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There is too much for me to respond to right now, but just on Darwin's theory of evolution, which has since been proven by DNA and genetic science, no, I do not equate that to the idea of a God, as a creator, as expressed by religion (although I take the point about some of his understanding of his theorie being shaped by the culture he himself was exposed to). I prefer hard science to philosophical ideas around evolution and the beginning, whenever that was. I think one the flaws of our species and intellect is to think we are the center of everything, when in fact, we are just one life form, that followed other life form and are likely to extinct ourselves prematurely the way we are going. Why it all exists is impossible to know. There is no evidence beyond the science that we do exist that tells us why either, just as there is no evidence of the existence of a 'creator'. There is just science, physics, biology. 'God' is a human construct, passed down from parent to child, and it came out of the inability to understand how the world around us works. The first god is a sun god, because the sun makes food grow, and we need food to live....etc etc

I think it is a very relevant conversation to have in today's climate of fact denial (climate change), conspiracy theories (9/11 'truthers'), and an extended us of 'whataboutery' by just about everybody, including those who govern us. On less clear cut ideas/ beliefs, such as those based around philosophical/ moral arguments, it becomes tricky though. These are social constructs and learned. Religion is a perfect example of that. The existence of a God or gods is not proven, yet so many are convinced they exist. That confidence of belief in something as true. without hard evidence, fascinates me more.

Never was the motto more relevant - if you don't want to lose it, use it.

I think we are heading for MEP elections and a longer extension personally, while Parliament comes up with something that eventually goes back to the people in another referendum. I don't see any other way forward happening. Meanwhile, far right former football hooligan Tommy Robinson, is paying for the UKIP stage in Whitehall on Friday. Farage is due to arrive there for Leave Means Leave, and presumably their own stage. Brexit handbags at dawn I think.

Yeah it is going to get even more brutal. Government have though declared intent to now ask for an extension this afternoon, so the ERG are not getting their way in any form.No deal is officially dead. Bercow has basically nipped May's efforts to blackmail her party and the DUP in the bud. And he has done it for the integrity of Parliament over personal privilege (and peerage). Yes it is controversial, but these are extraordinary times.

Reports that around 40 Tory MPs are telling May that they will only vote for her deal if she resigns by the end of April and states as much at the dispatch box (not that she has u-turned on anything she has said there before of course). Meanwhile, the third vote might be postponed. She is cutting it fine.

Follow these guys for updates on the 'Epic march', or rather the electronic billboards they are placing on the route relaying the Brexit lies back at the marchers, plus some of Nige's best tweets back at him ;)

Everything depends on May's third attempt with her deal now. Basically she is trying to squeeze her own party into backing her, all of them. So next Wednesday, either Parliament backs her deal, and we seek a three month extension for getting required legislation through (and we leave on June 30th). or Parliament rejects her deal and we enter the MEP elections and seek something like a two year extension to figure out some cross party agreed kind of deal that is then put back to the people. Farage's hopes of finding a member state to veto have been shot down as Italy, Hungary and Poland have all said no to him. So I think it is safe to say that no deal is now off the table. The EU has said it would agree to extensions but the longer one would have to have something like a 2nd ref at the end of it to make sure a final decision is made, one way or the other. So, my guess is that the vote next Wednesday will be narrower, but will still be defeated. Even with the DUP and the ERG on board, May would still be behind. It only takes a handful of MPs in her party to reject the deal to lose the vote and nothing significant has been changed in the deal itself. Suffice to say that there were some very angry UKIP protestors outside Parliament on Thursday night, but not in any kind of numbers that suggests civil disorder is coming. I think most people are so exhausted by the process now that an ambivalence is returning.

Yep and that might be what is forced to happen. Rumours say that Farage and Banks have locked at least Poland and Hungary into refusing an extension of A50. Well if no deal is taken off the table then only a revoke is left to avoid the no deal. Personally, I think the commission per se are mightier than Banks and Farage and think some kind of extension will be agreed, but it might by set at a year at least with us expected to participate in MEP elections. Worth remembering that both Hungary and Poland benefit greatly from EU funding paid for by the leading five contributors, and they have been leaned on to play ball before over this fact.

I think you need to take a look at the trajectory that car insurance has taken James. Owning a car is not as cheap as you might think. And seeing as you can never resist playing party politics, from 2010 to 2020, councils will have lost 60p out of every ?1 the Government had provided for services beforehand. So spare us the nonsense that cuts were part of a trajectory begun by a Labour government. They were nothing like the cuts your party and the Tories have inflicted since 2010 - as you well know.

So you are basically calling for registration plates? Most children do the cycling proficiency test. But again, L plates? Seriously? We are not talking about cars here so completely pointless to treat cycles in the same way. If someone threatens anyone, that is not because they are a cyclist, but because they are an ass.

