Friday, March 31, 2017

Jonathan Arnott MEP - The Big Fight, Chess-Boxing. It's TOMORROW!

https://www.twitch.tv/londonchessboxing
As reported regularly on this Blog, Ukip's MEP for the North-East, Jonathan Arnott is topping the bill at The York Hall, Bethnal Green in order to raise money for an important charity.
The above url may, I repeat may, be able to get you live coverage at around 9pm on Saturday.
Not given yet? - Please do so online!

Businesses To Fear Brexit - Why Would They?

Mrs May will have been encouraged by a report published today by the think tank, Civitas, which says the cost of failing to strike a post-Brexit trade deal with the European Union could be covered by tariffs on imports from its remaining 27 members, meaning that British business need have little to fear from EU tarrif barriers. It is a timely piece of good news for the Prime Minister and vindicates her decision not to rush into what are complex negotiations, the repercussions of which will have a lasting impact on this country. There is much at stake and the challenge now for the Government is to come up with a coherent strategy that is acceptable to our European neighbours and, more importantly, good for British business.

Read more at: http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/opinion/yp-comment-britain-s-brexit-opportunities-businesses-need-not-fear-tariffs-1-8323422

Divorce.


In this piece, Christian Concern's Communications Officer Camilla Olim comments on news that married parents are more likely to stay together than cohabiting ones, yet campaigners are calling for the introduction of 'online divorce'.
She highlights how 'online divorce' would pave the way to 'no-fault' divorce, as society continues to ignore that marriage is proven to be best for human flourishing. 'No-fault' divorce, she says, would be the "last nail in the coffin" for the national honouring and upholding of marriage.
 
This week, the Daily Mail reported figures showing that for the first time, break-ups involving cohabiting parents have overtaken break-ups involving married parents.
The figures, from the Office for National Statistics, showed that though nearly four times as many parents with children are married rather than cohabiting, 51.5% of those who broke-up last year were cohabitees. This compares with 2006 when 45.3% of family breakdowns were cohabiting couples.
It backs research by the Marriage Foundation"Cohabiting parents make up 19 per cent of all couples with dependent children, but account for half of all family breakdown."
At the same time as this new evidence in favour of marriage is released, plans are being made to introduce 'online divorce'. The process, which would involve paying a mere £37 to fill out an online form, is expected to be rolled out as a pilot scheme later this year. Campaigners claim that this would save couples stress, time and paperwork. Although they have not outright admitted as such, this move would pave the way to the eventual introduction of 'no-fault' divorce. Only in November last year, 150 family lawyers gathered in Parliament to lobby for this. 
So, as we are shown yet again that God's pattern for mankind is truly good, campaigners are pushing for divorce to be made easier still. Mankind will continue to stubbornly rebel, heedless of the evidence stacked against him. 
The cost of family breakdown is huge, as several studies have shown, but society continues to ignore it or simply accept it, believing it to be inevitable. 
The Relationships Foundation, for example, estimated that family breakdown cost the public purse £47 billion in 2015, the equivalent of £1,546 for every UK taxpayer.
Research carried out last year by the family lawyers' association Resolution indicated that divorce and family breakdown makes young people more likely to experiment with drugs and alcohol, as well as perform worse in GCSE and A-Level exams.
Despite these devastating facts, those pushing online divorce and indeed 'no-fault' divorce argue that the process should be made as smooth as possible. 
Under current law, couples have to state that a marriage has broken down 'irretrievably' when filing for divorce. They can only do so if one of the following is established: Adultery, unreasonable behaviour, desertion or separation. Couples will often cite 'unreasonable behaviour' as the closest thing to 'no-fault' divorce, as the behaviours considered 'unreasonable' can be extremely trivial. 
Proponents of 'no-fault' divorce argue that it will allow couples to split without the need for couples to accuse one another. But if so many couples believe that their marriage has broken down irretrievably with 'no fault' on either side, then the question has to be asked if it has really, truly broken down with no hope of repair. 
Perhaps, the reality is often this: It is not that husband or wife has actively ruined the marriage, but rather the breakdown is a result of a lack of action. It is common for couples to say that they simply 'fell out of love'. If a house is neglected, it eventually falls apart. Marriage is supposed to take work, and research shows that the effort pays off. For example, the Marriage Foundation found last September that married couples who have occasional date nights have 14% lower odds of breaking up. Sir Paul Coleridge, Chairman of the Marriage Foundation, commented: "This apparently light hearted piece of research highlights an essential truth about the importance of maintaining a stable and healthy marriage especially where there are children."
It is truly sad to think that many couples still vow to stay together until 'death do us part', as they tie the knot, yet divorce violates those vows. But to be able to exit a marriage on the internet; to be able to exit a marriage despite no alleged fault on either side, would send a clear message that as a society, we no longer value marriage – and by extension, the family. 
This devaluing began a long time ago, as we have slowly unravelled the protections surrounding marriage- the decriminalisation of sexual acts between same-sex couples in 1967, the Divorce Reform Act 1969, the Civil Partnership Act 2004, and the introduction of same-sex 'marriage' in 2014. 'No-fault' divorce would be the last nail in the coffin when it comes to a national upholding and honouring of marriage. 
In Matthew 19, when Jesus was questioned by the Pharisees on whether it was lawful to divorce "for any and every reason", he told them that marriage, created by God, is designed to last. And when they asked him why Moses permitted divorce, Jesus answered by first pointing to the condition of the human heart: "Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning."
God takes divorce seriously because marriage is not just a social contract but a holy institution. Marriage is designed to bind two souls together in a covenant relationship, and when that bond is broken it leaves mess and brokenness. It leaves children to pay the heavy price. 
Society's relentless consumerism has infiltrated the way that we view relationships. The prevalence of pornography and even the popularity of some online dating apps like Tinder and Happn are symptoms of our desire for instant self-gratification. We seek pleasure without commitment. We seek contact without connection. As orphans estranged from their Father, our society's understanding of love is tainted. 
Is it any wonder, then, that campaigners are calling for online divorce? 
But that doesn't mean we should be silent about it. We know that marriage is still proven to provide the best environment for human flourishing. 
As Christian Concern's Chief Executive Andrea Williams said during a Sky News debatethis week, divorce is "tragic for everyone when we consider just how important marriage is, how it's the cornerstone of society. And how we should be doing all that we can to keep marriages together, not to simplify the process for people parting from one another."
The church needs to speak out, as it celebrates and promotes marriage, as it stands with the married, the not-yet-married and the divorcees -  who, like us all, are in need of grace, of forgiveness and healing. 
Christian Concern.

