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Views of Brexit – the age and gender splits – politicalbetting.com

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    As someone who is utterly uninterested in football, the current diarrhoeic output about football and Leon's incontinent fapping about AI makes PB nearly unreadable.

    Sadly.

    Today has been like reading the musings of a twelve-year old after he's raided his parents drinks cabinet.
  • Options
    IanB2IanB2 Posts: 47,313
    Leon said:

    I expect 2-1 to France

    Creepy Leon was disappointed when he realized that he wouldn't be able to watch the football game on Saturday because of an unavoidable social engagement. He had been looking forward to watching the game all week, and he had even planned to invite some friends over to watch it with him.

    On the day of the game, Leon tried to get out of his social engagement, but it was to no avail. His friend had planned a surprise party for his wife, and there was no way Leon could back out without causing offense. Reluctantly, Leon agreed to go to the party, but he was not happy about it.

    At the party, Leon tried to keep up a good front, but he was not interested in the games and activities his friends were playing. He found himself constantly checking the time and counting down the minutes until the football game would start.

    Finally, the game began, and Leon excused himself from the party to watch it in peace. He settled down in front of the TV, but the game was not going well for his team. Leon was known to be a Jonah - every team he supported seemed to lose, no matter what. Frustrated, Leon decided to switch sides and pretend to support the other team, hoping that this would bring his team some luck. However, this tactic did not work, and his team still lost.

    After the game, Leon returned to the party, but he was in a bad mood. He sulked and complained about the outcome of the match.




  • Options
    kle4kle4 Posts: 91,885

    As someone who is utterly uninterested in football, the current diarrhoeic output about football and Leon's incontinent fapping about AI makes PB nearly unreadable.

    Sadly.


    I suggest reading a book to put both out of your mind. For instance, I'm about to settle down to read The Fire Child by S K Tremayne.
  • Options

    Jonathan said:

    Is there football on tonight? Who’s playing?

    Christ, when will this hell end.

    There are plenty of people out there who care nothing for football.
    Those people are weirdos and should be stripped of British citizenship.

    If an England v France match doesn’t gird your loins then you are a Lib Dem Remoaner.
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    StockyStocky Posts: 9,736
    tlg86 said:

    538 give Morocco a 30% chance of reaching the final. The betting reckons it’s a 25% chance.

    Morocco's defence is incredible.

    Out of 5 WC matches they have only conceded 1 goal - and that was a fluky deflection (Canada).

    Furthermore, they kept clean sheets in all 4 of their matches prior to the World Cup.

    So that's 8 clean sheets in their last 9 matches.
  • Options
    JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 39,054
    M45 said:

    As someone who is utterly uninterested in football, the current diarrhoeic output about football and Leon's incontinent fapping about AI makes PB nearly unreadable.

    Sadly.

    Take time out, study a new subject. Start with English grammar 101: Hanging nominatives.
    I've not been on here much recently because of it. PB has probably improved. ;)
  • Options
    LeonLeon Posts: 47,376

    algarkirk said:

    I don't support Rejoin but if the EU were really smart they'd offer Britain the same new deal that Cameron was offered, possibly with some extra safeguards on an emergency brake on free movement as well on top.

    They'd probably get 70%+ voting for it and it'd settle the debate here for decades.

    It’s quite possible that something like that, carefully packaged to make it look as though it’s not rejoining, would be offered to incoming PM Starmer.
    Rejoining the EU cannot be packaged as not rejoining the EU.

    Rejoining would be the 21st century answer to the Restoration of 1660.
    In that case we would end up leaving again, 28 years later.

    You can't ever put the genie back in the bottle.

    So, it only happens if the EU fundamentally addresses some of the issues that led to Britain leaving in the first place.

    I think that's beyond them, and it's probably even beyond them to contemplate it.
    Why should they bother? To them, the EU is working fine (with flaws); from their perspective, Britain was mad to leave, and is now suffering the inevitable consequences. The EU economy has not suffered from Brexit; so Britain can do what it likes, but the EU is not gonna bend over to get the UK back in

  • Options
    EPGEPG Posts: 6,013

    algarkirk said:

    I don't support Rejoin but if the EU were really smart they'd offer Britain the same new deal that Cameron was offered, possibly with some extra safeguards on an emergency brake on free movement as well on top.

    They'd probably get 70%+ voting for it and it'd settle the debate here for decades.

    It’s quite possible that something like that, carefully packaged to make it look as though it’s not rejoining, would be offered to incoming PM Starmer.
    Rejoining the EU cannot be packaged as not rejoining the EU.

    Rejoining would be the 21st century answer to the Restoration of 1660.
    In that case we would end up leaving again, 28 years later.

    You can't ever put the genie back in the bottle.

    So, it only happens if the EU fundamentally addresses some of the issues that led to Britain leaving in the first place.

    I think that's beyond them, and it's probably even beyond them to contemplate it.
    I think they could do it, but don't want to, because they know it would lead to 27 other countries that actually fund the thing demanding their own a la carte deals.
  • Options
    Leon said:

    As someone who is utterly uninterested in football, the current diarrhoeic output about football and Leon's incontinent fapping about AI makes PB nearly unreadable.

    Sadly.

    You could always "entertain" us with some vapid bilge about your tedious running exploits. Feel free to do that
    :lol:

  • Options
    Jim_MillerJim_Miller Posts: 2,514
    Off topic, but this advice might be useful to some of you: "Hurry to the bus stop. Rush up the stairs. Play tag with your kids. Romp with the dog. Vacuum the living room with a little extra zing. Increasing the vigor and gusto of our daily activities could have a substantial impact on our longevity, according to a fascinating new study of movement intensity and mortality.

    The study finds that as few as three minutes a day of vigorous everyday activity is linked to a 40 percent lower risk of premature death in adults, even when they do not otherwise exercise at all."
    source$: https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2022/12/09/increase-longevity-vigorous-activity/
    study: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-022-02100-x
  • Options
    GardenwalkerGardenwalker Posts: 20,862
    WillG said:

    One way of squaring the democracy issue (which I accept is an issue, though in no way to the extent it is painted) is to see if there’s any way of reproducing something akin to the German Constitutional Court which positions itself as superior, not in terms of EU law, but in terms of EU law’s alignment with the Constitution.

    The German set up doesn’t actually work quite, and is slightly messy, but perhaps there is a way for the UK to divide its law into “that realm in which EU law supreme”, and “that realm which EU law cannot touch”, for example criminal and certain aspects of constitutional law.

    I’m sure smarter jurisprudential minds than mine have considered ways of squaring the circle, but maybe time to have another look.

    But that doesn't square the circle. It just reduces slightly the area of it. The circle is still covering most things and is still undemocratic.
    No it’s not, that is the fruitnut position.
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    JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 39,054
    ydoethur said:

    As someone who is utterly uninterested in football, the current diarrhoeic output about football and Leon's incontinent fapping about AI makes PB nearly unreadable.

    Sadly.

    Shouldn't that be the other way around?
    Both work.
  • Options
    DriverDriver Posts: 4,522

    Jonathan said:

    Is there football on tonight? Who’s playing?

    Christ, when will this hell end.

    There are plenty of people out there who care nothing for football.
    Eight whole days.
  • Options
    LeonLeon Posts: 47,376
    IanB2 said:

    Leon said:

    I expect 2-1 to France

    Creepy Leon was disappointed when he realized that he wouldn't be able to watch the football game on Saturday because of an unavoidable social engagement. He had been looking forward to watching the game all week, and he had even planned to invite some friends over to watch it with him.

    On the day of the game, Leon tried to get out of his social engagement, but it was to no avail. His friend had planned a surprise party for his wife, and there was no way Leon could back out without causing offense. Reluctantly, Leon agreed to go to the party, but he was not happy about it.

    At the party, Leon tried to keep up a good front, but he was not interested in the games and activities his friends were playing. He found himself constantly checking the time and counting down the minutes until the football game would start.

    Finally, the game began, and Leon excused himself from the party to watch it in peace. He settled down in front of the TV, but the game was not going well for his team. Leon was known to be a Jonah - every team he supported seemed to lose, no matter what. Frustrated, Leon decided to switch sides and pretend to support the other team, hoping that this would bring his team some luck. However, this tactic did not work, and his team still lost.

    After the game, Leon returned to the party, but he was in a bad mood. He sulked and complained about the outcome of the match.




    That's really beige. Introduce some scatology
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    WillGWillG Posts: 2,110

    Jonathan said:

    Is there football on tonight? Who’s playing?

    Christ, when will this hell end.

    There are plenty of people out there who care nothing for football.
    It's a major tournament, it happens every two years and lasts for a few weeks. If you don't like it, just don't join conversations about it. You don't have a right to control what other people want to talk about, so stop being so childish.
  • Options
    EPGEPG Posts: 6,013
    From the EU's perspective, it is much better to respect the UK's sovereign decision to exit the club, while pointing its members and the rest of the world to the Faragist fiscally incontinent Kamikwazi outcomes that become possible.
  • Options
    GardenwalkerGardenwalker Posts: 20,862
    EPG said:

    One way of squaring the democracy issue (which I accept is an issue, though in no way to the extent it is painted) is to see if there’s any way of reproducing something akin to the German Constitutional Court which positions itself as superior, not in terms of EU law, but in terms of EU law’s alignment with the Constitution.

