Messages

That Sam Smith is an attention seeking freak.

It's to deflect from the mind numbing blandness of his music. 100% t*at

I'm a big fan of Billy Bragg's music but he seems to have gone down the rabbit hole opposite Linehan.

OK lads I've whittled it down. Choose the worst from the weekend.

1) Blaine Hughes'(Armagh) woeful hick mullet
2) Barry McCambridge's (Armagh) wonderfully wispy comb over
3) Danny Magill's (Down) Fanta pube candyfloss barnet

1

3

I'm gonna say it.  Armagh haven't been that good.  (Runs for cover)....

The head on that Armagh keeper .  FFS are there no mirrors in his house?

Fermanagh look worse than Antrim.  Armagh could be 20 ahead.

A Tall antrim staff member or sub openly punching a Down sub or staff member clear as day on front of the lineman there.

The only match up Antrim look like winning

Have you ever seen worse? Down poor, Antrim terrible.

Never ceases to amaze me how unionists regard NI being economically in the dark ages and not able to pay its way, as a badge of honour or some sort of achievement.  They just can't hear themselves.

[An NI business in Finance/Captial Markets and IT has access to GB and EU markets]

Having read through the 11 pages of the actual report,it would be handed back to an Economics Undergraduate and He/She would be told to consider another career route

The Authors base their case for starters on an assumption that they know the amount of UK subvention into NI every Year,which is news to anyone versed in these matters as the UK government has never stated an exact total or given an exact breakdown

They then assume that a UI would need to match the current NI contribution to a UK defence Budget,(no thanks Lads,We wont be paying for Trident or Aircraft Carriers)or continue to pay a pro rata portion of UK Debt AFTER NI had left the UK or that the UK would reneage on pension contributions by NI workers paid into the UK pension pot when NI was part of the Uk.

Those 3 areas alone come to anywhere between £5 and £7 bn per annum.

it also assumes that growth rates and productivity are stuck to the floor over the next 20 years, takes no account of the savings or synergy brought about by an All Island Economy and takes no account of inputs from the likes of the EU or FDI going into the 6 counties at 26 counties levels.

This is the type of scrutiny that should be published in the media, but it doesn't make a good headline.
I know for a fact, there are quite a few large multi-national's investing in setting up offices and expanding existing operations in NI as a direct result of Brexit and the finalising of the Windsor agreement. An NI business in Finance/Captial Markets and IT has access to GB and EU markets whilst taking advantage of generally lower salaries and operating costs than in GB and ROI. We're talking high value jobs being created here and the impact of those jobs on the NI economy remain to be seen.
But I don't hear anyone in the media talking about that.

Doesn't the Framework/Protocol, dual access thingy, only apply to goods, not services??

Let's just say that it wouldn't be looked on too favourably in the small village he was from if he played for the Republic.  At the same time I don't think ireland put up much of a case to try and get him

Is he not from a border village?

I think the family live in Killen.  Not exactly a hotbed of republicanism.  There's loads of villages in border areas that would be staunch unionist.

Why did the Shinners support the referendums ? In some areas 80% of SF voters rejected the proposals.

Few people were brave enough to back "No", except the voters of course!  I think SF were wary of always being portrayed the party that says "No".  They should have gone with their gut.

No complaints, England were the better team and deserved to win, probably by more than 1 point.  Ireland never really got going mostly because Eng didn't let them.  England won most of the physical battles.  A lot made of Murray's decision to kick near the end, maybe he thought the forwards were fcuked and might give away a pen trying to stick it up their jumper?  A poor kick, though, and he wasn't good after he came on. O' Mahony was poor too, and put the tin hat on it with a brainless yellow.

Fair play to Italy, should have bate France and could have bate England.  Their U20s are having a great 6N too.

What do the resident SF stalwarts here think of Michelle O'Neill standing for the Charlie Windsor song?

I wouldn't exactly call myself an SF stalwart   but it's grown up politics.  What's that old saying "Campaign in poetry, govern in prose"

I'm a wee bit surprised (but not shocked) at the number of soccer people in NI who would rather that the Euros didn't come to Belfast than see Casement built, and it has f-all to do with a legacy for soccer, tax payer's money or regional stadia.