How Can Simple Man Know The Mind Of An Omniscient God?

Nigel Farage.

Every issue Tory Brexiteers said they would stand firm on is now being given up. The result will be electoral punishment

What on earth has happened to the Eurosceptics in Theresa May’s cabinet? In what can only be called the ultimate sell-out, these once-brave men and women who backed the Leave campaign and have been seen as the champions of the 17.4m people who voted for Brexit have collapsed like a row of dominoes.

Over the course of the last few months we have seen these senior politicians shift their position significantly on virtually every important issue. For example, once they balked at the idea of a transition deal. Yet now, they seem happy to accept that we should be locked into such an arrangement for at least two years and probably (I am willing to bet) up until the next general election, which is scheduled for 2022.

Telegraph.

Birdie.

Test Cricket.

At the time of writing, Steve Smith's folly in not enforcing the possible England follow on gave England a chance to shine with their bowling - which they did - but the outcome will almost certainly still result in an Aussie win.
England require an improbable 354 to win, batting last against a fine attack.

Answered Prayer.

Many thanks to all of those who have prayed for Tillie and Hollie.
Substantial improvements have occurred. The former is actually back at school!

Feeble England Batsmen Throw Away Second Test.

Reckless, stupid batting has now guaranteed an Aussie win in Adelaide. Only persistent rain can now prevent the inevitable!
There remains nothing more to say - with the possible exception of making Geoff Boycott batting coach for the remainder of the series!

Of the first 7 England wicket-taking balls - I do not believe that the dogged Sir Geoffrey would have got out to 6 of them - and possibly not to all 7.

Nick - I've Never Seen You Write A Letter With Which I Have Disagreed

Nick Martinek, Briarlyn Road, Huddersfield.

CONTRARY to the gushing approval by Michael Gove and Boris Johnson, Leave voters will be contemptuous of Theresa May’s capitulation over the so-called Brexit bill.

The EU will gleefully exploit such weakness; and the Conservative Party is foolish not to see the parallels with their flawed negotiation back in 1972.

Mrs May says that we will leave the EU, including supposedly the Single Market and Customs Union by the end of March 2019. Yet her non-transition “transition” will lock us into EU rules for the duration.

So actually we will be in the SM, the CU, with free movement of migrants and capital, and under the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice until at least 2021 and probably longer.

Meanwhile she intends to sign a new treaty with the EU to cover “diplomacy, defence and security, and development”. So we will be locked into the EU’s foreign, military and internal security policies in perpetuity. Whatever else Mrs May calls it, this is not Leave. Yorks Post.

NHS Indoctrination.

http://www.christianconcern.com/our-concerns/abortion/nhs-social-indoctrination-one-mouse-click-at-a-time

Yemen: Tra, La, Lah.

How UK pays millions to 'British' pensioners in YEMEN who might not even exist: Fraud fears over UK citizens aged over 100 in Arab country despite life expectancy being 64 

The UK is paying millions to 'British' pensioners living in Yemen who may not even exist, official figures uncovered by Conservative MP Philip Davies suggest. Mail.

How Much Do We REALLY Owe The EU?

We do not owe the European Union £38 billion. We do not owe the European Union £20 billion. Every penny we give to the EU in 'ransom money' (which they mislabel a 'bill', despite zero legal basis to claim we owe it) must get something credible and tangible back in return. End of.

Yes, Jonathan -but Theresa's Tories are making a complete bog of the negotiations by capitulating at every turn.

King Tut's Discovery.

Howard Carter, pictured above, became the most famous Egyptologist in the world when he led a 1922 expedition to open the tomb of King Tutankhamun. Here he’s seen examining the contents of Tut’s all-gold sarcophagus.

Take 'Firm Stance' With EU.

H Lancaster, York. IT is time to take a firm stance with the EU negotiators. The EU has a lot to lose, they have stated more than once there will be a large hole in their finances when we leave. The EU has little appetite to agree a favourable (to both sides) deal on future trade or co-operation, all they want is money. Their demand for an unspecified large amount of money is unreasonable. We should just meet our financial obligations when they are invoiced on the due dates. We do not need to buy our way out of the EU.

Read more at: https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/opinion/yp-letters-ignore-eu-s-unreasonable-demands-1-8880247

Be Still.

Social Mobility? - The Left Don't Want It!

'Social mobility' is an expression constantly bandied about by the left.

The trouble is, however, that this is just a meaningless form of words.

When the left targeted grammar schools for extinction, the one real outlet for social mobility was closed off.

My personal experiences showed categorically that my grammar school friends, who almost all came from lower class homes, did phenomenally well in the world - and in a manner which could have been matched by very few comprehensive schools.

Birdie.

May Has Failed Us.

Theresa May has put herself in the worst negotiating position in history

It’s reported that Theresa May has agreed to pay the European Union €45-€55 billion as a ‘divorce bill’ when we leave the European Union. To put it into perspective, that’s around £1,000 for every adult in the UK.

