Juancornetto

I liked the bit where Lot offered his daughter to the horny men of the village to be raped instead of the male fugitive he had in his house. Oh how we laughed.

Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies. Groucho Marx

4 at the match and these 5 make it 9 in total. "Jhuan Guy" is definitely not an option for them this time.

Rebecca Gray will become the target of all manner of abuse now. She's also resigned from the ET and is about to take up a role with the Sun so it'll be interesting to see how if at all her un-biased writing changes. I'm sure the NUJ will be along shortly to stand by one of their own.

Why anyone would want to occupy a position as a Rangers fans representative is beyond me, howver given the inevitability of friction I applaud all candidates for stepping up. I will say though that the hostility directed at Mr Harris from various corners has been shown to be misguided. Alan's main concern was that there was a danger of "conflict of interest" and in the case of Richard Gough, it's absolutely clear there is. If we agree that it's vitally important that the united fans representative remains independent then you de-facto agree with Alan's point. Whether you agree with the way that concern was conveyed is another matter.

This is a very strange appointment. No doubting the lady's credentials and experience but what possible use does a professional football body have for her? I can only think she is there to front some kind of community engagement scheme with the member clubs and their respective fanbases but even then I fail to see what her area of expertise has to do with football. IF there was a place for her, would it not be with the SFA? Baffling.

Scum is as scum does.

Sort of! http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:https://www.nuj.org.uk/news/herald-condemned-for-axing-of-columnist/ Herald condemned for axing of columnist 29 January 2016 The NUJ has robustly defended a journalist at the Sunday Herald, whose column has been terminated because of pressure by Rangers football club. The union has written to the editor condemning the pulling of columns of Angela Haggerty and Graham Spiers following intervention by the football club. Dominic Bascombe, assistant organiser NUJ Scotland, said: "The NUJ has already defended Angela over the bullying and harassment she has suffered for doing her job. The axing of her column sends a message that The Herald is unwilling to stand up for its contributors and is willing to sacrifice journalists when commercial interests are involved. This is totally unacceptable." Michelle Stanistreet, NUJ general secretary, said: "It is outrageous that commercial meddling has led the Herald to sack a respected columnist. This pandering to the mob does the freedom of journalism and the reputation of the Herald no favours. We call on the editor to reinstate these columnists at once."

A certain section of fans and media in Scotland are absolutely desperate to see the back of Warburton. They know he's something a bit special.

Most (if not all) of us will be attending the match before the dinner so there will be scraves and colours aplenty. No dress code, just common sense.

If Mr King had let Ashley run riot with his lawyers, you would be one of the first to criticise him. Damned if he does, damned if he doesn't.

Bravo Mr McCarthy :clap:

I'm already committed to a night out in town after the dinner, I dare not enter a pub before the game as well! That would just be greedy.

The author was trying to separate the religion of the sex attackers from the whole scenario, my argument is simply that their religious beliefs are AS relevant to the discussion as the fact that they are men. To be clear I do not subscribe to the "all Muslims are x" notion any more than the"all men are y" notion, they are both inaccurate and unhelpful. It is interesting as a man (last time I checked) to think about this and feel some sympathy with the overwhelming majority of Muslims who are conflated with the extremists of their numbers. I'm guessing it's much the same as a right minded man being conflated with sex offenders and rapists.

The ratio of non Islamic terrorism to Islamic terrorism is probably around the same as the ratio of non-male perpetrators of sex attacks to male sex attacks. Does that qualify my quote any more clearly?

