saint1977

You missed off two other ticks - Biden stole the election and climate change is a hoax. The right wing in this country and especially in America really is falling apart.

If she wasn’t double jabbed then she’d have a much higher risk of being hospitalised as some of my friends and family have been. That’s the most likely conclusion although it doesn’t fit your agenda. Wishing her well and hope she feels better soon which she has better chance of doing than if she was unvaccinated. The ICU down the road is packed with them as this area has a lower national rate if vaccines, people with other serious emergencies queuing in ambulances to get in.

Devices to reduce ‘impact’ from 5G bought at expense by conspiracy theorists tapping into online misinformation on 5G and COVID actually shown to be radioactive https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-59703523

Complete history here and a pretty steady (but tragic) flow, many with heart problems. Had forgotten it about Chiek Tiote in 2017, only 30 and no COVID then. Was a 17 year old Belgian player that year with a heart attack https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_association_footballers_who_died_while_playing Professor Greg Whyte is worth listening about cardiac risk in the young, presented at my work just after Vivien Foe happened. Just read that Reuters article posted. Nothing in there about vaccine safety really, sort of contract agreement issues you would expect when vaccinating high mobile and vulnerable populations so you can track some kind of reliable data. Just shows how information can be read multiple ways depending on your starting viewpoint if a strong one. Turkish - look at the wiki link, there hasn’t been a big spike in professional football overall, including those nations where populations vaccinated. Besides, who knows bar the players if Fleck or Wyke were/are vaccinated or not? 25% of EFL players aren’t even planning to have one. Look at Kimmich - lung issue caused by COVID, he was a vaccine sceptic but changed his mind https://edition.cnn.com/2021/12/13/football/joshua-kimmich-regrets-no-covid-vaccine-spt-intl/index.html

It’s a bit of a return from the 1990s although the pattern never truly stopped in London. The coalition, referendum and lead up to it stopped Lib/Lab tactical voting for many years but it looks like it’s back. Conservatives stopped voting Lib Dem if they didn’t like Tory policies or leaders because of the Lib Dem views on the EU and Labour voters switching because of the Lib Dem participation in the coalition. It appears enough time has passed on both issues for a return to tactical voting. The last time it happened on this scale was Christchurch 1993 and we all know what happened in 1997. Starmer still has much work to do in cleaning Labour post Corbyn up to be an acceptable alternative but he’s had a better 6 months of it, Corbyn is isolated, the leader election rules have amended from Miliband’s debacle and Unite is far less influential financially and politically. Still some risks with his front bench eg Rayner and Miliband but if the press go for Rayner that may backfire with working class voters. As a Lib Dem voter, I’m happy to see tactical voting back, the difference here being in a strongly pro Brexit seat. This means Boris has lost a main weapon for a future GE. Trouble for the Tories is that the ideological blendedness that Dell Days complains about above is precisely the reason Boris won London Mayor and the 2019 GE. If austerity returns, the only certainty is a Starmer majority. The Red Wall voted for levelling up and investment eg changes in state aid rules, not Maggie circa 1982. People like Steve Baker are effectively demanding Hassenhuttl to use McMenemy’s tactics - different era and generations. Most Brexit voters do not want Singapore on Thames. Boris may be a buffoon but even he knows this is a fact. If the Tories change leader next year for a more dry Tory, they may get a brief bounce like Norwich got with Dean Smith and Labour in Brown’s early months but normal service will soon be resumed. They’ve been in power a while now and there’s been a lot of baggage and division - austerity, Grenfell (Labour responsible as well but Tories more visible), Brexit, rise of populism and nationalism, the test and trace debacle at £34bn with their pal Dido Harding and now the lockdown party scandals. It’s a really poor rap sheet and by next summer that’s possibly four PMs in 12 years. They are basically divided and drunk at the wheel.

The team Ralph has put out isn’t that bad on paper and should compete but they honestly look like a side our League 1 promotion team could have beaten 5 or 6 nil. I think someone else might get a little run of form out of them without the OCD about playing 4222 which doesn’t this squad and never will. If they are waiting for a takeover to change the manager = relegation. Surely there’s someone that would do the job until the end of the season? Earlier in the season was better but since first half v Leicester they have been as bad as anything under Pellegrino or Branfoot. He’s burning out Tino, pissing off KWP, Perraud barely used. JWP totally regressed this season, even Romeu out of sorts. If the manager is still there on Saturday - season over. This is as bad as what got Pellegrino the sack at the Newcastle game. Bet the sheep at SMS don’t raise a murmur.

In which case why the heck did RH agree to a 2 year deal for a totally past it Theo at £75k p/w? That and the wasted extension for Long - who has played even less - would have paid for a first team keeper. The first team manager has to assert himself on that with the final say, something RH doesn’t seem to struggle with as alluded to at fans forums. I get that Les did the club’s knees in on Fraser’s extension which was a strange affair all round but mistakes in the PL tend to be costly. Les has been gone 3 years, the club can’t keep blaming that now.

