Rayvin

They have to understand that's where it'll end up though. And the more freedom of movement occurs, the more cultures and people are blended, the more likely it is that this will happen unopposed, IMO. EDIT - having said that, it needs to be done successfully, and slowly, and without Rupert Murdoch.

Um, I agree but I was saying it's been dictated by the US predominantly. They're the ones who generally oppose regulation and who haven't signed up to Geneva. People not caring unless it affects them is individualism partially inspired by the Neoliberal Thatcherite/Reaganite doctrines. All I'm saying is the EU will continue to head down the path that makes sense politically, which will be greater federalisation and a more unified political purpose, until they end up looking a lot like the USA. And hopefully, they'll be the powerful force for good that the US tried and failed to be.

If the EU wants to survive, they need federalism, the Euro, and more financial control from the centre. That's the only way to avoid things like what happened in Greece. I have no doubt that the EU will end up as a superstate, and that it will be quite possibly the most powerful such entity on the planet. Quite possibly within our lifetime. We're not going to be involved, in part, because we don't want to be part of those things. But we'll end up subservient to it in the same way that we are now to the US. Having said that, the EU will be much kinder with us than the US has ever been, I'm sure, because the EU for all its faults does genuinely seem to want to improve people's lives, rather than encouraging a race to the bottom.

Agree on all of this, and my two cents on the questions posed are: No if he has to mobilise the movement for it himself, yes if it becomes a the popular direction and he's able to position himself at the forefront. Yes he will want this, IMO.

I thought that too, but I'm enjoying the slow motion car crash going on there, and this just seems like another thing gone wrong

That Luke Edwards stuff doesn't sound great. PR move it is then. Still though, I guess the club is setting their cards on the table. I guess it depends on whether or not Rafa will actually believe he can get what he wants at the end of the day. Dealing with Ashley looks like a lot of stress for very little benefit though.

Benteke is out for 6 weeks for Palace... that means they have no real striker for when they play us and West Ham. Good for us but what a fucking blow for them...

Yes but Labour has claimed a lot of not entirely consistent things over the past few months. I'm not actually a big fan of them doing this because I prefer them to just be open about it, but pragmatically I think they're doing the right thing if they're serious about winning power. I don't approve, but there it is.

What the fuck? Here comes the patented Ashley 8 year contract. It's a good idea actually, if they can manage it. Kills off speculation about his departure, gives Rafa the chance to come back to the table and make absolute demands on the club, presumably after having learned how specific he has to be to tie down Ashley, and is an opportunity to re-forge the relationship. On the other hand, it could be the club trying to position themselves as the good guys in the inevitable fallout when he does go.

Well, just based on what the guy has said to be honest. He himself has said he is pro-immigration, does not feel immigration from the EU is too high, and was clear that what we really need is a sensible immigration policy that benefits the country as a whole rather than just those at the top who use it to drive down wages. How achievable that is within the framework of the EU is another story, but other countries seem to manage it. He's been hammered for not being hard enough on immigration by the right. I don't think he's anti-free movement, I just think that's part of the fudge. If I was him, the goal would be to demonstrate that improvement in the lives of working and lower middle class people is possible through better domestic government and more equitable distribution of wealth, and not through vilifying foreigners - and to then push us towards retaining as much of our EU membership as possible.

You think so? I think Corbyn is more pro-immigration than he is anti-EU. I think they would have come out and said they were going to support single market access and perhaps a second referendum if they weren't walking an electoral tightrope between the working class and the educated middles. If they feel a moment comes when they can swing themselves behind a softer exit (or no exit at all), I think they'll take it. Even under Corbyn.

I think he'll wait for someone to meet the £6m release clause, since even if he goes in the summer, he'd still not be able to work for another year unless someone did. That aside, if we can keep him until January, we might find that enough money is spent to make him think twice. Ashley gave McClaren £80m after all. I'm sure if that sort of money had been wielded over the summer, Rafa would have had no problems with it.

Yeah this is a good bit of analysis. I had hoped that Elizabeth Warren might come to the forefront but she doesn't appear to be positioning herself for it as of yet. Sanders is too old to go again IMO. There is a grassroots movement within the Democrats that is trying to take hold, but it may be a bridge too far them to hold any influence ahead of the next election cycle. They might have to settle for getting certain policies on the agenda, rather than wholesale change. Still though, you'd have to think that by the end of this, hard right politics will have been shown to have failed demonstrably - you'd think they'd be crying out for the back of Trump. Just wish there was a credible left wing alternative in place to swoop in and clear up - but there's not, so back to the centre we'll go.

At first glance I thought that was encouraging, but there are still solid blocks of leave voters seemingly prepared to take the country to ruin in order to get what they want here. Even the second referendum bit is a heavily qualified statement. You could respin that number so that it was effectively saying about 30% want an in/out referendum, the other 70% want to go out, they just have some uncertainty over whether they want a vote on the specifics of going out. While I can still see a scenario where we might get what we want here, it will have to involve the Tory government collapsing, ideally off the back of some incontrovertible bad news on the Brexit front and Labour winning it next time out - then we might get our referendum.

This is true but Trump is doing such a bad job that she might actually win it next time. A depressing thought given that the only benefit to Trump was that the democrats may come up with someone radical.

China has made clear it will only be neutral if NK is the aggressor.

Sounds like they're trying to set the narrative on who started it with a view to making sure China are on their side. Curious that they haven't declared war back though.

Seems to be a lot of public pressure for it but I can't see how it can be without changing the regulations. Unless of course the original ruling was in fact wrong.

I still maintain Labour is waiting to see which way the wind blows

I agree that this does seem like a sensible route, but one assumes Rafa has thought of it and dismissed it for some reason.

I think sport has done a great deal to help people move past racism in this sense, but you might be right. It's an acceptable form of tribalism though.

He looks stupid right now, that's certain. If more teams come out in support of the others, he'll have a polarising issue right down a fault line he won't want. I would think, anyway.

It's been fucking ages since I ranted on about Neoliberalism, cut me some slack.

I've only realised over the weekend that the raid is the Straum quest. I solo'd that so in terms of actual difficulty, I agree I dunno, I think it falls down for the same reasons as the raid - inadequate teammates.