that, as the (non-Muslim) men in the article below perused a shopping centre for over a hour in full veil whilst no-one identified them as men, nor did they identify the sledgehammers and swag bags beneath their chosen apparel. Those concealed weapons could have been far more dangerous to the public and went completely undetected despite advanced security systems, the eye of the public et al, for over an hour. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2374055/Unveiled-The-burka-wearing-men-stole-1m-designer-watches-smash-grab-attack-caught-crashed-getaway-bike.html As a mother/grandmother/great grandmother, genuinely, how would you feel in the following scenarios?: Fully veiled person walks into a capacity SMS and sits next to you. Fully veiled person walks into a busy bar you are in. Fully veiled person knocks on your front door and you are alone, and its late at night. What are your views? It dosent offend me at all personally in the same way I dont get offended by students wearing a giant Buzz Lightyear costume or a Groucho mask. My issue is security and safety, both of which I feel are at risk in the face of the burka. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/400550799061?lpid=54&device=c&adtype=pla&crdt=0&ff3=1&ff11=ICEP3.0.0&ff12=67&ff13=80&ff14=54 Burqa Costume Burqua Fancy Dress outfit Traditional Sharia burka bride UK made - Buy it now £19.95 Might buy one for the pub!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-24104811 I’m not too sure where I stand on this subject, but MPs want to debate it. On one hand, I feel very uncomfortable in London at times being exposed to the full veil. For example, a full bodied/faced veil coming towards me on the pavement, I have to cross the road as I feel threatened and potentially in danger. I have never seen a full veil on the tube and I often wonder how people would cope with that?! On the other hand, students dress up all the time when out having fun, completely covering themselves up, motorcyclists are pretty much covered, protesters are often wearing a mask of some sort. How would you all feel in the following scenarios: Fully veiled person walks into a capacity SMS and sits next to you. Fully veiled person walks into a busy bar you are in. Fully veiled person knocks on your front door and you are alone. What are your views?

Had my dispatch email from Amazon on Saturday evening. Nothing delivered as yet and my tracking number isnt recognised which suggests the item hasnt been scanned/left the building.. http://metro.co.uk/2013/09/15/grand-theft-auto-v-maker-rockstar-investigates-claims-game-has-been-released-early-as-amazon-sells-out-4015735/ Very good Barry Sanchez

Well, getting a 3rd class degree I completely agree.. Anyone who gets a 3rd clearly isnt up to the standard or is addicted to something. In fact, having a 3rd is possibly worse than having no degree at all, but IIRC super mikey was in his first year or something and had every opportunity to turn his fortunes around. But you talk about opening doors and the (lack of) doors opening to graduates today over the past. Yes it is true, however without that degree you wont even get the opportunity to even knock on that door these days. Super mikey has been led down a very dark path by some on this forum and it will cost him for the rest of his days.

Fair enough, but I do wonder whether you will hold that mindset in ten years time. You could have had it all.

You ignored some sound advice on this forum when considering bailing on further education, your fall from grace has been a spectacular. Well done.

I admire your obvious passion and desire to get the kids involved, it is commendable, well done. However, I would like to take this opportunity to discuss an initiative I have been actively campaigning for in Peruvian football for a number of years.. Not Kids 4 a £1 Not Kids for FREE .. Kids for Subsidies. Times are very tough in Peru these days and we need to get the next generation supporting their local Peruvian club. For each 'adult' that buys a ticket, they can retrospectively claim a subsidy if they bring a child along to the game. Qualifying claimants are entitled to twenty Peruvian Nuevo Sols for each child they bring along, which is a huge incentive. We have successfully implemented this in the Segunda División and we are looking to move into the Peruvian Primera División next year. Critics argue that the rise in kidnappings and abductions rose as a result of the scheme, and that criminal gangs are profiteering from the initiative, however the 200pc increase in children at games in the Segunda speaks for itself. We begin trials in the Primera at José Gálvez and Universidad César Vallejo initially, before moving into our core territory of the Lima 'big 5' clubs' As you can see, I am very passionate about this too.

The bestest ™

It is no surprise, this little storrie from the Telegraph sums it all up pretty well, people stepping down from board positions to make way for convicted fraudsters!: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/portsmouth/7048325/Sidelined-finance-director-Tanya-Robins-resigns-from-Portsmouth.html

I read that in a Woy Hodgson accent, tremendous.

As stated on BBC South Today in no uncertain terms yesterday, the parachutes saved them. I really liked the visual display of a pompey first XI based on who is owed the most, it was great (though 14 subs wouldnt be allowed). The vast majority do not own the club, 10-20% have a non-tradable share in the trust.

The skates had their chance to liquidate, start at the bottom rung based at Moneyfields, but they chose not to. Instead they have a crumbling nottarf with no facilities, landlocked by Robinson/Tesco, with parts of the ground being closed for safety reasons and only one toilet in the away end. To top it off, there is no maintenence budget, no training ground and crushing multi million legacy settlements to former players for many years ahead. Time will tell!

I woke up this morning and said... THANK YOU

LOL, oh dear PDT! Robinson will do well out of this.

They smash up their own town, no surprise they would turn on themselves like this. Poor old Mick, though it must grate the the majority of the few who are not PDT ponzi members to see these directors in the papers wining and dining, constantly popping champange corks, and getting subsequent drink driving court appearances as a result. Dosent really send the right message, in fact the directors getting p*ssed is about the most transparent we have seen of the PDT, LOL.

Always ahead of the game Glasgow, respect. I wonder if Gemmel is going beyond the tale of Richard Fry at Barclays and Begbies? What the Barclays exec did was clearly full of self interest, though to me reading between Gemmels lines would suggest that there is still something lurking in the shadows.. a Barclays backed leveraged buyout, secured against the parachutes & assets, Cortese becomes the owner, with his tax haven lending buddies fronting his deposit/initial payment? Unfortunately if we are relying on Dubai Phil to spill the beans, we are going to have to piece together his acid-esque rants piece by piece, deducting golf as we go..