h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I don't believe in gods or souls so ISIL works better substituting Lives for Souls.

Yeah, well, I was just using the term "soul" in a metaphorical meaning. Or something. Old-fashioned, like. As is "SOS" - save our souls. Which does not make sense, because you really want the bodies to be saved by other ships, right? If you do believe in souls, what good would a ship be to save yours? If your alleged soul wanted saving, you would not send a morse-code message via radio, would you?

I used "soul" to mean "person" anyway.

Yeah... I know. Hence the .

All religious language is metaphorical.

Those who contest that statement are doing what Berkeley called "addressing the will rather than the understanding".

I have no trouble in talking about souls without ascribing independent survival, or indeed any life, to them. Neither has arch-atheist Dan Dennett: he is delighted to quote an Italian newspaper report of a talk he gave, paraphrasing him as saying "Yes, we have a soul, but it's made of lots of tiny robots."

http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/191761-some-years-ago-there-was-a-lovely-philosopher-of-science

Due for release this year, 70 years late, a documentary filmed by Alfred Hitchcock of the Holocaust.


http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/jan/10/unseen-alfred-hitchcock-holocaust-documentary-screening

Here's a link to the BBC/PBS 1985 version.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/camp/view/

I'll wait for the new release.

The first Leon Brittan Touched my Todger stories have hit the Sunday red-tops.

PP.

But what about the UKIP MEP who has defected to the Tories? There must be a joke in there somewhere or the Tories are really hard up! Honest I'm no John Humphries but I could have told Mr Bashir as a UKIP politician in Europe his prospects didn't look great, the Monster Raving Loony party would have been a better option! You have to query the guy's decision making faculties, he should do well under Cameron.

It's more his reasons for going back to the Conservatives. He left them originally because he thought that UKIP would be better with their stand on Europe, but has gone back because he now believes that the Conservatives have changed their stand to be more in keeping with what he believes. I don't see a problem there.

What is interesting though, is as he was organising his "defection", UKIP started what looks seriously like a crude and dodgy smear campaign to try and discredit him, and not the party.

Yay for something new in politics

Discrediting a UKIP politician? You couldn't make it up, Farage was saying something like his party cronies had said they wouldn't touch Mr Bashir with a bargepole, Cameron's not that fussy obviously, when Tories and UKIP are interchangeable it's time to vote Labour, or Green of course which is an increasingly popular option I see.

Labour politicians have also been defecting to UKIP. The those three are the same party with different colours, they're all in it for themselves.

^^^^ This

Politics is a career and many politicians go with whatever party offers them the best chance of getting elected. Switching parties is no different to switching employers from Shell to Esso for them.

I've just been reading 'a Green spokeswoman' has said that they would scrap the Army and laws on illegal immigration, you can't say they don't offer an alternative! Oh, and dig out those old Drachmas, they might be back in fashion soon.

Trust you to make a Drachma out of a crisis.

Can't remember a Green spokesman ever saying they'd scrap the army, but I do remember them being accused of it often, but never with any evidence.

In fact: http://policy.greenparty.org.uk/pd.html

"PD204 The defence budget needs to be adequate to ensure security, but no more so."

There's no policy of scraping the army, the policy is to stop invading other countries, and to build trust to try and stop the need/desire for war.

Stop invading other countries -- now there's a cost-cutting idea!

The army are already green, except when they are invading deserts of course.

Did you hear about the army driver? Lost his khaki ...

That took me too long to get