tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19208183.post1512256771695555672..comments2023-10-22T14:14:16.419+01:00Comments on J. Arthur MacNumpty: You know, I actually agree with BrownWillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10978812670312106107noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19208183.post-56388495259558491572008-05-25T15:11:00.000+01:002008-05-25T15:11:00.000+01:00Anon: Penicillin.Anon: Penicillin.Willhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10978812670312106107noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19208183.post-50265063633538638502008-05-25T12:10:00.000+01:002008-05-25T12:10:00.000+01:00People who want to do dodgy science always claim t...People who want to do dodgy science always claim that miracle cures might result.<BR/><BR/>I'd be a little more convinced if someone could point to even one miracle cure. Just one.<BR/><BR/>I don't expect to get knocked down in the rush.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19208183.post-37460613069788518672008-05-22T10:59:00.000+01:002008-05-22T10:59:00.000+01:00Well said willWell said willAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19208183.post-9115039639884342362008-05-21T18:50:00.000+01:002008-05-21T18:50:00.000+01:00You're quite right, Ted: I was at pains to qualify...You're quite right, Ted: I was at pains to qualify my reference to Labour but it does need to be highlighted that, yes, the SNP <I>are</I> vulnerable to both sides of the argument. And given that the Party is a somewhat broader church - if you'll pardon the pun - than most others on account of its roots and what its core principle is, the SNP are more especially vulnerable to the 'pincer' movement. Fortunately, that same breadth of opinion gives the SNP a solid enough liberal base to resist any moves in the short-term, and there are enough social progressives in Labour to keep the faith-based drives in check, but in both parties, work needs to be done to keep things that way.Willhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10978812670312106107noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19208183.post-6975863083034934422008-05-21T16:20:00.000+01:002008-05-21T16:20:00.000+01:00Too right we need always beware the crackpot. Afte...Too right we need always beware the crackpot. After all, one of Blair's legacies is the foundation schools/acadamies where any right wing religious zealot with the dollars get's to run a school - with public backing.<BR/><BR/>But neither would I wholly focus in Scotland on the Labour/Devine danger.<BR/>I do think that there is a soft underbelly in the SNP that is prone to what is politely called a 'conservative social agenda' - Hence the unsettling scuttling off down to Westminster this week by Alex Salmond to back the contrived attempt by the zealots to 'piggy back' on the back of the Embryology Bill an attempt to further restrict abortion. This guy has already needlessly gone out of his way to praise sectarian divided schooling here in Scotland... and off course we have that buses man Soutar always hovering around.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19208183.post-38779685637540217862008-05-19T23:20:00.000+01:002008-05-19T23:20:00.000+01:00Well I certainly agree that if various seemingly d...Well I certainly agree that if various seemingly disparate groups combine 'even for a minute' then they could prove extremely dangerous - and this may well happen in future years, I have a sinking feeling. The '10 or 20 years' point I was making referred, however, to the relatively small number (so far) of schools where US-style 'creationsism' is being taught in this country. Those kids will be going to university in 10 or so years and having their own kids in 15 or 20 years - and will probably want more similar schools opened for their children; this kind of thinking could grow quite rapidly. Recent US history does not leave me very sanguine that similar trends could not occur here, too. Luckily I'll be quite old, or dead, by then or living permanently in Spain ;)Billhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10393265755614039206noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19208183.post-37507269758417123972008-05-19T22:38:00.000+01:002008-05-19T22:38:00.000+01:00Well, Bill, I shall have to watch that, but it str...Well, Bill, I shall have to watch that, but it strikes me that you should never write off a crackpot - they might still be crackpots, but all it takes is for one of them to have money, or for enough of them to live in marginal constituencies, and they get their way. That doesn't make them less of a crackpot, but it does make them more of a threat.<BR/><BR/>And what concerns me, particularly about the Scottish dimension, is that the threat comes from both right - in the form of neo-Con tubthumpers in the US style - <I>and</I> left - in the form of the (mainly Labour) MSPs and MPs who follow the more hardline elements of the Catholic Church, as preached by the likes of Bishop Devine. Neither force on their own will hold much sway, but if they combine, even for a moment, we've had it.Willhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10978812670312106107noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19208183.post-38722861064490166092008-05-19T22:26:00.000+01:002008-05-19T22:26:00.000+01:00If you didn't watch this evening's 'Dispatches' on...If you didn't watch this evening's 'Dispatches' on C4 (8-9pm) it might be worth seeing it on C4's catch-up service. As well as the comedy features such as Stephen Green's 'Christian Voice' it is clear that American-style (and at least partly funded from the US) religious crackpots are already influencing British politicians - notably the Conservatives with their support for the changes to UK abortion law. Naturally enough homosexuals are a target of these bigots, too. Frankly I think writing them off as crackpots who will never affect policy-making in the future would be complacent in the extreme; give it 10 or 20 years then the danger they represent will be all too obvious.Billhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10393265755614039206noreply@blogger.com