John B

I am quite happy with the way things are going at the moment there is no guarantee with new owners that we will do any better but I await developments

Forster; Martina VVD Yoshida McQueen Romeu JWP Hojbjerg Boufal Austin Redmond

It definitely includes you Duckie who does not know that the previous Bank of England Governor and Villa supporter was Mervyn King Inflation up to 4%, growth down ,real wages falling, deficit rising ,that's brexiflexity for you! but not good economics

I agree with Wes and presumily Les that there are Eurosceptics and there are Brexiters Brexiters are Eurosceptics too but not all Eurosceptics are Brexiters. Some Eurosceptics realise that Brexit is an economic disaster in the EU but some Brexiters will eventually realise this too as the cost of petrol diesel foreign holidays Inflation Marmite and Unemployment rise. I think staying in the EU customs zone is probably the best approach now but not sure how that affects and banking and services sectors.

There is a considerable difference in the obligations and rights of a state under being a member of a customs union and being a member of an integrated internal market or at least having free access to it. In a customs union there is no requirement to adhere to free movement of workers or comply with the markets regulations on product standards, however being in a customs union means that you cannot arrange and agree your own trade deals with countries that are not in the Customs Union, the reason for this is that if you could arrange your own trade deals, the UK could flood the EU markets with cheap exports that they originally imported from countries with whom they had arranged very favourable trade terms. The so called country of origin issue. A country benefits from being in this customs union by having tariff free trade on goods only not services.

I dont think leaving the EU with a falling pound inflation and low growth is a solution to our balance of payment problems and consumer debt. But of course you are right but these problems have not been addressed by the Tories in the last six years because of Osborne and his austerity let see what Hammond does

A falling pound was the shock that Britain’s ailing exporters desperately needed to halt their terminal decline. That’s the message repeated on an almost daily loop by economists for Brexit like the two you mention. Now that sterling has lost almost a fifth of its value against the dollar and about 14% against the euro since the referendum, it follows that the EU referendum vote was the best thing that could happen to the economy and manufacturers have found the price of their goods abroad have dropped, making them more competitive. They just need to let the currency work for them, revving up production safe in the knowledge they can undercut their rivals. It is a narrow economic argument that uses Germany’s exporting prowess as a template. This success is all about exporting upmarket cars, trucks and machine tools to China, Brazil and the Middle East. German goods are well designed and reliable, of course. They also come with the added bonus of being priced using an artificially low rate of exchange gifted by the euro. In theory once a relatively low exchange rate is established investors and businesses have a clear view of the better profit margins on offer from exports and will invest more in the latest machinery and industrial processes. Britain needs good news from the future now that the immediate effects of a low pound are making life difficult for consumers. Import prices are rising and already feeding into shop prices. We’ve seen the signs: Apple added £500 to the cost of its latest MacBook Pros and Unilever’s prices, including for Marmite, leapt by more than 10% at Morrisons. Consumer confidence surveys have dipped in the last month after a post referendum bounce and might deteriorate further should the two things people covet the most – the latest mobile phone and a new car – increase in cost once the currency hedges that keep prices stable run out. We import all the phones and a majority of the cars we buy, so prices are going to rise some time after Christmas, if not before. Yet the chances of mimicking Germany are slim. Firstly, there is the currency itself. We have a floating exchange rate against the rest of the world, which means it goes down in the bad times and up in the good times. Why would a manufacturing company bet on the currency staying low when a recovery in the UK’s fortunes will send it back up again. Neither the Treasury, nor the Bank of England has expressed an appetite for managing the pound. By the way what do you think about staying in the EU Customs Union which seems to be the option favoured by the Government for Nissan.

It maybe over valued post Brexit and may fall further but I dont think it was over valued pre Brexit as many countries we happy to buy sterling

As there is ignorance among Brexiters concerning the exact nature of a customs union, I should like to recommend to interested readers a most accessible guide to all things European. It is called The Routledge Guide to the European Union, and the authors, **** Leonard and Robert Taylor, have long experience of the EU.

I think you and your fellow economically illiterate Brexiters are in for a shock as Low-earning families that Theresa May has promised to help will be thousands of pounds a year worse off by 2020 because of rising inflation, lower wage growth and Tory social security cuts. One consequence of the big falls we have recently seen in the value of the pound is that prices will rise more quickly over the next few years. This will squeeze family budgets with higher prices in the shops, and turn the cash freeze in social security support for working age families into a significant and painful real terms cut. Brexit has caused the UK permanent damage that would be made worse by higher inflation and slowing consumer demand, which would result in lower growth

Surely it is win the PL you have to be able to beat saints away

We dont need him now we have enough midfielders what we need is a striker and a CB

We dont need him now we have enough midfielders what we need is a striker and a CB

I think we need Fonte for Chelsea and Inter so I would play Stephens otherwise I agree with you

I think we need Fonte for Chelsea and Inter so I would play Stephens otherwise I agree with you

Excellent result

Leaving the EU is the most stupid thing the UK has ever done

Tonight is Claude Puel's 91st match in European competition

I still think we need another striker if Jrod does not perform well in the next couple of months and a young CB to eventually replace Fonte

Take Brexit, add inflation, a collapsing pound, an interest rate rise and falling living standards and you get a mighty mess

Must admit I dont get it Inter are just an ordinary Serie A team who will be putting out a second rate team and there is nothing much at stake as if we lose we still have three matches to qualify for the next stage of the Cup A goalless draw would be a great result as would a goalless draw next Sunday

I did not say Puel will do better than last season but I feel that he will be better than Koeman in taking the club forward

So far things are going really well but the real test comes over the next five weeks as Saints face Manchester City, Chelsea, Liverpool and Inter – twice. It is these fixtures that will reveal exactly what can be achieved but certainly more with Puel than Koeman I feel

Unfortunately the markets disagree with you investors are selling pounds because they do not think the UK is the place to invest not that the pound is too high like in 1992. As you say time will tell but it is likely on all given evidence that things are not going well economically as investors are not as willing as pre Brexit to buy government debt at low interest rates as the government has to offer better interest rates so our debt goes up

I see another poster thinks you are ill informed regarding economics UK productivity gap widens to worst level since records began https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/feb/18/uk-productivity-gap-widens-to-worst-level-since-records-began