Sheaf Saint

Hmmm, let me think.... What would I do if another employer came along and offered me double my wages for less work? I'll have to give this some serious thought and get back to you

Here's a very interesting take on things, copied from somebody on Facebook.... If Boris Johnson looked downbeat yesterday, that is because he realises that he has lost. Perhaps many Brexiters do not realise it yet, but they have actually lost, and it is all down to one man: David Cameron. With one fell swoop yesterday at 9:15 am, Cameron effectively annulled the referendum result, and simultaneously destroyed the political careers of Boris Johnson, Michael Gove and leading Brexiters who cost him so much anguish, not to mention his premiership. How? Throughout the campaign, Cameron had repeatedly said that a vote for leave would lead to triggering Article 50 straight away. Whether implicitly or explicitly, the image was clear: he would be giving that notice under Article 50 the morning after a vote to leave. Whether that was scaremongering or not is a bit moot now but, in the midst of the sentimental nautical references of his speech yesterday, he quietly abandoned that position and handed the responsibility over to his successor. And as the day wore on, the enormity of that step started to sink in: the markets, Sterling, Scotland, the Irish border, the Gibraltar border, the frontier at Calais, the need to continue compliance with all EU regulations for a free market, re-issuing passports, Brits abroad, EU citizens in Britain, the mountain of legistlation to be torn up and rewritten ... the list grew and grew. The referendum result is not binding. It is advisory. Parliament is not bound to commit itself in that same direction. The Conservative party election that Cameron triggered will now have one question looming over it: will you, if elected as party leader, trigger the notice under Article 50? Who will want to have the responsibility of all those ramifications and consequences on his/her head and shoulders? Boris Johnson knew this yesterday, when he emerged subdued from his home and was even more subdued at the press conference. He has been out-maneouvered and check-mated. If he runs for leadership of the party, and then fails to follow through on triggering Article 50, then he is finished. If he does not run and effectively abandons the field, then he is finished. If he runs, wins and pulls the UK out of the EU, then it will all be over - Scotland will break away, there will be upheaval in Ireland, a recession ... broken trade agreements. Then he is also finished. Boris Johnson knows all of this. When he acts like the dumb blond it is just that: an act. The Brexit leaders now have a result that they cannot use. For them, leadership of the Tory party has become a poison chalice. When Boris Johnson said there was no need to trigger Article 50 straight away, what he really meant to say was "never". When Michael Gove went on and on about "informal negotiations" ... why? why not the formal ones straight away? ... he also meant not triggering the formal departure. They both know what a formal demarche would mean: an irreversible step that neither of them is prepared to take. All that remains is for someone to have the guts to stand up and say that Brexit is unachievable in reality without an enormous amount of pain and destruction, that cannot be borne. And David Cameron has put the onus of making that statement on the heads of the people who led the Brexit campaign.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/06/24/eu-referendum-how-the-results-compare-to-the-uks-educated-old-an/ "According the polls, university graduates were the most likely people to want to remain in the EU - while those with a GCSE or equivalent as their highest qualification were more likely to back Brexit. This was a pattern that was reflected in the results." So, yes. More thickos voted to leave.

Yes, there were, I agree. The main players were just as bad as each other at spreading fear and mis-information. Just like in any general election really. But plenty of us were able to see through that and look for our own independent sources of information, rather than blindly accepting the rhetoric put forward by proven liars. And that's kind of my point. Most Remain supporters appeared to be able to recognise the positive benefits of remaining without relying on the propaganda, whereas an awful lot of leave supporters lapped it up.