    The German set up doesn’t actually work quite, and is slightly messy, but perhaps there is a way for the UK to divide its law into “that realm in which EU law supreme”, and “that realm which EU law cannot touch”, for example criminal and certain aspects of constitutional law.

    I’m sure smarter jurisprudential minds than mine have considered ways of squaring the circle, but maybe time to have another look.

    That's not quite how the German constitutional court sees itself: it believes it can instruct German authorities how correctly to comply with the German basic law, even where it concerns agreed EU law such as institutions. The response of everyone else in Germany and the EU has been to ignore the German court because it has no legal authority over the EU, leaving its judges in the position of writing fan-fiction.
    As I said it doesn’t work.
    But perhaps there is a kernel of something there that might work for the UK.
  • Options
    WillGWillG Posts: 2,110
    EPG said:

    From the EU's perspective, it is much better to respect the UK's sovereign decision to exit the club, while pointing its members and the rest of the world to the Faragist fiscally incontinent Kamikwazi outcomes that become possible.

    The Kwarteng budget was entirely independent of Brexit and actually was the diametric opposite of the desired positions of the Leave campaign.
  • Options
    JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 39,054
    Leon said:

    As someone who is utterly uninterested in football, the current diarrhoeic output about football and Leon's incontinent fapping about AI makes PB nearly unreadable.

    Sadly.

    You could always "entertain" us with some vapid bilge about your tedious running exploits. Feel free to do that

    No one is stopping you from interjecting with witty, clever, insightful remarks which turn the debate to your areas of interest

    Ah, I see the problem. Soz
    When did I last mention running on here? A month ago? Two? I can stop if people really want - but I'm far from convinced that my occasional 'vapid bilge' about running is more detrimental to this site than your boring musings about AI.

    And (IMO) my running is actually an achievement. What have you actually *achieved* in the last year that stretches you? Taken another paid holiday? Paid another prostitute?

    And BTW, the offer to do a run with me next year is still open. You should try it - if I've not killed myself through running... ;)
  • Options
    EPGEPG Posts: 6,013
    WillG said:

    EPG said:

    From the EU's perspective, it is much better to respect the UK's sovereign decision to exit the club, while pointing its members and the rest of the world to the Faragist fiscally incontinent Kamikwazi outcomes that become possible.

    The Kwarteng budget was entirely independent of Brexit and actually was the diametric opposite of the desired positions of the Leave campaign.
    To be fair, the Leave campaign also took the diametric opposite positions to the Leave campaign (NHS magic money tree / US-style private medicine; trade with everyone / noone).
  • Options
    LeonLeon Posts: 47,376
    WillG said:

    Jonathan said:

    Is there football on tonight? Who’s playing?

    Christ, when will this hell end.

    There are plenty of people out there who care nothing for football.
    It's a major tournament, it happens every two years and lasts for a few weeks. If you don't like it, just don't join conversations about it. You don't have a right to control what other people want to talk about, so stop being so childish.
    Indeed. People whining about the best global party THERE IS have no soul. The World Cup is the one place - the only one - where the peoples of every nation come together and get fucked up with hope, nerves, anxiety, exultation, horror, triumph and despair, with some suicides on the way

    The Olympics cannot do this. Just football. Just the World Cup. It is insane and joyous. Make the most of it
  • Options
    ydoethurydoethur Posts: 67,320
    Leon said:

    WillG said:

    Jonathan said:

    Is there football on tonight? Who’s playing?

    Christ, when will this hell end.

    There are plenty of people out there who care nothing for football.
    It's a major tournament, it happens every two years and lasts for a few weeks. If you don't like it, just don't join conversations about it. You don't have a right to control what other people want to talk about, so stop being so childish.
    Indeed. People whining about the best global party THERE IS have no soul. The World Cup is the one place - the only one - where the peoples of every nation come together and get fucked up with hope, nerves, anxiety, exultation, horror, triumph and despair, with some suicides on the way

    The Olympics cannot do this. Just football. Just the World Cup. It is insane and joyous. Make the most of it
    So AI does have one drawback?
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    ydoethurydoethur Posts: 67,320
    WillG said:

    EPG said:

    From the EU's perspective, it is much better to respect the UK's sovereign decision to exit the club, while pointing its members and the rest of the world to the Faragist fiscally incontinent Kamikwazi outcomes that become possible.

    The Kwarteng budget was entirely independent of Brexit and actually was the diametric opposite of the desired positions of the Leave campaign.
    It was rather the independence from reality that proved the problem.
  • Options
    LeonLeon Posts: 47,376
    edited December 2022

    Leon said:

    As someone who is utterly uninterested in football, the current diarrhoeic output about football and Leon's incontinent fapping about AI makes PB nearly unreadable.

    Sadly.

    You could always "entertain" us with some vapid bilge about your tedious running exploits. Feel free to do that

    No one is stopping you from interjecting with witty, clever, insightful remarks which turn the debate to your areas of interest

    Ah, I see the problem. Soz
    When did I last mention running on here? A month ago? Two? I can stop if people really want - but I'm far from convinced that my occasional 'vapid bilge' about running is more detrimental to this site than your boring musings about AI.

    And (IMO) my running is actually an achievement. What have you actually *achieved* in the last year that stretches you? Taken another paid holiday? Paid another prostitute?

    And BTW, the offer to do a run with me next year is still open. You should try it - if I've not killed myself through running... ;)
    Well, I managed to write the single most-read article in the entire history of the world's oldest surviving weekly magazine

    (Yes, you'd be surprised by the prestige/pedigree of the Knappers Gazette)

    So I console myself with that
  • Options
    JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 39,054
    WillG said:

    Jonathan said:

    Is there football on tonight? Who’s playing?

    Christ, when will this hell end.

    There are plenty of people out there who care nothing for football.
    It's a major tournament, it happens every two years and lasts for a few weeks. If you don't like it, just don't join conversations about it. You don't have a right to control what other people want to talk about, so stop being so childish.
    I've got no problem with the football *on its own*, for the reason you mention. And it brings joy to people. It's the combination of it and the constant AI cr@p that's a problem.
  • Options
    Leon said:

    WillG said:

    Jonathan said:

    Is there football on tonight? Who’s playing?

    Christ, when will this hell end.

    There are plenty of people out there who care nothing for football.
    It's a major tournament, it happens every two years and lasts for a few weeks. If you don't like it, just don't join conversations about it. You don't have a right to control what other people want to talk about, so stop being so childish.
    Indeed. People whining about the best global party THERE IS have no soul. The World Cup is the one place - the only one - where the peoples of every nation come together and get fucked up with hope, nerves, anxiety, exultation, horror, triumph and despair, with some suicides on the way

    The Olympics cannot do this. Just football. Just the World Cup. It is insane and joyous. Make the most of it
    I think most prefer the olympics in a more low key sensible way - ie not get largered up and singing ENGERLLAAAD at least in this country- Football is far too dominant in culture and sport
  • Options
    LeonLeon Posts: 47,376

    WillG said:

    Jonathan said:

    Is there football on tonight? Who’s playing?

    Christ, when will this hell end.

    There are plenty of people out there who care nothing for football.
    It's a major tournament, it happens every two years and lasts for a few weeks. If you don't like it, just don't join conversations about it. You don't have a right to control what other people want to talk about, so stop being so childish.
    I've got no problem with the football *on its own*, for the reason you mention. And it brings joy to people. It's the combination of it and the constant AI cr@p that's a problem.
    I've offered a solution. You can interject our dialogues with a startling/funny/clever insight on an an entirely different subject, one to your liking, and then you can steer the conversation your way. Hijack it. That's how you do it. Don't just moan
  • Options
    williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 48,100

    I don't support Rejoin but if the EU were really smart they'd offer Britain the same new deal that Cameron was offered, possibly with some extra safeguards on an emergency brake on free movement as well on top.

    They'd probably get 70%+ voting for it and it'd settle the debate here for decades.

    That’s correct.

    One other area that Cameron’s negotiation didn’t seem to address was Britain’s veto (or perhaps exclusion from) financial services legislation. Osborne warned in 2014 that Lisbon QMVs would mean that Britain could be outvoted in this area.

    We were expecting Cameron to deliver on his Bloomberg speech of 2013.

    Instead, he did a quick & dirty deal by shuttle diplomacy (which, to be fair, looked quite exhausting for him) and then pulled the starting trigger as fast as he could and then rolled out full Project Fear.
    Cameron's biggest political mistake was trying to oversell his deal.

    In retrospect he would have been better off saying it wasn't enough and arguing for a Leave vote. Then he would have been master of his own destiny and put himself and the UK in a much stronger negotiating position. Alternatively Boris Johnson might have backed Remain to oppose him and ended up becoming PM without the baggage of Brexit.
  • Options
    GardenwalkerGardenwalker Posts: 20,862
    edited December 2022
    EPG said:

    From the EU's perspective, it is much better to respect the UK's sovereign decision to exit the club, while pointing its members and the rest of the world to the Faragist fiscally incontinent Kamikwazi outcomes that become possible.