Whoever is writing the Star’s front page and pictures each day - a huge thank you, you have cheered us up during a particularly grim time. Today’s is another beauty exposing the stupidity of Dominic Raab https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-the-papers-59661477

Yep, had the same last week, along with short lived man flu as per CB Fry described. Fine now. Interesting interview that an epidemiologist gave to BBC Newcastle today (on the BBC News live thread) which offers a sensible view: - Early data suggests this variant isn’t as bad but before other posters start quoting this there are key variables; - SA population much younger - Hasn’t been around very long, and not long enough for symptoms to be showing in any volume yet as severe enough for hospital admissions. So several weeks to go watching the data. With an older population and the associated complex needs/conditions coming with that, if millions get it in one go the NHS gets swamped on top of winter pressures. So some early hope but also I can see the caution and need for reintroduction of some measures. Delta has hit the NHS very hard and frontline staff are already on their last legs.

Ralph wouldn’t listen to an ace defensive coach even if there were one. The solution is new owner, new manager, new CEO and new coaching line up to shore things up. Keep Crocker as that’s the one area where improvements have been visible for a while.

4222 today without Romeu and Salisu and at a rampant Liverpool are the equivalent to just throwing games. Add the stupidity of last week and of exposing Maddison to a tiring Tino, added to the last 12 months, and the manager is long since out on his ear. Any sensible footballing knowledge even at League 2 level left with Ronald unfortunately which covered over the lack of expertise and knowledge in the rest of the organisation. Sure, the takeover needed to happen 12 months ago to instil the bare professionalism and ruthlessness needed but until then there’s plenty of options to add some organisation and interest from the squad. JWP either isn’t fit or needs another rocket, captain crap currently. Diallo another one who has talent but needs a kick up the arse. If you’re shit, at least work to your limitations and be hard to beat. Even Smith has come into Norwich, replaced a Ralph like Farke and made them more competitive. Sweep away the coaching blob as well - Watson, Kelvin, Fleming. Can’t see any signs of player improvement on the training ground, organisation at set pieces including our own, and the manager doesn’t seem to respect their opinions, certainly not on a match day. Don’t need a Saudi takeover to move from Hampshire league to full time professional standards. Still, the crowds at SMS didn’t even call for Pellegrino to go, can’t see them having any fire in their bellies to turn RH and Semmens next week.

Yet again, the high press isn’t working and got picked off on the counter after a bright start. How thick a manager is someone when they keep on doing the same thing and getting the same shit result? 7 wins in 2021 is the answer. Pathetic. Squad isn’t great at all but it’s not Derby circa 2008 bad either. The star RB is struggling on the left and the prospect 18 year old at RB is running out of steam. The LB bought for £12m won’t even get a game, what was the point? We can all see it but the stubborn dickhead on £6m pa can’t. Gao out, Liebherr out, Ralph out, coaches out, Semmens out. New owner, manager and CEO asap as this rudderless vessel is sinking.

And JRM is missing totally is that it is his choice not to take a vaccine but my family and friends who work on the clinical frontline don’t get a choice about trying to save his arse when vaccines are available massively reducing the chance of serious illness, with about 0.01% serious adverse effects globally and he refused them. They’ve got to clear up his mess including with his loved ones if he’s in a coma in an ICU (there’s plenty of them in the hospital 5 minutes down the road tragically). His loved ones don’t get a choice it seems either. I hope JRM dodges serious illness and stays lucky but anyone who has lost friends in middle age and younger to this virus are worldly wise to how vicious it is.

Absolutely, the main important feature is preventing more serious illness hospital admissions and clogging up the ICUs. Staff on the non COVID wards need to be given greater PPE to reduce spread once there. There is then reduced spread of serious illness strains but there will still be some from those who cannot/will not (there’s a key difference) take a vaccine. This should be a hard fact to absorb but I think mental health overall in the population is so poor and so much time is spent on social media digesting QAnon/Trump/Putin/Piers Corbyn/Andrew Wakefield/David Icke nonsense that people will believe any old stuff. Those names certainly have a small but vocal band of followers on this forum judging by this and the thread on the Lounge, Those people along with the most vulnerable triple jabbed population segments are at the greatest risk. My sense from the early data is this spreads a lot faster but causes milder illness, but the data is a few weeks away at best from building a representative enough picture to have sufficient confidence. Patients admitted with serious non COVID conditions and missing critical diagnosis stages are the biggest group impacted. I can’t see us travelling down the Austrian road, which troubles me, but I do think the unvaccinated will face mobility limits in the future. Or you incentivise people on the lowest incomes for taking boosters. I don’t like passports either but the balance of rights vs ignorance of responsibilities has to be resolved in greater volumes soon if we are going to sustain progress on the next stage of recovery.

