A European Cup Cup Playoff™ COULD be the solution

by .

It’s fascinating piecing together all the component parts of this outbreak and the impact it’s having on the Premier League.

Firstly, I didn’t realise the league cancelled NOT because huge gathering of the proles could be a problem for society, oh no, they cancelled when Mikel Arteta was diagnosed because they worried about how long it’d take players to come back to full fitness. This line from The Guardian captures it neatly.

A Premier League club executive, who did not want to be named given the acute sensitivities of this crisis, said sports scientists’ advice is that a player needs one day of training for every day of isolation before they can be match fit. So the advisory 14-day isolation doubles to 28 days out of action. It appears close to impossible for squads, managers, coaching and other staff to operate at full strength as the virus spreads, peaks and runs its course.

Bit grim that it was players recovery times… not the idea that a stadium of 60,000 people is a hotbed of contagion that could kill people.

The dawning reality for football execs up and down the country is that the season is looking ever more likely to be cancelled.

Check out the podcast at the bottom of this post where I talk through some hypotheticals with Alex. We discussed a couple of areas that look less likely today. One of my unbelievable EUREKA JOHNSON moments centred around the problems of cancelling the season, I suggested we SHOULD play the season out to stop legal challenges. The bonus is we would resync world football and start next season in January. The benefit would be that we’d be in good shape for the Qatar World Cup. However, most players contracts run to June 30th, which would cause a headache for clubs. I don’t really buy that, we’re changing the season in 2 years, why not now? It’d be better for everyone if this season was finished fairly.

Apparently, there’s a taste for nullifying the league right now but in a less extreme way that Karen Brady is suggesting (namely, letting clubs have last seasons spots). Promote WBA and Leeds, give Liverpool the title, and make all the leagues bigger for a year by not relegating anyone. I could be onboard with that, but I’d be pretty miffed if Arsenal lost out on Europe. We’re very much in the mixer. If we win our game in hand, we’re two points from United. Sure, we’ve been shite all season, but so have United, hence their drab points total.

I WOULD SUE

… and there is the problem, if I can’t play nicely, do you really think Don Raul is going to forsake that Champions League pot of gold he bet this summers transfer budget on? I have my doubts. However unlikely Champions League seemed, it was on the cards. I think we’d have even more of a chance if Arteta had 3 months to practice his ideas with the team. We’d be fitter, smarter, and we’d have a few games to build into the City game (the game in hand).

Another BOBBY DAZZLER of an idea we were mulling was a European Cup Cup Comp™. Isn’t that a pithy name?

If we’re settled on Leicester, Liverpool and City as the Top three, we could play a knockout for the remaining European places. Maybe we could run a futsal league? 8 teams battle it out. The winners take home Europe. The final could be called the CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL, you know, because both teams would qualify? I can work on nomenclature, keep with me here, it’s a good idea, we’re moving things forward and you damn well know it.

The really interesting impending firestorm is the one around TV money. Do fans get their subs back from the TV companies? Or is it force majeur (get fucked in French)? Part of the problem is we pay monthly, so fans will just cancel the football part. The question focusing on whether the TV companies take back the money they’ve lost in upfront payments? It ‘could’ be solved by growing the league by 3 teams and giving the TV firms the extra games for free next season. The Premier League might also have to drop their pants on 3pm kickoffs and give Sky a sniff at those. We could also see a relegation playoff introduced like they have in other countries, that’d help plump up the lost advertising revenue.

Damn, we are solving issues at a rate of knots today chaps and chapesses.

On the Mikel Arteta front, he’s doing well according to his wife.

“My husband is feeling fine, he is well. It’s true that he had symptoms of the virus but the symptoms would have never stopped him from going to work in a normal situation.”

I love that she’s just admitted that Mikel usually takes his illness into work. What a pig.

Before I go though, I haven’t seen my GF for the best part of 2 months, she came home yesterday. I foolishly thought I’d slink out and support the people in restaurants who won’t be earning any money… thinking New York would be a ghost town. My oh my, it was fucking packed. The sun was out, people were playing in the park, and all the bars were fucking rammed. Then I read this today and felt real guilty.

