As we're unlikely to see terraces again at football, this is the virtual equivalent where you can chat to your hearts content about all football matters and, obviously, Arsenal in particular. This forum encourages all Gooners to visit and contribute so please keep it respectful, clean and topical.
On a more serious note, watching/listening to Boris's announcement last night, the Government really missed an opportunity to (at last) set things right and be Clear and Concise with what the public can and cannot and should and should not be doing; especially after those dickheads gathering in the large groups over the week-end.
Around the corner from where I live there is a Retirement Community: 2 streets and a cul de sac of flats and bungalows which also has a Day Centre, all those that live there are of retirement age,
On Saturday they arranged to celebrate VE Day between each other by phone and on-line to set up the small green it has trees and benches etc) with small (union jack) flags..they all gathered for 2 - 3 hours in the sunshine but kept at least 2 metres apart. Each person brought their own chair and sandwiches, the regular day warden sorted some music (all from the 40's/ 50's - Glen Miller, Vera Lynne etc ) - They shared a few hours with their friends in a safe and sensible way...then all went home... Unlike the fuckking idiots who were not social distancing... Do these idiots not realise there are still people dying from this awful thing?
Perhaps they'll get the message when someone in their family or social circle contracts the virus and dies.
As for the government they have proved themselves to be a bunch in wishy-washy in-decisive fuckking morons. Had this been handled properly many hundreds if not thousands of lives could have been saved.
We now have the highest number of deaths from Covid 19 in Europe.
They could see what was happening in Spain and Italy and still failed to act immediately like Germany, instead they dallied about until it became far too late. Why didn't they adopt a firm and decisive hand from the beginning is a mystery. So now England, Wales & Scotland (and N.Ireland) are operating under different understandings and procedures, surely it was time to ensure that the Guidelines were/are the same for all parts of the UK. It's just a blundering and utter mess. The government are a ship of fools captained by a bloody buffoon.
The Police, NHS and Union Leaders have been calling for greater clarity and decision making, for better guidelines and still he has failed to deliver.
Typical Politicians all about appearing to do good, when they don't have a fuckin' scooby. Makes my blood boil.
By design my good man, by design - a clear and concise statement is something that they can be held accountable for if those specific targets are not met, but throwing out vague comments leaves enough wiggle room for them to say that they made no definite commitments We are having the same shit over here where even our 5 Phases Recovery Plan is riddled with enough get out clauses to allow them to rip up the staement and blame everyone else for it
As I have constantly pointed out, we have no travel ban on flights or ferries into Ireland, and the uk government's lifting of 14 days isolation for people travelling between Ireland and the uk, is already causing concerns over here - when I say causing concerns, I obviously mean amongst the ordinary joe public, cos those running our country wont do squat about it still
Well here we go , the announcement most of us that live on the Norfolk Broads have been dreading.
After last night's statement already the RYA have welcomed the return to boating and all the message boards are full of people saying that they are on their way to take their boats out and go fishing albeit that it's still closed season .
Norfolk has a small natural population with a low incidence of corona virus . We just wait for the visitors to turn up , bring it with them and see the numbers going up.
On a more serious note, watching/listening to Boris's announcement last night, the Government really missed an opportunity to (at last) set things right and be Clear and Concise with what the public can and cannot and should and should not be doing; especially after those dickheads gathering in the large groups over the week-end.
Around the corner from where I live there is a Retirement Community: 2 streets and a cul de sac of flats and bungalows which also has a Day Centre, all those that live there are of retirement age,
On Saturday they arranged to celebrate VE Day between each other by phone and on-line to set up the small green it has trees and benches etc) with small (union jack) flags..they all gathered for 2 - 3 hours in the sunshine but kept at least 2 metres apart. Each person brought their own chair and sandwiches, the regular day warden sorted some music (all from the 40's/ 50's - Glen Miller, Vera Lynne etc ) - They shared a few hours with their friends in a safe and sensible way...then all went home... Unlike the fuckking idiots who were not social distancing... Do these idiots not realise there are still people dying from this awful thing?
Perhaps they'll get the message when someone in their family or social circle contracts the virus and dies.
As for the government they have proved themselves to be a bunch in wishy-washy in-decisive fuckking morons. Had this been handled properly many hundreds if not thousands of lives could have been saved.
We now have the highest number of deaths from Covid 19 in Europe.
