Condimentalist

Get in!!!

It doesn't say that Nick, but the more compliant we are with these sorts of agreements, the more likely we are to be able to affect the decision making process in Brussels. This treaty is unlikely to actually have a huge effect on the UK, but being left behind in the EU is likely to, particularly if our economy doesn't put us in as strong a bargaining position as we are in now.

Anyway, whats all this bollocks about diminishing the power of the elected government? Surely if the referendum goes the way the government campaigns for it does the exact opposite, it strengthens its power on the particular subject It only weakens the government if the governments ideas are rejected (and I suspect you think thats what would happen here) No, but it gets heavily influenced by the Daily Mail and other such veritable institutions, and at least the parties on the whole know something about why their opinion is how it is. Firstly, we didn't have a referendum when we joined the EEC; we joined and then had a referendum about whether we wished to leave shortly after. Secondly, why is this really such a major step? It's nowhere near as important as, for instance, Maastricht or the SEA.

Not needed IMO.

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Boost

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Chevelle - Saturdays

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Kanye West - Stronger

That's an absurdly simplistic and quite frankly inaccurate view, Jez. You're turning into Malcolm. I don't think so. Mourinho won the CL with Porto, then the prem with Chelsea in his first season.. of course he spent a fortune, but turning them into a team in his first season was an awesome achievement. That wasn't the point I was making, Jose Mourinho is a fantastic manager. Whats the point you are making then? Mine is what Risso has pointed out, Mourinho has won everything all the big ones, MON has not but the way the media goes on you would have thought he has won it all! This is not saying i dont want MON or think he is crap, before anyone gets all upset and kicks off at me! My point is that that is an absurdly simplistic and quite frankly inaccurate view. It is simplistic because it compares diffenret types of things. It's like saying that that Cheddar isn't a very good blue cheese. In the end, both managers have made huge successes of every job they have been at. They have had different jobs, but both men have taken every club they have been at to the next level. Has O'Neill won the Premier League? No, but if he was managing Chelsea then he might have done. He may still. As a Villa fan, you ought to appreciate that the best managers aren't automatically the one the manage the best sides. Winning the league with Chelski is a slighly easier task than winning it with Leicester City - so to compare the two as if it's a level playing field is ridiculous. It's innaccurate because the media like both managers, primarily because they are both palpably talented and succesful but also because they carry a little more character and interest than most PL bosses. If you can find me an article that says that O'Neill is a better manager than Mourinho then show it to me. The truth is, there isn't one. The media as a whole likes the pair of them, they do not try to 'hype up' one to be better than the other.

That's an absurdly simplistic and quite frankly inaccurate view, Jez. You're turning into Malcolm. I don't think so. Mourinho won the CL with Porto, then the prem with Chelsea in his first season.. of course he spent a fortune, but turning them into a team in his first season was an awesome achievement. That wasn't the point I was making, Jose Mourinho is a fantastic manager.

That's an absurdly simplistic and quite frankly inaccurate view, Jez. You're turning into Malcolm.

Skindred - Ratrace

Chooon!

Sparta - Cut Your Ribbon

I agree that there's a much greater emphasis on sport down under Nick. I saw that when I was in Australia, even though I was only there for 3 weeks. Just descending onto the runways at Sydney and Melbourne airports, the number of playing fields I saw put all of the major British cities to shame. However, I still think that in year 9 the majority of kids are still pursuing some sort of sporting/exercise interest outside of school which keeps them pretty fit. The problems arise when they quit that for whatever reason (job, social, laziness) and have to rely on school sport only, which isn't enough, particularly at a time when they are starting to drink more and make more of their own choices about their diet.

...And you base that on... ?

Pantera - Living Through Me

When I was in year 9 I was pretty fit. Far more so than I am now.

Alexisonfire - Rough Hands

Tricky - Pumpkin