I desperately want Britain to leave the EU. It’s not just about the economic benefits that we could reap if we were to do it properly, but also about regaining our freedom to make our own laws, having full control of our borders, abandoning failed EU policies in agriculture & fisheries, and rejecting any form of EU Army (I wonder whether Nick Clegg is now going to apologise for claiming that was a fantasy, like he had to apologise over tuition fees?).

If we were to leave the European Union with no deal, the World Bank claims our trade with the EU could drop by 2%. That’s 2% of 12.6% of our GDP, or potentially 0.25% of our national income. We currently spend 0.7% on overseas aid alone. Even if the overly-gloomy World Bank prediction were true (and it isn’t), the 0.25% drop could be offset by no longer paying our EU membership fee (gross 1%, and net 0.4%, of our national income). It would be mitigated by an uptick in the 70%+ or so of our economy that is internal – British businesses trading with each other would no longer have to be subject to clunky EU legislation. It would be mitigated by an uptick in our trade with the rest of the world once we regain our ability to sign trade deals (a less spineless government would be opening negotiations right now, ready to sign on Brexit Day and steal a match on the EU), which is already slightly more than our trade with the European Union.

That ‘no deal’ prospect isn’t what UKIP wants. It’s not even what Labour or Conservatives want. It’s not what the European Union wants, it’s not what business wants – and certainly not what the German car industry wants. Nobody wants a ‘no-deal’ scenario. What we do want, however, is the final deal to be better than a no-deal scenario. Protecting that 0.25% of GDP is worthwhile, laudable even, but not absolutely paramount.

But for all of her talk that ‘no deal is better than a bad deal’, she’s agreed to hand over £1,000 of your money just to open talks. That money comes with no guarantee of anything tangible in return. That strikes me as the worst negotiating position in history. May started out holding most of the aces: as net importers from the EU, a ‘no-deal’ scenario would mean more money coming to the UK exchequer in tariffs than going to the EU. The UK’s global place in academia, research, security and intelligence should be another ace. The ability to walk away without paying a penny, leaving the EU budget over-subscribed if we give them nothing? Another ace.

Instead, the EU has been allowed to dictate the pace. In any negotiation, you have to come to the table confidently as equals. You have to be prepared to walk away, temporarily or permanently. Want the best deal on a new car? Try walking towards the showroom’s exit door and the impossible suddenly becomes possible.

Theresa May has been bullied, allowing the EU to set out the process for withdrawal and present the British government with a series of hoops to jump through. Instead of resisting, May has complied just like a seal jumping through a hoop. Instead of playing her high cards, using them as leverage to obtain what the UK wants from the EU, she’s meekly surrendered every single one of them. She’s not been helped, admittedly, by a Labour Party that has consistently been little more than a mouthpiece for the European Union’s negotiating position. It’s almost as though they want negotiations to go badly to give them an excuse to criticise the government. Oppositions should oppose, of course, but they shouldn’t conspire against the interests of the British people.

Theresa May has just undertook the biggest sellout of British taxpayers in my lifetime, goaded into it by those who haven’t fully got to grips with the referendum result. Some of them would still, even now, have us remain in the European Union despite the way they’ve treated us. In any divorce, surely, if your ex-partner becomes nastier, that isn’t a good sign to suggest that you ought to get back together. Brexit: right decision, appalling negotiation from the Tories.

Ashes Cricket Is Now On BT.

The commentary teams are woeful - if it weren't for Sir Geoffrey Boycott bringing something to the table - they would barely be hitting 3/10.
Much as I dislike Sky, and for oh-so-many reasons, all credit to them for the excellence of their commentary squad, who by comparison are 9.9/10!
Bumble, Gower, Mikey Holding, Michael Atherton, Sir Ian, Nasser Hussain - how I am missing them!
The Aussie commentators are the most boring ever seen - and this from the nation which gave us the sublime, late, great Richie Benaud!

Good Grief!

Outrage after university boss is handed a payrise to take his salary to £423,000 as he prepares to axe 75 staff to save cash

Sir Christopher Snowden was given a rise of more than £5,000 from the University of Southampton in the last academic year, taking his salary to £423,000 annual accounts show. Mail.

Second Test, Second Day.

England will need to 'bat out of their skins' to avoid the follow on in the Adelaide Test.
Only the kind of exceptional defensive batting for which most England players are not renowned will allow England to escape with a draw.
Nine wickets in hand to chase down 243 to ensure that the Aussies MUST bat a second time, frankly, looks a doubtful target.
An hour's play remains possible today if the rains hold off!

Whose Body?

Esther.

http://ny.jewsforjesus.org/2015/03/04/5-things-about-esther-that-nobody-talks-about/#comment-105897

How Many Moslem Marriages Are Legal?

http://www.christianconcern.com/our-issues/islam/the-truth-about-muslim-marriage