Wes Tender

You'll be dead long before we rejoin, Soggy. No doubt you'll whinge about the decision to leave right up until you draw your last breath though.

The election was effectively the fourth opportunity to decide on whether we stayed in the EU or left it. The first of course being the actual 2016 referendum itself, which gave a clear vote to leave. The second was the GE in 2017, where the majority of parties pledged in their manifestos that they would honour the referendum vote. The third was the EU elections where the biggest number of seats was won by a party whose sole purpose was to leave the EU and then in the latest GE the main party with a policy to leave won a stonking majority, when the other main parties had stood on manifestos to leave or hold another referendum. Of course, had the original referendum gone the other way, then the remoaners would have accused leavers of being bad losers for raking over the coals for years afterwards and bleating about how unfair it all was after the event, but they lack the self awareness to understand this. Somehow, losers consent doesn't apply to them.

Remoaners continue to believe that the country didn't really want us to leave the EU and that the election result giving the Tories a stonking majority wasn't really the electorate's mandate to get Brexit done. An opinion poll in the Not Independent commissioned by some second rate outfit called BMG, on a titchy sample of just 1508, concludes that 52% against 48%, (the reverse of the referendum result) wanted to remain in the EU. What are we to do? Is there still time for Boris to do a complete about face and revoke Article 50, or at least extend it until a second/third referendum can be held? Or will we just have to accept that failing that, on the basis of this poll a campaign to rejoin can commence on February 1st? Village idiot Steve Bray had obviously been tipped the wink on this, which is why he has remained on College Green wearing his stupid outfit, and no doubt he will now be joined by all the other remoaners who have nothing better to do with their lives. Or perhaps the Independent are making themselves a laughing stock if they believe that some poxy poll has any more relevance since the election result than the Labour Party's attempts to amend the WAB.

Highlights

And breathe...........brilliant performance

Lee Mason totally incompetent as usual. Should have been a free kick for Long

A great first half from us and should have been ahead on the balance of play and the chances we have had. We seem to have hit a winning formula against even the very best teams; play a settled team which will play their hearts out and stop our opponents from playing by closing them down high up the pitch, tackling hard and breaking quickly. Ings is on fire, having had two clear chances one on one with Schmeichel, who produced two superb saves, and then Ings hit the woodwork twice. That prat Mason disallowed a corner which should have been ours. The Leicester goal scored when we had let our concentration slip and Vardy is too quick to allow an opportunity to break with his pace.

I don't need to, Gavyn. I get plenty of the real thing, but thanks for your concern. I expect that when you're having it off, you're the one who does all the moaning, judging by your contributions on here.

You ask us to imagine the flak that Corbyn would get from the media were he to denigrate an item of clothing worn by Jewish women and then when asked what type of clothing that would be, you have no idea. So what was the point of your argument then? All that you have shown is that there is no particular item of Jewish women's clothing that is worthy of equivalent derision.

No, sorry, Gavyn; I can't imagine Corbyn making any similar remarks about a Jewish wig that could be comparable to describing a burqa as looking like a letterbox. I hadn't heard of those, and it doesn't sound very obvious that it would be particularly noticeable even had I encountered any Jewish women wearing one. On the other hand, I sure as hell recognise a burqa, although it isn't necessarily certain that it is even a woman wearing it, so there are security implications. 1970's sex dolls, you say? Not my scene. I prefer the 1960s sex doll look, the close fitted skinny rib jumpers teamed up with the tartan mini-kilt and thigh length leather boots. What woman's clothing look turns you on, Gavyn? Dungarees?

What aspects of Jewish attire do you think that Corbyn could address, Soggy?

Please, please, please let it be Clive Lewis as leader of the Labour Party. I was surprised about Hastings too, but also conversely at how much I agreed with the opinions of Economist editor Anne McElvoy. Typically, Bruce allowed the other leftie with Lewis on the panel, Miatta Fahnbulleh, free license to rabbit on interminably without interruption, so that somebody who most have never heard of, got to have more air time than the others. No discussion of Brexit for once, apart from a fleeting argument that ignoring their promise to honour the referendum vote and then doing their utmost to thwart it, was a prime factor in Labour's catastrophic defeat in the election. I think that you ought to take note, Soggy. The stonking majority the Tories have has taken Brexit off the agenda on Question Time in one of the most pro-remain towns on the country. All the stop Brexit rabble have disappeared from outside the House apart from the idiot Bray. When are you going to stop bleating about how unfair it all is and move on?