They could see what was happening in Spain and Italy and still failed to act immediately like Germany, instead they dallied about until it became far too late. Why didn't they adopt a firm and decisive hand from the beginning is a mystery. So now England, Wales & Scotland (and N.Ireland) are operating under different understandings and procedures, surely it was time to ensure that the Guidelines were/are the same for all parts of the UK. It's just a blundering and utter mess. The government are a ship of fools captained by a bloody buffoon.
The Police, NHS and Union Leaders have been calling for greater clarity and decision making, for better guidelines and still he has failed to deliver.
Typical Politicians all about appearing to do good, when they don't have a fuckin' scooby. Makes my blood boil.
By design my good man, by design - a clear and concise statement is something that they can be held accountable for if those specific targets are not met, but throwing out vague comments leaves enough wiggle room for them to say that they made no definite commitments We are having the same shit over here where even our 5 Phases Recovery Plan is riddled with enough get out clauses to allow them to rip up the staement and blame everyone else for it
As I have constantly pointed out, we have no travel ban on flights or ferries into Ireland, and the uk government's lifting of 14 days isolation for people travelling between Ireland and the uk, is already causing concerns over here - when I say causing concerns, I obviously mean amongst the ordinary joe public, cos those running our country wont do squat about it still
Yes, I take your point Augie - Dead to rights.
Just "ONCE" for a PM/Government to make a Bold and, Honest and Much Needed decision regardless of who it grinds with and then stand up and be counted for what they have said and done.
There's a great deal of truth in that saying ' you can always tell a politician is lying, because they're breathing'
We all know Common Sense is in short supply, The traffic this morning has already doubled. Some may well be going to work, but something also tells me there are those on Furlough who will now dedicate their time to other things other than staying at home; Fishing? I saw a range rover whizz by loaded up with fishing tackle in the early hours this morning.
I can see only one outcome from the vague offering made by the Buffoon last night and that is a Rise in Covid 19 cases and sadly an increase in people dying.
On a more serious note, watching/listening to Boris's announcement last night, the Government really missed an opportunity to (at last) set things right and be Clear and Concise with what the public can and cannot and should and should not be doing; especially after those dickheads gathering in the large groups over the week-end.
Around the corner from where I live there is a Retirement Community: 2 streets and a cul de sac of flats and bungalows which also has a Day Centre, all those that live there are of retirement age,
On Saturday they arranged to celebrate VE Day between each other by phone and on-line to set up the small green it has trees and benches etc) with small (union jack) flags..they all gathered for 2 - 3 hours in the sunshine but kept at least 2 metres apart. Each person brought their own chair and sandwiches, the regular day warden sorted some music (all from the 40's/ 50's - Glen Miller, Vera Lynne etc ) - They shared a few hours with their friends in a safe and sensible way...then all went home... Unlike the fuckking idiots who were not social distancing... Do these idiots not realise there are still people dying from this awful thing?
Perhaps they'll get the message when someone in their family or social circle contracts the virus and dies.
As for the government they have proved themselves to be a bunch in wishy-washy in-decisive fuckking morons. Had this been handled properly many hundreds if not thousands of lives could have been saved.
We now have the highest number of deaths from Covid 19 in Europe.
They could see what was happening in Spain and Italy and still failed to act immediately like Germany, instead they dallied about until it became far too late. Why didn't they adopt a firm and decisive hand from the beginning is a mystery. So now England, Wales & Scotland (and N.Ireland) are operating under different understandings and procedures, surely it was time to ensure that the Guidelines were/are the same for all parts of the UK. It's just a blundering and utter mess. The government are a ship of fools captained by a bloody buffoon.
The Police, NHS and Union Leaders have been calling for greater clarity and decision making, for better guidelines and still he has failed to deliver.
Typical Politicians all about appearing to do good, when they don't have a fuckin' scooby. Makes my blood boil.
I agree with most of this OBG however the bit about the NHS Police and Unions makes my blood boil, there are some very highly paid and qualified people working at the top of the first two organisations and they are the ones who should be telling the buffoons in Government exactly how things should be done within their respective areas not waiting for guidance, but as with the government they wrung their hands and waited to be told so they cant be blamed when things go wrong it is the worst form of moral cowardice. It has been the same with the care home sector trying to fob the blame off to the government and NHS, 84% of the care homes in this country are privately run charge a fortune for their services and pay their bottom of the rung workers atrociously and under train them whilst in the main charging significantly more than the public sector care homes but when the shit hit the fan they weren't prepared to carry out the required procedures as laid down by Public Health bodies because it was too expensive thereby putting their clients and staff at huge risk and then seeking to blame others.