Calm before the storm after reading that bad boy! Stay safe and pretend those canned kidney beans are a dining delight by serving them up artfully!

Right, I guess that’s me done for today. Let me know if there are any topics you want me to write about over the coming weeks.

We’re going to have A LOT of time to kill….

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Marc

TR7

Whilst that is unpleasant it’s the right thing to do.

Emiratesstroller

Marc Most of the people who have made adverse comments either live abroad or are politically motivated. I listened carefully to what the Foreign Secretary of South Korea has said when interviewed by Andrew Marr. This is the country highlighted by WHO as a success. What she said is that their country were not adopting autocratic measures, but are keeping population properly informed and relying on their population acting with common sense. The major differences are that they are testing on a greater scale than in UK or other countries in Europe. Also they shifted production to healthcare equipment and… Read more »

TR7

Marc

Perhaps it is but imagine a G-7 country struggling to treat 15000-20000 people.

Tom

Marc
Maybe it’s you who needs brushing up on history.
I never blamed Bush for not killing Bin Laden , I was referring to the CIA intel “ Bin Laden poised to attack on US soil “ which he had ignored shortly before 911.
Even if Clinton had attempted to kill Bin Laden there was no certainty the operation would’ve been successful.

Marc

Tom

You do know bin Laden first attacked the World Trade Centre in 1993? About a month after Clinton was sworn in – it’s been reported that Clinton refused to sanction his killing on more than one occasion after this.

Clinton has as much blood on his hands as Bush does maybe more.

Marc

TR7

Not sure what you mean by that.

Marc

Emirates

I’ve been cast as some sort of lunatic for suggesting that people don’t panic or over react.

You even had someone posting a comment earlier about why over reacting is good because you can always calm down after.

It scares me that these people are allowed to vote.

TR7

Marc

‘You even had someone posting a comment earlier about why over reacting is good because you can always calm down after.It scares me that these people are allowed to vote.’

Thankfully your contribution to public administration is limited to casting a vote.

Marc

TR7

Right back at you.

Marc

TR7

Do you think that comment about over reacting is actually a good idea?

Andy1886

Stroller, politically motivated? And you are defending the British government because why exactly? Sorry, but pot, kettle, black springs to mind.

Waylander

Almost signed must be Ronaldo 7 & Ronaldinho visa issue

Tom

Marc
I probably should’ve known better.
I give up.

Marc

Andy

Maybe he thinks they’re doing a good job in bad circumstances and if you actually look at the facts rather than internet “hysteria” it’s not a crazy position to take?

Marc

Tom

What did I say that was factually incorrect?

I’m genuinely curious?

You made a comment attacking Republican Presidents for lack of action and I pointed out the Democrats are as bad.

I think you’ve given up because you just got bitch slapped in the internet.

TR7

Marc Absolutely yes. Today Italy reported highest number of deaths in a day due to Corona. We are talking about a developed nation here which despite fighting against the Corona outbreak for nearly 20 days now is no closer to restricting the damage, instead things are getting bad to worse. Numbers from Spain, France and the US suggest even after complete lockdown Corona can cause serious damage. I mean we are talking about affluent, developed nations here which are struggling to deal with the virus despite pulling out all the stops. This damn thing has spread across 120 countries in… Read more »

Marc

TR7

What you say above is correct but let me tell you something – panic will make things worse.

If you put forward the idea of more stringent measures that’s one thing but you’re advocating hysteria.

That has been my only point on all of this – panic is bad!

Andy1886

Marc, referring to others as ‘Corbynistas’ is a pretty fair indication of someone’s political views, so to call others politically motivated is a bit rich. When I see the government offer an argument that makes sense I may change my view but all I’ve seen so far is complacency and fairytale proposals.

Marc

Andy

Clearly you don’t like Emirates political views but you haven’t challenged what he said.