Speaking of loony lefties, Gavyn's mate Andy Adonis came out with a cracker today on twa tter.

May could have got a decent deal had she stuck to the thrust of her Lancaster House speech. But Boris was left with doing the best he could to undo as much of the mess as possible that the incompetent Vicar's daughter created in cahoots with the remainer Civil Servant Ollie Robbins, when between the two of them they allowed the EU to prepare the nearly 600 page WA Treaty and the much shorter Political Declaration. The waters were considerably muddied by her ridiculous Chequers deal, the archetypal bad deal that she said would be worse than no deal. So yes, under the circumstances Boris is playing a blinder having got shot of the Irish backstop and reopening the WA. As that article correctly points out, the whole Irish border question was cynically used merely as a device to stop Brexit, and as long as there was no prospect of us leaving without a deal, (thanks to the likes of Benn and his surrender treaty), or as long as the process could be delayed until a second referendum could be enacted, then there was no incentive for Ireland or the EU to soften their policy on the border. In many ways, we have those remoaner MPs who pulled all those strokes in the House, to thank for the current situation. Had they not played fast and loose with the democratic will of the referendum decision by all of their devious tactics to delay it, legislating to weaken our hand by not allowing a no deal outcome, then Boris would not have the stonking great majority now to enable him to negotiate with a far stronger hand. As soon as Boris was elected, Varadkar realised that the game was up and that Ireland's trade and economy would have taken a massive hit without a EU free trade deal with us, so he rapidly came to his senses. Once that trade deal is in place, then the border situation becomes far less of a problem. Had May had the guts and the nous to have insisted on a trade deal being discussed simultaneously with the settlement payment and the citizenship issue, as the terms of Article 50 dictated as I understand it, then the border issue would never have been the problem it became. As I say, at last we have the whip hand for the first time in these negotiations and the utterances of von der Leyen about what is or is not possible sound increasingly like platitudes and hot air.

I think he is. Either that, or incredibly naive.

https://brexitcentral.com/the-irish-government-now-ought-to-prioritise-securing-a-swift-uk-eu-free-trade-agreement/ Yes, Boris did play a blinder getting rid of the backstop and reopening the WA talks, things that the EU stated could not be done. Next on the agenda to be shot down is von der Leyen's claim that "Without the free movement of people, you cannot have the free movement of capital, goods and services". Boris has already made clear that the free movement of people is finished, so we'll have to wait and see whether he sticks to that and what the repercussions actually will be.

The Guardian not party aligned? And what happened to the Not Independent? Is that not worthy of inclusion when you include the Star? You're increasingly out of touch with modern news coverage. All newspapers are now online and people are just as likely to view news stories and comments on them via You Tube or other social media. I haven't read an actual paper newspaper for probably a decade. In any event, attempting to discuss media bias for or against any political party without including broadcast media is ridiculous. The main national broadcaster, the BBC, is clearly biased towards the left, as are others to a slightly lesser extent. It isn't fair, is it? Life isn't fair. The sooner that you acknowledge that and stop bleating about it, the better you will feel. You remind me a bit of Steve Bray still protesting alone outside the HOP, or the Japanese soldier found on some small Pacific Island who hadn't realised that the war was over. Move on.

I watched the interview with von der Leyen on You Tube by the Telegraph. A nice bit of sabre rattling from her in advance of the serious stuff post 31st January when we are finally out. Exactly what one would expect, them laying out the terms and conditions on their side, a perfectly normal negotiating procedure. Boris of course has already done the same on a couple of aspects, the time limit and divergence of standards. As she says, with compromise over these negotiations comes the reality that the trade agreement and ties between us and them will be less strong. So be it. Thankfully, we don't have the terminally useless May and Robbins negotiating on our behalf, and our negotiating hand is considerably strengthened since 12th December. Now that we have made it clear that we will leave on WTO terms if a free trade deal is not arranged with the EU by 31st December, and that the deadline will not be extended beyond that date, we have taken the initiative for the first time since we signed Article 50. Von der Leyen suggesting that perhaps we ought to wait until June/July before deciding on whether there is enough time to conclude a satisfactory deal without a time extension is pointless. What part of the statement that the deadline will not be extended does she not understand? Those tactics worked with the hung parliament allowing extension after extension and Benn's surrender act, but the whole political landscape has changed and they need to get used to the idea very quickly.

