Honey Honey

Spain and Italy are ranked as the top two healthiest countries in the world and they have the same covid rates as the UK if not worse.

Speculation teenage mutant virus is more contagious among kids. Now found everywhere in the UK bar Northern Ireland, also found in Iceland, Denmark, Netherlands, Belgium and Italy. Estimates are that hospitalisations will nationally be at the same level as the peak in April by New Year's Day.

Bruce has now confirmed that Lascelles and ASM have COVID. I wonder if they are the two with suspected long covid as surely their isolation period is up now?

Only New Zealand in the west can probably claim to have done well so far. Key being so far. As we've seen Germany held up for 6 months as a shining example since collapse and reach over 700 deaths per day. There has to be a degree of public and governance failures.

The results are the same in Scotland when you drill down into the data. Can't run from your own shadow.

Two people I know had positive tests in the last 48 hours. One was going to office in Central everyday so not surprising. The other has no idea where he got it from, hasn't been anywhere but the shops.

I do. You've got to mix it up as well. Occasionally tap, occasionally bottle. That way you get all the added sulphates and fake mineral imitations from bottled water.

It just looks like clear water to me. Think you might have a scale problem or something. Contact your local water supplier.

I haven't had a cold since before March lockdown. Is anyone else actually buying the idea that the government haven't been trialling cold and flu vaccines in our tap water?

Probably one of the most important questions anyone will ask in this thread, why does Klopp have dentures?

Personally I blame all the plonkers who pressurised the government into keeping London out of tier 3 at the start of December. Such a stupid thing to have done given the evidence we had at the time.

They both had injuries before covid started but wouldn't be surprised if they're still out now because of it.

What happens when politicians are briefed and advised to never show any doubt in what they are saying. Only positive is that they are willing to change and not sticking to something to save face.

True, we know Schar and Manquillo are out with COVID. Whether they are the two with suspected long covid I don't know.

Just the South East likely. No one allowed out or in. China style. They're bricking it that people travel in and out of the South East for Christmas. I myself was going to Newcastle but that will likely be off now. Have to see what happens at 4.

Bruce is saying 2 of our players might have long covid. Can't walk for 30 minutes without needing to go back to bed.

Cynic in me immediately presumed it was political spin to escape the obvious that London should never have been in tier 2 in the first place. So many plonkers in London's politics lately.

All season we've been playing like the ball has covid anyway.

So called local leaders get to consult. London's leaders across the political spectrum all whined and made public demands for tier 2 max, someone even said tier 1 believe it or not. Daily cases are lower across Tyneside than parts of London. All of Tyneside is Tier 3, none of London is. The North East is a lot closer culturally to Wales and Scotland than it is to the South East. It's leaders hold similar values because of that. Not having hard rules on who should and shouldn't be in a particular tier opens the door for a devolved inconsistent mess. A lot of which can be influenced by how much influence local leaders have over the central government.

It begs the question whether our lads would have gotten away with their shite performance if a crowd was there. I'm not saying we would have won, the setup was shite, but a few players would have been more full blooded and bounce back better surely. Home to your lot and Man Utd and there's no evidence of any motivation. We lose the game in the press conference the day before.

It's going to be not for profit for as long as we are considered in a pandemic. Which means it will be 4x cheaper than Pfizer, 7x cheaper than Moderna but 3x the price of a 500ml bottle of bleach.

If you get 2 high doses a month apart it is 62%. If you get a low dose then a high dose a month later it is 90%. If you get a lollipop with either it goes up 2% A control group wore tin foil hats for 3 weeks and it was 5% Credit to Oxford University for covering all confounding variables

Don't ever let them tell you its an economic decision. Unless they can argue the fiscal multiplication of other investments is greater than public sector pay then any pay freeze at a time of increased spending for any other budget is most likely philosophical. Economics can be used to feed a political philosophy however seen fit. At the route of all of this is a philosophical view of the public sector. I'm not talking full blown libertarianism, rather a softer version, attitudes towards what is perceived as public sector "largesse". The BBC printed today that public sector pay is 7% higher than private sector pay. Thats a nice figure to try and justify a pay freeze but some public sector careers are a cul-de-sac. What I mean is once you're in there's no promotion, or very few opportunities for promotion, so a pay rise is all you have. The job role doesn't move much. The private sector, or specifically the service sector economy of cities, London in particular is a market place rather than a cul-de-sac, in a market place you sell yourself to the highest bidder. So people move jobs, roles, organisations freely. That's their pay rise. Actual private sector pay rises for being in the same role in most businesses is far worse than the public sector. Especially if you aren't unionised. Tax doesnt pay for spend at the national level. It hasn't for a while. Recent theories are that it is a means to control inflation. We are now closing in on £1trn that the Bank of England has e-printed and given to the state for spending. The Cameron-Osborne government said £500bn ago it had to stop. Unless we have a miracle boom the debt the state has won't fall. To fall tax revenue needs to exceed both expenditure and annual debt interest payments. Paying down Bank of England debt means taking money out of the economy. With current inflation levels that will stunt growth at best, cause a recession at worst. Public sector can definitely have a pay rise, it won't get it for philosophical reasons, or at best what might be called economic conservativism, which in real English means shitting yourself that it might rain one day. You can argue the opposite, that a pay rise is also philosophical. Certainly giving someone more pay for a role in a pandemic is not an economic choice either. One of my personal biggest gripes with the Corbyn-McDonnell era is their inability to repaint the picture on economic choice. They pretty much gifted the argument to the Conservative Party.

Announcement is later today. NHS expected to be exempt. Given what is going on in the private sector with job insecurity, job losses, closed down businesses, collapsed revenue and furlough they most likely believe they will easily survive this in polling and public attitudes.

In advanced talks though. Jim White getting his yellow tie ready.