Because I have been taking the time to read as much comment as I possibly can on social media over the last month or so, trying to gauge the consensus of why people would be voting the way they did. Not once have I seen anybody put forward a coherent economic argument in favour of leaving. I saw most passionate and vocal leave supporters were all spouting pretty much the same old ill-informed nonsense about us having no sovereignty and having to bow to every one of the EU's demands; trying to make out like we are nothing but slaves to an evil fascist dictatorship and completely ignorant of the actual facts of how the EU is run. I saw soooo many blatantly racist and bigoted comments - "Them bloody immigrants coming over 'ere and stealing our jobs", again completely oblivious to the fact that we will still be forced to accept free movement of its citizens if we want to benefit from a free trade agreement with the EU (that we will still have to pay a huge membership fee for, but have no say in how the organisation is run). I saw comment after comment after comment from people who believed the £350m a week figure, while completely ignoring anything we actually get in return and being totally unaware of the regional subsidies that will dry up as soon as we leave.

My problem is that huge numbers of those people had not the slightest idea exactly what they were voting for, what the actual benefits of membership are and what the consequences of leaving will be. Ignorant, politically illiterate f*cktards, who swallowed all the propaganda about stopping immigration and spending the £350m a week on the NHS, have steered us into economic disaster and we all lose. But hey, as long as 'we got our country back' and we can start buying bent bananas again, everything is rosy eh?

Clearly not. The BBC news team were interviewing people at the Moor market here in Sheffield earlier today. One woman talked about losing the steel industry in the 80s and needing to get something back so she voted out. FFS - the north will be well and truly shafted when we lose out on all the EU subsidies we used to get and have to rely on a Tory government (who were responsible for decimating the industries the north used to have in the first place) to bail us out. I'm trying to remain gracious about this and accept the will of the democratic process and all that, but seriously, the level of ignorance and outright stupidity I have seen come from the mouths of working class leave voters over the last 24 hours is sickening. They have all cut off their noses to spite their faces, and everybody loses as a result.

Wales 3-0 now. Bale, again.

Don't start. You'll give Dalek heart palpitations.

http://readsouthampton.com/2016/06/20/shane-long-set-to-sign-new-contract/ Just came across this on FB. No idea as to its validity mind, as I have never seen this website before.

Ha!

Can we put this myth to bed please? I don't know of a single Saints fan who 'underrates' him. The recognition of his value to the team is pretty much unanimous.

You seem to be forgetting a certain Welsh chap

That's not the Saintsweb way though, is it. Meltdown first; critical analysis second is the order of business around here.

You've unstuck the thread, but now you need to change your avatar

Poch was perfectly capable of speaking English when he joined us. He just chose not to in TV interviews.

I get your point. And with the quoted amount that Moshiri plans to splash out on new signings, I very much doubt any of their up-and-coming stars are going to break through to the first team anytime soon with Koeman in charge. Unless of course they have true star quality like Rooney did when he made the grade for them.

In fairness, Everton have a very good academy as well. I know because my 13-year-old nephew is in it.

Personally I think you will struggle to attract the calibre of players that your new owner thinks his money will buy, because you will be competing directly against other mega-money clubs who can offer them European football next season on top of the same kind of wages you will be offering.

2 posts and only registered in the last 4 days.

You simply don't know that. None of us do. It could be the other way round for all we know. He might have preferred to stay all along and just used the Everton interest as leverage to get a better deal on his contract extension, but overplayed his hand and the club called his bluff. You should make sure you are in possession of more facts before labelling people VVankers.

So he might have a budget of >£150m, but who exactly is he going to buy with that money? The DM article linked to above claims that he will be 'competing for a higher class of player than at Southampton'. Competing alright, but not necessarily signing, that's the key point. They might well have the same funds to throw around as an established CL team, but they sure as sh*t ain't going to be beating them to the signatures of top class players who want to play in the CL. They might well find themselves spending the entire summer trying to make some marquee signings but failing to get a single one, meaning they will have to set their targets a bit lower - in other words, competing for the same type/class of player as us.

Talks are underway..... Everton: "Can we speak to Ronald please?" Saints: "No" Discussion over.

So some bloke called Dazza reckons it's already a done deal. Who is he exactly?

It's really nothing like that situation in reality though is it.