Recent content by Year of the Tig

I try to get info from lots of different sources in different countries, and use the web a lot for this.

Ask the Chinese if it is a slur or not. I think that is usually the benchmark. I tend not to say the word as people I have known have not particularly liked it. It was originally rather derogatory. Limey never really 'caught on' here - understandably - and since it was first coined when we had...

Kraj, just went back and had a look - and I cannot imagine why I did that since it is perfectly clear what you mean in the original post. Partly I was agreeing with you then lost track after reading someone else's post. My apologies!

So what my friends and family are saying, who are there in Iraq, is not actually what I am hearing then? What am I really hearing? Do tell.

Centuries! The top 1% - 5% of the population has always owned 80+% of the wealth. What we need is a fairer distribution of that wealth. Tax cuts which are not simply to benefit the very wealthy who do not need it. Beyond £1 million what else do you need? Why are single individuals permitted, in...

And cuts to Medicare which the middle classes are relying on more and more.

Stereotyping people in the Middle East is silly. What do you mean - riding on camels and living in tents? 900 years ago they had the greatest scientific and mathematical minds - they invented the astrolabe a form of navigation and a way of telling time more accurately than we had. They knew...

LOL!! I know! Stupid comment, but I don't necessarily mean a violent revolution. I have not trusted a single government in office since I was able to vote! One is as bad as the next. Kraj, you make reference to 'one criminal's rights more important than the lives of innocent millions'. How...

He will only be followed by another twat. We need a revolution!

Rich, you are right. Blair wanted to but Lords vetoed it. I stand corrected. And hoorah for the Lords!

The West. US and UK specifically who are condoning the use of torture as a means to defeat terrorism. From everything I have read and heard supporting the use of torture the attitude seems to be that it is OK to use against 'them' meaning some kind of enemy (mostly Muslims). My argument is...

It is only a matter of time, if this continues, that these methods of 'interrogation' are used against the general population as a matter of course. Too late then to 'fix' the laws. I won't mention the fact that many of the victims of this torture are not in fact terrorists but innocent...

Torture, according to International Law does NOT exist as an option. We have heavily criticised regimes such as that in Uzbekhistan and Saddam's Iraq for use of such methods. It has been proven that such information so obtained is useless and only further radicalises certain groups. The...

If you permit the use of information (which is questionable at best) you therefore permit torture. If that is the case then you must change the Geneva Convention and International Law. Do we really want or need to go down that route? Bear in mind, the vast majority of torture victims are in...

What, in your opinion, constitutes torture? And is it ever permissable to use information gleaned from it in a court of law?