MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Attacker was the only person dead after new terror attack in Brussels' train station
Belgian security forces shot dead a would-be suicide bomber around 9 p.m. local time Tuesday in Brussels' central train station, which was evacuated following a small but fiery blast, in what is being treated as a new case of terrorism. Apart from the attacker, there were no other casualties, it was reported. Read full article
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Disclaimer & comment rulesTo all the gay, left-wing, vegan, utopia fantasists (Corbyn voters) out there: this is why we currently need more armed police/ troops on our streets.
Jun 21st, 2017 - 04:22 am - Link - Report abuse 0Jo slight problem Jaba the Abbott wants to pay them pennies and the Bearded Cretin will only approve shooting in exceptional circumstances. Remember to the Bearded Cretin, the Manchester and London Bridge attacks, were incidents whilst the Finsbury Park Mosque attack, was a terrible disaster atrocity and outrage.
Jun 22nd, 2017 - 05:28 am - Link - Report abuse +1@Capt Rockhopper
Jun 22nd, 2017 - 09:21 am - Link - Report abuse -1Still repeating that nonsense? I guess I'd better post my reply from the van attack thread again.
Corbyn on Manchester attack: “Its absolutely shocking news, its the most appalling act of violence that's taken the lives of young people who were at a music event to enjoy themselves. People must be allowed to enjoy themselves at a music event.
”This is an appalling act of violence against people and it must be totally and unreservedly and completely condemned.“
Corbyn on London Bridge attack: ”We are all shocked and horrified by the brutal attacks in London.“
Corbyn after tower block fire: ”totally shocked by it, it's the worst nightmare anyone can think of, a fire in a tower block”
@Jo Bloggs
£*&^ you. It was the Tories who cut the number of police on the streets, and would only pay for one armed unit for 3 (large) counties. If we had a terrorist incident they could be over 100 miles away, completely useless.
If they wanted my vote they should've actually put more police on the streets, and done a better job for the last 7 years.
DT
Jun 23rd, 2017 - 05:47 am - Link - Report abuse 0You are confusing two different things. Corbyn clearly does not want armed police. The Previous coalition government cut the budget across the board and that meant less police and less everything else.
Do you think there should be more armed police patrolling the streets or less?
@JoB
Jun 23rd, 2017 - 08:51 am - Link - Report abuse +1Sorry, that was uncalled for. What did Corbyn really say about armed police and when? People have been attributing all kinds of crap to him, so I'd like to see his actual words.
And do I think there should be armed police on the streets? Good question. Round here, no. I would like a few more police available, and enough armed response teams that they can arrive quickly when needed. For high risk targets like parliament there probably should be armed police around, they are already present in airports. I also want those police who carry weapons to continue to be highly trained so they can do their jobs effectively and avoid accidentally killing bystanders.
DT
Jun 23rd, 2017 - 12:41 pm - Link - Report abuse 0He claims to have done a u-turn on this now but I don't trust him. He believes in a theoretical world that does not exist. Thank goodness he is merely a toothless leader on the opposition rather than someone in power; and thank goodness a lot of his more spineless views are not the views of the Labour Party and the official Labour Party Policy.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4571622/Jeremy-Corbyn-opposing-shoot-kill-policy-goes-viral.html
@Jo Bloggs
Jun 23rd, 2017 - 01:27 pm - Link - Report abuse -1I see. So according to the Daily Mail what he actually said was:
'We will recruit another 10,000 new police officers, including more armed police, as well as 1,000 more security services staff to support our communities and help keep us safe.'
That's pretty definite; clearly he does want more armed police.
Additionally he now says the police should use whatever force is necessary to stop terrorist attacks. Does he strike you as the sort of person who changes his beliefs according to whatever is popular? He agreed to compromise with his MPs about many issues in the manifesto, including Trident and the Falklands, but he hasn't claimed to have changed his mind on them. And his views on terrorism may be wrong, but they are not spineless; he's taken a lot of flack for them.
Perhaps you should find some other argument if you want to convince us 'gay, left-wing, vegan, utopia fantasists' to vote Tory in future.
Corbyn has only changed because his party insisted and because it was so in his face. This is too fundamental an issue for him to have a different personal view and I am not convinced that has changed. The reason he had no choice was because the recent horrors were so in his face that blind Freddy couldn't not see it.
Jun 23rd, 2017 - 03:18 pm - Link - Report abuse 0What about other views of his that are completely out of kilter with those of his party? The Falklands for example. What would he try to convince his party to do to us if similar horrors don't get in his face before he acts? And before you say that I am only thinking of myself on this, the Falklands sovereignty issue is the only reason I read MP.
I've voted for Labour more in my life than Conservative (or Tory, as you call it) but Corbyn has “lost the changing room” if we use a sporting parlance and I wouldn't have been able to vote for Labour with him standing in the position of the leader.
I stand by my assertion that most people I know who say they can't see what putting more armed police/ and or troops on the streets will do, are in one or more of the categories previously highlighted. They generally still want to know what the authorities are doing to stop acts of terror. They also usually claim to hate capitalism but want to know why Amazon didn't deliver their new gadget on time.
I can see the reasoning for what he said previously and why he might have changed his mind, but I don't know what goes on in someone else's head and neither do you. What I do know is that people say a lot of things about Corbyn which are not born out by the facts, and the press is extremely hostile to him.
