tom_widdows

Series 5 of GF Newmans 'The Corrupted' is currently on BBC Sounds Series 1-4 have also been re-added so you can start from the beginning. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b050z5cf If you haven't heard of it, its the story of one particular family told by the son who is in prison for a crime he didnt commit with each series covering a different decade in UK history (each episode covers 1 year) with fictional characters being written into 'true history'. So you get people like the Krays, Thatcher, Major, Blair etc. Series 1 - 1950s Series 2 - 1960s Series 3 - 1970s Series 4 - 1980s Series 5 - 1990s Part of me wants everything done and dusted after this series but another wants to see how the Character's deal with Blair's exploits and the 2008 crash, and perhaps even how they could deal with Corona virus.

Well thats Monday's 100,000 sorted then

In terms of mortality the UK is now the second worst in the world based on reported stats 1 in 6 people who have reportedly caught the virus have died. Spain and Italy may have higher number of cases but their mortality rates are 1 in 10, and 1 in 7 respectively. Only country which is worse is Belgium but that is only fractionally and will probably have changed by tomorrow.

Thing that springs to mind immediately is 'short termism' The curse of what seems to be all current political thinking around the world is 'Only do/ work on things which can be achieved in the 4-5 years we definetly have power. Anything long term which will be good but causes a bit of stress to the public without a seemingly quick positive return will be used by the opposition against us and will probably be cancelled if we lose control. A very simplistic form of this is the test some scientists/ pychologists did on kids which involved sitting them at a table and placing one sweet in front of them. The kids were told that if they didn't touch the sweet for 15mins they would get another sweet and could then eat both. I understand the majority if not all of the kids in the tests ate the single sweet immediately. The instant return was seen as better than the better long term gain. Another example is the hundreds of fad diets and exercise equipment that will supposedly make you lose 3 stone or have you looking like an olympic swimmer in a week. Alternatively there is the logic of governments that the more the people know the less likely they are to vote for you so keep them as dumb/ in the dark as possible. 10 years ago the UK was shut down due to heavy snow and then we discovered most of the snowplows etc had been sold off as there hadn't been any heavy snow for years and the chances of it happening were supposedly small therefore it was seen as an easy 'saving' / boost to the coffers. We also live in a world where everyone wants everything but resents the fact we have to pay for it. Tell the UK population an additional 1p on the pound tax was being introduced to make sure the country was prepared for a pandemic which may or may not happen and come election day that government would be kicked out in a landslide. Suggesting raising taxes is seen as political suicide but even if a government was voted in on a socialist high tax model (like scandinavia) I wouldnt be surprised if the fuckwits who go into politics now would find a way to waste/ lose the extra funding. If by some miracle the extra money was wisely spent it would take decades for the real changes to be seen and all the while the opposition parties would be accusing the government of picking the pocket of 'hard working families'. After all why should you pay for stuff you dont actively use all the time when you could be spending your money on a new TV or Sofa every year etc etc?

Daily Record (I know) claiming the new stadium is on hold indefinetly and capacity may need to be reduced. Perhaps getting close to that magical 13500

Im pretty sure there is a film or perhaps an episode of Criminal minds where the serial Killers preferred method is injecting bleach and other household cleaners into his victims.

I think Auchinleck Talbot are that league's version

Hasn't gone down well. 32 game season with what i presume was 7 official match days left meaning they would have had to play 2 (sometimes 3) games per week every week till the end of the season. Injuries and fatigue would be a factor as protentially would be availability of certain players given it is a part time league.

Appears the West Region Junior League has declared Auchinleck Talbot as champions this was the league table before everything shut down GP W D L GF GA GD PTS 1 Kilwinning Rangers 25 16 5 4 51 38 13 53 2 Pollok 22 13 3 6 48 22 26 42 3 Auchinleck Talbot 16 13 2 1 51 15 36 41 4 Irvine Meadow XI 22 12 2 8 36 35 1 38 5 Clydebank 28 11 4 13 42 45 -3 37 6 Glenafton Athletic 20 11 3 6 39 30 9 36 7 Beith Juniors 21 9 7 5 40 35 5 34 8 Kilbirnie Ladeside 24 10 3 11 44 44 0 33 9 Cumnock Juniors 25 9 5 11 39 45 -6 32 10 Rossvale 25 10 2 13 33 39 -6 32 11 Largs Thistle 25 9 4 12 41 44 -3 31 12 Hurlford United 19 8 5 6 29 26 3 29 13 Troon 24 6 4 14 31 51 -20 22 14 Benburb 20 5 4 11 27 39 -12 19 15 Rutherglen Glencairn 17 3 3 11 26 42 -16 12 16 Kirkintilloch Rob Roy 17 2 0 15 8 35 -27 6

I hope Im wrong (especially as it will directly affect me) but I won't be surprised if by the end of next week there are newspaper reports stating only about 10% of businesses applying for the furlough scheme being approved same as the small business loan shitshow. Much like Universal credit I suspect the Tory attitude is the majority of people applying are trying to cheat the system so they will make it as hard as possible to get it, and if you do get it they will be looking for the smallest opportunity to take it back.

Isnt the construction industry great!

