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We've just got the same-sex marriage bill to the House of Lords, i.e. it's only a matter of time before it's law.
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RisingTides wrote:
There is more kindness on the internet than we would care to admit to ourselves. Sometimes we are so afraid of falling victim to a ruse, we miss out on actual opportunities.
Helen Mirren Has Tea with Dying Boy After Actual Queen Says No
Oliver Burton's dying wish was to visit Buckingham Palace and have afternoon tea with the Queen.
Unfortunately, Her Royal Highness was unable to fit the 10-year-old into her busy schedule of waving at crowds from afar — so understudy Dame Helen Mirren stepped in to take her place.
Oliver, who has Down's syndrome, has been battling various forms of cancer almost his entire life, and was recently diagnosed with terminal spine and bone marrow cancer.
But last week, for a brief wondrous afternoon, his troubles took a backseat to a meeting with the One True Queen.
Mirren brought Oliver and his family to Gielgud Theatre to see her play the Queen in Peter Morgan's The Audience.
Still dressed as the Queen, she then invited Oliver backstage to have tea and cakes (served by footmen!) and meet her corgis.
Mirren even took the time to knight Oliver, giving him the official title of Sir.
"She stayed in character for the whole thing. Oliver thought she was the real Queen, and well, that's good enough for us," Oliver's father James Browne is quoted as saying.
"It was a pleasure and a privilege to meet such a brave young man," Mirren later told The Sun.
Helen Mirren Has Tea with Dying Boy After Actual Queen Says No
Oliver Burton's dying wish was to visit Buckingham Palace and have afternoon tea with the Queen.
Unfortunately, Her Royal Highness was unable to fit the 10-year-old into her busy schedule of waving at crowds from afar — so understudy Dame Helen Mirren stepped in to take her place.
Oliver, who has Down's syndrome, has been battling various forms of cancer almost his entire life, and was recently diagnosed with terminal spine and bone marrow cancer.
But last week, for a brief wondrous afternoon, his troubles took a backseat to a meeting with the One True Queen.
Mirren brought Oliver and his family to Gielgud Theatre to see her play the Queen in Peter Morgan's The Audience.
Still dressed as the Queen, she then invited Oliver backstage to have tea and cakes (served by footmen!) and meet her corgis.
Mirren even took the time to knight Oliver, giving him the official title of Sir.
"She stayed in character for the whole thing. Oliver thought she was the real Queen, and well, that's good enough for us," Oliver's father James Browne is quoted as saying.
"It was a pleasure and a privilege to meet such a brave young man," Mirren later told The Sun.
Two shot by police after soldier hacked to death on street near Royal Artillery Barracks in Woolwich, London
A SERVING British soldier was hacked to death in south east London metres away from his barracks by two men with meat cleavers ranting "we swear by almighty Allah we will never stop fighting you".
In extraordinary broad daylight scenes in Woolwich, the men allegedly ran the man down in a car then tried to hack the man’s head off and have their own crime filmed.
They then waited 20 minutes for police to turn up before charging at them with meat cleavers, knives and a hand gun.
Both men, shouting "Allah Akbar" or "God is great" in Arabic, were shot by police snipers including a female officer, and were this morning (AEST) in hospital under guard in a serious but stable condition.
Scotland Yard has confirmed two men were arrested over the "shocking and horrific" murder.
Officers from the counter-terrorism unit are leading the investigation, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe said.
The British government has convened the so-called Cobra committee, including emergency services leaders, to co-ordinate a response to the incident.
Prime Minister David Cameron, who was in Paris meeting his counterpart and had to rush back to London, described the crime as “sickening” and an appalling murder as he summonsed his emergency Cobra ministers.
He said it was a “terrorist incident”.
"We have suffered these attacks before, we have always beaten them back," Mr Cameron said.
"We will not be cowed, we will never buckle."
The Opposition leader Ed Miliband was also cutting short a trip to Germany.
Police have not officially confirmed the victim's identity or that he was a soldier, but numerous sources have said he exited Woolwich barracks, home to the 2nd Battalion Princess of Wales Royal Regiment, and that he was wearing a "Help for Heroes" T-shirt, a charity helping the injured and veterans of the armed services.
Good on British Muslims for not taking that asshole's bait and starting a riot as a result. (Looking at you Sweden)
It's brought all the white fascists out of the woodwork, though.
