On: 50,000 deaths so far in the UK's coronavirus epide...

[gnulinux]

"Sick man of Europe" was originally used for the Ottoman Empire, so it does seem suitable to use it for UK in this case.

[throwanem → gnulinux]

I'm well aware. But considering that Turkey, the modern successor state of the Ottoman Empire, is negotiating its way into the EU, while the UK has just finished making a dog's breakfast of negotiating its way out of it...

[StartupTree → throwanem]

Turkey is not currently negotiating its way into the EU, not using any credible definition of the word.

[donogh → StartupTree]

Technically, they are still negotiating, though negotiations stalled in 2016[1].

I can't ever see it happening; there is so much opposition. Human rights seems to be biggest sticking point, and is unlikely to be resolved any time soon.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accession_of_Turkey_to_the_Eur...