Miriam Cates/National Conservatives conference

I'm not sure what your one person crusade against Miriam Cates is supposed to be about? You know that a variety of views are acceptable and within the mainstream when it comes to women and their rights? You don't have to agree with everything someone says to recognise they have a right to a voice and a view.

Lots of women regret that they've not been able to have children, or have left it too late to have children.......All societies do need to have children in order to sustain themselves. Families, even traditional nuclear families, are not necessarily a bad thing...they can be the most functional way to bring up children, especially if women are to be given the freedom to choose whether or not they want to return to work full time after giving birth.

'I googled him and that said he was a bad man so I'm pretty pleased he was banned'.

We are in the presence of a total genius here.

Even if you want to call the attendees 'far right' it is no excuse for the literally fascistic and authoritarian actions that occured in Belgium. Europe is entering some pretty unsettling times if this is the measure of the mood.

I don't agree with Varoufakis at all on Palestine......but the idea he should be banned from a country is just ridiculous. It strikes me that many EU countries are in quite a bit of inner turmoil and flux at present....as stressful circumstances cause national characteristics and the consequences of national histories to come to the fore. The growing polarities and chasms which are heightened across the world at present will prove to be a very testing time for inernational or european unity.

Actually I have to say this is unintentionally funny is as much as Gove has given such an ambiguous definition that it can be used against more extreme conservative thought as well as leftist extremism. He was told that persisted. As for Yannis, the UK has also banned a variety of people from entering the UK on similar grounds. It's up to the Germans who they let in or not, just as it is for us.

Probably because they are bullied by sanctimonious progressives.
See anyone who voted No in the Scottish Independence referendum or Brexit or those who believed puberty blockers for kids were wrong. The left is constantly surprised at how well the Tories do because they have silenced discenting voices or so they think.

Let me tell you that this shower of shit government will do better than predicted come election time and you can all throw your hand up and say 'how did that happen?'. The current right wing trend (including Trump) is a response to tone deaf liberals who have chosen to ignore electorates because they know better. I despair.

They are mainstream Conservative figures from across Europe. They are not illegitimate terrorist organisations.

Are you aware of what totalitarianism means and how it operates?

increasingly wanting to shut down "hate marches" and limit peaceful protest.

Is it still to be tolerated as peaceful when major roads are blocked as the M25 has been at times. Buildings and internationally important artworks are deliberately vandalised, does this count as PEACEFUL?

I'm just surprised that someone who appears to have an interest in politics

Surely not? I've detected no interest in actual politics per se, just in who "supports" whom...

If someone hasn't been called "far right", and hence isn't a stick to beat someone with, they're of no interest.

Yanis Varoufakis has been an influential voice for years. He wrote a series of best sellers. He was outraged at how Greece had been treated by the EU during the Greek economic crisis. In that respect he was a serious critic of the EU and who it was set up to benefit ( France/Germany, primarily - with France as the junior partner); but he then moderated his position to one in which he thought the EU could be made to work in all its members' interests.

I'm not sure you should be dismissing such an influential voice in such a way.

I'm just surprised that someone who appears to have an interest in politics claims to never have heard of of a high profile European politician. How did you miss the whole Greek financial crisis which was less than 10 years ago?

Exactly. I didn't even know this conference existed until someone sent me a message about the events of yesterday.

I see the conference is going ahead today, I wonder if someone had a quiet word with the Mayor and reminded him of the ECHR and that he might be in breach.

Which is all kinds of irony from every side

That's likely because after your initial comment "I'm putting this here because I know a lot of GC feminists support Cates..." many women and feminists on here have carefully tried to explain how free speech is an important foundation of democracy. Think it's logical rather than interesting?
I always reckon the fierce Andrea Dworkin saw it most clearly:

“Feminism is a political practice of fighting male supremacy on behalf of women as a class, including all the women you don’t like, including all the women you don’t want to be around, including all the women who used to be your best friends whom you don’t want anything to do with any more. It doesn’t matter who the individual women are.” - Andrea Dworkin

Most posters (not all) on FWR seem to get this.

anothernamitynamenamechange ·Yesterday 22:17
I just read about the conference being closed down and was shocked actually”

Why do you find it shocking that right wing extremists were closed down?

It does look like the Streisand effect in action.

Are you saying that you've never heard of Yanis Varoufakis?

Some people think JKR is inflammatory …

There was a quote from someone involved in the conference on the BBC News at 6 last night - "You can't buy publicity like this".

It's a spectacular own goal by the mayor.

I don't agree with right wing parties on pretty much anything, but I do know a stupid move when I see one.

^MCC  is conservative, nationalist and Eurosceptic, and “plays a key role in spreading the ideology of the Hungarian government”.
Balázs Orbán  has said: “It is our goal for Hungary to become an intellectual powerhouse, in which MCC plays a key role.^

I didn't realise how much influence the body responsible for the laws of cricket has.