TR7

Marc

Never advocated panic, that will only complicate the matter even more. I said over reaction to Corona may not be a bad thing. For example – companies allowing all employees to work from home even in places where Corona is yet to strike can be termed over reaction but perhaps it won’t be a bad thing to do. People locking themselves up in their home ? Again perhaps an over reaction but not a bad thing to do.

Emiratesstroller

Andy 1886 I am not being political but am prepared to back Government so long as they follow best Scientific and Medical advice and adopt best practice. No country on the planet is well prepared for an epidemic like this. France has just reported an almost 1,000 increase in cases today and 120 deaths. France and UK have almost identical population. Most people including Politicians recognise that this is a “National Crisis” Sadly Corbyn on evidence of his performance on Prime Ministers Question Time is the exception. No-one objects to people having different opinions how to handle this crisis, but… Read more »

jwl

Marc – look for bill burr ‘airplane turbulence’ on YouTube, I am 100% certain you will enjoy it. It is about ninety seconds long and he basically tells the nervous ninnies, especially the males, to shut the fcuk up and behave like a man. I think of this clip daily since virus panic started six weeks ago.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=s0SK8I449nc

Marc

TR7

Getting people who can work from home to do so is not an over reaction.

People locking themselves up in their homes? How long are they supposed to do this? The virus is going to be around for months, that’s part of the behavioural modelling that’s been done – at first everyone stays in but over time they struggle to cope so start to go out again – that’s precisely why the science advisors are saying it’s as much about the timing of actions as the actions themselves.

Tom

Clinton has as much blood on his hands as Bush does maybe more.
———-
Clearly.
Bush took us to war with a wrong country which resulted in over million casualties or higher ,and counting.
Yes, I totally feel bitch slapped.

R.S.P.C.Arsenal

Stroller

You jest.
Uk has the same population as France…
Wow….

Andy1886

Stroller, seriously, your vigorous defence of government policy is no surprise given your previous comments on various issues that are almost invariably supportive of Conservative party policies. On the actual facts you say that only Germany has controlled death rates better than the UK. If you calculate death rates on the figures you have then France is 2%, Switzerland is 0.6%, Netherlands 1.8% and the UK is 2.6%. Only Italy and Spain are worse. Countries in mainland Europe with free movement are bound to be ahead of the curve in pure numbers of cases, compare when we’re at the same… Read more »

Marc

jwl

Thanks for that – both funny and very true.

Crazy thing is in the modern world the guy losing is praised for being in touch with his feelings, if I’m on that plane the only thing I want to be in touch with is a pretty stewardess and the drinks trolley.

R.S.P.C.Arsenal

Just l8ke the Chinese have the premature deaths of elderly people on thei4 hands.

Those slimy fuckers planned this… once this is sorted they should b3 blackballed and boycotted and banned from every country.

R.S.P.C.Arsenal

Diol and Saliba as a back two … good.?

The lil rhythms at West Ham won’t sell him Cheap

Is h3 the man …

Marc

Tom

You know precisely what I was referring to and your original comment was about bin Laden which I’ve stuck to – you in desperation to justify your comment are now moving the goal posts.

No one in their right minds thinks the invasion of Iraq was right or even remotely justified. Personally I’d pay good money to see Tony Blair on trial for War Crimes at the Hague.

R.S.P.C.Arsenal

Tony Blair and his stroked wife are a pair of greedy bastards who robbed the country blind…
Not my words but words of peter foster.

Greedy horrible people…

He wanted to stay in Europe cos his pockets were going to be lined wit( euros…

We need a lee Harvey for him…

Marc

RSPC

Now be reasonable – Oswald wouldn’t be able to do him , the bitch wife and all his kids.

He’d need help!

Habesha Gooner

Again I am going to ask this question
Anyone in here who has a link of “taking care of a Corona patient with out being a medical professional”? Because we need to
be ready.
If you guys have any Ideas about giving care to a mild symptom corona patient at home share them please. If anyone here is a medical expert even better.

Marc

Habesha

I’m in no way an expert but the obvious thing is depends how old they are or if they have a pre existing condition that could be exacerbated by Corona.

