Enda

The only difference is I disagree with Sky News' assertion that it's "optics". The British media have a terrible habit of disparaging legitimate Irish complaints as mere political games. The finest example was Iain Duncan Smith saying Varadkar was only playing hardball on the border because Ireland's Presidential election was forthcoming. "Showboating", is what he said. Watch it: https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/uk/british-mp-iain-duncan-smith-the-presidential-election-is-coming-up-1.3310792 But Varadkar's party, Fine Gael, was not participating in that election.Then he says Fine Gael, which is a centre-right party, was afraid of losing votes to Sinn Fein, who are very solidly left. "Showboating". Nonsense. So I reject Sky News' claim that Ireland's concerned about "optics" here, it's disparaging of the real problems at play.

A border. But that's as a consequence of the UK's rights to do whatever it wants on its own territory, not an agreement. They'll lose 5ish MLAs. Emma Little-Peabrain will haemorrage votes next GE. FPTP will be her downfall.

It's not even optics. NI is part of your territory so of course you can put border checks up there if you insist. We'll just never agree to it and are more likely to negotiate borders away if we play hardball. What's largely been ignored by the Brexiteers is the WA is just the first step. The second step is a deal about a permanent relationship and the fundamental problems about the backstop etc are still there. No Deal is just about where you're start the negotiating position in. It will look quite different when the DUP get an absolute bollicking from the NI electorate.

Small samples, innit.

Yep, that's the gist. Small addendum: the constitution demands a referendum for any constitutional changes. Because we enshrined the EEC Treaty into the constitution back in the day, it means any new EU treaty requires Irish voters' consent. Clever move, eh? So yes, the idea that the EU forced Ireland to vote again is absolute nonsense. If anything we used our "referendum card" to extract concessions from the EU on Lisbon.

Not quite. Our biggest problem is we bottle it after 70 minutes. But the old adage that "you win by scoring more than the other team" is true here. Not at all. At CB we have Mings, Engels, Konsa, Hause, Chester. In CM we have Jack, Marvelous, McGinn, Hourihane, Lanisbury, Douglas.

Looked exciting with him, Conor, and Jack pressuring down the wing. More of it please. Get well soon Triggy.

I wish we hadn't signed Konsa and Luiz, and saved the 25-30m for another striker. Wesley will come good, I think, but right now he's not there yet. As someone said, we're a Tammy Abraham away from being a mid-table side.

I hope Jack, and not Conor, plays out wide today.

The players don't look PL fit. We lack quality out wide. Between Targett and Luiz we had 25 million pounds (for a winger) not in the squad today. Add in Konsa and it's 40 million in squad depth that's not being used, when we're crying out for quality out wide. We were a goal up against a team with ten men. Dean Smith's failure to make changes (e.g. John McGinn may have played very well, but he needed to come off for Conor after 70 mins) cost us three points.

Let's not sugar coat this one: Dean Smith's failure to make subs just cost us three points.

We'd be a great side if we could score goals.

Half time against West Ham. Really needs to close his man down quicker.

Not doubting you, just a weird stat!

What an arbitrary choice of date.

Starting tonight

The UK can veto Turkey if it wants (until you leave). Nobody gets in without unanimous consent of the existing member states.

Honest answer: no, just discard the DUP and accept a NI-only backstop. Britain gets to leave the customs union, NI gets special economic status, and the EU gets no border in Ireland. Success.

"The EU" can't make this announcement. Any extension will have to come from the Council, agreeing unanimously, who are currently dispersed between 27 countries. The UK haven't requested one yet either. Unless there's a clear and convincing reason ("Please don't waste this time") that an extension will be met with progress by the UK, there won't be another one.

Sorry if I'm having a bit of a go at you Chris, but the comment reflects a view in the UK that strikes a nerve with me. You often hear three soundbites from Brits: Guy Verhofstadt MEP is synonymous with "the EU". Germany and France call the shots. At the end of the day, what Merkel and Sarkozy want is what matters. The EU is nothing but a bunch of unelected bureaucrats. All three express an anti-EU sentiment, but they are simply contradictory. Internally inconsistent. You can claim the EU full is of out of touch bureaucrats, or that Germany calls the shots, or that tweets from an MEP carry weight, but all three cannot be true at once. Either democratically elected MEPs call the shots or the bureaucrats do. Either the EU is run by experts in suits or it's a German political plot for a Fourth Reich. And so on. You can't have all three. Even two are mostly impossible at the same time. And I think this leads to a lot of the anti-EU sentiment in the UK. The Daily Mail can say "EU plans for tax cuts" when it's just a comment by some MEP, or a Commission proposal that will get shot down after a week or two. Brits, in general, don't acknowledge that the EU is three different institutions and none of them have total power. It's a lack of understanding that leads to people thinking "the EU" can simply give into the UK's Brexit demands if Boris negotiates hard enough. It's insane.

He’s the leader of the fourth largest party in Parliament. He doesn’t speak for the Commission, or the Council, or even for the second largest group in the Parliament. He’s like the leader of the SNP. His views on Catalonia shouldn’t be lumped in as “the EU’s”.

Hate this nonsense. Guy Verhofstadt is not the EU.

Just on the “reminiscent of the Nazis” thing, there’s two ways to interpret this. The first way is to think it means the UK is on the precipice of gassing millions of people, which is absurd. The second way is to note a dramatic lurch to the right, complicity with the media, a significant reduction in democratic norms, and making scapegoats of/blaming everything on “them”. That’s absolutely happening.

Nah pal we scored two goals.