Trolling aside, and yes it is 'that' obvious Passiflora, if we wee to impose tax and other charges on the right to cycle, it would not only remove the last free from of transport for many people, but it would also discourage people from cycling. Just on lights etc, the Police do stop cycists in targeted road operations to check lights etc. It has happened to me several times when I had a front light that wasn't really bright enough. I think there would also be sense in giving out free hi-vis vests to cyclists too - still use my free one from the Prudential Ride weekend I last went on. I absolutely agree with the sentiment that some cyclists do little to maximise their chances of being seen clearly at night, but the way to address that is through education. Compulsory use of helmets is a controversial topic. My own experience is that drivers seem to exercise more care overtaking when I am wearing no helmet, but having said that, most of the time I do wear one. On insurance, I do have it, for lots of reasons, but I think it would be regressive to legally require it and potentially messy in that you would quickly end up with a system where it becomes more expensive for young people and those who have made claims, in the same way vehicle insurance operates. That seems to defeat any purpose to me, is practically unenforceable and would not be cost effective either. Anyway, it's a sunny day, and I'm off for a free ride ;)

As others have pointed out, Southwark council has had to manage the impact of central government funding cuts for 8 years now. Council surpluses were finally drained about three years ago I think. So unless we want cuts to adult and child social care and other key front line services the council have no choice but to look for other revenue streams. If it is not parking it will be something else sadly.

Not before time. In the past two weeks he has used fb to bait his followers to troll a rape crisis center, because of all the services they offer, they produced one leaflet aimed at helping BAME women come forward, for distribution within the BAME community. And he baited his followers to abuse a personal trainer because she offers a class to muslim women. He is a racist hypocrite and rabble rouser, and it is only a matter of time before he baits someone to go further than verbal abuse.

I'm with you RH. UC has time and time again shown his true colours.

It is very clear from interviews with her that she is not the brightest of young people. Naivety is no defense granted, but we are not talking about some Jihadi mastermind here. We are talking about a teenage girl who was seduced by something she had little understanding of. It is exactly the same psychology that drives teenagers to join any gang. What strikes me most about her, is her lack of emotion. She seems disconnected and this is not a normal cognitive response. We have had over 300 Jihadi fighters return. Others HAVE been stripped of UK nationality where a clear case of dual nationality exists. So why all this focus all off a sudden on one young woman who never pointed any gun at anyone. I think a case can be made for the old adage that what men do might be shocking, but women only have to stand by to be more vilified. Women are are demonised for less, history is full of examples of that. And I can't help but think there is a bit of that going on here. She will end up coming back here after a long legal process because she does not have dual nationality. Javid has engaged in dog whistle politics yet again, to forward his real aim of replacing May when the time comes. Yes she will need monitoring, deradicalising and her child may be taken into care, but that is nothing new for he UK. We already have over a hundred returnees undergoing deradicalisation programmes. It can be done. And we also have a legal process for prosecuting anyone guilty of a crime under UK law, of which joining IS is.

Javid has been engaging in dog whistle politics for a while now and it is clear who his target market is. How far to the right he would actually take the Tory Party if he were to become its leader is another question, but for now, he is speaking to an increasingly right wing and increasingly diminishing party membership.

I think the new store is a great improvement and means no longer having to go to the Old Kent Road one for their bigger range. Hopefully all the existing staff have moved to the new store too.

This for me is the last straw. Hatton back in the party (bear in mind he is now a property tycoon and lives in a luxury penthouse in Liverpool) meams I too am leaving the Labour Party.

But I have not tried to presume how those people would have voted have I Angelina. I simply made the point that as a percentage of the electorate things are a lot more even that leave voters seem to want to accept. \in other words, the debate was never really won and that is why it is ongoing in the way it is. I also wonder Joeleg, who those leave voters will blame when they see how those global markets do us over in trade deal negotiations too. Has anyone even read the terms of CETA for example? Do they know that Canada, in return for that trade deal, had to agree to open up her internal services for tender from EU countries? Because that is the issue when a small market tries to get a trade deal with a massive one. We are going to be a small player. There is no getting away from that.

Tommy Robinson said the same thing from a stage outside the Old Bailey last year. It is a standard line for the political extremes and populists. As the old adage goes, get everyone to hate someone, as long as it is not you.

Passiflora Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Not sure what you are trying to say JoeLeg or what > YMMV means? > > Leave voters voted to leave the EU by over one > point two million voters in 2016 so that is not a > 'skin of their teeth vote'. 4% IS by the skin of the teeth. If you factor in (as tiddles points out) the electorate that didn't vote at all (almost a third) then that drops even lower. Your offense at use of that term demonstrates my point perfectly in fact. The reason why there is such a bitter and entrenched ongoing battle over this is precisely because of that very narrow margin of difference. And also as tiddles writes, Quorums are par for the course (no pun intended) in all kinds of democratic processes. A more honest campaign might have led to a different result. Ever thought about that?

People have a democratic right to march, just as people have a democratic right to lobby parliament. That did not stop with the referendum. The truth is that leave voters know they won by the skin of their teeth and are terrified of losing it in a 2nd ref. So who can blame remainers for smelling that fear and fighting for what they believe in. No true democrat would. The last People's Vote march got 500-700k out (depending on who you believe). By any measure, that is a huge demonstration for London.

Yeah, Uncleglen does it again. Manages to insult the vast majority of settled EU migrants whilst hitting his usual sweet spot of racist bigotry.

The EU and the EBU are two different things so no, we are stuck with the misery of Eurovision humiliation for a good while yet.