Whitey Grandad

The Parliament represents the people. The Council represents the governments.

No they don’t. It doesn’t work like that. The two don’t operate on n isolation. You’re just not used to cooperational politics. You said that the EU Commission was the body that controls all and that the other bodies do as they are told. This is so far from reality as to be laughable. But that’s what paranoia will do to you. It makes yo see things that aren’t there.

The Commission proposes. The Council disposes.

When I say ‘we’ I mean the UK government which would have had control. If by ‘we’ you mean you and me then we (you and I) have control over nothing and nobody.

Whatever you seem top be afraid of at least inside the EU as a member state we would have had control over what might happen. Outside we can only watch and worry. Even if, 10 years down the road, the EU should somehow morph into a supra-national political entity I would personally much rather be a part of it instead of on the outside waiting for a few scraps to be tossed our way.

And a cost to every UK taxpayer of £0.50 per person.

Your lot have got a free hit.

Do you see, you cannot come up with any reasoned arguments so you resort to the insults of the playground. I am really, totally sickened that I live in a country that includes such puny intellects as yours.

There are no countries with whom we don't have a trade deal at the moment (except North Korea, but they don't count). Every other country in the worls has a trade agreement with somebody else. It used to be said that Mauritania was the only country that traded solely on WTO terms but even that is not the case. When we leave we shall have no agreements with anybody. Good luck with that. However, tariffs have nothing to do with it. Neither does cost. It's all about the ease of doing business and that requires close and frequent contact with your customers. How about this from The Leave Alliance 12th October 2017: "A no deal Brexit is akin with performing separation surgery on conjoined twins with a hammer and chisel without anaesthetic, hoping that the weaker one will live." http://leavehq.com/blogview.aspx?blogno=269

I can't find the original post from Guided Missile but my responses to his points are below: "For me the benefits of no deal are: a) The prospect of saving £39 billion to spend on UK priorities rather than EU vanity projects and pensions. b) We can then negotiate a free trade deal with the EU, without having given them our wallet c) The elimination of the EU regulatory controls that have turned our Agricultural Sector into the Museum of Farming, allowing for the introduction of GM crops, with more land available for wildlife/amenity. d) The ability of the country to immediately negotiate FTA's with the rest of the world. e) Control of free movement f) As far as Nancy Pelosi and her Irish voters, I think you overestimate her and their influence in the US. As soon as she got involved in Brexit, the Continuity IRA let off bombs in Northern Ireland, so I think she'll be keeping her comments to herself in future." a) The fiscal benefits from the extra economic activity arising from being in the Single Market are around £20bn a year. This is significantly more than the £10bn or so that we pay now. There is no Brexit dividend, far from it. b) No free trade deal with the EU will ever come close to replacing the Single Market and certainly wouldn't come without a cost. 'Free Trade Deals' are a fixation with some people who don't understand the basics of international trade. A few percent here or there is insignificant when compared qwith the costs of doiing business. c) Personally I am not in favour of GM crops. From what I have read our livestock industries are going to be decimated without their main markets. d) We already benefit from over 60 FTAs courtesy of our membership of the EU. These will be cancelled when we leave. It is unlikely that we shall be able to obtain terms as favourable as the EU because we don't have the same 'clout'. e) I agree that immigration needs to be brought under control but unfortunately the UK has never been interested in doing so. The means exist at the moment but have never been implemented. Any such controls must surely involve ID cards and whilst I personally have nothing against them there is widespread opposition. The first thing May did on becoming Home Secretary was to cancel the scheme. Immigration from the REst of the World continues apace... f) The Irish-American lobby in the US is very powerful at over 30m people. It is not to be underestimated. Once again, thanks for at least outlining some reasons as top why you think that leaving the EU would bring some benefits. Personally I can only see good things from our membership with no downside and for the reasons I have given I cannot dee any opportunities. Certainly nothing over and above those that I have already.

I'm a businessman too. There are no upsides to Brexit. If there were I'm sure we would have heard of them over the last three years. In case I have missed any perhaps you could list one or two now. In your own words mind, not some vague link. I have been asking this same question for years and I have yet to see an answer.

They also voted against a 'no deal'. Or does that vote not carry as much weight as the others?

That’ll do. Draw is tomorrow night. The next round is week beginning 23rd September.

One isolated fan doesn’t represent them all but sometimes it takes an outsider to make you appreciate what you have.

At the game I admit that I had tunnel vision and didn’t see Redmond until the last moment.

Yes, probably worth paying the extra and going via Clapham Junction.

I would agree except for the overcrowded trains from Southampton. For the return there was an extra four-coach service laid on at 18:06 which was very welcome. The first stop was Havant. I don’t know why there couldn’t have been an extra one put on in the morning or at least a longer train. We were so crowded that we were stopping at most stations where no one got off and no one got on. Yes - the South Downs looked nice.

After the game I heard a Brighton fan say that Redmond was one player that he’d definitely like them to buy. What he actually said was “I think we should get Redmond”. He never said anything about Boufal.

Yes, glass of water was a pleasant surprise. I went to the bar asking for a bottle of water and got given a large free plastic ‘glass’. I spent some time looking at the stadium structure and wondering how it could be increased. I imagined them jacking up the east stand somehow and tilting the ends up somehow. The stands behind the goals looked a bit restricted to me compared to other modern stadiums. Acoustically I thought it was lacking somewhat but that may have been because our own supporters drowned out the opposition.

I was reasonably impressed. The seats were padded and comfortable but unfortunately the entire away end prefers to stand for the whole game so my seat wasn’t used much. After standing the whole way on the train I would have appreciated the chance to sit down. The view would have been the same whether you were sitting or standing once you get past 70 you tend to prefer to watch the game instead of the back of the head of the person in front of you. Wouldn’t it be an idea to have ‘suggested’ standing and sitting zones when choosing your ticket.

I think it was a pass. You can see Boufal look across to Redmond just before cutting to the goal line.

Nah, just make every fixture an away game

We are still in holiday season so that must make a difference.

He's had three years to think of an alternative and has come up with nothing so what he can dream up in 30 days is unlikely to be convincing.

Thanks for the info. Too late for me for my train ticket I’m afraid but I got a good price on a first class to Falmer. Saturday in Southampton is also ‘Southampton Pride’ day with events kicking off at 11:00 which may affect anybody going into town that morning.