Well done, that is, to the council for agreeing the amended motion, and not bending to the activists who believe that they who shout louder must be right!

You do not now, never have and never will represent the majority of citizens in Brighton or anywhere else in this country. Brighton and the rest of our country would not be here now if it were not for our armed forces and those who supply and support them.

"I would rather you just said 'thank you' and went on your way".

For a detailed analysis of the council vote .......................(continued page 94)

Where would Brighton be then exactly. Would Muslim fundamentalists have towed it into the Gulf and attached it to Yemen?

Presumably you don't agree with the idea of Peace Messenger cities full stop. Nothing EDO makes is of any use for 'defending' ourselves, unless you think the all out aerial bombardment in Iraq has made us any safer. I suggest you look to London and think again.

Dear Arms Dealer (aka SR Made Real)

If you really believe this you are fooling yourself. The fact is nearly half of the council would like to see the back of you for various reasons. More people than you realise are also horrified by what you do and your attacks on freedom of expression.

We did not believe that the council ever would actually pass the motion in its unamended form but we have got amazing support from them in our campaign and we didn't even need to resort to wads of cash in brown envelopes to do it.

Uphill Sal - OK an anagram but not very original.

Freedom of expression is when you tell someone you don't like their new curtains, it doesn't extend to harrassment, criminal damage, personal abuse and violence................oh, unless you're a drop-out activist I guess.

And for Mr EDO CASE, no I don't agree with the concept of Peace Messenger cities, although I fully agree with peaceful co-existance as an aim for all of us. I don't know what Peace Messenger cities are FOR, I guess its another way for the UN (Useless but Nice) to pretend its actually doing something, and to make the margins of society feel included ............guess you fell for it!

"Freedom of expression is when you tell someone you don't like their new curtains, it doesn't extend to harrassment, criminal damage, personal abuse and violence................oh, unless you're a drop-out activist I guess."

Freedom of expression is a right that can be exercised in the public arena as well as making snidy comments about the curtains on no.28's front room. If you can't express opinions that may shock or offend people then freedom of expression is not a right worth having.

As for harrasment and personal abuse? I fail to see how is it harrasment to call someone who works for a war machine that destroys countless lives abroad and fans the flames of terrorism 'child killer' or 'scum'. That is called expressing an opinion (opinions can be crude or blunt and may sometimes offend) and if you work for an arms company you should learn to accept that people who disagree with what you do for a 'living' may tell you what they think of you and what you do. If you don't like it, get out of the death business! Harrasment is relentless unjustified behavior towards an individual whereas calling an arms dealer like EDO's Managing Director a 'scumbag' is fair comment and is everone's right. Even Justice Gross agreed with us on that one.

Can Cat explain why he/she thinks that criminal damage is on a par with expresing an opinion at a demonstration because I really can't see the link there.

Anyway, I always find it amusing when someone who makes a 'living' out of the manufacture of explosive munitions kicks up a fuss when their company's windows get broken. A severe case of mixed up priorities maybe? I wonder what a paveway bomb does to a window, or a human being who has done nothing to you or your family.

"And for Mr EDO CASE, no I don't agree with the concept of Peace Messenger cities, although I fully agree with peaceful co-existance as an aim for all of us. I don't know what Peace Messenger cities are FOR, I guess its another way for the UN (Useless but Nice) to pretend its actually doing something, and to make the margins of society feel included ............guess you fell for it!"

I agree with Cat about 'peace messenger'. It seems to me to be about a making token gesture for some vague, abstract notion rather than taking real action for change. Maybe I'm wrong, I don't know much about peace messenger exept that certain councilors get a kickback from the UN for representing B&H as a peace messenger. Maybe someone could enlighten me on that one.

yeah bombs never did any good did they..................never defended our country.......errr....well i guess most of the activists aint that well educated....seem to have forgotten about world war two....yes thousand even millions of innocent civilian casualties in both allied and axis countries,but one thing you forget to easily...we stopped a ruthless evil dictator (called adolf hitler for all you activists who seem to forget),who slaughter minorites,exactly like saddam did,and if it wasnt for our armed services and our bombs and weapons we might all be living under a dictatorship now ,where your right to free speach wouldnt exist, and you would have probably been taken a(nd your famlies too) away and made to dissapear in one of the many concentration camps,

thank god for our weapons and those that defend our country

they gave you a right to express your opinion.

yes.. hitler and all that.

our military defending our right to free speech.

ok. got that.

but there's a nagging thing at the back of my head when i hear this apparantly reasonable argument. i think it's got something to do with the fact that TIMES HAVE CHANGED!

sure england defended itself well against the nazi's during the 2nd world war. we achieved peace and freedom of speech. in that case why has the arms industry GROWN so much since then? not only grown but become privatised (and thus less accountable and out of any degree of our control as civilians) and subsidised by us taxpayers. doesn't sound like the democracy malarky that mr.blair n bush go on about.

obviously you've also managed to miss the point (again).
the bomb mechanisms you make are for killing innocent people,this statement cannot be made enough times. not for defending us from an invading force. not for defending our right to free speech (in fact you lot seem to be hellbent of suppressing that right - and your curtains are rubbish too by the way.)
killing innocent people makes you a murderer. it really is that simple and talking about the 2nd world war and how we don't live in nazi germany isn't going to make any difference to that truth.

head - sand - OUT!

Who said this: "I do not understand this squeamishness about the use of gas. I am in favour of using poison gas against uncivilised tribes."? Answer - Winston Churchill. Britain declaring war on Germany was a strategic, not a moral, action. Why were only 8000 Jewish refugees allowed into the country during the entire period of the extermination programme?

If bombs are the answer, why weren't you calling for Indonesia to be bombed when the Indonesian state was slaughtering hundreds of thousands in East Timor? Why is it alright for the Turkish state to persecute and kill Kurds but not for Iraq? Why can Morocco invade Western Sahara, Ethiopia attack Eritrea, China brutally occupy Tibet, Israel run their prison colony in Palestine, and the United States murder and terrorise through their local fascist militias in Central America? Doesn't this make you a little skeptical of the real reasons for attacking Iraq?

How can you argue that our freedom of expression is being taken away by you, your lawyers and the corrupt police so that you can defend our freedom with your bombs? That's not logical. What freedom are you defending?