It's the centenary of The Balfour Declaration on Thursday ... yes... and we're expecting Benjamin Netanyahu for dinner.

All sorts of events are being planned too - some resembling parties because, obviously, it is a celebration for some :) and others more of a mourning - because they're not so much as even a little impressed by how well all that has turned out :(

Whichever viewpoint applies - I do hope things don't go awry anywhere, and that everybody who gets somehow involved in it, gets to enjoy the company of those they're with :)

Aljazeera has been marking the upcoming centenary in their programming recently - and today yesterday showed an animated documentary which I managed to catch most of. It told the story of how 18 cows became Israel's most wanted fugitives and symbols of Palestinian resistance. It was very interesting.

what wiki says

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/10/31/200-feared-dead-after-tunnel-collapses-at-north-korean-nuclear-test-site-japanese-tv-claims.html

About 200 people are feared dead in North Korea after underground tunnels at a nuclear test site that was feared to be unstable reportedly collapsed, crushing 100 people in the initial cave-in and 100 others when the tunnels again gave way on top of rescuers.

The collapse at the Punggye-ri test site on Oct. 10 occurred while people were doing construction on the underground tunnel, Japan’s Asahi TV reported, citing a source in North Korea. The television station also said North Korea’s sixth nuclear test on Sept. 3 most likely caused the tunnel to crumble and created serious damage in the region.

Posted that in the NK thread on main before the site went down for the weekly " outrage " , could explain why Kim Ping Pong has been quiet for a few days now , it's the 200+ people feared trapped or dead I feel sorry for .

The Balfour Declaration 1917, not to be confused with the Balfour Declaration of 1926.

HM Government

Military support

BBC overview

A much better insight

"It was against humanity after six years of horror," he said, shaking his head in sorrow as we walked along the rusty barbed wire fences. "Where was the nation of the United Kingdom then? Lord Balfour would not have believed it."

The point is the populace changed their mind in less than 12 hours, and behaved more like sheeple, not like thinking individuals. So how do you combat that within a democracy?

Easy enough to answer & I believe it was answered sufficiently on main during your time on the politics board. Had he given the referendum when he 1st mentioned it when he got in power, we would not be in this position today.

Your main problem & yours alone is that whenever the public do things that go against your thoughts, the labelling enters the frame. The referendum showed & plenty of evidence to support it, which you deny, is that many in high positions of all professions voted out. As did many that were highly educated, so labelling them "sheeple" betrays your thought patterns.

IIRC, you refused to answer a direct question on that as you were quite happy that the coalition were doing better than what you perceived compared to what else was available. Had Cameron & Clegg stuck to their manifesto, it would be more than likely the coalition would have had another term in office.

Edited to correct spelling errors.

But having slept on it the country panicked at the thought of Corbyn in No10

One thing Chris weren't it Ed Milliband the leader of the Labour party at the 2015 election , after they lost he stood down and that " socialist " ( read commie 70's throwback ) Corbyn then get elected at the leadership election the Labour party ???
That's how I remember it happening ,

Last election was called by " wannabe Maggie " to strengthen her position as P.M and to " help " with brexit ( that worked real well ) P.M.S.L hehehe ;-);-);-)
edit :
I voted Conservative , least you know they are going to screw you , unlike Labour who promise everything and bankrupt the country !!!

The great huckster of hate has made a sale and allahu akbar made the purchase, delivery in Manhattan.

No worries no one's 100% perfect 100% of the time ( some people may think they are but in danger of disappearing up their own ;-) ) hehe

The point I was making though was still relevant in that the thought of another Labour government with either Milliband or Corbyn as PM was anathema to the voters.

From what I remember Labour did their best to bankrupt the country last time they were in government they may not of started out to but they did , just a inconvenient fact people seam to forget .
When you say about the " general public " all you got to do is look at x-factor Britain's got ( no ) Talent etc , and don't forget " Boaty Mc Boatface "
Says it all really don't it ;-) ;-) ( there must be loads of people in this country that think Jeremy Kyle is the best thing since Jerry Springer )
Wonder what the Lobotomy waiting lists are like ;-);-);-);-)

From what I remember Labour did their best to bankrupt the country last time they were in government they may not of started out to but they did , just a inconvenient fact people seam to forget .

Shouldn't that one have been posted in the 'Myths and conspiracy theories' thread?

From what I remember, there was a network of Building Societies, mainly based in the north and west of England, outside the cosy financial cliques of London. They mostly handled small-scale, simple, stuff - personal savings and mortgages. Some of them had existed for 100 years or more.