    I think that point is already well understood.

    To the EU even has a clear ambition it is to protect itself from US style predatory capitalism and to assemble the building blocks of “sovereign autonomy” somewhat beyond US and dollar hegemony.

    To that extent, the UK would very much be preferred “in”.
  • Options
    GardenwalkerGardenwalker Posts: 20,862
    WillG said:

    EPG said:

    From the EU's perspective, it is much better to respect the UK's sovereign decision to exit the club, while pointing its members and the rest of the world to the Faragist fiscally incontinent Kamikwazi outcomes that become possible.

    The Kwarteng budget was entirely independent of Brexit and actually was the diametric opposite of the desired positions of the Leave campaign.
    LOL.
  • Options
    ThomasNasheThomasNashe Posts: 4,981
    Leon said:

    WillG said:

    Jonathan said:

    Is there football on tonight? Who’s playing?

    Christ, when will this hell end.

    There are plenty of people out there who care nothing for football.
    It's a major tournament, it happens every two years and lasts for a few weeks. If you don't like it, just don't join conversations about it. You don't have a right to control what other people want to talk about, so stop being so childish.
    Indeed. People whining about the best global party THERE IS have no soul. The World Cup is the one place - the only one - where the peoples of every nation come together and get fucked up with hope, nerves, anxiety, exultation, horror, triumph and despair, with some suicides on the way

    The Olympics cannot do this. Just football. Just the World Cup. It is insane and joyous. Make the most of it
    I’ve always felt John Motson was unfairly pilloried for saying ‘The World Cup, truly an international event’.
  • Options
    JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 39,054
    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    As someone who is utterly uninterested in football, the current diarrhoeic output about football and Leon's incontinent fapping about AI makes PB nearly unreadable.

    Sadly.

    You could always "entertain" us with some vapid bilge about your tedious running exploits. Feel free to do that

    No one is stopping you from interjecting with witty, clever, insightful remarks which turn the debate to your areas of interest

    Ah, I see the problem. Soz
    When did I last mention running on here? A month ago? Two? I can stop if people really want - but I'm far from convinced that my occasional 'vapid bilge' about running is more detrimental to this site than your boring musings about AI.

    And (IMO) my running is actually an achievement. What have you actually *achieved* in the last year that stretches you? Taken another paid holiday? Paid another prostitute?

    And BTW, the offer to do a run with me next year is still open. You should try it - if I've not killed myself through running... ;)
    Well, I managed to write the single most-read article in the entire history of the world's oldest surviving weekly magazine

    (Yes, you'd be surprised the prestige pedigree of the Knappers Gazette)

    So I console myself with that
    'Most read' in the Internet age compared to the pre-Internet age is not exactly a fair comparison. But congratulations. The flint knappers must indeed be delighted at reading your wise words about cobbles, cores and flakes.

    And how did that article 'stretch' you and your abilities?
  • Options
    LeonLeon Posts: 47,376

    Leon said:

    WillG said:

    Jonathan said:

    Is there football on tonight? Who’s playing?

    Christ, when will this hell end.

    There are plenty of people out there who care nothing for football.
    It's a major tournament, it happens every two years and lasts for a few weeks. If you don't like it, just don't join conversations about it. You don't have a right to control what other people want to talk about, so stop being so childish.
    Indeed. People whining about the best global party THERE IS have no soul. The World Cup is the one place - the only one - where the peoples of every nation come together and get fucked up with hope, nerves, anxiety, exultation, horror, triumph and despair, with some suicides on the way

    The Olympics cannot do this. Just football. Just the World Cup. It is insane and joyous. Make the most of it
    I think most prefer the olympics in a more low key sensible way - ie not get largered up and singing ENGERLLAAAD at least in this country- Football is far too dominant in culture and sport
    The viewing stats of the World Cup and Olympics are actually pretty similar. 3.5bn-4bn. But it is obvious which one generates more emotion. The fans at home going wild etc
  • Options
    rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 54,031

    I don't support Rejoin but if the EU were really smart they'd offer Britain the same new deal that Cameron was offered, possibly with some extra safeguards on an emergency brake on free movement as well on top.

    They'd probably get 70%+ voting for it and it'd settle the debate here for decades.

    That’s correct.

    One other area that Cameron’s negotiation didn’t seem to address was Britain’s veto (or perhaps exclusion from) financial services legislation. Osborne warned in 2014 that Lisbon QMVs would mean that Britain could be outvoted in this area.

    We were expecting Cameron to deliver on his Bloomberg speech of 2013.

    Instead, he did a quick & dirty deal by shuttle diplomacy (which, to be fair, looked quite exhausting for him) and then pulled the starting trigger as fast as he could and then rolled out full Project Fear.
    Cameron's biggest political mistake was trying to oversell his deal.

    In retrospect he would have been better off saying it wasn't enough and arguing for a Leave vote. Then he would have been master of his own destiny and put himself and the UK in a much stronger negotiating position. Alternatively Boris Johnson might have backed Remain to oppose him and ended up becoming PM without the baggage of Brexit.
    That's a crazy counterfactual: Cameron argues for out, and then the UK votes 52:48 to Remain. Johnson who forcefully argued for Remain becomes Prime Minister, but continuing arguments with Europe, particularly over vaccines, and his own moral issues really in him being overthrown by his party.

  • Options
    LeonLeon Posts: 47,376
    OK gotta go to my function

    C'mon England! Peace to all PB-ers
  • Options
    HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 117,076
    Leon said:

    WillG said:

    Jonathan said:

    Is there football on tonight? Who’s playing?

    Christ, when will this hell end.

    There are plenty of people out there who care nothing for football.
    It's a major tournament, it happens every two years and lasts for a few weeks. If you don't like it, just don't join conversations about it. You don't have a right to control what other people want to talk about, so stop being so childish.
    Indeed. People whining about the best global party THERE IS have no soul. The World Cup is the one place - the only one - where the peoples of every nation come together and get fucked up with hope, nerves, anxiety, exultation, horror, triumph and despair, with some suicides on the way

    The Olympics cannot do this. Just football. Just the World Cup. It is insane and joyous. Make the most of it
    India and China and the US and Canada and Australia and Pakistan to name but a few are probably still more interested in the Olympics than the world cup.

    Though yes football is the most international of the team sports
  • Options
    JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 39,054
    (Sighs theatrically)

    Well, I'm off this site for a while then, since SeanT has apparently taken over. See you all. Have fun tonight.
  • Options
    turbotubbsturbotubbs Posts: 15,228
    kle4 said:

    As someone who is utterly uninterested in football, the current diarrhoeic output about football and Leon's incontinent fapping about AI makes PB nearly unreadable.

    Sadly.


    I suggest reading a book to put both out of your mind. For instance, I'm about to settle down to read The Fire Child by S K Tremayne.
    Nothing else to read then? The phone book?
  • Options
    ydoethurydoethur Posts: 67,320
    Leon said:

    WillG said:

    Jonathan said:

    Is there football on tonight? Who’s playing?

    Christ, when will this hell end.

    There are plenty of people out there who care nothing for football.
    It's a major tournament, it happens every two years and lasts for a few weeks. If you don't like it, just don't join conversations about it. You don't have a right to control what other people want to talk about, so stop being so childish.
    I've got no problem with the football *on its own*, for the reason you mention. And it brings joy to people. It's the combination of it and the constant AI cr@p that's a problem.
    I've offered a solution. You can interject our dialogues with a startling/funny/clever insight on an an entirely different subject, one to your liking, and then you can steer the conversation your way. Hijack it. That's how you do it. Don't just moan
    A 25% solution?
  • Options
    GardenwalkerGardenwalker Posts: 20,862

    (Sighs theatrically)

    Well, I'm off this site for a while then, since SeanT has apparently taken over. See you all. Have fun tonight.

    He literally just pissed off.

    Thankfully so, as although I find the ChatGTP incredible, I don’t want its output to take over this board.

    Personally, I find your running contributions are your best work. I just beg you to spare us reference to “little ‘uns”.
  • Options
    ThomasNasheThomasNashe Posts: 4,981
    HYUFD said:

    Leon said:

    WillG said:

    Jonathan said:

    Is there football on tonight? Who’s playing?

    Christ, when will this hell end.

    There are plenty of people out there who care nothing for football.
    It's a major tournament, it happens every two years and lasts for a few weeks. If you don't like it, just don't join conversations about it. You don't have a right to control what other people want to talk about, so stop being so childish.
    Indeed. People whining about the best global party THERE IS have no soul. The World Cup is the one place - the only one - where the peoples of every nation come together and get fucked up with hope, nerves, anxiety, exultation, horror, triumph and despair, with some suicides on the way

    The Olympics cannot do this. Just football. Just the World Cup. It is insane and joyous. Make the most of it
    India and China and the US and Canada and Australia and Pakistan to name but a few are probably still more interested in the Olympics than the world cup.

    Though yes football is the most international of the team sports
    Even so, those shots of Australian celebrations at getting through their group taken at 3.30 in the morning would never be equalled by the response to getting a gold medal at the Olympics.
  • Options
    ydoethurydoethur Posts: 67,320

    (Sighs theatrically)

    Well, I'm off this site for a while then, since SeanT has apparently taken over. See you all. Have fun tonight.

