Messages

1

The B-Ark / Re: v Kings lynn

« on: January 03, 2020, 11:10:43 AM »

Wow such criticism first home loss this season. Great support for a team that so far has done well and I’m sure will make the play offs but give it a rest lost to the better team. Up front they were clinical sadly Dayle is not the answer for us.  But not going to slate our team we lost to a team who are on an amazing run and played some quality football and easy on the eye. Spoke to some of there lads in pubs in town they are living the dream and nice to have both them and Kettering as local games to boost the crowds.  So don’t be to harsh.

Pretty spot on there ...
I did find their chant of 'a town full of spastics' very unpleasant.. that isnt banter...its nasty

Between that and the segregation ‘arrangements’ at The Walks they’re in danger of coming across as a pretty unpleasant little football club. Every club will have its idiots (especially when they’re top the league and everyone jumps on the bandwagon) so not sure if there’s much they can do about that, but they could really do with investing a bit in the off the field stuff (seem to have plenty of funds to spend on the team!) and there’s no way their ground is fit for football at the level above at the moment.

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The B-Ark / Re: O/T In or out

« on: November 28, 2018, 07:42:56 PM »

I love the idea that a ‘true believer’ PM could negotiate a better deal with the biggest trade bloc in the world. They’re not even capable of negotiating the writing and delivery of 48 letters by their fellow headcases. 

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The B-Ark / Re: O/T In or out

« on: November 16, 2018, 10:40:12 PM »

Dominic Raab  4/1 fav in places

Dominic ‘I didn’t realise how important the Dover to Calais trade route is’ Raab?   

Looks like yet again Boris Johnson, Jacob Rees-Mogg and their fellow ERG fruitloops have failed to get enough letters in to force a leadership contest. Is there a more ridiculous group of individuals in political history? Constantly sniping from the sidelines - never proposing any sort of alternative. Constantly saying they have the numbers to bring down Theresa May and implement their (non existent) alternative - constantly failing to do so... All bluster and bravado from a bunch of vacuous cretins who history will (rightly) judge very harshly.

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The B-Ark / Re: O/T In or out

« on: October 22, 2018, 08:00:51 AM »

Oh, and BTW - if, after all that, you still think I'm a remoaning scaremonger peddling "project fear", you'll do well to go away and have a read of submissions published today by the trade sub-committee of the Australian Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade as part of its initial analysis of a future trade deal with the UK.

According to Australia, the UK, and I quote here, is likely to be the "distressed negotiator" from which Australia will be able to extract "significant concessions". But - and this is the worst bit - Australia is going to wait for the United States and Canada to weaken our position EVEN FURTHER before they then move in for the kill.

This is not project fear. This is actual strategy from a foreign country keen to exploit our weakened international status. Published today, if you want to go read all the gory details (you probably should, because if that isn't a reality check for you then I honestly give up).

More project fear mongering.  The aussies are keen to get a trade deal with us once we have escaped the EU gulag, and this 'analysis' if it exists at all, is just their way of attempting to start negotiations from a strong position. Theresa May should take note, although its far too late now.
Considering the Aussie economy is outside the top ten, and the UK is in the play-offs we are not likely to be 'distressed' in the trade negotiations.  Similarly with Canada, and, when negotiating with stronger economies, whatever deal is agreed will be mutually beneficial and not deleterious to either side, otherwise the deal would never be agreed... unless Theresa and Olly Robins are in charge of course 

Ok, so you get that the bigger party should expect to do better when it comes to the UK (hypothetically) negotiating with Australia or Canada. But the fact we are doing badly when it comes to negotiating with the EU is because May/Robbins have handled it badly? Nothing at all to do with the fact that the EU27 have a combined economy which is five or six times as large as ours?

Remainers warned that we would have no chance of securing the sort of pie in the sky deal that leavers promised - because the EU has its own principles to uphold and is economically much bigger and stronger than us. The outcome would be pretty much the same whoever led our negotiations - be it Churchill, JFK or Mickey Mouse. It isn’t the negotiators’ fault for being unable to deliver on an impossible promise - it’s the fault of those who pretended it was possible in the first place (Davis, Johnson, Rees-Mogg etc - the ones who have either ran away from positions of responsibility or never held them in the first place).

May’s big mistake was to spend most of her first two years in office pandering to the Tory/UKIP right and promising the moon on a stick. She should have acknowledged that the referendum was extremely close and that there are huge divides to try and bridge, and aimed to build consensus for something along the lines of Norway, plus a customs union and with some restrictions on freedom of movement. That could then gradually evolve into something more detached over time, when the technology is invented to do so without erecting a hard border in Ireland or turning most of Kent into a lorry park (lol).