During the 1990s (actually starting with Abbey National in 1989), a group of 'carpetbaggers' joined a number of societies and tried to persuade the other members/owners of the societies to 'de-mutualise'. This process was made possible by the Building Societies Act of 1986 - remember who was in power then? The de-mutualised building societies became banks owned by shareholders - their former members - who mostly sold their shares to other banks for a quick profit.

The new banks tried to join the 'big boys' in the London and international money-go-round, and were quickly spotted as the naive suckers they were, and were taken for a ride - sometimes taking their new partner-owners with them. Remember Nat West, Bank of Scotland - and of course Northern Rock, which started the collapse of the whole house of cards in the UK?

The same thing was happening in the United States, only bigger and brasher. We got caught up in that, too.

The whole nest of crooked gamblers in the banking industry imploded while Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling were in charge, and - at the time - they were widely praised for the way they handled a crisis not of their making. They kept the banks open - no ordinary customers lost money. (The new shareholders in Northern Rock - many of them former employees - did lose money and are still owed it, but that's a small part of the story)

The myth that Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling had caused the crisis was put about by the Tory party and the right-wing press at the subsequent 2010 election, and sadly the Labour party didn't insist on fact-checking.

I agree that the Labour party made some big financial mistakes during 1997-2010. One of them was allowing betting shops to expand and put FOBTs in every run-down high street (gambling became the opiate of the masses, alongside cheap booze). Another was building schools and hospitals on the never-never under PFI, where again Labour was taken for a ride by the financiers and lawyers who drew up the contracts for continuing repayments and inflated running costs. And the PFI contractors hired some pretty dodgy builders too, as Scottish schoolchildren have found out.

But at least Labour did build public facilities like schools and hospitals, unlike this lot.

Cambridgeshire has a quality that London will never feel again. Fresh clean air. It's not just vehicles that pollute the air :-) As for day to day politics, yeah the country has become well aware of how effective that is. Forgot Grenfell Tower have you?

Hmm. day to day politics, sounds nice. When May was reappointed Home Secretary in 2015, she became the longest serving Home Secretary since James Chuter Ede over 60 years previously.

May''s legacy to London & the Country

What police Mrs May? As Home Secretary, didn't you cut their numbers?

Day to Day politics=The Patronising Disposition of Unaccountable Power, further displayed at Grenfell Tower 28 years later

Them things are a menace + how are you sposed to " build up " and peddle at the same time ;-) ;-)

Well, one of them has gone. Reshuffle time.

I saw the resignation, and the statement, slightly differently, and it left me puzzled.

The single incident we know about in Michael Fallon's past is relatively minor on the scale of sleaze, and has been openly 'forgiven and forgotten' by the female journalist concerned. We've all seen ministers clutching at straws and clinging to office after far worse. Also, the statement was very dignified and appropriate - almost old-fashioned.

The whole combination left me feeling that there is more to come. Perhaps?

• he just wanted an excuse to retire?
  
• he wanted to escape from a fractured Cabinet, constantly engaging in civil war?
  
• he and Theresa May wanted to set an example that would prompt other Ministers to resign as well?
  
• Theresa May wanted to use the sleaze scandal to clear out the current Cabinet and reshuffle in a better, maybe younger, set?
  

We'll have to wait and see. The next 18 months are going to be even more interesting, and I guess the chances of another general election in that time have gone up, rather than down.

I saw the resignation, and the statement, slightly differently, and it left me puzzled.

Maybe he's one of the few M.P's from ANY party that have still got some principals and sticks by them or maybe there's more to it and he left before more things come out ? I dunno just could be two reasons , spose there could be other reasons I ain't said .

My first thought on seeing that was "another wolf in sheep's clothing" That's all that politicians are - Wolves.

A report from the BBC only confirms that thought:

"BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg said that while Mr Williamson was seen as an effective operator some Conservatives were furious that an MP with no ministerial experience had been promoted to the cabinet."

It seems that the wolves feeding too long at the trough has forgotten 1 important point:

To gain expereience one must start somewhere :-)

It is unusual that someone with no previous Ministerial experience should be promoted straight into a Secretary of State position.

There's always a 1st for everything :-)

Looks like the era of "old fogeys" is coming to an end :-)

It is unusual that someone with no previous Ministerial experience should be promoted straight into a Secretary of State position.

There's always a 1st for everything :-)

Looks like the era of "old fogeys" is coming to an end :-)

Just the tRump way of doing things and it looks like it is spreading.