    He literally just pissed off.

    Thankfully so, as although I find the ChatGTP incredible, I don’t want its output to take over this board.

    Personally, I find your running contributions are your best work. I just beg you to spare us reference to “little ‘uns”.
    Disappointing missed opportunity for an awesome pun there. You could have said 'running commentaries.'
  • Options
    kinabalukinabalu Posts: 39,293
    edited December 2022
    So I've stuck a tenner on 3-0 France at 42

    But that's pure gratuitous irrational emotional hedge

    My head says we're the better team and we're going through

    C'mon! ✊️
  • Options
    williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 48,100
    rcs1000 said:

    I don't support Rejoin but if the EU were really smart they'd offer Britain the same new deal that Cameron was offered, possibly with some extra safeguards on an emergency brake on free movement as well on top.

    They'd probably get 70%+ voting for it and it'd settle the debate here for decades.

    That’s correct.

    One other area that Cameron’s negotiation didn’t seem to address was Britain’s veto (or perhaps exclusion from) financial services legislation. Osborne warned in 2014 that Lisbon QMVs would mean that Britain could be outvoted in this area.

    We were expecting Cameron to deliver on his Bloomberg speech of 2013.

    Instead, he did a quick & dirty deal by shuttle diplomacy (which, to be fair, looked quite exhausting for him) and then pulled the starting trigger as fast as he could and then rolled out full Project Fear.
    Cameron's biggest political mistake was trying to oversell his deal.

    In retrospect he would have been better off saying it wasn't enough and arguing for a Leave vote. Then he would have been master of his own destiny and put himself and the UK in a much stronger negotiating position. Alternatively Boris Johnson might have backed Remain to oppose him and ended up becoming PM without the baggage of Brexit.
    That's a crazy counterfactual: Cameron argues for out, and then the UK votes 52:48 to Remain. Johnson who forcefully argued for Remain becomes Prime Minister, but continuing arguments with Europe, particularly over vaccines, and his own moral issues really in him being overthrown by his party.
    Perhaps to be replaced by Theresa May, who reluctantly backed Leave during the referendum campaign out of loyalty to Cameron.
  • Options
    NigelbNigelb Posts: 62,729

    As someone who is utterly uninterested in football, the current diarrhoeic output about football and Leon's incontinent fapping about AI makes PB nearly unreadable.

    Sadly.

    Today has been like reading the musings of a twelve-year old after he's raided his parents drinks cabinet.
    He has discovered that the current ideal use of GPTwhatever is auto-troll.

    If you think it irritating now, just wait until it starts getting widely deployed.
  • Options
    WillG said:

    Jonathan said:

    Is there football on tonight? Who’s playing?

    Christ, when will this hell end.

    There are plenty of people out there who care nothing for football.
    It's a major tournament, it happens every two years and lasts for a few weeks. If you don't like it, just don't join conversations about it. You don't have a right to control what other people want to talk about, so stop being so childish.
    If you hadn't noticed I haven't joined conversations about it.

    When it crowds out 90% of all other discussion of anything else on here then it's hard not to do anything but.

    This is a political betting forum not a football forum. You don't have a right to insist it is solely the latter, nor complain of people being "childish" when they object to it.
  • Options
    rcs1000 said:

    I don't support Rejoin but if the EU were really smart they'd offer Britain the same new deal that Cameron was offered, possibly with some extra safeguards on an emergency brake on free movement as well on top.

    They'd probably get 70%+ voting for it and it'd settle the debate here for decades.

    That’s correct.

    One other area that Cameron’s negotiation didn’t seem to address was Britain’s veto (or perhaps exclusion from) financial services legislation. Osborne warned in 2014 that Lisbon QMVs would mean that Britain could be outvoted in this area.

    We were expecting Cameron to deliver on his Bloomberg speech of 2013.

    Instead, he did a quick & dirty deal by shuttle diplomacy (which, to be fair, looked quite exhausting for him) and then pulled the starting trigger as fast as he could and then rolled out full Project Fear.
    Cameron's biggest political mistake was trying to oversell his deal.

    In retrospect he would have been better off saying it wasn't enough and arguing for a Leave vote. Then he would have been master of his own destiny and put himself and the UK in a much stronger negotiating position. Alternatively Boris Johnson might have backed Remain to oppose him and ended up becoming PM without the baggage of Brexit.
    That's a crazy counterfactual: Cameron argues for out, and then the UK votes 52:48 to Remain. Johnson who forcefully argued for Remain becomes Prime Minister, but continuing arguments with Europe, particularly over vaccines, and his own moral issues really in him being overthrown by his party.

    Could have happened, if I understand Murphy's Law correctly which is that anything that can happen can happen.
  • Options
    TimSTimS Posts: 9,686

    Jonathan said:

    Is there football on tonight? Who’s playing?

    Christ, when will this hell end.

    There are plenty of people out there who care nothing for football.
    Those people are weirdos and should be stripped of British citizenship.

    If an England v France match doesn’t gird your loins then you are a Lib Dem Remoaner.
    I’m a Lib Dem remoaner and this match girds my remoany yet oddly patriotic loins.

    As others have said, it’s not on that often. And if you decide to say yes and get into something, whether it be football, cricket, baseball, even the plot of Mallory towers or in the night garden it’s perfectly possible to do so.
  • Options

    EPG said:

    From the EU's perspective, it is much better to respect the UK's sovereign decision to exit the club, while pointing its members and the rest of the world to the Faragist fiscally incontinent Kamikwazi outcomes that become possible.

    I think that point is already well understood.

    To the EU even has a clear ambition it is to protect itself from US style predatory capitalism and to assemble the building blocks of “sovereign autonomy” somewhat beyond US and dollar hegemony.

    To that extent, the UK would very much be preferred “in”.
    That's a Remainer masturbatory fantasy filled with anti-Americanism, rolled up in the chronic insecurities of the post war period.

    The line that'd work best here is that the EU protects and enhances national identity, rather than reducing it.
  • Options
    NigelbNigelb Posts: 62,729
    Belgium ✅
    Spain ✅
    Portugal ✅
    Next up France or England

    Morocco literally working through every African colonizer

    https://twitter.com/banglajoy72/status/1601623655146192898
  • Options
    Leon said:

    WillG said:

    Jonathan said:

    Is there football on tonight? Who’s playing?

    Christ, when will this hell end.

    There are plenty of people out there who care nothing for football.
    It's a major tournament, it happens every two years and lasts for a few weeks. If you don't like it, just don't join conversations about it. You don't have a right to control what other people want to talk about, so stop being so childish.
    Indeed. People whining about the best global party THERE IS have no soul. The World Cup is the one place - the only one - where the peoples of every nation come together and get fucked up with hope, nerves, anxiety, exultation, horror, triumph and despair, with some suicides on the way

    The Olympics cannot do this. Just football. Just the World Cup. It is insane and joyous. Make the most of it
    Nah. I far prefer the Olympics.

    I hate football, football culture, football players, football commentators and football watchers and everything about it and I can't wait till its over.

    Deal with it.
  • Options
    ydoethurydoethur Posts: 67,320
    Nigelb said:

    Belgium ✅
    Spain ✅
    Portugal ✅
    Next up France or England

    Morocco literally working through every African colonizer

    https://twitter.com/banglajoy72/status/1601623655146192898

    Germany, Italy and Holland don't appear on the list?
  • Options

    Jonathan said:

    Is there football on tonight? Who’s playing?

    Christ, when will this hell end.

    There are plenty of people out there who care nothing for football.
    Those people are weirdos and should be stripped of British citizenship.

    If an England v France match doesn’t gird your loins then you are a Lib Dem Remoaner.
    If it's the rugby, sure.
  • Options
    Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 49,359
    edited December 2022
    HYUFD said:

    Leon said:

    WillG said:

    Jonathan said:

    Is there football on tonight? Who’s playing?

    Christ, when will this hell end.

    There are plenty of people out there who care nothing for football.
    It's a major tournament, it happens every two years and lasts for a few weeks. If you don't like it, just don't join conversations about it. You don't have a right to control what other people want to talk about, so stop being so childish.
    Indeed. People whining about the best global party THERE IS have no soul. The World Cup is the one place - the only one - where the peoples of every nation come together and get fucked up with hope, nerves, anxiety, exultation, horror, triumph and despair, with some suicides on the way

    The Olympics cannot do this. Just football. Just the World Cup. It is insane and joyous. Make the most of it
    India and China and the US and Canada and Australia and Pakistan to name but a few are probably still more interested in the Olympics than the world cup.

    Though yes football is the most international of the team sports
    I took this picture in Kerala in southern India few days ago:

  • Options

    EPG said:

    One way of squaring the democracy issue (which I accept is an issue, though in no way to the extent it is painted) is to see if there’s any way of reproducing something akin to the German Constitutional Court which positions itself as superior, not in terms of EU law, but in terms of EU law’s alignment with the Constitution.

    The German set up doesn’t actually work quite, and is slightly messy, but perhaps there is a way for the UK to divide its law into “that realm in which EU law supreme”, and “that realm which EU law cannot touch”, for example criminal and certain aspects of constitutional law.