Jun 23rd, 2017 - 06:02 pm - Link - Report abuse -1IMO your fears about sovereignty are overblown, but I can understand why you don't want him to be PM. I don't see how he could abandon the principle of self-determination, but that doesn't mean he would fight for your cause, and he might want to cut military spending down there.
I haven't voted Labour much in my life, but I want what's best for the UK, and May and her hard Brexit plans are not it. I certainly don't agree with everything Corbyn says, but unlike other leaders he has something to offer young people and wants to address problems instead of ignoring them. But I thought Falklanders couldn't vote in UK elections?
And your 'assertion' is just derogatory stereotyping. 40% of voters chose Labour, but only a tiny fraction of them are in all the categories you mentioned, and I doubt you know enough of any to get a decent sample size.
I don't read MP that much anymore and I rarely post on it as often as I have this week so I am not trying to prolong this debate but I feel a slight need to clarify my views on a couple of the issues we've discussed.
Jun 24th, 2017 - 06:09 am - Link - Report abuse 0Virtually no voter can know what is going on in any (potential) politician's head but still has to make a decision once every few years or so. Or in the case of the UK at present, once every 12 months. I know the press has to sell stories but you make it sound like Corbyn is the only politician who has to rely on the press to make himself known to the electorate.
I am also less than impressed with May but I am not 100% sure that life after Brexit couldn't eventually be better for the UK. Of course it will be a rocky road to get through and beyond it but the vote wasn't to leave Europe- you're not going to be relocated- but simply to withdraw from the Union. Hyperbole from both sides was out of control during the campaigning and still is to an extent. There are non-EU States doing well in Europe.
Falkland Islanders can vote in the U.K. election if they are residing in the U.K. for sufficiently long enough to be on the electoral role. We hold full British passports, we are British. I spent 9 years in the armed forces and more recently lived and worked in the private secttor in England so I was on the electoral role then.
It is fashionable at the moment to lash out at the Brexit decision and at the Conserative Party but not as many people as some would like to think agree with the emotional hype. Labour didn't win the election; they lost by a substantial margin.
I agree that my assertion was a bit unreasonable and was a bit tongue in cheek but I don't know anyone who doesn't fit one (I never said all) of the categories. Lot's of people still say they cannot see the point of putting more armed police/ troops on the streets. My initial point was simply that this story from Belgium was an example of armed police being able to make a difference.
@Jo Bloggs
Jun 24th, 2017 - 11:11 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Thanks for explaining. If you had simply said this story is an example of armed police making a difference, I probably would have agreed with you. I'm just tired of all the stereotyping (hey, even vegans are as entitled to an opinion as anyone else) and also of people claiming Corbyn 'obviously' believes something when he has actually said the opposite. And you are one of the more reasonable posters on here which made it more annoying.
I wasn't trying to say Corbyn is the only politician who has to rely on the press, but IMO they have been much, much more critical of him than other party leaders, including past Labour leaders. And I don't think you are completely right, they can also go out and talk to people and publish their manifestos for everyone to read, and IMO this partly explains Corbyn's comeback from 20 points behind to only 2.
As for Brexit, I think it would be possible for the UK to do better outside the EU, but it would take leaders with talent and vision, and a population that was open to the world, which unfortunately is pretty much the opposite of what we have currently. I was hoping the government might have learned something from the disastrous Scottish independence referendum campaign, but evidently they did not. And I can't think of any states in Europe outside of the single market that are doing well. We're already giving up a lot of influence by leaving the EU, it would be preferable not to push the economy off a cliff by leaving the single market with no backup plan.
DT
Jun 25th, 2017 - 06:47 am - Link - Report abuse 0You make a lot of fair points that I do not necessarily disagree with. I would never dream of denying anyone the right to express their views because of any sort of categorisation.
Switzerland, Norway and Iceland come to mind as non EU States that are doing pretty well.
Those countries are not in the EU, but they are all members of the single market. That should tell you something about how important it is for prosperity.
Jun 25th, 2017 - 09:02 am - Link - Report abuse 0How much does the Falklands export to the EU? Currently you have a huge advantage over your neighbours in being able to sell everything tariff free. In April 2019 you may well find yourselves competing on an equal or worse basis with them.
DT
Jun 25th, 2017 - 04:37 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Couldn't it be possible for the UK to enter the EFTA? With regards to our exports, the only significant one with the EU is- I would estimate without the figures to hand- about 70% of our seafood which probably amounts to around GBP15,000,000 PA. That represents approximately 15-20% of our economy; without doubt we are very concerned about where Brexit could leave us but it isn't impossible to make trade agreements.
Yes, it would almost certainly be possible. But only if we continue to allow free movement, which May has promised to end. It is impossible to stay in the single market without free movement of people, and this is why she is planning a hard Brexit.
Jun 25th, 2017 - 06:12 pm - Link - Report abuse 0(The Brexit campaigners promised we could have our cake and eat it; Boris literally said that phrase. I don't know how many of the voters believed it and how many just didn't care.)
But there is a slight possibility that things will change as a result of this election. Even staying in the single market temporarily - so long as we can negotiate new trade deals in the meantime - would be a huge benefit to the economy. There is room to hope now, anyway.
15-20% is not so bad I guess. Where do you export your meat to? But even supposing the UK joined EFTA, it's not a given the Falklands would keep it's current status. Spain is bound to make difficulties over Gibraltar and might decide to go against the Falklands too.
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