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The B-Ark / Re: O/T In or out

« on: October 14, 2018, 09:42:48 AM »

Recently overheard some 12 year old school kids using ‘you’re a big Brexiteer’ as a casual insult to each other.

Chaps, I don’t think history and future generations are going to judge Brexit very kindly.

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The B-Ark / Re: Disgraceful so called fans

« on: September 25, 2018, 02:26:01 PM »

I really think the club have failed on so many levels here.

The stewarding is nothing short of disgraceful. They arbitrarily throw home fans out for minor misdemeanors but when a genuinely difficult situation arises they are nowhere to be seen. During the first half altercation on Saturday one steward could be seen trying to deal with that incident. Not only was this totally inadequate but it raises lots of safeguarding issues regarding his safety, why was only one man in that area when clearly there was a problem? What if they had started on him, what would the reaction time have been of his colleagues? Who is the safety officer now? Surely he should have been aware of the situation and sent reinforcements........it stinks of unprofessionalism.

As regards the Wafula incident obviously we dont know what was said but it obviously was of a very unsavoury nature to provoke such a reaction. Once again though there was the minimum of intervention from the stewards and it begs the question who made the decision not to properly steward that area.
After the game it appears there was an incident in the club. Again, who made the decision to allow away fans in after all that had gone on? Why were they not held back for a few minutes until our fans had dispersed and then escorted away from the ground?
Boston Utd have a duty of care to it's fans and it's players and sadly both were seriously lacking yesterday. Forget the result, this is really concerning to me and at a properly run club I'd expect an investigation into yesterday's shambles. Sally I imagine it'll be swept under the carpet and conveniently forgotten about.

Well said Andy very worrying but true word's.
I that you forward this to David Newton.

I also agree. As I left the ground I asked who I believe to be a senior steward "why havent you done anything?" Meaning the away support "is that acceptable?".His only reply was "why don't you do it then? What's your name?". I was astounded by this response. He hadn't done his job, and when asked a perfectly reasonable question, considering the circumstances, his defence is to become aggressive towards a home fan. Sorry, this isn't on. I'm a season ticket holder who took his ten year old daughter to watch football. I don't want to be a steward, but I do expect those that we are to do their jobs, so my daughter (and I) don't need to be subjected to racial chanting and vile language for 90 minutes plus.

Pretty sure I was stood nearby as this exchange was going on. It corroborated the impression I’ve had for a while (without much particular evidence) that the stewarding at YS has become rather complacent, with an attitude of ‘I’ve been doing this for 15 years, I know best, nobody can question me.’

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The B-Ark / Re: O/T In or out

« on: July 13, 2018, 02:57:51 PM »

Actually, you don't need to answer that. You clearly do think it's a price worth paying, or you wouldn't still be calling those seeking to preserve business interests as traitors. Millions of people think the same. So in some ways, I'm starting to come around to Janan Ganesh thoughts, who said "Brexit is an idea whose only effective rebuttal is its own implementation." Much like prohibition, perhaps we need to actually suffer a hard Brexit for you to finally comprehend why it's such a terrible, terrible idea.

I think I agree - as much as I’d like the current turmoil to result in the whole stupid thing being scrapped, I think in the long run it would simply result in an ultra-toxic political environment where we bounce between hard left socialists selected by Momentum uni students, and right wing headcases like Rees-Mogg. You only have to look at this thread to see that. The idea that Whitehall is some sort of Illuminati organisation seeking to make us a satellite state of Brussels is ludicrous. In reality, they’re hard working and intelligent professionals seeking to do the best for Britain (damage limitation) in spite of the hopelessness of their political bosses. ‘Lions led by donkeys’ is a strong phrase, but in the right spirit here. But people clearly believe the former.

One problem is probably the fact that a genuine ‘no-deal’ Brexit is so astonishingly catastrophic that it is hard to believe. The Independent ran an article the other day highlighting the fact that if the all-Ireland single energy market is not preserved (it wouldn’t be by default), the government is looking at recquisitoning thousands of military electricity generators from places like Afghanistan and putting them on barges in the Irish Sea, just to keep the lights in NI. It’s insane. People like Boris Johnson prefer to take part in photo shoots of their resignation letters rather than think about details like these.

Obviously the trouble with trying hard Brexit and then seeking to rejoin the EU/EEA once we realise it’s a disaster has the disadvantage that we will lose our budget rebate and probably our Euro/Schengen opt outs too.