    I’m sure smarter jurisprudential minds than mine have considered ways of squaring the circle, but maybe time to have another look.

    That's not quite how the German constitutional court sees itself: it believes it can instruct German authorities how correctly to comply with the German basic law, even where it concerns agreed EU law such as institutions. The response of everyone else in Germany and the EU has been to ignore the German court because it has no legal authority over the EU, leaving its judges in the position of writing fan-fiction.
    As I said it doesn’t work.
    But perhaps there is a kernel of something there that might work for the UK.
    The way out of this particular dead end- let's ignore the question of where we go next- is going to need some of the statecraft that includes a degree of dishonesty. A thing that we agree to accept as solid even if it's never usable in practice.
  • Options
    Pagan2Pagan2 Posts: 8,846
    kamski said:

    IanB2 said:

    Some people may believe that it would be a positive development for the Moroccan football team to do well, as it could provide a sense of pride and accomplishment for the team and its fans, and could potentially have positive economic and social impacts for Morocco. Others may have different opinions on the matter, and may not think that the success of the Moroccan football team would have significant positive effects. Ultimately, whether or not the success of the Moroccan football team is a good thing depends on the perspective of the individual considering the question.

    Why are you posting your chatbot experiments here?
    He is a lib dem, chatbot makes him seem sane?
  • Options
    WillGWillG Posts: 2,110

    Jonathan said:

    Is there football on tonight? Who’s playing?

    Christ, when will this hell end.

    There are plenty of people out there who care nothing for football.
    Those people are weirdos and should be stripped of British citizenship.

    If an England v France match doesn’t gird your loins then you are a Lib Dem Remoaner.
    If it's the rugby, sure.
    I find rugby a dull sport with far less technical skill than football. But when the rugger bugger poshos are enjoying their world cup I shut up about it and let them have their moment.
  • Options
    WillGWillG Posts: 2,110

    Leon said:

    WillG said:

    Jonathan said:

    Is there football on tonight? Who’s playing?

    Christ, when will this hell end.

    There are plenty of people out there who care nothing for football.
    It's a major tournament, it happens every two years and lasts for a few weeks. If you don't like it, just don't join conversations about it. You don't have a right to control what other people want to talk about, so stop being so childish.
    Indeed. People whining about the best global party THERE IS have no soul. The World Cup is the one place - the only one - where the peoples of every nation come together and get fucked up with hope, nerves, anxiety, exultation, horror, triumph and despair, with some suicides on the way

    The Olympics cannot do this. Just football. Just the World Cup. It is insane and joyous. Make the most of it
    Nah. I far prefer the Olympics.

    I hate football, football culture, football players, football commentators and football watchers and everything about it and I can't wait till its over.

    Deal with it.
    Said like a teenage edgelord.
  • Options
    DriverDriver Posts: 4,522

    Leon said:

    WillG said:

    Jonathan said:

    Is there football on tonight? Who’s playing?

    Christ, when will this hell end.

    There are plenty of people out there who care nothing for football.
    It's a major tournament, it happens every two years and lasts for a few weeks. If you don't like it, just don't join conversations about it. You don't have a right to control what other people want to talk about, so stop being so childish.
    Indeed. People whining about the best global party THERE IS have no soul. The World Cup is the one place - the only one - where the peoples of every nation come together and get fucked up with hope, nerves, anxiety, exultation, horror, triumph and despair, with some suicides on the way

    The Olympics cannot do this. Just football. Just the World Cup. It is insane and joyous. Make the most of it
    Nah. I far prefer the Olympics.

    I hate football, football culture, football players, football commentators and football watchers and everything about it and I can't wait till its over.

    Deal with it.
    Then you're going to be unnecessarily miserable for a few weeks every two years.
  • Options
    DecrepiterJohnLDecrepiterJohnL Posts: 24,460
    edited December 2022
    tlg86 said:

    538 give Morocco a 30% chance of reaching the final. The betting reckons it’s a 25% chance.

    538 imo overrate South American sides, so I'd be inclined to redistribute some of Argentina's rating. Wealth warning: I've not actually looked at 538's numbers.
  • Options
    GardenwalkerGardenwalker Posts: 20,862
    edited December 2022

    EPG said:

    From the EU's perspective, it is much better to respect the UK's sovereign decision to exit the club, while pointing its members and the rest of the world to the Faragist fiscally incontinent Kamikwazi outcomes that become possible.

    I think that point is already well understood.

    To the EU even has a clear ambition it is to protect itself from US style predatory capitalism and to assemble the building blocks of “sovereign autonomy” somewhat beyond US and dollar hegemony.

    To that extent, the UK would very much be preferred “in”.
    That's a Remainer masturbatory fantasy filled with anti-Americanism, rolled up in the chronic insecurities of the post war period.

    The line that'd work best here is that the EU protects and enhances national identity, rather than reducing it.
    It’s certainly not a Remainer fantasy, nor a manifesto for Rejoin.
    However I believe it is the dominant impulse within the core bureaucratic institutions of the EU.

    An EU which explicitly aims to magnify rather than occlude national identity is an interesting idea, and ought to be part of the mix in any Rejoin negotiations.
  • Options
    NigelbNigelb Posts: 62,729
    ydoethur said:

    Nigelb said:

    Belgium ✅
    Spain ✅
    Portugal ✅
    Next up France or England

    Morocco literally working through every African colonizer

    https://twitter.com/banglajoy72/status/1601623655146192898

    Germany, Italy and Holland don't appear on the list?
    Pedant. :smile:
  • Options
    Pagan2Pagan2 Posts: 8,846
    algarkirk said:

    EPG said:

    I don't support Rejoin but if the EU were really smart they'd offer Britain the same new deal that Cameron was offered, possibly with some extra safeguards on an emergency brake on free movement as well on top.

    They'd probably get 70%+ voting for it and it'd settle the debate here for decades.

    Thing about a club is that you don't get a better deal than the members.
    It's not a better deal from an EU perspective. It's worse. FoM is there to work to mutual advantage. If there are sometimes derogations then UK residents will have the disadvantage of sometimes not having full FoM to the rest of the EU, and vice versa.

    The loony end of UKIP types seemed to believe sincerely that FoM was a one way street.
    FoM was not a one way street however very few working age britons took advantage of it. If people dont want it and I think the numbers showed people didnt want to go work in the eu then yes its a one way thing to all intents and purposes.

    800k went to the eu to work.....several million came here to work. Most brits would rather move to work in the usa or canada or australia.

    To give an analogy.....my wife is uglier than medusa.....your wife is a supermodel. A deal where I say you can sleep with my wife if I can sleep with yours is not a fair exchange. That is FoM all over. Brits did not want to work in the eu
  • Options
    WillG said:

    Jonathan said:

    Is there football on tonight? Who’s playing?

    Christ, when will this hell end.

    There are plenty of people out there who care nothing for football.
    Those people are weirdos and should be stripped of British citizenship.

    If an England v France match doesn’t gird your loins then you are a Lib Dem Remoaner.
    If it's the rugby, sure.
    I find rugby a dull sport with far less technical skill than football. But when the rugger bugger poshos are enjoying their world cup I shut up about it and let them have their moment.
    I haven't said a word for weeks about it. I've quietly tolerated it. Suddenly, I express my view and you lose your shit.

    Some people find football innately dull, and even hate it.

    Get over it.
  • Options
    GardenwalkerGardenwalker Posts: 20,862

    EPG said:

    One way of squaring the democracy issue (which I accept is an issue, though in no way to the extent it is painted) is to see if there’s any way of reproducing something akin to the German Constitutional Court which positions itself as superior, not in terms of EU law, but in terms of EU law’s alignment with the Constitution.

    The German set up doesn’t actually work quite, and is slightly messy, but perhaps there is a way for the UK to divide its law into “that realm in which EU law supreme”, and “that realm which EU law cannot touch”, for example criminal and certain aspects of constitutional law.

    I’m sure smarter jurisprudential minds than mine have considered ways of squaring the circle, but maybe time to have another look.

    That's not quite how the German constitutional court sees itself: it believes it can instruct German authorities how correctly to comply with the German basic law, even where it concerns agreed EU law such as institutions. The response of everyone else in Germany and the EU has been to ignore the German court because it has no legal authority over the EU, leaving its judges in the position of writing fan-fiction.
    As I said it doesn’t work.
    But perhaps there is a kernel of something there that might work for the UK.
    The way out of this particular dead end- let's ignore the question of where we go next- is going to need some of the statecraft that includes a degree of dishonesty. A thing that we agree to accept as solid even if it's never usable in practice.
    But isn’t that how we got here in the first place?

    Successive British governments ignored the importance of the EU; successive Brexiteer PMs lied about what Brexit might be and is.
  • Options
    EPGEPG Posts: 6,013

    EPG said:

    From the EU's perspective, it is much better to respect the UK's sovereign decision to exit the club, while pointing its members and the rest of the world to the Faragist fiscally incontinent Kamikwazi outcomes that become possible.

    I think that point is already well understood.

