holystove

I'd reply but I get the feeling you don't read my posts .

The anti-establishment thing I got from a post you made in which you said you hoped Brexit inspired other member states to 'Leave' as well. Maybe I read too much into that. If you don't want ever closer union between countries then indeed Leave was the way to go (if that outweighs the negatives). Adopting the Euro can never be a legal obligation for the UK, but it might indeed have been politically pressured or it could have become economically necessary to do so at some point in the future. Ironically, I think the quickest way the UK will adopt the Euro is if it goes through with the clean Brexit you describe, because "rejoin" will probably mean Euro (if UK meets the criteria to use the Euro). I'm not judging or necessarily trying to change anyone's mind, I was just interested.

I remember you said you voted Leave because you were anti-establishment. Do you still believe Leave is the anti-elitist side? What kind of Brexit would you prefer if given the choice?

It's really amazing how he can steer a conversation to make these people say exactly what he wants. I'm sure if they look back at the video they won't believe it themselves.

So what is the solution? Where do we go from here?

After yesterday's votes in the House of Commons a soft brexit is further away than ever. I don't see how the Irish border can be fudged any longer. This could come down to a choice between "no deal" or "no brexit". There is a massive responsibility for the UK politicians and UK media to clearly explain what no-deal means. Polling shows that many believe no-deal means everything will stay as it is, while in reality it is the grinding to a halt of the entire UK (not just economically), the economic destruction of Ireland and an economic hit to the continental EU. All because .... ?

So this is where Americans finally draw the line.

You are right there will be changes to the new UK proposal, as it crosses several EU red lines. May wants to stay in the Single Market, but only for goods, not capital, services and labour. She doesn't want oversight by the European Court of Justice even though she does want to partly stay in the Single Market. She proposes to collect customs duties for the EU, which is unacceptable as this would mean the EU27 outsourcing customs procedures to a non-EU member. She wants the security and judicial cooperation to stay the same (so with all the UK opt-outs), which is impossible because a non-member can't have the same advantages. I could go on and on. I think it will end up with a "soft brexit" but this proposal, even though it's much softer than previous proposals, to me definitely falls in the category of "hard". I agree the UK will probably just end up asking for more time to negotiate, but I don't think they will threaten a no-deal scenario as the EU will just call their bluff knowing no-deal will cripple the UK.

Well deserved for Belgium. I'm biased, but I think they were the best team this WC, sadly not the smartest. Beating Brazil, England twice, .. not bad.

There is no doubt in my mind both teams play to win this game, unlike the last game in group stage.

Meunier is running circles around Rose. Badly missed against France.

In light of todays' article in the S*n where Trump blasts May for going "soft" on brexit, you should really read this article: https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/07/12/trump-backed-brexit-then-he-used-it-as-leverage-219001

wow Pickford just saved England

where did first-half-England go? Croatia are flying right now.

Alli is the least likeable player in the Premier League, imo.

France were so defensive, in retrospect he should have started Mertens instead of playing 3 defensive midfielders. I disagree about taking off Fellaini sooner; when you are 1-0 down with 20 minutes to go, he's the one player you need to park in the oppositions' box. Varane and Umtiti were very strong so I doubt we could have scored twice; we had one very good chance with Alderweireld which Lloris saved. Courtois made three great saves, and Giroud screwed up a couple of chances so no complaints from me. Too bad the referee was poor though, that free kick might have resulted in a goal.

You are right that this is an incredible difficult issue and quite irresponsible for the Tories to force you to make a decision on. I'm definitely not saying being a member of the EU cannot be questioned, but not through a yes or no question, where one side represents the status quo and the other side represents every other political vision (globalist, protectionist, inclusive, racist, capitalist, communist, ...). This is the reason there is no clear vision for what to do with Brexit, because during the campaign it was everything at once. EU membership has always been in question in the UK and as a result UK governments have a bunch of opt-outs in many fields of EU policy. Now you are blowing all of that up to create the exact same thing but by a different name. I don't understand why you say the Leave vote is being ignored. The UK is leaving on March 29th 2019. It will no longer be an EU member. The small margin by which Leave won means there is no mandate for the hardest of Brexit, so it is only right that the UK government seeks to retain most benefits of EU membership, while trying to minimize what they think are downsides. The EU27 are (rightly) playing hardball so a lot of those "downsides" will still be there after March 2019, but that is just political and economic reality.

Hazard, Courtois, Kompany and Witsel were good enough but the others not so much. Martinez: mistake to take out Fellaini, waited to long to bring on Batshuayi, should have ordered players not to beat England. Good luck against Croatia.

Ummm. Referee? I will never understand why they don't use the good uefa refs when uefa teams play.

Debruyne playing his worst game of 2018.

even steven so far. two great saves, one by lloris and courtois each. hazard looks hungry.

Belgian press convinced they want Courtois and Hazard

Dembele starts, good.

But that is true for every country in Europe that isn'tt in the EU, why would the UK be any different? This was always going to be the meaning of brexit. (except in case of 'no deal'). I don't have the feeling it has all been for nothing. The UK needed a big public debate about the EU because it couldn't continue being a half assed member state (see my posts on why I, as a European, backed brexit), and brexit resulted in more EU awareness on the continent as well.

Completely agree. In an ideal world Naingolan would be starting instead of Tielemans in your line up.