I find it simply incredible that people still side with the likes of Johnson and Davis, throwing their toys out of the pram and criticising May’s attempt at compromise. Not once have Brexiteers offered any sort of plan for the future relationship themselves. They’re simply overgrown manchildren - the small time teenage vandals who’ve accidentally set fire to the church and then sit back and criticise the efforts of the fire service to put it out.

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The B-Ark / Re: O/T In or out

« on: March 02, 2018, 09:59:12 AM »

It's significant that the EU never mention the 60 page report they commissioned on the Irish border situation.
Maybe because the report found that the technology already exists to make a technological solution possible.  They even suggest using the Irish border solution as a prototype for use across the EU.

Even more significant is the way some of the mainstream media reacted when Boris gave an example of how technology can be used in these situations.

The Remoaners have gone into a frenzy of anti- Brexit propaganda ahead of May's speech today, only to be expected of course,  project fear is back with a vengeance!
It didn't work last time with the likes of Osbourne, Carney, and other experts being proven wrong on the immediate effects of voting out.  Hopefully it won't work this time if May lives sticks to her guns and lives up to her reputation of being 'a bloody difficult woman' !

The EU are determined to use the Irish border as a means to break Brexit and keep us in the Single Market, the Customs Union, and the ECJ, or Brexit in name only, and they're wheeling out every clapped-out old binosaur they can find in an effort to overturn the vote.
If successful this country will no longer be a true democracy. It will be a country run by big business, where the interests of the shareholders are more important than the people's vote.
Unfortunately for us all,  the civil unrest that would follow such a scenario would be on an unprecedented scale.

Driving between Camden and Westminster are part of a single market and customs union, and so there is no need to stop vehicles to check that they are not carrying any goods which are in contravention of safety standards on one side of the border, or that the appropriate customs duties have been paid.

If this fairy-tale 'technological solution' existed, every border between friendly nation states in the world would already be using it.

Highlighting the difficulties and irreconcilable promises made by Brexiters and May's 'government' is not Project Fear, it is Project Cold Hard Reality.

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The B-Ark / Re: O/T In or out

« on: December 24, 2017, 09:37:28 PM »

It seems you spend many hours reading up on this Brexit business Adam and we should all be grateful you passing on the opinions /speculations sourced .   Like you I am critical and distrustful of most politicians and rightly so , but I do think many have had actual experience of complex business transactions unlike many of those telling us how it should be done .

I think many underestimate their skills and knowledge ,  I am sure right from the beginning they knew about border problems etc ,

I heartily disagree - I don't think it's possible to underestimate how out of touch and ill informed most (leave supporting) politicians are with the commercial world. The Leave campaign was led by Boris Johnson and Michael Gove, neither of whom has ever known much other than Oxford University followed by a career in journalism and then switching to politics. It's a pretty open secret that the former backed leave for little reason beyond his own ambitions to reach an office far beyond what his abilities merit (unfortunately he has succeeded by somehow making Foreign Secretary). David Davis wrote an article saying that he expected the UK to have agreed free trade deals with multiple countries within 12-24 months of the vote - apparently blind to the fact doing so would be illegal. We're 18 months on and have only just agreed the outline terms of separation with the EU. (And by agreed, I essentially mean accepted all of their demands!)

The Tory back benches are laden with right wing ideologues who either have no real world experience or who have been sitting in safe seats for so long that they've long since forgotten all of it (I'm thinking of the John Redwoods of the world). They live in a fantasy world where they stoke up their own irrational hatred of the EU, and are happy to push for a cliff edge exit just to satisfy their own fetish like obsession - and damn the consequences on their constituents...

If you were interested in the views of those who have actual experience of running businesses, wouldn't it make sense to look at the business lobbies, which overwhelmingly backed remain?

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The B-Ark / Re: O/T In or out

« on: December 23, 2017, 10:34:33 AM »

...and similarly, many leading members of the leave campaign argued that we would not leave the single market. It's six of one, half a dozen of the other if you look at the speculative arguments put forward during the referendum campaign.

On the other hand, it is a stonewall fact that the single market and EU are separate entities - Norway and others clearly demonstrate this. It is also a fact that the Conservatives ran their election campaignon the basis of a hard Brexit, leaving the single market etc, and promptly lost their majority.

As a country, we've spent the last six decades or so getting by by taking the middle road - neither the socialised economies ran by large chunks of mainland Europe, but equally with a much stronger safety net than you find across the pond. Infrastructure and management that are not particularly good compared to German standards, but generally at least well utilised compared with the empty airports and roads to nowhere you find Spain, etc etc. The idea that we should be interpreting the result of a 52/48 refendum (which opinion polls say would now go the other way) as meaning we should take the most extreme option available from the winning side was always ridiculous, self-harming and frankly un-British considering our values of moderation and sensible compromise. Thankfully, it now seems like a mixture of our weak negotiating position and there being a handful of Tory MPs happy to put country before party means that hard Brexit is pretty much dead. Good riddance.

