tom_widdows

We never had daily briefings before because the last time there was an epidemic was 1918. The last time there was an event which affected a the world in a similar was was 1939-1945. In 1918 the only technology really available to communicate government messages to the public was through newspapers or through newscasts played at cinemas. Otherwise it was letters sent to local councils who were then responsible for enacting those wishes. In 1939-45 Radio had become available but as there was the fear of giving away any information the enemy could use against the country, and to minimise panic, the public were kept in the dark for the majority but there was still broadcasts from the government. Other than that it was still letters and possibly telephone calls to local councils This civil liberty loss arguments Im seeing are bizarre to me and to go a stage further it smacks of spoilt westerners who dont have a fucking clue what losing 'most' of their civil liberties are. Its becoming the West's new 'its my human right' Can you please show me where it says in UK or Scottish law that simply stating 'I don't believe in Covid 19' is NOW actually an offence? Last time I stepped outside my flat (1hr ago) Scotland and the rest of the UK hadn't become 17th century Salem, or East Germany circa 1950-1990

Test events still going ahead but prospect of fans being allowed back to all grounds delayed until 5th October at the earliest

Id say you are doing the team a real dis-service discounting that victory. Tell Joe Lewis the Tic weren't trying that day https://youtu.be/A7SJKIdnPUQ

Sounds like a fairly typical home match against Kilmarnock to me

Confirmed Fans will be at Pittodrie and Dingwall this weekend. Caviate is fans must be from the 'local area' and clubs have to issue a report afterwards. Presume for a 'tv perspective the dons fans will be put in the Main Stand so time to get those shin pads on, or start having legs amputated

Top of the group too Potential danger that Covid allows scotland to sleepwalk into Group A....

The Hinkley Street Country Club Pretty decent covers band out of Sydney. Would actually pay money to see them if they happened to come to the UK

Not sure if it was a listener or Stuart Cosgrove on off the Ball today but there was a comment along the lines of 'Players shouldn't be picked purely based on the club shirt they wear'. Heard a few people people in the past saying Alan Hansen was always bitter about not being picked for Scotland supposedly because of the likes of Miller & McLeish, the consensus being he felt he should be first choice because he played for liverpool. Would the radar really have zoned in on Dykes had be stayed at Livi as opposed to going to London's 9th club? There is of course Lawrence Shankland but his inclusion while playing lower league scottish football is on the same lines as picking Sevco players when they were in the 3rd division. I will welcome him proving me wrong in the SPL with the Arabs but the fact no else came a calling when he was at Ayr says a lot to me. For all the 'diddy' club players occasinally given a sniff by Clarke he still has yet to convince me he isn't following the standard modern scottish manager of just picking up a list of Scots playing in England and looking at their salaries or last transfer fee rather than their actual record.

Czech sports reporter on sportsound said it will be a completely new czech republic team as the U21s are already playing on Monday and the entire squad from the Slovakia game are in quarantine. I'd be interested to see if Clarke could pull a similar thing with scotland WITHOUT trawling through the lower english leagues looking for players who once got a piece of Edinburgh Rock as a gift from someone who went there on holiday.

Went to see 'The New Mutants' today Was originally suppoed to be the first film in a trilogy (and it shows) but seems thats been knocked on the head. Glad it was a free ticket.... ?

So two czech players are now in quarantine and supposedly Slavia Prague are threatening to pull all their players out of the squad for their games against Slovakia and Scotland. Might actually get a result at this rate

Seems the conference league is going to have the most number of teams of all 3 competitions. Countries ranked 1-28 will also have teams in it. It appears next season Scotland is to get: 2 Champions League places. (starting at 2nd qualifying round (2nd place), and 3rd qualifying round (champions) 1 Europa League Place (Winners of Scottish Cup, or 3rd place if its won by the team finishing 1st or 2nd). They will enter at what is still being called the '3rd qualifying round' as it includes teams knocked out of the champs league qualifiers and if they lose their tie will go into the Conference league Play off round. 2 Europa Conference League Place (3rd & 4th will both start in in the second qualifying round)

Number of teams in the Europa league is being reduced from next season Cup winners, league Runners up, and 3rd place from countries ranked 29-55 will qualify for the conference league (At the moment Scotland are ranked 13th) Teams who lose in the Champions league preliminary, and first qualifying rounds will enter at the 2nd qualifying round Teams who lose in the europa league 3rd qualifying round will enter at the conference league play off round Teams who lose in the Europa league play-off round will go into the conference league group stages Teams finishing 3rd in the europa league group stages will enter at the 'knock out' stage Winner gets a place in the following season's Europa League (would like to think at the group stages)