Habesha Gooner

Marc I get that Anyone with serious pre existing conditions and or above 50 will need a health professional and an ICU. but I also want to know about how to take care of people under 50. Everyone is saying they probably don’t need to go to a medical facility but how do you take care of them at home without exposing your self? How do you clean their staff. what kind of pain killers might they need. I thought It would be better to be prepared. If you have any ideas on these topics or a link That would… Read more »

Marc

Habesha

I’m not sure you’re going to stop yourself catching it if you live or are caring for someone. If they are otherwise healthy I’d go for plenty of liquids and whatever pain killers they find agreeable – aspirins great but I’m asthmatic and it affect my chest so I’d use Ibuprofen buts a personal choice.

Outside of the hysterics if they aren’t in an at risk group they’ll get over it fine – they’ll feel shitty but make a full recovery.

R.S.P.C.Arsenal

Marc

You could be in the bush
I would be in the grassy knoll… and we need a senior protection person in the team in the car behind to fire the bullet.

John Smith would have won the election and been 10x better than Blair..

So sad he passed.

Marc

RSPC

I don’t think you’d be short of volunteers, in fact you’d probably have people fighting over who get’s to do it.

R.S.P.C.Arsenal

Marc
We agree on something…
Let’s raise a glass to that…

The Romanian kid we got is training with the first team…
Maybe after Smith he will be given his chance,

Andy1886

Habesha: Advice is to keep an infected person in a ventilated room, door closed and avoid all contact. If you share facilities such as a bathroom these should be disinfected after each use. Do not share food or utensils, avoid clothing or bedding until washed (usual detergents are fine). You can take them food and collect the dishes but wash hands immediately after handling. The only medical actions given are that they should keep hydrated and can take paracetamol in the usual doses. The UK states 7 day quarantine but elsewhere it’s 14 days. Hope that helps.

Marc

RSPC

There are those that would say dancing a jig and pissing yourself laughing because Blair’s dead is an unreasonable unpleasant trait – I’d tell them to fuck off between killer dance moves.

Andy1886

I would add that if they develop breathing difficulties then it’s time to call an ambulance but hopefully you would not need to do that.

Andy1886

Marc, in the spirit of political equality I respect your opinions on Blair, would be hypocritical of me not to as I did a little jig myself when Thatcher kicked the bucket.

Emiratesstroller

Andy 1886 Forgive me you are wrong France, Switzerland and Holland have worse records of both number of cases and deaths when you factor size of population in each country. Switzerland is the same size as Scotland and Holland has a population just over quarter of size of UK. France is marginally larger than UK. Both countries have just over 66 million I am not disputing that the number of undiagnosed cases in UK may be considerably higher although Health Minister suggested on Andrew Marr that they were not as Boris had suggested previously. For the record France had conducted… Read more »

Marc

Andy

Maggie was a legend – My political hero’s in order are:

1) Churchill

2) Alan B’stard

3) Margret Thatcher

Marc

Emirates

Just as a point the idea that there are lots of undiagnosed cases would be viewed by many as a bad thing – I look at it from the opposite position. If they are thousands of cases that no ones picked up and the death rate is still keeping in the 3ish% range of diagnosed cases this means it’s not as dangerous as some are making it out to be to the general population.

Emiratesstroller

Population in UK calculated at 66.4 Million in 2017. France calculated at 66.9 Million in 2019. So there is marginal difference in population of both countries.

R.S.P.C.Arsenal

Marc

Like many that summer day in 1997
I believed that things were going to get better…

Nor knowing that tramp only wanted riches for each member of his family.

Disgusting family.
He is the labour thatcher…
his death should be a bank holiday… his body dragged through the streets.

R.S.P.C.Arsenal

Stroller

I was unaware of 5hat, assumed that bigger land meant more people.

Thank you,

Marc

RSPC

It’d need to be a 4 day weekend – 3 days of solid drinking and celebration with one day for recovery.