As for the Unions they can go fuck themselves, on the one hand they're moaning about job losses, economic collapse, working conditions etc etc and on the other hand they are waiting for the government to tell them how things should work within their own areas of expertise. I hate the Unions because they exist for strife and only exist because of strife, so when there isnt any they go about creating it to justify the need for themselves and so they can collect their members dues. Most Union leaders I've known are fucking shit at their jobs and end up in those jobs because they couldn't be useful on the shopfloor but could talk a load of bollocks. Len Mcluskey was interviewed early intimating that government should be telling his members how to safely do their jobs, ffs how the hell is the government supposed to write a detailed how to for every single job type in the country, there are 10s of thousands of different jobs all requiring different procedures......
One thing this whole situation has reaffirmed for me is that for all their supposed superiority many of the people leading businesses, public sector organisations etc no matter how qualified and experienced are shit at their jobs and the entire system in this country has gone down a deadly path where personal and professional responsibility has been sidelined in favour of self preservation so where people who should be capable of making the right decisions in a timely fashion they now dont have the balls to do so and it has cost many many lives.
People can blame the incompetent government all they like but it just hides the reality of a country where noone wants to accept responsibility just in case they end up being blamed
Agree with a fair bit of that Muzz and there are certainly plenty of fuckwits in charge of the Police / Unions and in NHS management. However much of the current debacle is now politically driven. Certainly the unions see a chance to kick the tories at this moment - how the fu.ck does London ever get back to work on a socially distanced rail and bus network - perfect. The NHS management and GMC are usually at loggerheads with a tory government and the police have been handed a shit sandwich when it comes to policing the current lockdown "rules". Don't forget that Teresa May fucked up their pensions when she was Home Secretary so a lot of them will have no time for the tories either. The "in this together" bit is well and truly over and the old battlelines are back.
Theres been a voluntary lockdown at best , newspapers which in turn means woodpulp ete exempt all delivery and therefore warehouses exempt supermarkets and therefore all producers of food exempt.Uber and taxis mini cabs exempt food takeaways exempt building workers and thus all suppliers of building materials exempt. This list is endless so in effect if you want to isolate fine if not crack on. This Goverment has been a joke from the very beginning of this crisis. They have pissed away billions of tax payers money by giving out bumper contracts to their pals whilst people die.
Stupidity levels are on the rise. Can't wait until we basically say to all the stupid people this Monday "Hey fuck common sense, go on out there and initiate the second wave of mass infection".
Fucktard Taoiseach (our version of your PM) and ubercunt Leo Verruca (not a typo) paid a visit to a tracking centre in Westmoreland st Dublin today. Now if you've ever had the joy of traversing Westmoreland st you'll know it is plagued by junkie scum at the best of times but swamped with gangs of the cùnts over the last couple months. The cops do nothing about these bastards.
But hey today not one junkie scumbag to be seen! Oh look the govt organised free food and clothing hand outs to "the homeless" over on the other side of the city centre..... no need to prove you are homeless just turn up for free shit to keep you out of good Old Leo's sight.
Good to see London back to normality again today, people cramming onto trains and buses.
Oh wait aren't we meant to observe social distancing and cover our faces when using public transport. I think I saw maybe 20-30% wearing masks on the news today. People have a death wish in this city.
As for Boris, deep down even though the disease nearly killed him I am beginning to think that he is still an advocate of herd immunity. And the quickest way there is just to confuse the fuck out of the population rather than give clear concise instructions.
SAGE told the govt to lock down within 2 weeks on the 7 March, it took the them 16 days. For me as soon as you get this sort of advice you don't wait to act, you get your act together sooner rather than later. This lack action alone cost thousands of lives. As we speak there is question after question about whats been going on in care homes for the last 6 weeks.
Never mind Germany, Greece and Denmark have put us to shame over this crisis.
Good to see London back to normality again today, people cramming onto trains and buses.
Oh wait aren't we meant to observe social distancing and cover our faces when using public transport. I think I saw maybe 20-30% wearing masks on the news today. People have a death wish in this city.
As for Boris, deep down even though the disease nearly killed him I am beginning to think that he is still an advocate of herd immunity. And the quickest way there is just to confuse the fuck out of the population rather than give clear concise instructions.
