Mic09

Based on your profile you live in California. Don't even dare talk to me about weather

Well, I think German lands are much more independent than counties or British regions. Also, Germany only came together as 'Germany' in 1870s so while it was 150 years ago, it isn't that long ago. To put it in perspective, Grandparents of the German friends Grandparents would have been alive in that time, and it sort of runs in the thought process/culture within families. Bavaria is much more like Basque country or Catalonia than Scouse land in that sense.

I couldn't agree with you more. But I give them much less credit in being an ideological party than you seem to. Boris is not the new general Pinochet; I see him as a slightly old fashioned, Oxford elitist populist who simply wants to win the next election. Hence, his treatment of the pandemic seems to run broadly along similar lines to that of his European colleagues. Lockdowns, controls, bans on ridiculous things, now vaccine passports. For better or worse, he has taken a big dump on individual rights and liberties and no one seems to care much. He has no comprehension of terms like "libertarianism" or "freedom", regardless of what his party PR might be pushing or what some his opponents seem to attribute to him.

Maybe, just maybe, the Tories are not the right wing devils many accuse them to be but a boring, middle of the road, populist centrist European party that will drive the economy to eventually collapse. Once you take that into account, it all makes more sense.

Granted, I only had the game on in the background and didn't pay that much attention. But has Davies been that good to change the perception of majority on here who (myself included) considered him to be a very poor footballer? Especially considering he played 20mins against Fulham?

No argument - hence I said, we shall see what the long term effect of these actions will be.

Too true

I hope he gets his meds. I guess what I wanted to get across is that people who are very narrow in their hard-line reasoning can often be proven wrong in the most unfortunate ways.

You are right, I may have overgeneralised, it was a lazy short term thought. But the ultra orthodox hard-line remainers also argued that Tories do not want a deal and are pushing for a no deal Brexit. Thus, if we leave -> there will be no deal -> people will die due to shortage of medicines. But that is a discussion for the other thread

While we don't really know what the long term effect of Brexit will be, one of the arguments of the ultra orthodox remainers was that should we leave, UK will have a shortage of medications that will result in many deaths. This was before the pandemic and like I said, the long term is to be seen, but right now it looks like they are being proven very wrong in the most unfortunate way.

And as much as VAR causes some problems, not giving that hand ball is also a big problem.

All I know is that if I'm German or French, I'd rather play England than Belgium.

Polish commentator said it best last night; There are two things for certain after this game. Poland will not win the European Championships. But neither will England.

My favourite quote from that is "There is a lot of talk around not needing two holding midfielders, why not playing six attackers? I kind of understand why the manager sometimes doesn't do that. There has to be that balance between the two." So, when are we gonna strike a balance and not play 2 holding midfielders in order to be so defensive?

My thoughts exactly

Bayern is better than PSG - probably just as much talent, but a more mature, experienced team. Then I have to give it to Man City this season. They are amazing, and while it will be close, I think they will edge Bayern, especially as Lewandowski will be just coming back from his injury.

Comparing Lewandowski to Kane is a bit like comparing Cristiano Ronaldo to Raheem Sterling. Both excellent, but not really in the same league of achievement or ability.

Is there a good way to get rid of sweat marks on baseball caps? Has anyone figured out how to do it? Google seems to give plenty of advice, none of it any good.

Your boss is probably on the same boat - they can now take their kids to the nursery, go for a lunchtime run, eat healthier home cooked food while still working just as hard - and see their little kid go to bed rather than being stuck on a late train. It's a no brainer, but like I mentioned, it's probably bad news for BoJos tax pockets.

Who in their right mind (except for local people, families etc) would want to live in London if they will only work there once a week? I can't see many grads and young professionals moving there and paying massive rents if they can get half price apartments in Birmingham or Coventry. Another thing that BoJo can have another think about is what the hell is the point of HS2 now? All those corporate busshhnesshhhmeeeen finally see that they don't have two travel for 2 hours for a business meeting - so whats the point in wasting £100b on this, even more useless now, project?

Sunak was hinting at the same last week. They are simply looking for change behind the sofa - if you catch a train to work you (often); buy a ticket, buy a coffee, buy some lunch, buy a pint after work, buy a ticket back. All taxable goods. Another thing is office building standing empty, no cleaners, receptionists, security. They won't have a job, an neither will the architect of the next London office skyscraper, or the construction worker who was going to build it. People working from home is not good for Boris' tax pocket.

You are right today, but in 50 years time our grandchildren will think differently. In 50 years time, the Etihad will be a historic venue. Aston Villa is greater than Villa Park, and Villa Park MK2 will also form a part of the great history one day. Although I hope we can modernise and improve our current stadium, I wouldn't be opposed to a new one.

That is not necessarily true; if most vulnerable people have been vaccinated, why does it matter if 5 thousand 5-15 year olds get COVID with no symptoms and none of them die? Their parents and grandparents will be very low risk of getting infected as they have been vaccinated and I can take a safe bet, no one is going around kissing their grandma in the next few months. Of course, it's not a good outcome, but I would argue a better one than thousands of people losing their livelihoods, businesses, marriages.

Now that is what I call safety.