R.S.P.C.Arsenal

Also when going for a dump… can be renamed
I’m going for a Blair …

I’m not sure about kier stammers as next boss. A knight of the realm being labour leader ain’t right.

I personally like rebbeca long bailey ..

But she ain’t popular.

Or bring back the mayor of Manchester.

Marc

RSPC

I’m behind all of those options as Labour leader – should keep Boris in power for decades.

andy1886

Stroller, just taking it back to my original comment my initial objection was to you painting those critical of the government’s actions as being politically motivated. Clearly there are many who have different views based on the evidence as they see it, not politics. On the numbers you mentioned death rates. Death rates are calculated by taking the number of known infected and calculating the percentage that die. My numbers reflect this. So outcomes are worse in the UK in that respect. Again let’s be clear without accurate numbers for infected individuals all of these statistics are pretty meaningless. My… Read more »

Gentlebris

‘You even had someone posting a comment earlier about why over reacting is good because you can always calm down after.It scares me that these people are allowed to vote.’ I read that comment and it’s a beaut. First, this is an international health emergency. Then as the comment posited, to over react in that sense is to roll out all the possible measures against the worst scenario thinkable. Once that is in full swing, you have the luxury of time for analysis. From there, you determine measures that are not actually needed and switch them off. By so doing,… Read more »

andy1886

Marc:

Churchill: Great war leader (not so hot during WWI but who was?), but not trusted to lead the country post war.

Alan B’stard – agreed, absolute legend.

Maggie: To me meant mass youth unemployment just as I left school, YTS schemes, selling of housing stock and utilities so her cronies could make huge profits, poll tax and social division.

I don’t really have any political heroes as such, best we can hope for is that the next one isn’t such a narcissistic f*ckwit.

Emiratesstroller

andy1886 The Government’s official estimate is that current deaths is 1% of all cases. It is of course significantly higher for older people. Only one case was below age of 70 and that was someone with serious heart problems. The percentage is correlating with the mortality rate in South Korea which is testing far more people. Boris Johnson and the Secretary of State for Health made the same calculation of people estimated to have virus including those untested. However, he suggested today that it might be less. As I have pointed out France and UK have similar size population, but… Read more »

Andy1886

Un, Thatcher’s policies caused untold misery to millions and she deemed it ‘a price worth paying’ so guess I’m not the biggest wanker in that scenario.

Andy1886

Stroller, we will see. Would be nice however if you would acknowledge that there are good reasons beyond politics to disagree with this government’s policy.

Marc

Un

Maggie was a fucking legend – you know it, I know it and the lefty scum she crushed know it.

Greatest leader of the last 40 years and that’s globally. The French are still trying to install some of her reforms they’ve just never had a leader man enough to follow it through.

Emiratesstroller

Andy 1886

As I have already acknowledged there are different opinions globally how to
deal with this crisis and that applies also within the UK.

Our Government has made a judgment based on our scientists and medical
profession’ advice. It is not a political decision.

Andy1886

Stroller, you’re free to believe that, I’m free to believe that in politics all decisions have a political dimension.

Batistuta

Absolutely disgraceful the way the British government has handled the whole situation. Spain now on lockdown which should have been done weeks back.

Valentin

I am with Andy on that one. Both UK and US government are more worried about the state of the economy than the death toll. That does not mean that everybody in government is sociopath, but among the special advisors a fair few will try to score political gains for their side. I also believe that some leaders have still not grasp the enormity of the crisis they are facing. Both on the medical and on the economic level. They should realised that this is going to cause a massive economic shock that could end up much bigger than 2008.… Read more »

Dissenter

Emirates
You really believe your government is following scientific and medical advice to the letter?
You are very trusting, like Andy said…good for you.