    To the EU even has a clear ambition it is to protect itself from US style predatory capitalism and to assemble the building blocks of “sovereign autonomy” somewhat beyond US and dollar hegemony.

    To that extent, the UK would very much be preferred “in”.
    I think that is going too far - the EU doesn't really want the US off the stage as the leading player, because it has not a hope in hell of winning against Chinese hegemony in Africa, Oceania or much of Asia. So China would become the de facto standards setter for two-thirds of the world if there is no Atlantic alliance. Better to try have a say in the rich-country Western settlement. Hell, the EU does not even want to formulate its own policy on a war of Russian aggression in Europe, instead delegating everything non-economic to NATO.
  • Options

    EPG said:

    From the EU's perspective, it is much better to respect the UK's sovereign decision to exit the club, while pointing its members and the rest of the world to the Faragist fiscally incontinent Kamikwazi outcomes that become possible.

    I think that point is already well understood.

    To the EU even has a clear ambition it is to protect itself from US style predatory capitalism and to assemble the building blocks of “sovereign autonomy” somewhat beyond US and dollar hegemony.

    To that extent, the UK would very much be preferred “in”.
    That's a Remainer masturbatory fantasy filled with anti-Americanism, rolled up in the chronic insecurities of the post war period.

    The line that'd work best here is that the EU protects and enhances national identity, rather than reducing it.
    It’s certainly not a Remainer fantasy, nor a manifesto for Rejoin.
    However I believe it is the dominant impulse within the core bureaucratic institutions of the EU.

    An EU which explicitly aims to magnify rather than occlude national identity is an interesting idea, and ought to be part of the mix in any Rejoin negotiations.
    The bureaucratic institutions are incapable of innovative or dynamic thought.

    It's part of the fundamental malaise that lies at the heart of the institution.
  • Options
    NigelbNigelb Posts: 62,729
    A fire broke out at the barracks in Crimea, where hundreds of Russian draftees were based
    https://twitter.com/EuromaidanPress/status/1601598445546242048
  • Options
    Driver said:

    Leon said:

    WillG said:

    Jonathan said:

    Is there football on tonight? Who’s playing?

    Christ, when will this hell end.

    There are plenty of people out there who care nothing for football.
    It's a major tournament, it happens every two years and lasts for a few weeks. If you don't like it, just don't join conversations about it. You don't have a right to control what other people want to talk about, so stop being so childish.
    Indeed. People whining about the best global party THERE IS have no soul. The World Cup is the one place - the only one - where the peoples of every nation come together and get fucked up with hope, nerves, anxiety, exultation, horror, triumph and despair, with some suicides on the way

    The Olympics cannot do this. Just football. Just the World Cup. It is insane and joyous. Make the most of it
    Nah. I far prefer the Olympics.

    I hate football, football culture, football players, football commentators and football watchers and everything about it and I can't wait till its over.

    Deal with it.
    Then you're going to be unnecessarily miserable for a few weeks every two years.
    I get it on all my WhatsApp channels, on here and at work.

    It's difficult to escape it.

    Thankfully, neither my wife or my kids or me give a toss so it's blissfully free from our home.
  • Options
    GardenwalkerGardenwalker Posts: 20,862
    Pagan2 said:

    algarkirk said:

    EPG said:

    I don't support Rejoin but if the EU were really smart they'd offer Britain the same new deal that Cameron was offered, possibly with some extra safeguards on an emergency brake on free movement as well on top.

    They'd probably get 70%+ voting for it and it'd settle the debate here for decades.

    Thing about a club is that you don't get a better deal than the members.
    It's not a better deal from an EU perspective. It's worse. FoM is there to work to mutual advantage. If there are sometimes derogations then UK residents will have the disadvantage of sometimes not having full FoM to the rest of the EU, and vice versa.

    The loony end of UKIP types seemed to believe sincerely that FoM was a one way street.
    FoM was not a one way street however very few working age britons took advantage of it. If people dont want it and I think the numbers showed people didnt want to go work in the eu then yes its a one way thing to all intents and purposes.

    800k went to the eu to work.....several million came here to work. Most brits would rather move to work in the usa or canada or australia.

    To give an analogy.....my wife is uglier than medusa.....your wife is a supermodel. A deal where I say you can sleep with my wife if I can sleep with yours is not a fair exchange. That is FoM all over. Brits did not want to work in the eu
    A mere 800k?
    I guess they can fuck off, then.
  • Options
    turbotubbsturbotubbs Posts: 15,228

    EPG said:

    One way of squaring the democracy issue (which I accept is an issue, though in no way to the extent it is painted) is to see if there’s any way of reproducing something akin to the German Constitutional Court which positions itself as superior, not in terms of EU law, but in terms of EU law’s alignment with the Constitution.

    The German set up doesn’t actually work quite, and is slightly messy, but perhaps there is a way for the UK to divide its law into “that realm in which EU law supreme”, and “that realm which EU law cannot touch”, for example criminal and certain aspects of constitutional law.

    I’m sure smarter jurisprudential minds than mine have considered ways of squaring the circle, but maybe time to have another look.

    That's not quite how the German constitutional court sees itself: it believes it can instruct German authorities how correctly to comply with the German basic law, even where it concerns agreed EU law such as institutions. The response of everyone else in Germany and the EU has been to ignore the German court because it has no legal authority over the EU, leaving its judges in the position of writing fan-fiction.
    As I said it doesn’t work.
    But perhaps there is a kernel of something there that might work for the UK.
    The way out of this particular dead end- let's ignore the question of where we go next- is going to need some of the statecraft that includes a degree of dishonesty. A thing that we agree to accept as solid even if it's never usable in practice.
    But isn’t that how we got here in the first place?

    Successive British governments ignored the importance of the EU; successive Brexiteer PMs lied about what Brexit might be and is.
    Dont forget Lisbon. The ultimate lie.
  • Options
    MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 44,502
    edited December 2022
    ...Winston turned a little sideways in his chair to drink his mug of coffee. At the table on his left the man with the strident voice was still talking remorselessly away....He held some important post in the FICTION DEPARTMENT....It was just a noise, a quack-quack-quacking....Every word of it was pure orthodoxy, pure Ingsoc....Winston had a curious feeling that this was not a real human being but some kind of dummy. It was not the man's brain that was speaking, it was his larynx. The stuff that was coming out of him consisted of words, but it was not speech in the true sense: it was noise uttered in unconsciousness, like the quacking of a duck.

    Syme had fallen silent for a moment, and with the handle of his spoon was tracing patterns in the puddle of stew. The voice from the other table quacked rapidly on, easily audible in spite of the surrounding din.

    "There is a word in Newspeak" said Syme, "I don't know whether you know it: duckspeak, to quack like a duck. It is one of those interesting words that have two contradictory meanings. Applied to an opponent, it is abuse: applied to someone you agree with, it is praise.
  • Options
    GhedebravGhedebrav Posts: 3,001
    3:1 England. Nothing can go wrong now.
  • Options
    Anyway, at least there's been a interesting discussion with @Gardenwalker and a few others this even that has broken new ground for once.

    Now, the baby cries and I must be off.
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    Pagan2Pagan2 Posts: 8,846

    Jonathan said:

    Is there football on tonight? Who’s playing?

    Christ, when will this hell end.

    There are plenty of people out there who care nothing for football.
    Those people are weirdos and should be stripped of British citizenship.

    If an England v France match doesn’t gird your loins then you are a Lib Dem Remoaner.
    Football is the most boring vapid bilge on the planet in my opinion. I doubt you can realistically dub me either a lib dem or remoaner
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    SandyRentoolSandyRentool Posts: 20,655
    Shit anthem followed by rousing anthem.
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    GardenwalkerGardenwalker Posts: 20,862

    Anyway, at least there's been a interesting discussion with @Gardenwalker and a few others this even that has broken new ground for once.

    Now, the baby cries and I must be off.

    Good luck with the scarlet fever.
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    SandpitSandpit Posts: 49,919
    ‘A Frenchman went to the toilet…’ 🎵
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    williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 48,100

    Shit anthem followed by rousing anthem.

    It's the worst version of the Marseillaise I've ever heard.
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    GardenwalkerGardenwalker Posts: 20,862
    edited December 2022

    EPG said:

    One way of squaring the democracy issue (which I accept is an issue, though in no way to the extent it is painted) is to see if there’s any way of reproducing something akin to the German Constitutional Court which positions itself as superior, not in terms of EU law, but in terms of EU law’s alignment with the Constitution.

    The German set up doesn’t actually work quite, and is slightly messy, but perhaps there is a way for the UK to divide its law into “that realm in which EU law supreme”, and “that realm which EU law cannot touch”, for example criminal and certain aspects of constitutional law.

    I’m sure smarter jurisprudential minds than mine have considered ways of squaring the circle, but maybe time to have another look.

    That's not quite how the German constitutional court sees itself: it believes it can instruct German authorities how correctly to comply with the German basic law, even where it concerns agreed EU law such as institutions. The response of everyone else in Germany and the EU has been to ignore the German court because it has no legal authority over the EU, leaving its judges in the position of writing fan-fiction.
    As I said it doesn’t work.
    But perhaps there is a kernel of something there that might work for the UK.
    The way out of this particular dead end- let's ignore the question of where we go next- is going to need some of the statecraft that includes a degree of dishonesty. A thing that we agree to accept as solid even if it's never usable in practice.
    But isn’t that how we got here in the first place?

