Apech

Yes that would be interesting to know.

I don't know for certain - but I am sure that we have always been much more connected than was previously supposed. I think trade lanes were wider and more extensive than we know - and it is possible that cocaine and tobacco travelled, possibly through several carriers and so direct contact between Egypt and the new World is not necessary to explain it's presence.

Well precisely - my point exactly, nothing to do with Iraq, Afghanistan or arms deals.

To put it another way: If an all night store gets held up at gun point - we don't say 'stupid store keeper for opening all hours' If a person gets mugged - we don't say 'stupid person walking home with a wallet in their pocket' If a woman gets raped - we don't say 'stupid girl for going out like that' If a bank gets robbed - we don't say 'stupid bankers storing all that money in a vault' BUT when a country has a horrific criminal terror attack - you do say 'well look at the Iraq war and arms trade - what do they expect its karma!' Get real. Blame the terrorists not the country that gave them refuge.

Well there's clearly something to that - but whatever karma a woman sitting in a bar at night who gets stabbed 15 times by a crazed Wahhabi - what has she got to do with arms sales? Probably nothing. So why aren't the politicians who approve the arms deals getting it in the neck??? I think all this self hate thinking gets us no closer to an answer. In fact it makes it worse and quickly becomes part of problem.

That's an amazing graphic! and quite scary too.

It all went wrong when we lost our colonies

Of course some have been radicalised no one has suggested its all Muslims. There has been plenty of inter-cultural dialogue in the UK. Extremism has grown among people who often live on benefits and have grown up in the UK. Watch the documentary I posted above and you'll see.

One of the terrorists appeared in this TV documentary:

From the Guardian today. Imagine the cries of racisim and Islamophobia which would have been heard if the police had locked these people up for praying in front of a flag etc. yet it would have been the right thing to do and would have saved lives.

I think this is why it is wrong to focus so much on immigration as the issue. Many of the terrorists are second or third generation UK nationals - born and raised in the UK. the older generation would never have committed acts of terror - but the younger generation have been targeted by Wahhabi (Salafist) hate preachers and radicalised.

Right so as I understand it the narrative being proposed is - man goes into a pub and stabs an innocent woman 10 -15 times with a butchers knife - we stand back in horror and say 'we never should have invaded Iraq, or Afghanistan or armed the mujhahaddin' (however you spell that). or created the state of Israel - take your pick or make up your own historical version of dubious 'reasons'. Because most Muslims are normal people we have to deny that there is an ideology which hates the West and wants to destroy it - so we won't say that in case someone gets offended???? Bollocks. Sorry - complete bullshit. Or: its all part of a global Zionist conspiracy to erode our way of life blah, blah - or 'its those evil Jews' Also bollocks.

see previous post

You can store the urine and dilute maybe 1:5 with water: Pee!

I think our foreign policy is a factor and there have been mistakes but I don't see how this leads to, or even relates to, innocent people being knifed in a bar or pub. For three men to hire a van, strap mock bombs to their chests, drive the van into pedestrians and then run amok stabbing people takes some calculation and forethought. We don't know who these people are yet - but in the case of the Manchester bomber it was someone from a family who was given refuge, educated, fed, housed and looked after in England. Plenty of people object to the Iraq war and so on - and may well be angry about it - but tell me how you get from there to going on a murderous killing spree in the name of God? There is only one way - that is the acceptance of a set of beliefs which make this act not only permissible but fully justified and rewarded. And that is the ideology of Islam.

Thank you Ned Stark.

The best fertiliser is urine - but you have to pee into a bottle and store it for a few months - also it stinks!!! Otherwise I use compost and wood ash which seems to work fine especially for tomatoes (also cucumbers).

Well, maybe you're right - but as I have lived in Manchester and grew up in London it's all a little too close to home to think about the big picture and not the immediate horror of these events. I knew a lot of Muslims and worked with many in Manchester (including teaching them English in a voluntary project) and the one's I met were good people - intelligent, caring for their families and wanting a good future. That's my experience but I accept we are all probably pawns in some bigger game.

Victims are certainly on both sides BUT the root cause is Islamic terrorism. So yes even the muslim communities in the west (who probably moved here to get away from unstable theocratic violent societies) are victims. But our governments have allowed this by pussy footing around, frightened of being called racist or Islamophobic (made up word) and ending up protecting no one and allowing our values of freedom and equality to be eroded.

Seven death and 49 wounded by three men with knives - shot dead by police. They stabbed people shouting 'this is for Allah' and drove their van into pedestrians on the Bridge itself. At least this time we hopefully won't have statements like 'we'll never know why this happened'. Tho' I imagine there'll still be some who say it was the Iraq war, the crusades, global warming, the patriarchy, lack of policing ... etc. etc.

I don't think his mummy has been discovered - and also that line of kings at the end of the 18th Dynasty were not all Egyptian - his grandparents i think were Libyan.

No need to wonder Marbles!

Ouch!

You will note that there are certain obsessions on here of which some are political. One thing I have learned a lot about is American politics and how rubbish it is. Luckily I am in Europe - which is good but does not make me safe from it all sadly.