RayC

I agree with you about the hypocrisy but who are these left-wing woke individuals who control sport? Are the board of the RFU left-wing? Nothing to indicate that. Moreover, the likes of Eddie Hearn and PL football club owners don't strike me as being revolutionary Marxists. Those controlling sport are just as (more?) likely to be right-wing. Wasn't so long ago that we had the good old fascist, Max Mosley and the Hitler apologist, Bernie Ecclestone running motor sport.

My argument rests on the assumption that the owners of the various clubs wield the power. Look at the ownership of the major European football clubs. Those clubs not in the hands of Middle-Eastern states are either owned by corporations or extremely wealthy individuals (admittedly Germany is the exception). I doubt that you will find too many socialists among their number. I'd suggest that it's a similar story for F1, cricket (the IPL) and boxing (the leading promoters); horse racing has long been controlled by Middle-Eastern owners. I'm not a connoisseur of US sports, but I believe that the overwhelming majority of teams in the NFL, NBA, etc have similar ownership to European football. Again, I doubt that there will be too many left-of-centre types in their ranks, although I'm open to being corrected. (Golf and tennis might be slightly different. However, golf is now controlled by Saudi Arabia. Tennis is still very much an establishment sport. Again, I doubt that many socialists are present at Wimbledon, Roland Garois, Queens or Flinders Park).

I blame the 19th century missionaries. They obviously didn't do a very good job in civilising these 'primitive' countries ????

I find Lineker, Neville, etc irritating and hypocritical but their ability to influence football to any great degree is limited. Perhaps your ire would be better directed at those who really control sports: I doubt that you'll find many who are 'left of centre' in their ranks.

Plenty of people raise concerns. Unfortunately, their voices fall on deaf ears.

Tbf to the golfers who are against LIV, they have no choice if they want to continue playing tournament golf. Unlike the hypocritical footballers who could have boycotted the Qatar WC, and then resumed their (club) careers without much problem, the golfers have nowhere else to go.

Is this you????? VID-20201024-WA0005.mp4

But we were told that Brexit was 'oven ready' in early 2020.

Terrible news. This explains why but not why if you see what I mean: Railway accidents: What makes train travel so unsafe in India? As much as 40% of Indian Railways' 1,219 line sections are utilised beyond 100% (Source: Business Standard)

Tbf the Leave campaign only promised new trade deals. They didn't say anything about them being beneficial to the UK.

If, by chance, you happen to talk to my mate Bill, please remind him that he owes me a fiver. Thanks.

There is!!! Unfortunately, they tried to land in the UK and Suella Braverman denied them entry!????

I assume that you are exaggerating for effect but that is not even close to the truth. The Belgium government is comprised of a 7-party coalition of unlikely partners (2 Socialist parties, the Christian Democrats, 2 Green parties and 2 Liberal parties) which commands a majority in the Senate, and represents a majority of the voters. Worryingly, the right-wing, anti-immigrant Flemish nationalists polled well but they were unable to form a government.

https://www.ft.com/content/1fd173a6-8718-4798-b692-685801ec1604 Maybe behind a paywall but the headline says enough.

Deleted. Essentially duplicates a post by Placeholder.

My last word on the matter which, no doubt, will be a blessed relief to other posters You are either trolling or delusional. Again, only you know which it is (or maybe not if it's the latter, in which case you have my sympathy).

Yet again. No elaboration. Nothing to support the statement. Then you shouldn't have any trouble referring to the post(s). No time like the present. Done it far too often. I suggest that you give it a go. Your counselling is about as good as your reasoning. You going to tire of trolling any time soon?

You do realise that the ONS, which you now ridicule, is the very same ONS who produced the data that - up to now -you have been so keen to champion as fact?

Seems like everything is "ongoing"!

There is nothing incorrect in my previous post. You may well have been referring to that particular post of JohnnyF; I was not, as was clear in my previous post outlining the chain of events: It is simply a case of you misinterpreting matters. Only you know whether this is deliberate or inadvertent. Your post to which I am replying is yet another attempt to muddy the waters in order to avoid admitting that you are wrong.

I'll help you out as you clearly find it difficult to follow a discussion. On p.18 (+/-13 hours as I write), JohnnyF referenced the IMF revised FORECAST. Candide replied to this post (p.18, 10 hrs) Johnny F (p.18, 9 hrs) replied with the following: "Better than many EU countries. Meaning that leaving the EU is not the cause of low growth, but rather the worldwide economic slowdown caused by Covid lockdowns and the war in Ukraine. Project Fear has been proved to be a lie." I disagreed with JohnnyF about this, and referenced the OBR report (p.18, 8hrs) You then either deliberately - or, more likely, simply because you are incapable of following an argument (maybe a combination of both?) - suggested that I was comparing 'actual' data with forecasts which was clearly not the case. In hindsight, I should have made this post immediately following that post of yours. Ho hum. The only line of argument that you seem capable of presenting is either based on misinterpretation, or one based on an overly simplistic, pedantic semantics. Perhaps you should have actually attended school instead of playing truant!?

We must stop agreeing like this???? You're right, of course. The UK's greater flexibility in Employment law is a double-edged sword. In the example you cite it is a disadvantage (for the worker). In the case of fruit pickers/ bar staff, the greater flexibility might help to create jobs and be beneficial to both parties.

Difficult to disagree with most of what you say (and reference). The pandemic, in particular, appears to have changed many people's attitudes to work worldwide. Nevertheless, your links also reference the importance of pay and working conditions. Relative to most EU nations, pay rates for fruit pickers and hospitality staff in the UK are quite high. Also employment law is more flexible in the UK. Add in the fact that English is the second language for those who speak another tongue and it makes the UK a relatively attractive for such workers vis-a-vis other EU countries. The fly in the ointment is (the removal of) freedom of movement for EU workers The number of workers arriving in the UK from the EU might not have recovered to pre-pandemic levels, but I'd suggest that there can be little doubt that the removal of freedom of movement has contributed to the decline in their numbers.

"Nothing to do with Brexit" Very debatable. The number of EU migrants coming to the UK has decreased. The number of migrants coming from non-EU nations for work has increased. Coincidence? Perhaps but imo unlikely. https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/internationalmigration/bulletins/longterminternationalmigrationprovisional/yearendingdecember2022#non-eu-reason-for-migration

I've no idea why you would conclude that I have difficulty differentiating between certain words. What I (still) don't understand is what point you are trying to make.