JonnyF

Careful now. Don't think that humour will make you exempt from this law. Jokes are no longer allowed in Yousef's brave new world. Jokes are zee vork of zee "hate monster" and zey vill no longer be tolerated.

Context? He is living in a country that is 95.4% white but doesn't like the fact that the majority of people in power are white. There's some context for you. It's like a white man living in Nigeria and complaining there are too many black people in power. Or too many Japanese people in power in Japan.

If a white man made a similar speech about black people you wouldn't be talking about context. You'd call it out for what it is. Which kind of proves the point that the law will be applied selectively to silence whoever "needs to be" silenced.

There are many problems with it. The 2 main ones I see are... 1. Will it be applied equally? We've seen recently protesters in London chanting for Jihad and the elimination of Israel. Apparently that isn't hateful, but a joke using the LGBT flag on Twitter is. So who decides what is hateful and what is not? It's too broad a term. Will calling a biological male wearing a dress a man be hate speech? 2. This can easily be used to silence critics. Legitimate criticism is not hate, but this bill will easily allow critics to be silenced by throwing the "hate" label at them, when they might be voicing a genuine concern about something which is backed by facts. Based on the criteria, Yousaf himself should be prosecuted following his speech about white people that I posted above. But he won't be, because his "hate" was towards white people. Say something similar about black people and you'll be in the dock. It is deeply authoritarian and infringes on free speech. Disliking something should not be an offense. This will be used as a political tool to silence critics. https://www.spiked-online.com/2024/03/22/scotlands-hate-crime-act-is-an-authoritarian-monstrosity/

You still have to go past the cement factory over the winding mountain bit. It's open after about 30 minutes drive past there, a few minutes after you go past the left turn towards Khao Yai. It's been open since New Year. It has 2 lanes in each direction. No toll to pay at present. You can get off at the turn to Dan Khun Thot or go another 15 minutes or so and get off just south of Non Thai/just north of Korat town. Drove it yesterday.

Scotland rapidly becoming the most censorious, authoritarian country in the West. At least they picked the right date to implement the new laws. I wonder if Humza Yousaf will be called up on this for his hateful speech about having too many white people in Scotland? Can you imagine standing up in Thailand's parliament and complaining about all the SE Asians in Thailand? 😄 Don't feed the hate monster Humza. 😄

Racist.

While I would agree that the Tories are behind, a small poll by a pro EU group does not convince me these numbers are very accurate. I wouldn't deny they are trailing significantly though. The fact that woeful Labour are the only realistic alternative to a Conservative party that is Conservative in name only sums up why the UK is going down the toilet. Under Labour, it will simply be flushed quicker. My decision to leave back in 2006 looks wiser by the year. The only hope now would be for some big hitters in the Conservative party to join Reform UK and for the Conservative party to disband. I don't see that happening.

No problem. Let's have national bacon day at the start of Ramadan. Actually, we're better than that. Let's not join "Oirish" Joe in the gutter. He has more experience down there.

The trans movement has been an absolute disaster for women's rights, it's put the movement back decades. It's ironic how the Wokeists support the right of men to trample on women's rights, ruin women's sport etc. by simply donning a dress and some lipstick. Reminds me of how they support the intolerance shown by certain minority groups in the name of diversity. Dylan Mulvaney for example, mocks women with his grotesque parody of womanhood, and they love him for it. 😄

Not solely, but it has added to their mounting problems. Maybe ask the German finance minister. https://www.bbc.com/news/business-67105143 Sounds like they're wishing they'd offered us a better deal when Cameron asked for one, instead of treating us like the dumb Uncle that could be tapped up for some cash as and when required, and then ignored. Ah well, too late now. Thankfully.

Yes, it did devalue initially. Much of that was due to people believing Project Fear. It was great news for exporters, tourism, and people like me who earn in THB and repatriate funds back to the UK. Since we actually left and people have realized Project Fear was actually Project Lie, it's gradually been climbing.

Double post...

Shame then that it happens to be the biggest economy in the EU. By some distance.

Of course it added to the crisis. I don't need a quote from a newspaper to tell me that adding 6xx,xxx people in a year to a country that has a housing shortage will increase the problem. It does lead to a housing crisis. As do many other factors. I never said it was the sole cause, you made that bit up. But the good news is, if you have a habit of inventing things people have said and then arguing against that imagined statement, you're in good company here. 😄

So you think that bringing in 659,000 immigrants in a year to a country with a chronic housing shortage doesn't have any impact on the housing shortage? Got it... 😄 https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/mar/21/migration-numbers-australia-2023-rise

Well JK Rowling was mentioned in the OP and I was offering my opinion on her as a legend for women's rights in a thread about the definition of a woman. Secondly, the whole thread is about the judge intervening and I was offering my opinion on his intervention. So on the whole, pretty relevant I'd say. 😄

Some great quotes in there. Thanks. I'm no Trump fan but he was spot on about Theresa May and her lame attempts to deliver BRINO.

Clinton was a good president. I didn't mind Obama until he started poking his nose into the UK's business. Fortunately, he likely secured Brexit despite his efforts to influence UK voters to remain. He learnt his lesson after that and kept his mouth shut on the UK's sovereign decisions.

At least the Brits can still afford to go on holiday. Unlike the Germans. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/03/24/germanys-moribund-economy-faces-years-of-stagnation/ Brexit doesn't seem to be going too well for the Germans. Perhaps they should have offered us a sensible deal to stay?

JK Rowling is such a legend, standing up for real women's rights. Scotland on the other hand has become a parody. Their latest nonsense is "The Hate Monster" creation by Police Scotland. Truly embarrassing. 😄 https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/24201997.police-stereotyping-young-working-class-men-hate-crime-campaign/ What happened to impartiality? Having this judge involved in a case on trans issues would be like having a Democrat judge involved in prosecuting Trump. Oh, wait a minute...

Obama can see Biden is in deep trouble. Hopefully he has the magic touch again. I'm still hugely grateful for him for his comments during Brexit which many believe got the Leave vote over the line. 😄 https://news.sky.com/story/sky-poll-obamas-eu-warning-counterproductive-10258198 Thanks again Barack. Side note ; I wonder if Joe calls him "Boy" like he does with other black males? https://nypost.com/2023/02/15/biden-refers-to-marylands-first-black-governor-as-boy-in-speech/

The headline should really read "A few Brits forgot to renew their passports" 😃. Not a big deal, compared to what the Germans are experiencing post Brexit. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/22/world/europe/germany-strikes-economy.html

That's pretty funny. 😃 You Aussies always had a good sense of humour, on paper anyway. Talking of paper, you can tell a lot by a person by the type of paper they buy. Take Steve Smith and sandpaper for example. 😄

I love when you post these silly one word retorts. Good to see you found a new one though, "Pinned" was getting boring. It just proves to me you have nothing intelligent to say that disproves my points. Thanks again for confirming that fact.