LongTimeLurker

That's the assessment coming from the Tories in a London media outlet. If there was an article in the Sunday Life aimed at DUP supporters with quotes from Arlene Foster saying that it would be easier to believe. If there is one thing that Ulster Unionists are very good at it's saying No.

An interesting snippet of info that might explain who the unnamed applicant for licensing from the west region could have been. If Talbot did that, an application from Cumnock would no doubt soon follow...

That's only doable with an EEA type arrangement, which effectively means staying inside the EU but having no political say and the ERG type Brexiters won't accept that. With May's deal any attempt to break meaningfully from the EU on issues like trade deals in future leaves NI in the EU's Customs Union and leads to border checks at the Irish sea. Both Brussels and Westminster know this and no amount of intellectual contortions will change that reality. The DUP and TUV were morons to back Brexit in the first place.

It would be difficult for any Unionist party to support the back stop, because it is transparently obviously the EU saying that we will only let you leave easily if you leave NI with us so that there is no land border involved. The NI back stop is expected to be permanent so cannot be made time-limited, because that doesn't fit the agenda of either Brussels or Westminster moving forward. The ERG and the DUP have very different core goals on what they want to achieve, so most of the ERG types will no doubt throw Ulster Unionism under the bus next week. The question is more whether all of them will and how many Labour rebels will back the deal. Hopefully, May's deal gets rejected once and for all, because I think there is a good chance now that Brexit can be fully reversed after a long extension.

The massive miscalculation was really David Cameron's in holding the two referenda in the manner in which he did. The independence referendum should have been a warning signal that the side with the rational arguments could lose the Brexit one to the side with the irrational emotional appeal.

Are the west region still expecting pyramid entry next season? If so, will Talbot avoid licensing so they can avoid promotion to the LL?

Beyond that there is a death of a thousand cuts as car plants close (first Swindon and now Sunderland seems to be winding down) and financial services companies relocate, etc. It doesn't all happen simultaneously.

The best way to find out what Ulster Unionists are up to is to read Belfast Unionist newspapers to find out what the DUP are telling their own supporters and avoid the filter of misunderstanding and at times "Mrs Bunfield" stereotype levels of outright prejudice that the information has to pass through with a London based media outlet: https://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/brexit-dup-will-not-sell-its-soul-for-deal-that-threatens-union-1-8849797 ... But while the DUP’s Jim Shannon said he and his fellow MPs wanted to support “the right deal”, he told the News Letter: “We will not sell our soul for a deal that threatens the Union.” ... The DUP has stated that any changes to the backstop must be made “at treaty level”. When asked yesterday if the PM’s deal was now effectively dead, Mr Shannon replied: “We will have to wait and see what happens. ... “It is clear what we want. We need a legally binding time-limited backstop. The government knows that is what they have to deliver and it is up to them to go back and get that. “Our priority is preservation of the Union; that Northern Ireland is treated the same as England, Scotland and Wales. That is the critical factor in all of this for us.” ...

How much parity in population terms is there going to be between the SoS and the WRSJFA as feeders at tier 6? If it's convenient to enough clubs from a travel standpoint to secure a consensus something that has obvious issues can easily be approved in a Scottish football context.

The problem for Theresa May is that the DUP care much more about NI's place in the Union than they do about Brexit and the back stop is potentially horrendous for Ulster Unionism. My guess is it gets voted down again, the EU attach very awkward conditions to an extension aimed at an eventual reversal of the Leave vote that May will reluctantly accept, which will split her party and lead to a general election.

It's Scottish football. We have a team from England on board and a glorified pub league at tier 6 in the shape of the SoS league and nobody bats an eyelid. If it suits the interests of the HL and SPFL clubs to shift the boundary a bit, it will get shifted. If the top junior clubs move up en masse to the LL the Borders and Galloway clubs will all get relegated as the years pass and the most extreme place involved moving south west is a lot more likely to be somewhere like Auchinleck than Stranraer with the bulk of the teams based not that far from the M8.

Dundee and Montrose are really not that far apart when compared to something like Annan to Wick so it's a stretch to claim that it makes a critical difference in the big scheme of things either going south or north. I'm skeptical that the HL and SPFL clubs care about this enough for it to be some sort of red line for them moving forward.

Technically yes on being in Grangemouth, but it's on the Falkirk side of the motorway and it's reasonably close to where the old Shire park used to be, so I always found it surprising that this didn't happen sooner. Can remember being at Shire games in the 80s when the main talking point was whether to move to the athletics stadium in Grangemouth. That has sometimes been viewed as the most viable alternative.

Fingers crossed that revoke article 50 bit happens if they can't get unanimity on an extension.

There already is direct rule because SF collapsed Stormont, so not sure where you are going with that.

When push comes to shove there's no way any Ulster Unionist could support the back stop because it would lead inexorably to UI. Think the bigger issue is the pro-Brexit fringe that Labour has and all the independents.

The DUP remember what happened in 1912 even if they don't mention it much these days and will be under no illusions about how trustworthy they are.

The DUP won't back it because of the back stop, so doubt it but stranger things have happened on this Brexit thing obviously like 308 maniacs voting for a hard no deal Brexit.

How on earth could that be as close as 312-308? Hopefully that means we get a second referendum and Remain can win this time. Finally one of these close votes went the right way.

It's not fully clear whether BUJFC actually are a reserve team.

From what I remember, there was a guy posting on here about it who claimed to be on their committee, who was wondering whether they would be turned down again by the ERSJFA if they put an application in. He wasn't too happy when it was explained to him that the Highland League would be where they would need to go as things stand at the moment if they got licensed as they appeared to be planning on doing.

Only Tayport, Kinnoull and Scone are on the wrong side of the Tay Bridge boundary with this setup and are all close enough to the boundary that exceptions could easily be justified, so they are very close to having a feeder that is suitable for the HL rather than the LL. Not sure where that might lead in an unintended consequences sort of way, but it's something the EoS will probably try to use against them during PWG meetings.

Keeping an eye on this is definitely a good way to avoid Brexit. Think the wee surprise has to be on east region reconstruction?

...because the last thing the existing SFA full members want is dozens of more snouts at the subsidy trough.

Good luck to them but if there is one thing the Falkirk area really isn't crying out for it's another senior club. Maybe they became aware that it would be more expensive than they had realised when Bo'ness got knocked back from playing league games there while Newtown Park gets renovated?