Very good speech by Dr Alice Weidel to the Bundestag regarding Brexit

You make such idiotic comments Timothy that you devalue whatever you say when you want to be taken seriously.

I personally think she makes some excellent points and rather than people just dismissing her and the AFD people should listen and reflect. If you carry on just sticking your fingers in your ears if you dont agree they will gain votes from the people that do listen. Europe needs to wake up, the far right is on the rise in every country while the middle and left just bury there heads in the sand .

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This is SFN not the H of C so I don’t need to be taken seriously. If you’re going to quote Shakespeare at least pick a line that I can’t turn into something literal.:wink:

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I don’t think that the left in the UK is burying its head in the sand.
Momentum is taking over in constituencies of moderate Labour MP’s.
I am not burying my head in the sand.

I obviously don’t think every centre and leftist person is burying there heads. I am glad that you are listening to the right, they have legitimate concerns and if the powers to be don’t listen and reform i think within 20 years we will have right wing governments in every country in Europe.

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Rees-Mogg was typically odious on R4’s Today this morning an completely side stepped the issue of his support for AfD

Morning Paul, JRM does not support the AFD he was hightlighting a political view in Germany that the bbc, guardian etc etc wont mention without spinning it. Her speach had no racism or xenophobic remarks she spoke about the implication on Germany with the UK leaving the EU with no deal. I implore you listen to it again and call out any part that is a lie and if you find anything i will be first to support you.

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In this thread we have touched upon whether it is possible to disagree - perhaps passionately - with one thing someone says whilst agreeing with other things.

Notwithstanding some of my comments above I actually think this is quite reasonable most  of the time for most  people. After all it is pretty rare for two people to be in complete agreement regarding all subjects.

Where I step away from this, as above, is when people clearly hold extremest views - in this case condoning any part of what they say risks lending legitimacy to the rest of their statements, associate even partially with these people and you associate with the whole. That is true whether it is Frauline Weidel, Yaxley-Lennon or even, almost, JRM himself.

I felt this morning’s anger was mostly theatrical but it was straight out of politics 101 - if you don’t want to answer the question and can’t defend yourself with facts, call the interviewer names and invent false bluster.

Sorry Paul, it is quite difficult to understand your post. Are you saying because someone holds an “extreme” view on one subject you should dismiss everything else?

JRM should have held him self together but its typical left wing BBC trying to stir a pot that does not exist and some foolish people get on there high horse about how offended they are.

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Yes. When we get to the UKIP and AfD ends of the spectrum I have little time for anything that they might say.

Oh come on - JRM has had more practice than most at calmly ploughing on with the points he wants to make, even if he was genuinely a bit miffed this morning’s outburst was manufactured to avoid the question.

Paul, its sad then you wont even listen to other political views. Then you and others wonder why Brexit is happening.

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I’m happy to listen to and debate other political views, I draw the line at extremist ones.

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Paul but you think UKIP and AfD are “extreme” some of the policy’s are crazy but show me a party that you agree with every policy. You might not agree with them but dismiss and ignore them them at your peril.

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UKIP is borderline to be fair - there are more extreme right wing parties in the UK, and I daresay more extreme right wing parties in Germany than the AfD.

But (e.g.) UKIP wants to reduce all migration to zero - scratch that surface and there’s a good deal of xenophobia lurking just underneath.

Also I’m not advocating dismissing or ignoring them, or the issues that cause them to be popular but I would advocate not giving them the oxygen of debate.

Could not disagree more with you. You should give them all the oxygen they want and when they step out of line/talk nonsense you can call them out and embarrass them. What happens when a book is banned? It usually becomes a best seller, the same with Politics.

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Closing your ears to extremists is a recipe for disaster and is exactly why we’ve got Brexit in the UK and Trump in the White House.

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There is a difference between closing your ears (which I’m not advocating) and legitimising their cause by agreeing with some part of it.

As I said - on reflection I think you probably do have to give UKIP (and maybe even AfD) the time of day as they do, just about, exist on the fringe of mainstream politics - UKIP has several MEPs for instance.

But, say, Yaxley-Lennon is a very nasty piece of work and thrives on publicity; why oblige him?

You need to try and understand why people support UKIP, AFD, the new incarnation of FN and even the likes of TR, ignoring them is folly.

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Yep, where did I say ignore them.

I said don’t debate with them, don’t legitimise their view by agreeing with even part of it and don’t give them publicity.

I didn’t say ignore them, and I certainly think that the better way to deal with them is to address the concerns that drive people to their door.

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Comment wasn’t aimed at you directly Paul merely my opinion. Many people still dismiss Farage and co because of their views but they aren’t going away any time soon especially if Brexit is delayed.