It Is A Crime To Throw Away Good Food Just Because Of A Date On The Packet.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-4364968/Surprising-foods-eat-past-use-dates.html
As stated on this Blog previously, God gave us two eyes and a nose which covers 90%+ of any problems that might occur.

Grammars: The Truth.

.

In other words - just like it used to be for me and my fellow pupils before the ignorant left put dogma ahead of common sense and went into destruction mode.
It wasn't broke - so why did they try to fix it?
Yes, there were some problems but these were far from difficult to overcome.

Healing

I Agree - But Only On Hand-Held Phones.

D S Boyes, Upper Rodley, Leeds. Yorks Post.

ISN’T it time for more positive action by the Government to halt the carnage on our roads caused by the distraction of mobile phones?
The suggestions of Chris Grayling, our wishy-washy Transport Secretary, simply don’t go far enough. Use of a mobile phone while driving should be like drink driving, an automatic ban for three months for first offence, increasing on subsequent ones.
Once lauded as a useful business tool, these phones are a menace to road safety, whether hand-held or hands-free.
I speak from years of experience as both an employed driver and as a haulier, and know that there is nothing that takes your mind off safe driving more than being berated by an irate boss, or a customer demanding a quote or a supplier trying to sell you something not wanted or needed while you are battling the M25 rush hour traffic.
Making or receiving calls or texts while at the wheel should be outlawed with drivers having to pull over at the first safe place to stop before dealing with them.
Voicemail would store up any outstanding ones.
Things are so out of hand that only a short sharp shock, as I suggest, will make any difference.

Protect Our Street Preachers!

Birdie.

UK Must Leave EU's Customs Union.

As the Prime Minister, Theresa May, prepares to trigger the Article 50 EU exit mechanism this week, Open Europe has today published a new report, ‘Nothing to declare: A plan for UK-EU trade outside the Customs Union.’

The study concludes that leaving the EU’s Customs Union is the only logical step for the UK to pursue an independent trade policy and achieve a truly ‘Global Britain’ outside the EU. Open Europe assesses different models of collaboration outside a customs union, and argues that the UK and the EU should aim for full cooperation on the practicalities and administration of customs as part of a comprehensive UK-EU free trade deal.