Incidentally, two of the key warnings of the remain campaign were of economic damage and the fact that we would have a weak hand in negotiations. On the first, we've gone from being the fastest growing member of the G8 to the slowest. Our economy is barely moving forward at a time when most of the world (including the Eurozone!) is steaming along. On the second, well, look at the terms of that exit deal. Every time the press report that we have 'reached an agreement', it can be roughly translated as us having capitulated to the demands of the EU, because they hold all the cards. It's humiliating, but hey, us remoaners never promised it would be anything other than that.

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The B-Ark / Re: O/T In or out

« on: September 27, 2017, 10:16:49 PM »

I cant help but think the idea of being dictated to by Europe is quite appealing at the moment. Heck, I'd rather our affairs were ran by Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron than Messrs Corbyn, Mogg or Leadsom...

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The B-Ark / Re: O/T In or out

« on: September 27, 2017, 01:22:06 PM »

It's clearly not that we'll be in a state of permanent recession upon leaving the EU (although a nasty one is clearly possible if a Boris Brexit is implemented), it's more that as we erect barriers between ourselves and the market of 450m of the world's most prosperous people next door, the economy is likely to just grow that little bit slower in perpetuity. There will be investments and developments that just don't happen. Think of a car manufacturer choosing to locate its plant in Slovakia rather than Stevenage because it doesn't want to become embroiled in delays and paperwork at Dover. In a way, we won't 'miss' those things, but they mean that a few thousand people who might have got a promising new job at a high-tech manufacturing plant instead find themselves stuck on the minimum wage. We're talking about the economy maybe growing at eg 1.8% a year rather than 2% - but as anyone who understands compounding interest knows, small differences each year add up to substantial amounts in the long run.

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The B-Ark / Re: O/T In or out

« on: September 26, 2017, 11:34:03 AM »

Are you really surprised that organising Brexit - disentangling 40 years of legal and trading integration with a continent of 450m people and then trying to come up with an alternative - is going to involve concessions, compromise, and take a long time? In what world does a 52/48 vote for leave - where the form of 'leave' was left completely undefined on the ballot paper - mean that we should automatically opt for the most extreme harikari version of it imaginable?!

This idea that everything is black or white is symptomatic of why UK politics has become an absolute mess. On one hand you have the Tories being torn apart by fantasist loons and public schoolboys like Rees-Mogg and Boris, who treat running the country as japes and banter for the light amusement of public schoolboys. The opposition to that is a Labour party which has turned itself into a personality cult where some fossil who belongs in the 70s is worshiped by a bunch of ill-informed idealists in a manner that should be confined to student union elections.

For me, the best thing that could happen is the whole thing goes to pot, one or more of the two main parties splits up with a sensible party emerging from the ashes, and - though unpleasant - perhaps we need a short, sharp recession to bring the electorate to its collective senses and let us go back to the politics of compromise and steady progress, rather than deluded grand visions.

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The B-Ark / Re: O/T In or out

« on: August 26, 2017, 11:04:55 PM »

Presumably driven by the UK being a much less attractive place to come to, a very dubious cause for celebration...

The only way we'll ever get near the 100k net migration 'target' in the next decade is by completely crashing the economy or doctoring the figures Soviet style. At the moment, the former doesn't look particularly likely, as the high up sensibles (essentially Phillip Hammond and the civil service) look to be doing a reasonably adept job of ensuring we quietly sell out on the more idiotic Brexit ideas/fetishes in order to avoid the damage they would cause (see: EFTA Court). As of yet, people don't really seem to have noticed. Essentially, we're probably going to end up having a relationship with the EU that means we have slightly lower obligations on matters like free movement (which will be superficial/for parading to the Daily Mail), a clunkier but still workable trading relationship, and a significantly diminished influence over any of this stuff. A pretty bum deal, but probably about the least bad one available.

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The B-Ark / Re: O/T In or out

« on: June 21, 2017, 02:42:45 PM »

It's amazing how the language around Brexit has changed. It's now almost always purely in the context of damage limitation, with not a peep from any of its proponents about any benefits. Occasionally you get some bluster from Mogg and co about 'it can only be a hard Brexit because soft Brexit would be betraying the will of the people' - but never any actual positive reasons for it. As someone pointed out on Twitter, if Gove or Johnson gave one of their 'this is how great Brexit will be' speeches today, they would look deranged.