Whitey Grandad

Not now, I don't think it does.

I don't remember this head injury and I can't recall any booing of the ref. Perhaps we saw the game differently?

I didn't see any evidence of bias from the ref but there were a few decisions that seemed a bit haphazard and a couple that were incorrect but these were very minor and should not detract from our performance on the night which was perfectly suited our opponents. Whether we should play the same way against every team is questionable.

When you say 'do something about it', what exactly do you have in mind? We could cut all our carbon emissions to zero and it might not make any difference.

Hardly. He knew exactly what he wanted to do and executed it perfectly. Whether he could, or should, try it again is questionable but last night the ball sat up nicely for him.

Vincent

Thank, you too (Bloody iPad!)

It's the hope that kills you

El Niño innit. When the scientists can explain that then perhaps they can start looking at global weather models.

He's always looked ok when I've seen him. But I never suspected he had a goal like that in him. What a curve!

Just another one of his misses.

Yes, big figures, but complicated by the fact that international trade is quantified in dollars and movements in exchange rates can make a signidicant diffeence.

They certainly wouldn't have been less. I cannot overstate the importance of price stability in developing a long-term trading relationship. How can we persuade customers in the Eurozone to keep buying our products and components if they price is going to wander up and down by over 20%? Given the choice between a supplier in the UK or one in Germany, or Italy, or France or any of the other leading Euro countries why would any manufacturer in central Europe by from us when they can source their needs and pay in their own currency and get their items delivered within a few hours on the back of a lorry? Why do you think America is such a big economy? 320 million people all using the same currency and all connected by road. The EU has around 508 million and is there for us to exploit, if we want to.

The 300,000 is non-EU immigration so yes, you're right that the large movements of British nationals does distort the EU figures. The point is that we are supposed to have control of our non-EU immigration at the moment, which quite plainly we don't, so why should leaving the EU have any bearing on the non-EU figures? Another view here: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/what-would-uk-immigration-policy-look-like-after-brexit/

A reasoned and sensible question, thank you. One of the big barriers to our trade with Europe is the volatility of our exchange rate and the cost of foreign currency conversions. These can be mitigated for large-scale items by forward-buying and currency hedging but for items costing less than £100, say, it is impossible to produce a catalogue or price list because the prices are up and down all the time. This also means that it is extremely difficult to establish a long-term trading relationship with a customer in the EU because your prices might suddenly rise by 20% or so. Foreign trade is difficult enough already because we live on an offshore island with all the extra transport costs that are involved. Our governments have not helped by introducing the prohibitive rates of Air Passenger Duty that discourage anybody from travelling to see their clients. But back to the Euro... Downsides? A slightly different interest rate perhaps, but offset by a longer-term stability. So my argument for joining would have been that our exports to Europe would have been a lot higher, but this is all academic and we shall never know either way. and is taking us away from the main debate about membership of the EU itself. It is worth remembering that if we were to leave and then decide that we wanted to re-join we would lose all the opt-outs that we now 'enjoy' and, perhaps more significantly, would have to adopt the Euro.

I could say the same about you but that would mean descending into childish name-calling.

You have absolutely no basis for making these statements. Our exports to the EU would have been a lot higher if we all used the same currency.

Total non-EU immigration has been reasonably steady at around 300,000 a year since the year 2000. Before that it was around 150,000 a year since 1991.

Absolutely disgusted by this. I know several ST holders who can't go because of this. 11:00 in the morning or not at all.

That depends on what you consider to be prosperous, but we were debating whether we would have been better or worse off in the Eurozone.

At the moment we don't control immigration from outside the EU so why would that change if we left? Besides, if we wanted access to the EU markets we would also need to sign up to the free movement of labour as well as paying the access fee.

You should watch the opposition instead of Saints.

You can imagine all you like but that is all it would be.

We haven't prospered. In my opinion we would have been better off had we been using the Euro.

A voice of reason amongst a clamorous crowd. We must all realise that Europe is a marriage of convenience and not of love.