saint si

OK well as long as whites and blacks are getting gunned down by "cops" in equal measure then there's clearly Nothing Wrong with America. Also, I was not aware that the whole "black lives matter" thing is basically a fabrication of the UK media. Thanks again for clarifying.

Good work dodging the point... Obama, the US President - who you would have voted for (twice) - believes that greater gun control is required. What is your response to him?

Except it has happened - 33 times over the years. Why is another amendment so completely unthinkable? Yep, after these 33 amendments, the Constitution is finally *perfect* and need never be changed again under any circumstances... Oh and guess who else is not on your side of this debate Sarnia? Here's a US-based source, just for you: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2015/07/23/obama-tells-bbc-that-he-is-most-frustrated-with-failure-to-get-tougher-gun-laws/ the United States of America is the one advanced nation on Earth in which we do not have sufficient commonsense gun safety laws even in the face of repeated mass killings It's ok, I know you wouldn't have voted for him anyway, even if you were a US citizen. It rather undermines your mantra of "we Brits just don't get it" when the leader of the country is saying the same thing, don't you think?

2 out of 3 of my posts used up in one go, but never mind "One thing I would do is impose a club salary cap, they're already paying wages that are way over the top" We've met the FFP requirements for Europa League entry... remind me what happened last time they qualified?

"They wouldn't really make a good acquisiton for an owner-" Last 6 years rather undermines this viewpoint.

The fact you can't figure it out makes the point for me. Thanks.

You follow a British football team and spend your life "debating" on a .co.uk hosted messageboard mmmmmmmmmmmmm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/164402.stm http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-180650/Gun-amnesty-nets-40-000-weapons.html

Almost certainly noon (UK time). Outside chance it is actually at 1pm though.

Is it 1pm CET or 1pm local time in Switzerland (which would be CET+1)?

Remember how we have suffered in the last 2 seasons due to lack of squad depth? We've been managing with 14-16 "proper" first team players and our form has dropped off a cliff whenever we've had a few injuries and suspensions. That was purely on the back of domestic campaign with barely a sniff of a cup run.

Here's the article: http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2015/jul/15/premier-league-20-youngsters-pre-season

It's ok, that's what I was referring to... :-)

But surely if we bid more than the release clause then we'll outbid the competition for him? That's how it works, isn't it?

My point is that it's meaningless only in absolute terms which is why I find it irritating when people say the debt is higher than ever and we've borrowed more in last Xyears than ever before etc etc. It is only meaningful when considered against the size of the economy as a whole - i.e. as a ratio. If I've picked out bad figures through hasty Googling then mea culpa and frankly that makes me as bad as anyone else for drawing conclusions based on spurious data (and the sarcastic tone was due to a similar discussion on another thread) - so of course I apologise for that and thanks for providing better data. Nevertheless, the chart at least shows debt-to-GDP leveling off from a steep upward trajectory commenced in 2008. Which is really the point I was looking to make - we're reaching the point of break even where our debt is no longer worsening. Further reductions in the budget deficit will see us paying it down.

Sorry to use statistics and facts as I know that is somewhat unfashionable around here. UK national debt was around 40% of GDP in 2005. By 2010 it was around 80%. By 2012 it had increased further to circa 90% (a result of the tax/spending commitments made in the previous parliament). Now in 2015 it is back down to around 81-82%. Which means since 2012 we have actually been reducing the debt. That also means the share of GDP being spent on interest payments will also be falling. Don't get suckered in by the size of the debt or borrowing in £ - it's meaningless.

OK, so here's some then, a study citing several papers: http://library.fes.de/pdf-files/id/ipa/08041.pdf The econometric evidence on wage impacts is conflicting. Dustmann et al (2007) argue that immigration had a slightly positive wage effect, particularly around the middle distribution. Some researchers have found a small negative relationship, primarily in the semi-skilled and unskilled service sector (Blanchflower et al 2008), where recently arrived A8 workers compete with native workers further down occupational distribution. However, the impact that immigration had on wages at the lower end is modest. On average, real hourly wages increased every year by 4.25 per cent or 18 pence. Immigration held back this growth by 0.7 pence (Dustmann et al 2007). Further, they suggest that this may change over time as A8 migrants improve their position in the labour market. However, other work focusing on recent immigration found a broadly positive impact of new immigration, and no evidence of a negative effect on wage growth (Gilpin et al 2006; Portes and French 2005). We should be cautious about generalising about the effects of migration across countries, and even across time for the same country.

Do you have any evidence (scientific, as opposed to anecdotal) to back up the assertion that free movement of labour within the EU has hurt the British workforce?

You have no idea who the owners of companies are, do you.

Where did you get that from exactly? It's ok, I already have a pretty good idea... There's plenty wrong with the UK and there is plenty that is good about the US (and the rest of America too, before you start). On gun related deaths though, there is clearly no contest. Whatever the reasons are, the outcome - the sheer number of human lives lost or ruined every year - is completely unacceptable for a country that styles itself on being the enlightened leader of the free world.

We're not merely keeping it alive, we're installing championship quality floodlights next week!

OK, well as long as it isn't the white people in the suburbs killing each other, then that's completely fine? You are at least starting to admit that there is in fact something wrong with America.

Pretty much this. Decent for us and a good 3 years out of him. Fantastic return on original £2m outlay. Already signed his replacement so no panic ... we move on.

Bye! Hope you settle in like last year's departures.

Bunch of amateurs in the 4th tier... it's more or less the same then...