Tony

Andy1886 “Stroller, we will see. Would be nice however if you would acknowledge that there are good reasons beyond politics to disagree with this government’s policy.” Flogging a dead horse I’m afraid as far as ES is concerned. ES is one of the remaining few who extend from the bastion of the ‘stiff upper lip’ and bulldog breed hence my Churchillian comment to ES. ES while being admirably successful earning his accumulated wealth also obviously comes from a good stock family who no doubt afforded him privileges with education etc in a way he does for his offspring and I… Read more »

Tony

I don’t know if the rule is still in place but the UK government will make any returning expats pay for their medical care for the first 6 months of their return to the UK regardless if they paid their NI contributions in full before leaving the country.

There are going to be some livid expats in the coming weeks arriving in the UK seeking medial help.

Ces1ne?

Suarez & Alonso the 2 biggest missed transfers off the top of my head…..don’t know how a lot of the famous “I almost signed…” Wenger blurbs were true or if they would have developed the same way @ OUR club that they did elsewhere

Tony

It’s gets more farcical if the press is to believed. So it was reported that low category prisoners could be released early because of the virus and yet today the reported news is that people could be fined £100 for not self isolation or be jailed. Bet the police can’t wait to have Covid-19 symptom people in their jails. Schools still not closed? Just pure lunacy by Boris and his cronies. Children and teacher being put at unnecessary risk with the likelihood of parents being at home anyway as was the previous excuse for not closing the schools. Boris still… Read more »

Sid

The measures the UK government is taking are a time bomb. You can quote this in only 2 weeks.

Im telling you this for free!

Emiratesstroller

Tony The life expectancy in Thailand is 75 as opposed to almost 81 in UK so I suggest that you stop selling the idea that everything is now far better in the country where you live. In one of your earlier posts you maintained that healthcare for tourists in Thailand is excellent and presumably you include yourself in that category. Well that is hardly representative of the rest of the country. Asia is entirely different culture from Britain not least because the population is generally younger. I have not suggested that Britain is a panacea, but when you are discussing… Read more »

Emiratesstroller

Tony Since you like to sell the virtues of Thailand I have just read a report published by Credit Suisse in 2018. This reports that Thailand is the most divided country on the planet economically with the top 1% of population owning 78% of the country’s wealth. It has overtaken both Russia and India since 2014 when the previous report was published. Only 4 major economies have a situation where 51% of country’s wealth is owned by 1% of population. So the idea that Thailand is a panacea and would cope better with a major outbreak of Coronavirus is pure… Read more »

Bob N16

Tony, ES does make an interesting point, do you happen to know what percentage of the Thai population can access their health system? It may be excellent if you can afford it!

Pierre

Actually, I find ES (stroller) a man of integrity and honesty.

Whereas , I find Tony a condescending prick.

Spanishdave

The headlines in some papers are fear mongering at its worse.
The real epidemic is fear whipped up by the press to sell copy.
Many people will loose their businesses and be out of work because of it.
The cretins creating this fear will still have a job.
Unreal

Tony

Bob the Thai people use the government hospitals that have excellent facilities and doctors. In fact a top cardiology interventionist was called in to my private hospital to do what few people in the world can do and insert a series of stents though the LMA brach that took his team of 3 almost 6 hours to do. Thai people especially poor village people only pay 50 THB (less than £1) for their treatment at government hospitals. Operations and medications are subsidised compared to the private hospitals. What ES fails to understand is the quality of life a WORKING Thai… Read more »

Valentin

Back to the football, the academy system should cover the club history and its past legends. Like Wayne Rooney was saying, how could the Ox could play for Arsenal as an out wide player and have never heard of Marc Overmars? https://www.football365.com/news/wayne-rooney-alex-oxlade-chamberlain-england-arsenal-liverpool While for Walcott, I blame his lack of progress at Arsenal mostly on the coaching, for the Ox I have always suspected that on top of regular injuries his introvert and passive character were the main reason for his lack of progress at Arsenal. Because he had all the natural attributes to be a great footballer: technique and… Read more »

Valentin

Stroller:

“This reports that Thailand is the most divided country on the planet economically with the top 1% of population owning 78% of the country’s wealth.”

Tony:
“Thailand in some ways is still a 3rd world country, but you can buy Rolls Royce and McClarens at the largest shopping malls in Bangkok.”

