THE REAL JUSTIN TRUDEAU

@Madmonk I can't speak for your country, nor for Canada, but as a native and resident Briton I can assure you freedom of religious belief by constitution and law, is alive and well in the UK.

There are nasty little "anti-this-that-or-the other faith" cowards about, as there are in many countries, but they are on the fringe of, or even overstepping, the law.

Despite a large rise in anti-Semitic / anti-Zionist / anti-Israel incidents (three different dogmas) in the UK and many European nations where Far-Right political ideology is becoming too popular for the nation's own good, on the whole the different of many religions active in Britain get along with each other quite well.

They even co-operate, talk to each other in civilised ways, and occasionally invite each other to church services on special occasions.

It is in fact illegal in the UK to discriminate in many walks of life, especially employment, against people merely on grounds of sex, sexuality, race, disability or religion.

@ArishMell ...unless they are silently praying near an abortion clinic. Or preaching in a public place. In which case they may be arrested.

Of course, if they are muslims, they can loudly celebrate the brutish massacres of October 7th, and be supported and brought cups of tea by police

@WalterF The aim as you know of keeping the anti-abortion people at a respectful distance is that the staff and patients don't feel intimidated. As indeed they should not be, whatever our own views on the medical procedure.

@ArishMell Intimidated, by someone praying silently? You are joking, I trust??

@WalterF No, not by praying, but simply by their presence.

@ArishMell People who are intimidated by an odinary, harmless person, standing in the street, really need medical help. I can't believe that you see this as a reasonable reaction!

@WalterF That was not the point. It is not single people standing harmlessly by, but organised groups they feared.

A woman wanting or needing an abortion is in a desperate enough state emotionally without a bunch of strangers watching her going into the clinic and trying to tell her what to do with her own body, not for her sake but to suit their own egos.

@ArishMell You know what? I cannot have any sympathy with your arguments. You turn a simple observation (that a plain, dowdy little woman standing some distance from an abortion clinic represents no threat whatever to anybody) into a situation where a woman is seeking abortion and seeing a bunch of strangers threatening her. Really?

Where on earth is your logic? Twisting words, you are!

You cannot rationally explain why a woman was cautioned and threatened with arrest by the police for being nearby, inactive, unthreatening, harmless.

No excuses about horrid religious perverts fits the bill here. It's pure authoritarianism, biased against believers in God.

While - I repeat - APPLAUDING those who chant about the joys of hounding Jews.

Double standards. Shameful. Don't defend this.

@WalterF It is groups of campaigners they worry about, not merely one dowdy old woman; but why should anyone seek to interfere with the patients or staff, even passively?

I have no idea what your last two paragraphs are for but at least I am agree with you in opposing authoritarianism and anti-Semitism. I simply don't see them round every lamp-post as you do.

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Incidentally you may be pleased to know I am considering leaving SW (I don't use sites like Facebook and X) - which means you'd be left to campaign against the world in a bit more peace!

@ArishMell That would be sad. If I found these conversations deleterious (another new word? - like "pejorative" - Latin, 2nd conjugation, deleo, delere, delui, delitum, to destroy) I would have stopped them long ago.

You should really stay - it's a rare, maybe unique, chance for you to meet opinions which differ from those presented to you through your other reading / listening / watching activities.

Even if, in your eyes, I am a far-right, Nazi bioterrorist, it would be a shame if you closed these contributions out. They may have a healthy balancing effect on your thinking

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The last two paragraphs you refer to refer to police double standards. (1) Look on placidly in the presence of weekly, hate-filled pro-Hamas processions (and even use that stupidly-named "taking a knee" act on occasions) - but (2) hound the single silent individual for silent "wrongthink" in the street

As I said, this is shameful, and should be called out

@WalterF Thankyou! Oh, I am not blind to other sources both of news and of news. I do use another site, slightly similr to this but a bit more sedate, and apparently a lot smaller. As well as as specialist fora dedicated to my interests.

And I certainly don't consider you a neo-Nazi!

I don't condone double-standards by the Police. They should act fairly and even-handedly.

I never had any faith in that "taking the knee", despite its genuine, very serious origin. For I have never had much faith in demonstrations anyway, and have never attended one; however pretentious the words (why not just say "kneel"?).

@ArishMell Erratum: the supine of delere is of course deletum, not delitum.