_________________
RisingTides wrote:
There is more kindness on the internet than we would care to admit to ourselves. Sometimes we are so afraid of falling victim to a ruse, we miss out on actual opportunities.
Joined: Tue January 01, 2013 9:08 pm Posts: 4738 Location: 5th floor, Bay 7, position 5740
Yes, that London attack was horrific and the video of one of the assailants is equally disturbing. I get and understand that the vast majority of Muslims are not violent. I also understand that is just part of the equation, that seemingly unassimliated immigration is a factor. That said the Muslim population do need to come up with a way to temper this kind rhetoric or you will only see more and more of an extreme right faction taking the bait (to use broken's words) and whole new cycles of violence of begin.
Agreed. The Muslim Council of Britain condemned the attacks publicly, which is a start. But what gets me, mostly, is the fact that the Muslim Council of Britain even had to condemn the attacks publicly. The fact that a Muslim organisation should feel the need to say "Not in our name" is an indictment of just how embedded prejudice and racism actually is. They had their reasons to speak publicly, of course, but the biggest reason is the fear of a racist backlash, and that's sad.
_________________
RisingTides wrote:
There is more kindness on the internet than we would care to admit to ourselves. Sometimes we are so afraid of falling victim to a ruse, we miss out on actual opportunities.
Agreed. The Muslim Council of Britain condemned the attacks publicly, which is a start. But what gets me, mostly, is the fact that the Muslim Council of Britain even had to condemn the attacks publicly. The fact that a Muslim organisation should feel the need to say "Not in our name" is an indictment of just how embedded prejudice and racism actually is. They had their reasons to speak publicly, of course, but the biggest reason is the fear of a racist backlash, and that's sad.
The Muslim Council of Britain had to condemn it for the same reason muslim groups in the US felt the need to distance themselves from the Boston Marathon Bombing.
It's not racist to notice that there are a lot of attacks being carried out "in the name of Islam" any more than it is obvious that there are religious extremists in at least all the major monotheistic religions. Eric Robert Rudolph had a problem with abortions and apparently the olympics and groups that may have had similar but much less violent opinions came out and denounced his actions as well to hopefully keep others from perpetuating violence.
It's fairly important for Islamic groups to come out and denounce this not because of fear of racist backlash, but because they simply aren't violent extremists, and they do not wish to be branded as such by the actions of these lunatics.
Agreed. The Muslim Council of Britain condemned the attacks publicly, which is a start. But what gets me, mostly, is the fact that the Muslim Council of Britain even had to condemn the attacks publicly. The fact that a Muslim organisation should feel the need to say "Not in our name" is an indictment of just how embedded prejudice and racism actually is. They had their reasons to speak publicly, of course, but the biggest reason is the fear of a racist backlash, and that's sad.
The Muslim Council of Britain had to condemn it for the same reason muslim groups in the US felt the need to distance themselves from the Boston Marathon Bombing.
It's not racist to notice that there are a lot of attacks being carried out "in the name of Islam" any more than it is obvious that there are religious extremists in at least all the major monotheistic religions. Eric Robert Rudolph had a problem with abortions and apparently the olympics and groups that may have had similar but much less violent opinions came out and denounced his actions as well to hopefully keep others from perpetuating violence.
It's fairly important for Islamic groups to come out and denounce this not because of fear of racist backlash, but because they simply aren't violent extremists, and they do not wish to be branded as such by the actions of these lunatics.
I know all of this.
But I still wish the world wasn't so full of twats who will connect Muslim and 'Islamic Terrorist' every chance they get. Whatever you want to call it -- racism, bigotry -- it's wrong. I don't see the same furore over other attacks. There was a Birmingham attack by a white guy on an elderly Muslim outside a mosque as recently as Monday; and there has been another brutal attack by an EDL type, against a Muslim, since this attack. Those are simply called 'random attacks' on the news, whereas we have an infinite number of names for when the primitive brown people do it (white Muslims don't receive any backlash when these things happen, do they?). So yes, I do think Islamophobia is a form of racism. As I say, I appreciate and respect the Muslim Council of Britain for coming out in opposition to extremists. But I despair that they even felt the need to, and I wish I lived in a world in which they didn't have to.
_________________
RisingTides wrote:
There is more kindness on the internet than we would care to admit to ourselves. Sometimes we are so afraid of falling victim to a ruse, we miss out on actual opportunities.
Last edited by harmless on Thu May 23, 2013 7:41 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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