But the draw is rigged and has been ever since UEFA came up with their champions league idea allegedly partly due to a so called 'freak' draw in the 86-87 European cup when Juventus & Real Madrid were drawn together in the 2nd round much to the annoyance of the sponsors. Its rigged to make sure the 'big teams' from the 'big leagues' have the biggest chance of getting to the group stages and/or knockout round to make the most money. It was impossible for Sporting Lisbon to play AC Milan or Spurs in the next round same as it was impossible for the dons to play a team from san marino Lot of people seem happy with this arrangement but personally Ive stopped watching the Champs/ Europa league once the Dons are out as its getting boring watching the same teams every year.

Its Sporting Lisbon away

Groups for the 3rd qualifying round draw has just been made If the Dons managed to get past Viking these are the potential opponents 1 Budapest Honvéd (HUN) or Malmö (SWE)2 Sporting CP (POR)3 PSV Eindhoven (NED) Only going on reputation but I think option 1 would be the best chance of making the playoff

La liga saying Messi can't leave Barcelona unless someone stumps up the £624million. Seems his contract is up at the end of this season so looks like Barca are onto a loser here. Messi turns up to training as required but doesn't 'perform' when picked to eventually gets dropped and sits it out until next June on a large salary. Maybe there will soon be a 'Messi' transfer ruling which updates the 'Bosman' one

I think we could also factor in the 6 additional years experience Watkins has. Cosgrove still has at least 2 more years of 'development' which may include 'work ethic'

What is the point you are trying to make with this? A court deems that a device capable of recording things in your house should be handed over and the data analysised in a criminal case against you is not new. Home CCTV, Phone records, emails, bank records, all the way back to hand written letters being seized by the police & courts is nothing new. The technology Police Scotland brought in now allows for encrypted devices to be opened rather than having to apply to international companies sometimes operating outside your country's legal systems to release the info. A recent case saw a mobile phone recovered from an arrested drug dealer to be unlocked which revealed the names and locations of his associates leading to further arrests. Personally wouldnt touch an amazon echo, or any of the so called 'home assistants' slightly due to not wanting to given these companies another avenue to get my data, but mainly because I find voice activation technology to be extremely irritating and a further example as to how lazy the 'western' human race is becoming. Anyway Coronovirus I see there was a protest in Trafalgur square this afternoon which included speeches from old Jeremy's older brother and the previously mentioned Mr Icke

I think the 'fear' in this situation is not being shared adequately. Over the last couple of years the legal systems in the UK (North & South of the border) have been under fire from the right wing sections of our governments because Lawyers & Judges have stopped politicians and their cronies from breaking the law to suit their own agendas and publicly rebuked them for trying. Right now if you had a party of say 16 people in your house out in the sticks miles from neighbours and the cops suddenly showed up and their only justificaiton for doing so was they (or someone above them) had tracked mobile phone signals and somehow deduced there was a house party going on, any lawyer worth their salt would have the cops in court for using technology which is illegal. If they show up because a member of the public has made a 'complaint' (given police budgets it will have to be a complaint as a 'tip off' for 16 people will be so far down the priority list the cops wont bother) then its a different story. If the tories & their paymasters helped by the right wing media misleading the public have their way and dismantle the Legal system(s) at the same rate as they are NHS then it is time to start worrying. Then terms such as 'miscarriages of justice' and 'corruption' won't apply as there won't be an actual system. I'm no fan of lawyers but there is a bit in 'Back to the Future Part 2' which has always made me uneasy Marty: " 'Within two hours of his arrest, Martin McFly, Jr. was tried, convicted and sentenced to fifteen years in the state penitentiary.' Within two hours?" Doc: "The justice system works swiftly in the future now that they've abolished all lawyers."

It was done a couple of weeks back to break up a party/ illegal rave. Police helicopters (probably drones too) have thermal cameras which they normally use at night to track suspects who have say, abandoned their getaway car and legged it into the woods or a dark residential area. What is a potential barrier to this being used by a Stasi, Minsitry of Love etc all over the UK is Police budgets. Police helicopters and drones are expensive so the way our wonderful Tory fuckwits are carrying on, eventually there could only be about 3 helicopters and max 10 drones for every single police force in the country to share

Chadwick Boseman - 43

Dionne Warwick (Written by Burt Bacharach)?