Renton

I think there is an element of truth in this but as always I'd want to avoid generalising and sterotyping. None of this was true for my Dad, for instance. He was a socialist to his core and I think this actually hindered him in his career, he was very intelligent but never reached his potential because he wasn't motivated in personal gain. (Edit: although on reflection he was part of the "silent generation", not a boomer). Also I am always acutely aware that human nature doesn't really change between generations or between groups closely aligned geographically, for instance. Which is why the belief that mackem's have they are morally superior or "classier" is not just laughable but risible. It's also a sobering thought to think if things had been different we could have been mackems. But we're not, so at least there's that to cheer us up.

You ae a prime example of this.

Sorry, it's a pet hate of mine people confusing the two, which politicians often do. We need the SM, not the CU. Norway, not Turkey. Neither is happening from an EU perspective imo, although I see at least Hunt admitted it was a problem this morning. I suspectr best we can hope for is a light touch regulatory scheme similar to NI. Although I imagine this would permanently scupper any deal swith the US, defeating the point of Brexit, again.

No, you suggested being in the CU would be okay if we conformed to EU standards. But we already do that, all exporting countries have to. So even if you conform to the standards, there are still physical checks and NTBs. To avoid this you need to be fully in the SM/EEA which requires FoM and EHJ jurisdiction, which are red line we apparently can't accept. To summarise, I didn't hear what Blackford said but if he is pushing for the CU he is talking out his arse.

That obese American porker is on quite a bit. The Spectator, like the Telegraph, has just become a joke publication. I witnessed the clip above which as people say would have caused a gammon backlash a year ago, but couldn't stomach that bint so went to bed.

But if you're not in the SM, it would still be necessary to check those standards physically at the border. Could be light touch on some items but not on things like agriculture. The only country that is in the CU but not the SM is Turkey, which really has the worst of all worlds. They are desperate for ascension to the EU.

This sums it up nicely.

From the thread, reminding me of cold War Steve......

Bear in mind on the above graph we should be relatively isolated from the war in Ukraine and the energy supply issues. Especially as we are predominantly a service economy, not a manufacturing economy like Germany. As an island should have fared better with covid too

"Knights of Football is a unique concept combining the thrill and passion of football with the magic and mystique of fantasy knights in a stunning gallery quality piece of artwork................"

A decade of prosperity and economic growth with fairer wealth distribution, punctuated by a truly global recession triggered by the US sub-prime market = Labour is economically incompetent. A decade of austerity and stagnation, falling living standards, decreasing wealth distribution and social mobility, disastrous trade reduction with partner countries, plummeting pound, terrible handling of pandemic, and fuck up budget of all fuck up budgets = conservatives are still better with the eocnomy than Labour (according to the latest poll I saw). Go figure.

I agree it is probably when not if but imo it's a long, long way away. This is informed by actually listening to European politicians rather than debating amonst ourselves seemingly blithely unaware there is a pretty crucial third party involved in this. It's like a bloke arguing with himself whether he should marry a woman he hasn't actually asked yet. It was like that throughout the Brexit debate too, but now we have the decree absolute, it's even more relevant. That's why I made the point the EU would want a super majority referendum result (which is difficult, but maybe possible) AND cross-party consensus (which I believe is impossible) whilst we retain this FPTP bollocks Starmewr is too scared to challenge. They don't want to risk this shit again, who can blame them. They have very little to gain.. The UK is now and for the foreseeable, a destabilising force. The EFTA route is also essentially closed. We need to develop a different relationship. As always, no cherry picking. If we want SM access, we also have to concede* FoM, Not happening any time soon. * I appreciate most on here don't regard it as a copncession, quite the opposite.

Two cheery charts.

Hunt utterly eviscerated by Reeves here like. Pity its all too late now.

Living standards set to fall a massive 7% over next 2 years. Incomes down to 2013 levels. Fuck these tory cunts, they should be wiped of the face of the Earth. Cheers CT.

"Doom loop" has now entered the lexicon. A bit like a mackem boom bust cycle.

Jeremy Cunt just said that the "Labour party has never believed in growth". Despite the last Labour governemnt presiding over 2-3% growth p.a. for over a decade that has been completely destroyed by the tories. Why do I evene listen to this shit?

I don't think there is any prospect of us joing the SM/CU unfortunately now in my lifetime. We've well and truly burbt our bridges. Why would the EU want us? They still get free access to our market for goods as we don't and never will check their imports. Any shift in supply chains benefits them, not us. They don't really need our services. FoM isn't an issue for them, they still have free access to the rest of Europe. They don't trust us in negotiations following the NI protocol debacle. Honestly, I think the EU would not only require a super majority in a referendum, they would also want cross party support, Never going to happen is it? Just have to make the best of what we've got now. Brexit was a bigger disaster than even I had ever envisaged.

Latest polls show that nearly twice as many people now think leaving the EU was a mistake compared with thinking it was the correct thing to do. I think this gap is only going to widen, not a useful weapon for the tories any more.

Yeah, us. Because if this trip had happened just over a year ago, nothing would have been mentioned.

Of course, kind of the point. As with all things when you get older, it's almost impossible to quantify how much things change are external due to things actually changing, or you yourself changing. Also true of music in particular.

From my memory: Argentina 78: [incredibly vague to me, remember winding up my Scottish realives]: canny Spain 82: canny again, still can't get my head around the round Robin format Mexico 86: lush, then again I was 15, oh my. Italia 90: supremely lush [at Uni, best days of my sad life!] USA 94: England not in, Diana Ross miskicked ball, just utter shut really [start of my PhD] England 96 [honourable mention], peak britpop, nufc fantastic, peak lush France 98: Zidane, lush [why the fuck am I still doing a PhD?] Japan/Korea 2002: howay man with this timezone shit [at this point I am starting to dislike England, first proper job]. Shit. Germany 2006: can barely remember this tttt, got a T shirt of it when I visited Berlin though. Must have been shit. South Africa 2010: those annoying vuvuva, vuvel, vulvav, fucking noisy things, Shakira. Shit. Brazil 2014: I know its nearer in time, but I literally only remember Germany trouncing Brazil 17 nil or something, when they were captained by side show Bob. Shit. Russia 2018: didn't watch it, couldn't even tell you who won. The nearer we get to the present time the less interested I am and the less I remember. I've probably got alzheimers. Qatar 2022: not even any blart, will be shit.

How the fuck can they get away with this in Europe. I know that if you go there, you have to instal their apps at the airport. The advice is to buy a burner phone. If you need to buy a burner phone to attend the WC, you know something isn't right.

Why would he do that though? This is all about what benefits him only. If he wins the presidency, he will escape prison. But there is no chance he can win it on an independent ticket.