John Major on 'Private passions'

[Serial_Apologist]

IT was meant as a (rather sad really ) joke

Hindsight is rather useful isn't it .............

and now our wonderful "christian" leaders want us to waste our money (what little we have left that hasn't been stolen ...) on a replacement for Trident

and so on


but back to Stoke Poges

Who's Stoges?

[Simon]

IT was meant as a (rather sad really ) joke

Hindsight is rather useful isn't it .............

Not a good joke, then - nor a good subject for a joke.

And whilst hindsight is indeed useful, foresight is even more so. We must be thankful that he had some and made the right decision, difficult though it must have been.

[MrGongGong]

very impressive Bang & Oluffsen sound system. .

impressive to whom ?

Knowing me John Major , Knowing you Edwina curry ......?

[MrGongGong]

And whilst hindsight is indeed useful, foresight is even more so. We must be thankful that he had some and made the right decision, difficult though it must have been.

I didn't realise you had abandoned christianity Simon ?
well done you
now about Stockhausen ........

[Simon]

I didn't realise you had abandoned christianity Simon ?

I'd be most interested to gain some understanding of how you actually view the world, Mr. GongGong. You appear to be knowledgeable about music (well, 20th C music anyway) and yet completely lacking in any grasp of the realities of many other subjects that most people, by their 30s or 40s, have reached rational conclusions about.

I wonder if it's all connected to the fragmented and unpunctuated way that you often post?

[MrGongGong]

Ho Ho

It's very simple really

After spending most of my childhood singing in a CofE Choir I realised that (along with many people who still believe in it !) that it's impossible to be a Christian and believe in having nuclear weapons it's like being a Vegan Butcher .......... very simple really , ask any Quaker

the world IS fragmented AND connected
this is ....... also

NOT ............. a GCSE English exam so punkchewashun isn't always

necessary ..........or even

........................ desirable

Rational conclusions don't always create things worth bothering about
or even things that we need ....................

so back to Major and his fantasy England methinks

[Nick Armstrong]

Ho Ho

It's very simple really

After spending most of my childhood singing in a CofE Choir I realised that (along with many people who still believe in it !) that it's impossible to be a Christian and believe in having nuclear weapons it's like being a Vegan Butcher .......... very simple really , ask any Quaker

the world IS fragmented AND connected
this is ....... also

NOT ............. a GCSE English exam so punkchewashun isn't always

necessary ..........or even

........................ desirable

Rational conclusions don't always create things worth bothering about
or even things that we need ....................

so back to Major and his fantasy England methinks

[Flosshilde]

completely lacking in any grasp of the realities of many other subjects that most people, by their 30s or 40s, have reached rational conclusions about.

So we're safe in assuming that you're still in your 20s?

[Simon]

Thanks for your reply, Mr GG.

How fortunate for us and the freedoms we have enjoyed for the past 60 years that Christians (and non-Christians) in the 1940s disagreed with you!

[Lateralthinking1]

Well, the historical and military facts were that the Japanese were so determined to carry the war on to its most bestial and armageddon-like conclusion and were completely deaf to all calls for a negotiated peace that the use of the A-bomb was not only inevitable but it also saved many thousands of Allied lives in bringing the war in the East to an immediate halt. I would refer you to Anthony Beevor's account of the war in the East and the brutal nature of the Japanese army both in China and in the Pacific islands. It is Beevor's contention that the increased use of the kamikaze finally made it inevitable that the A-bomb would have to be deployed.

You and Richard Tarleton make a valid point. It applies in the case of Truman but not Attlee. With Truman, people will disagree on whether he decided to use it or had to use it. Either way, he used it. One could say that most Presidents would prefer not to have been in power with such unfortunate timing. Johnson had a good economic plan but he wasn't good on many mid-1960s events.

It is a perfectly reasonable historical argument to say that timing can make the difference on whether a President is considered great or at most reasonably efficient. I make an exception of Carter whose actions since 1980 have been taken into account. As an individual, he is not at all a Disappearing Gordon type of politician. Willy Brandt is another who must be viewed in the round.

[MrGongGong]

Thanks for your reply, Mr GG.

How fortunate for us and the freedoms we have enjoyed for the past 60 years that Christians (and non-Christians) in the 1940s disagreed with you!

what I think about it has little matter
and I wasn't aware that I had told you what I thought

BUT
the "Christians" who are in favour of nuclear weapons are like Vegan butchers
i.e NOT Christians


I think it's the 50's Flossie

the 1950's

[amateur51]

Churchill for me: how could one not choose one of the greatest ever statesmen? And if he wasn't available, it would have to be the greatest modern stateswoman, Lady Thatcher, who exhibited more ability, strength of character and leadership than all the others since her put together!

I'd love to get Churchill and Thatcher together to discuss their treatment of miners in Tonypandy & Yorkshire - what a pair!

[Simon]

I'd love to get Churchill and Thatcher together to discuss their treatment of miners in Tonypandy & Yorkshire ...

I'm sure they'd be fascinated to encounter your penetrating intellectual insights...

[teamsaint]

if it's inviting PM's for a feed round that is still being discussed, I certainly wouldn't have any of the Old Etonians round, as they would have terrible table manners, which isn't nice at all.

Probably applies to Heath also, from what I hear.
Was Churchill Harrow? sounds like they have similar type of table manners from an earlier post.

What a shoddy lot our PM's have been. I suppose the banker bosses give us what is left over after the investment arm have taken the ones they want......

incidentally, thatch seems to have outlived the Chumbas.

[MrGongGong]

if it's inviting PM's for a feed round that is still being discussed, I certainly wouldn't have any of the Old Etonians round, as they would have terrible table manners, which isn't nice at all.

Probably applies to Heath also, from what I hear.
Was Churchill Harrow? sounds like they have similar type of table manners from an earlier post.

What a shoddy lot our PM's have been. I suppose the banker bosses give us what is left over after the investment arm have taken the ones they want......

incidentally, thatch seems to have outlived the Chumbas.

Like the dreary royal family we seem to be unable to elect (or rather anyone with anything about them seems to avoid politics , and who would blame them ?) anyone with a modicum of personality or integrity

sad about the Chumbas ............