shurlock

Obviously the UK needs to produce goods and services that others want - alas the UK's productivity record is miserable despite signing up to all your beloved free market nostrums. Indeed, your logic can also be inverted - why does the UK have to be outside the customs union and free to sign its own trade deals if its all ultimately red-tape and overrated? The EU doesn't have a free trade deal with China or Empire 2.0 posterboy India yet Germany exports sh1t loads more than the UK to them. The reality is that geography and market access do matter. The UK economy is 7x smaller than the US yet UK exports to the EU are not far behind US exports to the EU. These issues particularly matter for the UK economy which is so dependent on services. Like it or not, regulation and nontarriff barriers are fundamental to services trade - services are still five times less likely to be exported than manufacturing products for this reason. Needless to say, the single market is not perfect and far from complete but its made much more headway on services than other trade arrangements - if you think the likes of China are going to open their doors to UK financial, legal and business service firms, however entrepreneurial they are, dream on pal.

Good, perhaps I'm alone but I was rooting for them in the Social Network film. Zuckerberg's a ****.

Anyone being told that that they have an invalid or expired account (I have a 6-month subscription effective till next May)?

We're possibly speaking at cross-purposes, though I'm in agreement with you. I assess on Austin three levels: Acceleration: I don't think Austin has great burst over short distances - enough to frighten or pull away from defenders. What makes Mane dangerous isn't his pace per se but his acceleration. Top speed: Austin may be quicker over long distances once he hits top speed -in the same way that Donkey Kong is a beast in Mario Kart; but that's largely irrelevant in football where match-ups are determined over 5-15 yards, not 50 yards. Anticipation: Austin has this in bags which allows him to get a head start on defenders. Won't always work when you're trying to get behind defenses unless you have good acceleration but it does mean you can work a yard in the box. I guess that's what you're getting at.

There’s a difference between top end speed and acceleration - the latter being infinitely more important as football is played in crowded spaces and over short distances.

Not really an answer. The UK is leaving the EU -yet we don’t know on what terms. Nor do we know what concessions will be made, despite the jihadists telling us that getting out of the EU would be quick and easy and that the UK held most of the cards in any negotiation. Apparently the cabinet doesn’t know what outcome it wants and hasn’t even discussed the issue. We don’t know whether any exit will be smooth or chaotic, though some may have an inkling and with what political and economic consequences. So no, there are plenty of unknowns and plenty of things yet to happen. The jihadists are nowhere to be seen because they’re full of s**t and now things are getting real.

What's the difference between a century or two and a couple of millennia between pals. Think of it like four packets of printer paper, each containing 500 sheets. HTH.

Ok relative to the application of other rules.

That's not necessarily inconsistent if its applied to all teams equally.

For reference, the halfwits have deemed money and foreskin jokes to be inoffensive when playing Spurs.

Where have all the jihadists gone with their ready optimism and solutions? Their little redlines and fantasies tattered and frayed after the slightest brush with reality. Leftie snowflakes appear to have a firmer grasp of reality. Starting to feel a tinge of sympathy for the more easily led among you.

No they would have missed the following game which was against us -and we were in the thick of the chase for a Europa spot. As noted before, I would have been livid if those players had an effect on our game, like the jammy c**ts that Spurs are, causing us to miss out on qualification.

And if Dier had scored against us in the next game, denying us a Europa spot, you'd have been similarly philosophical? I can see refs applying discretion, giving players several warnings before booking them etc; but Clattenburg lost the plot in that game so much so that the players felt emboldened to lash out because the ref was doing diddly-squat about it.

The annoying thing is that we played Tottenham in the next game and we were in the European hunt, trying to fight off Wham and Liverpool. Remember feeling aggrieved that a few more Tottenham players weren’t suspended for our crucial game, given our horrendous record at WHL, though it ultimately didn’t matter as we won the game. In particular, remember Dier escaping a blatant second yellow after Clattenburg played the advantage and then had to deal with another fracas, seemingly forgetting to go back and book Dier. Can see why he tried to protect himself -in the same way refs are reluctant to make a major decisions at the end of games, though no game exists in a vacuum and third parties will invariably be affected. As such better to apply the rules as consistently as possible.

If it’s across an entire career, surely you have to include the likes of Mark Hughes, David Hirst, Kerry Dixon etc?

Meh. They’re not as strong as last season; not a gimme but should be comfortable enough.

Getting in the excuses early, bottlejob.

Not really in this instance pal. More a case of the kippers pretending Ireland and the border question didn’t exist or assuming it could be swatted away with vacuous, patronising reassurances; and reality coming back to bite them.

What does that bring capacity to, pal? 33,000? It’s almost as if someone, somewhere has decided it’s not commercially feasible to expand any further. Heaven forbid.

Presumably just a temporary setback, though hard to see a way through at this present moment.

There were six or seven teams that spent more than us in the championship - the fact that the likes of Lallana and Fonte turned out to be much better has more to do with the brilliance of Pochettino than a slight on Adkins. Getting promoted out of the championship at the first attempt is an achievement, however you spin it. It’s easy to forget that many felt we needed a massive overhaul and injection of quality when we got promoted, including finding upgrades for Fonte and Lambert.

Then a week or so later at West Ham. He did lead the line against Sparta a few days before the Swansea game, if we’re counting non-PL gams.

You bet.

Palace.

Teddy Sheringham offered much more outside the box. He could drop deep and link up play. Frankly he's more similar to Alan Shearer, though not as good.