SAGE told the govt to lock down within 2 weeks on the 7 March, it took the them 16 days. For me as soon as you get this sort of advice you don't wait to act, you get your act together sooner rather than later. This lack action alone cost thousands of lives. As we speak there is question after question about whats been going on in care homes for the last 6 weeks.
Never mind Germany, Greece and Denmark have put us to shame over this crisis.
The country that we should all be hailing is new Zealand - it is an island country (as we are in Ireland, and as the uk minus northern Ireland is), and they shut down totally including and especially their borders, thus preventing people importing new cases in. After a few weeks of a total lockdown on their every day normality, they are now coming out on the other side with ridiculously low numbers of infections and deaths. They had a government making decisions that nobody opposed as everyone bought into doing what needed to be done to save lives - over here (in Ireland and the uk) people would never be so responsible cos we are very much a selfish and entitled society
Good to see London back to normality again today, people cramming onto trains and buses.
Oh wait aren't we meant to observe social distancing and cover our faces when using public transport. I think I saw maybe 20-30% wearing masks on the news today. People have a death wish in this city.
As for Boris, deep down even though the disease nearly killed him I am beginning to think that he is still an advocate of herd immunity. And the quickest way there is just to confuse the fuck out of the population rather than give clear concise instructions.
SAGE told the govt to lock down within 2 weeks on the 7 March, it took the them 16 days. For me as soon as you get this sort of advice you don't wait to act, you get your act together sooner rather than later. This lack action alone cost thousands of lives. As we speak there is question after question about whats been going on in care homes for the last 6 weeks.
Never mind Germany, Greece and Denmark have put us to shame over this crisis.
The country that we should all be hailing is new Zealand - it is an island country (as we are in Ireland, and as the uk minus northern Ireland is), and they shut down totally including and especially their borders, thus preventing people importing new cases in. After a few weeks of a total lockdown on their every day normality, they are now coming out on the other side with ridiculously low numbers of infections and deaths. They had a government making decisions that nobody opposed as everyone bought into doing what needed to be done to save lives - over here (in Ireland and the uk) people would never be so responsible cos we are very much a selfish and entitled society
New Zealand is a remote Island really, with no land borders who shut down early. The thing is they came out with a coherent strategy that the people understood and it would appear adhered to. There is no doubt they dealt with the crisis well but for me Greece a country that has been going through the mill over the last 10 years with all its financial problems, and borders with Turkey a country that has been hit hard with over 100k cases (I don't believe their death toll) has done exceptionally well.
Boris is starting to feel the heat from Keir Starmer who is on a different level to Jeremy Corbyn, it's just a shame we have to wait 5 years before we can get the fraud out.
We could argue that Ireland, both North and South hasn’t faired to badly.
I think the decision taken independantly by pubs and a lot of retailers in the North to follow the South’ lead, days before it was made compulsory, has paid huge dividends.
A large percentage of the deaths have been in care homes, ie the elderly and infirm. Whilst that is still someone’s personal tragedy, it’s more understandable.
To be fair to Boris and co, countries with large cities and a huge range of nationalities, seem to have been hit worst. What they have managed to do, which Italy and Spain struggled with, is to provide beds to those who needed them.
They have also avoided the distressing scenes of mass graves and coffins piled into storage awaiting cremation.
They have also provided unprecedented financial aid to many people affected (J’ve been on furlough for 7 weeks)
They also, like many other countries, got many things wrong. A reckoning on that, is for the future.
And Nutflush, Starmer, is an opportunist, merely trying to score points during a time of crisis and the Tories will wipe the floor with Labour when the next election comes.
We could argue that Ireland, both North and South hasn’t faired to badly.
I think the decision taken independantly by pubs and a lot of retailers in the North to follow the South’ lead, days before it was made compulsory, has paid huge dividends.
A large percentage of the deaths have been in care homes, ie the elderly and infirm. Whilst that is still someone’s personal tragedy, it’s more understandable.
To be fair to Boris and co, countries with large cities and a huge range of nationalities, seem to have been hit worst. What they have managed to do, which Italy and Spain struggled with, is to provide beds to those who needed them.
They have also avoided the distressing scenes of mass graves and coffins piled into storage awaiting cremation.
They have also provided unprecedented financial aid to many people affected (J’ve been on furlough for 7 weeks)
They also, like many other countries, got many things wrong. A reckoning on that, is for the future.
And Nutflush, Starmer, is an opportunist, merely trying to score points during a time of crisis and the Tories will wipe the floor with Labour when the next election comes.