Open Europe’s Policy Analyst, Aarti Shankar, said:

“We have looked at the evidence and at international examples, and conclude that leaving the EU’s Customs Union is the right decision for the UK. If the UK remained in the Customs Union after Brexit, it would not be able to meet the Government’s ambition of conducting an independent trade policy and achieving a truly ‘Global Britain’.

“There is a trade-off between minimising disruption to UK-EU trade and ensuring the UK is able to shape its own trade policy post-Brexit. Any model that keeps the UK ‘half-in’ the EU’s Customs Union would constrain its ability to strike trade deals across the world.

“The UK and the EU should aim for full customs cooperation as part of a comprehensive Free Trade Agreement. This is perfectly achievable, and the EU already holds customs facilitation agreements with other trade partners, including Switzerland and Canada.” Open Europe.

Thursday, March 30, 2017

Jesus doesn't hand out "Get Out Of Hell Free" passes.

Key Question.

EG Moody, Scarborough.
I’D love to ask Tony Blair “If, as you claim, Brexit voters didn’t know what they were voting for, how much did the anti-Brexit voters know?” Yorkshire Post.

Lingerie.

You won’t believe what one lingerie company is doing to show what makes a woman truly beautiful. I’ve got a great story for you. Get a hankie.
When it comes to lingerie companies, we’ve gotten used to some pretty graphic ads. You know the kind I mean: ones that feature impossibly perfect, airbrushed models wearing frilly and revealing underwear.
But the other day I came across the most amazing lingerie ad I’ve ever seen. No, I was not reading a Victoria’s Secret catalog. I was watching an online ad created by the Thailand branch of Wacoal, a Japan-based lingerie company. It was part of a three-part series called “Beauty Inside.” And it magnificently depicts the true value of women.
The first ad opens with a married couple sitting nervously in their doctor’s office, holding hands. “After trying so hard for many years, she finally got pregnant,” the husband says. But today they’re getting some bad news.
“I know it’s hard,” the doctor says sympathetically. “But please make a decision as soon as possible.”
The couple, clearly stunned, drive home, hold one another, and cry.
“On that day at the hospital,” the husband relates, “the doctor told us that she’s got cancer. She has only two choices. First, she might be cured if she took chemotherapy. But that may cause our child a disability. Or we might lose our baby. The alternative is to keep our child. But she might have to fight the cancer alone, without any remedy.”
The woman cries as her husband holds her. The next morning, she gets up and walks to the living room, where the baby’s crib is still sitting on its box. She runs her fingers along the crib and makes a decision: “I will do it for you, baby.”
The mother begins putting the crib together and plays with a stuffed animal, anticipating her child’s birth. Now she is back in the hospital, in labor. When her doctor holds up her healthy baby, she cries with joy. After cuddling and kissing her child, the mother hands him to her husband. She smiles at her little family as a nurse takes her down the hall and into the chemotherapy room.
These ads—which are both profoundly pro-women and pro-life—have become a global phenomenon. Millions of people have watched them online. Clearly they’ve hit a nerve—and I think I know why.
First, most lingerie ads focus on women’s bodies, suggesting that a woman’s appearance is the most important thing about her. But these ads challenge young women to value themselves in other ways: To celebrate strength and sacrifice, courage and compassion.
They’re teaching women something else, as well: that a worthwhile man will value them, not based on outer beauty, which is fleeting, but on inner beauty, which is based on character. And when life throws them a curve ball—such as cancer during a pregnancy—a strong man will help his wife through it.
Finally, I believe modern young women may be getting tired of being encouraged to take the easy way out when they run into a problem—such as a problem pregnancy. Women are, I think, moved by the idea that self-sacrifice is noble, and can be the source of great joy.
It’s hard to watch this ad without crying, especially when you find out it was based on a true story. Whether it meant to or not, the Wacoal company gives us a perfect illustration of 1 Corinthians 13:7: “Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”
I hope you’ll watch these ads, and share them with your friends, sisters, and daughters. Their positive messages will help cancel out the hundreds of negative ones that bombard young women every day.
And you just might consider buying the woman in your life some lingerie, not from Victoria’s Secret, but from the company that teaches that the value of women is in the nobility of their character. Breakpoint.

EU Pretending To Demonstrate Unity.

With the ceremonial signing of the Rome Declaration on Saturday (25 March), the so-called Bratislava process designed to rethink the EU after the shocking Brexit vote last year has come to an end.
The result is a fragile display of unity, with simmering tensions and deep divisions on policies among the member states.
Last September, the EU-27 held their first soul-searching meeting in Bratislava in an effort to reconnect with citizens and make the bloc more responsive to their needs and concerns.
Migration, strengthening the EU’s external borders, deeper defence cooperation, and the need to reinforce the European economy after the bruising eurocrisis and subsequent austerity measures emerged as key points of agreement.
The common objectives were designed to allow the bloc to “rebuild a sense of political community”, European Council president Donald Tusk said at the time.