The Donald is on fire tonight 'Over prepared' for the pandemic apparently as if he bought pizza for 50 people but only 3 showed up. Current US stats 1 person in 466 has/had the virus (that they supposedly know of) 1 person in every 19 who catches it is dying 1 person in every 8,945 US Citizens is currently dying of the virus and it is still rising Compare that the the UK (allegedly) 1 person in 624 has/had the virus (that they supposedly know of) 1 person in every 7 who catches it is dying 1 person in every 4,652 UK Citizens is currently dying of the virus and it is still rising Compare that to Italy which has had it longer but is now apparently getting on top of things 1 person in every 351 has/had the virus 1 person in every 7 who catches it is dying 1 person in 2659 Italian citizens is dying of the virus Then there is the Germans 1 person in every 592 has/had the virus 1 person in every 32 who catches it is dying 1 person in 19239 German citizens is dying of the virus

Out a macabre interest it will be interesting to see if the Donald starts the 2nd American civil war

Note the comment below that tweet When I first heard about this story I knew there would be people who would adopt that logic. I imagine people are one of the reasons spam emails from 'African Princes' who are apparently desperate to give away millions of pounds continue to flood in. If the other European nations are Dunfermline, Dundee united, & Dundee, then Boris & Co are Hearts when Romanov came sniffing about

I struggled to get over how much he sounded like Jacob Reece Mogg and I take his opinions with a pinch of salt (and that is partly my left leaning bias kicking in) however a thought occured early on when he mentioned how hospital use is now mainly intensive care. There have been other reports of how visits to A&E are down as people don't want to go near the hospital for various reasons - dont want to risk catchin cov 19, don't want to be seen as a burden etc. I presume the same has happened in outpatients being refered by GPs. Is there some little beancouter prick(s) in the Tory government busy collating these stats to then justify cutting more services & NHS funding as its been shown these parts are 'under-used'? A similar tactic (as I see it) was blatantly used at my Uni to cut available studio space by surveying how busy those studios were at a time when the students were in Lectures or on extra curricular activities. People can say they wouldnt have the balls to do that but I follow the 'leopard never changes its spots' logic

its tonights more bonkers? Time will tell

Love the rumour that a 'yes' vote' from the clubs is legally binding but a 'No' vote isn't.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/apr/12/uk-insurers-face-legal-action-from-small-firms-over-covid-19-claims This will be interesting and maybe (should we actually survive this virus malarky) could lead to a serious overhaul of the Insurance industry which I reckon has been a long time coming.

Hearts now getting their 50pence worth. At last a bit of entertainment

Stirling Moss - 90 Tim Brooke-Taylor - 79

Supply and demand doesnt seem to apply for scottish football. The amount of money you can shell out for one game would make you think every match was 95% sold out from the get go. But then again given the world is full of companies that make massive losses each year and yet still carry on (Uber springs to mind) without consequence the idea that you should live within your means no longer seems to apply. No wonder every single country in the world is TRILLIONS in debt. The cheaper tickets discussion could really do with at least one club (ideally 3) actually trying it for several seasons (not just one like was done with season tickets in the Skovdahl era), and also being sensible about it (not like Hearts in the Romanov era). Perhaps if multiple teams were prepared to try it each could adopt its own personal model Team 1 - all individual match tickets are £10 no matter what age you are. Season tickets based on the £10 price but it works out you get 3 or 4 'free' games) Team 2 - Individual match tickets are £15 for adults, £5 for kids under 18. Season tickets priced accordingly Team 3 - Individual match tickets start at £10 adult, £5 kids under 18 and go on sale several weeks in advance. Each week the prices go up a certain amount until it reached an on the day price of say £20 & £10 thereby encouraging fans to buy early. This model would be slighly more complicated in terms of working out season ticket prices but fairly sure it could be worked out I seriously doubt AFC would ever get 20,000 week in week out but the more fans you can get into the stadium each week the higher the chances of making extra money on Merchandise, Pies, Bovril etc. I havent been to pittodrie for a few seasons now and a quick look at the ticket prices currently on the AFC website has made it clear it wont be top of my priority list anytime soon Min £25 and Maximum £32. Im not skint (yet) but at that price Im happy just listening to the radio and watching the goals on the BBC website/ Youtube

Potential entertaining soap opera on the cards with this Dundee and Sevco malarky Dundee potentially stabbing the two Thistles in the back (perhaps they played the 'we are a bigger club so should be promoted instead of Caley in the league reconstruction). Sevco turning their evil horde on Orinco-ck (see how much teflon is woven into those suits of his with the orcs and goblins on his back)

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/11/reveal-cost-of-35m-unusable-covid-19-tests-health-chiefs-told The Chris Grayling school of politics strikes again

Swedish Priminister doing something I can't imagine any UK poltician in power ever doing Admitting their government was not prepared and hasn't done enough.

Matt Hancock didnt quite get off scott free on his radio 4 interview this morning but as much as I don't like the guy I don't like the way the BBC are reporting what he said. Full quote: 'I don't want to impugn blame on people who have used more PPE than the guidelines suggest because I understand the difficulties in the circumstances. What I would say it is very important to use the right PPE and not overuse it.' I personally interpret that as 'Home-made PPE isnt safe, and as we are short of the proper stuff, be careful not to waste what you have' BBC Tagline 'Do not overuse PPE, says UK health secretary' If I hadn't heard the interview, or wasnt prepared to read the full transcript I'd say that could be interpreted as: 'PPE is expensive so stop being such pussies and get back to work' akin to a Charles Dickens workhouse owner. What they should be reporting is his 'excuse' for the UK having more daily deaths than Italy & Spain ever did is that the UK has a Higher population. The interviewer then stopped him in his tracks by pointing out Germany has a higher population than the UK.