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That’s what the Chairwoman was saying was uncivilised, Sunny. You asked if that was a specific example of uncivilised behaviour and she said that it was. I am not sure why you say that’s “conjuring up boundaries”.

First, notice how Ismael sounds like I smile

Then consider that the word hashi, in bengali, means smile and hashish is what you tell someone they should smile

I feel like that archimedes bloke that cried É√?ÉœÉ≈É»Éø/É≈?ÉœÉ≈É»Éø (that’s eureka in greek for those who think it’s all greek to them)

Incidentally, charis in greek means grace

Smile gracefully

And then I realised… like I was shot… like I was shot with a diamond… a diamond bullet right through my forehead. And I thought: My God… the genius of that. The genius. The will to do that. Perfect, genuine, complete, crystalline, pure.

Oh look, a matchstick.

• Torture people because they might know something you don’t
• Kill them because they did something bad
• Blow them up because you don’t like them or want something they have
• Shoot them because you felt threatened
• Destroy the natural defences of the world because you need to run your car
• Marry your sister

There’s everything you need to learn on the subject from them Americans…

Can someone please define me boundaries instead of constantly saying “it’s uncivilised”. With some (white) people in this country speaking with a vocabulary littered with expletives is also uncivilised.

I’d like to know these boundaries that you guys keep conjuring up.

my boundaries are:

-no statesanctioned corporal punishment including whipping, amputation, stoning etc.
-no capital punishment (it took me a long time to come round to this view but I have)
(def no public spectacle or participation of either)
- one grey area is whether to allow chemical castration for paedophiles or serial rapists WHO REQUEST IT THEMSELVES. I am inclined to allow it but with very strict guidelines to prevent abuse.

But we were discussing sharia/huddood, which is not about just the punishments but more about underlying assumptions, rules of evidence, access to justice, equality of treatment, due process etc
I am implacably opposed to huddood.

Whether I sell them smack when they’re old enough is another matter

May I ask what sort of offences merit such a beating?

Can people please make a list of things that are “uncivilised” and those that are not?

I remember meeting an anthropologist on a train in India once who said he studied this tribe in Orissa that was very matriarchal. The women used to go out, get drunk, come home and beat their husbands. Is that uncivilised behaviour?

I only ask not because I’m making excuses, but I’d like some boundaries to be drawn here. So I know that if I propose strict punishment for, say, sexual assault, I know I’m in “uncivilised” territory.

I was in the juvenile courts earlier this year. The tastefully appointed lobby areas had comfy couches, nice pictures on the wall. So it was rather disconcerting when I noticed the corner by the water dispenser, held the caning pictures as well as those of the grim bare jail cells. A court official told me that juvenile delinquents- including those who get probation- HAVE to go on a prison tour to see the facilities up close and personal. Our kids don’t need asbos – they know they have to deal with a government that relishes taking its gloves off and administering tough love. Disneyland with the death penalty indeed.

Kismet – I was 7 years old when I had it done under general anaesthetic and showed every visitor to the house for the next two years (so there may well as have been a crowd watching the op)

For the record, it works fine and is a beautiful work of art but fuck do I bear the scars

Kinda explains a few things, no?

In any case, it affects me directly – and for example, one of my sisters has to constantly apply for visas for her children to visit Bangladesh and their grandparents. My other sister – though – has no such problem – because her husband though british born – was entitled to citizenship because his dad was a Bangladeshi citizen. the fact that all my sisters are Bangladeshi citizens seems to not make a difference in being able to pass this citizenship down to one’s child. i mean – its a bit silly if you can’t take your own child to your country. just takes applying for visas to an extreme! Pshaw..