If anybody is wondering what Regressive Left is, just have a read at this article: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/terrorism-in-the-uk/12093408/John-McDonnell-attends-protest-event-organised-by-Cage.html John McDonnell has attended an event for former Guantanamo detainees organised by a controversial campaign group once labelled terrorist apologists. The Shadow Chancellor joined with organisers from Cage, whose research director, Asim Qureshi, described "Jihadi John" as a "beautiful young man" last year. Also attending the event were seven former Guantanamo detainees including Shaker Aamer and Moazzam Begg, who is now a director of Cage. Six British universities are facing an inquiry after Cage used meetings on campus to encourage the “sabotage” of the government’s official anti-extremism programme. Mr Begg told students “any right-minded person” would oppose the Prevent strategy and told audiences they should have sympathy for jihadists killed fighting with Al Nusra, the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda. Jeremy Corbyn's close ally attended the event organised by the human rights organisation to call for the closure of the Guantanamo bay. Cage organised the protest outside the American Embassy in Grosvenor Square this afternoon to mark the 14th anniversary of the opening of the prison in Cuba. Mr McDonnell said: "I am chair of the All-Party Shaker Aamer Parliamentary Group and it is part of out campaign to ensure Obama upholds his promises to shut down Guantanamo. "This will bring an end to the atrocities taking place there. The reason why it is important that it is shut down before Obama finishes his term is because if it isn't by then there is the fear that it may never will. "The allegations include physical assault and sleep deprivation. I don't know how many detainees there are still in Guantanamo - you would have to ask Shaker." A spokesperson for Mr McDonnell said: "John was invited to attend the event by the Shaker Aamer Campaign in his role as chair of the cross party parliamentary group of MPs, which includes Tory and Lib Dem members." Mr Aamer was released from the prison in October 2015 after being held without trial or charge for 14 years. Cage said it was a "historical moment as this is the largest gathering of former detainees to protest the prison." It will also be "an emotional first meeting for the men who have never before met to share their experiences of imprisonment at Guantanamo with Shaker." In November the Director of the advocacy group said Jihad is an "important concept" and in some cases suicide bombings are "a price worth paying". Cage director Moazzam Begg - King’s College London, October 14 and November 19, 2015 Moazzam Begg encouraged students to oppose the new Prevent laws “at least in word if not in deed”, but he later insisted he was not advocating any illegal activity. He was also accused of encouraging sympathy for jihadist groups such as the Syrian-based al-Nusra, but, in response, said Britain had previously supported groups such as the Afghanistan mujahedeen and the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group. A spokesman for KCL said: ““We have reviewed the footage (from the events) and while the comments made by some of the speakers were controversial, we strongly reject that they were extremist.” SOAS University of London, September 29, November 2, and November 18 Mr Begg compared Western governments to rapists and compared Muslims in the UK to Jews before the rise of the Nazis, though Mr Begg insisted Britain was not “anywhere near” the point of Jews in Nazi Germany. SOAS Registrar Laura Gibbs said: “These events were legal and no concerns were raised with us by local police or Prevent officers.” University of East London, November 22 Mr Begg described David Cameron as an extremist and an article written by Mr Begg in the aftermath of the Paris attacks was circulated in which he said “If you are bombing a country you can expect something to happen”. A spokesman for the university said: “The University is fully aware of current legislation and its own particular obligations in respect of the law; in our view, no reported views or comments appear to have contravened this legislation. University of Manchester, October 21 Mr Begg quoted a former senior Muslim police officer who had described Prevent as a “toxic brand”. The university said: “We followed the Prevent duty guidance…the University did not judge that the event was likely to include extremist content and so has complied with its legal duties in this respect.” University of Birmingham, October 15 Mr Begg said: “These new laws are something the Stasi of East Germany would be proud of.” A university spokesman said: “The University is confident that it complied with the relevant Prevent guidelines and our legal duties.” University of Bradford, October 20 Mr Begg spoke at a Student Not Suspects event, quoting his Guantanamo lawyer who said “the law doesn’t work, we have to embarrass these bastards”. A university spokesman said: “The University was not aware the Students’ Union were taking part in this particular event due to an administrative oversight which will not be repeated. However, we consider the event was in accordance with our obligations to promote freedom of speech and our legal duties under Prevent.”

It took me a second to see where you got the "Alive..." part from and then I realised it was from me. Sausage fingers. I don't think you're a regressive lefty mate, you still have your feet firmly planted in reality. I like to think I have too and most people would say I'm left of centre when it comes to politics but over the past year or so a few souls seem to have snapped off a rudder and become lodged in a permanent ant-clockwise spin. Tell me what the difference between saying "the common denominator in terrorism is Islam" and "The common denominator in most sex attacks is not race or ethnicity, but gender" is please? I would argue that Carolyn Leckie's point is less valid due to the inability of men to be anything other than men (transgender issues aside) whereas Islam and Islamism more pertinently is a set of ideas.

Funny how "all Muslims" is taboo but "all men" seems to be perfectly fine with the regressive left. If you dare to suggest there's a link between terrorism and religion then you are a racist, bigot blah blah blah but smearing an entire sex with the crimes of the few is perfectly reasonable. Alive in Wonderland looks like a documentary these days.

He's a greedy, egomaniac with the morals of a hungry snake.

