Geordieracer

Amending contracts (hours/money etc) - may have actually seen sense and binned the stirke. As you say it's no way to get public support. It's like the tubes - when they strike now everyone just gets on with it and make other arrangements - they'd be better off turning up for work and letting people travel for free. As is they just piss everyone off.

Having lived in London for years I'm used to tube strikes etc however the London Fire Brigade has chosen to strike over the bonfire weekend. Where do you stand on this? From my own point of view the fire lads do a good job under hard conditions (certainly compared to what I do) however they are paid well for this ( not to mention the side jobs they all have) and I think striking on the busiest therefore most dangerous day of the year is a disgrace. Like I say I have all the respect in the world for them however they have gone too far with this.

Slightly more current..... http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-11061296 Still "it's all a laugh" eh kev?

Is it a trilby? In which case I offer humble apologies.

Split it with ya?..... Go on

Quite possibly. Half arsed dig at the self perceived infallibility some of the lefties have on here.

Even worse

You've done a good job of standing off and interjecting little one-liners like this from time to time. Makes you sound oh-so-world-weary. Also makes you sound like you know what you're talking about, when I doubt you do. So what might these 'facts' be? Where is the 'conspiracy theory'? Who's being 'naive'? Join in the discussion if you have something to say. I see your post Leazes and I'll respond later. My point is that you all have theories/ideas based on your own agendas/something you've read rather than experienced or fact hence judgement on a book none of you have read but rather paraphrased via Google. Some are so anti US they believe anything they see written that slings dirt in their direction. The whole point of this thread was basically outrage that people had the freedom to protest against something they felt was wrong. The fact that they weren't burning books, issuing death sentences is what sets them apart from those you see burning effigies of anyonr who had the sheer nerve to disagree with their opinions (almost what happens on here). I think I asked you for specifics. You didn't provide any. It's unfortunate that you assume that a: I haven't read the book and b: that I don't base my ideas on 'experiences' or 'fact.' Well, I can see 'The Satanic Verses' from where I am sitting right now. It's on a shelf, between 'White Teeth' and 'The Search for the Giant Squid' (don't ask.) Would you like me to quote from it for you? Here you go: "The anger with God carried him through another day, but then it faded and in its place there came a terrible emptiness, an isolation, as he realized he was talking to thin air, that there was nobody there at all and thrn he felt more foolish than ever in his life and he began to plead into the emptiness, ya Allah, just be there, damn it, just be." Page 30. It's one half of a paragraph about 1/3 of the way down on the right-hand page. Secondly, I think my 'experiences' and the 'facts' that I know will vastly outstrip yours. Unless you mean to tell me that you are also a Muslim and a New Yorker, that you were in NY on 9/11, that you have lived in a Muslim country (Egypt), that you have two degrees in Middle Eastern history and high school education, that you make your living teaching this exact sort of thing to adolescents, I think I have 'experienced' a bit more than you and I think I know a few more 'facts' than you do. Even those who most vehemently disagree with what I have to say on the subject have never tried to insinuate that my knowledge of the topic is 'paraphrased from Google', of all things. So unless you'd like to join in the discussion in earnest and bring your own facts and evidence to back up the specific statements that you make instead of throwing out a few undefined accusations of 'agendas' and 'naivete' (that's with a second 'e', not a 'y', just for your information), then please, in the immortal words of Stevie, pipe down. I don't think the 'entire purpose of this thread' was to express outrage at the freedom of people to protest, as you say. Look back at the first post. I think it was to express outrage and wonder at what they have chosen to protest. Similarly, did you think the teddy bear Muhammad scandal was an outrageous cause for conflict and inflammation? But do you support the right of those people to protest (peacefully) what they felt to be wrong? Again presumption over fact. Interested to know what the two degrees equate to? Did you take it twice or were they separate degrees? So I ask again have you read the book (I ask because your synopsis is rather familiar to reviews I've seen before). I've never once disagreed with you, rather questioned your(and others) facts/motivation. You say you've experienced more than me but have utterly no clue who I am, or what I've seen, experienced, whether I'm Muslim, Christian, Humanist, or just a WUM. I could make a link between your avatar and the first country to adopt Christianity...... but why would I?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/asia_p...ali/default.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/uk/0..._happened/html/ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/...s-ABC-News.html http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http...=1t:429,r:3,s:0

You really don't see the difference? I notice you omitted the call to all members of the faith to murder people. I've read the thread chaps and I clearly can't up with the intellectual heavyweights (students) on here. ..........

Hook. Line. Sinker.

You've done a good job of standing off and interjecting little one-liners like this from time to time. Makes you sound oh-so-world-weary. Also makes you sound like you know what you're talking about, when I doubt you do. So what might these 'facts' be? Where is the 'conspiracy theory'? Who's being 'naive'? Join in the discussion if you have something to say. I see your post Leazes and I'll respond later. My point is that you all have theories/ideas based on your own agendas/something you've read rather than experienced or fact hence judgement on a book none of you have read but rather paraphrased via Google. Some are so anti US they believe anything they see written that slings dirt in their direction. The whole point of this thread was basically outrage that people had the freedom to protest against something they felt was wrong. The fact that they weren't burning books, issuing death sentences is what sets them apart from those you see burning effigies of anyonr who had the sheer nerve to disagree with their opinions (almost what happens on here).

The naivety in this thread staggers me. Never let facts get in the way of a good conspiracy theory.

Shouldn't have been surprised by what the result was. i.e. he (and you by all accounts) fully expect large swathes of the Muslim world to issue death sentences, burn books (now that is shocking) etc etc, when they feel aggrieved. Back to the topic. The people of New York have every right to protest (whether they are misguided or not) over something which is still very raw in their minds. SIMPLE. They weren't hurting anyone.

Why? It seems the centre for debate and I wondered if any of you had read the subject of the argument, or at least since the argument transferred from the Mosque near ground zero debate.