Enda

That tackle

He is good at football.

A thumping victory.

Forgot we had a match today, did I miss anything?

As someone from a smaller nation, I strongly disagree that France and Germany run it for themselves. The EU is quite a weak institution. That's not an accident. It's limited in its ability to affect change outside of its narrowly defined remit.

Schengen, EMU, "ever closer union". You boys got more slack from the EU than anyone. You literally even got a discount on membership!

For all we know Japan might bring in new regulations next year requiring all beef sold in their country be free range, organic, and be certified as having taken 6 hours of cow yoga -- in which case no EU farmer could sell beef to Japan, and tariffs just aren't that relevant in that scenario. So, not quite. Someone asked why Japan would have more bargaining power if the UK wanted low tariffs. My original point was that the EU has different standards to Japan. Not saying good or bad, just different. And with different standards, tariffs aren't the real issue. I accept the horse meat in Tesco thing wasn't the best example.

Good thread. I never knew South America had a formal customs union, nevermind that Argentina had inserted clauses about the Falklands into it. Smart move by them, in fairness. Northern Irish Border, Part Deux.

Agreed. I have been thinking about the UK media's complaints about "EU red tape" -- something tells me it raises standards in Latvia and Romania (no offence to these countries) far more than it does in the UK or France. Nobody really makes the argument that the majority of EU regulations come from the the likes of the UK dictating to poorer countries which minimum standards they'll accept.

It's not about tariffs. Tariffs are a small part of modern FTAs. It's also about things like food standards. The EU has regulations in place so you can trace your steak from Tesco back to the farmer. This isn't cheap but the members of the EU have (rightly or wrongly) agreed that the extra cost is worth it for food safety. I doubt Japan has these costly regulations, giving it a bit of an advantage of EU farmers. So we need to negotiate a compromise on food safety standards -- maybe something like the exporter has to be able to trace it to the farmer, but not necessarilky the retailer. Then there's debate about what hormones you allow to be injected into cattle, and which chemicals you allow in fertilizer. There's no point in zero tariffs on Japanese beef if we wouldn't let it in on food safety grounds. It's also about fair competition. Let's suppose Japan are subsidising their solar panels like mad. Letting them flood the EU/UK market with solar panels would kill domestic industry. But both countries probably agree that green energy should get promoted, so you need to agree a "reasonable" amount of subsidy for solar panels. That "reasonable" amount is up for negotiation. It's also about information sharing. Generally speaking, VAT is refundable for intermediate goods when it crosses an international border. At a minimum that might require the Japanese customs people to email the EU/UK a spreadsheet with a list of all tax compliant companies in Japan, and the EU/UK to email them back a list of goods imported/exported by them. But then you might want to exempt small companies (say, less than 10 employees) from all that paperwork. The EU and Japan might have different ideas about what's a small company (5 employees versus 25 employees). That's negotiable. It's also about dispute mechanisms. You need some panel to settle arguments. Who gets to pick the independent member(s)? What happens if the panel rules against you? What happens if the Green Party get elected in Japan and want to increase subsidies for solar panels? Can you appeal to the WTO? Again, all negotiable.

Sorry I gave the impression I was disagreeing with you, Chris.

From University of Sussex: [/quote]

A large bomb going off in the centre of an English city on a busy Saturday afternoon is going to make people notice the consequences of no deal Brexit. I'm not wishing it (obviously) but I am predicting it. Northern Ireland voted Remain. Crash out, and the car bombs that are currently restricted to Derry will start spreading. And of course the English media will blame Ireland.

I am sick of you telling Irish people what to do. Know your plaice, Tony.

He's lying to you. You can have a zero tariff trade deal with the EU and still need a hard border. Deviate from our food standards and we will turn your hormone-injected beef right back around.

Bit harsh there. Jack, Tammy, McGinn, Chester, Kodjia, Adomah would all start in most of those teams imho. Then you have the likes of Scott Hogan who isn't near our best player who would probably be good enough for those sides, e.g. weren't Derby interested in signing McCormack at one stage?

I'd forgotten Joe Cole used to play for us. When Micah Richard's contract ends, can we all organise a VT Beers or something?

Yesterday a car bomb exploded outside the courthouse in Derry. It made the front page of every major Irish newspaper, but none of England's. Today, two controlled explosions after men with guns hijack more vehicles in Derry. From RTE: This was so bloody predictable. Not necessarily the posters of VT but people in Britain generally don't understand Northern Ireland enough. And now the DUP, the only party not to back the Good Friday Agreement, and are in your government. The bombs will only get worse. This is all so reckless.

Good to get a point, but the fact of the matter is we are the sort of side that "Villa are 2-0 down at home to Hull" is a normal statement. So much work to do.

Eric Lichaj, glad to see he's doing well. Always put a shift in. What a save!

Two-footed, no? Looked to me it was an awful challenge that worked out alright, but hope I'm wrong.

It looked like Taylor just slid in two-footed in a challenge there. Hope I'm wrong.

Lads you really should revoke at this stage, call a General Election, have a proper national discussion (maybe even a new referendum) about your relationship with the EU and, if necessary, invoke A50 again in a year or two. "This has been a shambles, and we are not as ready as we want to be" is an embarrassing admission, but collectively deciding what you as a nation want long-term is far more important than rushing out immediately.

The DUP only got 36% of vote in Northern Ireland. And Northern Ireland voted to Remain. Here's a map of who the people of NI sent to Westminster. An anti-Brexit republican was elected in every single border constituency. Madness. Just give us back the North and be done with it, will ye? We'll even look after the DUP.

I love Tammy, but I stopped reading here. We're a Championship club. Nuts to say we could possibly spend 50 million on one player.