Starmer has actually held back in roasting Boris. The first time it happened was yesterday, Opportunism only comes about when the incumbent government fail at all levels to deal with a crisis that it is clear that other countries have done better than we have.
You talk about population density, well Germany is comparable with 80% of our population density but has less than 25% of the deaths in the UK. It's about clear proactive effective leadership, the Tories/Boris have not displayed any of these characteristics.
You talk about care homes, how is a death in a care home understandable when someone tests positive in a hospital but they are sent back to their care home to infect the other residents? Not forgetting Care Homes were right at the bottom of the list for PPE supplies when the main battle against COVID was in each and every care home in this country.
We could argue that Ireland, both North and South hasn’t faired to badly.
I think the decision taken independantly by pubs and a lot of retailers in the North to follow the South’ lead, days before it was made compulsory, has paid huge dividends.
A large percentage of the deaths have been in care homes, ie the elderly and infirm. Whilst that is still someone’s personal tragedy, it’s more understandable.
To be fair to Boris and co, countries with large cities and a huge range of nationalities, seem to have been hit worst. What they have managed to do, which Italy and Spain struggled with, is to provide beds to those who needed them.
They have also avoided the distressing scenes of mass graves and coffins piled into storage awaiting cremation.
They have also provided unprecedented financial aid to many people affected (J’ve been on furlough for 7 weeks)
They also, like many other countries, got many things wrong. A reckoning on that, is for the future.
And Nutflush, Starmer, is an opportunist, merely trying to score points during a time of crisis and the Tories will wipe the floor with Labour when the next election comes.
Starmer has actually held back in roasting Boris. The first time it happened was yesterday, Opportunism only comes about when the incumbent government fail at all levels to deal with a crisis that it is clear that other countries have done better than we have.
You talk about population density, well Germany is comparable with 80% of our population density but has less than 25% of the deaths in the UK. It's about clear proactive effective leadership, the Tories/Boris have not displayed any of these characteristics.
You talk about care homes, how is a death in a care home understandable when someone tests positive in a hospital but they are sent back to their care home to infect the other residents? Not forgetting Care Homes were right at the bottom of the list for PPE supplies when the main battle against COVID was in each and every care home in this country.
There are no excuses. It's a national scandal that has to be exposed.
All the praise heaped on Germany (myself included), has been premature. They've had a second wave hit them and are back into lockdown.
The government has been a bit naff at its instructions and the lockdown has in all honestly, hardly been a lockdown. I don't know what the police have been doing to the enforce the lockdown because I travel regularly into Wales for work, I've not been stopped once to be asked the purpose of my journey. No doubt after posting this I'll be stopped.
Why do people think a labour government led by Jeremy Corbyn would have done any better?
The government has released money into vital services. The failure in procuring effective PPE and testing kits would have occurred whoever won the election in December, as I'd imagine they'd have the same scientific expert analysis.
The message is simple and the same across the world.
Good to see London back to normality again today, people cramming onto trains and buses.
Oh wait aren't we meant to observe social distancing and cover our faces when using public transport. I think I saw maybe 20-30% wearing masks on the news today. People have a death wish in this city.
As for Boris, deep down even though the disease nearly killed him I am beginning to think that he is still an advocate of herd immunity. And the quickest way there is just to confuse the fuck out of the population rather than give clear concise instructions.
SAGE told the govt to lock down within 2 weeks on the 7 March, it took the them 16 days. For me as soon as you get this sort of advice you don't wait to act, you get your act together sooner rather than later. This lack action alone cost thousands of lives. As we speak there is question after question about whats been going on in care homes for the last 6 weeks.
Never mind Germany, Greece and Denmark have put us to shame over this crisis.
The country that we should all be hailing is new Zealand - it is an island country (as we are in Ireland, and as the uk minus northern Ireland is), and they shut down totally including and especially their borders, thus preventing people importing new cases in. After a few weeks of a total lockdown on their every day normality, they are now coming out on the other side with ridiculously low numbers of infections and deaths. They had a government making decisions that nobody opposed as everyone bought into doing what needed to be done to save lives - over here (in Ireland and the uk) people would never be so responsible cos we are very much a selfish and entitled society
Here in Australia we've also done really well but it helps that both our countries are in the middle of nowhere. Lockdowns are slowly easing over here at the discretion of governments of the states and territories. Still there is always the fear that there could be a second more deadlier outbreak especially as we're also now in our Winter pretty much.