    Successive British governments ignored the importance of the EU; successive Brexiteer PMs lied about what Brexit might be and is.
    Dont forget Lisbon. The ultimate lie.
    I don’t think Lisbon was a lie.

    I do think several elements were not necessarily in British interests, and I do think it merited a referendum at the time.
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    SandyRentoolSandyRentool Posts: 20,655
    Pagan2 said:

    Jonathan said:

    Is there football on tonight? Who’s playing?

    Christ, when will this hell end.

    There are plenty of people out there who care nothing for football.
    Those people are weirdos and should be stripped of British citizenship.

    If an England v France match doesn’t gird your loins then you are a Lib Dem Remoaner.
    Football is the most boring vapid bilge on the planet in my opinion. I doubt you can realistically dub me either a lib dem or remoaner
    There's an hour of Dyson haircare over on the QVC Beauty Channel...
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    MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 44,502

    Pagan2 said:

    algarkirk said:

    EPG said:

    I don't support Rejoin but if the EU were really smart they'd offer Britain the same new deal that Cameron was offered, possibly with some extra safeguards on an emergency brake on free movement as well on top.

    They'd probably get 70%+ voting for it and it'd settle the debate here for decades.

    Thing about a club is that you don't get a better deal than the members.
    It's not a better deal from an EU perspective. It's worse. FoM is there to work to mutual advantage. If there are sometimes derogations then UK residents will have the disadvantage of sometimes not having full FoM to the rest of the EU, and vice versa.

    The loony end of UKIP types seemed to believe sincerely that FoM was a one way street.
    FoM was not a one way street however very few working age britons took advantage of it. If people dont want it and I think the numbers showed people didnt want to go work in the eu then yes its a one way thing to all intents and purposes.

    800k went to the eu to work.....several million came here to work. Most brits would rather move to work in the usa or canada or australia.

    To give an analogy.....my wife is uglier than medusa.....your wife is a supermodel. A deal where I say you can sleep with my wife if I can sleep with yours is not a fair exchange. That is FoM all over. Brits did not want to work in the eu
    A mere 800k?
    I guess they can fuck off, then.
    To be fair, 799,999 of them were @SeanT
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    GardenwalkerGardenwalker Posts: 20,862
    I just asked someone if they were watching the footy and WhatsApp autocorrected it to “Giotto”, thus perpetuating my high-brow if not snobbish reputation.
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    dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 27,990
    edited December 2022
    Deleted.
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    TimSTimS Posts: 9,686
    edited December 2022
    Ahead of the match I asked ChatGPT to do me a right wing Facebook post nostalgic for the old days when we used to lose heroically:

    “Ah, the good old days when taking a knee was something that only happened in the NFL, and "woke" wasn't part of our vocabulary. Back then, football was a game of passion and pride, played by men who gave it their all on the pitch.

    But now, it seems like the sport has been taken over by a bunch of spoilt millenials who are more interested in making a political statement than actually playing the game. The constant taking of the knee, the obsession with being "woke" - it's all gotten a bit much.

    Don't get me wrong, I'm all for standing up for what you believe in. But there's a time and a place for everything, and the football pitch is not the place for politics. Let's keep the game pure, and let the players focus on what they do best: playing football.

    And to all the young players out there, I say this: don't let politics and social justice issues get in the way of your passion for the game. Remember why you started playing football in the first place, and let that drive you to be the best that you can be.”

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    Pagan2Pagan2 Posts: 8,846

    Pagan2 said:

    algarkirk said:

    EPG said:

    I don't support Rejoin but if the EU were really smart they'd offer Britain the same new deal that Cameron was offered, possibly with some extra safeguards on an emergency brake on free movement as well on top.

    They'd probably get 70%+ voting for it and it'd settle the debate here for decades.

    Thing about a club is that you don't get a better deal than the members.
    It's not a better deal from an EU perspective. It's worse. FoM is there to work to mutual advantage. If there are sometimes derogations then UK residents will have the disadvantage of sometimes not having full FoM to the rest of the EU, and vice versa.

    The loony end of UKIP types seemed to believe sincerely that FoM was a one way street.
    FoM was not a one way street however very few working age britons took advantage of it. If people dont want it and I think the numbers showed people didnt want to go work in the eu then yes its a one way thing to all intents and purposes.

    800k went to the eu to work.....several million came here to work. Most brits would rather move to work in the usa or canada or australia.

    To give an analogy.....my wife is uglier than medusa.....your wife is a supermodel. A deal where I say you can sleep with my wife if I can sleep with yours is not a fair exchange. That is FoM all over. Brits did not want to work in the eu
    A mere 800k?
    I guess they can fuck off, then.
    When you have several million eu nationals moving here for work and a total of 800k uk nationals moving to eu countries for work yes sorry thats pretty much a one way street. Telling people you have this option so its fair doesnt mean shit when you give them an option they really couldnt give two shits about.
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    BozzaBozza Posts: 37
    For England and for Brexit! We can do it.
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    Pagan2Pagan2 Posts: 8,846

    Pagan2 said:

    Jonathan said:

    Is there football on tonight? Who’s playing?

    Christ, when will this hell end.

    There are plenty of people out there who care nothing for football.
    Those people are weirdos and should be stripped of British citizenship.

    If an England v France match doesn’t gird your loins then you are a Lib Dem Remoaner.
    Football is the most boring vapid bilge on the planet in my opinion. I doubt you can realistically dub me either a lib dem or remoaner
    There's an hour of Dyson haircare over on the QVC Beauty Channel...
    Well if a labour government can give me hair to take care of then I might vote for them
  • Options
    dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 27,990
    edited December 2022
    TimS said:

    Ahead of the match I asked ChatGPT to do me a right wing Facebook post nostalgic for the old days when we used to lose heroically:

    “Ah, the good old days when taking a knee was something that only happened in the NFL, and "woke" wasn't part of our vocabulary. Back then, football was a game of passion and pride, played by men who gave it their all on the pitch.

    But now, it seems like the sport has been taken over by a bunch of spoilt millenials who are more interested in making a political statement than actually playing the game. The constant taking of the knee, the obsession with being "woke" - it's all gotten a bit much.

    Don't get me wrong, I'm all for standing up for what you believe in. But there's a time and a place for everything, and the football pitch is not the place for politics. Let's keep the game pure, and let the players focus on what they do best: playing football.

    And to all the young players out there, I say this: don't let politics and social justice issues get in the way of your passion for the game. Remember why you started playing football in the first place, and let that drive you to be the best that you can be.”

    Switch that machine off.
    Gotten my arse.

    PS. Not enough spelling and grammar mistakes to be anything like a real FB post.
  • Options
    GardenwalkerGardenwalker Posts: 20,862
    Pagan2 said:

    Pagan2 said:

    algarkirk said:

    EPG said:

    I don't support Rejoin but if the EU were really smart they'd offer Britain the same new deal that Cameron was offered, possibly with some extra safeguards on an emergency brake on free movement as well on top.

    They'd probably get 70%+ voting for it and it'd settle the debate here for decades.

    Thing about a club is that you don't get a better deal than the members.
    It's not a better deal from an EU perspective. It's worse. FoM is there to work to mutual advantage. If there are sometimes derogations then UK residents will have the disadvantage of sometimes not having full FoM to the rest of the EU, and vice versa.

    The loony end of UKIP types seemed to believe sincerely that FoM was a one way street.
    FoM was not a one way street however very few working age britons took advantage of it. If people dont want it and I think the numbers showed people didnt want to go work in the eu then yes its a one way thing to all intents and purposes.

    800k went to the eu to work.....several million came here to work. Most brits would rather move to work in the usa or canada or australia.

    To give an analogy.....my wife is uglier than medusa.....your wife is a supermodel. A deal where I say you can sleep with my wife if I can sleep with yours is not a fair exchange. That is FoM all over. Brits did not want to work in the eu
    A mere 800k?
    I guess they can fuck off, then.
    When you have several million eu nationals moving here for work and a total of 800k uk nationals moving to eu countries for work yes sorry thats pretty much a one way street. Telling people you have this option so its fair doesnt mean shit when you give them an option they really couldnt give two shits about.
    Yes, but most of our freedoms entail the right to do things you or I might not “give a shit about”.

    For example, neither of seem to care much about the football, but that seems to me a crap argument for banning it.
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    MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 44,502
    Nigelb said:

    A fire broke out at the barracks in Crimea, where hundreds of Russian draftees were based
    https://twitter.com/EuromaidanPress/status/1601598445546242048

    Luigi: How many men you got here, Colonel?

    Colonel: Oh, er... seven thousand infantry, six hundred artillery, and er, two divisions of paratroops.

    Luigi: Paratroops, Dino.

    Dino: Be a shame if someone was to set fire to them.

    Colonel: Set fire to them?

    Luigi: Fires happen, Colonel.

    Dino: Things burn.

    image
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    CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 39,855
    Pagan2 said:

    Pagan2 said:

    Jonathan said:

    Is there football on tonight? Who’s playing?