😂🤭

I know which one lives in his privileged bubble without really knowing the country he resides in.

Tony

Valentine Who would that be? Try reading before you make stupid unwarranted comments. Another Walter Mitty moment for you then. I’m very immersed into the Thai life and people. I live in a very Thai city where we only get the odd coach load of overnight tourists on their way down to Bangkok and Ayutthaya. You and ES seem to share the same book/Internet experience/learning without any practical in person reality. You’d both get on really well sharing fact a long way from the source. With you both being similarly anal it probably would be interestingly comic from a fly-on-the-wall… Read more »

Bob N16

Tony, good to hear that medical care is affordable. I haven’t been to Thailand since 1988 but remember fondly the friendliness of the people above all else.

A couple of sweeping generalisations, wherever you live in the world, medical professionals are some of the kindest people you’ll meet (particularly nurses) and generosity is not linked to wealth; some of the poorest people I’ve met are the most willing to share anything they have.

Tony

ES I don’t know what’s funnier you being a Google warrior or you actually believing that any institution/company could accurately make claims of who owns what in Thailand. That alone makes it clear you have zero understanding of Thai and Chinese Thai people and the country/culture. The surface may look shallow, but the murky depths below seem unending at times. As for life expectancy? Is that all you could think up for a retort? It’s quality of life not quantity of years Thais value like most of us. There’s a much better balance of life, wealth and education/medical from my… Read more »

Emiratesstroller

Okay I have listened very carefully today on ITV to the senior medical officer in Scotland and the former Head of General Practitioners in UK who is currently recovering from Coronavirus. The Scottish Senior Medical Officer is on the same page as his English equivalent and supports the action of the UK Government. The GP has explained perhaps more eloquently than anyone else who has been interviewed by media what is being done and why she supports the action of Government and the Science. 1. First she explains that the virus is most unpleasant and she describes accurately the symptoms.… Read more »

Tony

You know ES? We are so far apart it’s just not worth the effort for either of us to try to make up ground towards the middle.

I find this with most people who only draw knowledge from holidays and business trips. The few who don’t who tend to want to listen more than talk and have real depth to their being. Their questions are never ending but worthy of response.

If there’s any doubt ES, you fit into the most people category.

Words on a Blog

Funny what people queue up for and stockpile in different parts of the world.

In Britain, the USA and Australia it’s toilet paper, tinned food and pasta.

In the Netherlands, people are queuing up outside “coffee shops” to buy cannabis.

Meanwhile in Glasgow the only section of the fresh food aisle that is totally untouched is the vegan section!

Tony

“He thinks that he is much cleverer than me and everyone else and seems to think that because I am in my 70s that I am gaga and out of touch.” No need to play the poor me card, ES or inject something I have never said or subscribed to such a POV. What I pointed out was that you can’t make such bold statements without credible intelligence from on the ground. For the record I don’t think you’re gaga or anything like it. I just think you’re pompous to a level that I find distasteful. As I said in… Read more »

Emiratesstroller

Tony With the greatest respect to you I do listen to other people’s point of view on many topics. Three weeks ago my wife and I had a dinner party with four guests one of whom was the former CEO of Nuffield Trust one of the leading Educational and Scientific Charities in this country and also one of Britain’s leading Civil Engineers. Both are politically opposite to me but we had a very civilised and well discussed conversation on the environment. Then again as I pointed out previously I had a conversation recently with a friend who is a senior… Read more »

Nelson

Now it really hits home. Two of my best friends work in a restaurant where the major business is lunch time visitors from a few big companies near by. Now those company employees all work at home. That restaurant is lock down and my friends lost their job.

Gentlebris

‘Now it really hits home. Two of my best friends work in a restaurant where the major business is lunch time visitors from a few big companies near by. Now those company employees all work at home. That restaurant is lock down and my friends lost their job.’

This is getting really ugly.

Has anyone read anything on how soon this can be sorted?

This can’t go on, businesses that people toiled for years to build could die.