Minimum agenda

There was of course a very tangible and pressing political need to show unity after Brexit - that is not to be underestimated. The message was that however unprecedented it was for a member state to leave the union, it would not shake the bloc.
Therefore, the sheer show of unity is a result not to be downplayed politically.
But there seems to be little more, for now, that leaders could wholeheartedly agree on.
Already in Bratislava, the then Italian prime minister, Matteo Renzi, embattled at home and needing to put up a fight, refused to hold a press conference together with French president Francois Hollande and German chancellor Angela Merkel. He said that the meeting was a waste of time.
Renzi’s outburst might have been aimed more at Italian voters rather than at the EU itself. Just like the last-minute objections from Poland and Greece to the Rome Declaration last week were more for internal consumption, it shows that leaders cannot be counted on for not using the EU as punchbag, whenever it suits them politically.
And that puts unity at risk. EU Observer.

I Do.

Just Look How Easily The 'Understanding' Of This Isue Is Blown Apart!

AUSSIE DINOS THE BIGGEST at least their tracks are, according to reports in ABC News 21 & 27 March 2017, BBC News 27 March 2017, and Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, doi:10.1080/02724634.2016.1269539 published online 24 March 2017. A team of scientists from University of Queensland and James Cook University have mapped out multiple dinosaur trackways on the coast of Western Australia, where they found thousands of tracks at 48 sites on the Dampier Peninsula over 25 km stretch of coastline. On the basis of previous reports of dinosaur tracks in this region the researchers suggest track sites could be spread over more than 200 km (125 miles). The tracks are dated as Lower Cretaceous, 127 to 140 million years ago. Steve Salisbury of University of Queensland, who led the study, told the BBC “This is the most diverse dinosaur track fauna we’ve ever recorded”. He went on to explain: “Twenty-one different types. There are about six different types of tracks for meat-eating dinosaurs; about the same number for sauropod dinosaurs; about four different types of ornithopod dinosaur tracks - so, two-legged plant-eaters - and really exciting, I think, are six types of armored dinosaur tracks, including stegosaurs, which we’ve never seen before in Australia”. Some of the sauropod prints are the biggest ever found in the world. One measured 1.7 metres (5ft 7in) long. The researchers estimate the dinosaur that made it was 5.3 to 5.5 metres at the hip. Salisbury commented: “At first it would seem a footprint that size and an animal that big, is it scientifically possible? These animals did exist. They were out there and we’re seeing evidence of them having existed in the Kimberley 130 million years ago based on these tracks”. According to the ABC “The area was a large river delta 130 million years ago, with dinosaurs crossing wet sandy areas between surrounding forested areas”. Salisbury explained: “There are huge areas around that coastline where all you can see are dinosaur tracks. They’ve just been churned up by dinosaurs, the same as what you see around a dam when a lot of cattle and sheep and kangaroos have come in and made a mess of the mud”. According to the ABC “The heavy steps of more than twenty different types of dinosaur compressed the muddy sand when dinosaurs wandered what was then a river plain in Gondwanaland, and were preserved in what would later harden into rock”.
Links: ABC, BBC

ED. COM. To get fossil footprints preserved well enough for scientists to identify what kind of dinosaur made them takes more than just churned up mud waiting to harden into rock. Walking along a beach or through soggy mud will show you that in order to be preserved footprints need to be rapidly and deeply buried. If the scientists are correct in their estimate that the trackways extend over a region 200 km long, that is a lot of mud for dinosaurs to walk across, followed by a lot more mud to bury the tracks. This amount of rapidly deposited mud requires more than just normal tidal and estuarine flows. Mud layers that size with buried preserved prints require a massive, sudden flood. Perhaps we should try thinking Noah’s flood, not river delta? (Ref. fossilisation, trace fossils) Creation Research.

Persevere.

Britain's Importance To The EU Budget.

Birdie.

What Do All These Songs Have In Common?

Yesterday.
Bridge Over Troubled Waters.
Sailing.
My Way.
Bohemian Rhapsody?
 
Well. I generally like or dislike songs and that is it but the quintet above are all ones which I loved when I first heard them - but now they simply get on my nerves.
There are very few others on this list.

What about you?