Although there’s clearly an element of distraction from Conservative implosion - and helpful timing for Murdoch with the Sienna Miller debacle - there are some very serious hospital capacity issues building up added to normal winter pressures. If Omicron lets rip, this is going to get messy. I’m 5 minutes from a fairly big hospital in an area battling hard to get booster numbers up, with lower 1st and vaccine numbers and ambulances have been queuing up to get in with emergency patients where the wards and the ICU is apparently full of unvaccinated patients with COVID complications (through contacts working there). There are social, educational and income divides on who is choosing to take vaccines, although not being an notably diverse area we don’t have the issues with lower take up that others do as an additional demand increasing factor.

Drawing from that the weekend game is avoiding a hiding but Fraser might be ready for the games after that. If Cabarello looks in decent nick I’d keep him on until the end of the season, start with Fraser, try and develop Bycroft and loan out McCarthy out until his contract expires. Park the keeper the situation until the takeover, Alex has cost too many points already this season. When is Lewis’s contract up? Might be a L2 or National League side somewhere with a similar crisis where he can actually play.

We were doing very well not long ago until Les decided the successful managers were hogging the limelight and a former manager of Bishop Storford could do better than a European Cup and Euros winner. The stadium was full every week. The fans feel that they were lied to about Gao (Chinese block on outgoing funds is a fig leaf) and the performances have been dreadful for 5 years at home. It’s a bit like the England cricket team, we make a joke of how bad SFC is and how poorly run. Last Saturday was typical of the amateur nonsense we have to put up with. We need a new owner who will help offset the debt, add professionalism, and some funds straight away to bring in 2-3 experienced heads to come into the first XI to add street smarts at PL level. Gao needs to sell and the sooner the better.

Simon Jupp - East Devon MP - has claimed in a response to a constituent that Downing St staff are key workers. That is as weak as excuses come. Still, I’m sure the sheep there will vote him back in with a 20000+ majority. Better to apply pressure to metropolitan seats where voters might have the gumption to chuck their MP out next time. Nice distraction to avoiding a public enquiry as well on where the £34bn went with their mate Dido Harding on track and trace. I’ve never voted Labour before but Starmer has to be better than this shower, surely? Even the England top order in the Ashes would be an improvement and they are flaky as ever! People can’t even protest properly now with the new policing bill and now Boris is going to ignore judges’ rulings he doesn’t like. Mini Trump.

More bad news for The Dell Days/Brett/Batman/Alex as well https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/dec/07/trump-voters-counties-more-likely-die-covid-study

Thought provoking article on Cricinfo about the sacking of the 16 coaching and fitness team. Seems very harsh on the likes of Grayson who wasn’t at the club after Rafiq had left https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/yorkshire-racism-crisis-sacked-staff-seek-legal-action-after-purge-1292274 Yorkshire CC HR shouldn’t in principle be allowed anywhere that process as they are also currently under investigation for the behaviour and dreadful standards of governance so a conflict of interest https://www.joe.co.uk/news/yorkshire-launch-investigation-after-head-of-human-resources-called-supporter-a-coward-299114 Wouldn’t be surprised if they are though - much laxer standards usually apply in my experience to HR professions than to operational employees, however poor the HR function has been.

Unless RH goes, Alex has played his last first team game at SFC. Very rare a player cops direct blame in public like that from this generation of managers. So I’m guessing Heaton as interim emergency and Johnston in January.

The Republican Party needs to be put to sleep post Trump - country club centre right has become David Icke and Piers Corbyn. When leading politicians come out with this sort of misinformation, a country is in huge trouble. 70m plus boneheads voted for these people. Let that sink in for a moment https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucelee/2021/12/04/marjorie-taylor-greene-compares-covid-19-to-cancer-heres-the-twittersphere-response/?sh=425fd0434c30

If Gao needs an injection of major funds and the price has softened to be in someone’s bracket they wanted to pay it could well happen quickly if they’ve already looked at the books. Exclusivity periods are less frequent now and we didn’t know about Markus until it was basically done and only then because Pinnacle nearly derailed it there was known to be a Swiss consortia late on. If it was Da Grosa it would be all over the media again well before now. I’ll cling onto the hope that it’s a serious buyer as Markus was. Don’t want to be the new City or Newcastle, but a King Power type owner would be nice to get us back to buying early Manes, VVDs, refresh the stadium and help stabilise the academy. New keeper and striker in January if done in time welcome too.

My sense from the article is the interest this time is being followed up by scrutiny of the finances and bids on the table. Periods of exclusivity seem to have fallen out of favour which might reduce timescales. Semmens has said that the serious parties won’t be kicking tyres in the press like Da Grosa was. Gao wants to sell and has done for ages, it’s for how much and on what terms. The article seems to be the club’s way of finally pushing him over the line into moving on, and understandably so as everyone will want some clarity and sense of direction. Sounds like his circumstances mean that he has had to soften on price. There’s also been articles linking quite a few players of typical profile for priority areas eg keeper (Johnston), and striker (Bereton and others) in the January window and I did wonder where the money would come from.

Yep, Broja should be on, what the fuck are Ralph’s coaching team doing? He’s been saved potentially by Maddison going off, had Tino on toast, Perraud on and KWP to RB was obvious to counter but the manager couldn’t read the game.