Valentin

Stroller,

Whoever you meet does know less than Tony’s estimated friends at the Rotary’s club.

Tony is clearly a man of the people. Using the availability of Rolls Royce in shopping mall as an argument demonstrates it.

He has his hand on the pulse of Thai society. it does not matter if the stats contradict his statement that Thailand is much safer than the UK.
Thailand 3.24 murder per 100,000 habitants
Compare to
United Kingdom 1.2 murder per 100,000 habitants.

Pierre had perfectly summed up Tony: a condescending prick.

Valentin

Nelson, In most Western countries, the two biggest employers sector are retail industry and leisure/travel/restaurant. If you stop from from operating, then they will start closing down. Some permanently. All those employees will then be affected. Many will lose their jobs. Universal Credit in UK has a 6~8 weeks lag between application and first payment. Most people do not have a two months financial security cushion. I have seen a friend whose husband died unexpectedly having to go food bank because of financial upheaval. I can only imagine the devastation a long term lockdown will inflict on the most financially… Read more »

Marc

Very interesting comment on Sky News just now. The Government is not sharing the information it is basing decisions on to other scientists in general – neither are other Governments before someone comments. Scientists are used to working in an open environment where information is shared freely and peer review is the standard.

This basically means any scientist appearing in the media giving advice is doing so from a position of not having all of the facts available – in fact they are probably basing any view on what’s in the media which I would not trust 100%.

Marc

Valentin

That’s the scary thing at the moment – pub’s, restaurants, cinema chains and general retail are all going to be devastated by this. It’s not only the pilots who will suffer as well it’s anyone who works at an airport.

Marc

Un

I’ve heard reports before that the Ox enjoyed playing the clown – nothing wrong with enjoying what you do and having a bit of fun but to hit the top level you also need to know when to knuckle down.

Valentin

Marc, It is about personal responsibility. There is only so much a teacher or coach can do for you. Don’t blame the coach if you are one footed, teach yourself to use both feet. David Beckham used to spend an extra 20 minutes every day to work on his free-kick. Nobody told him to do it. He saw Eric Cantona do it and he started to copy his dedication. Funny how the group of kids who joined his extra work session ended up play for Manchester United first team. David Beckham, the Neville brothers, Nicky Butt got their career due… Read more »

Marc

Valentin There’s a great story from back in the day after Zola signed for Chelsea. After the first days training all of the English players are about to go in and change and are chatting about their plans for the day – round of golf etc. Zola is setting up some free kick practice so one of the players asks him what he’s doing – extra training. The English player says but you’re an amazing player you don’t need extra training – Zola says I’m only this good because I do extra training. The difference in attitudes says a great… Read more »

Emiratesstroller

Valentin/Pierre

Thanks for your support much appreciated.

On the matter of Universal Credit the rules have now been changed by Chancellor in last week’s budget. The department are supposed to accelerate
the payments within 1 week.

Whether that is going to happen remains to be seen.

Guns of Hackney

I’ve just joined my town’s local Covid 19 volunteer support group.

Have a look on Facebook or WhatsApp and see if you can help out.

It could be a real help for someone who genuinely needs it.

Valentin

Marc,

Unless you are ungodly talented, dedication and the right attitude is what makes good players into great players and decent players into good players.
I never understood people who snear at professional who want to improve themselves.
Footballer seems to think that working 2 hours per day is enough.
Ronaldo one of the greatest player in the world is still the first in and the last out of training. Plus his physic clearly show that he still does a lot more abdominal gym work that most footballers.

Valentin

Stroller,

We don’t always agree on things, but I find you to always be ready to listen and engage with people and to be genuinely polite.

Marc

Valentin

It’s not only football – you see it in everything over here. Ignorance is almost worn as a badge of pride.

Marko

My oh my, it was fucking packed. The sun was out, people were playing in the park, and all the bars were fucking rammed. Then I read this today and felt real guilty.

I mean by and large Americans are a bit thick thinking nothing will happen to them until it’s right at their doorstep. Not too mention their ignorance has them believing absolute bullshit that they hear.