Wednesday, March 29, 2017

Every Single One An Extremist And Anti-Democrat.

Thousands join London march demonstrating against leaving the EU.

Oh, Dear.


Modesty In Clothing?

Modesty in clothing is such a big issue in Christianity, but many believers are divided about it. Men blame the women for their difficulties in the area of purity, thanks to revealing clothes. On the other hand, women blame men for being perverts who can't stop lusting after them. To be frank about it, both camps are wrong. Why do I say that? Read on.
To my sisters
Ladies, I am a married man who has seen beauty in the face of God, and in the face and person of my wife. I want to ask you: Why wear revealing clothes anyway?
The Bible tells us that we should put no confidence in the flesh (see Philippians 3:3-4). While we know Paul was saying not to trust the flesh when it comes to salvation and the fight against sin, I want you, dear sisters, to consider it this way as well: Maybe you shouldn't base your beauty on the responses you get when people see your bare skin.
I've seen a great deal of sisters in church wear clothes that would make the unsaved think like Christian women aren't any different from non-Christian women. I've heard the same Christian women say something like "God made you [beautiful/sexy] so flaunt it." That couldn't be more carnal.
Ladies, God made you to be holy, set apart, and precious in His sight (see 1 Timothy 2:8-10). You don't have to win people's attention by showing your skin. You don't have to wear "adventurous" clothing that causes unrenewed men to lust after you. You don't have to reveal your skin because culture dictates it. You just have to know that God loves you, that He made you according to His design, and that you don't have to get your confidence from the praise (or catcalls) you get from people.
Receive your security from the Lord. (see Psalm 16:2)
To my brothers
Gentlemen, I am a man like you. I know that many of us struggle with our minds after we see a scantily-clad woman, Christian or not. While not all men struggle in the area of sexual purity, I know that a great many do, and I am here to encourage you: We can overcome in Christ (see Romans 8:37).
Brothers, we need to see our sisters in church as sisters. We need to love them as sisters (see 1 Timothy 5:2). We must not lust after any woman, whether she's modestly clothed or not (see Matthew 5:27-30). God gave us our eyes to see His face, not ogle at a woman's body. God gave us our minds to think of what He wants, not to imagine things too shameful to mention.
Men, all who are in Christ are given the mind of Christ (see 1 Corinthians 2:16). We are told, "be transformed by the renewing of your mind" through the Word of God, not the patterns of the world (see Romans 12:2). We should see, think of, and treat women the way Christ did. And yes, if you're married, your wife should be the only beautiful woman in your sight.
Let God be the beauty that you want to see (see Psalm 27:4).
Love you both
Brothers and sisters, instead of bashing each other for causing one another to stumble, let us do things that build up one another (see 1 Thessalonians 5:4-11).
Ladies, help the men by wearing beauty of character instead of clothing that will tempt men to think wrong of you. Real God-fearing men don't like seeing you revealing your skin. Reserve your body for your husband or future husband instead.
Men, treat the ladies with respect and encourage them to trust God for their beauty by not lusting after them nor tolerating revealing clothes. Let them see that God-fearing men value modesty in a world full of sensuality. Christian Today.

The Progressively Frightening Totalitarian and Judgmental Left.

Rachel Alexander, an attorney, is the editor of the Intellectual Conservative. AND IS SPOT ON!
The left has done a 180 since its free speech heyday of the 1960s. What used to be anything goes, and protecting the First Amendment right to say controversial things, has morphed into a treacherous map of what you can and cannot say.
Universities, which were once a bastion of free speech, have now become the most hostile areas of all. If you do not agree with the left — even if you are on the left — expect to be savagely targeted. You could lose your job, your career and reputation over just one social media post. Not to mention being bombarded with vitriolic, threatening emails.
Left-wing comedians avoid performing comedy routines on university campuses. Conservative speakers are violently stopped from speaking engagements there.
Conservatives now walk on eggshells throughout society, just one tweet away from having their lives destroyed. The rise of social media has made it easy for the left to monitor everyone on the right. Since some successful conservative pundits as well as anonymous social media accounts get away with tweeting politically incorrect statements, others feel a false sense of comfort in engaging similarly, sometimes merely retweeting the remarks. But the reality is, for most of us, something you post could end up on the front page of the newspaper the next day. The private comfort of your home where you post on social media is deceptive.

The Political Left Understands Little.

The ongoing fight against the Jewishness of Jesus. By  Michael Brown , CP Op-Ed Contributor Thursday, December 28, 2023 iStock/Wirestock You...