Meenzer

Now that's just cruel.

YEAH!

He's not even playing the same game, it'd be like Liechtenstein sending its Paralympic swimming team out to face Germany.

Maybe a setup like the European Team Championships in athletics would be an idea - have the current qualification system, so the smaller teams still get to play the larger ones at some point, but then at the same time as the regular Euros you hold several smaller tournaments at the lower levels too with the qualification determining which bracket you end up in.

A lot of the appeal for smaller countries is getting to play against the big boys, though, particularly when you know you're never going to be that good. Just look at the interviews with the San Marino and Andorra players ahead of the England games in recent years. Telling them "right, the biggest team you get to play is Kazakhstan and maybe in ten years from now you might be good enough to play Montenegro, but don't worry, you're definitely not second-class citizens or anything" is a bit rough.

Not much motivation when the "prize" for winning your pre-qualification group is to go and get humped by average teams like Ireland anyway, though.

I think that's where the mindset ends up, at least. But then a qualification round would be more in keeping with the Champions League approach to exclusivity and I'm more of an "unseeded European Cup" kind of guy, so y'knaa.

FYP

I don't see the point of a qualifying round when the "winner" will still get smashed by all the other teams in whatever group they end up in. Either let everyone in or don't let smaller nations play at all.

That's even more terrifying than the leech up the nose.

It's like fracking, only organic.

I thought all the changes were entirely justified and necessarily. At least that's the impression I got from CT after his careful and extensive analysis of the Conservative position.

36% turnout, so it shouldn't be that close come GE time, plus the Lib Dem vote held up to an extent (= they didn't lose their deposit, at least ) and some of those will switch to Labour now that the prospect of a UKIP MP in their area has become a whole lot more real (I know I would as a tendential Lib Dem voter). That's just one constituency though, and you're right, there'll rightly be concern that UKIP are going to do more damage in Labour strongholds than people might have realised. "Labour to UKIP" is a switch/swing that hadn't really been on people's radar much before. Now we're even looking at categories like "Disenchanted Labour supporter who voted Lib Dem last time as a protest vote and will be transferring their protest vote to UKIP this time" becoming actually relevant. From a purely psephological point of view, it's going to be a fascinating next seven months or so. If only it wasn't fucking UKIP making it so interesting.

Roubles.

This is nearby: Recruitment centre?

I can't wait for the view count to update after this morning's viral spread. ...I may need a hobby.

Enoch Powell's heemasexualist tendencies are well documented. I reckon most of his oratory was just denial rage over how much he secretly loved a mouthful of thick black cock.

Like this.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-29513589

I'd rule out Cologne, although that may be through overfamiliarity. The cathedral and the Christmas markets are impressive (though also stupidly busy) but there's not a huge amount to the place beyond that, particularly when you can't really use it as a base for exploring the Rhine because it's, well, December.

Timely.

We talked about it in the sporting books thread a while back but I still haven't got round to it. Brain-thawing sun holiday planned for December so it's on the list for then.

And then the scandal, oh the scandal. Was proper exciting like. Everyone enjoys a villain. Pity that era set the template for the sport, and sprinting in particular, being properly riddled with drugs nowadays, but there you go.