Political discussions have not fared well here, and I expect that will continue to be the case

This is very true, AnnaS, but they have never been banned - nor even eschewed, really.
Whilst it remains at a fairly high intellectual level, as this discussion has (and you are wrong, Maurice, about Helen - she is certainly not simplistic, not should her plain-speaking be written off as beliigerence.) it is acceptable, I think.
It would have been better placed in Miscellany than Q & A , but.