Read this with interest earlier: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jan/05/pastor-who-said-islam-was-doctrine-spawned-in-hell-is-cleared-by-court A born-again Christian pastor who denounced Islam as “heathen”, “satanic” and a “doctrine spawned in hell” has been cleared after a three-day trial in a verdict that upheld the right to offend under the principle of freedom of expression. James McConnell, 78, was prosecuted under the Communications Act after making his remarks when preaching in his church, Whitewell Metropolitan Tabernacle in Belfast, in May 2014. His comments were posted on the internet, causing a public outcry. McConnell was accused of the improper use of a public electronic communications network and causing a grossly offensive message to be sent by means of a public electronic communications network. He denied both charges, and later said he was prepared to go to prison if convicted. But Liam McNally, the judge hearing the case, said it was “not the task of the criminal law to censor offensive utterances”. He added: “The courts need to be very careful not to criticise speech which, however contemptible, is no more than offensive ... Accordingly, I find Pastor McConnell not guilty of both charges.” The right to freedom of expression “includes the right to say things or express opinions that offend, shock or disturb the state or any section of the population,” he said. Outside the court, McConnell said he would repeat the message of the sermon, but word it differently. “The only regret I have is the response from the Muslim community – that I was out to hurt them,” he said. “If there are Muslims out there I want to assure them I love them and, if they need help, I am there to help them, but their theology and their beliefs – I am totally against them.” The pastor said he did not realise how far his sermon would travel. The court heard it was watched by 700 people online. “As far as I was concerned I was preaching to my own people, I was preaching in my own church – I didn’t realise it would go out there and so forth,” he said. The judge said McConnell was “a man with strong, passionate and sincerely held beliefs”. He said: “In my view, Pastor McConnell’s mindset was that he was preaching to the converted in the form of his own congregation and like-minded people who were listening to his service rather than preaching to the worldwide internet.” Although the words on which the charges were based were offensive, they did not cross the legal threshold of being “grossly offensive”, the judge said. During the three-day hearing last month, McConnell told Belfast magistrates court that he had not intended to provoke, hurt or offend Muslims but was unrepentant for preaching the gospel. He said he had turned down a plea bargain involving an informed warning because he did not want to be “gagged”. Several hundred evangelical Christian supporters attended each day of the hearing to show solidarity with McConnell, and the court was packed with the pastor’s supporters for the verdict, which was greeted with applause. An Islamic academic spoke in support of McConnell outside the court on the grounds of freedom of expression. Muhammad al-Hussaini, a senior research fellow in Islamic studies at the Westminster Institute, said: “Against the flaming backdrop of torched Christian churches, bloody executions and massacres of faith minorities in the Middle East and elsewhere, it is ... a matter of utmost concern that, in this country, we discharge our common duty steadfastly to defend the freedom of citizens to discuss, debate and critique religious ideas and beliefs – restricting only speech which incites to physical violence against others. “Moreover, in a free and democratic society we enter into severe peril when we start to confuse what we perhaps ought or ought not to say, with what in law we are allowed to, or not allowed to say.” Several high-profile politicians, including Northern Ireland’s former first minister Peter Robinson, the Democratic Unionist party deputy leader, Nigel Dodds, and the former finance minister Sammy Wilson, spoke out in support of the pastor. Before the verdict, McConnell told the Belfast Telegraph: “If the judge imposes a fine, then I won’t be paying it and I don’t want anybody else to pay it on my behalf either. It’s a matter of principle. “Paying a fine would be an admission of guilt and I have said from the beginning that I am an innocent man. I know that not paying a fine means that people eventually end up in jail and I am prepared to accept that.” The National Secular Society said the verdict was a “welcome reassertion of the fundamental right to freedom of expression”. Campaigns manager Stephen Evans said the society strongly disagreed with the tone and content of McConnell’s comments, but added: “At a time when freedom of speech is being curtailed and put at risk in any number of ways, this is a much needed statement from the judge that free speech will be defended and that Islam is not off-limits.” The Evangelical Alliance of Northern Ireland also welcomed the verdict, saying it was a “victory for common sense and free speech”. Director Peter Lynas said: “It is vital that the state does not stray into the censorship of church sermons or unwittingly create a right not to be offended.” There are parallels with TBB here but of course the picture in Scotland is skewed by the SNP's Offensive Behaviour Act...one wonders whether it would stand up to scrutiny by a High Court or other such body should the situation escalate and arrests are ever made directly because of it?

Barring any last minute travel disasters, I'll be there.

I don't subscribe to the meaning of the song any more than England fans subscribe to "rebellious Scots to crush" and implying that singing the song endorses it's meaning is ludicrous. TBB will never go away, it's been resurrected every time the support feels put upon and that's been frequent in recent times. If we want to get off this merry go round we have to man up and confront the offended with freedom of speech/freedom of expression/freedom to offend. If the fan groups can get the majority of fans to sing the "clean" version then there would be clear grounds for appeal / non-prosecution and eventually the paradigm would shift.

Like Leicester City, Watford and Palace do? Like every "relegation side" that has come to Ibrox over the years and played out of their skins? I can't subscribe to that I'm afraid.

Grant Russell ‏@STVGrant 2m2 minutes ago Hugely significant line from King. Rangers will repay Sports Direct's £5m loan. King says group of investors will provide the funds.

Could be angry tram drivers looking to even the score?