What is the point in posting a link to an organisation that requires a subscription before the contents can be accessed? Hands up all those who have access to the FT article on here.

As usual, your standard and boring MO in action, Gavyn. Stage one: distort what was originally stated as an opinion. Stage two: Accuse me of being thick if I held the opinion which you deliberately distorted Where did I say that the vitriol and tactics of the right-leaning press are "the same" as the left? That's right, I didn't. Once you have grasped that, then your second sentence becomes largely pointless. The left wing press will naturally attempt to denigrate the right wing parties and vice-versa, What a surprise, eh? Thanks for pointing out that the world isn't made of either-ors, that I must live under a rock, or been born yesterday. You truly are the most patronisingly obnoxious poster on here. I think you must be sulking because I pointed out how you had contradicted yourself on your previous post. If there is no point in talking (down) to me, I'm sure that somebody as brilliant intellectually as you are will be able to figure out the solution. *hint* It involves the ignore button, or even more simply, resisting the temptation to massage your narcissistic tendencies by responding to my posts.

I don't miss the point at all. It is you who is incapable of understanding that by virtue of the fact that Corbyn is a Marxist and the most extreme left wing politician to lead the Labour Party that he attracts this opprobrium from the media. Quite simply, he was unelectable to be PM and you laughingly accuse the media for bias because they simply stated that fact. As Benji correctly points out, the left wing press are perfectly capable of dishing it out to Tory party leaders and members, but you are so blinkered that you are incapable of any sort of balanced view.

Ah yes, Johnson the old Etonian upper class twit, becoming leader of the most left-wing Labour Party ever. Unless you can explain how that would come about in a million years, then you win the prize for the barmiest conjecture ever posted on here. Also incredibly naive of course to suggest for one minute that the left wing press and media are reticent to throw whatever dirt they can at Johnson just because he is the leader of the Tory party. You continue to be good value in the entertainment stakes with your stilted and amusing views, Soggy.

You're a bit touchy as the resident far left socialist about a rival party being called the Lib Dumbs, aren't you? They certainly cannot accurately be called Liberal Democrats, as they have shown time after time that the name is an oxymoron, they being neither liberal nor democratic. By all means if you have suffered a sense of humour bypass that precludes your acceptance of a bit of banter on a football forum, feel free to argue why you believe them to be undeserving of accusations that the way they have behaved during the past few years was politically dumb.

Says the biggest "I'm alright Jack" merchant of them all, the one who states that it doesn't matter what happens to the economy because it won't effect him at all. You're a hypocrite, Gavyn. And this smearing of the working classes as being supposedly thick, was a ruse by the remoaners, not just the Islington champagne socialists, against leave voters often comprising working class voters. These remoaners largely comprised lefties, epitomised by Corbyn's metropolitan power base, the left-leaning media, especially the BBC, the chattering classes, the higher education establishment and students, and minor celebrity luvvies. It should therefore come as no surprise to anybody with any intelligence that those insulted as being thick for voting to leave the EU should exact their revenge in first the European Elections and then the General Election by voting for the only main party broadly supporting our departure from the EU, the Tories. As for your assertion that GM, LD and me are somehow getting our knickers in a twist over Sir Keir Smarmy, envious of his achievements in life from humble beginnings, or wistful that he is not more on the right wing of politics, I can't speak for others, but in my opinion that really is rib-ticklingly funny. You make the assertion that we laud success and prosperity through hard graft on the one hand, and then claim that we would then be jealous of somebody making a success of their life that way. It isn't like you to appear confused and argue against yourself, Gavyn. Frankly, I couldn't give a toss who Labour elects, as it won't make the slightest difference for the next five years. Starmer was the main proponent of Labour's remoaner stance as the shadow Brexit secretary, so he has alienated that potential support from the Labour industrial heartlands. For somebody supposedly so intelligent, he hasn't exactly played his hand with much political skill and guile.

Let's all laugh at the Lib Dumbs. Not content with alienating half the electorate with their policy to revoke Brexit, their latest ruse is attempting to place an amendment onto the WA Bill calling on there to be an enquiry into the referendum campaign three and a half years ago. Have they really learned nothing about what the electorate wanted regarding Brexit? Well done to Ed Davey though. He is trying hard to obliterate what remains of the party after their recent massive error of judgement in the election. Is he really the best that they have left? What makes the entire plan all the more laughable, is that they don't stand a snowflake's chance in hell of getting the amendment passed, so what was the point in even bothering?