holystove

The Telegraph with a brilliant sketch. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/12/20/hail-theresa-may-british-stonewalling-champion-2016/

I agree on the smooth exit pov. A much bigger majority and she'll no longer be hostage of the far right wing of her party who demand hard brexit asap. She'll have freedom to compromise with other member states now and will only have to justify herself in 2022. No opposition party is a definite bonus. Does seem opportunistic though. the whole point of the Fixed-Term parliament act was to prevent PMs from calling a general election based on polls. Theresa May did just that.

Are you two standing in the way of the country coming together? :shaking fist:

How deep will their pockets be after spending 150m on Griezman, Oblak and Carrasco from Athletico Madrid?

As May has indicated that this GE is about uniting behind Brexit ("the country has united, Westminster has not), the analogies with Greece/Syriza are interesting. Duncan Robinson‏ @duncanrobinson 43 min.43 minuten geledenMeer Brits fallen for Greek fallacy that domestic vote give you stronger position in Brussels. Other countries have voters too.

No argument here that Huff post is biased, but you have to admit those charts were not really the best idea. I would laugh just as hard if remainers released charts to back up their point but in reality would only prove the necessity of brexit.

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/brexit-department-ridiculed-over-tweets-that-show-how-eu-membership-boosts-uk-trade-dexeu-david-davis-andrew-gwynne_uk_58f5c7c6e4b0da2ff862d08e?ncid=engmodushpmg00000004 Don't know if anyone noticed the DExEU tweets last week, but they were very amusing. Troubling that David Davis is actually the most competent one of the three brexiteers (fox, boris, dd).

I agree losing Lukaku would be a huge setback for Everton, but I'm not entirely convinced Lukaku will thrive playing for a different team where he has better support. I've seen him play with De Bruyne and Hazard (and Mertens and Carrasco) behind him for Belgium and there's been quite a few times I've seen De Bruyne and Hazard frustrated because Lukaku couldn't keep up with their quick feet and quick thinking. He's better of staying at Everton, a club and a style of play that really suit him. I see him leaving as a lose-lose situation. Worse for him, worse for us.

It's strange to agree with someone but reach a completely opposite conclusion. I want the utmost respect for cultural differences and don't see the EU as a threat at all. This is how it works: once there has been cultural or economic or other convergence, the EU is the tool Europeans can use to implement common policy. It is not the other way around, where the EU enforces a rule to create homogenity. The Workings Time directive is an interesting example. To avoid social dumping between member states, at one point the member states decided there should be minimum standards that should apply to every country. (this usually results in choosing the lowest common denominator). Look at what it guarantees (http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=706&langId=en&intPageId=205) and tell me one thing you disagree with. (I have never heard of the 4 hour rule Bailey mentioned, but I'm not a labour law expert). I would even dare to make an educated guess and claim that the UK enforces much stricter rules that the minimum the EU requires. Anyway, this is one of the reasons I was in favour of Brexit. The UK government usually doesn't agree when other member states feel there is need for a common approach to a certain issue. (Main reason is still that the deal Cameron got was a slap in the face of Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium, and every other member state that is a financial contributor to the EU.)

good player. if he hadn't been injured would have played for Belgium in European Championship last year.

Guardian has been poor lately on the brexit stuff, I agree. Blaming May for having said God would have voted Leave, while she clearly didn't say that, was a new low this weekend. However, IMO, The Telegraph has been just as bad, if not worse. (bristol size city of unemployed migrants nonsense, UK navy can take Spain, etc) I try to read both to get both sides of the argument but the end result is just that I get annoyed twice.

hardly a surprise that all EU agencies will leave the UK, no? I don't expect any of the numerous agencies the UK will have to set up post-brexit for all those repatriated competences to be based on the continent.

Easiest path to CL for ManU is through Europa League.. maybe they just wont focus that much on EPL anymore.

That's why I ended my post with "52% of a population includes people from all walks of life, not just "right-wingers",

I agree on PPP being most useful in this situation because it's about trying to identify what happens to living standards in the UK post-brexit. John is obviously right about there not being any stats about UK post-Single Market (for 5 more years?) .. basis for comparison right now: UK is currently 25th (GDP (PPP) per capita) at 41k. Behind the likes of Ireland, Switzerland, Belgium, Netherlands, Sweden, Germany, Denmark, Austria, Australia, Canada, at the same level as France and Finland, and ahead of Italy, Spain, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand.

If ManU win the Europa League (which they have a very good shot at) they will play CL next season. Lukaku leaving will be a huge blow to the attractability of Everton for other star players. If Everton can't keep hold of its best players because they want to move to "a bigger club", players the likes of Mata, who was rumoured to sign for Everton last season, will never come. To avoid this perception problem, Everton should just pay him massive wages. Look at it as a sort of fee to show Everton is a major player from now on. Anyway, if Everton sell him for 65+m, it'll turn out to be a great investment. But after Moshiri arriving, it wasn't supposed to be about that any more.

Isn't GDP per capita a much more relevant indicator of the economic success of a country rather than whether or not as a whole, it is one of the biggest economies? The second list is just a list of countries with biggest populations.

Ajax in a best position to advance. Genk and ManU with advantage for second leg but still all to play for. let's go Lyon.

can't speak for other countries but last game I went to (two months ago), I was patted down and was warned beforehand that bags would be confiscated.. so no, I don't get how security misses fireworks. from what I've read besiktas supporters threw stuff at Lyon fans who then fled on the field.

Ajax, Lyon, Anderlecht, Genk for me. Strange to see so many western European countries.. where's the Dnipros, Kievs, Zenits, Ludogorets, Pilzen, etc of years past.

The discussion whether or not the UK would have been as economically succesful the last 45 years outside of the EU, or whether it will continue to be succesful once outside the EU, has been going on (on and off) for the last 55 pages of this thread and as far as I can tell noone has managed to substantially change anyone elses' opinion. I tried, as a joke, to take the most extremist opinion expressed on here (opposite what you wrote) to show the pointlessness of trying to have the debate again. I apologize if that didn't come across clearly . For the record though, I'm quite convinced life outside the EU is economically less advantageous (anecdotal evidence notwithstanding).

I agree. as it stands 3 out of those 4 advancing. Monaco definitely the most exciting team.

Hoping for a Bayern win; they look a bit overwhelmed in the first 15 minutes though. edit: 1 - 0

contrast with Dortmund - Monaco ...

I would still rather be in his shoes than in place of Flynn or Carter Page. Worst that will happen to Spicer is he will loose his job.