    Christ, when will this hell end.

    There are plenty of people out there who care nothing for football.
    Those people are weirdos and should be stripped of British citizenship.

    If an England v France match doesn’t gird your loins then you are a Lib Dem Remoaner.
    Football is the most boring vapid bilge on the planet in my opinion. I doubt you can realistically dub me either a lib dem or remoaner
    There's an hour of Dyson haircare over on the QVC Beauty Channel...
    Well if a labour government can give me hair to take care of then I might vote for them
    Not even in your ears and below the navel? You must save a fortune. (I do, but I let Mrs C at me with the electric clippers.)
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    GardenwalkerGardenwalker Posts: 20,862
    Bozza said:

    For England and for Brexit! We can do it.

    If you are indeed the real Boris, fuck off you lying sack of shit.
  • Options
    CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 39,855

    Pagan2 said:

    Pagan2 said:

    algarkirk said:

    EPG said:

    I don't support Rejoin but if the EU were really smart they'd offer Britain the same new deal that Cameron was offered, possibly with some extra safeguards on an emergency brake on free movement as well on top.

    They'd probably get 70%+ voting for it and it'd settle the debate here for decades.

    Thing about a club is that you don't get a better deal than the members.
    It's not a better deal from an EU perspective. It's worse. FoM is there to work to mutual advantage. If there are sometimes derogations then UK residents will have the disadvantage of sometimes not having full FoM to the rest of the EU, and vice versa.

    The loony end of UKIP types seemed to believe sincerely that FoM was a one way street.
    FoM was not a one way street however very few working age britons took advantage of it. If people dont want it and I think the numbers showed people didnt want to go work in the eu then yes its a one way thing to all intents and purposes.

    800k went to the eu to work.....several million came here to work. Most brits would rather move to work in the usa or canada or australia.

    To give an analogy.....my wife is uglier than medusa.....your wife is a supermodel. A deal where I say you can sleep with my wife if I can sleep with yours is not a fair exchange. That is FoM all over. Brits did not want to work in the eu
    A mere 800k?
    I guess they can fuck off, then.
    When you have several million eu nationals moving here for work and a total of 800k uk nationals moving to eu countries for work yes sorry thats pretty much a one way street. Telling people you have this option so its fair doesnt mean shit when you give them an option they really couldnt give two shits about.
    Yes, but most of our freedoms entail the right to do things you or I might not “give a shit about”.

    For example, neither of seem to care much about the football, but that seems to me a crap argument for banning it.
    OTOH, wars have begun over footy ...
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    MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 44,502

    Pagan2 said:

    Pagan2 said:

    algarkirk said:

    EPG said:

    I don't support Rejoin but if the EU were really smart they'd offer Britain the same new deal that Cameron was offered, possibly with some extra safeguards on an emergency brake on free movement as well on top.

    They'd probably get 70%+ voting for it and it'd settle the debate here for decades.

    Thing about a club is that you don't get a better deal than the members.
    It's not a better deal from an EU perspective. It's worse. FoM is there to work to mutual advantage. If there are sometimes derogations then UK residents will have the disadvantage of sometimes not having full FoM to the rest of the EU, and vice versa.

    The loony end of UKIP types seemed to believe sincerely that FoM was a one way street.
    FoM was not a one way street however very few working age britons took advantage of it. If people dont want it and I think the numbers showed people didnt want to go work in the eu then yes its a one way thing to all intents and purposes.

    800k went to the eu to work.....several million came here to work. Most brits would rather move to work in the usa or canada or australia.

    To give an analogy.....my wife is uglier than medusa.....your wife is a supermodel. A deal where I say you can sleep with my wife if I can sleep with yours is not a fair exchange. That is FoM all over. Brits did not want to work in the eu
    A mere 800k?
    I guess they can fuck off, then.
    When you have several million eu nationals moving here for work and a total of 800k uk nationals moving to eu countries for work yes sorry thats pretty much a one way street. Telling people you have this option so its fair doesnt mean shit when you give them an option they really couldnt give two shits about.
    Yes, but most of our freedoms entail the right to do things you or I might not “give a shit about”.

    For example, neither of seem to care much about the football, but that seems to me a crap argument for banning it.
    Edward III Was Right

    Ban football and get the headcount practising with assault rifles instead.
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    CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 39,855

    Bozza said:

    For England and for Brexit! We can do it.

    If you are indeed the real Boris, fuck off you lying sack of shit.
    What's the point in his post? Johnsonism is about as appealing and up to date as a week-old kebab.
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    turbotubbsturbotubbs Posts: 15,228

    EPG said:

    One way of squaring the democracy issue (which I accept is an issue, though in no way to the extent it is painted) is to see if there’s any way of reproducing something akin to the German Constitutional Court which positions itself as superior, not in terms of EU law, but in terms of EU law’s alignment with the Constitution.

    The German set up doesn’t actually work quite, and is slightly messy, but perhaps there is a way for the UK to divide its law into “that realm in which EU law supreme”, and “that realm which EU law cannot touch”, for example criminal and certain aspects of constitutional law.

    I’m sure smarter jurisprudential minds than mine have considered ways of squaring the circle, but maybe time to have another look.

    That's not quite how the German constitutional court sees itself: it believes it can instruct German authorities how correctly to comply with the German basic law, even where it concerns agreed EU law such as institutions. The response of everyone else in Germany and the EU has been to ignore the German court because it has no legal authority over the EU, leaving its judges in the position of writing fan-fiction.
    As I said it doesn’t work.
    But perhaps there is a kernel of something there that might work for the UK.
    The way out of this particular dead end- let's ignore the question of where we go next- is going to need some of the statecraft that includes a degree of dishonesty. A thing that we agree to accept as solid even if it's never usable in practice.
    But isn’t that how we got here in the first place?

    Successive British governments ignored the importance of the EU; successive Brexiteer PMs lied about what Brexit might be and is.
    Dont forget Lisbon. The ultimate lie.
    I don’t think Lisbon was a lie.

    I do think several elements were not necessarily in British interests, and I do think it merited a referendum at the time.
    The lie was the lack of the promised referendum.
  • Options
    Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 49,359
    edited December 2022
    Bozza said:

    For England and for Brexit! We can do it.

    Come on, Indi... er, I mean England :lol:
  • Options
    carnforthcarnforth Posts: 3,230

    Pagan2 said:

    algarkirk said:

    EPG said:

    I don't support Rejoin but if the EU were really smart they'd offer Britain the same new deal that Cameron was offered, possibly with some extra safeguards on an emergency brake on free movement as well on top.

    They'd probably get 70%+ voting for it and it'd settle the debate here for decades.

    Thing about a club is that you don't get a better deal than the members.
    It's not a better deal from an EU perspective. It's worse. FoM is there to work to mutual advantage. If there are sometimes derogations then UK residents will have the disadvantage of sometimes not having full FoM to the rest of the EU, and vice versa.

    The loony end of UKIP types seemed to believe sincerely that FoM was a one way street.
    FoM was not a one way street however very few working age britons took advantage of it. If people dont want it and I think the numbers showed people didnt want to go work in the eu then yes its a one way thing to all intents and purposes.

    800k went to the eu to work.....several million came here to work. Most brits would rather move to work in the usa or canada or australia.

    To give an analogy.....my wife is uglier than medusa.....your wife is a supermodel. A deal where I say you can sleep with my wife if I can sleep with yours is not a fair exchange. That is FoM all over. Brits did not want to work in the eu
    A mere 800k?
    I guess they can fuck off, then.
    To be fair, 799,999 of them were @SeanT
    300000 are in Ireland, so really it's only half a million.

    FoM is inevitably asymmetric if countries vary in wealth, regardless of numbers - a romanian can move to Germany and triple his salary: there is no country a german can move to and triple his salary. This asymmetry by itself doesn't invalidate FoM as an idea of course.
  • Options
    GardenwalkerGardenwalker Posts: 20,862
    dixiedean said:

    TimS said:

    Ahead of the match I asked ChatGPT to do me a right wing Facebook post nostalgic for the old days when we used to lose heroically:

    “Ah, the good old days when taking a knee was something that only happened in the NFL, and "woke" wasn't part of our vocabulary. Back then, football was a game of passion and pride, played by men who gave it their all on the pitch.

    But now, it seems like the sport has been taken over by a bunch of spoilt millenials who are more interested in making a political statement than actually playing the game. The constant taking of the knee, the obsession with being "woke" - it's all gotten a bit much.

    Don't get me wrong, I'm all for standing up for what you believe in. But there's a time and a place for everything, and the football pitch is not the place for politics. Let's keep the game pure, and let the players focus on what they do best: playing football.

    And to all the young players out there, I say this: don't let politics and social justice issues get in the way of your passion for the game. Remember why you started playing football in the first place, and let that drive you to be the best that you can be.”

    Switch that machine off.
    Gotten my arse.

    PS. Not enough spelling and grammar mistakes to be anything like a real FB post.
    Switch that machine off.
    Gotten my arse.

    Sounds like the beginning of a really good late 70s track. Probably one endorsed by John Peel.
This discussion has been closed.